FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Way to find rabbit's residence is to turn rabbit loose and watch.”

GREETINGS! As we move along together on this year’s journey, we come to the oldest surviving movie from the Charlie Chan film series, “The Black Camel.” This is a very special one. As it was shot to great extent on location in and around Honolulu, including the famous Royal Hawaiian Hotel, as well at Kailua Beach which lies on the other side of the island of Oahu! Please enjoy!

OUR CHAT ROOM: Our Chat Room can be accessed the same way that we accessed by going to our “Chat Room” link at charliechan.info, or use this direct link: http://www.charliechan.info/id17.html

We Begin our evening at 7:30 Eastern Time with a 45-minute time for arrivals and greetings. During this time, we also have the opportunity to engage in open dialogue. Then, at precisely 8:15, we begin our feature film simultaneously starting our personal or online copies of this week’s movie!

THIS WEEK’S PRESENTATION: “The Black Camel” (1931; 71 minutes).

FEATURE INTRODUCTION: Hollywood star Shelah Fane, who is in Hawaii shooting a film on location, is murdered in her beach house in Waikiki. Detective Charlie Chan of the Honolulu Police Department is called on to investigate. "Death is a black camel that kneels unbidden at every gate. Tonight black camel has knelt here," Chan tells the assembled suspects.

FEATURE NOTES: The novel “The Black Camel,” by Earl Derr Biggers, was originally published serially in ‘The Saturday Evening Post’ between May 18 and June 22, 1929. Sources conflict concerning the release date of the film. According to information in the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department at the UCLA Theater Arts Library, some scenes were shot in Honolulu, where some of the film's music was also recorded.

TRIVIA: Ivy Bo Ling, appears as the Chans’ Number One Daughter in “The Black Camel” and as Lee Chan’s romantic interest in “Charlie Chan in Shanghai.” She was also the daughter E.L. Park, Charlie Chan in “Behind That Curtain”!

CAST (as credited):

Warner Oland: Charlie Chan
Sally Eilers: Julie O'Neill
Bela Lugosi: Tarneverro
Dorothy Revier: Shelah Fane
Victor Varconi: Robert Fyfe
Murray Kinnell: Smith
William Post, Jr.: Alan Jaynes
Robert Young: Jimmy Bradshaw
Violet Dunn: Anna
J.M. Kerrigan: Thomas MacMasters
Mary Gordon: Mrs. MacMasters
Rita Rozelle: Luana
Otto Yamaoka: Kashimo

UNCREDITED CAST (alphabetical):

Dwight Frye: Jessop

C. Henry Gordon: Huntley Van Horn
Robert Homans: Chief of Police
Bo Ling: Number One Chan Daughter
Hamilton MacFadden: Movie Director Val Martino
Louise Mackintosh: Librarian
Melvin Paoa: Hawaiian Beach Boy
Richard Tucker: Wilkie Ballou
James Wang: Wong
Marjorie White: Rita Ballou
(Unknown): Miss [Diana] Dixon

THIS WEEK’S IMAGE: (Attached) Charlie Chan descends a stairway at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.



YOU LACK A COPY OF OUR FEATURE: Often our features can be found online. GOOD NEWS! “The Black Camel” is available through the link provided at our Chat Room.

OUR MONTHLY POLL: Please take a moment to cast your vote in our JANUARY 2022 POLL, right here: January 2022 Poll

OUR DECEMBER POLL RESULT:

QUESTION: With the advent of commercial television broadcasts in the late 1940s, could the Charlie Chan series at Monogram Pictures have continued with theatrical releases?

Probably 77%

Probably not 23%

NEXT WEEK (January 24): Please join us as we begin our Charlie Chan Film Tour 2022 with a shared viewing of two episodes of “The New Adventures of Charlie Chan” as we celebrate the birthday of the Charlie Chan of the small screen, J. Carrol Naish!

AND, AS ALWAYS… DON’T MISS THIS GREAT CHARLIE CHAN BLOG!: A great blog site, The Postman on Holiday, is offered by our own Charlie Chan and Earl Derr Biggers expert, Lou Armagno which is: "A place to explore all things surrounding Detective Charlie Chan, his creator Earl Derr Biggers, and their connection with Hawaii, Cleveland, and mystery fiction." Updated each month, it can be found at this address: www.thepostmanonholiday.com

OUR 2022 CHARLIE CHAN FAMILY NEWSLETTER!

This year’s Charlie Chan Family Newsletter, chronicling the year 2021, is now available! Thank you so much, Lou, for your continued, masterfully hard work and dedication! It can be accessed at the following link:

https://thepostmanonholidayhome.files.wordpress.com/2021/12/2021-newsletter-lou-final.pdf

AND, FINALLY, REMEMBER: PLEASE JOIN US for this week’s feature, “The Black Camel.”

THANK YOU SO MUCH…

Sincerely,

Rush Glick