On July 4th, while "channel surfing" across the vast sea of DirecTV, I stumbled across a vintage movie being aired on a channel that I had not previously noticed. Following the film, they showed an episode from the old "Lassie" series which was followed by "The Lone Ranger." I found that the network showing these old offerings is called WHT (World Harvest Television, DirecTV channel 321), a religious network that seems to be in the process of broadening their appeal by showing vintage programming not regularly seen elsewhere. I thought that, perhaps this network might offer the possibility of showing Charlie Chan movies as well, so, yesterday, I took a moment to send my thoughts to them via an email message. This morning, to my great happiness, I received the following reply:
Dear Rush,
Thank you so much for your kind email regarding our classic movies.
You are in luck. We were able to secure several of the old Charlie Chan movies and will be scheduling them soon. Shannon, our movie mavin will let you know by email just before they are scheduled to run. We hope to present a solid week of Charlie Chan.
We'd like to know more about how you view our programming., Do you watch us on DirecTV, or via one of your local stations?
Thanks for watching WHT.
David Hummel
Senior Program Executive
LeSEA Broadcasting
If you are encouraged by this news, perhaps it may be worth the effort to let the good folks at WHT know your thoughts. WHT can be contacted at via this page:
http://www.lesea.com/index.cfm/fa/contactUsForm
If they begin to receive positive feedback from Charlie Chan fans even before they start showing the movies, who knows, maybe they will eventually offer something of a weekly "Charlie Chan Theater." Even those of us who are unable to receive WHT may still wish to let WHT know our thoughts, as the ultimate result of their showing Charlie Chan may be of greater benefit down the road. I realize that this is only a small step in returning Charlie Chan to broadcast television with anything approaching regularity, but this is also, perhaps, a beginning; and, as we all know, "Long journey always start with one short step."
I just received the following email message from David Hummel at WHT:
Rush,
I was in error. Fox still holds the licenses on those Chan movies. All we have is some Mr. Moto and Mr. Wong movies. Sorry for the mistake. I saw all the Charlie Chan movies in theaters when they were first released. Many fond memories.
Sorry for the false hopes. Mr. Moto and Wong are the best we can do now. Hope you are not too disappointed.
Dave Hummel
I emailed Mr. Hummel back restating my profound hope that WHT will soon be able to gain the necessary permission to air Charlie Chan movies. I believe that they should be able to do so, especially as they seem to have done so regarding Mr. Moto from 20th Century-Fox. So, please do let David know that there will be a very eager audience awaiting Charlie Chan while we will definately enjoy their showings of Messrs. Moto and Wong.
