Setting: Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, night.

The moon, of course, was shining. The cocoa-palms turned their heads away at the suggestion of the trades. The warm waters of Waikiki murmured near by. John Quincy Winterslip, from Boston and immune, drew the girl to him and kissed her. Not a cousinly kiss, either--but why should it have been? She wasn't his cousin. -- The House Without a Key (1925), Chapter 17: Night Life in Honolulu.

On Wednesday, Oct. 9th, I finished reading the Charlie Chan mystery novel by Earl Derr Biggers. Reading the first few pages of Chapter One, I was hooked.

In his novel, Biggers paints a wonderful picture of Old Honolulu from the 1920s. He writes about many Honolulu landmarks and people. He describes encounters between people of different classes and social status. Many of the landmarks are real, many of the people are not.

88 years after the publication of the novel, many of the Honolulu landmarks are still around. One can actually walk in the footsteps of Charlie Chan.

The structure of the novel (the storyline) is firm and solid. The characters are charming and engaging. The writings of Mr. Biggers should be studied by students of fiction.

After reading a Biggers Chan mystery, one can see why the Hollywood studios were interested in making them into movies during the 1920s and 1930s.

This novel, 'The House Without a Key,' and the others that followed, are crying for Hollywood remakes. Not an update set in the present times. Charlie Chan belongs to the past. A past different from today's culture. A new filming of a Chan mystery should be set in the time period that it was originally set. Six novels from 1925 to 1932.

Earl Derr Biggers' Charlie Chan mysteries are currently available from Academy Chicago Publishers of Chicago.

May the wonderful novels, and the spirit, of Mr. Biggers carry on.

Dear Steve,

As you know, I could not agree with you more regarding this and the other Biggers Charlie Chan mysteries. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and I hope that they will spur all of us on to read these fine stories. each one is filled with the flavor of the era in which they were written.

Sincerely,
Rush

Are the Chan novels (stories) collected in one volume?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about "House Without a Key", which I have always regarded as the best of the Chan novels. It was also the first Chan story I read years ago. After reading this story I was "hooked" and had to read all of them. I have occasionally seen hard-cover editions of the Chan novels, and related books such as the Moto novels, in used-book stores, often in very good condition. If anyone is looking for these books, please consider trying any used-book dealers in your city.

A Chan film that Hollywood might be interested in making would be "Keeper of the Keys" which is the only Chan novel that was not filmed in the past. Since there is no pre-existing 1930's film version, it might be easier to get around any copyright laws that apply to these cases. Years ago, some of us on Kurt's Chan Message Board were actively hunting old movie archives via e-mail for the four lost Chan films. I remember that someone from Fox told us via e-mail correspondence that Fox had no access to any copies of the "lost" films, and that the lost Chan film titles had been removed from the Fox Film registry. I don't know how this affects any copyright issues, but it shouldn't stop us from trying to get a studio to make a Chan movie.

Hey gang,

Thank you for the positive feedback regarding my reading of "The House Without a Key" (1925). It truly is a wonderful read. Let me take a moment and respond to your comments.

Jamison, A collective edition of all the Chan novels is currently not available for purchase. In 1981, Avenel Books released five of the Chan novels in one volume. Used copies of this 1981 edition are available for sale at ebay and from other used book distributors. Beginning in 2008, Academy Chicago Publishers released Biggers' six Chan mystery novels. These soft-cover books, 8 x 5-1/4 in size, are a wonderful addition to the dedicated collector of Chan memorabilia.

John, When it comes to Charlie Chan, there is no "getting around" the copyright issues for the novels of Earl Derr Biggers. After the passing of Mr. Biggers in 1933, Mrs. Eleanor Cole (the former Mrs. Biggers) controlled all aspects of the Charlie Chan character in film, on radio, in television, and in print. She, and her people (i.e. lawyers), weren't afraid to go after anybody who violated her copyright of the Chan books and of the Chan character. [For example, please see The Study area of this website for the 1960 article regarding the legal action brought against CBS-TV and Jack Benny by Mrs. Cole.]

Please remember that there is a difference between the distribution of old copyright material (the books, the films) and creating a new product based on copyright material. If a producer/director has an interest in making a new film based on Charlie Chan, and/or any of the Biggers novels, they will need to get copyright clearance (i.e. permission) from the copyright holder. The currently copyright holder for all six Charlie Chan novels is 4Kids Entertainment.

May the Chan be with you.

Hawaii_Steve

P. S. Besides the available Chan films held in copyright, 20th Century Fox also holds the copyright on the four "lost" Chan films from the early 1930s.

http://trademarks.breanlaw.com/77827428-charlie-chan.html

Steve, loved that excerpt from the novel about the trade winds, cocoa palms turning their heads, and John Quincy kissing Carlota Egan, etc...Very nice!

Ref the above link. It appears, for a moment in time, the trademark "Charlie Chan" was free (or dead Jul-Sep 2013) with a notice of abandonment filed 15 July 2013! But alas they were renewing it and finalized 22 Oct 13 :(.

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=doc&state=4807:2x2nda.2.1

Thank you so much
Lou

Thanks for explaining the issues. I thought that someone in years past had posted on Kurt's Chan Message Board something about copyright issues regarding the lost films, and that ownership might be in dispute if one of these films were now found, but I don't remember the details. I suppose we will find out about all of the legal angles if we are ever fortunate enough to find a lost Chan film.

Thanks for your response, Steve. I'll try to track down those six Biggers novels.