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Our Monday Evening Chat/Film Viewing: "Charlie Chan at the Circus"

FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Curiosity responsible for cat needing nine lives.”

Progressing along on our CHARLIE CHAN FILM TOUR 2016, we will, this week, be watching and sharing Charlie Chan at the Circus,” starring Warner Oland with Keye Luke. In this adventure, we tag along with the entire Chan family as they take a break from their trip to see the Grand Canyon to attend the circus. This visit turns out to be anything but routine as murder takes the center ring!

As is out new custom, we will be sharing, before our featured presentation, a vintage Charlie Chan radio show; “The Telltale Hands,” which can be found on the Internet at: http://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/crime/charlie-chan/charlie-chan-the-telltale-hands

OUR PRESENTATIONS:
1. “The Telltale Hands” (circa 1950; Runtime: 27:42)
2. “Charlie Chan at the Circus” (1936; Runtime: 71 minutes)

SUMMARIES:
“The Telltale Hands” - Judith Carroll stands at the intersection of Logan Avenue and First Street. She is nineteen years old, short, dark, pretty in a cheerful way and she might be beautiful if she knew how to dress and make up properly but Judy doesn’t, she’s blind… (This is a complete story.)

“Charlie Chan at the Circus” - Charlie Chan takes his wife and twelve children, who are sightseeing on the mainland, to a circus owned by kindly John Gaines and his unscrupulous partner, Joe Kinney. Kinney, who had sent Chan free passes to bring him to the circus, tells the detective that he has been receiving threatening letters. Kinney, a man so widely disliked by his co-workers and employees, is murdered, and virtually any one might have killed him. Convinced to assist the investigation by circus performer Lady Tiny, Chan and Number One Son, Lee, travel with the circus seeking to unmask the killer.

NOTES: According to Hollywood Reporter news items and production charts, June Lang and John Dilson were to be in the cast, but their participation in the final film has not been confirmed. According to another ‘Hollywood Reporter’ news item, the film was shot "on location at the Al G. Barnes winter quarters," and a ‘Motion Picture Herald’ pre-release article states that "the Barnes Circus [was] used as a background for production settings." In a mid-1980s interview, Keye Luke mentioned that the winter home of the circus used in the film was in the eastern Los Angeles community of El Monte.

NEW TIME: We begin with arrivals and greetings at 7:30 EASTERN TIME. Then, we share our radio program which will be followed at exactly 8:15 when we roll our featured movie: “Charlie Chan at the Circus.”

LOCATION: Our Charlie Chan Family Chat Room, which is accessed at http://www.charliechan.info/id17.html.

IF YOU LACK A COPY OF OUR FILM: Often our features can be found available online. Happily, tonight’s feature IS presently available online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89MMEVNWBxg

PLEASE have a wonderful Monday, and let’s plan to meet together once again at our Chat Room as we share our featured film: “Charlie Chan at the Circus,” shall we?

Sincerely,
Rush Glick