Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons

In Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons, far too often the "lost person" is lost forever, as in DOA, and it is left to the "kindly old investigator" and his sidekick, Mike Clancy, to solve the mystery of how this particular person came to be "lost." First broadcast in 1937, the show ran for 18 years, the first 10 on NBC, the rest on CBS, making it one of the longest running detective shows on radio. Over the years, several actors portrayed Mr. Keen. Unfortunately, of the over 1500 shows broadcast, only a small portion are known to have survived.

The plots are often pedestrian and the characters stereotypical--types that you will recognize quickly from other OTR shows: the Irish detective with the thick brogue (in the person of Mike Clancy), the earnest young husband, the forlorn wife, the arrogant business-owner, and so on. Nevertheless, the portrayal of Mr. Keen as a low-key but determined seeker of truth gives the show a comfortable, homey quality that makes it an enjoyable listen. Furthermore, one of the staples of radio detective shows, the simulated fist fight in the last five minutes, is notably rare.

The show was based on a 1906 novel, Tracer of Lost Persons, which is available at Project Gutenberg. In my opinion, the book is not worth the time it takes to download it. Fortunately, the creators of the radio series ditched almost all the elements of the novel except for the character of Mr. Keen itself.

For more, visit Wikipedia.

Series description provided by Frank Bell.