CAPTAIN POST, CRIME SPECIALIST
[RADIO-SERIAL]
Despite the title and the opening lead-in which suggests a story more of gangs and organized
crime, this serial is in actuality the earliest of one of Morse’s thematic constants: a decaying family
in a decaying house.
Morse: “In ‘Captain Post, Crime Specialist’ we used the hair-raising sound of a siren rising and
falling behind the slow movement of ocean waves. These waves, the announcer told the audience,
in a mysterious whisper, were the waves of crime that were sweeping over the country leaving in
their blood-wake atrocious deeds too terrible even to be whispered.”
“One of my peculiar wishes was to have a detective hero of my very own. Thus Captain Carter
Post came into being, in the serial ‘Captain Post, Crime Specialist.’ In the beginning, about all I
had was the name. Week by week, I pounded out the episodes just in time to get them into the
hands of the producer for the week’s show. And as each episode appeared, the plot developed
stronger and stronger until, about the seventh episode, the producer and I had a REAL show on
our hands. From then on it was easy sledding, and I sailed into the last three episodes for as
smashing a climax as you could ask for."
“Waves of crime again disturb the nimble mind of Captain Post, who will recount another series
of adventures for KYA listeners…”
Elements of this script were later incorporated by Morse into his I Love a Mystery serial
“Hollywood Cherry” (also known as “The Thing That Cries in the Night”).
ORIGINATION: KGO, San Francisco, California (NBC PACIFIC COAST RED); KYA, San Francisco,
California.
DURATION: December 5, 1930-February 6, 1931 (KGO); August 17-October 19, 1932 (KYA).
PERSONNEL: Richard LeGrand (director—1932, KYA), Carlton E. Morse (scriptwriter; director—1930,
KGO).
CAST [1930, KGO]: Bernice Berwin (Laura Worth), Bobbe Dean (Anna May Worth), Dorothy Desmond
(Betty Von Loughner), Bert Horton (John Worth), Thomas Kelly (William Worth), Richard LeGrand
(Captain Carter Post), Rollon Parker (Fritz Zeigler), Michael Raffetto (Dr. Ernest Qoon), Victor Rodman
(Commissioner Gifford), Barton Yarborough (Sergeant Jack Long).
EXTANT RECORDINGS: None.
[CHRONOLOGY]
CAPTAIN POST, CRIME SPECIALIST (KGO, SAN FRANCISCO—NBC-PACIFIC
COAST RED)
[Friday—10:00-10:30 PM]
December 5, 1930 [PART 1] “Murder by Phone”
[“…Preliminary to the action of the play, listeners will be told of a series
of seemingly natural deaths befalling a group of people. A link ties each
of these deaths together—one that leads relatives to believe that a
murderer is at work… Captain Post is called to investigate a series of
telephone calls in which young John Worth, wealthy San Francisco
resident, has been told that he is to be murdered at a certain time. In
spite of the protection given him at the appointed hour, the young man is
murdered in a mysterious manner that gives the story a startling and
baffling climax…”]
December 12, 1930 [PART 2] “The Phantom with the Knife”
[“…Tonight’s story tells of another crime being laid at the door of the
same murderer. A young girl is being subjected to a series of small flesh
wounds inflicted by a phantom knifer. The horror of discovering a new
wound is gradually driving her insane. Captain Post gets on the case and
another battle of wits with the criminal is the result…”]
December 19, 1930 [PART 3] “A New Kind of Murder”
[“…Betty von Loughner attempts suicide after a series of knife slashings
plays upon her fear of blood until she is driven to the point of self-
destruction. The next victim of the murderer is the French maid in the
household…”]
December 26, 1930 [PART 4] “Dead Men Don’t Talk”
[“…The latest murder in the Worth household points the finger of
suspicion at Professor Ernst Qoon, a friend of the Worth family, and
reveals the mysterious telephone call that caused a death in the first
episode. Captain Post has drawn a net around the Worth house and is
gradually subjecting each of its members to a severe grilling in an
attempt to trap the murderer… Fritz Ziegler, laboratory assistant of
Professor Qoon, is murdered as he is about to tell Captain Post the name
of the murderer…”]
[Friday—9:30-10:00 PM]
January 2, 1931 [PART 5] “Murder in Triplicate”
[“…Three members of the Worth household have been murdered by a
mysterious psychological killer. As a result, Ernst Qoon, professor of
psycho-physics, has been taken into custody by Captain Post. The last
words of Fritz Zeigler, his young student assistant, who was mysteriously
killed, seemed to have pinned the series of crimes to the scientist.
Startling developments after he has been locked up prove conclusively
that he has been wrongly accused… Qoon expresses the theory that the
killer is ‘not only a bangup murderer, but a supreme egoist as well.’
Qoon, discovering that two of the deaths were due to the administering of
a poison which he had prepared from a secret formula, lays a trap for the
murderer. He puts a box of matches, coated with the poison, on the
mantelpiece, hoping the killer will attempt to get possession of it. When
his back is turned the matches disappear. They are subsequently found in
Laura Worth’s handkerchief…”]
January 9, 1931 [PART 6] “The Match Murder”
[“…At the insistence of Police Commissioner Gifford, a reconstruction is
staged of one of the crimes that Captain Post is investigating… All
members of theWorth household are forced to
repeat as accurately as possible their actions just previous to the killing of
Annette, the French maid…”]
January 16, 1931 [PART 7] “Something About Gifford”
[“…Sergeant Jack Long, who cleared up the mystery of the City of the
Dead, enters the Worth case in tonight’s episode. He is called into the
case after Commissioner of Police Gifford is hurled out of the second
story window of the Worth residence… Gifford’s death is the fifth murder
that has occurred in the Worth place within thirty-six hours… At the
close of the episode, Anna May Worth screams and faints, and when the
others go to her assistance, they discover that William Worth, her
husband, has disappeared from the group…”]
January 23, 1931 [PART 8] “The Murderer’s Game”
January 30, 1931 [PART 9] “The Stage Set for Murder”
[“…Betty, whose wrists were slashed in an earlier episode, meets her
death in tonight’s chapter… Betty either throws herself down a flight of
stairs or is thrown. A letter supposedly left by Betty, indicated suicide
and placed the guilt of the murders in the Worth household on Ernst
Qoon… The name of the actual murderer, the motive for the crimes, and
the rest of the mysteries connected with the story will be revealed in the
final episode next Friday night…”]
February 6, 1931 [PART 10] “The End of the Trail”
[“Betty was revealed last night as the perpetrator of the crimes that
Captain Post had been investigating in the Worth household. Betty, it
seems, had been suffering from a martyr complex. She was in love with
Qoon and had laid her plans carefully so that she could revenge herself
upon the entire Worth household. She had fastened a pistol in place at
the head of the stairs and attached a thread to it, intending to inflict a
slight wound in her arm to give the impression that her life had been
threatened. Through a miscalculation she received the bullet full in the
arm. The shock and the force of the bullet’s impact caused her to lose her
balance and topple down the stairs…”]
CAPTAIN POST, CRIME SPECIALIST (KYA, SAN FRANCISCO)
[Wednesday—9:15-9:45 PM]
August 17, 1932 [PART 1] “Murder by Telephone”
August 24, 1932 [PART 2] “The Monster with the Knife”
August 31, 1932 [PART 3] “A New Kind of Murder”
September 7, 1932 [PART 4] “Dead Men Don’t Talk”
September 14, 1932 [PART 5] “Murder in Triplicate”
September 21, 1932 [PART 6] “The Match Murder”
September 28, 1932 [PART 7] “Something About Gifford”
October 5, 1932 [PART 8] “The Murderer’s Game”
October 12, 1932 [PART 9] “The Stage Set for Murder”
October 19, 1932 [PART 10] “The End of the Trail”