The Falcon


The Falcon was a detective character that was successful in novels, short stories, movies, television, and radio. The character’s origin is somewhat confusing in terms of its actual creator (Drexel Drake or Michael Arlen, for whom those names were pseudonyms of their actual names) and the name of the character himself (Michael Waring, Gay Stanhope Falcon, Gay Stanhope Lawrence, or Tom Lawrence). Mystery fans have tried to unravel it all in books and articles for decades. Whatever the case, the radio version of the character was named “Mike Waring” and the attributed creator was Drexel Drake. Several actors played the role, including B e rry Kroeger, James Meighan, Les Tremayne, George Petrie, with Les Damon as the last radio Falcon. The show was on the air from 1943 to 1954. The 1945 recording in the Hehn collection has the memorable commercials for Gem razor blades about avoiding “five o’clock shadow.” Falcon episodes usually begin with a phone call to him by a girlfriend, whom he has to turn down because of the week’s case. * * * These recordings are part of the Joe Hehn Memorial Collection. Mr. Hehn (1931-2020) was a pioneering collector of radio recordings when the hobby emerged in the 1960s. Digitizing his collection of reel tapes and discs is the effort of a wide range of North American volunteers, and includes assistance of some international collectors. The groups supporting this effort with their funds, time, technology and skills are the Old Time Radio Researchers and a small group of transcription disc preservationists who refer to themselves as the "The Knights of the Turning Table."

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.