The The Mystery writer who solves crimes off of the page is an enduring character in the detective genre.

On radio, we've heard Ellery Queen and Dan Holliday of Box 13 use their creative spark to find clues.

Our detective this week is another member of that club, Mystery Writer Barton Drake, who explains to listeners that

Mystery is my hobby. Unlike some of the other amateur detectives we've heard on the

podcast, Barton Drake works hand in hand with the police, particularly

Norman Field as Inspector Noah Danton. Rather than shun Drake's assistance,

Danton welcomes it, and in most episodes Drake acts almost like a deputized

member of the police force he examines evidence and interrogates suspects this is a

far cry from say Dan Holliday who was frequently asked to go home and leave the police work to the professionals.

Drake is cut from the cloth of the gentleman detective, dapper Mutual Network, which made a name for itself with low-budget mystery programs in the 1940s.

Mystery and detective shows were extremely popular in post-war America,

and they could be produced cheaply and effectively, and, with a little luck, sold for national syndication.

And that was the case with Mystery as my hobby.

It aired on Mutual from 1945 to 1947 under the slightly more gruesome title

Murder is My Hobby. The title changed halfway through the run

and it was later syndicated under the Mystery is My Hobby Banner. The recording will hear today

comes from the syndication run. Barton Drake is played by actor Glenn Langeen,

a big screen star of the 1940s and early 1950s. Today he may be most famous or

infamous for his titular role in the amazing colossal man, a movie subsequently skewered on Mystery Science Theater

3000.

Lange ultimately left Hollywood and embarked on a new career in real estate, finding

considerable success for himself in the 1960s in his new field.

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