Rex Stout Causes Unrest in Marriage

The brownstone on West 35th Street, New York City wherein resides the over-sized genius who may or may not be the illegitimate offspring of Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler is as well known to mystery fans as Middle Earth is to Lord of the Rings devotees.

Nothing fills the mystery bookworm with such anticipation and dread as when a favourite detective makes that leap from the page to the screen. Sometimes perfection is achieved. Joan Hickson was born to embody Jane Marple. Sometimes the artistic license taken may leave you shaking your head, but the casting is heaven sent, as in the Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce pairing in the Universal Sherlock Holmes movie series.

Nero Wolfe should have been a lock for film. Rex Stout's detecting team of Wolfe and legman Archie Goodwin combine that unfathomable genius we appreciate with the witty observations we like to think we would make, plus joyous helpings of action, labyrinth plotting and quirky characters.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) wrote his first Nero Wolfe novel, Fer-de-Lance in 1934 and his last, A Family Affair was published in 1975. It was that last novel that was my introduction as a teenager to the series. I read an obituary of Stout in the Sunday paper and straightway bought the book. Fans will realize this greatly coloured a lot of my later reading. Thankfully, there was a lot of reading to catch up on in the Nero Wolfe canon of novels, novellas and short stories.

Lionel Stander, Edward Arnold

Hollywood first came calling in 1936 with Meet Nero Wolfe starring Edward Arnold as Wolfe and Lionel Stander as Archie. I have yet to see the picture, but knowing Edward Arnold's work I do applaud that aspect of the casting. Lionel Stander as Archie. H'm, let me see. No! A wiseacre from way back was Bronx born Stander, but I just can't see him as Ohio born Goodwin. Did the producers miss the part about Archie's fatal attraction for the ladies?

Another Wolfe picture followed in 1937 based on The League of Frightened Men. Walter Connolly was cast as Wolfe (I can't call him Nero. Can you?) and, again, Connolly is a fine actor. Did he and the writers know what to do with the character? Again, Lionel Stander was Archie. Yeah. Sure. Lily Rowan would invite him for a weekend with her tony friends.

Radio might be just the thing! We can imagine the brownstone and environs in our minds eye and if the voice is right, and the scripts are up to snuff then radio might be just the thing.

The Adventures of Nero Wolfe, in 30 minute episodes, ran in the 1943-44 season and went through three leading actors. The first was British born J.B. Williams, followed by Santos Ortega with John Gibson as Archie. Mexican born Luis Van Rooten was the last actor to play the role on this program. A note here from a gal who misses her "stories". John Gibson appeared on The Guiding Light in the 50s, in some way connected with the Reverend Fletcher. Santos Ortega I remember well as Pa Hughes on As the World Turns in the 60s. Luis Van Rooten was also on As the World Turns at that time playing the dad of the legendary Lisa (Eileen Fulton).

The Amazing Nero Wolfe ran in the 1946 season and starred old Messala himself, Francis X. Bushman.

The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe in the 1950-51 season scored the casting coup of Sydney Greenstreet (the fat man!) as Wolfe. Can't you just hear him? Well, you can on OTR on the web. The program went through a succession of Archies including future directors Lawrence Dobkin and Lamont Johnson, Harry Bartell, Wally Maher and Gerald Mohr. Inspector Cramer on this program was played by William Johnstone who was dignified Judge Lowell on As the World Turns. I think Greenstreet and Mohr had great possibilities as a screen team. Ah, what could have been.

Don Mitchell, Barbara Anderson, Don Galloway, Raymond Burr

The television series Ironside ran from 1967-1975. The wheel-chair bound Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside was smarter than your average cop and inclined toward the gruff side upon occasion. I've always felt that The Chief and Sgt. Ed Brown had a quasi Wolfe-Goodwin relationship. For many years it was Don Galloway I would picture as Archie when reading the stories. Also, Johnny Seven who had the recurring role of Lt. Reese on the series would have made a fine Cramer.

Tom Mason, Thayer David

Frank Gilroy wrote and directed the 1979 TV movie Nero Wolfe starring Thayer David and Tom Mason. I only saw this the time it aired, but it looms large in my memory as quite the movie. Thayer David seemed to perfectly embody the irritating genius that is Wolfe and Tom Mason grew on me as Archie. The movie may have been a pilot, but sadly Thayer David passed from cancer after giving us this performance. The movie was nominated for an Edgar Award in the category of Best TV Feature or Miniseries. The winner was Levinson and Link's Murder by Natural Causes and the other nominee was Paul Monash's adaption of Salem's Lot.

Lee Horsley, William Conrad

Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts produced the 1981 series Nero Wolfe which ran for only half a season. I'm crazy about Conrad, but he really was just a grumpier Cannon waiting for Jake. Lee Horsley I prefer on the plain, as in Paradise, although he grew into a credible crime fighter in the short-lived Bodies of Evidence. What really worked for me in this series was the supporting cast. George Wyner was born to play Saul Panzer. George Voskovic as Fritz, Robert Coote as Theodore Horstmann and especially Alan Miller seething with irritation as Inspector Cramer were worth the price of admission.

Timothy Hutton, Maury Chaykin

Return with me to a decade ago when A&E was a regular channel surfing stop. You could count on an interesting Biography or an innovative original series such as A Nero Wolfe Mystery. Paul Monash scripted the 2000 pilot movie based on The Golden Spiders (see above Edgar Award mention). Hopes were high and hopes were met. The series became a personal project for actor Hutton who was one of the executive producers when the program began its unfortunately limited run on the network. Each episode was adapted from one of Stout's stories with scripts by William Rabkin and Lee Goldberg (Diagnosis Murder, Psych, etc.) and Sharon Elizabeth Doyle.

A repertory company of talented actors appeared in the episodes as different characters (Kari Matchett, Christine Brubaker, Francie Swift, Debra Monk, Julian Richings, Robert Bockstael, etc). Core characters were impeccably cast with Bill Smitrovich the cigar chomping Cramer, Colin Fox as a fussy Fritz coping with the world's most demanding gourmand. The busy Saul Rubinek showed up occasionally as Lon Cohen. He had played Saul Panzer in The Golden Spiders.

Attention to set and costumes was beyond reproach. Just as Stout's stories had his characters static in age while time swirled around them, the series was the same with Archie making quips about Nazis in one episode, and mini-skirts in another.

At the heart was, of course, the relationship between Archie and Wolfe. Timothy Hutton was just right as Goodwin. Sometimes I felt Maury Chaykin gave me too much of the petulance and not enough of the genius, but perhaps that was only because he hadn't lived with Wolfe as long as I had. Overall, I enjoyed his work and looked forward to seeing more of it. Unfortunately, A&E pulled the plug after only 27 episodes of A Nero Wolfe Mystery citing production expenses. If you want something done right, you are going to have to pay for it. We were taken to paradise, in this case West 35th Street, and turned away.

You are probably thinking to yourself that this is all well and good, Caftan Woman, but what has this got to do with Rex Stout causing unrest in your marriage? It's not what you may think. Garry has known about my thing for Archie since day one and he's cool with it. Last weekend my Honey Bunny was heading out the library and it being a blustery day here in Toronto and me being a soft-hearted sap, I pointed out that we had a multitude of books around the house and suggested perhaps a Nero Wolfe would fit the bill. His response: "No. I've read them all. They'll only make me hungry and, Sweetie, you're no Fritz Brenner." Nice to know what he really thinks of me!