Nick Carter
Created by John R. Coryell (1848-1924)

What a long strange trip it's been for NICK CARTER. He first appeared as a 19th century detective and adventurer in Street and Smith's New York Weekly dime novel, on September 18, 1886. He was young, strong, dedicated to clean living (No cigarettes! No booze!) confident, a master of disguise, and possessor of a keen mind, filled with more trivia than anyone would ever need to know (except, of course, for dime novel master sleuths!) and was usually accompanied by his loyal (and manly) partners-in-arms Patsy and Scrubby. He appeared in three stories written by Coryell, and then, literally thousands more in various Street & Smith publications, mostly written by Frederic van Rensselaer Day (1862-1922).

Although occasionally being accused of being some sort of American Sherlock Holmes wannabe (even though he actually made his debut a year before Holmes) he was really modelled on other popular dime novel detectives of the time, like Old Cap Collier and Old King Brady. He did subsequently take on Holmesian attributes, to be sure, but he was always more than a mere knock-off, just as Sexton Blake (who also took on Holmesian attributes) was always more than just a Holmes imitator.

He also appeared in the pulps, and in several films, silents and talkies, French and American. And he had success on radio as well. There were probably more Nick Carter adventures than of any other fictional detective. Over the years he's been a master detective, an amateur sleuth, a private eye and even, in the 1960's, in the midst of the James Bond feeding frenzy, a spy, in a long string of "men's adventure" paperbacks than ran under the title Nick Carter: Killmaster.

It was as a radio show, though, that Nick really made his mark in the P.I. genre. Nick Carter, Master Detective was one of the first hit detective radio shows, and in it, Nick was a pretty typical private eye of the time, although there were some distinctive touches.

The opening for the show was particularly memorable, and really grabbed you. An increasingly urgent knocking (pounding) on Nick's office door. A startled Patsy, his assistant (now a female secretary) opens the door and says, "What's the matter? What is it?" A male voice says, "Another case for Nick Carter, Master Detective!"

While not a hard-boiled detective, there was never any doubt about Carter's toughness or his abilities. In one episode, Patsy was facing imminent murder and she bet $100.00 to a penny that Nick would save her. Rumor on the street has it that the phrase "In The Nick of Time" can be attributed to Nick's always arriving just in time.

The story lines usually followed the formula of the classic detecytive story. Nick would be on the case looking for clues. Each clue would bring him a little closer to the criminal. After the criminal had been apprehended, Nick would explain the meanings and importance of the various clues.

The series was unusual for several reasons. Most, if not all of the episodes followed a 19th century convention and had sub-titles such as "An Angle on Murder" was also called "Nick Carter and the Mystery of the Mutilated Foot." Lon Clark played the title role for the entire twelve year run, over 700 episodes! (In roughly the same length of run, no fewer than six actors played Johnny Dollar and two others auditioned.) Nick Carter, Master Detective even fostered a spin-off series, Chick Carter, Boy Detective, 1943-1945; Chick was Nick Carter's adopted son.

The Killmaster series of PBO's should also be of interest to private eye fans. The transition from adventurer to globetrotting secret agent was handled by Michael Avallone (creator of Ed Noon) with Valerie Moolman., and among those who actually wrote the books (all under the house name of Nick Carter) were once and future P.I. writers Robert J. Randisi, Bill Crider, Michael Collins, and Martin Cruz Smith.

RADIO

• NICK CARTER, MASTER DETECTIVE
  (Also Known THE RETURN OF NICK CARTER until late 1946.)
  (1943-55, Mutual)
  722 episodes; 96 episodes are available
  First Broadcast: April 11, 1943
  Last Broadcast: September 25, 1955
  Writers: David Kogan, Alfred Bester, Milton J. Kramer, Jock MacGregor, and others
  Director: Jock MacGregor
  Starring Lon Clark as NICK CARTER
  with Helen Choate (and later) Charlotte Manson as Patsy Bowen
  John Kane as Scrubby Wilson
  and Ed Latimer as Sgt "Matty" Mattison
  Announcer: Michael Fitzmaurice

• "Flying Duck Murders" (October 4, 1943)
• "An Angle on Murder" (October 25, 1943)
• "Body on the Slab" (November 3, 1943)
• "Double Disguise" (January 8, 1944)
• "Corpse in the Cab" (February 5, 1944)
• "Missing Harold Ascourt" (February 12, 1944)
• "Death after Dark" (February 19, 1944)
• "Murder Goes to College" (December 24, 1944)
• "Murder in a Decanter" (December 31, 1944)
• "Monkey Sees Murder" (January 7, 1945)
• "Murder by Fire" January 14, 1945)
• "Death by Richochet" (January 21, 1945)
• "Eye for an Eye" (January 28, 1945)
• "Webs of Murder" (March 11, 1945)
• "Case of the Sunken Dollars" (May 29, 1947)
• "The Case of the Last Old-Timer" (March 14, 1948)
• "The Case of the Magic Rope" (March 21, 1948)
• "The Unexpected Corpse" (May 13, 1948)
• "The Flowery Farewell" (May 20, 1948)
• "The Case of the Candidate's Corpse" (September 26, 1948)
• "The Case of the Bull and the Bear" (October 24, 1948)
• "The Case of the Forgetful Killer" (November7, 1948)
• "The Case of the Vanishing Weapon" (September 18, 1949)
• "The Clumsy Forgeries"
• "Murder on Mad Mountain"
• "Sunken Dollar"
• "Double Disguise"

RELATED LINKS

• The Nick Carter Page
  Jess Nevins' page. Well worth checking out.
  

Contributed by Stewart Wright (December 8, 1998). Additional information by Kevin Burton Smith, Jim Doherty and Jess Nevins. Special thanks to John McDonagh for his help.