John J. Malone
Created by Craig Rice (pseudonym of Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig; 1908-1957)

Call it hard-boiled screwball comedy. Very few writers have managed to combine the hardboiled detective novel and comedy. Jonathan Latimer succeeded with Bill Crane and Craig Rice did it with JOHN J. MALONE, her ne'er-do-well bibulous attorney. Despite being billed as "Chicago's noisiest and most noted criminal lawyer," Malone acts more like a private eye than a member of the court. And a particularly hard-drinking private eye, at that. Despite a rep for courtroom pyrotechniques, he's far more likely to be found at Joe the Angel's City Hall Bar than in any court.

Along with his boozing buddies, Jake and Helene Justus, an affable young couple, he drank his way through a whole slew of novels and short stories, not to mention later film, radio and television appearances. Seemingly inept and irresponsible, he nevertheless somehow (luck of the Irish?) managed to crack the case everytime.

Even if his methods were a wee bit, uh, unorthodox, and his interpretation of the law rather imaginative. Malone always seems less interested in going to trial than in playing P.I. Still, although he's a drunk and a blowhard, he seems to inspire extreme loyalty in his pals and acquaintances. Malone has a secretary, the long-suffering, lovestruck, albeit frequently unpaid Maggie Cassidy, and is often assisted by his pals Jake Justis and Helene Brand (later Justus), an affable young couple. He can also count on the aid of Captain Daniel von Flannagan of the Homicide Squad. Later, Rice teamed up with Stuart Palmer and the two of them cowrote a mess of short stories featuring Malone and HILDEGARDE WITHERS, Palmer's equally comic spinster sleuth. The stories were later collected in 1963's People Vs. Withers and Malone.

Zany plots, wacky characters, and enough weird bounces keep the reader going. A pleasant combination of hardboiled humour...

In films, Malone tended to be played as a heavyweight tough guy. In radio, Malone was rather cynical and humourless, but by the time he made it to the tube, he was a svelter, more happy-go-lucky type with girls stashed everywhere, a rather lightweight version of Craig Rice's original character.

NOVELS

• Eight Faces at Three (1939; AKA Death at Three)
• The Corpse Steps Out (1940)
• The Wrong Murder (1940)
• The Right Murder (1941)
• Trial by Fury (1941)
• The Big Midget Murders (1942)
• Having a Wonderful Crime (1943)
• Lucky Stiff (1945)
• The Fourth Postman (1948)
• My Kingdom for a Hearse (1957)
• Knocked for a Loop (1957; AKA The Double Frame)
• The Name is Malone (1958, collection)
• People Vs. Withers and Malone (1963)
• But the Doctor Died (1967)
  .
• Also:
• The Pickled Poodles (1960; written by Larry M. Harris)

SHORT STORIES

• "The Bad Luck Murders" July 1943, Baffling Detective Mysteries; AKA "Dead Men's Shoes")
• "His Heart Could Break" (March 1943, EQMM)
• "Good-Bye, Good-Bye!" (June 1946, EQMM)
• "Once Upon a Train" (October 1950, EQMM; with Stuart Palmer, featuring Hildegarde Withers and John J. Malone)
• "Cherchez la Frame" (June 1951, EQMM; with Stuart Palmer, featuring Hildegarde Withers and John J. Malone)
• "Good-Bye Forever" (December 1951, EQMM)
• "And the Birds Still Sing" (December 1952, EQMM)
• "Autopsy and Eva" (August 1954, EQMM; with Stuart Palmer, featuring Hildegarde Withers and John J. Malone)
• "Rift in the Loot" (April 1955, EQMM; with Stuart Palmer, featuring Hildegarde Withers and John J. Malone)
• "Say It With Flowers" (September 1957, Manhunt; also 1997, American Pulp)
• "The Tears of Evil" (March 1953, Manhunt; 1958, The Name Is Malone)
• "The Murder of Mr. Malone" (1958, The Name Is Malone)
• "Life Can Be Horrible" (1958, The Name Is Malone)
• "He Never Went Home" (1958, The Name Is Malone)
• "The End of Fear" (1958; The Name Is Malone)
• "Withers and Malone, Brain-Stormers" (March 1959, EQMM; with Stuart Palmer, featuring Hildegarde Withers and John J. Malone)
• "They're Trying to Kill Me" (February 1959, The Saint Mystery Magazine)
• "People vs. Withers and Malone" (1963, People vs. Withers and Malone; with Stuart Palmer, featuring Hildegarde Withers and John J. Malone)
• "The Butler Who Didn't Do It" (1960; also Alfred Hitchcock Presents: 16 Skeletons From My Closet)
• "Hardsell "(A Month of Mystery)

COLLECTIONS

• The Name Is Malone (1958) .
• People vs. Withers and Malone (1963, with Stuart Palmer, featuring Hildegarde Withers and John J. Malone)
• Murder, Mystery and Malone (2002)...Buy this book

FILMS

• HAVING A WONDERFUL CRIME
  (1945, RKO)
  70 minutes
  Written by Howard J. Green, Parke Levy and Stewart Sterling,
  Directed by A. Edward Sutherland
  Produced by Robert Fellows
  Associate producer: Theron Warth ....
   Starring Pat O'Brien as JOHN J. MALONE
  with George Murphy as Jake Justus
  and Carole Landis as Helene Justus
  Also starring Lenore Aubert, George Zucco Anje Berens, Richard Martin, Lénore Aubert, George Zucco, Gloria Holden, Charles D. Brown, William 'Wee Willie' Davis, Blanche Ring, Chili Williams, Josephine Whittell.
  .
• THE LUCKY STIFF
  (1949, United Artists)
  99 minutes, black & white
  Screenplay by Lewis R. Foster
  Directed by Lewis R. Foster
  Produced by Jack Benny
  Associate producer: William T. Lackey
  Starring Brian Donlevy as JOHN J. MALONE
  Also starring Dorothy Lamour, Claire Trevor, Irene Hervey, Marjorie Rambeau, Robert Armstrong, Billy Vine, Warner Anderson, Virginia Patton, Richard Gaines, Joe Sawyer, Larry J. Blake
  ..
• MRS. O'MALLEY AND MR. MALONE
  (1950, MGM)
  69 minutes, black & white
  Screenplay by William Bowers
  Based on the story "Once Upon A Train" (AKA "The Loco Motive") by Stuart Palmer and Craig Rice
  Directed by Norman Taurog 
  Original music by Adolph Deutsch 
  Produced by William H. Wright
  Starring James Whitmore as JOHN J. MALONE
  Also starring Marjorie Main, Ann Dvorak, Fred Clark, Dorothy Malone, Phyllis Kirk, Clinton Sundberg, Douglas Fowley, Willard Waterman, Don Porter

RADIO

• THE AMAZING MR. MALONE (AKA Murder And Mr. Malone)
  (1948, ABC; 1951, NBC)
  30 minute episodes
  Writers: Craig Rice, Gene Wang
  Director: Bill Rousseau
  Producer: Bernard L. Schubert
  Starring Eugene Raymond as JOHN J. MALONE
  (also played by Frank Lovejoy and George Petrie)
  Also starring Larry Haines as "The Police Lieutenant"
  

TELEVISION

• THE AMAZING MR. MALONE
  (1951-52, ABC)
  13 30-minute episodes
  Director: Edgar Peterson
  Producer: Edward Peterson
  Starring Lee Tracy as JOHN J. MALONE
  Also starring George Petrie, Roger Koven

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.