ow why would we choose the 1975 television adaptation of Ellery Queen to profile through a website?   More than thirty years later...
Quite simply, we consider the author as well as the character, to be the quintessential master of audience involved mystery; and the Jim Hutton characterization to be the most engaging, charming, and classic. A perpetual fountain of profound deduction; yet every once in a while a sparkling wit that manages to divert a spray of that endless genius with such whimsical ingenuity that the most serious watcher’s fancy is set dancing with delight. Such is the case with this marvelous series, which – set in the 1940’s – enhances each scene with period piece perfection. Add to this the dynamic of father and son, so perfectly matched as Hutton with veteran actor, David Wayne, and the Queens reach true royalty status. Rounding out the cast, John Hillerman’s portrayal of Radio Mystery Master, Simon Brimmer — a perfect foil for Ellery; and Ken Swofford’s newspaper loudmouth, Frank Flannigan bring the series familiarity and depth.

llery Queen is arguably the greatest fictional detective of American
creation, but despite several attempts in diverse styles, until 1975, he had never been accurately portrayed in movies or on television. The great complexity of plot and depth of character that marked the extraordinary series of Queen novels almost never survived in attempts to transfer them to visual formats, and the part was often played for comedy (one of the first movie Queens was comic Eddie Quillan).

The character of Ellery Queen was re-fashioned for the NBC series as well, but there were legitimate bases in the books for most of the characteristics that Jim Hutton displayed in the role. More importantly, Hutton’s charm and natural manner played perfectly against David Wayne’s crusty Inspector (though Wayne lacked the mustache so often mentioned in the books, his is otherwise the definitive depiction of The Old Man). The show had a sense of good humor, and its setting in 1947 made nostalgia an important component of its success.

Though the episodes varied in quality, none was poor, and even the weakest of them (probably Chinese Dog, which takes the meticulously-drawn town of Wrightsville from several novels and turns it into a hicksville populated by idiots) are redeemed by the plots, the production values, and the marvelous casts.

Adding to the authentic feel of the series is the “challenge to the viewer,” in which Hutton as Queen turns to the camera, and invites the audience to add up the clues and name the guilty party. This is a direct visual analogue to the “Challenge to the Reader” that appeared in the earlier Queen novels just before the solution was revealed. Only sometimes Hutton gives too many hints!

The episodes seen in syndication have been cut by several minutes each. The first thing to go is the clever opening montage, in which the announcer says something like, “This famous song-writer is about to be murdered. Who is guilty? Is it ...” Each suspect is shown in a brief clip, speaking a short phrase (sometimes deliberately excerpted to look off-beat and humorous), then: “Match wits with Ellery Queen and see if you can guess WhoDunit!” This is all cut from the edited shows, which begin directly with the stylish opening credits, accompanied by Elmer Bernstein’s Big-Band 40’s-type theme music. A few minutes of program content have been trimmed from within each episode itself, which is unfortunate because the amusing by-plays between Queen and his Dad are usually the first things to go. Even edited, however, this is as fine a mystery series as American television has given us.

eing a web developer by trade, I was surprised to see that this
remarkable show had little or no real online representation. A few individuals had written a page here or there — usually little more than a footnote to articles about the Lee/Dannay Ellery Queen novels. While the novels are wonderful, and I've read as many of them as I can get my hands on, I felt the television adaptation was of such high calibre that it needed its own spotlight. Hence, this site.

We sincerely thank the individuals that helped with this endeavor, and we mention them specifically in our Links area. As for showings of the series — it was originally shown on A&E (I believe in 1992-94) as part of their Mystery Theatre. These were the cut versions. Then in August of 1995, uncut episodes of the series aired on the Encore Mystery channel (that's a part of the “Encore 8,” usually seen only on Satellite Systems) and dedicated to mystery-themed programming. This was the first time these programs had been seen in their complete form since the original network broadcasts. I was lucky enough to get about 1/2 of them on tape at this time — the old A&E; tapes beginning to show their wear. Thanksgiving of 1997 marked the last showings of Ellery on Encore, and the entire year of 1998 it went unshown. In January of 1999, the syndication rights were acquired by Nick At Nite’s TV Land, though they show it sporadically, out of order, and in cut form. I'd love to see this show get some of the respect that it deserves.

There are unconfirmed rumors about a possibility of a re-make (probably as a TV Movie) with Jim Hutton’s son, Tim playing the role his late father made famous. Sadly, Jim Hutton passed away of liver cancer in 1979 and we lost David Wayne in 1995 of lung cancer. The legacy they left behind was short-lived, but a true gem.