The Saint (1945, 1947-51) aired “A Schizophrenic Psychiatrist” on October 22, 1947. We have run only seven previous episodes of this fine show, this episode being only the third since November of 2019. For new listeners I borrow freely from past episodes’ opening remarks as they deal with the creator and partial history of The Saint on radio, in print, and on film. It is estimated there were in the neighborhood of 157 unique (i.e., original) episodes (depending on which historian you talk to) of which approximately 57 are in circulation.

Crime and mystery novelist Leslie Charteris’ (photo top right, 1907-1993) famous detective Simon Templar was dubbed The Saint by the underworld, though he was hardly what the monicker implied. The story goes that he came by the name because of his initials, S. T..  The Saint, as a radio show (there were movies, TV shows, novels, and even comic books), ran first in 1945, and then from 1947-1951, with almost all episodes featuring the incomparable Vincent Price (photo lower right, 1911-1993). Before Price assumed the role of The Saint, there were two others before him, beginning with the 1945 run:  Edgar Barrier (January-March 1945) and Brian Aherne (June-September 1945). With the rare episode where actor Barry Sullivan would fill in, Vincent Price was the voice of The Saint from July 9, 1947 through May 20, 1951. The final 22 episodes after Price departed saw actor Tom Conway as The Saint, from May 27, 1951 through October 21, 1951.

The first Saint novel was published in 1928 when Charteris was just shy of his 21st birthday and was titled Meet the Tiger. In later years Charteris practically disowned the novel, remarking that it was so poorly written he wondered how it ever got published. Instead, he preferred to count 1930’s second Saint novel Enter the Saint as the first true Saint novel. Be that as it may, he would write Simon Templar adventures (novels, short stories, and novellas) off and on for the next 33 years, the final Saint book written solely by himself being a collection of stories in 1963 titled The Saint in the Sun. Thereafter, all of the Saint titles would be ghost-written but credited to Charteris, who remained in an editorial capacity, reading the manuscripts and editing where necessary. Of interest to science fiction readers is that the first of the ghost-written Saint novels was written by none other than Harry Harrison (1925-2012, SFWA Grand Master 2009, photo at left), and was 1964’s Vendetta for the Saint. Harrison, also an illustrator early in his career (the legendary Wally Wood would ink Harrison’s pencils for several SF comics, among them Weird Fantasy and Weird Science), also wrote the syndicated The Saint comic strip.

Simon Templar falls into the camp of the “soft-boiled” detective, in line with such as Nero Wolfe, Sherlock Holmes, and Dashiell Hammett’s Nick Charles (who prefer solving crimes with their wits rather than their fists), as opposed to the “hard-boiled” branch of the detective tree and the likes of Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe, and Boston Blackie. The iconic stick figure with halo representing The Saint was first introduced in the early stories as a calling card Templar would leave so that his enemies would know who was responsible for their downfall. The title card/logo above was used in the 1960’s The Saint TV series starring future James Bond star Roger Moore. The TV series originated in the UK and ran from 1962-69, but was picked up by NBC in America and ran as a summer replacement in 1966.

On American radio, however, Vincent Price was the undisputed, one and only Simon Templar, The Saint. His velvety voice and witty banter embodied the proto-typical suave, bon vivant hero/detective, though in a number of episodes the sexual innuendos written for not only his lines, but those of other characters were a bit too risque and obvious for the perceived audience in the late 1940s, though The Saint‘s legion of fans didn’t seem to care.

In this twisty, off-kilter episode Simon Templar is aboard a ship where a famous film actress is summarily tossed overboard and he is conked unconscious. Awakening with a terrible headache, Simon is placed in what has now (thanks to pro-football) become known as a concussion protocol at the advice of an onboard psychiatrist. He convinces Simon to go under hypnosis (do you believe this?) in order to recount everything he knows of the murdered actress and her desire to leave her profession at the height of her popularity, up until the time he lost consciousness. Therefore, this story is told mainly in flashback, where we find there will be (has been) at least one other murder, and the meandering clues leading to the murderer and the reason for the untimely death of the actress. It’s an offbeat episode if nothing else, and to say it is aptly titled is an understatement. Have fun with this one as Simon Templar does his thing, visualizing clues only the Saint can see.

(A 1949 rebroadcast of “A Schizophrenic Psychiatrist” is included in the CD linked at top of page.)

Play Time: 24:30

{The neighborhood gang listened to this bizarre episode of The Saint on a Wednesday evening scarcely 10 days before Halloween. Finding them at the nearby newsstand the following day after school was no surprise, but their oddball selections certainly were, the covers denoting all manner of weirdness and mayhem. Detective Tales (1935-53) was a solid choice, the publisher managing to attract most of the top genre names in the business to supply his magazine with superior stories. It was a monthly in 1947. Dime Mystery Magazine (1932-50) was also in top form in 1947 and attracted top talent to its pages, insuring that a loyal readership would follow. It managed 8 issues in 1947, the first 4 were bi-monthly while the last 4 were monthly. Popular Detective (1934-53), “one of the basic detective pulps” as one website has categorized it, was a long-running detective pulp that also attracted top-shelf writers to its pages, and with them a steady following insuring its long run. It was a bi-monthly in 1947.}

[Left: Detective Tales, 10/47 – Center: Dime Mystery, 10/47 – Right: Popular Detective, 9/47]

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