Johnny Fletcher

Johnny Fletcher is an American old-time radio comedy-detective drama. It was broadcast weekly on ABC from May 30, 1948, until November 27, 1948. The program was also known as "A Johnny Fletcher Mystery."
Johnny Fletcher was an amateur detective, "something of a scofflaw", created by writer Frank Gruber. The character was featured in at least 18 Gruber novels between 1940 and 1964. The film "The French Key" (1946), which starred Albert Dekker as Fletcher, was based on the Fletcher novel of the same title.
Radio historian Jim Cox, in his book, "Radio Crime Fighters: Over 300 Programs from the Golden Age", describes Fletcher as "inept" and "frequently drunk". The program's plots usually involved murder or other kinds of mayhem that Fletcher and his partner, Sam Kragg, tried to solve. As an example, "The Whispering Master" episode (previewed in a contemporary newspaper) began with an "unidentified but beautiful young woman" kissing Fletcher and suddenly departing, leaving behind a popular recording. As the plot unfolded, Fletcher had to solve the murder of the singer who recorded the song.
Gruber originally sold the rights to his Fletcher novels to NBC in 1946. An audition recording of "Johnny Fletcher Mysteries" featured Dekker as Fletcher and Mike Mazurki as Sam. The pilot episode was an adaptation of the novel, "The Navy Colt". Two years later, ABC bought the rights to the program from NBC and produced "Johnny Fletcher".
On the ABC version, Fletcher was portrayed by Bill Goodwin, while Sam was played by Sheldon Leonard. The announcers were Owen James and John Storm. Gruber wrote the scripts, and Buzz Adlam provided the music. Producers were Bill Rousseau and Hal Finberg.
The February 20, 1961, issue of the trade magazine "Broadcasting" included "Johnny Fletcher" in a list of pilots being prepared for the 1961-1962 season. Gruber was the producer of the episode, which starred Johnny Goddard and Read Morgan.