Charlie Chan (detective, starring J. Carroll Naish and James Hong)

     (Syndicated, 1957)

     [aka: "The New Adventures of Charlie Chan";

      This series was based upon a character developed in over 40 motion
      pictures of the 1930s and 1940s starring Warner Oland and Sidney Toler
      and Roland Winters; it was also a sequel to several radio series;

      The films and radio series were based upon a character created in
      novels of Earl Derr Biggers, but were said to have been loosely 
      based on the life of Honolulu police detective named Chang Apana;

      The lead character was an oriental detective sleuth who, with his
      more modern "Number One Son", solved difficult (often inscrutable) 
      cases, and who often taught his son lessons during the process by 
      quoting pseudo-oriental aphorisms in the manner of Confucius...

      The movies, radio and TV series incorporated some of the oriental
      racial cliches of the day which seem a bit politically incorrect
      now; one thing in the favor of these shows was the cleverness with
      which Chan used logic and deduction to solve crimes; he was -- in
      fact a kind of oriental Sherlock Holmes;

      An irony was the fact that despite the lead role being oriental, no 
      oriental actors ever played it in movies or on radio or television; 
      J. Carroll Naish was of Irish heritage; so Chan has been compared to
      the Amos & Andy series on radio where white actors "passed for black;

      On the TV show, James Hong played the more modern "Number One Son" 
      who assisted his venerable traditional father, although the son often 
      got into trouble in the process; It was produced by Leon Fromkess' 
      Television Programs of America (TPA), co-funded by British ITC;

      The traditions of character, plot and writing that made Charlie Chan
      successful in movies and on radio during the 1930s and 1940s, were
      not to continue past the 1950s; the TV series only produced one
      season of 39 episodes; subsequent attempts to revive it for television
      never got off the ground despite a made-for-TV movie that tried in 
      1979; No oriental was to play Charlie Chan even in that latter-day 
      effort -- latin actor Ross Martin played him in that final effort]

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Open Theme: "Charlie Chan"

     Composer: Emil Newman (BMI)

     1978 Publisher:

     2001 Publisher: TPA Music Company, Inc. (BMI)
                        c/o EMI Entertainment World, Inc.
                        div. of EMI Music Publishing
                        of New York, NY

     Copyright Date: 
     Renewal   Date: 

     Recordings:

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Close Theme: "End Titles Charlie Chan"

     Composer: Emil Newman (BMI)

     1978 Publisher:

     2001 Publisher: TPA Music Company, Inc. (BMI)
                        c/o EMI Entertainment World, Inc.
                        div. of EMI Music Publishing
                        of New York, NY

     Copyright Date: 
     Renewal   Date: 

     Recordings:

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