The character of A.J. Raffles was created by E.W. Hornung in 1898.  Hornung was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s brother-in-law, and he was inspired to write about a sort of anti-Sherlock Holmes.  His Raffles is thief, to be sure, but one who was charming.  Raffles an “an amateur cracksman,” who lives the life of a gentleman.  But if you don’t actually have an independent income, you have to be able to finance your lifestyle somehow.  “Screen Directors’ Playhouse” adapted popular films to radio, often with the movie’s same stars and directors.  There had been several silent film adaptations of Hornung’s tales, as well as a 1930 film starring Ronald Colman and a 1939 film starring David Niven.  This broadcast adapts the 1939 film and features the equally suave-voiced Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. 

 Episode

Screen Directors’ Playhouse
September 14, 1951 
“Raffles”
3:30

We begin with the “College Quiz Bowl,” as students from Tulane go up against their counterparts from Northwestern.  As always, some of the topics are very specific to the day, but we 21^st Century residents should still be able to answer quite a lot.  Are you up on the names of pop culture family members, Winston Churchill’s writings, and tea in the news?  Then, we return to the contemporary (1950s, as opposed to the “old”) west with the adventures of “Bobby Benson and the B Bar B Riders.”  This Western centered on a 12-year-old boy who had inherited a Texas cattle ranch, and was packed with rustlers, cattle drives, and all the usual things American kids of the 1950s would have enjoyed.  This particular episode features action, mysticism, and a couple of moral lessons.

Episodes

College Quiz Bowl
October 24, 1953
“Tulane vs Northwestern”
2:25

Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders
November 17, 1951
“The Lost Tribe”
35:46