Battle of the Century Radio Serial 18 chapters

I Love a Mystery is an American radio drama series that aired 1939–44, about three friends who ran a detective agency and traveled the world in search of adventure. Written by Carlton E. Morse, the program was the polar opposite of Morse's other success, the long-running One Man's Family.

The central characters, Jack Packard, Doc Long, and Reggie York, met as mercenary soldiers fighting the Japanese in China. Later, they met again in San Francisco, where they decided to form the A-1 Detective Agency.

Their motto was "No job too tough, no adventure too baffling". The agency served as a plot device to involve the trio in a wide variety of stories. These straddled the genres of mystery, adventure, and supernatural horror, and the plot lines often took them to exotic locales. Over the years, Jack was played by Michael Raffetto, Russell Thorson, Jay Novello, Jim Bannon, and John McIntire. Doc was played by Barton Yarborough and Jim Boles.

Reggie was portrayed by Walter Paterson and Tony Randall. The agency's secretary, Jerry Booker, was played by Gloria Blondell. After Paterson committed suicide in 1942, his friend Morse could not bear to recast the role and Reggie was written out of the series. In later shows, Jerry's role was increased, and she replaced Reggie.

Broadcast history
Sponsored by Fleischmann's Yeast, I Love a Mystery first aired on the NBC West Coast network from January 16 to September 29, 1939, weekdays at 3:15 p.m. Pacific time, and then moved to the full NBC network from October 2, 1939, to March 29, 1940, airing weeknights at 7:15 p.m.

In 1940, it expanded to 30-minute episodes from April 4 to June 27 on NBC Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. Continuing on the Blue Network from September 30, 1940, to June 29, 1942, it was heard Mondays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m.

Procter & Gamble (for Oxydol and Ivory Soap) replaced Fleishmann's Yeast as the sponsor in the series broadcast by CBS from March 22, 1943, to December 29, 1944, with 15-minute episodes heard weeknights at 7 p.m.

Revivals
After a four-year lapse, Jack, Reggie, and Doc returned in 1948 with a title change to I Love Adventure, broadcast on ABC from April 25 to July 18, 1948. It followed the post-war adventures of the trio who worked for the Twenty-One Old Men of 10 Gramercy Park in London, an extra-governmental organization of some power. I Love Adventure ran for 13 episodes.

A year later, I Love a Mystery was revived on the Mutual Broadcasting System, and the production relocated from Hollywood to New York. This series, which was sustaining, began October 3, 1949, and continued until December 26, 1952, with 15-minute episodes heard weeknights at 7 p.m. during 1949-1950 and then 10:15 p.m. from 1950 to 1952. The Mutual series recreated the original scripts written by Morse for the earlier NBC series.

Cast
The primary characters of I Love a Mystery and I Love Adventure were played by the following actors:
• Jack Packard:
o Michael Raffetto (1939–1942; 1948)
o John McIntire (1943–1944)
o Jay Novello (1943–1944)
o Russell Thorsen (1949–1952)
o Robert Dryden (1952)
• Doc Long:
o Barton Yarborough (1939–1944; 1948)
o Jim Boles (1949–1952)
• Reggie York:
o Walter Paterson (1939–1942)
o Tom Collins (1948)
o Tony Randall (1949–1952)
• Jerry Booker: Gloria Blondell (1942–1944)
•
Story situations and characters
Tough, charismatic group leader Jack is usually the first to figure solutions to the mysteries. Jack has more of an edge than the typical radio hero of the period. He distrusts the attractive women who always seem to show up, and he professes to dislike women in general. The series' writer claimed that Jack's problems with women had to do with his youth. He had gotten a girl pregnant and had to leave his home town in shame. This was only a back story detail and was never made explicit on the show. Doc and Reggie are slightly less edgy characters. The Texas-born Doc is a hard-fighting, boastful, high-spirited character who provides comic relief. Reggie, an Englishman noted for his great strength, however, usually shied away from the fairer sex.

Morse, regarded as one of the best writers in radio, took delight in creating vividly imagined settings for the show and elaborate, often bizarre and at times over-the-top plots. In a medium whose heroes tended to be serious and strait-laced, he created three who were wonderfully reckless and exuberant. Jack, Doc, and Reggie were more interested in the thrill of adventure than in righting wrongs. When they collected a fee, their only goal was to spend it as quickly as possible.