Boston Blackie is a fictional character created by author Jack Boyle (1881–1928). Blackie was originally depicted as a jewel thief and safecracker in Boyle's stories, and became a private detective in adaptations for films, radio and television where he was described as an "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend."
Actor Chester Morris played the character in 14 Columbia Pictures films (1941–1949) and in a 1944 NBC radio series.
Jack Boyle
Writer Jack Boyle was born in Oakland, California, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. While working as a newspaper editor in San Francisco, he became an opium addict and was drawn into crime to support his habit. He was sent to San Quentin for writing bad checks. Later convicted of robbery in Denver, Colorado, Boyle was serving time at the Colorado State Penitentiary when he created the character of Boston Blackie.
Books
The first four stories appeared in The American Magazine in 1914, with Boyle writing under the pen name "No. 6606". From 1917 to 1919, Boston Blackie stories appeared in The Red Book magazine, and from 1918 they were adapted for motion pictures.
When Boston Blackie began to find success on the screen, Boyle edited the Red Book magazine stories into a book, Boston Blackie (1919). He revised and rearranged the order of the stories to create a cohesive narrative—a common practice at the time known in publishing as a fixup. This was the only appearance of Boston Blackie in book form, but his adventures continued to appear in periodicals.
Short stories
thumb|right|First edition of the short story collection Boston Blackie (1919)
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Publisher
! class="unsortable" | Publication date
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1914
| ""
| '
| July 1914
| As No. 6606
|-
| 1914
| ""
| '
| August 1914
| As No. 6606
|-
| 1914
| "Death Cell Visions"
| '
| September 1914
| As No. 6606
|-
| 1914
| ""
| '
| October 1914
| As No. 6606
|-
| 1917
| "Boston Blackie's Mary"
| '
| November 1917
|
|-
| 1917
| ""
| '
| December 1917
|
|-
| 1918
| ""
| '
| October 1918
|
|-
| 1919
| ""
| Cosmopolitan
| June 1919
|
|-
| 1919
| "Alias Prince Charming"
| Cosmopolitan
| July 1919
|
|-
| 1919
| "Black Dan"
| Cosmopolitan
| October 1919
|
|-
| 1919
| ""
| Cosmopolitan
| November 1919
|
|-
| 1920
| "Grandad's Girl"
| Cosmopolitan
| March 1920
|
|-
| 1920
| ""
| Cosmopolitan
| May 1920
|
|-
| 1920
| ""
| Cosmopolitan
| October 1920
|
|-
| 1920
| "Boomerang Bill"
| Cosmopolitan
| December 1920
|
|}
Films
thumb|left|[[Rhea Mitchell (Mary) and Bert Lytell (Boston Blackie) in Boston Blackie's Little Pal (1918), a lost film]]
The earliest Boston Blackie film adaptations were silent, dating from 1918 to 1927. Columbia Pictures revived the property in 1941 with Meet Boston Blackie, a fast, 58-minute B movie starring Chester Morris. Although the running time was brief, Columbia gave the picture good production values and an imaginative director, Robert Florey. The film was successful, and a series followed.
In the Columbia features, Boston Blackie is a reformed jewel thief who is always suspected when a daring crime is committed. In order to clear himself, he investigates personally and brings the actual culprit to justice, sometimes using disguises. An undercurrent of comedy runs throughout the action/detective series.
In one of these films, After Midnight with Boston Blackie, the character's real name was revealed to be Horatio Black.
Morris gave the Blackie character his own personal charm: he could be light and flippant or stern and dangerous, as the situation demanded. His sidekick, the Runt, was always on hand to help his old friend. George E. Stone played Runt in all but the first and last films. Charles Wagenheim and Sid Tomack, respectively, substituted for Stone when he was not available.
thumb|right|[[Chester Morris as Blackie in the Columbia film series]]
Blackie's friendly adversaries were Inspector Farraday