Wichita, Egypt  

One of Kathleen Hite's first blips on the radio radar, 
"The Man From Cairo" (January 1, 1950), 
is an adaptation 'from a story by' her. 
It is an episode of Rocky Jordan, an early 50s regrouping 
of elements that had earlier coalesced in the middle 40s 
as A Man Named Jordan, and cannot seem to be anything else 
but appropriated from Casablanca (1942). 

Before Gunsmoke, radio had teemed 
with private dicks and eyes and semi-shami. 
There were 'The Adventures Of' quite a many, 
those still recognizable in our times being 
Harry Nile, Nero Wolfe, Philip Marlowe, Raffles, 
Sam Spade, The Falcon, The Lone Wolf, The Saint, 
The Thin Man, et cetera into the noir. 
Even Frank Sinatra did not miss the beat, 
and played Rocky Fortune. 
Kathleen Hite herself had her earliest steady gig with some 
of the nascent Gunsmoke crew on The Adventures of Philip Marlowe. 
Eventually, radio actors evolved a generic voice and delivery 
for these radio dial detectives, which was something of a blend 
of the aural qualities of all movie tough guys, 
especially that of Dick Powell, who had played a few 
of his above-mentioned namesakes on radio, 
but most notably Richard Rogue & Diamond. 

Considering the Hite connection, Rocky Jordan takes on 
an eerily prophetic significance:  Actor Jack Moyles' voice 
had not yet the maturity and texture it was to have years later 
when he would become a regular in Fort Laramie 
and a guest on Gunsmoke; 
had CBS radio execs keyed on this, 
their dirty deed might have remotely approached validity; 
but Moyles had done justice to the Rocky role for years, 
and replacing him with George Raft was a nasty piece of work, 
one which portended the stumbling & bumbling & dumbling 
of CBS tv execs when it came to their handling of Norman Macdonnell 
from start to finish. 
(Rejecting Conrad at least could be said to make sense, 
in terms of visuals.) 

Speaking of dicks, Rocky Jordan of all these detectives 
deserved the prefix The Adventures of. 
After all, it was Rocky who had Escaped the glassed offices 
and brick buildings and urban blocks of the genre's Bogarts; 
it was set in Istanbul and then Cairo, 
whose radio streets and shops swarmed with spice and swami. 
But Rocky never received the attachment. 

Not quite a Dick but something of a Rick, 
Rocky owned an establishment in the middle of all this East. 
The intro says the Cafe Tambourine is 'crowded with forgotten men, 
alive with the babble of many languages.' 
However, Cliff Howell being the producer, it doesn't resound 
with the patented Macdonnell smoky-rowdy room pattern 
that is always punctuated by a cackling saloon girl. 
But why crave the crowd, when there are accents aplenty 
like character Tara Fendal's, who speaks of a 'koktel loung?' 
The performance to enjoy here is that of Jay Novello's, 
whose Capt. Sabaaya--unlike Novello's mousey appearances in film-- 
assumes great dignity and authority. 

So just how much Kathleen Hite is there in an episode 
for which she only provided the story? 
If Hite had a weakness, it was in the writing of exotica and thrillers. 
Ponder the irony then, in the intrusion into this Escapist setting, 
of a typical American tourist, a midwesterner-- 
not from Wichita, Kansas, mind you, but Cairo, Illinois-- 
who after a few days in country 
has pronounced Cairo, Egypt to be 'highly over-rated.' 
Millard T. Simpson (wonderfully played by Parley Baer), 
lugging 'expensive camera equipment that set me back $498,' 
has not found 'Oriental intrigue,' not met the excitement, 
the danger, the dark adventure you read about.' 
In his disappointment, he is no longer able to believe 
intrigue, danger, and adventure, when they do appear. 
He thinks Rocky is staging them, just as dime novel-reading cowboys 
used to make pretend for passing Easterners, 
in order to give substance to the myth glorifying them. 
Hite may not have crafted the scenes & lines & words 
of "The Man from Cairo," but into this world 
of suspense & the bizarre in which she did not excel, 
she threw something of an absurd anti-Escapist monkey wrench-- 
this midwesterner just like herself. 
Why, Millard T. Simpson even rescues Rocky Jordan! 
(Jordan, by the way, is a river--not a crick in Kansas.) 


May 27, 2006 


Copyright © 2006-2011 E. A. Villafranca, Jr. 
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