The Casebook of Gregory Hood
June 3, 1946 – October 15, 1949 · 54 broadcasts
The Casebook of Gregory Hood was radio's own gentleman detective -- a character invented for the microphone, not lifted from a novel, by the Sherlock Holmes writing team of Anthony Boucher and Denis Green. It arrived on Mutual in June 1946 as a summer stand-in for Petri Wine's Holmes, and kept the whole Petri formula: an announcer dropping by for a glass of wine and a story from the casebook. Hood is a San Francisco importer of rare and curious things -- a Nob Hill sophisticate, pianist, and self-taught criminologist modeled on the real-life dealer Richard Gump -- who finds a fresh murder hiding behind each treasure that passes through his hands, with his lawyer-sidekick Sanderson 'Sandy' Taylor at his side. Gale Gordon originated the role, Elliott Lewis carried it through the classic 1946-47 season, and Jackson Beck, Martin Gabel, Paul McGrath, and George Petrie took later runs on ABC. Of the whole 1946-1951 franchise, only about eighteen episodes survive -- nearly all from that first Mutual season, the truest expression of the show.
Episode Spine
Grouped by year. Jump to the full list below, or open a season on its own page.
1946
1947
1949
1950
The Casebook of Gregory Hood was radio's own gentleman detective -- a character invented for the microphone, not lifted from a novel, by the Sherlock Holmes writing team of Anthony Boucher and Denis Green. It arrived on Mutual in June 1946 as a summer stand-in for Petri Wine's Holmes, and kept the whole Petri formula: an announcer dropping by for a glass of wine and a story from the casebook. Hood is a San Francisco importer of rare and curious things -- a Nob Hill sophisticate, pianist, and self-taught criminologist modeled on the real-life dealer Richard Gump -- who finds a fresh murder hiding behind each treasure that passes through his hands, with his lawyer-sidekick Sanderson 'Sandy' Taylor at his side. Gale Gordon originated the role, Elliott Lewis carried it through the classic 1946-47 season, and Jackson Beck, Martin Gabel, Paul McGrath, and George Petrie took later runs on ABC. Of the whole 1946-1951 franchise, only about eighteen episodes survive -- nearly all from that first Mutual season, the truest expression of the show.