The Nimble Fingers of Boston Blackie

The Nimble Fingers of Boston Blackie
By Jeff Baker

Boston Blackie character history

He is a man of honor, in his own way. He acts to protect the innocent, he repairs a broken marriage, he saves a man from death at the gallows. He is a loyal and loving husband to his wife and partner Mary. He is what was once quaintly called “a good provider.”

And yes, he’s a crook. A professional safecracker, one who has captured the imagination of lovers of crime and mystery for a century. He is the legendary Boston Blackie. And while his name is still known and he has been portrayed in movies, television and radio for nearly as long as he has been in print, his other appearances are in a version that makes him more of a crime-solver interested in justice than a daring rogue interested only in the diamonds in the darkened study behind a combination lock. The story behind Boston Blackie’s origins is just as dramatic as the fiction itself.

Jack Boyle and the first stories

Boston Blackie first appeared in a series of magazine stories by a writer named Jack Boyle, beginning in 1914. In the introduction to the only book of the stories (“Boston Blackie,” done up as a novel in 1919) Boyle claims to have met the real-life model for the character in a San Francisco park in the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. How much of that is true we can only guess, but San Francisco reporter Boyle had gotten himself addicted to drugs, leading to committing robbery and burglary which landed Boyle in San Quentin where he met plenty of small and big-time criminals who probably could have provided inspiration. Indeed, the first four stories were published as by “No. 6066.” (Boyle later proudly claimed authorship.) Following the book’s publication, Boyle published a handful of other stories about Blackie which have not been collected together.

Why was he called Boston Blackie?

Boston Blackie was not the first nor the last of the fictional crooks who sometimes dispense justice; the likes of Nick Velvet, Bernie Rhodenbarr and Simon Templar are his fictional kin. The name Boston Blackie stuck as a memorable alias Boston Blackie, a label that fit his hard-boiled charm and his reputation as a safecracker with a conscience. Blackie has not been forgotten; a recent pair of graphic novels featured new adventures of the unforgettable master safecracker and detective.

Boston Blackie in radio and film

Blackie became even better known through film and radio, with Chester Morris starring in the popular movie series and George E. Stone as his sidekick The Runt. On radio, Richard Kollmar and Richard Lane played Boston Blackie in the Boston Blackie radio series, helping turn him into a fast-talking detective figure who could outwit crooks and police alike. The character later made the jump to television with Kent Taylor in a prime time network TV show, bringing Boston Blackie to a new audience in the 1950s.

Inspector Farraday, Mary Wesley, and the supporting cast

Across these adaptations, Boston Blackie was often paired with familiar allies and adversaries, including Inspector Farraday, Whitey, and Mary Wesley. Depending on the version, the world around Blackie shifted from state pen escape stories to lighter mystery adventures set in Los Angeles, but the core appeal stayed the same: a jewel thief with a code, always one step ahead.

Boston Blackie on television

The TV show kept the character’s mix of danger and wit intact, even as the stories became more compact for the small screen. For many viewers, this was the version that fixed Boston Blackie in memory: a slick, resourceful crime-fighter with a shady past and a knack for getting out of trouble.

Boston Blackie is among the literary immortals, but Jack Boyle was not as lucky. He was not even fifty years old when he died in 1928. What happened, we do not know: there is more information available about the Loch Ness Monster than there is about Blackie’s creator. The stories he wrote remain thrilling and quirky with the feel that they are being told under the flicker of early electric lights.

Today, Boston Blackie still endures as a rare blend of mystery, crime, and comic swagger—a safecracker who became a detective hero without ever losing the edge that made him memorable.