form y separately published work icon The Ashley Kidnapping Affair single work   radio play   crime  
Note: Probably Ron Ingleby, but not confirmed.
Issue Details: First known date: 1950... 1950 The Ashley Kidnapping Affair
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'LARRY KENT, U.S. private investigator, operating in Australia, takes a milk-shake on a wet night in an amusement arcade. He is spoken to by a stranger, who gives him a package, saying: “You’ll deliver, won’t you?’’ “I always deliver,” replies Kent, and takes the package home to find it contains £50,000.

'He hides it and goes back to the city, where he is accosted by a man not unlike himself and dressed similarly. This man, who is one of a band of kidnappers, demands the parcel handed to Larry Kent by mistake. There is a fight, during which the gangster is knocked out.

'The £50,000 was ransom money for Sir John Ashley’s son, who has been kidnapped. A plan is arranged through which it is hoped to recover the child unharmed.

'Kent meets the head of the kidnapping gang, and the play works excitingly and tensely to a satisfactory conclusion.'

Source: 'Commercial Radio Plays of the Week', ABC Weekly, 22 April 1950, p. 27.

Production Details

  • Broadcast on 2UE on Wednesday 24 April 1950, from 8:30pm.

    Cast: Ken Wayne (Larry Kent), with Kevin Brennan, Norton Howarth, Edward Smith, Betty Dickson, Jack Raine, and Bonita Harvey.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: 2UE , 1950 .
      Series: form y separately published work icon I Hate Crime Larry Kent : I Hate Crime; Rola Show : Larry Kent Ron Ingleby , Sydney : Macquarie Network Radio 2UE Sydney Ltd , Z1750974 1949 series - publisher radio play detective

      'Larry Kent is a crime investigator. As a newspaperman in New York, he becomes interested in crime detection and sets up in business in Australia. He has a nose for danger and a habit of playing hunches. A light touch to offset the serious theme of the plays is his eye for a pretty figure, and a favourite occupation of, as he puts it, "Watching the blondes go by" (Australian Radio Series 1930s - 1970s, p.99)

Last amended 14 Jul 2020 11:03:30
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