I recall listening to Martin Kane Private Eye on radio back about 1949. It was on late Sunday afternoons, about 4:30 p.m on Mutual after Nick Carter and before the Shadow. The irony of old time radio was that they had a lot of detective and crime shows on Sunday, when you would have thought people would have objected to the violence. Nevertheless, radio drama being what it was, it did not cross over the boundaries of good taste. I recalled that Martin Kane was sponsored by a pipe tobacco, but could never recall the name. A check in John Dunning's Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio only gave U.S. Tobacco as the sponsor. After some diligent checking, I found it was Old Briar Pipe Tobacco and recalled William Gargan smoking a pipe in magazine ads as well as on television. Apparently, there were other tobacco products that sponsored the show (Sano Cigarettes, etc.) but my recollection of Gargan was that he usually had a pipe in his mouth. Ironically, his tobacco addiction led to his cancer and made him an early spokesman against smoking.
Review of Martin Kane
