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Glossary and Character Taxonomy  Breakdown by Country of Origin   Bibliography   Table of Contents    The Best of the Encyclopedia

Jack, Doc and Reggie. Jack, Doc and Reggie were created by Carlton E. Morse (Captain Bart Friday) and appeared in the radio show I Love A Mystery (1939-1952); the trio appeared in three movies in 1945, 1946, and 1947.

“Jack” is Jack Packard, a two-fisted, somewhat misogynistic adventurer. He is a deadpan former medical student who refuses to believe in anything supernatural, instead always searching for a logical answer. He is also the strategist of the trio. He has only distaste for women; he once got a girl in trouble and swore off women after that. “Doc” is Doc Long, a tall Texan with a taste for the ladies, an ability to pick locks, a surprising amount of naivety, and a love for fights. Doc is a good poker player with a deep Panhandle drawl. And “Reggie” is Reggie York, a sophisticated and chivalrous Englishman who, like Doc, has a taste for rough-and-tumble fighting. Reggie is the strongest, physically, of the three.

The three men met in China, where they helped the Chinese fight against the Japanese invaders. When they returned to the States they moved to Los Angeles and formed the Triple A-1 Detective Agency. Their motto: "No job too tough, no mystery too baffling.” Their office is off of Hollywood Boulevard. Their clients are inevitably being plagued by criminals posing as werewolves, vampires, ghosts, representatives of Lost Races, High Priests of Temples of Jaguars, and the like. Serving their clients sends Jack, Doc and Reggie around the world, from Nevadan ghost towns to the vampire-infested jungles of Nicaragua. In their most famous adventure the trio travel up the Orinoco River in Venezuela, and after fighting their way through "prehistoric flying reptiles" and being forced down into the jungle they make it to a 9,000 foot high, 400 square mile plateau (based on the Roraima plateau) where "the birds are not quite birds and the animals are not quite animals and even some of the trees look as if they are wearing human skin instead of bark." The plateau is full of dinosaurs and other creations of delayed evolution.

When Doc or Reggie or both aren't available Jack is helped by, variously, Michael (a Frenchman with an uncanny aural resemblance to Peter Lorre, although with better manners than Lorre's characters usually had), Terry Burke (a stereotypical Irishman), or Swen (a stereotypical Swede). They are assisted by Jerri Brooker and Mary Kay Brown, their secretaries.

* I'm including I Love A Mystery in the Best of the Encyclopedia category because the program was the height of fun for thirteen years. Really, as far as pulpy radio adventure programs, you couldn't beat I Love A Mystery. It had enjoyable characters, fantastic (and fantastika) stories, enough-but-not-too-much action, fun dialogue--I Love A Mystery was a blast. 

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