CANDY MATSON—SAN FRANCISCO SLEUTHETTE EXTRAORDINAIRE

DURING THE GOLD AGE OF RADIO, a number of sleuths were Californians. Sam Spade’s encounters with Casper Gutman were in San Francisco, indeed twice: with the Maltese Falcon and the Kandy Tooth. Philip Marlowe was Los Angeles-based (though, mistakenly?, he’s heard briefly in the City of the Golden Gate early on in Spade’s Kandy Tooth Caper). Pete Novak had his boat rental business along the Embarcadero, though he stumbled, metaphor-rich, into his share of sleuthing as well. 

And then there was Candy Matson, easily imagined as a honey-voiced leggy blonde with a wry sense of humor and a penthouse on Telegraph Hill. Her adventures were on NBC West Coast only briefly, from June 29, 1949, to May 20, 1951. But, as Wikipedia notes, Candy was a “striking female character ‘without a trace of squeamishness.’ ”  Her best friend, Rembrandt Watson, was an arty veiled gay character; her love interest was police detective Ray Mallard, whose homicide beat got her involved in sleuthing throughout the Bay area. 

Here are tidbits about this San Francisco sleuthette extraordinaire, her radio adventure “Candy Matson, YUkon 2-8209,” and also the backstory of her portrayer Natalie Parks, which in a sense is as intimate as Candy’s. 

Natalie’s Husband Monty. Monty Masters, 1912-1969, is remembered at IMBd as an assistant director and actor. He and Natalie were working in San Francisco when he felt there was room for another male radio sleuth. Natalie’s mother thought otherwise and she persuaded Monty to change the lead to a female, conveniently enough portrayed by Natalie.

Monty and Natalia Masters. Image from archive.org.

Familial matters were enhanced by assigning the Rembrandt Watson role to Jack Thomas, who was Natalie’s real-life uncle. There’s no indication that Henry Leff, who portrayed Candy’s love interest Detective Mallard, had any familial relationship. 

But, wait, wedding bells are to reappear in our tale.

Candy Matson Success.  “In addition to the show being set in San Francisco,” Wikipedia notes that it was produced at San Francisco Radio City, NBC’s “million-dollar, modern, streamlined and air-conditioned building,” as described by John Schneider’s “Voices Out of the Fog.”

NBC Radio City, Taylor & O’Farrell Streets, San Francisco, May 1942. Image from bayarearadio.org.

About half way through its run, in 1950 the program garnered the San Francisco Examiner’s Favorite Program Award. Wikipedia describes the results of a Candy cliffhanger: “The aftermath of a 1950 episode illustrated the program’s popularity. A newspaper story related: ‘It seems that during the closing moments of the last Monday’s sequence, Candy is in an aircraft repeating the “Twenty-third Psalm” as the plane crashes into a lake. At that point the show ends. And at that point the switchboard at Radio City started lighting up like a Christmas tree. More than 800 calls were received shortly after the program signed off. All of them wondering what happened to their heroine.’ ” 

Of course, Candy survived in venues as varied as San Juan Bautista (with plenty of historical info), Ford Ord (with soldier pals), and San Francisco itself (“The Cable Car Chase” and others).

Here are the 14 episodes existing of the original 92. Image from tangentonline.com.

The Matson Mode. In his On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, John Dunning cites her description: “Figure?… she takes up where Miss America leaves off. Clothes?… she makes a peasant dress look like the opening night at the opera. Hair?… blond, of course, and eyes—just the right shade of blue to match the hair.”

Candy’s relationship with Detective Mallard was a complex one: They were evidently pals cooperating, though she usually outwitted him. She certainly liked him; did he reciprocate?

A Tidy Wrapup. Despite its success, the program continued on “sustaining” basis, i.e., without regular sponsor. When it came time to wrap up the series, Monte and Natalie acted adroitly: Detective Mallard finally proposed to Candy and San Francisco’s sleuthette extraordinaire retired. ds

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023