Keeper of the Keys
(1932) was the last Charlie Chan mystery written by Earl Derr Biggers and the only Chan story not to be made into a Hollywood
movie.
But it was made into a 1933 Broadway
play, site of another Chan mystery in 1939 . . . Charlie Chan on Broadway.
Sigourney Thayer produced the play
at the Fulton Theatre in New York. The script was written by Valentine Davies and based on Derr
Biggers' novel. Staging was by Donald Oenslager.
The play opened on October 18, 1933,
for 23 performances through November, 1933, with the setting at Dudley Ward's hunting lodge at Pineview, Lake Tahoe.
The opening night cast included:
Roberta Beatty as Ellen Landini
Romaine Callendar as Dr. Frederick Swan
Aristides de Leoni as Luis Romano
Ruth Easton as Kathleen Ireland
Dwight Frye as Ah Sing
William Harrigan as Inspector Charlie Chan
Robert Lynn as Michael Ireland
Warren Parker as Cash Shannon
Roy Roberts as Don Holt
Howard St. John as John Ryder
Elwood K. Thomas as Seth Leahy
Fleming Ward as Dudley Ward
