The Voice on the Wire
by Eustace Hale Ball
"Now for a little laboratory work on the wherefore of the why!"
These words are spoken by Montague Shirley, yet another "scientific detective" from the teens of the last century.
Wealthy old men are being murdered mysteriously and it is up to Monty Shirley to apprehend the culprit responsible and save the names and reputations of the innocent.
Along the way he cracks secret codes, discovers the trick behind "the voice" on the telephone wire and somehow uses motion picture devices to record visually record voice patterns.
He also patiently explains to his heroine what he slips into the handkerchiefs of notorious henchmen with vintage dialogue:
'Her eyes sparkled , as she said "Ah, those symptoms resemble the ones you told me which came from that amo-amas-amat-citron, or whatever it was." '
"Not quite such a loving lemon, Miss Marigold", he chuckled. "Amyl nitrate."
This was written in 1915 and serialized in 1917. From what I can make out from reference books like Walt Lee's and Don Willis' and other sources more occult/horror elements were wove into the episodes (mummification, limb transplants, disembodied hands, etc.)
The Voice on the Wire piqued my interest because it featured the serial team of Ben Wilson and Neva Gerber (it also had Noble Johnson in, I guess, a bit part). The Wilson / Gerber team also did other marginal s.f. serials such as The Mystery Ship (1917), The Branded Four (1920), The Screaming Shadow (1920), The Power God (1925) and Officer 444 (1927).
I've seen the last two. Both apparently feature the duo past their prime. The Power God is pretty low budget (it looks like they used an old shoe box for the energy generator; when they use it black and white strobe lights appear). Officer 444 does not have as intriguing a title but is somewhat livlier although the characters are even weaker.
The Voice on the Wire is lost. The Branded Four is gone. Other Wilson / Gerber serials (such as the Screaming Shadow) have only a few chapters extant and even then they're not readily accessible to the public. So it seems, one of the only complete tastes to be had of this film duo's early work might be the book I just read.
written: 5/1/2002