Charlie Chan and the Unsolved Cleveland Caper!

(HAPPY 141st BIRTHDAY EARL – August 26th, 1884)

What’s that you say! Did Charlie Chan really investigate a mystery in Cleveland, Ohio? Cleveland, where his creator Author Earl Derr Biggers once worked as a night crime reporter on Cleveland’s newspaper, The Plain Dealer. Cleveland an hour’s drive from Warren, Ohio, where Biggers was born and went to High School. Well…maybe?

Unfortunately that’s all we know about it. Below is an excerpt taken from the 1944 film, Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat. In the film, while in San Francisco just wrapping up a case, Charlie decides to help the step-daughter of a murdered man look into this unsolved crime. However, he first emphasizes:

“Well, I just finished government business here. I must leave for Cleveland 48 hours from midnight tonight.”

Charlie Chan, The Chinese Cat (1944)

So why was Charlie headed to Cleveland, Ohio? I’m sure he meant Cleveland, Ohio and not one of the other 27 cities named “Cleveland” in the USA, or 3 in the United Kingdom, or 2 in Australia. What? I thought everybody new that! Check it out HERE.

And you should know this isn’t the only “undiscovered caper” Detective Chan supposedly investigated. Here they are, although they came from Hollywood script writers and not (unfortunately) from inside any of the six Chan novels by Author Earl Derr Biggers:

1. The Martin Case – (C.C. in London); Sir Lionel Bashford, “…no other detective in the world could have solved it.”
2. The Barstow Case – (C.C. in London); Miss Judson, “Was that the Chinese Detective that caught Barstow in Honolulu and brought him back here?” Kemp, “Yes, a wonderful piece of detective work.”
3. Shanghai, 1937 – (The Shanghai Cobra); Charlie Chan, “Eight years ago in Shanghai, China, I arrest a man named Jan Van Horn for bank robbery and murder by cobra bite.”
4. Singapore 1939 – (The Scarlet Clue); Charlie Chan, “I arrest you six years ago in Singapore, remember?” Cooper, “Yeah, I remember.” 
5. Honduras 1939 – (The Red Dragon); Charlie Chan to Insp. Carvero, “Four years ago in Honduras, when we work together to assist British Government in Honduras.”
6. Cleveland 1944 – (The Chinese Cat); (our quote above) Charlie Chan states, “Well, I just finished government business here. I must leave for Cleveland 48 hours from midnight tonight.”

In 1941, with the onslaught of the Pearl Harbor attack and America’s official entry into WWII, the fictional Detective Charlie Chan began working for the U.S. Government on many cases. This was done purposely: first, to distance him from the already Anti-Chinese Semitism that existed in the U.S. and second, to side-step the increasing Anti-Asian Semitism from the war–especially towards Japan. So Charlie began assisting America and it’s allies with the war effort, and Hollywood began (tried) distancing him as much as possible from his Asian counterparts.

But why did Hollywood decide to send Charlie on his way to Cleveland? Three events/locations suggest what may have brought Charlie from San Francisco, California to Cleveland, Ohio in 1944 (after solving The Chinese Cat case in only 48 hours):

First, The Kingsbury Run (Torso) Murders (Unsolved.) Between 1935 and 1938, a serial killer murdered and dismembered at least 12 victims: all of them decapitated-most while they were still alive. Then, Safety Director Elliot Ness had oversight of the police force in charge of the investigation. However, with it still unsolved, he headed off to Washington D.C. to work for the federal government. To this date the killer is officially – unidentified. Yet researchers are quite certain they know who committed these horrible crimes. (Did Charlie perhaps head to Cleveland to “carry on” and unofficially solve the case?)

Second, The Cleveland Bomber Plant (1942.) Built in 1942 on 400 acres adjacent to Cleveland’s Airport, it was known through most of its history as The Cleveland Tank Plant. Owned by the War Department during World War II, the facility was operated by General Motors as the Fisher Body Aircraft Plant No. 2 and made the B-29 bomber. In its heyday, the plant employed 15,000 workers, many of whom lived in housing projects close by and rode to work in a Cleveland Transit System bus dubbed the “Bomber Bus.” (Might not enemy agents have tried to infiltrate and sabotage the plant?)

Third, The East Ohio Gas Company Explosion (October 20, 1944.) On the afternoon of October 20, 1944, disaster struck Cleveland. An explosion at the East Ohio Gas Company complex near East 55th and St. Clair Avenue killed over 160 people, severely injured hundreds more and demolished an entire neighborhood. Cleveland Police quickly responded to the devastating scene, and the fire burned continuously for two days. (Accident or deliberate? What cause this massive explosion and could it have been meant to target certain individuals?)

Of the above, my guess would be Uncle Sam sent Charlie to Cleveland to investigate a combination of the Bomber Plant and The Gas Explosion (the motive and the crime.) Who knows what agents from the “Axis of Evil” were planning to sabotage the Allies and our war efforts by undermining the Cleveland plant! And perhaps the gas company explosion somehow tied into the plant and it’s operations? (Some author might make something of that.)

Now, someone please help Charlie finish those unsolved cases from film? I stand ready to assist here in Cleveland, should it bring our favorite detective to C-Town.

(P.S. Now where the heck did I put that tin sheriff’s badge and my official U.N.C.L.E Agent card?)

“To dig up the tree, we must start with the root”

The Black Camel (1929), Chapter 6