 The Blue Beetle follows the exploits of Dan Garrett, a rookie patrolman who, by wearing bullet-proof blue chain mail, transforms himself into the mysterious Blue Beetle, a daring crusader for justice. After his father was killed by a gangster's bullet, young Dan Garrett joined the New York Police Department, but soon tired of the slow pace and red tape of police work. With the help of his friend and mentor, drugstore proprietor Dr. Franz, Garrett acquired a costume of bullet-proof chain mail-like cellulose material and began a second life fighting crime as the Blue Beetle. Garrett's calling card was a small, beetle-shaped marker that he left in conspicuous places to alert criminals of his presence, using their fear of his crime-fighting reputation as a weapon against them. For this purpose he also used a Beetle signal flashlight. The Blue Beetle's reputation was not his only weapon, however. He carried a revolver in a blue holster on his belt and was sometimes shown wearing a multi-pouch belt after the style set by Batman. Also in the Batman vein, the Blue Beetle had a Beetlemobile car and a Beetlebird airplane. In at least one radio adventure, he carried something called a magic ray machine. The ray machine was a sort of super scientific cutting device. The Blue Beetle was created by Charles Nicholas. The character made his first appearance in August 1939 in the comic book Mystery Men No. 1 published by Fox Features Syndicate. A newspaper strip of the Blue Beetle's adventures appeared in early 1940. The Blue Beetle radio program aired as early as April 30, 1940 in the Durham, North Carolina market and a variety article indicates that a total of 27 half-hour adventures were produced. The show sometimes aired in 15-minute segments and sometimes in 30-minute segments depending upon the station, so the total number of episodes existing in collector's circles is either 24 or 48 depending upon their length. Actor Frank Lovejoy provided the voice of the Blue Beetle for the first 13 episodes. Later episodes were uncredited. Virginia Coyle was credited in one newspaper as playing Helen Downey. And Charles Nicholas, who created the Blue Beetle character, was identified in numerous articles as writing the radio scripts. The Blue Beetle ran as a syndicated show across many stations during 1940 and 1941. Newspaper listings indicate that interest in the show cooled in subsequent years, but it could still be found on the air as late as 1946. Information for the synopsis was provided by Roger Hoenbrink with updates and edits by Ryan Ellett. For old-time radio researchers, I'm your announcer, Patrick André. Enjoy the show.