Hildegarde Withers

Thanks to TracyK of Bitter Tea and Mystery for spotting that, following the recent Mysterious Press release of Stuart Palmer’s Hildegarde Withers novels, Warner Bros have brought out the films as print-on-demand DVDs (but only if you are in the US).

Here’s their blurb:

Stuart Palmer’s immortal crime-solving school teacher Hildegarde Withers came to the screen courtesy of a series of mysteries from RKO Pictures. Memorably played by character great Edna May Oliver in three features, Hildegarde was ably paired with her flirty foil of Inspector Piper in the person of James Gleason. Gleason would go on to anchor the series, appearing in all six, alongside Helen Broderick for one and Zasu Pitts for the final two.

Far more entertainingly, TCM has the (fairly quirky) trailer for the first movie, The Penguin Pool Murder (1932), on their site – ‘the police look like a bunch of pansies’.

There’s an interesting perspective on the movie at a blog called Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York, which celebrates the old New York City Aquarium where it was shot.

And of course, not to put anybody out of business, the films can also be found on YouTube…