THE SAINT

       When the Saint is first introduced to the reading populace, he was 27. Since this took place in 1928, it stands to reason that he was born on or about 1901. When the Second World War began and Templar went into action helping the West's Intelligence branches fight the Nazis in his own way, he would have been in his mid to late 40's. Twenty years later he was still going strong and still fighting with the best of them and still charming the ladies with ease. Obviously his life-cycle did not coincide with the rest of the world.
       It didn't matter then and still doesn't. Each book should be read on its own with the actions and situations understood for that book and if, thirty books and fifty years later, he is still fairly young and full of life and not a gray hair on his head, who cares. It is the Saint. The Saint should never grow old.

       Leslie Charteris apparently did not initially intend the Saint to be a series character. At the end of the first book, it seemed as though he had had his last hurrah and was ready to settle down at the age of 27.
       Luckily, neither Charteris nor Templar let that go on very long. When the Saint came back, he was even flashier than before, a tad more energetic even and surrounded by like-minded fellows to help him out. Over the next few years, the playmates, including the delicious Miss Holm, might or might not be around. If they were, great. If not, he still had fun.
       As the second decade of his escapades came to us, the fellow "saints" would be gone except for a very rare appearance. Patricia Holm was still there once in a while but their relationship had to have been an interesting one for Templar's appreciation for the fairer sex never wavers. It seems obvious that to the author, having a steady love interest for Templar was not in the cards as it would slow down the story too often or make some adventures impossible. It is hard for a lady in distress to fall into his arms when he is holding someone else's hand. So Miss Holm just faded from the pages.

       Through the 30s, 40s, 50s, and some of the 60, Charteris gave the world a wide range of exciting tales of the Saint as he moved all over the world and took part in an amazing number of terrific shenanigans. Eventually, the pen of the author decided enough was enough. But the Saint still had too much energy to retire and the author opened up the field to other writers.
       Their tales, though, would largely be reproductions of adventures depicted in the television series. Most of the episodes on the show were adaptations from Charteris's short stories and novellas. A few, though, were original screenplays and it was those original works that got the novelization treatment. Ten years after the Roger Moore version stopped production, the Ian Ogilvy version of the Saint came to the screen and it, too, produced numerous tales that got novelized. A couple of the last books to be published, originals, took us back in time to the earlier days of Templar's activities.

       Regardless of the decade in which the story was written, the tales are great fun and well worth the time.

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       It took the movie industry nearly a decade to realize the potential of the Saint on the big screen but once they did, they had a field day. Eight movies came out in the course of 5 years. Not every film had the same actor portray the Saint with three different people in the starring role.
       Louis Hayward was the first but George Sanders really took over, making 5 Saint films. Hugh Sinclair got a couple in, mixed in with Sanders enough to get rather confusing. Then a 10-year gap took place before Hayward would bring him back for one more adventure.
       Fifteen years would pass before the big screen would host the Saint and even then it would be as amalgams of the television series pieced together to make a long tale, usually a two-part episode merged into one. Two would star Roger Moore and one would have Ian Ogilvy.
       Letting another ten years go by, the Saint again appears in movie format, albeit made-for-tv movies starring Simon Dutton as Templar. These original tales did not get the novelization treatment they deserved.

       Mention has to be made of the Val Kilmer movie, The Saint, even though the character was most definitely not Simon Templar, use of that name by him notwithstanding. It was a terrifically entertaining action flick that I watched several times but it was NOT Simon Templar, the Saint.

       As popular as Simon Templar had to have been to keep the magazines clamouring for more adventures, it could not have come close to the incredible popularity that would grace the Saint once his tales made the small screen under the terrific handling of the ever-sophisticated but also playful Roger Moore. The panache he showed with his mischievous grin and slight tilt of his head over something oddly ironic was matched by the swiftness and ferocity he could show when laying into one of the ungodly. It ran for 6 seasons.
       Clearly, Moore gave to Templar the same vitality, perhaps even more so, than he would a few years later for James Bond. But for me, while I enjoyed the Bond films that Sir Roger made, I will always appreciate him even more for Simon Templar.

       Ten years after the Moore era, The Return of the Saint came to the small screen in England with young, incredibly handsome Ian Ogilvy as Templar. The series did not catch the attention of the public as it deserved and it lasted just one season, which is a shame because Ogilvy did a terrific job and the episodes definitely do justice to the legend.

       Fast forward nearly another decade and a pilot for a possible new series was made with Andrew Clarke as Templar. It ran as part of CBS's Playhouse. It did not get picked up.

       Two years later, another incarnation of the Saint appeared with several episodes starring Simon Dutton as Templar. It also did not make it past the first year.

       Jump ahead two decades and another attempt for a television series. Adam Rayner played the Saint and veteran actress Eliza Dushku appeared as Patricia Holm. It did not take either.

       Several comics were written about the Saint over the years. The ones I know about are listed here.
       The first illustrated Saint story was an adaptation of a Saint movie starring George Sanders. It was released by the very new comic publisher Detective Comics, which would become DC.
       A couple of years later, a possibly short-lived New Friday Publications, under the banner of Comic House, had an anthology magazine called Silver Streak. The contents of the comic changed quite a bit over the couple of years it was around. Four of those issues contained original Saint stories penned by Leslie Charteris and recounting what the Saint did to help the war effort behind enemy lines.
       Avon Comics released 12 issues over a 4-year period. Each issue had one or more Saint stories and other tales as well, as was common back then.
       British publisher Fleetway put out a series of adventures of numerous characters, first in its Thriller Comics and then in its Super-Detective Library comic, apparently illustrated versions of previously released stories. One of the former and eight of the latter issues dealt with the Saint although I have not yet figured out what stories they connect with.
       In recent years, at least one graphic novel and one lone comic book was released by Moonstone.

       The exact number of strips is not known to me at this time though a fellow fan has told me there were 46 arcs. The comics were syndicated by the New York Herald Tribune to papers all over the world. My source has told me that the strips started weekdays on September 27, 1948 with a Sunday edition being added March 20th, 1949. They would last until September 16, 1961.
       The artists who provided the images were Mike Roy, John Spranger, Bob Lubbers, and Doug Wildey.
       There was a preliminary strip put out before the main run started, drawn by Lew Schwartz, which I have numbered 0.5.

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