The 2012 International Mystery Writers Festival Honors FALK & COLUMBO

Falk, Columbo to be remembered at Mystery Festival

Thanks to Beth Wilberding, Messenger-Inquirer For This Story

The 2012 International Mystery Writers Festival will honor an actor known for his portrayal of an iconic mystery character.

The RiverPark Center event will feature a retrospective on Peter Falk, who played Columbo on television and died June 23. William Link, co-creator of the television series "Columbo," has written several Columbo short stories. Four will be selected and presented as Live Broadcast Theatre productions (formerly called Live Radio Theatre and presented in the style of old-fashioned radio shows).

The character was featured at the inaugural mystery festival in 2007 in Link's play, "Columbo Takes the Rap," about a rapper who is murdered. Zev Buffman, president and CEO of the RiverPark Center, said the mystery festival's reason for being is doing mysteries and celebrating its characters.

"When someone of the level of achievement of a Peter Falk leaves us, and we have new plays by the original author that are given to us to premiere, we need to do it," Buffman said. "Peter Falk is worth celebrating whether we had new plays or not. Given new plays about the character, it's an opportunity to celebrate someone with both the old and the new - sort of like Columbo lives on." 

Link has written more than 40 short stories about Columbo since Richard Levinson, who co-created the television show and character, died in 1987. Link said it is fabulous that the mystery festival is returning.

"The popularity of that character, it's still incredible," Link said.

The mystery festival is scheduled for June 11-17, shortly before the one-year anniversary of Falk's death. Buffman said he has been authorized by RiverPark Center's board to begin fundraising for the mystery festival in September, once the Million Dollar Match - a campaign that has the performing arts center raising $1 million by Aug. 31 - is complete.

If the RiverPark Center reaches that goal, then the county will contribute $1 million to the campaign. The city, which owns the facility, will pay off the remaining $2.6 million in debt on the building.

Buffman said he is confident the RiverPark Center will reach that fundraising goal. As of Wednesday, $871,213.46 had been raised.

The state provided a $150,000 grant for the 2011-12 fiscal year that can be used for next year's mystery festival if the RiverPark Center raises matching funds.

Link and Levinson created the character of Columbo in the early 1960s. The character was first featured on "The Chevy Mystery Show." A stage play about the character also toured the country in the 1960s before the television series starring Falk began airing in 1971.

Columbo was based, in part, on Inspector Petrovich from "Crime and Punishment."

"(Audiences) had never seen a cop like him, and Falk was brilliant playing the character," Link said of Columbo.

Link and Levinson first met Falk several years before creating the television show. The duo didn't have Falk in mind for the part - first approaching Bing Crosby - when Falk approached them about the role.

"We liked him right off the bat," Link said of their first meeting with the actor. "If you met Peter, to meet him was to like him. He was very freewheeling. He was fun. He was intelligent. He was also a very endearing person, and he brought that to the role."

The Columbo Live Broadcast Theatre productions will feature an evening of four plays with an intermission after the first two stories.

Norm Boucher, who portrayed Columbo in "Columbo Takes the Rap," is slated to return to Owensboro for the mystery festival.

"I was thrilled they asked me, and as of this point, I am looking forward to revisiting Columbo, absolutely," Boucher said.

Boucher was asked not to do an impersonation of Falk when he took on the role in 2007, though he did wear a rumpled trench coat and smoke cigars. Boucher called Columbo's longevity a testament to the writing. The mysteries have the audience seeing the crime and knowing who the perpetrator is before Columbo solves the crime.

"The fascinating thing was watching him get there. ... You rooted for him because you were begging him to catch up to what you already knew, and I think that method of writing is just really interesting. ... I didn't have any idea how well received ('Columbo Takes the Rap') was going to be.

"It is again a testament to the writing that people came well out of their way to see this because they were so excited that there was a new Columbo mystery and a new show being presented. It was just an honor to be a part of it."

Watch this column for further information on the International Mystery Writers Festival.

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