Twin, Lose or Drawers

Identical girls, one is bad.
But how can an ID be had?
The vamp's negligee
Gives her badness away
While the good girl's more modestly clad.

David Cairns

Bonita Granville plays twins in the low budget Cornell Woolrich adaption, The Guilty (John Reinhardt; 1947).

Wouldn't It Be Rubbery?

With eyelids glued onto their faces
These wily savants work their cases
Peter, Boris and Warner
Each perform as a foreigner
And as Moto, Wong, Chan change their races.

David Cairns

Long before concerns about yellowface casting, Warner Oland played Charlie Chan, Peter Lorre starred as Mr. Moto, and Boris Karloff became Mr. Wong.

Drew, Tarry More!

Nancy Drew, quite the lady in print
Didn't do well in Hollywood stint.
Who knew that they'd type her
A screwball so hyper
That she flew through each film at a sprint?

Donald B. Benson

In Warner's quartet of programmers, the composed young sleuth became a frantic, comedic Bonita Granville. Amusing films...if you're not one Nancy's devoted readers. Pictured: Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas, and John Litel in Nancy Drew… Detective (William Clemens; 1938)

Moose and Girl

"Where's Velma?" asks scary Malloy 
The fella's a very big boy
To this con on the loose,
(His friends call him "Moose")
Your delicate neck's but a toy.

Ward Bond was Hollywood's first Moose Malloy in The Falcon Takes Over (Irving Reis; 1942). After the success of The Maltese Falcon, studios searched for tougher detective stories. In this case, Raymond Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely was lightened, and Los Angeles and Philip Marlowe were jettisoned in order to fit into the Falcon series at RKO.

A Killing on a Killing

The B-movie dick, Michael Shayne:
Less noble than slick -- I'm just sayne.
Before he's begun
To figure who dun,
He's eager to pick out who's payne.

Donald B. Benson

In Dressed to Kill (Eugene J. Forde; 1941), detective Michael Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) stumbles across a murder and immediately sets about collecting multiple clients to pay him to solve it.

The Case of the Burr-ly Barrister

A victim of murder they'll bury
In court with the DA he'll parry
He'll mount the defense
But don't count on suspense
The plots in this show seldom vary.

  

Raymond Burr starred in and as Perry Mason from 1957 to 1966.

Doppel-Gangster

He's staring himself in the eye
Two characters played by one guy
A tough-talking crook
The other a schnook
Apparently one has to die.

Two Edward G. Robinsons get The Whole Town's Talking (John Ford; 1935).