Down These Mean Streets (old Time Radio Detectives)

Radio sleuthing didn’t get much sweeter than when Bob Bailey voiced Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. Bailey starred as Dollar for five years, but he was never better than 1955 to 1956 when the series aired as a nightly fifteen-minute serial. In those five-part stories, Bailey gave listeners a detective who was tough, determined, funny, and who wore his heart on his sleeve. Combined with sharp direction and writing, this run of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar stands apart from other radio dramas. We’ll hear Bob Bailey in the complete five-part story “The Lansing Fraud Matter,” originally aired on CBS between December 12 and 16, 1955.

With his powerful voice, Gerald Mohr was equally effective as both hero and heel on radio. Listeners may know him best as Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled shamus Philip Marlowe, but Mohr logged nearly five hundred performances during the Golden Age of Radio playing everything from slapstick comedy to high adventure. We’ll hear him as Archie Goodwin – opposite Sydney Greenstreet’s Nero Wolfe – in “The Case of the Phantom Fingers” (originally aired on NBC on January 26, 1951). Then, Mohr is a mob boss with a secret in “Caesar’s Wife” from The Whistler (originally aired on CBS on June 2, 1947). Finally, Mohr is Marlowe in “The Grim Hunters” (originally aired on CBS on March 12, 1949).

In honor of what would have been his 115th birthday, we tip our hat to Vincent Price, the legendary star of stage, screen, and television. Price was a polished radio performer in the years before he became best known as a big screen horror star. From 1947 to 1951, he starred as Simon Templar - “the Robin Hood of modern crime” - in The Saint. We’ll celebrate this wonderful actor with one of his turns as Templar - “The Big Swindle” (originally aired on NBC on February 25, 1951). Then Vincent Price plays…Vincent Price in “The Price of Fame Matter,” an Armed Forces Radio Service rebroadcast of an adventure of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar – a story that finds Price partnering with Bob Bailey’s fabulous freelance insurance investigator.

For fifteen years on radio, America and her secrets were kept safe by David Harding – Counterspy. The espionage mystery drama starred Don McLaughlin as Harding, the chief of the counterspies and a man always ready to thwart a dastardly Axis plot or hunt down swindlers and hijackers. Aided by right-hand man Harry Peters (Mandel Kramer), Harding did battle with enemies foreign and domestic to keep the U.S. of A intact through World War II and the Cold War. We’ll hear “The Case of the Bouncing Bank Robber” (originally aired on ABC on August 23, 1949).

For eight weeks in the summer of 1950, Somebody Knows dramatized unsolved murder cases with the goal of solving the crimes. A reward of five thousand dollars awaited any listener who had evidence that could lead to the capture and conviction of the killer. Hosted and directed by Jack Johnstone, Somebody Knows boasted a cast of veteran radio players in its dramatic true crime recreations. We'll hear "The Unsolved Murder of Elizabeth Short - The Black Dahlia," originally aired on CBS on August 24, 1950.

We celebrate the birthday of the legendary Orson Welles with his radio version of Agatha Christie's classic mystery The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Adapted for the dramatic anthology series The Campbell Playhouse, it stars Welles as both the story's narrator and as Christie's celebrated sleuth Hercule Poirot. This twisted tale brought to life by Orson Welles and a talented supporting cast originally aired on CBS on November 12, 1939.

Dick Powell is Richard Diamond, the only radio gumshoe who carries a tune along with his gun. The big screen star’s talents are put to perfect use in the character of Diamond, a tough, glib ex-cop turned shamus in the Big Apple who is equally skilled with his wits and his fists and who always wraps up the caper with a song for his girlfriend. The combination of Powell’s winning performance and scripts by Blake Edwards (the director behind The Pink Panther) make Diamond one of radio’s very best detectives. We’ll hear the private eye in “The Rene Bene Protection Case” (originally aired on NBC on October 22, 1949) and “The Statue of Kali” (originally aired on NBC on April 5, 1950).

For a dozen years on radio, Lon Clark starred as Nick Carter, Master Detective, the brilliant shamus who leapt from dime novels to pulp pages to the big screen and then to the airwaves. Aided by his girl Friday Patsy Bowen, Nick tackled cases that left the police scratching their heads in one of the longest-running detective dramas on the air. We’ll hear Carter arrive in the “Nick” of time in “Dead Witnesses, or Nick Carter and the Case of the Murder Room,” (originally aired on Mutual on February 26, 1944) and “The Case of the Unwritten Letter” (originally aired on Mutual on July 29, 1945).

Reformed thief turned private detective Michael Lanyard was known to friend and foe alike as “The Lone Wolf.” The debonair rogue thrilled readers from his first appearance in 1914, and he was a mainstay on the big screen from the silent film era through the 1940s. He made his first radio appearance not in his own series but in an episode of “radio’s outstanding theatre of thrills” – Suspense. Warren William recreated his big screen role as Lanyard, and he was joined by Eric Blore in his cinematic role of Lanyard’s valet Jamison. The duo stars in “Murder Goes for a Swim,” originally aired on CBS on July 20, 1943.

In between gigs as Pat Novak, For Hire, Jack Webb brought another waterfront private eye to radio with Johnny Madero, Pier 23. The shows were similar – a little too similar for the taste of ABC and their own Webb-free Novak series. But the tough hard-boiled atmosphere, the sharp writing, and the trademark Jack Webb underplayed performance make the short-lived Johnny Madero a worthy addition to the actor/producer’s radio repertoire. We’ll hear “Fatal Auction,” originally aired on Mutual on June 26, 1947.

Follow reporter Randy Stone on his nightly sojourn through the streets of Chicago in Night Beat. Stone, voiced by Frank Lovejoy, covers the city after dark for his paper, and he makes his trek in search of stories for his columns. What he usually finds are desperate people and dangerous situations in one of radio’s best dramas. We’ll hear Randy Stone on the trail of a scoop in “Am I My Brother’s Keeper” (originally aired on NBC on March 13, 1950) and “City at Your Fingertips” (originally aired on NBC on July 31, 1950).

Look – up in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s a bonus episode of “Down These Mean Streets” starring Superman and Batman. We're marking the release of Batman v. Superman - Dawn of Justice with a complete adventure from radio's The Adventures of Superman. Journey back to a time when the Man of Steel and the Caped Crusader fought evil instead of each other and enjoy the exciting conclusion of “Is There Another Superman?” – originally aired on Mutual from February 6 to February 14, 1946.

Before they met on the big screen or even in comics, Superman and Batman first joined forces on radio when the Caped Crusader visited The Adventures of Superman. To celebrate the release of their first cinematic team-up – Batman v Superman – Dawn of Justice, “Down These Mean Streets” presents the world’s finest heroes in a serialized radio adventure – “Is There Another Superman?” Clayton Collyer is the Man of Steel, and Matt Crowley is the Dark Knight Detective, with Ronald Liss as Robin, the Boy Wonder. We’ll hear Parts 1 – 6, originally aired on Mutual from January 29 to February 5, 1946.

Accused of a crime you didn’t commit? If you were an innocent radio character, you wanted Martha Ellis Bryant - Defense Attorney - in your corner. Academy Award-winning actress Mercedes McCambridge stars as Marty Bryant – a lawyer and detective in the vein of Perry Mason – ready to stand before judge and jury to advocate for her clients. We’ll hear one of her radio cases - “Client Mike Pelley” (originally aired on ABC on August 31, 1951).

Listen as the dedicated men and women of the Illustrated Press fight crime and corruption with the power of the press in Big Town. Edward Pawley is editor Steve Wilson and Fran Carlon is reporter Lorelei Kilbourne in one of radio’s longest-running and most popular newspaper dramas. Steve and Lorelei make the news as often as they report it, putting their lives on the line to chase down leads and bring the guilty to justice. We’ll hear them in “The Fatal Chain,” originally aired on NBC on November 7, 1948.

Head back to the Great White Way and the crime behind the bright lights and buzz of the city in Broadway is My Beat. Detective Danny Clover walks “the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world” in two episodes of one of radio’s finest police procedurals. First, Anthony Ross stars as Clover in “The Fixed Prize Fight Case” (originally aired on CBS on March 27, 1949). Then, Larry Thor takes the lead in “The Georgia Gray Murder Case” (originally aired on CBS on April 28, 1951).

Just in time for the Academy Awards, "Down These Mean Streets" presents a bonus episode featuring a trio of Oscar-winning radio detectives. First, Frank Sinatra is Rocky Fortune in “Shipboard Jewel Robbery” (originally aired on NBC on October 20, 1953). Then, Van Heflin is Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe in “Trouble is My Business” (originally aired on NBC on August 5, 1947). Finally, Rex Harrison stars in “Hidden Thoughts Of A Feminine Mind…Concerned With Murder” from The Private Files of Rex Saunders (originally aired on NBC on July 4, 1951).

Short, stout, and wielding only an umbrella, G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown may be the unlikeliest of detectives. The parish priest uses his insight into human nature - and his understanding of the evil side of that nature - to uncover the truth and bring the guilty to justice. Karl Swenson stars as the kindly and keen-minded Father Brown in "The Three Tools of Death," an Armed Forces Radio Service rebroadcast of an episode originally aired on Mutual on July 22, 1945.

February 14th isn’t only Valentine’s Day. It’s also the birthday of radio’s most famous comedian, Jack Benny. The perpetually 39 year old Benny was born February 14, 1894. His landmark radio program was a popular hit for over two decades, and he remains one of the most influential comedians of the twentieth century. In honor of his birthday, we’re celebrating the legendary funnyman with one of his dramatic turns at the microphone. We’ll hear Benny going for drama instead of belly laughs in a mystery from “radio’s outstanding theater of thrills - Suspense.” Benny stars in “Murder in G Flat” (originally aired on CBS on April 5, 1951).

In 1960, CBS moved production of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar to New York. Longtime leading man Bob Bailey stayed behind, and the network tapped another Bob - Bob Readick - to fill the shoes of the man with the action-packed expense account. Readick, an actor since childhood, starred as Dollar from December 1960 to June 1961 as the show embarked on a new era on the East Coast. We’ll hear Bob Readick as Johnny Dollar in “The Lone Wolf Matter,” originally aired on May 21, 1961.