Down These Mean Streets (old Time Radio Detectives)

It's a full serving of Dashiell Hammett's legendary private eye Sam Spade on this week's hour-long episode.  First, Howard Duff is Spade in "The Lazarus Caper," originally aired on CBS on September 12, 1948.  Then (just in time for Thanksgiving), Steven Dunne is Sam in "The Terrified Turkey Caper," originally aired on NBC on November 24, 1950.

Saddle up and head west with Joel McCrea as Ranger Jayce Pearson in Tales of the Texas Rangers.  This mix of Western adventure and police procedural presented dramatized versions of actual cases taken from the Rangers' files.  The result was a frontier-style Dragnet that combined two of radio's most popular genres.  We'll ride with Ranger Pearson in "Hanging by a Thread," originally aired on NBC on November 26, 1950. 

We're saluting Dick Powell for his birthday with an hour of radio mystery starring this crooner turned hardboiled star.  First, Powell stars as "the man with the action packed expense account" in the 1948 audition show for Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.  Then, we'll hear him as Richard Diamond, Private Detective in "Photographer's Card," originally aired on NBC on March 26, 1950.

Jack Webb dons his hardboiled hat again as Jeff Regan, Investigator.  In this short-lived series, Webb stars as Regan, private eye and operative for the penny-pinching Anthony J. Lyon.  We'll hear Webb, with Wilms Herbert as Lyon, in "The Lonesome Lady," originally aired on CBS on July 24, 1948.

Enjoy this Halloween treat featuring an hour of "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" - Suspense!  First, Robert Taylor rents "The House in Cypress Canyon," originally aired on CBS on December 5, 1946.  Then, join Ralph Edwards on a "Ghost Hunt," originally aired on CBS on June 23, 1949.

It's another adventure of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, and one that features both of the actors who starred as Marlowe in weekly radio series: Van Heflin and Gerald Mohr.  Heflin is Marlowe and Mohr is the title character in an adaptation of Chandler's "The King in Yellow," originally aired on NBC on July 8, 1947.

We're heading across the pond this week for an episode of CBS' Scotland Yard police procedural Pursuit.  Ted de Corsia stars as Inspector Peter Black.  Join him as he searches the streets of London for a murderer on the loose in "Three for All," originally aired on CBS on November 10, 1949.

Our star this week was called "the world's greatest living radio actress" by Orson Welles.  She's Academy Award winner Mercedes McCambridge, and we'll hear her as Martha Ellis Bryant on Defense Attorney.  On the podcast this week, we'll hear her fight to clear her wrongfully accused clients in "Client Joshua Masters," first broadcast on ABC on April 10, 1952.

The story you're about to hear is true.  It's Jack Webb's legendary police procedural Dragnet, bringing actual Los Angeles Police Department cases to radio.  Webb is Sgt. Joe Friday, with Barton Yarborough as Sgt. Ben Romero in "The Big Late Script," originally aired on NBC on July 26, 1951.

William Gargan played several detectives on radio and television, and he could draw from his real-life experience as a private eye for his characters.  This week, we'll hear Gargan star as Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator in "Blood Money," first broadcast on NBC on August 2, 1954.

Chester Morris reprises his screen role as Boston Blackie, reformed safe cracker turned sleuth, who operates outside of the law but always to help the innocent.  We'll hear Blackie in "Alice Manletter - Dead or Alive," originally broadcast on NBC on August 4, 1944.

Stop the presses!  This week, we'll hear Staats Cotsworth as Casey, Crime Photographer - ace cameraman and amateur sleuth.  Listen as Casey fights crime and makes the late edition in "The Chivalrous Gunman," originally broadcast on CBS on August 14, 1947.

Match wits with master detective Ellery Queen and see if you can solve the mystery before he reveals the solution.  We're breaking the fourth wall this week as you (and celebrity guest detective Peggy Lee!) get a chance to nab the culprit in "One Diamond," starring Howard Culver as Ellery Queen, first broadcast on ABC on May 6, 1948.

The Line-Up, one of radio's finest police procedurals, takes listeners behind the scenes of the San Francisco Police Department as its determined detectives track down criminals and close cases.  Bill Johnstone stars as Lt. Ben Guthrie, with Jack Moyles as Sgt. Pete Carger in "Singer's Husband Killed," first broadcast on CBS on July 1, 1952.

Radio detectives don't come more hard-boiled than Pat Novak For Hire.  Jack Webb stars in one of his first big radio hits as a character who is anything but Joe Friday.  We'll hear "Sam Tolliver," originally broadcast on ABC on April 23, 1949.

Ol' Blue Eyes is back!  Frank Sinatra stars in Rocky Fortune, as a "footloose and fancy free young gentleman" whose odd jobs always seem to lead to trouble.  The Chairman of the Board headlines "Murder on the Aisle," originally broadcast on NBC on November 24, 1953.

Before he itemized an expense account as Johnny Dollar, Bob Bailey solved radio mysteries in Let George Do It.  Freelance sleuth George Valentine finds his clients through a newspaper ad, offering to take on the jobs that are too dangerous for regular folks.  We'll listen as somebody new writes him about a gig in "Cry Murder," first broadcast on Mutual on July 19, 1948.

Detective Danny Clover patrols the Great White Way in Broadway is My Beat, one of radio's greatest police procedurals and one of the last great dramas of the Golden Age of Radio.  Larry Thor is the poetic policeman in "The Case of Charles Crandall," first aired on CBS on May 12, 1951.

In honor of Raymond Chandler's birthday, we'll hear an episode featuring his legendary private eye, Philip Marlowe.  Van Heflin stars as Marlowe in an adaptation of Chandler's short story "Red Wind," originally broadcast on The Adventures of Philip Marlowe on NBC on June 17, 1947.

Before he crooned as Richard Diamond, Dick Powell cracked cases as private investigator Richard Rogue on Rogue's Gallery.  We'll hear Powell in his first radio detective series with "Where There's a Will, There's a Murder," first broadcast on NBC on July 14, 1946.