Episode 606 - Carnival of Crime (Boston Blackie, The Whistler, Sam Spade, & Superman)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Release Date: 11/25/2024
Encore - Heflin for Hire (Adventures of Philip Marlowe)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
In this encore presentation, we go back to the summer of 1947 when Philip Marlowe came to the air in his own weekly series with Van Heflin playing Raymond Chandler's private eye. The NBC series featured a mix of original mysteries as well as adaptations of Chandler stories, including the show's premiere episode "Red Wind" (originally aired on NBC on June 17, 1947). A year later, Gerald Mohr would put his own stamp on the character, but these Heflin shows offer a different take on Marlowe and a compelling portrayal in its own right. Along with "Red Wind," we'll hear "The Daring Young Dame on...
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Episode 622 - Mysteries at the Movies (Jeff Regan, Richard Diamond, & Johnny Dollar)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Lights, camera, action! This week, our old time radio sleuths are tackling cases connected with the movie business and finding mystery on and off screen. First, "the Lyon's Eye" has to protect a movie star from some unscripted violence. Frank Graham stars in "The Hollywood Story, or H is for the Many Things You Gave Me" from Jeff Regan, Investigator (originally aired on CBS on March 22, 1950). Next, Dick Powell goes west when the head of a movie studio is blackmailed - and later framed for murder - in "The Hollywood Story" from Richard Diamond, Private Detective (originally aired on CBS on...
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BONUS - Dollar Days: The Chesapeake Fraud Matter
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
We join Johnny Dollar on a cross-country mystery as our bonus series of serialized adventures continues! Bob Bailey is "the man with the action-packed expense account" in "The Chesapeake Fraud Matter" (originally aired on CBS between October 17 and October 20, 1955), a case that finds Dollar trying to prove if a man marked down as dead five years ago is actually alive and well.
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Episode 621 - Spider Webb (Jeff Regan, Pat Novak, Pete Kelly’s Blues, & Dragnet)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
We're celebrating the 105th anniversary of the birth of Jack Webb - one of the faces on the Mt. Rushmore of old time radio drama. Best known for Dragnet, Webb logged many an hour solving crimes on the air as cops, private eyes, and amateur sleuths. We'll hear him as Jeff Regan, Investigator in "The Guy from Gower Gulch" (originally aired on CBS on November 13, 1948) and as Pat Novak For Hire in "Wendy Morris" (originally aired on ABC on May 8, 1948). He solves a Prohibition-era mystery in Pete Kelly's Blues (AFRS rebroadcast of an episode known as "Little Jake" from...
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Episode 620 - Fool Me Once (Sherlock Holmes, Box 13, Philip Marlowe, & Broadway is My Beat)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
In honor of April Fool's Day, our radio detectives this week have to contend with some practical jokes and jokers that are anything but funny. Dr. Watson is enlisted to pull a prank on Sherlock Holmes in "The April Fool's Day Adventure," starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (originally aired on Mutual on April 1, 1946). Dan Holiday tries to find a deranged jokester before his antics turn deadly in "Death is No Joke" from Box 13. A fake will reading turns into a real crime scene as Philip Marlowe hunts for a killer in "The Last Laugh" (originally aired on CBS on April 2, 1949), and...
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Episode 619 - Metropolis March Madness (Adventures of Superman)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
The action is on and off the basketball court this week as Superman battles a hate group that targets a high school team just because of the ethnicities of its players. Clayton "Bud" Collyer stars as Clark Kent and the Man of Steel in "The Knights of the White Carnation," a serialized adventure that aired on Mutual from February 26 through March 18, 1947.
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Episode 618 - Jailbreak! (Boston Blackie, Richard Diamond, The Saint, & Dragnet)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Sound the alarm! We've got fugitives on the lam in these radio mysteries - each with an escape from jail at the center of the story. A convict Boston Blackie put behind bars is out and making his way to Blackie's door in a syndicated mystery, and Richard Diamond, Private Detective suspects an escaped gangster is back in town and settling scores in "The Ralph Baxter Case" (originally aired on NBC on April 26, 1950). The Saint comes to the aid of a young man falsely convicted of robbery who breaks out of prison to clear his name in "No Hiding Place" (originally aired on NBC on November 19,...
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BONUS - Dollar Days: The Molly K Matter
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Our bonus series spotlighting the serialized adventures of Johnny Dollar continues with "The Molly K Matter," a mystery that brings Dollar to San Francisco to investigate what caused the titular freighter to sink to her untimely end. Bob Bailey stars as "America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator" in this five-part story that aired on CBS between October 10 and October 14, 1955.
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Episode 617 - All In on Adventure (Sherlock Holmes, Philip Marlowe, Nero Wolfe, & Dragnet)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Place your bets with these old time radio mysteries involving gamblers and the (sometimes) crooked games they play. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find murder among the roulette tables of a French casino in "The Case of the Double Zero," starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (originally aired on Mutual on November 19, 1945). Philip Marlowe tries to find a friend's stolen IOU but stumbles across a corpse during the search in "The Promise to Pay" (originally aired on CBS on May 14, 1949), and Nero Wolfe is hired to find out who dealt a deadly hand during a poker game in "The Case of the Killer...
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Episode 616 - The Envelope Please… (Rex Saunders, Johnny Dollar, Bold Venture, & Sherlock Holmes)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
It's a wonderful night for Oscar! The Academy Awards will be handed out this evening, so in celebration of Hollywood's biggest night, here are four old time radio mysteries - each starring an actor who took home a golden statuette. Edmond O'Brien (Best Supporting Actor for The Barefoot Contessa) is Johnny Dollar in "The George Farmer Matter" (originally aired on CBS on June 9, 1951). Rex Harrison (Best Actor for My Fair Lady) stars as a debonair detective in "A Trip to the Death House" from The Private Files of Rex Saunders (originally aired on NBC on June 13, 1951). Humphrey Bogart (Best...
info_outlineHurry, hurry, hurry - come to the midway for four radio mysteries set at the carnival. A fortune teller predicts her own murder in a syndicated adventure of Boston Blackie starring Richard Kollmar. Then, a carnival dancer marries a wealthy admirer and then schemes to get rid of him in "The Brass Ring" (originally aired on CBS on September 16, 1946). Sam Spade tries to save a carnival performer from marriage to an infamous widower - to be followed by a quick funeral - in "The Bluebeard Caper" (originally aired on CBS on August 8, 1948). And we take flight with Superman to save a carnival from an unscrupulous rival owner in "Death Rides the Roller Coaster" (originally aired on ABC on December 3, 1949).