Episode 628 - Detectives for Dad’s Day (Ellery Queen, Let George Do It, The Big Guy, & Philip Marlowe)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Release Date: 06/15/2025
BONUS - Thanksgiving Day Detectives' Parade
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Happy Thanksgiving! As we head into what I hope is a fun and restful weekend for everyone, here's an encore of our annual Turkey Day special - a five-course meal of radio mysteries set around the holiday. Casey, Crime Photographer stars in a pair of stories: "After Turkey, the Bill" (originally aired on CBS on November 27, 1947), and "Holiday" (originally aired on CBS on November 25, 1948). As Jeff Regan, Jack Webb meets modern-day Miles Standish and finds a turkey shoot where it isn't a bird who catches the bullet in "The Pilgrim's Progress" from Jeff Regan, Investigator (originally aired on...
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Episode 645 - Holmes Cooked Meals (New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
With Thanksgiving only a few days away, we’re joining Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson for some mysteries set around the dinner table. First, Tom Conway and Nigel Bruce are Holmes and Watson in “The Strange Case of Mrs. Abernetty” (originally aired on ABC on November 30, 1946). Then, it’s a pair of mysteries starring John Stanley and Alfred Shirley - “The Case of King Phillip’s Golden Salver” (originally aired on Mutual on February 29, 1948) and “The Case of the Very Best Butter” (originally aired on Mutual on April 18, 1948).
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Episode 644 - Diamond Cut (Rogue’s Gallery, Richard Diamond, & Lux Radio Theatre)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
In honor of Dick Powell’s November 14th birthday, we’re saluting the singing star with some of his old time radio performances. First, he plays private investigator Richard Rogue in “Little Old Lady” from Rogue’s Gallery (originally aired on Mutual on November 29, 1945). Then, he’s radio’s crooning crimefighter Richard Diamond, Private Detective in a pair of episodes: “The Tom Waxman Bombing” (originally aired on NBC on June 26, 1949) and “Death and the Letter” (originally aired on NBC on November 8, 1950). Finally, he recreates one of his big screen roles,...
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Episode 643 - Everyone Needs a Hobby (Leonidas Witherall, Gregory Hood, Box 13, & Mr. and Mrs. North)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Not all radio detectives carried a badge or a private eye’s license. Some were amateur sleuths who dabbled in deduction in addition to their day jobs, and we’ll hear a collection of those crimesolvers and their adventures. Walter Hampden stars as Leonidas Witherall - professor, author, dead ringer for Shakespeare, and amateur detective - in “Murder at the State Fair” (originally aired on Mutual on September 24, 1944). Gale Gordon is San Francisco importer and detective Gregory Hood in “The Forgetful Murderer” (originally aired on Mutual on July 29, 1946). Alan Ladd is mystery...
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Episode 642 - Marlowe Actors’ Club (Philip Marlowe, Lux Radio Theatre, & Hollywood Star Time)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Many actors have brought Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe to life. Humphrey Bogart, Elliot Gould, Danny Glover, and Liam Neeson are just a few of the men to portray the legendary private eye on the big and small screens, but today we’ll hear four actors who played Marlowe on radio. First, Van Heflin is Marlowe in a radio adaptation of Chandler’s “Red Wind” (originally aired on NBC on June 17, 1947). Next, Robert Montgomery reprises the role of Marlowe as The Lux Radio Theatre adapts “Lady in the Lake” (originally aired on CBS on February 9, 1948). Dick Powell steps back into the...
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BONUS - Curse of Halloween Hoopla!
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Trick or treat! It’s time for the annual Down These Mean Streets Halloween Special! In this king-sized bonus show, we’ll hear a parade of stories - both spooky and silly - designed to get you in the spirit of the season. First, big screen horror legend Boris Karloff lends his voice to “The Corridor of Doom,” a thriller from Inner Sanctum Mysteries (originally aired on CBS on October 23, 1945). The Great Gildersleeve attends a Halloween party (originally aired on NBC on October 29, 1947) and a Halloween prank backfires on Henry in The Aldrich Family (originally aired on NBC on October...
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Episode 641 - Black Magic? Whoa, Man! (Nick Carter, Blackstone, Michael Shayne, Bold Venture, & Richard Diamond)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
With Halloween right around the corner, we delve into the spooky side of sleuthing with mysteries involving voodoo, curses, and other hexes. Nick Carter’s new client believes her physician practices black magic instead of medicine in “The Drums of Death, or Nick Carter and the White Witch Doctor” (originally aired on Mutual on March 25, 1944), and real-life master magician Blackstone explains how he faced down the living dead in “The Riddle of the Seven Zombies” (originally aired on Mutual on July 17, 1949). Michael Shayne falls into a case of supernatural revenge and a man who...
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Episode 640 - Come Fly With Me (Boston Blackie, Harry Lime, & Johnny Dollar)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
The skies are unfriendly this week as three old time radio heroes face danger in the air. First, Boston Blackie is due in with evidence to send a notorious gangster to the chair…but his airplane disappears! Richard Kollmar stars as the gentleman thief turned gumshoe in this syndicated mystery. Then, Orson Welles recreates his Third Man role in “The Hard Way” from The Lives of Harry Lime, a syndicated story that finds Lime catching a flight to trouble in the charter airline business. Finally, Bob Bailey is Johnny Dollar in a five-part mystery that begins when a plane goes down. It’s...
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Episode 639 - Maltese Falconers (Suspense, Inner Sanctum, Nero Wolfe, Bold Venture, & Screen Guild Theatre)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
The Maltese Falcon premiered in movie theaters eight eighty-four years ago this month, and we're celebrating the anniversary of one of Hollywood's best mystery pictures with a showcase for its stars - Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet. We'll hear each of them headline a radio mystery, and all four of them together as they recreate their roles in a radio adaptation of the film. Lorre stars in a locked room mystery from the pen of John Dickson Carr - "The Moment of Darkness" from Suspense (originally aired on CBS on April 20, 1943). Ms. Astor may be a murderess in...
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Episode 638 - William Tells (Philip Marlowe, Night Beat, Johnny Dollar, & Gunsmoke)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
We're saluting the 105th anniversary of the birth of William Conrad - the radio acting legend who brought law and order to Dodge City as Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke and who racked up hundreds of credits on detective shows, thrillers, comedies, and dramas. Conrad stars as Philip Marlowe in "The Anniversary Gift" (originally aired on CBS on April 11, 1950) - subbing in for Gerald Mohr in a terrific mystery in the Chandler spirit. He co-stars with Frank Lovejoy in "The Football Player and the Syndicate" from Night Beat (originally aired on NBC on June 12, 1950) and Edmond O'Brien in "The Woodward,...
info_outlineHappy Father’s Day! We’re celebrating dear old Dad with a collection of radio mysteries featuring fathers. First, Ellery Queen and his police inspector father collaborate on a case of smuggling and murder. Larry Dobkin is Ellery in “Number Thirty-One” (originally aired on NBC on September 7, 1947). Next, George Valentine is hired by a convicted killer's son to clear his father’s name. Bob Bailey stars in “The Father Who Had Nothing to Say” from Let George Do It (originally aired on Mutual on September 13, 1948). Then, meet private eye Joshua Sharp - known to his kids as The Big Guy. Henry Calvin plays the shamus and doting dad in "The Unheard Voice" (originally aired on NBC on May 7, 1950). And finally, Philip Marlowe hunts for a missing son for an ailing father. Gerald Mohr plays Marlowe in “The Last Wish” (originally aired on CBS on July 19, 1950).