Down These Mean Streets (old Time Radio Detectives)

We’re running a special edition to salute the radio crime fighters of the Fourth Estate – three newsmen who used the power of the press to solve crimes and keep their cities free of corruption. First, Staats Cotsworth is Casey, Crime Photographer in “The Blonde’s Lipstick” (originally aired on CBS on November 6, 1947). Then, editor Steve Wilson and reporter Lorelei Kilbourne fight the rackets of Big Town. Edward Pawley and Fran Carlon star in “The Final Payment” (originally aired on NBC on September 21, 1948). Finally, Frank Lovejoy is Chicago reporter Randy Stone in “Byline for Frank” from Night Beat (originally aired on NBC on June 29, 1951).

We tip our fedora to Howard Duff in honor of the star’s November 24th birthday. To celebrate, we’ll hear him in his signature role as Dashiell Hammett’s famous private detective Sam Spade. With his wry humor and unique take on the material, Duff as Spade gave us one of the best gumshoes of the era. We’ll hear him in two episodes of The Adventures of Sam Spade: “The Bow Window Caper” (originally aired on CBS on November 9, 1947) and “The Stopped Watch Caper” (originally aired on CBS on April 10, 1949). Finally, Sam gets his craziest caper ever when he meets Gracie Allen in a comedy episode from February 10, 1949.

To keep you smiling on Thanksgiving, here’s a comedy side dish courtesy of Eve Arden as Our Miss Brooks. Jeff Chandler – radio’s Michael Shayne – co-stars alongside the amazing Ms. Arden in this Turkey Day story about a live turkey slated to be guest of honor at the Madison High feast. Co-starring Gale Gordon (The Casebook of Gregory Hood), this episode originally aired on CBS on November 19, 1950.

Don’t touch that dial – the thrilling conclusion of our Superman-Batman radio team-up is coming your way. The Man of Steel and the Caped Crusader are fighting to save Robin and Jimmy Olsen in the exciting final chapters of “The Monkey Burglar,” originally aired on The Adventures of Superman on the Mutual Network between February 19 and 25, 1947.

The Man of Steel and the Dynamic Duo are teaming up to keep the airwaves safe! We’ll hear a serialized story from The Adventures of Superman that brings Batman and Robin to Metropolis to join forces with Superman. Bud Collyer is Superman, Matt Crowley is Batman, and Ronald Liss is Robin in “The Monkey Burglar,” a story that finds Robin as a prime suspect for a series of daring robberies. We’ll hear the first five installments, originally aired on the Mutual Network between February 12 and February 18, 1947.

We're putting our little grey cells to work as Hercule Poirot solves two old time radio mysteries. Agatha Christie's brilliant Belgian detective is back on the big screen, and we'll hear two of his adventures from the airwaves. First, Maurice Tarplin is Poirot in an adaptation of Christie's "The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor," originally aired on Murder Clinic on October 6, 1942. Then, Harold Huber steps in for "Murder is a Private Affair," an episode of Hercule Poirot (originally aired on Mutual on November 23, 1945).

Need a case closed and a tune carried? Dick Powell is your man. The crooner reinvented his career when he played Philip Marlowe on screen, and he starred in a pair of radio detective shows as glib but tough private investigators. In honor of Powell’s birthday, we’ll hear two of his mysteries: as Richard Rogue, he solves “The Impossible Murder” from Rogue’s Galley (originally aired on Mutual on May 16, 1946). Then, as Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Powell tackles “The Big Foot Grafton Case” (originally aired on NBC on August 30, 1950).

Herbert Marshall travels the globe as the dashing and debonair Man Called X. Dispatched on international adventures, the Man Called X is really secret agent Ken Thurston, enemy to spies, saboteurs, and insurgents wherever they may lurk. Marshall gave radio a suave super spy in one of the best espionage programs of the era. We’ll hear Ken Thurston in “Japanese Underground” (originally aired on NBC on January 20, 1951) and “A Ton of Dynamite” (originally aired on NBC on February 26, 1952).

It's alive...it's alive! It's the "Down These Mean Streets" Halloween special, presenting an old time radio chiller guaranteed to get you in the mood for trick or treating. We'll hear Herbert Marshall star in an adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (originally aired on Suspense on CBS on November 3, 1952).

The game’s afoot as we join Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in three of their old time radio adventures. John Stanley is the world’s most famous detective and Alfred Shirley plays his loyal companion and biographer in these original adventures that feature a locked room mystery, a ghostly menace to an old family, and a woman in fear for her life. We’ll hear “The Case of the Dog that Changed Its Mind” (originally aired on Mutual on September 28, 1947); “The Case of the Cradle that Rocked Itself” (originally aired on Mutual on November 30, 1947); and “The Case of the Very Best Butter” (originally aired on Mutual on April 18, 1948).

“Are you packing?” “Yes dear, I’m putting away this liquor.” William Powell and Myrna Loy are back as Dashiell Hammett’s husband and wife crime solvers Nick and Nora Charles as The Lux Radio Theatre presents After the Thin Man. The sequel to the smash hit comedy mystery hit the big screen in 1936, and four years later the stars reunited to recreate the film for the airwaves. Join Mr. and Mrs. Charles as they solve a New Year’s Eve murder in this episode originally aired on CBS on June 17, 1940.

It's another case for Nick Carter, Master Detective - two of them, in fact - as Lon Clark stars as "that most famous of all manhunters." Carter sprang from the pages of pulp magazines and solved crimes on radio for twelve years. Clark voiced the super sleuth for the entire run of the program, and we'll hear him in two of his adventures. Charlotte Manson co-stars as Patsy Bowen, Nick's loyal secretary, in "The Case of the Make Believe Murder" (originally aired on Mutual on July 22, 1945) and "The Case of the Dictaphone Murder" (originally aired on Mutual on June 4, 1946).

It’s Broadway – “the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.” Join Detective Danny Clover as he fights crime in the Big Apple in one of the all-time great radio detective shows Broadway is My Beat. Larry Thor stars as Clover, the cop with the soul of a poet who wears his heart on his sleeve, in a show unlike any other radio crime drama. We’ll hear “The Secretarial School Triangle Murder” (originally aired on CBS on April 12, 1952) and “The Manipulative Magnate Murder” (originally aired on CBS on June 13, 1953).

On September 30, 1962, the Golden Age of Radio came to a close with the final broadcasts of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. The man with the action-packed expense account solved crimes right up until the end of the era as he wrapped up a thirteen-year career of radio crimefighting. For those final years, Mandel Kramer starred as America’s fabulous freelance insurance investigator, and we’ll hear his final radio adventures: “The Deadly Crystal Matter” (originally aired on CBS on September 23, 1962) and “The Tip-Off Matter” (originally aired on September 30, 1962).

Jeff Chandler trades the biology lab for the back alleys and swamps of New Orleans as Brett Halliday’s “reckless, red-headed Irishman” Michael Shayne. Chandler, known to radio fans as bashful science teacher Philip Boynton in Our Miss Brooks, gave radio one of its toughest, most two-fisted private eyes in a sensational syndicated series. We’ll hear Chandler as Shayne in all of his ultra-hard-boiled glory in three radio mysteries: “The Hate That Killed,” “The Case of the Deadly Dough,” and “The Case of the Bayou Monster.”

If you head down to Pier 19 at the San Francisco waterfront, you’ll find Pat Novak For Hire renting boats and doing anything else to keep a few steps ahead in one of radio’s best noir detective dramas. Featuring duplicitous dames, gun-toting toughs, and dialogue right out of a pulp novel, the series packed a punch then and now. Jack Webb stars as Novak in a pair of episodes: “Father Leahy” and “Geranium Plant.” Then, Ben Morris is Novak in “The Mysterious Set of Books” (originally aired on ABC on August 10, 1947).

It's a birthday bash for Shane star Alan Ladd as we spotlight three of the legendary actor's old time radio performances. First, he recreates one of his movie roles in Dashiell Hammett's The Glass Key for The Screen Guild Theatre (originally aired on CBS on July 22, 1946). Then, Ladd stars as mystery writer and amateur sleuth Dan Holiday in two syndicated episodes of Box 13 - "Hot Box" and "The Better Man."

Heaven help evildoers when The Saint is on the case. Simon Templar – “the Robin Hood of modern crime” – came to the airwaves after thrilling audiences in stories by Leslie Charteris and in big screen outings starring George Sanders. The most celebrated radio Saint was Vincent Price, the future horror legend of the movies, who voiced Templar from 1947 until 1951. We’ll hear Price in a pair of Saint episodes: “A Real Gone Guy” (originally aired on NBC on July 2, 1950) and “Simon Minds the Baby” (originally aired on NBC on December 17, 1950).

It takes a thief to catch a thief (or con man or killer), and Boston Blackie is on the case! The reformed safecracker turned detective uses his intimate knowledge of the underworld to track down dangerous criminals and to clear his name with the irascible Inspector Farraday. We'll hear Chester Morris as Blackie in "The Jonathan Diamond" (originally aired on NBC on June 23, 1944). Then, Richard Kollmar steps in for the syndicated episodes "Uncle Bill Blaine's Legacy" and "Charlie Kingston and the Disappearing Office Building."

Frank Sinatra trades crooning for crime solving as Rocky Fortune. For a single season, Old Blue Eyes starred as Rocky, a footloose, fancy-free, and frequently unemployed young man whose weekly search for a job results in full-time employment with dangerous adventure. It was Sinatra's only regular dramatic role on radio, and the Chairman of the Board is in fine form in three radio mysteries: "Messenger for Death" (originally aired on NBC on November 10, 1953); "The Rodeo Murder" (originally aired on NBC on January 12, 1954); and "The Museum Murder" (originally aired on NBC on January 19, 1954).