Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Episodes
Episode 238 - Rocky's Road (Rocky Fortune)
13 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 f...
Episode 237 - Hitch Your Wagon (Lux Radio Theatre)
09 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Down These Mean Streets" presents our annual birthday salute to the master of big screen mystery and suspense – Alfred Hitchcock. The legendary dir...
Episode 236 – Quick as a Flash (Casey, Crime Photographer)
06 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Get ready for fast-paced mystery and excitement with Casey, Crime Photographer – the ace cameraman who covers the news at the same time he makes hea...
Happy Birthday, Wally Maher
04 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
There are several old time radio actors who can best be described, in my opinion, as "the glue." Rarely featured in the lead, they're versatile, talen...
Wild About Harry
03 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"That was the shot that killed Harry Lime. He died in a sewer beneath Vienna, as those of you know who saw the movie 'The Third Man.' Yes, that was th...
Episode 235 - June is Busting Out All Over (The Stan Freberg Show)
02 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this special bonus episode, we salute the late June Foray - the titan of voice acting who passed away July 26th just shy of her 100th birthday. Fro...
Episode 234 - Sam I Am (Adventures of Sam Spade)
30 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sam Spade - Dashiell Hammett's San Francisco shamus of The Maltese Falcon - was a hit with audiences when he came to radio in July 1946. The mix of...
Episode 233 - Sleuthing in Spurs (Tales of the Texas Rangers)
23 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Planning to break the law in Texas? You'd better make other plans, because Joel McCrea is fighting crime on foot and on horseback in Tales of the Tex...
Happy Birthday, William Gargan
17 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
William Gargan, who brought a wry cynicism to his characters on radio, was born today in 1905. Of all the actors to play private eyes and gumshoes dur...
Episode 232 – Gargan vs. the Guilty (I Deal in Crime & Barrie Craig)
16 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Perhaps the only radio detective star to have actually worked as a real-life private eye, William Gargan played several gumshoes on the air, as well a...
"License number 137596..."
12 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble." (Sam Spade, The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett wasn't just a writer of detective fiction; he was a rea...
X Marks the Spot
10 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Herbert Marshall as The Man Called X. Wherever there is mystery, intrigue, romance, in all the strange and dangerous places of the world, there you w...
Trouble is My Travel Agent
09 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Yeah, danger is my assignment. I get sent to a lot of places I can't even pronounce. They all spell the same thing, though - trouble." In the years d...
Episode 231 - Travel Spells Trouble (Dangerous Assignment)
09 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Pack your bags - this week, we're joining Steve Mitchell on another Dangerous Assignment. Brian Donlevy stars as Mitchell, the two-fisted spy dispatc...
Quick as a Flash
07 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Golden Age of Radio hosted a big club of newspaper reporters whose zeal for truth and justice led them to fight crime as they fought deadlines. Ra...
"The innocent, the vagrant, the thief, the murderer..."
06 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"We take you now behind the scenes of a police headquarters in a great American city…" Cops rarely got their due in the Golden Age of Radio. On show...
Philo's Files
05 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The gentleman amateur is as much an archetype of detective fiction as the dogged policeman and the hard-boiled private eye. Perhaps the most famous of...
Episode 230 - Philo-osophy (Philo Vance)
02 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
S.S. Van Dine's Philo Vance – perhaps the quintessential gentleman detective – was a hit in print and on the big screen where he was played by Bas...
Episode 229 - Sixty Minutes Man (Crime on the Waterfront)
25 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Long before he was an award-winning journalist, Mike Wallace was a radio announcer and actor. The longtime correspondent for 60 Minutes had a stint ...
"Rogue speaking..."
24 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Following his star turn as Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet, Dick Powell found himself at a new stage of his career. With the acclaim he'd earned fo...
"Friend to those who have no friend..."
23 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Boston Blackie" was the nickname of Horatio Black, a reformed thief and modern day Robin Hood in the vein of The Saint. Emerging from the pen and min...
Match wits with Ellery Queen!
18 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Most of the fun in reading (or listening to) a detective story is the chance to play detective ourselves. We meet the suspects, process the clues, and...
Episode 228 – There's No Place Like Holmes (New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
18 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
To moviegoers and radio listeners of the World War II years, Basil Rathbone and Sherlock Holmes were practically one in the same. Rathbone starred as ...
"Crime is a sucker's road..."
17 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I pu...
Happy Birthday, Bob Bailey
13 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Actor Bob Bailey was born June 13, 1913. To old time radio fans, Bailey is best remembered for a pair of detective roles: as ex-GI turned gumshoe Geo...
Happy Birthday, Basil Rathbone
13 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Basil Rathbone, the debonair British actor and one of Hollywood's most famous performers, was born June 13, 1892. With hundreds of stage and screen r...
Happy Birthday, Gerald Mohr
11 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Gerald Mohr, who possessed one of radio's greatest voices, was born June 11, 1914. His powerful baritone delivery made him a natural for radio detect...
Episode 227 - One Mohr for the Road (Philip Marlowe & Nero Wolfe)
11 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
From 1948 to 1951, Gerald Mohr turned in a star performance as Raymond Chandler's L.A. private eye Philip Marlowe and gave us one of the best detectiv...
Episode 226 - Hoodwinked (Casebook of Gregory Hood)
04 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Join San Francisco importer and amateur detective Gregory Hood as he shares two adventures from his casebook. Gale Gordon and Elliott Lewis star as Ho...
"The story you're about to hear is true..."
03 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
On June 3, 1949, Dragnet premiered on NBC and ushered in a new era of crime drama. Created by Jack Webb, the series dramatized actual cases of the Lo...
Crack Open the Casebook
03 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Petri Wine brings you…The Casebook of Gregory Hood!" Sam Spade and Pat Novak weren't the only detectives to call San Francisco home during the Gold...
Episode 225 – Dashiell's Detectives (Suspense & Screen Guild Theatre)
28 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In honor of Dashiell Hammett's birthday, we're saluting the master of hard boiled mystery with radio adaptations of two of his stories. First, Suspens...
Episode 224 - Burr in the Saddle (Pat Novak, Johnny Dollar, & Fort Laramie)
21 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Before he achieved TV immortality as Perry Mason, Emmy Award-winner Raymond Burr could be heard on radio in a number of detective and crime dramas. In...
Episode 223 - Pyramid Schemes (Rocky Jordan)
14 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
You can always find mystery and adventure at the Café Tambourine, the Cairo nightclub run by American ex-pat and amateur detective Rocky Jordan. Jack...
Episode 222 - Ford Theater (Christopher London)
07 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Glenn Ford travels the world as freelance private eye Christopher London, a radio detective with the international beat of a secret agent. The charac...
Episode 221 - The Wright Stuff (Sherlock Holmes & Pursuit)
30 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A master of dialects and accents, the British-born Ben Wright appeared all over the dial during the Golden Age of Radio and he could convincingly play...
"There's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers..."
26 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
One of radio's finest dramas rode into town on April 26, 1952 with the premiere broadcast of Gunsmoke. The series was created at the request of CBS p...
"Hello, there - this is Diamond..."
24 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"I was sitting in my office shooting paper clips at a King size horse fly. It was a little sadistic but he was bigger than I was. Well, about the time...
Episode 220 - Diamond is Forever (Richard Diamond, Private Detective)
23 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
For one hundred dollars a day plus expenses, Richard Diamond will tackle any case. By the time it's over, he'll have used his fists, his gun, his wits...
Happy Birthday, Al Hodge
18 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Actor Al Hodge was born April 18, 1912. He made a name for himself as two famous heroes - as Captain Video on television and The Green Hornet on radi...
Happy Birthday, Joan Alexander
16 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
For multiple generations of kids - those who listened on radio and saw the theatrical cartoons and later those who tuned in for the Filmation TV seri...
Episode 219 – The Five Nights a Week Matter (Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar)
16 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 1956, audiences had to wait a day in between installments of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and an entire week to hear how the insurance investi...
Out of the Fog
13 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Out of the fog, out of the night, and into his American adventures comes…Bulldog Drummond!" The idea of the gentleman detective conjures up images...
"The most famous of all manhunters..."
11 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Calling Nick Carter! Another case for Nick Carter, Master Detective. Yes, it's another case for that most famous of all manhunters, the detective...
"Always ready with a hand for oppressed men and an eye for repressed women..."
10 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"You met The Falcon first in his best-selling novels, then you saw him in his thrilling motion picture series. Now, join him on the air when The Fal...
Episode 218 - Big Bad Wolfe (New Adventures of Nero Wolfe)
09 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
You need a big man to solve big crimes, and few detectives come bigger than Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe. The gargantuan gourmet and orchid aficionado will ...
"That chair-born mass of unpredictable intellect..."
07 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"I rarely leave my house. I do like it here. I would be an idiot to leave this chair, made to fit me." (Rex Stout, Before I Die) Nero Wolfe made his ...
G-Men at Work
06 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
G-Man crime drama This is Your FBI premiered on April 6, 1945. Hailed as "the finest dramatic program on the air" by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, th...
Order in the Court
03 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
On April 3, 1939, Mr. District Attorney launched his radio crusade for law and order - a campaign that would last on the air until 1952. The seri...
Happy Birthday, Jack Webb
02 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Is there anybody who doesn't know Dragnet? Even if you don't know the series or couldn't pick Jack Webb out of a line-up, chances are you know the ...
Episode 217 – Thank God It's Friday (Dragnet)
02 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The stories you're about to hear are true as Jack Webb stars as Sgt. Joe Friday in Dragnet. Not only did he star in the series, Webb created, produce...
Happy Birthday, Les Damon
31 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Waring – the private eye with "a hand for oppressed men and an eye for repressed women," and Nick Charles – the retired detective and full-t...
"And the Oscar goes to..."
30 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Academy Award, one of the more prestigious Hollywood radio programs, premiered on March 30, 1946. The series presented recreations of films that had ...
Happy Birthday, Richard Denning
27 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Actor Richard Denning was born March 27, 1914. A handsome leading man, he's best known to old time radio fans for a pair of shows: first, he was Ge...
Episode 216 - Eyewitness Accounts (The Line-Up)
26 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Head back to a great American city and the suspects who stand in The Line-Up. Bill Johnstone is Lt. Ben Guthrie in one of radio's best police dramas, ...
Happy Birthday, Ed Begley
25 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Actor Ed Begley was born March 25, 1901. An Oscar winner for Sweet Bird of Youth, Begley was a mainstay on the big and small screens, with credits in...
Happy Birthday, Jack Kruschen
20 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Actor Jack Kruschen was born March 20, 1922. Born in Winnipeg, Canada, Kruschen was a master of dialects and an incredibly versatile actor. Kruschen ...
Episode 215 - Public Enemies (Green Hornet)
19 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Ride with newspaper publisher Britt Reid as he dons a mask to fight crime as The Green Hornet. Wanted by the police as criminals, Reid and his trus...
Happy Birthday, Mercedes McCambridge
16 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Academy Award winning actress Mercedes McCambridge was born March 16, 1916. Hailed as the world's greatest living radio actress by Orson Welles, McCa...
Happy Birthday, Georgia Ellis
12 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Georgia Ellis was born one hundred years ago today - March 12, 1917. Though she never found big success on the big or small screens, she's a legend ...
Episode 214 - Bird on the Wing (The Falcon)
12 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Private eye Michael Waring – better known as The Falcon – solved crimes for over a decade on radio. A hard-boiled hero, Waring was "always read...
Happy Birthday, Virginia Gregg
06 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Born March 6, 1916, Virginia Gregg could play a glamorous Park Avenue socialite, a demure Chinese woman in the old west, and everything in between. ...
Episode 213 - Abracadabra (Chandu the Magician)
05 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Frank Chandler learned mystical secrets in India and returned to the west as Chandu the Magician to put his newfound powers to work fighting evil. One...
Episode 212 – Murder on the Marquee (Broadway is My Beat)
26 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Head back to Broadway – "the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world" – with Detective Danny Clover. Larry Thor stars as the ...
Episode 211 - Strange Things (Results, Incorporated)
19 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Big screen stars Lloyd Nolan and Claire Trevor indulge in some comedic crime-solving in Results, Incorporated. Private eyes Johnny Strange and Terry ...
Episode 210 - Valentine's Day (Let George Do It)
12 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Got a problem that's too tough to handle on your own? Why not Let George Do It? Before he was "the man with the action-packed expense account," Bob Ba...
Episode 209 - Scott Free (Under Arrest)
05 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Criminals beware – Captain Jim Scott won't stop until you're Under Arrest. TV mainstay Joe DeSantis stars as Scott in this police procedural that be...
Episode 208 - Night Moves (Night Beat)
29 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Reporter Randy Stone makes a nightly trek through the streets of the Windy City in search of stories for his column. This week, we'll join him as he c...
Episode 207 - Mysteries by Marlowe (Adventures of Philip Marlowe)
22 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Crime is a sucker's road," Philip Marlowe intoned at the beginning his radio program, "and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison or...
Episode 206 – Ace Up His Sleeve (Cases of Mr. Ace)
15 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
George Raft made the leap from big screen gangster to radio gumshoe in The Cases of Mr. Ace. Each week, Eddie Ace paid a visit to psychologist Dr. Ga...
Episode 205 - Point of View (Lux Radio Theatre)
08 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Montgomery reprises his screen role of Philip Marlowe from his innovative adaptation of Raymond Chandler's Lady in the Lake. The movie put the ...
Episode 204 – Holly and Homicide (The Falcon, Nick Carter, The Saint, & Sherlock Holmes)
21 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Crime doesn't take a rest during the holidays. Fortunately, radio's best gumshoes are working on Christmas to keep the airwaves safe. In the annual "D...
Episode 203 - Hungry Like the Wolfe (New Adventures of Nero Wolfe)
18 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Private detective Nero Wolfe loves to eat, tend to his orchids, drink beer – almost anything except take on a case. But – usually at the urging...
Episode 202 - Party Time (I Was a Communist for the FBI)
11 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Dana Andrews is undercover for Uncle Sam in I Was a Communist for the FBI. The big screen star plays Matt Cvetic, the real-life infiltrator who report...
Episode 201 – Cowboys, Cops, and Robbers (Tales of the Texas Rangers)
04 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Ranger Jayce Pearson keeps the Lone Star State safe in Tales of the Texas Rangers. Joel McCrea plays Pearson in this series of true crime stories dram...
Episode 200 – The 200th Episode Matter (Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar)
27 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
It's our 200th episode of old time radio cops, private eyes, and crime-solvers, and we're celebrating with one of the era's best actors and characters...
Episode 199 - Casey with Cranberry Sauce (Casey, Crime Photographer)
23 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In a special bonus episode, just in time for Thanksgiving, we'll hear ace cameraman Casey, Crime Photographer in a Turkey Day mystery. Can Casey save ...
Episode 198 - Ace of Spades (Voyage of the Scarlet Queen & Sam Spade)
20 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Howard Duff made the role of Sam Spade his own, bringing the San Francisco shamus to radio life from 1946 until 1950. With a blend of wry humor and ha...
Episode 197 - A Song in His Heart (Rogue's Gallery & Richard Diamond)
13 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
We doff our cap to Dick Powell in this birthday celebration of the crooner who reinvented himself as a tough film noir leading man. First, he's priv...
Episode 196 - OSS On the Air (Cloak and Dagger)
06 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The thrilling and dangerous wartime exploits of the OSS – Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA – were dramatized on radio in Cl...
Episode 195 - Back in Black (Pursuit)
30 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
London's criminals have nowhere to hide when Scotland Yard Inspector Peter Black begins his relentless Pursuit. The adventures of Black make for exci...
Episode 194 - Old Time Radio Halloween 2016 (Mercury Theatre On the Air)
26 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Just in time for trick-or-treating, we're bound for Transylvania with Orson Welles and The Mercury Theatre On the Air in a special bonus episode. Well...
Episode 193 - Seven Percent Solutions (New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
23 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The game is afoot with three old time radio mysteries starring the master detective of Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's immort...
Episode 192 – Shayne On You (Michael Shayne, Private Detective)
16 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Private detective Michael Shayne came to radio on October 16, 1944 and we're celebrating the anniversary of "the reckless, red-headed Irishman" with t...
Episode 191 – Capers by Craig (Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator)
09 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
William Gargan starred as Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator – "America's number one detective" – from 1951 to 1955. The actor had a long res...
Episode 190 - Friday's Man Friday (Dragnet)
02 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
For the first two and half years of Dragnet, Sgt. Joe Friday was partnered with Ben Romero, an older mentor and family man voiced by radio veteran Bar...
Episode 189 - His, Hers, & the Hangman's (Mr. and Mrs. North)
25 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Pam and Jerry North are the happy couple who can't help but find trouble. Whether it's a corpse or a caper, Mr. and Mrs. North will stumble onto the s...
Episode 188 - Bye-bye, Black Bird (Lux Radio Theatre)
18 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
John Huston's classic cinematic adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon comes to radio in this production of The Lux Radio Theatre. Though...
Episode 187 - Edmond's Expenses (Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar)
11 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Edmond O'Brien puts the "action" in the "action-packed expense account" of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. The Academy Award-winning actor starred as the ...
Episode 186 - Candy's Land (Candy Matson)
04 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Looking for mystery? Just dial YUkon 2-8209 and ask for Candy Matson. The gorgeous San Francisco private eye works out of her Telegraph Hill apartment...
Episode 185 - Mail Call (Box 13)
28 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Alan Ladd is Dan Holiday, the mystery writer who plays detective to get story material, in Box 13. The syndicated series found Holiday soliciting dang...
Episode 184 - Gallery Tour (Rogue's Gallery)
21 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
After Dick Powell bid farewell to the role of gumshoe Richard Rogue, Barry Sullivan stepped in to fill the detective's shoes. The big screen star play...
Episode 183 - Honor Among Thieves (Boston Blackie)
14 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Master jewel thief turned ace detective, the infamous Boston Blackie is an "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend....
Episode 182 - Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Academy Award)
10 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
For our annual birthday salute to Alfred Hitchcock, we'll hear one of the master of suspense's classic films recreated for radio - Foreign Correspond...
Episode 181 - Wild About Harry (Lives of Harry Lime)
07 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Cue the zither music! Orson Welles is back as Harry Lime, the lovable rogue from The Third Man, in The Lives of Harry Lime. This prequel series foll...
Episode 180 - A Shot in the Dark (The Line-Up & Richard Diamond)
31 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Before he gave the world Peter Gunn and Inspector Clouseau, Blake Edwards cut his teeth as a radio writer, penning mysteries for some of the best dete...
Episode 179 - Famous Ray's (Philip Marlowe & Suspense)
24 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to hard-boiled crime fiction, fewer did wrote it better than Raymond Chandler. One of the titans of the genre, Chandler penned dozens of...
Episode 178 - Seventy Years of Sam (Adventures of Sam Spade)
17 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
On July 12, 1946, Dashiell Hammett's famous private eye Sam Spade came to radio in what became one of the greatest detective shows of the era. With wi...
Episode 177 – Flashbulbs and Felonies (Casey, Crime Photographer)
10 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Staats Cotsworth is on the scene and on the job as Casey, Crime Photographer – ace cameraman and amateur sleuth. Casey gets the pictures of crime st...
Episode 176 - Philo Philes (Philo Vance)
03 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Brilliant, handsome, and foppish, amateur sleuth Philo Vance went through some character makeovers as he jumped from the pages of S.S. Van Dine's dete...