Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

Real-life husband and wife Glenn Langan and Adele Jurgens star as a radio reporter and his secretary - a pair of amateur sleuths in the city of angels - in  Stand By For Crime . The syndicated mystery series follows the pair as the probe the cases they cover for the radio news. We'll hear three episodes: "The Luke Larson Murder," "The Kidnapper's New Shoes," and "The Clueless Crime Spree."

For our annual Halloween special, we're spotlighting radio sleuths doing battle with the (seemingly) supernatural. First, it's "The Ghost on Bliss Terrace" from  Let George Do It (originally aired on Mutual on August 16, 1948) with Bob Bailey and Frances Robinson. Then, Vincent Price is Simon Templar in "The Ghosts Who Came to Dinner" from  The Saint (originally aired on NBC on April 8, 1951).

The game's afoot as we head back to 221B Baker Street for three old time radio adventures of Sherlock Holmes. John Stanley is the great detective and Alfred Shirley is Dr. Watson in "Professor Moriarty and the Diamond Jubilee" (originally aired on Mutual on December 7, 1947); "The Mazarin Stone" (originally aired on Mutual on January 4, 1948); and "The Adventure of the Wooden Claw" (originally air...

Armed with a camera and an insatiable appetite for the truth,  Casey, Crime Photographer will get to the bottom of the baffling mysteries he covers for his big city paper. Staats Cotsworth stars as Casey, with Jan Miner as reporter Ann Williams and John Gibson as bantering bartender Ethelbert, in "Self-Made Hero" (originally aired on CBS on July 17, 1947) and "Fog" (originally aired on CBS on Marc...

It's the 350th episode of  Down These Mean Streets , and to mark the occasion I'm celebrating with Gerald Mohr as Raymond Chandler's celebrated shamus Philip Marlowe. One of radio's best actors brings vibrant life to one of literature's greatest detectives in four old time radio mysteries: "Red Wind" (originally aired on CBS on September 26, 1948); "The Black Halo" (originally aired on CBS on Janu...

If all he did was revive  Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Jack Johnstone would still be a radio legend. But the multi-talented Johnstone brought listeners everything from true crime tales to offbeat western adventures. We're saluting the man who wrote scripts for  Buck Rogers and  Superman and who directed James Stewart in the Hollywood legend's only regular series radio role with a block of his shows...

Travel back in time with Thomas Hyland - connoisseur of crime, student of violence, and teller of murders - in  Crime Classics . One of the all-time great radio dramas,  Crime Classics was the brainchild of actor, producer, and director Elliott Lewis, and it colorfully dramatized some of history's most notorious murders. Each week, Hyland (played by Lou Merrill) related accounts of Lizzie Borden,...

"Enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend" is how  Boston Blackie was introduced to radio listeners, and the former jewel thief turned detective proved week after week that he was always ready to lend a hand to a friend or throw a punch at a criminal. Richard Kollmar stars as the charming rogue who uses all of the tricks of his trade to turn the tables on dangerous...

Travel to Cairo and make sure to grab a drink at the Cafe Tambourine - the nightclub owned and operated by  Rocky Jordan . Jack Moyles stars as the expat and adventurer cut from the  Casablanca cloth, with Jay Novello as the ever-watchful Captain Sam Sabayya of the Cairo police. We'll hear "Up in Flames" (originally aired on CBS on December 19, 1948) and "Journey to Nashier" (originally aired on C...

Dan Holiday will beat writer's block even if it kills him. The reporter turned author offers his services as an adventurer for hire, and his only payment is to get fuel for his novels. Alan Ladd stars as Holiday in  Box 13 , and we'll hear three of his syndicated radio mysteries: "Three to Die," "The Biter Bitten," and "The Clay Pigeon."

Released 70 years ago this week in the UK,  The Third Man remains one of the greatest films ever made. It's an engrossing, morally ambiguous noir drama set in the ruins of postwar Vienna and it finds Joseph Cotten's Holly Martins searching for the truth behind the death (and alleged crimes) of his oldest friend. Cotten recreated his role in an adaptation from  The Lux Radio Theatre (originally air...

Using stories from the files of Scotland Yard, writer-director Wyllis Cooper crafted an outstanding and authentically British crime drama with  Whitehall 1212 . Each episode followed the dedicated detectives of Scotland Yard as they tracked down and apprehended the guilty. We'll hear a pair of episodes: "The Case of Dr. Duncan Allen" (originally aired on NBC on March 9, 1952) and "The Case of Magg...

No matter how baffling the crime appears, no matter how stumped the police may be, master detective Philo Vance will unmask the culprit. Jackson Beck - the man whose booming voice introduced Superman to a generation of radio listeners - stars as S.S. Van Dine's brilliant sleuth in three syndicated radio mysteries: "The Movie Murder Case," "The Birdcage Murder Case," and "The Golden Key Murder Case...

Over the course of two radio shows, Brett Halliday's Michael Shayne shifted from a happy-go-lucky gumshoe with a lovely secretary and a good rapport with the cops to a burned-out loner who regularly found himself short on money and up to his neck in trouble. Both were great, and this week we'll hear episodes from both of the shows. First, Wally Maher is Mike, with Cathy Lewis as Phyllis Knight, in...

When people find themselves in trouble, it only makes sense that they'd ask a  Saint for help. Vincent Price starred on radio as Leslie Charteris' "Robin Hood of modern crime" and lent an air of sophistication to crimesolving. We'll Simon Templar in a pair of old time radio mysteries: "Tuba or Not Tuba - That Is the Question" (originally aired on NBC on January 21, 1951) and "The Birds and Bees of...

There was no shortage of private eyes during the Golden Age of Radio, but only one could carry a tune as well as he could crack a case. Dick Powell starred as  Richard Diamond, Private Detective - the gumshoe who cracked wise, packed a punch, and crooned a song to his girlfriend every week. We'll hear Powell in three radio mysteries: "The Private Eye Test" (originally aired on NBC on March 19, 195...

It's time to match wits with Ellery Queen! The brilliant amateur sleuth takes a break in the program to give you - and a special guest armchair detective - a chance to solve the crime before he reveals the solution to the mystery. We'll hear three old time radio mysteries starring Sydney Smith as Ellery: "The Adventure of the Vanishing Magician" (originally aired on NBC on November 6, 1943); "The...

There's murder and mystery on the waterfront in San Francisco - "where the best trouble always looks good from the outside" - and Pat Novak is at the center of the storm. Jack Webb stars as the hard-boiled gumshoe in a pair of mysteries: "Find John St. John" (AFRS rebroadcast from May 22, 1949) and "Joe Dineen" (originally aired on ABC on June 19, 1949).

It's time to revisit "the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world" with Detective Danny Clover. Larry Thor stars as the cop with the heart of a poet in  Broadway is My Beat  - the police procedural drama with lyrical dialogue and Runyonesque characters. We'll hear two of his cases from the Great White Way - "The Joe Gruber Murders" (originally aired on CBS on July 8, 1951) and...

Whether he was thwarted by Rocky and Bullwinkle or leading visitors on a tour of the Haunted Mansion, Paul Frees' rich voice has been a part of pop culture for generations. But before all of that, he was a versatile voice actor on radio - one of the era's men of a thousand voices. We'll hear him starring as Jethro Dumont in "The Man Who Never Existed" from  The Green Lama (originally aired on CBS...

He dueled on screen with Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power, and Danny Kaye, he was twice nominated for Oscars, and for 14 films and hundreds of radio episodes, Basil Rathbone brought Sherlock Holmes to life. We'll celebrate one of the best actors to wear the deerstalker cap with two of his radio mysteries: "Murder Beyond the Mountains" (originally aired on Mutual on January 14, 1946) and "The Waltz of Dea...

For radio detective fans, it doesn't get much better than Bob Bailey as "the man with the action-packed expense account." In honor of the actor's birthday, we'll hear him in a complete five-part adventure of  Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar : "The Long Shot Matter" (originally aired on CBS between June 25th and June 29th, 1956).

Gerald Mohr lent his voice to hundreds of radio episodes, but he's best remembered today for his run as Philip Marlowe. Mohr's voice was perfect for the hard-boiled narration and rough and tumble action, and his Marlowe stands out as one of the best gumshoes of the era. We'll hear Mohr as Marlowe in "The Last Laugh" (originally aired on CBS on April 2, 1949) and "The Last Wish" (originally aired o...

Seventy years ago this week,  Dragnet made its radio debut and changed the face of crime drama forever. That first episode launched a franchise that stretched into the 21st century and made its creator and star Jack Webb a household name. We'll celebrate the anniversary with four cases pulled from the files of the LAPD: "Homicide" (originally aired on NBC on June 10, 1949); "The Big Fake" (origina...

We're saluting Dashiell Hammett - born May 27, 1894 - with three old time radio adventures of his famous private eye Sam Spade. Spade's adventures made for one of the best radio detective shows of the era - a hard-boiled mystery that poked gentle fun at the conventions of the genre. Howard Duff stars as the gumshoe in "The Wheel of Life Caper" (originally aired on CBS on July 11, 19498) and "The B...