Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

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 as a radio crime solver when he starred as Lt. Lou Kagel, a New York cop who investigated Crime on the Waterfront . Though the show didn't materialize into a series, both audition recordings survive and give us the chance to hear the celebrated newsm...

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 the master detective of Baker Street in 14 films and in hundreds of episodes of  The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on radio. In honor of the star's June 13th birthday, we'll hear a trio of Holmes radio adventures starring Rathbone and Nigel Bruce...

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 detectives of the radio era. But there was more to Mohr than his celebrated turn as "crime's most deadly enemy." In honor of his birthday, we'll hear Gerald Mohr in two radio mysteries as Marlowe - "The Long Rope" (originally aired on CBS on February 5, 1949...

Join San Francisco importer and amateur detective Gregory Hood as he shares two adventures from his casebook. Gale Gordon and Elliott Lewis star as Hood, a brilliant gentleman detective whose cases intersect with his search for rare treasures from all around the world. Created by Anthony Boucher and Denis Green (radio writers for Sherlock Holmes), Hood is a worthy addition to the world of radio sl...

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, Suspense – "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" – presents John Payne and Frank McHugh in the small-town murder mystery "Two Sharp Knives" (originally aired on CBS on June 7, 1945). Then, the big screen cast reunites for a radio recreation of The Maltes...

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 honor of what would have been the legendary actor's 100th birthday, we'll hear Burr in three of his old time radio performances. First, he's Inspector Hellman, the bull-headed thorn in the side of Pat Novak For Hire . Burr co-stars with Jack Webb in...

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 Moyles stars as Jordan, a combination Sam Spade and Rick Blaine who's trying to make an honest dollar in a den of thieves. Rocky investigates crimes and capers through the bazaars and back alleys of Cairo. We'll hear "The Big Ditch" (originally aired...

Glenn Ford travels the world as freelance private eye  Christopher London , a radio detective with the international beat of a secret agent. The character was created by Erle Stanley Gardner, the author who gave the world Perry Mason, and had it not been for Ford's success on the silver screen, we might have had a long run of globetrotting adventures to enjoy. We'll hear Ford as London in "The Ter...

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 characters from all around the world. He usually worked in supporting roles, but he had time in the spotlight as two old time radio detectives. We'll hear him as Sherlock Holmes in "The Singular Affair of the Ancient Egyptian Curse" (originally aire...

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, and his pipes as he croons a tune to his girlfriend. Dick Powell stars as the singing detective in one of radio's best mystery shows. We'll hear him in a pair of episodes – "The Betty Moran Case" (originally aired on NBC on May 29, 1949) and "The C...

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 investigator would close the case. Today, we'll hear a complete five-part mystery starring Bob Bailey as "the man with the action-packed expense account." As Dollar, Bailey travels the world in "The Star of Capetown Matter," originally aired on CBS between...

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 crack the case as long as he doesn't have to leave his house. For the legwork and rough and tumble elements of the job, he turns to his able assistant Archie Goodwin. Sydney Greenstreet stars as Wolfe in a pair of radio mysteries: "The Case of the Ca...

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, produced, and set the tone for the grandfather of all police procedural dramas. Friday teams up with Sgt. Ben Romero (Barton Yarborough) and Officer Frank Smith (Ben Alexander) in three cases dramatized from the files of the Los Angeles Police Department:...

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, with Wally Maher as Sgt. Matt Grebb and Jack Moyles as Sgt. Pete Carger. Each episode opens with the titular line-up, where each week listeners meet "the innocent, the vagrant, the thief, the murderer," We'll hear "The Case of Frankie and Joyce" (or...

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 trusted valet Kato wage a war against racketeers and corruption. The radio adventure series spawned movie serials, a TV series, and films and it's slated for another big screen reboot. Robert Hall stars as the Hornet in "George Haven's Secret" (originally...

Private eye Michael Waring – better known as  The Falcon  – solved crimes for over a decade on radio. A hard-boiled hero, Waring was "always ready with a hand for oppressed men and an eye for oppressed women." The Falcon made his way to radio after success in print and a popular series of B-movies. We'll hear two of the Falcon's adventures: James Meighan stars in "Murder is a Family Affair" (origi...

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 of radio's most popular serial adventure characters, Chandu first came to the air in 1932 and returned for a revival in the late 1940s. Aided by his niece and nephew, as well as a cast of mysterious characters, Chandu was a magical menace to evildoe...

Head back to Broadway – "the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world" – with Detective Danny Clover. Larry Thor stars as the policeman with the soul of a poet in Broadway is My Beat . From flophouses to mansions, from back alleys to the bright lights of the Great White Way, Clover investigates murder in the city that never sleeps. We'll hear three of his mysteries: "The Robe S...

Big screen stars Lloyd Nolan and Claire Trevor indulge in some comedic crime-solving in  Results, Incorporated . Private eyes Johnny Strange and Terry Travers will take on assignments from babysitting to hunting for ghosts in a haunted house. Undaunted, they trade quips as they follow the clues and close their cases. We'll hear "The Last of the Bloody Gillettes," originally aired on Mutual on Dece...

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 Bailey was George Valentine, the private eye who advertised that "danger is my stock in trade." Aided by his girl Friday Claire Brooks, George found no shortage of people eager to enlist his aid in cases ranging from missing people to murder. We'll he...

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 began as a summer replacement in 1946 but ended its radio run eight years later. We'll hear Captain Scott solve "The Sam Carver Case" (originally aired on Mutual on February 6, 1949).

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 covers the  Night Beat . Frank Lovejoy stars as Stone, not a professional detective but a man who nevertheless ends up entangled with cops and crooks as he works to meet his deadlines. We'll hear "The Night Watchman" (originally aired on NBC on May 15...

"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 the grave." It was a two-fisted introduction to one of radio's best detective shows. Gerald Mohr stars as Raymond Chandler's private eye, solving crimes from high society to skid row in Los Angeles, in a pair of radio mysteries. We'll hear "The Pigeon...

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. Gayle to recount his latest adventure – adventures the good doctor used as material for her book on criminal psychology. Raft does a good job as a character on the right side of the tracks in this short-lived syndicated series. We'll hear him in "A Ma...

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 audience in Marlowe's shoes, with the camera acting as the detective's eyes, but the story plays better on radio; without the occasionally distracting camera gimmick, listeners can dive into the story as Marlowe hunts for a missing wife. Montgomery...