Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

When Londoners needed the help of Scotland Yard, they rang  Whitehall 1212 and the hardworking coppers of the Yard were on the case. From 1951 to 1952, NBC presented a series of dramatizations of actual Scotland Yard cases starring British casts. We'll hear one of those mysteries - "The Case of the Late Mrs. Harvey," first aired on February 17, 1952.

In the fall of 1950, with Vincent Price waylaid in Paris, Barry Sullivan stepped into the shoes of Simon Templar for two episodes of The Saint . The big screen star ably wore the halo as the Robin Hood of modern crime. We'll hear him in "The Ghost that Giggled" (originally aired on NBC on September 10, 1950) and "Dossier on a Doggone Dog" (originally aired on September 17, 1950).

Foreign correspondent Bob O'Hara searches the streets of Hong Kong for stories, but he plays detective as often as he plays newshound. Stacy Harris is front and center for international intrigue and danger in O'Hara , a short-lived mystery and adventure drama about a hard-boiled sleuth who happened to carry a press card. We'll hear him in "The Lost Boy," originally aired on CBS on October 29, 1956...

In honor of Alfred Hitchcock's birthday, "Down These Mean Streets" presents a bonus episode saluting the big screen's auteur of thrills and chills. We'll hear an on-air recreation of Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt , featuring Joseph Cotten in his big screen role. It originally aired on Academy Award on CBS on September 11, 1946.

Larry Thor stars as Detective Danny Clover as he walks "the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world" in Broadway is My Beat . We'll hear Clover keep the streets of New York safe in two old time radio mysteries. First, it's "The Suicide Pact Murders" (originally aired on CBS on August 21, 1950). Then, we'll hear "The Harry Foster Murder Case" (originally aired on CBS on May 5,...

Before his death in 1951 at age 43, Wally Maher made a name for himself as a versatile, in-demand radio actor. Equally adept at comedy and drama, Maher could be heard in regular roles on shows all over the dial. We'll hear him as Sgt. Matt Grebb in "Eddie Gaynor Framed for Murder" from The Line-Up (originally aired on CBS on July 20, 1950) and as Michael Shayne, Private Detective in "Judge Thorman...

Philip Marlowe made his way from the pen of Raymond Chandler to the big screen and then to radio in some of the best private eye crime drama of the era. In honor of Chandler's birthday, we'll hear his legendary shamus in two radio mysteries voiced by Gerald Mohr. First, Marlowe tackles the case of "The Eager Witness" (originally aired on CBS on August 27, 1949), and then "The Deep Shadow" (origina...

Long before Dragnet , Gang Busters brought true crime to radio. Over its two decade run, the series presented stories of dangerous criminals and the determined police officers who brought them to justice. Producer Phillips H. Lord pulled cases from state and local law enforcement agencies and presented them in one of radio's most down to earth crime dramas. Its memorable introduction - with the wa...

William Gargan wasn't a great private eye in real life, but he played a mean one on radio. Years after he supported himself checking credit and shadowing suspects, Gargan starred as several radio detectives including Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator . We'll hear the actor as Craig in "The Lost Lady" (originally aired on NBC on June 14, 1953) and "Ghosts Don't Die in Bed" (originally aired o...

Nick and Nora Charles - Dashiell Hammett's husband and wife detective duo from The Thin Man  - charmed readers and later moviegoers with their flirtatious and funny approach to cracking a case of murder. In 1941, Nick and Nora moved radio in The Adventures of The Thin Man . This blend of comedic banter and crime-solving was a long-running hit with listeners, and it ran on radio for nearly a decade...

One of radio's men of a thousand voices, Paul Frees was heard all over the dial during the Golden Age of Radio, as Boris Badenov on television, and as the ghostly host at Disney's Haunted Mansion. In honor of this versatile, talented actor's birthday, we'll hear him in two episodes as The Green Lama , the pulp hero who came to the airwaves in his own detective series. Frees stars as the Lama, aka...

Reformed jewel thief Boston Blackie was a debonair detective in his years on radio. Along with his girlfriend Mary Wesley and sidekick Shorty, Blackie used his underworld know-how to catch more unscrupulous thieves and scoundrels. Racing against Blackie to crack the case first was Inspector Farraday of the police, always unsure of Blackie's conversion to the side of law and order. To celebrate the...

When Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar came back to the airwaves in 1955 after a brief hiatus, it was reenergized by a new nightly serialized format and a new star in Bob Bailey. Bailey made the role of "the man with the action-packed expense account" his own in rich, complex scripts that could play out five nights a week in a combined hour of airtime. We'll hear Bailey as Dollar  in all five parts of "T...

Jack Webb is back as Sgt. Joe Friday in a two-part episode of Dragnet . Join Friday and his partner Frank Smith (Ben Alexander) as they pursue criminals and try and keep the streets of Los Angeles safe in this king-sized story from official police files. We'll hear "The Big Mask" (Part 1 originally aired on NBC on December 28, 1952; Part 2 originally aired on January 4, 1953).

Dashiell Hammett is widely regarded as the father of the hard-boiled school of crime fiction. After his days as a Pinkerton detective, he turned to writing mysteries, and he gave the genre some of its best loved stories, including The Maltese Falcon , The Thin Man , and The Dain Curse . In honor of his birthday, we'll hear radio adventures of two of his private eyes - Brad Runyon, aka The Fat Man...

Join Orson Welles as he leads you on a guided tour of The Black Museum , Scotland Yard's mausoleum of murder. In each episode of this syndicated series, Welles tells the story of a seemingly innocuous object that was inexorably tied to a violent crime. Follow the story from the perpetrator's flight from the scene of the crime to the dogged police work of Scotland Yard as they close in on the guilt...

Step into the shoes of the criminal in The Whistler , one of radio's best mystery anthologies. In tales narrated by the titular sinister storyteller, you'll follow the culprit as they plot and carry out the perfect crime only to be undone by a twist of fate before the curtain comes down. As the Whistler, Bill Forman narrates stories starring two radio detective stars in roles on the opposite side...

In 1952, John Lund became radio's third Johnny Dollar, and he starred as "the man with the action-packed expense account" for almost 100 episodes in a two-year run. The big-screen star brought a confident, leading man quality to the role and gave Dollar a hard-boiled but world-weary persona. We'll hear John Lund as Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar in "The Walter Patterson Matter," originally aired on CB...

We head back to London for another mystery from Scotland Yard and a dangerous, relentless Pursuit . This series let listeners join in on the game of cat and mouse between cop and criminal – "when man hunts man." Ben Wright stars as the dogged Inspector Peter Black, hot on the heels of England's most dastardly criminals. We'll hear him on the job in "Pursuit of the Asiatic Killer," first aired on C...

Dick Powell lends his pipes to the role of Richard Diamond, radio's singing detective. But don't let his post-crime solving crooning fool you - he can throw a punch and wield a .38 with the best of them. Along the way, he'll flirt with his girlfriend and frustrate the police a few times before the case is wrapped up. We'll hear him star in "The Bloody Hat Case" (first aired on NBC on July 2, 1949)...

CBS wanted a "Philip Marlowe of the Old West," and they got that and more in Gunsmoke . One of radio's finest dramas, Gunsmoke helped to usher in the era of the "adult Western" with mature scripts, unflinching realism, and legendary performances from William Conrad and the rest of the cast. For nearly a decade on radio - and twenty years on television - US Marshal Matt Dillon faced down the violen...

In honor of the late Stan Freberg, "Down These Mean Streets" presents a bonus episode showcasing some of the radio work of this legendary comedian. First, he presents "An Analysis of Satire" – featuring several of his signature routines – on The CBS Radio Workshop (originally aired on August 31, 1956). Then, Freberg takes a dramatic starring turn in "Alibi Me" from Suspense (an Armed Forces Radio...

J. Edgar Hoover's FBI agents captured headlines with their daring pursuits of bank robbers and enemy spies, and their exploits made for thrilling radio adventures. Several radio programs brought the cases of the Bureau to listeners and featured dramatizations of actual FBI case files. We'll hear special agents on the job in "The Traveling Man" from The FBI in Peace and War (originally aired on CBS...

Before he protected the innocent on Dragnet , Jack Webb made a name for himself in a pair of hard-boiled detective dramas. The characters he played were miles away from the straight arrow Sgt. Joe Friday. They were down-on-their-heels working stiffs out for a buck and usually getting cheated out of it, working their way through cases full of deceitful dames, angry gunsels, and impatient cops. We'l...

In 1944, Michael Shayne came to radio. Brett Halliday's red-headed shamus had thrilled readers and moviegoers, and Wally Maher was tapped to bring the character to the airwaves. Maher starred as Shayne (with Cathy Lewis as Shayne's secretary Phyllis Knight) for the next three years. Maher's Shayne was cocky and glib, and he liked to use his brains instead of his brawn to crack a case. We'll hear h...