Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

The police officers of the 21st Precinct keep their slice of New York City safe, and they're overseen in their jobs by Captain Frank Kennelly, "the boss." Everett Sloane stars as Kennelly in one of radio's last great police procedural dramas. Answer the call and ride along with the squad in "The Brother," originally aired on CBS on April 14, 1954.

Conceived as a replacement for Charlie Chan, John P. Marquand's Mr. Moto thrilled readers before jumping to the big screen in a popular series of movies starring Peter Lorre. The adventures of the Japanese secret agent came to radio in 1951 in Mr. I.A. Moto starring James Monks in new international exploits of the diminutive detective. We'll hear Mr. Moto tackle the mystery of "The Crooked Log," f...

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall bring their white-hot chemistry to radio in Bold Venture . Bogie and Bacall riff on their To Have and Have Not characters as Havana charter boat captain Slate Shannon and his young ward and sidekick "Sailor" Duval. Together, Slate and Sailor flirt, banter, and fight to stay out of trouble in the tropics. However, there's usually a healthy dose of danger coming the...

Russian-born British actor Tom Conway thrilled audiences on screen as The Falcon, and his crime-solving career extended to radio as star of two popular radio detective series. In this episode, we'll hear him take center stage as Sherlock Holmes (with Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson) in "The Strange Death of Mrs. Abernetty" (originally aired on ABC on November 30, 1946) and as The Saint in "Satan's Angel...

Edmond O'Brien is back, bringing his intensity to the action-packed expense account of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar . As a birthday tribute to the Oscar winner, we present two episodes from his run as America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. First, it's "The London Matter" (originally aired on CBS on June 22, 1950), and then we'll hear "The Joan Sebastian Matter" (originally aired on Oct...

Mickey Spillane's hard-boiled private eye Mike Hammer dispensed justice with a blast or two from his .45 in some of the genre's hardest, most violent mysteries. Hammer's adventures sold millions of copies in print and thrilled and titillated audiences in films, on television, and - from 1952 to 1954 - on radio in That Hammer Guy . Larry Haines stars as Mike in "Sophisticated Lady," originally aire...

It's back to the Big Apple for two more cases of Detective Danny Clover. Larry Thor stars as the sharp, philosophical detective in Broadway is My Beat , a stand-out from the crowd of radio cop dramas. Clover walks the Great White Way and mixes with the upper crust and the downtrodden in search of the truth in two mysteries: "The Garment District Murders" (originally aired on CBS on April 14, 1951)...

The debonair and daring Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond steps out of the night and into one of his radio adventures. H.C. McNeile's adventurer and detective crossed the pond in mystery dramas in the United States following his warm reception in novels and on the big screen. Ned Wever stars as the Captain, on the case in "Death Loops the Loop," originally aired on Mutual on March 10, 1948.

To celebrate the birthday of Alfred Hitchcock, we present a bonus episode of "Down These Mean Streets" dedicated to the big screen master of suspense. We'll hear a radio recreation of his classic film Strangers On a Train . Ray Milland and Frank Lovejoy step into the lead parts of Guy Haines and Bruno Antony, with Ruth Roman and Patricia Hitchcock recreating their movie roles in this rehearsal for...

Alan Ladd is back as mystery writer Dan Holiday in Box 13 . Holiday's figured out a way to beat writer's block: he runs a classified ad hiring himself out as an adventurer for hire, and he uses his experience as story material. It may wow the publishers, but it means Dan's life is frequently in jeopardy when he answers letters addressed to "Box 13." We'll hear two of his syndicated radio adventure...

Orson Welles reprises his Third Man film role in the prequel radio series The Lives of Harry Lime . His nefarious traits are toned down (somewhat) as we find Lime traveling the world. Harry's still a rogue, but he usually puts his skills to work to thwart more dastardly crooks...even if it's only to line his own pockets. Welles stars in "Ticket to Tangier," an episode he also wrote for the syndica...

July 23rd marked the 126th anniversary of Raymond Chandler's birth, and we're saluting the author and his most famous character - private detective Philip Marlowe. Gerald Mohr stars as Marlowe, out to prove again and again that "crime is a sucker's road," in these two old time radio mysteries: "The Dancing Hands" (originally aired on CBS on March 19, 1949) and "The Glass Donkey" (originally aired...

British big screen star Herbert Marshall finds danger at every turn as secret agent Ken Thurston, aka The Man Called X . From 1944 to 1952, Thurston crossed oceans and continents on top secret missions to keep America safe in the perilous years following World War II. We'll hear this debonair man of mystery in "Five Ounces of Treason," originally aired on NBC on January 13, 1951.

"The greatest private detective of them all" hit radio on July 12, 1946 in The Adventures of Sam Spade . In honor of his anniversary, we'll hear Howard Duff as Sam in two of his radio adventures. Listen along as Sam dictates his reports on "The Mad Scientist Caper" (originally aired on CBS on July 25, 1948) and "The Critical Author Caper" (originally aired on CBS on August 15, 1948.

Bill Johnstone and Wally Maher are back on the beat in two more episodes of The Line-Up . Join them as they grill suspects and close the book on crime in one of radio's greatest police procedurals. We'll hear "The Mad Bomber," originally aired on CBS on January 11, 1951 and "The Syncopic Sweazy Sweat-Out Case," originally aired on CBS on July 5, 1951.

Paul Frees stars as Jethro Dumont, the wealthy American who studied Buddhism in Tibet and returned to his home country to fight crime as The Green Lama . This short-lived series brought the pulp magazine and comic book hero to radio and found him tackling adventures and mysteries all around the world. We'll hear him in "The Story of the Last Dinosaur," originally aired on CBS on July 3, 1949.

Master detective Ellery Queen made his radio debut seventy-five years ago this month, and we're celebrating with two of the sleuth's on-the-air adventures. First, Sydney Smith is Ellery in "The Adventure of the Message in Red," originally aired on CBS on November 7, 1945. Then, Larry Dobkin stars as Queen in "Number 31," originally aired on NBC on September 7, 1947. Play along with Ellery and his...

Basil Rathbone donned the deerstalker cap in fourteen films as Sherlock Holmes and portrayed the legendary detective on radio for seven years. Frustration with typecasting led him to leave Baker Street, but he didn't stay away from the detective world for long. We'll hear him this week as Holmes (with Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson) in "The Problem of Thor Bridge," originally aired on Mutual on October...

Gerald Mohr, one of the greatest actors of the Golden Age of Radio, was born 100 years ago this week. To mark his centennial anniversary, we'll hear Mohr as three different radio detectives. First, he's Archie Goodwin to Sydney Greenstreet's Nero Wolfe in "The Case of the Calculated Risk" (originally aired on NBC on January 19, 1951). Then, it's his 1955 audition recording as Yours Truly, Johnny D...

Gale Gordon (Principal Conklin of Our Miss Brooks ) stars as Gregory Hood, importer and amateur detective, in The Casebook of Gregory Hood . An unofficial detective, Hood seems to find trouble wherever he goes. Bill Johnstone plays attorney Sanderson Taylor, the Dr. Watson to Hood's Sherlock Holmes, in their first radio adventure, "The Case of the Three Silver Pesos," originally aired on Mutual on...

William Powell and Myrna Loy recreate their film roles of Nick and Nora Charles in this radio adaptation of The Thin Man . Dashiell Hammett's story of the Charles and their search for missing inventor Clyde Wynant was a big screen smash and was presented on the air on the Lux Radio Theatre . We'll hear this hour-long dramatization as it was heard on CBS on June 8, 1936.

Frances Crane's married sleuths Pat and Jean Abbott brought their colorful capers to radio in The Adventures of the Abbotts . Pat is a private eye by trade, but she proves herself a very adept amateur as she joins him on his cases. We'll hear Claudia Morgan and Mandel Kramer as the Abbotts in "The Canary-Blonde Heiress," an Armed Forces Radio Services rebroadcast of an episode aired on NBC on May...

S.S. Van Dine's dapper detective Philo Vance starred in twelve novels and over a dozen films before he came to radio. Played on screen by William Powell and Basil Rathbone among others, Vance was most memorably portrayed on the air by Jackson Beck in a syndicated series. We'll hear him take on "The Thundering Murder Case," one of the syndicated Philo Vance episodes.

Just a month before they terrified the nation with "The War of the Worlds," Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre On the Air presented an adaptation of "Sherlock Holmes," the 1899 play co-written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  The legendary actor/director stars as the legendary detective in this broadcast originally aired on CBS on September 25, 1938.

Sixty-five years ago this week, Richard Diamond, Private Detective premiered on NBC, and listeners were introduced to Dick Powell as radio's singing private eye.  To mark the occasion, we'll hear Powell in two radio mysteries: "The Homing Pigeon Case" (originally aired on NBC on October 11, 1950) and "Blue Serge Suit" (originally aired on ABC on February 9, 1951).