When Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar was moved from Hollywood to New York City, Bob Bailey chose not to move with it and left the show. His long running stint as Dollar came to an end. New York actor Robert Readick became the new Johnny Dollar.

A look at how the new series changed yet again.

We're nearing the end of our run of Johnny Dollar actors. This week a look at probably the best known and one of the most popular radio Johnny Dollar's among radio fans - Bob Bailey (right).

Bailey is not well-known outside of his role although he was on a number of other series, mostly in minor roles. His story is a somewhat sad one as Bailey was a victim of his life as a radio actor.

Music under is fantasia by Duke Ellington.

Nearing the end, a look at Johnny Dollar #5 and another one that was never heard over radio. Veteran radio and television actor Gerald Mohr - the voice of Philip Marlowe (right) - did an audition recording of the revival of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar after it left the air the previous year.

Music under is "Blue in Rain" by kosaito from the Podshow Music Network.

We're now at the 4th Johnny Dollar actor in my continuing run on this well known radio detective. John Lund (right) was the fourth actor to portray the famous insurance investigator. Like Edmond O'Brien, his portrayal was a darker one, but flatter than O'Brien's. He was my least favorite of the Dollar's perhaps, but consideration will be given to his acting.

Music under is is "Forty-Eight" by Whispering Johnson from the Podsafe Music Network.

We're now at part 3 of our look at Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. This week I'll focus on the portrayal of the detective by actor Edmond O'Brien. This run of the series takes on a much darker less whimsical tone as created by the new producer Jaime De Valle.

Continuing the look at the history of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. I'll be looking at the first serial Johnny Dollar - actor Charles Russell (right) and how he approached the character. I'll also look at how he differed from Dick Powell's portrayal that was heard in the previous podcast.

Music under is "Evansessence" by Anne Farnsworth from the Podshow Music Network.

This week the start of a series looking at the history of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and how it changed over its 13 year history. This week's is an audition recording starring Dick Powell as Johnny in an episode that never aired.

Another police procedural radio series besides Dragnet was 21st Precinct. It was in some ways even more straight-forward than Jack Webb's version. This show looked at the 21st precinct of a New York City borough and the people who lived and died in it.

This week an extensive look at the history of The Saint, aka Simon Templer and its author Leslie Charteris (right). I'll look at the different media appearances of the series plus snippets of interviews with one of Charteris' biographers Dick Fiddy.

Interview clips come from Geoffrey Richards and the BBC.

Music under is "Fantasia" by Duke Ellington.

Another radio detective from the factory of Frank and Ann Hummert was Inspector Thorne. The series was short-lived and also had two stars portraying the lead. The first was Karl Weber and the second was Staats Cotsworth (right).

This week - a return to hardboiled detective fiction writer, Raymond Chandler. In 1944, the film Murder, My Sweet was released based on Chandler's book Farewell, My Lovely. In 1945 the Lux Radio Theater produced an adaptation of the film starring much of the original cast including Dick Powell and Claire Trevor (right). Some interesting Chandler tidbits about the production.

Music under is "Evan's Essence" by Anne Farnsworth on the Podshow Music Network.

I'll be taking a week off attending the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Maryland.

Arthur Conan Doyle (right) is best known for his creation of the detective Sherlock Holmes. This week I look at another detective creation of his - one Inspector Collins of Scotland Yard. He only appeared once on radio and that was in the Escape presentation of a Conan Doyle short story - "The Lost Special" about a train that seems to totally vanish.

Collins has Holmesian characteristics in his detective skills.

Music under is "Katy's Melting Song" by Monika Herzig on Podshow.com

While John P. Marquand (right) found literary success in his books such as The Late George Apley, he found commercial success in a series of detective/spy novels featuring a Japanese mystery man - Mr. I.A. Moto. This week I feature the agent that Peter Lorre made famous and also made Lorre successful. By the time radio found the novels, Moto had become a detective/agent fighting Communism in America.

This week another radio detective cum lawyer born from the daytime serial dramas. Perry Mason on radio was wedged between two other "soap operas" and though it was also one, it was different from the others. I'll look at Earl Stanley Gardner and his famous lawyer who did a lot of detective work on the radio version. There were several actors who portrayed him on radio, but the most frequently remembered one was John Larkin (right).

Music under the commentary is "Midnight in Chicago" by the Indianapolis Jazz Orchestra from Garageband.com.

A look at the detective serials as "soap drama."  Mr. Chameleon came from the factory of Frank and Ann Hummert who are best known as the creators of many of radio soap operas and now some of the long running television daytime dramas. The series starred Karl Swenson (right) as the detective who could disguise himself to solve a crime.

Music under the commentary is "Old Folks" by the Ron Helman Jazz Ensemble from the Podshow music network.

Though he was much better in Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator, gravely-voiced William Gargan starred several more times on radio. This week a look at one of his lesser roles in which he seemed to sometimes sleep his way through. This crime detective series starred Gargan as Ross Dolan.

Just as his successful radio series, Dragnet, was making a move to television, Jack Webb starred in another short lived radio vehicle - Pete Kelly's Blues. I'll look at why he might have done so when he had so much on his plate at the time. The series had some great New Orlean's Style Jazz!

This week you'll hear an audition episode of a series that apparently never aired. San Francisco Final was produced by many of the same personnel who brought Dragnet to the television. Though San Francisco Final is a very well written episode, it has many of the same elements of Dragnet in style and feel.

The series starred Jeff Chandler who was then a major Hollywood star.

I'm back with an all new podcast about a Raymond Chandler short story called "Spanish Blood." The story is an integral one in Chandler's development of his "tarnished knight" - Phillip Marlowe. 

A look at Raymond Chandler's idea of the fictional detective and the radio play "Murder in City Hall" from the Molle Mystery Theater.

Repeat podcast while I am on leave from July 2005.

Charlie Chan was the creation of author Earl Derr Biggers (right) whose famous detective was best known in a series of films. But Chan also had a modest run on radio as you will hear in this podcast.

Repeat episode (Sep 2005) while I take some time off.

A look at an unusual Radio Detective - one doesn't always think of this radio character in the detective vein, though he was indeed the investigator as much as a crime fighter. The Shadow is one of the best remembered radio characters from his pulp creation to radio and films.

A look at another female radio detective series. This one had two big stars in Joan Blondell and Dick Powell, then husband and wife. The series, Miss Pinkerton, Inc. is based on the characters created by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

Note: I'll be taking a couple of weeks off - repeat programs will be appearing here the next two weeks.

Background music is called "Speak Low" by Akili.

In 1914, pulp fiction writer, Louis Joseph Vance, published the first in a series of mystery detective books starring Michael Lanyard, aka The Lone Wolf. Though Vance died before he could see the industry his books created in the thirties and forties, the books left him a successful writer.

This week, a look at the radio serial, The Lone Wolf with the only available episode of the series which first starred Gerald Mohr, then later Walter Coy (seen in the photo).

One of the lesser known detective radio series, The Cases of Mr. Ace appears to have been in very limited run mostly on WNEW in New York in the late forties. The series was one of only two in which George Raft starred. So listen in to the somewhat noirish Eddie Ace.

One of the lesser known radio detective serials was The Amazing Mr. Malone also known as Murder and Mr. Malone. Yet this series had three separate runs, a television series and several movies all based upon the fictional detective mystery books by author Craig Rice, whose real name was Georgiana Ann Randolph Rice (right).

Adventures of Frank Race was purely a radio series with no connection to other media. It's first star was Tom Collins whose suave (but fake) British sounding accent provided some well crafted narrative to the series. The second star was Paul Dubov who was more hardboiled.

This week, a look at the international detective whose primary business was following insurance scams.

While one might not think of Big Town as a detective series, it wasn't as much in its first run with Edward G. Robinson. But by 1942, the cast had changed and so had the theme. Managing Editor Steve Wilson of the Illustrated Press (portrayed by this time by Edward Pawley [right]) spent more time on the street investigating crime than he did running a newspaper.

Music underneath is "Seven Eleven" by Chillerstadt available on the Podshow Music Network.

A delightful but intentionally short-lived series starring Rex Harrison. This series was written by Ed Adamson, who I will talk about a bit and whose talent makes this the wonderful little series it was.

A look at Mickey Spillane and his explosive private investigator - Mike Hammer. Hammer was a true pulp hero who was seen and heard in various media including film, radio, television and comic strips. Mickey Spillane was never respected by his peers, but laughed all the way to the bank as his hero was extremely popular with readers.

This week, I am experimenting with a different format as I present William Gargan as investigator Barry Craig. The series from the early fifties was actually quite entertaining. A look at the actor himself as well as the series. Music included this week are from music.podshow.com and include:

Evan Stone performing KCAMS
Robin Stine performing "Shy Boy"
lastfuture performing "detective double bass"

A return look at Raymond Chandler's private detective, Phillip Marlowe. Last time I focused on Gerald Mohr's protrayal, but this time, we look at the first radio Phillip Marlowe - Van Heflin.

I also look at other Phillip Marlowe's from other media and how they interpreted him.

Crime and Peter Chambers was a short term replacement for the featured podcast last week - Rocky Fortune. The series starred screen and television actor Dane Clark as a suave but tough private detective based upon the detective novels by long time mystery novelist Henry Kane.

In the early fifties, Frank Sinatra's career seemed nearly over. His musical style was out of date and while he had appeared in some films, most were musically oriented. Then came From Here to Eternity for which he carried away a best supporting Oscar.

Radio too saw money in this seemingly new side to the man and signed him first to a radio series that never got past the planning stage, then to this week's feature Rocky Fortune.

Beginning with the Lucky Strike Program the first known dramatization of an FBI case was heard on the radio in 1933. The FBI continued its relationship with the networks at times opening their case files to scriptwriters to present them in dramatic form. The most popular of these types of programs is featured on this podcast including The FBI in Peace and War and This Is Your FBI.

"I've been here so long, even the seagulls must recognize me. They must pass the word along about me from generation to generation, from egg to egg."

This week a program that never became a series. Based loosely on the best selling book by Max Miller, this William N. Robson production starred Larry Thor as Joe Miller, a reporter cum detective whose beat is the fog-bound, sometimes seedy side of the waterfront.

Originally from the pen of pulp crime/mystery writer, George Harmon Coxe, Casey, Crime Photographer achieved fame through radio starring Staats Cotsworth (right).

One of the earliest police procedual dramas and possibly the model for Gang Busters and later Dragnet, Calling All Cars happened because of the public's interest in new technology - police car radios!

Plus, something completely different - an experiemental musical piece from Jon Baker at http://www.pikdesign.com. If you are open to music experiments, be prepared to crank your portable mp3 player.

Every so often one discovers a little known radio series that turns out to be a fun listen. This week you'll hear one. It's called Pursuit and stars Inspector Peter Black, a Scotland Yard detective portrayed by Ted de Corsia (right).

One of the best known fictional detectives in the world - Hercule Poirot was heard in books, movies and radio. This week, a look at this little man with the "little gray cells." I'll look at a number of his radio appearances with the full show being the premier episode of the first serialized version from 1945 starring Harold Huber (right) as the master detective.

This week a visit to Pier 23 to meet Johnny Modero, the last of the Jack Webb pre-Dragnet private detectives on radio. Probably the least of the three Webb detectives and a clone of his previous Pat Novak.

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This week a look at the gravely voiced, square-jawed actor Charles McGraw as he appeared in an audition episode of the Man From Homicide. I'll also do some sound snapshots from his radio/screen career.

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E. Jack Neumann and John Michael Hayes (right) were two of radio's finest writers of detective and suspense. This week a brief return to an episode from The Adventures of Sam Spade written by these two writers. Listen for the well defined characters the create as well as the tension and comedy. An example of some of radio's finest writing. Nuemann went on to write for television and Hayes wrote several of the classic Alfred Hitchcock films.

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Out of fog and into American homes comes Bulldog Drummond. This originally hardboiled detective becomes something else when radio gets a hold of him. This run starred Ned Wever (right).

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Morton Fine and David Friedkin were scriptwriters who were all over the radio spectrum in the forties and fifties before they moved to television. A look at how writers worked and seemed to carry common themes and style no matter the genre ending in an episode of the Fine/Friedkin scriptwork: Broadway Is My Beat starring Larry Thor (right).

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From out of the pulps comes Nick Carter, Master Detective! This week "another case for that most famous of all man hunters - the detective whose ability at solving crime is unequal in the history of detective fiction - Nick Carter, Master Detective."

The character of Nick Carter goes back to 19th century detective stories as one of the staples of early Street & Smith publishing. Nick Carter may be the most published character in American fiction. By the time radio got a hold of him, the character had evolved into a private investigator. Starring Lon Clark (right) for the whole series.

I'll look a little at the history of this pulp character and the strange ride he took over the last 100 years! This week's episode: The Echo of Death.

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This week a look at one of the longest running detective series on radio. Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons was in some ways not much more than a light drama produced by the soap drama factory of Frank and Anne Hummert. Yet, it had its share of crime and death. It was also extremely popular in its day and often remembered by many youngsters who listened to radio at the time.

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This week I am returning to Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. It was a different series during the Edmond O'Brien (right) years - a radio noir! I'll look at O'Brien's role in the series.

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Jeff Regan was known as the "Lyon's Eye," a private investigator who worked for Anthony J. Lyon. Regan was fleshed out on radio by the young Jack Webb who portrayed a number of detectives on radio including his most famous - Sgt. Joe Friday. I'll look at the career of the young Webb and play an episode called "The Prodigal Daughter." Plus a clip from Webb's only comedy show on radio.

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This week’s podcast of the Casebook of Gregory Hood began as a summer replacement for Sherlock Holmes. Gregory Hood was a dealer in antiquities who happened to also be a crime solver. Written by Denis Green and Anthony Boucher, it even sounded like their Sherlock Holmes series. It starred Gale Gordon (right).

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Michael Arlen was the English fictional voice of the Jazz Age. In 1940, he wrote one short story that was intended to be his foray into crime writing. That one short story spawned at least 9 Hollywood films, several radio series and a short-lived television series. This week we take a look at Arlen's creation of The Falcon!

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