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Radio Detective Story Hour

Get this and get it straight...crime is a sucker's road...Listen to radio's famous gumshoes and well-remembered cops. From the fog-bound shores of San Francisco to the insurance investigations of radio's famous expense account investigator.
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Now displaying: 2007

 

Dec 24, 2007
Merry Christmas!  This will unfortunately have to be my last podcast for some time. Not sure how long I will be away, but stay subscribed. I am returning to the master of detective writers and a creator of one of radioâs favorite detectives - Conan Doyle and his Sherlock Holmes. This episode is from the mind of Denis Greene and Anthony Boucher and is not part of the Holmes canon. A nice little Christmas story!
Dec 17, 2007
Another Carlton Morse adventure starring the A-1 Detective team of Jack and Doc. This episode has elements of the true detective genre some of which is straight out of the style of Hammett and Chandler.
Dec 3, 2007
The further adventures of Jack, Doc and Jeri Booker continue in âThe Pirate Loot of the Island of Skulls.â? Two more episodes this week plus snippets of interviews with Carlton E. Morse and Russell Thorson. The storyline unfortunately is not complete in audio format, so Iâll try to give some summaries between various episodes to give wholeness to the complete story.
Nov 19, 2007
This week I am beginning a series of podcasts featuring the A-1 Detective team of Jack Packard and Doc Long - Carleton Morseâs intrepid detectives from I Love A Mystery. The series is not a complete one as there are very few complete runs of this adventure thriller series: A twelve part series called âThe Pirate Loot of the Island of Skullsâ? from 1942. Iâll be looking at Morse, the series and this serial adventure over the next few weeks.
Nov 12, 2007
The final entry into my look at women radio detectives. This week is an example of the many husband and wife detective teams that appeared on radio. Others included Adventures of the Thin Man, Mr. & Mrs North, Itâs a Crime, Mr. Collins and Front Page Farrell. This weekâs series used characters from the pen of Frances Crane in which Jean Abbott is a much stronger detective than she was portrayed on radio. Claudia Morgan (right) and Les Damon starred as Jean and Pat Abbott.
Nov 5, 2007
Continuing with the second part look at women radio detectives, I look at another radio detective series in which a woman was the lead private investigator. Miss Pinkerton, Incorporated starred Joan Blondell and Dick Powell (right), husband and wife in real life at the time as Mary Vance, head of the Vance Detective Agency and Police investigator Murray. The only surviving episode was the premier. This was a lighter show but clicked as both Blondell and Powell were naturals in front of a radio microphone.
Oct 29, 2007
I begin a new series of podcasts focusing on radioâs âLady Detectives.â? First up is Candy Matson, probably the best of the lady detectives on radio. There are extensive sound bytes from my interview with Jack French (right) who authored Private Eyelashes, a book which looks at radioâs female detectives. Candy Matson was a production for the West Coast coming out of San Francisco beginning in 1949.

Music under is Johnny Mercer singing âCandy.â?

Oct 8, 2007
Part two of a look at the police procedurals of radio drama. While Dragnet was the âdaddyâ? of procedurals, 21st Precinct was probably an example of almost pure procedure. Dragnet had characters listeners could care about. 21st Precinct was much dryer in tone even forsaking opening and closing music and musical bridges to maintain a sense of a documentary style approach. The opening voice was always the desk sergeant mostly portrayed by veteran radio and television actor, Harold Stone (right).

Radio Detective Home Page
Oct 1, 2007
Beginning a new theme - police procedurals. The detective genreâs most recent sub-genre is the police procedural. Radio followed suit with the introduction of Dragnet in 1949 created by Jack Webb (right) and its influence both on radio detectives as well as the printed word continues to be felt. Iâll provide examples of what makes a story a police procedural. Next week Iâll continue the theme.
Sep 17, 2007
A look at my final entry into radio detectives born out of the pulp magazines. The Shadow was in some ways not a detective as much as a crime fighter (there is a difference), but some of the episodes did bear some aspects where Lamont Cranston did do some detective work to help come to the resolution.
Sep 10, 2007
Continuing a look at radio detectives who had their beginnings in the pulps, this week a look at Jack âFlashâ? Casey created by George Harmon Coxe and born from the pages of Black Mask Magazine. Jack Casey came to radio first as âFlashgunâ? Casey, then Casey, Crime Photographer.
Sep 3, 2007
This week begins a short series on radio detectives who come from the pulps. This includes pulps such as the early publications like the one on the right and Black Mask Magazine. I'll start with one of the earliest pulp detectives who appeared on radio, Nick Carter. A look at the history of these pulps, some of the early detectives, and an early Nick Carter, Master Detective episode from 1943.
Aug 20, 2007
From John Dickson Carr to Ellery Queen, we now move to the last of our look at the scientific detectives on radio - the master himself, Sherlock Holmes, as written by Anthony Boucher (right) and Denis Green. Iâll do a little comparing to the Edith Meiser version of Holmes too.
Aug 13, 2007
Continuing the examination of the detectives using the deductive process, a look at the authors Fred Dannay and Manfred Lee, aka Ellery Queen and their famous detective. We'll follow their connection to last week's author John Dickson Carr and hear an episode that while not from the first year (the hour long series) reflects the hour long series since the originals are lost to time. This is from The Ford Theatre and stars the original Ellery Queen Hugh Marlowe (right).
Aug 6, 2007
This week concludes my focus on John Dickson Carr. A look at a radio play based upon his Colonel March detective stories (written under the pseudonym Carter Dickson) without, unfortunately, the Colonel. "Five Canaries in a Room" starring Ona Munson (right) is based upon his Colonel March short story "The Crime in Nobody's Room." This version has been Americanized and was written by Carr himself but without Colonel March. Instead we have an Inspector Braddock.
Jul 30, 2007
This week, a look at the detective Dr. Gideon Fell created by mystery writer John Dickson Carr. Carr was an American who spent much of his life in England writing "locked room" mysteries and crime involving his several detectives. Dr. Gideon Fell was one his most popular. We'll also look at the writing of John Dickson Carr and listen to a partial episode of his famous detective on Suspense plus a complete episode with the detective written out, but other characters serving up the detection!

Music under is Oscar Peterson and a "Waltz for Debby".

Jul 23, 2007
This week I bring to a close the look at the influence of Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade on radio detectives. You'll hear a rarer heard Adventures of Sam Spade from the first season ABC Radio network run in 1946. This series also starred Howard Duff (right) and is the only existing audio copy known from that season. These were generally superior versions thanks to the writing talent of Bob Tallman and Jo Eisinger and though no copies exist, eight of Hammett's actual works are adapted into stories from Hammett's own publication also called The Adventures of Sam Spade.

Music under is from the
Jul 16, 2007
A look at a sort of a six degrees of separation around Dashiell HammettÃÂÃÂÂÃÂÂs Sam Spade and various radio programs which seemed directly or indirectly influenced by the hardboiled detective. By early 1949, Gil Doud and Bob Tallman left the Adventures of Sam Spade. Doud became the writer for a new radio detective series ÃÂÃÂÂÃÂÂ Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar starring Charles Russell. Doud created some radio scripts that bore distinct Sam Spade themes in the creation of his new radio detective character. Portions of the characterizations in this podcast radio play were almost a steal from HammettÃÂÃÂÂÃÂÂs Maltese Falcon.
Jul 9, 2007
A continued look at our twisted six degrees of separation as I look at radio detectives connected to Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade. This week a look at Hammett's own short story adapted for radio on Suspense. Stuart Erwin (right) plays a police lieutenant who like Hammett's Continental Op rises above the corruption of police authority to solve the crime. A well written play by the great mystery writer, John Dickson Carr.

Music under is "Grover's Tune" by Excellent Adventure from the Podshow Music Network.

Jul 2, 2007
I return from my recent hiatus with a look over the next few weeks at radio detectives that have some connection to Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade. This podcast begins with a look at a story from writer and scripter Jo Eisinger, whose book The Walls Came Tumbling Down was adapted into a radio play for the radio series Suspense. Listen to the podcast to find out what the connection is to Sam Spade! This episode starred a young and upcoming Keenan Wynn (right).

Music under is by Oscar Peterson.

Jun 4, 2007
100th podcast of this series! A special double-header focusing on the writing, the darkness and the pulse of two of the better radio series with crime detection themes. Night Beat with its gravel-voiced character played by Frank Lovejoy (right) and its use of darkness through the writing and images and Broadway Is My Beat with its haiku-style narration, dark jazzy undertones and layered sound effects both combine to create a sizzingly summertime and dark feel to the big city âbeat.â?

This will be my last podcast for a few weeks as I take a break to recharge!
May 28, 2007
The reporter as investigator! This series was based upon real-life incidents in which a newspaper reporter played an important part in solving a crime. The reporter was presented with the Pall Mall Award at the end of the show. These reporters showed the best side of their investigative skills - something shared by the radio detectives featured in this podcast series. The only regular on the series was the announcer, Ernest Chappell (right).
May 21, 2007
A detective serial of the modern southwest. What Dragnet was to Los Angeles, this serial is to Texas. Starring Joel McCrea as Ranger Pearson, the series takes place in the thirties and focuses on the CSI style investigations of crimes as Pearson guides his men and himself through the maze of investigation of crime.

Music under is Coyote Moon by Ben Tavera King.

May 14, 2007
This week a detective story that comes from within the genre of science fiction! Based upon a story by science fiction author Frank M. Robinson, this radio version from Dimension X is very much a hardboiled detective story, but with science-based concepts. Starring George Petrie (right) who could have played a very good Johnny Dollar. A hardboiled detective story but with time travel implications!
May 7, 2007
Something a bit different in radio detectives. The Adventures of Leonidas Witherall was a WOR Mutual amateur radio detective in 1944. He is the headmaster of a New England school and an expert on William Shakespeare. These episodes were a bit lighter in tone than many of the detectives but probably in keeping with other detectives at this period on radio. Star of the series was distinguished stage actor, Walter Hampden (right).
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