Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

Latest Episodes:

Episode 586 - Cain is Able (Suspense & Ford Theatre) Jul 08, 2024

Show notes

We're saluting James M. Cain - one of the fathers of hard-boiled crime fiction - with two of his stories recreated for radio. First, James Cagney plays a rising racketeer who takes advantage of a crusading reformer in "Love's Lovely Counterfeit" from Suspense (originally aired on CBS on January 17, 1948). Then, Burt Lancaster and Joan Bennett plot a murder and a swindle in "Double Indemnity" from The Ford Theatre (originally aired on CBS on October 15, 1948).

BONUS - Five Favorites: Crime Classics Jul 03, 2024

Show notes

In this bonus episode, I'm sharing my five favorite installments of Crime Classics - the anthology of true crime stories taken from the pages of history. "Connaisseur of crime" Thomas Hyland (played by Lou Merrill) narrated the tales that ranged from BC until recent history. A dismembered corpse stuns Boston society in "The Terrible Deed of John White Webster" (originally aired on CBS on July 13, 1953), and a woman's murder of her philandering boyfriend is only the beginning of the story in "The Incredible Trial of Laura D. Fair" (AFRS rebroadcast from August 17, 1953). A pair of enterprising young men enter the corpse procurement business in "If a Body Need a Body, Just Call Burke and Hare" (originally aired on CBS on December 2, 1953). Plus, two of history's most notorious murders are dramatized - "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" (originally aired on CBS on December 9, 1953) and "Twenty-Three Knives Against Caesar" (originally aired on CBS on February 10, 1954).

Episode 585 - Between the Rock and a Hard Place (Gang Busters & Pat Novak For Hire) Jun 30, 2024

Show notes

Welcome to the Rock! Alcatraz - America's most notorious prison - is the subject of this weeks' show. First, Gang Busters presents a dramatic recreation of the most violent escape attempt in its history in "The Battle of Alcatraz" (originally aired on ABC on May 11, 1946). Then, it's a double feature of Pat Novak For Hire when the gumshoe is caught in a pair of Alcatraz escapes and the hunt for the escapees (episodes known as "Joe Feldman and Father Leahy" - originally aired on ABC on April 2, 1949, and "The Only Way to Make Friends is to Die" - originally aired on ABC on June 18, 1949).

BONUS - Five Favorites: The Whistler Jun 26, 2024

Show notes

In this bonus episode, I'm sharing my five favorite installments of The Whistler - the anthology of mystery and murder where we follow the criminal as the commit the "perfect crime," only to be undone at the final curtain. Bill Forman is our sinister storyteller, who "knows the nameless terrors" of these killers' minds. First, a long-suffering wife plans to get rid of her husband and frame him for a series of murders in "Boomerang" (originally aired on CBS on March 11, 1946), and a carnival dancer marries - and murders - for money in "The Brass Ring" (originally aired on CBS on September 16, 1946). Radio Philip Marlowe Gerald Mohr is a mob boss with a deadly secret in "Caesar's Wife" (originally aired on CBS on June 2, 1947), and a small town's frontier festival is the backdrop for murder in "The Tell-Tale Brand" (originally aired on CBS on January 9, 1949). Finally, a newfangled gadget called a car phone may provide an airtight alibi in "A Law of Physics" (originally aired on CBS on June 10, 1951).

Episode 584 - Fish Stories (Casey, Crime Photographer, Pat Novak, Johnny Dollar, & Suspense) Jun 23, 2024

Show notes

Cast your line for mystery with these old time radio shows involving fishing. Casey, Crime Photographer finds murder on a fishing trip in "Treasure Cave" (originally aired on CBS on September 25, 1947), and a stolen fishing boat leads to a pair of corpses in "Rita Malloy" from Pat Novak For Hire (AFRS rebroadcast from April 23, 1949). Charles Russell stars as Johnny Dollar in "I Caught a Fishing Boat, But You Should Have Seen the One That Got Away" (originally aired on CBS on October 1, 1949), and Dan Dailey tries to survive a fishing trip from hell in "Over the Bounding Main" (originally aired on CBS on September 14, 1950).

Episode 583 - South of the Border (Suspense, Philip Marlowe, Dragnet, & I Was a Communist for the FBI) Jun 02, 2024

Show notes

Pack your bags and take a trip to Mexico in these radio mysteries. First, Burt Lancaster plots a double cross in "The Big Shot" from Suspense (originally aired on CBS on September 9, 1948). Philip Marlowe is hired to find out what a woman is up to in "The Mexican Boat Ride" (originally aired on CBS on July 30, 1949), and the cops of Dragnet chase a pair of fugitives in "The Big Border" (originally aired on NBC on March 20, 1952). Finally, Dana Andrews tries to thwart the plans of Soviet saboteurs trying to sneak into the US in "The Red Gate" from I Was a Communist for the FBI.

Episode 582 - Holes-in-One and Homicides (Calling All Detectives, Boston Blackie, Philo Vance, & Frank Race) May 26, 2024

Show notes

Tee off with four (not fore!) old time radio detective stories set on the golf course. Actor Paul Barnes plays every role in the syndicated mini-mystery Calling All Detectives, and a golf teacher gets too close to a gangster's wife in Boston Blackie (a syndicated episode known as "Carl Grady, Golf Instructor"). As Philo Vance, Jackson Beck spots a clue on the course in "The Red Duck Murder Case," and Frank Race meets an old friend - a golf pro with a jealous husband who's got a violent temper - in "The Adventure of the Fairway Beauties."

Episode 581 - That Voodoo That You Do (Box 13, Man Called X, Harry Lime, & Johnny Dollar) May 19, 2024

Show notes

Black magic is in the air with four radio mysteries where our heroes are menaced by voodoo. Dan Holiday heads to the bayou to save a man's life in "Death is a Doll" from Box 13, and Ken Thurston investigates when government officials fall victim to zombies in Haiti in The Man Called X (known as "Enough Intrigue to Fill a Book," originally aired on NBC on May 18, 1951). Orson Welles runs a dangerous con in "Voodoo" from The Lives of Harry Lime, and as Johnny Dollar, John Lund tries to protect a family from a curse in "The Voodoo Matter" (originally aired on CBS on August 4, 1953).

Episode 580 - Memories Lost and Found (Jeff Regan, The Saint, Richard Diamond, & Night Beat) May 12, 2024

Show notes

Mysteries are hard enough to solve without throwing amnesia into the mix, but that's what our radio detectives have to handle this week. A woman doesn't know who she is, and then drops dead in Jack Webb's office in "The Lady with No Name" from Jeff Regan, Investigator (originally aired on CBS on September 25, 1948). The Saint comes to the aid of a woman without her memory in "The Case of the Blonde Who Lost Her Head" (originally aired on Mutual on November 13, 1949). Dick Powell sings and solves the case of a young man who may have committed a murder and forgotten about it in Richard Diamond, Private Detective (originally aired on NBC on November 26, 1949). And Chicago reporter Randy Stone tries to help a soldier find his memory and his missing wife in Night Beat (originally aired on NBC on July 6, 1951).

Episode 579 - Trials and Errors (Mollé Mystery Theatre, Mr. District Attorney, The Whistler, & Philip Marlowe) May 05, 2024

Show notes

We're back in court with four radio mysteries involving lawyers, juries, and trials. A lone holdout tries to convince his fellow jurors of a defendant's innocence in "The Eleventh Juror" from The Mollé Mystery Theatre (AFRS rebroadcast from April 3, 1945), and Mr. District Attorney chases down a robbery ring in "The Case of Murder A La Carte" (originally aired on NBC on March 9, 1949). A defense attorney is the only man who can prove his client's guilt in "The Trigger Man" from The Whistler (originally aired on CBS on August 7, 1949), and Philip Marlowe is hired to clear a man on trial for murder in "The Quiet Magpie" (originally aired on CBS on August 11, 1950).

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