Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

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Episode 230 - Philo-osophy (Philo Vance) Jul 02, 2017

Show notes

S.S. Van Dine's Philo Vance – perhaps the quintessential gentleman detective – was a hit in print and on the big screen where he was played by Basil Rathbone and William Powell, among others. He eventually came to radio in several incarnations, each making the snobbish sleuth more down to earth and likable. We'll hear Jose Ferrer as Vance in "The Case of the Girl Who Came Back" (a rebroadcast from the Armed Forces Radio Service Mystery Playhouse). Then, Jackson Beck steps into Vance's shoes in "The Motor Murder Case" and "The Mathematical Murder Case."

Episode 229 - Sixty Minutes Man (Crime on the Waterfront) Jun 25, 2017

Show notes

Long before he was an award-winning journalist, Mike Wallace was a radio announcer and actor. The longtime correspondent for 60 Minutes had a stint as a radio crime solver when he starred as Lt. Lou Kagel, a New York cop who investigated Crime on the Waterfront. Though the show didn't materialize into a series, both audition recordings survive and give us the chance to hear the celebrated newsman in a dramatic detective role. We'll hear the two audition recordings from February 24 and March 1, 1949.

"Rogue speaking..." Jun 24, 2017

Show notes

Following his star turn as Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet, Dick Powell found himself at a new stage of his career. With the acclaim he'd earned for his hard-boiled performance, Powell could finally shed the baby-faced crooner image that had defined his work up until that point. He used his clout and the momentum Marlowe brought him to approach the F.W. Fitch shampoo company with a proposal - a summer detective series to fill the weeks until their Fitch Bandwagon variety show returned to the air in the fall. Powell, a veteran of the Bandwagon, would headline the new series as a private detective cut from the Marlowe cloth. The result was Bandwagon Mysteries, Powell's first weekly dramatic series and the introduction of Richard Rogue, a radio shamus who would crack cases on radio over the next seven years.

Bandwagon Mysteries premiered on NBC on June 17, 1945 and ran for fourteen weeks. By the end of the run, there was a demand for the show to continue but the regular Fitch Bandwagon program was slated to return to NBC after its summer vacation. Fitch shopped the series, retitled Rogue's Gallery to other networks. It landed at Mutual and began a thirty-nine week run on September 27, 1945. When its Mutual season ended in June 1946, it returned to NBC as a summer replacement for Fitch Bandwagon. By this time, the show was so identified by its new title that it didn't revert to Bandwagon Mysteries; instead it aired for an additional fourteen episodes in the summer of 1946.

Powell's performance as Richard Rogue was similar to his take on Philip Marlowe (and it would be refined and perfected a few years later on Richard Diamond, Private Detective): tough, but glib, and more likely to come up with a quip than to squeeze off a round from his .38.

Aside from Powell's unique delivery, the signature element of the show was the inclusion of Rogue's impish "alter ego," Eugor (that's Rogue spelled backwards). Each week, usually following a shot to the head, Rogue would lose consciousness and take an otherworldly trip to "Cloud Eight." While there, he'd trade barbs with the cackling Eugor, and their conversations would usually shed light on a clue the gumshoe had overlooked during his investigation. Though never credited on the show, Eugor was played by veteran radio character actor Peter Leeds. Leeds could be heard in supporting roles on Suspense, Nero Wolfe, Escape and others. He was a member of the cast of Stan Freberg's legendary 1957 CBS radio series, and he provided several voices for Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

Dick Powell left the role after the 1946 series. Rogue's Gallery returned the following year for a summer run starring Barry Sullivan, who would later pinch hit as The Saint when Vincent Price was unavailable to record. Following that brief run, Richard Rogue left the air for three years. The Fitch company fell upon hard times following a complaint from the Federal Trade Commission over the company's claims that its shampoo could eradicate dandruff, and their sponsorship ended in 1947. In 1950, ABC resurrected the concept for a two year run. Actor Paul Stewart, a veteran of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre, played Rogue on ABC. Elsewhere on the network, Dick Powell was crooning through crimes as Richard Diamond. He was working right alongside one of his earlier characters - one who helped pave the way for his future radio success. Diamond may be the more famous Richard, but it was Rogue who put Powell on the path to a career as a crime-solver extraordinaire.

"Friend to those who have no friend..." Jun 23, 2017

Show notes

"Boston Blackie" was the nickname of Horatio Black, a reformed thief and modern day Robin Hood in the vein of The Saint. Emerging from the pen and mind of a real-life convict, Blackie went on to become one of the most popular radio detectives of the 1940s and 1950s.

He was created by Jack Boyle, whose writing career began behind bars with a series of true crime confession novels written under his prison number, 6006. The stories originated in San Quentin and were published by The American Magazine. Editor Ray Long recalled Boyle as "an opium addict, and a hard drinking man if ever there was one. But withal, one of the most entertaining men in the world, and so far as his dealings with me went, a square shooter." Long encouraged Boyle to continue writing upon his release.

Those initial 12 short stories were collected and published as a novel in 1919. From 1918 to 1927, Blackie appeared in nine silent films, but actor Chester Morris made the role his own during a run of 14 B-movies for Columbia Pictures from 1941 to 1949. This film series established Blackie as a reformed jewel thief who used his knowledge of the underworld to come to the aid of innocent victims. Throughout the series, Blackie was pursued by Inspector Farraday of the police (played by Richard Lane). Farraday was never convinced that Blackie had gone over to the side of law and order and he was always quick to blame Blackie for any robberies in his proximity.

Blackie first came to radio in 1944 for an NBC summer series replacing Amos n' Andy. Sponsored by Rinso, the Boston Blackie radio show starred Chester Morris and Richard Lane (reprising their screen roles) and promoted One Mysterious Night, the upcoming Columbia Boston Blackie film. As the introduction to the series explained every week, Blackie was an "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend. Along with Blackie and Inspector Farraday, the NBC series featured recurring characters like Blackie's wealthy benefactor Arthur Manletter and "Shorty," Blackie's driver and sidekick. Veteran announcer Harlow Wilcox, who pitched Johnson's Wax on Fibber McGee & Molly and Auto-Lite Spark Plugs on Suspense, announced the show. The Morris-NBC series ran for 13 weeks.

A year after the Morris series signed off of NBC, Boston Blackie returned to radio in a syndicated series from producer Frederick Ziv. Ziv was a pioneer of radio and television syndication, and he later brought a Blackie TV series to the air in 1951. Richard "Dick" Kollmar played Blackie for the entire Ziv run, appearing in over 200 episodes. Kollmar was perhaps most famous for co-hosting the morning radio show Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick for 18 years with his wife Dorothy Kilgallen. In the syndicated series, Inspector Farrady was played by Maurice Tarplin, a versatile New York radio actor who could also be heard narrating tales of terror as The Mysterious Traveler. Actresses Lesley Woods and Jan Miner appeared as Blackie's girlfriend Mary Wesley (coincidentally, both actresses also played Ann Williams, reporter and gal pal of Casey, Crime Photographer on CBS during the same period!).

In both runs of the series, plots often involved Blackie being set up or suspected of a robbery. Another frequently employed plot device would involve old cellmates of Blackie's, or criminals he'd sent up the river, breaking out of jail to exact their revenge. The series was a more lighthearted affair than some of the more hardboiled offerings from the Golden Age of Radio, but it was solidly entertaining with lively characterizations and plots.

Match wits with Ellery Queen! Jun 18, 2017

Show notes

Most of the fun in reading (or listening to) a detective story is the chance to play detective ourselves. We meet the suspects, process the clues, and weigh the evidence alongside the sleuth, and we have the chance to see if we can reach the same solution to the crime. But rarely do our fictional gumshoes pause mid-narrative to see where we are, to check in on the progress of our own investigation. One notable exception (for young readers, at least) is Encyclopedia Brown. Another is one of the biggest names in crime fiction - Ellery Queen. And like Encyclopedia Brown, Ellery is an amateur sleuth who helps his police detective father crack tough cases.

Queen was the creation of mystery writer cousins Daniel Nathan (alias Frederic Dannay) and Manford Leopofsky (alias Manford Lee). They submitted a story for a contest in 1928, and they won but the magazine folded before the story could be published. The cousins shopped the story around and the first Ellery Queen adventure was published in 1929. That first story, "The Roman Hat Mystery," set out the elements of the character and the formula for his adventures. Ellery was a bit of a dilettante, an intellectual who solved crimes because their puzzles intrigued him. He was often called upon to assist his father, Inspector Richard Queen of the New York Police Department. Along with the inspector's irascible Sgt. Velie, Ellery and his father tackled bizarre cases littered with red herrings and multiple suspects. One of the signature elements of the Ellery Queen stories was a "Challenge to the Reader," a break in the action just before the solution was revealed. It explained that the reader had seen all of the clues, and there was only one possible solution to the crime. The character starred in over 30 novels written by Dannay and Lee, and the two would create the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in 1941; Ellery Queen is still being published today.

Ellery Queen first came to radio on CBS in 1939 with Hugh Marlowe in the title role. Though he was featured prominently in promotional photos and press, Marlowe was not credited as Queen during the run. This may have been done to maintain the illusion that "Ellery Queen" was a real figure, detective, writer, and publisher of the magazine. None of the actors who played Ellery on radio got the billing and on-air credit, even as their co-stars were identified by name with the characters they played. The radio series introduced a character who would become fixtures in the Ellery Queen mythology - Nikki Porter, Ellery's secretary and Girl Friday (played in the first series by Marion Shockley). Nikki would remain in the cast for the rest of the radio runs, and she was incorporated into the Ellery Queen novels in 1943. The radio series retained Ellery's amateur status, but he was less arrogant and insufferable. It was easy to see why his father would reach out to bring him in on cases. Though he still wasn't two-fisted, nor did he carry a gun, Ellery Queen was pretty human. He had Sherlock Holmes' eye for detail but he was less anti-social and aloof.

Like the stories, the radio series offered a challenge to audiences, but the radio series went a step farther and featured a stand-in for the audience during the broadcasts. A guest "armchair detective" would sit in and would discuss the case with "Ellery" and "Nikki" before the solution was revealed. Initially, the "guest detective" was a panel of mystery writers. Later, members of the studio audience were used (that idea was dropped because the audience members were far from adept at the microphone); eventually, one celebrity guest appeared in each show. Gloria Swanson, Mel Blanc, Victor Jory, Orson Welles, and Ed Sullivan are just a few of the guests who appeared and tried their deductive skills against those of Ellery Queen (and his creator - Manfred Lee co-wrote the series with Anthony Boucher for much of the run). Ellery Queen ran in multiple series over NBC, CBS, and ABC from 1942 until 1948. Carleton Young, Sidney Smith, Larry Dobkin (who later played Archie Goodwin on Nero Wolfe), and Howard Culver all starred (uncredited, of course) as Ellery Queen.

There were several TV versions in the 1950s, but the definitive Ellery Queen adaptation came nearly thirty years after the radio series took its final bow. In 1975, producers William Link and Richard Levinson (creators of Columbo and Murder, She Wrote, among others) brought Ellery Queen back to television in a great series that unfortunately lasted only one season. Jim Hutton starred as Ellery for 22 episodes with David Wayne as Inspector Queen. This Queen series was a period piece set in post-World War II New York. The setting allowed the producers to include several references to radio; a recurring character was a radio detective who tried to out-think Queen and position himself as a master detective, and one episode featured threats to the life of a radio soap opera star. Each episode boasted an all-star guest cast and a "challenge to the viewer" where Ellery broke the fourth wall right before the denouement to see if the audience had figured out the solution to that week's mystery.

In some respects, even though he perhaps wasn't as famous as some of his more hard-boiled brethren, Ellery Queen may have been the ideal detective for the radio era. Audiences tuned in to detective and mystery shows for the thrill of trying to solve the crime, but none of the other sleuths they followed took the time to ask them "have you figured it out yet?" Ellery Queen, on print, screen, and radio encouraged a spirit of cooperation and involvement in his adventures unlike any of the other detectives who cracked cases during the Golden Age of Radio.

Episode 228 – There's No Place Like Holmes (New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) Jun 18, 2017

Show notes

To moviegoers and radio listeners of the World War II years, Basil Rathbone and Sherlock Holmes were practically one in the same. Rathbone starred as the master detective of Baker Street in 14 films and in hundreds of episodes of The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on radio. In honor of the star's June 13th birthday, we'll hear a trio of Holmes radio adventures starring Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (as our storyteller, Dr. Watson): "The Eyes of Mr. Leyton" (originally aired on Mutual on September 24, 1945); "Murder by Moonlight" (originally aired on Mutual on October 29, 1945); and "The Case of the Accidental Murderess" (originally aired on Mutual on November 26, 1945).

"Crime is a sucker's road..." Jun 17, 2017

Show notes

"I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room." (Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely)

Raymond Chandler was thirty-nine when The Big Sleep, the first Philip Marlowe novel, was published and the world of detective fiction was never the same. It's Chandler who gives us the archetypal private eye as knight errant, working his way through a world of corruption and vice while he is guided by his own moral compass. Along with Dashiell Hammett, Chandler helped to invent the "hard-boiled" style of detective fiction, and his signature character proved to be one of the most popular detectives to solve cases during the Golden Age of Radio.

In the years between the publication of The Big Sleep and Marlowe's premiere on radio, Chandler's novels were adapted to the screen six times. Farewell, My Lovely and The High Window were retooled for other cinematic detectives (The Falcon and Michael Shayne, respectively); and Marlowe himself was played by four different actors in four films (Dick Powell in Murder, My Sweet; Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep; Robert Montgomery in Lady in the Lake; and George Montgomery - no relation - in The Brasher Doubloon).

Marlowe first came to radio in a regular series on June 17, 1947 as NBC's summer replacement for Bob Hope. MGM contract player and Academy Award winner Van Heflin starred as Marlowe, with scripts based on Chandler's own stories. Heflin prepared for the role by riding along with Los Angeles police officers before and during the run of the show. Heflin was a fine Marlowe, but he failed to win over Chandler. In a letter to fellow mystery writer Erle Stanley Gardner (creator of Perry Mason), Chandler described the series and Heflin as "thoroughly flat." The NBC series lasted thirteen weeks, and when the time came for more episodes, Heflin's film career prevented his participation.

It took nearly a year before Philip Marlowe returned to the airwaves in a regular series. Producer/director Norman Macdonnell, a veteran of Escape and other programs, oversaw the production of the new series, which premiered on CBS on September 26, 1948. Stepping into Marlowe's shoes was actor Gerald Mohr, a regular on Suspense, Escape, Our Miss Brooks, and The Whistler. Mohr brought a hard edge and a grim determination to Marlowe's voice; it was as different as night and day from Howard Duff's wry, sardonic take on Sam Spade. Gerald Mohr's Marlowe used his fists (and his .38 tucked away in shoulder holster) when necessary, and he marched through his world with a weary cynicism that came right out of Chandler's pages. And Mohr bellowed the show's legendary opening week after week:

"Get this and get it straight…crime is a sucker's road, and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison, or the grave!"

The Adventures of Philip Marlowe was a hit, with scripts by Mel Dinelli, Robert Mitchell, and Gene Levitt. By 1949, the series was attracting 10.3 million listeners a week, and Gerald Mohr had been named Most Popular Male Actor by Radio and Television magazine.

Like Dashiell Hammett and The Adventures of Sam Spade, Chandler's name was all over the show (the broadcasts were billed as coming "from the pen of Raymond Chandler"), but the author had no involvement in the actual scripts or broadcast. He did, however, have praise for the show's star, declaring "Gerald Mohr's voice is absolutely tops. A voice like Gerald Mohr's gave you a personality which you fill out according to your fancy." Mohr's wasn't the only strong voice; he was backed up each week by members of Macdonnell's repertory company of actors, including John Dehner, Virginia Gregg, Jeff Corey, Larry Dobkin, Howard McNear, Parley Baer, Vivi Janiss, Georgia Ellis, and William Conrad. Many of those actors would join Macdonnell in Dodge City when he developed Gunsmoke, a program that grew out of CBS chairman William Paley's request to Macdonnell for a "Philip Marlowe in the Old West."

The Adventures of Philip Marlowe ran until September 29, 1950. It was revived for a brief run in July 1951, with Mohr slipping back into the role of Marlowe as if he'd never left it. Philip Marlowe left the airwaves the same way he arrived on them: as a summer replacement series. This time, Marlowe kept the time slot warm for Hopalong Cassidy.

Nearly all of the 114-episode Mohr series has survived in good condition, giving today's fans a chance to thrill to the rough and tumble exploits of Philip Marlowe as radio audiences did from 1948 to 1951.

Happy Birthday, Bob Bailey Jun 13, 2017

Show notes

Actor Bob Bailey was born June 13, 1913. To old time radio fans, Bailey is best remembered for a pair of detective roles: as ex-GI turned gumshoe George Valentine in Let George Do It, and as "America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator" Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

Bailey began his career in Chicago radio with appearances on That Brewster Boy, Meet Corliss Archer, and other programs originating from the Windy City. Between 1943 and 1944, he was under contract at 20th Century Fox. Bailey made several pictures at Fox, including the Laurel & Hardy films Jitterbugs and The Dancing Masters.

In 1946, Bailey starred as George Valentine, a private detective who solicited clients through a newspaper ad offering to shoulder the danger they couldn't handle. Bailey's performance in Let George Do It made Valentine tough but funny, a scrappy and hard-working gumshoe. Bailey starred in the show until 1954.

The following year, he stepped into the shoes of Johnny Dollar. Under the direction of Jack Johnstone, Bailey starred as Dollar in a series of nightly serialized stories that remain some of the finest drama produced during the Golden Age of Radio. The program went back to a weekly format in September 1956, and Bailey would remain in the title role until 1960 when production moved to New York. He left a run of nearly five hundred episodes and cemented himself as the definitive version of the character.

Unlike some of his peers from the era, Bailey didn't go on to a long television career outside of a handful of appearances in the 1960s. Struggles with alcoholism and later a stroke kept him off of the screen. Fortunately for us, there are dozens of hours of his memorable performances as two of radio's best detectives.

Happy Birthday, Basil Rathbone Jun 13, 2017

Show notes

Basil Rathbone, the debonair British actor and one of Hollywood's most famous performers, was born June 13, 1892. With hundreds of stage and screen roles to his credit, Rathbone is most famous for his fourteen films and hundreds of radio episodes as the world's greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes.

Rathbone made a splash in Hollywood in a number of dashing roles through the 1930s, including the dastardly Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood, suave detective Philo Vance in The Bishop Murder Case, and Captain Pasquale in The Mark of Zorro.

In 1939, he first played Sherlock Holmes and kicked off a seven year run as Arthur Conan Doyle's master detective that included fourteen films and hundreds of radio performances. Rathbone was always paired with his old friend Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson both in radio recreations of the Doyle stories and in Universal B-movies that brought Holmes and Watson into the twentieth century. For many, Rathbone is Sherlock Holmes, and his films have continued to entertain mystery fans since their release seventy-five years ago. Ultimately, frustration with typecasting led Rathbone to bid farewell to Sherlock Holmes in 1946.

Rathbone returned to the detective well in his post-Holmes years; first, he starred as Inspector Burke on Scotland Yard, and later he played himself as an amateur sleuth on Tales of Fatima. Both shows were short-lived, and they did not come close to eclipsing the image of Holmes in the public's eye.

In later years, he appeared opposite Danny Kaye in The Court Jester and Humphrey Bogart in We're No Angels. Rathbone co-starred with Vincent Price in Roger Corman's Tales of Terror, and he made memorable recordings of poems by Edgar Allan Poe and "The Night Before Christmas." Rathbone passed away in 1967, nearly twenty years after he hung up Holmes' deerstalker cap.

Happy Birthday, Gerald Mohr Jun 11, 2017

Show notes

Gerald Mohr, who possessed one of radio's greatest voices, was born June 11, 1914. His powerful baritone delivery made him a natural for radio detective work, and he may be best remembered today for his three year stint on the air as Philip Marlowe.

Mohr made the leap from medical school to broadcasting when an announcer told him he had a perfect radio voice. After a stint in the service during World War II, Mohr began working both on radio and in B-movies. He starred in three films as Michael Lanyard, aka "The Lone Wolf" and narrated the early television episodes of The Lone Ranger. On radio, Mohr could be heard in supporting roles on Rogue's Gallery, Our Miss Brooks, and Suspense. He was a frequent guest star on The Whistler, usually playing flashy criminals or con men. But his signature radio role would come when he played a character on the right side of the law.

From 1948 to 1950, Mohr starred as Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe on radio. He starred in over 100 episodes as the tough but heroic private eye and gave the Golden Age of Radio one of its greatest detectives. Even Chandler himself was a fan, describing Mohr as "absolutely tops." Mohr's delivery and booming voice were perfect for the show's signature introduction: "Get this and get it straight. Crime is a sucker's road, and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison, or the grave!"

In January 1951, Mohr had a short stint as Archie Goodwin, the glib, skirt-chasing leg man to Nero Wolfe (Sydney Greenstreet) in The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe. A few months later, he was back on CBS for a final run of 11 episodes as Philip Marlowe. Later, in 1955, he recorded an audition program as Johnny Dollar before that series' revival as a nightly serial.

Mohr worked in television on shows like Maverick and Perry Mason, and he continued to flex his voice acting muscles in cartoons as Green Lantern and Mr. Fantastic. He passed away at the too-young age of 54, but he leaves a body of work and radio performances that can still be enjoyed today.

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