Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

Latest Episodes:

Episode 138 - Tales Well Calculated: Old Time Radio Halloween 2015 (Suspense) Oct 28, 2015

Show notes

Turn down the lights and enjoy the annual "Down These Mean Streets" Halloween special. Just in time for trick or treating, enjoy a chiller from Suspense - "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." Orson Welles stars in "Donovan's Brain," a two-part story originally aired on CBS on May 18 and May 25, 1944.

Episode 137 - Three Pipe Problems (New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) Oct 25, 2015

Show notes

In October 1930, Sherlock Holmes began his long career as a radio sleuth. In honor of the great detective's anniversary on the airwaves, we'll hear two of his adventures with John Stanley as Holmes and Alfred Shirley as Dr. John Watson. The game's afoot in "The Case of the Well-Staged Murder" (originally aired on Mutual on November 16, 1947) and "Death is a Golden Arrow" (originally aired on Mutual on March 21, 1948).

Episode 136 - By George, He's Got It (Let George Do It) Oct 18, 2015

Show notes

Enterprising ex-GI George Valentine embarked on a career as a troubleshooter for hire with a newspaper ad offering his services for any job - no matter how dangerous. From 1946 to 1954, clients in trouble decided to Let George Do It. Bob Bailey stars as George, with Frances Robinson as his girl Friday Brooksie, in "Death in Fancy Dress" (originally aired on Mutual on December 27, 1948) and "The Motif is Murder" (originally aired on March 14, 1949).

Episode 135 - Race Against Crime (Adventures of Frank Race) Oct 11, 2015

Show notes

A lawyer turned wartime spy turned post-war private eye, Frank Race traveled the world on investigations risking his life and limb for adventure. In a syndicated series, Race and his sidekick Mark Donovan foiled domestic and foreign evildoers in their travels as Race used his OSS training to stay a few moves ahead of his enemies. Specializing in insurance and fraud investigations, Race was in demand as an investigator - and frequently in danger from his investigations. Paul Dubov stars in The Adventures of Frank Race and the syndicated story "The Adventure of the Gold Worshiper."

Episode 134 - One for the Road (Rocky Fortune) Oct 04, 2015

Show notes

Frank Sinatra is on the job as Rocky Fortune. Footloose, fancy-free, and frequently unemployed Rocky bounces from job to job but he finds danger wherever he punches a clock. Old Blue Eyes brings his signature charm and swagger to the role in this single-season radio mystery series. We'll hear him in "A Hepcat Kills the Canary" (originally aired on NBC on November 17, 1953) and in "Murder Among the Statues" (originally aired on NBC on December 1, 1953).

Episode 133 - Voice of the Law (Mr. District Attorney) Sep 27, 2015

Show notes

Radio's crusading prosecutor Mr. District Attorney fought crime on the air for over a decade. The upstanding public servant went after killers, con men, thieves, and enemy agents with equal passion and zeal for the law. We'll hear a pair of his radio adventures: Jay Jostyn stars in "The Case of the Sinister Cinema," originally aired on NBC on May 5, 1948. Then, David Brian stars in the syndicated episode "The Case of the Missing Corpse."

Episode 132 - Detective Dobkin (Ellery Queen & Nero Wolfe) Sep 20, 2015

Show notes

One of radio's most in-demand performers, Larry Dobkin could play smart alecky private eyes, stuffy snobs, and grizzled cowboys with equal aplomb. A talented actor, writer, and director, Dobkin's show business career lasted into the twenty-first century. We'll salute him this week with two of his performances as radio detectives. First he's Ellery Queen in "The Adventure of the Armchair Detective" (originally aired on CBS on March 27, 1946). Then he's Archie Goodwin - opposite Sydney Greenstreet as Nero Wolfe - in "The Case of the Bashful Body" (originally aired on NBC on December 29, 1950).

Episode 131 - Close Shaves (Mollé Mystery Theatre) Sep 13, 2015

Show notes

The Mollé Mystery Theatre presented adaptations of classic mystery stories as well as original thrillers in one of radio's best mystery anthologies. Sponsored by the "smooth smooth slick slick shave you get" with Mollé brushless shaving cream, Bernard Lenrow is on hand as cultured criminologist Geoffrey Barnes, your host and narrator through the world of murder and mayhem. We'll hear "Red Wine," adapted for the Theatre and originally aired on NBC on March 8, 1946.

Episode 130 - Go Anyplace, Do Anything (Box 13) Sep 06, 2015

Show notes

When mystery writer Dan Holiday faced writer's block, he turned to an unusual solution - a classified ad reading "Adventure wanted. Will go anyplace, do anything. Write Box 13." Alan Ladd starred as Holiday in this syndicated mystery drama that found Holiday up to his neck in trouble with each letter he opened. We'll hear him in "Look Pleasant, Please" and "Hunt and Peck."

Episode 129 - Dial WHI for Murder (Whitehall 1212) Aug 30, 2015

Show notes

When Londoners needed the help of Scotland Yard, they rang Whitehall 1212 and the hardworking coppers of the Yard were on the case. From 1951 to 1952, NBC presented a series of dramatizations of actual Scotland Yard cases starring British casts. We'll hear one of those mysteries - "The Case of the Late Mrs. Harvey," first aired on February 17, 1952.

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