Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

Latest Episodes:

Episode 98 - Expense Account, Item One (Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar) Feb 08, 2015

Show notes

Charles Russell stars as Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar in one of the earliest adventures of "America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator." Russell, a 20th Century Fox contract player, portrayed Dollar in the show's first year on the air and introduced listeners to a glib, tough gumshoe who was a genius at closing cases and padding his expense account. We'll hear him in "The Robert Perry Case," originally aired on CBS on March 4, 1949.

Episode 97 - Night Time is the Right Time (Night Beat) Feb 01, 2015

Show notes

Sixty-five years ago this week, radio listeners met Randy Stone, the intrepid Chicago reporter of Night Beat. Every night, Randy (played by Frank Lovejoy) wanders the streets of the Windy City in search of stories for his column, and he finds dangerous and desperate people and gets involved in their trials and tribulations. We'll hear "Zero," the show's premiere episode (originally aired on NBC on February 6, 1950); and "Tong War" (originally aired on NBC on April 17, 1950).

Episode 96 - Biggest of All Game (Green Hornet) Jan 25, 2015

Show notes

By day, Britt Reid is the crusading publisher of the Daily Sentinel newspaper. By night, he dons a mask and continues his battle against crime and corruption as The Green Hornet. Aided by his valet Kato, Reid wages a war against graft, even as the police think he's just as dangerous as the underworld he battles. The Green Hornet was one of radio's most popular masked crime-fighters, and his exploits came to the big and small screens. We'll hear Al Hodge as the Hornet in "The Corpse That Wasn't There," originally aired on the Blue Network on March 7, 1943.

Episode 95 - I Don't Like Killers (Man from Homicide) Jan 18, 2015

Show notes

Big screen villain Dan Duryea takes a heroic turn as Lt. Lou Dana, The Man from Homicide. Dana is a hard-boiled cop who shoots straight and throws a mean punch. His outlook on his job is summed up with his mantra: "I don't like killers." This short-lived series blends the two-fisted pulp persona of a private eye with the dogged cops of police procedurals. We'll hear Duryea as Dana in "The Franklin Kelso Case," originally aired on ABC on July 16, 1951.

Episode 94 - Better Dead than Red (I Was a Communist for the FBI) Jan 11, 2015

Show notes

Dana Andrews is undercover for Uncle Sam in I Was a Communist for the FBI. Based on the real-life exploits of Communist infiltrator Matt Cvetic, the syndicated series presented espionage dramas of Reds on the homefront and the efforts of the G-men to thwart their nefarious plans. Cvetic's story was adapted for the big screen in an Oscar-winning film and then on radio in this syndicated drama. We'll hear Matt Cvetic on the case in "Treason Comes in Cans."

Episode 93 - Canonized for Crime (The Saint) Jan 04, 2015

Show notes

Sinners beware - The Saint is on the case! Vincent Price stars as Simon Templar, "the Robin Hood of modern crime" in two radio mysteries. Leslie Charteris' gentleman detective had thrilled fans in print and on the big screen by the time he came to radio in January 1946. We'll hear "The Corpse Said Ouch" (first aired on NBC on August 6, 1950) and "Simon Takes a Curtain Call" (first aired on NBC on January 14, 1951).

Episode 92 - The Big Holidays (Rocky Fortune, Tales of the Texas Rangers, & Dragnet) Dec 21, 2014

Show notes

It's time to deck the halls with three radio detectives in the "Down These Mean Streets" holiday special. First, Frank Sinatra is Rocky Fortune in "The Plot to Murder Santa Claus" (first aired on NBC on December 22, 1953). Then, Ranger Jayce Pearson (Joel McCrea) finds a "Christmas Present" on Tales of the Texas Rangers (first aired on NBC on December 24, 1950). Finally, Sgt. Joe Friday (Jack Webb) is on the hunt for "The Big Little Jesus" in Dragnet (first aired on NBC on December 22, 1953).

Episode 91 - Lost and Found (Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons) Dec 14, 2014

Show notes

For nearly two decades and in almost 1,700 episodes on radio, kindly old Mr. Keen searched for the missing and pursued the guilty. The grandfatherly gumshoe (played by Bennett Kilpack) and his assistant Mike Clancy (Jim Kelly) are on another adventure of mystery and murder in "The Case of the Absent Minded Professor," first aired on CBS on March 15, 1945.

Episode 90 - Wolfe Pack (New Adventures of Nero Wolfe) Dec 07, 2014

Show notes

Sydney Greenstreet settles into the armchair of Nero Wolfe, Rex Stout's gargantuan gourmet and irascible (but brilliant) detective. Wolfe will tackle a case only when his bank account demands it, and even then he farms out the fact-finding to his leg man, Archie Goodwin. Greenstreet stars in two radio mysteries: "The Case of the Impolite Corpse," with Larry Dobkin as Goodwin (originally aired on NBC on December 8, 1950); and "The Case of the Party for Death," featuring Harry Bartell as Archie (originally aired on NBC on February 16, 1951).

Episode 89 - Howard the Duff (Sam Spade & The McCoy) Nov 30, 2014

Show notes

Howard Duff was one of radio's brightest stars until the blacklist and "Red scare" paranoia derailed his career. Today, he's fondly remembered as the definitive voice of Sam Spade with the perfect blend of tough guy delivery and wry humor. We'll hear Duff as Spade in "The Death Bed Caper," originally aired on CBS on June 20, 1948. Then, he stars as Mike McCoy, a private eye cut from the Spade cloth in the 1951 audition program for The McCoy.

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