Nostalgic Mystery Radio

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Ep.112 Sam Spade: The Maltese Falcon Nov 08, 2021

Show notes

The Adventures of Sam Spade was a suspense/detective radio show starring Howard Duff (in the colorful title role along with Lurene Tuttle as his secretary Effie. It was based on the private detective character created by Dashiell Hammett, well-known from the book and movie The Maltese Falcon. The show ran from 1946 to 1951. Duff was replaced by Steve Dunne in later episodes.
The Maltese Falcon: Sleuth Sam Spade is drawn into a statuette riddle after his partner is murdered in 1928 San Francisco. Originally aired on BBC December 1984

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Ep.111 The Crime Club: The Sun is a Witness Nov 08, 2021

Show notes

The Crime Club aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System as a half-hour weekly radio series, beginning on December 2, 1946 and continuing until October 16, 1947, a run of 47 episodes. It aired on Mondays at 8 p.m. through December and then on Thursdays at 10 p.m. It was also heard on Wednesdays and Sundays on some stations.
Each installment was introduced by the series host, The Librarian, portrayed by Barry Thomson and Raymond Edward Johnson (who was perhaps better known as the host of Inner Sanctum Mysteries). The series featured murder and mystery dramas, some of which had already been published by the Doubleday Crime Club. A new Crime Club book was made available to the public each week and distributed though local newsstands and bookstores.
The Sun is a Witness: The shadows on a roll of film provide clues to a murderer.
Originally aired April 3rd,1947

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Ep.110 The Adventures of Philip Marlowe: The Hairpin Turn Nov 03, 2021

Show notes

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.
Philip Marlowe was Los Angeles's toughest detective in the groundbreaking series by Raymond Chandler that helped establish the "hard-boiled" detective subgenre.
The Hairpin Turn: Marlowe meets a female sharpshooter it only adds up that she is somehow connected to a dead body - a body shot with a target pistol.
Originally aired January 28th,1950.

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Ep.109 Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot: The Adventure of the Money Mad Ghoul Nov 03, 2021

Show notes

Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot: the world-renowned, moustachioed Belgian private detective, unsurpassed in his intelligence and understanding of the criminal mind, respected and admired by police forces and heads of state across the globe.
Since his inception over 100 years ago, Poirot has stolen the hearts and minds of audiences from Azerbaijan to Vietnam, and his celebrated cases have been recorded across 33 original novels and over 50 short stories.
The Adventure of the Money Mad Ghoul: Poirot finds himself in a coffin wearing a strong perfume, to track down a series of missing corpses. Originally aired September 13th, 1945

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Ep.108 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Terrifying Cats Nov 03, 2021

Show notes

Sherlock Holmes, fictional character created by the Scottish writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The prototype for the modern mastermind detective, Holmes first appeared in Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual of 1887. As the world’s first and only “consulting detective,” he pursued criminals throughout Victorian and Edwardian London, the south of England, and continental Europe.
From 1939 to 1946, Basil Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes with his friend Nigel Bruce on cinema and radio.
The Terrifying Cats: An opera singer with a deadly fear of cats turn to Holmes for help.
Originally aired February 25th, 1946.

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Ep.107 Tales of the Texas Rangers: Death Plant Nov 03, 2021

Show notes

Tales of the Texas Rangers, a western adventure old-time radio drama, premiered on July 8, 1950, on the US NBC radio network and remained on the air through September 14, 1952.
Movie star Joel McCrea starred as Texas Ranger Jayce Pearson, who used the latest scientific techniques to identify the criminals and his faithful horse, Charcoal (or "Charky," as Jayce would sometimes refer to him), to track them down. The shows were reenactments of actual Texas Ranger cases.
Death Plant: A home-made time bomb is used to kill Sylvia Peters and wound her husband Tom. Originally aired December 9th, 1951.

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Ep.106 Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot: Halloween Party Oct 29, 2021

Show notes

Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot: the world-renowned, moustachioed Belgian private detective, unsurpassed in his intelligence and understanding of the criminal mind, respected and admired by police forces and heads of state across the globe.
Since his inception over 100 years ago, Poirot has stolen the hearts and minds of audiences from Azerbaijan to Vietnam, and his celebrated cases have been recorded across 33 original novels and over 50 short stories.
Halloween Party: When a young girl is found drowned at a Halloween party after boasting about a murder she had seen, Ariadne Oliver, the famous crime novelist, sends for her old friend Hercule Poirot. But has Poirot one death to investigate--or two?

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Ep.105 Father Brown: The Curse of the Golden Cross Oct 29, 2021

Show notes

Rough and tough Hard-boiled detectives grab a lot of attention, but who would have a better insight on the nature of human evil than “a man who does next to nothing but hear men's real sins”?
Where could you find a more “soft-boiled” character than the parish priest. Mutual brought The Adventures of Father Brown to the air in 1945. Father Brown was the antithesis of the more celebrated soft-boiled detective, Sherlock Holmes. Where Holmes was a master of deduction, Father Brown relied on intuition based on his familiarity on men’s souls.
The Curse of the Golden Cross: What do a gambler, an English lady, a steward, a vicar and a professor have in common?

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Ep.104 Dragnet: The Big Grab Oct 28, 2021

Show notes

Dragnet ran from June 3rd,1949 to February 26th,1957 on NBC at various times and days and starred Jack Webb as Detective Sergeant Joe Friday. Various partners throughout the show's run were Sergeant Ben Romero (Barton Yarborough), Ed Jacobs (Barney Phillips), and Officer Frank Smith (Ben Alexander).
Webb was the creator/Director of the series and wanted everything to be as authentic as possible, down to the last sound effect. The stories were based on actual police files and "the names were changed to protect the innocent".
Dragnet broke a few radio taboos as well, such as dramatizing sex crimes. Children also were killed on occasion as in the episode "Twenty-Two Rifle For Christmas". The series eventually went to television and ran there for many years.
The Big Grab: A woman has disappeared, taken by a man disguised as a police officer.
Originally aired June 15th,1950.

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Ep.103 The Crime Club: Fear Came First Oct 25, 2021

Show notes

The Crime Club aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System as a half-hour weekly radio series, beginning on December 2, 1946 and continuing until October 16, 1947, a run of 47 episodes. It aired on Mondays at 8 p.m. through December and then on Thursdays at 10 p.m. It was also heard on Wednesdays and Sundays on some stations.
Each installment was introduced by the series host, The Librarian, portrayed by Barry Thomson and Raymond Edward Johnson (who was perhaps better known as the host of Inner Sanctum Mysteries). The series featured murder and mystery dramas, some of which had already been published by the Doubleday Crime Club. A new Crime Club book was made available to the public each week and distributed though local newsstands and bookstores.
Fear Came First: Four women fight over an inheritance in a deserted house. Two murders have just been committed. Originally aired March 13th,1947

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