Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio! A podcast featuring the best vintage detective radio programs. Each week from Monday through Saturday, we feature six of Old Time Radio's great detective series from the beginning of the show to its very last episode. And as a bonus, twice a month we also post a public domain movie or TV mystery or detective show video.
Along the way, I'll provide you my commentary and offer you opportunities to interact.
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- Your host, Adam Graham
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Currently Featuring
YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR THE FALCON DANGEROUS ASSIGNMENT DRAGNET MR. CHAMELEON THIN MAN… and more!
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Book Review, Golden Age Article, Philip Marlowe
Book Review: The Long Goodbye
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 3 Comments
The Long Goodbye (1953) finds Marlowe living in a borrowed house in Los Angeles when he meets a down and out drunk and former war hero named Terry Lennox. Marlowe strikes up a friendship with the man and one morning Marlowe is awakened to find Lennox asking to be driven to Mexico. Marlowe does this and the finds out Lennox’s wealthy wife was murdered with Lennox the prime suspect. Lennox writes out a confession and kills himself in Mexico. The cops, organized crime, and the dead woman’s father want Marlowe to forget the case, yet Marlowe feels an obligation to Lennox.
To begin with, The Long Goodbye is the longest of all Chandler novels. The same publisher did the most recent reprint of the Marlowe books, and the first five novels range from 231-292 pages. This book weighs in at 379 pages. At this point in his career, Chandler had come to realize what people looked to Marlowe books for: the characters and the dialogue, and Marlowe telling people off. So Chandler gave us this in spades.
He gives ample time to develop the Marlowe-Lennox relationship at the start of the book and there are great Chandler characters spread throughout the book including author Roger Wade, who I can see as a self-insertion character by Chandler particularly after listening to the BBC Radio 4 play about Chandler and Hitchcock attempting to collaborate on Strangers on a Train. The book is full of rich characterization, settings, and dialogue.
The downside of the Long Goodbye is that in the midst of all that, Chandler loses the story several times. It’s hard to remember a detective novel where the detective took so little interest in solving the central mystery of the book. Marlowe literally goes weeks without doing anything and there are moments in the story where I wonder if we’re ever going to get back to the Terry Lennox case. It’s hard to care about the solution to a story when the main character doesn’t seem to.
In addition, this is a much more cynical and jaded Marlowe than prior books with his remarks that organized crime is just a cost of civilization in one of the later chapters. Marlowe seems at times to be almost exaggerated at a few times even explaining he was trying to be mysterious at one point.
I also feel the relationship between Marlowe and Linda Loring or the attempt thereof was weak and far less interesting than the flirting with romance in prior novels.
Overall, this is a still a good read and is better than The Little Sister and The High Window with so many interesting characters and settings, and some great dialogue. Still, it feels less organic and its pacing issues place it below the very best Marlowe novels in the series. For my part, I think the 1970s BBC radio adaptation with Ed Bishop is probably the best way to experience the story as it manages to preserve the heart of the story while leaving a lot of extraneous elements on the cutting room floor.
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
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Dragnet, NBC, Podcast
EP1484: Dragnet: The Big Escape
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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A friend of Joe’s is arrested for a robbery in which Ben was shot.
Original Air Date: January 5, 1950
CBS, Podcast, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, YTJD Add
Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Bum Steer Matter (EP1483)
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Johnny is called in by a fan of the radio show to gather “atmosphere” from his ranch. When Johnny makes it out, the man who called him is dead.
Original Air Date: October 6, 1957
When making your travel plans, remember http://johnnydollarair.com
Mutual, Nick Carter, Podcast
EP1482: Nick Carter: The Case of the Missing Piano Player
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Nick is called in to investigate a crooked roulette wheel and discovers a mystery surrounding a missing piano player.
Original Air Date: July 13, 1947
CBS, Philip Marlowe, Philip Marlowe OTR, Podcast
EP1481: Philip Marlowe: The Indian Giver
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Marlowe investigates a case of stolen pottery and as usual someone gets killed.
Original Air Date: August 13, 1949
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Crime and Peter Chambers, NBC, Podcast
EP1480: Crime and Peter Chambers: Murder at the Masquerade Party
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Peter Chambers is hired to go to a masquerade party to protect to a man who’s planning to buy an expensive. Murder ruins a wonderful evening.
Original Air Date: July 13, 1954
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NBC, Podcast, The Saint
EP1479: The Saint: The Baseball Murder
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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The father of a hot pitching prospect calls the Saint in to protect his son from gamblers.
Original Air Date: September 3, 1950
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