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.
Subscribe to the show by clicking your favorite podcatcher in the sidebar.
And don't forget to follow me on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
- Your host, Adam Graham
Listen to "The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio" on Spreaker.
Currently Featuring
YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR THE FALCON DANGEROUS ASSIGNMENT DRAGNET MR. CHAMELEON THIN MAN… and more!
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Recent Posts
CBS, Podcast, Procedural, The Line Up
EP1028: The Line Up: The Bakery Bandit’s Bad Blooper
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 2 Comments
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Guthrie investigates a bakery robbery by a robber wearing a stocking over his head.
Original Air Date: March 25, 1952
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Carter Brown, CBS, Podcast, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar
EP1027: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Cui Bono Matter, Part Five and Crime For a King, Part One
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Johnny is ready to leave town and admit defeat but a random meeting at a dive changes everything.
Original Air Date: February 17, 1956
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Mutual, Nick Carter, Podcast
EP1026: Nick Carter: The Glass Coffin
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Nick Carter visits a movie studio that’s been abandoned for years and finds a murder.
Original Air Date: September 27, 1943
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CBS, Podcast, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar
EP1025: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Cui Bono Matter, Parts Three and Four
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Johnny runs into road blocks as he investigates a woman who killed her father-in-law, claiming to have mistaken him for a burglar.
Original Air Dates: February 15 and 16, 1956
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Mr. Moto, NBC, Podcast, The Avenger and I.A. Moto
EP1024: Mr. Moto: The Crooked Log
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The widow of a sea captain sets Mr. Moto looking for the artist of a mysterious painting that could provide a clue to the sinking of a ship.
Original Air Date: September 30, 1951
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CBS, Podcast, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar
EP1023: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Cui Bono Matter, Parts One and Two
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Johnny investigates a case where a young woman claims she shot her stepfather by accident and stands to inherit $50,000.
Original Air Date: February 13 and 14, 1956
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Book Review, Golden Age Article, Thin Man
Book Review: The Thin Man
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
Dashiell Hammett’s novel, The Thin Man launched one of the golden age’s greatest detective movie franchises, along with a popular radio program, as well as a 1950s syndicated TV series. The movies remain a fantastic showcase of the talents and chemistry of William Powell and Myrna Loy.
The Nick and Nora in this book don’t have the pure level of charm and chemistry that made the movies so enjoyable. That was all the work of Powell, Loy, and direct W.S. Van Dyne. The book is good but different. The Thin Man is a comedy of manners mixed with a solid mystery.
Nick Charles is a retired private eye who gets pressed into investigating the murder of a woman in which a former client of his named Clyde Wynant is a suspect, though Wynant (who was the actual thin man not Charles) has been missing for quite some time. The mystery is actually pretty well done. The interaction between Charles and the policeman investigating the case are great detective work and thinking.
The comedy of manners portion works on many levels. Nick Charles is the ex-detective and committed husband who operates and understands many circles in life: from the wealthy socialites to the petty hoods that predominated during prohibition. The Wynant family is a freak show of children ruined by money and an ex-wife who is a compulsive liar. Compared to high society, the criminals and mobsters in the story are a far more sane and decent lot.
Of course, that leaves us with a story where the only sympathetic characters are Nick and Nora. Nora tries to help the daughter, Dorothy Wynant despite the fact that she’s just as much a part of the craziness as everyone else. Nick is a mature man whose grounded and wants nothing more to do with the Wynants (understandably) or the murder, but is fully settled down from his hard-scramble days as an operative.
Hammett does make a few odd decisions. Most notable was the verbatim inclusion of a story of the Donner party or a reasonable facsimile thereof that took more than ten minutes for the audiobook narrator to read. And there were a few characters that were just plain tiresome rather than amusing, particularly the ex-wife Mimi and the son Gilbert. Also the conclusion lacks the class of the silver screen denouement.
Still, it’s amusing mix that features Dashiell Hammett’s talents at his peak.
Rating: 4.25 out of 5.0
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