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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Recent Posts
Golden Age Article
Our Ten Most Exciting Episodes
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 3 Comments
As we approach our 1000th regular episode, we’ll be taking a look back at some of the best episodes we’ve brought you over the last 3 1/2 years. I decided it’d be best to do this by category beginning with the most exciting. Next week we’ll discuss the most humorous.
10) Let George Do It: High Card
In this episode, four men have been implicated in the murder of a beautiful woman and there’s not proof on any of them. So, they come up with a desperate gambit. They decide to draw and the person who gets high card will write a confession and commit suicide. George arrives and discovers the game and finds out the draw was rigged. Now, George has to prevent the suicide and reveal the guilty party.
9) Sherlock Holmes: The Elusive Agent, Parts One, Two, and Three
While the John Stanley Sherlock Holmes series wasn’t among my favorites, this three part spy serial was definitely a highlight of the show’s run with plenty of twists and turns in search of missing submarine plans.
8) Studio One: The Thirty-Nine Steps
This radio retelling of the Alfred Hitchcok movie version of the Graham Greene classic finds Glenn Ford playing a Canadian caught in a web of intrigue and espionage in the Scottish countryside. So suspenseful and fun.
7) Nero Wolfe: The Case of the Calculated Risk:
The radio incarnation of Wolfe was notorious for its deviation from portrayals of Wolfe in the corpus. This worked to some advantage in this episode which begins with a man who claims to have been framed for murder and involves a crooked card game. It ends with one of the most exciting gambits between Wolfe, Goodwin (Mohr), and the murderer.
6) Box 13: Find Me, Find Death:
Dan Holiday got plenty of crazy letters, but this one took the cake. The letter writer informed Holiday that he would kill him in 4 days and that if he went to the police, he’d kill Holiday sooner. Holiday’s challenge is to find the madman–without finding deat
5) Let George Do It: The Hearst Was Painted Pink:
George is told to court the girlfriend of a dangerous mobster by another dangerous mobster who threatens his life and that of Miss Brooks. He quickly finds himself int he crossfire.
4) Sherlock Holmes: The Paradol Chamber
Has a female scientist in the 19th century discovered the secret to teleportation? When Watson and Holmes investigate in this Rathbone-Bruce episodes, they find themselves up against a most deadly foe.
3) Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Yankee Pride Matter
Johnny Dollar (Edmund O’Brien) goes to Singapore to investigate some constantly delayed cargo. It builds up to a challenge that requires Dollar to get tougher than he’s ever gotten before.
This is a very tense and suspenseful story as Holiday finds himself framed for murder, with the local police hunting for him, along with the real killer. His job is to stay alive. It’s one of Holiday’s cleverest adventures.
1) Lux Radio Theater: To the Ends of the Earth:
The Lux Radio Theater of this underrated Dick Powell classic was our 500th episode special was a stunner. Powell reprises his screen role as Narcotics Commissioner Michael Barrows who witnesses a Japanese sea captain throwing 100 slaves overboard to cover up a narcotics ring. Barrows is determined to get justice and sets out on a globe trotting adventure to break the ring and capture the murderous captain.
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CBS, Podcast, Procedural, The Line Up
EP0980: The Line Up: The Nicely Nixed Nixon Case
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Guthrie investigates a series of loan company robberies that has left one clerk dead.
Original Air Date: October 18, 1951
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Golden Age Article
Radio Show Review: Can You Imagine That?
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
Can You Imagine That? was one of several golden age programs dedicated to weird and unusual facts. It was produced in 1940 as a syndicated program. Can You Imagine That? focused on strange cases such as the 92 year-old man that started teething and interesting facts about Paul Revere’s ride, and two famous women fighting a duel with fingernails. These radio dramatizations of the weird, the strange, and amusing were hardly alone with other programs such as Strange as it Seems and Ripley’s doing just as competent a job.
What makes Can You Imagine That stand out is its music history segment which tell the histories of great songs of the era such as, “I”ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen” and “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.” These stories great songs, that have sometimes even been forgotten with the years come to life.
Can You Imagine This is a wonderful for those who love fun facts and music history with great acting, great writing, and wonderful music.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
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Carter Brown, CBS, Podcast, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar
EP0979: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Lansing Fraud Matter, Part Five and the Widow is Willing
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Johnny confronts Hillary Franks in a deserted area o Tuscon.
Original Air Date: December 16, 1955
In a house full of murder suspects, the reading of the will provides plenty of motives for more murders.
Original Air Date: 1958 or 1959
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NBC, Podcast, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Old Time Radio
EP0978: Sherlock Holmes: The Final Problem
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Sherlock Holmes battles his archenemy Professor Moriarty in one of his most perilous adventure.
Original Air Date: April 10, 1955
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Mr. Moto, NBC, Podcast, The Avenger and I.A. Moto
EP0977: Mr. Moto: Smokescreen
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Mr. Moto tries to break up a Communist plot to addict America’s young people to drugs.
Original Air Date: June 3, 1951
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CBS, Podcast, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar
EP0976: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Lansing Fraud Matter, Parts Three and Four
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 2 Comments
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Johnny closes in on the insurance agent as the beneficiary stubbornly refuses to admit the fraud.
Original Air Date: December 14 and 15, 1955
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