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Bob Bailey & Virginia Gregg in front of an old Microphone

Bob Bailey & Virginia Gregg

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.

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- Your host, Adam Graham

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EP0624: Sherlock Holmes: The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax

Holmes dispatches Watson to look into the disappearance of a wealthy woman.

Original Air Date: March 28, 1948

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EP0623: Let George Do It: The Bookworm Turns

Bob Bailey

George is hired by a bookstore owner who suspects someone sneaking into his shop after hours to read. Quickly, George finds himself entangled in a case with counterfeiting, arson, and murder.

Original Air Date: December 11, 1950

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EP0622: Murder Clinic: The Tragedy at Marsden Manor

Maurice Tarplin

Poirot is called upon by the insurance to investigate the apparent natural death of a wealthy man who just passed a physical for a life insurance policy for his young wife.

Original Air Date: October 6, 1942

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EP0621: Barrie Craig: For Love Of Murder

William Gargan

Barrie bails out a Runyanesque character who attacked an agent that had stolen his girl. Craig comes to regret it when the agent is murdered and the character he bailed out is a top suspect.

Original Air Date: August 3, 1954

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Radio Review: My Son Jeep

By the middle of the 1950s, the heyday of the radio sitcom had passed, at least as far as new programming was concerned. In the midst of radio’s decline, “My Son, Jeep” came to NBC radio in January 1953.
The show was somewhat different from the typical family sitcom as it featured a single father named Dr. Robert Allison (Donald Cook). living in a small town with his son, Jeffrey (aka “Jeep”) (Martin Huston) and his daughter, Peg. They have a housekeeper (Mrs. Bixby) and in the first episode, Jeep manages to wrangle a job for his substitute teacher, Ms. Miller as Dr. Allison’s assistant.

Of course, men raising kids in a motherless situation was not the norm, but it was hardly new. The long-running Great Gildersleeve featured a surrogate father played Harold Perry and later Willard Waterman. After many fits and stars, Perry reverted to that format after leaving Gildersleeve towards the end of his flop The Harold Peary Show.

Jeep was the center of the show and his antics provide the impetus for most of the comedy. Jeep’s mix of cute mischievousness works and really provides nearly all the comedy. In one episode, when Dr. Allison states that he can’t afford to hire an assistant, Jeep proceeds to go through Dr. Allison’s medical records and go and collect. In another, Mrs. Bixby is being installed as Minnehaha of her Indian-themed lodge and Jeep writes an acceptance speech for her filled with “ughs” and”hows.” Jeep is cute. My Son Jeep has been compared by some to Dennis the Menace but if anything Jeep was a forerunner to the Dennis the Menace series which wouldn’t come to television until 1959, although the comic strip launched in 1951.

The rest of the series was mostly stock characters: the “oh-so-mature” teenage daughter, the fussy housekeeper, and the hapless father who is constantly outmaneuvered by his two offspring.

The one thing that’s remarkable about the series is that the Allison family is a loving sacrificing one. When his older sister wants a new dress and Dr. Allison refuses to buy it, Jeep offers to paint the fence in order to purchase the dress. Most of the situations that arise come from the Allisons trying to help each other rather than through selfish pursuits or attempts to cover up wrongdoing. In this way, My Son Jeep is a relatively wholesome and sweet family comedy that is deserving of the oft-used descriptions, “Not the best comedy, but better than most stuff on television.”

After Jeep’s run over NBC radio, it premiered on television in the 1953, but didn’t last. According to John Dunning’s Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio, the series was revived in 1956 as a five night a week fifteen minute serial with a new cast. No episodes of this serial version survive.

Radio episodes of the 1953 run of  My Son Jeep are available on the Internet Archive.

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EP0620: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Rochester Theft Matter

John Lund
Johnny works with the police to try and solve a woman’s murder as the murderer was behind a theft in Rochester that cost the insurance company dearly.

Original Air Date: May 12, 1953

 

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EP0619: Sherlock Holmes: Death is a Golden Arrow

Sherlock Holmes is called in by members of an archery club to stop a rivalry from getting out of hand, but it’s not long before Holmes is looking for a murderer.

Original Air Date: March 21, 1948

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