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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ABC, Podcast, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Old Time Radio
EP0474: Sherlock Holmes: Death in the North Sea
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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The widow of a murdered older man hires Holmes to prove her love (and the dead man’s business partner) innocent of his killing.
Original Air Date: June 16, 1947
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Let George Do It, Mutual, Podcast
EP0473: Let George Do It: The Chair of Humanities
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 2 Comments
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The wife of a prominent college professor asks for George’s help, but when he calls, she denies that she needs it. Then the professor himself asks George to stop him from being murdered.
Original Air Date: May 1, 1950
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Mutual, Podcast, Rogue's Gallery
EP0472: Rogue’s Gallery: The Message
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A man on death row gives Rogue an esoteric message that’s supposed to lead to missing diamonds and a $15,000 reward.
Original Air Date: April 11, 1946
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Barrie Craig, NBC, Podcast
EP0471: Barrie Craig: Song of Death
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Barrie saves a woman from drowning and finds himself in the midst of a lawsuit over a popular song where some party is willing to use violence in pursuit of the cause.
Original Air Date: December 26, 1951
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Original Air Date: December 12, 1951
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Book Review, Golden Age Article, Nero Wolfe
Book Review: The Red Box
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
The Red Box was the fourth of the Nero Wolfe novels and begins somewhat abruptly in the middle of the initial interview with Wolfe’s client. With a desperate need for a client, Archie connives with a potential client to get Wolfe to leave his house to travel down to a fashion firm several blocks away to interview witnesses in the poisoning death of a model who ate a candy from a box of chocolate and diet. The client presents Wolfe with a letter from fellow orchid growers citing his participation in Orchid and urging him to undertake the case in the name of decency.
The client, Lew Frost wants Wolfe solve the murder and get his cousin Helen (who he is in love with) to quit her modeling job, as she is a wealthy heiress who is set to inherit a $2 million estate.
Despite his hating every moment, Wolfe uncovers one valuable clue in the course of his trip, in his interview with Ms. Frost and uncovers who the poison was really intended for. On confronting the target of the poison in his office on 35th street, Wolfe is shocked to learn that the man has made him the executor of his estate. He also wanted Wolfe to undertake a case for him, and an important to element of this was to be found in a red box, but before he could reveal the location of the box, he dies. Though, thanks to the will he remains a client.
As Archie says, this case is one client after another. Lew Frost dismisses Wolfe, but his cousin Helen hires Wolfe to find the poisoner, so Wolfe has yet another client.
The book contains a number of interesting features. The best may be Wolfe’s relationship with Helen Frost. It begins on a very rocky basis, but Wolfe ultimately wins her confidence and Helen matures throughout the book. It’s an interesting note that Wolfe seems to have an interesting effect on many spoiled children by treating them like adults. This is as compared to Helen’s friends and family who dote on her like she’s a child incapable of making her own decisions.
Also, my one big criticism of The Rubber Band was that Cramer was almost subservient to Wolfe. The Red Box thankfully has none of that as Cramer develops quite nicely and seems to be set in his cynicism and impatience with Wolfe’s games.
The story goes along quite nicely until the end when the book hits two big problems.
First, is a third murder, which was incredible. Stout’s fell into the mystery writer’s trap of creating a murder scenario that is too clever to be practical. This murder involved carrying a volatile liquid in a purse or briefcase to a funeral, sneaking into the parking ar, getting into the murder victim’s car, and pouring this liquid into a teacup and then precariously positioning the tea cup so that the victim will bump it and spill it on himself. The liquid by the way is so toxic that even casual exposure will send you to the hospital. Rather than commending the plan for its ingenuity, Wolfe ought to have condemned its pure silliness that depended on dumb luck.
The second problem was the ending. While Wolfe used phony evidence to gain confessions or murder’s self-destructions several times, this particular book seemed to me to have the cheapest use of this trick I’ve yet encountered. And Wolfe’s actions hardly seem to work for his client’s emotional well-being. The main reason for Wolfe’s trick appeared to save the time and expense of finding the last missing necessary piece of the puzzle by substituting a phony.
However weak the end, I still enjoyed the book, with the Wolfe-Helen Frost relationship and the development of Inspector Cramer. While the book is probably the weakest of the first four installments of Nero Wolfe, I’ll give the book:
Rating: Satisfactory
You can find all the Nero Wolfe books in Kindle, Audiobook, and book form on our Nero Wolfe page.
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Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article
Audio Drama Review: Perry Mason and The Case of the Lucky Legs
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
Colonial Theatre released the third of its Perry Mason Audio dramas, “The Case of the Lucky Legs.” Like with the first two, this is an audio drama based on the original Perry Mason novels of the 1930s, but produced in the 21st Century.
Perry Mason is retained initially to take legal action against a beauty contest promoter who cheated small town businessmen and a local young woman by promising her stardom as winner of a Lucky Legs contest and then leaving her high and dry in Hollywood. When Perry goes to have a discussion with the con man, he finds the man murdered.
Perry finds himself dodging the police until he can find the truth, questioning the witnesses, not even sure who is client is as the man who gave a retainer for $5000 to file the lawsuit keeps changing who Perry is supposed to represent.
The recording is quite a bit shorter than the previous Perry Mason stories that Colonial Theater had done and the length worked for this story. It really created a very tight and well-paced mystery. The plot is full of twists and surprises. At one point, Perry even hires another detective agency to spy on Paul Drake’s operative who are working for the man who paid him.
If there is one criticism I had for the production, it was that role of the winner of the Lucky Legs contest had a voice that didn’t fit the part. She sounded more like 14 rather than 21. Still, that’s a minor flaw in a brilliant production. I can hardly wait for Colonial’s next installment.
Note: If you are an Audible Member, the digital download of this production is only $2.95 which is a fantastic price for this great production.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars
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1949-54 Johnny Dollar, CBS, Podcast, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar
EP0470: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Tolhurst Theft Matter
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Johnny receives an anonymous clue to the location of $50,000 stolen from a furrier. The source’s condition: don’t tell the police.
Original Air Date: October 27, 1951
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