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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.

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- Your host, Adam Graham

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EP0289: Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Uneasy Chair

Basil Rathbone

Scotland Yard has a suspect in the murder of a wealthy man, but no murder weapon, and the case begins to look think when another murder done in the same way takes place while the alleged murder is in jail.

Original Air Date: May 13, 1946

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EP0288: Let George Do It: A Matter of Doubt

Bob Bailey

George investigates the case of a boy who told his mother that he tended the wounds of an injured man, only to claim he later made the whole thing up. The boy has had a long series of unfortunate “accidents” that his mother alarmed.

Original Air Date: May 30, 1949

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EP0287: Nero Wolfe: Stamped for Murder

Sidney Greenstreet

A woman comes to Wolfe to help her recover $10,000 from two swindlers who cheated her father. Wolfe becomes suspicious when the conmen return the money too eagerly.

Original Air Date: October 20, 1950

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EP0286: Thin Man: The Case of the Glamorous Clue

Claudia Morgan

A man Nora brought home is murdered. When Nick refuses to believe her because she refuses to believe his story about him solving a crime with the help of an ex-girlfriend Broadway starlet, Nora sets out to solve the case alone.

Original Air Date: June 16, 1944

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Movie Review: Going My Way

I’d never heard of Going My Way until I was searching through my instant watch queue on Netflix, though I’d heard of its sequel, The Bells of St. Mary.

Going My Way stars Bing Crosby as Father Chuck O’Malley, a young priest from St. Louis who has been given the task of setting in order a troubled New York City parish on the verge of bankruptcy and with many of its youth involved in crime. Father O’Malley must do so without hurting the feelings of elderly priest Father Fitzgibbons (platyed beautifully by Barry Fitzgerald.)

While Crosby was one of the most talented singers and showmen of his generation, his performance as Father O’Malley was anything but showy. Father O’Malley comes off as a “right guy” who is humble and graceful. While technically, he’s been put “in charge” of the parish by the Bishop, he refuses to assert himself, but respects the work of Father Fitzgibbons.

Barry Fitzgerald was equally masterful with Father Fitzgibbons. His portrayal of Father Fitzgibbons is as a stubborn man set in his ways, but with a kind heart and dedication that has kept him at his parish for 45 years, seperated from his aging mother.

What makes the movie work is the chemistry between the two characters. In these type of films, it’s often tempting to play up a sense of rivalry between the old minister and the young one. Yet, Going My Way takes an entirely different tact, as the old man the young one grow to love and respect each other.

It’s a bit of a misnomer to call this film a musical, as the characters rarely sing in this two hour film. Crosby does sing a few times, and when he does, it’s powerful. Perhaps one of the most informative scenes was when Father O’Malley was advising a young singer who was gesturing as she sang. Father O’Malley criticized the gesturing and suggested that she needed to was to put  more emotion into her singing.

And that’s what made Crosby’s singing is the film so memorable. Whether, it was, the soft and mellow title song or the debut, “Swinging on a Star,” he delivered it with just the right emotion.

My favorite scene was the one in which Father O’Malley put Father Fitzgibbons to bed after the older priest to bed. They’d talked about their mothers and how Father Fitzgibbons hadn’t seen his 90 year old mother in 45 years. Father Fitzgibbons asked if O’Malley knew “Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra” and Crosby sang it beautifully:

The film wasn’t perfect. At two hours, it could have been quite a bit shorter without some extraneous plot elements such as seeing the Metropolitan Opera perform one scene from Carmen, and the budding romance of the banker’s son. However, the latter subplot did provide one of the film’s best scenes.

However, these are very minor shortcomings in a great film, and the featured attraction is the warmth of Crosby and Fitzgerald to create a timeless classic.

Additional Information:

This film was featured on Screen Guild Theater in 1945 with Crosby and Fitzgerald reprising their starring roles.

Currently, it is available on Netflix Instant Watch for those who Netflix members. Click here for Netflix.

Also, it’s available on Amazon:

Note: Sales made through the links in this post will result in small compensation to me at no additional cost to the consumer.

EP0285: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Howard Caldwell Matter

 Edmond O'Brien

Johnny Dollar finds himself searching through low class San Francisco dives to find the missing son of a wealthy New England matron.

Original Air Date: September 30, 1950

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EP0284: Sherlock Holmes: The Man With the Twisted Lip

Basil Rathbone

Sherlock Holmes is hired to find a missing husband who appears to either have met with foul play–or disappeared into thin air.

Original Air Date: May 6, 1946

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