Month: May 2022

EP3778: Mr. Chameleon: The Insured Jewels Murder Case

Karl Swenson

The boyfriend of a wealthy married woman is found murdered outside the home of a notorious receiver of stolen property.

Original Air Date: April 19, 1950

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EP3777: Screen Guild Theatre: The Maltese Falcon

Maltese Falcon poster

Private Investigator Sam Spade gets caught up in intrigue over a mysterious object while trying to solve his partner’s murder.

Original Air Date: September 20, 1943

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Video Theater 226: Sheriff of Cochise: The Relatives

Sheriff Morgan has to get to the bottom of allegations of rustling within a contentious family.

Season 1, Episode 24

Original Air Date: March 8, 1957

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EP3776: Tales of the Texas Rangers: Pressure

Jace is called in to protect an elderly black man who confessed to murdering his employer. Jace begins to doubt whether the man is actually guilty.

Original Air Date: April 1, 1951

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Top Five Forgotten OId Time Radio Detective Programs

Listen to “The Forgotten Detectives of Old Time Radio” on Spreaker.

Last year, I created a podcast that collected all of our series that had few than ten episodes in circulation called The Forgotten Detectives of Old Time Radio. It contains 125 episodes from twenty-two different radio series. That’s a lot of shows, and it can be hard to know where to start. In order to help, here are my top five favorite forgotten detective programs:

5) The Adventures of Leonidas Witherall:

Leonidas Witherall is a character in a series of comedy mystery novels by Phoebe Atwood Taylor. He is a headmaster of a boys’ school and is known for his uncanny resemblance to William Shakespeare. The 1944 series starred Broadway star Walter Hampden and is a really fun listen with some really nice use of humor. If you’re looking for a light mystery series, this one is worth listening to.

4) The Defense Rests/Defense Attorney

Radio acting legend Mercedes McCambridge stars as Attorney Martha Ellis Bryant. Radio detective mysteries featuring attorneys as a lead are rare and so were mystery programs with a female lead, making this is a good find. But McCambridge’s award-winning acting is what really sells the series and makes it fun to listen to.

3) Easy Money

Larry Haines stars as a magician turned detective who dedicates his time to exposing various con games. While radio was full of murders and violent crimes, it was refreshing to have a series that turned to bunco scams. Easy Money does this with style, with smartly written scripts and solid acting and direction.

2) The Adventures of Bill Lance

Gerald Mohr, best-known for playing legendary hard-boiled private eye Philip Marlowe, stars in a very different series as Bill Lance, a piano player and tuner who gets involved in mysteries. Legendary character actor Howard McNear stars as Lance’s sidekick. The series makes good use of music in the story and manages to work in light continuity with minor characters from one episode to the next.

1)The Airmail Mystery

This 1932 serial follows Justice Department Investigator Irene Delroy as she seeks to uncover what’s behind a series of small plane crashes, assisted by her subordinate Fitz and reporter boyfriend Jimmy. The characters are a lot of fun, with Irene Delroy being a very ahead-of-her-time heroine. The mystery is pretty good with a lot of clues and exciting moments. The series was originally broadcast as thirteen fifteen-minute episodes. We featured the twelve surviving episodes in six episodes of the podcast. It’s a very fun, high-paced, and unique experience.

EP3775: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Monopoly Matter

John Lund

Johnny investigates arson at a club dedicated to playing Monopoly.

Original Air Date: December 1, 1953

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EP3774: Philo Vance: The Cipher Murder Case

A band of thieves are robbing private residences. When one of them kills an injured comrade to stop them from talking, Vance goes to work.

Original Air Date: April 26, 1949

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AWR0192: Top Secret: A Plan for Sabotage

Amazing World of Radio

A doctor contacts Karin and asks for a meeting, as he may have to a clue to an infamous Soviet Agent she’s pledged to end.

Original Air Date: October 26, 1950

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EP3773: Man Called X: Rescue From Czech Uranium Mine

Herbert Marshall

Ken goes behind the Iron Curtain into Czechoslovakia to rescue a resistance leader working as slave labor in a uranium mine.

Original Air Date: May 13, 1952

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EP3772: Mr. Chameleon: The Custody of the Child Murder Case

Karl Swenson

A woman is found murdered at the home of her ex-husband after losing custody of her child.

Original Air Date: April 12, 1950

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EP3771: Casey, Crime Photographer: Source of Information

Stats Cotsworth

A great reporter who became an alcoholic is killed after telling Casey about his tell-all memoir.

Original Air Date: January 20, 1954

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EP3770: Tales of the Texas Rangers: Breakdown

An elderly constable is murdered by a fugitive cop killer.

Original Air Date: March 25, 1951

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Audio Drama Review: The Avengers: The Comic Strip Adaptations Volume 06: Steed & Mrs Peel

Big Finish’s latest release of the Avengers features three different comic strips from the Steed and Peel era of the 1960s television series starring Julian Wadham as Steed and Olivia Poulet as Emma Peel.

In “Seven Deadly…Assassins”, Steed and Peel are sent on a ship where they are charged with guarding a valuable jewel. However, they find themselves amidst a group of assassins themed around the seven deadly sins and with a grudge against them.

This is very much a typical Avengers story with themed villains, a fun location, the quips, etc. It does lack some of the punch other comic adaptations. As writer Roland Moore points out, this was from a holiday special without cliffhangers. Still, it’s a fun story, and it’s written with a good understanding of what to expect. The performances are good even with the archest and most on-the-nose characters. It’s a fun time, and hits the right marks, but doesn’t quite have the pizazz of the better stories.

In “Stand and Deliver,” Steed and Peel are invited to a Highwayman’s Ball at the house of a nobleman/scientist. It turns out the ball is a set up to find out who is a spy within the British Secret Service, and Steed is a suspect.

In the case of many stories with this sort of plot, it might be fair to complain about how convoluted the story is, but this is the Avengers, and no villain ever cares about doing anything in a simple, direct way. This story is a fun listen that has a lot of twists and turns, and combines elements of a few different genres to make for a good romp.

“You Won’t Believe Your Eyes” is a hard one to evaluate, owing mainly to the comic strip used, which writer John Dorney admits goes in some directions that are atypical for the Avengers. The beginning of the story is quite strong with the sudden appearance of polar bears and T-Rexes. Then, after we find out the source of these apparitions, the story loses some momentum. We’re given two very stereotypical Soviet spy villains that are far from the typical over-the-top Avengers villains we’re used to. The story picks up in the last few minutes when we get the final plot twist and the denouement. It’s helped by a good acting performance from Dorney.

It’s not a bad script but doesn’t quite deliver the level of fun you expect from an Avengers script, particularly with an opening like this one had.

I couldn’t help but wonder whether Big Finish is running out of good source material, particularly for the Steed and Peel era.
The stories in the six volumes have all been based on storylines from comic strips in TV and TV Action magazine, with Big Finish writers adapting the scripts and expanding on their ideas and concepts. In addition to the atypical finale, the opening story wasn’t a serialized story like all the others, but a self-contained story from an annual.
Overall, this box set was still a fun time. The production team at Big Finish does a great job making these as good as possible. I just sensed that due to the quality of the source material, there was more work needed to put out higher-quality episodes than on previous sets.If you love the TV Avengers or the previous box sets, it’s still worth checking out.
Rating: 3.75 out of 5
The Avengers: The Comic Strip Adaptations, Volume 6 is available on the Big Finish website.

EP3769: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Independent Diamond Traders Matter

John Lund

Johnny is called in to investigate the smuggling of illegal diamonds that are undercutting legitimate diamond traders and driving them out of business.

Original Air Date: November 24, 1953

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EP3768: Philo Vance: The Cardinal Murder Case

The girlfriend of an ex-racketeer is murdered.

Original Air Date: April 19, 1949

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