Author: Yours Truly Johnny Blogger

And the Award for Cutest Ad for a Johnny Dollar CD Goes To…

I’m not endorsing Comic Web’s CD Set. Never have bought from them, but I have to love the first line of their copy for their Johnny Dollar CD set:

Expense Account: item one: 1 CD full of Johnny Dollar episodes: $4.50 Expense Account: item two: a full set of Johnny Dollar radio episodes: $17.50

Yours Truly,
Johnny Blogger

(AKA: Adam Graham)

Yes and No

With most Radio Detective shows, it’s pretty straightforward in deciding to play them: Yes or No. However, when some shows, the answer is “Yes” and “No.”

Just like with Pat Novak for Hire, I’ve said “Yes” to the Jack Webb episodes and “No” to the Ben Morris episodes, there are a couple other shows where I’m giving a Split decision.

Philo Vance: Philo Vance was originally conceived in post World War I era as a somewhat arrogant elitist detective by S.S. Dine.  And the first two radio series featuring Vance had him portrayed as the know it all, arrogant detective.

The most popular series in ciruclation toned down the arrogance. However, to my listening, there wasn’t much left. Jackson Beck’s portrayal of Vance was somewhat flat. However, a flat detective could be okay if the mysteries were mentally engaging. Unfortunately, the mysteries were all too simple for my tastes. Which made the latter Philo Vance episodes particularly insulting to the police. It was one thing to have to call in a private investigator on a hard-to-solve murder case. It’s a bit of fantasy. However, if the case wasn’t really all that difficult to begin with, it’s kind of insulting.

Of course, this is a matter of taste, but for me doing 2 years of Philo Vance as portrayed by Jackson Beck seems more like a sentence for a minor crime.

However the early to mid-1940s Vance is more like it. Slightly more arrogant, but the mysteries are better too.  So, I end up with a “yes” to John Emery and Jose Ferrer version of Philo Vance, but a “no” to the Jackson Beck Version.

Mr. and Mrs. North:  I love the episodes of Mr. and Mrs. North featuring Joseph Conklin and Alice Frost. The show had wonderful chemistry between the two leads, a good dose of comedy mixed in, and some pretty fun mysteries, with Pam North more likely to solve the case than her husband Jerry.  

However, the show changed actors in 1953-54 to feature TV’s Mr. and Mrs. North, Richard Denning and Barbara Britton.  I’ve tried, but I can’t enjoy these episodes. Pretty much all of the lighness that made the 1943-54 series a success is gone as Denning and Britton try to put on a serious crime drama. It just doesn’t work. The chemistry isn’t there, and again the mysteries aren’t that clever.

So I say yes to Mr. and Mrs. North with Conklin-Frost and No to Mr. and Mrs. North with Denning-Britton.

EP0035: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Stolen Portrait

Johnny Dollar heads to London in search of a rare stolen painting.

Original Air Date: April 1, 1949

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EP0034: Mercury Theater on the Air: The Immortal Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes (played by Orson Welles) seeks to reclaim letters being used as blackmail and foil the plans of Professor Moriarity.

Original Air Date: September 25, 1938

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EP0033: Let George Do It: Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

George Valentine is hired to reconcile two brothers, but when the dead body of a local gambling kingpen is found in the missing brother’s apartment, the mission takes on a new sense of urgency, as George must find the brother before the dead kingpin’s gang does.

Original Air Date: April 12, 1948

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EP0032: Pat Novak: Joe Condano

After being hired to pay off a beautiful woman’s brother’s gambling debt, Novak finds himself next to a dead body with Inspector Hellman on the way up.

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Quotes:

“I’ve run across better people in sewers.”

“You can’t add a pair of zeroes without crib notes.”-Novak to Hellman.

“Stop posing. You couldn’t follow an elephant across a basketball court.”-Novak to Hellman.

(Picture Courtesy: Digital Deli.)

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EP0031: Box 13: Short Assignment

Dan Holiday fills in for a vertically challenged Private Detective to guard the son of a dead man who relatives fear might commit suicide.

Original Air Date: February 18, 1948

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