We’ve already looked at detective shows on every major network including multi-network, ABC, CBS, NBC, and Mutual Detective shows.  Now we turn to programs that were aired in  syndication.

Syndicated programming allowed radio stations to fill blocks of programming not filled by network shows and allowed local and regional businesses that couldn’t afford to sponsor network programs.

While network shows were aired once and often lost, syndicated programs aired in different markets for decades after their original creation date which explains why many syndicated shows survive with almost entirely complete runs.  One challenged with syndicated programs is that it’s very hard to determine when shows were first aired, as any number of radio stations may have been the first to play the program.

As always, I asked our Facebook friends to vote and forty-eight  shared their favorites.

5) Mystery is My Hobby

Produced: 1947-49

Mystery is My Hobby starred Glen Langan as Barton Drake, a mystery writer who solves crimes. Each episode was a lighthearted whodunit aided by the upbeat suave performance of Langan as the sleuth. Langan was practically the opposite of Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled sleuth. You can’t get much further opposite of “Trouble is my business” than “Mystery is my Hobby.” At the end of each episode, Barton Drake would remind us that “mystery is my hobby.”

The show was originally called, “Murder is My Hobby” but while the staff thought the original name was funnier, the sponsor who paid for the show’s national run didn’t. The sponsor was Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Omaha.

The show features perhaps the most compliant police officer assistant for a sleuth in Inspector Noah Danton who is apparently allowed by his department to serve as the nearly full-time sidekick of Barton Drake. The two are rarely apart and Danton even accompanies Drake when he’s out of town.

Sixty-five years later, the episodes still make for fun and relaxing listening as for twenty-five minutes, mystery becomes our hobby.

Fan vote: 4%

4) The Adventures of Frank Race

Produced: 1949

The war changed many things – the face of the earth and the people on it.

This exciting syndicated series focused on an Attorney whose World War II service brought him into the O.S.S. After the war, rather than returning to the practice of the law,  he became a freelance troubleshooter. The cases that Race took on ranged from insurance cases to international spying. Thus, Frank Race’s adventures were  a mixture  of Johnny Dollar and the Man Called X.

The show was well-written with a fantastic theme by Ivan Ditmars. Frank Race was played first by Tom Collins (Eps 1-21) and then by character actor Paul Dubov (22-43). Tony Barrett throughout the series provided the voice for Cabbie Marc Donovan, one of radio’s most able sidekicks.  The show also featured some of radio’s best players as guest stars including Gerald Mohr, Frank Lovejoy, and Virginia Gregg.

Fan Vote: 0%

3)The New Adventures of Michael Shayne with Jeff Chandler

Produced: 1947-48

After the Mutual Network’s comedy mystery version of Michael Shayne ended, Bill Rouseau took his turn with the character. The result was one of the most sterling of the hard boiled detective shows.

While in the novels, Shayne lived in Miami, Rouseau placed Shayne in New Orleans, a city full of mystery and a perfect place for a Noirish radio series. Jeff Chandler played the role of the two fisted tough guy private eye. The show was also noteworthy, featuring Jack Webb in the recurring role as Lieutenant LeFevre, Shayne’s policeman foil.

The mysteries would never win an Edgar, with often simplistic solutions. However, during its 26-episode run, the show offered plenty of first fights, excitement, Mickey Finns, and femme fatales.  The New Adventures of Michael Shayne continued to be resold and resyndicated well into the late 1960s.

Fan Vote: 4%

2) Boston Blackie with Richard Kollmar

Produced: 1945-50

Boston Blackie was an epic character for around half a century with silent films, talkies, radio, and finally television. In 1944, Boston Blackie first came to radio with Chester Morris playing Boston Blackie,  the role he was most remembered for in films.  A syndicated version was launched by Frederick Ziv with Richard Kollmar, who was otherwise best known for the live morning radio show he did his wife, Breakfast with Dick and Dorothy.

When Boston Blackie made his first appearance, he was a thief. But by the mid-1940s, Blackie had abandoned his life of crime and was completely law-abiding.  He was “enemy to those who had no enemy and friend to those who had no friend.” Blackie’s problem was that someone hadn’t let Inspector Farraday of the police force in on the development. Practically every week, Inspector Farraday tried to arrest Blackie for a crime, usually murder, only for Blackie to escape  and present Farraday the real criminal, thus clearing his name and guaranteeing his freedom until next week. Over the years, Farraday does begin to ease up and have a more cordial relationship with Blackie. Hearing this development in the relationship between the two characters is one of the noteworthy characteristics of Boston Blackie.

Kollmar played the character as smooth, suave, and wise-cracking. Blackie could handle himself with a gun or his fists, and was a tough man for either the police or criminals to hold onto.

The show’s mysteries are a mixed bag of clever stories and somewhat obvious ones. The score uses a relatively light organ score which fits the mood of the show. It also didn’t have the high profile guest actors that other programs did, but it was still very popular with listeners.

While it wasn’t unusual for a syndicated show to have a second season of episodes, there were nearly 300 individual episodes of Boston Blackie produced, and if you have any doubts as to why the show lasted that long, you only need to take a listen to find out why.

Boston Blackie came to television for two seasons, in a mostly forgotten TV series that didn’t make anyone forget the movies or the radio show.

Fan Vote: 33%

1) Box 13 starring Alan Ladd
Produced: 1947-48

Dan Holiday, a reporter turned mystery writer comes up with an original way to come up with plots his stories, placing an ad in the paper, “Adventure Wanted: Will go anywhere, will do anything. Write Box 13 c/o of the Star Times.”

With Alan Ladd as both star and producer,  Box 13 became one of radio’s most exciting shows. As Ladd was not a professional detective, writers had a free hand in writing adventures for Holiday. His many adventures included infiltrating a car theft ring, going to the bayous of Louisiana to help a man who believes he’s under a voodoo curse, intrigue with a jewel thief in Paris, and encountering a murderous psychopath who has chosen Holiday as his next target.

Ladd’s acting was spot on and his resonant voice was perfect for radio. Ladd was able to draw some of the finest guest actors in radio including Gerald Mohr, Frank Lovejoy, and Alan Reed. Sadly, the program didn’t include credits, so for many guest appearances, we can only take educated guesses.

While the show had numerous writers, the scripts were usually good, though occasionally uneven.

Box 13 continued to be resyndicated into the 1990s. The program also helped Ladd to increase his popularity with the American public with Box 13 being a fantastic showcase for his talent. In 1954, Land reprised his role as Dan Holiday on television,  adapting the radio episode, “Daytime Nightmare” as an episode of the G.E. True Theater, “Committed.”

Fan Vote: 58%

Honorable mention:

Dr. Tim, Detective: This was one of the few mystery shows made for kids. The 13 episode serial is a pleasant mix of education and entertainment and education as Dr. Tim’s medical mysteries educated kids about such interesting facts as the uses of blood in vaccination and the treatment of tuberculosis. These 15 minute shows are well-done for both kids and adults.

This concludes our series. Thanks so much for following along.

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically delivered to your Kindle.

Below is a recap of both my rankings  in each category as well as how fans on Facebook voted:

ABC

My Pick	Facebook Pick
Pat Novak for Hire	Pat Novak for Hire
The Fat Man	Sherlock Holmes
Defense Attorney	The Fat Man
Sherlock Holmes (Tom Conway)	I Deal in Crime
I Deal in Crime	Defense Attorney

CBS

My Pick	Facebook Pick
Adventures of Philip Marlowe	Johnny Dollar
Yours Truly Johnny Dollar	Casey
Adventures of Rocky Jordan	Philip Marlowe
Broadway’s My Beat	Rocky Jordan
Casey Crime Photographer	Broadway’s My Beat

Mutual

My Pick	Facebook Pick
Let George Do It	Let George Do It
Nick Carter	Hercule Poirot
Casebook of Gregory Hood	Michael Shayne
Hercule Poirot	Nick Carter
Michael Shayne (Wally Maher)	Gregory Hood

NBC

My Pick	Facebook Pick
Dragnet	Dragnet
Night Beat	Nero Wolfe
Dangerous Assignment	Dangerous Assignment
Barrie Craig	Night Beat
Nero Wolfe	Barrie Craig

Multi-network

My Pick	Facebook Pick
Richard Diamond	Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes (Rathbone)	Richard Diamond
Sam Spade	Sam Spade
The Saint	The Saint
A Man Called X	A Man Called X

Syndicated

My Pick	Facebook Pick
Box 13	Box 13
Boston Blackie	Boston Blackie
Michael Shayne (Jeff Chandler)	Michael Shayne
Frank Race	Mystery is My Hobby
A Man Called X	Frank Race

Previous post in this series include multi-network, ABC, NBC, and Mutual Detectives.

CBS enjoyed radio dominance throughout much of the golden age of radio. Its line up was anchored by long-running anthologies: The Columbia Workshop, The Lux Radio Theater, Suspense, Escape, and (on the West Coast) The Whistler.

In the late 1940s, CBS established dominance in the detective and crime drama genres with shows like Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Gangbusters, and The FBI in Peace and War.

Most of the shows on this list began during that period, but lived on after it had passed. As always, I asked our Facebook friends to vote and forty-two shared their favorites.

5) Casey,  Crime Photographero starring Staats Cotsworth

Aired: 1943-50, 1954-55

One of radio’s most enduring shows, Casey has a rich history that dates back to the pulps, which is reflected in the show’s titles.

Casey never was considered more than a “B” detective show. However, it has staying power because of the show’s fun and it’s great characters. While the Blue Note and its faithful barkeep Ethelbert are not usually in the thick of the mystery, they add a lot of enjoyment to show. Ethelbert (John Gibson) brought the comedy with his mangling of the language and love of quotes. It was often at the Blue Note that Casey would solve the case thanks to a random conversation in the relaxed atmosphere.

Casey went through many titles: Flashgun Casey, Casey, Press Photographer, Crime Photographer (twice), and Casey: Crime Photographer, but all are considered part of the same franchise. Cotsworth was also not the only actor to play Casey, as he was preceded briefly by Matt Crowley (eps. 1 and 2) and Jim Backus (eps. 3-13)  but his seven seasons in the lead made him the definitive Casey in the eyes of the public.

In 1950, Casey left the radio and a widely panned television version aired over CBS TV. In the mid-50s with CBS struggling to keep its radio operations, it revamped or looked at revamping several dormant franchises which lead to Casey being brought back for one final season in 1954. In 1957, ABC produced a series with a crimefighting cameraman called, Man With a Camera which was thought to have partially been inspired by Casey.  (Photo: Courtesy of the Digital Deli.)

Fan Vote:  14%

4) Broadway’s My Beat
Aired:1949-53, Summer 1954

Broadway’s my beat. From Times Square to Columbus Circle, the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world

Broadway’s My Beat began being broadcast from New York with Anthony Ross in as Larry Clover in February 1949.

In the Summer,  the series was produced from Los Angeles by Elliot Lewis with Danny Clover played Larry Thor, who was better known as an announcer for programs like Rocky Jordan than as an actor in his own right.

Broadway’s My Beat was unusual in that while Clover was a police detective, the show has the same feel of a hard boiled PI program. Clover was the most world-weary of all radio detectives. Thor’s narration and descriptions of Broadway and it’s characters had a melancholy poetic rhythm to it.

The show also did a good job portraying the diverse population of New York, including featuring black actors in serious dramatic roles as witnesses and crime victims.

Broadway’s My Beat did not make it to television, although writers David Friedkin and Mort Fine did have successful careers in television. In 2010, Friedkin’s son, Gregory produced a pilot for a Danny Clover TV show based on a   1950 radio script and set in Los Angeles.

Fan Vote: 7%

3) Rocky Jordan starring Jack Moyles
Aired:1945-50, 1951-53

Rocky Jordan is a radio series that evokes memories of the Humphrey Bogart classic, Casablanca. Rocky Jordan, after all was an American expatriate living in the Middle East, running a cafe, and encountering adventure and mystery along the way.

The character of Rocky Jordan hit the air in 1945 as a daily serial with Jordan based in Instanbul. Much as we would have imagined Rick from Casablanca doing, Jordan was engaged in cloak and dagger operations against the Nazis and their sympathizers in North Africa. Only two of these episodes survive and don’t form a complete story line.

A Man Called Jordan continued airing through 1946 and 1947 as a 30 minute program, but none of these episodes survive.

In 1948, the program returned as simply, Rocky Jordan with Rocky now running his Cafe Tambourine in Cairo. Jordan encountered danger and mystery. While not a detective by trade, Jordan was forced to play the part as a matter of survival.

Rocky Jordan may be one of the best examples of the power of radio to stir the imagination. It creates such a rich atmosphere that it succeeds in making listeners who’ve never left the U.S. feel like they’re in Cairo.

Through 1950. the role of Rocky Jordan was played by Jack Moyles. The show went off the air for 9 months and returned with George Raft in the lead. According to legend, Raft turned down the lead in Casablanca, so his starring in Rocky Jordan is an interesting note. However, in the minds of most fans, Moyles remains the definitive Rocky Jordan. CBS clearly agreed with them, as when they made a pilot for a new Rocky Jordan fifteen minute serial  in 1954 (that did not end up being picked up), it was Moyles they cast in the lead.

Rocky Jordan never came to television, which was good as 1950s Television couldn’t come close to replicating the magic of the Cafe Tambourine.

Fan vote: 5%

2) Yours Truly Johnny Dollar
Aired:1949-54, 1955-62

Yours Truly Johnny Dollar was one of the most flexible detective shows in radio’s golden era as it followed a freelance insurance investigator as he travelled across the country and around the world investigating a wide variety of insurance cases including life, fire, and theft claims. In a way, the show resembled the syndicated program, The Adventures of Frank Race which featured an international troubleshooter and insurance investigator and began production around the time of the first Dollar series.

Johnny Dollar’s gimmick was that the stories were told as Johnny filling out his expense account. Thus Dollar was advertised as, “The man with the action packed expense account.”  In the Russell episodes, the expense account not only helped to forward the action, but served as a source of comedy as Johnny would pad the expense account with frivolous items out of pique at the client or just because he could. During the O’Brien years, they often became more compact and almost an afterthought with several expense accounts having Johnny list Items 1 and 3 as travel expenses to and from the scene of the investigation, and Item 2 being listed as miscellaneous. Under Bob Bailey, they took on renewed importance with some expense accounts during the five part serial era reaching more than 20 items.

The show was noteworthy for its longevity as well as the six actors who played Johnny Dollar on the air (plus two auditions by Dick Powell and Gerald Mohr.) Each lead brought his own interpretation to the character from Charles Russell’s poor man’s Sam Spade to Edmond O’Brien’s cynical hard boiled eye to John Lund’s more bland take right through Mandel Kramer’s tenure as the last Dollar in the early 60s.

In early seasons, the show struggled to survive. It disappeared from the schedule for most of 1952 and the show was absent for the entire 1954-55 season and appeared to be cancelled for good after a respectable run.

However, in then mid 50s CBS had decided to meet the new challenge of television by returning to an older style of radio program. The 15 minute serial had went out of favor for everything other than juvenile serials and soap operas, but CBS wanted to put a detective serial on the air. To that end it either piloted or aired serial versions of Rocky Jordan, Mister Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons, and Mr. and Mrs. North. The show that made it was Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. While Mohr had auditioned for the role, it ended up going to Bob Bailey, who had stared in Mutual’s Let George Do It.

Bob Bailey’s Dollar was a multi-faceted character. He was capable of being touch, hard-nosed with suspects, and cynical. On the other hand, he often showed kindness and compassion, as well as a great sense of justice. He usually made friends with the local police and worked alongside them.

His Dollar had a life and interests beyond detective work. Johnny was an avid fisherman who developed a liking for the fishing up at Lake Majove. The series added recurring guest characters. Rather than bland throw away insurance men who called Johnny up for jobs, he had several recurring callers, most memorably, Pat McCracken. He also had a girlfriend named Betty Lewis in the final year of the series.

Under producer Jack Johnstone (Superman and the Man Called X), for 58 weeks, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar ran every weeknight with a complete story told each week, with the exception of one six and one nine part serial. The format allowed for more character development and more complicated plots. Each complete serial has as much story in it as many mystery movies of the same era.

Coming up with these complex plots was a huge challenge. Writers such as E. Jack Neumann  took old scripts they’d written for Johnny Dollar or other programs such as Jeff Regan and Sam Spade, tweaked details such as location and names, and expanded the story. However, the pace was unsustainable. In November 1956, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar resumed as a weekly half hour program.

The show did continue to be entertaining, but the writing suffered in its later years as they couldn’t afford to pay writers as much as television. In addition, CBS, to keep the show profitable,  began acquiring multiple sponsors, and running up to four different commercial breaks in a single program, leaving less than 20 minutes for the plot.

In November 1960, CBS moved its radio operations to New York, but Bailey declined to follow due to family considerations. The show continued with Bob Readick and later Kramer in the lead. While they did an able job, radio’s dominance had passed and on September 30 1962, Johnny Dollar turned in his last expense account.

Fan Vote: 62%

1) The Adventures of Philip Marlowe

Aired: 1948-50, Summer 1951

“Get this and get it straight. Crime is a suckers road, and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison, or the grave. There’s no other way, but they never learn.”

Many men have played Raymond Chandler’s signature sleuth: from Dick Powell and Humphrey Bogart to Danny Glover and James Caan. Before  Mohr played the role, up and coming star Van Heflin took a turn at the role in a 1947 NBC Summer replacement series.  None has ever done it better than Gerald Mohr’s radio version.

Mohr was unmatched in his ability to portray Marlowe’s combination of cynicism and optimism. His Marlowe was the best example of the hard boiled private eye as the knight in tarnished armor. He was unquestionably tough, smart, and as able as any detective on the radio. More importantly, he remained an unquestionable force for good in a seedy Los Angeles that was often dominated by greed and corruption. He was the type of hero that every one in trouble, whether real or fictional, wants on their side.

Each episode of Philip Marlowe began with a teaser that would set the stage and make you want to listen and would close with next week’s teaser, so you’d be sure to tune back in:

“When I started, I thought one man was in trouble and three were trying to help him. But after I found two pounds of tobacco, two pieces of brass, and a boat without a pilot heading straight out to sea, I knew they had all been in trouble. And all had taken the hard way out!”

“I walked into it smiling, because it had all the corny elements: the weird doctor, the beautiful girl, the gloomy house on the windswept cliff, even the hulking menace. Only one thing was missing, the body. And that’s when I stopped smiling, because I turned out to be the corpse myself… almost.”

In the middle of first season, before the intriguing teaser, Marlowe started the show with the quote referenced at the start of the article, which would become one of the most memorable radio quotes from the golden age.

The body of the episode lived up to the hype with plenty of fist and guns, some quick thinking, and plenty of great acting from an always-fine supporting cast. Marlowe’s lines often had a poetic cadence about them, and usually at the end of the dark adventure, Marlowe would often have an almost inexplicable hopeful thought.

The show left the air after the 1949-50 season as Mohr pursued his television career and worked at NBC for a while, serving as one of the six Archie’s on Nero Wolfe. Mohr returned to the role of Marlowe for a Summer replacement series. The show then went off the air, never having jumped the shark.

Since that time, Marlowe has proved his timelessness spurring numerous television, movie, and BBC radio adaptations. Still, the best way to enjoy Marlowe remains this unforgettable radio version.

Fan Vote: 10%

Honorable Mentions:

Jeff Regan, Investigator: This hard boiled private eye series was filled with classic radio noir lines, particularly the first series that aired in 1948 with Jack Webb in the lead. The later series was also good but with a different flavor to it. It was a fun and memorable show that deserves more notice than it gets for its clever story lines and rough hewn heroes.

Pursuit: Another Elliot Lewis produced program that’s worth a note. The series was set an entirely in Great Britain with British Characters. The entire cast did a great job of creating a remarkable degree of authenticity that actually took listeners across the Ocean in a well-done original series.

Next week, we’ll rap our series with a look at syndicated radio detective shows.

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Previously, we’ve done multi-network, ABC, and Mutual Programs in this series.

NBC’s best detective shows are clumped between 1949 to the mid-50s.  NBC had fallen behind CBS which had raided much of its talent.  Well-known is the raid on NBC’s comedy teams including Jack Benny and Burns and Allen, but Mr. and Mrs. North had also moved to CBS.

Several great detective dramas had stopped in at NBC for Summer runs including Rogue’s Gallery (1945-47) and The Man Called X (1945 and 1946) before heading off to other networks.

This changed in 1949, Richard Diamond was introduced in April,  Dragnet in June and Dangerous Assignment in July. In the fall, NBC brought Sam Spade over from CBS and in 1950, The Saint came over Mutual.  Other shows would follow that would give NBC a place in the mystery market. While NBC never produced anything that rivaled CBS’ anthology franchises, this era saw NBC turning out some of the most memorable detective shows of the golden and silver era.

As always, we asked our Facebook fans their opinions and received 53 votes which we’ll share below.

5) The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe

Aired: 1950-51

This series was marked by the inspired casting choice of Sidney Greenstreet as Nero Wolfe. There were also seven different Archies during the show’s 26 episode run. The show’s difficulty in finding an Archie as well as its  digressions from the traditional Wolfe characters.

The show remains beloved by fans and characters due to Greenstreet’s characterization of Wolfe, decent mysteries, and the chance to see Wolfe-Archie interplay over the radio. While the show had trouble keeping Archie’s, the list of actors who played the role was impressive including three actors who had played leads in other detective shows (Wally Maher of Mutual’s Michael Shayne, Larry Dobkin of Ellery Queen, and Gerald Mohr of Philip Marlowe) which meant listeners got to enjoy a variety of Archie Goodwin interpretations.
Fan Vote:  32%

Timothy Dunning said, “I have to vote for Nero Wolfe because I loved the books and the radio shows were good adaptations.”

4) Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator

Aired: 1951-55

Barrie Craig was a different kind of detective show and Craig as played by Gargan was a different type of detective: a big gentle easy going guy who always believed his clients until evidence proved otherwise.

In some ways, it poked fun at the private detective genre by giving Craig police-type powers and duties such as filling out making arrests and filling out paperwork. This played off the wide variety of functions and investigations that other PIs took on that were really police functions.  Another time, Craig began his voice over narration by saying, “Manhattan’s my beat,” a clear reference to CBS’ Broadway’s My Beat.

Other episodes took a serious turn such as Craig’s poignant caper with a mentally ill young woman.

Gargan’s light and easy going style make each episode of Barrie Craig is like a visit with an old friend talking about his detective adventures. Listeners were more than happy to visit for four years.

Fan vote: 4%

3) Dangerous Assignment with Brian Donlevy as Steve Mitchell

Aired: Summer 1949, 1950-53

Donlevy reportedly told his agent that he wanted to play nothing other than unambiguous he-man roles. Certainly, the role of Steve Mitchell was cut from that cloth. Mitchell was an international troubleshooter working for an unknown government agency. Each week he’d go to the office of the Commissioner (played by Herb Butterfield) who would end the interview by saying something like, “Well Steve, you’ve got your assignment. Good luck.”

Mitchell would then be off to an exotic location where he’d usually be undercover as a journalist. He’d encounter mystery and adventure as he protected U.S. interests and peace. Much like The Man Called X,  Dangerous Assignment had a similar feel to other detective shows but with higher stakes, although Dangerous Assignment steered clear of Cold War plots that were popular on The Man Called X.

Dangerous Assignment came to television in 1952 with Donlevy in the lead. The television version wasn’t as good. Donlevy was sliding towards 50 and not looking the action hero part. More importantly, early television could not capture the richness of foreign locales that the imagination of radio listeners could conjure up.

Fan Vote: 8%

2) Nightbeat starring Frank Lovejoy as Randy Stone

Aired 1950-52

“Stories start in many ways…”

With these words, Randy Stone begins telling how he came to write his latest Nightbeat column to the Chicago Star about his late night adventures searching for news. The show starred radio veteran Frank Lovejoy who had been the second choice for the lead, with Edmond O’Brien auditioning for the part in 1949.

Nightbeat stories are full of suspense and mystery, but unlike traditional detective shows, the solution is far more likely to be psychological and driven by the human element. While most traditional detective shows focused on finding murders, Stone would be more likely to try and prevent a murder or a suicide. In one episode, Randy has to find a businessman who decided to commit suicide after being falsely diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Nightbeat didn’t require a body to get a story. In one episode, Randy investigates an apartment building where everyone is terrified due to threatening notes they’ve received with the words, “I know your secret,” in them.

Randy Stone did make it to television in one episode of Dick Powell’s Four Star Playhouse. Frank Lovejoy starred in two TV detective series, Meet McGraw
and a mid-50s revival of the show, Man Against Crime, but neither achieved the depth or quality of Nightbeat.

Fan vote: 6%

Said Kent in support of Nightbeat, “The show has a captivating quality as Randy has many insights into the people with whom he is involved moving toward his story. SO REWRITE–C O P Y B O Y as music fades until another episode.”
Fan Vote: 6%

1) Dragnet starring Jack Webb as Joe Friday

Aired: 1949-55

Dragnet began out of conversation that radio detective star Jack Webb had with a police officer who objected to the lack of realism in the portrayal of police on the radio.

Webb remembered this conversation when he needed a summer project when ABC put Pat Novak for Hire on Summer hiatus. What Webb produced was a masterpiece that would redefine crime dramas and the treatment of police in popular media,

Webb made a study of the police: how they talked, worked, and solved cases, and used this knowledge to create the framework for Dragnet.

Dragnet was based on actual police cases. At first, there was nothing new about this as several other crime dramas such as, This Is Your FBI, Gangbusters, and Calling All Cars.  What made Dragnet different was that most prior procedurals spent as much if not more time following the criminals as it did the police. Dragnet’s took you “on the side of the law” from start to finish which meant that most episodes of Dragnet were mysteries as all we knew was what the police knew.

More than just mystery, Dragnet gave a feel for what life was like for the working policeman and it introduced us to the resources they used in a way that was captivating to audiences across America.

Dragnet also created compelling and real characters: victims, witnesses, or perpetrators, they all demanded the audience’s attention in unique ways. From the fiancé of a dead traffic officer, to an 8 year old boy who saw his best friends die from a gun shot wound, to a train-loving hijacking victim, no show ever did better at characterization.

Dragnet also sounded better. Webb’s dedication for details didn’t stop with the finer points of police procedure, when Webb used five sound effects men on this show.  They made every scene come alive, so that whether the show was taking place in a warehouse or at a grocery store, you were transported there. Webb’s policemen interact with people in their daily lives and those sounds don’t stop because a policeman wants to ask a question.

Dragnet also served the public by taking on topics that were often taboo such as child abuse and drug use.  In addition, Dragnet’s practice covering multiple departments gave powerful lessons to the public on how to remain safe and avoid con games.

Dragnet came to television for eight seasons in the 50s and staged a four season revival from 1967-70 and became a motion picture in 1954.  Dragnet’s realism has shaped crime dramas to this day. It gave the police a new level of respect that carried over to other networks and even to the private detective genre. For most of the 1950s, the old stereotypes of domineering, corrupt, or stupid cops were replaced by smart cooperative cops. The Radio,Crime and Peter Chambers and Television’s Lock Up were good examples of this, both featuring intelligent and sincere police officers who were friends with the hero. Also, new programming begin to air that chronicled the work of law enforcement such as Treasury Men in Action and Man Behind the Badge.

Fan Vote: 51%

Honorable Mentions:

Tales of the Texas Ranger: This police procedural followed the adventures of Ranger Jayce Pearson and were based on real case files from the Texas Rangers. This was probably the best of the Dragnet imitators.

A Life In Your Hands: This fascinating series came from the mind of Erle Stanley Gardener, the creator of Perry Mason. The series focused on Jonathan Kegg, a lawyer who had already made his fortune. He inserted himself into cases by acting as an Amicus Curiae, a lawyer who represented neither the prosecution or the defense, but rather cross-examined or called witnesses with the sole goal of getting at the truth. Each case would pivot on Kegg calling a disinterested witness whose memory of a seemingly inconsequential fact. The series was meant to teach the public to be good and observant witnesses as they could stumble on to a crime at any time and they could have “a life in your hands.”

Next week, we take a look at CBS.

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In past parts of this series, we’ve looked at multi-network and ABC shows.  Now we turn to the Mutual Broadcasting Company. Mutual had many fine detective shows and with good-sized budgets.

There’s probably a good case that could be made that prior to  1948, Mutual had the best Mystery-Suspense line-ups in radio bar none.  Mutual had Sherlock Holmes for three years, and brought to radio the first adaptations of Hercule Poirot, Father Brown, Michael Shayne, and much later, Mike Hammer. They also had the iconic Shadow, and the often mysterious Superman on their network. Sadly, much of Mutual’s fine work has been lost.  What remains gives us an idea of what we’re missing.

Still, there’s some outstanding radio that’s available. Now it’s time to get into the list.

5) The Adventures of Michael Shayne starring Wally Maher

Aired: 1944-47

This is not the best known of the Michael Shayne adaptations. The syndicated hard boiled detective version starring Jeff Chandler was. However, Maher’s characterization of Shayne in the five surviving episodes from his era as the great detective is well-done, a bit lighter, somewhat more in the mold of Let George Do It with a much lighter feel than its hard boiled successor.  Cathy Lewis does a good job as a girl Friday.

These shows are particularly gratifying to listen to as Wally Maher spent much of his career playing the secondary detective who usually got it wrong such as in Let George Do It as Lieutenant Riley and in The Line-up at Matt Grebb, it’s gratifying to hear him in a program where he gets to solve the case.

Fan vote: 12%

4) Hercule Poirot starring Harold Huber

Aired: 1945
Americans were interested in Hercule Poirot going back several years. Orson Welles first brought the character to the radio in a Campbell’s Playhouse presentation of “The Murder of Roger Akroyd.” In 1942-43, 3 Hercule Poirot Short stories were adapted for the Mutual program, Murder Clinic.

Poirot got his own show in 1945 with Harold Huber in the lead. The opening program from February of that year featured pre-recorded audio of Agatha Christie welcoming listeners to the program.

The mysteries were fairly good and Huber’s characterization of Poirot is wonderful. It’s not as perfect as David Suchet’s but was far better than many that would come in years to follow. His portrayal was as someone who was kind and charming, but also a very smart detective who outmaneuvers his opponents.

Some Christie purists are not fans of the series, partially because actual Christie stories weren’t used and partially because Poirot was transplanted to America. The first episode has him struggling to find an apartment in America. The humor in that is not at Poirot’s expense. America was already beginning to face a housing shortage during World War II. The message of the radio program seemed to be, “Housing is so hard to find, even the great Hercule Poirot couldn’t easily uncover the location of a vacant apartment.”

Poirot appears to have ended in 1945. I did stumble across a Billboard magazine report indicating stating that CBS did an evening serial of Poirot stories. However, like most 15 minute mystery serials, these episodes are lost to the ages, so we don’t know if they were ever aired.

Fan Vote: 19%

Beatrice said, “I voted for Hercule Poirot partly because it is so hard to find, making it a treasure to hear. Are there many episodes?”

There are actually nine 30 minute episodes in circulation as well as two audition recordings from 1944 for a 15 minute-a-day serial. That’s about one quarter of the show’s in circulation which, when compared to some of the other shows on this list, isn’t too bad.

3) The Casebook of Gregory Hood starring Gale Gordon and then Elliot Lewis

Aired: 1946-47, 1948-49

The Casebook of Gregory Hood began as a Summer replacement for Sherlock Holmes with Gale Gordon as San Francisco-based antiques dealer Gregory Hood.

Despite being set in the 1940s, the show had a lot in common with the Holmes program that preceded it. The show had the same sponsor (Petri Wine), the same announcer (Harry Bartel), and the same writers (Dennis Green and Anthony Boucher.) The show’s feel was somewhere between that of Sherlock Holmes and Nick Carter, but much more in the gentleman detective tradition.

Mutual signed Basil Rathbone to play in Scotland Yard when he wasn’t interested in playing Holmes, and kept the Casebook of Gregory Hood, changing the lead to rising young radio star Elliot Lewis (picture courtesy of the Digital Deli).

Both portrayals are interesting in  that Gordon, while a talented character actor, was best known for his comedic roles particularly as a foil to Eve Arden in Our Miss Brooks and Lucille Ball in The Lucy Show on television. In the Casebook, Gordon got to show his versatility.

The Lewis episodes are interesting in that this was his only lead role in a detective series. Lewis did the most portrayals of Hood, however only five of his programs survive. The Casebook of Gregory Hood shut down in May of 1947 and Lewis starred in Voyage of the Scarlet Queen until March 1948 when he resumed his role as Hood over the Don Lee Mutual Broadcasting system. This entire 52 episode 1948-49 run is missing, as is ABC run that ran from 1950-51.

Still, what we do have in circulation are 15 episodes featuring two of radio’s most noted actors in the role of the suave and always clever amateur detective from the less seedy side of San Francisco.

Fan Vote: 2%

2) Nick Carter starring Lon Clark

Aired: 1943-55

*Knocks  at the door*

A woman opens the door. “What’s the matter? What is it?”

A male voice says, “It’s another case for Nick Carter, Master Detective!”

Que the organ music.

This early opening for Nick Carter was one of radio’s best, as was the program it followed. “Master Detective” may sound kind of old fashioned, but the character was actually older than Sherlock Holmes, having debuted in 1886.

Nick Carter had his origins in dime novels, and the show reflected that with cases that included not only mystery but adventures with often unusual perils, and titles such as, “Body on the Slab” and “Nine Hours to Death.” In the pre-hard-boiled era, there was no detective on radio who was as tough or as resourceful in a jam as Nick Carter.

While the supporting cast changed throughout the run, Lon Clark continued to star throughout the entire run. 125 episodes are in common circulation, but that’s only a fraction of the more than 700 episodes that were produced. The show was enduringly popular and so was the character. Nick Carter continued to appear in movies and novels until the 1990s, with the character regeared towards cold war spying.

Fan Vote: 7%

1) Let George Do It starring Bob Bailey

Aired: 1946-54?

The story of Let George Do It is the story how one of radio’s weakest comedies became one of its finest detective shows. Let George Do It began in 1946 as a detective comedy that took its comedy way too far.  Shows like Leonidas Witherall, The Thin Man, and Mr. and Mrs. North included comedy in their mysteries. None of them thought of including a laugh track.

The show began featuring Bob Bailey as George Valentine, a World War II veteran returned from the war who puts out an ad to take any difficult including wife-spanking (a popular comedic trope of the day). He’s assisted by his secretary, Claire Brooks and her brother and George’s assistant, Sonny (played by Eddie Firestone, Jr.) The first two cases involve George trying to find a wife for his hayseed cousin who is a pig farmer and wants a wife who likes pigs, and then George needing to fill in for a movie cowboy who has become afraid of horses but fears disappointing an orphanage.

Due to the fact that only one episode between November 1946 and April 1948 is an existence, no one knows quite when it hits stride, but the show had already begun to right a little bit, by the 1946 episode, “The Robbers” with a real to goodness mystery. But that would be nothing compared to what the show became.

Let George Do It by 1948 was one of the best detective programs. There was still endearing bits of humor, but the show also featured:

• Dangerous situations that would make Sam Spade sweat.
• Baffling mysteries that were on occasion worthy of Sherlock Holmes.
• Real human dramas that are mixed in with the mysteries.
• The best-written and best developed female assistant on the radio who provided the show with plenty of romantic tension.

These would be sprinkled throughout the episodes. Each episode of Let George Do It is a surprise. You never know what exactly you’re going to get, whether it will be  an exciting murder mystery that borders on the hardboiled, a psychological thriller, or a lighter story. Regardless of what it is, nine times out of ten you’re going to get a great story.

The writing on this show was superb with David Victor  teaming up with Herbert Little, Jr. and then the great Jackson Gillis (who later wrote for Columbo and Superman)to create some of the most memorable  radio mysteries ever produced.

Bob Bailey was fantastic in the lead, creating the perfect d detective characterization that would later make him a success on Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. Both actresses who played Brooksie were superb, as was Wally Maher in the supporting role of Lieutenant Riley.  Even the show’s commercials for Standard Oil are pleasant and informative to this day.

The show is less known because it only aired on the West Coast, but thanks to the Internet, many people are discovering the show, and are quite happy to listen and find out what happens when they “Let George Do It.”

Fan Vote:  60%

Timothy Dunning summed the reason this show garnered so much support, “Let George do it” survived a shaky first season as an ill-conceived comedy to become one of the best (and long-lasting) OTR detective shows. It had consistently good writing, performances, and production values.”

Enough said.

Next week, we turn to NBC-based shows.

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Continuing our series from last week where we began with radio detectives who crossed networks, we turn to radio detective actors whose performance stuck to one network. Examining the four networks that were prominent during the Golden Age, we’ll begin with ABC.

Of course, finding a great detective show on ABC was a challenge. ABC was originally the Blue Network of NBC and was formed as a result of an FCC ruling. It was slow starting out. Many of its programs were really bad including the obnoxious Danger, Dr. Danfield and the low-budget Deadline Mystery with a seemingly non-existent sound-effects budget. In addition, with less stations and less listeners, this also means that even of the good programs, there are less available transcriptions.

Some of the biggest shows to air on ABC were revivals of other networks cast offs such as Richard Diamond, Michael Shayne, Rogue’s Gallery, and The Casebook of Gregory Hood. With the exception of Diamond, all of these shows had zero or one episode in circulation and starred a different actor than the one most commonly associated with the role.

How bad were the available ABC shows and the selection of potential shows? Abbott and Costello regularly did a detective parody for the last half season on the air called, “Sam Shovel.” It almost made the list.

Like last week, we ran a poll on Facebook.  This week, 68 listeners voted for their favorites. One listener Sue commented on the poll, “Never heard of any of them.” Sue’s not alone. While there’s a show or two that wouldn’t be considered if they’d aired on CBS or the Mutual Broadcasting System, there were some unheralded gems on ABC. With that, here are the top 5 Old Time Radio detectives from ABC:

5) William Gargan as Bob Dolan in,  “I Deal in Crime”

Aired: 1946-47

This is a show that wouldn’t have made my list had it aired on any other network.  Academy Award Nominated Actor William Gargan on screen had been invited time and time again to play police officers and detectives, even playing Ellery Queen in three movies.There was good reason for that Gargan had been a real life private investigator spending a year of his life as a store investigator, and then as a private detective.  At six foot tall and more than 200 pounds, Gargan also looked the part. He was a natural to become one of radio’s first hard boiled private eyes and give the fledgling ABC network a leg up on the rush to the hard boiled detective shows.

However, the role of hard-boiled private eye was relatively new over the new radio. Dick Powell had just brought Richard Rogue to the  radio in a portrayal that featured a tongue in cheek treatment of the private detective genre. In I Deal in Crime, Gargan went way over the top with his initial portrayal of Bob Dolan.  However, the show did get better. The three transcriptions that survive, one from January, one from April, and one from September showed steady improve.  The September one showed Dolan as a more laid back private detective that had much more in common with Gargan’s Martin Kane and Barrie Craig. In fact,  I Deal in Crime was probably  vital in Gargan’s career in helping him develop the type of detective character that would keep him in demand for years to come.

While the show may not be a great, it was a pretty good for an ABC show.

Fan Vote: 1%

4) Tom Conway as  Sherlock Holmes

Aired: 1946-47

With Basil Rathbone’s decision to leave the Sherlock Holmes franchise and strike out with another (ultimately unsuccessful) radio series, “Scotland Yard,” Sherlock Holmes faced change. Both the show’s sponsor and its network opted to continue the Summer Series, The Casebook of Gregory Hood. This led to a coup for ABC picking up the series and retaining Nigel Bruce as Watson, with Tom Conway from the Falcon pictures taking over as Sherlock Holmes.

There are certainly ways that the ABC’s Holmes could be seen to be a downgrade from the Rathbone episodes, including the decline in commercials from Petri Wine to Kremel Hair Tonic, the drop in chemistry from amazing  to only good, and that Rathbone was more charismatic and a better actor.

That said, given that the previous series was one of radio’s finest, being a notch or two below that isn’t too shabby, particularly for ABC.  The show maintained remarkable quality thanks in part to the continuity in writing and Conway did a decent Holmes voice that seemed almost a Rathbone imitation at times. Basil Rathbone left huge shoes to fill and Conway did as well as anyone could in filling them, and the world got 39 more episodes with Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, with 38 surviving to this day. Definitely worth a spot on the top 5.

Fan Vote: 44%

Fans who voted for Sherlock Holmes tended to be huge fans of literature’s greatest detective, and think if Holmes is done well, it just can’t be beat.

Tim said, “As much as I love the Pat Novak banter, Sherlock is always top dog in the detective’s pack.”  Walter said, “Like ’em all but Sherlock and Dr. Watson reign supreme.”

3) Mercedes McCambridge as Marsha Ellis Bryant in  Defense Attorney

Aired: 1951-52

Orson Welles called Mercedes McCambridge the world’s greatest living radio actress.  High praise indeed. It was no wonder that she was one of the few women to serve as a lead in a detective series.

In 1951, NBC prepared a pilot for The Defense Rests with a plot similar to the Jimmy Stewart movie, Call Northside 777. The show didn’t make the cut at NBC and was not aired.  One advantage of being ABC was that the network had little to risk by giving an unusual show a shot, so in the fall of 1951, Defense Attorney came to ABC. The show featured McCambridge as Marsha Ellis Bryant.  The show shared some similarities with Murder and Mr. Malone in that Bryant was rarely in the courtroom, and solved her cases usually on the street with the aid of her reporter-boyfriend (played by Howard Culver.) The three episodes of Defense Attorney that survive in circulation are well-done mysteries, with McCambridge’s solid acting carrying the show. From the last episode, we know that the show did better than many other ABC shows in that it garnered a sponsor. Not only that, but McCambridge was named best dramatic access by the Radio Television Mirror magazine. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to save the show which was canceled after one season. Truly this one show where I’d love to see more episodes come into circulation.

Fan Vote: 1%

2) J. Scott Smart as Brad Runyon in the Fat Man

Aired: 1946-51

The Fat Man was by far ABC’s longest running and most successful series. The character was created by Dashiell Hammett, although Hammett had nothing to do with writing the show.

The Fat Man was unique for the time. Unlike Nero Wolfe, Brad Runyon was active and hard boiled. He was as tough as other any hard boiled eye and as popular with the ladies. He also possessed a great mix of toughness and compassion, mixed with only a little bit of sensitivity to his weight.

“Nobody loves a fat man.” he lamented.

Audiences disagreed as the Fat Man was a hit for five seasons. The show’s signature opening with our hero stepping on a scale, and his pronunciation of “murderrrr” became famous.

The show was so popular that Smart got to bring Brad Runyon to the silver screen. The Fat Man was the first radio detective show to be made into a motion picture with the original star. The movie was well-received and even modern viewers who see it would like to see a sequel. Unfortunately, a combination of radio’s decline and the Communist ties of the show’s absentee creator Hammett brought the show to an end.

It’s influence did not end, however as the idea of a chubby PI kept resurfacing. In the 1970s, William Conrad starred as tough gourmet private detective Frank Cannon.  Cannon and every rough and tumble pudgy action hero owes a debt to the Fat Man for showing how it was done.

In the mid-1950s, Fat Man reached a new audience overseas when Grace Gibson purchased the rights to re-perform 52 scripts with an all-Australian cast. There are more of these Australian episodes in circulation than there are the American canon.

Fan vote: 9%

Speaking of the American Canon,  Tamara comments, “I wish more shows had been made of the Fat Man.”

Tamara raises a good point. There are only 13 U.S. episodes of the Fat Man in circulation, which, while better than Defense Attorney and I Deal In Crime is still very low. Of course, the problem is not so much that not many shows were made, but that most didn’t survive.  One log suggests that 289 episodes of “The Fat Man” aired over radio, which suggests that nearly 96% of them were lost.

1)  Pat Novak for Hire starring Jack Webb

Aired: 1949

Pat Novak for Hire is a show that was all in the execution and delivery of the show’s star, Jack Webb. The plots were very similar and can be boiled down to a simple formula as we do on the Pat Novak for Hire page.

The show followed Pat Novak, the owner of a boat rental store who also took on other’s trouble as a profitable sideline, routinely taking jobs he knew better than to accept that put him on the wrong side of San Francisco Homicide Inspector Hellman. Every episode he’d beat a murder rap with some last second deduction and some help from ex-boozer and doctor Jocko Madigan.

The plots were formulaic, but Pat Novak for Hire wasn’t popular for its highly original plots but for its rich dialogue, and Noirish poetry.  As Novak, Jack Webb spins similies faster than a politicians press secretary during a scandal. These There’s Novak’s descriptions:

The street was as deserted as a warm bottle of beer.

There were his encounters with John Law (in the form of radio’s worst cop not on the take, Inspector Hellman):

Your men couldn’t follow a moose through a revolving door.

And then there were his descriptions of San Francisco (definitely not approved by the Chamber of Commerce) that made it one of radio noir’s darkest settings:

You can dress it up to look honest, but that doesn’t do any good; because down on the waterfront in San Francisco, if you had to eat morals, you’d have bone rattle in three days.

In voting for Novak, Tim shared two of his favorite quotes, “She was at least 50, because you can’t get that ugly without years of practice.” and “She sauntered in, moving slowly from side to side like 118 pounds of warm smoke.”

In addition to this, there’s the wonderful monologues of Jocko Madigan. More Pat Novak quotes are here.

While the show ran for two years down in San Francisco (with Actor Ben Morris playing Novak after Webb left in 1947 for Hollywood), it’s national run over ABC lasted only 20 weeks, ended not by lack of popularity but by ABC’s decision to put the show on Summer hiatus and Webb beginning a Summer replacement for NBC radio called, Dragnet.

The 18 episodes of Pat Novak that have survived are dynamite. (Indeed, given all the problems that all the shows on our listen other than Conway’s Holmes had with having episodes in circulation. That 90% of the Novak episodes survive says something about the show.

I have to admit I debated myself on this one. The Fat Man had huge influence with the power of Cannon all the way to Paul Blart, Mall Cop. They all owe something to the original Fat Man.

However, I give the nod to Novak as it really continues to fascinate equally new listeners and OTR superfans, and has inspired both a Graphic Novel and a recent stage production in Seattle, which is a sign of a show that’s got staying power.

Fan vote: 46%

Next week…Mutual Detective shows

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I had the great idea of doing a series of articles, ranking the top five radio detectives by Network (i.e. ABC, NBC, CBS, Mutual, and the syndicated shows.)

There was only one problem with the plan. Many radio programs didn’t just stay on one network. In some cases radio actors regularly jumped from network-to-network.

If actor’s change, it’s easy to differentiate between (for example) the 1947 NBC Summer replacement series, “The Adventures of Philip Marlowe” with Van Heflin and the 1948-50 and 1951 CBS Series, “The Adventures of Philip Marlowe” with Gerald Mohr. However, the problem was that several shows jumped networks with the exact same actors, and many of the shows where the star and show changed networks are among the absolute favorites that I’m sure to be asked about.

Thus our first top 5 list will look at Detective Series that played across multiple networks. In addition, I ran a poll on our Facebook page to see who listeners to the program thought was the best. 75 people took part in the survey. The fan results including the percentage of the vote that went for each Detective follow my thoughts on the series:

5) Herbert Marshall as Ken Thurston in, “The Man Called X”

Series Run: 1944-48, 1950-52

Networks: CBS (Summer 1944, 1947-48), The Blue Network (1944-45), NBC (Summer 1946, Summer 1947, 1950-52)

Marshall starred in this iconic role, as an international troubleshooter who faces danger, mystery, and adventures the world over. The British-born Marshall’s debonair performance gave the show class and style.

Unlike Dangerous Assignment, The Man Called X dealt more directly with America’s actual enemies. This gave Ken Thurston’s adventures the highest stakes in radio. While other mystery series were worrying about a plot to steal a $10,000 diamond necklace, Thurston was trying to stop someone from blowing up NATO.

The Man Called X came to television in a 1957 ZIV TV series with Barry Sullivan in the lead. The title also inspired the creators of the feature length Flintstones film, The Man Called Flintstones.

Fan Results: 3%

Fan Comments: Amanda who actually voted for the Saint shared, “I like a Man Called X, too. I suspect it’s not getting a lot of votes because not many people have heard of it..”

My response: This is true enough. Many of the spy dramas from the Cold War are considered “dated.” In addition, there were some poorly produced espionage shows, particularly those that appeared on television that gave some of the truly good programs a bad name. Hopefully, we’ll get to share some of the good ones in coming years.

4) The Saint with Vincent Price

Series Run: 1947-51

Networks: CBS (1947-48), Mutual (1949-50), NBC (1950-51)

Vincent Price played many villains in his career, most famously horror movies and on the 1960s Batman TV series as Egghead. He also did several roles in inspirational television shows and movies.

The Saint presented Price in a different role: that of detective hero. Price was not the first actor to play the Saint over the radio (there had been two 13-episode series aired in 1945 starring Edgar Barrier and Brian Aherne respectively). However, Price made the role of the Saint his own.   While, the Saint was hardly a hard boiled private eye, the Saint’s quick wit and smart mouth were the equal of any detective on the radio.

Price’s style was a perfect mix of witty banter, charm, intelligence and toughness that makes each episode of the Saint with Vincent Price a pleasure to listen to.

During the Summer of 1951, Tom Conway took over the role until the series ended in the Fall. In the 1960s, future James Bond Roger Moore brought the Saint to British TV. In more recent years, a movie with Val Kilmer and a BBC radio adaptation have been made

Fan Vote: 5%

3) Howard Duff as Sam Spade

Series Run: 1946-50
Networks: ABC (1946), CBS (1946-49), NBC (1949-50)

Duff’s Spade is one of radio’s most memorable characters. Spade was tough, sarcastic, a ladies man, and definitely not a boy scout.

Stories were often tongue in cheek with plenty of humor throughout, as Spade would even occasionally mix in a reference to another detective, most notably the San Francisco-based Pat Novak and Johnny Madero. The highlight of each show was when he explained the case to his neurotic secretary Effie (played to perfection by Lurene Tuttle in her most memorable role.)

Two months after Duff’s last episode, Spade was brought back with Steve Dunne in the lead. The series folded after 24 episodes.

Fan Vote: 15%
Fan Comments: Dorothy who voted for Sam said, “It’s really a tie between Sam Spade and Richard Diamond for me but Spade’s taken my heart.” Score one for Howard Duff.
2) Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes

Series Run: 1939-42, 1943-46

Networks: Blue Network (1939-42), Mutual (1943-46)

By far, Rathbone did more radio work as Holmes than any other actor: 217 episodes spread out over six seasons. The Rathbone-Bruce episodes are so sought after as the duo were Hollywood’s definitive Holmes and Watson, partially as a result of the radio programs. Without the radio programs, it’s doubtful that Universal would have revived the pairing.
The series featured the personal chemistry between Rathbone and Bruce which had made the series such a winner on screen. The series included fine writing by Edith Meiser and later the Dennis Green and Anthony Boucher. The Green and Boucher episodes were noted for serious research and educational value, whether it was Guy Fawkes or the Blarney Stone, you’d most often learn something along the way. The episodes often included moments of culture with more than an average share of violins and beautiful singing voices popping up. In addition, they also worked into the plot scenes where Rathbone would be able to show his incredible talent for dialect or  read from a famous play.

During the three seasons on the Blue Network, 74 episodes were done. Over Mutual, the production pace was more frentic, with the show broadcast 107 weeks in a row before taking a Summer break before coming back for a 39 episode season. Despite continuing sponsor interest and chance to continue pull in lots of money, Rathbone had had enough and went back to Broadway.
Of course, Sherlock Holmes went on, but most actors since then have been stuck in Bruce’s shadow. In particular, the next two actors to take the role tried to follow Rathbone’s lead and sound like him to an extent. After all, that was what Sherlock Holmes was supposed to sound like.

Fan Vote: 56%

Fan Comments: While the Rathbone Sherlock Holmes show won by a landslide, not everyone is a fan. Dorothy, who voted for Spade, complained of the disrespect for Dr. Watson, “I know they had their reasons for doing that but really, it lessens the impact of Holme’s brilliance to be placed next to an albeit lovable but blustering fool.”

1) Dick Powell as Richard Diamond
Series Run: 1949-52, 1953 (Reruns)

Networks: NBC (1949-50) ABC (1951-52), CBS (1953 Reruns)

Up until 1949, Dick Powell could be divided into periods. Prior to his 1944 break-out performance as Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet, Powell had played in romantic comedies, often of the musical variety, as the light-leading man. After Murder My Sweet, Powell played a series of hard-boiled Noirish Characters in films such as Johnny O’Clock. Now, if only these two halves could be combined…

And they were in Richard Diamond. The first half of the show, Diamond would be on the trail of desperate figures, there would be gun play, violence, and then lots of hardboiled smarting off. Then, after the bodies were carried away, he’d steal a few moments with his girl and sing her a song.

Houston, we have synergy.

It’s a fun show, with a great mix of action, comedy, and romance, the direction and writing talents of a young Blake Edwards, and the charisma of Dick Powell at the center of it all.
Richard Diamond ended as Powell focused more on television. In 1957, Richard Diamond came to television with David Janssen in the lead as Powell thought it was time for someone new. The series ran until 1960. Also, series creator Blake Edwards adapted an episode of Richard Diamond for his Peter Gunn series, “Let’s Kill Timothy.”
Fan vote: 21%

Honorable Mentions: Dick Powell in Rogue’s Gallery, Alice Curtain and Joseph Frost in Mr. and Mrs. North, and Claudia Morgan in The Thin Man.

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