Radio Detective Story Hour

We're now at the 4th Johnny Dollar actor in my continuing run on this well known radio detective. John Lund (right) was the fourth actor to portray the famous insurance investigator. Like Edmond O'Brien, his portrayal was a darker one, but flatter than O'Brien's. He was my least favorite of the Dollar's perhaps, but consideration will be given to his acting.Music under is is "Forty-Eight" by Whispering Johnson from the Podsafe Music Network.

We're now at part 3 of our look at Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. This week I'll focus on the portrayal of the detective by actor Edmond O'Brien. This run of the series takes on a much darker less whimsical tone as created by the new producer Jaime De Valle.

Continuing the look at the history of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. I'll be looking at the first serial Johnny Dollar - actor Charles Russell (right) and how he approached the character. I'll also look at how he differed from Dick Powell's portrayal that was heard in the previous podcast.Music under is "Evansessence" by Anne Farnsworth from the Podshow Music Network.

This week the start of a series looking at the history of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and how it changed over its 13 year history. This week's is an audition recording starring Dick Powell as Johnny in an episode that never aired.

Another police procedural radio series besides Dragnet was 21st Precinct. It was in some ways even more straight-forward than Jack Webb's version. This show looked at the 21st precinct of a New York City borough and the people who lived and died in it.

This week an extensive look at the history of The Saint, aka Simon Templer and its author Leslie Charteris (right). I'll look at the different media appearances of the series plus snippets of interviews with one of Charteris' biographers Dick Fiddy.Interview clips come from Geoffrey Richards and the BBC. Music under is "Fantasia" by Duke Ellington.

Another radio detective from the factory of Frank and Ann Hummert was Inspector Thorne. The series was short-lived and also had two stars portraying the lead. The first was Karl Weber and the second was Staats Cotsworth (right).

This week - a return to hardboiled detective fiction writer, Raymond Chandler. In 1944, the film Murder, My Sweet was released based on Chandler's book Farewell, My Lovely. In 1945 the Lux Radio Theater produced an adaptation of the film starring much of the original cast including Dick Powell and Claire Trevor (right). Some interesting Chandler tidbits about the production.Music under is "Evan's Essence" by Anne Farnsworth on the Podshow Music Network.I'll be taking a week off attending the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Maryland.

Arthur Conan Doyle (right) is best known for his creation of the detective Sherlock Holmes. This week I look at another detective creation of his - one Inspector Collins of Scotland Yard. He only appeared once on radio and that was in the Escape presentation of a Conan Doyle short story - "The Lost Special" about a train that seems to totally vanish. Collins has Holmesian characteristics in his detective skills. Music under is "Katy's Melting Song" by Monika Herzig on Podshow.com

While John P. Marquand (right) found literary success in his books such as The Late George Apley, he found commercial success in a series of detective/spy novels featuring a Japanese mystery man - Mr. I.A. Moto. This week I feature the agent that Peter Lorre made famous and also made Lorre successful. By the time radio found the novels, Moto had become a detective/agent fighting Communism in America.

This week another radio detective cum lawyer born from the daytime serial dramas. Perry Mason on radio was wedged between two other "soap operas" and though it was also one, it was different from the others. I'll look at Earl Stanley Gardner and his famous lawyer who did a lot of detective work on the radio version. There were several actors who portrayed him on radio, but the most frequently remembered one was John Larkin (right).Music under the commentary is "Midnight in Chicago" by the Indianapolis Jazz Orchestra from Garageband.com.

A look at the detective serials as "soap drama."  Mr. Chameleon came from the factory of Frank and Ann Hummert who are best known as the creators of many of radio soap operas and now some of the long running television daytime dramas. The series starred Karl Swenson (right) as the detective who could disguise himself to solve a crime.Music under the commentary is "Old Folks" by the Ron Helman Jazz Ensemble from the Podshow music network.

Though he was much better in Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator, gravely-voiced William Gargan starred several more times on radio. This week a look at one of his lesser roles in which he seemed to sometimes sleep his way through. This crime detective series starred Gargan as Ross Dolan.

Just as his successful radio series, Dragnet, was making a move to television, Jack Webb starred in another short lived radio vehicle - Pete Kelly's Blues. I'll look at why he might have done so when he had so much on his plate at the time. The series had some great New Orlean's Style Jazz!

This week you'll hear an audition episode of a series that apparently never aired. San Francisco Final was produced by many of the same personnel who brought Dragnet to the television. Though San Francisco Final is a very well written episode, it has many of the same elements of Dragnet in style and feel.The series starred Jeff Chandler who was then a major Hollywood star.

I'm back with an all new podcast about a Raymond Chandler short story called "Spanish Blood." The story is an integral one in Chandler's development of his "tarnished knight" - Phillip Marlowe.  A look at Raymond Chandler's idea of the fictional detective and the radio play "Murder in City Hall" from the Molle Mystery Theater.

Repeat podcast while I am on leave from July 2005.Charlie Chan was the creation of author Earl Derr Biggers (right) whose famous detective was best known in a series of films. But Chan also had a modest run on radio as you will hear in this podcast.

Repeat episode (Sep 2005) while I take some time off.A look at an unusual Radio Detective - one doesn't always think of this radio character in the detective vein, though he was indeed the investigator as much as a crime fighter. The Shadow is one of the best remembered radio characters from his pulp creation to radio and films.

A look at another female radio detective series. This one had two big stars in Joan Blondell and Dick Powell, then husband and wife. The series, Miss Pinkerton, Inc. is based on the characters created by Mary Roberts Rinehart.Note: I'll be taking a couple of weeks off - repeat programs will be appearing here the next two weeks.Background music is called "Speak Low" by Akili.

In 1914, pulp fiction writer, Louis Joseph Vance, published the first in a series of mystery detective books starring Michael Lanyard, aka The Lone Wolf. Though Vance died before he could see the industry his books created in the thirties and forties, the books left him a successful writer. This week, a look at the radio serial, The Lone Wolf with the only available episode of the series which first starred Gerald Mohr, then later Walter Coy (seen in the photo).