Radio Detective Story Hour

Another visit with Cornell Woolrich, considered the father of noir fiction. I’ll look at one of his short novellas, Dime A Dance, published in 1938 and its adaptation on radio’s Suspense on January 13, 1944 starring Lucille Ball. The adaptation works for the most part and has the twists and turns of a good noirish suspense story. Music under is Sonny Rollin’s rendition of “Poor Butterfly.”

This week, I begin looking at the noirish radio dramas based on the stories of Cornell Woolrich. First off is The White Rose Murders from the radio series Suspense. It is based on a story by Woolrich called The Death Rose and is one of the best examples of a taut noir radio drama. Music under is first: Blind Spot by 3rd Man followed by Soothe Me by Shea Breaux Wells.

Intrigue. August 7, 1946. CBS net, WABC, New York "Sinister Errand". Sustaining. An excellent tale of wartime espionage and murder. Joseph Schildkraut, Charles Vanda (director).

A year and a half ago, I featured a radio version of Arthur Conan Doyle's short story, "The Lost Special" which aired over Escape in 1949. At that time, the Suspense version starring Orson Welles was considered lost. Recently, the audio for that 1943 Suspense version has surfaced thanks to Randy Riddle. And so, I am taking another look at this version of the story, which is much closer to the original short story. I have mixed feelings about the adaptation as you will hear. Background music is Grover's Tune by Excellent Adventure

From the fecund mind of mystery/thriller writer, Edgar Wallace, best known as the first screenwriter of the film King Kong. His better known mystery series include the J.G. Reeder and Green Archer series. Wallace's stories were so well accepted over 160 films were made from them. This week I'll look at Wallace and the radio play "Criminal At Large" from the Molle' Mystery Theatre from April 1944. The radio play was based upon a stage play and film called The Frightened Lady. Music under is Deep Purple played by Art Tatum.

Eric Ambler is mostly known as a writer of spy related novels. Mask of Dimitrios (published in the U.S. as A Coffin for Dimitrios) is about a writer of detective stories who bargains for more than he can handle as he researches the mysterious Dimitrios. He is pulled farther and farther into a web of deceit. The book was made into a film and the film into a radio play as presented on the Screen Guild Theatre in 1945. A look at the story and Ambler.

From the pen of Dorothy L. Sayers, a different kind of detective story involving her detective, Lord Peter Wimsey. âThe Cave of Ali Babaâ? was heard over Suspense in 1942 based on her original short story âThe Adventurous Exploits of the Cave of Ali Babaâ? published in 1928.

One of Agatha Christieâs most successful stories with her Belgian detective Hercule Poirot was in itself controversial and a number of books have been written about the detective story. Her fellow writers at the time felt she had crossed the line in their ârules of the gameâ? when creating a tidy cozy mystery. Iâll look briefly at the controversy and youâll hear Orson Welles disappointing creation of her Belgian detective in the Mercury Theaterâs production of this well-known detective story.

Iâm back for a brief visit to one of the âlost in timeâ? detective writers - Leslie T. White, an early 20th century forensics detective for the Los Angeles District Attorney. White turned to detective story writing influencing among others - Raymond Chandler. One of his stories was adapted for the Molle Mystery Theater in 1946 and is presented here.

Merry Christmas!  This will unfortunately have to be my last podcast for some time. Not sure how long I will be away, but stay subscribed. I am returning to the master of detective writers and a creator of one of radioâs favorite detectives - Conan Doyle and his Sherlock Holmes. This episode is from the mind of Denis Greene and Anthony Boucher and is not part of the Holmes canon. A nice little Christmas story!

Another Carlton Morse adventure starring the A-1 Detective team of Jack and Doc. This episode has elements of the true detective genre some of which is straight out of the style of Hammett and Chandler.

The further adventures of Jack, Doc and Jeri Booker continue in âThe Pirate Loot of the Island of Skulls.â? Two more episodes this week plus snippets of interviews with Carlton E. Morse and Russell Thorson. The storyline unfortunately is not complete in audio format, so Iâll try to give some summaries between various episodes to give wholeness to the complete story.

This week I am beginning a series of podcasts featuring the A-1 Detective team of Jack Packard and Doc Long - Carleton Morseâs intrepid detectives from I Love A Mystery. The series is not a complete one as there are very few complete runs of this adventure thriller series: A twelve part series called âThe Pirate Loot of the Island of Skullsâ? from 1942. Iâll be looking at Morse, the series and this serial adventure over the next few weeks.

The final entry into my look at women radio detectives. This week is an example of the many husband and wife detective teams that appeared on radio. Others included Adventures of the Thin Man, Mr. & Mrs North, Itâs a Crime, Mr. Collins and Front Page Farrell. This weekâs series used characters from the pen of Frances Crane in which Jean Abbott is a much stronger detective than she was portrayed on radio. Claudia Morgan (right) and Les Damon starred as Jean and Pat Abbott.

Continuing with the second part look at women radio detectives, I look at another radio detective series in which a woman was the lead private investigator. Miss Pinkerton, Incorporated starred Joan Blondell and Dick Powell (right), husband and wife in real life at the time as Mary Vance, head of the Vance Detective Agency and Police investigator Murray. The only surviving episode was the premier. This was a lighter show but clicked as both Blondell and Powell were naturals in front of a radio microphone.

I begin a new series of podcasts focusing on radioâs âLady Detectives.â? First up is Candy Matson, probably the best of the lady detectives on radio. There are extensive sound bytes from my interview with Jack French (right) who authored Private Eyelashes, a book which looks at radioâs female detectives. Candy Matson was a production for the West Coast coming out of San Francisco beginning in 1949. Music under is Johnny Mercer singing âCandy.â?

Part two of a look at the police procedurals of radio drama. While Dragnet was the âdaddyâ? of procedurals, 21st Precinct was probably an example of almost pure procedure. Dragnet had characters listeners could care about. 21st Precinct was much dryer in tone even forsaking opening and closing music and musical bridges to maintain a sense of a documentary style approach. The opening voice was always the desk sergeant mostly portrayed by veteran radio and television actor, Harold Stone (right).Radio Detective Home Page

Beginning a new theme - police procedurals. The detective genreâs most recent sub-genre is the police procedural. Radio followed suit with the introduction of Dragnet in 1949 created by Jack Webb (right) and its influence both on radio detectives as well as the printed word continues to be felt. Iâll provide examples of what makes a story a police procedural. Next week Iâll continue the theme.

A look at my final entry into radio detectives born out of the pulp magazines. The Shadow was in some ways not a detective as much as a crime fighter (there is a difference), but some of the episodes did bear some aspects where Lamont Cranston did do some detective work to help come to the resolution.

Continuing a look at radio detectives who had their beginnings in the pulps, this week a look at Jack âFlashâ? Casey created by George Harmon Coxe and born from the pages of Black Mask Magazine. Jack Casey came to radio first as âFlashgunâ? Casey, then Casey, Crime Photographer.