Category Archives: Podcasts

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 143 – Hot Copy

This time I look at a little known and rare radio program from 1942-1944 which focused on the newspaper reporter as detective. In this case, a female detective, Anne Rogers, who writes a column for a reputable newspaper. Anne finds herself involved in crime solving with the help of her foil Sgt. Flannigan. Scriptwriter was the noted Science Fiction writer,… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 142 – “After Dinner Story”

This week a visit with Cornell Woolrich and the radio adaptation of his noirish horror story “After Dinner Story” as heard over the radio series Suspense. Woolrich was the master of creating tension out of the commonplace and while not completely faithful to the original story, this is still a very well done adaptation with script by Robert L. Richards.… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 141 – Tales of Fatima

Having decided not to renew his contracts for Sherlock Holmes, Basil Rathbone longed to be on the legitimate stage. He and his wife left Hollywood behind and moved to New York. While he did achieve some success initially, he also began to falter in his career. To supplement his income he starred in a short-lived radio series called Tales of… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 140 – Inspector Mark Saber

The series Inspector Mark Saber is in a sense the grand-child of the original Molle’ Mystery Theater.  In this podcast, you’ll meet Inspector Mark Saber, portrayed on radio by actor Robert Carroll (at right as he appeared as Patrick Henry). Saber is a somewhat aloof, seemingly all-known detective of a large city homicide division. The series appeared on radio in… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 139 – Suspense

We’re back with an all new podcast. This one is a good one featuring Edmund O’Brien in a well layered role as Eric Strange, an author of help books about people who seem to suffer from “blind spots” in their lives. Blind spots are those areas where an individual fails to see or understand some event in their lives. Strange… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 138 – Crime Classics

Finally, I am back for a new podcast! Expanding the genre a bit to include crime in general, this week, a look at one of the better, but not so well known crime series in the fifties: Crime Classics. The series ran for 52 episodes only, but had the talents of Elliott Lewis (right) as producer/director, David Friedkin and Mort… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 137 – Cabin B-13

On June 23rd, 1948, CBS released a press statement entitled “Mysteries Circle the Globe: Cabin B-13 New Series by John Dickson Carr.” The location for the mysteries was built around the sailings of the passenger ship S.S. Maurevania. Each episode would be introduced by a Dr. Fabian, a world traveler and collector of strange and terrible tales of mystery and… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 136 – Devil in the Summer House

While in England, one of John Dickson Carr’s earliest plays was one called “Devil in the Summer House” which was originally envisioned as a two-parter, but eventually reduced to a one hour play. When Carr came back to the United States due to the war and his need to register for the draft, he re-wrote his one hour play into… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 135 – Women as Detectives

Detective fiction is full of examples of the woman-as-detective theme throughout its history. While the majority of the fictional detectives were men, there are flattering examples in which female sleuths regularly sought out clues and ultimately solved crimes. In radio, on the other hand, female detectives were usually somewhat vacuous or treated with little respect. Radio did have its share… (more…)

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar Premiers

On February 18th, 1949 – fifty years ago – one of the best loved radio detective series premiered over NBC starring Charles Russell as Johnny Dollar.  Russell only lasted a year and the series took a different tone with the next Dollar actor – Edmund O’Brien. That was a much darker tone with the sullen O’Brien seeming to find himself… (more…)