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Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 199 – Bob Bailey and Johnny Dollar

Bob Bailey I want to briefly examine Bob Bailey and Mandel Kramer in their roles as Johnny Dollar. Bailey left the show when it moved to New York due to his being turned down for a television version of the character. Jack Johnstone who successfully led Bailey to his star run as the character is also discussed with comments from Bailey’s daughter Roberta Goodwin. We’ll also hear from Mandel Kramer on radio acting.

Thanks to John Dunning for his interview with Roberta Goodwin and Dick Bertel and the Golden Age of Radio interview of Mandel Kramer.

Music under is Jason Peri performing his piece Drastic Measures.

Podcast: Download | Embed

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 198 – Philomel Cottage

Geraldine Fitzgerald A look at how suspense is built dramatically as described by Mitchell Wilson, novelist and critic, in 1947. This podcast will use Agatha Christie’s short story, “Philomel Cottage,” and compare it to Hitchcock’s Suspicion and Rebecca in how the initially weak protagonist reaches a level of fear in which the reader/listener empathizes before either becoming strong by the experience and completing the cycle. This version is from Suspense and stars Geraldine Fitzgerald (right) from 1943.

Music under is the incomparable Diane Reeves singing “In My Solitude.”

Podcast: Download | Embed

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 197 – The Fountain Plays

Edmund Gwen From the Dorothy L. Sayers collection of short stories – Hangman’s Holiday – this adapted version of “The Fountain Plays” on the Suspense radio program from August 1943. Adapted by Robert L. Richards, well respected radio scripter of horror pieces such as “The House in Cypress Canyon,” comes this fair translation of the Sayers’ story starring Edmund Gwen as Mr. Spiller.

Music under is called “Old Folks” performed by Ron Helman.

Podcast: Download | Embed

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 196 – Locked Room Mysteries

Anthony Boucher

Finally getting back to posting a new podcast after nearly a 6 month hiatus. This one takes a look at the sub-genre of detective fiction – the “locked room” mystery, of which one writer (radio and fiction) – John Dickson Carr – was the master. However, there are many other that usually get categorized after the fact even if the writer hadn’t really intentionally created one.

This podcast will feature a later Sherlock Holmes which is in fact called the “Mystery of the Locked Room” and while not part of the canon, it does fit in well since it was written by Anthony Boucher and Denis Green.

Podcast: Download | Embed

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 195 – Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe

Nero Wolfe Canadian Another look at Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe, but this time with a Canadian bent. Just where did the name Nero Wolfe come from and how does this Canadian production compare? This version stars Mavor Moore and Don Francks (l-r).

Music under is Art Tatum’s “Prisoner of Love”

Podcast: Download | Embed

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 194 – Boston Blackie

Chester Morris as Boston Blackie A return look at the creator of the Boston Blackie character. Little is known about Jack Boyle, who at one time probably faced obscurity were it not for the publication of a collection of his stories in 1919. You’ll hear a rarer radio version starring Chester Morris and Richard Lane. Most radio collectors know Richard Kollmar as the radio Blackie.

Music under is Blue Moon played by Ben Webster.

Podcast: Download | Embed

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 193 – The Beast Must Die

Herbert Marshall From the book by Nicholas Blake, aka Cecil Day-Lewis (father of actor Daniel Day-Lewis), The Beast Must Die is considered one of the author’s best works of fiction featuring his detective, Nigel Strangeways. This adaptation for Suspense excludes the detective, but adheres to some of the story as best it can within a one-half hour production. Starring Herbert Marshall as Frank Cairnes, aka Felix Lane, this suspense-filled play is a good one. I would highly recommend the book too, if you can find it.

Music under is Over the Rhine’s “Born”

Podcast: Download | Embed

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 192 – Maltese Falcon – Genre Pt. 5

Humphrey Bogart The final episode on the development of the American Detective as heard through radio and fiction. In the early 1920s, pulp writers Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Carroll John Daly, Erle Stanley Gardner and others were creating a new kind of detective: one who was of the streets. Their gritty street smart, tough talking detectives were the first real American detectives not spawned from the Holmesian model.

Podcast: Download | Embed

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 191 – Philo Vance Genre Pt. 4

John EmeryIn looking at the development of the American detective genre reflected through Radio Drama, we are now into the early 20th century. Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes has begun to affect many of these early fictional detectives in the rise of the “deductive” detective.  American detective fiction writers including S.S. Van Dine are finding their own detectives are models of the great detective’s style. Most are detectives of the elite society who live by the “rule of law.”  One of the best examples is Van Dine’s Philo Vance.

Music under is Dick Hyman’s “If I Had You.”

Podcast: Download | Embed

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  • Jim Widner

  • Jim Widner

  • Jim Widner is a former educator and current radio historian, writer and big fan of detective/suspense/mystery fiction.