Tag Archives: dashiell hammett

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 265 – Suspense: The Night Reveals

In 1934 at the height of the Great Depression, writer Cornell Woolrich decided to try to reinvent himself as a writer. He had spent most of the late twenties and early thirties attempting to be the next F. Scott Fitzgerald and he was getting nowhere despite a number of novels and short stories behind him some of which had a… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 264 – New Adventures of the Thin Man

Prior to either of the two series I featured over the last two podcasts, one which began as a single fictional story, moved to film, then radio, for the most part maintained the female lead role in pretty much the same fashion of the time. This was the Dashiell Hammett story titled “The Thin Man.” The role of women in… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 257 – The Lady in the Morgue

Jonathan Latimer was an American crime writer who first was a reporter writing about the likes of Al Capone and Bugsy Moran for the Chicago Tribune and the Herald-Examiner. In the thirties he created a detective character called William Crane in a series of novels Latimer himself referred to as “half-boiled” as his stories were send ups of the likes… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 231 – The McCoy

In 1947, the House Committee for UnAmerican Activities held nine days of hearings into alleged communist influence within Hollywood. Soon this expanded into other entertainment media including radio. Soon, more than 300 artists were boycotted by the studios. On the list was Dashiell Hammett. When this expanded to the McCarthy Hearings in the early fifties, Howard Duff also appeared on… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 228 – The Adventures of the Thin Man

In celebration of the 73rd anniversary of the premier of the Adventures of the Thin Man on radio, a rarely heard episode from 1942 – the earliest available. This one is from an Armed Forces Radio disc as part of their “Frontline Theater.” While the radio series was not as good as the films, they are still enjoyable to listen… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 220 – No Man of Her Own

A look at the roman noir or black fiction adapted for radio. Specifically, the Cornell Woolrich wrote a number of short stories he later expanded into novels; a move for the better with much improved storylines. In 1946, he wrote “They Call Me Patrice” which he expanded into his last great novel in 1948 under the title I Married A… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 217 – Philip Marlowe

A look at the writer, Raymond Chandler. He is considered one of several innovators of the hardboiled American detective story. Most readers know Chandler from his iconic detective – Philip Marlowe. However, the author wrote a number of other stories using other detectives living on hard times. While Dashiell Hammett was a big influence on the writer, Frederick Nebel, another… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 210 – Adventures of Sam Spade

A previously uncirculated copy of an episode from the radio series, The Adventures of Sam Spade, has surfaced. The copy appears to have been hiding right in front of most eyes but was not in general circulation. It is called “The Dead Duck Caper” from February 2, 1947 and stars Howard Duff as Spade and Lurene Tuttle as Effie. Back… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 205 – Homicide for Hannah

One of Black Mask magazine’s popular writers from 1934-1939 was Dwight V. Babcock.  His stories were in keeping with the style developed by Joseph “Cap” Shaw of “hard and brittle” stories with naturalistic elements of street grit.  After his stint with Black Mask, Babcock wrote three novels involving “The Gorgeous Ghoul” Hannah Van Doren, who with her friend Joe Kirby… (more…)

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

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… (more…)