In the early fifties, Frank Sinatra’s career seemed nearly over. His musical style was out of date and while he had appeared in some films, most were musically oriented. Then came From Here to Eternity for which he carried away a best supporting Oscar.
Radio too saw money in this seemingly new side to the man and signed him first to a radio series that never got past the planning stage, then to this week’s feature Rocky Fortune.
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Beginning with the Lucky Strike Program the first known dramatization of an FBI case was heard on the radio in 1933. The FBI continued its relationship with the networks at times opening their case files to scriptwriters to present them in dramatic form. The most popular of these types of programs is featured on this podcast including The FBI in Peace and War and This Is Your FBI.
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“I’ve been here so long, even the seagulls must recognize me. They must pass the word along about me from generation to generation, from egg to egg.”
This week a program that never became a series. Based loosely on the best selling book by Max Miller, this William N. Robson production starred Larry Thor as Joe Miller, a reporter cum detective whose beat is the fog-bound, sometimes seedy side of the waterfront.
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Originally from the pen of pulp crime/mystery writer, George Harmon Coxe, Casey, Crime Photographer achieved fame through radio starring Staats Cotsworth (right). The series was a bit removed from the original pulp hero of Jack “Flash” Casey, but the earlier Casey’s proved to be much better than the later series.
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One of the earliest police procedual dramas and possibly the model for Gang Busters and later Dragnet, Calling All Cars happened because of the public’s interest in new technology – police car radios!
Plus, something completely different – an experiemental musical piece from Jon Baker at http://www.pikdesign.com. If you are open to music experiments, be prepared to crank your portable mp3 player.
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Every so often one discovers a little known radio series that turns out to be a fun listen. This week you’ll hear one. It’s called Pursuit and stars Inspector Peter Black, a Scotland Yard detective portrayed by Ted de Corsia (right).
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One of the best known fictional detectives in the world – Hercule Poirot was heard in books, movies and radio. This week, a look at this little man with the “little gray cells.” I’ll look at a number of his radio appearances with the full show being the premier episode of the first serialized version from 1945 starring Harold Huber (right) as the master detective.
Interview with Charles Osborne from Professor Jeffrey Richards.
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This week a visit to Pier 23 to meet Johnny Modero, the last of the Jack Webb pre-Dragnet private detectives on radio. Probably the least of the three Webb detectives and a clone of his previous Pat Novak.
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This week a look at the gravely voiced, square-jawed actor Charles McGraw as he appeared in an audition episode of the Man From Homicide. I’ll also do some sound snapshots from his radio/screen career.
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E. Jack Neumann and John Michael Hayes (right) were two of radio’s finest writers of detective and suspense. This week a brief return to an episode from The Adventures of Sam Spade written by these two writers. Listen for the well defined characters the create as well as the tension and comedy. An example of some of radio’s finest writing. Nuemann went on to write for television and Hayes wrote several of the classic Alfred Hitchcock films.
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