Bob Bailey on screen

Outside of radio, Bob Bailey of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar fame did appear in movies occasionally. A somewhat obscure film from 1944 called The Eve of St. Mark in which Bailey portrays Cpl. Tate. He can be seen in this video clip which I’ve joined together with another from earlier in the film. His voice is distinctive and you should… (more…)

Play

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 250 – The Saint

With the publication of a new book – The Saint on Radio by Ian Dickerson, I take another look at this “Robin Hood of Modern Crime.” Some newer information comes to light with this publication. A creation of writer Leslie Charteris (left), The Saint was possibly the only fictional character to be featured in virtually every entertainment media: from film,… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 249 – Calling All Cars

Police Radios were a new technology in the 1920s, and by 1933 were pretty much a technology that had definitely improved the ability of the police to combat crime more effectively. Radio Drama loved the new technology as it opened up new ideas in the depression years to improve the image of police versus the criminals. Mythic criminals such as… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 248 – Sorry, Wrong Number

For fans of old time radio, Sorry, Wrong Number with Agnes Moorehead (right) is one of the best dramas to listen to. After all, it was repeated on Suspense due to popular demand eight times; but as a radio drama, it is also a finely crafted, well executed piece of radio production ever heard and perhaps a lesson to those who… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 247 – Rocky Jordan

The character of Rocky Jordan went through a transformation of sorts over the history of its run. For all, but the third run, actor Jack Moyles (left) portrayed Rocky. It began its life as A Man Named Jordan in 1945 as a 5-times-a-week 15 minute serial running at one point during the so-called “Children’s Hour.”  This series while very good,… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 246 – Dragnet

Love or hate the radio series Dragnet, there were moments of brilliance in the series. Often Webb was a master of production, especially sound effects. The early Dragnet episodes were some of the best with much action and excellent sound effects. Sound effects could make some of the episodes positively sizzle and I present one here that has some great… (more…)

Website Woes

I am a victim of my own success, I guess. When I began this podcast in 2005, I was posting regular episodes weekly. I had no problems with my Internet Service Provider as people downloaded or listened online. Then I started advertising on Twitter alerting listeners to new episodes. And fairly quickly the number of downloads increased exponentially and suddenly… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 245 – Adventures of Mike Shayne

During the decade of the 1940s Private Detectives on radio made a decided turn from the lighter, somewhat cozy fictional character such as Ellery Queen, Nero Wolfe and Sherlock Holmes to the more hardboiled versions of Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe and others. Just why this occurred is examined in this podcast along with an episode of Michael Shayne BEFORE the… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 244 – Johnny Dollar – Stripped Bare

Within the world of radio detectives, including those based upon fictional detectives, we rarely got to know much about the detective himself. When you think about those you might have heard, you could ask yourself the question – just who is Sam Spade, or Philip Marlowe, or Richard Diamond and others? We hear them think through monologue as they work,… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 243 – A Crime to Fit the Punishment

This time we hear again from the script writer voice of Ken Crossen who wrote many scripts for a number of suspense and mystery thriller series including this one from the Molle’ Mystery Theater in 1944. Crossen was also a well-known pulp and mystery fiction writer under the name of M.E. Chaber, whose Milo March series were best sellers. This… (more…)