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The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Season 4 Commentary · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

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Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio, Volume two and our season
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four commentary. This season might be our most pivotal and important series because there's
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a lot going on in season four the more I think about it, and
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I'm going to talk first about some high level stuff and then we will actually
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get into talking about the various series that we did. But first let's talk
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about what I think are the four biggest things that happened in season four.
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First of all, we moved from being a five day a week podcast to
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a six day a week podcast. The Old Time Dragnet Show would come to
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an end in February twenty thirteen, and I wanted to go ahead and add
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a sixth day for police procedural type programs that would eventually feature Dragnet, but
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would also play some other programs getting with the lineup, which we'll talk about
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later. And we finally reached the Bob Bailey era on Yours Truly, Johnny
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Dowler, and the beginning of the Bailey era was serialized into mostly five part
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serials that were played out originally over a week Monday through Friday, and I
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had a vision for how I wanted to play them with two fifteen minute episodes
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on Monday, too on Wednesday, and one on Friday opposite another fifteen minute
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detective program. There were a few I'd run into, and I thought this
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would be just a great opportunity to go ahead and play them. Making that
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happen led to some manipulation in the schedule because we needed Monday and Wednesday to
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become available at the same time. To accomplish this, we moved Frank Race
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to Tuesday towards the end of its run and had one week where we played
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two episodes of Let George Do It in the same week and on Tuesday.
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There was some slotting in of programs just to be sure that our Tuesday programs
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would be all finished up by the time we needed to move Frank Race over
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there. Well, there's going to be some interesting scheduling in the first half
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of season four, before things settled down. We would hear two final Sherlock
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Holmes actors before Sherlock Holmes left our lineup, not only the departure of an
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original show, but also the most iconic detective of them all. Add to
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that that we would celebrate one thousand episodes, and you've got a season that
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has got so much going on in it. Talking about the individual series that
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we did, I would start with the first new series that we introduced on
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Tuesday, and that was Call the Police. Now, from its title,
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you might think Call the Police is kind of a procedural. It's not,
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even though the lead character is a small town police commission and it's pretty much
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a standard mystery series. The first time I heard Call the Police, it
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was thought that there was only one or two episodes around. We actually have
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five now. That first episode I heard kind of reminded me, in the
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best possible way, of an episode of Scooby Doo, even though you were
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dealing with grown characters. It just kind of had this really fun vibe do
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it. Call the Police was one of those rare multi summer replacement series.
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Usually when there would be a summer replacement series recorded for a popular program,
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it would last one season, but Call the Police was brought back for three
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consecutive summers as a replacement for Amos and Andy. Two different actors played the
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lead role of Bill Grant. Both were very well established veteran New York radio
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actors, and Joseph Julian and George Petree. Well, this is not a
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series that will rank up with the top tier detective programs from the golden age
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of radio. It nevertheless is just a really fun series to listen to.
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It may just be a bit of summertime diversion, but for what it is,
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it's really a nostret. Mister Grant, grab a chair. You're Tenny
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Calvin Tenney. Oh yes, you've had that stand at three month in Fine
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for some time, haven't you, mister Tenny twenty three years last April.
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Let me go through the papers on it when you need the renewal tomorrow,
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Imaggio, have the department suspend action till I can review this thing. Mister
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Tenny can keep his stand until then. All right, thank you, mister
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Commissioner. And there was one other thing yesterday. I was threatened. You
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were right, man, I have never seen before wanted me to close up
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the stand or be killed. What do you look like? Oh he's ordinary.
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That doesn't help a lot. Well, he kind of medium everything.
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That's all. Well, I'll have the patrolman on the beat keep his eyes
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open the meantime. You take care of yourself. Yes, goodbye, goodbye.
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Now let's get out of here. Matt Joe I've got a to attend
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the civic function with Libby Sailer. Who else? The next series, Grace
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Tuesdays, is one that's one of those shows that I'm really enthusiastic about,
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but I don't think I've ever heard from anyone who enjoys it as much as
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I do, although I don't think I've gotten a lot of complaints on it
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either. It's a Life in Your Hands, which was created by Earls Hanley
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Gardner, the creator of Perry Mason. Now, there was a Perry Mason
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radio program and there are around three hundred episodes in circulation. However, they're
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a bit scattered and don't form a complete storyline. So for my money,
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this is as close as you'll get to the feel of the Perry Mason television
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program, and that gives it a special place in my heart because the mysteries
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that my dad watched the most with us or Perry Mason and Matlocke, with
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these sort of crime solving lawyers who managed to solve their case and reveal the
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true culprit in open court. The series follows Jonathan Kig, a very wealthy
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lawyer who doesn't actually have to practice law order to earn a living. However,
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he volunteers to serve as a Meekis CURRYI aka Friend of the Court,
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who represents neither prosecution or defense, but will ask permission from the court to
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appear in the interest of justice and call witnesses in order to get at the
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truth. It's a really interesting concept and I absolutely love it. They even
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have a case or two where he appears outside a typical courtroom. Most of
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the episode star Carlton Cadell, who also played Tarzan over the radio in addition
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to a long announcing career. While I think some of the acting can be
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a bit over dramatic, that just kind of increases the nostalgia value. In
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my opinion, this is really one of those sleeper shows that no one talks
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about, but is really fascinating series that's really worth a lesson. See which
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you wouldn't sell to him? Tell me this? Did Bill Nelson buy anything
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that day? He buys a picket of his cigarettes and and what mister King
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Billy is a nice boyeno burner storm? What else did Bill Nelson buy that
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afternoon? He's buy big a keen light to the proof that is all your
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honor. There are two possibilities in this case as I see it. In
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order to determine which is true, we lead the testimony of a person who
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was merely an innocent bystander, and we will subpoena anyone you desire, mister
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King, and that person must testify to what he saw. Ladies and gentlemen,
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few of us ever considered that we ourselves might, at any moment witness
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the crime. Could you recall exactly what you have heard, or you would
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a life in your hand. Then we needed a series that we had two
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episodes of so that we could fill the last two tuesdays of John Lunn's run
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and then be able to move Frank Race over to Tuesday. And that series
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would be Cases of Mister Ace, a syndicated series that starred George Raft.
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It's a decent detective series with a fair premise, which is that Eddie Ace
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explains his cases to a psychiatrist so that she can expand her practical understanding of
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the criminal mind. One of the two episodes is actually a bit of an
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homage to the Maltese Falcon, and George Raft actually turned down the script for
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the Maltese Falcon. Oh, maybe you get a bit of a feel for
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what man of man. Uh come in this days, come in, come
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in. Uh, well done this time? Well done? Oh, thank
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you, thank you justing him. Thanks nice layout you got here. You
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like it, you really like it. It's so difficult to get proper accommodations
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these days. And to the point, where is the coin? The coin?
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Precisely you mean the coin that was in the package that I think of.
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You do not blame me for the simple You know full well to which
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coin I have difference. Now what is suppose you tell me and we'll both
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know? See you see I told you he was uncomfort If I play gently
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this come But don't you see he's a terrible person, a liar, a
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fag. If you don't take this monkey away, colonel, I'll break us
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late. I'll do be quiet, linit. I should let him break your
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leg the bizarreful Indeed, I should put it bluntly, encitly and simply.
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I believe you had the coin. I believe that you and Stanton Duran's partner
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are working together, and you both mean the hoodwig. Duran simulated this on
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the trains and then disposed the coin, sharing the proceeds between you and Stanton.
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After Frank Race, we featured a series called The Big Guy, which
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starred Henry Calvin, who is best known for Plain Sergeant Garcia in the nineteen
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fifty seven to fifty nine Disney Zorosi. His character of Joshua Sharpe is interesting
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because he is a widower and a single father of two elementary school aged kids,
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which is definitely a very different profile from most of the detectives on the
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radio. In the Knot fifties, true Charlie Chan was a father kids who
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were focused on were teenagers who one way or another kept getting involved in his
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cases. With Joshua Sharp, there's just some really interesting contrast in this short
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series. He's a sweet and loving father, but he is also a tough
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minded investigator when the time comes for that. So it's an interesting role that
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gives Henry Calvin something to work with and I think the result is well worth
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your time. And then one Saturday morning Legit stu It was on page two
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and the lead told the story Bond Avenue mentioned run home of broker Jacob Jansen
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looted in his absence by a mask burglar, butler held at gunpoint. City
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detective Walts Reynolds arrests former Jansen employed Willie Dooley, Willie Dooley, Josh and
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Debby's friend and the Carousen. Once I'd had to tell Josh that his puppy
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was dead, and he'd asked a lot of questions through his tears that neither
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I or any other man could answer. Before approaching the subject to mister Dooley's
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dilemma, I thought I'd better have foody tails, so I took a cab
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down to Detective Reynold's office at Precinct Headquarters. I knew him casually for years,
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and he told me what he knew well. A call came in last
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night a little after eleven the shop from whom they Jansen Butler gave his name
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as Anton Schindler. The burglar had held him up while he opened a safe
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in the library and helped himself to what unlisted negotiable bonds in the amount of
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fifty thousand dollars. Next stop, we have Mister Moto. I a Moto
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and this was kind of a reboot of the Mister Moto character. He was
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created as a Japanese secret service agent by American writer John Marquand, and the
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character enjoyed popularity in a series of movies starring Peter Laure in the nineteen thirties.
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However, after Pearl Harbor, the character, for obvious reasons, fell
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out of popularity. This series reimagines mister Moto I A. Moto as an
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American born citizen of Japanese descent, solving cases involving international intrigue and the Cold
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War. This was actually the first ever spy detective series that we did on
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an ongoing basis, though it certainly wouldn't be the last. Misconta, Would
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you send a cable for me? Certainly, sir, Sir John Davenport Intelligence
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C five British warf is London Ready? Yes, sir, kindly airmail pictures
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and complete physical description including set of fingerprints. You're mister what is mister Hampton's
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first name? Neil Neil Jay, Thank you, including set of fingerprints.
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You're Neil J. Hampton, Stop urgent and immediate stop sign motto. You
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got that, Yes, sir? Send that off before you go to lunch,
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will you. Yes, I'll be in doctor Andrew's office if anybody wants
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me. Yes, Sir Hampton. If you are lunch date, break it
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send for Gady, We'll all three meet in your apartment at twelve thirty,
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Yes, twelve thirty at the apartment. Our final Tuesday series of season four
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was Murder and Mister Malone and The Amazing Mister Malone. These were actually multiple
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radio programs based on the character created by writer Craig Rice. John J.
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Malone was a Chicago based attorney who solved mysteries, and he didn't do the
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whole courtroom confrontation thing. He would go out like a hard boiled private eye,
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investigate cases, get into fights, and then would find out who did
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it. Really not good for the attorney fees that way, since he didn't
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actually defend his clients in court. But there were actually multiple radio series that
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were centered around John J. Malone. The first was Murder and Mister Malone,
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which actually starred Frank Lovejoy, who went on to star in the first
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iteration of The Amazing Mister Malone, and then Gene Raymond starred. We only
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have a combined four episodes from Lovejoy and Raymond, even though they did far
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more than anyone else. The bulk of what we have of mister Malone comes
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from George Petrie. We have seven episodes from his seven week summer replacement run,
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and we also have an episode of Old Gold Comedy Theater. And the
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reason that we played that was I realized the character, while not named John
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Malone, was named Michael Malone and was essentially John Malone renamed. It was
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all based on Craig Ross, so we included that, and we also included
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four episodes of the Australian series of the Amazing Mister Malone. In many ways,
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the series reminds me of The Falcon. It's got the same style of
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carrots, with some that are a bit over the top, but it's kind
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of stylized and not like a so bad it's good sort of vibe that you
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might get with other similar New York based programs. Of course, compared to
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the books, the Malone radio programs have a lot less alcohol. Malone solved
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most of his cases while slashed, working with his friends who were also slashed,
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and if they weren't drunk at a particular time, they would get roaring
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drunk before they would proceed to solve the case. Thankfully, there's a whole
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lot less alcohol in the radio version of Mister Malone. I think reading the
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books before driving could get you a Dwhy there's so much alcohol in there?
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Malan's a name, John Jamelon, attorney and constant law Tonight and I are
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study of the cliche. Let's examine the familiar early to Vid and Odi to
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rise makes a manhealthy, wealthy and wise. If that's true, Jeff Lewis
20:03
is destined for failure. Jeff's a good looking boy coming home at court in
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the morning. It's easy to understand why it keeps the same all as I
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do. He's a musician. He plays piano with Rusty Gates vand but Jeff's
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not the only musician in the family. He's got a wife who can side
20:18
off too. Of course, her solos aren't nearly as sweet. Our Wednesday
20:22
programs were not going to have a whole lot to say about that. We
20:26
finished up let George do it with all the Bob Bailey episodes we had available
20:32
to play at the time, and we also played an episode of a later
20:37
series from nineteen fifty four in which Pollen Sue Ley reenacted scripts that originally have
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been done by Bob Bailey. And this particular episode was nice because it was
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a script that we don't have the Bob Bailey version of and then, of
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course, because of our Monday, Monday, Friday Johnny Dollars schedule, this
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became a Johnny Dollar Day. For the most part, we did have a
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couple of times this season where, due to only having four of the five
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parts, Johnny Doller played on Monday and Friday and Wednesday we had a different
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program. We did Miss Pinkerton Incorporated, starring Joan Blondell and Dick Powell,
21:25
and Johnny Fletcher starring Albert Decker and Mike mssurkey. Miss Pinkerton was the first
21:33
episode and Johnny Fletcher was an audition program over the years, when it comes
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to series that only have one episode in circulation, I tend to prefer most
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any episode other than the first one because in the first episode things are getting
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established and spend a lot of time setting up the status quo, which is
22:00
going to be important if you're listening later, But if there are no later
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episodes, not nearly as much, and you can really catch the gist of
22:11
most programs just from listening to them. But we don't really have a choice
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about these things. Moving on to Thursdays, and before we talk about what
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came after Sherlock Holmes we should talk about the last two Sherlock Holmes actors that
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we featured. First was Ben Wright, who starred in the nineteen forty nine
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to fifty ABC New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Unfortunately we have only one episode
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of this series, which is a shame because I think Right does rather well.
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He had also substituted for Tom Conway in an episode back in the forty
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six forty seven series. And then our final interpretation is a real treat.
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It's the best, starring John Gilgood and Ralph Richardson as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor
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Watson. The series was produced by Harry Allen Towers Towers of London Productions,
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which made a lot of radio programs for syndication in the United States and around
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the world. Gilgood and Richardson were two of the three greatest British actors of
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their generation, the other being Sir Lawrence Olivier. That plus they were terrific
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friends, which they really did channel into making a really compelling relationship between Sherlock
23:45
Holmes and Doctor Watson. The thirteen episode series is a high point for Sherlock
23:51
Holmes over the radio. The Final Problem actually features Orson Welles as Professor Moriarty
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who play Sherlock Holmes back in nineteen thirty eight for the production of The Immortal
24:06
Sherlock Holmes. But that is probably one of my least favorite episodes of the
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series, as it really does seem to be overly stagy. Still to prespie
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that flaw, I think that this is really a great way for things to
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end for Holmes and Watson on the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio. Ah
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well, well, well, well, indeed, my developed it's part of
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the settled order of Nietsche. I suppose that such a girl should have admiters
24:42
homes, but it's not probably icicles on Loom the country road, and that
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certainly some curious and suggestive details about the case. I think our first effort
24:52
should be directed toward the tenants of this Charlington Hall, the house that the
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girl was passing when that strange cyclists disappeared. Yeah, but have your account
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for the other acquaintinship between Carrothers and Woodley. So that's very different types and
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Mammas, you forestare me Watson and so often in this case, I suppose
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it must be the feminine interest in it. Come come home now, last,
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and most important point. What kind of a manage is it that pays
25:21
double the market price for a governess and it doesn't keep a horse and carriage?
25:26
Although this house children Grange is several miles away from the station on very
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odd So you'll go down there now, my dear fellow, you will.
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I will? You know quite well, I'm visiting, engaged with my new
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violin sonata. It may be only some trifling intrigue. After all, this
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case is just in your line, Watson. I leave it all to you.
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The a bigger Frau, as Gutter so aptly says, I don't know
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what that means, hope, just passing my violin? Will you please,
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my DARFLI always forget you have no German. I've been looking for a title
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for this new compass of manon. I think I may have found it at
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last. Once we finished up with Sherlock Holmes, we didn't jump right into
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the next thing. We did four weeks of specials, which I'll talk about
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when we get into the specials. The next series proper we did on Thursdays
26:21
was Nick Carter. Nick Carter was a fitting choice to replace Sherlock Holmes,
26:26
as this character had actually been around a little bit longer than Holmes. The
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first Nick Carter story was released in eighteen eighty six, the first Sherlock Holmes
26:37
story in eighteen eighty seven. The big difference between Holmes and Nick Carter,
26:44
though, is that Sherlock Holmes and his original stories and his original form became
26:52
an iconic character, and these stories have been read for more than a century
26:57
now. Nick Carter was a dime novel detective. While his books were ostensibly
27:04
written by Nick Carter, that was a pseudonym for the actual writers, and
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the character went through a wide variety of different iterations. So along the way,
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the original portrayals of Nick Carter inspired characters such as Doc Savage. So
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the radio program in which Nick Carter featured was just the latest in a long
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line of iterations of this character. Radio series starred Long Clark, and the
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first season had just one of the most iconic openings in all of old time
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radio. What's the matter? What is it? Yes, it's another case
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for that most famous of all man hunters, the detective whose ability it's solving
28:11
crime is unequaled in the history of detective fiction. Nick Carter, Master Detective.
28:18
That opening, like other aspects of the series would change or evolve over
28:22
time. I think the radio writers tended to draw on a lot of the
28:30
Nick Carter stories that had gone before for inspiration, and that leads to a
28:36
series that really have a wide variety of different tones and overall setups. Some
28:45
episodes of Nick Carter feel like the old school adventure detective stories of the early
28:53
twentieth century. There are some mysteries that are a bit spooky and creepy and
29:00
feel like it's something that could have aired on the Shadow, while others might
29:04
remind you of the Boston Blackie series, which overlapped Nick Carter for a few
29:12
years that it was on the air. And for me, I really found
29:17
the wide variety of different stories that Nick Carter told to really be entertaining,
29:22
and the character, despite sometimes it's being a bit of a know it all,
29:26
also being a lot of fun to listen to, and I hope you
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enjoy it as much as I did. Yes, that'll hold him. Gosh
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took three of us to knock him cold. Yeah, fight of us something.
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Hey, Hey, I know him. It's Nicotter, the dick,
29:48
Nick cuta hey and a good looking dull. It's a good thing you call
29:55
me in time. What are we gonna do with them? Not that we
29:57
got him? Huh. We can't just sleeping lyne around somebody's bound an artisome
30:03
hate the fish tank. Yeah, I'll try. We'll throw them in there.
30:07
Then when they're good and drowned, we'll drain the tank and get them
30:11
any other stuff out at the same time. Good idea. Okay, you'll
30:15
lift the lid. You shut the girl in lippy, all right, Jake
30:18
and I will dump that Cotter guy in. It'll be a real pleasure to
30:21
do something like this to a copper. Yeah, come on, go ahead,
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put Catt in first. Okay, here he goes, happy swimming Cottah.
30:36
Now dump the damon Jake and your goal lady. That's okay. Hey,
30:44
listen, guys, suppose they get out. We'll see that they don't
30:47
get out, Stoke. Put the lid down on the tank, okay,
30:53
and I'll put this pad luck on and they're safe as if they was in
30:56
jail. That's good work. Hey, look, Boystick coming too? So
31:03
what who cares? Now? Yeah? Who cares? Let turn on the
31:07
water? Oh jay, she comes. Jake On to Fridays where we finished
31:19
up the lond Era we played Gerald Moore's audition for Johnny Doller, which and
31:26
then we were into the Bob Bailey era with the Johnny Doller cereals. And
31:34
there's so much that could be said about these stories to me, in terms
31:41
of popular genres stories, this is the pinnacle of quality for old time radio
31:52
in these fifty eight weeks were really magical. As much as I love so
31:59
many half hour oldtime radio programs, there really is a limit in terms of
32:06
how complex the stories can be. With the serials, you're able to tell
32:13
a lot of stories, many of which feel very cinematic in scope, with
32:19
a wide variety of characters, and also a career performance from Bob Bailey,
32:27
who became the definitive Johnny Dowler, who displays a depth and range that was
32:35
the equal of any actor in the era to work behind the microphone. And
32:40
of course he was ably supported by a company of accomplished radio actors including Virginia
32:51
greg Herb Vigran, Harry Bartel, and Barney Phillips. And with top notch
32:58
writing from talented radio mystery riders, the serial run is superlative and there's not
33:05
much more this introduction can add. I'll have a lot to say in the
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episodes themselves from Hollywood. It's time now for Bob Bailey as Johnny Doller.
33:17
I told you that's my name. What do you want? And a half
33:21
of David. I've got to be sure. Look, you've got me out
33:22
here in the middle of the jungle with a gun in my b I can't
33:25
even see you. Do you think I'd be kidding you at a time like
33:29
this, Any move and he move at all, and it'll be your last
33:39
tonight and every weekday night. Bob Bailey and the Transcribed Adventures of the Man
33:44
with the Action Packed Expense account America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator, Yours truly,
33:50
Johnny Doller, Santo Tomas, Mexico. Expense accounts submitted by Special Investigator Johnny
34:04
Dollar to the home office Northeastern Fidelity and Bonding, Hartford, Connecticut. The
34:07
following is an account of additional expenses during my investigation of the Alvin Summers and
34:12
bezement of seventy five thousand dollars. I'd am twelve two cents, just what
34:17
I figured my life was worth at the moment Glaria Harris had taken me down
34:22
the beach and into the jungle to show me the hut where Alvin Summers have
34:24
been hiding out. There was no sign of them, but I heard a
34:28
noise outside in the underbrush and went out to investigate. I didn't see a
34:31
thing, but I felt something a gun barrel pressing against the back of my
34:36
neck. I want to talk to you, Dollar. You've got a point
34:37
way of arranging a conversation. Believe me, I could do better if you
34:42
take away that gun. Don't enter. I was answering. Wait, well,
34:47
me in your hotel room in exactly one hour, Low, what's this
34:51
all about. You're looking for Alvin Summers, aren't you, am I I've
34:55
got some information about him for you. Let's haapen now. Now I've got
35:00
to talk to you alone, be in your hotel ruining town in an hour.
35:02
Understand, Look you as I say, and be sure you're alone alone.
35:08
Okay, No, just keep looking straight ahead, don't turn around,
35:13
and don't tell anyone about this anyone. Understand you make it pretty clear.
35:17
I'll be watching the Dollar. You won't see me, but I'll see you.
35:21
I can believe in, mister. The plan for the serial run,
35:28
as I've said, is Monday Episodes one and two Wednesday episodes three and four
35:35
and Friday episode five, plus a lesser known fifteen minute mystery. Initially,
35:45
in order to try and ensure that people stuck around for the shorter mystery,
35:51
I played it first and then the Johnny Doller episode right after it. However,
36:00
listeners were not happy with that, and I came to see that people
36:05
are going to listen or not listen, and you know, I can't control
36:09
that. So eventually I went ahead and we changed it. So for the
36:15
fifth part we played Part five and then afterwards went ahead and played the extra
36:22
drama series. In this season, you'll hear three different series that were featured
36:30
opposite Part five of Johnny Dowler on Friday. First is Policewoman Now. This
36:37
series told the real life adventures of New York City's first female homicide detective Mary
36:45
Sullivan, and in this episode that we play, Sullivan herself appears. It's
36:52
unfortunate we only have one episode of this series. I certainly would love to
36:58
hear more because she lived an interesting life and I think that for fifteen minute
37:04
mystery, these were pretty well produced. We also played the Carter Brown Mysteries.
37:12
These represented our first foray into playing Australian programs. It was a bit
37:19
before we did it with the Mister Malone series. These were adventures that were
37:24
told in four parts, so much like the Johnny Dollar episodes, the mystery
37:30
was given room to breathe, though I don't think the quality was quite the
37:36
same. While the stories were produced in Australia, many of their settings and
37:40
characters were American, fifth varying degrees of authenticity. In many ways. The
37:50
sort of approach to Australians doing American detective dramas kind of reminds me of the
37:57
idea of the spaghetti western. But I found them to be pretty enjoyable.
38:02
Now we do take a break from doing Carter Brown mysteries when we start running
38:07
into serials that have missing episodes. Because of the nature of the Carter Brown
38:15
series, we need four consecutive weeks, because I didn't want to make people
38:20
wait two weeks for a solution. So we also did the Doctor Tim Detective
38:25
series, which was a series about a doctor who helps solve crimes and assists
38:34
the police department with the help of his two young friends. It's a delightful
38:38
educational series. It's pitched to a younger audience but I don't think it rits
38:45
down, and so I think it's perfectly enjoyable for adults in the twenty first
38:50
century. Then in January of twenty thirteen, we added a sixth day to
38:58
our schedule for police procedurals. Since my original old time radio podcast, The
39:05
Old Time Dragnet Show, was coming to an end in February. For the
39:10
first series, on this Saturday, we chose the lineup. The lineup starred
39:17
William Johnstone, perhaps best known for playing the Shadow, but an actor without
39:25
long history on radio and all sorts of programs and in all sorts of different
39:31
roles. The series was made up of fictional procedural stories and sat in an
39:39
unnamed city. Each episode began with a lineup scene, which gave the series
39:46
a really unique cadence and feel to it. You'll people not doing the other
39:55
side of the why thank you. My name is Graham. Sergeant Matt Grab
40:00
I'll explain the lineup to you. Each of the suspects you will see will
40:05
be numbered. I'll call off a number, their name and charge. If
40:08
you have any questions or identifications, please remember the number of sides of the
40:12
prisoner as I call his name at the end of the line. When I
40:15
call for questions or identifications, call out the number. If you're sure or
40:20
not too sure of a suspect, have him held. I don't like these
40:22
lutes, and I'm worried. We as your name will assist you. They're
40:25
seated among you. Please be pumped with your questions or identifications. When the
40:30
prisoners leave here, they are sent to the bathroom and dressed back into their
40:34
jail clothes. It makes it quite difficult to bring them back here after they
40:37
leave. The questions I asked these suspects are maibe to get a natural tone
40:42
of voice, so do not take too much attention to their answers, as
40:44
they often lie. Bring on the line this way, boys, right down
40:49
the stage you the front man, walk to the end of a ticket place.
40:52
The rest follow around a face front, hands by your sides, looks
41:00
ahead so the people might differs to you. Number one, John dustin vaguancy.
41:04
What do you live John? I was on sixteen nine street. I
41:07
know that, But what number ain't number one? With a flagging on?
41:13
All right? What were you doing when the officer arrested I was in the
41:16
bou What were you doing about? Nothing? Lute? One of the things
41:22
gets gone bad, I flag me a bow and I sit in it until
41:28
I feel better. Anything wrong with that. The Lineup initially co starred Wally
41:35
Mayer as Sergeant Matt Grabb. Mayor's ill health and eventual passing in nineteen fifty
41:42
one led to Jack Moyle's feeling that role in the series. However, the
41:49
character he played was Sergeant Pete Carger. The Lineup is a well written and
41:55
very realistic series, but from a host and point, it was one of
42:00
the most difficult series that I had to try to curate. The series and
42:07
its documentation were very much in flat with the best information we had on air
42:15
dates changing as well as available episodes, as well as what the episodes which
42:21
we thought were titled one thing it later turned out or titled something else.
42:27
And we actually revisited this series at least a couple more times to fill it
42:34
out with new episodes that became available. So in terms of having everything in
42:39
strict chronological order, this is one of the more challenging series we did.
42:45
We did the best we could in two thousand and thirteen and fourteen, but
42:51
there were errors in the way that it was presented based on poor information we
42:55
had at the time, but I don't think that should really track from enjoyment
43:00
of the series. That brings us to our specials for season four. The
43:07
first big one was our eight hundredth episode special Deadline at Dawn, and for
43:14
this special, I opted to play the suspense version, which was one of
43:19
the one hour suspense programs when Robert Montgomery was the producer of Suspense, instead
43:27
of the lux Radio theater version, because I thought that the suspense version was
43:34
better as a mystery and capturing that spirit of a detective story. And that's
43:40
actually the only hour long special we did in this season. For our eight
43:45
hundred and fiftieth episode, we did another episode of Murder Clinic, and this
43:52
one was the Holloway Flats Tragedy, and it featured Max Aredos, who was
44:01
a blind detective created in the first quarter of the twentieth century when there were
44:08
a whole bunch of characters who were popular detectives who have since been forgotten.
44:15
Carados is really one of the better ones, and it's so great that we
44:20
were able to have him as part of the great detectives of Old Time Radium
44:24
for our nine hundredth episodes special, we got to do something that really tickled
44:30
me in that we could combine my two great genre loves of detective stories and
44:37
science fiction with a detective based X minus one play from nineteen fifty six starring
44:45
future Johnny Doller actor and Dell Kramer. And it's a really fun play,
44:52
got a great science fiction twist while it's still really being true to the feel
44:55
of the detective story. I really enjoyed that one. For our nine hundred
45:01
and fiftieth episode special, we presented a post Sam Spade detective show pilot starring
45:10
Howard Duff called The McCoy. It was a good story and Duff turned in
45:16
a good performance as always. The series wasn't picked up for a lot of
45:22
reasons. In general, it was hard to launch a detective series in nineteen
45:28
fifty one, and also I don't think Duff was fully blacklisted, but he
45:35
was definitely graylisted for having been mentioned in Red channels, so he found it
45:43
hard to find work, and a network radio program was just not in the
45:47
offing at that point. For our one thousandth episode special, I decided to
45:54
revisit the story we did for our pilot called were Side seven seven seven and
46:02
the same screen director's playhouse program. I felt the first Plane kind of got
46:07
overshadowed by my overly long opening commentary, and also by the fact that it
46:16
was a pilot episode launched before anything else was at it, and so most
46:21
of the listeners hadn't heard it. So I went ahead and I revisited it.
46:25
It was such a big milestone to get to one thousand. At the
46:30
same time that I was doing the one thousandth episode, we also were doing
46:36
four specials following the conclusion of Sherlock Holmes. First up, we did an
46:43
adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's non Sherlock home story, the Law Special.
46:51
There are many ways to adapt the Law Special. Escape really did it with
46:58
the feel of a detective story. And what makes that extra naizis it stars
47:02
Ben Wright, who's Sherlock Holmes we got to hear so little of. And
47:07
then we turned to a figure from detective fiction, the original detective bumt Say
47:19
Edgar Allan Poe's creation see August Dupenn. Dupenn did not have his own radio
47:27
series, but each one of his stories was adapted to radio, and so
47:32
we went ahead and presented adaptations over the course of three weeks. This is
47:39
the only time so far that we featured an episode of Weird Circle, which
47:45
was generally known for horse stories, and then we played an episode of suspense,
47:52
and then we concluded with an NBC University Theater episode. The last one
47:59
was actually my favorite of the three. It featured Adolph Monshoux as Jupan,
48:05
and he just does such a great job bringing the character live. A good
48:12
evening, Gahan, good evening up, monsieur, Sit down, Gahan,
48:17
sit down. We haven't seen you a year of late. Have you come
48:22
on special business? Oh? I know nothing in particular where we shall have
48:27
a nice chat. Everything going well with our gallant officers of the police,
48:31
quite well, Monsieur Gaetan. What is the letter? Have you found it?
48:35
Oh, monsieur bo you forced me to speak. I am a tormented
48:39
man. I am quite at the end of my own No success yet,
48:43
no in my reputation. I shall lose my office if I failed. There
48:46
was also a larger world. I believe you said, Menders, I would
48:51
be rich, but I shall never get it. I am not so sure,
48:53
Gahan. I think you might No, no, no, no,
48:57
I have done everything. I shall be goinged me jun What shall I do
49:00
do? Well? Take advice to be sure, I assure you, Jupan,
49:06
I am perfectly willing to take advice and paper meat. I would give
49:08
fifty thousand fins to the man who could help me fifty thousand my personal change.
49:14
Well, then let us consider. We will take these keys back to
49:17
its very beginning and examine it. Our final special of this season marked the
49:24
one thousand and fiftieth episode. It was an episode of The Crime Club.
49:31
The Crime Club was essentially a tie in to a series of paperback mystery novels
49:39
that essentially adapts the plots of mystery novels into a half hour radio program.
49:50
They have an interesting and memorable format for how the shows begin and end,
49:55
and the episodes themselves are a lot of fun. In the decades since I
50:00
did the first Crime Club episode, I've only done one more, although I'm
50:07
always meaning to do more. And that's it for our season four commentary.
50:14
I hope you enjoy the season, and I'll return with a commentary four season
50:20
five in a few months from Boise, Idaho. This is your host,
50:24
Adam Graham, signing off and wishing you'd happy listening.