Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Season 5 Commentary

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The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Season 5 Commentary · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

0:28
Welcome to your season five commentary from Boise, Idaho. This is your host,
0:34
Adam Graham. At the end of season four, we were playing Yours
0:40
Truly Johnny Dowler three times a week as we went through the serial era that
0:47
came to an end in May of twenty fourteen, and so in season five
0:52
we have a podcast, eventually returning to six different shows per week. Also
1:00
made a change to the listener support campaign I'll talk about here, as in
1:04
season five we start doing listener support slash appreciation specials, and really the idea
1:12
behind doing these so during the listener support campaigns, which ran for three weeks,
1:19
we would also do three Sunday programs and these would have specific themes.
1:26
And my idea is, if you are going to have this period when you
1:32
are asking listeners to support the campaign, you should be adding some value.
1:38
I think that during the first couple three years that I was doing these,
1:45
it was essentially the same programs always did, only with appeals for support thrown
1:53
in. So I decided that it really made sense to add more value and
2:00
gives people something special during the listener support campaign. And you'll get to hear
2:05
those and we'll get into talking more about what we did for listener support specials
2:10
when we get into the specials conversation later on in this commentary. So as
2:17
we've been doing, we're going to go through the new series that were added
2:22
to the podcast day by day, and we'll start with Monday and Pursuit.
2:29
Pursuit is another one of these really underrated programs. It was a series over
2:36
CBS. There were some summer runs and there was also a regular run of
2:42
the series and it focused on the cases of Inspector Peter Black of Scotland Yard
2:47
and it really felt authentic. Honestly, I was very curious about it.
2:53
I had to do a lot of research. I wanted to be sure after
2:59
I'd gotten, you know, back in season one with some BBC Sherlock Holmes
3:06
episodes, I wanted to be sure that these were not actually British programs.
3:12
But they weren't. They were American programs, but they really felt authentic to
3:17
a UK setting. And this is because there were quite a few British expats
3:24
in the United States, and you also had some Americans who could do solid
3:30
British accents, and they didn't have anybody who was like doing some sort of
3:35
daft funny British accent. They had three different actors who played Inspector Peter Black
3:43
in this particular run through didn't have the episodes that featured John Dayner in the
3:50
role, although those would subsequently come into circulation and we played those a season
3:57
or so down the line. Here we get it. Here ted the Courtia
4:00
and been Right. Been Right, of course, a really superb British actor
4:05
who did so much character work in the United States. And I think this
4:10
series really is so well written. This is another one that just has a
4:15
fantastic opening pursue a criminal strikes and pays quickly back into the shadows of his
4:36
own dark world, and then the man from Scotland Yard, the famous Inspector
4:42
Peter Black, and the dangerous, relentless pursuit when Man hunts Man. We
4:56
didn't get to pursue until after we've finished Johnny Dollar, and of course even
5:02
before that, there were a few episodes of Manhunt which we had been playing
5:10
opposite episode five on Fridays of Johnny Dollar serials. So we had a couple
5:16
of weeks where we played two episodes of Manhunt to kind of wrap up all
5:24
of the circulating episodes of manhunt that we had and then we went from manhunt
5:30
to pursuit. But it's definitely going to be worth the weight. It's a
5:32
phenomenal series and it truly is one of those obscure favorites that I think is
5:39
so worth listening to. Don't know you don't know what it's been like these
5:45
past days. Thank you, Kim good seeing it at the hospital. Then
5:51
I see it ticked on two of the episode and I what about them?
5:55
Didn't you feel the same way? I didn't know? But that same one
6:00
smiling knowing what he's all. I must explain something to you said. When
6:03
we put a man up, or as in this case men, for identification,
6:08
we have to be certain that the witness is very sure O. Memory
6:11
is an odd thing. Sometimes it's rather think I'll ever forget the faces of
6:15
those tables together. Think you've all forgotten the faces of two of them,
6:17
mister Westbourne. Well let us say mistaken the identity of two? What do
6:21
you mean now? The first boy you picked with the grossest boy in Hammersmith,
6:26
we brought him down here. The second with the large hands one of
6:30
our own messengers. From me, Sutton, I can assure you that neither
6:33
was in any way involved in your case. But the third, I don't
6:39
care what you say about him. He could be your son, and I
6:42
TAGI was there. Yes, there's little doubt of that, Sir holding him
6:46
for questioning and further identification. Further identification why Following pursuit, he began to
6:53
play the Saint after a wartime pilot for a Saint radio series was actually based
7:00
on one of the short stories written by Leslee Charterers, who created The Saint.
7:06
We got into the series proper that starred Vincent Price, and this was
7:16
important the timing of this series because there was a Johnny Dollar episode that I
7:23
wanted to play while Vincent Price was portraying the Saint. That episode is heard
7:30
in season six It's The Price of Fame matter, which co stars Vincent Price.
7:34
The Saint is a really interesting character over radio. Originally, he was
7:42
conceived as this adventurer who faced off against the ungodly, a sort of criminals
7:49
and scum who exploited and cheated their fellow men and who the law could not
7:56
touch. And the Saint, through his more more often than not illegal methods,
8:03
would bring about his own form of justice apart from the law or in
8:07
addition to the law, and that's why the radio series had the tagline of
8:13
the robin Hood of Modern Crime. But by the late forties and early fifties
8:20
this was not particularly applicable. The Saint had been put on a road to
8:26
reform with the novel The Saint Place with Fire, in which the Saint based
8:31
off against a fascist menace right before World War II, and then, of
8:37
course he would become involved in fighting the war, and this led to a
8:43
relationship with the forces of law and order that would be more comfortable and less
8:50
antagonistic. In addition, the series was airing over radio during the postwar era
8:56
when there was a big concern about juvenile delinquency and radio networks became more and
9:03
more wary about heroes who tweaked the nose of the police against that backdrob.
9:11
I actually think that Vincent Price does a good job in bringing the Saint to
9:16
life. He captures two really unique aspects of the character. First is the
9:24
saint sense of play and fun, the idea that he is battling the forces
9:30
of evil and in constant danger and having the time of his life. There
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are also a couple of episodes, mostly earlier in the run of the Saint,
9:41
where Price captures the sort of menace that the Saint can be to powerful
9:48
evil doers. And to be honest, I've read several of the Saint books
9:52
after hearing this radio show, and I always hear Price's voice when I'm read
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The Saint, So this series is an underrated trait. You also have one
10:05
of the best supporting characters in the taxi driver Louis, played by Lawrence Dopkin,
10:13
who shouldn't be confused with another taxi driver with a similar accent Dobkin played
10:20
in the series, but he is a great addition. And the interplay between
10:24
Louis and the Saint is it a lot no locomotion test, It's Louis three
10:31
to one, Hello Louis and mister temple climent, thank you? And with
10:35
can I walk to this beautiful even with can you after me? Louis?
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What's wrong? Something has to be wrong? Before I use a political type
10:43
speak no but as a law which says cab drivers can't use good England Well
10:46
no, but oh with can I watch you? Watch me the spring Lake
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Road? If you please? Spring Lake Road? I never heard of it.
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You've nothing bene to do? And go around making up new streets.
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And Louis spring Lake Road is in West chest Let it stay that, huye.
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I want to go there. Why I've been invited to dinner by some
11:05
friends. The food tastes better and we's just no. But my friends lived
11:09
there for tuesdays. Once we finished up Mister Malone in season five, we
11:15
played a series called Mister Comeleon. Mister Cameleon starred Carl Swinson as Chameleon of
11:22
the Police, a character who would adopt disguises to help solve crimes. Those
11:28
who have listened to subsequent seasons, particularly the more recent ones, know that
11:35
since the time that we recorded these, additional episodes of Mister Comeleon have come
11:39
into circulation. However, when we played these, there were only two episodes
11:46
of Mister Comeleons circulating, which we played the last week of twenty thirteen and
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the first week of twenty fourteen. And I chose Mister Cameleon because I was
12:01
working to introduce listeners to the detective shows of Anne and Frank Hummer, who
12:07
were probably best known for their soap operas and the comedy series Easy Aces.
12:13
Mister Comeleon had that sort of typical Hummer Snile in terms of some over the
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top characters, some unique ways of speaking that many listeners laced reviewers of old
12:28
time radio programs found to be annoying, but I decided it made sense to
12:35
before we got into series where there were a lot more episodes, such as
12:39
Mister Keen Tracer of Lost Persons, we start out with the one that had
12:43
the fewest episodes in circulation, which at the time was Mister Comeleon. After
12:50
that we got into a series that I really enjoyed, The Case Book of
12:54
Gregory Hood. This began as a summer replace Smith's series for The New Adventures
13:01
of Sherlock Holmes, but actually ran for quite a while in its own run.
13:07
Initially it starred Gail Gordon, but then Elliott Lewis took over for the
13:13
majority of the show's run, although the majority of episodes actually in circulation are
13:18
those that feature Gail Gordon, and there was also a later run with Jackson
13:24
back of which we've got one episode. I really enjoy this series, particularly
13:31
the Gale Gordon run. It's a relatively light series without being a comedy.
13:37
Gregory Hood is a San Francisco based antiques dealer who keeps getting involved in various
13:46
histories. Gail Gordon's portrayal in particular is really enjoyable because he brings this realfensive
13:56
class and style to hood that makes him am believable and just a delight to
14:01
listen to. Of course, Gordon is probably remembered by most people for his
14:09
role as these sort of uptight stuffed shirts, oftentimes self important people such as
14:16
Osgood conklin on Armis Brooks or the second mister Wilson on the TV show Dennis
14:22
the Menace, or the various bosses he played in Ladder Lucy o'ball comedies.
14:31
Here we get to enjoy a different aspect of Gordon's range, and really it's
14:37
just a delightful series. I was telling Howard that I was so anxious to
14:45
me, but I wish he'd warned me when he's saying this is I look
14:48
perfectly awful. You look charming, missus Margham, but I'm afraid we must
14:52
be getting along. Yes, it's fascinating. That's Howard didn't show you,
14:58
Mike. He doesn't think it's worthy of the rest of the time, come
15:03
in here and let me show you. Excuse us for the moment. It's
15:07
never been proven to be authentic. So howard both, let me keep it
15:11
with this collection. It's vanished to the study. What is the treasure a
15:16
jade? In quill Somebody supposed to have counc his fifty girlfriend on the head
15:20
with it forty three times before she was ready for the character. I bought
15:26
it in Chinatown. Oh is this it on the desk? Yeah, that's
15:30
it. Yes, you have to talk about in Quill it born? Okay,
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let's not talk about inkwell rush to Night. Yes, yes, and
15:43
I'm late for it now. Blonde, white haired and in the late fifties.
15:48
She must have a daughter. She has she plays chowplans for Pirblade.
15:52
That's the new one. You have to go. Yes, I want to
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drop by later. How it's going to cut? You're crazy about how it,
16:03
don't you? Oh, Sue the pennant boy of the nineteen one Yes,
16:15
I'm suffering from a rush of ethics to the hiss. After the Case
16:19
Book of Gregory Hood, we played Pat Novac for hire. Now, if
16:25
you listen to our volume one podcast, you might be thinking, wait a
16:29
second, didn't you play that in season one? And the answer is yes.
16:34
And there were quite a few listeners at the time who were not a
16:38
fan of replaying this series, and I don't know how many understood, and
16:45
if they understood, if they appreciated why I was doing this. I was
16:49
looking at the episode logs for Dragnet and pat Novac for Hire and realized that
16:56
there was an overlap. For the first four weeks that Dragonet was on the
17:03
air, Pat Novak for Hire was also airing, So if you were a
17:07
radio listener in nineteen forty nine, you could hear Jack Web in these two
17:11
very different roles, and I thought it would be fun to recreate that experience
17:18
for listeners in twenty fourteen, though I think I and many listeners had a
17:26
different definition of fun. However, one good thing did come out of that
17:33
first time we played Pat Novak for Hire. We played the most popular circulating
17:40
version of the final episode, which had a lot of audio issues. It
17:45
was just really bad, and it got cut off in the end of Pat
17:51
Novak's closing monologue. And I think it was just like a week or two
17:56
before I was going to record the final episod again, I got an email
18:02
from a listener and I don't think I've heard from this person before, and
18:06
haven't heard from them since they had a copy of that episode that they had
18:12
transferred and digitized from tape that was actually complete and actually didn't sound awful.
18:21
So we were able to hear the complete episode for the first time a large
18:27
audience in decades. And I've also worked to get that same file over too
18:34
many of the people who put out sets of old time radio files, and
18:40
so we're able to improve the quality of Patento Back for Hire for people who
18:45
don't even listen to the podcast. So, despite some of the negative comments
18:52
from listeners at the time, I'm glad we did pat No Back for Hire
18:56
again. Then after that we did Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. Now you
19:00
might be thinking, wait, weren't you doing Yours Truly Johnny Dollar on Friday?
19:06
And yes we were, and you know we were also doing it Monday,
19:11
Wednesday and Friday for quite a bit of this season. There were some
19:15
newly circulated episodes of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar that featured Edmund O'Brien and John
19:22
Lunn in the lead. By this time, we had moved on to the
19:26
half hour Bob Bailey episodes, and I wasn't minded to stop going through the
19:33
Bob Bailey episodes and go back to these previous actors, particularly with how Wrongley
19:41
fans of Bailey felt about his take on the character. I also hadn't made
19:48
any firm decision as to what we would do after we finished going through all
19:55
of the episodes of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. If I it up deciding
20:00
to go through the series again, we'd have to wait till like season eleven
20:07
or twelve to play these, and I thought that was a little ridiculous,
20:11
So I want to head and we made Tuesdays for Johnny Doller the lost episodes,
20:17
with a newly circulated Emin O'Brien episode, two newly circulated John Lund episodes,
20:25
and a broadcast version of a John Lound episode that had only been circulating
20:33
previously as a rehearsal recording, so you'll get to hear those for about four
20:40
episodes. And then after that we did one of my favorite underrated series,
20:45
Easy Money. This is my favorite series starring Larry Haynes. It originated from
20:52
New York City and Haynes plays private investigator Mott Trent, who is as an
21:00
ex magician and foils various scams and confidence schemes. And I enjoy this series
21:07
because of its style, and I think it's also noteworthy because with great detectives,
21:14
we deal so much with stories that focus on murder that it's kind of
21:18
a nice change of pace to have a series with a little bit of a
21:22
different focus. And I think it really is one of those underrated gems that
21:27
nobody talks about, and I hope you enjoy listening to it. But there's
21:30
another kind of pool, and that's the Big Time Football Pool, a nationwide
21:36
lottery based on the scores of the leading games each week. We'll getting inside
21:41
of This kind of a pool has always been a tough problem. These pools
21:45
are big business, with a network of straw bosses out front and the headman,
21:48
whose identity is a mighty well kept secret. I had the luck who
21:55
could have been, to get a personal invitation to meet one of these football
21:57
lottery kingpins. It came suddenly and surprisingly. One day, while I was
22:03
in my office with Patsy Ryan, a little Irish whirlwind who runs my office
22:07
and occasionally he tries to run me as well, she was typing a letter
22:11
when all of a sudden, she said, Mike, with your reputation as
22:17
a detective, why do you have to take the kind of cases you do.
22:21
What's wrong with the kind of cases I take, Patsy. I like
22:22
to help people get their money back when they've been jiffy. But the people
22:26
you have to associate with who There is nothing wrong with my clients, Patsy,
22:30
They've just been trapped by easy money bait. Can happen to almost anybody.
22:33
I'm not talking about your clients. Oh I feel sorry for most of
22:37
them. But your work keeps you constantly around gangsters, hoodlums, cheap racketeers.
22:44
Well what kind of a detective would I have to be to hobknob exclusively
22:47
with the upper crust? Well? I don't know any other detective who never
22:51
brushes up against honest, respectable people. Oh really, Mike, you're clever
22:56
enough to handle bigger things, Patsy. Do you know any detective who makes
23:00
more money than I do or charges his clients list? Now that's not the
23:03
point. Money. Money isn't everything. No, no, what isn't.
23:07
But but I get a lot of satisfaction from helping my clients, Patsy,
23:11
getting their money back for him, money they can't afford to lose after the
23:15
yours truly, Johnny Dollar Cereals came to an end, we moved into the
23:21
Adventures of Philip Marlow. And this is a case where I really went with
23:26
what I wanted to do, because I had a lot of people at this
23:29
point who were requesting that I do Richard Diamond, which of course I would
23:34
get to, but not until season seven. There was a lot of Philip
23:40
Marlow to do with Bucks radio theater adaptations of Hurder My Suite starring Dick Powell,
23:49
and another Marlow movie, Lady in the Lake starring Robert Montgomery, and
23:55
then there was the NBC summer series from nineteen forty seven starring Van Hefflin,
24:02
and then of course these series that everyone best remembers with Gerald Moore. So
24:08
the way I did this that actually I played the adaptation of Murder My Suite
24:15
the second to last week of Johnny Doller serials because the Phantom Chase matter was
24:22
a non parter and so we didn't actually need to do a show on that
24:27
second to last Wednesday. For Johnny Doller. We did parts six and seven
24:33
on Monday and parts eight and nine on Friday, so we did Murder My
24:37
Suite right in the middle, and then after Johnny Doller. We did the
24:41
Van Hefflin series, and then we did A Lady in the Lake for Lux
24:45
Radio Theater and got into the Gerald Moore series. In terms of the Lux
24:49
Radio Theater, I will say that Murder My Suite was a fantastic film that
24:56
really established Dick pow in hard boiled rules, and I can't recommend it enough.
25:03
Lady in the Lake was probably much more of a middling film. The
25:08
plot doesn't work near as well as in the novel, and it gets even
25:14
tougher when they start condensing it down for radio. Not bad, but it
25:18
really isn't my favorite now. In terms of the Van Heflin series, Van
25:23
Hefflin plays Marlowe and he's not bad at all. He's a solid dramatic actor
25:30
and makes a believable private investigator. Also starred in more stories that were directly
25:37
adapted Raymond Chandler short stories. In fact, all of the episodes that we
25:44
played on this initial run were Raymond Chandler stories. There were a couple of
25:49
original stories that came into circulation and we played those in season twelve. But
25:56
Heflin's outings, even though we only have a few of them from this summer
26:00
nineteen forty seven series are entertaining and off and definitely well worth a lesson,
26:06
particularly to hear some original Chandler stories brought to radio. Harriet Hunters was too
26:15
tall to be cute, too beautiful to be really cheap. Her green eyes
26:19
were wide set and there was plenty of thinking in between them, and her
26:22
hair was a dusky red like fire, seemed to a haze. The green
26:29
eyes were that much green ice. As she sized me up in the doorway,
26:33
Well, what's the big message, sonny, I'd have to come in.
26:36
I never could speak very well in public. Come in. Never could
26:42
speak very well on a dry throat either. There's the Scotch help, thank
26:48
you. So you're from Marty's Delf. No, not strictly, not the
26:55
moose ratings, not at all. In fact, what's your rocket? Right?
27:00
Marya loves to know you used his name. I'm shaking you my shoes.
27:06
You're some kind of detective onto yeah, Phillim Moortow. It's good to
27:12
gotch. I'm glad you like it. Now? What's your business? All
27:18
right? How much will you take to give up? Grover? You look
27:22
smart? He talks stupid? Oh man, Jeter's pretty tough his ideas that
27:26
you get nothing, you get Smith. I don't see it that way.
27:32
How much? How about fifty thousand dollars? About five hundred dollars? How
27:36
about talking about the effect of the rain on the robot? Now, look's
27:37
sister. Suppose we skip the footwork, considering the sobering fact that a man
27:42
named John d Obegast has already been murdered in this little case. Does that
27:48
have anything to do with me? I don't know. He was hired to
27:52
analyze some notes Grover gave Martya Stelle, and he was killed just after I
27:56
took over the case. Do you think Maria Stell works that way better than
28:00
I do? Dosy? And then we have Gerald Moore in the Adventures of
28:04
Philip Marlow And which ran from nineteen forty eight to nineteen fifty and returned for
28:11
a summer series in nineteen fifty one. And there's so much I can say
28:15
about this series. Of course, you have to talk about the opening,
28:21
And one thing you'll find as you listen to it is there were a lot
28:25
of changes to the wording of the opening and little tweaks as the series went
28:33
on. Still, I think that there was a point where it was absolutely
28:37
perfect, and then after that it was still amazing and memorable, even if
28:42
the wording wasn't the perfect choice. Get this and get it straight. Crime
28:48
is the seconds road, and those who traveling wind up in the gut of
28:51
the prism of the grave. There's no other end, but they never learn.
28:56
Moore took the character of Philip Morlow really made him his own. I
29:02
think, in the same way that Howard Duff made Sam Spade his own.
29:07
Moore's Marlow is a very different character in so many ways from what Raymond Chandler
29:14
created, while still embodying that character's ideals, he certainly doesn't have a resemblance
29:21
to the far more cynical take on Marlow that would emerge in novels like The
29:26
Little Sister and The Long Goodbye. Yet Moore's Marlow is straight wise, tough
29:34
and confident, while still believing in justice and having a sense of compassion and
29:41
humor that makes this character such a joy to listen to. In addition,
29:45
the writing is superb. It's very grounded, with great pacing, great action,
29:52
and mysteries that are really engaging. It really finds a balance that I
29:57
think a lot of the hard boil detective shows struggled with. It uses the
30:03
elements of hard boiled detective stories to tell stories without ever going to extremes.
30:11
It never becomes this sort of ultraviolent thing, nor does it get carried away
30:18
with the hard boiled dialogue. While some episodes are downbeat, you don't feel
30:23
like the whole series is like this massive depressive trip. Now. Philip Marlow
30:30
was only on the air for about two and a quarter seasons, but for
30:36
my money, had the most consistent high quality of any detective program during the
30:42
golden age of radio. And it was a treat for me to do this
30:47
series. And I hope you enjoy listening to it and experiencing the superb radio
30:55
masterpiece. For instance, What's with You and Dean Howard? Jane Howard is
31:00
crawling thing? That's strange. How did you love him? I didn't till
31:03
the night when I found out that he has two heads. That's so he
31:07
can lie and keep a straight face with one while he laughs of his sleep
31:10
with the other. Nuts to him, nuts to his Stewart and her money,
31:12
and nuts to you. I hate Dean Howard enough to kill him,
31:15
and I might just do that. I don't think you will, not because
31:18
somebody beats you to it. You you mean Howard's dead looks that way.
31:25
I'm not sure, because he won't stay in one place long enough. You're
31:26
trying to shock me. You're wasting your time. I'm not sorry one.
31:30
I think we've got company. Keep talking. Argue him as you say,
31:34
my friend, the music business is just as lousy as any other dodge and
31:37
I can prove it. Come here. You're a good listener, but so
31:41
joined the party? Why why are you listening out there? Come on?
31:44
No, no, not just just a minute. I wasn't listening. I
31:47
was looking for you Mallow. I'm more older, mister Hanley Stewart's assistant.
31:49
You're doing fine. Don't stop now. Well, Ever since I learned that
31:52
miss Stewart hired ju Malo, I've been trying to talk to you. I
31:56
followed you here from that place on normally because I must know what you found
32:00
out so far? Why what business is it of yours? Because, mister
32:02
Mollow, I doubt very much that you even know of the robbery? Robby
32:06
what robbery? More than forty thousand dollars worth of negotiable securities was stolen from
32:09
mister Stewart's safe this evening. You get all your information at key holes,
32:13
h and I have reason to believe that the man you're looking for took them.
32:16
Of course I don't dare accuse him without proof of his relationship with Liz,
32:21
mister Stewart's niece. If I were wrong it, he would cost me
32:23
my job o him. Did Liz know about the robbery when she hired me?
32:27
Why? Why? Of course? Oh, brother looks see this.
32:30
Her name is Carrol. She's involved right up to her mass Kara and the
32:32
whole mess. I'll let her ready aside till I get back me. Why
32:36
you cheap shot that app? And it's for being cheap. I'll take care
32:38
of you when I get back. Well. That leads us to Thursdays and
32:44
Nick Carter continued to air through this entire volume, so through five, season
32:52
five, and season six. So now big changes there, yours truly.
32:55
Johnny Dollar on Fridays did return to the South contain half hour episodes, and
33:01
I think that the series was at its strongest in the early self contained episodes
33:10
before they started getting shorter in order to facilitate the new approach that CBS did
33:19
for commercials and then that brings us to Saturday, and we finished the Lineup,
33:23
and I should put that in air quotes because we'd end up returning to
33:28
that series. The Lineup was by far the most challenging series that I ever
33:34
tried to set in order, and I'll admit that I didn't do it perfectly,
33:38
but the logs out there, there was so much contradictory information. I
33:43
think it's a little bit clearer which order everything goes in, but there would
33:47
be more circulating episodes and we would return to that series actually for the first
33:53
time in season six, so they didn't leave it for long after we did.
34:00
We had the lineup, played Police Blotterer, which was actually an interesting
34:06
mid to late nineteen fifties police procedural and it starred Bill Zuckert. And what's
34:13
kind of interesting is when we first played this in twenty fourteen, we only
34:19
had two episodes and one of them had another character filling in for Zuckert,
34:25
and so it's an odd series in the way that it came down to us.
34:30
Although as a PostScript, we did end up finding another episode, so
34:37
we there are now three episodes of this series in circulation, and we played
34:44
that two thousand episodes. After we played the first two, well, that
34:47
one featured Bill Zuckert, so at least we kind of progress. And then
34:53
we played a series that only had one episode in circulation called Homicide Ocaine,
35:02
And honestly, I'm not certain why I played it on Saturdays, because that's
35:08
a police procedural day. What we have of Homicide Ocaine, of course,
35:15
is just one episode from nineteen forty three, so it's hard to make any
35:19
firm judgments about it. But the first episode has the longest title of any
35:24
episode that we've ever played, and I was clever about it in reading the
35:32
title. I thought I would say it twice, and I was just re
35:37
listening to my intro for that episode and found that I actually messed up the
35:42
episode title the second time. So pay attention for a little bit of Adam
35:46
Graham Blooper on Homicide Okaine. And then we get to Police Headquarters. Police
35:52
Headquarters is one of the oldest series that we played. The detective programs we
35:59
feature are mostly from the forties and fifties. Police Headquarters dates back to nineteen
36:06
thirty two, and it's really a bit different. Most of the episodes definitely
36:10
have some prime detection action in there, but sometimes they lean a bit more
36:17
towards the crime show approach with hearing from gangsters. But it's an interesting series.
36:24
Each episode is fifteen minutes long, and we played two episodes per week.
36:30
There are no recurring characters, but it really is such an interesting historic
36:35
piece and I think the cases are entertaining. Plus the length helps the stories
36:40
move along. Though things don't get too involved in melodrama because you don't have
36:46
a ton of time for it. But still they're an interesting set of episodes,
36:52
fascinating artifact, and I think pretty entertaining to boot and so I hope
36:58
you enjoy Police Headquarters. Okay, this is Joe Bescus, you know,
37:02
smokey Joe. Yeah, what's wrong Joe? There's a drunk gun here in
37:07
my place? Is a fad to go home? He wants me to a
37:08
cop? Yeah, what's wrong with him? I don't know? DT's I
37:12
guess this guy looks like a big shot, maybe better than one of the
37:15
boys over. Okay, Yes, Kevin got a good one for you.
37:23
Andy, want you to play nurse maid to a drunk for a few minutes.
37:27
He's over smoking Joe's place and he's afraid of the home. Once the
37:31
police escort, I guess yessir, I'll go right over. Oh hello,
37:52
officer, I'm Joe Bescus. Where's this drug? Yeah? Back here in
37:57
a private room, I'll show you. And it's a door. The door's
38:02
locks from the inside. This guy's a dummy if you ask me, come
38:07
on open app I got your cap for you. I think anything's happened to
38:10
him. It passed out. Maybe come on you up and app Hello?
38:19
Listen, Yeah, what do you want with an officer? All right?
38:22
I want to go home? So well, who's holding you? Not going
38:28
home and alone? Of scared? Come on, when you go with me?
38:32
Wait a minute, what's your name, Davis James Jesus? Where do
38:37
you live? One twenty seven ranks? What are you afraid of? No?
38:42
No, come on, you go home with me. You know what's
38:46
out for me, won't you? And then we get to drag that.
38:50
And honestly, it's tough to know what to say about Dragdad, because I've
38:55
said so much about it over the years. It's the series that got me
39:00
started with old time radio podcasting, and when I started the Police Procedurals Day,
39:07
it was really with the intent that we would start through Dragnet on the
39:12
great Detectives of Old time Radio. And I like taking a little bit of
39:17
a break from Dragnet before we begin one of these six year journeys, because
39:24
you can come at it with fresh ears and you really appreciate how the series
39:30
evolved from its early days into its recognizable form and became just this amazing series,
39:38
and how it changed the way that crime dramas were told and was often
39:45
able to provide both entertainment and education from things that would often be considered mundane.
39:52
And Dragnet's greatest strength is that it doesn't have the sort of traditional,
40:00
the exciting elements that you typically heard every week on other police dramas before it.
40:07
In terms of shootings and car chases. Ragnet would go, we saw
40:14
and end without any of these things in them, And so when you did
40:19
have an episode where you had one of those moments, you really felt the
40:23
impact, you felt the excitement because of how rare it was, and that's
40:29
part of what made this series just so remarkable. Here comes one of the
40:34
girls, now, Joe Fat feelings that her feet are almost as tard as
40:37
mine. Does you see anything else? Been? Nothing? Quiet? As
40:42
a church. I don't wait a minute. Card just turned the corner,
40:46
heading up in the same direction she is, so George slowing down. Wait
40:52
a minute, it's pulling up beside her. It's a great convertible. It's
40:55
him, Joe, come on, then get out. He seizes, he's
41:02
not done. You all right here? Yeah, look at that guy.
41:07
Take off. Eighty K to control four. Eighty K to control four.
41:13
We've spotted the suspects. He's driving a gray Ford convertible license six' one Robert
41:17
three eight five suspects headed east on Olympic from Alameda, driving without lights.
41:22
Suspect his arm. He had a fast car and he knew how to drive
41:29
it. We almost lost him twice. Two minutes after we cited him Backstrand
41:32
took over full radio control drave pirty unit eighty K on the location. Eighty
41:37
K to control four. We're traveling at a high rate of speed, headed
41:40
east on Olympic, crossing Soto Street. Control units and live units eleven,
41:46
eight, twelve, and thirteen are closed in on the intersections at Olympic and
41:51
Loreno. Units forty one, forty two, forty five and one on four
41:54
came run on the next and then off in South Units one on five three
42:00
D. Now I should talk a little bit about our special episodes. First
42:08
all talk about the normal specials and then what we did for listener support specials.
42:15
Just because of the way the listener support campaigns fell in twenty fourteen,
42:22
we ended up not doing a normal twelve hundredth episode special or a normal one
42:29
than three hundred and fiftieth episode special. They just became one of the three
42:35
weeks of listener support specials. So we didn't have a special that was an
42:42
hour long this season, although we did have the two Philip Marlowe video adaptations
42:49
of movies, so I hope that kind of makes up for it. For
42:52
our eleven hundredth episodes special, we did something we've never done on this series
42:59
before, and that Cavalcade of America. Cavalcade of America is obviously not a
43:05
detective series. It's a series about American history, but also did some episodes
43:12
exploring some more recent innovations. Thus we have the crime solving tale School for
43:17
Men. The series features Bob Bailey, but he's only in a supporting role
43:23
to the week special guest star Gregory Peck. And this is also the only
43:30
time we've had Gregory Peck on the podcast. Are eleven hundred and fiftieth episode
43:35
special is Homicide for Hannah on an episode of the Molay Mystery Theater. I
43:40
think has a pretty light heart and undertone to it. There are two hundred
43:45
and fiftieth episodes special. We did an episode of The Chase. The Chase
43:52
is a somewhat obscure mid fifties radio series where I think most of the episodes
43:58
could probably be asked as crime or adventure, but this one seemed to fit
44:02
with the overall field of the podcast, so we featured that episode of The
44:07
Chase, and then we have my favorite special of the season, Pearls Are
44:14
a Nuisance. Now, as we were featuring Philip Marlow, I sought out
44:19
the few Chandler detective stories that were adapted to radio, and one of them
44:24
is this story very different from Philip Marlow. It's actually a bit of a
44:30
send up of detective stories, and it's called Pearls Are a Nuisance and it
44:37
stars Alan Jocelyn and also William Bendix. It is probably best known for playing
44:44
Chester Riley, and this half hour episode is really a joy to listen to.
44:51
I was thinking about the possibility of getting back to my feet in a
44:53
very near future. A wet towel began to slap my face, my eyes.
45:00
The face of one Henry Eichelberger was close to mine and bore a certain
45:02
appearance of tender solicitude. I thought maybe he was killed. Jack, you
45:07
got a stomach as weak as Chinese tea? What happened? As if I
45:12
didn't know? You tripped on any bitter tear in the carpet. You feel
45:16
like getting up here? I give you a hand. Thank you, Henry?
45:20
May I call you Henry? There's no tax on it. Now you
45:23
look okay? Why didn't you tell me you were sick? Eichelberger? You
45:28
swine. That doesn't cut it hot. You'll muss my hair. I wish
45:32
you'd fall down when I hit you, Henry, just once. It would
45:37
do wonders for my morale. You and we could get along, Jack,
45:39
I never kissed your girl, even if I ain't saying I would like to.
45:44
Is that all the teating on you? Well, no, there's not
45:46
a matter. Sit down and tell me the score only No more Haymakers.
45:51
They give me a headache. Now for our first listener support specials in spring,
45:57
of twenty fourteen, I kind of addressed the fact that there were many
46:02
series that listeners were eager to hear that I hadn't played. It's one of
46:07
the challenges of doing a podcast where you play all the way through a series
46:14
or even several series, as opposed to many other programs that focus on detectives.
46:20
But we'll kind of run the gamut of all the programs out there.
46:24
But I definitely had the way that I wanted to do this, but also
46:29
I felt that during the listener support campaign, I could kind of give a
46:34
sneak peek of programs that we would eventually do, and so for this first
46:39
listener support campaign, we played episodes of Richard Diamond, Mister Keene's Tracer of
46:46
Lost Persons, and Rocky Jordan to give listeners a taste of what we would
46:52
eventually end up doing. Richard Diamond will join our lineup in season seven and
46:59
Mister Keenan Rocky Jordan would both come on in season nine, and then for
47:04
our full campaign we were through with the Yours Truly Johnny Dollar Cereals. So
47:10
for those three weeks we did omnibus episodes of the serials, first three of
47:16
them and what I like about the Johnny Dollar serials is that there are so
47:22
many ways to enjoy them. I first listened to them, except for one
47:28
of them, which I kind of just listened to on its own. I
47:30
listened to them every single day when I was getting started for work, and
47:37
you can kind of have a lot of anticipation and fun keeping pace with the
47:43
mystery, having something to look forward to every single day. And I think
47:47
that you kind of also get that when you're having them played over two or
47:52
three days, so you get a little bit of more of the story in
47:57
the days that you get to hear it. But then you have the idea
48:01
of omnibus or complete story cuts, and that is really a delight to listen
48:07
to, because then you can really get a sense of the complexity of the
48:13
story and how these were really like mystery movies, and how much more complex
48:19
and layered the characters could be compared to the normal half hour story. So
48:24
really, there are so many ways to enjoy them, and I appreciate the
48:29
omnibus additions, and we would continue to put out a few more, but
48:34
I think I pulled back a bit as I started to realize we were going
48:37
to end up going through the series again spoilers, and I wanted folks to
48:43
really enjoy the first three Johnny Dollars without thinking about the Bailey era until we
48:50
got to it. But at any rate, you'll get to enjoy the first
48:53
three Johnny Dollar serials as part of the Summer twenty fourteen listeners support campaign towards
49:00
the latter part of season five. And I hope you enjoyed the season.
49:05
There were a lot of great things, and as always, it was so
49:08
much fun to work on and I only hope you get half as much enjoyment
49:14
out of listening to it as I did hosting it and putting it together.