Radio Detective Story Hour

The third of a four part look at the Archie Goodwin character and the actors who portrayed him on radio. We're now into the third series run of this radio detective - The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe. This run starred Sidney Greenstreet as the corpulent Wolfe. But the one year run of this series had no less than six actors portraying the detective's important sidekick - Archie Goodwin!This week, you'll hear four of the six through clips with the fourth appearing in a complete episode - Larry Dobkin (right) was one of the longer Archie Goodwin's during this run.

Part II of our continuing look at Rex Stout's Archie Goodwin portrayals on the Nero Wolfe radio series. This week, Elliott Lewis (right) steps into the role of Goodwin with Francis X. Bushman as Wolfe.  Lewis was one of radio's most versatile persons. He was an actor, both comedic as well as serious, producer, director and writer.  This week's episode is from The Amazing Nero Wolfe!

This week begins a multi-podcast look at Rex Stout's Archie Goodwin character as portrayed on radio. While the podcast will feature episodes from Nero Wolfe, the focus will be on the differences between the actors who portrayed Archie Goodwin on the series. This week's begins with veteran radio actor John Gibson who portrayed Archie while Santos Ortega portrayed Wolfe in the first run from the series in 1944.

An episode from a well-written, but rarely found series about detective Lieutenant Dana of the Homicide Bureau. Starred Dan Duryea (right) as Dana, this series was very short-lived - four months. Only three episodes are known to exist of this rare series. Music under is Roy Eldridge.

Our final look at Gunsmoke as detective serial. This is from the regular run of Gunsmoke in 1952 starring William Conrad (right). I'll look at how it shares some elements of the detective genre.

Gunsmoke?  A detective show? This week, a look at how Gunsmoke was first conceived as a hard boiled western detective series. A little history on the beginnings of the concept and an audition recording by two writers of hardboiled radio detective stories - Mort Fine and David Friedkin.This audition starred Rye Billsbury (later Michael Rye) as "Mark Dillon."

A slight wrinkle to the theme of detectives this week. A look at the newspaperman as detective as Jimmy Stewart (right) turns detective as he tries to solve a mis-carriage of justice. The radio play was based upon the film Call Northside 777, a great noir film. Besides Stewart, I'll go into some of the veteran radio actors you'll hear in this week's play.Music under is Lac Fantome by Nick Kepics from garageband.com

E.W. Hornung (right) was the brother-in-law of Arthur Conan Doyle. Hornung's own fictional detective rivaled Conan Doyle's and the two would often create stories that referenced the other. Where Conan Doyle's Holmes and Watson were the upright detectives who fantasized about becoming criminals, Hornung's A.J. Raffles and his helper Harry "Bunny" Manders were criminals - specifically amateur cracksmen.This week you'll hear CBS Radio's version of the Hornung Raffles.

There were only two radio detective serials in which one of the detectives was played by a woman and a major film star. This week I'll look at one of those serials - Results, Inc. and you be able to hear only one of three that are known to exist of the series.  The star was the glamorous Claire Trevor (right), who plays Terry Travers opposite her fellow detective, Johnny Strange portrayed by Lloyd Nolan.Music under is "Get Out of the Blue" by Nick Kepics on Garageband.com

Just as radio detectives often seemed to be loners, there were also several radio detective husband and wife teams. Most think immediately of Nick and Nora Charles, but another popular one on radio that even made it to film and television was Mr. & Mrs. North. Based on the novels of Frances and Richard Lockridge, for most of the radio run Jerry North was played by Joseph Curtain while Pam North was portrayed by Alice Frost (right).

Happy New Year!This week a rarely heard short-lived series that featured fiction's famous detectives telling about their most famous cases. The series was called Murder Clinic and each week featured a different detective from fiction.Music under is "Saturday Morning" by Anne Farnsworth from the Podsafe Music Network.

It's Christmas time and this week's podcast is a special one! Staying in the vein of our detective theme, I present a variation on Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" with the puckish Dick Powell in his Richard Diamond hat.Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

A bit outside the regular "detective" stories, this episode from the Campbell Playhouse (Mercury Theater on the Air) takes Dash Hammett's (right) story about power and corruption rolls one character into a "detective" mold and comes up with "The Glass Key."  This one is well done.This one is a bit longer than normal due to the length of the episode.

A look at Edith Meiser (right), who was responsible for first bringing Sherlock Holmes to radio. Meiser adapted almost all the Holmes canon for radio beginning in the early thirties until 1945. She later wrote the text for a comic stripe of Holmes in the fifties.  An accomplished actress, who also wrote books, films and radio plays.  You'll hear a rare Holmes radio play from 1934.

The final actor to portray Johnny Dollar is featured this week. Mandel Kramer (right) was the last Dollar and also the last featured star of a dramatic radio serial from its Golden Age. Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar had the sad distinction of being the final dramatic radio program when it ended in September 1962.

When Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar was moved from Hollywood to New York City, Bob Bailey chose not to move with it and left the show. His long running stint as Dollar came to an end. New York actor Robert Readick became the new Johnny Dollar. A look at how the new series changed yet again.

We're nearing the end of our run of Johnny Dollar actors. This week a look at probably the best known and one of the most popular radio Johnny Dollar's among radio fans - Bob Bailey (right). Bailey is not well-known outside of his role although he was on a number of other series, mostly in minor roles. His story is a somewhat sad one as Bailey was a victim of his life as a radio actor.Music under is fantasia by Duke Ellington.

Nearing the end, a look at Johnny Dollar #5 and another one that was never heard over radio. Veteran radio and television actor Gerald Mohr - the voice of Philip Marlowe (right) - did an audition recording of the revival of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar after it left the air the previous year. Music under is "Blue in Rain" by kosaito from the Podshow Music Network.

We're now at the 4th Johnny Dollar actor in my continuing run on this well known radio detective. John Lund (right) was the fourth actor to portray the famous insurance investigator. Like Edmond O'Brien, his portrayal was a darker one, but flatter than O'Brien's. He was my least favorite of the Dollar's perhaps, but consideration will be given to his acting.Music under is is "Forty-Eight" by Whispering Johnson from the Podsafe Music Network.

We're now at part 3 of our look at Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. This week I'll focus on the portrayal of the detective by actor Edmond O'Brien. This run of the series takes on a much darker less whimsical tone as created by the new producer Jaime De Valle.