Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

Mean Streets Podcasts
  • 4.5 (1.1K)
  • Performing Arts
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Presenting the best detectives from the Golden Age of Radio. Each week, we'll bring you an episode starring one of Old Time Radio's greatest detectives and the story behind the show. Join us for adventures of Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Johnny Dollar, and many more.

  1. 5d ago

    BONUS - Revenge of Halloween Hoopla!

    Grab your costume and a pillowcase! We're going trick or treating through the golden age of radio in the annual Down These Mean Streets Halloween Special! It's a full-sized candy bar's worth of fun and frights featuring heroes, villains, comedy, and chills. Jack Benny opens the show as he joins his buddies in the Beverly Hills Beavers for Halloween hijinks (originally aired on CBS on November 2, 1952), and the Green Hornet shows up to stop thieves from ruining a costume party in "Halloween Adventure" (originally aired on the Blue Network on October 24, 1944). Then Ronald Colman stars in an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror" from Suspense (originally aired on CBS on November 1, 1945), and Frank Lovejoy faces a voodoo curse in Cornell Woolrich's "Papa Benjamin" from Escape (originally aired on CBS on January 21, 1948). Peter Lorre stars in "The Horla," an adaptation of the story by Guy de Maupassant from Lorre's anthology Mystery in the Air (originally aired on NBC on August 21, 1947), and a ghost complicates a murder case for Richard Kollmar in a syndicated Boston Blackie mystery. Boris Karloff has some frightful fun with Jack Carson and Dorothy Lamour on The Sealtest Variety Theatre (originally aired on NBC on October 28, 1948), and Robert Taylor should have checked Zillow before he rented "The House in Cypress Canyon" on (originally aired on CBS on December 5, 1946) on Suspense. Finally, Jack Benny returns to close out the show in the classic comedy horror story "Seven Keys to Baldpate" from The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on CBS on September 26, 1938).

  2. Oct 25

    Spectral Sleuthing (Michael Shayne, Sherlock Holmes, Let George Do It, & Richard Diamond)

    Halloween is only a few days away, and in honor of the spooky season we've got four radio detectives tangling with seemingly supernatural suspects. As Michael Shayne, Wally Maher goes ghost hunting in "The Ghost on Moccasin Hill" (originally aired on Mutual on April 9, 1945). Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce play Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in "The Headless Monk," a mystery involving a haunted chapel (originally aired on Mutual on April 15, 1946). Bob Bailey may need a ghost's assistance to solve a murder in "The Spirit World" from Let George Do It (originally aired on Mutual on May 10, 1948). And when someone is trying to haunt a widow out of her home, she calls Dick Powell in "The House of Mystery" from Richard Diamond, Private Detective (originally aired on NBC on December 10, 1949).

  3. Oct 18

    Mine, All Mine! (Philip Marlowe, The Saint, & Johnny Dollar)

    A miner's strike can yield silver, diamonds, or even gold…but those valuable finds can also lead to murder as our heroes discover this week. We'll hear a trio of radio detectives investigating cases that bring them to (and sometimes in) treacherous mines to hunt for clues instead of ore. Philip Marlowe hunts for a thief in a Mexican diamond mine in "The Unfair Lady" (originally aired on CBS on June 4, 1949); Simon Templar comes to the aid of a woman with a newly acquired silver mine in "The Saint Goes Underground" (originally aired on Mutual on July 31, 1949); and Johnny Dollar investigates whether a fatal mine cave-in was an accident or murder in the five-part mystery "The Midas Touch Matter" (originally aired on CBS between July 2 and July 6, 1956).

  4. Oct 11

    Encore - Haunted Holmes Tour (New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)

    With Halloween fast approaching, enjoy this encore episode featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson tackling seemingly supernatural foes in four old time radio adventures! We'll hear Tom Conway as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson in "The Adventure of the Black Angus" (originally aired on ABC on October 19, 1946) and "The Adventure of the Carpathian Horror" (originally aired on ABC on April 14, 1947). Then, John Stanley and Alfred Shirley star in "The Case of the Sanguinary Spectre" (originally aired on Mutual on February 8, 1948) and "The Case of the Everblooming Roses" (originally aired on Mutual on May 16, 1948).

  5. Oct 4

    Gumshoe Guest Stars (Box 13, Green Lama, Richard Diamond, & Johnny Dollar)

    Before they starred (or sometimes while they were starring) in their own radio detective shows, some actors made guest appearances on other mystery programs. Today we'll hear four of them in the supporting cast instead of the lead role. Before Dragnet, Jack Webb joins a scavenger hunt with Alan Ladd in "The Better Man" from Box 13; Charles Russell takes a break from his work as Johnny Dollar for an appearance in "The Million Dollar Chopsticks" from The Green Lama (originally aired on CBS on June 26, 1949); Gerald Mohr hangs up his Philip Marlowe hat in "The Mike Burton Case" from Richard Diamond, Private Detective (originally aired on NBC on July 5, 1950); and two detectives - Larry Thor of Broadway is My Beat and Stacy Harris of This is Your FBI - co-star with Bob Bailey in "The Big Scoop Matter" from Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (originally aired on CBS on November 11, 1956).

  6. Sep 27

    Two Gusts of "Red Wind" (Adventures of Philip Marlowe)

    On September 26, 1948, Gerald Mohr went on the air as Raymond Chandler's private eye in The Adventures of Philip Marlowe. His debut adventure was an adaptation of Chandler's short story "Red Wind." Coincidentally, "Red Wind" was also adapted as the first episode of the 1947 series of Philip Marlowe mysteries starring Van Heflin. It's the only story to air with both Heflin and Mohr starring as Marlowe, and we'll compare their performances with both episodes. Plus, we'll hear Marlowe meet Marlowe as Gerald Mohr guest stars opposite Van Heflin in "The King in Yellow" (originally aired on CBS on July 8, 1947).

  7. Sep 21

    BONUS - Bat's in the Belfry (Adventures of Superman)

    With a slight delay, we wrap up our celebration of Batman Day with the concluding chapters of "The Secret of Meteor Island." This Superman radio adventure brought in Batman and Robin to help the Man of Steel hunt for a smuggler whose cargo of radioactive diamonds is wreaking havoc on Metropolis. We'll hear the final installments, originally aired on Mutual between June 24 and July 6, 1948.

  8. Sep 16

    BONUS - World's Finest On the Air (Adventures of Superman)

    Holy team-up! To celebrate Batman Day, here's a radio adventure that unites the Caped Crusader and Robin, the Boy Wonder, with Superman. We'll hear the heroes join forces in the first eight chapters of "The Secret of Meteor Island" (originally aired on Mutual between June 14 and June 23, 1948). Stay tuned later this week for the final chapters of this thrilling super story!

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Presenting the best detectives from the Golden Age of Radio. Each week, we'll bring you an episode starring one of Old Time Radio's greatest detectives and the story behind the show. Join us for adventures of Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Johnny Dollar, and many more.

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