Mean Streets Podcasts

Home of the “Down These Mean Streets” and “Stars On Suspense” podcasts. Mostly old time radio, but also some classic TV and old Hollywood. Follow @MeanStsOTRPod

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Episode 410 - Jackie Kelk

For seven years on radio, Jackie Kelk portrayed cub reporter and Superman's pal Jimmy Olsen, and he helped to define the character for generations of depictions in comics, cartoons, and films. We'll hear him in a pair of Suspense thrillers - first as a man who murders his brother to preserve their childhood home in "Shadow on the Wall" (originally aired on CBS on September 22, 1957), and then in a western drama as a young gunfighter out for revenge in "Sundown" (originally aired on CBS on May 4, 1958). Plus we'll hear him as Jimmy in "The Mystery of the Flying Monster" from The Adventures of Superman (originally aired on ABC on March 7, 1949).

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Episode 409 - Elsa Lanchester

Elsa Lanchester achieved cinematic immortality with her iconic portrayal of the Bride of Frankenstein in the Universal horror classic. But her work in the realm of monsters was just a part of her long career on the stage and screen - a career that included two Oscar nominations and a dozen films where she co-starred with her husband Charles Laughton. We'll hear the couple in a Suspense adaptation of "The ABC Murders" (originally aired on CBS on May 18, 1943) and in a true crime historical drama from Columbia Presents Corwin ("The Moat Farm Murder," originally aired on CBS on July 18, 1944). Plus, Elsa Lanchester leads an all-female cast in a Suspense thriller set at a girls schoool - "Finishing School" (originally aired on CBS on December 30, 1943).

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Episode 622 - Mysteries at the Movies (Jeff Regan, Richard Diamond, & Johnny Dollar)

Lights, camera, action! This week, our old time radio sleuths are tackling cases connected with the movie business and finding mystery on and off screen. First, "the Lyon's Eye" has to protect a movie star from some unscripted violence. Frank Graham stars in "The Hollywood Story, or H is for the Many Things You Gave Me" from Jeff Regan, Investigator (originally aired on CBS on March 22, 1950). Next, Dick Powell goes west when the head of a movie studio is blackmailed - and later framed for murder - in "The Hollywood Story" from Richard Diamond, Private Detective (originally aired on CBS on August 23, 1953). Finally, a corpse in a seaside amusement park is connected to a silent movie star and the long-ago murder of her husband in "The Silent Queen Matter" - a five-part Johnny Dollar mystery starring Bob Bailey as "America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator" (originally aired on CBS between October 29 and November 2, 1956).

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Episode 408 - Lee Patrick

Best known as Effie, the loyal secretary to Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, Lee Patrick enjoyed great success on the Broadway stage and worked steadily as a character actress on the big and small screens. We'll hear her in a pair of shows from Suspense: first, she's half of a murderous married couple in "Just One Happy Little Family" (originally aired on CBS on April 6, 1958), and then she plays a woman whose part-time job takes a turn for the dangerous in "My Dear Niece" (originally aired on CBS on November 16, 1958). Plus, she recreates one of her great Broadway roles alongside Orson Welles and Jack Benny in a Campbell Playhouse production of "June Moon" (originally aired on CBS on March 24, 1940).

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BONUS - Dollar Days: The Chesapeake Fraud Matter

We join Johnny Dollar on a cross-country mystery as our bonus series of serialized adventures continues! Bob Bailey is "the man with the action-packed expense account" in "The Chesapeake Fraud Matter" (originally aired on CBS between October 17 and October 20, 1955), a case that finds Dollar trying to prove if a man marked down as dead five years ago is actually alive and well.

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Episode 621 - Spider Webb (Jeff Regan, Pat Novak, Pete Kelly’s Blues, & Dragnet)

We're celebrating the 105th anniversary of the birth of Jack Webb - one of the faces on the Mt. Rushmore of old time radio drama. Best known for Dragnet, Webb logged many an hour solving crimes on the air as cops, private eyes, and amateur sleuths. We'll hear him as Jeff Regan, Investigator in "The Guy from Gower Gulch" (originally aired on CBS on November 13, 1948) and as Pat Novak For Hire in "Wendy Morris" (originally aired on ABC on  May 8, 1948). He solves a Prohibition-era mystery in Pete Kelly's Blues (AFRS rebroadcast of an episode known as "Little Jake" from May 22, 1951), and we wrap up with Webb in his element as Sgt. Joe Friday in "The Big Want" (originally aired on NBC on March 1, 1953).

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Episode 407 - Berry Kroeger

In the earliest days of Suspense, Berry Kroeger introduced each week's story as the "Man in Black." Years later, this talented and versatile actor would step into starring roles on "radio's outstanding theatre of thrills." We'll hear him in an adaptation of W.F. Harvey's "August Heat" (originally aired on CBS on March 20, 1948) and as a would-be murderer who develops unusual mental powers in "It's All In Your Mind" (AFRS rebroadcast from July 20, 1958). Plus we'll hear more of his radio performances that show off his range - as a killer in "Eight Steps to Murder" from Inner Sanctum (originally aired on CBS on June 4, 1946) and as a spy on a daring mission in "Confidential Agent" from Escape (originally aired on CBS on April 2, 1949).

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Episode 620 - Fool Me Once (Sherlock Holmes, Box 13, Philip Marlowe, & Broadway is My Beat)

In honor of April Fool's Day, our radio detectives this week have to contend with some practical jokes and jokers that are anything but funny. Dr. Watson is enlisted to pull a prank on Sherlock Holmes in "The April Fool's Day Adventure," starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (originally aired on Mutual on April 1, 1946). Dan Holiday tries to find a deranged jokester before his antics turn deadly in "Death is No Joke" from Box 13. A fake will reading turns into a real crime scene as Philip Marlowe hunts for a killer in "The Last Laugh" (originally aired on CBS on April 2, 1949), and Detective Danny Clover has to find out who killed a celebrated prankster in "Laugh-a-Minute Tyler" from Broadway is My Beat (originally aired on March 14, 1953).

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Episode 406 - Herbert Marshall (Part 9)

We say goodbye to Herbert Marshall - one of the most frequent guest stars on Suspense. Marshall logged twenty appearances on "radio's outstanding theatre of thrills" between 1944 and 1959. He also starred in the 1940 audition show that helped to get Suspense a slot on the schedule. We'll hear him in a pair of those shows - an adaptation of Wilkie Collins' "The Dead Alive" (originally aired on CBS on March 9, 1953) and "The Long Shot," the story of a very deadly road trip (AFRS rebroadcast from February 9, 1958). Plus, we'll hear Marshall in his own radio series as The Man Called X - a debonair, globetrotting secret agent - in a pair of adventures (originally aired on NBC on January 13, 1951 and February 17, 1951).

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Episode 619 - Metropolis March Madness (Adventures of Superman)

The action is on and off the basketball court this week as Superman battles a hate group that targets a high school team just because of the ethnicities of its players. Clayton "Bud" Collyer stars as Clark Kent and the Man of Steel in "The Knights of the White Carnation," a serialized adventure that aired on Mutual from February 26 through March 18, 1947.

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BONUS - Best of William Bendix

In this bonus episode, I share my favorite Suspense shows starring William Bendix - the lovable lug of The Life of Riley and the Oscar-nominated character actor of Lifeboat, The Blue Dahlia, and more. He's a Runyonesque brawler turned detective in Raymond Chandler's "Pearls are a Nuisance" (originally aired on CBS on April 19, 1945), and an unwitting participant in a political blackmail scheme in "Three Faces at Midnight" (originally aired on CBS on February 27, 1947). Finally, Bendix is a safecracker who discovers his estranged son is eager to go into the family business in "The Gift of Jumbo Brannigan" (originally aired on CBS on March 1, 1951).

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Episode 618 - Jailbreak! (Boston Blackie, Richard Diamond, The Saint, & Dragnet)

Sound the alarm! We've got fugitives on the lam in these radio mysteries - each with an escape from jail at the center of the story. A convict Boston Blackie put behind bars is out and making his way to Blackie's door in a syndicated mystery, and Richard Diamond, Private Detective suspects an escaped gangster is back in town and settling scores in "The Ralph Baxter Case" (originally aired on NBC on April 26, 1950). The Saint comes to the aid of a young man falsely convicted of robbery who breaks out of prison to clear his name in "No Hiding Place" (originally aired on NBC on November 19, 1950). And the cops of Dragnet have to catch their man a second time after he escapes from custody in "The Big Break" (originally aired on NBC on December 14, 1950).

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Episode 405 - Vanessa Brown

Born in Austria, Vanessa Brown and her family fled the Nazis and made their way to America where she soon found success on the Broadway stage and as a juvenile contestant on The Quiz Kids. She broke into films in the 1940s before returning to the stage, where she originated the iconic role made famous by Marilyn Monroe in the original production of The Seven Year Itch. We'll hear Ms. Brown in an adaptation of a classic urban legend of paranoia and deception - "The Vanishing Lady" (AFRS rebroadcast from April 7, 1957). Then, she goes undercover to catch her sister's killer in "Vamp Till Dead" (AFRS rebroadcast from September 29, 1957). Plus, she finds romance at sea in "It's a Date" from Hollywood Star Time (originally aired on CBS on January 11, 1947) and she discusses her career on screen and as a Quiz Kid in an excerpt from an episode from July 21, 1946.

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BONUS - Dollar Days: The Molly K Matter

Our bonus series spotlighting the serialized adventures of Johnny Dollar continues with "The Molly K Matter," a mystery that brings Dollar to San Francisco to investigate what caused the titular freighter to sink to her untimely end. Bob Bailey stars as "America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator" in this five-part story that aired on CBS between October 10 and October 14, 1955. 

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Episode 617 - All In on Adventure (Sherlock Holmes, Philip Marlowe, Nero Wolfe, & Dragnet)

Place your bets with these old time radio mysteries involving gamblers and the (sometimes) crooked games they play. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find murder among the roulette tables of a French casino in "The Case of the Double Zero," starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (originally aired on Mutual on November 19, 1945). Philip Marlowe tries to find a friend's stolen IOU but stumbles across a corpse during the search in "The Promise to Pay" (originally aired on CBS on May 14, 1949), and Nero Wolfe is hired to find out who dealt a deadly hand during a poker game in "The Case of the Killer Cards" (originally aired on NBC on January 12, 1951). Finally, Sgt. Joe Friday hunts for the man who's impersonating a cop to extort money from gamblers in "The Big Shakedown" from Dragnet (originally aired on NBC on May 22, 1952).

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Episode 616 - The Envelope Please… (Rex Saunders, Johnny Dollar, Bold Venture, & Sherlock Holmes)

It's a wonderful night for Oscar! The Academy Awards will be handed out this evening, so in celebration of Hollywood's biggest night, here are four old time radio mysteries - each starring an actor who took home a golden statuette. Edmond O'Brien (Best Supporting Actor for The Barefoot Contessa) is Johnny Dollar in "The George Farmer Matter" (originally aired on CBS on June 9, 1951). Rex Harrison (Best Actor for My Fair Lady) stars as a debonair detective in "A Trip to the Death House" from The Private Files of Rex Saunders (originally aired on NBC on June 13, 1951). Humphrey Bogart (Best Actor for The African Queen) and Lauren Bacall (nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Mirror Has Two Faces) star in "Senor Rufio's Legacy of Death," a syndicated episode of Bold Venture. Finally John Gielgud (Best Supporting Actor for Arthur) and Ralph Richardson (a two-time Best Supporting Actor nominee) are Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in "The Golden Pince-Nez" (originally aired on NBC on April 3, 1955).

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Episode 404 - Torin Thatcher

British character actor Torin Thatcher made a name for himself as a Hollywood heavy in everything from seafaring adventures to magical fantasies. We'll hear him as a miner forced to return to the site of an accident where he was the only survivor in "The Digger" (originally aired on CBS on October 9, 1956). Plus, he plays Mark Anthony as CBS brings you a "live" report of "The Assassination of Julius Caesar" in You Are There (originally aired on CBS on April 24, 1949) and he's part of a terrific cast in a fascinating adaptation of fourteenth-century Japanese theatre in "Noh Plays of Japan" from The CBS Radio Workshop (originally aired on CBS on April 7, 1957).

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