Regular price: $34.99
That's Boston Blackie, safecracker turned crime fighter and a long-running favorite with fans of straight-ahead detective fiction in a wide range of media. Beginning inauspiciously in a 1919 short story by author Jack Boyle, Blackie progressed from the printed page into silent films, then into talkies - and finally, in the 1940s, into radio. The first radio Blackie was Chester Morris, who played the role in a long series of B movies during the 1940s.
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar began in 1949 as a typical slam-bang detective series, and though consistently well written and acted, the series never really captured an enthusiastic audience. However, in the fall of 1955, Bob Bailey took over the title role; veteran director Jack Johnstone and writers John Dawson, Robert Ryf, and Les Crutchfield joined the production team; and the series was transformed into a quarter-hour, five-a-week strip show.
No bigger fad swept across postwar radio than that of the hard-boiled private detective - and nobody had more fun with their wink-and-nudge take on the genre than the producers, writers, and cast of The Adventures of Sam Spade. Dashiell Hammett's legendary private eye had a sardonic sense of humor, which wavy-haired, rugged-voiced Howard Duff played to perfection.
Whose Body? first introduced Lord Peter to the world and begins with a corpse in the bath of a London flat. Clouds of Witness finds Wimsey investigating murder close to home, and in Unnatural Death he investigates the suspicious demise of an elderly woman. First broadcast on BBC radio in the 1970s and presented here in their entirety, these full-cast adaptations are admired by fans of the genre worldwide.
Hollywood's beloved song and dance man, Dick Powell, turned gumshoe in this 1945-era detective yarn. At once a tough-talking detective working with police to solve tough murder cases and yet an affable crooner who ended nearly every episode singing to his girlfriend in his rich baritone voice. Whether murder or music, Dick Powell beguiled radio audiences through 100+ episodes before the show moved to television and the role was eventually taken over by David Janssen, later the star of The Fugitive.
He's the smartest and the most stubborn, the fattest and the laziest, the cleverest and the craziest - the most extravagant detective in the world. Yes, it is Nero Wolfe, Rex Stout's gourmand orchid fancier and one of the most eccentric and unique detectives ever to hit the airwaves. Starring character actor Sydney Greenstreet (The Maltese Falcon), The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe is an immensely entertaining mystery series that remains a true delight even 60 years after it was first broadcast.
That's Boston Blackie, safecracker turned crime fighter and a long-running favorite with fans of straight-ahead detective fiction in a wide range of media. Beginning inauspiciously in a 1919 short story by author Jack Boyle, Blackie progressed from the printed page into silent films, then into talkies - and finally, in the 1940s, into radio. The first radio Blackie was Chester Morris, who played the role in a long series of B movies during the 1940s.
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar began in 1949 as a typical slam-bang detective series, and though consistently well written and acted, the series never really captured an enthusiastic audience. However, in the fall of 1955, Bob Bailey took over the title role; veteran director Jack Johnstone and writers John Dawson, Robert Ryf, and Les Crutchfield joined the production team; and the series was transformed into a quarter-hour, five-a-week strip show.
No bigger fad swept across postwar radio than that of the hard-boiled private detective - and nobody had more fun with their wink-and-nudge take on the genre than the producers, writers, and cast of The Adventures of Sam Spade. Dashiell Hammett's legendary private eye had a sardonic sense of humor, which wavy-haired, rugged-voiced Howard Duff played to perfection.
Whose Body? first introduced Lord Peter to the world and begins with a corpse in the bath of a London flat. Clouds of Witness finds Wimsey investigating murder close to home, and in Unnatural Death he investigates the suspicious demise of an elderly woman. First broadcast on BBC radio in the 1970s and presented here in their entirety, these full-cast adaptations are admired by fans of the genre worldwide.
Hollywood's beloved song and dance man, Dick Powell, turned gumshoe in this 1945-era detective yarn. At once a tough-talking detective working with police to solve tough murder cases and yet an affable crooner who ended nearly every episode singing to his girlfriend in his rich baritone voice. Whether murder or music, Dick Powell beguiled radio audiences through 100+ episodes before the show moved to television and the role was eventually taken over by David Janssen, later the star of The Fugitive.
He's the smartest and the most stubborn, the fattest and the laziest, the cleverest and the craziest - the most extravagant detective in the world. Yes, it is Nero Wolfe, Rex Stout's gourmand orchid fancier and one of the most eccentric and unique detectives ever to hit the airwaves. Starring character actor Sydney Greenstreet (The Maltese Falcon), The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe is an immensely entertaining mystery series that remains a true delight even 60 years after it was first broadcast.
John Moffat stars as the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in seven more BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations. The stories in this volume are: Evil Under the Sun, Sad Cypress, Murder in Mesopotamia, Lord Edgware Dies, Halloween Party, Murder on the Links and Five Little Pigs. Based on the original novels by Agatha Christie, these superb adaptations feature a cast of outstanding actors playing an array of likely suspects.
Gunshots, fist fights, and footsteps in the dark! Come hear crime and mystery, action and suspense with radio's greatest detectives! Ten hours of bracing crime-stopping broadcasts bring you Sherlock Holmes, Sam Spade, The Saint, The Shadow, Johnny Dollar, Bulldog Drummond - and 14 more favorites! Vincent Price, Bob Bailey, Basil Rathbone, Howard Duff, Dick Powell, and more star in 20 tales that are hard boiled and heroic, brilliant and bloody.
The Martin Beck books are widely acknowledged as some of the most influential detective novels ever written. Written by Swedish husband and wife team Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö between 1965 and 1975, the 10-book series set a gold standard for all subsequent Scandinavian crime fiction. Long before Kurt Wallander or Harry Hole, Beck was the original flawed policeman, working with a motley collection of colleagues to uncover the cruelty and injustice lurking beneath the surface of Sweden's liberal society.
First heard on network radio in 1948, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar chronicled the adventures of freelance insurance investigator Johnny Dollar, "the man with the action-packed expense account."
For 14 years, it was one of the most popular detective shows on the air, lasting until the final days of network radio drama in 1962. Each story started with a phone call from an insurance executive calling on Johnny Dollar to investigate an unusual claim. His investigations usually required him to travel to distant locales and often involved murder.
Ian Carmichael stars as Lord Peter Wimsey in the much-acclaimed radio dramatisations of: Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, Strong Poison, Five Red Herrings and Have His Carcase.
The complete collection of landmark BBC Radio dramas of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe mysteries. Philip Marlowe is the archetypal noir detective: wisecracking and world weary, hard boiled yet honourable. This volume includes all eight dramatisations of Raymond Chandler's groundbreaking crime novels featuring his iconic hero.
Whether boasting about his influence in town, his prowess in the kitchen, his grace on the ice, or his savvy with a rod and reel, no man was ever more determined to stick to his guns - and his story - than Fibber McGee! Head on over to Wistful Vista for a visit with the Old Timer, Wallace Wimple, Doc Gamble, and Mayor LaTrivia - and of course, Jim and Marian Jordan as your old friends Fibber McGee and Molly!
Theater Five was ABC's attempt to revive radio drama during the early 1960s. The series name was derived from its time slot, 5:00 p.m. Running Monday through Friday, it was an anthology of short stories, each about 20 minutes long. News programs and commercials filled out the full 30 minutes. There was a good bit of science fiction, and some of the plots seem to have been taken from the daily newspaper. Fred Foy of The Lone Ranger fame was an ABC staff announcer in the early '60s who, among other duties, did Theater Five.
The world-famous sleuth is back in this astounding 60-episode collection (many previously believed to have been lost) direct from the original radio broadcasts. Featuring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, this collection contains nearly 30 hours of Old Time Radio broadcasting at its best. Digitally remastered from the original broadcast recordings, this amazing set is a true collector's item for Sherlock Holmes fans everywhere!
The Whistler, Volume 1 contains haunting stories of fate, dramas of crime, deception, and manipulation building to a sudden and shocking denouement, and through it all, the sardonic, mocking laughter of The Whistler! One of radio's most memorable thriller anthologies, the Whistler's stories revolve around ordinary people, pushed by the pressures of daily life into taking drastic action.
The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, Volume 1 is a collection of the only known episodes to exist from its run on both NBC and CBS radio. Originally called "The New Adventures of Philip Marlowe," the private eye series, based on the character and books created by Raymond Chandler, made its debut on the NBC radio network on June 17, 1947, with Van Heflin in the role of Marlowe. The first episode adapted Chandler's short story "Red Wind."
He was well dressed, well traveled, and well educated. He was also The Saint, the "Robin Hood of modern crime", who was not afraid to break the law if that's what had to be done to ensure that justice was served. Larry Dobkin co-stars as Louie the Cabbie in these digitally restored and remastered tales that find Templar sailing, skiing, and delving in to the disparate worlds of mining, baseball, prizefighting, mystery writing, and more.
That's Boston Blackie, safecracker turned crime fighter and a long-running favorite with fans of straight-ahead detective fiction in a wide range of media. Beginning inauspiciously in a 1919 short story by author Jack Boyle, Blackie progressed from the printed page into silent films, then into talkies - and finally, in the 1940s, into radio. The first radio Blackie was Chester Morris, who played the role in a long series of B movies during the 1940s. Beginning in 1944 as a summer replacement series for Amos 'n' Andy, Morris brought a certain wrong-side-of-the-tracks charm to his portrayal and gave the character a well-crafted introduction to the broadcast medium. But the longest-running radio Blackie was an odd casting choice: Broadway and sometime soap opera actor Richard Kollmar, best known to radio fans along the Eastern seaboard as the urbane Dick of WOR's Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick, a morning show which also featured his wife, newspaper columnist Dorothy Kilgallen.
I so enjoyed all four Boston Blackie radio shows. Clean, wholesome fun that lets me relax at the end of the day.