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Here are 12 episodes from the greatest detective shows ever broadcast during the golden age of radio, with the legendary stars that made them great. You'll hear Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson, Sydney Greenstreet as Nero Wolfe, Howard Duff as Sam Spade, Chester Morris as Boston Blackie, Dick Powell as Richard Diamond, and Jack Webb as Dragnet's Sergeant Joe Friday, plus more gumshoes like Philip Marlowe, Bulldog Drummond, Michael Shayne, and Johnny Dollar.

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.

Broadway Is My Beat was a dark, gritty radio crime drama that ran on CBS from 1949 until 1954. The series was originally broadcast from New York, with Anthony Ross portraying Times Square Police Detective Danny Clover. Produced by Lester Gottlieb, it was directed by John Dietz. But by the 13th episode, the series moved to Hollywood (still set in NYC) with producer Elliott Lewis directing a new cast, with scripts by Morton Fine and David Friedkin (the duo that would later write and develop TV's popular secret-agent series I Spy).

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 15 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.

Candy Matson was a response to all the hard-boiled detectives on the radio, like Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, and Pat Novak, and all those other detectives who were beaten up on a regular basis. Candy, played by Natalie Park, was hard-boiled in her own way. She never compromised her femininity, but she did know how to use a gun and didn't hesitate to use it when it was necessary. She didn't take any guff from the guys - the good guys or the bad guys. With a snappy comeback, she could take anybody's head off.

The Black Museum was a weekly radio crime drama produced for the BBC in 1951 and based on real-life cases from the files of Scotland Yard. Orson Welles, who was living in London at the time, was both host and narrator for these dramatized stories based on Scotland Yard's Black Museum, which housed its collection of murder weapons and various ordinary objects once associated with historical crime cases.

This collection showcases Lucille Ball's amazing spectrum of radio work, from comedy to mystery and everything in between. As Lucy Ricardo, Lucille Ball brought a tomboy's enthusiasm and a scatterbrained quality to the long-running television program I Love Lucy. She was the wacky wife making life difficult for her loving but exasperated husband, Ricky Ricardo, played by Ball's real-life husband, Desi Arnaz.

Fort Laramie was an adult-oriented Western radio series that aired Sunday afternoons on the CBS radio network in 1956. Produced and directed by Gunsmoke's Norman Macdonnell, this realistic Western drama depicted life at Fort Laramie, an important stop on the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails as well as a staging point for various military excursions during the 19th century.

Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve was a popular character appearing each week on the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show. On August 31, 1941, Gildersleeve landed his own situation comedy, The Great Gildersleeve, becoming radio's first spin-off. Gildersleeve moved from the town of Wistful Vista, where Fibber McGee and Molly lived, to Summerfield, where he oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie and Leroy Forrester.

Rogue's Gallery was an old-time radio program starring Dick Powell as Richard Rogue, a private detective who trailed luscious blondes, protected witnesses, and did whatever else detectives do to make a living. What set this show apart from others in the genre was that midway through every episode, Rogue would invariably end up getting knocked out and spending his dream time in acerbic conversation on Cloud 8 with his subconscious self named Eugor - Rogue spelled backward.

Every week, Inner Sanctum Mysteries told a story of ghosts, murderers, and lunatics. Taking its name from a popular series of mystery novels, Inner Sanctum Mysteries debuted over NBC radio's Blue Network in January 1941 and featured one of the most memorable and atmospheric openings in radio history, as an organist hit a dissonant chord, a doorknob turned, and a creaking door slowly began to open.

Here are 12 episodes of the horror and mystery series written and produced by radio announcers beginning in 1946. There were several series under the Hall of Fantasy banner, all produced by Richard Thorne. The first originated from radio station KALL in Salt Lake City. Richard Thorne and Carl Greyson were announcers for the station and coproduced the bare-bones horror series beginning in 1946. Written or adapted by Robert Olson and directed by Thorne, the stories were mostly murder mysteries with traditional endings.

Created by Frances and Richard Lockridge, Mr. & Mrs. North were fictional amateur detectives appearing in novels, motion pictures, radio, and television. The Norths were not professional detectives but simply a well-to-do New York couple who stumbled across a murder or two every week and felt compelled to solve the crimes. A 1942 MGM movie starred William Post, Jr. and George Burns' wife, Gracie Allen.

Like Mike Hammer and Philip Marlowe, Shayne is a loner. Once happily married, Mike is devastated when his wife is suddenly and tragically murdered. Grief stricken, Shayne loses himself in his work as a private eye, prowling the dark streets of New Orleans, seeking out his style of revenge on injustice.

Conceived as a potential radio vehicle for Alfred Hitchcock to direct, Suspense was a radio series of epic proportion. It aired on CBS from 1942 to 1962 and is considered by many to be the best mystery drama series of the golden age. Often referred to as "Radio's Outstanding Theater of Thrills", it focused on suspenseful thrillers starring the biggest names in Hollywood.

Produced in New York, Murder at Midnight came to ABC Radio in September of 1946 and featured horror stories with supernatural twists. Raymond Morgan, a former Long Island minister who had left the cloth for the excitement of radio, was the foreboding host who each week uttered the lines, "Midnight, the witching hour, when the night is darkest, our fears the strongest, and our strength at its lowest ebb. Midnight, when the graves gape open and death strikes."

Our Miss Brooks was a situation comedy show heard on radio and seen on television and in films starring Oscar winner Eve Arden. Her skill with the wicked one-liner and acid aside had begun to lead to typecasting, so, to find a new image, Arden signed on for the lead in radio's Our Miss Brooks. The series centered on Connie Brooks, a smart, sharp-witted, lovable English teacher at fictional Madison High School.

The Lineup was a hard-boiled drama. Like Dragnet, it realistically showed police doing their jobs. The show always began with a police sergeant ordering suspects to stand at attention so that the victim, behind one-way glass, could try to identify the criminal. While the lineup was rarely the key to solving the case, it did give the show a rhythm and also allowed for humor in the interrogation of the suspects by the sergeant. The series began as a summer replacement for The FBI in Peace and War in 1950, but soon got its own time slot.

Damon Runyon was a newspaperman and writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of New York City's Broadway that grew out of the Prohibition era. He created a little world of characters that live on even today in such classic movies as Little Miss Marker and Guys and Dolls, both based on Runyon's stories. Actor Alan Ladd's Mayfair Productions brought Runyon's short stories to radio in the early 1950s.

The Whistler was one of radio's top mystery programs, airing from May 16, 1942 until September 22, 1955. The Whistler was an ominous narrator who opened each episode with, "I am the Whistler, and I know many things, for I walk by night. I know many strange tales, many secrets hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak."