Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

As a belated Valentine's Day treat, we've got four radio mysteries where our detectives are entangled in matrimonial mishaps. As Sherlock Holmes, Basil Rathbone investigates a black widow in "The Book of Tobit" (originally aired on Mutual on March 26, 1945). Philip Marlowe trails a missing wife in "The Persian Slippers" (originally aired on CBS on October 3, 1948), and Sam Spade is accused of eloping in "The Love Letter Caper" (an Armed Forces Radio Service rebroadcast from March 27, 1949). Finally, a wife wants Richard Diamond to protect her husband in "The Simpson Case" (originally aired on ABC on January 18, 1952).

Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and our old time radio mysteries this week all feature real-life husbands and wives at the microphone or behind the scenes. First, June Allyson - aka Mrs. Dick Powell - plays Richard Diamond's latest client (originally aired on NBC on June 21, 1950). Then, Cathy and Elliott Lewis star as a less than happily married couple in "Love, Honor, or Murder" from Suspense (originally aired on CBS on June 29, 1950). Our third show features a couple that worked on and off mic - actress Virginia Gregg and director Jaime del Valle in "The Lapinish Lighter-Upper Case" from The Line-Up (originally aired on CBS on March 27, 1951). And finally, Joan Banks pays a visit to Night Beat alongside her husband Frank Lovejoy in an episode that originally aired on NBC on September 4, 1952.

After a week of dealing with a thick coating of ice all over everything, I've got winter weather on the brain. So today, we have three old time radio mysteries where our sleuths have to solve their crimes in the snow. First, Bob Bailey hits the slopes to prevent a murder in "Snow Blind" from Let George Do It (originally aired on Mutual on December 26, 1949). Then, William Gargan suspects a fatal slip on the ice wasn't an accident in "The Girl on the Doorstep" from Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator (originally aired on NBC on February 16, 1953). Finally, John Lund is "the man with the action-packed expense account" in a snowbound mystery in the Windy City - "The Classified Killer Matter" from Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (AFRS rebroadcast from February 23, 1954).

We wrap up our series of Hollywood stars who solved crimes on the air with Glenn Ford. The star of Gilda, The Big Heat, and 3:10 to Yuma appeared on radio as Christopher London, a globetrotting private eye created by Erle Stanley Gardner. We'll hear Ford as London in "The Missing Heiress" (originally aired on NBC on February 5, 1950). Then, he's a man on the run in a Studio One adaptation of "The 39 Steps" (originally aired on CBS on March 23, 1948).

This week's Hollywood leading man turned radio detective is Dana Andrews, who starred on screen in Laura, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Boomerang, and more. On the air, Andrews played Matt Cvetic, undercover agent, in the syndicated series I Was a Communist for the FBI. We'll hear a pair of his adventures in Red-bashing: "Pit Viper" and "Jump to the Whip." Plus, Andrews plays a reporter out to clear a wrongfully convicted man in a radio adaptation of Call Northside 777 from Hollywood Sound Stage (originally aired on CBS on December 27, 1951).