Get this and get it straight. Crime is a suckers road and those who travel it wind up in the gut of the prison of the grave.

The story you are about to hear is true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

The Adventures of Sam Spade Detective.

The Adventures of the Saints starring Vincent Prize

Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account

America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator.

Yours truly, Johnny Deller. And the Hello and welcome to our Wednesday comedy bonus episode of Down These Mean Streets.

Today we continue our month-long tribute to the great

African-American performers of the radio era. This week our spotlight shines on

Eddie Anderson, better known to old time radio fans as Jack

Benny's Valet Rochester.

Anderson joined the cast of Benny's radio program in 1937 and he remained an important

part of Benny's troop through the end of Benny's television series in 1965. Anderson was the first African American performer to have a regular

role on a national radio show and the character of Rochester became one of the most

popular on the series, arguably second only to Jack Benny himself.

Anderson made his earliest appearances on the Jack Benny program in one-off roles as a train

Porter helping Benny with his luggage and as a waiter serving the cast in a restaurant.

The positive reception to his appearances led Benny to make Anderson a regular cast member.

On June 20th, 1937, Anderson made his first official appearance as Rochester Van Jones.

Like the other characters on the show, Rochester was the subject of several recurring gags, including his attempts to extract a larger salary from the notoriously cheap Benny.

His early appearances were marked by some of the stereotypical behavior that plagued black characters in the radio era.

But in the early 1940s, Benny and his writers started to strip away those stereotypical elements from Rochester's character.

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