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. the Hello and welcome to this week's bonus comedy episode of Down These Mean Streets.

Today we're saluting a performer who elevated several classic radio

comedies with his presence and his versatility. That performer is John Brown, who's best known to radio fans as that morbid man about town, Digger Odell, on the life of Riley.

Brown was born April 4, 1904 in England,

a fact that always surprises me.

You'd never know it from hearing the characters he played on the air.

Many of them were blue-collar regular Joes without a hint of an English accent.

John Brown's list of radio credits is impressive, not only for the number of shows where he appeared, but the number of series where he was a regular cast member.

On any given night in the 40s and early 50s, you could hear John Brown as

Al, the near-to-well boyfriend of my friend Irma, as Thorney, the Nelson's next-door neighbor and the Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet,

John Doe, one of the early residents of Alan Zally,

Mr. Willoughby, Dennis's boss on a day in the life of Dennis Day, Judy's dad on a date with

Judy, and as Broadway, the narrator of the Damon Runyon Theater.

But his best-known radio work came on the life of Riley,

where he was frequently heard as two very different characters, usually in the same

episode. He played Gillis, Riley's neighbor and coworker, and of course

...