Get this and get it straight.

Crime is a sucker's road.

And those who travel it wind up in the gut of the prison of the grave.

The story you were 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 Saint,

starring Vincent Price.

Bob Bailey, in the exciting adventures

of the man with the action-packed expense account.

America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator...

Yours truly, Johnny Dollar.

... Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Hi, and welcome to a bonus episode of Down These Mean Streets, one last show before we bid farewell to 2018.

And with 2019, right around the corner, we've got a pair of New Year's Eve mysteries from two of my favorite radio detectives,

Sergeant Joe Friday of Dragnet and Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe.

First, Jack Webb stars in the Big New Year's, and although this story takes place on New Year's Eve,

it originally aired on NBC on March 8, 1951. In this story, Friday and

his partner Ben Romero catch the case when a fellow cop is shot and killed. Barton Yarborough co-stars

as Romero, the first partner Friday had when Dragnet premiered on radio and television. Romero's tenure came to an end when

Yarborough passed away six months after this episode aired. Then Gerald Moore stars in the

Old Acquaintance, originally aired on CBS on December 26, 1948. Marlowe's new client is looking

for his fiance, who disappeared just before she called off their wedding.

...