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 down these mean streets where this week we're celebrating a saintly anniversary. The Adventures of

Simon Templar, the gentleman adventurer and detective introduced in the novels of Leslie

Charterus, came to radio 75 years ago this month

and today we're marking the occasion with two radio adventures of the Robin Hood of

Modern Crime both starring Vincent Price as the saint.

Several actors played the character on radio, including Brian A Hearn and Tom Conway,

but Price is the actor most associated with the saint.

He played Simon Templar on radio from 1947 until 1951. Our first show this week is The Frightened Author, originally aired on NBC on July 23rd, 1950.

Simon comes to the aid of a writer who's based his latest murder mystery on a real life love triangle.

Now the people who inspired his work are furious, and one of them is gunning for the wordsmith. The cast includes

Betty Luke Gerson, Barney Phillips, Stanley Ferraar and Edmund McDonald. Jerome Epstein

wrote the script, an actress turned director Helen Mack was behind the scenes.

Then from April 1st, 1951, it's Simon Carries the Ivy.

In this one the saint returns to his alma mater to investigate threatening letters circulating

on the campus, a campaign of terror that escalates to a violent assault and a murder.

Ed Begley, who we know is Lieutenant Levinson on Richard Diamond,

...