Get this and get it straight. Crime is a suckers road and those who travel it'd 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 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 a bonus episode of Down These Mean Streets coming to you ahead of this year's Academy Awards.

In honor of Hollywood's biggest night, today we'll hear three old-time radio detective stars each who took home an Oscar for their big screen work.

First we'll hear Rex Harrison, best actor for My Fair Lady.

Long before he took Eliza Doolittle under his wing,

Harrison starred in the Private Files of Rex Saunders.

Rex played Rex, a debonair adventurer and gentleman sleuth in the mold of Bulldog Drummond.

The series had a very short run and it tends to get overlooked today, though it really shouldn't.

Harrison is great as the Sly Detective.

The direction is from Radio veteran Hyman Brown, and the scripts are solid mysteries penned by Ed Adamson,

a writer who would go on to contribute TV scripts for Manix and Mission Impossible.

Today, we'll hear worth more than its weight in murder,

originally aired on NBC on July 25th, 1951.

Leon Jani co-stars as Saunders right-hand man Alec

in a case involving a missing brother and an in-demand Jade Cat.

Next we'll hear Frank Sinatra as Rocky Fortune,

a detective series that started to wind down after Old Blue Eyes took home his Oscar for his turn in from here to eternity.

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