Episode 379 – Read All About It (Big Town)

Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

Jack Mooney

Arts, Performing Arts, Tv & Film

4.5 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 April 2020

⏱️ 99 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The citizens of Big Town were protected from mobsters, racketeers, and fraudsters by the crusading staff of the Illustrated Press. Editor Steve Wilson (Edward Pawley) and society reporter Lorelei Kilbourne (Fran Carlon) chased down leads with the help of their colorful crew of friends and sources and shined the light of justice on evildoers. We'll hear three radio mysteries: "Double Murder" (originally aired on NBC on October 12, 1948); "I Remember Murder" (originally aired on NBC on November 30, 1948); and "The Fatal Alibi" (originally aired on NBC on May 3, 1949).

Transcript

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0:00.0	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.
0:07.0	The story you are about to hear is true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
0:18.0	The Adventures of Sam Spade Detective.
0:22.0	The Adventures of the Saints starring Vincent Prize
0:25.4	Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account
0:30.4	America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator.
0:33.0	Yours truly, Johnny Deller. the Hello and welcome to down these mean streets. Today we're heading to Big Town, the unnamed metropolis whose citizens were defended by the fearless reporters of the illustrated press.
1:10.0	Led by their crusading editor Steve Wilson, the staff of the press exposed corruption, blew the lid off political conspiracies and used exposies to smash rackets plaguing their city. Their ceaseless fight for justice kept the streets of big town clean and it kept listeners glued to their radios.
1:31.0	Aering from 1937 until 1952 radios. and it inspired a series of films, a television show, and even a comic book.
1:45.7	Big Town began in 1937 as an all-star showcase.
1:50.8	Edward G. Robinson starred as Wilson and future Oscar winner Claire Trevor played society reporter
1:57.8	Lorely Kilbourn.
2:00.2	In the early episodes of the show Wilson wasn't much of a justice-minded muckraker.
2:05.6	He was a scandal monger, willing to print whatever he could to boost his circulation.
2:11.1	His expose of a wealthy woman's risque past in the first episode earned him a bullet that nearly took his life.
2:20.0	By the way, if you want to hear that premiere episode of Big Town from 1937, you can check
2:25.4	out our third Edward G. Robinson podcast over at Stars on Suspense.
2:31.2	As the show went on, Wilson took on corrupt food inspectors, hit and run drivers, juvenile
2:36.9	delinquents, and even the Axis powers as a wartime correspondent.
2:42.8	Claire Trevor left the show in 1940, and Robinson left in 1942.
2:49.4	Stepping into their roles were Edward Pauly and Fran Carlin. It was during their round. of their
2:55.0	run, and Fran Carlin. It was during their run that the show hit its tremendous ratings heights,
	...

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