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 and more old-time radio cops and crime

fighters.

This week we're heading back to an unnamed American city to see the array of criminals

on parade in the lineup.

One of the best radio police procedurals, the the lineup inspired a TV series and a classic film directed by the great Don

Siegel but it all began as a radio show starring Bill Johnstone, a former voice of the

Shadow as Lieutenant Ben Guthrie. The lineup premiered about a year after Dragnet, and while it presented an authentic

depiction of police investigations too, it didn't have the slavish devotion to accuracy that Jack Webb had for his series.

It also didn't have the formal endorsement of a police department.

The lineup was more character-driven than Dragnet.

Lieutenant Guthrie would get tired and worn down.

He joked with colleagues and gripe about having to qualify on the police shooting range.

Joe Friday and his colleagues seemed only to exist within the confines of their job,

but on the lineup, the cops felt more like real people with lives.

And with Bill Johnstone, the show had a lead actor whose voice was rich with character.

He could sell all aspects of Guthrie's personality.

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