Episode 636 - Good Guys Gone Bad (The Whistler & Suspense)

Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

Jack Mooney

Arts, Performing Arts, Mystery, Detectives, Old, Radio, Time, Tv & Film, Oldtimeradio

4.6 • 982 Ratings

🗓️ 7 September 2025

⏱️ 127 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sometimes it's good to be bad, or at least it's good to hear it when radio detective stars switch sides and play some pretty dastardly villains. We'll hear four of our favorite on-air heroes star as crooks for a change in episodes of radio's great thriller anthologies. Howard Duff (Sam Spade) plans his wealthy aunt's murder in "Backlash" (originally aired on CBS on April 21, 1947); Jeff Chandler (Michael Shayne) is a gangster on the run who coerces a doctor into assisting with his getaway in "Confession" (originally aired on CBS on August 21, 1949); and Gerald Mohr (Philip Marlowe) is a murderer who takes up blackmail in "Warm Reception" (originally aired on CBS on November 19, 1950) - all episodes of The Whistler. Then, Dick Powell (Richard Diamond) is a boxer who seeks deadly revenge against a rival in the ring in "Slow Burn" from Suspense (originally aired on CBS on February 23, 1950).

Transcript

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0:00.0	Get this and get it straight.
0:02.1	Crime is a sucker's road.
0:03.9	And those who travel
0:04.6	it wind up in the gut of the prison of the grave.
0:12.3	The story you were about to hear is true.
0:15.2	Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
0:18.6	The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective.
0:21.7	The Adventures of the Saints,
0:23.5	starring Vincent Price.
0:25.5	Bob Bailey, in the exciting adventures
0:27.7	of the man with the action-packed expense account.
0:30.6	America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator...
0:33.4	Yours truly, Johnny Dollar.
1:02.0	... Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Hello and welcome to Down These Mean Streets with more old-time radio detectives and crime solvers.
1:10.1	This week we've got a roster of four radio detective stars, but they aren't playing their signature characters.
1:16.6	Instead, we'll hear each of these actors, best known for playing private eyes on the air,
1:24.7	shed their moral fiber and appear as criminals in two of Radio's best thriller anthologies.
1:31.9	First, we've got a trio of tales from the Whistler, Howard Duff, Jeff Chandler, and Gerald Moore, or as we know them, Sam Spade, Michael Shane, and Philip Marlowe, star in Backlash,
1:39.3	originally aired on CBS on April 21st, 1947, Confession, originally aired on August 21st, 1949, and
1:48.9	warm reception, originally aired on November 19, 1950. Each man plays a crook they might have
1:56.8	captured on their own programs. Duff is a greedy man planning the murder of his wealthy aunt.
2:03.6	Chandler is a gangster on the run, who coerces a doctor into helping him with his getaway.
	...

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