Episode 659 - Statues for the Sleuths: Mercedes McCambridge (Defense Attorney)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Jack Mooney
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 March 2026
⏱️ 129 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Our series of Oscar-winning radio detective stars continues with Mercedes McCambridge, who took home the award as best supporting actress for her turn in All the King's Men. Among her many radio credits was Defense Attorney, where she starred as Martha Ellis Bryant - who worked in and out of the courtroom (much like Perry Mason) to clear her clients. The show was a rare example of a radio detective show fronted by a woman, and it's a highlight of the genre. We'll hear Ms. McCambridge in four episodes: the series' audition The Defense Rests from April 1951; "Mike Pelly" (originally aired on ABC on August 31, 1951); "Jimmy Leonard" (originally aired on ABC on September 14, 1951); and "Joshua Masters" (originally aired on ABC on April 10, 1952).
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. |
| 1:01.8 | ... Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Hello and welcome to Down These Mean Streets with more old-time radio detectives and crime solvers. |
| 1:09.4 | All this month, we're saluting the Academy Awards with old-time radio detective stars who won Oscars for their big screen performances. |
| 1:12.6 | Our award-winning star this week is Mercedes MacCambridge, a performer hailed by Orson Wells as the world's greatest living radio actress. |
| 1:23.6 | She appeared with Wells in his Mercury Theatre broadcast, and she logged hundreds of episodes of shows ranging from Inner Sanctum to Gangbusters, from Bulldog Drummond to the Whistler. |
| 1:37.0 | Ms. McCambridge took home her Oscar for her supporting performance in all the King's Men, and among her many radio credits was the starring role in |
| 1:47.5 | defense attorney. She played Martha Ellis Bryant, a lawyer who worked in and out of the courtroom |
| 1:53.7 | to zealously defend her clients. It's a rare old-time radio detective series with a woman |
| 1:59.7 | as the protagonist. |
| 2:01.2 | I'd say it's the best example of that too rare subgenre. |
... |
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