Old-Time Radio Theme Month, Day 1: Richard Diamond, Private Detective

All this month, I'll be posting an old-time radio show every day as we come closer to Halloween, the best time of year to be listening to old radio dramas! As the month progresses, the shows will become weirder and darker.

Accordingly, I'm kicking this series off with a very light hearted program: the December 10, 1949 episode of Richard Diamond, Private Detective. Starring Dick Powell, this show was unlike most radio detective programs because of the strong humourous tone (albeit not as humourous as Howard Duff's Sam Spade); this particular episode involves Diamond with a supposedly haunted house. The butler is played by Paul Frees, of whom more will be heard from as the month continues. Frees is the real reason I remember this episode - his melodramatic, ghoulish butler is an awful lot of fun!

You can download a copy of this radio show from archive.org here.