Radio Recap: The Line-Up

"We take you now behind the scenes of a police headquarters in a great American city. Where under the cold glaring lights will pass before us the innocent; the vagrant; the thief; the murderer. This is... the Line-Up!"

The Line-Up was a CBS police procedural drama that aired from July 6, 1950 to February 18, 1953. Having unwisely passed on Jack Webb's Dragnet, you can see the Line-Up as CBS' attempt to get on the bandwagon. The series was produced and directed by Elliott Lewis (who had himself acted on a few early episodes of Dragnet) and starred Bill Johnstone as Lt. Ben Guthrie; Wally Maher portrayed Sgt. Matt Grebb. After Maher passed away in 1951 the character of Sgt. Pete Karger was introduced and portrayed by various actors. The supporting cast was a treasure trove of terrific old-time radio talent, everyone from Joseph Kearns to William Conrad - even Dragnet's Raymond Burr, who played Pete Karger among other characters (in fact, it looks like Burr started appearing on the Line-Up a month after his last episode of Dragnet).

The police procedural shows who followed Dragnet's wake attempted to sound like that program and tended to emphasize certain elements of Dragnet - the naturalistic dialogue, the mundane details that go into police work. There was a real effort to transcend the likes of Calling All Cars and Gang Busters, which had previously set the standard for police programs. Of course, dialogue and details weren't enough to stand out - you also needed a gimmick, rather than imitate Dragnet whole cloth. For the Line-Up that gimmick was... the line-up.

Rather than the Calling All Cars-type of program where a crime would occur at the opening of the show, then depict the pursuit of the criminal by the law, the Line-Up would open after the crime had already occurred. The show would always begin in the police station as Sgt. Grebb introduced the line-up, usually closing with these words:

"These suspects are merely to get a natural tone of voice, so do not pay too much attention to their answers as they often lie; bring on the line."

A witness would then single out a member of the line-up and Lt. Guthrie would begin his investigation. From there, the show was a very typical old-time radio police procedural (usually the episodes would end with Grebb announcing another line-up for a different case). The line-up sequence gave the show a unique audio sound; it also helped that, like Dragnet, the investigations would unfold with the police and the listening audience at more-or-less the same level, following the trail of evidence to uncover the crime. As in Dragnet, the investigations would hit blank walls, suspects would prove to be innocent, unforseen complications would arise. In some episodes, even the line-up itself is fruitless and the detectives have to work harder to get a lead on a suspect. By the final season, the line-up became merely perfunctory; each episode would open with one but it became more typical for the line-up to be interrupted with Lt. Guthrie being called away and told to investigate another case.

Of course, with all the comparisons I've made to Dragnet you might well ask... why not listen to Dragnet instead? I'll admit Dragnet is the superior program but it's not a contest; if you've heard a lot of Dragnet and you like that show but want to hear something similar, I don't think I'm steering you wrong by suggesting the Line-Up. Bill Johnstone was one of radio's finest talents (he was, of course, the man who followed Orson Welles as the Shadow) and his voice is quite pleasant as the protagonist. I didn't hear any episodes of the Line-Up that really stood apart from the rest, but neither were there any episodes that I considered terrible radio. There's simply too much talent on display in the Line-Up for me to dismiss it, it's good radio drama.

The show's production values changed around 1952 and I'm not certain why; suddenly, the organ became the chief musical instrument and it started sounding a lot like Escape, even though the Line-Up acquired a sponsor in 1952 (Wrigley's chewing gum). The earlier years of the show have more varied musical cues than the final seasons.

The Old Time Radio Researchers have a YouTube playlist of 79 episodes from the Line-Up:

Radio Recap: The Eddie Bracken Show

The Eddie Bracken Show (also announced as the Eddie Bracken Story) was a situation comedy starring Eddie Bracken. It had a brief run on NBC from January-May of 1945, then another brief turn at CBS from September 1946-March 1947. Only six episodes are known to exist.

I'm a big fan of the work of writer-director Preston Sturges and he certainly gave Eddie Bracken his two best-remembered roles in the comedy films the Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943) and Hail the Conquering Hero (1944). Bracken's performances in both films as a nebbish, good-natured shmoe with a knack for nervous stuttering made for good comedy and radio was certainly a good place for anyone with a funny vocal mannerism. In fact, the Eddie Bracken Show brought along some other familiar voices from Sturges' films, with William Demarest and Alan Bridge present. Sturges himself was not involved, more's the pity.

The show featured Eddie Bracken as... Eddie Bracken. Once again he portrayed a nebbish shmoe, a good-natured guy who would get walked over by every other character in the drama; he was hopelessly in love with Connie, who would manipulate him to get whatever she needed; this would inevitably put him into conflict with Connie's father, Mr. Monahan; and Eddie was typically unaware that Barbara was really the right girl for him.

Appearing with Bracken were William Demarest as Mr. Monahan, Janet Waldo as Barbara, Ann Rutherford as Connie Monahan. Lots of popular radio voices were heard, including Cathy Lewis, Wally Maher and Tommy Cook. The series was written by Robert Riley Crutcher, produced by Mann Holmer and directed by Nat Wolff.

What went wrong with this show? Perhaps the situation comedy wasn't as easy to sell in 1946 as it would be a few years later; although the Life of Riley and the Aldrich Family (among others) showed the situation comedy was a popular form of entertainment, it wasn't yet codified as the staple it would eventually become on television.

Bracken went on to more radio comedy work, notably co-starring on the Sealtest Variety Theatre with Dorothy Lamour in 1949. He continued to perform 'til late in life but remains best-known for those two Preston Sturges films, where he's remembered at all.

You can hear the Old Time Radio Researchers' collection of 6 Eddie Bracken Show episodes at this link to their website.

Radio Recap: Richard Diamond, Private Detective

Richard Diamond, Private Detective was a terrific detective program starring Dick Powell as the titular detective. This series followed soon after Powell's turn as Richard Rogue in Rogue's Gallery. Richard Diamond was very much like Richard Rogue but even more so, he was much more like Powell himself; Powell sometimes indulged in song on Rogue's Gallery but in Richard Diamond, Private Detective it was more or less standard that Powell would sing at least one ditty at the close of his program.

It was heard on each of the big networks, principally NBC (1949-1950), then ABC (1951-1952) and finally CBS (1953); the CBS season seems to be mostly comprised of new versions of previously-used scripts. Although there are big gaps of missing episode in collections today, happily we have large numbers of episodes from each of the three network versions (especially rare to have so many of an ABC program). So, today we have a pretty good idea of what Richard Diamond, Private Detective was like throughout its history. Rexall was the show's longest-running sponsor, but it was also sponsored by Camels cigarettes while on ABC. It was also a TV show from 1957-1960, which Dick Powell served as producer for (but didn't star in).

Unlike Rogue's Gallery, there was a large supporting cast; there was Diamond's girlfriend Helen Asher (Virginia Gregg), a wealthy socialite who mostly existed on the fringes of her boyfriend's adventures, frequently telephoning him at the beginning of an episode and then romancing with him at the climax, where he'd serenade her; there was Helen's butler Francis (Wilms Herbert), whose role was to enter the room when Richard and Helen were kissing and become embarrassed; there was Captain Walt Levinson (Ed Begley, Arthur Q. Bryan and a few others), the friendly police official who was on good terms with Richard but was frequently exasperated by the situtions Rick got into; and finally there was Sgt. Otis (also Wilms Herbert), the dim-witted desk sergeant who tried unsuccessfully to outsmart Diamond.

Some episodes were written by John Michael Hayes, who was also writing for the Adventures of Sam Spade, a similarly light-hearted detective program. The series was also written and produced by Blake Edwards, who at that time was best-known for the game show Truth or Consequences. This was the start of a long career of writing and producing for Edwards that would eventually lead to the Pink Panther movies.

Despite the show's generally easy-going and humorous nature, there are quite a few episodes that play out as fairly serious noir and they're very good too. For example, there's the serial killer episode "The Man Who Hated Woman" (July 16, 1949), Diamond racing the clock while searching for the kidnapped Levinson in "the Kidnapped Policeman" (October 18, 1950) and the very clever "Cover-Up Murders" in which a madman announces his crimes to the police in advance (November 22, 1950).

Perhaps the best humorous episode is the one titled "the Singing Critic" (November 5, 1949) in which the long-running gag of Helen's neighbour complaining about Diamond's singing at the end of the episode (a gag that pointedly appeared at the end of the previous 2 weeks' shows) leads to the neighbour hiring another private detective to ruin Diamond's voice; the rival detective is named "Pat Cossack," not only a spoof of Pat Novak, for Hire, but the actor portraying Pat does a very funny Jack Webb imitation!

Another interesting spoof of the private eye genre is the episode "The Ruby Idol Case" (December 3, 1949), which plays out like a typical private detective adventure for most of it's length; then Diamond reads a pulp magazine and suddenly the episode lurches into an increasingly over-the-top story (Diamond quips, "even the dialogue is bad!" at one point) until he finally wakes up to discover the 2nd half of the show was a dream brought on by reading a pulp!

Other good humourous episodes include the ghost story spoof "The House of Mystery Case" (December 10, 1949), a fourth-wall breaking episode where Dick Powell's wife June Allyson hires Diamond in "Mrs. X Can't Find Her Husband" (June 21, 1950), an attempt by Diamond and Levinson to solve a mystery while on vacation in "the Chapel Hill Case" (July 19, 1953) and a health club murder case in "the Wheat Germ Case" (August 9, 1953).

If the show has a drawback, it's that for a show with "private detective" in the title, it's a bit poor as a mystery drama. The emphasis on comedy is so strong and the characters so eccentric that I find it difficult to get drawn into any of the show's mysteries- I often feel very detached from the mystery, instead considering each scene as merely a set-up to some witty banter, not furthering the plot. And indeed, you can often listen to Richard Diamond, Private Detective as a comedy show; only those few great hard-boiled episodes I mentioned above really put plot ahead of comedy.

The Old Time Radio Researchers have a YouTube playlist of Richard Diamond, Private Detective.

Radio Recap: ABC Mystery Time

ABC Mystery Time was a latter-day program and there's precious little written about it in online logs. As is often the case, ABC programs are among the least-examined and poorest-surviving among old-time radio shows. The series is also called simply Mystery Time, Masters of Mystery and Mystery Time Classics. The show was hosted by Don Dowd but otherwise lacked in credits. It was heard between 1956-1957 and ran five nights a week, Monday to Friday.

Even as you browse the few recordings, if you're hep to old-time radio mystery dramas you'll see some familiar titles. One is "Four Fatal Jugglers," a script first heard on Molle Mystery Theater (November 14, 1947); another is "Murder in Haste" from the Whistler (February 25, 1946 and December 17, 1947).

Many of the surviving episodes of ABC Mystery Time are actually recycled from Harry Alan Towers' syndicated shows Theatre Royal and the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Given that we can definitely identify some episodes as recycling old Molle Mystery Theater scripts, I wonder if this series is similar to the Mystery Playhouse - simply a clearing house of existing recordings from ABC's vaults rather than newly-created dramas. Perhaps some future OTR researchers will uncover more about where this series came from.

June 10, 2025 update: Fellow radio fan Mike Malloy notes that episodes of the series Mike Malloy Private Eye (no relation) were also released as episodes of ABC Mystery Time.

As it is, the audio quality of these few surviving episodes of ABC Mystery Time is not very good. As well, comparing their versions of stories to the productions done a decade earlier on Molle Mystery Theater and the Whistler does this show no favours - the earlier programs are much better produced and performed.

There's a fan collection of ABC Mystery Time programs at the Internet Archive.

RIP: Peter David

I'm very sad to have heard writer Peter David passed away this weekend. Although he wrote in many mediums, I knew him best for his work as a comic book writer.

Certainly he'll be best-remembered for his many years as writer on the Incredible Hulk (1987-1998). He started shortly after the Hulk had become gray but wound up writing the gray Hulk for so long that he remains the writer most-associated with that version of the character. The years he spent writing the Hulk - paired with great artists like Todd McFarlane, Dale Keown, Gary Frank - he kept finding new ideas about where to take the Hulk and what could be done with the character. Even then, he wouldn't have left in 1998 except that his editor wanted a lot of changes to the book that he had no interest in implementing.

Plenty of Hulk writers before and since have delved into the character's multiple personalities and how he's rooted in Bruce Banner's earlier psychological traumas but aside from Al Ewing, no one has made it so central what the series was about. I was especially impressed with the story in Incredible Hulk #-1 where he revealed Banner had accidentally killed his own father but repressed the memory. David's story for what became Hulk: The End (originally a prose piece) is likewise a terrific exploration of Banner's trauma, in that instance set in a distant future where the Hulk is the last being left alive on Earth; where Banner simply wants to die, the Hulk views Banner as his enemy and sees their psychological conflict as another battle to be won.

And there was so much more; his X-Factor really surprised me in the 1990s. His version of that series was a team of mutant heroes (mostly those no other writers wanted to use at the time) working for the government. I think I started buying it just because I had been swayed by the impression it was a "hot" book. Then I stayed because it was funny and well-characterized. His story "X-aminations" (X-Factor #87) in which the team were psychoanalyzed remains by far the best-remembered issue in that series; I remember even at the time it came out, I was wowed by that one. It's certainly for me the defining version of Quicksilver's character.

At times his sense of humour was very obvious and a bit too pleased with his puns. Still, overall I enjoyed his writing. Past the 1990s I followed him on books like Captain Marvel and his 2nd version of X-Factor. I'm not certain if I ever read any of his DC comics, nor have I read any of his prose (not even his Star Trek novels), but I know he had a huge fanbase in those areas of his career as well. Back in the day I regularly visited his blog-- although mostly because I was interested in his political opinions.

Rest in peace, Mr. David.

Radio Recap: Counterspy

Counterspy - also called David Harding - Counterspy was a spy drama; unlike the majority of radio spy shows that started after World War II, this was a series that started while the war was underway! It aired on the Blue network (which changed its name to ABC) from 1942-1950 (frequently heard twice per week), then NBC (1950-1953) and finally Mutual (1953-1957). It appears only 2 episodes from the Mutual version still exist. Pepsi-Cola sponsored the show 1949-1950 (representing the majority of surviving episodes), with Gulf Oil taking over in 1952.

The hero, David Harding, was portrayed by a lot of different actors but Don MacLaughlin lasted the longest; others were Phil Sterling, Lawson Zerbe and House Jameson. Although Harding was the central protagonist at the start of the series run, by post-war he always accompanied by agent Harry Peters (Mandel Kramer; also Lawson Zerbe and Phil Sterling), who did most of the undercover work on the show.

The series was produced by Phillips H. Lord, best-known as the creator of Gang Busters but also creator of Mr. District Attorney. Lord was apparently inspired by current events, looking to the USA's entry into World War II as an opportunity to tell espionage tales featuring Nazi spies.

Strangely, Counterspy became less of a spy program after the war ended. While the wartime version of the series featured plenty of Axis agents, you'd expect they'd turn to communist agents post-war; and yet, the post-war episodes I've heard were concerned primarily with breaking up crime rackets, resulting in a show that sounds almost identical to Lord's Gang Busters. When the series moved to NBC, communists did indeed pop up as adversaries, but Counterspy's agents seemed mostly interested in breaking up criminal gangs. They're very well-known to the public too, who are constantly exclaiming, "It's the Counterspies!"

Thanks to the show's twice-a-week format during the Pepsi-Cola years there were even a few two-part Counterspy episodes, like the story titled "The Case of the Cold-Blooded Professor" (August 30/September 1, 1949) in which the first part detailed the capture of a murderer, then saw him escape in part two, resulting in a pursuit to recapture him. Another two-parter was "The Case of the Postal Pirates" (September 20 and 22, 1949).

As the show went on, I noticed the Pepsi-Cola advertisements were integrated with the plot. Very frequently, Harding and Peters would specifically pause to enjoy a cool, refreshing Pepsi-Cola and comment to each other what a fine beverage it was. If the writers thought this was subtle they were mistaken.

Counterspy isn't bad-- those earliest episodes where Harding would recruit ordinary people as spies against the Axis is very different from other espionage radio shows. However, as the show went on, I felt it became a bit more juvenile (maybe it's just those cheerful Pepsi-Cola jingles). It was never a very sophisticated program but those earliest broadcasts are interesting as a wartime spy programmer.

Counterspy spawned two movies: David Harding, Counterspy (1950) and Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard (1950), both starring Howard St. John as David Harding.

The Old Time Radio Researchers have a YouTube playlist of Counterspy.

Radio Recap: That Hammer Guy

"The number one selling mystery character in all fiction is on the air! The hard-hitting private eye Mike Hammer!"

That Hammer Guy was a Mutual radio program that ran from December 20, 1952 to October 5, 1953. It was an adaptation of Mickey Spillane's character Mike Hammer. Larry Haines performed as Mike Hammer during most of the run, with Ted de Corsia apparently taking over near the end, while Jan Miner portrayed Hammer's secretary Vera. In some places the show was advertised as Mickey Spillane Mysteries, which has a little more dignity than That Hammer Guy. The show was written by Edward Adamson (the Shadow, Inner Sanctum Mysteries, Counterspy, the Private Files of Rex Saunders) and directed by Richard Lewis (Adventures of the Falcon, Quick as a Flash).

Adamson did his best to write dialogue as lurid as that of Spillane, such as: "You watch her walk down the park path, swinging her hips like a basketball player taking a pivot shot." But I've never read a Mike Hammer story - my knowledge of the character is mostly restricted to the 1955 movie Kiss Me Deadly - so I can't say whether the writing and characterization are correct. I do prefer Larry Haines' performances as Hammer simply because Haines had a great radio voice (he was in a lot of Inner Sanctum Mysteries).

The show is seriously held back by the recycled music; I was surprised to learn it was a Mutual program as it used the same music heard on NBC shows like Rocky Fortune, Barrie Craig, the Private Files of Rex Saunders, Cloak and Dagger and the Chase that I've complained about so often on this blog; so, apparently these music cues weren't owned by NBC because they were used on more than one network. Perhaps they were cues used by the same syndication company.

Audio quality on many of the surviving episodes is very poor; married with the low production values and rote storytelling, I can't recommend That Hammer Guy on any level; there are far better detective programs out there.

There's a collection of That Hammer Guy episodes at the Internet Archive.