Category Archives: detectives

Editor takes on publisher’s pal: Big Town 1937

Posted on June 25, 2022 by Bob Stepno

I’m finally catching up with the first year of “Big Town” with Edward G. Robinson… the long-running series that eventually adopted a “flaming sword” slogan paraphrased at the top of this blog. I have long been curious about the series’ … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, Big Town, crime, detectives, Drama, editors, ethics, journalism, tabloids, technology | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A Truman-era Front Page!?

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Bob Stepno

In 1948, ABC radio tried out an updated version of the Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur newsroom classic The Front Page as a 13-week summer-replacement series. Newsroom-background sounds set the opening scene, not unlike the start of the gender-shifted Front … Continue reading →

Posted in 1920s, 1940s, adaptations, detectives, Drama, editors, Hildy Johnson, newspapers, radio | 2 Comments

Columnist, ethics & blackmail

Posted on December 19, 2020 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Mr_and_Mrs_North_Singles/Mr_and_Mrs_North_52-03-04_ep439_TCOT_Heavenly_Body.mp3 “Mr. & Mrs. North” was a long-running husband and wife detective series in books and radio, reminiscent of the “Thin Man” movie series. The Internet Archive holds about 80 episodes from the 12-year run of the series, but collector … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, columnists, detectives | Leave a comment

A Daily Planet contest saves the world

Posted on November 7, 2019 by Bob Stepno

Less than a year after the United States dropped the first atomic bombs on Japan, young listeners to “The Adventures of Superman” radio serial heard of another dictatorship’s threat to destroy American cities with 100 planes loaded with atom bombs. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, Clark Kent, detectives, Lois Lane, newspaper crusades, newspaper readers, newspapers, Perry White, reporters, reporting, Superman | Leave a comment

A final page, but no news

Posted on March 13, 2019 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_New_Adventures_of_Nero_Wolfe_Singles/nanw_51-03-23_ep22_The_Final_Page.mp3 In my search for radio portrayals of journalists, “The Final Page” was the most promising title in a collection of New Adventures of Nero Wolfe episodes. Unfortunately, the page mentioned in the title is from a novel, not a … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, detectives, Drama, propaganda, public relations, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Pre-Christmas Noir

Posted on December 19, 2018 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Lux_Radio_Theater_Singles/Lux_Radio_Theatre_48-02-09_602_Lady_in_the_Lake.mp3 I was so happy when I hit the point in Lux Radio Theatre’s February 1948 production of “The Lady in the Lake” when detective Philip Marlowe needs some information, picks up the phone, calls a friend at the newspaper, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, detectives, magazines, movies, reporters | Leave a comment

Detective as fact-checker versus libel case

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Bob Stepno

Detective Philip Marlowe meets a whole Hollywood trade paper crew in “The Green Flame” from March 1949 … https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Philip_Marlowe_Singles/Philip_Marlowe_49-03-26_ep026_The_Green_Flame.mp3 It’s a colorful tale. We get matches that burn with a green flame, a note in blue wax pencil, and various … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, columnists, detectives, editors, newspapers, publishers | Leave a comment

A case of mistaken identity

Posted on November 19, 2018 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Philip_Marlowe_Singles/Philip_Marlowe_50-09-29_ep103_The_Big_Book.mp3 In Raymond Chandler’s novels or the 1947-51 radio series they inspired, Philip Marlowe wasn’t the kind of detective who plays for the headlines. “What’s the news in that?” he asks at the end of this 1950 adventure titled “The … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 1950s, detectives, reporters | Leave a comment

A brotherhood of reporters and ex-reporters

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Bob Stepno

The 1948-49 series Box 13 featured a former newspaper reporter, Dan Holiday, now a novelist. He had become a detective/adventurer, advertising for tips sent to his classified-ad box, to dig up plots for his works of fiction. The newspaper’s main … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, detectives, reporters, World War II, writing | Leave a comment

Fighting drugs with a radio-comicbook crossover

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Bob Stepno

Radio and movie star Frank Lovejoy would have been 104 today. Better known as the leading man reporter on Night Beat,  Lovejoy also took a turn as The Blue Beetle, a radio and comic book superhero who appeared to borrow … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, adaptations, adventure, comics, detectives, reporters, science fiction | Leave a comment