We run the gamut of radio detectives this week, starting with one of the most famous fictional detectives - in any medium - Philip Marlowe, and then going on to the lesser light of Blackstone, the Magic Detective, and ending with a radio curiosity called Five Minute Mysteries.
"Where There's a Will" is an early show from the Adventures of Philip Marlowe series, and the famous show intro - "Get this and get it straight. Crime is a sucker's road and those who travel it end up in the gutter, the prison, or the grave."- hadn't yet been introduced. Those lines set the tone for the next 30 hard-boiled minutes as listeners could almost picture Marlowe spitting those words through clenched teeth and a cigarette. (Left: Gerald Mohr portraying Philip Marlowe in a lighter moment).
Blackstone is certainly no Marlowe, but is a fun listen, if only for the magic tricks. Most of the shows take the same tack, with Blackstone showing off a trick to his friends, which reminds him of a mystery, and then he ends by teaching the good folks at home a magic trick.
We fill the show out with Five Minute Mysteries, though with a good two minutes dedicated to fill music (space where a local commercial would go), this may as well have been called Three Minute Riddles. It's a neat little show, though, and one wonders how many little filler programs like this existed, but were never recorded.
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