BONUS - Five Favorites: Auditions

Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)

In this bonus episode, we're going back to the beginning with the audition recordings for five old time radio detective shows - some that became regular series, some that didn't, and some that changed stars along the way. We'll hear Victor Jory as a Scotland Yard inspector in the tryout for The Hunters (recorded in November 1948) and Dick Powell - before he was Richard Diamond - as Johnny Dollar in that show's audition (recorded in December 1948). Bill Johnstone stars as Lt. Ben Guthrie in Police Line-Up, the audition for what became The Line-Up (recorded in May 1950) and Mercedes McCambridge heads to court in The Defense Rests, which premiered later as Defense Attorney (recorded in April 1951). Finally, Howard Duff - radio's Sam Spade - dons the fedora of private eye Mike McCoy in the audition for The McCoy (recorded in April 1951).