Tuesday Night Detective - This is Your FBI (Return of St. Nick) & The Saint (Santa Claus is No Saint)
Vintage Classic RadioShow Notes
<p>In this week’s holiday-themed episode of “Tuesday Night Detectives” on Vintage Classic Radio, we dive into the festive cheer with a touch of mystery. Our first feature is an episode from "This Is Your FBI" titled “Return of St. Nick,” which originally aired on December 24th, 1948. In this gripping story, the FBI tracks a clever burglary ring that uses a Santa Claus disguise to commit their crimes during the Christmas rush. The plot thickens when a former convict, playing the role of Santa in an attempt to reform his life, is framed for the burglaries. Special Agent Jim Taylor, played by Stacy Harris, must unravel the truth in time for Christmas. The episode also features William Conrad and Betty Lou Gerson in pivotal roles, adding depth and suspense to the holiday narrative.</p> <p>Following that, we delve into "The Saint" with the episode “Santa Claus Is No Saint,” broadcast on December 24th, 1950. Vincent Price stars as the charming and astute Simon Templar, who finds himself embroiled in a holiday mystery when a young woman mistakes him for a real Santa Claus and begs him to retrieve a stolen Christmas gift. The episode becomes a thrilling chase as The Saint confronts a gang of thieves, with the holiday spirit adding a unique twist to his usual adventures. Supporting cast includes Betty Harford and Harry Bartell, who contribute to the festive yet thrilling ambiance.</p> <p>Join us as we revisit these classic radio mysteries, blending holiday cheer with detective intrigue, capturing the essence of a time when radio was the heart of the home during the festive season. Tune in and rekindle the warmth of vintage radio drama with these captivating stories.</p>
More from Vintage Classic Radio
This week on Tuesday Night Detectives, two very different private investigators, back to back. We open with Richard Diamond, Private Detective and "The Private Eye Test," broadcast 19 March 1950. Dick Powell stars as the wisecracking former cop turned private eye, this time sitting a formal licensing exam alongside every other private investigator in the city. It should be routine, until the staged corpse in the training exercise turns out to be a real one, and Diamond has to solve a murder from inside the exam room itself. Then we visit The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and "The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez," broadcast 12 February 1940, starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson. Professor Coram's secretary is found stabbed to death in a locked study at Yoxley Old Place, his dying words pointing only to "the professor." The single clue left behind is a pair of golden pince-nez, and from that alone, Holmes builds one of his most purely deductive solutions in the entire canon. Two very different detectives, working two very different continents. Visit us at vintageclassicradiopodcast.com. Please share and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SiriusXM, Pandora, and anywhere else you get your podcasts.
Orson Welles and Margaret Sullavan bring Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca to the air for the very first time — a year and a half before Hitchcock ever filmed it — in the debut broadcast of Campbell Playhouse.
Jack Benny hits the racetrack, Lou Costello tries to enlist in the Merchant Marines, and Miss Brooks battles a stifling classroom heat wave — three of the most beloved half-hours in golden-age American comedy, back to back.
A killer stalks England alphabetically and a bedridden woman overhears her own murder being planned on a crossed telephone line, in two landmark broadcasts from Suspense’s extraordinary May of 1943 — The A.B.C. Murders and Sorry, Wrong Number, starring Agnes Moorehead.
Gerald Mohr stars as Philip Marlowe in “The Panama Hat,” followed by Bob Bailey as Johnny Dollar in “The Royal Street Matter,” with an original period Mayfield Cigarettes radio commercial between the two mysteries.