Get this and get it straight.

Crime is a sucker's road.

And those who travel

it wind up in the gut of the prison of the grave.

The story you were about to hear is true.

Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective.

The Adventures of the Saints,

starring Vincent Price.

Bob Bailey, in the exciting adventures

of the man with the action-packed expense account.

America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator...

Yours truly, Johnny Dollar.

... Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Hello and welcome to Down These Mean Streets and the start of a brand new year of old-time radio detectives and crime fighters.

We're opening 2025 with an adaptation of one of the all-time great mystery films and a birthday salute to its star.

The movie is Laura, Otto Preminger's noir classic about a detective who becomes obsessed with the woman whose murder he's investigating.

And the star is Dana Andrews. Andrews headlined several classic noirs,

including where the sidewalk ends, boomerang, and while the city sleeps. And he had a stint as a radio detective, an undercover agent, to be exact, in I was a communist for the FBI.

Andrews was born January 1st, 1909, and today we'll hear him recreate his role from Laura,

plus he'll star in two more radio mysteries, including one of his undercover assignments for Uncle Sam.

But first up is Laura, presented on the Lux Radio Theater on CBS on February 6, 1945.

Andrews recreates his role of Detective Mark McPherson, and he's joined by his co-stars,

...