Originally broadcast on NBC, 23 May 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- Syndicated
- Years active
- 1943–1950
- Surviving broadcasts
- 47
- Genre
- detective
PHILO VANCE Philo Vance was the detective creation of S. Van Dine first published in the mid 1920s. Vance, in the original books, is an intellectual so highly refined he seems he might be ghostwritten by P. Take this quote from The Benson Murder Case , 1924, as Vance pontificates in his inimitable way: "That's your fundamental error, don'
1950 · 201949 · 141948 · 101945 · 1
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Clean transfer · 12 of 45Listenable · 15 of 45Rough but complete · 18 of 45
Source collection
Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: OTRR_Philo_Vance_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
20 dated broadcasts across 8 years on the air, with 4 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1945, in original transmission order.
- 1. The Case of the Strange Music · 9 Aug 1945
- 2. The Eagle Murder Case · 13 Jul 1948
- 3. The Merry Murder Case · 20 Jul 1948
Muddy Murder Case
4 Jul 1950 · 26 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 4 July 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Argyle Murder Case
27 Jun 1950 · 26 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 27 June 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Prize Ring Murder Case
20 Jun 1950 · 24 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 20 June 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Full Dress Murder Case
13 Jun 1950 · 25 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 13 June 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Alibi Murder Case
6 Jun 1950 · 25 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 6 June 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Whirlaround Murder Case
30 May 1950 · 24 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 30 May 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Money Machine Murder Case
23 May 1950 · 26 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 23 May 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Whistling Murder Case
9 May 1950 · 24 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 9 May 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Same night on the air
23 May 1950
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 23 May 1950.
Originally broadcast on CBS, 23 May 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 23 May 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Also on Syndicated
Syndicated in 1943–1950
Other series the network carried while Philo Vance was on the air.
Same seasons
detective on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
The private eye at the microphone
First-person narration, a case that walks in the door, and a city that talks back. Marlowe, Sam Spade and Johnny Dollar turned detection into a listening form.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of Philo Vance
Modern series carrying this form forward.
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