Created by Blake Edwards of The Pink Panther fame, Richard Diamond, Private Detective came to NBC radio in 1949 starring film actor and singer Dick Powell. Powell had recently played Philip Marlowe in the popular RKO film Murder, My Sweet and jumped at the chance to play a suave detective on radio.
Edwards’ hard-boiled private detective scripts for Richard Diamond, Private Detective became NBC’s answer to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, reflecting Edwards’ unique humor.
Richard Diamond was a lighthearted, New York-based private eye who enjoyed poking fun at the cops and singing songs to his millionairess girlfriend, Helen Asher, played by Virginia Gregg. The show’s theme song, "Leave It to Love," was whistled by Powell at the beginning of each episode.
Powell’s production company, Four Star Television, later produced a TV version of Richard Diamond, Private Detective for CBS in 1957, with David Janssen cast in the role of Diamond.
The exciting episodes in this collection are:
"The Fred Sears Murder Case" 6/19/49, "Tom Waxman Bomb Case" 6/26/49, "Charles Walsh to Kill Diamond" 7/9/49, "The Gibson Murder Case" 10/8/49, "The Newspaper Boy and the Ring" 10/15/49, "Death and the Package" 4/5/50, "Pete Rocco Breaks Jail" 10/4/50, "The Nancy Lang Case" 11/8/50, "The Marilyn Connors Case" 1/12/51, "A Man with a Scar" 1/19/51, "The Rollins Case" 1/26/51, and "The Gunsmith Case" 6/28/53