OVER at The Glowing Dial, an Old Time Radio fan site offering free downloads, you can download and listen to a special tribute to the Master on radio. With nearly three and a half hours of Holmes culled from Mutual, ABC and the Beeb, as well as a short recording of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Rathbone and Brucethis makes a dandy little introduction to the various series that were so popular from the 1940’s to the 1960’s. Note that the sound quality of such old recordings can be quite variable, so be prepared for some static, pops and scratches.

The Glowing Dial tips its magnifying glass to the world’s premier detective, Sherlock Holmes in EPISODE NET 18 (first run between August 22, 2004 and September 11, 2004) of The Glowing Dial, in which we present five different actor pairings of Holmes and Watson plus a special commentary by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. “William Fox has the honor to present the world famous author and scientist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle” (soundtrack from a short film produced around 1930 or 31 in which Conan Doyle talks about his literary creation, Sherlock Holmes as well as his interest in spiritualism).

[Hear Episode 18]

The Holmes episodes in question are:

  • The Case of the Limping Ghost, a 1945 Mutual production with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
  • The Adventure of the Haunted Bagpipes, a 1947 ABC production with Tom Conway (Rathbone’s immediate radio successor) and Nigel Bruce
  • The Case of the Cradle That Rocked Itself, a 1947 Mutual production with John Stanley and Alfred Shirley
  • The Case of the Six Napoleons, a 1954 BBC production with Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson
  • The Adventure of Silver Blaze, a 1962 BBC production with Carleton Hobbs and Norman Shelley

Be prepared to wait an hour or so for the download, as it’s 47 Mb and server can be a little slow. (I topped out at 10K/s.) For those without high-speed or any patience, you can also listen to it via RealMedia streaming. See the bottom of the page.

For those Rathbone fans among us, you can also catch him reading four Poe stories in the Glowing Dial’s Tribute to Edgar Allan Poe.


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