“Before the war, Frank Race worked as an attorney,
but he traded his law books for the cloak-and-dagger of the OSS.
When the war was over, his former life was over, too . . .
adventure had become his business!”

The Adventures of Frank Race (1949-50) aired “The Istanbul Adventure” on May 15, 1949, as the 3rd of its 43 episodes. Original air dates for this program are impossible to pin down with 100% accuracy due to the fact that it was not sold to one of the four major national radio networks who would air the shows at a set day and time nationwide, but was syndicated to individual stations across the country who would broadcast episodes at whatever dates suited their local programming. This is only the fourth episode featuring Frank Race’s adventures we have run, the first coming on December 10, 2022, the second on May 20th of 2023, with the third coming almost a year ago on November 25th, 2023. As such, a recap of the introductory background material provided in that initial episode is below, for newcomers to the show or for those needing to refresh their memories.

The italicized opening at the top of this page is the host’s introduction to each episode. The premise of a private investigator with a government background such as the O.S.S. (Office of Strategic Services, forerunner to our C.I. A.) was not new. Radio had a number of programs prior to Frank Race when espionage was still in the minds of the public following World War II, among them Secret Agent K-7 (1939), The Man Called X (1944), Dangerous Assignment (debuting in 1949), and also debuting in 1949 was Richard Diamond, Private Detective who had a background which included the O.S.S.. The Adventures of Frank Race has been characterized as a combination of Johnny Dollar and James Bond. Johnny Dollar in that Race also investigates (as his cover) for an insurance firm, and James Bond due to the women, intelligent, beautiful and honest (well some of them)—as well as some not so trustworthy, with whom he has encounters. While Race obviously has “cases” due to his work for the insurance company, they are designed more as world-traveling adventures, thus the title of the show.

Tom Collins (1913-1973, photo top right) starred as Frank Race for the show’s first 22 episodes. Collins was well known to radio fans as the voice of Chandu in the 1948 run of Chandu the Magician. Beginning with episode 23, Collins would pass the torch to versatile and talented radio actor Paul Dubov (1918-1979, photo at right), and nary a beat was missed. From 1938-1977 Dubov appeared in many film and/or TV shows, a few among them being Day the World Ended (1955), The She Creature (1956), Voodoo Woman (1957), and The Underwater City (1962) for film, and Wanted, Dead or Alive (1960) and Bat Masterson (1961) for TV. Though the title role was split evenly between Collins and Dubov during the show’s run, Race’s sometimes valet/cab driver/associate and “sidekick” if you will, was Marc Donovan, played perfectly throughout all 43 episodes by Tony Barrett (1916-1974, photo at left as the character Melody Fiske, a piano playing thug in the 1947 film Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome, featuring Boris Karloff), another of radio and TV’s most versatile actors, writers, and even producers. Two of his several TV credits include being one of the writers for the popular detective program Peter Gunn (1958) and one of the primary developers of The Mod Squad (1968). A few of the supporting actors appearing in episodes during the show’s run were many of radio’s finest, including Gerald Mohr, Frank Lovejoy, Lurene Tuttle, Virginia Gregg, and Parley Bear.

“The Istanbul Adventure” takes place in the aftermath of World War II, when Europe and adjoining lands are desperately trying to rebuild from the ravages of war. It opens with Race taking stock of the once great city he knew but is now a broken shell of half ruins, narrow streets winding their way through deserted bazaars, and an economy in shambles, existing only on what a shady black market might hold for its inhabitants. The opening scene is a dramatic one, with a young woman running toward Race out of the darkness and being followed by the sounds of gunfire hot on her heels. Race halts her passage, discovering she is on her way to find a doctor to help a wounded American, at which point Race offers his help and our adventure has begun. What Race discovers while dodging enemies and finding himself in the middle of something more dangerous than he had at first envisioned in his attempt to help the young girl and the wounded countryman, is an old story. That the effects of war live on, far beyond the bullets and bombs. In this case how the continual stress of war wears down even the good in honest men and, like a prisoner whose existence behind prison walls makes a few of lesser mental stabiliy institutionalized to the point where they know no other kind of life and become accustomed to the captive life as the only one they know or remember, so too do some men fall prey to the aftermath of war and the life they have known for so long in order to survive, that they cannot leave the harsh ways of the black market when there are now other ways to make a living. Such a man is the sort Frank Race much confront, when it is learned that there is one item on the post-war black market in the crumbling and half-dead city of Istanbul, that must not be sold, for in the hands of the wrong people it could lead only to more death and destruction. On the other side of the equation the black market also holds medical supplies that are desperately needed and only complicates the ethical dilemma surrounding the very need for a black market at all, and is what frames this intriguing story Frank Race has recounted in his official records as “The Istanbul Adventure.”

(The linked CD at the top includes this episode and 19 others, all digitally remastered and restored.)

Play Time: 26:32

{“The Istanbul Adventure” aired on a Sunday evening in mid-May of 1949, which meant the neighborhood gang would make for the nearby newsstand as soon as school ended the following afternoon. While Istanbul was the exotic setting for Frank Race’s current adventure, even more exotic settings could be found in the current issue of Fantastic Novels (1940-41, 1948-51). The magazine’s success was built on the theory that much classic material of either a scientific or fantastical bent was published before the advent of the official “genre” pulps devoted to science fiction or fantasy, and would find a ready audience now that the SF/F genres had proved there was such a ready-made following. Editor Mary Gnaedinger was also a driving force in the magazine’s success as she wisely selected true classics to secure the audience she knew was out there. Fantastic Novels was a bimonthly in 1949. F.B.I. Detective Stories (1949-51) saw only 14 issues and appears to have been a victim of poor timing, as the audience for stories featuring the “Feds” had worn itself out through many a gangster and police procedural film and radio tale over at least the previous decade and most likely as far back as the 1930s. That said, the magazine yet managed to provide quality stories from capable genre writers and popular purveyors such as John D. MacDonald, a sure fire cover draw. F.B.I. Detective was also a bimonthly in 1949. 10-Story Detective (1938-49) found its audience by successfully exploiting the meat and potatoes of the detective genre, that of the police and detective action tale. A classic formula peppered with seasoned writers evincing a thorough understanding of what makes a story tick made this pulp a favorite for over a decade. Like the other two selections picked up by the neighborhood gang this visit, it was a bi-monthly.}

[Left: Fantastic Novels, 5/49 – Center: F.B.I. Detective Stories, 6/49 – Right: 10-Story Detective, 4/49]

To view the entire list of weekly Old Time Radio episodes at Tangent Online, click here.