Box 13 (1948-1949) aired “Suicide or Murder” on October 31, 1948 as the 11th of its 52 episodes. This is the 12th episode of Box 13 we have showcased since 2017 and the first in almost a year, since December of 2024. It has proved a popular program so we happily present another episode this week, along with a reprise of the introductory material from previous shows for newcomers, or those wishing to refresh their memories.

Box 13 was a production of Mayfair Productions, a company begun by Alan Ladd and Richard Sandville, and was named after a restaurant of the same name owned by the pair. The shows were syndicated to various networks and radio stations who ran them on different days of the week and at different time slots to fit their individual programming needs. Thus, some shows have differing original air dates and are hard to pin down, especially since a limited block of shows (13 or 26 or more episodes of the 52 total run) might have been picked up years later. So we have the show appearing in a few scattered markets in late 1947, and then on its historically recognized nationwide run in 1948-49, cropping up again around 1954, and even into the early 1970s. It was well produced, written, and acted, with quite a few Big Name radio actors appearing in various episodes. It is also one of those shows veering away from the single-track, hard-boiled, noirish detective or P.I. radio shows so popular throughout the 1940s in film and on radio, in that while it kept the noirish element (usually at least one corpse a trademark feature) it also emphasized a strong element of adventure, so that Box 13 is probably best categorized as a noir-adventure series.

The premise of the show has film star Alan Ladd (1913-1964, most recognizable as the hero in the classic 1953 film Shane) as writer/adventurer Dan Holiday. Holiday has retired from his days of writing for a newspaper to write his own fiction, and now to gain ideas for his books has placed an ad in the paper that reads:  “Adventure wanted – will go anywhere, do anything – Box 13.” Holiday’s personal secretary, Suzy (played by Sylvia Picker [1909-1981], photo at right with Ladd), is in charge of his mail drop, which she checks regularly. While Suzy’s character is somewhat ditzy (a not uncommon character in film and radio of the time), she plays it to the hilt and adds a nice touch to the show.

“Suicide or Murder” begins on a sad note when Dan reads a heartfelt plea for help written by a mother whose son has recently died, and she suspects foul play. The distraught mother later explains that her son worked as a journalist for a local newspaper, a position he took after he returned home from his military service in the war. Her son was on the verge of a huge story before he died, the nature of which was unknown. This case intrigues Dan immediately, and the leads he pursues takes him to an unexpected answer—one that is indeed a major story, a story providing not only closure for the heartbroken mother but an overdue revelation with roots dating back to the war. This is just the sort of adventure Dan Holiday was hoping for when he decided to offer his investigative services through his newspaper ad at Box 13.

(The linked CD at top includes this episode and 13 others.)

Play Time: 26:34

{Airing on Sunday, October 31st, 1948, the neighborhood gang couldn’t wait to make it to the nearby newsstand after school the next day. Their selections reflected their mood against bad guys of any stripe. Dime Detective (1931-53) was the best selling of all of Popular Publications detective pulps, ending its long run with 274 issues and maintaining a monthly schedule for most of its run. It was a monthly in 1948. New Detective Magazine (1941-55) began by promising the newest in crime fiction, with an emphasis on police detectives. It merged with Detective Tales in 1953 to form Fifteen Detective Tales, but that didn’t last long for with its second issue it reverted to its original title. In September of 1955 it gave up its detective format and became a men’s adventure magazine. New Detective Magazine was a bimonthly in 1948. Popular Detective (1934-53) was your meat and potatoes detective pulp, with, as one source said of it “a consistent high quality of material from most of the top detective authors of the period.” It was also a bimonthly in 1948.}

[Left: Dime Detective, 10/48 – Center: New Detective, 11/48 – Right: Popular Detective, 11/48]

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