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Mystery, Crime & Detective · Syndicated (Mayfair)

Box 13

August 22, 1948 – August 14, 1949 · 52 broadcasts

Box 13 is a syndicated mystery-adventure series built as a showcase for film star Alan Ladd, who produced it through his own Mayfair Productions and starred as Dan Holiday -- a newspaperman turned novelist who chases plots for his fiction by running a standing classified ad: "Adventure wanted, will go anywhere, do anything -- write Box 13, Star-Times." Each week a fresh letter drops into that box and pulls Holiday into a new scrape: a framed murder, a shanghaiing, a haunted painting, a killer who mails him a four-day deadline. Sylvia Picker plays Suzy, his wisecracking secretary, and Los Angeles's finest radio character actors -- Lurene Tuttle, Betty Lou Gerson, Alan Reed, Luis Van Rooten, John Beal, Frank Lovejoy and others -- fill the supporting roles under director-announcer Vern Carstensen for producer Richard Sanville, with scripts largely by Russell Hughes and music by Rudy Schrager. Fifty-two half-hours ran weekly from August 1948 to August 1949; as a syndicated program it aired on different days in different cities, and remarkably all 52 survive complete.

Collection status: 52 of 52 held (100% complete)
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Episode Spine

Grouped by year. Jump to the full list below, or open a season on its own page.

1948

August 22, 1948 The First Letter Listen (FLAC)
Answering the ad, one Carla Williams becomes Holiday's very first client -- and sets him up to take a murder rap.
August 29, 1948 Insurance Fraud Listen (FLAC)
A summons into a silent black limousine after dark points Holiday toward a doctor supposedly seven years in his grave.
September 5, 1948 Blackmail Is Murder Listen (FLAC)
A frail, charming old lady hires Holiday after a man turns up shot dead in her hotel room.
September 12, 1948 Actor's Alibi Listen (FLAC)
A ticket to a live radio drama draws Holiday into a killing staged inside the studio.
September 19, 1948 Extra! Extra! Listen (FLAC)
A newsboy spends his last postcard begging Holiday to clear his father of a grand-theft charge.
September 26, 1948 Shanghaied Listen (FLAC)
A dare in the mail lures Holiday aboard the boat Ruthie J, where a blackjack sends him to sea.
October 3, 1948 Short Assignment Listen (FLAC)
A nervous little man who calls himself a detective enlists Holiday to head off a suicide.
October 10, 1948 Double Mothers Listen (FLAC)
A note in a dark park leaves Holiday holding a five-year-old girl -- and facing gunmen who want her.
October 17, 1948 Book of Poems Listen (FLAC)
A book of Sir Walter Scott's poems arrives from a man dead ten years, marked open at a single poem.
October 24, 1948 The Great Torino Listen (FLAC)
A frightened woman's theater ticket draws Holiday into a stage conjuror's world -- and the killing of the magician's assistant.
October 31, 1948 Suicide or Murder Listen (FLAC)
A grieving mother insists her son wasn't killed in a drunken brawl, but murdered.
November 7, 1948 Triple Cross Listen (FLAC)
A stranger's airmailed plane ticket sends Holiday to a rigged roulette wheel and a $126,000 double-cross.
November 14, 1948 Damsel in Distress Listen (FLAC)
A schoolgirl begs Holiday's protection from a blackmailer, then vanishes.
November 21, 1948 Diamond in the Sky Listen (FLAC)
A job to fetch a fabled diamond from Paris ends with Holiday arrested for the theft.
November 28, 1948 Double Right Cross Listen (FLAC)
One of Holiday's old army buddies stands accused of throwing a fight.
December 5, 1948 Look Pleasant, Please Listen (FLAC)
A stranger asks Holiday to pose for a photo, and he wakes up engaged to a fifteen-million-dollar heiress.
December 12, 1948 The Haunted Artist Listen (FLAC)
An artist swears his newest canvas is haunted -- a stone quarry keeps painting itself in.
December 19, 1948 The Sad Night Listen (FLAC)
A child's old copybook proves the key to a centuries-hidden fortune and a trail of death.
December 26, 1948 Hot Box Listen (FLAC)
Paid to buy a Chinese teakwood box at auction, Holiday finds several people will kill to own it.

1949

January 2, 1949 The Better Man Listen (FLAC)
A bored millionaire buries $100,000 and dares Holiday to make the hunt exciting.
January 9, 1949 The Professor and the Puzzle Listen (FLAC)
Holiday probes a professor's apparent suicide and the murder of his daughter's new fiance.
January 16, 1949 The Dowager and Dan Holiday Listen (FLAC)
One of the world's richest women stuns society by announcing her engagement to Dan Holiday.
January 23, 1949 Three to Die Listen (FLAC)
Holiday goes down as a sandhog into a river tunnel to catch a saboteur and a killer.
January 30, 1949 The Philanthropist Listen (FLAC)
Holiday goes undercover among railroad-camp drifters to break a racket that is preying on them.
February 6, 1949 Last Will and Nursery Rhyme Listen (FLAC)
A weekend invitation to a crumbling estate turns into a hunt for a fortune hidden behind a nursery rhyme.
February 13, 1949 Delinquent's Dilemma Listen (FLAC)
A mother pleads for help as her sixteen-year-old son takes a robbery rap to shield his gang.
February 20, 1949 Flash of Light Listen (FLAC)
A country boy, lost and frightened in the city, can't remember what happened to him for two days.
February 27, 1949 Hare and Hounds Listen (FLAC)
Framed for murder, Holiday devises an original way to summon the police.
March 6, 1949 Hunt and Peck Listen (FLAC)
A condemned man is hours from execution, and clearing him will cost Holiday dearly before the deadline runs out.
March 13, 1949 Death Is a Doll Listen (FLAC)
A healthy man is convinced witchcraft will kill him in five days, and Holiday heads to Louisiana to disprove it.
March 20, 1949 One One Three Point Five Listen (FLAC)
A recluse's cryptic letter sends Holiday to find a marked man before a killer does.
March 27, 1949 Dan and the Wonderful Lamp Listen (FLAC)
A charity bazaar's bean-jar door prize hides a far more dangerous puzzle.
April 3, 1949 Tempest in a Casserole Listen (FLAC)
A worried restaurateur's trouble turns out to mask an ingenious scheme for easy money.
April 10, 1949 Mexican Maze Listen (FLAC)
An airline ticket and a desperate plea lure Holiday to Mexico City and a murder frame.
April 17, 1949 Sealed Instructions Listen (FLAC)
A $10,000 offer sends Holiday to Manila to deliver a single sealed envelope.
April 24, 1949 Find Me, Find Death Listen (FLAC)
A homicidal stranger gives Holiday four days to identify him -- or be killed.
May 1, 1949 Much Too Lucky Listen (FLAC)
A legal bettor asks Holiday to explain how someone keeps knowing race winners before the start.
May 8, 1949 One of These Four Listen (FLAC)
A first-class liner ticket puts Holiday aboard ship with a murderer he must identify.
May 15, 1949 Daytime Nightmare Listen (FLAC)
Holiday is railroaded into an asylum and framed for murder, then hunted as a fugitive.
May 22, 1949 Death Is No Joke Listen (FLAC)
A string of vicious 'practical jokes' turns out to be attempts on an heir's life.
May 29, 1949 The Treasure of Hang Li Listen (FLAC)
A Chinatown jade shop hands Holiday a priceless piece and a quest for a hidden treasure.
June 5, 1949 Design for Danger Listen (FLAC)
A warning that ex-convict Johnny Tide is coming home for revenge sends Holiday to the waterfront.
June 12, 1949 The Dead Man Walks Listen (FLAC)
A corpse Holiday views in the afternoon is up and walking two hours later, and the dead man's frightened child dares not call the police.
June 19, 1949 Killer at Large Listen (FLAC)
A stranger offers Holiday $50,000 for the strangest job yet: to kill him.
June 26, 1949 Speed to Burn Listen (FLAC)
A challenge on a lonely highway asks Holiday to explain how a beat-up prewar car keeps reaching impossible speeds.
July 3, 1949 House of Darkness Listen (FLAC)
A blind man at the library's Braille room passes Holiday a case he cannot chase himself.
July 10, 1949 Double Trouble Listen (FLAC)
A typed letter from a 'Pat Kennedy' frames Holiday for murder and forces him to call the cops.
July 17, 1949 The Biter Bitten Listen (FLAC)
A doctor's frantic summons to a hotel room turns on a deadly snake and dozens of lives.
July 24, 1949 A Perfect Crime Listen (FLAC)
A professor with little time to live plots the perfect murder -- confesses -- and walks free.
July 31, 1949 Archimedes and the Roman Listen (FLAC)
A boy's plea to find a missing astronomer puts Holiday on the trail of a killer on the lam.
August 7, 1949 The Clay Pigeon Listen (FLAC)
A telephone errand -- trade a name with a spiritualist physician -- leaves Holiday shaken to the point of terror.
August 14, 1949 Round Robin Listen (FLAC)
In the series finale, a blackmailer squeezes a society woman over her gambling losses and a costly necklace, until Holiday steps in.
The Story

Box 13 is a syndicated mystery-adventure series built as a showcase for film star Alan Ladd, who produced it through his own Mayfair Productions and starred as Dan Holiday -- a newspaperman turned novelist who chases plots for his fiction by running a standing classified ad: "Adventure wanted, will go anywhere, do anything -- write Box 13, Star-Times." Each week a fresh letter drops into that box and pulls Holiday into a new scrape: a framed murder, a shanghaiing, a haunted painting, a killer who mails him a four-day deadline. Sylvia Picker plays Suzy, his wisecracking secretary, and Los Angeles's finest radio character actors -- Lurene Tuttle, Betty Lou Gerson, Alan Reed, Luis Van Rooten, John Beal, Frank Lovejoy and others -- fill the supporting roles under director-announcer Vern Carstensen for producer Richard Sanville, with scripts largely by Russell Hughes and music by Rudy Schrager. Fifty-two half-hours ran weekly from August 1948 to August 1949; as a syndicated program it aired on different days in different cities, and remarkably all 52 survive complete.

Full story — coming soon while it's being curated.
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