The run
- Network
- CBS
- Years active
- 1940–1955
- Surviving broadcasts
- 67
- Genre
- detective
When Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons first debuted over the Blue Network on October 12, 1937, the show’s title accurately described Keen’s stock-in-trade; the “kindly old investigator” tracked down individuals who had mysteriously vanished, leaving behind their families, homes, jobs and other day-to-day activities. Keen (he never had a first name, unless it was “Peachy”) was assisted in these duties by an Irishman named Mike Clancy. Mike wasn’t much of a brainiac (the quote that comprises the title of this post was a semi-catchphrase that he seemed to use on the show every week) but he could use…
Source collection
Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
12 dated broadcasts across 16 years on the air, with 8 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1940, in original transmission order.
- 1. The Case of the Missing Doll (Pt. 4) · 9 May 1940
- 2. The Case of the Missing Witness · 13 Jan 1944
- 3. The Case of the Strange Display · 16 Mar 1944
The Case of the Missing Doll (Pt. 4)
9 May 1940 · 13 min
Broadcast 9 May 1940. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
The Case of the Missing Witness
13 Jan 1944 · 30 min
Broadcast 13 January 1944. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
The Case of the Strange Display
16 Mar 1944 · 29 min
Broadcast 16 March 1944. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
The Case of the Absent Minded Professor
15 Mar 1945 · 29 min
Broadcast 15 March 1945. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
The Yellow Talon Murder Case
22 Sep 1949 · 29 min
Broadcast 22 September 1949. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
The Engaged Girl Murder Case
10 Nov 1949 · 29 min
Broadcast 10 November 1949. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
The Case of the Two Faced Murderer
16 Feb 1950 · 29 min
Broadcast 16 February 1950. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
The Country Club Murder Case
20 Apr 1950 · 29 min
Broadcast 20 April 1950. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
Also on CBS
CBS in 1940–1955
Other series the network carried while Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons was on the air.
Same seasons
detective on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
The private eye at the microphone
First-person narration, a case that walks in the door, and a city that talks back. Marlowe, Sam Spade and Johnny Dollar turned detection into a listening form.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
Chosen by the same editors.
