Crime

Crime Classics

The Crime of Bathsheba Spooner
30mins Aired 1953-06-15
The Shockingly Peaceful Passing of Thomas Edwin Bartlett, Greengrocer
30mins Aired 1953-06-22
The Checkered Life and Sudden Death of Colonel James Fisk, Jr
30mins Aired 1953-06-29
The Shrapnelled Body of Charles Drew, Sr
30mins Aired 1953-07-06
The Terrible Deed of John White Webster
30mins Aired 1953-07-13
The Death of a Picture Hanger
30mins Aired 1953-07-20
The Final Day of General Ketchum, And How He Died
30mins Aired 1953-07-27
Mr Thrower's Hammer
30mins Aired 1953-08-03
The Axe and the Droot Family, How They Fared
30mins Aired 1953-08-10
The Incredible Trial of Laura D Fair
30mins Aired 1953-08-17
The Alsop Family, How It Diminished And Grew Again
30mins Aired 1953-08-24
Your Loving Son, Nero
30mins Aired 1953-08-31
The Torment of Henrietta Robinson, And Why She Killed
30mins Aired 1953-09-07
The Bloody, Bloody Banks of Fall River
30mins Aired 1953-09-30
The Hangman and William Palmer, Who Won
30mins Aired 1953-10-07
The Seven-layered Arsenic Cake of Madame Lafarge
30mins Aired 1953-10-14
Billy Bonny Bloodletter, Also Known As 'The Kid'
30mins Aired 1953-10-21
John Hayes, His Head And How They Were Parted
30mins Aired 1953-10-28
Raschi Among the Crocodiles, And The Prank He Played
30mins Aired 1953-11-04
Blackbeard's Fourteenth Wife, Why She Was Not Good For Him
29mins Aired 1953-11-11
The Triangle on the Round Table
29mins Aired 1953-11-18
The Killing Story of William Corder and the Farmer's Daughter
28mins Aired 1953-11-25
If a Body Need a Body, Just Call Burke and Hare
29mins Aired 1953-12-02
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
29mins Aired 1953-12-09
John and Judith, Their Crime And Why They Didn't Get To Enjoy It
32mins Aired 1953-12-16
Coyle and Richardson, Why They Hung In A Spanking Breeze
30mins Aired 1953-12-30
The Younger Brothers, Why Some Of Them Grew No Older
30mins Aired 1954-01-06
How Supan Got the Hook Outside Bombay
30mins Aired 1954-01-13
Madeline Smith, Maid Or Murderess - Which
29mins Aired 1954-01-20
The Boorn Brothers and the Hangman, A Study In Nip And Tuck
30mins Aired 1954-01-27
The Incredible History of John Shepard
30mins Aired 1954-02-03
Twenty-Three Knives Against Caesar
30mins Aired 1954-02-10
Jean Baptiste Troppmann, Killer Of Many
28mins Aired 1954-02-17
The Good Ship Jane, Why She Became Flotsam
29mins Aired 1954-02-24
Roger Nems, How He, Though Dead, Won The Game
27mins Aired 1954-03-03
New Hampshire, The Tiger and Brad Ferguson; What Happened Then
31mins Aired 1954-03-10
Old Sixtoes, How He Stopped Construction On The B. B. C. and I
30mins Aired 1954-03-17
Robby-Boy Balfour, How He Wrecked A Big Prison's Reputation
28mins Aired 1954-03-31
The General's Daughter, the Czar's Lieutenant and the Linen Closet
30mins Aired 1954-04-07
James Evans, Fireman, How He Extinguished A Human Torch
30mins Aired 1954-04-14
Cesare Borgia - His Most Difficult Murder
29mins Aired 1954-04-21
Widow Magee and the Three Gypsies, A Vermont Fandango
30mins Aired 1954-04-28
Bunny Baumler, His Close Brush With Fame
29mins Aired 1954-05-05
Mr Clarke's Skeleton in Mr Aram's Closet, The Noise It Made
30mins Aired 1954-05-12
The Lethal Habit of The Marquise De Brinvilliers
30mins Aired 1954-05-26
Mr Jonathon Jewett, How Most Peculiarly He Cheated The Hangman
30mins Aired 1954-06-02
The Assassination of Leon Trotsky
29mins Aired 1954-06-09
The Death of a Baltimore Birdie and Friend
30mins Aired 1954-06-16
Ali Pasha - A Turkish Delight
30mins Aired 1954-06-23
Good Evening, My Name Is Jack the Ripper
29mins Aired 1954-06-30

Crime Classics is a historical true crime radio docudrama series that aired on CBS Radio from June 15, 1953, to June 30, 1954. Produced and directed by Elliott Lewis, the episodes were co-written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin, and featured music by Bernard Herrmann. Hosted by Thomas Hyland, played by Lou Merrill, the show investigates true crime stories from various eras and locations, narrated with a wry, cool-blooded tone.

Cases range from famous assassinations, like those of Abraham Lincoln and Julius Caesar, to obscure crimes like the story of Bathsheba Spooner, the first woman tried and executed in America. The show is notable for its factual accuracy, its attention to sophistication and mood, and its tasteful sound effects.