Crime Classics was a radio docudrama that aired over CBS from June 15, 1953 until June 30, 1954. Created, produced, and directed by Elliott Lewis, the program was a true crime series, examining crimes and murders throughout history. It grew out of Lewis’ personal interest in famous murder cases and took a documentary-like approach to the subject, carefully recreating the facts, personages and feel of the times. Very little dramatic license was taken with the facts and events, but the tragedy was leavened with humor, expressed largely through the narration. The crimes dramatized covered a broad time and place frame from ancient Greece to late 19th-century America. The cases ranged from famous assassinations (of Abraham Lincoln, Leon Trotsky, and Julius Caesar) and the lives (and often deaths) of the likes of Cesare Borgia and Blackbeard to more obscure cases, such as Bathsheba Spooner, who killed her husband Joshua Spooner in 1778 and became the first woman tried and executed in America. Lou Merrill portrayed our host, Thomas Hyland, and the series featured radio’s finest supporting players.

6-15-53 The Crime of Bathsheba Spooner
10-28-53 John Hayes, His Head and How They Were Parted
11-11-53 Blackbeard’s 14th Wife. Why She Was No Good for Him
12-30-53 Coyle and Richardson. Why They Hung in a Spanking Breeze
1-6-54 Younger Brothers. Why Some of Them Grew No Older
1-13-54 How Supan Got the Hook Outside Bombay
1-20-54 Madeline Smith: Maid or Murderess – which?
1-27-54 The Born Brothers & the Hangman: A Study in Nip & Tuck
2-3-54 Incredible History of John Shepherd
2-17-54 John Baptise Troppman, Killer of Many
4-28-54 Widow MaGee and the Three Gypsies
5-26-54 The Lethal Habit of the Marquise De Brinvilliers