George Bernard Shaw once said,

Radio broadcasts of baseball games from 1948-1967.

Blackstone, the Magic Detective was a 15-minute radio series which aired Sunday afternoons at 2:45pm ET on the Mutual Broadcasting System from October 3, 1948 until April 3, 1949.

The series, starring Ed Jerome as "the world's greatest living magician," was based on real-life magician Harry Blackstone Sr. Storylines usually opened with Blackstone (Jerome) telling his friends John (Ted Osborne) and Rhoda (Fran Carlon) about an experience from his past, and this mystery story was then dramatized in a flashback. At the end, Blackstone challenged the audience to find a solution to the magical mystery. Each show concluded with Blackstone outlining a trick that listeners could perform for the amusement of their friends.

"Adventure wanted -- will go anywhere, do anything -- Box 13."

The premise of the program was that Dan Holiday was an author who wrote mystery novels. To get userideas for his novels he placed an advertisement in a newspaper saying "Adventure wanted, will go anywhere, do anything, Box 13." The ads always brought fun adventures of all kinds: from racketeer's victim to psychotic killer looking for fun. Most of the episodes were based on Dan Holiday replying to a letter he received at Box 13.

He would generally solve a mystery in the process, and return to his office in time to enjoy a hearty laugh at the expense of Suzy, his amusingly stupid secretary. He would certainly not meet the strictest requirements for private eyes (not licensed, collected no fees from clients), but the definition should stretch to sneak him in under the rope.

In total there were 52 episodes of this radio program created. It was heard over the Mutual Broadcasting System as well as being syndicated. The series was produced by Mayfair Productions.