The CBS Radio Mystery Theater was hosted by veteran American actor E G Marshall and first broadcast on January 6th, 1974. Marshall hosted the series until its final year when Tammy Grimes took over on February 1st, 1982. In its first six years new plays were broadcast every day, then five days a week, running almost continuously until the last original show on December 7th, 1982 and the final broadcast on December 31st, 1982. The entire series consisted of a remarkable output of 1399 shows, with almost all of the story lines newly written and produced. However, there were some adaptations based on novels by Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Some thirteen Sherlock Holmes stories were adapted, Murray Burnett being credited as the writer. Film actor Kevin McCarthy and radio actor Cort Benson played Holmes and Watson, and they were joined by CBS regulars in the supporting roles. The recording of the CBS version A Study in Scarlet can be heard by clicking on the link below which was recorded by an American enthusiast and posted on the internet. It has been slightly edited, with some of the messages and advertisements deleted, a merciful act, as anyone who has listened to the Rathbone/Bruce recordings, and endured heavy-handed endorsements of wine and cold remedies, can testify. The style of the presentation is quite alien to British ears. Whereas the BBC programme featuring Carleton Hobbs and Norman Shelley has no announcer and settles quickly into a very close adaptation from Doyle's tale, this recording begins with a dramatic scene from the Wild West followed by Marshall's introduction. This scene setting is reminiscent of the TV series The Twilight Zone, and, indeed, both music and Marshall's later interjections continue in this style. Sadly, this doesn't work at all - some of the narrative is quite bizarre and pointless (anyone who has ever seen an Ed Wood movie will be familiar with this stylistic device) and some of the musical effects are extremely clichéd. (da, DA, DAAA!). The casting is also strange. Kevin McCarthy is a fine actor, perhaps best remembered for his performances in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the film version of The Twilight Zone and in various comic roles in the 1980s; but he is not an obvious choice for Sherlock Holmes. Indeed, McCarthy's slight Canadian accent can be heard throughout, which is distracting. Nevertheless, once started, the story moves briskly along and not a moment of the 45 minutes is wasted. It is a competent, slick production and reasonably faithful to the Canon. For those that have not yet listened to the Hobbs and Shelley broadcast, I recommend first listening to the CBS version and then to the BBC version. Whilst I hesitate to lead our readers to such a conclusion at the risk of offending our American and Canadian visitors, there are some things the BBC does better than anyone else. Episodes The Hound of the Baskervilles1 1st March 1977 The Sign of Four 8th March 1977 A Study in Scarlet 25th March 1977 The Adventure of the Red-Headed League3 26th April 1977 The Boscombe Pool Mystery 31st May 1977 The Adventure of the Speckled Band 28th June 1977 A Scandal in Bohemia 11th July 1977 The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle4 25th July 1977 The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet 7th October 1977 A Question of Identity 28th October 1977 The Gloria Scott 14th November 1977 The Vanishing Herd 29th January 1981 The Musgrave Ritual 31st August 1981