Crime Does Not Pay (film and radio series)

Crime Does Not Pay was an anthology radio crime drama series based on MGM's short film series which began in 1935 with Crime Does Not Pay: Buried Loot. The shows were transcribed at MGM's New York station, WMGM.

Written by Ira Marion and directed by Marx B. Loeb, the radio program aired in New York on WMGM for two years (October 10, 1949-October 10, 1951), including repeats. It moved to the Mutual Broadcasting System for its final run (January 7-December 22, 1952).[1]

For the most part, actors who appeared in B-films were featured, but occasionally one of MGM's major stars would make an appearance. Actors in the series included Bela Lugosi, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley, John Loder and Lionel Stander. After the play, the actors usually returned to speak with the audience.

The episodes in the film series include:

• Buried Loot, with Robert Taylor
• Torture Money, with Edwin Maxwell and George Lynn
• It May Happen to You, with J. Carrol Naish
• Soak the Poor, with Leslie Fenton and Leon Ames
• Give Till it Hurts, with Janet Beecher, Clay Clement, and Howard Hickman
• Behind the Criminal, with Edward Emerson, Walter Kingsford, Anna Q. Nilsson, and Joe Sawyer
• What Price Safety!, with Lionel Royce, George Huston, and John Wray
• Miracle Money, with John Miljan, Boyd Crawford, Robert Middlemass, and Fred Warren
• Come Across, with Bernard Nedell, Bernadene Hayes, Rita La Roy, and Donald Douglas
• They're Always Caught, with Stanley Ridges, John Eldredge, Louis Jean Heydt, and Charles Waldron
• Think it Over, with Lester Matthews, Charles D. Brown, Donald Barry and Dwight Frye
• The Wrong Way Out, with Kenneth Howell and Linda Terry
• Money to Loan, with Alan Dinehart, Paul Guilfoyle, John Butler, Addison Richards, and Tom Collins
• While America Sleeps, with Richard Purcell, Lenita Lane, Egon Brecher, and Fred Vogeding
• Help Wanted, with Tom Neal, Jo Ann Sayers, Clem Bevans, Edward Pawley, and Truman Bradley
• Drunk Driving, with Richard Purcell, Jo Ann Sayers, and Richard Lane
• Pound Foolish, with Neil Hamilton, Lynne Carver, Gertrude Michael, and Victor Varconi
• Know Your Money, with Noel Madison, Dennis Moore, Charles D. Brown, William Edmunds, John Wray, and Adrian Morris
• Jack Pot, with Tom Neal, Ann Morriss, Edwin Maxwell, and Jean Rouverol
• Women in Hiding, with Marsha Hunt, Jane Drummond, Mary Bovard, C. Henry Gordon, and Granville Bates
• You, the People, with C. Henry Gordon, Byron Shores, Paul Everton, and Matt McHugh
• Respect the Law, with Moroni Olsen, Richard Lane, Frank Orth, and William Forrest
• Forbidden Passage, with Addison Richards, Wolfgang Zilzer, Hugh Beaumont, and George Lessey
• Coffins on Wheels, with Darryl Hickman, Tom Baker, Allen Lane, and Cy Kendall
• Sucker List, with Lynne Carver, Noel Madison, John Archer, and George Cleveland
• Don't Talk, with Donald Douglas, Gloria Holden, Barry Nelson, and Harry Worth
• For the Common Defense!, with John Litel, Douglas Fowley, Horace McNally, and Van Johnson
• Easy Life with Steven Geray, Bernard Thomas, and William "Bill Phillips
• Dark Shadows with Henry O'Neill, Morris Ankrum, Arthur Space and Paul Guilfoyle
• The Last Installment with Walter Sande, Cameron Mitchell, William "Bill" Phillips, Bob Lewis and Addison Richards
• Phantoms, Inc. with Arthur Shields, Harry Hayden and Frank Reicher
• A Gun in His Hand with Tom Trout, Richard Gaines and Anthony Caruso
• The Luckiest Guy in the World with Barry Nelson, Eloise Hardt, George Travell, Milton Kibbee and Harry Cheshire
• Purity Squad with Byron Foulger, Dick Elliott, Morris Ankrum, and Frank Fenton

Composer-conductor John Gart furnished the music.