Down These Mean Streets – Episode 645: Holmes Cooked Meals
Podcast: Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Host: Mean Streets Podcasts
Date: November 23, 2025
Overview:
This festive episode celebrates Thanksgiving with a culinary twist, focusing on three radio adventures of Sherlock Holmes where meals are at the center of the mystery. Host Mean Streets Podcasts weaves together background, context, and classic radio fun, introducing key detectives and actors from the “Golden Age of Radio.” The featured stories are:
- "The Strange Case of Mrs. Abernety" (Tom Conway as Holmes, Nigel Bruce as Watson, 1946)
- "The Case of King Philip’s Golden Salver" (John Stanley as Holmes, Alfred Shirley as Watson, 1948)
- "The Case of the Very Best Butter" (John Stanley as Holmes, Alfred Shirley as Watson, 1948)
Each segment spotlights the ways food acts as a clue, trap, or misdirection—serving up a vintage slice of detective entertainment.
Main Segments & Key Insights
1. Introduction & Thanksgiving Theme
[00:30 - 03:20]
- The episode’s central idea: mysteries where a meal or food item is crucial to the plot.
- Host notes the proximity to Thanksgiving and the cultural resonance of big holiday meals.
- Outlines the featured trio of Holmes stories in which food is integral to detecting foul play.
Quote:
“Each of them, a meal is a key part of the mystery... dinner is about to be served. We'll start with our first course featuring Tom Conway as Sherlock Holmes...” — Host [02:50]
2. "The Strange Case of Mrs. Abernety" (Nov 30, 1946)
[05:00 - 42:00]
Context & Cast
- Tom Conway takes over as Sherlock Holmes from Basil Rathbone, with Nigel Bruce remaining as Dr. Watson.
- Story by Anthony Boucher & Dennis Green.
Plot Highlights
- Holmes and Watson are drawn into a lethal family drama in the countryside, where food and inheritance intersect.
- Mrs. Abernety, matriarch with a heart condition, insists Holmes and Watson attend a tense family luncheon.
- Parsley on the butter is the subtle clue to a cleverly administered dose of digitalis—fatal only to the intended (matriarch).
- Holmes’s acute observation saves the day: the parsley's placement and its lack of sinking lead to the murderer’s identification.
Key Discussion Points:
- Atmosphere of Suspicion:
Holmes’s view: crime easily festers in secluded countryside homes.
“The lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling countryside.” — Holmes [13:00] - Family Dynamics:
Clinic look at family members’ motives (inheritance, resentment, dependency). - Forensic Detail:
The seemingly innocent parsley is a narrative pivot—a classic Holmesian touch for noticing the smallest details.
Notable Quotes:
- “The pressure of public opinion can do in the city what the law cannot accomplish. ... But look at these lonely houses. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness ...” — Holmes [14:00]
- “The sprig of parsley enables Sherlock Holmes to solve one of the most diabolical murders we ever encountered.” — Dr. Watson [09:10]
- Holmes gently but firmly, at the denouement:
“When death is so intensely desired by four persons present...I can't assume a verdict of natural death. In proof, I suggest you notice the depth to which that parsley has sunk in the butter.” [38:40]
Memorable Moment
- The murderer is revealed as shy Rose Abernety, who disguised herself as a maid to poison her grandmother’s butter—motivated by desperation to escape the home.
3. "The Case of King Philip’s Golden Salver" (Feb 29, 1948)
[43:00 - 1:14:00]
Context & Cast
- John Stanley (Holmes) and Alfred Shirley (Watson)
- Written by Edith Meiser, who the host praises for faithfulness to Conan Doyle's tone.
Plot Highlights
- A priceless golden platter (gifted by Philip of Spain to Queen Elizabeth I) vanishes during an officers’ dinner at the Tower of London.
- The incident entangles love, careers, and regimental politics, overseen by the imperious and celibate Sir Stafford Blodgett (“Old Blood and Bullets”).
- Key suspects are limited, as the Tower is sealed by the portcullis during the meal.
- Holmes, taking inspiration from Poe’s “The Purloined Letter,” deduces the platter remains hidden on the premises—in Sir Stafford’s own army cot, revealing the Governor's hypocrisy.
Key Discussion Points:
- Setting: The historical Tower of London acts as both locked-room puzzle and social microcosm.
- Comedic Undertones: Holmes unravels the theft, but also unmasks Blodgett’s double life; the stern governor is not the ascetic he claims.
- Themes of Class and Authority: The plot pokes fun at social status, dowries, and the absurdities of military bureaucracy.
Notable Quotes:
- “You probably don't know how to look and I suppose you do? ... Oh, I don't have to look. I know where it is. ... It's in the only place it could be.” — Holmes [1:03:00]
- “The next time you have a midnight visitor, I suggest you remind her not to leave her garter hanging on the samovar.” — Holmes [1:05:20]
Memorable Moment
- Holmes exposes Sir Stafford’s hypocrisy with sly wit and compassion, ensuring happy endings (and six weddings) for the officers and their beloveds.
4. "The Case of the Very Best Butter" (Apr 18, 1948)
[1:15:00 - 1:54:30]
Context & Cast
- John Stanley (Holmes), Alfred Shirley (Watson), script by Edith Meiser.
Plot Highlights
- A flamboyant French violinist’s wife suspects he is poisoning her.
- Holmes and Watson attend a dinner where butter (decoratively presented and portioned) is the instrument for an attempted murder—the poison is placed only at the end the wife (ostensibly) will choose.
- Holmes subtly subverts the plan by switching butter plates during a faked claret spill, thus causing the would-be murderer to eat his own poisoned portion.
- The case is a clever play on expectations—who is targeting whom, and the psychology of manipulation at the dinner table.
Key Discussion Points:
- Psychological Tension:
The meal is a tense, almost theatrical scene, brimming with subtext and petty provocations. - Holmesian Method:
Attention to domestic habits, psychology, and motive, as well as chemistry (identifying antimony poison). - Gender and Power:
The wife’s suspicions, the dynamics of age, attraction, and inheritance play into the motive.
Notable Quotes:
- “My husband wishes to be rid of me. I am being poisoned systematically, cold bloodedly poisoned.” — Madame de Pavanne [1:18:30]
- “Monsieur de Pavanne was a very shrewd judge of his wife's character. ... Suppose she hadn’t turned the butter around—one of the rest of us might have had the poisoned slice!” — Holmes and Watson [1:52:00]
Memorable Moment
- Holmes’s behind-the-scenes heroics: his staged “clumsy” spill saves the intended victim and unmasks the true danger at the dinner table.
Timestamps for Important Segments
- Introduction & Show Theme: 00:30 - 03:20
- Mrs. Abernety Case (Story): 05:00 - 42:00
- Holmes’s quote on crime in the countryside: 13:00
- Clue of the parsley in the butter: 38:40
- King Philip’s Golden Salver (Story): 43:00 - 1:14:00
- Holmes explains the platter’s location: 1:03:00
- Blodgett’s hypocrisy revealed: 1:05:20
- The Very Best Butter (Story): 1:15:00 - 1:54:30
- Madame de Pavanne's accusation: 1:18:30
- Holmes’s trick with the butter: 1:52:00
Original Tone & Memorable Moments
- The show maintains its classic, wryly humorous, and gently suspenseful tone.
- Smart, playful banter between Holmes and Watson, as well as between family and authority figures.
- Each story is a “locked room” of sorts, centering on the dinner table as a battlefield of suspicion and subtle violence.
Notable Quotes (with Attribution & Timestamp)
- “The lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling countryside.” — Sherlock Holmes, Mrs. Abernety [13:00]
- “The sprig of parsley enables Sherlock Holmes to solve one of the most diabolical murders we ever encountered.” — Dr. Watson, Mrs. Abernety [09:10]
- “I can't assume a verdict of natural death. In proof, I suggest you notice the depth to which that parsley has sunk in the butter.” — Sherlock Holmes, Mrs. Abernety [38:40]
- “You don't say. It's in the only place it could be.” — Sherlock Holmes, King Philip’s Golden Salver [1:03:00]
- “The next time you have a midnight visitor, I suggest you remind her not to leave her garter hanging on the samovar.” — Sherlock Holmes, King Philip’s Golden Salver [1:05:20]
- “My husband wishes to be rid of me. I am being poisoned systematically, cold bloodedly poisoned.” — Madame de Pavanne, The Very Best Butter [1:18:30]
- “Monsieur de Pavanne was a very shrewd judge of his wife's character … Suppose she hadn’t turned the butter around — one of the rest of us might have had the poisoned slice!” — Holmes and Watson, The Very Best Butter [1:52:00]
Final Notes & Outlook
- The host closes with news of upcoming bonus episodes tied to Thanksgiving and Black Friday, always with an eye for linking classic radio to contemporary moments.
- Graceful callback to the values and customs of the “Golden Age” detective genre: family, food, suspicion, and sharp-eyed deduction.