Adventures of Sam Spade (Various)

At a construction site, Bill Woods, the foreman, is shot dead while he's on the 20th floor. For the second week, Richard Kollmar is not heard during the program. Blackie does manage to croak a few words while sick in bed (possibly voiced by Jackson Beck).

Sam Spade receives a visit from Marsha Hopkins who tells him that she is dreadfully worried about her sister Miss Constance Pendleton who has become involved with a scoundrel and is planning on marrying him. Miss Hopkins knows that this man is only interested in her Constance’s money and is convinced that after the ceremony he is going to kill her.

Sam Spade was a hard-boiled detective with cold detachment, a keen eye for detail, and unflinching determination to achieve his own justice. The character of Sam Spade was created by writer Dashiell Hammett in 1930 for his crime story The Maltese Falcon, and for most people, the character is closely associated with actor Humphrey Bogart, who played Sam Spade in the third and most famous film version of the story. In 1946, William Spier, one of radio's top producers, brought Sam Spade to the airwaves starring newcomer Howard Duff with Lurene Tuttle (and occasionally Sandra Gould) as Effie Perrine, Spade's secretary. Duff took a more tongue-in-cheek approach to the character than did the novel or movie. Dashiell Hammett lent his name to the radio series but did little more than cash the checks sent to him for the privilege. Scriptwriters were Jason James and Bob Tallman, who received an Edgar Award in 1947 for best radio drama from the Mystery Writers of America. Howard Duff starred as Spade until 1951 when Stephen Dunne took the role. Starring here are Starring Howard Duff or Stephen Dunne as Sam Spade, with Lurene Tuttle, Paul Frees, Wally Maher, Verna Felton, Shirley Mitchell, Lou Merrill, and others. Episodes included in this collection are 'The Bow Window Caper' (9 Nov 47), 'The Critical Author Caper' (15 Aug 48), 'The Sugar Kane Caper' (3 Oct 48), 'The Overjord Caper' (5 Jun 49), 'The Sure Thing Caper' (9 Feb 51), 'The Soap Opera Caper' (16 Feb 51), 'The Shot in the Dark Caper' (23 Feb 51), 'The Crab Louis Caper' (2 Mar 51), 'The Spanish Prisoner Caper' (9 Mar 51), 'The Kimberly Cross Caper' (23 Mar 51), 'The Vendetta Caper' (30 Mar 51), and 'The Civic Pride Caper' (13 Apr 51).

Sam Spade dictates a letter through Effie to John M. Lawless, a known gangster who hired Sam Spade yesterday. The subject was Joe Moralis. Flashback to when San Francisco was recovering from VJ Day and crime was practically at a standstill because the number-one competitor in the west coast mob had just been wiped out in a hit-and-run accident and Lawless was on trial for the same. Nothing about the trial made any sense. Lawless was taking the rap for his best friend Joe Moralis and what made even less sense was that the lawyer defending him was Joe’s brother.

A wealthy man hires Spade to protect him from his former employee, who is just out of prison after five years. Sam is at the morgue. Someone has been killed and Sam knows who did it. But he wishes that he didn't...

Sam was in his office when Miss Maimie Gaygan, a beautiful woman unfortunately with a heart of stone, demanded that he accompany her to Johnny McCall's illegal gambling hall. There he met Johnny, who wanted Sam to take the Tears of Night necklace back to its owner, Miss Daphne Arlington, who had put the necklace down as collateral until she could raise the cash after losing on the gambling tables. He had received a call that afternoon from her saying that if her necklace wasn't returned by that same afternoon, she was going to call the police and he would be closed down. Sam agreed, but when he got to her house to give her the necklace, she was already wearing the exact same one...

Sam is hired to find a drunken engineer, who is promptly found scalped. A valuable wampum belt is stolen. Indian Chief Black Cloud wants to employ Sam Spade to find someone. Chief Black Cloud owns 130 oil wells and had come to San Francisco to talk to Clarence Hobart from a big engineering company, then after four days Hobart has disappeared.

Sam has been hired by Miss Elizabeth Collie to investigate a number of thefts that have occurred at the Miss Wigginson School for Girls. Herself and Ursula Cavanagh, one of the board directors, have decided that they know who the culprit is, they just have to prove it. They have no evidence but they just want Sam to prove that their suspicions are correct. Glorie Thomas is Miss Elizabeth Collie's assistant, and also the one under surveillance by Sam. She has done nothing to make anyone think that she is the thief, and has had none of the stolen items recovered from her possession. There is no evidence at all to support Miss Ursula and Miss Elizabeth's claim, so why are they so insistent?

Sam is greeted on his arrival on Belvedere island by Sharma Leslie. She is the foster daughter of Jonathan Battle, the man who has hired Sam. Jonathan Battle is worried about a man that he was once involved with and whom had committed murder. Jonathan had stopped him before he could finish his work and his now enemy had then devoted his life and fortune to searching him out. Jonathan had recently learned that he had caught up with him at last, and was actually living next door.

Sam's quiet evening with a western novel is rudely shattered.

Sam has been called in by Dr Ludwig Zoyer, a psychoanalyst. He has a client named Mrs. Hamilton who has suffered from a complete nervous collapse because she thought she recognized a certain person crossing the street, a person she had not seen for years. Three years ago Mrs. Hamilton's son, Carter, died under mysterious circumstances. The woman that she thought she saw was her daughter-in-law, whom she had accused of murdering her son. The case had gone to court but she had not been charged, she had dropped out of sight soon afterwards. Mrs. Hamilton is suffering from an agonizing sense of guilt. Unconsciously, she thinks that she herself murdered her son.

The Adventures of Sam Spade was a radio series based loosely on the private detective character Sam Spade, created by writer Dashiell Hammett for The Maltese Falcon. The radio series ran from 1946 through 1951.