Old Time Radio Detective - Sam Spade
The Bow Window Caper - Sam Spade | 11/09/1947 (Ep072)
Hope you enjoy this episode of Sam Spade! Look for an ad-free option soon. We offer a Crime, Detective OTR radio station and many other podcasts at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Audio Credit: The Old Time Radio Researchers Group. Licensed under - All Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music
- Duration:
- 28m
- Broadcast on:
- 14 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective, brought to you by Wildroot Creme Oil hair tonic, the non-alcoholic hair tonic that contains Lanolin, Wildroot Creme Oil, again and again, the choice of men who put good grooming first. Sam Spade Detective Agency. Hello, sweetheart. It's only me. Oh, Sam. Why so modest? Women, Effie. Age cannot weather in our customs, stale, air-infinite variety. Huh? Against their incalculable wilds, mere man is a leap from the wind. Oh, Sam, do we? Oh. Who was she and how windy was it? Like Clonique, Effie. We had to close every window in the house. If you will just contain your natural feminine curiosity for a few moments, I'll be right down to dictate my report on the faux window, Capers. Dachel Hammett, America's leading detective fiction writer and creator of Sam Spade, the hard-boiled private eye, and William Spear, radio's outstanding producer, director of Mystery and Prime Drama, join their talent to make your hair stand on end with the Adventures of Sam Spade. Presented by the makers of Wild Root Cream Oil for the hair. To every man who says, "I don't use a hair tonic or I don't believe in a hair tonic," I say this. Decide for yourself, but don't decide until you've tried Wild Root Cream Oil, the entirely different hair tonic. There's not a drop of alcohol in Wild Root Cream Oil, and it contains soothing Lanolin. What's more, it grooms your hair the right way, neatly and naturally. So get the big economy-sized bottle and the handy new tube at your drug or toilet goods counter. Wild Root Cream Oil Hair Tonic, again and again, the choice of men who put good grooming first. And now with Howard Duff starring as Spade, Wild Root brings to the air the greatest private detective of the wall in The Adventures of Sam Spade. ♪♪ Sam, what's a bow window? A bow window. A bow window is a bay window that you'll look into instead of out of. Look into instead of out. Oh, say. Get your buck panther girl and slink on in. What was he trying to see through that bow window? I mean, whose house was it? Her own. What if it was her own house and why would you? It just goes to show you darling what some woman will stoop to. You die? Mm-hmm. It was a low window. Oh. Well, whenever you're ready, Sam. Uh, date November 10. Nine. Nine. Uh, correct. 1947. Two. Dr. Helmut Reese. I was right for once. Yeah. From Samuel Spade, license number one, three, seven, five, nine, six. Subject, the bow window caper. Dear Dr. Reese, I know that this report will not make pleasant reading for you, but you've paid for it, so here it is. As far as I was concerned, it all started on Thursday morning when you called at my office. And you're sorry I gathered. I've been going on for some time. You, you will say these are merely the actions of a jealous woman, Mr. Spade. But I assure you there's more to it than that. It is, it, it must be a carefully thought-out plan to ruin my career, my, my whole life. And, uh, what way, Dr. Reese? She spies on my private consultations. And thoughts, my women patients, I can no longer even keep a nurse for more than a week at a time. Seems, hysterics. Outbursts of violence. I cannot continue my work under such conditions. Oh, why don't you give her a divorce? No, no, no, no. This is not her desire that, well, it would be, it would be simple. No, she wants to bring me to ruin. She wants to see me on my knees in front of the popcorn. Why? That's what I want to find out. Why? Dr. I think you ought to take this case to a head doctor. I have consulted a psychiatrist. The examiner, she's perfectly competent mentally. You see, there's here already some mystery. For which one comes to a detective. Uh, how long has this been going on, Dr. Reese? Since three months only. But in this time, she has reduced me to utter and destination. Dr. Reese, it was a very good divorce lawyer right down the hall for my... Oh, no, no, no. I discussed the matter of a divorce with her a few days back. This was her answer. Uh, you see, a receipt for the purchase of a gun. And this note in her handwriting. I hope you will not force me to use this, Esther. Yes. Well, what do you think she has in mind? Murder or suicide? She refused to discuss it. But one thing I have noticed. Since she has bought this gun, a new development, a strange man watches my house several times. I have caught him following me. She might have hired a detective to check on whether you visit a lawyer. Perhaps, perhaps. Perhaps it is very simple, but it is all too strange to be hot. I, uh, half-heartedly agree that it might be, Dr. Reese. And when you check for 100 bucks didn't bounce, I went to work wholeheartedly. I reached your house on Pacific Avenue, just as the street lights were going on. It's a quiet neighborhood, so I could hear it before I got close enough to read the number on the door. They seem to be slagging our way toward the back of the house, so I decided to risk an entrance. I found the door bell, and I was about to punch it when I caught sight of your mystery man. He was crushed in a clump of shrubbery that grew under the bow window at the corner of the house. He was still there with his eyes blue to the window when I walked up behind him. He was like, "Oh, look at me. Look at me!" He was still there with his eyes blue to the window when I walked up behind him. Hey, look at me. Look at all that. Come on, come on, you're going inside. I'm not just a stupid person. I didn't say you were. I'm just inviting you inside for a better look. No, I'm warning if you don't let go of me. I'm not squirming, will you? The kick he landed on me wasn't according to the wrestling association's rules, but I let him get away with it mainly because I couldn't move for three or four minutes, and by that time he disappeared down the street. When I recovered my faculties and staggered back to the door, I didn't bother ringing a bell. I just walked in. The hand fight was still going on somewhere in the upper reaches of the house. Then a door burst open on the upper landing, and a curl and a nurses uniform ran down the stairs toward me, pursued by a pale little woman with a pink face who was brandishing a pair of brass fires on. You braced past me, Dr. Mason, headed off the pursuer. Stop, stop, please, stop, please, at once. Have you gone crazy? Give me those firetors. Give them to me. That's a matter, Hammers. Afraid I'll mar your light of long beauty? What started this? I caught her creeping about the kitchen. She's going to poison my food. Thank you, Mrs. Reese. The doctor says... Oh, don't, don't, don't bother explaining this, Robert. It's more of a fancy somehow. Don't think I don't know what goes on in that office. That office, when I'm not allowed anymore. That's only because you make the patient so nervous. I know what goes on. You and those women... That's what I'll do, Esther. Those will be all rude. Very well. I won't have that woman in this house another day, Helmut. This, I don't understand. Oh, it's your roommate. I'm going, I'm going. But remember what I said. I warned you both. I... Oh, there, Mrs. Roberts. Now don't. I can't... In anymore talk, so I tell you, it's making you a nervous wreck. I just... Dr. Reese, huh? Oh, Mr. Spain. You saw, you heard? Yeah. Coming to my office. We'll talk. I think we better. Oh, Doctor. There's still one more patient waiting to see you, Doctor. Well, just... You have our way a little longer. Yes. Uh, this, this way, Mrs. Spain. Yes. How much longer in that way? Doctor, we'll see you. Just as soon as we pop up again. Have you been feeling any better than this? No, no, no, no, no. Uh... Sit down. Mrs. Spain. Thanks, but I can say what I have to say is standing. Your wife's a very tragic woman, Doctor. Yeah. I wish I could help her. I wish I could help you, too. But I can't. You heard her theft against Miss Robbins. Was that a joke? There's nothing funny about jealousy. Yeah. But that is this man who watches the house. And the gun she bought. I call him outside just now. Oh. Would he do getting to talk? No, but I wouldn't worry about him if I were you. And about that gun. The Constitution says every citizen shall have the right to bear arms. Even Parnell Thomas can't do it. Mrs. Spain. I've not yet told you all. If I... Oh, Doctor, I'm hungry when you're up. But this patient, she's been waiting for more than an hour. Well, who is she? Mrs. Cavanagh. Cavanagh. Cavanagh? Who? Well, has she been here before? Of course, last week. Here, here's her car. Oh. Oh, yes. Yeah. Uh, I'd better get it over. A centering. Yes, Doctor. And... And Doctor, I'm resigning. I'll finish the day, of course, and then I'm through. I'm sorry. Yes, yes. Well, very well, Miss Robbins. I can't say that I blame you. Good luck. Goodbye, Doctor. Well, I'll be going along myself now, Doctor. No, no, no. You must hear me out, Mrs. Spain. I have not yet told all. Now, if you just wait until I have seen this patient, please, Mr. Spain, please. Okay, I'll wait outside. Oh, and they give pardon? Yes. I'll be here. Uh, come on in. So, uh, you're leaving the doctor's employee in, huh? I am. I am. Well, Mr. Spain, how does it look from Grand Sam's? Messy? Mm-hmm. You don't mind if I finish cleaning out the stairs. Go right ahead. Thank you. What's the matter with Esther, anyway? I could sum the whole thing up in a single five letter word, shall I? You have. Are you going to walk out on him? Aren't you? Yes. Well, so I am. Oh, but Esther isn't jealous of your time. If you don't mind my mentioning it. I feel heartened to think that you noticed I was different. Oh, I did, Mr. Spain. I really did. You don't seem, uh, particularly nursing to me. I'm not. Mine. You have a far past, Mr. Spain. Uh, yes, I've been feeling very weak the last few minutes. I, uh, need care. Mm. You know, you don't need enough happiness, Mr. Spain. Well, I guess I've finished up. There's that old contract. I wonder. Mr. Spain, will you tell the doctor I've left and thank him for me again? Aren't you going to say him before you go? No, no, I'm not. You don't need begging me to stay in it. Well, it's usually out of the question. Oh, the poor guy. I just don't know what I'd do if I were in this place. For you, Mr. Spain. [Music] I did and I told her. She told me I was a victim of hypertension and left me with my mouth open and no thermometer in it. Five minutes after she'd gone out to the front entrance, your wife came down the stairs looking knowingly at me in the door to the doctor's office and left by the same route. Ten minutes after that, I was halfway through a 1937 National Geographic that was the latest edition on the waiting room table. And it raised the third paragraph on the natural beauties of Winona County, Minnesota that I never finished. [Music] The first thing I saw when I entered the room was Mrs. Kavanaugh, you're a patient patient. Why? Why did we do it? You, doctor, were standing over and nervously switching off the rubber glove from your right hand. The test of the throat for pulse then listened to a stethoscope. It was purely a formality, one of the 38 caliber slugs that entered the right table, the other in torn through the base of the skull. [Music] How did it happen? I don't know. I completed the examination and walked over there to put my instruments away. When I turned back, she had a gun in her hand. Before I could stop her, she pulled the trigger. Suicide, of course. Why? Well, I just told her the truth. That there was nothing I or any other doctor could do for her. But she had perhaps a month, perhaps less. She had suffered great pain, of course, for some time. You saw her shoot a selfie, sir? Yes. Yes. The gun, she took it out of my desk door. I'd removed it from my wife's room earlier today. I see. Well, doctor, this is the neatest suicide I ever saw. No powder burns, and from the way she's lying, she must have shot herself in the direction of that window, at least ten feet away. She screamed before the shots were fired and had time to fire a second bullet into her head and throw the gun across the room before she fell. Well, Helmut, at last it happened, hasn't it? Esther, leave this room. I told Helmut one of the husbands would catch up with him. Brittany, wasn't she? I don't remember this one. The expression on your face might have been horror or fear of both documentaries. But your wife was smiling. When my eyes left her face, I noticed a leaf clinging to the hem of her coat. It might have come from the shrub that grew up against the house. And his shoes were splashed with mud that could have and probably did jump in the cultivated far bed just outside the bow window. The makers of Wild Root Cream Oil are presenting the weekly Sunday adventure of National Hamet's famous private detective, Sam Spade. Now, here's important news on good grooming. Better than four out of five users of Wild Root Cream Oil say they prefer Wild Root Cream Oil to all other hair tonics. Here is new and even more conclusive evidence that Wild Root Cream Oil is again and again the choice of men who put good grooming first. So if you want the well-groomed look that helps you get ahead socially and on the job, listen. Recently thousands of people from coast to coast who bought Wild Root Cream Oil for the first time were asked. How does Wild Root Cream Oil compare with the hair tonic you previously used? The results were amazing. Better than four out of five who replied said they preferred Wild Root Cream Oil. And no wonder it gives you the advantages that men consider most important. Wild Root Cream Oil grooms your hair neatly and naturally, relieves annoying dryness and removes loose dandruff. What's more, non-alcoholic Wild Root Cream Oil is the only leading hair tonic that contains soothing lanolin. That's like the oil of your skin. So ask for Wild Root Cream Oil again and again the choice of men who put good grooming first. Now back to the bow window caper, tonight's adventure with Sam Spade. Obviously there were two equally good suspects in the Kavanaugh murder. Either your wife had killed her on a jealous rage or you'd killed her with your wife's gun to frame her for the murder. I decided to let the police worry it out and went home to bed. The morning headlines were a bit of a surprise. Nurse sawed in shooting of mystery woman item. The cops had found Celeste Robin's fingerprints all over the murder gun. And item Mrs. Kavanaugh, the murdered woman, had given a vacant lot as her address and her body was lying unclaimed at the morgue. I decided to pay her a visit. Maxie, hey Maxie. Oh, Sam. Sammy, my boy. Hey, it's good to look on you. How are you, Maxie? Oh, fine, fine. What brings you here, Sam? The Kavanaugh woman. The Kavanaugh, huh? Ah, let's see who's with us today. Stiffle, Milton, Schwartz, Kelly, I knew him, nice guy. Bye, gay. Ah, Kavanaugh, Rose. Hello, Rose. Hey, Sam, don't you want to look at Rose? No, I've seen her. Ah, yeah, just check that back in. autopsy. Say, you do collect queer ones, Sam. Now you take her. Why would anybody in the world knock her off? In her condition, all he needed to do was wait a month, a couple of weeks. That is that, huh? Worse. Anybody clamor yet? Well, that... Oh, huh. Something we can do for you? My name is Kavanaugh. I come for my wife. He was standing with his back to me, and I didn't get a good look at his place until he walked over to the desk with master. The voice took me even before I saw the face. The man I'd caught outside your office window less than half an hour before the murder. He recognized me, he didn't let it show. I waited while he went with Maxie. When he came out, there were tears streaming down his face. I'd been waiting for two reasons. I had had some questions to ask him, and I had wanted to pay back that jolty given me the night before. I left without doing either. Oh, oh, sir. Oh, sweetheart, any calls? Lieutenant Dundee of Homicide. Dr. Reeve. And there's a girl waiting inside. He wouldn't give any names. So you let her wait in my private office? I don't think you mind when you've seen this. She's by way of being a knock-out. Well, thank you, Effie. That was very thoughtful of you, huh? You're welcome, sir. And please, please don't be angry with me for coming here. I had to talk to somebody. But you mean, there's a good criminal eye in this rock. Oh, no. Do you think I killed that guy? How did your prince get on that gun? Don't tell me she threatens you with it, and you grab it out of her hand. Oh, no, I did. I did nothing. Say it easy, nurse. Say it easy. Would you like a drink or something? No, no. Thank you anyway. I'll be all right. Well, she came in some shopping three days ago. Just as nice as pies, and she came creeping around. You know how she is. And she said, "I bought something today. It's lonely." And with that, she hauled this gun out of her handbag. And so, to humor her, I took it, and I looked at it. But it was foolish. And certainly it was foolish. When Nico played it, I'd deal with something to think. And I remember she was wearing dogs, struck me a peculiar at the time, but I'm so stupid. I didn't think of this until just now. Everything's a little peculiar about this, Caper. A woman who was dying anyway, got shot. Nobody even seems to know who she was. That doesn't make sense. No. No, it doesn't make much sense. But what should I do, Sam? Give myself up. I think you should. Yes, I thought you'd say that. All right, hopefully. You'll get a lot of courage. So you don't want to drink? No. No, thank you. I'll be all right. I'll be all right. Uh, homicide, Dundee. Uh, Dundee, Sam Spade. I got the Robins girl here in my office. She wants to check in. Oh? Oh, well, tell her to forget it, Sam. Raises why I've just made a full confession. That tort. Am I anxiety to see how you were bearing up under the shock, doctor? I blew a fucking a half of your money on a taxi all the way out to your address on Pacific Avenue. Am I astonished once you were wearing a look of real distress? I don't understand it, Mr. Spade. This confessing me, it's not like her. It's all too strange to be harmed. Doctory, I'd like to talk to you alone. Do you mind, Mr. Spade? You're right ahead. I strained my ears outside your consulting room, but all I could hear was a few vague murmurs. And for no good reason, I decided to have a look at your wife's bedroom upstairs. The cops had been there before me, so I didn't expect to find much, and I didn't. I was tapping the woodwork with secret panels and something when I heard a heavy thread on the stairway. I wheeled around my hands inside my coat. A jolly-looking character and coveralls was standing in the door. Oh, an electronic? I beg your pardon? I beg it. I'm an electronics. I come to take the equipment. What equipment? I don't take the grass. She don't need it no more. Ask me, she'll hide too much. Mrs. Raises had a dictograph installed? Yeah, or my other type installation. This is a speaker. My own design looks like a portable radio, don't it? Where's the other one? Where's the microphone? It's in the box private office. You interested, eh? Yeah, I'll turn them on with you. Oh, sure. We'll get it tuned in a minute, eh? Oh, you got to make it shoot. Oh, feedback. Wait a minute. I'll pick you. Death on top. Death on top. What can she tell? I don't know. I don't know. But it's uncanny, is she? Nice, huh? Every word is altogether... That's because of the dictograph, the regret. Shut up. Why, ain't you? We cannot allow this terrible tragedy to come between us. We love each other. We love each other. Oh, boy. That's nice, ain't it? I just know, please, please, don't stop it. Don't stop it. I don't want it. Please, don't... what is it? What is it? What has happened? Hey, what had happened to you? What had I been attacked by a map woman and accused of murder? All of us think of 12 hours. All of us all over now. Just so ill. Yes, all of us. Well, don't you tell me about the little morning? Oh, sure, she'll tell me about it. All of us. I was only over and over. And I'm very, very shocked. At the point it was my usual thing. I always get sorry for our poor, weak man, and get involved. But this time, I'm sorry for her. So, yes. Please, when I was a kid, I liked it. It used to make me feel powerful and... to watch them sperm. There's no fun anymore watching another woman in their baggories of jealousy. And you? I thought you were just weak. You're a brutal unscrupulous murderer. What are you saying? You killed Mrs. Kavanaugh. What? That's impossible. You used to deliberately in that window and you fired two shots right at it. What gives you? I'm very impressed. I'm very impressed. Garlic colors. You were wearing your rubber gloves. Doctor. Don't save me more. No! No! Here, help me. Help me get his shirt off with the staining ring shot. Who shot him, you? He threw the window the same man, the one who watched the house. Oh, hold his tongue and get tight, me. Uh, nothing. A flesh wound. His aim was bad. Yeah, too bad. Kavanaugh, you're still out there? You got nothing to worry about, he's still alive. I missed him. Give me a hand. Come on. I missed him. I was lucky. You're taking the rap to your wife's murder too, if you're a better shot. He did it. He killed my wife. I was at the window. I saw him. I don't understand his wife confess. She loved him, Mr. Kavanaugh. You should understand that. I guess that's what happens to love when it gets crossed up. Why don't you tell the police what you saw? They'd have hunted on me. She was a stranger to everyone else. I'd been calling with her suspicious acting like a maniac. She never told me. She must have been going to one doctor after another, trying to find one that would give her one way of hope. You didn't paint all the time. You will never let it off. Never. Even after that first visit, she made a racist officer. I didn't come, but I thought she was meeting him on the sly. And I'd followed her both times. That last time I carried a gun. I might have killed her if what I suspected had been true. I may sorry, Mr. Kavanaugh. I didn't realize. You're pretty late with your regrets, doctor. I don't quite figure either. The prison psychiatrist can't. Dundee homicide. Dundee, chair up Mrs. Reese's confession. Come on over and get the doctor. Dr. Reese? Yeah. Oh, by the way, he accidentally shot himself in the arm. Isn't that right, doctor? What? Yes, yes. Accidentally. What did she tell me? Why didn't she tell me? I don't know, Kavanaugh. Women. Sometimes they make too much sense, sir. We don't make enough, or maybe we're all crazy. And that, Dr. Reese, is the crop. The risk of laboring a point that's also the mystery of why a nice girl like Celeste Robbins ever felt for a guy like you. You'll have plenty of free time to think it over between now and the trial. If you find the answer, drop me a line. Period and a report. You know, Sam, that's Celeste. I like her. I wish we could do something for her. No, I've already thought of that, Evie. Oh, what are you gonna do, Sam? Write that up, sweetheart, and I'll write you a happy ending. 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Do you want to read it over? I do not file it under F, but forget. How about that poor select, Sam? Oh, yeah, well, I made a date with Celeste to take a dancing tomorrow night. She needs cheering up, you know. What's for? Well, you said she needed help. Why doesn't exactly the kind of help I had in mind? I don't see why it's necessary. Effie, we must each of us give what the particular kind of help each of us is particularly equipped together. Very well. She used to make over men just to get the other women jealous. That she did. Aren't other women silly to allow themselves to get jealous when they know just what she's up to? Maybe I should. Sure thing. Go home, Effie. I'm a lousy dancer. Oh, they will have fun, Sam. Good night, Sam. Good night, sweetheart. The Adventures of Sam Spade. Sam Spade, National Hamlet's famous private detective, are produced and directed by William Spade. Sam Spade is played by Howard Duff. Lorraine Tuttle is Effie. The Adventures of Sam Spade are written for radio by Bob Tallman and Gil Dowd, with musical direction by Lud Gluskin. This is Dick Joy, reminding you that next Sunday, author, Daniel Hamlet and producer, William Spade, join forces for another adventure with Sam Spade, brought to you by Wild Root Cream Oil. Again and again, the choice of men who put good grooming first. Smart girls use Wild Root Cream Oil too, for quick good grooming and to relieve dryness between permanence. Mothers say it's grand for training children's hair. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System. [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]