Old Time Radio Detective - Sam Spade
The Adam Figg Caper - Sam Spade | 10/05/1947 (Ep067)
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:
- 30m
- Broadcast on:
- 14 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
The Adventures of Sam Spade, detective, brought to you by wild-rood cream oil hair tonic. The non-alcoholic hair tonic that contains lanolins, wild-rood cream oil, again and again the choice of men who put good grooming. Sam Spade, detective agency. Hey, sweetheart. Oh, Sam. I got it. Got what, my pet? A bank book, Sam. Well, you must advertise in the lost and found right away, Epi, and find the honor. There might be sickness in the family. Oh, but it's your bank book, Sam. What? Uh-huh, it has your name on it. It's a manual spade. A cop number four? It's a forgery. Somebody's trying to pin something on me. Lock it up and don't touch it until I get there. Oh, all right. Did you make a lot of money on this one, too? Got the check right in my pocket, 500 bucks. Oh, Sam, we're making more money than a movie star. Well, almost. And all honestly, too. 600 last week and 500 this week. Yeah, how about that? Life just a three-paid spread to I Spy molten. But, uh, we must let it turn our heads heavy. No. We gotta stay in there pitching. I'll be right down to pitch my report on the Adam Figg caver. [MUSIC PLAYING] Nigel Hammett, America's leading detective fiction writer and creator of Sam's Spade, the hard-boiled private eye and William Speer, radio's outstanding producer, director of Mystery and Crime Drama. Join our talents to make your hair stand on end with the adventures of Sam's Spade. Presented by the makers of wild root cream oil for the hair. You've heard the saying, "You never know until you try." Well, you'll never know how handsome your hair can look until you try wild root cream oil. See for yourself how neatly and naturally wild root cream oil grooms your hair. Note how effectively it relieves annoying dryness and removes loose ugly dandruff. You can get wild root cream oil hair tonic in either the big economy-sized bottle or the handy tube, or you can ask your barber to use it on your hair. But by all means, try it. Don't delay, get it today. Wild root cream oil. 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 them all in... The Adventures of Sam's Spade. Sam, I bought us a present. Oh, you're going to love it. We've got to watch these expenses, Evie. You know, there's always something. Yes, but this will be saving. It saves confusion and saves fretting. This gadget here? What is it? It's a menor robot. What about it? It's for busy men like yourself, Sam, so you don't have to burden your mind with petty details. You see, it has this dial on it right here, and you drop these little cards in this slot. You don't have to worry about that. That's for me to take care of. Oh, good. Then, when you come into the office, and supposing you have an appointment with Mr. Jones at two o'clock, and you forgot about it, you just dial two o'clock, and the little card pops out. And it says, "Mr. Jones on it." How do I remember to dial two o'clock? Oh, well, maybe it's in the instruction book. But anyway, now go ahead, Sam, please. The card right in there. Now, dial two o'clock. Don't understand. Let's see, yeah. Just like a telephone, Sam. Now, what do I do? I give a turn, Sam. The thinking. You must have forgotten. Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones. Effie, do you think it's dead? Sam, I don't understand it. It was working perfectly. Well, I'll take it straight back for a thing in the morning. You don't have to. It'll never find a way itself. You got your book, sweetheart. Yes, Sam. I don't understand. It was working perfectly. Well, it doesn't matter. Date October 5, 1947, to Hillary Exxon Esquire from Samuel Spade, license number 1375. Oh, honey, it's only a memo robot subject. He had a big caper. Dear Mr. Exxon, October 2nd in San Francisco was one of those days that you see blown off the calendar by a gust of wind in the movies to denote the time is passing. It was a day for scraping off the minutes with a fingernail file and wondering whether the display ad I'd paid for on the classified section of the phone book wasn't just a waste of money. It certainly wasn't a day. I'd expect a leprechaun to walk into my office. He said his name was Adam Fake. He said he was the butler at Exxon Manor in Los Nados. The limousine, Mr. Spade, is waiting to take you away. We mustn't keep them waiting, must we? Of course we mustn't. Who mustn't we? Why, Mr. Hillary, of course, sir. And old, Mr. Exxon. The old gentleman is very ill. Dr. Feige's office is down the hall, turn to your right second door. Well, I assure you, sir, that Mr. Exxon has the best of medical care. Your duty will be simple to prevent his death. Do I donate blood or just frighten away the evil spirits? It isn't quite that, sir. Someone is trying to kill Mr. Exxon. He's a very sick man and I'm sure he'd prefer dying for natural causes. I get $25 a day and expenses. Here is an ample amount in advance. But 200, sir, the old man is a nasty cantankerous villainless crooked inside my mind. $500, please figure talking about the man I love! Los Nados was at least an overnight caper, so on my way out, my lovely and charming secretary, Miss Perrine, handed me a brown paper bag which contained A, one pair of socks, darned, B, one shirt, ironed, and C, the apple which he always polishes for me the night before. We arrived at your large southern style mansion two hours later. Hey! Hey, where the devil of you being? The city, sir. I can't find the keys to the liquor closet where are all the maids. What happened to that cook we hired yesterday? Who is this man and why is he wearing that necktie? This is Mr. Spade, sir, the detective. Oh, oh, I'm Hillary Exxon. Come in, come in, please. Go all upstairs. See what that girl is doing to my father. I don't believe she's in this at all. Very good, sir. In here, Mr. Spade, part of the condition of the house the old man has been firing the servants again. Your father, you mean? Yes, yes, every time he gets shot at he fires all the servants. He gets shot at pretty often? About once a year, in the fall. You always hire a detective? Oh, no. Oh, dear. I'm not keeping you up, am I? No, no, excuse me, please. It's much worse this time. I can't get any sleep guns going off in the middle of the night. The whole household is disturbed. When and where was he last shot at? Yesterday morning at about half past one, I dug the bullet out of the woodwork myself, a pretty yet caliber, embedded in the doorframe that leads to Miss Kewood's room. Oh, that's his nurse. Was she with him at the time? No. No dad sleeps like a baby full of sedatives. She sees to that. Shot come from outside? Yes, yes, but we found nobody on the grounds. No traces of anybody. I don't know whether dad knows who shot at him or not. He's such a closed, mouthful devil. You don't care very much for your father, please. To be frank, Mr. Spade, if hating weren't such an effort, I would despise him. He is without a doubt. Well, listen, listen. Get out of here! There, there, that's just a sample. Well, come on, come on, let's see what's eating him now. Get out! I don't know, I don't stand for it. Where do you go to have to stand for it? Take that silly place and say that on my side. Don't you dare! Get out! Wait! I'm quitting. I'm quitting, Mr. Exxon. I can't stand another minute yelling, screaming, throwing things off. You must have done something to set him off. I didn't, I can't. Oh. This is Mr. Spade, Ms. K. Wood. Oh, detective. Will it make you happier to know that I'm a private detective, Ms. K. Wood? Mr. Spade, I only hope you can put that in there. If there's any way at all that I can help, I... Thanks, I'll see you downstairs after I've talked to the old man. You'd better go in alone. This is a great lord, Buddha himself. That remained in the temple of... Do you have a... Don't spray downstairs. I seem to be congested. Go away! Go away! Go away! Well, wasting ammunition. Oh, you. If you're a total stranger, come on in. Well, don't be afraid, son. Come on over where I can look at you. It's hard to keep my eyes open. Oh, I mustn't do that, mustn't do that, man. Oh, so you're the detective, eh? That's right, Pot. If you want to take a little nap or something, I'll come back later. Oh, what did I say just now? Come back later? No, no, no, no. There's no reason for you to come back later. I'll say everything I have to say right now. The shot woke me. I didn't see anything. I don't know anything. I've got a million enemies. I can't remember the names of any of them. Why don't you try to remember? I gotta have them checked. Wasting your time, sonny. In my day, I've wiped out a hundred men and I'll outlive anybody who's gone and for me now. You must be proud of your passion. Proud. Sonny, a past like mine is the finest thing an old man can have. I've swindled my partners and betrayed my friends. I've turned state's evidence just to see my associate get sent up for 20 years. And they say my wife died under peculiar circumstances and I got rich off her insurance. Now I'm done talking. Oh, do me a favor, son, please. I've got to get a half hour, 20 minutes sleep around. You'll keep them out, everybody. Please, will you? Sure, sure, pop. Go ahead. Go on, sleep. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. He closed his eyes, rolled over and fell into a heavy sleep. I stood there a moment, looking down at the frail, wasted old body, and I cased the room. And taking the bullet out of the door, Hillary, had done a good job of ruining any chance or might have been approving the direction they'd come from. I strolled out on the balcony. It was a pretty night. I let a cigarette and took it in. And I heard the door open and closed softly behind me. Nurse Kay was at your father's bedside. She was filling out hypodermic from a small, violent, blue-ish liquid. He didn't awaken when she jabbed it into his arm. And she saw me standing in the doorway. She hastily dropped the medicine violin to her uniform pocket and came around to bed to meet me. Oh, wait. Oh, wait. Oh, Mr. State, oh, thank heaven. When I saw you standing there on the half-night, I thought you might be. Thought I was who? Why, the man will fire the shot. It was a man? I don't know. I didn't see it happen. I just assumed that... You shouldn't have done it. I warned you of... Eleanor. Oh, uh, we're disturbing him. Let's talk outside. Okay. Oh. It's good to read something besides sick room air. I thought you got used to things like that in your profession. Why are you so unfriendly, Mr. Bays? Nurses are human. Aren't detectives. Try me, sweetheart. I know what you're thinking of me. But after a week in this horrible house, that... that poor man, he's frightened. He's really frightened. What does? By... by the shots. Thirty-eight caliber or hypodermic? Surely you don't think that I... he's supposed to be under sedative for the doctor's orders. Sorry, sweetheart. It's my job to suspect everybody. Can't you forget your job, even for a moment? Sure. Sure. If you don't mind the fact that I know you're alive, that I'd make book you didn't come here primarily as a nurse, and what's worse, your act's not even convincing. Is it that bad, Sam? Yeah. Almost bad enough to be good. Come here. Oh, I hate you. Thank you. It was in a very satisfactory love scene for both of us. The reasons of her own, Barbara wanted to keep me out of that sick room for a while, and she did. The reasons of my own, I wanted to get that medicine out of her uniform pocket, and I did. Then, as suddenly as we had fallen into love, we fell out again. After she'd gone to her room, I went back to my sentry duty around the house, and relied on the front veranda I examined the bottle from which Barbara had taken the injection for your father. It was labeled "sodium planetol," and had been dispensed by a firm called Ibis Chemicals Limited in Cairo, Egypt. The screen filled a house high and frenzied. I started running toward Barbara K. Wood's room. I slammed the chair's door open and found a light switch. Barbara was sitting upright in the center of a bed. Her face jerked up so abruptly that it seemed a naked snap. She flexed both hands to her chest and fell face down among the bed clothes, staining them with her blood. I don't know whether I went through, over or around, to screen the foot between her room and the old man's. I circled Exxon's bed. He lay on the floor, and he's facing the window. I went outside. A 38 automatic lay on the ground, a few yards away from the building. I put that in my pocket and listened. No shadows moving. Nothing. Then he was on me before I could be sure he wasn't a medium-sized prounger. Break your back and feed the light! The warm stuff in my cheek might have been the thing's blood or mine. It gathered me up and bent me back and tore it in my throat. Then I remembered that hands are stronger than fingers. I started with these thumbs. He laid there for a moment. Then his huge body began to twitch. He was holding his fingers and sobbing like a baby. I pulled him up to his feet, poked him in the back of the flat of my hand. I followed him through an opening in the hedges and down a long, pitch-dark lane for the lights of a squat brick house, set on the top of a slight rise. As we approached to the door open and lights screamed out onto the porch. The tall man framed in the doorway was the last person in the world I expected to see. Marcus, you brought him. Oh, master very delightful service, but how much pain him be? Always complaining, Marcus. Welcome, Mr. Spade. Come in, my dear fellow. Come in. I've been expecting you. Lost family fortune by, by, uh, uh, that being me. And if you don't, uh, Remember, Exon could have you booked for forgery, uh, blackmail definition of character. Oh, my, my, my death. Oh, please, this, this, this is most painful. But if I had, but the, the original letter, I could destroy it and go back to the felt. Oh, the felt. What happened to him? That, that, that, that, that stinker stole it. He birthed on my home. Are you, uh, taking pot shots at all, Exon? Well, don't be a fool, man. I would exon to stay alive. Perhaps find out some part of his life, which will have an exchange value that will cancel out what he has on me. Yeah, by the way, open, uh, you met Miss K-wood. Mm-hmm. At the present moment, she's milking me for $150 a day. She's supposed to go to the old man by whatever means necessary into talking about his past. And that information's used to bring to me. Well, that ought to be easy. Exon brags about his past. Now, so far, I have landed Hilary Exon, stole two heifers of the livestock showing at Berlin in 1906. I feel for you, Captain. I wouldn't get much on the, uh, current market, would it? My death fellow, I have a, I have a, uh, proposition to make to you. Should you fill it out anything that would be of value to me? I reward you handsomely. Well, maybe something can be arranged, Captain. Good, excellent. May I have your word on that? Well, there isn't much time, Captain. I'd, uh, better trot on back. I'll show you what the dogs are. And let me warn you, Mr. Spade, if you're ungood, should you ever have a thundervibers wings? Run, flee. I assured him that I would heed his warning, bat him goodnight, and start it back down the lane in the direction of action manner. This is what is going on, as usual. There are no shots this time, only the screen. When I got to Barbara's room, you and Adam were standing at a bedside, trying to quiet it down. Well, Mr. Spade, is this the way you guard the house against intruders? Where have you been? Ask Adam. What does he mean by that thing? I'm sure I don't know, so I've not left the house. What happened here? Oh, she woke up screaming, she said someone had come into the room and torn off her damages. A nightmare of course. Please! Please don't talk to me, Mr. Spade, Lord. Oh, please, please go. Adam, you're good. Please, Hillary, you're good too. Good. Some questions I want to ask you, sweetheart. Hey, Herbert, look here, Spade. Look here, she just had a terrific talk. She shouldn't be, well, questions. The code of detectives turns in, that of the medical, Mr. Hillary. Perhaps you should have a few minutes alone with Ms. Kaywood. Oh, very well, very well. I think I, I suppose, just know this. I remember what the doctor said, Ms. Barbara. Not too much, either, surely. What happened, Barbara? It could have been a dream. Somebody was standing over me in the darkness and peering down at me. And I started to rip off my damages and I screamed. And when Big came into the room, and he turned out in the lights, he was gone. That he had could have been a dream, Sam, and I could have been crying at the bandages myself, and I screamed. But you're worried, it wasn't a dream. I've been talking to Captain Sherry. And then I thought, oh, oh, how much do you know? That you've been feeding the old man truth, sir, I'm beginning to talk in his sleep. How much talking has he done? Well, plenty. How much you told Sherry? Well, just as little as possible. Why? Because, Sam, if we can keep that old man alive and out of jail long enough to sell what we know to Sherry for what it's really worth, we'd be fools not to do it. But makes you so sure you'll stay alive long enough to collect, sweetheart. Well, because you're going to help me, aren't you, Sam? So I helped her, but not for the reason she fought. I made a lot of noise leaving her room and going to mine. Going back, I didn't wear any shoes. I slipped into a clothes press and her room so quietly that even she didn't hear me. I left the door slightly ajar and waited. Time passed and I was stiff from standing still. It happened at about 3 a.m. Crazy feverish blur of his eyes told me it's the front of the gun in my hands meant nothing to him. I jumped to his side, put the knife away from him, picked him up in my arms and carried him, kicking, clawing, and swearing back to his bed. He lay there, breathing hard. Then he smiled. You're a smart one, Sonny. You had me figured out the first time you came in here. You're not quite, Mr. Aksan. The gun under your window was the clincher. A gun? Sure. I had it under my pillow all the time. I got tired of shooting into door frames. Like you're dying, Mr. Aksan. There's no use trying to make up stories now. Yeah, right, Sonny. I knew that nurse would sit up in bed after I fired tonight. And then I'll have it right through the screen. Why? You know I will enough. She was doping me up and sneaking in here at night and listening to what I was babbling about. Maybe you weren't saying anything important, Mr. Aksan. I might have done it. I might have. 14 years ago, I killed my wife. I wanted to carry the secret to my grave. You nearly meant it at that. Spain! What happened? -Is he dead? -Is he dead? Did he say anything such as he confessed? You must tell me if he said anything. I didn't hear him say a word. Yeah, Mr. Spade, charged with a certain textured, a significant quality. There's a certain smile, yes. Oh, and oh, men. You can inhale it, son. Journey thou to Nairobi on the felt. Carry seven days, and you will collect the fabulous golden skull of his army, King of the Bojamas. Ah! Marcus! Yes, Martha. Unhook the hooker. Pec the Marmadade. We are off to the felt. Just then a flock of birds broke across the horizon, screaming. It must have been thousands of them, but not Ivus, Mr. Exxon. Vultures. I suppose if you're going to pay any attention to almonds, it's a good thing to know your birds. Period. End of report. Right now, I have something to say to every man who doesn't use a hair tonic. Every man who says I don't believe in it, or I don't need it. That all depends on what you mean when you say hair tonic. If you mean the old-fashioned greasy kind that leaves your hair smelling like a perfume factory, you're absolutely right. But remember, wild-root cream oil hair tonic is nothing like that. Wild-root cream oil is an entirely new kind of hair grooming preparation. There's not a drop of alcohol in wild-root cream oil, and it contains soothing ladle in that's like the oil of your skin. Most important, wild-root cream oil grooms your hair the right way, neatly and naturally, never leaves your hair sticky or greasy. Get the big economy-sized bottle, and the handy new tube that's economical, easy to pack when you travel, and grand for the bathroom cabinet. Don't delay, get it today. Wild-root cream oil hair tonic. Again and again, the choice of men who put good grooming first. Well, I think we... Thanks! And I know robot works after all. I told you would. Yeah, it just takes a little time, sweetheart. Oh, read the card, Sam. Don't you see? You'd know you were supposed to see Mr. Jones at two o'clock. Isn't it wonderful? Well, this card doesn't even mention Jones. What does it say, Sam? Well, it says, "Journey thou to Frisken's drugstore, wage you $5 an IRA W in the third at Belmont Park." Oh, Sam, it's psychic. Tarry but a moment. Yes. "Thou wilt lose $5 bucks." Oh, good night, Sam. Good night, sweetheart. The Adventures of Sam Spade. National Hamlet's famous private detective are produced and directed by William Speer. Sam Spade is played by Howard Duff. Lorraine Tuttle is Effie. The Adventures of Sam Spade are written for radio by Bob Tomman and Gill Dowd with musical direction by Lud Gluskin. This is Dick Joy reminding you that next Sunday, author Dashal Hamlet and producer William Speer 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 CVS, the Columbia Broadcasting System. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]