French Leave: Have Gun, Will Travel (January 17, 1960)

“French Leave” is an episode of Have Gun, Will Travel, the old-time radio show, first broadcast January 17, 1960. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Paladin is hired by a French Secret Service agent, Monsieur Pouland, to guide him into the Western frontier to locate and capture Marius, an escaped prisoner from Paris who has fled to America. When they pass through Hangtown, they discover that Marius is the very Frenchman who ran off with a local woman named Lola, making the townspeople hostile to any Frenchman in their midst.

San Francisco and the Western frontier, including the town of Hangtown, in 1875

Characters: Paladin, Monsieur Pouland, Miss Wong, Big Red, Marius, Lola

Listen for: Paladin's quick thinking as he navigates the conflict between his French employer's mission and the angry townspeople's desire for revenge; the revelation of Marius's identity in Hangtown.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.