Sam Crow: Have Gun, Will Travel (October 2, 1960)

“Sam Crow” is an episode of Have Gun, Will Travel, the old-time radio show, first broadcast October 2, 1960. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Paladin receives an urgent telegram from his old friend Skitter Hickshaw claiming that someone is going to murder his friend Sam Crow. Paladin rides four days to the small town of Hamburg, Oregon, only to discover that Sam Crow is actually a bird—a talking raven that Skitter found injured and nursed back to health. A committee of women, led by the stern Mrs. Pennybrook, has formed to shoot the bird because it has learned to call Mrs. Pennybrook by an insulting name that Skitter taught it.

Hamburg, a small town near Oregon, in 1875. The story begins at Paladin's headquarters at the Carlton Hotel in San Francisco, then moves to Skitter's house and Mrs. Pennybrook's home.

Characters: Paladin, Skitter Hickshaw, Sam Crow (a raven), Mrs. Pennybrook, Winifred

Listen for: The humorous reversal when Paladin discovers his dangerous mission involves saving a talking bird from an angry women's committee. The tension between Skitter's affection for Sam and the town women's legitimate grievances about the bird's behavior.

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.