Go Away Dixie Gillian: Pat Novak, for Hire (April 16, 1949)

“Go Away Dixie Gillian” is an episode of Pat Novak, for Hire, the old-time radio show, first broadcast April 16, 1949. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Pat Novak accepts $300 from a mysterious woman named Lee Underwood to frighten a man named Dixie Gillian into leaving town. Armed with what he's told is an empty gun, Pat confronts Gillian at his office, but the gun fires during their struggle and Gillian dies. Detective Helman arrives and arrests Pat, but the ballistics don't match—the bullet came from a different gun. As Pat investigates, he discovers a tangle of deceptions involving Lee, microfilm, and multiple murders that leave nothing adding up correctly.

San Francisco waterfront and surrounding locations including Folsom Street, a nightclub on the Bay Shore highway, and various apartment buildings

Characters: Pat Novak, Lee Underwood, Dixie Gillian, Detective Helman, Jocko Madigan

Listen for: The clever noir dialogue and Pat's colorful narration describing scenes and people; the mystery of the mismatched ballistics and the disappearing body from the morgue; the revelation that Pat may have killed the wrong man

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.