Johnny Brown Gambling Ring: Pat Novak, for Hire (August 3, 1947)

“Johnny Brown Gambling Ring” is an episode of Pat Novak, for Hire, the old-time radio show, first broadcast August 3, 1947. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Pat Novak takes a job driving a man named John Brown down from Lake Tahoe to San Francisco with gambling winnings. A dead woman turns up in the trunk of Brown's car, and Brown disappears. Novak must find Brown and uncover the truth about the murder while Detective Helman suspects Novak himself.

San Francisco waterfront and surrounding areas, Lake Tahoe, and a beach shack near the ocean

Characters: Pat Novak, John Brown, Detective Helman, Jacko Matigan, Skip Harper, Alice Stone, Vinanti

Listen for: The mysterious connection between the gambling operation at Lake Tahoe, the dead woman Alice Stone, and the missing John Brown; the revelation of who really killed Alice and why

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.