The Bid for Freedom: The Adventures of Philip Marlowe (January 21, 1950)

“The Bid for Freedom” is an episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, the old-time radio show, first broadcast January 21, 1950. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Private detective Philip Marlowe is approached by a woman named Helen Asher at a restaurant who asks him to find someone named Leon Rodell. When she abruptly leaves, Marlowe follows and discovers she's actually Charlotte Rodell, a patient who has escaped from a psychiatric nursing home. Dr. Chidere asks Marlowe to find Charlotte and return her before the police do, providing him with an address from her lost handbag.

Los Angeles, California, including a restaurant, a psychiatric nursing home, and the San Fernando Valley hills

Characters: Philip Marlowe, Helen Asher (Charlotte Rodell), Leon Rodell, Dr. Chidere, Elton Hook

Listen for: A mystery involving a woman's escape from a mental institution and her desperate search for her husband, with questions about her mental state and the true reasons behind her confinement.

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.