The Black Halo: The Adventures of Philip Marlowe (January 15, 1949)

“The Black Halo” is an episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, the old-time radio show, first broadcast January 15, 1949. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by Felix Drum, an importing executive in a wheelchair, to find his missing assistant Julia Perry, a blonde woman who vanished three days ago. Marlowe's investigation leads him from Drum's Santa Barbara estate to Los Angeles, where a matchbook found in Julia's cottage points him to the elegant Mrs. Eve Bentley. When Marlowe questions Mrs. Bentley about her connection to the missing woman, she admits the matches likely came through her fiancé, Marvin Whitaker, who works in the perfume business like Julia.

Southern California, primarily Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, during a three-day rainstorm in 1949

Characters: Philip Marlowe, Felix Drum, Julia Perry, Ruby, Mrs. Eve Bentley, Marvin Whitaker

Listen for: The discovery of the matchbook as a crucial clue, Ruby's suspicious behavior with the postcard, and Mrs. Bentley's mysterious explanation involving her fiancé

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.