The Bums Rush: The Adventures of Philip Marlowe (September 3, 1949)

“The Bums Rush” is an episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, the old-time radio show, first broadcast September 3, 1949. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

Listen to The Adventures of Philip Marlowe free, live around the clock: every episode, in the order it first aired. No sign-up.

What happens

Private detective Philip Marlowe receives a letter from his Aunt Jessie in Montana asking him to find a man named Jonathan Midas who has run away from his love. The trail leads Marlowe to Los Angeles where he visits a wool business and encounters a mysterious man claiming to be Ross J. Crowley of Canada, who bears a striking resemblance to the photograph of Midas in Marlowe's pocket.

Montana and Los Angeles, including a wool merchant's office and warehouse district

Characters: Philip Marlowe, Aunt Jessie, Jonathan Midas, Ross J. Crowley, Mr. Hirsch, A chorus girl

Listen for: A fast-paced mystery with Marlowe using clever deception to track down his quarry, featuring exchanges about wool quality and mistaken identities as the detective tries to unravel whether Crowley and Midas are the same 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.