The Final Payment: The Adventures of Philip Marlowe (September 15, 1950)

“The Final Payment” is an episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, the old-time radio show, first broadcast September 15, 1950. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Philip Marlowe visits death row inmate Billy Scenerro, who is scheduled for execution that evening for a robbery-murder. Scenerro reveals that the jewels he allegedly stole and claimed were lost at sea actually still exist, and he asks Marlowe to find them and return them to the widow of the man he killed before his execution.

A state penitentiary in California, September 1950. The action centers on the warden's office and death row.

Characters: Philip Marlowe, Warden Riker, Sergeant Kennedy, Billy Scenerro, Emil Nagrado, Mrs. Nagrado, Jesse Tap

Listen for: Marlowe's investigation into the whereabouts of the stolen jewels and his meeting with Scenerro, who seeks redemption before his execution.

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.