The Friend from Detroit: The Adventures of Philip Marlowe (March 5, 1949)

“The Friend from Detroit” is an episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, the old-time radio show, first broadcast March 5, 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 investigator Philip Marlowe receives a frantic midnight call from Dave Pryor, a coffee shop owner, reporting that his wife Betty has vanished after a shot was fired through their back door. When Marlowe investigates, he discovers a man's hat with initials V.V.R. at the scene and is accosted by a mysterious figure who warns him to stay away from Betty and Dave, mentioning $25,000. Marlowe's search leads him to a hotel where a man has been murdered and money stolen, with witnesses reporting a woman fleeing the scene.

Los Angeles, primarily in Dave Pryor's home and backyard, then a local hotel where a murder has occurred.

Characters: Philip Marlowe, Dave Pryor, Betty Pryor, Van Remini, Lieutenant Barra, The mysterious man with the gun

Listen for: The mysterious connection between Betty Pryor, the $25,000, and the murder at the hotel; who the mysterious man threatening Marlowe really is; the significance of the hat with initials V.V.R.

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.