The Heart of Gold: The Adventures of Philip Marlowe (October 24, 1948)

“The Heart of Gold” is an episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, the old-time radio show, first broadcast October 24, 1948. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Private detective Philip Marlowe accepts a case from a mysterious Helen Asher, who pays him fifty dollars to investigate a man named Elliot Purdue. When Marlowe arrives at the wealthy home of Arthur Stewart to report his findings, he discovers that the woman he was hired to investigate—introduced as Mrs. Asher—has apparently shot herself. As Marlowe digs deeper into the circumstances surrounding her death, he uncovers a web of deception involving a small-time bookie, a nightclub singer, and a dark secret from an accident in Canada three years earlier.

Los Angeles, including North Ogden Street, Bel Air, the Conga Club on Sunset Strip, and the Regent Apartments on Doheny.

Characters: Philip Marlowe, Helen Asher, Arthur Stewart, Elliot Purdue, Benita Malone, Robert the butler, Lieutenant Ibora

Listen for: The clever use of the heart-shaped locket and its photograph as the key piece of evidence that unravels the entire mystery, along with the shock revelation about the switched identities.

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.