The Medium Was Rare: The Adventures of Philip Marlowe (September 8, 1951)

“The Medium Was Rare” is an episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, the old-time radio show, first broadcast September 8, 1951. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Private investigator Philip Marlowe is preparing for a fishing vacation when Mrs. Lillian Collins appears at his apartment, desperate for help recovering jewelry worth $10,000 that was stolen from her bedroom the night before. She refuses to call the police because her husband Leonard is away on business back east and she fears the theft will become public knowledge. As Marlowe investigates the circumstances of the robbery, he discovers that Mrs. Collins had removed the jewelry from a safe deposit box with the intention of pawning it to cover a gambling debt unknown to her husband.

Los Angeles and the surrounding area, including Mrs. Collins' home in La Corral and Marlowe's apartment

Characters: Philip Marlowe, Mary, Cookie, Lillian Collins, Leonard Collins, Sylvia, Pat

Listen for: The details of how the jewelry disappeared from the bedroom with French doors opening onto a terrace, and whether Marlowe can recover it before Leonard Collins returns home

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.