The Monkeys Uncle: The Adventures of Philip Marlowe (March 7, 1950)

“The Monkeys Uncle” is an episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, the old-time radio show, first broadcast March 7, 1950. 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 is hired by Wesley McDuff, who claims he's been swindled out of thirty thousand dollars by Lord Ashley Duke and his wife for a trained chimpanzee named Cornelius. When Marlowe confronts the so-called Lord and Lady about the deal, they insist the chimp is theirs and they're taking him on the road, but McDuff seems desperate to get the animal back before they leave town.

Los Angeles, including Lord Ashley Duke's home, a drugstore near Worsing Square, and a freight house

Characters: Philip Marlowe, Wesley McDuff, Lord Ashley Duke, Lady Ashley Duke (Gert), Merle Bremmer, Cornelius the chimpanzee, Junior, Kipling

Listen for: A phony English lord and lady arguing about money and a chimpanzee, and Marlowe's growing suspicion that there's more to this case than a simple dispute over an animal purchase.

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.