The Soft Spot: The Adventures of Philip Marlowe (September 1, 1950)

“The Soft Spot” is an episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, the old-time radio show, first broadcast September 1, 1950. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by Earl Hanley, a newspaper circulation businessman, to find an old gardener named John Cooper who has disappeared after stealing some valuable silver goblets from Hanley's mansion. Marlowe learns that Hanley sympathizes with Cooper because fifteen years ago he was in a similar desperate situation himself. Using the clues of Skid Row connections, a taste for Aces Up cigars, and whittling as a hobby, Marlowe begins searching the bars and shelters of the city's poorest district.

Los Angeles during a thick fog, primarily on Skid Row and in the wealthy Los Feliz neighborhood

Characters: Philip Marlowe, Earl Hanley, John Cooper, Skeeter

Listen for: The hardboiled detective work as Marlowe searches the seediest parts of town for a down-and-out gardener, with the twist that his employer sympathizes with the thief's circumstances.

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.