Private Eye Test: Richard Diamond, Private Detective (March 19, 1950)

“Private Eye Test” is an episode of Richard Diamond, Private Detective, the old-time radio show, first broadcast March 19, 1950. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Richard Diamond must pass an examination to keep his private detective license, but while taking a practical test in the police basement, he discovers that fellow detective Pat Romero has been murdered. Diamond must solve the case quickly to help his friend Lieutenant Levinson, uncovering a blackmail scheme and a killer with expensive taste in shoes.

1950s New York City, primarily the 5th Precinct police station, Richard Diamond's office on Broadway, Romero's offices, and Amos Fletcher's nightclub

Characters: Richard Diamond, Lieutenant Walt Levinson, Pat Romero, Amos Fletcher (the Patent Leather Kid), Sergeant Otis, Helen (Richard's secretary), Phil (the postman)

Listen for: The clever detective work as Diamond pieces together clues from patent leather shoes and a missing bullet, plus the witty banter between Diamond and his various antagonists, especially the obnoxious Romero and the resourceful Lieutenant Levinson

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.