Red Amapola Caperrehearsal Or Unfinished: The Adventures of Sam Spade (May 21, 1950)

“Red Amapola Caperrehearsal Or Unfinished” is an episode of The Adventures of Sam Spade, the old-time radio show, first broadcast May 21, 1950. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Private detective Sam Spade is hired by Andrea Rios for a single night's work: to stay with her father Armando and provide an alibi for his whereabouts. When a gunman shoots through the window of their room, Andrea is hit instead of her intended target. Spade discovers the shooting is connected to a Mexican narcotics smuggling operation involving a fishing vessel, the Santa Susanna, and learns that Armando seeks revenge against those who framed him years earlier for growing red poppies.

San Francisco in 1950, including the waterfront, La Casa Azul boarding house, hospital, Mexican Consul's office, and the fishing vessel Santa Susanna.

Characters: Sam Spade, Andrea Rios, Armando Rios, Lieutenant Kelsey, Carlos Salcido, Captain Jay Mordigan, Janice Odell, Max Rapper

Listen for: A complex tale of revenge, narcotics smuggling, and mistaken identities, with Spade untangling the connections between an old conviction, a murder, and a cargo of contraband hidden in hollowed-out coal.

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.