Rushlight Diamond Caper: The Adventures of Sam Spade (July 4, 1948)

“Rushlight Diamond Caper” is an episode of The Adventures of Sam Spade, the old-time radio show, first broadcast July 4, 1948. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Sam Spade is hired to guard the Rushlight Diamond, an heirloom wedding present at the wedding of Ralph Rushlight to a foreign bride named Lottavarneich. Mrs. Rushlight explains that the valuable stone, which once belonged to her late husband's first wife, must pass to the groom's bride upon his marriage. As guests arrive for the ceremony, Spade mingles among them while keeping watch over the diamond, but tension and mystery surround the ill-fated union.

The Rushlight mansion at 21A Granite Court, where a wedding reception is taking place.

Characters: Sam Spade, Mrs. Rushlight, Nancy Ward, Ralph Rushlight, Lottavarneich, Colonel Asanda Bixby, Florence

Listen for: The wedding ceremony and the arrival of guests for the reception; watch for the diamond's safety and any suspicious behavior around it.

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.