Spanish Prisoner Caper: The Adventures of Sam Spade (March 9, 1951)

“Spanish Prisoner Caper” is an episode of The Adventures of Sam Spade, the old-time radio show, first broadcast March 9, 1951. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

Listen to The Adventures of Sam Spade free, live around the clock: every episode, in the order it first aired. No sign-up.

What happens

A woman visits Sam Spade claiming her uncle, a Spanish nobleman, is imprisoned in Mexico and needs $800 to bribe officials for his release. She's promised a share of the family jewels as reward. Sam investigates the con game and discovers the scheme involves a counterfeiting operation, a murdered man, and a missing Spanish treasury official.

San Francisco, including the Grand Hotel for Women, Sam Spade's office, the Lighthouse bar on the Embarcadero, and the Simplex Printing Company

Characters: Sam Spade, Marjorie, Pedro Rodriguez, Lolita Montoya, Stuyves (the large man at the bar), Raymond Montoya, Lieutenant Dundee, Effie (Sam's secretary)

Listen for: The Spanish Prisoner con game explained through Marjorie's story, Sam's confrontation with Lolita and the thugs at the bar, and the revelation of the counterfeiting operation behind the scheme.

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.