The Nitrate Shipment Part 07: The Adventures of Superman (May 5, 1941)

“The Nitrate Shipment Part 07” is an episode of The Adventures of Superman, the old-time radio show, first broadcast May 5, 1941. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Clark Kent, Jimmy Olsen and Pugg Flanagan are passengers on a boat sailing from Panama to the United States, and they find themselves in danger. Kent and Jimmy are trapped in a cabin with the Barringtons, an English surgeon and his daughter June, after a foreign agent disguised as an elderly woman takes control of the ship. The agent makes threats against the passengers and speaks of a cargo of nitrates that must never reach its destination. Kent faces a choice, since acting as Superman would reveal his secret identity to his friends. Meanwhile Flanagan wakes in his cabin and begins searching for the others, only to be drawn into the agent's trap. This is Part 07 of The Adventures of Superman, first broadcast May 5, 1941.

A cargo ship at sea between Panama and the United States, during a storm at night

Characters: Clark Kent, Jimmy Olsen, Pugg Flanagan, Dr. Michael Barrington, June Barrington, Superman

Listen for: The foreign agent's threats against the passengers, and Flanagan's struggle with the sailor on deck

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.