Radio
Legends:
The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective
Liner notes written by Harlan Zinck
In
the spring of 1946, a young ex-GI with a yen to act responded to a call at the
studio of producer William Spier. Spier, a radio veteran whose credits included
four years as producer and director of the popular CBS anthology series
"Suspense," was looking to cast the lead in a new detective series based on
characters created by Dashiell Hammett. A war veteran himself, Hammett had
invented the characters of Sam Spade and Effie Perrine, his girl Friday, in the
best-selling novel "The Maltese Falcon," first published in 1930.
Actor Howard Duff had spent much of the war based at the Armed Forces Radio
Service, where he served primarily as an announcer. Since leaving the service,
he had secured a few radio jobs on soap operas but money was tight and
auditioning for Spier was an opportunity not to be missed. "There must have been
at least 100 other guys jammed in that office waiting to read," Duff later
recalled. "I even recognized a few famous faces in the crowd, and it threw me
into even a greater melancholy. By the time my turn came I was feeling real mean
and about as low as a patrolman's instep. When they handed me the script and
told me to go ahead, I delivered the lines in a half-snarling, half-bored manner
like a guy reading a grocery list."
Spier was, not surprisingly, unimpressed. But later, while reviewing recordings,
Spier's wife Kay Thompson picked out Duff's audition and strongly recommended
him for the role. Duff, she felt, brought something unique to Spade: a
world-weary and laconic characterization that was unlike any other detective on
the air. Philip Marlowe was two-fisted and Johnny Dollar flip and sophisticated
-- but Duff's Spade was down to earth, likely to avoid rather than to provoke a
fight, and more inclined to banter with his adversary than immediately bust him
in the jaw. In addition, Duff brought a tongue-in-cheek quality to the role --
not really a send-up of the private eye genre, just an overall sense that the
ever-present clichés that came with it couldn't be taken all that seriously in a
country that had just won a world war.
Finally,
Spier was convinced and called Duff on the telephone. "'You've got the job,' he
told me, 'You sound just the way we want Sam Spade to sound. You're a natural
for him.'" This was the breakthrough that Duff had been looking for: the lead
role in a network series produced and directed by a seasoned veteran. "Becoming
Sam Spade was the greatest moment in my life," Duff later recalled. "It just
goes to prove what luck can happen to a guy when he least expects it."
Earlier, Spier had commissioned a script from writers Bob Tallman and Jo
Eisinger. Titled "Sam Spade and the Walls of Jericho," it was recorded in
audition form on May 1 and quickly picked up for sponsorship by Wildroot Cream
Oil Hair Tonic. Scheduled as a summer replacement series, "The Adventures of Sam
Spade, Detective" was first heard over the ABC Radio Network on Friday, July 12,
1946. Despite the summer schedule, where a series often debuted and died within
just thirteen weeks, "Sam Spade" was an immediate hit -- so successful, in fact,
that it was soon transferred to a prominent Sunday night spot on CBS.
Despite being written by Tallman and Eisinger and, later, by Tallman and Gil
Doud, Spier did his best to associate the series primarily with Spade's creator,
Dashiell Hammett. There were good reasons for this, of course -- not the least
of which was Hammett's fee of $400.00 per episode for both the use of the
characters and for his name in the weekly credits. "Aside from some adaptations
we did early on, he [Hammett] was never directly involved in the writing or
production of the shows," Spier later recalled, "but he did drop by from time to
time to make sure we were protecting his interests."
Despite the ongoing use of his name in conjunction with the program, "The
Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective" was not really based on Hammett's original
concept of the character. In Hammett's novel "The Maltese Falcon," Spade is
largely self-serving and fairly ambiguous in terms of morality and his loyalty
to others. He is motivated, in business and in life, as much by money, greed,
and opportunity as anything ethical or particularly honest. Hammett himself
described him as looking "rather pleasantly like a blond Satan" and critic
Donald Douglas, writing in "The New Republic," accurately characterized Spade as
"a scoundrel without pity or remorse, taking his whiffs of drink and his casual
amours between catching crooks, treating the police with a cynical contempt,
always getting his crook by foul and fearless means, above the law like a
satyr." Hammett's Spade milks his clients for as much money as he can get out of
them, lies to practically everyone, and breaks the law as casually as one would
light a cigarette -- hardly the sort of person one could consider loveable, let
alone the leading character in a popular prime-time Sunday night radio series.
But if Spier's Sam Spade was softened into a more whimsical (if sarcastic)
character, his raison d'etre remained the same: he was a man for hire, but not
one who was willing to surrender himself entirely to the needs of his client.
Likewise, though he was undoubtedly in the private eye business for the money
(his first question to a client was usually something along the lines of "How
much money can you come up with?"), his basic character was defined in one
simple statement: "Don't be too sure I'm as crooked as I'm supposed to be."
In the radio version, writers Tallman and Doud usually placed Spade into
situations that put him in personal contact with a wide range of eccentrics,
bizarre characters, and self-absorbed individuals with more money and influence
than common sense. Each episode began with Spade (license number 137596)
dictating the details of his latest caper to the faithful Effie, who would take
down the information as his description faded to dramatization. Murders were
commonplace, even among clients, though they were usually committed under
unusual circumstances. Listeners could expect that, at some point, Spade would
have to confer with the police department - including the always-dubious Lt.
Dundy of Homicide (John McIntire, later William Conrad) - and that as Spade
opened the office bottle and poured himself a much-needed drink, the reliable
Effie could be counted on to keep track of the holes in Spade's investigation
(as well as in the plots of the stories) and comment on them at length -- much
to Spade's tongue-in-cheek chagrin.
In
its original format, "The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective" ran until
September 1950, when both Dashiell Hammett and Howard Duff found their names
appearing in "Red Channels," the infamous and generally spurious listing of show
business personnel with supposed Communist leanings or connections. At the
insistence of Wildroot, Hammett's name was immediately removed from the credits;
Duff quickly cleared his name but was also pursuing a film career and had pretty
much decided to move on anyway. It all came crashing down anyway, however, when
NBC suddenly announced it was pulling "Sam Spade" from the schedule - presumably
under pressure from high-ranking network executives afraid of a possible "red"
scandal. (The series had moved from CBS to NBC in September 1949.) Wildroot
immediately had a sound-alike show created for the timeslot, "Charlie Wild,
Private Detective," which was basically Sam Spade without Sam Spade.
"Charlie Wild" lasted until July 1951 and also, unlike "Spade," briefly aired on
television (1950-52).
NBC, meantime, received nearly 250,000 letters protesting the sudden
disappearance of "Sam Spade" and so, two months later, decided to continue the
series with actor Steve Dunne replacing Howard Duff. Dunne was, for the most
part, a perfectly acceptable substitute, but time had gone by. Writers Tallman
and Doud were exhausted and decided to leave before Dunne took over and it
wasn't long before Dunne realized that Duff was a mighty hard act to follow.
With radio listeners rapidly turning to TV (along with most of the major
sponsors), NBC eventually ended up sustaining the show until April 27, 1951,
when Spade's last caper was completed and Effie's final report was filed away.
To modern day listeners, familiar with the character only through Humphrey
Bogart's portrayal in John Huston's 1941 version of "The Maltese Falcon," "The
Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective" will be a delightful discovery. Unlike the
noir films that were popular during the postwar years, with their dark shadows,
cynical viewpoints, mean streets, and back alleys, the radio "Sam Spade" is
bright, witty, fresh, and surprisingly lighthearted. The stories, for the most
part, are effective yarns that serve as basic structures for Tallman and Doud to
trim with a wide variety of offbeat, eccentric, and detailed characters. Most of
the complicated plots, as Sam and Effie regularly point out, don't stand up to
much scrutiny -- but that doesn't matter, really. What does matter (and
what continues to delight listeners some sixty years later) is Howard Duff's
enduring portrayal of a glib detective who finds most of the people and events
in his world overblown, screwy, and more than a little ridiculous. Combining
Duff's Sam Spade with Lurene Tuttle as the sweet, scatterbrained, and lovingly
concerned Effie is a match made in radio heaven -- particularly with the talents
of top supporting actors like William Conrad, Hans Conreid, Bea Benaderet, and
Jack Webb added to the mix. Topping it all off is producer/director William
Spier, a man who both knew and understood radio production techniques and was
consistently able to bring out the very best in the people he worked with.
Together, they made "The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective" a fun show to
create, a fun show to appear on, and a fun show to enjoy - then and now.
Here is the complete content of this 10-CD Radio Legends collection:
The Bow Window Caper
Sunday, November 9, 1947 - 30:00 - CBS
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
The Caper With Two Death Beds
Sunday, June 20, 1948 - 30:00 - CBS
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
The Bail Bond Caper
Sunday, June 27, 1948 - 30:00 - CBS
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
The Rushlight Diamond Caper
Sunday, July 4, 1948 - 30:00 - CBS
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
The Wheel of Life Caper
Sunday, July 11, 1948 - 30:00 - CBS
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
The Missing Newshawk Caper
Sunday, July 18, 1948 - 30:00 - CBS
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
The Mad Scientist Caper
Sunday, July 25, 1948 - 30:00 - CBS
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
The Dry Martini Caper
Sunday, August 1, 1948 - 30:00 - CBS
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
The Bluebeard Caper
Sunday, August 8, 1948 - 30:00 - CBS
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
The Vapio Cup Caper
Sunday, August 22, 1948 - 30:00 - CBS
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
The Hot One Hundred Grand Caper
Sunday, September 19, 1948 - 30:00 - CBS
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
The Dick Foley Caper
Sunday, September 26, 1948 - 30:00 - CBS
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
The Insomnia Caper
Sunday, October 24, 1948 - 30:00 - AFRS
No commercials
The Quarter-Eagle Caper
Sunday, November 28, 1948 - 30:00 - AFRS
No commercials
The Bouncing Betty Caper
Sunday, December 12, 1948 - 30:00 - AFRS
No commercials
The Stopped Watch Caper
Sunday, April 10, 1949 - 30:00 - CBS
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
The Overjord Caper
Sunday, June 5, 1949 - 30:00 - CBS
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
The Red Amapola Caper - Rehearsal
Sunday, May 21, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC
No commercials
The Honest Thief Caper - Rehearsal
Sunday, May 28, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC
No commercials
The Farmer's Daughter Caper
Sunday, September 3, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC
Sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic
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