# Philip Marlowe: The Panama Hat (EP1289)

An episode of [Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1696519927), 19 Aug 2026, 33 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/f90a09/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/57359957/gd1289.mp3

Release Date: June 18, 2014 A woman hires Marlowe to investigate anonymous threats against her husband by a man in a Panama hat. Original Air Date: October 10, 1948 Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net Support the show on a one-time basis at https://support.greatdetectives.net Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715 Give us a call at 208-991-4783 Take the listener survey at https://survey.greatdetectives.net Check out our social media at https://www.greatdetectives.net

## Transcript

[0:28] Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
[0:34] is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, send it
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[0:53] Radio Detectives. Well, before we do get started, I do want to
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[1:19] Well, it's time now for today's episode of the Adventures of Philip Marlow.
[1:25] This one is called the Panama Hat. Sounded good, real good. A
[1:30] weekend at Melibu, expenses paid with a cash bonus thrown in. That was
[1:36] before I knew about the Henchman, the Redhead, and the corpse. These
[1:40] three and a white kind of my hat ruined it all for me. From
[1:46] the pen of Raymond Chandler, outstanding author of crime fiction, comes his most
[1:49] famous character as CBS presents the Adventures of Philip marlow and Now, with Gerald
[2:07] Moore starred as Philip Marlowe, we bring you tonight's unusual story, the Panama
[2:12] Hat. I was sitting in my office bombing the ashtray on my desk with
[2:23] paper clips, wondering what kind of a job a private detective gets. When
[2:29] clients stopped calling completely, I was sea sawing between the picture of me is
[2:34] a well starched tuckster in the more comfortable portrait of marlow author in English tweets
[2:39] man of distinction, and the telephone brought me to a rude awakening Malo speaking.
[2:46] My name is Isabelle Gordon. Mister Marlowe, I must see you at
[2:49] once. My husband Bruce is in terrible danger. Could you possibly meet me
[2:53] in an hour at the Pelican Inn. It's a small roadside place on the
[2:55] way to Malibu. I'll explain everything then Pelican in one hour, missus Gordon.
[3:05] The Pelican in was strictly a lick a license with chairs and a board
[3:07] piano player in one corner, grinding away. The place was empty, and
[3:12] I was about to order a drink when the front door opened and a woman
[3:14] entered. She was tall, and thin and right out of Happer's bazaar.
[3:19] From double app ankle, straped shoes to close cropped hair. One look at
[3:23] her fear crowded eyes and I knew it was Isabelle Gordon. I got up
[3:25] and introduced myself. Then we went to a table and she started to talk.
[3:30] For two weeks now, mister Marlow, my husband Bruce has been receiving
[3:32] unsigned threatening letters. I'm almost sick with worry. I don't know what to
[3:38] do. Wait a minute, Missus Gordon. The first thing to do is
[3:39] to get hold of yourself and tell me the whole thing, right from the
[3:43] beginning. Yes, all right, Well, first of all, Bruce and
[3:46] I have only been married a little more than a year. We're living with
[3:50] my uncle every fair Child, on an estate out beyond Malibu. I see,
[3:53] what does your husband do for a living, missus? Right, he's
[3:55] a photographer. We'll be a commercial. Well, at present, it's neither.
[4:00] You see, Bruce has been terribly unsettled since the war lost sort of
[4:03] a Then recently he got interested in photography and it's been a great help to
[4:08] him, but he doesn't exactly work at it. Well, he's converted one
[4:10] of the rooms in the guest cottage into a studio, and he spends almost
[4:13] all his time there experimenting with portrait work. But he doesn't actually have a
[4:16] job. If that's what you mean, how does that appeal to you,
[4:18] Uncle Avery. I'll be honest with you, mister Marlowe. My uncle thinks
[4:23] the sun rises and sets on me, but with Bruce it's total eclipses Edie.
[4:27] I'm afraid. So all his life Uncle Avery has been concerned only with
[4:30] dollars and cents. He simply doesn't understand or sympathize with an artist viewpoint.
[4:34] Now what about these unsigned letters? Well, Bruce has been getting them for
[4:39] the past two weeks. They are always made up of words cut from newspapers
[4:42] and pasted on ordinary paper. That's a cheap stunt. What do they say?
[4:46] Each one threatens my husband's life, Yet both he and Uncle Avery consider
[4:49] them nothing more than the work of some harmless craig, in spite of the
[4:53] fact that for the last several days I've seen a strange man lurking around our
[4:56] place every night? Can you describe them? No? No, except reads
[5:00] about your height and build. Is that all? Yes? No? I
[5:05] wait a minute, there is something else. Each time I saw mister Marlow,
[5:11] he was wearing a white panama. There's not much to go on.
[5:15] Tell me, why haven't you called the police? Uncle Aby wouldn't hear of
[5:16] it. He hates publicity, dreads it. That's why I suggested contacting you
[5:20] a private detective. It's sort of a bodyguard for Bruce. Huh. Yes,
[5:25] However, mister Bruce is somewhat temperamental, and I know he'd rebel at
[5:29] the thought of being watched over. So I'd rather posed as a house guest,
[5:32] an old colleague chum of mine. Perhaps My fee is twenty five a
[5:36] day plus expenses, Missus Gordon Honey. Price is all right, mister Marlow.
[5:40] Let's see it's a little after seven. Now, can you be at
[5:43] our place at Malibu at nine? I think so? That is a fellow
[5:46] alumnus, Isabelle. One last question? Where'd you go to college? Southern
[5:49] California? Why? But I was afraid you might say Vesser after Isabella left
[5:59] her, and remember that I was already on my expense account. So I
[6:01] had a tasteless cold hot blue plate special and a burden cup of coffee,
[6:06] and I stepped out of the Pelican Inn and headed across the paved parking lot
[6:10] to my car. Was already dark, and I was admiring the full moon
[6:14] and the beautiful wash it made over the ocean when it happened. Hey,
[6:18] look you are right mister. Yeah, yeah, I think so, thanks
[6:25] to your sounding off that not was aiming right for you. Yeah yeah,
[6:28] it looks that way. Did you happen to get his number? No?
[6:30] What about his face? Can you describe him? No? Matter of fact,
[6:32] I only noticed one thing. What was that the hattie was wearing.
[6:36] It was a white panama. I tried to be broad minded, but there
[6:45] was no other way to look at it. The gentleman in the white panama
[6:48] had definitely meant business. I returned to my apartment in Hollywood, where I
[6:53] shaved, chowered, and packed, and I headed for Malibu. At a
[6:57] quarter to nine. I was inside the grounds of the fair Child State another
[7:00] mile and I was at the front door. When I entered, Isabelle greeted
[7:04] me like I was a keg of brandy around the Saint Bernard's neck. Then
[7:08] we waded through an inch thick coppet to the library where Uncle Avery, fat,
[7:13] bald and looking like he'd just bitten into an underwrip. Per Simon was
[7:15] waiting. I wasn't asked to sit down, and I was not for a
[7:18] cigar. Avery fair Child was not one to waste time. I'm a very
[7:23] rich man, mister Mallow, as such, on the target for all kinds
[7:27] of fortune hunters, confidence men, and cranks. In my lifetime, I've
[7:30] been threatened and pestured by a scar at crackpots, each one slightly more psychopathic
[7:34] than the last. It never bothered me and it never will. However,
[7:39] in this case the approach is a bit different, meaning you think somebody's trying
[7:42] to get you through your nephew. Uh, never refer to him as my
[7:45] nephew, my niece's husband, if you please, and don't forget it,
[7:48] Uncle Avery, isabel My feelings about your husband are no secret. You're being
[7:54] unfair, Uncle Avery, just because Bruce is an artist and an artist is
[7:57] he? Why Isabelle? That man's no more artist? And I am a
[8:01] horse shot? Hello Bruce, Hello darling, you were saying something, Uncle
[8:07] Avery. Bruce, I want you to meet Philip Marlowe. We were great
[8:09] friends at school, and when I heard he was in town for a while,
[8:13] I insisted that he spend a weekend with us. How do you doing,
[8:15] mister Gordon. It's a pleasure to have you with us. Mister Milo,
[8:18] You're very welcome. I do the welcoming around here, Bruce. Mister
[8:20] Marlow's had a long trip and I'm certain he'd like to turn in early.
[8:24] Bruce, Darling, he's going to stay in the guest cottage of the room
[8:28] next to your studio. Will you show him there please, I'll be glad
[8:31] to By the way, Isabella, I'm going to work late, so I'll
[8:33] say good night to you now. Good night, DearS nice. Please please
[8:39] be careful, yes, Bruce, by all means, be careful. Remember
[8:43] the true artist belongs to posterity or something. The guest cottage was only a
[8:54] landscape top skip and a jump from the museum that Uncle Avery called home.
[8:58] And as Bruce and I I told along a flagstone path, I'd feigned a
[9:01] deep interest in photography. That was all my hosts needed. He struck at
[9:05] the bait like a shock for the malnutrition. Well, mister Milo, it
[9:11] didn't even occur to me that photography might be one of your hobbies. Isabelle
[9:15] never said a word. Good for Isabelle. I'm strictly a dabbler. And
[9:18] tell me, mister Gordon, how long have you been at this portrait work?
[9:22] For about six months? You see. I divide my time between my
[9:26] studio here and a school I attend in Hollywood. That way I capture both
[9:28] the theory and practical experience at the same time. Well, here we are.
[9:35] Would you like to see the studio? Yes? I would, Yeah,
[9:39] I'll be get the lights. Wow, this is all right, eh
[9:43] and Lodger two cameras dark room. Are these your pictures? Yes? What
[9:48] do you think of them? I don't know exactly. They're certainly different.
[9:52] They are unusual out there, you see, Milo, Each picture is actually
[9:56] made up of two separate studies, which are super I call it interpretive photography.
[10:03] Uh now, this one a splash of light and the bent pipe cleaner,
[10:09] the sun and the plant shoot. It's called metamorphosis. Oh what about
[10:13] that one? They're in the corner, the girl's face and clouds. Mister
[10:18] Malo, you'll excuse me, but that picture is ready for display. I'm
[10:20] sorry. I didn't mean to pry. I thought it was just another interpretive
[10:24] photograph that it isn't finished yet. Now, mister Molow, I'm afraid I've
[10:31] forgotten what my wife said about your long trip. Shall I show you to
[10:35] your room? Yes, please do, mister Gordon. My room, on
[10:46] the other side of the guest cottage was wider than Hollywood Boulevard. After Bruce
[10:50] apologized for his display of temperament and bid me a polite good night, I
[10:54] climbed into the silk pajamas that were laid out for me, stretched out on
[10:58] the bed, and tried to figure who belonged to the white panama hat.
[11:03] About an hour passed and I wasn't getting any sensible answers, so I switched
[11:07] out the light, put my gun on the table next to me, and
[11:09] snuggled into what felt like a mile and a half of mattress. I was
[11:13] almost asleep, and the clatter of a shovel falling on the walk outside brought
[11:18] me straight up in bed. I grabbed my gun and made for the door.
[11:20] For a second, I threw it open. I knew that I'd made
[11:22] a mistake. Whoever kicked over that shovel, it hurt me and met me
[11:26] with a large fist that came straight at my face. Hell As I came
[11:39] back into the world, I was embarrassed to find myself alone and flat on
[11:45] my back. When I started to get up, I felt like the La
[11:48] Dun was water boy and all and run over my face. My gun was
[11:52] a few feet away, and when I went to pick it up, I
[11:54] stopped short. There was a souvenir and the man with a great big fist
[12:01] a gold cigarette lighter was engraved to skip her on his birthday. Putting it
[12:05] in my pocket, I picked up my gun and made for Bruce's studio.
[12:09] He wasn't there. I threw on some clothes and went back to the house
[12:13] and found Isabelle in the living room. I was about to give her a
[12:16] biased account of the shortest fight on record when I noticed Uncle Avery quietly entering
[12:20] the house from a side door that led to the garden. What's the matter,
[12:24] feel, Bruce isn't in the studio anymore? What now, Isabelle?
[12:28] There's no reason for alarm. Bruce often goes off into the night like this,
[12:31] How to do such for beauty or some such rat? And what was
[12:35] it you were after just now? Outside, mister fairchild, I was looking
[12:39] for my Knie Smilow. Isabelle, your cousin John telephoned to say he wouldn't
[12:45] be down this weekend. Oh, I didn't know there were to be other
[12:46] guests. Oh, just my cousin, John Martin Phield not really a guest.
[12:50] He comes down off too often to suit me, Uncle Avery. Please
[12:54] you know that I'm fond of him, Yes, but I don't know why.
[12:58] He's a chronic gambler and of no use to anyway, living at the
[13:01] Wiltshire Gardens when you can't afford it driving expansive car. You're too hard on
[13:05] him? Yes, do you know him? No? No, No,
[13:11] I don't. Well you're not missing anything, believe me. Oh, I
[13:13] do believe you, mister fairchild. I believe you're every word. What good
[13:16] night? Or I left the house and headed straight to my car. With
[13:24] the Wiltshire Gardens in Hollywood and mine. It was just a chance that John
[13:28] Skipper Martin might own a white Panama hat. I got to the prodigal cousin's
[13:33] bungalow was dark inside, so I pressed one hand close to my gun and
[13:37] the other against the door, though, but there was no answer. A
[13:41] side window was open, and I started toward it when a nasty voice greeted
[13:45] me from the shadow of a palm tree. Good evening. Lovely night,
[13:50] isn't it. I hadn't noticed. I've been busy. I know we've been
[13:54] waiting for you for a long time. Wee uh huh Me and my nice
[13:58] shiny revolver thirty eight. I see all. You make a handsome couple,
[14:03] and I hope you're both very happy together. Now, what do you want?
[14:07] I don't want anything. I'm here to give you something, advice,
[14:11] lust brother. I've already told you I'm busy. So if this is a
[14:13] heist, let's get it over with fast. You know, I think you're
[14:15] confused. I'm holding the gun, mister Martin Martin John Skipper Mutton surprised that
[14:24] I know your name? Why? Yes, yes I am. I don't
[14:28] recall having had the pleasure you haven't. People never forget me, mister Martin.
[14:33] My tag is Brock. Does that mean anything? No? What do
[14:37] you do? Sing? Dance? Tell jokes? Yeah, that's it,
[14:41] the last one I tell you. I can't wait. You won't have to
[14:46] miss the Martin. I'm gonna tell you one right now. Goes like this.
[14:50] Once upon a time, a young punk borrowed ten thousand dollars from a
[14:54] generous gambler and has promised to pay the money back within a week, but
[14:58] the young Punk never came across, so the gambler told a nice fellow named
[15:03] Brock to call on the young Punk and tell him that he had forty eight
[15:05] hours in which to get the money together, and that if he didn't,
[15:11] he'd never see the forty ninth hour. What's the matter, mister Martin?
[15:18] Don't you like jokes? Rock Gryne shoved his thirty eight into his shoulder holster
[15:26] and walked away. Soon as he rounded the corner, I went to the
[15:30] open window and climbed in. I rummaged through two closets, looking for a
[15:33] white panama, you know what. I was about to search a third when
[15:37] I heard something that brought me to a dead stop. It was a key
[15:41] in the front door lock. He closed my right hand over the gun in
[15:43] my pocket, moved flush against the sidewall, and waited. At the moment
[15:48] the door swung open me the telephone rang, and the hulk of a man
[15:52] that entered went straight for it. He was wearing a gray Fedora. Hello,
[15:58] oh, hello, Isabelle, what Bruce? All right? Are you
[16:04] sure? But that's impossibly? I mean things like that just to excuse me?
[16:11] Is all? I think I have a visitor. I'll call you back,
[16:17] raach, mister Martin, who are you? Her name is Brock.
[16:21] You owe a client of mine ten thousand dollars. He wants his money in
[16:23] forty eight hours. I'll get it, I swear I will. I'll have
[16:26] it right here, on time, all of it. How are you going
[16:27] to do that, mister Martin? I have got a way. Someone's going
[16:30] to give it to me tonight. Why that's because it's a healthy thing to
[16:36] do. That's why. That's all you wanted to know, isn't it.
[16:41] That's all? Good night, mister Martin. Hello, missus Marlowe is I'm
[17:00] calling from a drugstore in Hollywood. His Bruce returned yet? No, and
[17:03] he won't he'd been kidnapped. What's that? Whoever? Did it? Want?
[17:04] Fifty thousand dollars before morning or we'll never see Bruce alive again. As
[17:15] I walked my car ups at the Wiltshire Gardens, I felt like my brain
[17:18] had spent the night in a cement mixer. I was about to head back
[17:21] from Malibu when I suddenly saw a skiper Martin dash out of his bungalow and
[17:25] pile into a long, glossy convertible. I followed him out to the Pacific
[17:29] Palisades, where he made a call at a little house which sat on a
[17:32] bluff overlooking the sea. Once he was inside, I moved up quietly and
[17:36] saw that the name on the mailbox was Miss Carlo Winters. I crawled up
[17:40] to a lace curtain window where I could see what was going on. One
[17:44] look at Miss Winters made the damage. I was doing it to my tweets
[17:47] worthwhile. She was strictly dragon lady, with flaming red hair and a waist
[17:52] you could span with two hands if you were lucky enough to get that close,
[17:57] and the rest of the measurements fit just perfect. Why you snialing car?
[18:02] You wouldn't dare open your mouth about us. Listen, Carlo, I've
[18:06] got myself Skipper Martins to look after first lass and always remember that. Why
[18:10] should I? You've always been cheap talking no more? Look at you know
[18:12] you're in trouble. So what do you do? You holler blackmails? Go
[18:15] on, get out of here, got here before I kill you. When
[18:23] Skipper slammed the front door, stopped to his car and wrought off, I
[18:27] couldn't figure any reason, legitimate reason, that is, for calling on Carlo
[18:32] Winters. So I returned to the Fairchild place. Isabelle was somewhere between hysteria
[18:37] and collapse over the fact that she and Bruce had less than two thousand dollars
[18:41] in their own name. Uncle Ably, of course, was more than reluctant
[18:45] to pay the ransom demanded for the return of a Manny rather not have returned,
[18:48] But his niece went out, all right, Isabella, I'll give you
[18:52] the money, but understand I'm doing this for you no more. Uncle Abey,
[18:56] I understand, but can you get that much cash at this or the
[19:00] banks? Who said anything about banks? You know I don't like him.
[19:03] Money will be in your hands in thirty minutes. In the meantime, tell
[19:07] mister malow hear what arrangements you've made with your husband's of doctors. One minute,
[19:11] mister Fairchild, what about the police. The police have already been notified,
[19:15] mister Marlowe have agreed not to interfere until tomorrow morning. By that time,
[19:19] I suppose we'll have Bruce return to us. To us Uncle Avery as
[19:25] a mere slipper. The tongue is a bill. I'm only paying for his
[19:27] return. You take over from there. I don't want him. About half
[19:38] hour later, Avery Fairchild handled me a bundle of bills which added up to
[19:41] fifty thousand dollars cash. The bill seems slightly dirty. The old geezer must
[19:48] have had them buried someplace for a moment. I couldn't help thinking boy to
[19:52] get at this place with a shovel sometime. But then I got back to
[19:56] the more pressing matters at hand. I wrapped up in a shoe box and
[20:00] I drove north along the Pacific Coast Highway. I covered the sixty miles to
[20:03] the rendezvous, which was a junk yard near Venture, in about as many
[20:07] minutes, and according to instructions, I slowed down for ten miles an hour.
[20:14] I blinked my lights twice, tossed out the shoe box. I was
[20:18] just about to resume my speed when that head light's been approaching car hell on
[20:22] a man as he dotted back into the junkyard, and I saw what I'd
[20:25] been expecting all the time, a white panama hat. But I was still
[20:33] playing by the rules, so there was only one thing I could do about
[20:37] it. I slammed my foot down on the accelerator and kept it there until
[20:40] I reached the nearest telephone, where I telephone Skipper Martin at the Wiltshire Gardens.
[20:44] It was just possibility owned two hats, But that little balloon exploded in
[20:48] a hurry. Hello, mister Martin. Yes, this is Brock remember me.
[21:00] Oh yes, yes, of course I've been hoping you'd cold. I
[21:03] mean you got the money right now? Well, well no, not not
[21:06] to spend it, but I will happen in a couple of hours. You're
[21:08] sure, mister Martin, I'm positive, Brock. No, only one thing
[21:18] figured a man in the Panama had worked for Skipper Martin. It had to
[21:23] be an hour later. I pulled in at the fair Child of State.
[21:26] In the moment I put my double a over the threshold, I knew that
[21:30] the kidnapper too had kept his part of the bargain. Bruce Gordon was back,
[21:33] safe and sound. It happened shortly after you retired, mister Marlow.
[21:38] I was working in my studio when a man wearing a white Panama hat.
[21:42] Yeah, but how did you know that? Mister Marlow very popular this season,
[21:47] mister Gordon Darling. Mister Marlow was a private detective but I'll tell you
[21:49] all about that later. Go on with your story. This man was wearing
[21:53] a handkerchief over his face, and he forced me to go along with him
[21:56] at gunpoint. Took me to a car park in the service will and told
[22:00] me to turn around, and I was hit from behind and went out cold.
[22:03] Oh, darling, how terrible. It wasn't pleasant to him. When
[22:07] I came to, I was bound hand and foot, blindfolded and gagged.
[22:11] I had no idea where I was. But didn't you see anybody before you
[22:14] were released? No, Uncle Avery. Before they let me go, they
[22:18] hit me again when I came to. That time, I was lying on
[22:21] the road out near Ventura, untied. That's about it. I suppose you've
[22:25] told the story to the police already. Huh. No, he hasn't,
[22:26] Misster Marlowe, and what's more, he isn't going to I'm sorry, but
[22:30] I was forced to light too earlier this evening. The policeman reporters, and
[22:34] they mean publicity, and I hate publicity. I'm sure you see my point.
[22:38] I wouldn't make book on that. Mister Fairchild's secrets like this only encourage
[22:42] kidnappers. Well, since we no longer see I do I, mister Marlowe,
[22:45] I'd suggest that we consider your services at an end. I'll have my
[22:49] check at your office in the morning. Good night, sir, Avery fair
[22:59] cheer. I wasn't the kind of a man you argued with. I threw
[23:03] my coat over my arm, tipped my head to Isabelle, and stepped outside.
[23:07] I hadn't once mentioned Skipper Martin to the family. That might have been
[23:10] a mistake, but I still wanted to look around before I yelled Copper.
[23:14] As I walked past the guest cottage, I decided to go in and check
[23:17] Bruce's studio. Maybe the man in the white pH had left a few odd
[23:21] footprints on the ceiling. I tossed my coat in a corner chair and started
[23:25] through the cutter. Ten minutes later, I'd found nothing. I was about
[23:30] to leave when I suddenly remembered the picture of a girl in some clouds that
[23:34] Bruce had been so careful to keep out of sight. I hadn't been moved,
[23:40] and when I brought it into the light, I didn't have to look
[23:41] twice. It was the portrait of Carla Winters, a redheaded dragon lady that
[23:51] Skipper Martin had visited. Now things began to add up. At the chaufe's
[23:56] quarters. There was an outside telephone and I put through a hurry call a
[23:57] Lieutenant Barret hm in La. The best I could get was one Sergeant Neely.
[24:03] I'm shy, mister Morrow, but a little tennis hot on the call
[24:06] right now. There's some kind of a row up time. But do you
[24:07] know where he is? The address? I mean, oh yeah, yeah,
[24:10] sure, sure, sir. One of those bungalows are the Wilshire Gottens,
[24:14] the Wilshire Gardens. That's right. What's so special about that? Maybe
[24:17] nothing alone a minute, thanks Neely. Hello, this is mallowe Barra.
[24:29] What brings you to Skipper Martins at this late hour? Well, it seems
[24:32] as though some person or person's on own fired a gun several times a little
[24:36] more than an hour ago, four shots to be exact. Well, you
[24:38] think Skipper Martin fired him? Oh, mollow, I'm sure Martin didn't fire
[24:41] them. You see, he stopped him personally. Before I hung up,
[24:51] I gave you Borrow a quick rundown on the whole story. After making me
[24:55] feel like a schoolboy for keeping him in the dog so long, he told
[24:57] me to sit on the Fairchild's front steps until he got there, and that
[25:00] gave me a half hour to kill, most of which I spent walking around
[25:04] aimlessly trying to get something close to four out of two and two, but
[25:10] I couldn't. Finally I heard Ibarra siren up to the front door. I
[25:15] was about the head for him when a chill in the morning air reminded me
[25:17] that my top coat was still in Bruce's studio. I went back and got
[25:21] it. When I turned for the door again, I noticed a little slip
[25:25] of paper that had been under the coat fall of the floor. I picked
[25:29] it up. I must have held it for a full minute before I realized
[25:32] what it meant. Just a small slip of paper, and yet it made
[25:37] everything the kidnapping, call of the murder fall right into place. When I
[25:45] entered the living room at the house, one glance at Isabelle and Bruce told
[25:47] me that she'd already knew about Skipper's death. Only Uncle Avery, who was
[25:52] not one to shed crocodile tears, hadn't changed. Ibara, of course,
[25:56] was unhappy. Mollow, we can't run any kind of a police department.
[26:00] Private detective acts like he's the commissioner himself. Why didn't you call me when
[26:03] this business first began to smell? You know better? I'm sorry, Bora,
[26:07] and I hate to sound im modest, but I happened to be one
[26:08] of the two men in this room who can name Bruce Gordon's kidnapper and Skipper
[26:12] Martin's killer. You know what you're saying, Model, I think so.
[26:15] The man in the white Panama had who kidnapped Bruce Gordon lieutenant is Bruce Gordon
[26:21] himself. In other words, Bruce Gordon kidnap Bruce Gordon. Am I would
[26:26] you still say that, Gordon? If we paid a call to Cala Winters
[26:29] and as to a hand over the fifty thousand dollars so called ransom money she's
[26:32] holding for you too, oh which you prefer? Window we bar then another
[26:47] words, mollow Bruce who eventually planned the divorce Isabelle and Marie Carla Winters want
[26:52] to have a little steak like fifty thousand dollars around first, that's ready,
[26:55] Burra. But Skipper Martin knew about Bruce and Caller's plans to marry later,
[27:00] and he tried to blackmail them to pay off his gambling debts. That's why
[27:03] he came to Bruce's cottage on the Sly. However, he got there just
[27:06] in time to see Bruce leave of his own free will, and therefore knew
[27:08] later that he couldn't have been kidnapped, which gave him two holes over Bruce.
[27:12] That's right. But he made a mistake when he went to Carlis house
[27:15] and got two demanding because she told Bruce about it. And before he released
[27:21] himself, he took care of Skipper with four gunshots. To be exact.
[27:26] Charming people, aren't they, Barra? Lovely? Sometimes I think I should
[27:29] shoot higher and save us. Staid a lot of money and he almost got
[27:33] away with it. Oh, by the way, Mollo, how do you
[27:36] know that Bruce was the man in the white Panama hat? I was pretty
[27:38] certain, but I got my proof accidentally promised not to repeat this, Ybarra.
[27:44] Yeah, Well, I practically fell over a little slip of paper in
[27:47] his studio. It was a receipt from a department store and it was made
[27:49] out to Bruce Gordon for one Panama hat. Huh, nothing else. But
[28:03] when I finally got back to my place on Franklin Avenue, the sun was
[28:07] already up, and the people who work at nice sane jobs were beginning to
[28:12] fill the streets. I'd been on the go for a steady twenty four hours,
[28:18] so I could think of nothing but my bed. I was about to
[28:21] put my key in the lock when a next door neighbor walk by, bid
[28:25] me a cheery good morning and started down the corridor. That alone wouldn't have
[28:29] disturbed my sleep. But why why did he have to be wearing a white
[28:33] panama hat. The Adventures of Philip Barlow created by Raymond Chandler, stars Gerald
[28:51] Moore and is produced and directed by Norman McDonald. Featured in Tonight's Story where
[28:55] Jack Willon Dewett is Isabel Gordon, Wilms Herbert as Uncle Avery Fairchild, Lally
[29:00] as Bruce Gordon, Shepmankin Skipper Martin, and Lou Krugman as Brock. Detective
[29:04] Lieutenant de Barr is played by Jeff Corey. The special music was conceived and
[29:08] conducted by Richard o'roon. Be sure to be with us again next week.
[29:18] At the same time, when Philip Marlowe says, when her will was read,
[29:23] everybody figured she's been crazy when she wrote it, and that included me.
[29:26] But I changed my mind after spending the night on an island with a
[29:30] pig, cat and an ape, because in reality they were people. Tonight,
[29:48] Amos and Andy returned to the CBS network and along with all their friends,
[29:52] King Fish Letnin and Henry Van Porter. They're settling down for a permanent
[29:55] stay. Be listening for them later this evening over most of these same CBS
[29:59] stations. This is Royal Rowan speaking for CBS the Columbia Broadcasting System. Welcome
[30:19] back. If there is a single piece of head where that tends to personify
[30:27] evil in much of entertainment, it is the Panama hat. The best I
[30:34] can figure out is an approximate cause for this. I might refer back to
[30:42] the Maltese Falcon where it was worn by Sydney grain Street. And it's interesting
[30:55] because it's seen in so many places, and it's a particular killer style,
[31:00] and I think generally wearing it with a white suit is kind of a sign
[31:07] of, yeah, this is the bad guy. Even think back to Indiana
[31:11] Jones and the Last Crusade, when the character had one that he had fought
[31:18] when he was a kid had become truly evil. It was the white Panama
[31:22] hat that he had taken to wearing with a white suit. I do think
[31:26] that in one way that there's another interesting contrast here with Pat Novak for hire,
[31:38] and that's how the use of hard boiled dialogue is shown. On Pat
[31:45] Novak, it's used, you know, really has the driving point of the
[31:49] whole episode is to hear all the dialogue and Philip Marlow, though it's really
[31:55] just kind of peppered in for seasoning and for the added flavor of the moment,
[32:01] which of course makes for stronger drama overall. All right, well,
[32:07] we'll be back tomorrow with Nick Carter. Join us back here next Wednesday for
[32:10] another episode of the Adventures of Philip Morrow with Gerald Moore. In the meantime,
[32:16] send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot NEP, follow us
[32:21] on Twitter Radio Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook,
[32:24] dot com, Slash Radiodetactives From Boiseadah, this is your host, Adam
[32:30] Graham signing off.

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