Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Philip Marlowe: The Headless Peacock (EP1463)
Transcript
- 0:28Welcome to the Great Detectors of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
- 0:33is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, send it
- 0:37to me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot Matt, follow us on Twitter at
- 0:42Radio Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com
- 0:48Slash Radio Detectives. Before we get started, I do want to encourage you
- 0:52to pick up my brand new ebook All I Needed to Know I learned from
- 0:56Draging It. It's succeitful to all I needed to know I learned from Colombo,
- 1:00and it features life lessons several great detectives, including Quaro, Frank Cannon,
- 1:06and Johnny Dawler. The book is available through Amazon for the kindle and
- 1:11it's coming soon in other ebook formats who smash words dot com. Well,
- 1:15now it's time for today's episode of the Adventure of Philip Marlon. The original
- 1:21air date is July sixteenth of nineteen forty nine. We had one lost episode,
- 1:26so let's go ahead and take a listen now to the headless peacock Get
- 1:32this and get it straight. Crime is a sucker's road. Those who travel
- 1:34had wind up in the gut of the prison of the grave. This one
- 1:38began with a Bedloman got worse as I bumped into a burglar of Bookie,
- 1:41a Budswell, and a body in a big shot named b And before it
- 1:44was all over, everyone had lost his head. Because the headless Peacock had
- 1:48moved. From the fan of Raymond Treandler, outstanding author of mystery, comes
- 1:53his most famous character and crime's most deadly enemy. As we present The Adventures
- 1:59of phil Marlowe now with Gerald Moore starred as Philip Marlowe, we bring you
- 2:15tonight's exciting story, The Headless Peacock. The day had been eight noisy hours
- 2:31of international complications local vintage that It started when a Frenchman from Beverly Hills and
- 2:37spoke no English, hired me to find a Filipino houseboy. He thought it'd
- 2:39stolen the family silverware to sell to a prosperous downtown Chinese. However, it
- 2:46had played differently, since the Frenchman had been wrong all the way, and
- 2:49both the houseboy and the silverware it turned up in the cool of his own
- 2:52basement, where the servant had gone to do his polishing and comfort, which
- 2:55was hardly the end of things because even now as I slum behind the desk
- 3:00in my office exhausted, the accused Chinese, who was highly insulted, was
- 3:05on hand, together with a nasty pet terrier tupped underneath his arm to tell
- 3:08me all about it, and just the top that off. The door was
- 3:13suddenly flung open and bedlam really set in because the new arrival, Lou was
- 3:16maybe twenty eight, with green eyes that sparkled in an almost pretty face.
- 3:21It was also a redhead with demeanut a match, and it was obvious that
- 3:24once she wanted to hire I mean two, she was in a hurry,
- 3:28and more important really she Hey, just how minutes hold it? Both of
- 3:36you and mister Tang, I've had enough here on your way out. Take
- 3:38this as the frenchman's address in Beverly Hills. The mistake was his see him
- 3:43goodbye, sir, Thanks honey. It was going to be me of that
- 3:47wind bag with terrier any minute. What can I do for you? Flighty
- 3:51and all of it? In a hurry? Sit down and listen hard,
- 3:53will you? Mdow. My name is Dennis front pot Ardy Oh, which
- 3:55is short for what the whole thing? It's really rufe? Dennis R.
- 3:59D. See Ah, it's cute, idea, Ida, what's a problem.
- 4:02It's a guy I love Marlowe. He's tall, blonde and his name
- 4:04is Gordon. Holds her and he sells shoes. But don't laugh because when
- 4:09he connects he does it by the car load. Also, I figure he
- 4:12loves me in at the moment is in lots of trouble. Why because when
- 4:15I came in on the train late this afternoon, Gordon wasn't on hand with
- 4:17the usual brass band. He wasn't at my apartment either, but a note
- 4:21was said he had to work late at the office. I waited an hour
- 4:25and then gave him a ring. He told me he wasn't in, hadn't
- 4:28been for two days. Next I called his home. Here's a bungalow up
- 4:30on Vista del Mar, seventy seven hundred north m And when you got no
- 4:34ans has started to worry. H Yeah, So I went up there.
- 4:36Gordon, of course wasn't around. Somebody else was somebody's small on the natty
- 4:43side, with no more eyebrows than a goldfish. He belonged to a new
- 4:47sedan, long and black. Did you talk to him? Oh? Better
- 4:51than that? We wrestled, have you got a cigarette? Oh yeah,
- 4:55he see, Mallow, This guy was snooping around the place, so I
- 5:02decided to find out a few things. I made believe I had a gun
- 5:04in my pocket, and I told him to put his hands up. Oh
- 5:06fine, Well it worked for a while, which brings us to the wrestling.
- 5:10Yes, when I mentioned Gordon's name, he knocked me down, but
- 5:14he wasn't very big, so I managed to hit him once with my bag
- 5:15before he got away. Also, I ripped his coat pocket open, and
- 5:19here this fell out. It's a newspaper clipping, a picture of a fat
- 5:24hunk of jewelry that was once stolen from someone named Isaac B. Stolen from
- 5:29Isaac? Who B is in bieze H? Look so peacock with the head
- 5:33broken off, but where the tail is loaded with diamonds, rubies and emeralds.
- 5:38What's it mean? What is it? Mallow? That's the reason I'm
- 5:41here. I don't know. You'll turn the clipping over. You'll see that
- 5:45the theft must have happened quite a while ago, because they add on the
- 5:46back features a Christmas special. Tell me you figure that Gordon stole this from
- 5:51mister B. No, I don't, Well, then why did you come
- 5:55to me instead of the police. Well you what, come on, Oddie,
- 5:59let's have it all. Huh, okay, that's better. Don't suppose
- 6:02it's smart not to tell you anyway. Gordon isn't all shoe salesman. He's
- 6:09part lunatic when it comes to the horses. You know, the right pony
- 6:12a day keeps the doctor's bills away. I thought i'd cured him. Now
- 6:16I'm less than sure. So you figured that maybe he got into deep where
- 6:19you didn't know about it, and now he's trying to even things up by
- 6:21playing with stolen property. Is that it? I hope not, But even
- 6:26if it is, I still want to help him. Now here, here's
- 6:28one hundred dollars tomorrow. Do you go to work for me? Yes or
- 6:30no? Yes on one condition if I find out the facts and passed him
- 6:34onto you until and if he turns up crooked and I drop it. Agreed.
- 6:40Agreed. The lady left, and in that hour that followed I was
- 6:47on my own. In the files of the Hollywood Times, I learned that
- 6:51Isaac Bee was a seventy year old eccentric with curly hair, a bulbless nose,
- 6:55no chin, a million dollars and a mansion on West Adams Boulevard.
- 7:00He had a Napoleonic complex and was a great philanthropist, as long as the
- 7:02grat and question would perpetuate the name of Isaac BE. About the headless peacock,
- 7:08I learned little except that it has never been recovered, and that the
- 7:11gems and the tail were of an unusual cut and would be hard to pedal.
- 7:15So it was a thirty when I finally dropped the oversized bronze knock a
- 7:17monogram dive B, after which a man about forty with a sallow complexion and
- 7:21a voice's delicate a spun glass opened the door halfway. Yes, sir,
- 7:28I'd like to see mister Isaac B. Please, name's Marlow and your business
- 7:30personal. I'm a private detective, and you me why. I'm Everett Rants,
- 7:34and I'm mister B's biographer, but also mister Marlow I act as his
- 7:39aid. Now, if it's about money for some cause, you'll have to
- 7:41follow the usual channels and write to mister D. Stop right there, buzz
- 7:44well. I'm not after money, just information about what a piece of jewelry
- 7:47that was stolen from mister B. A headless peacock. The peacock, you
- 7:53know if it's whereabout it? I didn't say that, now do I see,
- 7:56mister b or No you you young man? Opens, Yes, sir,
- 8:01we will shit over here before. Oh cozy, thank you ransom.
- 8:05Mister Bee. My name is Philip Marlow. Yes, yes, yes,
- 8:07yes, I heard the private detected the peacock and all that. Well,
- 8:11what do you have to say? Not very much. I understand the peacock
- 8:16was stolen from you some months ago, yes, yes, shortly before Christmas.
- 8:20It was one of mister Bee's favorites. Priceless is both a museum piece
- 8:24and for the one hundred thousand dollars worth of we ought. You know that,
- 8:28ransomly, yes, sir, shall I shall I go? Now?
- 8:33No? That busted me for the young People's Club. I want you to
- 8:37take it with you before you leave tonight. I'll show you the inscription change
- 8:41I want made the first thing in the morning. You can keep it in
- 8:43your apartment until then, yes, sir, yes, now, mellow,
- 8:46get to the point quickly, please, all right, mister be a client
- 8:48of mine. Name is what Miss Ruth Dennis, if it matters, is
- 8:52worried about a boyfriend which concerns peacock in what way. I don't know,
- 8:58unless you can tell me something about a natty little man who's short on eyebrows.
- 9:01The last scene, he was carrying a newspaper picture of the bird.
- 9:03Mean anything, No, no, no? Is that all you know about
- 9:07the saft? Miss meadle? Just about that in the name Gordon holds her
- 9:09in a bungalow and Vista del Marte, Franklin holds her holdser Bungle, which
- 9:13are you talking about? Mantal shots in the darkness to b when they missed,
- 9:18they miss a mile? Good night, sir. Outside of my cars,
- 9:26I started away from the curb. I glanced into the rear view mirror
- 9:28and saw the reflection of a sedan that was also just beginning to move,
- 9:33a sadan that was both very long and very black. I kept the quiet
- 9:35streets and stayed under thirty until I'd gone about two miles, and then at
- 9:39the next intersection of Visit when I made my move, which was a sudden
- 9:43spurt at the tick traffic via a wide left turn that produced screeching tires and
- 9:46frank opinions. Yes, Jack, I swung around the block once made it
- 9:52back onto the quiet street. Just in time to catch sight of the sedan
- 9:54going by fast. I followed it, and twenty minutes later, when it
- 9:56break to a stop in Beverly Hills in front of a hatshot marked Lester's,
- 10:01I did the same. I piled out of my car and walked quickly toward
- 10:05what I thought would be the natty Man without eyebrows. But when the door
- 10:09of the sedand opened, it was a woman, blonde and beautiful, who
- 10:13ran to the door of the shop, unlocked it, and hurried inside to
- 10:15where a telephone was ringing. There was Naally beside the building, and I
- 10:18ran back to where I could see inside there were five telephones side by side
- 10:22in the phony front cabinet that spelled Bookie on the wall above a publicity picture
- 10:28of a natty Man without eyebrows sitting in the middle of a bunch of zany
- 10:31hats. Beautiful blonde was talking on one of the telephones, and when I
- 10:35moved closer, I was happy to hear her address the party at the other
- 10:37end of the line as none other than Gordon Holser. He's on his way
- 10:41up there now, where are you oh? Returning home? That's fine?
- 10:46Keith still in the mailbox. Good, of course, miss Olds. And
- 10:50you decided to pay that fifteen thousand for sure this time, haven't you?
- 10:54You know mister Lester wouldn't want you to disappoint him. I moved out of
- 10:56the alley quietly and went back the chops with the front door, which was
- 11:01still open. Beautiful Blonde was just hanging up the phone when I stepped into
- 11:05the light. Good evening. Who are you? What do you want here?
- 11:09And you had something? Check? Check any suggestions? Yeah, get
- 11:11out of here. This shop is closed for business. Bedding included, sir,
- 11:18there must be some mistake. This is a hat shop with five hidden
- 11:24telephones and a boss man who collects pictures of headless peacocks for a hobby.
- 11:26I sorry, baby, I don't buy it, not even as a conversation
- 11:30piece. So shall with thought all over again? Her baby, Well,
- 11:35why don't? And with this to keep us from changing the subject, A
- 11:39heavy service forty five? Honey, looks a little bulky in that dainty hand.
- 11:45Don't you think it'll look worse when it explodes in your face? Now?
- 11:48Who are you? By name? Philip Marlow? By occupation a private
- 11:52detective And just to keep the interview rolling, I sleep in pajamas, tops
- 11:56and bottoms alike, love Chinese cooking, presstm and the dock in particular,
- 12:00and don't prefer live excise me, you fig bomb. I don't know why
- 12:05didn't shoot? I do, but less we lose the question and answer period.
- 12:09Your turn? Name, Patience? Oh no, what's the rest of
- 12:15it, Hancock, a very fine Virginia name, mister Marlowe, anything else?
- 12:20Yeah, there is. What's your connection with mister Lester, Gordon Holdser
- 12:26and the Headless Peacock If it's any of your concern. I happen to be
- 12:30mister Lester's business associate. But believe me, when he gets back from Pasadena,
- 12:35he you mean just what you said. The man I'm looking for is
- 12:39in Pasadena. Look, thank you, honey child. The interview is now
- 12:43closed because as of this minute, I'm off for the home of the Rose
- 12:46Bowl. Goodnight, Patience. I was going to Pasadena, like Patience,
- 12:56Hancock was going to join the Campfire Girls. As long as the little Virginian
- 13:01wanted it that way. I couldn't see any reason not to play ball.
- 13:03So after I called my client and brought her up to date blow by blow,
- 13:07I headed for seventy seven hundred North Vista del Marne, when I figured
- 13:09was a business transaction headless peacock included. I poked away from the place,
- 13:15which was cedar shingles under healthy ivy and a single lamp had worked in the
- 13:18living room, and I walked up to where I could see that a man
- 13:20blonde, tall and alone and hat coat and frightened face was about to leave,
- 13:26and the door opened. I took that as my cue to switch thirty
- 13:28eight from shoulder holster and announce myself, Well, what do you want with
- 13:31me? Words? Mister holes, all lots of them, you see.
- 13:35I worked for it, Oh, mister Holsey. That man on the floor
- 13:41there behind you, that natty little man without eyebrows seems quite still, isn't
- 13:46shot to death? He is. But I didn't do it, honest,
- 13:48I didn't. Now let me out of here. I gotta god running.
- 13:52Come on, Hols, I'm not all champ get back inside. Oh right,
- 13:56But I can explain this, Oh sure, sure, it's easy.
- 13:58Like one, you're lost too much money playing the horses through this dead bookie
- 14:01here who used to double as a millanare, and to to square yourself with
- 14:05him, you got mixed up on one hundred thousand bucks worth of headless peacock
- 14:07and free mister Holes. As of just now, you had an appointment with
- 14:11said milliner, which buddy on the floor here says, got out of hand.
- 14:16You can't add anything like how you got the peacock away from Isaac b
- 14:20And what took you so long getting around a peddling it. I don't know
- 14:22any Isaac B nor didn't What did you what outside the window, somebody's moving,
- 14:28somebody with a gun, duck Holes, it's gonna be like's gonna shoot
- 14:31it in just a moment. The second act of Philip Marlowe, but first
- 14:48Sunday afternoon a perfect time for music. Sunday afternoon the time of the week
- 14:52when almost everyone takes time for relaxation. Combine Sunday afternoon with music and relaxation,
- 14:58and you have the Symphony and the Corliers, two outstanding CBS musical programs.
- 15:03Most of these same CBS Network stations bring you both programs every Sunday.
- 15:07Relax and enjoy them. Tomorrow and now, with our star Gerald Moore,
- 15:13we returned to the second act of Philip Marlowe and tonight's story The headless peacock.
- 15:28It had come one two three, A copse on the floor, shots
- 15:31through the window and Gordon holds her out the back door while bullets made lights
- 15:35out. Mallow on the floor the smart move. It made this the time
- 15:39to call the laws, so in case the character with a gun was still
- 15:41hanging around outside, I left the lights off, fumbled my way to the
- 15:46phone and dialed one one six in the dark. A minute later I had
- 15:48Detective Lieutenant Matthews on the wire. So you got cops and mallow hat giving
- 15:54me again within him wearing a w A guy named Leicester is supposed to be
- 15:58a hat designer in Beverly Hills, was tack scept better as a bookie.
- 16:00It was shot to death here at seventy seven hundred Vista del mar One.
- 16:04Gordon Holsey has his name on the mailbox. Hey got a motive, malo,
- 16:10that's a theory, could be that less to put on too much pressure
- 16:11trying to collect fifteen grand holes, wrote him from bad bets on the ponies.
- 16:15There's more, but it'll keep till you get here, Lieutenant eh Okay
- 16:18Momo. A couple of boys on their way now. I'll be over myself
- 16:22later stick around with Yeah, okay, goodbye. Mother. You promise me
- 16:26you wouldn't call him the police. But I heard enough to know you just
- 16:29finished talking to them, didn't you, your two face cheat? You bet
- 16:32I did, Cutie. What's more, when you hired through, I want
- 16:36to know something else. What are you doing here in the dark? And
- 16:37where is God? All right? I'd order, first, the lights are
- 16:41out to keep me from being shot in the back. Second, your boyfriend
- 16:45holds the left on the double because I was about to find out why Lester's
- 16:48body is here on holds of his living room floor. Let's just buddy,
- 16:52you heard me, You mean that little man is in here dead, very
- 16:56much so. And don't burn yourself out of that shocked surprise routine, Marlow,
- 17:00I swear, okay, turn on a light and show me where is
- 17:06this corpse? If any maybe don't forget the last time lights were on in
- 17:08here. The room felt like the receding end of a shooting gallery. I
- 17:11didn't see any firing one when I came in. Yeah, that's a point,
- 17:15but there are two ways of looking at it. Will you turn on
- 17:18a light or will I? Okay, okay, we'll play it your way.
- 17:22Take a good look, oh marlow him all right, same little man.
- 17:30Already you knew I was coming over here. You knew this setup,
- 17:33and I was close to winning an argument with Holsea when somebody broke it up
- 17:37by shooting through that window straight enough not to hit anything, even though Holse
- 17:40it was a perfect target added up for yourself. Baby, Oh it wasn't
- 17:44me, Marlo. Please believe me, you do, don't you. It's
- 17:48look in this bag of yours first, that it's one thing in your favor.
- 17:52No gun could have dropped in the shrubbery on your way to the door.
- 17:56Of course, he is what I really want anyway, Like he what
- 18:00do you want them for? I'll tell you, lady, well, that's
- 18:03the boys in Blue and just in time, you lous in time for what
- 18:06the whole lone of you is a material witness. I've got work to do,
- 18:08and I want to get it done without you screaming at me all the
- 18:11way. I wish I'd never hired you. I wish I'd never heard of
- 18:14And another thing, if you're playing me for a patsy kid, that's only
- 18:15the beginning. You'll need a deep well full of wishes before it's over.
- 18:18So come on, behave yourself. I told the two proud car cops no
- 18:26more than I'd already told Lieutenant Matthews, except that Artie should be held because
- 18:30she was Hols's girl. That plus the small lie that I'd clared with the
- 18:33Lieutenant to leave as soon as health showed. And I was out the door
- 18:37into my own car and pointed toward Artie's place, which was on Tamorin.
- 18:40I figured there was a good chance holes that would head there first, and
- 18:44if I move fast, I might catch up with him before the police did.
- 18:47Artie's place was dark, which could mean anything under the circumstances, so
- 18:51I dug in my pocket for the keys I had taken from a purse and
- 18:53started for a door when footsteps behind me changed my mind. Well, miss
- 18:57smallw say this, he's a stroke of good luck finding you here. That
- 19:02depends how'd you manage it, mister Ransom. Why mister b has had me
- 19:04trying to locate you since about an hour after your interview this evening. I
- 19:07checked everywhere and finally looked up your client's name in the phone book, got
- 19:11this address in. Well here you are, ey, Yes, I know
- 19:15why it even after me what's all excitement and make it fat to men?
- 19:18I hurry, yes, you see your call. This evening intrigued mister B
- 19:22and me very much. And after you left, we naturally began discussing the
- 19:25theft of the peacock again. Naturally, Lock Ransom get to some point.
- 19:29Well, I got things to do, certainly, mister Marlow. Well,
- 19:32sir. The point is that, in going over in our minds the days
- 19:34preceding the theft, we both recall a man named Holder or holds Her or
- 19:38something very close to that. He came to the house one day, claiming
- 19:41to represent a certain philanthropy. He he was a fake, of course,
- 19:45and we never saw him again. But it was less than a week later
- 19:47that we discovered the peacock was gone stolen. This man looked like you,
- 19:52Mamma, Well, I most assuredly do. He was bald, about fifty
- 19:56and fat. No, No, it couldn't possibly be the same man.
- 20:00Oh, oh, you've found mister Holts it once briefly. Yeah, there's
- 20:04no resemblance. Oh, I see. Well, I don't know how I'm
- 20:07going to break the news to mister B. He's upset all over again.
- 20:11I can't tell you how much that headless peacock means to him. Try saying
- 20:15one hundred thousand bucks, mister Marlow, have you run across anything else tonight
- 20:18other than that newspaper clipping that would seem to be connected with the pin in
- 20:22any way? I am? I can arrange a reward. You know,
- 20:26no, nothing, I'm sorry. Well, good night, mister Ransom.
- 20:27If anything comes up about headless peacocks, I'll call you as soon as as
- 20:33What is it? What did you find? No, it's stuck on the
- 20:36door. Oh maybe I should No, no, no, no, I
- 20:37can handle it, really, dearest Doddy, I didn't realize how fast things
- 20:42got out of hand. Must have lost my mind. I'm going to undo
- 20:48all the wrong I've done, and I'm getting out, love Gordon. Yes,
- 20:52I should have listened to a smart you on the first night by mister
- 20:55Marlow. That fellow sounds he's got a right to that. Natty little man
- 20:59I may earlier at night is dead murdered. Oh great Scott. But then,
- 21:03mister mollow In, how can this man possibly undo all the wrong he's
- 21:07done? As he says in that note, that beats me. But one
- 21:11thing is sure his hands, my little client a nice clean slate, which
- 21:14makes my next stop to police. I'll see you, mister ransom and happy
- 21:18peacock hunting. I got in my con drove back the way i'd come to
- 21:26Gordon Hols's house on Vister del Mar. The prowl car was gone, but
- 21:30Lieutenant Matthew Suddan was angled in against the curve, the red spotlights still on.
- 21:34I pawked and went in. The lieutenant, his hands jammed down in
- 21:37his pocket, stood with two other plain clothes men near the shattered window while
- 21:41a photographer worked over the cops on the floor. Ottie was nowhere in sight.
- 21:47Matthew spotted me as soon as I walked in and bore it down at
- 21:48me with all the frivolity of a heavy cruiser. Mollow I thought, I
- 21:52asked you to stick around. Yeah, yeah you did, but I got
- 21:55an idea I wouldn't keep it. Did it prove anything? Not for sure?
- 21:59Where's the girl? Which one I mean? There's more? Oh yeah,
- 22:03that redheaded fire ball out of Dennis. You already know about it.
- 22:06Yeah. The other one is a Southern bell named Patience Handcoff Oh yeah yeah,
- 22:11blink yeah, caught of snooping around outside trying to find out what had
- 22:15happened to him, and when we gave her the word, he blew it
- 22:18top. I got both of them locked up. Good. Say do you
- 22:21get any facts out of patience? Yeah? Blenty? Oh your bookiy theory
- 22:26was right, Mallow, thank you. Oh. We got to do now
- 22:27is find Holzer wrap this up. Yeah. I'm not sure it's as simple
- 22:30as that, but it's the next step anyway. Come on, let's take
- 22:33a look out back. Huh when he left here, that's the way he
- 22:36ran. I already looked. It's a blank. It's a door that leads
- 22:38out to the alley. Yeah, that's way all right, And you see
- 22:44nothing must have beat it through here and out of the street. It wouldn't
- 22:47happen to know what. What's the matter, Mala? What are you staring
- 22:51at? Oh? That that window there in the house right across the alley.
- 22:55Yeah, see the one with the lights on the shade drawn some old
- 23:00He's just sitting in there. But what about it? A silhouette of his
- 23:03head on the shade, Matthews. Yeah, I won't forget that profile as
- 23:06long as I live. Corduroy hair and a light bulb nose that is Isaac
- 23:11B in that rumor. Holy smoke, Wait a minute, Hey, what
- 23:14are you doing to put the gun away? What's the idea? You're crazy?
- 23:18You're shot down on the ground. Hey, yeah, And the old
- 23:19guy in there didn't bat an eye, didn't even turn his head at the
- 23:22sound. That gives me a big idea. And we're gonna check something fast.
- 23:26Come on. We ran back inside, and as I picked up the
- 23:36phone, Matthews found out for me that the house across the alley based on
- 23:38common avenue. Then I dialed Isaac B's home number, and when I finally
- 23:41got a sleepy hello, I asked him a question. The answer he gave
- 23:45boost of the odds on my hunch to the sure thing class. When I
- 23:48hung up, Matthews unhappily agreed to play along, and with one of the
- 23:52plain clothes men, went around a common avenue to cover the front of the
- 23:53house across the alley well. I went out to the back way again thirty
- 23:57eight and hand across the alley, climbed up on a brick wall and moved
- 24:00toward the window. It was eighteen inches open. I eased one edge of
- 24:06the blind aside and looked in a life sized bronze bust of Isaac Lee I've
- 24:10heard mentioned earlier sat on the table in front of the window, and beyond
- 24:12that was Gordon Holzer, backed against a wall and staring in stiff fear at
- 24:18a pistol clenched in the hand of the biographer Everett Ransom. Don't shoot.
- 24:21I made a mistake. I admit it. You certainly did, mister Holt,
- 24:23a much great woe when you realize. But I want to return this
- 24:26now. I've brought the peacock back to you. Don't you understand? Yes,
- 24:30yes, but I'm afraid you don't. I got careless a few weeks
- 24:33ago and left the shade up one night when I took the peacock out of
- 24:37hiding to admire it. And you watched the whole thing from your dark bedroom
- 24:41window, which is directly across the alley, didn't you. Yes, I
- 24:44knew it must be valuable. When I got in the jam yesterday, I
- 24:47broke in here and stole it. But I'm sorry. That's why I brought
- 24:51it back. Now, don't move. O't move, mister Holt. You
- 24:56see two facts must never be revealed. That I stole the headless peacock from
- 25:02Isaac B. A year ago and two a little matter of murder. You
- 25:06killed Lester? Yes, I killed Lester. I waited for you to come
- 25:10home, and when that Leicester showed up and went into your house, I
- 25:12mistook him for you. He was a very nosy little man. I had
- 25:15to kill him. You shot through my window so I could get away from
- 25:18Marrow because you couldn't afford to let me talk to him. In fact,
- 25:22you can't let me talk to anybody ever. Hat's right, mister Holt.
- 25:26Luckily I found out you'd be coming here to my place to return the peacock
- 25:29because I was with Marlow when he found John. Note to that girl he
- 25:32knows a lot about this, Marlow does. By the time I am through,
- 25:36neither he nor anyone else will be able to figure out what really I'll
- 25:40go away. No, no, mister Holtz, it's too late this way.
- 25:45I'll have to restore that gorgeous think to mister B. But I'll be
- 25:48something of a hero for catching the thief and the murderer. I'm sorry,
- 25:53mister Halter, but after all, you did bring this on yourself. Quite
- 25:57a marlist, aren't your handsom B. Get get out of way, come
- 26:06on. He's going hose, he's out, and I've I've got his gun.
- 26:15Mam, Yeah, here it is. I'm gonna stand real still,
- 26:22talk real quietly from now on up. Good enough, mom, Not quite,
- 26:26but it will help what I've seen of Audie Dennis brother, You're gonna
- 26:30be a life for anyway, but not with the state. Hey, hey,
- 26:33it's cold out here. Come on, give me a hand. Thanks
- 26:45for getting me out of the Pokemstermorrow, you ratch no. I figure it's
- 26:49safe to turn your loose now already. Huh. Gordon's gonna have to stay
- 26:53in here a while. I guess that's right, but that would be so
- 26:56bad. At least it'll be where no horses or women can bother him,
- 27:00the light can get to him again. Won't be for long. He's got
- 27:02a lot in his favor, you know, I hope. So I still
- 27:06didn't understand how it all worked out. I was in jail, Remember,
- 27:10m how did you pay ransom? Well? I saw the profile of Isaac
- 27:14b on a window blind didn't move even when I fired a shot. That
- 27:18convinced me that it was a bust of the old boy. So I called
- 27:21him up at his home and he told me that Ransom had a house on
- 27:22Common Avenue, which put it right across the alley from Holzeres. From there,
- 27:26it all fit. Well, why didn't Ransom kill Gordon when he fired
- 27:30those shots through the window? Oh that he still hoped to recover the peacock
- 27:36for himself at that point, but he didn't know where Gordon had put it,
- 27:38so he couldn't afford to kill him. Right then, Oh lovely,
- 27:42you know mallow all and all, we're pretty lucky Gordon and I. Yeah,
- 27:47try to keep it, will your baby? Keep it that way on
- 27:49everything but the horses. Oh, you can make book on that, mister.
- 27:52Good night, So good night baby. I watched her as she walked
- 28:03away. She looked up at the broad windows, where a very willing guy
- 28:07was learning a lesson he needed badly tossed him an ok with the fingers of
- 28:11one hand. Now it made me feel good because I was sure she meant
- 28:17it. It was a kind of a kid who could make it stick.
- 28:21Then I drove home, and all the way I thought about the craziest Sauf
- 28:23and the people that had become involved because of the ponies and the headless peacock.
- 28:30I was still thinking about it. Over a glass of milk in my
- 28:32kitchen when I when I spot the newspaper on the table, open to the
- 28:36sports page. Oh, it was like magic. My eye was drawn to
- 28:42a box in the corner and down the morning line for tomorrow's races, until
- 28:45it stopped at the name Lucky Peacock. Oh, it was perfect. A
- 28:56hunch, a hunch that couldn't miss. Lucky Peacock was essentis to win by
- 29:02a head, or maybe he'd lose by a head, or maybe he'd you
- 29:07will. It's no use, marlow Tomorrow you go to the races. The
- 29:23Adventures of Philip Marlowe, Bringing You Raymond, Chandler's most famous character and crime's
- 29:29most deadly enemy, star Gerald Moore and are produced and directed by Norman McDonald.
- 29:33Script is by Meldon Ali. Robert Mitchell and Gene Leavitt featured in the
- 29:37cast where Joan Banks, Howard McNair, Eve McVeigh, Jack Moyles and Peter
- 29:41Leeds. Lieutenant Detective Matthews was played by Larry Dobkin. The special music is
- 29:48written by Richard Rant and conducted by Ivan dit Mars. He suren't be with
- 29:56us again. When Philip Marlowe says, this time I took a beating and
- 30:02gave one. A man who lived in the dock was afraid. Someone I
- 30:04never got to meet was murdered, and a knife wielding crab was destroyed,
- 30:08all because a girl who hated the water took a boat ride in Old Mexico.
- 30:25One step to curing a disease is recognizing it and treating it. Hate
- 30:29is a disease recognized by those who refuse to spread the doctrine of hate by
- 30:33speaking against a fellow American because of his color, race, or religious creed.
- 30:40The treatment to cure the disease of hate is to accept or reject people
- 30:42on their individual worth, and to speak up wherever you are against prejudice and
- 30:48for understanding, to do your part to build a truly united America. This
- 30:55is Roy Rowan speaking. Now stay tuned for Gangbusters, which follows immediately over
- 31:00most of these same stations. This is cb as the Columbia broadcastings Welcome Back.
- 31:12Lawrence Doopkin is another one of those actors that just contributes so much to
- 31:18the Golden Major radio and it stands out now just because we're hearing Lawrence Dopkin
- 31:25on Monday as Louis and also hearing him on Wednesdays as the lieutenant Marlow's relationship
- 31:32with the police, and you don't even have Marlow ordering the police around.
- 31:36It's something that the book version of Philip Marlow would not recognize at all,
- 31:41other than as a dream sequence. Well, now we turn to listener comments
- 31:48and feedback and Joel comments regarding Gerald Morris Philip Marlow. I like Gerald Morris's
- 31:56portrayal. He gave Marlow a persona the listener can envisage. Unlike many radio
- 32:02actors who do a good job with the lines but lack color, the color
- 32:07mal Moore brings to the reading. And I think that's certainly true. And
- 32:10that was something about Gerald moore characters, whether good, bad, or indifferent,
- 32:20and very rarely indifferent. Most of the episodes where we have heard Gerald
- 32:27Moore outside of Philip Marlowe, he has played some sort of heavy or tough,
- 32:32but there's always, you know, a very realistic dimension. A character
- 32:38just comes to life. And he was truly one of the great voice actors.
- 32:45Well those for the comment, Joel. That'll do it for today.
- 32:47We'll be back tomorrow with Nick Carter and then join us back here again.
- 32:52Next Wednesday for another episode of the Adventures of Philip Marlowe. In the meanwhile,
- 32:57I'll send your comments to Box thirteen A great attack fives dot Matt,
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- 33:05Facebook, Facebook dot com Splash Radiodetectives from Boise, Idaho. This is your
- 33:09host, Adam Grahamson and all