Sam Spade - The Prodigal Panda Caper

0:00The National Broadcasting Company presents the adventures of Sam Spade Detective. Sam Spade Detective Agency. Mees, Weigh Art. Mary 29th of December. You too, Sam. Did you take the little boyhole? Yep. Well, not exactly. F had to make a couple of emergency stops, but we got there. What do you mean, Sam? Well, I got my weekly knot on the head for one thing. Sam, just taking the little boyhole? Like I said, if we were derailed, there was a dash of poison, for instance. A couple of pounds of 1000 bucknauts. And an infernal machine that nearly blew up half the mission district. But other than that, we had a peaceful ride home. I say, and this sounds like a chamber. Which is just what it is, Angel. Get out our special holiday bottle of Napa Valley wine, and we'll get in our premature regards to the new year. Following dictation of a report entitled, The Particle...

1:00You're so sad. Are you sure that's the right word? Certainly, I'm sure. The wanderer will return to the roost. You and your big fat roost. But I last bet time story for 1950, namely The Particle Panda Caper. For NBC, Williams Beer, radio's outstanding producer director of Mystery and Crime Drama, brings you the greatest private detective of them all. In the adventures of Sam's faith. Effie, Miss Perine. Coming, Sam. Coming. I've been looking in the dictionary. Sam, you've fallen into the trap. Again? Prodigal. Here, now say, prodigal. Give them to reckless extravagance. He doesn't mean wandering at all, see? Some people think just because the prodigal's found wandered that you're... What are we talking about? The Panda Caper. How can a pound of be given to reckless extravagance? Let me see. Oh, here.

2:00Definition three, prodigal. Eilding abundantly, luxuriant. Panda? Give me one of those black and white... Right, right. See note below it says, you're ready for the note below? With that pencil. Oh, I found that date. She'll in the future. Master Robocdozier, 2318 Delaney Street City, Front Samuel Spade License number 137596. Subject the prodigal. Panda Caper. Right. Dear Robi. I'd spent a relatively pleasant day running down a case of slow pay in North Beach, and flushed with success, had returned to my office for a final check of the file. Oh, underwood Helen, must you're Roderick, Barton Dali, where are the... Oh, spirits holiday. Yes. I sat down, put my hat on my feet on the desk, and was losing my color when I noticed just the right of my off ankle. One large bag of jelly beans. Sighting past it, I saw in the corner chair an open copy of a magazine featuring on the cover,

3:04a blonde and a low cut dress, taking a 38 slug from a slack-jawed bug in the background, under big red letters spelling out thrilling crime comments. And behind all this, sound asleep was you. Hey, hey, say, sunny. Hey. Wake up. Well, yeah, come on, Reb Lee's blowing. Oh, hi, hi. How long you been here? Long time, I guess. What's your name? Robi. Short for roba. Well, what can I do for you, Robi? I've been to the police. They wouldn't do anything. They said I should come to you. You mean you got a job for me? Yeah. Dangerous? Yeah. A hoist. You mean a heist? What was it? Panda Bear. Oh, someone's stolen? Yeah. It's not my millie. I'm a real man. I'm a real man. Yeah. It's not my millie. I'm bought it for my little brother, Barney. He's five and he's always wanted one. So when I got the junk money, I went. Barney? Oh, bottles and papers and stuff. I collected it from the neighbors and earned six dollars and fifteen cents. And Barney wanted the Panda Bear.

4:04So I bought it at Lacey's department store today and they stole it. Oh, store it. Well, there was this man in the checkered coat and the leading in the red silk dress. Just like the store in the comic here. Oh. And the man looked like that. But the lady looked different. She had black hair and red dress. And her eyebrows went up this way instead of sideways. Oh, no. I was walking down the street with my Panda Bear and the lady called me over to a car she was sitting in and started to talk to me. And right away, the man in the checkered coat ran up and grabbed it my Panda Bear and then chased me up a fire escape. And the man pulled out a big black gun and said if I didn't come down and give him the Panda, he chewed me and Barney and Mom. So I came down and gave him the Panda. Well, that's quite a mouth. Oh, excuse me, Robbie. Hello? Sam? Yeah, Dundee. This is Dundee. Oh. Sam has a little fellow about eight years old on his way over there. No, he's here now, Lieutenant. What's the deal? He gave us quite a story. Well, how'd they go? Now we took it down.

5:04I got it right here. Let me see. It's about a man on the checkered coat and the lady in a red silk dress. Oh, here it is. Quote. I was walking down the street with my Panda Bear and the lady called me over to a car. Okay, Dundee. He hasn't changed it any. Yeah, we got hold of his mother. Runs an elevator in the rust building. Run? She says he reads too many comic books. You better send him home. Okay, Lieutenant Flakes. Come on, Robbie. You're going to send me home? Lieutenant Dundee calls your mother a old man. You don't believe me, either. Oh, it's not that, Robbie. It's just that. But I can't go home without the Panda Bear. What do I tell Barney? I promise, Tim. My own brother. Ah, he's home now, waiting. Yeah. Well, tell me what I'll do, Robbie. You let me put you in a taxi and send you home and I'll take the case. You'll get my Panda Bear? It wouldn't be at all a surprise. So if Barney's face hits the floor, just tell him Samuel Spade incorporates working on it. Only one thing. Huh? I haven't any money left. Oh, you got jelly beans, haven't you? Yeah. Okay, pay me off in jelly beans.

6:05Come on, now let's find a taxi. Which we did, Robbie. Mike the psychology books said that I didn't discourage the trial imagination, but I did try to touch you off, thrilling crime comics and under Alice in Wonderland. This I could see would take some doing. It was almost closing time when I got the laces, but I took my way past the man at the door and hustled up to the sixth floor and the toy department. The clerks were doing whatever clerks do with 530, but I found a handy floor walker. Do you mean Mrs. Bade, I just don't know, I just don't know. You mean you counted your cash and everything, but you can't? Oh, it's not that, Mr. Spade. I am perfectly willing to stretch a point to please the little fellow. We like to think we're human here, you know. Well, that's nice. That you like to think so, I mean. But you see something very strange happened this afternoon, come over this way, sir, by the yesterday. We had the giant pandas at this counter here, 25 of the large size. I assume that's what you're interested in.

7:05I guess so, then what then? Well, for Christmas, they didn't do anything. Just sat here. Yes, but would you believe it's us this afternoon, all 25 were sold. Well, how do you count for left? No year's gave, eh? Well, if you want my personal opinion, it's me. An impressive panda bear, Robe. It's hard to figure out how you could lose anything that big and harder still to figure out how I'd explain this kind of thing to people who stopped me on Market Street. Be that as it may, my floor-worker-friend took my cash, tore off the sale slip, and I was about to set sale with my panda when I heard and make the kind of a noise floor-workers make when they see what he was looking at. Huh, Mr. Greenberg! Mr. Greenberg! Be pointed weekly, turned pale, even by floor-worker standards and sang with a deck. I turned in time to see Miss Greenberg, collapse at the top of the escalator and watched her come down, right across three steps like the cover of one of your books of bedtime stories, Robe. She was the last passenger of the day, or so I thought.

8:05When I looked closer, I saw she wasn't the passenger. She was great. At the lamp-cater on the floor above, busy-visually adding up receipts if nothing had happened, was a dock time, built along Dragon Lady Live. I want to know about the girl who just went down the escalator. The screen's loud. Yeah, notice anything strange about her? Why, she'll... Yeah, did she look ill? I thought there must have been something wrong. I said hello to her and she didn't pay any attention to me. There's always second to go. Where'd she come from? Around the corner, I think she's been at the wrapping desk. She had, with a tensile sheet of heavy brown paper, a batch of metered postage tape and a shipping label addressed to Master Frankie Carson. 281, Eva Nita Ruiz, Havana Cuba. Downstairs, I found my four-walker friend, had come around, was bending over a mystery bar with an impressive-looking junk with grey at the temples. Good heavens, it can't be, it just cannot be, is that all? I'm afraid she is, though. In Lacey's, it's unheard of. Why should she be...

9:05Good heavens, in my department, too. Excuse me, four-walking. Oh, this is Mr. Spade. He was with me when it... Oh, dear. I'm Dr. Kent Thorne. I was exchanging some Christmas gifts when any idea what killer. Well, it's pretty hard to tell without an examination and I don't have my things with me. Hot, possibly. Natural causes? Well, of course. Why do you have... There are more natural places to die than at the top of an escalator. And in my department, it laces, too. Good heaven. Well, who can say it? After looking up the girl's history. If she had a hot condition, well... Sure, sure. Meanwhile, I'll call homicide. There's nothing better to do. For a minute, I thought I'd been reading too many comic books, but things settled on when they pulled out the records and found Miss Greenbrier had a hard condition of long standing. An medical examiner wrote it off as natural causes. So hoping you would consider it jelly-themed bonus for puffness, I'd pick up my panda and went. Outside, I'd gone about ten steps when...

10:06What? I am afraid. I was Larry Healey, the top of basketball attendant Dundey, sitting in a patrol car. Oh, human bull guard. Who's it for? A little kid in the mission. How come? What do you mean, how come I'm buying a panda bear for a little kid in the mission, a likes panda bear for that I have to be explained? Okay, Samo. Okay, okay. It just hit me. The bear ain't turned out quite right. He needs a leg time. Oh? I just happen to have one here, my brother. I got me for Christmas. Hey, give me. Ah, now say, you're a hanky. Ooh. Larry, Larry, how long has there been bad blood between you and your brother? Bad blood. Listen, even when we were friends again, he ties like this. Eh, eh, eh? On your way, Samo. Thanks, thanks. Take safe! Take safe! The cab let me out near the end of Delaney, and I started walking up the row of dingy pre-earth quake, flat-stored jaw house, or over at the end of the street. Parked at the curb with a Distortant note in its pod-press neighborhood,

11:07a sleek custom-built red convertible, one of the kind that looks like it can go 90 miles an hour standing still. The same can be said for the day-minute, also a Distortant note. You see San Francisco is a very big, large city. You just don't run into a day with the lamp counter in Lacey's, and half hour later in a dumping neighborhood in a mission, unless she wants it that way. Well, hello. Hello, Dragon Lady. Oh, the sillers. You, uh, you must sell a pass on the lamps. The car? Mm-hmm. But, uh, don't try and explain that now. Just tell me why you followed my cab. Hello, you, my mistress. Come on, come on, what is it? You heard him burp-sing me. I know. Since that moment at the lamp counter, you can't get me out of your mind. Well, that's a perfectly normal reaction. It's not that. It's... Oh, please. The pen there. You want it in the worst way. You heard kind of attractive as men go, Mrs. Spade. You give me a life, please. Sure.

12:09Holding the matchups were cigarette. Three things, hit me. The black hair, the red dress, and eyebrows, that went up instead of sideways. At that point, the sleeve of a checkered overcoat with a big arm inside it came around under my chin from the rear, and the fourth thing hit me. Mm-hmm. How long I had dwelled in Panda Lann, I don't know, but it was real nice while it lasted. I was a panda, too, I remember. I was going somewhere with a big, over-stuffed private detective under my arm when a lady panned up, batted her big brown eyes at me, and began pulling my nose. She seemed to have a very, very high voice. White Batman, Mrs. Spade? White Bally's blowing. Oh. My call attendant's ending, Mr. Spade. Summer's wait. Lucky. All right. Over here. Good Christopher said what happened? Well, well, it was this way, Dundee. I was walking down the street with my panda bear, and the lady called me over to the car she was sitting. And it started to pour. Right away, the man in the checkered coat up.

13:10You are listening to the weekly adventure of radio's most famous, famous, and the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, the most famous, land-related radio mostly famous, land main indicate the most famous, land-اج way hardly without and brands. Ham Haftland stars this Sunday and State Fair. Another outstanding of 60-minute production instructional interviews produced by thrater guild on the air. Co-starving in this exciting broadcast Kathleen Lockhart and Dr. June. It's a Gala New Year's Eve broadcast when theater guild presents State Fair. Sunday over most of these NBC stations also means another hour and a half with Taluila Bankett in radio's Great Spectacle, The Big Show. Among Taluila's guests will be Ken Murray, Gloria Swanson, Marbito Bryan, Jose Ferrer,

14:10and many more. ["Morning the Great"] Now back to the prodigal pan de Caper, tonight's adventure with Sam Spade. ["Morning the Great"] It was a humiliating experience, Roe, riding back the headquarters in Black to feet. A dear good lieutenant Dundae, however, with the soul of patience and understanding. What do you take me for, Spade, and any of this? Look, Dundae, all I want you to understand is that this team and the hopped up control. I have three rides on that merry-go-round now, and I'm sick of it. Damon O'Redd, Dresn, the guy in the checkered cloak. They take your wallet? No. You'll watch other valuable... No. Just my panda. Sam, are you trying to tell me there's a hot panda racket going on? Dundae, boy. Look closely now as I take off my hat. What? There. See, now as you know, my head ordinarily does not come to a point.

15:11But this pro-tuberance was made by a gun butt, not by imagination. Oh, someone slugged you. I believe that, Sam. But this panda bear is a... Dundae. Yeah. What? Yeah. Yeah. You were saying something about my panda bear, Dundae. Maybe I oughta take it back. I'd aim at the store this afternoon. The one who sold him? Miss Dreambar. Yeah. I just finished at Postmortem. No heart attack. She was poisoned. It's a strange thing, Mr. Spade, very strange. I leave my business thoughts at the store. Floor walker just try and remember the dragon lady's name, huh? Dragon lady. My good gracious. I can't remember my own name. I'm so up to... Oh, now concentrate now. Look, dark hair. Up till did I bow. It's red silk dress.

16:12It works in Lampapart and on seventh floor. I can picture her so cleanly. Dark hair, floor walker. Dark hair. Upshot my brow. Five rows of the red dress. Red, blue, blue, blue. Scarlet. Scarlet. Scarlet, that's it. Easy now. I got a list of employees right here. I'll turn you to Scarlet. Scarlet, Scarlet, Scarlet. Scarlet, Pound them. Scarlet, Pound them. That's the name. Floor walker. CRUNCHING Trooper's DVAn Bella ciento Clown I put my foot down. I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, you're out.

17:14You're a no good day. What's no good day, my lady? Crystal McCall. Here, I found this just now that I was cleaning your room. Picture a crystal McCall. I think that I swear all the way to have your picture taken. The name rang out the Ellen's so that the picture crystal herself and the old again. When I got out of the place, I made a stifling discovery. Crystal is also the late Miss Greenbire. Don't look at it all day, young man. When did you see this girl last night, lady? This morning she and a fella and a kicker had a coke coming around and picked up starlet in a big red open car. No, the fella? I hope never saw him before. But I showed all that car. Oh, you're sick. You're not telling me anything, land lady, I have.

18:14In Los Angeles, I'd have been dead, but San Francisco is not a convertible town. I found a free phone of the end calling a dealer, figuring a bright red custom built convertible is something you remember, whether you see it or sell it. An hour of this got me nowhere and I'd begun to wonder if the car then smuggled up from the unmentionable side of the ta-ha-be when the wind changed. So the other one, while back? Thanks, but ne'er misses, don't count friend. About the buyer had a painted red specials y'all. Oh, you're improving. Who's the buyer? Kim Thorn. Dr. Kim Thorn. Right, Dr. Jews, Kim Thorn. It lives on a monthly drive and bulling game. That's only red when I know. Right. That's the only red one I need. Mr. Spade, this is utterly unbelievable. And I certainly don't intend to stand here all night discussing the pros and cons of Panda Bay. All right, Kim Thorn, let's slide over into your field. Meaning what? The sweet young thing at the store turned out dirty.

19:15The heart attack? The poison attack. Well, suicide, you suppose? What are you suppose? Well, I'm sure I don't know. Look, why don't we hold hands until the truth? You'd better run along, Spade. I've had about all of this that I intend to do. But the dead dang was Crystal McCall. Does that mean anything to you? No. The same. Crystal McCall was running around with a hood named Frankie Cussellor, formally of New York, now of Avanna, by Department of Justice Request. This is all very interesting. What has it to do with me? She was riding around in your red convertible this morning for one thing. That's a hot car, you know. I took a close look at it two hours ago and got slugged. I don't know how you score these things, Kim Thorn, but in my book, this calls for a couple of answers. You're right. You're right it does. Where's the car? It's gone. Who has it? My chauffeur. This is the last straw. I guess there's no point in covering up for him any longer. Who is it? Let me figure. Oh, next column, then. Yes. I thought I could straighten him out.

20:15He's been missing for two days this time. He just took the car and left. I knew he had something to do with that girl in the toy department at Lacey's, so I went there today. I guess I was too late. You think we go killer? I don't know. I don't know. Where did you see the car? Near the end of Delaney Street. That's the Lacen's number. 49H822. I'd better report stolen. If you need me to testify, please feel free to call that I will, Dr. Kim Thorn. Bye. What I had in mind, of course, was the call Lieutenant Dundee, and I had him slap a 24-hour tail on the good doctor, but something intervened. Halfway down the walk to the street, my eye fell on a round plastic object about the size of a nickel lying in the grass. Clearly, the eye of a giant panda. Since two other eyes, obviously, watching me through Dr. Kim Thorn's front frittance,

21:16I continued galley onto my cab, drove up a half-flot, got out and walked back. Just in time, Mr. Thorn, pull away from the curve and his other car, heading towards El Camino and points north. Alice left me free to pile at will, and four match books later, I had found two more eyes, a pocket full of panda skin, and a goodly scoop of panda upholstery. The trail led to the garage. There's no wonder his car was stolen. He must have had to leave it on the street all night because there was no room for it in the garage, which had been turned into a kind of panda abattoir, crammed to the raptors with panda bears, all the giant size, through the various stages of disabile, lake, dharm, eyes, and innards. A sight that shoo a heart of any, but the sturdiest private detected, Ruby. And I braced myself and carried on. I'm a sight, Dundee.

22:17This is Sam, Dundee. Sam, what are you calling for? Bone booth and a drive-in on El Camino. Listen, the license number on the red custom job is 49H822, and the guy driving it is running fliggle, the next time. Don't talk to me about that car. I already nearly picked it up tonight, going 90 on the face, or... Right. Lousy. Why, what happened? Next time I see one of them panda bears, I'm gonna spit right inside. So Larry pulls the guy down and first thing he sees is the panda bear with a necktie. What about the dragon lady? As she came second. All I can think of is the hot panda bear figures a stole it, so it takes it back to the patrol car to return it to the kit. No. Yeah. The time he got the exhaust smoke out of his eyes, they were gone. Oh, what's that license number again? 49H822. You sure? Positive. I'm looking right at it. Oh, sand. Dundee. Yeah. We're all at Anderson's, drive-in on El Camino. Put it on the air.

23:22Which just shows you how slow I can thank, probably. The red job was staring at me with its big combi as outside the playground window. Legal and the dragon lady, while somewhere having a Saturday night, Blue play displayed effectively on the clay racks hung from the car doors. I slide a lot of the foam booth and threw the kitchen there by coming up on the car from behind. Mark off here. No, we better get going. Oh, plenty of time. Mind if I join you, Legal? Huh? Who likes to show? He reached the knife pushed and instead of his gun, he came up with half a hamburger. It was too harsh to like for the dragon lady to operate effectively, and by the time Larry Healy and the Powell car pulled up, they decided to do it the easy way. You all compete back there? Lovely, Larry. Legal? Where? Dragon lady? Shut up. What about the red job? What are you going to do with it? Larry? Oh, and pounded some of my effort for dropping. Send me one of them by way of the Laney Street. Yeah. Why the Laney Street? Larry delivered the panther. Huh? Sooner than the kid, we'll be those, then.

24:23We'll have to go and check it out. Lenny? Yeah. It's worth, like, $50,000? A hundred? A little kid's gun? Yeah. Oh, car cello will be disappointed for you. Don't worry. The tax boy's watching both him and Crystal. It looks like a safe way to get some of his dough out of the country too. It was a my idea. I hated him. I did eight years for him. Spade, I could have killed him. Shut up, Lenny. I don't care anymore. I hate with him. Nothing wasn't me. The guy who's running the things for him here has got the chemtone, but Crystal had the dough. He killed it. He took it a lunch today. Lenny! Go ahead, Lenny. So he poisoned it. I'm going to get some stuff under the pandas. He didn't know which. Stuffed it with bills. $80,000, I don't know. Anyway, you'll find a money in a red car under the back seat. Under the seat. What are you talking about? It's in the panda. The kid's got it. Look, why do you think I'm telling you this? You stupid brat. When I fixed that thing, brook, I saw him myself after we took the dough out. What kid? It's got a bomb in it. I don't remember much about the ride from then on, or the oil I could see was a white line unwinding in the headlight.

25:23Somehow we got to the end of the Lenny street and around that corner again. Roby! Roby! Roby here! From the alley. Roby, Roby, you heard? No, just resting. Where's the panda? I'm through with pandas and so is Branny. Next junk money, I'm going to buy them a knell. What happened? What's the policeman brought it? Yeah? I started home with it when a car drove up and a man with gray hair got out. And he's gone. What then? Same thing. He grabbed it and got in his car and drove off. What's around the corner there playing with it? Oh, I asked him, I don't care anymore. Around the corner, you may need... Period and the report. Hey! What a holly! A highly inconsiderate thing to do to a panda. But I'll get in one thing. What thing? He had the good drinks to park in front of a vacant loft before starting to tear it apart.

26:25And of course the coin of phrase is to save the people some money. And now if you're a good, efficient girl and run that through your infernal machine, you know what's that I'll have in store for you when you're through. No jelly bean still work is done now. Scoop, scoop, scoop! Three chimes mean good times on NDC. Friday means another visit to that entertaining eat establishment, Duffy's Tavern. Archie the manager and his whimsical friends have cooked up another fresh half hour of laughs and typical Duffy's Tavern madness. And you're all invited. There's also another delightful adventure with Chester A. Riley played by William Bendix tonight on the life of Riley. Keep your dial set to NBC for the very best in radio entertainment. You did Sam.

27:25Mm-hmm. All official? Yup. I like the black one. Lay off, lay off. We ain't all fair eating all the black ones in our favorite song now. Mm. Master of robot pleasure. Mm. Sam. No. I hope Roby appreciate you. Only just a kid. Why don't you appreciate me? I appreciate you. I appreciate you too, sweetheart. You're so pretty and so rich. Am I sad? And say good about not fitting all the time for your back salary. Yep. I have one I stop and think of you when I got it. All chill, huh? Look at you. Mm-hmm. Black one. Come here. Huh? Thank you. It's all you're saying. The rest of the daily. Happy new year. Good night. Good night, sweetheart. Good night. Good night, sweetheart. Good night, sweetheart. Good night, sweetheart. Good night, sweetheart.

28:32The adventures of Sam's fade are produced, edited and directed by William Spears. Sam's fade was played by Stephen Dunn. The reen total is F.E. Script for tonight's adventure by Harold Swanton. Musical Scoring by Ludblaskin, conducted by Robert Armbruster. Join us again next week, same time for another adventure with Sam's fade. Enjoy the magnificent monarchy, then Duffy's tavern on NBC.