Sam
Spade is the original hardboiled private
eye. Created by Dashiell Hammett, Spade first
appeared in 1929 in the pages of the pulp, Black
Mask in the serialized novel, The Maltese Falcon
and moved to radio in 1943 in a Lux Radio Theater
production of the same story starring Edward G.
Robinson. In 1946 The Adventures of Sam Spade
made it's debut, starring Howard Duff as the
detective and played until 1951 for a total of 245
episodes.
Spade is one of the most important figures in the entire
private eye genre. He's a "hard and shifty fellow," the
template for a generation of private eyes to come. All of
his audio adventures make for excellent listening.
The Adventures of Sam
Spade
Howard Duff (at right)
was a well known film actor when he took the part of
Sam Spade (Steve Dunne
played Spade at the very end of the show). Radio veteran,
Lurene Tuttle (pictured below), was
Effie Perrine, his secretary and John
McIntire was Lt. Dundy. Later
William Conrad (the Announcer on
Escape and Matt Dillon on
Gunsmoke) played Dundy, when the
production moved to Hollywood. With each show Sam
makes a report of the week's case as it unfolds. This is
keeping with author Hammett's actual Pinkerton Detective
Agency background.
John Dunning in his "On the Air, the Encyclopedia
of Old Time Radio" says:
The show was loved in its time
and still is. The plots were often run-of-the-mill
fare, obviously hacked out in the heat of the
deadline. But no one cared if holes were patched
in an obvious and sometimes careless way - this
show had a style and class that the
others all envied. Duff made the writing part of
his own unique character. The wit and charm of the
show has weathered four decades, and The
Adventures of Sam Spade remains today the pinnacle
of radio private eye broadcasts."
The show is all action, drama, toughs, dames, wisecracks
and laughs. Add to that the great acting and you have
excellent radio.
Trivia -
- Howard Duff was married to the gorgeous Ida
Lupino.
- Even if you are not immediately familiar with the
names of the two stars of Sam Spade, you have probably
seen some of their work. Both Howard
Duff and Lurene Tuttle were
prolific actors who went on from radio to work in
hundreds of movies and television shows.
Howard
Duff has over 125 credits at the IMDB
including: The Batman TV show (Biff!
Bang! Pow!), Kramer vs. Kramer,
The Mod Squad, Shaft,
The Rockford Files, Fantasy
Island and Flamingo Road
(where he played Sheriff Titus Semple
- Cast photo below). His last screen
appearance was in the movie Too Much
Sun in 1991. No, I've never heard of it
either.
Howard Duff (in the
hat, natually) with the cast of Flamingo
Road including Mark Harmon
and Morgan Fairchild
Lurene
Tuttle (below) played Eliza
Chambers in Psycho! How cool
is that? She also appeared in many other shows and
movies including I Love Lucy,
Dobie Gillis, Leave It to
Beaver(!), The Andy
Griffith Show, The Ghost and Mr.
Chicken, Perry Mason,
The Beverly Hillbillies, The
Mary Tyler Moore Show, Walking
Tall (all 3 parts - she's the Grandmother),
Fantasy Island and St.
Elsewhere. Whew.
Lurene Tuttle
Lurene Tuttle's Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
taken during a recent vacation to Southern
California.
You can download
ALL of the circulating episodes of
The Adventures of Sam Spade at the Internet
Archive thanks to our friends at the Old Time
Radio Researchers Group -
Here's something I didn't know provided by
JustAskMike on The Adventures
of Sam Spade page on the Internet
Archive:
...the program left the air briefly at
the top of its' fame. Howard Duff's connection
with the program and its' creator Dashiell Hammett
was tainted with the brush of Commie Hunting House
of UnAmerican Activities, headed by Congressman
Parmel Thomas. Hammett was a friend of Lillian
Helman (The Little Foxes) whose politics were
considered leftist. The network shelved the
program until they found Stephen Dunn, a younger
version of Sam Spade, who did not have any
unsavory political past. Duff, of course,
continued to enjoy success in films.
See? You learn something new
everyday.
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The Adventures of Sam Spade
