The Adventures of
Philip Marlowe
Philip
Marlowe is one of the leading characters in the
genre of hardboiled crime fiction that started in the
1920's and took the country by storm after World War II.
Marlowe was created by Raymond Chandler in the novel
The Big Sleep in 1939 and quickly took his place in
alongside Sam Spade and Richard
Diamond in popularity with the hungry public.
According to one account --
 The private eye of this time was a cynical
observer of a corrupt society, yet the enduring appeal of
Marlowe and other hardboiled detectives lies in their
idealism. Underneath the wisecracking, tough and hard
drinking exterior, Marlowe is comtemplative and
philosophical. He enjoys poetry and chess."
But unlike the radio series Sam Spade or
Richard Diamond, there's no "cuteness"
here. Only a tough-nosed private eye doing a tough
job.
The Lux Radio Theater presents
Murder My Sweet
Dick Powell, who had played Philip Marlowe in the 1944
film, Murder, My Sweet, reprised his role for the radio
audience in 1945. Powell would later find radio success as the
singing detective, Richard Diamond.
 Philip Marlowe
Two years later NBC produced Philip Marlowe as a summer
replacement for the Bob Hope Show. It featured adaptions
of the Chandler short stories and starred Van Heflin as
Marlowe. The stories are hard to follow and the show didn't
catch on.
I cannot find a free download of these shows but will
keep trying. If you know of one please write to me.
The Adventures of Philip
Marlowe
Then in 1948 CBS tried their hand at the private eye and
struck gold. It was well-produced, less introspective
than the books or the previous series on NBC and star Gerald
Mohr excelled as Marlowe with his snappy delivery. Coupled
with the well-written stories and intriguing characters this
version makes for entertaining listening. By 1949 the show was
pulling the biggest audience on American radio, with a
rating of 10.3 million listeners. In 1950, Radio and
Television Life Magazine named Gerald Mohr as the Best
Male Actor on radio.
The Adventures of Philip Marlowe has the BEST
hard-boiled openings in radio. I'm not going to spoil it by
writing it here. You really must hear it to fully
appreciate it -- so download an episode today.
You can get
the 1950 episodes at the Internet Archive -
Philip Marlowe on the
BBC
Unlike the US Marlowe, the BBC productions were adaptations of
the Chandler novels. A total of six novels were adapted. At the
time of production, the rights to "Farewell, My
Lovely" were not available due to the 1975 film
version, starring Robert Mitchum. Only the
other five were produced, in the order the original books were
published. Ten years later, "Farewell, My Lovely" was produced.
Marlowe, for all six shows, was played by Ed
Bishop.
The shows were well received in the UK and later aired in the
US over NPR stations. The UK broadcasts were
done as single 90-minute shows. In the US, they aired in serial
format of 3 30-minute spisodes each. All broadcasts were in
stereo. They are available from the BBC on cassette and CD, in
3 sets containing 2 shows each.
Trivia and Extras
- In the April 1950 show, "The Anniversary Gift",
William Conrad (Matt
Dillon of Gunsmoke) substituted
for Mr. Mohr, becoming the fourth person to play the
detective.
- In 1996 Simon & Schuster released
an Adventure Game for the PC called Private
Eye which is based upon the Raymond Chandler
classic "Little Sister" noir novella.
Home of the Underdogs (an excellent source
of out of print games) says: "
Despite very thin gameplay and almost
absolute lack of challenge, Private Eye is one hell of
a slick, well-made animated movie. Alternate paths
throughout the game, multiple endings, and great voice
acting make this a good addition for every noir fan's
collection. As long as you keep in mind that it is
more a stylish, faithful multimedia reproduction of
Chandler’s classic rather than a game, you’ll have a
great time. Thumbs up!"
The Home of the Underdogs is a bit
"spotty" but you can sometimes download the game from
them. Understand that this is a very old game (by
computer standards) and may not run on new systems -- which
is a shame. Friggin'
Microsoft!
Private Eye (Opens in New
Window)
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