The Adventures of Sam Spade: The Hail and Farewell Caper 04/27/1951

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Adventures of Sam Spade: "The Hail and Farewell Caper" (Aired 04/27/1951)
Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
Air Date: September 7, 2025 (Podcast Release)

---

Overview

In this gripping episode of The Adventures of Sam Spade, the wisecracking detective finds himself racing against the clock to save a man from a wrongful execution. Entitled "The Hail and Farewell Caper," the story centers on Willie Johnson, a man set to be executed for murder—unless Spade can untangle a web of lies, obsession, and tragedy before midnight. The caper blends suspense, moral ambiguity, and razor-sharp dialogue, reflecting the classic noir sensibility of the Golden Age of Radio.

---

Key Discussion Points and Plot Breakdown

---

1. A Nervous Encounter and a Life-or-Death Plea

• Sam Spade is approached repeatedly by a jittery stranger (Charlie Forrest), each time failing to get his story out.
• The man finally calls Spade in distress, uttering, "This is a matter of life and death…" (04:07), then collapses and is hospitalized due to an overdose.
• Before lapsing into unconsciousness, he cries:

  "It's a skillful frame… Willie Johnson… Hail Farewell, sir." (06:24)

---

2. The Case Against Willie Johnson

• Spade gets the backstory from Willie's lawyer, Mr. Grayson: Willie is on death row for the murder of Georgia Lyon, a case riddled with dubious evidence.
• Four appeals failed; at this point, "we've had our last one. It's folded up now." (07:56)
• Grayson pleads with Spade not to offer Willie false hope, because, "there isn't any." (08:30)
• Willie’s account: Struggling and penniless, he answered a newspaper ad to drive a car to Mexico, only to be arrested with a dead woman (Georgia Lyon) in the trunk, and bloodstained money and knife. He insists the ad existed, but no one found it published, which makes him look guilty. ("Maybe they're right. Maybe they're right." 12:11)

---

3. Following the Trail: The Bar, the Dress Shop, and the Pressroom

• Spade retraces Willie’s steps to Sherry Dugan’s bar, seeking clues, and meets Marilyn Hale—a drunken, enigmatic figure whose father is the newspaper’s publisher.

  "Sherry’s like a dog running away from a can tied to his tail. We all are…" – Marilyn Hale (13:29)

• The trail leads to Maison Francine (the dress shop from the supposed classified ad).
• Spade pieces together the players: publisher Mr. Hale; his partner George Farewell; and Marilyn Hale, the publisher’s daughter.

---

4. The Key: Charlie Forrest and the Missing Proof

• Press foreman describes Charlie Forrest as "nuts... mumbling all the time about the guy [Willie Johnson] being innocent... Said he was killing Willie Johnson with a Linotype machine and a hunk of newsprint." (18:05)
• Forrest had claimed to have proof to save Willie, hidden in his room.
• Spade finds Forrest’s note with his hotel address, retrieves a forged newspaper page proving the existence of the ad Willie answered, and dashes to prevent Willie’s execution.

  "It is a phony newspaper. A copy of the Star Times for the night of the murder with a special page on the classified section carrying the ad that Willie answered." (20:41)

---

5. The Confrontation: Corruption and the Truth

• Spade is ambushed by George Farewell, who burns the fake newspaper and tries to cover up the frame-up:

  "You're burning Willie Johnson at the stake." – Spade (21:54) "Her name wasn't Georgia Lyon, really. It was her stage name. Her real name was Farewell." (22:16)

• Farewell admits Georgia Lyon was his partner’s wife, leaving him the night she died, which tied into the motive.

---

6. Climactic Showdown and Resolution

• After a struggle, Farewell dies as the only conscious witness is lost, and the physical evidence is destroyed.

• Spade races to Farewell’s penthouse, finds him dead from an apparent suicide, and confronts Marilyn Hale as she contemplates jumping from the roof.

• Spade convinces Marilyn she can "untie the tin can" by confessing and saving Willie:

  "Throwing your own life away while you can still save his…You can climb down off that wall and ride over to Quinton with me. You can tell them George Farewell killed his wife. That the three of you and the little linotyper made a pigeon out of Will." (25:54)

• Marilyn relents, but her haunting final revelation casts doubt:

  "Only George Farewell didn’t stab his wife that night. I did." – Marilyn Hale (26:30)

• The episode concludes with Willie's execution stayed, and Spade and Effie reflecting on their future in trademark bittersweet fashion:

  "Smile through the tears, Sam." – Effie (28:45)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On framing and justice:

  "You don't plant up the score until the returns are all in. This applies to presidential elections, boxing matches, and executions at San Quentin Prison." – Spade (00:41)

• On desperation and fatalism:

  "There's no hope in his face, but no despair either. He knew what was coming and he was ready." – Spade on Willie (12:11)

• On the nature of guilt and innocence:

  "I've heard it so long now. Maybe I did kill her. Maybe they're right." – Willie Johnson (12:08)

• On the fallout of murder:

  "You can't run away from this tin can. But you can untie it." – Spade to Marilyn Hale (25:54)

• Haunting confession:

  "Only George Farewell didn’t stab his wife that night. I did." – Marilyn Hale (26:30)

---

Important Timestamps

• 00:41 – Spade’s opening metaphor about justice and timing
• 04:07 – Charlie Forrest’s plea of life and death urgency
• 08:30 – Grayson’s somber caution: “Don’t give him false hopes, Spade. Because there isn’t any.”
• 12:08 – Willie’s recitation of his tragedy, and the sense of hopelessness
• 13:29 – Marilyn’s philosophical musings in the bar
• 18:05 – Revelation about Charlie Forrest's obsession
• 20:41 – Spade uncovers Forrest’s hidden evidence
• 21:54 – Farewell burns the only evidence that could save Willie
• 25:54 – Spade talks Marilyn down from suicide
• 26:30 – Marilyn’s confessional twist
• 28:45 – Episode closes with Effie telling Sam to “smile through the tears”

---

Episode Tone and Style

The narrative sparkles with Sam Spade’s quick wit and sardonic humor, balanced by the episode’s somber subject—the execution of an innocent man. The dialogue is brisk, character-driven, and loaded with memorable one-liners, tragic confessions, and the deep skepticism of classic noir.

---

Summary for Listeners

This episode stands as a quintessential Sam Spade adventure: a complex, time-pressed investigation loaded with red herrings, broken souls, and moral ambiguity. The drama builds steadily to the final minutes, with Spade’s dogged determination and human empathy at its heart. An unwanted confession, a last-minute reprieve, and bittersweet reflections make "The Hail and Farewell Caper" a moving meditation on guilt, redemption, and the toll of justice—anchored by classic radio’s masterful storytelling.

---

For those who haven’t listened:
This summary captures the essence of a nail-biting race to save a man from the gas chamber, where Spade’s relentless digging exposes a web of lies stretching back into the lives and secrets of the city’s elite. The power of memory, the trauma of guilt, and the cost of truth are all illuminated by Sam Spade’s unflinching perspective.

Transcript

[Sam Spade]

Welcome to Choice Classic Radio where we bring to you the greatest old time radio shows. Like us on Facebook, subscribe to us on YouTube and thank you for [e-mail].

[Narrator]

The National Broadcasting Company presents the Adventures of Sam Spade Detective.

[Effie]

Sam's Bay Detective Agency.

[Sam Spade]

Me sweetheart say. Oh, now take it easy.

[Effie]

The papers are on the street. I saw them.

[Sam Spade]

So did I. There'll be some red faced editors ducking behind their green eyeshades tomorrow.

[Effie]

What do you mean, Sam?

[Sam Spade]

You don't plant up the score until the returns are all in. F There's applies to presidential elections, boxing matches and executions at San Quentin Prison.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Sam.

[Effie]

You mean Willie?

[Sam Spade]

I mean Willie. Batten down the hatches and turn over your foam rubber cushion, Wonder girl. For even now I'm homeward bond with a stride by stride account of a 12R marathon which I shall call for obvious reasons, the Hail and Farewell Caper.

[Narrator]

Transcribed for NBC. William Spear, Radio's outstanding producer Director of Mystery and Crime Drama brings you the greatest private detective of them all. Starring Stephen Dunn in the Adventures of Sam Spade.

[Sam Spade]

I've been robbed. Heffy. Brought in here this minute.

[Effie]

Oh, yes, sir. Have I done something?

[Sam Spade]

That's what I was about to ask. Have you been sticking your delightful freckle covered, upturned little nose into my schnapps bottle? Well, answer me, girl.

[Effie]

Ma', am, you know I don't do that.

[Sam Spade]

All right, then who?

[Effie]

Well, the nervous little man who was here did open the door to find a pencil and paper and leave a note.

[Sam Spade]

Okay, you're clear.

[Effie]

Oh, Sam. What about the little man?

[Sam Spade]

A good and leading question. F Shall we attempt an answer?

[Effie]

I'm at the ready, Sam.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Shoot.

[Sam Spade]

Date. Fill it in. To Justice Edward Benjamin, State Supreme Court, from Samuel Spade, license number 137596. Subject the Hail and Farewell Caper. Dear Justice Benjamin, my relationship with the spindly little man goes clear back to a week ago Thursday, possibly even before that. But that was the day I first noticed him. I remember it was Thursday because I was having corned beef and cabbage at Schroeder's with him. It was a glass of water at the next table. He was paying little mind to the menu, having decided to spend the lunch hour staring at me a couple of times. He put down his glass of water and pushed back his chair as if he were going to come over and talk. But he changed his mind. I put away the corned beef and cabbage and was halfway past the pie when he finally did it.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Excuse me, sir.

[Sam Spade]

Hello, you.

[Jeremy Grayson]

You, sir. I'm Mr. Spade. I am the detective. Sam Spade, detective agent.

[Sam Spade]

At your service, sir. Now, what can I, I, I.

[Jeremy Grayson]

You see, I. Do you have a match?

[Sam Spade]

I gave him a match and he thanked me and went out. On Friday, I saw him in Ben's Grotto over a plate of wrecked soul. We got just about as far, Then he returned the match he owed me. The following week I saw him four times. Once as I was going into a show, once at the post office and twice as I was going into my office building. Each was the same. We get up to the point where he was about to tell me something. Then he'd back down and ask me what time it was, or did I have a horse in the fifth at Golden Gate, or would I lend him a cigarette? Then he'd bustle off as fast as his spindly little legs could carry. And thus matters stood, yesterday place. My office. Time, 1:37pm Sam Spade.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Mr. Spade. This, this, this is a gentleman who. Who?

[Sam Spade]

Yeah, don't tell me. I know the voice. Now, what is it this time?

[Jeremy Grayson]

I like to see you, Mr. Spade. I must see you.

[Sam Spade]

I know. I'll save us both a trip. The date is April 26. The time is 1:38pm all trains, planes and streetcars are leaving on schedule. And for the favorite at Golden Gate tomorrow, consult your nearest bookie.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Please. Please, sir. Please, Mr. Spain, please do not jest. This is a matter of life and death.

[Sam Spade]

I see. Fine. Then I'll see you tomorrow for lunch, huh?

[Jeremy Grayson]

I won't be here, Mr. Spade.

[Sam Spade]

Oh, where you be?

[Jeremy Grayson]

Dead. Dead.

[Sam Spade]

Look, look, I'm tired of this, Mr. Spindley. Give it to me straight or sign off. Now, what is it?

[Jeremy Grayson]

Got to listen to me, Mr. Spade. It's most important. It's a life or death. It's life.

[Sam Spade]

Hello, Mr. Spindley. Hello. It almost seemed as if he were in earnest this time, so I didn't hang up. I hustled down the hall to the next office, found another phone and sweet talked a supervisor into tracing down Mr. Spindley. It was a pay booth in a drugstore opposite the Park Emergency Hospital. The clerk in the drugstore was just getting over it when I punched in. Spindley had collapsed in the booth and had been hauled across the street to the hospital. On the bed there. Oh, thanks, Doctor.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Life and death, Mr. Spaden. Terrible. You gotta stop it. It's murder.

[Sam Spade]

He's been muttering like that ever since.

[George Farewell]

We brought him in.

[Sam Spade]

Hop, huh? The legal kind. You see before you an overdose of sleeping tablets. You mean he tried to Kill himself. I can't think of an easy way anyone could feed him.

[Narrator]

Two full bottles.

[Sam Spade]

Can you pull through? Probably. I gave him a good pumping.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Don't let them do it. Don't. Don't. It's murder.

[Sam Spade]

Now, Mr. Doe, don't carry on so.

[Jeremy Grayson]

But I know who did it. I. You must stop him. I know. Who is it?

[Sam Spade]

Easy. He's got a lot of strength for a little guy, Mr. Doe, huh? No name. Nothing to identify him. Funny thing, that. What do you mean? I'd almost guarantee the man's undernourished. Hasn't eaten for days. Shabby clothes and so on. Yet look at the roll I found in his pockets, huh? How much? Almost $800. Did you find anything else? Yeah, this. Huh? What do you make of it? Front page of the Star Times. It's a galley proof, isn't it? Kind of run off in the Linotype room before they start the presses. Yeah. Killer dies tonight. Willie Johnson hitchhike Murderer to enter gas chamber at midnight.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Innocent. Innocent man. It's murder. It's murder.

[Sam Spade]

Down you go, Mr. Doe.

[Jeremy Grayson]

But. But I know who did it, sir. I know everything I. Everything I know.

[Sam Spade]

Frame.

[Jeremy Grayson]

It's a skillful frame.

[Sam Spade]

You mean Willie Johnson?

[Jeremy Grayson]

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I know who it was. It was. It was. Hail Farewell, sir.

[Effie]

Hail Farewell.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Who was it?

[Sam Spade]

Come on, Mr. Doe. Wake up. Mr. Doe. Yeah, I was waiting for that. Hit him like a ton of bricks. He'll be incommunicado over the next 24 hours or longer.

[George Farewell]

Hail and Farewell.

[Sam Spade]

A broken down actor, huh? Only an actor would think more of an exit line than an innocent man's neck. You mean you believe he knows? I don't know what I believe. The guy's been trailing me for 10 days, driving himself nuts. Tries to knock himself off. It's a cinch he believes it. There's no chance of bringing him around before tomorrow. Yes, and Willie Johnson dies tonight. So what happens? So I'm stuck for taxi. Fair to San Quentin.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Believe in him. Believe in Willie Johnson.

[Sam Spade]

Yeah, I know. You're his lawyer, Mr. Grayson.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

I'm his lawyer because I volunteer to serve you, Mr. Spade. I've been in the law a long, long time. I've defended a lot of phonies. Sometimes you've got to if you want to eat. They all sing the same song.

[Sam Spade]

I was framed.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Oh, I know all 89 verses.

[Sam Spade]

But Willie.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Yeah, Willie's song is different because Willie Johnson's an innocent man. Willie was framed. Four appeals.

[Sam Spade]

Four appeals.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Four stays. And we've had Our last one. It's folded up now. Spade, I'm going to take the walk with him at midnight, so do something for me, will you?

[Sam Spade]

Sure, sir. When.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

When you walk into a cell, remember you're talking to a man who's going to die in less than eight hours. We're trying to. We're trying to build his spirit up so he can go out with colors flying, you know.

[Sam Spade]

Yeah.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Don't give him a lot of false hopes, Bait.

[Sam Spade]

Because.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Because there isn't any.

[Willie Johnson]

I don't quite understand, Mr. Spadesh. I told my story so many times.

[Sam Spade]

I. I'd like to write something about you for the papers, Willie.

[Willie Johnson]

Oh, yes, sir. All the newspaper gentlemen been here and gone.

[Sam Spade]

Yeah, I know. Could you tell her just once more, Willie?

[Willie Johnson]

Well, all right, sir. It's more than a year ago. I guess you know that. Yeah, I was broke, you know. Things hadn't been going so well, sir. I was down to my last two bits. That night I walked into Sheridougan's.

[Sam Spade]

That's the bar on the waterfront, huh?

[Willie Johnson]

Yes, sir. I got to talking with a fella sitting at the bar there. He bought me beer.

[Sam Spade]

Who was he?

[Willie Johnson]

I never did find his name. Ain't seen him since that night. If I could find him, I don't reckon I'd be where I am, sir. He had a paper with him. Was reading the classified ad section. You know, the part about Otto's transportation, so on. Yeah, well, there was an ad there. I'd say, well, pay $500 plus expenses to drive car to Mexico City with a phone number. And the fellow said if he wore my shoes, he'd call up and inquire. So I did. I inquired. And I got the job. Well, sir, about an hour later, I met a man with a card, Sutter and Mason, by the gas station there. And he gave me the 500. And I start out for Mexico City.

[Sam Spade]

Who was he, Willie?

[Willie Johnson]

Never found his name either. We tried to, Mr. Grayson. Me never could find him.

[George Farewell]

I see.

[Willie Johnson]

Well, it was raining that night, sir. I remember raining. And I hadn't gotten more than 50 miles south of town, somewhere around Morgan Hill, it was when a siren blew off behind me. And the first thing I knew, where they was. Asking me questions about a girl. A girl named Georgia Lyon. It was her car, it seems. And the officer claim I stole it. They made me raise my arms and they searched me. And there was a knife in my pocket, you see, with blood on it. I don't know how it got there. And $500 that had blood on it, too. And there was blood on the seat. And when they opened the turtle back there, she was this Georgia line. I told you all, double up there and dead. And they said I'd done it for the money in the car. And I guess I just went crazy, Mr. Spade, with. With this all coming at me at once that way. You see, I tried to make a break for it and I got away. And I know I knew it was a terrible wrong thing to do. I know it.

[Sam Spade]

Yeah. What about the trial, Willie?

[Willie Johnson]

Well, sir, Mr. Grayson done everything in his power and so did I. I told the truth as close as I could recollect it, but it didn't make no sense. We never found a man in a bar or the man who drove up in the car.

[Sam Spade]

What about the phone number in the ad?

[Willie Johnson]

Oh, that. That turned out to be a fancy dress. That turned out to be a fancy dress shop on Powell street called Mason Francine. And the classified ad, sir, that. That was the queerest thing of all.

[Sam Spade]

What do you mean?

[Willie Johnson]

Well, Mr. Grayson went through every newspaper in the country for two weeks either side of the night, and there wasn't any such ad in any of them. So they said I was lying. They said I was lying. I made it all up in my head. Now they're gonna kill me for it. Yeah, I don't know, Mr. Spade. I've heard it so long now. Maybe I did kill her. Maybe they're right. Maybe they're right.

[Sam Spade]

But there was something in the way he said maybe they're right. He told you they were wrong? I thanked him and told him I had what I wanted for my story and said goodbye. There was no hope in his face, but no despair either. He knew what was coming and he was ready.

[George Farewell]

And that's all.

[Sam Spade]

I hit the homeward bound commuters on the wrong side of the Golden Gate Bridge. So it was almost seven when I checked in at Sherry Dugan's bar on the waterfront. A girl was sitting three stools down from me. A class type dame in a black file suit from Magnum's and a hat that must have set some good time Charlie back 50 bucks. That the kind of a dame you'd expect to be sitting in Sherry Dugan's? Least of all as drunk as she was.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Well, here you are, Jack. 60 cents.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Thank you.

[Sam Spade]

Wait a minute.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Huh?

[Sam Spade]

This is a one man operation, isn't it?

[Jeremy Grayson]

Oh, yes.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Why?

[Sam Spade]

Well, then you'd be Sherry Dugan.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

No, no, I bought the joint from Sherry a few months back.

[Sam Spade]

Why? Well, I'm. I'm doing a story for the papers on Willie Johnson. Tell me, was Sherry here on the big.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Yes, yes.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Only Woodley Johnson wasn't.

[Jeremy Grayson]

You could look it up.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

What Sherry justified.

[Sam Spade]

Where is he now?

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

South America.

[Marilyn Hale]

And there he'll stay. You know why?

[Sam Spade]

Why?

[Marilyn Hale]

Sherry has brains for a man in his shoes. There's no better place right now than South America.

[Sam Spade]

Oh, tell me more.

[Marilyn Hale]

He needed a rest the worst way Sherry did. After all he'd been through. Tending bar can be difficult at times. Right, Tim?

[Jeremy Grayson]

Ah, yes, indeed.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Yes, indeed. Show me a good bartender and I'll show you arm diplomat and more besides.

[Marilyn Hale]

Now, here's to Sherry, wherever he is. Keep running, Sherry. Keep running. You know, Sherry's like a dog running away from a can tied to his tail. We all are.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Who's we?

[Marilyn Hale]

All of us. All of us. The world. Give me another drink, Tim.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Oh, now listen, lady, I don't think.

[Marilyn Hale]

I better thank me any lip. This is a first guy class wake, isn't it? A send off for Willie, isn't it?

[Sam Spade]

Marilyn, what are you doing here?

[Marilyn Hale]

Well, just in time, Georgie. Sit down.

[Sam Spade]

Come on, we're going home.

[Marilyn Hale]

Take your time, George. Two of the members present. One more will have a quorum. Pour him a drink, Tim.

[Sam Spade]

You want me to carry you out of here?

[Marilyn Hale]

It'd be fun. Where's Daddy?

[Sam Spade]

Facing the floor. Now. Come on.

[Marilyn Hale]

You know something, George? You've got a can tied to your tail too. No use running, George.

[Sam Spade]

Oh, you're out of your head. Whatever made you come here?

[Marilyn Hale]

Kind of appropriate, don't you think? Special night tonight.

[Willie Johnson]

Black dress.

[Marilyn Hale]

The all fixings gonna have us awake.

[Sam Spade]

Not here we aren't. Are you coming? Nope. All right.

[Effie]

Where. Where are we going?

[Charlie Forrest]

Going home.

[Effie]

Bye, Timmy. And you, whoever you wait for the wait.

[Charlie Forrest]

How about.

[Sam Spade]

Hold it, hold it. How much does she owe you?

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

3.45.

[Sam Spade]

Here. It's worth it. Now tell me, who is she?

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Oh, it's a model. Some dress shop up town.

[Sam Spade]

Oh, like the Maison Francine, for instance.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Yeah.

[Willie Johnson]

How'd you know?

[Sam Spade]

That's the hunch. What's her name? Marilyn Hale.

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

Her old man runs the Star Times. You know, the publisher. Yeah, the guy is his partner. George. Farewell. You must have heard of the firm Hale and Farewell.

[Sam Spade]

I had, but it was a slightly different reading from the one Mr. Spindley gave me at the hospital. I looked at my watch. Willie was four and a half hours from the end of the line when I took off for the press room at the Star Time.

[Narrator]

You are listening to the weekly adventure of Radio's most famous detective, Sam Spade. Three chimes mean good times on NBC. There's fun and music for you tomorrow evening with the Dennis Day Show. There'll be songs by Dennis and another typical tangled comedy situation. The kind of hilarious mix up that could happen only to Dennis Day. And now back to the Hail and Farewell caper. Tonight's adventure with Sam Spade.

[Sam Spade]

Time. 8:11. I got out of the elevator in the basement of the Star Times building on Mission street and started looking for the press room foreman, somebody named Joe Fortescue. I finally found his feet sticking out from under a sick liner type. Hauled him out and tried to make him understand what I wanted.

[Charlie Forrest]

Yeah, I know, I know you mean, I know.

[Sam Spade]

Little bandy legged guy can't hear you.

[Charlie Forrest]

I say. I say he's a little bandy like a guy.

[Sam Spade]

Yeah, that's the guy.

[Jeremy Grayson]

What about him? Come on.

[Sam Spade]

Go ahead. You first. Ah, now who is he?

[Charlie Forrest]

Ah, Charlie Forrest. He's nuts.

[Sam Spade]

I know, but that's not what I.

[Charlie Forrest]

Spin off his rocker for a year. Look, you see that picture on the wall over your head?

[Sam Spade]

Yeah.

[Charlie Forrest]

That's Mr. Hale. The iron Fist won't tolerate no inefficiency, you understand? But this screwball, this Charlie Forrest, I personally canned him twice. And both times Iron Fist sends him back to me.

[Sam Spade]

Yeah, so?

[Charlie Forrest]

So don't make no nevermind to be, brother. Leave him come to work stood all the time. Leave him lay off for two straight weeks like this time. Don't make no never mind.

[Sam Spade]

Yeah, yeah. Look, I'm up with you. Now, how long's Charlie been this way?

[Charlie Forrest]

A year or so. I know just when it started when.

[Sam Spade]

Willie Johnson was hauled in on the hitchhiking killing. Right.

[Charlie Forrest]

Oh, you've been talking to Charlie, huh?

[Sam Spade]

Yeah.

[Charlie Forrest]

Funny thing how that hit him. You'd find him sitting in a corner by himself, mumbling all the time about the guy being innocent. What do you suppose Charlie had to do with that? Oh, I don't know. Got real crazy toward the end, you know. Said he was killing Willie Johnson. And you'd ask him with what? And he'd say a Linotype machine and a hunk of newsprint. One day he even offered to prove it.

[Sam Spade]

You know how?

[Jeremy Grayson]

I don't know.

[Charlie Forrest]

He said he had proof. He said he had the evidence that would save Willie's neck.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Hid in his room.

[Charlie Forrest]

Boy, was he off his trolley.

[Sam Spade]

Look, I've got to find out where he lives. They don't know upstairs, I don't know.

[Charlie Forrest]

We don't know downstairs neither. He moved out of his Apartment three weeks back. And don't nobody know where he went.

[Sam Spade]

Look, he was in this morning. Picked up a galley proof of page one.

[Willie Johnson]

That's right.

[Sam Spade]

Yeah.

[Charlie Forrest]

I'll tell you who might know where to find him.

[Sam Spade]

Oh, come on, come on.

[Charlie Forrest]

About 10 o' clock he leave here? Said he was gonna look him up. Somebody. Somebody named Spade.

[Sam Spade]

Thanks, Sam Spade.

[Charlie Forrest]

He's a detective.

[Sam Spade]

That remains to be seen.

[Effie]

A message, Dan.

[Sam Spade]

A bandy like a little guy named Charlie Forrest. F. He must have been in around 10. 10:30 this morning, dear.

[Effie]

I didn't get here till 11. They're still clearing stuff off the tracks from the MacArthur reception.

[Sam Spade]

Yeah, never mind that. Now. Listen, write this down.

[Effie]

Oh, oh, wait till I find a piece of paper.

[Sam Spade]

Hurry up.

[Effie]

Here, here. Under the ashtray. Go ahead, Sam.

[Sam Spade]

Call Jeremy Grayson. He's a lawyer and he's with Willie Johnson in the death row at Quentin. Tell him to get hold of a justice on the state Supreme Court and hold the line open till I get him. You got that?

[Effie]

Yes, sir. Is there anything else?

[Jeremy Grayson]

No.

[Sam Spade]

I'll get back to you in a little while.

[Effie]

Sam, wait a minute. Don't hang up.

[Sam Spade]

What's the matter?

[Effie]

This paper I'm writing on under the ashtray. It's a Note. Go ahead, Mr. Spade, please contact me at once. Charles W. Forrest, Bellflower Hotel, 338 Stockton St.

[Sam Spade]

It took 20 more minutes to cross town and 10 on top of that to convince the clerk at the Bellflower I had a right to the key to Charlie's room, which I had not. I tossed the room from the light fixture to the floorboards, covered everything from the window shades to the bathroom plumbing. Result. One batch of dirty laundry, six soggy cigarettes and two empty bottles of sleeping pills. I was on my way out when I remembered one more thing. It wasn't an accident like in the movies. It was on purpose. I unscrewed the tops of the iron bed posts inside number three. I found it. There was a payphone at the end of the dark hallway.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Sam, I warned you about this. We've had four stays.

[Sam Spade]

They won't come through with a fifth. I've got a fair whole card. Grayson. Did you get the judge? Yeah.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Benjamin, State Supreme Court.

[Sam Spade]

What'd he say?

[Jeremy Grayson]

What I knew he'd say.

[Sam Spade]

No evidence.

[Jeremy Grayson]

No, stay.

[Sam Spade]

Tell him I got evidence.

[Jeremy Grayson]

It better be good, Sam.

[Sam Spade]

It is a phony newspaper. A copy of the Star Times for the night of the murder with a special page on the classified section carrying the ad that Willie answered. How does that sound?

[Mr. Grayson (Lawyer)]

You've Got it now?

[Sam Spade]

Yeah.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Well, for Pete's sake, hang on to it.

[Sam Spade]

I'll get back to the judge. Say, wait a minute.

[Effie]

Who.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Who's behind it?

[Sam Spade]

It's a long story. I'll tell you when I see you.

[Charlie Forrest]

Hang up.

[Jeremy Grayson]

When you what? Spade. Spade.

[Sam Spade]

Hang up or I'll kill you.

[Jeremy Grayson]

B.

[George Farewell]

That's it. You can turn around now.

[Sam Spade]

Well, Iron Fist, we've met. I've seen your picture, Mr. Hale.

[George Farewell]

It flattered me, no doubt. Give it to me.

[Willie Johnson]

What?

[George Farewell]

The paper, stupid.

[Sam Spade]

I haven't read the funnies.

[George Farewell]

All right, Mr. Spade, if you'd rather.

[Sam Spade]

Iron Fist knew other games besides publishing. He moved up. I went for the gun, which suddenly wasn't there. And he was giving me a fast demonstration of judo for beginners. First thing you know, I was sprawled on the floor and he was looking down at me along the barrel of his.38.

[George Farewell]

I could kill you, I suppose. But why?

[Sam Spade]

Why? He backed off toward the window, spread out the paper and crumbled it up. Now you know what you're doing with that match, Hale.

[Charlie Forrest]

Shut up.

[Sam Spade]

You're burning Willie Johnson at the stake.

[Charlie Forrest]

Shut up.

[Sam Spade]

He touched the match to the pile of papers, watched them flare suddenly, lighting up the entire hallway. He looked like a medieval devil.

[George Farewell]

I'm sorry about Willie Spade. But it has to be. That's all it has to be.

[Sam Spade]

What did you have to do with Georgia Lyon? Nothing.

[George Farewell]

Nothing at all. And her name wasn't Georgia Lyon, really. It was her stage name. Her real name was Farewell.

[Sam Spade]

Your partner's wife.

[George Farewell]

Why, Spade, didn't you read the testimony at the trial? She was leaving, George. That night. She'd made a noble decision to walk out of his life and leave him.

[Sam Spade]

Free for your daughter, huh? Marilyn.

[George Farewell]

That's right. And it was such a tragedy. Georgia had to run into Willie Johnson the very night she left. Wasn't it, Spade? Wasn't it?

[Sam Spade]

He bent over the fire, watched it die down into a pile of ashes. I was looking at something else. A draft from the stairwell behind me had picked up a glowing scrap and set it down at the foot of a sleazy window curtain behind him.

[George Farewell]

Well, that's it, Spade. The last of Willie Johnson. The last of.

[Sam Spade]

I hit him at the knees as the curtain went up in a blinding flash. No judo this time. Just an old fashioned hammerlock. Here we go. Come on. Give me that gun. No.

[Jeremy Grayson]

The fire.

[Sam Spade]

I'll break your arm, Hale. I'll break your arm. There now, that's better. Now get up. Get up.

[Jeremy Grayson]

E. Hail. Stop. Hail.

[Sam Spade]

I caught him in the leg. As he hit the top of the stairway. He took off like an eagle. Lit on his neck halfway down and toppled the rest of the way like a loose packed sack of laundry. He was dead when I got to him. Score. With an hour and five minutes to play. No evidence. One dead witness, one unconscious one. One killer. An accomplice at large. There was only one way left to go, and I took it.

[Charlie Forrest]

Floor, please.

[Sam Spade]

George Farewell's apartment. That's the penthouse. Yeah. Is he home? Oh, I don't know. What's the matter up there, Sir? I think something's wrong. Awfully wrong. He went up there earlier this evening with a young lady. And the door to the roof is locked at the eighth floor. That's never happened before. Any other way up? Well, you might try the fire escape if it's urgent. It is. So I climbed the fire escape at the eighth floor and went up onto the roof, or rather into George Farewell's patio. I worked my way through a maze of potted shrubbery around a fish pond with a fountain in the middle. Piano music was coming through a pair of French doors. But before I saw where the music was coming from, I knew it was the radio and not the piano. Because the piano, a 14 foot grand, had George Farewell sprawled across the keyboard with a bullet through his head. I crossed to the set of French doors on the other side of the house. There I saw her standing up on the three foot parapet surrounding the roof, looking eight floors down into the street.

[Effie]

Don't come any closer.

[Sam Spade]

You're not really going to jump, Merrill.

[Effie]

He did it his way. I'm gonna do it mine. Don't come any closer.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Don't.

[Sam Spade]

I won't. So George shot himself, huh?

[Effie]

Why not? Can't go through life with a can tied to your tail. No running away from that.

[Sam Spade]

No, there isn't. Well, you gonna jump?

[Effie]

Give me time.

[Sam Spade]

Oh, you want to do it the dramatic way, don't you, Marilyn? Only 35 minutes left until Willie checks out over at the. And to make it really ironic, you'll want to take off before he does, right? The one person left who can save them. I talked to Willie, Marilyn.

[Marilyn Hale]

He must hate the world.

[Sam Spade]

He doesn't hate anybody.

[Effie]

Poor jerk.

[Sam Spade]

I think he'd feel even sorrier for you. Throwing your own life away while you can still save his. You can't run away from this tin can. But you can untie it. You can climb down off that wall and ride over to Quinton with me. You can tell him George Farewell killed his wife. That the three of you and the little liner typer made a pigeon out of Will. I held my breath. She swayed, looked down into the street, poising herself. Then she turned round and stepped onto the roof again.

[Willie Johnson]

Let's go.

[Sam Spade]

Congratulations.

[Marilyn Hale]

Yeah. Only George Farewell didn't stab his wife that night. I did.

[Sam Spade]

We pulled up at Quentin with six minutes to spare. The foregoing Justice Benjamin is submitted in support of the stay of execution granted Willie Johnson and will be set forth in detail in Mr. Grayson's petition for a new trial period. End of report.

[Effie]

She. Willie can stand. What can I say?

[Sam Spade]

Well, I have one constructive suggestion.

[Effie]

I could say you're the greatest, finest, most wonderful.

[Sam Spade]

Yes, but you'd only be repeating yourself, Terror. The proper line at this moment is, I shall have the report ready for you immediately following the next announcement.

[Effie]

Right, Scooter.

[Narrator]

Three chimes mean good times on NBC. Listen to the stars on this Sunday's big show. Jimmy Durante, Ethel Merman, Milton berle and Gordon McRae. Plus Meredith Wilson and his orchestra. Your MC on the big show, of course, is the glamorous Tallulah. You're invited.

[Effie]

Here it is. Here's the report.

[Sam Spade]

Oh, yeah? Yeah.

[Effie]

What are you writing, Sam?

[Sam Spade]

Look. How's this? Man of the world, dashing, debonair, cosmopolitan, temporarily at liberty. Desires employment.

[Effie]

Sounds wonderful.

[Sam Spade]

Thank you.

[Effie]

What does it mean?

[Sam Spade]

All right, we'll drop it down a few notches. Private investigator, accomplished raconteur, will tell troubles to listening public. Nice. Telephone voice contact. Sam Spade, 1 East 48th Street, New York.

[Effie]

1 East 48th Street.

[Sam Spade]

Yeah. My address during the summer months.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Chair.

[Sam Spade]

Have you got it?

[Effie]

1 East 48th Street, New York City.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Oh.

[Effie]

Maybe a lot of people will write, Sam. I'm sure they will think so. There'll always be a Samuel Spade Incorporated.

[Sam Spade]

Will there?

[Jeremy Grayson]

Look ahead.

[Effie]

Smile through the tears, Sam.

[Sam Spade]

I am.

[Effie]

The day will come soon again when.

[Sam Spade]

When the phone will ring and you.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Will say, sim, stay detective agents.

[Sam Spade]

Yes. And I will say, me, sweetheart. Buck up, old girl. Stout fella, stiff upper lip.

[Jeremy Grayson]

Good show.

[Effie]

Not goodbye, but oh, reverse.

[Sam Spade]

Hail and farewell. Good night, sweetheart.

[Narrator]

Tonight's transcribed adventure of Sam Spade was produced, edited and directed by William Speer. Sam Spade was played by Stephen Dunn, Loreen Tuttle as Effie. Also in the cast were Junius Matthews, Olin Soule, Wally Mayer, Sydney Miller, Kathy Lewis, Paul Fries, Ed Max and Lou Merrill. Script for tonight's adventure by Harold Swanton. Musical scoring by Lud Gluskin, conducted by Robert Armbruster. This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company.