The Saint: Follow the Leader 07/16/1950

Summary

Podcast Summary: "The Saint: Follow the Leader" (07/16/1950)

Podcast: Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
Host: Choice Classic Radio
Episode Air Date: February 8, 2026 (original 1950 airdate)
Featured Detective: Simon Templar, "The Saint"

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Overview

In "Follow the Leader," Simon Templar, known as "The Saint," finds himself ensnared in a deadly intrigue involving a seemingly worthless whiskey glass wanted by a cast of international villains. As Templar navigates his witty way through threats, torture, and murder, the true value of the glass—and its connection to notorious Nazi war criminals—comes to light. The episode masterfully blends suspense, sharp humor, and classic detective tropes from the Golden Age of Radio.

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Key Discussion Points and Plot Breakdown

1. Suspicious Strangers and Comic Banter ([00:12]–[01:39])

• Simon Templar encounters two suspicious men, Ali and Victor, lingering near his home and immediately engages in sarcastic banter.
• Templar quips:

  "That's amazing. This is the first time in all these years I've ever heard the Empire State Building speak." ([00:15])

• Ali threatens Simon, but Victor tries to play things off as innocent, which Simon doesn't buy.

2. Kidnapping and Interrogation by “The Leader” ([01:45]–[04:55])

• Templar is forcefully taken to see "Herr Schmidt," known as “The Leader.”
• Johann Schmidt (Karl Bruder): Demands "the glass," a nondescript whiskey glass recently brought from Mexico.
• Templar stalls and jokes despite being tied up and slapped, insisting:

  "If I give the correct answer, do I get to try for the giant jackpot?" ([03:50])

• Templar tricks his captors by claiming the key to the locker holding the glass is hidden in his lamp.

3. Escape via “Torture Trickery” ([05:01]–[07:15])

• Ali sets up for torture with hot irons, boasting:

  "Best torture man in whole world." ([06:12])

• Templar feigns bravado, inventing a legendary "butterfly twist" torture method and persuades Ali to untie him.
• He escapes by bashing Ali with a chair.

4. The Murder and the Mission Revealed ([07:40]–[10:47])

• Claire, Templar’s acquaintance, arrives, distraught:

  "He's dead... He was shot." ([08:04])

• It’s revealed their friend Maxime—who smuggled the glass—has been killed by the villains.
• The glass’s importance? It carries the fingerprints of Karl Bruder, "Hitler's heir apparent." By proving Bruder is alive, international justice could be served.
• Claire reveals the group’s anti-Nazi mission and her own mistaken suspicions:

  "Ours is not a very closely knit organization, Simon... neither of us knew." ([10:11])

• The loss of the glass is momentous, symbolizing both personal and historical tragedy.

5. Final Confrontation and Clever Reversal ([11:05]–[14:13])

• Templar and Claire confront Schmidt and Victor at Grand Central.
• Templar taunts and outwits the villains, using his signature glib style:

  "She isn't afraid of the gun, Victor. It's that suit you're wearing." ([11:49])

• Templar reveals he photographed the glass’s fingerprints and thus still possesses the critical evidence.

  "I dusted the glass with powder and photographed the prints. So I've got the fingerprints and more important I've got the leader, right?" ([12:57])

• The decisive twist: Victor, not Schmidt, is the real Karl Bruder. Templar cleverly unmasks him:

  "You're Carl Bruder, little man. That's why you wear such a badly fitting suit. Bruder was the Nazi Beau Brummel. So your disguise called for you to get as far away from elegance as you could, didn't you?" ([13:42])

• The episode closes as the villains’ fate is sealed.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Simon’s dry wit under duress:

  "Ask a civil question and you get a slap in the face." ([02:23])

• Victor’s threat:

  "If you give the correct answer, son, you get to die simply and quickly..." ([03:54])

• Templar’s taunt on torture:

  "Believe you mean to say you've never heard of Terrible Templar? The trouble with you is you just haven't been attending the annual torturers convention." ([06:20])

• Claire on the stakes:

  "We were going to send the glass to Germany to have the prints compared with the set of prints known to be Bruder’s...Then they’d have to arrest him and make him answer for his crimes." ([09:43])

• Final unmasking:

  "You're Carl Bruder, little man. That's why you wear such a badly fitting suit..." ([13:42])

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Important Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Event | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------------| | 00:12 | Simon meets Ali and Victor; comical threats | | 01:45 | Taken prisoner; introduced to the “Leader”/Schmidt | | 04:02 | Templar reveals false hiding place of glass/key | | 05:37 | Threat of torture; Templar tricks Ali and escapes | | 07:42 | Claire returns, revealing Maxime’s death | | 08:49 | The true importance of the whiskey glass revealed | | 11:08 | Confronting the villains at Grand Central | | 12:57 | Templar reveals he has the fingerprints (not just the glass) | | 13:42 | True identity of Karl Bruder (Victor) revealed |

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Tone and Style

The episode’s tone is brisk and briskly witty, with rapid-fire exchanges driven by Simon Templar’s unflappable, sardonic bravado. Even amid threats and danger, the humor never flags—a hallmark of "The Saint" and 1950s radio detective stories.

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Conclusion

"Follow the Leader" stands as a classic detective thriller: a tense cat-and-mouse game packed with disguise, double-cross, and a blend of moral seriousness and playful repartee. Templar’s cool wit and quick thinking dismantle an international plot and ensure that justice, and a little bit of poetic comeuppance, are served.

Listeners are left reminded of the enduring appeal of clever detective heroes and the fight against evil that resonates beyond its era.

Transcript

[Simon Templar]

Welcome to where we bring to the greatest old time Radio like us on Facebook. Subscribe to us on YouTube.

[Ali]

You're gone now. No more talk.

[Simon Templar]

That's amazing. This is the first time in all these years I've ever heard the Empire State Building speak. And just what are you doing so far from 34th Street? Ran out on your foundation.

[Ali]

You're gone now, or I hurt Ali.

[Victor]

Gentleman is just trying to have fun.

[Simon Templar]

Ali, Ali, Ali. Didn't I read something recently about you and Rita Hayworth?

[Ali]

You're gone now.

[Victor]

You must forgive my friend, sir. He's very sensitive and very inhospitable.

[Simon Templar]

Now, if you were visiting me in my home, or haven't you acquired squatters rights to this stretch of sidewalk yet?

[Victor]

I do not understand.

[Simon Templar]

Then I will be blunt. Exactly what about my windows is so fascinating to you and this near Eastern gargantua that you make a career out of observers?

[Victor]

I'm afraid you are mistaken, sir. My friend and I arrived at this particular place only a moment ago. He was standing here ready to breathe fresh air, not to watch anyone swing doors.

[Ali]

I make him to go. Now, Victor, he's good.

[Victor]

It's quite all right. Gentleman is just making talk.

[Simon Templar]

That's right, Artie. I'm just making talk. As I was telling a friend of mine before, a fellow named Maxime who recently returned from Mexico City. I said, max, this thing you brought back from Mexico with you seems so absolutely worthless. But it must actually be very valuable since so many people are willing to commit murder for it. And Max.

[Ali]

It'S good I block just this man. Victor, I think I see you give signal he's the right thing.

[Victor]

I do exactly right, my dear aunt. Exactly. And now if you will be so kind as to carry him to the car. I have a feeling the Leader would like to have a talk with this man who calls himself the Saint. Wake up, sir. Wake up now. I said wake up. Herr Schmidt would like to talk to you. Huh?

[Simon Templar]

What?

[Victor]

I said Herr Schmidt would like to have a talk with you.

[Simon Templar]

Tell him I never see anyone without an appointment.

[Victor]

You know, you'll be respectful while in the presence of the Leader.

[Simon Templar]

The Leader? He conducts an orchestra. How? Ask a civil question and you get a slap in the face.

[Victor]

Stand up, Saint. On your feet.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

That's all right, Victor. Mr. Tembler can remain seated if he wants to.

[Simon Templar]

You see, Victor, I can sit here if I want to. Ya, ya, ya. And you, you must be Schmidt.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

That is correct. And now, Templar, we will immediately get down to the business at hand. Where is it you Mean you live.

[Simon Templar]

Here and you don't know.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

I have no intention of wasting time listening to your misguided attempt at humor Templar. You know the object to which I refer. I must have it at once, you hear? I hear.

[Simon Templar]

And two will get you five. There are people in Germany who can also hear. Stop. Oh, for heaven's sake, Victor, you starting that face slapping business again?

[Victor]

I told you before, you have to be more respectful when the leaders.

[Simon Templar]

If you'll just untie my hands for a moment, I'll show both you and the leader exactly how much respect I have for both of you.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

For the last time, tempter, where is it?

[Victor]

What?

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

The glass, you swine. The little whiskey glass that other pig brought to you from Mexico.

[Simon Templar]

Oh, that. You know, I had a feeling it was that whiskey glass you were after.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Well, where is it?

[Simon Templar]

Try the five and ten.

[Victor]

Oh.

[Simon Templar]

You know Victor, someone's going to have to cure you of that habit. You're going to hurt that hand someday.

[Victor]

It will answer Rita's question. Where is the whiskey glass?

[Simon Templar]

If I give the correct answer, do I get to try for the giant jackpot?

[Victor]

If you give the correct answer, son, you get to die simply and quickly and without any of your knowing little touches my friend Allie is so good at.

[Simon Templar]

Oh, you make it sound so attractive. The glass is in my apartment.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

You lie. Alley and ticked are searched all over your apartment.

[Simon Templar]

The glass you're looking for is mixed in with all my other whiskey glasses. They all look alike.

[Victor]

Can you lie? I brought it back here. All of your whiskey glass.

[Simon Templar]

Now that's dishonest.

[Victor]

And the one we want is not amongst. For the last time since. What did you do with it?

[Simon Templar]

Very well, Vic. I guess I know when I'm licked.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Aha. Now you're getting glass.

[Simon Templar]

The glass is in a check locker at Grand Central Station.

[Victor]

Check locker? The key to the locker. There's the key.

[Simon Templar]

Well, I'd be very happy to go home and get it for you.

[Victor]

That will not be necessary. Tell us where the key is hidden.

[Simon Templar]

It's hidden in the lamp on my desk.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

In a lamp? Where in the lamp?

[Simon Templar]

In the socket where the bulb screws on. Just unscrew the bulb and put your finger inside the socket. You'll get it.

[Victor]

You'd better be telling the truth, Sampler. I'll go at once, Herr Schmidt, you will come with me.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Yeah. And him?

[Victor]

He's well tied. Besides, Holly will return in a little while.

[Simon Templar]

Before you go, Victor, suppose you answer me a question. Tell me, who is your tailor?

[Victor]

My tailor?

[Simon Templar]

Yes, I'VE been admiring that suit you have on. I think it's very considerate of your tailor to make it two sizes too large. In case you have a friend visiting. Huh? Oh, my goodness.

[Victor]

The rest I say. For Harry. He will do his best to entertain you while we are gone. He will do tricks for you.

[Simon Templar]

Oh, how nice.

[Victor]

All sorts of tricks with hot irons and light. It matches it and you will sing. Let us go, Herr Fuel.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

After you, mein Herr. After you.

[Simon Templar]

Soon now. Soon iron will get hot. Iron will get very hot. Why send my laundry out, Ollie?

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

It burned through skin.

[Simon Templar]

You like that, huh? Love it. But I'm a little disappointed in you, Ollie. Your friend Victor claimed that you had some fresh and original ideas. That hot stuff goes back to the Middle Ages, which is where I wouldn't mind going back to right now.

[Ali]

I know business.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Best torture man in whole world.

[Simon Templar]

You.

[Ali]

You know better one? Sure.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Me new torture man. The best PA I know.

[Simon Templar]

Believe you mean to say you've never heard of Terrible Templar? The trouble with you is you just haven't been attending the annual torturers convention. Pa, would you mind turning your head the other way next time you say Pa? That's the kind of torture I don't deserve.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

I not believe you know torture.

[Ali]

3.

[Simon Templar]

Polly, you just ignorant, that's all. Why, my butterfly twist. Famous everywhere torture is practiced. Won first prize at the Iowa State fair.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Irons soon be hot now.

[Simon Templar]

Then I show you hot irons. Pah. High school stuff. Tell me, how many lighted matches can you put under a fingernail?

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Three under each knife.

[Simon Templar]

Three? Only three? You to battle. How many you put? Fourteen. Fourteen under one fingernail?

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Yes, there is by no belief you pick sharp liars.

[Simon Templar]

So I'm a liar, huh? I suppose now you want me to prove.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Yeah, you proof. You show me.

[Simon Templar]

Untie my hands from behind this chair and I'll show you 14 marches. Big show of liar. There.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

You unpire from chair.

[Simon Templar]

Now you show me with the greatest of all. I'm sorry I broke the chair on your head, Olly. I. I was getting sort of fond of that chair.

[Victor]

Hello, Simon, Sweetheart.

[Simon Templar]

You've come back to me.

[Claire]

Yes, I've come back. But it's too late, I'm afraid.

[Simon Templar]

Oh, too late? Don't be silly, Claire. Grand Central Station's open all night. Or should we do our kissing right here?

[Claire]

Please, Simon, I. I'm not in the mood for. Banner. There's a man here in your apartment. He's in the other room.

[Simon Templar]

That's Maxime. Surely you remember good old Maxime.

[Claire]

Oh, yes, I have much reason to remember. Maxime. He's dead.

[Victor]

Dead?

[Claire]

He was shot.

[Simon Templar]

Oh, that's too bad. He was a game little guy.

[Claire]

You killed him?

[Simon Templar]

No. The unholy twosome was here looking for the glass. They did it.

[Claire]

The little man in the badly fitting coat and the giant Arab. Yes, I should have guessed. But the whiskey glass. Simon, what happened to the whiskey glass?

[Simon Templar]

They have it. Victor and the man he calls the Leader.

[Claire]

The Leader? He's in New York.

[Simon Templar]

Schmidt is here all right. But believe me not to stay. Nor is Victor long for this world. Now, I'm going to ask some questions and what's more, I'm going to get some answers.

[Claire]

Yes, Simon, I think you're entitled to some answers. You don't know why the glass is so important, do you?

[Simon Templar]

Obviously it carries somebody's fingerprints. I can't think of any other reason why a 10 cent whiskey glass could be important. But whose?

[Claire]

You have heard of Karl Gruder?

[Simon Templar]

Karl Bruder? Bruder? Yes. Hitler's heir apparent. The man selected most likely to succeed.

[Victor]

But.

[Claire]

But he's dead was never completely proven. He was thought to be dead.

[Simon Templar]

Go on, Claire.

[Claire]

We have an organization among some of my countrymen which has sworn to track these beasts down. Well, we found Carl Bruder, our biggest prize in Mexico City. He'd had his face changed by surgery. He no longer was the fancy dresser he used to be. He used to call him the Nazi Beau Brummel. But still he. Adding together a hundred minute facts and clues. We knew it was Bruder.

[Simon Templar]

Why didn't you tell the government, Claire? They'd have taken over from there on.

[Claire]

Because everyone now takes it for granted that Bruder's dead. They can't conceive that he's alive.

[Simon Templar]

So you got his fingerprints? The one thing that couldn't change that would prove that Bruder was alive.

[Claire]

Yes. We were going to send the glass to Germany to have the prints compared with the set of prints known to be Bruders that exist there. Then they would have believed us. Then they'd have to arrest him and make him answer for his crimes.

[Simon Templar]

But Berta got wise.

[Claire]

Oh, he knew that someone had gotten hold of the glass with his fingerprints. It was life or death to him to get it back. I was charged with bringing Glass here and Maxine.

[Victor]

Maxine.

[Claire]

Poor Maxine. I was stupid. I didn't know.

[Simon Templar]

Know what?

[Claire]

Ours is not a very closely knit organization, Simon. The members seldom meet each other and, well.

[Simon Templar]

You mean you and poor Maxime were playing on the same team?

[Claire]

Yes, but we didn't know. Neither of us knew.

[Simon Templar]

We each thought it's too bad. When you heard that Max was coming to me to help him. You staged that scene in the station to make him think that I joined up on your varsity. Yes.

[Claire]

Yes, I was stupid. Max would still be alive if I. What's the use? It isn't Maxine's life that bothers me so much now. It's losing the glass that is the unforgivable part of it. Now Bruder get away.

[Simon Templar]

What'll you bet he doesn't? A long evening in Grand Central Station.

[Claire]

There's no one here, Simon. Not even a light burning.

[Simon Templar]

No.

[Victor]

And I was sure that he come back. Mr. Templar, how good of you to return.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Yes, Templar, how good of you to return. And we thought you didn't especially care for our hospitality.

[Victor]

Just while you didn't care for things, darling.

[Simon Templar]

Torture man, second class. What he doesn't know about our modern and improved methods would fill a morgue.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

I see you have brought a guest. Templar, how nice to have you here. My dear Simon, I'm frightened.

[Simon Templar]

Frightened?

[Victor]

You mustn't be. Fine, just because I'm holding a gun. My dear, dying from a bullet is rather pleasant compared with some other ways. Ask Mr. Templar.

[Simon Templar]

She isn't afraid of the gun. Victor. It's that. That suit you're wearing.

[Victor]

Stop it, Saint. I'm warning you.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Yeah, and I too am.

[Simon Templar]

Well, well. The leader hurt his finger. It's going to look terrible when you salute yourself in the mirror. Now enough. But then Leader, it's your own fault. A great big leader like you should know better than to put his finger in a live light sock.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Enough. You will be quiet you.

[Simon Templar]

Hear, hear. You're rattling the ruins of the Reichs Chancery. And they're such lovely ruins.

[Victor]

Good morning, Saint. You only deal with a poor simple minded Al.

[Simon Templar]

Now I know I had to use deception on poor simple minded Ali. But on you I'll use force. That's what I use on poor simple minded Victor. And the glorious leader. How does it feel to be looking down the wrong end of a Luger? For once, boys, Only for you and others like you, it's the right end.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Very well. You have won, Templar. But you still must prove that I, Johann Schmidt, am Karl Bruder. And without the glass.

[Simon Templar]

Yes, it's true. I do not have the glass. You have.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Ah, how unfortunate for you.

[Simon Templar]

But I have a roll of him. Yes, I dusted the glass with powder and photographed the prints. So I've got the fingerprints and more important I've got the leader, right?

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

Very well, Templar. You've got me.

[Simon Templar]

Yes, Johann Schmidt, I've got you too. But it's Bruder who's the star attraction in my show.

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

But I am Bruder.

[Simon Templar]

You're Bruder, huh? And you think Johann Schmidt, the German equivalent of John Smith, is the ideal alias for a wanted man?

[Johann Schmidt / Karl Bruder]

It was an easy name.

[Simon Templar]

And the hotshot pura lets little Victor precede him from a room. Oh, come, come. If you were the leader, loudmouth, the Dictators union would have you up on charges for that one.

[Victor]

But he is the leader. He's Bruder.

[Claire]

I swear him.

[Simon Templar]

Sure. And Claire and I are Hansel and Gretel. You're Carl Bruder, little man. That's why you wear such a badly fitting suit. Bruder was the Nazi Beau Brummel. So your disguise called for you to get as far away from elegance as you could, didn't you?

[Victor]

No, it is not true. Schmidt is car bruised. I am.

[Simon Templar]

Still think enough of good clothes to get furious every time someone makes a crack about your appearance, don't you? Look at you. Oh, that suit looks awful, Victor. It's got enough room in it for three ugly little tramps like you.

[Victor]

You dun swamp.

[Simon Templar]

See, there you go again, the furious furer. You know, when you get mad, you look just like that other tramp. Adolf, that is. But why worry about your clothes at a time like this, Gruder? What do you care what you wear when they hang you? You have been listening to another transcribed Adventure of the Saint. The Robin Hood of modern crime. Now here's our star, Vincent Price. Ladies and gentlemen, in tonight's cast, you heard Sammy Hill, Lou Merrill, Gil Statton Jr. Charlie Lung, Ed Max and Ted Vanel. This is Vincent Price inviting you to join us again next week at this same time for another exciting adventure of the Saint. Good night. Next, sam spade on NBC.