The Glass Donkey (MARL)

Helen Massy, a woman  that Marlowe used to "go round with," is found dead with a strange bit of glass nearby, the leg of a collectible glass donkey.

These private dick stories are a dime a dozen in vintage radio, but The Adventures of Philip Marlowe stands out for a number of reasons. Obviously the character was featured in a number of classic books, like The Little Sister and The Big Sleep. The scripts by Levitt and Mitchell are obviously not as polished as Chandler's amazing description and dialogue, but the voice talents are fantastic, the audio quality is great, and the plots are multi-layered.

I particularly like the opening lines, repeated for each episode in the series: "Get this and get it straight. Crime is a sucker's road, and those that travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison or the grave. There's no other end, but they never learn."

The Adventures of Philip Marlowe #94
The Glass Donkey
28 July 1950
19500728(094)_MARL_TheGlassDonkey.mp3
CBS. Sponsored by Spearmint Gum. Bob Stevenson (announcer), Gene Levitt (writer), Gerald Mohr, John Stevenson, Lawrence Dobkin, Michael Ann Barrett, Norman Macdonnell (producer, director), Raymond Chandler (creator), Richard Aurandt (music), Robert Mitchell (writer), Vic Perrin, Vivi Janis, William Johnstone, William Lally.

Gerald Mohr