The Adventures Of Philip Marlowe - "The Old Acquaintance" (12-26-48

 "The Old Acquaintance" (Aired December 26, 1948)

After a three episode trial run on The Pepsodent Program in September of 1947 with Van Hefflin in the title role, The Adventures Of Philip Marlowe premiered as a weekly series on September 26, 1948. It was well-produced, less introspective than the books or the previous series on NBC, but it had a secret weapon. Gerald Mohr excelled as Marlowe, and his snappy delivery, coupled with well-written stories and intriguing characters 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. "And it had the best hard-boiled opening lines of any radio detectives series," according to faithful contributor and OTR fan Stewart Wright. "It has to be heard to be fully appreciated.

THIS EPISODE:

December 26, 1948. CBS network. "The Old Acquaintance". Sustaining. A good action story about an escaped convict and the two women in his life. Gerald Mohr, Gloria Blondell, Raymond Chandler (creator), Roy Rowan (announcer), Norman Macdonnell (producer, director), Mel Dinelli (writer), Robert Mitchell (writer), Gene Levitt (writer), Edgar Barrier, David Ellis, Lou Krugman, Stan Waxman, Jeff Corey, Richard Aurandt (special music). 29:25. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.