 For the safety of your smile, use pepsidon twice a day. See your dentist twice a year. Lever Brothers Company presents the pepsidon program, the adventures of Philip Marlowe starring Van Pethlund. Philip Marlowe, the famous private detective of Murder My Sweet and The Lady in the Lake, created by Raymond Chandler, brought to you on the air by Pepsidon, and starring MGM's dynamic young actor Van Pethlund. Now, families all over America have named their favorite toothpaste, new pepsidon with irium, new fresh tasting pepsidon with a new cool minty flavor. It's preferred three to one over any other toothpaste. It's true, with families all over America, new pepsidon is a favorite three to one. Families from coast to coast recently compared new pepsidon with the toothpaste they were using at home. They preferred new pepsidon by an overwhelming average of three to one over any other brand they tried. These families three to one said, new pepsidon tastes better, makes breath cleaner, makes teeth brighter. Get new pepsidon toothpaste for your family right away. Now, Van Pethlund in the adventures of Philip Marlowe. Hollywood after midnight is like any other city after midnight. Night moves in and the city becomes hushed and stealthy. The nightclubs close up one by one. But now and then the police whistle and the prowl car sirens soar. If you've got any cop in you at all, you get on edge and you have to get dressed and go out and walk it off to relax. Well, I was relaxing past the Swank Carlton hotel in the sunset strip about 1 a.m. when all of a sudden recess was over. Hey Marlowe, that's you Marlowe. It was a good day. Hey Marlowe, that's you Marlowe. It was George Millar, the quiet spoken night clerk of the Carlton hailing me from the doorway. Probably to Moochamela Crino. No, I was wrong. Hey, look Marlowe, you're very busy right now. Why, Millar, if I may be as cagey as all that. We've got some trouble on the 8th floor. Where's Curly, your fearless house dick? Tonight he has to have a hangover. What's the beef on floor 8? King Leoparty, do you know him? King Leoparty? Oh, that's the sweetest trumpet this side of Gabriel. Is he tanning here tonight? He's in the corridor on the 8th floor dressed in yellow pajamas and he's trumpet. There's a girl with him and they put him on a jam session. Well, suppose the King rejects my diplomatic notes. Well, uh, get rough, but only if you have to. Okay, thanks. But a guy with such an earful music ought to listen to reason. I'll be down five minutes, Millar. Hey, King! Hey, King, that's all boys. Oh, mellow, king in yellow, moj mo serino, mo mo mo mo mo! I said all right, King, the party's over. Hey! Were you addressing me, peasant? I said wrap it up, can't it? Put it on ice. The show is over. Conk him, King. King conk, that's what he is. King conk. Let him have it, King. Then fair to a nosy house dick as follows. All right, now look, yellow pants, wrap up your bugle and buzz off. Now hit the grit. Oh, you're tougher than a 40-cent stake, aren't you? Well, this'll make you soft and tender. Here! Out of my king! Get him again for me! All right, hit me with that trumpet, will you? Okay, King. Now come on, get up, get dressed and get out. How can he? He's out cold. I'll be glad to pack for him and you get back to your room. Listen, copper, I don't have to do anything. Get going, sister, come on, jump! The door to room 815 was ajar. I went in and began tossing a lot of that yellow silk that the king liked so well into his suitcases. Something at the small desk stopped me. Tucked under the corner of the desk blotter was a note. It was assembled from words and letters cut out of newspapers and pasted on a telegraph blank. It said, 10 grand by Thursday night, Leo Party or else. Her brother. I slipped the note in my pocket and went out in the corridor just as the king staggered past me into his room. I could get an infection from the dirty look he gave me as he slammed the door after him. The door two suites away opened a crack and then shut again very quickly. I went over and knocked. Feet and copper! I want to talk to you. I don't want to hear from you. Okay, here I come, sister, ready or not? I'll blow you down so help me, I'll let you have it. Lay that pistol down, babe, come on, come on. Get out of the way before you pick up weight you didn't count on. And what would the little girl be doing with a 25 automatic, I wonder? A girl needs protection with insects like you around. Look, what's your name? Little Bo Peep. Okay, but what does little boy blue with a horn mean to you? I admire his work. Do you know King Leo Party? No. What are you doing in a place like this? I can tell you can't afford it. What's your angle? I want a soap contest. All right, baby, you want it that way? What are you going to do? I'm going to make a phone call. Don't touch your nickel. Hello, Desk? Milar? It's Marlo. I'm calling for the lady in room 811. She's checking out. I had a little trouble up there, Milar. Your two noisy guests will be checking out any minute. Okay. Well, I hate for things to happen on my shift. Well, the king bopped me with his bugle and the girl had a gun. She's nice people. How come you put a flusy like that girl so close to the king? Well, I didn't. Another thing. Calling the day man did. Look, there was a receipt for rent to Miss Marilyn Delorme on the telephone table in her room. Well, that wasn't the name she gave Quillen. Apartment 211, Ridgeland Apartments, Corde Street, LA. She lives right in town in a cheap neighborhood, but she checks in here at a price she can't afford and gives a phony name. Now, why? Why? Corde Street, where Marilyn Delorme lived, was Old Town. Artie Town, Crook Town. It was afternoon when I got off the cogwheel car that climbs the steep hill to where the Ridgeland Apartments sat on the top of Bunker Hill and went up dim, dusty stairs to Apartment 211 and I tapped on the door. There was no answer, so I tried the door. It was unlocked. The room inside was dim with stagnant bloom. Marilyn Delorme was in. I didn't talk to her, though. I didn't think she'd want to make much conversation with those blue bruises about her throat, where she'd been strangled. I got out of there fast, wiping off doorknobs like Uriah, heap polishing apples for his boss. I found King Leopardy at his job at the Club Belvedere. He was relaxing at a table in the bar with a kind of a girl commonly referred to as a knockout. She looked tall and her hair was the color of a brush fire seen through clouds of dust. I pulled in my chin and then walked over to the table. Hello, Leopardy, old maestro, you remember me? I'm sorry, I can't say that. Why, you dirty keyhole snooper. King, please don't start anything again. You left a certain little note in your hotel room last night. That wasn't all. That dame with you last night. King, sit down. They didn't take this with you. There's not much snap in that punch, King. Would you like to try it again? I have had some drinks. I'll see you later when I'm okay. See you later, too, Dolores, after the floor show. I'm sorry, Miss... Sit down. You made as conspicuous enough as it is. Now, wait a minute. Sit down! All right, thanks. That's when I get for being a little gentleman letting him pepper me without a comeback. No, he's always spoiling for a fight. The king just can't control his dukes, can he? You better have a drink. All right. Coke with bitters. That's what I love about Hollywood. You meet so many eccentrics. You see, I'm the kind of a guy who starts with a short beer and wakes up in Shanghai with a full beard. Is this on me or is it on you? Well, that depends. Well, how champagne? Mum's cordon rouge, shall we say, huh? It's on you. It's on me. Coke with bitters. How did you get to know King Leo's party? Oh, I just happened to throw him out of his hotel last night. Oh, house detective, huh? No, no, filling in for a friend. Philip Marlowe, private investigator's the general tag. Oh? How did you happen to get to know the king? I once sang in his band, but not for long. Well, then, look, tell me, would it be hard for a woman to get to him? Only if he was surrounded by a wall of fire. If the woman had a gun. Why? Well, I found this threat note on his desk last night. It asked for $10,000 or else, and it signed her brother. Well? Well? Yes. A woman with a gun could get to him, and everybody would give her a great big hand. Mm-hmm. Well, I'll skip that coke and bitters and say good day, and thank you. Christabel? The name is Dolores. Oh, good afternoon, Miss Drury. Kioza. Dolores Kioza. Oh, Kioza. Fare thee well, Miss Kioza. Formal, aren't you? So long, Dolores. So long, Phillip. If I hear anything, I'll toss it your way. The evening papers cared a squib about Marilyn Dolorme found strangled in her Court Street apartment. That was all dead end. Until about one o'clock in the morning when the telephone started having hysterics on my night table. Yeah. Phillip, this is Dolores. Dolores? Oh, oh, yeah, sure. We did come over to my place right away. 2412 Renfrew Street, below Fountain. Hey, wait a minute. It's a soda bungalow court. Mine is the last one in line. Well, sure, but wait a minute. What's the matter? Dolores, look where what's the matter? King Leo Party is here, too. King Leo Party? He passed out of my den. It's absurd, isn't it? Yeah, it's absurd. It'll cost you 20 bucks. All right, but hurry. Please hurry. All right, I'll be right over. Phone calls in the dead of night. I should have been a midwife. Oh, come in, Phillip. I'm sorry I woke you at this hour. That's okay. I always get up around this time anyhow to take my bidders and answer phone calls. Where is he? May I have a cigarette? Sure. Thanks. Right. Where did you say he was now? In my den. Oh, Phillip. Phillip, he isn't drunk at all. Did you really think he was drunk? He's dead. What? The king is dead. Long live the... with my gun. Well, good for you. Everybody wins the large cutie dog. Take him on a school and look at him. You are listening to the adventures of Phillip Marlowe starring Van Heflin. Yes, families all over America have named their favorite toothpaste. New pepsidant with invigorating irium foam. New fresh tasting pepsidant with a new cool minty flavor. It's preferred three to one over any other toothpaste. It's true. Families all over America say new pepsidant is their favorite three to one. The Paul A. Thompson family, Summer Street, Stanford, Connecticut, preferred new pepsidant on every single count. The Thompson say, New pepsidant tastes best of all. Makes breath cleaner, makes teeth brighter. On all these counts, by an overwhelming average of three to one, families prefer new pepsidant over any other toothpaste they tried. It's a fact. Families three to one say new pepsidant tastes better, makes breath cleaner, and makes teeth brighter. Remember, this is not just our opinion. It's the honest conviction of the Thompson and other families who compared new pepsidant with a toothpaste they were using at home. Get new pepsidant, the only toothpaste containing irium. Get it for your family without delay. We continue with the Adventures of Philip Marlowe, starring Van Heflin, who appears by arrangement with Metro Golden Mare, producers of the Hucksters, starring Clark Gable. Delores showed me to the den in the back of the house. Trumpet Man, King Leoparty, was lying on the studio couch, large, smooth, and artificial looking even in depth. A small Mauser automatic hung loosely in his right hand. There was a bullet hole in his golden yellow sport coat, right over his heart. Delores, is this your gun? Yes. Someone gave it to me once. I don't even know how to use it. Oh, no. I don't expect you or anyone to believe me. Don't expect anything. Just tell it. Well, I... I was out late. I sing at KFQC on a late 15-minute program. Agatha and I got home about 11.30. Who's Agatha, the cat? My maid. I came into the den for some liquor and fizz water and found him. Like that. I sent Agatha home so she wouldn't find him. Finally, I thought of calling you. Well, he got in here. How? I don't know. Were you ever in love with him? The king never loved anyone. I asked if you loved him. I hated everything about him. It's even better to tell a cop said he's but copicetic. But I can't help it. It's the truth. Delores, look. Go on out in the other room and buy yourself a drink. I want to be alone here with tall, dead and handsome. Go on now, huh? After Delores had taken her white face out of that room, I could work better. I went through the king's pocket and found his key ring. One key fit very nicely in the lock of the back door. I went to the living room where Delores was huddled against the arm of the Davenport trying to become a part of the pattern. Delores, how long has Agatha been with you? Two years. Did you ever steal anything from you? Small things, that's all. There are nylons now and then. I didn't mind why. Well, she sold a key to somebody. A key to this apartment. Oh, what's the difference, Phillip? We're wasting time. I'm done for as a nice person. So think it was a lover's quarrel and I shot him. Or that he shot himself over me. Well, you don't die from the latter, though. Your reputation does. And I care about what people think of me. Yeah. Well, that's what makes me for you again, lady. Thanks, Phillip. Now look, suppose you give me a description of Agatha and tell me where she lives. I want to talk to her. Tonight. I drove down Brighton Avenue looking for the house Delores had described to me. All at once I slammed on my brakes. In the driveway of a vacant house to the small coop, Delores had described Agatha's car and that was it. An Agatha did not live in an empty house. I got out and walked up the gravel driveway and looked into the car. And then I got back in my own car and drove until I found an all-night drugstore. I phoned Detective Lieutenant Ebera. Hello, Ebera. Write this down. Brighton Avenue. 3200 block west side. Driveway of empty house. Car parked with dead woman in it when a live answered to the name of Agatha. Strangled. I went back to the Carleton Hotel where it all started the night before. Quillen, the head date clerk, was on night duty. That surprised me a little bit. It was 2 a.m. and very empty, very quiet in the lobby. That was fine. Well, if it isn't Marlowe, the old clues man, a good morning and tripe like that. Hello, Quillen. Look, how come you're on duty? Mila went on vacation this a.m. His brother has a cabinet crestline on the Arrowhead Road. I didn't even know he had a brother. Now you know. Quillen, look, how come an old hotel man like you registers flusies like that? Marilyn DeLormy on the same floor with people like King Leo Party. What? You heard me, my host. I didn't register the girl or Leo Party. Mila did. What? You heard me. Well, why was the room between their rooms empty last night in times like these? Well, Mila had it marked on change. Plumbing out a whack or something. Why? Well, here's why a lad with a pass key could have gone into that room and then unlocked the two connecting doors. And then you could have run a bus service between the girl's room and Leo Party's. What are you driving at? That girl in 811 had a gun and Leo Party had a threat letter last night. Now here's what I want you to do. Call the hotel where Leo Party's staying now and ask if he's there. Why? Because. Good enough? Best reason in the world. Wife always uses it. Wait here. In about three minutes, Quillen came back and leaned on the counter again. Leo Party isn't there. I talked to a guy in his suite who was almost sober. He said Leo Party got a call about 11 from some girl. What girl? He didn't know. But Leo Party went out preening himself. Hmm. Okay, thanks, Quillen. Anything to do with that brawl you had with Leo Party here last night? No. All in the spirit of boyish mayhem. That 815 has a jinx on it, you know. Girl shot herself there two years ago. What? A girl shot herself there. Yeah, yeah, you said that. But what girl? I don't know what her real name was. Look here, Quillen. I want to see your hotel files of that day two years ago and all the newspaper clippings about it. Come on. All right, all right. Let go of my arm, physical culture. I'll get the keys to the record room. I read the hotel files of that day two years ago and I read the newspaper clippings of that suicide in 815. Then I asked Quillen just where George Millar's brother had his cabin in the mountains. It was just getting light when I pulled up at the cabin high against a growth of dagger pine and cedar. Smoke was curling from the chimney. Someone was awake. George Millar himself opened the door. Well, Marlowe. Well, she is good to see you. How'd you ever find us up here? How about some bacon and egg? The answer in my brief Marlowe morning manner is yes. Well, that's well. I'll wake up my brother and we'll all eat together. You don't have to wake me up. I'm up. Oh, hello, Gaff. Who's your friend, George? Gaff. This is Philip Marlowe. You've heard me talk of him. Hi, Marlowe. Gaff Talley. That the name? Yeah. My brother. That's his fighting name. He used to be a heavyweight boxer. Fighter. Boxers dance. Fighters fight. Let's get coffee started. Marlowe's hungry. Say, I've had a busy night. King Leoparty's been bumped off. Bumped off? Lowbrough killed. Venacular for murder. The king is dead though. Where? In a girl's apartment. Nice girl, too. The old suicide gag. But it could ruin the girl. Gee, that's lousy. Yeah. Yeah, but it won't work. It was murder. What makes you think it was murder? Well, Gaff, the way I cased the job, the kill was supposed to have been pulled in his room 815 at the Carlton Hotel night before last. Is that a fact now? Yeah. I spoil it by giving the king the Mary Heave Ho before the girl in 811 could get to him. Didn't I, George? I guess you did, Marlowe. Yeah. Of course, it would have been poetic justice if King Leoparty had been killed in the same room where a girl committed suicide two years ago, registered as Mary Smith. Usual name, Eve Talley. Did you hear that, Gaff Talley? Eve Talley. I heard it, Marlowe. So we had a sister named Eve, shot herself in 815 at the Carlton. So what? Well, George here told me that Quillin registered that professional gun girl in 815 night before last. Oh, no. George registered her. So? So George kept the room between the girl and Leoparty vacant. When everything was quiet, he had opened the communicating doors, and Marilyn Delorme would walk into the king's room, muffle her 25 in a pillow, and shoot the king in his sleep. How am I doing, boys? Fine, Marlowe. How am I doing? Uh, Gaff, put away that gun. I bet you even checked on 118 Court Street. Mm-hmm. I found Marilyn Delorme strangled. She knew too much. For a few bucks, you boys got Agatha to call Leoparty last night from the radio station and pretend she was Delores with an interesting invitation. The king always had a yen for Delores, and he came running. You shot the king before Delores came home and left him in her den. Then Gaff got rid of Agatha. She knew too much too. Leoparty was the worst kind of a rat, Marlowe. We loved our sister. She fell for him, and he threw her out. She killed herself. Now what would you do, Marlowe? Take his gun, George. Don't get between us or behind him. His 45 goes right on through. I'll have to take your gun, Marlowe. Well, always treat it like your own, won't you, George? Got it, George. I've got it. Stand out of the way. Does it have to be this way, Gaff? Yeah, it has to be this way. George and Gaff, the Avengers of innocent girlhood in their righteous indignation. Shut up, Marlowe. Lynch, mobs, tar and feather, merchants and other laws into themselves. Take notice. George and Gaff, they wrote the book. Say your prayers, Big Marlowe. Gaff, there's been enough killing. Get out of the way. No, Gaff, I won't. I swear I'll let you have what you want. No, Gaff. I'm warning you. Goodbye, Gaff. I'm sorry, Gaff. I had to do it. George, he's dead. I had to do it, Gaff. I just had some... You understand, don't you, Marlowe? Yeah, yeah, I understand. He was a killer. He killed three people. He wasn't going to kill a fourth. I wanted to finish Leopardo out in the open and take what came, but Gaff tried to do it and kill him. I didn't know Leopardo was dead until you told me, Marlowe. I believe you, George. Yeah, he's your gunbat, Marlowe. It shoots fine. I put in a big pitch for George at headquarters. After all, he hadn't killed anybody except Gaff, and that was in self-defense and in defense of an unofficial copper named Marlowe. He won't go get off scot-free, but he won't inhale cyanide, either, at the taxpayer's expense. After I talked to Ebera at headquarters, I telephoned Dolores Chiosa. I didn't give her the sorted details, but just told her not to worry that she was in the clear. Philip! Oh, thank you, Philip. I'm so relieved. I'm so grateful. I'm so thirsty. Well, come on over, then. Hey, wait a minute. Is this fiesta on you or is it on me? Why? Well, I mean, do I drink coke in bedders or cordon rouge? It's on me. All right, then, champagne it is, baby. But look, let me bring the glasses, huh? You have just heard Van Heflin starring in the new mystery series, The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, brought to you by the Lever Brothers Company, Makers of Pepsident. Van Heflin will return in just a moment. Men, here's an important announcement. News about a sensational hair tonic discovery. It's trim hair tonic made by Pepsident. For the first time, science has created a hair tonic with pure virgin olive oil. There's no finer hair and scalp conditioner. Yes, because it contains pure virgin olive oil, trim hair tonic conditions your scalp, as it grooms your hair. Get new trim hair tonic during the big one-cent introductory sale at Toilet Good's counters now. Two 60-cent bottles, $1.20 value, only 61 cents. Ask for trim hair tonic with olive oil. Now concerning next week's show, here's our star, Van Heflin. Philip Marlowe crouched in the darkness of Beverly Glen and waited for those footsteps to come closer. And then all at once, the Sandman hit him without bothering to remove the sand from the sandbag. And when Marlowe woke up in the morning, his wallet and his gun were gone. And he was wanted for murder. Tonight's story was adapted by Milton Geiger from The King and Yellow by Raymond Chandler, creator of Philip Marlowe, the screen's most famous private detective. The original music was composed and conducted by Lynn Murray. This is Wendell Niles inviting you to listen again next week at the same time to another exciting mystery on the adventures of Philip Marlowe starring Van Heflin with a distinguished cast.