THE RADIO ADVENTURES OF SAM SPADE

When Dashiell Hammett’s The Adventures of Sam Spade made its debut over CBS in August of 1946, personable Howard Duff, a comparative unknown in Hollywood circles, was assigned the title role. The selection of young Duff for the hard-hitting detective was perfect casting, his success was immediate, and Hollywood began predicting important things to come for this new personality. Almost immediately the radio program became popular earning a steady weekly following of radio listeners who tuned in each week to enjoy the mysteries (occasionally adapted from Hammett short stories). The enormous success of the Sam Spade radio program spawned a series of comic strips, magazine articles and radio cross-overs, not to mention numerous radio programs attempting to cash in on the Sam Spade craze by offering Sam Spade imitators. By 1948, the threat of communism and Hammett’s leanings were starting take its toll on the radio program. Bob Tallman and Gil Doud, the major script writers for the series,