Author Raymond Chandler originally created the wise-cracking private eye Phillip Marlow in a series of detective novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Philip Marlowe's character is foremost within the genre of “hardboiled crime fiction” that originated in the 1920s, most notably in Black Mask magazine, in which Dashiell Hammett's The Continental Op and Sam Spade first appeared. But like most hit detective magazine characters, radio is where the rough and tough Marlow would really shine, launching a hit series that ran on CBS from 1947 to 1951.

The private eye is a pessimistic and cynical observer of a corrupt society, yet the enduring appeal of Marlowe and other hardboiled dicks like him lies in their tarnished idealism. Underneath the wisecracking, hard drinking, tough persona, Marlowe is quietly contemplative and philosophical. He enjoys chess and poetry and yet he’s not at all afraid to risk physical harm in order to bring wrongdoers to justice. Morally upright, he is not bamboozled by the genre's usual cast of femme fatales either.

In its heyday the show featured Gerald Mohr as the hard-boiled detective Philip Marlow, his voice perfectly carrying off the blood, guts and thunder frequenting the storylines.

If you’re a fan of private eye detective radio, Phillip Marlow should be at the top of your list.

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FIRST BROADCAST: June 17th 1947

LAST BROADCAST: September 15th 1951

SPONSORS: Pepsodent, CBS, Ford Motors

CAST: Van Heflin, Gerald Mohr, Edgar Barrier, Gloria Blondell, Vivi Janiss, Lou Krugman, David Ellis, Wilms Herbert, Virginia Gregg, John Dehner, Lawrence Dobkin, Jack Moyles, Laurette Fillbrandt, Parley Baer, Howard McNear, Jeff Corey

ANNOUNCERS: Wendell Niles, Roy Rowan

PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: Jim Fonda, Norman Macdonnell

MUSIC: Lyn Murray, Richard Aurandt

WRITERS: Milton Geiger, Gene Levitt, Robert Mitchell, Mel Dinelli, Kathleen Hite

SOUND EFFECTS: Cliff Thorsness

Adventures of Philip Marlow – 1947-1951