The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, Volume 2

This is a collection of the only known episodes to exist from its run on both NBC and CBS radio. Originally called The New Adventures of Philip Marlowe, the private eye series, based on the character and books created by Raymond Chandler, made its debut on the NBC radio network on June 17, 1947, with Van Heflin in the role of Marlowe. The first episode adapted Chandler's short story "Red Wind."

Unable to find an audience on NBC, the series aired it's last episode for the network on September 9, 1947, barely three months after its debut.  The series was picked up in 1948 by the CBS radio network, renamed simply "The Adventures of Philip Marlowe," recast with Gerald Mohr as Marlowe, and began a 114-episode run that, by 1949, attracted the largest audience in radio. The new CBS series also began with an adaptation of Chandler's "Red Wind," although with a different script than the NBC version. Both episodes are included in this volume.

Mohr played Marlowe on all but one of the CBS shows, where he was replaced by William Conrad for the episode entitled "The Anniversary Gift"  which is included in volume two.  Conrad went on to play Matt Dillon on CBS radio's "Gunsmoke" which became the longest running radio show in history. 

As with all live cast recordings of old time radio broadcasts, some shows may contain commercials for products and services of the era.  In some cases, unlike radio of today, there may be commercials for tobacco and alcoholic products. To maintain the charm of these recordings and to faithfully reproduce the listening experience, we have left the programming intact, including the commercials. Additionally, because live radio performances were recorded directly to acetate records for archival purposes, the sound quality may differ from episode to episode based on the care given to their preservation over the last 60 years.)