The Adam Figg Caper

0:00 Sam Spade, detective, brought to you by Wild Root Cream Oil Hair Tonic, the non-alcoholic hair tonic that contains lanolin. Wild Root Cream Oil, again and again, the choice of men who put good grooming....

0:23 Sam Spade, Detective Agency.

0:25 Me, sweetheart.

0:26 Oh, Sam.

0:27 I got it. Got what, my pet?

0:29 A bank book, Sam.

0:31 Well, you must advertise in the lost and found right away, Effie, and find the owner. There might be sickness in the family.

0:35 Oh, but it's your bank book, Sam.

0:37 What?

0:37 Uh-huh.

0:38 It has your name on it.

0:39 Samuel Spade, account number four.

0:41 It's a forgery. Somebody's trying to pin something on me. Lock it up and don't touch it until I get there.

0:45 Oh, all right.

0:46 Did you make a lot of money on this one, too?

0:48 Got the check right in my pocket, 500 bucks.

0:50 Oh, Sam, we're making more money than a movie star.

0:52 Well, almost. And all honestly, too. 600 last week and 500 this week.

0:57 Yeah, how about that? And life gives a three-page spread to I Spy Moulton. But we mustn't let it turn our heads, Effie.

1:03 No.

1:03 We gotta stay in there pitching. I'll be right down to pitch my report on the Adam Figg caper. Dashiell Hammett, America's leading detective fiction writer and creator of Sam Spade, the hard-boiled private eye, and William Spear, radio's outstanding producer-director of mystery and crime drama, join their talents to make your hair stand on end with the adventures of Sam Spade.

1:29 Presented by the makers of Wild Root Cream Oil for the hair. You've heard the saying, you never know until you try. Well, you'll never know how handsome your hair can look until you try Wild Root Cream Oil. See for yourself how neatly and naturally Wild Root Cream Oil grooms your hair. Note how effectively it relieves annoying dryness and removes loose, ugly dandruff. You can get Wild Root Cream Oil hair tonic in either the big economy-sized bottle or the handy tube. Or you can ask your barber to use it on your hair. But by all means, try it. Don't delay. Get it today. Wild Root Cream Oil.

2:03 Again and again, the choice of men who put good grooming first. And now, with Howard Duff starring as Spade, Wild Root brings to the air the greatest private detective of them all in The Adventures of Sam Spade.

2:15 The Adventures of Sam Spade.

2:30 Sam, I bought us a present.

2:31 Oh, you're going to love it.

2:33 Well, we've got to watch these expenses, Effie. You know, there's always something. Yes, but this will be saving. It saves confusion. It saves fretting. Now, this gadget here, what is it?

2:41 It's a mineral butt.

2:43 A what-a-butt?

2:44 It's for busy men like yourself, Sam, so you don't have to burden your mind with petty details. You see, it has this dial on it right here, and you drop these little cards in this slot. You don't have to worry about that. That's for me to take care of.

2:54 Oh, good.

2:55 Then, when you come into the office, and supposing you have an appointment with Mr. Jones at 2 o'clock, and you forgot about it, you just dial 2 o'clock, and the little card pops out, and it says Mr.

3:05 Jones on it.

3:06 How do I remember to dial 2 o'clock?

3:07 Oh, well, maybe it's in the instruction book.

3:10 But anyway, now go ahead, Sam, please.

3:11 The card's right in there. Now, dial 2 o'clock.

3:14 Go on, Sam.

3:15 Let's see.

3:17 Just like a telephone, Sam.

3:20 Now what do I do?

3:21 Well, give it time, Sam.

3:23 It's sinking. You must have forgotten. Uh, Jones. Mr. Jones. Effie, do you think it's dead?

3:36 Sam, I don't understand it.

3:37 It was working perfectly.

3:39 Well, I'll take it straight back first thing in the morning.

3:43 You'll have to. It'll never find a way itself. You got your book, sweetheart?

3:48 Yes, Sam.

3:49 I don't understand.

3:52 It was working perfectly.

3:53 A little while ago.

3:53 Well, it's all right, honey.

3:57 It doesn't matter. Date, October 5, 1947. To Hillary Exxon Esquire from Samuel Spade, license number 137596. Oh, dear, I'm sorry. Oh, honey, it's only a memo robot. Subject, the Adam Fig caper. Dear Mr. Exxon, October 2nd in San Francisco was one of those days that you see blown off the calendar by a gust of wind in the movies to denote that time is passing. It was a day for scraping off the minutes with a fingernail file and wondering whether the display ad I'd paid for in the classified section of the phone book wasn't just a waste of money.

4:30 It certainly wasn't the day I'd expect a leprechaun to walk into my office. He said his name was Adam Figg. He said he was the butler at Exxon Manor in Los Nidos. The limousine, Mr.

4:43 Spade, is waiting to take you away.

4:45 We mustn't keep them waiting, must we? Of course we mustn't. Who mustn't we?

4:50 Why, Mr.

4:50 Hillary, of course, sir. Oh, Mr.

4:52 Hillary.

4:52 And old Mr.

4:53 Exxon.

4:53 The old gentleman is very ill.

4:55 Dr. Feige's office is down the hall. Turn to your right, second door. Well, I assure you, sir, that Mr.

5:00 Exxon has the best of medical care.

5:01 Your duty will be simple, to prevent his death.

5:04 Do I donate blood or just frighten away the evil spirits?

5:07 It isn't quite that, sir. Someone is trying to kill Mr.

5:09 Exxon.

5:09 He's a very sick man, and I'm sure he'd prefer dying from natural causes.

5:14 Uh-huh. I get $ 25 a day in expenses.

5:16 Here is an ample amount in advance.

5:18 But you should know, sir, that the old man is a nasty, cantankerous, villainous, crooked, intimidating... $ 500? Please, Fig, you're talking about the man I love! Los Nidos was at least an overnight caper, so on my way out, my lovely and charming secretary, Miss Corrine, handed me a brown paper bag which contained A, one pair of socks, darned, B, one shirt, ironed, and C, the apple which she always polishes for.

5:47 Me the night before.

5:49 We arrived at your large southern-style mansion two hours later.

5:54 Hey!

5:55 Hey!

5:56 Oh, Fig, where the devil have you been?

5:57 To the city, sir.

5:58 I can't find the keys to the liquor closet. Where are all the maids?

6:01 What happened to that cook we hired yesterday? Who is this man, and why is he wearing that necktie?

6:05 This is Mr.

6:06 Spade, sir, the detective.

6:08 Oh?

6:09 Oh, I'm Hillary, Exxon. Come in, come in, please. Go on upstairs, Fig. See what that girl is doing to my father. I don't believe she's in this at all.

6:18 Very good, sir.

6:19 In here, Mr.

6:19 Spade.

6:20 Pardon the condition of the house. The old man has been firing the servants again.

6:24 Your father, you mean?

6:25 Yes, yes. Every time he gets shot at, he fires.

6:27 All the servants. He gets shot at pretty often?

6:30 About once a year, in the fall.

6:33 You always hire a detective?

6:35 No.

6:36 Oh, dear. I'm not keeping you up, am I? No, no. Excuse me, please.

6:39 It's much worse this time. I can't get any sleep. Guns going off in the middle of the night. The whole household disturbed.

6:45 When and where was he last shot at?

6:46 Yesterday morning at about half past one. I dug the bullet out of the woodwork myself, a. 38 caliber, embedded in the doorframe that leads to Miss Kaywood's room.

6:54 Oh, that's his nurse. Was she with him at the time?

6:56 No.

6:57 No dad sleeps like a baby, full of sedatives, she sees to that.

7:01 Shot come from outside?

7:02 Yes, yes, but we found nobody on the grounds. No traces of anybody. I don't know whether Dad knows who shot at him or not. He's such a closed mouth, old devil.

7:11 You don't care very much for your father, do you?

7:13 To be frank, Mr. Spade, if hating weren't such an effort, I would despise him. He is without a doubt... Well, listen, listen. Get out of here! There, there, that's just a sample. Well, come on, come on, let's see what's eating him now.

7:26 Get out! Don't talk to me like that.

7:27 I tell you I won't stand for it. Well, you don't have to stand for it.

7:30 Take that silly painted face out of my sight.

7:31 Don't you dare!

7:32 Get out! What?

7:33 Oh, no!

7:37 I'm quitting.

7:38 I'm quitting, Mr. Exile. I can't stand another minute yelling, screaming.

7:41 Throwing things at him. You must have done something to set him off. I didn't.

7:43 I can't.

7:44 I didn't.

7:45 This is Mr. Spade, Miss Kaywood.

7:47 Oh, a detective.

7:49 Will it make you happier to know that I'm a private detective, Miss Kaywood?

7:52 Well, Mr. Spade, I only hope you can prevent a murder.

7:55 If there's any way at all that I can help, I.

7:56 Thanks. I'll see you downstairs after I've talked to the old man.

8:00 You'd better go in alone, Spade. Oh, Miss Kaywood, do you have a throat spray downstairs? I seem to be congested.

8:08 Go away. Go away! Go away!

8:15 Well, wasting ammunition.

8:17 Who are you?

8:18 If you're a total stranger, come on in. Don't be afraid, son. Come on over where I can look at you. It's hard to keep my eyes open.

8:29 Oh, I mustn't do that.

8:30 I mustn't do that.

8:32 So you're the detective, eh?

8:34 That's right, Pop. If you want to take a little nap or something, I'll come back later.

8:40 What did I say just now? Come back later?

8:42 No, no, no, no.

8:44 There's no reason for you to come back later. I'll say everything I have to say right now. The shot woke me. I didn't see anything. I don't know anything. I've got a million enemies. I can't remember the names of any of them.

8:54 Why don't you try to remember? I could have them checked.

8:55 You're wasting your time, Sonny.

8:57 In my day, I've wiped out a hundred men, and I'll outlive anybody who's gunning for me now.

9:02 You must be proud of your past, huh?

9:04 Proud?

9:05 Sonny.

9:06 A past like mine is the finest thing an old man can have. I've swindled my partners and betrayed my friends. I've turned state's evidence just to see my associate get sent up for 20 years. And they say my wife died under peculiar circumstances and I got rich off her insurance. Now I'm done talking. Oh, do me a favor, son, please.

9:27 I've got to get a half hour, 20 minutes sleep alone. You'll keep them out, everybody.

9:33 Please, will you?

9:33 Sure, sure, Pop. Go ahead, go on, sleep.

9:36 Oh, thank you, thank you.

9:44 He closed his eyes, rolled over, and fell into a heavy sleep. I stood there a moment, looking down at the frail, wasted old body. Then I cased the room. In digging the bullet out of the door, Hillary had done a good job of ruining any chance there might have been of proving the direction it had come from.

10:00 I strolled out on the balcony. It was a pretty night. I lit a cigarette and took it in. Then I heard a door open and close softly behind me. Nurse Kaywood was at your father's bedside. She was filling a hypodermic from a small vial of bluish liquid. He didn't awaken when she jabbed it into his arm. Then she saw me standing in the doorway. She hastily dropped the medicine vial into her uniform pocket and came around the bed to meet me. Oh, Mr.

10:26 Spade, oh, thank heaven.

10:28 When I saw you standing there in the.

10:29 Half-night, I thought you might be.

10:31 Thought I was who?

10:32 The man who fired the shot.

10:33 It was a man?

10:35 I don't know.

10:36 I didn't see it happen. I just assumed that.

10:37 You shouldn't have done it. I warned you. Eleanor.

10:42 Oh, we're disturbing him.

10:44 Let's talk outside.

10:44 Okay. Eleanor.

10:50 Oh, it's good to breathe something besides sick room air.

10:54 I thought you got used to things like that in your profession. Why are you so unfriendly, Mr.

10:58 Spade?

10:59 Nurses are humans, aren't detectives. Try me, sweetheart.

11:04 I know what you're thinking of me.

11:06 But after a week in this horrible house, that poor old man, he's frightened.

11:10 He's really frightened.

11:11 What of? By the shots. 38 caliber or hypodermic?

11:16 Surely you don't think that I... He's supposed to be under sedatives. The doctor's orders.

11:20 Sorry, sweetheart. It's my job to suspect everybody.

11:23 Oh.

11:25 Can't you forget your job, even for a moment?

11:28 Sure. Sure, if you don't mind the fact that I know you're a liar, that I'd make book you didn't come here primarily as a nurse, and what's worse, your act's not even convincing.

11:36 Oh.

11:38 Is it that bad, Sam?

11:39 Yeah. Almost bad enough to be good. Come here. Oh, I hate you.

11:53 It was a.

11:53 Very satisfactory love scene for both of us. For reasons of her own, Barbara wanted to keep me out of that sick room for a while, and she did. For reasons of my own, I wanted to get that medicine file out of her uniform pocket, and I did. Then, as suddenly as we had fallen into love, we fell out again. After she'd gone to her room, I went back to my sentry duty around the house. Under a light on the front veranda, I examined the bottle from which Barbara had taken the injection for your father. It was labeled sodium thanitol and had been dispensed by a firm called Ibis Chemicals Limited in Cairo, Egypt. The screen filled the house, high and frenzied. I started running toward Barbara Kaywood's room. I slammed the terrace door open and

12:38 found the light switch. Barbara was sitting upright on the center of a bed. Her face jerked up so abruptly that it seemed a naked snap. She clutched both hands to her chest, and fell face down among the bedclothes, staining them with her blood. I don't know whether I went through, over, or around the screen that stood between her room and the old man's. I circled Exxon's bed.

13:04 He lay on the floor on his side facing the window. I went outside. A. 38 automatic lay on the ground a few yards away from the building. I put that into my.

13:12 Pocket and listened.

13:13 No shadows moving.

13:14 Nothing.

13:14 Nothing. Then he was on me before I could be sure he wasn't a medium-sized freak.

13:20 Break your back. Be the light.

13:23 The warm stuff on my cheek might have been the thing's blood or mine. It gathered me up and bent me back.

13:28 And tore at my throat.

13:31 Then I remembered that hands are stronger than fingers. I started with his thumbs.

13:35 Ouch!

13:40 He lay there for a moment, then his huge body began to twitch. He was holding his fingers and sobbing like a baby. I pulled him up to his feet, poked him in the back with the flat of my hand. I followed him through an opening in the hedges and down a long, pitch-dark lane toward the lights of a squat brick house set on the top of a slight rise.

13:58 As we approached it, a door opened and light streamed out onto the porch. The tall man framed in the doorway was the last person in the world I expected to see.

14:06 Ah, Marcus, you've brought it.

14:08 Oh, master, very delightful service, but how much pain in me.

14:12 Always complaining, Marcus.

14:14 Welcome, Mr.

14:15 Spade.

14:16 Come in, my dear fellow, come in. I've been expecting you. The lost family fortune by, by.

14:24 By, uh, uh, uh, blackmailing me.

14:27 Ha, ha.

14:28 And if you don't remit, Exxon could have you booked for forgery, blackmail, definition of character.

14:33 Oh, my dear fellow, please. This is most painful. But if I had but the original letter, I could destroy it and go back to the felt.

14:43 Oh, the felt. What happened to it? That pig, that stinker stole it.

14:48 He burgled my home.

14:49 Are you taking pot shots at old Exxon? Well, don't be a fool, man. I want Exxon to stay alive.

14:54 I must find out some part of his life which will have an exchange value that will cancel out what he has on me. By the way, old thing, you met Miss Kaywood?

15:04 Mm-hmm.

15:05 At the present moment, she's milking me for $ 150 a day.

15:08 Oh?

15:09 She's supposed to go to the old man by whatever means necessary into talking about his past.

15:14 And that information she has to bring to me. That ought to be easy. Exxon brags about his past.

15:19 Well, so far, I've learned that Hillary Exxon stole two heifers at the livestock show in Abilene in 1906.

15:26 I feel for you, Captain. That wouldn't get much on the current market, would it?

15:30 My dear fellow, I've a proposition to make to you. Should you ferret out anything that would be of value to me, I'll reward you handsomely.

15:38 Well, maybe something can be arranged, Captain. Good, excellent. May I have your word on that? Well, there isn't much time, Captain. I'd better trot on back. I'll show you to the door, sir. And let me warn you, Mr. Spade, for your own good, should.

15:52 You ever hear the thump of ibis wings, run.

15:56 Flee. I assured him that I would heed his warning, bat him goodnight, and started back down the lane in the direction of Axon Manor. Business was going on as usual. There were no shots this time, only the scream. When I got to Barbara's room, you and Adam were standing at a bedside trying to quiet her down.

16:18 Well, Mr. Spade, is this the way you guard the house against intruders? Where have you been?

16:22 Ask Adam.

16:22 What does he mean by that thing? I'm sure I don't know, sir. I've not left the house.

16:26 What happened here?

16:26 Oh, she woke up screaming. She said someone had come into the room and torn off her bandages. A nightmare, of course. Please, I want to talk to Mr.

16:33 Spade alone.

16:34 Oh, please, please go. Adam, you go, too.

16:37 Please, Hillary, you go, too.

16:37 Good.

16:38 Good.

16:39 Some questions I want to ask you, sweetheart.

16:41 But look here, Spade, look here. She just had a terrific shock. She shouldn't be questioned. The code of detective transcends that of the medical, Mr.

16:48 Hillary. Perhaps he should have a few minutes alone with Miss Kaywood.

16:51 Oh, very well, very well. I suppose he's no better. Remember what the doctor said, Miss Barbara.

16:57 Not too much exertion. What happened, Barbara?

17:01 It could have been a dream.

17:03 Somebody was standing over me in the darkness and peering down at me.

17:05 And then he started to rip off my bandages and I screamed. And when Fig came into the room and he turned on the lights, he was gone. It could have been a dream, Sam. I could have been clawing at the bandages myself.

17:14 In my sleep.

17:15 But you weren't. It wasn't a dream. I've been talking to Captain Sherry. And then I thought.

17:20 Oh, well, how much do you know?

17:23 That you've been feeding the old man truth serum to get him to talk in his sleep. How much talking has he done?

17:29 Well, plenty.

17:30 How much have you told Sherry?

17:32 Well, just as little as possible.

17:34 Why? Because, Sam, if we can keep that old man alive and out of jail long enough to sell what we know to Sherry for what it's really worth, we'd be fools not.

17:42 To do it. What makes you so sure you'll stay alive long enough to collect, sweetheart?

17:45 Well, because you're going to help.

17:48 Me, aren't you, Sam?

17:55 So I helped her, but not for the reason she thought. I made a lot of noise leaving her room and going to mine. Going back, I didn't wear any shoes. I slipped into a clothes press in her room so quietly that even she didn't hear me. I left the door slightly ajar and waited. Time passed and I was stiff from standing still. It happened at about 3 a.m.

18:26 The crazy, feverish glare of his eyes told me the threat of the gun in my hands meant nothing to him. I jumped to his side, twisted the knife away from him, picked him up in my arms, and carried him, kicking, clawing, and swearing, back to his bed. He lay there, breathing hard. Then he smiled.

18:47 You're a smart one, Sonny. You had me figured out the first time you came in here, didn't you?

18:53 Not quite, Mr. Rexon. The gun under your window was the clincher.

18:56 That gun, sure.

18:59 I had it under my pillow all the time.

19:01 I got tired of shooting into door frames.

19:04 Look, you're dying, Mr.

19:05 Rexon.

19:05 There's no use trying to make up stories now. You're right, sonny.

19:09 I knew that nurse would sit up in bed after I fired tonight.

19:14 And then I let her.

19:14 Have it right through the screen.

19:16 Why?

19:17 You know why well enough. She was doping me up and sneaking in here at night. Listening to what I was babbling about.

19:27 Maybe you weren't saying anything important, Mr. Exxon.

19:31 I might have, Sonny.

19:32 I might have.

19:34 Fourteen years ago, I killed my wife. I wanted to carry the secret to my grave.

19:42 You nearly made it at that point. that. Spade!

19:51 What's happened?

19:51 Is he dead? He's dead. Did he say anything, sir? Did he confess anything?

19:54 You must tell me if he said anything.

19:56 I didn't hear him say a word. Well. Yeah, Mr.

20:03 Spade.

20:04 Charged with a certain texture, a significant quality.

20:08 There's a certain smell, yes. Ah, and omen. You can inhale it, sir.

20:16 Journey thou to Nairobi on the felt. Carry seven days, and you will collect the fabulous golden skull of Wisami, king of the pajamas. Aha!

20:28 Marcus! Yes, master.

20:29 Unhook the hookah. Pack the marmalade.

20:32 We are off to the felt. Just then, a flock of birds broke across the horizon, screaming. There must have been thousands of them, but not ibis, Mr. Exxon. Vultures. I suppose if you're going to pay any attention to omens, it's a good thing to know your birds.

20:51 Period.

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21:58 Well, Effie, we, uh.

22:00 Sam, the memo.

22:01 Robot works after all. I told you it would.

22:04 Yeah, it just takes a little time, sweetheart.

22:06 Oh, read the card, Sam.

22:08 Look, you see?

22:11 You'd know you were supposed to see Mr.

22:12 Jones at 2 o'clock.

22:13 Isn't it wonderful?

22:15 Why, this card doesn't even mention Jones.

22:17 Huh?

22:18 What does it say, Sam?

22:18 Well, it says, Journey thou to Frisken's Drugstore. Wager $ 5 on Ira W. and a third at Belmont Park. Oh, Sam, it's psychic.

22:28 Tarry but a moment.

22:29 Yes?

22:30 Thou wilt lose five bucks.

22:32 Oh.

22:33 Good night, Sam.

22:35 Good night, sweetheart.

22:36 Good night.

22:49 The Adventures of Sam Spade, Dashiell Hammett's famous private detective, are produced and directed by William Spear. Sam Spade is played by Howard Duff. Lorene Tuttle is Effie. The Adventures of Sam Spade are written for radio by Bob Tallman and Gil Dowd with musical direction by Lud Gluskin. This is Dick Joy reminding you that next Sunday, author Dashiell Hammett and producer William Spear join forces for another adventure with Sam Spade, brought to you by Wild Root Cream Oil.

23:12 Again and again, the choice of men who put good grooming first. Smart girls use Wild Root Cream Oil, too, for quick, good grooming and to relieve dryness between permanents. Mothers say it's grand for training children's hair. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.