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pyatIt couldn’t be, but it was. Casper Gutman, the fat man of the Maltese Falcon caper!
Looking at the unholy trio there - Joel Cairo, the little Levantine still as oily and smiling as ever and still fragrant, Marvin, a sullen-faced, hollow-eyed youth as near Wilmer’s double as anyone could expect to find, and Gutman, spruce as ever in his black cutaway coat, black vest, and grey striped trousers – you’d have thought nothing had happened since then, not even the war.
The grayness at Cairo’s temples only made his baby-face look more babyish, and about Gutman nothing was different except his watch chain. A curious, jewel-encrusted ornament dangled from it, shaped like a claw.
“You seem surprised to see me, sir! And no wonder. One is always surprised to see a ghost, especially such a substantial ghost! Aha ha… Suffice it to say, sir, that the bloated and unpleasant object the police dredged up from San Francisco Bay and identified as myself was some other poor soul.”
Shortly after we met, my friend Brian presented me with a substantial collection of old-time radio shows in MP3 format. I have about one hundred hours worth – everything from I Love Adventure! to Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.
Now that I have a portable MP3 player (thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
normanrafferty) I’m able to listen to them in the car. Last night’s commute home took almost two hours – two lanes were closed – and I listened to five episodes of Johnny Dollar, the Insurance Agent with the Action-Packed Expense Account.
This morning, I finished listening to “The Case of the Medium, Well-Done”, and randomly skipped to another track, an episode of Suspense Theatre from 1948. I was pleased to find that this particular episode (The Kandy Tooth Caper) was a special one, featuring the cast of the weekly Sam Spade radio show which was aired in the late 40s'. The Sam Spade show was excellently scripted, and very wry and witty – rather different in tone from the original Hammett novels and the film versions, but still good. I hoped that the Sam Spade episode Suspense would be as well done as the original radio show. I’ve heard about half of the episode so far, and have not been disappointed.
In fact, this particular episode seems to be something on the lines of an extremely well-written Sam Spade fan-fic. At one point, Spade even telephones fellow hard-boiled shamus Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler’s fictional creation. It’s like the time Dr. Who met the Fantastic Four, expect that it’s good.
I fully intend to someday rewrite this as a adventure scenario for the Justice Inc. RPG.
The episode opens with Spade receiving a telegram from the loquacious Kasper Gutman, the sinister fat man of The Maltese Falcon, who as far as we knew was either arrested or killed at the end of that particular caper – along with his associates Joel Cairo and Wilmer Cook. Of course, we don't actually see them get snatched. Only Brigitte O'Shaunessy is seen getting caught.
The telegram:
My dear Mister Spade:
You will no doubt receive with mixed emotions the news of my imminent reappearance in the city of the Golden Gate. Hence, the companion dispatch of a telegraphic draft in the amount of one-thousand dollars, which you are free to convert into genuine coin of the realm. This trifling sum, sir, is merely a token of my esteem for a man of many resources and nice judgment, and for it I do not require any specific service.
However, if you feel so disposed sir, you are free to accept my considered advice in a matter of an invidious pair of rogues, to whit, one Lawrence Laverne, D.D.S., and/or Hope Laverne, whose charms and aliases are far too myriad to enumerate in this necessarily abbreviated communication.
Should either or both of these persons approach you, BEWARE the hidden tooth. Believe me sir, they are untruthful, unreliable, and totally devoid of all moral sensibility. I count upon you, sir, to make no commitments to them, or anyone else, until you have heard my proposition! This I hope to lay before you when I arrive in San Francisco this very evening. Dear Joel sends his regards.
I remain your obedient servant,
Casper Gutman
We learn later how Gutman eluded the police, and at the same time convinced Wilmer to take the fall for his apparent murder. He enlists Wilmer’s younger brother to take on Wilmer’s role as his bodyguard, and he, along with Joel Cairo, continue on the search for the Maltese Falcon. They find it has been destroyed. A single jewel-encrusted claw is all that remains, which Gutman has made into a watch-fob.
The trio then travels to Spain, where they loot the tomb of a dead saint, stealing only a yellowed tooth from the skeletal jaw. It shows up in a rather unexpected place.
I’ll listen to the last half tonight on the trip home.
Looking at the unholy trio there - Joel Cairo, the little Levantine still as oily and smiling as ever and still fragrant, Marvin, a sullen-faced, hollow-eyed youth as near Wilmer’s double as anyone could expect to find, and Gutman, spruce as ever in his black cutaway coat, black vest, and grey striped trousers – you’d have thought nothing had happened since then, not even the war.
The grayness at Cairo’s temples only made his baby-face look more babyish, and about Gutman nothing was different except his watch chain. A curious, jewel-encrusted ornament dangled from it, shaped like a claw.
“You seem surprised to see me, sir! And no wonder. One is always surprised to see a ghost, especially such a substantial ghost! Aha ha… Suffice it to say, sir, that the bloated and unpleasant object the police dredged up from San Francisco Bay and identified as myself was some other poor soul.”
Shortly after we met, my friend Brian presented me with a substantial collection of old-time radio shows in MP3 format. I have about one hundred hours worth – everything from I Love Adventure! to Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.
Now that I have a portable MP3 player (thanks to
normanrafferty) I’m able to listen to them in the car. Last night’s commute home took almost two hours – two lanes were closed – and I listened to five episodes of Johnny Dollar, the Insurance Agent with the Action-Packed Expense Account. This morning, I finished listening to “The Case of the Medium, Well-Done”, and randomly skipped to another track, an episode of Suspense Theatre from 1948. I was pleased to find that this particular episode (The Kandy Tooth Caper) was a special one, featuring the cast of the weekly Sam Spade radio show which was aired in the late 40s'. The Sam Spade show was excellently scripted, and very wry and witty – rather different in tone from the original Hammett novels and the film versions, but still good. I hoped that the Sam Spade episode Suspense would be as well done as the original radio show. I’ve heard about half of the episode so far, and have not been disappointed.
In fact, this particular episode seems to be something on the lines of an extremely well-written Sam Spade fan-fic. At one point, Spade even telephones fellow hard-boiled shamus Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler’s fictional creation. It’s like the time Dr. Who met the Fantastic Four, expect that it’s good.
I fully intend to someday rewrite this as a adventure scenario for the Justice Inc. RPG.
The episode opens with Spade receiving a telegram from the loquacious Kasper Gutman, the sinister fat man of The Maltese Falcon, who as far as we knew was either arrested or killed at the end of that particular caper – along with his associates Joel Cairo and Wilmer Cook. Of course, we don't actually see them get snatched. Only Brigitte O'Shaunessy is seen getting caught.
The telegram:
My dear Mister Spade:
You will no doubt receive with mixed emotions the news of my imminent reappearance in the city of the Golden Gate. Hence, the companion dispatch of a telegraphic draft in the amount of one-thousand dollars, which you are free to convert into genuine coin of the realm. This trifling sum, sir, is merely a token of my esteem for a man of many resources and nice judgment, and for it I do not require any specific service.
However, if you feel so disposed sir, you are free to accept my considered advice in a matter of an invidious pair of rogues, to whit, one Lawrence Laverne, D.D.S., and/or Hope Laverne, whose charms and aliases are far too myriad to enumerate in this necessarily abbreviated communication.
Should either or both of these persons approach you, BEWARE the hidden tooth. Believe me sir, they are untruthful, unreliable, and totally devoid of all moral sensibility. I count upon you, sir, to make no commitments to them, or anyone else, until you have heard my proposition! This I hope to lay before you when I arrive in San Francisco this very evening. Dear Joel sends his regards.
I remain your obedient servant,
Casper Gutman
We learn later how Gutman eluded the police, and at the same time convinced Wilmer to take the fall for his apparent murder. He enlists Wilmer’s younger brother to take on Wilmer’s role as his bodyguard, and he, along with Joel Cairo, continue on the search for the Maltese Falcon. They find it has been destroyed. A single jewel-encrusted claw is all that remains, which Gutman has made into a watch-fob.
The trio then travels to Spain, where they loot the tomb of a dead saint, stealing only a yellowed tooth from the skeletal jaw. It shows up in a rather unexpected place.
I’ll listen to the last half tonight on the trip home.
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no subject
Date: 2004-02-10 07:06 am (UTC)You DO know what "gunsel" really means in Yiddish, right?
Re:
Date: 2004-02-10 07:07 am (UTC)"Wilmer is like a son to me... and more than son, sir.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-10 08:11 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-10 12:10 pm (UTC)"Make me a fat, bloated eeeeediot," I said.
The Khandi Tooth Caper
Date: 2004-02-10 03:58 pm (UTC)I think the spelling for this episode of "Suspense" is as above.
Incidently, the OTR series "The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective" are real fun to listen to. They are much more wry and quirky in their humour than the Dashiell Hammett series, and both the writers and the man stars have fun with this show. Most shows are, alas, lost to history, but about 20 half hour shows or so are in circulation and are well worth tracking down.
::Brian::
Re: The Khandi Tooth Caper
Date: 2004-02-10 05:08 pm (UTC)I've listened to a number of Sam Spades on tape - you lent me some for the drive to AnthroCon in 2003. They do indeed rock on toast. :)