Philip Marlowe in ‘Daring Young Dame on the Flying Trapeze’ – S. 10, Ep. 9

The Crime Cafe

This week’s episode of the Crime Cafe features another story from The Adventures of Philip Marlowe.

This episode comes to you ad-free. Relatively. 🙂

The following is an unedited AI-generated transcript. Does an awesome job, huh? 🙂

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Hi, everyone.

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This is The Crime Café, your podcasting source of great crime suspense and thriller writing.

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I’m your host, Debbi Mack.

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Before I bring on my guest,

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I’ll just remind you that The Crime Café has two e-books for sale,

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the nine-book box set and the short story anthology.

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You can find the buy links for both on my website, debbiemack.com, under the Crime Café link.

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If you’d like to

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You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter.

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You’ll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon,

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along with our eternal gratitude for doing so.

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Unfortunately, our scheduled guest was unable to make it this week.

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However,

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I have instead another episode from the files of Philip Marlowe,

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Private Eye,

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Daring Young Dame on the Flying Trapeze.

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Enjoy!

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For the safety of your smile, use Pepsodent twice a day, see your dentist twice a year.

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Lever Brothers Company presents the Pepsodent program,

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The Adventures of Philip Marlowe,

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starring Van Heflin.

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Pepsodent presents Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler’s famous private detective.

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You’ve seen him on the screen in Lady and the Lake,

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Murder,

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My Sweet,

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The Brasher Doubloon,

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and The Big Sleep.

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Now Pepsodent brings you the adventures of Philip Marlowe on the air and starring

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MGM’s brilliant and dynamic young actor,

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Van Heflin.

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Pepsodent

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There comes a certain time in the year when I don’t want to see midget auto races.

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I just want to see midgets.

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When I prefer sawdust to stardust, and popcorn to all other kinds of corn available in Hollywood.

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The circus was moving in on the grounds at Washington Boulevard and Hill Street,

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and I was turning in my usual fine job as sidewalk supervisor.

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It was exciting.

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It brought back all the sounds and sensations and convictions of childhood.

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And then someone had me firmly by the wrist,

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and I turned to look into a pair of steady,

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smoky,

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dark eyes that could be dangerous.

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Excuse me, sir, but you are a private detective?

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I’m a detective, but I don’t get much privacy.

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Yeah, my name is Ralph Tassinari.

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Who told you I was a detective?

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My feet aren’t that flat.

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Do you know a gentleman named Al Sicanolfi?

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Well, I know an Al Sicanolfi.

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He pointed you out.

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He asked me what was the big idea.

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What was my angle hiring a private detective?

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He gave me an idea.

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When has Al Sicanolfi had any ideas to spare?

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Mr. Marlowe, besides owning one-third of this very fine little circus, I am Tassinari.

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Of Tassinari, the Swede, and Glorian.

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Trafisto.

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The most brilliant aerial act in the business.

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I own this circus with Glorian and the Swede.

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Well, where does Al Sicanolfi fit in here?

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Now, the Swede gets drunk and gambles fantastic sums of money.

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This circus is worth a quarter of a million dollars.

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Already, the Swede has gambled away much more than his third of the circus.

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And a partner may sell out his other partners without even consulting them.

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Oh, you’re afraid the Swede will sell you out to pay for his debts.

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Yeah, and if he did that, I should not hesitate to… Uh-oh, watch yourself.

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Uh, I’ll take it off.

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It has made it plain that the gamblers expect payment immediately.

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Would you consider giving us your protection during the three days we’re going to be here?

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$25 a day in expenses.

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That’s the nut.

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Cheap enough.

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I know, but you see, I’m a sucker for circuses.

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Yeah?

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Is this the office of Philip Marlowe?

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Better still, this is Philip Marlowe.

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Didn’t he?

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Go ahead.

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This is his partner, Glorianne.

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I’m in a downtown bar with a Swede, and he’s terribly drunk.

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I know this isn’t your job, but won’t you come down and help me get him sobered up for the night?

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Please?

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All right.

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Mother Marlowe will be right down.

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I found the Main Street bar where Glorianne said I’d find her and the Swede.

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The Swede was potted like Grandma’s begonia.

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And with the help of the bartender and four professional loafers, we got him into my car.

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I told Gloria to drive.

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Ah, ah, lay me alone, will you?

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I’m all right.

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Well, just take it easy.

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Where shall I drive, Mr. Marlowe?

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Jordan Street Receiving Hospital.

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I’ll stay back here and wrestle the Swede for the championship.

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I just left him alone for an hour to do some shopping.

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I’m telling you something, honey girl.

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That Tesson there, he makes any more passes at you, I’ll beat him brainless.

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Oh, please don’t pay any attention to him, Mr. Marlowe.

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He thinks everyone at this circus is in love with me.

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Okay, now back in your seat, Roger.

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Yeah, yeah, and that flip doctor, too.

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Oh, be still.

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I’m telling you something, honey girl.

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One of these days,

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I’m going to get absent-minded on that trapeze,

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and I’m not going to catch you,

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friend Tassinari.

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How’s that, huh?

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Don’t listen to him, Mr. Marlowe.

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Well, then tell muscles to let go of my ear.

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Yeah, perfect crime.

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Who’d know it was an accident or not?

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And then I’d own half a circus instead of just a third.

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Please, Mr. Marlowe.

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He’s drunk.

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Yeah, but drunk or sober, you’ve got one doozy of an idea there.

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Drunk or sober.

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Hey, my wrist.

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Watch that.

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I knew some interns at Georgia Street Receiving Hospital who obliged with some oxygen and a mask.

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A half hour of breathing that oxygen deeply in the Swede was stone cold sober and back in my car again.

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He was making certain cagey explanations.

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Uh, Marlowe, you don’t want to take that stuff I was mumbling about seriously, you know, I…

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I was drunk.

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You certainly were.

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After all, Gloria Ann’s my wife.

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Oh?

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Naturally, I don’t like other guys giving her the eye.

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But that screwy talk about me dropping Tassinari accidentally on purpose.

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Oh, forget it.

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Oh, no.

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Yeah, the perfect crime.

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I was only talking, Marlowe.

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I wouldn’t do that to Tassinari.

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Of course not.

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He’d be all broken up about it, wouldn’t he?

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I sat in a field box that evening at this small, neat circus unwound toward the big act.

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And the big moment arrived with butterflies warming up in my stomach and a pulse

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thumping madly in my neck.

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on the high trapeze.

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Ladies and gentlemen,

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the living and justifying Passaneri and the Swede came bounding into the arena and

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over to the two spidery ladders that zoomed up into the very peak of the big tent.

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Up there where it was hot, high, and dangerous.

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Two magnificently made men climbing that slim ladder.

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Their brilliant capes flowing behind them, going up higher, smaller, higher.

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And then… They were on their tiny platforms, removing their capes grandiosely.

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And they turned, faced each other across the void like divers.

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Not a voice, not a breath, not a sound.

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I began to perspire.

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The net was being gathered back…

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Then suddenly,

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Passaneri raised his right arm and smiled,

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dropped his arm,

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and the Swedes shot out into space like a comet,

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and the gay,

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waltzing,

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somehow insane music began.

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The End

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It was all the announcer said, at least to me.

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Daring and terrifying.

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Whirl and spin and contact.

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Swing, swing, swing and spin.

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Spinning and whirling, contact and break.

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Hands locked to rosined hands, contact and break.

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Spin, whirl, cartwheel and contact.

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Swing, swing, swing, and leap.

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Split second timing and the split second split again,

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with crappies bars flying into place where and when they were needed.

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I left away my head drumming and swimming.

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And I looked up again.

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I looked up and the thing that had been tying my stomach in cold hard knots,

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the thing I was afraid of,

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happened.

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Look out!

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The music played a gay tune.

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The clowns poured into the arena, grinning happily.

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I saw the youngish, handsome doctor race across the sawdust, followed by Gloria.

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Across the arena, I saw Al Sicanolfi get up and disappear into the crowd.

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I went out, too.

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Outside, I managed to get a shaking match to a quaking cigarette.

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In my mind, I heard again and again the drunken voice of the flying Swede come back to me.

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One of these days,

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I’m going to get abso-minded on that trapeze,

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and I’m not going to catch your friend,

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Tassinari.

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How’s that, huh?

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Only it was all wrong.

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It didn’t add up.

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Because the body that had plummeted to the ground hadn’t been the body of Ralph Tassinari.

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but of the man who had plotted the perfect crime, Gloriana’s husband, the flying Swede.

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Mother.

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What?

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Oh.

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Oh.

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You were in there?

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Yes, I saw it, Gloria.

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I think I could kill Ralph for this.

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You think Tassinari dropped your husband purposely?

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What do you think?

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Look, Lorraine, I took this job, you know why.

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Well, all this reminded me of myself when I was a kid reading Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and believing.

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Well, I still believe in him.

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I felt the same way about the circus.

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The last childish illusions.

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The man holds on to you so he doesn’t get too hard.

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You’re not tough at all, are you?

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I was going to like this job, and then this happened.

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Do you know what I’m talking about?

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Yes, sir.

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I’m sorry we failed.

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Look, Lorraine, the Swede is dead and you think Tassinari killed him, but it’s the perfect crime.

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You can’t prove anything.

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Look,

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maybe I didn’t love the Swede very much,

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but he was my husband and on the square…

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Did you love Tassinari?

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If I did, it’s all over now.

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I’m going to prove to everybody in circus business at least that he killed my husband.

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Yeah, well, how?

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You’ll see, little boy.

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Good night.

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Good night.

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I watched her go back into the big tent,

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and then I drove home and dreamed all night of Al Saganolfi smiling his yellow

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smile and disappearing into the crowd.

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I got up late and went down for coffee in a newspaper.

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The story was there on page one.

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Also,

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a silky,

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leggy picture of Gloriana beneath it,

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the caption reading,

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Show must go on,

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dares high trapeze in the passenary after mate falls to death.

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I looked at my watch.

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It was late, later than I thought.

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For the daring young dame on the flying trapeze, it was almost too late.

(00:12:50):
You are listening to The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, starring Van Heflin.

(00:12:55):
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(00:13:26):
We continue with the adventures of Philip Marlowe,

(00:13:28):
created by Raymond Chandler and starring Van Heflin,

(00:13:31):
who appears by arrangement with Metro-Golden-Mare.

(00:13:34):
Producers of The Hucksters, starring Clark Gable.

But first, let me remind you that the podcast offers membership benefits on Patreon.

Check out Patreon today. After you buy your toothpaste.

(00:13:47):
The Lion Act was going on when I arrived at the circus grounds and practically ran to Gloria Ann’s tent.

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She was in her tights and cloak ready to go on.

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Look, Gloria Ann, you’re kidding.

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This is a gag.

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You’re not going up there.

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One minute, little boy.

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Well, you’re out of your mind.

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I’m going up with Pastor Nari to prove you to killed a thief.

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You add that up.

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My arms are full of bundles.

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Pastor Nari agreed to go up with me.

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Why?

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Why aren’t his nerves shattered after yesterday?

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Because he knows he didn’t make a mistake yesterday.

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He knows he dropped my husband purposely.

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And not because his timing or reactions were wrong.

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Do I make sense?

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Up to a point.

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You’re thinking he may drop me.

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And I wouldn’t like that.

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He won’t drop me.

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What makes you so sure?

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Because Tosinari loves me.

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He wants me.

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Does that make sense?

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Yeah.

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Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

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Well, go to it, little girl.

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I watched Glorianne so small and slim and fragile as she went up that thin ladder.

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My throat swelled tight and the butterflies took off in my stomach again.

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She was on the platform, removing her silk cape, folding it carefully over the rail.

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They were facing each other, smiling.

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Smiling.

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Dead, sultry silence.

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Then…

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For minutes, I sat there, petrified, watching her cold sweat channel down my back.

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For ten minutes, I stopped breathing.

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I died.

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Once, only once, I had to close my eyes.

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And in that second, I heard the crowd roar.

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Everyone was standing up, screaming and goggle-eyed.

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I groped to my feet, and there she was.

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Bowing and laughing and throwing kisses into the crowd and at Tassinari and at me.

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Then she pirouetted and ran up the ramp to her dressing tent.

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I got there with Tassinari.

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Her eyes warmed for me and then froze again for Tassinari.

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Come in, little boy.

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And you, Tassinari.

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Tassinari?

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Ralph also is a name I bear.

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Today I talk to Tassinari.

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Now I want Mr. Moller to hear what I have to say to you.

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Which is first that I’m through with you.

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Corianne, not because of the accident.

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Yes, but because it was not an accident.

(00:16:32):
You don’t believe that?

(00:16:33):
May I suggest that maybe Al Sicanolfi has a meaty part in this picture?

(00:16:37):
No.

(00:16:38):
Hasanari here killed a Swede.

(00:16:40):
Corianne, that’s not true.

(00:16:41):
Dr. Stowe seems to think as I do.

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Ah, yes, Dr. Stowe.

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I did pass your tent last night after the accident.

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Accident?

(00:16:50):
I heard you and the kaffite unsuccessful doctor speaking together, oh, so intimately.

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Bear your insult, Hasanari.

(00:16:57):
Speaking together, deciding conveniently, perhaps, that I’d kill a Swede.

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Richard never accused you.

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He only said that… Oh, he’s the one, eh?

(00:17:05):
Richard.

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Get out.

(00:17:07):
If I wanted to murder a man, it would be easy to take my gun from my trunk and shoot him.

(00:17:12):
Yeah, but that wouldn’t be the perfect crime.

(00:17:14):
Why should I want to kill the Swede?

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Because he might have sold you out to pay his debts.

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Because you’d get half of his share of the circus.

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Because you were in love with his wife.

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I see.

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You think you have a case, huh?

(00:17:33):
I hope not.

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Florianne knows what I mean.

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Only perhaps Tosinaya better go now.

(00:17:38):
Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I’m very sorry, Florianne.

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For all of us.

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Good day.

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Good day, Miss Tamaro.

(00:17:57):
He padded out softly like a panther, resentment and hatred smoldering in his eyes.

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That was horrible, little boy.

(00:18:07):
I’d better lie down now.

(00:18:09):
I left wondering if there’d be a show that night, tradition or no tradition.

(00:18:14):
I walked for a half an hour and then a police squad car came screaming down

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Washington Boulevard toward the circus grounds.

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Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun, but Marlowe runs in it.

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I found a small colony of cops in one of the dressing tents.

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The man on the cot.

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had taken a lot of pulses in his time, but he didn’t have a single one to show for it, not even his own.

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Good-looking, youngish Dr. Richard W. Stowe was dead.

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Detective Lieutenant Ibera held out a small automatic to me.

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Hello, Marlowe.

(00:18:51):
I hear you’ve been masterminding things around here lately.

(00:18:55):
Ever see this gun before?

(00:18:56):
I may have heard of it.

(00:18:58):
A man named Ralph Tassinari, connected with his show, has disappeared.

(00:19:03):
Know something about that?

(00:19:04):
He was fresh from a lover’s quarrel last I saw him.

(00:19:07):
Ah?

(00:19:08):
Well, maybe just out walking it off.

(00:19:11):
Possibly.

(00:19:12):
But the dead doctor and Tassinari both went for a pretty little trapeze queen named Gloria Ann.

(00:19:17):
Was anything stolen here?

(00:19:19):
No.

(00:19:20):
The circus hand who heard the muffled shot came running before anything could have been taken.

(00:19:24):
Well, the gal, Gloria Ann, how does she feel about this?

(00:19:28):
She’s in her tent, heavily committed to a case of hysterics.

(00:19:33):
Uh, Marlowe, divvy’s on any information you get out of her.

(00:19:45):
Look, Laurie Ann, you can’t go on like this.

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Now let me get something for you.

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I’ll be all right.

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Just to set it, to settle your nerves.

(00:19:54):
Oh, no, we never take that thing.

(00:19:56):
It’s bad for going up on a trap.

(00:19:59):
No.

(00:20:00):
No, I’ll sleep.

(00:20:02):
That’s the best thing.

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Sleep.

(00:20:06):
You can’t go up there tonight.

(00:20:07):
Anyway, Tassinari’s missing.

(00:20:10):
I’ll go see what I can find for you.

(00:20:21):
I rummaged through Dr. Stowe’s medical bag while Ibera watched from across the tent

(00:20:26):
I found a small black book.

(00:20:28):
I leafed through it with my hand still hidden in the bag.

(00:20:32):
It was a small case history book with sketchy data about his cases,

(00:20:37):
the treatment given,

(00:20:38):
the medication prescribed.

(00:20:41):
I very quietly tore out the last page,

(00:20:44):
palmed it,

(00:20:44):
and slipped it in my pocket as I creaked to an approximate upright position.

(00:20:48):
Find anything to quiet the little woman, Myron?

(00:20:51):
No, not a thing, Lieutenant, not a thing.

(00:20:54):
I’ll try a drugstore.

(00:21:02):
Tablets of cyclodome, grains one and a half.

(00:21:06):
One tablet with warm water for nerves or sleep.

(00:21:09):
What is it?

(00:21:10):
It’s a common sedative, but I can’t sell you any without a prescription.

(00:21:15):
Well, can you tell me anything about those drugs?

(00:21:17):
Some, but you will find a lot more in Dr. Toral Solman’s textbook on pharmacology.

(00:21:23):
Textbook on pharmacology.

(00:21:25):
It’s only in the main library, I think, but it’s complete.

(00:21:28):
That’ll tell you all you want to know, I’m sure.

(00:21:39):
The druggist was right.

(00:21:40):
The textbook of pharmacology told me all I wanted to know.

(00:21:43):
Also, this was a very limited edition.

(00:21:48):
It was probably the only one of its kind that had on the page devoted to cyclodrome

(00:21:54):
a smudge of lipstick in the shape of a woman’s finger.

(00:22:08):
It was all and more than I wanted to know.

(00:22:11):
And all at once, I was old.

(00:22:14):
Very old.

(00:22:16):
From now on, I was going to leave illusions to high school girls and magicians.

(00:22:24):
Hello, little boy.

(00:22:28):
Back again.

(00:22:29):
I see you’re dressed for work, Lorianne.

(00:22:31):
Has the night returned?

(00:22:33):
I wouldn’t know.

(00:22:35):
But I think I do know who killed the Swede.

(00:22:37):
Tassinari.

(00:22:38):
I gravely doubt that.

(00:22:39):
Well, then who?

(00:22:41):
Not Alfred and Alfie.

(00:22:43):
Glorian,

(00:22:44):
you’re a dainty little thing,

(00:22:45):
and that’s a particular reason why you should break yourself of little unsightly habits,

(00:22:51):
like touching your fingers to your mouth to turn back pages in books.

(00:22:57):
Are you all right, little boy?

(00:22:59):
Was the Swede all right when he went up with Tassinari last night?

(00:23:04):
Or was he just slightly under the influence of a sedative drug that calms the nerves?

(00:23:08):
Yes, but slows up their reaction time.

(00:23:12):
I don’t understand such matters.

(00:23:14):
You admitted to me today that it isn’t wise to take such sedatives before your act.

(00:23:19):
But you did get a prescription for such tablets from Dr. Stowe and you said nothing about them.

(00:23:23):
Well, I was upset after the Swede was killed.

(00:23:25):
I needed something.

(00:23:26):
But according to Dr. Stowe’s case book, you got the tablets before the Swede was killed.

(00:23:31):
And you left him at the bar for an hour yesterday while you did a little medical

(00:23:35):
research at the main library.

(00:23:37):
And that night, the Swede split second time.

(00:23:40):
He didn’t quite split, did he?

(00:23:43):
Of course you weren’t afraid to go up with Tassinari today.

(00:23:48):
He didn’t miss the Swede.

(00:23:49):
The Swede missed him.

(00:23:50):
I hated him.

(00:23:54):
You didn’t want him.

(00:23:56):
You just wanted the circus, all of it.

(00:23:58):
So you killed the Swede with his own perfect crime.

(00:24:01):
Only it was too perfect.

(00:24:03):
You couldn’t pin the murder on Tassinari.

(00:24:06):
You had to think of something more down to earth.

(00:24:10):
Go on, little boy.

(00:24:11):
Make Gloria Ann proud of you.

(00:24:14):
Dr. Stowe knew that you hated your husband.

(00:24:17):
He knew that you had those tablets.

(00:24:18):
He knew that the Swede didn’t make mistakes.

(00:24:22):
Last night when Tassinari heard you and Stowe whispering together,

(00:24:25):
Stowe was telling you what he suspected,

(00:24:27):
wasn’t he?

(00:24:28):
He was a doctor and he is furious at the thought of being used in a murder.

(00:24:31):
You’re raising your voice.

(00:24:33):
You look certain.

(00:24:33):
No.

(00:24:35):
Well, if you didn’t shut up the doctor, he’d talk.

(00:24:37):
So you shot him with Tassinari’s gun after staging a very nice row with Tassinari in front of me.

(00:24:43):
That would pin it on Tassinari.

(00:24:46):
You let Stowe take you in his arms to muffle the shop.

(00:24:50):
That was particularly pretty.

(00:24:53):
No, little boy.

(00:24:54):
It was not.

(00:24:56):
No, it was not.

(00:24:59):
Little boy, you’ve had a busy day.

(00:25:04):
Well, it’s time that I grew up anyway.

(00:25:07):
That’s for my act.

(00:25:08):
Ladies and gentlemen, Captain Harry and Gloria.

(00:25:16):
And Gloria.

(00:25:17):
And Gloria.

(00:25:18):
I’ve sent for the police, Gloria, and they’ll be here pretty soon.

(00:25:21):
Little boy!

(00:25:22):
Asanay is there.

(00:25:24):
He’s waiting in the runway across the arena.

(00:25:26):
He came back!

(00:25:27):
He doesn’t even know he’s wanted, probably.

(00:25:29):
Oh, little boy, I have let you down.

(00:25:32):
Let me make it up a little.

(00:25:34):
Let me go out there.

(00:25:35):
Will you come down again?

(00:25:37):
Yes, of course.

(00:25:38):
By the ladder, I mean.

(00:25:39):
I won’t let you down again, little boy.

(00:25:41):
I promise it.

(00:25:42):
We circus people won’t disappoint you again.

(00:25:45):
Please.

(00:25:46):
They’re waiting.

(00:25:48):
Well, the show must go on, mustn’t it?

(00:25:51):
All right, go ahead, lady.

(00:25:52):
They’re waiting.

(00:25:56):
She ran out laughing, throwing kisses, and I walked out after her.

(00:26:01):
Stood in the runway watching.

(00:26:02):
I watched the small, delicate figure going up the ladder.

(00:26:06):
Then she was at the platform.

(00:26:08):
Rosin on shoes, rosin on the hands and wrists.

(00:26:12):
And sultry silence, not a voice.

(00:26:20):
raising her hand in a gesture of exquisite grace and sureness and smiling and pessimism.

(00:26:26):
Smiling.

(00:26:28):
And there it was.

(00:26:29):
This was it.

(00:26:31):
There.

(00:26:41):
Ghostly packs of small fry from my school days gaped up with me and shivered with kid delight.

(00:26:48):
I was a kid again, walking up at the circus guy and the circus lady.

(00:26:53):
The daring young dame on the flying trapeze, Passaneri and Glorianne.

(00:26:58):
Or positively, the last performance anywhere on earth.

(00:27:13):
You have just heard Van Heflin starring in the new mystery series,

(00:27:17):
Raymond Chandler’s The Adventures of Philip Marlowe,

(00:27:19):
brought to you by the Lever Brothers Company,

(00:27:21):
makers of Pepsodent.

(00:27:23):
Van Heflin will return in just a moment.

(00:27:26):
Now, here is Van Heflin, star of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe.

(00:27:29):
King Leopardi had the hottest trumpet and the coldest eye in show business,

(00:27:35):
and he loved yellow silk,

(00:27:36):
so they called him the King in Yellow.

(00:27:39):
We consider his short,

(00:27:40):
eventful life next week when,

(00:27:42):
as Philip Marlowe,

(00:27:43):
I have some business with the King in Yellow.

(00:27:51):
Tonight’s story was written by Milton Geiger,

(00:27:53):
based on the character of Philip Marlowe,

(00:27:55):
the screen’s most famous private detective,

(00:27:57):
created by Raymond Chandler.

(00:27:59):
Heard with Van Heflin tonight as Glory Ann was Lorene Tuttle.

(00:28:03):
The original music was composed and conducted by Lynn Murray.

(00:28:06):
This is Wendell Niles inviting you to listen again next week at this same time to

(00:28:10):
another exciting mystery on The Adventures of Philip Marlowe,

(00:28:13):
starring Van Heflin with a distinguished cast.

(00:28:17):
This is NBC, the national broadcasting company.

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