The House of Squibb presents Academy Award. Every week Squibb brings you Hollywood's finest, the great picture plays, the great actors and actresses, techniques and skills chosen from the honor roll of those who have won or been nominated for the famous Golden Oscar of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. And now E.R. Squibb and Son, manufacturing chemists to the medical profession since 1858, bring you the distinguished star Mr. Humphrey Bogart, who as Best Actor of the Year was nominated for the 1943 Academy Award. You will also hear Miss Mary Astor, who won the 1941 Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress of the Year, and Sydney Greenstreet, who was nominated for the 1941 Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor. Tonight, Mr. Bogart, Miss Astor and Mr. Greenstreet will play the famous role they created for the screen in The Maltese Falcon, the thrilling mystery which was nominated as Best Production of the Year for the 1941 Academy Award. My name is Spade, Sam Spade, license number 357896, issued by the Police Department of San Francisco, occupation private detective, sometimes known as Private Eye. My files in the case of The Maltese Falcon are closed, but I've got The Maltese Falcon. I got it and some dough. My partner got murdered and a very slick chick went up for life. I'll tell you about it. This slick dame comes to see me one day, gives me a song and dance about her sister and a guy called Floyd Thursby. She wants us to get her sister back before her mother and father get in from Hawaii. I put my partner, Miles Archer, on the case. At night, he gets murdered. And so does this guy, Thursby. I go around to the apartment where the dame is living, the one called Bridget O'Shaughnessy. She had something I seemed to go for. Oh, Mr. Spade, come in. I have come in. Oh yes, so you have. Mr. Spade, tell me, am I to blame for last night? You warned us that Thursby was dangerous. Of course, you lied to us about your sister and all that, but that doesn't count. We didn't believe you. Oh, help me, Mr. Spade. I need help so badly. I have no right to ask you, but I do ask you. Help me. You won't need much of anybody's help. You're good. You're awful good. It's chiefly your eyes, I think, and that throb you get into your voice when you say things like, help me, Mr. Spade. I deserve that. But oh, the lie was in the way I said it and not at all in what I said. If I'm going to help you, I've got to have some sort of a line on your Floyd Thursby. I met him in the Orient. We came here from Hong Kong last week. Did he kill Archer? Yes, certainly. He picked a nice sort of playmate. Only that sort could have helped me if he had been loyal. How bad a hole are you actually in? As bad as could be. Physical danger? I'm not heroic. I don't think there's anything worse than death. Then it's that. It's that as surely as we're sitting here, unless you help me. Who killed Thursby, your enemies or his? I don't know. His, I suppose. I'm afraid I'm not sure. I'm afraid, I don't know. Who are these enemies? Well, there's a small dark man with white teeth and a smooth, dangerous fat man. Oh, this is hopeless. Well, how much money have you got? I've about $500 left. Give it to me. There's only 400 here. I had to keep some to live on. Okay, I'll be back as soon as I can. You needn't come to the door with me. I can let myself out. I went by the office then and found a dark little guy with very white teeth waiting for me. His name was Joel Cairo. He was a Greek. Mr. Spath, I'm trying to recover an ornament that has been, shall we say, mislaid. I thought and hoped you could assist me. The ornament is a statuette, the black figure of a bird. I'm prepared to pay the sum of $5,000 for its recovery and no questions asked. Five thousand's a lot of money. It's a very interesting figure. You will put your hands together at the back of your neck, Mr. Spath. Huh? Oh, sure. I shall shoot you if you try to stop me, Mr. Spath, but I must search your office. You won't find anything but a pair of worn out rubbers, a half pint of rum, and a pack of chewing gum. We shall see. Please stand up. So? Sure. This way? No, the other way. Sure. I'll take the gun, Mr. Cairo. Now get up. I am very slow in things like that, unfortunately. Yeah. I'm still prepared to pay $5,000 for the return of the figure. Do you have it, Mr. Spath? No. If it is not here, why did you just risk serious injury to prevent my searching for it? I should sit around and let people come in and stick me up. You wish some assurance of my sincerity? A retainer? I might. Say, $100? Oh, you better make it $200. Thanks. Your first guess was that I had the bird. What's your second guess? That you know where it is, or where you can get it. You're not hiring me to murder or do burglary, but to get back the figure in some lawful way. Say, from a dame with red hair, or a smooth, dangerous fat man. Oh, so you know. You must beware of them. They would stop at nothing. May, may I have my pistol now? Oh, yeah, yeah, sure. I'd forgotten it. Thank you. Now, Mr. Spade, you will kindly clasp your hands behind your neck. What the? Don't move, Mr. Spade. This time I might shoot. I insist on searching your office. Sure. Go ahead. I finally got rid of the Greek and started back for Brigid Dishonesty's apartment. Matter of fact, I had a hunch that the Greek was going there himself and started to tail his cab when a sad-faced guy poked something into my back and said... Come on. The fat man wants to see you. Here he is, Mr. Gutman. The guy who was talking to the dame in the Greek. Oh, Mr. Spade. Mr. Gutman? I like to talk. Of course, talking is something you can't do judiciously unless you keep in practice. Yeah. Now, sir, we'll talk if you like. And I'll tell you right out that I'm a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk. Swell. Will we talk about the Blackbird? You're the man for me, sir. No beating about the bush right to the point. Let us talk about the Blackbird by all means. Mr. Spade, have you any conception of how much money can be got for that Blackbird? No. Well, sir, if I told you, if I told you half, you'd call me a liar. No, no, not even if I thought so. But you just tell me what it is and I'll figure out the profits. You mean you don't know what that bird is? Well, I know what it's supposed to look like. I know the value in human life you people put on it. So, Shaughnessy didn't tell you what it is? And Cairo didn't, neither? He offered me 10,000 for it. 10,000? And dollars, mind you, not even pounds. They must know what it is. Or do they? What is your impression? I can't tell. They're both lying. If they don't know, I'm the only one in the whole wide sweet world who does. That's swell. When you've told me, that'll make two of us. Mathematically correct, sir. But I don't know for certain what I'm going to tell you. Oh, don't be foolish. You know what it is, I know where it is. That's why I'm here. Where, sir? Where is it? Oh, don't be silly. You see, I must tell you what I know, but you will not tell me what you know. That is hardly equitable, sir. No, no. I don't think we can do business along those lines. Yeah, well, think again and think fast. I can get along without you and keep that gunsuit, gunsel away from me while you're making up your mind. I'll kill him. Well, sir, I must say you're the most violent. Well, what are you wasting time for? You've got till 5.30. Then you're either in or out for keeps. Three characters and a black bird. Well, all I knew was my partner was dead and the cops were getting very uncooperative about the whole thing, including who killed Floyd Thursby. I thought I'd better get back to see that Ashannacy dame before it was too late. And sure enough, it almost was. They came here and took him away. Took who away? Who? The police. They wanted to talk to you too. They took Mr. Cairo with them. What was he doing here? He came to talk about the bird. What is this bird, this falcon that everybody's all steamed up about? Suppose I wouldn't tell you anything at all about it. What would you do? Something wild and unpredictable? Maybe. Well, it's a black figure, as you know, smooth and shiny of a bird, a hawk or falcon about 12 inches high. Now what makes it so important? I don't know. They wouldn't tell me. But they promised me 500 pounds if I helped them get it from the man who had it. Go ahead. They promised me 500 pounds to help them, and I did. Then we found that Joel Cairo was going to take the falcon and desert Floyd and me. So we did that to Joel first. You are a liar. I am a liar. I've always been a liar. Don't brag about it. Is there any truth at all in that yarn? Some. Not very much. Well, we've got plenty of time. I'll put some coffee on and we'll try again. Oh, I'm so tired. So tired of lying and thinking up lies and not knowing what is a lie and what is the truth. Well, darling, don't stare at me like that. Come closer, darling. It is something to do while waiting. Why not? Kiss me, Sam Spade. Kiss me. Why not? It happens every time. I'll get it. Be careful, darling. Okay. Come on, you. He wants to see you. Well, if it isn't the fat man's killer. Hello, pale face. How many did you bump off today? Shut up. The copman's waiting for you. No kidding. What kept you? Darling, what does he want? He wants me. The fat man's been thinking things over. Well, Mr. Spade, I must apologize for sending you in this fashion. Never mind. Let's talk about the bird. All right. Let's. What do you think of the order of the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem? Crusaders or something, weren't they? Very good. In 1539, these crusading knights persuaded Emperor Charles V to give them the island of Malta. He made but one condition. They were to pay him each year for the tribute of a falcon in acknowledgement that the Malta were still under Spain. Do you follow me? Yeah. Have you any conception of the extreme and measurable wealth of the order of that time? I imagine they were pretty well fixed. They were rolling in wealth, sir. They hit upon the happy thought of sending the emperor for the first year's tribute, not an insignificant live bird, but a glorious golden falcon encrusted from head to foot with the finest jewels in their coffer. Allow me to replenish your drink, sir. Well, what do you think of these knights? I don't know. Well, sir, the glorious four can never reach Spain. Buccaneers raided the Galleon. In 1713, the bird showed up in Sicily in 1840 in Paris, and it had by that time acquired a coat of black enamel looking like nothing but a fairly interesting black statue. In 1923, a Greek dealer found it in an obscure Paris shop. He knew what it was. I heard about it in London and rushed over to buy it, but the Greek was murdered and the falcon gone. That was 23 years ago. For 23 years, I searched for the bird. I traced it to the home of a Russian general, Kemedon, but he wouldn't sell. Even though he knew nothing of its value, I was forced to send my agents after it. They got it, sir, but I haven't got it. But I'm going to get it, sir. How soon can you, how soon are you willing to produce the falcon? A couple of days. That is satisfactory. Well, sir, here's a fair bargain and profits large enough for both of us. What's your idea of a fair bargain? Shall I say 100,000? Why not? What did you see to a quarter of a million? Well, then you think the dingus is worth a million, huh? Why not? Yeah, why not? Hey, I feel kind of funny, Gutman. That drink. My dear man, how could you suggest anything so crude? I, I... Wilmer, Wilmer. Yeah, the drink got him, huh? Put your guns away, Wilmer. You must learn to be subtle in these things, like me. Hot like a light, huh? Well, I owe him something, the lass. He thinks he's tough. Let's see if he can take this. That's enough, Wilmer. I'm going to get the rest of it. You kicked him enough. Never do to kill him here. Besides, Wilmer, you know how I hate the sight of blood. In a moment, you will hear the second part of Academy Award. You yet most effective known to dental science. That's why you can actually see the refreshing difference when you brush your teeth with squib dental cream. And you can taste and feel the refreshing difference too. That's because the delightful flavor of squib dental cream is cool and inviting as a shady bed of mints. Because the refreshing action of squib dental cream leaves your teeth and gums feeling gloriously clean. So for a brighter smile and a happier mouth, try squib dental cream, one of the great family of squib products. Taste, feel, and see the refreshing difference. Use squib dental cream. In a moment you will hear part two of the Maltese Falcon. But first we want to thank Warner Brothers for making this story available. And one thing more, on August 6th, Warner Brothers will celebrate the 20th anniversary of sound pictures. Yes, it has been that long since the silent shouters of the screen found a voice. We congratulate Warner Brothers on this historic anniversary. And now the House of Squib presents part two of Academy Awards, starring Humphrey Bogart in the Maltese Falcon, with Mary Astor and Sidney Greenstreet. I guess the name of Sam Spade was a cinch for the back page of bitues. I don't know why, but I came out of it somehow and managed to get up and stagger out of that apartment. I went around to the hotel where Joel Cairo had a room and made a deal with the house dick to let me search it. All I could find was a newspaper in the wastebasket folded back to the steamship news. There was a list of arrivals and one was marked. It said, 8, 7 a.m., the La Paloma from Hong Kong. That was good enough for me. I got a cab and rode down to the docks. The La Paloma was on fire and burning beautifully. I went back to my office to hold my aching head and think things over when the door opened. The tall guy in the long black overcoat stood there with a package in his hand, making gurgling noises before he fell like a tree. He should have. He was dead. I took a good look at him. He was the mate off the La Paloma. He had his package and there it was, a black bird, the Maltese falcon. I grabbed the phone and listened. It was Bridgette Assanasi and she said she was in trouble. I found her shivering in the dark corner of an office building. I took her and the falcon home to my apartment. I put her on the couch. I put the falcon in the icebox where no one would think to look for anything, including ice. I came back in and switched on the lights and found a surprise party waiting to greet me. Well, sir, we're all here. Now let's sit down and be comfortable and talk. Sure. Get away from me, Gunshall. You're not going to frisk me. Stance two. Shut up. Put your paw on me and I'm going to make you use that gun. Ask your boss if he wants me shut up before we talk. Never mind, Wilmer. You're certainly a most headstrong individual, Mr. Spade. Well, let's be seated. You too, Cairo. You can put down your gun, too. Of course, Mr. Spade. I was only using caution, as it were. You ready, Gutman? Are you ready to make the first payment and take the falcon off my hands? Well, sir, as to that, here are $10,000, sir. Oh, we were talking about more money than this. Yes, sir, we were. But this is genuine coin of the realm, sir. With a dollar of this, you can buy $10 of talk. Besides, there are more of us to be taken care of now. That may be, but I've got the falcon. I should not think it would be necessary to remind you, Mr. Spade, that though you may have the falcon, yet we certainly have you. Yes, sir, I'm trying not to let that worry me. We'll come to the money later. There's another thing to be taken care of first. We've got to have a fall guy. The police have to have a victim, somebody they can stick for those three murders. Two? Only two murders, Mr. Spade. Thursby undoubtedly killed your partner. All right, two. What difference does it make? The point is, we've got to give the police... Come, come, Mr. Spade, you can't expect us to believe at this late date. You are the least afraid of the police, or that you're not able to handle... I'm up to my neck, Gutman. I've got to come through with somebody, a victim, when the time comes. If I don't, I'll be it. Let's give him the gun, so he actually did shoot Thursby, and the other one didn't he? Anyway, he's made to order to the part, let's turn him over to the cops. Get up on your feet. I've taken all the writing from you I'm going to take. Get up, shoot it out. No, no, Wilma, don't shoot. There, there, Goncalo, that'll take care of you. Put him on the sofa. Sorry, Bridget, but you seem to have recovered. I'm, I'm all right. Good. Well, gentlemen, there's our fall guy. And now, gentlemen, you agree or I'll turn the Falcon and the whole lot of you in. Mr. Spade, I don't like this. What if we took matters into our own hands and killed you? You won't, or you'll never find the Falcon. True, but there are other ways we could make you talk. No, I'd take it and make you kill me, and then you'd end up the same way. No, I believe you would too. Well? I've always felt toward Wilma like a father, but you can have him. Well, let's get the details fixed. Why did he shoot Thursby? Thursby was Miss O'Shaughness's ally. We thought in disposing of him, we would teach Miss O'Shaughnessy to patch up our differences with us regarding the Falcon. And the mate from the La Paloma. That was Miss O'Shaughness's fault. Cairo got in touch with me when he saw the notice of the ship's arrival. He remembered that the mate and Miss O'Shaughnessy had been friendly in Hong Kong. He called on this man, but he, with Miss O'Shaughnessy and the bird, slipped through our fingers. We followed them to her apartment and Wilma shot the mate as he was coming down the fire escape. He shot him many times, but the man was tough, and he did not drop the Falcon. We persuaded Miss O'Shaughnessy to call your office, but unfortunately she did not call in time to prevent you from meeting the mate and getting the Falcon. I see. Now, sir, would it be presumptuous if we asked to see the Falcon? Okay. It's in my icebox. Icebox, I see. You are a character, sir. Very, very clever of you. Very. I've got it, sir. I've got it. Bring it in here at once. Here. Right in this. After 23 years. It is it. We'll make sure. Give me your knife, sir. Here. I peel off some of this disfiguring enamel. It's a fake. All right, O'Shaughnessy, you've had your little joke. Now tell us about it. No, Sam, no. That's the one I got from the Russian, I swear. You bungled it, Gutman. You and your stupid attempt to buy it. The Russian caught on how valuable it was. No wonder we had so little trouble stealing it. You imbecile. You blotted idiot. Yes. This is the Russian's hand. There's no doubt of it. Well, sir, what do you suggest? Shall we stand here and shed tears and call each other names? Or shall we go to Istanbul and interview our Russian friend? Go to Istanbul? For 23 years I have wanted that delight and have been trying to get it. If I must spend another year on the quest, well, that will be an added expenditure in time only. I go with you. Wilmerskorn. Wilmerskorn. So he has. That makes it imperative that we go, too. Oh, by the way, sir, I've traveled you from my envelope containing the $10,000. I kept my end of the bargain, but I'll settle for a thousand for expenses. Thank you. I'll allow you the thousand. That'll take care of my time. Now, sir, we will say goodbye to you unless you care to undertake the Istanbul expedition with us. Don't? That's too bad. Well, sir, the shortest farewells are best. Adieu. And to you, Miss O'Shaughnessy, I leave the rare abyss there on the table as a little memento. The Maltese Falcon. Oh, ha ha ha! The Maltese Falcon All right, O'Shaughnessy, talk. Where shall I begin? You came to me and asked me to have Thursby followed. I put my partner on it. He followed Thursby. He was killed. You must have told Thursby he was being followed. I told him, yes, but please believe me, Sam, I wouldn't have told him if I'd thought Floyd Thursby would kill your partner. Miles had many brains, but he had too many years' experience as a detective to be caught like that by a man he was shadowing up a blind alley with his gun tucked away and his hip and his overcoat buttoned. But it had gone up there with you, Angel. He was just dumb enough for that. And then you could have stood as close to him in the dark as you liked and put a bullet through him. Don't! Don't talk like that to me, Sam. You know I didn't know. Stop it. Why did you shoot him? I didn't mean to at first. I can't look at you and tell you this, Sam. You thought Thursby would tackle him. If he got Thursby, then you were rid of him. If Thursby won, you had something on him, enough to be rid of him for good. Wasn't that it? Something like that. But when Thursby backed down, you took the gun and did the job yourself. Oh, Sam, sweetheart, from the very first instant I saw you, I knew. You, Angel. Well, if you get a good break, you'll be out of San Quentin in 20 years, and you can come back to me then. I hope they don't hang you, precious, for that sweet neck. You know deep down in your heart that in spite of anything I've done, I love you. I don't care who loves who. I'm not going to play the sap for you. I won't walk in Thursby's and I don't know how many other's footsteps. You killed my partner and you're going over for it. Why must you do this to me, Sam? Surely your partner wasn't as much to you as... Listen, listen to me. This won't do any good. You'll never understand me, but I'll try once and then give it up. Listen, when a man's partner is killed, he's supposed to do something about it. When it happens, we're in the detective business. Well, when one of your organization gets killed, it's bad business to let the killer get away with it. Bad all around. Bad for every detective everywhere. You can't send me to the... Sam, you can't. You love me. You love me. Maybe I do. What of it? Maybe next month I won't. I've been through it before. I'll have some rotten nights after I've sent you over, but that'll pass. I want you, sure, but I won't take you at the price because of all... because all of me wants to, regardless of consequences. Because you counted on that with me the same as you counted on that with all the others. Sam, darling, kiss me. Kiss me. Sure. Sure, baby. What are you doing? Who are you calling? The cops, baby. The cops to come and take you away. Just as thrilling as cracking down some fabulous treasure is the search for the unknown which goes on unceasingly in the Squibb research laboratories. For that is the search that leads to the discovery of new life-saving drugs and new life-saving uses for existing drugs. Struptomycin is one of the newest products of this searching. In the new field of medicine opened up by penicillin, streptomycin, still in the testing stages, shows great promise against additional enemies of mankind. That is why Squibb scientists are working night and day to unlock the secrets of streptomycin, to improve the strain, to find and test all the ways in which it may be used in the conquest of disease. It is this same questing spirit, this refusal to stop anywhere short of perfection, that inspires all endeavors of the House of Squibb. It is one reason why, wherever you come across it in the service of human health, Squibb is a name you can trust. Next Wednesday, another great picture of the House of Squibb will present Academy Awards starring Henry Fonda in Young Mr. Lincoln. Today's performance of the Maltese Falcon was written for radio by Frank Wilson with an original musical score composed and conducted by Leith Stevens. Our producer-director is Dee Engelbach. Humphrey Bogart is soon to be seen in Warner Brothers' Big Sleep. Mary Astor appeared through the courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, producers of the Technicolor musical Easy to Web. Sidney Greenstreet is soon to be seen in Warner Brothers' The Burdick. This is Hugh Brumley bidding you good night until next Wednesday at the same time when you're invited to listen again to Academy Awards presented by the House of Squibb, a name you can trust. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.
