On This Day

"The Adventures of Sam Spade" debuts on CBS Radio

The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective was a radio series based loosely on the private detective character Sam Spade, created by writer Dashiell Hammett for The Maltese Falcon.

The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective was a radio series based loosely on the private detective character Sam Spade, created by writer Dashiell Hammett for The Maltese Falcon. The show ran for 13 episodes on ABC in 1946, for 157 episodes on CBS in 1946–1949, and finally for 75 episodes on NBC in 1949–1951. The series starred Howard Duff (and later, Steve Dunne) as Sam Spade and Lurene Tuttle as his secretary Effie, and took a considerably more tongue-in-cheek approach to the character than the novel or movie. The announcer was Dick Joy. Spade’s greetings and farewells to Effie (“Me, sweetheart” and “Goodnight, sweetheart” respectively) are a recurring motif on the show. Keeping with this, period standard ”Goodnight Sweetheart” was used as the closing theme of each episode.

Historical Significance

The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective was a radio series based loosely on the private detective character Sam Spade, created by writer Dashiell Hammett for The Maltese Falcon.

Events Before

  1. German air raid on Allied airfields at Eindhoven, Saint-Trond, and Brussels

    German air raid on Allied airfields at Eindhoven, Saint-Trond, and Brussels

  2. Franklin D. Roosevelt is sworn in for an unprecedented and never-to-be-repeated fourth term as US President

    Franklin D. Roosevelt is sworn in for an unprecedented and never-to-be-repeated fourth term as US President

  3. Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps in Poland - now commemorated as International Holocau

    Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps in Poland - now commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day [1]

  4. WWII: US troops under General Douglas MacArthur enter Manila in the Philippines after a month-long battle, ending three

    WWII: US troops under General Douglas MacArthur enter Manila in the Philippines after a month-long battle, ending three years of Japanese military occupation

  5. Declaration of Liberated Europe is signed at the Yalta Conference by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Josep

    Declaration of Liberated Europe is signed at the Yalta Conference by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin, declaring that liberated nations are to establish democratic governments through free elections

Events After

  1. Mahatma Gandhi begins a march for peace in East Bengal

    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political thinker who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign…

  2. Benelux agrees to work on related issues

    Benelux agrees to work on related issues

  3. Britain nationalizes its coal industry

    The Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 59) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which nationalised, or brought into state control, the coal industry in the United…

  4. French fashion designer Christian Dior presents his first influential collection, named the "New Look"

    French fashion designer Christian Dior presents his first influential collection, named the "New Look"

  5. Earl Mountbatten of Burma is appointed the last viceroy of India to oversee the move to independence

    The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan.

More from the 1940s

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on September 29, 1946?
The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective was a radio series based loosely on the private detective character Sam Spade, created by writer Dashiell Hammett for The Maltese Falcon. The show ran for 13 episodes on ABC in 1946, for 157 episodes on CBS in 1946–1949, and finally for 75 episodes on NBC in 1949–1951. The series starred Howard Duff (and later, Steve Dunne) as Sam Spade and Lurene Tuttle as his secretary Effie, and took a considerably more tongue-in-cheek approach to the character than the novel or movie.
Why is "The Adventures of Sam Spade" debuts on CBS Radio significant?
The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective was a radio series based loosely on the private detective character Sam Spade, created by writer Dashiell Hammett for The Maltese Falcon.

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