The It's a trip to the movies this week on down these mean streets for a recreation of one of the best detective films of all time, the Maltese Falcon.

The 1941 adaptation of Dashel Hammett's novel is a classic, and it was dramatized multiple times

for radio, including the show we'll hear today.

Hammett wrote the novel in 1930 1930 and it was filmed twice before the

1941 version directed by John Houston. Houston also wrote the screenplay and used much of

Hamlet's original dialogue from the novel.

Humphrey Bogart starred as Sam Spade and the film cemented his status as a leading man in

Hollywood.

The film co-starred Mary Astor as the mother of all femfattals,

Bridget O'Shaughnessy, and Peter Lorry as the Wiesley Joel Cairo. Making his film debut was the then 61-year-old stage actor Sidney Green Street as the villainous

Casper Gutman. We've of course heard Green Street in the more heroic role of Niro Wolf on this podcast.

During the Golden Age of Radio, several programs featured big screen stars recreating their roles in radio versions of film hits.

Shows like the Lux Radio Theater and the Screen Guild players offered abridged adaptations

of films for radio listeners.

Among this crop of shows was Academy Award, which aired on CBS and

was sponsored by the ER Squib Company, better known today as Bristol-Myers Squib.

The criteria for a film's inclusion on the series was that it had to, you guessed it, have been

nominated for or won an Academy Award.

Ultimately, that prestige led to Squib's decision to cancel the show after only 39 episodes.

The cost for the talent each week was about $4,000, and an additional $1,600 was paid to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the use of their name in the program.

The Maltese Falcon earned a slot on Academy Awards roster with three nominations,

Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay for John Houston,

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