While chained to the drawing board I binge-listened my way through the CB+ Philip Marlowe collection, It was great fun. Many stories are quite good, especially the Chandler adaptations. After a while the writers get lazy. Instead of working for his clues Marlowe depends upon dropped jewelry, forgotten notes, and other deus-ex-machina contrivances.
It was fascinating to hear the two versions of "Red Wind." The scripts are the same except for a few minor differences, so one can compare actors and productions. Though Van Heflin is good as Marlowe, I prefer Gerald Mohr's deeper, stronger voice. The supporting cast is better in the Heflin version (except for a truly bizarre "Lt. Ybarra"), as are the sound effects. Both are quite good, though.
As profh points out, Paul Frees does a lot of work on the series. So does Virginia Gregg, an old radio hand who became one of Jack Webb's repertory company. One guy''s voice was so familiar it drove me crazy trying to identify him--and I said, "Of course!" when it turned out to be Jeff "Michael Shayne" Chandler.
It's funny how often the old Matchbook Cliche surfaces in these shows (and a million other series!). A character just happens to leave behind a matchbook for the Kit Kat Klub, and when Marlowe goes there he finds either a missing suspect or a vital clue. Back when my dad smoked, he always had a stack of matchbooks but none of them had anything to do with his daily life. Often people would give him matchbooks, or he'd find one somebody dropped (a clue!). I'm afraid if Philip Marlowe had gone to NAPA Automotive Supply in Everett, Washington, he could have waited forever and Dad wouldn't have shown up.
