The geocache is NOT located at the posted coordinates but you can park there.
“Get this and get it straight. Crime is a sucker's road and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison, or the grave. There’s no other end. . . but they never learn.”
These words in Gerald Mohr's gritty detective voice opened many episodes of the CBS radio series The Adventures of Philip Marlowe.
“Hard-boiled detective” brings to mind images of Humphrey Bogart playing Philip Marlowe in 1946's movie The Big Sleep. This film is based on a book by Raymond Chandler, often credited as the author who perfected the hard-boiled detective in his novels. The names Bogart, Chandler, and Marlowe usually make us think of books or movies, but what you may not know is that Marlowe was the subject of two major network radio shows during the 1940's. No, not TV but radio – when radio was the primary in-home entertainment medium. These shows, employing talented actors and sound effects specialists, were the equivalent of today's prime time TV during the 1930s into the 1950s. We now refer to these productions as Old Time Radio (OTR).
This cache is based on one of Chandler's stories The Red Wind which was used in both the 1947 NBC and 1948 CBS Marlowe radio shows. Listen to the show and answer the questions to solve for the final coordinates. The recordings needed to solve this show can be found in various formats including MP3 at archive.org plus many other places on the web. You will not need to purchase commercial OTR releases for this cache. Contact me if you have trouble with audio clues.
You will know you have the right program if the main show starts out:
“There was a rough desert wind blowing into Los Angeles that evening. It was one of those hot, dry Santa Anas that comes down through the mountain passes and curl your hair, make your nerves jump, and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends up in a fight, and meek little housewives feel the edge of a carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen when the Santa Ana blows in from the desert.”
There are small differences in the two versions but not with any parts needed for this puzzle. For this episode I prefer the Van Heflin version, but I think Gerald Mohr is the better actor for the role of Marlowe. The CBS series with Mohr is better overall and better known. Try a few later Mohr episodes and see what you think. It is worth it just to hear that opening, with his sensational summary of the show about to begin. Good voices, sound effects, and the listener’s imagination let the shows do things that can’t be done on TV or film.
This should be easy as all the answers are part of the dialog in the show. Use these numbers to find the final coordinates. Please replace exactly as found.
Number of gunshots that killed Waldo in the bar: A
“It was about __B__ o'clock when I stepped out of the elevator in my apartment house. . .”
Waldo had over _C__ dollars in his pocket.
Marlowe's apartment number. D
Marlowe describes the man shot in the bar as _E_ feet __F__inches tall
Lola says the pearls were valued at _G__thousand dollars.
The gun was a “___H___ target automatic that had already killed __J__ man that night.”
“He stooled on me on a bank job we did together. Got me __K__ years in Michigan Pen.”
Mrs. Frank Barsaly gives her address as __L___ Fremont Place
Mrs. Barsaly's phone number is Olympia-____M____.
Number of pearls in the necklace. N
Leon Valesanos' age was “about _P___”.
Leon was paid __Q_ hundred dollars.
“To the memory of Johnny Dalmas – just another ___R_____”
NORTH [D-J] [D-N].[C-(H+Q+A)]
WEST [(C/10)+E+J] [N+J]. [(Q*100)+D+H]
