Dick Tracy in the Case of the Midnight Marauder was an original audio drama released by Mercury Records in 1947. The full-cast recording featured sound effects and incidental music. It was released as a set of two 78rpm vinyl records, with a gatefold sleeve.
The sleeve featured panels from the strip that had the words removed so listeners could write the dialogue themselves. Listeners were also encouraged to color the comics.
Plot[]
The story involves Dick Tracy and Pat Patton on a trip to Miami where they have been gathering evidence against a crime lord known as Croaker King. The two detectives decided to stay in Miami on an impromptu vacation, which required them to switch rooms at their hotel.
That night, Tracy and Patton were awakened by a disturbance in the room next to theirs (which they previously occupied). They investigated and met the actor Vitamin Flintheart (apparently for the first time), who claimed that he was assaulted by a flat-headed man.
Preparing to track down the assailant, Tracy and Flintheart got into a taxi with a man who claimed to have seen Flattop escaping. This turned out to be Flattop himself, who took Tracy and Flintheart to his hideout. Flattop revealed that he had been hired by Croaker King to eliminate Tracy. Tracy managed to subdue Flattop's accomplice, but Flattop shot Tracy in the shoulder and fled with Vitamin as his hostage.
Tracy arranged to have a false newspaper story planted indicating that he had died from the gunshot wound. Tracy and Patton prepared an ambush for Flattop, but Flattop went into hiding. Vitamin managed to get a message to Tracy which revealed that Flattop was holding him hostage on a ship in the nearby bay. Tracy arrived at the ship, rescued Vitamin and killed Flattop in a shootout.
Cast[]
- Dick Tracy - Jim Ameche
- Vitamin Flintheart - Cliff Sobier
- Flattop - Richard Rober