In "The Kandy Tooth," detective Sam Spade is reunited with his old rivals, Joe Cairo and Kaspar Gutman, on a hunt for a missing religious relic. The plot is similar in design to The Maltese Falcon, but the entertaining writing, ridiculous plot, and good acting overcome the similarity.
As the episode opens, Sam Spade receives a telegram from Kaspar Gutman warning him about the unscrupulous duo of Lawrence LaVerne D.D.S. and his sister, Hope LaVerne. He tells Spade to "beware the hidden tooth" if either of them approach him. Gutman warns Spade not to believe anything those two may say.
Shortly afterwards, they do both approach him. Lawrence LaVerne is a dentist who is upset with a man named Herman Julius for not paying him for the bridgework he did. His sister, Hope, arrives later, and says that her brother often impersonates a dentist and that she doesn't know where he is.
When Spade gets the truth out of Lawrence LaVerne, he tells him that Gutman paid him to put an old tooth into the mouth of Herman Julius, one that was stolen from a corpse. Why would he do that? Does Herman Julius really have something valuable hidden in his mouth?
"The Kandy Tooth" was written by Jason James and Robert Tallman. This story first presented as two 30 minute episodes of The Adventures of Sam Spade on November 24, 1946, and December 01, 1946. William Spier, who was also the producer of The Adventures of Sam Spade, produced/directed this hour-long episode and makes an appearance at the end of the broadcast.
Howard Duff starred as Sam Spade and Lurene Tuttle played Effie. Wally Maher played Lawrence LaVerne and Cathy Lewis played Miss LaVerne. Joseph Kearns played Kaspar Gutman. Also appearing were Hans Conried, Jay Novello, William Johnstone, Jeannette Nolan, Jack Edwards, Jr., and Sydney Miller. This episode aired on January 10, 1948.
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(Image of Howard Duff as Sam Spade.)
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