I have recently come across “B-o-o-o-o-o-ld Venture.” I have to write the title that way because that’s how the announcer says it.
This is a radio program that has largely been hidden for the past half century. Only recently have all the transcript discs been cleaned-up, digitized and made available for distribution.
The show stars “the magic names of Humphrey Bogart (orchestra fanfare) and Lauren Bacall (orchestra fanfare).”
It is interesting that by 1951 these two were already being treated as legendary.
The show is set in present day Havanna. Bogart and Bacall are basically playing the same characters they did in “To Have and Have Not.” In this case, however, Bogart plays a hotel owner named Slate Shannon, a man with a past. He has been everywhere and met everyone. He is assisted at the hotel by “Sailor” Duval, played by Lauren Bacall.
The only other employee at the hotel is a philosophical Haitian named King Moses, played by the great Jester Hairston. Half-way through each episode, when they return from a commercial, he sings a calypso ballad that summarizes the story so far and then discusses the current situation with Lauren Bacall, who he addresses as “Lady Sailor.”
This is the type of entertainment where an American gets into adventures while running a business in some “exotic” location. Every week, Shannon’s hotel attracts some shady people who are passing through Havana. There were plenty of radio programs like this, but all the others I can think of were intended for children. What sets this show apart is the quality of writing and acting. It is a children’s adventure program that is made for adults.
An example of dialogue, written from memory.
There is a drunken, rowdy guest in one of the hotel rooms. He is tearing the room apart and annoying the other guests.
Bogart - “Sailor, why don’t you go up there and tell him to pipe down. And if he doesn’t, through him out on the street.”
Bacall - “Of course, Slate. I’ll just use the old technique; a little bit of this… and then a little bit of that.”
Bogart - “On second thought, I better go with you. You’re too eager.”
Sailor Duval’s exact role in the hotel is never clearly defined. Is she an employee? Is she a friend who hangs around the hotel and helps out? I have no idea, but why complain? It’s Bogart and Bacall, and they get to have witty banter. She is clearly interested in Slade, but he tries to keep everything business-like.
But then at the end of each episode, after the fade-out, they unquestionably do the nasty.
Upbeat song about how difficult it is to be an immigrant.
I miss Gogol Bordello! i need to find out what they have been up to lately.