In Bold Venture old time radio show, Bogie and Bacall were open to a venture, and that was radio syndication. From an informal recording studio, they could do a radio series in a few months and have it syndicated over time by the Frederic W. Ziv Company. With Bacall, it was a package deal that was worthy of Slate Shannon, Bogie's alter ego in this series.Shannon is the owner and proprietor of a dubious Havana hotel, and Bacall is Sailor Duval, his sulty, wisecracking sidekick, whose exact status is questionable. Jester Hairston plays the calypso-singing aide-de-camp King Moses, whose witty rhymes comment on the plot as it whips along. Shannon's hotel attracts cutthroats, gamblers, and other denizens of the deep to its nautical watering hole, so Shannon is ready to do what it takes to keep the peace, or get a piece of the action.

Bogie was a well-known seadog in real life who liked to get away from it all by boat in order to fish and make bottles empty for messages. This show is like a fun-house mirror of real life (and reel life), with the requisite toughs, quips and plots as knotted as ropes on a well-used dock. Music by the stalwart David Rose adds to a quality cast of Hollywood radio talent. 

Bold Venture may not be all that bold in terms of the history of radio adventure, but for Bogart and Bacall, it was a venture that promised easy treasure for minimum digging. By the time it went into radio syndication, Bogie was in Africa working with another beauty on another boat called "The African Queen."

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