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(EP33) The Lives of Harry Lime: "Violets, Sweet Violets" | Improved Audio

April 11, 2026·25 min·2 clips

Orson Welles reveals Harry Lime died in a Vienna sewer but promises to recount his many lives.

The series opens with a characteristic conceit: Harry Lime, who died in a Vienna sewer in the film The Third Man, is narrating his earlier adventures because, as he says, his name is Harry Lime. He notes his lifelong preference for communicating with flowers — orchids unlock more doors than skeleton keys. The episode's setting is Nazi-occupied Marseilles, which Lime observes wryly is as wicked as cities come but abloom with churches, a double face of life he contemplates as he walks toward the old town. He encounters Gentle Annie, an elderly English flower seller on the steps of Saint-Victor's cathedral, who for a few pence tells him where to find Grippo — king of the Marseilles black market. Crow's Nest bar is atmospheric and piratical, and Grippo is deliberately cartoonish: scar, iron hook, parrot, grog. Lime introduces himself by citing a mutual contact named Raynard the Fox, and the two men take each other's measure through threats and counter-threats before Grippo invites him to an abandoned waterfront warehouse at eleven. Lime dines well at the Golden Fleece hotel but is visited by Colonel Von Stuhl of the German occupation police, who warns him to keep his stay brief and incident-free. Lime finds this useful rather than alarming. At the warehouse, Grippo has Lime ambushed, but Lime wakes up and bluffs his way into a deal by implying Von Stuhl's protection — which he does not actually have. The black market problem is that Grippo's network is under pressure from all directions: French police, occupation police, and the French underground. Lime proposes that Gentle Annie serve as the distribution front: customers who say 'violets, sweet violets' get Lime's address and leave their envelopes, which he collects nightly. Lime pitches this to Annie over tea and brandy, framing it as work for the underground. The scheme works well at first — business booms and Annie becomes the most celebrated flower seller in Marseilles. Then for three days, envelopes stop arriving. Grippo threatens Lime's life if orders don't resume. Lime stakes out Annie near the cathedral and watches a taut, thin woman dart from the shadows to steal Annie's envelopes and money. Annie catches her in the act; police arrive; Lime is identified. At the station, Von Stuhl and Grippo's man the Chink both testify against him. Lime bargains his way out by offering to deliver Grippo to the authorities and naming the warehouse. He tracks Grippo to a dock, subdues him physically, and delivers him to police. The French prefect personally sees Lime off on the next departing ship. Lime closes with a meditation on flowers as messages — if you want to reach him with something villainous, send violets.

As heard by us

A tight old-radio crime tale where wit, menace, and black-market bargaining stay in step.

Orson Welles appears as Harry Lyme in a tight story set around Marseilles, black-market goods, and a crooked official. The pacing is clean, the dialogue stays clipped, and the flower imagery gives the performance a sharper edge without losing the crime-story drive.

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Why you'd press play

You want Harry Lyme spinning a black-market caper in occupied France.

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