Broadway Is My Beat: John Howard Murder Case 11/10/1951

Summary

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Podcast Summary: "Broadway Is My Beat – John Howard Murder Case (11/10/1951)"

Podcast: Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
Host: Choice Classic Radio
Episode: Broadway Is My Beat: John Howard Murder Case
Original Air Date: November 10, 1951
Summary Prepared For: January 14, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of "Broadway Is My Beat" follows Detective Danny Clover as he investigates the mysterious deaths of two men found in the morgue, victims of methyl alcohol poisoning. What appears at first to be the tragic fate of Bowery drunks twists into a case of murder, high-stakes betrayal, and war-time secrets, involving a wealthy retired colonel, John Howard, and his circle. The story unfolds in a moody, narrative-driven noir style, with personal anguish, witty banter, and a deep sense of Broadway itself as a living character.

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Key Discussion Points and Plot Breakdown

1. Morgue Discovery: Two Deaths on Skid Row

• Timestamps: [00:48]–[02:57]
• Detective Danny Clover and Detective Mugavan examine the bodies of Joey Macklin ("Bowery pickpocket, bum, panhandler, rummy") and an unidentified, well-groomed man in shabby clothes.
• Striking detail: The unknown victim wears silk underwear under ragged outerwear.

2. Identification and Mystery Deepen

• Timestamps: [03:48]–[05:48]
• Sergeant Tartaglia brings word: The fingerprints belong to John Howard, retired Lieutenant Colonel and current bond salesman.
• Tartaglia notes he’s also contacted Howard’s wife, Mrs. Lila Howard, to come to the morgue.
• Danny: “John Howard, Lieutenant Colonel, retired from the Army. Present address 3212 Park Avenue. Occupation, bond salesman.” ([04:37])

3. Mrs. Howard’s Grief and Revealed Backstory

• Timestamps: [05:48]–[07:43]
• Mrs. Howard identifies her husband’s body in a highly emotional scene.
• Detective Clover allows her space to process the loss, delaying deeper questioning.

4. Skid Row Leads: Benny Fane’s Tip

• Timestamps: [07:43]–[10:43]
• Danny tracks down informant Benny Fane for leads on the dead man’s recent whereabouts.
• Benny describes seeing Howard drinking with Joey Macklin, leading to a Bowery boarding house.
• They discover Mickey Thomas, another derelict, who has been blinded by the same poisoned liquor and is desperate for help.
• Mickey cries: “Help me, help me! …I drank it. That liquor. Now I can’t see. I’m blind. Help me!” ([10:10])

5. Victim’s Past: Halloween, A Bet, and Disappearance

• Timestamps: [12:02]–[14:47]
• Mrs. Howard recounts last seeing John on Halloween night, when he made a drunken bet to live on Skid Row for a week (“…a crazy one. The kind he liked. That he could go to Skid Row dressed as he was and live there for a week…”) ([13:38])
• The plan had involved their friend Frank Clifton, Howard’s adjutant in the war.

6. Frank Clifton’s Motives and Relationship

• Timestamps: [15:13]–[16:00]
• Frank Clifton, preparing to set sail for Europe like Mrs. Howard, details Howard’s penchant for high-stakes bets and confirms the ill-fated challenge.
• Frank describes his relationship with Howard: “Everything was a bet… that’s how I spent the war, making book for him.” ([16:00])

7. Unraveling the Crime: Evidence and Army Secrets

• Timestamps: [18:13]–[22:21]
• In the hospital, the blinded Mickey Thomas, questioned by Clover and Mugavan, reveals he unknowingly stole the fatal bottle and a cigarette case from Howard’s room.
• The pawn shop owner Mr. Fring identifies the cigarette case with an American intelligence insignia, linking it to Howard’s war service.
• Mugavan uncovers Howard’s army history: Howard, Clifton, and another (deceased) were part of an intelligence unit recovering Nazi loot in Germany. “Only the original owner screamed that some stuff was missing…” ([22:00])

8. Confrontation and Confession

• Timestamps: [22:51]–[25:31]
• Detective Clover confronts Mrs. Howard and Clifton before their departure to Europe.
• He lays out his theory: Howard, Clifton, and their unit found Nazi loot, but not all was turned over—Howard hid part of it in Europe, planning to retrieve it.
• Clover accuses Clifton: “Frank murdered your husband.” ([25:23])
• He lays out the method: Clifton, needing silence to cover the secret, poisons Howard with lethal alcohol through Macklin, not knowing that fate would expose him via the stolen cigarette case and pawn ticket.
• Mrs. Howard, devastated: “You killed him, Frank.” ([25:31])

9. Noir Reflection: The Lonely Mile

• Timestamps: [25:33]–[27:22]
• Episode closes with Clover’s signature soliloquy about Broadway’s allure and emptiness: “On Broadway there’s always a vision that stands in the doorway at the end of night. You run after it—but a hand at your sleeve tugs you back…”

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Broadway's mood:
  “From Times Square to Columbus Circle. The gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.” — Narrator ([00:23])

• On the morgue’s chill:
  “The windows are high on the moist walls, high so that dead fingers can't reach open... The warmth is taken and held before it can touch the people of a room that is forever cold. All of it has been yours countless times and still the shudder comes.” — Danny Clover ([02:57])

• Mrs. Howard on her husband's whimsy:
  “John was a man of whims. Let's only say of him that he indulged his last one. Shall we?” — Mrs. Lila Howard ([14:39])

• Frank Clifton on John Howard’s character:
  “Everything was a bet. Could be walking along, he'd pick any stranger… make you wonder about him or her. And then bet you were wrong…” — Frank Clifton ([16:00])

• Clover's closing rumination:
  “On Broadway there’s always a vision that stands in a doorway at the end of night. …It’s Broadway. The gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway. My beat.” ([27:22])

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Key Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |--------------------------------------------|--------------| | Morgue discovery & mystery setup | 00:48–02:57 | | Howard identified, Mrs. Howard arrives | 03:48–05:48 | | Mrs. Howard's grief, introduction to Bowery| 05:48–10:43 | | Halloween party bet & Skid Row challenge | 12:02–14:47 | | Frank Clifton, army background revealed | 15:13–16:00 | | Pawn ticket, investigation deepens | 18:13–22:21 | | Final confrontation, confession | 22:51–25:31 | | Detective Clover’s closing monologue | 27:22–27:45 |

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Tone and Style

The episode’s tone is brooding, lyrical, and deeply noir — blending world-weary detective narration with rapid-fire banter and compassionate asides. The drama unfolds through snappy exchanges and reflective soliloquies, drawing listeners into both the hard facts and the emotional undercurrents of the case.

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Summary

Detective Danny Clover’s investigation unravels a web of postwar secrets, personal betrayals, and a tragic bet gone wrong. Wealth, nostalgia, and greed intersect on Broadway’s shadowy corners, as a rich man's flight of fancy leads to murder and heartbreak.

Listeners are swept into the evocative world of postwar New York, with all the drama, loss, and dark glamour that defines the Golden Age of Radio noir.

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Transcript

[A]

Welcome to Choice Classic Radio, where we bring to you the greatest old time radio shows like us on Facebook, subscribe to us on YouTube and thank you for [e-mail].

[B]

Broadway's my beat. From Times Square to Columbus Circle. The gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.

[C]

Both ways, my beat. With larry thor as detective danny clover.

[B]

When November settles down over Broadway, everybody's got a lot to cheer about. It's the time of the hot dog. It's the season of the rackety racks and the split T formation and the coaches, left hand on the pigskin, who swear their boys aren't being brutal out there in the field. Just eager. It's the month of the old grad, the coed, the bottle, the blanket, and what is known as the nippy tang. It's a time to be alive. And there's a place just off of Broadway. A room sealed off from every other place in the world. Structurally designed to keep out everything but pain. The police morgue where I was, where Detective Mugavan was. And the slabs that held two men newly dead.

[D]

Alcohol poisoning. Danny. They're a shift here from the emergency hospital for identification.

[B]

You know who they are? Yeah. This one.

[D]

Joey Macklin. Bowery pickpocket, bum, panhandler, rummy.

[B]

This one. You know him? No.

[D]

He's the reason why I called you down here, though. Notice anything, Danny?

[B]

Looks pretty well fed. Fingernails looked like they'd been manicured not too long ago. Uh huh.

[D]

A couple other things.

[B]

This.

[D]

Found this crumpled mask in his pocket. Take a look at his clothes. Really raggy, huh? Underneath, he's wearing silk underwear.

[B]

You taking prints?

[D]

Last night, soon as they came in. Code number sent to Washington right away.

[B]

You say the emergency hospital sent them over? Yeah.

[D]

They staggered in there practically blind from the bamboos, screaming. We couldn't help them, Danny. They were too far gone.

[B]

They have the liquor on them?

[D]

Nope.

[B]

There'll l to be a lot more of it someplace. Mugman. Methyl alcohol and peach juice and beating oil. How could I've seen him?

[D]

Brought in after they strained paint through a piece of bread. I've seen him.

[B]

Yeah, you're right about this one. Mugman. He looks too patently a bum. That's why he looks out of place.

[D]

I figured that too. Little Strange, huh?

[B]

And then it closes in on you, this place of the derelict dead. The windows are high on the moist walls, high so that dead fingers can't reach open. Let the sobbing of death be heard in the autumn air. The Sunlight feels along the windows webbed with threads of steel and the warmth is taken and held before it can touch the people of a room that is forever cold. All of it has been yours countless times and still the shudder comes. You try not to let them see it. Then you take Detective Muggerman's comment that it's straigh. Take it with you into a long corridor, up a flight of stairs, drop it on a sergeant's desk for an immediate checking, fill the time of waiting in the official ways provided for such intervals and a door opens. It's being brought back to you cheerily by Sergeant Tartaglia.

[A]

Danny, I want you should do something for me. To please is implied.

[D]

What?

[A]

You know I want you should stick your nose out the window.

[B]

Why?

[A]

To partake with me of the nippy tang that is there for everyone's nose.

[B]

I've had mine, Gino.

[A]

And then you will agree with me that it is both nippy and tangy. It makes the vitality surge in the world.

[B]

Is it surge enough for you to hand me whatever you're holding in back of you?

[A]

Which hand, Danny?

[B]

Gino.

[A]

The fellow wants to play a little game. Takes a second. Brings a little happiness.

[B]

What have you got, Gino?

[A]

In this envelope is contained a telegraph report from the FBI and meant the request Detective Mugman made of them concerning the fingerprints of the deceased V who is now in armor.

[B]

Give it to me. Identified. They've identified him, Gino.

[A]

Those FBI's quiz them a question and lickety split they give you an answer.

[B]

John Howard, Lieutenant Colonel, retired from the.

[A]

Army of the U.S. present address 3212 Park Avenue. Occupation bond salesman. I Pete. Then I also took a liberty.

[B]

Oh yeah?

[A]

I took the liberty of falling to the domicile of said deceased. Spoke to a Mrs. John Howard, asked her politely to come hither to. Why don't you be here any minute, Danny? In a nonce she had but to find a suitable outfit for an outing. The police had.

[B]

This liberty I took, is it? You did good, Gino, real good. And wait. Then pick a window and stand there and watch the street below the eddy of crowd, the cars impatient of those stupid enough to be pedestrians. Watch the first shadows drift in. Pick a place and shed a layer to find another place. Finally see a car drop to the curb. A long car and black and expensive and a woman get out of it. Stand on the pavement and look at a doorway, mark police headquarters, hesitate and then walk toward it. Then leave the window and hurry downstairs. Pick up the woman at the information Desk. Ask her a question.

[E]

Yes? Hi, Mrs. Holland.

[B]

My name's Clover. Will you come with me, please?

[E]

Of course. Would you mind telling me why I'm.

[B]

Here through this door? Not at all. In cases like this, we're not really sure. So sure about what? A man died last night. There's a possibility you might be able to identify him.

[E]

A man died?

[B]

Yes. From methyl alcohol poisoning.

[E]

John. My husband. It was John.

[B]

In here, Ms. Howard.

[E]

You haven't answered me. Is it John?

[B]

I'm afraid that's what you'll have to tell us.

[E]

Oh. Oh, no.

[B]

Misses Howard.

[E]

I want to see.

[B]

I want to see. I want to see.

[E]

This man is my husband.

[B]

I'm sorry, Mrs. Har. If you. And again the attendance on grief, the futile offering of the tried and true solaces that have never worked, not against the sobbing anguish deep. Then finally, the whispered cry of some remembered thing they had shared and the resigning to it. The remembrance will never come again. The woman is quiet now. You detail a man to drive her home. Restrain the questions that must be asked for another time when the sudden anguish has become old familiar, a thing to be lived with. Strip a picture of John Howard from a file to take you to a man who is an expert on the whys of derelicts. The man you look for find in the 3rd Avenue bar. Embarrass you.

[A]

Embarrass me before my friends. Danny, truly, it is well known what you are.

[E]

And what I am.

[A]

I'm now trying to demonstrate to these companions.

[B]

What are you now, Benny?

[A]

A member of one of the honorable and oldest professions.

[B]

Which profession now, Benny?

[A]

A purveyor. Knowledge.

[E]

Danny, look. I'm the new Benny Payne, the pillar.

[A]

Of culture, seller of encyclopedias.

[B]

You Benny.

[A]

Me, Benny. Carry on. A brochure. I got it here somewhere. Here it is. An encyclopedia. Worthwhile facts on the kingly sport of racing. You sell those with a biannual appendix to bookies to fill in the long hours while looking for a tax free dodge. Me? I found mine. No longer intermountal police, am I?

[B]

Yes, you are, Benny.

[E]

I am.

[B]

Uh huh. Take a look at this picture, Danny.

[E]

How can you.

[A]

A picture that dead you gotta show me now. Not the papers printed him in orbit.

[D]

That I know him.

[A]

But I see him around.

[D]

Where?

[A]

Not Bowie, Skid row, you know.

[B]

That's where you were selling encyclopedias, Danny.

[A]

I was calling on an old friend, Mickey Thomas. While cutting up a few reminiscences, I yapped in a glance across the hall. There was this guy, this picture you showed me. Boozing. Up with another guy named Joey Macklin. I weighed the toast on and I went back.

[B]

Take me there.

[E]

Huh? Where?

[B]

To make Thomas the man you visited across the hall. Take me, Benny.

[A]

Danny, I was about to close a sale.

[B]

We could go by way of headquarters.

[A]

Benny, I know a shortcut.

[E]

Come on, Danny.

[B]

The walk then south into the Bowery and east past Lexington and past the row houses where there's always room for one more tenant. And the street where garbage cans are used for first and third base. The man with you points out an interesting fact.

[A]

I was. I was going there, Danny.

[B]

Right in that house and hit Third Avenue.

[A]

You wouldn't believe how us kids used to ran across and see nobody. Ah, never mind, Danny. It wasn't important. The place I was telling you about is right there. Let me. Let me open it up for you.

[E]

Danny.

[A]

You better watch this. This ball board right here. Say this.

[E]

Oh, I know these places.

[A]

I really. No, help me. Help me.

[E]

He.

[A]

That's. That's Mickey. Always raising your roof. Mickey.

[B]

Help me. Help me. What's the matter? What happened to you? I drank it. That liquor. Now I can't see. I'm blind. I can't. I. Blind. Help me.

[A]

Help me.

[C]

You are listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover.

[B]

Broadway approaches the new November day softly, politely. You've got to do that, kid. Treat the morning nice. Maybe that way you'll still be on your feet when day is done. So set the loudspeakers to music guaranteed to absorb shock. Climb the spectaculars. Remove and replace the Mazdas that died in the night. Polish the neon. Wash the night dust off the mannequin's face. Tighten the bolt. Tilt her body more forward, her head nearer to the shop window so that her lips are closer to the promise of a good morning kiss. Having made way for another day, find the quiet place to read the papers and read of the death of retired colonels and pickpockets from lethal alcohol and of the blindness of a skid roll vagrant, name of Mickey Thomas. From the same. And skim through to the comics. Their kid lies happiness. But where I was. The new day fell on the sightless eyes of Mickey Thomas, on the fleeting figure that worked against his pain. Finally whispered, you'd better come back, Lieutenant.

[E]

Later.

[B]

And to another place to ask questions about the dead. The woman tries to answer them for you.

[E]

Last time I saw him, John. Last time I saw him was Halloween night. We'd been invited to a party. We Wore funny clothes. That trap suit you found John in. It was the funniest thing he could think of. Mrs. Howard, you will make it brief, won't you? You see, I'm packing. I'm going away in the boat.

[B]

You're leaving the country?

[E]

Europe was a plan John and I had. Europe? All the gay places he'd been while he was in the war. A couple of weeks ago, out of nowhere, he said, I'd love him. Let's go, Lila. I've just given up my 20,000 a year position so I can show you to Europe. Lila. Maybe you'll like it so much. Lila will never leave.

[B]

This is Howard. Perhaps it might be.

[E]

You're not going to stop me from going, you know. John said it would be fun. I'll just have to have fun alone now. You're not going to stop me?

[B]

No. We've no reason to now.

[E]

Good. I'll sleep on the boat tonight. If I slept here. The boat sails in the morning. You said now. Would there ever be a time you could stop me?

[B]

I don't know yet, Mrs. Howard. All I know now is that your husband, a rich man, died of poison liquor that he came in off of Skid Row. That.

[E]

That's easy to explain.

[B]

It is.

[E]

Of course, John got feeling good at that Halloween party. Hi. You know, high and gay. Whenever he got like that, he'd make bets.

[B]

He made one that night, crazy one.

[E]

The kind he liked. That he could go to Skid Row dressed as he was and live there for a week and never call on any of us for anything. When he thought of it, he grabbed Frank and said, I'll Frank, too. Frank Clifton. Frankie was John's adjutant during the war. He grabbed Frankie and made the bet.

[B]

And you never saw your husband after.

[E]

That until you showed him to me in the morgue. Frankie and I went looking for him one night because I was worried. We didn't find him. I came home, Frankie kept looking. He didn't find him.

[B]

You have Mr. Clifton's address?

[E]

It's in the phone book. Sutton Place. For a minute there, Mr. Clover, you actually considered not letting me go on this trip. Tell me why, Mrs. Howard. I hear something about John's death. Is the word troubles. John's death troubles you?

[B]

Well, the way I told you, Mrs. Howard, that a wealthy man, an intelligent man, would find his dying in poison booze.

[E]

John was a man of whims. Let's only say of him that he indulged his last one. Shall we?

[B]

I'll check, Mrs. Howard. I'll check on what you've told me.

[E]

Do that, Mr. Clover. Let me know before nightfall. In any event, call me to wish me bon voyage. I'm gonna have fun. Like John said, I.

[B]

Hold your horses. What do you want? Are you Frank Clifton? Come on, mister. The rest of me, behind the doors, in a towel. What do you want? I'm from the police. Danny Clover. Well, I'm in the. Yeah, I know. In a towel. I want to talk to you. Sure, sure. Come in. Ten minutes ago, you wouldn't have caught me doing my laps around the lake on the bicycle. Gonna miss that old Columbia bike when I'm in Europe. You're going to Europe too, Mr. Clifton? Yeah, tonight. What do you mean, too? Mrs. Howard is going. Who is she? News to me. I figured it'd be decent if she grieved for the next boat.

[D]

Hey, just why are you here?

[B]

I'm trying to find out why John Howard is dead. Come on, come on. You know as well as I do why John's dead. Poison, Booze, Alky. I want you to tell me what happened at that Halloween party. All right, all right. Don't rub it in. So it was my fault you made that bet with Mr. Howard, didn't you? About going down to the Bowery and living for a week. That's your job, isn't it? To rub salt an old wound? How come you made a bet like that, Mr. Clifton? I didn't want to if you knew John like I did. How do you argue with a man like that, Clover? What kind of man was he? Everything was a bet. Could be walking along, he'd pick any stranger in a crowd, make you wonder about him or her. And then bet you were wrong, he'd find a way to prove it too. I was his adjutant all through the war. That's how I spent the war, making book for him. I want to know exactly what that bet was you made with Mr. Howard. Well, first you gotta understand I didn't want to make it. All right, I understand. He bet me on account of he was dressed like a tramp. He could go down to the Bowery and live like one for a week. He could do it longer, he said, except he had to catch that boat. Eat anything a tramp does. Drink anything, you know, the works for a hundred bucks. Mrs. Howard said she got worried a few days ago. She hadn't heard from him, that she went down to the Bowery looking for him with me. We looked, couldn't find, hide her hair. Got late. I sent her home and kept looking. No, couldn't find it, then. Mr. Howard is a pretty good friend of yours, huh? My CO From Amsterdam to Essen to Cologne to Mannheim to Berlin. That's why you're going to Europe. Hunt to take another look those places. And let us not forget Paris. My old man got over there in the first war. I didn't. He still holds it over me. Look over you. Mind if I soak the old body now? Hang. Thanks a lot. I'll drop your card. Walk away from the man eager for the sightseeing of old sights. Walk away with the puzzle still yours. Why a man like John Howard should die of poisoned alcohol. Why a man like Howard would so quickly descend to a state where alcohol from whatever source was so needed that he challenged death for it. And weigh against it the possibility of death cause premeditated murder. And let the thought take you back to a hospital room where a man lay with his eyes bandaged against light and another sat at his bedside talking quietly.

[D]

Hartman is doing what he can for you, Nicky. You're getting the best, but. Hi, Danny.

[B]

How is he?

[D]

Better, I guess. Danny, he's been asking me. Tell him, Mickey.

[B]

Who is he?

[D]

Lieutenant Clover. He's the man that found you. Mickey got you here in a hurry.

[B]

Oh, that makes me have to thank him, huh? Thanks, Lieutenant Clover. Mickey, can you answer questions you feel up to? I've been complaining in a loud voice to this other social worker here. Yeah, I guess I could answer a question or two. Where'd you get the booze? I got it. Tell us where, Mickey. We'll bring them in for you. Nothing I could wish more to get the guy. That funny, huh? What is? I don't know where the booze come from.

[D]

Look, Mickey, you still.

[B]

I don't know where it come from. All I know is I waited till Joey Macklin and that other character ran out of their room and I crossed the hall and snitched me what was left from their bottle. They died from it, huh? Lucky boys. Lucky, lucky boys. You stole the alcohol, that's how.

[D]

Maybe Mickey stole something else. Danny found this in his clothes, huh?

[B]

Oh. Pawn ticket. What's it for, Mickey? A personal belonging. That means it belonged to me.

[D]

What's it for, Mickey?

[B]

Me and my back. You'll find out anyway, won't you? Yeah, Mickey, we will. So go find out and do something else for me, huh, Lieutenant? What? On your way back, pick up a tin cup and a box of pencils. It'll be a favor. Hello? Hello, Sir. What can Mr. Fring do for you? Police. Mr. Fring is delighted to serve. In what capacity does Mr. Fring do that? As a redeemer of pawn tickets. This one. Mr. Fring remembers it. Why shouldn't he? He wrote it only yesterday morning. It's being redeemed, Mr. Fring. Surely. A cigarette case. This looks like a pretty expensive item, Mr. Fring. How come you only lent $2 on us? Because he who pawned it was one of our boys. Why do you say our boy? Mr. Fring calls your attention to the fact that all who serve are our boys. I call your attention again. May I please do to the engraving on this case. A screaming eagle with a dagger. An obscuring figure, however, I'm positive. An insignia of one of our doubty combat outfits. I know because during unpleasantness number two, I sold our boy shoulder patches as a sideline time. I've just reordered Mr. Fring. You're taking it? There's $2 plus interest due on it. Yeah, can Mr. Fring whistle?

[D]

I got it, Danny.

[B]

Good. What did you find out?

[D]

Well, for one thing, about that insignia was assigned to an army intelligence team.

[B]

Huh. Well, where'd the team operate? Mostly in Germany, around Cologne and Essen. In Berlin?

[D]

Yeah. Yeah, Mannheim too.

[B]

Go on.

[D]

Well, the rest of it's John Howard's record. Civilian and army. Civilian, not a whole lot. A good businessman. Resigned his position a few weeks ago. The reason he gave his employer was pretty vague.

[B]

Yeah, I know about that. What about the army?

[D]

Howard was the head of an army intelligence team to recover Loot Nereson in Germany. You know, confiscated treasure and stuff.

[B]

They found some too.

[D]

Belonged to one of those rich German families. Worth a mint. Only the original owner screamed that some stuff was missing for him.

[B]

And what else?

[D]

Well, Howard, he was a lieutenant colonel then. Had a couple more men on his team. A sergeant who died in Europe from pneumonia before he got home, and a major name of Frank Cliff Clifton. You don't need much more, do you, Danny?

[B]

Nothing. Thanks for a motive. Be with you in a minute. Oh, you come down and say goodbye.

[A]

To me, Clover, from the party next door. Frank, it's the police.

[B]

Mrs. Howard. Danny. Clover.

[A]

Who is it?

[B]

What do you want, Clover? Let's go inside, huh? Why not? Come on in. It's not the next door people. Learn it.

[E]

Why, look who it is. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Well, don't look daggers at me. I'm just visiting. Frank.

[B]

I asked the question, Clover.

[D]

What do you want?

[B]

I came down here to break some news to both of you. Look, Clover, we are due next door for a pre sailing party. I know why you're going to Europe. Sure you know I told you. I owe myself a sentimental journey.

[E]

Frank said he'll show me all the places John was going to show me.

[B]

There's a place near Essen. I don't know whether you'll get to, Mrs. Howard. Come on, Clover, get off it. Your husband ever talked to you about a town in Germany called Essen, Mrs. Howard?

[E]

Of course. On account of that town, John got a citation. Frank too. Didn't you, Frank?

[A]

Sure.

[B]

We found some loot the Nazis buried. Turned it back to the rightful owner.

[E]

John told me all about it. I used to ask him, tease him, why he didn't hold out a little diamond lavalier for me.

[B]

I figure he did at that, Mrs. Howard. How do you figure that, Clover? John Howard had a twenty thousand dollar a year job. He quit it. He quit it to go to Europe. There must have been something in Europe worth a lot more than $20,000. And it had to be something he couldn't bring back into this country. So John Howard wasn't coming back. He doesn't know what he means, lad. I mean, just one thing. Not all that loot was recovered. It makes a lot of sense that the reason John Howard gave up such a good job is because he'd hidden the missing part of that loot. Imagine that. He knew where it was. So did a GI sergeant who died in Europe of pneumonia. So do you, Clifton. The three of you members of the team that found the loot in the first place.

[E]

Now John did. Frank. Frank.

[B]

It's a funny story, Lalo. Why aren't you laughing?

[E]

You kept looking for John in the Bowery after I went home. Did you find him?

[B]

Told you I didn't find him. That means I didn't find him. You found him. You're calling me a liar, Clover? That's no way to get to a party. You want a cigarette, Clifton? Here, take one. Put that dish away.

[D]

Why?

[B]

What's the matter with it? What kind of a man are you? A barge in. Can't you understand the situation, Clover? The champagne, the shipboard party. Don't you see it? For her, For Lila. Try to make her smile again. What's the matter with the cigarette case, Clifton?

[A]

Don't you understand?

[B]

It's his case. It's John's. How do you think it makes Lila feel to see something that belongs to Bank? And how do you think it makes me feel? Remembering the times? Remembering his offering me a smoke from Frank.

[E]

Not his case.

[A]

John never spoke.

[E]

He never did.

[A]

Never. Never.

[B]

What's going on here, I'll tell you what's going on. Frank murdered your husband.

[E]

Did you, Frank?

[B]

He comes up with a lousy cigarette case and says murder.

[E]

You kill him, Frank.

[B]

With poison alcohol. He found your husband. Found out where he was staying. Found a bum named Joey Macklin who he was living with. Gave Joey a jug of poison alcohol. He knew your husband would drink it. That was part of the bet. You coming to the party with me, Lila? But Joey Macklin was also a pickpocket. He stole this cigarette case from Clifton. Then he and your husband drank the booze, died from it. Come on, Lila. They were waiting for us. A man from across the hall, a man named Mickey Thomas, stole the booze that was left. He also stole the cigarette case Joey had lifted. Mickey pond it. That's how I know you found John Howard Clifton. You're under arrest. On Broadway there's always a vision that stands in a doorway at the end of night. You run after it but a hand at your sleeve tugs you back. A grinning face whispers there's something better inside but you keep running till the same voice whispers the odds you'll never make it and you never do. It's Broadway. The gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway. My beat.

[C]

Broadway Is My Beat stars Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover with Charles Calvert as Tartaglia and Jack Crucian as Mugavan. The program was produced and directed by Elliot Lewis, with musical score composed and conducted by Alexander Courage. In tonight's story, Irene Tedro was heard as Lila Howard, Lou Merrill as Frank Clifton, Leo Cleary as Benny Fane and Steve Roberts as Mickey.

[B]

TH. On FN presents. You've been listening to some of the best in radio drama with Bibber McGee and Molly and Broadway Is My Beats. Join us again Monday evening at the same time, 9:05, when FN presents Dragnet and Escape.

[A]

Ram.

[E]

Sam.

[A]

One.