Broadway Is My Beat: The Ben Elliot Murder Case 02/24/1950

Summary

Broadway Is My Beat: The Ben Elliot Murder Case – Detailed Summary

Podcast Title: Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
Episode: Broadway Is My Beat: The Ben Elliot Murder Case
Release Date: February 19, 2025
Original Air Date: February 24, 1950
Host/Author: Choice Classic Radio
Description: Dive into the suspenseful world of old-time radio's greatest detectives. This episode features Detective Danny Clover as he unravels the mysterious murder of Ben Elliot amidst the gritty backdrop of Broadway.

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1. Setting the Scene

[00:25] The episode opens with a vivid narration introducing Broadway as "From Times Square to Columbus Circle—the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world." This establishes the gritty and dynamic environment where our detective operates.

[00:34] Detective Danny Clover, portrayed by Larry Thor, is introduced writing his nightly reports. His routine is interrupted by Sergeant Ataglia, signaling the start of a new case.

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2. The Mysterious Plea

[02:00] Rhoda Lynn enters Danny's office, pleading, "Are you going to help me, Mr. Colbert? Are you? Don't send me away again." Her desperation is palpable as she seeks to reopen her father's murder case.

[02:53] Rhoda firmly states, "Robert Lynn, my Father was murdered. That's a simple sentence." She believes her father was poisoned, contradicting previous exhumations that declared his death natural.

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3. Unraveling Rhoda's Background

[03:23] The narration delves into Rhoda's troubled life, highlighting her living situation with her mother and stepfather, Bernard Birch, a dentist with a dubious reputation: "The Stepdad... had a talent with the drill."

[05:37] Danny visits Bernard Birch's dental office, where subtle tensions hint at darker undercurrents. Birch dismissively advises Danny to "let it" regarding the stolen dental gold, raising suspicions.

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4. The Investigation Deepens

[07:43] Danny's search leads him to Frank Norman, Rhoda's boyfriend, revealing connections between Rhoda's family and Ben Elliot, a private investigator who becomes the next victim.

[10:00] Rhoda's deteriorating health is examined by Dr. Sinski, who diagnoses her with a rare anemia: "She is dying, Danny, of a rare type of pernicious anemia." This medical mystery intertwines with the murder case, suggesting poison as a possible cause.

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5. Confrontations and Revelations

[13:48] In a tense scene, Rhoda confronts Danny inside Ben Elliot's office, exclaiming, "I didn't do it. I swear I didn't. I was leaving the room. I didn't kill you." However, Ben Elliot is found dead, clutching a fistful of gold, implicating sinister motives.

[20:00] Danny theorizes that Rhoda's mother, Mildred Burke, is orchestrating the murders to protect her secrets: "Dr. Burke was no suicide. Mildred killed him and made it look like one."

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6. The Climactic Showdown

[25:00] Danny pieces together the puzzle, confronting Mildred Burke. He accuses her of the murders, leading to a heated exchange where Mildred reveals her true nature: "I did. I didn't."

[26:14] The episode reaches its climax on Broadway's bustling backdrop, emphasizing the triumph of Detective Danny Clover over the malevolent forces that threatened him and Rhoda.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Rhoda Lynn ([02:10]):
  "Are you going to help me, Mr. Colbert? Are you? Don't send me away again."

• Danny Clover ([02:19]):
  "I've come back to us again, Mr. Colby."

• Mildred Burke ([07:05]):
  "She's dying, Danny. She's dying of a rare type of pernicious anemia."

• Danny Clover ([13:48]):
  "I didn't do it. I was leaving the room. I didn't kill you."

• Rhoda Lynn ([16:37]):
  "I just want to sleep. I just wanna lie down somewhere and go to sleep."

• Detective Danny Clover ([21:06]):
  "Dr. Sinski filled in a few. A very sick girl, Danny. So sick I can't tell you."

• Narrator ([26:14]):
  "It's Broadway. My beach. Broadway Is My Beat."

---

Conclusion

"Broadway Is My Beat: The Ben Elliot Murder Case" masterfully weaves a tale of deception, desperation, and determination. Detective Danny Clover navigates the shadowy alleys of Broadway to uncover the truth behind Rhoda Lynn's father's death and the enigmatic Ben Elliot's murder. Through intricate character interactions and a suspenseful narrative, the episode highlights themes of trust, betrayal, and the relentless pursuit of justice.

Listeners are left with a profound appreciation for the complexity of human motivations and the enduring spirit of a dedicated detective. This episode stands as a quintessential example of old-time radio drama, offering rich storytelling and memorable performances that continue to captivate audiences.

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Cast Highlights:

• Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover
• Charles Calvert as Sergeant Tartaglia
• Joyce McCluskey, Betty Lugerson, Jack Edwards, Howard McNear, Jack Crucian, and Lou Merrow in supporting roles.

Production Credits:

• Produced and Directed by: Elliot Lewis
• Musical Score Composed and Conducted by: Alexander Curry
• Broadcasted by: United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service

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Tune in to Choice Classic Radio for more enthralling episodes that transport you back to the golden age of radio detectives. Subscribe on YouTube, follow us on Facebook, and support us through donations at ChoiceClassicRadio.com.

Transcript

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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] Broadway, my beat From Times Square to Columbus Circle the Saudi, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway's my beat with Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. Broadway, where the fury of the night races against the time of dawn. It needs those hours to prove itself. The mob, the grinning faces, the voice that whispers. But Perry, times at your heels in the night lasts only so long. That's the word on Broadway. My teeth. It's a system they worked out long ago. The darkness is reserved for those who break the law so that the police can write out their reports in the daytime. That's what I was doing, writing out reports, when Sergeant Ataglia nudged his head through the doorway. Good morning to you, my lieutenant. Hello, Taglia. What's in your mind? Well, she's here again, Danny. Yeah, I had a feeling she'd be here. You'll never give up, will she? You know, I got a theory about that, Danny. Sure. In. Yeah, sure, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

This way. Are you going to help me, Mr. Colbert? Are you? Don't send me away again.

[Narrator]

The girl who crossed the room and placed her fingers on my desk was slender. Her face seemed about to go suddenly old. Her skin was pale, unveiled, dead white.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I've come back to us again, Mr. Colby.

[Narrator]

Sit down.

[Detective Danny Clover]

No. A beggar who stands can keep some dignity. I like to think that anyhow. Maybe it's a lie. Did you say my name gently to show me you pity me? I don't want to be pitied.

[Narrator]

No, look, Ms. Lynn, Danny was only three.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Listen. Yes. Yes, I'll listen. Say a kind word to me, Rhoda.

[Narrator]

You've come to ask me to have your father's body exhumed. I know that.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You know that.

[Narrator]

But we've already done that. Two months ago, four months after your father died, we exhumed his body. He wasn't poisoned, Roly. In spite of what you say, he wasn't poisoned.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Poisoned. That's how my father died. Robert Lynn, my Father was murdered. That's a simple sentence.

[Narrator]

Understand it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

My father was poisoned and I'm being poisoned and I'm going to die. And you sit there and say my dying meets all the requirements for dying. Because there'll be a death certificate. No. Nothing. Bye, Mr. Cook.

[Narrator]

Annie. That girl needs attention of some sort or another. Talking to by a doctor, by a parent, by somebody. Where does she live to thank you. In a combination dentist office and living quarters on 147th Street. 1612. With her mother and stepfather. Stepfather? Yeah. Yeah. Her mother got married again. This mother must like dentist. The husband who died was his dentist. Now husband number two, one Bernard Birch, turns up also to have a talent with the drill. Hey, you going up there then? Like I said, Rhoda Lyn need talking to by somebody. The place where Rhoda lived is a foot crusted five story apartment building of yellow and pork marked brick. It stood on 147th street, just around the corner from where Broadway tries to be suburban. And it had two things. An open court to grab onto whatever light and air that was left over. And the kid, the kids bouncing a ball against a brand new gift lettered sign that said Bernard Burke, dentist. Five flights up. Gas, no pain. As I rounded the turn on the fourth floor, I heard a door close above me and steps starting down. Then the steps became a voice that said it knew me. Danny. Danny Clover. I know you, Danny. You know me? I'm sorry, I. You don't know me. Here. I'll lean my face over in the light. A familiar face, huh, Danny? Repulsive, but familiar, huh? Yeah, yeah, but I don't quite play. Elliot. Ben Elliot and the private investigator. You're. You're a civilian competition, remember? The axe murder case where I was positively useless to you. You remember that, don't you, Danny? Sure, sure. How are you, Ben? Happy as a figure. Glad to hear it. What are you doing here, Ben? Competing. Ah, you. You deduced this just because I just came out of a dentist's office? Nah, nah, Danny, you got it all wrong. But the no pain dentist has just made some alterations on a bridge. I suffer in my mouth. Here I take a look. Benning. I hope you and the bridge are very happy together. You kill me, Danny. Just with you, Danny. What's with you? You also got sores in your teeth? In everyone. Go on, Dan. See you around. Yeah.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Danny. Hey, Jack. I recommend it for my heart. Yes. You had an appointment with Dr. Dirk. You'll have to wait.

[Narrator]

I'll wait.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You can amuse yourself with some Euro. National Geographic. Or they're so sure from a dental supply house with illustration in color. Or you could talk to me.

[Narrator]

That last thing. Let's do that.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You've made such a wild story. And now do you begin or shall I?

[Narrator]

You're Rhoda's mother, aren't you, Mrs. Burke?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Men are such babies about pain, aren't you? And my husband is such a gentle dentist.

[Narrator]

You're Robert's mother?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes, I'm rhoda's mother and Dr. Burke's assistant and wife. And you? One of Rhoda's numerous and nameless boyfriend.

[Narrator]

I'm Danny Clover of the police, Mrs. Burke. Rhoda was in to see me again.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Do I ask you to have her father's body thrown out of its grave again?

[Narrator]

Then you know about it? About her coming to me?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Of course I know. A girl's best friend is her mother, isn't she, Mr. Clover? Rhoda adores me. She tells me everything. But not in a whisper, in a scream.

[Narrator]

Like what? What does she tell you, Mrs. That.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I murdered my first husband, her father. That I murder her. That I. Oh, is that just sick little girl. Too sick. We try to help her, but we can't. She won't let it. Sickness have drained all the sweetness out of it. She did not like a mother's child at all.

[Narrator]

She's always so pale, Mrs. Burke. Have you had her to a doctor?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Florida. Do you think she would let me take her anywhere? Do things for her. Tell her what she should do when she thinks that terrible ugly thing about me. Ask the name, Mr. Clover.

[Narrator]

I just ran into a man, Ben Elliot, a private investigator. What was he going here, Mrs. Burn? Oh, you just go on home, Mr. Raymond, with a nice hack on. And here's some sample aspirin. Takes you over two hours. And a hot and cold applications during the night. Ah, you'll feel like a new man. Oh, well, what have we here, Mildred? New patient? You're next, sir.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Not a patient, Bernard. A policeman. Danny Clover. He's concerned about rotor. Do you think we can help him?

[Narrator]

I'm GLAD you're here, Ms. Clover. Will you step into my office, please?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Bernard?

[Narrator]

Please, Mildred, you should have handled it this way in the first place. Are we as well, Mr. Clover?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Bernard, I advise you to let it.

[Narrator]

Take care of those X ray negatives during office hours. You are my assistant. Thank you. After you, Mr. Clover. Sitting. The dentistry, Mr. Clover. Very comfortable. Almost paid for it. I'll address it. Yeah. Have you a knife? Never had it better. Now, Dr. Burke, what is it that you should have handled this way? I only ask because I'm curious. Oh, yes, of course. The theft of the gold. The gold I use to fill my client's teeth. Most durable. 14 karat, very expensive. Shines when brushed. Does that move beautifully? I'm reporting it to you because you're a policeman and the only proper authority to handle it. Move to try to convince me otherwise. She did too. Oh, yeah. She looked in the classified and found the name of a private investigator, Ben Elliot. Had him up here and told him all. I tried to tell her we should report it to the police, but she wouldn't have it. And that's why I'm glad you're here. Because now both Margaret and I have had our way. Yeah, I'm glad. I'll turn it over to the burglary detail, Dr. Burton. I'd appreciate it, Mr. Clover. That's nothing. Now, talk to me about robust Dr. Burton. Oh, well, I can't tell you much about her. She never confides in me. I'm a stepfather, you know. Sometimes it's very painful. Who does she confide in? Well, there's a boy, Frank Norman. Rhoda was always with him. Matter of fact, I had to go bring her home one night because they were both too. Too drunk. Maneuver by themselves. Where was that? That was a bar somewhere on 52nd Street. That street is home for that boy. You'll find my gold, Mr. Clover. It's very important in my business. Yeah? Yeah. It's a promise, Doctor. Work. The bars of 52nd street wink at you. It's a special kind of wink. Mechanized in chrome and the tubular neon offers a variety of colors. The decor is sleek, the prices tight to suit your individual needs. And the invitations are. But irresistible. So I bar hopped looking for a kindred spirit named Frank Norman. It took quite a while. Then, near 10th Avenue, there was a place where the decor had crumbled just a bit. Where a jukebox sold background music to emotions also crumbling. The bartender waved me to the back of the room, saw the boy sitting there considering what dreams are to be found in the bottom of a shot glass. I touched his shoulder. Hi. Hi. Hi. And I don't know you. I'm Danny Clover. Sit down. Shows like this, Danny as a tyke that was unloved and unwanted. I was left to consider the forever moon and the howling wind garbage. That's it, Danny. Precisely. And with poetic embellishments, my life for a drink. All right, Danny, go ahead. Vice. Yeah, later. Yours, Frank. And I have another version also. For the price of a gin and a brandy version. It scores me to think about, but I'll sell this book. That one. It includes Rhoda Lynn. Huh? Who are you? What do you want? I said it once. Danny Clover. Police. You didn't say the last part. All you said was Danny Clover. All you did was buy me a drink. Police. I'm pure Danny Clover. Police. Law abiding, upright, unsullied by temptation.

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[Narrator]

What about Ronan? What about Rona? There's this.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She's dying.

[Narrator]

She sent me away because she's dying. Sent me back to the garbage. She's dying. Dying. How do you know? D sits on her shoulder and whispers to her. Catch it too. I can tell. I loved Rhoda when she wasn't dying. That's all I can tell. What about her mother? Does she know Mildred? Yeah. What about her? She married a man three months after her husband died. That's the complete biography of Mildred Burke. That explains her. It explains everything about her. Well, that's her privilege. There was even a brother of yours. You are a detective, aren't you? Danikov. Another detective. Ben Elliot. Ben Elliot. He was detecting for even when her first husband was alive. He looks surprised. Don't look surprised. Go up to the bartender, give him money. Tell him it's for me. Tell him my wish is his command. I stood there for a moment longer, watched him, watched. Until his voice blurred and his I thought something far away. Then I left. I looked up Ben Elliott in the classified, hailed a cab and went there up a flight of stairs and walked back. The sign on the door said come in. So I came in. The sound Rhoda made in her throat was like somebody far away yelling horribly. She stood beside the desk, playing a little face ash. And even where her fingertips clotted her skin, there was no color. I caught her before she tackled over.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I didn't do it.

[Narrator]

What didn't you do?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I swear I didn't. I was leaving the room. I didn't kill you.

[Narrator]

Then I saw him. He was on the other Side of the desk, crumpled in a dark space, dead from a bullet hole in his throat. Ben Elliot, dead. And his hand squeezed around a clump of gold frozen around it. The hand of the gold trapped in a thin shaft of light. And the girl stirred in my arms. And the scream that was imprisoned there tore itself from her throat. You are listening to Broadway's Mighty, written by Morton Fine and David Beatkins and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. There are many things about Broadway. It has its own private set of values. For instance, it measures the essence of a man's life in terms of light and darkness. Big man, so many mass above so many yards of neon to scream his name into the screaming night. Little man. His apportioned share of darkness like a spectacular with burnt out bulbs whispering into nothing. Dan Elliot was a little man. His only claim to distinction, that he died holding a fistful of dentist gold. There was another thing. His murder was attended by a girl, pale and shrieking as death itself. I had to know a lot of things about her. Dr. Sinski filled in a few. A very sick girl, Danny. So sick I can't tell you. Try, doctor. Try to tell me anyway. She is dying, Danny, of a rare type of pernicious anemia. So rare I had to call my old professor at Columbia to find out what it was. He called me a numb skull. Then the Latin word for schlemiel. And then he told me. What type is it? You wouldn't understand. You're a fine type fellow, Danny, but excuse the expression, you're also a layman. Some diseases are so mysterious, a doctor likes to keep them to himself. Now, word, I'm in good health. What about the poison? Did you find any evidence that she being poisoned? None whatsoever. Only the toxic condition that the anemia itself sets up. Can I be so bold as to offer you some advice, Danny? I've got my own diet. No, no, no. This isn't medical, Danny. It's. It's the milk of human kindness. If you got nothing on this girl, this Rhoda Lynn, then let her go. Let her die in peace and dignity because she's dying. Then he take my butt for it. Got Rota Lynn out here, Danny. Wanna talk to her some more? Yeah, bring her in. My good. Come on in, Rhoda. Sit down, Rhoda. Would you like a drink of water or anything else?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I just want to sleep. I just wanna lie down somewhere and go to sleep. Can I go home, Mr. Clover, to my father's room? I've slept there ever since he died.

[Narrator]

Florida. Why were you in Ben Elliot?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I told you. How many times do I have to tell you? I went there because I thought he knew something about my father's murder. I wanted him to help me.

[Narrator]

You still believe your father was murdered?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes. Yes. Oh, leave me alone. Leave me alone.

[Narrator]

Please, Ms. Lynn, please. Here, take this. That's a good girl. Mr. Clover really tries to find out the truth.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Told him so many times, he won't believe me.

[Narrator]

Try me again. Rhoda, when did you first think your father was being poisoned?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Right after Dr. Bir Mild's husband, my stepfather, became my father's partner. That's when she began to kill him. I hate her. I hate him.

[Narrator]

Ms. Lee. Easy. Easy, Ms. Lee. And you went to Ben Elliot because you thought he knew your father had been poisoned or could help you find out?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes, I told him.

[Narrator]

Then you killed him because he laughed at you. Because he'd have no part of what you were thinking.

[Detective Danny Clover]

No, I didn't kill him. I. I didn't.

[Narrator]

Where's the gun, Rotor? Where's the gun you killed Ben Elliott with? Danny, what do you want? Lots of guns, boys. Went over every nook and cranny and hole in Elliott's office. No gun. We looked outside, in the street, in the alley. No gun. We even toyed with innocent bystanders. No gun. We checked where they sell guns. None were sold to rotor. No gun. Dr. Simsky. Yes, Mr. Kober. See that Rotor gets home. Take care of her. Give her something to give her the sleep she wants. Thanks, Danny. Come along, Ms. Lynn. You're in for a nice good rest. You'll enjoy it. You look like a fatuous puppy, Mugavan. Stop it before you lick my hand. Hard hearted Danny of the police. What did you find on Elliot? He liked gold. Gold meaning money in any shape, size or form. As a matter of fact, he deposited same in banks. 3,000 here, 2,000 there, 1,000 here and there. What do you know? The penniless Dan Elliott. Wish me luck, Maran. For what? I got pain, so I'm calling on a painless dentist. Oh, let me compliment you, Ms. Clover. Where'd you find the gold? In a dead man's hand, Dr. Burke. What are you saying? Pay attention, Doctor, and you'll get the message. I said in a dead man's hand. Well, what man? What man are you talking about? Ben Elliot. Who? You're doing it again, doctor. Ben Elliot. A dead man who tried to take it with him a couple hundred bucks worth of gold. But of course I know you're Lying. You're trying to make of this petty theft. Something mysterious, I suppose you Detective MacDia to justify. I don't understand your doctor. You didn't react when I said Ben Elliot. I reacted. You just weren't perceptive enough to catch my raising of the eyebrows slightly. I raised an eyebrow were my wife. You're clapping the chin to convers. What your wife? What's the move I've got to do with Ben Elliot? I don't know. Ask her, doctor. Ask her how. Buddy, she's been to Elliot and for how long. Rumor says it's been for a long time. Getting this message, Doctor. You'll have to excuse me. Before you. Doctor, before you even knew Mildred Ben Elliott was around. I've heard that, Doctor, if you haven't heard, excuse me. There's some X ray magazines I got. We'll talk. We'll talk in just a few minutes. All right. But please, in the waiting room. I'll meet you there. All right.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Mr. Clover. Quickly, Mr. Clover.

[Narrator]

Sort of. What's the matter?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Please, I've got to talk to you.

[Narrator]

Sure, Mr.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Car. You. You know, don't you? You know what I've been saying too? What the doctor said?

[Narrator]

Just that you're sick.

[Detective Danny Clover]

But I'm dying.

[Narrator]

They need some rest. Rather being poisoned.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And I'll die the way my father died. An agony and drink to kill the pain. That way, Mr. Coleman.

[Narrator]

Come on.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Dr. Burke is dead, Mr. Clover. Everything dies. But Mother Cutchen. You evil girl. My daughter.

[Narrator]

An evil, rotten girl.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You killed him. You killed him just the way you killed him.

[Narrator]

Take it easy, Robert. I think you better get out of here.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right. All right, I will. Mother killed him. You see.

[Narrator]

Tell me what happened, Mrs. Burke.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Well, I. I don't know. I don't know what happened?

[Narrator]

Did you kill your husband?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Are you mad like my daughter is mad? Look at him. Dead. My husband's dead. His weakness is dead. The gun in his hand says that.

[Narrator]

Yeah. Should have been suicide. Only powder burns. Attitude of his body. Just this. How did you happen to get here before I did?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Because you were further away. You were down the hall. I was in the next room.

[Narrator]

Yeah. What the doctor Birth want to kill himself for?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who knows the inner turnings of a man's mind, Mr. Clover.

[Narrator]

Maybe his wife.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I did. He was a weak man. I said that.

[Narrator]

Yes, you did. Which means you've told me exactly nothing. You'll have to tell me a lot more, Mrs. Burke.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Ask me something.

[Narrator]

I will. First we got to make this death official, Mrs. Burke. There'll be photographers and print men and a corner cluttering up your house. But you won't mind that a woman like you doesn't mind anything, does she, Mrs. Burke? I was right. Mrs. Burke didn't mind the neatest fish in trampling over a little dentist's life and death. She didn't mind the questions like steel prongs that raked over her brain and her sorrows and her dreams. She didn't mind the fact that her answers added up to nothing. She minded least of all. At headquarters, I slept until the reports and analyses and photographs have been cataloged and filed and stacked and restacked and mold over. Slept until fangentino Tartaglia had watered them down. Well, you may awake now, Danny. I have digested everything and watered it down to simple terms even a child could understand. Did a call come while I slept? No, Danny. No calls. You expecting one? From Rhoda Lynn? I made a promise to call me. What have you got? A big pile of nothing, Danny. The technicians and technicals say it is extremely possible that our debt is good indeed until we commit suicide. More. They were very smug about it, Danny. What else? That question you asked me. The question of Dr. Sinski. He answers it in the affirmative. He says the X ray thing is entirely possible. It happened here in New York two years ago. What happened here in New York two years ago? Danny? Danny Clover speaking.

[Detective Danny Clover]

This is Rhoda. Mr. Clover. I'm calling you just as you told me to do.

[Narrator]

Are you in your father's room?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes.

[Narrator]

You won't be going out again tonight?

[Detective Danny Clover]

No, I won't, Mr. Clover. Going right to sleep.

[Narrator]

Hey, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Danny. You can't leave me alone without.

[Narrator]

I know what happened in New York.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Two years ago, Danny.

[Narrator]

Good enough? You, Danny? Yeah, fine. You have much trouble getting the people in this apartment to go to the movies? Some, but not much. Everybody likes free passes. Watch that room across the air shaft muggle. That. Dr. Burke's office. The dark room with the shade up. Yeah, I got a theory, kid. The only way I'll know I'm right is if we see another murder tonight. Oh. Huh. Like this? Go on the premise that Dr. Lynn was murdered. Dr. Lynn, the first husband of Mrs. Burke, the father of brother. Go on. That theory magazine. Okay. Nice. Dr. Lynn murdered because his wife wanted him out of the way so she could marry somebody else. Don't argue with women, Nugget. And then there's Ben Elliot, also dead. Yeah, dead too. You know why I'm not a lieutenant, Danny? The deposits Ben Elliot made the big Big deposits regularly for a small time operator. Blackmail, huh? Ben was collecting, the theory says. Yeah, the theory says he was bleeding Mildred Burke because he knew she killed her husband. Ben. Mildred Burke ran out of money. This dinner confession, Danny. It happened to me. Mildred too. She tried to pay Ben with gold. A couple hundred bucks. Where she lifted from her husband. Ben sneered at it. Mildred killed him. Theory, huh? Yeah, quite a one. Only it's lousy from me to you. I say it's lousy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Why?

[Narrator]

The original premise. Dr. Lynn was not murdered. The book site. He died of anemia. I think the books are wrong. I think. Hey, Danny. Danny. The light just went on across the airship. Yeah. It's Mrs. Buttercup. Yeah. What's she doing, Danny? Turning an X ray machine around. She X ray in a war that Michael witness. A lesson on how to poison people without leaving a trace of how it was done. But she's walking out of the window. Up and down the plane. Let's go. Yeah. I still don't get it. X rays will go through eight feet of concrete. Rhoda's sleeping on the other side of that wall. In the same room where Father slept. Come on, Hurry it. Don't knock the center. This one's locked. I said enter. Well, you did.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who? Who is it? Who is it? What is the meaning of this?

[Narrator]

Breaking that machine, Muggerman. It's the thing that's killing Rotor. Turn it up. Yeah. Only I don't know how. Turn it off.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Okay. Are you both crazy? What are you doing in here?

[Narrator]

Oh, the end of the theory, mugger. Dr. Burke was no suicide. Mildred killed him and made it look like one. Killed him because he finally found out about Stan Elliot and his wife. Because he would eventually learn everything. Take her. Mother.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Don't tell them I'm your mother. Tell them. Tell them what, Mildred? But they already know. That you murdered my father and my stepfather. And Ben Elliot and me. Kill them. What? Don't fight your Mildred. That means I'll have to kill you quickly. Rhoda. Rhoda.

[Narrator]

Broadway. It's the main plex of a jungle city. The wilderness of laughter and trumpets and the rasping sound of life inside the earth. And the other sound, the cry, the furtive sigh. The echo of a teardrop that no one hears. It's Broadway. The gaudiest, the most violent. The lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway. My beach. Broadway Is My Beat. Stars Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. With Charles Calvert as Tartaglia. The program was produced and directed by Elliot Lewis. The musical score was composed and conducted by Alexander Curry. The cast tonight included Joyce McCluskey, Betty Lugerson, Jack Edwards, Howard McNear, Jack Crucian and Lou Merrow. This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.