
Loading summary
Louise Scully
Your message amplified.
Detective Danny Clover
Ready to share your message with the world? Start your podcast journey with Podbean.
Louise Scully
Podbean Podbean Podbean Podbean the AI powered.
George Scully
All in one podcast platform.
Charles Crandall
Thousands of businesses and enterprises trust Podbean to launch their podcasts.
Louise Scully
Launch your podcast on PodBean today.
Charles Crandall
My school uses Podbean.
Detective Danny Clover
My church too.
Louise Scully
I love it.
Detective Danny Clover
I really do. Time is precious and so are our pets. So time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 247 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments and shipping is always free. With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care.
George Scully
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 donating@ChoiceClassicRadio.com.
Detective Danny Clover
Broadway's My Beat From Times Square to Columbus Circle, the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.
George Scully
Broadway's My Beat with Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover.
Detective Danny Clover
In the mid afternoon light of Maytime, Broadway shimmers and Langer walks the stage street, the dream walk rhythm to the pulse of the sleeping neon, to the sun warmed blues yawned out of loudspeakers to the slow erratic dance of the litter of night held close, thrown away by a gutter wind. And with the rest of Broadway you stand and watch or follow the crowd and lend your heart to the whispered cry that this day, this time, will not get away from you. But it does. It always does. The web of blood in the alley was already dust heavy, its threads leading you to the man huddled in a forgotten anguish against the flaking brick of an alley wall, his hand still clutched to the bullet wound as if he tried to claw out the pain and never made it. And the other man leaning over him, being gentle and polite as he searched the dead man's pockets, then finding something and looking at it, then making the only observation left to him.
Mugavan
It's a nice day, wasn't it Danny?
Detective Danny Clover
What did you find?
Mugavan
Magevin found him like that, all broken up about the bullet in his chest. Tried to tell me why it was there. The word never got out.
Detective Danny Clover
It was phoned in.
Mugavan
Yeah, from the back room of a bar down the alley. A friendly chap wandered out For a breath of fresh air. Saw this, ran back to the bar, made his phone call, bought drinks for the house. He's still celebrating, if you want to talk to him.
Detective Danny Clover
You talked to him?
Mugavan
Yeah. Friendly lush. Invited me to a cold beer. I didn't take it.
Detective Danny Clover
He knew this man.
Mugavan
Never had the pleasure. He told me all the citizens of the alley. Never had the pleasure. I checked.
Detective Danny Clover
Uh huh. What's that in your hand?
Mugavan
This? Oh, I almost forgot. It's a ticket for parking. Made out to a Charles Crandall. Over parked in the loading zone. He can snap his fingers at it now, huh?
Detective Danny Clover
This your witty day, Mugavin?
Mugavan
I try, Danny. Days like this, I guess I don't make it.
Detective Danny Clover
Anything else?
Mugavan
Not a thing. Nothing except that expensive watch on his wrist. You have to listen awful close to even hear it ticking. Very expensive. It's running, but in this alley, you can't hear it ticking.
Detective Danny Clover
No wallet, no identification. Just the parking ticket, that's all.
Mugavan
A wristwatch and a parking ticket. Not much for a grown man to leave behind him, is it, Danny?
Detective Danny Clover
Then the alley formerly known only to the chalk writers, the garbage collectors and the shortcut homers. Then the alley became cluttered with new faces, mostly scrubbed. The girl in the picture hat on the Pekingese, A maid in the baby carriage. The dad and his son. Mostly these, interspersed with enough men from the police department so that I could leave. I did. Back to headquarters briefly with a traffic ticket and to the traffic department long enough to check an automobile license number against a name and be given an address. Charles Crandall. Rooming house on West 17th street and go there. Wait a few seconds until the woman at the front door had finished shaking out her mop.
Louise Scully
Morning. Guess I should say good afternoon. House cleaning. You sure lose track of the time.
Detective Danny Clover
I'm looking for Charles Crandall. I'm from the police.
Louise Scully
Oh, my. Charlie hasn't done anything, has he?
Detective Danny Clover
Is he home?
Louise Scully
I wish you'd answer me. I'm his landlady, and I never had a better roomer than Charlie. What's Charlie done?
Detective Danny Clover
We found a man with a traffic ticket in his pocket.
Louise Scully
Charlie told me. Parked illegally.
Detective Danny Clover
Is he home?
Louise Scully
Why, no. Charlie hasn't been home for the last couple of days.
Detective Danny Clover
I see. Yeah.
Louise Scully
Charlie's engaged, you know.
Detective Danny Clover
No, I didn't.
Louise Scully
He brought his young lady over just last week. Introduced as Rosemary. Such a nice girl. Helped me with the dishes.
Detective Danny Clover
Rosemary what?
Louise Scully
I don't remember quite. Nielsen or something. Rosemary's such a nice name for a girl. Gonna be married.
Detective Danny Clover
Can you Tell me why Charlie hasn't been home.
Louise Scully
Of course. Sometimes he stays at Rosemary's house. Her parents love him like he was their own. Like I feel about him.
Detective Danny Clover
Was Charlie about 5ft 11, blond hair, heavily built.
Louise Scully
But not fat. You understand? Charlie takes exercise every morning when the chandelier shakes in the parlor. I know. Charlie's taking his exercises. And the chandelier shakes every morning before he goes to work.
Detective Danny Clover
Do you know where Charlie works?
Louise Scully
Surely Charlie's a longshoreman. That's another reason why he's not fat. Works? The Peerless Steamship Line unloads. That's an idea. You want to talk to Charlie? Why don't you go there? You're a policeman. They'll let you talk to him.
Detective Danny Clover
The foreman said your name was Charlie Crandall?
Charles Crandall
Yeah, that's right.
Detective Danny Clover
I'm from the police.
Charles Crandall
Oh. Oh, the parking ticket, huh? I'm not surprised.
Detective Danny Clover
I am. I didn't think you were alive, Charlie. Come on.
Charles Crandall
If I'm not being too previous. Where you taking me, Mr. Clover?
Detective Danny Clover
You'll see.
Charles Crandall
I had parking tickets before. Nobody ever took me by the arm and led me down a cold, damp hallway.
Detective Danny Clover
That so? Nobody ever?
Charles Crandall
Never. So help me, I've been missing out on things. Life has passed me by. Huh?
Detective Danny Clover
In here, Charles.
Charles Crandall
Don't tell me. Let me guess. It's a morgue.
George Scully
Uh huh.
Charles Crandall
I keep looking at such things in the papers whenever you boys put on a safety campaign. Look, the paper says drive carefully or this on the slab is you. Because I got a lousy parking ticket, you're making me live it. This the new up to date method? There's a chill in the air here. How come I'm sweating?
Detective Danny Clover
Take a good look, Charles.
Charles Crandall
I'm looking. I make your promise. I will drive carefully, observing all the traffic signals and I will never over park in a loading zone again. Promise? Cross my heart. Gypsy blood oath. If you want.
Detective Danny Clover
You know him?
Charles Crandall
Cover him up, put him back. I've had him.
Detective Danny Clover
I said something, Charles. You know him?
Charles Crandall
Who knows people who ask for this kind of thing? A shelf for a grave. I'm grateful to you though, Mr. Clover. You've introduced me to a new experience. You've given me a memory I never had before.
Detective Danny Clover
We found this parking ticket on him, Charles. Yours.
Charles Crandall
Huh?
Detective Danny Clover
Look at it. Yours. Why do things like this happen to a man like you?
Charles Crandall
It's very complicated.
Detective Danny Clover
I'll listen.
Charles Crandall
You sure you got the time? You got nothing better to do down here?
Detective Danny Clover
There's all the time you'll ever need. Fortunate me, that's right, Charles. Count your blessings.
Charles Crandall
What I'm building up to if you give me the chance. Last night was a blessing. Maybe this, what you're showing me, was a part of it. I wouldn't know.
Detective Danny Clover
Well, the mood hits you, the part you know. I'll wait.
Charles Crandall
Well, last night was my night in Solly's Bar on Third Avenue.
Detective Danny Clover
Oh? This man was found in an alley near Solly's Bar.
Charles Crandall
I wouldn't know about that. All I know is Solly's a man with an open ear. I cried into it.
Detective Danny Clover
You'd had a tough day.
Charles Crandall
That, too. I'm a longshoreman. Remember? That, too.
Detective Danny Clover
Sawyer cried a glass full of tears into Solly's ear. Yeah.
Charles Crandall
About the engagement ring I needed for my girl. Or my betrothed, I call her. About the engagement ring I couldn't afford to buy for her. Because a man like me don't lay away for things like that.
Detective Danny Clover
Must have been very dramatic.
Mugavan
Yeah.
Charles Crandall
I put it on. Maybe more than it needed. Cause a girl walks over to me, runs her fingers across the beard on my cheek, tells me she has heard the whole thing or the big trouble I'm in with my betrothed.
Detective Danny Clover
She stopped your weeping?
Charles Crandall
You could say that. She told me there was a jewelry store, Scully's Jewelry Store, down the street to come with her to pick out any ring in the window I wanted.
Detective Danny Clover
Like a fairy tale.
Charles Crandall
Yeah, you could say that. So I went with her. Pointed to the fattest ring in the window with the fattest numbers. A star sapphire, she says, meet me again tomorrow. I'll get it for your half price.
Detective Danny Clover
Good girl, to meet in a bar.
Charles Crandall
You'll never dream how good. After that, she takes me back to Solly's, lets me exchange my other sorrows with her.
Detective Danny Clover
You had more?
Charles Crandall
Only one more I could call to mind at the time. The parking ticket. She says, give it to me. I know a way to fix it.
Detective Danny Clover
You believed her?
Charles Crandall
I hear it's been done.
Detective Danny Clover
And that's the last you saw of the ticket?
Charles Crandall
The gypsy blood oath. If you still want it.
Detective Danny Clover
Who is the girl?
Charles Crandall
Helen. Address Solly's Bar in third. Go to her, Mr. Clover. A girl like that can ease many sorrows. Just ask for Helen. They'll know.
Detective Danny Clover
Don't thumb through any travel folders, huh, Charles?
Charles Crandall
Why should I? I found a home here. Cover him up, huh? Mr. Clover, it's chilly in here.
Detective Danny Clover
Solly's Bar on Third Avenue. The boy had said, go there and ask about a girl named Helen. Because Charlie had given her a traffic Ticket. And the ticket had turned up on one John Doe, dead on arrival. Third Avenue is a tenement five stories high and miles long. At 9 o', clock, the night is going full blast. The open air. Card games for juveniles only. The doorstep trysting places. And every seven minutes, the elevated screams. Somewhere between com choose Hong Kong Hand Laundry. Special attention paid to pleated dress shirts and the Blue Star Delicatessen cream soda and hot corned beef two bits. Somewhere between there was Solly's Bar. I walked in.
Mugavan
What's yours, friend?
Detective Danny Clover
Beer. Make a draft.
Louise Scully
Podbean. Your message amplified, ready to share your.
Detective Danny Clover
Message with the world. Start your podcast journey with Podbean.
Louise Scully
Podbean, the AI powered all in one podcast platform.
Charles Crandall
Thousands of businesses and enterprises trust Podbean to launch their podcasts.
Detective Danny Clover
Use Podbean to record your podcasts. Use Podbean AI to optimize your podcast. Use Podbean AI to turn your blog into a podcast. Use Podbean to distribute your podcast everywhere.
Louise Scully
Launch your podcast on Podbean today.
Mugavan
One dime. Thanks.
Detective Danny Clover
Your name's Solly? You own this place?
George Scully
Yeah.
Detective Danny Clover
So you work here every night?
Mugavan
Yeah.
Detective Danny Clover
Why skip any nights this week?
Mugavan
Hey, what's with you, buster? You spent a dime. Drink your beer, listen to the music.
Detective Danny Clover
I'm looking for Helen.
George Scully
Who?
Detective Danny Clover
Helen. Tall, blond, you know. Look, buster, you're here every night, aren't you? You ought to know. Helen.
Mugavan
I want to show you something, friend. See this? A ball bat. I bought it from a kid who swiped it from the Yanks dugout. I sawed it off. You want to hear how it goes? That's the way it goes. When I slap it on a bar, you want to hear how it sounds. Otherwise, you want to cop, huh? Why didn't you show me the bash before?
Detective Danny Clover
What about Helen?
Mugavan
I get it. Don't be a cop. You figure I'd tell you about Helen, huh?
Detective Danny Clover
What about her?
Mugavan
I told her to stay out of here. What'd you want me to do, hit her over the head with the bat?
Detective Danny Clover
The other night she was in here talking to a longshoreman named Charlie Crandall. You know anything about that?
Mugavan
Who's in trouble? She. It is Charlie.
Detective Danny Clover
Charlie Crandall was talking to you about an engagement ring. You remember that?
Mugavan
Who remembers for what reason? My ear gets bent.
Detective Danny Clover
Helen.
Mugavan
I know you want her, huh?
Detective Danny Clover
Where do I find her?
Mugavan
You wait on that bar stool. She'll be in whispering at you for a drink. Well, you can't wait. Try the second floor back at a corner house at the end of the Block this side of the street. Can't wait, huh?
Detective Danny Clover
Walk down to the corner house, which the sign at the head of the steps said allowed no visitors after to. And the other sign at the end of the corridor. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Wash out the bathtub. And the door that was swinging open briefly, then closing, opening. Helen. Helen. Get no answer. The tenement draft swings the door open and presents a room. A torn apart room. Nothing was in its place. Nothing was undisturbed except the girl on the bed. The strangled girl with the tumbled blonde hair. The dead girl. The murdered girl. You are listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover.
George Scully
Anyone interested in an auto ride from.
Detective Danny Clover
Hollywood all the way to New York?
George Scully
A fella in Hollywood named Jack Benny has to make the trip. He's got a fine Maxwell automobile and.
Detective Danny Clover
He'S looking for someone who loves sharing the scenery and the expenses for full details and fascinating highlights.
George Scully
Be listening to CBS's Jack Benny show this Sunday evening.
Detective Danny Clover
And remember Eve Arden as our Miss Brooks will be. Springtime on Broadway is like springtime on a thousand other main drags, except for one thing. Mother Nature doesn't function on Broadway. Nothing grows. It gets constructed, but nobody bothers. There's the salary to be earned, baseball scores to be considered, the weather to be discussed. However, as in all times and places, there are the crackpots, some even delirious enough to give you odds that Broadway's liable to get blown off the face of the earth. You aced a shrug on that one. And flip the newspaper over another page and scan the quarter column on the right hand side. Girl murdered in Tenement House. Police seek link with death of Unidentified man. Which was straight reporting. I know because I was the policeman directly concerned. Next morning, open the notebook and scan the personal brand of shorthand. See now an item. Charlie Crandall had been taken by the hand and led to the window of Scully's Jewelry Shop to pick out an engagement ring. Go there, look in the same window and walk into the store.
Louise Scully
Good morning.
Detective Danny Clover
Oh, good morning. I'm Danny Clover from the police.
Louise Scully
Yes?
Detective Danny Clover
I'd like to see the manager.
Louise Scully
Well. Well, I guess I am, until Mr. Scully comes in. What did you want to see him about? I'm his wife.
Detective Danny Clover
Take a look at this picture. Mrs. Scully, have you ever seen this man before?
Louise Scully
I might have, but I don't know him personally, if that's what you mean. Maybe I've seen him someplace.
Detective Danny Clover
Who is He a man we've got in the morgue. Now, take a look at this picture. Young girl, also in the morgue.
Louise Scully
How terrible.
Detective Danny Clover
Do you know her?
Louise Scully
She could be anybody. Somebody's sister or sweetheart. In the morgue? In a police morgue. Oh, what happens to people, Mr. Clover? What? My, my. Look at him.
George Scully
Hello, honey.
Detective Danny Clover
Like it?
Louise Scully
Blue coat and brown pants. Well, it's different, George.
George Scully
I took my brown coat to the cleaners on the way to work. It got soiled. Oh, sorry, dear. This gentleman?
Louise Scully
Oh, this is Mr. Clover, George, from the police. And this is my husband, Mr. Scully.
George Scully
Oh, Mr. Ho. Something I can do for you, Mr. Clover?
Detective Danny Clover
Just take a look at a couple of pictures here. This one? Never saw him. Take a look at this.
George Scully
No her either. Dangerous characters, huh, George?
Louise Scully
They're dead. They're in a police morgue.
George Scully
No, I don't know either of them, Mr. Clover. I'm talking to the gentleman, Louise.
Louise Scully
But I'll forget if I don't tell you now.
George Scully
My wife is forgetful, Mr. Clover. That's a good kind of wife to have. What is it, dear?
Louise Scully
Mrs. Reed was in here for her diamond brooch. I couldn't find it.
George Scully
Why not? Why couldn't you find it?
Louise Scully
Mrs. Reed was furious. You promised her you'd have the catch repaired by this morning.
George Scully
Well, it's ready. Why couldn't you find it, Louise?
Louise Scully
I looked. It's not there on the repair rack. I looked all right, but I couldn't find it.
George Scully
Call up Mrs. Reed and tell her your husband's here, Louise. Tell her to stop in for a brooch. Well, do it, Louise.
Detective Danny Clover
You're not missing anything from this shop, are you, Mr. Scully?
George Scully
Missing what?
Detective Danny Clover
I don't know.
George Scully
I don't understand what you're talking about.
Detective Danny Clover
A robbery, anything like that.
George Scully
You're joking. If I had a robbery, I'd know I'd been robbed, wouldn't I? You want anything else, Mr. Clover? No. Then you'll pardon me, won't you? Sure you will.
Detective Danny Clover
Gino. What's the matter, Titaglia? You got a big sadness from your office window, Danny.
Charles Crandall
You can see the harbor in the yarn.
Detective Danny Clover
It makes you unhappy, huh?
Charles Crandall
Lady Jane Pugh, the ne' er do well. Girl detective from London town. She has pushed off from our fair shores, Danny. The paper said she grew lonesome to eat an English kipper in the fog.
Detective Danny Clover
Happens to a girl sometimes.
Charles Crandall
You're fighting me, Danny. Don't do that at a time like this.
Detective Danny Clover
There's only one thing to do with a grief like yours, Gino.
Charles Crandall
Tell me, Danny.
Detective Danny Clover
Don't tease me with it. Tell me. Bury it. And work, you mean.
Charles Crandall
I tried, Danny. It don't help. There it is, on your desk.
Detective Danny Clover
You buried your grief in this envelope.
Charles Crandall
A part of it, the rest.
Detective Danny Clover
What's in the envelope is news from.
Charles Crandall
The FBI concerning the fingerprints of the man now in the morgue whom you found bullet holed in the alley.
Detective Danny Clover
They matched them to a minor hoodlum.
Charles Crandall
Name of Johnny Malloy, used to work our fair city. Crossed a few sweaty palms with silver. Address unknown. I informed them his new address finally.
Detective Danny Clover
Caught up with him. Don't you know?
Louise Scully
Yeah?
Detective Danny Clover
Danny Clover speaking.
Louise Scully
This is Rosemary Nelson. Mr. Clover. Can you come to our house right away, please?
Detective Danny Clover
Who did you say?
Louise Scully
Rosemary Nelson. I'm Charles Crandall's fiance. He told you about me? He says it's about the ring he gave me. The engagement ring. I don't want it, nor him anymore. Please come.
Detective Danny Clover
What's your address, Rosemary?
Louise Scully
The brownstone with the marble stoop. 1827 West 58th.
Detective Danny Clover
You'll be here right away.
Charles Crandall
You going out, Danny?
Detective Danny Clover
You mind?
Charles Crandall
If you want to leave me alone.
Mugavan
With a memory, it's all right.
Charles Crandall
Go ahead, Danny. I'll be all right. I've been alone before.
Louise Scully
Bye, Danny.
Charles Crandall
Don't pay any attention to her, Mr. Clover. She's upset. A lover's quarrel upsets a girl like Rosemary. I know. We've had them before.
Detective Danny Clover
That's all it is, Rosemary. Just a quarrel that needs a policeman to referee it.
Louise Scully
Look at this ring, Mr. Clover.
Detective Danny Clover
Beautiful star sapphire.
Louise Scully
Take it. I don't want it. Give it back to whoever Charlie got it from.
Charles Crandall
You know where I got it from, who I got it from, how I got it. Don't make a tear stained production out of it.
Louise Scully
I'm not crying, Charlie. Not anymore. That's one thing I used to like about you. You never gave me a reason to cry.
Charles Crandall
You got a star sapphire, didn't you? Is that what eats you? Because you never had a thing like that before? Because the star shoots pains through your head?
Louise Scully
Leave me alone. Just you leave me alone, you hear?
Charles Crandall
Rose. Rose.
Louise Scully
Honey.
Detective Danny Clover
Where'd you get the ring? Charles?
Charles Crandall
Honey. Rose, baby, listen to me. I told you I'd tell the police.
Detective Danny Clover
I dropped into Scully's Jewelry Store a little while ago and noticed a little square, clean place in the window like where a ring box had been. This the ring, Charles?
Charles Crandall
Yeah. Yeah. You need an engagement ring, lonely man. Take it. Looks like I don't need it anymore.
Detective Danny Clover
Ellen Griffith get it for you? Like she said she Would. Half price and everything.
Charles Crandall
Half price and everything. You could go ask her, except I read in the paper she's dead. So you'll have to take my word for it, huh?
Louise Scully
You were with her. You were with her and she sold you the ring. And now she's dead. And you want me to wear it. Get him out of here. Get him out.
Charles Crandall
Yeah, why don't you do that, Mr. Clover? It ain't the same between Rosemary and me anymore. So why don't you do like the pretty girl asks?
Detective Danny Clover
Let's go, Charles. I'm sorry, Rosemary.
Louise Scully
Leave me alone. Just you leave me alone, you hear?
Charles Crandall
What are you waiting for, copper? What is it?
Detective Danny Clover
Come on.
Charles Crandall
What, are you gonna hold me on suspicion of murder until I come up.
Detective Danny Clover
With a new one?
George Scully
Danny.
Mugavan
Danny. Over here in a squad car. Woman down at headquarters. Danny turning the air blue with complaints about Scully the jeweler.
Detective Danny Clover
Says he tell us about it on the way down, huh, Muggleman? It'll pass the time for all of us. You, me and our boy Charlie.
Louise Scully
Well, finally.
Mugavan
This is Danny Clover, Ms. Christie.
Louise Scully
What am I supposed to do? Put two fingers in my mouth and whistle?
Detective Danny Clover
You made a complaint about a jeweler named Scully. What's the complaint?
Louise Scully
Don't talk to me like that.
Detective Danny Clover
What is this, Monkman?
Mugavan
I'll handle it for you, Danny. Now, look, Miss Christie. You told me something about a watch and about Scully's jewelry store. I want you to tell Mr. Clover.
Louise Scully
What's the matter? You got amnesia? Sonny, Please tell him it's about my layaway plan. Whirl that around for a while.
Mugavan
Danny. This is a mad dream.
Detective Danny Clover
We lost that one, Mugman. Try another move, Ms. Christie.
Louise Scully
I told you it was my layaway plan. My layaway plan.
Detective Danny Clover
You mean you bought something for Mr. Scully on a layaway plan?
George Scully
You're dumb.
Louise Scully
Down, you boy.
Detective Danny Clover
What did you lay away, Miss Christie?
Louise Scully
A watch for man's wrist. I'm carton. Figured a bull of it'd make him happy.
Detective Danny Clover
You still haven't told us what the complaint is.
Louise Scully
That's Scully. For 11 months now, I've been paying down on the watch, see? Come in with the last payment in my hot little fist. No watch. Scully tries to sell me another one.
Detective Danny Clover
That watch have a gold face, gold.
Louise Scully
Wristband, and if you flip open its back side, there's 17 jewels visible to the, if you'll pardon the expression, naked eye.
Mugavan
Hey, Danny, that sounds like the watch we found on that guy in the alley.
Detective Danny Clover
Yeah. Entertainer. Mugavan.
Louise Scully
You heard what the man said, sonny. Entertainer.
Detective Danny Clover
Then a Squad car. And on the way to Scully's jewelry shop. The gathering together of the after images of two peoples dying. Item, Ms. Christie. The fact that her wristwatch had disappeared from Scully's store had turned up on a murdered man's wrist. Item, Helen. The fact that she had gotten a star sapphire from Scully at a big saving. The fact that she'd been murdered. Conclusion? Mr. Scully had been robbed or he'd been giving away merchandise. Anyway, it was a conclusion that needed. Mr. Scully.
George Scully
What can I. Oh, hello, Mr. Clover.
Detective Danny Clover
Is your wife here? Scully?
George Scully
In the back. Short and Stock.
Detective Danny Clover
Get her.
George Scully
Well, if it's important, Mr. Clover, but she's busy. Get her, Mr. Clover. Well, all right. Louise. Louise, come here for a minute.
Louise Scully
I haven't finished the stock, George.
George Scully
Leave it and come here. Mr. Clover wants you.
Louise Scully
Who?
George Scully
Mr. Clover. You remember the policeman.
Louise Scully
Well, tell him to come back. George, if you stop me in the middle of the stock, I'll forget what I've done.
Detective Danny Clover
Don't Worry about it, Mrs. Scully. It won't take long.
Louise Scully
What do you want? I told you I couldn't recognize those people.
Detective Danny Clover
I know. Your husband couldn't either.
George Scully
What's the matter? Don't you believe us?
Louise Scully
Yeah, don't you believe us?
Detective Danny Clover
Tell me something, Mrs. Scully. Did your husband ever locate Mrs. Reed's diamond brooch? The one that needed the catch fixed?
George Scully
Well, why? Ask her. Ask me? Yeah. Yeah, I found it.
Louise Scully
You mean. I found it, George. You remember we laughing when I found it in the repair case? After looking there a dozen times, I just couldn't understand it.
Detective Danny Clover
Because when you looked a dozen times, it wasn't there. Tell her where it was, Scully.
George Scully
What are you trying to do to us, Clover?
Detective Danny Clover
Tell her where the brooch was, Scully. And the wristwatch and the star sapphire ring.
Louise Scully
Oh, my.
Mugavan
He.
George Scully
He's crazy, Louise. I don't know what he's trying to do.
Louise Scully
Oh, my. George. Well, George, I'm not gonna lie for you. You might as well know that after all, you've done something wrong. I know. I'm a plain woman, George. And I'm in my 40s and I make myself forget a lot of things, but not this. George.
George Scully
She doesn't know what she's talking about.
Louise Scully
You lied to me, George. Scully, you said you took your coat to the cleaners and you never did. When I was in there today, the cleaning man asked me about you. Said you hadn't been in for such a long time.
George Scully
I told you a little white lie, Louise. I lost my coat.
Louise Scully
Must have lost the keys to the Store, too. Is that why we've been using mine?
Detective Danny Clover
That how that hoodlum Johnny Malloy looted your shop, Scully? Walked in and took your coat when you had it off?
George Scully
Well, when it's hot, a man takes off his coat.
Detective Danny Clover
But your keys were in the pockets. Why didn't you report it to the police?
Louise Scully
Because you were with that woman again, weren't you, George? That's why you couldn't report it.
George Scully
But I was only drinking with her. In a bottle.
Louise Scully
I don't care what you were doing. After all, you promised me. Louise, I. I lied for you about the pictures. But I'm not gonna lie anymore. Not about her. Even if she is dead.
George Scully
Louise, what do you want me to say?
Louise Scully
I don't know.
Detective Danny Clover
Tell her you killed Johnny Malloy. Only he didn't have the loot. He'd already given it to Helen. So you had to strangle her to get it. And you got it.
George Scully
Hey. I don't know what got into me, Louise. I didn't want you to know. It such a beautiful night. I was walking along. I stopped to light my pipe. It was in front of the bar. And I heard a tap on the window. It was Helen. She waved me in and I. I just didn't want you to know.
Louise Scully
But you promised you wouldn't. And now look at you, George. Scully, you're a murderer.
Detective Danny Clover
I think we better go, Scully.
George Scully
Louise, you gotta help me. We'll get a lawyer.
Detective Danny Clover
He'll tell you what to say.
Louise Scully
I won't lie, George. I just am not going to lie anymore.
Detective Danny Clover
In May, the night sighs down on Broadway Like a rosy promise Someone smiles and takes your hand whispers and for an instant the lights are brighter, the noise louder and your scream mixes well with the scream of the night. It's Broadway. The gaudiest, most violent the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway My beat.
George Scully
Broadway's 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, Lou Merrill was heard as George Scully, Jeanette Nolan as Louise Scully, and Adam Williams as Charles Crandall. Others in the cast were Peggy Weber and Joy Terry. Say there. Sing It Again's current Phantom voice is really a phantom. For the past two Saturdays, she's mystified everyone. Jan Murray's called and his coast. Sing it again.
Detective Danny Clover
Phone tonight.
George Scully
Jan may call you if you can name the Phantom. She's worth $3,000 in cold, hard cash. So stay tuned now for Sing It.
Detective Danny Clover
Again, which follows immediately on most of.
George Scully
These same CBS stations. Joe Walters speaking.
Detective Danny Clover
This is cbs, where you laugh at.
George Scully
Jack Benny every Sunday night.
Detective Danny Clover
The Columbia Broadcasting System.
Charles Crandall
Sam.
Podcast: Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
Episode: Broadway Is My Beat: The Charles Crandall Murder Case (Original Air Date: 05/12/1951)
Released: October 15, 2025
Host: Choice Classic Radio
This episode of Broadway Is My Beat follows Detective Danny Clover as he navigates the bustling, shadowy heart of New York’s Broadway, investigating the murder of an unidentified man found in an alley. The episode evokes the gritty glamour of the era, blending hardboiled police procedural with poetic noir narration, as Detective Clover peels back the layers of a case tangled in theft, deceit, and murder. At the center stands a simple traffic ticket and an engagement ring—clues that lead directly to betrayal and the shattering loneliness that haunts Broadway.
[01:53]–[04:05]
[04:05]–[06:19]
[06:50]–[08:54]
Clover visits Crandall at work; Crandall’s surprised to find himself targeted seemingly for a parking ticket.
Brought to the morgue, Crandall insists he doesn’t know the victim.
Reveals the story of meeting a mysterious woman named Helen at Solly’s Bar, who offered to fix his parking ticket and promised a cheap engagement ring.
Memorable Charlie Quote:
[09:00]–[13:54]
Charlie paints a picture of Helen, who seems part Good Samaritan, part femme fatale.
Detective Clover heads to Solly’s Bar, where the bartender (Solly) is initially evasive and hostile.
After pressure, Solly points Clover to Helen’s apartment.
Bartender’s Threat:
Clover discovers Helen dead—strangled in her ransacked apartment.
[16:35]–[19:08]
[19:08]–[20:15]
[21:07]–[22:43]
[23:31]–[24:56]
[25:44]–[28:56]
At Scully’s store, Clover publicly confronts George Scully about the robbery and murder.
Mrs. Scully, heartbreakingly, refuses to cover for him:
George breaks down and confesses: he confronted Johnny Malloy for stealing from the store, killed him, and subsequently killed Helen to recover the stolen jewelry.
Clover’s blunt summary:
[29:33]–[30:16]
| Timestamp | Segment | | ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | | 01:53 | Opening narration, body discovered | | 04:05 | Landlady interview | | 06:50 | Confronting Charles Crandall at work & at the morgue | | 09:00 | Charlie’s backstory at Solly’s Bar | | 11:05 | Clover visits Solly’s Bar | | 13:54 | Murder scene: Helen killed | | 16:35 | Scully Jewelry Store—photos shown, tension with Louise | | 19:08 | Dead man identified as Johnny Malloy | | 21:07 | Visit to Rosemary—engagement breaks off | | 23:31 | Ms. Christie reports missing watch | | 25:44 | Final confrontation—Mrs. Scully refuses to lie | | 29:33 | Poetic, melancholy closing narration |
The Charles Crandall Murder Case is a densely-woven tale of accidental involvement, petty crime, desperation, and human frailty. An engagement ring and a parking ticket tug at invisible threads binding together strangers, lovers, and lonesome hearts, illustrating how beneath Broadway’s glitter churns a relentless machinery of fate, regret, and violence.
Recommended for:
Fans of classic radio drama and detective noir, those interested in the atmospheric interplay of romantic tragedy and procedural investigation, and anyone seeking a prime example of mid-century audio storytelling at its most evocative.