Broadway is My Beat: The Ed Koster Murder Case 10/13/1951

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Broadway is My Beat – The Ed Koster Murder Case (Aired 10/13/1951)

Main Theme & Purpose

This classic radio detective episode follows Detective Danny Clover as he investigates the intertwined cases of arson, murder, and revenge among New York’s seedy underbelly. The story opens with a deadly fire at Russell Chemical Company and the subsequent deaths of two men—one a police officer, Ed Koster, and the other a known arsonist, Joe Gant. As Clover delves deeper, he uncovers connections to the powerful Russell family, a world-weary daughter with a troubled past, and the reformed criminal Frankie Crown.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Fire at Russell Chemical Company

• Detective Danny Clover is called early morning to the scene of a blaze where two men are found: one dead, one dying—Ed Koster, a police officer, and Joe Gant, a professional arsonist.
• The fire is quickly confirmed to be intentional, with Gant’s known arsonist background providing the first major clue.
• Technical analysis (Gordon) later indicates the fire was set to trigger an explosion at low heat.
  “The fire was not only set by an arsonist, but there was an explosion. Explosive. Neatly placed to explode at a comparatively low heat.” – Gordon (21:13)

2. Personal Impact and Loss

• Gino Costa and other officers express personal grief over Koster’s injuries and eventual death, highlighting the familial ties among police.
• Vera, Ed Koster’s wife, is devastated but stoic, expressing bitterness at the platitudes offered:
  “They say bitterness won’t help. They’re dead wrong. It helps.” – Vera Koster (16:16)

3. The Russell Family & the Booby-Trapped Car

• Clover visits George Russell and his daughter, Patrice, who was nearly killed by a bomb in Russell’s car.
• The conversation is layered: Patrice exhibits jaded detachment, while Russell denies any connection to underworld figures or motives for arson, including insurance scams.
• Patrice’s troubled nature, past narcotics use, and complex relationship with her father are repeatedly highlighted: “I wasn’t very nice to him, Danny. You know something? Every morning I’d wake up and say to myself, this is a day that I’m not gonna hurt Daddy. And it never worked out.” – Patrice Russell (23:34)

4. Frankie Crown & the Mob Connection

• Frankie Crown, now a wealthy, ‘respectable’ man, is confronted twice by Clover. Frankie’s old ties to arson and Joe Gant and his evasive but witty demeanor cast suspicion.
• He denies involvement but hints at a history of violence and street life, now masked by wealth. “Rubber balls through tenement windows. When I was a kid. I give it up. No future.” – Frankie Crown (25:59)

5. Unraveling the Plot: Revenge and Misplaced Justice

• The investigation reveals that Officer Koster had previously arrested Patrice Russell for narcotics. George Russell, the father, is suggested to have sought revenge against Koster for “ruining” his daughter.
• The murder plot unfolds:
  • Russell arranges—through Frankie and Gant—to have his own chemical plant burned, with an explosion deliberately set to kill Koster, who is lured there by an anonymous tip.
  • When the plan goes wrong—killing both Gant and Koster but not entirely achieving revenge—further attempts are made on Russell’s life, culminating in his death from a bomb thrown through his window.
  • Frankie Crown responds violently to Russell’s betrayal, ensuring the “score is settled” in the violent world of organized crime.

6. Resolution and Tragedy

• Clover confronts Frankie with the full narrative, laying out how Russell’s desire to protect his daughter and seek retribution led to multiple deaths.
• Frankie tries to deflect, but when cornered, pulls a gun and is killed.
• The episode closes with Clover’s poignant monologue about the dreams and heartbreaks of Broadway, driving home the recurring themes of loneliness, violence, and fleeting glamour.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Atmospheric City Description:
  “Broadway’s My Beat – From Times Square to Columbus Circle…the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.” – Detective Danny Clover (01:25)
• Gino’s Grief:
  “Ed’ll make it. Sorry, Danny. I keep thinking about Ed’s wife, Vera. I keep thinking.” – Gino Costa (04:38)
• Patrice’s Detached Humor:
  “It’s fun, huh, Mr. Clover? Hoodlums, arson, booby traps. The nice things that can happen to a modern miss.” – Patrice Russell (08:54)
• Frankie’s Street Philosophy:
  “Wipe your hands of the old life and a new world shivers on the horizon, waiting just for you. You ought to try it, Danny.” – Frankie Crown (10:09)
• Vera Koster’s Bitterness:
  “They say bitterness won’t help. They’re dead wrong. It helps.” – Vera Koster (16:16)
• Clover’s Epilogue:
  “What is the word to give to a woman whose husband is dead? How do you fill in reports? How do you make a statistic out of it and file it in a ledger? How do you write heartbreak as a number?” – Detective Danny Clover (17:36)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Opening/Setting the Scene: 01:25
• Fire Discovery & Victims Identified: 02:52–04:29
• Koster’s Death Announced: 12:28–13:04
• Russell Family Interview & Bombing: 06:36–08:53
• First Visit with Frankie Crown: 09:30–11:49
• Technical Analysis of Fire: 20:31–21:15
• Patrice’s Confession and Regret: 22:33–24:37
• Second Visit and Final Showdown with Frankie: 25:06–28:07
• Clover’s Closing Monologue: 28:07–29:23

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Overall Flow & Tone

The episode is classic noir: atmospheric, poetic, and laced with hard-boiled dialogue. Detective Clover is both a part of and apart from the world he polices, alternating between weary compassion and steely resolve. The show’s tone is fatalistic yet empathetic—dwelling on the impact of crime on everyone it touches, from the victims’ families to the criminals themselves.

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For listeners new to Broadway Is My Beat, this episode encapsulates the series’ strengths: evocative writing, rich characterization, and complex, morally ambiguous mysteries rooted in postwar New York.

Transcript

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[Narrator/Radio Host]

Welcome to Choice Classic Radio where we.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Bring to you the greatest old time.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Radio shows like us on Facebook, subscribe.

[Dr. Sinski]

To us on YouTube and thank you for [e-mail].

[Detective Danny Clover]

Broadway's My Beat From Times Square to Columbus Circle, the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Broadway's my beat with Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

When it's October and the night has slipped down over Broadway, the street is spangled with autumn strollers. They come here, the seekers, after something or other. Pick a doorway with promising neon. Pick a smile and run after it. Pick a postcard, write home about it. It's a place to be. You've got to leave your mark. Buy a turtle and have your name painted on its back. Buy a necktie, buy a pillow and send it back to mom. Sometimes you'll be lucky and get lipstick on your handkerchief. But the odds say you'll buy a newspaper and go to bed. But it's Broadway, kid, and you've had it. And where Broadway ebbs off into the side streets downtown where I was close to. Where I was close to where 18th street touches the river. The shock was a thing composed of crowd and a nighttime sky lit by flame. The elements later to be noted in police and fire department records. Fire at Russell's Chemical Company. Time 4:15am you're bringing somebody out now, Danny. That's strange.

[Dr. Sinski]

What? What'd you say?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Said it's strange. Mug of him after 4 in the morning. Why should anybody be? Come on, let's see.

[Dr. Sinski]

Put the scratches down here.

[Gordon (Technical Technician)]

Somebody.

[Detective Danny Clover]

But how are they, huh? Oh, hello, Danny.

[Gordon (Technical Technician)]

These two, I think that's always in there. I just started to say somebody better get a priest.

[Detective Danny Clover]

They're Both dead.

[Gordon (Technical Technician)]

This one is.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The other one, Danny.

[Dr. Sinski]

Look at him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Ed Coster, huh?

[Dr. Sinski]

Do something for him. Don't let. Doc.

[Gino Costa]

Doc.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Over here. Ed Coster. Hurry up, Doc.

[Dr. Sinski]

You know him, Danny?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah, he's a policeman. A policeman? What was he doing in there?

[Dr. Sinski]

Doc, do something for him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And the flames beating against the night sky, burning an opening for dawn in the street. The reflected glow darts across the face of death, holds for an instant, then scurries at the breath of the October wind. This is the time of shadows. The brief time. The time for shrouding of the charred body of a man. The time for quick gentleness. The other man still in anguish. And the lifting of them into the vehicle reserved for the dead and the dying. The closing of a door upon them. The hushed ride that puts an end to night. In the morning at headquarters, watch the sergeant lift a phone, dial a number, and after a silence, ask for news of a man who was known to him, who was a friend.

[Gino Costa]

It's me again, Dr. Sinski, about Ed Koster. Any change? Any? No. Thank you, Doctor. I'll keep calling.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Gino.

[Gino Costa]

What do you want, Ed?

[Detective Danny Clover]

How is he?

[Gino Costa]

You heard? No change.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Hits us all. Gino Costa's that kind of man.

[Gino Costa]

Ed spin to the Tartaglia house, dangled the Tartaglia child on his knee. He'll make it. Ed'll make it. Sorry, Danny. I keep thinking about Ed's wife, Vera. I keep thinking.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You got something for me, Gino?

[Gino Costa]

Yeah. Yeah, I got something. I'm sorry, Danny. The man found with Ed. The dead man. Technical checked up on him in ways they got to check on such things. Fingerprints.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Maybe they know who he is.

[Gino Costa]

We got a file on him this long to my arm. Joe Gant, professional arsonist. A man who sets fires this way, he makes his daily bread by burning.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Anything else?

[Gino Costa]

It's on the record. Gant was friends to Frankie Crown.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Oh, how were they friends?

[Gino Costa]

Gant once lit a playful little bonfire in a machine shop. Concerned Frankie Crown bailed him out, treated him to Frankie's lawyer. Gant got off. Let's see Frankie get out of this one.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I hear Frankie's a big man now, eh?

[Gino Costa]

Not that big.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'll want to talk to him.

[Gino Costa]

Yeah, but maybe you better listen to this other thing first, Danny. What was called in a few minutes ago, the automobile of one George Russell exploded. Blew up in the face of his daughter Patrice in the driveway with a booby trap. Russell of the Russell Chemical Company. Where the fire was home address? Uptown. 1923 East 112 thanks, Gino. Doctor Sinski. Me again about it. Any change? Any?

[Detective Danny Clover]

No.

[Gino Costa]

I'll call again in a little while.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes, Mr. Russell?

[Dr. Sinski]

Yes, what is it?

[Detective Danny Clover]

My name's Clover. Police all morning long.

[Gordon (Technical Technician)]

You police?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Mind if I come in?

[Dr. Sinski]

I suppose you may. In here. This is my daughter, Patrice. Mr. Clover, another policeman.

[Vera Coster]

Hi.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How do you feel, Ms. Russell?

[Patrice Russell]

Got my pinching hand in a cast. Oh, the disadvantage of it all. Wait till Jimmy sees it.

[Dr. Sinski]

Patrice.

[Patrice Russell]

It was your fault, Daddy, Wasn't it? His fault, Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I understand your car blew up this morning.

[Patrice Russell]

Not mine, his daddy's.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What happened?

[Dr. Sinski]

Her car is in the garage being repaired. I loaned her mine.

[Patrice Russell]

You see how it's his fault, Mr. Clover? He spoils me. I only wheedled him for the car. This much? This much. And he patted me and said yes, my darling daughter.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You stepped on the starter and it.

[Patrice Russell]

And it blew. The way things do. Bang.

[Vera Coster]

Like that.

[Patrice Russell]

Bang.

[Dr. Sinski]

She's a lucky girl.

[Patrice Russell]

Fortunate me. Hand in a sling, gauze on my cheek and plaster dappled with it. Poor Jimmy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Your car booby trapped. Mr. Russell, your plant set fire to by an arsonist.

[Dr. Sinski]

An arsonist?

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's right. The man who died had a record of arson.

[Dr. Sinski]

What's happening? I don't understand.

[Vera Coster]

Oh, Pop.

[Patrice Russell]

Hey, Pop.

[Vera Coster]

How's business, Pop?

[Dr. Sinski]

Patrice, you'd better do what, Pop? My business is fine, Mr. Clover, if you've got any idea. I had my business.

[Gino Costa]

How?

[Patrice Russell]

He carries a lot of insurance.

[Dr. Sinski]

Cut it out, Patricia. Look, Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What?

[Dr. Sinski]

Don't pay any attention to her. I know you police have to think along certain lines. If it was arson, what happened to my plant, you got to think maybe I was the cause of it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Look, for reasons.

[Dr. Sinski]

Well, I netted 70,000 last year. And this year it's better than ever.

[Patrice Russell]

To coin a phrase.

[Dr. Sinski]

What am I going to do with you, Patrice?

[Patrice Russell]

I'm a mess, huh, Daddy?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Mr. Russell, there's some connection between the arsonist who was found and a hoodlum named Frankie Crown. Do you know Frankie?

[Dr. Sinski]

Frankie Crown, A hoodlum? Why should I? Look, Mr. Clover, I didn't ask you into my house to listen.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I just asked, that's all.

[Patrice Russell]

He did, Pop.

[Dr. Sinski]

I don't know him. Never heard of him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right.

[Patrice Russell]

It's fun, huh, Mr. Clover. Hoodlums, arson, booby traps. The nice things that can happen to a modern miss. Brother. Wait til Jimmy hears. Tonight's the night he won't be able to shut me up.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And consider the girl for a moment. Consider the delight she had found in the touch of horror upon Her. Then the intrusion of her father's face. Stricken with a sudden fleeting understanding of the girl. Then turning to you, trying to smile, trying to erase the impression his child has made.

[Dr. Sinski]

She's suffering a shock. She doesn't understand, Mr. Clope. She doesn't know.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And the girl looks up, laughs at them and leave them like that. Then to the discreet office of Frankie Crown. In a discreet downtown building dedicated to the deep understanding of stocks and bonds in the affairs.

[Gino Costa]

Commerce.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The shiny new setting for Frankie Crown. Hoodlum, alley boy, friend of dead arsonists. And Frankie holds out a discreetly manicured hand to have it shaken. Only it doesn't happen to him.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Have it your own way, Danny. I thought it would spark something between us if he shook my hand.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're a long way from home, Frankie.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Blessed, that's me. I've been blessed. Wipe your hands of the old life and a new world shivers on the horizon, waiting just for you. You ought to try it, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Been to any good fires lately, Frankie?

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Oh, busy, busy, busy, busy. Frankie Crown has been so busy you couldn't conceive. No fires, no straight dances, no fun anywhere. The penalties of the new life, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Friend of yours was at a fire, though.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

I got crazy friends. They flip over the craziest things.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Joe Gant, arsonist. Friend of yours, Frankie?

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Somewhere in the back of my brain the name Gant shivers. Help me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Then the consensus is he set a fire early yesterday morning at the Russell Chemical Company. He died in it. Can you bailed him out once. Favored him with your private lawyer. Got him off Joe Gann. I did all that. We got a memory course at headquarters, Frankie. You just signed up.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Don't get hard, Danny. Doesn't suit you. I always said a bunch of. The touch of your hand brought it back to me. Gant, some way. He's got a mother. I know because she came to me that time. Cried on my sleeve. Please help Joe. She cried. He's a good boy. She cried. Made my eyes water.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How?

[Narrator/Radio Host]

With my doe and lawyer. Joe Gant was gonna reform. So I gave in. I break up at her mother's tears.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Maybe she'll cry something for me.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

You goin looking for her? Don't bother, Danny. I bought her a place in her old country. She impressed me so much as a typical mother.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You close all the doors behind you, don't you, Frankie?

[Narrator/Radio Host]

The mark of a polite man. They close to it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How about the one on George Russell?

[Narrator/Radio Host]

It come over the tape. The Russell plant burned to the ground this morning. His car blew up in his daughter's lap. Now there's a door that's never been opened to me, Danny. The Russell dog I'm blasting. Absolutely blessed.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Get out of there. Back to headquarters. Sit at your desk and shuffle your thoughts. The coincidence of a booby trapped car and a fire. The link between a hoodlum newly respectable and an arsonist newly dead and another man, a businessman who had a daughter. Try to find a category for her. Try to find Danny Clover.

[Dr. Sinski]

Dr. Sinskam calling from the hospital.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How's Ed Coster?

[Dr. Sinski]

Get down here, Danny, right away.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And go there. And the only sound in the corridor is your footsteps, A sound that hurries toward pain. Open a door and find it. Doctor.

[Dr. Sinski]

He's dead.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Vera. I'm sorry.

[Vera Coster]

Ed.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Ed.

[Vera Coster]

Oh, ed.

[Narrator/Announcer]

You are listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin hand starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. In days of old, when knights were bold, King Arthur and his round table were the rage. History's not exactly repeating itself, but the best entertainment of Arthur Godfrey's weekday shows is every Sunday afternoon on King Arthur Godfrey's Roundtable. Listen for it starting tomorrow afternoon on most of these same stations. King Arthur Godfrey's Roundtable on CBS Radio.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The October wind shrills through Broadway's corridors, sets in motion the light bulbs dangling from twisted, frayed cords grates the new autumn soot against scarred window panes. And Broadway walks faster now. The wind that slept in the summer warmed river is awake now. And sirens. The coming of the cold days, the gray days, the days sodden with autumn's mists. And the corridor people, the doorway people try to hold back, clutch once more at the sunlit visions that never happened. But the October wind shrieks it out of their hands, pushes it into a corner with the rest of the debris. That's how autumn happens to Broadway, kid. Go fight it. And autumn has other sounds. The lingering overtones that float in from a hospital corridor. A woman's call to a dead husband. And.

[Vera Coster]

And.

[Dr. Sinski]

Vera. Vera, Let me give you something. Let me give.

[Vera Coster]

Don't. Don't talk to me. Just for a minute. Don't talk to me.

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[Detective Danny Clover]

Vera.

[Vera Coster]

It's all right now, Danny? Empty. Nothing. There's no more crying left in me.

[Dr. Sinski]

I'll get you something, Vera. Something. It says on the bottle that makes you feel better.

[Vera Coster]

I told you, Doctor. There's nothing I want. Nothing I need from anyone.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Ed was a fine man, Vera.

[Gordon (Technical Technician)]

We.

[Vera Coster]

You'll miss him. You, Danny. You, Dr. Sinski. All of you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Vera.

[Vera Coster]

They say death comes when. They say bitterness won't help. They're dead wrong. It helps.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'll take you home, Vera. Then when you. Some other time.

[Vera Coster]

We'll talk about Ed.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes.

[Vera Coster]

What's wrong with now, Danny? You can talk to me about Ed now. We never held secrets from each other.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I couldn't understand something.

[Vera Coster]

What was there about Ed Coster you couldn't understand?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Only how he happened to be at the scene of the fire. How he must have been there even before.

[Vera Coster]

Anonymous call, Danny. An anonymous call. It told him a fire was being set at that chemical company. It even told him what time to get there.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Did he have the call traced?

[Vera Coster]

It came from a public phone booth.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Ed was new on the burglary squad.

[Vera Coster]

He was glad for the tip. He thought it would make for a good start on the burglary detail.

[Oregon Charter Academy Announcer]

He thought maybe he'd been on the.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Narcotics squad before that. Put in for a transfer. Do you know Hwyver?

[Vera Coster]

Because I asked him to. Because I didn't like the idea of his being in the narcotic squad. Didn't fit Ed. Ed was fine. A good man. He gave me all his love, all his gentleness.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And listen to her. Until the time comes when your only answer is silence. And not silence quite. Because the screaming questions intrude themselves. What is the word to give to a woman whose husband is dead? How do you fill in reports? How do you make a statistic out of it and file it in a ledger? How do you write heartbreak as a number? You don't know how. So you turn your back on it. Leave. And to headquarters again. Calling Detective Mugaman. Tell him to get out the record of Ed Koster. And wait. And a while later, a door opens and Detective Mugavin walks in.

[Dr. Sinski]

I got it, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Okay, Put it down.

[Dr. Sinski]

Aren't you gonna look at it?

[Detective Danny Clover]

What's the matter, Mugavin? You're restless? I'll look at it.

[Dr. Sinski]

I know you will, but I think you ought to look at it right away.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Look, Mugavin.

[Dr. Sinski]

All right, then. I'll show you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

There.

[Dr. Sinski]

You sit here. This arrest, June 12th this year.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Patrice Russell.

[Dr. Sinski]

Uh huh. Ed arrested her for the possession of narcotics. Now you Know why I wanted you?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Take it. Mugaman.

[Dr. Sinski]

Lieutenant Clover's office.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Mugaman.

[Dr. Sinski]

Speak. What? Bad? Oh, sure, sure. Right away. Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Huh?

[Dr. Sinski]

A bomb was thrown into the home of George Russell.

[Detective Danny Clover]

When?

[Dr. Sinski]

A few minutes ago. Into the living room.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The fire department let's.

[Dr. Sinski]

No one else in the house, Danny. I checked with the boys in the fire department.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You licked yourself?

[Dr. Sinski]

Yeah, Danny, I did. There's no one else in the house. Just him, you and me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You ask about his daughter?

[Dr. Sinski]

Woman in the crowd outside told me she saw her go out a couple of hours ago. Described her wearing apparel right up to her hat. The woman in the crowd leans out her window and notices things like that about her neighbors.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You make a note of what the girl was wearing?

[Dr. Sinski]

It happens to me. Like a reflex.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Now, they tried to kill Russell once before.

[Dr. Sinski]

This time they made it. Can't we go into another room and talk, Danny? The way it hit him, in a.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Minute, he must have been sitting at this window. The force of the explosion threw him.

[Dr. Sinski]

Yeah, like that. They sure wanted him dead, didn't they?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Then routine. Put it on the teletype for all the precincts. Have men go to places where a girl like Patrice Russell might be. Wait. Patrice Russell is at none of these places. Then an all points bulletin. Find Patrice Russell. And more routine. Out of your office, down two flights of steps, down a corridor, open a door, and for all that effort, a man named Gordon greets you.

[Gordon (Technical Technician)]

Close the door, Lieutenant. Thank you very much, Lieutenant.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Don't you ever open a window in here, Gordon?

[Gordon (Technical Technician)]

For fresh air. You need fresh air, Lieutenant? Oh, poor you. Down here in Technical, you're hermetically sealed. Take a whiff, Lieutenant. Hermetic.

[Detective Danny Clover]

About the fire at the Russell Chemical Company.

[Gordon (Technical Technician)]

I've been sitting here for two hours watching the door, waiting for you to scrape in here, Lieutenant. You need Gordon again, don't you?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Look, Gordon, Raise your voice.

[Gordon (Technical Technician)]

Lieutenant, I'm a civilian technician. I don't have to bow my head and shuffle my feet when you talk to me. Next time you walk in here, say to yourself, don't raise your voice to Gordon.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What about the report?

[Gordon (Technical Technician)]

Nicely phrased. Here. In case the three syllable type words make you scratch your head in utter dismay, I'd better tell you the fire was not only set by an arsonist, but there was an explosion. Explosive. Neatly placed to explode at a comparatively low heat.

[Gino Costa]

It was a. Danny, I got a morsel for you.

[Gordon (Technical Technician)]

You close the door.

[Gino Costa]

Close it yourself.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Let's get out of here, Gino.

[Gino Costa]

I say, I heard what you said.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Come on, Gino. What have you got?

[Gino Costa]

Patrice Russell. Detective Fuller spotted her in the Village. She climbed the stair, went to a party at 1212 Bank street where she is at this moment.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Thanks, G. Where's Patrice Russell? Thanks. Patrice cut in.

[Patrice Russell]

Danny cut in. Come on, dance with me. Come to me, Danny. Come to me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Come on. We're getting out of here.

[Patrice Russell]

Patrice, Buddy, where'll we go?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Just away from here. I've got to talk to you.

[Patrice Russell]

My car's outside. I know a lovely place to talk.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Outside. In the hall's far enough.

[Patrice Russell]

Halls are trapped.

[Vera Coster]

Come on, or you will bruise me.

[Patrice Russell]

All right. Come on. Let's go out in the hall. Here.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Here.

[Patrice Russell]

For what?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Your father's dead.

[Patrice Russell]

Kidding. No, you're not, are you? How?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Someone tossed a bomb in your living room.

[Patrice Russell]

Poor dad. Poor Daddy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who did it, Patrice?

[Patrice Russell]

Honest, I don't know. Poor Daddy. I loved him, you know. I really did.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And he loved you.

[Vera Coster]

I know.

[Patrice Russell]

I know he did, Patrice. I wasn't very nice to him, Danny. You know something? Every morning I'd wake up and say to myself, this is a day that I'm not gonna hurt Daddy. And it never worked out.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I want to ask you something, Patrice.

[Patrice Russell]

Because I never tried. Around breakfast time, I'd think of something to do and. And during the day, I'd find out a way to do it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What about the narcotics?

[Patrice Russell]

What?

[Detective Danny Clover]

The narcotics.

[Patrice Russell]

Oh, no more, Danny. I promised him that, and I kept my promise. I took the cure and it worked. I haven't touched it since. Not since that detective picked me up for it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

His name is Ed Costa, Patrice. He died because of that fire at your father's place.

[Patrice Russell]

I'm sorry. Listen, Danny. About the narcotics. I want you to know it's all over. Lost me everything. I had a boy. We were gonna get married. And he's gone. You know what I do now? I go to parties.

[Vera Coster]

Like this.

[Patrice Russell]

Goodbye, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And leave her and leave Greenwich Village. Ride uptown to the one stop you had to make. The final stop in front of a canopied entrance to a greystone apartment house. Have your badge sniffed at. Then be told the man you're looking for is a penthouse dweller. Find the elevator, press a button because the man you want is 30 floors away. Get there, and the man you want is waiting for you as you step out.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Hey. Come on in, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Thanks.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Like Frankie's new house, Danny?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Classic.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

When will I show you outside? I got the city for an awning. Come on, I'll show you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

My Manhattan Tower.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Denny. I'm happy for you.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

You Figure on renting a place like this. That's why you come?

[Detective Danny Clover]

To look. Uh.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

And what?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I want to take you away from all this, Frankie.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Too much sweat got me here, Denny. It isn't going to be easy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Not hard. Just a walk to the elevator and a ride downtown.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Uh, there were times when that could happen to Frankie.

[Detective Danny Clover]

No more. It's going to happen. It's got murder in it.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

What are you talking about?

[Detective Danny Clover]

George Russell.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

What about him?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Dead. Had a bomb pitched through his living room window. Rumors said you used to do things like that, Frankie. Mm. Mm.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Rubber balls through tenement windows When I was a kid. I give it up. No future.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It all gets back to Joe Gant. Frankie.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Come on, Danny. You're in a classy place. Make classy conversation. What about Joe Gantt?

[Detective Danny Clover]

The connection between you and Hugh?

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Finish the visit, Danny. I got a dame.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It'll wait.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Maybe I can still catch it, Danny. Maybe she's got a friend. You want me to try?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Don't bother.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Well, I'd finish your visit, sure.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It started way back in June.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

What did, Danny? Come on. Come on.

[Detective Danny Clover]

When Patrice Russell was picked up on a narcotics charge.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

George Russell. Patrice Russell. What is it with all these Russells?

[Detective Danny Clover]

George Russell must have pleaded with the officer not to press charges against his daughter, Patrice. He didn't make it. The charge nearly wrecked his daughter.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

All right. What's this gotta do with me?

[Detective Danny Clover]

The arresting officer's name was Ed Koster. Russell was going to get back at him, Danny. He found a way to do it somehow. He found out Coster was transferred from narcotics to burglary. That was his chance.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

That's my day, Danny. I don't like to keep a lady waiting.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tough.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

See? She's impatient.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tough. I'm telling a story. Russell came to you. He said he wanted a fire set in his place. For whatever reason he gave you, for whatever amount he gave you.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Look, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Better forget it. So you arranged it. Sent Joe Gant. Joe set the fire, all right. But he was followed by Officer Ed Coster. Because Ed got a phone call telling him where a burglar would be at what time.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

All right, so they both burned. Why should that keep me from a date?

[Detective Danny Clover]

The phone call, Ed, came from Russell. Russell rigged the place to blow up. When the fire started, it blew, all right. Gantt was killed, Ed died.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

And I wipe a ticket here with the back of my hand.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You couldn't let Russell get away with that. One of your boys was killed. Bad for your reputation. You evened it. The bomb in the car didn't work. But the bomb in the living room did. Danny, you can say goodbye to her on your way.

[Gino Costa]

Frankie.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

I asked you, Danny. You didn't agree it killed you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Put down that gun.

[Narrator/Radio Host]

Yeah.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're not gonna get to say goodbye to her, Frankie. She went. Broadway's wearing its harlequin clothes it winks an eye and beckons and in the press of crowd there a pale girl walks like a queen Because Broadway's a dream street and there that man with begging eyes Hungry for a new dream It's a laugh or a cross cry with nothing in between It's Broadway the gaudiest, the most violent the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway My Beat.

[Narrator/Announcer]

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, Anthony Barrett was heard as Frankie Crown. Featured in the cast were Michael Ann Barrett, Paula Winslow, Herb Butterfield and Ed Max. My friend Irma is everybody's friend Irma. There's something downright appealing in that gal's goofy mentality. And every Sunday evening, Marie Wilson stars as the world's most adorable dumbbell. My friend Irma. Kathy Lewis is her level headed roommate on most of these stations. Sunday nights, enjoy CBS Radio's My Friend Irma. Bill Anders speaking. And remember, the Frankie Lane show is your date for Slick Syncopation every Sunday afternoon on the CBS Radio Network.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Sam.