Broadway Is My Beat: The Frank Dunn Murder Case 06/16/1951

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Show: Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio

Episode: Broadway Is My Beat: The Frank Dunn Murder Case
Date: June 16, 1951 (rebroadcast November 5, 2025)
Host: Choice Classic Radio

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Overview

This episode of "Broadway Is My Beat" immerses listeners in the gritty and glamorous world of Broadway through the eyes of Detective Danny Clover as he investigates the murder of Frank Dunn, a bartender with a penchant for charming women. The narrative is dense with the emotional pulse and poetic language of the era, unraveling a complex web of jealousy, obsession, and deceit among the denizens of New York’s nightlife. The case quickly escalates with additional murder, implicating several privileged citizens in a tale of love, violence, and heartbreak.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Setting the Scene: The Allure and Violence of Broadway

• Detective Danny Clover paints a vivid, lyrical picture of Broadway at night, introducing the environment as gaudy, violent, and intensely lonely ([00:54]).
• The evening’s calm is shattered with the discovery of Frank Dunn’s body in an upscale apartment hotel, setting the case in motion.

2. Initial Investigation: Frank Dunn’s Connections

• Neil Tracy, hotel manager, tries to persuade Clover to keep things discreet, highlighting the importance of reputation ([01:59]):
  • “Can it be handled discreetly? ... treat the frightful mess with velvet gloves.”
• Tracy describes Frank Dunn as “a bartender of all things,” popular with women, hinting at possible motives ([02:29]-[02:53]).
• A mysterious phone call from a woman is traced to a nearby drugstore, establishing that Dunn had ongoing female entanglements ([03:17]).

3. The Trade Winds Club: Milt Barker Provides Context

• Milt Barker, club owner, describes Dunn as a charming man who effortlessly attracted women ([05:02]-[06:19]).
  • “He shared smiles with the tall cool ones. When Frank wiped the bar in front of a female patronesses, it had a meaning all its own—personality.”
• Barker identifies Louise Hathaway as Dunn’s current romantic focus, and hints at her being married to a wealthy manufacturer ([06:49]-[06:58]).

4. Louise Hathaway: The Femme Fatale

• Danny Clover finds Louise Hathaway at home after a night out, exuding detached allure ([08:21]-[08:56]).
• Louise admits to a flirtatious but ambiguous relationship with Dunn ([09:41]):
  • “Once I was at the Trade Winds...and there was a phone call for me. And I took it. And it was Frank...Well, it’s gonna be cheaper for a hubby mine with Frank gone. For me, such a high price, I don’t mind telling you.”
• Clover asks to see her husband, Edward Hathaway, but Louise says he’s already gone to work ([10:26]).

5. Edward Hathaway: Jealousy and Denial

• Edward Hathaway is immediately defensive, forbidding Clover from discussing Louise and insisting they speak to him directly ([11:19]).
  • “…You want something, you got a ticket to sell…You got something that gives you worry, you come to me. Louise don’t get bothered by police.”
• He admits to jealousy over Louise’s flirtations but denies any involvement in Dunn’s death ([12:05]).

6. Lily Prokash: The Second Victim

• Lily Prokash, described as foreign, poetic, and a friend of Louise, is found stabbed in her own apartment ([13:26]-[13:50]).
• A neighbor, Harry Lynn Tartaglia, reveals he admired Lily from afar and provides a timeline: Lily was home at 6pm, around the time of Frank Dunn's murder ([17:04]).
• Investigation reveals Lily and Louise were both visiting Frank on the night of his death ([19:59]-[20:14]).

7. Neil Tracy’s Revelations: The Card Game

• Tracy confesses to playing cards with Louise outside Dunn’s apartment while Lily visited Frank ([22:44]-[23:20]).
  • “In the midst of a deal, I had a call from the bartender ordering me to whisk the Prokash thing away by freight elevator. When I got back, my card playing lady was gone.”

8. Confrontation and Confession: The Truth Emerges

• Clover confronts Louise and Edward at home, leveraging Tracy’s account and what’s known about the card game ([24:23]).
• Louise breaks under questioning; Edward’s jealousy is exposed in a heated exchange, culminating in mutual accusations ([25:07]-[25:59]):
  • Louise: “Frank wouldn’t even look at me. He sent me away, Edward, and you killed him. All because I spent an hour playing cards with a hotel manager. I was never with Frank, Edward. Never. But you killed him for me. Go ahead, jump for the man.”
• Edward admits he followed Louise and killed Frank out of possessive rage, but denies killing Lily ([26:33]).

9. Closing: The Bleak Reality of Broadway

• The episode concludes with Danny Clover’s poetic, somber reflection on the sleepless and tumultuous life of Broadway ([28:00]):
  • “Broadway’s quiet now...the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway, my beat.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Danny Clover (Opening Reflection, 00:54):
  • “The summer evening flows gently over Broadway and the carousel sounds of the street's carnival beginning … your palm is crossed with violence.”
• Neil Tracy (01:59):
  • “Can it be handled discreetly? … keep it out of the papers, treat the frightful mess with velvet gloves.”
• Milt Barker (06:06):
  • “A guy like him, well, dame would be embarrassed leaving less than a fin or a phone number for a chip.”
• Louise Hathaway (09:41):
  • “Once I was at the Trade Winds … there was a phone call for me. And I took it. And it was Frank calling me from the bar.”
• Edward Hathaway (12:27):
  • “If he would have put a finger on Louise, I'd have killed him…I’ve told her that time and time again.”
• Tracy on Louise (23:25):
  • “Ever seen Louise Hathaway, Mr. Clover?...She’s precisely what you say, unforgettable.”
• Louise Hathaway (26:14):
  • “Frank wouldn't even look at me. He sent me away, Edward, and you killed him. All because I spent an hour playing cards with a hotel manager.”
• Danny Clover (Closing, 28:00):
  • “Broadway’s quiet now… the puppet dance, the running after nothing at all. It’s Broadway—the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway, my beat.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:54: Detective Danny Clover’s atmospheric introduction
• 03:17: Mysterious phone call traced to the drugstore
• 04:53: Milt Barker introduces Frank Dunn’s romantic entanglements
• 08:21: Louise Hathaway’s first appearance and seductive denial
• 11:12: Edward Hathaway’s confrontational defense
• 13:26-13:50: Discovery of Lily Prokash’s murder
• 17:04: Neighbor provides timeline for Lily’s return home
• 19:59: Milt reveals Lily and Louise’s visit to see Frank
• 22:44: Neil Tracy reveals the card game with Louise
• 25:00: Confrontation of Louise and exposure of the murder’s motive
• 26:14: Louise accuses Edward of murder
• 28:00: Danny Clover’s poetic conclusion

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Takeaways

• “Broadway Is My Beat” exemplifies the art of hardboiled radio drama with poetic narration, sharply drawn characters, and intricate plotting.
• The murders are driven by jealousy, misunderstanding, and the toxic desire to possess—a grim portrait of glamour’s dark underside.
• The women, especially Louise Hathaway, are portrayed with complexity: as both victims and provocateurs in a male-dominated world.
• Detective Clover’s signature melancholic narration frames not just the case, but the city itself, as a stage of human folly and tragedy.

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For listeners who missed this episode, these highlights and timestamps provide insight into both the narrative’s unfolding and its stylistic charms, delivering the mood and momentum that made Golden Age radio a lasting art form.

Transcript

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

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].

[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]

Broadway is my beat. With Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The summer evening flows gently over Broadway and the carousel sounds of the street's carnival beginning. The brazen trumpet screams, calling the believers to the basement. Sanctuaries at a dime of prayer. The barkers of the night shout their spiels into passing ears. And the rustle of perfumed silk rides the June wind. You're shoved and pushed and mauled. There's no bitterness because the taste of night melts in your mouth. You ride the rides, walk the midway, toss the hoop to win the kewpie. You try not to notice the plucking at your sleeve, but finally you turn. Your palm is crossed with violence. You hold onto it until the man in the tweed jacket and the gray flannel slacks takes it away from you, gives death back to the other man, its owner sprawled across the silk sheets of his bed, the blood from his bullet wound draining the sleep out of him. And because blood like that can stain the reputation of an exclusive apartment hotel, the man in tweed makes a suggestion.

[Neil Tracy]

I offer it. In all modesty, Mr. Clover, a mere suggestion. This can be what, Mr. Tracy?

[Detective Danny Clover]

What?

[Neil Tracy]

Can it be handled discreetly? Of course. You can do that. You have the power, the know how. Keep it out of the papers, treat the frightful mess with velvet gloves.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Anything else?

[Neil Tracy]

I. Nothing more I can think of at the moment. Not that I can bring to mind at the snap of your fingers.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's good. Now you can do something for me.

[Neil Tracy]

Understand me, Mr. Clover. Managing this place is all consuming. I spent years at school here and abroad, learning the quirks, the ins and outs of the profession.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All that education. Maybe you can spell out for me the murdered man's name.

[Neil Tracy]

Did I forget to introduce you? Pity. The fellow over there on our bed was once Frank Dunn, a bartender of all things. A rather crude chap, I thought, but.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Genteel enough to pay the tab in this slick joint of yours.

[Neil Tracy]

They do bartenders like Dunn? Well, at the Trade Winds, I hear.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The club on West 52nd.

[Neil Tracy]

I wouldn't know where the place was. Do you mind?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tell me more about Dunn.

[Neil Tracy]

Well, he appealed to the female of the species, shall we say? They called on him constantly, at all hours. Tonight Difficult to say. But do you not detect the faint odor of a lingering perfume? The aura a woman leaves?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Pardon?

[Neil Tracy]

I'll rid us of that.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Never mind. I'll get him. Hello? Hello, Frank?

[Operator]

Would you put Frank on the line, please?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Frank just stepped out. Could I give him a message?

[Operator]

Who are you? Why do you answer for Frank? I know he's there. Does he not wish to speak with me?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who is this? Who shall I say is calling?

[Operator]

No, no. There is something. This is not the way Frank would have it with me.

[Neil Tracy]

Hello?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Hello.

[Louise Hathaway]

Yes, please.

[Detective Danny Clover]

This is the police. Operator. Trace that call. And the call was traced. Drugstore on 43rd and Broadway. A phone booth there, the third one from the left as you pass the Chiron reducing display. Only who knows who's been using the phone? The clerk in the white coat asked me. You don't have to have friends in Washington to use the phone, mister. You need a dime, that's all. Anyway, what was she, a spy or something? So if that's all he had work to do, he left. So did I. It was a short walk up to 52nd Street. In the nightclub that's known as the Trade Winds. Outside, a beach boy in a custom made loincloth said Aloha and pointed inside. And inside, a beach girl said Aloha and offered her nose to be rubbed. Which came with a cover charge, the price of admission to tropical paradise. And it was even to the tropical birds playing tropical games and singing their sad songs in huge cages of gilded bamboo. And sitting in a fan shaped wicker chair in the corner was trader Milt Barker, wearing yellowed linen, his eyes bleary with the grandeur of it all. Until he saw me.

[Milt Barker]

Hey, Danny, grab yourself a wicker and take a load off.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. What a place you have here, Milt.

[Milt Barker]

Wait till you see the floor show, Danny. Got a dame here does a routine on a bed of hot coals.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Milt, eh?

[Milt Barker]

Do you try the authentic cuisine yet? You like fish? I got cold. Huma, huma, nuka nuka appa wa. That would set you crazy. You sit still. I'll slice you some from the middle.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Sit down, Milt.

[Milt Barker]

All right, so I'm sitting, I'm sitting.

[Detective Danny Clover]

So, about a bartender here, Frank Dunn.

[Milt Barker]

Frank Lee ain't showed up yet. Tonight he commits something.

[Detective Danny Clover]

He's been murdered.

[Milt Barker]

Kismet. Pure kismet. Fate, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The way the department figures it. Took a murderer to do it.

[Milt Barker]

Yeah, I guess. How'd he go out?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Shot.

[Milt Barker]

Like I say, kismet.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What are you talking about?

[Milt Barker]

A guy like Frank it figures. It just don't make me surprised.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Come on, Milt, talk to me. What's on your mind?

[Milt Barker]

Well, he shared smiles with the tall cool ones. When Frank wiped the bar in front of a female patronesses, it had a meaning all its own personality.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Keep talking.

[Milt Barker]

Well, Danny, a guy like him, well, dame would be embarrassed leaving less than a fin or a phone number for a chip.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Did he cause any trouble here?

[Milt Barker]

Frank? No. An operator with a head on him wait until the male escort was occupied elsewhere. Then. Well, Frank would drop a small onion in the cocktail glass in such a way that patronesses would leave teeth marks on the bar. Like for instance.

[Detective Danny Clover]

For instance, who?

[Milt Barker]

Louise Hathaway is current, Danny. You know the dame who is Mrs. To Edward Hathaway. The guy who manufactures hardware. You know Hathaway's hardware? Nails, holes.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Tell me more about Mrs. Hathaway.

[Milt Barker]

She's current. That's all I know. Honest. Come on, Danny, eat some of my cuisine. I'll make you a regular lava lava.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And so as the surprise pink spotlight dimmed slowly over Trader Milt's paradise, I heaved a sigh for the regular lava, lava that would never touch my lips and bid a fond farewell to the land of the Huma Huma Kukanuka Apawa. At the park avenue apartment of Mr. And Mrs. Edward Hathaway, a maid in gray silk and high spiked heels told me they were out for the evening. She tightened a black shoulder strap to inform me that the Hathaways never informed a person in what glamorous places they were boozing it up. That this usually took till dawn. I said I'd come back in the morning. She said sometimes a person didn't know what side his evening was buttered on and kicked the door shut with her heel. I guess I didn't wait the polite and proper interval after dawn because the girl who opened the door to me this time was still yawning. Another thing. The long night had left no scar on her kind of beauty.

[Louise Hathaway]

Can't it wait? Whatever you want. Can it wait?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're Louise Hathaway.

[Louise Hathaway]

Uh huh. Sleepy Louise? Tired Louise? If you weren't a stranger, you could rock me back to sleep. I needed so.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm from the police. Danny Clover.

[Louise Hathaway]

Oh, you're the one Celeste told me about. Celeste? The maid? What do you think of her? She thought much of you. Come on in. Tell me about it. Celeste's in bed. I let her stay because we dragged her out of it when we came in. Couldn't find the keys. You know how it is. But I'll drag her out again to whip up some eggs for us, if you like.

[Detective Danny Clover]

No, thanks. Big night last night, huh?

[Louise Hathaway]

Ah, the biggest. You build a lovely city here, officer. Lovely and fair. And at night it glistens.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Frank Dunn. Was he a part of the night?

[Louise Hathaway]

You just played the only sad note there is, officer. Frank wasn't in it. Not anywhere. Why do you play a sad note like that to me?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Because he's dead.

[Milt Barker]

Murdered.

[Louise Hathaway]

I don't think I'd ever let you rock me to sleep.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're cruel, Frank. What about him?

[Louise Hathaway]

I wouldn't know about him. Wise man. Once it got bad and I tried to. Frank winked, grinned, splashed whiskey on my dress.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's all. Just a clumsy bartender.

[Louise Hathaway]

So much more, you'll never know. Once I was at the Trade Winds having dinner with hubby mine. And there was a phone call for me. And I took it. And it was Frank calling me from the bar. And hubby mine didn't know why I suddenly turned happy. He had sense enough not to ask.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Your husband knows how you felt about Frank.

[Louise Hathaway]

I don't know. I don't care. I always made him tip Frank a lot of money, take him with us after he was through work. Well, it's gonna be cheaper for a hubby mine with Frank on. For me. For me. Such a high price, I don't mind telling you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Will you wake your husband, Mrs. Hathaway? I want to talk to him.

[Louise Hathaway]

He's awake. You can talk to him at his factory. Hathaway's Hardware, Incorporated. Always the first man there sleeps an hour after I've kept him up the night, then off to the factory. Off to make a bed of nails for me. Off.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Just stay here in case we want you, Mrs. Hathaway.

[Louise Hathaway]

So you can talk more to me about Frank. It'll be a pleasure, deep and fair. A pleasure anytime.

[Edward Hathaway]

That'll be all, Ms. Garvey. All right, sir. Who are you?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I gave my name at the gate. Danny Clover.

[Edward Hathaway]

From the police. That's it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's right.

[Edward Hathaway]

What's on your mind?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I just came from your house, Mr. Hathaway.

[Edward Hathaway]

My house? What's the big idea? What did you want there?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I had a chat with your wife.

[Edward Hathaway]

My wife? You don't go to my house policeman no more. You understand that? You don't bother, Louise. You want something, you got a ticket to sell. You got something that gives you worry, you come to me. Louise don't get bothered by police.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She gets bothered, Hathaway. Anytime the department feels the need.

[Edward Hathaway]

Yeah, you think so?

[Neil Tracy]

Huh?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You get bothered too, mister. Go ahead, call your lawyer. Say murder to him. Because that's what you and your wife are involved in.

[Milt Barker]

Murder.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Call your lawyer, Hathaway.

[Milt Barker]

Look now.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The death of Frank Dunn, bartender. At the hands of person or persons unknown. Your hands, Your wife's hands. Both.

[Edward Hathaway]

I thought you were kidding.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm not kidding.

[Edward Hathaway]

Louise is a kid. I got a young wife, Clover. Wild sometimes country kid come to the city. Wild. Not excusing her, understand? I like to watch it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She knew Frank Dunn.

[Edward Hathaway]

So she knew Frank Dunn. So I know Frank Dunn. A thousand people know Frank Dunn. She didn't kill him. Why should she kill him? What could he do for her? Give her a double martini?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Couple of those go a long way.

[Edward Hathaway]

Look, Frank Dunn was a joke passed over the bar to Louise. Louise is married, so that settles that.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right. Who killed Frank Dunn?

[Edward Hathaway]

I'll tell you this. If he would have put a finger on Louise, I'd have killed him. One finger on Louise. I've told her that time and time again. If she and Lily think. Lily. They think it's smart. They got to have cocktails at five. They go in by themselves.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who's Lily?

[Edward Hathaway]

Lily. Lily Prokosh. A dopey dame who writes poetry. Wears glasses that goes like this.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Lily Prokosh Bros. Foreign? Yeah.

[Edward Hathaway]

Talks accent talk.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Where do I find her?

[Edward Hathaway]

Lily. Sometimes I pick up Louise at Lily's place in the Village Hotel.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah, I know where it is. Good.

[Edward Hathaway]

Maybe you're on to something, Clover, huh?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Come.

[Operator]

Come, please. Fell asleep here on the couch. I dreamed, Lily. It was painful. I opened my eyes and the knife was in me. Here, I say. Open your eyes, Lily. It is still the dream. I can feel my body can't move. Lie here.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Operator. Get me in the house. Doctor, quick.

[Operator]

Help me. Help me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Wait a minute. Operator. Never mind. Operator.

[Narrator]

You're listening to Broadway's My Beat. Written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin with Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. This combination is your open sesame to Sunday night musical delight. CBS Guy Lombardo Time. Featuring the sweetest music this side of heaven and the Mario Lanza Show. Enjoy Guy Lombardo's music. Enjoy. Vocals old and new by Mario Lanza. Mario. Singing sensation called both the new Caruso and the hottest singer in a decade may be heard Sunday nights on most of these same CBS stations.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The nice thing about Broadway, the good thing, the reason why you run the rest of the way until you get there is that Broadway never lets you down. It's all things to everybody. For the Gourmet, the Footlong wiener with a seated roll for the musically inclined, the rosette of loudspeakers over the slightly used record shop for the art lover, the windy corner. And for those who just like to walk and be amazed, there are people who will be amazed. Right back at you. Walk it or wait it out. The day's 24 hours long, kid. Take that dream along. It'll happen to you one way or another. But where I was going, there was no dream. Only the reality of a girl lying there frail against the decor of plump upholstery, the expensive drapes, the built in silences. The lifeless girl. The stabbed to death girl. And talk to a man about it. The practice talk over the telephone. Because a policeman speaks of death by formula.

[Gino]

Apartment 612, huh? Yeah, I got it, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The door to the suite was open when I got here. The girl's name is Lily Prokash. Okay, one who called Frank Dunn. When I was in Frank's apartment. I'm pretty sure that Gino. Anyhow, coroner, lab boys, the works. I'll talk to you later, Gino.

[Edward Hathaway]

Lily, it's me.

[Harry Lynn Tartaglia]

Oh.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Oh, I didn't. Come on in.

[Harry Lynn Tartaglia]

Oh, that's all right.

[Neil Tracy]

I can come back later.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm from the police. Come on in. Come on, come on. Who are you?

[Neil Tracy]

Police.

[Harry Lynn Tartaglia]

Why, I.

[Operator]

Lily, what.

[Harry Lynn Tartaglia]

What happened to you?

[Milt Barker]

Lily?

[Harry Lynn Tartaglia]

What did they do to you?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Are you somebody to her husband or brother?

[Harry Lynn Tartaglia]

I. I live across the hall. It's the first time I've ever seen her this close. The first time I've ever knocked on her door. I had a little speech. I was gonna tell her what my name is.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What do you know about her?

[Harry Lynn Tartaglia]

I listen for her every day. Yesterday when she came in, I just.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What time Was that? About 6pm did she go out again?

[Harry Lynn Tartaglia]

No. I know because I spent all that time making up my mind to knock on the door and tell her I was a neighbor, what my name was.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's all you can tell me about her? Yes.

[Harry Lynn Tartaglia]

Lily. Lily, listen to me. My name is Harry. Harry Lynn.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tartaglia.

[Milt Barker]

Huh?

[Gino]

Oh. Oh, it's you, Danny. And the way I was standing here in the corner, daydreaming, I'm not surprised I did not hear you come in. Dreaming because of the talent I discovered only last night in our little six year old girl, Aida.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tell me about the talent.

[Gino]

Oh, Danny. The way my little Aida plays the piano.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Plays good, huh?

[Gino]

Oh, not only good, Danny, but she plays the piano underhand.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What?

[Gino]

And by ear. By ear.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Gino.

[Gino]

Yeah, Danny?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Did you run down that stuff I asked for on the phone goes without saying, Danny.

[Gino]

This is the only comment.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's not important. What did you get, Gino?

[Gino]

Yeah. Well. Lily Prokash, a writer of things that rhyme, gathered material nightly for her rhymes in the trade winds. At the bar stool facing the station of the also deceased bartender, Frank Dunn, in the daytime escorted. Said Frank Dunn to literary tease last night. Came home at 6, an hour after the established time of Frank Dunn's murder.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Nothing else?

[Gino]

Only that the knife handle was wiped clean. I kept after the boys, Danny, but that's all they could dig up.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Underhand.

[Gino]

Yeah. Danny. Ah, you should see Little Aida.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'd like to. I really would. Be sure to invite me sometime, you know. I see the wicker chair's still open. Milled.

[Milt Barker]

Danny. Danny. Sit in it, kid. Two nights. I see you each time. To what is due, this sudden harvest of Danny Clover. Not that the trade wind ain't humored, but to what is due?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You know a girl named Lily Prokosh?

[Milt Barker]

Names don't register with me, Danny, unless for a reason. Is there a reason?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tall girl, blonde, harlequin glasses, spoke with a little bit of an accent.

[Milt Barker]

The one who wrote lousy sonnets on my napkin.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She was a poet.

[Milt Barker]

The one who always comes in here with Mrs. Hathaway. That one, Danny. Well, what about her?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You tell me. Lily Prokosh and Frank Dunn.

[Milt Barker]

Hey. Yeah?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. What?

[Milt Barker]

The other day.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What are you talking about?

[Milt Barker]

The other day? Yesterday. The day Frank met his kismet. She was in here with Mrs. Hathaway about 5:30. As for Frank, I told her he wasn't to work yet. I started to tell her where Frank lived, but she said, never mind. She already knew. Left.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Then what?

[Milt Barker]

Then what if she left? Left Mrs. Hathaway with a martini at half mast.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The poet walked out to see Frank.

[Milt Barker]

Yeah. She bumped Frank, huh? A doll like her. What do you know?

[Detective Danny Clover]

And then start all over again. Back to the room where I'd first seen Frank Dunn with his blood on the monogrammed sheets. Back to the room where this particular set of violence had begun to shape itself and touch once more the things that had belonged to a man who had been well loved. The gold money clip with his initials written in chipped emerald. The gold cigarette case, the gold keychain. The silk robe that hung in the scented closet. And on none of these things, the mark of an identity. The whisper of a killer's name. And all of it with the man in tweed at your elbow, commenting, snickering, fingering the Imagined price tag.

[Neil Tracy]

This little trinket must have cost one of them a good deal of her rainy day savings.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Put it down.

[Neil Tracy]

Dead. Don't touch. Is that it, Mr. Clover?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Exactly that.

[Neil Tracy]

There's an etiquette about these things. I've been wondering, Mr. Clover. My brow is furrowed with wonder.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I noticed. Hardly touches me, though. Sorry. Tracy.

[Neil Tracy]

I've been wondering why you asked me to partake with you of this. What shall I say? This chamber of horrors.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Because you're a liar, Mr. Tracy.

[Neil Tracy]

And I indulge myself on the proper occasion. What was the occasion?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Of my doing it to you yesterday, when you showed me Frank Dunn.

[Neil Tracy]

Oh. Oh, that. You mean when I didn't reveal to you who had been visiting the bartender at his siesta before death?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Now's a good time for revealing.

[Neil Tracy]

Sorry, but it slipped my mind. There's nothing the police can do about a mind like mine, is there, Mr. Clover?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Correction, there is. Who was here, Tracy? Who was here?

[Neil Tracy]

Else you'll beat me. You hardly make it worthwhile defending a dead woman's honor.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who?

[Neil Tracy]

That foreign thing with the wind in her hair and the mist on her eyeglasses.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Lily Prokash.

[Neil Tracy]

I've heard her announce herself that strange way on the house phone. She stayed long enough with the bartender to read him her newest poem, but they had an interruption.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You can reveal that, too.

[Neil Tracy]

It'll cost me a dear little savings plan I had in mind.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The interruption. Who was it?

[Neil Tracy]

Lovely frolicsome thing. Never been here before. Knocked on the bartender's door, was waved away, it seems. Tapped on my office door, asked if I had a deck of cards, wanted to play away love's bitterness, sympathized, played against her, won 40 cents. Would have won more, only.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Only what?

[Neil Tracy]

In the midst of a deal, I had a call from the bartender ordering me to whisk the Prokash thing away by freight. Elev I did. When I got back, my card playing lady was gone.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You won 40 cents from her. That ought to make a girl like that unforgettable.

[Neil Tracy]

Ever seen Louise Hathaway, Mr. Clover? I have, in society columns. And that evening she played cards with me. She's precisely what you say, unforgettable.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And walk the night streets and try to figure why did Louise Hathaway call on Frank Dunn and not being able to see him, content herself with playing cards with a hotel manager. Why had she gone to see Frank? She knew her friend Lily Prokosh was there. A lot of pies and keep on walking east from Broadway to park and up to the 70s. And stop in front of the canopied apartment house, pause, smoke a cigarette, then go in. And on the second floor ring a bell.

[Edward Hathaway]

What do you want?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Hello, Mr. Hathaway. I told you before, let's go inside. You can tell me all over again. Thanks.

[Louise Hathaway]

Who is it, Edward?

[Edward Hathaway]

That cop?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah, me.

[Louise Hathaway]

Oh, hi. See, Mr. Clover, I stayed as put as put can be.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm glad you did. That'll make it easier.

[Edward Hathaway]

What are you two talking about?

[Louise Hathaway]

Oh, we've got secrets, Edward.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah, About Frank Dunn.

[Louise Hathaway]

Oh, Danny, Edward knows all about that.

[Edward Hathaway]

Look, Louise and I were playing chess.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Chess, huh? You know a lot of games, don't you, Louise?

[Louise Hathaway]

All the ones that have fun.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Did you have fun losing 40 cents yesterday to that hotel manager?

[Edward Hathaway]

What's he talking about?

[Detective Danny Clover]

What am I talking about, Ms. Hathaway?

[Louise Hathaway]

Louise, stop it.

[Edward Hathaway]

Darling, listen to me. Let me handle this.

[Louise Hathaway]

Take your hands off me, Edward.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Louise, you knew Lily was with Frank Dunn. Why did you go there, Mrs. Hathaway?

[Louise Hathaway]

Why?

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's right.

[Louise Hathaway]

Lily was my friend. I didn't want to see her get in any trouble.

[Edward Hathaway]

I told you to let me handle it.

[Neil Tracy]

Louise.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Stop it.

[Louise Hathaway]

Stop it.

[Edward Hathaway]

See, like I told you, Mr. Clover, she's wild. Louise, you're in a little trouble. Now, let me.

[Louise Hathaway]

Take your hands off me. Can't you understand? Take your hands off me.

[Edward Hathaway]

Oh, I'm sorry. I lost my temper. I didn't mean to slap you.

[Louise Hathaway]

Hardware man, fat man, bald man, nothing man.

[Operator]

Jump.

[Louise Hathaway]

Jump, Edward.

[Edward Hathaway]

Louise, don't make me lose my temper again.

[Louise Hathaway]

Why don't you jump for the man, Edward? You do everything else I want you to do. Tell the man what you did for me, Edward.

[Gino]

Crazy.

[Edward Hathaway]

What are you talking about?

[Detective Danny Clover]

About murder.

[Louise Hathaway]

About murder, Edward.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You once told me something, Mr. Hathaway. You said you'd kill anybody who laid a finger on your wife.

[Louise Hathaway]

Yes, he told me, too. Over and over again. That's why you always followed me, Edward. That's why you followed me to Frank Dunn's apartment house that night.

[Edward Hathaway]

Shut up.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Shut up.

[Louise Hathaway]

And Frank wouldn't even look at me. He sent me away, Edward, and you killed him. All because I spent an hour playing cards with a hotel manager. I was never with Frank, Edward. Never. But you killed him for me. Go ahead, jump for the man.

[Edward Hathaway]

I followed you. I always follow you.

[Neil Tracy]

I couldn't stand that.

[Edward Hathaway]

You're going to see that man.

[Louise Hathaway]

Take the hardware man away, Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You too. What for? Killing Lily. You couldn't have, Frank. Lily was luckier. So you killed Lily.

[Louise Hathaway]

Oh, no. Edward did that for Me too. Didn't you, Edward? Didn't you, Edward?

[Edward Hathaway]

No, I didn't. I followed you to Lily's. Her door was open, wasn't it? I saw Lily. After what you did to her.

[Louise Hathaway]

Well, you don't know what you're saying. Edward, listen to me. You love me, Edward.

[Edward Hathaway]

I'm going to have to sign a confession. Louise. What I just said about following you to Lily's. I don't have to. It's that. Sign my name to it. I could deny I ever said it. I don't know whether I will or not. I'll have to think about it.

[Louise Hathaway]

I love you. Honestly, Truly, Edward. I love you.

[Edward Hathaway]

Jump, Louise. Jump. Jump.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Broadway's quiet now. It's the four o' clock in the morning hour the hour without color but in a while dawn will dip down and there'll be fury again and roar again and crowd the restless wanderer the puppet dance the running after nothing at all It's Broadway the gaudiest, the most violent the lonesomest mile in the world Broadway, My beat.

[Narrator]

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, Mary Jane Croft was hurt as Louise, Herb Butterfield as Edward, Joe Granby as Milt Barker, Edgar Barrier as Neil Tracy and Gladys Holland as Lily Prokosh. Just once around the clock, aboard the Second Hand for Singin Again, an hour of comedy, music and cash for the CBS list listener who can identify the phantom voice. Jan Murray is your host. Judy Lynn Allendale, the Riddlers and Ray Block supply the music. Stay tuned now for Sing It Again, which follows immediately over most of these same CBS stations. Bill Anders speaking. This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System.