Broadway Is My Beat: The Lily Nelson Murder Case 10/06/1951

Summary

---

Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio

Episode: Broadway Is My Beat: The Lily Nelson Murder Case (10/06/1951)
Aired: December 17, 2025 (Rebroadcast)
Host: Choice Classic Radio

---

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode of Broadway Is My Beat orbits around the death of Lily Nelson, a dazzling and enigmatic Broadway star found dead from slashed wrists in her glamorous brownstone. Detective Danny Clover navigates a world of fame, obsession, and heartbreak as he tries to determine whether Lily’s death was suicide or murder. The episode delves into the emotional lives of show business figures, peeling back the glitzy facade to reveal struggles with love, loneliness, and identity on "the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world"—Broadway.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Discovery of Lily Nelson’s Body

• [00:54] We open with Detective Clover's poetic narration of Broadway, setting a moody scene.
• [02:21] Lily Nelson is found dead in her apartment, wrists slashed, a razor blade beside her and no suicide note.
  • Frank Colombo (policeman colleague): "Lily Nelson, Danny. Slashed wrists... Sold out that far. I never thought I’d stand so close to her.”
  • The death is called in anonymously; police find no signs of struggle or others present.

2. The Anonymous Caller: Lily’s Chauffeur, Frank Colombo

• [04:23] The anonymous tip is traced to Lily’s chauffeur, Frank Colombo, who is emotionally attached to Lily.
  • Colombo reveals his deep, unrequited love for Lily:
  • "I'm the man who's seen Lily Nelson cry. You know what a woman feels for a man when she lets him see her cry?" [05:38]

3. Probing Suspects:

Jason Geaver, Producer

• [07:09] Clover visits Jason Geaver, the producer who made Lily a star. Geaver is businesslike and somewhat jaded.
  • On his relationship:
  • Geaver: "Lily meant money to me. And heartache and laughs I could count on the fingers of my left hand." [07:44]
  • He denies romantic involvement, listing Lily’s lovers and notably her current psychiatrist, Dr. Kobach, and director, David Knight.
  • Notable quote on Lily's emotional depth:
  • "The one emotion I couldn’t get from her was the emotion for self-destruction." [09:21]

Dr. Kobach, Psychiatrist

• [09:40] Clover meets Dr. Kobach at an exclusive gathering.
  • Dr. Kobach instantly asserts: "It was not suicide. Lily did not slash her wrists... Lily was too much in love with herself to have mutilated even a hair on her head." [10:22]
  • He admits Lily was neurotic and liked her psychiatrist, but there was "no love to return."
  • "Every particle of love that Lily had to give, she gave to the theater." [22:28]

David Knight, Director & Former Lover

• [13:20] Clover finds Knight listening to a recording of Lily reciting poetry; he is openly grieving.
  • Knight: "I killed you. I'm a murderer." [14:25]
  • He confesses to a sense of responsibility for Lily’s death, not that he killed her, but feeling culpable for not loving her as she apparently wanted.

4. Lily’s Secret Confidante: Janie Cochran

• [18:59] Janie, a young high school girl, reveals a secret friendship with Lily, who mentored her and possibly saw Janie as her protégé.
  • Janie: "We kept it a secret. It was our secret, Lily’s and mine." [20:04]
  • This subplot hints at Lily’s desire to shape a "new Lily Nelson" in Janie.

5. The Final Revelations & Thematic Resolution

• [24:25] Janie wants the director Knight to mentor her as Lily did.

  • The pattern of dependency repeats—Knight is willing, possibly to recreate Lily.
  • Clover warns: “What happened to Lily Nelson might happen to you.” [24:52]

• [26:26] Knight finally admits Lily begged him to kill her:

  • “She got down on her knees and cried. She said she wanted to love me. She said she couldn't love anybody. So she begged me to kill her because she couldn’t love.”

• [27:02] Clover's closing narration restates the loneliness and heartbreak lurking beneath Broadway's glitter:

  • "Otherwise, you’d hear a heartbreak. It’s Broadway. The gaudiest, the most violent. The lonesomest mile in the world."

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Lily’s Fame and Vulnerability:

  • “Why should she kill herself? For what?” — Frank Colombo [03:22]
  • "Lily was too much in love with herself to have mutilated even a hair on her head." — Dr. Kobach [10:22]
  • “Every particle of love that Lily had to give, she gave to the theater. Every emotion she had was… How do I present it on the stage for people to feel. Every passion, every desire… What was there left for Lily to give to another? Nothing." — Dr. Kobach [22:28]

• On the Nature of Love and Obsession:

  • "I'm the man who's seen Lily Nelson cry. You know what a woman feels for a man when she lets him see her cry?" — Frank Colombo [05:38]
  • "I can create another Lily Nelson with this child." — David Knight, on Janie [24:44]

• Theme of Recurring Tragedy:

  • “What happened to Lily Nelson might happen to you.” — Detective Clover to Janie [24:52]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening Monologue / Discovery: [00:54] – [03:31]
• Chauffeur Interrogation: [04:23] – [06:02]
• Producer Confrontation: [07:09] – [09:21]
• Psychiatrist’s Perspective: [09:40] – [12:44]
• Director David Knight’s Breakdown: [13:15] – [17:06]
• Janie Cochran's Story: [18:59] – [22:44]
• Resolution at Knight’s Apartment: [24:05] – [27:02]
• Closing Broadway Reflection: [27:02] – [28:23]

---

Tone, Style & Atmosphere

• The episode is suffused with noir melancholy, colored by tangible heartbreak, longing, and loneliness.
• Detective Clover’s narration is poetic, introspective, delivering moody, atmospheric lines like, “Broadway is my beat. The gaudiest, the most violent. The lonesomest mile in the world.”

---

Summary

Broadway Is My Beat: The Lily Nelson Murder Case weaves a tale of a tragic star whose inability to love offstage may have led to her demise, or to her murder. As Detective Clover unravels the entanglement of admirers, mentors, and protégés, the story lays bare the emotional cost of stardom and the emptiness beneath Broadway’s bright lights. The episode closes with Clover pondering the pain hidden behind the spectacle, hinting that the cycle may soon repeat with a new young woman stepping into Lily’s shadow.

---

Transcript

[Shopify Announcer]

When it's time to scale your business, it's time for Shopify. Get everything you need to grow the way you want. Like all the way. Stack more sales with the best converting checkout on the planet. Track your cha chings from every channel right in one spot. And turn real time reporting into big time opportunities. Take your business to a whole new level. Switch to Shopify. Start your free trial today.

[Frank Colombo]

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 Gaudius, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway's my beat. With larry thor as detective danny clover. Broadway's glitter is soft, easy on the eye. The glint of pavements has not yet reached its nighttime sheen. The stone is still warm from the touch of twilight. And the neon has not yet bled into scarlet. The voices that screamed against the day are quieter now. The walk slower. It's the in between time when the day has not yet yielded to wanton night. It's the end of a tear time before the next one scars your cheek. It's your time, kid, so hold it close. Broadway's clock spins fast, And where the dusk touches night, it walks you through the arch on Washington Square, past the woman whose fearful eyes are on a child balanced on the edge of a fountain, across a quiet street and into a brownstone hung with mirrors and crystal. And death is reflected many times over. The man who kneels beside it, gives you the moment to consider it, then.

[Frank Colombo]

Offers it to you. Lily Nelson, Danny. Slashed wrists. Last week, my wife made me buy tickets to her play. All I could get was sometime next June. She was sold out that far. Last wrist.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You got here fast.

[Frank Colombo]

Beautiful, Danny. Sold. I never thought I'd stand so close to her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I said you.

[Frank Colombo]

Yeah, yeah. How I got here. It was phoned in, Danny. Anonymous call. Said Lily Nelson was in trouble.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Anonymous?

[Frank Colombo]

We got a tracer on it, Danny. By the time you get back to.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Headquarters, you found her like this.

[Jason Geaver]

Yeah.

[Frank Colombo]

Door was open. I walked under all these crystal chandeliers, past all the mirrors. Found her lying in front of this one dressed like that. That material, it's like a veil, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's no one with her.

[Frank Colombo]

I look through the house. No one.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Well, she leave a note?

[Frank Colombo]

Anything? Nothing, Danny. Just the razor blade by her side, that's all. Lily Nelson. You gotta go to ticket scalpers.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Beg him to sell you a ticket.

[Frank Colombo]

Overpriced, just so you can watch her. Why should she kill herself? For what?

[Detective Danny Clover]

And suddenly catch the image of yourself in a ceiling to floor mirror. The dark gray suit, striped tie, shoes slightly scuffed. And on the floor next to them, blonde hair, white face, negligee and slashed wrists. Image of a policeman at work. Turn your back on it. Put a subordinate in charge, walk out. And back at headquarters, be assured that other policemen had been at work. The anonymous phone call had been traced. The caller apprehended, arrested, brought downtown, was waiting for you. So flip a switch on the intercom. Yeah, Danny. Bring him in, Gino.

[Frank Colombo]

Right. And wait.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And wonder briefly at the pattern of it. Repeat it too often. Why a beautiful woman at the peak of her career must have the fine edge of a razor tooth. And the opening door closes your mind to it.

[Frank Colombo]

In here.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That'll be all, Gino. All right, you can sit. I wasn't sure. That's why I called. I knocked the way I always do and she didn't answer. And right away. I can't explain it. I had a.

[Janie Cochran]

Sit down.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's the only way I can explain it. The feeling. Go ahead, Sit down. What's your name?

[Frank Colombo]

Colombo. Frank Colombo.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You see the reason. What do you do, Frank?

[Frank Colombo]

I drive her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm her chauffeur. That's why.

[Frank Colombo]

Think there could be any other reason why a guy like me could knock on her door? What do you know about it?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Just take it easy, Frank. Tell me about it.

[Frank Colombo]

7:00 clock I called for her to take her to theater. She didn't answer. My knock. Never happened before. I got worried. I called you police.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Why didn't you give your name? Maybe I was being crazy, being worried.

[Frank Colombo]

But you don't know. You don't know. Know what, Frank?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Why shouldn't I worry?

[Frank Colombo]

You know what? She was Lily Nelson.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I know.

[Frank Colombo]

You know. I drove her, mister. You think I cared about the men.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who sat with her?

[Frank Colombo]

They didn't last. None of them. I didn't. I've seen her cry. Oh, seen her cry. When she was alone, sitting there in the back of the car, crying.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm the man who's seen Lily Nelson cry. You know what a woman feels for.

[Frank Colombo]

A man when she lets him see her cry?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah, Danny. She never said it, but. Better get him, Gino.

[Frank Colombo]

It was gonna happen one day.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She'd find out I wasn't like the rest.

[Frank Colombo]

She'd look at me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And in the moments against his being taken away, listen to the man cry out his Love. The waited for love. Night dreamed reflected in a rear view mirror. Finally it was all spilled out and the words became syllables of anguish and loss. Watch the officer take his arm gently lead him to a place where pain is made articulate, given reason, noted in files. Then gather up the publicized elements that had contrived to give life to Lily Nelson. Then taken it from her. Her appearance one night in a mediocre play, the two line favorable review, the nurturing of it until it became columns and stardom. And at the crest of it, the play now running, the Forsakens. Starring Lily Nelson. Produced by Jason Gever, Crane Theater. And remember that Broadway whispered of Geaver as the star maker, the first to give Lily a leading role. Without him, Lily would have remained a walk on a spear carrier. Go to the theater, ask for him. Be told he was in his office at the head of the balcony. Find him suffering over the night's box office report.

[Jason Geaver]

Someone told you you could see me? They were wrong.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Police.

[Jason Geaver]

They're still wrong.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Lily Nelson was.

[Jason Geaver]

You came here to tell me about Lily personally, out of your own mouth. What's the technical phrase for the butchering of Lily's wrists?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tell me.

[Jason Geaver]

I'd want to know. I'm eager for crumbs of information.

[Detective Danny Clover]

So am I. That should make it easier for us.

[Jason Geaver]

You walked through my theater. You saw the empty seats. That's what it is without Lily. Rows of emptiness. Tomorrow I close the play because your.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Box office report shows a loss.

[Jason Geaver]

You're trying to shame me, policeman.

[Frank Colombo]

It won't work.

[Jason Geaver]

Lily meant money to me. And heartache and laughs I could count on the fingers of my left hand. It's all here in the box office report.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You sound like a man who was.

[Jason Geaver]

Now you're going to say I was.

[Frank Colombo]

In love with her.

[Jason Geaver]

Now what? You're going to say.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right, you're in love with her.

[Jason Geaver]

I knew you'd be wrong. No, not me, but Lily. All the major male stops from here to Hollywood and back maybe, and a few crests and crowns across the ocean, but never me. She didn't touch me that way. The emotional climate between us said nix.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Nix, Jason Nix. Then all Lily was to you was.

[Jason Geaver]

Ah, punk kid I saw in a play once. She had something radiant size, dimension, depth.

[Frank Colombo]

Who knows what?

[Jason Geaver]

All I know is I brought it.

[Frank Colombo]

Out in her once.

[Jason Geaver]

I drank champagne from her slipper. I was so pleased with the performance she gave. Then pass the slipper around to her escorts.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You gave her all that and she's dead. Why?

[Jason Geaver]

Maybe her current flames Are burning lull. Excuse the cliche.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who would they be?

[Jason Geaver]

2. The one that gives the columnists their daily bread.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The love of Lily for the boy.

[Jason Geaver]

Who directed her in this play. David Knight.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The other?

[Frank Colombo]

Who else?

[Jason Geaver]

Her psychiatrist, Dr. Kobach of Park Avenue. He's loved by tons of women. Lily wasn't one to be left standing out in the rain. Something else for you of the police.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What? Whatever.

[Jason Geaver]

I probed out of Lily to make.

[Frank Colombo]

Her give a performance.

[Jason Geaver]

The one emotion I couldn't get from her was the emotion for self destruction. A very definite lac.

[Frank Colombo]

In here, Mr. Crover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Thank you, doctor.

[Frank Colombo]

Please be seated. No cigars in the humidor by your arm, Dr. Klover. At first, an understanding, if you please. Tonight, as you have seen, I entertain friends of mine. You've called me away from them. Therefore you interrupt.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's a matter of importance, Doctor.

[Frank Colombo]

You see, there is no malice, merely the statement that you interrupt. So, if you will be brief.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's about Lily Nelson.

[Frank Colombo]

Yes.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You were her doctor, her psychiatrist?

[Frank Colombo]

Yes.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I want you to tell me about her.

[Frank Colombo]

About her?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Listen, Doctor, a woman is dead. It looks like suicide. It probably is suicide. The reason I'm questioning you is routine police procedure. Just to satisfy ourselves.

[Frank Colombo]

It was suicide, so we know it was not suicide. What? It was not suicide. How do you know, dear man? Lily did not slash her wrists. How does one know something I know?

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right, you know. How do you know it and the police don't know it?

[Frank Colombo]

But you have already said it so nicely. I am a psychiatrist. Lily was too much in love with herself to have mutilated even a hair on her head. As for slashing her wrists, agree with me. Ridiculous.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm not so sure. She was found dead in front of a mirror. Wouldn't that fit in with what you said?

[Frank Colombo]

On the contrary. Lily couldn't bear the shock of seeing herself in pain.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're telling me she was murdered, Doctor?

[Frank Colombo]

Merely that she did not commit suicide. Now if you. In a minute, Doctor.

[Detective Danny Clover]

A woman like Lily Nelson would have a lot of admirers, wouldn't she, dear man?

[Frank Colombo]

They will lead you admirer upon admirer. You, dear man, you. I'm old enough to.

[Shopify Announcer]

When it's time to scale your business, it's time for shopify. Get everything you need to grow the way you want. Like all the way. Stack more sales with the best converting checkout on the planet. Track your cha chings from every channel right in one spot. And turn real time reporting into big time opportunities. Take your business to a whole new level. Switch to shopify Start your free trial today.

[Frank Colombo]

Well, a facet of Lily Nelson. She was in love with me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I see.

[Frank Colombo]

Which, of course, you do not. She loved me as all women love their psychiatrists. It was Lily's protection of herself for telling me her secrets. What about her secrets? None, really. It is fashionable for an actress to have a psychiatrist. She was neurotic, Mr. Clover. To a degree dependent upon your tolerance and comprehension. Mildly neurotic, I would say. But then, aren't you I. All of us. Now, if you will pardon me. Thank you, Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And be ushered out of the library by him. And passed the guests who resented alien feet walking through a string quartet finally walk through a door and get out. Then one more stop to make to the other man whose name had been told me. David Knight. David Knight? Director of Lily Nelson's show. Go to him. Ask him whether he thought Lily Nelson committed suicide.

[Janie Cochran]

And if thou wilt remember and if thou wilt forget.

[Frank Colombo]

What do you want?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Police. I have to.

[Frank Colombo]

Shut up. Listen to her.

[Janie Cochran]

I shall not feel the rain.

[Frank Colombo]

Listen. It's Lily.

[Janie Cochran]

I shall not hear the nightingale sing on as if in pain and dreaming through the twilight that doth not rise nor set. Haply I may remember and haply may forget.

[Frank Colombo]

That was Lily. Lily Nelson. She made that record for you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Lily.

[Frank Colombo]

Lily.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Mr. Knight.

[Frank Colombo]

Who are you?

[Detective Danny Clover]

What do you want? I told you. I'm from the police.

[Frank Colombo]

Ever since I heard, ever since the news was told me of I've been here listening to her. She's talking to me. Listen. Listen to Lily.

[Janie Cochran]

When I am dead, my dearest sing no sad songs for me. Plant thou no roses at my head nor Lily.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Lily.

[Janie Cochran]

I killed you.

[Frank Colombo]

I killed you. I'm a murderer.

[Janie Cochran]

Murderer.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You are listening to Broadway's My Beat.

[Frank Colombo]

Written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

When it's October and autumn catches hold Broadway comes up with a miracle. The leaves of red and gold are pasted in flight in shop windows. The stuffed squirrels nibble at plastic acorns and the mannequins smile their autumn smile. An emotion compounded of wax and the new mink coat. Minor miracles may also be observed. Pink in cheeks, a spring of your step and fresh air. It's a new time on Broadway. It's a new season. Open the installment account, kid. The world is yours. And where I was was a world compounded on a stuff. Pain and grief. The smashed remnants of two lives and the residue of all of it. A man named David Knight. A man who said he was a Murderer.

[Frank Colombo]

I killed it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Killed it? You held her down and slashed her wrists and watched her die.

[Frank Colombo]

Killed it? Why?

[Jason Geaver]

Why?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You don't know why. Because you loved her and because I loved her.

[Frank Colombo]

Oh, no.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Because she loved me.

[Frank Colombo]

What? She loved me. I would never love. She killed her, sir.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You mean you didn't kill her?

[Frank Colombo]

Yes, I did. It's my fault she's dead. Don't you see? Don't you understand?

[Detective Danny Clover]

No, I don't.

[Frank Colombo]

I suppose I owed it to her to love her. But I couldn't love her then.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're telling me she committed suicide? That it was my fault?

[Frank Colombo]

She did. Don't you understand that I'm a murderer? I'm a killer. I killed Olene Nelson just as surely as if I.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You didn't kill her. It wasn't your fault. I'll show you. Don't be a fool. Show it you. You've got a gun.

[Frank Colombo]

Why don't you shoot me?

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's what you want me to do, isn't it?

[Frank Colombo]

Yeah, because of what I did to her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I can book you for assault, Mr. Knight. Not for murder. You okay?

[Frank Colombo]

Yes. I'm sorry.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Forget it.

[Frank Colombo]

It's funny. Lily's dead now she's dead, and all of a sudden I'm in love with her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Then give the boy his release and his own cognizance. Watch him kneel to the floor. Gather up the fragments of poetry. Once spoken only for him by Lily Nelson. And now only jagged pieces of a phonograph record. Watch as he holds them for a moment. Then flings them into the wastebasket. Then leave him with it. Then walk the edge of a night to a room where sleep will come to you. Because it's a long time coming. Fill in the darkness with the memory of a girl who lay in death before a ceiling high mirror. And list the varying opinions of her dying. Her chauffeur, who was frightened because Lily hadn't answered a door. Her producer, who found in Lily no emotion that would warrant her suicide. Her psychiatrist, who thought the same, but for a different reason. Her director, who believed her dead because of a love he wouldn't bestow on her. Finally, sleep had entered the room. In the morning, back to the office, back to the paperwork.

[Frank Colombo]

Annie.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Come in.

[Frank Colombo]

Gino.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I give you. Bless you. It was nice of you to think of me at moments like this. Not at all. Me in the midst of my.

[Frank Colombo]

Bless you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who needs it? Just hand me the dos. Skin tissue in my breast pot. Here you are, Gino.

[Jason Geaver]

Thank you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Now to the affairs of the day which Amount to practically nil. Ms. Lily Nelson, beloved star of the stage was indeed beloved male admirers. To stun the imagination, we knock when we enter Danny Clover's office. Miss.

[Janie Cochran]

I'm sorry. At the death.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's all right. What can I do for you?

[Janie Cochran]

I'm Jeannie Cochran. I feel you ought to know about me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Oh? Why?

[Janie Cochran]

I was a great and true friend of Lily Nelson's.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And you want to tell me about it?

[Janie Cochran]

Course I do.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right, Ms. Carkin, tell me.

[Janie Cochran]

It started last year. I came to New York. You see, my home is in Mount Vernon. I came to New York and I had a grand idea. It was Thanksgiving vacation and I was on my high school paper and I thought it'd be a grand idea to get an interview with Lily. And I did.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I see. Then what happened?

[Janie Cochran]

Lily was so nice to me when I told her about my dramatics and how I was in all my school plays. You know what she said?

[Frank Colombo]

No, I don't.

[Janie Cochran]

She said I had the making of a great actress. I didn't believe her, but she was really serious. Oh, of course she was. She came up to Mount Vernon and visited me. Mother was flabbergasted. Then Lily started to come up and stay almost every weekend. Mother fixed up a room so we could be alone together while we were working.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's funny. I've talked to a lot of people who knew Ms. Nelson. None of them ever mentioned you.

[Janie Cochran]

We kept it a secret. It was our secret, Lily's and mine.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What else did she do for you every weekend?

[Janie Cochran]

Presents a watch. This one, the dress I'm wearing. Picnics and rides. So many things.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Did you ever meet any of our other friends?

[Janie Cochran]

Oh, never. We had a secret friendship, but no. Well, it's all over, isn't it? Mr. Clover.

[Frank Colombo]

Again. I must tell you. Mr. Clover, you disturb at bad times. Many patients wait upon me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm sure they'll understand when you've told them how a policeman came to you for help.

[Frank Colombo]

You are in need of it also, and you use your authority.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You told me before all of us are. You, me, everybody.

[Frank Colombo]

And your trouble.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Dear man, people keep things from me, smile to themselves when I leave a room because they're so much smarter than I am.

[Frank Colombo]

Dear man, this is no extraordinary ailment you suffer. Rather, it is ordinary.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It bothers me. You smile to yourself when I leave a room.

[Frank Colombo]

Dr. Kovac, I did not to you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I asked you for Lily Nelson's secrets. You told me there weren't any.

[Frank Colombo]

Even if there had been, I have the right As a professional man, as a man of stature in your community, to deny them to anyone.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Our community has a law against people who withhold evidence in murders.

[Frank Colombo]

Your conclusion then, dear man, is that Lily was murdered.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Let's kick it around for a while, shall we, doctor?

[Frank Colombo]

I could permit myself to be taken by the law, to be prosecuted, harassed.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And you'd keep your mouth shut, dear man. We'll hire our own psychiatrist, dig into every secret Lily ever shared with anyone.

[Frank Colombo]

You threaten, dear man.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Let's call it an alternative.

[Frank Colombo]

Lily will be remembered as the most superb actress of her time. A Bernard. A Doucet. A flame of classic beauty. A passion brought to life for men whose lives were empty, unfulfilled. You wish to destroy this. This memory of Lily?

[Detective Danny Clover]

We believe she was murdered.

[Frank Colombo]

And I too, dear man.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You told me she was loved. Admirers by the legion you sent.

[Frank Colombo]

I was not lying.

[Detective Danny Clover]

But Lily.

[Frank Colombo]

Please. Let me gather my thoughts away to please. Perhaps this will make it clear. It is true. Lily was loved. But in her there was no love to return. Go on. Lily had not the capacity for love. She pretended with these, her admirers. With me, too, dear man. Every particle of love that Lily had to give, she gave to the theater. Every emotion she had was. How do I present it on the stage? For people to feel every passion, every desire, every. What was there left for Lily to give to another? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Thank you, doctor. For what? That you now have motive for the murder. And for this you will destroy the image of Lily Nelson. You say to me thank you. I cannot say to you. You are welcome. My other patients wait upon me. Mr. Clover. Hello, Mr. Clover. Come on in. Can I get you something? Bourbon, Scotch?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm not interrupting something, am I?

[Frank Colombo]

What do you mean?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Two drinks over there.

[Frank Colombo]

I've been clumsy. No, you're not interrupting. Janie. Come on in.

[Janie Cochran]

Hello, Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's late, Ms. Cochran. Don't you have to get back to Mount Vernon?

[Janie Cochran]

No. I called Mother. She knows where I am.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What are you doing here?

[Janie Cochran]

I had an idea. I've just told it to Mr. Knight. He seems to agree with me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

An idea about what?

[Frank Colombo]

This child's a fine actress. She wants me to work with her.

[Janie Cochran]

After all, Lily taught me so much. Mr. Knight already listened to me read. He says I even sound like Lily.

[Frank Colombo]

She does, Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's why you want to work with her.

[Frank Colombo]

The best reason in the world for you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah.

[Frank Colombo]

I can create another Lily Nelson with this child.

[Janie Cochran]

Child? I'm going to learn not to be a child. That's why I came here.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I think you ought to go back to Mount Vernon.

[Janie Cochran]

Janie, don't be stupid.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I think you ought to go back to Mount Vernon. Because what happen to Lily Nelson might happen to you.

[Frank Colombo]

What do you mean? What happened to Lily?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Murdered by you.

[Frank Colombo]

I told you that. But I was just. I know, upset.

[Detective Danny Clover]

But you really did murder. It really did slash her wrist.

[Janie Cochran]

Oh, no, that's not right. Mr. Knight told me what happened. He didn't love Lily because she killed herself.

[Frank Colombo]

That's the way it was, Jane.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Not exactly. Lily wasn't in love with anybody.

[Frank Colombo]

Her doctor told me that she was.

[Detective Danny Clover]

In love with one thing, the theater. It was her obsession. She didn't have the energy to love anything else.

[Janie Cochran]

Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I know, Janie. She had time for you because in you, Lily saw herself a new star. Another Lily Nelson.

[Frank Colombo]

Young, fresh.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Funny.

[Frank Colombo]

Huh? When something's funny, I laugh. And I'm laughing.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Listen, Mr. Knight. Lily Nelson had a hundred admirers. You were just one of them. They all tried to make love to her and she could never return it. She cried about it. As a man or chauffeur. Who's seen her weep. Just for that reason.

[Janie Cochran]

That's right. Lily told me about that.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She loved me.

[Frank Colombo]

No, you loved her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She couldn't love you.

[Frank Colombo]

You killed her.

[Janie Cochran]

I want to go home.

[Frank Colombo]

Don't listen to him, Janie.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And you, Janie, so much like Lily. Your voice, the way you carry yourself. That's why you're here with him, Janie.

[Janie Cochran]

Let me go home, Mr. Knight. I'll come back. I'll come back tomorrow. I promise.

[Frank Colombo]

Did she teach you that too? Janie, please.

[Janie Cochran]

Please. I promise.

[Frank Colombo]

There.

[Jason Geaver]

Do you hear?

[Frank Colombo]

You hear that, Mr. Clover? The way she said it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Let's go, Mr. Knight.

[Frank Colombo]

I'll tell you what's gonna happen to you, Janie.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What happened to Lily?

[Frank Colombo]

Listen to me, Mr. Clover. You think the chauffeur was the only man who saw Lily cry? I saw her cry, too. Before she died. She got down on her knees and cried. She said she wanted to love me. She said she couldn't love me. She couldn't love anybody. So she begged me to kill her because she couldn't love. She begged me, begged that I killed her. Do what he says, Janie.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Go home. Broadway is having itself a time. It's cocky and needling people to step over the line. It makes a big muscle and dares the nighttime. It's frenzy and big noise. Mostly the noise. Otherwise you'd hear a heartbreak. It's Broadway. The gaudiest, the most violent. The Lonesomest Mile in the World.

[Frank Colombo]

Broadway My Beat.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Broadway's My Beat stars Larry Thor as.

[Frank Colombo]

Detective Danny Clover with Charles Calvert as Tartaglia and Jack Crucian as Mugavan.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The program was produced and directed by Elliot Lewis, with musical score composed and conducted by Alexander Courage. In tonight's story, Paul Freeze was heard.

[Frank Colombo]

As David Knight, Joyce McCluskey as Janie Cochran, Jay Novello as Dr. Kovac, Ed.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Max as Jason Geaver and Clayton Post as Frank Colombo. Bill Anders speaking. Broadway is My Beat has come to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.