Broadway Is My Beat: The Pablo Molari Murder Case 06/30/1951

Summary

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Podcast Summary:

Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
Episode: Broadway Is My Beat: The Pablo Molari Murder Case (06/30/1951)
Release Date: November 19, 2025
Host: Choice Classic Radio
Detective: Danny Clover (portrayed by Larry Thor)

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Episode Overview

This episode of "Broadway Is My Beat" plunges into the murky underworld of postwar New York City, focusing on the death of a young immigrant, Pablo Molari, and the subsequent unraveling of a web involving youth club rivalries, unrequited love, and tragic mistakes. Detective Danny Clover investigates the murder, peeling back gritty layers of Broadway's nightlife and the innocent dreams corrupted by desperation and bad influence. At its heart, the story examines the vulnerability of young lives scraping for meaning in a tough city, and the frail boundaries between mischief, heartbreak, and violence.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Scene Setting: Broadway’s Underbelly (00:53–02:31)

• Detective Danny Clover introduces Broadway as "the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world," setting a somber, poetic mood.
• The city's pre-dawn atmosphere is a backdrop to loss and unrest, culminating in the discovery of Pablo Molari's corpse:
  • "The boy lying dead against the iron gate of the tenement's basement court." (01:24)

2. Uncovering the Victim: Pablo Molari (02:17–03:08)

• The investigation begins with the identification of Pablo and a search for clues. The meager possessions found (a five-dollar bill and a saint’s medallion) highlight his poverty and innocence.
• Community apathy is evident—the neighbors deny knowing Pablo, reluctant to get involved.
  • "Every door no one ever heard of. The kid had nothing to do with him. Didn't want to talk about him." – [Choice Classic Radio Announcer, 02:32]

3. Introducing the Hudson Club (03:03–04:10)

• The "Hudson Club" emerges as a makeshift youth group in a tough neighborhood.
• Johnny Hammett, club president, is interviewed by Clover, revealing a blurred boundary between harmless fun and potential trouble.
  • "It's one of those street clubs the kids make up for themselves. This neighborhood's loaded with them." – [Choice Classic Radio Announcer, 02:54]

4. Suspects and Motives: Johnny Hammett & Toby Nelson (04:10–07:29)

• Johnny discusses the club's activities, members, and denies Pablo was a real member.

• Toby Nelson, the doorman and typical neighborhood tough, is called out as potential suspect due to his role and temper.

  • Notable exchange:
    • Detective Danny Clover: "Johnny, a member of your club was murdered last night. A boy by the name of Pablo Molari."
    • Johnny Hammett: "Nah, he wasn't a member of the club, sir. He just hung around." (05:05)

• Paula Chopak’s initiation to the club is revealed as significant—she’s caught in a love triangle, moving from Toby's affection to Johnny's.

5. Paula Chopak: The Only Girl in the Club (07:40–11:15)

• Detective Clover visits Paula’s mother and speaks to Paula, unraveling her complicated relationships and emotional vulnerability.
  • Paula is portrayed as strong-willed but troubled, denying crucial knowledge about the murder.
  • Emotional moment with her mother:
    • Mrs. Chopak: "My Paula is good, clean, respectful to me. To such as you. Never trouble, never bring me tears." (08:50)

6. The Second Tragedy: Paula’s Death (12:23–14:02)

• News arrives: Paula has drowned at a beach party. Johnny claims responsibility, labeling it an accident.
  • "We were swimming, sir. Lost her someplace out there in the dark. And I heard her kind of scream… I killed Paula." – [Johnny Hammett, 13:19]

7. Interrogations and Emotional Showdown (15:19–19:10)

• Johnny, shaken, is grilled at headquarters. He reiterates the accident story: Paula swam out too far, hit a rock, drowned.
• Toby, Paula’s former boyfriend, is devastated but offers little help, consumed by grief and jealousy.

8. Revealing the Truth: Drug Use and Manipulation (21:25–24:37)

• Paula’s mother describes how Paula came home the night before, "ghostlike... sick," alluding to something more sinister than a tragic accident.
• A technical report reveals that Paula was not wearing her bathing cap in the water when she was killed; the cap was put on after death—a sure sign of foul play.

9. The Confession: Johnny and Toby’s Guilt (24:37–28:12)

• At the Hudson Club, Johnny admits Toby killed Pablo in a fit of anger ("He was just angry about something." – [Johnny Hammett, 25:56]), unintentionally but fatally.
• Johnny is exposed as a manipulative leader dealing marijuana to club members, pushing Paula into drug use to control her.
  • Detective Danny Clover: "Paula was a sick girl. After she got home from her initiation. You have to smoke this stuff to become a member of your club." (26:46)
• Ultimately, Johnny confesses to murdering Paula after she refused more drugs; he staged her drowning.
  • Detective Danny Clover: "She’d have worn her cap into the water. You killed her before she went into the water. How, Johnny? The rock, Mr. Clover. Then you threw her in the surf."
  • Johnny Hammett: "She was so beautiful. She was so beautiful, Mr. Clover." (27:35)
  • "It always worked, you know. It got so they'd come around here begging for the stuff… I wouldn't touch this stuff." (27:49)

10. Closing Reflection: The Cost of Broadway’s Dreams (28:30–end)

• Clover ends on a somber note, reflecting on the emptiness hidden beneath Broadway’s bright lights:
  • "Broadway looks clean. The winds of the evening have swept away the litter. Everything looks sharp. Sharp like a knife at your heart… The gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world." (28:30)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• "Broadway's My Beat... the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world." – Detective Danny Clover (00:53)
• "The whimper was yours." – Detective Danny Clover, poetic reflection on the city’s pain (01:24)
• "She was so beautiful. She was so beautiful, Mr. Clover." – Johnny Hammett, after confessing murder (27:35)
• "Paula was a sick girl. After she got home from her initiation. You have to smoke this stuff to become a member of your club." – Detective Danny Clover (26:46)
• "It always worked, you know. It got so they'd come round here begging for the stuff… I wouldn't touch this stuff." – Johnny Hammett, on drug dealing (27:49)
• "Go away. Resign yourself that another day is over." – Detective Danny Clover, after confronting Toby Nelson in grief (19:10)

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Important Timestamps

• [00:53]: Opening narrative—Broadway’s atmosphere and initial crime scene.
• [04:10]: Introduction of Johnny Hammett and the Hudson Club.
• [06:10]: Detective Clover interviews Toby Nelson.
• [08:12]: Clover’s poignant visit with Mrs. Chopak and Paula.
• [12:23]: Learning of Paula's drowning and Johnny’s confession.
• [15:19]: Interrogation scenes at headquarters.
• [19:51]: Mrs. Chopak’s account of Paula’s final hours.
• [22:49]: Technical evidence surfaces—Paula’s bathing cap.
• [24:37]: Final confrontation at the Hudson Club.
• [27:35]: Johnny’s confession and motive revealed.
• [28:30]: Detective Clover’s closing meditation on Broadway.

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Tone and Style

The episode unfolds in the classic noir style—world-weary, poetic, emotionally intense. Detective Clover narrates with empathy and a sense of personal responsibility, lamenting the fate of Broadway’s “children” and the cycles of loss that haunt their lives. The language is direct yet reflective, balancing hard-boiled realism with sensitivity toward immigrant struggles and youthful misdirection.

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Conclusion

This gripping "Broadway Is My Beat" episode delivers more than a detective mystery; it’s a social tragedy, exposing how dreams can sour and innocence can be manipulated on the hard streets of New York. Through meticulous investigation and insightful character studies, Detective Danny Clover unravels not only two murders but also the darker undercurrents running through youth culture, club loyalties, and drug use in the city’s shadowy corners.

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Transcript

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[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's my beat. With larry thor as detective danny clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

In the time before dawn, Broadway is an island of silence, torn from the blazing neon, the midnight sun of the spectaculars. The river mists mingle with the vapors rising from manhole covers. Through them move the rejects, the stragglers, the wanderers, the men without sleep. One detaches himself, scavenges in a trash bin choked with the remnants of night, finds nothing, moves on to the next. It's the time of the endless search, the restlessness of an anguish you can't understand. On the street built for the purpose. You walk it and a shadow whimpers and you hurry on, close your eyes, heart to it, because the whimper was yours. Finally, you must put aside whatever it was you were looking for. Because on a side street, a man waits for you to give you the nighttime's departing gift. The boy lying dead against the iron gate of the tenement's basement court.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Pablo Molari, Danny, from Uptown West 109th Street. Carried one of those handwritten identification cards.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Find anything else on him?

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Not much. Five dollar bill in his wallet. His saint's medallion he's wearing on a chain around his neck. That's about all.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Now you question the people in.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Yeah, Danny. Every door no one ever heard of. The kid had nothing to do with him. Didn't want to talk about him. You know, most of them were trying to sleep.

[Mrs. Chopak]

The heat.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

The kid's squalling, you know.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Beaten, jawbroken. This bruise on his throat must be.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

The one that killed him. Here, come down here.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Danny. What?

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Take a look at the sign on this door. Hudson Club. Johnny Hammett, President. I guess it's one of those street clubs the kids make up for themselves. This neighborhood's loaded with them.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You think what happened to this kid is part of it?

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Yeah, I think. What do you think?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Maybe check it, my Goodman. I'll get back to you. And wait now for the decent hour. Give to someone a few more hours of sleep before breaking the news about the death of a young man. And at 8:30 to an address on West Hundred and Ninth Street. Climb four flights and be careful of the rotting steps and the three year olds at play. The door opens to your knock. And the woman who pinches her shawl close to her throat doesn't understand what you're saying and calls a neighbor who understands, who explains to the woman the mother of a murdered young man explains what must be done. Accept the fact of death, identify the body, bury her son, then walk away from all of it. You've started a new day. Call headquarters. Detective Mugaman gives you an address. Looked for and found and checked by the night shift. Johnny Hammett, president of the Hudson Club. A tenement on West 43rd near the docks. Johnny's glad for the company.

[Johnny Hammett]

I dislike having my coffee alone, Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You work, Johnny?

[Johnny Hammett]

Yeah, here and there. Mostly on Broadway, sir. People always want things done.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You mean you run errands?

[Johnny Hammett]

No. If you think all it is is running down to the corner drugstore. No, Broadway, Mr. Clover. It's full of tourists.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Anybody else live here with you?

[Johnny Hammett]

Yeah, my father. I think he still does. Hardly ever see him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How's the Hudson Club coming along?

[Johnny Hammett]

Oh, fine. Fine, thank you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What kind of club is it? Oh, a little bit of everything.

[Johnny Hammett]

Sports dances, beach parties. The girls do most of the arranging.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Girls?

[Johnny Hammett]

Isn't that funny? About a month ago I mentioned girls to my father. He had the same expression on his face as you do. Yeah. Girls. I'm 19. I don't chalk walls anymore.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Johnny, a member of your club was murdered last night. A boy by the name of Pablo Molari.

[Toby Nelson]

No.

[Johnny Hammett]

Is he dead? Nah, he wasn't a member of the club, sir. He just hung around.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What about him, Johnny? Who killed him?

[Johnny Hammett]

I didn't. And no one's come up to me since last night and said he did it either.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Where were you last night?

[Johnny Hammett]

We had a meeting at the club. A special one. Initiations. Plans for the summer. Broke up about 2. I came right home.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I want a list of your members, Johnny. Names, addresses.

[Johnny Hammett]

No. Sure. Before you go, look. Where was Pablo found?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Outside your club? In the vestibule.

[Johnny Hammett]

Nelson might know.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Nelson?

[Johnny Hammett]

Toby Nelson. We had him in front of the door last night to keep away undesirables.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Where can I find him?

[Johnny Hammett]

Works at a cigar and magazine counter in the Flick Building lobby. I wish there was more I could tell you. I really do, sir.

[Toby Nelson]

Hey sis, don't forget your change. Here you are, baby. Good luck at the track. What's yours, buster?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Your name? Toby Nelson.

[Toby Nelson]

Someone send you to ask an important question?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Police.

[Toby Nelson]

That buzzer could stand a little metal polish, mister.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Don't worry about it.

[Toby Nelson]

Oh, sure not. Tell me what I should worry about.

[Detective Danny Clover]

About a boy named Pablo Molari.

[Toby Nelson]

Yeah, I've been reading him in the newspapers. What's he to me?

[Detective Danny Clover]

He was found beaten to death in.

[Toby Nelson]

Front of Hudson Club. I know, I know. It says so in the papers.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What went on there last night?

[Toby Nelson]

I'll have to read the minutes of the meeting. I was outside making these two big muscles. The tots who wanted in and couldn't get in.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What happens at these initiations, Toby?

[Toby Nelson]

Ah, kid stuff. You swear to do this and that and be a nice Hudson. To tell you the truth, I was embarrassed for the kid.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who are you talking about?

[Toby Nelson]

Paula. Paula got taken into us last night. Johnny Hammett wanted it, so I arranged it. Paula Chopec. Which makes us fellow members. Which makes me happy. Happy?

[Detective Danny Clover]

This Paula's your girl.

[Toby Nelson]

Manicures my pinkies. Look Pretty job, huh? Gives me locks of hair. Knits me argyles. Oh, it's a nice thing we got tender.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Paula Chopec.

[Johnny Hammett]

Uh huh.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I've got her name on my list.

[Toby Nelson]

She was on top of the grocery store corner 11th Avenue and 46.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Thanks a lot, Toby.

[Toby Nelson]

Anytime.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Oh, here.

[Toby Nelson]

Take a scratch sheet, mister. For free. Go ahead, take it. It's last Monday's.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And bring to the top of the list Paula Chopak. Climb the stairs, knock on a door with the curtained panels of glass and hear the furtive scurrying behind it and the slam of another door inside. Then hear a woman's steps approaching and an instant of silence. Then the fumbling with the catch and the door opens. The woman had not finished making herself presentable to the caller. The wrinkled cotton house dress needed another smoothing. The graying hair needed to be pressed back again from the forehead. The tired voice. There was nothing to be done about that.

[Mrs. Chopak]

Yes? Something.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm from the police. Danny Clover.

[Mrs. Chopak]

It's good you're here. We not think police come so soon. Please to come in, please. That chair. I sit by window in it. By evening. He's comfortable, clean. You be cool, please, mister.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Thank you, but I'd like to by.

[Mrs. Chopak]

My daughter to speak by Paula.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Paula. Is she here?

[Mrs. Chopak]

Yes, by room listening to records. But first, please, mister.

[Detective Danny Clover]

First you want to tell me something, Mrs. Chobak.

[Mrs. Chopak]

About Paula. You. You see what I am, mister? But Paula by Horace, great beauty. By the face. By the rich black hair. Like crown she wears at my Paula, my baby. I comb for her brush, wash, put in braids by night for sleep. My Paula is good, clean, respectful to me. To such as you. Never trouble, never bring me tears.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Will you call her, please?

[Mrs. Chopak]

Go to her. She wait for you. She say me policeman come this afternoon. I have much thing to tell him. My Paula say this to me. What my Paula got to say to policeman, mister? What?

[Detective Danny Clover]

In that room?

[Mrs. Chopak]

Yes. You see, my Paula tell you her thing. Then you policeman go away from us, huh? Mr.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Paula, I'm from the police.

[Paula Chopak]

I know. I heard.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Your mother said you had something you want to tell me.

[Paula Chopak]

Mom's wrong.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I don't think so. Tell me, Paula.

[Paula Chopak]

Mom can hardly speak English. Sometimes she doesn't understand the things I say to her. I've got nothing for you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Besides, I'm busy brushing your hair. Let it alone for a while. Paula, talk to me. The boy was murdered last night in front of a club where you were initiated. Pablo Molari. Is that what you wanted to tell me about? What's the matter, Paulie? Scared?

[Paula Chopak]

Look at me. You think you could scare me?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Toby Nelson talked to me.

[Paula Chopak]

He said he told you I was sweet to him. Maybe told you I joined the Hudsons because he asked me. Because I used to jump when he asked that.

[Detective Danny Clover]

He told you that too?

[Paula Chopak]

Well, next time you see him, explain to him. It's finished through. Wiped off my memory book. Was it last night?

[Detective Danny Clover]

What happened last night?

[Paula Chopak]

I got initiated in the club. What else can happen to a girl?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Murder, maybe. A murder she saw being committed. Maybe something she's afraid of.

[Paula Chopak]

I said it once. I got nothing to tell you. So go tell Mom. I got nothing to say to a policeman. It'll cheer her up.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I hope you're right, Paula. For you. For your mother. I hope you're right.

[Gino Tartaglia]

Danny. I give you the evening's greetings.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Thanks a lot, Gino.

[Gino Tartaglia]

You're here so late tonight. Why didn't you go home after you saw the Chopak girl?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I had some work to do.

[Gino Tartaglia]

Danny, would you mind very much if I regaled you with a tidbit that happened early this evening at the house of Tartaglia?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Please do.

[Gino Tartaglia]

Cousin Stanley from gay Paris showed up after 10 these many years.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Not him.

[Gino Tartaglia]

Oh, him it was. And with arms akimbo, with goodies. Nicks for Mrs. Tartaglia, nacks for the kiddies and for me, a great big bottle.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Champagne, huh?

[Gino Tartaglia]

Had a call, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

51 from Paris.

[Gino Tartaglia]

Those Continentals know how to live.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Gino, did you have that list of the Hudson Club checked?

[Gino Tartaglia]

Indeed I did. And each and every member swears under bylaws of the club that they know nothing of the murder of Pablo Malari.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Danny Clover speaking.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Squad cars downstairs for you. Danny. Paula Chopec was washed up on the beach at Far Rockaway a little while ago. Maybe an accident, maybe homicide. You going, Danny?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Right away. The night wind off the sea was soft, warm. It sighed against the flames of the beach. Fire strung along the coast, riffled the sand across driftwood, across the litter. It brought close the far off sounds of a summer beach at night. The laughter from behind screen porches. The siren call of the ukulele gently strummed. The distant screeching of gulls. And closer, the other sounds. The lash and wash of the surf. The opening and setting up and adjusting of the mechanical devices that attend the dead. And then the trembling voice of the boy who tries to tell you about the girl lying there. How it was, why it was.

[Johnny Hammett]

We were swimming, sir. Lost her someplace out there in the dark. And I heard her kind of scream.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Just you and Paula, Johnny?

[Johnny Hammett]

It was a beach party, like the ones I told you about. The other members left. Paula wanted to stay, asked me to stay with her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You said she screamed. Why?

[Johnny Hammett]

She hit her head on one of those rocks out there. The high tide covers them up. I didn't know until I hit the beach she was dead. I tried to. Dead? She is, isn't she? Look at me. I killed Paula.

[Narrator]

You are listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin, with Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. Tonight's the night. Yes. Beginning this evening, there'll be a new host on Songs For Sale is affable Steve Allen, a young comedian whose likable personality you're really going to enjoy. Steve Allen becomes head salesman on Songs for Sale, introducing new songwriters and their tunes. Tonight, over most of these same CBS stations.

[Detective Danny Clover]

On an early summer's night, Broadway stands in a corner, leans against the orange juice stand and sums up the day. Some days are better than others. Some days you break even. You only had one end of the daily double, but the new blonde in the office looked over his shoulder at you and smiled. And later, when she dabbed on her lipstick with a finger, she smiled again. It was quite a day. Today the Dodgers passed. A miracle. You forgot to pay the check at the cafeteria and got away with it and a girl, a song of a girl Was washed up on the beach at Far Rockaway. Here is maybe a tragic day, but here is a day. It was 11:30 toward the end of it. When we got Johnny Hammett back to headquarters.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Sit down there, Johnny. Cigarette kit?

[Johnny Hammett]

No. No, thank you.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Maybe you'd rather have one at Danny's.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Here. Here, have one, Johnny.

[Johnny Hammett]

I don't want one.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Guess Johnny doesn't like the brands we smoke, Danny.

[Johnny Hammett]

I just don't want to smoke, that's all. Can a man not want to smoke?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Take it easy.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Sure, sure. Relax, kid.

[Johnny Hammett]

Am I under arrest?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You said you killed Paula.

[Johnny Hammett]

It was my fault. I shouldn't have let her swim out that far.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Did you kill her or didn't you kill her?

[Johnny Hammett]

It was my fault.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Who killed Pablo Molari?

[Johnny Hammett]

You think I did?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Did you, Johnny?

[Johnny Hammett]

You think I killed him, don't you, Mr. Clover?

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

There you go again, Johnny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Look.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Look, kid. A couple of your friends were killed. We're police. We're asking.

[Johnny Hammett]

I didn't kill anybody.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You don't have to explain to Johnny Muggleman. He knows why he's here. He knows we need his help.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Help, Johnny, that's what we want. We're not asking for a confession.

[Johnny Hammett]

Who's kidding?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who were you in love with? Paula.

[Johnny Hammett]

She wasn't around long enough.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She was around tonight. What happened tonight?

[Johnny Hammett]

You know what happened. What's the matter with you?

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Look, Johnny, I'm gonna tell you something. You're not talking to your little hoodlum friends. You're talking to a policeman. Nobody's trying to intimidate you. Nobody's trying to make you say things you don't want to say. You're talking to a policeman that's trying to do his job. What happened tonight?

[Johnny Hammett]

We had a beach party.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The Hudsons?

[Johnny Hammett]

Yes, sir.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

That's better, Johnny.

[Johnny Hammett]

Paula and I came late. The others were already there.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Toby Nelson?

[Johnny Hammett]

Yes, sir. Toby wanted to take Paula home. Paula wanted to stay, so we stayed. Paula and I. We were the last ones there.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What made Paula want to stay?

[Johnny Hammett]

She'd never been swimming at night.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And she swam up past the breakers. And a wave washed her against a rock. Is that what happened?

[Johnny Hammett]

Yes, sir.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right, Johnny.

[Johnny Hammett]

Can I go now?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Good night, Johnny. Thanks. What do you think, Mugavin?

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

You believe him?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I don't know. I'm going to check. I'm going to talk to Toby. Toby? Toby, who wants me?

[Toby Nelson]

You got a long nose, mister.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Your landlady told me you were up here on the roof.

[Toby Nelson]

Hers is Even longer than yours. What's the guy have to do to get a square foot of bear to himself?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Your girl's dead, Toby. Paula's dead.

[Toby Nelson]

You're stale, mister. The smooth voices on the ready have been telling me Paula's dead for an hour now. Up here. I thought I couldn't hear him. I hear him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Johnny Hammett says it was an accident.

[Toby Nelson]

That makes it an accident.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You were at the beach party, Toby.

[Toby Nelson]

Never missing gives me a chance to show off my muscles to the members.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You did that. Then what happened?

[Toby Nelson]

Let me think now. Yeah, after that I roasted the hot dogs for the group. We all ate hearty. Then it broke up.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I came home and left Paula alone with Johnny.

[Toby Nelson]

Yeah, that's the other thing I did.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Paula was your girl. How come Johnny took her to the.

[Toby Nelson]

Party if she was alive? You could ask her. I wouldn't know.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Johnny says you wanted to take her home. Why didn't you?

[Toby Nelson]

Because she slapped me across the mouth when I asked her. They all laughed. Johnny too. Then she laughed harder than anybody. That's how I got the message. She didn't want me to take her home. She wanted Johnny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Up to the night of the initiation at the Hudson Club. She was your girl. What happened there to make her turn on you? Toby, she's dead.

[Toby Nelson]

Paula's dead. What else do you want from me? What else do I have to give you? How much can you. She's dead, mister. That's all I got.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right, Toby. And leave the boy alone. Give him the time and place of his grieving and the quality of it that's bled out of a tenement rooftop in a city stretching into the hours after midnight. Go away. Resign yourself that another day is over. The next morning and the leg work. Go now to a corner of the city where the sign says 11th Avenue and 46th. Climb the steps and stop at a door intrude upon two rooms newly filled with grieving.

[Mrs. Chopak]

Please. Please come in. Of my daughter.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Mrs. Topak. The police are not satisfied that Paula.

[Mrs. Chopak]

Of my daughter Paula.

[Detective Danny Clover]

There's a possibility that it wasn't an accident.

[Mrs. Chopak]

Paula is in other room. The others neighbors by me. We have only boxes to sit on.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I want you to try to understand what I'm saying.

[Mrs. Chopak]

Nothing. Nothing. I understand only up to yesterday. To yesterday when Paula said to me. Mama, I'm going to swim with this boy. This Johnny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Johnny Hammett.

[Mrs. Chopak]

Johnny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

He called for her at first, my Paula.

[Mrs. Chopak]

She said she would want to stay home. Rather then the boy said something to her. Then down low, over her ear. Paula took her suit for swimming, her cap, not to get her hair wet. Then she said what I said to you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I see. Just one more thing, Mrs. Chopek. The night before last, your daughter went out. Do you know where she went?

[Mrs. Chopak]

To someplace to party. Like clubhouse party.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What time did she come home?

[Mrs. Chopak]

Late. I don't know.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What time did you talk to her when she came home?

[Mrs. Chopak]

Only when I tried to give her help. Help Quite like ghost and sick. I hear this. I get out of my bed. I come to her. I say, paula, you're sick. Mama get something. She tell me, go away. Like I'm someone she never seen before.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Was she drunk?

[Mrs. Chopak]

Sick, has no whiskey. I smell sick. White. Sick like ghost. I see she's dead now. Paula is. And the neighbors? By me. They're in next room. They sit, they cry, they touch my shoulder. They don't talk. They don't know what words to say to me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Then walk the tenement street and have your passage greeted by the sudden silences of the yelling kids. The turning of backs after the furtive gesture of insult. Because somehow you were guilty of that anguish. Over the corner grocery store. Once you had been welcomed by a mother. For that you had left her a dead child. And on that street, the guilt was yours. So I got away from it. At headquarters. Read, reread the file on Malari, dead of a beating. Apollo Chopak, dead of a head wound while swimming at Rockaway. And finally, read away the daylight. And sit in darkness till a man comes in, looks at you for a moment, turns on a light.

[Gino Tartaglia]

You don't mind the light, huh, Danny?

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's all right, Gino. Thanks.

[Gino Tartaglia]

I agree with you that this killing, this dying of kids. Makes one wish to sit alone in the dark. However.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You got something for me, Gino?

[Gino Tartaglia]

Danny, all I can give you is a comment upon the children of today. The clubs they must make for themselves. The things they do in said clubs. The hurt they bring upon themselves for so doing.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Go on, Gino.

[Gino Tartaglia]

That's in all the papers, Danny. How they go out of the way for new thrills, new sensations, new emotions. Only this morning, while shaving. I was bending an ear to the comment from the radio. I called in the Tartaglia.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You got something, Maggovan?

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

I don't know, Danny. Maybe yes, maybe no.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What?

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Gordon and Technical gave it to me to give to you. See if the big man can figure it. He says to me, I got news about Gordon I actively dislike.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What did he give you?

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

He's been studying the bathing cap. Paula Chopak wore to the beach party. He says it's curious why. He says the girl didn't have the cap on when she went into the water.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Paula was proud of her hair. She'd have worn the cap. Why does he say she wasn't wearing it?

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Because there was no blood stain inside it. Gordon says if she was wearing the cap when she hit the rock, it would have held some of the blood. Which means? He says that the cap was put on her after she was carried to the beach.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It means another thing. Mugman. What? Baller was murdered. Give me a squad car.

[Toby Nelson]

Go away. We're not open.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's the police.

[Toby Nelson]

What do you want?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Let's go inside. I'll tell you. Inside. Toby. Are you the only Hudson here?

[Toby Nelson]

Hey Johnny, look what's here. We got a caller, Johnny.

[Johnny Hammett]

Good evening, Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Nice clubhouse you've got here.

[Johnny Hammett]

Can I show you around?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Of course. Everybody. I thought you had quite an organization.

[Toby Nelson]

They'll be around when you leave. People will start swarming in here.

[Johnny Hammett]

I'm glad you came, Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Thanks.

[Toby Nelson]

Hey, what's with you, Johnny? You buy a cop for a friend?

[Johnny Hammett]

Don't pay any attention to him, sir. He doesn't know about policemen. He doesn't know they have a job to do.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You understand all about that though, don't you?

[Toby Nelson]

Hey, what's going on?

[Johnny Hammett]

Too bad about you, Toby.

[Toby Nelson]

Huh?

[Johnny Hammett]

I said too bad about you. Your muscles, your temper. The mad you had on the other night.

[Toby Nelson]

Hey Johnny, what's he.

[Johnny Hammett]

You never saw Toby work over a guy, did you, Mr. Clover?

[Detective Danny Clover]

No. Tell me about it.

[Johnny Hammett]

Once a boy tried to get in here. Tried real hard. Toby was in front of the door. The boy never made it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Pablo Molari, Johnny.

[Johnny Hammett]

It wasn't premeditated, Mr. Clover. Toby didn't mean it. He was just angry about something.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're under arrest, Toby. Put out your hands.

[Toby Nelson]

Gotta do something first.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Don't be a fool.

[Toby Nelson]

Take him off. Me?

[Johnny Hammett]

Yeah, take him off. Thanks. Thanks, Mr. Clover. That's just the way he went after that boy. He would have killed me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Toby will rest a while.

[Johnny Hammett]

What are you doing, Mr. Clover?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Frisking him. Nice cigarette case. Cigarette, Johnny?

[Johnny Hammett]

Are you kidding? I don't smoke those.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Don't blame you. Marijuana brings you grief. That's what it brought Paula.

[Johnny Hammett]

Paula?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Uh huh. Paula was a sick girl. After she got home from her initiation. You have to smoke this stuff to become a member of your club.

[Johnny Hammett]

Oh, now look.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You look, Johnny. Paula was Toby's girl. You wanted her. That's why you insisted she become a Member put her on this stuff, she'd lose her sense of values.

[Johnny Hammett]

You think I'd do anything like that?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes, I do.

[Johnny Hammett]

You know me better than that.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I know you killed her.

[Johnny Hammett]

I told you what happened out there on the beach.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You forgot to tell me why she went there with you. What were you gonna do, Johnny? Tell her mother she was smoking marijuana? Is that why she went with you? Stayed at the beach after the others left?

[Johnny Hammett]

I don't know what to say to you, Mr. Clover. You're wrong. And I think you ought to take care of Toby here.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Paula had beautiful hair, Johnny.

[Johnny Hammett]

I'd go along with that.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She'd have worn her cap into the water. You killed her before she went into the water. How, Johnny? The rock, Mr. Clover. Then you threw her in the surf. Saw her suit'd be wet, pulled her back, remembered about the cap, put it on her. Why did you murder her?

[Johnny Hammett]

She was so beautiful. She was so beautiful, Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She refused more of your cigarettes.

[Johnny Hammett]

Funny. I worked before.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Let's go, Johnny.

[Johnny Hammett]

It always worked, you know. It got so they'd come around here begging for the stuff. A young man like me. Connections is like a king. I'll tell you another funny thing. I wouldn't touch this stuff.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Come on.

[Johnny Hammett]

Yes, sir.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Broadway looks clean. The winds of the evening have swept away the litter. Everything looks sharp. Sharp like a knife at your heart. You walk against it and it plunges deeper, deeper, until there's no pain at all. It's Broadway. The gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway, My Beat.

[Narrator]

Broadway is 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, Dick Crenna was heard as Johnny Hammett, Bill Tracy as Toby Nelson, Peggy Weber as Mrs. Chopat and Michael Ann Barrett as Paula Chopak. On July 8th next week, Broadway's My Beat will be heard on a new day, Sunday, beginning a week from tomorrow. Be sure to listen to Broadway Is My Beat and the Adventures of Danny Clover, starring Larry Thor. Bill Anders speaking. This is cbs, where Phil Reagan brings you the Serviceman's Own show every Sunday on the Columbia Broadcasting System.

[Choice Classic Radio Announcer]

Ra.