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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
Winter begins its long dying and Broadway reacts to the process about the same as anywhere else, with a kind of joy, with a smile touched off by the little warmth left inside. Except on Broadway, there will be things to remember. The evenings just as nighttime drifted in, when the lights on the trans luxe were winter fireflies and twinkled of how it is to be at war in February. And the coffee smells and the crowd. And the time when you delivered the runaway Pekingese back to the girl whose lips quivered when she kissed them. Darkness and the night's dying. And remember how it was as seen through the prism of a cold tear. The night had died in the place where I was. And the first light diluted. The shadows in the hallway revealed these things. The carpeting, rich and carved. And the intruding pattern, the blood on it, the man's blood lying on it. And the young girl in an evening gown and furs and her sobs trying to find out from you as daily is whether you knew this man, whether you've ever talked to him, whether there's
Carol Daly
a reason why he should be dead in front of my door.
Detective Danny Clover
That's right. From what I can tell, this man was beaten to death. The way he's lying, he probably stuck his head against this wall here, where there's blood.
Carol Daly
Well, I. I told you. I told you all I know about it.
Detective Danny Clover
Tell me again.
Carol Daly
Like I was down the town. Nightclubs, parties, you know, go on life. I came home. I saw this man, this man who delivers milk.
Detective Danny Clover
His identification says his name is Raymond Grant. Do you know him? Jeff talked to him.
Carol Daly
You keep asking me that. I told you that I came home and I.
Detective Danny Clover
You came home alone?
Margaret Howard
Yes.
Carol Daly
I always come home alone, Mr. Clover. It's a good deed I do myself whenever I go out. I came home alone and I. I found this man. He was lying just as he is now.
Detective Danny Clover
You went into your apartment, called the police?
Carol Daly
Yes.
Margaret Howard
Yes.
Detective Danny Clover
What do you do, Ms. Daly?
Carol Daly
I. I study history, Mr. Clover. I'm a graduate student at the university.
Detective Danny Clover
How long ago did you come home, Ms. Daly?
Carol Daly
I. I don't know. Half hour, 20 minutes or more.
Detective Danny Clover
I don't know about that though I'd say this man was killed just a little while before you got here. Say that.
Myra Blair
Oh, please.
Margaret Howard
Please.
Detective Danny Clover
Finally, shock that has drifted on the flow of dawn ends its searching, touches the bare shoulders of the girl. She draws the fur close about her throat and it ripples with her trembling. And death lies still across her threshold, barring the way to her darkened room. Where sleep is, where there's an end to shock, where night's gaiety can be dreamed again. When the attendants come and take away their dead. The trembling is still on the girl, and the shock, frozen now in her eyes, shapes a wall against further questioning. Try to help her into her room, be pushed away so leave her for a later time. And at Crane dairies take a man away from the roar of incoming outgoing milk trucks, from the clatter of crates loaded, unloaded. Take him to a wallboard office slammed against the edge of the loading platform.
Mr. Perry
Raymond was quite a boy, Mr. Clover. Maybe that's why he had to die like that.
Detective Danny Clover
You have theories about the way people should die, Mr. Perry?
Mr. Perry
Look, look, will you. Don't try to make me out on being a sharpie with you. When you asked me about him, it just spilled out, that's all. Maybe it wasn't the thing to say.
Detective Danny Clover
But you knew him well, huh?
Mr. Perry
No better than I know my other boys. I'm a foreman, see? So after hours, sometimes they nuzzle up to me, tell me things about themselves. So I'll look on him with kindness when rescheduling time comes up.
Detective Danny Clover
Raymond Grant did that to you too, huh?
Mr. Perry
Yeah, he did. Well, look, Mr. Clover, the boy's dead.
Detective Danny Clover
I. I won't feel right if I. I just won't feel right. Like you said, Mr. Perry, he's dead. Dead by violence, dead by murder. Whatever he was, we owe him his killer.
Robert Blair
Whatever he was.
Detective Danny Clover
You'll tell me, huh?
Mr. Perry
What do I know about a boy like Raymond?
Detective Danny Clover
Comes to me after his route, shows
Mr. Perry
me little notes his lady customers have left in his empties. Oh, no oh about it, Mr. Clover. Most of our boys get little things like that left in their empties. But with Raymond, there was a kind of different slant. More personal, maybe.
Detective Danny Clover
Did he tell you who they were from?
Mr. Perry
We got a kind of group loyalty here in this smoke factory, Mr. Clover. Things like that a foreman don't pry into. Makes us all buddy. Buddy?
Detective Danny Clover
The kind of man you tell me Raymond was, he didn't brag a little, give you names.
Mr. Perry
Look, maybe he wrote them to himself. For all I know, the boys do that Sometimes to equalize things among themselves.
Robert Blair
Hey, look.
Mr. Perry
He has a wife. A little house on Staten island with a lawn. What could a man ever want with. Okay with you if I go back to work now?
Detective Danny Clover
Staten island address. Then you can go back to work and leave there. Drive now to lower Manhattan. Staten Island Ferry. The day is marked by a boat ride. Get out of your car to enjoy it. Watch the squat bow cut through the mid morning mists and near the other side. Not be able to resist the hand wave to the sailor lounging against the rail of the tramp steamer. Get a grin in return. The ocean voyage is over. To drive to the address on Staten. Find it. Park the car. Walk up the short path to the white frame house.
Carol Daly
Yes.
Detective Danny Clover
The woman who opens the door is small and pale. The expression she wears had been locked there a long time ago. Face to go with the house. Only time would change it. One day it would fall apart.
Carol Daly
Here. What can I do for you?
Detective Danny Clover
Are you Mrs. Grant?
Carol Daly
Yes. Come in, please.
Detective Danny Clover
Oh, thank you. I'm from the police, Mrs. Graham.
Margaret Howard
I know.
Carol Daly
Mr. Perry called from the plant.
Mr. Pierce
I've been waiting for you.
Carol Daly
In here, please. You must sit down if you like.
Detective Danny Clover
Thank you. It's about your husband.
Margaret Howard
I know.
Detective Danny Clover
Mr. Perry told you.
Margaret Howard
Yes.
Detective Danny Clover
I'm trying to find out why he was killed.
Mr. Pierce
Yes.
Detective Danny Clover
So we want your cooperation. Anything you can tell us.
Mr. Pierce
Tell you?
Detective Danny Clover
Yes, about your husband. Why somebody would want to kill him.
Carol Daly
I don't quite understand what you mean, Mr. Clover. Well, can't see how anybody would kill
Mr. Pierce
Raymond because of what I could tell you about him.
Detective Danny Clover
Just tell me what you can guess.
Mr. Pierce
He was a good husband. I haven't thought about whether he was or not for a long time. He had his good points and bad points. I didn't like him very much.
Detective Danny Clover
Why?
Mr. Pierce
Well, you know.
Detective Danny Clover
No, I don't.
Mr. Pierce
I didn't like him, that's all. One day, a long time ago. We'd been married about eight years. Then I. I got a feeling about him that never left me.
Carol Daly
I thought to myself one morning, here
Mr. Pierce
I am, a woman. And the life I lead is because of this man. This husband of mine. Raymond.
Detective Danny Clover
Did you know anything about his friends?
Mr. Pierce
Yes. He had some, I guess. Outside there. The people he came in contact with. Maybe they liked him. He probably did.
Carol Daly
He used to come home sometime with
Mr. Pierce
more money than he made.
Carol Daly
He used to say they were for favors.
Detective Danny Clover
What kind of favors?
Mr. Pierce
I used to ask him that.
Carol Daly
And Raymond would tell me something that didn't make any sense at all.
Mr. Pierce
I forgotten what it was. I Stopped asking him a long time ago. Everything was a long time ago.
Robert Blair
Mr. Clover.
Gino
I brought you some tea and bagels, Danny, for your 410 dunking. You didn't have it yet, did you?
Detective Danny Clover
Yeah, I had, Gino. But thanks anyway.
Robert Blair
It's a strange world.
Gino
I debated to myself, did Danny have or didn't he have? And I come up with this. A tea bag and a bagel gone to waste.
Detective Danny Clover
Why don't you have?
Gino
Well, if it really makes no never mind, I think I could partake.
Detective Danny Clover
Hold your arms. You know, partake.
Gino
Thank you ever so kindly. Hits the spot. Hits the very spot. You know, Danny, I will have to walk home to rewet my appetite.
Detective Danny Clover
Do you bring me anything else, Gino?
Gino
Goes without saying.
Detective Danny Clover
Whenever you think it's the proper time.
Gino
Refreshed and to work. The boys you assigned made a run down in an apartment house where the milkman was killed. Annie.
Detective Danny Clover
What'd they get?
Gino
Doors slammed in their faces by the elite, bawling kids thrust into their arms while governesses and maids rack their brains for a memory of said milkman. Ergo.
Detective Danny Clover
Ergo. Ergo.
Gino
Same as nothing.
Detective Danny Clover
Oh.
Gino
All it was known about Raymond Grant is that sometimes the milkman forgot to leave. Double rich vitamin, fortified whipped cream.
Detective Danny Clover
They did check the girl who found him. Carol Daly.
Gino
Well, she was out at the time, but we have heard from her. From another source.
Detective Danny Clover
You let me in on it too, huh?
Robert Blair
No question.
Gino
The other source being herself. While you were out, she phoned in, said she was taking a walk for herself.
Detective Danny Clover
That's very interesting, Gino.
Gino
It promises. Danny has all the earmarks, her apartment being so near to headquarters. Ms. Daley did inform me she was taking a walk. The same to talk to you. And then some new information re a murdered milkman. She dan.
Myra Blair
Danny.
Detective Danny Clover
An accident. You know someone's been hit down in the street.
Gino
The cocaine. Don't go out without the overcoat.
Detective Danny Clover
And out to the street. The swarm had gotten there before I did. The gatherers upon violence shoulder to shoulder and surround shock with faces, drink it in, make a memory out of it and tell a friend with only slight embellishments and elbow your way through and get pushed and muttered at and finally make it. The girl in the cylinder of street and crowd lies there outstretched stretched the attitude of her body of infinite grace sprawled as if languid acceptance of what had happened. Only her face held the recognition of the moment frozen there, the pearl of blood at her lips. Her name was Carol Daly. I did it.
Carol Daly
I did it.
Detective Danny Clover
You were driving the car that hit Her?
Gino
Yes. I don't know what happened.
Robert Blair
I just felt the car hit something. Oh, do something for her. Help her.
Detective Danny Clover
She's dead.
Robert Blair
I did it. I murdered. I killed. I did it.
Gino
I did it.
Narrator
You are listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. Starting tomorrow, listen for World News with Robert Trout. Something new in CBS Radio newsroom coverage. World News with Robert Trout presents as a special weekly feature an interview with the crack CBS Radio News correspondent. This correspondent flies in from his post overseas to give you his authoritative eyewitness viewpoint on latest developments. Starting tomorrow on most of these same stations, World News with Robert Trout.
Detective Danny Clover
The twilight drains off Broadway, blows down the side streets, gathers, lingers for an instant on the sea edges of the steel island. And the neon explodes the spectacular strike fire. The mists are threaded now with scarlet. And the beckoning to night has begun. The end of a February day. You can go home and die with it or you can fling yourself into the nighttime. Let neon stun you. Let the loudspeaker music sob for you. The little crepe paper man dolls will dance for you at the end of their unseen strings. You have a choice, kid. Make it before the poised shadows make it for you. In the office at headquarters. Switch on the overhead light. Against the waiting darkness, the man's face is more clearly seen now. The sallow light falling on the terror of what had happened to him. The running down of a girl in the street. The killing of a girl named Carol Daly.
Robert Blair
Do we need the light getting dark, Mr. Blair? Yes, of course. I hadn't noticed.
Detective Danny Clover
You can tell me about it now.
Robert Blair
Well, I. I don't know. I don't know. My wife. Please call her. Ask her to come to me.
Detective Danny Clover
We've done that, Mr. Blow. You asked her to before.
Robert Blair
Oh, I forgot. I'm sorry.
Detective Danny Clover
I forgot.
Robert Blair
I had to ask you. You see the shock and the horror of what I've done. She's coming. My wife's coming.
Detective Danny Clover
She's driving down. It'll only take a little while longer.
Robert Blair
See, I depend on her for so many things. I'm not ashamed to say it, Mr. Clover.
Detective Danny Clover
I'm lost without her.
Robert Blair
Myra is half my soul, half my being. I'm not ashamed.
Detective Danny Clover
She'll be here. What do you do, Mr. Blair? Business. Professional?
Robert Blair
Well, both, I guess. I think you could call it both. I have a travel agency. It's downtown, near the Battery. Blair's Travel agency. I arrange tours and cruises.
Detective Danny Clover
Do you know Carol Daly?
Robert Blair
The girl you Killed? Oh, no. I was just driving home. The traffic seemed so slow. I pulled out from the back of another car and that girl. She must have darted right into me. The sound as if she threw herself against my car.
Detective Danny Clover
That.
Robert Blair
That lovely girl.
Carol Daly
I didn't see her.
Gino
I swear I didn't see her.
Myra Blair
It's all right, Robert.
Margaret Howard
I'm here.
Myra Blair
Don't cry, Robert. Please don't cry.
Detective Danny Clover
Mrs. Blair.
Myra Blair
I want to take him home. What must I do?
Detective Danny Clover
The charge will be manslaughter, Mrs. Blair.
Myra Blair
Involuntary. We have our lawyer. You can reach us anytime. What must I do to take him home?
Detective Danny Clover
You could post bond pending the hearing.
Myra Blair
Arrange for it. Please don't look that way, Robert. Not in front of. It'll be all right. You're going home with me, Robert.
Detective Danny Clover
And turn Mr. Blair over to Sergeant Taglia pending the posting of bond. Then leave headquarters. Have dinner, go home. Spend the evening in the familiar room with a few familiar things. Pick up a novel you've been promising yourself to read and not read it because of the fleeting thoughts that intrude themselves. The image of a man dead in a hallway. Of a young woman broken and huddled in the street. And in the morning, the novel still lies on the arm of the chair where you slept. Back to headquarters now. And the phone calls and the tracing back to be done. Background wanted on Carol Daly because Carol Daly had new information about a murder and Carol Daly was suddenly dead. Three hours. Get enough to satisfy you? For now. Carol daly. No parents, 22 years of age. Carol Daly. Student. Graduate student of history at the university. Go there, see a student assistant, see a registrar, see a dean. Be told, finally, that as a graduate student, Ms. Daley spent most of her time in the Hayward Memorial Library working on a thesis with a Mr. Pierce. Aisle 16, chair 12. Mr. Pierce, maybe you ought to know something.
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
Haywood Memorial Library frowns on this sort of thing. Only last year.
Detective Danny Clover
I'm from the police.
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
The stacks on criminology are down that aisle.
Detective Danny Clover
No, that one.
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
You have trouble, ask the librarian. She was born to suffer.
Detective Danny Clover
Being helpful, we could talk here, quietly, among scholars. Or at headquarters, where they.
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
What's the cut?
Detective Danny Clover
He was saying headquarters, Mr. Pierce. Fold a corner of that page or whatever you do not to lose your place.
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
Carol Daly, huh?
Detective Danny Clover
That's right.
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
Milkmen are killed on her doorstep and she dies from the power in action of 8 cylinders. Requiem for Carol Daly.
Detective Danny Clover
That's the size of the tear you shed for her, huh, Pierce? Give me the time for a little
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
research and I'll annotate you a Lament.
Detective Danny Clover
That'll break your heart. You were working with her on a thesis.
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
Someone blabbed that. Did it give you dates?
Robert Blair
Anti Carol?
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
Post Carol?
Detective Danny Clover
No. So you do it, huh?
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
Auntie Carol was all raccoon and hip flasks. Post Carol is what you said. The platonic mating of scholars, postgraduate type.
Detective Danny Clover
She worked with you, did research with you, wrote with you. That's all.
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
You say the thing with such regret.
Detective Danny Clover
I regret it too.
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
Because with Carol, it was strictly the sticking of noses into tones.
Detective Danny Clover
No dates, no college proms. No quiet listening to symphonies in Carol's apartment. What you said, just like that.
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
That's why I was never introduced to a milkman. That's why it can't wound me too much. The girl is dead, all right, Pierce.
Detective Danny Clover
Never leave college. Some of our boys might like to make a study. A few. Hey, would you leave something out?
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
A footnote to our discussion?
Detective Danny Clover
What is it? This.
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
Try Greenwich Village, Bank street, number 11. Try Margaret Howard with her.
Robert Blair
Carol.
Mr. Pierce (Library Assistant)
Listen to Bop her and the Howard group. Haywood Memorial is sure gonna miss you,
Detective Danny Clover
Miss howard. Come on, come on. Open the door. This is the police.
Margaret Howard
Open it yourself. Baby. Hi, baby.
Detective Danny Clover
Your name Margaret Howard?
Margaret Howard
I'm Margaret. I'm there on the couch.
Detective Danny Clover
Jimmy, she.
Margaret Howard
That one. Bad, huh? They're gone. All of them. Gone.
Detective Danny Clover
Looks for the place. You've been having a party here, Ms. Howard?
Margaret Howard
You like tequila, baby? I like tequila. And no tequila you bring in.
Detective Danny Clover
You hear me through the door. I said I was from the police.
Margaret Howard
Lemon and salt and no tequila. And friends who walk out on me. But I got you, baby. Have I got you, baby? Who are you, baby?
Detective Danny Clover
Look, Ms. Howard, I.
Margaret Howard
No reaction, huh? Yeah, it's a lousy party. Hardly worth anything at all. Three day party to lays an egg in a few hours. No booze, no friends.
Carol Daly
Who are you?
Detective Danny Clover
You know a girl named Carol Daly? She's a stinker.
Margaret Howard
Carol the Stinker. Carol the Stinker.
Mr. Perry
She said
Margaret Howard
you're gonna turn pink and green in a minute.
Carol Daly
Float away under the door, aren't you?
Detective Danny Clover
She's dead, Ms. Howard.
Margaret Howard
Carol, you're a liar. Liar. You're gonna turn pink and green.
Carol Daly
Get away.
Margaret Howard
Get away from me.
Carol Daly
You get away.
Detective Danny Clover
You better do it this way, Ms. Hart.
Margaret Howard
Martin. Baby. Baby, you loaded?
Carol Daly
Honey, this isn't happening to you.
Margaret Howard
Someone's dragging you across the room, honey.
Detective Danny Clover
Fresh, cold city water, Ms. Howard. Won't hurt a bit.
Gino
Feel better.
Detective Danny Clover
Sorry I had to do that. I apologize, Ms. Howard, but it's important.
Carol Daly
Is. Is Carol there?
Detective Danny Clover
Yes.
Mr. Pierce
Oh.
Carol Daly
Oh. If she'd been here.
Mr. Pierce
Wouldn't have happened.
Carol Daly
I pleaded with her to come.
Margaret Howard
All night long.
Detective Danny Clover
I pleaded with it. All night. What do you mean?
Mr. Pierce
I kept calling her at her apartment last night.
Margaret Howard
All night long.
Mr. Pierce
I kept calling her and talking to her.
Carol Daly
Giving her a blow by blow description
Mr. Pierce
of the mess we were making.
Carol Daly
Yeah, she should have come.
Mr. Pierce
It was really her party and she didn't show up.
Detective Danny Clover
Her party house.
Mr. Pierce
Everybody was waiting to see her again. All of us who all took that tour last summer.
Robert Blair
Tour?
Mr. Pierce
Mr. Blair's tour to England. The student tour, one he conducted. Was a kind of a get together.
Carol Daly
Isn't that right, mister? She would have come here. She'd be all right now. Wouldn't have happened to her.
Myra Blair
Yes, what is it?
Detective Danny Clover
I'm Danny Clover, Mrs. Blur. We met at my office.
Myra Blair
Yes, what is it?
Detective Danny Clover
Is your husband home?
Myra Blair
He's resting.
Detective Danny Clover
I'm afraid I have to ask you to disturb him. It's very important.
Myra Blair
I'll ask him whether he'll see you. Wait here. This way, please. Don't let him upset you, Robert.
Robert Blair
Oh, hello, Mr. Clover.
Detective Danny Clover
Mr. Blair.
Myra Blair
What is it you want to talk to Robert about?
Detective Danny Clover
About Carol Daly.
Myra Blair
We told you in your office, Mr. Clover. Our lawyer's handling it.
Detective Danny Clover
That's right. You did.
Robert Blair
Myra, I'll be all right. You don't have to stay.
Myra Blair
I'll just send this man home. Robert.
Detective Danny Clover
I'm afraid not, Mrs. Blair. If you want to stay here and listen to what I have to say to your husband, that's up to you.
Robert Blair
Now, Myra, please.
Myra Blair
I'm going to stay. Robert. What kind of wife do you think I am?
Robert Blair
What do you want, Ms. Clover?
Detective Danny Clover
I told you. I want to talk to you about Carol Daly.
Robert Blair
Well, Meyer and I have agreed we'll do everything for a family that we can within our means.
Detective Danny Clover
Ms. Daley had no family. But you knew that, didn't you?
Robert Blair
Well, I told you.
Detective Danny Clover
You knew that, didn't you?
Myra Blair
How could Robert have possibly known that?
Detective Danny Clover
Tell her, Mr. Blair.
Robert Blair
Myra.
Detective Danny Clover
Well, how? How, Myra?
Robert Blair
I knew her.
Carol Daly
You knew Carol Daly?
Detective Danny Clover
Yes. Last summer your husband conducted a student tour of England. Carol Daly was one of the students, Ms. Myra.
Robert Blair
That's right.
Myra Blair
You didn't tell me that, Robert. You lied to me.
Robert Blair
I didn't lie. I just didn't tell you.
Myra Blair
You lied. Why did you do that, Robert?
Robert Blair
Oh, what difference does it make? It can't make any difference. It was a coincidence that I hit someone I knew.
Detective Danny Clover
What about Raymond Grant, Mr. Blair?
Robert Blair
I don't know anyone by that name.
Myra Blair
Who is Raymond Grant?
Robert Blair
I just told You.
Detective Danny Clover
He was a milkman. He was found beaten dead.
Myra Blair
You knew this man, Robert?
Mr. Perry
No.
Robert Blair
No. How would I know him?
Myra Blair
Tell me why my husband should know him.
Detective Danny Clover
Mr. Clover, I think Raymond Grant was a man who had a sideline. His wife said he frequently had extra money. Sometimes I think he noticed people coming out of the wrong apartment at Milkville. Every time. He used this knowledge for blackmail.
Myra Blair
And Robert knew such a man?
Robert Blair
Myra, do you want to listen to me or do you want to listen to him?
Myra Blair
You lied to me once, Robert. How do I know what you're going to say?
Mr. Perry
Just listen.
Detective Danny Clover
He was found dead in front of Carol Daly's apartment. Murdered.
Myra Blair
Robert.
Carol Daly
Robert, I'm talking to you.
Myra Blair
Robert.
Robert Blair
What, Myra?
Detective Danny Clover
What?
Narrator
What?
Gino
What?
Robert Blair
What do you want?
Myra Blair
He saw you come out of her apartment?
Margaret Howard
Yes.
Myra Blair
How many times?
Mr. Pierce
I don't know.
Myra Blair
One time? 10 times? 20 times?
Carol Daly
Yes.
Gino
Yes.
Carol Daly
Yes. Oh.
Detective Danny Clover
Oh, Robert. Robert. He found out who you were, that you were married. He blackmailed. Yes. Girl must have loved you very much, Mr. Blair. To have lied to me, not to have told me that you were the killer.
Robert Blair
He wanted to tell you then, but I was standing in back of that door when you were talking to her. If you had walked into her room, I would have killed you too. I see.
Detective Danny Clover
After you killed the man, you made her get into her evening clothes and say she just returned from a party. She never left the apartment. I found that out a little while ago.
Robert Blair
She wanted to tell you then, but I wouldn't let her. She didn't love me. She got away from me and tried
Detective Danny Clover
to get to you.
Robert Blair
That's why I ran her down.
Carol Daly
Oh. Oh, Robert.
Detective Danny Clover
Robert.
Gino
Robert.
Robert Blair
Why do you cry, Myra? Because a girl is dead. Because a man is dead.
Margaret Howard
You lied. You lied.
Robert Blair
Well, that's why you cry, huh? Not for the man, not for the girl. And not for me. Oh, poor Myra. I lied to her. But listen to this, Myra. I found a young girl who I loved and so I lied to you.
Carol Daly
And be happy.
Robert Blair
Now you have something to grieve about. Let's go, Mr. Clover.
Detective Danny Clover
Broadway plumes its lights upward into the sky and the night bursts open the swarm starts its dance down the canyon streets and the little man stalks the heels of a drunkard the place of darting eyes and crowd and mob and people with empty hands 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, Paula Winslow was heard as myra and Howard McNear as Robert Blair. Featured in the cast were Mary Lansing, Shot at Lawrence, and Shepard Menken. Youthful actor Dean Stockwell plays his original screen role when Lux Radio Theater dramatizes Kim by Rudyard Kipling this Monday night on CBS Radio. Don't miss this outstanding story of India as seen through the eyes of a young traveler and a Tibetan pilgrim this Monday night on most of these same CBS Radio stations. Remember, it's your next attraction on Lux Radio Theater. Bill Anders speaking. And remember, my friend Irma Live. Enjoy Sunday evenings on the CBS Radio Network.
Carol Daly
Sa. Sam.
Podcast: Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
Episode: Broadway Is My Beat: The Raymond Grant Murder Case (02/16/1952)
Release Date: March 18, 2026
Host: Choice Classic Radio
Set on Broadway, "The Raymond Grant Murder Case" follows Detective Danny Clover as he investigates the brutal killing of Raymond Grant, a milkman found dead outside a young woman's apartment. The case quickly spirals into a tangle of lies, jealousy, blackmail, and tragic romance, exposing the intertwined lives of those on Manhattan’s gaudiest, lonesomest mile. This episode is a showcase of noir storytelling, with Detective Clover delivering poetic, world-weary narration as he unearths the motivations behind violence.
[00:26–03:19]
“I always come home alone, Mr. Clover. It's a good deed I do myself whenever I go out.” – Carol Daly [02:37]
[04:12–05:58]
“With Raymond, there was a kind of different slant. More personal, maybe.” – Mr. Perry [05:09]
[06:33–08:37]
[09:41–10:12]
[10:56–11:53]
“I did it. I murdered. I killed. I did it.” – Robert Blair [11:46]
[15:48–18:48]
[19:27–22:20]
[23:00–26:57]
“If you had walked into her room, I would have killed you too. … She tried to get away from me and tried to get to you. That’s why I ran her down.” – Robert Blair [26:00, 26:17]
[27:23–28:06]
“Broadway plumes its lights upward into the sky … It’s Broadway, the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway. My beat.” – Detective Danny Clover [27:23]
On the setting:
“Winter begins its long dying and Broadway reacts to the process about the same as anywhere else, with a kind of joy, with a smile touched off by the little warmth left inside.” – Danny Clover [00:55]
On guilt and confession:
“I did it. I murdered. I killed. I did it.” – Robert Blair [11:46]
“If you had walked into her room, I would have killed you too.” – Robert Blair [26:00]
On loneliness:
“It’s Broadway, the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.” – Detective Danny Clover [27:23]
The episode is drenched in noir melancholy—narration is poetic, world-weary, and filled with a sense of urban isolation and fatalism. Dialogue and monologues reflect the complex emotions and motivations at play: guilt, jealousy, loss, and self-deception.
This episode of “Broadway Is My Beat” is a classic detective drama weaving tragedy, moral ambiguity, and heartbreak along the city’s most storied mile. The case of Raymond Grant’s murder reveals not only the killer but also the intertwined fates of Broadway’s lonely souls. Through Detective Clover’s step-by-step investigation, listeners are taken through a labyrinth of secrets, ending with a somber reflection on life and loss in the city that never sleeps.