Broadway Is My Beat 49-08-18 (006) The Silks Bergen Murder Case

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Podcast: Harold's Old Time Radio
Episode: Broadway Is My Beat 49-08-18 (006) The Silks Bergen Murder Case
Date: November 8, 2025
Host: Harold's Old Time Radio

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Overview

This episode features a classic radio drama from "Broadway Is My Beat" titled "The Silks Bergen Murder Case". Set against the sultry, neon-lit streets of post-war New York City, Detective Danny Clover investigates the murder of jockey Silks Bergen, leading him through a tangled web of racketeers, bribes, and a fortune stashed in a locker. The drama unfolds with rapid-fire banter, tough-guy patter, and noir-tinged narration.

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Key Discussion Points and Story Beats

1. Broadway’s Colorful World

• Danny Clover’s View: The episode opens with Detective Clover narrating the dual nature of Broadway—both dreamy and dangerous.
  • “Broadway, where you can take a bus ride into the summer evening and make believe it's a dream boat... Or get hit in the face by a guy fishing for nickels under a grating. Then you can't make believe anymore. But either way, it's Broadway, my beat.” (01:14)

2. Meeting Silks Bergen (The Victim)

• Silks Bergen seeks a favor: Silks, a diminutive and spirited jockey, asks Clover to pick up a parcel from a locker at LaGuardia if he doesn’t return from Maryland.
• Silks hints the parcel contains only his “riding silks,” but the secrecy suggests otherwise.
  • “Just some of my riding silks, Danny. What else does a jockey own?” (03:49)

3. A Hundred-Dollar Bribe and a Message

• Belle Ames’ Introduction: Belle, a seductive, cunning character, tries to give Clover a $100 bill, pretending he dropped it. The bill turns out to be a message, drawing Clover into the next phase of the mystery.
  • “Never throw anything away, Mr. Clover. There can be a prize in each and every package.” (04:51)
  • “On the bill. Marty wants to see you.” (05:28)

4. Rough Welcome from Marty and Goons

• Intimidation: Clover visits Marty at The Last Paddock Hotel, receiving threats, a beating, and being questioned about his interaction with Silks.
• Guns and Goons: Marty’s henchmen—a comic yet menacing duo—play at being movie gangsters.
  • “Maybe money, maybe trouble. Guy has a hard time figuring which is which these days.” (07:00, Marty)
  • “Look Mr. Police, this is a gun.” (08:00, Dolly)

5. The Crime Scene (Silks’ Murder)

• Gil Sherry’s Entrance: Clover awakens from the beating to find Gil Sherry, an eloquent criminal, introducing himself and announcing Silks’ death.
  • “A corpse and the detective. Is that all me?” – Clover (10:21)
  • “Pride and color seem to have drained out of him.” (10:32, Gil Sherry)

6. Unlocking the Mystery at LaGuardia

• The Locker: Using Silks’ key, Clover discovers a suitcase full of cash — not riding silks, but $100,000.
  • “What could be bought with that? It's been bought, officer. A lot of blood. Bought and paid for.” (13:02)

7. Back at Headquarters: Mysterious Money

• Sergeant Tartaglia: Comic relief is provided by Tartaglia as he and Clover attempt to make sense of the cash and their stalled desk drawer.
  • “It don't make sense, Danny. Silks with a hundred grand left kicking around.” (14:50)
• No Missing Reports: No one has reported the money missing; bookies and police sources deny losing such a sum.

8. Retracing the Money Trail

• Gil Sherry’s Belongings: A roll of tickets to Pelagus’ Shooting Gallery hints at deeper criminal connections.
• Pelagus: Clover interrogates Pelagus, a former bookie, suspecting he’s the real source of the money. Pelagus feigns ignorance and mocks Clover's questioning.

9. Murders and Motives

• Revelations: Silks’ dead roommate, Joe Murdoch, shared a hotel room with him and is revealed as another victim.
• Safe at the Last Paddock: The hotel’s new safe, and the fact that all the bookies’ money was stolen, draws Clover closer to the heart of the crime.

10. The Final Confrontation

• Showdown: Belle, Marty, and Pelagus confront Clover, demanding the money. The attempted double-crosses are swiftly exposed as Pelagus turns on his co-conspirators.
  • “Get on that phone, Mr. Clover. Get on that phone and have one of your flunkies bring it over. No tricks.” (24:42, Belle)
  • “Nice, good. Bell was a nice girl, she had nice good ideas, Clover.” (25:57, Pelagus)

11. Twist and Resolution

• The Sting: Clover and Tartaglia outwit Pelagus: the suitcase is filled with newspaper, not money, and the gang is caught by police waiting outside.
• Closing Reflection: Clover’s trademark sardonic, poetic narration closes the episode, describing Broadway as “the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Broadway’s Nature:
  “Broadway’s as innocent and nostalgic as carousel music. But… you can get hit in the face by a guy fishing for nickels under a grating.” — Detective Danny Clover (01:14)

• On Money’s Power:
  “Money is beautiful, Mr. Clover. Money buys money. Money is an ecstasy, but an exquisite pain.” — Gil Sherry (11:25)

• On Police Work:
  “All right, playtime's over. Sergeant, have we any reports that anyone is shy 100 grand?” — Detective Danny Clover (15:32)

• Comic Relief:
  “My wife, Mrs. Tartaglia, says I am the best opener of stuck drawers she ever saw.” — Sgt. Tartaglia (15:07)

• Climactic Double-Cross:
  “You always teach them with a gun in your hand?” — Detective Danny Clover (25:00)
  “One needs something to wrap one’s pupil across the knuckles when she is bad...” — Pelagus (25:02)

• Final Ruse:
  “My lower left-hand desk drawer had been stuck for a week, and he’d gotten the cue.” — Detective Danny Clover (28:51)

• Noir Closing Line:
  “Midnight’s a happy time on Broadway… the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway, My Beat.” — Detective Danny Clover (29:28)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:14 — Clover’s poetic introduction to Broadway
• 02:03 — Silks Bergen asks Clover to retrieve the locker parcel
• 04:33 — Belle Ames introduces the $100 bribe/message
• 06:34 — Marty’s goons intimidate and beat Clover
• 10:25 — Discovery of Silks’ murder
• 12:58 — Discovery of the $100,000 at LaGuardia
• 14:50 — Clover and Tartaglia discuss the mysterious cash
• 18:13 — Clover’s confrontation with Pelagus
• 23:17 — Final confrontation: Belle, Marty, and Pelagus
• 25:57 — Pelagus takes charge, believing he’s won
• 28:51 — Pelagus is tricked (suitcase only contains newspaper)
• 29:28 — Noir closing monologue

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Tone & Style

• Sardonic Noir: The dialogue is sharp, witty, and laden with the streetwise irony typical of radio noir.
• Brisk Pacing: Every scene moves rapidly, with little exposition, keeping tension high.
• Stylized Dialogue: Characters speak in colorful, almost poetic slang (“Nice, good. Bell was a nice girl, she had nice good ideas, Clover.”)
• Interwoven Humor: Comic relief, especially from Sgt. Tartaglia, balances the episode's darker moments.

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Summary

This Golden Age radio mystery delivers a tightly woven plot with smoky atmosphere, cynical banter, and classic noir intrigue. Detective Danny Clover’s investigation into the murder of Silks Bergen uncovers betrayal, greed, and the ruthlessness lurking behind Broadway’s dazzling lights. In the end, clever police work and a knack for outsmarting the bad guys brings the case to a satisfying, if bittersweet, close.

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Perfect for fans of hard-boiled detectives and old-school radio drama, the episode exemplifies the charm and suspense of the genre, making Broadway—and this case—a beat listeners won’t soon forget.

Transcript

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[Radio Announcer]

The FBI, in peace and war ordinarily heard at this time throughout the year, is taking its usual summer vacation and will return to CBS two weeks from tonight on September 1st.

[Detective Danny Clover]

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

[Radio Announcer]

Broadway's My Beat with Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Broadway, where you can take a bus ride into the summer evening and make believe it's a dream boat. Then Broadway's as innocent and nostalgic as carousel music. But if you walk, you can get hit in the face by a guy fishing for nickels under a grating. Then you can't make believe anymore. But either way, it's Broadway, my beat.

[Silksbergen]

Danny. Danny, come in here.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The big voice that boomed through the afternoon heat belonged to Silksbergen. Him the heat couldn't bother. There wasn't enough of it. Silks was a jockey about five hands high with a wet saddle. He might have scaled 110. He waved to me from the doorway of a haberdashery store.

[Silksbergen]

In here, Danny. In the store.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Silks, sure.

[Silksbergen]

I've been waiting. I said I been waiting for you to pass by, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What's the matter with your voice, Silks? You're down to a whisper.

[Silksbergen]

Laryngitis.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Had it for a week.

[Silksbergen]

Hey, Danny, I want that you should meet a friend of mine, Joe Madoc here. Say some hello to Danny Clover, Joe.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Hello, Mr. Clover. Joe.

[Silksbergen]

Joe's 6 foot 6 and speaks like a tenor. You should know about things like that. Danny, is it possible I. Joe, go buy me a shade over there. I gotta talk to Danny.

[Belle Ames]

Sure, Silks.

[Marty]

Add the lavender and a polka dot.

[Silksbergen]

The dots, Joe, the dots. Can you hear me good, Danny? My voice has got so far to go from down here for me to up there to you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'll listen close. What's on your mind?

[Silksbergen]

I want you to. I said. I said do me a favor, huh? About the key.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Why didn't I think of it myself? About the key. What Key, Silks.

[Silksbergen]

Well, I'm riding a race down to Maryland tomorrow, you see. I don't know how long I'll be gone now, you understand?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Oh, that key. What key, Silks?

[Silksbergen]

The key for the locker at the LaGuardia plane terminal.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Now, I know that key for that locker, huh?

[Marty]

Thank you.

[Silksbergen]

I got a parcel check there. I ain't got time to run down for it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Now it begins to dawn, Silk.

[Silksbergen]

Yeah, sure. So if I ain't back tomorrow night, how about having one of your boys who's on duty down there pick it up? Yeah. And you hold it for me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah.

[Silksbergen]

That'll save me rental and it'll make us even for them riding lessons I give you in Central Park.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Okay, Silks, give me the key.

[Silksbergen]

Thanks, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Don't lose. Don't worry about it. I'll put it right here on my ring. By the way, what's in the parcel?

[Silksbergen]

Just some of my riding silks, Danny. What else does a jockey own?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I patted Silks on the head, bit of my fond yoicks and mushed back into the tropical heat of Broadway. Tropical was an illusion that wasn't hard to believe. The crushed pineapple and papaya stands. The coconut milk in real whiskered coconuts. The sly, grinning beat of the native drums heard through wilting loudspeakers. The girls, the luminous girls in their grass sandals and 14th street sarongs. Then one whose lips looked as if they'd been painted with wild strawberries stopped me and kept me from my appointed rounds. I didn't mind.

[Belle Ames]

I'm so honest. I don't have the price of a dream, and I'm honest. Here. You dropped it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What?

[Belle Ames]

This hundred dollar bill. You dropped it. Take it before it burns through my hand.

[Detective Danny Clover]

$100. Wasn't I the careless one? Must have been in that Cracker Jack box I just threw away.

[Belle Ames]

Never throw anything away, Mr. Clover. There can be a prize in each and every package.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's a hard thing to remember. Will you help me? Try to remember, Ms. Ames.

[Belle Ames]

Bell Aim. Oh, you ever need any help, Mr. Clover? Ring for Bell Ames.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's cute. Very cute. Now, maybe I can do something for you, Belle. Maybe give you back all this money you said I dropped.

[Belle Ames]

All right, so I lied. All you have to do is believe you dropped that money. And listen. See how easy it is? A hundred dollars and no pain.

[Detective Danny Clover]

For a hundred, you can throw in a little pain. Who do I listen to?

[Belle Ames]

It's written on the bill. Marty wants to see you. Oh, Marty says it's easier to Talk to people who have money. He likes people with money. He says they listen better that way.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm a fool for psychology. Belle, let's go. Listen to Marty.

[Belle Ames]

Not me, Mr. Clover.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

You.

[Belle Ames]

It's you he wants to listen.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Hey, come back here. Belle. Belle, come back here. The heat melted her into the crowd and then into a camp. And I was left standing there with the after scent of a perfume I'd never smelled before and a hundred dollar bill I'd never held before. I inhaled both of them. They added up to the acrid odor of a bribe. I had to find out why. 42nd street, the address on the bill said I decided to walk somewhere between Broadway and the number I was looking for. The honky tonk started, and at the corner where women's high heels plaque more slowly and the handouts become more frequent, I took a right turn into Limbo. Two blocks down was what I was looking for. The Last Paddock Hotel, room 16.

[Marty]

Come in. Come right in.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Your name Marty?

[Marty]

Yeah, that's my name. And these are my boys, Tinker and Dolly. Say a greeting to the police, boys.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Police?

[Gil Sherry]

Gee, police. Golly day.

[Marty]

Boys are from out of town police like me. The word don't impress us.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You gonna give me some more money, Marty? Maybe.

[Marty]

Maybe money, maybe trouble. Guy has a hard time figuring which is which these days.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What's you trying to buy, Marty?

[Marty]

Talk. I'm buying words like I'm an editor.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Marty the kick, 80 thinker, the regular comedian. Your floor show stinks.

[Marty]

Well, they ain't really working. Police. So let's stop playing footsie, huh? We got business, me and you. About an hour ago. Police. A little guy hailed you into a haberdashery shop. He's got a message for you. What kind of message did he have?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You should have heard. All you need, Marty, is a long, thin ear. Hey, hey. The police is a kick too, Dolly. A jolly boy.

[Gil Sherry]

Real jolly.

[Marty]

What did Silksbergen tell you? Police.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who?

[Marty]

Now, look, I got time. Time, Patience. Let's do it again. Silksbergen. What did he tell you?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're looking for a tip on the horses.

[Marty]

I got a tip.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're it.

[Marty]

Only you look sad for a win. You look like hardly anything at all. Show him the gun, will you, dolly? Yeah.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Look, Mr. Police, this is a gun.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Golly day.

[Marty]

Let me have it, darling.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Yeah.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Here, Marty.

[Marty]

Now what did Silksbergen tell you? Police.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Marty, you go to movies to see how gunsels act in this kind of situation.

[Marty]

Yeah, yeah.

[Gil Sherry]

In a movie.

[Marty]

How did you know, darling?

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Yeah.

[Marty]

Show the police. The second reel.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Pleasure.

[Silksbergen]

A great big pleasure.

[Marty]

You know the language better than that. Police. You might say something.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Your two muscles and your gun make me bashful.

[Marty]

Stage fright, huh, Dolly?

[Silksbergen]

Yeah.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Hey, Tinker, this is fun. You could play too.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tinker.

[Silksbergen]

Yeah.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Such a jolly guy.

[Silksbergen]

Playing movies with a jolly guy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

A jolly, jolly guy. Somewhere a light going on and off made a big noise and a bigger hurt just in back of my eyeballs. It screamed at me from across the street through a window hung with grease stained drapes. I knew I was still in Marty's hotel room. I knew that hours had been torn out of my life and thrown away. Then the light screamed again. And this time there were words. Big thousand watt words that said Pearl club, delicious dancing girls. First one, then the other. And in between there was the creaking sound of a rocking chair. Then the rocking chair made wards too.

[Gil Sherry]

Don't hurry. It's rather pleasant here. Sitting, rocking in the dark with that brazen sign throwing its naked, intermittent light. This gun gives me the right to introduce myself. I'm Gil Sherry.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Oh. Should I know you?

[Gil Sherry]

Perhaps. I believe I'm in the classbook of one of our more venerated colleges. That's my identity. A thesis on Gil Sherry would make lurid reading for the boys of the old school tie, don't you think?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I wouldn't know. Read me a chapter.

[Gil Sherry]

I'm delighted. Chapter one begins. Early in life, I learned to love. Money was a symbol of the sordid life into which I'd fallen. Now, sitting in a bleak, villainous hotel room, my comrades, a detective and a corpse.

[Detective Danny Clover]

A corpse and the detective. Is that all me?

[Gil Sherry]

Not quite.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're the detective.

[Pelagus]

True.

[Gil Sherry]

And the corpse is the true corpse lying in the corner, huh? And I believe he's a friend of yours, Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Silks. Silks.

[Gil Sherry]

Rather fancifully named, don't you think? Silksbergen. Proud, colorful name. But pride and color seem to have drained out of him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Maybe he's ashamed of wearing bullet holes where his polka dots ought to be. He was a neat little guy. So.

[Gil Sherry]

And he'll be pleased with death. Death is so precise.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Closes your mouth, too. That wasn't smart of Marty.

[Gil Sherry]

Marty realizes that. That's why I'm to keep watch over you until you open yours and tell us what Silks had to tell you, huh? Oh, by the way, here are your meager belongings.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah.

[Gil Sherry]

Your wallet, a key ring, your badge and a hundred dollar bill. Marty's orders.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's good of him.

[Gil Sherry]

They're all there.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Yeah, you said a hundred dollars like there were words that hurt you.

[Gil Sherry]

As I suggested. Money is beautiful, Mr. Clover. Money buys money. Money is an ecstasy, but an exquisite pain.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Oh, Gil, I dropped the bill. If you pick it up for me, I'll let you hold it for as long as you want. Go on, touch it, Gil. Feel it. Yeah, Gil. And get this. I'm not gonna send my boys to college. Their noses break too easy. Took 15 minutes for the riot squad to clean up room 16. I booked Gil Sherry as an accomplice to murder. And the more booked Silksberg. The thing I had to do now was break a promise to a dead man. I couldn't wait until tomorrow to use Silk's key. The key that Marty didn't even notice. A half hour later I was in the big waiting room at LaGuardia Field.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

American Airlines DC6 leaving at gate five for Chicago and Los Angeles loading at gate four.

[Silksbergen]

Hiya, Lieutenant Kloban. What brings you down here?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Unit officer had any trouble? Locker thieves? No. Only Trouble was a three year old.

[Silksbergen]

Kid in a $400 cowboy suit screaming because he lost his nurse and chauffeur at the same time.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Where's locker 140? 147. 140. Right over here, sir. Let's go. Now let's try this key. Suitcase, Lieutenant? Yeah. Pretty heavy. Something you're looking for? Hold on a second. Since I get this open.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Holy.

[Silksbergen]

All that dough. Tens and fifties and hundreds.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. What could be bought with that? It's bin bought, officer. A lot of blood. Bought and paid for.

[Radio Announcer]

You are listening to Broadway's My Beat with Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. Practically all of Casey crime photographer's adventures are summed up in the title of tonight's show, Big Danger. If you haven't met this ace newspaper cameraman, his pretty assistant and Ethelbert, the merry bartender. If you're looking for a top rating thrill show. Be sure to hear this latest of crime photographers adventures. Along with Escape, which tonight will present Urbanettes Cobbs. Snake doctor Crime photographer is heard on most of these same CBS stations. Now back to Broadway's My Beat.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Broadway is an animal that feeds on hot tips. A tip on a horse or a chopped liver sandwich. There are even touts who will hock you a scratch sheet. Giving odds on Broadway's being wiped off the face of the earth. And sometimes the tips pay off. Like the one not to put your two bucks on jockey Silksbergen. Because Silks was dead and his handicap was a chest full of bullets. Or maybe his handicap Was a heavy hundred thousand dollars left in a pasteboard suitcase in a public locker. It didn't make sense for Silks to have that kind of money. Even to sane, sensible, sensitive Sergeant Tartaglia. It didn't make sense.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

It don't make sense. Danny sulks with a hundred grand left kicking around. Ah, that's not like him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Got a cigarette, Tartaglio? I put a carton in this desk drawer a week ago and I haven't been able to open it since.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Oh, here, let me try. Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's stuck, Tartaglia. Just give me a cigarette, Danny.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

My wife, Mrs. Tartaglia, says I am the best opener of stuck drawers she ever saw.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Give me a cigarette.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Yeah, sure. Here, Danny. Hey, and how about some circus peanuts to Munch while we're thinking?

[Detective Danny Clover]

When do you have time to go to circuses, Sergeant?

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Well, not me. Not me, Danny. Wasn't me, was my kid. Yeah, there was a street carnival on Mulberry street, so it was my kid.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Okay, okay.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

You know, for a minute there, Danny, I thought you were munching me out.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right, playtime's over. Sergeant, we had any reports that anyone is shy 100 grand?

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

No, Danny. The money has been reported. Neither lost, stolen nor strayed.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Did you check whether Silks made any bets or what have got him that kind of money?

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Yeah, Danny, the word from our stoolies is that no bookies is out that kind of dough. Not out the Silks.

[Gil Sherry]

Anyway.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

The word also is that Silks didn't have a wrinkledoose to bet on his own name.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. What do we got on the man they call Marty?

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Ah, not a thing, aside from his autographed hundred dollar bill. We can't find him, Danny. We can't trace him from no place to no place.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Danny.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

You feel all right from that beating?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I've had it better, Sergeant. What's on Bell, Ames?

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Likewise.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's an empty day with a hole in it, isn't it, Tutagio?

[Silksbergen]

Yeah.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Huh.

[Detective Danny Clover]

If you want me, I'll be in Gil Sherry's cell. There must be somebody who can tell me something, anything.

[Gil Sherry]

There's no need to humiliate me further, Mr. Clover. Being forced to talk to you is humiliation enough.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Murder doesn't bother you, huh?

[Gil Sherry]

As long as it's not mine.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Dying can come to a man a lot of ways, Sherry. You could die as an accessory to Silk's murder.

[Gil Sherry]

There are so many things to prove, though, before I die. Aren't there, Detective Clones?

[Detective Danny Clover]

If you told us some secrets, you could maybe keep on living, that's as good as money sometimes.

[Gil Sherry]

True, true. That's why I keep my mouth shut. I'll breathe longer that way.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You mean Marty will kill you if you talk to us? I'm not brilliant like you, Sherry. But it seems to me you'll lose either way.

[Gil Sherry]

Man has few choices. But the destiny of Gil Sherry will spin itself out as Gil Cherry chooses. That's what my classbook said about me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Real profits, your classmates. Real profits.

[Gil Sherry]

Here's the envelope with Sherry's belongings you asked for, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Thanks. I return your meager possession, Sherry. Your cigarettes, an empty wallet, a fraternity pin. And this is interesting. Roll of tickets to Pelagus shooting gallery. You know Pelagus? Sherry Pelagus, the ex bookie. You shoot at a shooting gallery? Yeah, that's what I thought. Happy destiny, Sherry. Happy destiny. Hello, Pelagus. Keeping in trim?

[Pelagus]

Pardon me, Danny, you're in my way.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Oh, sorry. Nice shot. You angry at somebody?

[Pelagus]

What's on your mind?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Guy named Marty.

[Marty]

You like that sub?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Makes me quiver with excitement.

[Pelagus]

You think I hit that duck twice before it sinks?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I doubt it.

[Pelagus]

See what I mean?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're still booking races, Pelagus?

[Pelagus]

I got caught once.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You still booking?

[Pelagus]

You're in my way again.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Try getting used to it, Pelagos. Try this. Where would Silksbergen get a hundred grand? Yeah, where? From you.

[Pelagus]

Oh, yeah.

[Detective Danny Clover]

From me.

[Pelagus]

From Polygas. I give people hundred grands. That's why I'm running this stinking shooting gallery.

[Radio Announcer]

Because I give such big prices.

[Pelagus]

You hit that duck, Lieutenant, I give you 100 grand prize. Is that what you mean?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Joel Murdoch. Joel Murdoch? Silks's friend. The big guy with silks in the haberdashery. Pellegas. What's he saying about Joe Murdoch?

[Pelagus]

Is hard to explain.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Hard, huh? Like this Joe Murdoch was feast of this river. Murdered. Don't spare me that last either. What did you say?

[Pelagus]

May he rest in peace.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. See you around, Pelagus.

[Gil Sherry]

Pure sin of toast.

[Pelagus]

Danny Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It was a thought. I had to think that pal Joey Murdoch was dead for the same reason that Silks was. I checked headquarters. Found out that Murdoch's last known address was the Last Paddock Hotel. He shared a room there with Silks. The environment made its own possibilities. The lobby of the last paddock had a new embellishment. Above the clerk's desk was an embroidered wreath. To Silks it said, you finally beat the bookies. The clerk didn't sound funereal at all.

[Marty]

Sorry, mister. You gotta come recommended the last paddock. Don't Rent rooms to just any finked at ass.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I didn't mention room. The sign under your chin says information. I'll take that.

[Marty]

You don't look like you carry that much dough.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I got it sewn under my lapel. Here, take a look.

[Pelagus]

A cop.

[Marty]

A shaman.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Real friendly policeman. Mister. Come on. The information.

[Marty]

Oh, look, I'm a new boy here. You ring that bell, I give you the register. You sign it, you got a room. That's how it works. That's all I know.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Say, that's a pretty big safe over there.

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[Detective Danny Clover]

Why such a big safe for such a small fleabag? New too.

[Marty]

And new.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How come? How come such a big new safe?

[Marty]

Look, like I said, I'm a new boy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Look, friendly, we got laws about new boys who get close to new murders. Put your out to lunch sign on the counter. We're going uptown.

[Marty]

No, no, no. Wait a minute, wait a minute. About that new safe. See, we had an old one.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What happened to it?

[Marty]

Well, yesterday the boys opened the old safe and all it gave back was an empty stair.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The boys did? What boys?

[Pelagus]

The boys.

[Marty]

The guys that live here.

[Pelagus]

The bookies.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Oh, they kept their money in a safe, huh?

[Marty]

Sure, it's much safer than a bank.

[Detective Danny Clover]

No peep and tea men that way. That way the bookies don't pay income tax. That way if their money gets stolen, they can't run to the police.

[Marty]

Yeah, yeah. And that's all I know. You can take me uptown and that's still all I know.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Don't go away, friendly. Maybe soon you'll be able to tell your story to an audience.

[Marty]

Get in the car, Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Well, Marty, good seeing you. Marty. I've been looking all over for you.

[Marty]

Get in the car, Clover. Dolly's looking at you with a gun pointed away. Your badge might be. And I just.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Get in the car.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Hey, Tinker, it's the police again. Maybe we'll get to play some more.

[Silksbergen]

Movies after I take his gun.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah.

[Silksbergen]

Golly.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You'Ll play later.

[Marty]

Boys. Wait out here. Oh, Marty, wait. This way. Police. In that house.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Two murders, Marty. How does a guy feel when he's murdered two men?

[Silksbergen]

A good feeling.

[Marty]

I like it. Open the door.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah.

[Marty]

There's someone I want you to meet again. Clover.

[Belle Ames]

In here, Mr. Clover. Mr. Danny Clover. You mind if I blush with joy?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You can still think of a reason to blush, Belle.

[Belle Ames]

Such pretty words for a man who's nearly dead. You got one chance, Clover. The dough. The hundred grand. Where is it?

[Detective Danny Clover]

First, I'm going to tell you something about Marty Bell. He had that money and he didn't know it. What?

[Belle Ames]

What's he saying, Marty?

[Marty]

You tell us, Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Well, when Marty had me worked over, he should have taken a look at my key ring. One of the keys was for a locker. Locker. Money. Marty, how could you be so stupid?

[Belle Ames]

Answer the policeman, Marty.

[Silksbergen]

So?

[Marty]

So I made a mistake, Bell.

[Silksbergen]

Don't worry.

[Detective Danny Clover]

We got the police.

[Marty]

We'll get the door.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Hundred thousand dollars, Marty. Like that, right under your nose. Oh, Belle, you picked yourself a dull playmate. You can't afford a playmate who makes mistakes, Belle.

[Belle Ames]

Marty, you fool. You stupid fool.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I've got to ask you too, Bill. How does it feel to kill a man?

[Belle Ames]

Where's the money, Mr. Clover?

[Detective Danny Clover]

At police headquarters. In my office.

[Belle Ames]

Get on that phone, Mr. Clover. Get on that phone and have one of your flunkies bring it over. No tricks, Mr. Clover. Just tell them.

[Pelagus]

Hard to kill from up close, huh, Bells?

[Belle Ames]

Pellegos is me.

[Pelagus]

Pelagos of Pelagos Shooting gallery. You see, Clover, how well they learn from Pelagos?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You always teach them with a gun in your hand.

[Pelagus]

One needs something to wrap one's pupil across the knuckles when she is bad. No, Belle.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Belle deserves it. Pelagus, she tried to double cross you. That makes two Belle and Marty.

[Pelagus]

Didn't know you were so much alike, Belle. You and Marty.

[Belle Ames]

Don't listen to the policeman, Pellegos. Now it's just you and me. Nobody else. It's you and me and a hundred thousand dollars.

[Pelagus]

Oh, sounds good to me. That sounds good. How does it sound to you, Clover?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Speaking strictly from a personal point of view, I wouldn't believe it. From a personal point of view, that is.

[Pelagus]

Uh huh. But Pelagos point his view different.

[Belle Ames]

It's all right, Pelagos. It's all right, isn't it?

[Pelagus]

Oh, it couldn't be better. Just show me a minute. Throw away your gun. Huh?

[Silksbergen]

On the floor, Bill.

[Radio Announcer]

Throw away.

[Belle Ames]

Oh, sure, sure. Anything you say.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Ah, you're a good girl, Belle.

[Pelagus]

Nice, good. Bell was a nice Girl, she had nice good ideas, Clover. How did she say, get on the phone and have the flunky bring money over. No tricks.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's how she said.

[Pelagus]

The flunky comes along. Clover, I tell you in English, not in Greek, so you understand. He comes alone in 20 minutes.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah, Tartaglia, this is Danny Silk. Stole. Yeah, the hundred grand. Bring it here to me. Yeah, to 8 West 63rd. In my desk drawer, Tartaglia. It's in my lower left hand drawer. Yeah, yeah, right away. Come alone, Tartaglia.

[Silksbergen]

Alone.

[Pelagus]

You did good, Clover. Nice, good. Now we wait 20 minutes.

[Detective Danny Clover]

20 minutes, the man said. Just Pelagus and me. There was no one to play him up against. No Marty, no Belle. Just me. The fall guys I'd set up. Marty and Belle. All gone. It all belonged to Pelagus now. Two new fall guys, Tartaglia and me. A few more minutes, the man said. Mostly, the man watched the clock.

[Pelagus]

Ah, you're lucky, Clover. In two minutes you could have died. Open the door.

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Hiya, Danny. Well, here it is. I brought the dough, just like you said. Hey, you know, it's good to get away from the office with a suitcase.

[Pelagus]

On the table, huh?

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Hey, it's Pelagos. Hey, and he's got a gun. Hey, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What suitcase, Tartaglio?

[Sergeant Tartaglia]

Well, whatever you say, Danny.

[Pelagus]

Ah, Clover, you're a nice good fool. I get the money, you still die, huh? You and the flunky, huh?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Talk to us before we die, Pelagos.

[Pelagus]

I like to talk.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What do we talk about? That was your money. Silk stole it from the safe at the last paddock. Thought he could get away with it. He thought you couldn't do anything about it. But you cost him. You had Marty kill him and his friend Murdoch.

[Pelagus]

You talk all by yourself, Clover. You didn't let me say a word. Now fold your hands behind your head and stand facing the wall. You both good. That's nice. Good. Now I want to look once more on my money. It's too long since I looked on the money. Money.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Something wrong, Pelagus?

[Silksbergen]

This money, it's.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What, Pelagus?

[Silksbergen]

It's nothing but paper. Lousy turn up strips of dirty newspaper paper is nothing but.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Get the parts. I'll take him. Nice. Good, huh? Yeah, nice good. First I kissed Tartaglia on the top of his bald head. Because today that's where his brain was. My lower left hand desk drawer had been stuck for a week, and he'd gotten the cue dolly and Tinker. They were sitting outside just like Marty told them. Right in the middle of a police net, just like Tartaglia had arranged. So I kissed him again. So he invited me to a spaghetti dinner. Midnight's a happy time on Broadway. It's crowd and it's laughter and it's a trumpet that screams. It's a place strung into the night like some phosphorescent alley. And they're heaped there. The bright eyed kid, the voice that whispers from the doorway. The poet, the dregs. It's Broadway. The gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway, My Beat.

[Radio Announcer]

Broadway's My Beat. With Larry Thor as detective Danny Clover is produced and directed by Gordon T. Hughes with script by Morton Fine and David Friedkin. Musical direction is by Lud Gluskin. Be sure to join us next week, same time, same station for Broadway's My Beat. This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System.

[Silksbergen]

Sam.