Broadway's My Beat: The Georgia Gray Murder Case (EP4828)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Broadway's My Beat – "The Georgia Gray Murder Case" (EP4828)

Podcast: The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio
Host: Adam Graham
Episode: Broadway's My Beat: The Georgia Gray Murder Case
Date: October 22, 2025

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Overview

In this episode, listeners are transported to the gritty, poetic world of 1950s New York through the detective radio drama "Broadway's My Beat." Detective Danny Clover investigates the murder of Georgia Gray, a dance hall girl with a shadowy past, whose death triggers a deeper exploration into the city's criminal underbelly. The episode is rich with noir atmosphere, personal entanglements, and the tragic consequences of loyalty and betrayal.

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Key Discussion Points and Episode Breakdown

1. Murder at the Diamond Dance Palace

[03:16 – 06:15]

• Detective Danny Clover is summoned by a call reporting a wounded woman: Georgia Gray has been fatally stabbed in a dance hall lounge.

• Fran Holland, Georgia’s friend and roommate, provides a sardonic, world-weary introduction to the scene and Georgia’s last moments.

• Georgia’s dying words hint at the knife’s origin and a sense of resignation, asking for it as a "souvenir" for her coffin.

  "I'm keeping it for a souvenir. Make sure it's with me in the coffin. Hut. Danny. Promise." – Georgia Gray ([06:03])

• The setting is established: the neon-lit Broadway, mixing glamour, desperation, and violent undercurrents.

2. Inquiry & Initial Suspects

[06:15 – 12:36]

• Danny interviews Benny Fain, a former informant trying to go straight, who references Georgia's ties to Nicky Gannon, a local hood and her lover.

• Suspicion is immediately cast on Nicky Gannon due to his relationship with Georgia.

• A tense, emotionally charged scene with Nicky and his mother, Mrs. Gannon, fleshes out the family dynamics and their perspective on Georgia's downfall.

  "They killed a girl to frighten my Nicky boy. And you know what? My boy's frightened." – Mrs. Gannon ([11:22])

• Georgia's background is reviewed at the precinct, establishing her as a small-town girl who followed a solider to New York, never caught up with him, and became ensnared in the city’s nightlife.

3. Pressure, Alibis & Underworld Intrigue

[12:36 – 17:18]

• Fran Holland provides insights into Georgia’s life and speculative motives, mentioning Tommy Chandler, Nicky’s right-hand man.

• A scene in Central Park with Chandler ("feeding the ducks") is ripe with noir wit and underworld banter.

  "You gotta blush when I say 'suspicion of murder.'" – Detective Danny Clover to Tommy Chandler ([15:06])

• The drama takes a sharp turn when Nicky Gannon is himself murdered, creating a power vacuum and intensifying the investigation.

  "He was propped up against the wall...not listening, the small crowd he'd assembled because the blood sighed across his shirt front." – Detective Danny Clover on discovering Nicky's body ([17:00])

4. Confessions and Red Herrings

[18:17 – 22:58]

• Back at headquarters, Sergeant Tartaglia (Gino) offers comic relief and scenario analysis, presenting news of a confession by Cozy Barrett.

• Cozy’s confession falls apart under cross-examination when he’s asked to reenact the murder and proves incapable.

  "You know I can't dance, Daddy. You know I wouldn't go near a dance to dance with her. They laugh in my face when they see me coming." – Cozy Barrett ([22:27])

• Cozy admits to being manipulated by others to confess for personal gain, exposing the manipulation within the criminal world.

5. Funeral, Grief, and Omerta

[22:58 – 25:10]

• Georgia and Nicky’s deaths culminate in a somber, rain-soaked gangster funeral, attended by the emotionally hardened Mrs. Gannon and a reflective Clover.

• Mrs. Gannon expresses a chilling resignation to the cycle of violence:

  "My son got scared. Man gets scared. A man don't live anymore." – Mrs. Gannon ([24:15])

• The emotional impact of the deaths lingers as Danny presses Mrs. Gannon for the killer’s identity; she implies she knows, but says little.

6. Resolution: The Real Killer Revealed

[25:10 – 30:03]

• Danny is approached by Forbes, a crooked lawyer, who offers a bribe to frame a random man and close the case, reflecting the deep-rooted corruption and moral challenges faced by the detective.

• Danny meets Tommy Chandler at the dance hall, who presents the actual killer—a Skid Row scapegoat—with a payoff for Danny’s silence.

• Danny refuses, confronts Tommy with his corruption, and as Tommy tries to escape, he falls to his death.

  "You forgot something, Tommy. I can't be anything else [but a cop]. Let's go." – Detective Danny Clover ([29:22])

7. Closing Reflections

[30:03 – 31:34]

• The episode closes with Detective Clover's signature blend of weariness and poetry about Broadway and the endless cycle of crime and heartache:

  "It's the gathering place of all the sleepless nights, this Broadway, and all the unwept tears...the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway. My Beat." – Danny Clover ([31:25])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Georgia’s Lament:

  "I'm keeping it for a souvenir. Make sure it's with me in the coffin. Hut. Danny. Promise." ([06:03])

• On Broadway's Paradoxes:

  "Broadway is wide enough for everybody. Generals in open touring cars, blondes in taxis and sailors against lampposts..." ([18:17])

• Mrs. Gannon’s Stoic Resignation:

  "A thug's funeral on a rainy day...He's dead, Danny." ([24:21])

• On Loyalty and Change:

  "You forgot something, Tommy. I can't be anything else. Let's go." – Clover refuses to compromise his ethics ([29:22])

• Noir Irony and Humanity:

  "The ducks looked sad for a minute. Then they found a new love with a stale loaf of bread..." ([15:58])

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Import Ant Timestamps

• 03:16 – Opening narration; discovery of Georgia Gray's stabbing
• 06:15 – Georgia’s final moments/dialogue with Danny and Fran
• 09:21 – Nicky Gannon and Mrs. Gannon questioned
• 12:36 – Fran Holland reflects on Georgia’s life
• 14:00 – Danny questions Tommy Chandler
• 17:00 – Discovery of Nicky Gannon’s murder
• 18:57 – Sergeant Tartaglia and aftermath at headquarters
• 21:12 – Cozy Barrett's false confession unraveled
• 23:52 – Gangster funeral and Danny’s exchange with Mrs. Gannon
• 25:10 – Forbes offers bribe, leading to confrontation with Tommy Chandler
• 29:13 – Danny arresting Tommy, leading to Tommy’s death
• 31:25 – Final reflections on Broadway

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Host Commentary

[32:39 – 35:39]
Adam Graham provides a lighthearted debrief, highlighting the episode's unique noir moments ("cursing out ducks"), addresses listener comments, and contextualizes the recurring setting and gritty ambiance of Broadway as both poetic device and character in itself.

Listener Feedback:

• Debate over the geography and crime rates of the Broadway stretch.
• Listeners express nostalgia and gratitude for the escape the series provides.

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Conclusion

This episode of "Broadway's My Beat" capitalizes on quintessential noir storytelling—flawed characters, existential cityscapes, and the ambiguities of morality. Through Danny Clover’s relentless pursuit, listeners witness not just the solution of a murder, but a meditation on corruption, violence, and the elusive nature of justice amid neon and rain.

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For regular listeners or new sleuths alike, this episode offers a master class in old-time radio drama, rich atmosphere, and the melancholy poetry of the city that never sleeps.

Transcript

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[Adam Graham]

Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're going to bring you this week's episode of Broadway's My Beat. But first, I do want to encourage you. If you are enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software. Today's program is brought to you in part by the financial support of our listeners. You can support the show on a one time basis at support.greatdetectives.net and I want to thank Roshan for supporting the program. That way you can also become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as little as $2 per month at patreon.greatdetectives.net well now, from April 28, 1951, here is the Georgia Gray murder case.

[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/Announcer]

Broadway's my beat. With Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The carnival scream rises high on Broadway, carrying high on plumes of neon light. And its shape is of many things. The metallic anguish of a trumpet shriek, the futile beating against closed doors, the laughter bargained for, bought, paid for. Under the winking girl on the spectacular Broadway scream rises, shatters into fragments of glitter, prowls through the city and finally touches you. Wherever you are, it touches you. For me, it was a phone call. A girl dying, it said, from a jackknife in a diamond dance palace on Broadway. Come to it, Danny. Maybe you can grab yourself a free dance. The welcome committee is out. The pale girls with the scarlet streaked across their mouths and the restless scarlet tipped hands playing in the spinning lights, reaching out for you. Someone called. Said a girl was hurt. Where is she?

[Fran Holland]

Me? I called. Sure you don't want to dance with one of those girls first?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Where is she?

[Fran Holland]

You're square. You're a square policeman. Come on, I'll take you to her. Georgia's the neat type. Don't like to spoil the fun. That's why she picked the lonesome lounge to die in. You got her picked up or you're gonna die. You should. You really should. The lounge with beaded curtains. With Georgia.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Get out. Go dance.

[Cozy Barrett]

It's all right, Danny.

[Benny Fain]

You.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You, Georgia.

[Benny Fain]

Me.

[Mrs. Gannon]

Danny. Fran can stay. She's my good friend. Okay if she watches me die, isn't it?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who didn't? Georgia.

[Mrs. Gannon]

A dancer. Keen dancer. You should have been here for his mambo dancing. It was a show.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Oh, he stabbed you, Georgia. That makes it all right to tell me. Who was it?

[Fran Holland]

He bought $5 worth of tickets.

[Mrs. Gannon]

A man like that, you feel. You know. Don't ask his name.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It spoils with this knife.

[Mrs. Gannon]

Yeah. While dancing. I'm keeping it for a souvenir. Make sure it's with me in the coffin. Hut. Danny. Promise.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're a long way from home, Georgia. What brought you here?

[Mrs. Gannon]

I like it here. I've come here a lot. It's peaceful. The man blows the bugle.

[Detective Danny Clover]

So peaceful, the crowd. Georgia. Will the boys in the crowd stab you because you're not liked anymore?

[Fran Holland]

How can you talk when he's.

[Mrs. Gannon]

Listen to. Danny, listen. A girl feels young again with music like this.

[Detective Danny Clover]

A girl. After that, the place got cluttered up. People started to come into the lounge. Policemen with notebooks. A woman in a tweet suit with a press card in her hat. Band, couple of men with a stretcher. The only thing the Doctor picked up on his stethoscope was a trumpet blowing what is called the blues because there was no heartbeat. From Georgia Gray. Because she was dead. Find out why. Go now to Mott street where it intersects an alley whose name no one remembers. Climb four flights of stairs and wonder briefly why the quality of sound and light in a tenement there's like nothing else in the world. Walk a corridor where mice and men live together in perfect tolerance and stop at a door.

[Benny Fain]

Stand in the light a little bit more so I'll know who's.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's Danny Clover, Benny.

[Benny Fain]

You coming to check? I'm okay. I'm okay.

[Detective Danny Clover]

May I come in?

[Benny Fain]

Sure, sure. Yeah. I'm okay, Danny. I'm okay. Except for the stomach. It hurts when I press it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You've been behaving yourself, Benny.

[Benny Fain]

Well, since I got out of the hospital. Sure, sure. I'm beading now. He taught me to make things out of beads when I was resting in a ward. Belt buckles and ladies accessories.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You know why I came here, don't you?

[Benny Fain]

I ain't a stool pigeon no more, Danny. I got cured of that, too. I'm a beater now.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who killed Georgia Gray?

[Benny Fain]

I'm a beater.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How long since you checked in with your parole officer, Benny?

[Benny Fain]

Oh, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What about Georgia?

[Benny Fain]

You know as much as me. Georgia was close to Nicky Gowen, you know that. Bought his shirts from. Ran down the drug store for him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What's the word on Nicky?

[Benny Fain]

The crowd ain't happy with him. Danny. Oh, Danny. Leave me alone.

[Cozy Barrett]

I got an order from a lady.

[Benny Fain]

Down the hall for Love Bracelet. I got to deliver Tay there and I'll be breaking my contract.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Nothing else, huh?

[Benny Fain]

What's that? Help me, Danny? Nothing. Where's Nick again? I'm a beater now.

[Nicky Gannon]

Well, you, huh off your beaten path, aren't you, Danny?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Inside. Nikki, don't.

[Nicky Gannon]

Strong arm, Danny. I was going to invite you in anyway.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Georgia Gray. Nikki. She's dead.

[Nicky Gannon]

Word came to me how you closed her eyes. I wish it had been me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Maybe you got there ahead of me, Nikki. Maybe you went dancing, saw Georgia in a place you never thought she'd be. Killed her because she was getting away from you.

[Nicky Gannon]

Oh, you're tired, Danny. Awful tired. No one gets away from me. Not even the dead. Come on into the den. I want you to meet my mother. If she'll be hurt, I don't show her my friends.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right, Nicky. I wouldn't want her to be hurt.

[Nicky Gannon]

You'll wish yours had been like her. Just wait. Mother. Look What I brought you, Danny Clover.

[Mrs. Gannon]

Sit down, Danny. Have a mint. Nicky has him made up special for me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Thanks. Well, special.

[Nicky Gannon]

Nothing too good for my mother.

[Mrs. Gannon]

It's always been like that with my son. Up to now.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Nicky hasn't been good.

[Mrs. Gannon]

He let his girl die in a cheap place. Dancing with another man for pay, for dimes. That cheapens his name.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You could have stopped it, Nicky. How could I have known, Mother?

[Nicky Gannon]

I told you.

[Mrs. Gannon]

Don't snap at me, Nicky boy. I'll slap your mouth, wash it out with doit.

[Nicky Gannon]

Georgia liked that hole, Danny. I never understood why. She tried to explain it to me. About the music, about dancing. Crazy for dancing. Who understands these things in a girl when she had everything?

[Mrs. Gannon]

Everything you gave her. Everything you worked hard for.

[Nicky Gannon]

You're getting your share, huh, Mother?

[Mrs. Gannon]

The funeral too. Nicky, will you buy me one like the one you're buying for Georgia? Let me show you the invoices, Danny. I never knew dying came so high. Inflation, huh?

[Nicky Gannon]

Maybe it'll wipe out the taste of what happened to her, where it happened to her.

[Mrs. Gannon]

It's just a maybe, son. Don't build a monument on it. Want to know why they killed her, Danny?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Do you know, Mrs. Gannon?

[Mrs. Gannon]

They think my son is finished, done used up. They killed a girl to frighten my Nicky boy. And you know what? My boy's frightened.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who does that to you, Nikki? Your friends? Your boys?

[Mrs. Gannon]

You'll know when you see their bodies on a slab. They'll be in all the papers. You saved the clippings for me, huh, Nikki?

[Nicky Gannon]

Isn't she a dream, Danny? I told you. Wonderful girl, my mother.

[Detective Danny Clover]

When I got back to headquarters, there was a file on my desk. The neatly centered sticker on its front cover was typed Georgia Gray. Open it, read it, digest it. Georgia gray. Age between 25 and 29. Computed from data gathered from arrests. Hometown, Salina, Kansas. Followed a soldier to New York port of embarkation in 1943, but never caught up with him. So she stayed. Counter girl in a 5 and 10. Then model for ladies garments. Then nightclub hostess. And two years ago in night court after losing a race with a squad car, she said she'd retired. Because I don't have to work anymore, she said. Know a better reason? She asked. Name linked with Nikki Gannon. From here on in. Address, Park Avenue. Expenses shared by Fran Holland, who said, now she'll have to look around.

[Fran Holland]

First thing I'm gonna do is get another roommate.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Did you get along well with Georgia?

[Fran Holland]

She had her ideas, I had mine. Know what I mean?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tell me.

[Fran Holland]

Well, this and that. Georgia was what a pretty girl.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'd say she was beautiful.

[Fran Holland]

Yeah, I guess she was very beautiful.

[Mrs. Gannon]

Very.

[Fran Holland]

Ah, but she was ruining it. Ran around, danced. But she didn't enjoy herself. I know she didn't. She only enjoyed herself relaxing here with me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Something I haven't made up my mind about.

[Fran Holland]

Well, you better make up your mind about it, Danny. Sure. She had all that dough and she lived with her dance hall hostess. With me. You know why? Because she needed someone like me to.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Run home to her, right?

[Fran Holland]

So she could have soft hands rubbing the back of her neck to bring her cold tomatoes when she needed it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She run the orphan, friend.

[Fran Holland]

Look, Danny, she was dance happy. That's why she hung around the place I worked. Little bit of music and a guy in a high waistband with two strong feet could make her smile like she was happy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Did Nikki Gannon mind that she stepped out on him?

[Fran Holland]

Why did Nikki care? He used it for a front for his business. He didn't care about a dancing.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who killed her friend? A man.

[Fran Holland]

What else but a man?

[Detective Danny Clover]

What man? Who?

[Fran Holland]

You know what you ought to do, Danny? You know Tommy Chandler, Nicky's hood, The padded shoulder that stands near Nicky with his hand in his pocket? Ask Tommy. See how he reacts when you ask him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You know where Tommy is?

[Fran Holland]

I know where he'll be in the morning. Eight o', clock, he throws him bread. Stale bread. But what do ducks.

[Nicky Gannon]

That one over there likes pumpernickel. Danny. Here, Leave him a piece. You'll make an impression.

[Detective Danny Clover]

We got none of these advantages at city jail, Tommy.

[Nicky Gannon]

You gonna arrest me, kid? No. Ducks will miss me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You want a piece of pompanicle? Too harmonious.

[Nicky Gannon]

Sure you do. You see how Herm looked at me, Danny? Sad, like he already knows about the arrest. What are you taking me down for?

[Detective Danny Clover]

We'll think of something.

[Nicky Gannon]

Feeding the pintails in Central Park. I won't be able to hold up the head for the shame. Let's go, kid. That's your squad, Kovanagh.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You gotta blush when I say suspicion of murder.

[Nicky Gannon]

That's been done to me too.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You didn't come out for a long time.

[Nicky Gannon]

Georgia. He got me cased for that.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Georgia was murdered. Maybe Nicky Gannon goes too.

[Nicky Gannon]

The whole crowd will miss him. I'll tell you something else. Whoever stabbed George ain't gonna be around long either.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The crowd will see to that, huh?

[Nicky Gannon]

I didn't say that. I just set a prediction, that's all.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who takes over if Nicky is rubbed, Tommy?

[Nicky Gannon]

You take over. What A backroom Poker game for matchsticks. What are you talking about? Look, baby, arrest me if you want, but don't ask me stupid questions. It makes Herm nervous. Here, Herm. Here you are, boy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Herm looked sad when I took Tommy away from him. Always all the ducks looked sad for a minute. Then they found a new love with a stale loaf of bread, swam away screaming for it. Tommy looked back over his shoulder, stopped to call them a name, got shoved into the squad car. But on the way down, a code call. A woman's voice in the police radio. Man dead, she announced with a quiet number. Then she said it plain. In an alley. Fourth street, off Sixth. Get there. Car 62, we got there.

[Nicky Gannon]

Mind if I tag along, Danny? Man dead I recognize from the number. You got to share these things.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Hold your gun on him, mug, and he wiggles a toe. Break it for him.

[Nicky Gannon]

Pleasure, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Let me through. Let me through. They can't scare you anymore, can they, Nicky?

[Nicky Gannon]

Not anymore.

[Detective Danny Clover]

He was propped up against the wall, his head thrown back, his mouth open like he was trying to tell someone about it. The furtive dog scrubbing for food in the trash. Not listening the small crowd he'd assembled because the blood sighed across his shirt front. But not listening. Watching an alley wind gather soot at his feet.

[Benny Fain]

Feet.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Watching me lean over him. Watching Nikki Gannon dead. Nikki Gannon.

[Narrator/Announcer]

You are listening to Broadway's My Beautiful, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. You'll find Jack Benny in the desert this Sunday night on cbs. Jack and his gang are making a safari to entertain the boys at an air base in Nevada. And for more laughs, there'll be another session with Eve Arden as the gay, romantic, fun loving school teacher, our Ms. Brooks. On most of these same CBS stat.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Broadway is wide enough for everybody. Generals in open touring cars, blondes in taxis and sailors against lampposts. It's the place to come to for one reason or another. To be a tourist or get stared at by the tourists to make a pitch, buy a bargain, get cheated, insulted, or have your picture taken. And end the day with a memory depending upon what you wanted, what you got and what you gave for it. And part of the day's memento of Broadway will be the news item. Nikki Gannon shot down in an alley. Hoodlum slain. A new outbreak of mob violence. Police seek clues in killing, especially me and another man, Sergeant Gino Tartaglia, who had once passed a civil service examination.

[Benny Fain]

And the medical examiner, Dr. Sinski, reveals that death was caused by Hemorrhage in the pleura, parentheses, lungs, closed parentheses. And that is why Nicky Gannon was done in.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Thanks, Gino.

[Benny Fain]

Well, you're quite welcome, I'm sure.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Anything else?

[Benny Fain]

May I?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes, you may.

[Benny Fain]

Thank you. You know, Danny, this shooting up an alley brings to man mind a case which was solved by Lady Jane Pugh, the ne' er do well, girl detective from London town.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Do we have to, Gino?

[Benny Fain]

Lady Jane looked at the deceased and flipped her shiny tuppence.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Flipped her what?

[Benny Fain]

Her shiny tuppence. Lady Jane has a lucky twopence which she flips before she undertakes a case. That Lady Jane.

[Detective Danny Clover]

May I interrupt? Well, your divorce. Do you have anything else to tell me about Georgia Gray or Nikki Gannon, please?

[Benny Fain]

Oh, indeed I do, Danny. Indeed I do. In the murder of Nikki Gannon, Tommy Chandler, our prime suspect, has been released. And without a nickel's worth of bail.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What?

[Benny Fain]

I have said it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

So help me, if you're kidding, Gino. Why was he released?

[Benny Fain]

Oh, because another fellow has confessed to the deed. You remember Cozy Barrett? Even at this moment, he is with Sergeant Mugavin, confessing all over the place. And that, Danny, is all the news I have for today. Case is solved, huh? Danny.

[Cozy Barrett]

Isn'T that Ain't all of it, Sergeant George. Ain't all of it. Lots of people met with me, then ended up under a sheet in the ice house.

[Nicky Gannon]

You killed before, Cozy.

[Cozy Barrett]

Oh, hi, Danny.

[Mrs. Gannon]

Come on in.

[Cozy Barrett]

Join the fun.

[Detective Danny Clover]

This is a new kick, isn't it, Cozy? For you, confessing to a murder.

[Cozy Barrett]

What's the matter? You don't trust me? Read me to him, Sergeant.

[Nicky Gannon]

I'll brief it for you. Danny, Cozy says he took a pocket full of dimes to the Diamond Dance joint where Georgia Gray was to celebrate the end of a perfect day. He tells me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You dance to her, Cozy?

[Cozy Barrett]

Sure, I dance. How else I get close enough to kill?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You didn't like the way she danced?

[Cozy Barrett]

Crazy for it. Dream about it.

[Benny Fain]

Who else?

[Cozy Barrett]

I dance away my hard earned door advise you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Her dying too, huh?

[Cozy Barrett]

She gives his insults. And from a foot away that. But I got close. Eventually. I got close.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah, yeah. Get on the phone, Mugavin. Have a policewoman sent up here with a portable radio.

[Nicky Gannon]

Danny, you all right? You've been working so hard.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You got a thing against telephones, Mugavan?

[Nicky Gannon]

Okay, okay, I'll do it.

[Cozy Barrett]

What are you gonna do, Danny? You got tricks with batteries and portable radios to make people talk? I'm talking.

[Nicky Gannon]

Why?

[Cozy Barrett]

You need electricity?

[Nicky Gannon]

Should be right up, Danny.

[Cozy Barrett]

Hey, you're Gonna put me away, huh, Danny? To the Sound of Music, huh? You treat me nice because I'm nice to you, huh?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Killing little out of your line, isn't it, cozy? I always figured you as more of the purse snatcher type. The Jack Roll Kid. The friend a drunk finds in an alley.

[Cozy Barrett]

Well, I got a right to come up in the Orlean I. This gives me class, a reputation. The things a fella needs so he can admire himself in the night.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Sure, I understand. Man has to get ahead.

[Fran Holland]

You send for me, Lieutenant? You want this?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes. Come in, please. Turn on the radio. Go and turn it on to dance music. That'll be all right. Dance with the lady. Cozy, huh? Go on, dance with her.

[Cozy Barrett]

You're crazy, Danny. I give myself up to you and you go crazy. There are people like me. Honest.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Dance with her like you did with Georgia. Show me how it was with Georgia.

[Cozy Barrett]

You know I can't dance, Daddy. You know I wouldn't go near a dam to dance with her. They laugh in my face when they see me coming.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You were never near Georgia Gray, were you? Not even close enough to.

[Cozy Barrett]

They promised me they'd get me off, Danny. They said, confess, and then when I got off, they'd give me the big dog.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who promised you all that?

[Cozy Barrett]

Friends, Danny. I got good friends. They promised me things. They call me up and promise me things. You gotta lock me up, Danny, so I don't disappoint him. You gotta lock me up.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Make it come true for him, Mugabe. And lock him up now. The afternoon was two hours old. And the gray had turned into a wetness. A drizzle that hung skirling in the air before it touched the pavement. The citizens didn't mind getting wet. It was a sight to see. The funeral procession wasn't very long. Unlike the good old days. When a gangster's death took up a mile of Broadway. Not like the good old days at all. None of the mourners walked. They all rode. And the wreaths were wrapped in cellophane. Which not only protects. Protected the snapdragons from the rain. But it was more sanitary. I went along because I'd known Nicky Gannon for a long time. The rain let up a little when they lowered him into his grave. And none of the mourners stayed. Not even his mother. And I wanted to talk to his mother. Mrs. Gannon.

[Mrs. Gannon]

Hello, Danny. You want a ride back to town?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I wanted to tell you how sorry of you.

[Mrs. Gannon]

Talk like that. She don't ride with me. Come on. My son was a Hoodin. Why should you be sorry for him?

[Detective Danny Clover]

We've talked together. We've had a beer together.

[Mrs. Gannon]

That's the reason you cry, not me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Whatever you want. He was your son.

[Mrs. Gannon]

My son got scared. Man gets scared. A man don't live anymore.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's all his dying does to him. Mrs. Gannon.

[Mrs. Gannon]

Look what I've got, Danny. A thug's funeral on a rainy day.

[Detective Danny Clover]

He was your son.

[Mrs. Gannon]

He's dead, Danny.

[Fran Holland]

I'm not.

[Mrs. Gannon]

I'll think about him. Some things will come up in my mind from time to time. But I've forgotten about right now. And I'll smile and I'll think nice about Nicky.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Then you know who killed him?

[Mrs. Gannon]

I know who.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I said I know the same person who killed Georgia.

[Mrs. Gannon]

If I let you out of the car now, you'll get wet.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're gonna do anything about the person that killed Nicky?

[Mrs. Gannon]

I'm sure of it, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Sure of what?

[Mrs. Gannon]

Is gonna rain all day. Funny, ain't it? The paper said it was.

[Benny Fain]

In a hurry. Danny Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah, I am. Bother you, mister?

[Benny Fain]

Mm. But it bothers me more, your unhappiness.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Let's have a good cry over at my office, huh?

[Benny Fain]

Here in the hallway suits me. Used to drafty hallways. Spend my life in waiting to do things for unhappy people.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Spreader of good cheer. That's your business at police headquarters, mister. What name do you spread it under?

[Benny Fain]

Forbes, Counselor at Law. My card.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Forbes, Counselor at Law. Someone came to you, said I was unhappy you took the case.

[Benny Fain]

Almost precisely how it happened.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I told you what makes me sad.

[Benny Fain]

Kindly people. They grieve when a policeman throws away.

[Detective Danny Clover]

A confessed cozy Barrett.

[Benny Fain]

It seems to them almost ungrateful. However, they respect your analytical prowess.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You got something I can hang on my wall that says that?

[Benny Fain]

Something much better.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Silver cup, maybe with an inscription.

[Benny Fain]

Better an envelope, manila with money. It could take you hours to count.

[Detective Danny Clover]

No silver cup.

[Nicky Gannon]

Better a bonus. The Killer. The real, true killer of George and Nicky.

[Benny Fain]

That could bring you so much happiness. To a man like you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Where do I find it?

[Benny Fain]

Where else? Envelope and killer. The Diamond Dance Palace.

[Nicky Gannon]

Where Georgia danced.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Upstairs.

[Benny Fain]

One o'.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Clock.

[Benny Fain]

That's this morning. Be there and a smile will grow on your face.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You've brought me true happiness, counselor. Thank you. Then he walked away. At the end of the hall, he stopped and looked back over his shoulder. Grinned at me. Then he turned up his collar and walked out into the street. This was at 7pm Then a walk down Broadway and dinner and a double feature on 42nd Street. Then it was time to go. The Diamond Dance hall was blaring against its time of closing. I walked through it. Pushed my way across the floor into a doorway. No one stopped me. Then up a flight of stairs and into a loft littered with old telephone books, cigarette butts and a neatly stacked bundle of year old newspapers. The only light. The light from the spectaculars down the street spelling out the evening's pleasure. 40 girls. 40. No cover charge. Up front with Willie and Joe, continuous performance. Chinese food, fried rice and dancing. And I waited. I didn't wait long.

[Nicky Gannon]

You here, Danny?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Come on in, Tommy.

[Nicky Gannon]

Thanks. I brought you something. It's all yours, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who is he?

[Nicky Gannon]

The killer that get promised to dead, huh?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You bring the envelope, Tommy? You bring it?

[Nicky Gannon]

Sure, sure. I brought here. Call it at your leisure. 15,000.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I don't know, Tommy.

[Nicky Gannon]

A dead killer.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How am I going to explain a dead killer?

[Nicky Gannon]

I thought of that too. What did you come up with, Danny? I found a guy on skid row. Wasn't doing anybody any good. So I figured he could do us. I'm good. So you shot him With a police positive. Just like you carry. Here's a gun. You track this killer down? He tried to escape. You shot him. Makes you a hero.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's right. And how many heroes have $15,000?

[Nicky Gannon]

We're gonna get along fine.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You've taken over for Gannon.

[Nicky Gannon]

I deserve, don't I?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Yeah, you do. Killing Georgia Nick again. Sure. You deserve it. The courage.

[Nicky Gannon]

You don't know how much. Had me sweating there for a while. That she didn't die right away. Only Georgia was a girl with character. Live and let live. Die and let live. Great girl. I call you from time to time. Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Wait a minute, Tommy.

[Nicky Gannon]

Get used to it. Danny. I said I'd call you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Don't go away. You're under arrest for murder.

[Nicky Gannon]

You practicing being a cop? Don't be a copper on me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You forgot something, Tommy. I can't be anything else. Let's go.

[Nicky Gannon]

Because you're pointing to police. Positive. You got trouble, sucker.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Slated step away. All over.

[Benny Fain]

Are you serious? Daddy, don't let me fall.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I got your coat.

[Nicky Gannon]

Don't.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Don't let me fall.

[Benny Fain]

I don't want to die that way.

[Adam Graham]

Mommy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah.

[Nicky Gannon]

Daddy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Daddy. His fingers clawed against the sheer stone. Daddy. Body twisting face. Torture. Pleading for a return to life.

[Nicky Gannon]

Daddy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Body hung there below me. Out of reach. Then the fabric that held his life together gave way. And the noise of the street came up to meet him. Killed his scream. When I got outside and walked through the gathering crowd. I remembered something in my hand Tommy Chandler's torn coat. It's the gathering place of all the sleepless nights, this Broadway and all the unwept tears. The place to come to erase what's happened. Start all over, make a memory and try to forget it if you can. It's Broadway. The gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway. My Beat.

[Narrator/Announcer]

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 cast, Anthony Barrett was heard as Tommy Chandler, Francis Chaney as Fran Holland, Martha Wentworth as Mrs. Gannon, Larry Dodkin as Nikki Gannon, Joy Terry as Georgia Gray, Leo Cleary as Benny Fain and Junius Matthews as Cozy. Every Saturday night on cbs, Jan Murray gets on that coast to coast phone and gives away $1,000 at a crack. If you can identify the Phantom boys, be listening for Sing It Again which follows immediately on most of these same scenes. CBS stations. Joe Walters speaking. This is CDS where you laugh at Jack Benny every Sunday night. The Columbia Broadcasting System.

[Adam Graham]

Welcome back. Well, we've had a lot of weird behavior by people on Broadway's My Beat, but cursing out ducks for their lack of loyalty when you get arrested and they move on with their lives is kind of a whole nother level. On a brighter note, I have to appreciate Tartaglia having broadened his interest in detective fiction beyond Mike Shrek. Alright, well, we've got some listener comments and feedback now and we go over to YouTube where W. Baker the Thor comments. I've listened to every episode and I really enjoy Broadway's My Beat, but I don't recall a single crime taking place on Broadway, let alone between Columbus Circle and Times Square. I also note the distance from Columbus Circle to Times Square, which would be from 59th street to 45th street, is only about three quarters of a mile perhaps. I mean all the way to 42nd street as that would encompass the entire theater district. So no, I don't understand what is so gritty and dangerous about the theater district. The way it is described in the intro and outro. They make it sound like this is the entire stretch of Broadway, but Broadway is actually about 13 miles long in just Manhattan. Indeed, the entire length of Manhattan and Broadway is considered the longest as well as the oldest straight on the island. Thanks so much, I appreciate the comment. And while I can't find or speak to what specific rates might have been you can see some potential for higher crime rates given that you have a lot of people out late at night where presumably there would be a greater risk of various sorts of criminal activity. I would also say that they're not often specific about location, although today's was very specific that the Dime A Dance place where the crime happened was on Broadway. In addition, one of the early cases was set at a theater, so it's implied to be those sort of locations that are cross Broadway. And it can be helpful not to view it as like the whole spectrum of the human experience that comes within that area, from the very wealthy to the very poor. That stretch had it all. And even if Danny's overall precinct area would be beyond that, it's trying to capture that feel more than perhaps a literal distance. But appreciate the comment. And then we also turn over to Blueberry where we have a comment on listener survey. Merrill writes. Love all your podcast.

[Nicky Gannon]

Good work.

[Adam Graham]

Keeps my mind on other things than my job. Glad to help. Alright, well now it is time to thank our Patreon Supporter of the Day. And I want to go ahead and thank Rick, patreon supporter since March 2020, currently supporting the podcast at the Shamas level of $4 or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Rick. That will do. Do it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software and be sure to rate and review the podcast wherever you download it from. We'll be back next Wednesday with another episode of Broadway's My Bait, but join us back here tomorrow for Dragnet wear.

[Nicky Gannon]

I don't know Sergeant. Maybe I'm all wet. Just doesn't gel right for me. Who discovered the body? Hargness? Next door neighbor, Mrs. Donworth. My partner's with her now. You fellas call the crime lab? Yeah, they're on their way out. Was the old man the only one who lived in the house here? Yeah, that's what the neighbor told us. Sure like to see what the crime lab crew's gonna think of it. What's the big question, Harkness? Well, I know it's none of my business, Sergeant. You fellas are the detectives. I just couldn't help but notice though. What's that? Well, here. Over here. This rifle wire to the back of the chair. Take a sight along the barrel of the rifle, see what you think. Right through the sight, huh? Pointed right above the arm jar over there. It's in a straight line with the body. That much fits. The old man pulled the string tied to his index finger and it set off the trigger, took the slug through the chest. Yeah, that's what I figured. Now here, take a look at the wall directly behind the old man. Yeah, the slug went clean through the body, we know that. Through the chest, above the heart, then out through the shoulder blade. I see what you mean. Oh, here. Now take a look at this wall here. Got a mark on it. Yeah. One thing sure. If the old man was shot in that position, the slug had to come this way, pass through his body right about this height here. We ought to find the bullet hole in this wall right around here. It ought to be. Not a trace of a slug here.

[Adam Graham]

I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime, send your comments to box thirteendetectives.net Follow us on Twitter at radiodetectives and check us out on Instagram. Instagram.com greatdetectives from Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.