Broadway's My Beat: The Lucille Baker Murder Case (EP4973)

Summary

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Broadway's My Beat: The Lucille Baker Murder Case (EP4973)

Podcast: The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio
Host: Adam Graham
Original Air Date: December 15, 1951 (episode rebroadcast May 13, 2026)
Series: Broadway’s My Beat
Starring: Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover

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Episode Overview

In this gripping Golden Age radio drama, Detective Danny Clover investigates the brutal strangulation of Lucille Baker in a dreary Manhattan tenement. As the days before Christmas turn Broadway glittering and festive, Clover untangles a web of jealousy, longing, and hidden infatuations behind two sudden deaths. Secrets are uncovered among Lucille’s husband, his lovesick colleague, and a second victim—dragging the detective ever deeper into the loneliness beneath the city’s lights.

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Key Discussion Points and Plot Sequence

Opening Mood and Murder Discovery

• Atmospheric Introduction (03:05):
  • Clover sets the scene: “From somewhere beyond the threshold of neon, the happy holidays beckon to Broadway. And somewhere within it, a phone call. A drunken voice that leads you...into a room also desolate. A man sprawled on the floor…trying to touch her dead face.”
• Murder Scene:
  • Lucille Baker is found strangled in her apartment. Her husband, Charlie, is passed out; Bob Kolker, a friend and colleague, claims he just arrived and called the police.
• First Alibis and Interviews (04:06–07:41):
  • Kolker claims innocence, details arrival from an office party (“Imagine...you walk in and there’s Mrs. Baker lying on the floor, head all twisted like that” – Kolker, 04:20).
  • Charlie Baker barely remembers the night, blames alcohol; says he repeatedly tried calling Lucille, but the line was busy.

Early Suspects and Neighborhood Probing

• Tenement Inquiry (07:41–09:34):
  • Detective Clover canvasses neighbors; Ruthie Alexander reveals Lucille’s unassuming nature, hints at romantic interest from Ted Fletcher, a coworker.
    • “Lucille...she had her qualities...hidden. Kind of sly. It intrigued you men.” – Ruthie Alexander (09:14)

The Dorsey Company – Motives at the Office

• Confronting Ted Fletcher (11:11–13:02):
  • Fletcher admits to being in love with Lucille but denies murder: “You think I killed her? It’d be like killing myself, wouldn’t it?” (11:34)
  • He reveals attempts to visit Lucille that night failed; he instead spent the evening with Isabel Mitchell, another co-worker, as his supposed alibi.
• Discovery of Second Body (13:02–14:17):
  • Detective Clover visits Isabel’s apartment. She is found murdered—also strangled.

Police Deduction and Theories

• Connecting the Murders (15:51–17:08):
  • Sergeant Tartaglia and Clover theorize Ted Fletcher killed both women to protect himself (“He left her, went to see Mrs. Baker, killed her, came back to Ms. Mitchell and asked her to be his alibi. She refused. So he killed her.” – Tartaglia and Clover, 16:53–17:08)
• Investigating Party Dynamics (17:35–19:34):
  • Office boss Mr. Dorsey describes Ted as emotionally chaotic but doesn’t believe he’s a killer; calls Lucille “dull,” and Isabel “kind.”

New Evidence and Character Insights

• Lois Nolan’s Testimony (19:54–21:34):
  • A co-worker, Lois Nolan, gives details about Isabel’s background, revealing an uncle in Brooklyn.
• Interview with Isabel’s Uncle (22:31–23:55):
  • The uncle shares that a “nice fellow”—Charlie Baker—secretly sent Isabel gifts, making him promise never to reveal the sender’s identity.

Confrontation, Confession, and Unraveling (24:38–28:56)

• Showdown Between Baker and Fletcher (24:38–27:35):
  • With both men detained, emotions boil over. Baker is enraged, taunts Fletcher as “killer boy.”
  • Clover suggests a new theory: Baker could have slipped away from the party, killed his wife, then attempted to win Isabel’s affection.
• Turning the Screws (27:35–28:56):
  • Confronted with evidence of his unrequited love—Isabel refused him even after his wife’s death—Baker cracks.
    • “Shut up. Isabel was sweet and she was wonderful...I killed my wife for her and she took pity on me.” – Charles Baker, (28:26–28:40)
    • “She was good, but she still wouldn’t look at you. So you killed her.” – Clover, (28:40)

Final Reflection (29:20–30:07)

• Haunting Narration:
  • “It’s an enchanted island, this Broadway. Or a desert of dust...It’s a crumbling wall corroded with pain...the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.” – Detective Danny Clover

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Thematic:
  • “Paint the grin across your mouth, kid. It’s the merry time.” – Clover (03:05)
  • “This is only one in the long array of grieving that has been displayed you over the last years.” – Clover, reflecting on loss (07:41)
• Suspect Interrogation:
  • “You think I killed her? It’d be like killing myself, wouldn’t it?” – Ted Fletcher (11:34)
• Confession:
  • “I killed my wife for her and she took pity on me. But she didn’t want me. She had to die.” – Charles Baker (28:40–28:56)

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Insightful Host Commentary (32:23)

Adam Graham's Reflection:

• Adam Graham notes the show's unique realism, as "Broadway's My Beat" integrates the city’s atmosphere and the current time of year into the case, anchoring the drama to the present for listeners.
• He compares it to Dragnet, which, while dealing with true cases, feels less tied to a living, seasonal city.
  • “The setting of Broadway’s My Beat...is not some neat stage for a mystery to play out. It is a real living location with cycles and seasons and quirks that moves just like the place you live.”
• He also highlights William Conrad’s solid performance as a guest actor in this episode.

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | Description | |-----------|----------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:05 | Atmospheric Opening | Clover sets the moody, Christmastime urban scene | | 04:06 | Discovery of Lucille’s body | With Kolker and Charlie, first round of questioning | | 08:34 | Interview: Ruthie Alexander | Hints at Lucille’s secret admirer, Ted Fletcher | | 11:13 | Confrontation: Ted Fletcher | Admits love for Lucille, establishes potential motive | | 13:02 | Isabel’s Murder Discovered | Isabel found strangled; escalation from single to serial murder | | 15:51 | Clover and Tartaglia theorize | Possible twin-motive murder by Fletcher | | 17:35 | Inquiry at Dorsey Co. | Office boss hints at personalities, inter-office relationships | | 19:54 | Testimony: Lois Nolan | Offers insights on Isabel and points Clover to her uncle | | 22:31 | Interview: Isabel’s Uncle | Links Charlie to secret gifts for Isabel | | 24:38 | Detention: Baker and Fletcher | Emotional confrontation leads to confession | | 28:40 | Confession | Baker admits: “I killed my wife for her…and she took pity on me…but she didn’t want me.” | | 29:20 | Final Reflection | Clover’s signature melancholy narration about the city’s darkness beneath its lights|

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Engaging Takeaways

• The plot intricately ties jealousy, obsession, and unrequited love into a double homicide, with shifting suspicions between co-workers and spouses.
• The radio drama’s narration stands out, evoking a living, breathing city context for the mystery rather than a static stage.
• Performances, especially by guest William Conrad and regular Larry Thor, bring extra emotional weight to both the investigation and the psychological unraveling of the killer.
• Adam Graham’s post-episode analysis deepens appreciation for the series’ focus on atmosphere and seasonality.

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For Further Listening

This episode of “Broadway’s My Beat” offers a Christmas season crime drama that is less about holiday cheer and more about the complex, human darkness lurking just beneath. Detective Danny Clover’s journey from tenement to office party and through hearts twisted by longing is a classic example of the postwar American radio detective tradition.

For more, visit http://www.greatdetectives.net.

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Transcript

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[Mr. Dorsey]

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[Adam Graham (Host)]

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 want to encourage you, if you're enjoying this program, to fall using your finger favorite podcast software. And 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 by using the Zelle app to box Thirteenreatdetectives.net and become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as little as $2 per month. Just go to patreon.greatdetectives.net but now, from December 15, 1951, here is the Lucille Baker 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]

Broadway's my beat with larry thor as detective danny clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

From somewhere beyond the threshold of neon, the happy holidays beckon to Broadway. And the wilderness of plastic and chrome dons its ribbons of tinsel. Garlands of evergreen are hung against the shriek of subways. And behind plate glass, puppets with shrewd mechanisms perform their frenetic dance. The metallic music flows out of the horns of loudspeakers. The women walk slow, sway gently to its holiday rhythms. And everywhere the image of gaiety is reflected in spangles that whirl on winter's wind. So paint the grin across your mouth, kid. It's the merry time. And somewhere within It a phone call. A drunken voice that leads you into a desolate, wind littered street, into a tenement scarred with shadows. Into a room also desolate. A man sprawled on the floor in drunkenness, his arm flung toward the woman who lies away from him, his fingers reaching, trying to touch her dead face. And the other man, who clings to your lapel, has waited there only so I could tell you about it.

[Bob Robert Kolker]

That proves I had nothing to do with it, doesn't it? I called it in. I waited here for you. Me, along with those two, just so I could tell you about it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who are you?

[Bob Robert Kolker]

Bob Robert Kolker. I got a wife and a good name. I don't want to get mixed up in this, mister.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The woman.

[Bob Robert Kolker]

That's Mrs. Baker. Charlie's wife. Boy, has that boy got a hangover waiting for him when he comes to. Imagine you and Charlie, you're enjoying yourself. You get invited in for a little nightcap. You walk in and there's Mrs. Baker lying on the floor, head all twisted like that.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She was strangled.

[Bob Robert Kolker]

Yeah. Yeah, that's how I figured it, too. When we walked in, saw her, I said, look, Charlie boy. Look at your missus. And Charlie kind of yelped, like a dog or something. Tried to make it to her, but he passed out on the way. I never touched him, mister. Honest, I didn't.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You and Mr. Baker were out together, then you came home.

[Bob Robert Kolker]

Yeah, but not like you think we were to the office party, Charlie and me. We got adjoining desks. Big deal. Office party, booze and paper cups. Dance a little with the steno you've been wanting to touch all year. Then you take Charlie boy home and look, mister. Okay if I go home now? I done everything. Could be expected.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Call your wife, Mr. Culker. Tell her you won't be home for a while. And wait. Then watch the barrier of faces form at the doorway. The same faces that gather always when sudden death is done. Faces tempered only by the quality of shirts, neckties and hairdos. Quality this time, tenement frayed. And in a while, the medical examiner. The nod toward the dead. The black satchel opened and the stethoscope that hears no heartbeat. The official pronouncement that a woman named Lucille Baker, age about 32, married, no children, had been strangled to death. And the other? Nod to the two men who had been found with her. Take them along. Get out.

[Narrator]

Go.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And back to the office. Give orders to interview everyone at the party. Turn Mr. Baker over to the officer whose extracurricular duty includes the sobering of suspects. Question Mr. Kolker again. His story sticks. Then a door opens and a very sober man walks in.

[Charles Baker]

I don't believe what they just told me. I don't believe. What are you doing here, Bob?

[Bob Robert Kolker]

I just told them what happened. I told them we came back to your.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Wait outside, Mr. Kulker.

[Bob Robert Kolker]

Sure, sure, Whatever you say. Just take it easy, Charlie boy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Sit down. Mr. Baker, your wife is dead. Lucille, I want you to try to tell me just what happened tonight.

[Charles Baker]

The office party. I went there. I was having a fine time. Yes, I was. I was having a wonderful time. Look, it was the end of the day, and at first I wanted to go home, but they wouldn't let me. They said, look at all this free booze. Lap it up and forget it. And now,

[Detective Danny Clover]

go on.

[Charles Baker]

Well, I tried to call Lucille three or four times, I don't know how many times, until I was having a good time. Not to wait up for me, but line was always busy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What else do you remember?

[Charles Baker]

Bob said, come on, let's go home. When we got there, that last thing I remember Lucille lying there, saying to myself, just like this. I am drunk. You think you see all sorts of things when you're drunk, and this is one of them. That's not Lucille. I'm not even home now. I wake up.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And the room shorn suddenly of everything but a man's sobbing. This is only one in the long array of grieving that has been displayed you over the last years. The grief of the love dead, sometimes with laughter of strange texture. The silence, sometimes anguish bitter. And sometimes this, like this man's. And always the walking away. And release him and his friend Bob Kolker go home, sleep. And next morning back to the tenement where a woman had been strangled. Ask questions through inch open doors, and the children of the tenement shrivel away from you as if you were a cold wind. The doors that are never opened to you, the furtive whispers and scurrying behind them, the giggles. And finally, at the mention of the dead Mrs. Baker's name, a woman who begins a weeping suitable for police callers, invites you in.

[Ruthie Alexander]

Oh, that poor, poor creature. Taken from us like that. Choked like that. Cast away, please, won't you come in? I'm Ruthie Alexander. Let's just shut the door, shall we? My neighbor's curious. Nosy. So pathetically nosy. May I get you something? Hot chocolate, tea? Something with a bite to it?

[Detective Danny Clover]

No, thank you. You knew Mrs. Baker.

[Ruthie Alexander]

I knew Lucille better. How awful to be a man and have to suffer weeping Women.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You were saying you knew Mrs. Baker well?

[Ruthie Alexander]

Better than she knew herself. The promises life offered that girl. Although Lucille wasn't pretty, mind you. Not in the real sense of the word. But she had her qualities hidden. Kind of sly. It intrigued you men.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're saying that she.

[Ruthie Alexander]

Nothing of the sort. Why? Lucille, the poor unimaginative creature. And I say this of her. And I was her best friend, mind you. And have the right. Lucille backed away from men. I honestly think they frightened her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She was married to a husband who loved her.

[Ruthie Alexander]

Of course he did. Of course he did. Why shouldn't he? She could have even had a man like Teddy. Fletcher. Teddy was dying for her. Lucille told me all about it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Fletcher?

[Ruthie Alexander]

A fellow who works at the Dorsey Company where Lucille's husband worked. I told her so many times, A man like that Lucy, they don't grow on bushes. You know something?

[Detective Danny Clover]

What?

[Ruthie Alexander]

That Lucille. She was a deep one. Sly, like I said. I wonder. I just wonder if she and Teddy. How awful of me. But when you have a cigarette, at least I'll light it for you. Draw the first puff.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And refused the kind offer. King sized, cork tipped, gratis and all. Give her back her solitude. Leave her to her tearless weeping. Now she'd have something really to cry about. She'd wasted a cigarette. To the offices of the Dorsey Novelty Co. Incorporated Ltd. Be greeted. Be given a catalog concerning current novelties. Be frowned at because I didn't want it. Be listened to be ushered past the office force and slogans about geniuses at work and courtesy and cleanliness and accuracy. And be shown to a cubicle.

[Ted Fletcher]

Yeah?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Mr. Fletcher?

[Ted Fletcher]

Yeah, what is it?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm Danny Clover from the police.

[Ted Fletcher]

Expecting somebody from down there? Sit down, please.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Thanks. I'm trying to get some information.

[Ted Fletcher]

I know, I know.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right, you know. Tell me what you know.

[Ted Fletcher]

Just one thing. You think I killed Lucille.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Did you?

[Ted Fletcher]

I was in love with her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Did you kill her?

[Ted Fletcher]

I just told you. I was in love with her for two years now. I built my plans around her. Day to day plans. That adds up to being my life, doesn't it? You think I killed her? It'd be like killing myself, wouldn't it?

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right, we'll go on the premise. You didn't kill her. Mr. Fletcher. Tell me about last night.

[Ted Fletcher]

I was at the party. Everybody got loaded. Not me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You don't drink, huh?

[Ted Fletcher]

When it's better to say so. But last night was such a time. Oh, why last night Charlie Baker was here getting tanked. Last night, Lucille Baker was home being Lonely.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Then you left the party because her husband was here and went over to see her.

[Mr. Clayton]

Is that it?

[Ted Fletcher]

It's the way I planned it. Didn't work.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Gonna tell me why? Yeah.

[Ted Fletcher]

I called Lucille from here during the party a lot of times. She said, I'm a wife with a husband. Stay where you are. Admirable, huh? A wife. If it killed her, then it killed her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Then you gave up and went home.

[Ted Fletcher]

I needed solace. I found Isabel by the water cooler.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Isabel?

[Ted Fletcher]

Isabel Mitchell, Pal and buddy, sweater and skirt. We smiled at each other over paper cups, linked arms and went to her place. Drank and did childish things like pin the tail of the donkey. Drank, drank, drank.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Your alibi, huh? I want to talk to her.

[Ted Fletcher]

I guess she's still at home getting rid of last night's head. She didn't show up today. Nice kid.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Where does she live?

[Ted Fletcher]

Two rooms on West 37th. 9:05, apartment two. Look, Mr. Clover, that Hamilton wall clock says noon and it's never rung. You're not going to join me for lunch, are you?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Thanks a lot. And the ride now to west 37th to the block of the brownstones and the low rent and the corner grocery store and next to the tailor shop that advertised proudly how it had held the line since 1950. Find the number 905. Walk past the door to apartment one and a few steps more to apartment two. Apartment of Isabel Mitchell. Knock and get no answer and open a door. Walk in the living room, decorated in row house decor, dregs of last night's drinks. Coolidge modern and empty. And the kitchen, the lights still burning. The perpetual distant sound in the exposed water pipes and strung from them, the girl. The girl twisting this way and back only slightly. The lifeless girl. The murdered girl.

[Narrator]

You are listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. Confidentially, Edgar Bergen has a split personality and it's hard to say whether he's funnier as the Harris Bergen or as that saucy figment of his own imagination who does the harassing. Johnny McCarthy. We leave it to you to figure out between the laughs. Every Sunday night on most of these same CBS radio stations, when you hear Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

In the Days Before Christmas, Broadway puts on its flashy clothes and the flashy smile. Everybody's on his way to Cawn. Santa Claus, the blonde who walks with you stops to adjust her nylons in front of the jewelry store. The brunette who tells you to pick her up for lunch in the Lingerie department. The redhead who behaved all year long. And while the reindeer dash across the tundra of the spectacular, the recruits from the Bowery shake their little bells and nod lovingly at tiny tots. Get out the Christmas list, kid. That's where your friends have been all year long. And at headquarters. Consider other things. Official musings. The dying of Lucille Baker, a woman strangled. Consider what chain of circumstance led from her to the murder of another Isabel Mitchell. Consideration. And be interrupted by a police sergeant named Gino Tartaglia, who sometimes had things in his mind.

[Sergeant Gino Tartaglia]

I got a headache, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm sorry to hear that. Why don't you take an ass?

[Sergeant Gino Tartaglia]

Condolences are touching, Danny. And I thank you for them. However, my symptoms are psychosomatic.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Psychosomatic?

[Sergeant Gino Tartaglia]

A word Mrs. Tartaglia read to me last night from a book. It's the type headache which is prone to deep thinkers. So Science explained to Mrs. T and she to me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You've been thinking deeply, Genie.

[Sergeant Gino Tartaglia]

Indeed. As concerns the current situation in the murder of Lucille Baker and the subsequent same of Ms. Isabel Mitchell. Oh, a theory. To wit, Mr. Ted Fletcher is a killer. Murdered the woman whom he loved, Mrs. Baker. Then murdered the girl he flirted with, Isabel Mitchell.

[Detective Danny Clover]

But Isabel was his alibi, Gino. Why should he murder her?

[Sergeant Gino Tartaglia]

I cut my headache making it sound reasonable to me, Danny. But I think I know why he killed Ms. Mitchell.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I can think of a reason too.

[Sergeant Gino Tartaglia]

You mean like that so soon?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Well, it had figured, Gino.

[Sergeant Gino Tartaglia]

You tell me yours, I'll tell you mine.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The way it stands now, Gino, Fletcher can't account for his actions last night. Nobody remembers when he left the party. Let's just assume he left with Ms. Mitchell. He took her home and left her.

[Sergeant Gino Tartaglia]

You've been peeking into my brain, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

He left her, went to see Mrs. Baker, killed her, came back to Ms. Mitchell and asked her to be his alibi. She refused.

[Sergeant Gino Tartaglia]

Indeed, Danny, indeed.

[Detective Danny Clover]

So she was the only one who knew he was a killer. She refused to help him. He killed her.

[Sergeant Gino Tartaglia]

Our theories make a lot of sense, don't they?

[Mr. Clayton]

Maybe.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Have Fletcher picked up Gino? I'm going out.

[Sergeant Gino Tartaglia]

Okay, Danny. Where can I reach you if I

[Detective Danny Clover]

need you at that novelty office? Maybe I can find out why that happy party had so much murder in it.

[Mr. Dorsey]

You the guy told the girl you're a detective?

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's right.

[Mr. Dorsey]

Show me. Show me. Girls get impressed with guys who show them shiny badges. Don't bother to read the small print. All they care is that a muscle man with a favor to ask you through with it? Yeah. Take back your badge. I produce novelties like that by the carload. Just had to be sure you weren't giving the girl a fast shuffle.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Some questions I want to ask you, Mr. Dorsey.

[Mr. Dorsey]

About time you got around to me, huh? It just so happens I'm the head man. This little enterprise. Maybe the personnel didn't get around to telling.

[Detective Danny Clover]

They didn't need to. I saw your publicity on the wrapping paper.

[Mr. Dorsey]

Yeah, you had a little confab with Ted Fletcher. The girls tell me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Sorry. It didn't occur to me. I need your permission.

[Mr. Dorsey]

Oh, it's not that, kid. It's just that I got a happy enterprise here. You walk in, talk, murder talk, it spreads gloom. Everybody gets unhappy until I think of something.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The office party the other night, that was one of your thoughts?

[Mr. Dorsey]

Yeah. Yeah, it was. Happened to be my birthday. I let it be known in a loud voice, and before long, the personnel is pitching dimes into a kitty. A good time was had by all. What did you think of him? Who? Ted Fletcher. Personally, I can't stand the guy. Good worker, but I can't stand him. What do you think of him?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Just keep talking.

[Mr. Dorsey]

Fletcher. Not much to look at, but owe you, kid. What he does to the emotions of the ever loving opposite sex. You know what I mean? You gotta agree because you got him tabbed for killing Mrs. Baker. I understand. I tell you, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Charles Baker works for you too. Give me your thoughts on him.

[Mr. Dorsey]

Baker's a good boy. Nose to the grindstone type. I got a lot of plans for him. Been to his home, made his impress the boss type of food. Met his wife, the former Mrs. Baker.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah? And you have an opinion?

[Mr. Garvey]

Mm.

[Mr. Dorsey]

Dull woman. Plain boring. You know, Baker's better off without her, in my opinion. I tell you because you asked.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And Isabel Mitchell, who also worked for you, who was also at your birthday party, who was strangled, murdered.

[Mr. Dorsey]

Kind girl. Had a kind word for everybody, but everybody. Prove it to him. Fletcher meets her at the water cooler at my party. Isabel gives him the kind word. Fletcher takes her home. That was a busy, busy night for Fletcher, wasn't it, guy?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Anything else, Mr. Dawson?

[Mr. Dorsey]

That cuts it as far as I'm concerned. You too, huh? I bet you got loads of things to do just like me. So goodbye, huh, Guy?

[Lois Nolan]

Mr. Clover?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes?

[Lois Nolan]

Is it all right if I just walk in here into your office?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Of course. Won't you sit down?

[Lois Nolan]

Thank you. I'm Lois Nolan.

[Charles Baker]

Yes?

[Lois Nolan]

I work at the Dorsey Novelty Company in the Office. I run an IBM machine. Time study cards. I don't guess you noticed me, did you?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Seems that I do. I guess you're wearing another dress.

[Lois Nolan]

No, I was wearing this dress. You just didn't notice, that's all.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Why have you come here, Ms. Nolan?

[Lois Nolan]

I wasn't at the party last night, so your men haven't questioned me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I see. And you want to be questioned, is that it?

[Lois Nolan]

Well, I was a friend of Isabel's.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You were?

[Lois Nolan]

Though we had differences of opinion, as they say about friends, boyfriends. Personally, I like fellows from whom I can better myself. Isabel?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah.

[Lois Nolan]

She was not the discriminate type. Life, she once said, was a laugh and a song. Look what it got her. Some laugh.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes. Now if you'll pardon me, miss.

[Lois Nolan]

Some laugh. If you knew where I just came from, you wouldn't say, some laugh.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Where did you just come from, miss Nolan?

[Lois Nolan]

From her uncle's house. In buckets. That's the way he was crying. He didn't say a word. But if you could have seen his eyes, those tears. Then he said, lois, I cannot cry anymore. Isabel was a good girl. And now she is gone.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I didn't know she had a family.

[Lois Nolan]

No one's claiming because that man is a nervous wreck. After all Isabel did for him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Where does her uncle live in Brooklyn?

[Lois Nolan]

2020 Stockton Street. I hope I have been of some help. Since Isabel was a dear friend of mine. I was always broad minded enough to forgive the things.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You've been a great help, Ms. Nolan. Thank you very much. And the house in Brooklyn? Like all the other houses in the long file. Peeling paint, a sagging porch, the parlor curtains drawn aside to reveal the Christmas wreath. Then drawn further to permit a clearer view of the man who walks their quiet street. And having noted your passing, open their windows, crane to see at whose door you'll knock. Then in far away voices announce it to friends, relatives and neighbors. The voices drain away. Then for a moment the stillness is almost complete. Except for the wailing of vessels in the harbor. The cry of wind trapped against street lamps. Then break it. And the man in the woolen sweater wonders at you with pale eyes. Washed away eyes.

[Mr. Clayton]

Oh, you must be from the mission. I phoned. I have the magazines all tied and ready.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm from the police.

[Mr. Clayton]

About Isabel?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes.

[Mr. Clayton]

Come in. You'll take your death of cold. I haven't been to claim her body because I didn't know if it was right. I'm just her uncle. And Isabel moved away from me over a year ago. I thought maybe she got Someone closer to her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's not why I came.

[Mr. Clayton]

No? Then why?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Well, I thought maybe you could help us. Maybe you could tell us things about her and it'll help us find a murderer.

[Mr. Clayton]

Isabel came here to live with us when her mother died. Then my wife died and Isabel stayed on. It was nice when she was here. And then she went away.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tell me about it, Mr. Clayton.

[Mr. Clayton]

It was nice. Gay, exciting. Young men called on her. Brought her things, brought me cigars. Sat and talked with me while they waited for her to dress. She was pretty. Real pretty. Worth waiting for.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Do you remember the men who called on her?

[Mr. Clayton]

No. No, just boys. Nice looking fellows.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And you haven't seen Isabel since she left?

[Mr. Clayton]

Oh, yes. I didn't say that. I saw her many times, but only quickly. I'd call her and tell her to come pick up little things I had for her. Things? Presents. They weren't really from me. They were from this nice fellow. He must have liked Isabel a whole lot. You know how I know?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tell me.

[Mr. Clayton]

Well, he'd bring her these things and make me promise not to tell Isabel they were from him. He said he'd tell her when the time came, when he was ready to. And I'd say, charlie, Charlie, Charlie Baker. Nice fellow. You know, he made me tell Isabel I was giving her those things. Look at me. What would I have to give a girl like Isabel?

[Charles Baker]

This is the first time I've been in a place like this, Mr. Clover. I've passed the jail many times, but I've never been in.

[Detective Danny Clover]

These are just the detention cells, Mr. Baker.

[Charles Baker]

Detention cells? You mean they're not permanent? You're not sure about Fletcher.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Fletcher was picked up as a suspect, and that's still all he is.

[Charles Baker]

He's a killer.

[Detective Danny Clover]

We'll find out.

[Charles Baker]

I still don't know why I'm here.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I want to put your story together with his.

[Charles Baker]

Then you'll know, huh?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Then we'll know Fletcher's sleeping with a conscience like his.

[Charles Baker]

Look at him. All right, come on, Fletcher, wake up. Wake up, killer. On your feet.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I brought you a visitor, Fletcher.

[Ted Fletcher]

Hi, Charlie.

[Charles Baker]

Hi, Charlie. Hi, Charlie. That what you gotta say to me? You my friend, killer. Break it up. I said break it up. Yeah, what am I, crazy? Dirty my hands on him? You know what they got for you, killer? A chair.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And you're gonna sit in it. Fletcher, I told Baker how it was between you and his wife, Lucille.

[Ted Fletcher]

I'm glad you did. We were gonna tell him. We didn't get a chance.

[Charles Baker]

Lover boy. Killer boy.

[Ted Fletcher]

I didn't Kill her?

[Charles Baker]

Is that what he keeps telling you, Mr. Clover?

[Mr. Garvey]

Uh huh.

[Charles Baker]

That's why you just keep him in the detention cell, huh?

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's right.

[Ted Fletcher]

Look, Charlie.

[Charles Baker]

All right, I'm looking.

[Ted Fletcher]

You gotta understand, Charlie, about Lucille and me. I loved her. She loved me. If we could have worked it out,

[Charles Baker]

I would have married her, loved her, Loved Lucille. You.

[Ted Fletcher]

She wasn't a beautiful woman, Charlie. You know that. She was a gentle woman. Talking with her, you weren't afraid of the world anymore.

[Charles Baker]

Well, Fletcher, if that's what she did to you, that's what she did to you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Didn't she do that to you, Baker? You were pretty broken up when she died.

[Charles Baker]

Did you ever have a wife who was murdered, Mr. Clobber?

[Bob Robert Kolker]

No.

[Charles Baker]

Then don't tell me how it should feel. You and my wife are.

[Ted Fletcher]

Fletch, I didn't kill her. I swear I didn't kill her.

[Charles Baker]

Charlie. Yeah, sure, sure, sure. What happened last night, Fletcher? Lucille wave you goodbye and you let your emotions run away with you? It was all over and you couldn't remember a thing. So you say you didn't kill her?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Is that what happened, Mr. Fletcher?

[Ted Fletcher]

I told you what happened. Get him out of here.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Just a few more things about a girl who worked at your office. Also murdered. Isabel Mitchell.

[Charles Baker]

You had your hands full last night, didn't you, killer?

[Ted Fletcher]

I asked you, get him out of here.

[Detective Danny Clover]

No, I want him to hear something. There's another way this thing adds up. You could have killed your wife, Baker.

[Charles Baker]

What are you talking about? This is the party. Everybody knows that. Everybody will vouch for me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I don't know. A party like that, People coming in and out, Nobody remembers much about anything.

[Charles Baker]

You building something, Mr. Clark?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Maybe you could have left the party long enough to kill your wife, then go back to it. No one would have known the difference. Then play drunk. Have a friend take you home. Find your wife dead.

[Ted Fletcher]

Have a seat, Charlie. You might as well. These cuts take a little while to get used to.

[Charles Baker]

Now listen, Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Then early the next morning, cry on my shoulder, be released, go around to Isabel's place and whisper to her the happy news about your wife's being dead.

[Charles Baker]

You're crazy. Why would I go to her?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Because you were crazy about her.

[Ted Fletcher]

Crazy about her. Isabelle. Isabel.

[Charles Baker]

What are you laughing at?

[Detective Danny Clover]

He's right, Fletcher. You shouldn't laugh. Mr. Baker was crazy about Isabel. Gave her presents.

[Charles Baker]

What are you talking about?

[Detective Danny Clover]

But on the sly. Isabelle didn't even know where they came from. After you've gotten rid of your wife, you could tell her. Baker but she wouldn't have any part of you. You killed her.

[Ted Fletcher]

In love with Isabel.

[Mr. Dorsey]

Her?

[Ted Fletcher]

A girl like that? Oh, Charlie, you stupid man. A girl like that when you had your own wife.

[Bob Robert Kolker]

Shut up.

[Charles Baker]

Shut up. Shut up. Isabel was sweet and she was wonderful. You know how I know? She wouldn't look at me? Because I was married. That's the kind of a girl she was. She was good. I killed my wife for her and she took pity on me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She was good, but she still wouldn't look at you. So you killed her.

[Bob Robert Kolker]

Yeah.

[Charles Baker]

Yeah, that's right. I had no more to live for. Why should she go on living? Why should somebody else have her? Who else would have done for her what I did for her? Nobody.

[Bob Robert Kolker]

Just me.

[Charles Baker]

But she didn't want me. She had to die.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's an enchanted island, this Broadway. Or a desert of dust. Look at it and it's a magician's pitch. With golden mirrors and fountains that bloom with jewels. Then you blink. It all dissolves. It's a crumbling wall corroded with pain. 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 Tortaglia and Jack Crucian as Mugavan. The program was produced and directed by Elliot Lewis with musical score composed and conducted by Alexander Courage. Featured in tonight's cast were William Conrad, Harry Bartel, Peggy Weber, Lou Merrill and Herb Butter. All the best fun making from Arthur Godfrey's daytime shows on CBS Radio. That's what you hear every Sunday afternoon on most of these stations when King Arthur Godfrey and his roundtable hold court. Hear it tomorrow afternoon. And remember to enjoy King Arthur Godfrey and his roundtable every Sunday afternoon on CBS Radio. Bill Anders speaking. And remember those lovable rascals, Amos and Andy are here every every Sunday on the CBS Radio Network.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Sam.

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[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

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[Liberty Mutual Companion]

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[Adam Graham (Host)]

Welcome back. Well, solid performance from William Conrad. I think this might be our first time hearing Conrad on Broadway's My beat. I don't think he's been on before, particularly compared to others like Butterfield and McNear who are on frequently. But he always does well with this type of character. One thing I was thinking as I was listening to the episode is that it's interesting how they try to make this really connect with the audience as real or true in a way, despite some of the over the top situations, it is really through keeping the show grounded in time. And this is somewhat unique. The degree to which Broadway's My Bait pretty much follows the calendar of the listeners very consistently week after week. Generally, if in an old time radio program you're going to reference Christmas preparations, but this isn't a Christmas episode and it's not your last episode before Christmas, you're just gonna kind of nod to it, make a comment about Christmas presents or something and move on. But really each week the narration does this job of establishing the atmosphere as this is something that is happening right now, this particular case, to bring it home to the audience. It's very different from Dragnet where episodes can essentially happen at any time of the year. Now, while Dragnet did a regular Christmas episode each year, there are quite a few episodes that were set at Christmas when a crime occurred, where it's not in any sense of the word, a Christmas episode. And when you get dates, they can essentially be any time of the year. Now, I think Christmas, that doesn't create problems for Dragnet for a couple of reasons. First, it is telling a true case. It's not necessarily following a calendar. Events can take several months. It's also helped by the fact that I think particularly to people outside of Los Angeles, it seems like a place with less changes in weather, at least, you know, seasonal changes. So no matter what time of year it is, you're not going to be dealing with snow, for example. And other programs are often somewhat silent when it comes to weather or seasons. Unless it's relevant to the plot or perhaps to establishing atmosphere in a particular episodes, you could pretty much put most of them at any time of the year. Unless you're imagining big amounts of snow on the ground. And the case works with Broadway's might be. It seems to be a decision that what they're going to try to communicate to the audience is that this doesn't happen in some nice sort of stage. The setting of Broadway's might be has a setting that's not some neat stage for a mystery to play out. It is a real living location with cycles and seasons and quirks that moves just like the place you live. So it's a very interesting approach and just to my mind, I can't think of many other shows that quite do it this way. All right, well, now it's time to thank our Patreon Supporter of the Day. Thank you to Sergey, patreon supporter since May 2020, currently supporting the podcast at the Psalmist level of $4 or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Sergey. That will 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 will be back next Wednesday with another episode of Broadway's My Beat. Join us back here tomorrow for Dragnet,

[Mr. Dorsey]

where let us check in yet? Yeah, all back. Work out fine.

[Mr. Garvey]

Would you please explain what this is about? Why you brought me down here. We think you know why. I don't. I haven't any idea. You take me away from my store on a busy day, you put a police guard on it. You insist on bringing me down here. What's it all about? Tell me. No, you tell us, Mr. Garvey. Tell you about what?

[Mr. Dorsey]

A jewel robbery nine months ago. That hold up. What hold up?

[Mr. Garvey]

My store hasn't been. I'm talking about your friend, Thomas Ashley.

[Ted Fletcher]

Ashley?

[Mr. Garvey]

What about him? We think you remember it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Nine months ago.

[Mr. Garvey]

Parking lot, back of the building down on 4th Street. Oh, sure. Some hold up man slugged him, stole his case of samples. I remember it now. Poor Tom. Thief made a big haul, didn't he?

[Detective Danny Clover]

On set.

[Mr. Dorsey]

Diamonds. $20,000 worth.

[Mr. Garvey]

I remember it now. I don't think Tom's gotten over it yet. That was a juvenile. For the same company at the time, you know. Same company Tom was working for.

[Mr. Dorsey]

Yeah, we know all that.

[Mr. Garvey]

Some of the big bosses thought Tom had a hand in it. They figured it was a put up job. Nothing was further from the truth.

[Mr. Dorsey]

That so?

[Mr. Garvey]

Sure, I know Tom. He's a close friend of mine. He wouldn't be mixed up in a deal like that. Tom and I worked out of the same office for years. We've had him over the house for dinner. We've even been on vacations together. He's one of the most honest men I know.

[Mr. Dorsey]

Are you sure of all this? Are you?

[Mr. Garvey]

Of course I'm sure. That isn't why you called me down here. You don't think Tom had anything to do with that robbery, do you? You don't think he was in on it?

[Detective Danny Clover]

He had nothing to do with it.

[Mr. Garvey]

I think you know that.

[Mr. Dorsey]

As well as we do.

[Mr. Garvey]

Then why am I here? There's nothing I can tell you about the holdup. Only what I heard from Tom, what I read in the news. No, you can tell us a lot more, Garvey. We didn't bring you here just past time of day. Tom was slugged and his sample case of stones were taken. That's all I can tell. You're a liar, mister. What? You engineered the whole thing.

[Mr. Dorsey]

We know it and so do you.

[Adam Graham (Host)]

I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime, send your comments to Box 13@Great Detectives.net follow us on Twitter @Radio Detectives, and check us out on Instagram. Instagram.com Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.

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[Liberty Mutual Companion]

Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[Liberty Mutual Companion]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

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Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

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[Liberty Mutual Companion]

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