
Today's Mystery: A housewife is missing and a ransom note was sent by a down-and-out man who was found murdered in a flop house. Original Radio Broadcast Date: November 24, 1950 Originating from Hollywood Starring: Larry Thor as Lieutenant Danny...
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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 and our listener support and appreciation campaign continues. You can become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as little as $2 per month. Just go to patreon.greatdetectives.net now from November 24, 1950, here is the Shorty Dunn murder case.
Detective Danny Clover
Broadway's My Beat. From Times Square to Columbus Circle, the gaudiest, the most viol, lonesomest mile in the world, Broadway is My Beat. With Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. November night slips down on Broadway. A gust of blackness and at once Broadway is a neon lighted revival meeting that screams for the joy in the South. Then the happy trumpet yells and makes the music of the nighttime ebbs into the darkness, drift and dies from my window at headquarters I watched it, watched a man detach himself from it, turn and stand for an instant in the shallow pool of light from a street lamp and consider it, turn again and up the steps and in a little while open my door. Because he's been told to see me.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Mr. Clover, come in.
Detective Danny Clover
You know all about me, don't you? Not a thing. Who are you?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
What do you mean, not a thing? I'm Mr. Bryant. And what do you know about me? About my wife? Why you think I was in here yesterday, tell you people a bunch of lies?
Detective Danny Clover
You Talked to someone else. I didn't know a thing about you. My wife, she didn't come home.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
She hasn't come home, Mr. Clover.
Detective Danny Clover
I see you reported a day ago.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Yes. Clara went out the other evening. I waited for her. Billy's been waiting.
Detective Danny Clover
Billy?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Three and a half going on four. The second one. Really. Our first child didn't even get born. See?
Detective Danny Clover
Why did you come to see me, Ms. Bryant?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
The man in the other office told me. Please find. Please find Clara, Mr. Clover. She's got to come home, Mr. Clover. Because the man in the other office said to show you the letter. Here. Open it and read it as you see. The man who wrote the letter says he knows where my wife is. He says his name is Shorty Dunn. And he says, come to the Apollo Hotel.
Detective Danny Clover
What does that mean?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
And bring money. That's strange.
Detective Danny Clover
It says, come to the Apollo Hotel, but it's written on Mission House stationery.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
And bring money. That's why I came to the police again. Although I am worried about my wife, I have my head about me. You, the police. You'll find her, Clara. And she'll come home to us. Then you fellas are good. Find her. Find her, Find her. Find her.
Detective Danny Clover
Suddenly, the spill of words stopped flowing from him. There came a moan of the helpless, its component parts defiance and shame. This was the universal currency of men who must beg to appease hunger, to barter dignity, to blot out the sudden emptiness. I told him I'd check on it, try to find his wife for him. Talk to the man who had written the letter. He accepted the alms I had given him, went away. The Apollo Hotel stands on a corner of the Bowery and Sal's men sleep at 50 cents a night. You walk up a flight of stairs, the grit under your feet screeching your presence. And at the landing, a desk moist with the sweat of hands that have bargained across it. Back of it, the man with the green eye shade, the broken, restless fingers, the bender of sleep.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
No way. We'll pull up every bed in the house.
Detective Danny Clover
I want Shorty Dunn. Is he here?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
You talk like you got a right to want somebody.
Detective Danny Clover
Police. Yeah, I know.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
You know how I know? Because I'm sensitive to the sounds feet make on my stairs. Without looking up, I can tell. Is it a rummy, a wine or a bum? A cop. You want Shorty, huh?
Detective Danny Clover
Yeah.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Imagine that. Shorty finally made it. Somebody wants him. Come on. Bed 12. Distressing. Ain't a policeman where a man comes in here for four bits worth of sleep. And something won't let him.
Detective Danny Clover
It bothers you.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
You'd be astonished how it bothers me. Yeah. Bed 12, Shorty. Done. Hey, Shorty. Here. Wake up. The day of miracles is here. You got a visitor. Asleep, Shorty? Well, what do you know about that?
Detective Danny Clover
You can't hear you, can he?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Look at him. Like a baby. The jackknife in his heart finally brought it to him. Yeah. You wanted him. Policeman, take him away so I can sell his bed all over again.
Detective Danny Clover
That's how it was that a stir was created in the Apollo Hotel, Bowery. Wino was murdered and a respectable housewife disappears. What element is common to both? Consider now the letter to Mr. Bryan. Written on Mission House stationery, 10th Avenue. Go there. And a man is standing there smiling and waiting for you to come to him.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
My name is Paul Foster. You're welcome here.
Detective Danny Clover
Thanks. I'm Danny Clover, police.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
I hope there's no trouble.
Detective Danny Clover
I'm trying to get some information about a man.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
So many men come in here for a hot meal or shoes. Friendliness, when we feel it will be accepting a newspaper, little thing. Sometimes even a job. Mostly we try to give away dignity.
Detective Danny Clover
I know you people do wonderful things.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Thank you. What man did you want to ask me about?
Detective Danny Clover
A Shorty.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Done. There's nothing I can tell you that's startling about Shorty. Of course. I can show you a written record on him. He's been rehabilitated about seven times, which is about normal.
Detective Danny Clover
When did you see him last?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Last night. It was very late. We had no bed for him.
Detective Danny Clover
He slept at the Apollo Hotel.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
I'm glad he did. I give him a half a dollar to find himself a bed. I'm glad he used it for that.
Detective Danny Clover
He was found stabbed to death.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Betty. It's gotten so that when I hear of death. Well, the lives of these men are repetitive. They're dying. I don't know what to say anymore.
Detective Danny Clover
He wrote a letter before he walked out of here, didn't he?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
That's right, he did. He told me it was very important. And I give him the stationary and enough stamps to send a letter special delivery.
Detective Danny Clover
Do you know anything else about him?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Not much. There's a bar down the street. Goldies, it's called. Shorty Swept Out. And whatever else needed to be done in places like that, you might drive there. Stabbed it there. Pity.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
I look her and I speak as a lady who's had lookers look at her before.
Detective Danny Clover
You're Goldie.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
The one and only. Gents call me that. Cause I got a Heart of gold and decent match what's left of me, see? Pure gold. My dowry to some lucky gent.
Detective Danny Clover
Goldie, I.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
You want to marry me, Looker. I been searching for the likes of you.
Detective Danny Clover
They told me it's the mission. How? Shorty Dunn worked here sometimes. Gully.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Shut up, lover.
Detective Danny Clover
Listen.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
That was our song. Shorty's and mine. In your caper, we cut to that.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
His dad called him murdered.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
You didn't need to tell me that. I knew about him. The gents brought me word. They lap up my beer and give me the world.
Detective Danny Clover
Tell me about him.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Your relative.
Detective Danny Clover
Police. Danny Clover.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
That makes you a relative.
Detective Danny Clover
Shorty was an old friend of yours?
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
My fiance. Many a day. Stood right there at the bar rail, just where you're standing. Proposed to me on bended knees.
Detective Danny Clover
But you didn't marry him.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Shorty. That no good? I take it back. I bite my tongue. There are a lot of nice things about Shorty.
Detective Danny Clover
Like what?
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Like the way he'd buy me a little present sometimes from the empties I gave him to sell.
Detective Danny Clover
He worked for you? You paid him.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
That wasn't work relative. For Shorty, it was a labor of love. I had to force my empties on him.
Detective Danny Clover
That's how he lived. Bought a place to sleep, something to eat.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Oh, my. Shorty had other sources of income.
Detective Danny Clover
Like what?
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Like Joe the junk man. Shorty sold him things he found in trash cans. You'd be surprised the things people throw away, lover.
Detective Danny Clover
Where do I find Joe?
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Over on Ninth, toward the river. Have one on the house, Danny, while Goldie goes in the back room and cries.
Detective Danny Clover
Your name.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Joe. Who are you?
Detective Danny Clover
You're open pretty late, aren't you, Joe? It's almost 11 o'.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Clock. Make junk at all hours. I stay here and sort it out. Now, who are you?
Detective Danny Clover
Danny Clover, Police. You got junk on your feet, Joe.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
I'm busy.
Detective Danny Clover
On your feet. Stand up.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
I want to talk to you. Better you get your 11 o' clock jollies this way. People gotta stand when they talk to you.
Detective Danny Clover
Wanna talk in your backyard or mine?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Talk.
Detective Danny Clover
Did you know Shorty Dunn? Did I know him?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
I know him.
Detective Danny Clover
He's been murdered. So you know anything about it?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Look, to me, Shorty was bottles. He brought bottles and I paid him. All it means to me that Shorty is dead. That I'm gonna have to find someone.
Detective Danny Clover
Just as good, huh?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
What do you want from me? What I got here is junk. Who brings it here is junk.
Detective Danny Clover
Where did Shorty hang up a question?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
He held out his Hand on corners. Who knows what corners? He slept in doorways. He slept at the mission house. He slept in those tenements over there.
Detective Danny Clover
Over where?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Two of them. Right over there. You can see them if you stand on your toes and look over the fence. Deserted. Condemned. You know how tenements get. Like people get. Danny.
Detective Danny Clover
Over here. Muggle.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
If you hadn't answered, I wouldn't have known it was you. Shape, shadow. Something left over.
Detective Danny Clover
Let's go.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
You're looking for something, Danny, in this tenement. That's why you called me? Uh huh. If it's not asking too much.
Detective Danny Clover
Something that'll help me find Shorty Dunn's murder, the club. Something he may have left. Slept here sometimes, the man told me. Look for it. Mugavan. Okay, Danny, you take these rooms. I'll go on down the hall.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Yeah.
Detective Danny Clover
Get away.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Danny, come here. I found something. Not what you expected, huh, Danny?
Detective Danny Clover
No.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
She was strangled. See the flash shows up the marks on the throat. I'd say she's been here a night, maybe more.
Detective Danny Clover
Anything else?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Yeah. This purse I found laying beside her.
Detective Danny Clover
Open it.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Yeah. Compact, lipstick, tissues, a wallet. No money. A picture of a little boy. Identification card says Mrs. James Bryan, 1946 West 146. Case of accident notified. James Bryan. Danny? Huh? Isn't this the Mrs. Bryan that was reported missing? The one her husband?
Detective Danny Clover
Yeah, that one.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
She was here all the time. What do you know about that? What do you know?
Detective Danny Clover
You are listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. There's a time on Broadway when the street has not yet come into its own. The empty hours, the useless hours between dawn and noon. Broadway scrubs its sidewalks, tries to sweep the hours away, to pile them into gutters. It eyes the unlighted neon, checks the sleeping masters of the spectaculars. Longs for the time of darkness. But the daylight clings. You must find a way of rejecting it. A kid brush it, huh? Because what kicks are there when the sun shines down? Except this item. Maybe the item in the paper you picked out of the trash bin. Missing woman found, it says. In condemned tenement murdered. And this one, derelict stabbed to death in flop house. That'll hold you, huh, kid? Till the night time. Sure it will. And it heads quarters. A man comes in, oozing with information. You know that because he tells you.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
I'm oozing with it, Danny. The bits and pieces I got for.
Detective Danny Clover
You, you'll give them to me, naturally, but.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Peace. Meal first, Detective Mugman has even now picked up Mr. Mayan. They are on their way to the morgue to identify the deceased.
Detective Danny Clover
Well, tell me the rest of the way there, huh?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Tartaglia, if you promise to let me keep up with you.
Detective Danny Clover
I promise.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Second, on the person of the deceased, Shorty Dunn was found. $20, undoubtedly from the purse of Mrs. Clara Bryan.
Detective Danny Clover
Go on.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Thirdly, our boys have checked with the manager of the flop house. He tells them a guy he could never describe bought a bed at his hotel, registered as Joe Jones, slept for a while next to Shorty, got up, walked away. Nobody knows where. Nobody cares. Except us, huh, Danny?
Detective Danny Clover
Well, what else?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Hey, Danny, not so fast. What else is. Fourthly, a list was found in Mrs. Bryan's purse, which appears to our experts to be a shopping list. It so appears to me also.
Detective Danny Clover
You've got it?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Naturally.
Detective Danny Clover
Give it to me.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
I had so intended. It's not necessary for me to go in with you, Danny, into the morgue. It spoils my day. You can go back to. Thanks, Danny. Oh, no, you can't. Not to me.
Detective Danny Clover
The spectacle of death on a slab lit by a single boat. The chill wind that's built into the Mord rocked the light gently. And they appeared, each in his turn. A policeman, a dead woman, her husband stark. It needed another quality, not another spectator. I left. Now, there was a list Mrs. Bryan had intended to visit. Four places. 10 cent store on a side street off upper Broadway, a lending library close by, a place called Mildred's Beauty shop, and a Dr. Johnson. Whether she had gotten to these places or in what sequence, I didn't know. I had to find out.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Yes, sir? Something I can do for you?
Detective Danny Clover
My name's Clover, Mr. Libby. I'm from the police.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Police?
Detective Danny Clover
That's right.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Why? I mean, why are you here as a customer.
Detective Danny Clover
Go, policeman. I want some information.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
I'd be glad to. But what information would I have for the police?
Detective Danny Clover
Did you know Mrs. Clara Bram, the.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Woman who was murdered? Yes. She was in here the other night, the night before last.
Detective Danny Clover
What time was that, Mr.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Living? Oh, I couldn't tell you that. I don't know.
Detective Danny Clover
What does she buy?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Well, you can't expect me to remember that. Every item I have in the store. 10 cents or 25 or a dollar.
Detective Danny Clover
Keep a tab from your cash register of your sales.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Oh, yes.
Detective Danny Clover
Get it from the day before yesterday.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
All right. Here you are. As you see, every item, 10 cents or 25.
Detective Danny Clover
Here's the sale for $4.98, the last item on the tab.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Oh, the toy Bear. The mechanical bear. I bought a shipment for Christmas. I remember now. Mrs. Bryan bought one for her. Billy. That's her son.
Detective Danny Clover
Then she must have been your last customer.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
She must have been. I closed at 7, but I. I don't have any idea how near the closing time she left. Not any. Yes sir. A book. Get well, Card.
Detective Danny Clover
You run this place alone a little bit, huh?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Sometimes.
Detective Danny Clover
I asked you. I got another one coming out.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Isn't I in the nose every fall? Like clockwork. You'll pardon me when I take my enemy. You asked me something.
Detective Danny Clover
If you ran this place alone.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
That's right. Absolutely right. All alone. That matters.
Detective Danny Clover
Then you knew Mrs. Clara Bryan?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Not as well as I would have liked. Ever see her? I mean before. Shouldn't have happened to Clara. No. You've got a point there, mister. Yes sir, you've got a point. Whenever Clara walked in, it filled the day for me. Made me lend books to myself to read at night.
Detective Danny Clover
What'd it do for her?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
You're a policeman? Uh huh. I thought so. The way you ask questions. Very personal, very apt.
Detective Danny Clover
Then you'll answer them because you like the way I ask them.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
What it did for her? You asked. How would you know about a woman like Mrs. Bryan? I'd pass the remark. She'd smile. You know, they're kind of Mona Lisa like. Borrow two books instead of one.
Detective Danny Clover
That was all.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
I offered to give her a book once. Anyone she wanted. Any price. She let me walk her home that evening, but didn't take the book.
Detective Danny Clover
That was night before last.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Don't cloud me. Not night before last. Two weeks ago.
Detective Danny Clover
But she was here night before last?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Yes. To return a book. Hated it, she said. I knocked off a day's rent. She didn't take another book out.
Detective Danny Clover
Did she have anything with her? A package, Mechanical doll?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Nothing. Just the book and herself. I noticed. Because I'm Mrs. Brian. I noticed these things every time she walked in here.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Coming, coming. Is the wife here? Sit down right over there. And have a magazine. Which one's your wife? I'll tell her.
Detective Danny Clover
I'm from the police.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Bully for you. Which one's your wife?
Detective Danny Clover
I want some information from someone named Mildred.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Me? What information?
Detective Danny Clover
About Clara Bryan.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Sure, I'll tell you about her. I read the morning papers. Your son strangled. You want me to tell you why?
Detective Danny Clover
That's right.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Clara was attractive. She was 35 years old and their hair didn't need touching. Had a nice figure and she knew it. She was proud of it. Had a husband who worked too hard and came home Too late.
Detective Danny Clover
How do you know all this?
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
I run a beauty parlor. And it's for women. You want to listen to some of them right now, Mrs. Conley's in there telling her hairdresser why sometimes she's sorry she got a divorce.
Detective Danny Clover
Did Clara Bryan know any men?
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
You say it so gently. Women don't say it like that at all.
Detective Danny Clover
Did she know any?
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
She loved her husband. What woman doesn't like a man to look at her? What woman doesn't like to be insulted? But Clara always went to her husband and child.
Detective Danny Clover
She was in here the night before last, wasn't she?
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Yeah, she was.
Detective Danny Clover
How long did she stay?
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Just a few minutes. Long enough for me to tell her we couldn't take her. Remember? She wanted to wash and set.
Detective Danny Clover
Do you remember what time it was?
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
I came back from dinner about 5:30. A little after that, about a quarter six.
Detective Danny Clover
One more thing.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Before.
Detective Danny Clover
Was she carrying anything?
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
I think she had a book with her. That's right, she did. She told me it was a terrible book, waste of time and she was returning it.
Detective Danny Clover
Did she have a toy with her? A mechanical bear?
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
I. I didn't notice. Maybe she did. You want anything else?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
No.
Goldie / Mildred / Other Female Characters
Can you pardon me? It's time to take Mrs. Westfall out of the oil.
Detective Danny Clover
I'm certain of it. When Mrs. Bryan came for her appointment.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
At 6, she was only carrying a book, nothing else.
Detective Danny Clover
Why did Mrs. Bryan have to come to you?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
A chiropractor?
Detective Danny Clover
Mrs. Bryan had trouble with her back. She'd been coming to me for some time now.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Aches in her back, pain. I did what I could.
Detective Danny Clover
I gave her temporary relief, but.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
What are you trying to say? I cured the Simpsons, but not the source of her trouble.
Detective Danny Clover
That doesn't tell me a whole lot. Well, you understand, I'm not a medical doctor.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
I'm a chiropractor. What I'm going to tell you is only conjecture. All right. Her trouble was here. Here in her head. Not in her past.
Detective Danny Clover
Meaning?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Old is a very glib word for it.
Detective Danny Clover
Psychosomatic.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
It's simple, really. She was tired of routine. She'd reached a point in life when she recognized the fact that what she had was all it was going to be as far as her life was concerned. She was restless in her mind.
Detective Danny Clover
Men.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Clara didn't have the heart to do anything like that. Clara didn't. She permitted me that, to call her.
Detective Danny Clover
By her first name.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
I confess it to you. She knew I was attracted to her. Once, when she left here, she touched my cheek and smiled. If she Would have let me. I would have tried to make her happy. Believe me Mr. Clover, she wouldn't let me.
Detective Danny Clover
And that ended that. These were the four places Mrs. Bryan had visited before she died. When she had gone to the beauty shop, she had a book she left there with it. It gotten rid of it at the next stop, the lending library. Then the 6 o' clock appointment with the chiropractor. The chiropractor was certain she didn't have the mechanical toy with her. And the man at the 10 Cent Store was certain he'd sold her one. So the store had been the last stop on the list. Go back there.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Hello there. I see you came back.
Detective Danny Clover
That's right.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
How you coming? With what? Well, as you know, with the murder case.
Detective Danny Clover
Oh, not so good Mr. Living.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
I was reading the papers. I see where you boys found a bum in the Bowery, stabbed to death. This happened while you were looking for Mrs. Bryan, didn't it? Uh huh. You sound tired.
Detective Danny Clover
Mind if I look around for a while? These toys. Quite a collection.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Do you have kitties? No, I'm not married. Oh. Have you, have you made any progress on the case? Some nice toy it with you? Maybe you've got a. A nephew?
Detective Danny Clover
No, no, none of those either.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
What do you figure the connection is between that bum and Mrs. Brian?
Detective Danny Clover
Pretty obvious. Obvious to you boys not to attend store man like me. Well it's like this. Our technical boys tell me Mrs. Bryan wasn't strangled in the tenement at some other place. She was killed and then brought to the tenement.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Do you figure the bomb killed her? Huh. I read where he had $20 in his pocket.
Detective Danny Clover
Motive was robbery.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
No, that's not what happened.
Detective Danny Clover
What happened is.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
I see you're staring at my498 item. Those mechanical bears, you like them?
Detective Danny Clover
What happened is this. Our bum Shorty was about to bed down for the night in the condemned tenement. He found Mrs. Bryant's body, opened her pocketbook. So she was, took her money and ran. You boys. Killer had just put Mrs. Bryant in the tenement. He watched Shorty do all that, followed Shorty the rest of his life. Saw him write a letter at the mission.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
A letter? I didn't read anything about that.
Detective Danny Clover
Killer must have seen that the letter.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Was addressed to her husband. Well how did you figure that without seeing what happened and all?
Detective Danny Clover
That's the only way it makes sense.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Gee, I don't know. I stick to my theory. I still think the bum killed her.
Detective Danny Clover
No, you're wrong Mr. Libby. Shorty didn't kill Her. The killer followed Shorty to the Apollo Hotel and killed him because he thought that the reason Shorty had written to Mr. Bryan was to tell him he knew who had murdered his wife.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Mrs. Bryan was an attractive woman, wasn't she? I really didn't notice, Sonny. Everybody else noticed. I didn't. Funny. All the attention I pay to people is what they buy. I. I have a living to make.
Detective Danny Clover
How many of these 498 mechanical bears did you order?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Six. Funny. What's funny? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. There's still six here on the shelf. What's that got to do with anything?
Detective Danny Clover
You sold one to Mrs. Bryan, remember?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
What?
Detective Danny Clover
But you never took it out of.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
The store, did you?
Detective Danny Clover
After you killed her, you put it.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Back on the shelf. She. She teased me. She looked promises at me. When I'd wrapped her packages for her. She'd stand close to me. And when I looked at her, she'd turn around and walk away. The other night. The other night, she looked tired. I invited her in the back for coffee. She said all right. She went back and slouched down in my chair. I looked at her. I brushed her hair back from her cheek. She started to scream. Something happened. I strangled her.
Detective Danny Clover
Broadway It's a hunger Complete with eight beat rhythm and spinning neon Grab yourself a dream and dance a while Close your eyes make believe you've got your arms around something good Keep them closed what you're holding is dust It's Broadway the gaudiest, the most violent the lonesomest mile in the world Broadway My Beat Tonight on F E N Presents, you've.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Been listening to some of the best.
Detective Danny Clover
In radio drama with Bibber McGee and Molly and Broadway Is My Beat.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Join us again Monday evening at the.
Detective Danny Clover
Same time 9:05 when Fen presents Dragnet and Escape.
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Adam Graham
Welcome back. Well, a really good episode, some solid detective work by Danny and piecing together what happened and probably with less interference from other sources than was usual. It's also worth noting that Herb Butterfield was in this. He actually had doubles and neither role was the murderer. Herb Butterfield as the murderer. Streak is over. You definitely do feel for the murdered woman in this case. Now, of course, you have cases where sometimes the murderer seems to have a sympathetic motive. But in this case, pretty much the only reason this lady got killed is that she was a nice woman who happened to be good looking and some guy wanted to make something of it and killed her in a rage. Now, on a more technical note, the information at the end identifying the Far east network, which was originally established for American servicemen stationed in the Pacific, particularly in Japan, Okinawa and Guam, and continued to operate till 1991. Based on the recording and similar ones I've heard, I think this was a disc of a rebroadcast from the 70s. All right, listener comments and feedback now. And we start on Spotify, where mechanic66 writes regarding the Johnny Hill murder case. Despite Danny's threat, the police can't hold someone for a week or a month on suspicion they need to be brought before a judge and probable cause shown within a set time, usually 48 hours. And this is correct, and you will see other more realistic programs incorporate that idea that they've got a certain amount of time before the person is going to be released on a writ. Now, in this case, the person who Danny's threatening may not know this. And it's also possible the writers didn't know it either. But I appreciate the comment. And then a comment on YouTube regarding the Laura Burton murder case. Just a simple. Great listening, thank you. And then we also have a listener survey where listener writes simply. I like this. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to fill out our survey. And 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'll be back next Wednesday with another episode of Broadway's My Bait. But join us back here tomorrow for Dragnet, where.
Mr. Pearson
I thought Everybody knew that Sergeant Mrs. Gorman running around with that Ralph Kane. I'm no busybody. I wouldn't have mentioned at all if this hadn't happened. You say Kane had been seeing Mrs. Gorman for the last six months, is.
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
That right, Mr. Pearson?
Mr. Pearson
About six months. That's how long I've seen it. Go on, James, don't be such a hog. Let Fred have some of the milk, too.
Detective Danny Clover
Greedy little devils.
Mr. Pearson
Do you know of anybody else in the neighborhood who's been aware of this, Mr. Pearson? I mean, Mrs. Gorman and Ms. Ralph Kane? Well, I know for sure that Thelma White next door knows about it. She's mentioned it to me. Kane used to park with Mrs. Gorman near that vacant lot by Thelma's house. Those were the nights that Mr. Gorman was working late. Would you know if Mr. Gorman was aware of this? That his wife was running around with another man? I'm pretty sure he did, Sergeant. That's the strange part about it. How do you know, sir? George, the man who delivers the groceries, he just happened to mention to me once. All right, James. Right, it's all gone now. Run off and play. Yes, George, the grocery man. He made a delivery to the Gormans once and heard them round about it. George said Mr. Gorman was very mad. Talked divorce, all that sort of thing. How about the Gorman's little girl, Mr. Pearson? Little Nancy?
Various Supporting Characters (e.g., Mr. Bryant, Paul Foster, Joe, Mr. Libby)
Tragic, Sergeant.
Mr. Pearson
Such a sweet little thing. Ms. Mrs. Gorman kept her under an iron hand. Imagine, the little girl's only two years old. Mrs. Gorman was after her with a stick all the time. She's not much of a mother. Not the way I look at it, anyway.
Adam Graham
I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime, send your comments to box Thirteenreatdetectives.net Follow us on Twitter radiodetectives. Check us out on Instagram instagram.com greatdetectives from Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.
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Date: September 17, 2025
Host: Adam Graham
This episode features a classic radio detective story from "Broadway’s My Beat," titled "The Shorty Dunn Murder" (original airdate: November 24, 1950). Detective Danny Clover investigates the disappearance of Clara Bryan and the murder of a Bowery derelict named Shorty Dunn. The tale unfolds through gritty New York neighborhoods and dives into themes of urban loneliness, desperation, and the tragic consequences of obsession.
Adam Graham introduces and wraps up the episode with commentary, feedback, and historical context. The heart of the episode remains the immersive dramatization and methodical detective work characteristic of Golden Age radio crime fiction.
“Please find Clara, Mr. Clover. She’s got to come home… The man who wrote the letter says he knows where my wife is. He says his name is Shorty Dunn.” — Mr. Bryan (03:59)
“Policeman, take him away so I can sell his bed all over again.” — Hotel Clerk (06:36)
“He’s been rehabilitated about seven times, which is about normal.” — Paul Foster (07:44) “He was found stabbed to death.” — Danny Clover (08:09) "It's gotten so that when I hear of death...I don't know what to say anymore." — Paul Foster (08:12)
“Shorty had other sources of income... like Joe the junk man. Shorty sold him things he found in trash cans.” — Goldie (10:54)
“She was strangled. See the marks on her throat... purse beside her... Mrs. James Bryan.” — Mugavan (13:53 – 14:04)
"On the person of the deceased, Shorty Dunn was found $20, undoubtedly from the purse of Mrs. Clara Bryan." — Tartaglia (16:24)
“Her trouble was here. Here in her head. Not in her back.” — Chiropractor (24:18)
“She was tired of routine... she was restless in her mind.” — Chiropractor (24:22)
“You sold one to Mrs. Bryan, remember?... But you never took it out of the store, did you?... After you killed her, you put it back on the shelf.” — Danny Clover (28:34 – 28:41)
“She teased me...I strangled her.” — Mr. Libby (28:44 – 29:56)
On Loss and Loneliness:
“A moan of the helpless, its component parts defiance and shame. This was the universal currency of men who must beg to appease hunger, to barter dignity, to blot out the sudden emptiness.” — Danny Clover (04:50)
On Urban Despair:
“Broadway... the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.” — Danny Clover (02:23)
On the Tragedy of Motivation:
“Pretty much the only reason this lady got killed is that she was a nice woman who happened to be good-looking and some guy wanted to make something of it and killed her in a rage.” — Adam Graham (32:35)
Goldie’s Resilience:
“Gents call me that, ’cause I got a heart of gold... my dowry to some lucky gent.” — Goldie (09:15)
For fans of classic radio drama or anyone interested in detective fiction, this episode offers all the grit, poetry, and heartbreak of postwar New York — with a satisfying, detail-driven solution.