Broadway's My Beat: The Thomas Hart Murder Case (EP4818)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio

Episode: Broadway's My Beat — The Thomas Hart Murder Case (EP4818)

Date: October 8, 2025 | Host: Adam Graham

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Adam Graham introduces a suspenseful installment from the classic radio series Broadway’s My Beat: “The Thomas Hart Murder Case” (original air date April 14, 1951). Detective Danny Clover, the poetic and hard-boiled voice of Broadway, investigates the murder of an unassuming errand boy, Thomas Hart. As Danny unravels the case, he discovers tangled webs of workplace tensions, blackmail, and deadly secrets lurking in New York’s garment district. After the audio drama, Adam offers lighthearted commentary and reads listener feedback.

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Key Discussion Points & Episode Breakdown

1. Crime Scene & Introduction to the Case

• [02:39] Broadway is restlessly waiting for something to happen. That “something” arrives as Danny Clover joins a crowd around the body of Thomas Hart, stabbed with scissors and sprawled over dress racks in the Garment District.
• [03:59] Initial facts:
  • Victim: Thomas Hart, works as an errand boy for Sinclair Stylecraft.
  • No witnesses; all onlookers preoccupied during the lunch hour.
  • Clover’s partner, Mugavin, helps manage the scene.

2. Sinclair Stylecraft & Interrogations

• [05:49] Clover visits the workplace; owner Justin Sinclair is shaken but guarded.
  • Justin Sinclair: “I've been in business for a long time. A man gets hard driving for a dollar... Tommy was interested... I’m horrified.” [06:08]
• [06:36] Stella Croft, designer, is cool and dismissive toward Hart, calling him “annoying.”

3. Probing Hart’s Life — The Rooming House

• [08:01] At Hart’s apartment, the colorful janitor Jonesy offers local gossip:
  • Jonesy: “Tommy's dead. He don't need nobody in his room. Now he's dead. Can't use 'em.” [08:16]
  • Jonesy mentions mysterious visitors, including a woman in “silk stockings and high-strapped shoes.”
• [09:40] Clover uncovers $500 in Hart’s belongings and scribbled directions leading to the next clue.

4. Sinclair Home & Family Dynamics

• [10:38] Elizabeth Sinclair (Justin’s wife) hosts Clover during her canasta party.
  • She describes Hart coming to dinner with a girl from the shipping department, Ginny Morrow.
• [12:25] Ginny is characterized as brash, lower-class, and out of place at the table:
  • Ginny Morrow: “The view is for free... Teeth, courtesy Dr. West... Figure courtesy careful planning.” [13:49]

5. Suspects & Motives — Unraveling Relationships

• [13:49] Ginny Morrow denies any deep connection to Hart and hints at a complicated romantic rotation involving Stella.
• [15:15] Stella Croft is last seen at the Pantages Theater sketching designs. She is later found stabbed to death, echoing Hart’s murder.

6. Sinclair Confronted — The Web Tightens

• [18:10] Clover revisits the Sinclairs, probing Justin and Elizabeth about Sinclair’s “friendship” with Stella. They both insist nothing improper happened beyond work-related events.
• [20:28] Elizabeth details Justin’s excursions with Stella but maintains they were strictly business. Justin is visibly burdened.

7. Break in the Case — Revelations and Danger

• [21:47] At Stella’s apartment, Clover encounters Ginny, who admits jealousy and hints at Sinclair’s wandering eye.
• [22:46] Clover is suddenly stabbed from behind, echoing the attack on Hart, but survives.
  • Dr. Sinski: “Last night he got a hole in his back from unsharpened scissors. And this morning he tells me he's all right.” [24:22]

8. Final Pieces — The Badger Game

• [25:13] The link: Stella and Hart were briefly married in Maryland and attempted to extort Sinclair in a classic “badger game” — Stella lured Sinclair, and Hart blackmailed him with the marriage certificate.
  • Gino: “Tommy Hart and Stella Croft were once married... Mugavin dug it out of the records.” [25:15]
• [26:09] Clover confronts Sinclair and accuses him. Sinclair confesses to killing Hart but not Stella.
• [28:16] Elizabeth Sinclair confesses to killing Stella to protect her family:
  • Elizabeth Sinclair: “I killed. I'd kill again.” [28:16]
  • Justin Sinclair: “What'll we do about the boy?” [28:25]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Broadway’s Night & Day (Danny Clover):
  “Broadway's night is a banquet loaded with delicacies... but Broadway's day, that's the drab time, kid, the empty time... And you wait with the rest of Broadway because it'll come. Something will come.” [02:39]
• On Sinclairs' Relationship with Stella (Elizabeth Sinclair):
  “There was nothing between Stella Croft and my husband Justin, except the normal relationship of an employer to his employee.” [19:41]
• Ginny's Class Awareness:
  “You ever had it? The feeling that you've been taken someplace just so you could insult people with your presence?... It's an insult just by being what you are.” [14:46]
• Twist Ending:
  • Clover: “You got Tommy out of the way, Sinclair. Why did you kill Stella?”
  • Elizabeth Sinclair: “I killed. I'd kill again.” [28:16]

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Important Story Arcs & Timestamps

| Segment | Content Summary | Timestamp | |----------------------------------|-------------------------------------|------------| | Clover at murder scene | Discovery of Thomas Hart's body | 02:39 | | Interviews at Sinclair Stylecraft| Sinclair and Stella questioned | 05:49 | | Hart's apartment | Janitor, clues, $500, directions | 08:01 | | Sinclair home | Family details, Ginny introduced | 10:38 | | Interview with Ginny | Hart’s relationships revealed | 13:49 | | Stella's murder at theater | Second murder, stakes escalate | 16:37 | | Confrontation with Sinclairs | Affairs, secrets, denials | 18:10 | | Clover attacked | Investigator becomes target | 22:46 | | Dr. Sinski’s medical humor | “You got a hole in your back...” | 24:22 | | Discovery: the badger game | Stella and Hart’s scheme | 25:13 | | Final confessions | Justin and Elizabeth unravel | 26:16–28:16|

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Host Commentary & Listener Feedback

Highlights:

• Adam Graham remarks on the melodramatic turns:
  “There’s nothing quite like getting the vital clue to get Danny back into perfect health... Not sure which is more improbable, Danny’s quick recovery or the logistics of the stabbing.” [31:35]
• He notes the show’s dramatic satisfaction despite narrative leaps, praises the acting, and reads listener messages about old-time radio quirks—such as permanent clock times in store windows, and sending thanks to Patreon supporters.

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Tone & Style

• Original Series: Noir, poetic, evocative monologues from Danny Clover; hard-boiled detective patter interspersed with literary flourishes.
• Host Commentary: Warm, witty, with an eye for detail and appreciation of the classic radio sensibility.

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Conclusion

This episode is a solid showcase of Broadway’s My Beat — a perfect mix of pulpy intrigue, noir atmosphere, and human complexity. The case’s unraveling, marked by jealousy, class tension, and an age-old blackmail scheme, keeps listeners guessing. Adam Graham’s reflections add depth and humor, ensuring both fans of the original and newcomers find much to enjoy.

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For More Mysteries:
Subscribe or explore archives at greatdetectives.net.

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Transcript

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

This is the story of the One As a custodial supervisor at a high school, he knows that during cold and flu season, germs spread fast. It's why he partners with Granger to stay fully stocked on the products and supplies he needs, from tissues to disinfectants to floor scrubbers, all so that he can help students, staff and teachers stay healthy and focused. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grange Ranger for the ones who get it done.

[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 Bait. But first, I do want to encourage you if you're enjoying the podcast, to 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 by sending a donation via the Zell app to [e-mail]. you can also become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as little as $2 per month by going to patreon.greatdetectives.net well, now, from April 14, 1951, here is the Thomas Hart murder case.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Broadway's My Beat. From Times Square to Columbus Circus, 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]

The day without color is only six hours old and the restlessness begins to eat at Broadway. The waiting, the longing for the nighttime begins to gnaw like hunger, like thirst. Because Broadway's night is a banquet loaded with delicacies. The scarlet wine of neon, the forbidden fruit of a trumpet scream, the lukewarm stew offered on a tin plate through an alley doorway. But Broadway's day, that's the drab time, kid, the empty time. The time of leaning against sun warmed stone and waiting. And you wait with the rest of Broadway because it'll come. Something will come. And it does. You know that because Broadway nudges you with an elbow, winks, says, follow me, kid. The day has turned bright, and it's not far away where the day is bright. On 39th street, just off 7th Avenue in the Garment center, the crowd is already there ahead of you, toothpicking its last bite of lunch, digesting the spectacle of a man sprawled on the pavement. The dress rack he'd been pushing lay beneath him. There was a scissors in his back, his blood sketched A new pattern on the bright flowered silk prints. And the man heavy in the shoulders, pushing his face into the crowd so you can be close to it, so he can fill you in on it.

[Justin Sinclair]

You got here fast, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I was shown the way. Who is he, Mugavin?

[Justin Sinclair]

His wallet says he's Thomas Hart. Social Security card, YMCA membership. It all says he was Thomas Hart. These people know him? They call him by name. You don't answer for 20 minutes now, I'd say.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Any of them see it happen?

[Justin Sinclair]

No. I asked around. They were all busy with shop talk, with wife and kid talk, with union talk. First thing they noticed was Sinclair Stylecraft's new sample spring line was spilled in the gutter. They kept the cabs and trucks from running over the dress.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Sinclair what?

[Justin Sinclair]

Sinclair style Craft. See on address labels. Huh. A dress manufacturing place up the street. He worked there. They all told me that and I didn't even ask.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Keep them back, Muggerman. They're waiting for us to act something out. Just keep them back. After a while, one of the onlookers glanced at his watch, hurried away. Lunch hour was over and he'd be around the water cooler this afternoon. Something big just happened to him. He'd seen a man with a scissors in his back and a girl looked up from the pavement, smiled across the crowd to a boy in a sports shirt and walked away slowly. The woman in a youthful hat took her place. In a few minutes, it was all over. Two men threw a blanket over the face of Thomas Hart and carried him away. Then work to do. Thomas Hart worked for Sinclair stylecraft. Ladies and Mrs. Dresses down the street. Go there. Four flights up on a freight elevator, nod to the gray haired man holding the wheel in a comic book. Get no answer. And through the rows of sewing machines where 100 women spend eight hours a day with a dress pattern and a bobbin, then finally ushered into the office of the man of destiny for the fourth floor, Mr. Justin Sinclair.

[Justin Sinclair]

Sit down, Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Danny Clover. Police.

[Justin Sinclair]

About what happened downstairs?

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's right.

[Justin Sinclair]

You want a cigar?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tell me about Thomas Hart.

[Justin Sinclair]

Sure, I'll tell you. You don't mind that I'm smoking, do you? Oh, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What's that supposed to tell me?

[Justin Sinclair]

Look, I've been in business for a long time. A man gets hard driving for a dollar. Takes a time like this to make me know what kind of a man I've gotten to be.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Not asking you to weep for the boy, Mr. Sinclair.

[Justin Sinclair]

I wish I could weep. That's just what I mean. I'VE forgotten how. Tommy was a bright youngster. So what if he was pushing dress racks around? I did it once. Tommy was interested. Tommy asked questions about the business. I'm sad, Mr. Clover. Don't laugh at me. I'm more than Sad. I'm horrified.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Mr. Sinclair.

[Justin Sinclair]

Well, come in. Come in. Stella. Ms. Croft. Mr. Clover. Mr. Clover is from the police.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Yes. They told me in the shop a policeman was here.

[Justin Sinclair]

That's why I'm glad you did. He wants to know all about Tommy.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

What do you Want to know, Mr. Clover?

[Detective Danny Clover]

As much as you can tell me. Mostly why somebody murdered him.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Tommy was an errand boy and pushed dress racks. I'm sorry he's dead, but frankly, he annoyed me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How.

[Justin Sinclair]

Mr. Clover? Come now, look at Miss Croft, will you? Just look at her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Now I'm looking. Does it annoy you, Ms. Croft?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Not yet. If you came into my office and said, sitting at my drawing board, then if you grinned, then if you winked.

[Justin Sinclair]

You really couldn't blame Tommy, Miss Croft. Natural normal.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Don't you do it, Mr. Sinclair.

[Justin Sinclair]

Quite a girl, huh? Quite a young lady.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What else about Tommy?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Nothing. Not a thing.

[Justin Sinclair]

Me either.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right, where does he live?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

I can tell you that. Follow me out. I'll get the address for you from our personnel man.

[Justin Sinclair]

Yes. You'll find Sinclair Stylecraft Cooperative. Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Anything. Anything at all.

[Jonesy]

Next time knock soft, mister. You want something from Jonesy? The keeper of the garbage pails. The collective rent shall knock soft.

[Detective Danny Clover]

They told me Thomas Hart lived here. Show me his room.

[Jonesy]

Tommy. Tommy's dead. It's been the topic of the day for the tenants.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How?

[Jonesy]

Tommy's dead. He don't need nobody in his room. Now he's dead. Can't use him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Look closely, Jonesy. This is how a policeman looks. Who wants something, huh?

[Jonesy]

I don't care what your sickness is. Next time knock soft. Come on.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Come on. You knew Tommy? No.

[Jonesy]

Sure I know him. He never wrapped his leavings in the newspaper. Not even a greasy brown paper bag. What else do you need to know about a man?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Sometimes you'd open your door and peep at his callers.

[Jonesy]

Sure I peep. You don't peep when you get the chance.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Back off, Jonesy. Who'd you see? Who?

[Jonesy]

Once it was a guy with a dirty white apron and a sack of beer cans. Up these stairs he went whistling. Give me a minute. I'll tell you what he was whistling.

[Detective Danny Clover]

No one else?

[Justin Sinclair]

Sure, sure.

[Jonesy]

Someone else with silk stockings and high strapped shoes. But living as I live in a basement apartment, it Got away from me before I could see the face that never took a moment's happiness away from me. Not seeing the face. What do I care? Tommy's room.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Phew.

[Jonesy]

Crummy tenant, wasn't he? Crumbs. Bring exterminators. Exterminators Cost the management money. Take your hands off Tommy's suitcase.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Something in this shirt pocket.

[Jonesy]

What? Nose tissues. Tommy was always with nose tissues.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I forgot to tell you, Mommy. 20s, tens, $500.

[Jonesy]

All's in there is a washbasin. That calendar you're looking at, I got piled downstairs, you can take your choice. Don't rob a dead man's dream.

[Detective Danny Clover]

There's an address scribbled under the picture. Directions.

[Jonesy]

Let me see. Let me see. Out of the way. That's address, all right. You think?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Knock soft, Jonesy. You want something? Knock soft.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Yes?

[Detective Danny Clover]

The name plate on the door says this is the residence of Justin and Elizabeth Sinclair. Is that right?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

No, I'm Mrs. Sinclair. What is it you want?

[Detective Danny Clover]

My name's Danny Clover. I'm from the. The police.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

You're from the police? Well, come in, please. My husband phoned and said a policeman might be around. Oh, my girls. Girls were raided. Oh, I was just fooling. Now, Mr. Clover didn't come here to break up our canasta game, did you, Mr. Clover? We're only playing for a 20th. This is Mrs. Westfall, Mrs. Meston and Ms. Natalie. Now, Miss Natalie does our hair. After the game, she wins our.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Can we talk someplace, Mrs. Sinclair?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Of course we can. Deal me out. Girls, in here. We'll close the door so we won't be disturbed. Now, now, tell me all about it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right. I came from Tommy Hart's room a little while ago. He had some directions penciled on a calendar. The directions brought me here.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Well, but I don't understand. Tommy's dead.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Maybe Tommy scribbled those directions before he was murdered, huh?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Oh, of course. Surely.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Then Tommy must have been here on some occasion or another.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Well, of course he was.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What was the occasion?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Dinner. You'd think I'd get someone in to cook dinner, wouldn't you? But I didn't. I never do. No, I still cook, Mr. Clover. Like I did before all this happened. All this. You know, the French provincial furniture and the set of books and sending my son to private school.

[Detective Danny Clover]

When was the last time Tommy was here?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Did my husband tell you? Why, it was last night. Just last night. Tommy was sitting in that chair you're sitting in now with that girl draped over him, lighting his cigars and waiting on him hand and foot.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What girl did that?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

The girl Tommy brought with him to dinner. That bleach blonde from the shipping department in my house. Imagine why my husband tolerates.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What was the girl's name?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Ginny. Ginny Morrow.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I think she works for your husband.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

I told you she did. In the shipping department. Checker or something, I don't know. He invited Tommy over because Tommy's bright and maybe someday he could learn the business. But why the girl? I don't know.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What else can you tell me about Tommy?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

He ate everything that was put on the plate in front of him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What else?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

What else? Mr. Clover, I'm a married woman. I've got a son taller than me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She took me by the hand to prove it. Back to the canasta table. The son was doing fine, wasn't he, girls? Wasn't he? And her life with Mr. Sinclair was all a girl could ask for, wasn't it, girls? What right had a policeman to come nosing around, spoiling everything? The card game, the hairdos, making the canopies grow cold, letting the ginger ale turn flat. Just because someone stuck a pair of scissors in her husband's errand boy. So I explained the rights of the dead. The girls cried, scooped up the cards, shuffled, redelt and I got out at Sinclair. Style, craft, ladies and Mrs. Dresses. A woman finished a seam, took the rimless glasses off her nose, rubbed her eyes, told me Jenny Morrow, Shipping was on the loading platform having a smoke.

[Ginny Morrow]

You can keep looking at me, mister. The view is for free. Teeth, courtesy Dr. West. Miracle tough toothbrush. Hair courtesy, peroxide. 10%. Eyes. Cheeks. Figure courtesy, careful planning.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're Jenny Morrow.

[Ginny Morrow]

For Eugenia. Mom called me Eugenia. Found the name in a book someone threw in the trash can. Dramatic, ain't it?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Some questions I want to ask you, Jenny. Questions about?

[Ginny Morrow]

You're a policeman, ain't you?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Tell me about Tommy Hart.

[Ginny Morrow]

Mine. Hostess of last night. Blabbed to you, huh? Who cares?

[Detective Danny Clover]

How long did you know Tommy?

[Ginny Morrow]

Long enough to slap him a couple of times. Slap his mouth. Then he says he'll make up to me. He'll take me to the boss's house for dinner.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Big deal.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You didn't enjoy it.

[Ginny Morrow]

Here I am practically spilling my life's blood on you, and I don't even know your name.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Danny Clover.

[Ginny Morrow]

It suits you. No. No, I didn't enjoy the supper, Danny. I got the feeling I'm crazy. I'm making it up out of my own hand.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What feeling, Jim?

[Ginny Morrow]

You ever had it? The feeling that you've been taken someplace just so you could insult people with your presence Just by being in a place you don't belong. It's an insult just by being what you are.

[Detective Danny Clover]

But Mr. And Mrs. Sinclair invited you, Jenny.

[Ginny Morrow]

Tommy twisted an arm. That's how come I'm invited.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Big deal.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tommy did that to you and he's your steady boyfriend.

[Ginny Morrow]

Oh, steady. What steady? That Daisy, go pin on Stella the designer.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Me?

[Ginny Morrow]

I was the last name on the list.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Stella Croft.

[Ginny Morrow]

Stella the designer of designs.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Where is she?

[Ginny Morrow]

By the Pantages Theater on 42nd street and the Third Row on the aisle. An arrangement we got with the management. So Stella can steal the latest Paris creations from the Parisian actors. Stella has a life. Maybe it'll come to me someday. I'll work on.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Was a five minute walk to 42nd street in the Pantages Theater. On the stage, a man in a plaid dinner jacket was having a little trouble hoisting a girl to his shoulders. But when he did, they were fine together, circling faultlessly to the music. By the time I got down front, the man was holding his partner over his head spinning, smiling and turning red. Stella Croft was there all right, pad and pencil poised, staring at the act. The dancers bowed, everybody applauded. Everybody was happy. Not Stella. Stella with a scissor stuck in her side, lifeless. Ste. Deb. Stella.

[Narrator]

You are listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. Every Sunday evening, CBS brings you two of its top comedy stars, Jack Benny and Eve Arden. It makes no difference where you live, whom you know, what your job is. Everyone immediately feels at home with Eve Arden's romantic Harris schoolteacher and with Jack's careful spending perennially youthful portrait of himself. CBS cordially invites you to join them this Sunday again when Eve arden plays our Ms. Brooks on most of these same stations and Jack Benny and his gang are heard on them all. Now the second act of Elliot Lewis production of Broadway's My Beat.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Of an evening in springtime. Broadway stands on a street corner, sips its penny plane and counts its blessings. The Yanks, the Giants, the bums. Only a 10 cent subway ride's distance and usually worth it. There's bottled orange juice from sun kissed California to be tasted for a nickel. And the rides are getting painted at Coney. And the moon that rocks down over Manhattan in April is a special kind of moon. And the music that lilts from doorways is a special music. And the girls are golden. There's more too. It blinks around the Translux and demands your attention for 10 seconds. Girl stabbed at the Pantages Theater. Police seek early arrest. Especially me.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Oh, it's you. I was expecting the Mestons.

[Detective Danny Clover]

More canasta, Mrs. Sinclair?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

More people dead. The Mestons were coming to console us. They're good at it, make it enjoyable. I don't suppose that's why you came. No, but you want to come into my house and ask your ugly questions?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Uh huh.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Just stand right where you are. Justin. That cop I told you about, the one who. Does he have a right to come in?

[Justin Sinclair]

Of course, Elizabeth, of course. The man has all the rights of the world.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Yes, dear. Justin says you may come in.

[Justin Sinclair]

Sit down, Mr. Clover. Take the world off your back. Sit down and talk to Elizabeth and me. Cigars there at your fingertip. Anything you need, ask Elizabeth for it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Maybe Mrs. Sinclair would like to make you some coffee or a sandwich.

[Justin Sinclair]

Anything that will take her out of here. Mr. Clover, don't be embarrassed. You can talk in front of Elizabeth. She knows more about the man Sinclair than I know. Correct, baby doll?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

You want to know about Justin's friendship with Stella, is that it, Mr. Clover? Before the scissors episode, I mean.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Well, that's it. I didn't think we'd get around to it so easy, but that's it.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

You won't mind if I tell him, Justin?

[Justin Sinclair]

Not a bit of it, baby doll. Just hand me a cigar first. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Elizabeth.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Anytime. Anytime, Mrs. Sinclair.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

This friendship, as you called it, it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Was you, Mrs. Sinclair. I remember because it surprised me. The name you gave him.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

You thought it. There was nothing between Stella Croft and my husband Justin, except the normal relationship of an employer to his employee.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Consultation over dress designs during working hours. A approval, disapproval, the putting into production, the counter signing of the weekly paycheck. Nothing more, Mr. Sinclair.

[Justin Sinclair]

There was more, she'll tell you.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

There were the times my husband Justin took her to fashion shows, to dinners for the buyers at expensive places. There was the time of a manufacturers convention in Atlantic City. Justin called me every morning, every night. Stella was pretty. Some people thought lovely. She brought us customers, made us richer. That was what was between Stella and my husband. Nothing more.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You don't know why she's dead?

[Justin Sinclair]

No, we don't know. But it saddens us. Mr. Clover.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Send him home. Justin. I'm tired. I want to sleep. If the Mestons come, tell them I'm sick. They'll understand.

[Detective Danny Clover]

More legwork now. The pinching up of the bits and scraps that people leave Behind. Get as many as you can and arrange them chronologically. By emotion, by habit, by appetite. Draw a line, one from the other and peep at a life now newly dead. For instance. Go now to the apartment of Stella Croft. Walk the corridor that once brought Stella home. Turn the knob of her door. The girl in the room was wearing slacks. She watched me close the door. Blew a smoke ring from her cigarette. Watched it die. Then she smiled at me.

[Ginny Morrow]

Hi, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What are you doing here, Ginny?

[Ginny Morrow]

Taking the tour. Seeing how a girl lives when she works in the front office of Sinclair Stylecraft. Gosh. Quilted blue satin.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How did you get in here?

[Ginny Morrow]

Did you see the superintendent downstairs? Yeah. Did his eyes light up when he saw you? Uh huh.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Jenny, how well did you know Stella Croft?

[Ginny Morrow]

Who gets to know a dame like that if you're another dame? Look, Danny, I'm not the type to be a Pollyanna. My mother told me. Ginny, never be a Pollyanna. Stand on your own two feet. You don't like somebody, don't like him. And that's how I felt about Stella.

[Detective Danny Clover]

To a T. Because she had all this because she was going out with Mr. Sinclair.

[Ginny Morrow]

So I was jealous. But this apartment is something to get jealous about.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You going to try your luck with Sinclair?

[Ginny Morrow]

He's already noticed, Danny. The day that I wore that black velveteen with the peasant blouse, he spent practically the whole morning in the shipping department giving me a personal supervisor. You want me for anything more, Danny?

[Detective Danny Clover]

No, just be around where I can find you, Jenny.

[Ginny Morrow]

Oh, sure, Danny. I really would, Danny. I'd drop all my appointments.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The apartment looked like Ginny hadn't touched anything. Place was impeccable. Slick like Stella Croft had been. Lacquered furniture, highly waxed. And full length mirrors. I walked back into her bedroom, around it, fingering this and that. The small, intimate souvenirs of girl like Stella collects. Then over to a Pullman closet. Opened it. Wondered for an instant why a woman needed so many shoes. Wondered. Wondered why it hurts so much. The brightness of it. The pain. The sharpness slipping so easily into my back. Then gave it up because I couldn't hold onto it.

[Justin Sinclair]

And now the finishing touch, Danny. The claim to fame of Dr. Sinski. In medical school, it was always commented upon how Dr. Sinski finished off his handiwork.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's the bedside manner. I don't need it.

[Dr. Sinski]

That's right, you don't need it, Danny.

[Justin Sinclair]

Hold on to something, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It'll hurt.

[Dr. Sinski]

Yeah, hold on to something, Danny. To me it's gonna hurt. He held onto Something to me and it still hurt him. What is it with you, Dr. Sinski? Maybe you need a refresher course in adult medical education.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Unruffle your feathers, Mother. Thank you. I'm all right.

[Dr. Sinski]

Listen to him, Doctor. Last night he got a hole in his back from unsharpened scissors. And this morning he tells me he's all right.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Okay if I go back to my office, Dr. Sinski?

[Justin Sinclair]

You'll need rest, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'll bear it in mind.

[Justin Sinclair]

Check me in the morning, you hear, Danny? You hear?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Debt piles up, doesn't it, Doctor? What debt?

[Justin Sinclair]

What are you talking about?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'll count out the times you've eased the pain. I'll let you know.

[Justin Sinclair]

Get him out of here, Gino.

[Dr. Sinski]

Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's go.

[Jonesy]

Danny.

[Dr. Sinski]

I'll go get permission from the captain to give us sick leave. And then I'll conjure up a squad car and we'll surprise the Mrs. Sergeant Artaglia in the middle of a mozzarella. And then we'll salve our wound together.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And then what made two people die like that? You know? Tommy Hart, Stella Crofty.

[Dr. Sinski]

Danny. Danny, you disappoint me. You are thinking on your sick leave time.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What ties it together, Gino?

[Dr. Sinski]

Danny, if I tell you, you promise to let me manage your sickness, huh? What ties it is Tommy Hart and Estella Croft were once married in that place in Maryland. You know, on that quick marriage plan. I ain't making it up, Danny. Mugavin dug it out of the records.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It was a secret between you two.

[Dr. Sinski]

Oh, Danny, it don't mean nothing. They got on the node the next day. That unties it. Danny, you're jeopardizing your good hope. Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Good morning.

[Ginny Morrow]

Yes, sir, can I help you? Hi, Danny. Hey, look at me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah, look at you. Since when they move you out of the shipping department into the reception desk?

[Ginny Morrow]

Since this a.m. i told you, I got supervised into it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tell Mr. Sinclair I want to see him.

[Ginny Morrow]

Sure, Danny. Watch me. See?

[Justin Sinclair]

What is it?

[Ginny Morrow]

Ms. Morrow, there is out here at this moment a gentleman of the Police Department. A Mr. Danny Clover.

[Justin Sinclair]

Show him in, chum in.

[Ginny Morrow]

Very good. Through that door, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Thanks. Hello, Mr. Sinclair.

[Justin Sinclair]

I'm a busy man, Mr. Clover, but I always have time to talk to you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Mr. Sinclair, how much of your affairs can you get in order in the next 15 minutes?

[Justin Sinclair]

My business, we never talk in riddles. It's how much. Why when things a man can answer. What's on your mind?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You Tommy Hart, Stella.

[Justin Sinclair]

They worked for me, Mr. Clover. And they died I'm going to pay for their funerals. And I'm going to find out if they had families. They'll be taken care of. We have a fund toward that.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tell the people at headquarters it might make an impression. Honestly.

[Justin Sinclair]

Honestly. Now, I don't know what you're talking about.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Let's stop kidding each other, Sinclair. You're a man with tastes from the lines of women's dresses to a lacquered apartment to a little employee who's now your receptionist. From Stella Croft to Ginny Morrow. Better find out if Ginny had a husband.

[Justin Sinclair]

I still don't follow him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Then I'll tell you. It's called the badger game.

[Justin Sinclair]

Listen to me, mister.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You listen to me. Tommy and Stella weren't married. Did you know that? You didn't know that?

[Justin Sinclair]

I thought I saw the certificate of marriage. The justice of the peace who married to my.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I thought marriage annulled the next morning. Badger game. Stella invited you to make a play for her. You bit Tommy walks in waves. A certificate of marriage. You pay him money. Invitations to your home. He gets greedier and greedier. So you kill him.

[Justin Sinclair]

I didn't have to. You don't know what it was, Clover. That boy grinning into my face, taking over my house, making me.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

What is it, Justin? What's the matter? What happened?

[Justin Sinclair]

Make him understand. Make him understand.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Mrs. Sinclair, your husband just confessed to killing Tommy Hart.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Wouldn't you. Wouldn't you kill him? It's all right, Justin. I'm here now. It's all right.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You got Tommy out of the way. Sinclair, why did you kill Stella?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Listen, I said it was all right, Justin.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Well, I'll tell you why. Stella knew you killed Tommy. It didn't worry her very much. He just upped the blackmail, Auntie St. Clair. That's why you killed Stella.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

He didn't. He didn't. He didn't.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You did.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

For what she was doing. Doing to my home, to my husband, to my boy. To my boy's name. Yes. And I stabbed you, too, for what you were doing to us. I killed. I'd kill again.

[Justin Sinclair]

What'll we do about the boy?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

You didn't think, did you, Justin? You just didn't think when you started it. When you saw that, Stella, you didn't think.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Please.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Please. The boy will be all right. We have money. More than you had when you started. He'll be all right, Justin. It's going to be all right.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Right. In the April night Broadway echoes with sounds heard only in front darkness the whispers that speckle places where there's no sun. There's a touch on your coat. You turn, there's no one, nothing. Only the trail of dust on your shoulder. It's Broadway, the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway, My Beat.

[Narrator]

Broadway's My Beat stars Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover with Charles Calvert as Tartaglia and Jack Crucian as Mugavan. The program was produced and directed by Elliot Lewis with musical score composed and conducted by Alexander Courage. In tonight's cast, Irene Tedro was heard as Elizabeth Sinclair, Herb Butterfield as Justin Sinclair, Sylvia Sims as Ginny Morrow, Mary Ship as Stella Croft and Sydney Miller as Jo. If you're in the mood for mysteries, you can try CBS almost any old evening and there's a top notch thriller on hand for you tomorrow. And every Sunday it's Charlie Wilde. Monday nights, the top Hollywood stars appear in original thrillers on the Hollywood Star Playhouse. Thursdays, there's a swell night for mystery and thrills on CBS. Suspense, Mr. Keen and the FBI and Peace and War are heard on most of these same stations.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Stations.

[Narrator]

Stay tuned now for Sing It Again which follows immediately on most of these same CBS stations. Joe Walter speaking. This is cbs where you laugh at Jack Benny every Sunday night. The Columbia Broadcasting.

[Adam Graham]

Welcome back. There's nothing quite like getting the vital clue to get Danny back into perfect health. And that whole stabbing in the back thing is no bother at all as he rushes about, though I'm not sure which is more improbable, Danny surviving and having that quick recovery or, or the killer getting in position to stab him in the first place. I mean, how did she even work that? Did she have a key to the apartment? Though we might not be expected to think about it that much. However, other than that, this was a really solid episode of Broadway's My Bait. The show had been off the air for four months, but didn't really miss a beat. Listener comments and feedback now. And we have some comments regarding the Kenneth Mitchell case. We start with a listener, Moore, Gerald Les Tremaine. Don't know if Danny meant to, but at 25, 6:15 he said what time is it, Mugavan? And Tartaglia answered mistake. Also, this is the only old time radio program that every character sounds crazy enough to have done it, even the police. Well, not Sergeant Tartaglia, but everybody else. Yes, I would say that I don't have access to the script, but I would assume it is a mistake. Just one of those little things that got left in mechanic 66 writes not having an alibi and having motive is not usually enough to get a conviction. Fair enough. But I think this is one of those cases where I'm not even sure to what degree he would continue to offer resistance once his wife died. And there often is a case when you are looking, and I think you hear examples of this on Dragnet where you start to look in a specific direction, you have a hypothesis of the case and then you realize, okay, if he committed the murder, then this and this must have happened. So in a realistic way, there may be a lot more evidence that would be gathered before there would be an indictment. But this isn't indictment or even Dragnet. This is, you know, Broadway's my bait. And so I think dramatically, I'm satisfied with the way it ends. Then we had a couple of emails specifically about the clock. Richard writes, just entering the smiling, frowning clock face debate. It's always 10 past 10, 10 to 2 here in the UK. I've never seen a clock advert set at 20 past 8. That seems a very strange idea for the exactly the reasons you said. Keep up the good work fella. Well, thanks so much Richard. And then we have an email here from Nancy. Nancy writes, Danny Clover taught me something about watch shop clocks. I'd never heard of the fact of the permanent time setting. As a Chicago girl, I'm more used to the Marshall Fields hourly clock where you could always check the time. Well, thanks so much Nancy. Appreciate the comment. And then over on YouTube we have a comment regarding the Shorty Dunn murder case. Ronca wrote, I heard Barton Yarborough in this and indeed Yarborough was in that episode as the guy at the rescue mission. A bit more grounded than many of the characters he played, but showing a bit of his range in the that role. Well, now it is time to thank our Patreon Supporter of the day and I want to thank Wendy Patreon supporter Since May of 2019, currently supporting the podcast at the Detective Sergeant level of $7.14 or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Wendy. 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 Beat, but join us back here tomorrow for Dragnet where.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Something else, Mrs. Richmond. Make it clear to him that you won't have any direct hand in the transaction paying the ransom. Tell him you're too sick, you're too upset and that Your brother will take care of everything.

[Ginny Morrow]

You mean one of your officers?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes, ma'. Am. Sergeant Friday here can take care of that. In.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Will they believe me?

[Ginny Morrow]

Don't you think they'll get suspicious?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Well, maybe. But you have to remember, ma', am, suspicious or not, their only interest is in getting the money and then getting away. Our first problem is to get your husband home safe. When we've got that done, we can.

[Justin Sinclair]

Worry about the abductors.

[Ginny Morrow]

I see. All right, Officer. I'll do all I can to help.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Fine. Mrs. Richmond, I think you'll find it's the best way. Joe, you and Romero will be on duty here for the night. Right. You monitor all the incoming calls. We'll try and get a tracer on him. If he can keep the guy talking on the line long enough. I'll make arrangements for another phone line in here and the use of the neighbor's phone next door. Okay, fine. Do you know if the people next door are home now, sir? Yes, sir, I think they are. Name's Thompson. Almost positive they're home? Yeah, fine. All right, Mrs. Richmond, you want to take that? Don't pick it up till I tell you. Joe, over here at this extension. Right. Both of you pick up your receivers at the same time. You ready, Joe? Right, Mrs. Richmond. Now.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Hello?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Is this Mrs. Richmond?

[Ginny Morrow]

Yes, this is she.

[Justin Sinclair]

This call's about your husband, Mrs. Richmond.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Here's your instructions about the money. If you want your husband back alive, follow him.

[Ginny Morrow]

I want to tell you something.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

I can't handle this alone.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Don't try stalling, lady.

[Justin Sinclair]

Just listen. Here are the instructions. I'm only going to say them once. 20,000 small bills by tomorrow.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Fives, tens and twenties.

[Justin Sinclair]

Bring the cops in on this, or we'll kill your husband tonight.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Now remember it.

[Justin Sinclair]

Get the rest of the instructions tomorrow.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Please.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Listen. Can my brother help?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Hello?

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's a fast one. Wouldn't even give her a chance to talk.

[Adam Graham]

I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime, send your comments to Box 13 at Great Detective. Follow us on Twitter radiodetectives and check us out on Instagram. Instagram.com greatdetectives from Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.