Broadway’s My Beat: The Kenny Purdue Murder Case (EP5098)

0:03 THE END.

0:28 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 the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software.

0:48 I want to take a moment to go ahead and recognize our latest platinum Patreon supporters who have been supporting the podcast for 10 years this month. I want to thank Russell currently supporting the podcast at the master detective level of $ 15 or more per month. And I want to thank George currently supporting the podcast at the rookie level of $ 2 or more per month. Again, thank you so much for supporting the podcast these past 10 years.

1:19 Now from November 15th, 1952, here is the Kenny Perdue murder case.

1:29 Broadway's my beach, from Times Square to Columbus Circle, the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway's My Beat with Larry Thor as Detective Danny Cover. November night holds for another instant, then slips out of Broadway's embrace, picks up its whisperings, its promises, its shadows, drifts the street to the place of its dying. And this November night will never be again. Never will be touched again.

2:23 But the feel of it, remembered. Somewhere in it, the sudden laugh of a woman and the quick spasm dancing in a diamond throw.

2:30 And for the diary, for the memory book.

2:33 What's left of it? The tracery of frost on pavement, the lurch into subway, the sodden room.

2:40 Sleep it off. Forget it. It never happened.

2:47 And in another place, downtown, west toward river, toward end of night, another quality.

2:53 Room where a party had been.

2:54 Litter of bottles of cigarettes crushed, branded into bare floor. Room where a man lay dead on velvet-draped bed. Room of knife wounds and a host.

3:03 They just walked out on me.

3:05 Party could have gone on and on and on.

3:08 I begged them.

3:08 I got on my knees.

3:10 Not a kiss.

3:11 Just flitted away. You're drunk.

3:13 And lonesome and sad. I'm just about everything there is.

3:16 Tell me about it. Tell me how a man was murdered at your party, Mr.

3:19 Rimpel.

3:20 Real beautiful party.

3:21 I just sent out the word and... Maybe the music gets in your way, huh, Mr. Rimpel?

3:25 Now maybe you can tell me, huh?

3:28 I told you, they walk out on me.

3:31 Leave me with nothing but the sleep. So I go to my dolly and who's in it? This boy, this fellow, huh? Try to push him over the other side of the bed and make room. I don't have the strength.

3:42 He's heavy. He's dead. Come to me like a flash. That's why I called you.

3:48 I gotta have some sleep, Mr.

3:50 Mann. You know him?

3:51 When he isn't dead, he blows a horn. Musician, Kenny Perdue. Poor old Kenny Perdue.

3:59 Kenny.

4:00 Kenny, boy.

4:02 You shouldn't have died in my bed.

4:04 You shouldn't do things like that. Get away from him. Well, I didn't mean to scold. I just. I don't know. What was I doing? You know where he lived?

4:17 Lived?

4:18 Room. Room on West 18th.

4:23 Ah.

4:25 Hanley Apartments.

4:27 It's where I called him to make up a party.

4:29 Who was at your party, Mr. Rimpel?

4:31 Him.

4:33 Who else?

4:34 Loads.

4:35 Loads.

4:36 Girls, boys, girls.

4:38 Kenny gave the word and they blew in from off the avenue.

4:42 I don't know who else. Did this man come in with anyone? Did he come alone? I don't know, honest. I gotta get some sleep.

4:50 Hey, look. Party isn't over.

4:54 They're coming back.

4:55 Hey, hey, looky, looky, look. Party time. Forget it, Mr.

4:59 Rimpoff.

4:59 Come on in, boys.

5:04 Then the men whose trade it was to walk through strange doorways made their entrance. The men from technical, standard operating procedure, varied as to the size of the room and the location of the body. Death measured on a steel tape, noted as a symbol, photographed with the best of equipment. Result, Kenny Perdue's dying recorded precisely in space.

5:24 So leave there. Up the flight of stairs again. And home again. And bed again. Three hours of it.

5:31 Then up again and coffee against the rest of the sleep that didn't happen.

5:35 Call headquarters. Give my routine for the morning.

5:38 And go now to the address of the dead man.

5:40 Morning.

5:49 Morning.

5:49 You the cop? That's right. So enter, please do.

5:55 I got a call from your shop a few hours ago telling me Kenny quit.

5:59 Phone told me to stick around for a caller. That's you, huh? Name's Danny Clover.

6:03 Ray Brady.

6:04 You lived here with Mr.

6:05 Perdue?

6:06 Used to.

6:07 Five months running. No more. Gotta get me another.

6:10 Tell me something about your roommate.

6:13 Well, blew a horn. Not great, not bad. Reefed up, he was a... His best, which was just about pretty good. Marijuana, huh? Said reefed up, didn't I? What about you?

6:25 I play the vibes.

6:26 Oh, you mean about.

6:28 Listen, my daddy caught me with corn silk wrapped up in a Chicago Tribune when I was ten. A week later, when I could.

6:35 Move, I took a note.

6:36 I smoke nothing, with or without printing on it. Who killed your roommate? I don't know. He was at a party last night at the apartment of a man named Harry Rimpaw.

6:46 Were you there?

6:47 Last night I played an engagement, a wedding job.

6:50 Lasted till 4 a.m. The chance is hard. You can check.

6:54 Me, I was up to my neck in Cated Kishka till 4. Got home just when the phone rang.

6:59 Telling me to stay put because Kenny'd quit. Did you know any of his friends?

7:03 I can give you a name.

7:04 Might be some help. All right. A Mildred.

7:08 You know how Mildreds are. This was a Mildred named Daniel. Lived up West 60th. You can check the directory.

7:14 What about her? He phoned me once from.

7:16 There, asked me to deliver to him there his horn.

7:18 And that's all, huh?

7:20 I caught a look at this type, Mildred. What Kenny wanted a horn for, I'll never figure.

7:25 Now you got it all. Because for me, that's all.

7:38 Kenny? With a knife in him?

7:42 Let me tell you something, mister. What?

7:45 The way I wanted Kenny lots of times. Thought about it, dreamed about it even.

7:48 Now... Go on, Miss Daniels. Now I don't know.

7:55 Make a wish, it comes true, all of a sudden you don't know.

7:58 It's all mixed up how you felt about Kenny for a deer, is that it? Kenny. Heel. Blouse. Trumpet blower. Be careful the.

8:06 Lipper used to say to me.

8:08 Look.

8:08 It's a fact, imagine. You're through?

8:10 No.

8:11 For days and days I could go on about that boy. You don't want to listen, I'll find someone else. I'll hit me a bar and I'll pick me an innocent bystander and I'll tell him what it was with Kenny. Bend his ear about Kenny.

8:20 Did you go with him to the party last night?

8:22 Party? The one last night. The one where he was killed.

8:25 Must have been a blast, that party.

8:27 Were you with him?

8:29 No.

8:30 Other parties, though.

8:31 When?

8:31 You know how I met him?

8:34 You know, when I first saw the boy?

8:36 It was a jazz joint on 52nd.

8:40 I went there with a fella. I don't even remember the fella.

8:43 I danced with him.

8:44 Danced right by Kenny and his horn. Thought to myself, what the boy on the bandstand noted, that's who you need for the dance.

8:53 How long ago was that? Seven, eight months.

8:56 Kenny received my message. Mental telepathy, he called it.

9:01 After that, a blast. Four months blast. Four months. To the day.

9:08 Then I did a good deed.

9:09 I helped a girl cross the street.

9:12 Took her into the club where Kenny was playing.

9:15 Party over.

9:17 Never was with Kenny again. Let me tell you, mister, it's been a long, long morning after.

9:22 Who's the girl?

9:23 Down the street, around the corner, two houses.

9:26 Karen Marlin.

9:27 And you introduced her to Kenny, and then she and Kenny.

9:29 Yeah. And you know what? What? I'm happy about it.

9:35 I'm glad for the girl a man like Kenny happened in her life. Every girl deserves a Kenny Perdue somewhere in her life. The thing to fall back on when she's by herself.

9:46 Well? Well what? Ah, me. That's all. Just... all me.

9:55 And outside now into the afternoon streets. It's coming home from school time in the city. Red cheeks and scraped knee time. And duck the forward passes of the boy who takes.

10:09 His football to school. And dog the boy.

10:12 Who doesn't see him because he's carrying her books home today.

10:15 And the girl who skips.

10:16 The length of the block without touching a line in the pavement. Around the corner, down two houses, the address you're looking for.

10:23 The name, Karen Marlin. Mrs.

10:25 In parenthesis, under apartment four. Down the corridor, rug runner thick and flower pattern. Doorways newly varnished. And at the end of it, in the hallway, a woman. And the thing that she's nailing to the door below the metal number four. A shroud.

10:41 It's done now. The shroud's hung.

10:43 Dad, dad, dad. Stop.

10:45 Stop it. Shroud's hung. You can see that. Dead.

10:49 Because of me.

10:50 Because... Let me go.

10:51 Don't touch me. Let me.

10:57 I always knew I'd do this.

10:59 Hang a shroud for him. Listen... Wait. I'll be happy to speak with you. Later. When I'm finished.

11:26 You are listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin, and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. When evening comes to Broadway, it sifts through speckled lights before it scatters the street. And the beginning shadows dance before they're blown away into corners. And November crowd gathers the tribe of twilight to dawn. Roar that coils upon itself before it floods the chill darkness.

12:04 Walk it, and the puffs of.

12:05 Music from winking doorways brush against you, and swirl of bright laughter and perfume touches.

12:11 Your lips, pulls at your memory. Walk it, watch it change to night wind, and drift away.

12:22 And in the place where I was, where evening comes sooner than any place, headquarters, was the evening elf, Sergeant Gino Tataglia. Danny? Hmm? What is it, Jim?

12:32 Pardon me, Danny.

12:34 No, just go right on.

12:36 It's just that a very funny thing happened yesterday.

12:38 At the feets. At the where?

12:40 The feets.

12:42 Charlie Foote was there, and Barry Foote, and all the little feet. Seems like Charlie was having trouble with his shoes.

12:47 Gino... And.

12:48 Barry said, why don't you put Dr. Shaw's foot pads on the foot? And the feet stamped their feet and laughed. And Charlie said.

12:55 Please, Gino, later, huh? Tomorrow morning, maybe, huh?

12:59 Sometimes you're hard to reach, Danny. Well, to the workaday world, shall we?

13:04 Thank you. According to the report from Dr. Sinsky, Mrs.

13:08 Karen Marlin is under medical observation at her home. So far, not a clear word except babbling have we gotten. However, some letters were found.

13:16 From Korea. From her husband. Anything in the letters?

13:20 Letters of a soldier to a wife that he loves, that's all. Last one dated two weeks ago.

13:26 That's about.

13:27 Interruptions, interruptions.

13:30 Oh, well.

13:30 Danny Clover speaking.

13:31 My name's Paul Russell, Mr.

13:32 Clover. Yes.

13:33 My sister is Karen Marlin.

13:35 She's sick. Every half hour, the police call and want to know whether she can be spoken with.

13:39 Why?

13:40 Well, I'll be happy to tell you, Mr. Russell. Where can I find you? At my home, 1214 West 16th.

13:45 I know it's late, but would you mind coming right away, Mr.

13:47 Clover?

13:48 Right away.

14:06 And you think what you told me means that my sister had anything to do with killing that bum? I didn't say she had anything to do with anything, Mr.

14:14 Russell.

14:14 I'm merely telling you she knew Kenny Perdue. A jazz musician. What would my sister have to do with a murdered jazz musician? Before he was murdered, she knew him. Listen, my sister wouldn't be within nine blocks of a tramp like that.

14:26 What would she want with him?

14:27 Do you know whether your sister ever smoked marijuana? My sister is a kid who used to come up here and listen to my records.

14:36 The stuff that's on now, for instance.

14:38 My wife and I would have her and her.

14:39 Husband over to... What about him? Mickey, her husband? Yeah. Dead.

14:45 I didn't know.

14:46 What do you think that shroud's on her door for? Why do you think she's lying there jiffing like... When did her husband die? Telegram yesterday morning. Killed in action. I'm sorry.

14:57 I didn't know.

14:58 Why do you think she went out of her mind? How long had her husband been away from her? Nearly a year, I guess. What about Karen? What has she been doing? Well... Well, what?

15:10 She used to come over here for dinner quite often, listen to music, like before Mickey went away.

15:15 Used to? I mean recently. Movies, I guess. A lot. Lonesome kid, after all. You'd better face it, Mr.

15:23 Russell. From what we've been able to find out, she was running around with Kenny.

15:26 You're a liar. Listen.

15:30 You don't know what you're talking about. Karen's a good kid. And decent.

15:38 What's the matter? I found her in an alley once, drunk. But she was lonesome. I remember when I used to drink... before I was married... That's so lonely, I.

15:51 Tell me about the time she was drunk. A man called me, said she was in the alley.

15:55 That's all. What man? From the club, he said. Quincy Club uptown, 143rd Street. Karen was back foot in the alley. But look... Yeah, that.

16:04 Was the only time. You believe me, don't you? Karen's a real good girl.

16:13 So she got drunk once. What does that mean? And leave the man who was brother to violence. Leave him.

16:23 And uptown now to where night spills and washes and rages against crag of tenement.

16:28 Lagoons of darkness. The area way littered with refuse.

16:32 And the quick phosphorescent gleam of neon on the back of some scurrying thing.

16:38 Past the scarred doorways.

16:39 Past the street corner clusters.

16:41 Of laughter that stilled.

16:42 On your approach. Began to bubble again as you moved away. North to 143rd. And between Bright Avenue and Knight River.

16:50 The doorway. The Quincy Club, a key club for members only.

16:55 For holders of the key. So show the badge. Be voted the temporary membership.

17:01 And walk into it.

17:01 The whole place empty. And the man who let you in trails his.

17:07 Hand on your sleeve. You see, police?

17:11 I run a quiet place. Wall to wall, ceiling to floor. But I got as quiet.

17:19 Who are you? Flick. F-L-I-X.

17:23 Flick.

17:25 That's all?

17:26 The beginning, the middle, the very end. It's all you need to get to me.

17:32 Flick.

17:33 You own this place?

17:35 Live it. I live it.

17:39 Well, you look around at it, tasting it with your eyes. Any part of it's yours, if you want.

17:45 Just this. Kenny Perdue.

17:48 Can I tell you?

17:50 You'll understand.

17:52 Tell me.

17:54 We had a funeral dance when we heard he died.

17:56 Members took a vote. Unanimous, there was a way to handle it. You come here often.

18:04 What's often? It's one thing we don't allow through our door police.

18:10 Time.

18:12 That's each member's own secret.

18:14 How long he's been here, when he's been here. How many times he's walked through that.

18:19 Door, only he knew. He brought a girl here once. More than once.

18:25 Took her a while to get with it, but finally she understood quietly.

18:31 She was founder of the club. Karen Marlin? Sure.

18:37 One night she was up there. Right in the middle of the dance floor. Very alone. Did alone kind of things. Kenny took out his horn and made a music he never made before.

18:53 I bet never since either.

18:55 Karen.

18:57 High class member.

18:59 Only once.

19:01 Only once she got loud.

19:02 Drunk.

19:05 Found her phone number and I called her.

19:07 In a little while she wasn't here. Next day they closed the joint. Left me the only active member to listen to my records alone.

19:19 Another question, Flix.

19:20 Were you at the party where Kenny got a knife?

19:27 Tell me. I told you, please.

19:31 This.

19:32 All this I live. Why do I need to go.

19:36 To somebody else's party? This is where I Live and die nightly here.

19:44 Have fun.

19:56 Danny? Oh, come in, Dr. Sinski. Your thoughts, your stillness, I have no wish to intrude.

20:02 It's all right.

20:03 Close the door. Come in. All right. I'm tired, Danny. I'm beat up, fused up.

20:09 Oh, look, if you.

20:10 No, don't worry about it, Danny.

20:11 A matter of chemistry, biological, emotional.

20:13 What's on your.

20:14 Mind, Watson?

20:16 That girl.

20:17 That sick, anguished girl. Karen Marlin? Karen Marlin. Only this far from a child is she, Danny. Yeah, she's a murder suspect. You never get with her, do you, Doctor?

20:28 No.

20:29 And you?

20:30 You see her? How is she?

20:33 Better.

20:34 She talked with me and with Dr. Lorenzo, a young psychiatrist. And she made sense. Her own kind. You want to tell me about it? Well, Lorenzo can give you the technical verbiage. Guilt transference, guilt acceptance. Once I eavesdropped on such terminology... Oh, look, I... Patience, Danny, patience. The girl confessed to murder.

20:52 What?

20:52 Yeah, she did. Without tears, now without hysterics, she told Dr. Lorenzo and me. She told us she killed him.

20:58 She confessed to the murder of Kenny Perdue and you told all this.

21:01 No, not to his murder, Danny.

21:02 To her husband's.

21:04 To the murder of that boy in Korea, this is what she confessed to.

21:07 Dr.

21:07 Simpson. Her fault, she said. Her husband's death was by her own hands, she said. She was a killer, she said. A murderess. And on her cheek, no tears. And her pulse, even, quiet.

21:22 Yeah, Danny?

21:23 Get me a squad car, Dino. Tell Muggerman to meet me downstairs.

21:46 Yes?

21:47 What is it?

21:48 Don't you remember me, Mrs.

21:50 Marlin?

21:51 No.

21:51 Please go away.

21:53 I'm not feeling well.

21:54 We're from the police, Mrs. Marlin. We want to talk to you.

21:57 What about?

21:57 Let's go inside. All right. But you'll do me a favor, won't you?

22:04 What?

22:05 Don't stay long. I'm not feeling well. Yeah, you said that. If you don't believe me, you ask your own doctor.

22:11 He told us you were a lot better, Mrs.

22:13 Marlin. I'll never be better.

22:16 Not after what's happened.

22:18 What's happened? I've lost my husband. I'm sorry.

22:22 He was a soldier.

22:24 Killed in Korea. Had you been married long? Almost two years.

22:28 Well, that's not very long. Hardly enough time to get to know your husband. I only tell you that, Mrs. Marlin, because I'm a man who's been married.

22:34 Who cares how long you've been married?

22:37 You don't know what we had, my husband and I. You don't know what we had in that year before he left.

22:41 That's one of the reasons why we're here. We want to know. Why?

22:46 Because we need to fill in some things about you. Well, why am I so important? Because a man's dead. I told you he was.

22:53 My husband.

22:55 You loved him very much, didn't you? You don't know. You don't know.

22:59 He had a wonderful year with him, and now he's gone.

23:02 Well, how could you know how wonderful it was? It was the secret things we had. The walks around the city? Yes. Nickel ferry rides?

23:11 Yes. Always late at night.

23:14 And seeing the things that no one else sees.

23:17 And feeling them. Yeah.

23:20 Yeah, my wife and I had the same thing 15 years ago.

23:24 Mrs. Marlin. What? What? Happen to all these things? What do you mean? Your husband had to go away. What... What happened to the memories of all these things?

23:36 It's funny.

23:38 What is?

23:38 Thinking about all those things. I see them.

23:44 I don't remember them.

23:46 For a while, I did.

23:48 Then you got real lonely, huh, Mrs.

23:49 Marlin? For a while, I'd even go.

23:52 To the same places I used to go with my husband.

23:55 But... I don't know. Just lonely, huh? Yes. Yes, it was.

24:02 Then what did you do?

24:04 I used to go to my brother's house and be with him and his wife and listen to music.

24:09 It was terrible.

24:11 Uh-huh. Yeah, it's real rough for a girl to have to do.

24:15 Be with a family while her husband's in the army. In the last war, when I was away, my wife had to stay home and knit.

24:23 When I came home, she was wearing glasses. I never forgave myself. What do you want of me? We're just trying to understand you, Mrs. Marlin.

24:30 Why a girl like you should forget the important things so quickly? Did marijuana help you to remember or forget? Did a man like Kenny Perdue help.

24:38 Oh, you don't understand.

24:39 We understand real good, Mrs.

24:41 Marlin.

24:41 You'd be surprised to know how good we understand.

24:43 Kenny.

24:46 Kenny was.

24:47 What was he? Someone I knew.

24:49 When I got lonesome, he was there. When I felt I was going to start to cry.

24:57 Suddenly, Kenny was....

25:00 He was always there.

25:01 Did you like him?

25:03 No.

25:04 Then you hated him, is that it?

25:07 No, that isn't it.

25:09 I don't know. Sometimes I hated him, I guess. When you woke up from the binge, huh? I got news for you, Mrs. Marlin. You hated yourself.

25:19 Yes, I did.

25:20 Let's talk about the day before yesterday, Mrs. Marlin.

25:24 When?

25:25 The day you got the wire, your husband was dead.

25:27 Yes.

25:30 I wept.

25:31 And I got a shroud, and I nailed it to the door.

25:34 That's not quite right. You hung the shroud yesterday. You got the wire the day before. And that's when you went to a party with Kenny Perdue.

25:43 That wire must have hit you real hard.

25:46 Read that your husband's dead, put on the dancing pumps, light up and celebrate.

25:50 I told you. All of a sudden, Kenny was there. So you didn't cry. I want to tell you something else, Mrs. Marlin.

25:58 The first time I saw you was yesterday. You were hanging the shroud and you were hysterical. And you were saying that somebody was dead because of you. You were talking about your husband, weren't you? It must have been because the shroud was for him. You blamed your husband's death on yourself, didn't you? For the kind of life you were leading. The kind of life you were having with Kenny Perdue.

26:18 The good times. The bad times that were good.

26:22 Yes.

26:22 The strange places. The strange people. Yes.

26:26 I wanted to behave myself, but he wouldn't let me. He made me go to these places and.

26:30 And you liked.

26:32 Them.

26:32 Yes. My husband died.

26:33 And it was my fault because of what I did. If I'd stayed home, it wouldn't have happened.

26:39 Your fault and Kenny's fault. Yes, of course it was. He made me do those things.

26:47 And you see... What?

26:49 You see, when I got that telegram.

26:51 Everything became very clear. Everybody pays for what they do.

26:57 And I paid for becoming a widow.

26:58 And Kenny had.

27:00 To pay, too. So I killed him. You understand, don't you?

27:24 Broadway's sleeping now, and the street people have gone home. Only the sleepwalkers are there, the dream seekers, the shadow dwellers. It's limbo time, when the derelicts dance.

27:37 To no music, and.

27:39 The sodden hug close, nothing at all.

27:42 It's Broadway, the gaudiest time.

27:50 The lonesomest mile in.

27:54 The world.

27:54 Broadway.

27:56 My beach.

28:13 Broadway's My Beat stars Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover, with Charles Calford as Tartaglia and Jack Crucian as Mugovan. The program is produced and directed by Elliot Lewis, with musical score composed and conducted by Alexander Courage. In tonight's story, Sammy Hill was heard as Karen. Featured in the cast were Whitfield Connor, Charlotte Lawrence, Paul Freese, and Jerry Hausner.

28:37 Bill Anders speaking.

28:45 Thank you.

28:48 Thank you.

28:49 © transcript Emily Beynon Thank you. Thank you.

29:54 Broadway as my beat has come to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.

30:01 © BF-WATCH TV 2021.

30:25 For the past 55 minutes, you've been listening to the best in radio drama with Theater 5 and Broadway's My Beat. Join us again Monday night at the same time, 9.05, when F.E.M. presents Dragnet and X-Minus One. This Saturday and Sunday, the Far East Network presents the final two days of the Grand Sumo Tournament, live and direct from Tokyo, beginning at 4.05 p.m.

31:11 A special presentation of the Far East Network.

31:19 Welcome back. Now, I know because these are Far East Network that I really can't even guess as to the year that they were rebroadcast, but the end reference to the Grand Sumitomo Tournament made me think, okay, maybe I can guess the date or the general approximate time that these were rebroadcast, time of year. because the Grand Sumo Tournament was referenced as it was happening in Tokyo. Unfortunately, this doesn't really narrow it down. The Grand Sumo Tournament, which I believe in Japanese is Hombosho, there's actually six of them, one every other month. And three of the six are in Tokyo. So this episode could have aired.

32:15 In either January or May or September in terms of when this particular rebroadcast was done. And again, no idea on the year. But at least I learned how the Grand Sumo Tournament works in general. The episode itself reminded me a bit of the Dragnet episode, The Big Show. And kind of they are... Two opposite results from a similar situation of infidelity by a serviceman's wife. In one case, in Dragnet, the husband returns, gives the wife and adopts her child, and then this happens in Broadway's Mob Bait.

33:01 So they represent two different, very extreme, dramatic results. One thing I also found interesting in this episode was the... hanging of the so-called shroud. Now, I know, even though I've never seen it in real life, what they're referring to. There was a tradition of putting black crepe paper on the door. It might be called morning crepe or funeral crepe.

33:33 And there was one episode of The Thin Man we played a long time ago that referenced a black funeral wreath that could be hung.

33:43 On the door.

33:44 But I've not found something that is named as a shroud, but I could be missing it. But I do have an image of what was done. Now, the funny thing about this is that this was an odd custom that no one had ever heard of it. But it was odd for Karen to be doing that because it's typically done by older generations. In fact, there are articles from the 1920s saying that the practice was starting to fade away.

34:23 Given Karen's age, you would not expect this to be a custom she would follow. But it does work dramatically. It's still, even though rare in real life at this point, a recognized symbol. And the ferocity of which she was doing it really does give the first real clue to the disturbed nature of her character. And if you don't imagine that the writers were just blissfully unaware and unconcerned with how this particular character tradition had been declining in real life, or didn't really care because it worked, then you can read in and speculate on her motivation to do it. Like, was she doing this to be very obvious about her mourning, to create a look and feel of respectability? Was she doing this just because even though

35:25 it wasn't something you would typically do as a young person at this point, she had heard about it and it seemed a way to express what she was feeling in a way that would be both understood and also not fully understood because she didn't want the world to know what she'd done. Place not fully. Now, listener comments and feedback. And over on YouTube, listener getterdon writes, thank you for all your hard work. Well, thank you so much.

36:01 Appreciate you leaving the comment. 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 week. with another episode of Broadway's My Beat. But join us back here tomorrow for Dragnetware.

36:28 Seems she and her boyfriend were coming home from a show.

36:30 Said about 9.45, 10 o'clock, they noticed a car parked in front of the lot. Yeah. Girl said they noticed right away. Afraid it might be some guys out to cause trouble. She told us that when she and her boyfriend walked by, they heard loud talking, men arguing.

36:41 She able to describe the car?

36:42 Just said it was a dark sedan, late model, 51 or 52.

36:45 We checked the boyfriend. He told about the same story. He said he thought the car was a dark blue Ford.

36:48 Yeah.

36:49 Well, anyway, the girl said she got scared and went right into the house. A few minutes later, they heard a car tear by. They looked up the street, and the parked car was gone. This was around 10 o'clock.

36:57 Yeah, that's right.

36:58 That might make it about the time of the killing.

36:59 Well, we'll know better when the body's posted.

37:01 The girl or her boyfriend able to describe the men?

37:03 No, sir.

37:04 All I could tell us was it looked like there were two men in the car. Said they couldn't get a good look at them.

37:08 License number?

37:09 No.

37:09 Boy said he thought of taking it down, but he didn't.

37:11 Tough break.

37:12 Hanson and Cummings helped check the neighborhood. They didn't do any better. Seems like everybody in the vicinity was away for the evening.

37:18 McCorn or Frank?

37:19 Hanson just brought this in. Guy's wall of stuff in his pockets.

37:22 Yeah, let's take a look.

37:24 Driver's license. Name's John Allen Iverson.

37:27 Address, been scratched.

37:28 No, here it is, in the back.

37:30 Had it changed.

37:30 6295 North Sorrento Avenue.

37:31 Height, 5'9.

37:32 Born October 2nd, 23. Make him 28, huh?

37:32 That's right.

37:33 Weight, 136.

37:33 Eyes, hazel, brown hair. What else is in it? Calendar from an oil company.

37:43 Blank check.

37:44 Picture of a puppy.

37:45 Dalmatian, huh?

37:46 Looks like it, doesn't it? Picture of a woman.

37:50 Let's see that.

37:52 Here, wait a minute.

37:52 Here's a card.

37:53 Case of accident.

37:54 Please notify Mrs.

37:55 Alfred Iverson.

37:56 Mother, 6295 Serrano Avenue, Hollywood, 98844.

38:01 Probably her picture. She been notified yet?

38:03 No, not yet.

38:06 Keys, comb, nail file, cigarettes, couple of slugs.

38:10 Good for one play.

38:12 Match folder.

38:12 Let me see that, huh? George's Pool and Snooker, Burbank Boulevard.

38:18 Yeah.

38:18 Found $ 13.

38:19 42 in his pocket.

38:19 He was wearing a wristwatch, too.

38:21 Yeah, the watch looked new. It was expensive.

38:22 Money in the watch, still there. Doesn't look like robbery.

38:24 No, not much. Seems a thief would have taken him anyway.

38:27 Any ideas on a motive?

38:28 It's hard to say, Skipper. Could be almost anything.

38:30 Not much to go on, lousy thing.

38:32 Man, it's not getting any better.

38:33 Yeah?

38:34 I gotta tell his mother now.

38:35 I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime, send your comments to Box 13 at greatdetectives.net. Follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives. Check us out on Instagram, instagram.com slash greatdetectives. From Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.