Broadway's My Beat: The Ruth Nelson Murder Case (EP5073)

0:03 Music Music.

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 Bait. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software, and you can support the show on a one-time basis using the Zelle app to box13 at greatdetectives.net, and become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as little as $ 2 per month. Just go to patreon.greatdetectives.net. But now, from October 11th, 1952, here is the Ruth Nelson murder case.

1:29 Broadway's My Beat, 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 Clover. On the flow of October dusk, the sounds of Broadway are softer, fall gently on the ear. Through loudspeakers, the autumn songs filtered by electronics and darkening twilight. The voices that keened against day, quieter now, and the walk is slower. The direction not yet decided upon. The in-between time, the time for the conjuring of images, remembered and sought for. And night hits, night mushrooms and the street rocks. So start running, kid.

2:30 Refuge waits in a neon doorway. And night has a good hold now in the street of the rooming house where autumn wind quick strokes the light of street lamp across scarred brownstone, across the faces of kids clustered in their night game. Upstairs from that, a room where I was, Detective Magerman, and a woman dead of the deep knife in her. It's a place to die, huh, Danny? This room, the way it's furnished... No extras, just the necessities. The bed, washstand, chest of drawers, hot plate behind the screen. You find out who she is? Yeah, super told me. Said she answered the room to let sign in his window around noon.

3:09 Paid a week's rent in advance. Gave her name as Mrs. Ruth Nelson. Around 55 to 60, I'd say, Danny. Her hands worked hard. This dress she's got on, mission salvage type. What could a woman like this do that'd make someone stick a knife in her? What could... The suitcase in the bureau mugger when you've looked at it. Oh, not yet.

3:28 Open it, look in it.

3:29 Yeah.

3:34 A couple more dresses like the one she has on. There's some nice underclothes. Tortoiseshell comb, hairpins. There's some papers here in one of the pockets.

3:44 Hmm.

3:44 I'm going to take a look down here. Hmm? Ah, release and discharge from woman's state prison farm.

3:51 Hmm.

3:51 Notice a date here, the time this lady was let out of stare? Yeah, today, this morning, 8 a.m. Hits this room at noon, lives in it a while. Same night, dies in it, gets killed in it. A day she must have marked with a red circle on the calendar. Uh-huh. Now, let's look around some more, Amarillo. And it becomes this, violence in a narrow room... and the two men who move through it. And this, night and dust in corners...

4:21 And far away, behind a crack in a window that cuts it in half... a rind of yellow moon hung on a drifting cloud. City and pale light and dust and death. To make notes on it, give it to Detective Muggerman. Get out. Get out and go where the bed is. Give yourself up to it. And go after this night's version of sleep. And finally give that up, too, because then it's morning. Back to headquarters, check in. Then the long ride upstate to the woman's prison farm... And in the warden's office, the woman who shakes your hand and takes your hat touches at her graying hair and points at a leather chair for you. Named Miss Fembris.

5:01 And now we can talk.

5:03 It's about Ruth Nelson, Miss Fembris.

5:05 Ruth Nelson? I don't understand. She was released yesterday.

5:09 It was in this morning's papers, I thought. What was? She was found murdered last night.

5:14 Oh.

5:14 That's ironic, isn't it?

5:17 It is. I would say so.

5:20 A woman who spends 30 years in a penal institution is finally.

5:23 30 years?

5:24 Is finally released and is murdered.

5:28 Why? What happened? We only know that she was here at the prison fire, Miss Fember. She was murdered and we want to know why.

5:35 Well, there's an impasse, isn't it? You want to know why and I want to know why.

5:41 What shall we do now?

5:42 She was here for 30 years. On what charge? Murder.

5:46 She did a thing to her husband with an axe.

5:47 You see... Is there anything you know of, anything, Miss Fembris, something that happened here in your... Institution?

5:55 Nothing.

5:57 I knew Ruthie quite well.

5:58 A model detentionee. She left yesterday with silk underwear that the.

6:02 Girls bought for her. I'd like to see your institutional records on her, Miss Fembris.

6:06 Sick call, do you mean?

6:07 That sort of thing? No, I... I'm afraid that's.

6:09 About all you'll find, Miss Clover.

6:12 There was a fire 20 years ago here in this spot.

6:15 On Halloween night in 1932, somehow the prison farm got burned down. Much before my time, but I understand it was arson. However, records of detention ease before that date are very incomplete. Again, however, there is only one other person who has been here for 20 years, so it doesn't make much difference.

6:32 Does it?

6:34 Does it, Mr. Clover? And there's nothing you can tell me that would help to... Does it, Mr.

6:39 Clover?

6:41 No.

6:42 And there's this you should know.

6:45 I tell you now because it's the progression.

6:47 Ruthie had a visitor a few days ago.

6:49 Oh?

6:50 I'd like to... I know. Here.

6:54 Visitor, Louise Downey.

6:58 Address, 595 East 74th Street. Nature of visit, to arrange a place of residence.

7:03 For Ruth Nelson.

7:05 May I have that card, Miss Fembers? Please.

7:07 By all means.

7:08 Take it.

7:21 Miss Louise Downey? Yes, sir, we have Miss Downey lives here. I'd like to see her. Well, she ain't here. She ain't been in for two days. I'd be happy to put a note in the box if you can. I'm from the police. It's important that I talk to her. Where can I find her? You trying to place a business? Whenever she stays away for two or three days at a time, it's a place of business. Which is what? Secretary.

7:38 Confidential secretary for the Jonathan Harts, you know. No, I don't know. No? The Fifth Avenue, Jonathan Harts. Now you know.

7:45 Wait here.

7:45 I'll fetch your address exactly.

7:47 All right.

7:51 And the address the man has given you is marble columns soft glowing in the moonlight dedicated to Upper Fifth Avenue. And the night stillness is very special. Mansions in autumn type. And slender shadows moving on lace. And the butler open door makes a sudden spill of light on granite stoop that stands erect from coarser pavement. And he poses the question of identity on a share the secret basis. And you give him the answer. And for a fleeting instant his aplomb is stunned. But he recovers, bids your patience, closes the door and shuts the light spill from you.

8:24 And wait against autumn night. And in a while, the door is opened again and you're ushered into a room where carpet flows against your ankle, where there are hangings of brilliant silk, mist reflected in antique mirrors flecked with gold. And leaning against the mantle, a fellow in tweed and flannel, drink in one hand and a woman's hand in the other.

8:42 You like it?

8:44 What?

8:45 Oh, Jonathan, he doesn't like it.

8:47 Of course he does. How could he possibly not?

8:50 Look, I don't... Jonathan racked his noble brain for the proper pose and attitude for the receiving of a policeman, and this is.

8:55 What he came up with, and you hate it. I think it's... You hate it. That's settled. Let go of my hand, Jonathan. Thank you, dear. Sip your drink, dear.

9:05 Jonathan does this for kicks, you know. Kicks and small gifties.

9:09 Oh?

9:09 He figures it gives our life stature.

9:12 Uh-huh.

9:12 He poses for aristocratic ads. What was it today, dear? Saddles or Jaguar?

9:17 I'm sure the fellow isn't interested one bit.

9:19 Of course he isn't interested one bit. What are you interested in, Mr.

9:23 Clover?

9:23 Louise Downey. I was told she worked for you. Is she here?

9:28 What about Louise could possibly interest you on a soft autumn night like this?

9:32 She visited a woman in state prison a few days ago.

9:34 Oh, that Louise. She's a deep one.

9:37 Deep.

9:38 Isn't that how you'd describe her, Jonathan, dear?

9:41 No, not quite. I think I should put it.

9:44 Louise....

9:46 Your glass is empty, Jonathan, dear. And there's loads of champagne. So fill your glass and sip. This is your house. Show the man you're of noble breed.

9:57 You were saying, Mr.

9:58 Clover.

9:58 Yesterday morning, Louise... Downey visited a woman who had just been released from prison. Last night, we found that woman in a rooming house. Dead.

10:06 Murdered.

10:07 Louise did that? Killed a jailbird? Jonathan did.

10:12 It's not impossible, Vicki.

10:13 Nothing's impossible once a fellow or girl sets his.

10:17 Or her mind to... What was my thought? I lost my thought.

10:23 I asked you two something. Is Louise Downey here?

10:25 Hasn't been near us for days, and I've missed her dreadfully. My checks to sign, creditors impatient, my correspondence unanswered. And my back has cricks in it where she's been negligent in her other duties as masseuse.

10:37 Cricks here, here.

10:39 Make an effort, Mrs. Hart. Try real hard to understand what I said to you. A woman was murdered.

10:44 So exciting.

10:45 Nothing as exciting has happened to you and me in days, has it, Jonathan, dear?

10:50 There was something, but not here, not now, Vicki.

10:54 Think of it. My social secretary, a murderess. A girl I've been this close to, right under her thumb and finger.

11:02 The confidences I've shared with her. Shared with the big heart of a murderess, a killer.

11:07 We don't know that she's a killer. You know it, Mrs. Hart?

11:11 Well, it's a natural assumption. A woman dead in a rooming house, you here, Louise not here.

11:16 You have any idea where she might be?

11:18 Not in the slightest.

11:20 Describe her for me, Mrs. Hart, so that we.

11:22 Oh, I'll do better than that. I'll give you a picture of her. Jonathan, dear.

11:25 Yes, Vicki?

11:26 In my desk, that snapshot of the three of us, you, me, Louise, at tennis. That's it, dear. Now unsheathe my scissors. That's it. And bring them to me. Oh, well done, dear. I'll just cut out the part you need, Mr. Clover. Easy, easy, girls. There you are, Mr. Clover. Louise Downey. Take her. She's yours.

12:02 And somehow a buzzer is rung, and the butler appears and shows you the way out of the splendor of it all, nimbly, efficiently, and with a side of the mouth yawn at the end of it. So out into the streets, and the squad car ride to headquarters, and the all-points bulletin on Louise Downey, friend of murdered woman, Louise Downey, now missing. And check out and have the blue plate special. Buy the magazine and home again. And the article in the magazine proves statistically that everything is better everywhere. There's a cure for everything. Fight it. But you drowse anyhow when you come to the spot where everybody is rich, really. Drowse.

12:45 Danny? Markovan, Danny.

12:47 I'm at headquarters.

12:48 Yeah, yeah.

12:48 What do you want? Found her, Danny. Found who? What are you talking about? Louise Downey. Louise Downey. Get with it, Danny. Louise Downey, the private secretary, the girl who wanted to give a home to a convict.

12:57 Louise!

12:57 Where'd you find her?

12:58 Central Park, by the lake, on her face.

13:00 Listen... Dad, Danny. I'll meet you there right away.

13:03 Oh, forget it.

13:04 They already moved her downtown to the morgue. Thought you'd sleep better if you knew where she was. Good night, Danny.

13:24 You are listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin, and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. Very few forest fires are set off by lightning, not more than one out of ten. The rest are started when someone carelessly tosses a cigarette from a car window, or when a hiker traveling through the woods forgets to follow simple safety rules in regard to fire. Make it a point to remember those rules when you're in wooded areas.

13:50 Help prevent tragically wasteful forest fires. The new day is the new dream on Broadway, and each day the new wilderness. It's the dumping ground of odds and ends and beginnings and leftovers. The million billboards trade name your loneliness and have slogans for the kind of happiness you ought to have.

14:18 And each doorway has a promise suitably geared to mood, thirst, and credit rating. Name it and it's yours, because Broadway has everything. Light and darkness, crowd and corner... Skyscraper and gutter.

14:32 The dream. Whatever you're looking for. Here's the place to hold it close. And at police headquarters, the new day is an old door opening.

14:45 Danny?

14:45 Ah, good morning, Sergeant. Come on in.

14:49 From me, Danny, to you. Unwrap the newspaper.

14:52 Hmm?

14:55 Why, Gino.

14:56 Claret wine from sunny California, Danny. To partake when is your whim. A gift from Mrs. Tartaglia and me. You should share in what happened to us last night.

15:05 What happened?

15:06 Last night, about four, Mrs. T woke me, made me get into my warm robe and slippers, and took me by the hand into the backyard. There we sat and watched the leaves fall from our tree by moonlight. Till 4.30.

15:19 What's the wine got to do with it?

15:21 At 4.30, Mrs. T takes me by the hand into the kitchen and takes out wine. This we sip between toasts to our friends. Mostly you, Danny.

15:29 Well, thank you, Gino.

15:31 So we figured instead of us sipping, you should have the full benefit. Enjoy the bottle of wine, Danny.

15:37 I don't know what to say.

15:38 Now, don't well up on me, Danny. To work, shall we?

15:42 If you please.

15:44 Run down on background on dead girl Louise Downey. From effects found in her room, we learned that she had once registered with an employment agency as a secretary and through them finally located her last job, the one with Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Hart.

15:58 What else?

15:59 What else is? The various effects a girl of 28 surrounds herself with to fight the battle of life. Perfumes and books and things for every occasion where.

16:08 And this, Danny.

16:09 Hmm?

16:10 A second.

16:10 Let me separate the chip from the chair.

16:13 Ah, here it is.

16:14 A page torn from the yellow section.

16:17 Of the phone book.

16:18 Yeah, a page of private investigators. That's interesting.

16:22 Well, that's about all, Danny. Enjoy the wine.

16:25 Oh, I will, Gino. Thank Mrs. T for me, too.

16:28 There are strange and dark currents running rampant in my missus. Have you thought of that, Danny?

16:34 Many times. Now, if you'll pardon me, Gino, I've got some calls to make. And begin the calling of private investigators, men who listed their wares, quick results, strictly confidential handling, armed escorts, photographs, shadows, on a 24-hour basis. And the seller of shadows, who in big type posed the question of the day, why worry? And in smaller type offered the formula at reasonable rates, I solve your problems. Ask them had they had a client, Louise Downey. and be told by an investigator who had given the city and its surrounding boroughs 45 years of faithful, dependable, unselfish service, no.

17:19 Louise Downey, the girl fished out of a lake, no. She should have come to him, though. He could have helped, unselfishly helped. And the fellow who offered to come and talk over your problem with you, as that was his policy, free estimates. And the chap who had married a client, retired, and now owned the hotel he had worked. And in the W's, the man... Downey?

17:39 Louise Downey? Girl whose picture's splattered all over the papers today?

17:42 Yeah, that one, Mr. Waterfield.

17:44 Come on down, Lieutenant, and I'll open up a dead girl's secrets to you.

17:49 Go to an office, Herb Waterfield, private investigator, had subleased from the dentist. Find him lolling, swiveling in a dentist chair, thumbing a National Geographic.

17:58 Reslated the doctor, let me keep the chair. Added rental, of course. There's something psychological to my clients. They walk in, they see the chair, throws them. They expect pain. All they get from me is honey. Makes them open up wide, real wide.

18:14 Like Louise Downey? Yeah, like her.

18:17 Only that dead girl lied to me. I thought she was as honest as the days long she lied to me.

18:22 Oh?

18:23 Uh, you're going to tell me about her, Mr. Waterfield?

18:28 The lady lied. She didn't tell me Louise. She told me Mary. Mary Hughes.

18:34 What else she tell you? What else? Figured. The rest wasn't a lie.

18:37 Figured.

18:39 You want to share it with me?

18:40 That's me, the sharer. The real sharer. A girl came to me, let's see. Yeah, three months ago, July, she come to me. Says, you find people? Find me my mama and my daddy. She called them mother and father. Maybe 28 years old and she misplaced her mama and her daddy.

19:00 Go on.

19:01 Yeah, it seems it went like this. At 16, she ran away, didn't give a thought to the old folks at home. Now she had a good job, and she felt sorry, wanted to make it up to them. Find them, she says to me, and I'll pay you.

19:13 Oh, did you find them? Yeah, you could say that.

19:15 She gave me an address in Pittsburgh where she lived with the folks while maturing, while ripening into womanhood. I went there, nosed into here and there of Pittsburgh. I found out her folks was dead. The parents he used was dead. Killed in an automobile accident eight years ago.

19:32 And you came back and you told her that, that's all?

19:35 That's not all. Found out what else about her. Found out she was an adopted child. Found out when she ran away, she ran away to New York to.

19:45 Marry a fellow. The man she married, you know who he is?

19:48 Who he is, where he is, just in case he has a need for my type sometimes. There in the file under G, Charles Gifford. Help yourself, Lieutenant. This thing in the magazine on pygmies has me spellbound. Under G, G for Gifford.

20:03 Music Gifford, sure, that's me. You've been recommended. What can I do for you? I'm a police officer, Mr. Gifford. Name's Danny Clover. Glad to know you, Danny. Glad you let me up personally.

20:21 Glad.

20:21 You know why? Because you're a law enforcement officer, you deserve special consideration. Now, I got a little car down here in the back of the lot, 1949. It's about your wife, Mr. Gifford.

20:31 Wife?

20:32 You're on the wrong used car lot, Mr. Clover. I'm not blessed with one of the little darlings. Your ex-wife, then, Mary Hughes. A lot of miles and bumpy roads back, Danny. What about it? You seen her lately? What's this all about? Murder. Murder, huh? You ask and I'll answer. I got a reputation for being square and straight from the shoulder. I'm going to show you why. Ask away, Danny. Tell me about your marriage.

20:57 She was a fireball out of Pittsburgh, PA, where fireballs really come from. A little on the younger side, 16, but I was only 23 at the time. One look and then we both knew and then we got married. Go on. We got married, sent our step-parents in Pittsburgh a wire. They show up about five hours later and break us the news.

21:16 Wow.

21:17 Wow what, Mr.

21:18 Gifford?

21:18 The parents sit us down and say, Mary, it's time for you to know where you came from. Mary and I nudge each other and smile, we being already married, but they go on anyhow. Mary, they say, have no secrets from yourself or your husband and you will have a long and prosperous marriage. Then they drop the bomb.

21:35 Just go right ahead. Bomb. Mary, they say, your true mother killed your true father with a heavy axe, and you were born in prison, and that's where you came from. Mary cried, I ran for the nearest lawyer, and got annulled.

21:47 All right.

21:48 Let's go back. Have you seen your ex-wife lately? Haven't seen her since we got annulled in 1940. Talked to her, though. When? Keep shooting them at me, Danny. Six or eight months ago. Saw her picture in a magazine, phoned her up. Just to say hello, huh? Look, Danny, her picture was in a magazine on account of she's beautiful, rich, and married, and her house looks... I'm going to level with you, Danny.

22:08 I phoned her up because I needed a loan of some dough. Did she give it to you? Yeah, yeah, she did. It was a little difficult getting through to her at first, but when I did, it was a lot. I merely explained to her I needed 10 G's to buy some cars. The check was in the mail the next day, a loan. After 12 years, you call her up and she sends you $ 10, 000. A loan, Danny. I'm going to pay interest. Take a look at this picture, Mr. Gifford.

22:32 This your wife? Nope, but I've seen this girl before. Oh?

22:37 Yeah, she was in a couple of weeks ago looking over cars.

22:39 We got talking. She told me the story of her life. I told her the story of mine. The story you just told me. That's right. I'm opening a bar board with potential customers. She didn't buy a car, though.

23:13 Good evening. What is it?

23:15 Don't you remember me, Mr.

23:17 Hart?

23:17 I was here yesterday.

23:18 You were... Let me see now.

23:21 Yes.

23:22 Yes, it was.

23:23 It was yesterday. Please come in. You forgive the informality of this evening. The butler went to the football game today. His school was playing. Oh, this way.

23:33 Thank you.

23:35 I suppose the butlers' team won and we got looped. Butlers are human. Vicki?

23:41 Vicki, dear?

23:42 What is it?

23:43 We have a guest.

23:44 Oh, wonderful.

23:45 That game I was telling you about, Jonathan, it's better with three anyway.

23:48 We can.

23:50 Oh, hello. We can't, Jonathan. I'm sorry.

23:55 Good evening, Mrs. Hart.

23:57 The busy evening, Mr. Clover. What is it you want?

23:59 You know about our finding Louise, don't you?

24:01 You found her?

24:03 Where is she?

24:03 She's dead, darling. I forgot to tell you. It was in the papers, but I forgot to give them to you.

24:08 Dead? Why?

24:10 She was murdered.

24:10 There's some mix-up here. I'll explain it to you. Yesterday, Mr. Clover, you said it was an older woman who was murdered, not Louise. A convict of some sort, so it couldn't be Louise.

24:23 Face it, darling. Strike a nice pose. Pathetic. For the death of the social secretary.

24:29 Vicki, you take it so calmly. She was very nice.

24:33 All right, dear. We'll find another one. Nicer.

24:37 All right.

24:38 You see, Mr. Clover, you really didn't have to bother.

24:41 No bother.

24:42 Still, I like that girl.

24:45 Jonathan.

24:46 Yes, Vicki?

24:47 Go pour yourself a drink.

24:49 Yes, Vicki.

24:50 You know why she was killed, Mrs. Hart?

24:52 Oh, love affair? Jealous suitor?

24:54 A mugger?

24:55 What?

24:56 Blackmail. It figures that way, anyhow.

24:59 She was being blackmailed?

25:00 Louise?

25:02 But you have to be naughty to be blackmailed. She seemed so prim to me.

25:05 I brought you a drink, too, Vicki, and Mr. Clover one, too.

25:08 No, thanks.

25:09 You may drink them all, dear.

25:12 Cheers. One and all.

25:14 I'm not getting through to you, Mrs. Hart.

25:16 Don't try. I've already told you about this evening, how busy.

25:19 Louise was blackmailing somebody else. This somebody else resented her and killed her.

25:24 Jonathan, dear.

25:25 Yes?

25:26 Don't overdo it. That tragic look. I said we'd get another secretary, younger.

25:31 All right.

25:32 Mrs. Hart, you told me yesterday that Louise Downey did a lot of things for you, personal things. Signed your checks, things like that.

25:38 Things like that, Mr. Clover. It's the nature of her profession.

25:41 Some time ago, she signed a check for you for $ 10, 000. Check made out to your first husband, Charles Gifford.

25:48 I said... Did you once have another husband, Vicki?

25:52 I was very young, darling.

25:54 I was called Mary Hughes then, and I was very foolish. And my marriage lasted only a very short time.

25:59 Oh.

26:00 Lasted only 12 hours.

26:03 You know about it, don't you?

26:04 All about it.

26:07 Well?

26:08 Well, what?

26:10 Louise should have left it alone, Mr. Clover.

26:13 She didn't, so you killed her.

26:15 She should have left it alone, or I should have had more sense than to let her sign that check, either one.

26:19 Probably the last. You get a phone call from a stranger, and you have a check signed for $ 10, 000. Louise hired a private detective and found out why. About your husband... About your mother.

26:30 Let's not call her my mother, shall we? I never saw her until... I never knew her. I didn't owe her the respect of the word mother.

26:40 But you killed her.

26:42 I live nicely. You can see that. Jonathan here.

26:46 What?

26:46 I'm not talking to you, darling.

26:48 Oh, sorry, dear.

26:49 Jonathan here isn't any trouble. He's got a lot of money and he gives me what I want. My pictures get into magazines how happy I am, how respectable I am.

26:59 Suppose it'd get out that I was born in jail of a murderous mother.

27:03 It's going to get out, Mrs.

27:04 Hart.

27:05 Now it will. But I thought I could prevent it. Well, it didn't work out.

27:14 Well, let's go, Mrs. Hart.

27:17 Will you want a wrap, dear?

27:19 Yes.

27:21 Yes, I think I do.

27:23 Let me help you with it.

27:26 There.

27:26 There.

27:29 Will it be long, Vicki?

27:32 Very long.

27:34 Have a very nice time.

27:52 Broadway's rearing on its haunches now... and wearing its comedian's face... And Broadway will reach out and tickle you under the chin and make clacking noises. Or bang you across the mouth and get hysterical. Either way, you feel no pain. Because it's a street that never does. It's Broadway. The gaudiest.

28:15 The most violent. The lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway. My beat.

28:40 Broadway's My Beat stars Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover, with Charles Calvert 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, Mary Jane Croft was heard as Vicki and Jay Novello as Jonathan. Featured in the cast were Irene Tedrow, Harry Bartell, and Paul Freese. Bill Anders speaking. Later this evening, you have a date with Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle. Now, you don't have to swing through the trees to keep up with.

29:23 The Wonder Man. Just relax and let Tarzan's story for tonight, titled Cathedral of the Congo, provide the atmosphere and excitement. Also tonight on most of these same stations, hear the case of the twice-parked car on Gangbusters, a saga of an automobile which... © BF-WATCH TV.

29:30 2021 Stay tuned now for the Vaughn Monroe Show, which follows immediately over most of these same stations. And remember, the comedy treat that can't be beat is Jack Benny Time, Sundays on the CBS Radio Network.

30:10 © BF-WATCH TV 2021 © transcript Emily.

30:28 Beynon Welcome back.

31:09 Okay, first observation.

31:11 Here is it does feel like Broadway's My Beat does a lot of cases where the motive has to do with maintaining class status, and the murder is done to protect reputation and avoid exposure of an embarrassing secret. And there are so many episodes like this in Broadway's My Beat. And it does suggest, I think, that Fine and Friedkin are connected. being a bit anachronistic. This is the sort of story which the motive would make sense, say, if you were in the 1920s or 1930s, certainly around the turn of the century, this could be socially ruinous. In 1952, it'd be embarrassing. But far from taking everything away, you know, particularly with her husband, you know, if her husband were like, some stuffed shirt who was on a morality crusade, then yeah,

32:22 maybe she'd be worried that she might leave him. But this guy is so chill finding out that she committed two murders, it's kind of hard to imagine him saying, I just can't tolerate that your mother committed murder 30 years ago. But fine and freaking definitely like to bring that sort of element of melodrama in, even though it's not necessarily the most sensible thing for the era. I also feel like they are, at this point, running out of things to say about Broadway. Danny says... Broadway's rearing on its haunches now and wearing its comedian's face. And Broadway will reach out and tickle you under the chin and make clocking noises. Or bang you across the mouth and get hysterical. My general reaction to that is Broadway

33:22 needs to keep its hands to itself. But I get it, it's... Saying that Broadway will amuse itself by making you laugh or being cruel. Then the analogy really kind of goes like, huh? Either way, you feel no pain because it's a street that never does.

33:45 What?

33:45 Okay.

33:47 I get the idea. Broadway is a street. and it is indifferent to human suffering. It therefore would not feel any pain about what's being inflicted upon you. But it does not then follow that you feel no pain because the street hitting you feels no pain.

34:09 But what?

34:10 No, you feel pain, the street just doesn't care. It's such a strain, but Let's cut them some slack here.

34:20 Even while I notice that, it has to be.

34:23 Said that they set themselves a very challenging task. Every week, they had to come up with multiple analogies for Broadway each week for nearly 200 weeks and rarely did any repeats. The only repeat I've spotted so far is on their New Year's Day programs. So, given that, one of their analogies is bound to not quite hit. But I appreciate all the others that do. Alright, well now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day. Thank you to Jennifer, Patreon supporter since March of 2016, currently supporting the podcast at the strongest level of $ 4 or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Jennifer. That will do it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software and be

35:26 sure to rate and review the podcast wherever you download it from. We'll be back next Wednesday, another episode of Broadway's My Beat, but join us back here tomorrow for Dragnetware.

35:38 Are you expecting your husband home pretty soon, ma'am?

35:40 Yes, I am.

35:41 Matter of fact, he should have been home long before this. I don't know what's keeping him. Told me he was going downtown to collect some money a friend of his owed him.

35:48 Said he'd be right back.

35:49 I don't know what could be keeping him.

35:51 When did he leave the house, ma'am?

35:52 About 2.30, 3 o'clock this afternoon. It's almost 8.30 now.

35:57 It could be he stopped to have a beer with his friend. He usually phones, though, if he's going to be late.

36:02 I don't understand these men sometimes.

36:04 You and your husband own a car, Mrs. Gorman?

36:06 Yes, we do.

36:08 My husband has it right now.

36:09 Why?

36:09 What kind of a car is it, ma'am?

36:11 A 49 Chevy sedan.

36:12 Gray color, four-door?

36:14 Yes.

36:15 License number 7T7972? Well, yes, I think that's it.

36:20 Why, what's the matter? Something happen?

36:22 Nothing to get worried about, Mrs. Gorman. We located the car in the downtown area, parked on a side street. The keys were still in it, thought we'd check on it.

36:29 Where was it parked?

36:30 Near 3rd and Bixel.

36:31 Well, that can't be right. This man my husband was going to see has his store on Alameda. It's on Alameda between 9th and 10th. No reason for Kenneth to drive the car way down on 3rd Street.

36:41 Possible he might have had another business appointment down there, ma'am. Maybe something he didn't mention to you.

36:45 Well, I don't know.

36:47 I suppose it is possible. You'd think he'd call, though.

36:50 He usually does when he's going to be out late like this.

36:52 What about this man your husband was going to see, Mrs.

36:54 Gorman?

36:55 You happen to know who he is?

36:56 Yes, Fred Bernard. He's in the sheet metal business.

36:59 Has his shop on South Alameda.

37:01 He owed my husband $ 300.

37:01 My husband went down this afternoon to collect it.

37:04 He a friend of your husband's, is he?

37:06 Oh, yes.

37:06 They're good friends.

37:07 Fred and my husband have done business for years.

37:09 There wasn't any ill feeling between them about this debt?

37:12 No, no, of course not.

37:13 It was just a bill for some materials.

37:16 Why do you ask that?

37:17 Just routine questions, ma'am. Can you think of anyone at all who might have a quarrel with your husband? Somebody who has a grudge against him, maybe?

37:24 No.

37:25 Why are you asking questions like that? Is something wrong? Something you're not telling me about?

37:29 No, ma'am.

37:30 It's just a routine check, Ms. Gorman. Nothing to worry about. I want to make sure everything's all right. That's all.

37:34 The way you talk, it isn't all right. It's far from right.

37:38 It's never gone this long without calling me.

37:40 There must be something wrong.

37:42 I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime, send your comments to box13 at greatdetectives.net. Follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives. And check us out on Instagram, instagram.com slash greatdetectives. From Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.