 Broadway's my beat from Times Square to Columbus Circle, the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesome-est mile in the world. Broadway's my beat with Blairy Thor as Detective Danny Clover. The time comes to Broadway when the April day summons its warmth, its winds, its plume sprays of sunlight, departs the avenue littered with its promises, and the defeated and the unfulfilled swarm back into the subway entrances and wait on the stifling platforms in the dim, sallow light reflected from walls of stained tile. Wait for the going home, wait for the death of a day to happen in some other place, the hall bedroom, the front stoop. Some other place where shock will be gentler, and suddenly through the steel corridor a hot dry wind races in the depths of earth, and on at the fury of hurtling steel, and they surge forward to meet it. Soon there will be home. In your office at headquarters the April twilight drifts in. Somehow it's touch startles the man you've been talking to. Hey, it's evening, it's evening already. What do you know? How long have I been spilling my heart out to you, Mr. Clover? An hour, maybe more. Time flies. A guy tries to clean up his conscience. Ease the soul when it takes longer than he thinks. I ain't keeping you from anything, Mr. Clover. No, you've got all the time you need, Mr. Greenhouse. Go on. Oh, not much more to tell her, except what I told. I see it might have take place. I report it. The common decency, I figured. Once you call a murder, it took place over a week ago. How come it took you so long to give in to the call of decency? You've got a point there, Mr. Clover. Well, tell me. I'll see if I can explain it to you. Try hard. With all my might. I was a bookie once like I told you. You told me. Look, let me recap it, huh? So maybe it'll make sense to you it takes me a week plus to confess I saw a man push another man off a roof. You were a bookie, take it from there. Yeah, a bookie. Until you boys came up with a thing, the trial initiative. Dull the pioneer impulse of it. So I pitted my brain against society. Try to come up with a respectable dodge. But to earn my nutwaffles and juice. But my mind has been in such a tight ruck with 12 years of making book. All I can come up with is buglory. Well, that's when you saw it happen, when you were robbing an apartment in the East 30s. You got a whim that says I robbed? Well, I didn't. I tell you this murder made such an impact on my conscience. I didn't rob and I never will. According to our books, what you saw was a suicide. Suicide of a man named John Elgin. Our books can be mistaken. Ask me, I know. You could identify the man if we found him. The man you say pushed Elgin off the roof. The man you say is a murderer. Identify him? I would draw my eyes into slits. Pretend I was in the emotional turmoil of over a week ago. Witnessing the event from a fire escape across the airway. And I would try to identify him. You find him and I sure would try. But I make no promises. Yeah. I ask your pardon, Mr. Greenhouse. Oh, it's okay. But for what? I didn't let you finish telling me why it took you this long to come to us with what you saw. Yeah, forget it, kid. It was like this. I had some washing to do. My conscience, my past, the foolish notion I could be a successful burglar, which I am obviously not equipped to emotional. This washing took me such a time. I now give it to you to hang out to dry. All right, you can go for now. Forever I can go, Mr. Clover. I can forget I saw a murder with my own eyes. Well, thanks for everything. You've been a dream. Watch him as he moves to the door. Stops. I'm glad I came here. What a load off the old shit. And leaves the complete man, the happy citizen. Then turn your swivel chair around the window. Briefly watch the city leap into the night. And hear the sounds of it as quick and new and fleeting as spring wind on the strings of a harp. Walk away from it, because the quality of this night is laced through with depth talk. And so for a policeman, this night is work time. So the intercom, the order, the requisition, and the squad car is waiting downstairs. The drive to the East 30s, and the address trapped in the cone of the car spotlight. Four flights up and walk back, and the bell is to the right of the reef. Good evening. My name's Danny Clover. I'm from the police. Another one? I thought whatever business I had with you people about my husband was over. Done with. There's a few more questions, Ms. Alden. May I come in? Yes. In here, please. What are your questions? Are you convinced your husband killed himself? Yes. I see. Well... As it occurred to you that someone might have pushed your husband off the roof? No. Suppose I told you someone had seen your husband murdered. Well... Well, that's what I'm telling you. Someone saw it happen. Who? Did your husband make a habit of spending much time on the roof? Who saw my husband murdering? That doesn't matter right now. What matters is that it's going to start all over again, Mrs. Alden. A whole new investigation. I see. All right. My husband and I didn't get along. There was some talk of divorce, never materialized. My husband was a moody man. He used to take walks. He used to walk down the hall, up the steps, onto the roof, and stare, and smoke, and pace. One night he jumped. Now. Now what? Now take each one of the statements I just made and investigate them. Who saw my husband murdered? I told you. Yes, you did. Very well, lie to me. If this is a method, do it. No one saw my husband murdered. Of course not. My husband's dead. My husband killed himself. I hope he rests in peace. I'll get out of here. Don't move, Danny. I make this request of you. Just don't move. Stay where you are. And from this sculpted pose, congratulate me. Something good has happened to you, Gino. The best. The natal day of my youngest Amelia is writing phoenix across yarn spring skies. It was a beautiful day for the birthday of my youngest, Danny. You should have told me before, Gino. I forgot. You wouldn't have presented her with a present. What's a present when you can do what you can do? What can I do, Gino? At your leisure, call up my Amelia on the telephone. Wish her the many happy returns. For a girl who had just become a woman of 11 years, Danny, a call from such a grown-up fellow wishing her a wish. What more can such a woman ask? I'll do it, Gino. First three minutes I get. How well I remember the night she came to us. How almost she was born under the sign of the flying red horse. What? The sign of the flying red horse, Danny. Where I had to stop at the gas station to refuel the borrowed machine in which Mrs. Tatagli and I were making our scheduled journey to the hospital. Oh, I know. This, of course, explains my Amelia's interest in such poses as Pegasuses and other beasties that fly with four legs. Of course. Well, Danny, now that we have disposed of the frills and flipperies, the work, huh? Whatever you say, Gino. And then to deceased John Elgin, whom we have called suicide and with which verdict others differ. What about him, Gino? This is about him, according to our files. He was once picked up in the raid on an after-hours joint three months ago. With him was a woman. Name of... And let me adjust the specs to see. Name of Gladys Haywood, the 1217 West 73th Street. The only memento to deceased John Elgin left to us, Danny. Give me that name and address, Gino. Right here. Thanks. Now, get Detective Margaretman, have him meet me with a squad car. Well, and Gino... Yeah, Danny? ...will be too late to call your Amelia, so you give her my kiss. Good night, Gino. Park the car and the house to find again. And the hall to walk. And the door found. Gladys Haywood? I'm Gladys. My name's Danny Cloverham. Please? That's right. You mind if I come in? Oh, I don't come in. You gonna stay long enough to sit? Sit. You don't like it, I'll turn it off. That's all right. We can talk. No. Now what? I'm trying to find out some background about John Elgin. Your name came up. On account of that rage. That's right. Was that the only night you were with Mr. Elgin? I had about a year with him, Mr. You want to try to believe something? I'll tell you something. I almost married him. He had a wife. I know. I met her. I had a chat with her and tea with her. Handshake. Looks into each other's eyes, woman to woman. Very civilized, not to the minute afternoon. I rang her bell and told her I was in love with her husband and wanted to marry him. What was her reaction? Smiles. She was all for it. She didn't like Mr. Elgin. She told me that when bent from the waist to pour the tea and looked up at me and smiled. About a month ago this tremendous thing happened. Mrs. Elgin was going to divorce her husband and you were going to marry him, isn't that right? The plans I have. What's happened? Pick up that book beside you, Mrs. Elgin. War and peace, it's called. I can't understand what it's about. The music I was listening to, I don't know what it's about either. Mr. Elgin gave me those things. And other things. First he said he loved me and then he was going to educate me. From something simple everything got complicated. His divorce. I don't know. So you broke it off? Yeah. Yeah, I did. I couldn't be a wife to Mr. Elgin. See, there I go again calling him Mr. Elgin. I never could get around to calling him by his first name. I sent him back to his wife and told him to stay there and he thought that was the best idea. You see, a girl like me wants... What do I want? Can you tell me why anybody would want to murder John Elgin? I don't know. I don't know anything. Maybe I should have married him. Now what have I got to date with a guy at 11.30? I guess you better go now, if that's all you want. Good night, Ms. Elgin. Yeah, let's go. Let's just over the radio, Danny. You're shooting two blocks from here, liquor store. Come on. Jim asked for a bottle of booze. So I gave it to him and he broke the bottle in the counter, shoved it at me and said, give him money. Hey, I better get to a hospital or something. My hand's bleeding like a stuck pig. How'd your hand get cut like that? A little tussle, we hand. I grabbed the bottle from him. He kept coming. So I took my gun from under the counter and let him have it. You know who the man is, you shot? Yeah, I do, I know. I know. His name's Greenhouse. Is that his wallet, Danny? I didn't have to. He was in my office a few hours ago to report a murder. He also told me how fast time fled. He told me he wanted to have a clean conscience. Is he dead? Yeah, dead. While listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin, and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. Now a few words from Bert Lancaster, star of the motion picture, The Crimson Pirate. This is Bert Lancaster. I've been doing quite a bit of traveling around the world lately, either on location or making personal appearances. But I always keep in touch with Hollywood by listening to the Lux Radio Theater every Monday night over the CBS Radio Network. To radio actors, the Lux Radio Theater is Hollywood. Because you can always be sure of hearing the latest and best motion pictures with the original stars. Why don't you tune in with me to the CBS Radio Network next Monday night and hear some fine entertainment on the Lux Radio Theater. This Monday on most of these same CBS radio stations, Lux Radio Theater stars William Holden, Nancy Olson, and Lyle Betger in Union Station. When April comes to New York, Broadway slows down its pace to let spring come in. The walk is a kind of dream walk, languorous, rhythm to a pulse of cadence and neon. To sun-worn blues yawned out a loudspeaker. And when night time comes, the street is filled with the sudden traceries of color that dart and ebb and dart again. And the swift laughter that spills out of doorways, perfume, warm and intimate and fleeting. So follow the crowd on Broadway. Lend your heart to it. Maybe this night will never get away from you. But it does. It always does. And in the corner of night where I was, there was no quality to the color. Where white walls touched one another, the pyramids of shadow in between, the emergency hospital, and Dr. Sinski, and a man whose hand had been cut. Think it'll leave a scar there? Over a period of time, it'll go away. And perhaps a slight itching now and then. You are a lucky man, Mr. Ford. No ligaments were injured. And now, hold still for just another minute. Where do you live, Mr. Ford? 1212 West End Avenue. Watch that bandage, Doc. Use a little tight watch. Watch it! My prerogative as a physician, Mr. Ford, to calculate of a bandage whether or not it gives you some pain. Please don't jerk your hand away again. Do you have a license for this gun? You killed Green Howard? Are you kidding? No, I'm not kidding. Now bend your arm a-day elbow, Mr. Ford. Sure, I got a license for it. My store was held up five times, Clover. After number five, I got me a license. I got tired of donating to the Hootland Society of NYC. Let's slip this around here. Please, Mr. Ford, a little cooperation. This is just a sling. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Is that where you hear of a man named John Elgin, Mr. Ford? Elgin? That's right, John Elgin. Can't say it's a hand. Finish now, Doc. Yeah, all right. In a few days, go to your family physician and let him look at that hand. He'll dress it and take out the stitches when it's healing. You can get off the table now. Okay. Look at this, will you? Arms dulled up like I was in an accident or something. A killing, Mr. Ford. Oh, what would you do if your store was knocked over five times? Kiss the high sir and hand him your register? Yeah, I killed him. Would you give me a license for a gun for if you didn't think I might have to use it? Sure, okay, Mr. Ford. You can go now. I'll get in touch with him. I need you. That's right. That way out, Mr. Ford. And the spring night is in full possession now. Its odors drift the corridors, seep into the room, blend with the accurate scent of pain present, pain past. The night wind of spring ripples a discarded ribbon of gauze stained with scarlet, floats it, traps it against your ankle. So leave this edge of night. Walk a street that leads into the blind alley of sleep. Walk, think, remember. The man who came to you told you he'd seen a murder committed, and in a few hours the man was dead. And another man, Ray Ford, liquor dealer who was weary of robberies so got a license to kill. The licensed violence to kill a man who said a murder was committed had seen the cascade of death from a rooftop, the death of John Elgin that we had called suicide. Then the end of walking this spring night and open the windows of a room and sleep. The next morning at headquarters, pick it up again. Consider again why a bookie named Larry Greenhow had brought you a week late, the eyewitness account of John Elgin's death. Consider again the manner of the bookie's dying. You've got a minute. I got something for you, Danny. The interruption. The motion, Detective Muggevin, in watching kick a chair to the man he brought with him. Sit down. I'll make myself at home. Oh, thank you. Thank you, Detective Muggevin. I am tired. It's nice to meet up with a considerate man. What do you got, Muggevin? Why'd you... Hey, polite fellow there, Danny. I want him to make your acquaintance. That's Al Kedro, Lieutenant Clover out. Indeed, a pleasure and a privilege, Lieutenant. Why did Detective Muggevin bring you to me, Mr. Kedro? I honestly don't know. I've been minding my own affairs, leading the good life. Al here was leading the good life in the show-off this morning, Danny. The boys picked him up around three last night. How many times have you been picked up like that, Al? Oh, I don't like to brag, but I should say I've been rousted in round numbers, Lieutenant. There are no complaints. Baker's doesn't. The boys are usually proper with me. Al's a beggar, Danny. Real pro-educated, polite. Tells his private brand of heartbreak, dimes and small chains. Looks like got to do with me, my man. When the boys picked Al up last night, he had the best part of two grand on him. Tell the Lieutenant where you got it at. Oh, with pleasure. Let's see. Yesterday? Yes. Yesterday, I was summoned by Larry Greenhow to his favorite phone booth that he calls home, there to receive the payoff on a debt he owed me. A gambling debt I thought he had welched on. 2,000. Lovely number. Larry Greenhow, the man who was shot down Same bookie, same man. I told you couldn't find a respectable job to keep me coffee and cake. Same man pays off 2 grand. Now, dead. Got to be something. Danny Clover speaking. Dr. Sinski, Danny. Got something down here I want you to look at. Where are you? The morgue. Right away, Danny. Right away. The way I called you and asked you to come down here to the morgue is... You said you had something interesting to show me, Dr. Sinski. I said interesting, Danny, because to you, a policeman, that is a proper way. As far as I'm concerned to me, it is merely a function of the... Come on, come on, Doctor. What are you asking me to come down here for? I'll show you. Larry Greenhow, Danny. You're doing autopsy on him already? I'm merely a superficial examination. Right here. Look. A welt in front of his thigh. What about it? Post mortem levidity, Danny. What? A very simple thing. A person who, after he is dead, lies in one position for an hour or two, develops such a... A welt, as you call it. A seepage of blood to the lowest part of the body. Physics, Danny. You mean Greenhow was lying on his face after he was killed? Probably with one leg drawn up under him. I took the liberty, Danny, to call down for the photographs, taken into liquor store where Greenhow was found dead. Now, did I use the right way? Lying on his back. Yeah, you did, Doctor. It's interesting, all right. Thank you. Put the nearest phone down here, Doctor. Yeah, through that door. Thanks, Dr. Sinski. Thanks a lot. All right, Ms. Elgin. All right, what? This is why I called you. This is why I picked you up. This is where we're going. You can sit right there in the car, Mrs. Elgin, and I'll get back in and we'll drive downtown and I'll book you for murder. Thanks. What are we going here for? Mrs. Elgin... I asked you a question. What are we going here for? You'll see, come on. I want you to do something for me. What? Go in that vestibule and knock on the door. I'll wait here on the stoop. No. All right, let's go back downtown. What do you want from me? I told you. I didn't kill anybody. All right, you didn't kill anybody. Go in there and knock on the door. Knock again. Again. Margaret. I didn't want to do it. He made me. He made me, Ray. I didn't want to do it. What? What baby, what are you talking about? Inside, Ray, inside, both of you. Thanks, Mrs. Elgin. All I needed was that the two of you knew each other. Ray, I didn't want to do it. He said he was going to charge me with murder. What's it all about, Claude? How's your hand, Ray? I get twitches. You'll get over it. Tell me again how you cut your hand, Ray. Like I said, with a bottle, this is all about money. I don't know, honey. I guess all we can do is listen to Mr. Claude. No, what for? What are we have to listen to him for? He thinks John was murdered, Ray. I don't know how he got that idea. It's where I don't know how he got that idea, Ray. How'd you get it, Claude? I don't know how he got that idea, Ray. How'd you get it, Claude? You killed a man named Greenhaw in your store last night. He told me Margaret's husband was murdered. Yeah, he told you Margaret's husband was murdered. So, who else is he going to tell? No one. You took care of that. What would you do if your store was knocked over five times, kissed a high student? Hand him your register? Yeah, yeah. Greenhaw wasn't killed in your store, Ray. Where'd you kill him? Here? You going Nazi? Sure I killed him in my store. Blood all over him, wasn't there? Were I shot him? You're a blood. You cut your hand on purpose after you shot him. Look, Ray, there are a couple of things I can do. Have tests run on your blood type in Greenhaw's, or have technicians tear this house apart, looking for signs of blood. I figure this is where you killed him. You, Ray. You're in a lot of trouble. Shut up. I didn't say very much. I just said it. Shut up. You killed Greenhaw because he saw you pushed Mr. Elgin out the room, because he was blackmailing you. You told him that, Margaret? You told me to shut up, and I'm good. You told him that, Margaret? He didn't need to, Ray. I learned that Greenhaw paid off an old debt. I've big debt. So I'd ask myself the question, where'd he get the money? And why did he get the money? Why? Because he saw one man kill another. What did I kill John Elgin for? What motive did I have? You gotta have a reason. You gotta have a motive. You had a motive, Margaret. I still look good to you, Ray, honey. You almost had, Margaret, when her husband fell in love with another woman. But he went out over it, went back to Margaret. It was very touching. Gave me a speech about there wasn't gonna be a divorce, ever. He said, let's start all over again. You remember, Ray? I tried to explain that to you. You're so hot tempered. Margaret, Margaret, for the love of... So hot tempered. Margaret, oh, it's over now, Ray. A little ex-book. You knew you were a murderer and blackmailed you. Then you got tired of paying. So he came to me, labeled it murder and went away. And Greenhaw wasn't lying. He didn't tell you I'd kill Elgin. That's right. Greenhaw didn't identify you. He just came to the police to frighten you. He just reported a murder. He came back here to tell you what he'd done. You killed him. Margaret, help me. Can I talk now, Ray? Come on, come on, help me. He never said your name. Why didn't you pay him? He would have said it. Not if you'd have paid him. He would have said it! Look how hot tempered he is. Knows everything. Him burns our life away. There's a special moon over Broadway tonight. It dips low and mixes with the laughter, the clack of heels, and the light flung downward in the spectaculars. And people look at it, point at it, wink at it, run into whatever shadow they've planned for the night. It's Broadway, the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomeest mile in the world. Broadway, my beat. Broadway is my beat. Stars Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover, with Charles Calvert as Trataglia and Jack Krushen as Muggevin. The program was produced and directed by Elliott Lewis, with musical score composed and conducted by Alexander Courage. In tonight's story, Louise Lewis was heard as Margaret Elgin, and Bill Boucher as Ray Ford. Featured in the cast were Charlotte Lawrence, Billy Hallop, and Steve Roberts. Don't forget Monday nights at Sardegard Priest Talent Scouts for fun and variety entertainment galore on most of these same CBS radio stations. Bill Anders speaking. And remember, Robert Trout reports the news of the world every Sunday on the CBS Radio Network.