transcript
Speaker 1:
[00:28] 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 do want to encourage you, if you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software. And today's program is brought to you in part by the financial support of our listeners, and you can become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as little as $2 per month by going to patreon.greatdetectives.net. Thank you so much to Rick for supporting the podcast that way. Now, from November 17th, 1951, here is the Alex Raymond murder case.
Speaker 2:
[01:32] 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. The November morning sits down over Broadway, and for a time, the swarm stands bewildered, stares at its empty hands. The solitude begins to shape itself once more, out of November's winds, out of the silent, colorless neon, out of mists flaring upward from manholes. And finally, the solitude is clear and present, whispering again its desolate invitation. Man says he's shot once to talk. Here's the address. Take it from the sergeant. Go to the address. Find the man standing propped against the wall of the apartment, one hand in a fist, pressed hard against his chest, pushing back the fragment of life that was still inside him. And watch it seep through his fingers.
Speaker 3:
[03:11] You took your...
Speaker 2:
[03:13] You took your time. Let me help you off.
Speaker 3:
[03:16] Don't touch me. Don't touch me. Just stay.
Speaker 2:
[03:22] Stay.
Speaker 3:
[03:23] Listen.
Speaker 2:
[03:23] Who shot you? Stanley. Stanley.
Speaker 3:
[03:39] That little nothing. It shouldn't be.
Speaker 2:
[03:42] The ambulance will be here in a minute. You've got to do with this.
Speaker 3:
[03:55] Alex Raymond, that's me.
Speaker 2:
[04:00] That's who I was.
Speaker 3:
[04:02] You get that little nothing.
Speaker 2:
[04:05] You hear?
Speaker 3:
[04:07] You can?
Speaker 2:
[04:09] And you burn?
Speaker 3:
[04:11] No?
Speaker 2:
[04:14] And the word stopped, and briefly the mouth had moved over nothingness, voicing nothing, moving quickly and fitly like quicksilver, till it froze, till the shape of it was forever. Because he was dead. And after that, Alex Raymond, objectively. The measuring of his death by instruments, men with cigars, the photographing of it, the recording of it under a heading, files, active. And take a piece of the image away with you, a name of killer. Name Stanley Lawson, employee of Alex Raymond. Consult other records, make a phone call, and come up with an address. Go to it.
Speaker 3:
[05:07] Yes?
Speaker 2:
[05:08] My name's Clover. I'm from the police.
Speaker 3:
[05:10] What is it you want?
Speaker 2:
[05:11] I'm looking for Stanley Lawson. The card on your door says...
Speaker 3:
[05:14] Stanley Lawson. I know that Lawson is alive. Why are you looking for him?
Speaker 2:
[05:18] Suspicion of murder, Mrs. Lawson.
Speaker 3:
[05:22] All right, come in. In here. Stanley isn't home.
Speaker 2:
[05:29] Where is he?
Speaker 3:
[05:30] If he committed murder, he's probably running or hiding or whatever a new murderer is supposed to do. What I'd do. Which one did he kill?
Speaker 2:
[05:40] What do you mean?
Speaker 3:
[05:42] Which one? Raymond or Harper?
Speaker 2:
[05:45] A little while ago, a man named Alex Raymond said your husband shot him.
Speaker 3:
[05:50] Then Edwin Harper must be running or hiding too.
Speaker 2:
[05:53] You mind telling me what you're talking about?
Speaker 3:
[05:56] Raymond and Harper incorporated. Together, they employed my husband to make them rich. In this, my husband was successful. That he's made one of them dead will give you some idea of how important my husband was to the concern.
Speaker 2:
[06:10] You think your husband's going to kill Edwin Harper too?
Speaker 3:
[06:14] My husband is what is known among educators, among partygoers, among those who conversationally psychoanalyze people as a plugger. The fact that my husband has set his mind to wiping out Raymond and Harper simply means that he had to kill one of them first.
Speaker 2:
[06:31] And none of this surprised you, Mrs. Lawson?
Speaker 3:
[06:33] Me, least of all, and his wife. I attend his emotional moments. I know about my husband.
Speaker 2:
[06:39] Would you mind telling me why he killed Alex Raymond?
Speaker 3:
[06:42] No, nor why he'll kill Harper. Stanley has been working for them for 15 years, a designer of their happy toys for tots. They fired him yesterday without a gold watch, without a pad on the back, just a pink slip. What does a plugger do after plugging in a pattern for 15 years? Stanley killed. You're wasting your time talking to me, Mr. Clover. I'd find Edwin Harper if I were you. That is if you feel the necessity of saving his life.
Speaker 2:
[07:25] And consider for a moment her easy acceptance of the violence that had intruded on her life. The final flourish that put an end to the meaningless pattern that had been hers. Then go to the man Mrs. Lawson told you about, the other man her husband wants dead. Edwin Harper, find him in his office at the factory. Watch him nervously caress a toy as he tries to understand it. Look, you, Alex and me, we built a big thing here. With Christmas coming on, it's going to be bigger than... Alex Raymond is dead, Mr. Harper. I don't know any other way to tell you.
Speaker 4:
[08:21] Don't kid me, mister.
Speaker 2:
[08:22] This toy I got here in my hands, our biggest novelty. Alex and me were going to flood all the kids in the country. Why, without Alex... Stanley Lawson shot him, killed him in cold blood. Why? Why would a little punk like Stanley do a thing like that? Nobody does things like that. Lawson did, because you fired him. His wife told me he'd been with you for fifteen years. There are jobs, all kinds of jobs for a punk like Stanley. That fence, janitoring, all kinds of jobs. We get rid of people all the time. We don't expect to get killed for it. Why did you get rid of Lawson? He was washed up, proved, finished, dead. That's why. Mrs. Lawson. Who gives a thing for what she said? What'd she tell you? Huh? That her Stanley was the brains of our outfit? That he sweat blood and tears for Alex and me? That he was devoted, loyal, a hundred percent? That's what she told you? Something like that. So maybe it's true. Maybe that's how it was. We picked his brain and then all of a sudden he don't come up with anything anymore.
Speaker 4:
[09:12] Look, mister, a designer who can't design anymore, who needs him.
Speaker 2:
[09:16] I gotta live too. You got waves, you throw it away. Yeah. You got any ideas where Lawson might go to hide any particular place? You mean that punk, that murderer is on the loose? You haven't got him? No, I thought maybe you could help him. Help? It's me you gotta help. Don't it penetrate you like he'd want me? We'll take care of it, Mr. Harper. Look, I got no intention of dying. None at all. Not from Stanley, not from anything. It's your responsibility. You understand that? You got it clear? I'm not going to die. Lieutenant Clover? Yes? I'm Detective Kinney. Oh, sure, sure. Come on in. Yeah, I've got the notation right here on my desk. You've been assigned to me, haven't you, while Detective Muggerman is on vacation. That's right, sir. I've got some information for you, lieutenant, about Stanley Lawson. Rather negative information, if I may say so. Sure, you may say so. Just tell me about it, huh? Yes, sir. All these from communications. Stanley Lawson was seen going into a theater on 42nd Street. And at the same time, this other report spotted him on the Staten Island Ferry. There's another one here from the Westside Golf Club. There's a man there on the 10th floor who's been teeing off for an hour. All of them were checked, weren't they? These and a half dozen more, sir. Still haven't gotten Stanley Lawson. Well, thank you, Kenny. Yes, sir.
Speaker 4:
[10:43] Oh, pardon me.
Speaker 2:
[10:45] Danny Clover speaking. This is Edwin Harvey. He called me.
Speaker 4:
[10:48] He just called me.
Speaker 2:
[10:49] Lawson? He wants me to meet him, to bring money to him. He says he'd kill me if I don't. You're not going to let him kill me. Where are you supposed to meet him? You've got to protect me. Don't worry about a thing. We'll take care of it. Goodbye, Mr. Harper. Kenny? Yes, sir. Report to me after you've had your dinner. We've got something to take care of. Lieutenant Clover. I'm glad you're here, Lieutenant. It's just about time. It's nine o'clock. Did everything set up, Kenny? Yes, sir. Lights, PA. We've got a cordon around the whole block. As far as the stakeout's concerned, we're all ready. Good. It's the tenement across the street. Uh-huh. The tenement's unoccupied, sir. Condemned. But a few minutes ago, we saw some movement up on the second floor. By any how, one of the officers said he saw something move out. I'll take it from here. Hand me the PA. Yes, sir. The spotlights, Kenny. Yes, sir. OK, man. All ready, sir. Yeah. This is the police. We know you're in there, Lawson. We want you to come out with your hands up. One minute to make up your mind. But we're coming in after... Kenny, Kenny, you officer, get an ambulance. You and you cover me. I'm going in after him. You just shot an officer, Lawson. Throw away your gun and come on down, or you won't get out of here alive. All right, Lawson, any way you want it.
Speaker 5:
[12:57] You're not going to get me!
Speaker 2:
[13:00] Stop, Watson! Stop! I told you to stop, Lawson.
Speaker 3:
[13:15] You...
Speaker 2:
[13:16] you made a mistake.
Speaker 3:
[13:18] I didn't kill... I didn't kill anybody. I didn't kill...
Speaker 2:
[13:25] all of them.
Speaker 3:
[13:26] Mistake...
Speaker 2:
[13:41] You are listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. The light that curtains Broadway in late November is a thing of gauze, gray stuff that touches autumn with December. It's the time when the shadows come in with the sun, the time of the three coffee breakfasts, of the sweater and the vest under the coat. But when the new day comes, the light that drifts into a hospital room has another texture, because it lies against clean walls and starched curtains before it touches a bed, a bed where a man named Stanley Lawson lay, a murder suspect, and his wife considers him.
Speaker 3:
[14:57] Look at him, Mr. Clover, in the state of shock. Isn't that what your doctors call the shock? So clinical, meaning his mind has rejected him finally.
Speaker 2:
[15:09] Do you expect me to feel sorry for him, Mrs. Lawson?
Speaker 3:
[15:12] Only for yourself, because you were forced to do what you did, shooting. Talk with yourself. Convince yourself you did the only thing possible. My husband can't talk. Who's the happier man?
Speaker 2:
[15:25] I can't answer anything about your husband, Mrs. Lawson. The only thing I know about him for sure is that he shot a police officer. And he did that tempers all my thinking about him.
Speaker 3:
[15:35] How is the officer?
Speaker 2:
[15:37] Bad. Very bad.
Speaker 3:
[15:40] I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:
[15:42] I know you are.
Speaker 3:
[15:44] Mr. Clover?
Speaker 2:
[15:45] Yes.
Speaker 3:
[15:46] You said you were sure only that Stanley shot a police officer. What about Alex Raymond?
Speaker 2:
[15:53] Your husband probably shot him too.
Speaker 3:
[15:55] Probably?
Speaker 2:
[15:56] Before he passed out, your husband said something. He said that everything was a mistake, just that.
Speaker 3:
[16:03] But everything is a mistake. Everything always is. Look at him. A man. A life. Look what's become of it.
Speaker 2:
[16:17] The resident says he has a good chance to live, Mrs. Lawson.
Speaker 3:
[16:20] That's fine. May I be alone with him for a while, Mr. Clover, please?
Speaker 2:
[16:40] Don't look for me anymore out the window, Danny. Complete with your lunch. Oh, thanks, Gino. In that shopping bag, all I gave you was 35 cents for a sandwich. Not only did I get you a lunch, Danny, but I brought back change. Where did you see? All right. That's just the delicatessen, Danny. All I got to mention is, I am here for Danny Clover.
Speaker 3:
[17:04] I don't even need a number to get waited on.
Speaker 2:
[17:06] What's all that stuff, Gino? Your name is Magic, Danny. I order you your hot pastrami sandwich. The boys insist it isn't enough. Got to have four spies. What? Four spies, Danny. An expression meaning, you got a free little delicacy from each of the four boys. Where it go? Four spies. From Sid, a container called slaw. From Eddie, a damp potato salad with celery seeds. From Frank, a sliced halibut. And from Irv, a-ha! What from Irv?
Speaker 3:
[17:37] A kosher pickle slipped into my hand under the table.
Speaker 2:
[17:41] Eat, Danny.
Speaker 3:
[17:41] Eat in good health.
Speaker 2:
[17:42] Quite a haul, Sergeant.
Speaker 3:
[17:44] You're welcome, I'm sure. I also brought along the datum you asked I should pick up on my way back upstairs.
Speaker 2:
[17:51] You're a ball of fire today, Gino. Thank you, I'm sure.
Speaker 3:
[17:54] And then datum number one.
Speaker 2:
[17:55] The gun with which Stanley Lawson committed murder upon Alex Raymond and the wound detective Kenny, the boys can't find it. They haven't found it? As yet, no. Lawson shoots out of that datum and window, hits Kenny, I go in right after him. We can't find his gun.
Speaker 3:
[18:11] This is a puzzle, then?
Speaker 2:
[18:13] A fleeing fugitive off courses away the weapon with which he committed mayhem. Through a window, down a pipe, across... What else have you got, Gino?
Speaker 3:
[18:21] Datum number two.
Speaker 2:
[18:22] Concerning the deceased Alex Raymond which you requested. It seems that Mr. Raymond, as it must to all men, had a girlfriend. Where? A Miss Grace Gillron, Daddy, Regent Powers, West 23rd. However, why you need such... I may answer it for you, Danny? Go ahead. Danny Clover's office, Sergeant Todd... What?
Speaker 3:
[18:44] No. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[18:48] I'll tell him. Tell me what, Gino? Give me a minute, Danny.
Speaker 3:
[18:56] Detective Kent. He's dead.
Speaker 2:
[19:13] And in a little while, look out the window. See him hatless, without a coat, wandering the sidewalk, wandering the autumn wind. Go to him, hand him his coat, and walk with him. Try to ease it for him, explain it to him, to yourself. The stairs of the passersby tell you, you're not doing real good. Then the brief time of being alone with it, the time it takes to get to 23rd Street, to the Regent Towers, to a girl named Grace Gilran, and for her instant in your life, let go of it.
Speaker 3:
[19:55] You're a policeman? Well, won't they think up next?
Speaker 2:
[19:58] I want to talk to you, Miss Gilran, about Alex.
Speaker 3:
[20:01] Alex Raymond? He's dead, you know. Dead and gone.
Speaker 2:
[20:05] You want to talk about it here in the hall, or...
Speaker 3:
[20:07] Oh, glad you thought of it first. Come on in. Come on. That chintzeeed divan over there, you'll look good on that.
Speaker 2:
[20:16] Alex Raymond, just about him.
Speaker 3:
[20:18] I read how you punched a bulldozer on his killer. What more can a man ask for?
Speaker 2:
[20:23] There's some things I need to know.
Speaker 3:
[20:25] About me? About me with Alex?
Speaker 2:
[20:28] Ever talk to you about his factory, about the people who work for him?
Speaker 3:
[20:31] You mean the boy who put it to Alex.
Speaker 5:
[20:34] You mean Stanley Lawson, don't you now?
Speaker 2:
[20:36] That's right.
Speaker 3:
[20:38] Killer, murderer, pale little man like him. The things that go on inside these pale little men surprises a girl.
Speaker 2:
[20:47] What did Raymond tell you about him?
Speaker 3:
[20:49] Just enough to bring up the yawns, how Lawson was quite a designer.
Speaker 2:
[20:54] Then why did they fire him?
Speaker 3:
[20:55] Beats me too, especially after that XK-20.
Speaker 2:
[20:59] The XK-20, what's that?
Speaker 3:
[21:01] The secret weapon of the Raymond and Harper Company, a toy rocket ship. Zooms, spits flame, beats Hoppy. You'll see him with the millions on the Christmas counters.
Speaker 2:
[21:10] Lawson designed it and they fired him for that?
Speaker 3:
[21:13] You know, now that you mention it, it makes me wonder.
Speaker 2:
[21:16] About what?
Speaker 3:
[21:17] It was going to be a surprise to Lawson. He brought in the first model of the XK-20 last June, made it on his own time. Alex and Edwin Harper looked at it and said it was just nothing. But you know what?
Speaker 2:
[21:31] Just tell me, Alan.
Speaker 3:
[21:32] They showed it to a buyer anyhow. The buyer ordered a thousand gross on the spot. Said it had a dozen other buyers.
Speaker 2:
[21:39] But they didn't tell Lawson about it? Uh-uh.
Speaker 3:
[21:42] In fact, just to make it more of a surprise for Lawson, they had the toy manufactured by a subcontractor out of town. I'll tell you something else. Alex whispered he might make a million out of that XK-20. A million XK-20 murder confuses a girl like me.
Speaker 2:
[22:19] Hey, Danny! Danny, wait for me! What's on your mind, Gino? Here, exhibit A. All wrapped up, ready to go. Oh, they found the gun, huh? Where? Wedged between some debris and an old tire in the backyard of the tenement, where Lawson and Don will be flung it. How come it wasn't found sooner? Why ask me? I wasn't there. I don't know. Do something for me, Gino. What? Go upstairs and get the fingerprints of everybody connected with this case. Then take the prints and the gun down to Gordon in technical. Tell Gordon I'll be there in a half hour. Okay, Danny. Well, Danny Clover. I make you that happy, Gordon? Look, Gordon, a little while ago, Sergeant Tartaglia came down here with his grubby fists aglow with things for Gordon for me to take care of for you, because I'm the only one who can. A gun and a few sets of fingerprints. You know, my advice to you... So help me, Gordon... .very sickly threats from such a big man. My advice to you, Lieutenant, is to keep your mouth open and amazement and let your jaw hang there. I've got a goody for you. Okay, what is it? The prints on the gun. You know whose those are, Lieutenant? Lawson's? A dead man. Alex Raymond. The man who fell dead in your arms yesterday afternoon. You kidding? If I was kidding, you'd be laughing, but your jaw's hanging the way I said it would. Raymond, a man who died yesterday afternoon also left his prints on a gun that killed an officer who died last night. Look, Mr. Clover, you picked me up at my place, and I came along with you without question. Don't you think it's time you told me what this is all about? The last apartment in this corridor is the home of Stanley Lawson, the man who used to be your toy designer. I see. What do you expect me to do? Look at it, feel sorry for the people in Zion? Just his wife, the only one inside. You'd better brief me on what I'm supposed to say to a woman whose husband killed my partner, murdered an officer of the law. It'll come to you.
Speaker 3:
[24:52] Good evening, Mr. Clover.
Speaker 2:
[24:53] Miss Lawson, this is Mr. Harper.
Speaker 3:
[24:57] Please come in. My husband talked about you often, Mr. Harper.
Speaker 2:
[25:02] I want you to know how sorry I am about what's happened.
Speaker 3:
[25:06] You're sorry? You really are? Of course I am. That's strange.
Speaker 2:
[25:13] Mrs. Lawson, I was brought here. For what reason I don't...
Speaker 3:
[25:16] It's strange because my husband always said you were a shrewd businessman. He never told me you were a liar.
Speaker 2:
[25:23] Look Clover, what is all this? You said you were sorry about what happened and Mrs. Lawson called you a liar. The fact Mrs. Lawson, that you're the wife of a murderer, makes anything you say pretty unimportant.
Speaker 3:
[25:36] Mr. Clover?
Speaker 2:
[25:37] Yes?
Speaker 3:
[25:38] I talked to my husband about an hour ago.
Speaker 2:
[25:40] I know. That's why we've come here. If you two want to chat, do you mind if I leave? We'd mind.
Speaker 3:
[25:44] You know all about it, Mr. Clover?
Speaker 2:
[25:47] The police stenographer who was in the hospital room when you spoke with your husband showed me the transcript.
Speaker 3:
[25:51] Do you believe what my husband told me?
Speaker 2:
[25:54] Yes. Is your husband going to live?
Speaker 3:
[25:59] I don't know. What about you, Mr. Harper? What? What about him, Mr. Clover?
Speaker 2:
[26:07] He's here, isn't he? Suppose you just take me back where you got me, Mr. Clover? Just who do you think you are? Mr. Harper, I wanted you to meet Mrs. Lawson. I wanted you to see her home. Go ahead, look around. This is a home, Mr. Harper. This is a place where two people made their lives. You never know what comes out of these homes, do you? I got a little piece of news for you, Harper. Lawson didn't kill your partner. You're crazy. You were there. Yeah, I know. But Lawson didn't kill. Not of everything I've got fixed together, he didn't kill. Calm now. Calm, calm. Lawson went to Alex Raymond, pleaded for his job, demanded his job because he was frantic, because he'd given you and Raymond 15 years of his life. We paid him well.
Speaker 3:
[26:45] Thank you very much, Mr. Hawker.
Speaker 2:
[26:47] Demanded his job. Raymond pulled a gun and told him to get out. Lawson wouldn't. Raymond threatened him. There was a fight. The gun went off. Raymond had shot himself in the struggle. Lawson fled. But Raymond told you. I know. He told me Lawson had shot him. It was Raymond's revenge for dying. The alleged killer had fled. We made only a cursory search for the murder weapon. This is ridiculous. I'm getting out of here.
Speaker 3:
[27:09] If you move, Mr. Harper, I'll find something to kill you with.
Speaker 2:
[27:13] I'll take care of him, Mrs. What do you mean, you'll take care of me? What have I got to do with all this? Lawson called you, told you what had happened, asked you to meet him. Begged for your help. Demanded money to leave town. I told you that. Edward Hall, except for one thing. A gun with Raymond's prints on it. Not Lawson's, because he never held the gun. Never held a gun. He killed a policeman with it, didn't he? No. After the phone call, you went to Raymond's apartment, found the gun that Raymond had hidden away to make it appear that Lawson was a murderer. Then you went to the tenement, hid. Why? Why should I do that? I'll get to that. You hid in that tenement during the stakeout when I called out to Lawson. It was you who fired those shots, killed a policeman. You wore gloves so that Raymond's prints would still be on the gun. Now I'll tell you why you did all this. If you can, here it is. Wherever I am, this is why you did it. Raymond was dead. You got a new toy on the market that's going to make you a lot of money. A toy that Lawson brought to you. Get him out of the way and all that money was yours. No strings.
Speaker 3:
[28:23] Mr. Hawker?
Speaker 2:
[28:24] No. Give me that gun, Mrs. Lawson.
Speaker 3:
[28:26] Don't try to take it away from me. You understand about me, Mr. Clover. You know what I do.
Speaker 2:
[28:31] Yes. Yes, I know.
Speaker 3:
[28:34] Pray for something, Mr. Hawker.
Speaker 2:
[28:37] All right. All right. I confess to you. I did it. I did everything he said. But don't... don't kill me.
Speaker 3:
[28:48] Is that what you call a prayer?
Speaker 2:
[28:50] Mrs. Clover, don't let her go. Please, please.
Speaker 3:
[28:53] Talk to her. Tell her.
Speaker 2:
[28:54] Tell her I don't want to die. She won't listen to me.
Speaker 3:
[28:59] She'll kill me.
Speaker 2:
[29:01] She'll kill me. This is what you wanted, isn't it, Mrs. Lawson?
Speaker 3:
[29:06] Yes. And it's enough. Take him out.
Speaker 2:
[29:35] Broadway's sleeping now, and the people of the chasm have gone home. Only the sleepwalkers are there, and the dream seekers, the shadow dwellers. It's limbo time, when the sotum dance, the derelicts, the huggers close at nothing. It's Broadway, the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world, Broadway, My Beat. Tonight on FPN Presents, you've been listening to some of the best in radio drama, with Biber McGee and Molly, and Broadway's My Beat. Join us again Monday evening at the same time, 9.05, when FPN Presents Dragnet and Escape.
Speaker 1:
[30:57] Welcome back. Well, a really good episode. I love the mystery and the solution to the case, and there were also some good emotional moments, including the final confrontation. Now, of course, the confession that was provided is not going to be legally admissible, but I don't think that was really the point, at least not on the wife's part. It gave her this cathartic moment in the face of a man who tried to ruin her husband's life and her life for financial gain and to steal from them this grand invention and what he was willing to do in order to make that happen. I do have to say that Raymond is exceedingly spotful. There's a reason that we tend to take dying declarations seriously because most people when they're dying aren't going to lie. But I guess there are exceptions to every rule. I also like the moment when Tartaglia learned of Officer Kenny's death and was so affected by it. And Danny coming to his aid with his coat. It's a great moment. And in a weird way, it's a very visual scene, which you don't usually talk about much in audio. But I think this is a great example of it. You just imagine that picture in your mind. And it does reflect that Danny really does care about Tartaglia as a person. But the scene was still an understated scene, even though it was told to exposition, which can be a tricky balance to strike. Of course, they still had a job to do. And even though Danny cared for Tartaglia, he gave him the unenviable task of going to see Gordon. Gordon is by far the most insufferable recurring character on this program. He manages to make simple laboratory tests that any forensic criminologist anywhere else in the country would just do and not make a big deal about. He tends to want to build them up like they're the labors of Hercules, and he is an intellectual giant towering above humanity. I mean, at the time, I was somewhat critical of Danny's overbearing narration about the people from Technical, but if we had introduced Gordon before that scene, I don't think I could be critical at all. Alright, well, listen to our comments and feedback now, and we are going to Patreon, where Emmett comments on our 4,950th episode special. What a pleasant surprise this one was. All too often, comedy doesn't age well. Certainly not as well as a mystery. This one though seemed to have a totally different attitude, and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the lines. I kind of thought he'd fall into a trashcan, but finding a melon in his mouth was laugh out loud funny. I hope you can find a few others in this series that may be similar. Well, I don't know if we'll find any more like that, Emmett, and I appreciate the comment, but proudly, we hailed it a lot of different episodes in a variety of styles. And hopefully, we will get a chance to revisit that series, because it, in my mind, is a bit underrated for just some good, usually light comedy or light dramatic entertainment, though occasionally a little bit of military adventure thrown in. But again, thanks so much. Appreciate the comment, Emmett. Now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day. Thank you to Zant, Patreon supporter, since February 2017, currently supporting the podcast at the detective sergeant level of $7.14 or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Zant, 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 us from. We'll be back next Wednesday with another episode of Broadway's My Beat, but join us back here tomorrow for Dragnet where...
Speaker 4:
[36:01] For the purpose of the record, may we ask whether that was in the morning or the afternoon? Was that in the morning or in the p.m.? P.m. Can you tell us what you saw the defendant do and what you heard him say at that place?
Speaker 5:
[36:12] You mean before the hold up?
Speaker 4:
[36:13] At 9.30. Please tell us what occurred.
Speaker 5:
[36:16] Well, I came in about 9.30 at the place. He was already sitting there at the bar.
Speaker 4:
[36:22] Continue.
Speaker 5:
[36:23] I came in and sat down at the end of the bar. He was sitting about five stools from the door. Friend of mine, Doris Fenwick, she's here now. Doris was sitting near him. I went over and talked to Doris for a while. The man didn't say anything. He was just sitting there.
Speaker 4:
[36:40] Did you see him drinking anything?
Speaker 5:
[36:42] Yes, he was drinking scotch and soda.
Speaker 4:
[36:44] You're the wife of George Holloway, deceased, is that correct?
Speaker 5:
[36:48] Yes.
Speaker 4:
[36:48] Was he present then?
Speaker 5:
[36:50] May I be pardoned?
Speaker 4:
[36:50] Was your husband, George Holloway, present at that time?
Speaker 5:
[36:53] Yes, he was standing in the bar.
Speaker 4:
[36:55] By that, do you mean that your husband, yourself and the defendant were the only persons present?
Speaker 5:
[36:59] No, my friend Doris Fenwick, there was a sailor there too. I don't know who he was. He sat next to the defendant.
Speaker 4:
[37:07] What occurred then?
Speaker 5:
[37:08] As we were ready to close the front door, my husband noticed the light in the men's washroom.
Speaker 4:
[37:13] I move that go out, what her husband noticed as a conclusionary witness. Yes, may I go out?
Speaker 5:
[37:19] Well, anyway, my husband went back in to put the light out, and Doris Fenwick and I went out to the sidewalk, and so did the sailor and the defendant too.
Speaker 4:
[37:29] The defendant did?
Speaker 5:
[37:30] Yes.
Speaker 1:
[37:31] 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/greatdetectives. From Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.