The Charles Crandall Murder Case: Broadway Is My Beat (May 12, 1951)

“The Charles Crandall Murder Case” is an episode of Broadway Is My Beat, the old-time radio show, first broadcast May 12, 1951. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A man is found dead in an alley near Solly's bar with only an expensive wristwatch and a parking ticket in his pockets. Detective Clover traces the parking ticket to Charles Crandall, a longshoreman, and brings him to the morgue to identify the body. Crandall denies knowing the dead man but reveals he was at Solly's bar the previous night, where a mysterious girl named Helen approached him after he confided in the bartender about needing money for an engagement ring.

Broadway and Times Square area of New York City, including an alley near Solly's bar on Third Avenue, a rooming house on West 17th Street, police headquarters, and a morgue.

Characters: Detective Clover, Charles Crandall, Muggaben, The landlady, Rosemary, Solly, Helen

Listen for: The atmospheric opening description of Broadway, the discovery of the body in the alley, and Crandall's evasive responses when confronted with the dead man's identity.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.