The Kenny Purdue Murder Case: Broadway Is My Beat (November 15, 1952)

“The Kenny Purdue Murder Case” is an episode of Broadway Is My Beat, the old-time radio show, first broadcast November 15, 1952. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Detective Danny Clover investigates the murder of jazz musician Kenny Perdue, found dead with knife wounds in the apartment of a man named Harry Impa after a party. As Clover interviews witnesses and follows leads, he discovers connections to a lonely woman named Karen Marlin, whose husband was recently killed in Korea, and uncovers a web of relationships and secrets in the jazz clubs of Broadway.

New York City in November, including Broadway jazz clubs, apartments, police headquarters, and the Twinkly Club uptown.

Characters: Detective Danny Clover, Kenny Perdue, Harry Impa, Ray Brady, Mildred Daniels, Karen Marlin, Paul Russell, Dr. Gordon

Listen for: The poetic opening narration about Broadway and November night; the discovery of Kenny Perdue's body; interviews with Ray Brady, Kenny's roommate; the introduction of Karen Marlin and her troubled state; the confession scene and the revelation of Karen's guilt; and the closing narration reflecting on the case.

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.