The Otto Prokosh Murder Case: Broadway Is My Beat (July 21, 1949)

“The Otto Prokosh Murder Case” is an episode of Broadway Is My Beat, the old-time radio show, first broadcast July 21, 1949. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Detective Danny Clover investigates the murder of Otto Prokosh, a vain Austrian acrobat shot backstage at the Dodge Theater during a performance. As Clover interviews suspects including the theater manager Georgie Houston, his wife Ruth, comedian Shelley Sheldon, and the eccentric dancer Lee Emery, he uncovers a tangle of jealousy and hidden motives behind the killing.

The Dodge Theater on Broadway in New York City, Police Headquarters, and the East River docks, during a July heat wave in the late 1940s.

Characters: Detective Danny Clover, Georgie Houston, Ruth Houston, Otto Prokosh, Lee Emery, Shelley Sheldon, Sergeant Tataglia, Mugga-Vin

Listen for: The atmospheric descriptions of Broadway at day and night, the contrast between the theater's laughter and the grim backstage discovery, and the philosophical musings of the troubled dancer Lee Emery as he discusses his art and his music.

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.