The Tommy Stafford Murder Case: Broadway Is My Beat (April 14, 1950)

“The Tommy Stafford Murder Case” is an episode of Broadway Is My Beat, the old-time radio show, first broadcast April 14, 1950. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Detective Danny Clover investigates the murder of Tommy Stafford, a jewelry messenger stabbed to death on a Coney Island roller coaster. The case expands when a second messenger, Ed Drasko, becomes a suspect but is found dead in a hall of mirrors, and stolen jewels worth $100,000 surface in unexpected places. Clover uncovers a elaborate scheme involving Madame Sibyl and her associate Victor.

New York City, primarily Coney Island and its midway attractions, including a roller coaster, jewelry shop, fortune teller's booth, and hall of mirrors.

Characters: Detective Danny Clover, Tommy Stafford, Ed Drasko, Gerald Fuffman, Madame Sibyl, Victor Amalfi, Frank Christian, Paul Otis

Listen for: The atmospheric opening describing Broadway's glamor and danger; the tense confrontation in the hall of mirrors; the revelation that Drasko's gun had no fingerprints; Clover's realization that he was manipulated into killing an already-dead man.

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.