Broadway Is My Beat
Encyclopedia
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
, ran on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
from February 27, 1949 to August 1, 1954. With Anthony Ross
Anthony Ross
Anthony Ross was a Broadway stage, television and film actor.Born in New York City, he may be best remembered for being the first to play the character of "the Gentleman Caller" in the original 1944 production of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie.Ross appeared in 20th Century Fox films...
portraying Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
Detective Danny Clover, the show originated from New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
during its first three months on the air. For the remainder of the series, the role of Detective Danny Clover was portrayed by Larry Thor
Larry Thor
Larry Thor was a film actor and radio personality.Born: August 27, 1916, Canada Date of Death: March 15, 1976, Santa Monica, California- Radio career :* Announcer on CBS Radio's "The Adventures of Rocky Jordan" ....
. The series featured music by Robert Stringer, and scripts by Peter Lyon. John Dietz directed for producer Lester Gottlieb (eventually succeeding him as producer). Bern Bennett
Bern Bennett
Bern Bennett is an American radio and television announcer. For nearly sixty years, beginning in 1944, he was a staff announcer at CBS. In the 1940s and 1950s he was closely associated with Bud Collyer, as announcer on three Collyer-hosted game shows: "Winner Take All", "Beat the Clock", and "To...
was the original announcer.
Beginning with the July 7, 1949 episode, the series was broadcast from Hollywood with producer Elliott Lewis
Elliott Lewis (radio)
Elliott Lewis was active during the Golden Age of Radio as an actor, producer and director, proficient in both comedy and drama. These talents earned him the nickname "Mr Radio"....
directing a new cast in scripts by Morton S. Fine
Morton S. Fine
Morton Fine was an American screenwriter.A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Fine worked in an advertising agency, a bookstore, and an aircraft factory before joining the Army Air Force in 1942. A graduate of St...
and David Friedkin.
Characters and story
The opening theme of "I'll Take Manhattan" introduced Detective Danny Clover, a hardened New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
cop who worked homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
"from Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
to Columbus Circle
Columbus Circle
Columbus Circle, named for Christopher Columbus, is a major landmark and point of attraction in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South , and Central Park West, at the southwest corner of Central Park. It is the point from...
-- the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world."
Danny Clover narrated the tales of the Great White Way to the accompaniment of music by Wilbur Hatch
Wilbur Hatch
Wilbur Hatch , was an American music composer who worked primarily in radio and television. He was born in Mokena, Illinois and died in Studio City, California.-Radio:...
and Alexander Courage
Alexander Courage
Alexander "Sandy" Mair Courage Jr. was an American orchestrator, arranger, and composer of music, primarily for television and film.-Biography:...
, and the recreation of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's aural tapestry required the talents of three sound effects technicians (David Light, Ralph Cummings, Ross Murray). Bill Anders was the show's announcer, as was Joe Walters.
The supporting cast included regulars Charles Calvert (as Sgt. Gino Tartaglia) and Jack Kruschen
Jack Kruschen
Jack Kruschen was a Canadian-born character actor who worked primarily in American film, television and radio.-Radio:...
(as Sgt. Muggavan), with episodic roles filled by such radio actors as Irene Tedrow
Irene Tedrow
Irene Tedrow was an American character actress in stage, film, television and radio. Tedrow is also the mother of actress Enid Kent.-Career:...
, Barney Phillips, Lamont Johnson, Herb Ellis, Hy Averback
Hy Averback
Hyman J. Averback, known as Hy Averback , was a radio, television, and film actor who eventually became a producer and director.-Radio:...
, Edgar Barrier, Betty Lou Gerson
Betty Lou Gerson
Betty Lou Gerson was an American actress, predominantly in radio, but also in film and television, and as a voice actress.-Early life:...
, Harry Bartell
Harry Bartell
Harry Bartell was an American actor and announcer in radio, television and film. With his rather youthful sounding voice, Bartell was one of the busiest West Coast character actors from the early 1940s until the final end of network radio drama in the 1960s.Bartell was born in New Orleans,...
, Sheldon Leonard
Sheldon Leonard
Sheldon Leonard was a pioneering American film and television producer, director, writer, and actor.-Biography:...
, Martha Wentworth, Lawrence Dobkin
Lawrence Dobkin
Lawrence Dobkin was an American television director, actor and television screenwriter whose career spanned seven decades....
and Mary Jane Croft
Mary Jane Croft
Mary Jane Croft was an American actress best known for her roles as Betty Ramsey on I Love Lucy, Mary Jane Lewis on The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy, and Clara Randolph on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet....
.
Closing
Stories came to a climax in the lonely hours just before dawn:Listen to
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