May 2, 2025 • 29 mins
A gritty series about a hard-hitting reporter who uncovers human stories behind the headlines. It mixes crime investigation with emotional depth and realism.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
NBC presents Frank Lovejoy in.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Night Beat. Hi, this is Randy Stone. I cover the
night beat for the Chicago Star. Yeah, I cover the night.
(00:30):
My beat is about eight square miles of darkness and mester.
That's a lot of night every evening. I start walking
into it. Let it swirl around me and let it
swallow me up. Part of me relaxes, part of me
becomes tense and wary, like a hunter coming back to
the jungle. I feel at home, but I know that
(00:50):
there's danger. For the night is filled with its own
brand of people, a lonely, lost, screwy mix stup people
of the night, drifting out of the darkness like fragments.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Of a nightmare. You look like a decent sort.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
You don't want to force suffering human being to go
alongry for one of her dime.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, disembodied hands stretched out for that ever loving coin
to buy just another whiff of that fine old anesthetic
named musket cap, or a brittle laugh of a painted
TUTSI rising out of the night, proving to the world
she doesn't care, laughing until the tears come. With a
flurry of footsteps rushing by, a muffled conversation deciding life
(01:34):
or death, or to Night's movie, an ambulance racing past
on its way to general Hospital. It's red warning light
flashing on and off quickly, like the frenzied post speed
of the poor devil inside Hi alrs, how's the old crusader?
Night is for the phony too, Like this character coming
toward me while I was grabbing a bite in the
(01:55):
little restaurant next to the radio and TV studios. The
actor on stage twenty four hours a day.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
Do you mind if I sit on next to your baby?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
What do you say? How's the kid? All the kids fine?
Teething like mad, nothing serious?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Beryl laughs.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
Those characters real sense of humor. You know, I love
that column of yours baby with me. It's like a
shot of vincidry.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
The only lack I find in it is that I
never see any mention of guess whom who? John Bruce,
the World's greatest thespion, also available for Wake's weddings and
beer buds.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
You couldn't see your way clear to letting go on
my sleeve so I can finish my coffee.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
How do you like this, citizen? You can insult you,
you curl up and die and you still love him. Look,
I know the minute I'm out of your sight, you're
going to forget me. So I'm going to give you
this little postcard to hang on to. If your shore
can stand the boost, ask for the lead. They call
John brust. Well it rhymes anyway. I gotta be going now,
Remember baby, I don't mind what you say as long
(02:53):
as you say something.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah, that's sir Bruce, spelled with a bee. I know
it's spelled with a bee. A great, big, beautiful hunk
of zero. Listen, see a brown eyes continually shifting, sizing
you up and figuring you out, A friendly smile so
(03:16):
phony you look for the safety pins only get in place. Ah, Relax,
it's a big night. You walk half a block and
John Bruce is lost forever because there's always something waiting
up ahead. I just turned down Grand Avenue. Oh, now
there's one of the night's chilly little sounds for you,
A burglar alarm shattering the quiet. I looked down the dark,
(03:39):
empty street, trying to figure out which store, and I
saw a child come guarding out of a doorway and
began racing the other way. A child, Hey, stop, stop,
I tried racing after it, but there wasn't a chance.
I went back to the store. It was a sport
(04:00):
goods place, one window smashed and blood splattered on the glass,
like the kid had used his naked fist to get
to the display of guns and knives inside. After the
cops came and I told him what I knew, I
continued my wanderings down through the Lincoln Park district and
up through honky Tonk Rome, the wild neon signs making
(04:29):
the night bleed red and green and purple, and then
the little jazz combos beating their brains, and the barkers,
(04:50):
their gold teeth flashing as they banged their canes against
the sidewalk, and shout about the twelve dancing girls waiting
just for you. And they all began hawking popcorn and
hot tomalies and a little child's wagon. And George, a
thirty five inch dwarf who sold newspapers at Clark and Knight. Georgie,
(05:11):
how's it going.
Speaker 6 (05:12):
Fine and dandy? Better than good? Always say one for
little Georgie.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Give me the Sun Times. Always good to see what
the competition's up to.
Speaker 6 (05:19):
They are paper, read all about it.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
That's a lovely headline one of the wake up Hey, George,
maybe the way things are in the world. This is
a good idea, but since one of they started printing
the paper and.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Blood, what are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Look for yourself smeared all over.
Speaker 6 (05:40):
That's the way I got it.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Yeah, I'll give you another thank you.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I let go my hand, it's soaking through the bandage.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
George, I cut myself in a can opener.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I hope you went to a doctor. Doctor. You've got
to get all the glasses.
Speaker 6 (05:52):
I got all it.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I told you it was a can opener.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
All I saw in that window was guns and knives.
I thought it was a kid.
Speaker 6 (05:59):
Okay, so you cut yourself a story, Get on a phone,
call a cops.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
What are you waiting for?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Waiting for you to start telling me why a sweet
guy is acting like such a dope? What is it, Georgie?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Almost one o'clock a little morning now, and she'll be here.
Go on, call a cops, Call the cops.
Speaker 6 (06:15):
You'll be doing me a favor. If you don't, I'll
kill him.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I swear I'll com She'll show up in an hour
and you'll kill him. Kid.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
You lost me, all right, mister Stone, You're a good guy.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
You're entitled to all. Come on, follow me.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
He dumped his papers out of the stand and started
across the street, thirty five inches of desperate humanity. I
followed him around back and down the stairs of an
old telement. He stopped at the basement door to fish
out a key. I followed him inside a dark, dank hole.
He flicked the switch. Fluorescent lights hissed on, throwing a
(06:56):
cool white glow over walls draped in black velder. There
were dark boots and a small bar. It was empty,
deathly quiet. I know the establishment and after hours jointed.
When all the legitimate bars close, those who still sought
refuge from the night come to places like this. George
headed straight for the only bit of brightness in the room,
(07:18):
a gleaming aluminum jukebox in the corner. And the center
of the jukebox was a neon mouth, and within the
mouth the microphone. Other neons spelled out the message ask
your tune. It operated like your telephone. Somewhere a girl
sat at a switchboard connected to fifty such jukeboxes and
taverns all over the city. George stood glaring at his
(07:40):
tiny reflection in the jukebox shiny chrome. I hate it.
I'd like to smash the pieces, not the jukebox.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
The owner it is joining gave me a key so
I could come in and get warm on cold nights.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (07:53):
Only you can see for yourself when you're alone, this
place can give you the creeps. I thought maybe your
tune would cheer me up, so I started whistling around
with this jukebox, feeding it my loose nickels like this,
and then heard talking.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
To me, what tune would you lie? It's me, Julie.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Oh hello, darling, Darling.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I'm so excited, George, just one more hour, so help me.
I've got goosebumboos. Yeah me too, Julie.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
We'll do it just like we pland I, Sidney can't
understand your feelings, and I admire you for them, say
before the balls catches me spooning.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
I gotta play a record, not a record, Julie. The record,
the record, George.
Speaker 7 (08:51):
Okay, you can start laughing anytime you want, mister Stone.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
That's just all about Jeorde.
Speaker 6 (08:56):
Ten seconds of conversation with every record start. It is
a gag, me playing the big lover.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Because she couldn't see she was talking to a dwarf.
Speaker 8 (09:05):
It's a big joke, huh on me because talking to
her every night, I don't know, something started happening to
me inside, happening to both of us.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Because she felt the two. She really did, mister Stone,
I mean an understanding. I don't know, I don't know
the word, but she felt the two and then he
had to ruin it, destroy it.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yes, it was soap opera that said sudsyst the little
dwarf in his love affair with Julie the jukebox girl.
So help me. Georgie even invented an invalid wife. That
was his reason why he and Julie could never meet
except through the jukebox. But like all little melodramas taken
from life, there was also a villain. One of the
(10:00):
men who worked in this joint. Happened over here George
spilling his heart out, and as a gag, when George
wasn't around, he told Julie that the poor guy was
dying the meter in person, that they should get together
at least once, and that's what schedule for two a
m huh, this meeting.
Speaker 6 (10:16):
Yeah, it was Julie's idea. I mean the way it's
gonna be the record made her think of it.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
The record.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Yeah, it's from Chai Tchaikowski. Is that what they call him?
Uh huh ah.
Speaker 6 (10:28):
Well, he and his barons, some fancy lady. They had
a friendship through letters, and they felt that they had
a meet at least once. So one day they passed
each other in carriages and nodded without a word, and
went on. Never saw each other again.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
And it's good enough for Tchaikowski. He's good enough for
Georgie and Julie.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Huh. Yeah, she'll be wearing a green hat and a
sprig of violets. I'll be wearing a red flower. Well,
you think.
Speaker 6 (10:56):
She'll be a little surprised at what she's going to see.
Mister Stone, isn't it a joke? It's okay for you
to laugh. Go on, laugh, mister Stone.
Speaker 7 (11:06):
Laugh.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I turned. He was a big, paunchy, ball headed gent
standing in the doorway, having himself a wonderful It was
right out of Max sent at a barrel of laughs,
George the dwarf, charging right into the big guy, who
merely lifted him up, shrugged his shoulder, and sent the
(11:30):
little fellow flying across the room, crashing into a wall.
Speaker 9 (11:33):
Oh what that character that little monkey is eh? Did
he tell you about his romance?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So you're cupid?
Speaker 3 (11:40):
That's me.
Speaker 9 (11:41):
I'm even willing to stake him to that rose for
his lapel. Nothing's too good for lover boy. What a
line he's got.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
You gotta hear it to believe it. Okay, George. The
knife in George's hand would have looked much better back
in that sporting good window. He moved out of the shadows.
He moved toward the big guy. A trickle of blood
ran down George's mouth, but he didn't know anything about that.
Speaker 7 (12:08):
Put that knife away or shove it down your.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Throat, But George kept coming. The smile on the big
man's face took a leave of absence.
Speaker 7 (12:14):
Hey, come on now, George, what's the matter?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Can you can't you take a joke? A bait of
sweat started zigzagging down his face, mixing with the falcon powder.
His lips continued to work, but now no words came
out because this thing coming towards him. This wasn't a
comical little dwarf.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
This was death.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
NBC is bringing you Nightbeat, starring Frank Lovejoy as Randy Stone.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Enjoyed the very best.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Be sure that you dial invite.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Seems like the very desk and.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
Radio Morning, noon and night is from this station, Morning,
noon and Night.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
And now back to Nightbeat and Randy Stone.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
George the Dwarf was passing in front of me on
his way to the big guy who'd loused up his
romance with Julie the jukebox girl. The knife glinted in
his hand and he didn't even know that I was there.
The only other person in all the world existed for
him at that moment was a heavily perspiring fat man,
And as George came just a little closer, I lunched,
(13:43):
twisted his arm back until a knife clattered to the floor,
and I reached down for it as George torrey loose
and ran out of the door.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
And you like that little character.
Speaker 9 (13:52):
Trying the knife me, I'm gonna call a cop so
fair that.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
That'd be a little awkward, seeing how the joint here
is slightly illegal.
Speaker 9 (13:58):
Mum, Well, one thing I'm gonna do. I'm gonna tell
is Jane on the juke box who she's dealing with.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I'm gonna tell her this crazy punk life. Lester. You
even say howdy to that girl, and I might decide
to find George and give him back this knife. I
found George or right slumped against his news stand, all
through wanting to kill anybody. I told him I'd see
(14:30):
the cops and maybe they'd say it was okay if
George paid for all the damage to that sports store
and behave himself from now on. That didn't make him
feel much better, because it was getting awfully close to
two o'clock and his meeting with Julie. I told him
that i'd call Julie an informer, that he'd suddenly come
down with a slight case of ubonic plague or something.
(14:52):
I got the name of the company off the jukebox
in the after hours, joined the ACME Music Company. I
found a phone booth, reached for a coin, and instead
came up with a card that said, if your show
can stand a boost, ask for the lad they call
John Bruce, and John's beautiful phony face smiling up at me.
All of a sudden, I was looking for the phone
(15:14):
number at the bottom of the card, and then I
began dialing, like Matt, that's gotta be her. Which one
coming down the street? The green hat, the sprig of violets.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
Yep, this is going to be a distinct pleasure.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Bay, I just remember what you're supposed to do. Baby,
You walk past, you nod, and you keep walking.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
What's the mystery all about? Chicken level with brucey.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Board ten bucks? No questions asked. That was the agreement book.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Can I at least mumble some quota?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
But you open your mouth for anything but breathing? Okay, okay,
he's almost reached the corner. Move I stepped back to
the paper stand where George was waiting. Together. We watched
Julie and John Bruce approach each other. Mister Chaikowski never
(16:04):
had it so good. She was really something out of
body beautiful. As the two approached, George's hand unconsciously fastened
on my arm. Now Julie and John were passing each other,
their eyes meeting George's hand began to tighten.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Julie, Oh, how beautiful, How beautiful.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Julie nodded to John Bruster, and out of the corner
of my eye I saw a little George nod in return.
For one sickening moment, I thought Bruce was going to
open his mouth and go into a monologue, but somehow
he controlled himself. They passed each other and went on.
I looked down at George. His eyes were shining.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
It was me, what I said to her, pouring out
my heart, that brought her here tonight. Jure did Yeah,
But why couldn't it really have been me? Why couldn't
it have been me?
Speaker 10 (17:02):
Mister Stone, Ask the stars.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Maybe they had an answer for you, Georgie. Me I
had work to do them. I still had my story
to find. Somewhere among the waiters, folding their tuxedos away,
yawning as they changed into their street clothes, Somewhere among
the jazz musicians, their faces waxen with fatigue, their shirt
collars soaked in sweat, but still reaching for that beautiful,
(17:35):
pure note. Somewhere in the police wagons screaming insanely down
the street. Somewhere in the yellow lights of the general hospital,
the mile of empty warehouses, a strip of greasy piers,
a desolate park in an alley, on a street corner.
Somewhere in the night, my story was waiting for me,
And now that was all it mattered my morning. I'd
(17:58):
forgotten all about George and Julie and John Bruce. I'd
finished my column and I'd gone home to snooze. Only
my soga the jukebox wasn't ended and only just begun.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah yeah, I wake you up after ten am.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Woa, well what do you know? What do you want? Bruce?
I do?
Speaker 6 (18:23):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Oh you are magnificent. I'll see your round.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Oh wait a minute, Rennie, yeah the a broad Yeah,
Freddy guys, No, what was that routine you got old
Johnny Boy guessing?
Speaker 10 (18:36):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Well, good for Johnny Boy, see your round, Randy.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
Look, as long as she's not a friend, like they say,
where can I locate this kid?
Speaker 9 (18:45):
Maybe we'll have a.
Speaker 6 (18:45):
Couple of laughs together? Uh no, kidding, baby, where can
I find it?
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, when you're in my racket, when you deal with
these characters, and I bet brother, you've got to be
prepared for the totally unexpected. Johnny Boy had fallen for
the lady of the juke box like a ton of bricks.
Of course, he couldn't come right out and say it
plain and simple. He had a hamt right up to
the hilt. But I knew the score, and from then
(19:17):
on he haunted me night and day.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Come on, Randy, who is she?
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Where?
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Can I find it? Give the girl a breaker?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
He'd corner me on the street at the newspaper at
my home.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
Who is she, Randy? Come on, be a Powell. What's
wrong with me looking her up and giving her a
little attention?
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Day after the day after day?
Speaker 5 (19:33):
Where can I find her?
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Randy? What's the big mystery?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
For a while I even enjoyed it. He was sweating
and on him it looked good. But I guess this
morning I just wasn't in the mood. I'd come down
to the office around five am, and any newspaper office
that time of day is a pretty sad affair. Cleaning
women slashing their way up and down the aisle, the gray,
listless dawn flooding against the windows, the empty desks, and
(20:03):
me with one of those real sour little tales to
write about. A about a bum they'd found behind some
garbage cans on skid roll, A bomb with a distinguished
service cross pinned to the pocket of his filthy shirt,
one of those gallant young gods that we swore we'd
never forget. Yeah, I was feeling Jim Dandy as I
(20:23):
sat down to my typewriter, and I whipped a hunk
of paper into the roller, and then I saw John
Bruce standing in the shadows across the room from me.
Oh friend, I'm not in the mood this morning. I've
got work to do.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Randy.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
You've got to listen to me.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
They found him a little after midnight behind a wine shop.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
Randy, you've got to tell me where I can find it.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Just another bum sleeping it.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
Off, Randy, listened to me.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
You gotta tell me, luck Buster, I'm telling you nothing.
You understand that one dame is going to escape the
fame John Bruce, charm. It's a very small tragedy, not
clear on it.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
If you'll only listen to me.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
I'm slightly bored with listening to you, mister Bruce. I'm
even more bored with looking at you. Mister Bruce. You're
so phony. It sticks out like measles. Mister Bruce, from
your crisp, curly hair right down to your beautifully polished shoes.
If this comes as a great surprise, oh great.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
Surprise, Randy. That's when can a guy keep that kind
of news from himself?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Okay, I'm sorry, I'm pretty tired.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
I don't know what it is. I won't even try
to explain it. I can't explain it to myself. It's
that success bug, it's dog eat dog. Anything goes as
long as you make it. And why do you have
to make it? Does it say so in the constitution?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Love?
Speaker 6 (21:49):
But about her?
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Right?
Speaker 5 (21:51):
I'm not putting on any act about her, Randy. I'm
a big boy now, love at first sight? Am I kidding? Listen, Randy,
we just exchanged the look maybe five seconds, and until
the day I die, I won't be able to forget it.
(22:12):
I guess that sounds like Samora Johnny Boy's routine.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
No, go on, go on?
Speaker 5 (22:19):
What can I tell you? How do you explain it?
But in those few seconds, I saw something I've been
looking for all my life, Randy, something genuine, something real,
something Well, maybe I saw my own salvation, Randy. Maybe
(22:41):
I was just kidding myself, selling myself with Billy goods.
But I got to find out. I got to see
her again, talk to her. Maybe the minute she opens
her mouth to dream, will something me down? Like humpty dumpty.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
I don't think.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
So now where is she?
Speaker 2 (23:01):
The actme? Music company? Only take your time. She doesn't
show up until night. I don't know why I did it.
Maybe it was something I saw in John Bruce's eyes
that made me feel if I didn't tell him, well,
it would have been a bum deal for Julie. I
(23:24):
wanted to reach George right away, try to explain what
I'd done, but I didn't know where to look for
him accepted his newstand. In my world of the night,
all you ever know about anyone is where they are
right now. I didn't sleep much that day. Making George
understand wasn't going to be any cinch, but he had
to know that this had been a sick thing that
could only hurt him in the end. That night, I
(23:47):
hurried right on to his newsstand, only he wasn't around.
I started worrying, and on a hunch, I went across
the street to the after hours joint. The door was ajar.
I went in. He was there squatting in front of
a jukebox, listening to his song. His back was to me.
(24:19):
The song ended, and I searched my mind like crazy
for the right words. He was fumbling with some coins,
and he slipped one of them into the jukebox.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Like it, darling, Oh you know I do. Every time
I hear it, I see you again, so beautiful. You're
pretty beautiful yourself, mister Efer Julie. It's wonderful to hear
you say that.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I backed out quick. I didn't get it. Why hadn't
she gone with John Brust? I had the cab for
the Acme Music Company, a dilapidated office and a loft
on Huron Street. Front door was all and so I
went on inside an empty desk with paper scattered all over,
but nobody around. I went into a dark hallway mark
no admittance. Ahead of me was a lighted glass door
(25:11):
with the word studio painted on it. I started for
it when someone came running up behind it.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Hey, you can't you read the sign no admittance? I
thought that was very clear.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
There wasn't anybody at the desk.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
You're telling me something I don't know. Quitting without a
minute's notice. That's a fine thing.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Listen that.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Wait, that's Sally. She'll want a reference someday. I'll give
her a reference, all right? Now, come on, Sally, is
she the one who quit without a minute notice? A
jerk comes popping and I was working them back. Next
thing you know, she's waltzing out of here with him.
But that's okay. Someday she'll want a reference.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Sally is a dark haired girl, beautifully built, So she's
beautifully built.
Speaker 6 (25:52):
Big deal.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Come on, mister, I got fifty things to do. Then
that would be Julie working in the studio up ahead,
So well, do you mind if I Pekin through the door,
then I'll go if you.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
Want to pick? All right, pick would Julie. I'm not
worried about her running off with Julie. I'm safe.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yes, he was safe with Julie. As I looked through
the glass door, I thought, sure, it figures too can
play the same game the Dwarf had as John Bruce
and Julie had her Sally. Julie couldn't have shown up
for a meeting with George even if she wanted to,
because I very much doubt that Julie could have lifted
(26:35):
her three hundred and fifty pounds out of that chair. Huge,
sprawling Julie working like mad at her switchboard with its
flashing lights from jukeboxes all over the city. And then
while I watched as she answered one call, something happened.
Her eyes lit up in a strange and wonderful way,
(26:56):
and then she flicked the switch that played a certain
record for a certain juke box, and her eyes became
even more bright. I didn't have to hear the rest
of the record. She was playing their song for her guide, George,
and all of a sudden I realized how right George was.
Julie was here. Yeah, that's how it is when you
(27:37):
walk the night Beat. You always know that if you
walk far enough and long enough, and if you keep
your eyes open and you listen very carefully, sooner or
later in the darkness, you'll find the city's hard Yeah. Yeah.
Cobby Boy.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Nightbeat, starring Frank Lovejoy, is produced and directed by Warren Lewis.
Tonight's story was written by Larry Marcus with music by
Robert Armbrewster. The part of John Bruce was played by
Bill Conrad. Jeff Corey was George. Others in Tonight's cast
were Betty lou Gerson, Ray Hartman, and Eddie Fields. Frank
(28:30):
Lovejoy can currently be seen co starring with Joan Crawford
and Robert Young in Warner Brothers Goodbye My Fancy. Listen
next week at this time and every week as Randy
Stone searches through the city for the strange stories waiting
(28:50):
for him in the Darkness. Nightbeat came to you from Hollywood, and.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Enjoy the very best.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Be sure that darn seems like the very best.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Simanio Morning, Noon and Night is from this station.
Speaker 10 (29:39):
Morning, Noon, and Night MBC.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Join Steve Mitchell on another dangerous assignment tonight on NBC
NBC presents Frank Lovejoy in.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Night Beat. Hi, this is Randy Stone. I cover the
night beat for the Chicago Star. Yeah, I cover the night.
(00:30):
My beat is about eight square miles of darkness and mester.
That's a lot of night every evening. I start walking
into it. Let it swirl around me and let it
swallow me up. Part of me relaxes, part of me
becomes tense and wary, like a hunter coming back to
the jungle. I feel at home, but I know that
(00:50):
there's danger. For the night is filled with its own
brand of people, a lonely, lost, screwy mix stup people
of the night, drifting out of the darkness like fragments.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Of a nightmare. You look like a decent sort.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
You don't want to force suffering human being to go
alongry for one of her dime.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, disembodied hands stretched out for that ever loving coin
to buy just another whiff of that fine old anesthetic
named musket cap, or a brittle laugh of a painted
TUTSI rising out of the night, proving to the world
she doesn't care, laughing until the tears come. With a
flurry of footsteps rushing by, a muffled conversation deciding life
(01:34):
or death, or to Night's movie, an ambulance racing past
on its way to general Hospital. It's red warning light
flashing on and off quickly, like the frenzied post speed
of the poor devil inside Hi alrs, how's the old crusader?
Night is for the phony too, Like this character coming
toward me while I was grabbing a bite in the
(01:55):
little restaurant next to the radio and TV studios. The
actor on stage twenty four hours a day.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
Do you mind if I sit on next to your baby?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
What do you say? How's the kid? All the kids fine?
Teething like mad, nothing serious?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Beryl laughs.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
Those characters real sense of humor. You know, I love
that column of yours baby with me. It's like a
shot of vincidry.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
The only lack I find in it is that I
never see any mention of guess whom who? John Bruce,
the World's greatest thespion, also available for Wake's weddings and
beer buds.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
You couldn't see your way clear to letting go on
my sleeve so I can finish my coffee.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
How do you like this, citizen? You can insult you,
you curl up and die and you still love him. Look,
I know the minute I'm out of your sight, you're
going to forget me. So I'm going to give you
this little postcard to hang on to. If your shore
can stand the boost, ask for the lead. They call
John brust. Well it rhymes anyway. I gotta be going now,
Remember baby, I don't mind what you say as long
(02:53):
as you say something.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah, that's sir Bruce, spelled with a bee. I know
it's spelled with a bee. A great, big, beautiful hunk
of zero. Listen, see a brown eyes continually shifting, sizing
you up and figuring you out, A friendly smile so
(03:16):
phony you look for the safety pins only get in place. Ah, Relax,
it's a big night. You walk half a block and
John Bruce is lost forever because there's always something waiting
up ahead. I just turned down Grand Avenue. Oh, now
there's one of the night's chilly little sounds for you,
A burglar alarm shattering the quiet. I looked down the dark,
(03:39):
empty street, trying to figure out which store, and I
saw a child come guarding out of a doorway and
began racing the other way. A child, Hey, stop, stop,
I tried racing after it, but there wasn't a chance.
I went back to the store. It was a sport
(04:00):
goods place, one window smashed and blood splattered on the glass,
like the kid had used his naked fist to get
to the display of guns and knives inside. After the
cops came and I told him what I knew, I
continued my wanderings down through the Lincoln Park district and
up through honky Tonk Rome, the wild neon signs making
(04:29):
the night bleed red and green and purple, and then
the little jazz combos beating their brains, and the barkers,
(04:50):
their gold teeth flashing as they banged their canes against
the sidewalk, and shout about the twelve dancing girls waiting
just for you. And they all began hawking popcorn and
hot tomalies and a little child's wagon. And George, a
thirty five inch dwarf who sold newspapers at Clark and Knight. Georgie,
(05:11):
how's it going.
Speaker 6 (05:12):
Fine and dandy? Better than good? Always say one for
little Georgie.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Give me the Sun Times. Always good to see what
the competition's up to.
Speaker 6 (05:19):
They are paper, read all about it.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
That's a lovely headline one of the wake up Hey, George,
maybe the way things are in the world. This is
a good idea, but since one of they started printing
the paper and.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Blood, what are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Look for yourself smeared all over.
Speaker 6 (05:40):
That's the way I got it.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Yeah, I'll give you another thank you.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I let go my hand, it's soaking through the bandage.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
George, I cut myself in a can opener.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I hope you went to a doctor. Doctor. You've got
to get all the glasses.
Speaker 6 (05:52):
I got all it.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I told you it was a can opener.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
All I saw in that window was guns and knives.
I thought it was a kid.
Speaker 6 (05:59):
Okay, so you cut yourself a story, Get on a phone,
call a cops.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
What are you waiting for?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Waiting for you to start telling me why a sweet
guy is acting like such a dope? What is it, Georgie?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Almost one o'clock a little morning now, and she'll be here.
Go on, call a cops, Call the cops.
Speaker 6 (06:15):
You'll be doing me a favor. If you don't, I'll
kill him.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I swear I'll com She'll show up in an hour
and you'll kill him. Kid.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
You lost me, all right, mister Stone, You're a good guy.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
You're entitled to all. Come on, follow me.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
He dumped his papers out of the stand and started
across the street, thirty five inches of desperate humanity. I
followed him around back and down the stairs of an
old telement. He stopped at the basement door to fish
out a key. I followed him inside a dark, dank hole.
He flicked the switch. Fluorescent lights hissed on, throwing a
(06:56):
cool white glow over walls draped in black velder. There
were dark boots and a small bar. It was empty,
deathly quiet. I know the establishment and after hours jointed.
When all the legitimate bars close, those who still sought
refuge from the night come to places like this. George
headed straight for the only bit of brightness in the room,
(07:18):
a gleaming aluminum jukebox in the corner. And the center
of the jukebox was a neon mouth, and within the
mouth the microphone. Other neons spelled out the message ask
your tune. It operated like your telephone. Somewhere a girl
sat at a switchboard connected to fifty such jukeboxes and
taverns all over the city. George stood glaring at his
(07:40):
tiny reflection in the jukebox shiny chrome. I hate it.
I'd like to smash the pieces, not the jukebox.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
The owner it is joining gave me a key so
I could come in and get warm on cold nights.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (07:53):
Only you can see for yourself when you're alone, this
place can give you the creeps. I thought maybe your
tune would cheer me up, so I started whistling around
with this jukebox, feeding it my loose nickels like this,
and then heard talking.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
To me, what tune would you lie? It's me, Julie.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Oh hello, darling, Darling.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I'm so excited, George, just one more hour, so help me.
I've got goosebumboos. Yeah me too, Julie.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
We'll do it just like we pland I, Sidney can't
understand your feelings, and I admire you for them, say
before the balls catches me spooning.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
I gotta play a record, not a record, Julie. The record,
the record, George.
Speaker 7 (08:51):
Okay, you can start laughing anytime you want, mister Stone.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
That's just all about Jeorde.
Speaker 6 (08:56):
Ten seconds of conversation with every record start. It is
a gag, me playing the big lover.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Because she couldn't see she was talking to a dwarf.
Speaker 8 (09:05):
It's a big joke, huh on me because talking to
her every night, I don't know, something started happening to
me inside, happening to both of us.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Because she felt the two. She really did, mister Stone,
I mean an understanding. I don't know, I don't know
the word, but she felt the two and then he
had to ruin it, destroy it.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yes, it was soap opera that said sudsyst the little
dwarf in his love affair with Julie the jukebox girl.
So help me. Georgie even invented an invalid wife. That
was his reason why he and Julie could never meet
except through the jukebox. But like all little melodramas taken
from life, there was also a villain. One of the
(10:00):
men who worked in this joint. Happened over here George
spilling his heart out, and as a gag, when George
wasn't around, he told Julie that the poor guy was
dying the meter in person, that they should get together
at least once, and that's what schedule for two a
m huh, this meeting.
Speaker 6 (10:16):
Yeah, it was Julie's idea. I mean the way it's
gonna be the record made her think of it.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
The record.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Yeah, it's from Chai Tchaikowski. Is that what they call him?
Uh huh ah.
Speaker 6 (10:28):
Well, he and his barons, some fancy lady. They had
a friendship through letters, and they felt that they had
a meet at least once. So one day they passed
each other in carriages and nodded without a word, and
went on. Never saw each other again.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
And it's good enough for Tchaikowski. He's good enough for
Georgie and Julie.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Huh. Yeah, she'll be wearing a green hat and a
sprig of violets. I'll be wearing a red flower. Well,
you think.
Speaker 6 (10:56):
She'll be a little surprised at what she's going to see.
Mister Stone, isn't it a joke? It's okay for you
to laugh. Go on, laugh, mister Stone.
Speaker 7 (11:06):
Laugh.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I turned. He was a big, paunchy, ball headed gent
standing in the doorway, having himself a wonderful It was
right out of Max sent at a barrel of laughs,
George the dwarf, charging right into the big guy, who
merely lifted him up, shrugged his shoulder, and sent the
(11:30):
little fellow flying across the room, crashing into a wall.
Speaker 9 (11:33):
Oh what that character that little monkey is eh? Did
he tell you about his romance?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So you're cupid?
Speaker 3 (11:40):
That's me.
Speaker 9 (11:41):
I'm even willing to stake him to that rose for
his lapel. Nothing's too good for lover boy. What a
line he's got.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
You gotta hear it to believe it. Okay, George. The
knife in George's hand would have looked much better back
in that sporting good window. He moved out of the shadows.
He moved toward the big guy. A trickle of blood
ran down George's mouth, but he didn't know anything about that.
Speaker 7 (12:08):
Put that knife away or shove it down your.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Throat, But George kept coming. The smile on the big
man's face took a leave of absence.
Speaker 7 (12:14):
Hey, come on now, George, what's the matter?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Can you can't you take a joke? A bait of
sweat started zigzagging down his face, mixing with the falcon powder.
His lips continued to work, but now no words came
out because this thing coming towards him. This wasn't a
comical little dwarf.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
This was death.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
NBC is bringing you Nightbeat, starring Frank Lovejoy as Randy Stone.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Enjoyed the very best.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Be sure that you dial invite.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Seems like the very desk and.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
Radio Morning, noon and night is from this station, Morning,
noon and Night.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
And now back to Nightbeat and Randy Stone.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
George the Dwarf was passing in front of me on
his way to the big guy who'd loused up his
romance with Julie the jukebox girl. The knife glinted in
his hand and he didn't even know that I was there.
The only other person in all the world existed for
him at that moment was a heavily perspiring fat man,
And as George came just a little closer, I lunched,
(13:43):
twisted his arm back until a knife clattered to the floor,
and I reached down for it as George torrey loose
and ran out of the door.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
And you like that little character.
Speaker 9 (13:52):
Trying the knife me, I'm gonna call a cop so
fair that.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
That'd be a little awkward, seeing how the joint here
is slightly illegal.
Speaker 9 (13:58):
Mum, Well, one thing I'm gonna do. I'm gonna tell
is Jane on the juke box who she's dealing with.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I'm gonna tell her this crazy punk life. Lester. You
even say howdy to that girl, and I might decide
to find George and give him back this knife. I
found George or right slumped against his news stand, all
through wanting to kill anybody. I told him I'd see
(14:30):
the cops and maybe they'd say it was okay if
George paid for all the damage to that sports store
and behave himself from now on. That didn't make him
feel much better, because it was getting awfully close to
two o'clock and his meeting with Julie. I told him
that i'd call Julie an informer, that he'd suddenly come
down with a slight case of ubonic plague or something.
(14:52):
I got the name of the company off the jukebox
in the after hours, joined the ACME Music Company. I
found a phone booth, reached for a coin, and instead
came up with a card that said, if your show
can stand a boost, ask for the lad they call
John Bruce, and John's beautiful phony face smiling up at me.
All of a sudden, I was looking for the phone
(15:14):
number at the bottom of the card, and then I
began dialing, like Matt, that's gotta be her. Which one
coming down the street? The green hat, the sprig of violets.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
Yep, this is going to be a distinct pleasure.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Bay, I just remember what you're supposed to do. Baby,
You walk past, you nod, and you keep walking.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
What's the mystery all about? Chicken level with brucey.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Board ten bucks? No questions asked. That was the agreement book.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Can I at least mumble some quota?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
But you open your mouth for anything but breathing? Okay, okay,
he's almost reached the corner. Move I stepped back to
the paper stand where George was waiting. Together. We watched
Julie and John Bruce approach each other. Mister Chaikowski never
(16:04):
had it so good. She was really something out of
body beautiful. As the two approached, George's hand unconsciously fastened
on my arm. Now Julie and John were passing each other,
their eyes meeting George's hand began to tighten.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Julie, Oh, how beautiful, How beautiful.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Julie nodded to John Bruster, and out of the corner
of my eye I saw a little George nod in return.
For one sickening moment, I thought Bruce was going to
open his mouth and go into a monologue, but somehow
he controlled himself. They passed each other and went on.
I looked down at George. His eyes were shining.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
It was me, what I said to her, pouring out
my heart, that brought her here tonight. Jure did Yeah,
But why couldn't it really have been me? Why couldn't
it have been me?
Speaker 10 (17:02):
Mister Stone, Ask the stars.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Maybe they had an answer for you, Georgie. Me I
had work to do them. I still had my story
to find. Somewhere among the waiters, folding their tuxedos away,
yawning as they changed into their street clothes, Somewhere among
the jazz musicians, their faces waxen with fatigue, their shirt
collars soaked in sweat, but still reaching for that beautiful,
(17:35):
pure note. Somewhere in the police wagons screaming insanely down
the street. Somewhere in the yellow lights of the general hospital,
the mile of empty warehouses, a strip of greasy piers,
a desolate park in an alley, on a street corner.
Somewhere in the night, my story was waiting for me,
And now that was all it mattered my morning. I'd
(17:58):
forgotten all about George and Julie and John Bruce. I'd
finished my column and I'd gone home to snooze. Only
my soga the jukebox wasn't ended and only just begun.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah yeah, I wake you up after ten am.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Woa, well what do you know? What do you want? Bruce?
I do?
Speaker 6 (18:23):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Oh you are magnificent. I'll see your round.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Oh wait a minute, Rennie, yeah the a broad Yeah,
Freddy guys, No, what was that routine you got old
Johnny Boy guessing?
Speaker 10 (18:36):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Well, good for Johnny Boy, see your round, Randy.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
Look, as long as she's not a friend, like they say,
where can I locate this kid?
Speaker 9 (18:45):
Maybe we'll have a.
Speaker 6 (18:45):
Couple of laughs together? Uh no, kidding, baby, where can
I find it?
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, when you're in my racket, when you deal with
these characters, and I bet brother, you've got to be
prepared for the totally unexpected. Johnny Boy had fallen for
the lady of the juke box like a ton of bricks.
Of course, he couldn't come right out and say it
plain and simple. He had a hamt right up to
the hilt. But I knew the score, and from then
(19:17):
on he haunted me night and day.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Come on, Randy, who is she?
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Where?
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Can I find it? Give the girl a breaker?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
He'd corner me on the street at the newspaper at
my home.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
Who is she, Randy? Come on, be a Powell. What's
wrong with me looking her up and giving her a
little attention?
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Day after the day after day?
Speaker 5 (19:33):
Where can I find her?
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Randy? What's the big mystery?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
For a while I even enjoyed it. He was sweating
and on him it looked good. But I guess this
morning I just wasn't in the mood. I'd come down
to the office around five am, and any newspaper office
that time of day is a pretty sad affair. Cleaning
women slashing their way up and down the aisle, the gray,
listless dawn flooding against the windows, the empty desks, and
(20:03):
me with one of those real sour little tales to
write about. A about a bum they'd found behind some
garbage cans on skid roll, A bomb with a distinguished
service cross pinned to the pocket of his filthy shirt,
one of those gallant young gods that we swore we'd
never forget. Yeah, I was feeling Jim Dandy as I
(20:23):
sat down to my typewriter, and I whipped a hunk
of paper into the roller, and then I saw John
Bruce standing in the shadows across the room from me.
Oh friend, I'm not in the mood this morning. I've
got work to do.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Randy.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
You've got to listen to me.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
They found him a little after midnight behind a wine shop.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
Randy, you've got to tell me where I can find it.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Just another bum sleeping it.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
Off, Randy, listened to me.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
You gotta tell me, luck Buster, I'm telling you nothing.
You understand that one dame is going to escape the
fame John Bruce, charm. It's a very small tragedy, not
clear on it.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
If you'll only listen to me.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
I'm slightly bored with listening to you, mister Bruce. I'm
even more bored with looking at you. Mister Bruce. You're
so phony. It sticks out like measles. Mister Bruce, from
your crisp, curly hair right down to your beautifully polished shoes.
If this comes as a great surprise, oh great.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
Surprise, Randy. That's when can a guy keep that kind
of news from himself?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Okay, I'm sorry, I'm pretty tired.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
I don't know what it is. I won't even try
to explain it. I can't explain it to myself. It's
that success bug, it's dog eat dog. Anything goes as
long as you make it. And why do you have
to make it? Does it say so in the constitution?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Love?
Speaker 6 (21:49):
But about her?
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Right?
Speaker 5 (21:51):
I'm not putting on any act about her, Randy. I'm
a big boy now, love at first sight? Am I kidding? Listen, Randy,
we just exchanged the look maybe five seconds, and until
the day I die, I won't be able to forget it.
(22:12):
I guess that sounds like Samora Johnny Boy's routine.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
No, go on, go on?
Speaker 5 (22:19):
What can I tell you? How do you explain it?
But in those few seconds, I saw something I've been
looking for all my life, Randy, something genuine, something real,
something Well, maybe I saw my own salvation, Randy. Maybe
(22:41):
I was just kidding myself, selling myself with Billy goods.
But I got to find out. I got to see
her again, talk to her. Maybe the minute she opens
her mouth to dream, will something me down? Like humpty dumpty.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
I don't think.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
So now where is she?
Speaker 2 (23:01):
The actme? Music company? Only take your time. She doesn't
show up until night. I don't know why I did it.
Maybe it was something I saw in John Bruce's eyes
that made me feel if I didn't tell him, well,
it would have been a bum deal for Julie. I
(23:24):
wanted to reach George right away, try to explain what
I'd done, but I didn't know where to look for
him accepted his newstand. In my world of the night,
all you ever know about anyone is where they are
right now. I didn't sleep much that day. Making George
understand wasn't going to be any cinch, but he had
to know that this had been a sick thing that
could only hurt him in the end. That night, I
(23:47):
hurried right on to his newsstand, only he wasn't around.
I started worrying, and on a hunch, I went across
the street to the after hours joint. The door was ajar.
I went in. He was there squatting in front of
a jukebox, listening to his song. His back was to me.
(24:19):
The song ended, and I searched my mind like crazy
for the right words. He was fumbling with some coins,
and he slipped one of them into the jukebox.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Like it, darling, Oh you know I do. Every time
I hear it, I see you again, so beautiful. You're
pretty beautiful yourself, mister Efer Julie. It's wonderful to hear
you say that.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I backed out quick. I didn't get it. Why hadn't
she gone with John Brust? I had the cab for
the Acme Music Company, a dilapidated office and a loft
on Huron Street. Front door was all and so I
went on inside an empty desk with paper scattered all over,
but nobody around. I went into a dark hallway mark
no admittance. Ahead of me was a lighted glass door
(25:11):
with the word studio painted on it. I started for
it when someone came running up behind it.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Hey, you can't you read the sign no admittance? I
thought that was very clear.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
There wasn't anybody at the desk.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
You're telling me something I don't know. Quitting without a
minute's notice. That's a fine thing.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Listen that.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Wait, that's Sally. She'll want a reference someday. I'll give
her a reference, all right? Now, come on, Sally, is
she the one who quit without a minute notice? A
jerk comes popping and I was working them back. Next
thing you know, she's waltzing out of here with him.
But that's okay. Someday she'll want a reference.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Sally is a dark haired girl, beautifully built, So she's
beautifully built.
Speaker 6 (25:52):
Big deal.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Come on, mister, I got fifty things to do. Then
that would be Julie working in the studio up ahead,
So well, do you mind if I Pekin through the door,
then I'll go if you.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
Want to pick? All right, pick would Julie. I'm not
worried about her running off with Julie. I'm safe.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yes, he was safe with Julie. As I looked through
the glass door, I thought, sure, it figures too can
play the same game the Dwarf had as John Bruce
and Julie had her Sally. Julie couldn't have shown up
for a meeting with George even if she wanted to,
because I very much doubt that Julie could have lifted
(26:35):
her three hundred and fifty pounds out of that chair. Huge,
sprawling Julie working like mad at her switchboard with its
flashing lights from jukeboxes all over the city. And then
while I watched as she answered one call, something happened.
Her eyes lit up in a strange and wonderful way,
(26:56):
and then she flicked the switch that played a certain
record for a certain juke box, and her eyes became
even more bright. I didn't have to hear the rest
of the record. She was playing their song for her guide, George,
and all of a sudden I realized how right George was.
Julie was here. Yeah, that's how it is when you
(27:37):
walk the night Beat. You always know that if you
walk far enough and long enough, and if you keep
your eyes open and you listen very carefully, sooner or
later in the darkness, you'll find the city's hard Yeah. Yeah.
Cobby Boy.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Nightbeat, starring Frank Lovejoy, is produced and directed by Warren Lewis.
Tonight's story was written by Larry Marcus with music by
Robert Armbrewster. The part of John Bruce was played by
Bill Conrad. Jeff Corey was George. Others in Tonight's cast
were Betty lou Gerson, Ray Hartman, and Eddie Fields. Frank
(28:30):
Lovejoy can currently be seen co starring with Joan Crawford
and Robert Young in Warner Brothers Goodbye My Fancy. Listen
next week at this time and every week as Randy
Stone searches through the city for the strange stories waiting
(28:50):
for him in the Darkness. Nightbeat came to you from Hollywood, and.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Enjoy the very best.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Be sure that darn seems like the very best.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Simanio Morning, Noon and Night is from this station.
Speaker 10 (29:39):
Morning, Noon, and Night MBC.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Join Steve Mitchell on another dangerous assignment tonight on NBC
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