Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Crime and Peter Chambers: Max Daly — Suicide or Murder? (EP1528)

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Crime and Peter Chambers: Max Daly — Suicide or Murder? (EP1528) · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

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Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
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is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, send it
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You can support the show support dot Great Detectives dot that or by mailing in
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a donation to Adam Graham. Peel box one five nine one three Boise Adaho
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eight three seven one five. That's peel Box one five nine one three Boise
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Adaho eight three seven one five. Well, now it's time for today's episode
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of Crime and Peter Chambers. The original air date September the seventh of nineteen
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fifty four and the title Max Daily Murder or Suicide. Crime and Peter Chambers
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created by Henry Kine, transcribed and starring as Peter Chambers Dan Kluck. You're
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a private eye. That's your business. Anything else that's for laughs. Your
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client is a lady every inch of lady and every inch of the lady gorgeous.
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She's a blonde with black eyes, which makes you sit up and take
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notice, and there's plenty to take notice of. I will not believe that
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my uncle committed suicide. Is that clear, mister Changes, Despite the evidence,
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despite what the police say, despite anything, I simply will not believe
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him. Why not, Miss Wilson, because he wasn't the type, That's
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why not. I know my uncle simply and succinctly. He is not a
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man to take his own mind. Okay, okay, now let's do it
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systematically. Your name is Irene Wilson. Your uncle's name was Max Day.
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He owns it a testing store on fifty seventh Street and Broadway. He killed
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himself yesterday at one o'clock in the afternoon and the bathroom of his aparty,
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and did not kill himself, or he killed himself or he was murdered.
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It only happened yesterday, But according to the newspapers, it's already a close
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case to the police, which is why I come to you. Well,
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you realize that aside from the physical evidence of suicide, the daughter was his
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apartment was locked from the inside. There are keys that can open such locks.
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Mister changers. Who discovered the body? A neighbor? And what about
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your uncle's family? My uncle lived here alone where sixty six sixty six park
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at it? It's pretty fancy. And who is this next door neighbor the
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one who discovered the body? A mister Clark Standish according to the police,
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rich, retired and an amateur musician. All right, now, let's get
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back to uncle next daily. Any enemies that you know of? No,
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of course he was acquainted with many unsaved characters, customers of that little delicatest
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of his. Only last week, I was standing near the counter off to
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a side when a man came in. They talked for a while, excitedly,
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and then this man raised his voice and I could hear him saying.
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I could hear him very clearly. So you listen to me for STROMI pad
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let you getting too big for your breaches. That's what you're getting. Your
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neck is sticking out way out. I'm giving you a very good advice,
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paal and for free. You're asking for a bigger hunker pie. Well you
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ain't getting it because with a bigger hunker pie, you're liable to cholt to
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death. This is the last time When I asked my uncle about it after
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the man left, he just laughed it off. Did you ever see this
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man before? No? Would you know his name? My uncle called him
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Lefty. Just a few more questions, Miss Wilson, Anything at all,
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mister chef. You say that Max Daily ran an ordinary little delicatessen store.
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Yes, well, how come he lives in one of the fanciest apartment houses
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in New York. He must have been a rich man. I agree with
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that. Well, and how come? Well? According to him, he
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made some very good investments, and those investments were paying off handsomely. Is
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there anything else, mister James, No, I don't think there is.
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I know I can depend on you. Your first stop as police headquarters,
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and your first interview is with Detective Lieutenant Louis Parker, straight cop and good
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friend. So far, Pete, it looks like suicide, pure and simple.
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Seems he was shining his shoes when he got the impulse call. Campeman
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neighbor who heard the shot, and we had to break our way in.
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The door was closed knee inside. We found him in the bathroom. I
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heard that he was finished shaving. His own gun was beside him. He
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was a neat guy Max Daley. He'd been shining his shoes, and he'd
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been wearing gloves while shining his shoe and glove. Then he makes up his
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mind to knock himself off, and he does so. Doto apartment blocked,
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Potter burns on temple close enough, nitrate impregnations in the right hand glove gun
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there on the floor. It's his own gun. And what would you say
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that? Murder or suicide? What would I say? Well, what difference
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does it make? Maybe this will make a difference. What your client?
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Gorgeous? Irene Wilson? What about Irene Wilson? First, her little hat
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shop is somewhat caputt, meaning meaning it's on the verge of bankruptcy. So
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so she asked her uncle for a loan and he refused. So if anybody
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murdered him, she'd be the prime suspect. But with her having a key
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to the apartment too, Oh sure sure. Then though the police say it's
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suicide, she comes to me to prove its murder just because she's got an
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affinity for the hot seat. There's a better reason than an affinity for the
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hotsh an infinity for two hundred thousand bucks, what are you talking about Louise
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uncle. Max Daily recently took out a life insurance policy in favor of pretty
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Irene one hundred thousand bucks two hundred g's in case of accidental death murder.
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That's accidental death and suicide before the two year in contestability clause because it will
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affect suicide makes the policy null and void. Now is it all beginning to
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come to you? Yeah? Yeah. If it's suicide, Irene gets nothing.
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If it's murder and it can't be proved that she committed the murder,
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she gets two hundred thousand dollars. Very good detective. She would be interested
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in showing that it wasn't suicide, and how she'd be interested? Where you
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going find out which way your interest is going to lead? Kbangon the riviera
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or a chair and sing, sing. Next stop is sixty six sixty six
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Park Avenue, the apartment of mister Clark. Standish you stick your finger on
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the doorbell. Oh you get his piano music? You keep pumping at that
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bell. Yes, yes, young man, name's Peter Chambers. I'm investigating
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the death of mister Max Day and I was told that you were the one
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who discovered the body I didn't quite discover the body, but I would say
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that I was the one who turned in the alarm. Shall we say,
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come in here? Man, please come in. Clark standish, small,
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delicate white hair, at about fifty five years of age. He's dressed in
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black pans, small pump silk flows and the maroon smoking jacket. He leads
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you into a lavishly furnished room when he leans delicately over a baby grand piano.
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I'm the man that called the police, but I didn't know that mister
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Daly was dead at the time. Well, would you mind telling me a
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little bit about it, sir? Certainly? It was about one o'clock yesterday
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afternoon. I heard a shot, a single pistol shot. Did you suspect
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where it came from? One needn't be very perspicacious for that, mister Chambers.
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You see, there are only two apartments on each floor. In it
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being a rather warm day, the windows will open up the windows. Come
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here, mister Chambers. You see, as I draw this drape aside a
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fire escape window, my neighbor's window also opens on this fire escape. Two
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windows, two apartments moves to fire escapes. As I said, this having
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been a rather warm day. These windows were open to the breeze, and
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I was able to hear the shot distinctly. I see well, Sir,
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I was playing the piano at the moment when I heard the shot. I
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attempted to disregard it, hoping perhaps it was a backfire from downstairs, you
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know how it is. But it kept nagging at me, and finally I
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went across and irang his bell. There was no answer. I kept ringing.
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Still no answer, so I came back here. Didn't know if I
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was doing quite the right thing, but I called the police. Well,
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it turned out that you did exactly the right thing, didn't it, missus
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Standish, So it seems tell me, sir, did you know mister Daily
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well friends or just acquaintances. Matter of fact, I didn't know him at
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all. Usual New York story, not knowing your neighbor. But I suppose
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it's common enough in this city. Yes, of course, did see each
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other occasionally and nodded, but we never actually spoke. I do hope I've
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been of some assistance mister Chambers. Thank you very much, missus Standish,
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you've been very kind and most cooperative. Oh, not at all. And
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if there's anything further. Please don't hesitate. You get out of there,
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and you go to a cafeteria and you sit over coffee and a cigaret,
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and you ponder the coffee, the cigarette and the pondering adds up to a
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large hunk of nothing. So you go to the real estate agent, the
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people that run sixty six sixty six Park Avenue. You ask about Max Daily
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and they tell you that each tenant has to be sponsored and recommended. You
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asked to see the papers on Max Daily, and they oblige, and you
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take a look. You take a good look, and then you beat it
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out of there and you hurry back the police headquarters and barging on Louis Parker.
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Oh, Pete, it's not like Louis. You're really pressing me.
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Louis rips please listen, will you? Did you check those gloves on Max
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Daily? Sure, we checked the gloves night trade particles in the right hand
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glove, just like I told you from the gunshow? No, I mean,
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did you check them where he bought them? You know that kind of
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stuff? Oh why should we look, Pete? You know you can't stop
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terrific investigations. Every time a guy knocks himself home louis a lot of crime
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in this city, A lot of crime, not too many cops. Police
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Commission said, it doesn't figure, It just doesn't. Very goes psychological on
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me again. I can see the look in your eye. The niece insists
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he wasn't a suicide. Her niece has an extra grind two hundred thousand eight.
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But you said yourself, he was shining his shoes using gloves, not
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to get his hands dirty. He was neat shining shoes with gloves on his
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hand. That's not neat, that's scroy LOI, it's scrowey. Maybe you've
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got to point to a like you just can't waste the tax payers money on
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every little psychle would do me a favor? What a special favor just for
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me? Sure? Sure check those gloves, will you? Okay? Special
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for my little old psychological private eye. You go up to Irene Wilson's exclusive
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hatshop on Madison Avenue and you fire a few questions at her. She's wearing
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a smock. But this baby is gorgeous even when she's wearing a smock.
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Black eyes blaze as she gives you her speech. Yes, I am on
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the verge of bankruptcy here. Yes, I asked my uncle for a loan
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and he refused. He had no confidence in this shop, in this location.
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He was always a good businessman. Yes, there is a policy in
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my behalf. Yes, I know I get nothing if he committed suicide,
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and I know I get two hundred thousand dollars if it is proven that he
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was murdered. Yes, I did not tell you any of that, and
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there was other things that I haven't told. I don't tell everybody everything.
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But I did tell you what I thought was relevant. And I tell you
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again, I don't believe he committed suicide. I do believe he was murdered,
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and I don't want you to believe that I murdered him. So you're
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on your white horse again, a private eye knight on his bedraggled white horse,
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galloping around the asphalt wilderness looking for anstance. You wind up in Max
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Dally's delicatesting the gallant knight munching on a postroamis. The joint is open and
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running, the spike daily is a cease, and the waitress keeps eyeing you.
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Finally she moses over sick Your Peter chambersn't you you're thee Yeah, yeah,
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I'm the eye guy. I'm gonna tell you. Wait wait, just
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man, would you get me by carved this too? It is wonderful,
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but always for the past few years. Next dear, he was running the
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book, a big book. I wouldn't have said anything, but since he
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got it, I thought, what kind of book? Everything horses before half
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the baseball. There isn't enough phone in his place except the business phone.
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Business phones. That's the past comes to reform way. They all get tapped.
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Everybody winds up in the pope. This is a new kind of operation.
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If that comes in here's me. I don't get it. Anybody wants
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to make it that theysded out on a page the code. They mon it
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and bring it in here personally. And one of the waists for the Maxims
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I did all right, that's a pretty smart gimmick. Did the max handle
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all this and stuff? He got up a Bosan Moore Lefty Moore? No,
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yeah, so you're on the run again. You're looking for a hulking
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hood ex wrestler type Lefty Moor. You visit all his usual haunts, but
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left these strangely missing. So you switch from the nefarious to the sublime and
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you're back in Parker's office, and this time he's glad to see you.
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Albeit he's roaring like a bull. Eat me glad. This is one time
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you did me a good turn. The guy was murdered, no question about
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it. He was murdered, murdered, murdered. Who was murdered? Oo,
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Yes, Max Daily, that's who murdered. Period. The gloves tipped
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me your suggestion the gloves Max Day was wearing hee or yeah. Well we
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checked the gloves carefully. You see. First they're too small for him.
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Second, they're very expensive, quite new and not to be used for polishing
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shoes. Third, they come from London shop. Max Dailey never was in
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London. Man's gloves, Louis or Ladies could be either small, you know,
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like a gaunt put type. Somebody worked out an eagle a Fraine job.
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Huh uh huh. Add to that, a careful examination the bathroom floor
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discloses the imprint of the sneakers. Sneakers, Man sneakers or ladies. Well
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again, it could be the small size. Well, how do you make
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it? Louis? According to you, his apartment or was locked from the
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inside. Yes, but the fire escape window was open, leads down to
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the alley in the rear. Now somebody wearing sneakers snuck in. They can
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sneaked in. They took Max's gun out of a drawer and he goes into
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the bathroom where Max had just finished shaven. Moved close, let him have
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it. Then they put the gloves on Max, fixed up the shoeshine routine,
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sneaked out, snore sneaks. Well, what are you boys? Any
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idea who it was? You know who figures the benefit? But I'm letting
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it rest of why I'm just letting it simmer. I just want to see
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what cooks up, Louie. How's that fire escape window still open? Do?
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It's closed? Tight? Now sealed, which means that I'll have to
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use the door? Needs you left to use the what the door? The
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door? I like to look the place over seeing as i'm your white haired
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boy. Now I have the key, Yes, sir, white head boy,
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you may Max Daily's got a cute little place and you've hardly even begun.
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When there's an instrument jiggling at the door lock, you wait and the
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door open and their big is life with a pick lock in his hand left
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me more. You jump over your feet into the first punch. He's a
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big one, but you managed to crack. Then you drag him in and
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kick the door shut. All right, all right, shot, layoff.
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I look, pal, the gun I'm holding is out of your hoster.
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Now, if you insisted I use it, I use it? Is that
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clear? Yeah? Yeah? Clear? All right? Now, breaking and
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entering that's burglary. You can get a long rat for that. If you
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talk up, they could talk up good. Maybe the rat won't be so
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long. Am I still clear? Yeah? Yeah? Clear? All right?
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Now what do you want here? A llegen? A ledger? I
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wait until the heat was off. Now I'm here looking for a leegen?
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What kind of a ledger? Max Daily he was doing some high class books,
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I know, I know. So he kept a ledger, a black
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leather record book. Well, how do you know the cops don't have it?
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You kidding Shamas? If the cops ever had that book, that'd be
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rockets busting all over this town. As Let me ask you something. Where
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were you yesterday at one o'clock? You mean when Maxie was bumped. I
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got the best alibi in the world. Alibi. I was in court plead
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not guilty to a traffic wrap had been in London, London, Oh,
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while I was was London, London. Okay, okay, let's let's you
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and I together look for that black leather record book you talked me into a
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Shamas leave us. Look, you look, but you do not find.
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So you attached lefty to a minion of the law with instructions that are be
19:49
placed in the capable hands of Detective Lieutenant Louis Parker. And back you go
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to Irene Wilson, real glamorous now and a man tailored red gatherdine suit.
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You pump questions at her, and what do you know for once she comes
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up with the right ask, Yes, my uncle did have a black leather
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record book. He kept it here at my shop. His instructions were that
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I was to destroy it upon his death. But in the search give me
20:15
quick, I never looked at it. He kept it in a locked briefcase,
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which I kept here in. Okay, let's have it, yes,
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mister Chambers, I'll get it for them. Please wait, you wait,
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and you grab and you break open that lock, and you look, and
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then you're running again, and then you're at sixty six sixty six Park Avenue
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at the apartment of Clark Standish. Ah, mister Chambers, any new ideas
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on the subject of the next Daily plenty, and they're all about you.
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I beg your pardon. You went through that win though wearing sneakers. You
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got into his place, clipped his gun, caught up with him in the
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bathroom was he finished shaving, and you let him have it. And then
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you pulled that shoeshine routine, slipped your gloves on his hands, left the
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gun there and beat it back to your plates. And then, sweet and
21:17
innocent, you call the police you had heard a shot. You want to
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know your first mistake. I'm listening, mister change. You told me you
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didn't know him, You never spoke to him, You had a check at
21:27
the real estate office, show that you sponsored him. Slipped your mind,
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didn't it, missus Standish? But why should I kill him? Mister Chambers?
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What motive would I have? Oh? I got that right here,
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missus Standish, right here in Max Daily's record book. Oh we may be
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able to do business, mister Chambers. Real brain guy on Missus Standish dreamed
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up an idea of personal vetting no telephones involved. Had left him alone funning
21:55
for you. Let's talk businesses. You did business with Max daily, but
22:00
when he got too big for his breches, when he wanted a big hunk
22:02
of pie, that business was stopped with a bullet. That Ledger is worth
22:07
enough to me for you to retire for the rest of your life? Are
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you going to give it to me? By the way? Missus standish?
22:15
Do you buy your clothes in London? Yes? I do, but that
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is of no importance right now. Are you going to give it to me?
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Oh? Yes, and how I'm going to give it to you more?
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And so, with all the bad little boys safely put away in the
22:36
pokey, and after congratulations have bounced around like rubber balls and the children's playground,
22:41
you suddenly realize you've never settled the fee with Irene Wilson, and she
22:45
is coming into two hundred thousand solid simoonions. So that evening you're at Irene
22:52
Wilson's apartment ready to discuss your fee, and there she is and go lounge
23:00
pajamas. I you're quite attractive, mister Chambers, now that it's all over
23:07
and I have an opportunity to observe you. Beautiful is the word and beautiful
23:14
is an understatement. You said there was something to discuss, something, Let
23:21
it wait, let it wait. I wouldn't wait too long if I were
23:26
you. That is very good advice, oh, mister Chambers. And there
23:51
you've had Crime and Peter Chambers. M hm. Dane Clark was starred as
24:03
Peter Chambers Crime and Peter Chambers Friends. Bribe was created and written by Henry
24:08
Kane. Others in the cast with Bill Zuckard heard as the tenant Parker,
24:12
Elaine Ross as Irene, and Leon Jenny as Clark. It was directed by
24:18
Fredway. This is Brett Collins speaking be with us again next week at the
25:26
same time for another adventure by Peter Chambers in Crime and Peter Chambers. This
25:33
is the United States ar Enforces Radio and Television service. Welcome back, Well
26:57
solid detective orc by Peter Chambers. Well, it helped out a little bit
27:03
by somebody giving him the clue that would make the whole case make sense.
27:07
I will say that the client in this episode definitely like to change clothes a
27:12
lot, but at any rate, that brings to a close our examination of
27:18
Crime in Peter Chambers. Now, of course, there were two definitely two
27:25
lost episodes of the show, the seventh episode and the tenth episode back on
27:32
May eighteenth and June eighth of nineteen fifty four, so if those come into
27:37
existence, we'll revisit this. In addition, Digital deliftp dot com notice that
27:45
there may be more lost episodes. We've done twenty one episodes of Crime and
27:49
Peter Chambers, and twenty one is somewhat of an odd number for a radio
27:55
program of the era. Twenty six would be a typical number of shows,
28:00
and indeed the show should have gone twenty six weeks, but NBC planned a
28:04
deal to bring the Lux Radio Theater, which has spent nineteen seasons at CBS,
28:11
over to NBC for what turned out to be its final year, and
28:15
so most stations across the country began to air the Lux Radio Theater, and
28:21
it may have been every station, but Digital Laftp founds a few newspaper listings
28:29
that still listed Crime and Peter Chambers for September fourteenth, twenty first, and
28:33
twenty eighth. Now whether stations actually aired Crime and Peter Chambers instead of Lux
28:41
Radio Theater, or whether the newspaper was slow on updating their listings, which
28:48
seems possible. Or even plausible with the decline of radio in the mid fifties.
28:53
But at any rate, there are between two and five lost episodes of
28:59
Crime and Peter Chambers, and if they're found and available, we'll bring them
29:03
to you. As after we finish Man from Homicide, which will only take
29:07
us three weeks, will bring you another series that we finished up, but
29:12
now there are more episodes available, so we'll be bringing you returning to our
29:18
program a series we had done previously, building up the suspense here the lineup
29:23
bring on the line for four more weeks. So in four weeks we'll hear
29:29
the return of the lineup to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio, and
29:33
we'll even get to hear the pilot episode for the lineup, plus get to
29:37
compare the lineup to drag Net even more directly, having those run within the
29:44
same week. But of course next week it's Man from Homicide and join us
29:48
tomorrow though for the adventures of Philip Marlow. In the meantime, send your
29:52
comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at
29:57
Radio Detectives, and become I'm one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot
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com, Slash Radio detectives from Boise, Idaho. This is your host,
30:07
Adam Graham signing off.