Night Beat
Frank Lovejoy as Randy Stone
Night Beat is the story of a tough and streetwise reporter who works the late night beat for the Chicago Star, searching out stories of human interest. Many of the folks he meets have problems, some are scared, some have given up.
Frank Lovejoy as Randy Stone was both powerful and believable as the tough-as-nails reporter with a social conscience and a big heart.
As you listen to Night Beat, you'll find the episodes hold up very well and the stories are still as compelling today as they were 70+ years ago.
Randy is robbed of his wallet at gunpoint by a very nervous old man.
Later the same evening his wallet is returned by the thief’s wife. The old woman, Mrs. Benson, explains that her husband is a retired mathematics professor who robbed Randy to get gambling money; he claims to have developed a system that will guaranty he wins at roulette.
Realizing the danger the professor may be in, Randy tracks him to an illegal gambling club where they find the old man who has already been gambling at the roulette wheel for some time.
It then becomes Randy’s job to convince him he is literally playing a game of life and death.
Randy is on vacation and as he is driving to the lake he meets
a young woman in distress. When he stops to help her he finds
himself involved in the middle of a dilemma. Was she the victim of an attempted murder? And was she actually the victim or the suspect?
Frank Lovejoy is always good as the night beat reporter for the Chicago Star. In this episode he heads an otherwise all female cast.
Randy Stone is on the night beat for the Chicago Star when he decides to visit the carnival at Riverview Park. There he wanders into the sideshow and discovers an act billed as “Mentallo The Man Who Knows Everything.” Mentallo, he learns, boasts a perfect photographic memory.
When someone in the crowd asks Mentallo what happened to him on the 15th of last month — the man who knows everything goes into a panic and he and his manager call the show off.
When Randy tracks down the man who asked the question, he is met with threats. Now, really intrigued, the intrepid reporter is determined to find the answer.
While Randy is visiting a local library at closing time, the librarian, who is an old friend, causes a patron to go into a crazed panic attack when she dims the lights to signal closing time.
Later, Randy finds the man buying a gun and babbling about how he is going to kill a man — a man who is trying to drive him crazy with darkness.
As Randy Stone is out one night searching for stories about the night people of Chicago, he runs across a very depressed young woman named Fran Fowler.
After a brief discussion, Randy is intrigued and follows her to a local night club where he learns she is a singer. When she abruptly leaves the stage in tears, Randy learns the reason: Her boyfriend is in prison and is scheduled to be executed in a couple of hours.
Concerned, Randy tracks her back to her apartment where she eventually reveals the background story that has lead her to this tragedy.
Molly Keller is the washer woman at the Chicago Star. Randy Stone has known her for years and passes her each evening as he is heading out on his assignment.
He also knows her husband was convicted and sentenced to 20 years for his role in a four-man payroll heist. But now he has died in prison with six years to go on his sentence.
When Randy goes to console his old friend, he discovers she has moved into an expensive suite at a fancy Chicago Hotel.