The Bradley Theatre is hosting a variety show, with Bert Grady the monologuist top of the bill. Juggler W C Fields is so poor that he leaves the stage in a shower of cabbages and other vegetables, including a tomato from Grady. Grady once again won the audience prize, for a routine of terrible mother-in-law jokes. Constables Crabtree and Higgins wait at the stage door to thank Grady for the show and to offer him some jokes of theirs, but he is not interested, and leaves in a cab. In compensation, Lewis Hoffat, the assistant manager offers Crabtree and Higgins a tour of the theatre. Later, Grady is shot three times in an alley, by someone he recognised. Detective Murdoch and Dr Grace are on the scene within an hour. Grady's watch and wallet are gone. A nearby hotelier, Miss Glenys Moore, heard Grady speak to his killer before the shots were fired.
Next morning at the Bradley Theatre, Murdoch and Brackenreid arrive as the vaudevillians are holding a moment's silence for Grady. Theatre manager Mr Allen says that moment was all Grady deserved; everyone in the company hated him. Ed Ward, the prop comedian confirms that he admired Grady's talent, if not the man himself. W C Fields, thinks Grady was a louse, but not worth troubling himself over. Lewis Hoffat confirms that Grady has been consistently winning the audience prize ever since becoming a monologuist; before that, he was in a double act with Ed Ward, though Ward has not yet found a replacement partner, nor matched his new-found popularity. That evening, a full house witnesses a series of successful acts, and Ed Ward wins the audience prize.
Murdoch visits the hotel at the crime scene. Miss Moore says Bert Grady kept a room there, for writing his jokes - he always kept a notebook with him - and for entertaining his female companion, a handsome woman, but for the scar on her face. When Miss Moore opens Grady's room for Murdoch, they find it has been turned over, and his writing desk is empty. Thinking that Grady may have been killed for his material, Constable Crabtree suggests that he and Higgins might go undercover at the theatre to look for anything suspicious.
Mr Allen would have preferred a cat orchestra, but allows Crabtree and Higgins onto the bill, as long as they rehearse. While rehearsing, they see Eleanor Hoffat kissing her husband Lewis, and realise she was Grady's mistress. Murdoch questions her and learns Grady kept all his notebooks in the desk. She had gone to the hotel that night to finish with him, because Lewis had discovered the affair. Lewis Hoffat, of course, has Crabtree and Higgins as an alibi.
That evening, as Crabtree and Higgins flop on stage, W C Fields delivers a monologue every bit as good as Grady's, a fact not lost on the Constables. Fields claims to have bought the material, though he doesn't know from whom, as the deal was done anonymously, under his dressing room door. On the night of the murder, he says he went straight back to his hotel and drank himself to sleep, a story confirmed by the hotel staff.
So, who killed Grady? Were his jokes really that bad? Will Crabtree and Higgins ever perform their routine without a fruity reception from the audience?
This episode is notable for the opportunities it gives the cast to overact, and for the way they enter into the spirit with gusto. The mystery is in play throughout the episode, and it has more layers to it than it first appears. Very entertaining stuff!
Next morning at the Bradley Theatre, Murdoch and Brackenreid arrive as the vaudevillians are holding a moment's silence for Grady. Theatre manager Mr Allen says that moment was all Grady deserved; everyone in the company hated him. Ed Ward, the prop comedian confirms that he admired Grady's talent, if not the man himself. W C Fields, thinks Grady was a louse, but not worth troubling himself over. Lewis Hoffat confirms that Grady has been consistently winning the audience prize ever since becoming a monologuist; before that, he was in a double act with Ed Ward, though Ward has not yet found a replacement partner, nor matched his new-found popularity. That evening, a full house witnesses a series of successful acts, and Ed Ward wins the audience prize.
Murdoch visits the hotel at the crime scene. Miss Moore says Bert Grady kept a room there, for writing his jokes - he always kept a notebook with him - and for entertaining his female companion, a handsome woman, but for the scar on her face. When Miss Moore opens Grady's room for Murdoch, they find it has been turned over, and his writing desk is empty. Thinking that Grady may have been killed for his material, Constable Crabtree suggests that he and Higgins might go undercover at the theatre to look for anything suspicious.
Mr Allen would have preferred a cat orchestra, but allows Crabtree and Higgins onto the bill, as long as they rehearse. While rehearsing, they see Eleanor Hoffat kissing her husband Lewis, and realise she was Grady's mistress. Murdoch questions her and learns Grady kept all his notebooks in the desk. She had gone to the hotel that night to finish with him, because Lewis had discovered the affair. Lewis Hoffat, of course, has Crabtree and Higgins as an alibi.
That evening, as Crabtree and Higgins flop on stage, W C Fields delivers a monologue every bit as good as Grady's, a fact not lost on the Constables. Fields claims to have bought the material, though he doesn't know from whom, as the deal was done anonymously, under his dressing room door. On the night of the murder, he says he went straight back to his hotel and drank himself to sleep, a story confirmed by the hotel staff.
So, who killed Grady? Were his jokes really that bad? Will Crabtree and Higgins ever perform their routine without a fruity reception from the audience?
This episode is notable for the opportunities it gives the cast to overact, and for the way they enter into the spirit with gusto. The mystery is in play throughout the episode, and it has more layers to it than it first appears. Very entertaining stuff!
