Mystery / Crime & Detective (insurance-investigator drama) · CBS
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
February 18, 1949 – September 30, 1962 · 822 broadcasts
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar followed "America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator" -- the man with the action-packed expense account. Its signature gimmick was the framing device: each case was narrated as a string of itemized expense-account entries, every plot beat logged as a line item, the whole thing closing with "Expense account total... End of report. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar." It debuted on CBS February 18, 1949 as a fairly standard private-eye drama. The show's artistic peak came with its 1955 revival. After a yearlong hiatus, producer-director Jack Johnstone reformatted it from a weekly half-hour into a 15-minute, five-nights-a-week serial -- 75 minutes a week that allowed far richer storytelling -- with Bob Bailey starring as the best-known Dollar. The title role passed through six actors across the run, an unusually high number for a character show: Charles Russell, Edmond O'Brien, and John Lund in the early years, then Bailey, Bob Readick, and finally Mandel Kramer. Its place in radio history is a definitive one. When the final episode aired September 30, 1962 -- back to back with Suspense -- it marked the end of the Golden Age of network radio drama in America, the medium ceding the night to television. Johnny Dollar stands as a literal bookend of the era.
Collection status:
728 of 822 held (89% complete)
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Episode Spine
Grouped by year. Jump to the full list below, or open a season on its own page.
- 1940 (1 episodes)
- 1948 (1 episodes)
- 1949 (33 episodes)
- 1950 (47 episodes)
- 1951 (50 episodes)
- 1952 (19 episodes)
- 1953 (56 episodes)
- 1954 (35 episodes)
- 1955 (66 episodes)
- 1956 (222 episodes)
- 1957 (50 episodes)
- 1958 (50 episodes)
- 1959 (52 episodes)
- 1960 (49 episodes)
- 1961 (52 episodes)
- 1962 (39 episodes)
1940
March 10, 1940
Milford Brooks Iii
1948
The surviving audition: Johnny is hired to keep a despondent millionaire alive, with a $2 million suicide-clause policy riding on the outcome.
1949
January 14, 1949
The Robert Perry Case
February 11, 1949
The Parakoff Policy
The series opener: a murder investigation draws Johnny to a beautiful young widow and the policy that made her rich.
Sent to Singapore to speed a tin shipment, Johnny lands among rivals all chasing the same mysterious prize.
The man Johnny is sent to guard is blown to bits on arrival, and a faithless beauty tops the suspect list.
A killing under the big top -- with snakes in the act -- puts Johnny to work at the circus.
A $2 million suicide-clause policy makes no sense on a man with everything to live for, so Johnny digs in.
A stolen-painting case in postwar London turns to murder.
April 8, 1949
The Case of the Foxy Terrier
A film star's legs are insured for a fortune, and stay lovely even after their owner is murdered.
A man missing seven years is about to be declared legally dead, until a fairy-tale menace surfaces.
July 17, 1949
Here Comes the Death of the Party
Johnny hunts a stolen treasure known as the Scarlet Madonna.
July 31, 1949
How Much Bourbon Can Flow Under the Bridgework
Working for a client named King Hart rather than an insurer, Johnny searches for someone gone missing.
August 14, 1949
How Not to Take a Vacation in Fairfax, Va
Johnny heads to Iowa on bodyguard duty -- for a prize-winning champion hog.
August 28, 1949
How I Turned a Luxury Liner to Battleshp
A stowaway and a leper colony pull Johnny into a Middle Eastern adventure.
A missing-person search in Boston turns up murder.
An insurance claim over a lost fishing boat proves anything but a simple catch.
At a Chicago racetrack, Johnny moves to stop a crook with too much horse sense.
Johnny takes on a doctor peddling a dangerously addictive brand of medicine.
A bail bondsman hires Johnny to track down two vanished witnesses.
A madman in San Francisco wages war on an insurer by murdering its policyholders one by one.
A South Seas assignment plunges Johnny into island intrigue.
Sent to Boston to guard a frail old lady, Johnny finds she is full of surprises.
Out West, Johnny traces where a gold mine's vanishing profits are going.
In Milwaukee, Johnny guards a wealthy woman stalked by an escaped lunatic.
A circus case in which a black leopard holds the key.
In the Caribbean, Johnny tries to keep a man from a death foretold by voodoo.
A department-store swindle in which the culprit is wearing a Santa suit.
December 31, 1949
You Lead a Diamond, Mother, and the Game Will Really Get Started
1950
January 7, 1950
Press Out My Asbestos Dinner Jacket, Mother, I'm Going to Smoke
January 14, 1950
The Missing Chinese Stripper Matter
A shooting looks like a long-range hit, but the powder burns tell a different story.
Johnny ships out as a deckhand to head off insurance fraud aboard a rubber freighter.
A North Dakota couple both threaten suicide, and Johnny has to work out why.
An archaeologist vanishes in Egypt, and Johnny follows him into the tombs.
A youthful millionaire goes missing, and Johnny takes up the trail.
A Boston fur heist and a dead night watchman start Johnny after a safecracker.
A crazed writer schemes to get himself murdered so someone else can collect.
A Nebraska schoolhouse fire smells of arson and small-town corruption.
Johnny goes undercover in a Pittsburgh steel mill to stop a run of seniority murders.
A bizarre railroad theft centers on a humble barrel of jeweler's rouge.
A simple $5,000 payout in Las Vegas gets Johnny worked over by narcotics thugs.
Johnny heads to Borneo hunting a man insured for $700,000.
A wealthy man is gunned down in front of Johnny, moments after a death threat.
A prizefighter is kidnapped, and Johnny works the ransom.
In Bermuda, Johnny must prove whether a supposedly dead man is truly dead.
A return to the Caribbean voodoo-death case, as Johnny fights to keep his man alive.
A string of yacht sinkings has cost eleven lives, and Johnny hunts the cause.
Johnny is hired to run down a missing shipment of narcotics.
A woman vanishes from her Denver mansion, and Johnny takes the case.
Strange accidents plague a Brazilian railroad, and Johnny investigates.
Johnny chases the gang behind a $300,000 robbery.
An old flame and a hunting killer arrive on Johnny's doorstep together.
July 27, 1950
The Tell-All Book Matter
Everyone liked Max Kolburne, so who shot him dead?
A suspicious fire at a Hartford loan company draws Johnny in.
An old friend, a Hartford cop, turns up in deadly trouble and calls Johnny for help.
August 23, 1950
Trans-Pacific Export Matter
A suspicious fire sends Johnny to Hong Kong, where a beautiful girl's murder deepens the case.
Johnny guards a beautiful woman from the husband about to walk out of prison.
A San Francisco assignment sets Johnny on a killer's trail.
A narcotics-smuggling ship's carpenter vanishes in New York City.
Murder, intrigue, and sabotage await Johnny in Singapore.
A bondsman hires Johnny to find two witnesses who could put gangster Jack Madigan away.
Joan Sebastian is dead, and whether it was murder or suicide is anything but clear.
Johnny's errand to deliver a pair of antique pistols turns deadly.
A thoroughly unpleasant millionaire's jewels are stolen and held for ransom.
A Las Vegas woman's suicide attempt looks to Johnny like attempted murder, and then she is shot.
A $75,000 robbery in the Philippines sends Johnny to Manila.
When a fellow insurance investigator lands in trouble, Johnny takes up his case.
December 23, 1950
The Montevideo Matter
December 30, 1950
The Ruby Valentine Matter
1951
January 6, 1951
The Adolph Schoman Matter
Four San Francisco loan offices are hit within two hours in an unusually violent spree.
Johnny flies to Nicaragua to tell a sailor he has inherited a fortune -- if he lives to collect it.
January 27, 1951
The Weldon Bragg Matter
February 3, 1951
The Monopoly Matter
February 10, 1951
The Lloyd Hammerly Matter
February 17, 1951
The Vivian Fair Matter
Out West, Johnny asks why a rancher's wife is so eager to confess to his killing.
Johnny hunts the missing wife of a Bridgeport millionaire.
A Southwest cotton company turns out to front a narcotics-smuggling ring.
March 17, 1951
The Emil Lovett Matter
Murder and blackmail in New York, where the obvious suspect may be the wrong one.
The beneficiary of a $40,000 policy has vanished, and has good reason to stay hidden.
A tea-plantation manager disappears in the Malay States -- bandits, or something worse?
Did Hartford's most likable cop really take his own life? Johnny doubts it.
A Virgin Islands murder in which every suspect seems guilty.
A woman insists the jewels were a gift, and Johnny isn't buying it.
Johnny investigates the armed robbery of an insured firm.
May 12, 1951
The Marie Meadows Matter
May 19, 1951
The Jane Doe Matter
Down in Maine, Johnny asks who killed a factory owner.
When George Farmer burns to death at a resort, both the salesman and the doctor look suspect.
Arthur Boldrick is shot and left clinging to life, and Johnny wants to know by whom.
In San Francisco, Johnny hunts a missing doctor whose apparent suicide doesn't add up.
A jewel theft in England draws Johnny in, and murder soon follows.
A man is murdered in a Los Angeles alley, where no motive quickly becomes too many.
A bomb downs an airliner near Hartford, and Johnny hunts the person behind it.
July 25, 1951
The Blind Item Matter
A husband and wife die in the same accident, and a fortune hinges on who died first.
August 8, 1951
The Morgan Fry Matter
Johnny's case turns on a fellow detective who has gone crooked.
September 12, 1951
The Rum Barrel Matter
In Havana, Johnny chases $800,000 in stolen jewels held by an escaped convict.
A torched store and a dead man put Johnny onto a protection racket.
A private eye working for Johnny turns up murdered, and was hiding plenty.
Hatred boils over into murder aboard a freighter bound for New Orleans.
October 20, 1951
The Janet Abbe Matter
After a big fur heist, one of the three thieves becomes prey for the other two.
A man fears his newly released brother means to kill him.
A factory payroll holdup leaves a courier dead, and Johnny investigates.
December 15, 1951
The Paul Barberis Matter
A $20,000 reward for Alma Scott's killer brings all the wrong people out of the woodwork.
1952
Johnny's old friend hands him some important papers and is murdered moments later.
January 12, 1952
The Baxter Matter
A wealthy woman is poisoned, and her own family heads the list of suspects.
July 9, 1952
The Yankee Pride Matter
July 16, 1952
The Henry Page Matter
July 23, 1952
The Montevideo Matter
July 30, 1952
The New Bedford Morgue Matter
August 6, 1952
The Sidney Mann Matter
August 13, 1952
The Tom Hickman Matter
August 20, 1952
The Edith Maxwell Matter
August 27, 1952
The Yankee Pride Matter
September 3, 1952
The Montevideo Matter
The surviving finale of a five-part serial, as Johnny closes out a sprawling trans-Pacific case.
November 28, 1952
The Singapore Arson Matter
A doctor's life is threatened by the jealous husband of the woman he loves.
A businessman deep in debt is suspected of torching his own building for the insurance.
December 19, 1952
The New Cambridge Matter
A man long declared dead turns up alive years later, and Johnny wants to know how.
1953
An ex-con's offer to recover the loot from a bank job lands Johnny in trouble.
A woman disappears just after inheriting a modest legacy, and Johnny goes looking.
A Hollywood starlet is strangled with a silk stocking, and a second may be next.
Johnny's murdered friend was a loan collector, and no one in town seems sorry.
Johnny wonders why a promising radio singer is hiding out in a Boston burlesque house.
How did an insurer write a policy on a man who then starved to death? Johnny works the fraud.
February 13, 1953
The Lancer Jewelry Matter
Johnny takes over a Denver case after the investigator working it is killed.
In Oklahoma, Johnny must decide whether a death was murder, suicide, or accident.
A young woman is murdered -- after she has apparently already killed herself.
March 9, 1953
The Madison Matter
March 10, 1953
The Birdy Baskerville Matter
A $250,000 necklace heist and a murder at sea draw Johnny aboard.
Johnny goes undercover on an oil rig to smash a loan-shark and murder ring.
A thief won't say where he hid the money, but a showgirl might.
Off the coast of Panama, Johnny is nearly thrown overboard while working a widow's case.
A four-man bank-robbery crew is caught, but the money and the truth are still loose.
April 28, 1953
San Antonio Matter
A broken-necked body in a gym leads Johnny back to an old blackmail scheme.
May 5, 1953
The Blackmail Matter
A woman is murdered in a costly fur coat, and the coat itself becomes the clue.
A man vanishes for no apparent reason, and Johnny hunts the real one.
In Toledo, Johnny trails a distinctive redheaded shoplifter who may already be dead.
In Kentucky horse country, Johnny investigates the death of a $65,000 thoroughbred.
Four witnesses saw Janice Lake kill Mr. Carter, so where is she now?
A domineering rich man is blown apart by a parcel bomb.
An aging Las Vegas beauty's $30,000 necklace is stolen, and Johnny takes the case.
July 7, 1953
The Bishop Blackmail Matter
A parcel bomb sets Johnny on the trail of whoever mailed it.
A cheap carnival prize links a woman's murder to a test pilot's secret.
A wealthy man is pushed off a cliff on a foggy night.
On a case in Haiti, Johnny comes face to face with voodoo.
Johnny works the case of a movie star's stolen jewels.
Isabel James is killed with a razor, leaving a $10,000 policy behind.
A dead crook nicknamed The Frog leaves an heir a legacy -- and a heap of trouble.
A fortune in jewels and a photo on a fishing license set Johnny hunting.
A factory owner is terrorized by arsonists who threaten his daughter's life.
September 15, 1953
The Oscar Clark Matter
A man is found dead in his own burned-out home, and Johnny sifts the ashes.
A murder up in the north woods of Michigan draws Johnny in.
A collector's supposedly priceless new painting turns out to be worth killing over.
A mob lawyer, sure his boss means to kill him, hands Johnny an envelope.
An exiled gang leader slips back from Sicily to settle a score in blood.
Johnny smashes a racket peddling fake gamma-globulin shots to parents during a polio scare.
Posing as a free-spending Texan, Johnny sets a trap for a killer.
In New York's diamond district, Johnny uncovers a costly swindle.
A firebombed social club leads Johnny back to an old protection racket.
A curious tool kit worth killing for draws a foreign spy -- and Johnny.
In Beirut, Johnny investigates the sinking of a $190,000 yacht.
December 22, 1953
The Rudy Valentine Matter
1954
What looked like a plane crash proves to be nitroglycerine and murder.
Johnny takes up the hunt for a missing wife that a local detective couldn't crack.
January 19, 1954
The Draminski Matter
Johnny drives from Phoenix to Los Angeles with a killer and $100,000 for company.
On the French Riviera, Johnny investigates a skin diver speared to death.
A huge yellow diamond vanishes from a Beverly Hills jeweler.
A used-car classified ad leads to murder in a Chicago snowstorm.
An experimental car keeps crashing in Detroit, and a dead test driver starts Johnny asking why.
Johnny flies to Kuala Lumpur to stop a plantation owner's murder.
In Germany, Johnny investigates an American engineer's murder and a curious barge.
A backwoods Pennsylvania murder is committed with an old squirrel gun.
March 30, 1954
The Undried Fiddle Back Matter
In Venezuela, Johnny probes murder and sabotage at a dam project.
In Charleston, Johnny asks why a paper mill has now burned to the ground twice.
A small-time hood's murder ties a crime boss to the prosecutor's own daughter.
A once-brilliant author, now a derelict, is killed just after changing his beneficiary.
A police chief is murdered, and his coldly indifferent widow makes a striking suspect.
May 11, 1954
The Aromatic Cicatrix Matter
A $100,000 jewel-and-fur robbery points Johnny toward a bankrupt ex-husband.
An arsonist strikes like clockwork every Tuesday night, and Johnny sets out to catch him.
In Puerto Rico, Johnny chases a supposedly foolproof scheme to rig the track's tote board.
Truckers are being savagely beaten, and Johnny hunts whoever holds the grudge.
June 22, 1954
The Arthur Boldrick Matter
Johnny returns to the Philippines to recover $75,000 stolen from an insurer.
A stolen Old Master is recovered, but Johnny suspects the painting is a fake.
An oil driller in Sumatra calls Johnny in to investigate sabotage.
A restaging: a young woman is murdered after she has seemingly killed herself.
Johnny goes to Indiana to recover a shipment of deadly radioactive gold.
Ore-boat explosions on the Great Lakes bring big claims and send Johnny north.
August 10, 1954
The Sarah Martin Matter
September 5, 1954
The Hamilton Payroll Matter
September 12, 1954
The Great Bassmock Race Matter
September 19, 1954
The Upjohn Matter
1955
An audition for the serial format: a Hong Kong assignment has Johnny rattled before he even leaves.
A dying convict points Johnny toward a fortune in stolen loot (part 1 of 5).
The hunt for jewels that never resurfaced leads Johnny deeper (part 2 of 5).
A gun-toting woman and a tortured corpse complicate the search (part 3 of 5).
Johnny is shot in a Bronx theatre as the manhunt circles back to Long Island (part 4 of 5).
The stolen-loot case reaches a surprising finish (part 5 of 5).
Johnny flies to San Francisco to investigate the sinking of the freighter Molly K (part 1 of 5).
Johnny meets the captain's daughter and uncovers who really held the ship's mortgage (part 2 of 5).
A brawl with the captain and a meeting with Shanghai Lil deepen the case (part 3 of 5).
The Harbor Police turn on Johnny while a frightened, armed man runs loose (part 4 of 5).
Johnny corners the clever saboteur behind the sinking (part 5 of 5).
Johnny asks whether a man in Denver is really someone who died in Baltimore five years ago (part 1 of 5).
A murdered man's beautiful widow begs Johnny to drop the case (part 2 of 5).
Johnny flies to Denver to learn whether Frank Bowers is the dead John Reardon (part 3 of 5).
Fingerprints seem to settle it, until Johnny realizes even those can be faked (part 4 of 5).
A double murder brings the fraud case to a surprising close back in Baltimore (part 5 of 5).
Johnny heads to Mexico to run down Alvin Summers, an embezzler on the loose (part 1 of 5).
A beach, a girl, and a man with a knife turn the chase dangerous (part 2 of 5).
Johnny meets the kind of company best avoided in a dark alley (part 3 of 5).
Johnny walks straight into a trap (part 4 of 5).
Johnny finds his man the hard way (part 5 of 5).
An attempt on the life of Dan Valentine, a retired bootlegger, opens the case (part 1 of 5).
Everyone strains to keep the marked man alive, and nearly manages it (part 2 of 5).
A thirty-year-old grudge starts settling itself with bullets (part 3 of 5).
The old grudge claims more victims as the gunfire spreads (part 4 of 5).
Johnny's gun ends the Chianti brothers' vendetta (part 5 of 5).
A diamond robbery in Algiers points to a beautiful countess (part 1 of 5).
A lovely liar and the whispers of the old city cloud the trail (part 2 of 5).
An alley fight, a named killer, and a woman's shamed confession (part 3 of 5).
The net tightens toward a violent death in the Casbah (part 4 of 5).
The Algiers case comes down to a final gamble (part 5 of 5).
Johnny's case becomes a chase after a charming, elusive woman (part 1 of 5).
It costs Johnny plenty to prove just how wrong one man is (part 2 of 5).
The trail heats up and lands on a police blotter (part 3 of 5).
Johnny sees what seven hard years have done to Lorraine Broderick (part 4 of 5).
Johnny's long pursuit of Lorraine Broderick reaches its close (part 5 of 5).
A famous actress is threatened with death, and Johnny is hired to guard her (part 1 of 5).
At the theatre, a third-act surprise that wasn't in the script (part 2 of 5).
A figure from the past walks on stage and into the case (part 3 of 5).
Johnny discovers he has more reason than he knew to keep Amy alive (part 4 of 5).
A rough finish to the actress's ordeal (part 5 of 5).
Accident, suicide, or murder? Johnny weighs a death with a big question mark (part 1 of 5).
Johnny sees plenty, and learns how hard it is to believe his own eyes (part 2 of 5).
Carelessness spreads through Culver, Montana, as the case widens (part 3 of 5).
The whole town turns on Johnny as the case becomes a public feud (part 4 of 5).
The Montana case blows wide open at the finish (part 5 of 5).
Old Mrs. Cronin insists on wearing the famous Circle of Fire necklace to a wild party (part 1 of 5).
A jittery man, a fearless girl, and a stranger who strikes in the dark (part 2 of 5).
Old love and old hatred erupt in midnight violence (part 3 of 5).
A white lie and a bullet from the dark bring death in the rain (part 4 of 5).
The Circle of Fire case settles accounts for the living and the dead (part 5 of 5).
A man insured for $50,000 dies of malnutrition, and Johnny smells fraud (part 1 of 5).
For $50,000, plenty of people are willing to listen to murder (part 2 of 5).
Two thieves begin to turn on each other (part 3 of 5).
A clumsy liar takes flight (part 4 of 5).
The fraud adds up to $50,000 worth of murder (part 5 of 5).
A nightclub owner is shot dead, and his partner stands to collect (part 1 of 5).
A broken-armed old lady, a frightened girl, and a bullet in the snow (part 2 of 5).
A cold vigil, a prowling killer, and a woman who vanishes (part 3 of 5).
A child's faith in Santa and a woman's faith in nothing, at Christmas (part 4 of 5).
A showdown brings victory and then disaster (part 5 of 5).
A New York fashion house's bookkeeper looks like an obvious embezzler (part 1 of 5).
Johnny tries to understand what drove a man to steal (part 2 of 5).
The unexpected upends every theory Johnny had (part 3 of 5).
A sudden twist turns the case into a race against time (part 4 of 5).
The case closes on the costly, doomed courtship of Betsy Walker (part 5 of 5).
1956
Eddie Kaylin is found dead in a burning car outside Los Angeles, with no shortage of suspects (part 1 of 5).
A tearful, lying girl and a killer shooting from the shadows (part 2 of 5).
A Latin beauty, a well-read bartender, and a dancer cross Johnny's path (part 3 of 5).
A stakeout and a manhunt close in on a gunman (part 4 of 5).
The quarry is cornered, a strange alibi cracks, and the real killer is exposed (part 5 of 5).
A costly tip from an ex-con starts Johnny after stolen goods, and someone tries to kill him (part 1 of 5).
The familiar business of murder takes a brand-new twist (part 2 of 5).
Gloria's death sends Johnny to her ex-husband Bill (part 3 of 5).
Wounded, Johnny learns that finding one killer means finding them all (part 4 of 5).
In the end, $75,000 in stolen goods isn't worth a plugged nickel (part 5 of 5).
Music, mystery, and danger open a new case (part 1 of 5).
A South Jersey swamp yields a discovery that's too good to be true (part 2 of 5).
A rigged poker game deals Johnny a losing hand (part 3 of 5).
Three musicians, and one of their stories is playing false (part 4 of 5).
The musical case ends on a genuine twist (part 5 of 5).
The death of a valuable racehorse becomes a case for Johnny (part 1 of 5).
Everything turns as wrong and dangerous as it can get (part 2 of 5).
The case turns as ugly as a body full of bullet holes (part 3 of 5).
A dead man may answer more questions than the living (part 4 of 5).
A decent man's story reaches a bittersweet close (part 5 of 5).
In Mexico, Johnny finds a woman so beautiful that men will kill for her (part 1 of 5).
A scrappy girl and a lucky break, until murder evens the score (part 2 of 5).
A lying relative, a jealous lover, and a woman who simply vanishes (part 3 of 5).
A tropical port brings romance, desire, and death (part 4 of 5).
A cornered killer strikes back in a final showdown (part 5 of 5).
A supposedly dead girl resurfaces in a case where every lie comes true (part 1 of 5).
Carefully built lies keep coming true (part 2 of 5).
February 8, 1956
The Mcclean Matter
An uncooperative doctor swears he'll never take the stand (part 4 of 5).
Mrs. McLain finally tells the truth, and the case breaks open (part 5 of 5).
Two bullets and a $100,000 payoff, but the killer isn't the one who profits (part 1 of 5).
An admired idol proves to be all too human (part 2 of 5).
The net tightens and the case blows wide open (part 3 of 5).
A tense interview ends in a sudden, dangerous attack (part 4 of 5).
Dan Parker is shot dead by the stepdaughter who took him for a burglar (part 5 of 5).
A study in firebugs -- the deadly kind (part 1 of 5).
Tony Midas turns up in the morgue (part 2 of 5).
Johnny corners an arsonist, with surprising results (part 3 of 5).
Johnny squares off against a strongman and a powerful lawyer (part 4 of 5).
A verdict is reached, in the courtroom and out of it (part 5 of 5).
William Markey drowns, taking a $75,000 claim down with him (part 1 of 5).
A weeping widow, a cursing lover, and a grim relic raised from the deep (part 2 of 5).
A photograph and a silver cup stir the dead back to life (part 3 of 5).
A lovesick kid and a court ruling blow the case wide open (part 4 of 5).
A dead man tells a tale, though not the one he was meant to (part 5 of 5).
In Vicksburg, a beautiful girl dies in Johnny's arms, still begging for help (part 1 of 5).
How do you help a dead girl? Johnny tries (part 2 of 5).
The dead girl's .38 automatic speaks again (part 3 of 5).
What the gun reveals blows the case sky high (part 4 of 5).
The evidence bears out, and the dead girl finally gets her help (part 5 of 5).
A new school burns in Clinton, Colorado, and the architect becomes the town's villain (part 1 of 5).
Johnny confronts the contractor (part 2 of 5).
The building inspector turns up with three bullets in him (part 3 of 5).
Even the sheriff threatens Johnny's life (part 4 of 5).
The town tears itself apart in two murders and a shootout (part 5 of 5).
The investigator on a sunken-ship claim is killed, and Johnny is called to San Diego (part 1 of 5).
Zanegian resorts to bribery and murder to bury the truth (part 2 of 5).
A dead man talks, and murder reaches into the Coast Guard (part 3 of 5).
Two friends help out as suspicion falls on a beautiful accomplice (part 4 of 5).
Zanegian confesses everything (part 5 of 5).
A vacation romance proves to be the prelude to murder (part 1 of 5).
A man is pushed to the point of distrusting even himself (part 2 of 5).
Johnny hears things he'd rather not, but must (part 3 of 5).
The case hits its turning point with a vengeance (part 4 of 5).
A head-spinning twist ends the case (part 5 of 5).
Johnny takes on the hunt for a notorious fugitive named Ed Julian (part 1 of 5).
April 3, 1956
The Salt City Matter
A hunch turns into action, and murder (part 4 of 5).
An unusual case involving the eccentric Laird Douglas of Heatherscote (part 1 of 5).
A decidedly canine case begins to bite (part 2 of 5).
The joke turns deadly when a killer steps in (part 3 of 5).
People and clues begin to line up (part 4 of 5).
The Heatherscote case is dealt its final hand (part 5 of 5).
A doctor boosts his life insurance to $100,000, certain he'll be murdered (part 1 of 5).
With a madman loose, even the police are overwhelmed (part 2 of 5).
The Big Lie proves as solid as green apples (part 3 of 5).
Even dead, the liar keeps lying (part 4 of 5).
Some lies have to be killed twice (part 5 of 5).
A lonely-hearts romance leads straight to the morgue (part 1 of 5).
A frightened girl and a shot in the dark, as Johnny asks whether thirteen knots made a noose (part 3 of 5).
April 26, 1956
The Lonely Hearts Matter
The search for a millionaire's missing son begins (part 1 of 5).
Johnny learns more about how a man vanished off the face of the earth (part 2 of 5).
Trouble arrives early and refuses to leave (part 3 of 5).
An ancient Greek named Callicles holds the key (part 4 of 5).
The answer lies with a 3,000-year-old Greek (part 5 of 5).
A vicious racket steals 80 mink coats and leaves a watchman near death (part 1 of 5).
Fear stalks the streets and death waits in a dirty alley (part 2 of 5).
A heartbroken girl, a bloody shirt, and a fight with a cornered man (part 3 of 5).
The police net tightens as a boy sobs in a cell and a man dies (part 4 of 5).
A cautious search ends in ambush and violence (part 5 of 5).
A spiritualist medium and a seance or two draw Johnny in (part 1 of 5).
A lovely girl upsets the best-laid plans (part 2 of 5).
Johnny learns a thing or two about the killer behind the seances (part 3 of 5).
The elusive medium finally surfaces (part 4 of 5).
A chastened girl faces heartbreak at the close (part 5 of 5).
A fabulous necklace and an equally dazzling girl open the case (part 1 of 5).
Johnny calls on Sam Costigan, a very tough customer (part 2 of 5).
A curse follows the Wendover name wherever it travels (part 3 of 5).
The old Wendover curse reasserts itself (part 4 of 5).
The jewels known as the Tears of Night come home at last (part 5 of 5).
A case built on doubts, none of them reasonable (part 1 of 5).
The dead past tries to speak in a musty morgue (part 2 of 5).
A steely old lady and a gambler force the game into the open (part 3 of 5).
The pressure peaks and the whole affair begins to crack (part 4 of 5).
The case comes home just in time (part 5 of 5).
Johnny meets a man who seems to have at least nine lives (part 1 of 5).
Life clings on stubbornly, even in a broken Bowery bum (part 2 of 5).
The would-be beneficiary proves both fascinating and dangerous (part 3 of 5).
Johnny promises that someone will pay for all this (part 4 of 5).
Old Mike may be indestructible, but Johnny nearly isn't (part 5 of 5).
Moonlight on a lonely Mexican beach turns into a killer's moon (part 1 of 5).
A great man's arrogance meets a young girl's black hatred (part 2 of 5).
The web thickens, until one trapped fly shoots his way loose (part 3 of 5).
Death makes another blind attempt (part 4 of 5).
The comedian doesn't find Johnny's conclusion the least bit funny (part 5 of 5).
Johnny chases a girl who couldn't possibly exist, until she does (part 1 of 5).
A newspaper item about a missing daughter deepens the case (part 2 of 5).
The trap is baited, and the wrong person walks in (part 3 of 5).
Once you're in on the gag, you have to play along (part 4 of 5).
There's still money on the table -- more than it would take to save a life (part 5 of 5).
Three sympathetic suspects -- a lonely girl, a decent young man, a mild-mannered father -- and one of them is a murderer (part 1 of 5).
Variations on an old theme, where you pay your money and take your choice (part 2 of 5).
Beauty is skin deep, but fear runs as deep as death (part 3 of 5).
A study in three telling reactions to murder (part 4 of 5).
The best hiding place, it turns out, is in plain view (part 5 of 5).
A worthless $3 million gold mine and blood on the desert sand (part 1 of 5).
At Lake Mojave, one of the fishermen turns out to be death itself (part 2 of 5).
The trackless desert gives up a set of tracks (part 3 of 5).
A closed case reopens with a rifle shot (part 4 of 5).
Justice arrives by strange and devious means (part 5 of 5).
A quiet, elm-shaded New England town hides a killer (part 1 of 5).
Two unaccused people -- one confessing, one denying, both strangely (part 2 of 5).
A sudden twist as the lies come thick and fast (part 3 of 5).
The net tightens and the frantic suspects turn dangerous (part 4 of 5).
One domino tips and the whole stack comes down (part 5 of 5).
A $150,000 diamond and a murdered millionaire take Johnny to Africa (part 1 of 5).
A blow to the head leaves Johnny stranded on the dock (part 2 of 5).
Johnny and the missing diamond, both lost at sea (part 3 of 5).
A man goes overboard, taking a clue with him (part 4 of 5).
The diamond is recovered at last (part 5 of 5).
A crooked police chief is murdered, and Johnny is drawn into the rackets (part 1 of 5).
An airtight alibi springs a leak (part 2 of 5).
A drunken reporter tips Johnny to who really runs the rackets (part 3 of 5).
Shorty resurfaces just as a house burns down (part 4 of 5).
The rackets case reaches its end (part 5 of 5).
A Nicaraguan maritime disaster and a widow's two claims send Johnny south (part 1 of 5).
Suspicion sprouts around Oscar, the do-everything pilot (part 2 of 5).
A dead man appears to have wrecked an airplane (part 3 of 5).
A Spaniard with a knife and a lady with a gun (part 4 of 5).
The Lanfear claims are settled at the finish (part 5 of 5).
A Venezuelan with a $250,000 policy has changed his beneficiary five times (part 1 of 5).
A murder attempt on a millionaire who moonlights as a bullfighter (part 2 of 5).
A night on the town and a stealthy search of a room (part 3 of 5).
An attack on a pier and a trick at the cable office (part 4 of 5).
Johnny pretends to leave town, and the ruse breaks the case wide open (part 5 of 5).
The search for Edward Russell leads Johnny to Crystal Lake (part 1 of 5).
A scenic lakeside cabin makes a quiet spot for murder (part 2 of 5).
A girl's lie and a padlock's truth (part 3 of 5).
One shot misses; the next finds its mark (part 4 of 5).
The payoff comes in hot lead (part 5 of 5).
A meeting with a pearl thief, and another one arranged.
Would Crane really kill to protect the family name?
A .32 headed for the incinerator, a disappearance, and a cry in the night.
A murdered pearl thief, and that gun turns up once more.
The society girl steps aside as her maid moves to the center of the case (finale).
A wealthy man's expedition takes shape amid bitter family conflict (part 1 of 5).
Johnny finds himself signed on for the expedition (part 2 of 5).
A 'wealthy' man proves otherwise as Donald slips off to Egypt (part 3 of 5).
The curse strikes -- twice (part 4 of 5).
The secret of the bones is revealed (part 5 of 5).
Johnny's late friend Ed Morgan seems to have embezzled $80,000 before he died (part 1 of 5).
The trail into a dead man's past runs through quicksand (part 2 of 5).
The missing $80,000 and a battered girl lead to a bombshell (part 3 of 5).
Johnny hunts a dead man determined to stay dead (part 4 of 5).
Fate collects its debt, and the case ends in a scream (part 5 of 5).
Someone tries to kill Harvey Stone, then turns on Johnny too (part 1 of 5).
September 18, 1956
The Imperfect Alibi Matter
Harvey is shot dead, and Alvin Gentry confesses to the murder (part 3 of 5).
An eyewitness drives the final nail into the wrong coffin (part 4 of 5).
A gambler stakes his life on his hand at the finish (part 5 of 5).
There's no Saturday rest for Johnny as a new case opens (part 1 of 5).
Byron Kane hires Johnny to investigate a maritime claim (part 2 of 5).
Darkness hides both sins and a strong man with a deadly weapon (part 3 of 5).
A routine fishing trip aboard The Lily Ann turns sinister (part 4 of 5).
The motive behind the arson and murder finally takes shape (part 5 of 5).
A $100,000 diamond theft, and the man with the clue is murdered (part 1 of 5).
At a Swiss inn, Johnny keeps a ski date with a possible murderess (part 2 of 5).
Shot at on the slopes, Johnny nearly skis off a cliff (part 3 of 5).
Bruner, the last lead to the diamonds, is murdered (part 4 of 5).
A third photograph leads to both the diamonds and the killer (part 5 of 5).
Johnny heads into the desert, prospecting for killers (part 1 of 5).
He stumbles on a hidden car, a corpse, and two remaining killers (part 2 of 5).
Primrose Camp is scared stiff and hiding plenty (part 3 of 5).
A fake rattlesnake brings a real death -- three down, one to go (part 4 of 5).
A well-aimed rock finishes the job (part 5 of 5).
A missing stockbroker and a missing $120,000 open the case (part 1 of 5).
Johnny is hired to run down Thomas Chase, who has jumped bail.
The pursuit of bail-jumper Thomas Chase presses on.
Who killed Barney Slade, and how does silent-film actress Mavis Slade fit in? (part 1 of 5)
A stagecoach ride, a beating, and a surprise witness (part 2 of 5).
A bowl of lentil soup nearly puts Johnny in the cemetery (part 3 of 5).
An audience with the Queen -- and with the killer (part 4 of 5).
A man talks too much, and it gets him killed (part 5 of 5).
The first weekly half-hour after the daily serial run ends, with a crusading figure at the center.
A man appears to be slowly poisoning his own wife.
A New Orleans antique-shop owner won't file a claim after a fire, and Johnny wants to know why.
Arson is plaguing the lumber yards of Sarasota, Florida.
A millionaire's son is killed in Asia and his wife vanishes, with good reason.
A $50,000 singing mouse named Gulliver is kidnapped, and Johnny is told to keep an eye on the cat.
A boxer's manager holds a $50,000 policy on his fighter, and Johnny investigates.
1957
A prizefighter is marked to be murdered in the ring -- literally.
A millionaire drowns off his yacht, and Johnny's digging turns up murder and a pair of rotten schemes.
A vanished emerald and a vanished jeweler, yet a room full of junk sits untouched.
A beautiful model disappears soon after her magazine centerfold.
A kindly old fishing guide gets the last laugh from beyond the grave through his will.
$100,000 in gems vanishes from a sealed safe, and no one can say how it was opened.
February 17, 1957
The Golden Touch Matter
An original copy of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is stolen from an elderly woman.
A brand-new $75,000 bracelet vanishes in Palm Springs.
A scientist is killed and his partner blinded inside a lab bolted from the outside.
March 24, 1957
The Hollywood Matter
March 31, 1957
The Moonshine Murder Matter
In the Tennessee swamps, a simple $5,000 payout to a widow turns deadly.
Johnny is hired to recover a stolen dog -- one that can talk.
April 21, 1957
The Marley K. Matter
A baseball pitcher vanishes, and so does his wife.
A junkyard burns down and the delighted neighbors all become suspects.
A lump of ambergris insured for $20,000 goes missing, and Johnny heads South after it.
A truck loaded with copper pipe is hijacked -- driver and all.
A dead girl is claimed by two different men, each insisting he is her father.
The name of a boat is the clue to a killer, and Johnny lays out the puzzle.
A colorful Oklahoman pays his premiums in $100 bills -- all of them counterfeit.
A little old lady leaves $60,000 to her fully insured cat.
A universally loathed Shakespearean actor is murdered inside a radio station.
Held up, robbed, and stripped of his car, Johnny is left stranded in the desert.
One of only four Confederate half-dollars ever struck goes missing down South.
A larcenous old lady, her Pierce Arrow, and a four-foot statuette lead Johnny a merry chase.
Frontier Week in a sleepy western town stirs up jealousy and murder.
August 18, 1957
The Winnipesaukee Wonder Matter
A shady operator's mattress warehouse burns, and arson is the obvious question.
A playboy is insured for $200,000 without his own knowledge.
A sunken yacht, a missing captain, and a widow who isn't exactly grieving.
A brewery faces a rival ready to dynamite it out of business.
An escaped convict sends Johnny to guard a man who doesn't know he's in danger.
A silo fire on a well-connected dairyman's farm looks like more than an accident.
Cattle rustling is the least of it -- anthrax is the real threat on a big ranch.
An old woman refuses to sell her played-out mine, and it makes her a target.
Johnny's girlfriend is murdered, and Johnny himself is the prime suspect.
A concert pianist is shot, with the clues hidden in a piano and a birdcage.
A body in the river and a battered model -- Johnny hunts the connection.
Johnny's old friend Meg is suspected of murdering a rich old man in the Nevada desert.
Johnny hunts a killer who has just inherited $25,000.
A London firm writes a bizarre death-insurance policy, and Johnny finds out why.
At a home for the aged, the residents keep 'accidentally' falling down the stairs.
A hunting guide goes berserk and shoots everything in sight, himself included.
A dying man and his three thankless heirs make for a poisonous inheritance.
A Christmas tale of an old prospector dying in the desert with his faithful mule.
A restaging: a body in the river and a bruised model, and the link between them.
1958
A million-dollar jewel robbery turns on an unlikely clue: a rubber door-stop.
An inventor insures his new device, leaving Johnny to decide if the man is a crackpot or a spy.
An advertising executive receives a death threat that may have come from his own partner.
January 26, 1958
The Fire in Paradise Matter
Vincent Price, playing himself, is robbed of $100,000, and the trail leads to Paris.
A onetime insurance man turned chicken farmer runs into trouble with his flock.
Aboard a Caribbean yacht, Johnny guards a man from his two-timing girlfriend.
Johnny hunts a colorful Oklahoman gone missing, one Durango Laramie Dalhart.
A wealthy Texas oilman is either lying or running an elaborate con, and Johnny means to find out.
A hidden rocket-fuel lab in the Everglades is rocked by a mysterious explosion.
An ex-Nazi rocket-fuel scientist vanishes from the Florida swamps.
One man is the beneficiary on four separate policies worth over $200,000 -- hardly a coincidence.
A man goes out a high window, and someone's mistake is trying to frame a corpse.
An entire herd of cattle is rustled -- in Florida, of all places.
A tobacco firm's safe is emptied of $104,000, and its meek bookkeeper disappears.
A supposed fishing holiday turns on a simple question: does a dead fish always float?
A rash of robberies hits a town full of retired criminals -- have the old crooks gone back to work?
A string of fires is torching a supermarket chain, one store at a time.
A stunning pink diamond is stolen from a jeweler.
Johnny investigates an entire town that seems to be haunted.
Over Alaska in a dynamite-laden cargo plane, the pilot is struck with appendicitis.
As a river crests in flood, one man schemes to profit from the disaster.
A wealthy, beautiful woman is missing a fortune in gems.
Badly beaten, Johnny has to work out which of two identical twins is holding the gun.
A company's executives are dying one a week -- every Wednesday, like clockwork.
A case involving a circus elephant with a curiously hollow leg.
A sunken boat and a desert murder bring a call from Red of Lake Mojave.
In the sequel, suspicion turns on Red the fishing guide himself.
A murder witness fears he is next, and Johnny's effort to protect him goes wrong.
Investigating a death in a dam collapse, Johnny is nearly killed himself.
Johnny visits a furniture company to trace $58,000 that walked out the door.
A man with a $750,000 policy dies, and Johnny takes a hard look at his last nurse.
August 31, 1958
The Limping Liability Matter
A $150,000 yacht explodes and sinks, along with a cache of phony diamonds.
A man confesses to defrauding his insurer over a lost yacht, but the story doesn't end there.
A simple job -- pick up $100,000 in Southern California and bring it home -- goes wrong.
A man dies in a traffic accident that Johnny suspects was no accident.
October 5, 1958
The Missing Matter Matter
October 12, 1958
The Impossible Murder Matter
October 19, 1958
The Monoxide Mystery Matter
October 26, 1958
The Basking Ridge Matter
November 2, 1958
The Crater Lake Matter
November 9, 1958
The Close Shave Matter
Two men, both calling themselves Henry Kingman, claim the same $65,000 inheritance.
November 23, 1958
The One Most Wanted Matter
A wealthy man is murdered, and the smell of cordite still hangs in the air.
December 7, 1958
The Perilous Parley Matter
December 14, 1958
The Allanmee Matter
December 28, 1958
The Telltale Tracks Matter
1959
A dying old man's strange $10,000 embezzlement takes Johnny to Hollywood.
A woman's murder alibi needs checking, and the checking goes badly.
January 18, 1959
The Love Shorn Matter
A worthless statue is stolen and held for ransom.
February 1, 1959
The Curley Waters Matter
Johnny's date turns into bait for a killer.
A 34-carat diamond and a surprisingly lively grandmother put Johnny to work.
The case of an art forger who never once shows his face.
March 1, 1959
The Clouded Crystal Matter
A robbery and a vanished night watchman start a case nobody seems to care about.
A tale of modern piracy draws Johnny in.
A young boy's phone call sets Johnny on a case.
A dead rattlesnake becomes the clue that helps Johnny catch his man.
Traveling under the name Bailey, Johnny stays a step ahead of a gun-toting Westerner.
A liquor-store owner is killed, and his widow is anything but simple.
May 3, 1959
The Negligent Nephew Matter
A friendly steak dinner between old pals turns fatal.
A client's twin brother is being blackmailed over his criminal past.
A mad wine collector restages an Edgar Allan Poe horror in real life.
A call for help from an elderly spinster named Helen Dehner opens the case.
A wealthy young woman and her threatened husband bring Johnny in.
A fraudulent $50,000 claim leads Johnny to a supposedly dead sculptor.
In Beverly Hills, Johnny takes on the very wealthy, very eccentric Alvin Cartwright.
The world's most valuable piece of jade vanishes from a locked room.
Hired to find Truda Lynn, Johnny instead finds her body -- and a clue in an ashtray.
Johnny straps on scuba gear to recover a corpse from Lake Mojave.
A Lake Mojave fishing guide says he's been cheated out of his inheritance.
A retired sea captain's life is threatened, and a lightning bolt plays its part.
An eccentric millionaire is convinced a chain letter will be the death of him.
A lumber yard worth a third of a million dollars burns to the ground.
In Paris, Johnny meets a thief called the Grey Cat to recover the stolen Orly Diamonds.
The Grey Cat and Smokey help Johnny recover the priceless Cellini Medallion.
Johnny heads to Oregon to find a missing beneficiary named, of all things, Jonathan Doe.
A hotrod, a murder plan, and a woman who nearly tempts Johnny into marriage.
A retired sportsman with a wife half his age makes for a dangerous case.
A man insured for $100,000 simply disappears.
September 27, 1959
The Gruesome Spectacle Matter
A time bomb and a stolen $400,000 rock a department store near the Canadian border.
Johnny charters a helicopter to chase the stolen $400,000 across Canadian waters.
A dead man is found in a Florida bayou.
An old man in a wheelchair is savagely beaten just before changing his will.
A Denver advertising agency hires Johnny for a job that turns to homicide.
Johnny's fireman friend Smokey is onto a string of suspicious fires.
1960
The one clue pointing to the obvious killer simply evaporates.
Johnny races to recover stolen radioactive material before it detonates -- and blunders.
A man is poisoning cattle, and Johnny goes after him.
Johnny dodges a crazed hillbilly in moonshine country.
A scientist is shot, and Johnny investigates.
Johnny investigates the Florida murder of a chemical-plant owner.
Johnny is taken prisoner by four wild men in a deadly swamp.
The garrulous owner of a small-town cafe is sure a death was murder.
A yacht murder is carried out with a strange gas device rigged to the radio.
A man just out of prison goes after the jewels he stashed seven years earlier.
A body turns up buried in the Arizona desert.
Valuable yellow diamonds are stolen, and Johnny takes the case.
A scheme to marry into an inheritance goes badly wrong.
Johnny works to stop sabotage of a vital piece of America's space program.
A fishing trip to Lake Mojave turns dangerous when Johnny and Pat become the targets.
The owner of an advertising agency is shot dead.
Years after a collection of porcelain miniatures was stolen, one of them surfaces.
August 7, 1960
The Magnanimous Matter
Johnny goes undercover in a home for the aged to investigate a suspicious death.
One of a war hero's twin sons must be found alive or proven dead.
A freed convict swears revenge on the witness who put him away.
A miner turns up dead, and Johnny goes underground.
A man confesses to murder on his deathbed, then recovers -- leaving Johnny to sort it out.
A wealthy old man appears to have been murdered and dumped in Lake Tahoe.
An escaped convict threatens Johnny and a young woman's father.
The Rochemont necklace, insured for $321,000, vanishes, and Johnny breaks into a jewelry store.
A southern juvenile delinquent knows the secret of a murder but refuses to talk.
December 11, 1960
The Locked Room Murder Matter
A thief with uncanny timing pulls off a string of robberies, aided by television.
December 25, 1960
The Christmas Present Matter
1961
January 1, 1961
The Missing Jewels Matter
In Boston, Johnny tangles with Henry Gerson, an old crook worth millions.
A job that starts as a fishing trip with a beautiful companion turns serious.
January 22, 1961
The Dollar Put in Jail Matter
Johnny is back on the trail of Larry Moody and the $33,000 he made off with.
A $400,000 case turns on a fireman.
February 19, 1961
The Too Tired Matter
A $2 million jewel robbery is pulled by a handsome young thief.
An ex-millionaire who vanished seven years ago resurfaces in the case.
A New Orleans prizefighter is being set up for a fall.
Johnny heads to Vineland to investigate a murder.
Johnny races to find an escaped convict before it's too late.
An eccentric old woman's death draws Johnny in.
A handwriting flourish in a dead man's letter becomes the clue to murder.
A once-great entomologist, now unhinged, is found murdered.
A gang of juvenile delinquents terrorizes a small town.
April 30, 1961
The Purple Doll Matter
May 7, 1961
The Newark Stockbroker Matter
Was a San Diego death murder or suicide? Johnny investigates.
A blackmail case built around a respectable family man with a secret.
An avalanche is meant to bury the evidence of a crime, but not from Johnny.
A Memphis murder is cracked with the help of a stockbroker.
A Sarasota girl's odd car trouble is tied to a jewelry-store robbery.
A body lies fifteen feet down in Lake Mojave.
A blind author and his wife may each be plotting the other's murder.
An auto accident in Washington state that never should have happened.
A young woman becomes entangled in the secret of a stolen invention.
A treasure hunt along the coast turns perilous.
Murder and narcotics take Johnny south of the border.
A woman with a million-dollar policy attracts too many crooks.
Johnny suspects an inside man in a $100,000 kidnapping.
A fake infernal machine leads Johnny to a death in the bathtub.
An old horror-film producer holds the key to a missing purchasing agent.
September 17, 1961
The Clever Crook Matter
A string of strange robberies in which nothing is ever stolen.
October 1, 1961
One of the Rottenest Rackets Matter
Johnny exposes the phony spiritualists behind the Temple of the Living Truth.
A murder that turns out not to be a murder at all.
Johnny checks into a hotel to check out a racket.
A murder committed with a 1922 Essex automobile draws Johnny Down East.
A madman takes his revenge with explosives.
Johnny heads to a snowbound mountain lodge to find a missing man.
A serial arsonist called the Firebug is torching the city.
A factory explodes in an obvious arson, and the prime suspect tries to use Johnny.
A rich old lady is about to change her will, to the alarm of two greedy nephews.
1962
A $100,000 jewel robbery leads Johnny into deeper trouble.
January 14, 1962
The Gold Rush Country Matter
Johnny enlists his ex-arsonist friend Smokey to stop a wave of factory fires.
When Bill Willoughby is murdered, the obvious suspect is a fellow insurance man.
A single gold nugget is the clue to a murder tangled up with a new invention.
A rash of puzzling fires baffles Johnny in California's Simi Valley.
A stolen painting -- and stolen evidence from Johnny's own car.
A dead body in a mine shaft nearly sends Johnny to the mother lode in heaven.
A slippery character's $25,000 life policy draws Johnny into a double game.
A Palm Springs soft-drink tycoon has a perfect alibi for an obvious murder.
A ruthless man will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
A safe cracked so easily that even Johnny can do it points to an inside job.
An ex-convict's vow is dangerously misunderstood.
On the trail of a stolen necklace, Johnny is nearly pushed into the Grand Canyon.
A thief makes off with the Burma Red, a ruby big enough to choke a horse.
Johnny dives off Cozumel in search of sunken treasure.
A Las Vegas death looks like suicide, until the poison tells a different story.
A locked-tool-shed murder with no gun anywhere to be found.
June 10, 1962
The Tuna Clipper Matter
A talking dolphin does more than speak English -- it names a murderer.
Johnny goes fishing and hooks a corpse.
An eccentric's private weather station is at the heart of the case.
An ex-con's brother tests the notion that once a crook, always a crook.
Did the victim really kill himself? Johnny doubts the oldest gag in the book.
A heavily insured millionaire is killed, and his young French wife is the obvious suspect.
Treachery in a gold mine, with a blind man at the center.
Johnny investigates a murder conspiracy in Los Angeles.
Johnny finds a dead brunette whose body promptly vanishes.
Mrs. Weatherwell's $300,000 jewels are stolen, and Johnny is nearly run down chasing them.
On the show's final night, a dying convict has one last thank-you for Johnny.
The Story
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar followed "America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator" -- the man with the action-packed expense account. Its signature gimmick was the framing device: each case was narrated as a string of itemized expense-account entries, every plot beat logged as a line item, the whole thing closing with "Expense account total... End of report. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar." It debuted on CBS February 18, 1949 as a fairly standard private-eye drama. The show's artistic peak came with its 1955 revival. After a yearlong hiatus, producer-director Jack Johnstone reformatted it from a weekly half-hour into a 15-minute, five-nights-a-week serial -- 75 minutes a week that allowed far richer storytelling -- with Bob Bailey starring as the best-known Dollar. The title role passed through six actors across the run, an unusually high number for a character show: Charles Russell, Edmond O'Brien, and John Lund in the early years, then Bailey, Bob Readick, and finally Mandel Kramer. Its place in radio history is a definitive one. When the final episode aired September 30, 1962 -- back to back with Suspense -- it marked the end of the Golden Age of network radio drama in America, the medium ceding the night to television. Johnny Dollar stands as a literal bookend of the era.
Full story — coming soon while it's being curated.
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