Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar is a series with an interesting history. It debuted on CBS as a fairly typical slam-bang half-hour detective series on February 11, 1949, featuring Charles Russell in the title role as "America's action packed insurance investigator". Over the next few years, several actors played the part - including Edmond O'Brien and John Lund.
However, a few interesting things happened to Johnny Dollar in fall of 1955. In a stroke of casting genius, long-time radio veteran Bob Bailey took over the title role. Veteran director Jack Johnstone and writers John Dawson, Robert Ryf, and Les Crutchfield joined the production team. 1955 also saw the show’s format switch to a five part daily series, giving Bailey and the stories a chance to shine. However, the show returned to a 30 minute format in November 1956. Thankfully, for both the show and its fans then and now, Bob Bailey remained with the program until 1960 and made even the shorter thirty minute episodes classic action and drama.
Bob Bailey was born to play the role, bringing to his portrayal a realistic depth and like-ability that had been lacking in earlier versions of the show. Even though the multipart episodes gave the show a different feel, it held onto its uniqueness even after the switch back to a traditional half hour format. Bailey’s relate-ability and especially his ownership of the role of Johnny Dollar not only kept fans listening, but continually brought on new listeners. Bailey seemed to become Johnny as soon as the microphone came on and even when he broke character, it was still the world’s favorite insurance investigator talking to the audience.
Fans new and old largely see Bob Bailey as the actor that truly defined the lead character in Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, the role which was clearly the defining moment of his personal career. In this collection, Radio Archives is pleased to bring you twelve of the thirty minute Bob Bailey episodes in excellent digital sound.
#513 The Big Scoop Matter
Sunday, November 11, 1956 - 30:00 - CBS, sustaining
#514 The Markham Matter
Sunday, November 18, 1956 - 30:00 - CBS, sustaining
#515 The Royal Street Matter
Sunday, November 25, 1956 - 30:00 - CBS, sustaining
#516 The Burning Car Matter
Sunday, December 9, 1956 - 30:00 - CBS, sustaining
#517 The Rasmussen Matter
Sunday, December 16, 1956 - 30:00 - CBS, sustaining
#518 The Missing Mouse Matter
Sunday, December 23, 1956 - 30:00 - CBS, sustaining
#520 The Squared Circle Matter
Sunday, January 6, 1957 - 30:00 - CBS, sustaining
#528 The Sun Tan Oil Matter
Sunday, March 10, 1957 - 30:00 - AFRS
#546 The Yours Truly Matter
Sunday, July 21, 1957 - 30:00 - AFRS
#547 The Confederate Coinage Matter
Sunday, July 28, 1957 - 30:00 - AFRS
#548 The Wayward Widow Matter
Sunday, August 4, 1957 - 30:00 - AFRS
#551 The Smokey Sleeper Matter
Sunday, August 25, 1957 - 30:00 - AFRS
