Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
This is your host, Adam Grant. We're going to be
celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of our first regular run of episodes.
In a moment, I'll talk briefly about how we got started,
and then we'll welcome our sound producer, the incomparable Andrew Rhines,
to provide his memories and feedback on the start of
the program, and then we're going to present our first
week of regular programming. So for Old Time Radio Detective Podcast,
I'm going to offer my commentary on both the programs
as well as the thoughts that I shared at the time.
So first things first, very briefly, I've been hosting the
Old Time Dragnet show since March two thousand and seven,
and people kept suggesting other shows that I could do
a podcast on, and I said no. For a long time,
my thought was that while Dragnet had recognition in popular culture,
a lot of these programs didn't, and you quickly run
out of episodes before anyone would find it, and you
actually be able to grow the podcasts. But then I
came up with the idea of having a podcast where
we would go through different detective programs from their first
available episode to their final bow. I settled on a
concept and we would start out every day Monday through Fridays.
And in addition to myself, one other person was here
right from the start. So we're as we're talking about
this fifteenth anniversary, I'm joined now by Andrew Rhymes, who
for fifteen years has been editing the has been editing
the podcast. Andrew, glad to have you on once again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, glad to be here.
Speaker 1: So fifteen years ago, what do you remember about when
we started doing this.
Speaker 3: Well, we had just done the Dragnet series and that's
kind of where everything started for me. And then you're like, hey,
let's start a new series and do you mind editing it?
And I'm like, yeah, let's go ahead and do it.
So it was kind of a new adventure. We hadn't
done detectives at all, and I was doing my Western
so I was like, let's see what we get.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I actually, you know, I was reluctant to ask you
because I knew it would be a lot of work,
but you you just kind of volunteered when you found
out I was doing it.
Speaker 5: So I.
Speaker 4: Appreciated that so so much.
Speaker 1: And when we started out, we were kind of doing
I remember we used to do like pretty low quality outputs,
I think like thirty two kbps files.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and then we quickly went to sixty four
but that was still like AM quality radio, so it
was it was still very staticky, very old radio style
audio and is very compressed.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, And that was mainly and I think you know,
when we were first started out, it was concerns about
things like you know, like I think me personally, I
just left dial up, so I was sensitive to that.
In terms of the size of these things.
Speaker 3: Well, in story was horrible. I mean it was it
was costing us a ton of money to to try
to house all these files for people to download.
Speaker 6: It was not cheap, that's for sure.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we were self hosting.
Speaker 1: So uh though, you know, it's like, you know, now
we've got everything, you know where they you know where
it's it's just a much better situation for podcasters starting
now where people have got these connections.
Speaker 4: But those those were challenging.
Speaker 6: Times to say the least.
Speaker 1: Is yes, now, one thing because I think if people
started listening to the podcast anytime after the first four
weeks they they heard our theme, which is a little
bit of Shostakovich. Uh, But that was not the original
theme for Great Detectives, and I think I think we
were using this on the old time drag Net show
as well. We had we had a very different theme
that people are going to hear.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 1: Could you tell us a little bit about that and
why you selected that for the podcast.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it was basically, we need something to
fit what we were getting into, right, so Box thirteen,
so it's a newspaper themed, you know, show We've got
Johnny Dollar. We were new we were going to do.
So that was kind of the phone that ringing in
the background. So it was just trying to find something.
And then the other big one was royalty free. We
had to find something that wasn't going to cost us
money and wasn't going to you know, DMCA strike us
or take us down in any way. And there was
not a ton of free music at the time out there,
so it was more of a what can we get
that was kind of upbeat, and this was very upbeat,
but for the most part, you know, nothing to downcast.
We didn't want as serious of a nature as Dragnet,
so it was just kind of just playing with what's
out there and see what we can actually put together,
and listening to re listening to it really makes you
go back and go, yeah, that really doesn't fit, you know,
now that we've been doing this for so long, it
really didn't fit the detective genre in a hole.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think I think it really was.
It's it's a good theme for for some podcasts, and
I think it was an interesting feel and in some
ways I think it's the right direction because uh, you know,
we ended up going with a bit of Shostakovich which
we got from the UH which I heard on the
tail end of uh Pat Novak for Hire, and this
was performed for the A f R s that we
ended up going with. But Shostakovich is generally considered to
be a much a lot of his work a lot
more lighter than other than other classical artists. So it
was all a matter of finding the right balance.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Now, when you look across last fifteen years, was there
any particular program or episodes set up that really sticks
out to you as something that was particularly interesting to
work on or edit?
Speaker 3: Are yearly ones that we're doing because we do Christmas specials.
Those are always fun to do. I like the Johnny
Dollar the combining of the four part series or multi
part series. That's really lends itself to podcasting because we
don't need to wait for four parts, we can just
put them together. So for me on a technical aspect,
that's that's kind of the fun part is because you're
taking the ending of one clip in the beginning of
another and trying to find that happy medium of you know,
seamless connection. So that way the listener doesn't even know
where it began or where it started. So that's been
the fun one. Dragonet's always good. I love Dragnet's probably
one of my favorite genres out there in the police procedural.
I mean, I work in law enforcement now, so you know,
may be lending to that. So yeah, for me, it's
very very much. The multi series ones are always fun
to do. They take a while, but there are a
lot of fun to actually put together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that that's the good thing because
it does, you know, and with the multi parts, I
guess it's interesting to say that probably everybody would edit
them a little differently, and we might even edit them
differently at different times. And of course Dragnet is fun
from a sound perspective, just because they put so much
sound effect work into Dragnet, particularly those early episodes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's for sure, the lower base, clean audio. I mean,
there's a lot of things that you know, when there's
not a lot of work to be done on the
back end, that's always nice too. And there are many
shows that you've done and I've done that are you know,
the quality of recording has gotten better over the years.
People have gone back and remastered them, so, you know,
taking out the static and that hissing noise and making
them something that we would listen to nowadays is kind
of a special thing for us because old time radio
is not dying and we are keeping it alive by
you know, putting it back out there for people to
listen to.
Speaker 1: Right and definitely a great and appreciate all the work
you put in over the past fifteen years, and we've
we've put in some really interesting efforts and we're going
to take a lesson to these programs now. Will start
out with the first episode of Box thirteen and go
from there. But Andrew, thank you so much for joining
for joining me on this special anniversary episode.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, thanks for having me, and I hope you
guys enjoy and you find it as interesting as we
did when we first were putting it out.
Speaker 1: Thanks Andrew well for our initial lineup. We had Box thirteen,
Pat Novak for hire, Let George do It, Sherlock Holmes,
and yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Now a note that we
won't be hearing the Sherlock Holmes episode I played that
first week, as I learned later that the episode had
been mislabeled on the website. I downloaded from it. Indicated
on the website that it was from the nineteen thirties
and starred Richard Gordon, but it was actually a very
beat up recording of a copyrighted radio performance, so I
removed that from circulation long ago. Andrew referenced the compromises
we needed to make with the quality and the encoding
of our episodes back in two thousand and nine. But
it's twenty twenty four and we don't have to do that.
So while the sound quality of my commentary may not
be as great, the episodes themselves will be taken from
the best available sources that we have today in place
of the older encode, So it's a bit of a remaster. First,
we'll be Box thirteen. The only thing I'll note ahead
of time is that at the time that I was
first going through the series, I believe that Box thirteen
had first been broadcast in January nineteen forty eight. However,
it was a syndicated program, and the nature of syndicated
series in old time radio research is that you often
learn that another station somewhere started running the series earlier
than your earliest record. In this case, later research showed
that the first letter the episode we're about to play,
first aired October seventeenth, nineteen forty seven. Now let's go
ahead and listen to the very first regular episode of
the series. Original release date October twenty six, two thousand
and nine. Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time
Radio from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Graham,
coming to you with the first of our five weekly features.
The way this podcast works is we have five detectives,
one for each day of the week, and Monday it's
going to be It's going to be Alan Ladd playing
Dan Holiday, and so thus we can say every Monday
is Holiday for as long as we have Box thirteen.
Speaker 2: Box thirteen is a fascinating series.
Speaker 1: I've gone through and I've listened to four separate episodes.
Speaker 2: I want to head and I listened to the.
Speaker 1: First three, then I went and did one in the middle,
just to make sure it kept up the quality, and
it's outstanding. It's a very interesting premise because because Dan
Holiday is very different from some of the other detectives
we'll have on the show, the professional detectives, you know,
Sherlock Holmes, Pat Novak for Hire, Johnny Dollar, George Valentine,
these guys professionals.
Speaker 2: They do it for the money.
Speaker 1: He does it to get ideas for his novels, and
he puts it in ad stating his willingness to go
on in adventure, to do anything, to go anywhere, and
figures at the end of the day he'll have a good,
solid story idea given all the trouble he goes to.
Some of us might suggest free writing, brainstorming, any other
number of methods, but this is Dan Holliday's method and
it works out to some great radio And really, I
think you're gonna enjoy this. So we're gonna find out
about the first letter he gets from Box thirteen let's
go ahead and listen to the episode entitled, ironically enough,
the First Letter, and then we'll be right back.
Speaker 8: Box thirteen with a Star of Paramount Pictures Alan Ladd
as Dan Holliday.
Speaker 9: Box thirteen, Box thirteen, Box thirteen, Box thirteen Box.
Speaker 10: Well, this is great rain, rain rain. I bet even
the ducks wouldn't come out weather like this. But me,
I'm an idiot. I gotta go and take up a
profession like being a writer. I couldn't take up something easy,
Oh no, not me. I gotta be a writer so
I can be out on nice, cold wet nights beating
my brains out looking for an idea. IDA deadline, Oh sure,
I mustn't forget that E eleven deadline. By the way,
to make a living, I could have stayed a rape
for her at the start times and had nice assilence
like listening to political speeches. Are covering the opening of
a new manhole. Oh no, but not me. I have
to write fiction, do it the hard way. Well, I
might as well take the usual hand, open the usual
door to the usual place, and hear the usual cons.
Speaker 11: I am mister Holiday copy covey boy.
Speaker 12: Are you Dan?
Speaker 10: What do you say, ed, Holiday a pretty good How.
Speaker 13: Are you.
Speaker 14: Hire you to Holiday?
Speaker 10: Hello, Susie? Anything in Box thirteen?
Speaker 8: Box thirteen starring Allen Ladd as Dan Holiday Now for
Box thirteen starring Ellen Ladd as Dan Holiday.
Speaker 10: What a character? I am standing here in front of
the water edd countering a newspaper office while the rain
runs down off my coat, collar, uner my shoe. Mister Holliday,
I got to ruin my last pair of Huh, what's that, Susie?
Speaker 14: I said? There's a message in box thirteen for you here?
Speaker 10: Oh, thanks, Susie.
Speaker 14: You'll mention it. Hey, aren't you going to open it?
Speaker 10: Sorry? Not here, Susie.
Speaker 14: You know you got all of us down here at
the star. Time's awful? Curious? Mister Holiday running down?
Speaker 10: Have I?
Speaker 14: You've been running it for months? Why don't you change it?
Speaker 10: Well? I haven't read it for so long I've forgotten
the words. How's it go?
Speaker 14: Don't you remember advent? You wanted? We'll go any place?
Do anything? How about that?
Speaker 10: I still like it?
Speaker 14: You do a lot better with adventure if you ran
your picture with the ad.
Speaker 10: Oh thanks, Just keep on running it the way it is, Pattie.
Speaker 14: Aren't you ever going to tell us what you do
for a living? Why you keep running.
Speaker 10: That ad, Susie, Same old question, same old answer. No, Well,
if I'm not doing anything else, at least I've got
the people at the Star Times curious. They think my
brain cells. We're ten feet off first base. If they
knew why I really run that ad, maybe they are.
You can help a person out of great trouble and
gain an adventure for yourself if you call Chester eight
nine four five and ask for Carla Williams, Chester eight
nine four five. Carla Williams sounds like an interesting name.
Well that helps You's home? Hello, Oh, this is the
man from box thirteen.
Speaker 15: Tell me are you serious?
Speaker 11: It was that ad?
Speaker 15: Just a joke?
Speaker 10: No joke, Miss Williams.
Speaker 15: Are you willing to try anything?
Speaker 10: Well, that depends what's on your mind.
Speaker 15: I can't discuss it over the phone.
Speaker 6: Will you meet me?
Speaker 10: Of course, there's.
Speaker 15: A little French restaurant down on led Street.
Speaker 12: Meet me there in the cocktail lot.
Speaker 10: Uh, what time make at ten o'clock to night?
Speaker 15: Tell about and do you want to speak to Carla Williams.
Speaker 10: French restaurant on Ledg's ten o'clock? Oh, my block number.
Speaker 14: Six hundred block. You won't fail me.
Speaker 10: You'll be there, lady. If it were a winter, I
come with bells on. This sounds like the beginning of
a very interesting story. Beautiful woman in distress calls on
struggling writer for help. Only she doesn't know I'm a writer,
and I don't know she's beautiful. What's yours, messa? Oh
I'm I'm looking for a Carlo Williams.
Speaker 16: Oh yeah, she's sitting over there in that front of booth.
Speaker 10: Thanks. Uh, Carla Williams. Yes, oh, Carlo Williams could be
material for a love story or an adventure story, or
maybe both.
Speaker 15: And do you have a name?
Speaker 10: Oh? Yes, Dan Holliday.
Speaker 9: I sit down.
Speaker 10: Oh thanks.
Speaker 17: I'm agreeably surprised. I didn't think a person would get
such a satisfactory reply from a water.
Speaker 10: Head, and I didn't think i'd get such a nice replier.
Speaker 17: You're wondering about me, aren't you. You're wondering why you're
here naturally. Well, I'm being blackmail.
Speaker 10: That's a very nasty business.
Speaker 17: I've been paying black mail for five years, but tonight's
the end. I'm a medium in fifteen minutes and make
the final payment and get the.
Speaker 10: Letters well, that sounds like the end of your troubles.
Speaker 18: But is it.
Speaker 15: I can't be sure. That's why I need your help.
Speaker 17: But what can I You can be there as a witness.
You can make sure this is the end. You can
see that I get the letters and get away safely.
Speaker 10: Lady, you need the police.
Speaker 17: Why to make sure everything I've kept hidden for five
years comes out in the open.
Speaker 10: Maybe a friend could do it.
Speaker 15: My friends would be the last ones on earth. I'd
want to know.
Speaker 9: Are you afraid?
Speaker 15: No, you advertised for adventure.
Speaker 10: Blackmail isn't my idea of adventure.
Speaker 15: I'm sorry if my trouble doesn't measure up to your expectations.
The best I could do on such short notice.
Speaker 10: Oh uh, well, I guess I had that coming.
Speaker 15: Maybe this isn't your idea of adventure. But I do
need help.
Speaker 19: I need help badly.
Speaker 15: Let's leave it at head now.
Speaker 10: That might appeal to my early boy scout training.
Speaker 15: Then you will.
Speaker 10: I always help ladies across blackmail wraps what happens if
your friend makes trouble.
Speaker 18: We can't make any trouble.
Speaker 10: He seems to have done all right for the past
five years.
Speaker 15: There won't be any trouble. If you're alone here, reach
under the table.
Speaker 12: Take this.
Speaker 10: Oh, I'll wait a minute. It's a gun.
Speaker 9: Put it in your pocket. Don't let anyone see it.
Speaker 10: This is supposed to make everything all right, but you.
Speaker 15: Won't need it.
Speaker 12: Believe me.
Speaker 15: I thought it would make you feel better.
Speaker 10: It makes me feel like a policeman. And I still
think a policeman is what you want. But you promised,
I said, maybe I have.
Speaker 15: To meet him in fifteen minutes. Please help me.
Speaker 10: Where do we go? His apartment far from here.
Speaker 15: We can make it if we leave.
Speaker 6: Now, what do you say?
Speaker 10: Maybe I should never have been a boy scout. I
watched Carla Williams closely as we ride over to the
apartment where she used to meet this man she's been
talking about. She's perfectly groomed, with a certain niceness of
her except for those twin furrows, a worry between her eyes,
and a cold look of anxiety. I don't think I
would like to have her angry at me, though.
Speaker 15: That's funny. You should have been here twenty minutes ago.
Speaker 10: Huh uh? Why don't you try to do her?
Speaker 5: It was unlocked.
Speaker 10: Might as well wait inside unless you have any objections.
Speaker 20: Not at all.
Speaker 15: There's a light switch on your right. The living room
is straight ahead.
Speaker 10: Say you sound like you're familiar with the place.
Speaker 15: Why not, I've been here many times before.
Speaker 10: There's a light on him there. Suppose he might have fallen.
Speaker 15: Asleep waiting for his money hardly?
Speaker 10: Well, yeah, this is more I like it. This spot
is nicely furnished with my money.
Speaker 15: At least we can sit down and make us it
make us.
Speaker 10: Oh no, that's Williams. What's the matter?
Speaker 6: What happened the floor by the desk?
Speaker 10: Look you stay here? Well, well you'd better call the police.
He's dead dead. Yeah, he's been shot once through the heart.
I'm glad he's the one, the man who was blackmailing.
Speaker 17: Would you could you go through his pockets? He must
have some of those letters with him. Look at his
coat pocket.
Speaker 10: Just a minimus, Williams. You don't understand. This man has
been murdered. We've got to call the police.
Speaker 11: Murdered.
Speaker 19: What makes you so sure there's.
Speaker 10: No gun around any place?
Speaker 15: Just the same before the police come.
Speaker 11: His pockets.
Speaker 15: Please, I've got to have those letters.
Speaker 10: Okay, but it isn't right at least what you wanted.
Speaker 15: Let me see. Yeah, yeah, they're all here.
Speaker 10: Now, where's a telephone. They've got to get the police
up here and fast.
Speaker 15: There's no phone.
Speaker 10: No, how do you know without looking?
Speaker 15: Listen, I told you I've been here before.
Speaker 10: Oh yes, I forgot. I'll go downstairs as a paphone
in the lobby. Tell the police's come up here right
away and come back, and we wait for them.
Speaker 15: You're not planning to leave rolling downstairs, are you?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 10: Here, here's a nickel. Just dialog and tell the operator
you want the.
Speaker 15: Police hurry, but you'll be here.
Speaker 10: Carl I said, I wanted adventures, so I put an
ad in a newspaper and I certainly found what I wanted.
Only this isn't good. The man is lying dead on
the floor of this apartment, and Carla Williams and I
will have to get down to the police headquarters and
answer a million questions, all of them embarrassing. I hope
she's made the calls say that's funny. Why would there
be a telephone director in a place where there's no phone?
Or maybe there is one, of course right here in
the hallway. Well know why she said there was no
phone here? Maybe it's been disconnected.
Speaker 14: M operator.
Speaker 10: This is the Oh fine. I've written a dozen stories
like this, and whenever I've reached this point, the hear
always finds that he's been framed. M framed the gun,
and I'm gonna look at that gun. I gotta find
out if it's been fired. One shot has been fired,
and the police surgeon will probably find a bullet from
this gun in a dead man's body. The police seems
like little color to care that.
Speaker 12: Me.
Speaker 10: I'm going to take care of something else. I'm leaving.
Speaker 8: You are listening to Box thirteen starring Alan Ladd as
Dan Holliday. Once again, Box thirteen starring Alan Ladd as
Dan Holliday.
Speaker 10: All right, now, I'm wishing I were half as smart
as the heroes of some of my stories. I've got
a murder, strange woman, a strange apartment, and a strange
feeling that this might not work out to a happy ending.
But I needed a cab, a quick flip home, a
short drink, kind of long long think.
Speaker 11: Sure is a rough night to be out?
Speaker 10: Yeah, sure is.
Speaker 11: I've never seen such rain.
Speaker 10: Not so good.
Speaker 11: That's a sure busy tonight.
Speaker 10: Sounds like it.
Speaker 11: I wonder who they're after.
Speaker 10: I wouldn't have any idea. It could be a murderer,
you know, yeah, it just could be.
Speaker 11: Just to night for a murder.
Speaker 10: Perfect.
Speaker 11: I'll come.
Speaker 12: You got so wet it's raining, I know, but i'll come.
Speaker 10: My umbrella needs recovering.
Speaker 11: Do you want to know? Many arms?
Speaker 12: That's right, that's your building up ahead. But it looks
like you've got lots of company.
Speaker 10: What do you mean?
Speaker 12: I as proud cause mister all over the place.
Speaker 10: Oh, this is very nice. Carlo Williams called the police
and must have mentioned my name in passing and the
type of interesting young fella that any cop would like
to meet, especially with a murder weapon in my pocket. Tonight,
mister Holliday, I think you will sleep elsewhere.
Speaker 11: I want me to pull right in where all them
cops are.
Speaker 10: No, they look busy, so maybe we'd better not bother them.
Just keep on driving.
Speaker 11: This is where you live in it.
Speaker 10: I don't feel like going home tonight.
Speaker 12: I could shove them cops aside, you know, Oh this
is legitimate.
Speaker 10: Heck that would be fun, but don't bother.
Speaker 11: Yeah, the boss, mister where two?
Speaker 10: There's a place down on Franklin Avenue sixteen twelve.
Speaker 12: I think I know that place that's the cheapest hotel
in town.
Speaker 10: Yes, I believe it is.
Speaker 12: Hey, how do you know about a place like that?
Speaker 10: I got information there for a story, but.
Speaker 12: A joint like that? What are you going there to
night for to sleep? You're writing another story?
Speaker 10: I'm living one, living one. Yes, I left my typewriter
at home.
Speaker 12: Well, mister Holiday, to what do we owe this great pleasure?
Speaker 10: Maybe you're just lucky more research.
Speaker 21: On the seamiest side of life.
Speaker 10: Oh not tonight. I'm looking for a room.
Speaker 21: A room, Might I remind you, mister Holiday, this ain't
the roney pleasure?
Speaker 10: Have you got a room?
Speaker 5: Any particular exposure you might like?
Speaker 10: Less the better.
Speaker 21: I'm sure we can fix you up, that is, if
you're willing to pay in advance, buck bucking, I have
how much?
Speaker 22: Twenty five dollars, mister Holiday.
Speaker 10: Twenty five dollars, and if you commit the murder, it'll
be fifty dollars. Mister Holiday, Come on, talk straight. I
don't want any trouble with the police. What makes you
think I'll cause you trouble with the police.
Speaker 5: A little box called the radio police calls.
Speaker 22: It's a lot of fun to listen.
Speaker 5: To, mister Holiday.
Speaker 10: Ah, I bet they are.
Speaker 5: You'll be comfortable here and safe.
Speaker 10: I'm beginning to wonder if I could afford it with
your money. It don't make me laugh. I wasn't trying to.
How's your phone?
Speaker 22: The one on the wall across a nickel?
Speaker 10: Thanks, you're staying.
Speaker 20: The night, mister Holiday.
Speaker 10: Hello you got back then?
Speaker 5: Hurry you?
Speaker 10: Where are you still in time? What about the police?
Stay with you?
Speaker 12: What do you think?
Speaker 10: Thanks for putting in a good word for me to.
Speaker 15: They made me look at I want to talk to you.
Speaker 10: I know that feeling. I want to talk to you too.
Speaker 15: I can explain everything.
Speaker 10: Like a gun with one bullet fire. Yes, I'm missing telephone.
There wasn't that too, And you're just a little girl
I want to.
Speaker 6: Have words with Can you come over here right away?
Speaker 10: The police there, that's right, name the police. I'll meet
you the corner of sixth and Victor. Ten minutes right.
Speaker 21: Follow me, mister Holiday, hour too, your room. This ain't
the Roney Plaza. But this service is.
Speaker 10: Just to say I've changed my mind.
Speaker 13: You know it's staying.
Speaker 10: Your rates are too high. I'll drop in again after
I made a fortune. Now I know how the fox
feels when the hounds are closing in. Someday I'll have
to write a story about a fox. Put that guy
urges and is Peter Rabbit out of business?
Speaker 11: Hey, cab, oht you again?
Speaker 10: Yeah? I get around, don't I?
Speaker 11: I thought you were set for the night?
Speaker 10: No running ice water, Sixth and Victor.
Speaker 12: Where'd you say you wanted to go?
Speaker 10: Sixth and Victor.
Speaker 11: There ain't no place to sleep there.
Speaker 10: I'm not sleepy. I just want to examine a fire hydrant.
Speaker 12: Okay, mister, I'm glad that your money you're not mine.
Speaker 10: If we keep on, it will be your money.
Speaker 11: Yeah, that's pretty good.
Speaker 10: Yeah, say is that the night's extra lying up there?
Speaker 13: Sure?
Speaker 11: I want to take a look at it.
Speaker 15: Oh.
Speaker 10: Thanks.
Speaker 12: That picture they got of you on the front page
is lousy.
Speaker 10: What picture you look like?
Speaker 12: He was facing the camera through a screen door.
Speaker 10: He let me see that. Well, well, well, this is
your wonderful prominent writer named by police. Carlo Williams accuses
Dana Holiday of the murder of Harry Granger, grief stricken girl,
witnessed the murder of fiance and nice going conor. It's
your word against mine, plus the evidence against me. Now
I know why they wrote that song I get along
without you very well.
Speaker 11: Well, there's sixth Victor.
Speaker 10: Cruise on by.
Speaker 11: Are you going to stop?
Speaker 10: I haven't made up my mind.
Speaker 12: There's like a couple of cops waiting around for somebody.
Speaker 10: That's the way it looks to me.
Speaker 11: That might be the law.
Speaker 10: Yes, they might be.
Speaker 12: What do you want to do?
Speaker 11: Now?
Speaker 10: Get away from here and find a city directory. A
chat by the name of Harry Granger should have a home,
and he should have stayed in it. I'm either just
ahead of the police or right behind them, and if
this gang keeps up much longer, I'll be riding with him.
Speaker 23: Yeah, oh, Harry Grangually he did, you're the police?
Speaker 10: Well no, not exactly a reporter. I used to be.
Speaker 21: Come here you.
Speaker 12: I wonder if you're one of them blackmailers.
Speaker 10: Just a minute, friend, my coat rips eazy.
Speaker 12: No, I guess not. If you were, you wouldn't be here.
Speaker 10: Mind if I step in, come.
Speaker 12: In, come in this whole thing. Get me all upset.
Speaker 10: You don't say, oh, you said something about a blackmailer.
Speaker 12: That's what I'm here for. I came to help Harry
get rid of those rats.
Speaker 10: You mean he was being blackmail for five years.
Speaker 23: I lent him most of the money to pay off
with I told him he was a sucker. But it
looks like I got here too late. You heard what
happened starred in the papers. On my way from the station,
they told the police not yet, but.
Speaker 12: I'm going to Who did you say you were?
Speaker 10: I didn't say you know something about this? I think
I do. And now I began to see the light
when the city directory listed this place's ranger's apartment?
Speaker 11: Can I help?
Speaker 10: Am I getting the trouble breaking into a woman's apartment?
After this, I'll use a fire escape and more of
my stories are the most interesting things about a building
from homicide. Will be out in the hall, seeing that
no one comes in here. I have to work fast holiday.
You'll have to find something that the police weren't looking for.
There must be something tells letters cards, that's no good
look for the obvious. That that's what I always have
my hero doing. Let's see what's the obvious or the
living room now, let's see that's where the body was.
Nothing obvious there on the desk, now the table, fireplace? Hello, Hello, Hello,
a small frame snapshot, and I think it might be
just what I'm looking for my old friend, the bartender,
Karla Williams. And with your arms around each other, you
know you two make a nice couple, of wonderful couple.
I wonder if to let you have your arms around
each other in the electric chair.
Speaker 8: You are listening to Box thirteen, starring Allen Ladd as
Dan Holliday.
Speaker 10: Well, I finally made it. I'm down at police headquarters
in the office of a tall gangly care to name,
Lieutenant Kling. Of course, a few things have happened. Carlin
and the Bartender were brought in two so much cooler
than I am. Oh, those cell bars give you such
fine ventilation. Holiday. What's that, Lieutenant?
Speaker 16: I said you were a very lucky citizen. After what
Carla Williams told us, we thought you were guilty.
Speaker 10: I should have told me that story to believe it myself.
Approving that she and the bartender were married, put a
crimp in her act as the injured fiance.
Speaker 16: Yeah, you showed it up as the same old record.
Smart woman teams up with smart man, the blackmail innocent citizens,
just the same. I think you should stick to your
writing and let police work alone.
Speaker 10: Lieutenant. I'll have that printed and framed in blonde walnut
hanging on the wall. No around my neck.
Speaker 16: I'm glad to hear you say that you may not
always have a guy like this grant who backed up
your story.
Speaker 10: Oh grangerous friend that's still say he's a nice fella.
Wants me to visit him on his ranch. Why don't
you do that the range all day when I could
be cooking in tom.
Speaker 16: Pardon me, homicide retentacling. Oh yes, yes, he's here, see
you Holiday.
Speaker 10: Oh thanks, Hello, mister Holiday.
Speaker 14: This is Susie.
Speaker 10: Yes, Susie, can you.
Speaker 14: Come down this good town's right away?
Speaker 10: Oh what's the matter.
Speaker 14: There's another letter for you in box thirteen.
Speaker 10: Oh no, no, no, Should I open it and read
it to you? Oh not now, Susie. I've got enough
material to last me for a month, three weeks of
which will be a rest.
Speaker 14: Tell me where maybe I can come down and help you.
Speaker 10: You really want to help me?
Speaker 14: Sure I do, mister Holiday.
Speaker 10: Then put that letter back in box thirteen.
Speaker 14: But mister Holiday, good.
Speaker 10: Night, Susie.
Speaker 8: Next week, same time. Ellen ladds dars as Dan Holiday
in box thirteen. Alan Ladd appears through the courtesy of
Paralnetec Shures and may Card Lay Be Seen and Wild
high List.
Speaker 11: Box thirteen is.
Speaker 8: Written and directed by Ted Hedeger. Original music composed and
conducted by Rudy Scheger. This is a Mayfair production.
Speaker 1: Welcome Back.
Speaker 2: What was an ending like that to the episode? You
will have? You would expect if this were a movie for.
Speaker 1: Dan Holiday to have learned his lesson about seeking out
adventure in the classifieds. Now not so obviously, because if
that were the case, we wouldn't have made this the
first series.
Speaker 2: But this is in so many ways.
Speaker 1: This was such a well crafted, well put together episode.
Really a lot of adventures, a lot of twist and turns.
This really tells some of the great things we're gonna
see from this series. So we'll be back next Monday
with another Holiday episode of Box thirteen. Check out the
show notes side Great detectives dot Net. Got any comments,
Feel free to email me Box thirteen at Great Detectives
dot Net. From Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam
Graham signing.
Speaker 4: Off Welcome Back.
Speaker 1: One thing I won't do is be super critical of
my past self. Sometimes I've heard content creators go back
and listen to themselves or watch themselves and voice some
very harsh criticisms, and it comes off to me as
either trying to suggest how great they are now or
trying to silence potential criticism of their passwords and actions.
This makes me a bit uncomfortable because it either comes
off as trying to pre rebut criticism.
Speaker 4: Or trying to be like, I'm so awesome.
Speaker 1: I think this can also be discouraging for new creators
who might listen or watch. So I want to be
more measured and more reasonable in what I say now.
You might compare my pacing back then am I pacing now?
And ask were you on something back then? Because I
was talking so fast. Well, I was drinking a lot
more coke zero hardly get that anymore unless I go
to a restaurant. What you hear there is a little
bit of nervousness because I was starting a daily podcast
and had never done that before, didn't know where this
was going to go. And also a whole lot of excitement.
And one thing I tend to do by default is
when I'm excited.
Speaker 4: I talk really fast. I have to learn to.
Speaker 6: Rain that in.
Speaker 1: So I expressed myself better. But let me say how
incredibly excited I was. I had stumbled down a rabbit
hole discovered all of these radio detective programs existed that
I never knew about, and I wanted to share them
with everyone and tell everyone just how great they all were.
Speaker 4: And I also.
Speaker 1: Wanted to listen to as many as I could. I
do want to comment on the opening theme, and it's
definitely a great piece of music. It's really energetic, exciting
and whimsical. It didn't quite fit what we would go
for in the end, but I do like it. I'll
admit that I didn't have a whole lot of context,
which is why my commentary is a bit limited at
the end. For example, when I first heard Box thirteen,
I didn't know anything about Alan Ladd. I'd never seen
his films or seen him in anything at all. I
also didn't fully grasp that he owned Mayfair Productions and
was a actively self producing and syndicating this series. He
had been cast in a lot of tough guy goals
as somewhat a moral characters and things like this Gun
for Hire or the Glass Key, so this was not
only a money making proposition for him. This was a
way to show listeners a different side of his acting
ability and show him playing a much more unambiguously heroic character,
while also showing some complexity as the series ran on.
As for this particular episode, I still enjoyed it, but
my praise is a bit more measured. I loved the
concept back in two thousand and nine, and I was
dazzled by the episodes I'd listened to. But today this
feels a lot like a pilot or an audition, perhaps
for investors for Mayfair Production or for stations. They were
interested in selling the series too, and it went from
being an audition to them just going ahead and making
it the first episode of the series.
Speaker 4: There are definitely some rough.
Speaker 2: Edges to this.
Speaker 1: I will say that I love that Box thirteen whisper
at the start of the episode. It was a really
nice touch. Now there are some series that did something
a little bit similar, but with harsher masculine voices announcing
the titles, such as Nightbeat and the first two episodes
of Dragnet. The way they did it here with a
softer voice and then the sort of fade out is
really just a nice way to open the episode and
draw you in. The introduction of Dan Holiday, on the
other hand, seems an odd creative choice. You know how
we should introduce our hero, have him why about his
lot in life for a solid minute. And some of
his complaints are odd. For example, he's bemoaning deadlines and
suggesting he should have stuck to being a reporter.
Speaker 2: Ah.
Speaker 1: Yes, newspaper reporters, a profession not known for having to
deal with deadlines. And the whole basis of the complaint
that starts the whole thing is that he's upset about
being in the awful weather. Here's the thing. Inclement weather
is not typically a hazard of writing mysteries. He's out
in this awful we because he got up and decided
today was the day to go out in the rain
and check the po box. It has nothing to do
with him being a writer, except maybe tangentially. Then there's
also a bit of inconsistency in the story as to
holiday status. For example, he describes himself as a struggling
writer who's using box thirteen to find plots. Yet he
references having a deadline, which suggests someone has given him
a contract for a book. So did his publisher sign
off on the whole Box thirteen? And he's got in advance,
but he's got to come up with a story soon,
and then the newspaper calls him a prominent writer when
he's wanted for murder, though it'll be fair that could
be just a matter of the paper puffing him up
in order to sell papers. These aren't huge details, but
these are the things you notice after a few times
of listening to an episode that show that there are
many aspects of Dan Holiday's work in life that haven't
been thought out in future episodes. Most of these wouldn't
really be resolved, but they also wouldn't be addressed or
brought up in ways that were inconsistent or confusing. Once
the story gets going, it does work, and it is entertaining,
and there are some nice twists, although it does feel
like the mystery gets resolved a bit quickly and maybe
a bit easily, because they spend so much time establishing
the concept. The one thing that was kind of weird
in this episode is that the Cabby found out Dan
Holiday was wanted by the police, but helped him anyway,
and there's never a good reason given as to why
he did that.
Speaker 4: It is also.
Speaker 1: Worth noting that Box thirteen did another story where a
letter to Box thirteen ends up with Dan being wanted
by the police for murder. It's an episode called Hare
and Hounds, and it's actually one of my favorites of
the series, and it's a better story over all than
this because it doesn't have to spend so much time
establishing the concept or having Dan complain.
Speaker 4: About the weather. Despite my complaints, I think that.
Speaker 1: This episode does do a good job in getting Dan
Holiday going in the right direction for where lads wanting
to take his image. The boy scout ideal is a
good representation of the character. He's a bit too naive
in this episode. Holiday wouldn't be so easily fooled in
the future. He'd be fooled in the future, just not
that easily. The ending remark about Susie as a sort
of flat out no is a bit ironic because he
would end up hiring Susie as his secretary in the
fourth episode. This would be great for pacing, so they
didn't have to take up time in the story every
episode by having Dan go down to the newspaper office
to get the letter from Box thirteen. Susie would do
that off air and still be able to do their
little bit of banter. Another thing I'll note here is
I mentioned the number of episodes i'd listen to of
Box thirteen, and I really did have that as a
bit of a standard practice when I was considering and
evaluating whether a series would work for the podcast. The
episode number might be a bit lower if I was
dealing with the series that had less episodes in circulation,
and I would typically listen to tective series I hadn't
played or weren't coming up anytime soon in rotation, so
I might listen to a couple episodes of Boston Black In,
a couple episodes of Broadways my beat in Casey Crime Photographer.
But I like the idea of not listening to all
of the episodes of a series until we were listening
to them together on the podcast, because then I would
come at it a bit fresher and with not a
whole lot of preconceived ideas about the episode. And I
try to do that as much as possible, though some
of the shorter and even mid range series I didn't
get through all of the episodes before I ended up
playing them. Now, let's go ahead and move on to
our second episodead This is Pat Novac for Hire. The
original release date October twenty seventh, two thousand and nine,
our second show in the series, Pat Novak for Hire. Now,
I'll make a confession, I actually planned on going through
each series in a five times a week marathon. So
thus we go through let George do it all two
hundred plus episodes in existence, and we go through Sherlock
Holmes and we just do every single episode. Then I
working through this series give me the picture that if
I just went with Pat Novak, even for the limited
time that this series was in existence, and so therefore
the limited number of episodes I ended up getting, I
might not have anybody listening by the time we got
through the end, because it can be a little bit of.
Speaker 2: A different series.
Speaker 1: But the big thing that occurred to me, particularly when
you think about some of the bigger series, was that
it made a lot more sense.
Speaker 2: To go ahead and to do.
Speaker 1: For to do five different detectives so people get some variety,
but they also get some consistency so they know what
they're expecting. Unfortunately, what this meant is we had to
go ahead and redo a lot of the intros and outros.
So we're redoing the intros and outros because they reference
we'll see you tomorrow when you're not going to get
another episode of Pat Novac to next Tuesday. So, buddy,
it's a series I actually like, this is actually this
is Pat Novacs first, I mean, not Pat Novac, but
this is Jack Webb's first serious series as a detective,
coming on at age twenty six to begin the role
of Pat Novak. And in many ways this is incredible,
just in terms of in terms of the dialogue that
this series is some of the most incredible dialogue for
good or for ill that that you'll hear anywhere. This series,
written by Richard Breen, star Jack Webb as pant Novac,
began to originated from San Francisco on KFO. So this
this is a This is the very first this is
the only San Francisco originating episode of Pat Novack we
actually have featuring Jack web anyway, so this is a
very special episode. We're going to get into it without
any further Ado. Let's go ahead and get into tonight's episode,
Go Away, Di Sigillion.
Speaker 24: Gallon Caps Present Cap Pat Novak, four Hire.
Speaker 25: Lostic Shoe into Chicago, Mad with Lovely Suit, Cooker rules
from vallencashead.
Speaker 24: Four miles to a gallon cap, Yes, gallon caps. The
family Shoe Stars with the Yellow Fronts, the largest shoe
chain in the West, with stores from Canada to Mexico
to serve the West.
Speaker 11: G A. L. L. E.
Speaker 24: N KA MTS Gallon Caps present Pat Novak four hire.
Speaker 5: Sure. I'm Pat Novak for hire. That's what the sign
out in front of my office says. Pat Novak for Hire.
Down on the water front in San Francisco, you always
bite off more than you can chew. It's tough on
your windpipe, but you don't go hungry down here. A
lot of people figure it's better to be a fat
guy in a graveyard than a thin guy in a stew.
That way you can be sure of a tight fit. Oh,
I rent boats and do anything else that makes a
sound like money. It works out all right, if your
mother doesn't mind you coming home for Christmas in a box.
I found that out Wednesday night, about nine o'clock. I
closed the shop early, and I came home to read. Oh,
it wasn't a bad book. If you ever wanted to
start a forest fire was one of those historical things.
And the girl in it was just getting her second
wind and her third man when the door of my
apartment opened and the place began to get crowded. From
where I sat, the crowd looked good. She sought her in,
moving slowly from side to side like one hundred and
eighteen pounds of warm smoke. Her voice was all right too.
It reminded you of a furnace full of marshmallows.
Speaker 9: Good evening.
Speaker 5: Yeah, thanks for knocking.
Speaker 9: I don't think you mind my coming in without warning.
Speaker 5: No, I get the cabbage smell from next door the
same way.
Speaker 9: Does it pay to be that for light?
Speaker 5: Miss Novak saves you the trouble of saying, please, what's
on your mind?
Speaker 9: That bottle in front of you? Would you pour me
a drink?
Speaker 5: No, you'll save dough if you look up a bartender.
Speaker 9: All right, I came to use you instead of your whiskey.
Speaker 5: Anyway, talk.
Speaker 9: My name is Lee Underwood. I'll give you three hundred
dollars to do something for me. It'll only take an hour.
Speaker 5: That's too much dough unless it's murder. Then if it
is murther, it's not enough dough.
Speaker 9: Are you afraid?
Speaker 5: I just don't like paid murder. I told you, when
you get caught, the pain gets expensive.
Speaker 9: If it were murder, I'd do it myself mister Novak,
I want you to frighten someone for me.
Speaker 5: Why don't you hire a friend? Are they too pretty?
Speaker 9: It's a man named Dixie Gideon. You'll find him in
an office down on Pulson Street at this address. I
promise nothing will happen to you.
Speaker 5: That's what they told Billy Khns.
Speaker 9: He'll be in this office until eleven tonight. I want
you to go in and see. Tell him you're from Adrian,
that he's to get out of town by tomorrow noon.
Speaker 5: I suppose he wants to put it off.
Speaker 9: He won't. Don't let him know who hired you. Just
tell him. Adrian said to lead, Yeah, you better go home.
Speaker 5: For three hundred bucks, I won't buy a tissue paper
plat not tell me more or say goodbye.
Speaker 9: There's not much more I can tell you except there
won't be any trouble. He's a rotten little beast and
I want him frightened badly. Why he's been bothering my sister?
Why does he bother you because I bothered back too fast?
Do you want the three hundreds to know that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's going to be a long winter. Put it
on the.
Speaker 9: Table good, and you'll need this too, no, you keep it.
Speaker 5: I don't want a gun.
Speaker 9: It's empty. Don't worry, see no shells. It's perfectly safe.
Speaker 5: I got a nasty disposition. You can lit that for
three hundred bucks. But if you want more, find a
gun sel or an off duty copper.
Speaker 9: I don't want you to be a gunsle That's why
I want you to use this gun. I know it's empty.
If you use it on Dixie, he'll scare fast. It's
just a way to save some breath.
Speaker 5: All right, it's your three hundred You better go now. Yeah,
where do I get a cotd? If your doorbell rings?
Don't play mouse?
Speaker 9: Oh?
Speaker 5: Because I may look you up?
Speaker 9: Am I too young to ask?
Speaker 11: Quaws?
Speaker 5: Because if anything goes wrong, I'll be around looking for
you from there on. It won't be nice. I'll didd
you up like a locker room towel.
Speaker 9: Me relaxed, Patsy, He'll never land a fall in love
that way.
Speaker 5: She handed me the gun and walked out of my apartment.
Seeing her leave made you feel like Frank Buck losing
an argument. She walked with a nice, easy swing of
a satisfied leopard, and for a small leopard, she had
pretty good spots too. I put the gun in my
overcoat pocket and I went down to Folsome Street. The
address was down near the bridge entrance, and the street
was deserted except for a couple of whinos near the
corner trying to buy back nineteen twenty six of the
dollar a jug. I stopped in front of the place.
It was a machinery company. I could see a light
burning in the bank. I began to walk through the place.
It was so quiet you could hear a worm with
hooping cough, and they run enough shadows around to keep
a ghost happy for years. When I got to the
office back in the corner, through the glass, I could
see a man sitting at the desk. When I opened
the door and walked in, he didn't seem surprised.
Speaker 26: Come on in, mister bad noise. Yeah that's right. You
make too much for a thief or not enough for
a customer. What do you want about ten words?
Speaker 5: If you're Dixie Gillion, go ahead, you better look up
a timetable.
Speaker 26: What makes you that tough this? Why do you look
toughing with the gun? Does it make you talk faster?
Speaker 5: I'm going to say it's slow, mister, Pack up your robbers.
And get out.
Speaker 6: Is that you talking to somebody else.
Speaker 5: I'm just the guy with a gun. Adrian does the
talking and he says, get out. That's right. You've got
the whole message now, all right?
Speaker 26: You told me so, wan are out and spent it,
though I will. You'll need part of it though, because
I'm going to give you an ask for Adrian. I've
got to take that gun away from you. Mister, you
can pick the peace is out of your head on
the way home.
Speaker 5: You better stand back or I'll show it with you.
You got your offer, mister.
Speaker 6: Let's see you make good here.
Speaker 5: Save your muscle. When you save your muscles the contemptish See,
somebody fools sometimes can get a home run with a
half swing. That's the way it was. This time. He
couldn't have made it with a prayer book in both hands.
He slid down to the floor and trembled for a moment,
and then flattened out like a leaf in a pool
of water. Just before he died, he grabbed his side
as if he didn't like the way it hurt, and
then he didn't care. I rolled him on his back
and let him look at the ceiling. His eyes were
open and he looked surprised, like a guy who didn't
figure on a chains in the weather. There was a
scar that ran across his forehead and dug deep into
his hairline, and he was lying there with a bunch
of pink gums, showing as if he was trying to
pick up a few bucks with a toothpaste. Add I
didn't have time to tell him how sorry I was,
because if homicide caught me here, I'd have about as
much chance as a canary and a basement full of cats.
I started for the door right then. Who I could
start ordering bird seed? It was Hellman, and he walked
over to have a look at the body. Hello, Novak,
The guy looks embarrassed. Yeah, I guess he is Helman.
What's it going dead putting in a beef somewhere? I
guess he rates it. He'll like you for that, Novak.
How did it happen? A team play? We worked it
out together. But you've got the gun, that's right, I
got the gun. You feel like a bet. No, just
keep stealing the old way. You know how I feel, Novak? Yeah,
you feel flabby to anybody else but yourself. I suppose
you feel good now. Look I walked in here with
a gun. There was some quick fight talk and I
killed him. But it's still not a good rap. I
can get a long price on it for you, Nova,
I'll bet you can. Helman, you can give me a
bad deal. But part of the time it'll be from
the other side of the deck. Worse than that, Novak.
It'll be all the time, And I want to watch
it because I think you're going to be a cribate.
I'm gonna screen if that's what you mean, Heilman. I'm
gonna screen about a gall that sent me in here
with an empty gun. That's a big hole for a
cat pistol.
Speaker 10: Novak.
Speaker 5: I got a last minute curve. It was fifty once. Yeah,
that's the only way to make a gun. No back.
I don't want you for an hour ago. I want
to put this dead guy on the floor, all right,
all right, I told you I didn't come in here
to kill the guy. I don't know him. He may
even be a good guy. I'm sorry he's dead, all right, Nova,
I just wait a few weeks and you can tell
him personally. Hellman had me up against the rail and
he knew it. When he left there. He was wearing
a big toothy smile that was big enough to sow
in his ears. He called the corner and he told
him to pick up the stiff, and then we rode downtown.
He got the gun into ballistics and he hauled me
into his office. The reporters were there. He gave him
the whole story and told him how to spell Helman.
After that, we wound up at the desk and he
booked me on suspicion of murder. The next hour and
a half of the kind of stuff they don't write
about in the paper. They call it interrogation. When you're finished,
you've been through a lot of tight spots, like a
piece of bubblegum and a set of false teeth. About
eleven o'clock, Hellman brought me in officer. From there on,
it happened kind of fast. I just talked to the DA.
He's gonna streamline things for you, but he's gonna look funny.
I want to trial on the guy. You can't identify it.
I won't pressure. I don't have to know that. I've
got the only party I need you, the dead guy
in a big fat murder gun. Yeah, yeah, Helman Parking, Yeah,
I know it was a thirty eight, that crazy down
in ballistics. I saw him standing over the dead guy.
It must have made a mistake, that's all. No, I
don't want him in here. I don't want him in here.
Speaker 27: Hey, Tony, Tony, you're getting pale.
Speaker 5: You need some more ruge, Helmet, I got some bad news,
inspect Well keep it or you'll take more home to
your wife. I'll talk to you later. Now, talk to him, no, Helman,
if the bullet doesn't match the gun, talk to him now.
Speaker 28: That's right, Inspector, thirty eight bullet, but it won't match
the gun you brought in.
Speaker 5: It's got a match. I came in and found him
standing there. He admits it.
Speaker 6: It's a neat trick.
Speaker 28: Then if you fired the bullet out of that gun,
he retold it in mid air and.
Speaker 5: Let that fast. Helman. Get out of that chair, so
you'll have room to square. You'll keep still mobile. Oh
I won't, Bobby. I'm going home. I'm walking out of
your jail. Helmet. You've got a broken down thirty eighth
that won't get anything but your thumbs. You can't hold
me on that. I've found you over the butt. I
can hold you on suspicion of much, but it'll hurt
tomorrow morning, helmet, the papers will be down here for
a follow up, and you'll have to tell them what
it looks like out in left field. I'll handle them.
You can't afford to let them start laughing at you.
If people will get the idea at your face, you
can save coff if you stay right here, because I'll
have you back by known tomorrow. You'll let that good helmet.
You couldn't hold them mark with a searchlight. The town
ot a thank you. Oh it's a nice jail helmet,
and with you around, it'll last for years.
Speaker 24: Well, they turned the pope mobick in a moment. You're
gonna put extra warmth and comfort in your Christmas wishes
this year.
Speaker 5: How do I know?
Speaker 24: Well, because I've seen the Gallon Camp Christmas gift slipper collection.
You know everybody's talking about it as the gas lightest
ideal on the gift shopping horizon. When you visit your
neighborhood Gallon Camp store, then you'll know why. There you'll
find slippers for every member of the family, soft and cuddly,
warm ski capers, persist, handsome and broader Chinese slippers for mom,
warm sheeraling lined opera slippers for brother, and good looking
smooth kid opera slippers for Dad's fireside loafing. Yes, and
they are appealingly soft and gorgeously colored. Cheering scuffs to
delight the heart of any young lady from sixteen to
sixty and slippers for.
Speaker 5: The little nippers.
Speaker 24: All are irresistibly comfortable, good looking, and irresistibly Gallon Camp price.
Speaker 6: Go to Gallon Camps the.
Speaker 24: Store with a yellow front near you to buy Christmas
gift slippers that'll say Merry Christmas in a heartwarming way
if more smiles with a Gallon Camp slipper gift.
Speaker 13: An all back to Pat Novak.
Speaker 5: When I walked out a headquarters, I had a nice
mess to juggle. Was like trying to walk the baby
on a floor full of marbles. If things didn't matterup
for hellman, they weren't doing any better for me. I
knew the gun I had went off. If it did,
what happened to the bullet? Where did the other one
come from? Why weren't there two shots? Oh? I couldn't
put my finger on a thing, and nothing added up.
It was like trying to follow a grain of rice
in a Shanghai suburb. I looked up Lee Underwoods address,
and I went by her apartment. A girl downstairs told
me she worked at the nightclub out in the Bay
Shore Highway, and I had a couple of places to hit,
so I looked up the only honest guy I know,
an next doctor and a boozer by the name of
Jack o' madigan, a good man until he began to
figure the last drink in a bottle is just as
easy to get as the first.
Speaker 10: Well.
Speaker 5: I found him in a little leather trim sink on
Powell Street with a grimy little hole where they washed
the glasses once a week in stale beer. But Jocko
was more at home than a vulture in Calcutta.
Speaker 27: Uh, Petsy, Or just in time to celebrate my return
to health, something mild from mister Novak a double stinger.
Speaker 5: Forget a Jucko, I gotta talk to him.
Speaker 27: Petsy, I've just passed through a crisis. A few minutes ago.
They set before me a glass with a woman's lipstick.
Speaker 13: All around the rim, or a jackal.
Speaker 27: I took one galp and looked at the glass, and
in this dim light, I thought I was bleeding to
get the bleeding to death. It took them ten minutes
and three mirrors to calm.
Speaker 5: Me down, JACKO, I'm in trouble. You gotta help me.
Speaker 13: No, but they washed the glass for me and in ammonia.
Speaker 27: They must have left a little ammonia in the glass,
because the next drink had a very odd tang about it.
I've had three more just like it, a sort of
ammonia colling. All right, All so far they've been using
domestic ammonia. When the important stuff comes in, I may
give up whiskey altogether.
Speaker 5: Calmed down with your jackal. I got a bum shake tonight.
Speaker 13: Yeah, I either killed the guy.
Speaker 5: I thought I did that?
Speaker 13: Uses up the alternative. What are you doing now? Taking
a voat?
Speaker 5: I got hired to scare a guy down on Fulsom Street.
Ten minute later the guy was dead.
Speaker 27: Oh, Patsy, you'd take your work too seriously. Couldn't you
just scared him into a lingering illness instead of killing him.
Speaker 5: One of the props was an empty gun, only when
a fight came it grew bullets. Helman walked in right
after on a telephone tip.
Speaker 27: What are you doing out of the electric chair?
Speaker 5: All the whole thing backfired down at headquarters. The bullet
and the phony gun wouldn't match.
Speaker 6: Jaco.
Speaker 10: What doesn't add up?
Speaker 5: But call the helman's a tip off? I was framed.
Why wasn't I framed.
Speaker 2: All the way?
Speaker 13: Who is the dead man?
Speaker 5: The guy with a falling blood time? His name was
supposed to be Dixie Gillian. If there's no identification and
no record on him, you shouldn't have hired out as
a gun So I told you. I didn't hire out
as a gun sole. It was somebody else's idty.
Speaker 13: Oh you have no conscience, Patsy.
Speaker 27: Just a sort of soap opera rule of thumb you
put into practice now and then, but no real conscience.
You'd let a dying woman lie in the middle of
the highway unless a head was resting on a pile
of war bonds a JACKO.
Speaker 5: I'll cry with you later. I need help now, I
sort of help. I want you to break into a
girl's apartment. Yes, don't worry, she won't be home.
Speaker 13: Oh that's supposed to be an incentive here.
Speaker 5: It's at this address up on O'Farrell. Her name is
Lee Underwood. She's the one who hired me.
Speaker 27: If the girl's not there, what am I supposed to
find me anything?
Speaker 5: But it'll connect her with a dead man. He's a
big guy with a scar that doesn't have much you
can't miss. Go through the desk, in the drawers, pick
up everything you can. Leave him as he did.
Speaker 27: My place as soon as I finished the strings.
Speaker 5: Hurry up, we did, JACKO. Leave the glass alone and
get going.
Speaker 13: Don't rush, merry up.
Speaker 5: The glass is empty anyway.
Speaker 27: That's what you thought about the gun. But the fellow
got an all through. Joe's out of it.
Speaker 13: Good night, lover.
Speaker 5: I went by a horse parlor on O'Farrell's street and
borrowed a car from a guy. Was after midnight when
I started down the Bay Shore a highway, and about
a half hour later I pulled up in front of
the Cat's Paw. There was a long rambling place on
the left side of the road. No, there was no plan.
It just followed the erosion line until they ran out
of material. There was enough neon in front the light
a main intersection in Heaven. I asked a fifty year
old bus boy and he said Lee Underwood was back
in her dressing room getting ready for the one o'clock show.
When I walked in, she was sitting in front of
a mirror, working on enough swept hairdool. If she swept
it up anymore, it was gonna leave her head. I
stood behind her, looking at the pink fresh part of
her neck that didn't show, and her hair was down.
Speaker 9: He seemed fascinated, Patsy.
Speaker 5: No, I just want to know where to break it.
Speaker 9: Oh, sit down on the footstool here next to me.
Speaker 6: That's it.
Speaker 9: I like to look down on people. You let me
brush that strand of hair back. Why do you like
it in your eyes?
Speaker 5: Brush it? Fact so I can see your answers. Who's
Dixie Gillion?
Speaker 9: What difference does it make?
Speaker 5: None to him and some to me? He's dead?
Speaker 9: No, well, he couldn't be dead.
Speaker 5: He'd like to believe that too. I couldn't sell him
that story about an empty gun.
Speaker 9: He couldn't have been killed with that gun. No, No,
I put in a blind Patsy.
Speaker 5: Somebody used a hard working bullet.
Speaker 6: Because Dixie's dead, there.
Speaker 18: Was no reason to kill him.
Speaker 9: I don't understand that makes you.
Speaker 5: Even with homicide. But they got a bigger team.
Speaker 9: I don't understand that, Patsy, who's Dixie Gillian? He was
after some microfilm. I thought I could scare him away.
Speaker 5: You better be ready to identify him, because homicide stopped.
Even the sky didn't help. What's gone the scar across
his face, there's no record on him.
Speaker 6: All.
Speaker 9: Oh, no, Patsy, everything goes wrong. Everything you touch goes wrong.
That's the wrong man, Patsy.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, it's too late for a recount.
Speaker 9: You've got to get to that body, Patsy. I don't
know how, but someway, you've got to get to him.
Speaker 6: You look good, you'll make a nice picture.
Speaker 29: Wait a minute, Dixie, you don't need your coat.
Speaker 6: Come on.
Speaker 9: I don't know how it happened, Dixie. I didn't mean
it that way.
Speaker 10: If you like it that way, all right, bring your
boyfriend too.
Speaker 19: No, don't letting, Patsy.
Speaker 5: Oh, the gun's too big. I'm going with him. There
was a short trip. He let us out of a
dressing room and down a thin hall to the back door.
On the way past the kitchen, you could smell onions
and used grease, and that's all you noticed except the
sound of a jukebox somewhere out in the front, and
someone laughing in a loud, mirthless way. When they got
to the door, it was raining outside. They walked about
forty feet over near some trees where the dark was
working overtime, and the gunsow made her stop. And that's
where it happened. She's gonna get wet, mister, you'll have
a little trouble to yourself. When I woke up, it
was still raining, and I was lying on top of
the mud like a stubborn seed. My wallet was gone,
and the gun slid ripped up in my pockets. I
stood up and I walked over for a last look
at Lee. The rain had washed the makeup off her face,
and she looked small and tired as she lay there,
like a broken doll that had been tossed out from
the rain. I guess she was. I got to the
car and I drove back to town. I checked my place,
but there was no word from Jacko. So I went
up to Lee's apartment. When I opened the door, the
room was dark, but I knew someone was on the floor.
Either that or they'd varnished the floor with bourbon. I
flipped on the light and bent over. Jacko, Ah, wake up, JACKO,
Come on all right, JACKO, wake up.
Speaker 27: Oh, a little money, A little money I think would
bring me around.
Speaker 10: What happened?
Speaker 5: I sap? Yes, yeah, everybody's got the same act tonight.
Speaker 13: Help me up?
Speaker 10: All right?
Speaker 13: Come on, where have you been?
Speaker 5: And I went down to meet the girl?
Speaker 13: Eh, where's your meet? We're in the swimming pool.
Speaker 5: I've been in the rain all night. She's gonna stay longer.
What'd you find out?
Speaker 10: Uh?
Speaker 13: The fellow with the sky's a husband. Yeah, there's a picture.
Speaker 5: In the desk. Are there any more pictures?
Speaker 13: A few? Take it a look.
Speaker 5: Wearing here? Yes?
Speaker 10: Well?
Speaker 5: Well who is he? Must be Dixie Gillian. He was
down to pay off a debt tonight. She called him
Dixie once.
Speaker 27: There's a note with that name and address in the
other drawer.
Speaker 5: He's our boy. We better get up there out.
Speaker 27: If he's already killed two other people.
Speaker 5: We can't wait for a helman. If he gets away,
I'm all through. I won't have a leg to stand
on it.
Speaker 13: It's my prime.
Speaker 27: When the other fellow gets through with us, we won't
have much standing to do.
Speaker 5: I felt better now. Gillian was the only guy left
in the picture, so I dragged Jacko up to his
place was an apartment on Post Street. The elevator operator
took us to the eighth floor and said that Gillian
had come in a few minutes before. There was no answer,
so we tried the door and it was opened. Jocko
didn't like the idea.
Speaker 27: Oh, Patsy, this is Polly. Risking my life is one
of the bravest things you do.
Speaker 5: Keep still, Jacko, what are we supposed to do? The
door was open when him so.
Speaker 13: A lot of grieves, but I've never been tempted.
Speaker 5: He look at the furniture. There's been a fight here.
I'll look in here. You checking bedroom.
Speaker 13: If I'm not right back, don't expect me at all.
Speaker 27: Yeah, Percy, Percy, come here. Yeah, there's somebody on the
fire escape. Stand back here, and he's not moving. He
was leaning that way when I first saw it.
Speaker 5: I'll get on the side. You raise the window. Go easy, Jocko.
Can you see him from there?
Speaker 22: Raise it a little off.
Speaker 5: He's still leaning there. I can reach out and I
watch yourself. If he's kidding, you're los an arm.
Speaker 22: I've got him raised the window.
Speaker 13: Mark. Yeah, Patsy, he's.
Speaker 5: Fully give me a handle here, let me through there.
Speaker 6: It's too late. I can't hold it.
Speaker 13: I'm suy.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he was probably dead anyway.
Speaker 13: If he wasn't, that was a step in the right direction.
Speaker 5: It was an easy night to die. Three of them
have checked out, all right, I know it's still time
to look for more Jacko. When I went downstairs to
see the guy who was lying face down on the alley,
and as you looked at him, you got the funny
feeling he belonged there. He didn't disturb the scene. He
just fit it in like a dirty, wet newspaper under
a grandstand. There was a gun in his pocket, probably
the same one that killed the girl, but there was
no way of knowing jack when I watched him for
a moment. But your eyes begin to hurt when you
see your only warm lead in a deep freeze. And
it was past two when I got down at headquarters
and I looked up Helman. I briefed him on the
girl and the guy on the alley, and then I
asked him if any microfilm had turned up on the
first guy in the morgue. There was a waste of time.
Hilman couldn't find a brass ring in a dead man's nose,
But we went over to the morgue for another look.
So far it was working out like a crossword puzzle
torn in half. It's your time, though, fact I got
more after tomorrow, you haven't. The microfilm must be on
the guy. Three people have been killed for it, and
I got roughed up just to laugh. We searched the
guy once there it is, help me rolling out? Yeah, well,
well he sure got thin and that she didn't wait
a minute. Oh you run a good war, Heilman. What'll
the papers say when they hear the stiff got up
and walked up? They got him in the wrong place
or something. He didn't walk out. He's gone, Heilman, Have
you got an answer? He's been moved. I tell you
the guy was dead and I saw him put him here.
He couldn't be walking around with a hole in the
middle of his back for I don't know, Helman. You
can do it with one in your head. Don't sell
the guy short.
Speaker 6: Well returned to Patna back in a moment.
Speaker 25: Cindarella lost his shoe, and so she got a mate
with lovely shoes who grew Khilton him Gallen camp shoe.
Speaker 10: What girl hasn't dreamed?
Speaker 24: Cinderella dreams of her own and wished for a fairy
godmother to make those dreams come true. Here's what the
newest Cinderella Malan Duford, Miss America.
Speaker 30: The modern girl doesn't waste time dreaming. She makes her
dreams come true. And she needs no fairy godmother to
give her lovely shoes. She doesn't, that is if she
has discovered my favorite shoe store, Gallon Camp.
Speaker 24: Yes, Malyn, for gracefully lovely shoes, flattering and in the
latest fashions. Wise girls go to Gallon Camp's. Gallon Camps
are shoe style leaders.
Speaker 30: And so amazingly priced a girl can afford to have
all the shoes she needs.
Speaker 24: And here's extra good news of a special Thanksgiving shoe sale. Yes,
prices are actually going down on many of the up
to the minute shoe styles tomorrow at Gallon Camp's. So
shot this sale at the Gallon Camp's store near you
tomorrow to step assured into the exciting holiday activities ahead.
Speaker 6: Look lovely in Gallon Camps.
Speaker 25: Cinderella lost a shoe, and so she got a mate
with lovely shoes and girl Clintons in Gallen Camp Shoes.
Speaker 6: And I'll back to Pat Novak.
Speaker 5: When Helman found out the body was gone. He stood
there and stared at the empty slab, and then he
started looking around in a nervous way, like a man
trying to find the sugar bowl at a restaurant counter.
A few moments later he turned and walked out of
the morgue, and we were halfway downtown when it happened.
It must have hit us at the same time, sharp
and quick, like a piece of candy and a bad tooth.
That guy back in the alley had come off that
slab in the morgue. We got out to Dixie's place
and we began to check. There was a phone operator
downstairs and she said Dixie had put to a call
about two hours ago. Helman checked the number and it
was the ticket office of a railroad. We got downtown
and we ran through the timetable. There was a train
leaving the Oakland Mole in forty minutes, so it was
an outside chance, but tonight that was the only kind
for sale. We got down in time to slide on
the last ferry over to the mole. It was still
dark out when the ferry pulled away from the slip
and started across the bay over toward the Berkeley hills.
It was beginning to get light. The sky was the
color of a bruise spot on a man's arm. We'll
get up to the pilot house and tell him not
the dock until we've gone through all the passengers. He
doesn't have to be in on this one. He'll check
the train when he gets the Wait a minute, you
don't have to check. There's your boy well up there
on the rail, and you better go easy. He's not
a scale model.
Speaker 6: Just walk quietly until we're behind him.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Centera, mister, he'll got a better view.
Speaker 10: M oh, hello, Novac.
Speaker 6: How was the wind in the rain in your hair made?
Speaker 5: Inspect your helmet? You better turn in your ticket. I
hope you brought your muscle, Helman.
Speaker 27: That's what I'm I'm trying to do, all right, Copper,
what I've been pushed over the rail again.
Speaker 5: I'm worried, Helman, watch it back.
Speaker 11: I'm going over.
Speaker 6: There's one dollar, mister, now for you.
Speaker 5: Well. I landed on the deck and I watched him
disappear in the dark. Halfway down the guy turned in.
I followed him down the ladder along the main deck.
He ducked into one of the engine spaces and I
started in to look for him. Oh, it didn't take
long because he turned out to be helpful.
Speaker 11: He got the idea yet.
Speaker 5: No, I'll come closer. Tell me then, huh, loot yourself
and I'll knock you down hard on your show. Hey,
watch that platform.
Speaker 6: You're backing into trouble. Heay back then OVAC, watch.
Speaker 11: Out for that platform.
Speaker 22: You're backing into that engine.
Speaker 7: Look out.
Speaker 13: Kind of wound up last time.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's what it looks. Did he get the microfilm?
Speaker 10: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I got a big hur heard it?
Speaker 5: Is it show a little?
Speaker 29: Yeah, it's been a long night. No that hun.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but you're worries it over it's almost dawn.
Speaker 10: I don't know.
Speaker 5: I don't know if I can use it, but I'll
give it to you. Oh well. They faced helmet out
of an oil slick a few minutes later. It was
the first time his hair ever looked good. Mix Sigillion
lasted long enough to piece the story together. For homicide,
Lee Underwood was on the level. She knew her husband
was carrying microfilm and was worried, so she hired me
to scare off Gillian. It might have worked, too, because
Adrian was too big for Gillian to argue with. But
the first slip came when Lee's husband went by to
make a deal Dixie without telling it. Well, when I
jumped him, Dixie was outside and figured it was a
double cross. He didn't have time to figure it, but
he killed him with a silencer when Lee's fully gun
went off. Well, he spent the rest of the time
looking for the microfilm. That's why Jocko got sapped and
the girl got hers, And by that time Dixie knew
the microfilm was still on a dead man. The only
way he could be sure was to get the body
out of the moor. He took it up to his apartment.
When he got the film, he planted the gun and
put the body on the fire escape. It was safer
that way. It was a fifty to fifty chance the
police had missed it the first time around, and we'd
have a fair lead. It almost worked out for him,
except for that phone call. The microfilm was in a
capsule next to the roof of the guy's mouth. Yeah,
so old, it was new again. Well, Hellman asked only
one question in that fight. Did I have anything to
do with pushing him against the rail? I told him
sometimes those ferry boats roll as much as forty five degrees.
Speaker 24: He's short had gone US next Monday evening and every Sunday,
same time, same station for radio's newest Shaw.
Speaker 11: Pat Novak will hire.
Speaker 24: I don't forget the star with the yellow front is
the Gallon Camp shoes. Star Gallon Camp.
Speaker 13: Shoes are good shoes.
Speaker 24: There's something about them you'll like. Franklyn Evans speaking, This
is ABC, the American Broadcasting Company, Welcome Back.
Speaker 1: Definitely a very different series from Dragnet. In fact, Webb's
first tries on the radio, he would either play do
some guest spots, oftentimes as Underworld figures, or he would
do the private Eye who was always showing up the police,
which of course led to his famous crossing paths with
a police officer who suggested a series that told the
truth of what police work was, leading of.
Speaker 2: Course to Dragnet.
Speaker 1: The mystery here, the actual mystery yet admit, is kind of.
Speaker 2: Uh. It is kind of a weak rule here. It's uh.
There's not a whole lot of depth to it.
Speaker 1: It really plays on the adventure on comedy elements. And
in some ways, as I listened to these shows, I
tend to think Pat Novac may have been better Off
as Better Off as straight up comedy, but I don't
think that was necessarily Breen's talent or style. But this
is an early episode, so there are are several better ones.
You just have to be patient and listen to them.
Speaker 4: Welcome back.
Speaker 1: The first thing I should correct is that Pat Novac
began airing over k GFO, not CAFO. As I said
that correction done, I found some really intriguing points. Of
the four episodes were playing, this is probably the most
fully formed, as the other three are two first episodes
and an audition. By comparison, this series had been running
for three months now. What I said on this episode
about my initial plans for the podcast was an interesting
road not taken. The idea of Mara thought earning my
way through each series five episodes a week was my
first thought, and I think I recorded commentaries for nearly
every episode of Pat Novak before changing my mind. And
I think that my initial thought of doing Pat Novak
was a good thing, because that was such a polarizing
series that it brought me to the realization that I
really probably shouldn't go that way. I did have concerns
about including it in the initial lineup. I thought it
made sense in one way to do it, because I
thought it would be a good jumping on point for
listeners to the old time drag Net show, because we
would have another Jack Web series that would be an
appeal to that existing audience. But I'd actually serialized an
episode of Pat Novak back in two thousand and eight,
and some of the feedback made me a bit nervous
about doing this.
Speaker 15: Now.
Speaker 4: I think I was hedging my bets a.
Speaker 1: Bit a little in the way I opened it, because
some people really truly hate Pat Novak, who loved Dragnet.
For many people, Jack Webs Joe Friday and their imagination,
and it cannot go to him playing a character like
Pat Novak, even though it got him on the national radar.
I also think the series didn't jive with a lot
of people in general. They just didn't get it. The
more I think about it, I think that when I
started playing Great attack Is, I liked Pat Novak, but
I don't think I really understood it. I just didn't
have the context of having experienced a lot of radio
mysteries and very little noir. I also had the perspective
that the quality of a mystery and how clever it
was determine.
Speaker 2: How good it was.
Speaker 1: I've come to appreciate that a lot of detective stories
are enjoyed for things other than the cleverness of the
crime or the solution.
Speaker 4: Here, it's the dialogue.
Speaker 1: It's the artistry of this dance, even if it's predictable,
or even if the solution isn't the most important thing.
And so my appreciation for Pat Novak as this very
unique series has increased over the years. Yes, it's formulaic,
but that formula is a frame for bringing us some
of the most creative and over the top dialogue ever written.
I honestly don't remember what I meant by saying this
should be straight up comedy. I think it was a
wonderfully quirky show as it is, and I don't know
if I would consider Dixie Illion as a lower quality
episode or not. It's actually rather good. I love the
opening monologue, and Jocko's line risking my life is one
of the bravest things you do is his best one
liner in the series. I think there's at least one
episode i'd consider better, the very last episode of the
National Run, Little Jake Siegel and There might be some
that I think are better, but this is pretty solid.
I didn't talk about the sponsor ads back in two
thousand and nine, and that was my only chance to
do so in that run. I love the Gallen Camp
shoe ads. They are so lovely, lot and elegant. That said,
the sponsorship seems a weird match because we're in an
era where programs are sponsored by the company, and Gallen
Camp is running these light, airy, fluffy ads on this
really rough and tumble, often violent program. If they were
a national company, you'd expect these sort of ads on
a light drama, or you would expect them to change
the tenor of the show in order to fit the
image of their company. A few years ago, we played
Casey Crime Photographer, and when the Tony Holme Permanent System
took over sponsorship, they had the tone shift to lighter
stories with less violence. If I were to hazard a guess,
I think this is a case where the decision was
made to sponsor the series based on its potential local
popularity in the San Francisco rather than it being a
really good fit for the company. Kat Novak had actually
been on the air for about a month before Gallen
Camp took over sponsorship, so it's fair to imagine it
had good audience reaction to gain that sponsorship. I should
also say that another episode of the San Francisco series
did come into circulation several years back, and we played
that on the podcast in twenty seventeen, but this was
the earliest available episode when we started. Well, as I said,
this was a fully formed series. The one thing that
I did miss was Raymond Burr as Inspector Hellman. He
would come along when the series was broadcast nationally in
nineteen forty nine. What we got in this episode was
not bad by any means, but Raymond Burr always added
a little bit extra to whatever part he took on. Well,
now it's time for the third episode. This one originally
was released on October twenty eighth, two thousand and nine,
and it's let George do It. Let's go ahead and
listen as we get started with our new with the
new series. Our next show is gonna be Let George
do It. Now, Let George do It. Really is one
of those series that got better as time went along,
and that I think partially explains why we've got so
few episodes from the nineteen forty six forty seven season.
Many of the sides said the show was more sitcom
than a detective show, and indeed, it's the initial audition
episode we're gonna listen to from May of nineteen forty six.
Was kind of a lighthearted, lighthearted thing. The show stars
Bob Bailey, who would go on actually to after Let
George Do It, would go on to star as the
as Johnny Dollar, and he played Johnny Dollar in more
episodes than any of the other Johnny Dollars combined. However,
this Let George Do It was a great show in
its own right. The show was on the air from
forty six until fifty four. This was a solid run
of shows and really a good performance by Bob Bailey,
and I think we're going to see a lot of
that in this show. Let's go ahead and get into
tonight's episode of Let George Do It. Here on the
Great Detectives of Old Time Radio.
Speaker 31: Your neighborhood Chevron gas Station invites you to.
Speaker 6: Let George Do It.
Speaker 32: Rot to you by the makers of Chevron, Supreme Gasoline
and RPM Motor Oil.
Speaker 33: George Valentine has been out of uniform only a few weeks.
Speaker 32: Last with an abundance of energy and adventuresome spirit, and
not too much money.
Speaker 33: He has sunk his last dime in office rant, a
few pieces of furniture, and an ad in the classified
section of the daily paper, an ad which reads, you
have a crime that needs solving, You have a dog
that needs walking, you have a.
Speaker 6: Wife that needs spanking. Let George do it now.
Speaker 33: Three days are past, and George, sitting in his swivel
chair with his feet up on the desk, is still
anxiously waiting for a client.
Speaker 10: Suddenly the door burst over.
Speaker 6: Yes, George Valentine, Yes, yes, come rite in, have a seat.
Oh here, take this when it's asted.
Speaker 9: Oh thank you.
Speaker 6: Oh don't mention it, haven't you guy? I'm sorry you're
too young. Here wait a minute, here have a chocolate
bar with amon.
Speaker 29: Oh thank you.
Speaker 6: Now. Then, what can I do for you?
Speaker 29: Well, I came to work.
Speaker 11: For you work.
Speaker 6: I thought you were a client.
Speaker 29: Oh no, sir, that's all right, I'll get it. Hey,
wait a minute, Good morning, Let George do it.
Speaker 6: Oh do you like that?
Speaker 11: Oh?
Speaker 29: I can make an appointment for you. I'm mister Valentine's
confidential assistance.
Speaker 6: Well that's nice to know.
Speaker 29: Well, if you're that close and come right up, mister Winters. Yeah, goodbye, sir.
Speaker 6: Now look here bottom button.
Speaker 29: I'm Sonny Brooks. You can call me son.
Speaker 6: Well, now look here, Sonny, who hired you?
Speaker 29: I come with your office? You see Caleb the elevator
man is my friend. He knew I was looking for
a job, so he said, Sonny. Whoever gets that office
gets you too.
Speaker 6: Yeah, well you're too young, Sonny. Things may get a
little rough around here.
Speaker 29: Oh that's okay, sir. I'm a very rugged character. Now then,
mister Winters will be here.
Speaker 6: Soon, Winters the mystery writer.
Speaker 29: Yes, Sir, Jonathan Winters, he just phoned. Oh we can
discuss my salary later. I'll go on the payroll as
of today.
Speaker 6: Uh huh, whether I like it or not.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 29: I have a feeling you're gonna become very fond of me, sir.
I grow on people.
Speaker 6: Yeah, like a ward. All right, Sonny, call an employment
agency and get me a secretary.
Speaker 29: Oh that won't be necessary, sir, Why.
Speaker 6: Don't tell me you type?
Speaker 29: Also, no, but my sister does your sister Claire, she'll
be here soon to start to work.
Speaker 6: Well, say, does your whole family go with this office?
Speaker 29: Oh, well, I don't have much of a family, just
Claire and me.
Speaker 6: Oh well, that's tough shit. If you're lucky, I haven't
even got a sister. Tell you what, Maybe we can
sort of look after each other, how about it.
Speaker 29: Oh I'll be swelling, mister Valentine. I'll be glad to
take care of you. Stair.
Speaker 6: You're okay, Sonny.
Speaker 29: Oh you like Claire too. She's prettier than I am.
Speaker 6: Oh perfect. It doesn't matter if she can type or
take dictation, just so she's prettier than you are, mister
valent Oh yes, mister Winners, come right in. Val I'm
here because well, it doesn't matter what the job is,
mister Winners, I'm your man. Just throw your problem in
my lap and I'll come up with the right answers.
Speaker 12: To Valentina, I'm about to be murdered.
Speaker 6: Well, I don't take it too seriously. A lot of
people murdered murdered. You're you're joking. I hope, I'm not sure.
Oh well, that's a little out of my line, mister
Winnis I mean to Valentine, Hi, I have been murder.
Speaker 29: Sufran Catic.
Speaker 6: Well, don't stand this, honey, do something. Call somebody, the police,
the fire department. Yeah, I'll get a doctor and Sonny Valentine.
Don't get excited. Look at me. I'm perfectly calm.
Speaker 19: Gon up, miss is mister Valentine's office in this building.
Speaker 7: Fifth floor.
Speaker 12: Step in.
Speaker 7: Oh thank you, you're you're clear, ain't you?
Speaker 18: Well?
Speaker 7: How did you family resemblance? You look like Sonny, nice boy, Sonny.
Speaker 19: I think so too. Of course I'm prejudiced, you know it,
just as alike.
Speaker 7: Yes, I'm the same way about Georgie Georgie.
Speaker 19: Oh you don't mean mister Valentine.
Speaker 7: Of course you do know him for years, used to
work for his father. Georgie and I got to be
good friends on account of his curls.
Speaker 18: Curls.
Speaker 7: It must have been all of four years old then,
had the prettiest long curl you.
Speaker 29: Ever did see?
Speaker 7: Really, Yes, I talked to his more to having him
cut off.
Speaker 6: Georgie and me has been close friends ever seen.
Speaker 29: I can understand that you wouldn't gonna work for him.
Speaker 19: Well, I'm gonna apply for the job.
Speaker 22: Uh.
Speaker 7: Well, you keep an eye on him, hear me. Well,
I that boy never thinks to eat unless someone reminds him.
Speaker 15: Oh.
Speaker 6: Here we are fifth floor.
Speaker 7: Oh, don't let his talk fool you try to ak
hard boy, but I know Georgia underneath it all, he's
still a little boy. Then pretty long curves, first.
Speaker 6: Door, you're left.
Speaker 12: Oh there is no cat.
Speaker 6: Get a doctor up here right away.
Speaker 7: I ear noder shnam.
Speaker 6: I don't care. Get a doctor.
Speaker 7: I'll get doctor. Max took very good care of you
when you had that bad cold.
Speaker 19: Miss Valentine. Well, is anything wrong?
Speaker 6: Oh no, no, nothing trifling. Now run along, Sweethearten. If
you're a client, come back tomorrow, will you.
Speaker 19: I'm Claire Brooks sonny sister.
Speaker 6: You will come back tomorrow, mister Valentine.
Speaker 18: Well, you're going to talk to me about that job, whether.
Speaker 19: You like it or not. I spent ten cents on
bus fare to come here.
Speaker 6: Well, look, here's a dime, and I'll be a good
girl and beat it.
Speaker 29: I certainly will.
Speaker 34: I wouldn't work for you if you offered me one
thousand dollars a week to sit behind a desk and
do nothing but pot of my nose.
Speaker 6: Well you can stand a little potter at that. Oh
oh wait a minute. You had any experience as a secretary,
of course, and your men's socks, men's socks, iron shirts,
so buttons, cook breakfast over a canisternal.
Speaker 19: Mister Valentine, are you looking for a secretary.
Speaker 7: Or a wife?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 6: A secretary. I'm still a Vatchley, not gone. Would had
one close call, though, but I got away from her.
Speaker 18: Lucky guy, lucky girl.
Speaker 6: Hey you're all right. Okay, you're hired.
Speaker 19: Thank you.
Speaker 6: Now give me back that dime.
Speaker 29: What about salary, oh.
Speaker 6: Sali, Well we'll discuss that after I collect from my
first client.
Speaker 19: How do I know you'll ever get a first client?
Speaker 6: My first client? Oh, I've got one. Now. I don't
know what I'm going to do with him, but I've
got him. Come on in and see for yourself that
gentleman stretched out on the floor as my sonny sonnye? Well,
where is he? Where's the body? Where's mister Winners?
Speaker 18: Suffering cats?
Speaker 29: Mister Valentine, He's gone.
Speaker 6: That'll makes sense. Well, your mister Winters couldn't have just
disappeared into thin air.
Speaker 29: Well, it's like I told you, mister Valentine. I went
into the waiting room to phone the police, and the
next thing I knew you were out here yelling for me. Look,
this window is open or what of it?
Speaker 18: Don't you see?
Speaker 19: It leads to the fire.
Speaker 6: Escape, and this door leads to a and that door
leads to the well.
Speaker 34: Never mind, will you be serious? Mister Winters was shot? Well,
maybe his murderer followed him here to your office. Maybe
he hit out of the fire escape listening. Then when
you left the office he dragged the body out. I'll
bet sister is right.
Speaker 6: Oh look, kids, we haven't got time to puzzle over it.
Speaker 9: Now.
Speaker 6: I'm in a jam. The police will be here any minute,
the police, Well, of course, Sonny phoned them. Gosh, I
look pretty silly trying to explain that the body disappeared
my first case, and I make a mess of it.
Speaker 29: Don't get discouraged, mister Valentine.
Speaker 6: But to tell you the truth, Sonny, I don't know
what to do next. I haven't even got a clue.
Speaker 7: Still, the little boy and.
Speaker 6: Carol curls, Oh, Kayla's been talking to you.
Speaker 5: Huh.
Speaker 6: He's a swell guy. But don't take him too seriously.
Why not, Well, because he thinks I know all the answers.
Speaker 19: And look at me, mister Valentine, Why don't you go
out and find the clue?
Speaker 6: Find one where.
Speaker 19: Well did mister Winters have a family.
Speaker 6: Why hey, wait a minute, I've seen pictures of his
wife in society papers.
Speaker 5: Good.
Speaker 6: Oh, Claire, you're wonderful. Remind me to raise your salary.
Speaker 15: What salary?
Speaker 6: Well, when you get one, remind me to raise it.
Speaker 5: See you later.
Speaker 29: Where are you going, mister Valentine?
Speaker 6: So mister Winner's home? And when the police comes stolen.
Speaker 19: With mister Valentine? What I tells them?
Speaker 6: Tell them nothing. You've got charm, haven't you well use it?
Speaker 18: Mister Valentine. I've got to know. What do you think
happened to my husband?
Speaker 22: Oh?
Speaker 6: No, just take it easy, missus Winners.
Speaker 18: I was afraid something would happen to him. Why well,
he was so worried. I thought it was because his
writing wasn't going too well. He hadn't been able to
write a thing in a long time.
Speaker 5: Uh huh.
Speaker 6: Your husband is the famous mystery writer, isn't he? Yes? Yeah,
I've read some of his stuff. The Case of the
Body in the Bathtub Murder has the hiccups.
Speaker 18: This is his study.
Speaker 6: Say quite a layout?
Speaker 11: Eh?
Speaker 6: What are all these papers?
Speaker 18: His manuscript? He was working on The Lost Course.
Speaker 6: The Lost Corpse? Cute title.
Speaker 18: It wasn't coming easy. He knew it had to be
good or it would mean the end. Mister Valentine, what
are you looking for in that waste paper basket?
Speaker 6: Well, I don't know exactly. I just got a hunch.
Speaker 18: I want the truth. What's he murdered?
Speaker 6: Oh, relaxed, Missus Winders, relaxed. The best man in town
is on the job. Hey, of course is this the
lost court?
Speaker 18: I'll put that manuscript down. Don't look at it?
Speaker 6: Why not?
Speaker 18: Oh? Sorry, it's just a superstition. Jonathan never wanted anyone
to read what he was working on.
Speaker 6: Oh then, of course you haven't read this.
Speaker 18: No, no, no, certainly not.
Speaker 6: Did your husband have any domestic trouble?
Speaker 18: Domestic trouble? Jonathan was devoted to me?
Speaker 6: Why is why the past?
Speaker 2: Ten?
Speaker 5: What?
Speaker 18: Well, I don't know what I'm saying. Yes, just what
is it?
Speaker 19: From downstairs?
Speaker 6: He wants to talk to a policeman.
Speaker 18: Well, I'll be right down.
Speaker 6: Look, Missus Winners, you haven't seen me. Understand your husband
trusted me. Why don't you try it?
Speaker 18: All right, mister Valentine.
Speaker 6: Anyway I can get out of here without going down
the stairs.
Speaker 18: Oh, that door leads to my husband's private elevator. It'll
take you to the back entrance.
Speaker 6: He he thought of everything?
Speaker 18: Would he liked to come and go without disturbing the
rest of the household?
Speaker 6: A clever man, Okay, missus Winters, I'll get in touch
with you tomorrow.
Speaker 18: Tomorrow you mean you'll have news for me, Well.
Speaker 6: Maybe it'll be noosed to here. And then again, Missus
winner is maybe it won't.
Speaker 19: Mister Valentine, what's the idea of dragging me out here
in the middle of the night.
Speaker 6: Keep your pretty little mouse shut, will you?
Speaker 10: Claire?
Speaker 19: What is this place anyway?
Speaker 6: The back entrance to the Winter's home.
Speaker 19: Haven't they got a front entrance?
Speaker 6: Sure they have a We're not using it. We're here
to steal something steal.
Speaker 19: I'm supposed to be a secretary, not a second story man.
Keep quiet, mister Valentine.
Speaker 9: I quit.
Speaker 6: Yeah, some other time, I'll step into that elevator.
Speaker 19: An elevator.
Speaker 35: Where will this thing take us up to mister Winder's workroom?
Speaker 19: Pitch black in here?
Speaker 29: I don't feel safe.
Speaker 19: I'm here, That's what I mean.
Speaker 6: Sh I'll keep quiet. Who what's the matter?
Speaker 19: You don't have to hold my hand.
Speaker 6: I'm not holding your hand. Well someone is well, scream,
I got him covered, put him up.
Speaker 29: He'll get that good out of my ribs.
Speaker 6: Done, Sonny, I told you to go home.
Speaker 29: I have a feeling you're going to be very glad.
I'm along, mister Valentine.
Speaker 6: You might need me, Yeah, like I need a second head.
Speaker 18: You could use too.
Speaker 6: Now both, you stay right here. I know where the
desk is.
Speaker 19: What do you want in there?
Speaker 6: Well, I've got to get the Lost Corpse.
Speaker 18: The lost corpse?
Speaker 29: You mean you think mister Winter's body's in there?
Speaker 6: No, No, the manuscript of his book.
Speaker 29: I'll keep quiet.
Speaker 5: Don't make a sound.
Speaker 7: Oh what was that all?
Speaker 6: Just an old shin of mine?
Speaker 29: Hey, I hear's somebody coming up the stairs.
Speaker 6: Okay, kids, we can beat it. Now, everything's under control.
I've got the Lost Corpse.
Speaker 29: Is it a good story? Mister Valentine read it?
Speaker 6: Missus Winters wouldn't approve?
Speaker 18: What's she liked? She attracted?
Speaker 29: Never mind, Missus Winters? What about the Lost Corpse?
Speaker 6: Well, it's it's a very unusual story about a man
and his wife, all original. The wife would like to
give him the gate, but she hasn't any money of
her own. However, she stands to collect a lot if
her husband ever kicks the bucket.
Speaker 29: Is there a murder?
Speaker 6: Of course. The husband is shot, but he manages to
make his way to a private investigator's office.
Speaker 29: Is that in the story. Sure, but that's what mister
Winters did.
Speaker 6: The husband tells the investigator he's about to be murdered.
Speaker 29: Hey, that's what he told you.
Speaker 6: Then he collapses. When the investigator steps out of his office,
the wounded man disappears.
Speaker 29: Just like mister Winters did.
Speaker 19: That's what actually happened.
Speaker 6: It is, Oh, what do you know about that?
Speaker 11: Oh?
Speaker 29: Go on, mister Valentine.
Speaker 6: Then what Well? Later the guy returns to his wife
and he says, you thought you killed me, but I'm
not dead yet?
Speaker 10: You you?
Speaker 19: Yes?
Speaker 18: Go on?
Speaker 6: Well that's all. That's as far as mister Winter's got
with his story.
Speaker 19: No wonder missus Winters didn't want you to read it.
It's the story of their life.
Speaker 29: It's shows she's guilty, she killed her husband.
Speaker 7: Georgie, Okay, Georgie, yeah, Caleb, what do you want?
Speaker 6: Where's missus Winterers? Sure, right now, this is Winterers. What
are you talking about?
Speaker 7: I left in your waiting room. She comes to see
when was this a few minutes ago? Shack's kind of funny,
like maybe she was shak Orsham.
Speaker 6: Come on, not a sign of her Kitla. But are
you sure you left missus Winters here in my waiting room?
Speaker 18: Well, Valentine, look on the table a woman's purse with
initials on it.
Speaker 6: MW MW Marsha Winters.
Speaker 29: Do you think the same thing happened to her, mister Valentine,
someone followed her here and hit out on the fire escaping.
Speaker 6: No, no, I don't think so. She heard us talking.
She knew he thought she was guilty. Oh of course.
All right, Caleb, thanks a lot. All right, Jogie call
me if you're need Yeah, yeah, sure, Caleb. See how
are you two at playing.
Speaker 19: Games games at a time like this?
Speaker 6: Uh, Sonny you'll be Sonny, I'll be George Valentine, and
Claire you'll be mister Winters. What now, Claire, step outside
the office, give us a few minutes, then come in
and say you expect to be murdered.
Speaker 29: Oh I get it. You want to reenact the crime?
Speaker 6: Smart boy? Okay, Claire, get going first.
Speaker 19: I'm a second story man and now I'm an actress.
Speaker 9: I quit.
Speaker 6: Oh come on, Claire, be a good sport.
Speaker 9: Humor, mad I said, I quit.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Oh, we haven't got time. Now you can quit tomorrow.
Speaker 34: Oh all right, but you can think of the silliest.
Speaker 6: Now what do we do, mister Valentine, Just exactly what
we did when mister Winters first stepped into this office. Okay, Claire,
come on in.
Speaker 29: I don't think she heard you.
Speaker 6: All right, Claire, we're ready. What's the matter with her?
Speaker 29: I'll get her, Claire, you can come in now. Where
is she suffering?
Speaker 18: Cats?
Speaker 29: What a mess? Now my sister's disappeared.
Speaker 33: It's only natural, I guess, for the carpenter to build
his own house a little stronger, for the cobbler to
cut his own shoes a little more generously, or the
farmer to select the juiciest apples for his own barrel. Frankly,
that's one reason why you can count on a little
something extra in the way of service when you stop
at a home owned Chevron gas station. You see, the
Chevron dealer is building his own business. He's got a
big stake in making you want a trade with him.
That's why his smiles a little friendlier and his service
a little more thorough. And of course he's offering your
car the best climate tailored Chevron Supreme gasoline and r
p M compounded motor oil. It's only natural, too for
you to like doing business with a neighborly conscientious kind
of a fellow. So look up the Chevron dealer in
your neighborhood. Remember his Chevron gas station is home owned.
Why George doesn't seem to have gotten very far in
his solution of this case. First a murdered man disappeared
from right under his nose, and the murdered man's wife
mysteriously departed, and now his secretary is vanished into thin air?
Speaker 29: Are you just going to sit here in your office,
mister Valentine? Aren't you going to do anything? She's my sister,
She's the only sister I've gone.
Speaker 6: Oh no, I'll take it easy, Sonny. If I thought
anything had happened to Claire, I'd be out searching every
house in this town.
Speaker 11: Where is she?
Speaker 6: Well, she couldn't take it, that's all, so she quit,
walked out on us. I can't say I blame her.
Speaker 29: That doesn't sound like Claire.
Speaker 11: Georgi.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Caleb, you haven't not your dinner?
Speaker 7: Yeah, don't you think you better go out and get
your some bee. Oh not now, Caleb, you could leave
by the fire escape.
Speaker 6: The fire escape. Uh huh, please card your stuffed in front.
Speaker 29: Oh stuffer and taps the police.
Speaker 7: Get yourself from nice steak.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's just what I'll do. Come on, Sonny, I'll
get down there, install them, Caleb. Oh, I intend to.
Speaker 7: Now you take your time and die. Yes, your dinner good.
Speaker 11: You hear me?
Speaker 6: Oh sure, sure, let's go, Sonny, the fire escape. Oh ands, Sonny, Yeah,
mister Valentine, better bring missus Winner's purse along with you.
Speaker 29: Excuse me, mister Valentine, But aren't you gonna stop and
get something beat?
Speaker 6: That's the trouble with women. As soon as it going
gets a little tough, they walk out on you.
Speaker 29: Didn't you promise?
Speaker 6: Caleb?
Speaker 29: You get yourself a steak boy, a big beautiful steak.
Speaker 6: But you're certainly right, Sonny.
Speaker 5: She is.
Speaker 6: She is, sir, much prettier.
Speaker 29: Than you, mister Valentin. If we're not gonna eat, we
can't just drive around all night. We've got to find
out who murdered mister Winters and what they did with
his body, and where missus Winters disappeared to and what
happened to Claire? Isn't that right, sir? And she's very intelligent,
that is for a woman, mister Valentine.
Speaker 6: Oh okay, sonny, look at the address on that letter.
Speaker 29: What letter, sir?
Speaker 6: The one? And missus Wedder's purse is the letter in here?
Speaker 11: Well?
Speaker 6: Didn't you notice it when Claire opened the purse?
Speaker 11: Oh?
Speaker 2: Oh, here it is.
Speaker 29: It's addressed to missus Marshall Winters, three hundred pepper Tree Laying, Cedarhurst. Hey,
that's in the country.
Speaker 6: Yeah, they must have a country place too, And that's.
Speaker 29: Out on Highway six right, and you're hey, we're on
Highway six. We're headed towards Cedarhurst.
Speaker 6: Now, Oh, brilliant production, sonny. I'll increase your ration of bubblegum.
Speaker 11: I felled a rupture oil water.
Speaker 6: No thanks, washing wind she you no, don't bother. I
washed it once and couldn't do a thing with it.
Speaker 12: Don't get them in a cust around here at nine
pretty deserted rule.
Speaker 6: That's all. I'll bet where the first car you've seen
this evening?
Speaker 22: I try it.
Speaker 11: Oh, except for that cab.
Speaker 6: Cab with a woman.
Speaker 29: And now, how did you guess Hey, I'll bet it
was missus Winters.
Speaker 6: Hang on, sunny, we're getting warm.
Speaker 29: Is this it, mister Valentine?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm careful.
Speaker 35: Don't make any noise. There's a light inside the cabin
and a woman see him moving around? Oh yeah, I
can make out her shadow. Now, all right, Sonny, you
stay out here, mister Valentine. Sorry, Sonny, but there may
be trouble and I can't let anything happen to you.
Speaker 1: But I'm in this.
Speaker 29: Would you?
Speaker 6: Don't you remember I was going to look out for you, but.
Speaker 29: You may need meat cheapers, mister Valentine.
Speaker 6: Right, Sonny, you'll win, but stick close to me. I understand.
Speaker 29: Yesterday, are we going to walk right in?
Speaker 10: No?
Speaker 6: No, of course not. That's no fun. What were they doing?
A mystery show? They climb in a window. Then we'll
climb in a window, Valentine.
Speaker 29: She turned off the light. Shall I go in first?
Speaker 11: No?
Speaker 6: Are you getting back of me? I mean handless?
Speaker 29: Yes, sir, I'll take it easy, Sonny. Okay, I've got her.
Speaker 32: No you don't.
Speaker 6: You'll stay right here. Turn then let see what we've
bagged Claire. Well, well, if it isn't second story, Clariss.
Speaker 18: Did you have to be so rough.
Speaker 29: I'll bet you crack two ribs.
Speaker 6: Sorry, I don't know my own strength.
Speaker 19: Well, now that you see who I am, you don't
have to keep on holding me.
Speaker 29: No, but it's fun, Claire, What are you doing here?
Speaker 10: Oh?
Speaker 6: Well, she saw the address on the letters, so she
decided to follow the clothes.
Speaker 29: Yeah, but why didn't she let us in on it?
Speaker 6: Because she thought I was a dope, Sonny, so she
took over.
Speaker 19: You know, all the answers don't not quite what happened
when you got here. Nothing.
Speaker 18: The place looked deserted.
Speaker 19: I crawled in the window too.
Speaker 6: No one here.
Speaker 19: I couldn't see anyone.
Speaker 6: Are you sure of course?
Speaker 19: Well, I've had the strangest feeling, Yeah, as though someone's
been watching me.
Speaker 6: Uh huh. Stay here with Sonny.
Speaker 29: I'll have a look around some cats as you sure
had me scared.
Speaker 19: I'm sorry, Sonny, but mister Valentine didn't seem to be
making any effort.
Speaker 9: To solve the cake.
Speaker 29: Yeah, don't kid yourself. It just keeps things to him.
Speaker 6: Well, everything seems to be in apple pie order. Hey listen, oh, Sonny, Claire,
stand back there in the corner. I'll cover the door.
Speaker 19: I'll be careful, mister Valentine.
Speaker 6: Do I detect concern in your voice?
Speaker 19: Well, I don't want to see you get shot right
in front of it.
Speaker 6: Oh, then close your eyes. Well, good evening, Missus Winters.
Oh may I present my two assistants, Claire and Sonny Brooks.
Speaker 18: How did you know i'd see here? What do you want?
Speaker 6: Just want to make talk, mister Valentine.
Speaker 18: You've got to believe me. I'm not like the woman
in his story. I love Jonathan.
Speaker 6: Uh huh. And you're the girl who never reads his
manuscripts until they're finished.
Speaker 15: Well, I.
Speaker 18: Oh, go ahead, turn me over to the police.
Speaker 6: Don't care.
Speaker 19: That's as good as a confession, mister Valentine.
Speaker 6: Well, I'm in no mood for confessions. Come on, we're
gonna play a little game. Oh not again, Hey, Sonny,
you keep your eye on Missus Winters. Don't let her leave.
Speaker 18: I won't try to run away.
Speaker 6: All right, Claire, you're the wife and the lost corpse.
Speaker 19: More acting.
Speaker 6: I quit tomorrow now. Then I'll be the husband and
mister Wenner's story. And here are some lines for you
to read.
Speaker 11: Claire.
Speaker 19: You came all prepared, didn't you?
Speaker 29: Is this stuff that you wrote, mister Valentine.
Speaker 6: Of course, I'm a man of many talents. Now then
let's see. Oh, we'll skip to the part where I
walk in wound it and say, yeah, you thought you
killed me, but I'm not dead yet. I'll say, alright,
let's go. You thought you killed me, but I'm not
dead yet.
Speaker 19: No, No, I didn't shoot you. I swear I didn't.
Speaker 6: But oh, believe you. The police all close point to you.
Do you mean, yes, my dear, you wanted me out
of the way. Well you got your wish. I shot myself. No, no,
I kill myself. But they'll think you're guilty. You'll pay
for it. I'll get a doctor too late, too late. Goodbye,
my dear, goodbye.
Speaker 5: Then I die.
Speaker 29: What a performance? I don't get it, mister Valentine.
Speaker 19: You wrote this ending for his story?
Speaker 32: Is that it?
Speaker 11: Sure?
Speaker 6: Of course? What's the story without an ending?
Speaker 18: I'll tell you what mister Valentine is getting at. He's
trying to prove that my husband shot himself, shot himself
in such a way that it would look as though
I murdered him. Why would Jonathan do such a thinking
you I loved him.
Speaker 19: You don't have to put on an act for us,
missus Wyndley.
Speaker 29: Yeah, why don't you turn her over to the police.
Speaker 6: I just keep your shirt on, Sonny, and everybody stand
where you are.
Speaker 5: They'll make a move.
Speaker 6: Understand, what are you going to do?
Speaker 29: You'll see mister Valentine, why are you opening that door?
Speaker 6: We're going to have some company company.
Speaker 19: Then somebody is hiding here.
Speaker 6: Okay, come on now, who are you calling?
Speaker 29: Hey? You mean the police.
Speaker 19: You're here, police, You've said a trap for me?
Speaker 6: Come on out, mister Winters.
Speaker 29: Mister Winters, how did you know why I was hiding
in there?
Speaker 18: John?
Speaker 22: Well?
Speaker 6: How'd you like my way of ending your story? Mister Winners?
Speaker 22: Why?
Speaker 6: It was very clever, mister Valentine, Jonathon, you're not hurt.
Speaker 18: You was shot.
Speaker 10: I'm terribly s are your wordling?
Speaker 15: Yeah?
Speaker 19: I don't get this.
Speaker 6: Well, mister Winters couldn't find an ending for his story
the Lost Corpse. But how did you know that searched
his waste paper basket found it full of rejected.
Speaker 11: That's quite right.
Speaker 36: Finally I decided to do just what the hero in
my book did. So I went to mister Valentine. S yes, ah,
he's ad in the paper, said he could solve anything.
Speaker 6: Then when he tried to go home and explain to you,
missus Winters, he saw the police there, so he came
out here to hide, right, mister Winter, Absolutely right. I
know i'd find him here. Then when I searched this cabin,
I saw him hiding in the closet.
Speaker 19: Why didn't you say something?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 6: I wanted to sort of put on a show for Jonathan.
Oh forgive me. Oh, come on, kids, they don't need
an audience.
Speaker 11: The no winmen, mister Valentine.
Speaker 36: I got the ending to my story thanks to you,
and with all that publicity in the papers, it's sure
to have a big sale.
Speaker 10: So name your fee.
Speaker 6: Oh well, I don't know, mister Whinners. I hadn't really
thought about it. I say an even thousands. I'll send
you a check in my morning. Oh no hurry, no hurry,
no hurry. I just happened to have a pen and
a blank check with me though. As a matter of fact,
here it is all made out. Just need your signature
and mister Winning.
Speaker 36: Oh went, of course, cats a thousand busow.
Speaker 6: Thanks. Thanks, well, let's go kids. Good night, mister Winters.
And if you ever get stuck again, what a day.
Speaker 19: Now, I feel like collapsing, Sonny, come here and put
your arm around.
Speaker 29: Oh sure, go.
Speaker 6: Away, Sonny. Let George do it.
Speaker 33: Your neighborhood Chevron dealer asked me to pass along this
touring tip to you folks taking weekend trips this fall.
He wants me to remind you that a Chevron credit
card makes a mighty handy traveling companion. If you don't
have one, you can apply at any Chevron gas station.
If you do have one and haven't been using it,
don't forget these credit card advantages. First, they help conserve
your travel cash. You can charge most of your car expenses. Second,
they're good everywhere in the US and Canada too. Third,
they wrap up all car expenses into one convenient monthly bundle.
Chevren credit cards are good at home owned Chevron gas
stations all over the West. So watch for those cream,
green and burgundy stations on the road this weekend and
use your Chevron credit card.
Speaker 10: Well next week.
Speaker 33: A former army buddy comes to George Valentine with a
very delicate problem.
Speaker 29: George, I'm desperate. J're my only bet.
Speaker 6: You're the only one that can help me. Now, relax, Tommy,
you came to the right man.
Speaker 36: What can I do for will I've got to go
out of town to look for a job, and what
I want to know is, in case I don't get
back in time, will you have my baby for me?
Speaker 33: Chevron gas stations all through the West invite you to
be with us again next week or another chapter of
Let George Do It. Brought to you by the makers
of Chevron Supreme Gasoline and RPM Motor Oil. Let George
Do It, starring Robert Bailey as George, with Francis Robinson
as Claire and Eddie Firestone Junior as Sonny, is written
by Pauline Hopkins, produced and directed by Owen Vincent.
Speaker 10: Others in the cast.
Speaker 33: Were Joe Kerns as Caleb, Rena Craig as Missus Winters,
Howard mcneer as mister Winters, and Horace Murphy as the
filling station attendant. Music was composed and conducted by Charles
dan You're announcer John Heaston. Listen again next week, same time,
same station to.
Speaker 6: Let George Do It. This is the mutual Don Lee Broadcasting.
Speaker 2: System Welcome back.
Speaker 1: Definitely not the hard boiled stories would get from a
detective like Pat Novak. But I have to say collecting
one thousand dollars for a few hours work where he
wasn't even knocked out, makes Pat Novak's right seem quite
small in comparison. Uh yeah, I don't think Pat Novak
would have taken to this case. What is this you're
trying to do here here and include whys Cracker? But
this show, I think was it was pretty interesting and
I think you see the promise and potential of the show.
It's got a lot of growing to do. And I
like it when we can see the development of a
show and see when it really hits it stride. And
I've heard some of the episodes from later on, so
it does hit a very strong stride. But you see
a just a you know, great connection from Bob Bailey
and a pretty fine little story, even if it wasn't
the greatest detective story ever told.
Speaker 2: So we'll be looking for more next week when we'll
let George do it.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow, We're going to go ahead and play an episode
of Sherlock Holmes. That's the oldest episode I think I've
ever played. If I've dated the episode right in the
place I downloaded the uh downloaded the audio from it
dated the episode right on you leave comments on the show,
those will be read before Friday's airing on our Dollar
Day of Johnny.
Speaker 4: Doller Welcome Back.
Speaker 1: One thing I was under a bit of a misapprehension
about was my thinking that the lack of early episodes
of Let George Do It was because of them not
being popular or of high quality. One thing I've come
to understand over the years is the nature of old
time radio collectors is to collect programs, and for most
of the old school collectors, this was.
Speaker 4: Not just collecting things you personally liked.
Speaker 1: Plus, tapes could be made and traded, so even if
you didn't care for a particular programs, someone else might,
and you might be able to trade for something that
you didn't have. In addition, I think many collectors, both
the Old School on Knew, are very cognizant of the
fact that they're dealing with pieces of history, and most
people I've met to preserve as much radio history as
they can, whether it's their cup of tea or not.
There are lots of issues and challenges in collecting old
time radio transcriptions and tapes and programs coming into circulation,
but personal likes for particular show, don't really enter into
it that much. And actually, more of these early episodes
have come into circulation, and we played them on the
podcast in twenty nineteen and I learned more about Let
George Do It and sort of the pre broadcast history.
There were actually three different auditions made, which I've not
heard of being done for any other radio program. The
most I've ever heard of is two, particularly when you're
dealing with the same actor. And actually, in the first
draft of Let George Do It, the lead character was
named George Lincoln. George Lincoln was a combination of the
first name of George Washington the last name of Abraham Lincoln,
because patriotism was still a very high national ideal right
after World War Two, and what better name for a
detective than a combination of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Now,
while I'm not able to officially confirm this, this does
suggest an origin for the name George Valentine, because once
they determined they couldn't use George Lincoln. If you look
at the calendar, the next holiday after Lincoln's birthday is
Valentine's Day. And that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
In addition to the auditions, we also got to hear
more of the sitcom episodes, including the Kleptomania episode, which
was teased at the end of the audition we heard today.
I'm kind of thankful we didn't have them when we
started in two thousand and nine. I remember, I think
it was like the third week. I got an angry
person contacting me sane I thought, you said you were
going to play detective programs, and I said, well, this
is kind of a detective comedy.
Speaker 4: It's going to change, and he was like, well it better.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of glad that we only had like four
of those back in two thousand and nine, so we
could just play them and then get into the more
detective themed traditional programs. As for this particular episode, in general,
I stand by what I felt back in two thousand
and nine. I think that this was a series that
had some potential.
Speaker 2: As it was cast.
Speaker 1: You have a fantastic cast for comedy detective program Shirley
Mitchell would make an interesting choice to play Brooksy. She
did a lot of radio comedy work and usually I've
heard he her with a Southern bell accent in roles
like Leela Ransom on the Great Gilder Sleeve. And of
course you've got Joseph Kerns, who was one of the
Golden Age of radio's greatest actors, was just in a
massive amount of projects. Eddie Firestone Junior, who played Sonny,
actually was in a series called That Brewster Boy when
both he and Bob Bailey were acting in Chicago, and
Bob Bailey was a supporting actor in That Brewster Boy
and Firestone was the star, so they had a history
together and were reunited on What George Doing. I think
there were two big problems with the series as a comedy.
The biggest is that so many episodes make George into
an idiot or totally ridiculous figure. I love a good
detective comedy series, but I think I think the ones
that tended to work didn't make the detectives look stupid.
I think of series like The Thin Man or Mister
and Missus North or le Auditus Witherall, and the heroes
tended to be very kenny, but maybe a bit eccentric,
and much of the comedy is provided by the oddball
characters they meet as well as their own just little eccentricities. Second,
the plots are not great and often feel weak rather
than funny. The idea of a writer faking his own
death to get a solution to a mystery, particularly as
simple as the solution George gave him, is just too silly.
One thing I thought about the story is that it's
almost the opposite of Box thirteen, where you have a
mystery writer becoming an adventurer detective to find a plot,
and in this story you have a mystery writer conning
a detective to give him a solution. The one thousand
dollars payment might sound generous for nineteen thirty six dollars,
but George was effectively being a book doctor in this episode,
so he probably earned it based on the going rate.
Speaker 4: Despite my problems with.
Speaker 1: The way this was executed, I think that the sitcom
has pitched in this pilot could have worked with a
few tweeks and the right writer, though I'm kind of
glad it didn't, because after a few months as a
sitcom it shifted to a more serious mystery program with
Francis Robinson continuing on a Brooksy as Sureley Mitchell didn't
continue to the rule once it went to broadcast, and
Sonny went the way of Chuck Hunningham disappeared from the
series without explanation as far as we know, and it opened.
Speaker 4: Doors for me.
Speaker 1: Let George Do It really has a special place in
my heart. It was actually the series that got me
interested in other old time radio detective programs that weren't
Dragging It because people mentioned other programs to me, but
I didn't really let listen to them, other than a
few with Jack Webb, which I did for the Old
Time Dragnet Show. But then I found an episode of
Let George Do It playing on an online radio station,
and I fell in love with the series. It had
clever mysteries, a lockable lead, and had nice little comedic
and dramatic beats. It's still a series that gets underrated,
perhaps in part due to the quality of these first
couple of episodes, but honestly, once the series shifted gears.
Speaker 4: It had a lot going for it. Bob Bailey was.
Speaker 1: Storing in it until late nineteen fifty three, with Francis
Robinson and later Virginia Gregez Brooksy. You had Wally Mayors
Lieutenant Riley for the first couple of seasons, and they've
got a veritable who's who of radio character actors who
played the guest parts, and the bulk of the writing
was done by David Victor, Herbert Little Junior, and Jackson Gillis.
All these men would have huge careers writing and producing
in television, with Victor and Little both writing for gun
Smoke and Gillis writing for Colombo.
Speaker 4: In my mind, once you get.
Speaker 1: Past the early comedy episodes, this becomes one of the
best detective series on the air. So don't let this
first episode put you off the series. Now it's time
for us to shift to yours truly, Johnny Dollar, because
as I mentioned at the start of this special, the
episode of Sherlock Holmes I played was not dated as
the website indicated and was widely off It's under copyright,
and so we don't play that. One quick note before
we play this episode, I do answer listener comments at
the end. Many of these questions are in regards to
a pilot episode I did back in two thousand nine.
Podcast trailers hadn't been invented, or if they had, I
didn't know it. So I released a pilot episode on
October twelfth, two weeks before the podcast was launched, in
which we played an episode of the Screen Guild Theater
with Jimmy Stewart in called Northside seven seven seven, so
that the podcast would show up in the iTunes store
as it was known then and I still occasionally call
it now, and people could get subscribed and be able
to start listening to our first regular episode. So that's
what's being referenced. So here now from October the thirtieth
of two thousand and nine is Yours truly, Johnny Dowler.
Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio. This
is your host, Adam Graham. Hope you've enjoyed the first
four episodes, and I really hope you enjoy what we
have for you today, Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. We're breaking
some podcast ground here. Other series like Boston Blackie and
Perry Mason have had have had podcast made surrounding those characters,
but not yours truly, Johnny Dollar. What makes this so
surprising is that the show remains very popular. I found
two separate polls that Johnny Dollar won for the best
private detective series. There was, in particular, the Nostalgia Pages
poll of two hundred and forty one old time radio fans,
and then there was the Thrilling Detective Poll back in
nineteen ninety nine. They came up with different second and
third place winners, but Johnny Doll still came out on top.
And when you're looking at a competition like Sam Spade
and Richard Marlow, you know this show had something special
going for it. In one way, it's reminiscent of James Bond,
not in the secret agent sense, obviously, but it's a
show where the adventure travels. You go to twenty four
different foreign countries along with thirty nine states to experience
all of the Johnny Dollar thrills and excitement. And then
you have different actors playing Johnny Dollar. There were a
total of eight different actors that took this role, six
who went on the air and two editions, one of
which we're going to hear today. And each brought their
own spin and their own their own way of performing
this character, which gives it a death thingness. It's really
quite remarkable. In the remarkable detective genre of old time radio.
The first Johnny Dollar was Dick Powell. Now Dick Powell
is not perhaps someone that's a household name today, but
he was a very important actor in the world of
not only old time radio, but films. Prior to nineteen
forty four, he had been known basically as a light
comedic actor and singer, and he had that struggle that
a lot of actors do in that role. They want
to take on the harder, deeper, more serious roles and
have basically gotten typecast for light work. And it wasn't
until the age of forty that Dick Powell was finally
able to break the mold. And that was when he
landed the part of Philip Marlowe in Murder My Suite
and was the first actor to play marlow brought a real,
real presence and showed his skill well. He was off
the rest of the forties, playing mostly near heroes and
oftentimes some very dark and troubled characters such as Johnny o'clock,
and so he you know, he really wanted to be
seen as a tough guy, and you see that in
his portrayal of Johnny Dollars.
Speaker 4: He's still kind of in that stage of his career.
Speaker 1: Ironically enough, I think after he'd established that he could
play the tough guys, he kind of found a happy medium.
On The Richard Diamond Show between the light between the
light comedic. First part of his career and the nore
part of his career kind of came up with a
balance that worked really well, and I think you'll find
that when we get to the Richard Diamond series. But
in Johnny Dollar, he's adding a little bit of extra
rogue to the character he played in Rogue's Gallery, Richard Rogue.
And so this is a very very interesting take on
Johnny Dollar. And we'll actually see this same story performed
in five weeks when Charles Russell, who was the first
on air Johnny Dollar, does his take on the script
and the writers have their turn at it. But for now,
let's go ahead and listen to what might have been
had Dick Powell decided to take the role of Johnny
Dollar on the air. With this the first episode of
Yours Truly Johnny.
Speaker 28: Dollar, Columbia Broadcasting System presents a thrilling new adventure series
starring Dick Powell. I'm an insurance investigator. My name is
Johnny Dollar. What you heard me, Johnny Dollar? And I
can padd an expense account with the best of them.
Speaker 5: Yep.
Speaker 28: I'm a free lance insurance investigator and I live in Hartford, Connecticut.
At least that's where I pay rent. My work sees
to it that I really live anywhere except at home.
I'm free white thirty four and so forth. If you're
interested in buying me Christmas presents, I take size forty two,
suit church fifteen and a half collars, leave length thirty three.
My hat size is seven and eighth except when I
wind up a successful case, then it runs about seven
and three eighths. At insurance investigation, I'm just an expert
at making out my expense account. I'm an absolute genius
expense account submitted by investigator Johnny Dollar two home Office,
East Coast, Underwriters, Terminal Building, Hartford, Connecticut. Attention Austin Farnswer,
the general manager. The following is an accounting of my
expenditures and the investigation of Milfred Brooks the third. For
your company expense account Item one cab fair to your
office and answer to your original call seventy five cents
tip to driver one dollar. Expense account Item two shoe
shine twenty five cents. You'll remember I got my shoes
scuffed when I unsuspectingly walked into your private.
Speaker 6: Office, Milford.
Speaker 29: That window.
Speaker 6: No, no, you don't call me, call me. The better
ways of making a big splash in life.
Speaker 29: Get away?
Speaker 12: Wow?
Speaker 6: Nice, try Sonny, Now pay a ten to the teacher.
Oh I didn't know I had it end me?
Speaker 37: Oh goodness, gracious, Dollar, did you have to hit him
so hard?
Speaker 6: I hope you haven't killed him. He isn't too strong,
you know, don't worry.
Speaker 28: Eh Well, now, now, mister Farnsworth, would you mind telling
me on whose head have I the dubious pleasure to
be sitting?
Speaker 13: That?
Speaker 37: Sir is Milford Brooks the third. His policy with his
company is in the amount of two million dollars.
Speaker 13: Wow.
Speaker 6: Yes, and the boy seems bent on committing suicide. Dollar,
I want you to stop him. What do you want
me to do? Threaten him with death? Anything? Anything?
Speaker 37: The conditions of his policy are such we would be
forced to meet with the claim in the event of
his suicide. Oh, I say, Dollar, sitting on his head
that way, aren't you in danger of smothering the boys?
Speaker 28: Smothering him doesn't worry me. But these crewe haircuts don't
make very comfortable cushions. I'll move down a little now there, Okay, okay,
some of her. I know this kid is insured for
two million, and that his policy pays off on suicide.
Speaker 10: What else?
Speaker 37: One half hour ago, Milford Brooks walked into this office
and changed the beneficiar in his policy. Then, Sir, he
proceeded a demand, not request, mind you, but demand a
loan of five hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 6: Quite a touch.
Speaker 37: When I explained to him that there were no provisions
for a loan in his policy, he threatened suicide, which.
Speaker 6: Would cost you two million. So all we have to
do is keep him alive.
Speaker 37: Huh, And he's managed to make that no small problem.
His choice of a new beneficiar is downright frightening. One
of the most notorious gamblers in the East. His name
is Hatcher. Harold Hatcher out Do you know him?
Speaker 6: Sure? That kid's been a post office pen up boy
for a lot of years.
Speaker 37: Well, that's the situation. I'm engaging you to protect Milford
Brook's future dollar. I want you to protect the boy.
Give him something to live for, you know, an interest
in life.
Speaker 6: An interest in life. Let's see. Oh, I know here,
this should help. What's that you got there?
Speaker 28: And that's what's commonly referred to in the more success
est full of bachelor's circles is my little black book. Well,
now let's let's see. Mm hmmmm Ruby, No, no, her
favorite expression has dropped dead. Uh Bernardine, No, she'd be
the new beneficiary by midnight. Oh dear, now here here
here's the one, butter, say Farnsworth, would you mind passing
me that phone, the one with a long cord?
Speaker 6: Oh no, no, I still muster. My little friend here
is showing signs of life. Here here you are. Maybe
you should let him breathe a bit more. I don't worry,
don't worry. He'll be all right.
Speaker 28: Hello, Oh hello, I want to call New York. Yeah, yeah,
Hudson two four two nine two dollar. You're not thinking
of taking this boat to New York, are you?
Speaker 24: Well?
Speaker 28: I'm going there myself. You want me to keep an
eye on him, don't you. Naw, don't fret, Farnsworth, all.
Speaker 6: Is not lost. Do worry me sitting on his chest
that way? Allah?
Speaker 28: Hello, oh butter, this is Johnny. Yeah, I'll be in
town to I don't want to see you. And look,
here's what I want you to do. Yes, yes, it's
all right to say over the telephone. I want you
to reserve a table at the hatchery in my name
for ten o'clock tonight will you do that? Okay, I'll
see you at your apartment in a few hours. Well, honey,
I can't make it any earlier. I'm sitting up on
a sick friend. Okay, goodbye.
Speaker 6: I'm not sure that I agree with your methods. Oh,
what's the matter? Did he hit you?
Speaker 19: Hit me?
Speaker 20: He bit me?
Speaker 28: Expense account Item three liquor eighteen dollars keeping Milford Brooks,
the third Peaceful seemed to be the immediate problem, and
a bottle of rare old brandy seemed to be the
immediate answer. I poured most of it into him, and
with the time he started to tick again, he'd gone
through the unusual process of going.
Speaker 6: To sleep sober and waking up and chant him. I
loaded him into my and we headed for New York.
Speaker 28: As we passed through to Haven, he opened one eye,
looked up, saw the Yale bowl, and gave three cheers.
Speaker 6: For all Eli Ray Ray Ray Old Yale would sure
be proud of you. Why anybody would want to insure
you for two million dollars is more than.
Speaker 10: I can figure.
Speaker 38: My daddy loved me very much, and my mother loved
me very much. No, that's nice, and not only that,
but I love somebody very much. And not only that,
but I hate somebody very much. That's interesting, you know
something next to one other guy. I hate you more
than anybody else.
Speaker 6: Oh here, love a boy. It's a cocktail hour again,
Time for your bottle. Rolling along the Merritt Parkway.
Speaker 28: I felt very much along with my thoughts, and believe me,
they weren't a very pleasant company the way it stacked
up for me. Brooks had built up a fat gambling
debt with Harold Hatcher and had been forced into making
him his beneficiary. The suicide threat that he was holding
over the insurance company was a little tougher to figure
unless he was trying to finance a trip for himself
to get away from the man with a murder motive Hatcher.
My hungry little mind nibbled away on those unsavory morsels
of food for thought all the way to Butter's apartment.
Speaker 11: Hey, Hey, where are you're taking me?
Speaker 9: I want to go to New York.
Speaker 6: If you don't behave buster, I'll punch your ticket.
Speaker 29: Johnny Darling, welcome to New York.
Speaker 6: Well that's the fastest ship I have had.
Speaker 19: Quiet, Well, where did you find this in.
Speaker 6: A box of Crackerjack. Let us end there.
Speaker 11: I don't know about you.
Speaker 19: Some men bring me flowers, some bring me candy.
Speaker 29: Why do you bring me a boiled and Brooks Brothers suit?
Please to reach you.
Speaker 6: Let's try him into the bedroom, honey, look more at.
Speaker 19: Home in the bathtub. I mean to pull down the cup.
Speaker 28: All right, I'll come on, buster, lie down, charm, charp, charp.
That kid's liquor sure can hold him.
Speaker 19: How long he's been playing nurse maid?
Speaker 29: Did this bottle?
Speaker 19: Baby?
Speaker 6: Get behind that bar suite and I'll tell you all
about it?
Speaker 29: Sure, horrible examples don't seem to bother you?
Speaker 6: Do if you knew how that guy has been bothering me?
Speaker 19: What did he do to you?
Speaker 6: Well, let's just say he put the bite on me. Gosh,
the river sure does look pretty today.
Speaker 28: Please anything but brandy, I've been sniffing that second hand
all the way from Hartford, Butter.
Speaker 6: See that big boat out there.
Speaker 28: I should would like to be on it with you,
sailing off the far away aromatic places.
Speaker 9: Get with it, darling.
Speaker 19: That's one hundred and twenty fifth Street, Ferry.
Speaker 29: Oh here's your drink.
Speaker 19: Come on now, tell better.
Speaker 18: All about it?
Speaker 6: So friend Bourbon and I proceeded to tell her all
about it. It wasn't easy.
Speaker 28: Everything about her kept flagging down my train of thought.
The longer she looked at me, the less I wanted
of Milford Brooks the third, and the more I wanted
a beautiful butter the first and only. She was a
sympathetic listener to my story until I gave her the
answer to her first and only question.
Speaker 19: And where do I fit into all this?
Speaker 10: Baby?
Speaker 28: I thought you understood. My job is to give this poor,
misguided boy something to live for. That's you will, now, Honey,
hold everything, don't go get in your corn all popped
you You misunderstand.
Speaker 6: I really mean it.
Speaker 28: I thought, if he'd just got to look at you
and realize that things like you exist, why you'd make
any man glad to be alive. A come on now,
butter melted a little. I wouldn't let anything happen to you.
Speaker 11: You know that?
Speaker 29: Did I hurt you?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 6: No, I'm getting used to it. People have been taking
pokes at me all day.
Speaker 9: I'm sorry.
Speaker 6: Ah, that's better.
Speaker 19: You want some more bourbon?
Speaker 5: Uh?
Speaker 13: Huh?
Speaker 6: I want some more?
Speaker 9: You well help.
Speaker 6: Yourself, Honey, it's getting late. Let's make this the last drink.
Speaker 19: What time is it?
Speaker 6: No, it's a it's a twenty to ten. My reservation
that the hatchery is for ten?
Speaker 9: Here thanks cigarette? Oh empty some more out in the
other room.
Speaker 6: I'll get I'd love to get you in a slow
boat to China. Johnnyton coming, God what well he can't
be but he is.
Speaker 19: The windows wide open.
Speaker 6: Oh, the fire escape. What a smart guy. I am
trading three drinks of bourbon for two million.
Speaker 28: Bucks on the hoof. Oh, that's the biggest bar check
I ever picked up. That's a big bar check for
anyone to pick up. As a matter of fact, it's
a bigger barcheck than you've ever heard of anyone picking
up before. And that should give you an idea of
what to expect in the second act as you follow
this new CBS series starring Dick Powell in the title role,
Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Well, nobody could say I wasn't
working fast. I'd only been in town for an hour,
and I'd already.
Speaker 6: Succeeded in losing Belted Brooks Affairs.
Speaker 28: I spent another hour of his all too short life
expectancy unsuccessfully shaking down the neighborhood for him, and then,
feeling very much like a bloodhound that had flunked his
sniffing exam, I went back to Butter's apartment. Johnny, Oh, sure,
plenty of luck?
Speaker 10: All bad?
Speaker 29: Is there anything I can do to hell?
Speaker 6: Kiss for luck?
Speaker 29: What are you going to do?
Speaker 6: Nothing? Just a little phone calls. This is Johnny Dollar.
Speaker 28: Give me a missing persons, any particular one. Don't be
a wise guy. Lieutenant Fishery, Lieutenant Fisher Fisher, there is
Johnny Dollar.
Speaker 39: Hello, doll, who would you lose?
Speaker 6: One?
Speaker 18: Man?
Speaker 10: My mind?
Speaker 28: And if I'm not careful in my professional reputation, the
guy's name is Brooks Milford. I got anything on him?
Speaker 10: All right?
Speaker 19: Don't look at me like that wasn't all my fault.
Speaker 13: Tala.
Speaker 39: Yeah, we haven't found him yet, but we think we
know where he is.
Speaker 2: Huh.
Speaker 39: The Hudson River at eleven fifteen tonight, its top code,
complete with identification, was found taking a ride on one
hundred and twenty fifth Street Ferry.
Speaker 6: Oh anything else?
Speaker 39: Nothing much. A package of matches was found under the
coat monogram. You don't happen to know anybody whose initials
are ragh, do you?
Speaker 13: Hh?
Speaker 6: Is always hard as height. Thanks Fisher. I'll check back
with you later. I HH, Harold.
Speaker 19: Hatcher, you mumbling about bad news?
Speaker 28: Looks like about two million bucks worth. They found Milford's
Cold on one hundred and twenty fifth Street, Ferry.
Speaker 9: You and your far away romantic places very funny.
Speaker 28: Now, I'll see you later, honey, and maybe about eleven
expense account Item four nightclubs twenty eight dollars.
Speaker 6: Harold Hatcher's Hatchery was.
Speaker 28: In a cellar under a hotel, but the prices were
high enough to rate a prenhouse. The club was draped
in too much satin its lady customers and too little.
That decors was French provincial. The music was Brazilian and
the food was from Dixie. The drinks looked weak, and
the way they looked strong. All in all, the joint
was a sight.
Speaker 6: For sore eyes, for making them sore. The only pretty
thing in the place was a blonde.
Speaker 28: She came strolling up to my table, her hips unconsciously
sending subtle little messages.
Speaker 6: Back to the rumber band.
Speaker 28: She opened her mouth, slid her tongue over her lower lip,
and let a few warm.
Speaker 6: Soft words slide out.
Speaker 19: Lucking for someone, and.
Speaker 6: You'll do until the real thing comes along its alarm.
Speaker 19: Thanks, I won't have a drink.
Speaker 6: I didn't ask you.
Speaker 19: My name is Janelle.
Speaker 6: Janelle. Wow, it's a nice name.
Speaker 19: I understand you were asking about mister Hatchet, and I.
Speaker 6: Asked if he was in. The waiter said he wasn't.
Speaker 19: Do you know him more than somewhat?
Speaker 6: What do you want to see him by a mutual friend?
Milford Brooks?
Speaker 11: Uh?
Speaker 29: Huh.
Speaker 17: I know most of the quiet clothes boys around here.
So you want a cop? You don't look like the type.
There would be a society friend of the Brooks family.
Speaker 18: So what are you?
Speaker 6: I'll like?
Speaker 28: Know it that one is hatche around he might be.
Come on, where's his office? The top of those two
an I expecting the trouble getting in.
Speaker 19: You won't have any trouble.
Speaker 32: How do you know?
Speaker 19: Because Harold sent me down. He had to look you over. Oh,
I think you're all right.
Speaker 6: So I won myself the good housekeeping seal of approval.
Speaker 19: Huh keeping a house with you with me?
Speaker 9: With my approval, I.
Speaker 28: Ran for my life at a slow walk up the stairs.
When I located the door to Hatcher's office, I knocked
once and went in. Come on in, thanks.
Speaker 6: I'm Johnny Dollar.
Speaker 28: I was hired by East Coast Underwriders to protect the
interest of a kid named Milford.
Speaker 6: Brooks, the Third.
Speaker 22: Oh, what's that's supposed to mean to me?
Speaker 6: You know him, don't you?
Speaker 22: He isn't exactly one of my boozing buddies.
Speaker 6: How much money does he show you?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 22: We've got him on the books for a few Bob.
Speaker 28: Why they picked up his top coat tonight on the
one hundred and twenty fifth Street Ferry. He wasn't in it.
It might have been suicide. It might have been a knockover.
It made to look like a suicide. What's your choice?
Speaker 22: What do you get off asking me about my choice?
Speaker 6: Where were you between eleven and eleven thirty tonight? Let's
it to you now?
Speaker 28: I thought you might like to rehearse some answers. They
ll all'll be asking some questions real soon.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 22: I don't know why I should tell you, but I
was driving around in my car getting some Oh.
Speaker 28: Now, you will have to do better than that. They
found one of your match folders on a Brook's coat.
Speaker 22: You're out of your mind.
Speaker 6: Let me ask you.
Speaker 22: The kid owed me a couple one hundred thousand you
think I'm going around knocking off my own assets.
Speaker 6: Hatcher, I don't know whether you're stupid or bright.
Speaker 22: Don't worry about it.
Speaker 6: I know what about that insurance policy?
Speaker 22: What insurance policy?
Speaker 12: Now?
Speaker 6: Look, Hatcher, we're big boys.
Speaker 28: We both know the changing of beneficiary and an insurance
policy is a legal transaction.
Speaker 6: That means witnesses. That means it isn't secret.
Speaker 22: What are you talking about?
Speaker 6: But you and East Coast Underwriters and.
Speaker 28: I all know that books made you the beneficiary and
his policy, and that you stand to come into two
million bucks when they fish out his body.
Speaker 22: I don't know anything about it.
Speaker 6: Motives don't come much bigger.
Speaker 22: I'm telling you. That's our news to me and you
and nobody else is going to make me move.
Speaker 6: Off that story.
Speaker 28: I feel the same about mine. It doesn't take a
genius to know that Brooks didn't love you two million
dollars worth. There's only one logical reason for his making
you the beneficiary. You forced him into it. Would believe
anything else.
Speaker 22: Who cares, they'd have to prove it, and brother, that
can't be done. Now, how would you?
Speaker 10: Yeah?
Speaker 22: Okay, Rocket, thanks for the news. Take the inspector into
the barn.
Speaker 6: Buy him a drink.
Speaker 5: I'll be right down.
Speaker 6: Dollar.
Speaker 22: Did you turn me in?
Speaker 6: They're here? Huh, Yeah, No, I didn't turn you in.
I'm not a cop. Yeah, have a cigarette, thanks, here's
a light.
Speaker 22: Well, come on, maybe they just want to sell me
some tickets to the Policeman's Ball.
Speaker 28: For a guy in a hot spot, Hatchet was certainly
a cool customer. I followed him out of the office,
down the stairs, and back into the club. Janelle was
sitting there right where I had left her. When I
thought to myself, now there's a gal who should never
sit down, and she looks so pretty standing up.
Speaker 22: Jenneal, buy mister Dollar a drink. I have to go
play twenty questions with some fellas in the baryre.
Speaker 19: Baby, anything you say anything.
Speaker 6: I'll see it.
Speaker 19: Dollar, well, i'd make God.
Speaker 28: You can never tell about a guy like that. He's
a smart boy, strong, silent type.
Speaker 19: Wouldn't talk a real close mart act about what.
Speaker 6: Oh, just a little dude aad to a million dollar
life insurance policy.
Speaker 17: Wait a minute, a young Brooks kid. That's right, I
knew it. You're telling me to get into trouble. But
he wouldn't listen to me.
Speaker 6: Oh, you knew about it?
Speaker 5: Huh?
Speaker 6: I suppose you also know what was behind it.
Speaker 17: Sure, mil purrowed him some money, a lot of money.
It's in writing, what kind of writing? The personal note
that Brooks was going to get back if you made
Harrold beneficiary?
Speaker 6: Where is this note?
Speaker 19: So I look like the kind of girl who put
the finger on her boyfriend.
Speaker 6: You look, though, like the kind of girl to do
anything if she wanted to.
Speaker 19: Thanks. I'll give you a slight hint. It's in his office.
You'll find it in the inside pocket of one of
his suits, in the wardrobe. What are you waiting for,
I'll watch the bar.
Speaker 6: Nothing, sweetheart, nothing at all.
Speaker 28: Whatever her reasons, mister Harrold, Hatcher's little female playmate was
trying awful hard to send him up on a murder
app and I was going to try awful hard.
Speaker 6: Not to let her down. Back in Hatcher's office, I
found myself alone in.
Speaker 28: A room with the telephone, and being a guy who
can never resist a free call, I unleashed the magic
wonders of the at and.
Speaker 14: T this better be you, Johnny Dollars.
Speaker 5: Quiet, Butter, I've only got a few seconds.
Speaker 14: Seems that's all you ever have for me got you.
Speaker 6: Oh look, angel, Angel, just another hour, I'll get you
a nice presence.
Speaker 19: I don't care if you're another century.
Speaker 14: And as for presents, the last one you brought me
was a drunk, and you even let him get away
from me.
Speaker 19: Good Night.
Speaker 6: Life presents a gloomy picture.
Speaker 28: Ever downward toward the tomb, Hadding wasted those few precious
moments of an already misspent youth. I decided I'd better
get on my pony before mister Hatcher showed up. I
found Milford Brooks's personal note in one of Hatcher's suits.
All right, as a matter of fact, I found something
in all his suits, A great big glamor of light
expenser cod Item five taxifair ten dollars. I left the
office in a hurry. Janelle let her table and Hatcher
at his bar. I got out of the club and
into a taxi parked a half block down the street.
There I waited until my favorite suspect left the hatchery
and piled into another cab, and off.
Speaker 6: We went on a chase. It would have made ben
Her look like a plowing bee.
Speaker 28: We skittered over to Lexington and headed uptown at seventy second,
the cab turned right and pulled to a stop.
Speaker 6: My driver was on his toes, and his toes were
on his break. We stopped two half a block behind.
Speaker 10: You want actual wait?
Speaker 5: Huh?
Speaker 6: Now I hear you.
Speaker 28: I keep the change day day. It was a garage
that belonged to a residence on the parallel street a
block away. The living quarters upstairs were dark enough to
look interesting. I indulged in a bit of genteel breaking
and entering. Entering that old barn didn't take much breaking.
I crept up the stairs. He sounded like they we
were left over from an old ghost story. And so
did the first voice I heard when I stopped halfway up.
Speaker 6: We've got to be careful, especially about that Johnny Dollar.
Are you sure he didn't follow you?
Speaker 28: That voice sounded awfully dry to be coming from a
guy who supposedly had spent most of the nights loosing
in the bottom of the Hudson River.
Speaker 5: It was Mildred Brooks.
Speaker 6: The third Get up on your feet. Brooks would not
wake a minutefire. I started the thing slugging you, and
I might as well finish it the same way.
Speaker 22: Now, pull in the Clau's angel and set on his lap.
Speaker 19: You hard for me, I'll kill you.
Speaker 6: Get off of me.
Speaker 29: I should have known better than to get mixed up
with a low class female like you.
Speaker 6: Why you don't, I'll hold it. We pushed the lady
around enough, Brooks tell me to be careful?
Speaker 5: Were you?
Speaker 6: Why didn't you think of that before you let him here?
Speaker 22: What your nose?
Speaker 5: Little boy?
Speaker 6: Why don't you go getting fat at it? Gorgeous?
Speaker 28: Neither one of you were exactly what i'd call master
minds when you planted that match folder on a little
boy blue Blood's top got to the ferry boat.
Speaker 6: You both should have been more careful.
Speaker 11: You think so?
Speaker 5: You bet?
Speaker 6: I think so.
Speaker 28: If I were planning a piece of evidence to incriminate
mister Harold Hatcher, I would have left a cigarette lighter.
I found one in the pocket of every suit he
owns back there in his closet the club. It wasn't
hard to figure out that that guy never carries a
book of matches.
Speaker 5: What do you want?
Speaker 28: I'm only interested in one thing, saving the insurance company
two million dollars, and Buster, I think you've done it
for me dollar.
Speaker 6: This is insurance fraud.
Speaker 28: It has been ever since you put on that fake
suicide attempt trying to start five hundred thousand bucks out
of the company.
Speaker 6: Dollar, Wait a minute, come on, we're leaving.
Speaker 22: You heard him, Dollar, Hatcher, he said, wait a minute,
he wants to talk.
Speaker 6: Yeah, everybody wants to get in on the act. How
did you get here?
Speaker 22: And the police in this town think maybe a guy's
jumped off a ferry boat and nobody said him to
do it. They checked the counters on the turnstiles at
each end. In the case of Brooks, as many people
got off that the boat has got on, it.
Speaker 28: Don't make sense. They'd hardly hold the guy because somebody
lost the top coat.
Speaker 19: H How did you know we were here?
Speaker 22: You know me, baby, you never go any place, and
I don't know about Okay, Brooks. You felt like talking,
now I feel like listening. Get it up. I don't
know what you mean.
Speaker 6: I know what you mean, Hatcher.
Speaker 28: One, he gave you a big fat, two million dollar
motive for murder, and two he did his best to
make it look like you did murder him with that
broken down match cover plant on the ferry boat.
Speaker 6: It's just that simple.
Speaker 22: And you, baby, ill please you put him up to it,
didn't you, you cheap little muscler trying to get rid
of me, will you?
Speaker 6: I'll calm down, Hatcher. You don't need any gun around here.
Their tame, or.
Speaker 22: Maybe I'm not. Since so many people have gone to
so much trouble to hand me a nice easy way
to make two million dollars, maybe I'll just go ahead
and make it. I'll show these amateurs how these things
are really done. Come on, Brooks, would you like to
go for a nice, cool half a ferry boat ride?
Speaker 6: No, Hatcher, no, look, he's terreful.
Speaker 22: I'll give you anything you get wrong, Sonny boy, you're
gonna give me everything.
Speaker 19: No, No, you can't let me out here.
Speaker 6: Brooks bulled for the door. Hatch snapped a shot at him,
and I hit Hatch you with a door died tackle
from behind. The gun flew out of his hand. Now
you know I'd beat him to it and swung it
straight into his skull.
Speaker 28: Half the people in the room were lying there, bleeding,
Brooks from gunshot, Hatcher from gun bud. Janelle and I
stood there panting, but believe me, not for each other.
We stood that way until the police arrived. Dolla, it's
beyond me. I sent you out to protect the life
of a very important policyholder. And now where are we standing?
In a hospital corridor worrying about whether he's going to
live or die? As far as I'm concerned, mister Farnsworth,
you're only half right. I'm just standing in a hospital corridor.
Speaker 6: Oh dollar, you're heartless.
Speaker 28: Well, if you'd been bitten where he'd bitten me, you
wouldn't care if you've lived or died either.
Speaker 6: I'm getting out of here. Where are you going?
Speaker 28: It'll be explained in my expense account on the miscellaneous expence,
or don't fall over when you come to an item
for three hundred and eighteen.
Speaker 6: Dollars three hundred and eighteen dollars for what, not for what? Farnsworth?
Speaker 11: For whom?
Speaker 28: Expense account total, and it all adds up to a
little matter of eleven hundred and eighty two dollars and
twenty three cents, which you may say, mister Farnsworth, is
a lot of money for one man to spend in
two days, But you must bear in mind that the
amount of stake was two million dollars, and you know
the price of stake these days.
Speaker 6: It might comfort you to know that I just returned
from the hospital.
Speaker 28: Brooks was strong enough to make a full statement, which
you will find and close.
Speaker 6: This in itself should prove sufficient to establish evidence of
a tempered fraud.
Speaker 28: Against your company, allowing you to immediately avoid his policy.
It boils down to one sentence to wit, Brooks and
Janelle wanted to get rid of Hatcher so that they
could live happily. Ever after knowing those two, they never
had a chance. And oh yes, that that miscellaneous item,
the one for three hundred and eighteen dollars.
Speaker 5: It was a bracelet for a certain party who made this.
Speaker 28: Special investigation for me, very special. Or if you want
a receipt for this item, I'll send you a lock
of her hair. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. So, with the
final signature on his expense account, Dick Powell as Johnny Dollar,
has just closed the books on his first adventure in
this new CBS series. The script for tonight's broadcast was
written by Paul Dudley and Gil Daud and the music
was created and conducted by Dick Rant. The entire production
was under the direction of Tony Leader. Be sure to
tune in again next week when the expense account covers
Special Investigation Singapore, another unusual adventure starring Dick Powell.
Speaker 11: In Yours.
Speaker 28: Truly Johnny Dollar. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. A very interesting show. I think that in
one way the story didn't fit the opening narration. We
were told at the beginning that Johnny Dollar knew how
to pad an expense account like no one else. What
we saw was that, uh, Johnny Dollar is played by
Dick Powell, could have taught some some corporate thieves a
lesson or to in creative accounting, including the shoes sign
was padding this expense account the three hundred dollar necklace? Yeah,
I think that that would have been some serious fines
in today's world. But it's it's old time radio, so
it's all in good fun, all right. Well, we turned
to comments. We've we've already gotten a few comments and
emails on the show.
Speaker 4: That's much appreciated.
Speaker 1: I always encourage people to go and cast a vote
at podcast Alley dot com, even and particularly as we
were getting started with a new show. Your vote's important
helping us get started on the right foot. We've got
a link to go and cast your vote for us
over at podcast Alley, So just go to Great Detectives
dot net click the link, or just go to Podcastdolley
dot com and search for our vote page. We actually
got actually got a comment that gave me some thought.
As we were preparing the opening here, Dave from Gega
Harbor Right said, Hey, Adam and Gang, I'm really looking
forward to this series. I've continued to enjoy both the
very different podcast Superman and Dragnet and Adam's friendly introduction
of these shows. Simply put, I'm a big fan. However,
I'm a little concerned that those who are unfamiliar with
Adam's relaxed and informal style may be ever so slightly
put off by the length of the intro of this
first podcast. As an attorney, it reminds me of one
of my very early jury trials where when delivering my
final argument I went on far too long, and rather
than hitting them with some wit and pizzazz, I delved
into the mini mindumming and detailed inter keys of my case.
I'm afraid I lost that one, Adam. I appreciate your
love and enthusiasm for this genre and for this new podcast.
How I'd recommend starting off with a more brief, succinct
and punchy opening that more quickly leads to the episode
itself without further ados. You like to say, once your
audience is hooked on the shows and becomes more familiar
with your style, things will go well, but don't scare
them away with too much intro stuff. Well, I appreciate
the comment. We had a lot going on actually in
that first episode. It just when you introduce, you're introducing
so much. We're introducing a great actor and a new
show and really an entirely different format of doing detective shows.
So that one was a little bit long. I think
that the intros this week have been much shorter. And
the reason for that and why the first part of
the shows with most is not going to belong except
perhaps on the Yours Truly Johnny Dollar side, is because
is because most of the time we don't have the
listener feedback and email, so that they're gonna be shorter.
I decided this time, instead of reading emails and stuff
before the show, to do it afterwards. Just because fans
of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, have been waiting so long
to have a podcast out there covering their show. I
decided to shorten up the intro on that one, and
particularly be sensitive to the fact that we are introducing
the show as well as a great actor in Vick Palce.
So I appreciate the comment. Another one we got from
Mike and Hillsboro organ Adam is a great host for
nostalgic radio programs. Check out his Dragnap podcast too, And
if you and if you are just listening to to
this show, uh and having checked out the Dragnet, you
can go over to radio Dragnet dot com and subscribe
to that one as well. Emails, I got an email
from Leslie concerned about the theme. Well, in answer to
Leslie's question about the theme music, UH, I actually decided
I wanted a separate theme for this show as opposed
to Dragnet, so we'll have we'll be having a new
themes starting in week three. I listen for it. It
actually came from an Armed Forces Radio Services UH broadcast
of Pat Novak for Hire. And I think it works
great for a detective show, and I think I think
you'll really enjoy it, and I hope that you uh.
I hope that it becomes a favorite signal. So oh
and she asked about pointing out Jimmy Stewart on radio
that one of the best ways to hear Stuart on
the on the radio is in The Six Shooter. This
is an old time radio Western series starring Jimmy Stewart
which I found on iTunes.
Speaker 2: You might enjoy it well.
Speaker 1: Thanks, and I appreciate that. Lastly, I had listened to
one episode. In this past week on Leslie's advice, I
listened to two more episodes of The Six Shooter. It
is actually a really good show. It's got a touch
of lightness in it, particularly particularly once you get past
the pilot. So yeah, Six Shooter with Jimmy Stewart, if
you can get it somewhere, it's it is a fun show.
There weren't too many of them made. The estimates out
there for the number of shows made is somewhere between
forty one and forty five, So thanks for the tip. Lastly,
another email we got here. A big fan of the
Dragnet podcast. I'm looking forward to the new podcast, especially
Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. I was really close to trying
my hand at doing my own Yours Truly Johnny Dollar podcast,
but I was afraid I would not have the time
to actually come lead it all on a regular basis
and hope the news shows are successful for you. I
see you have some good background on yours truly Johnny
Dollar already on your side, and if you're not, you
have not. I encourage you to check out the episodes
of Jim Wittner's podcasts that were focused on yours truly,
Johnny Dollar. I think you did a great job of
providing background on the various Johnny dollars and has a
great podcast that kind of kind of petered out as
of late due to what I assume is other things
going on.
Speaker 2: In his life.
Speaker 1: And thanks for the email, and I did go ahead
and listen to that. It's it's a pretty interesting approach.
He basically took episodes from each of the actors who
performed as Johnny Dollar and put and put them together
so you could get a sense of their style. Obviously,
since I'm doing a different approach going through, you'll get
to hear the second Johnny Dollar next week and the
Johnny Dollar after that, however, will be about six months
down the line. So I'll go ahead and I'll include
that link in the show notes over at Great Detectives
dot net so you can go ahead and sample what
might be ahead in the future of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar.
All right, well, that's it for this week's show. Come
back on Monday, Box thirteen. On Monday Tuesday, Pat Novak
for hire, Wednesday, Let George do It, Thursday Sherlock Holmes,
and Friday, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, please join us again
from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Graham signing off.
Speaker 4: Welcome back.
Speaker 1: I'd forgotten that I was the first one to do
a regular Yours Truly Johnny Dollar podcast. Now, obviously there
were series that played a lot of different detective series
and featured Johnny Dollar every now and again, but I
was the first one to do it with him in
his own podcast. And probably one miscalculation I made initially
was that looking back, I actually think I could have
done in all Johnny Dollar podcast and that would have
been pretty successful. But honestly, there have been so many
fun programs over the last fifteen years that I wouldn't
have gotten to share, So I'm glad I did it
the way I did. In terms of the episode, I
found myself chuckling throughout. There were some great lines, and
pill had fantastic delivery as this sort of lovable rogue.
As I said, this feels a bit closer to the
character he played in Rogue's Gallery than the one he
ended up creating a few months later in Richard Diamond.
I love the part of the intro at the start
where Poll introduced himself as Johnny Dollar and someone said what,
which I guess is good representation for everyone who ever
heard that name on the radio and was like, really,
that's the name you're going on with at this point,
we've just kind of accepted it, but it is and
was an unusual name. Powell was able to sell a
few aspects of his character better than Charles Russell did
in performing the same script, particularly the Dollar tips. I
do think it's a performance that works for a single
episode or to introduce the character, but this sort of
characterization doesn't hold up long term. It's a little too
shallow when you look at the long term trajectory. Even
of characters who are a bit more morally gray, like
Sam Spade or even Powell's detectives, Richard Rogan, Richard Diamond,
they had plenty of moments that humanized them and made
each here for them. With the failing that, despite the
rough edges, they were still on the side of the Angel.
It's also interesting that we have a second straight audition
episode with Joseph Kern's appearing, though a very different role,
which shows his versatility.
Speaker 4: The one thing I didn't like in this episode.
Speaker 2: Is the music.
Speaker 4: I don't know what they were going for, but it
just didn't seem to fit.
Speaker 1: Charles Russell definitely had better music, particularly with his more
laid back theme. Now, there were a couple of interesting
things that we referenced in the comments. First, I referenced
podcast Alley, and when I was doing some research, I
was actually shocked to find that the website is still
there as a bit of a ghost website that's not
been updated in fourteen years. And they also have a
Twitter feed that's also hasn't been updated in fourteen years.
But back in the day, it had a podcast directory
and you could vote for your favorite podcast, and we
were usually pretty highly ranked, and I encourage people to
go and vote on podcast Alley. I don't know if
it helped us grow, but you'll hear about that. For
the first year or two on the podcast, it was
just one of those recommended podcast growth strategies that I
read about back then. The other thing that was referenced
was Jim Widner and the Radio Detective Story Hour, and
that also is dormant but still thankfully available, and I've
actually found it very helpful on a wide variety of
different programs. His show was just such a great resource
on so many programs, and then later into some more
of the mystery anthology stuff where he did some research
and really went back into studying some of the original
stories that detective programs were based upon. He retired the
podcast in two thousand and seven, but you can still
find it over at OTR dot com. It's a really
incredible resource. I really appreciated the comments from Dave. From
Gig Harbor and Leslie, I've heard from Lessie since then,
but I don't remember if I've heard from Dave. Both
offered some really good constructive criticism that I took to heart.
In my pilot episode, I went on and rambled way
too long at the start of the episode, and even
back on the Old Time dragon At podcast, I would
often have lengthy commentary at both the beginning and the end.
The plan I discussed here was to have all the
listener feedback on the Johnny Dollar episode and ride at
the start of the program, and that had some interesting outcomes.
In some episodes, it would take between ten and twelve
minutes of going through feedback before we'd actually get into
Johnny Dollar. We wouldn't have the problem the rest of
the week, but it would be bit of a traffic
jam on Johnny Dollar Day. I think that it wasn't
too long after that, probably within the first hundred episodes,
that I settled into a system where I would read
the feedback for the podcast that it was about, so
I wouldn't read Jeff Reagan feed back on the Johnny
Dollar Day, and eventually I moved towards trying to be
more succinct at the front of the podcast and saving
the feedback and most of the commentary for after the show.
As a general rule, you know, there are exceptions, but
that's been what I've gone for, and there are some
opportunities I have to tighten things up, but I'll talk
about that tomorrow. It's been fascinating going back and listening
to these episodes. There were some mistakes made, both in
facts and presentation, and a lot of things I do
differently if I were doing it today. But I'm glad,
glad I started the podcast. When I did the World
of podcast in two thousand and nine was really a
wild West, and staking my claim fifteen years ago is
a big part of why the Great Detectives of Old
Time Radio has been so successful, And for me, the
entire fifteen years has been a learning experience with all
the changes in podcasting. For one, I remember being proud
not only for my podcast Alley ranking, but when I
got the podcast optimized for Zoom. That's how long I've
been doing this. But I've also had an opportunity to
learn more about old time radio and not only dig
into old time radio detective programs, but also watch many
movies and read books I never would have experienced if
I'd never hosted this podcast, and I'm really thankful for that.
Speaker 2: And to all of you.
Speaker 1: Who've listened to the podcast over the years, I really
appreciate you your support and understanding. I've endeavored to share
my love of these detective programs with you, and I
had this vision from the start that we'd have listeners
essentially virtually gathered around a virtual radio to listen to
these programs. Your encouragement and support has made it happen,
and we've had so many great interactions over the years.
I'm really grateful for it. Now, if you are curious
to hear more of our back catalog and check out
our older episodes, I'll share some of the ways that
you can do That. Podcast was inspired by archive composition
posts that I've put on YouTube, where I would take
an entire week of podcasts and combine them into a
single YouTube video, and you can find those compilations on
our YouTube channel.
Speaker 4: We post a week.
Speaker 1: Worth of episodes twice a week Tuesday and Saturday, and
we're up to nearly eighty weekly COMPI licens done. In addition,
podcast wise, I've created archive feeds so that you can
listen to our old lineups of shows and episodes in
chronological order. Our Volume one feed is at Volume one
Dot Great Detectives dot net, collecting seasons one through three.
Our Volume two feed is at Volume two Dot Great
Detectives dot net, collecting seasons four through six, and we
just launched our Volume three feed at Volume three Dot
Great Detectives dot net, which has a few episodes posted
for Seed since seven, and we'll continue to add more
over the next year or so until we have all
of season seven through nine posted and available for your
listening pleasure. Now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter
of the day, and I want to go ahead and
thank Judith. Judas has been one of our Patreon supporters
since May of twenty twenty one, currently supporting the podcast
at the shamest level of four dollars or more per month.
Thank you so much for your support, and join us
back here tomorrow as Season sixteen gets underway with an
episode of the Adventures of the Fall, Can wear all right?
Speaker 10: Wearing? What's up?
Speaker 6: And I just lost the client?
Speaker 10: And I thought you were such a good detective. Yeah,
so does my client.
Speaker 6: That's why you hired me.
Speaker 10: What changed his mind for him?
Speaker 6: A bullet?
Speaker 10: You mean I got to go to work?
Speaker 6: Well, that's up to you. I'm just reporting the murder
like a good little citizen.
Speaker 10: When did it happen?
Speaker 6: Sometime last night?
Speaker 10: The name of the stiff Spencer Hollister two L's Where'll
I find him?
Speaker 6: Get away?
Speaker 40: Apartments penthas you there now, yep, we'll stay there. I'll
be right over all right. But as long as you're
taking down the vital statistics, wouldn't you like to know
the name of the murder, and you got it, got
a pretty good idea.
Speaker 10: I'm listening and wearing.
Speaker 40: Allis to hired up on a character named Jack Landis.
Landis was soliciting funds and a charity deal big funds.
Hallisa suspected he was a phony. He hired me to
check up, and I found out Holliston was right.
Speaker 6: Landis was a phony.
Speaker 5: Yesterday I gave Hollister the dope.
Speaker 40: Today I dropped ground to pick up the checkie pharmas
me and found him with a bulletin is inside and
you figure Lander's put it there now.
Speaker 1: In that final episode we played today, I referenced the
new theme, which we've now been playing for a little
less than fifteen years. We're going to hear the FSAR
segment that inspired our theme. It's a bit of an
extended edition of the theme with an AFRs announcer interjecting
a few words, and we'll go out on that from Boise, Idaho.
This is your host, Adam Graham, thanking you once again
for fifteen fantastic years and sign and.
Speaker 41: Off music was composed and conducted by Basil Adnam. Be
with us again next week when over most of these
same stations.
Speaker 6: We'll bring you at Novak for Hire.
Speaker 41: Hat Novak for Hire was previously released by ABC, the
American Broadcasting Company, for listeners in the United States and
rebroadcast for our men and women overseas. This is the
United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the Voice of Information
and Education, a