Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
going to bring you this week's episode of Yours Truly
Johnny Dollar. But first, if you are enjoying the podcast,
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From September fourteenth, nineteen fifty eight, here is the wayward
Diamonds manner.
Speaker 2: From Hollywood. It's time now for.
Speaker 3: Jenny Dollar.
Speaker 4: Peter Henley at Western Maritime and Property.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, mister Henley, I found this.
Speaker 4: Message to call you. You still in town at the
Beverly Hilton.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's right.
Speaker 4: I thought you'd be back in Hartford by now.
Speaker 3: When I can enjoy a spot like this on expensive
count What this California weather? The swimming pool here at
the hotel?
Speaker 4: Wait, no, no, wait, you say on expensive count.
Speaker 3: Why sure, goll it you cleared.
Speaker 5: Up that metaphorse, you proved conclusively that Randolph Merrill did
not lose his yacht and the explosion of the sinking faith.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 5: And incidentally, as you anticipated, the yacht was found in
a small Mexican seaport, all ready to be rebuilt and
repaid to thoroughly disguise. Now, mister Henley, Oh, by the way,
in spite of his earlier vindictiveness, Merril has decided to
plead guilty and threw himself.
Speaker 3: On the mercy of the court as he signed a confession. Well, no,
then I'll bet he changes his tune by the time
he goes to trial. Oh sure, that's an old trick
to slow things up gain time. Are you having missus
Merrill held as an accessory?
Speaker 5: Merrell has made and signed a statement completely clearing is
so hold her now would only complicate matters.
Speaker 3: Hanley, Either you haven't yet read my expense account, or
I forgot to, or I forgot to tell you what
tipped me off that that bear was trying to pull
something on us?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: What was it for jewels? That you'd ensured it for
one hundred thousand dollars. Oh no, oh, yes, Hanley, that
jewelry Missus Merrill showed us was fake paste a dollar
You you still think I how to go back to
Hartfred No, no, no.
Speaker 5: No, no no, not until you found out where the
real jewels are.
Speaker 4: Can you come down to the office, Misdella right away?
Speaker 3: Sure if you like?
Speaker 4: No, no, no, no no, I'll drive out there to
your hotel.
Speaker 3: Whatever you say.
Speaker 4: Yes, I'll drive out there. I'll be there right away.
Speaker 3: Scotch and so to be all right? What you suddenly
sound as though you could use it?
Speaker 2: Drink Bob Bailey and the Exciting Adventures of the Man
with the Action Packed Expense Account America's Fabulous freelance insurance Investigators.
Speaker 3: Truly Johnny Dollar. Expense account submitted by Special Investigator Johnny
Dollar the Western Maritime and Property Insurance Company, Los Angeles, California,
following is account of expenses encourage during my investigation of
the Wayward Diamonds matter. Expense account had a one, two
dollars and a quarter for drinks in my room at
the Beverly Hilton. By the time room service had delivered them,
collected the tip and left. Peter Hanley arrived.
Speaker 6: Yeah, come in, I make no bones about it, mister Doner.
I had completely forgotten about those jewels of missus Merrill.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I can't say that I blame you. We
were so intent on exposing the so called singing in
that yacht exactly. All right, all right, relax here, come
on now, sit down and relax while we map out
a plan of action.
Speaker 6: Thank you. After you hung up, I suddenly remembered that
you had mentioned the fact that those jewels were fake
to missus Merrill herself.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right, all.
Speaker 6: Right, Well, well, how did you know that they were fakes?
Speaker 3: Miss Donna? You remember when we sat in their living
room out in Westwood while they gave us that cock
and bull story about the yacht going down. Yes, yes,
I remember, all right, She handed me the jewels to
look at. They kind of absent mindedly drag one of
the so called diamonds across the glass top of the
coffee table and realized it didn't scratch it. Now did
any of the others, which proved they weren't diamonds at all,
but some kind of imitations. Look, why kid about it, Hanley.
Up to that point, they'd had me believing their story
about losing that yacht.
Speaker 6: You weren't alone, Dollar, You weren't alone. But now I
suppose we'd better call in the police about that jewelry.
Why the police to see if they can find the original?
Speaker 7: Now?
Speaker 3: Look, look, the meryals are a clever pair. They proved
that when they almost got away with one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars claim against you for a boat that
didn't sink after all.
Speaker 6: Very true, Dollar, very true. So you can be.
Speaker 3: Pretty sure they didn't take the diamonds out of that
jewelry and just hand them over to some fence around here.
Speaker 6: Yes, you're right. Later, I suppose she figured to lose
the fakes, have them stolen, and then claim the insurance.
Speaker 3: Yeah, probably, if we hadn't had the old man for
the yacht fraud. You say she hasn't been held.
Speaker 6: No, but I see now that she should have been,
in spite of her husband's statement that she was completely
innocent of any complicity in the whole ski.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think she should have. You know, it's going
to take a lot of money to defend him, and
with him in the clink, she's the logicale to raise.
Speaker 6: It with the diamonds, the real diamond huh, that's my guess.
Very well, then I'll go over to the police headquarters
right away, charge it with fraud, you know, because of
the diamonds themselves, and see that she is held until
she tells us where we can recover them.
Speaker 3: And you better get evidence of fraud first. The fact
that she's substituted paced with the real diamonds in that door, well,
a lot of people do that, never wear the real
stuff in public unless they have a lot of guards around. Well,
even though, no, Hanny, you've got to prove that she's
actually got rid of the real ones or tries to.
You see, I don't think she's had a chance to yet.
Speaker 4: Why not?
Speaker 3: No, no, listen, I'm running up a nice fat item
for you on my expense account. What kind of an item, Well,
so far it only amounts to one dred hundred and
fifty dollars what for fee to a private detective agency
somebody at the tailor, twenty four hours a day.
Speaker 6: In the hope of finding out what she's doing with
the genuine stones.
Speaker 3: It's more important to find out how she'll try to
dispose of them.
Speaker 6: But you may have done that sometime ago.
Speaker 3: I don it Why it's only recently they've needed dough. Granted,
they had two plans, the phony singing of the yacht
and later, if that worked, a phony loss of their
phony diamonds. But why later to run them both together?
It looks suspicious. What's more, apparently saving the jewels made
the yacht accident look legitimate.
Speaker 6: Yes, I suppose, sure, I remember this.
Speaker 3: She made a big thing of having saved her jewelry.
Speaker 6: When we still believed the wreck was legitimate.
Speaker 3: That's right. She made a big point of displaying those
phonies to us because she wanted to be sure we'd
not only see them, but believe they were the originals,
that we'd be witnessed to the fact she still had them.
Speaker 6: Yes, I see, but you must recall that you finally
recognized them as peace.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like you and I almost forgot about it, simply
because they had nothing directly to do with the matters
at hand, And she may think that we haven't forgotten.
I mean, I doubt it. The point is now she
needs money. He saw to it that she stayed free
to raising.
Speaker 6: The diamonds are probably her only way of getting it.
Speaker 3: Which is why I put a detective on her. Oh
excuse me, Johnny Dollar. Yeah what.
Speaker 8: Well?
Speaker 9: Hot it?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 8: Well, look I'll be right over.
Speaker 3: Oh that detective I was talking about, it's just lost
his job.
Speaker 6: I don't understand.
Speaker 3: He just came to came to. Yeah, it's the home
of missus Merrill. He's in her home, yes, but she
isn't She's gone.
Speaker 2: Act two of yours, truly, Johnny Dollar in a moment.
Speaker 10: Although most men by nature don't feel in a comeba
mood much of the time, there are some who just
can't get enough of a good fight, particularly if it
is a good sound reason for it. In July nineteen hundred,
when American fighting men were protecting the rights and liberty
of their fellow countrymen during the Boxer Uprising, the battle
was a furiously fought affair. Army Private Robert H. Pon Schlick,
serving with Company C of the ninth United States Infantry Division,
was in the thick of the Frakis. Although he had
been wounded previously while carrying a wounded comrade to a
place of safety, he rejoined his command, which partly occupied
an exposed position.
Speaker 4: On a dike.
Speaker 10: Private pons Schlick remained there after his company had been withdrawn,
and in spite of the hail of bullets around him,
single handedly continued to fire into the enemy ranks. Oblivious
to the fact that he was a conspicuous target, he
refused to leave the fight until he was literally shot
off his position by the enemy. Private Robert Pont Schlick
earned the Medal of Honor for valiant devotion to duty
and added heroic background to the Code of Conduct of
American Fighting Men.
Speaker 2: And now Act two of yours, Truly, Johnny Dollar and
the Wayward Diamonds.
Speaker 3: Matter in separate cars. I still had my rental job,
Pete Hanley, the insurance man, and I drove out to Westwood,
just beyond Beverly Hills.
Speaker 6: Yeah. Sure, that detective was here at the Mellow home
when he called.
Speaker 3: Well, that's what he said.
Speaker 2: But if he was supposed to simply tail it.
Speaker 3: Come on, come on, Yeah, that's right, and I take it.
Just Sam Benjamin, Holy smoke, what happened to you? Where's
missus Merrill? Well? I told you on Aphomus the dollars
she's gone, and the idea of where.
Speaker 4: You matter.
Speaker 6: If I said I don't feel good.
Speaker 3: No, no, go ahead, go on. So all right, Joel said,
Now what happened?
Speaker 11: Well, I was walking up and down the street. Ha,
you know, real casual. So it's not there, rosinal.
Speaker 3: You've been walking up and down in front of this
house all morning.
Speaker 10: All morning.
Speaker 11: But like I say, real casuals, Where did you ever
learn to be a detective?
Speaker 3: Some correspondence course on.
Speaker 8: A luck dollar?
Speaker 11: You shouldn't talk like that, I.
Speaker 3: Resented, Okay, all right, go ahead and resent it. But
prowling up and down in front.
Speaker 8: Of the house.
Speaker 11: My brother was a very good detectiator. Yeah, and if
you didn't think I was a good operator, if he
wouldn't be all right, what happened, Well, I see it
come out the back door, you know, missus Merlin wow,
And I say it go out and she opens up
the garage and why were you my good luck? I
just happened to be in front of the driveway about then,
so real casual. I lean over and I start tying
up my shoe laces, you know, so she won't get suspicious,
go on, go on. Well, well she gets in the
car and she gives me a look. But that's all
so I figures me be as a casual lull. She's
not wise to what I'm doing around here.
Speaker 3: You know, I bet she was. But that's where you're wrong, Dollar, because.
Speaker 11: Somehow she must have figured it out, even with me
being as a.
Speaker 3: Casual all right, all right, what happened?
Speaker 9: Dollar?
Speaker 11: She comes bown out of garage so fast.
Speaker 3: I didn't have hard She casually ran you down, so it.
Speaker 11: Was casual about it by the time picked myself up.
In the final I got ay bust the bone. She's
down the street and around the corner.
Speaker 3: What kind of a car was she driving? What was
the license number?
Speaker 10: I don't know.
Speaker 3: You don't know well, whoever assigned you to this job?
Speaker 8: I told you my brother.
Speaker 11: Don't you will say anything about my brother.
Speaker 3: Did you get into this house? My order said, if
she made me move, I was to phone you. I
figured the nearest phones in here. How did you get in?
Speaker 8: Well? I looked around us.
Speaker 11: You want the back windows?
Speaker 3: Have any authority to enter this house or warrant?
Speaker 1: Maybe?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 11: But I have my orders to phone you just as
soon as I couldn't. Like I said, I figured the
nearest boat.
Speaker 8: You want to see my owner?
Speaker 3: No, I don't. Well, look see here, how you look?
You can take those back to your office. And shove
them in your darling brother's face. I don't forget to
tell him your fire.
Speaker 11: Oh no, Look, Dollar, anybody can make one of the
mistake you asked me.
Speaker 3: You made them all. Now go on, get out of
that chair and get out of here. Ipose that car
that's parked right across the street, I suppose that's yours,
So that she.
Speaker 11: Made a move I could follow without wasting no time.
Speaker 3: Real casual, so she wouldn't know you were following her car.
R go on, get out. Oh you was really serious
about you being admired. You bet I was. And you
can tell your brother he and his agency are Oh,
go on, I'll settle with him later. Look, I'm gonna
used to be a treater like this. And when I, oh, brother, well, Hanny,
it looks like I called him the wrong detective agents.
Speaker 6: Yes, I'm afraid so. And I suppose you and I
have no more right to be in this house and
that idiot. So perhaps we better leave.
Speaker 3: Yeah, sure, but not until you get on the phone
and call the Department of Motive Vehicles find out from
then the year making model of missus Nancy Merrill's car.
Speaker 6: No better, still, I can I can call my office,
your office. Yes, we issued the insurance on that car.
Speaker 3: Oh good. Meantime, Rather than just sit here and twiddle
my thumbs, I'm gonna have a look around.
Speaker 6: But dalla, if I were simply being here as illegal, would.
Speaker 3: You stop worrying about it and get on that phone.
In the bedroom, I found the jewel box, all right,
but no sign of the jewels. However, in a desk
I did find a receipt, a receided bill as a
work done by a jeweler in Westwood Village. The amount
of the bill, yeah, it was more than enough to
cover the substituting phonies for the diamonds in that jewelry.
So when Hanley got the description of Nancy Merrill's car,
I sent him over to West La Police headquarters to
have my pals over there put out an APB on it.
Then I hopped into my own car and headed for
the jewelry store in Westwood. You know something, if I'd
had any idea of what was waiting for me there,
believe me, I'd never have gone alone.
Speaker 2: Act three of yours, truly, Johnny Dollar.
Speaker 9: In a moment, Our flag now numbers fifty stars, and
behind each star there stands yet another flag representing one
of the fifty states. Kentucky's state flag is dark blue
with the seal of the Commonwealth and circle by a
wreath of golden rod, the state flower. Within the seal,
two friends embrace. They're right, hands clasped. They're left resting
on each other's shoulder, their feet on the verge of
a precipice, which illustrates the motto beneath them, united we stand,
Divided we fall. Kentucky's state flag, the flag of the
fifteenth state to enter the Union, was adopted on March
twenty sixth, nineteen hundred.
Speaker 2: And eighteen, and now at three of yours truly, Johnny
Dollar and the Wayward Diamonds matter.
Speaker 3: Howard's Hillcrest Jewelry is a small but very exclusive shop
on Wayburn Avenue in the Westwood Village section of Los Angeles. There,
with the help of receipt I found at Nancy Merrill's desk,
I hope to get on the track of the missing diamonds.
I entered the snooty little shop and asked for the owner.
Speaker 6: I'm sorry, my good man, but mister hod It is engaged.
Speaker 2: Was one of our important clients.
Speaker 3: While I'm here on rather important business.
Speaker 2: Well, lets you care to leave your name, and he
wishes to see you.
Speaker 3: Perhaps we shall call you missus Smith.
Speaker 12: How delightful.
Speaker 7: And he liked the jeweled color we selected for him.
Speaker 4: She's just a lovely puppy.
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 4: He's the favorite of all my doggy friends, just as
you're my favorite.
Speaker 7: This is my Kenworth.
Speaker 11: You have no idea I would write you the day that.
Speaker 4: You drop him.
Speaker 8: Oop.
Speaker 13: No, no, please, Nancy, my dear, my pet. When I
removed the genuine diamonds from your various pieces and replaced
them with paste, it was with the distinct understand.
Speaker 14: I know, dear, I know, But now I have to
have the real stones put back.
Speaker 7: Why, as I understood, it was in order to the
fake jem's stolen so that you could collect.
Speaker 15: On how of course, it was, of course, Howard a
plan to claim that the yacht exploded failed. Randolph was
in jail.
Speaker 7: He didn't involve you in that, guy, must say, rather
foolish plot.
Speaker 14: Oh no, but I have to go through the motions
of getting him legal help.
Speaker 7: Excellent, my dear. I hope they keep him in jail.
Howard Randolph has stood in the way of our romance
too long, my.
Speaker 14: Pad, Howard, please listen. Because of the yacht, they sent
an insurance investigator out here.
Speaker 3: Investigator, yes, a mister Johnny Dollar Galla.
Speaker 8: Good heavens you know him. I know about him.
Speaker 3: I don't like this.
Speaker 15: And he found that these jewels I have now are paced.
Now you've got to put the original stones back so
that when he sees them again he'll think he was mistaken.
Speaker 3: Impossible.
Speaker 7: I've already disposed of them through various connections.
Speaker 8: Why did you show him those faces?
Speaker 14: Well?
Speaker 15: I thought I thought you thought wrong.
Speaker 8: Your stupid wench.
Speaker 12: You may have opened the door to investigation of some
of the other papers I've been doing you and other
customers to beat your insurance companies.
Speaker 15: But I didn't say.
Speaker 8: Oh, of course you didn't.
Speaker 7: If do ever connects me with those imitations.
Speaker 15: Oh dear, how I know? And if they ever find
out that the lost you fake here in the store
that you collected so much on Nancy.
Speaker 7: If they ever discover that that was faked, I'll go
up for life thanks to you.
Speaker 12: Oh No, I could kill you for being such an
I didn't know.
Speaker 8: I didn't really don't know anything.
Speaker 14: How it pleased, Oh, anything anything I can said?
Speaker 10: Shut up, Howard?
Speaker 8: Will you be quiet? I got to think this thing out.
Speaker 12: I knew from the beginning of that stupid trick with
the yacht wouldn't work out.
Speaker 14: I told you so, but it fooled the police and
the coast guard. How are we to know the insurance
company would send that Johnny Dollar out here?
Speaker 12: You stop talking about him. We've got to figure our
way out of this mess. Who else besides Dollar knows
about the phony jewels.
Speaker 8: I made up for you?
Speaker 14: And Howard accept my husband of correct?
Speaker 8: Are you sure?
Speaker 14: How could they know?
Speaker 8: What if your husband talks?
Speaker 14: Oh he doesn't, dare Don't you see he's the one
who sent me here to get the stones back, So
the Dollar can't prove he saw the imitation.
Speaker 12: And I tell you I can't get them back. They're
probably scan it all over the country by now.
Speaker 14: But don't you see, unless we can show them to him,
the real ones, I mean, show them to this Johnny.
Speaker 8: Donald, No, it's impossible.
Speaker 15: So that means only one thing, Nancy, replacing the fakes
with some other genuine.
Speaker 8: Stones, don't Nancy. It means that I.
Speaker 2: Have to get rid of this Dollar.
Speaker 8: They're done that's right.
Speaker 15: You'd kill him.
Speaker 8: Yes, Nancy, kill him if I can find him.
Speaker 3: I'll save you the trouble of looking for me.
Speaker 8: How it, Dollar?
Speaker 3: And is that the gun you're planning to kill me with?
Speaker 6: Yes, that's right, And I think i'd better kill you
right now, Darling.
Speaker 3: Please, I'll put that thing down, Howard. You're not gonna
shoot with customers out fry.
Speaker 7: Private vault is just outside this back door of my office.
Speaker 8: Dollar, and it's open in there. The sound of a
shot won't be heard out front.
Speaker 3: No kidding, no kidding, all right, walk of that little door.
Speaker 8: Walk.
Speaker 3: You don't really leave me much choice to you.
Speaker 8: I'll open it carefully, No tricks.
Speaker 3: Tricks, put a gun on my back?
Speaker 7: All right?
Speaker 8: Open the door, go ahead.
Speaker 3: It seems stuck. Maybe you'd better open it.
Speaker 8: I said, no tricks. You open it?
Speaker 15: What you doing?
Speaker 8: You bet?
Speaker 2: I do?
Speaker 8: Go ahead, Dolla.
Speaker 3: He may be sorry for this, you know.
Speaker 8: Will you quit sauling and open.
Speaker 3: It and go on?
Speaker 8: I tell them I'm not to be disturbed. I'll see
them in a few minutes.
Speaker 16: Please go on.
Speaker 3: The police bless Peter Han.
Speaker 6: No, yes, I don't, Dona.
Speaker 4: Are you all right?
Speaker 6: Those shots like Johnny Hi Pete. Oh, thank heavens.
Speaker 16: Yeah, looks like he's okay, mister Hanley. But dollar one
under the sun. Did you do to our friend Howard here?
Speaker 3: Well, we had little argument, Sergeant. I'll tell you all
about it, and then you can haul him off to
the Clinton.
Speaker 16: Oh hey, listen, if you've got something on Howard Howard,
you'll be our friend for life.
Speaker 3: Sergeant, I've got plenty good.
Speaker 16: Because brother, we've been trying to catch up with him
for years.
Speaker 3: Incidentally, have you got to sell for missus merrill to you?
Speaker 1: Bet?
Speaker 3: We have expense account, had him two fifty dollars in
legal fees to make a deposition, so I won't have
to hang around for a trial or two or three.
And I have a sneaking suspicion that Howard and Marilyn,
his wife, are going to have a long long time
to think things over. Expense account total including additional mileage
on my rental car and the trip back to Hayfred
two hundred and eighteen dollars. Even yours, truly, shiny.
Speaker 2: Dollar, our star will return in just a moment.
Speaker 10: There are some men who, after being practically pushed into
the service, find their element and commit heroic deeds. Frank
Luke was that sort of young man. Soon after the
United States entered World War One, Luke was taunted by
his patriotic family into joining up. He was commissioned a
second lieutenant after completing his flight training with the Signal
Core Air Service, that small beginning of today's Mighty Air Force.
Lieutenant Luke found it difficult to accept the discipline so
necessary in the military up to France, and was assigned
to the English SPADs. His attitude worried his commanding officer,
but Luke's performance in the air didn't. In less than
two months in aerial combat, he accounted for seven enemy
aircraft and earned himself the nickname of balloon buster for
knocking down eleven or twelve of those menaces to the
ground troops the observation balloons. For his gallant action in
the face of great danger and overwhelming odds, he was
awarded two Distinguished Service Crosses and the Medal of Honor.
Shortly before the end of the war, Lieutenant Frank Luke
made his last heroic combat flight. After having just returned
from a sizzling air battle. He refueled his spad and
took off in an extra duty mission pursued by eight
enemy planes. He shot down three balloons, he was wounded,
and his plane was so badly damaged in the action
that he had to make a forced landing in a
German cemetery. Perhaps the irony of it struck him at
the time. When called upon to surrender, he preferred to
open fire with his automatic and fight to the death.
Though he was only twenty one years of age. Lieutenant
Frank Luke may have had trouble adjusting to the military life,
but when he did, he was a gallant fighter and
a credit to his country.
Speaker 2: Now here's our star to tell you about next week's story.
Speaker 3: Next week a quiet little fishing fear on the coast
of California. Only they call it the peer of Death.
Join us, won't you? Yours truly? Johnny Dollar?
Speaker 2: Yours truly, Johnny Dollar? Starrying Bob Bailey originates in Hollywood
and is written, produced, and directed by Jack Johnstone.
Speaker 8: Heard in our cast were.
Speaker 2: Paula Winslow, then right, Jack Prushian, Jack Edwards, Marvin Miller,
and Joseph Curns.
Speaker 8: Be sure to join us next week.
Speaker 2: Same time and station, or another exciting story of yours truly,
Johnny Dollar. This is Roy Rowan speaking. This is the
United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. This episode was frustrating. Essentially, the core of
the story is everyone being incompetent, starting with mister Hanley.
So let me get this straight. You're going off and
working with prosecutors and cutting deals and you haven't bothered
to read the investigator's report. Now, Johnny, to his credit,
tried to be nice and raised the possibility, which he
had to know was nonsense, that he had left out
of his report the detail about the jewels. But when
he said, either you haven't read the report, I said,
but then Peter, and Johnny was saying, or I forgot
to mention about this detail, but Hanley interrupted him and
said I haven't even while Johnny continued on with the sentence.
So this all comes back to him not doing just
basic due diligence. Now, I do think in another context,
the private investigator who was there as nepotism could have worked.
He would have been perfectly fine comic relief if the
rest of the story held up. And then we get
to the jewelry store, where Johnny is able to slip
back into the private areas of the jewelry store, because
why should the jewelry store clerks be any more competent
than anyone else in this story. And he gets to
overhear mister Howard and missus Merrill discussing all of their
sins and felonies allowed to each other for expositional purposes,
as people tend to do, before mister Howard decides that
he is going to take out Johnny Dollar. And this
is the next part was something I could not relate
to because if I happened to overhear someone saying that
I needed to be killed and they were brandishing.
Speaker 17: A gun, I wouldn't walk in and say, hey, it's me.
That's not something I would do. And Johnny talked about
how he should have brought someone along. Really, all he
needed to bring along was a god. But I think
Johnstone recognized that if he he just captured the criminals
after overhearing them exposit, then that wouldn't be dramatically satisfying.
But then you have the portion where Johnny points out
that mister Howard wasn't going to shoot him because his
customers would hear. And then mister Howard points out that
he has a vault that sound proof and instructs Johnny
to go back to that vault, and then Johnny says
something that actually got me to audibly react to the
show yell at the show. He said, well, I guess
you haven't left me any choice, and I said, yes,
he has. Don't go to the vault.
Speaker 1: There is one place in this entire building where he
can kill you and not be detected. If you don't
want to get shot, don't go there. There are ways
you can make that work dramatically. If say there was
somebody else who might get hurt, your hero might go
along with it because he's scared of doing something that
gets somebody else hurt, but you just got the criminals there,
or if somebody is panicking and not thinking clearly and logically,
but Johnny was. Johnny understood that if Howard killed him,
all of Howard's customers would hear it, and that gets
canceled out as soon as Howard tells him there is
one portion of the building where I can safely kill you,
And Johnny's reaction is, well, I guess I don't have
any choice but to go there. Is there some rule
of insurance investigators that maybe was around in nineteen fifty
eight that's been lost to the ages. That says, if
a man with a gun orders you to go to
a soundproof room where he can kill you without being detected,
you have to go there. That's the only logical explanation.
And then of course at the end Johnny gets bailed
out when the police show up, which is a favorite
ending of Jack Johnstone for these sort of stories, which
I don't think reflects particularly well on the hero. I mean,
maybe it's a pro law enforcement message, support your local police,
save an insurance investigator, but Johnstone uses it way too much,
and I think, particularly with the private detective, you get
an idea that this episode was intended to be comedic,
but I feel like and Johnstone can tell comedy episodes
that work. And I think when Johnstone writes Johnny Doller
and it's actually amusing and funny, it tends to be
eccentric characters interacting with Johnny and Johnny responding in a
believable way that leads to humor that actually works. This
just makes everyone the Keystone Cops. So what are the
weaker episodes so far?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 1: Listener comments and feedback now and we start over on
Spotify with some comments regarding the Malibu Mystery manner, Harrison
riots to tonight the part of mister Dopkin will be
played by mister Dopkin. Yeah, that's an interesting quirk of
Jack Johnstone. He didn't have actors play themselves, but he
had them play characters with their same name. And I
guess with everything that he was doing, he just didn't
have time to give everyone character an original name. That's
the best explanation I can come up with. Mechanics sixty
six rights good one. And then regarding the Neil Brear
matter Encore, it says a really good episode, it seemed
about fifty percent longer than the non serialized episodes. Well
about that. One thing with the pre Bailey stories, most
of them, was that you had a pretty good space
to tell a story in. If you were dealing with
a sustaining episode which was network sponsored, you often had
something like twenty six minutes to tell the story compared
to maybe nineteen, you know, not counting commercials, the music, PSAs, whatever,
and that extra time really does make a difference. I
personally tend to prefer the serial episodes and the first
first season of Bailey, but then after that I tend
to prefer the O'Brien and Lund episodes over the later ones,
just because they had more rooms and tended to be
better stories. Over on Patreon, Jeff wrote, I know O'Brien
was Johnny Dollar for two and a half years, but
this is the first time I've heard an O'Brien episode.
I know I'm beyond on this front, Lowell. It was
interesting to hear his vocal style difference from Bob Bailey.
At this point, all of the O'Brien episodes are probably
off of our main feed, but if anyone is interested
to go and listen to past Johnny dollars, I'd encourage
you to check out our great detectives yours truly Jony
Dollar feed, which has all of the Johony Dollar episodes
in it with all of the various actors. It's quite extensive,
but thanks so much. Appreciate the comment, Jeff. And then
over on our listener survey on Blueberry, Fred Wright's joy
Dollar gives me a good listening e varience when I
can't sleep well, So glad to be of assistance. Fred,
And then from YouTube a couple more comments on the
Mala Boo mystery matter James says, great episode, and Mildred says,
I agree, well, thank you so much, appreciate the comments.
Now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day,
and I want to thank MJ Patreon supporter since February
twenty eighteen, currently supporting the podcast at the rookie level
of two dollars or more per month. Thanks so much
for your support, MJ. And that will do it for today.
If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your
favorite podcast software and be sure to rate and review
the podcast wherever you download it from. We will be
back next Friday with another episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.
But join us back here tomorrow as we give way
to the great adventurers of old time radio and we
start the first of our Coda stories to Cloak and Dagger,
where we will be bringing you oss.
Speaker 3: Where scissis shopping, knives and scissor shopping. Knives and scissor shopping.
Speaker 14: Can you shop in sculpting.
Speaker 4: Tools anything, Madame?
Speaker 3: Scissor shopping, Knives and scissor shopping. How much I have
not chopping chisels like these in a long time.
Speaker 14: I met Martin an hour ago oh, I can.
Speaker 8: Do them all right.
Speaker 3: Where newspaper stand near the railroad yard.
Speaker 6: Well, how much ten francs each, Madame? Ten francs twenty
cartrain six am tomorrow.
Speaker 8: That's ridiculous, how man must live.
Speaker 3: But where Jama all right here?
Speaker 8: Thank you, Madame.
Speaker 3: I will shop in them like new ten frogs each out.
Speaker 1: Hope you'll be with us then in the meantime. Send
your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot nette,
follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho.
This is your host, Adam graham Son and off