Billed as "America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator" and "the man with the action-packed expense account", Johnny Dollar managed, despite a less than enthusiastic response from the critics, to thrive and hang on until the bitter end. Cases would somehow be related to insurance (though sometimes the connection could be very tenuous) and were narrated through his disgustingly padded expense account reports. The show aired 1949-1962 and was the last show to go off when network radio drama in the U.S. ended. An audition disc starring Dick Powell was made in 1948 but was never aired. When the series began in earnest, the role was played by Charles Russell 1949-1950, Edmund O'Brien 1950-1952, and John Lund 1952-1954. The show then went on a one year hiatus, during which a second audition disc starring Gerald Mohr as Dollar was recorded, but again went unaired. Up until this point, the stories had been conventional private detective fare. Despite this, Dollar had a few traits that were atypical of most private detectives, in that he didn't have a regular sidekick in any shape or form and that he treated the police with respect rather than contempt. Major changes were applied to the character and the stories when Jack Johnstone took over production. The role was portrayed by Bob Bailey 1955-1960, Bob Readick 1960-1961, and Mandel Kramer 1961-1962. Most of the broadcasts were standard self-contained half-hour episodes, but during Bailey's first season, the stories switched to multi-parters told in (mostly) five fifteen minute installments, allowing for more developed stories. These serials are considered by most fans to be the best.
Aboard the S.S. Neilly Traitor
The Amelia Harwell Matter (O'Brien)
Dollar investigates the death of a wealthy and domineering old woman who was killed with poison.
The Amy Bradshaw Matter
The Archaeologist (O'Brien)
Dollar is hired to find a missing archaeologist who has been smuggling Egyptian artifacts into the States.
The Arrowcraft Matter (O'Brien)
Dollar goes to California to look into the sinkings of several pleasure yachts that were the same make.
The Barbara James Matter (O'Brien)
Dollar heads out to Denver to learn what happened to the much younger wife of a millionaire who went missing a few weeks ago.
The Bello-Horizonte Railroad Matter (O'Brien)
Dollar heads out to Brazil to investigate a railroad that has had an unusual number of accidents in the past couple of months.
The Bennett Matter (five-parter)
Dollar goes to San Francisco to investigate an office building fire that has the signs of being deliberate. The question becomes whether it was started by the nearly bankrupt owner or a disgruntled ex-employee who spent time in prison for embezzling.
The Big Scoop Matter (Bailey)
Dollar tries to keep a reporter who is on the trail of a national gambling syndicate alive but doesn't get much cooperation.
The Blackmail Matter (Lund)
Dollar investigates a murder that occurred at a gymnasium where the victim's illicit way of earning a living may have something to do with the motive.
The Blood River Matter (O'Brien)
Dollar goes to a village in the middle of nowhere to investigate the murder of a high price policy holder.
Bodyguard for Ann Connally
The Burning Car Matter (Bailey)
Dollar goes down to Florida to look into a possible case of arson at several lumber yards owned by the same person.
The Calgary Matter (O'Brien)
Dollar gets a call from a man who claims to have been in on an armored car job and wishes to turn himself in but does so in a roundabout way.
The Callicles Matter
The Captain's Table Matter (Readick)
A man that Dollar was hired to bodyguard is dead by the time he arrives. He must now find out if it was suicide or murder, and, if the latter, by whom.
The Chesapeake Fraud Matter (five-parter)
Dollar is sent to investigate a businessman's claim that he met and spoke to a man who had supposedly died in a boating accident five years ago.
The Clinton Matter
The Cronin Matter (five-parter)
An over-the-hill chorus girl holds a party where she plans to wear the Circle of Fire, a $500,000 necklace. The insurance company hires Dollar to make sure nothing happens to it.
The Cui Bono Matter
The Deadly Derelict Matter (Kramer)
Dollar is invited by a friend to go on a fishing trip in Florida. While at his friend's office, his curiosity is piqued when a call is received from a woman who wishes to not collect on the insurance on her sunken boat.
The Delectable Damsel Matter
Department Store Swindlers (Russell)
Dollar goes to Manhattan to track down a con man who has been posing as a salesman at various department stores.
The Desalles Matter (Bailey)
Dollar is sent to investigate the death of a wealthy industrialist who had supposedly fallen off his yacht and drowned. But the sloppy police investigation leaves room for the possibility of murder.
The Duke Red Matter (five-parter)
Dollar goes to San Pedro to check on a claim for a racehorse that allegedly had to be destroyed. The fact that the horse was cremated before he could examine it as well as the overall fishiness of the whole mess has his paranoia in overdrive.
Earl Chadwick Matter
The Earned Income Matter (Readick)
Dollar is hired to investigate a relatively petty robbery as it involves circumstances that the policy holder doesn't wish to be publicized.
The Ellen Dear Matter (Bailey)
Dollar is sent to Los Angeles to check on a jeweler with a dodgy reputation who has just insured some gems he recently obtained to make sure that he doesn't pull any tricks.
The Fiddle Faddle Matter (Kramer)
Dollar believes that the murder of a violin collector and the theft of one of his violins a few days earlier may be connected.
The Fishing Boat Matter
The Haiti Adventure Matter
The Hartford Alliance Matter (O'Brien)
Dollar investigates the arson of an office building by a neurotic teenager who claims to have been hired by one of the business owners to do it.
The Henderson Matter (five-parter)
Dollar goes to Montana to determine if a policy holder's death from falling out a window was accident, suicide, or murder, and has considerable difficulty getting any details from the locals.
The Henry J. Unger Matter (O'Brien)
A man who went to jail for insurance fraud thanks to Dollar has just been released and plans to frame him for the murder of a former girlfriend.
The Imperfect Crime Matter (Kramer)
Dollar checks out a successful whodunit writer who may be planning the perfect murder with his much younger wife as the victim.
The Jack Madigan Matter
The James Clayton Matter (Lund)
Dollar is contacted by a doctor who is worried by the fact that the apparently psychotic husband of one of his patients has threatened to kill him.
The Kirby Will Matter (Bailey)
Dollar goes to Nevada to look into the death of a retired businessman. The autopsy reveals what appeared to be a rattlesnake bite was faked and any one of the insincere relatives who have come to hear the reading of the will could be behind it.
The Laird Douglas-Douglas of Heatherscote Matter
The Latro Dactum Matter (Readick)
Dollar is hired to look into the potential theft of the research papers of an eccentric entymologist on poisons.
Little Man Who Wasn't All There
The London Matter (O'Brien)
Dollar is hired by the Treasury Department to investigate the possible smuggling of $500,000 worth of narcotics in the trunk of a film star heading to Britain.
The Lone Wolf Matter (Readick)
Dollar is hired by a respectable broker who is being blackmailed by an old acquaintance who helped him gain his starting capital through illicit means.
The Lorcoe Diamond Matter
The Lorelei Matter (Kramer)
A paranoid calls and demands that Dollar protect him from murder. The insurance company insists that he do so to keep him from cancelling his seven figure policy. But by the time he arrives, the man is murdered.
The Low Tide Matter (Kramer)
Dollar is sent to check on two business partners who haven't been getting along who are on a fishing trip. He's to make sure that the younger one doesn't arrange an "accident" for the older one to cash in on their huge insurance policy.
The Markham Matter (Bailey)
Dollar looks into an abnormality concerning a premium payment and learns that the policy holder hasn't been seen by anyone in six months.
The McCormick Matter (five-parter)
A dying convict tells Dollar that his recently released cellmate may have the loot of a big jewel heist salted away somewhere and is now going to recover it.
The Meek Memorial Matter (Bailey)
Dollar looks into the disappearance of a rare early draft of the Gettysburg Address.
The Michelle Marsh Matter (Russell)
Dollar goes to Boston to search for a missing policy holder who was last seen leaving her apartment with a tall, dark man.
The Missing Masterpiece Matter (O'Brien)
Dollar goes to Boston to locate a stolen Old Master that was insured for a quarter million dollars.
The Missing Mouse Matter (Bailey)
Dollar searches for an alleged singing mouse insured for five thousand dollars which has disappeared.
Murder is a Merry-go-round
The Nora Faulkner Matter (O'Brien)
Dollar investigates the application of a life insurance policy for $200,000 by a woman who was instructed to do so by a psychic advisor.
The Oldest Gag Matter (Kramer)
Dollar is called in to investigate the death of an industrialist that is apparently suicide. However, his three benificiaries insist it was murder, even though all of them would have sufficient motive for doing so.
The Old-Fashioned Murder Matter (Kramer)
Dollar heads to Colorado where a company rep believes that one of the heirs of a policy holder is planning to commit murder.
Parakoff Policy
The Perilous Padre Matter (Kramer)
Dollar is invited down to Texas, where a fellow claims to have found the treasure from a sunken Spaish galleon. Naturally, this news also attracts some rather unsavory characters.
The Placebo Matter (Kramer)
Dollar is hired by an elderly Southern Colonel who believes that his much younger high-strung wife is planning to poison him and cash in on his death.
The Plantation Matter
Port au Prince Matter
The Port O'Call Matter
The Purple Doll Matter (Readick)
An elderly miser is being targeted for his stash of money. But is it by his high-living niece or his ex-safecracker housekeeper?
The Queen Anne Pistols Matter (O'Brien)
Dollar is hired to deliver a pair of antique pistols that have been subject to recent theft attempts. But the recipient refuses to take them.
The Quiet Killer Matter (Readick)
Dollar investigates a retired stripper whose two previous rich husbands died under "mysterious circumstances" when their fortunes dwindled and is now on number three.
Racehorse Pile Driver
The Rassmussen Matter (Bailey)
Dollar searches for the wife of a policy holder who was killed abroad and had married her in a Vegas wedding.
The Rat Pack Matter (Readick)
Dollar investigates a gang of bored kids that are hotwiring and wrecking cars in a small town.
The Red Mystery Matter
Ricardo Amerigo Matter
Robert W. Perry
The Royal Street Matter (Bailey)
Dollar heads to New Orleans to find out why an antiques dealer refuses to collect on his insurance after a fire in his shop.
The Silent Queen Matter
The Silver Blue Matter
The Simple Simon Matter (Readick)
Dollar investigates what looks like a suicide disguised as a car accident that might be murder.
The Squared Circle Matter (Bailey)
Dollar looks into the possibility that a boxer who is a bit past his prime is being set up to be killed in the ring by his manager.
The Stolen Portrait
The Sudden Wealth Matter
The Syndicate Matter (Lund)
Dollar goes to Texas to investigate the deaths of four workers in an oil boomtown who were under a group policy and were killed in the same manner.
The Templeton Matter (Bailey)
Dollar goes to boston to investigate the burglary of a jewelry store where the perps apparently knew the safe combination.
The Todd Matter
The Touch Up Matter (Readick)
A charming gatecrasher at a high society party makes off with a couple million dollars of jewelry. Dollar is suspicious when the recovery of the jewels seems too easy.
The Two's a Crowd Matter (Readick)
A robber that Dollar got put in jail has escaped and apparently killed a man he robbed shortly thereafter. Dollar must not only find the robber but the victim's revenge hungry nephew as well.
Vacation in Fairfield County
The Virtuous Mobster Matter
The Well of Trouble Matter (Kramer)
While picking up a bonus from his most recent employer, Dollar notices that the cash payment of an eccentric's premium contains several bills from a bank robbery. He pays a visit to the fellow to learn how he came by it.
The Woodword Manilla Matter
The Wrong Doctor Matter (Kramer)
Dollar is called down to Texas to help investigate a heroin smuggling operation from across the border.
The Yak Mystery Matter (Readick)
Dollar heads to the Montana backwoods to determine if a high-price policy holder is in fact dead.
The Yankee Pride Matter
The Youthful Millionaire (O'Brien)
Dollar goes out to California to search for an investor in an oil drilling operation who has gone missing.