Detectives on the Air

Originally Aired: April 27, 1954 Johnny Dollar #212, "The Frustrated Phoenix Matter," Johnny Dollar heads to Chicago to investigate a beneficiary change request on a $25,000 insurance policy held by Martin Venneberg, a once-brilliant novelist whose literary star burned out twenty years ago. The routine assignment becomes a murder case when Venneberg is found shot to death in his squalid one-room a...

Originally Aired: April 20, 1954 Johnny Dollar #211, "The Nathan Swing Matter," Johnny Dollar travels to Los Angeles to investigate the murder of Nathan Swing, a small-time bookie whose body was found floating in the harbor with two bullet wounds. Sergeant Matthews of Central Division Homicide briefs Dollar on the case and points to a suspicious connection: powerful racketeer Jimmy Durando may be...

Originally Aired: April 13, 1954 Johnny Dollar #210, "The Magnolia And Honeysuckle Matter," finds the freelance insurance investigator heading south to Charleston, South Carolina, where the Ambrose Cooper Paper Company has suffered its second suspicious fire in two years. This blaze has claimed the life of secretary Felicia Farrell and threatens to cost Johnny's company a hundred thousand dollars....

Originally Aired: April 6, 1954 Johnny Dollar #209, "The Sulphur And Brimstone Matter," Johnny Dollar heads to Venezuela when construction magnate Asa Travers dies under suspicious circumstances at the Sierra de Avari Dam project. Travers had reported sabotage attempts threatening to delay completion of the hydroelectric dam, which carries a costly time penalty clause covered by Eastern Indemnity'...

Originally Aired: March 23, 1954 Johnny Dollar #207, "The Piney Corners Matter," Johnny Dollar travels to the small Pennsylvania town of Piney Corners to investigate an anonymous letter claiming that the death of Martha Williams was not committed by persons unknown but by someone close to home. The woman was shot through her front window a month ago while sitting with her neighbor, Mrs. Keeler, an...

Originally Aired: March 16, 1954 Johnny Dollar #206, "The Berlin Matter," finds the freelance insurance investigator traveling to post-war Berlin to look into the suspicious death of Sam Harvey, an American consulting engineer. Harvey had recently increased his life insurance policy from ten to fifty thousand dollars and changed the beneficiary from his mother to his new German wife, Elsa. When Be...

Originally Aired: March 9, 1954 Johnny Dollar #205, "The Terrified Taun Matter," finds America's favorite freelance insurance investigator traveling halfway around the world to investigate a peculiar claim. Tom Benson at the home office sends Johnny to Kuala Lumpur in British Malaya after receiving an alarming letter from policyholders Harrison and Maida Langley, who claim someone is trying to mur...

Originally Aired: March 2, 1954 Johnny Dollar #204, "The Road Test Matter," finds insurance investigator Johnny Dollar called in by his boss Mr. King to investigate a dangerous mystery at Allied Motors' top-secret testing facility. The company's revolutionary new automobile model has crashed three times during road tests, resulting in one fatality, and both the manufacturer and the insurance compa...

Originally Aired: February 23, 1954 Johnny Dollar #203, "The Classified Killer Matter," Johnny Dollar receives a 4 a.m. wake-up call from Ted Albright, Eastern Indemnity's new Chicago branch manager, with devastating news: claim adjuster Frank Harvey has been murdered. Harvey's body was found shot three times in a snowdrift on Manheim Road during a winter blizzard. Dollar flies to Chicago and lear...

Originally Aired: February 16, 1954 Johnny Dollar #202, "The Uncut Canary Matter," insurance investigator Johnny Dollar races to Beverly Hills to track down a missing 89-carat orange-yellow diamond worth $125,000. The rare uncut canary diamond vanishes from the vault at Madame Johanna's exclusive jewelry store, where it has sat for over a year while the proprietor carefully plans how to cleave the...

Originally Aired: February 9, 1954 Johnny Dollar #201, "The Harpooned Angler Matter," finds America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator jetting to the French Riviera town of Cassis to examine a suspicious death claim. Policy holder Arnold Bernier has been found dead at the bottom of the Mediterranean with a fishing spear driven through his back while skin diving, and his $75,000 policy was...

Originally Aired: February 2, 1954 Johnny Dollar #200, "The Paul Gorrell Matter," Johnny Dollar arrives in Phoenix to investigate a brutal payroll robbery that left two guards dead and $100,000 missing. George Post, Plymouth Insurance's chief adjuster, reveals a shocking secret: the police don't know that one of the robbers, a man named Palavic, contacted him before being murdered. Palavic identif...

Originally Aired: January 26, 1954 Johnny Dollar #199, "The Beauregard Matter," Johnny Dollar is called to Rockport, Illinois by Dave Brace of Plymouth Mutual to investigate the theft of a $30,000 sapphire necklace stolen from socialite Ellen Beauregard. The case takes an intriguing turn when the suspected thief, Benny Stark, contacts the insurance company wanting to make a deal. Before Johnny can...

Originally Aired: January 12, 1954 Johnny Dollar #197, "The Celia Woodstock Matter," Johnny Dollar travels to a windswept house near Long Island Sound to investigate the disappearance of Celia Woodstock, the young wife of Captain Lyle Woodstock. The 55-year-old captain initially claims he's worried about his 27-year-old wife's safety, but Dollar soon discovers the situation is more complex than pr...

Originally Aired: January 5, 1954 Johnny Dollar #196, "The Fairway Matter," finds insurance investigator Johnny Dollar called to the scene of a devastating airline disaster. Sam Harris from Columbia Risk Insurance pulls Johnny into the case when a Fairway Airlines plane explodes shortly after takeoff, killing thirteen passengers and crew plus a family of four on the ground when the wreckage crashe...

Originally Aired: December 29, 1953 Johnny Dollar #195, "The Ben Bryson Matter," Johnny receives an urgent summons from Ed Murphy at Eastern Mutual Insurance Company, who delivers shocking news: Ben Bryson, Johnny's good friend and the company's chief adjuster on the West Coast, didn't just die in a tragic car accident off a cliff last month. Investigation reveals that Ben embezzled nearly $80,000...

Originally Aired: December 15, 1953 Johnny Dollar #193, "The Milk And Honey Matter," Johnny Dollar travels to Beirut, Lebanon to investigate a suspicious yacht sinking worth $90,000. Brett Cunningham's yacht, the Happy Time, allegedly went down in calm weather and a smooth sea after striking a derelict, sinking in just three minutes. Dollar finds the impossibly tall and carefree Cunningham at the...

Originally Aired: December 8, 1953 Johnny Dollar #192, "The Barton Baker Matter," Johnny Dollar heads to Newport, California, to investigate the shooting death of Frank Meadows, who ran a boat chartering service with his partner Dave Geller. When Johnny arrives, Lieutenant Sullivan explains that Meadows was shot three times in what appears to be a gunfight, and the prime suspect is Geller, who has...

Originally Aired: December 1, 1953 Johnny Dollar #191, "The Monopoly Matter," insurance investigator Johnny Dollar rushes to the outskirts of Waterbury at the request of Mr. Brandt to examine a suspicious fire at a recreation club. Arriving while firefighters are still battling the blaze, Dollar teams up with Fire Captain McGready to sift through the smoking ruins. The evidence quickly points to a...

Originally Aired: November 24, 1953 Johnny Dollar #190, "The Independent Diamond Traders Matter," Johnny Dollar travels to New York to investigate a disturbing trend for Atlas Indemnity: nearly two-thirds of the small, independent diamond traders along the city's famous Diamond Row have gone bankrupt and cancelled their insurance policies after decades in business. His assignment leads him to E. G...

Originally Aired: November 17, 1953 Johnny Dollar #189, "The Nathan Gayles Matter," Johnny Dollar investigates the murder of Nathan Gayles, a New York police lieutenant shot in his own garage. Sergeant Bill Kemper believes the killer is a hood named Bancroft, whom Gayles had been pursuing relentlessly. On the day of the murder, Gayles told Kemper he was meeting with a stoolie named Virgil Cummins...

Originally Aired: November 10, 1953 Johnny Dollar #188, "The Bobby Foster Matter," Johnny is called to investigate an insurance claim in Riggs City, Florida, where a young boy has suffered a devastating medical emergency. Five-year-old Bobby Foster lies in a coma at the local hospital, facing permanent paralysis as the result of a botched injection that caused an air bubble to enter his bloodstrea...

Originally Aired: November 3, 1953 Johnny Dollar #187, "The Gino Gambona Matter," Johnny Dollar is hired by an insurance company to investigate the murder of Barney Rico, a former racketeer who went straight seven years ago and built a successful chain of barbershops. Rico's death is particularly suspicious because he was the man whose testimony sent mob boss Gino Gambona back to Sicily. Lieutenan...

Originally Aired: October 27, 1953 Johnny Dollar #186, "The Howard Arnold Matter," Johnny Dollar is hired by his old friend Hanley Conrad to protect Howard Arnold, a prominent attorney who has represented crime boss George Castro and his syndicate for years. Arnold has had a falling out with Castro and fears for his life, but he refuses to go to the police unless he's ready to expose the entire or...

Originally Aired: October 20, 1953 Johnny Dollar #185, "The Allen Saxton Matter," Johnny Dollar travels to New York to investigate a potential insurance claim on a supposedly priceless painting purchased by wealthy collector Allen Saxton for two hundred thousand dollars. The problem: several experts have declared the masterpiece a forgery, while Saxton insists he bought it from Rene Francois, one...