
Today's Mystery:Johnny goes to Malibu to investigate the sinking of a $150,000 yacht. Original Radio Broadcast Date: September 7, 1958 Originated from Hollywood Starring: Bob Bailey as Johnny Dollar; Paula Winslowe; Ben Wright; Jack Kruschen; Jack...
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Foreign. 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, I do want to encourage you. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software. And remember, as you're making your travel plans, remember johnnydoller air.com johnnydoller air.com is a Priceline affiliate link, so part of your purchase price supports the great detectives of Old Time Radio at no additional cost to you. So remember, when making your travel plans, check johnnydoller air.com first. Well, we are now after that lost episode we've been talking about. The original air date on Today's episode is September 7, 1958 and the title is the Malibu Mystery Matter.
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From Hollywood. It's time now for. Yeah. Johnny Dollar. This is Peter Hanley at Western Maritime and Property Insurance. Holy look, do you always start making calls at 4am Mr. Han. I had to phone clear across the country, Mr. Dollar, to find out that you're right here in Los Angeles. Yeah, that's right. The Beverly Hilton out here in Beverly Hills. Good. But I've cleared up the case that brought me here, so as soon as I have breakfast, if they serve it at this unearthly hour, I'll pack up my bags and go back to Hartford. Please don't. Oh, what's up? One of our clients is about to present us with a claim that I think you ought to investigate. As long as you're right here. Yeah. What sort of a claim? For the loss of his yacht. How much of a claim? Between 150 and $250,000. Wowee. You know where Malibu beach is? Yeah, sure, up the coast a few miles. Used to be a famous movie colony, that sort of thing. That's the place. Well, if you can find some means of transportation, I'll meet you at the Malibu Pier on expense account. Mr. Hanley, I can find anything. Well, now, look here. And on a claim that could run to a quarter of a million, I'm sure you won't be chintzy, Mr. Dull. I'll see you at the Malibu P. Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the man with the action packed expense account, America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator, yours truly, Johnny Dollar. And now, act one of yours truly, Johnny Dol. Expense account submitted by Special Investigator Johnny Dollar to the Western Maritime and Property Insurance Company, Los Angeles, California. Following is an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the Malibu mystery matter. Expense account, item one, two and a quarter for a fancy breakfast in my room at the Beverly Hill. Item 200 Deposit on the best looking rental car I could find. I drove out Santa Monica Boulevard at the coast highway, then north along the edge of the Blue Pacific some 12 or 13 miles to Malibu, where a long fishing pier stuck out into the ocean. Cars were parked for half a mile on either side of the pier entrance and it looked as though half the population of LA was crowded out on the pier itself, thanks to an ambulance that pulled away from the curb and headed south toward town. I found a parking space. Mr. Dolly here. Oh, hi, Mr. Henley. Come along out on the pier. All right. What's all the mob so early in the morning? Apparently word of an accident like this gets around quickly. What kind of an accident? Don't you see the Coast Guard vessels out there circling around? Yeah. Did this boat you were talking about sink out there? The Titus, Mr. Dolly. $150,000 diesel yacht. What happened to Her. Apparently, it. It just blew up. Survivors? Mr. And Mrs. Randolph Merrill and the steward and deckhand managed to get into the launch they used for a tender. They were picked up by the Coast Guard. The skipper went down with the yacht. At least no trace of his body's been found as yet. Captain Rollins, a few people just have to get back off the T. Oh, Ms. Hanley. Now, this is Johnny Dolly, a special investigator for my insurance company, Captain Rawlins of the Coast Dollar. Captain. Have you found anything out there, Captain? Not a sign of the Tatus, Mr. Hanley. Yeah, it's mighty deep water, and I'm afraid that, like Mr. Merrill and his wife told us, she just blew herself to smithereen. Yeah, even from here, I can see some wreckage floating in. Well, they're all working around the oil slick out there, so the grapples ought to be able to find something down below. Some traces of hull or machinery or something. When did it happen? Oh, two, two and a half hours ago. One of our craft got up here from Santa Monica harbor not more than 40 minutes after she went down. How'd you find out about it? Phone call from somebody living along the beach. Potato stood out there blowing a whistle and foghorn woke him up by the time he got out of bed. He said it looked like a regular fireworks display about a half mile offshore. Huh. You see where they put a marker? Boy, yeah. Wouldn't the wind and current move that slick and whatever wreckage There is no wind. That's why there's still some fog out there and they're allowing for drift. Don't worry. If there's anything left of the taters, those boys will find it. Now, excuse me, will you, please? I gotta keep a check on operation. Yeah, sure, Captain. See you later, henley. You say Mr. And Mrs. Merrill are okay, huh? Yes. If the Coast Guard in Santa Monica are through with them, they're probably back at their home in Westwood, I think. I'd like to talk to them. By all means. Though I don't exactly see any particular reason for investigation. Company policy, Mr. Dollar on any claim over 100,000. Yeah, but the claim can't have been made yet. Don't worry, it will be. Wait a minute. $150,000 yacht? But you said the claim could go as high as a quarter million. Yes, that's because of Mrs. Merrill's jewelry, which she always took with her. Oh, was that lost, too? I don't know. I haven't yet talked to her. Then let's do it. Well, if it hadn't been for A friend of mine living up on the hill behind the beach who was also awakened and saw the explosion. I wouldn't have known about it even this soon. Yeah, well, come on. Let's talk to the Merrill. Pete Hanley had his own car, so I tailed him to the Merrill home in Westwood. It was in a nice, but certainly not a fancy section. I'd have thought a man with a $150,000 yacht would live in the snooty Bel Air property. The Brentwood Hills, Pacific Palisades. One of the sections that displayed a little more wealth. However, Mr. Merrill pretty well explained it. And quite frankly, when I had to take such a loss in selling out my plastics business, I decided we'd better retrench a bit. And really, Mr. Dollar, I don't miss that lovely big place we had in Bel Air one bit. After all, they're just the two of us and we don't do a lot of entertaining. More coffee? No, no, thanks. As a matter of fact, Dollar, I was thinking of selling potatoes for. Well, to be frank about it, for purely economic reasons. Ah. Wouldn't it have been pretty hard to get your price for a boat like that? Possibly. Quite frankly, the maintenance on it alone became quite a burden after I lost my business. But no matter now. The insurance will pay for her. Mr. And Mrs. Merrill, there is one thing that I must find out. Yes, Mr. Hamlin? This is Merrill's Jewelry. No, thank heavens, no. That's safe. Careful, dear, of the glass top on that table. Oh, sorry. No. You see, Mr. Hanley, the jewels were the first thing I thought of when the engine on the Tater started making funny sounds and woke me up. Well, I am glad of that. Here they are, all safe and sound in the little casket I keep them in. Oh, look at them, Mr. Dollar. Aren't they beautiful? Yes, very. But now, suppose you tell me just what happened out there on the yacht. They said they'd been cruising peacefully up the coast, all hands on board, asleep, except for the skipper at the wheel. Then the engines started making strange sounds, shaking the whole yacht. The Merrills and the crew jumped out of their beds and rushed on deck. By then, the captain had discovered something wrong with the fuel system. So he ordered them off from the tender while he tried to operate the extinguisher system. Then, barely minutes after they'd cleared his side, came a series of explosions. And that was the last they saw. The Tatus and a captain. As for the Merrells, they were humbly glad they'd been lucky enough to escape. Lucky Suddenly, sitting there idly toying with the jewels, I discovered something that. Yeah, believe me, this case did need investigation. Needed it. Back. Two of yours truly, Johnny Dollar, in a moment. And now for another episode in the life of Sergeant Donald Bellwether. My husb. Hi, honey. To fix the windshield wipers. I sure did, Reba. How's that? Oh, you fixed him. Good for you, Donald. Thank you, my dear. Well, that's that. Now, if it rains, we're prepared for it. Huh? I feel better now. Oh, me too. A driver has to see the danger if he expects to avoid it. That's right. And also keep the back and side windows clear. And rain and snowy weather. That's right. Oh, how about the horn? The horn? The horn doesn't work, Sergeant. Aren't you going to fix it? No, I don't think so. Frankly, Reba, I hate horns. Whenever there's a traffic jam, the first thing some guys do is blow their horns. Which does absolutely no good. Of course not. All it does is jar everyone's nerves. No, I. I don't think I'll fix them. Oh, but now, wait a minute, Don Mark. Supposing we're driving along, and suddenly we see a youngster on his bicycle headed right out into the street. Sounding that horn will warn him and possibly avoid a tragic accident. Yes, that's true, but. Or supposing we're driving on the highway, and just as we're about to pass a car, that car decides to pull out into our lane and pass the car ahead of him. He obviously doesn't see us. We won't hear a shout, but one little beep on that horn, and he'll automatically scoot back and avoid a collision. Reba, you've convinced me. Even though it can be a nuisance, the automobile horn is a necessity. Then you'll repair it immediately. Oh, that's my Donald. That's my doll. And now, act two of yours truly, johnny dollar and the malibu myst. Remember when you were a kid and first found out about how mercury would plate a piece of gold, make it look like silver? How you went around putting it on everything made of gold that you could find? And remember when you first learned that a diamond could put a scratch on glass? How you went around with your mother's engagement ring, cutting grooves and window panes, glass tabletops and so on? Okay. Sitting there listening to the Merrills tell about the explosion on their yacht, I toyed with some of the beautiful jewelry Mrs. Merrill had been able to save. Jewelry insured for a hundred thousand. Dol Absentmindedly, I dragged the diamond in one of her rings across the glass top of the coffee table a couple of times. Then again with pressure and it did not cut into the glass. I tried a couple of the other so called diamonds among her jewels. Same result? No result. Those highly insured jewels were paste. Well, Mr. Donner, it looks like we have the whole story now. Yep, it sure looks that way. And Mr. Merrill, whenever you're ready, you just file your claim and we'll take care of it. All right, Mr. Hanley. And quite frankly. Well, why kid about it? Now that I've lost my business, I can well use the money. Oh, then I'm kind of surprised you haven't sold some of these jewels. $, there is a thing called sentiment that even money can't buy. Why of course, Mr. Dollar, before I part with these jewels. Yes, I'm sure. Shall we go, Henley? But if you're perfectly satisfied with the Merrill's account of the wreck, why go back to Malibu? Did I say I was perfectly satisfied? Henley, look, wouldn't you feel a lot better if that wreck could be located, maybe brought up for examination? Yes, but you're certainly lucky. Mrs. Merrill saved that fortune in jewelry. What jewelry? What are you talking about? You saw it tonight. Talents covered for $100,000. That jewelry that she showed me. What are you getting at? $? Look, I take it Merrill's business came a cropper, huh? Why, yes. He simply bit off more than he could chew. You know, overestimated his market over expanded. Matter of fact, I've been thankful these past couple of years that I didn't fall for his pitch and invest in it. Merrill's quite a promoter, you know. You mean a crook? Well, I didn't say that, no. But his Bel Air estate, where they used to live, his yacht, her jewelry. That so? They were all to impress the people he got to finance his ventures. A real fast guy with somebody else's buck, huh? Yeah, I guess you could say that about him. So that's why you wanted me to investigate this so called accident to a shot? No, not at all, as I told you. What do you mean by so called, Hanley? You say a friend of yours actually saw the explosion? That's how I learned of it. Almost as soon as the Coast Guard. But no, if you know the address, that's where we're going. I told you, he lives up on a hill overlooking Malibu Beach. Only first we're going to stop at the Santa Monica Coast Guard Station and pick up a chart or two. Why? Also if you know a good surveyor, we'll take him along with us. Yeah, Henry, I've got an idea that may save your company a lot of money. At the Coast Guard station, we picked up a navigation chart and a topographical map of the Malibu area. Then we picked up a surveyor named Barkley, who dragged along one of those tripod surveying instruments. Then onto the house of Hanley's friend up in the Malibu hills. And from him we got some information to begin to bear out some of my suspicions. Yeah, that's right. That's right. When I heard the yacht's whistle and the foghorn, I hopped out of bed and I stood right here in this doorway to the port, leaning against it. The way you are right now, Mr. Duncan. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Of course, it was so dark, was so foggy out there over the ocean. I was about to go back to bed, and then, boom. The boat exploded. Where? Oh, I can tell you exactly where. From here, that is. What do you mean? Well, the flash. The flash had made. It was right square between those two trees. All right, Mr. Barkley, set up your transit and get a line on that. Yep. Then plot the line on this map. Right, darling. Look. You look, Handley. See that marker, boy? Where the Coast Guard boats are looking for the wreck? Well, the line Mr. Dobkin has given us is nowhere near that. Mr. Dobkin, do you suppose any of your neighbors heard the noise and got up for a look? I certainly would think so. Then we really have something to work on. But, Dollar, I still don't understand. You will, Mr. Hanley. You will plenty. Act three of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. In a moment. Times have changed, and so has the man. How often do we hear the phrase, ah, those were the good old days. But were they? Let's look at the record. During the War of 1812, the man who discharged a missile of destruction had a pretty simple job. A lighted taper, a fuse, some gunpowder, a metal ball. Then an explosion. And the metal ball was propelled toward its target, located a few hundred yards away. Now, go back in time to the year 1327. Again, the operation was simple. The taper, the gunpowder. But this time, an enlarged arrow fitted into a block of metal. A man and mail. A smoky explosion, and the arrow flies a few hundred feet. Now, come up to the present. Seated before a complicated control panel is another man ready to discharge a missile. He, however, is a far cry from that artilleryman of 1812 or the cannoneer of 1327. This man is a skilled tutored technician. He knows his job. He pushes the button and a sleek, slim, pointed missile blasts its way into the heavens. Its trajectory has been predetermined by other men with modern day technological know how the missile lands not a few hundred feet or yards from its launching site, but 3,000, 4,000 or 5,000 miles away. Quite a difference, isn't it? Yes. Times have changed and so has the man. And now, act three of yours truly, Johnny Dollar and the Malibu Mystery. Pete Hanley, the insurance man and Barkley, the surveyor and I continued our interview as the people living along Malibu beach who'd seen the yacht explode. Yes, sir, I just rose right up in bed and I could see straight out my front window. And you saw the actual explosion, Mrs. Green? I certainly did. Drop right out through there. Good. Thank you. Okay, Mr. Barkley, get a bead on it with your surveying instrument. Then plot it on the map. Right you are, Ms. Scott. That's right, sir. I see to flash right the other side of that big oleander bush out there in the yard. And you were standing right here, Mr. Phillips. Exactly. Yes, sir. Why, like, lit up the whole sky. Okay, Mr. Barkley. Right. Well, even through the fog, I could see it just the same day. I'll say I did. Gee, you see, we was having a little party and I was just going in the kitchen to make us some scrambled egg. Yes, well, now, just where. Yeah, how it is after being up all night and having some drink. Well, where were you standing? Whistle started and the fog ro. We came out here right where you're standing. All of a sudden, Bluey. Gee, me and my friends, we thought it was the 4th of July all over again. And gee, what a noise. Yes, sir. So, according to our survey, Captain Rollins, your boats have been looking in the wrong area for that wreck. Yeah, Ms. Dollar, according to this chart the surveyor made, the Tatus went down right onto the top of Calico Rocks. That's a formation only about 30ft below the surface. That means that our divers will have no trouble at all finding the rack. Then go to it, Captain. We'll be at the Beverly Hilton. Let me know what you find. Will do, Mr. Dollar. Item three, five, 25 for some lunch. Then we went up to my room and waited. Finally, a couple of hours later came the call from Captain Rollins. No, Mr. Dollar, our divers didn't find a sign of her. Not a sign of the Tatus or any part of her. But yes, Captain, we did find a lot of. Well, they look like heavy cans that had burst open. Like maybe they'd contain some Kind of explosive? Exactly like that. And some heavy logs and tie chain wedged into the rocks. Like an explosion had driven them in a raft, maybe loaded with dynamite or something. To make the explosion everybody saw. Exactly. But what I don't understand is the oil slick. We found the wreckage floating around. Captain, I think that oil slick and the flotsam were planted out there. Well, then listen. Look, check every port on the Mexican coast, large or small, for the taters. I'll talk to you later. Come on, Henley. We're going out to see the Merrells. On the way out to Westwood, I wondered. I was satisfied. I was sure I knew just how Merrill had pulled his little fraud. Little? What's little? About a few hundred thousand bucks. But I needed more than that for the sake of the insurance company who'd have to prosecute. So when we got there, I decided to try a bluff. Come in. Mr. Dollar. Mr. Hanley. I didn't expect to see you back here so soon. Yes. Won't you gentlemen sit down? Merrill, I. I think you ought to know the Coast Guard finally found something out there off Malibu. Oh, yeah? The remains of your skipper on the Taters. What? That's impossible, Nancy. Also evidence that he'd been murdered. Murdered? Probably by you, Merrill. No, he's still alive. Wait, Nancy. Can you prove it? Yes. Or would you rather have your husband charged with his murder?
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He's in Mexico with a yacht. Nancy, be quiet. That's what I figured. At some remote little port on the coast of Mexico. He and the Tatus Dollar, where the yacht can be completely gone over disguised. Meanwhile, of course, you thought you'd collect the insurance on her because of the completely phony wreck you almost got away with. With thanks to the fog and the doctor. Nancy, you fool. Like it all right. How did you find out, Mr. Dar? Your wife's phony jewels tip me off that you're not exactly paragons of virtue. Pony, Mr. Darling. Haste, Hanley, and nothing else. And I'll lay odds they'll sell the originals, that they plan to carefully lose the fakes. Why didn't they claim to lose them in the wreck? Oh, that would have been overplaying their hands. Apparently, having saved those jewels made the wreck look all the more legitimate. But the really clever stunt was dumping oil on the water and some odd bits of wreckage away from the spot where they blew up the raft. Yeah, it almost kept the Coast Guard from finding the cans of explosives they'd use for the little fireworks display. But, Merrill, the only thing around here that's been sunk is you, $. I'll fight you and this this insurance company with every legal trick in the book. You know something, Mr. Merrill? I don't think you'll get the first base. Yeah, when a crook tries to pull a fast one on an honest insurance company. Well, you'll see what I mean when the courts get through with Merlin his wife. Expensive total including mileage on the rental car and a couple of extra days to Beverly Hilton. 100. 150. Yours truly, Johnny Dallas. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar, starring Bob Bailey originates in Hollywood and is written, produced and directed by Jack Johnstone. Heard in our cast were Paula Winslow, Eleanor Audley, Gene Tatum, Ben Wright, Harry Potter Bartel, Will Wright, Lawrence Dobkin and Barney Phillips. Be sure to join us next week, same time and station for another exciting story of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. This is Roy Rowan, spe. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar has been a presentation of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service Houston. Get ready to feel the power in January 2026. Love, Houston. Volleyball is back and turning up the heat featuring two time Olympic medalists Jordan Thompson and Micah Hancock. Big serves, fearless rallies and a hometown crowd that bring serious energy. This is a new H town night, pal. Bring the noise and don't miss a single moment. Tickets start under $15. Visit lovbhtx.com iheart.
Adam Graham
Welcome back. A good case where Johnny finds the right person to save the insurance company money despite the agent doing the typical thing of trying to help tell Johnny there's no case. And I just do continue to be puzzled why you would call in this very expensive top flight investigator who will charge you a lot of money if you're not going to trust his judgment. Now, this episode has an interesting feature and it might be evidence of the challenges that Johnstone faced in trying to establish continuity at the start of the episode. It's mentioned that Johnny's last case was in California and so he was just hanging around. The problem with that is that John Abbott, who wrote the who is Johnny Dollar? Matter, actually tracked down the script that aired during that week and the episode, the limping liability matter, involved Joni going to New York in a case involving Smokey. Now, I won't go into all the plot, but I will say reading Abbott's synopsis, it sounds like a really good story. In fact, it might be the best SM story that there was. So it's a shame that it's missing. But at any rate, that story had Johnny in New York. This episode and the next are in California. And then we have an episode that aired on September 21, the Johnson payroll matter, where Pat McCracken calls Johnny and tells him he's been working too hard and that Johnny needs to take a vacation to Southern California, which makes little sense given that the last two cases have been in California. It seems likely to me that the Johnson payroll matter was either the episode that would have originally aired on August 31 or September 7, but the order got switched. Now, I tend to imagine this sort of thing happening if there's a conflict between the writer and the director, with there being a deadline to have the script in and the writer not being able to make it, and the director having to reach out to another writer. In this case, Johnstone is the director, and he's the one who wrote all the scripts. So let's go ahead and disregard that theory for this particular episode. It may have been a case of something with the network. It also may have been about actor availability. But at any rate, it's time now for listener comments and feedback. And we have a couple comments regarding the glacier ghost matter over on Instagram. Brains Benton writes, how fun to hear this lost episode. Hope Johnny got a mess of trout on Facebook. Emmett writes, what a great Christmas present. Thank you, Adam. And then I've got an email. Time to get out your crystal ball. You said there were three recently discovered Johnny Dollar episodes. It made me wonder, do you think if AI were to get the Johnny Dollar scripts, voices, tone, and all that makes up Johnny Dollar, that it would be able to recreate all the lost episodes? Well, that's a tough question. Certainly not with the technology that's available today. In addition, there are some episodes, even during the Hollywood era of Johnny Dollar, for which there are no scripts available and all of the New York scripts are missing. So unless those were somehow recovered, it couldn't recreate all the lost episodes. And then even with those that are in existence, there are legal challenges because those are held by the Paley center at UCLA after having been relocated from the Thousand Oaks Library and are subject to copyright in a different way in our scripts. And so there would be some legal wrangling about that, and the Paley center wouldn't release anything until they were sure that it was legally allowed for them to do so. Now, if AI advances a bit and all those legal hurdles were cleared, could you recreate Lost Golden Age of Radio Scraps? I suppose now you may be detecting that I'm not the greatest fan of this. And let me be clear that I'm not some, you know, anti AI person. It has its uses There are some things that, philosophically, though, I feel really are human endeavors and pursuits. And acting tends to be one of those things. Yeah, I know there's all the rage about AI Actors. And whatever modern Hollywood can do what it would like. But I think the strength of the way the golden age of radio worked. Is in human interaction and human connection. There's an individual element to it. It's first of all in the performer and the choices that they make with their performance. And there are all sorts of choices. On a very basic level, you might start by choosing what type of voice you're going to do. There were several performers during the golden age of radio. That had several places they could go beyond just older, young, or basic stuff like that. And the words you might emphasize and the way you might deliver a line. And in many programs, it's also a matter of the way the actors relate to each other. And one thing about the golden age of radio that is special. Is just how much so many of these actors worked with each other. When you think about the Hollywood and New York radio communities. They were relatively small groups of people. With so many folks who did thousands and thousands of performances together. And it's something that, on that scale, we have never seen before, I think, in history. And we will never see again. Where you had this very elite group of maybe 50 to 100 actors on each coast. That worked together on so many different programs. We're talking thousands and thousands of performances by so many actors. If we were able to get accurate totals as opposed to just what survived. Think about how many programs people like Howard McNear did or Virginia Gregg. And there is this really unique human element of actors playing off of each other. And of performance chemistry between actors. Which is such a big part of what made the golden age of radio magical. So someday, could you create a machine that could imitate the voice of Bob Bailey and Virginia Gregg. And program that machine to make choices based on whatever machine logic that it might say. Sure. Are you going to produce something that will seamlessly replicate the experience of listening to the Lost episode? I don't really think so. I think what you would find if you were to create something like that from scratch. It would have kind of an uncanny valley feel. If you'd heard the original radio programs for the existing episodes. And I think a lot of people be like it, you know, just not quite able to lay their finger on the exact thing that's missing. But I suspect the human elements. So, I mean, so my answer is, yeah, it could happen, but it's not going to happen in a way that'd be satisfactory for me, I think a far more interesting use of AI and that I'm more optimistic and positive about is using it for audio and editing and clearing up some of the really junky sounding episodes out there. Spurgvac, the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy, has done some incredible work in this past year to begin to leverage AI tools to clean up the more muffled recordings out there. And again, I think that's where it makes sense to invest the time, energy and resources. I feel like maybe it's just me, but I feel like any efforts along those lines are going to be a lot of work. It's going to be a long time coming and it is probably not going to be a satisfying result. So that's my take, but I do appreciate the question. And then we have a comment from Dr. Whodunit regarding the Donald Bellwether sketches. Donald and Reba need to have some kids. Every time they are talking it's always about auto accidents. Well, the thing is that with those two that if they had kids, the primary motivation would be to have an entire slew of new safety issues to talk about. Although maybe that might not be as big a preoccupation in the late 50s or whenever those particular ads were aired as it would be today. Alright, well now it is time to thank our Patreon Supporter of the Day. And I want to go ahead and thank Jack, patreon Supporter since November 2019, currently supporting the podcast at the Detective Sergeant level of $7.14 or more per month. Thanks so much for your support Jack. And that will do it for today and that will do it for this year in terms of new episodes, at least on this Great Detectives of Old Time Radio feed. We will have a New Year's Eve episode of the Amazing World ofradio@amazinggreatdetectives.net and we will have new episodes of the Old Time Radio snack wagon till January 5th. And so we will be bringing you encores through Saturday, January 10th. Then on Sunday, January 11th, we'll present the premiere of our Tarzan series on the Great Adventurers of Old Time Radio and return on January 12th to your typical Great Detectives of Old Time Radio lineup. I want to go ahead and thank everyone so much for listening during a very challenging year we've had in 2025. I appreciate all of your support and I want to just close by wishing you all a safe and happy and blessed new year. But for now, from Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham signing off.
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Adam Graham
Sunday mornings I've got my game day ritual, coffee, lucky socks and now new Morning Uncrustable Sandwiches. It's all about that 12 gram protein boost with the new Uncrustables Bright Eyed Berry or Up and Apple flavors. Bright Eye Berries got a feisty receiver, Energy up and Apple, your classic do it all tight end, soft, pillowy, packed with protein and easy enough for Gronk.
Narrator/Announcer
To grab from the freezer.
Adam Graham
Whether you're on the couch, driving to the tailgate or heading to the locker room, New Morning Uncrustable Sandwiches are the MVP of snacks. Your new Sunday kickoff ritual starts here with New Morning Uncrustable sandwiches packed with 12 grams of protein.
Narrator/Announcer
League 1 volleyball is coming to Minnesota in 2027. The world's best players together on American soil. This is volleyball like you've never seen before. Huge swings, massive blocks, jaw dropping digs. A sport where every play is a highlight. To learn more and get first access, visit lovbminnesota.com iheartra.
Host: Adam Graham
Original Air Date of Drama: September 7, 1958
Podcast Release Date: December 26, 2025
In this episode, host Adam Graham presents an episode from the classic radio detective series, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar: "The Malibu Mystery Matter." The central focus is Johnny Dollar’s investigation into a suspicious yacht explosion off Malibu Beach, resulting in an insurance claim upwards of $250,000. The episode not only highlights the cunning of Johnny Dollar but also underscores the intersection of postwar Americana, golden age radio detective drama, and the continued hunt for authenticity amid potentially fraudulent claims.
[03:04-04:10]
[04:11-08:45]
[09:47-14:27]
[15:00-21:30]
[22:15-23:15]
[24:00-25:52]
Hanley (on the scale of the claim):
“A claim that could run to a quarter of a million, I’m sure you won’t be chintzy, Mr. Dollar.” [03:54]
Johnny Dollar (noticing the fake jewels):
“Those highly insured jewels were paste.” [14:15]
Johnny (bluffing at confrontation):
“I think you ought to know the Coast Guard finally found something out there…The remains of your skipper.” [24:00]
Mrs. Merrill (cracking under pressure):
“He’s in Mexico with the yacht!” [24:00]
Johnny’s closing line:
“The only thing around here that's been sunk is you, Merrill.” [25:32]
[27:39-39:28] Adam Graham’s Recap and Discussion
Notable Host Quote:
“There's this really unique human element of actors playing off of each other…And of performance chemistry between actors. Which is such a big part of what made the golden age of radio magical.” [37:24]
The Malibu Mystery Matter showcases what makes Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar enduring: sharp detective work, subtle clues (the “paste” jewels!), and a narrative that rewards skepticism. Adam Graham’s commentary provides historical context and reflection on the show's ongoing appeal while fielding passionate listener feedback. For mystery enthusiasts, radio drama fans, and anyone nostalgic for golden age storytelling—this episode delivers the intrigue and craft that define the series.