Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Silver Blue Matter, Parts One and Two (EP1095)

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Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Silver Blue Matter, Parts One and Two (EP1095) · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

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Welcome to the Great Detectors of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
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is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, email it
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to me Box thirteen at Great Detectors dot net, follow us on Twitter at
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Radio Detectors, and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com
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slash Radio Detectives. Before we get started, I want to encourage you when
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you're making your travel plans, go to Johnny Dollar Air dot com. Johnny
0:54
Dollar air dot Com is a Priceline affiliate, so when you want to travel,
1:03
you can either name your own price or choose from great deals on published
1:07
fairs. Plus, if you purchase off of Johnny Dollar air dot com,
1:12
part of your purchase price goes to support the show. So it's a great
1:15
way to support the show at no additional cost to you. Just remember Johnny
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Dollar air dot com. Now it's time for today's new Johnny Dollar Cereal,
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the Silver Blue Matter from Hollywood. It's time now for Johnny Dollar, Ralph
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Dean, Johnny Mono Guarantee. Oh Hi, you're Ralph our thing Rulph.
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My wife could kill me, Johnny by the insurance just for kicks, because
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she's mad, because she wanted a mink coat. In sure, she's a
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woman. I couldn't buy her a mink I don't make that kind of money.
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You know how it is in the insurance game. Well, sure I
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know, Ralph, you're down to your last yetch. So what happens yesterday?
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I lose eighty mink coat silver blue? Where one hundred thousand dollars gone?
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Snatch disappeared? Where how's Robby check bamilely furriers out in Los Angeles?
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My wife's about to blow her stack, she says. If I can't afford
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one for a coat for her, then how come I can pay for eighty
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of them that I haven't even got. How do you reason with a woman,
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Johnny? I never try. Usually I just send flowers. I've already
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done that. She ran them through the garbage disposer. So now what do
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I do? Buy some more flowers? Tonight and every weekday night. Bob
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Bailey in the Transcribed Adventures of the Man with the Action Packed expenscout America's Fabulous
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freelance insurance investigator Hers Truly Johnny Dollar From Special Investigator Johnny Dollar, The Home
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Office Mono Guarantee Insurance Company forty three twelve Spring Street, Hartford, Connecticut.
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The following is an accounting of expenditures during my investigation of the Silver Blue matter.
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Iright them one one hundred and fifty two dollars and forty cents telephone and
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incidentals and transportational Los Angeles. I called the Mono guarantee agent out there before
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I left and got a brief rundown on the case. Among other things,
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I learned that a man I'd known and worked with before, Detective Lieutenant for
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Ramon Garcia, had been put in charge. And with Garcia on hand,
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I knew I could count on cooperation by the police, but I still wasn't
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expecting quite as much as I got, Like twelve for Las Vegas, so
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like Minneapolis and Chicago now loading, I knocked over the fir joint myself,
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Johnny, I see you the only way we get to see you. Over
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work, underpaid, prostrated dissolusion. Don't appreciate it. In other words,
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fine, got your luggage, yet it's coming right there. Good. We
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ought to get movie. I've got a squad car outside. What's all the
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rush? We've got a guy downtown in the hospital. Ife figured you'd want
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to talk to, Well, he'll wait one. He he'd probably like to
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if he had any choice. He's dying kind of looks that way. He's
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one of the two night watchmen the gang slug when they into the warehouse,
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and he's our big one, Johnny. He's all we've got. Has he
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been able to talk a couple of sentences during the night. He's got to
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talk. He's the only one who got to look at But when he did
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talk, what did he say? Gibberish? Mostly he did say one thing
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though they were kids, just a gang of kids. Oh, that's gonna
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make it a rougher. Yeah, in a lot of ways. What do
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you mean You'll find out later, Johnny, Come on, let's go.
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We took the freeway into town, with the accelerator floorboard it and the sirens
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screaming, racing against time and against dying, weaving in and out through the
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four wheeled men as that Los Angeles calls traffic, and then the other side
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of the coin, the solemn quiet of hospital corridors, the calm voices of
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the nurses, and the blank hardness of sterile white walls. We sat there
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beside a bed and waited for a man to talk. Or to die.
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But the slow minutes passed he still did neither, so we waited. Just
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that shot the doctor gave him is not going to have any effect. Apparently
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not. It's a crazy world, Johnny. No, just the people.
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I mean yesterday, he'd never even heard of this guy. I still don't
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know his name. And twenty four hours later, here we are a couple
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of strangers sitting around watching him die. And it's here in his chart at
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ahead of the bed Albert Christmas. Strangers, not even family of friends.
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He didn't have any family of friends. He lived alone in a furnished room,
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worked alone too, except for one partner. So a gang of punks
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jump him and bust his head open. Dude, I'm a bad cop,
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Johnny. I get sentimental about things like this. How they work it Gercia.
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It's a warehouse district. The streets are practically deserted at night. A
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police prowl car checks the street once about every forty minutes, and they hit
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at one ten am, three minutes after the police had passed. Sounds professional,
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No, just a smart bunch of kids. The only further seemed to
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know was mink. They passed up a dozen or so Chinchilla's worth twice as
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much. How they get in, I don't know. Chrismin hasn't been able
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to tell us. They must have tricked him into opening the door. What
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about Chrismin's partner. He was making his rounds. They slipped up behind him
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and slugged him. He didn't see them. He didn't know what hit him.
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And nobody outside in the streets saw anything, saw them leave with the
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furs or anything, or if they did, they're not saying anything. Oh
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that's a rough one, Johnny. We haven't got a thing to go on
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except Chrismin here. They shape he's in. That's only a straw if he
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recognized any of them. If he lives long enough, at least the poor
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devil can groan. I don't know. I think he's closer to being conscious
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right now than he's been in the last hour. Maybe all right, Chrismin,
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what he wants a drink? Here you go? Not enough? You
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want some work? Who are you? This is Johnny Dollar, insurance investigator
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from Hartford. I'm lieutenant. Got to see la police warehouse. The kids.
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All right, now you're in the hospital. Now, it's going to
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be all right. But do you feel like answering a few questions, mister
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Christmin, It won't take long. Those kids, how do they get in?
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Tell the Graham telegram? They showed me teleground through the windows. I
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opened the door when the get me. Did you get to look at the
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boy who showed you the telegram? Yeah? I saw, yeah, eighteen
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night. What do you look like? I've nine ten, dark skin,
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black hair? How was he dressed? Dark jacket, any scars? Anything
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unusual about him? No? Are you sure would you recognize him if you
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saw him again? Any of the others? No? Only what there was
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a mark on his arm? What kind of a mark? Right? Yeah?
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What kind of a mark on his arm? Too bad? All m
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Well that's that. Yeah, he's passed out again. Well, we got
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a description, only one thing wrong with it. Right in that area,
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there are about fifty thousand kids who fit it. I talked with mister Banley,
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owner of the Firs. Then Garcie and I went down to the warehouse.
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It's still in the fringe of the river bottom section fronting the railroad yards
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and backed up by block after block of weather beaten slumshacks. We looked through
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the warehouse with the racks where the furs had hung, Watchman's office where the
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gang had ended. But knew how we did it, that we were only
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going through the motions. The police technicians had already been over the place inch
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by inch, and they'd found exactly nothing. Finally we stepped out the door
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into the street, but drab Gray Street flooded with things cast off and discarded.
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Dusty and how there's the story of this whole district down here, Johnny,
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right there, and that's yeah, it's a backwash service yard. It's
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something you need but don't like to look at, sho bit out of sight.
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The people you need but don't want around. It's the same with them.
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You grew up down here, didn't you, Garsie it. Yeah,
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I grew up down here. That's why they gave me this case. I
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know this section inside out, and that's why I told you this one was
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going to be tough. I think I get the general idea those kids came
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from that slum there to the east. One gets you nine on that the
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people who live there aren't on our side, Johnny. If they do know
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anything they won't talk, is that they wouldn't tell a coup. The time
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of day I don't mean they're criminals. Most of them aren't. It's just
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that they always put themselves on the other side. What about juvenile gangs?
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Do they operate around to have dozens of them? And there's another thing.
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A few of these gangs are pretty rough, and people who might talk don't
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because they're scared to Ooh, it's a great setup, Johnny. A fine
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place to look for one hundred grand in first. You know, I've been
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thinking about the fact that they knew exactly the time to hit. They must
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have staked out here somewhere, and probably right in the place you're thinking at
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lunch from across the street. Now, they had to be inside or the
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prob would have seen them. That's the only place open at night. Did
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you shake it down like I told you, Johnny, I won't give us
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the time of day. Ah, what about me having a go at it?
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Yeah, maybe they wouldn't smell cup on you quite so strong. The
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owner's name is Red Weller's he was on that night. See what you can
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get out of him if you want. I think I will. By the
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way, Johnny, I know you insurance guys make deals sometimes no questions asked,
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just to get the loot back sometimes. Yeah, well before you make
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any deal on this one, you better remember one thing. Chrisman may die.
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Why you say, mac save your money? What do you want?
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Coffee? Yeah? I guess so? How's business? Bucket two? A
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day? Father in the hole? Ont cream? No, I'll think it
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black. I'm a sinker with it. Oh nice? Are you? Red
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Willis? So that's it? What do you mean? You're in a fur
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case, ain't you? Maybe I thought you was the same one, but
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I couldn't be sure of seeing you across the street. You come up with
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that cop. Guys see you a while to go, didn't you. That's
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right? I have an insurance investigator. Well you come to the wrong address,
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mister. I don't know nothing about nothing. Who was in the lunch
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room here just before the robbery? I don't remember any young kids here.
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No, it was all old men with long bitch I see ten cents for
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the coffee? Yeah? They got you real scared, haven't they haven't?
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I don't know any days? All right? Look you know chrismin the watchment
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over at the warehouse. He comes in. He didn't know any days either.
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What about it? Nothing except he's dying I'm at the Rokens Hotel.
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If you change your mind, Rolling three twelve, Johnny Dollar, Sorry,
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I don't see no use of meat dying too. Botow me mac, Johnny
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Dollar. This is Red Red Wallace, remember sure? Sure you run that
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lunch room across the street from the warehouse that was robbed last night. Yeah
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that's right. Look Dollar, suppose and I tell you what I know about
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it. What's going to happen to me? Nothing, as long as you
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weren't mixed up in it yourself. No, no, no, I mean
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the papers and a cups I get said. I'd talked yell the last twenty
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four I think I can take care of that. What do you know about
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it? Red? That depends on what it's worth to you. I see,
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I'll have to sell out get away from the section, so I'll need
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some dough. You follow me, all right, I'll see you taking care
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of it. Just what is it? You know? I ain't safe from
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talking from a booth. You stay right there at your hotel?'s you
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in a half hour? Right? Just you? No cops? Yeah,
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yeah that's right, mister bank. Six quarts of milk and two pounds of
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butter, sure right away? And thanks mister Beck goodbye. Hello, Hello
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from special investigator Johnny Dollar location in Los Angeles, California to the home office
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Mono Guarantee Insurance Company, Hartford, Connecticut. Assignment the silver blue matter expense
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account continued, Yeah, it had them four twenty cents. A phone call
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to my friend, Lieutenant Garcia of the LA Police called a queen of the
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Angel's Hospital, Albert Chrisman, the night watchman. It was slugg by the
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gang of teenage hoodlums during the warehouse robbery. Was still unconscious and Chrismin unless
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red Weller was ready to talk now, was the only lead I had toward
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finding one hundred thousand dollars worth of silver bloom mink coats. I waited two
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hours and a half for red Weller, but he didn't show. It had
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him five two dollars and eighty five cents taxi to the warehouse district at the
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south end of the railroad yards. It was night by now and the area
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was almost deserted, a lost, lonely district, shabby and worn even in
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the softening darkness, and haunted now by fear. The only lights in the
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block are those shining from the windows of the warehouse office and from Weller's lunch
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room across the street reading What would you like, sir, cup of coffee?
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I guess you're lucky. I just made some fresh Would you like some
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cream? No? Thanks? No? Is it foggy out? Yeah?
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A little? Not bad though. Hey, this coffee's all right. You're
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a good cook. The boss always has me naked when I'm here. He
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says, I do it better than he does. I'll bet you do.
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Is the boss around? By the way, He called me and said he
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had to go out. That's why I'm working. I'm on in the daytime
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mostly. Do you have any idea where he might be? Oh? No,
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he had to go somewhere. I guess what do you want to see
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him about? He wanted to see me? Do you know where he lives?
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Well, he's got an apartment over on Marina, it's about eight blocks
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from here. I think he'd be there. No, he wasn't going home.
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He was going out somewhere. Yea actuld kind of strange. I don't
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know what he was going to do. May I ask just what the business
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you're in? Insurance? Oh, I'm a special investigator. What do you
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mean I'm working for the company that insured those furs, the firs that were
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stolen night before last from the warehouse across the street. Something wrong, Oh
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no, of course not. I don't know what you mean. Oh can
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I help you gather up that silver? Oh no, no, that's all
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right. I don't know what happened, just careless, I guess. Yeah.
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Do you do you live around here somewhere? Well? Yes, yes,
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soun Dalton three blocks up. What's your name, Karla Calamandi? Why
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are you asking? How long have you worked here, Carla? About a
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year? Do many teenagers hang out here? What do you mean kids?
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Seventeen eighteen nineteen? Many of them come in here for coffee, hamburgers sometimes.
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Yeah, I've never noticed no any of them. No, no,
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no, I don't know any of their names. Are you sure I don't
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ask him their names? Did I ask you your name? Dollar? Johnny
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Dollar? Well, I still didn't ask you. If you want to tell
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me, what are you scared of, Carlin? Nothing, I'm not scared.
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You're not, of course not. Why would I be scared for the
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same reason your boss is Red Weller. He was scared when he talked to
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me this afternoon, and when he phoned me later. I don't know what
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you're talking about. Oh, yes you do. That's why he didn't come
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to my hotel. He was afraid to. And why did you drop that
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civil war when I told you who I am? Because you're scared half to
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death? What's the matter with you people down here? What are you doing
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crawling into a hole because a half grown gang of hoodlum starts throwing their weight
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around? You don't understand? I suppose you tell me about it. Do
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you think that's any kind of an answer in the long run? To pull
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the covers up over your eyes and let them do as they please and just
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keep hoping they'll leave you alone. All you're doing is making things worse.
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You don't know how it is. You don't have to live here. No,
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No, I don't have to live here. But I know how it
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is because I've seen it in other places where the mobs managed to take over.
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And if you let it happen here, then you'll really have something to
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be scared of. Maybe maybe they've already taken over. A bunch of kids
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with a gripe on running and Pasilly feels safe. Is that the kind of
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mob you mean, Carla? No, they're not a mob yet, but
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they will be if they're not stopped. It seems to me you'd have some
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sense of responsibility to them if nobody else. Maybe if other people had a
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sense of responsibility, kids wouldn't have to grow up in a place like this.
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Have you ever thought of that, mister Dollar. Yeah, yeah,
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I've thought of it. But it doesn't hold water. And you think so
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if you lived here. All right, so it's a slum district, and
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sure these kids start out with a strike on them, but that's a pretty
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weak excuse for joining up at criminal bands and terrorizing a whole neighborhood, for
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slugging people and looting warehouses. Yes, yes, I know, most of
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them find other answers. It's only a small minority that turns to crime.
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But if you let them get away with it, others will join them,
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and they'll grow until finally it's too late. Well, Color, there still
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nothing to tell me. I can't, I just can't. I see,
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Wow, there's a quarter for the coffee. Keep the change, good night,
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Color. Wait, yeah, mister Dollar, suppose suppose I knew someone
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who might be able to help you. I mean, I mean, who
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might know something about the robbery innocently. Of course, if you talk to
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this person and they agreed to help you, could you well, could you
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keep them out of it? Depends on the circumstances. I do all.
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I could that much, I promise. I don't know. I'm not sure,
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you're not sure of what have you? Why? I know better when
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I stop and think that I've lived in this neighborhood too long, live with
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these people, and I'm bound by the law like any other citizen, and
20:53
I won't break it to help somebody cover up a criminal act. But I
20:57
figure it's up to me sometimes whether a thing is a criminal act, and
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if a person seemed to deserve it, well, I could be pretty lenient.
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You promise what you just said? Yes, I promise. I've got
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to trust you. I've got to trust someone. Do you know such a
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person, girler? Yes? Do you know where to find them? I
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think so well. I'm sure they'll be at one of two or three places
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not very far from here. And who is this person? Someone who grew
21:32
up around here? A boy? Nineteen? What boy? My brother?
21:45
Expense account item seven two dollars and seventy cents taxi. We went first to
21:49
Carla's apartment where she live with her brother, but there was no one there.
21:53
Then we checked out a drive and a few blocks away a teenage hangout.
21:56
No luck. I think we tried to pull hal down south of the
22:00
yards, just off Alameta Street. It was our last hope. I know
22:06
he comes here. It's not a good place for him, but a lot
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of the other kids do too, and he wants to belong. Yeah,
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sure, everybody does in one way or another. Gosh, it had been
22:15
different if our folks had lived. But a boy just won't take orders from
22:19
his sister. Yeah, I know. God. Thanks. If he's not
22:30
here, then I just don't know where there he is down near the corner,
22:37
the one with the doc curly hair. All right, take it easy,
22:41
just tell him I'm a friend of yours. You want to talk to
22:42
him, We'll get him off to one side. Whatever you say, Eddie,
22:47
Ah, O for the What are you doing here, Carlae, Eddie,
22:52
this is mister Dollar, a friend of mine. We were I wonder
22:56
if we could talk to you for a moment. What a bond. Well,
23:00
you know better than to come in and joint like this, but I
23:03
want to talk to you, Eddie. I ain't talk to me at home.
23:04
Then go on, get her out of here, will It might be
23:07
a good idea if you listen to her first. I thought it was her
23:11
that wanted to talk to me. One, get her out of here,
23:14
all right, if you'll go with us before? I like it here.
23:18
It's a nice place, yeah, at least it's better than San Quentin.
23:23
What are you talking about? A warehouse robbery? One hundred thousand dollars worth
23:27
of furs? I understand you may know something about it innocently. Of course.
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I just said this guy was a friend of yours. Let's right,
23:33
Eddie, he's just he's an insurance investigator. Oh so that's the pitch.
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She's promised to help, Eddie. If you'll tell him whatever you know,
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he'll protect Get off Carla. Now look, mister, I don't know nothing
23:48
about nothing. I never even heard of O for a robbery. So take
23:52
her with you and get out of here. This may be your last chance
23:56
to get off before the boat sinks. Eddie. You're not leaving, uh?
24:00
All right? Then, Alley, Eddie, let him go. We
24:02
can't force him to talk. I don't know, mister, I don't understand
24:06
him. I do. I had to make ten cents phone call from the
24:18
pool hall to Lieutenant Garcia at police headquarters. He said there was no change
24:22
in Albert Christman's condition yet he was still holding on and he still hadn't talked.
24:26
But there had been another new development, a big one. And when
24:30
I joined Kyl in the taxi outside, she knew it by the look on
24:33
my face. What's wrong, mister Dollar? Look? How sure are you
24:38
that your brother wasn't mixed up in that robbery? I want the truth.
24:44
I'm afraid he was mixed up in it. Embrace yourself, Carlin. Your
24:48
boss Red Weller, who was going to tell me what he knew about it,
24:52
was found murdered in an alley an hour ago. Now here's our star
25:10
to tell you about tomorrow's intriguing episode of this week's story Tomorrow, a lonely,
25:15
broken hearted girl, a bloodstained shirt, and a fight with a cornered
25:18
rat. Join us, won't you? Yours truly? Johnny Dollar? Yours
25:48
truly? Johnny Dollar is starring Bob Bailey, is transcribed in Hollywood, written
25:52
by Les Crutchfield. It is produced and directed by Jack Johnstone. Be sure
25:56
to join us tomorrow night at same time in station for next exciting episode of
26:02
Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, Roy Rowland speaking welcome back. Well, this definitely
26:37
raises the stakes here. I only see again quite a bit of the character
26:41
of Johnny Dowler here as he is working through this situation and still, you
26:52
know, trying to be a decent guy. But if her brother was involved
26:56
in the murder, that definitely changes things. So we're gonna have to see
27:00
how this all shakes out. Now, we turn to listener comments and feedback
27:03
and got a comment from Tim regarding our Gun Smoke special on episode ten eighty
27:12
five. Tim says this Gun Smoke pilot felt eeriely like an OTR alternate universe
27:21
with Barney greg confidential investigator Sergeant Joel Friday of Drugnet and maybe the adventures of
27:30
Philis Marlowe instead of Ken's de Mansen. Many of the story elements remain the
27:34
same, but the differences were jarring. McDonald and Meston eventually created a modern
27:41
day morality play. I guess things to turn out for the best. Thanks
27:45
for the comment, Tim, and we have a review on iTunes, this
27:49
one from Genevieve, who says the quality of Adam's unique voice and commentary is
27:55
a bit like coffee. It doesn't appeal to everyone initially, but it grows
27:59
on you until you find you just don't feel right without your daily fix.
28:03
That said, he is always positive and respectful, and I have no fears
28:07
of my young children listening, although of course they need some guidance given the
28:11
subject matter of the old shows themselves. Adam always gives a heads up if
28:17
something might be objectionable playing each episode, and orders a great concept. I
28:22
subscribed to many old time radio podcasts and maybe half a dozen mystery detective podcasts,
28:30
but since I started listening to Adams, I find I rarely listen to
28:33
any other, with the exception of Alfred Hitchcock Magazine and Ellery Queen Magazine,
28:38
a broadcast. I listen on Podcatcher and installed iTunes podcast app for the sole
28:45
person purpose of giving Adam a five star rating. My six year old likes
28:49
Johnny Dollar and Sherlock Holmes, and my husband won't admit he listens, but
28:53
I know he does to keep it up well. Thanks so much for the
28:57
very kind reviewed, Genevieve, and for installing iTunes just to write the show.
29:06
Really appreciate it. Just a very nice note and glad to oblige and
29:11
just hope you'll keep listening as we bring in a lot more great shows.
29:15
Well, speaking of that, join us tomorrow for the amazing Mister Malone and
29:22
the Silver Blue Matter continues on Wednesday. Send your comments to Box thirteen at
29:27
Great Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and become
29:32
one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com. Slash Radio Detectives from
29:37
Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam graham Son and Off