The Ben Bryson Matter: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (December 29, 1953)

“The Ben Bryson Matter” is an episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, the old-time radio show, first broadcast December 29, 1953. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Insurance investigator Johnny Dollar is sent to San Francisco to investigate the death of Ben Bryson, a company claims adjuster who died in a car accident driving off a cliff into the Pacific Ocean. Before his death, Bryson had embezzled nearly $80,000 from Keystone Mutual Assurance Company, and Dollar must determine what happened to the missing money and uncover the circumstances surrounding Bryson's suspicious death.

San Francisco and Panama City; primarily the Franciscan Arms hotel and its bar in San Francisco, where Bryson lived.

Characters: Johnny Dollar, Ed Murphy, Ben Bryson, Mrs. Kern, The hotel manager, The bartender, Coco

Listen for: Dollar's investigation into Bryson's embezzlement and death, his interviews with the hotel staff and Mrs. Kern about Bryson's activities and relationships before his fatal accident, and clues about the missing $80,000.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.