The Case of Barton Drake: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (April 22, 1949)

“The Case of Barton Drake” is an episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, the old-time radio show, first broadcast April 22, 1949. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Insurance investigator Johnny Dollar is hired to find Barton Drake, a man who disappeared seven years ago after being suspected of grand larceny and shooting at a police officer. Drake's car went off a bridge into a river with no body recovered, but the police recently spotted someone resembling him at a television broadcast. Now, with Drake about to be declared legally dead and his wife ready to collect his $30,000 life insurance policy, Johnny must determine if Drake is truly alive.

New York City and surrounding areas in 1949

Characters: Johnny Dollar, Mr. Green, Mrs. Barton Drake, Barton Drake, Police officer, Gardener, Maid

Listen for: Johnny Dollar's clever investigative techniques, including tapping into a phone call by duplicating the dialed number in an adjacent phone booth to discover where Mrs. Drake is calling.

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.