The Cinder Elmer Matter: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (December 3, 1961)

“The Cinder Elmer Matter” is an episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, the old-time radio show, first broadcast December 3, 1961. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Insurance investigator Johnny Dollar travels to the snowy mountains of Crestline, California to investigate the disappearance of Bartley Harmon, a small businessman who vanished while on holiday at Hillcrest Lodge with his wife Nora and his business partner Elmer Eitzen. With the company holding a $200,000 accidental death policy with double indemnity on Harmon, Dollar must determine whether he met with an accident or something more sinister.

Crestline, California in the mountains at Hillcrest Lodge during winter; begins in Los Angeles and Hartford

Characters: Johnny Dollar, Charlie Warren, Bartley Harmon, Nora Harmon, Elmer Eitzen, Roy Turner

Listen for: The contrast between Johnny's expectations of sunny California and the snowy mountains; Charlie Warren's attempts to persuade Johnny to come west; details about the missing Bartley Harmon and the people around him at the lodge

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.