The Date with Death Matter (1): Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (February 8, 1959)

“The Date with Death Matter (1)” is an episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, the old-time radio show, first broadcast February 8, 1959. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Insurance investigator Johnny Dollar is forced to abandon his dinner date when his boss Bert Guels calls with urgent news: Curly Waters, a criminal Johnny had sent to prison two years ago and who later swore vengeance, has escaped from the hospital where he was being held under guard. When Johnny rushes to check on his date Betty Lewis, he finds her apartment empty. A stolen car and a captured accomplice suggest Curly may still be in town, setting a trap.

Hartford, Connecticut; Johnny Dollar's apartment, Master's Insurance and Trust Company office, Betty Lewis's apartment, and the city streets

Characters: Johnny Dollar, Bert Guels, Lieutenant Howard Daley, Curly Waters, Gympie Taylor, Betty Lewis, Riley

Listen for: The opening sequence about testing apartment extension phones; the details of Curly Waters's escape from the hospital; Johnny and the lieutenant's desperate race to Betty's apartment; the phone call revealing Betty was lured away by a false hospital message.

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.