The Department Store Swindle Matter: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (December 24, 1949)

“The Department Store Swindle Matter” is an episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, the old-time radio show, first broadcast December 24, 1949. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A smooth-operating con man has been hitting New York department stores during the Christmas rush, posing as a salesman to make fraudulent sales and pocket cash. When insurance investigator Johnny Dollar is called in to stop the swindles, the case takes a dark turn at the Miller store when the crook shoots a store detective and kidnaps a young girl who photographed him.

New York City department stores during Christmas week, particularly the Miller store and its various departments including the toy section.

Characters: Johnny Dollar, Judy Whitehall, Mr. Stevens, Mr. Sandler, Store Manager, Store Detective, Little Bobby, Bobby's Mother

Listen for: Johnny Dollar's clever scheme to get information from a traumatized child by bringing her to meet Santa Claus in the toy department; the escalation from petty swindling to violent crime when the con man shoots a store detective.

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.