The Howard Caldwell Matter: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (September 30, 1950)

“The Howard Caldwell Matter” is an episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, the old-time radio show, first broadcast September 30, 1950. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Insurance investigator Johnny Dollar is hired to find Howard Caldwell, a 23-year-old who left home a year ago for San Francisco claiming to study art. His devoted mother believes he is in trouble after receiving cryptic letters telling her not to contact the police and that he has gone to another life. Johnny travels to San Francisco to investigate Howard's disappearance and uncover the mystery surrounding his sudden departure.

San Francisco and Connecticut; 1950. The investigation spans Mrs. Caldwell's country estate in Connecticut and Howard's apartment in a brownstone on Taylor Street in San Francisco, as well as the Orlando School of Art and various bars and restaurants.

Characters: Johnny Dollar, Mrs. Caldwell, Howard Caldwell, apartment house manager, Miss Orlando, bartender

Listen for: Johnny Dollar's detailed expense account reporting as he pieces together clues from Howard's mailbox, sketches, matchbook collections, and interviews with those who may have known the missing young man.

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.