The Lucky Costa Matter: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (August 15, 1951)

“The Lucky Costa Matter” is an episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, the old-time radio show, first broadcast August 15, 1951. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

Listen to Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar free, live around the clock: every episode, in the order it first aired. No sign-up.

What happens

Insurance investigator Johnny Dollar receives a worrying call from Louise Costa about her husband Lucky, a private detective who has been missing for a week and acting strangely for the past month. Johnny begins investigating and learns that Lucky may be entangled with Hazel Mackie, a woman from his past who has hired him for a mysterious case involving someone recently released from prison.

New York City, including Broad Street and Hazel's apartment on the East Side; also references to San Francisco and Brooklyn.

Characters: Johnny Dollar, Louise Costa, Lucky Costa, Joe Costa, Hazel Mackie

Listen for: The revelation of Lucky's mysterious past marriage and prison connection; Johnny's growing concern about what case Lucky is actually working on and why he's lying to his wife.

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.