The Walter Patterson Matter: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (December 26, 1952)

“The Walter Patterson Matter” is an episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, the old-time radio show, first broadcast December 26, 1952. 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 is hired to investigate a curious claim: a man named William Euler has been spotted alive in Tucson, Arizona, bearing a striking resemblance to Walter Patterson, who supposedly died in a plane crash in 1947 and whose $40,000 insurance claim was already paid. A reliable former judge who knew Patterson claims she saw and spoke with Euler, noting he even has Patterson's distinctive limp from wartime injuries, yet Euler denies knowing her and provides a different background story.

Wilmington, Delaware and Tucson, Arizona in 1952

Characters: Johnny Dollar, Mr. Elgin, Virginia Collier, William Euler, Boyann Patterson, Sergeant Pylar, Lieutenant James Crakeson

Listen for: The mystery of whether William Euler is truly the supposedly-dead Walter Patterson or merely a remarkable coincidence; the details of Euler's background and his reaction to being confronted with his resemblance to the deceased pilot.

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.