Who Took the Taxis for a Ride: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (July 24, 1949)

“Who Took the Taxis for a Ride” is an episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, the old-time radio show, first broadcast July 24, 1949. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Insurance investigator Johnny Dollar looks into the theft of twelve Apex taxi cabs in New York. When a cab driver is murdered during one of the robberies, Johnny discovers a pattern involving a small dark man with an accent and a large accomplice in a seersucker suit, and must determine whether the taxi company owner's criminal past makes him a suspect or a victim.

New York City, the Apex Taxi Company garage and surrounding areas, 1949

Characters: Johnny Dollar, Gordon McKissick, George Brandon, Vinnie, Marita Guastela

Listen for: The clever use of expense account items to frame the investigation, the humorous characterization of Johnny Dollar's practical thinking, and the introduction of the mysterious Marita Guastela with her lost purse as a potential key to solving the cab thefts.

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.