Get this and get it straight. Crime is a suckers road and those who travel it wind up in the gut of the prison of the grave.

The story you are about to hear is true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

The Adventures of Sam Spade Detective.

The Adventures of the Saints starring Vincent Prize.

Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account.

America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator.

Yours truly, Johnny Deller. the Hello and welcome to down these means streets where this week our old time

radio detective is one of the all time best. Bob Bailey is the man with the action-packed expense account,

yours truly Johnny Dollar.

The Adventures of the Freelance Insurance investigator

premiered on CBS 70 years ago this month

and over the long run of the series several actors played the title role

including Edmund O'Brien, John Lund, and Mandel Kramer. But Bailey was the best of the bunch. Fresh from a run on Let George do it, Bailey began his tenure as Johnny Dollar in October

1955 when the series was revamped under director Jack Johnstone as a nightly

15 minute serial. A complete story played out in five parts between Monday

and Friday and with more than twice the runtime of a standard radio episode John

Stone and his fellow writers had room to develop characters and

creating grossing twisting mysteries for Dollar to solve. That run of shows is

among the best the Golden Age of Radio has to offer.

And fortunately, with the exception of a few missing chapters here and there,

we have almost the entire series to enjoy today. And this week, in honor of the

character's radio anniversary, we'll hear one of those five-part stories,

...