Episode 321 - The Buck Starts Here (Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Jack Mooney
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 March 2019
⏱️ 98 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When Johnny Dollar itemized his first expense account on February 11, 1949, he was played by actor Charles Russell, and Russell would fill the role for just over one year. Though his tenure was short, Russell's take on the character – glib, sarcastic, and a little unscrupulous – makes him stand out in the fraternity of actors who brought Dollar to radio life. We'll hear him in three episodes: "The Perikoff Policy" (originally aired on CBS on 2/11/1949); "Melanie Carter and the Un-Nice Niece" (originally aired on CBS on November 12, 1949); and "The Animal Show Unscheduled Performances" (originally aired on CBS on December 10, 1949).
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | 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. |
| 0:07.0 | The story you are about to hear is true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. |
| 0:18.0 | The Adventures of Sam Spade Detective. |
| 0:22.0 | The Adventures of the Saints starring Vincent Prize. |
| 0:25.0 | Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account. |
| 0:30.0 | America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. |
| 0:33.0 | Yours truly, Johnny Deller. Hello. Hello and welcome to down these mean streets. This week we're heading |
| 0:59.2 | back to 1949 in the early career of America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator Johnny Dollar. |
| 1:08.0 | Dick Powell played the man with the action-packed expense account in the show's audition program, but the first actor to star |
| 1:15.1 | his dollar in the series was Charles Russell. And in honor of Russell's birthday, he |
| 1:21.0 | was born March 31st, 1918, will hear three episodes from his run as |
| 1:26.6 | Dollar from the first year of the program. |
| 1:30.2 | Before he was cast as Johnny Dollar, Charles Russell had a solid but |
| 1:34.0 | undistinguished career in Hollywood. |
| 1:36.8 | He made his debut in an uncredited role in the |
| 1:39.6 | 1943 Lupe Vales comedy Ladies Day, and he'd go on to appear in almost two dozen films |
| 1:46.9 | including a starring role in the 1948 film Inner Sanctum adapted from the Mystery Anthology of the same name. |
| 1:56.0 | Russell went on the air as Johnny Dollar on February 11, 1949, and he stayed in the role for |
| 2:02.2 | just under a year signing off on January 14th 1950. |
| 2:07.0 | After a brief hiatus, the show returned with screen star Edmund O'Brien taking over the part. |
| 2:15.0 | When it comes to shortest tenure in the role of Johnny Dollar, |
| 2:19.2 | Charles Russell is second only to Bob Reddick, |
... |
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