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. And the Hello and welcome to down these mean streets. This week we're throwing a

birthday party for Bob Bailey, one of the great actors of the old time

radio era. Born June 13, Bailey is best known to radio fans for his five-year tenure as the fabulous freelance

insurance investigator Johnny Dollar.

Bailey appeared in a handful of films in the early 1940s and on some

television shows in the 50s and 60s but he spent much of his career on radio and

it may have been for the best. The shortened stature Bailey

wouldn't have been cast as heroic tough guys on screen but his voice and

style were perfect for those parts on radio, and his performances earn

him a seat at the table in the Radio Hall of Fame.

We'll get to Johnny Dollar in a minute, but before he played the man with the

action-packed expense account, Bob Bailey spent seven years solving radio crimes

as George Valentine in the Gumshu drama, Let George do it.

Valentine solicited clients through a newspaper ad where he offered to handle any job that was too tough or dangerous.

When it first came on the air, the show played George's work for laughs,

like helping a shy farmer find love, but the show transitioned over time into a more traditional detective series.

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