Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
On 30th September 1962, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar ended a thirteen year run on CBS. Incredibly, it was also the last day for Suspense, one of the most well-loved and iconic radio series ever, which had run for twenty years.
And that was that. The wonderful golden age of radio had ended.
The two series were the last from an era which had spanned forty years - in which drama, comedy and variety shows had filled the airwaves, and millions of people across America tuned in to listen to their favorite shows or entertainers.
The final episode of Johnny Dollar, The Tip-Off Matter, ended at 6:35pm, with the final episode of Suspense, Devilstone, following immediately after.
A little-known fact is that both of these final episodes were written by the same person - with Jack Johnstone using his pen name, Jonathan Bundy for Devilstone.
It seems that radio scripters used aliases often. Jack Johnstone used Jonathan Bundy, E Jack Neuman used John Dawson, and Yours Truly Johnny Dollar himself, Bob Bailey, (pictured opposite) wrote the Carmen Kringle Matter but used the name Robert Bainter to do so. Bainter was his middle name.
Sadly, with the introduction of the television, all of the big money, best writers and stars moved to the television production and one by one, the legendary radio shows faded from the air.
It's kind of ironic how us old time radio listeners have done a whole 360 degrees on this - because although we have a TV set these days, I only ever really watch the sport, and Joy only ever really watches the odd cookery program.
This week I've been adding some more Yours Truly Johnny Dollar episodes to RUSC. The ones I've heard so far have been Edmond O'Brien, but I'm hoping that there will be some Bob Bailey episodes, who I know from our current poll over to the right is your favorite YTJD actor! (so far...)
Happy listening my friends,
P.S. Look out for the new Johnny Dollar quiz later in the week.