Today we will be traveling back 62 years and, for the first time, revisiting a show, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. Unlike the earlier episode, featured in episode 6 titled The Broderick Matter, which was broadcast as a serial show for 15 minutes a night 5 days a week, YTJD eventually transitioned to a standard 30 minute format. If you’ll indulge me I would like to talk a bit more than last time about the star of this show. Feel free to skip to xxx to get right to the action

Bob Bailey has always stood out to me as one of my favorite actors of the genre. His innate ability to act right on the line between campy and serious is hard to find (in my opinion) in almost any other detective show. Both of Bailey’s parents were actors who performed early 1900s stock theater. (Stock theater, as I understand it, simply means that a set number of plays are performed on a repeated schedule AKA Repertory theater). The reports are mixed, but it is rumored a young Bob was acting in his parents theater as young as 4 years old, until he was 15. He quickly moved onto radio soap operas, and from age 20 he was featured prominently throughout the Chicago area in several different radio roles.

In 1943, Mr. Bailey was signed by 20th Century Fox and appeared in 7 feature films, but the studio did not renew his contract and he would find more success in radio. Beginning in 1946, he starred as George Valentine in the radio drama Let George Do it. He will always be best remembered for his role in Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, playing “the man with the action packed expense account” from 1955-1960, performing in almost 500 episodes. The airing network, CBS, wanted to reduce costs and relocate the show to New York in 1960. Bob was unwilling to relocate and was dismissed. After his removal from the show went through two other hosts before it wound down with the end of the golden age of radio. It was finally was taken off the air in 1962. Bob Bailey virtually gave up acting after his role on Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. For years he struggled with alcoholism, but ended up overcoming his addiction and working in rehab helping others with similar struggles. Bailey suffered a stroke at age 60 and passed at age 70 in 1983. So let’s remember Bob Bailey and feature an episode from the last year of his run.

So sit back, relax, and travel back to July 17th, 1960 with Yours Truly Johnny Dollar and The Back to Back Matter.