THE LANSING FRAUD MATTER

In "The Lansing Fraud Matter" (1955), Johnny Dollar investigates a $50,000 life insurance policy for James Lansing, who died of malnutrition just two days after the policy was issued. Dollar discovers the deceased was a chronic alcoholic in poor health, proving that someone else took the medical exam to secure the policy for beneficiary Arlene Kennedy.

Each story of the Bob Bailey years started with a phone call from an insurance executive, calling on Johnny to investigate an unusual claim. Each story required Johnny to travel to some distant locale, usually within the United States but sometimes abroad, where he was almost always threatened with personal danger in the course of his investigations. Johnny's file on each case was usually referenced as a "matter," as in "The Silver Blue Matter" or "The Forbes Matter". Later episodes were more fanciful, with titles like "The Wayward Trout Matter" and "The Price of Fame Matter" (the latter featuring a rare guest-star appearance by Vincent Price as himself). Johnny usually stuck to business, but would sometimes engage in romantic dalliances with women he encountered in his travels; later episodes gave Johnny a steady girlfriend, Betty Lewis.

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