August 29, 2025 • 17 mins
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar was a radio drama which aired between 1949 and 1962. "The man with the action-packed expense account, America’s fabulous freelance insurance investigator, Johnny Dollar". Of the eight different actors who played Johnny Dollar, Bob Bailey is likely considered the most popular. Bailey's interpretation presented a tough, streetwise character, but also sensitive and thoughtful. During it's time, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar attracted some of the best writers in Hollywood, including Jack Johnstone, E. Jack Neuman, Robert Ryf, and Les Crutchfield.
Hope you enjoy this episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar! Find all our OTR radio stations and podcasts at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Audio Credit: The Old Time Radio Researchers Group. - Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple | YouTube | Spotify | iHeart | Amazon
Hope you enjoy this episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar! Find all our OTR radio stations and podcasts at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Audio Credit: The Old Time Radio Researchers Group. - Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple | YouTube | Spotify | iHeart | Amazon
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
From Hollywood. It's time now for Johnny Dollar. Marty Bruce
Johnny at Worldwide Mutual. Oh hi, Marty, how are you?
Did you ever hear of the Mailing Buddha? Nope, I'm
afraid I ever. It's probably the most valuable piece of jade.
There is a little statue not more than three three
(00:21):
and a half inches high, made during the Meiling dynasty.
And you've insured it, yes, ver how much? Forty thousand?
So what's happened to it? I don't know. I don't
know if anything's happened to it. But if nothing's happened
to it, I'm not even sure of that that nothing's
happened to it. Come on over here, let's talk about it.
Huh Yeah, And they got better Bob Bailey in The
(00:49):
Exciting Adventures of a Man with the Action Impact Expense Account,
America's Fabulous Freelance Insurance Investigator, A truly Johnny Dollar expense
(01:12):
account submitted by Special Investigator Johnny Dollar to the Worldwide
Mutual Insurance Company Home Office, Hartford, Connecticut, following as an
account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the Mailing
Buddha matter expense account. I hadn't one a dollar ten
(01:32):
for a taxi from my little apartment to the office
of Worldwide Mutual, where Marty wasted no time in getting
to the point. I know for sure if it went
with that knuckleheaded Ray Kerman, who's he one of our
account men, got back from a European vacation just this morning,
So being so stupid, I got to fire him. He
knew we'd ensured that jade Buddha, and when he saw
it over there in Paris a couple of weeks ago,
(01:53):
he should have looked into it, held out what it
was doing there doing just exactly where marty little antique shop,
somewhere on the route something or other. He didn't even
have sense enough to get the address or the name
of the place. Where was it supposed to be locked
up in the home of the late Darryl Harcourt up
in Boston. And of course it isn't. Well, that's the point.
(02:14):
I don't know. There's been no report of the theft. Well,
if somebody seen it in Paris, is that Buddha pretty
well known among collectors and so on. I told you
it's probably the most valuable piece of jade in the
whole world. And let me use your phone. Sure here,
but if we don't even know what shop or where
it is in all of Paris, let's leave it to me.
(02:40):
My phone call was to a slimmy little character whose
name is de Marsac, but who calls himself the Chagrin,
the great cat, who knows the Paris underwear like the
back of his hand. He's been a lot of help
to me some months before, and locating a painting that
was stolen from my good friend and the actor and
art collector Vincent. Price certain, if you are willing to
pay me, well, if you can dig up the information
(03:01):
I want, I'll maybe you a check for one hundred
bucks American immediately journey only two hundred what you call
bucks for my in the scheme of both services, okay,
two hundred. Now listen, there's a little idol the mailing Buddha.
I know it will oh we I saw it only
this morning here in Paris, where at the shop of
(03:22):
Monsieur Dubisson on the Rue de Parte le Mood.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
He was smuggled in only.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
A few weeks ago. And the price on it, well,
for such a were and exquisite piece, most reasonable? How
much trump you who thirty two million francs thirty that's
around eighty thousand dollars. So it must be the McCoy
you wish me to, Shall we say, obtain it for you?
You mean steal it, but of course with you, but
(03:50):
for a price. No, no thanks, I'll send you a check.
You're giving him two hundred bucks just for that, and
a lot cheaper than my flying over there. Well yeah,
so now I better check at the home of this
What do you say. The name is Darryl Harcourt in Boston.
I'll put on the address for you. Died about two
years ago. Home's in charge of his old housekeeper and
missus Mary Haskell, and I take it his property has
(04:13):
yet his final tapestries and the furniture, yes, will two
various museums here, everything but the contents of Missus Haskell's
room and the study. The ladder he willed to a nephew,
Charles Curtis, to be given to him the day he
finishes at Harvard. Well, that's a funny sort of arrangement.
Harcott was a funny man. The Buddha was the only
thing of real value in that room, and he figured
(04:35):
it was enough to get his nephew started in the
business of some kind. I see this Curtis boy, get
the house too. No, no, that goes to Missus Haskell.
After Curtis gets the contents of that one room, well
looks as though I'd better hie myself out of Boston
and make sure that Buddha's really gone. Idam too the
(04:58):
two hundred dollars check to my informant, and who was
sure he'd seen the mailing Buddha was sure it had
only arrived there recently. But it's so, why hadn't it
been reported missing from the home of the late Darryl
Harcourt up in Boston. I him three fifty bucks to
posit on a rental car. When I reached Boston, I
headed west on Beacon Street a couple of miles beyond
Kenmore Square, and there, on a little side street, found
(05:19):
the Harcourt Hall. It wasn't much of a place anymore.
The lawn and garden had been neglected, and the building
itself was in need of repair. The doorbell was the
old fashioned kind. Yes, Missus Haskell, I'm Johnny Dollar insurance investigator.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Oh, of course, do come in, Mista dalla.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Rather this moon Dethla, isn't it you live here all
the time.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I am responsible for this house until the terms of
the will I've fully met.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
That's when Charles Curtis finishes school.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yes, of course, my own quarters at the back or
its tide is there's always been, and mister Harcourt studies
exactly as it was when he passed away.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I want to say that's studying. Miss Oh No, mister to.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Be left as it is until master Childs opens it
to plains inheritance.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
You're talking about the mailing Buddha and the furniture and
books and things. How long since you've seen that little
jade idyl?
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Not since mister Harcourt died. I locked the door and
it hasn't been open since except that.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Well, I'm sorry, but I have to look around in there.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
But you have the key, of course, keep it on
this chain about my neck at all time.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Let me have it, please, mister Dallas. I can get
a court order if necessary, but it would only waste time.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Am I to nose? You're even well?
Speaker 1 (06:38):
That is here my credentials. I'm a fully authorized agent
of the company that ensured that Buddha.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
But I'm responsible has.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
It occurred to you, missus Haskell, that the mailing Buddha
might possibly have been stolen.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
That's impossible, is it.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Okay, where's the study.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I'll go with you, and I opened the door.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Here. No, this door looks a couple of inches thick,
just ripe.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
The one to the library. Mister Harcott kept all his
lovely pastry. Oh dear, look at all that dust.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Dust is right, it was on everything, the accumulation of
a couple of years. On the desk that shares the
open floor, bookshelves and tables. They're almost dark and glooming.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yes, it looks just the same except for all this
horrible dut But as I told you, mister Dalla, this
is the first time the door has been opened. Yeah,
now where's the Oh oh, I hope you didn't hurt yourself.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I just didn't see it.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
He always insisted on keeping the electric fan on that
little table next to the door.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, now, where's the buddhaut a little wooden tasket on
the desk, let's see. Ah. Wow, I was afraid of this,
afraid of.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Oh no, it's gone.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
The Buddha is gone. Oh no. I searched the room
thoroughly and found no trace of the mailing Buddha. Somehow
someone had got in that locker room and stolen it.
Must have happened recently. A piece as valuable as that
wouldn't be allowed to lie around for long if Issaka
told me it arrived in Paris only a few weeks
(08:41):
ago and I had no reason to done it. How
could anyone possibly have got in there without leaving marks
in the dust that swirled about our feet every time
we moved, That showed a clear imprint of every step
we made, That left a mark on everything I touched.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Oh dear, oh dear, mister do this is terrible?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
You're sure you have the only key to this room,
missus hask Yes, it was.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Been trusted to me to prevent this very thing.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Oh dear, what about the nephew, Charles Curtis.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
No, I'm sure he's never had one.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
You think he could have got hold of yours and
had a copy?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Made no impossible in mister dollar, Oh dear, where is
he at school at Harvard?
Speaker 1 (09:18):
I think i'd better see that boy.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Certainly you can't think that Master Charles did this.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I don't know what to think yet. Tell me you're
absolutely sure You've let no one in here since mister
Harcourt died.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
You can tell by the dust over everything that no
one has been in here, not for years, you're absolutely
except for the federal tax man of course, the appraiser
for the estate.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Oh when was that?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
A month or so after mister Harcourt passed away?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
And yet he showed up in Paris?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Only I was within mister Dollar, and so was the attorney.
Was the attorney mister Howard Bancroft in town?
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Do you have his address?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Office is just off Copy Square.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
And I've got two people to see, Charles Curtis and
Howard Bancroft.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Mister Dalla about master.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Child, he's a good boy. Oh yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
You simply can't think that he anyhow, no one could
have gotten here without leaving a trail.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
I want you to close up this room again and
leave it close. I'll be back, please about Charles, listen
to me maybe later, missus Haskell. Later, Yeah, after I've
talked to him. One thing puzzled me. If young Charles
(10:48):
Curtis did steal the Buddha, why did he do it
after a few months more at Harvard to get it? Anyway?
And he'd be able to sell it on the legitimate
market for a lot more than it would ever bring
on the Paris black market. On the way and the
look him up, I stopped at the office of the
lawyer Howard Bancroft. I can't believe it, mister Donald. Well.
The fact remains, mister Bancroft, that the boot is not
only missing from the Harcourt home, but has turned up
(11:09):
in Paris. But the only person who had access to
that room was Missus Haskell. In accordance with mister Harcourt's wish,
that room hasn't been added for years until today. And
yet if the Buddha has shown up only recently, I'm
afraid I don't follow you, sir. Mister Harcourt willed it
to his nephew, didn't he. That's right, Charles Curtis, when
he finishes school, and he willed the house to Missus Haskell,
(11:30):
didn't he? Yes? And it will be little enough reward
for her years of service to him? How do you
mean mister Harcourt paid her very little during all those years.
She and I too, quite frankly, felt she was entitled
to a great deal more. You see, his really valuable things,
the collection of tapestries he willed to various museums, so
I understood they were kept in an her medically sealed room.
(11:53):
The library her medically sealed practically. Didn't you notice the
tremendous doors on the study and library, the se windows?
Then how could any dust but about Charles Curtis, mister bangrust,
admirable young man. In addition to the money his uncle
always gave him, well, his own family is very wealthy,
(12:14):
you know, No, I didn't know. Yes, they've given him
everything he wants, and it hasn't spoiled him a bit,
even during college. He's an excellent, hard working student. He's
going to be a lawyer, mister Dollar, and he'll be
a good one. And maybe my thinking about him has
been wrong, or definitely by mister Dollar. He's planned to
donate the mailing Buddha to a museum when it comes
into his possession. You see, AH has just that. After
(12:38):
handing more or less straight insurance cases for so many years,
I almost instinctively suspect anyone close to the will of
the problem in hand in this case, young Charles Curtis,
even Missus Haskell, maybe even you. I beg your pardon,
But I guess I'd better just shake the dust out
of my brain and tackle this as a plain ordinary
Wait a minute, dust, Eh, it's a little matter of
(13:00):
dust that really has me stopped. That makes it impossible
for that roondom and added, since tapestries you said I mentioned,
of course, how blind can I be? Look, you better
get ready for some legal action and be having your client,
that late mister Daryl Harcourt. But I'm going to play
a hunch with the bank crop. Maybe it's all wrong,
maybe it's crazy, but I'm going to play it to
the hilt.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
No, missus Doller, you can't do this.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
You have no right. I will see about that.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
These are my own personal things. I don't believe you're
an insured in sophisticate her whatever you like. Have you
a warrant to search my room this way? No? No,
you're just some tea some.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Oh yeah yeah, this bank book and your name. No,
you give me that some twenty years of a balance
that never got above six or seven hundred dollars, give
me that two months ago a single deposit of twenty
one thousand. That was money that either that was the
money you got from some crook we'll let the police
run him down. Some crook who smuggled the mailing Buddha
(14:08):
over to Paris after you stole it out of the study.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
That's impossible.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
And you know it.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
That study hasn't been over finally two years.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
You saw the air of dustin there your fail Oh yes,
you pointed it out to me half a dozen times.
I should have caught on. Then, come on, we're going
into that study. Give me the key. No I won't.
I don't have to rip it off that chain. Run
your neck all right here? You saw for yourself. Yes,
I saw it all right, And I didn't have sense
(14:36):
enough to realize what kind of dust that was? You know,
look at it, full of earth? What are you talking
about about the old fashioned method of cleaning fine tapestries
with full of earth? That's the way mister Harcourt cleaned them,
isn't it?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
What difference does that? Man?
Speaker 1 (14:53):
There's probably a supply of it down on the cellar
somewhere that he always kept on hands.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
What there is that doesn't prove anything?
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, blind as a bat. When I knocked over this
electric fan that didn't have any dust on it, because
it's what you use to spread the dust. The fine
particles are full of earth all over this room. A
little sackphone maybe held in front of the fan, and
it left proof apparently that nobody'd been in here for
a couple of years. Yeah, it had me fooled, but
not anymore. Better get your coat is a no, no,
(15:29):
it's do. I deserved far more from.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Mister Harcourt for my years, said, kind of watching him
squander his money on the idol tapestries. Not my nephew,
who had money of his own. Now I have money plenty, gentlemen,
more than I need. I am an old woman. But you,
(15:57):
you're young, you could use some much perps ten or
twelve thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
You will have to think of a better way out
than that, Missasa, And you know something. I have a
notion you're going to have time to think about a
lot of things plenty of times. Yeah, I know. The
mainling Buddha still has to be brought back from Paris.
(16:27):
Maybe I'll get the assignment. Maybe he'll go to one
of our regular foreign investigators. As for Missus Haskell, well,
I'm sure mister van Craft will lose no time in
taking whatever steps are necessary. So expense account total including
My Only Too, my rental carn A few incidentals. Well
call it three hundred bucks even yours truly, Johnny Dollar. No,
(17:00):
here's our star to tell you about next week story
next week, Well, far be it from me. They get
up on a soapbox, But I hope he'll make a
point of listening to it. It concerns a lot of
money in the wrong hands, in the hands of a
bunch of kids, too young to meet responsibility, too young
to realize that cutting loose from family before they're ready
can lead to trouble, in this case, murder. Yeah, I
(17:22):
think you'd better hear it, So join us, won't you?
Yours truly, Johnny Dollar, Yours truly Johnny Dollar is starring
Bob Bailey, originates in Hollywood and has written, produced, and
(17:43):
directed by Jack Johnstone. Heard in our cast were Virginia,
Greg Paul Dubob will Wright, and Boris Lewis. Be sure
to join us next week, same time and station for
another exciting story of Yours truly, Johnny Dollars.
From Hollywood. It's time now for Johnny Dollar. Marty Bruce
Johnny at Worldwide Mutual. Oh hi, Marty, how are you?
Did you ever hear of the Mailing Buddha? Nope, I'm
afraid I ever. It's probably the most valuable piece of jade.
There is a little statue not more than three three
(00:21):
and a half inches high, made during the Meiling dynasty.
And you've insured it, yes, ver how much? Forty thousand?
So what's happened to it? I don't know. I don't
know if anything's happened to it. But if nothing's happened
to it, I'm not even sure of that that nothing's
happened to it. Come on over here, let's talk about it.
Huh Yeah, And they got better Bob Bailey in The
(00:49):
Exciting Adventures of a Man with the Action Impact Expense Account,
America's Fabulous Freelance Insurance Investigator, A truly Johnny Dollar expense
(01:12):
account submitted by Special Investigator Johnny Dollar to the Worldwide
Mutual Insurance Company Home Office, Hartford, Connecticut, following as an
account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the Mailing
Buddha matter expense account. I hadn't one a dollar ten
(01:32):
for a taxi from my little apartment to the office
of Worldwide Mutual, where Marty wasted no time in getting
to the point. I know for sure if it went
with that knuckleheaded Ray Kerman, who's he one of our
account men, got back from a European vacation just this morning,
So being so stupid, I got to fire him. He
knew we'd ensured that jade Buddha, and when he saw
it over there in Paris a couple of weeks ago,
(01:53):
he should have looked into it, held out what it
was doing there doing just exactly where marty little antique shop,
somewhere on the route something or other. He didn't even
have sense enough to get the address or the name
of the place. Where was it supposed to be locked
up in the home of the late Darryl Harcourt up
in Boston. And of course it isn't. Well, that's the point.
(02:14):
I don't know. There's been no report of the theft. Well,
if somebody seen it in Paris, is that Buddha pretty
well known among collectors and so on. I told you
it's probably the most valuable piece of jade in the
whole world. And let me use your phone. Sure here,
but if we don't even know what shop or where
it is in all of Paris, let's leave it to me.
(02:40):
My phone call was to a slimmy little character whose
name is de Marsac, but who calls himself the Chagrin,
the great cat, who knows the Paris underwear like the
back of his hand. He's been a lot of help
to me some months before, and locating a painting that
was stolen from my good friend and the actor and
art collector Vincent. Price certain, if you are willing to
pay me, well, if you can dig up the information
(03:01):
I want, I'll maybe you a check for one hundred
bucks American immediately journey only two hundred what you call
bucks for my in the scheme of both services, okay,
two hundred. Now listen, there's a little idol the mailing Buddha.
I know it will oh we I saw it only
this morning here in Paris, where at the shop of
(03:22):
Monsieur Dubisson on the Rue de Parte le Mood.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
He was smuggled in only.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
A few weeks ago. And the price on it, well,
for such a were and exquisite piece, most reasonable? How
much trump you who thirty two million francs thirty that's
around eighty thousand dollars. So it must be the McCoy
you wish me to, Shall we say, obtain it for you?
You mean steal it, but of course with you, but
(03:50):
for a price. No, no thanks, I'll send you a check.
You're giving him two hundred bucks just for that, and
a lot cheaper than my flying over there. Well yeah,
so now I better check at the home of this
What do you say. The name is Darryl Harcourt in Boston.
I'll put on the address for you. Died about two
years ago. Home's in charge of his old housekeeper and
missus Mary Haskell, and I take it his property has
(04:13):
yet his final tapestries and the furniture, yes, will two
various museums here, everything but the contents of Missus Haskell's
room and the study. The ladder he willed to a nephew,
Charles Curtis, to be given to him the day he
finishes at Harvard. Well, that's a funny sort of arrangement.
Harcott was a funny man. The Buddha was the only
thing of real value in that room, and he figured
(04:35):
it was enough to get his nephew started in the
business of some kind. I see this Curtis boy, get
the house too. No, no, that goes to Missus Haskell.
After Curtis gets the contents of that one room, well
looks as though I'd better hie myself out of Boston
and make sure that Buddha's really gone. Idam too the
(04:58):
two hundred dollars check to my informant, and who was
sure he'd seen the mailing Buddha was sure it had
only arrived there recently. But it's so, why hadn't it
been reported missing from the home of the late Darryl
Harcourt up in Boston. I him three fifty bucks to
posit on a rental car. When I reached Boston, I
headed west on Beacon Street a couple of miles beyond
Kenmore Square, and there, on a little side street, found
(05:19):
the Harcourt Hall. It wasn't much of a place anymore.
The lawn and garden had been neglected, and the building
itself was in need of repair. The doorbell was the
old fashioned kind. Yes, Missus Haskell, I'm Johnny Dollar insurance investigator.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Oh, of course, do come in, Mista dalla.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Rather this moon Dethla, isn't it you live here all
the time.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I am responsible for this house until the terms of
the will I've fully met.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
That's when Charles Curtis finishes school.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yes, of course, my own quarters at the back or
its tide is there's always been, and mister Harcourt studies
exactly as it was when he passed away.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I want to say that's studying. Miss Oh No, mister to.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Be left as it is until master Childs opens it
to plains inheritance.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
You're talking about the mailing Buddha and the furniture and
books and things. How long since you've seen that little
jade idyl?
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Not since mister Harcourt died. I locked the door and
it hasn't been open since except that.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Well, I'm sorry, but I have to look around in there.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
But you have the key, of course, keep it on
this chain about my neck at all time.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Let me have it, please, mister Dallas. I can get
a court order if necessary, but it would only waste time.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Am I to nose? You're even well?
Speaker 1 (06:38):
That is here my credentials. I'm a fully authorized agent
of the company that ensured that Buddha.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
But I'm responsible has.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
It occurred to you, missus Haskell, that the mailing Buddha
might possibly have been stolen.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
That's impossible, is it.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Okay, where's the study.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I'll go with you, and I opened the door.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Here. No, this door looks a couple of inches thick,
just ripe.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
The one to the library. Mister Harcott kept all his
lovely pastry. Oh dear, look at all that dust.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Dust is right, it was on everything, the accumulation of
a couple of years. On the desk that shares the
open floor, bookshelves and tables. They're almost dark and glooming.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yes, it looks just the same except for all this
horrible dut But as I told you, mister Dalla, this
is the first time the door has been opened. Yeah,
now where's the Oh oh, I hope you didn't hurt yourself.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I just didn't see it.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
He always insisted on keeping the electric fan on that
little table next to the door.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, now, where's the buddhaut a little wooden tasket on
the desk, let's see. Ah. Wow, I was afraid of this,
afraid of.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Oh no, it's gone.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
The Buddha is gone. Oh no. I searched the room
thoroughly and found no trace of the mailing Buddha. Somehow
someone had got in that locker room and stolen it.
Must have happened recently. A piece as valuable as that
wouldn't be allowed to lie around for long if Issaka
told me it arrived in Paris only a few weeks
(08:41):
ago and I had no reason to done it. How
could anyone possibly have got in there without leaving marks
in the dust that swirled about our feet every time
we moved, That showed a clear imprint of every step
we made, That left a mark on everything I touched.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Oh dear, oh dear, mister do this is terrible?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
You're sure you have the only key to this room,
missus hask Yes, it was.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Been trusted to me to prevent this very thing.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Oh dear, what about the nephew, Charles Curtis.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
No, I'm sure he's never had one.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
You think he could have got hold of yours and
had a copy?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Made no impossible in mister dollar, Oh dear, where is
he at school at Harvard?
Speaker 1 (09:18):
I think i'd better see that boy.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Certainly you can't think that Master Charles did this.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I don't know what to think yet. Tell me you're
absolutely sure You've let no one in here since mister
Harcourt died.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
You can tell by the dust over everything that no
one has been in here, not for years, you're absolutely
except for the federal tax man of course, the appraiser
for the estate.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Oh when was that?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
A month or so after mister Harcourt passed away?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
And yet he showed up in Paris?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Only I was within mister Dollar, and so was the attorney.
Was the attorney mister Howard Bancroft in town?
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Do you have his address?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Office is just off Copy Square.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
And I've got two people to see, Charles Curtis and
Howard Bancroft.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Mister Dalla about master.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Child, he's a good boy. Oh yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
You simply can't think that he anyhow, no one could
have gotten here without leaving a trail.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
I want you to close up this room again and
leave it close. I'll be back, please about Charles, listen
to me maybe later, missus Haskell. Later, Yeah, after I've
talked to him. One thing puzzled me. If young Charles
(10:48):
Curtis did steal the Buddha, why did he do it
after a few months more at Harvard to get it? Anyway?
And he'd be able to sell it on the legitimate
market for a lot more than it would ever bring
on the Paris black market. On the way and the
look him up, I stopped at the office of the
lawyer Howard Bancroft. I can't believe it, mister Donald. Well.
The fact remains, mister Bancroft, that the boot is not
only missing from the Harcourt home, but has turned up
(11:09):
in Paris. But the only person who had access to
that room was Missus Haskell. In accordance with mister Harcourt's wish,
that room hasn't been added for years until today. And
yet if the Buddha has shown up only recently, I'm
afraid I don't follow you, sir. Mister Harcourt willed it
to his nephew, didn't he. That's right, Charles Curtis, when
he finishes school, and he willed the house to Missus Haskell,
(11:30):
didn't he? Yes? And it will be little enough reward
for her years of service to him? How do you
mean mister Harcourt paid her very little during all those years.
She and I too, quite frankly, felt she was entitled
to a great deal more. You see, his really valuable things,
the collection of tapestries he willed to various museums, so
I understood they were kept in an her medically sealed room.
(11:53):
The library her medically sealed practically. Didn't you notice the
tremendous doors on the study and library, the se windows?
Then how could any dust but about Charles Curtis, mister bangrust,
admirable young man. In addition to the money his uncle
always gave him, well, his own family is very wealthy,
(12:14):
you know, No, I didn't know. Yes, they've given him
everything he wants, and it hasn't spoiled him a bit,
even during college. He's an excellent, hard working student. He's
going to be a lawyer, mister Dollar, and he'll be
a good one. And maybe my thinking about him has
been wrong, or definitely by mister Dollar. He's planned to
donate the mailing Buddha to a museum when it comes
into his possession. You see, AH has just that. After
(12:38):
handing more or less straight insurance cases for so many years,
I almost instinctively suspect anyone close to the will of
the problem in hand in this case, young Charles Curtis,
even Missus Haskell, maybe even you. I beg your pardon,
But I guess I'd better just shake the dust out
of my brain and tackle this as a plain ordinary
Wait a minute, dust, Eh, it's a little matter of
(13:00):
dust that really has me stopped. That makes it impossible
for that roondom and added, since tapestries you said I mentioned,
of course, how blind can I be? Look, you better
get ready for some legal action and be having your client,
that late mister Daryl Harcourt. But I'm going to play
a hunch with the bank crop. Maybe it's all wrong,
maybe it's crazy, but I'm going to play it to
the hilt.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
No, missus Doller, you can't do this.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
You have no right. I will see about that.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
These are my own personal things. I don't believe you're
an insured in sophisticate her whatever you like. Have you
a warrant to search my room this way? No? No,
you're just some tea some.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Oh yeah yeah, this bank book and your name. No,
you give me that some twenty years of a balance
that never got above six or seven hundred dollars, give
me that two months ago a single deposit of twenty
one thousand. That was money that either that was the
money you got from some crook we'll let the police
run him down. Some crook who smuggled the mailing Buddha
(14:08):
over to Paris after you stole it out of the study.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
That's impossible.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
And you know it.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
That study hasn't been over finally two years.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
You saw the air of dustin there your fail Oh yes,
you pointed it out to me half a dozen times.
I should have caught on. Then, come on, we're going
into that study. Give me the key. No I won't.
I don't have to rip it off that chain. Run
your neck all right here? You saw for yourself. Yes,
I saw it all right, And I didn't have sense
(14:36):
enough to realize what kind of dust that was? You know,
look at it, full of earth? What are you talking
about about the old fashioned method of cleaning fine tapestries
with full of earth? That's the way mister Harcourt cleaned them,
isn't it?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
What difference does that? Man?
Speaker 1 (14:53):
There's probably a supply of it down on the cellar
somewhere that he always kept on hands.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
What there is that doesn't prove anything?
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, blind as a bat. When I knocked over this
electric fan that didn't have any dust on it, because
it's what you use to spread the dust. The fine
particles are full of earth all over this room. A
little sackphone maybe held in front of the fan, and
it left proof apparently that nobody'd been in here for
a couple of years. Yeah, it had me fooled, but
not anymore. Better get your coat is a no, no,
(15:29):
it's do. I deserved far more from.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Mister Harcourt for my years, said, kind of watching him
squander his money on the idol tapestries. Not my nephew,
who had money of his own. Now I have money plenty, gentlemen,
more than I need. I am an old woman. But you,
(15:57):
you're young, you could use some much perps ten or
twelve thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
You will have to think of a better way out
than that, Missasa, And you know something. I have a
notion you're going to have time to think about a
lot of things plenty of times. Yeah, I know. The
mainling Buddha still has to be brought back from Paris.
(16:27):
Maybe I'll get the assignment. Maybe he'll go to one
of our regular foreign investigators. As for Missus Haskell, well,
I'm sure mister van Craft will lose no time in
taking whatever steps are necessary. So expense account total including
My Only Too, my rental carn A few incidentals. Well
call it three hundred bucks even yours truly, Johnny Dollar. No,
(17:00):
here's our star to tell you about next week story
next week, Well, far be it from me. They get
up on a soapbox, But I hope he'll make a
point of listening to it. It concerns a lot of
money in the wrong hands, in the hands of a
bunch of kids, too young to meet responsibility, too young
to realize that cutting loose from family before they're ready
can lead to trouble, in this case, murder. Yeah, I
(17:22):
think you'd better hear it, So join us, won't you?
Yours truly, Johnny Dollar, Yours truly Johnny Dollar is starring
Bob Bailey, originates in Hollywood and has written, produced, and
(17:43):
directed by Jack Johnstone. Heard in our cast were Virginia,
Greg Paul Dubob will Wright, and Boris Lewis. Be sure
to join us next week, same time and station for
another exciting story of Yours truly, Johnny Dollars.
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