Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar - The Molly Kay Matter (10/10/55 - 10/14/55) - Bob Bailey 

Agree. 100 percent

For sure ... 👍🏽

sjdrifter72 I’m new to it, but fan of audio over radio while driving. Missed golden age of radio by apx 10 15 years by date of birth.

Mandell Cramer is pretty good too. He was one of the last Johnny Dollars.

I’ll only listen to Bob Bailey too. He IS Johnny Dollar like Sean Connery is James Bond

Same here 👍😎

Bob Bailey was the best

Edmond O'Brien is great too, but the stories are short. It's a different style

These programs would make cheesy tv programs...top tv shows are light years ahead in the writing standards. Radio was good for its time and it's nice to revisit...but the stories are one dimensional.

I know that phrase hehe! And yes Bob Bailey is the Best Johnny 💵! We're loyal like Cub fans.

This is a radio show.....you don’t have to watch the screen...

@@lavieenrose5954, you're right, but I argue that Bailey's face should have remained forever hidden from audiences -- and if not forever hidden, then certainly not on prominent display. Here's why. Johnny Dollar has the voice and manner of a handsome and smooth and fearless man. That was the intent of the show's producers, so to display a face that looks like Barney Fife ruins the intended effect.

@@TheWriterWalker You listed three traits of Johnny Dollar's character: handsomeness, smoothness, and fearlessness. As for handsome, I find Bob Bailey good looking enough, although not matinee idol handsome. But neither were men like Humphrey Bogart or Edward G. Robinson, yet many found them appealing. Smooth? I think that's more related to personal confidence than looks, and Bailey can play confident. And fearlessness . . . I grew up around fathers who fought in WWII and Korea. They didn't look fearless, they just did fearless things. My father-in- law, a West Point grad., was awarded the Purple Heart, Bronze and Silver Star fighting in Korea, but as a Captain in the Army, he looked just like the mild-mannered statistics professor he eventually became. My father was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for Bravery fighting the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. You never would have guessed his grit by looking at pictures of him in uniform where he was never without a broad smile. He owned a boring old insurance agency. When I look at Bailey's picture I see traits of Johnny Dollar you ignored, including: affabilty, kindness, intelligence, and others. Ultimately, I like Bob Bailey as Johnny Dollar because he was effective at playing a character who wasn't the typical hard-boiled investigator of the period. The fact that Bailey doesn't look like one of those tough guys is fine with me.

@@artmoss6889, I find your argument sound and impressive. I respect your father and other brave men for their sacrifices, and you're right about their looks and about Bogart and Robinson (two great examples). However, as a female trucker who uses radio dramas to get me through the long miles, the fact that Bailey looks more like Barney Fife than his voice indicates matters very much to me. The whole purpose of dramatizations are to appeal to the imagination, correct? And no matter how nondescript or unattractive real-life heroes may be, I don't want the unattractive nature of real life to intrude upon the pleasure of my fantasies. In a word, Bailey's voice and acting are wonderful for radio...but if I picture his face, it shatters the illusion. After all, in many episodes, the script indicates that Johnny is so handsome he immediately charms the most beautiful women, often upon sight. I imagine, therefore, that Johnny is not only tough and sensitive, but rakishly handsome.

Welcome to 1956. Despite the social norms of the day that seem to bother you 64 years later, this was a great show with some great writing and acting. You can't change the past, but that doesn't mean that shows and movies from the past aren't great.

That’s the way women were treated then.

Johnny's girlfriend in the later episodes, Betty, shows a lot of spunk, and so do quite a few other lady characters throughout the series. But to look through 21st Century "woke" lenses at the way this show and everything else in entertainment media in those days, is to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Get over it Sheila!! Bob Bailey is a legend! ❤❤

@@vincentsartain3061 bettys my favorite "dollar dame" and it's not even close