BW - EP125—006: March 1954—John Lund and The End of the Expense Account For Johnny Dollar?

Often written by the just-heard E. Jack Neuman, the fourth actor to voice Johnny Dollar, John Lund, grabbed the role in November of 1952. Lund had starred with Olivia De Havilland in To Each His Own, Marlene Dietrich in A Foreign Affair, and Betty Hutton in The Perils of Pauline. In spite of radio’s falling ratings, in March of 1953, Wrigley’s gum signed on to sponsor the show. On Tuesdays at 9PM, Dollar peaked in May with a 7.3 rating. Among the writers who contributed scripts along with E. Jack Neuman, were Les Crutchfield, Blake Edwards, Gil Doud, Morton Fine, and David Friedkin. On March 8th, 1954 Dollar’s expense account took him to southeast Asia. Wrigley sponsored Dollar until August. Lund’s last episode was “The Upjohn Matter,” on September 19th. It seemed that like many other radio shows, Johnny Dollar’s time on the air was coming to an unremarkable end. However the show would be revived the following year. Bob Bailey would star and Jack Johnstone would direct. For more information on Bob Bailey’s run as Johnny Dollar, tune into Breaking Walls episode 102.