A Very Ghoulish & Giffy Halloween from your ever lovin’ MonsterGirl!

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THANKS TO RETRO-FIEND FOR ALL THE SKIN-CRAWLING GIFS!!!!!

 BE SAFE AND HERE’S WISHING YOU A SPOOKTACULAR HALLOWEEN FROM THE LAST DRIVE IN…!!!!!!

There is nothing wrong with your television set… Do not attempt to adjust the picture, we are controlling transmission: The Transendental Heartbeat of The Outer Limits 1963-1965

THE OUTER LIMITS 1963-1965

As much as I am passionate about Boris Karloff’s anthology television show THRILLER, I throw my enthusiasm to all things science fiction & fantasy toward the 60s series that brought to life some of the most memorable monsters and thought provoking story lines that was The Outer Limits.

As a kid I remember how the shivers of excitement ran through my veins as soon as the control voice began to usher in a new segment as the wavy white lines trembled on the screen. The voice was odd, yet familiar like an intimate stranger who could read your thoughts and knew your deepest fears.

I knew I was in for something majestic and beyond the realm of belief. While THRILLER tapped into my core fears of things that lurked in the shadows of this earthly domain, somehow The Outer Limits managed to propel my fears into the outer reaches of the universe. Still the things that go bump in the night, but more like the night sky.

And so I fondly assign a few of my favorite stories here at The Last Drive In, with follow ups to some more down that unknowing wavy road of life. If you’re not already a fan of this uniquely mind broadening show, then do yourself a favor and a try and catch an episode or two. You’ll see some favorite actors I’m sure, and I bet a Zanti under your bed… if you’re not even moved just a little by it’s poignant– strange and at times grotesquely whimsical way of painting a fantastical moral with some gorgeous visual cues and dynamic acting style to drive the message home and articulate thought provoking & philosophical themes.

The ground breaking postmodern metaphysical world of science fiction & fantasy from the brilliant mind of executive producers Leslie Stevens and Joseph Stefano was far ahead of it’s time. Created by Leslie Stevens. Story consultant Lou Morheim and transcendent musical score by Dominic Frontiere (first season from 1963-64 ) The heavenly awe inspiring music never fails to make my chest heave, as the celestial melody creates the mood of a living breathing universe expanding, a near religious experience of the magnitude of awe that Science Fiction evokes in the hearts of dreamers.

The music for the second season was scored by Harry Lubin. There were 49 episodes in total….

Perhaps the first television show that was truly pioneering, unprecedentedly radical, inventive and even sociological in it’s contribution to the genre. It boasted some remarkable visual effects, and still remains a memorable collection of thoughtful plays that stretch the boundaries of imagination.

The Outer Limits could be considered Science Fiction/Fantasy genre, An anthology series created by Leslie Stevens and narrated by Vic Perrin who was the voice behind the Control Voice. Similar somewhat to The Twilight Zone with more of an earnest tone given rise to more Science Fiction oriented stories

A Daystar Productions–Villa DiStefano. United Artists Television originally aired on ABC with a run from September 16, 1963 "“ January 16, 1965

The show used writers like Leslie Stevens, Donald S Sanford, Lou Morheim, (The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms 1953) Harlan Ellison, and Seeleg Lester.

With cinematography by Conrad L.Hall, (American Beauty 1999, Marathon Man 1976, In Cold Blood 1967, Cool Hand Luke 1967, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid 1969) You can imagine the vision that framed the stories behind the camera from the genius of Hall’s cinematic eye. John M Nickolaus (House of the Damned and The Day Mars Invaded Earth 1963 both very unique films partly due to the way they were lensed by Nickolaus) and Kenneth Peach.

Utilizing some of the greatest directors like Byron Haskins (Arsenic and Old Lace 1944, War of the Worlds 1953, Robinson Crusoe on Mars 1964) John Brahm (The Lodger 1944, The Twilight Zone, Boris Karloff’s Thriller) Laslo Benedek (The Wild One 1953), Leslie Stevens, Gerd Oswald, Paul Stanley, John Erman, Robert Flory, James Goldstone, Leonard Horn, Felix Feist, Charles Haas, Alan Crosland Jr. and Abner Biberman

Featuring some of the greatest character actors like Martin Landau, Sally Kellerman, William Shatner, Cliff Robertson, Jacqueline Scott, Sidney Blackmer, Robert Culp, Geraldine Brooks, Donald Pleasence, David McCallum, Jill Hayworth, John Considine, Shirley Knight, Jeff Corey, Harry Townes, Harry Guardino, Gary Merrill, Salome Jens, Ed Nelson, Martin Sheen, James Shigeta, John Anderson, Scott Marlowe, Ed Asner, Kent Smith, Joan Camden, Mark Richman, Nina Foch, Phillip Abbott, Gladys Cooper, Ralph Meeker, Jay Novello, Michael Tolan, Bruce Dern, Olive Deering, Henry Silva, Carroll O’ Connor, Barry Morse, Miriam Hopkins, John Hoyt, Marsha Hunt, Don Gordon, George Macready, Neil Hamilton, Walter Burke, Simon Oakland, Ruth Roman, Alex Nicol, Tim O’Connor, Warren Oates, Luane Anders, Gloria Grahame, Nellie Burt, Russell Johnson, Nick Adams, Nancy Malone, Marion Ross, Macdonald Carey, Sam Wanamaker, David Opatoshu, Joyce Van Patten, Signe Hasso, Allyson Ames, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Duvall, Vera Miles, Barbara Rush, Cedric Hardwicke, Malachi Throne, Peter Lind Hayes, Joan Freeman, Abraham Sofaer, Eddie Albert, June Havor, Howard DaSilva, Marianna Hill, Warren Stevens, Robert Webber, Michael Constantine, Crahan Denton, Grant Williams, and Peggy Ann Garner to name some of the acting highlights.

The Galaxy Being
Cliff Robertson appears in the shows first The Galaxy Being…

The Control Voice: There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to… The Outer Limits.

Much of the episodes could be considered stagey and theatrical, with the acting a bit dramaturgical or heavy-handed for a science fiction/ fantasy television drama, but as writers David J Schow and Jeffrey Frentzen say in THE OUTER LIMITS: The Official Companion “… the embroidered quality of their performances. At times the dialogue seems hammy and intemperate, but since good theatre is not a reflection of the world, but a mirror distortion of its exaggerated for-point-making purposes, the bigger-than-life nature of the players is fitting.

THE ARCHITECTS OF FEAR-broadcast date September 30th, 1963

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First, let me say that I’m a huge fan of Robert Culp! So naturally this episode is very special to me. Culp appeared in a few more episodes of the series, this one being my favorite. At times his performance went beyond sublime. Directed by Byron Haskin with Conrad Hall as director of photography. Dominic Frontiere’s gorgeous score.

One of the most compelling of all The Outer Limits episodes. Allen’s dilemma is torn between his love and devotion to his wife Yvette and the scientific ideals he adheres to. Out of hubris –These misguided scientists trying to do a good thing for humanity, make huge mistakes and wind up destroying one of the blessed things about the world… a family (Yvette finds out she is pregnant right before Allen fakes his death) who has a right to life and love.

The Cast- Robert Culp as Allen Leighton, Geraldine Brooks as his wife Yvette, Leonard Stone as Dr. Phillip Gainer, Martin Wolfosn as Dr. Herschel

Is this the day? Is this the beginning of the end? There is no time to wonder, not time to ask, “Why is it happening, why is it finally happening?” There is time only for fear, for the piercing pain of panic. Do we pray? Or do we merely run now, and pray later? Will there be a later? Or is this the day?

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An altruistic group of scientists theorizes that in order to unite all the people of the earth, there must be a common enemy! Sounds feasible right… So they re-configure in larger size an alien being called a ‘Thetan’ rhymes with Cretan…

To unify all the nations around the world against a frightening invasion of extraterrestrials. Essentially, they design to manufacture a ‘scarecrow.’ After pulling names out of a bowl to see which one of the scientists will undergo the grueling intensive physiological transformation by surgical transplantation, reassignment, and exposure to environmental conditions similar to that of the planet Theta so he can be turned into a larger version of the little Thetan they keep in a cage. Although the creature is mostly seen in shadow, the sound it makes is hilarious and yet compelling at the same time. Somewhat as if you put a gag on a nasty muppet…

Physicist Allen Leighton (Robert Culp) gets to be the lucky guy. Once transmogrified into an alien, he will pilot a spaceship that will land in front of the UN while in session to confront the General Assembly with a laser gun…

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Allen-“You know what we really need to stop fighting among ourselves. Something else to fight, Somebody else. Really something else has to come along that will scare us all out of our skins!” Yvette “We stop fighting each other, we start fighting a scarecrow"¦ that's a gorgeous solution" Allen-"Well we don't exactly fight it, but we fear it"¦ So we unite against it. And if the threat continues long enough we gradually become used to being united. We actually grow to like it. Yvette-"Some scarecrows don't even scare"¦ crows!" Allen-"One might."
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“Mark against Evil.”

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Allen goes off on a tangential soliloquy induced by the wrong reaction to the drugs he’s been given. He mentions Prometheus… how fitting that these mad scientists are creating a modern-day monster by playing God...
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"Listen there's more to this levitation than just the physical. I'm really able to fly. Are you aware of that? No, you're no Phil Gainer, Professor Gainer, Dr Gainer. Hello Dr. Gainer, allow me to present (in a german accent) these mad doctors here. Constant as you are of the space-time continuum. There's globules of solid (cackles in a whisper) propellant To send me on my long journey"¦. through the underworld or the "”listen you gotta put pegs on my eyes Phil tells him to lye down According to ?'s law ( makes like his hands like ray guns and shoots"¦) laughing “I see you all, you got fat faces you know that. Baby eyes over baby pouts. Come on. Skidder along on your little rats’ feet. I am Callahan, Callaban. (he chuckles to himself) with a Ph.D. Ba Ba Black Sheep Have you any krell upstairs, downstairs in my baby's nightshade? All around the town crying through the lochs how the children in their beds know it's 8'O'Clock Stay back, stay back you think your putty little hands can hold Prometheus Odysseus Tycho Star…”

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Of course, the idea is that every nation will band together to fight this one enemy, but ahhh often the best-laid plans of mice and men often go astray… Allen’s ship accidentally lands by the United Labs facility, and as he moves through the woods, with his oversized scaly arms, giant head, bug eyes, and backward -jointed bird-like clawed feet he is a lumbering monstrosity with a tube up its mouth breathing in nitrogen. He uses his laser gun to disintegrate a station wagon to scare a pack of hunters and their dogs. The men wind up mortally shooting him.

First, the group fakes Allen’s death, whose wife is not only a little psychic but deservingly cynical about the facts surrounding her husband’s plane crash. Yvette insists on hanging around the research lab. She has a special psychic link with Allen and feels sympathetic pangs when he is near. In a touching scene in the beginning the two have a gesture they share where Allen uses his fingers to mark her forehead “Mark against evil”

In the end when Allen finds his way back to the lab, Yvette again feels her husband’s presence and his pain. She runs to the lab where she finds him dying. Just before the monster, he makes the ‘mark against evil’ on her head. This very special ritual confirms that this was her husband.

Scarecrow and magic and other fatal fears do not bring people closer together. There is no magic substitute for soft caring and hard work, for self respect and mutual love. If we can learn this from the mistake these frightened men made, then their mistake will not have been merely grotesque. It will have been at least a lesson-a lesson at last to be learned.

The monster suit created a huge outpouring of fan mail for the show. Byron Haskin brought in a Hungarian stuntman and acrobat named Janos Prohaska to play the alien. He used stilts that raised him up nearly two feet off the ground. Within the costume, he gripped armatures inside the elbows, he balanced himself to look like a man leaning forward on his crutches. The giant head was designed by Wah Chang and included functional eyelids, pulsating veins, and a bellows mouth all propelled by air cylinders. Prohaska was literally sealed inside the rubberoid skin, then situated forward on his stilts- he was able to see out of the nose!

Everyone at Projects Unlimited contributed to the costume, though Byron Haskin designed it.

Continue reading “There is nothing wrong with your television set… Do not attempt to adjust the picture, we are controlling transmission: The Transendental Heartbeat of The Outer Limits 1963-1965”

The Women of Alfred Hitchcock’s Hour (1962-1965)

This review is part of the Summer of MeTV Classic TV Blogathon hosted by the Classic TV Blog Association.

Click here CLASSIC TV ASSOCIATION BLOGSPOT 

to check out this blogathon’s complete schedule!

meTV Blogathon

THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR

Some of these episodes have been revised and updated to more extensive overviews including biographies of the big-screen actresses who transitioned from Hollywood the television! May 14, 2023, Please visit the links below!

https://thelastdrivein.com/2023/05/18/its-the-pictures-that-got-small-good-evening-leading-ladies-of-the-alfred-hitchcock-hour-part-1/

https://thelastdrivein.com/2023/05/18/its-the-pictures-that-got-small-good-evening-leading-ladies-of-the-alfred-hitchcock-hour-part-2/

https://thelastdrivein.com/2023/05/18/its-the-pictures-that-got-small-good-evening-leading-ladies-of-the-alfred-hitchcock-hour-part-3/

As sure as my name is MonsterGirl, this is a Boris Karloff Thriller! “The Storm”


Older posts:

Concerto Sinostro- The Alfred Hitchcock Hour- Seven Exceptional Episodes

Alfred Hitchcock the television years: 8 indelible episodes!

There were 93 EPISODES in the series.

Alfred Hitchcock and Crow

“GOOD EVENING…

Hitchcock:To be quite honest, I am not interested in content at all. I don’t give a damn what the film is about. I am more interested in how to handle the material to create an emotion in an audience.”

As a child of the 60s, as soon as the emblematic theme song and opening credits started to play, I would feel chills running up my spine. I remember the reruns were still broadcast late at night, I understood that each story had something foul afoot, a shadow of the uncanny loomed over my tiny shoulders, and the room filled up with a sinister quiver. Even with its smart-alecky delivery and Hitchcock’s well-placed tongue-in-cheek humor to offset some of the more gruesome aspects of the show, I couldn’t wait til 10 pm, and the idea of watching a dreadfully good mystery even for such a young impressionable mind as my own! The timpani is intermezzo between each thrilling scene to raise the goose bumps and keep the heart pounding!

Alfred Hitchcock transported his brand of cheeky suspense narratives from the big screen to the advent of the intimate living-room television experience of the 60s where tv stations were fertile with playhouse theater melodramas, stage play-esque stories featuring some of the most emotive and original character actors who’s careers were vibrant with possibility.

Using some of the most well-known mystery writers, seriously cutting-edge and unorthodox directors, and the best actors who could bring forth the most nuanced performances from the riveting scripts.

The show premiered on Thursday, September 20, 1962, from 10 pm-11 pm on CBS. It ran opposite Alcoa Premier Theater on ABC and The Andy Williams Show on NBC. From 1963 -1964 it moved to Friday nites and then from 1964-1965 it found its slot on Monday nites opposite Ben Casey on ABC.

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour ranks among the top fifty longest-running series in television history!

Robert Bloch talks about his years working with Hitch, starting out on the program in 1959. He was summoned to Shamley Productions’ office and offered an assignment to write a script based on Frank Mace’s story “The Cukoo Clock.” Bloch began adapting his own published stories alongside the other writers on staff. Bloch’s work was only dramatized by other writers when his commitment to the competing anthology show wasn’t calling for his time. That show was Boris Karloff’s Thriller. Bloch recalls producer and part of the creative team Joan Harrison as a remarkable lady who went from secretary to screenwriter to independent producer with a unique vision.

Norman Lloyd had a certain style of speech and mannerisms which might designate him an Englishman when in fact–he was born in Jersey City, New Jersey! Starting out as an unbelievably talented actor who worked several times with Hitchcock in film. Lloyd played Fry in Hitch’s Saboteur 1942, & Mr. Garmes in Spellbound 1945. 

Lloyd had been blacklisted and hadn’t been able to work in television for four or five years.

“Around 1955 they got Hitchcock to say he'd do television which was a big thing. And in '57 the order for the half hour show was amplified, with a new series called Suspicion. I think Suspicion had many shows. Hour shows. And MCA took ten of them. New York took ten and so forth. And with the ten he was adding on they used to do 39 half hour shows a series. It was his producer Joan Harrison, is how I really learned how to be a producer. Divine. She was beautiful, exquisitely dressed, in perfect taste for the set. She was divine. She was a writer for him, and she was now his producer. And they needed someone else to come in an help her because of the quantity of the work not for the half hours, but now the hour. So she and Hitch decided, they wanted me to do it. Cause I also knew Joan very well. And so they presented my name"¦ however"¦ And this was told to me by Alan Miller who headed television at MCA, he came back, Alan Miller from the network and says ‘there seems to be a problem about Lloyd' and Hitch said, "˜I want him!' that was the end of the blacklist!" -Norman Lloyd

Norman Lloyd

Hitch was a world-figure. He was a man of great humor, had a very definite view of the world. He saw the world a certain way and we have as a result what is known as the Hitchcock film. It became the Hitchcock story, so to speak, almost like an Edgar Allen Poe story." Directors try to imitate him but they never get the mixture right. Only Hitch had the mixture of the romance, the suspense, the humor, the twists" -Norman Lloyd

Joan Harrison started out as Hitchcock’s secretary, and began reading scripts, writing synopses, and actually contributing to the scripts. She followed Hitchcock to Hollywood in 1939 working as his assistant and then was hired by MGM in 1941 as a scriptwriter. In 1943 she became a producer for Universal Studios. To her film credits, she produced some of the most compelling film noir/ mysteries. One of my personal favorites is Phantom Lady 1944, and then… The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry 1945, Nocturne 1946 They Won't Believe Me 1947, Ride the Pink Horse 1947, Eye Witness 1950, and Circle of Danger 1951.

Director Robert Siodmak, Joan Harrison, Ella Raines and Franchot Tone on the set of Phantom Lady
Director Robert Siodmak, producer Joan Harrison, Ella Raines and Franchot Tone on the set of Phantom Lady 1944

Executive Producers on the show, Norman Lloyd and Joan Harrison are partly what made the series so enigmatic. Producers included Herbert Coleman, Robert Douglas, David Friedkin, Gordon Hessler, Roland Kibbee, and David Lowell Rich.

The cinematographers who worked on various episodes included Stanley Cortez, Benjamin Kline, Lionel Linden, William Margulies, Richard Rawlings, John L. Russell, and John F. Warren. With art direction by John J Lloyd and Martin Obzina.

The magnificent musical contributions were offered by Hitchcock veteran Bernard Herrmann and a personal favorite of mine, Lyn Murray, whose stirring melodies recycle themselves in several of the most poignant episodes. The brilliant and prolific Pete Rugolo can be heard as well as Stanley Wilson.

Florence Bush was the hairstylist for the show, and she was very active during the 60s! You’ll spot her name listed in the credits on so many television programs of that era. Including Leave it to Beaver and Hitchcock’s film Psycho!

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THE DIRECTORS- Bernard Girard, John Brahm, Alan Crosland Jr., Alf Kjellin, Norman Lloyd, Sydney Pollack, Jerry Hopper, Joseph Pevney, Leonard Horn, Jack Smight, Charles F. Haas, David Lowell Rich, James Sheldon, Herschel Daugherty, Robert Douglas, Joseph Newman, Harvey Hart, Laslo Benedek, William Whitney, Leo Penn, Harry Morgan, Philip Leacock, Lewis Teague, Arnold Laven, David Friedkin, James H. Brown, Alex March, Herbert Coleman, William Friedkin, and Alfred Hitchcock…

THE WRITERS Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Henry Slesar, Cornell Woolrich, Richard Matheson, Gilbert Ralston, Clark Howard, Richard Deming, Morton S. Fine, David Friedkin, Lewis Davidson, Larry M Harris, James Bridges, Selwyn Jepson, Andrew Benedict, Anthony Terpiloff, Avram Davidson, Alfred Hayes, James Holding, Helen Nielsen, Arthur A Ross, Stanley Abbott, Lee Kalcheim, Ethel Lina White, Oscar Millard, James Yaffe, Andre Maurois, Clyde Ware, Davis Grubb, Nigel Elliston, John Wyndham, Harlan Ellison, Robert Branson, C.B Gilford, Francis Gwaltney, Harold Swanton, Margaret Manners, William Fay, S.B. Hough, Emily Neff, Barré Lyndon, Jack Ritchie, Alvin Sargent, Hugh Wheeler, Veronica Parker Jones, Boris Sobelman, Joel Murcott, Margaret Millar, Richard Levinson, William Link, Thomas H Cannon Jr., Randall Hood, Gabrielle Upton, Robert Westerby, Miriam Allen DeFord, William D Gordon, John Collier, James Parish, Kenneth Fearing, Robert Gould, Robert Arthur, William Fay, George Bellak, Robert Twohy, Leigh Brackett, Frederick Dannay, Manfred Lee, Mann Rubin, Douglas Warner, Henry Kane, Alec Coppel, Amber Dean, Lou Rambeau, Edith Pargeter, Charles Beaumont, Francis Didelot, Celia Fremlin, Roland Kibbee, Lukas Heller, Elizabeth Hely, Rebecca West, Richard Fielder, Nicholas Blake, Lee Erwin, Marie Belloc Lowndes, Julian Symons, John Bingham, V.S.Pritchett, John D MacDonald, John Garden, Andrew Garve, Marc Brandell, Patricia Highsmith, Samuel Rogers, Oliver H. P. Garrett

Robert Bloch writer
Writer Robert Bloch- was a contributor to many of the shows spine chilling narratives!

Hitchcock first managed to develop an anthology series that drew from his magazine and radio stories of the macabre, suspenseful, crime drama and cheeky thriller, often lensed with a noir style. This show was of course Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Eventually in order to compete with the growing market of 50-minute teleplays, like Playhouse 90, Boris Karloff’s Thriller, The Twilight Zone etc, Hitchcock changed his format to meet an hour’s worth of programming, still employing Hitch’s classic introductory droll prologue. And where Karloff’s Thriller painted the stories with a more macabre brush stroke, Hitchcock’s anthology show presented these criminal acts in two parts in a most ironic and irreverent manner…

According to John McCarty, Hitchcock made the shift from half hour show to an hour format without much issue. “When we had a half-hour show, we could do short stories…{…} Now, in an hour, we have to go to novels.” His staff read through thousands of crime novels to find the right script. Yet frequently it became necessary to utilize a short story and expand it, in order to fill out the hour.

While Boris Karloff’s Thriller was pervasive with its stories of the macabre and the uncanny, Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone with its more sociological morality with a heavy science fiction spin, Alfred Hitchcock maintained an ironic lens on very suspense/crime-oriented material that kept the focus on human nature as perilous. He always provided the same sort of ‘twist’ at the end as in its pithy precedent Alfred Hitchcock Presents!

While Alfred Hitchcock Presents might have provided a shorter more enlivened ride to the turn of the plot because it had to deliver the lightning in a more synoptic amount of time, the hour format allowed for more psychological background, with room to build the character study of the players involved.

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Alfred Hitchcock is still the larger-than-life, Aesopsian voice of modern crime-infused with foul deeds springing from human nature and the darker sides of the mortal mind and how far it can reach when working under a compulsion, obsession or pathology. His vision created some of the most compelling little dramas for a ’60s audience to digest, still relevant after all these years.

Hitchcock’s brand of humor was dry and witty, ironic and fablist. Drawing from some of the finest mystery writers of the day, his little tour-de-force dramatizations showcased some of the best examples of theatre and acting even on the small screen. His first show which gave us a 25-minute sequence that the series featured premiered on October 2, 1955, after Alfred Hitchcock had been directing mesmerizing films for over three decades!

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“GOOD EVENING…..”

The iconic opening title sequence for the show has become unforgettably imposed in our psyches and in popular culture, as the simplistic yet mirthful intro possesses the camera fading upon an easily recognizable caricature of Hitchcock’s porcine yet endearing profile. Set against one of the most memorable musical themes written by Charles Gounod’s– the piece is called Funeral March of a Marionette. A type of adult nursery song that tickles the funny bone’s comparable curious bone… the one that gets triggered when there’s a marvelous mystery afoot! The theme– suggested by Hitchcock’s musical collaborator, the brilliant Bernard Hermann.

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As if it couldn’t get any more smashingly wicked and alluring, Hitchcock himself takes shape behind the silhouette from the right of screen, then in grand theatrical style walks center stage to eclipse the drawing. He commences with his nightly, “Good evening…” and we are in for an irresistibly gripping treat!

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The opening set of each episode, Hitchcock is given props against an empty stage. At times he himself becomes the prop, or main focal point where he imparts either sage elucidation, comical warning or sardonic advice. A witty prelude to the evening’s tale or just a frivolous bit of shenanigans to put one in the mood for the evening’s program. As he drolly introduces the night’s story, his monologues were conceived of by James B Allardice. Many of his missives took shots at the sponsors, spoofing the popular American fixation on commercials and commercialism.

Always at the end of the show, Hitchcock would re-appear to lead the audience out of the evening’s events. To either enlighten them on the aftermath of a story, the scenes they did not see, and to reassure us that the criminals featured did get their comeuppance. To tie up any loose ends within the question of morality’s swift hand.

Originally 25 minutes per episode, the series was expanded to 50 minutes in 1962. The show was then renamed The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Hitchcock directed 17 of the 268 filmed episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Hitchcock did direct one of the hour long episodes called “I Saw the Whole Thing” starring John Forsyth who is accused of hit and run, while several witnesses swear they saw him leave the scene of the accident.

Alfred Hitchock Being A Big Goof (1)

Here is how the show was syndicated back in the 60s:

  • Sunday at 9:30-10 p.m. on CBS: October 2, 1955"”September 1960
  • Tuesday at 8:30-9 p.m. on NBC: September 1960"”September 1962
  • Thursday at 10-11 p.m. on CBS: September"”December 1962
  • Friday at 9:30-10:30 p.m.on CBS: January"” September 1963
  • Friday at 10-11 p.m. on CBS: September 1963"”September 1964
  • Monday at 10-11 p.m. on NBC: October 1964"”September 1965

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, lasted three seasons from September 1962 to June 1965, There were 93 episodes in total. Alfred Hitchcock Presents had a total of 268 episodes.

Hitchcock directed two episodes of Presents that were nominated for Emmy Awards–“The Case of Mr. Pelham (1955) and one of the most popular stories with it’s fabulous dark humor, “Lamb to the Slaughter” (1958) starring Barbara Bel Geddes.

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The episode that won an Emmy Award was one of my particular favorites as it is both poignant and eerie, “The Glass Eye” (1957) starring Jessica Tandy, Tom Conway and Billy Barty. Robert Stevens won for his direction.

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Cinematographer John L. Russell’s incredible shots of Jessica Tandy in The Glass Eye

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“An Unlocked Window” (1965) is one of the most starkly intense and transgressive in nature of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and won an Edgar Award for James Bridges writing in 1966. The episode stars Dana Wynter and Louise Latham, both wonderful unsung actresses!

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Dana Wynter and T.C. Jones in An Unlocked Window–nurses in peril oh my!
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Louise Latham in An Unlocked Window

THE ACTRESSES– Martha Hyer, Vera Miles, Patricia Breslin, Angie Dickinson, Carol Lynley, Carmen Phillips, Isobel Elsom, Charity Grace, Susan Oliver, Kathleen Nolan, Peggy McCay, Adele Mara, Lola Albright, Dee Hartford, Gena Rowlands, Jayne Mansfield, Dina Merrill, Patricia Collinge, Jan Sterling, Elizabeth Allen, Anne Francis, Ruth Roman, Gladys Cooper, Inger Stevens, Zohra Lampert, Diana Hyland, Joan Fontaine, Irene Tedrow, Sarah Marshall, Nancy Kelly, Betty Field, Katherine Squire, Martine Bartlett, Phyllis Thaxter, Natalie Trundy, Linda Christian, Laraine Day, Anna Lee, Lois Nettleton, Madlyn Rhue, Patricia Donahue, Diana Dors, Claire Griswold, Mary LaRoche, Virginia Gregg, Anne Baxter, Jacqueline Scott, Sondra Blake, Ruth McDevitt, Katharine Ross, Patricia Barry, Jane Withers, Joyce Jameson, Teresa Wright, Linda Lawson, Jean Hale, Mildred Dunnock, Felicia Farr, Kim Hunter, Collin Wilcox, Jane Darwell, Jocelyn Brando, Joan Hackett, Gloria Swanson, Lynn Loring, Pat Crowley, Juanita Moore, Naomi Stevens, Marjorie Bennett, Jessica Walter, Gia Scala, Joanna Moore, Kathie Browne, Ethel Griffies, Sharon Farrell, Nancy Kovack, Barbara Barrie, Doris Lloyd, Lillian Gish, Maggie McNamara, Josie Lloyd, Tisha Sterling, Ann Sothern, Patricia Medina, Elsa Lanchester, Jeannette Nolan, Ellen Corby, Julie London, Margaret Leighton, Lilia Skala, Olive Deering, Kathryn Hays, Dana Wynter, Louise Latham, Sally Kellerman, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Fay Bainter, Jane Wyatt, June Lockhart, Colleen Dewhurst

MY SELECTED EPISODES THAT FEATURE THE HITCHCOCK LADIES OF THE EVENING!….

DON’T LOOK BEHIND YOU (9/27/62) VERA MILES as Daphne

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Vera Miles as Daphne and devilishly handsome Jeff Hunter in Don’t Look Behind You
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Fear grips the campus and Vera Miles… Abraham Sofaer watches Daphne go out into the dangerous night woods

Directed by John Brahm, written by Barré Lyndon (The War of the Worlds 1953) Based on Samuel Rogers novel co-stars Jeffrey Hunter, Abraham Sofaer, Dick Sargent, Alf Kjellin, Mary Scott, Madge Kennedy.

A small college campus is gripped by fear when a maniac is on the loose. Two young female students are slaughtered while walking home through the surrounding nefarious night time woods. All eyes are on several members of the faculty, though the police have no clues to go on. Alf Kjellin plays Edwin Volck an intense pianist/composer who seems very tightly wound, especially around women. Handsome Jeffrey Hunter is Harold the psychology professor who dabbles in abnormal behavior. Harold convinces his fiancée Daphne (the lovely Vera Miles) to act as bait to lure the killer out. Vera Miles is always possessed of a smart and inquisitive sensuality. In this episode she’s perfect as an academic who doesn’t shy from the idea of hunting a serial killer.

Harold-"Daphne, I know this man's secret. I've studied these people, I know how they think!”

Daphne-"It's frightening sometimes"¦ how you know people."

CAPTIVE AUDIENCE (10/18/62) ANGIE DICKINSON as Janet West

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Actors Ed Nelson and Arnold Moss listen to the recordings sent by the plagued Warren Barrow. Is he a murderer?
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Angie Dickinson is the seductress and James Mason the tormented man

This episode is directed by actor turned director Alf Kjellin, based on the teleplay by Richard Levinson and William Link of Columbo! from a story by John Bingham.

James Mason plays mystery writer Warren Barrow a pseudonym he uses to contact his publisher with a series of tape recordings describing what is either the outline for his latest murder mystery or the details of an actual murder he himself is planning to commit. Barrow describes a relationship with an alluring woman named Janet West (the sexy Angie Dickinson) who wants Warren to kill her husband so they can be together. Ed Nelson plays another writer Tom Keller whom the publisher Victor Hartman (Arnold Moss) asks to review the tapes with him in order to help determine whether the impending murder is real or fictional. Angie Dickinson is so perfect as Janet West, the femme fatale Warren Barrow can’t resist.

Janet West- "You know there's one part of the Bible I know by heart. I saw unto the sun, that the race is not too swift nor the battle too strong, but time and chance happen to them all. Means you can be as clever as you like but you gotta have luck. You gotta work for it and grab it when it comes. I was very poor when I was young. Very poor"¦”

FINAL VOW (10/25/62) CAROL LYNLEY as Sister Pamela

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“Oh sister not tears again… you’ve cried a whole river these past weeks”-Sister Jem

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Directed by Norman Lloyd, story and teleplay by mystery writer Henry Slesar (Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, Two on a Guillotine 1965, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. 1966, Batman 1966, Run For Your Life ’66-67 Circle of Fear 1972, McMillan & Wife 1974, Tales of the Unexpected 1981-1984) co-starring Clu Gulager  Isobel Elsom Carmine Phillips, Charity Grace.

Carol Lynley is Sister Pamela who on the eve of taking her final vows has a crisis of faith. Sister Pamela fears that she might just be hiding from the world. The Reverend Mother (Isobel Elsom) sends Pamela and Sister Jem (Charity Grace) on a mission to collect a valuable statue of Saint Francis that is being donated to the convent by reformed gangster William Downey (R.G. Armstrong).

On the way back to the convent, the lovely young novice is fooled by slick hoodlum/loser Jimmy Bresson (Clu Galager who is terrific at being smarmy) who stalks train stations stealing bags. Pamela is filled with guilt having let down her dying mentor Sister Lydia (Sara Taft) She leaves the order and submerges herself in the sleazy jungle where Jimmy works and socializes in order to find the statue and redeem herself. Lynley is another underrated actress who delivers an extremely poignant performance as a girl at the crossroads of her life. She has an endearing innocent beauty that is genuine and charismatic.

Sister Pamela-“Sorry Sister Jem, I have only myself to blame.”

Sister Jem-“You’re not thinking of… what we spoke of the other day?”

Sister Pamela-“I haven’t been thinking of anything Sister. I’ve tried not to think.”

Sister Jem-“Have you prayed?”

Sister Pamela-“Sister… I’ve prayed for humility and obedience. But there was no answer in my heart Sister Jem… only silence!

ANNABEL (11/1/62) SUSAN OLIVER as Annabel Delaney

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“you’ve been pretending so long… you don’t know what’s real and what isn’t”-Annabel

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Annabel-"David, what is my picture doing here? David who lives here?”

Directed by Paul Henreid, written by Robert Bloch, novel by Patricia Highsmith (she wrote the original story for Hitchcock’s Strangers On a Train 1951) costarring Dean Stockwell, Kathleen Nolan, Gary Cockrell, Hank Brandt, Bert Remsen.

Dense browed Dean Stockwell plays research chemist David Kelsey who is hopelessly in love and obsessively fixated on Annabel (the wonderful Susan Oliver). But Annabel is married Gerald Delaney (Hank Brandt) Kelsey assumes a phony identity William Newmaster and pursues Annabel with a blind devotion that is downright creepy. He purchases a beautiful home that he has filled like a shrine to his great love, a place tucked away in the country where they can sojourn in their own private world. Trouble is Annabel isn’t in on the romance. But David isn’t taking no for an answer. Added to the web of obsessive love is the fact that Linda Brennan (Kathleen Nolan) is as fixated on David as he is on Annabel. What a mess!

BONFIRE (12/13/62)DINA MERRILL as Nora & PATRICIA COLLINGE as Naomi Freshwater

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Directed by Joseph Pevney teleplay William D Gordon and Alfred Hayes based on a story by V.S.Pritchett as published in The New Yorker and co-starring Peter Falk in one of his most impressive roles as the psychotic revivalist Robert Evans.

Falk plays a fire and brimstone fanatic who yearns for his own church and will kill in order to achieve his life’s dream. First he woos Patricia Collinge (The Little Foxes 1941, Shadow of a Doubt 1943, The Nuns Story 1959) as the wealthy Naomi Freshwater, murdering her one night in order to take over her large house he claims she promised to him in order to help him build his tabernacle. The scene is quite disturbing and fierce. a well done scene that predates many psycho-sexual narratives to follow.

When her niece, the world traveling Laura (Dina Merrill) comes to get her aunts things in order, Robert begins to romance her with the same bombastic fervor as he did her aunt Naomi. As Robert discloses his past to Laura, she discovers that he might have killed his first wife as well and that he has visions of his calling to be a great evangelist. Evans is a deranged ego-maniacal woman hater who mistakes his visions of glory for the need to be in control!

Robbie-“Sure the whole world is filled with problems Miss Naomi. We’ve all got to puzzle over what we’re supposed to think. None of us. There’s nobody that’s gotta puzzle over what we’re supposed to do!”

Naomi-“Oh that’s so clear to me Robbie, you know what to do and you do it… I feel so free! No more aches and pains.”

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Robert- "Burn it… burn it. Take your whole past and burn it out there in that fire pit. Start a new life with me" Laura- "I don't have your faith in new lives Robert." Robert-"But I told you once… I've got the faith."

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED (1/11/63)ANN FRANCIS as Eve Raydon & RUTH ROMAN as Addie

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Mrs Raydon (Gladys Cooper) " I think he's dead you've always wanted this to happen. You've done this to him. You've killed him!”

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Directed by Jack Smight with a teleplay by Henry Slesar, based on the story by Mary Belloc Lowndes who wrote the novelette The Lodger, which was the inspiration for Hitchcock’s first suspense film in 1927 and of course the version with Jack Palance in 1953 called The Man in the Attic. 

One of my favorite episodes due to the presence of Ann Francis as Eve Raydon and Ruth Roman as her companion Adelaide ‘Addie’ Strain. Eve is framed as a jezebel by her nasty vicious old mother in law.The storyline has a definite undertone of lesbian desire, akin to Lillian Hellman’s A Children’s Hour. Eve is married to a stuffed shirt named Howard ( Gene Lyonsthe commissioner -Ironside) who resents Addie’s presence and is still tied to his mommy’s (the great Gladys Cooper Rebecca 1940, Now, Voyager 1942, The Song of Bernadette 1943) apron strings. Howard fires Addie who has been hanging around Eve in the position as ‘maid’ who also happens to have a little boy name Gilly who breaks a valuable antique sending Howard into a rage and prompting him to fire her. Addie who is desperate to stay with her mistress, poisons Howard’s night time glass of milk by spiking it with some K9 liniment. But Eve is accused of the murder instead and her intolerable mother-in-law is all too happy to see her pay for the crime. co-starring Michael Strong as defense attorney Malloy, Stephen Dunn as Jack Wentworth, Tim O’Connor as Prosecutor Halstead.

Addy talks to Eve about Howard finally firing her-“He means it this time… things could have been so different!”

Addy Strain to Molloy- "I can't believe that all this is happening it's all that woman's fault. That awful old woman"¦ Mrs Raydon. She hates Eve. She's always hated her. She hates Eve just because she married her son. That's why she accused Eve of killing him.”

A TANGLED WEB (1/25/63)ZOHRA LAMPERT as Marie

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I heard you David. You're going to marry the maid. At least this afternoon you're going to marry the maid. My wedding present to you will be my absence%22
Gertrude Flynn as Ethel Chesterman “I heard you David. You’re going to marry the maid. At least this afternoon you’re going to marry the maid. My wedding present to you will be my absence.”

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Marie-“Your eyes shine in the dark David. I think you are part Cat”. David –“A tiger a leopard ready to pounce.” Marie-“I'm going to have to get a wonderful cage to put you in.” David-“Nobody is going to put me in a cage!! Marie-“Stop David you’re hurting me…”

Directed by Alf Kjellin, with a teleplay by writer/director James Bridges (When Michael Calls 1972, The China Syndrome 1979) based on a story by Nicholas Blake.

Zohra Lampert plays Marie a naÏve french maid who runs off with the wealthy son David (Robert Redford) who is actually a compulsive cat burgler/jewel thief. David’s wealthy mother throws a few coins at them to buy a toaster, goes to Europe and changes the locks on the door. And so for money David runs to his partner in crime Karl.And so begins a queer struggle with David’s odd accomplice, a flamboyant wig designer Karl Gault played to the hilt by Barry Morse.

David cannot change the way he is, although he is truly in love with Marie he only knows how to steal and scheme. Karl falls in love with Marie creating the immortal triangle. In order to get his rival out of the way, Karl creates an elaborate ruse in order to trap David in a robbery gone wrong and have him arrested for the murder of a guard. Co-starring Gertrude Flynn as David’s mother Ethel Chesterman.

Marie-“Your eyes shine in the dark David… I think you are part cat.”

THE PARAGON (2/8/63) JOAN FONTAINE as Alice Pemberton

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John-"Alice have you ever read any fairy tales? There's one about a princess. She was very beautiful. She lived in a beautiful castle. Had a beautiful garden. But her fairy godmother warned her not to do one thing. There was a particular flower in that garden that she wasn't to pick. If she did"¦ she'd lose everything. Her beauty, her castle"¦ everything. Alice "I don't get the point”. John –"Alice princess"¦ don't touch that flower please” Alice- "oh please don't be silly they only write fairy stories to keep children out of mischief.”

Directed by Jack Smight with a teleplay by Alfred Hayes and a story by Rebecca West. The Paragon allows screen legend Joan Fontaine to give what I feel is perhaps one of the most extraordinary performances of her career. As the infuriating perfectionist who meddles in everyone’s lives Alice Pemberton married to the beaten down John Pemberton played by the always wonderful Gary Merrill.

John loves his wife but is beginning to feel the strain from years of Alice’s intruding and dictating moral codes and her ideals to anyone within reach even the maid Ethel played with fabulous scorn by Irene Tedrow. All her friends and relatives cringe at the sight of Alice, for they know she will inject some sort of righteous advice and admonition. Alice is like a child who cannot see the damage she has done, or how she hurts the people around her. She believes that she is helping to improve themselves, though she alienates herself instead. John urges with a tender yet firm clue that she must stop her behavior before it’s too late. Even relating a fairy tale to her with a warning… Alice is very much like a character in a fable who does not heed the warnings or the signs that she is tempting the shadows to converge upon her!

THE LONELY HOURS (3/8/63)NANCY KELLY as Mrs. J. A. Williams / Vera Brandon & GENA ROWLANDS as Louise Henderson

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Vera-"Michael and I are leaving now Mrs Henderson, I'm taking him home with me. Oh I am sorry for you because I think in your own way, you've grown really fond of my baby. But you see Michael is my child. I've known that from the very beginning"¦.”

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Directed by Jack Smight with a teleplay by William D Gordon based on a story by Celia Fremlin.

Louise (Gena Rowlands) is a busy mother of two precocious young girls Jennifer Gillespie (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? young Jane) and a small infant boy. She rents the room upstairs to the mysterious Vera Bradley (Nancy Kelly) who is supposedly working on her thesis paper, but in fact has her eyes on Louise’s baby boy. She secrets him off each day to another room she is renting, that she has decorated for the little guy. She also calls him Michael. The child looks more like Vera as he has dark curly hair and both Louise and her husband are blonde. Is Vera there to steal the boy and claim him as her own? This is an extremely taut and well acted little story. The performances by both Kelly and Rowlands are stellar. The interplay between the two women brought me to tears, it was so poignantly played without being melodramatic or contrived. A truly heart wrenching experience, especially for fans of these fine actresses as well as one of the most effectively dramatic of all the episodes. Also watch for an appearance by the wonderful Juanita Moore as Mrs. McFarland and Joyce Van Patten as best friend Grace.

THE STAR JUROR (3/15/63) BETTY FIELD as Jenny Davies

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Dean Jagger tries to quiet Jennifer West after he tries to steal more than a kiss from the town hussy Alice.
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Betty Field plays George’s flakey nagging wife.
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Slamming the fridge door and shuffling her feet. Jenny confronts George’s peculiar behavior on the jury Jenny – "Would the star juror care to give me some justification for his behavior? George- “What behavior?”  Jenny-" What behavior! The behavior that has brought down ridicule and scandal over our heads!" George-" What you talkin' bout Jenny? Jenny- "Have you gone deaf and blind?… Unplug your ears… open your eyes! George Davies the most respected highly thought-of citizen in this town protecting this infidel, this murderer… No wonder you get indigestion."

Directed by Herschel Daugherty with a teleplay by James Bridges and a story by Francis Didelot

Although this is very much Dean Jagger’s vehicle, Betty Field who is a wonderful actress stands out as the blowsy, whiney wife to George Davies, who becomes so aroused by the town hussy Alice (Jennifer West) while out at the lake during a picnic. When she rebuffs his advances he strangles her and allows her boyfriend JJ Fenton (Will Hutchins) to take the rap for her murder. JJ has been known to knock Alice around, and soon the town is out for his blood. But the guilt of what he has done drives George to try and defend JJ to exasperating results. This is a quirky dark comedic episode that just seems to want to be kind to George. The show also co-stars Martine Bartlett as Flossie and the wonderful Crahan Denton as Sheriff Walter Watson who just won’t take George’s confessions seriously.

THE LONG SILENCE (3/22/63)- PHYLLIS THAXTER as Nora Cory Manson

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Nora’s inner monologue- “In heaven's name Jean, don't leave us here alone.”

Directed by Robert Douglas with a teleplay by William D. Gordon & Charles Beaumont based on a story by Hilda Lawrence.

Michael Rennie plays a con man Ralph Manson who marries Nora, (Phyllis Thaxter) for her money. When he screws up an elaborate scheme to embezzle funds from the bank, trying to pin it on her eldest son, he accidentally kills the boy. While trying to make it look like the young man hangs himself, Nora stumbles into this horrific deed she winds up taking a fall down the stairs that paralyzes her and leaves her in an apparent catatonic state. Which is good for Ralph, as he needs this witness to be silent. But Nora, might not stay silent for long… The well-crafted suspense yarn utilizes Nora’s inner monologue to help guide us through the tense narrative cues. This is such a tautly played suspense piece as Nora is conscious of her husband’s murderous nature, and his desperation to keep Nora quiet. It’s only a matter of time before he finds of way of making it look like she dies of natural causes. Enter the pretty Natalie Trundy as her attending nurse Jean Dekker who senses something is wrong and stays close by! This one’s a nail-biter!

THE DARK POOL (5/3/63) LOIS NETTLETON as Dianne Castillejo & MADLYN RHUE as Consuela Sandino

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Dianne-"Oh Nanny it's wrong, I didn't think he'd blame you" Nanny-"The important thing is that he isn't blaming you"Â Dianne "Oh I'm letting you be hurt and I can't do that.. I didn't think he'd react this way. Nanny I"m going to tell him the truth” Nanny-"What are ya going to tell him. That you were with the baby holding a drink!"Â Dianne-“But you're not the guilty one, he mustn't blame you Nanny-“Dear in the past when things went badly you know what happened. You don't want that now You promised him that you'd give it up. Oh, when the baby was here it was better"¦ but better's not what you promised!”
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Lois Nettleton as Dianne and Doris Lloyd as Nurse Andrina Gibbs

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Consuela- "She feels guilty, she feels responsible for the baby's death. and the drinking helps her to forget. so we'll see that she continues to drink. And when the bottle is all gone. We'll get more Vodka. Or whiskey or whatever she likes. She can hide it from Victor for a while I suppose. But he will find out and then he'll be terribly hurt. and disappointed in her. He'll need help and sympathy from someone else!"

Directed by Jack Smight with a teleplay by Alec Coppel and William D. Gordon, based on a story by William D. Gordon.

Lois Nettleton plays Dianne Castillejo who adopts a little boy, who drowns in their swimming pool while she is sitting out in the sun with a cocktail. Dianne is a recovering alcoholic and there is a question as to whether she was intoxicated when the tragic accident occurred. Dianne is visited by a mysterious woman, (Madlyn Rhue) Consuela Sandino who claims to be the little boy’s birth mother. She proceeds to blackmail Dianne about the circumstances of the little boy’s death. She convinces Dianne to allow to her stay in the house as a guest being an old-school friend. Here she plans on helping Dianne submerge herself in booze so she’ll pay out loads of money and eventually have to be taken away to a sanatorium where she can then work on the handsome (Anthony George) Victor. Co-starring Doris Lloyd as Nanny. 

RUN FOR DOOM 5/17/63 DIANA DORS as Nickie Carole

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John Gavin as Dr. Don Reed and Tom Skerritt as friend Dr. Frank Farmer… Don is just smitten.
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Scott Brady as Nickie’s stands by her boyfriend Bill
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Nickie-singing Just One of Those Things-"So goodbye dear and amen"¦ Bill- “Where you going?"Â Nickie-“Maybe California. You know I came back just to have a look at you. You got really weak eyes Bill. Here's hoping we meet now and then.”  Bill- "But you haven't asked me to come along “Nickie-“Well I came here thinking I'd have to, but I don't need you anymore the boomerang's broken baby' Bill-"You wanna bet!" Nickie “Uhuh, It was great fun, but it was just one of those things.”

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Directed by Bernard Girard with a teleplay by James Bridges and a story by Henry Kane.

Doctor Don Reed (John Gavin) falls head over heels for a sexy nightclub singer, the slinky Nickie Carole,(Diana Dors) who is just no good. Both his father and Nickie’s own band leader boyfriend try to warn Don. Nickie accepts Don’s proposal of marriage, and then his father drops dead after hearing the news. The newlyweds use the inheritance money to take a honeymoon cruise, in which Don stumbles upon his bride getting all snuggly with another passenger. In a rage, Don causes the man to fall overboard. Of course, Nickie urges Don to keep his mouth shut. And he is now a murderer. Soon after Nickie grows tired of Don, as her old lover Bill warned would happen, and this hard-edged old boyfriend (Scott Brady) Bill Floyd of the Bill Floyd Trio shows up in the picture again… What will happen to this dangerous triangle of lust and obsession…

THE SECOND SEASON!

A HOME AWAY FROM HOME (9/27/63)  CLAIRE GRISWOLD as Natalie Rivers

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Natalie-"I understand, they're patients aren't they? Permissive therapy?” Dr. Fennick-“Yes that's it exactly. A new method, an experiment. I wanted to prove that my patients would act normally if treated like normal human beings."

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Sarah-“Oh I feel fine doctor just fine. I always feel fine talking to you.”  Dr. Fennick-“That's what I'm here for' Sarah-“Yes I know but… what am I here for? Beatrice Kay as Sarah Sanders the aging film star.
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inmates Virginia Gregg as Miss Gibson and Ronald Long as The Major
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The real doctors are locked up in the attic!
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the deranged Ray Milland as Dr. Fennick who menaces Natalie (Claire Griswold ) in Home Away from Home- The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

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Virginia Gregg as Miss Gibson-“The doctors told everyone about you. I know they’re just CRAZY to meet you!!!”

Directed by Herschel Daugherty with a teleplay based on his story by Robert Bloch from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

This is one of those great ‘the inmates have taken over the Asylum’ narratives starring Ray Milland. Milland plays Dr. Fenwick a mentally disturbed doctor who believes in role-playing as a therapeutic means to unlocking a patient’s identity crisis and finding happiness. After he kills the director of the sanitarium, he assumes his identity! of course. He locks away the staff in the attic and allows the inmates to pick roles that would suit their desires. Things are going pretty well until the director’s niece Claire shows up to visit her uncle. At least she has never seen her uncle before so she quickly assumes that Milland is who he says he is. Unfortunately, Claire discovers the dead body of her real uncle and urges Fennick to call the police. Uh oh! What mayhem will ensue.

There are great little parts by Virginia Gregg as Miss Gibson roleplaying the nurse, Connie Gilchrist as Martha, Mary La Roche as Ruth… and Beatrice Kay as Sarah Sanders!

A NICE TOUCH 10/4/63  ANNE BAXTER as Janice Brandt

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That’s actor Harry Townes lying dead under that shiny star pillow…

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Janice referring to Larry (George Segal) –“He’s the kind of man who could make you do anything… anything at all…”

This episode is directed by Joseph Pevney with a teleplay by Mann Rubin

George Segal plays the young ambitious actor who wins over casting agent Anne Baxter as Janice Brandt. Janice falls deeply in love with Larry the cocky and short-tempered actor with whom she gets a screen test in Hollywood and turns him into an upcoming male lead.

She has given up everything for this strong-willed actor, including her career, and even sacrificed her marriage.

While back in New York, Janice calls Larry desperately telling him that her ex-husband Ed (Harry Townes) has tracked her down completely drunk and is now unconscious on the floor. Larry calming coaches Janice into finishing off the job by smothering him with a pillow, so she can finally be free and join him in Hollywood… But is that all there is to it?

TERROR AT NORTHFIELD (10/11/63)  JACQUELINE SCOTT as Susan Marsh & Katherine Squire as Mrs. La Font

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Sheriff Will- "You can't think of anyone at all who might have had a grudge against Frenchie?” Katherine Squire as Mrs. La Font- "Only one person Will, Myself. He was my son, I loved him "¦ there was no harm in him he never hurt anyone but he was lazy. He would not accept responsibility. That's why he wanted me at the restaurant so I could do all the work of running it, while he'd play Frenchie La Font for the public. I used to get so angry with him. So angry… (crying)
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The creepy custodian of the library terrorized poor Susan with his tales of working the slaughterhouses

Directed by Harvey Hart with a teleplay by Leigh Brackett, and a story by Ellery Queen

In Northfield, a rural community in northern California a teenage boy Tommy Cooley is found brutally murdered. His father R.G. Armstrong, who is a religious fanatic goes on a mission to avenge his boy’s murder. There is only one piece of evidence, a broken-off part of the car’s headlight found a the murder scene. First, believing that he is getting signs from God, he murders Frenchie La Font (Dennis Patrick) the person who owned the car. Then the car falls into the hands of an elderly librarian who considered purchasing the car and might have had access to it. The residents of Northfield become terrorized by the events and demand that (Dick York) Sheriff Will Pearce do something about it. Jacqueline Scott who plays Susan March a librarian and the Sheriff’s girlfriend is now the one who wound up with La Font’s car. Cooley now suspects her. He is on a mission from the lord to avenge his son’s death. Will Susan be next? Co-stars Katherine Squire as Mrs.La Font who turns out a tremendous performance as the mother of a good-for-nothing son who winds up being the victim of Cooley’s wrath.

THE DIVIDING WALL (12/6/63) KATHARINE ROSS as Carol Brandt

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Carol-“You don't talk much do you?” Terry-“I guess not” Carol –“Is the rest of your family like that? Quiet I mean? Terry- I don't know. I don't even know who they were. I was raised in a county home” Carol- “You mean like an Orphanage? Terry “Now what else could it mean? I'm sorry maybe we oughta start back, it's a long way” Carol -“We can take the subway Terry –“I wanna walk-you wanna take the subway go ahead if that's the way you feel about it “Carol-“Why did you come with me?” Terry“I didn't mean it like that. It's just that it's the rush hour now"¦. Look I gotta thing about being closed up in places is all.” Carol- “Claustrophobia?” Terry- “Yeah” Carol- “So does Mr. Calucci"¦ He was a prisoner of war” Terry– “I was a prisoner once… No war though.” Carol –“You mean the home.” “Terry- “Home reformatory, state prison, take your pick. Anything else you'd like to know? Carol“Some date huh?” Terry-Bet you don't have any boyfriends like me.” Carol-“ I don't have any boyfriends”Terry– “Come on” Carol- “I haven't dated since high school.” Terry- “Girl like you why not? Carol-“What do you know about me?” Terry “I could learn.”

Directed by Bernard Girard  (Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round 1966, The Mad Room 1969) with a teleplay by Joel Murcott based on a story by George Bellak.

Three paroled ex-convicts stage a heist but inadvertently unleash radioactive cobalt on a small urban city street. Actors Chris Robinson, Norman Fell, and James Gregory who are now garage mechanics decide to rob the payroll office. When they can’t crack open the safe, they take it to their garage, which is adjoined to the little shop next store run by Carol.

Terry who is acutely claustrophobic (Chris Robinson) begins a romance with Carol, as he struggles between self-preservation and his sense of humanity and love for this beautiful young woman. Katherine Ross is a particularly seductive pixie in this episode. Ross’s presence brings an element of realism and humanist equilibrium to the very nihilist tone of the story.

GOOD-BYE, GEORGE (12/13/63) PATRICIA BARRY is Lana Layne / Rosemary ‘Peaches’ Cassidy

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Lana/Peaches-"You and Snakebite are among the very few things that fail me in that respect.”

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Directed by Robert Stevens with a teleplay by William Fay and a story by Robert Arthur.

This is one of the cheeky mystery installments of the show, and Patricia Barry is just superb as the brassy dame with a secret past who’s looking out for number one. The night she wins the Oscar, movie star Lana Layne is visited by her old ex-convict husband George (Stubby Kaye), who, she thought had died in a prison fight. Rosemary ‘Peaches’ Cassidy had married the bum when she was only seventeen and didn’t know any better. But George has plans of letting Lana remain his wife since she’s so successful and wealthy, and if they did get divorced she’d owe him half of anything that was hers. She wants to marry handsome manager Harry Lawrence (Robert Culp). Lana clocks George on the head and accidentally kills him. Now Lana and Harry must try to hide the body while finding a place to have their honeymoon, assailed by gossip columnist Baila French (Alice Pearce- Bewitched’s neurotic neighbor Gladys Kravitz). It’s a comedy of errors!

HOW TO GET RID OF YOUR WIFE (12/20/63) JANE WITHERS as Edith Swinney

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Rosie "You've had a narrow escape. Well, life's given you another chance. And you should take it"¦ You should free yourself. When something's over it's over” The always delightful Joyce Jameson as Rosie Feather the ‘dancer’

Directed by Alf Kjellin story and teleplay by Robert Gould

Withers plays Edith Swinney the consummate nagging harpy who dominates her husband Gerald’s (Bob Newhart) mundane life. Gerald concocts a very elaborate plan to drive Edith mad using paranoia as he digs a grave-like hole for a fish tank, leaving empty boxes of rat poison around the kitchen. Edith is so convinced that Gerald is out to kill her that she shares her fears with her friends and neighbors. Gerald purchases a pair of rats from a pet shop and plants them in the kitchen. She falls for the bait and puts rat poisoning in his cocoa making it look like murder made to look like suicide. She calls the police the next morning, but they find a very alive Gerald. Edith is arrested for attempted murder… but is that the end of the story. Joyce Jameson stars as dancer Rosie Feather, always fabulous, perhaps playing the featherbrained blonde bombshell –but always endearing!

THREE WIVES TOO MANY (1/3/64) TERESA WRIGHT as Marion Brown

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You been a bigamist 4 times. Now you can stay alive with me or be dead away from me
Marion Brown tells her husband- “You have been a bigamist 4 times. Now you can stay alive with me or be dead away from me!”

Directed by Joseph Newman with a teleplay by Arthur Ross and a story by Kenneth Fearing.

Dan Duryea is a gambler and a proud bigamist name Raymond Brown. He truly loves his wife… I mean all four of them. But something is going quite wrong. One by one his wealthy meal tickets are all turning up dead. At first, it appears that they are suicides. But the police start to suspect Brown of murder. Marion, (Teresa Wright) has been the long-time dutiful wife who has waited and suffered through heartache to finally have her philandering husband all to herself. Could she be the one who is bumping off all of Ray’s wives? Wright takes a much different approach from the gentle farm wife Stella and shows herself off to be quite resourceful when holding onto a cheating husband!

BEYOND THE SEA OF DEATH (1/24/64/) DIANA HYLAND as Grace Renford & MILDRED DUNNOCK as Minnie Briggs

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Grace Renford- “All men are rotten aren't they Minnie, as soon as they're interested in me they're no good!

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Aunt Minnie-“If he’s a doctor at all he should be giving out pills not talking to dead people!”

Directed by Alf Kjellin with a teleplay by Alfred Hayes and William Gordon. Story by Miriam Allen de Ford.

Grace Renford (the haunting Diana Hyland) plays a wealthy and beautiful socialite who longs to meet the man of her dreams. Someone who will love her for who she is and not the money and status that is her legacy. The lonely Grace answers an ad in a spiritualist magazine where she begins to correspond with a young man named Keith Holloway (Jeremy Slate).

He is an engineer who does his work in Bolivia, or so he says. When he comes to the States to meet Grace for the first time, she has rented a modest apartment and pretends that she is just an ordinary working-class girl. Minnie (Mildred Dunnock) acts as guardian to the lost waif and knows something isn’t quite right with this man. But when Grace and Keith get engaged, she tells him about her true identity. Keith insists that he is not interested in her money and that he has his own business ventures in Bolivia. Keith returns to South America, planning on having Grace join him soon. But Grace gets a telegram saying that he has been killed in a mining accident.

Sent into the world of spreading grief, Grace turns to spiritualism and mysticism to find a way to contact her lost love. Thus appears Dr.Shankara (Abraham Sofaer) who can connect Grace with her dead love. Wanting to shed her worldly goods, she gives away her possessions to the Dr and his temple. But Minnie suspects that Keith is very much alive and that a scam has been going on with the doctor for years. Minnie tries to intervene with disastrous results!

NIGHT CALLER (1/31/64) FELICIA FARR as Marcia Fowler

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Roy- "A string of men friends all the time Mrs. Fowler, a string of men friends, a string of men friends all the time ssh don't tell anybody Roy this is your Uncle Joe from Kokomo Roy, why don't you go outside in the yard for a little Roy huh!"¦ {"¦} There's a smell of death around women like you. Death and corruption. You corrupt people the way you go on all the time. So you better cut it out you understand that" Marcia Fowler-"Get away from me you're out of your mind. Nobody would blame me now if I shot you now with your filthy phone calls, breaking in here like this. How exciting am I now with a gun pointing at you?”

Directed by Alf Kjellin with a teleplay by Robert Westerby & Gabrielle Upton based on Upton’s story.

Felicia Farr  plays the sexy Marcia Fowler who accuses the neighborhood thug Roy Bullock (Bruce Dern) of not only playing peeping tom but sexually harassing her. Roy is a tightly wound teen filled with angst and rage and could possibly be a psychopath while we’re at it. He denies it when confronted by Marcia’s husband. (David White)

Marcia does appear to be self-absorbed, neglecting to pay enough attention to her stepson. But when the obscene phone calls begin, Marcia convinces her hubby to confront Roy about it, who tells him she’s just looking for attention. When Roy Fowler goes away on a business trip he challenges Marcia calling her a tease and a lousy wife and mother, the way his own mother had failed. Okay, so the angry boy has mother issues. Things get out of hand when Marcia begins to feel threatened and takes out a gun. But is everything as it seems!

THE EVIL OF ADELAIDE WINTERS (2/7/64)- KIM HUNTER as Adelaide Winters

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Directed by Laslo Benedek with a story and teleplay by Arthur Ross

Kim Hunter is stunning as a ruthless woman who has no conscience and borders on the sociopathic. At the end of WWII, Adelaide exploits the grief and loss of surviving members of the family to act as a spiritual medium. She earns a nice living by taking money from these grieving people, claiming to ease their suffering by connecting them with their lost loved ones. Gene Lyons plays Adelaide’s bunko buddy Robert who helps set up the patsies for the taking.

The is nothing more heinous than bilking grieving families of soldiers killed in battle out of their money pretending that she can communicate with them.

Enter the wealthy widower Edward Porter (John Larkin) who has just lost his son in the war. Adelaide convinces him to join her in a séance. Desperately lonely and longing for his son’s return Edward begins to come around and embrace Adelaide’s powers. Edward has also fallen in love with Adelaide and wishes the three of them to be together…!

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Robert (Gene Lyons)- "I taught you everything there is to know about this racket.." Adelaide "Profession Robert.” Robert – "That's what you'd like to pretend, but it is a racket, a swindle a con game as any I ever did." Adelaide-" I only obtain the more crude aspects of the profession from you." Robert-"Everything and I want you to stop pushing me around." Adelaide-"You taught me a series of Halloween tricks. Carnival mumbo jumbo… I made it pay." Robert –“They’re still carny tricks.” Adelaide-“Science!” Robert- ‘And you took them from me…”

BEAST IN VIEW 3/20/64JOAN HACKETT as Helen Clarvoe

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Directed by Joseph Newman with a teleplay by James Bridges and a story by Margaret Millar  (Rose’s Last Summer-Boris Karloff’s Thriller starring Mary Astor).

Joan Hackett, (The Group 1966) a very underrated actress of the 60s & 70s plays Helen Clarvoe a woman who is being tormented by phone calls from a menacing woman named Dorothy who is threatening her life. Kevin McCarthy is lawyer Paul Blackshear who agrees to investigate and track the maniacal Dorothy down. The crazy woman blames Helen for the break up of her wedding engagement. Paul finds a photographer for whom Dorothy recently posed, though she has destroyed any negatives and photos of herself. Then the photographer is murdered! While in the midst of his investigation, Paul receives a frantic call from Helen that Dorothy has broken into her apartment and is holding her at gunpoint!

BEHIND THE LOCKED DOOR( 3/27/64)GLORIA SWANSON as Mrs. Daniels

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Mrs. Daniels-“No Dave… this is your home now!”

Directed by Robert Douglas with a teleplay by Henry Slesar and Joel Murcott. Story by Slesar.

When Dave Snowden (James MacArthur) and his new bride Bonnie (the lovely and underrated Lynn Loring) visit the estate owned by Bonnie’s late father, Dave finds a mysterious locked door and surmises that there must be something of value hidden there. Bonnie tells her mother (Gloria Swanson) that they’ve just been married, who instantly assumes that Dave is after her inheritance. Mrs.Daniels tries to give the young man money to go away and annul the marriage. Dave is hungry for money and gets Bonnie to go along with a plan for her to fake a suicide attempt by overdosing on sleeping pills. This they hope will get the mother’s sympathy. Things go badly when a childhood illness leaves Bonnie allergic to sleeping pills. The climax is stunning as the great ironic natural law of justice is served. Swanson is marvelous as always as the elegant and protective Mrs. Daniels!

THE GENTLEMAN CALLER (4/10/64) RUTH McDEVITT as Miss Emmy Wright

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Miss Emmy Rice –“I was just thinking of how awful it is when people are so mean to each other. That's one thing when you get to be seventy five, you see clearer than anything else. How mean people are to each other.”

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Directed by Joseph Newman with a teleplay by James Bridges and a story by Veronica Johns.

The delightful Ruth McDevitt plays Miss Emmy Wright, an elderly lady who sits in the park and is befriended by Gerald Musgrove (Roddy McDowall) who with his wife has just successfully robbed $100,000 but needs a good place to hide the doe ’til the heat is off.

Emmy is a known pack rat, who invites the couple over to her cluttered and quirky place for many social dinners. Gerald gets the bright idea of stashing the loot inside the old dust-covered magazines that Emmy has collected over the years. Gerald also convinces Emmy to draw up a will leaving him the beneficiary so that they can later kill her off and claim the clutter that holds their stolen cash. This is a dark comedic episode with stellar performances by both McDevitt playing off McDowell’s usual droll manner. Co-starring Juanita Moore as Mrs. Jones and Naomi Stevens as Mrs. Goldy.

THE ORDEAL OF MRS. SNOW (4/14/64) PATRICIA COLLINGE as Adelaide Snow

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Directed by Robert Stevens with a teleplay by Alvin Sargent and a story by Patrick Quentin.

Patricia Collinge is one of my favorite character actors. Here she turns in quite a moving performance as a woman trapped in a safe with time running out. And in this episode I’m particularly fond of her doting on her two Siamese cats, being a staunch advocate for cats, and someone who shares their home with let’s say a variety of pussycats, a Siamese rescue being just one of them!

In The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow Aunt Adelaide Snow is at the mercy of her scheming niece’s husband Bruce (Don Chastain) who is afraid that Auntie will go to the police about his check forging. While away on a weekend vacation, he locks Mrs. Snow inside the bank vault in her house, hoping she’ll suffocate and it will look like an accident. But he has also locked one of her cats inside as well. Thank god, because these little felines are very smart indeed. Mrs. Snow’s niece Lorna, (Jessica Walter) tries to call her aunt, worried that something is wrong, not realizing what her sneaky murderous husband has done… Don’t worry, the cats come to the rescue! Also co-staring George Macready as Adelaide’s dear friend Hillary Prine.

THE SECOND VERDICT (5/29/64) SHARON FARRELL as Melanie Rydell

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Directed by Lewis Teague with a teleplay by Alfred Hayes and a story by Henry Slesar.

Sharon Farrell plays the seductive Melanie Rydell who doesn’t intentionally get men chasing after her. But her psychotic husband Lew Rydell (Frank Gorshin) gets off on a murder charge after Ned Murray (Martin Landau) successfully gets him an innocent verdict. To Ned’s horror, he learns that Lew is in fact a hot-headed jealous nutcase who was guilty of murder and is now accusing him of going after his sexy wife. Ned is conflicted by law, but wants to bring this loaded canon to justice but can’t get him prosecuted for the same crime twice. He solicits the help of an old gangster friend who owes him one but realizes that he has inadvertently put a hit out on the unstable Lew.

ISABEL (6/5/64) BARBARA BARRIE  is Isabel Smith

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Directed by Alf Kjellin Teleplay by William Fay and Henry Slesar, from a story by S.B. Hough.

Again, the highly underrated Barbara Barrie, who has always given her all in any performance, notably several of The Naked City. Here she plays a very timid and unstable single woman, (I will not use the word spinster here, though most analysis makes use of the word, I find it offensive) Isabel wrongly accuses Howard Clemens (Bradford Dillman) of sexual assault. Howard Clemens is sentenced to two years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Once he is released, the first thing he does is steal a large amount of money. $13,000 which is the amount he would have drawn as a salary had he not been thrown in jail.

He comes back to the same town where Isabel teaches, and opens up a record shop. He purposefully manages to bump into Isabel until he finally gains her confidence. Eventually, the pair become engaged. While on their honeymoon, Howard tampers with the fuel ignition switch on the boat which will cause the boat to explode. He tells Isabel to take the boat out alone. A bit later he hears the blast and is finally satisfied that he has gotten his revenge on her at last.

BODY IN THE BARN (7/3/64) LILLIAN GISH as Bessie Carnby

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Directed by Joseph Newman (The Outcasts of Poker Flats 1952, The Human Jungle 1954, This Island Earth 1955, The Twilight Zone ’63-’64) with a teleplay by Harold Swanton and story by Margaret Manners.

I’ve written about this marvelous episode for Movie Silently’s The Gish Sisters Blogathon! Here Lillian Gish plays the sassy Bessie who lives with her daughter Camilla (Maggie McNamara) Bessie is a staple of the town, and when her handyman falls to his death because of the arrogance of her neighbor Samantha Wilkins (Patricia Cutts-The Tingler 1959) and her whipped husband Henry (Peter Lind Hayes) Bessie goes on a mission to try and bridge the feud with the couple by inviting them over for supper.

Samantha refuses to break bread with the Carnbys, but Henry starts to insinuate himself into Bessie and Camilla’s life. One night Henry disappears and Bessie sees Samantha digging a hole in the barn. She accuses the woman of murder and eventually, Samantha is executed for killing her husband. But… Henry unexpectedly returns, claiming to have been on a long sea voyage not able to hear about his wife’s trial. Bessie suspects that Henry has staged the whole thing and begins to feel terrible guilt about what she has done. Will she be able to rectify the awful mistake she has made and bring Henry to justice?

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Bessie-"To bring to the light of day the two lies that together make a truth. "

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SEASON 3

CHANGE OF ADDRESS (10/12/64) PHYLLIS THAXTER as Elsa Hollands

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Elsa –“There's something wrong with this house, I lye awake at night and I can feel it. There's is something wrong with this house Something we don't know about.”
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Elsa-“That's the girl I saw at the beach, she's lovely” Keith- “What I want, what I really want. What I'm sure as sitting here want"¦ uh."Â Elsa –“Keith it may be, it just very well maybe I want the same thing”. Keith- “What are you talking about baby? What you were talking about"¦ Elsa-“How we rid ourselves of each other"¦ and when! Me of you and you of me.”

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Michael Blodgett and Tisha Sterling do some mod dancing in Change of Address
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Elsa… do you really need to go down to the basement to see what your adolescent husband wants to show you? Can’t you guess!!!!

Directed by David Friedkin with a teleplay by Morton Fine and David Friedkin and a story by Andrew Benedict.

Elsa Hollands (Phyllis Thaxter) hates the new beach house. Keith Hollands (Arthur Kennedy) refuses to grow older and chases after the local beach hottie Tisha Sterling. The house gives Elsa the chills, and it doesn’t help that Keith starts digging a hole in the basement floor that he claims is for the new boiler. Elsa and Keith keep clashing over the strain in their marriage. She just wants to go back to her old apartment and senses something terribly wrong with the damp place.

While Keith is playing around with the young blonde beauty, Elsa contacts the ex-owners wife to discourage her from selling and perhaps finds out the truth about the place. When Keith can’t take Elsa’s complaints anymore, finding her an obstruction into his world of newfound vitamins, jumping jacks, young beach bunnies, hair dye, turtle necks, late nites out at the disco dancing alongside the dreamy blued-eyed Michael Blodgett, he kills her and buries her in that nice big hole he’s been digging. But will Elsa’s investigation come back to bite Keith in those awfully ugly jogging shorts?

WATER’S EDGE (10/19/64) ANN SOTHERN as Helen Cox

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Helen-“Funny you dreaming' about me and here we are. Life's a big surprise.”

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Directed by Bernard Girard with a teleplay by Alfred Hayes and a story by the great Robert Bloch!

Rusty Connors (John Cassavetes) is newly released from prison. While in prison his mate Mike Krause (Rayford Barnes) talks incessantly about the perfect blonde he left behind. Krause dies in prison, and so while Rusty gets out he decides to look up this gorgeous dish that was married to his former cellmate. Krause had been in prison for robbery and murder, but neither the money nor the body of his partner have ever been found. Could Krause’s wife Helen know where the loot is stashed?

Rusty comes to find Helen (Ann Sothern) slinging hash at a greasy spoon, but she is far from the pin-up that Mike Krause crooned about. Still Rusty plays up to her, thinking that she can lead him to the stolen money. The pair form a tumultuous sexual relationship, greedy to find the hidden cash. They stumble onto an abandoned boat house infested with starving rats. The two might just turn on each other, but you’ll have to see the episode and find out for yourself! This is a macabre and gritty story by the master of the suspense genre Robert Bloch author of Psycho

LONELY PLACE (11/15/64) TERESA WRIGHT as Stella

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Stella “I"m scared of Jesse… You scared of him too. You scared too. talking don't help Emery I heard you talking to Jessie in the orchard. You told him you married me to have someone to feed ya. Is that why we ain't ever have any children?”

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Directed by Harvey Hart with a teleplay by Francis Gwaltney and a story by G.B Gilford

Teresa Wright is outstanding as poor Stella married to a horrible dolt of a husband who doesn’t appreciate her. Emory (Pat Buttram is a weak and unloving bumpkin who owns a peach farm. This is a dark Americana tale about a quiet woman named Stella who suffers in silence but has a few joys, like the love of animals, in particular her little pet squirrel. One day an ominous drifter asks if he can work the farm for a bit. Bruce Dern plays Jesse, in a role that surpasses so many of the psychopaths he’s had the opportunity to play. Jesse has a particular viciousness that is spine-tingling. While he helps harvest the peach crop, he secretly torments Stella with his fondness for his sharp knife. Stella feels threatened but her husband acts clueless, while at times we see that he is very aware of what is going on, he just chooses not to intervene out of cowardice. The episode is perhaps one of the most psychologically enthralling, and its climax will leave you breathless. The performances are absolutely stunning. Just as frightening as any modern thriller on the screen today! And Wright turns in a performance that tugs at your heart with so many levels of emotional reflection as a woman trapped by her circumstances. John F. Warren’s cinematography portrays a rural hinterland that is otherworldly and melancholy.

MISADVENTURE (12/7/64) LOLA ALBRIGHT as Eva Martin

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Eva-“You crying? You are crying Ha! What do you’ve got to cry about? If anybody’s gonna cry it should be me. Although I must say… You are a most unusual gasman!”

Directed by Joseph Newman with a story and teleplay by Lewis Davidson.

Eva (Lola Albright) is an adulterous wife to an unsuspecting businessman (George Kennedy) who is a penny pincher though he is quite well-to-do. One day a mysterious stranger (Barry Nelson) manages to work his way into the house by claiming to be the gas man. He acts very peculiarly, until finally, he gets her into bed. Colin convinces Eva that it would be easy to kill her husband… This zany and interesting episode has a lot of twists so I won’t give anything away! Just watch for great performances by Nelson and in particular the lovely Lola Albright who can do comedic mystery thrillers with ease!

TRIUMPH (12/14/64) JEANETTE NOLAN as Mary Fitzgibbons

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Mary-"You are a vain man.” Brother Thomas-  "A minor vice." Mary-"There is no such thing as a minor vice." Brother Thomas "trimming a mustache harms no one."Â Mary-"It's so difficult for you to be the kind of missionary you should be."Â Brother Thomas- "I have a good reputation."Â Mary-"Because I have made sure of it." Brother Thomas"Yes you have."Â Mary-"You begrudge me that recognition.” Brother Thomas-"I'm the first to admit it." Mary-“I have loved you.”

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Mary- “I don't know if I still do. I've had to forget my needs and devote myself to your work.”

Directed by Harvey Hart with a teleplay by Arthur Ross and a story by Robert Branson.

This is a particularly intense addition to The Alfred Hitchcock Hour due to the fine performances by Ed Begley and one of my favorites Jeanette Nolan. Nolan plays Mary the enigmatic wife of a missionary medical man (Begley). The strong woman behind the man so to speak. Begley plays Brother Thomas Fitzgibbons who in actuality is an incompetent surgeon living in a primal world in the rugged terrain of India. Mary is ambitious and wants all the glory for her and her weak husband. When Tom Simcox and Maggie Pierce –Brother John Sprague and his wife Lucy come to help the mission, Mary fears they will expose the truth about Brother Thomas’ work, as well as usurp their position there. Oh, what a tangled web we weave. Nolan almost reignites her Lady Macbeth with her role as the conniving and treacherous Mary Fitzgibbons– Her silver-tongued laments as always put her at the top of my favorite character actors!

WHERE THE WOODBINE TWINETH (1/11/65) MARGARET LEIGHTON as Nell Snyder & JUANITA MOORE as Suse

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“would you like to meet Mingo when she comes? She’s not very big. She’s big enough to live in a bird cage and big enough to have a frog for a horse!”
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“Do you believe me about Mingo?”

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Eva-"Is it dark where daddy is?"-Nell " I hope not"¦ I don't know."Â -Eva "Numa knows Mingo says it's brighter than day!"¦ they have bumble bees there too."-Nell- "Who's Mingo honey?"-Eva- "My best friend!"

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This is one of Alfred Hitchcock Hour’s most supernatural tales that breaks the mold of the crime/suspense drama. Along with The Sign of Satan, The Monkey’s Paw, and The Magic Shop by H.G Wells. Where the Woodbine Twineth could have fit nicely into Boris Karloff’s Thriller anthology series. A haunting tale that will stay with you for a long time. Margaret Leighton is mesmerizing as Aunt Nell, a woman who just cant embrace her little niece’s wild imaginative tales. I’ve recently become acquainted with Leighton’s work and have fallen in love with the actress!

Directed by Alf Kjellin with a teleplay by James Bridges and a story by Davis Grubb (who wrote Night of the Hunter, The Cheyenne Social Club, and a few short stories for Rod Serling’s Night Gallery 1971.

Leighton is marvelous as she coldly, rigidly lacks understanding of her recently orphaned niece who talks about fey people who live under the Davenport and visit her at night. When Eva comes to live with the elderly Mississippi riverboat Captain Snyder, her grandfather, her aunt Nell just can’t break through.

Nell just believes the child to be willful and lazy trying to blame things on her imaginary friends like Mr. Peppercorn and Mingo… Aunt Nell just can’t handle the role of caretaker to a wily and free-spirited child and begins to crack under pressure. The conflict becomes very real when Nell challenges Eva at every turn.

When Eva (Eileen Baral) gets a wonderful Creole doll she names Numa from her riverboat King grandfather, tensions ignite and Nell comes face to face with the mystical world where the woodbine twineth. A nether region between life, death, and the realms you cannot see with the naked eye. To balance out the constant struggle between the suffering Nell and the precocious Eva is the calming and level-headed presence of Juanita Moore as Suse, who understands Eva and is more like a mother to the young girl than Nell can possibly manifest from her rigid identity.

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Nell is obsessed with controlling Eva and catching her in lies. She fears the child’s freedom and resents how happy she can be. When she hears Eva chatting and playing with Numa, the doll her grandfather had given Nell suspects that it is a child from the neighborhood.

Eva warns that if Nell takes Numa away, Eva will have to trade places with Numa and go to dwell in “Where the Woodbine Twineth.”

But obstinate Aunt Nell defies Eva and puts Numa on top of the player piano, Eva steals Numa away and runs into the woods. Suddenly in an eerie haunting manner the player piano mysteriously starts up by itself. Nell desperately stumbles onto Eva in the backyard playing with a little black girl –they are dancing.

Nell chases the girl away, warning her to stay away but then Eva disappears. When Nell finds a doll in Numa’s box it looks exactly like a porcelain version of little Eva, Nell realizes that the magic was real and that she has lost her little niece forever to the ether world beyond the trees… A changeling in her place, never to return.

One of my all-time favorite episodes. Just effectively creepy yet magical stuff… with a haunting quality that lingers…

FINAL PERFORMANCE (1/18/65) SHARON FARRELL as Rosie

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This piece was directed by John Brahm from a teleplay by Clyde Ware & Lee Kalcheim. (Let’s Scare Jessica To Death 1971, All in the Family 1972) is a story based on Robert Bloch.

Roger Perry plays Cliff Allen a television writer on his way to Hollywood who picks up a pretty hitchhiker named Rosie. (Sharon Farrell) Later Rosie accuses Cliff of abducting her when he is stopped by the local police. Of course, Cliff denies the charges but the sheriff orders him to come back to town with him. Cliff’s car breaks down, and so he is forced to stay over in a very run-down motel.

Off-the-beaten-path Motels already smack of creepy so as you can imagine when it turns out that it is run by a washed-up vaudeville actor name Rudolph Bitzner or Rudolph the Great ( great –for what you’ll find out! )

Rudolph is played by the wonderful Franchot Tone, who dreams of a comeback someday, and Rosie is the daughter of his dead wife who used to be his partner. Now Rosie not only works at the cafe/motel but she’s being groomed to be part of the comeback act.

Rosie sneaks off to apologize to Cliff for lying but she is terrified of Rudolph who is forcing her to marry him once she turns 18 which is in a few days. Cliff agrees to help Rosie escape once his car is fixed. But when he goes to her cabin she is not there. Rudolph convinces him to sit out in the audience and watch his great comeback act with Rosie before he leaves for Hollywood.

One of the most subtly grotesque and atmospheric relics of the early 60s before psycho-sexual cinema hit the proverbial fan!

I won’t give it away, you must see this macabre and eerie installation in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour collection.

ONE OF THE FAMILY (2/8/65) LILIA SKALA plays Nurse Frieda Schmidt

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Directed by Joseph Pevney with a teleplay by Oscar Millard (Angel Face 1952, Dead Ringer 1964) and William Bast. Based on a story by James Yaffe

Dexter and Joyce Daily (Jeremy Slate and Kathryn Hays) hire Dexter’s old German nanny named Frieda (the inimitable Lilia Skala) to come and take care of their newborn baby boy. She did such a good job with Dexter when he was just a tot. But Joyce becomes suspicious when she hears a radio broadcast about a nurse who is wanted in the poisoning death of an infant in San Francisco. Frieda does have some peculiar ways, but Joyce goes as far as to contact the murdered baby’s aunt played by Olive Deering. Christine Callendar only confirms Joyce’s greatest fears that Frieda is the one the police are looking for and that she is a dangerous baby killer!

AN UNLOCKED WINDOW (2/15/65) DANA WYNTER as Stella & LOUISE LATHAM as Maude Isles

Dana Wynter An Unlocked Window

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As Maude’s husband reads the newspaper about the recent strangulation murders –she comments-“I read a book about a man who only killed trombone players, he beat them to death with their own trombones.”

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Directed by Joseph Newman with a teleplay by James Bridges and a story by Ethel Lina White

Stella Crosson (Dana Wynter) is the nurse to an invalid heart patient (John Kerr) Stella needs help and is very happy to get some relief when Nurse Betty Ames (T.C. Jones) shows up to help. The large house is also inhabited by an alcoholic housekeeper Maude played by the wonderful Louise Latham. The night is fret-filled with storms and the news has reported that a maniacal nurse killer is on the loose! Oh, and the power has gone out, so they’re all in the dark.

Maude sends her husband out in the storm to get some medicine, and Stella goes around the house locking all the windows and doors. Except she fails to secure one that is in the creepy basement. The shocking ending will catch you off guard.

THOU STILL UNRAVISHED BRIDE 3/22/65SALLY KELLERMAN as Sally Benner

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Directed by David Friedkin with a teleplay by Morton Fine and David Friedkin and a story by Avram Davidson

American Sally Benner is soon to marry London policeman Tommy Bonn (Ron Randall) While on a transatlantic cruise, they announce their engagement, but four hours before they are to be wed, Sally has pangs of doubt and goes out into the London fog.  There have been a series of murders and her family grows weary for her safety. Tommy and his partner Stephen Leslie (Michael Pate) go in search of Sally.

They eventually stumble on an odd young man named Edward Clarke (David Carradine) who they suspect might be the strangler, and with the description of the woman he confesses to murdering they fear Sally’s fate. The episode also stars Kent Smith and Edith Atwater as Sally’s parents. This episode is very atmospheric and Kellerman as usual does a wonderful job of manifesting a languid sensuality and longing that hangs like dew on the petal.

POWER OF ATTORNEY (4/5/65) GERALDINE FITZGERALD as Agatha Tomlin & FAY BAINTER as May Caulfield

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Directed by Harvey Hart with a teleplay by James Bridges and a story by Selwyn Jepson (Stage Fright! 1950)

Richard Johnson is a smooth con artist Jarvis Smith posing as a stock expert who insinuates himself into the lives of the wealthy Mary Caulfield and her suspicious companion Agatha. It’s always wonderful to see Geraldine Fitzgerald in any performance, and here is no exception. She has an elegant and stayed sensibility that can be as poignant as it is sophisticated. She works well against Fay Bainter who is always enigmatic like a fine bit of silverware that is timeless and sturdy. Johnson sheds his kindly Dr. Marquay (The Haunting) persona here and plays the perfect cad. Jarvis eventually romances Agatha and takes over the handling of Mary’s sizable fortune, pretending that he is investing it for her. When it comes to light what Jarvis has done, the drama becomes a taut little mystery melodrama.

THE SECOND WIFE 4/26/65 JUNE LOCKHART as Martha

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Directed by Joseph Newman with a teleplay by Robert Bloch from a story by Richard Deming

June Lockhart plays Martha Peters. Martha has answered a lonely hearts and becomes a mail-order bride she finally meets Luke Hunter (John Anderson) a miserly reserved sort of man who seems to have no joy in his life. Married once before, his first wife was a mail-order bride as well who died under mysterious circumstances. When Luke goes to visit his relatives, Martha’s fears begin to build when she finds a coffin-shaped box hidden in the garage. She also hears her husband digging all night down in the locked cellar.

Suddenly Luke insists that they go on vacation for the Christmas Holidays, and urges her to start packing so they can go visit his relatives. Before they leave the house, Luke unlocks the cellar door and insists that Martha go downstairs and see what he’s been working on!

NIGHT FEVER (5/3/65) COLLEEN DEWHURST as Nurse Ellen Hatch

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Directed by Herbert Coleman with a teleplay by Gilbert Ralston and a story by Clark Howard, this is a stand-out story, with a sublime performance by the always-compelling Dewhurst.

Here Dewhurst plays a very compassionate nurse Ellen Hatch who is taking care of a cop-killer Jerry Walsh (Tom Simcox) on his way to death row. Jerry manages to melt Ellen’s tough yet kind exterior and lure her into believing that he’s fallen in love with her so that she can help engineer his escape.

Hitchcock gulliver travels into

Concerto Sinostro- The Alfred Hitchcock Hour- Seven Exceptional Episodes

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THIS PIECE HAS BEEN UPDATED AND REVISED TO BE MORE EXTENSIVE: DOES NOT INCLUDE ALL OF THE EPISODES BELOW-PLEASE VISIT THESE LINKS INSTEAD AS PART OF MY ONGOING SERIES FOR THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR.

PART ONE:

Boris Karloff’s anthology tv series: It’s a THRILLER!

PART TWO:

The Film Score Freak recognizes Lyn Murray composer of the heart obscurely

PART THREE:

THE BEACH PARTY BLOGATHON- CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954) & Night Tide (1961) : Gills-A LOVE STORY!!!

As sure as my name is MonsterGirl, this is a Boris Karloff Thriller! “The Storm”

WITH PART 5 TO FOLLOW...

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I’ve chosen these particular episodes for various reasons. I’m very fond of the actors portraying these very nuanced roles. The stories directed by some of the best, themselves are quite compelling, and the musical compositions by Lyn Murray just left a poignant hole in my heart afterward. I hope you get to see at least a few of them. Very special, very fraught with edge-of-your-seat thrills, and some outstanding performances by some of your favorites who deserve to be showcased here! Without any further adieu —Good Evening…!

Carol Lynley
Carol Lynley
ruth
Ruth Roman
anne-francis
Anne Francis
Dina Merrill
Dina Merrill
Charity Grace
Charity Grace
tim o'connor-banacek
Tim O’Connor
Eileen Barrel
Eileen Baral
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Franchot Tone
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Gary Merrill
Gena Rowlands
Gena Rowlands
clu gulager
Clu Gulager
Glady Cooper
Gladys Cooper
Isobel Elsom Monseur Verdoux
Isobel Elsom
Joan Fontaine
Joan Fontaine
Joyce van Patten
Joyce van Patten
Juanita Moore Back Street with Lana Turner
Juanita Moore
margaret leighton
Margaret Leighton
Nancy Kelly from The Bad Seed
Nancy Kelly
Roger Perry
Roger Perry
RG Armstrong
R. G. Armstrong
Jesslyn-Fax
Jesslyn Fax

Peter Falk

Peter Falk

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Patricia Collinge

Final Vow  (25 Oct. 1962)

William Downey-“Have all your prayers been answered, sister?”

Sister Pamela- “Prayers aren’t business deals Mr. Downey, they can’t be judged by successes or failures.”

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Sister Gem tells Sister Pamela “Oh sister… not tears again… you’ve cried a whole river these past weeks.”

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Sister Lydia says ” I want you to see what faith and prayer will do.”

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Norman Lloyd directs this Henry Slesar story starring the lovely Carol Lynley who plays Sister Pamela Wiley, a gentle soul who has come to the crossroads of her faith. It is a simplistically beautiful tale about faith and finding one’s place on Earth.

The Reverend Mother portrayed by the wonderful Isobel Elsom believes that Sister Pamela’s crisis will disappear in time. Sister Pamela is sent on a very special mission to meet the once young hooligan named William Downey from the parochial school she’d tried to change for the better. He has invited sister Lydia to his mansion after thirty years of silence to give her a very special statue of St Francis. It’s a gesture of thank you and a very sacred piece of art. On the way back to the convent the statue is stolen at the train station.

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Sister Pamela- “some people retreat to god and not advance toward him, and that’s what i have done.”
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Isobel Elsom as the commanding Reverend Mother
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Sister Pamela tries on her new clothes, looking in the mirror she sees a pretty young lady and not a sister of the convent anymore. She is struck still.
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Pamela takes a job as a secretary where Jimmy the no-good thief works on the loading docks as part of his parole. Now she’s just one of the girls…

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Pamela finds the statue of St Francis at a Pawn shop.

The bronze statue falls into the wrong hands by a petty thief (Clu Gulager as schemer Jimmy Bresson) and so Sister Pamela puts herself in harm’s way in order to set things right!

With Sara Taft as Sister Lydia and Charity Grace as Sister Gem (Jennifer Morrison from Andy Griffith’s Alcohol & Old Lace), Clu Gulager is perfect as the ruthless Jimmy K Bresson and R.G. Armstrong as the imposing William Downey.

Bonfire  (13 Dec. 1962)

Laura- “Would you mind opening a window, this house smells of…” Robbie breaks in “Death!” Laura-“No, the past, which is even worse!”

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Cinematographer William Margulies (The Girl in Black Stockings 1957) photographs Falk’s murderous fevers by somehow closing in around his face with a dark aureole that speaks of madness.

The wonderful Patricia Collinge  ( The Little Foxes 1941, Shadow of a Doubt 1943) plays an old-fashioned lady Naomi Freshwater, who has been befriended by a fire & brimstone preacher spouting scripture who charms Naomi with doting affection. The enigmatic Peter Falk is the cab-driving preacher Robbie Evans who comes from the coal mines of Pennsylvania, had a revelatory vision during a cave-in that changed his womanizing ways. Did he possibly kill his wife who wanted to force him back into the mines?…

Now as a seemingly kind companion to sweet old Naomi, he spends time with her reading bible verses and hoping to gain her trust so he can build his grand temple on the money she’ll leave him in her will. The dear and sheltered Naomi has a bad heart and suffers a fatal heart attack one night when Robbie forces her to dance too rigorously. She collapses on the settee begging for her little pills as Robbie coldly watches her die. The scene is absolutely brutal in its heartlessness. Quite a powerful scene for just a one-hour anthology show. I myself was left speechless and stunned by its ruthlessness. Adding to the grisly atmosphere was the nonstop record spinning a bedazzling swing melody while the tortured old woman clutches at her chest. I don’t know if it was the lighting or just Falk’s cold-blooded unwavering expression that left me chilled to the bone.

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Falk plays the perfect sociopath, with only one nearly over-the-top performance during a bible-thumping sermon under the tent. When the classy worldly niece Laura (Dina Merrill) shows up, Robbie tries to woo her into marriage hoping to hang onto the old Victorian mansion that he feels is owed to him. Laura hires Robbie to clean out the attic and create a big old bonfire to burn the remnants of her life there.

At first, Laura believes his ‘Man of God’ acts as Naomi did, but Laura is a wild roaming sort who doesn’t wish to be tied down. This brings out the psychopath in Robbie, as he relates in detail how his first wife tried to hold him back, she was a sinner and he had the calling.

Does Merrill wind up in that trunk? it’s a real tent stomper of a mystery, with a twisted psycho-sexual undercurrent, delusional religious fanaticism, unspoken old-style misogyny, and plenty of menacing mayhem afoot lead by an all-star cast of actors. Bonfire is directed by Joseph Pevney and based on a story by V.S. Pritchett as published in The New Yorker.

The evocative score by the great Pete Rugulo helps the entire episode come together to create one hell of a grand mystery hour.

Continue reading “Concerto Sinostro- The Alfred Hitchcock Hour- Seven Exceptional Episodes”

The Film Score Freak recognizes Lyn Murray composer of the heart obscurely

British born  LYN MURRAY  (1909"“1989)

Lyn-Murray

Musical director for NBC Radio’s “The Ford Theater” (1947-1948) Died May 2oth 1989 in California.

 LYN MURRAY’S Filmography List IMDb Profile here-

When you think of iconic composers there are a host of names that probably come to mind, from Bernard Herrmann to James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith to Lalo Schiffrin… the list goes on BUT

Because I watch so much vintage mystery television I’ve become acquainted with the genius of Mort Stevens, Pete Rugolo, and Georges Dunning.

But recently while delving into some Alfred Hitchcock Hour I was struck at the core of my heartstrings by a particular man whose themes kept popping up throughout the very powerful first season of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

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William Walton, Lyn Murray, (an unknown man), Bernard Herrmann, Andre Previn (an unknown woman)

Doing research I found that Lyn Murray worked with Hitchcock on To Catch A Thief 1955 as well as Joseph Losey’s The Prowler 1951 with Van Heflin. Lyn Murray is one of those composers that slip through the cracks, as we pay attention to the very moving pieces of film or dramatic television theatrics.

Emotions are evoked by the scenery or fine acting, but what lies behind the mood is the brilliants of the music that carries the set piece and plot to the level of catharsis. I haven’t been able to stop humming several of Murray’s themes. They’ve been flying around my head like wonderful little moths attracted to the porch lite.

I’ve been so moved by his work that I’ve decided to give him just a little bit of attention here at The Last Drive-In. Hopefully, next time you’re watching episode 35 in all of Alfred Hitchcock you’ll take notice and appreciate this extremely evocative composer. Lyn Murray has also done a tremendous amount of work for motion pictures, and television like Kraft Suspense Theater, and DRAGNET, and made for tv movies.

He has a very unique almost quirky sense of beautiful timing, with arrangements that utilize the most dissonant strings, horn sections, and flute and whose melodies often take a right turn when you think it’s going left. His music tugs at the heart and fits each scenario so well, you couldn’t imagine hearing anything else underscoring the dramatic scene. Quite often bringing a heave to my chest and tears in my eyes.

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour-The Paragon, Final Vow, and What Happened Was all poignant contributions with their moments that were emotionally elevated by the intricate composition and arrangements by Lyn Murray.

For The Twilight Zone Lyn Murray was responsible for Passage for Trumpet with Jack Klugman. The wonderful episode is very close to my heart.

From The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, his evocative, style used in several episodes, (The Paragon starring Joan Fontaine and Annabel starring Susan Oliver) is mesmerizing!

Here’s a smattering of Murray’s style.

THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR ‘The Paragon’

THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR ‘What Really Happened’

THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR “Final Vow’

From ABC Movie of the Week- LOVE HATE LOVE 1971

Trailer TO CATCH A THIEF 1955

Twilight Zone -‘PASSAGE FOR TRUMPET’ (1960)

PROMISE HER ANYTHING 1965

THE PROWLER 1951

THE BIG NIGHT 1951

KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATER ‘JUNGLE OF FEAR’

MORE ABOUT LYN MURRAY AND HIS RENOWNED RADIO CAREER AT THIS LINK BELOW

http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-Music-Squibb.html

Coming up… I’ll talk about Alex North, Mort Stevens, Pete Rugolo, Jerry Goldsmith, Dominick Frontier, Francis Lai and Gil Melie

From the heart, your MonsterGirl

What A Character Blogathon!… is back 2013- in my heart’s a memory, and there you’ll always be. The inimitable Jeanette Nolan!

What A Character Blogathon 2013!

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Hosted by Once Upon A Screen- Outspoken & Freckled & Paula’s Cinema Club

As these fabulous bloggers say -“They are eccentric. They are unusual.  And they are BACK!”

Character actors are the grease that spins the wheels of cinematic & television memories. I am so thrilled to be participating in this Blogathon because there are a lot of unsung actors that deserve recognition. Though it was a tough decision, I decided to focus on the inimitable Jeanette Nolan!

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Jeanette Nolan as the tightly wound housekeeper Mrs. Peck in one of my all-time favorite Columbo episodes Double Shock- “Yes, thank you I’m extremely fond of health cookies.”– Columbo

Jeanette Nolan just kept popping up for me in film and television episodes until I couldn’t resist her often irascible charms, and quirky yet dignified demeanor. Okay okay, she’s played a truly bona fide hag at times. No one cackles and frets quite like a Jeanette Nolan crone.

The transformation… from Maiden to Crone! Perhaps the more genuine utterance of ‘Hag Cinema.’

But, don’t let that fool you into thinking that she didn’t have an incredible depth and range of characterizations filled with heart and a sharply honed instinct for creating an atmosphere that drew you into her orbit, even when she was on the periphery of the story.

I adore this woman and I’m so glad I get to share more than just a few of the memorable moments in Jeanette Nolan’s long career.

Jeanette Nolan's career as a tireless character actor materialized on classic television in the late 1950s. Nolan was a beautiful woman with deep penetrating eyes whose features conjure a life that has shouldered a lot of memories. It’s not surprising that she began in the medium of radio, with a voice that sounds like it’s been steeped inside an aged cask of mulled wine.

Her acting journey extended well into the 1990s. And it was her versatility and at times deeply unconventional characterizations that created a legacy that would leave a lasting footprint on the radio, film, and television landscapes.

Nolan pursued her education at Abraham Lincoln High School, where she honed her skills and nurtured her passion for the arts. After graduating, she set her sights on Los Angeles City College with the intention of studying music and realizing her dream of becoming an opera singer.

Nolan’s illustrious acting career took off when she joined the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California. As a student at Los Angeles City College, she made her radio debut in 1932, starring in Omar Khayyam the first transcontinental broadcast from station KHJ.

Jeanette Nolan was born in 1911 in Los Angeles California, She began her acting career in the Pasadena Community Playhouse. She made her film debut as Lady Macbeth in Orson Welles’ 1948 film version of Macbeth.

Jeanette Nolan crossed paths with her future husband, actor John McIntire, during their involvement in a West Coast radio program in the 1930s.

McIntire, who served as the announcer for the show in which Jeanette was performing, received an insightful comment from her that would change the course of his career.

"Right then, I thought he should be acting as well as announcing." – she said In her interview with Radio Life in 1945.

Jeanette expressed her belief that McIntire should delve into acting in addition to his announcing duties. Taking her advice to heart, McIntire soon found himself performing alongside his wife on notable programs such as The Cavalcade of America, The March of Time, and The Court of Missing Heirs.

Jeanette Nolan’s ambitions took an unexpected turn when she found herself becoming a member of the Pasadena Playhouse. However, earning very little during the bleak days of the Depression left her unable to pay for carfare on her meager salary working as a clerk at a local department store and she had to abandon college and part ways with the Playhouse.

At the suggestion of a friend, she explores the world of radio. High School friend True Boardman arranged for her to meet Cyril Armbrister and Nolan showcased her talent by performing a reading for him, and the very next day, the aspiring actress found work making more money.

Recalling this turning point in her life with Leonard Maltin, Nolan shared a delightful anecdote.

"I went to my boss and said, "˜I have to quit.'  She said, "˜What's the matter?'  And I said, "˜Well, I have a job and it's going to pay me $7.50.'  She said, "˜Listen, Sarah Bernhardt, you keep your job; if you get more work, we'll let you go.'  It was just so darling, they kept me on." Nolan continued to pursue her blossoming career in radio.

Jeanette Nolan embarked on her radio career with a memorable debut on station KHJ in the groundbreaking transcontinental broadcast of Omar Khayyam which marked the beginning of her journey in radio. Among the surviving radio serials, she lent her voice to Tarzan of the Apes and Tarzan and the Diamond of Asher, in which her husband John served as the narrator.

Over time, Nolan progressed to portraying significant roles on esteemed shows such as The March of Time. Additionally, she engaged in various projects, including Calling All Cars, Great Plays, The Jack Pearl Show, Radio Guild, The Shadow, and Young Dr. Malone.

Frequently collaborating with her husband, John McIntire, whom she married in 1935, the couple became a dynamic duo in the world of radio. Their frequent on-air performances earned them the endearing nickname the Lunt and Fontanne of radio.

By the 1940s Jeanette Nolan became one of radio's most sought-after actresses. Playing the part of many great characters in serialized dramas.

Throughout her career, she graced numerous radio series, including notable appearances in Young Doctor Malone from 1939-1940, Cavalcade of America from 1940-1941, One Man’s Family as Nicolette Moore (1947-1950), and The Great Gildersleeve (1949-1952).

She also treads the radio boards for – Big Sister, Home of the Brace and Life Begins and a recurring role as Nicolette Moore on Carlton E. Morse's One Man's Family. Her existing radio broadcasts also include The Lux Radio Theatre, The Adventures of Sam Spade, The Clock, The Columbia Workshop, Crime Doctor with husbandJohn in the lead role, The Ford Theatre, Hedda Hopper's Hollywood, I Love Adventure, Let George Do It, Manhattan at Midnight, Meet Mr. Meek, The Perfect Crime, The Railroad Hour, and The Upper Room.  Jeanette was part of a very notable cast of actors who would appear on shows like Escape, Suspense, and The Whistler.

Despite her career diverging into movies and television, Jeanette Nolan remained dedicated to her roots in radio. She continued to actively participate in the medium, even during the 1970s, by involving herself in drama revivals such as “The Hollywood Radio Theatre” and “The Sears Radio Theatre.” Additionally, she played an active role in CART (California Artists Radio Theatre), showcasing her commitment to the art form and her ongoing passion for radio performances. Jeanette Nolan’s enduring connection to radio exemplifies her unwavering love and appreciation for the medium that initially propelled her career.

Jeanette Nolan’s contributions to Orson Welles’ radio programs, particularly This is My Best and The Shadow, played a crucial role in shaping her path toward the silver screen. Inspired by her talent and potential, Orson Welles successfully persuaded Republic Studios, primarily recognized for their B-Westerns and serials, to fund a remarkable motion picture endeavor. In 1948, they embarked on the production of Shakespeare's Macbeth, with Jeanette Nolan co-starring alongside Welles himself. The movie version got hammered by the critics but despite the unfavorable reviews received for both her performance and the film at the time, it marked her notable debut in the world of motion pictures, further cementing her versatility and skill as an actress.

Jeanette Nolan Lady Macbeth

Nolan as Lady Macbeth in Orson Welles’ production of Macbeth in 1948.

In 1949 Jeanette Nolan appeared in her first film noir, Abandoned directed by Joseph M. Newman.

She's well known for her iconic role as the cold, cunning, and corrupt Bertha Duncan In Fritz Lang's Outré violent film noir The Big Heat 1953, Nolan plays a widowed cop's wife, Bertha who shows no emotion over her dead husband's lifeless body and stashes the suicide letter to use in order to blackmail crime boss Alexander Scourby.

THE BIG VIOLENCE OF FRITZ LANG'S THE BIG HEAT (1953)

Gloria Grahame as gutsy Debbie Marsh has just plugged a hole in her ‘sister under the mink.’

As Bertha Duncan, Jeanette Nolan breathed a wickedness into the role that is reminiscent of her Lady Macbeth. Her portrayal brought a palpable sense of villainous allure to the character.

It also led to some treasured roles in movies like Words and Music in 1948 and No Sad Songs for Me in 1950. And she gave some standout performances in films that followed – particularly Westerns like her role as Harriet Purcell in The Secret of Convict Lake 1951 starring Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, and Ethel Barrymore.

Her work in Westerns was not limited to television – Other films include, Hangman's Knot in 1952, and in 1955 she appeared in A Lawless Street as Mrs. Dingo Brion. The film starred Randolph Scott. Amongst the other oaters to her credits are 7th Cavalry 1956, The Halliday Brand 1957, and The Guns of Fort Petticoat 1957. And as a departure from Westerns, she co-starred in the romantic musical April Love in 1957 starring Shirley Jones, Dolores Michaels, and Arthur O’Connell.

From A Lawless Street.

From April Love 1957.

Nolan made her foray into television in the 1950s but continued to work in radio showcasing how busy she was on shows like The Adventures of Christopher London, The CBS Radio Workshop, Father Knows Best, Fibber McGee & Molly, Frontier Gentleman, The General Electric Theatre, The Hallmark Hall of Fame, Hallmark Playhouse, Hollywood Star Theatre, Hopalong Cassidy, Jason and the Golden Fleece, The Lineup, The Man Called X, Mr. President, Night Beat, Pursuit, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Screen Directors' Playhouse, The Six Shooter, Tales of the Texas Rangers, This is Your FBI, and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

With an astonishing number of credits, Nolan’s television career encompassed an impressive repertoire of over three hundred appearances earning four Emmy nominations for her exceptional work on television. She appeared on 2 episodes of Mr. and Mrs. North in 1953, an episode of The Loretta Young Show, Big Town in 1955, and that same year in 2 episodes of You Are There.

This included the religious anthology series “Crossroads” and as Dr. Marion in the 1956 episode The Healer of Brian Keith’s CBS Cold War series, Crusader. She also made an appearance on Rod Cameron’s syndicated series, State Trooper. 3 episodes of Four Star Playhouse from 1953-1956. In 1957 she played Mrs. Blunt in the episode The Reformation of Calliope on The O. Henry Playhouse. Also that year she appeared on 2 episodes of The Joesph Cotton Show: On Trial. She also appeared on Climax! In 1957.

In 1957, she portrayed Ma Grilk in the episode titled Potato Road of the TV Western series Gunsmoke Nolan was cast as Emmy Zecker in the 1959 episode “Johnny Yuma” of the ABC Western series The Rebel, starring Nick Adams. Additionally, she appeared in two episodes of David Janssen’s crime drama, “Richard Diamond, Private Detective.”

In 1958 she plays Mrs. Austen in Rudolph Maté's war drama The Deep Six starring Alan Ladd.

Continuing to have a prominent presence on television she appeared on dramatic shows like General Electric Theater and 3 episodes of Matinee Theatre that ran from 1956-1958. With guest appearances on tv's popular police procedural Dragnet, The Lineup, Naked City, and The Restless Gun in 1958 & '59.

Following that, she took on the role of Janet Picard in the episode Woman in the River of the ABC/Warner Brothers detective series Bourbon Street Beat in 1959 starring Andrew Duggan.

And 2 episodes for another television Western series Tales of Wells Fargo as Ma Dalton and Mrs. Borkman and Emmy Zecker in The Rebel starring Nick Adams.

She appeared in the role of Maggie Bowers In the Peter Gunn episode titled Love Me to Death in 1959. Moreover, while portraying the very staid and cagey Sadie Grimes who sets a trap for Robert Emhardt in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode titled The Right Kind of House, which first aired on March 9, 1958. She also appeared in another Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, Coming Home in 1961.

From 1959 to 1960, Nolan took on the role of Annette Deveraux, one of the co-owners of the hotel in the CBS Western series Hotel de Paree, alongside Earl Holliman and Judi Meredith.

With Judi Meredith in Hotel de Paree.

Jeanette Nolan, Earl Holliman, and Strother Martin in Hotel de Paree.

In 1960, she made an appearance in Richard Boone’s “Have Gun "“ Will Travel,” portraying a newly widowed sheriff, and then again in 1962 as a mother searching for her lost Eastern school girl. She would make 2 more appearances in the series.

Nolan’s presence was also notable on CBS’s Perry Mason, where she guest-starred in six episodes. Her portrayals included the role of Mrs. Kirby, the murderer, in the 1958 episode titled The Case of the Fugitive Nurse, Emma Benson, another murderer, in the 1960 episode titled The Case of the Nine Dolls, Mama Norden in The Case of the Hateful Hero, Martha Blair in the 1962 episode titled The Case of the Counterfeit Crank, Nellie, the title character and murderer, in the 1964 episode titled The Case of the Betrayed Bride, and defendant Emma Ritter in the 1965 episode titled The Case of the Fugitive Fraulein.

Because of Nolan's distinctive voice, she would contribute her powers of articulation to the voice of sicko Norman Bate's mother in Hitchcock's Psycho in 1960, which also included voice work by another busy character actor Virginia Gregg.

Nolan actually provided the screams for Norman’s “mother” in Psycho (1960) Husband John played Sheriff Chambers.

In 1960 she appeared on screen as Ma Demara in the comedy/drama The Great Imposter by underrated director Robert Mulligan and starring Tony Curtis, Karl Malden, and Edmund O'Brien.

In the 1961 episode titled “The Good & The Bad” of CBS’s Bat Masterson, Nolan made a guest appearance as “Sister Mary Paul,” a nun who unknowingly harbors an injured killer. In 1962 she played Mrs. Brooks in the 87th Precinct episode Idol in the Dust. The show starred Robert Lansing who was married to Gena Rowlands, and co-starred Norman Fell as detectives who worked the rough streets of NYC. Also in 1962, she appeared in the medical drama Ben Casey, and the realist journalist series Saints and Sinners.

In an episode of Boris Karloff's Thriller – Parasite Mansion, where she inhabits the role of a scraggly old crone in an over-the-top performance as the deranged old Granny who harbors a secret power of telekinesis that she wields over her terrorized women of the family. She also starred as yet another witch in the episode La Strega.

Granny to James Griffith – “Stirs your manhood doesn’t it Victor? That’s why you didn’t get rid of her in the swamp!”

Granny is terrorizing Pippa Scott in Parasite Mansion. ‘pretty baggage.’

La Strega Jeanette Nolan
Jeanette Nolan in Boris Karloff’s 1960s television anthology series Thriller – episode –La Strega.

Boris Karloff’s anthology tv series: It’s a THRILLER!

On April 27, 1962, Nolan appeared in the episode A Book of Faces of another ABC crime drama, Target: The Corruptors!, featuring Stephen McNally and Robert Harland.

She guest-starred as Claire Farnham in the episode To Love Is to Live of the psychology-based drama The Eleventh Hour. Nolan played a fortune teller named Mme. Di Angelo in the 1963 episode The Black-Robed Ghost of the anthology series GE True, hosted by Jack Webb.

Jeanette Nolan graced various dramatic teleplays in the 1960s, including being a member of the repertory cast of The Richard Boone Show in 25 episodes In 1963. And appeared in the ABC drama series Going My Way starring Gene Kelly as the Roman Catholic priest in New York City.

She was featured in two of John Ford’s films during his later career, Two Rode Together 1961 and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 1962 where she played Nora Ericson.

Next came ABC's western series Wagon Train in which Nolan’s husband, John McIntire, portrayed the wagon master Chris Hale from 1961 to 1965. In 1963 she guest starred as Sister Therese in ABC's WWII series Combat! episode Infant of Prague.

From 1963 to 1964, Nolan made three guest appearances on Dr. Kildare one in which she is obviously made up to look like another old gal. also appeared in a 1964 episode of the short-lived CBS political drama series Slattery’s People, starring Richard Crenna. Prior to that, she had shared the screen with Crenna and Walter Brennan in their sitcom, The Real McCoys.

Nolan flaunted her witches persona in two of Rod Serling’s anthology television series The Twilight Zone – Jess-Belle in 1963 starring Anne Francis and The Hunt in 1962.

And then In Rod Serling's horror anthology series Night Gallery Nolan starred in the segment “Since Aunt Ada Came to Stay” opposite James Farentino and Michele Lee, where she portrays one of her more sinister crones in her arsenal of witches.

But in 1964, Jeanette Nolan brought back the icy dourness in her portrayal of nurse Mary Fitzgibbon in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode Triumph. She summons the wickedness of her earlier manifestation of Lady Macbeth, as the "˜woman behind the curtain' directing her husband Ed Begley, a medical missionary to maintain his autonomy at their post when they are threatened by a visit from Brother John Sprague (Tom Simcox) and his sensual wife Lucy. Nolan is chilling as a woman whose paranoia drives her to bear her fangs.

In 1964, Nolan became a repertory cast member of the acclaimed but short-lived television anthology series The Richard Boone Show, appearing in 13 episodes. She also made guest appearances on Gunsmoke in 1964, portraying the character of Festus' eccentric Aunt Thede.

In 1965 she starred as Aunt Sarah in the psycho-sexual thriller My Blood Runs Cold directed by William Conrad and featuring Troy Donahue as a very disturbed and delusional young man who is fixated on Joey Heatherton.

MY BLOOD RUNS COLD, Barry Sullivan, Jeanette Nolan, 1965.

Jeanette Nolan appeared as a guest star on Gunsmoke more than any other character actress. It was her irresistible portrayal as the frontier outcast Sally Fergus in two episodes of Gunsmoke that led to a spin-off Dirty Sally that had a limited run in 1974.

The following year in 1965, Nolan played the treacherous Ma Burns in the episode The Golden Trail on NBC’s series Laredo which was a spin-off of The Virginian. Ma Burns comes off as a woman of refinement but her plot to hijack a gold shipment turns out to be thirty-six bottles of Tennessee whisky.

In 1966, she appeared in the film It’s the End of the Road, Stanley, and in 1967 she portrayed Vita Rose in Like One of the Family. And by the mid to late 60s, she had appeared in a variety of popular series including Perry Mason, Burke's Law, I Spy, The Fugitive, My Three Sons, and The Invaders. In 1968, Nolan was cast in the episode of the NBC police drama Ironside – All in a Day’s Work where she played a grieving mother who loses her child during a robbery. That same year, she made an appearance on Hawaii Five-O.

She also has supporting roles in the horror film, Chamber of Horrors in 1966 and the zany Don Knotts vehicle The Reluctant Astronaut in 1967 and Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady? In 1968.

One of Jeanette Nolan’s most enduring television roles was on the long-running series “The Virginian,” where she shared the screen with her husband John McIntire. From 1967 to 1970, they assumed ownership of the Shiloh Ranch, portraying the characters Clay and Holly Granger. This significant role provided them with a consistent presence on the show, allowing them to captivate audiences with their performances and strengthen their on-screen chemistry. Their portrayal of Clay and Holly Granger left a lasting impression on “The Virginian” and contributed to the show’s success during their tenure.

Nolan guest-starred on the short-lived sitcom The Mothers-in-Law in two separate episodes during its final season. First, she portrayed Kaye Ballard’s grandmother, Gabriela Balotta, who had a habit of fainting when things didn’t go her way. Then, she would play Scottish nanny Annie MacTaggart.

It was the 1970s and she continued to make her presence known in popular dramas including Medical Center, Mannix, The Name of the Game, Marcus Welby M.D., Alias Smith and Jones, Longstreet, The F.B.I., Love, American Style. She was cast In two classic supernatural series -Circle of Fear 1972 episode The New House, and The Sixth Sense -Shadow in the Well.

In 1972 she appeared in the Made for TV movie Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole starring Susan Hayward. In 1973 it wouldn't be typical if she didn't appear on The Streets of San Francisco and in 1975 in an episode of Harry O, and as Mrs. Raye in Police Woman -Don't Feed the Pigeons and an episode of Charlie's Angels.

Nolan portrayed Mrs. Peck in the 1973 episode Double Shock of Peter Falk’s unsurpassed detective series Columbo. She is perfectly delicious as the tidy little spitfire who admonishes the sloppy detective in his rumpled raincoat who oblivious to decorum drops his cigar ashes on her newly waxed floor. "You must belong in some pigsty," She spits out the words as she assaults him with white-gloved fury. Perhaps of all the murderers on the show, no one traumatizes Columbo more than Jeanette Nolan's little ankle-biter. Starring Martin Landau playing twin murderers it still remains one of my favorite episodes of the show.

In 1974, she briefly starred with Dack Rambo in CBS’s Dirty Sally, which was the spinoff of Gunsmoke, where she had previously played the recurring guest role in three of the show's episodes.

She would also have a significant part in Daniel Haller's Made for TV movie The Desperate Miles in 1975 starring Tony Musante and Joanna Pettet. And the following year in another Made for TV movie as Essie Cargo in The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe.

In a much different role, Jeanette Nolan returned to Columbo as Kate O'Connell in The Conspirators in 1978.

The couple who were fluent in voice work collaborated together on two Disney features, The Rescuers in 1977 and The Widow Tweed in  The Fox and the Hound in 1981. “But in my heart’s a memory. And there you’ll always be.” Widow Tweed

Like many Hollywood actresses, she would find herself cast in an embarrassing horror film The Manitou in 1978 based on Graham Masterton's novel which did not translate well to the screen. Boasting a great cast including Ann Sothern, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, and Tony Curtis – director William Girdler's film wound up being more of a trippy circus than a serious horror film in which Nolan's Mrs. Winconis gets lost in the fog about a 500-year-old Indian Shaman who has hitched a ride on Strasberg's back.

Also in 1978, she would be amongst the stellar cast of Corey Allen's disaster movie Avalanche.

In 1981 she played the leading men's mother Mrs. Spellacy in True Confessions Ulu Grosbard's crime thriller True Confessions starring Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall who play brothers, one a cop and the other a priest centered around corruption and a Black Dahlia-like murder.

In the 1980s she appeared in episodes of Fantasy Island, T.J. Hooker, Matt Houston, Quincy M.E., Hotel, Trapper John M.D., Hell Town, St. Elsewhere, Night Court, Cagney & Lacey, Hunter and MacGyver.

In 1985, she played Alma Lindstrom, Rose Nylund’s adoptive mother, in the ninth episode of the first season of the popular NBC sitcom The Golden Girls.

Her final film appearance was in Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer in 1998, where she portrayed Tom Booker’s mother, Ellen.

After the passing of John McIntire in 1991, Jeanette Nolan continued her career, leaving an indelible mark before her own departure seven years later.

Jeanette Nolan The Secret of Convict Lake Harriet
Jeanette Nolan as Harriet Purcell in The Secret of Convict Lake 1951.
Nora Ericson The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Jeanette Nolan as Nora Ericson in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 1962.
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Jeanette Nolan as Mrs. Ewing Perryman in Chamber of Horrors 1966.

Before her death at age 86 due to a stroke on June 5th, 1998, her career encompassed so many varied roles, including Orson Welles’s Lady Macbeth in 1948. Her last performance was in Robert Redford’s film The Horse Whisperer, where she plays Tom Booker’s mother “Ellen.”

As you can now imagine, she brought to life some of the most interesting characters in more than 300 television shows.

Here’s Jeanette Nolan in one of Columbo’s memorable episodes ‘Double Shock’ as Mrs Peck keeps a very tidy house.

As the oddball Annie in Dr. Kildare’s The Hand that Hurts, The Hand that Heals 1964

Jeanette as Bernadine Spalding in Emergency! Weird Wednesday 1972

As Dirty Sally Fergus on Gunsmoke

As Mary Fitzgibbons in ‘Triumph’ The Alfred Hitchcock Hour 1964

As Edith Beggs in Coming Home Alfred Hitchcock Presents 1961

As Hallie in The Secret- Medical Center 1972

As Mrs Fleming in The Reluctant Astronaut 1967

Jeanette Nolan as Miss Havergill The Invaders

As Mrs Grimes in The Right Kind of House- Alfred Hitchcock Presents

As Naomi Kellin in ‘Ill Wind’ The Fugitive

Jeanette Nolan in Wagon Train- “The Janet Hale Story”

As Granny Harrad in Boris Karloff’s television anthology series Thriller- “Parasite Mansion’

Jeanette Nolan as Mrs Downey in Say Goodbye Maggie Cole Tv Movie 1972

As Bertha Duncan in 1953 film noir classic The Big Heat

As Granny Hart in Twilight Zone’s ‘Jess-Belle

As Lady Macbeth in Orson Welles’ Macbeth

As Mrs Tibbit in Marcus Welby MD “Epidemic”

As Mrs Waddle in Rod Serling’s Night Gallery episode “The Housekeeper”

As Mrs Fitzgibbons in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour “Triumph’

Jeanette Nolan in Rod Serling’s Night Gallery “Since Aunt Ada Came To Stay”

As Judge Millie Cox in The Streets of San Fransisco “The Runaways”

Jeanette Nolan as Granny Harrad in Boris Karloff’s Thriller ‘Parasite Mansion’

Jeanette Nolan as Emma ‘Martha’ Benson in Perry Mason’s The Case of the Nine Dolls

Jeanette Nolas as Mrs. Trotter in Alfred Hitchcock Presents The Morning After

As Edna Brackett in Quincy M.E. with husband John McIntire

Here’s to the inimitable actress -  never a hag but always a character! Jeanette Nolan!!!,  Love Joey

Alfred Hitchcock Hour- Body in the Barn: “To bring to the light of day the two lies that together make a truth. “

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As part of the THE GISH SISTERS BLOGATHON hosted by Movies Silently & The Motion Pictures

Annex - Gish, Lillian_07
Photo of Lillian Gish courtesy of Doctor Macro

Although Lillian Gish set the standard for excellence when she first started out in silent film having been discovered by D W Griffith in 1912, I’ll always love her as the resolute Rachel Cooper in Charles Laughton’s masterpiece Night of the Hunter 1955

Not to mention her memorable performances as Mother Mary of Mercy in Portrait of Jennie 1948 and Laura Belle McCanles in Duel in the Sun 1946, & Victoria Inch in The Cobweb 1955. I’d love to see the 1969 television version where she plays Martha Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace where she co-stars with Helen Hayes.

In Body in the Barn, Lillian Gish brings her manifest greatness to bare as Bessie Carnby a strong willed old lady who refuses to be coddled toward death, is a centerpiece of the community and loves the Apple Jack she hides under her pillow. When she butts heads with new neighbor Samantha Wilkins the sparks fly and Gish gives one hell of a performance!

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The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

Body in the Barn (3 Jul. 1964)

Season 2, Episode 32

Hitchcock Theme

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Directed by Joseph Newman with a teleplay by Harold Swanton from a story by Margaret Manners.

Wonderful set direction by Julia Heron and John McCarthy Jr and cinematography by William Margulies.

Lillian Gish plays Bessie Carnby an intractable grand old lady who refuses to hold her tongue when the pretentious Samantha Wilkins (Patricia Cutts) and her ‘saggy kneed’ husband Henry (Peter Lind Hayes) move to the county and put up a fence.

Maggie McNamara is Bessie’s niece Camilla Peter, Kent Smith (Cat People) as Dr Adamson, Josie Lloyd (Lydia Crosswaithe The Andy Griffith Show and daughter to Norman Lloyd) is The Wilkins’ housekeeper Nora, James Maloney is Ed the storekeeper Doodles Weaver as Gregg, Bruce Andersen as Huckaby Richard Niles as the Deputy and Kelly Thordsen as Sheriff Pate O. Turnbull.

What makes this simple genteel mystery story set in a bucolic quaint American town work so well is Lillian Gish’s fortitude that brings a stunning exactness to her performance as a stubborn and proudful woman whose fierce independence won’t let the truth be denied its due.

In the opening prologue, Hitch as one of his various props is dressed up like a scarecrow. It was suggested that since he’s been frightening people for years ‘why not birds’.

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It’s one of his funniest little introductions as he tells us about the evening’s story all Tuxedoed, stuffed with straw…and typically cheeky.

He had a number of visitors “One little girl and a tin woodsman who are quite bothersome. They seem to be under the absurd impression that I’m going to be up the road dancing with them…”

The story as Hitch suggests is one which inhabits a ‘Bucolic Mood.’ A pleasant little tale of homicide, lust, deceit revenge, and greed. A story that works its way backward in order to bring us up to the present day, using the lead character Bessie Carnby’s narration to tell us how things came to be the way they are. The episode has a bit of the voyeurism of Rear Window 1954 in it.

Lillian Gish brings to life Bessie Carnby, a staunchly proud woman, fearless and pragmatic. She’s an irascible old gal who’s been fending off death for years, can stand on her own two feet, and doesn’t like the idea that Samantha Wilkins, a harpy who owns a prosperous farm in the county has put up a fence along the community path.

Samantha’s veins are filled with ice as she bosses her husband Henry around and doesn’t care about being a good neighbor. After Effram Judge, Bessie’s handyman falls off the cliff into the white water rapids below though the body is never found, the vitriol and venom flow between these two women who have no need to parse words. Bessie blames The Wilkins fence for Effram’s accident. Samantha Wilkins shows no sympathy or concern for the poor man’s death or what the community thinks about her fence. It’s on her property and that’s that.

Bessie lives with her niece Camilla and is seen by Doc Sam Adamson. The unassuming Henry Wilkins befriends Bessie and Camilla and gets himself invited to dinner. But when he doesn’t show up, Bessie becomes suspicious that the virulent Samantha might have killed her husband and buried him in the barn.

Bessie has been listening to Camilla who shares Henry’s private confidences that his wife once attempted to murder him and he fears she will try again. After months with no letters or postcards or calls, Samantha refuses to tell anyone where her husband might be, Bessie and Camilla are convinced that something foul is afoot after Bessie spies on Samantha with binoculars watching the woman go back and forth to the barn with flashlight and shovel.

Gossip and nosiness go with any small community, but once Bessie sneaks into the barn to snoop around she discovers a grave and now Sheriff Turnbull and the town discover a quick-lime cadaver clutching one of Samantha’s buttons and wearing Henry’s wedding band. The body is thus identified as that of Henry Wilkins.

All eyes are on Samantha now as she is the number one suspect in her husband’s murder.

I don’t want to give away the ending to the story so I’ll leave you in the barn with the quick-lime stiff.

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Doodles Weaver as Gregg.
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the clerk catalogs the milk glass vase which secretly holds Bessie’s note inside.

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Body in the Barn opens with moving men unloading the Carnby’s farmhouse antiques into a large truck. Bernard Herrman’s musical imprint pokes through the bucolic mood with clarinets and strings paying homage to nature and the simple life.

A dealer Mr. Huckaby (Bruce Andersen) is walking around appraising and cataloging all the contents of the house. The sundry knickknackery and antiques like milk glass, etc. Huckaby’s clerk (Charles Kuenstle) drops a milk glass vase as he fumbles with his clipboard.

When Huckaby inquires what it was, he assures the clerk that it was only a replica and to forget it. But the camera pans downward to show shreds of packing paper amidst the shattered shards of milk glass on the floor, and one rolled-up handwritten note sitting in the middle of the confetti debris.

Composer Herrmann’s wondrous musical swirls assist the lens in closing in on the note that was hidden within the small vase. Thus begins the voiceover… as Bessie narrates the evening’s story.

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The voice-over begins-“By the time this is found, it’ll be all over. Justice would have had its day. The scales will be in balance again…

“By the time this is found, it’ll be all over. Justice would have had its day. The scales will be in balance again. {the scene begins to cross fade}
It will be all over with me too. I’m ill and tired and I’ve been dying so long I’m bored with it… I’d lived in the county a long time. This is my home. These are my people. Now they’ve turned against me. But still I owe them something. I owe it to them to set history straight. To bring to the light of day the two lies that together make a truth.”

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We are dropped into a landscape of vast open fields. Lillian Gish as Bessie Carnby and our narrator is running frenzied in a nightgown and robe as if carried by the wind.

Aunt Bessie runs feverishly to the seaside cliff. She is met by her niece Camilla. “Aunt Bessie you turn right around and go on back home.” Bessie says, “Not on your life,” Bessie asks her niece, ‘Who was it? Who fell off that cliff last night? “ There is nothing you can do about it right now go on back to the house” ” Was it Effram?” She looks at her aunt direly. Bessie begs her “Tell me, tell me” “They think so… they haven’t found him yet.”

Bessie takes in a deep breath.

Camilla runs after her fiery Aunt. The sheriff asks the Wilkins, “What time did you hear him yell?”

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“A little past 8 I’d say” Henry answers,  “Before 8” he looks at her. “Samantha I was in the barn by 8” She insists in her rigid tone, “He yelled before that” Henry replies, “I could have sworn” “About 10 to, I was in the kitchen and I heard it from the opened window”

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Bessie, out of breath comes running up the hill and asks the sheriff, if they’ve found the body. He points to the raging waters below and tells her that if he fell into that, he probably won’t be found by this side of Tightwater.

Sheriff Turnbull says, “He had no business walking this path, dark coming on with his eyes as bad as they were Bessie.” She defends such a notion, “He wasn’t used to this path!”

Samantha Wilkins snaps, “He could have taken the road.” “A mile and a half out of his way” Bessie croaks out a passionate condemnation at the cold-hearted woman.

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The sheriff asks “Is this a piece of his MacInall?”

“He was wearing it when he left” Bessie begins to cry.

Sheriff Turnbull figures, “Well he probably got it caught in the fence here and tried to get it loose and  got careless with his footing.”

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“He wasn’t used to that fence… none of us are” Bessie spins around and glares at Samantha Wilkins who says. “I’m sorry about that”
Bessie exclaims, “It’s a great comfort to us all Mrs Wilkins… A great comfort to us all… He has a nephew in Rhode Island and he’ll feel a sight better when I tell him that the woman who put up the fence that killed Effram Judge is sorry.”
Samantha Wilkins’ caustic tongue doesn’t hesitate, “If it was my hired man I would have driven him home.”
Bessie meets Samantha’s barbs head-on, “Or if you were me you would have stayed in bed like the doctor ordered.”
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“My fence belongs on my property line that’s where i put it and that’s where it’ll stay.”

“My fence belongs on my property line. That’s where I put it and that’s where it’ll stay… If it fenced off a short cuts that’s too bad it’s legal and proper… make of it what you will but don’t try to put the death of Ef Judge on my conscience.” –Samantha Wilkins

The banter between Lillian Gish and Patricia Cutts is a wonderful piece of dramatic interplay.

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” I don’t have to put it there Mrs. Wilkins, that path’s been a public thoroughfare for over a century YOU had no right.”

Lillian Gish’s performance here is spectacular as she modulates her voice from an inner strength that springs forth from lifelong wisdom to a tone of righteous indignation.

The two women frame a powerful exposition of the old vs the modern vs the sacred traditionalism of small-town ethics and suggest to us a commentary on class struggle. The modern world has intruded on the old quaint ways of a simpler time. With the wealthy and almost demonic Samantha, entitled and encroaching on the quaint ways of an old-fashioned woman and the world she used to inherit. Causing one man’s death and alienating an entire community. Before the Wilkins came and put up the fence, life was simple. Bessie spells it out in her tirade perfectly.

Samantha starts to attack Bessie, “Since when…” but her husband Henry breaks in as if to plead with his wife to show some compassion, “Samantha…”

Sheriff Turnbull finally breaks up the quarrel, “Now there’s no point hashing this thing over now.”

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Samantha Wilkin’s voices raises up an octave, “I’m not gonna stand here and hear that old biddy blame me…”
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Bessie objects “Biddy!” Samantha adds “Yes and a snooper and a gossip and a community nuisance.” Bessie tries to argue, “You listen to me” Samantha overpowers her, “No wonder I put up that fence it’s the only protection I got with a neighbor like you.”
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“I’ve been a good neighbor all my life. I’m a respected member of this community. I was a friend of the McKelvys long before you bought High Hollow. You and that saggy kneed excuse for a husband.” Samantha shouts, “Shut your mouth.”
“We got along before you. There was this give and take between us. None of this building of fences. We got along. But you (she points her finger at Samantha Wilkins) You’ll get your comeuppance you. You’ll see you’ll get your comeupp…”

Suddenly Bessie appears to have an attack. She collapses and Sheriff Turnbull catches her.

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Henry Wilkins picks her up and tells her he’s taking her home. She’s gasping for air and out of breath but she tells him to put her down. Camilla calls out “Aunt Bessie…” In a rasping voice, she tells him “I’ll get there on my own two legs.”

The sheriff tells Bessie that if the doc knew what she was up to he’d have her hide.

Henry begins to carry her. She continues to argue with the exhausted breath she’s got left.

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Samantha comments to Sheriff Turnbull “I guess I”m to blame for that too.” He answers her, “I wouldn’t be at all surprised.”

Continue reading “Alfred Hitchcock Hour- Body in the Barn: “To bring to the light of day the two lies that together make a truth. “”