PILOTS:
Conflict: ANYTHING FOR MONEY (4/16/57)
Written by Frederic Brady; Directed by Walter Doniger
Starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Richard Webb, Maggie Hayes, Barton MacLane, Joanna Barnes, Mark
Roberts, Harlan Warde, Venetia Stevenson
Love, alcohol, jealousy and guns complicate a yachtsman's pleasure cruise to Hawaii.
Glen Callister, a wealthy businessman, is sure he will be killed on a yacht trip to Honolulu by
either his wife or his first mate, who are having an affair. He hires Stu Bailey to "keep an eye
on" the first mate. During the voyage, Stu has a hard time sorting out the intricate relationships
between those on board including Callister's grown daughter.
Based on a 1952 Esquire magazine story ("Death and the Skylark") by Roy Huggins
1. Girl On the Run (90 mins; 10/10/58)
Screenplay by Marion Hargrove, Story by Roy Huggins; Directed by Richard L. Bare
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (Stu Bailey), Erin O'Brien (Kathy Allen), Shepperd Strudwick (James McCullough),
Edward Byrnes (Kevin Smiley), Barton MacLane (Brannigan),
Ray Teal (Lt. Harper), Vince Barnett (), Harry Lauter (Drunk), Charles Cane (Webster), Jeanne Evans (Dorothy)
In a corrupt town, a string of murders makes it unsafe to get in a car. One's blown up, another
man is shot in his vehicle, a pretty cabaret singer is nearly killed in the club parking lot. She
sees the man, but doesn't find him in the mug books or line-ups. It's all involved with a
probe into racketeering and the the authorities do their best to keep Kathy Allen safe, despite
an attempt to kill her by a sniper shot. She's fed up and escapes her protectors. In Los
Angeles, Stu finds a singer and thinks she's Kathy Allen in disguise. Is the man who hired
Stu the killer? He chases answers up and down the West Coast.
There is a lot of Burbank and the backlot in this pilot--far more than we would see in the first
couple of seasons. The Burbank City Hall is used (you can clearly see the lettering on the
floor) and there's a night shot of the LAX (Mills Field) tower. Some other regional names include
Republic Van Lines, a Union 76 gas station and a shop called Kerr's, which is seen several times.
There are numerous Warner
artifacts in the film too, including a Band of Angels and The Pajama Game
movie posters, a Warner Bros. cartoon
("Jeepers Creepers") and songs from the Warner catalogue such as "Embraceable You," "I'll String
Along with You," "When Your Lover Has Gone," "You're Getting to be a Habit with Me."
Stu Bailey drives a '57 Ford convertible, went to Columbia University, held a teaching job at
Stanford and likes to cook Russian food. Zimbalist's hair is a little longer and more wavy than
it would be in the series. Edd Byrnes character, the killer, has a lot in
common with the character he would play in the series, including his "far out" jive talk. Stu
smokes on the plane to Seattle--common in the days when there weren't even
smoking sections yet.
SEASON 1, 1958-59:
2. LOVELY LADY, PITY ME (10/17/58)
Teleplay by James O'Hanlon and Douglas Heyes, based on the novel by Roy Huggins; Directed by
Douglas Heyes
Regulars: EZ, RS, EB
Guests: Kathleen Crowley (Ann), Jeanne Cooper (Jean Kingsley), Peter Breck (Charles Dixon),
Jaqueline Beer (Suzanne Fabry), Barney Phillips (Coletti), John Dodsworth (Martin Melville), Irving Bacon
(Apt. House Manager), Brad Weston (Motorcycle Policeman), Michael Carr (Policeman)
An attractive blonde (Kathleen Crowley) almost proves to be Stuart Bailey's undoing when she
gets him involved in a blackmail scheme. Jean Kingsley meets Dixon at her yacht club and he claims
to be a freelancer without ethics. In fact, her husband hired him and he staged a photo of her with a
man she's never seen. He increases his blackmail demands until Jean hires Stu Bailey and he belts
the guy and gets the negatives. He has used Dixon in the past, but this is the topper-he'll never hire
the man again. Another mysterious client catches Stu in her web and the relationship grows, though
all the while, Stu has no idea who she is. She tells him to call her "Ann" for "anonymous." Jean calls
and tells Stu that Dixon is extorting her again, this time with a tape recording. Stu juggles the two
women until Dixon is killed and Stu figures out that Ann has to be married.
The Maverick episode "The Lass With the Poisonous Air" (11/1/59) was also based
on the same Huggins novel. In this, the first regular episode, the credits are all in lower case letters.
This would change shortly. Near the end of the episode, the famous staircase from the Warner Bros.
film, Auntie Mame, is used. Note that it still has the wallpaper from the final scene of the 1958 film
depicting temples and Indian artifacts in gold. This staircase would be used again in this and
other series, but never with this distinctive wallpaper, the last in a series of changes brought about
by Mame Dennis' compulsive redecorating. The Wollensak reel-to-reel tape recorder was the
standard machine at that time-the first "portable" tape recorder (it had a handle, though it was bulky
and heavy). In dialogue, the Hillside Lanai apartments are said to be on Fountain at La Cienega.
Fountain Ave. runs through Hollywood and West Hollywood, dead-ending on La Cienega Blvd.
Fountain is one block below and parallel to Sunset Boulevard at its terminus. A CRestview phone number is
used, a real exchange in Beverly Hills.
3. A NICE SOCIAL EVENING (10/24/58)
Teleplay by Frederic Brady, Story by Howie Horwitz; Directed by Stuart Heisler
Regulars: EZ, RS, EB, JB
Guests: Ray Danton (as Velasquez), Frankie Ortega Trio (Themselves), Arlene Howell (Marilyn),
Dorothy Provine (Betty), Venetia Stevenson (Patty), Joyce Taylor (Nancy), Lorence Kerr (Jim Benton),
Lou Krugman (Marco), Paul Fierro (Gomez), Mario Alcalde (The Killer), Abel Fernandez (Officer)
A playboy is marked for murder and Bailey takes the job of guarding him.
Velasquez, a South
American playboy, hires Bailey and Spencer to guard him because he's been threatened. It becomes an
assignment out of control when Velasquez throws a huge party on his yacht with hundreds of guests.
In addition, they must deal with the playboy's own vicious bodyguards as someone sneaks a bomb
aboard. The 77 crew has to find it and the man who planted it before the yacht reaches port or the
bomb goes off.
The nightclub signs shown are from real establishments: Frank Sennes' Moulin Rouge, the Marquis
Restaurant, Gaiety, Ciro's, Largo, The Crillon and, of course, Dino's. The star-shaped lights on the ship
will be used again and again on this series and Hawaiian Eye. The
episode was shot mostly on location, a luxury the show would rarely have again. It's all in the Los Angeles
harbor area. Dorothy Provine would star in her own 77 knock-off, The Roaring Twenties.
4. CASUALTY (10/31/58)
Teleplay by Gene Levitt from a screenplay by Winston Miller, Story by Aubrey Wisberg and
Jack Pollexfen; Directed by Richard L. Bare
Regulars: RS, EZ (cameo), EB, SB, LQ
Guests: Dolores Donlon (Mrs. Selkerk), Sam Buffington (Vincent Manchester), Walter Reed (Bill Foster),
Hugh Sanders (Mr. Clark), Adrienne Marden (Mrs. Dolan), Joyce Taylor (Doll), Keith Richards (Mr. Dolan),
Russ Bender (Humphries), Nelson Booth (Tobacco Proprietor)
Private Detective Jeff Spencer runs into a gang of criminals while investigating a "dead" man who has
come back to life.
Bailey & Spencer is the latest stop for Mrs. Selkerk in a four-year-long search for her husband who left her
and the children one day, never to return. She reported him to the Sacramento Missing Persons bureau
of the police, but until a year ago, they found nothing. Then they found him…dead. Now she swears she's
seen him in Hollywood. Selkerk's body was unrecognizeable except for some pocket contents. She'd
like to remarry. Then another body turns up in an Alhambra excavation which is also supposed to be
Selkerk, and soon the continuing insurance scam becomes clear.
Fountain and Las Palmas is a real intersection in Hollywood and Orange Grove Blvd. is really in
Pasadena (the street which houses the Tournament of Roses Parade headquarters). Note Kookie's
Doll uses an eyelash curler in the car. These are still around but many current mascaras will curl
without the use of the device. Note that the coroner's report is in reverse-white letters on a black
background. One of the earliest copiers made copies like this and were still in use in libraries in
1965. Moorpark Ave. is actually in the San Fernando Valley.
5. THE BOUNCING CHIP (11/7/58)
Written by Leonard Lee; Directed by Leslie H. Martinson
Ruta Lee (Diane Adams), Brad Dexter (Frenchy La Tour), Russ Conway (Cranston MacDonald),
Ray Teal (Pete Collier), Scott Peters (Marty Ricca), Sid Clute (Lou Lewis), Lou Gallo (Jake Lang), Ed Prentiss
(Johnny Herrman), Otto Waldis (Anton Krieger), James Lydon (Johnny Jr.), Dianne [Dyan] Cannon (Shelia)
The owner of a Las Vegas casino is desperate. They're losing up to $80,000 a week thanks to an
influx of counterfeit $100 chips, detectable only by chemical analysis. Stu is hired to make a discreet
inquiry.
Stu now drives a' 58 Ford Thunderbird. Note the 2-tone '58 Edsel in Dino's parking lot. The airplane at
Vegas' McCarran Field is a four-propeller Constellation.
6. TWO AND TWO MAKE SIX (11/14/58)
Written by Frank Gruber; Directed by James V. Kern
Whitney Blake (Alice Detterback), Adam West (Ernest Detterback), Karl Swenson (Baldwin),
John Stephenson (Shafter), Douglas Dick (Prof. Highsmith), Barney Phillips (Coletti)
Couturier Alice Detterback's husband has just been released from prison and now someone's
trying to kill him. Alice hires Jeff, who must delve into her private life for the answers.
7. ALL OUR YESTERDAYS (11/21/58)
Written by Frederic Brady; Directed by Richard L. Bare
Regulars: EZ, RS, EB, JB
Doris Kenyon (Lucinda Lane), Francis X. Bushman (Bramwell Stone), Merry Anders (Marcia Frome),
John Carradine (Roderick Delaquois),Herbert Rudley (Henry Lane), John Hubbard (Charles Lane),
Owen McGiveney (Harkness Jones), Robert Shayne (Stephen Allen), John Eldredge (Dr. Link Cowan)
A former movie star, Lucinda Lane, hires Stu to work on her film, a remake of a silent she
starred in, Foolish Girl. She wants him to find her leading man, scriptwriter and others from the original
production. She's loaded and wants no expense spared. Her nephew tells him to go ahead and indulge her
whim. In fact, he's the one who really hired him. The first film was made in 1926 and Stu has a lot of
trouble finding them. Kookie suggests he look in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. Harkness Jones,
the director, now drives a taxi in Seattle. Stu finds Roderick Delacroix, the scenarist, in a fishing shack
in Malibu. And her former leading man actually agrees to play the grandfather for $25,000. Lucinda
sends him on further quests. Stu finds Lane in his office, gloating over the reports. They'll be first
class evidence in his plan to have his aunt committed. In the process of this, Stu is thoroughly
discredited--he's found drunk and is booked for stealing money from Lucinda.
Richard L. Bare won the Directors Guild "Best Television Director" award for this episode.
And yes, there still could have been a shack along the beach in Malibu at the time. Even the
celebrity homes were just "beach cottages" then. Nice, but not palatial. Miss Lane wants to
make "A narrow-screen black and white picture with stereophonic nothing." Doris Kenyon was,
in fact, a silent film actress for multiple studios. She made three pictures in 1922,
Shadows of the Sea, The Ruling Passion and Sure-Fire Flint; no "Foolish Girl" and nothing at the time
with Francis X. Bushman. The silent used in the episode is undoubtedly a Warner Bros. film.
8. THE WELL-SELECTED FRAME (11/28/58)
Jeff goes undercover as an architect to help the lovely Valerie Stacey get evidence that her husband is trying to kill her because he's in love with her live-in secretary.
Peggy Castle (Valerie Stacey), Frances Fong (Lotus Wong), Richard Webb (Alec Lewis), Bartlett Robinson (Howard Stacey), Arthur Hanson (Proctor),
Robert Burton (Inquest Deputy), Hal Smith (Hubert), Barry Bernard (Ben the Butler), Morgan Sha'an (sp?) (Deputy)
Teleplay by Charles Hoffman, Story by Gerald Drayson Adams; Directed by Boris Sagal
Frances Fong, who plays Lotus Wong in this episode, was a singer at the Forbidden City Club in San
Francisco at the time.
9. THE IRON CURTAIN CAPER (12/5/58)
Written by Fenton Earnshaw; Directed by Richard L. Bare
Regulars: EZ, EB
Guests: Jacqueline Scott (Nancy Devere), Kurt Kreuger (John Luder), Lawrence Dobkin (Sergei
Ruchev), Richard Garland (Hilton Green), Richard Crane (Duncan Scott), Willis Bouchey (Paul Corrick),
Emory Parnell (Burton Baldwin), Otto Waldis (Prefect of Police Smetzer), Zina Provendie (Chief
Nurse Vera Bonner), Svea Grunfeld (Sonya Barlo), Sheldon Allman (Comrade Tempko), John
Mylong (Baron Von Hefner), The Frankie Ortega Trio (Themselves)
Stu goes to East Germany because one of his wartime colleagues asks him to
help with a correspondent who has been arrested in Communist East Berlin. The editors
of the man's newspaper want Stu to find him and bring him across to the West. Stu not
only speaks fluent German, he has a lot of pals from his O.S.S. days and he enlists their
help. His seatmate, Nancy, is the daughter of a developer in the U.S. and before he gets
involved, he has Jeff check her out. In West Berlin, her room is searched and she thinks
Stu did it. He learns her "father" has no daughter. The next morning, she decides to go to
East Berlin because he is. He checks into a hotel and the bellman is his contact, who tells
him to walk on a certain street with a thousand bucks. Nancy is there again and she
confesses she knew Hilton and wants in on the whole plan. She feigns illness to get into
the prison where Hilton is being held in the psych ward.
This episode contains establishing footage from Warner Bros. war films and newsreels.
Stu's flight seatmate mentions they left from Idylwild, the original name of JFK airport. She's
also going to Berlin. Jacqueline Scott is best known for playing Richard Kimble's sister in the
long-running show, The Fugitive. The picture of East Berlin with decent hotels and outdoor
cafes is not entirely accurate. Tourism to the Eastern Sector was officially encouraged, but
only to people the government was positive had no private agenda. It took some days of
waiting to cross. Luder mentions the NVD as the secret police of East Germany, similar
to the KGB in the Soviet Union. Actually, the NKVD was an earlier name for the KGB. By
this time, the DDR, the German Democratic Republic, was technically separate from the
Soviet Union, and its secret police were called the Stasi. Producer Howie Horwitz began his
Hollywood career as an assistant to renowned director George Stevens.
10. VICIOUS CIRCLE (12/12/58)
Teleplay by Richard Brady Macaulay and Frederic Brady, Story by Jack Emanuel and Jim Barnett;
Directed by Leslie H. Martinson
Regulars: RS, EZ, EB, JB
Guests: Harold J. Stone (Lou Catto), George Tobias (Pete Schrieber), Bert Convy (Blake Catto),
Richard Carlyle (Terry Nash), Frank de Kova (Jerry Gordon), Byron Keith (Lieut. Gilmore)
Kookie's sure he saw a man kidnapped the night before and he reports to Jeff. He went to the
police, but they said no one was missing and besides, Jeff reminds him that last night was Halloween.
But the son of a rich man was kidnapped and he's being slapped around by four tough guys. Lou
Catto, the boy's father, was a racketeer and the goons are trying to get even. Day pays off, and the
son is released. The hoods figure Catto won't press the police to find his kidnappers. Blake is
insistent that the police be informed, but his father says they won't waste time on someone like him.
Blake is an attorney and says he must report what he knows. Lou says if that happens, he'll be a
mark for anyone with a grudge and he likes life below the radar…and the law. But Blake goes to
Gilmore, then to Jeff.
The white boat Catto drives is a 1959 Mark IV Lincoln Continental four-door sedan. The design was
left over from the 1958 Mark III Continental, but the luxury car market was soft and Ford folded the Continental
into the Lincoln-Mercury division in 1958. It has 131-inch wheelbase, extended fenders, canted quad
headlights, pounds of chrome and a 375 horsepower V8. The Mark III cost about $5,000 and only a few
thousand were made. The 1959s had even smaller production runs and higher prices. The crooks
wisely drive a less conspicuous older model black Cadillac. The Cattos live on Roxbury Drive, an
actual street in Beverly Hills. Byron Keith's name is reversed in the end credits. Richard Carlyle
understudied Marlon Brando in his breakout Broadway hit Streetcar Named Desire, waiting
17 months for the star to miss a performance. Carlyle finally took another job just before Brando
broke his nose. Carlyle was only able to go on for a few performances.
11. ONE FALSE STEP (12/19/58)
Teleplay by George & Gertrude Fass and Howard Browne from a screenplay [Strangers on a Train]
by Raymond Chandler and Czenzi Ormonde, adaptation by Whitfield Cook, novel by Patricia Highsmith;
Directed by James V. Kern
Regulars:
Guests: Richard Long, Connie Stevens, Edward Kemmer, Joan Evans, Lynn Bernay, Isabel Randolph, Harlan Warde
Washington D.C. attorney David Evans meets a stranger on a trans-continental flight who poses an intriguing hypothetical idea: two strangers each murder
someone the other wants done away with. No connection, no motive, no trouble. Suddenly, it's a done deal. But though Evans's wife has a roving eye,
he wishes her no harm and hires Stu and Jeff to protect her.
Edward Kemmer did his first acting in a German POW camp during WWII, after being shot down. The first prisoner-produced play was The Front Page.
It was common for studios to test potential series stars as guest stars in an existing TV series. Connie Stevens went on to star in Hawaiian Eye,
Richard Long would join 77 Sunset Strip in a few years. The United Air Lines DC-3 has an outdated paint job--there probably wasn't a current shot
in the stock footage library.
12. THE COURT MARTIAL OF JOHNNY MURDO (12/26/58)
Written by William L. Stuart; Directed by Lee Sholem
Regulars: RS, EZ, EB, JB
Guests: Bruce Bennett (Arnold Santly), Catherine McLeod (Grace Murdo), John Litel (Colonel
Richard Gaunt), Robert Lowery (Major Wilkinson), Peter Miles (Johnny Murdo),Chuck Courtney (Walter
Lochrie), Robert Ellis (Harry Warren), Don Kelly (Sgt. Bannock), The Frankie Ortega Trio (Themselves).
Johnny Murdo is expelled from the Southern Military institute just weeks before graduation
and he and his mother go to see Jeff, who immediately sends the boy to a nearby doctor because he
has had a severe beating. His mother Grace explains both her son and his attacker were on the b
oxing team. The Murdos are an old California banking family. Johnny already made the "Colonel's
List" as did his father and grandfather. He was headed to Harvard, again like his father and
grandfather. But he will now be marked forever as a boy court-martialed for stealing a fund from
Colonel Gaunt's office. It was while sneaking into the office to see if he made the list, so the evidence
is pretty damning. The Dean won't cooperate. Jeff meets Grace Murdo and Arnold Santly at Dino's,
and Santly is afraid Jeff's going to do more harm than good. Jeff runs into one brick wall after another
at the Academy.
The match between stock footage of a large military academy and backlot footage is pretty bad, which
reflects on the show's meager budget as a new show which hadn't even aired when this was shot.
The style and materials of the buildings is totally different. The same white Continental from episode
#10 is an unlikely vehicle on a bivouac site. Jeff's car should be the only civilian vehicle there.
We soon learn it belongs to Arnold Santly. The Ortega Trio plays "You Do Something to Me."
Grace Murdo lives in an apartment building-a nice one, but a family in their circumstances would
certainly have lived in a home (and a grand one) at the time.
13. HIT AND RUN (1/2/59)
Teleplay by John Hawkins and James Gunn, Story by John and Ward Hawkins; Directed by
Leslie H. Martinson
Regulars: EZ, RS, EB, LQ, JB
Guests: Robert H. Harris (Robert Carter Murray), Sue Randall (Chick Hammons), Gloria Robertson
(Liz Murray), Russ Bender (Capt. Bradford), Ray McCue (Riggio), Clark Howat (Sgt. Davis).
Stu lets Kookie borrow his car for a hot date and it's no favor. On the road, he's rear-ended by
a woman who is seriously injured in the crash. She was driving erratically before she hit him. A witness
seems to help, but he steals the woman's purse and disappears. The cops get there and are sure
Kookie stole the car, then realize the woman is an actress and the wife of an important businessman,
Robert Carter Murray. The witness did not call the police and they doubt his existence. Stu arranges
bail and reluctanly believes Kookie. He tells the authorities that Kookie loves cars and there's nothing
on his driving record. Murray won't accept Kookie's apology, saying he destroyed her beautiful face.
She hasn't worked in the last year since she married Murray. Stu questions whether Murray is in
love with a woman or a face. She has the same questions-and was planning to leave him before
the accident and go back to work. Kookie's date from earlier is an art student, and she works on a
drawing of the mysterious witness. It takes all day, but she does it-an exact likeness. At that
moment, the witness is blackmailing Murray with what he knows.
Note the McDonald's in the foreground of the first establishing shot. There is no longer one at that location.
The tall building in the center of the screen is Sunset Towers, a glorious art deco building that was seedy
by the 1970s and bought by London's St. James's Club later and is now an independent hotel. We learn that
Kookie lives at 18026 Valleyheart Drive [real street, ficticious number], that his mother is
a public stenographer and his father is deceased. Model Gloria Robertson made her acting debut in this
episode, playing most of it completely hidden by bandages.
14. NOT AN ENEMY IN THE WORLD (1/9/59)
Jeff helps Bailey & Spencer switchboard operator Suzanne Fabry (Jacqueline Beer) find her missing brother. He worked as a chauffeur for the Lamson family, and he disappeared the same day Mr. Lamson was killed in an auto accident.
Carole Mathews (Mrs. Elaine Lamson), Phil Terry (Mike Lamson), Francis DeSales (Sgt. Egan), Louise Glenn (Barrie), The Frankie Ortega Trio
Teleplay by Leonard Lee, Story by Barry Trivers; Directed by Alan Crosland Jr.
The Chez Paulette coffee house was a real fixture of the Strip, and it was duplicated on the soundstage. Max Lewin really was the proprietor and was hired to play himself.
15. THE SECRET OF ADAM CAIN (1/16/59)
Stu's clients would like their stolen vase back. But as he follows the trail of the thief to South America, is mugged and then wakes up in North Africa, Stu realizes there are many other people who would also like to have the vase.
Lilliane Montevecchi (Tosca), Don Gordon (Iron Man Brown), Lisa Davis (Venice Cain), Berry Kroeger (Bernard Stagg), David Frankham (Fred Cain), Joan Elan (Jane Neddleton), Eugene Martin (Eencho)
Written by Montgomery Pittman; Directed by Montgomery Pittman
Monty Pittman borrowed a large camera dolly from the feature department to follow Zimbalist as he moves from deck to deck on an ocean liner.
16. THE GIRL WHO COULDN'T REMEMBER (1/23/59)
While entertaining a young woman, mobster Silky Callahan is gunned down. The shock of what she saw deprives the woman of her memory. She sees a doctor, who refers her to Bailey & Spencer. Jeff tries to unravel her past from the odd contents of her purse: $10,000 in cash and a matchbook monogrammed "SC." Meanwhile, the gunmen are searching for her.
Nancy Gates ('Sandra Carter' aka Lorraine Callahan), John Vivyan (Mitch), Kathleen Hughes (Florence), Harvey Stephens (Sid de Forest), Brad Weston (Dr. Langton)
Teleplay by Leonard Lee, Story by Howard J. Green and Al Martin; Directed by george waGGner
Though they show newspapers and wire services going like mad after the murder and in headlines, Jeff seems to be in the dark about the crime. Zimbalist
and Smith were trained in judo for the show by Oren Haglund, a Warners production manager and a black belt.
17. DARK VENGEANCE (1/30/59)
Written by Frederic Brady; Directed by Richard L. Bare
Regulars: EZ, RS, EB, BK
Guests: Jerome Thor (John Cosgrove), Adele Mara (Margo Harris), Barry Kelley (Vincent Barrett),
Sammy White (Phil [Larry]), Michael Harris (Trigger), Jonathan Haze (Banjo) Keith Byron (Lieut.
Roy Gilmoore)[sic]
A sensationalist TV reporter is on the trail of a narcotics ring, but runs into big trouble when he
exposes the ringleader. Blinded in an attack, he is naturally depressed and discouraged. Stu offers to
carry on his work and he reluctantly accepts. Stu gets information from Gil, and interviews witnesses.
The first one won't talk to Stu because a man stands nearby and looks mean. Cosgrove's back in the
studio recording a tirade. Jeff reports the threatening man is named Banjo and Stu's sources say he's
a drug pusher who was hired for the hit on Cosgrove; his contact is a bowling alley pinboy-who is
immediately shot and killed. The alley is owned by a major hood. The cops are sick of Cosgrove's
theatrics, which resulted in the boy's death. Then, his assistant, Margo Harris, is assaulted and
drugged. This is very serious because she's a recovering addict. Then the bad guys cut off her
supply, demanding she give them Stu.
This episode proves, sadly, that the war on drugs has made little progress in 50 years. The stock shot of
an ambulance is a decade old at least. Stu mentions there must be 2,000 bowling alleys in the city. There
probably were, then. Not anymore. At the time, many of them still used pinboys because the automatic
pinsetting machines were expensve. KRNV is not a southern California radio or TV station, though they
would be good call letters for a broadcaster in Reno, Nevada. It's interesting that Stu goes to a restaurant
called The Surfside--several years later, a companion show to this series was called SurfSide 6. Stu
mentions the rehab wings in hospitals. At the time, there wern't a lot of clinics dedicated to drug rehab.
One of the few was Synanon, founded by an AA member. There was a 1965 film made about the residential
rehab clinic but in ensuing years, it was accused of being a cult, of kidnapping and abuse and was
eventually disbanded. A diet cult, Pritikin, moved into the Synanon building, the former Club Del Mar.
Jonathan Haze accidentally knocked out Wally Brown in their fight scene. William D. Gordon, who plays an informant, was also a novelist, writing about the
Civil War.
18. CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE (2/6/59)
Students at a college campus refuse to discuss the murder of a coed when Jeff goes undercover as one of them to protect his client's daughter, who has also been threatened.
Gerald Mohr (Carlos Traynor), Patricia Crowley (Johanna Martin), Robert Ivers (Nevin Williams), Maureen Leeds (Eloise Traynor), William Ching (Garrett Martin), Tom Gibson (Tom Millard), John Dennis (Stan Billings)
Teleplay by Frederic Brady, Story by Frederic Brady and Anna Perrelli; Directed by Charles Haas
19. EYEWITNESS (2/13/59)
Confusion reigns after Timmy Wilson, a young boy with an imagination and a telescope, sees a "hunter" shoot a "bear" in a medical office. The victim is Stu's client, who was wearing a full-length mink and the hunter a doctor.
Robert Douglas (Dr. Emory Williams), Patricia Barry (Audrey King), Dean Harens (Hugh Wilson), Barbara Lang (Alice Blake), Jay North (Timmy Wilson), Duncan McLeod (Dr. Jack Perrry), Dusty Anders (Receptionist)
Teleplay by Peter A. Brooke, Story by Jack Emanuel; Directed by David Lowell Rich
20. LOVELY ALIBI (2/20/59)
Officer Ed Bird is suspended while trying to get evidence to pin an unsolved murder on a ruthless hoodlum. Bailey enters the case and finds both himself and Bird targets of the hood's goon squad.
Claude Akins (Ed Bird), Steve Brodie (Vic Gurney), Andra Martin (Jill Franklyn)
Written by William L. Stuart; Directed by george waGGner
Louis Quinn, who plays Roscoe, doesn't gamble, saying it simply doesn't interest him. He modeled the character after a favorite vaudevillian, comic Ted Healy.
IN MEMORIAM (2/27/59)
Publisher Noel Reynolds isn't a bit happy when a messenger delivers a memorial wreath and his obituary is placed in the paper. Reynolds orders the maid to dispose of the wreath and Stu to get rid of the psychopath who sent the dead flowers.
Alan Marshall (Noel Reynolds), Noreen Nash (Lisa Reynolds), Dolores Donlon, Joe De Santis (Colonel Vargas), Bart Burns, Ellen Corby
Written by Irwin Winehouse and A. Sanford Wolf; Directed by Richard L. Bare
THE FIFTH STAIR (3/6/59)
Heiress Margot Wendice's husband finds a love letter from another man in her purse. The "other man" is Jeff Spencer and her husband hires a killer to deliver the ultimate punishment for adultery.
Julie Adams (Margot Wendice), Richard Long (Tony Wendice), Patrick McVey, Joe Patridge (Detective), Richard Devon, Betsy Duncan, Frankie Ortega Trio
Teleplay by Lowell Barrington, From the play [Dial 'M' For Murder] by Frederick Knott; Directed by Vincent Sherman
PASADENA CAPER (3/13/59)
Stu goes one-on-one with the archtypical little old lady-from-Pasadena when he finds her son Peter Baker, missing a year-and-a half. Peter and his car are found in the water off a Long Beach pier and Stu fakes a back injury to stay with Mrs. Baker to make sure he's not put in the position of compounding a felony. Mrs. Baker is more anxious about the insurance money than her son's fate.
Hallene Hill (Rachel Baker), Elizabeth Patterson (Lavinia), Murvyn Vye (Peter Baker/Harry Diamond), Tony Romano (Señor Poco), Carol Kelly (Kim Diamond), Pat Comisky, Olan Soulé
Written by N. B. Stone, Jr.; Directed by Montgomery Pittman
HONG KONG CAPER (3/20/59)
Jeff goes far afield to Hong Kong after a businessman gets a letter and a trinket from his son, killed in Korea. The dead flier asks his father to "square things" with the owner of the club where the trinket came from--Candy's in Kowloon. Candy turns out to be the dead flier's wife and she's in deep trouble.
Karen Steele (Candy), Reggie Nalder (Run Run Lee), Neil Hamilton (Shelby), Willard Waterman (George Wells), Kathleen Freeman (Hannah Wells), Weaver Levy (Sam Fong), Frank Wilcox (Paul Nolan)
Teleplay by Steve Fisher, Story by george waGGner; Directed by george waGGner
We learn that Jeff belonged to Kappa Sigma fraternity at Stanford, where he was a football player notorious for running the wrong way at a game. Willard Waterman was known far and wide as 'The Great Gildersleeve' from radio and TV.
A CHECK WILL DO NICELY (3/27/59)
In Paris, all of Jeff's skills are needed to parlay his command of the French language, his skills at passing off a forged painting and a phony check into the recovery of a kidnapped American schoolgirl.
Robin Hughes (Mr. Sandby), Janet Lake (Laura Jacobin), Edward Platt (Mr. Jacobin), Florence Marley (Madeleine), Danielle Aubry (Suzette), Rolfe Sedan (Tissot), Louis Mercier (Robert)
Teleplay by Dwight Taylor, Story by Alan Caillou; Directed by Ida Lupino
THE GRANDMA CAPER (4/3/59)
It all seems like a harmless bit of fun at first: Bailey & Spencer send Kookie on assignment to keep their client's grandmother out of trouble. But the feisty lady gets them involved in a real bank robbery and it isn't a game any more.
Frances Bavier (Grandma), Jerome Cowan (Oliver Fenwick), Jennifer Grant (Vickie), Francis de Sales (Chief Johnson), Charles Tannen (Howie), Paul Comi (Fred), Steven Conte (Artie), Laurie Mitchell (Lola)
Teleplay by Frederic Brady, Story by Maurita Pittman; Directed by David Butler
HONEY FROM THE BEE (4/10/59)
Stu admires a beautiful gold tapestry while dining in a restaurant. The owner says an expatriate Russian countess presented it to him. But the gift starts a chain of events which results in three murders.
Celia Lovsky (Countess Dombroska), Jay Novello (Yegor Danilov), Ruta Lee (Natalie Baranova), Connie Stevens (Cleo Mason), Gregory Gay (Kairos), Alexander Gerry (Ivan Rudin)
Teleplay by Charles Hoffman, story by Michael Forrestier; Directed by george waGGner
ABRA-CADAVER (4/17/59)
Jeff goes undercover as a potential corpse while infiltrating a sophisticated double-indemnity insurance scam. When his real identity is discovered, his coffin is prepared immediately.
Fay Spain (Audrey), Robert McQueeney (Ernie Hayden), Pernell Roberts (Tony Gray), Harry Jackson (Joe Redden), Malcolm Atterbury (Hermann Matthew)
Teleplay by Talbot Jennings from the novel by Christopher Monig; Directed by Mark Sandrich
A BARGAIN IN TOMBS (4/24/59)
Young Julie Maltby blithely heads for Rome to indulge her passion for ancient history. It isn't long before she's missing and about to become history herself.
Ray Danton (Johnny Manetti), Louise Fletcher (Julia Maltby), Bart Bradley (Guido Orsini), Linda Watkins (Delphine De Janville), Lisa Gaye (Marta), Al Ruscio (Sebastian), Danielle Aubry (Syzette)
Teleplay by Charles Hoffman from the novel by Aaron Marc Stein; Directed by Reginald LeBorg
THE WIDOW WOULDN'T WEEP (5/1/59)
Widow Margie Wilson convinces Jeff to check into her husband's death. It was ruled a suicide, but she doesn't think it was. Fred Wilson's former colleagues say he had financial problems and his wife had left him because of his womanizing. And why did he buy a $7,000 boat right before his death?
Valerie Allen (Margie Wilson), Raymond Bailey (John Harkins), Nora Hayden (Alice Beasley), Dallas Mitchell (Drexel Courtney)
Teleplay by Frederic Brady, Story by Howard Browne; Directed by Arthur Lubin
DOWNBEAT (5/8/59)
Stu is accused of passing secret government plans to an enemy agent, and though he's acquitted for lack of evidence, his license is pulled. He moves out of the office and starts drinking, certain that there's no way to clear his name.
John van Dreelen (Hendrick Van Horn), Dorothy Provine (Nora Shirley), Donald Barry (Rock), James Garner (Himself), Brad Von Beltz (Babe), Kaye Elhardt (April Myford), Jim Bacon (Himself), Johnny Grant (Himself)
Teleplay by Montgomery Pittman, Story by Maurita Pittman; Directed by Montgomery Pittman
Garner, Bacon, and Grant appear as themselves. See the Zimbalist interview for the background on this episode.
THE CANINE CAPER (5/15/59)
In Amsterdam, the theft of $150,000 in rubies affects a Bailey & Spencer insurance client and jeweler Marie La Shelle, who had buyers for the stones. She consults Jeff about fences, her commission, and the market for stolen gems. But what Jeff must figure out is what a beautiful French actress's poodle has to do with the jewel theft.
Julie Adams (Marie La Shelle), Roxane Berard (Charmaine Chalet), Roland Varno (Rolf Berne), Mark Roberts (Harry Orrwitt), Keith Richards (Louis), Jack Mann (Jack Birdman), Bill Bradley (Sam)
Written by Fenton Earnshaw; Directed by george waGGner
In the press release for this episode, the characters of Marie La Shelle and Charmaine Chalet are confused. The alliterative-sounding names may have been the problem.
MR. PARADISE (5/22/59)
Stu runs afoul of a cult when he investigates "Eden," a private retreat for the disciples of Mr. Paradise. His client's uncle is a believer and Jeff has to rescue all three of them when the cult leader's secret is uncovered.
Andrew Duggan (Mr. Paradise), John Litel (Cyrus Blanton), Sandra White (Lois), Leslie Barrett (Dr. Friendly), Ruth Terry (Mrs. Blanton), Patrick Waltz (Vincent Blanton), Lillian Bronson (Mrs. Johnson), Logan Field (Saul)
Teleplay by Frederic Brady, Story by Frederic Brady and Richard Kebbon; Directed by Arthur Lubin
STRANGE GIRL IN TOWN (5/29/59)
Ruth Douglas, a friend of Suzanne's, comes to town to try her luck as a dancer. At an audition Jeff arranged, Ruth sees a murderer just after he's killed another man. When Jeff
brings in Lt. Gilmore, Ruth has blocked out the memory of the killer's face and on top of that, there's no body at the club and no record she was ever there. But the killer remembers her very well.
Sue Randall (Ruth Douglas), Alan Baxter (Dan Costello), Carol Ohmart (Nancy Costello), Jack Mulhall (Kenneth Webster), John Reach (Scott Baker)
Teleplay by Frederic Brady, Story by Howard Browne; Directed by george waGGner
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