Fredric Brown on TV Part Nine - Episode Guide

by Jack Seabrook

Fredric Brown’s professional interest in television began in 1949, when he plotted his novel, Here Comes a Candle, during bus rides between his home in Taos, New Mexico, and Denver, Colorado.  He visited the Denver library to research how TV scripts were written, and bought a TV technique book in Denver, according to his wife’s book.

An experimental novel, Here Comes a Candle (1950) contains a section that represents Brown’s first attempt to write in the format of a teleplay.

According to Beth Brown, her husband was approached in the early 1950s to write a weekly, half-hour detective show featuring a young, male-female detective team.  Brown wrote the pilot for the series, a story called “The Traveling Room,” but the series deal fell through and Brown sold the plot to television a couple of years later.

Brown’s stories began to sell to TV early in the 1950s.  He and his wife lived in Taos, New Mexico, where there was no TV reception, so they could not watch the shows when they were broadcast.  The anthology shows that were so popular in TV’s early days were the perfect showcase for short stories, and most of the adaptations of Fredric Brown’s work for TV came in the 1950s.

While Brown lived in Southern California from 1952 to 1954, was said to have commuted to Los Angeles in 1960 to write scripts for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and lived in Hollywood from 1961 to 1963, there is little evidence that he did much writing for television.  If he did, very little of what he wrote was produced.

What follows is an episode guide to Fredric Brown’s TV work.  It is as complete as I can make it, but I welcome additions or new information.

Episode title-“The Last Man on Earth”

Series-Tales of Tomorrow

Broadcast date-31 August 1951

Teleplay by-Reginald Lawrence

Based on-“Knock”

First print appearance-Thrilling Wonder Stories December 1948

Episode title-“Age of Peril”

Series-Tales of Tomorrow

Broadcast date-15 February 1952

Teleplay by-A.J. Russell

Based on-“Crisis, 1999”

First print appearance-Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine August 1949

Notes

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Episode title-“The House Nobody Wanted”

Series-Pepsi-Cola Playhouse

Broadcast date-13 November 1953

Teleplay by-Lawrence Kimble

Based on-“The House Nobody Wanted”

First print appearance-none

Notes-probably written for TV

Episode title-“The Motive Goes Round and Round”

Series-Pepsi-Cola Playhouse

Broadcast date-11 December 1953

Teleplay by-Lawrence Kimble

Based on-“The Motive Goes Round and Round”

First print appearance-Thrilling Detective October 1943


Episode title-“Miss Darkness”

Series-Pepsi-Cola Playhouse

Broadcast date-1 January 1954

Teleplay by-Fenton Earshaw and Richard Collins

Based on-“Miss Darkness”

First print appearance-Avon Detective Mysteries #3 (1947)

Episode title-“The Traveling Room”

Series-Studio 57

Broadcast date-12 October 1954

Teleplay by-James Gunn

Based on-“The Traveling Room”

First print appearance-none

Notes-Brown wrote the story for TV

Episode title-“The Thin Line”

Series-Four Star Playhouse

Broadcast date-1 December 1955

Teleplay by-Frederick Brady

Based on-“I’ll Cut Your Throat Again, Kathleen”

First print appearance-Mystery Book Magazine Winter 1948

Episode title-“The Cream of the Jest”

Series-Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Broadcast date-10 March 1957

Teleplay by-Sarett Rudley

Based on-“Last Curtain”

First print appearance-New Detective July 1949

Notes

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Episode title-“His Name Was Death”

Series-Robert Montgomery Presents

Broadcast date-18 March 1957

Teleplay by-unknown

Based on-His Name Was Death

First print appearance-1954 novel

Episode title-“The Night the World Ended”

Series-Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Broadcast date-28 April 1957

Teleplay by-Bernard C. Schoenfeld

Based on-“The Night the World Ended”

First print appearance-Dime Mystery Magazine January 1945

Notes

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Episode title-“The Dangerous People”

Series-Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Broadcast date-23 June 1957

Teleplay by-Francis M. Cockrell

Based on-“No Sanctuary”

First print appearance-Dime Mystery Magazine March 1945

Notes

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Episode title-“Cry Silence”

Series-ITV Television Playhouse

Broadcast date-31 January 1958

Teleplay by-Milton S. Gelman

Based on-“Cry Silence”

First print appearance-Black Mask November 1948

Notes-UK series

Episode title-“Human Interest Story”

Series-Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Broadcast date-24 May 1959

Teleplay by-Fredric Brown

Based on-“The Last Martian”

First print appearance-Galaxy Science Fiction October 1950

Notes

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Episode title-“A True Account”

Series-Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Broadcast date-7 June 1959

Teleplay by-Robert C. Dennis and Fredric Brown

Based on-“Curtains For Me” by Anthony Gilbert

First print appearance-London Evening Standard 3 October 1951

Notes

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Episode title-“Knock Three-One-Two”

Series-Thriller

Broadcast date-13 December 1960

Teleplay by-John Kneubuhl

Based on-Knock Three-One-Two

First print appearance-1959 novel

Notes

Episode title-“A Little White Lye”

Series-General Electric Theater

Broadcast date-5 February 1961

Teleplay by-unknown

Based on-“A Little White Lye”

First print appearance-Ten Detective Aces September 1942

Episode title-“Fun and Games”

Series-The Outer Limits

Broadcast date-30 March 1964

Teleplay by-Joseph Stefano/Story by Robert Specht

Based on-“Arena”

First print appearance-Astounding Science Fiction June 1944

Notes

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Episode title-“El cumpleaňos” (“The Birthday”)

Series-Historias para no dormir (Stories to Keep You Awake)

Broadcast date-4 February 1966

Teleplay by-unknown

Based on-"Nightmare in Yellow"(?)

First print appearance-Dude May 1961

Notes-broadcast in Spain

Episode title-“Arena”

Series-Star Trek

Broadcast date-19 January 1967

Teleplay by-Gene L. Coon

Based on-“Arena”

First print appearance-Astounding Science Fiction June 1944

Notes

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Episode title-“Daisies”

Series-Darkroom

Broadcast date-25 December 1981

Teleplay by-unknown

Based on-“Daisies”

First print appearance-Angels and Spaceships

Episode title-“The Human Interest Story”

Series-Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Broadcast date-17 November 1985

Teleplay by-Karen Harris

Based on-“The Last Martian”

First print appearance-Galaxy Science Fiction October 1950

Notes

Episode title-“The Geezenstacks”

Series-Tales From the Darkside

Broadcast date-26 October 1986

Teleplay by-Nancy Doyne

Based on-“The Geezenstacks”

First print appearance-Weird Tales September 1943

Notes

Other TV episodes without detailed information:

Episode title-“Town Wanted”

Series-The Ken Murray Show

Broadcast date-between January 1950 and June 1953

Teleplay by-unknown

Based on-“Town Wanted”

First print appearance-Detective Fiction Weekly 7 September 1940

Notes-mentioned by Beth Brown; probably a skit in the middle of this variety show

*Beth Brown wrote that The Screaming Mimi was adapted twice for television in the 1950s under different titles.

Other unproduced teleplays:

“Death of a Martian”

“The Laughing Ghoul”

“Mirror”

“Report to Earth” (reprinted in Happy Ending, 1990)

“A Woman’s a Two-Face” (reprinted in Happy Ending, 1990)

Sources:

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Web. 23 July 2011.

Brown, Elizabeth.  Oh, for the Life of an Author's Wife. Print.  Unpublished typescript.

Galactic Central. Web. 24 July 2011. <http://philsp.com/>.
Seabrook, Jack. Martians and Misplaced Clues: the Life and Work of Fredric Brown. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular, 1993. Print.

TV.com - Free Full Episodes & Clips, Show Info and TV Listings Guide. Web. 23 July 2011.