Thursday, May 31, 2012

Robert Bloch on TV Part Sixteen-The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: The Second Wife

by Jack Seabrook

“The Second Wife,” for which Robert Bloch wrote the teleplay from a short story called “The Lonely Heart” by Richard Deming, is only tangentially a tale of terror. The story is essentially one that tells of a tragic failure of communication between a husband and wife in a marriage, a failure that ends with a shocking and wholly unnecessary murder.

The show opens with a lyrical musical theme characterized by a series of descending notes on a piano accompanied by ominous woodwinds. A bus arrives in a dreary town square, the pavement wet with recent rain. A woman, no longer young, disembarks, watched by two men, one of whom helps unload a heavy trunk from the bus’s storage compartment. The woman is Martha Peters, and her eyes shine with anticipation as she meets Luke Hunter for the first time. He is matter of fact, unsmiling and brusque as he tells Sam Ogle, the man waiting with him, that Martha is “not a friend—we’re getting married tonight.”

Martha’s disappointments begin early, right after she meets Luke. He drives off with her in his pickup truck and their awkward attempts at conversation include his questioning her about her savings account; he even checks her bankbook as he drives. The two met through a correspondence club, two lonely people looking for companionship. Luke drives straight to a minister’s house from the bus station, much to Martha’s surprise, where they are married in the minster’s living room. She is so anxious for everything to work out that she goes along with his suggestions. Martha was born in Michigan, in a cold, northern climate, but she has spent the past twelve years in St. Petersburg working as a librarian, a classic spinster occupation. Martha has sought warmth, first by moving south and now by agreeing to marry a man she has never met.

Luke, on the other hand, is taciturn and connected with coldness and death. He has been hired by the county to build coffins for the funerals of paupers, and his bachelor’s home is sparsely furnished, with little natural light and fireplaces in each room. Martha is again surprised to learn that the house does not have a furnace; her prayers for warmth and love have been answered with cold rooms and emotional distance. The musical score that supports this episode is at turns lyrical and ominous; it is this ominous music, along with the increasingly nourish lighting that causes the Hunter home to be filled with shadows, that leads the viewer to expect the worst from Luke. When he shows Martha the basement, she remarks that it is already cold in the autumn, and he cautions her that it will get even colder when winter comes. John Anderson’s performance as Luke is brilliant; he never does or says anything particularly angry or threatening, yet his emotionally reserved personality allows Martha to develop a sense of doubt that will eventually prove fatal.

John Anderson as Luke

Poor communication, disappointment, and misunderstanding between husband and wife mount as Martha goes to church and becomes involved with the ladies of the church quilting bee. Luke buys a new carving knife as a surprise; the kindness of the gift is undercut by the  foreshadowing of the knife as potential weapon. At a quilting bee at the same house where the marriage took place Martha learns that she is not Luke’s first wife. He had been married to a woman named Virginia, another mail-order bride to whom he was married a mere six months before she died of food poisoning on a trip to Luke’s hometown of Small Boot, Texas.

Bloch may be playing a subtle game with names here—Small Boot recalls Little Soldier's Boot, the English translation of the name of the notorious Roman emperor Caligula, whose violent reign included many murders. Martha returns home to a dark house after earning the disturbing news about Luke’s first wife; doubt begins to creep into her mind and she is surprised—this time in a frightening way—when Luke suddenly emerges from the basement. She confronts him about his first wife and he tries to be tender but remains reserved and distant. Echoes of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca can be felt as the second wife—this time, Martha—develops a fear based on rumors and pieces of information she learns about her husband’s first wife.

Martha’s fear grows when Luke suggests a trip over the Christmas holidays to his hometown in Texas; Martha knows that this is where Virginia died, and she dreads the thought that the same fate might befall her. She is in the cold basement hanging laundry when she sees Luke’s pickup truck pull into the garage with a large wooden box in the back. We (and she) remember that he makes coffins for a living, and Martha’s imagination continues to get the best of her. The situation worsens when he denies that there was a box in the truck and she investigates, confirming that what she saw was real. The clever musical score features pizzicato violin at this point, reminiscent of Hitchcock’s Psycho and its jarring use of strings.

Following another meeting with the church ladies, Martha goes home to find Luke asleep; dirt in the sink suggests that he has been hard at work in the basement, but the door is now locked. Suspense builds in a long, dialogue-free sequence as Martha takes the key from Luke’s coat pocket as he sleeps. The ever-present fires in the home’s fireplaces cast flickering shadows on the walls and the music helps create great tension and suspense as Martha ventures into the basement and sees a shovel and a newly dug hole the size of a grave.

June Lockhart as Martha

With the benefit of hindsight, having seen the entire episode and its surprise ending, this sequence can be appreciated for the outstanding work by director Joseph M. Newman, who melds light, shadows, music, and the performance of June Lockhart to turn a husband’s kind surprise into a symphony of terror. The great irony of “The Second Wife” is that Luke turns out to be nothing more than a quiet, shy man trying to provide for his new wife, yet the story is presented in such a way that the viewer completely understands the fear and doubt that begin to consume Martha’s thoughts. Her descent into the basement again evokes Psycho and the similar descent by Vera Miles into the basement of the Bates house at that film’s conclusion.

After discovering what she must think is her freshly dug grave, we next see Martha in the light of day, yet she sits at the kitchen table, hunched over, wrapped in her overcoat to fight the cold that comes not only from the poorly heated home but also from her seemingly loveless marriage. Luke comes home early to get ready for the trip that she thinks will end in her death. She decides to go to town; he suggests that she do some Christmas shopping, but she has other ideas.

Martha goes to a pawn shop and buys a revolver, then returns home after dark. She sees dirt in the sink again, a sure sign  in her mind that Luke has been preparing her basement grave. He insists that they leave for their trip right away, instead of the next day. Director Newman once again excels here, with nourish lighting and ominous music, the fireplace flames casting undulating shadows on the walls.

Luke stops Martha as she heads outside to put her bag in the truck, saying he wants to show her something in the basement. He opens the door that leads downstairs and his wife, certain that she is about to be killed, shoots him with the gun she had bought earlier that day. He tumbles down the stairs and lies dead at their base. She slowly follows him down and finds—in a heartbreakingly tragic conclusion—that the surprise is a new furnace that he has installed, with an oil tank filling the no longer menacing hole in the floor. A card on the furnace reads, “Merry Christmas to my dear wife,” and the screen fades to black as she hears Luke’s voice in her head repeating the kind sentiment.


Robert Bloch’s teleplay for “The Second Wife” serves as the basis for a brilliant and tragic hour of television, where the director turns a marital misunderstanding into a harrowing tale of suspense by combining all of the elements at his command. The story on which it was based, “The Lonely Heart” by Richard Deming, was first published in the December 1964 issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

The story is not as emotionally wrenching as the TV show, in part because Deming's style is so matter of fact. Bloch made some significant changes when he adapted it; perhaps the biggest was that, in the story, Martha knew before she married Luke (Rufus, in the story) that he had been married before. Her worry comes from the revelation that his first wife had also been a lonely hearts bride, and she fears he may be a lonely hearts killer. In the story, Luke/Rufus is 55 and Martha is 50. John Anderson, who played Luke, was only 42 years old, and June Lockhart was 39, and much prettier than the story's “angular, horse faced spinster.”

The mutual inspection of bankbooks had been agreed to in advance, and Martha is taken home so that she can clean up before the wedding ceremony, unlike in Bloch's teleplay, where Luke's brusque insistence on speed seems merely cold hearted. The wedding scene, so disappointing to Martha in the TV show, is absent from the story. Bloch also adds the comment about how Luke works building coffins; this foreshadows the pine box he later brings home in his truck. Finally, Martha not only buys a gun and ammunition, she stops off on her way home to practice shooting. When it's time to leave, there is no rush and no surprise early departure--as in the rest of the story, it is told very matter-of-factly, with less suspense and less emotion as a result.


Deming also wrote “The Geniuses,” which Bloch had adapted into the earlier Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, “Bad Actor.” Just as “The Geniuses” recalled elements of Hitchcock’s film Rope, “The Lonely Heart” recalls the Alfred Hitchcock Presents first season episode “Back for Christmas,” directed by Hitchcock and based on a John Collier short story. In it, a husband murders his wife and buries her body in the basement, only to learn after he has moved away that his wife had hired excavators to dig up the basement as a surprise Christmas present.

Starring in “The Second Wife” are John Anderson, as Luke, and June Lockhart, as Martha. Anderson (1922-1992) was featured in a huge number of television episodes in his long career, including an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, one of Thriller, one of The Outer Limits, and four of The Twilight Zone. He also played car salesman California Charlie in Psycho (1960). Anderson is perfect in “The Second Wife” as the husband who means well but is unable to communicate with his wife and pays the ultimate price.

Martha is played by June Lockhart (1925- ), who has been in movies and on TV since 1938. She starred in She-Wolf of London (1946) and was a regular on three consecutive TV series over a period of twelve years: Lassie (1958-1964), Lost in Space (1965-1968) and Petticoat Junction (1968-1970).Her performance in ”The Second Wife” is outstanding and carries the show—she goes from anticipatory excitement to disappointment to terror with complete credibility. Lockhart is still alive and maintains a small website.

Eve McVeagh
David Fresco
Supporting cast members include Eve McVeagh (1919-1997) who plays the church lady who befriends Martha; she also played a reporter in Bloch’s “The Gloating Place.” David Fresco (1909-1997) appears briefly as Sam Ogle, who is waiting with Luke when Martha’s bus arrives at the show’s beginning. He had appeared with Eve McVeagh in “The Gloating Place” as the photographer; he also appeared at the start of Bloch’s "Water’s Edge” as the newsstand dealer who sells John Cassavetes a copy of Romp magazine.

Joseph M. Newman (1922-1992), whose skillful direction guides “The Second Wife,” was in the movie business from 1938 and TV from 1960; he directed This Island Earth (1955), as well as four episodes of The Twilight Zone and ten episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. An interesting article on Newman may be read here. The director of photography on “The Second Wife,” responsible for the beautifully noirish lighting in the night scenes where the interior of the Hunters’ house is lit only by flickering firelight, was Ray Rennahan, who won Oscars for his photography on Gone With the Wind (1939) and Blood and Sand (1942)—both were shared with other cinematographers. Ironically, he was best known for his work with color photography; he was in movies from 1917 and TV from 1956, he worked on one episode of Thriller, but this was his only contribution to the Hitchcock series.

Finally, and most surprisingly, the music for “The Second Wife” was not written specifically for this episode; the only music credit goes to supervisor Stanley Wilson (1915-1970), but I would not be surprised to find that a comparison of the music used in this episode to the scores written by Bernard Herrmann for other episodes of this series revealed that Hermann’s music was the source for the themes in “The Second Wife.”

“The Second Wife” was first broadcast on NBC on April 26, 1965, and may be viewed online here; I hope that it is released on an official DVD someday so that we may appreciate fully the lighting and camerawork.

Sources:



Deming, Richard. "The Lonely Heart." Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine Dec. 1964: 64-82. Web.
"Galactic Central." Galactic Central. Web. 27 May 2012. <http://philsp.com/>.
Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. Churchville, MD: OTR Pub., 2001. Print.
IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 27 May 2012. <http://www.imdb.com/>.
"The Second Wife." The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. NBC. 26 Apr. 1965. Television.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 27 May 2012. <http://www.wikipedia.org/>.


25 comments:

Harvey Chartrand said...

THE SECOND WIFE is one of my least favorite Hitchcock Hours. I saw it only once, 47 years ago, but found that the story was simply too morbid for my taste. The same excessive morbidity hobbles other episodes in the final season of THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR and may have led to the show's falling ratings and ultimate cancellation: TRIUMPH with Ed Begley; THE McGREGOR AFFAIR with Andrew Duggan and Elsa Lanchester; MISADVENTURE with Barry Nelson, Lola Albright and George Kennedy; THANATOS PALACE HOTEL with Steven Hill and Angie Dickinson; THOU STILL UNRAVISHED BRIDE with David Carradine, Sally Kellerman and Michael Pate; NIGHT FEVER with Colleen Dewhurst; and (although a haunting story) THE LIFE WORK OF JUAN DIAZ with Alejandro Rey and Frank Silvera.

Matthew Bradley said...

Nice work, Jack. Although my own experience with the series is limited, I think one of the things that adds to the effectiveness of this episode is that it plays on our expectations not only within the story itself, but also by virtue of the fact that we are watching an episode of THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR. Only after it is over do we realize that it is a tragic departure from the usual formula, in which the climactic death serves to punish some evildoer. I can't see Anderson (who also appeared in Richard Matheson's "Ride the Nightmare" on this series) without thinking of his role in PSYCHO.

Jack Seabrook said...

Harvey, you should give it another chance. After 47 years, you may see things differently. By the way, The Life Work of Juan Diaz is one of my favorites and I will get to it when I tackle the Ray Bradbury episodes.

Matthew: Thanks! I agree with your remark about knowing that we are watching a Hitchcock episode. When I see Anderson, I always think of the Twilight Zone. And I can't see June Lockhart without thinking of Lost In Space.

Peter Enfantino said...

When I think of June Lockhart, I think of overpiced autographs.

Matthew Bradley said...

Psyched for Bradbury.

Peter Enfantino said...

Let's do a quick vote.
All in favor of Jack biting the bullet and covering all of Hitchcock from Episode One on, raise your hands.

(Mine is raised way up)

John Scoleri said...

I'm with Matthew. I'm psyched for Jack's look at the Angela Lansbury episodes.

Harvey Chartrand said...

Okay, Jack, I'll watch THE SECOND WIFE a second time, if only to see California Charlie in action (or inaction, as the case may be).

Matthew Bradley said...

Jack can do 1970s Marvel or all ten years of Hitchcock. Totally up to him. But when he gets to THE ODD COUPLE, I'll take shotgun.

Peter Enfantino said...

I intend to get Jack to do both of those projects. As far as The Odd Couple starring Seabrook and Bradley, I'd pay to read that blog.

John Scoleri said...

But between Jack and Matthew, which is Felix and which is Oscar?

Jack Seabrook said...

Isn't that kind of obvious?

Matthew Bradley said...

Sorry to disappoint you, but this would be the world's first all-Unger Odd Couple. I bear about as much resemblance to Oscar as I do to Janet Van Dyne.

Harvey Chartrand said...

I watched THE SECOND WIFE a second time after almost half a century and still didn't like it, although John Anderson's performance was stellar. I was also impressed by how the production designers managed to convey a sense of approaching winter on the Universal Studios back lot in sunny southern California. The episode was very grey and dismal... sort of like Canada through most of the year.

Jack Seabrook said...

I'm sorry you still didn't like it. I thought it was very well done, especially the interior scenes with the flickering firelight. I'll be interested to read your comments on the next episode, which is the last one Bloch wrote. The post should be up late next week.

Todd Mason said...

Caught only a part of this one last night, in the Encore Suspense play. I'm just going to have to set the dvr for the series, clearly.

Jack Seabrook said...

Watch "Off Season" Wednesday night on Encore and read about it here on Thursday!

Peter Enfantino said...

Jack Seabrook!
You're such a tease!

Walker Martin said...

THE SECOND WIFE is one of my favorite shows in the series. I'm with Peter and John on Jack Seabrook doing the entire series. If he manages to complete all the episodes, it will be an astounding piece of original research.

Unknown said...

For me, "The Second Wife" is a standout episode, as are so many in the Third Season. It's ultimately a sad story, about a husband who, while actually loving his "second" wife, is so taciturn and uncommunicative, that he is so incapable of conveying his feelings to the point of arousing her suspicions that he may have had an ulterior motive in marrying her. The ending is poignant to the point of heartbreaking. Both John Andersen and June Lockhart are pitch-perfect in their parts. And like any other movie or program, tastes are very personal, and asking someone to "take another look" is not going to change anything.

Jack Seabrook said...

Thanks, Frances! I agree that this episode is outstanding.

john kenrick said...

I saw The Second Wife first run, Jack, and I thought it was one of the best Hitchcock hours. Since revisiting it recently, I can understand other people's coolness toward it. This is not an episode to love. Respect, yes, but An Unlocked Window was vastly more engaging, and way more entertaining. The Second Wife is too sad to care for much. Its story develops in a way that doesn't build suspense so much as feelings of dreariness. The husband does seem like the villain of the piece, which doesn't really have a villain as such, as it's tale of tragic misunderstanding that plays out as melodrama. The "twist" at the end brought no feelings of relief for me the first time, just admiration for a tale well told. Now, it does nothing for me since I knew how it would end in the first place.

At a technical level, it's handled brilliantly. It's the story itself that's difficult for me, as an adult, to fee drawn into. Another "downer" Hitchcock hour, To Catch A Butterfly, I also saw first run, and it scared me then and still does now. The acting is superb, with only Ed Asner's too nice guy of a bad father not working, or not for me anyway. That part needed a more subtle player. Yet the episode still pushes my buttons, and young Mickey Sholdar was brilliant as the troubled boy. The point of this digression is to make it clear that a television show need not entertain in a conventional way to work. Witness all the fine entries in the Naked City and Route 66 series, often with the focus on ruined and/or hopeless lives.

Jack Seabrook said...

Thanks for your comment, John. I haven't watched this in over a decade, since I wrote this piece, but now that I have the DVD set I'll have to give it another look to appreciate the quality.

john kenrick said...

Thanks for responding, Jack. I'm a little late to this feast, and I find myself agreeing more with the poster Harvey Chartrand. He was very perceptive in his critique of many later entries in the Hitchcock Hour. At its best it was brilliant, yet it featured too many stories that were simply not pleasant. This worked better in the show's half-hour format, such as The Woman Who Wanted To Live, full of negative vibes, and yet not overwhelmed by them. Lola Albright played her strong woman character with what felt like effortless professionalism, while Charles Bronson matched her in his fashion, with his naturalistic underplaying. Their interactions felt real, and they might even have worked well if they could have morphed into law abiding couple, though this was, of course, impossible. Had this tale been stretched to an hour it would have got bogged down in "incidentals", and too many diversions. As a half-hour, it was perfect; bittersweet at best in its resolution, yet morally satisfying.

Jack Seabrook said...

I think the hours ended up being better than the half hours after a shaky start. My sense is that they began by thinking adapting novels was the way to go but gradually realized it worked better to expand short stories than to cut longer novels. The final season is often superb and I wonder if part of the reason it ended was because the networks were moving to color and this show would not have worked in color. Also, I looked up Harvey Chartrand online and it appears he died.