Poor Lucy! Her bedridden mother is very demanding, insisting that her daughter tend to her every need and complaining all the while. Lucy would like to spend more time with her boyfriend, Edward, who complains that Lucy's mother's habit of cutting news items out of the paper makes it hard to read and sometimes changes the meaning of what words remain. Edward proposes marriage, not for the first time, suggesting a honeymoon at Niagara Falls. He also lives with his aging mother, and he suggests finding boarders for her so that she can support herself and he and Lucy can have their own home together.
"Coming, Mama" was first published here |
In the days that follow, as she takes care of her mother's every need, Lucy begins to fear that she will miss her chance at happiness with Edward. Her mother threatens to cut Lucy out of her will, and Lucy asks her mother to write a letter to Edward, as follows:
My daughter Lucy has told me she will never marry while I live. I am not well and my days are numbered. I love my daughter and want her to be happy.
Lucy then gives her mother twice the recommended dose of sleeping medicine and invites her neighbor, Mrs. Evans, to come over for lemonade. Lucy tells Mrs. Evans that her mother wants her to marry Edward but Lucy says that she will never stop caring for her parent. After Mrs. Evans leaves, Lucy falls asleep, waking at dawn and rushing upstairs to find her mother dead. She screams, Mrs Evans comes running over, and Dr. Larson later arrives to pronounce the death a suicide, based on the mother's note.
Madge Kennedy as Mrs. Baldwin |
"Coming, Mama" was first published in the September 1960 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Frederic Dannay writes in his introduction that the story was written by Henriette McClelland as part of a creative writing course taught by the editor. He remarks on the story's "cleanness and clarity, both of characterization and content, not found too often in 'first stories.'" He adds that Ms. McClelland is married and has two children, and that this is her first published story. The FictionMags Index lists two other stories by McClelland, one each in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1961 and 1962, but other than that she does not seem to have any published writing.
Don DeFore as Arthur |
We first see Mrs. Baldwin reflected in a dresser mirror next to Lucy as the daughter enters her mother's bedroom. Dr. Larson does not disguise his disdain for the mother's behavior, telling Lucy that her mother staged an attack for her benefit to punish her for going out. In a seemingly unimportant comment, Mrs. Baldwin sets up the show's final scene by asking about Arthur's mother and commenting that she's "'such an active woman.'" Dr. Larson gives Lucy the medicine to help her mother sleep and tells her, "'One teaspoon only--it's strong stuff.'"
Eileen Heckart as Lucy |
Arthur telephones and, as she speaks to him, we see two images of the conflicted woman, one straight on and one reflected in a mirror next to where she stands. Lucy is being pulled in two directions by her boyfriend and her mother and the dual image illustrates her internal conflict. After Arthur repeats the next-day deadline, Lucy hangs up and returns to her mother's room, where she apologizes and administers the fatal dose of sleeping medicine. Unlike the story, Cavanagh's teleplay does not include the incident where Lucy asks her mother to write a letter to her boyfriend explaining that she cannot marry him. In fact, the idea of the written word having two meanings is absent from the TV show.
Jesslyn Fax as Mrs. Evans |
Robert Karnes as Mr. Simon |
The plot point in the story seems forced, making Lucy ask her mother to deliver the answer to Edward's question in the form of a missive that Lucy dictates. Perhaps Cavanagh, either on his own or at the behest of the producers, decided that having Mrs. Baldwin write a suicide note was something that might not pass muster with the censors in early 1961. In any case, the TV script works better and handles the situation more adeptly.
Arthur Malet as Dr. Larson |
Unfortunately, Saturday comes and, after they are wed, Lucy and Arthur return to his home, where she is surprised to find his mother bedridden from a fall down the cellar steps. Arthur's mother, Mrs. Clark, thanks Lucy for giving up her honeymoon in order to care for her. Lucy learns that Mrs. Clark fell a day or so before Lucy's mother died, suggesting that, when Arthur made his ultimatum, he knew that his mother would need care, even if he could not have known of Mrs. Baldwin's impending death. Lucy says that they will need to get some sleeping medicine from the doctor and the show ends on a close up of Lucy's face, a knowing smile spreading across her features.
Gail Bonney as Mrs. Clark |
"Coming, Mama" is directed by George Stevens, Jr. (1932- ), son of director George Stevens and an important Hollywood figure in his own right. He started out as a production assistant to his father, directed training films while in the Air Force, and directed a few TV shows, including two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, before being put in charge of film and TV output in 1961 for the U.S. Information Agency. Stevens later founded the American Film Institute in 1967 and served as its director until 1980.
Lucy's dual nature is suggested by this mirror shot |
Familiar-faced Don DeFore (1913-1993) plays Arthur; he was on film beginning in 1934 but is best remembered for his TV roles on two long-running sitcoms: The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-1957) and Hazel (1961-1965). He managed to fit in this one episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in between those two series. A website devoted to DeFore is here.
Madge Kennedy (1891-1987) plays Lucy's mother and gives a strong performance as a manipulative, bedridden harridan. Kennedy was on Broadway from 1912 to 1932 and appeared in films from 1917 to 1928. She retired for two decades, then returned to acting in 1952 and made many appearances on TV and film until she returned for good in 1976. In addition to parts on The Twilight Zone and The Odd Couple, she was seen in no less than six episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "A True Account."
In smaller roles:
- Jesslyn Fax (1893-1975) as Mrs. Evans, the neighbor; she was on screen from 1950 to 1969, had a small part in Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954), and was seen in five episodes of the Hitchcock TV show, including "The Woman Who Wanted to Live."
- Robert Karnes (1917-1979) as Mr. Simon, who speaks to Lucy about her mother's estate; he was on screen from 1946 to 1979 and played countless bit parts. He was on The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, and The Night Stalker, and he can be seen in eight episodes of the Hitchcock TV show, including "A Little Sleep."
- Arthur Malet (1927-2013) as Dr. Larson; he was on screen from 1956 to 1997 and played many small roles, including one in Mary Poppins (1964). He was on Night Gallery and appeared on the Hitchcock TV show twice.
- Gail Bonney (1901-1984) as Arthur's mother; born Goldie Bonowitz, she was on screen from 1948 to 1979 and played many bit parts. In addition to roles on Night Gallery and The Night Stalker, she was one of the most prolific actresses on the Hitchcock TV show, appearing in eleven episodes in all.
Thanks to Peter Enfantino for providing a copy of the story, which does not appear to have been reprinted. Watch "Coming, Mama" for free online here or buy the DVD here.
Sources:
"Coming, Mama." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 6, episode 26, NBC, 11 Apr. 1961.
Galactic Central, philsp.com/.
Galactic Central, philsp.com/.
Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub., 2001.
IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/.
IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/.
McClelland,Henriette. "Coming, Mama." Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September 1960, pp. 73-80.
The FictionMags Index, www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/0start.htm.
Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, www.wikipedia.org/.
In two weeks: A Jury of Her Peers, starring Ann Harding and Philip Borneuf!
I love this episode as much as I do any in the seven-year run of this series, including any of the ones directed by (gasp) the Master himself. Yes, it's quite entertaining, and no, none of the characters are particularly lovable, but the actors' performances are! Just one correction for now... Arthur does NOT live with his mother. If you recall, Lucy explains to her own mother that "[Mrs. Clarke] lives so far out in the country, Arthur scarcely ever sees her himself."
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by! I'll make that correction.
ReplyDeleteEileen Heckart is also great as the victim's mother in THE BAD SEED. Her scenes are nearly the only ones that feel completely sad, as opposed to rest of the film, which feels more like a dark comedy.
ReplyDeleteIt's a decent episode, well made, nicely acted, and yet it felt like a trope from the start, which is to say the viewer shall find the ending to be wildly different from what he might expect or believe, regardless of how one feels about Miss Heckart and her mother: the sting in the tail is this one's raison d'etre. This is a problem I have with all the generic Hitchcock episodes, no matter how well done; seldom do they explore human nature in any depth; nor do we (much of the time) come to understand the characters. They're basically set-up, second act, the journey to the ending till the trap snaps shut.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised by the level of interest in this episode. I thought the direction was kind of boring but did not want to be critical of George Stevens, Jr., who has done so much for the business we all love. Analyzing the Hitchcock TV show by looking at it from the writers' perspective has made me appreciate how much of a repository it was for great mystery short stories. Not many other shows adapted so many stories for the small screen and then did so with such a consistent level of quality. So many anthology shows from the early days of TV have not survived, or if they have, they are not readily available. Yet the Hitchcock show is always there, and allows us to see and enjoy hundreds of filmed versions of mystery stories. There may sometimes be a formulaic aspect to it, but overall it's a treasure.
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