The Hitchcock Project-William Fay Part Twelve : Good-Bye, George [9.10] and Wrapup

R.I.P. Norman Lloyd (1914-2021)

by Jack Seabrook

William Fay's teleplay for "Good-Bye, George" is based on a short story by Robert Arthur titled "Getting Rid of George" that was first published in the May 1959 issue of Bestseller Mystery Magazine. It was collected in that year's anthology, Alfred Hitchcock Presents: My Favorites in Suspense, a volume edited by none other than Robert Arthur!

Even though Laura Layne's husband George has been dead for five years, she still sees his leering wink in her dreams. She is now a movie star, whose every action is followed by gossip columnists, none of whom know that her recent five years of stardom were preceded by seven years as Gloria Gordon, a stripper in cheap burlesque houses, accompanied by her husband George, a comedian who was killed in a holdup. There is a knock at her dressing-room door, but instead of admitting her lover, Harry Lawrence, she admits George, very much alive and anxious to reunite with his now rich and famous wife. Laura grabs a silver statuette and brains her unwelcome visitor, who collapses to the floor dead just as Harry enters.

"Getting Rid of George"
was first published here

The lovers agree that their safest course of action is to spirit the corpse away and dispose of it. They put George in a wardrobe trunk and Laura attends the party going on downstairs, where publicity man Dave Dennis announces that Laura and Harry are to be wed. They plan to fly to Yuma for a quick wedding before returning the next day and they are counting on some honeymoon privacy to let them get rid of the body in the trunk. Harry tells Dennis that they will honeymoon in Mexico and the publicist agrees to hold off the press for forty-eight hours. Harry and Laura drive off together with the corpse in the trunk, heading for Harry's lodge in the mountains. A cop stops their car for speeding but is dazzled when he realizes that the passenger is a glamorous movie star.

Reaching the lodge, Laura and Harry enter in the darkness, with George's body slung over Harry's shoulder. Suddenly, they hear voices from the next room, and reporters begin to sing "Here comes the bride" as the light is switched on and everyone sees the corpse, displaying George's famous lewd wink.

Patricia Barry as Lana

"Getting Rid of George" is at once humorous and horrible, exposing the artificiality of a Hollywood star and the press agents who follow her every move. The end is similar to that of Fredric Brown's famous short-short, "Nightmare in Yellow," which was published two years later.

The TV version, retitled "Good-Bye, George," was adapted by William Fay, directed by Robert Stevens, and starred Patricia Barry as Lana Layne (her name changed from the Laura of the story), Robert Culp as Harry, Stubby Kaye as George Cassidy (renamed from Gordon), and Elliott Reid as Dave. Alice Pearce adds superb comedic timing as Haila French, the gossip columnist. The episode aired on Friday, December 13, 1963, on CBS, and is an outstanding example of how to flesh out a short story to fill an hour-long TV time slot.

Robert Culp as Harry

The show begins with a fade-in on a scene from a movie being filmed, with Lana playing a nun who kneels and prays before votive candles. The viewer does not need to be sharp-eyed to notice that this nun is the Hollywood sort, with long, manicured fingernails and a wedding ring! The camera starts out with a closeup of those hands before swinging around to show Lana, a heavily made-up beauty who prays, "'Lord, make me ugly if it would help me to serve you more.'" Her prayer is definitely not answered and the director says, "'Cut!'" The crew is shown and Harry plants a kiss on Lana's lips before they are joined by Dave Dennis and Haila French.

Haila has two burning questions for Lana: how does she feel about having been nominated for an Academy Award and when will she marry Harry? Lana is momentarily distracted when she sees George wander onto the set; she is shaken when she looks again and he is gone. Harry takes her to her bungalow and they are joined by Dave, who complains that Lana left Haila in mid-interview. Harry, Lana's manager, rushes off to calm the reporter, and Lana is left alone. George walks in without knocking and greets Lana as "'Peaches'" before referring to himself as "'the last of the red-hot cadavers.'" George explains that newspaper reports stating that he was shot to death during a bank robbery in Newark were wrong--he switched wallets with the man who got shot, but a detective examined the corpse and, three months later, George was arrested in St. Louis and spent five years in jail.

Stubby Kaye as George

When George was released from prison he went to a movie and saw that dancer Rosemary "Peaches" Cassidy was now movie star Lana Layne. He remarks on her "'new set of curves'" and a "'two-million dollar smile you got from some dentist.'" Lana offers to pay George to disappear but he prefers to wait and see how she fares at the Academy Awards.

In the following scene, the ceremony is over and Lana has won an Academy Award. She is the toast of the town and, at a party to celebrate, Dave takes her to mend fences with Haila, but when Lana spies George dancing with a starlet, she confronts her husband and invites him to her room, where he admires her Oscar and other statuettes she has won. Still refusing to agree to a price for his disappearance, George points out California's community property law and Lana's extensive real estate holdings. Patricia Barry and Stubby Kaye play off of each other perfectly in this scene; she is believable as a dancer turned respected actress, fearful that her success will evaporate, while he delivers his lines with all the streetwise gusto of his character from Guys and Dolls. George grabs Lana and they wrestle, a brief battle that ends when she grabs a statuette and bashes him in the forehead.

Elliott Reid as Dave

Harry arrives on the scene and confirms that George is dead; the corpse is shown with blood on its brow and its eyes wide open. When Dave shows up, insisting that they return to the party, Harry wipes the blood off of the murder weapon and proposes that Lana be photographed holding both it and the Oscar! This is not the first time that Harry makes a decision for both himself and Lana, who does not argue with his plan to cover up her murderous act. Lana says that she will rely on Harry and reminds him that he could lose everything--not she, not they, but he--Lana avoids deciding for herself and lets Harry decide, knowing that he occupies the role that George coveted. Harry tells Lana to open the cedar closet in her room, and the closet door has a combination lock, making it a most handy and safe place to stash a corpse. Inside, the closet is temperature-controlled and houses her fur coats. Harry adds George's corpse to the collection by hanging it on a coat hook like just another garment. The sight of the dead body, its eyes open and a bloody gash on its forehead, hanging on the wall, is an image of body horror that demonstrates loosening censorship on television in 1963.

At the party downstairs, Haila is showing the effects of too many drinks and too little attention from Lana. As Haila, Alice Pearce is excellent, with her ridiculous hat, adenoidal voice, and lines like: "'I didn't come here like some hundred dollar a week reporter for the free booze and chicken salad.'" Elliott Reid is also excellent as Dave, the smarmy publicist whose job consists of frantically trying to keep everyone happy. No one but Harry and Lana know of the murder, so the action takes place on two levels; others just enjoy the party, while the lovers juggle a potentially career-ending (not to mention criminal) situation. Harry surprises everyone with an announcement that he and Lana have decided to get married. Lana is stunned and Haila is furious at not having had advance notice. Harry admits that he did not ask Lana, who immediately says yes. Throughout their scenes together, Harry manages Haila with kisses on her cheek; she clearly adores him and remarks, "'I love that man!'"

Alice Pearce as Haila

Harry is a skilled manager, managing everyone around him. He explains to Lana that a wedding gives them an excuse to take along a large trunk and, in no time, two men deliver a steamer trunk (monogrammed "L.L.") to Lana's room. Harry pulls George's corpse out of the closet and stuffs it in the trunk, providing another example of body horror. The actual process of taking the body from closet to trunk is not shown; instead, the camera remains focused on Lana while Harry takes care of business, though shadows cross the wall and suggest what is happening off-camera. Instead of flying to Yuma, as they do in the story, Harry and Lana decide to drive to Tijuana and get married after midnight, with reporters in tow. Harry outlines a route into Mexico on a map, showing Lana how they can drive deep into the country before doubling back to re-enter the U.S., drive to Harry's shack, and "'bury George before daybreak.'"

There is a knock at the door (William Fay uses the gimmick of having someone at the door at an inopportune moment more than once in this episode) and Harry and Lana quickly stuff a quilt into the trunk so that George's body doesn't rattle around. Since they can't find the key and are in a hurry, Lana is forced to sit on the trunk to keep it closed, and suddenly the scene recalls Rope, where another body was hidden in a large container in plain sight. Of course, Dave is at the door, asking Harry to tip Haila off as to where they're headed in Mexico. Harry refuses and the men who brought the trunk return with the key. One gives flowers to Lana and, after they leave, Harry puts one of the flowers in George's hand and closes the trunk, but not before there is a shot of the corpse holding the flower, the trunk acting as a makeshift coffin.

Mike Ragan

Mexican music plays on the soundtrack and the screen fades in to a stock shot of a downtown street in Mexico, followed by a cut to a shot of a neon sign that advertises "Marriages Without Delay" for the cost of three dollars. Director Robert Stevens then uses a handheld camera to shoot a crowd of reporters, with Dave and Haila in their midst, waiting on the sidewalk in front of the marriage bureau. The happy couple emerges and the camera follows them through the crowd. Harry again kisses Haila's cheek before he and Lana drive off, leaving reporters, police, and locals cheering and waving.

The following scenes track Harry and Lana as they drive into and out of Mexico through the night, with no one on their trail. This section of the episode is like a classic noir road film, though Lana in her fur coat is hardly reminiscent of the downtrodden heroines of such classic films as Detour. Patricia Barry is gorgeous, with a sex-kitten voice that fits the role perfectly. Visible behind the duo are a suitcase (with the monogram, "L.L.") and the trunk. Lana whines that her happiness is ruined by "'that miserable albatross still hanging around my neck'"--her vanity and selfishness blind her to the fact that she is a murderer and that she and her new husband are driving around with a corpse! They grow visibly more tried as the night wears on. Finally, Harry turns the car around to head back to Mexicali. Perhaps their own self-importance makes them believe that they can't just dump the body by the side of the road in Mexico, though no one is following them.

Kreg Martin

Harry and Lana pass through customs and into Calexico without incident. Lana lights two cigarettes, one for her and the other for Harry, and lays her head back as if they have just consummated their marriage. This act suggests that the danger of the border crossing was like wedding night lovemaking for her and now she is spent. Lana is asleep and Harry is exhausted when the policeman pulls them over for speeding; this event recalls the Hitchcock-directed episode, "One More Mile to Go," where another murderer attempts to escape with a dead body in the trunk of his car.

Finally, they pull up to Harry's cabin, thinking they've succeeded in avoiding all pitfalls. They wrestle the trunk out of the back of the station wagon and Harry removes the corpse, planning to stash it in the basement and bury it the next day. Lana can't stand to see the body and goes ahead to enter the house in darkness, followed by Harry, who has George slung over his back. Lana switches on the light and everyone yells "'Surprise!'" Haila lets out a scream as press photographers snap a picture. Dave is holding the map that he pilfered from Lana's room; it outlined Harry's secret route. The screen freezes on the image of Lana, Harry, and George, and the camera pulls back to reveal the front page of the Los Angeles Gazette, with the headline: "Lana Layne and Husband Arrested on Murder Charge." The camera then zooms in on the subhead, which explains that "Road Map Leads to Grim Discovery," and the screen fades to black.

"Good-Bye, George" is an excellent episode from every aspect, bringing Robert Arthur's short story to life and fleshing it out in a way that doesn't seem padded. The lead performances are all strong and Robert Stevens excels at visual storytelling, mixing suspense, humor, and horror while skewering the film industry. None of the characters is admirable yet all are likeable for their personality, charm, and (in the case of Harry and Lana) good looks.

Bernie Kopell

Director Robert Stevens (1920-1989) worked mostly in TV from 1949 to 1987, directing 44 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and five of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour--"Good-Bye, George" was his first at the hour length.

Robert Arthur (1909-1969), who wrote the short story, "Getting Rid of George," was born in the Philippines, where his father was stationed in the Army. He earned an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Michigan before moving to New York City in the early 1930s and becoming a prolific writer of short stories. He later was an editor at Dell and Fawcett but is best known as the ghost editor of many of the Alfred Hitchcock anthologies. He also wrote a beloved series of books about Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators for young adult readers. In 1959, he moved to Hollywood to write for television and edit screenplays. Before that, he won two Edgar Awards as a writer for radio. Many of his stories were adapted for TV; five episodes of the Hitchcock series were based on his stories and he wrote one additional teleplay himself. There is a website devoted to him here.

Sally Carter

Top billing goes to Robert Culp (1930-2010), who plays Harry Lawrence. Culp's long screen career spanned the years from 1953 until his death in 2010. He starred in a series called Trackdown from 1957 to 1959, became a major star with his lead role in the series, I Spy (1965-1968), and later was a semi-regular on The Greatest American Hero (1981-1986). He was on The Outer Limits three times and also appeared in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Stubby Kaye (1918-1997) receives second billing as George, though he spends most of the episode as a corpse. Born Bernard Solomon Kotzin, he started out in vaudeville in 1939 and began appearing in films in 1938. Kaye became famous overnight when he was cast in the original Broadway run of Guys and Dolls (1950-1953) as Nicely Nicely Johnson, whose song, "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" was a showstopper. He also had a hit role in the Broadway production of Li'l Abner (1956-1958). This was his only appearance on the Hitchcock series.

Jimmy Joyce

Patricia Barry (1920-2013) is the real star of the episode as Lana. She was born Patricia White and came to Hollywood in 1946 after winning a Rita Hayworth look-alike contest not long before that. She began appearing on screen in 1946 but most of her roles over the next 60 years were on TV, including starring on First Love (1954-1955), co-starring with Jack Klugman on Harris Against the World (1964-1965), and playing another role on a soap opera called Loving (1992-1994). Fans of televised fantasy know her for her two roles on The Twilight Zone and her three roles on Thriller; "Good-Bye, George" was one of two episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in which she was featured.

Dave Dennis, the publicist, is played by Elliott Reid (1920-2013), who appeared in two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "Design for Loving," and many films, including Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Inherit the Wind (1960). Born Edgeworth Blair Reid, his long career onscreen lasted from 1940 to 1995.

Alice Pearce (1917-1966) is unforgettable as Haila French. She started out as a nightclub comedian and made such a splash on Broadway in On the Town (1944-1946) that Gene Kelly brought her to Hollywood for the film version (1949). She starred in a TV series called Alice Pearce (1949) and was on the large and small screen from then until her untimely death in 1966. She was in an episode of The Twilight Zone and this was her only episode of the Hitchcock series. She is best-remembered as a semi-regular on Bewitched (1964-66), playing Samantha's nosy neighbor.

In smaller roles:

• Kreg Martin as the motorcycle cop who pulls Harry over for speeding; in a short TV career from 1962-1963 he was seen on The Twilight Zone and in seven episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "Maria."
• Mike Ragan (1918-1995) as the man who delivers the trunk and gives Lana flowers; he was born Hollis Bane and he appeared in countless movies and TV shows starting in 1924, including eight episodes of the Hitchcock series.
• Sally Carter (1942- ) as the starlet at the party who is talking to George; born Zella Maria Grajeda, she was Playmate of the Month (as Marya Carter) in Playboy's May 1962 issue. Her screen career lasted from 1961 to 1978 and she was married to Hollywood Squares host Peter Marshall from 1977 to 1983.
• Jimmy Joyce (1921-2011) as the photographer who snaps the picture at the end; he was on screen from 1959 to 1978 and appeared on Thriller, The Night Stalker (twice), and in six episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, including "Off Season."
• Bernie Kopell (1933- ) as the director of the film in the first scene; he has been on screen since 1963, mostly on TV. This was his only role on the Hitchcock show, but he appeared on Get Smart, Night Gallery, The Odd Couple, and Night Stalker. He was a regular on When Things Were Rotten (1975) but became a household name for his long-running role on The Love Boat (1977-1987). As of this writing, he is still acting in a current TV series and has a website here.

"Getting Rid of George" was later adapted for the South African radio series, Beyond Midnight, which ran from 1968 to 1970, as "The Party."

Read the short story for free online here or watch the TV version here.

Sources:

Arthur, Robert. "Getting Rid of George."  Bestseller Mystery Magazine, May 1959, 114-123.

The FictionMags Index, www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/0start.htm.

"Good-Bye, George." The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, season 2, episode 10, CBS, 13 Dec. 1963.

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub., 2001.

IBDb, IBDb.com, www.ibdb.com.

IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com.

Luminist Archives, www.luminist.org/archives/PU/index.htm.

Stephensen-Payne, Phil. Galactic Central, philsp.com/.

Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, www.wikipedia.org/.

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William Fay on Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: An Overview and Episode Guide

William Fay burst on the scene of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in October 1958, near the beginning of season four, and went on to write eight episodes for that season. "The Crooked Road" follows its source story closely, while "The $2,000,000 Defense" has new dialogue, its events are put into chronological order, and its conclusion is revised. "Safety for the Witness" tries for broad comedy but misses the mark. "The Last Dark Step" is chilling and subtle. "I'll Take Care of You" streamlines the source story and removes any ambiguity about the main character's guilt. "The Avon Emeralds" is more comedy than thriller, with a much-expanded story and new characters. "Your Witness" is an outstanding example of how to open up a story and rearrange events successfully, while "Touche" follows its source closely and succeeds in turning narrative into dialogue. Fay's fourth-season episodes demonstrate his ability to take stories off the page and tell them visually without the need for many changes.

He slowed down in season five, writing only three teleplays. "No Pain" deepens the story's themes and increases suspense, "Man from the South" is one of the best episodes of the entire series, and "Madame Mystery" darkens some of the characters' motives.

For season six, Fay's two teleplays are quite different: "The Contest for Aaron Gold" adds depth and emotional resonance by inventing a new and unforgettable ending, while "Gratitude" adapts a story that is very old and dated, eliminating a major character and focusing on the story's crime aspects.

"Ten O'Clock Tiger" was Fay's only teleplay for season seven, and it marks the only time he adapted one of his own short stories. Though it follows the source closely, the final scene is not staged successfully.

Fay wrote two hour-long episodes for the second season of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. The first was "Good-Bye, George," a superb satire of Hollywood mixed with aspects of TV noir. The second was "Isabel," which was co-written with Henry Slesar. The scriptwriters take a complex novel and revise it to fit the hour-long format in part by deepening one of the main characters.

In his fourteen half-hours and two hours, William Fay demonstrated a firm grasp of how to adapt short stories for the small screen, and the majority of episodes produced from his scripts are highly entertaining.

EPISODE GUIDE-WILLIAM FAY ON ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS and THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR

Episode title-"The Crooked Road" [4.4]
Broadcast date-26 October 1958
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "The Crooked Road" by Alex Gaby

First print appearance-Argosy, January 1958
Notes
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Episode title-"The 2,000,000 Defense" [4.5]
Broadcast date-2 November 1958
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "The 2,000,000 Defense" by Harold Q. Masur

First print appearance-Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, May 1958
Notes
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Episode title-"Safety for the Witness" [4.8]
Broadcast date-23 November 1958
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "Safety for the Witness" by John De Meyer

First print appearance-The Saint Detective Magazine, March 1955
Notes
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"Safety for the Witness"

Episode title-"The Last Dark Step" [4.18]
Broadcast date-8 February 1959
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "The Last Dark Step" by Margaret Manners

First print appearance-Argosy, October 1957
Notes
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Episode title-"I'll Take Care of You" [4.23]
Broadcast date-15 March 1959
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "I'll Take Care of You" by George Johnson

First print appearance-Bestseller Mystery Magazine, November 1958
Notes
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"I'll Take Care of You"

Episode title-"The Avon Emeralds" [4.24]
Broadcast date-22 March 1959
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "The Avon Emeralds" by Joe Piddock

First print appearance-John Creasey Mystery Magazine, August 1958
Notes
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Episode title-"Your Witness" [4.31]
Broadcast date-17 May 1959
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "Your Witness" by Helen Nielsen

First print appearance-Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, December 1958
Notes
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"No Pain"

Episode title-"Touche" [4.35]
Broadcast date-21 June 1959
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "Touche" by Bryce Walton (as Kenneth O'Hara)

First print appearance-Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, November 1958
Notes
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Episode title-"No Pain" [5.5]
Broadcast date-25 October 1959
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "Pigeon in an Iron Lung" by Talmage Powell

First print appearance-Manhunt, November 1956
Notes
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Episode title-"Man from the South" [5.15]
Broadcast date-13 March 1960
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "Collector's Item" by Roald Dahl

First print appearance-Collier's, 4 September 1948
Notes
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"Man from the South"

Episode title-"Madame Mystery" [5.24]
Broadcast date-27 March 1960
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "Is Betsey Blake Still Alive?" by Robert Bloch

First print appearance-Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, April 1958
Notes
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Episode title-"The Contest for Aaron Gold" [6.4]
Broadcast date-18 October 1960
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "The Contest for Aaron Gold" by Phillip Roth

First print appearance-Epoch, Fall 1955
Notes
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"The Contest for Aaron Gold"

Episode title-"Gratitude" [6.28]
Broadcast date-25 April 1961
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "The Thing Called Gratitude" by Donn Byrne

First print appearance-Hearst's International, January 1922
Notes
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Episode title-"Ten O'Clock Tiger" [7.26]
Broadcast date-3 April 1962
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "Epitaph for a Heel" by William Fay

First print appearance-The Saturday Evening Post, 20 January 1962
Notes
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Episode title-"Good-Bye, George" [9.10]
Broadcast date-13 December 1963
Teleplay by-William Fay
Based on "Getting Rid of George" by Robert Arthur

First print appearance-Bestseller Mystery Magazine, May 1959
Notes
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"Ten O'Clock Tiger"

Episode title-"Isabel" [9.31]
Broadcast date-5 June 1964
Teleplay by-William Fay and Henry Slesar
Based on The Bronze Perseus by S.B. Hough

First print appearance-1959 novel
Notes
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In two weeks: Our coverage of Richard Levinson and William Link begins with "Services Rendered," starring Steve Dunne and Hugh Marlowe!

Listen to Al Sjoerdsma discuss "The Belfry" here!

Listen to Annie and Kathryn discuss "The Crocodile Case" here!