tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post1890428542376070301..comments2024-03-27T05:54:38.797-07:00Comments on <i>bare</i>•bones e-zine: The Hitchcock Project: Henry Slesar Part Seven-"The Kind Waitress" [4.25]John Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14082147756474762000noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-16306208132200859712021-10-13T17:52:07.128-07:002021-10-13T17:52:07.128-07:00I think you're mixing up "Kind Waitress&q...I think you're mixing up "Kind Waitress" with "Coming, Mama." Thanks for pointing that out about O'Farrell. I've revised the post. The death date of 1962 is correct. The two movies in the '80s were adapted from novels by O'Farrell, not written by him.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-62671943270693947732021-10-13T15:23:57.807-07:002021-10-13T15:23:57.807-07:00I just saw this on MeTV, part of it anyway. This ...I just saw this on MeTV, part of it anyway. This seemed like another story where Eileen Heckart played a woman attending to her demanding mother until she died, then she was stuck at the end taking care of her new mother-in-law. Writer William O'Farrell must've lived well past 1962 if he was still writing into the late 1980s. IMDB didn't give his life span but did agree w/ you on writing credits to the late 1980s.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00483417885845331990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-55185914374177541192017-09-02T22:58:57.663-07:002017-09-02T22:58:57.663-07:00Thank you, Jack. A bit of tongue in cheek there bu...Thank you, Jack. A bit of tongue in cheek there but that would make an interesting episode, especially for Hitchcock, with the transference of guilt literal, from one person to the other, with the "transferee" doing the deed, the "tranferer" reaping the benefits. There would be no way to prove it in a court of law.<br /><br />My story writing days are long over, though I could do a play/script on a similar theme. Things are so hi tech in films and TV these days I'm totally demoralized, and besides, I just became a senior citizen, still love writing but to leap into the fray,--once more!--at my age. That would take some pondering. I appreciate the kindness, though.john kenrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00710666533854296630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-38440525492912717272017-09-01T08:26:57.272-07:002017-09-01T08:26:57.272-07:00It's hard to believe it's been over 4 year...It's hard to believe it's been over 4 years since I wrote this post! I like your alternate ending and would be happy to see Vickers or Lansing pop up on AHP. Maybe you should try your hand at a short story!Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-28368165256871536352017-08-31T23:59:53.641-07:002017-08-31T23:59:53.641-07:00I used to enjoy reading Slesar's stories in my...I used to enjoy reading Slesar's stories in mystery magazines. If my memory isn't failing me he published in both the Ellery Queen and Hitchcock magazines. I enjoyed reading his stories more than I've enjoyed watching televised adaptations of him.<br /><br />Okay, as to The Kind Waitress: I just watched it again (second time I've seen it), enjoyed it more than the first time, well more than twenty years ago. It was Rick Jason's awful performance as the clarinetist boyfriend that damn near ruined it for me. <br /><br />This time it worked better. Jason's acting still put me off, and the good part was that he had far less screen time than the more talented Olive Deering and Celia Lovsky. The latter enjoyed a long career, and in her later years was memorable playing elderly parts, became a sort of European female Ian Wolfe or Cyril Delavanti. I've seen less of Miss Deering, find her work always first rate. <br /><br />The episode worked nicely for me. It helped that I forgot the ending. I'd rather that Jason had offed the old lady, as it was his idea. Deering's performance was sympathetic, her character, aside from the company she kept, struck me as decent. <br /><br />Now here's a wild ending, Jack (and I wonder if it could have passed the censors), dig: while plotting to poison the old woman Deering marries Jason, who insists on it when he realizes the old gal's worth nearly a million. Disheartened when the poison doesn't work, he skips town for a while, while his now abandoned wife, desperate for the legacy, kills the women, as she does in the show, is sent to the gas chamber, where we see her husband visiting (just to make sure she dies,--he's faking grief the whole time, of course, weeping crocodile tears by the bucketload); and after his wife is dead we see him collect the legacy, thus getting off scot free! After all, it was is wife who committed the murder...<br /><br />The last shot of Jason is of him walking arm in arm with Joi Lansing (or Yvette Vickers, take your choice) down Fifth Avenue, a most happy fellow, and set for life.john kenrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00710666533854296630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-58080902125646221782013-07-12T10:11:33.854-07:002013-07-12T10:11:33.854-07:00I absolutely agree with that last statement, Harve...I absolutely agree with that last statement, Harvey. I would have loved to see more Ritchie and Matheson, and especially more John Collier, Fred Brown, Robert Bloch, and Roald Dahl. Even though the show used these writers a good bit, there was a lot of their work left over that would have made excellent episodes. Fred Brown's "Cry Silence" would have been great, as would have Matheson's "The Distributor." Hitchcock probably could have made an unforgettable episode out of Bloch's "The Cloak," although because of its supernatural nature, it may have been a better suit for a show like Thriller. JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14808904189056290207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-17025109991454057832013-07-12T09:52:14.127-07:002013-07-12T09:52:14.127-07:00Henry Slesar's stories are often two-headers r...Henry Slesar's stories are often two-headers requiring a minimum of sparsely decorated sets. Hitchcock once said that too many movies were actually "pictures of people talking" and we get a lot of talk in "Slesarian" episodes. They also lend themselves to the 30-minute format of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. By comparison, Slesar only scripted 10 episodes of THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR (including the unforgettable BEHIND THE LOCKED DOOR). Overreliance on one writer wasn't good for ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. A few more stories by Jack Ritchie, Richard Matheson and Bryce Walton et al would have been very welcome.Harvey Chartrandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-13128098422026193822013-07-11T18:35:54.451-07:002013-07-11T18:35:54.451-07:00Harvey, don't let these last two episodes brin...Harvey, don't let these last two episodes bring you down! As Jordan points out, there are many solid ones, both in the seven I've looked at so far and in the many still to come.<br /><br />Be sure to check out Jordan's excellent blog: The Twilight Zone Vortex!Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-26787987408397455842013-07-11T17:23:18.150-07:002013-07-11T17:23:18.150-07:00Nice writeup, Jack! Although I do think the produc...Nice writeup, Jack! Although I do think the producers were a bit heavy on Slesar, I think some fine episodes were produced from his work. Unfortunately, like "The Kind Waitress," the journey from original story to screen adaptation was sometimes rocky and the writer and/or producers messed up a perfectly fine story by imposing illogical changes. Among the stories that are only marginally mystery/suspense, I think few if any belonged to Slesar and though he never produced anything as enduring as "The Glass Eye" or "Lamb to the Slaughter," he produced some nice episodes such as "The Right Kind of House." JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14808904189056290207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-53787367471064490002013-07-11T09:43:14.243-07:002013-07-11T09:43:14.243-07:00Henry Slesar's episodes are rather dull so far...Henry Slesar's episodes are rather dull so far, aren't they? I think Slesar became a favorite of Joan Harrison and Norman Lloyd because his stories were so cheap to produce. None of Slesar's 37 (!) episodes of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS can be considered a classic. But every one of them is cheap, cheap, cheap. A few episodes barely qualify as mystery/suspense stories.Harvey Chartrandnoreply@blogger.com