The Hitchcock Project-Robert C. Dennis Part Nineteen: "The Deadly" [3.11]

by Jack Seabrook

"Suburban Tigress" was
first published here

In a 1911 poem, Rudyard Kipling wrote that "the female of the species is more deadly than the male." Robert C. Dennis alludes to this sentiment with his teleplay for "The Deadly," which is based on a short story by Lawrence Treat called "Suburban Tigress," first published in the July 1957 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

As the story begins, Margot Brenner sits at home alone, thinking of her husband's upcoming promotion and of their plans to adopt a baby. A plumber named Jack Staley arrives to fix a leak in the cellar. Margot is nervous at the thought of being alone in her home with the burly man, and she is concerned when he says that he needs to open a valve upstairs to keep the basement from flooding. When they are upstairs together, he is entirely too familiar, commenting on a painting she made, as well as her bedroom slippers and the quilt on her bed.

Staley fixes the leak and tells Margot that his fee is $500. He plans to blackmail her, explaining that he has been there for three hours on what was a five-minute job and that he can describe her bedroom in detail. Though he has already collected money from other women in the neighborhood, Margot resists and so he gives her until the next day to get the money.

Phyllis Thaxter as Margot

Meeting her husband at the train station, Margot keeps quiet about the plumber's blackmail scheme. The next morning, she calls the police to report Staley. She goes to the bank to withdraw money and comes home to meet Detective Thompson, who listens in hiding when Staley arrives. Somehow tipped off to danger, the plumber denies having asked for money and Thompson does not believe Margot's story.

After the men leave, Staley telephones; he returns to the house that afternoon. To his surprise, Margot has gathered three other women whom Staley had blackmailed. They record his demands on tape and he agrees to stop his blackmail. The women inform him that they will only remain quiet if he provides free plumbing for the new preschool nursery. He likes the idea of the good publicity it will bring for his business and leaves feeling satisfied with himself.

That evening, Margot meets her husband at the train station, able to say truthfully that "I settled with the plumber."

In a comment on the TV adaptation of his story, Lawrence Treat expressed astonishment that the teleplay used his story and much of his dialogue and he got "nothing extra." Perhaps Treat's memory was fuzzy when he wrote this comment for the book, Hitchcock in Prime Time, which was published in 1985, since a comparison of the show with the story demonstrates that Robert C. Dennis did a fair amount of rewriting.

Retitled "The Deadly," the episode was broadcast on CBS on Sunday, December 15, 1957. Once again, Dennis adds expository scenes to the beginning of the story. Here, Margot arrives at the train station, where two women gossip about Anne Warren, who does not look like a "happy young bride." Margot approaches Anne, who knows that she is the object of gossip and asks Margot how to balance a bankbook. Margot tells her, smiling: "That's simple! You just doctor the books, cheat on the budget, and steal from yourself!" It's meant to be a humorous comment, but in the first scene we see that Margot is a bit older than Anne, as well as wiser and more pragmatic. These qualities will allow her to deal with the blackmailing plumber more successfully than did her neighbors.

Jacqueline Mayo as Anne Warren

Anne is sad, so Margot invites her to dinner; Anne tells Margot that she and her husband Joe have not been going out much. Margot's husband then gets off of the train and she drives him home, telling him about the leak in the basement. Her husband says that Joe Warren is a "jealous, suspicious guy," and Margot comments on the lack of excitement in the suburbs, causing her husband to remark that "what you need is a good knife murderer or one of those juvenile gangs." Margot drives on, very much in charge of the situation. At home, she prepares dinner while her husband makes a brief and unsuccessful effort to fix the leak in the cellar himself. They joke about his not being the jealous type and this sets up an unspoken contrast with the Warrens.

The initial scenes of "The Deadly" tell us all we need to know to set up what follows, which corresponds to the plot of the story almost to the end. We discover the source of Anne Warren's sorrow and watch as Margot demonstrates how to handle a blackmailer. Staley lingers in her kitchen and uses what he observes to estimate her husband's income. Dennis removes elements of the story, including the Brenners' plan to adopt a baby, Mr. Brenner's impending promotion, and Margot's concern that her husband does not telephone her while the plumber is in the house. In their place, he presents a stripped-down version of the story that demonstrates why "the female of the species is more deadly than the male."

Lee Philips as Jack Staley

In Treat's story, Staley fixes the leak and charges $500; in Dennis's teleplay, Staley merely gives an estimate, which makes the duration of his stay even more suspicious. The scene where Staley returns to the house and is overheard by the police detective in hiding is curious, since there is no clear explanation of how Staley is tipped off to the presence of the law. Margot thinks he might have seen two cups of tea on the living room table, but this is not possible, since their initial dialogue occurs before Staley enters the room. An important change from the story comes when the detective suggests to Margot that she get other female victims together; this leads to the climax, where Margot and six of her neighbors gang up on Staley in the living room. This time, instead of telling him to do the plumbing at the preschool, they make demands that are more selfish, giving him a list of projects in their own homes that they expect him to do for free. Staley's crimes have been dealt with in kind: the blackmailed have become the blackmailers in a humorous and very fitting transference of guilt.

Craig Stevens as Lewis Brenner

"The Deadly" is directed by Don Taylor (1920-1998), who played the murderous college professor in "Silent Witness," another episode written by Robert C. Dennis and Taylor's only appearance on the Hitchcock show as an actor. Behind the camera, he directed seven episodes of the series, including Henry Slesar's "The Right Kind of House," in a directing career that spanned over thirty years.

Phyllis Thaxter (1919-2012) stars as Margot; she was onscreen from 1944 to 1992 and appeared in nine episodes of the Hitchcock series. She was also seen on Thriller and The Twilight Zone, and later in her career she appeared as Ma Kent in Superman (1978).

Playing Jack Staley, the plumber, is Lee Philips (1927-1999). Like Don Taylor, he started out as an actor and later became a director. His acting career spanned the years from 1953 to 1975; as a director, he worked from 1965 to 1995, almost exclusively in television. He was seen on The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and four times on the Hitchcock show, including Cornell Woolrich's "The Black Curtain."

Frank Gerstle

Margot's husband is played by Craig Stevens (1918-2000), a familiar face to fans of classic TV. Born Gail Shikles Jr., he was on screen from 1939 to 1988, including a role in Otto Preminger's Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950). On TV, he was the star of Peter Gunn (1958-1961) and he was also a regular on the short-lived Invisible Man (1975-1976).

Smaller parts in "The Deadly" are played by:

*Frank Gerstle (1915-1970) as the detective; he was a busy character actor between 1950 and 1970 who appeared on the Hitchcock series three times and in Roger Corman's The Wasp Woman (1959).

*Anabel Shaw (1921-2010) as Rhoda Forbes; her career mainly spanned the years from 1944 to 1958 and she was in Fritz Lang's Secret Beyond the Door (1947) and Gun Crazy (1950). This was her only appearance on the Hitchcock show.

Peggy McCay, Anabel Shaw, Sally Hughes

*Peggy McCay (1927- ) as Myra Herbert; she has been onscreen since 1949 and on the soap opera Days of Our Lives since 1983; she also had important roles in two of the Hitchcock hours--"House Guest" and "The Magic Shop."

*Jacqueline Mayo (1933- ), who plays Anne Warren and resembles Mia Farrow; she had a decade-long career but only got small parts and not many of those.

*Sally Hughes as one of the blackmailed women; notable for her later role as the pulchritudinous Miss Putney, the dental assistant on "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat."

"The Deadly" is available on DVD here or may be viewed for free online here. For a funny take on this episode, click here.

Sources:
"The Deadly." Alfred Hitchcock Presents. CBS. 15 Dec. 1957. Television.
"Galactic Central." Galactic Central. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. Churchville, MD: OTR Pub., 2001. Print.

IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.

"Lawrence Treat." Lawrence Treat. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.

Treat, Lawrence. "Suburban Tigress." 1957. Hitchcock in Prime Time. Ed. Francis M. Nevins and Martin Harry Greenberg. New York: Avon, 1985. 137-51. Print.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.

In two weeks: "Together," starring Joseph Cotten.

The Hitchcock Project-Robert C. Dennis Part Fourteen: "Martha Mason, Movie Star" [2.34]

by Jack Seabrook

"Martha Mason, Movie Star," which aired in CBS on Sunday, May 19, 1957, was based on a short story called "Martha Myers, Movie Star" by Raymond Mason that was first published as the lead story in the second issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, dated January 1957.

Though Mabel is mousy and in her mid-thirties, she thinks she resembles a movie star named Martha Myers. Her husband Henry annoys her and she wishes he spent more than one night a week at the lodge. One evening, Henry calls her down to the basement to see his garden and she takes the opportunity to brain him with a hammer and bury him in the large hole he had dug. She disguises the area by burying potted plants and then types out a note from Henry in which he apologizes to her for running away with another woman.

The next day, she calls Henry's boss and reads him the letter. For the next week, she entertains a string of sympathetic neighbors; Mabel enjoys the attention until she receives a visit from Officer Merkin, who invites her down to the station to fill out a missing persons report. At the station, Merkin receives a phone call and then tells Mabel that they found Henry's body. It seems a "cheap blonde" had gone to the police to inform them that Henry could not have run away with another woman because she is the other woman, with whom he spent every Thursday night when Mabel thought he was at the lodge.

Henry tells Mabel the truth!

Mason's story is very funny and the ironic twist ending is of almost secondary importance to the portrait of a delusional woman for whom murder becomes a means to gain attention. It features much more narrative than dialogue, which must have made it challenging to adapt for television. The FictionMags Index lists three short stories by Raymond Mason, all appearing in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in 1957 or 1958. I also located five paperback originals by this author in the same time period:

And Two Shall Meet (1954)

Forever is Today (1955)

Love After Five (1956)

Bedeviled (1960)

Someone and Felicia Warwick (1962)

The back cover copy for Forever is Today states that Mason was "this generation's spokesman for the young and the damned," but what that means is anyone's guess. All of the novels but Bedeviled were in the Gold Medal series. I queried Bill Crider about whether Raymond Mason might have been a pseudonym, but he was not aware of it being anything but the author's real name. This was the only time a story by Mason was adapted for television or film, according to IMDb.

Robert C. Dennis adapted "Martha Myers, Movie Star" for Alfred Hitchcock Presents  and the title was changed to "Martha Mason, Movie Star," but the show falls flat. It begins as Mabel wakes up and Henry brings her coffee. Their conversation establishes their unhapy relationship and her homely night headwear stands in stark contrast with the lovely movie star whom she emulates.

In the next scene, we see Mabel come out of a movie theater where a movie called Forgotten Woman is playing; she mimics a pose of Martha Mason's in front of a poster outside the theater. Mabel later arrives home to find Henry working in his garden. In the show, his garden is in the yard, unlike the story, where it is in the basement, an odd place to try to grow things! She suggests divorce and he ridicules the idea, then she picks up a hammer and kills him. The scene tries to be comedic, or so it seems from the jaunty, inappropriate music that accompanies the violent murder--I call it violent even though her weak swing with the tool appears unlikely to harm anyone, much less result in the death of her large husband.

Robert Emhardt as Henry

As she shovels dirt on top of the corpse, Mabel speaks her thoughts in voice over in florid terms like those Martha Mason might use in a movie role. The next day, she wakes to the alarm and the phone rings; Henry's boss, Mr. Abernathy calls and she lies to him, telling him that Henry left a note. Unlike the story, where she has already forged the note and reads it to Abernathy over the phone, in the TV show she holds a blank sheet of paper and he tells her he'll be right out. She rushes to the typewriter and completes the fake note just as the boss arrives. A mild feeling of suspense is ruined by more inappropriate musical cues.

Abernathy comes in, reads the note out loud, and consoles her. He tells her to go shopping and cheer up. She returns at some later time to find Abernathy admiring Henry's garden. They go inside and he tells her that word is all over town about Henry. These two scenes with Abernathy visiting the house replace the scenes in the story where she receives visits from all of the neighbors--perhaps Dennis thought it was easier to limit the number of characters, or perhaps the budget was low for this episode.

Judith Evelyn as Mabel

When Abernathy suggests that Mabel's behavior might have contributed to Henry's decision to leave, she impetuously calls the police and demands that Henry be arrested for deserting her. The detective then comes to interview her, making his visit the result of her phone call rather than being unexpected, as it is in the story. She arrives at the police station and the show concludes as does the story; here, she swoons and is caught by a policeman, her pose mirroring that of the poster she had imitated outside the movie theater.

"Martha Mason, Movie Star" is dragged down by an average script and unimaginative direction. Judith Evelyn is not likable as Mabel and Robert Emhardt is not on screen long enough as Henry. The story by Raymond Mason is entertaining but the TV adaptation is much less so.

Not very threatening!

Director Justus Addiss (1917-1979) was at the helm of ten episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents; the last one examined in this series was another disappointing half-hour: "Nightmare in 4-D." He directed episodic TV from 1953 to 1968.

Judith Evelyn (1909-1967) was born Evelyn Morris and was on screen from 1946 to 1962. She appeared in Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954) and William Castle's The Tingler (1959) and she was in one other episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "Guilty Witness," where she also played a woman scorned who murders her husband.

Robert Emhardt (1913-1994) was a wonderful actor who appeared on stage and screen from the late 1940s to the early 1980s. He was seen on the Hitchcock show seven times, including "Don't Come Back Alive," "DeMortuis," and "The Right Kind of House." It is always a treat to watch Emhardt at work.

Vinton Hayworth

Playing Mr. Abernathy is Vinton Hayworth (1906-1970), who started on radio in the 1920s, moved into movies in the 1930s and then began a long TV career in the 1940s. He was the president of AFTRA from 1951 to 1954 and the uncle of both Rita Hayworth and Ginger Rogers. He was a regular on I Dream of Jeannie from 1968 to 1970 and may be seen in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "Night of the Execution."

Finally, Rusty Lane (1899-1986) plays the detective. Lane got his start in movies in 1945 and was often on TV beginning in 1950; his nine appearances on the Hitchcock show include "None Are So Blind," "The Test," and "I Saw the Whole Thing."

Rusty Lane

"Martha Mason, Movie Star" is available on DVD here or may be viewed online for free here.

Thanks to Peter Enfantino for providing a copy of the original story!

Sources:

"The FictionMags Index." The FictionMags Index. 7 Jan. 2016.

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

IMDb. IMDb.com. 7 Jan. 2015.

"Martha Mason, Movie Star." Alfred Hitchcock Presents. CBS. 19 May 1957.

Mason, Raymond. "Martha Myers, Movie Star." Alfred Hitchcock's A Mystery By the Tale. Ed. Cathleen Jordan. NY: Davis Pub., 1986. 123-131.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 8 Jan. 2015.


In two weeks: "A Little Sleep," featuring Vic Morrow and Barbara Cook!

The Hitchcock Project-Henry Slesar Part Forty-Six: "The Second Verdict" [9.30]

by Jack Seabrook

"Second Verdict," by Henry Slesar, was first published in the February 1964 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and confronts an ethical issue: what is an honest attorney to do when his client privately confesses to murder shortly after having been found not guilty by a jury?

This is the question faced by Ned Murray who, as the story opens, nervously awaits the jury's verdict in the murder trial of his client, Lew Rydell. A not guilty verdict leads to celebration and Rydell accompanies Murray back to his office to discuss payment of his legal fee. Murray is shocked when Rydell privately confesses to murder. The jealous type, he killed a grocery delivery boy for making a pass at his wife Melanie, "one of those lynx-eyed blondes who couldn't ask for the time of day without making it sound like an invitation."

Murray is furious that a guilty man has escaped justice. He is unable to enjoy an office party thrown in his honor, despite the efforts of his fiance Karen, daughter of the firm's senior partner. Ned's friend Tony Eigo shows up--he is a former client who Ned got off on a murder rap. Eigo senses that Ned is troubled, and Ned has difficulty sleeping until he decides to pay a visit to Melanie Rydell. He tells her that Lew is guilty of murder and worries that her flirtatious ways could drive him into another jealous rage.

Rydell visits Ostrim, the senior partner of Ned's firm, who blasts Ned for his behavior. Rydell denies making a confession and threatens to sue the firm for slander. Ned goes home and starts drinking, but is interrupted by a visit from Karen, who begs him to drop the matter. She leaves and Ned keeps drinking, but he is interrupted again by Tony. After Ned tells him everything, Tony says that he will take care of things. Ned tells Tony not to kill Lew, but Tony assures him that he knows his business and owes Ned his life.

Martin Landau as Ned Murray

Ned pays a visit to the judge, Lincoln Arthur, to ask for advice. He explains the situation and the judge reveals that he would have spared Lew's life because the man is criminally insane. Ned heads for Rydell's brownstone but arrives to see police cars and an ambulance outside. He sees orderlies bring out a body on a stretcher; it is that of Tony Eigo, killed by Rydell. Ned goes up to see his client, determined to prove that he is insane.

"Second Verdict" is another courtroom drama by Henry Slesar, this time dealing with an ethical question, rather than a legal one. One plot point is vague: did Tony Eigo intend to give his life to repay his debt to Ned? We read that Rydell "caught Tony hanging around the building, watching the place." We are told that "when Tony came into the hallway, Rydell came downstairs and shot him dead. Fired five bullets into him, screaming like a banshee." Eigo is a career criminal, but the murder charge for which Ned defended him was one he did not commit. Did Eigo plan to be killed by Rydell, thus ensuring that Rydell would face justice? Though the story leaves the question unanswered, the televised version provides clarity.

Frank Gorshin as Lew Rydell

"Second Verdict" was adapted for television by Henry Slesar and Alfred Hayes and broadcast on CBS on Friday, May 29, 1964. Retitled "The Second Verdict," it stars Martin Landau as Ned Murray and Frank Gorshin as Lew Rydell. Both give outstanding performances that help transform a good short story into a terrific hour of TV.

The show begins with a sign of the times: a black actor plays the bailiff, a role that could be played by anyone but, in 1964, was given to a black man. We are quickly introduced to Melanie, portrayed as a cheap floozy by Sharon Farrell; Ned, a very serious and earnest Martin Landau; and Lew, a hyperactive Frank Gorshin. In the taxi after the verdict, Lew warns Melanie not to start talking to the "hackie" (driver) while she awaits her husband's return. From the start, Lew demonstrates an unreasonable concern about his wife's fidelity, based on his assessment that she is irresistible to men.

As Lew, Gorshin laughs repeatedly and inappropriately when he confesses to Ned; one wonders if this performance was seen by those responsible for casting him as the Riddler in Batman, which premiered a year and a half later--the characters of Lew Rydell and the Riddler share more than a few quirks. Lew is psychotic and dangerous, with an undercurrent of violence that seems ready to explode to the surface at any moment.

Sharon Farrell as Melanie Rydell

Martin Landau plays Ned as a man of conscience, genuinely troubled by the part he has played in subverting justice. Years ago, he sent back a car that Tony Hardeman (Eigo in the story) tried to give him. In a change from the story, it was Hardeman's 15 year old brother rather than Hardeman himself who was acquitted with Ned's legal assistance. Tony still feels a strong bond with Ned, however, and wants to do him a favor. Another minor change in the televised version is that there is no office party following the verdict, and Hardeman approaches Ned in the building lobby instead of at the party.

Sharon Farrell plays Melanie as a dumb blonde; when Ned visits her at her apartment, she welcomes him in a slip and open housecoat: she is made to stay home all day by her overbearing husband. She is a simple woman who understands and seems to accept her role as her husband's plaything.

The real beauty of the show is Nancy Kovack as Karen, Ned's girlfriend. She and Martin Landau display real chemistry and her sexuality jumps off the screen, in contrast to Melanie, who seems more pathetic than seductive.

An interesting contrast develops in this show between Lew Rydell, the unpredictable, psychotic killer, and Tony Hardeman, the calm, charming professional killer. We are drawn to Hardeman and like him because he supports Ned and because of his matter of fact approach to life. We dislike and fear Rydell, even though he and Hardeman are not terribly far apart: one kills out of compulsion; for the other; it's strictly business.

Nancy Kovack as Karen Osterman

Though the TV show follows the story closely for most of its length, two new scenes are added near the end. After Tony visits Ned and suggests that he will kill Lew, a scene is added where Ned returns to his office and talks with "H.E.," the senior partner and father of Karen, Ned's girlfriend. In a change of opinion, Osterman (Ostrim in the story) tells Ned that he can go to the District Attorney with his story. Ned surprises his boss by telling him that he has changed his mind, much to Osterman's delight.

The second new scene follows, and it is important. Ned telephones the Rydell home but hangs up when Melanie answers. We never know why Ned made the call--was he going to tell Rydell that he had changed his mind?--but the result of this call sets up everything that follows, including the show's climax. Lew questions Melanie about the phone call and, despite her protestations that she is innocent, Lew suspects that the call was a signal from a lover. He imagines a scenario in which a man is waiting outside, and Frank Gorshin is frightening in the way he allows his character's paranoia to escalate. It seems like he can't decide whether his fears are justified, so he goes to the window and looks outside, only to see Tony sitting in his car looking up at him. This is all Lew needs to snap, believing he has caught Melanie in a lie.

Lew starts to become violent, pulling Melanie back into the middle of the room and threatening to break her neck, "just like I broke that kid's." With this comment, he reveals his guilt to his wife, who had defended him when Ned told her the truth in an earlier scene. Mad with jealousy, he raises his hand to strike her, and the scene cuts to the home of Judge Arthur, who is about to have his talk with Ned. The scene cuts back to the Rydell apartment, where Lew drags Melanie to the window and forces her to wave to Tony and invite him up. Tony gets out of the car, and the scene cuts back to Ned's meeting with the judge. From this point on, the show follows the story closely, with minor enhancements.

Harold J. Stone as H.E. Osterman

By adding these two scenes, screenwriters Slesar and Hayes make Osterman seem more ethical and Rydell more insane. The key scene is the one in the Rydell apartment, which shows Lew spiraling out of control and sets up the concluding murder of Tony much better than in the story. First-time director Lewis Teague does a brilliant job of cross-cutting in the show's final minutes, as Ned tries to hail a cab outside the judge's home while we see Tony in the hallway outside Rydell's apartment. Here, the question that is posed by the story, about whether Tony gave his life willingly, is answered--Tony takes a gun out of his pocket, checks it, and gets ready to enter Rydell's apartment. It seems clear that Tony plans to kill Rydell rather than sacrifice himself. Moments later, we hear gunshots and see Melanie open the widow and scream for help. When Ned arrives at the street outside, we see orderlies bring a body out on a stretcher and Ned pulls back the sheet to reveal Tony's face. The anguished look on Ned's face tells the whole story: in trying to adhere to ethical behavior, he set in motion a chain of events that led to the death of a loyal friend.

"The Second Verdict" is a TV show that aired 50 years ago, directed by someone who had not directed before, featuring stock music, and based on a short story from a mystery digest. Yet the combination of elements yields an exciting, suspenseful hour that deals with serious issues without becoming overbearing. The cast is excellent, but the real stars of the show are its lead actors, Martin Landau and Frank Gorshin, whose performances are quite memorable.

John Marley as Tony Hardeman

Martin Landau (1928- ) has done excellent work in TV since 1953 and in movies since 1959. He was a villain in Hitchcock's North By Northwest (1959) and made memorable appearances in two episodes each of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. He starred as Rollin Hand on Mission: Impossible from 1966 to 1969 and then on Space: 1999 from 1975 to 1977. He won an Oscar playing Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994) and remains active today. This was his only appearance on the Hitchcock series.

Frank Gorshin (1933-2005) began his career in show business as a teenage impressionist, soon moving on to a busy schedule playing nightclubs. He started on TV and in the movies in 1956 and kept acting until his death almost 50 years later. He appeared on an episode of Star Trek but his most famous role was as the Riddler on Batman (1966-1967). He made two appearances on the Hitchcock series; the first, "Decoy" (1956), was one of his earliest acting credits.

Sharon Farrell (1940- ) makes her second of three appearances on the Hitchcock series. The first was Slesar's "The Matched Pearl," the third would be Robert Bloch's "Final Performance." She maintains a website here that provides career details.

Playing Tony Hardeman is John Marley (1907-1984), who started in movies in the early 1940s and on TV later that same decade. He appeared on Thriller, The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone and Kolchak: The Night Stalker; he was also in The Godfather (1972). He appeared on the Hitchcock series three times.

Richard Hale as Judge Lincoln Arthur

Gorgeous Nancy Kovack (1935- ) plays Karen, Ned's girlfriend. She was on TV from 1958 to 1976 and in movies from 1960 to 1969. She was on Batman twice, Star Trek once, and in the film, Jason and the Argonauts (1963). This was her only appearance on the Hitchcock series. She is married to conductor Zubin Mehta. Websites featuring photos and information about Kovack may be found here and here; she won eight beauty titles by age 20 and dated William Shatner in the late 1960s.

Her father, H.E. Osterman, is played by familiar character actor Harold J. Stone (1913-2005), who was born Harold Hochstein and whose long career began on Broadway in 1939. He moved into film work in 1946 and TV in 1949. Appearing five times on the Hitchcock series, including "The Night the World Ended," he was also in Jack Finney's House of Numbers (1957), an episode of The Twilight Zone, and two Roger Corman films: X-The Man With The X-Ray Eyes (1963) and The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967).

Melanie relaxes at home

Richard Hale (1892-1981), who plays the judge, started out in show business as a singer and focused on acting later in life. He was in movies from 1942 to 1977 and on TV from 1952 to 1978. He appeared on the Hitchcock series twice, on Thriller twice, on Star Trek, Night Gallery, and in Fritz Lang's Moonfleet (1955).

Alfred Hayes (1911-1985) co-wrote the teleplay with Henry Slesar. He started out by writing fiction and poetry in the 1930s, then after WWII, he remained in Italy and scripted neo-realist films, including Paisan (1946). Returning to Hollywood, he wrote screenplays for Fritz Lang's Clash By Night (1952) and Human Desire (1954). He wrote teleplays from 1961 to 1981 and wrote seven episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, including the adaptation of Robert Bloch's "Water's Edge."

Is that Tom Reese on the right?

Lewis Teague (1938- ) directed this episode, which was his only episode of the Hitchcock series and his very first credit. Despite his quality work on "The Second Verdict," he did not go on to direct any particularly distinguished films; his 30 or so credits include Cujo (1983).

Finally, in a small, uncredited role as the cab driver at the end who takes Ned from the judge's home to Rydell's apartment building, I think I spotted Tom Reese, who would later play Sergeant Velie on Ellery Queen.

"The Second Verdict" is not yet available on DVD but may be viewed online for free here.

Sources:
Galactic Central. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2015.

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. Churchville, MD: OTR Pub., 2001. Print.

IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2015.

"The Second Verdict." The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. CBS. 29 May 1964. Television.

Slesar, Henry. "Second Verdict." 1964. Death on Television: The Best of Henry Slesar's Alfred Hitchcock Stories. Ed. Francis M. Nevins and Martin Harry. Greenberg. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1989. 235-59. Print.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2015.

*MeTV is now showing The Alfred Hitchcock Hour every Monday through Saturday night at 3 a.m. Eastern Time.

*Antenna TV has stopped showing Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

*In two weeks: "Isabel" with Bradford Dillman and Barbara Barrie (the last Slesar episode)!

The Hitchcock Project-Henry Slesar Part Forty-Five: "Who Needs An Enemy?" [9.28]

by Jack Seabrook

"Who Needs An Enemy?" represents another attempt at comedy by the producers of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Based on Henry Slesar's short story, "Goodbye Charlie" (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, January 1964), the TV show succeeds due to good performances by the lead actors, skilled direction by Harry Morgan, and rapid-fire dialogue by Arthur Ross, who adapted the story for television.

In Slesar's story, Charlie is a businessman who steals $75,000 from his partner, Max Turtin. Charlie has big expenses, the biggest of which is his flashy girlfriend, Danielle. When Turtin discovers the theft he promises to call the district attorney after an audit, so Charlie cooks up a scheme to fake his own suicide and avoid going to jail. With a little help from Danielle, Charlie dumps a coat and heavy package off a bridge into the water below, convincing onlookers that a man has jumped to his death.

Charlie hides out in a "shabby hotel downtown" and, after three days, visits Turtin's apartment, planning to kill his partner. Turtin is not surprised to see his partner alive, since Danielle had told him Charlie's plan. He drugs Charlie with a drink and Charlie awakens to find himself bound and gagged. Max points out to Danielle that Charlie is already believed to be dead, so no one is surprised when Charlie's body "washed up on shore ten days later." Max now owns the store and no longer has to share the profit.

"Goodbye Charlie" does not seem long or detailed enough to warrant adapting into a one-hour teleplay, but Arthur Ross solves the problem by turning it into a black comedy. The first scene finds Charlie sneaking into his office in the early morning to alter the books when he is caught by his partner, renamed Eddie, who has already discovered his deceit. Eddie holds Charlie at gunpoint but there is no sense of menace or suspense--the show is clearly a comedy right from the start. Director Harry Morgan uses close ups extensively to focus on the dialogue, which is the highlight of the show. Steven Hill, as Charlie, gives a marvelously deadpan performance and demonstrates right from the start how his character can tell lies with ease, usually by avoiding looking at the person to whom he is speaking.

Joanna Moore as Danielle

Joanna Moore, as Danielle, is introduced in the second scene, when the location switches to her apartment. She gives the show's best comedic performance, perfectly portraying a beautiful blond who is not flustered by any of the dishonest or absurd things that come out of her fiancee's mouth. One of the funniest things about "Who Needs An Enemy?" is that she and Charlie rarely react the way one expects them to. When Charlie laments that he could go to jail for 35 years, Danielle quips, "I'll miss you terribly!" Her main concern is finding out where Charlie hid the rest of the stolen loot.

Charlie first plans to kill Eddie by running into him as he leaves the office; the plan goes wrong when Eddie veers off unexpectedly and Charlie's vehicle crashes into another parked car. Back at Danielle's apartment, Charlie comes up with the idea of faking his own suicide. After going to the office and confessing his guilt to Eddie, Charlie stages his own death in the show's most ludicrous sequence. In a scene that appears to have been shot day for night, Charlie goes out onto an ocean side pier with three items: a dummy made of straw and dressed in a suit, a bag filled with heavy objects, and a long coil of rope connecting the two. Charlie sets a timer on dynamite inside the dummy, then throws the bag over the side. As the rope plays out and the dummy sits perched atop the railing on the edge of the pier, Charlie yells, "No, don't jump!" This alerts a man who had been standing on the other side of the pier with his girlfriend. The man runs across the pier to try to save the dummy but Charlie sees that he will arrive too soon and tackles him! In the background, the dummy is obviously not a real person and the rope can be seen playing out below it. The man gets up and races to the side of the pier, too late to save the dummy. A crowd gathers and someone suggests that Charlie jump in and save the drowning man, but before he can do that there is an explosion in the water.

Steven Hill as Charlie

This scene is so ridiculous that one has to laugh at Charlie's antics. The thought that any onlooker would be fooled by the dummy and the rope is unbelievable and, if anyone did not realize that this was a comedy before now, there is no longer any doubt. In addition to the snappy dialogue, the comedic performances, and the speedy pace set by the director, "Who Needs An Enemy?" benefits from an entertaining score by Lyn Murray, who mixes lush strings and "Mickey Mousing" with occasional stings to highlight the action and the punchlines.

Another strong scene occurs when Danielle attends a memorial service for Charlie. Despite the meager turnout, Eddie gives a passionate and very amusing eulogy in which he praises his late partner and friend but keeps having to rein himself in every time he starts to get upset about the money that Charlie stole from him. Richard Anderson, as Eddie, is surprisingly good here and calls to mind a Mark Antony who can't help criticizing Caesar. Back at Danielle's apartment, Joanna Moore gets another chance to shine when she is interrogated by a police officer. It seems the police recovered the weighted bag filled with items from her apartment, but each time a question is asked of her she finds a new and creative way to respond, "I don't know." Like Charlie, she finds it easier to lie by not looking at the person with whom she speaks.

Richard Anderson as Eddie

The shows final scenes find Charlie in a disguise that consists of sunglasses, a mustache and a goatee, telephoning Danielle daily to give her updates on his progress toward making their escape plans a reality. After getting passports, visas and plane tickets, he enlists her aid to go back to his own office and recover the $60,000 he stashed in a file cabinet. She suggests a toast and he pours drinks from Eddie's best bottle; Charlie downs his drink and immediately collapses. He awakens to find himself bound and gagged and at the mercy of Eddie and Danielle, who threw her hat in with Eddie after the funeral when he told her about all of the girls Charlie had betrayed in the past.

A short final scene occurs back at the same pier where Charlie had faked his own suicide. Eddie pushes Charlie off of the railing and into the water, and Eddie and Danielle walk off together arm in arm as an explosion rocks the water behind them.

Charlie takes "Charlie" to the edge of the pier

"Who Needs An Enemy?" is not the sort of show that will satisfy those looking for horror or suspense on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, but it succeeds as a black comedy due to a good mix of actors, script, direction and music. I cannot say why Arthur Ross wrote the teleplay instead of Henry Slesar but, based on several of Slesar's prior efforts at comedy on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, I think it was the right choice. Ross (1920-2008) was a writer who started out in the early 1940s in movies and also wrote for radio before starting in TV in the early 1950s. He wrote the screenplays for Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) as well as eight episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. His papers are held at the University of Iowa and are indexed online.

Harry Morgan (1915-2011), who directed the show, was born Harry Bratsberg and was best known as an actor. He was on stage, in movies, or on TV for over sixty years, from the 1930s through the 1990s, starring in four long-running TV series, including M*A*S*H from 1974 to 1983. He does not have many credits as a director and he only worked in this capacity on TV. He directed this and one other episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; he also appeared as an actor in the John Collier episode, "Anniversary Gift."

Moments before the final push

Starring as Charlie is Steven Hill (1922- ), born Solomon Krakovsky, who acted on stage, in movies and on TV from 1946 until 2000. An Actor's Studio graduate, he starred on the first season of Mission: Impossible (1966-1967) but was replaced by Peter Graves, partly because Hill was an Orthodox Jew and refused to work on the Sabbath. He appeared in three episodes of the Hitchcock series and also spent ten years on the series Law and Order, from 1990 to 2000.

Lovely Joanna Moore (1934-1997) is hilarious as Danielle. She was born Dorothy Cook and acted in movies and on TV from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s. She was in six episodes of the Hitchcock series, including Slesar's "Most Likely to Succeed." She was married to Ryan O'Neal in the 1960s and she was Tatum O'Neal's mother.

Barney Phillips as the police officer

A familiar face to fans of fantastic television is that of Richard Anderson (1926- ), who plays Eddie. His TV career ranged from 1950 to 1998 and he was also in movies starting in the late 1940s, including Forbidden Planet (1956). This was his only appearance on the Hitchcock show, but he s well-remembered as Oscar Goldman on The Six Million Dollar Man (1974-1978) and The Bionic Woman (1976-1978). He was in Thriller's "The Purple Room" and maintains his own website here.

In a small role as the police officer who interrogates Danielle is Barney Phillips (1913-1982). His three appearances on the Hitchcock series were all in hour-long episodes either written by Henry Slesar or based on short stories by Slesar; last was "Starring the Defense."

"Who Needs An Enemy?" may be viewed for free online here.

Sources:

Galactic Central. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Dec. 2014.

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. Churchville, MD: OTR Pub., 2001. Print.

IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 27 Dec. 2014.

Slesar, Henry. "Goodbye Charlie." Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine Jan. 1964: 26-33. Print.

"Who Needs An Enemy?" The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. CBS. 15 May 1964. Television.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Dec. 2014.

*MeTV is showing The Alfred Hitchcock Hour every Saturday night/Sunday morning at 3 a.m. Eastern Time.

*Antenna TV is showing back to back episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents every night from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. Eastern time.

*In two weeks: "The Second Verdict" with Martin Landau and Frank Gorshin!

The Hitchcock Project-Henry Slesar Part Forty-Four: "Behind the Locked Door" [9.22]

by Jack Seabrook

When a handsome but poor young man falls for a plain but rich young woman, does he really love her or is he just after her money? This is the central question in Henry Slesar's short story, "Behind the Locked Door," first published in the January 1961 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine under the pen name O.H. Leslie.

The story opens as Davey Snowden and Bonnie Daniels visit a large, old house that belongs to her family. "The house was a sphinx, squatting on the hillside," writes Slesar and, like the Sphinx of ancient myth, it holds a secret. Davey believes that, if he solves the riddle, he will be rich, yet solving the riddle of this sphinx will result in his death. Bonnie and Davey drive up to the house and she runs ahead of him and ventures inside, turning on lights to reveal cracked ceilings and white-shrouded furniture. Already, Slesar is hinting at the hidden nature of their relationship, with initial excitement leading to disappointment.

Bonnie states that she lived in this house until she was nine years old--she's 17 now and Davey is 22. They playfully explore the house until Davey finds a locked door on the fourth floor. Bonnie tells him that it has always been locked and she does not want him to open it. In a sense, the locked door represents Davey's heart and Bonnie is afraid of discovering the true nature of his feelings for her. Davey's mind immediately goes to thoughts of wealth and he wonders if there is something of value behind the door; he knows that Bonnie will inherit the house when she turns 21. Bonnie convinces him to leave it alone and he builds a fire downstairs as she dozes off.

Suddenly, a car drives up and Bonnie's mother marches in "like some matriarchal figure of vengeance." She demands that Bonnie come home with her but Davey tells her that they were married that afternoon in Elkton, where a 17-year-old girl may legally wed (a couple of hours' drive from New York City, Elkton, MD, was once known as the quickie wedding capital of the East Coast). Davey insists that he loves Bonnie but Mrs. Daniels bluntly tells him that she is a plain girl and that a handsome boy like him only wants her money. Bonnie threatens to kill herself and her mother leaves as "the last clutch of flames flared up and died on the blackened log." Is this a metaphor for the end of romance between Davey and Bonnie? Possibly, since the next day the young couple goes to Davey's small apartment in the city to begin their married life together.

James MacArthur as Davey Snowden

Davey consults a lawyer and tells Bonnie that her mother can probably have their marriage annulled. He suggests that she follow through on her earlier threat to kill herself in order to prove to her mother that their love is true. She goes along with the idea and writes what is meant to be a fake suicide note, which he mails to her mother. She then takes a small number of sleeping pills with the idea that her mother will find her and prevent her death. Instead, when Mrs. Daniels arrives, she finds Bonnie lying dead in her bed, much to Davey's surprise. Mrs. Daniels reveals that Bonnie had rheumatic fever at age 14 and that the illness left her with a weak heart, so "it wouldn't take much" to kill her.

Lynn Loring as Bonnie Daniels

A month  after the funeral, Davey is summoned to the office of Mrs. Daniels's attorney. She gives Davey the old house, making "one small donation" in her daughter's memory. Davey drives out to the house and climbs to the fourth floor, anxious to see at last what is behind the locked door. He unlocks it, steps through, and utters "a hoarse, despairing scream" as he fall to his "sudden and violent death" through the rotten floorboards of an overhang, four stories above the driveway. Later, Mrs. Daniels tells her attorney that she knew Davey would rush in and fall to his death: "It was an old, gloomy, drafty house, Walter," she says. "But you know, sometimes I think it really wasn't so bad."

Gloria Swanson as Mrs. Daniels

"Behind the Locked Door" is an effective story with a surprising ending. As he so often does in his fiction, Slesar explores the nature of family relations and love. Here, the locked door is both physical object and metaphor for Davey's true feelings--when he finally opens it and exposes them, there is rot at the base and nothingness beneath. Yet Davey's greed is rather subtly presented in this story and he never comes right out and says that he only loved Bonnie for her money. This subtlety is removed at the shocking conclusion of the TV adaptation of this tale, also called "Behind the Locked Door," which aired on CBS on Friday, March 27, 1964, during the second season of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. The teleplay is credited to Henry Slesar and Joel Murcott (1915-1978). Murcott was a writer for radio and television from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s; he wrote twelve episodes of the Hitchcock series and this was the last one to air. There is no way to tell who contributed what to the teleplay at this late date, but if Murcott was responsible for the major change in the story's ending, he should be applauded.

Trying to pick the lock

From the opening credits, "Behind the Locked Door" is a special episode, initially due to the original score by Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975), who scored 7 films for Hitchcock from 1955 to 1964 and who wrote original scores for 17 episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour's last two seasons. (The score for "Behind the Locked Door" is contained on one of Varese Sarabande's collections of Herrmann's scores for this series and is available on CD here; more information about Herrmann may be found here). Herrmann uses a five-note theme to create a mood of suspense as the show begins with the exploration of the old house by Davey and Bonnie. Unlike the story, where they enter with ease and turn on the electric lights, the TV show heightens the aura of mystery and danger by having Davey break a window to get into the house and by having the electricity turned off, forcing the young couple to light candles for their exploration.

The first appearance of Mrs. Daniels

Davey's underlying coldness is foreshadowed by his willingness to leave Bonnie standing alone in the dark in order to break into the house. As they enter, we see an unknown man watching them from a car across the street; he drives away, and we later learn that he called Mrs. Daniels and told her about their visit to the house. In the show, Davey believes Bonnie is 19 years old and she tells him that she was six years old when her father died and they moved out of the house. These changes in age from the story make it more believable, first because Bonnie had rheumatic fever as a young child rather than as a teenager and would thus be more likely to be unaware of her medical condition, and second, because she lied about her age in order to get married without her mother's consent.

Unable to revive Bonnie

The producer of "Behind the Locked Door" follows a trend in other Hitchcock TV episodes of casting an attractive actress to play a female character who is described as "plain." Lynn Loring (1944- ), who plays Bonnie, is quite pretty, hardly the plain girl that her mother claims her to be. James MacArthur (1937-2010) plays Davey as somewhat suspicious from the start. Instead of walking in on the couple in front of the fire, as she does in the story, Mrs. Daniels surprises Davey as he tries to pick the lock on the upstairs door. Gloria Swanson (1899-1983) gives a superb performance as Mrs. Daniels, and director Douglas was surely thinking of her classic role in Sunset Boulevard (1950) when he dressed her in a black veil and lit her to look menacing.

Mrs. Daniels tells Davey that his new bride is 17, not 19 as she claimed, and concludes her scene with the young couple by stylishly blowing out the three candles on the candelabra that they used to light their way. Like the dying fire of the story, the extinguishing of the candles shows how Bonnie's mother puts an end to her daughter's romance.

Davey's real nature is revealed

The teleplay adds a scene where Davey visits the office of Mrs. Daniels's lawyer. The lawyer and Mrs. Daniels offer Davey a scholarship to finish college and then a good job afterwards in exchange for leaving Bonnie alone; he refuses the offer but grudgingly signs a paper agreeing to annul the marriage. The next few scenes expand the story and this is the only part of the show that drags a bit. Bonnie turns 18 and rejoins Davey in his apartment, refusing to leave when her mother arrives and demands it. Davey buys a used car and wants to drive out to the old house, but Bonnie resists--he remains curious about what is behind the locked door. Davey is broke and tells Bonnie to go back to her mother, but she professes her love for him, even without money. They meet in a restaurant and he tells her that her mother has blocked him from finding a job; here he comes up with the plan for her to fake suicide.

Watching from the shadows

Lynn Loring gives an excellent performance as Bonnie, a young woman who is very much in love and blind to signs of danger. The scene where she takes the sleeping pills is brutal and is highlighted by Herrmann's suspenseful music, featuring harp strings plucked like a ticking clock as she drifts off to sleep. James MacArthur is suitably cold here as Davey, staging the room with small touches to make it look like a real suicide attempt. Mrs. Daniels arrives and Gloria Swanson is convincing as a distraught mother who looks like she threw on a robe and rushed over to find her daughter lifeless. This is where the small change in the story makes more sense than Slesar's original--we can believe that Bonnie was unaware of the danger of taking sleeping pills because she had rheumatic fever as a young child and did not remember. Davey asks her mother, "Did she know that?" and does not receive an answer. Davey begins to cry as he holds his dead wife, and we wonder if his love for her was sincere. James MacArthur credibly portrays a man in conflict who appears to love his wife but who also wants her money.

Through the door at last!

The show's final scene is memorable. Herrmann's score builds suspense as Davey heads upstairs in the dark, his way lit with shadows from the candelabra he holds. For the first time, his personality manifests itself in a way that was not present in the short story. In an earlier scene, Davey had picked up a small, framed photo of Bonnie as a little girl and kissed it tenderly. Now, he picks up the same photo and addresses it: "Mother was right, baby; you were as plain as dishwater. But you finally paid off. And now Davey's gonna get a look at the jackpot." He kisses the picture derisively, tosses it away, and marches out of the room and down the hall, singing! Unlike the story, where he is alone in the house, here he is being watched by Mrs. Daniels, who stands in a darkened doorway, dressed all in black, mourning her dead daughter.

At the bottom of the elevator shaft

Davey opens the door, steps through, and screams. In the story, that is the end of the scene, and what happens to him is revealed to the reader in the lines that follow during a discussion between Mrs. Daniels and her lawyer. In the TV show, the drama is heightened by having Mrs. Daniels right there on the spot. She walks to the doorway and stands there like the Angel of Death. She looks down at Davey and lifts her black veil. He lies at the bottom of an unfinished elevator shaft, his back broken, calling for help, but she explains that the elevator was never installed. Her husband was having it built for his sick daughter and, when he died, Mrs. Daniels locked the door, moved away, and never looked back. In a horrific climax, she lowers the black veil over her face and slowly backs away from the doorway as Davey screams. She tosses down the keys to him, closes the door, and the screen fades to black.

What a tremendous ending, and what a brilliant alteration to the story! The final scene brings everything together: the great score by Herrmann, the shadowy set, and Gloria Swanson's powerful acting. Her lifting and lowering of her black veil and her slowly backing away from the doorway demonstrate the skills she used in silent film. "Behind the Locked Door" is a very good story that was turned into an unforgettable hour of television. True, it drags in the middle section, but once you have seen the ending you will not soon get it out of your mind.

Bonnie assures Davey she is happy

Gloria Swanson, playing Mrs. Daniels, was a great star of silent cinema who made a brilliant comeback in Billy Wilder's classic Sunset Boulevard. She made her film debut in 1914 and her TV debut in 1948. She did not make many appearances after Wilder's film but when she did act onscreen she was impossible to ignore. This was her only time on the Hitchcock series.

As Davey, James MacArthur plays a very different role than the one viewers most remember him for today--that of Danno on Hawaii Five-O (1969-1979). MacArthur's father was playwright and screenwriter Charles MacArthur; his mother by adoption was the great stage actress Helen Hayes. He grew up surrounded by literary and theatrical greats and surely met Gloria Swanson before acting with her in this episode. His TV and movie career began in the mid-1950s and this was his only appearance on the Hitchcock show. Learn more about James MacArthur here.

Anything but plain, Lynn Loring gives a very emotional performance as Bonnie. She started out as a child actress in 1951 and worked into the mid-1970s before becoming a producer. She was president of MGM/UA Television from 1984 to 1989 and today runs her own production company in Los Angeles. She appeared in one other episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

Whit Bissell as Adam Driscoll

Whit Bissell (1909-1996) was a busy character actor in movies and on TV, who appeared in such films as Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). He was in one other episode of the Hitchcock series: Slesar's "Burglar Proof."

Finally, Robert Douglas (1909-1999) directed this episode. He began his movie career as an actor in 1931 and appeared twice as an actor in Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He began directing episodic television in 1960 and directed four episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, including "The Sign of Satan."

"Behind the Locked Door" is not currently available on DVD or online.

Sources:
"Behind the Locked Door." The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. CBS. 27 Mar. 1964. Television.

"Elkton, Maryland: The Quickie Wedding Capital of the East Coast." Boundary Stones: WETA's Washington DC History Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

"The FictionMags Index." N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

Galactic Central. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. Churchville, MD: OTR Pub., 2001. Print.

IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

Slesar, Henry. "Behind the Locked Door." 1961. Death on Television: The Best of Henry Slesar's Alfred Hitchcock Stories. Ed. Francis M. Nevins and Martin H. Greenberg. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1989. 220-34. Print.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

*MeTV is showing The Alfred Hitchcock Hour every Saturday night/Sunday morning at 3 a.m. Eastern Time.

*Antenna TV is showing back to back episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents every night from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. Eastern time.

*In two weeks: "Who Needs an Enemy?" with Steven Hill and Joanna Moore!