The Hitchcock Project-Bryce Walton Part Four: The Big Score [7.22], Bryce Walton Overview and Bryce Walton Episode Guide

by Jack Seabrook

Bryce Walton's second teleplay for Alfred Hitchcock Presents was "The Big Score," which was broadcast over the NBC network on Tuesday, March 6, 1962. The source for this episode was a story, also called "The Big Score," by Sam Merwin, Jr., that had been published in the July 1955 issue of Manhunt.

"Prominent businessman and philanthropist" F. Hubert Fellowes has been murdered in his home. His safe was rifled and the police have set up a five-state dragnet, suspicious that the crime was a "carefully planned, professional job." In truth, the criminals are four young people: Gino, Dora, Mike and Arne, who have spent the past three days cooped up in a tenement, afraid to venture outside. Dora was a babysitter working for Fellowes, and this was just the latest in a series of robberies she had set up for her friends. "They were just kids . . . without connections; ranging in age from 17 to 21, they were "treading water way over their heads." Living in a city that is known as a safe haven for important crime figures, Gino is a punk who arrived two years before, riding a freight car with barely a cent to his name. He wanted to make connections with successful criminals but failed and now wants to move on.

"The Big Score" was first published here

The robbery at the Fellowes home was planned for when the owner was supposed to be out of town, but when he came home unexpectedly Gino shot and killed him. Now, hearing that big-time crooks are gathering in the city, Gino thinks that the $32,000 he and his friends stole from the Fellowes home is his ticket to the big time. He goes to a bar to find Ozzie, a fence, and buys a portable radio and a lantern because Mike's failure to pay the electric bill the month before has left the foursome in the dark and without the latest news bulletins. Ozzie mentions that Mike had been there earlier that day to try to sell him a gold table lighter; Gino realizes that Mike stole the lighter from the Fellowes home and that his careless act has put them all in danger.

Back at the tenement, Gino confronts Mike. Later that night, Dora comes home from another babysitting job to announce that the cops are checking each home in the neighborhood. An argument ensues and Dora kills Arne with a knife; Gino kills Mike by bashing him over the head repeatedly with the portable radio. Dora and Gino take the money and leave, avoiding trouble with the police on the way out and walking toward the highway. They are stopped by Ozzie and three mobsters, who tell them that Fellowes was the payoff man for the syndicate and that their future looks bleak.

From Manhunt

Merwin's story takes a long time to get to the point, which is that Gino really is nothing more than a punk who is too stupid to realize that the man he robbed was an important member of the city's criminal organization. It is hard to pinpoint where the story takes place and it seems to be set in an imaginary city somewhere in the northeastern part of the U.S. At one point, Mike mentions having lost money at Aqueduct, a racetrack in New York City, but when Dora and Gino are stopped by a cop after they have murdered Mike and Arne, she says that they are on their way to New York to "start a new Jelke Ring."

The Jelke Ring reference is one that would have been familiar to readers in 1955 but is forgotten today. Minot Jelke, heir to an oleomargarine fortune, ran a New York prostitution ring that catered to the rich and famous and he was convicted in 1953 after a well-publicized trial.

A blurb in Manhunt says that Sam Merwin, Jr. (1910-1996), was a "former editor and an author whose work has covered virtually every field." He started out as a reporter, then edited magazines on and off from the 1930s to the 1970s, including important science fiction pulps and detective digests such as Startling Stories and Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine. His stories began to see publication as early as 1938 and he wrote mysteries, science fiction, romance, and even a few comic books. Other than this episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, his only other TV credit is a story that was adapted for Lights Out.

Rafael Campos as Gino

Bryce Walton made some changes to Merwin's story when he adapted it for television. Perhaps the most important addition was the show's first scene, which dramatizes the robbery at the Fellowes home, an incident that has already happened when the short story begins. Fellowes sends his young son Larry off to bed and leaves him in Dora's care. As soon as he leaves, Dora pours herself a drink at the bar and her three friends arrive. Mike and Arne make a racket and Gino seems nervous and tells them to be quiet. Walton foreshadows the act that will cause their downfall when he has Mike admire the gold table lighter, which has large initials "FHF" printed on it. The three young men admire Fellowes's gun collection and Gino takes a revolver and loads it. When Fellowes comes home unexpectedly, he confronts the men, who menace him with switchblades. Gino attacks and kills him with his knife after threatening him with the stolen gun.

Evans Evans as Dora

Dora stays behind to call the police and Mike rushes back in to collect the jacket he forgot. He also grabs the lighter in an impulsive gesture that will have repercussions. The show then picks up where the short story begins, with the foursome sweating it out in the tenement. Instead of having the electricity go off, as in the story, Gino is concerned about how they will spend the money without arousing suspicion, since hundred dollar bills will be difficult to pass. He visits Ozzie and buys a radio in order to break one of the big bills; Ozzie lights a cigarette and we see that he uses the monogrammed lighter that Mike stole from the Fellowes home.

Gino goes back to the tenement and there is a confrontation in which he appears to attack Arne, though it's not clear if Arne is dead or just drunk. Gino and Dora gather up the loot and leave. Instead of making their way to the main road on foot, we next see them speeding through the night in a sports car, pursued by another car. Though they are exhilarated by the speed of the chase they soon find themselves forced to the side of the road. Gino and Dora try to escape but are stopped by Ozzie and another man, who hold them at gunpoint. Ozzie tells Gino that the cash is syndicate money and that Fellowes was their boss. Ozzie's final line to Gino reinforces that the young man remains a "punk," unable to break out of his class and join the successful criminals.

Philip Reed as Fellowes

Like many teleplays by Robert C. Dennis, Bryce Walton's script for "The Big Score" adds an opening scene to dramatize events that are only referred to in the story. He simplifies things for the viewer by adding a monogram to the stolen lighter and adds some excitement to the conclusion by inserting a car chase. The show is directed by Boris Sagal (1923-1981), who uses some creative camera angles and shot choices to add drama and suspense to the story. For instance, he shoots extreme closeups at emotional moments, such as when Dora tells a false story to the detective about what happened, and he uses low angle shots looking up at various characters to show their dominance or to generate suspense. Sagal was born in the Ukraine and worked mostly in TV from 1955 to 1981. He directed two episodes of The Twilight Zone and three of Alfred Hitchcock Presents; the others were "Maria" and "The Test."

Rafael Campos (1936-1985) stars as Gino and, at 26, appears too old for the part. In the story, the character is said to be 20 years old and in the show he remarks that he is too young for a gun license. Campos was born in the Dominican Republic and made his debut in The Blackboard Jungle (1955). He appeared often on TV for the next three decades.

John Zaremba as Lt. Morgan

Dora is played by Evans Evans (1936- ), who later married director John Frankenheimer. Her career onscreen lasted from 1958 to 1994 and she was in an episode of The Twilight Zone. Her only other appearance on the Hitchcock series was in "I Saw the Whole Thing"; she also received good reviews for her role in Bonnie and Clyde (1967). In "The Big Score," she uses the made-up word "right-a-rooney" three times in the opening minutes, setting an annoying tone from which the show never really recovers. She is too pretty and well-coiffed to play the Dora of the short story, who is described as a slob in the tenement scenes and who eats radishes to make her skin break out so that the men at her babysitting jobs do not find her too attractive.

The unfortunate Mr. Fellowes is played by Philip Reed (1908-1996), a suave actor who was onscreen from 1933 to 1965 and who was seen in five episodes of the Hitchcock series, including "The Derelicts."

The other cast members all had unremarkable careers except for John Zaremba (1908-1996), who has a brief role as Lt. Morgan, the detective who interrogates Dora after the murder. He was in eleven episodes of the Hitchcock series, the last of which discussed here was "Starring the Defense."

The seventh season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents has not been released on DVD in the U.S. and I was not able to find a legal place online to view this episode.

Sources:

"The Big Score." Alfred Hitchcock Presents. NBC. 6 Mar. 1962. Television.

"The FictionMags Index." The FictionMags Index. Web. 12 Aug. 2016.

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

IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 12 Aug. 2016.

Walton, Bryce. "The Big Score." Manhunt July 1955: 120-38. Print.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 12 Aug. 2016.

OVERVIEW: BRYCE WALTON AND ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS

Bryce Walton's contributions to Alfred Hitchcock Presents are a mixed bag. Three of his short stories were adapted by other writers, one each in the fourth, fifth and sixth seasons, then he wrote three teleplays in the latter part of the seventh season, one of which was an adaptation of his own story and another of which was also credited to Henry Slesar.

"Touché" is a clever story from 1958 that has the sort of twist ending that appealed to the producers of the TV series. The teleplay is by William Fay and the episode benefits from strong performances by Paul Douglas and Robert Morse.

"Cell 227" is an adaptation of "An Eye for an Eye," a story from 1959, and Walton's story is a thoughtful look at a difficult topic--capital punishment. Bill Ballinger's adaptation removes the story's subtlety and lops off its ending, changing the focus and making it more of a thriller than a meditation.

"The Greatest Monster of Them All," a story also from 1959, is adapted by Robert Bloch, who added humor and action to make a show that serves as a good send-up of the monster movie industry.

"The Woman Who Wanted to Live" was Walton's first teleplay for the series. He adapted his own story from 1961, adding some humor and an entertaining scene with a trio of juvenile delinquents. The result is a standout episode.

"The Big Score" is less successful, as Walton adapts a 1955 story by Sam Merwin, Jr. In trying too hard to portray young people who get involved in crime, Walton's script and the overall episode fall flat.

"The Opportunity" is another standout episode, where Walton and Henry Slesar adapt a 1957 story by J.W. Aaron and venture into edgy areas of the human condition. Great direction and strong acting make this episode one worth revisiting. I suspect Slesar was asked to revise Walton's teleplay, and Walton did not write any more shows for the Hitchcock series, which was about to expand to an hour.

EPISODE GUIDE-BRYCE WALTON ON ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS

Episode title-“Touché” [4.35]

Broadcast date-14 June 1959

Teleplay by-William Fay

Based on-"Touché" by Walton

First print appearance-Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, November 1958

Notes

Watch episode-here

Available on DVD?-here

Episode title-“Cell 227” [5.34]

Broadcast date-5 June 1960

Teleplay by-Bill Ballinger

Based on-"An Eye for an Eye" by Walton

First print appearance-Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, December 1959

Notes

Watch episode-unavailable

Available on DVD?-here

Episode title-“The Greatest Monster of Them All” [6.18]

Broadcast date-14 February 1961

Teleplay by-Robert Bloch

Based on-"The Greatest Monster of Them All" by Walton

First print appearance-Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, May 1959

Notes

Watch episode-unavailable

Available on DVD?-here

Episode title-“The Woman Who Wanted to Live” [7.18]

Broadcast date-6 February 1962

Teleplay by-Walton

Based on-"The Woman Who Wanted to Live" by Walton

First print appearance-Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, May 1961

Notes

Watch episode-unavailable

Available on DVD?-unavailable

Episode title-“The Big Score” [7.22]

Broadcast date-6 March 1962

Teleplay by-Walton

Based on-"The Big Score" by Sam Merwin, Jr.

First print appearance-Manhunt, July 1955

Notes

Watch episode-unavailable

Available on DVD?-unavailable

Episode title-“The Opportunity” [7.33]

Broadcast date-22 May 1962

Teleplay by-Walton and Henry Slesar

Based on-"Golden Opportunity" by J.W. Aaron

First print appearance-Manhunt, March 1957

Notes

Watch episode-unavailable

Available on DVD?-unavailable

In two weeks: our series on British actor John Williams begins with "The Long Shot!"

The Hitchcock Project-Bryce Walton Part Three: The Woman Who Wanted to Live [7.18]

by Jack Seabrook

The third episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents to be based on a story by Bryce Walton was "The Greatest Monster of Them All," which I discussed here in my series on Robert Bloch, who wrote the teleplay.

Bryce Walton's first teleplay for the series was "The Woman Who Wanted to Live," a fine adaptation of his own short story that had been published in the May 1961 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. The story begins as Ray Bardon walks into a filling station at closing time and pulls a gun on the attendant. He robs the station and shoots the attendant just as a car pulls up. Rushing outside, he sees a woman who has just arrived in a convertible; he hides the attendant's body in the bay, retrieves his sack of money and goes back outside, where the woman waits calmly. She tells Bardon that she has heard about him on the radio and that she wants to live.

Tired and suffering from a gunshot wound in his arm that was sustained when he escaped from prison, he allows her to talk him into letting her accompany him and drive the car. The woman tells him that her name is Lisa and they talk as they drive through the night; she seems excited by the adventure while he is exhausted and weak, struggling to remain awake and not trusting his driver. Bardon tells Lisa about his time in prison, his childhood, and how he fell into a life of crime. He falls asleep and the car is stopped by a policeman, yet Lisa does not turn Ray in. He begins to trust her and they keep driving, finally stopping for the night at a motel.

Charles Bronson as Ray

Ray falls into bed, exhausted, and Lisa tells him about her own background and her love for a man named Fred, who was the filling station attendant that Bardon shot and killed earlier that night. He asks her why she did not turn him in to the police and she responds, "You think I wanted them to do it?" before shooting him with his own gun.

The surprise at the end of "The Woman Who Wanted to Live" is so effective that it makes the reader go back over the story to look for clues, and this one has plenty, though the author never tips his hand. Lisa seems calm at first and her behavior while on the run with Ray suggests that she is immature and hungry for action, yet when the truth is revealed it is clear that she is tougher than he. Coming to pick up her boyfriend after work, she happens upon a scene of carnage, the man she loves shot by an escaped convict. She does not scream or try to run away; instead, she quickly assesses the situation and formulates a plan that she then proceeds to carry out with cool precision. Ray never has a chance. He and Lisa are similar in that they both faced challenges in their youth and, in the end, became cold-blooded killers.

Perhaps after having had three of his stories adapted by others, Walton or his agent suggested to the producers of Alfred Hitchcock Presents that he should try adapting the story himself, or perhaps this was such a strong tale that he had some additional bargaining power when the rights were sold to television. Whatever the case, Walton did a great job of altering his story for the small screen and his subsequent contributions to the series were adaptations of stories by other writers.

Lola Albright as Lisa

"The Woman Who Wanted to Live" aired on NBC on Tuesday, February 6, 1962, halfway through the last season of the half-hour Hitchcock show. It was directed by Alan Crosland, Jr., whose contributions to the final season include other above-average episodes such as "Keep Me Company" and "The Right Kind of Medicine." Not surprisingly, Walton's teleplay sticks closely to his story, even down to many lines of dialogue. Some incidents are re-ordered, such as the conversation between Lisa and Ray where she talks him into letting her drive--in the story, it occurs at the filling station, while in the show, he orders her to drive him and she does, but soon he has her stop and she has to convince him to let her stay with him.

The sexual undertones of the story are also present in the show, suggesting that censorship was loosening by 1962. The most noticeable changes to the story occur in two scenes: one is suspenseful, the other comic. In the first new scene, Lisa's car gets a flat tire and she has to pull over to the side of the road. She shows her mettle by getting out to change the tire herself while Ray remains in the car. Lola Albright, as Lisa, displays a smoky sensuality throughout the show and she is impressive as she squats on her high heels in a belted raincoat to begin to loosen the lug nuts. Suddenly, a hot rod with three juvenile delinquents speeds by and stops, backing up to a spot near Lisa's car. The young men get out and we see that they are members of a gang by their leather jackets with "The Dragons" emblazoned on the back.

The Dragons

The Dragons harass Lisa, thinking that she is alone, since Ray is hiding from sight in the front seat of her car. She hits one in the arm with her tire iron and he removes his belt, threatening to disfigure her face with the buckle. The three young men grab Lisa and begin to pull her toward their car. At this point, Ray emerges, and we get a glimpse of the sort of situation that will soon make actor Charles Bronson a star. "Let her go, fatso," he says to one of the Dragons, in a scene that foreshadows his later film, Death Wish. The Dragon boasts that he does not use a knife or a gun, "just my belt . . . and sometimes my boots." Crosland provides a quick insert of a closeup of the young man's boots clicking together. He begins to swing the belt in circles above his head, menacing Ray, but Ray decks him with one punch. The other two young men approach Ray, one with a switchblade and the other with Lisa's tire iron. At this point, Ray pulls his gun and the young men beat a hasty retreat in their hot rod.

This is a fascinating scene where Walton and Crosland achieve a Hitchcockian transference in the mind of the viewer. Ray is a killer who murdered the filling station attendant, yet here he becomes the only hope for Lisa and we root for him to prevail over the punks. His quiet determination is more appealing than their brash rudeness, and gun trumps knife in the battle for a woman. After the incident, Ray asks Lisa why she did not take the chance to escape by running off into the bushes. She responds that she and Ray have something in common, since neither wants to go back to where they came from.

Jesslyn Fax as the motel manager

The second scene that is new in the teleplay is Hitchcockian in a more humorous way. In the story, Lisa tells Ray that she'll sign in at the motel for them both and the scene then jumps to their motel room. In the show, there is a short scene where Lisa goes in to the office of the motel manager to rent a room for the night. The woman behind the desk is an eccentric, who likes chatting with Lisa and who provides some comedy relief in this suspenseful half hour. Lisa says that her husband is outside in the car and they have no luggage; the manager clearly believes that Lisa is lying but has no problem with the arrangement, something she sees all the time. As Lisa tells Ray once they are in the motel room: "They don't ask questions in a place like this."

Lisa gets the drop on Ray

"The Woman Who Wanted to Live" is a very strong episode, with a taut teleplay by Bryce Walton, fast-paced direction by Alan Crosland, Jr., and standout performances by Charles Bronson as Ray and Lola Albright as Lisa. As we have seen in other episodes, Crosland often saves his best camera setups for the payoff, and this time we get a nice shot from behind the gun as Lisa points it at Ray. Her chilling final line is delivered with a smile, but after she shoots her companion she breaks down in tears and the show is over.

Charles Bronson (1921-2003) was born Charles Buchinsky and worked in a Pennsylvania coal mine as a boy. He flew with the Air Force in WWII and was awarded a Purple Heart. His onscreen career lasted from 1949 to 1999 and he appeared in three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents as well as on The Twilight Zone. His fame soared soon after this episode aired and his great movie roles included those in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Death Wish (1974).

Lola Albright (1924- ) was onscreen from 1947 to 1984 and appeared in three episodes of the Hitchcock series, including "The Black Curtain."

Ray Montgomery as Fred

The other actors in this episode all had small parts and were not well known. Ray Montgomery (1922-1998) plays Fred, the filling station attendant who is shot in the opening scene; he had a long career onscreen as a character actor, appearing in movies and on TV from 1941 to 1990.

Jesslyn Fax (1893-1975) plays the chatty motel manager; she appeared in many small roles in the 1950s and 1960s; she had a small part in Rear Window (1954) and also appeared in "Four O' Clock," Hitchcock's TV adaptation of a Cornell Woolrich story in 1957 for Suspicion.

The three members of the Dragons are played by Craig Curtis ("Rook"), Ben Bryant ("Fat Boy") and Robert Rudelson ("Cuke"). None had much of a career, though Rudelson did write a couple of movies directed by Russ Meyer.

The story was
first published here

After the Alfred Hitchcock Presents adaptation, Bryce Walton was not done with "The Woman Who Wanted to Live." Twenty years later, he adapted it again for broadcast, this time as an hour-long radio play for the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. The episode was broadcast on June 14, 1982, and starred Larry Haines, Roberta Maxwell and Russell Horton. You can listen to it for free here. For radio, Walton increased the amount of dialogue and restored some of the discussions about Ray's background that were in his original story. The radio play includes the flat tire scene that had been new to the TV show, but this time the assailants are not a trio of juvenile delinquents but rather a couple of country hicks. Like the story and the TV show, the radio play is suspenseful and entertaining.

The seventh season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents has not been released on DVD in the United States to date. I was not able to find a legitimate online source for the show, either, though it might be available on one of the torrent sites. The story was reprinted in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's Annual #17, To Be Read Before Midnight, in 1962 but does not seem to have seen the light of day in over 50 years. Thanks to Peter Enfantino for providing a copy of the story!

Source:
"CBS Radio Mystery Theater | Episode 1338 | The Woman Who Wanted to Live." CBS Radio Mystery Theater | Episode 1338 | The Woman Who Wanted to Live. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

"Galactic Central." Galactic Central. Web. 06 Aug. 2016.

IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 29 July 2016.

Walton, Bryce. "The Woman Who Wanted to Live." Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine May 1961: 121-32. Print.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 29 July 2016.

"The Woman Who Wanted to Live." Alfred Hitchcock Presents. NBC. 6 Feb. 1962. Television.

Next: Our series on Bryce Walton concludes with "The Big Score," starring Rafael Campos and Evans Evans!

The Hitchcock Project-Bryce Walton Part Two: Cell 227 [5.34]

by Jack Seabrook

Bryce Walton's short story, "An Eye for an Eye," asks whether Old Testament notions of law that call for the punishment to fit the crime apply to modern society, where the state is empowered to execute criminals convicted of murder. This weighty question is posed by Herbert Morrison, a 38 year old professor of English Literature who is on Death Row after having been convicted of killing a female student.

Morrison refuses to see his lawyer and will not listen to talk of a possible stay of execution. His attitude alienates the other prisoners, especially when it comes time for a convict named De Baca to be executed. While the other men encourage De Baca, suggesting that he might receive a stay, Morrison refuses to play along, telling De Baca that a stay is unlikely. De Baca is dragged away to his death and Morrison is proved right, yet the others on Death Row criticize his refusal to support a message of hope.

"An Eye for an Eye"
was first published here

As others are taken to their death, Morrison continues to resist playing the game of hoping for a stay; he thinks that he and the other convicts are merely society's scapegoats. He has a dream in which he is taken to the gas chamber but, when he wakes up, he still will not follow the rules. He resents a guard named Pops Lafferty most of all, since Morrison believes that Pops encourages the convicts to hope despite his knowledge that the hope is a false one. When a young priest named McCann comes to talk to him, Morrison quotes biblical verses about a sin offering of atonement. Pops comes to see Morrison and, for the first time, the convict agrees to see Berg, his lawyer, if only to say goodbye.

When Morrison meets with Berg, the prisoner is unmoved to hear that the lawyer has hired a private investigator to help find evidence to support a request for a stay of execution. With ten hours left before his death, Morrison's attitude remains unchanged. Pops prepares him for his final moments and McCann visits again; Morrison batters him with more verses from the Old Testament. McCann argues that Morrison quotes old law and explains that "an eye for an eye" was a way to set limits on punishment, not a mandatory prescription.

Brian Keith as Herbert Morrison

Morrison begins his last walk and suddenly shoves Pops into the elevator, joins him, and pushes the button to close the door and start the car moving down. He grabs Pops's gun and shoots him between the eyes, killing him instantly. The elevator doors open and Morrison is beaten by the other guards. Later, when he wakes up, the warden tells him that his lawyer found evidence to clear his name. However, he will be back in jail for murdering Pops.

Morrison is put on trial for murder a second time and Berg advances the defense that Morrison was justified in killing Pops as self-defense against the threat of state-sanctioned murder. The jury finds him not guilty and he returns to work at the university. Months later, he receives a call from someone who identifies himself as a friend of Pops and who tells Morrison that, one day, he will kill him. Morrison hangs up the phone and again thinks of Old Testament law, concluding that "fear will always be with those who destroy life."

Death Row

Walton's story is tilted against the death penalty. Morrison quotes from several Old Testament books and Father McCann tells him, "You quote very old, primitive laws, Herbert. The Lex Talionus." This is a Latin term that refers to the ancient laws where punishment resembles the crime in kind and degree; e.g., an eye for an eye. The other prisoners on Death Row sing hymns as one of their number is walked to his death, and one may assume that those are Christian hymns. So who is to be admired in "An Eye for an Eye"? Is it Morrison, who takes a stand against what he sees as an unjust system, becomes hated by his fellow men, offers no comfort to those who are about to die, and ends up committing murder? Or is it Pops Lafferty, who offers hope to the hopeless and brings their last meal, putting "a little shot in that coffee" to help numb the pain? Morrison hates Pops because he sees him as a symbol of a system he believes is unjust, yet I submit that Morrison, in the end, adheres to Old Testament law while Pops demonstrates New Testament principles of love and compassion.

James Best as Hennessey

At the end of the story, Morrison accepts his fate as being consistent with Old Testament law, demonstrating that he has not learned anything from his experience. He never shows an ounce of forgiveness or empathy and may be seen as an Old Testament figure, in service to an angry and vengeful God, while Pops represents a New Testament figure, following a God of love and compassion.

"An Eye for an Eye" was published in the December 1959 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and represents an unusually thoughtful examination of a difficult topic. When it was adapted for television under the title "Cell 227," much of the subtlety and philosophical examination was removed, the focus of the story was altered, and the conclusion was completely changed. The episode aired on CBS on Sunday, June 5, 1960, near the end of the fifth season, and the script was written by Bill Ballinger (1912-80). He wrote seven scripts for Alfred Hitchcock Presents and is said to have written about 150 teleplays in a career that stretched from the earliest days of television, in 1949, to the mid-1970s. He was nominated for an Edgar Award in 1961 for his teleplay for the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, "The Day of the Bullet." Ballinger had begun in the 1940s working in advertising and radio, writing scripts and producing shows. He also wrote about thirty novels, many in the crime or suspense genre. A good website provides more details.

Sal Ponti as De Baca

Ballinger approached "Cell 227" in a more straightforward way than did Walton. In the first scene, we see De Baca sweating it out before his execution and then being walked to his death, as Morrison laconically refuses to give him hope. The priest visits Morrison and discusses the ritual of sacrifice. Morrison discusses Pops with Hennessey, who is in the cell next to his, and this is followed by an interaction with Pops where Morrison refuses to exercise in preparation for his execution.

Morison next meets with his lawyer, who refers to him as Socrates (a line that is also found in the story); the viewer will recall that Socrates, like Morrison, faced his death sentence stoically and refused to have an emotional reaction, much to the consternation of his followers (related by Plato in the Phaedo). Pops prepares Morrison for death, there is another visit by McCann, and here Morrison quotes Cain, as he does in the story. Morrison also calls Pops the Judas Goat that leads the sheep to slaughter. After Pops prepares Morrison for death, they walk down the final corridor as the other inmates look on. As he gets close to the gas chamber, Morrison suddenly turns, leaps on Pops, pushes him to the floor, and quickly chokes the life out of him.

James Westerfield as Pops

This is significantly different than what happens in Walton's story, where the murder of Pops occurs in an elevator and is carried out with a handgun. As a result, it does not seem credible, since Morrison chokes Pops onscreen for such a brief period that it is unclear whether he is dead. Yet in the final scene, the warden comes to Morrison's cell to tell him that he was bringing news of a stay when the murder occurred. The warden tells Morrison that he will soon find out what it's like in prison after he has killed a guard, and the episode ends.

Readers of the story will be surprised by the sudden ending, since the entire last section of Walton's tale has been deleted. There is no trial, no not guilty verdict, no return to life, no threat and no calm acceptance. The story has been altered to focus on Morrison's hatred for Pops, an emotion that leads to murder and a twist ending. The lack of the philosophical details makes the TV show more of a thriller than a meditation; it succeeds in this way but is less thought-provoking than the story that inspired it.

"Cell 227" is directed by Paul Henreid (1908-92), the actor turned director who directed 29 episodes of the Hitchcock series. The last episode that he directed that was discussed here was "Guest for Breakfast." Henreid has a limited amount of room in which to work on "Cell 227" and does a reasonable job of keeping the story moving, though there are no creative camera setups and the attack on Pops is too short to be credible.

Liam Sullivan as Father McCann

Brian Keith (1921-97) stars as Herbert Morrison. He began acting at age two and was in the U.S. Marines from 1942 to 1945. Post-war, he acted extensively on stage, on film and on television before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His career really took off on TV, starting in 1951, and he appeared in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "The Test." He starred in eight TV series between 1966 and 1992, the most memorable being Family Affair (1966-71). A website is dedicated to him here.

Receiving second billing is James Best (1926-2015) as Hennessey, the inmate in the cell next to Morrison's. Born Jewel Jules Franklin Guy, Best was onscreen from 1950 to 2013  and is best remembered for his role on The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-85). He was on the Hitchcock show four times, including a role in "The Jar," wrote an autobiography called Best in Hollywood, and there is a website about him here.

Frank Maxwell as Maury Berg

Pops Lafferty is played by James Westerfield (1913-1971), a busy character actor who was onscreen from 1940 to 1971. He was seen in another episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and he was also on Thriller and The Twilight Zone.

Frank Maxwell (1916-2004), with his distinctive streak of white hair, plays Berg, the lawyer. He was onscreen from 1951 to 2000 and appeared in many TV episodes, including roles on The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. His six appearances on the Hitchcock show include "Special Delivery" and "The Hatbox." He was president of AFTRA from 1984 to 1989.

Father McCann is played by Liam Sullivan (1923-98), who was onscreen from 1950 to 1997. He appeared on The Twilight Zone  as well and this was his only appearance on the Hitchcock show.

Robert Carson as the warden

Songwriter turned actor Sal Ponti (1935-88) plays De Baca, who is executed in the first scene; he was on TV from 1959 to 1978 and he appeared in three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "Keep Me Company."

Finally, the warden is played by Robert Carson (1909-79), who played the judge in "Touché," the first episode to be adapted from a story by Bryce Walton.

"Cell 227" is available on DVD here but is not available for free viewing online. Thanks to Peter Enfantino for tracking down the story for me; The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion mistakenly lists the source as another story by Bryce Walton titled "Good-bye, Sweet World," which has nothing to do with "Cell 227."

Sources:

"Bill S. Ballinger - A Fan/Collector Appreciation Site." Bill S. Ballinger - A Fan/Collector Appreciation Site. Web. 21 July 2016.

"Cell 227." Alfred Hitchcock Presents. CBS. 5 June 1960. Television.
"Galactic Central." Galactic Central. Web. 27 July 2016.

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

IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 21 July 2016.

Walton, Bryce. "An Eye for an Eye." Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine December 1959: 2-16.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 21 July 2016.

In two weeks: "The Woman Who Wanted To Live," with Charles Bronson and Lola Albright!

The Hitchcock Project-Bryce Walton Part One: Touché [4.35]

by Jack Seabrook

Walton wrote about Iwo Jima
for Leatherneck

The last episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents to be written by frequent contributor Robert C. Dennis was "Invitation to an Accident," which aired on June 21, 1959, as the final show of the series's fourth season. The week before that, on June 14, 1959, the first episode of the series to be based on a story by Bryce Walton aired. That episode was titled "Touché." Over the next three years, Walton would contribute to six episodes, either as author of the original story, as writer of the teleplay, or as both.

Bryce Walton was born in Missouri in 1918. He worked as a sailor, migrant farmer, gold miner, and railroad section hand from 1938 to 1941, spent some time at Los Angeles Junior College from 1939 to 1941, then served in the Navy and Marines from 1942 to 1945, earning a special citation from Admiral Nimitz for his coverage of action at Iwo Jima. He started writing freelance in 1945 and spent time at California State College in 1946 and 1947.

Walton is said to have written over 1000 short stories in his career and he also wrote six novels between 1952 and 1974. His work was mostly in the genres of science fiction and mystery; a blog post here features many good illustrations. Though some sources say that he won an award in 1961 for best short story of the year from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, this appears to be incorrect. He did have a story published in that year's volume of Best Detective Stories of the Year.

"Touché" was first
published here

His television credits include a stint as a writer for Captain Video in 1949, but very little else. In 1991, a TV movie called "Into the Badlands" was adapted from Walton's story called "The Last Pelt." Other than that, three of his stories were adapted by other writers for episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Walton then wrote teleplays for two episodes of the series and co-wrote a third with Henry Slesar. Only one of his three teleplays was an adaptation of his own story.

"Touché" was first published under the pen name of Kenneth O'Hara in the November 1958 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. A pseudonym was used presumably because Walton also had another story, "The Mind Reader," published in the same issue under his own name.

"Touché" concerns Big Bill Fleming, a rich man with a problem. His young, second wife is having an open affair with a man named Phil Baxter. Fleming wants to kill Baxter but does not want to go to jail for murder. While at a hunting lodge, he discusses his problem with a bright young man who is studying to be a lawyer. The young man considers the problem from all angles and suggests that Fleming challenge Baxter to a duel with swords, where Baxter would be forced to defend himself. The young man guarantees that Fleming would be acquitted under California law if he killed Baxter in these circumstances.

Paul Douglas as Fleming

Fleming drives home and finds his wife Lara in bed with Baxter. Telling Baxter that he intends to kill him, Fleming begins to slash and poke at his rival with a saber until Baxter picks up a sword and attempts to fight back. Fleming swiftly kills him and Lara begins to laugh.

Big Bill goes to the police station and turns himself in. The trial that follows results in a not guilty verdict, as predicted, but the judge tells Fleming that state law requires him to support Baxter's son. The judge orders him to pay the young man $100,000 now and then $1000 per month for life.

Not wanting to see his wife anymore, Fleming returns home to collect some personal items. He finds Lara with Phil Baxter, Jr., who turns out to be none other than the bright young man who had suggested the duel.

The title of the story has a double meaning: it refers both to the swordplay between Fleming and Baxter and to the clever way young Baxter tricks Fleming into killing the elder Baxter and, at the same time, providing financially for the younger Baxter.

Robert Morse as Phil Baxter Jr.

"Touché" was adapted for television by William Fay (1918-1981), who wrote teleplays for sixteen episodes of the Hitchcock series. Fay was a short story writer who had been an editor at Popular Publications in the late 1930s and who, by the late 1940s, was the sports editor for Collier's magazine. He had been a Golden Gloves star and a sportswriter there and in Chicago, and the FictionMags Index lists short stories by him that were published from 1938 to 1962. Most of his stories appeared in slick magazines such as Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post, and Argosy, and he was "generally acclaimed" as the "standout story teller of the ring." It may be the case that his background in telling stories having to do with sports is why he was given the assignment of adapting "Touché," which has at its center a sword fight. Many of his stories are available for free online here.

Hugh Marlowe as Baxter

The TV show follows the story closely and is broken down into six scenes. The first scene, by far the longest, takes place at the hunting lodge, where Fleming, played by Paul Douglas, and the young man, played by Robert Morse, discuss Fleming's problem and its possible solution. William Fay turns pages of narrative into dialogue and both actors give fine portrayals of two very different men. At one point, Morse grabs a foil off of the wall and begins to practice some fencing maneuvers; Douglas, as Fleming, is charmingly self-deprecating for someone so successful. Morse speaks as if he is a lawyer presenting a case to a jury and trying to win them over. In retrospect, that is exactly what he is doing, since he has planned out his pitch to Fleming and convinces him to go through with it.

The menacing shot of Douglas

In the second scene, Bill arrives home and enters his house, where a shot shows him looming large and menacing above the sunken living room, his body bathed in high contrast lighting, his shadow large and ominous on the door behind him. In the story, he finds Lara in bed with Baxter. In the show, she lounges on a circular sofa, Baxter sitting languidly on the floor beside her. Hugh Marlowe plays Baxter as a decadent playboy, reclining calmly with a drink in his hand. Dody Heath, as Lara, is given little to do in the show but look sexy, though her sudden laughter after her husband kills her lover provides a chilling moment. The swordplay is awkward, as it should be between two inexperienced fencers, and takes place in Fleming's expansive living room rather than in the bedroom. At one point, Baxter throws a vase and hits Fleming in the head; Fleming trips and falls, then runs Baxter through the stomach with an upward sword thrust.

James Flavin as Dan

This is followed by a scene at the police station, where Baxter's confession to Dan, the desk sergeant, is expanded from the brief mention of the event in Walton's story. Also longer is the courtroom scene that follows, though it looks like it was done on a tight budget, since all we see is the judge's bench and the witness box. The scene is played out in closeups and medium shots, with no sign of a jury or any onlookers in the courtroom. We only see Bill testify, not Lara (she does so in the story and fully supports her husband), yet when Fleming emerges from the courtroom there is a crowd of spectators gathered around the door!

The judge explains his ruling to Bill and his lawyer in a short scene in the judge's chambers, then we see the lawyer and Bill drive up to Bill's house. The final scene occurs back in the living room, where the duel had taken place. The camera is focused on the back of the long couch and Lara pops up, having been lying in the arms of an unseen man. We soon see him sling his leg over the back of the couch, and his shoe is similar to that worn by Baxter in the duel scene. Bill comes in, glowering at his unfaithful wife, who tells him that they have company. Bill responds, "You expect me to be surprised?" and she says, unexpectedly, "Yes, dear!" Baxter Jr. then leaps over the back of the couch to face Bill, who registers shock. Unlike in the story, there is no mention of an estranged relationship between Baxter Jr. and his father, but the episode ends ironically, as the young man asks Fleming, "Would you mind if I called you Dad?" This is followed by a closeup of Bill's scowling face and a musical sting as the screen fades to black.

The living room set where the duel takes place

William Fay and director John Brahm do a fine job of translating Walton's short story to the small screen, aided greatly by strong performances by Paul Douglas and Robert Morse. There are few significant changes to the plot, other than toning down the sexual nature of the situation by moving the confrontation out of the bedroom and into the living room.

John Brahm (1893-1982) was born and raised in Germany but left in the early 1930s when Hitler came to power. He started out as an actor but gained fame as a director, making movies from 1936 to 1967 and directing many episodes of TV shows, starting in 1952. Two of his best films were The Lodger (1944) and Hangover Square (1945), and his work is notable for its shadows and sense of menace. He directed 15 episodes of the Hitchcock series, as well as many episodes of other genre series such as The Twilight Zone, Thriller, and The Outer Limits. The last episode directed by Brahm that I examined was "The Throwback," which also featured a duel.

Dody Heath as Lara

Portraying Big Bill Fleming is Paul Douglas (1907-1959), who made his Broadway debut in 1936 and who also worked as a radio announcer during that decade. He started in movies in 1933 and became a feature film star in 1949 with his role in A Letter to Three Wives. He worked on film and TV throughout the 1950s before dying suddenly in 1959. "Touché" was his only appearance on the Hitchcock series and it was one of his last roles.

Hugh Marlowe (1911-1982) gets second billing as Phil Baxter. Born Hugh Herbert Hipple, be started onstage in the 1930s and also appeared on radio. He played Ellery Queen on radio and television and also appeared in movies beginning in 1936. He had a role in All About Eve (1950) and began appearing in TV shows that year. He was seen in six episodes of the Hitchcock series; the last discussed here was "John Brown's Body." Later in his life he was a regular on the soap opera Another World, from 1969 to 1982.

King Calder as the lawyer

Giving an energetic performance as Baxter's son is Robert Morse (1931- ), who started out on stage, film and TV in the mid-1950s. He is best known for his starring role on Broadway and on film in How to Succeed I Business (1967) and he had an important role as Bert Cooper on Mad Men from 2007 to 2015. He was seen twice on the Hitchcock series and his career is still going strong today.

In smaller roles, Dody Heath (1928- ) plays Lara Fleming. Her career on screen lasted from 1954 to 1974, and this was one of her three appearances on the Hitchcock series. King Calder (1897-1964) plays the lawyer who examines Fleming at trial; he was on screen from 1949 to 1964 and appeared in seven episodes of the Hitchcock series. James Flavin (1906-1976) plays Dan, the desk sergeant at the police station. He had character parts in nearly 400 movies and 100 TV episodes from 1932 to 1971 and was in four episodes of the Hitchcock series. Finally, Robert Carson (1909-1979) plays the judge; he was in eleven episodes of the Hitchcock series and had many credits as a character actor in a career that ran from 1939 to 1974.

Robert Carson as the judge

"Touché" does not appear to have been reprinted after its initial publication in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and I thank Peter Enfantino for providing a scan of the story and for looking through a couple of years' worth of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine to see if there was an award for Best Short Story of 1961 given to Bruce Walton. The TV show is available on DVD here or may be viewed for free online here.

Sources:
"Bryce Walton." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Contemporary Authors [Gale]. Web. 5 July 2016.

"Find Items in Libraries near You." WorldCat.org: The World's Largest Library Catalog. Web. 05 July 2016.

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

IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 05 July 2016.

"Touché." Alfred Hitchcock Presents. CBS. 14 June 1959. Television.

Walton, Bryce. "Touché." Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine Nov. 1958: 24-36.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 09 July 2016.

"William Cullen Fay, Writer - on Newspapers.com." Newspapers.com. Web. 05 July 2016.

In two weeks: Brian Keith and James Best in "Cell 227"!