The Hitchcock Project-James P. Cavanagh Part Eleven: Where Beauty Lies [7.38] and Wrapup

by Jack Seabrook

Alfred Hitchcock Presents began its seven-year run in October 1955 with "Revenge" and ended in June 1962 with another tale of revenge, "Where Beauty Lies." The teleplay is by James P. Cavanagh and the title card says it is based on a story by Henry Farrell, but no such short story was ever published. Instead, it appears that Farrell wrote a teleplay and sold it to the TV show, where James P. Cavanagh revised it. Two copies of Farrell's original script are in the collection of his papers at Boston University; they are dated March 22, 1962, and to review them one would have to go to Boston and visit the library in person, since they are under copyright and the library staff will not make copies nor allow copies to be made.

The final version of the script, as by Cavanagh and as filmed and directed by Robert Florey, aired on NBC on Tuesday, June 26, 1962, and was the last new episode of the half-hour series to air on network television. The unaired episode, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," later turned up in syndication packages.

Cloris Leachman as Caroline

"Where Beauty Lies" opens with a scene deceptive in several ways, as Paul Ross and Caroline Hardy embrace passionately. She seems apprehensive yet he is aggressive; as they cling together on a couch, the doorbell rings. Paul's wife Julie is at the door and he leaves with her, after which Caroline's brother Collin arrives to take his sister home. What is going on here? We soon learn that Caroline has an unusual love/hate relationship with her brother (she's 37 and he's two years younger), a famous and very handsome stage actor. Back at home, Caroline sets out dinner in a room decorated with numerous framed photographs of her brother (and what appears to be an Oscar on a bookshelf). Collin returns from a rehearsal and she is angry at him for breaking up her affair with Paul.

George Nader as Collin

Caroline is bitter that her brother lives his life as he wishes while she serves him. Believing her chances at happiness are few, she is the plain sister of a handsome man and she has spent her life in her brother's shadow, envying his good looks. The following Thursday evening, Collin and Caroline dine together at a fancy restaurant and she is happy until his beautiful actress/girlfriend Joan arrives and the two of them leave for a party, leaving Caroline alone and heartbroken.

The next week, Caroline is at home supervising a man who is repainting the interior walls. Collin comes home and informs her that she is not going to Boston with him, where he is about to star in a play. Caroline had been angry at not being included in the party after their dinner together, and now, once Collin is gone, she makes a telephone call to confirm her suspicion that Joan is going with him. Caroline smashes a framed photo of Collin on the floor and we see his face being obliterated by paint thinner that spills from a can that tipped over on the floor.

One day soon after that, Caroline receives a telegram that reports that Collin will arrive home on the late train. She looks at his partially destroyed photo and asks the painter to start working on the walls in Collin's study. That night, she prepares the study and pours the flammable paint thinner all over the logs in the fireplace. She leaves a note for her brother, telling him that she was tired and went to bed and instructing him to "put a light under the soup." Later, Collin arrives home and she listens from another room as he enters the study, closes an open window to keep out the cold, and bends down to light the fire in the fireplace. He lights the fire and suddenly the flames roar up from the paint thinner that was poured on the logs; he screams as his face is burned.

We next see Collin and Caroline in his hospital room, where he lies in bed with his face wrapped in bandages. The doctor asks Caroline to speak to him in the hallway and tells her that her brother will be blind; his face will be disfigured but plastic surgery may help.

The show's final scene takes place back at Collin's home, where Caroline serves him lunch on a tray that he angrily knocks to the floor. Blind and bitter, he wants to be left alone and has shut himself away from other people for weeks. Collin keeps his face hidden and turns away from the camera. Distraught at losing his good looks, the former leading man laments that "'I'm only fit to play in horror pictures.'" Throughout the scene, he keeps his face turned away, building up suspense and making the viewer yearn to experience the full horror of his disfigurement. Caroline seems to comfort him, insisting that he does not look bad, but he tells her that he knows he is "'grotesque.'" Finally, he turns, and the real horror is revealed: Collin's face looks perfectly normal and he is as handsome as ever! His sister has tricked him into thinking he is deformed as punishment for his treatment of her, and now she can have him all to herself.

Collin hides his face from view, thinking himself deformed.

"Where Beauty Lies" is a delicious tale of revenge whose concluding scene recalls the famous 1960 Twilight Zone episode, "Eye of the Beholder." In that show, a beautiful girl believes she is ugly in a world where everyone else's face is hideous. Her face (and those of the others) is kept hidden from the viewer throughout most of the episode by means of a combination of bandages, shadows, and camera angles. In the final scene of "Where Beauty Lies," director Robert Florey uses similar tricks to hide Collin's face from the viewer until the truth is revealed. The irony is superb: all her life, Caroline lived in the shadow of her handsome younger brother, believing that she was unattractive and envying his god-given beauty. Now she holds the upper hand and can ensure that he feels the way she always did: he is the ugly one who must depend on his sibling.

Florey keeps the story moving quickly and saves his best camera work for the latter scenes. When Collin arrives home on the fateful night, the camera is positioned above (similar to a shot in Florey's "A Jury of Her Peers") and we see Collin enter the house and head for his study. When he bends down to light the fire, the camera is inside the fireplace looking out, as the flames engulf the handsome actor. The final scene is well-staged, keeping Collin's face hidden until the last moment when it is revealed.

Cavanagh's script is well-written and both plotting and dialogue work to tell the story clearly and effectively. The two lead actors are perfect for their roles; both George Nader (as Collin) and Cloris Leachman (as Caroline) are utterly believable as two siblings with a close relationship that is ultimately destructive.

None are so blind--

In Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy writes, "Beauty to her, as to all who have felt, lay not in the thing, but in what the thing symbolized." In "Where Beauty Lies," unfortunately, beauty symbolizes unhappiness to Caroline and is something that must be attacked and then kept hidden from sight, lest it continue to cause her despair.

George Nader (1921-2002) served in WWII and then starred in film and on TV from 1950 to 1974. He was in Robot Monster (1953) and he was seen in two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Nader and his partner Mark Miller were close friends with Rock Hudson and inherited the interest from the actor's large estate when he died of AIDS. Nader also wrote a science fiction novel titled Chrome (1987).

Vanity of vanities...

Cloris Leachman (1926- ) was in the 1946 Miss America Pageant before becoming an actress. She studied at the Actors Studio and began appearing on screen in 1947. She was in Kiss Me Deadly (1955) and she appeared on The Twilight Zone ("It's a Good Life") and Thriller before winning an Academy Award for her role in The Last Picture Show (1971). She played Phyllis on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977) and on its spinoff, Phyllis (1975-1977) and won nine Emmy Awards. She also had a memorable role in Young Frankenstein (1974). Leachman was in three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including the second one to air, "Premonition."

In smaller roles:

• Pamela Curran (1930- ) plays Joan Blake, Collin's beautiful actress/girlfriend; she was on screen from 1958 to 1971, appeared three times on Thriller, and was seen twice on the Hitchcock show.

Pamela Curran as Joan

• Charles Carlson plays Paul, the man who passionately kisses Caroline in the opening scene before his wife shows up; he had a brief TV career from 1960 to 1964 but managed to show up on The Twilight Zone and on five episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "The Greatest Monster of Them All."

Charles Carlson as Paul

• Raymond Bailey (1904-1980) was a busy character actor who appeared in eleven episodes of the Hitchcock show, including the very first one filmed, "Breakdown." A busy character actor, he is best known as Mr. Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962 to 1971).

Raymond Bailey as the doctor

• Marilyn Clark (1929- ) plays Julie, the wife who shows up in the first scene to collect her straying husband; she was on screen from 1950 to 1980 but only has eight credits on IMDb in the course of three decades.



Marilyn Clark as Julie

• Norman Leavitt (1913-2005) is another character actor with a familiar face; he was on screen from 1946 to 1978 and was seen in seven episodes of the Hitchcock series, including "One More Mile to Go."

Norman Leavitt as the painter

Robert Florey (1900-1979), the director, had a long career in film and on TV that is summarized in my discussion of the last episode he directed that was written by James P. Cavanagh, "A Jury of Her Peers." Florey directed five episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Henry Farrell (1920-2006), who wrote the original teleplay that Cavanagh revised, was born Charles Farrell Myers. He wrote novels, short stories, teleplays, and screenplays and also used the pseudonym, Charles F. Myer. While this was the only episode of the Hitchcock TV show to be based on his writing, he is best remembered today for his novel, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1960), that served as the basis for a popular film of the same title that was released in 1962. Farrell seems to have thought highly of "Where Beauty Lies," since the collection of his papers at Boston University also includes a 300-page typescript of a screenplay with the same title that he wrote in 1968-1969; no film was ever produced of this story, however.

Watch "Where Beauty Lies" online here. The seventh season is still not available on DVD. If anyone happens to go to Boston University and read Farrell's original teleplay, I would be interested to hear how it differs from the version that was produced.

Sources:

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

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

The Inventory of the Henry Farrell Collection #1371. archives.bu.edu/finding-aid/finding_aid_121953.pdf.

“Where Beauty Lies.” Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 7, episode 38, NBC, 26 June 1962.

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

James P. Cavanagh on Alfred Hitchcock Presents: An Overview and Episode Guide

James P. Cavanagh wrote the teleplays for 15 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, all based on stories written by others. Eleven episodes were based on published short stories, while two were based on unpublished stories, one on a radio play, and one on a stage play. Two of the shows he wrote, "One More Mile to Go" and "Arthur," were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

His 15 episodes were spread out over six of the show's seven seasons, with two coming near the end of season one, five spanning the entire run of season two, three in season three, none at all in season four, two in season five, just one in season six, and two in the final season, including the last episode to air on the network. Cavanagh was skilled at translating stories from page to screen, often turning extended bits of narrative into lively dialogue.

EPISODE GUIDE-JAMES P. CAVANAGH ON ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS

Episode title-"The Hidden Thing" [1.37]
Broadcast date-20 May 1956
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on an unpublished story by A.J. Russell
First print appearance-none
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-here

Episode title-"The Creeper" [1.38]
Broadcast date-17 June 1956
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on "The Creeper," a radio play by Joseph Ruscoll
First print appearance-none; radio play first broadcast March 29, 1946
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-here

Episode title-"Fog Closing In" [1.38]
Broadcast date-7 October 1956
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on "The Fog Closing In" by Martin Brooke
First print appearance-Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, April 1956
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-here

"Fog Closing In"

Episode title-"None Are So Blind" [2.5]
Broadcast date-28 October 1956
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on "None Are So Blind" by John Collier
First print appearance-The New Yorker, 31 March 1956
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-here

Episode title-"The End of Indian Summer" [2.22]
Broadcast date-24 February 1957
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on "The End of Indian Summer" by Maurice Baudin Jr.
First print appearance-Esquire, April 1945
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-here

Episode title-"One More Mile to Go" [2.28]
Broadcast date-7 April 1957
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on "One More Mile to Go" by F.J. Smith
First print appearance-Manhunt, June 1956
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-here

"One More Mile to Go"

Episode title-"Father and Son" [2.36]
Broadcast date-2 June 1957
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on "Father and Son" by Thomas Burke
First print appearance-Vanity Fair, August 1934
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-here

Episode title-"Heart of Gold" [3.4]
Broadcast date-27 October 1957
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on "M is for the Many" by Henry Slesar
First print appearance-Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March 1957
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-here

"Heart of Gold"

Episode title-"Sylvia" [3.16]
Broadcast date-19 January 1958
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on "Sylvia" by Ira Levin
First print appearance-Manhunt, April 1955
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-here

Episode title-"The Festive Season" [3.31]
Broadcast date-4 May 1958
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on "Death on Christmas Eve" by Stanley Ellin
First print appearance-Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, January 1950
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-here

Episode title-"Arthur" [5.1]
Broadcast date-27 September 1959
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on "Being a Murderer Myself" by Arthur Williams
First print appearance-Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, August 1948
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-here

Arthur

Episode title-"Mother, May I Go Out to Swim?" [5.26]
Broadcast date-10 April 1960
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on "Mother, May I Go Out to Swim?" by Q. Patrick (Hugh C. Wheeler and Richard C. Webb)
First print appearance-Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, July 1948
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-here

Episode title-"Coming, Mama" [6.26]
Broadcast date-11 April 1961
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on "Coming, Mama" by Henriette McClelland
First print appearance-Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September 1960
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-here

"Coming, Mama"

Episode title-"A Jury of Her Peers" [7.12]
Broadcast date-26 December 1961
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on Trifles by Susan Glaspell
First print appearance-play first performed 8 August 1916
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-no

Episode title-"Where Beauty Lies" [7.38]
Broadcast date-26 June 1962
Teleplay by-James P. Cavanagh
Based on "Where Beauty Lies" by Henry Farrell
First print appearance-none
Notes
Watch episode-here
Available on DVD?-no

In two weeks: Our series on Arthur Ross begins with "Three Wives Too Many," starring Teresa Wright and Dan Duryea!

Listen to two great podcasts on Alfred Hitchcock Presents:

Presenting Alfred Hitchcock Presents (website here)

Good Evening: An Alfred Hitchcock Presents Podcast (website here)

Both are highly recommended!

The Hitchcock Project-James P. Cavanagh Part Ten: A Jury of Her Peers [7.12]

by Jack Seabrook

James P. Cavanagh's teleplay for "A Jury of Her Peers" is based on a one-act play by Susan Glaspell entitled Trifles, which was first performed on August 8, 1916, in Provincetown, Massachusetts. As the play opens, five people enter the abandoned farmhouse of John Wright, where Lewis Hale, a neighboring farmer, explains how he stopped by the morning before and found Mrs. Wright sitting in her rocking chair. She told Hale that her husband was dead in their bed upstairs, having "'died of a rope round his neck.'" The Wrights had been asleep in bed together when someone "'slipped a rope round his neck and strangled him,'" but his wife did not wake up.

George Henderson, the county attorney, and Harry Peters, the sheriff, ignore the area around the kitchen, certain that it contains "'nothing important'" and that "'women are used to worrying over trifles,'" and criticize the mess that was left behind when Mrs. Wright was taken away. "'You're convinced that there was nothing important here--nothing that would point to any motive,'" says Henderson to Peters, and the men go upstairs to search the bedroom for clues.

The short story, "A Jury of Her Peers,"
was first published here.

Left on their own downstairs, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale wonder if Mrs. Wright is guilty of killing her husband and notice that she had been working on a quilt. The men come downstairs and laugh about the women's concerns before going outside. Mrs. Hale notices that the quilt shows signs of Mrs. Wright's having been nervous when she was working on it, so Mrs. Hale removes some stitches to destroy the evidence.

Mrs. Peters finds an empty bird cage with a broken door, and Mrs. Hale remarks on how lonesome the Wright house must have been. Mrs. Hale compares Mrs. Wright to a bird--"'real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid'"--and opens a box from the sewing basket to discover a bird, its neck broken. As the men return, Mrs. Hale hides the box under pieces of the quilt. The women say nothing of the bird and the men again leave the room, unable to find any evidence to suggest a motive. The women talk about Mrs. Wright's life with her husband and the men return, puzzled at their inability to establish a motive for the strange crime and unaware of the bird which had had its neck wrung just as Mr. Wright's neck had been wrung. After the men go outside to continue their investigation, Mrs. Hale stuffs the box containing the dead bird into her pocket. The men return, still mocking the women for worrying over trifles.

Susan Glaspell, the author of the play, revised it into short story form and it was published as such in a magazine called Every Week on March 5, 1917, with a new title: "A Jury of Her Peers." The play was adapted for Alfred Hitchcock Presents by James P. Cavanagh and aired under the short story's title on NBC on Tuesday, December 26, 1961. The TV show is stunning, a great adaptation that improves upon its source with a brilliant script, outstanding direction, and superb acting all working together to spellbinding effect.

Ann Harding as Sarah Hale

The show begins as a horse-drawn carriage pulls up in front of a small farmhouse on a snowy evening. A shot of a lantern hanging below the carriage and the creaking of the carriage itself tell us that the story takes place long ago, before cars and electricity were common in remote areas. Jim Hale enters the farmhouse and the camera pans over a stack of dirty dishes in the sink before slowly zooming in to focus on Mrs. Wright, haggard and shivering in her rocking chair. Cavanagh has taken the scene referred to in the play as having happened the morning before and made it the first scene of the show; instead of morning, it is night.

As they discuss Jim's suggestion that John Wright share in his telephone party line, the dialogue begins to demonstrate how isolated Mrs. Wright is from her neighbors. She sends Jim upstairs to see John but does not reveal that her husband is dead. Director Robert Florey's camera work and shot selection are brilliant; when Jim goes upstairs, there is an overhead shot of Mrs. Wright that emphasizes her isolation and also shows the quilt, foreshadowing its later importance.

Frances Reid as Mary Peters

Rather than claiming that her husband was strangled while she slept next to him, she explains that "'I found him like that when I came back from feeding the chickens this morning.'" Jim realizes that she has been sitting alone in the house all day while her husband was lying dead upstairs. Jim offers to take her to his house and she accepts; the scene then shifts to the Hale home, where Jim leaves to meet the sheriff and his wife Sarah is left with Mrs. Wright. The contrast between the Wright house and the Hale house is shocking--it is still lit with gas, but has modern furniture, drapes, and a Christmas tree, along with festive holiday decorations. The house seems like a place from another world, underscoring the misery of the life Mrs. Wright had been leading.

Mrs. Wright is concerned that her husband (even though he is dead) will be taken away from the farm, "'the only thing he ever really cared about,'" and Sarah asks her why she married the man. The next day, Henderson and Peters discuss Mrs. Wright's behavior as they watch her through a window in an adjoining room--the lawyer thinks she is putting on an act but the sheriff doubts it, and they plan to search her farmhouse to look for evidence pointing to a motive for the murder.

Philip Bourneuf as George Henderson

We now see Mary Peters and Sarah Hale together for the first time. Sheriff Hale asks his wife to accompany him and Henderson to the Wright farmhouse to bring back anything Mrs. Wright needs, and Sarah offers to go with her. At the farmhouse, the men go upstairs while the women stay downstairs; Cavanagh follows the action of the play generally but expands the scenes and dialogue, using lines from the original here and there but modernizing the expressions. The women find the dead canary, then there is a new scene upstairs in the bedroom, where Henderson puts the rope around Hale's neck to try to figure out how the murder was committed. Throughout the episode, Cavanagh has expanded the stage play by adding scenes both upstairs at the Wright house and also in two rooms at the Hale house.

The dialogue makes it clear what has happened, as Mary tells Sarah: "'He killed her bird. That's what made her angry.'" Mary realizes that this represents the motive the men seek and Sarah decides to hide it; dialogue between the women then focuses on Sarah arguing that Mrs. Wright's crime was justified while Mary struggles with the idea of helping conceal the motive. In a sense, this portion of the TV show represents the deliberation of the "jury of her peers" that quietly decides the fate of Mrs. Wright. This section is much expanded from the play, as Sarah tells Mary she has no idea what Mrs. Wright's isolated, miserable life must have been like with her husband, "'a cold, harsh man.'"

Robert Bray as Sheriff Peters

Mary says she "'can't lie'" but when the men return and mockingly ask the women if they are still discussing Mrs. Wright's quilt, Mary quietly makes a decision and conceals the evidence. In a clever bit of dialogue, Henderson says patronizingly that the women have been "'trying to make up their minds about a real important problem...was she going to quilt it or knot it?'" The camera cuts from one character to another and we, the audience, know the double meaning of his words: the women wrestle with their dilemma and the men are oblivious to their moral struggle; we see Mary silently conclude what she must do and then she puts the evidence in her bag, thus choosing to impede her husband's investigation in the service of a higher form of justice.

The Alfred Hitchcock Presents adaptation of Trifles is superb, but it was not the first time that Glaspell's play had been filmed, either under its original title or under the revised title used for the short story. A short film called Trifles was released in 1930, starring Jason Robards, Sr., as Henderson. There were then four television adaptations under the title "A Jury of Her Peers": on Fireside Theatre (July 24, 1951); on Omnibus (November 8, 1953); on a Canadian series called Shoestring Theater (May 22, 1960); and finally on Alfred Hitchcock Presents (December 26, 1961). The story was again made into a short film in 1980 as "A Jury of Her Peers," and it was filmed again as Trifles in 2009. According to IMDb, yet another short film of Trifles was in production as recently as 2017. The play and short story have also become staples of the school curriculum and the play has been performed many times on stage. There is quite a bit written about it online and it seems to be assigned regularly to students as an essay topic.

June Walker as Mrs. Wright

Susan Glaspell (1876-1948) was born in Iowa and was famous in her day as an author of over fifty short stories, nine novels, and fourteen plays. Though Trifles is her most famous work, she won a Pulitzer Prize in 1931 for a play called Alison's House, co-founded the Provincetown Players, and encouraged the playwright Eugene O'Neill when he was getting his start. Glaspell also worked as a reporter in Des Moines, Iowa, when she was younger, and one story she covered involved the 1900 murder of John Hossack, who was "struck twice in the head with an axe while he was sleeping." His wife said she was also sleeping and awoke when she heard a strange sound. She was arrested during her husband's funeral and a trial resulted in a guilty verdict, though this was later overturned on appeal and a second trial ended in a hung jury. Sixteen years later, in her play Trifles, Glaspell used her memories of the Hossack case to examine the relationship between men and women. She gives the wife a motive for killing her husband, allows women to solve the mystery without men's help, and lets them choose between revealing what they have deduced or keeping quiet.

Robert Florey (1900-1979), who does such a wonderful job of translating Cavanagh's script into moving pictures, was born in Paris, France, and came to Hollywood in 1921, where he began as an assistant director and soon was promoted to director, making films from 1927 to 1951. Some of his best-known movies are The Cocoanuts (1927), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), and The Beast With Five Fingers (1946). He switched to television in 1951 and worked in that medium until 1964, directing episodes of The Twilight Zone, Thriller, and The Outer Limits, as well as five episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "The Changing Heart."

Ray Teal as Jim Hale

Playing Sarah Hale and receiving top billing in the cast is Ann Harding (1902-1981), who made her Broadway debut in 1921 and who was on screen from 1929 to 1965. This was her only appearance on Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Frances Reid (1914-2010) plays the morally-conflicted Mary Peters. She was onscreen from 1937 to 2009 and also appeared in an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. She mostly worked on TV, rather than in film, and her longest role was on the soap opera, The Days of Our Lives, where she appeared from 1965 to 2009.

Frances Reid's husband, Philip Bourneuf (1908-1979), plays George Henderson, the prosecuting attorney. A founding member of the Actor's Studio, Bourneuf had a long career on Broadway and was on screen from 1944 to 1976. He appeared in Fritz Lang's Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956), he was on Thriller, and he was seen in three episodes of the Hitchcock series, including "A Dip in the Pool."

Robert Bray (1917-1983) plays Sheriff Peters. On screen from 1946 to 1968, he was seen in Bus Stop (1956) and on The Twilight Zone, as well as appearing in five episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "Not the Running Type." His most famous role was on the TV show Lassie, from 1964 to 1968.

The moment of truth!

The long-suffering Mrs. Wright is portrayed by June Walker (1901-1966) who, at age sixty, appears considerably older than her character, who is supposed to be about 37 years old (having married at age 17 and remained married for 20 years). Walker also had a long career on Broadway and was on screen from 1917 to 1964. She was seen on the Hitchcock show three times, and her last acting credit is for her role in the hour-long episode, "Return of Verge Likens."

Finally, Ray Teal (1902-1976) plays Jim Hale, Sarah's husband. He appeared in countless films between 1937 and 1970 and was often seen on TV between 1953 and 1974. He had a recurring role on Bonanza from 1960 to 1972, was on The Twilight Zone and Thriller, and can be seen in eight episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "Revenge."

Read Susan Glaspell's play, Trifles, for free online here, or read her short story, "A Jury of Her Peers" for free online here. Watch the Alfred Hitchcock Presents version here. It is not yet available on DVD.

Sources:

“A Jury of Her Peers.” Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 7, episode 12, NBC, 26 Dec. 1961.

Glaspell, Susan. “A Jury of Her Peers.” Annenberg Learner, www.learner.org/.

Glaspell, Susan. “Trifles.” Trifles - a One-Act Play by Susan Glaspell, www.one-act-plays.com/dramas/trifles.html.

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

R, Darrien, and Poe. “A Jury of Her Peers The Hossack Murder.” GradeSaver, www.gradesaver.com/a-jury-of-her-peers/study-guide/the-hossack-murder.

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

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

The International Susan Glaspell Society, blogs.shu.edu/glaspellsociety/about-susan-glaspell/.

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

In two weeks: Our series on James P. Cavanagh ends with "Where Beauty Lies," starring George Nader and Cloris Leachman!

Listen to two great podcasts on Alfred Hitchcock Presents:

Presenting Alfred Hitchcock Presents (website here)

Good Evening: An Alfred Hitchcock Presents Podcast (website here)

Both are highly recommended!

The Hitchcock Project-James P. Cavanagh Part Nine: Coming, Mama [6.26]

by Jack Seabrook

Poor Lucy! Her bedridden mother is very demanding, insisting that her daughter tend to her every need and complaining all the while. Lucy would like to spend more time with her boyfriend, Edward, who complains that Lucy's mother's habit of cutting news items out of the paper makes it hard to read and sometimes changes the meaning of what words remain. Edward proposes marriage, not for the first time, suggesting a honeymoon at Niagara Falls. He also lives with his aging mother, and he suggests finding boarders for her so that she can support herself and he and Lucy can have their own home together.

"Coming, Mama" was first published here

Dr. Larson makes a house call and notices that Lucy looks tired from constantly attending to her mother. Feeling like a prisoner, Lucy thinks that she will only be free when her mother is dead. The doctor gives her medicine to help put her mother to sleep so Lucy, nearly 40 years old, can get some rest, and he encourages her to accept Edward's marriage proposal.

In the days that follow, as she takes care of her mother's every need, Lucy begins to fear that she will miss her chance at happiness with Edward. Her mother threatens to cut Lucy out of her will, and Lucy asks her mother to write a letter to Edward, as follows:

My daughter Lucy has told me she will never marry while I live. I am not well and my days are numbered. I love my daughter and want her to be happy.

Lucy then gives her mother twice the recommended dose of sleeping medicine and invites her neighbor, Mrs. Evans, to come over for lemonade. Lucy tells Mrs. Evans that her mother wants her to marry Edward but Lucy says that she will never stop caring for her parent. After Mrs. Evans leaves, Lucy falls asleep, waking at dawn and rushing upstairs to find her mother dead. She screams, Mrs Evans comes running over, and Dr. Larson later arrives to pronounce the death a suicide, based on the mother's note.

Madge Kennedy as Mrs. Baldwin

In the weeks that follow, the estate is settled, the house is sold, and Lucy prepares for a prompt wedding. They are married, but before they leave he reveals that his mother fell a few days before and is now an invalid. Knowing Lucy to be a skilled caretaker, he brought his mother to the new home that he had bought for himself and his bride. He tells Lucy that they must postpone their honeymoon and she enters the house to hear her new mother-in-law calling her impatiently. Lucy tells Edward that she will need to get Dr. Larson to prescribe some strong sleeping medicine and she heads upstairs.

"Coming, Mama" was first published in the September 1960 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Frederic Dannay writes in his introduction that the story was written by Henriette McClelland as part of a creative writing course taught by the editor. He remarks on the story's "cleanness and clarity, both of characterization and content, not found too often in 'first stories.'" He adds that Ms. McClelland is married and has two children, and that this is her first published story. The FictionMags Index lists two other stories by McClelland, one each in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1961 and 1962, but other than that she does not seem to have any published writing.

Don DeFore as Arthur

James P. Cavanagh adapted "Coming, Mama" for Alfred Hitchcock Presents not long after it was published, and the episode aired on NBC on Tuesday, April 11, 1961, near the end of the sixth season of the half-hour series. The teleplay follows the general outline of the short story, with one major change. The show opens ominously, as Lucy and Arthur (as Edward has been renamed) rush back to her house in the dark, with suspenseful music on the soundtrack creating a sense of urgency. Once inside, however, the lights are bright and there is no crisis. Both Mrs. Evans, the neighbor, and Dr. Larson are present, and Mrs. Baldwin (Lucy and her mother have been given a surname) reassures her daughter that she is fine.

We first see Mrs. Baldwin reflected in a dresser mirror next to Lucy as the daughter enters her mother's bedroom. Dr. Larson does not disguise his disdain for the mother's behavior, telling Lucy that her mother staged an attack for her benefit to punish her for going out. In a seemingly unimportant comment, Mrs. Baldwin sets up the show's final scene by asking about Arthur's mother and commenting that she's "'such an active woman.'" Dr. Larson gives Lucy the medicine to help her mother sleep and tells her, "'One teaspoon only--it's strong stuff.'"

Eileen Heckart as Lucy

After the doctor leaves, Arthur gives Lucy an ultimatum, telling her that she must decide by tomorrow if she wants to marry him or not. Lucy brings tea to her mother and they argue; Lucy is 34 years old and she is tired of her mother's selfishness and controlling behavior. Mrs. Baldwin responds by telling her daughter that Arthur does not love her and is only after the money she stands to inherit when her mother dies. After her mother threatens to cut Lucy out of her will, the younger woman leaves the room and looks at the bottle of medicine the doctor gave her.

Arthur telephones and, as she speaks to him, we see two images of the conflicted woman, one straight on and one reflected in a mirror next to where she stands. Lucy is being pulled in two directions by her boyfriend and her mother and the dual image illustrates her internal conflict. After Arthur repeats the next-day deadline, Lucy hangs up and returns to her mother's room, where she apologizes and administers the fatal dose of sleeping medicine. Unlike the story, Cavanagh's teleplay does not include the incident where Lucy asks her mother to write a letter to her boyfriend explaining that she cannot marry him. In fact, the idea of the written word having two meanings is absent from the TV show.

Jesslyn Fax as Mrs. Evans

In another meaningful shot, on the pillow next to Mrs. Baldwin's head we see the shadow of Lucy's hands pouring the medicine. There is then a close up of Lucy pouring "'two tablespoons,'" followed by ominous music on the soundtrack as we observe her mother drink the spiked cup of tea. Lucy starts to put the cap back on the bottle but then stops and leaves it off. Next morning, Lucy takes a tray of breakfast up to her mother as Mrs. Evans visits downstairs. Mrs. Evans hears the tray crash and rushes up to the bedroom, where Lucy's mother lies dead. Lucy notices that the cap is off the bottle and says that she gave her mother one teaspoon and then closed the bottle. She asks, "'Why would she take more? I warned her not to...Why would mother want to die?'" Mrs. Evans concludes that Mrs. Baldwin ended her own life so that Lucy could marry Arthur and be happy.

Robert Karnes as Mr. Simon

Why did James P. Cavanagh make such a significant change to the story? In McClelland's tale, the idea of a note that can have two meanings is set up early by Edward's complaint about Lucy's mother's habit of clipping items out of the paper. He says that missing words can change the meaning of what is left. In much the same way, Lucy dictates the letter for her mother to write and, to her mother's ears, it clearly tells Arthur that Lucy does not intend to marry him because she must care for her mother. However, after she is found dead, the same sentences are clearly interpreted as a suicide note.

The plot point in the story seems forced, making Lucy ask her mother to deliver the answer to Edward's question in the form of a missive that Lucy dictates. Perhaps Cavanagh, either on his own or at the behest of the producers, decided that having Mrs. Baldwin write a suicide note was something that might not pass muster with the censors in early 1961. In any case, the TV script works better and handles the situation more adeptly.

Arthur Malet as Dr. Larson

After Lucy's mother is found dead, Lucy speaks with a man named Mr. Simon at some later date. He reveals that her mother had been living off an annuity that stopped at her death, so Lucy inherits nothing. Lucy (and the viewer) now realize that her mother's threat to cut off her inheritance was a lie, since there was no money to pass on after the mother's death. Arthur arrives and cheers Lucy up by telling her that he has arranged for them to be wed that Saturday. Lucy admits that she is broke and he responds by reassuring her that he loves her and that the money makes no difference. They plan to enjoy their honeymoon together.

Unfortunately, Saturday comes and, after they are wed, Lucy and Arthur return to his home, where she is surprised to find his mother bedridden from a fall down the cellar steps. Arthur's mother, Mrs. Clark, thanks Lucy for giving up her honeymoon in order to care for her. Lucy learns that Mrs. Clark fell a day or so before Lucy's mother died, suggesting that, when Arthur made his ultimatum, he knew that his mother would need care, even if he could not have known of Mrs. Baldwin's impending death. Lucy says that they will need to get some sleeping medicine from the doctor and the show ends on a close up of Lucy's face, a knowing smile spreading across her features.

Gail Bonney as Mrs. Clark

"Coming, Mama" is a fairly entertaining short story that is improved by James P. Cavanagh's revisions for the TV version. It is unusual in that none of the characters are particularly likable or honorable. Mrs. Baldwin is a selfish, controlling old woman who puts her own needs ahead of those of her daughter and who threatens to cut the young woman out of her will, all the while lying about money that she does not have. Her daughter, Lucy, is a murderer and a liar, and at the end of the show it is suggested that she will commit a second homicide. Arthur is a middle aged man who conceals important facts from the woman he professes to love, lies to her, and conspires with his mother behind her back in order to save money on hiring a private duty nurse.

"Coming, Mama" is directed by George Stevens, Jr. (1932- ), son of director George Stevens and an important Hollywood figure in his own right. He started out as a production assistant to his father, directed training films while in the Air Force, and directed a few TV shows, including two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, before being put in charge of film and TV output in 1961 for the U.S. Information Agency. Stevens later founded the American Film Institute in 1967 and served as its director until 1980.

Lucy's dual nature is suggested by this mirror shot

Starring as Lucy is Eileen Heckart (1919-2001). Born Anna Eileen Herbert, she had a long career on Broadway, from 1943 to 1990, as well as on film and television. She won an Oscar for her role in Butterflies Are Free (1972) and she also won two Emmys. Though she was on screen from 1950 to 1998, this was her only appearance on the Hitchcock show.

Familiar-faced Don DeFore (1913-1993) plays Arthur; he was on film beginning in 1934 but is best remembered for his TV roles on two long-running sitcoms: The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-1957) and Hazel (1961-1965). He managed to fit in this one episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in between those two series. A website devoted to DeFore is here.

Madge Kennedy (1891-1987) plays Lucy's mother and gives a strong performance as a manipulative, bedridden harridan. Kennedy was on Broadway from 1912 to 1932 and appeared in films from 1917 to 1928. She retired for two decades, then returned to acting in 1952 and made many appearances on TV and film until she returned for good in 1976. In addition to parts on The Twilight Zone and The Odd Couple, she was seen in no less than six episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "A True Account."

In smaller roles:

• Jesslyn Fax (1893-1975) as Mrs. Evans, the neighbor; she was on screen from 1950 to 1969, had a small part in Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954), and was seen in five episodes of the Hitchcock TV show, including "The Woman Who Wanted to Live."
• Robert Karnes (1917-1979) as Mr. Simon, who speaks to Lucy about her mother's estate; he was on screen from 1946 to 1979 and played countless bit parts. He was on The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, and The Night Stalker, and he can be seen in eight episodes of the Hitchcock TV show, including "A Little Sleep."
• Arthur Malet (1927-2013) as Dr. Larson; he was on screen from 1956 to 1997 and played many small roles, including one in Mary Poppins (1964). He was on Night Gallery and appeared on the Hitchcock TV show twice.
• Gail Bonney (1901-1984) as Arthur's mother; born Goldie Bonowitz, she was on screen from 1948 to 1979 and played many bit parts. In addition to roles on Night Gallery and The Night Stalker, she was one of the most prolific actresses on the Hitchcock TV show, appearing in eleven episodes in all.

Thanks to Peter Enfantino for providing a copy of the story, which does not appear to have been reprinted. Watch "Coming, Mama" for free online here or buy the DVD here.

Sources:

"Coming, Mama." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 6, episode 26, NBC, 11 Apr. 1961.
Galactic Central, philsp.com/.

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub., 2001.
IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/.

McClelland,Henriette. "Coming, Mama." Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September 1960, pp. 73-80.

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

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

In two weeks: A Jury of Her Peers, starring Ann Harding and Philip Borneuf!