The Hitchcock Project-Night Caller by Gabrielle Upton and Robert Westerby [9.15]

by Jack Seabrook

"Night Caller" may be the most misogynistic episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

According to The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion, the show is based on an original story idea by Gabrielle Upton, and the teleplay is credited to her and Robert Westerby. This episode aired on CBS on Friday, January 31, 1964, and stars Felicia Farr as Marcia Fowler, a beautiful woman married to a much older man named Jack, played by David White.

In the first scene, Marcia is wearing a swimsuit and sunbathing on the patio of her upper middle-class home in a Los Angeles suburb. A telephone rings on the table next to her and she engages in a flirtatious conversation with a man who is not her husband; she calls him "darling" but reminds him that she is married. As she speaks, we see a young man watching her from behind a bush on the other side of a fence. Eventually, she notices the watcher and confronts him. He does not seem concerned that he has been caught and Marcia runs inside her house.

Felicia Farr as Marcia Fowler

She calls the police and two patrolmen arrive. Marcia has put a robe over her swimsuit but the men gaze admiringly at her face and figure and seem amused by her concern with the man who was watching her. She explains that her stepson, Stevey, is "'at a swimming lesson or something'" and her husband is in Chicago on a business trip. The police take Marcia in their car and drive down the street, quickly identifying the young man who was watching her as Roy Bullock, who is new in town and who lives with his aunt. At his home, one of the policeman questions Roy in his bedroom, which is a mess and which features pinups of models on the walls and erotic paperbacks and magazines strewn about. Roy calmly explains that "'she was sunbathing and I was looking at her,'" and denies being a Peeping Tom. The policeman warns him and leaves, but Roy looks menacingly out of the front door at Marcia as the police car drives off.

Jack Fowler arrives home from his business trip to an empty house and is soon joined by his flirtatious, nosy neighbor, Lucy, who tells him that Marcia was "'sunbathing with no clothes on ... well almost'" and explains about the visit by the police. Lucy leaves and Stevey enters; Jack gives him a present of a motorized toy plane. Marsha enters next and, though her husband is initially angry with her, she quickly calms him with a kiss. After she explains what happened, Jack says that he will pay a visit to Roy after dinner. The telephone rings and Marcia answers and hears a male voice; she hangs up and tells Jack that it was a wrong number.

Bruce Dern as Roy Bullock

That evening, Jack visits Roy at home and Roy dismisses two young women who are dancing the twist on his porch. Again, Roy is calm and confident, characterizing his earlier actions as innocent and disarming Jack with a seemingly sincere apology. The next day, Roy befriends Stevey in the park and helps him fly his new toy plane. Jack drives up and agrees to let Roy walk Stevey home. That evening, Jack and Marcia are bickering at home when Stevey enters, followed by Roy, which upsets Marcia. After Roy leaves, Jack and Marcia continue to fight and Stevey listens from halfway up the stairs. Jack insists that Roy is "'a good-natured boy'" and, when Marcia says that Roy scares her, Jack angrily replies that "'I've never known you to object to being looked at before--by anything in pants!'" Jack storms out, going to play poker at a friend's house and, after he leaves, Marcia looks out of a window and sees Roy watching her from the yard, though he runs off when she sees him.

At 11:30 that night, Marcia is alone in bed when the phone rings. She asks who it is and a male voice replies, "'Don't you know?'" before asking her what she's wearing and telling her that she's very pretty. Marcia hangs up, calls the house where Jack is playing poker, and is at first frightened when she hears someone enter the house--it turns out to be Jack, returning home. She tells him that Roy called and he downplays her fears before driving to Roy's house. He confronts the young man and accuses him of making the telephone call, but Roy explains that he was on a date and just got home. Roy suggests that Marcia may be trying to get her husband to pay more attention to her and Jack leaves, but before he gets home, Marcia receives another telephone call from the unidentified man, who asks her what she's wearing and tells her that she's "'very exciting.'"

David White as Jack Fowler

The next day, Stevey and Roy are playing basketball in the park together. At the Fowler house, Jack learns that he must travel to San Francisco on another business trip. He invites Marcia but she declines, so he plans to fly up and back the next day and take Stevey with him. Roy again walks Stevey home and chats with Jack on the sidewalk in front of the house, learning that Jack and his son will be gone all the next day.

In the morning, Roy hides behind a tree across the street from Marcia's house and watches as she drives off alone. That evening, she returns home to an empty house. The telephone rings and the same man asks her if she's alone. After she hangs up, there is a knock at the back door and Roy enters, carrying a toy plane, a present for Stevey. He tells Marcia that he has waited all day to talk to her while she is at home alone. He stops her from calling the police and accuses her of treating Stevey the same way that Roy's stepmother treated him. He was neglected and thinks that the woman's behavior drove his father to suicide. After Roy grabs Marcia roughly and calls her "'vain and selfish and conceited,'" promising that her husband and stepson will learn her true nature, she slaps Roy and pulls a gun out of the drawer in her makeup table. As he approaches her, Marcia shoots Roy twice. He falls and she blurts out, "'I didn't mean to kill you.'" Just then, the telephone rings and the same man begins talking to Marcia. She drops the receiver in horror, realizing that she has killed Roy but he was not the man who was calling and harassing her.

In the decades that followed "Night Caller," most of Gabrielle Upton's credits would be as head writer for various soap operas, and this episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour plays like a cross between a soap opera and a thriller. The acting, especially by Bruce Dern as Roy, is outstanding, but his character's motivations are confusing. Roy seems attracted to and repelled by Marcia at the same time. In the first scene, he is clearly hiding behind a bush as he stares at her, yet later on he insists that he was trying to find a shortcut home and just looked at her. Roy claims to have a girlfriend of sorts, telling Jack that Nancy, one of the girls twisting on the porch, has been with him for about a week and later claiming that he spent the evening on a date with her. Yet when Roy is playing basketball in the park with Stevey and Nancy pulls up on her bicycle and invites Roy to join her for a soda, he dismisses her, preferring to play with the boy.

Leslie Barringer as Stevey Fowler

The walls of Roy's bedroom feature pinups and both the policeman and Jack flip through Roy's collection of erotic magazines and books, but Roy sidles up to Jack and asks him, with a knowing grin, if he didn't have magazines like that in his bedroom when he was Roy's age. After Roy walks Stevey home, he is seen watching Marcia through a window from her yard before he runs off, hardly the actions of someone who does not think he is guilty. Finally, he watches her from behind a tree as she drives off when Jack and Stevey are away. That evening, he walks in through the back door of her house, carrying a toy plane that he claims he wanted to give to Stevey, even though he knows that Stevey is not home. Once again, Roy knowingly tries to cover up what appears to be his real objective: to look at or spend time alone with Marcia.

Roy's angry speech to her in the show's final scene demonstrates his duality. On the one hand, he has entered her home uninvited, approaches her menacingly, and grabs her when she tries to telephone the police. Throughout the scene, he moves toward her in a threatening way. However, his words tell a different story. Roy claims that his goal is to expose Marcia for the selfish, bad stepmother that he thinks she is. He tells her about the way he was neglected by his own stepmother and how he believes that the woman drove his father to kill himself by driving off of a cliff in broad daylight. "'Sure, it was an accident,'" he rants, "'that's what the papers said...'" With this speech, Roy attempts to create an excuse for his behavior; he claims that he has been watching Marcia and getting close to her husband and her stepson out of good intentions, in order to protect them from sharing the trauma that he experienced as a child. Bruce Dern is such a good actor that Roy is almost believable, yet the way he has behaved throughout the show strongly suggests that, at best, he is torn between lust and vengeance.

Will J. White

And what of Marcia? Her character is portrayed as vain, selfish, and uncaring, just as Roy describes her. In the first scene, she engages in a flirtatious telephone call with a man who is not her husband. She admits that she doesn't know or care where her stepson is and she fails to tell the boy when his father is coming home. Even after she claims to be afraid of Roy, she declines Jack's invitation to come to San Francisco for the day, preferring to stay home alone. Does she plan to call her male friend? She drives off in her expensive convertible that morning and returns that evening, but we never learn how she spends her day. Although Marcia is victimized by the unknown telephone caller, she is never portrayed as worthy of sympathy; instead, she is shown as someone whose behavior encourages men to pay attention to her, whether she likes it or not.

Diane Sayer as Nancy

The entire neighborhood is filled with unlikeable people, many of whom display some degree of the nosiness that gets Roy in trouble. Lucy, Jack and Marcia's neighbor, is a woman closer to Jack's age who pays close attention to what his family is doing and who clearly has designs on Jack, flirting with him and caressing the lapel of his jacket right before he tells her, "'that's about enough.'" When the police arrive at Roy's house, neighbors across the street gather on the sidewalk to watch the show. And Roy, who has only lived in town for a week, has already memorized Stevey's daily schedule. The residents of this Los Angeles suburb spend an unhealthy amount of time keeping tabs on each other and don't seem to be looking for ways to help their fellow man or woman.

The female characters in "Night Caller" are all portrayed in a negative light, something that would not occur in an episode produced by Joan Harrison. Marcia Fowler is vain and selfish. Lucy Phillips is nosy and flirts with her married neighbor. The woman pushing a shopping cart along the sidewalk has probably taken it without permission from the grocery store, though she is quick to deny this when spoken to by a policeman. Nancy Willis, Roy's girlfriend, is portrayed as a vapid teenager, someone he is quick to dismiss. Only Roy's aunt comes out unscathed, and even she seems harried. On the other hand, all of the male characters seem to belong to a secret club where each understands the other. Roy tries to excuse his behavior as a voyeur and a stalker by blaming it on bad experiences in childhood. Jack is more than willing to believe Roy, a stranger, over his own wife. The policemen who respond to Marcia's telephone call seem amused by her concern and make no effort to hide their admiration of her physical appearance. The only innocent character is the boy, Stevey, who is portrayed as an unwitting victim of neglectful parents. The relations between men and women in "Night Caller" represent one view of suburban life in America in 1964, and it is a world that is not very appealing.

Elizabeth Harrower as Mrs. Masters

Alf Kjellin, the episode's director, creates some suspense and there is a good use of shadows and light, especially in the scenes when Marcia is alone in the house and the phone rings, but the title of the episode, "Night Caller," doesn't seem to give a good sense of what this show is all about. Calls from the mystery man come in the daytime and the nighttime and, since his identity is never revealed, it seems like a better title was called for, one that addressed the tension between Roy's lust for Marcia and his desire to expose her as a bad parent.

In the final analysis, "Night Caller" is an uneven episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, one that doesn't hold up to careful scrutiny.

Gabrielle Upton (1921-2022) worked mostly as a writer for TV from 1951 to 1978. She wrote for anthology shows like The Web and One Step Beyond, but most of her credits came as writer for soap operas such as The Guiding Light (1966-1968), The Secret Storm (1969-1974), and Love of Life (1976-1978); her last credit was for Search for Tomorrow in 1981. She also wrote the screenplay for the teen hit, Gidget (1959). "Night Caller" was her only teleplay for the Hitchcock TV show.

Frances Morris as the woman with the shopping cart

Robert Westerby (1909-1968), who co-wrote the teleplay, was born in England and wrote magazine articles, short stories, and novels from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s. He began writing films in 1947 and TV shows in 1953 and his last credit was in 1966. This was his only work for the Hitchcock TV show.

Director Alf Kjellin (1920-1988) mixes the bland, suburban setting with more noirish camerawork and lighting in the night scenes. He was born in Sweden and started out in the movies in 1937 as an actor. He began acting on TV in 1952 and continued until 1979. He started directing films in 1955 and worked as a director on American television from 1961 to 1985, concurrent with his acting work. As an actor, he appeared in the 1966 film adaptation of Jack Finney's Assault on a Queen and in "Don't Look Behind You." As a director, he was at the helm for one episode of the half-hour Hitchcock series ("Coming Home") and eleven episodes of the hour series.

Angela Greene as Lucy Phillips

Starring as Marcia Fowler is Felicia Farr (1932- ), who was born Olive Dines. She lied about her age and became a lingerie model at age fifteen; she appeared on screen from 1954 to 1992. She was married to actor Jack Lemmon from 1962 to 2001 and this was her only role on the Hitchcock TV show.

Bruce Dern (1936- ) gives a strong performance as Roy Bullock. Dern trained with the Actors Studio and appeared on Broadway in 1958 and 1959 before starting his long screen career in 1960. His many roles include appearances on Thriller and The Outer Limits, another episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour ("Lonely Place"), and roles in Hitchcock's Marnie (1964) and Family Plot (1976), in which he starred.

Marcia's husband Jack is played by David White (1916-1990); he was a Marine in WWII and appeared on Broadway starting in 1949. He was on screen from 1949 to 1989 and appeared in many television shows. He was in four episodes of the Hitchcock series (including "Dry Run") and two of The Twilight Zone, but he is best remembered for his supporting role as Larry Tate on Bewitched (1964-1972).

In smaller roles:

• Leslie Barringer (1950-2011) as Stevey Fowler, Marcia's stepson; he appeared mostly on TV from 1961 to 1969.
• Will J. White (1925-1992) as the policeman who questions Roy; he was on screen from 1952 to 1979 and appeared in one other episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, "Memo From Purgatory." He was also seen on The Twilight Zone twice and on Thriller.
• Diane Sayer (1938-2001) as Roy's girlfriend; she was onscreen from 1962 to 1971 , appeared on The Twilight Zone, and was seen in two other episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, including "The Gentleman Caller."
• Elizabeth Harrower (1918-2003) as Roy's aunt, Mrs. Masters; like Gabrielle Upton, she wrote for TV soap operas, including The Days of Our Lives, from 1973 to 1991. She also acted on radio in the 1930s and on TV and in film from 1949 to 2003, appearing on The Twilight Zone, Batman, Night Gallery, and in one other episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,  "Wally the Beard."
• Frances Morris (1908-2003) as the woman pushing the shopping cart; she was on Broadway in 1912 and 1916, then appeared in film and on TV from 1929 to 1964. She was on Thriller and appeared in one episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "The Big Kick."
• Angela Greene (1921-1978) as Lucy Phillips, Jack and Marcia's flirtatious next-door neighbor; born in Ireland, she worked as a model and dated John F. Kennedy. Her screen career lasted from 1944 to 1976 and included roles on Thriller and Batman; she was also in one episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "Dead Weight."

Watch "Night Caller" online here.

Linda Fiorentino in the 1980s version

"Night Caller" was remade as an episode of the 1980s color remake series of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. This version, which is adapted from Upton's story by John Byrun, is just 30 minutes long and features Linda Fiorentino as a young woman who is newly divorced and living in an apartment for the first time on her own. As in the original version, she is tormented by a series of telephone calls from an unknown man and, at the end, she shoots the neighbor whom she thinks is the caller, only to have the telephone ring again to reveal that she was wrong.

There is no husband or stepson in this version, and the character of the neighbor is barely seen. The focus instead is on the woman and the way in which the repeated telephone calls cause depression and then insanity. Although the episode is more graphic and less subtle than the original version, it is also more straightforward, concentrating on the suspense and horror of the situation and leaving out the family dynamics. Watch the 1985 version online here.

Sources:

"Gabrielle Upton Papers." https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c82f7wbh.

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

IMDb, www.imdb.com.

"Night Caller." The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, season 2, episode 15, CBS, 31 Jan. 1964.

"Night Caller." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 1, episode 5, NBC, 5 Nov. 1985

Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org.

Listen to Al Sjoerdsma discuss "A Little Sleep" here!

In two weeks: "Act of Faith," starring George Grizzard!

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 138: Atlas/Marvel Science Fiction & Horror Comics

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 123

October 1956 Part III

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Strange Stories of Suspense #11

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Professor's Prisoner" (a: Herb Familton) ★

"The Decoy" (a: Bernard Bailey) ★★

"When the Vault Opens" (a: Pete Morisi) ★★

"He Can't Stop Looking" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★★

"The Mouse that Saved the World!" (a: Hy Fleishman) ★

"Someone is Listening!" (a: Bill Draut) ★1/2

A brilliant but egotistical scientist uses his ultra-powerful microscope to trap a miniature man from another world. But the little guy has an ace up his sleeve. Dismal SF yarn, with the only break from yawning being the professor's daughter constantly exclaiming "No, Dad, not more power! You've used too much power already!" You have to search for miniature gems in a giant pile of coal sometimes.

During World War II, a PT boat becomes lost in a fog and stranded on an uncharted island. Whatever each man wishes for is granted (one man wishes for bacon and eggs and a horde of pigs and chickens materialize!); the island lulls the men into a sense of satisfaction while it plots its real course of action. Only one man sees what's really happening and saves his crewmen from a life of luxury. "The Decoy" never explains exactly what's going on, be it an alien experiment or another dimension, and that may help just a bit.

Three explorer parties, each from a different country on Earth, land on Mars to find it desolate, a wasteland thanks to a long-ago nuclear war. The three quibble over who landed first and a fistfight breaks out. An item thought to be a "time capsule" is discovered and the squabble escalates. Just then, an emissary from the international tribunal arrives to break up the fisticuffs. With the man's help, the three nations come together and discover that love is all you need. "When the Vault Opens" is preachy, with (no surprise) the explorers from the communist countries being the most physically aggressive. That said, it's amenable enough and the Morisi art ain't half bad. 

In the three-page "He Can't Stop Looking," Henry Taylor stumbles across an ancient scroll that claims Aladdin's genie moved into different digs, inhabiting a bottle rather than a lamp. Henry turns away from the girl he loves and spends his life looking for that bottle, never knowing that the scroll was wrong!

Brilliant Dr. Morley needs more sleep as it's then, during dreamtime, that he comes up with his best inventions. Accused of being "lazy" by his colleagues, Morley invents an "Earth-Controller" that halts the planet's spin. Now Morley can get as much sleep as he wants thanks to 24-hour darkness. But the rest of the world isn't as happy... "The Mouse That Saved the World!" is a perfect example of the space-filler. It makes very little sense and the four pages did not allow for a proper climax, so the narrative dies midstream when the titular rodent shows up.

Amateur inventor Ted Slade creates a gizmo that transmits the thoughts of nearby pedestrians. Thinking this is a good way to promote peace (... would not be my thinking...), Ted hops a train to demonstrate his "Thoughtcaster" to his mayor but, while onboard, the thoughts of a terrorist are broadcast to Ted! Our exhausted hero arrives at Mayor Macey's office in time to hear the official's thoughts on embezzling a "few hundred grand" from the town's pockets. In a fit, he races home and hears wife Nell's brain admit it might be time to "kill him myself!" Has the whole world gone mad? Well, not exactly. "Someone is Listening!" teaches us all that there are several ways to interpret words (Nell's working up enough nerve to "kill the turkey in the backyard!") and mind-reading devices should be used only in Commie countries, not in the land of the free.-Peter

Strange Tales #51

Cover by Bill Everett

"The Insects!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★1/2

"Inside the Black Box" (a: Herb Familton) ★

"No Place on Earth!" (a: Harry Lazarus) ★

"He Stalks By Night!" (a: Bob Powell) ★1/2

(r: Giant-Size Man-Thing #2)

"Blackout!" (a: Hy Fleishman) ★

"The Thing in the Jungle!" (a: Bernard Bailey) ★

(r: Journey Into Mystery #16)

A Coast Guard boat runs across what seems to be a derelict freighter and the men board the ship. Immediately, they are attacked by a horde of giant ants! A door in the ship opens and they are beckoned to take shelter; their savior introduces himself as Professor Rollins. He explains that the ants were a by-product of a scientific study on the effects of radiation. "The Insects!" will continue to grow, hypothesizes the egghead, until they rule the world! The guardsmen decide to delay the apocalypse by sinking the ship. As they sail away, Professor Rollins confesses that the ants weren't really victims of radiation but robots he invented in order to steal the gold that was on board the freighter. But for the really dumb switcheroo at the climax, this was a fun little romp and a harbinger of things to come in Atlas sci-fi comics.

Skin diver Don Lowry finds an undersea cave that can take him back into the past, so he offers his services for a price to a group of treasure hunters who are looking for the bounty hidden two centuries before by Captain Kidd. Lowry heads back to 1697 and befriends Kidd, but then he falls in love with the pirate's girl, Cora. He vows to stay in the past until Cora marries Kidd and Don heads back to the present day with all the info his employers need. 

When he opens the black box containing Kidd's treasure, he finds a note from Cora explaining that she really loved him but was forced into marriage by the black-hearted Kidd. "Inside the Black Box" is a dipsy soap opera that makes no sense whatsoever. There's no reasoning given for the multi-chambered time tunnel cave, nor how Don could know exactly which door to choose to arrive in 1697. That final panel, of Don tearfully reading the centuries-old love letter from Cora, is fine cheese.

In the year 1993, Dave Warwick hates his step-brother Phil with a passion. Nothing but good seems to come Phil's way, including gorgeous Gloria, and Dave is left in the shadows. Looking to dig up some dirt on his bro, Dave does some reading and stumbles across a little-known fact that Phil might just be from the planet Mercury! To wipe Phil from the earth, Dave travels back in time to when the spaceship dumped his step-brother, in hopes of changing history. Unfortunately for Dave, he succeeds. Another goofy time travel yarn, this time with a character who'll stop at nothing to achieve... nothing. Both "No Place on Earth!" and "Inside the Black Box" were spawned from the incredibly prolific Carl Wessler, who was adept at latching on to a plot device and running it into the ground.

A hunter defies local superstition and shoots the mate of a were-tiger. He then becomes the prey of the beast itself. It all ends with a Scooby-Doo explanation and disappointment. Only Bob Powell can save "He Stalks By Night!" from being a complete waste of paper. In the three-page "Blackout!," an American baseball player and a Spanish matador both suffer disgrace and turn to a life of crime but are given a second chance. They blow that one, too.

Soldier of fortune Cliff Morgan will be paid a hefty sum by a museum if he's the first man to reach a lost temple hidden deep in the jungles of Africa. Morgan finds the temple at the same time as three other explorers and the quartet engage in fisticuffs of rage and greed. Suddenly, a robot appears and explains that all four men are actually aliens from another world and it's time to go home. "Get your asses on the ship," coos the metal monster. What is Cliff Morgan's next move? Well, forget finding out, because "The Thing in the Jungle!" ends on a cliffhanger, with our narrator asking the reader what they'd do if they were in Cliff's boots. Both the script and Bernard Bailey's graphics are amateurish. In fact, only the Bob Powell art seems inspired this issue.-Peter

Strange Tales of the Unusual #6

Cover by Bill Everett and Carl Burgos

"City in the Sky!" (a: Jay Scott Pike) ★★

"Bring Me Back a Human!" (a: Dick Ayers) ★★

"I Can't Be Harmed" (a: Hy Fleishman) ★1/2

"The Tree that Walked Like a Man" (a: Bill Walton) ★

"The Sound of Doom" (a: Bernard Bailey) ★1/2

"Beware! Radio-Active Man!" (a: Sid Greene) ★★

While flying his plane, Jeb Ogden sees a "City in the Sky!" suspended nearly 10,000 feet above the Earth. He lands in the city, named Burchfield, and meets a cute blonde named Jane Rawles, who explains that, 200 years ago, her great-grandfather invented an anti-gravity machine and up Burchfield went. Jeb falls in love with Jane and stops the machine so that the townsfolk can descend and experience the wonders of 1956. They soon begin hawking souvenirs and, before you know it, Jane has dumped Jeb for a city slicker in a fast car. Jeb restarts the anti-gravity machine and Burchfield disappears back above the clouds.

Jeb has a lot of nerve, doesn't he? The good citizens of Burchfield voted to descend and were perfectly happy with the capitalism of the mid-'50s. All it takes is Jane calling him a "dull bore" and Jeb decides on behalf of the whole town to send them back into isolation. Pike's art is average, which is looking better and better as the Atlas months pass by.

Garth and Tor are a pair of aliens whose mission is to "Bring Me Back a Human!" to their planet for study in preparation for an invasion. They separate and promise to meet back at their rocket ship, each with a human specimen. Garth disguises himself as a human and uses his mental powers to draw a man with a strong mind back to the ship. Since there's no sign of Tor, Garth takes off alone, but an accidental fall by the human causes a lever to jam; it will cause the ship to explode. The human reveals that he's Tor and both await destruction.

Dick Ayers's aliens are pretty good, so this story isn't as bad as many we've been reading lately. I knew the human with the strong mind had to be Tor. It's puzzling that neither Garth nor Tor could manage to convey that with their big brains.

Old Ben is dying, but his friend Cornelius is a philosopher who tells him that if he believes with heart and mind that "I Can't Be Harmed," then he'll be just fine. Cornelius goes on a trip and Ben hops out of bed, jet-setting from tragedy to tragedy around the world telling people that if they believe they can't be harmed, then they'll be fine. It works, over and over. Cornelius returns to find that Ben has died and the nurse says he never left the hospital.

Is this Carl Wessler's take on Peter Pan? The speed with which Ben races from disaster to disaster has to be seen to be believed, and the simplistic message falls as flat as Hy Fleishman's art.

A tree spends years wishing it could uproot itself and become "The Tree That Walked Like a Man." When it is struck by lightning during a storm, the tree is able to perambulate on its roots. As its strength ebbs, it longs to take revenge on one of the humans who it perceived was gloating about its inability to move, and in the dark it comes crashing down on a lone figure. Next morning, passersby wonder how a tree ended up on top of a statue in the town square.

It's a crowded field when trying to select the dumbest Atlas story, but this one has to be in the running--at three pages, it seemed too long.

Ben is a glue salesman whose car gets a flat tire one night. He wanders off, looking for a house where he can use the phone and finding a cave where an ancient wizard resides. In the cave hangs a big bell and the wizard explains that, every time he rings it, "The Sound of Doom" causes the world to explode in violence and war. He ties Ben up and dozes off; Ben awakens, makes a crack in the bell, and repairs it with glue, knowing that it will never ring with the same tone. That's the end of war and violence!

What a bizarre story. Bernard Baily does his best with it, but there's only so much an artist can do with a mess like this. I'm glad Ben ended war in 1956. Whew! Imagine what the last 69 years would've been like otherwise.

The cry goes out to "Beware! Radio-Active Man!" after a miner escapes from the Mikan Corp. Medical Center, where young men who go below the Earth's surface to mine dangerous minerals are held for treatment. The escaped patient is very dangerous due to high levels of radiation. The people who are on the young man's trail lament the fact that Carl Mikan got rich while his workers got sick; when they corner the young man in an alley, a man in a suit runs ahead of them and confronts the escaped patient. A shot is heard and both men stagger out of the alley. It turns out that the young man on the run was William Mikan and he was saved by his father, Carl Mikan.

I gave this story two stars in part because Sid Greene always turns in a decent job on the art and in part because I did not see the final twist coming. I knew the man in the suit was Mikan, but I did not guess that the escaped, radioactive patient was his son.-Jack

Next Week...
Is Batgirl a Victim
of Male Chauvinism?

Batman in the 1960s Issue 48: November/December 1967

 

The Caped Crusader in the 1960s
by Jack Seabrook
& Peter Enfantino

Infantino/Anderson

Batman #196

"The Psychic Super-Sleuth!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

"The Purloined Parchment Puzzle"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

Batman and Robin are summoned to the site of a jewelry store robbery, only to meet Hungarian psychic sleuth Petru Dubrov, who uses his mental powers to lead the Dynamic Duo to the home of some reformed jewel thieves who claim that they've been playing cards all night. "The Psychic Super-Sleuth!" finds the stolen jewels in a tool chest and the men claim that they were set up; a quick fistfight with Batman and Robin doesn't end well for the hoods.

The next evening, Batman and Robin see a suspicious milk truck outside a mansion whose owners are away on vacation. A pair of masked crooks, dressed as mods, run out of the back of the truck and manage to escape, despite taking a few hits from the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder. Petru Dubrov holds a button torn from the jacket of one of the mods and leads Batman and Robin to a pool room, where three mods claim no knowledge of the theft. Dubrov finds the stolen loot in the trunk of their car, but Batman realizes they were not the thieves, since none was missing a button from his jacket. Dubrov is a fake!

Batman tracks the real Dubrov to a barn outside of Gotham City and fights a muscleman, who tosses the Dark Knight to the floor; he is saved by quick action by the Boy Wonder, who was given a telepathic warning about Batman's fall by the real Dubrov, who was trapped in a wooden crate in the barn. He leads the Dynamic Duo to intercept the real mods and, after they've been caught, he admits to Robin that it wasn't all ESP--he overheard the crooks discussing their destination!

I think we're getting near the end of Moldoff's exceedingly long run on the Batman comics, and none too soon! The art is the usual mix of awkward poses and dull page layouts that we've come to associate with Sheldon. The story is a throwaway; Dubrov is not a particularly interesting character. The best thing about this one is the appearance of the mods, who aren't particularly mod but who do serve as an example of DC's often cringe-worthy and late depiction of trends among the young and hip.

A pretrial hearing at Gotham City Courthouse examines "The Purloined Parchment Puzzle," where a rare, Ancient Roman document was stolen from a seemingly locked room. Batman is the star witness and he explains how security guard named Frost pulled off the theft.

It's odd that the entire story is told in flashback through snippets of court testimony, but that doesn't make it interesting. My favorite panel shows Batman relaxing on the witness stand, with one leg crossed over the other.-Jack

Peter- Neither one of these is a classic but I found both to be entertaining (albeit "Parchment" is a bit text-heavy). That might be just me dying for some good Batman comics rather than a reflection of their true quality. The Moldoff art just seems to run together. I wouldn't be surprised if, by 1967, the guy wasn't even reading the scripts. All the heavies are dressed the same and the Caped Crusaders continually strike the same poses. Were there any good DC comics at this time?

Kane/Anderson

Detective Comics #369

"Batgirl Breaks Up the Dynamic Duo!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Carmine Infantino & Sid Greene

While assisting Batgirl in taking down some thugs in a remote swamp, Batman manages to come down with a bad dose of "swamp fever" but only Batgirl recognizes the symptoms. Assuming (correctly) that the Dark Knight is not one for resting during illness, Babs begins to shadow Batman and Robin while they are out on their patrols.

Thanks to her new "Multi-Color Light Tracer Beam," Batgirl can even anticipate where a heist will go down before the Caped Crusaders do and takes care of business before the Big Guy can arrive and endanger himself. Realizing that Bats won't slow down no matter what, our heroine takes a left turn and offers Robin a place on her Batbike as her new sidekick!

Batman's first side-effects of "swamp fewer," it seems, are hurt feelings, and he watches in awe and pain as Robin heads off into the sunset with Batgirl. At every robbery, the crestfallen hero arrives too late. That is, until he gets smart and changes his patrol route the next night. Batman attempts to halt a warehouse heist but collapses in mid-punch. Luckily, Batgirl and Robin arrive just in time to save him and put the cuffs on the thugs.

A few days later, Commissioner Gordon and daughter Babs visit Bruce Wayne at his hospital bed. Gordon hands over some Chinese oranges and wishes him the best. As his friends leave his room, Bruce wonders out loud to Dick Grayson if perhaps the Gordons know he's really Gotham's Guardian since Chinese oranges are "beneficial in helping one recuperate from 'swamp fever'!" Meanwhile, across town, Catwoman dons her claws and prepares to battle Batgirl for the affection of Batman!

The hokum continues. I'm no doctor, but I do believe the best course of action here might have been to alert "The World's Greatest Detective" that he may have a debilitating virus, whether it's assumed that he'll be stubborn or not. And how about the quick incubation period for Gotham "swamp fever" (leptospirosis usually takes one to two weeks after infection to show effects according to... um, my medical training)? Bats comes down with it literally minutes after he arrives at the scene! 

I'd love for Babs to explain in greater detail that incredible Multi-Color Lava Lamp Crime Detector she's affixed to her Moped. Its colors detect crime? Seems a pretty good tool to share with your crime-fighting colleagues, no? Bruce and Dick seem pretty calm in the final panels considering that, all evidence considered, Gordo and Babs have to have put two and two together (hmmmm... Batman and Bruce Wayne are stricken with "swamp fever" at exactly the same time?!) by now; after all, they're not idiots. The highlight of the story, of course, is the Catwoman tease. Other than Golden Age reprints, this will be our first look at one of Batman's most popular Rogues.-Peter

Jack-That dynamite cover by Kane and Anderson made the interior art by Infantino and Greene seem a little bit mannered to me. There are more than the usual shots of bodies leaning back or faces tilted to one side, all Infantino hallmarks. I didn't really understand why Batgirl thought she had to hide Batman's diagnosis of swamp fever from him. The highlight for me was the last page, where we see Catwoman in prison in a preview of the next issue of Batman.

Andru/Esposito

The Brave and the Bold #74

"Rampant Run the Robots!"

Story by Bob Haney

Art by Ross Andru & Mike Esposito

A quiet night in Gotham City is shattered by a string of robot robberies! Could it have something to do with the First International Robot Exposition, where robots from all over the world, including the Metal Man, have gathered? Batman stops by and Doc Magnus introduces the Caped Crusader to Dr. Daedalus, who wonders aloud if crime-fighting robots will ever replace Batman. In his efforts to combat the sudden, robot crime wave, Batman crashes the Batmobile into a robot roadblock and passes out.

He awakens to find the Metal Men leaning over him. Batman, the Metal Men, Doc Magnus, and Commissioner Gordon meet with Dr. Daedalus, who explains that someone messed with all of the robots except the Metal Men and Icarus, Daedalus's robot. The good robots are deputized to help and everyone fans out to try to figure out what's going on. After a few odd incidents, Batman accuses Doc Magnus and the Metal Men of being part of the crime wave. They are locked away and Batman continues battling robot mayhem.

Eventually, the Dark Knight realizes that the Metal Men are not crooks after all. For their part, the Metal Men have little trouble busting out of their prison once Doc Magnus begins to suffer from lack of oxygen. They defeat some rogue robots and rush off right before Batman arrives to reconcile. He meets Icarus, immediately realizes that he's lying, and secretly follows the robot to discover that all of the stolen loot has been stashed in the City Hall basement, right under Commissioner Gordon's office! Of course, Dr. Daedalus was behind the whole thing, and the Metal Men arrive in the nick of time to help Batman end the menace of the rampaging robots.

On page two of the story, Batman is killing time, patrolling Gotham City on a slow night and swinging from rooftop to rooftop, when he spins around a flagpole and remarks, "Here's one I did before anybody, including a certain web-spinning Peter-come-lately!" It's a cute reference to Spider-Man, whose popularity by 1967 must have been making the DC crew sit up and take notice. The rest of the story is simple, and I had no doubt from the first time Dr. Daedalus was introduced that he was behind the robot rampage. The art by Andru and Esposito isn't as annoying as it would later become.-Jack

Peter-I like the Metal Men; their title was goofy fun for quite a while during the 1960s. The concept was so out there that you could readily accept the inanities; I'm not sure Batman meshes with that goofiness. There was a phrase we coined way back during the Marvel University blog days, the MARMIS™, a convoluted situation lazy writers would use (usually while scripting Marvel Team-Up and Marvel Two-In-One) wherein one superhero believes another superhero has perpetrated a crime, even though said hero knows the other hero is not a villain. Obviously, as evidenced by "Rampant Run the Robots!," DC writers actually created the trope. None of the dialogue Bob Haney has written here for the Dark Knight sounds like words that would come out of the brooding hero ("So let's go where the action is, Brucey boy!") although the swipe at Spider-Man is fun. This is just a hectic, frazzled mess.

Infantino/Esposito

Batman #197

"Catwoman Sets Her Claws for Batman!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Frank Springer & Sid Greene

There's a new crime fighter patrolling the streets of Gotham City by night in her Kitty Car--Catwoman! She foils an attempt to rob the payroll at Gotham Winery by the Parker Brothers, using her cat-o'-nine-tails to knock them out. Catwoman encounters Batman and Robin, who are also patrolling and who wonder what she's up to. The next night, the Dynamic Duo attempt to stop a robbery at a silk handkerchief factory; when the musclebound thugs begin to get the upper hand, Catwoman appears and helps to overcome them.

Catwoman tells Batman that she's a better catch than Batgirl and it becomes apparent that "Catwoman Sets Her Claws for Batman!" in a romantic way. The next day, Barbara Gordon is passing the time in the library and thinking about Catwoman's strange turn from criminal to crimefighter. Figuring out the location of a crime in progress, Barbara puts on her Batgirl costume and rushes to the scene on her Batbike, only to find that Catwoman is already there. The two women battle the evil doers, but Batgirl is knocked for a loop while Catwoman prevails. At Police Headquarters, Batgirl is forced to admit to Batman that she blew it.

Soon, Selina Kyle (Catwoman) is autographing her new book for her adoring fans and turning down an invitation from Bruce Wayne to attend a charity dinner, unaware of his other self. Catwoman continues to fight crime, hoping that it will attract Batman. Finally, she confronts him and asks him to propose to her, but he declines. The next night, Batman and Robin, Batgirl, and Catwoman all arrive at a rare coin shop where crooks are trying to make off with the goods. During the melee, Catwoman knocks out Batman while crooks handle Batgirl and Robin. Batgirl realizes that all of the crooks that Catwoman has defeated were really working for her and Catwoman takes the Caped Crusader to her catacombs, where she unmasks him, only to find that he painted a mask on his face!

Catwoman discovers the same thing when she unmasks Robin and Batgirl. When Batman refuses to propose to her, she resumes her life of crime and robs five wealthy people as they play cards at a private club. Back at the Catacombs, she thinks that she has the trio of heroes under control until Batgirl surprises her by knocking her out. In the end, Batgirl tells Catwoman that she is not romantically interested in Batman, something Catwoman has a hard time believing.

Frank Springer's art is a hair better than Sheldon Moldoff's, but not nearly as good as Carmine Infantino's. The story is absurd and is yet another in the line of tales involving Batgirl that demonstrate how different things were for women in the 1960s. I presume Catwoman returned due to her frequent appearances on the TV show, but Julie Newmar was way better than this lovesick feline. At least the cover is a knockout.-Jack

Peter- Absurd it might be, silly as well, but this was the most fun I'd had reading a Batman comic in months. I'm glad to see Catwoman back; the continual carousel of Joker/Penguin/Riddler was getting tired. We need more villains! Hopefully, this hero version of Selina won't last long. One more thing I'd politely disagree with Jack on is the art. Springer's work here is energetic, resembling the 1950s style we've come to appreciate in the reprints.

Infantino/Adams

Detective Comics #370

"The Nemesis from Batman's Boyhood!"

Story by John Broome

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

While fighting the Blitzkrieg Bandit, a new nemesis plaguing Gotham, Batman realizes the villain is, in fact, Bart Lambert, a kid who used to pick on pre-teen Bruce Wayne. Lambert would terrorize the poor little rich kid (who evidently went to public school for some reason) until little Brucie wised up and hit the gym, putting on several pounds of muscle. The problem is, by the time Wayne had bulked up, Lambert had already left school.

But now, he's back, and grown-up Bruce/Batman seems just as terrified of Lambert/Blitzy as ever before. The two tangle on a couple of occasions and both times Batman can't seem to land a killing blow. How can this hurdle be overcome?

After looting Wayne Manor, stealing a priceless painting by Borot, and beating the crap out of Batman in his own driveway, Lambert is frightened away by the headlights of an oncoming car. That would be Alfred and Aunt Harriet returning from the picture show. Alfred hustles Harriet away before she can see the cloaked pile of beaten flesh in the drive. Robin, having been told to stay out of the fight, disobeys orders and hops in the Batmobile to chase Lambert.

Alfred revives his boss and lets him know that Robin has been calling for him on the com. Batman answers and receives a disturbing message: Robin has been shot and left for dead by Lambert! Bats grabs the 'copter and takes to the skies to rescue his youthful ward. He arrives at the scene, takes no pulse, and decides that, yep, Robin is dead!

His heart full of vengeance, Batman heads into a nearby house, searching for his old tormentor. Sure enough, Lambert is hiding out there and ready to give the big guy another whuppin'. But, no, Robin's "death" has ramped up the Dark Knight's temper and he beats the living crap out of Lambert. Later, while standing triumphant over the bleeding, broken carcass of the bully he never beat, Batman is astonished to see Robin emerge from the shadows, clearly not dead. The kid's been taking psych class at Gotham Elementary and knew his idol needed a bit of motivation in order to put Lambert in his rear-view forever. "This kid!," Batman sighs, as he watches the vultures descend upon Bart's corpse.

Well, that's the ending I'd have preferred. At least that image might have provided a bit of surprise to this tepid "adventure." Every couple of years, we're invited to witness yet another "lost episode" from Bruce Wayne's past. Here, we discover that maybe it wasn't Pop's death that got little Bruce to train, but a big bully at school! 

I really have to question how Lambert got back up after Batman threw him head-first into a tree. Most human beings don't get up from that kind of trauma. This guy really must have been a Super-Bully! The biggest laugh of the year has to go to Batman, coming across the "dead body" of Robin and deciding that checking for vitals would be a waste of time. He needs to pound Lambert right now! "World's Greatest Detective!"-Peter

Jack-It's embarrassing that Batman, who has battled every sort of crook, can't bring himself to knock out the bully who pummeled him when he was a boy without some psychological trickery by the Boy Wonder. How about that cover, though? It's hard to see much evidence of Infantino's pencils--maybe in Robin's face?

Next Week...
Can Anyone Survive the
Onslaught of The Insects??!!

The Hitchcock Project-Self Defense by John T. Kelley [6.32]

by Jack Seabrook

One evening, a car pulls up outside a liquor store in a run-down part of town. A tall, handsome man emerges from the car and walks between a few battered garbage cans to the store's front door. On entering, he cheerfully greets the middle-aged woman behind the counter; she appears frightened. He pulls a six-pack of beer from a refrigerated case, approaches the counter, and places a five-dollar bill in front of the clerk, who tells him that she has no change and suggests that he "'take the beer and pay me later.'"

From behind the store's open front door, a young man with a gun emerges and walks toward the customer, whose back is to the young man. The gunman is reflected in a mirror on the wall behind the clerk. Suddenly, the sweaty, nervous gunman sticks his gun in the customer's back and tells him not to turn around. The clerk urges the young man to leave, since he has her money, and he rushes out the front door, pulling it closed. The customer, sweating profusely and looking upset, watches as the clerk takes her husband's gun from behind the counter; she says that she was afraid to reach for it before. She places the gun on the counter and the customer grabs it and runs out to the parking lot, where he shoots at the thief's car as it starts to drive away. After a second gunshot, the car stops. The customer approaches the car and shoots twice more, aiming at the driver. Going up to the car, he sees the young man slumped over the wheel.

Audrey Totter as Mrs. Phillips

This is the powerful scene that opens "Self Defense," an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents that aired on NBC on Tuesday, May 23, 1961. The scene dissolves to the office of police Lt. Schwartz, where the liquor store customer speaks to Schwartz and another policeman named Lou. The man identifies himself as Gerald R. Clarke, single, age 38, who works as a radio engineer at a local station. Clarke asks about the young man, who is identified as 18-year-old Jimmy Phillips; he is badly injured but alive and has no prior criminal record. The second policeman explains that Jimmy's mother is divorced and works as a switchboard operator, while his father is remarried and lives somewhere in New Jersey.

George Nader as Gerald Clarke

When questioned, Clarke explains that he had never been to that liquor store before but had stopped off there to buy beer while on his way to a friend's house to play cards. Schwartz praises him for having "'showed a lot of nerve going after that kid'" and asks Clarke why he took the risk. Clarke replies, "'Because he pointed his gun at me,'" and tells a story about having served in the Army during WWII in France, Belgium, and Germany. He was never on the line and never had to kill anyone, but he once saw a British soldier shot by mistake by a friend outside a bar in Brussels. "'It made me realize how special a loaded gun is when it's pointed at you.'" When Jimmy pointed his gun at Clarke, the ex-soldier thought, "'What makes him think that he can do this to me? And I had to fight back.'" Schwartz tells Clarke that he can leave and Clarke remarks, "'I wish it hadn't happened.'" "'Don't let it throw you,'" says Schwartz, "'A man's got a right to defend himself.'"

Steve Gravers as Lt. Schwartz

Clarke leaves the lieutenant's office and enters a phone booth in the lobby of the police station. While he's inside, a policeman brings a middle-aged woman into the lobby, where she sits on a bench. Clarke emerges from the phone booth, picks up his overcoat from a chair, and the woman addresses him, thinking that he is the police lieutenant. Clarke tells her that he's not a policeman and offers to help, noticing that she is upset. After he hands her a handkerchief to wipe her tears, it becomes clear that she is Jimmy Phillips's mother; she mentions that her son held up the liquor store with an empty gun. Clarke rushes back into Lt. Schwartz's office and asks if the gun was empty, as Mrs. Phillips said. The lieutenant confirms that it was but adds that there was no way for Clarke to have known this. Clarke is visibly upset and Schwartz hangs up the telephone to announce that Jimmy died five minutes ago.

David Carlile as Lou

After the mid-show break, the scene shifts to a cemetery, where Jimmy's funeral ends and Clarke stands near the edge of the crowd of mourners, watching Mrs. Miller wipe her tears. After the crowd has dispersed, Clarke approaches the last man left and learns that he is Henry Willet, who runs the answering service where Mrs. Phillips works. Clarke introduces himself and offers to help, pressing several bills into Willet's hand in order to share the cost of the funeral and insisting that "'I'm not trying to buy my way out of this.'" "'Don't punish yourself too much about this,'" replies Willet, "'he wasn't the angel she likes to think he was... it's his own fault.'"

Jesslyn Fax as Mrs. Gruber, the liquor store clerk

At the radio station where Clarke works, he sees Mrs. Phillips arrive in the lobby and she thanks him for helping to pay for the funeral. She asks if he'll help her "'come to terms with it,'" by talking to her and they agree that they'll meet at his apartment that evening. Later, she arrives at his "'lovely apartment,'" one of several that are "'ringed around the swimming pool,'" and the setting contrasts with the hard life led by Mrs. Phillips and her son. As Clarke makes coffee, Mrs. Phillips mentions having had a long talk with Lt. Schwartz. He admits that he was frightened but insists that he was shooting at the car, not at Jimmy, and he does not remember how many shots were fired.

Selmer Jackson as the priest

Mrs. Phillips points out that he shot Jimmy three times and she asks Clarke why he kept shooting, even after the car had stopped. He explains that he kept firing because he was afraid and he grows more agitated, his voice rising, sweat appearing on his face, telling her that "'You don't know how it feels, having a gun pointed at you.'" She watches him quietly, judging him, as he falls apart. She walks back to the sofa and pulls a gun from her purse, pointing it him and emphasizing that "'This gun is loaded, Mr. Clarke.'" He continues to insist that he was frightened when he shot her son and he breaks down, pleading with her. Finally, she lowers the gun, puts it back in her bag, puts the bag down, and goes to the closet, where she gets her coat and puts it on, all with her back to Clarke.

Bob Paget as Jimmy Phillips

When Mrs. Phillips turns around, she sees that Clarke is now pointing her own gun at her and his face is bathed in sweat. He shoots once and she falls to the floor; he shoots a second time and her body jerks with the bullet's impact. Clarke speaks the show's final line: "'I told you not to point a gun at me.'"

"Self Defense" is the title of this thrilling episode, and the question of whether Clarke acted in self-defense when he shot Jimmy hangs over the whole show. Today, there would be no question that Clarke's actions in following and shooting Jimmy were inappropriate, but in 1961, his character is reassured by two men; both Lt. Schwartz and Henry Willet tell him that he did the right thing and has nothing to feel bad about. The main female character, however, has a different opinion, and she confronts Clarke with questions about why he fired multiple gunshots at Jimmy when the young man was not firing back. It seems clear that Mrs. Phillips has uncovered the basis for Clarke's self-doubt, and when she threatens him with a gun he snaps and responds by killing her.

Alexander Lockwood as Henry Willet

Reviewers on IMDb have suggested that Clarke suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his wartime experiences, and that may be true, but there is another, perhaps far-fetched explanation for what happens in this episode. George Nader, who plays Clarke, was a handsome, gay actor who kept his sexual orientation from the public during the years he appeared on screen. What if the actions of his character in "Self Defense" are taken as extreme measures to conceal Clarke's feelings of attraction for other men? In the opening scene, young Jimmy pokes a loaded gun (a phallic symbol) into Clarke's back, causing him to have a noticeable reaction. Sweat pours down his face. When he first entered the store, the clerk, a middle-aged woman, looked at him strangely. Does Clarke grab the gun, run outside, and kill Jimmy as a way of pushing his own desire deep below the surface?

In the next scene, at the police station, Lt. Schwartz spends much of the scene watching Clarke with an odd expression on his face, as if he's trying to figure out the man before him. After the funeral, Henry looks at Clarke strangely and Clarke shoves a handful of bills into his hand. Finally, there is Clarke's relationship with Mrs. Phillips. He is 38 years old and she is a few years older; the actress who plays her, Audrey Totter, is attractive, even in a role as an 18-year-old man's mother who is divorced and works at an unglamorous job. Clarke meets her at work and they arrange for her to visit him at his home that evening, but there is no hint of sexual tension between them.

Aiming at the car

That evening, Clarke's home is presented as a classic bachelor pad, one of several that surround a central swimming pool; the apartment is beautiful but there is no suggestion of any female presence. Even when he and Mrs. Phillips are alone together, he is tortured and, the more she questions him, the more upset he gets. Finally, she points a gun at him (another phallic symbol) and he snaps. When her back is turned, he takes the gun and, as soon as she turns around, he shoots and kills her, putting a second bullet into her body as it lies on the floor, not a threat to him at all.

Is the character of Gerald Clarke meant to be a gay man who can't help killing out of zeal to cover up his identity? Far-fetched as the idea may be, one can easily support it by watching the show closely. "Self Defense" is a wonderful half-hour of noir that moves quickly and rachets up the tension until its shocking finale. The teleplay was written by John T. Kelley (1921-1972), who wrote for TV from 1951 to 1971 and whose few movie credits include some dialogue for Planet of the Apes (1968). This was one of two scripts he wrote for Alfred Hitchcock Presents; the other was "Apex." "Self Defense" appears to be an original teleplay; the cover of a copy of the shooting script says that it is either "from his story" or "from the story," but I have been unable to locate any published story.

At Gerald's place

The show is directed by Paul Henreid (1908-1992) who began his career as a film actor. He started directing in the early 1950s and he directed 29 episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "A Little Sleep."

George Nader (1921-2002), who plays Gerald Clarke, served in WWII and then starred in films and on TV from 1950 to 1974. He was in Robot Monster (1953) and he was seen in two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents; the other one was "Where Beauty Lies." 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).

Mrs. Phillips is played by Audrey Totter (1917-2013), who had a small part in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) and a lead role in The Lady in the Lake (1947). She appeared in numerous TV episodes and movies from 1945 to 1987 and was a regular on four different TV series. She appeared in one other episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "Madame Mystery."

In smaller roles:

• Steve Gravers (1922-1978) as Lt. Schwartz; trained at the Actors Studio, he was on screen from 1950 to 1978, mostly on television, and he appeared in four episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "The Thirty-First of February."
• David Carlile (1931-2006) as Lou, the other policeman who interviews Clarke; his career was mostly on TV from the mid-1950s to the late 1990s; he was on the Hitchcock half-hour seven times, including "A Night With the Boys."
• Jesslyn Fax (1893-1975) as Mrs. Gruber, whose store is robbed; she was on screen from 1950 to 1969 and had small parts in Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954) and North By Northwest (1959), as well as on five episodes of the Hitchcock TV show, including "Coming. Mama" She was also on Batman and she appeared in "Four O' Clock," Hitchcock's TV adaptation of a Cornell Woolrich story in 1957 for Suspicion.
• Selmer Jackson (1888-1971) as the priest at the funeral; he often played small, uncredited roles in film or on TV from 1921 to 1963. He appeared in Hitchcock's Saboteur (1942) and was in six episodes of the Hitchcock show; his last credited role was in "Starring the Defense."
• Bob Paget (1935- ) as Jimmy Phillips; he was on screen from 1955 to 2019 and played one of the auditioning Hitlers in The Producers (1968).
• Alexander Lockwood (1902-1990) as Henry Willet; born in Austria-Hungary, he was on screen from 1952 to 1988. He had small parts in three episodes of the Hitchcock TV show and played minor roles in Saboteur (1942), North By Northwest (1959), and Family Plot (1976).

Watch "Self Defense" online here or buy the DVD here.

Sources:

The FICTIONMAGS Index, www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/0start.htm.

"George Nader - Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Self Defense - 1961." GEORGE NADER - ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS - SELF DEFENSE - 19, www.rock-hudson-estate-collection.com/scripts/george-nader/george-nader-alfred-hitchcock-presents-self-defense-1961.html. Accessed 4 May 2025.

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

IMDb, www.imdb.com.

"Self Defense." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 6, episode 32, NBC, 23 May 1961.

Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org.

Listen to Al Sjoerdsma discuss "A Little Sleep" here!

In two weeks: "Night Caller," starring Felicia Farr and Bruce Dern!