User:Roman Spinner/Eleventh Hour
This is a list of episodes from the American television series The Eleventh Hour. The psychiatric drama's 63 episodes were broadcast by NBC for two seasons, from October 3, 1962 to July 7, 1964 . The stars were Wendell Corey as psychiatrist Theodore Bassett, M.D. (season 1) and Ralph Bellamy as psychiatrist L. Richard Starke, M.D. (season 2). Jack Ging co-starred in both seasons as their associate, clinical psychologist Paul Graham, Ph.D..
Season 1: 1962–63[edit]
Date of original broadcast | # | Episode title | Guest stars in opening credits | Writer(s) | Producer Director |
Plot Guest cast listed in end credits |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
October 3, 1962 |
1 | "Ann Costigan: A Duel on a Field of White" | Vera Miles | Created and written by Harry Julian Fink |
Herbert Hirschman Fielder Cook |
Dr. Theodore Bassett does a court-ordered examination of Ann Costigan whose attorney, Walter Enley, presents the defense that she was insane when she killed her husband.
[Note: in this premiere episode, Jack Ging does not appear and receives no billing]
|
October 10, 1962 |
2 | "There Are Dragons in This Forest" | Steven Hill and Mai Zetterling |
Theodore Apstein | Sam Rolfe Boris Sagal |
Dr. Bassett and his associate Dr. Paul Graham are chosen by military attorney Capt. Norman Hobler to evaluate his client, World War II Army deserter, Mark Tyner, captured in Germany 17 years later, whose relationship with his American wife, Fay Tyner and his German wife, Carla Riehle is examined by Bassett who puts on the uniform of a German World War II officer in order to recreate Carla's harrowing interrogation by the Gestapo.
|
October 17, 1962 |
3 | "Make Me a Place" | Barbara Rush Special Guest Star David Janssen |
S. S. Schweitzer | Sam Rolfe Paul Wendkos |
Bassett is contacted by actor Hal Kincaid who is concerned that his ex-wife, Linda Kincaid, a harried fashion designer, is mentally unstable and may be putting their daughter, Jenny Kincaid, in danger. As Bassett and Graham examine the relationship between Linda and her fiancé, Pete Harvey, they see that Hal's true motives may be to retain control over his ex-wife and daughter.
|
October 24, 1962 |
4 | "I Don't Belong in a White-Painted House" | George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst |
Mark Rodgers | Sam Rolfe Don Medford |
Agent Sterne, from an (unnamed) agency of the government, requests that Bassett and Graham speak to defector Anton Novak, formerly a spymaster of the Red Army who, after years of living in the U.S., has applied to return to the Soviet Union, leaving behind his wife, Joanne Novak and American-born son, John Novak, who is nearly six. Through complex psychological reasoning, possibly amounting to brainwashing, Novak is unable to resist the need to return and, in the wake of his application, is contacted by a former colleague, Serge Berinkin, now a Soviet embassy official.
|
October 31, 1962 |
5 | "The Seventh Day of Creation" | Katy Jurado | Eric Stone | Sam Rolfe William Graham |
Graham and Bassett talk with Anthony, a retarded young man of Mexican heritage, whose protective mother, Rose Ramirez, was required to bring him for evaluation as to whether he should be placed under protective care due to complaints from their neighbors. Neighborhood residents such as Gramps, Fred Williams, his negatively predisposed wife, Myra Williams and their son, Stevie, all have their own emotional issues to resolve.
|
November 7, 1962 |
6 | "Of Roses and Nightingales and Other Lovely Things" | Pat Hingle and Kim Hunter |
Theodore Apstein | Sam Rolfe Walter E. Grauman |
Bassett, the mental health consultant to a school, and Graham counsel pregnant 15-year-old student Laura. Her distraught parents, Bob Hunter and Virginia Hunter struggle with the options of Laura having an abortion, marrying at such a young age or giving up the baby for adoption. Her sensitive younger brother Jerry Hunter, with whom she has a loving relationship, faces his own problems when his schoolmates demean his sister.
|
November 14, 1962 |
7 | "Angie, You Made My Heart Stop" | Collin Wilcox and Albert Salmi |
Teleplay by Dick Nelson Story by Oliver Crawford |
Sam Rolfe Boris Sagal |
With Bassett busy at County General Hospital, Graham assists defense attorney Dave Torbin, an old friend, in providing an insanity defense for Angela Crain, an emotionally fragile woman who was raised by her older sister Ruth Sanders. Ken Bradley, a museum guard who pities and loves Angela, strikes and kills her caring husband Ed Crain, but she takes the burden of lifetime guilt upon herself.
|
November 21, 1962 |
8 | "Hooray, Hooray, the Circus Is Coming to Town" | Burgess Meredith and Edward Andrews Special Guest Star Henry Jones |
Gene L. Coon | Sam Rolfe Lawrence Dobkin |
On his deathbed, eccentric multimillionaire business owner Christopher Norbert II leaves the management of his fortune to his even more eccentrically unconventional son Christopher Norbert III who lives among writers and artists. The tycoon's straight-laced younger son, Richardson Norbert, engages Bassett and Graham to certify that his older brother is incapable of making rational decisions. The case is resolved in the courtroom of Judge Hallson.
|
November 28, 1962 |
9 | "Cry a Little for Mary Too" | Keir Dullea Co-starring Judith Evelyn |
Sheldon Stark | Sam Rolfe William Graham |
Defense attorney Joe Kinderman engages Graham to evaluate whether young guitarist Jerry Bullock was capable of raping and murdering young girl Mary Stanger whose grief-stricken father Eric Stanger wants revenge. Ann Tabor, the prosecutor, asks Bassett to perform the same evaluation, while Mrs. Bullock, Jerry's mother, and Linda, the girl Jerry briefly dated, insist that Jerry is gentle.
|
December 5, 1962 |
10 | "Eat, Little Fishie, Eat" | Bradford Dillman and Nancy Wickwire |
Leonard Kantor | Sam Rolfe Walter E. Grauman |
Playwright Arnold Radwin sends Graham a ticket to see his play which stars his sister Ruth Radwin. Arnold is concerned about Ruth's unstable emotional state, but Graham, with some input from Bassett, discovers the complex love-dependency-exploitation relationship between the siblings, who live with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Radwin, and the alternatively neglectful, dismissive and overbearing behavior Mr. Radwin exhibits towards his son.
|
December 12, 1962 |
11 | "The Blues My Baby Gave to Me" | Inger Stevens and Robert Vaughn |
Alfred Brenner | Sam Rolfe William Graham |
At the hospital, Bassett and Graham attend to Christine, a housewife who began exhibiting irrational behavior after giving birth. Having lost her mother at an early age, she was brought up by a stern and unloving father and now harbors uncontrollable sensations of inadequacy, exacerbated when she and her husband Peter, a very busy architect who devotes day and night to an unsatisfactory assignment as office manager, play host to frequent visits by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Warren, as well as other friends. Christine's emotional turmoil leads her into attempts to stab Peter with a knife.
|
December 26, 1962 |
12 | "Along About Late in the Afternoon" | Franchot Tone and Chester Morris |
Gene L. Coon | Sam Rolfe Paul Nickell |
Daily Record publisher Horace Clarke announces to the staff that the money-losing newspaper will close. Aging city editor Leo Haynes glances at the final edition which, in addition to the farewell editorial, "A Sad Goodbye / from the Daily Record", contains another editorial, "And a Glad One / Goodbye Frankie Morrison", the city's longtime top mobster who is in prison awaiting trial. Prosecutor Ann Tabor asks Bassett to determine if Morrison's paranoid delusions constitute sufficient grounds to declare him mentally incompetent. As the despondent Haynes attempts suicide through inhalation of car exhaust fumes, he winds up in the same hospital where Bassett, Graham and Dr. Itsumoto are examining Morrison and the two men develop a grudgingly symbiotic relationship.
|
January 2, 1963 |
13 | "Which Man Will Die?" | Harry Guardino | Teleplay by Dick Nelson Story by Leonard Kantor |
Elliot Silverstein | Governor Fitzpatrick asks Bassett to examine Foley Adams, a Caryl Chessman-like death row inmate, due to be executed in six days, to determine whether he has been rehabilitated to the extent that would justify a commutation to life imprisonment. Outside the prison a group of anti-death penalty protesters, which includes Bassett's college-student niece who is temporarily living with him, clashes with another group which insists that Adams must be executed as scheduled. Reporter Arlene Montebello who has written articles about Adams over the years, is asked by Bassett to help in obtaining Adams' agreement for a series of meetings. Basset's lengthy contentious sessions with Adams include allowing Adams to question Mrs. Holmby who witnessed the murder for which he is facing execution. [Note: in this episode, Jack Ging does not appear and receives no billing]
|
January 9, 1963 |
14 | "Where Have You Been, Lord Randall, My Son" | Beatrice Straight Special Guest Star Scott Marlowe |
Teleplay by Jerome Ross and Alfred Brenner Story by Jerome Ross |
Paul Nickell | Glamorous and wealthy socialite Veronica Filmore has paid psychiatrist Dr. Roy Wales to certify that her emotionally fragile son Stanley Filmore is well enough to be released from the exclusive mental health hospital resort where he has been confined after severely beating his college roommate David Manners nearly a year earlier. The judge handling the case decides to appoint a panel consisting of three psychiatrists — Dr. Wales, Dr. Samuel Heard and Bassett. When Bassett, assisted by Swedish psychologist Dr. Greta Bjorling, questions Stanley, he becomes violent and attacks Bassett. Evidence emerges that the unhealthy smothering love of his mother has affected Stanley's psychological equilibrium. [Note: in this episode, Jack Ging does not appear and receives no billing]
|
January 16, 1963 |
15 | "My Name Is Judith. I'm Lost, You See" | none listed in opening credits | Pat Fielder | Lawrence Dobkin | Returning to his office at a late hour, Bassett discovers a girl, about twelve years old, who tells him that her name is Judith. Calling Graham, Bassett learns that the girl is Jane Cameron, suffering from schizophrenia, whose absentee mother had left her in the care of neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Drury who fed her and kept her locked up until she escaped. Placing her in the children's ward of a psychiatric hospital, under the care of Dr. Sarah Crowley, Bassett visits the Drurys and is later confronted by Jane's mother, Ruth Cameron, and her attorney brother, Max Brenson.
|
January 23, 1963 |
16 | "Where Ignorant Armies Clash by Night" | Keenan Wynn and Nan Martin Also Starring Linda Evans |
Raphael Hayes | Byron Paul | Beset by nightmarish visions while sitting in the waiting room of Bassett's office, Sophie Clayton runs out and takes a taxi home, but seeing her daughter, Joan Clayton, through the window, she goes to sit on a park bench where her distraught behavior causes the police to take her to the hospital. The ward psychiatrist, Dr. Arnold Kliest, calls Bassett who talks to her and finds out that she does not wish to see Joan or her husband John, both of whom are sitting in the waiting area. The following day, in the hospital cafeteria, John Clayton tells Bassett of his intense dislike and distrust of psychiatrists, while Joan who, during the conversation, obsessively rearranges the cutlery on the table, is hiding her own psychological trauma.
|
January 30, 1963 |
17 | "Advice to the Lovelorn and the Shopworn" | Harry Guardino Special Guest Star Ruth Roman |
Sam Ross | Richard Donner | Fay Brenner, a ballet teacher in her early twenties, is returning home with her first-time date, when Dave Porter, the married director of the community center where she teaches, punches him in the face and shouts that if he comes near her again he will kill him. The following morning, Fay is telling her psychiatrist, Bassett, about the incident and her attraction to older, married men, while, at the same time, during breakfast in their home, Porter is explaining to his wife, Clara, that his late nights are due to various work commitments. During the conversation, he is seized with one of his increasingly frequent blinding headaches. Bassett is the consulting psychiatrist at the center and, during a game of handball with him, witnesses Porter fall victim to a headache attack so severe that it requires hospitalization and x-rays. Subsequently, Porter sees midtown center director Arnold Hardy [played by episode director Richard Donner] outside his office and assumes that Hardy came to see board director Harry Winters as a candidate to replace Porter.
|
Feb 6, 1963 |
18 | "Why Am I Grown So Cold?" | Eleanor Parker Special Guest Star Dan Duryea |
Teleplay by Dick Nelson Story by Dick Nelson and Robert Bloch |
Byron Paul | Connie Folsom's addiction to alcohol causes her to behave in a violently unpredictable manner, particularly when touched by a man in a suggestive manner. As a follow-up to Judge Cavanaugh's order that she undergo a psychological examination, she reveals to Bassett details of the treatment that she has been receiving. Curious, as well as concerned, Bassett visits the office of Bennett Lorrigan, an unethical unlicensed practitioner whose smooth talk and mental as well as emotional dominance over his vulnerable patients prevent the use of any potential complaints against him at a city council hearing where Bassett testifies in order to expose such unprofessional therapy.
|
February 13, 1963 |
19 | "Like a Diamond in the Sky" | Julie London Herschel Bernardi and Everett Sloane |
Alfred Brenner | Jack Arnold | Actress and recording star Joan Ashmond is found dead in her bedroom and the coroner asks Graham to initiate a psychiatric investigation. As Graham listens to the numerous audio tapes she left in her apartment and interviews those who knew her, flashbacks (with a stylized black background) depict episodes in her life and details leading up to her death. The first interviewee is her manager Harry Cizon, a distant relative referred to as her uncle. Later, Everett Chanel arrives and tells Graham and the investigating detective that he invented her. Introducing himself as a sound engineer, the heavy-smoking Chanel narrates a flashback of the start of her career. Harry Irving, a record store owner, tells Graham and the detective that on the night of her death, he received a call from a crying woman asking for "Mike", the last word she recorded just before she died. Business executive Ralph Anderson, her first husband, provides another flashback describing how she was scared of something and how she left him to become a TV actress. Graham then travels to Hollywood and speaks to TV director Lewis Arnell who describes her as having animal vitality and provides flashbacks illuminating her fear and insecurity. Graham then receives a call from Bassett informing him that a warrant has been issued for Cizon's arrest for lying to the police about Joan's earlier whereabouts.
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February 20, 1963 |
20 | "Beauty Playing a Mandolin Underneath a Willow Tree" | Vera Miles and Robert Keith |
Pat Fielder | Sam Rolfe Abner Biberman |
Dr. Sommers, a philanthropist who built and runs a hospital for cancer-stricken children, arrives at his mansion in a limousine driven by his chauffeur Nelson and tells his stage star daughter, Kate, that he invited Bassett, whom Kate almost married years earlier, as a guest to that night's party at the mansion and to spend the weekend, along with Graham. Upon their arrival, Bassett reestablishes a romantic relationship with Kate, while Graham develops a friendship with starlet Marla. The following day, learning from Nelson that Kate has gone into town, Bassett meets her in Mrs. Hill's bookstore. Sommers stops by in his limousine and takes Bassett to his hospital where he shows angiograms of Kate's brain tumor which will cause her death in less than a year unless she submits to risky surgery which has a strong possibility of leaving her in a vegetative state. She and Bassett decide to marry but, upon arriving at the county building, she stops at the auditorium and watches a student rehearsal of Taming of the Shrew, then changes her mind. She decides to undergo the brain surgery, performed by Dr. Deverman, a top specialist at her fatherls hospital, and dies on the operating table.
|
February 27 1963 |
21 | "A Tumble from a High White Horse" | Walter Matthau and Telly Savalas Special Guest Star Frankie Avalon |
Teleplay by Dick Nelson and Jack Jacobs Story by Jack Jacobs |
William Graham | Business owner Charles Thatcher follows his teenage son Larry to a parking lot where he observes him sitting in a car with narcotics seller Cal Pate. After Larry leaves the car and Pate starts driving away, Thatcher steps in front of the car and kills him with two shots through the windshield. In Judge Whitley's courtroom, defense attorney Ben Cohen wants to plead temporary insanity, but Thatcher insists that he was in full possession of his faculties when he committed justifiable homicide and refuses to accept any other plea. Cohen agrees, but asks Thatcher to accept a psychological examination as proof of his sanity. Prosecutor Bruce agrees to bail and Cohen requests the services of Bassett (for Larry) and Graham (for Thatcher), with both doctors escorting Larry out of juvenile hall. Anne Cramer, Thatcher's secretary, has been waiting in the hallway outside Graham's office and, as he approaches, introduces herself and explains that Thatcher has been divorced for several years and that she is also his fiancee. At that moment Thatcher arrives and Anne emotionally tells him that she cannot understand how he could have committed murder. Also, Thatcher's former wife, Joan Bryan, has filed for custody of Larry.
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March 6 1963 |
22 | "Five Moments Out of Time" | Guest Stars (in alphabetical order) Patricia Barry as Claudeen Patricia Crowley as Georgia Norman Fell as Lionel Patrick O'Neal as Terry Karen Steele as DeeDee and Special Guest Star Sylvia Sidney as Mrs. Arnold |
Jerry de Bono | Jack Smight | Business owner Charles Thatcher follows his teenage son Larry to a parking lot where he observes him sitting in a car with narcotics seller Cal Pate. After Larry leaves the car and Pate starts driving away, Thatcher steps in front of the car and kills him with two shots through the windshield. In Judge Whitley's courtroom, defense attorney Ben Cohen wants to plead temporary insanity, but Thatcher insists that he was in full possession of his faculties when he committed justifiable homicide and refuses to accept any other plea. Cohen agrees, but asks Thatcher to accept a psychological examination as proof of his sanity. Prosecutor Bruce agrees to bail and Cohen requests the services of Bassett (for Larry) and Graham (for Thatcher), with both doctors escorting Larry out of juvenile hall. Anne Cramer, Thatcher's secretary, has been waiting in the hallway outside Graham's office and, as he approaches, introduces herself and explains that Thatcher has been divorced for several years and that she is also his fiancee. At that moment Thatcher arrives and Anne emotionally tells him that she cannot understand how he could have committed murder. Also, Thatcher's former wife, Joan Bryan, has filed for custody of Larry.
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Apr 11 1956 |
23 | "Markheim" | Fred Zinnemann | |||
Apr 25 1956 |
24 | "Claire" | Frank Tuttle | |||
May 9 1956 |
25 | "A Ticket for Thaddeus" | Frank Borzage | |||
May 16 1956 |
26 | "The Dream" | George Sanders Sal Mineo Patricia Morison |
Teleplay by Richard and Patricia Karlan Based on a short story by Ivan Turgenev |
Hugo Haas | Announcer: "Tonight, our director is Mr. Hugo Haas, one of Hollywood's newest and most talented director-actors.
Hugo Haas: "Good evening. All of us live in two worlds — the world of dreams and the world of reality — but who of us can say when one begins and the other ends… or if life itself is not just "The Dream?"
Note: Ivan Turgenev's short story "The Dream" [original title "Сон" ("Sohn")], was initially published in 1877.<ref>Text of Ivan Turgenev's 1877 short story "The Dream" |
Jun 6 1956 |
27 | "What Day Is It?" | Gower Champion | |||
Jun 13 1956 |
28 | "Every Man Has Two Wives" | Barry Nelson Janet Blair Buddy Ebsen Mary Sinclair |
Frank Gill, Jr. and DeWitt Bodeen From a story by Thames Williamson |
Lewis Allen | Announcer: "Tonight, Screen Directors Playhouse welcomes Mr. Lewis Allen, director of such famous films as Our Hearts Were Young and Gay and The Uninvited. For this evening, Mr. Allen brings us a delightful comedy entitled 'Every Man Has Two Wives'. Our stars are Barry Nelson, Janet Blair, Buddy Ebsen and Mary Sinclair." Styled in the manner of an episode from a filmed sitcom, replete with a laugh track.
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Jul 4 1956 |
29 | "Partners" | Tay Garnett | |||
Jul 11 1956 |
30 | "White Corridors" | Ted Post | |||
Jul 18 1956 |
31 | "The Carroll Formula" | Michael Wilding | Story and teleplay by John L. Greene |
Tay Garnett | Announcer: "Tonight, Screen Directors Playhouse welcomes Mr. Tay Garnett, famous for his direction of such comedy hits as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. For this evening, Mr. Garnett brings us the hilarious story of a young English professor who stumbles unto a fantastic secret written between the lines of Alice in Wonderland. Our story 'The Carroll Formula'. Our star Michael Wilding." Announcer: "Next week, one of Hollywood's most talented young directors, John Rich, takes over our directors' chair. Mr. Rich will bring us the delightful and humorous story of a young businesswoman who tries to become a housewife after ten years of marriage to her housekeeping husband. Be sure to join us when Screen Directors Playhouse presents Joan Caulfield and MacDonald Carey in 'Apples on the Lilac Tree'."
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Jul 25 1956 |
32 | "Apples on the Lilac Tree" | John Rich |
Season 2: 1963–64[edit]
Date of original broadcast | # | Episode title | Guest stars in opening credits | Writer(s) | Producer Director |
Plot Guest cast listed in end credits |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
October 3, 1962 |
1 | "Ann Costigan: A Duel on a Field of White" | Vera Miles | Created and written by Harry Julian Fink |
Herbert Hirschman Fielder Cook |
Dr. Theodore Bassett does a court-ordered examination of Ann Costigan whose attorney, Walter Enley, presents the defense that she was insane when she killed her husband.
[Note: in this premiere episode, Jack Ging does not appear and receives no billing]
|
October 10, 1962 |
2 | "There Are Dragons in This Forest" | Steven Hill and Mai Zetterling |
Theodore Apstein | Sam Rolfe Boris Sagal |
Dr. Bassett and his associate Dr. Paul Graham are chosen by military attorney Capt. Norman Hobler to evaluate his client, World War II Army deserter, Mark Tyner, captured in Germany 17 years later, whose relationship with his American wife, Fay Tyner and his German wife, Carla Riehle is examined by Bassett who puts on the uniform of a German World War II officer in order to recreate Carla's harrowing interrogation by the Gestapo.
|
October 17, 1962 |
3 | "Make Me a Place" | Barbara Rush Special Guest Star David Janssen |
S. S. Schweitzer | Sam Rolfe Paul Wendkos |
Bassett is contacted by actor Hal Kincaid who is concerned that his ex-wife, Linda Kincaid, a harried fashion designer, is mentally unstable and may be putting their daughter, Jenny Kincaid, in danger. As Bassett and Graham examine the relationship between Linda and her fiancé, Pete Harvey, they see that Hal's true motives may be to retain control over his ex-wife and daughter.
|
October 24, 1962 |
4 | "I Don't Belong in a White-Painted House" | George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst |
Mark Rodgers | Sam Rolfe Don Medford |
Agent Sterne, from an (unnamed) agency of the government, requests that Bassett and Graham speak to defector Anton Novak, formerly a spymaster of the Red Army who, after years of living in the U.S., has applied to return to the Soviet Union, leaving behind his wife, Joanne Novak and American-born son, John Novak, who is nearly six. Through complex psychological reasoning, possibly amounting to brainwashing, Novak is unable to resist the need to return and, in the wake of his application, is contacted by a former colleague, Serge Berinkin, now a Soviet embassy official.
|
October 31, 1962 |
5 | "The Seventh Day of Creation" | Katy Jurado | Eric Stone | Sam Rolfe William Graham |
Graham and Bassett talk with Anthony, a retarded young man of Mexican heritage, whose protective mother, Rose Ramirez, was required to bring him for evaluation as to whether he should be placed under protective care due to complaints from their neighbors. Neighborhood residents such as Gramps, Fred Williams, his negatively predisposed wife, Myra Williams and their son, Stevie, all have their own emotional issues to resolve.
|
November 7, 1962 |
6 | "Of Roses and Nightingales and Other Lovely Things" | Pat Hingle and Kim Hunter |
Theodore Apstein | Sam Rolfe Walter E. Grauman |
Bassett, the mental health consultant to a school, and Graham counsel pregnant 15-year-old student Laura. Her distraught parents, Bob Hunter and Virginia Hunter struggle with the options of Laura having an abortion, marrying at such a young age or giving up the baby for adoption. Her sensitive younger brother Jerry Hunter, with whom she has a loving relationship, faces his own problems when his schoolmates demean his sister.
|
November 14, 1962 |
7 | "Angie, You Made My Heart Stop" | Collin Wilcox and Albert Salmi |
Teleplay by Dick Nelson Story by Oliver Crawford |
Sam Rolfe Boris Sagal |
With Bassett busy at County General Hospital, Graham assists defense attorney Dave Torbin, an old friend, in providing an insanity defense for Angela Crain, an emotionally fragile woman who was raised by her older sister Ruth Sanders. Ken Bradley, a museum guard who pities and loves Angela, strikes and kills her caring husband Ed Crain, but she takes the burden of lifetime guilt upon herself.
|
November 21, 1962 |
8 | "Hooray, Hooray, the Circus Is Coming to Town" | Burgess Meredith and Edward Andrews Special Guest Star Henry Jones |
Gene L. Coon | Sam Rolfe Lawrence Dobkin |
On his deathbed, eccentric multimillionaire business owner Christopher Norbert II leaves the management of his fortune to his even more eccentrically unconventional son Christopher Norbert III who lives among writers and artists. The tycoon's straight-laced younger son, Richardson Norbert, engages Bassett and Graham to certify that his older brother is incapable of making rational decisions. The case is resolved in the courtroom of Judge Hallson.
|
November 28, 1962 |
9 | "Cry a Little for Mary Too" | Keir Dullea Co-starring Judith Evelyn |
Sheldon Stark | Sam Rolfe William Graham |
Defense attorney Joe Kinderman engages Graham to evaluate whether young guitarist Jerry Bullock was capable of raping and murdering young girl Mary Stanger whose grief-stricken father Eric Stanger wants revenge. Ann Tabor, the prosecutor, asks Bassett to perform the same evaluation, while Mrs. Bullock, Jerry's mother, and Linda, the girl Jerry briefly dated, insist that Jerry is gentle.
|
December 5, 1962 |
10 | "Eat, Little Fishie, Eat" | Bradford Dillman and Nancy Wickwire |
Leonard Kantor | Sam Rolfe Walter E. Grauman |
Playwright Arnold Radwin sends Graham a ticket to see his play which stars his sister Ruth Radwin. Arnold is concerned about Ruth's unstable emotional state, but Graham, with some input from Bassett, discovers the complex love-dependency-exploitation relationship between the siblings, who live with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Radwin, and the alternatively neglectful, dismissive and overbearing behavior Mr. Radwin exhibits towards his son.
|
December 12, 1962 |
11 | "The Blues My Baby Gave to Me" | Inger Stevens and Robert Vaughn |
Alfred Brenner | Sam Rolfe William Graham |
At the hospital, Bassett and Graham attend to Christine, a housewife who began exhibiting irrational behavior after giving birth. Having lost her mother at an early age, she was brought up by a stern and unloving father and now harbors uncontrollable sensations of inadequacy, exacerbated when she and her husband Peter, a very busy architect who devotes day and night to an unsatisfactory assignment as office manager, play host to frequent visits by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Warren, as well as other friends. Christine's emotional turmoil leads her into attempts to stab Peter with a knife.
|
December 26, 1962 |
12 | "Along About Late in the Afternoon" | Franchot Tone and Chester Morris |
Gene L. Coon | Sam Rolfe Paul Nickell |
Daily Record publisher Horace Clarke announces to the staff that the money-losing newspaper will close. Aging city editor Leo Haynes glances at the final edition which, in addition to the farewell editorial, "A Sad Goodbye / from the Daily Record", contains another editorial, "And a Glad One / Goodbye Frankie Morrison", the city's longtime top mobster who is in prison awaiting trial. Prosecutor Ann Tabor asks Bassett to determine if Morrison's paranoid delusions constitute sufficient grounds to declare him mentally incompetent. As the despondent Haynes attempts suicide through inhalation of car exhaust fumes, he winds up in the same hospital where Bassett, Graham and Dr. Itsumoto are examining Morrison and the two men develop a grudgingly symbiotic relationship.
|
January 2, 1963 |
13 | "Which Man Will Die?" | Harry Guardino | Teleplay by Dick Nelson Story by Leonard Kantor |
Elliot Silverstein | Governor Fitzpatrick asks Bassett to examine Foley Adams, a Caryl Chessman-like death row inmate, due to be executed in six days, to determine whether he has been rehabilitated to the extent that would justify a commutation to life imprisonment. Outside the prison a group of anti-death penalty protesters, which includes Bassett's college-student niece who is temporarily living with him, clashes with another group which insists that Adams must be executed as scheduled. Reporter Arlene Montebello who has written articles about Adams over the years, is asked by Bassett to help in obtaining Adams' agreement for a series of meetings. Basset's lengthy contentious sessions with Adams include allowing Adams to question Mrs. Holmby who witnessed the murder for which he is facing execution. [Note: in this episode, Jack Ging does not appear and receives no billing]
|
January 9, 1963 |
14 | "Where Have You Been, Lord Randall, My Son" | Beatrice Straight Special Guest Star Scott Marlowe |
Teleplay by Jerome Ross and Alfred Brenner Story by Jerome Ross |
Paul Nickell | Glamorous and wealthy socialite Veronica Filmore has paid psychiatrist Dr. Roy Wales to certify that her emotionally fragile son Stanley Filmore is well enough to be released from the exclusive mental health hospital resort where he has been confined after severely beating his college roommate David Manners nearly a year earlier. The judge handling the case decides to appoint a panel consisting of three psychiatrists — Dr. Wales, Dr. Samuel Heard and Bassett. When Bassett, assisted by Swedish psychologist Dr. Greta Bjorling, questions Stanley, he becomes violent and attacks Bassett. Evidence emerges that the unhealthy smothering love of his mother has affected Stanley's psychological equilibrium. [Note: in this episode, Jack Ging does not appear and receives no billing]
|
January 16, 1963 |
15 | "My Name Is Judith. I'm Lost, You See" | none listed in opening credits | Pat Fielder | Lawrence Dobkin | Returning to his office at a late hour, Bassett discovers a girl, about twelve years old, who tells him that her name is Judith. Calling Graham, Bassett learns that the girl is Jane Cameron, suffering from schizophrenia, whose absentee mother had left her in the care of neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Drury who fed her and kept her locked up until she escaped. Placing her in the children's ward of a psychiatric hospital, under the care of Dr. Sarah Crowley, Bassett visits the Drurys and is later confronted by Jane's mother, Ruth Cameron, and her attorney brother, Max Brenson.
|
January 23, 1963 |
16 | "Where Ignorant Armies Clash by Night" | Keenan Wynn and Nan Martin Also Starring Linda Evans |
Raphael Hayes | Byron Paul | Beset by nightmarish visions while sitting in the waiting room of Bassett's office, Sophie Clayton runs out and takes a taxi home, but seeing her daughter, Joan Clayton, through the window, she goes to sit on a park bench where her distraught behavior causes the police to take her to the hospital. The ward psychiatrist, Dr. Arnold Kliest, calls Bassett who talks to her and finds out that she does not wish to see Joan or her husband John, both of whom are sitting in the waiting area. The following day, in the hospital cafeteria, John Clayton tells Bassett of his intense dislike and distrust of psychiatrists, while Joan who, during the conversation, obsessively rearranges the cutlery on the table, is hiding her own psychological trauma.
|
January 30, 1963 |
17 | "Advice to the Lovelorn and the Shopworn" | Harry Guardino Special Guest Star Ruth Roman |
Sam Ross | Richard Donner | Fay Brenner, a ballet teacher in her early twenties, is returning home with her first-time date, when Dave Porter, the married director of the community center where she teaches, punches him in the face and shouts that if he comes near her again he will kill him. The following morning, Fay is telling her psychiatrist, Bassett, about the incident and her attraction to older, married men, while, at the same time, during breakfast in their home, Porter is explaining to his wife, Clara, that his late nights are due to various work commitments. During the conversation, he is seized with one of his increasingly frequent blinding headaches. Bassett is the consulting psychiatrist at the center and, during a game of handball with him, witnesses Porter fall victim to a headache attack so severe that it requires hospitalization and x-rays. Subsequently, Porter sees midtown center director Arnold Hardy [played by episode director Richard Donner] outside his office and assumes that Hardy came to see board director Harry Winters as a candidate to replace Porter.
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Feb 6, 1963 |
18 | "Why Am I Grown So Cold?" | Eleanor Parker Special Guest Star Dan Duryea |
Teleplay by Dick Nelson Story by Dick Nelson and Robert Bloch |
Byron Paul | Connie Folsom's addiction to alcohol causes her to behave in a violently unpredictable manner, particularly when touched by a man in a suggestive manner. As a follow-up to Judge Cavanaugh's order that she undergo a psychological examination, she reveals to Bassett details of the treatment that she has been receiving. Curious, as well as concerned, Bassett visits the office of Bennett Lorrigan, an unethical unlicensed practitioner whose smooth talk and mental as well as emotional dominance over his vulnerable patients prevent the use of any potential complaints against him at a city council hearing where Bassett testifies in order to expose such unprofessional therapy.
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February 13, 1963 |
19 | "Like a Diamond in the Sky" | Julie London Herschel Bernardi and Everett Sloane |
Alfred Brenner | Jack Arnold | Actress and recording star Joan Ashmond is found dead in her bedroom and the coroner asks Graham to initiate a psychiatric investigation. As Graham listens to the numerous audio tapes she left in her apartment and interviews those who knew her, flashbacks (with a stylized black background) depict episodes in her life and details leading up to her death. The first interviewee is her manager Harry Cizon, a distant relative referred to as her uncle. Later, Everett Chanel arrives and tells Graham and the investigating detective that he invented her. Introducing himself as a sound engineer, the heavy-smoking Chanel narrates a flashback of the start of her career. Harry Irving, a record store owner, tells Graham and the detective that on the night of her death, he received a call from a crying woman asking for "Mike", the last word she recorded just before she died. Business executive Ralph Anderson, her first husband, provides another flashback describing how she was scared of something and how she left him to become a TV actress. Graham then travels to Hollywood and speaks to TV director Lewis Arnell who describes her as having animal vitality and provides flashbacks illuminating her fear and insecurity. Graham then receives a call from Bassett informing him that a warrant has been issued for Cizon's arrest for lying to the police about Joan's earlier whereabouts.
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February 20, 1963 |
20 | "Beauty Playing a Mandolin Underneath a Willow Tree" | Vera Miles and Robert Keith |
Pat Fielder | Sam Rolfe Abner Biberman |
Dr. Sommers, a philanthropist who built and runs a hospital for cancer-stricken children, arrives at his mansion in a limousine driven by his chauffeur Nelson and tells his stage star daughter, Kate, that he invited Bassett, whom Kate almost married years earlier, as a guest to that night's party at the mansion and to spend the weekend, along with Graham. Upon their arrival, Bassett reestablishes a romantic relationship with Kate, while Graham develops a friendship with starlet Marla. The following day, learning from Nelson that Kate has gone into town, Bassett meets her in Mrs. Hill's bookstore. Sommers stops by in his limousine and takes Bassett to his hospital where he shows angiograms of Kate's brain tumor which will cause her death in less than a year unless she submits to risky surgery which has a strong possibility of leaving her in a vegetative state. She and Bassett decide to marry but, upon arriving at the county building, she stops at the auditorium and watches a student rehearsal of Taming of the Shrew, then changes her mind. She decides to undergo the brain surgery, performed by Dr. Deverman, a top specialist at her fatherls hospital, and dies on the operating table.
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February 27 1963 |
21 | "A Tumble from a High White Horse" | Walter Matthau and Telly Savalas Special Guest Star Frankie Avalon |
Teleplay by Dick Nelson and Jack Jacobs Story by Jack Jacobs |
William Graham | Business owner Charles Thatcher follows his teenage son Larry to a parking lot where he observes him sitting in a car with narcotics seller Cal Pate. After Larry leaves the car and Pate starts driving away, Thatcher steps in front of the car and kills him with two shots through the windshield. In Judge Whitley's courtroom, defense attorney Ben Cohen wants to plead temporary insanity, but Thatcher insists that he was in full possession of his faculties when he committed justifiable homicide and refuses to accept any other plea. Cohen agrees, but asks Thatcher to accept a psychological examination as proof of his sanity. Prosecutor Bruce agrees to bail and Cohen requests the services of Bassett (for Larry) and Graham (for Thatcher), with both doctors escorting Larry out of juvenile hall. Anne Cramer, Thatcher's secretary, has been waiting in the hallway outside Graham's office and, as he approaches, introduces herself and explains that Thatcher has been divorced for several years and that she is also his fiancee. At that moment Thatcher arrives and Anne emotionally tells him that she cannot understand how he could have committed murder. Also, Thatcher's former wife, Joan Bryan, has filed for custody of Larry.
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March 6 1963 |
22 | "Five Moments Out of Time" | Guest Stars (in alphabetical order) Patricia Barry as Claudeen Patricia Crowley as Georgia Norman Fell as Lionel Patrick O'Neal as Terry Karen Steele as DeeDee and Special Guest Star Sylvia Sidney as Mrs. Arnold |
Jerry de Bono | Jack Smight | Business owner Charles Thatcher follows his teenage son Larry to a parking lot where he observes him sitting in a car with narcotics seller Cal Pate. After Larry leaves the car and Pate starts driving away, Thatcher steps in front of the car and kills him with two shots through the windshield. In Judge Whitley's courtroom, defense attorney Ben Cohen wants to plead temporary insanity, but Thatcher insists that he was in full possession of his faculties when he committed justifiable homicide and refuses to accept any other plea. Cohen agrees, but asks Thatcher to accept a psychological examination as proof of his sanity. Prosecutor Bruce agrees to bail and Cohen requests the services of Bassett (for Larry) and Graham (for Thatcher), with both doctors escorting Larry out of juvenile hall. Anne Cramer, Thatcher's secretary, has been waiting in the hallway outside Graham's office and, as he approaches, introduces herself and explains that Thatcher has been divorced for several years and that she is also his fiancee. At that moment Thatcher arrives and Anne emotionally tells him that she cannot understand how he could have committed murder. Also, Thatcher's former wife, Joan Bryan, has filed for custody of Larry.
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Apr 11 1956 |
23 | "Markheim" | Fred Zinnemann | |||
Apr 25 1956 |
24 | "Claire" | Frank Tuttle | |||
May 9 1956 |
25 | "A Ticket for Thaddeus" | Frank Borzage | |||
May 16 1956 |
26 | "The Dream" | George Sanders Sal Mineo Patricia Morison |
Teleplay by Richard and Patricia Karlan Based on a short story by Ivan Turgenev |
Hugo Haas | Announcer: "Tonight, our director is Mr. Hugo Haas, one of Hollywood's newest and most talented director-actors.
Hugo Haas: "Good evening. All of us live in two worlds — the world of dreams and the world of reality — but who of us can say when one begins and the other ends… or if life itself is not just "The Dream?"
Note: Ivan Turgenev's short story "The Dream" [original title "Сон" ("Sohn")], was initially published in 1877.<ref>Text of Ivan Turgenev's 1877 short story "The Dream" |
Jun 6 1956 |
27 | "What Day Is It?" | Gower Champion | |||
Jun 13 1956 |
28 | "Every Man Has Two Wives" | Barry Nelson Janet Blair Buddy Ebsen Mary Sinclair |
Frank Gill, Jr. and DeWitt Bodeen From a story by Thames Williamson |
Lewis Allen | Announcer: "Tonight, Screen Directors Playhouse welcomes Mr. Lewis Allen, director of such famous films as Our Hearts Were Young and Gay and The Uninvited. For this evening, Mr. Allen brings us a delightful comedy entitled 'Every Man Has Two Wives'. Our stars are Barry Nelson, Janet Blair, Buddy Ebsen and Mary Sinclair." Styled in the manner of an episode from a filmed sitcom, replete with a laugh track.
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Jul 4 1956 |
29 | "Partners" | Tay Garnett | |||
Jul 11 1956 |
30 | "White Corridors" | Ted Post | |||
Jul 18 1956 |
31 | "The Carroll Formula" | Michael Wilding | Story and teleplay by John L. Greene |
Tay Garnett | Announcer: "Tonight, Screen Directors Playhouse welcomes Mr. Tay Garnett, famous for his direction of such comedy hits as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. For this evening, Mr. Garnett brings us the hilarious story of a young English professor who stumbles unto a fantastic secret written between the lines of Alice in Wonderland. Our story 'The Carroll Formula'. Our star Michael Wilding." Announcer: "Next week, one of Hollywood's most talented young directors, John Rich, takes over our directors' chair. Mr. Rich will bring us the delightful and humorous story of a young businesswoman who tries to become a housewife after ten years of marriage to her housekeeping husband. Be sure to join us when Screen Directors Playhouse presents Joan Caulfield and MacDonald Carey in 'Apples on the Lilac Tree'."
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Jul 25 1956 |
32 | "Apples on the Lilac Tree" | John Rich |