Kraft Suspense Theatre; Charlie, He Couldn't Kill a Fly; Keenan Wynn; Richard Kiley

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Season #1, Episode #25

Charlie, He Couldn't Kill a Fly

Original Air Date - May 7, 1964

Setting/Time - New York City in the present. (Update - After viewing the episode again, I think this is a mistake. I believe the episode takes place in a generic city instead of New York. I was misled by the reference to the "Mets." See below for details.)

Plot/Review/Discussion

From the very beginning of "Charlie" it becomes apparent to the viewer that there can be no happy ending to this story.

Charlie is a nice and gentle man who happens to be an alcoholic. He fails to provide for his wife and teenage son. He constantly talks about big plans, but he never follows through. His wife and teenage son live in relative squalor because of Charlie's failings. The situation has dragged on for years.

Charlie's wife works and provides for the family. (Today, Charlie and his family would be on "disability" and/or would receive subsidized housing and other assistance.) The wife plans to leave Charlie for her boss. The story begins as she struggles with the decision of how and when to tell Charlie and her son.

The story is doomed to an unhappy ending because the wife faces a choice between two bad outcomes. Either way, Charlie will continue to be miserable. The wife must choose between continued misery and guilt, depending on whether she leaves Charlie.

The story is complicated when Charlie witnesses a murder early in the episode and is wrongly charged for the killing by the police. The murder victim is a notorious drug dealer in Charlie's neighborhood. Charlie suddenly receives respect from the neighbors when they think he killed the drug dealer. He enjoys the role of hero, sobers up and begins spending time with his son. The son develops a new respect for his dad. The false accusation is the best thing that has happened to Charlie in years.

This scenario sets up the choice that Charlie must face. If he accepts the blame for the murder, he will be a somebody. The one man who believes Charlie is innocent is Lou, his wife's boss. Lou begins his own investigation to prove that Charlie is innocent.

As Lou continues getting closer to discovering the real killer, it becomes apparent that this discovery will destroy all of the progress that Charlie has made. Lou presses on anyway, despite (or because of) his genuine desire to help Charlie and Charlie's family. Charlie, Lou and Charlie's wife are each caught in their own dilemma where any resolution will lead to a different bad consequence. All of these dilemmas are forced to the forefront when Lou finds and confronts the real killer. The episode then proceeds to its climax (involving multiple verbal and physical confrontations), with each dilemma wrapped up and concluded in its own neat and miserable package.

Despite the hopelessness of the situation(s), the story is absorbing. The plot depends on the resolution of the personal conflicts and the decisions the characters must make. The physical confrontations provide a stepping stone for the plot to advance, but are not the object of the plot.

The writer is Irv Pearlberg, who wrote mostly for TV crime, law and police shows (Paper Chase, Quincy, Hawaii Five-0, Police Woman, Baretta, The Rookies, Cannon, F.B.I., Ironside, Columbo, etc.). He would later contribute to Season #2's "That He Should Weep For Her."

Despite Pearlberg's eventual resume', the crime and police aspects of this episode are relatively minor. This is not a mystery story. At its heart, this episode is not a crime story. The crime in this episode merely interfered with an already unfolding tragedy and sent that tragedy in a new direction. The crime forced the characters to reexamine their lives and their choices. It forced the characters to make new choices. The drama came not from the anticipation of an arrest or conviction, but from the human interactions that both preceded and followed the crime.

At one point, I recall Lou making reference to Charlie and his son attending the Mets game, even though the stock footage appears to be from Yankee Stadium. I will have to pay more attention to this part when this episode airs again. It is possible that the baseball players that appear briefly in the stock footage are among the legendary Yankees of that era. (Update - After viewing this episode again, I no longer believe this episode takes place in New York. Lou refers to the Mets being "in town." Lou refers to Charlie having a choice between seeing the Mets or waiting for the Dodgers. This reference implies that both the Mets and Dodgers would be visiting teams if they played "in town." Also, I cannot tell what stadium the stock baseball footage is from. There are a few clues, such as a distance marker on the outfield wall and a few player numbers. A true baseball trivia expert could probably identify the stadium.)

The music score worked in this episode. The background music was soft and ominous, long before the episode reached its climax. The music contributes to a general feeling of despair as the story progresses.

I have written earlier that KST episodes always exuded class. In this case, Charlie always wore a suit and tie, even when he was stumbling home drunk from a night at the bar. While more recent programs would give their subjects a more "realistic" appearance, realism comes not from appearance, but from the plot and dialogue. Modern shows and their visual effects do not compensate for the lack of plot that could be found in shows like KST. KST and this episode work even today despite the supposedly outdated appearance.

Update - Upon viewing the episode again, I was struck by the fact that there were no "bad guys" in this episode, except for the drug pusher who was killed early in the story. The main conflict is internal, as the characters struggle with decisions as to what to do. The conflict also exists between good guys, which often makes for the best and most subtle kind of conflict.

Cars

The cars in this episode are the standard 1963 and 1964 Plymouth Fury police cars, parked cars and taxis in the background. Vehicles did not play a major role in this story.

Actors

Keenan Wynn played Charlie. His acting credits span more than 40 years, including guest roles on many of the most prominent TV series of the 1960's and 1970's. I will always remember him for his role in Herbie Rides Again - the 1974 sequel to The Love Bug.

Beverly Garland played Charlie's wife. Her 50+ year career included regular or recurring roles on such shows as 7th Heaven, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and My Three Sons (and others).

Richard Kiley played Lou. His 50+ year career included numerous roles in TV series and mini-series (including recurring roles on Kraft Theatre in the 1950's), two Tony Awards (including one for his role in "Man of La Mancha") and movie roles such as the pilot in 1974's The Little Prince and the "tour voice" in 1993's Jurassic Park.

Michael Burns played Charlie's son. He had previously played in Kraft Mystery Theatre in 1963 opposite Jack Kelly and Broderick Crawford. Berkeley Harris played in the second of his two KST roles as the real killer. He had previously played in the same Kraft Mystery Theatre episode as Michael Burns. Myron Healey (who played the police detective) is another KST repeat actor, having previously starred in "One Step Down." Joan Staley played a witness in this episode. She would later star in Season #2's "Kill Me On July 20th."

Fans of The Bob Newhart Show will recognize the actor who played Benny Galati in the bar scenes. Noam Pitlik would become a semi-regular guest on Dr. Newhart's couch in the 1970's.

Walter Brooke played a minor role in this episode. He previously played in The Case Against Paul Ryker. He uttered the famous line about "plastics" in The Graduate.

Roy Glenn played the piano player. He is rumored to be the original voice of Tony the Tiger, but that rumor is apparently denied by Kellogg's. (The voice sounded right to me.) Update - upon watching this episode again, I noted that Glenn's character was the only one unhappy that the drug dealer had died - because Glenn would now need a different source for his narcotics.

Star Trek connection

IMDB.com states that Joseph Mell played a character named "Harry" that I will have to pay more attention to the next time I see this episode. Mell played a small role with symbolic dialogue on the Star Trek pilot "The Cage" (along with several other KST actors). If you have trouble recognizing him in this episode, he is a stocky bald man who also played in Twilight Zone in the same episode as future KST and Star Trek guest actor Warren Stevens. Update - After seeing this episode again, I identified Mell/Harry as Berkeley Harris' neighbor who was present on the stairwell during the final confrontation.

Update - Lessons I learned from "Charlie, He Couldn't Kill a Fly."

• If your friends and neighbors get tired of listening to your BS, kill a local drug dealer and they will like you again.
• Black musicians will be inconvenienced if you kill a drug dealer.
• You can kill in self-defense only once. Any more than that and the cops will think that you are "a killer."

The Name of the Game; Kraft Suspense Theatre; Jack Kelly; Nancy Kovack-Mehta; Pat Hingle; Grace Lee Whitney

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Season #1, Episode # 10.

The Name of the Game.

Original Air Date - December 26, 1963

Setting/Time - The present in a Las Vegas casino/hotel.

Plot/Review/Discussion -

Jack Kelly plays a professional gambler, who, while knowledgeable about casino gambling, is broke. He is approached by a "high roller" at the casino with a proposition. The high roller is long on cash but short on knowledge. The high roller will bankroll Kelly for the purpose of making a big score overnight and splitting the proceeds.

The conflict centers on disputes between the two main characters over strategy and control. The action is often interrupted by romantic distractions involving each man. The plot does not simply involve beating the casino. The plot revolves around the battle between the two main characters as they gamble.

There is an element of surprise and mystery to this episode that is not revealed until near the end.

This episode gives the appearance of class to casino gambling. The men wore suits and the women were elegant, even while losing large amounts of money at the table (I cannot remember whether they played craps or roulette). This image, while unrealistic, makes for a nice contrast with actual players in casinos now popping up all over the country.

The KST casino was unrealistically small and simple in contrast to actual casinos or casinos featured in modern television or movies.

The plot is believable. When the surprise element is introduced, it is apparent to the viewer that it was present all along. All elements of the story are brought together in the conclusion and resolution.

A conflict over control of casino strategy (coupled with romantic side stories) may seem weak, but it works in this case. Not every situation need be life-or-death to generate audience interest. Whether they gamble or not, an audience might more easily identify with the two gamblers' conflict than with much of what appears on television today.

Miscellaneous - This is the first of two KST episodes to focus on casino gambling.

Cars - Vehicles played a small role in this episode. I believe a Lincoln Continental was visible in the casino parking lot from the manager's office window toward the end of the episode. [I will update this portion if RTV reruns this episode.]

Actors -

Jack Kelly plays the professional gambler. Kelly made the first of his three KST appearances in this episode. Kelly began acting at age 12 and continued for more than 50 years. Kelly previously played in Maverick as one of the title characters. Kelly also played a major role in Forbidden Planet and played the lead in one episode of Kraft Mystery Theatre with future KST actor Broderick Crawford.

Pat Hingle plays the high roller that bankrolled Kelly's character and spent most of the episode fighting him. Hingle's career lasted more than 50 years (until his recent death) and included such series as Twilight Zone, KST spinoff Run For Your Life, Magnum, Murder She Wrote, the 2001 Christian movie Road to Redemption and many others.

Sydney Pollack directed this episode (and two later KST episodes - "Watchman" and "Last Clear Chance").

Star Trek Connection -

Even though the plot was not as strong as some earlier episodes (episodes ## 3, 4, 5 and 6), this one is a favorite of mine largely because of the Star Trek connection. As far as I know, only season #2's "Eddie Carew" features more Star Trek connections than "Name of the Game." [My knowledge is incomplete, as I have not seen about 12 episodes and IMDB.com is unreliable.] This episode and "Eddie Carew" each featured 4 Star Trek actors, but "Eddie Carew" also featured a Star Trek director. The Trek actors in "Eddie Carew" also played more important roles, while two of the Star Trek actors in "Name of the Game" were less important.

Nancy Kovack (now Nancy Mehta) played the romantic interest for Kelly's character in "Name of the Game." She would later play a pivotal role in Star Trek's "Private Little War." Her character in KST would be almost unrecognizable to Trek fans, as it is so different from Kovack's Trek character. Her KST character is one of the most enjoyable parts of "Name of the Game."

Kovack enjoyed a 25 year career in radio and in Hollywood and elsewhere, winning eight beauty pageants and guest starring in such shows as Bewitched, Mannix and the Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Numerous of her episodes are available on Hulu.com.

She became a historical footnote more than a decade ago, as she was on the periphery of the Bill Clinton scandals of the 1990's. She was the victim of an embezzlement scheme of Susan McDougal, who also served jail time in connection with Clinton's Whitewater scandal. McDougal escaped conviction on charges related to Kovack-Mehta when McDougal's attorney, future Michael Jackson and Scott Peterson defender Mark Geragos, denounced the prosecution as part of a conspiracy to harm Bill Clinton.

Barry Atwater plays the Casino manager. Atwater later played Spock's Vulcan hero Surak on "The Savage Curtain." Atwater and Jack Kelly each have the distinction of having played opposite Robby the Robot; - Kelly in Forbidden Planet and Atwater in an episode of Thin Man (with Peter Lawford). Atwater acted until his death in 1978 on such shows as Gunsmoke, Mission Impossible and Twilight Zone. In every role in which I have seen him, his character is very similar to that of Surak.

Steve Ihnat plays a brief, but important, role as the pit boss. The role is important because the pit boss' (and later Atwater's) approval of certain large bets makes those bets more dramatic. Ihnat later played the main guest star in Star Trek's "Whom Gods Destroy." He died at age 38 of a heart attack in 1972. He played on numerous TV episodes, usually as a villain, including a guest role on Big Valley opposite KST guest star Harold Stone.

The most interesting Trek connection is Grace Lee Whitney, who plays a gambler that briefly wins before losing it all at one of the tables. This role is uncredited at IMBD.com and unmentioned in Whitney's autobiography. (I know of Whitney's role only because I noticed her name in the closing credits). Whitney's KST character is not similar in appearance or temperament to Yeoman Rand.

That KST remains so unknown at this time is so unfortunate because the Trek fans would surely enjoy seeing the Star Trek actors play in other roles, especially when there are so many in one episode. Few fans are as familiar with their favorite series as Trekkies are with every detail of Star Trek. I am sure they would appreciate seeing some of these details rearranged and in a new light. Many Star Trek fans are unaccustomed to seeing most of the television shows of the 1960's. As I commented weeks ago:

Those of us that grew up in the 1970's watching reruns of classic Star Trek became accustomed to seeing each of the guest stars solely in his Star Trek role. It is surprising now for us to see these actors in other roles. Many of these actors (the guest stars as well) have become well known more for their Star Trek role than for anything else. Those guest stars that survive make frequent appearances at Star Trek conventions. Many of their other roles are forgotten, even though the Star Trek appearance was often only one of many, many roles in their long careers.

"Name of the Game" was one of the first KST episodes I have seen. This episode helped get me hooked on KST, as picking out the Star Trek connection(s) added another enjoyable element to each episode.
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Kraft Suspense Theatre; The Machine That Played God; lie detector tests; Anne Francis; William Boyett; Malachi Throne

Season #1; Episode #7

The Machine That Played God

Original Air Date - December 5, 1963 - This was the first episode after a three week hiatus since One Step Down on November 14, 1963.



Setting/Time - A modern city.



Plot/Review/Discussion -

A woman and her husband are involved in a car wreck early in the episode. The husband dies. The police suspect that the wife caused the accident on purpose. I forget the alleged motive - whether it was to kill the husband or herself (or both). That aspect is not of primary importance in this review.

The interesting point is the progression of the plot. The woman gradually becomes convinced that the police are right. Most of the KST episodes are about an ultimate choice between right and wrong. In this case, a bad choice is allegedly made early in the episode, for which the main character tries to take responsibility.

The main character becomes convinced that she is guilty solely on the basis of repeated lie detector tests that she takes that indicate her guilt. The episode is an indictment of the concept of the lie detector test. The woman ultimately learns the real truth in court during her trial.

Criminal law underwent drastic changes in the 1950's and 1960's. There may have been a political agenda against lie detectors at that time that fueled the writing in this episode. Later KST episodes would campaign against the death penalty.

I found the plot to be weaker than the previous few episodes. The focus on the main character's internal struggle was compelling, but somewhat unrealistic. I did not find it believable that a woman could be convinced that she intended to wreck a car simply because she failed lie detector tests. I think the anti-lie detector test agenda colored the plot and made it less believable.

---------- update 9-18-10 ----------- (plot spoiler warnings)

After seeing this episode again, it appears that the criminal trial was a convoluted scenario by which the woman's defense attorney convinced her client that she was not guilty. She had confessed, thus resulting in her prosecution. During the trial, the defense attorney introduced evidence of the lie detector (and its flaws) to convince her that the lie detector was wrong about her own guilt. (Ordinarily, lie detector evidence would be inadmissible.) Thus the criminal trial placed the lie detector on trial instead of the woman. Once the woman could no longer assert her own guilt, the prosecution dropped its case as if the woman was the only judge of her own guilt. I will not begin to deconstruct the legal errors inherent in this scenario. I will say only that this approach is a more extreme example of KST plots where the main character's adversary is himself/herself instead of a third party.

Cars - I am almost certain that the main character drove a 62-64 Lincoln in the initial accident.


Actors -

Anne Francis played the main character. She previously played a prominent role in The Forbidden Planet, with future KST actors Leslie Nielsen and others. She remained active on television and in movies from the late 1940's through recent years.

William Boyett played a detective in the first of his two KST roles - the second being "The Jack is High" during season #2. He played many, many policemen during his nearly 50 year Hollywood career, including 2 guest appearances on KST-spinoff Run For Your Life. He had an uncredited role in The Forbidden Planet. His most long-running roles were as policemen on two of the most famous cop shows of all time, Highway Patrol (starring future KST star Broderick Crawford) and Adam-12 (with KST star Martin Milner). He also guest starred on Star Trek:TNG, but I don't count that toward the Star Trek Connection.

----update--- Charles Alvin Bell played in the first of his two KST episodes.

Star Trek Connection -

The Star Trek Connection for this episode is Malachi Throne, who plays the prosecutor. Throne makes the first of his three appearances in KST in this episode. He portrayed the voice of Star Trek's first villain in the original pilot. His voice was dubbed out before that episode aired, but Throne played a more pivotal role in the final product, which became Star Trek's only two-parter. He also played an important role in the pilot for Big Valley. He was a regular on It Takes a Thief and has continued to work in recent years as part of a 50 year career.