Their Own Executioners; Kraft Suspense Theatre; Dean Stockwell; Dabney Coleman

Click here for the previous episode review.

Season #1, Episode # 23

Their Own Executioners

Original Air Date - April 23, 1964

Setting/Time - A small town just outside of Boston in the present.

Plot/Review/Discussion

The basic plot of this episode centers on a young man (Martin) who has killed his wife just before the episode begins. The viewer does not see the murder, but learns that the young man kicked his wife to death. Most of the episode consists of an older lawyer (Joe Monti) attempting to help the young man by convincing the young man that he did not premeditate the killing.

The title refers to both the old lawyer and the young defendant. The lawyer discovers early in the episode that he is terminally ill. He accepts this news and does not want to fight the disease, while the young man does not want to prevent the execution that surely awaits him if he does not let lawyer Joe Monti help him. Each man is thus acting as his own executioner.

The old lawyer goes to great lengths to convince the young man to say that he did not premeditate the murder. The young man's resistance to the old man's efforts constitutes the major conflict of the episode.

The method by which Monti tries to help Martin is confusing. Monti discovers that Martin's wife was not virtuous, but was flirtatious with other men. Monti throws this discovery in Martin's face. Monti then drops the bombshell on Martin that Martin's own mother had a less than virtuous past. I am not sure I fully understand this strategy. Monti seemed to be arguing that Martin had a false ideal about his mother that his wife failed to live up to. By convincing Martin that his own mother was just as bad . . . . . well, I am not sure how that comparison was supposed to help Martin or Monti.

This revelation was complicated when Monti revealed his own role in Martin's mother's promiscuous past.

At one point, Monti told Martin that he had hit his own (deceased) wife, although only after opening his hand at the last minute before the blow landed. Again, I am not sure what this admission has to do with anything. At this point, Martin was probably hoping that if the case went to trial, Monti would not use this little tidbit in front of the jury.

A secondary plot involves Monti's daughter and her impending marriage to the local weasel. The groom-to-be commits various acts of weaselness, including convincing the daughter to change her appearance and name so as to hide her Italian heritage. At one point, Monti mutters to himself that if his daughter marries this man, he will slowly and figuratively kick her to death over time.

This is the second KST episode in which a defense attorney helps his client solely by convincing the client of his (her) own (relative) innocence - as if the prosecutor, judge and jury are mere afterthoughts. The first exemple of this plot occured in "The Machine That Played God" (1.07).

This is the first of two KST episodes that discussed the death penalty at length (the second one would be "A Cruel and Unusual Night" 1.28). These episodes aired during a roughly 15 year period when the courts favored the rights of criminal defendants and before the public outcry and backlash began. My own opinion is that the writers were looking for some way to create sympathy for Martin in this episode. This search for a pro-defendant story resulted in the convoluted arguments regarding Martin's mother and his own wife's conduct. The storyline suffered as a result of the inclusion of a political agenda. Otherwise, the story of two men overcoming their passive acceptance of their own fate was somewhat compelling.

Cars

The lawyer is driven to the jail by his doctor in a 1960 Mercury Monterey. It is the same color as the 1960 Monterey that appears in two other episodes of Season 1. The viewer sees the car from the back as it backs out of a driveway and heads down the road. A viewer can really appreciate the size of the tail fins and the width of the car. The sound of the wheels pulling away on the wet road while a train can be heard in the background underscores the late night atmosphere that the producer/director/writer were trying to create.

Actors

Herschel Bernardi plays the old lawyer, Joe Monti. Bernardi was only 41 when this episode aired. He had previously played a supporting role in Billy Wilder's Irma la Douce with future KST and Star Trek actress Grace Lee Whitney. In the 1970's he played the title role in the TV series Arnie.

Dean Stockwell played Martin. He continues to act today following a roughly 65 year career. His longest running role was in Quantum Leap. Contemporaneously with KST, he guest starred on Hitchcock, Twilight Zone and many other shows of that and other eras.

Virginia Vincent plays Joe Monti's daughter, even though Ms. Vincent was born only one year later than Herschel Bernardi.

Dabney Coleman plays the weasel in the second of his two KST appearances (having previously appeared in "The Threatening Eye" 1.18).

Star Trek Connection

Robert Fortier played a small, but important role in this episode. The prior interaction between Martin's wife and Fortier's character helped Monti establish his "theory" by which he convinced Martin to fight the murder charges. Fortier would later star (with KST repeat actor Warren Stevens) as Tomar, one of the conquering aliens in the Star Trek episode, "By Any Other Name." He guest-starred in Outer Limits with Grace Lee Whitney three months before "Executioners" aired. That same year, Fortier also acted in Alexander the Great with William Shatner and Adam West (even though that show would not air for four more years).

Quote of the Episode

"We hit our wives, we don't hit our mothers." - Bernardi/Monti

Lessons I learned from "Their Own Executioners"

• It is OK to hit your wife as long as you open your hand at the last minute.
• See "Quote of the Episode" above.
• If your mother was promiscuous many years ago, it is ok to kill your wife today.
• If you are on trial for murder, find a lawyer that beat his own wife and slept with your mother.
  
  
  
  
  

The Comparative Legacies of Kraft Suspense Theatre and Star Trek

Star Trek was a low rated show that teetered on the brink of cancellation for its entire first run on television. Kraft Suspense Theatre attracted the best actors of its (or any) era. Yet Star Trek, its performers and its trivia are discussed and dissected far out of proportion to its original success. KST is virtually forgotten.

I wrote in my initial post that Kraft Suspense Theatre has been largely ignored by fans and biographers of 1960's television and the actors from that era:

Stars and their biographers are quick to point out their roles on other shows of that era, including Star Trek, Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Hitchcock, etc. But they usually see no benefit in touting their performance on Suspense Theatre.

In response, director Ralph Senensky has written to me that he often forgets Kraft Suspense Theatre when he is asked what shows he directed. Senensky directed numerous popular television shows before during and after the 1960's.

I suspect that many of the biographies that I have seen lack reference to KST because the biographers do not appreciate the significance of the show. Because KST has not been in syndication very much, it is not considered significant among biographers and historians.

Star Trek received poor ratings during its entire first run. Many other shows of that era did better in the ratings. Yet actors that played roles on Star Trek emphasize their Star Trek roles to the exclusion of shows that were more popular during the 1960's. Star Trek guest stars still appear at Star Trek conventions across the country, while there are no such conventions for KST or many other popular shows of the 1960's.

So not only is KST largely ignored, the original Star Trek's legacy exceeds its original success and reflects mainly its post-run popularity.

Grace Lee Whitney devoted most of her book to Star Trek (plus some small roles in other shows), while not mentioning her role on KST (IMDB.com still does not mention her role in KST, even though she had a speaking role).



Ralph Senensky's blog is named "Ralph's Trek," even though he directed more episodes of some other shows than he directed of Star Trek. Senensky's Wikipedia entry does not mention KST (or Hart to Hart or Barnaby Jones), but mentions Star Trek.

Lloyd Bridges' Wikipedia entry makes no mention of KST, yet includes a reference to Star Trek merely because Bridges turned down a role on that show.

Joseph Pevney's Wikipedia entry does not mention KST. It does mention Star Trek and also lists many of the individual Star Trek episodes (while failing to mention individual episodes for any other series).

Actor Ian Wolfe worked for almost 60 years, including some prominent roles with famous actors. His Wikipedia entry does not mention KST, even in the long catalogue of credits at the bottom. The narrative part of the entry does list both of his Star Trek episodes by name (and little else).

Perhaps no actor played a more prominent role on Kraft Suspense Theatre than Jack Kelly. Kelly's Wikipedia entry does not mention KST, but mentions his less prominent role in Kraft Mystery Theatre.

Warren Stevens played in three KST episodes, none of which were mentioned on his Wikipedia page. That page did mention his one Star Trek role.

Malachi Throne played in three KST episodes, none of which were mentioned on his Wikipedia page. But the same Wikipedia entry discussed his one Star Trek role at length.

Actress Katherine Crawford starred prominently in three KST episodes (and had family connections to the show and to Universal Studios). She had no connection with Star Trek. Not surprisingly, she has no Wikipedia entry. Had she guest starred even once on Star Trek, it is safe to say that by now she would have appeared at numerous Star Trek conventions and would enjoy her own cult following.

Of course, the Wikipedia entries and IMDB bios (as opposed to the IMDB catalogues) for Mickey Rooney, Milton Berle, Peter Lorre and other KST guest stars make no mention of KST.

There are many other examples.

This legacy helps define one purpose of this blog. The plots are the most important part of each review, but cataloging the well-known actors of each episode serves its own purpose. The list of famous actors adds gravitas to KST. The demand for KST would be much greater if it was more widely known that KST featured less prominent performances of the all-time greats. These considerations may hasten the day of a DVD release or KST availability on hulu.com.