The Terrible Catsafterme

SEASON 1

Created by Mort Lewis and Sam Shayon

• 001. The Case of the Parolee – 3/11/1954
  • Public Defender Bart Matthews (Reed Hadley) introduces himself and his job, to defend those accused of a crime who cannot afford their own attorney. He then relates the story of a girl named Alice Parker (Mary Ellen Kay) who comes to see him and beg his services for her boyfriend Mark Collins (Christian Drake), who has been accused of stealing funds from his employer Buy-Rite Appliance Co. Because Collins is a parolee, who had previously been arrested on a robbery charge after falling into the wrong crowd, he has lost hope and feels that the cards are stacked against him, so therefore does not even want a lawyer. Matthews agrees to go talk with him, and tells him that he promises to do everything he can to get him off if he is indeed innocent. Collins agree to use his services, and relates the story of how his parole officer set him up with the job. While there, his new boss Mr. Marshall (Fay Roope) acts as if he is doing Matthews a favor by allowing him to work there with his record, but declines when Collins says he’ll be glad to ask for another assignment. He also meets a persuasive and effective bill collector named Fred Davis (Douglas Fowley) who frequently returns to the office with large sums of cash. Davis also seems to be getting hounded by a man named Mike Clark (Snub Pollard), who Davis claims is a down-on-his-luck brother-in-law who wants money, and who he keeps putting off. Collins also begins dating the office secretary Alice, and the two fall in love. One night a $2000 deposit that is locked in Alice’s desk is stolen, and the nigh watchman is knocked unconscious. Collins is arrested because he had access to the key through Alice, and because of his previous record. Matthew finds out about the name Mike Clark from Alice, and traces him through his phone number to the seedy Crescent Bar. The bartender (George Lloyd) claims to not know Mike Clark, and then recognizes Matthews as the Public Defender. This spooks Clark who escapes out the window through the office. Matthews and Officer Hanlon (John Close) look through the papers in the office, and determine that Clark is a bookie, to whom Fred Davis owed money and recently made a payoff. They interview Davis in the presence of Mr. Marshall, and try to force Davis to admit that he stole the money. He only offers the alibi that he was home, but Marshall claims that he tries to call Davis the evening of the robbery after watching the fights on TV, and Davis never answered. Matthews calls the TV station to verify the time the fights end, and finds out that they never aired that night. This means that Marshall is lying, and when he tries to escape, they know he is the guilty party who stole the money. Matthews later states that he lied about the fights not having aired in order to trap Marshall. 3/22/21

• 002. The Unfit Mother – 3/18/1954
  • Bart Matthews introduces the case of Nancy Barton (Barbara Logan), a woman who after starting adoptions procedures for a little girl named Kathy (Mimi Gibson) with her husband Fred (Patrick Waltz), loses him in a car accident. Mrs. Beam (Irene Tedrow), from the adoption agency is concerned that Nancy won’t be able to make ends meet. She starts working at a drive-in, but her tips aren’t as lucrative as her boss Mr. Powers (Nestor Paiva) had her believe. Powers senses her desperation, and calls is friend Nick Edwards (Anthony Caruso), who runs the upscale Domino Club, where men pay to have their way with some of the women including a hostess named Sherry Drake (Veda Ann Borg). One night, Sherry is tired of a patron (Paul Keast) so she signals the bartender Harry Saunders (Leonard Breman) to slip him a mickey in a drink that is given to him by Nancy. She is skeptical when she sees Harry put the pills in the drink, but he tells her that it is to sober him up so he doesn’t have an accident. The next day she is arrested for being in on the plot to drug and then roll the customer. Matthews comes to her aid, but she is then swindled by another lawyer named Raymond Crandall (Lyle Talbot) into pleading guilty to a judge (James Kirkwood) to conspiring with the bartender to drug the customer, thinking that this will keep her out of prison. It does just that, but also causes Mrs. Beam to come to try and take Kathy from her. Nancy escapes out the back window and heads to the bar to try and get some money from Edwards. The police track her down and arrest her again. This time she utilizes the services of Matthews, who gets her to remember the location of the drugs that she saw Saunders put into the drink. Matthews goes to the bar with a detective (Robert Knapp) and they find the drugs in the cash register where Nancy told them they’d be. Nancy is freed and is able to live her life with her daughter, while Nick and Sherry are arrested, and Crandall is disbarred. Stuart Wade is Sgt. Harris. Al Hill is the replacement bartender Hogan. Michael Colgan is Jim Prentiss. Adrienne Marden is the matron at the station. 3/22/21
• 003. Lost Cause – 3/25/1954
  • Bart Matthews introduces a case ran by public defender Gil Bowman (Hugh Beaumont), in which he defended against a man named Albert De Marco (Paul Picerni), a recently married man with a troubled past how was accused of the murder of Mort Bettiger (William Ching). De Marco had married a waitress named Anna Marie Stehlik (Yvette Duguay) and they were expecting a child, when Bowman was suddenly fired from his job. With nowhere else to turn, Anna Marie has suggested that he turn to Bettiger, whom De Marco held responsible for the death of his sister. When Anna Marie is forced to work while pregnant, leading to a miscarriage, De Marco finally swallows his pride and turns to Bettiger for a job at Gatineau & Company Gems of Distinction. Initially, Bettiger just insults and discounts him, but then has a change of heart and hires him to make a delivery. Bettiger steals the $20,000 diamond bracelet and pins it on De Marco, which causes him to do over a year in jail. When De Marco gets out of prison, it is even harder for him to find a job, and he finally returns to Bettiger and gets into a fight with him in front of witnesses, even saying that he’s going to kill him. According to De Marco’s story, he never sees Bettiger again, but the next morning is arrested for his murder. Bowman and Matthews work on the case, with Bowman trying to gather character witnesses, including Bettiger’s secretary Patricia Murray (Adele Jergens), a friend of De Marco’s. She reluctantly agrees to act as character witness, but holes in her story prompt Bowman to take off for Atlantic City where she supposedly was during the murder. It begins to look like she has been lying about her whereabouts, so Matthews start to grill her in the courtroom. However the District Attorney (Barney Phillips) gets the judge (George Spaulding) to throw out the testimony. Bowman then rushes into the courtroom with the murder weapon and asks Patricia if she would like to view it again. She breaks down and admits not only that she killed him, but that Bettiger had confessed to her that the diamond ring he gave her was made from a diamond from the bracelet that he used to put De Marco in jail. He had also told her that he loved her, but went out with other women. This clears the name of De Marco, who would go on to have successful job and family. Bowman later reveals to Matthews that he didn’t really have the murder weapon, just a wrapped piece of wood. Ben Weldon is Dominick the investigator. Wheaton Chambers is the bookkeeper. Mitch Kowal is Jones, and Fred Coby is Smith, the arresting officers. Phil Tead is the hotel manager. 6/2/21
• 004. The Forger – 4/1/1954
  • Bill (Pat O’Neal) and Madge Evans (Nancy Hale) are a nice, ideal couple, but one night they are visited by Sgt. Ryker (Don Haggerty) who brings him downtown to question him about an overdrawn check from a department store, and even worse, several bad checks with similar signatures that they believe he may have written. Bill isn’t worried since he has done nothing wrong, but Madge worries when they hold him for investigation, and calls Bart Matthews. Bill claims that his wife simply overdrew the account, and the store didn’t present the check until later. Three of the business owners Miss Biggs (Elmira Sessions), a bartender (Dick Elliott), and a soda jerk (Jim Hayward) identify him as the man who wrote the checks, and they are backed by a total fourteen additional witnesses. Even Madge and Matthews question whether he is innocent or not, but when Bill refuses to plead guilty to something he didn’t do, Matthews says he’ll be with him all the way. Matthews takes the checks to a handwriting expert named Hamilton (Arthur Space), who says there’s a reasonable doubt that they were all written by the same man. Matthews re-visits the witnesses, and all, especially a Maitre D (Stuart Randall) is adamant that it was Bill Evans who wrote the checks. However when Matthews brings Miss Biggs into the office and shows her pictures, this time she identifies a different man. In court, Matthews is able to disprove that the Maitre D saw Bill after all, as he identifies that he had created a reservation at that restaurant in the past. Finally, Sgt. Ryker catches another man named Jack Geller who is caught for forgery and confesses to all of the cases to which Evans is on trial. William Evans is found not guilty and is released from custody. Matthews talks to the audience about how human emotions and the desire for justice could in fact put an innocent man away if they aren’t careful with their testimony. Betty Finley is the waitress. 6/2/21
• 005. The Prize Fighter Story – 4/8/1954
  • Bart Matthews goes to see Prize fighter Davey Davis (Richard Jaeckel), who has just been convicted for narcotics possession, but claims that it was a frame-up. Davey recounts his story, starting with the time he passed his English class in high school thanks to the help of his teacher Mr. Ames (John Qualen), and plans for his first paying prize fight of his professional career that night. He has a good showing and starts rising in the ranks thanks to hard work, his trainer Donny (Ben Weldon), and his aggressive manager Harry “Soapy” Moore (Tom Brown), who is ready to move him into main event fights after his skill in the preliminaries. Soapy gets a visit from Danny Murphy (Henry Kulky), a member of the crime syndicate, who demands that Soapy sell his boss 51% ownership of Davey. As the betting odds go up in Davey’s favor, Danny comes to get Soapy and brings him to his boss B.G. Worden (Douglas Evans), who demands that Davey take a dive during the fight. Soapy doesn’t think Davey will go for a dive, so he attempts to drug his soup before his match, but Davey’s friend Willie (Lou Lubin) drinks his soup and passes out. Davey realizes what has happened, and plans to go to the Boxing commission. He moves forward with the fight and knocks out his competitor Valdez (Eddie Saenz). Worden rounds up Willie and Soapy and sends them to Mexico. Then he has his moll Eve (Mary Beth Hughes) visit Davey and has her plant drugs in his restroom. Officers Kimball (John Pickard) and Webb (Joey Ray) show up at his apartment and find the drugs and arrest him. After his arrest and conviction, Davey reports to Matthews that he has new evidence, a postcard from Willie, who reveals he is in Acapulco. Matthews is able to bring him back to America to testify that he had been drugged by Worden and the syndicate, earning them all prison sentences, while Davis is released, exonerated, and returns to his career. Mike Dale is the referee. 10/1/21
• 006. The Clown – 4/15/1954
  • Bart assigned young lawyer Tim Mason (John Nader) to act as Public Defender for juvenile Johnny Wagner (Robert Ellis), who has been accused of assaulting a warehouse night watchman named Pop Guilder (Burt Mustin), and then stealing narcotics from the location. Johnny maintains his innocence and agrees to defend him. The arresting officer Sgt. Ken Brady (Ross Elliott) believes that Johnny is guilty, and caught him near the site, where he was identified by Pops. Mason goes to see Johnny’s father Reet (Alan Reed), who works as a clown in a Burlesque Show. He and his son have been estranged for a while, but goes to see him at the jail. Johnny can’t seem to get his father to talk about anything but his old acting days, and asks him to leave. Mason also visits with Pops, who is pretty sure he made the correct identification. Since Johnny is now wearing a cast, Mason suggests to Pop that Johnny would have a tough time striking him with a broken arm. Pops suggests that the cast on his arm is a fake. Mason questions Johnny about the cast, and he said he got in a fight when a bigger kid insulting his father’s occupation. However, when Mason drops two large books, and Johnny has no problem picking them up. Mason becomes convinced that Johnny’s cast if fake, and therefore he is guilty of the assault and robbery. Mason speculates to Reet that his son was only trying to impress him by fighting a kid that made fun of his occupation, and then when Reet stood him up for his birthday that night, he decided to remove the fake cast, commit the crime, and then put it back on. When Johnny realizes that they will test his arm x-rays, he decides to escape the jail and hide out in a warehouse. The police surround it, but Mason convinces the cops to let him talk to Johnny. His father also rushes in and makes amends with Johnny, who never had a gun, but merely a fishing magazine that Mason had brought to him. Bart provides the epilogue that Johnny was given a suspended sentence. Reet ended up quitting his job as a clown and now sells insurance. 10/1/21
• 007. Behind Bars – 4/22/1954
  • A prison warden (Don Beddoe) calls Bart Matthews to see if he might be able to assist a female prisoner named Ginny Smith (Joan Camden) who was injured in a boiler room explosion in prison, and when she thought she was dying, requested to see her daughter Kathy, whose existence along with Ginny’s real name Mrs. Virginia Richardson is not in her record. Bart goes to see Ginny, who explains why she was charged with murder. After an incident at home where she caused a fire in her home while taking care of her daughter, and leaving behind a hot iron while leaving her alone to go have a drink, her husband Tom (Coulter Irwin) divorced her. Down on her luck, she moves into a boarding house run by a strict landlady named Mrs. Bassett (Jesslyn Fax) who insists she have no men or liquor in her room. After Mrs. Bassett leaves the room, Ginny pulls out a bottle of whiskey and a photo of Tom and Kathy. After she passes out on her bed, another tenant named Al Redmond (King Donovan) comes into her room to make a pass at her. Mrs. Bassett hears them in the room, and comes in and, after finding the alcohol, tells her that she must leave the house, then throws aside the picture of her ex-husband and daughter and breaks the frame. In her mental state, she grabs onto Mrs. Bassett’s hair, and she falls to the ground and dies, leading to her murder conviction, where Redmond had testified that Ginny beat her to death. Back in the present, Bart goes and sees her ex-husband Tom and tells him that she had been in jail for murder for the past two years. Tom cannot believe that she ever behaved violently, and agrees to go see her. Bart goes to see Redmond, and learns from him about the headaches. Along with his assistant Bill Benton (Douglas Henderson), they track Mrs. Bassett’s former doctor Silas Morgan, but he had also passed away. His replacement, Dr. James Pollard (Phil Chambers) had kept Morgan’s records, and allows the to go through them. They finds that Mrs. Bassett had been diagnosed with brain issues, and was only given a few months to live. With this new information, they are able to petition the governor, and Ginny receives a full pardon. Since she has licked her alcoholism, she and Tom also get back together and head back to get a new marriage license. 3/27/22
• 008. Two Brothers – 4/29/1954
  • The office of businessman Mr. Lambert (John Banner) is robbed, and the police pick up a young man named Johnny Martin (Darryl Hickman). Martin’s priest Father Cassidy (Walter Reed) doesn’t think that Johnny did it, even though Johnny has confessed to the crime. He visits Bart Matthews and tells him what a good boy Johnny is, and how he and his brother Edward (Bob Patton) take care of their sickly, wheelchair-bound mother (Mae Clark). Bart agrees to oversee the case himself. He checks with Lambert, who admits he could hardly see the robber, but identified Johnny’s jacket. Other items, suck as the money, and Johnny’s cap were nowhere to be found when the arrest was made. Johnny’s boss Nathaniel Dobin (Lyle Talbot) in the mechanic’s garage falsifies a time card so that Johnny will have an alibi. Johnny also stops Edwards hen Dobin calls Edward to meet him to pull another job. Edward tries to hide that fact that he is subpoenaed to go to Johnny’s trial, and also tries to prepare his mother to tell the judge that he was playing cribbage with her on the night of the robbery. During Johnny’s trial, the prosecutor (John Pickard) tries to discount Dobin’s account of the time card, by showing his hands to the jury and claiming he does not have the hand of a mechanic, so he couldn’t swear that Johnny was working the night of the robbery. During the trial when it is mentioned that they might need to bring in Mrs. Martin to testify to Edward’s alibi, Johnny again tries to change his plea back to guilty. Nevertheless, Bart brings her in and she testifies that Johnny is adopted, and she has probably always favored Edward. However, she won’t lie for Edward and denies his alibi. Bart deduces that Johnny had tries to stop his brother from committing the robbery, and when he couldn’t stop it, he took the rap for it to avoid his mother going into shock. Eventually, Edward admits to the crime, and both he and Dobin are given an equal sentence, since Dobin was complicit in the robbery. Grandon Rhodes is the Judge. Jack Gargan is the Court Clerk. Clarence Straight is Lopez the process server. 3/27/22
• 009. Badge of Honor – 5/6/1954
  • As Officer Dan Conway (Harry Carey Jr.) is laid to rest, Bart Matthews recalls the circumstance of his becoming a cop. The story begins in Normandy where he is laid up on the hospital after coming out of a Nazi P.O.W. camp, and he writes home via his nurse Miss Norton (Betty Finley) that he wants his wife Doris (Sally Fraser) to get him an application to become a police officer. When he gets home, he finds that they are a few months away from hiring so he returns to his job as a milkman. On his route, he meets up with Lieutenant Walsh (James Flavin), who befriends him and helps prepare him for his tests once the opportunity to apply comes around. Once he makes it through the police academy, he is assigned a traffic detail from the division commander John Gunderson (Emory Parnell), who warns him not to be too over-zealous, but to also not be a pushover. Conway starts to worry about his reputation when he only hands out two traffic tickets on his first beat. Later, he sees more action when a thief named Brown (Frankie Darro) robs an old lady named Mabel Wilson (Kathleen Mulqueen) in the street, and Dan chases him down. By the time he catches him, Brown has ditched the wallet he stole, but a local boy (Louis Lettieri) finds the wallet and returns it to Dan, telling him that he saw Brown ditch it. Dan has Walsh review his report before he submits it to Gunderson, and Walsh points out that he didn’t list the boy’s name who witnessed the wallet ditch. Dan worries this might cost him his job, so he falsifies the report and says that the wallet was on him when he stopped Brown. Later, Bart is assigned Brown’s case and comes to see Dan to get the facts straight. Dan lies about it in front of Walsh, who advises him he will have a hard time living with the lie he told. Dan comes clean to Doris, then goes to see Bart and confesses what he did. Bart advises him not to say anything to Gunderson yet, as he doesn’t want to see him lose his job. Bart then arranges a visit with Gunderson to give him the hypothetical case of what had happened, and Gunderson told him hypothetically that he would fire the officer. Later Gunderson sees that the case was dropped because Brown was pulled out of state on a parole violation, but remembered Bart’s hypothetical case, puts it together, and realizes it was all about Dan Conway. Gunderson is ready to fire Conway, but Bart tells him that Conway had come clean to him, and his integrity overshadowed his rookie mistake made out of fear for his job. Gunderson finally agrees on a five-day suspension. Conway then became an officer for seven years, until his act of sideswiping a car headed for a bus saved the lives of a bus full of children, while costing him his own. Tribute is paid at his funeral by the chaplain (John Eldredge). 7/26/22
• 010. Let Justice Be Done – 5/13/1954
  • A thug named Tim Conroy (Skip Homeier) robs convenience store clerk Mr. Singer (George Meader), and as he is making his escape, he is pursued by a police officer named Ken Robker (Vernon Rich). During the chase, the men run behind a truck driven by Pete Rungus (Gene Roth), and after several shots ring out, Conroy has been shot twice and Officer Robker is dead. Lieutenant Burrows (Pat Flaherty) is forced to deliver the news to Robker’s wife Rena (Emlen Davies), while they are being visited by their best friends Jim Prentiss (Patrick O’Neal) and his wife Betty (Noel Neill), while the Robkers’ young son Bobby sleeps in another room. Jim Prentiss is also an Assistant Public Defendant, and he is assigned the case by Bart Matthews. Prentiss isn’t sure if he can give Conroy a fair defense considering it was his best friend who was killed, but Matthews imparts to him how much it means that he receives one. Prentiss sees it as an open and shut case until he visits with Conroy, and then Conroy’s wife Nora (Allene Roberts), who both maintain that Conroy didn’t mean to shoot Officer Robker, but that rather his gun fired accidentally after he was shot in the shoulder by the officer. Conroy points out that there was an old lady with a dog who was in the right position to witness the shooting. Prentiss interviews Rungus the truck driver, Mr. Singer, and the newsboy Tony Amburatto (George E. Stone), and none can remember the old lady with the dog. However, Tony says he does have an old lady with a dog named Mrs. Snyder (Mary Young) who is a regular customer. Prentiss waits it out to see if she shows up, and when he finally finds her and her dog Roscoe, she concurs with the story that Conroy’s arm jerked up only after being shot the first time. Prentiss wrestles with himself as to what to do, then goes and sees Rena. Once he tells her that Mrs. Snyder’s testimony could reduce the sentence from the death penalty to life in prison, Rena volunteers to ask for leniency because her late husband always walked the straight and narrow and would want justice to be served correctly. Due to Mrs. Snyder’s testimony and Rena’s plea to the court, Conroy gets a life sentence. Betty Finley is Prentiss’s secretary Rosie, part heavily edited. NOTE: Vernon Rich is credited as Ken, but part appears to be edited from episode. 7/26/22
• 011. Pauper’s Gold – 5/20/1954
  • Deputy Public Defender Joe Selway (John Craven) goes to visit a prisoner named Gil Redmund (Richard Lupino), who after a three-year stint in prison following a robbery has been arrested again, this time for possession of a firearm the day he is released. Selway is puzzled by this and tries to find out why Gil, whom he has previously defended, would risk going back to prison. Selway talks to Bart Matthews to ask if he can try to help Gil and set him on his feet, while Bart thinks this might be a good chance to see if Gil will divulge where the money he stole is hidden. When Selway tries to call on Gil again, he finds out that someone posted his bond, and he has been released. Selway goes to see the bail bondsman Hoke Keller (Paul Brinegar) and finds out from him that it was Joe Mordello, one of gangster Fred Hackman’s (Douglass Dumbrille, referred to as Frank in the credits) boys. Selway goes to visit Hackman, who denies any involvement with Redmund, despite the fact that Selway tells him he believes that Hackman is going to get the information about the money and then kill him. Gil meets with his girlfriend Ann (Gloria Talbott) and promises her that they are going to run away and be together. She fears that Hackman and his men are after him and shows him Hackman’s henchman Pete Schuster (Gene Coogan) who is staking out her apartment, just waiting for Gil to go after the money, which he plans to do the next night. After Gil leaves, Ann calls the police on him in order to get him off the streets and make him safe. She meets with Selway, and he realizes that they have to change his mind before he goes after the money and leaves town. Selway does more research to find out why Redmund would have been carrying a gun. He confronts Redmund with his new information, that he had originally been ready to tell the police where he hid the money, but then passed out. Later, he clammed up completely. Redmund finally admits that Hackman send one of his men, Mort Connors (Hugh Sanders), to be arrested for throwing a brick through the window, so he be sent to jail, where he told Redmund that if told anyone where the money was located that his girlfriend Ann would be killed by them. Selway is able to track down Sanders at an all-night Danceathon, and in his weakened condition, he admits to going to jail purposely to give Redmund the warning. Meanwhile, Redmund slips out to retrieve the money from inside a building’s brick wall. He is followed and chased by Schuster and winds up electrocuting himself on some electrical wires. Redmund returns to Ann with the money, but she admits that she had called the police and told them that he was going to break his bond. She tells him that the courts will look at him a different way because of Sanders’ story, and even more so if Redmund returns the money. He is resistant, but Ann is able to convince Redmund that he needs to turn himself in and turn in the money. He calls Selway and tells him to pick up the $100,000 before he loses his girl. Bart reveals that Ann and Gil got married, and through the testimony of Sanders, the Hackman outfit was arrested and tried. Redmund was released into the custody of his wife. 11/20/22
• 012. Stepchild – 5/27/1954
  • A 15-year-old girl named Terry Derek (Barbara Whiting) escapes her apartment with a bloody cheek and goes running through the halls toward her neighbor Mrs. Giffin (Lizz Slifer), claiming that her stepmother Pauline (Argentina Brunetti) has been abusing and has locked her in a closet. Mrs. Giffin finds Terry’s stepmother to be despicable and starts talking about Mrs. Derek to all of the neighbors. She is eventually arrested by a police officer (Paul Bryar) and taken to jail. Bart Matthews takes Mrs. Derek’s case, and right off the bat, she states that her only crime was loving Terry too much and putting up with her actions for too long. She also admits to locking her in the closet, but not to cutting her face. She relates her story to Bart, by starting with the fact that she loved Terry like her husband died. Her first sign of trouble was when a truant officer (Richard Deacon) came to the house to tell her that Terry had been skipping school. At first Terry denies this, but then admits that she was trying to surprise her mother by looking for a job. Her mother is not angry, but tells her that she doesn’t need to do that. That night Terry sneaks out of her house and meets up with her new boyfriend Chuck (Michael Hall), a teen who is part of the Circle Gang, whom has just accepted Terry as its newest member. Terry gets into a fight with a girl named Dee (Ann Duncan), another member of the gang. Since it is obvious she can stand up for herself, they go to the jewelry store owned by Terry’s neighbor Mr. Steiner (Fred Essler) and smash the front window and rob it. That night when she returns home, her mother is waiting for her in her room and grounds her for a week. For the duration of her grounding, she is extremely well-behaved, but then one night Chuck comes to pick her up and won’t take no for an answer, while Terry saunters out the door. Mrs. Derek tracks her down to the cafe where they hang out and tries to convince her to come home, but the gang Chuck, Terry, Lee, and Bob (John Duncan) ridicule her, and Chuck even gets physically violent. That night when Mrs. Derek comes home, she finds Terry packing and also finds her purse full of jewelry. She realizes that Terry is one of the thieves who robbed the store and pushes her into the closet and gets ready to call the police. Terry then fakes an injury inside the closet, and when she exits, she cust her own face with a piece of pottery. This is the point that Terry runs screaming from the partment to Mrs. Giffin. Bart finishes listening to Mrs. Derek’s story and says that this is a case from the authorities. That night, th eteens all go on a joy ride, stealing newspaper racks all over town. At one point, Chuck falls out of the car and injures himself. They drive to the cafe where Bart and policewoman Rollins are having dinner. Officer Wilson (John Close) and his partner track the gang there as well and demands to search them. Terry is searched by Officer Rollins and is then sent to Juvenile Hall, where her mother comes to see her and say goodbye while she is rehiblitated. Charges are dropped agains Mrs. Derek. NOTE: Terry is named as “Torry” in the credits. 11/21/22
• 013. The Auto Accident – 6/3/1954
  • Private Dan Booker (Robert Clarke) gets a three-day pass to go home and see his wife Ruth (Anne Kimbell) after his friend Sgt. Willis (Richard Wessel) tells him that he saw Ruth out with another man named Alby Shaft. When he accuses his wife of infidelity, it leads to a fight since she had only run into him there after the movie and accepted a ride home from him. Booker storms out and goes for ride and winds up killing an elderly woman pedestrian when she crosses the street. Booker is arrested and assigned District Attorney Gene Harris (John Hubbard). Booker tells Harris that he only had one beer at dinner and then borrowed the car from their neighbor Mr. Erickson (Phil Tead). He also claims that a car with extremely bright lights caused him not to be able to see the woman he hit. Harris begins investigating and visits the bar where Booker had dinner, and although the bartender (Al Hill) doesn’t remember what Booker had to drink, the waitress (Iris Adrian) recalls that he had two whiskeys. He also visits Erickson who says that Booker actually stole the car. And a gas station attendant named Buford (Harry Landers) claims that he never saw a car coming toward Booker. Buford himself says he didn’t witness the accident, but it is likely that a customer driving a station wagon saw it. Harris asks the District Attorney Jackson Blake (Walter Reed) for a continuance, so Blake reluctantly gives him three days. Booker admits that he lied about the car and the alcohol because he was scared, but he swears that he is really telling the truth about the bright headlights. Booker stakes out the gas station waiting for the man in the station wagon to hopefully return. Eventually Buford does in fact recognize the man, a guy named Crowley (J. Anthony Hughes) who recalls bits and pieces of the incident including the fact that the elderly woman was not in the crosswalk but doesn’t remember any oncoming car with bright headlights either. However, as Crowley and Harris are investigating the location of the accident, they do notice a bright light hit their eyes. It is coming from an auction house run by a man named Rogers (Tom Brown), who is reluctant to admit to the fact that his spotlight has been slipping from pointing into the sky. He reluctantly agrees to show up for court. With this good news, Booker and his wife are excited about the prospect of actually being together again. With the evidence learned by the Public Defender, Booker is cleared of all charges except for the theft of the car, for which he gets a three-month suspended sentence. Ruth Clifford is Ruth’s mother. 5/2/23 
• 014. Confession of Guilt – 6/10/1954
  • A woman named Patricia Selby (Doe Avedon) has shot and killed her husband Jack (Don Haggerty) and readily admits it. There is also a witness named Flo Pearson (Lynn Millan) who tells Detective Sft. Eggers (Walter Coy) that she saw her shoot Jack point blank and claims that she would have killed her too if she hadn’t taken the gun away. Eggers takes in Patricia in for further questioning, and although she keeps admitting that she killed him, Eggers pushes for the full story. Phillip Nevins (Gar Moore), the boyfriend of Patricia Selby, goes to see Bart Matthews, who will be defending her and offers his assistance. He fills Matthews in on the history between Patricia and Jack, beginning with the fact that they were estranged and going through divorce proceedings, but Jack keeps going to see Patricia and trying to reconcile. Due to his drinking and abusive nature, she wants nothing to do with him. He keeps showing up and telling Patricia that she will never get rid of him. Despite the fact that she has a restraining order against him, he tells her that if she calls the cop to report him, he will kill her. Patricia tries to keep herself busy by going out with friends, and while visiting the party of her friends Gene (Mark Dana) and Millie Aiken (Elaine Riley), she meets a piano player named Phillip Nevins. They soon begin dating, much to the annoyance of Jack Selby. One night when Phillip drives Patricia home, they find Jack in her house, even after she had the locks changed. After Patricia insists that Phillip leave, Jack forces a kiss on her, slaps her, and then tells her that he will use a gun on Phillip if she keep seeing him. One night after Patricia watches a piano performance of Phillip’s, he asks her to marry him, but she wants to put off the conversation. When Patricia returns home, Jack is there again, this time with a drunken Flo Pearson. Jack is also drunk and begins giving the clothes he had bought for Patricia to Flo. Jack tells Patricia that he is going to beat her up, but Patricia pulls his gun on him. She tries to call the police, but Jack lunges out her, which causes her to fire and kill him. Because of her confession, she is arrested for murder, but because of the work of of Matthews, they finally get Flo Pearson to corroborate her story. The jury votes for acquittal due to justifiable homicide. In order to not disrupt the career of Phillip, she had left any mention of his name out of the story. Matthews explains this why they review all confessions to see if there is more to the story. NOTE: Clark Howat is credited as Gene Aiken, but the role is actually played by Mark Dana. 5/2/2
• 015. The Hobo Story – 6/17/1954
  • Bart tells the story of Public Defender George J. Hansen (Denver Pyle), who was summoned to Willow Grove to defend a man named Freedom Wilson (Peter Whitney). He had been arrested for assault on a little girl named Julie Saunders (Jeri Lou James). Freedom was arrested by Sheriff Clark Drury (Pat Flaherty) and his deputy Sam Hewit (Russ Conway), both who swear that all evidence points to Wilson. Freedom tells his story to Hansen in the jail cell beginning with when he joined a tea party with Julie and her friend Stanley McKnight (Louis Lettieri). He is run off by the Saunders’ maid Ruby Jones (Martha Wentworth), even though Julie had permission to give Freedom their bottles. Julie and Stanley are curious about where Freedom lives in the ‘hobo jungle,’ but Freedom warns the kids not to go there. Freedom sells the bottles and buys some meat and vegetables for his fellow hobo friends, Vic Oliver (Paul Brinegar), Jeff Ransome (Jim Parnell), and Thomas Geer (Phil Tead), an older gentleman that the other two pick on. This time they drive him off and also throw a stick a hungry dog. This angers Freedom and he beats Vic, prompting Vic to vow revenge on him. Later, Freedom returns to visit Julie, and she says that Ruby has gone to see her sister, and that Ruby’s parents will be gone until midnight. Freedom reluctantly accepts Julie’s invitation to come inside the house, where he sees some of their silver kitchenware. When he gets back to his friends, Freedom tells them about the silver. The guys decide to go to the Saunders house at night and rob the place, then pin some of the items on Freedom as revenge for the beating. Julie wakes up and follows them through the woods. When the guys realize they are being followed, Vic hits Julie with a branch, not realizing that it was her. They rush back to the camp and knock out Julie when Freedom realizes that they have the Saunders’ silver. Julie’s parents (Gordon Barnes, Helen Winston) come home and find her missing, and get the police looking for her. When they come across Freedom with their silver, he is arrested. In the present day, Hansen requests that Drury put out an APB on the two missing hobos. More importantly, Julie wakes up and is able to vouch that it was two other men, and not Freedom, who robbed them. Vic and Jeff are both caught on a train that they hopped and are killed in a shootout. Freedom is given his freedom. NOTE: Len Hendry is credited as a railroad policeman but does not appear in the episode. 9/11/23
• 016. Youth Crime Ring aka The Modern Fagin – 6/24/1954
  • A group of teenagers in baseball uniforms rob the Central Loan Company. They walk right by a police officer who doesn’t notice them at first, but when he sees the door open to the business, he takes down the license plate number. The police arrest the driver Bob Carter (Robert Arthur), and Lieutenant Varga (John Stephenson) calls Bart to come to the station and meet with him in hopes of negotiating more information about the crime ring. Bob tells Bart about his longtime friendship with another teen named Rick Martin (Don Garner), who normally pays for Bob’s activities. Bob decides that he no longer wants to mooch off Rick, but when Rick offers to get him a job, Bob tells him that he knows that the work Rick does is not for him. Bob then goes home and talks to his younger sister Jenny (June Kenny), who is in tears because the shirt she wore for a class picture was one that another friend’s mother donated to the clothes drive. Bob then decides to let Rick help him get a job, so Rick introduces him to an older man named Gil Wells (Paul Langton). He says that Bob will make plenty of money but could have problems with the police. Bob starts helping a gang of teens pull robberies around town, which puzzle the police. Gil comes to realize that Bob is one of the best in the gang, but Gil is also annoyed with one of the guys named Fred for pulling a gun on one of the jobs. Gil has another guy named Don show Fred (Alan Orrie) how to do a martial arts flip on someone who pulls a gun. Gil makes plans for the guys to do a big job with the Central Loan Company, and he brings in an ex-con named Pops (William Fawcett) to teach him some further safecracking skills. Rick talks to Gil about counting him out for a few days since he wants to get married to Nancy. Gil declines his request, which prompts Rick to tell Gil that he doesn’t run his life. This earns a punch in the mouth in view of Bob and Pops. When everyone meets before the Central Loan job, Rick tells Gil that he is quitting the ring, so Gil tells him that Rick can skip this job and Bob will be in charge. In the present day at the station, Bart offers to help Bob get a reduced sentence if he helps turn over Gil. Bart then takes Bob to see Rick in the morgue with three gunshot wounds to the chest. Bob then agrees to lead the police to Gil, so he makes arrangements to meet him. However, Gil gets wise to the plan and meets up with Bob early. He and Bob then go back to Gil’s place, while Bart and the police search for them. They finally track down Gil’s hotel room when they spot his truck. Gil tries to hold Bob at gunpoint to use him as a hostage to get away, but Bob uses the martial arts move he learned and flips Gil. He is arrested and gets the death penalty, while Bob serves his time in juvenile prison and is ready to get out and move on with his life. NOTE: Alan Orrie is billed as Nick in the credits, rather than Fred. 9/11/23
• 017. Third Floor Rear – 7/1/1954
  • Bart Matthews narrates the story of a young artist named Joe Norton (Marshall Thompson), who is arrested one day at his beachside trailer park by a detective (John Close) for kidnapping his own son Billy (Earl Robie). In fact, Norton had been on the run with the boy for the past six years. A man named Ben Forman (Howard Wendell) brings this to Matthews’ attention, as he is an art critic who had known Norton since he was a child and has been selling his art for him to help him earn money. Norton has been selling and shipping the art under different names, even signing each painting with a different name, in order to stay hidden. Forman relates the story of Norton, who marries a rich young socialite named Barbara Harrington (Frances Rafferty), although her parents (Lester Matthews, Louise Lorimer) didn’t approve of him. During one of Norton’s art gatherings, which included an appearance by their bohemian friend Ladislaus (Harold Peary), Norton announces that he and Barbara are expecting a baby. Although Mrs. Harrington is happy for her daughter, her father thinks it is a bad mistake, as Norton’s art has not yet afforded them a livable wage. He invites them to come live at their estate, but they refuse. Shortly after Norton leaves town for San Francisco to arrange for an art show, during a visit with her mother, Barbara trips over a skate outside their apartment complex and falls down the stairs. She survives and the baby is unharmed, but her parents move her in with them to watch over her. When Joe returns to claim his wife from her parents, her father refuses to let her go, leading to a physical altercation. Barbara is so upset that she goes into premature labor. She ends up dying on the delivery table, causing Joe to spiral out of control and into a drunken stupor for several weeks. Ben Forman catches up with him and warns him that Barbara’s parents are seeing a judge (Herbert Hayes) that very day, and that he better pull himself together and fight for his son. He shows up at the hearing with the judge but is told that custody is going to the Harringtons since he doesn’t make enough money to support them.  Joe decides to take matters into his own hands, and he kidnaps Billy right from under the nose of the governess (Betsy Holt). Now that six years have passed and Joe has been caught, Billy is returned to his grandparents. Ben asks Bart if there is anything he can do, so he goes to talk to the Harringtons. He tries to make a case for Joe’s ability and artistic talent and tells them that they could help him with his career, and he could be a good provider for Billy. Mr. Harrington insists that his son-in-law has no talent, but when Bart points out two painting that are hanging on Harrington’s wall, each by a different artist, and then tells him that both paintings were created by Joe Norton, Harrington is dumbfounded. He winds up dropping the charges, Norton becomes a famous and successful artist, and Billy starts to take vacation on the beach with both his father and his grandparents. Frank Wilcox is the Harrington attorney. Gordon Richard is the Harrington butler. Maurice Marsac and Gladys Holland are Mr. and Mrs. Peroni. Robert Cherry is the trailer park owner. Betty Finley is the nurse. 1/9/24
• 018. Out of the Past – 7/5/1954
  • A man named Albert Milne (Robert Osterloh) has been living an exemplary life in a small town, contributing much of his time to community service. After a recent success of running the PTA carnival, the chairman Mr. Singer (Harry Antrim), who also happens to be Milne’s boss at the machine plant, offers him a job as foreman, which would mean a hefty raise. Although he initially turns it down, he decides to go ahead and try the new job. In order to be government bonded, he is required to fill out an application that includes getting fingerprinted. One night while having dinner with his wife Mary Ann (Laura Elliot aka Kasey Rogers) and daughter Sandy (Jeri Lou James), two detectives visit and arrest him. The detective (Dennis Moore) explains that there is a warrant out for his arrest for escaping the custody of the police fifteen years earlier while on the way to the state penitentiary to serve a ten-year sentence for murder while living under the name Alfred Martin. The murder in question was a hit-and-run accident of an old man crossing the street, for which Milne claims he was innocent. While some of the kids in town taunt Sandy and write “Jail Bird” on their front door, other neighbors such as Mr. Perroli (George Chandler) and Mr. Singer (Harry Antrim) takes up a petition to stop the extradition of Milne to Warrensville where the crime took place. Meanwhile, in the town of Warrensville, another family man named Charles Landis (Stuart Randall) finds out about Milne’s case. At first, Landis keeps his secret from his wife Bonnie (Ann Doran) and daughter Paula (Peggy McIntyre), but then his guilt gets the better of him and he admits to his wife that it was him who had taken Martin’s car and committed the accidental act. His wife pleads with him to keep his mouth shut, but he can’t help but go see Milne’s wife and offer his help. He also takes the case to Bart Matthews and asks if he can get an appointment with Governor Warren B. Santon (Grandon Rhodes). Landis then goes to see Milne to offer support as well, telling him that he and Matthews are going to see the governor. Milne thinks there is only one man who can help, the man who actually committed the prime. During their discussion with the Governor, he tells Matthews and Landis that their discussion is based on emotion, whereas his decision to extradite Milne has to be based on fact. Landis returns back home to Warrensville to his wife after four days and reports to his wife that Milne doesn’t have a chance based on his conversation with the Governor. He tells her that he is going to have to give himself up, and his daughter Paula concurs that it is the right thing to do. During the hearing, the prosecuting attorney (Walter Reed) makes his case to the Commissioner (John Parrish), and when it looks as if all hope is lost for Milne, Landis stand up and makes his confession with the support of his wife and daughter. Bart Matthews reports that as a result of Landis’s confession, Albert Milne received a full pardon. Since the statute of limitations on the case had expired, Charles Landis was not charged with the crime. Frank Hagney is the prison guard. 1/9/24

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