Series Notes: NBC; 30m; color; 1957-1960
Dramatic anthology. Syndicated together with Goodyear Theatre as
Award Theatre.
Cast:
Tol Avery (Judge)
Joanna Barnes (Eve Fremont)
Joanne Davis and Midge Ware (Liz)
Doug DeCosta (Officer Collins) |
Tom Greenway (Captain Quincy)
Steve Peck (Frank Piper)
Richard Shannon (Prosecutor) |
Episode Summary:
This was the pilot episode of an unsold series written by Gene Roddenberry.
It was based on the book Never Plead Guilty by San Francisco criminal
lawyer Jake Ehrlich. The series Sam Benedict, based on Ehrlich,
was eventually produced and aired for one year, 1962-63.
Jake Brittin (Kelley) is a San Francisco
defense attorney opposed to the death penalty. He agrees to defend Frank
Piper, who is charged with the murder of society lady Eve Fremont's husband.
Piper's story is that she had been carrying on a relationship with him,
and after a quarrel she promised to "fix him good." Later she invited
him to her place, and when he came in, she screamed. Her angry husband
came at him, he fired a warning shot into the floor, the husband kept
coming, and Piper fired three more shots into the husband before he finally
was able to run away. At the trial, Eve's story is that Piper had been
stalking her, broke into her house and murdered her husband. She testifies
that only three shots were fired. Since the warning shot would make the
crime manslaughter, not murder, the case hinges on finding the warning
bullet in the room. Quincy confirms that no fourth bullet was found. Jake
obtains a recess, giving him time to sneak over to the crime scene. By
re-enacting the shooting he discovers that there was indeed a fourth bullet,
which has been deliberately hidden. He gets Quincy to come over and discover
the bullet himself by making snide comments about him withholding evidence.
There's a final court scene of Jake wrapping up his argument, waxing eloquent
about reasonable doubt... especially reasonable doubt about an upper class
woman flirting with a working class man. The jury return a verdict of
manslaughter. At this point there's an odd little bit that makes Jake
a rather less likeable character -- he refuses to shake his client's hand,
giving him a disgusted look, and goes off to chum it up with the prosecutor.
Notes:
I have seen two versions of this film; some differences may just be cuts
made for various airings, but some are quite different scenes (even having
different actresses playing Brittin's legal secretary, Liz) which significantly
affect the tone of the show.
One is by Screen Gems and seems to be taken
from a 16mm film. It has a rather misogynist voice-over in the teaser
while we watch the shooting ("woman, a curious creature... strangely
necessary..."). Two scenes emphasize Jake's disdain for Piper: at
their initial interview he snarls, "I don't like you, Piper"
and takes the case only on principle; in the final scene, he refuses to
shake his fawning client's hand. It also features a scene in which Jake
waxes eloquent about the two symbolic views from his office - the Golden
Gate Bridge and Alcatraz - to his secretary (played by Joanne Davis).
The courtroom scenes have several objection/overrule bits which make it
clear that the judge finds Jake annoying. It also has a short scene in
which Jake expresses sympathy for Eve's situation while they are waiting
for the verdict.
The other is a version aired on "Golden
Age of Television." The voice-over in the teaser simply suggests
that we are viewing a rendezvous. Jake is cordial to Piper both in the
initial interview and the end scene (in which Jake, not Piper, initiates
the handshake and encourages Piper to look him up when he's out of prison).
No objections and counter-objections appear in the courtroom scenes. The
Golden Gate / Alcatraz speech scene in the office is replaced by one in
which Jake practices his putting while explaining to Liz (here played
by Midge Ware) his decision to stay with the case - he has turned up background
information on Eve that discredits her claim that Piper was stalking her.
The scene while they await the verdict is missing. I find this version
more appealing; Jake seems more firmly on the side of the underdog client,
and less pompous.
Bio Notes:
This role proved to be very important for
Kelley, as it introduced him to Gene Roddenberry, and eventually led to
his Star Trek career. Kelley states that shortly prior to doing
this show, he had played the heavy in three separate pilots for Columbia;
all three had sold, and the studio was ready to try him in a lead. (One
of these was Rawhide, another is possibly Two Faces West,
the third is unclear.) They sent him to meet Roddenberry, Gene took him
to San Francisco to meet Ehrlich, whom he would portray, and Ehrlich chose
him for the role.
| Sources:
Brooks & Marsh; Terrace (1986); Guyer (1991); Asherman |
|
