2022-09-30

T5#227 A Bad Day's Work

Episode number: 227

Network broadcast date: Tuesday, June 15, 1965
A Bad Day's Work
Genre: Social drama
Author: Fielden Farrington
Production number:
227
Production date:
Tuesday, May 18, 1965
Director:
Warren Somerville
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: A rookie patrolman kills a purse snatcher on his first day in Harlem. The shooting may have been by-the-book, but as public anger builds into a riot and the cop is forced to lay low in a motel, he starts to realize the Academy and the street have two very different rulebooks.

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650615+227+A+Bad+Day's+Work.flac

Cast: Alan Alda, Natalie Priest, Frederick O'Neal, Bob Hastings

2022-09-29

T5#226 The Manor House

Episode number: 226

Network broadcast date: Monday, June 14, 1965
The Manor House
Genre: Melodrama
Author: Robert Cenedella
Production number:
226
Production date:
Monday, May 17, 1965
Director:
Ted Bell
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: The heir to a wealthy dynasty finds herself living in poverty now that the family fortune has dried up. But when a man from her past arrives at her door flush with New Money, offering to buy her old estate and proposing marriage, she sees a way out of the poorhouse.

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650614+226+The+Manor+House+AFRTS+LQ.flac

Cast: Barbara Britton, George Petrie

Notes:

circulating copy is AFRTS version with announcements geared to military service personnel; no opening tease

T5#225 The Bottom of the Bottle (no recording has been found)

Episode number: 225

Network broadcast date: Friday, June 11, 1965
The Bottom of the Bottle
Genre: Social drama
Author: Albert G. Miller
Production number:
225
Production date:
Friday, May 14, 1965
Director:
Ted Bell
Producer:
Lee Bowman

Plotline: While at a dress shop, the highly valuable necklace of a prominent customer is unknowingly taken home in a bag by the shop's sales-girl. She is accused of stealing the necklace but it was misplaced at the couple's home by the customer's drunken husband. He can't remember where he hid it. Later he gets $9k which he claims is from a crap game, but others say he pawned the necklace. He leaves his wife, takes $8K, gives her $1K, and goes to a hotel where he is arrested for stealing the necklace. While eluding police, he falls down the stairs, breaks his neck and dies. Later, police and his widow search the home one more time. She takes his last half-filled bottle of booze in the apartment and pours it down the drain. What's in the bottom of the bottle? It's the necklace, hidden all this time by the booze.

Cast: Maggie Hayes, Court Benson, Anne Seymour, Ed Zimmerman, Geraldine Hanning

Notes:

Hayes was in a 1956 movie of the same name but was a much different story. The movie starred Van Johnson and Joseph Cotten. Maggie Hayes was in a minor supporting role. Karl Schadow supplied the plotline based on his research at the Library of Congress.

2022-09-28

T5#224 The Wishing Stone

Episode number: 224

Network broadcast date: Thursday, June 10, 1965
The Wishing Stone
Genre: Human interest drama
Author: Ian Martin
Production number:
224
Production date:
Thursday, May 13, 1965
Director:
Warren Somerville
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: A young girl and her brother find a sparkling rock down by the river and become convinced it can make their wishes come true. That’s bad news for their deadbeat dad.

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650610+224+The+Wishing+Stone.flac

Cast: Alan Howard, Mary Jane Higby, Susan Melvin, Leon Janney, George Petrie

Notes:

CBSRMT 1974-10-23, same title

T5#223 The Big Lonely (no recording has been found)

Episode number: 223

Network broadcast date: Wednesday, June 9, 1965
The Big Lonely
Genre: Contemporary drama
Author: Virginia Marie Cooke
Production number:
223
Production date:
Wednesday, May 12, 1965
Director:
unknown at this time
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: A young girl in a small town falls in love with a member of a rowdy motocycle gang that is passing through town (missing episode, plotline is a composite of newspaper listings)

Listen: NO RECORDING HAS BEEN FOUND

Cast: Rosemary Rice; rest of cast unknown at this time

 

2022-09-27

T5#222 Skeletons

Episode number: 222

Network broadcast date: Tuesday, June 8, 1965
Skeletons
Genre: Crime comedy
Author: Jules Archer
Production number:
222
Production date:
Tuesday, May 11, 1965
Director:
Warren Somerville
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: An aging bachelor makes the mistake of opening his door to a stranger who turns out to know everything about a terrible kidnapping and murder he was part of years earlier. But the stranger has a secret of his own and nothing about him is what it appears.

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650608+222+Skeletons.flac

Cast: Bernard Grant, Stan Watt, Arthur Kohl, Peter Ratray

Notes:

No opening tease

2022-09-26

T5#221 Two Came Back

Episode number: 221

Network broadcast date: Monday, June 7, 1965
Two Came Back
Genre: Adventure
Author: Jules Archer
Production number:
221
Production date:
Monday, May 10, 1965
Director:
Ted Bell
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: Three explorers hunt for treasure deep in the New Guinea jungle. The poisonous plants and deadly snakes may be dangerous but they’ve got nothing on a flirtatious woman with a jealous husband.

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650607+221+Two+Came+Back+(sl+clipped+close).flac

Cast: Ian Martin, George Petrie, Ed Zimmerman, Greta Thyssen

Notes:

Script was originally used on Escape 1950-08-04 and Suspense 1960-06-05 as Two Came Back

2022-09-25

T5#220 Untrue Confession

Episode number: 220

Network broadcast date: Friday, June 4, 1965
Untrue Confession
Genre: Human interest drama
Author: Ian Martin
Production number:
220
Production date:
Friday, May 7, 1965
Director:
Ted Bell
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: When a teenager kills someone in a hit and run accident, his college professor father takes responsibility for the crime. But what kind of lesson does this teach the kid? And what kind of secret is Dad hiding himself?

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650604+220+Untrue+Confession+LQ.flac

Cast: Ivor Francis, Fran Carlon, Peter Fernandez, Robert Dryden, David Kerman

T5#219 And Dream No More (no recording has been found)

Episode number: 219

Network broadcast date: Thursday, June 3, 1965
And Dream No More
Genre: Psychological melodrama
Author: Nelson Bond
Production number:
219
Production date:
Thursday, May 6, 1965
Director:
Warren Somerville
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: A psychiatrist hypnotizes a patient once too often... and gets shocking results (missing episode, plotline is a composite of newspaper listings)

Listen: NO RECORDING HAS BEEN FOUND

Cast: Conrad Nagel; rest of cast unknown at this time

Notes:

Bond was a veteran radio and TV writer for Dr. Christian, Dimension X, Escape, and TV series such as Tales of Tomorrow; he wrote the Studio One episode The Night America Trembled about the panic related to Orson Welles' War of the Worlds

2022-09-24

T5#218 Noose of Pearls

Episode number: 218

Network broadcast date: Wednesday, June 2, 1965
Noose of Pearls
Genre: Human interest drama
Author: Winifred Wolfe
Production number:
218
Production date:
Wednesday, May 5, 1965
Director:
Warren Somerville
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: A spinster missed out on a life of her own, choosing instead to play nursemaid to her domineering aunt, waiting to inherit the cruel old woman’s fortune. But when an old flame reappears in her life, the spinster decides she’s done waiting.

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650602+218+Noose+of+Pearls.flac

Cast: Margaret Hamilton, Ralph Camargo, Joan Lorring, George Petrie, Luis Van Rooten

Notes:

No opening tease

2022-09-23

T5#217 Mama's Girl

Episode number: 217

Network broadcast date: Tuesday, June 1, 1965
Mama's Girl
Genre: Psychological drama
Author: Romeo Muller
Production number:
217
Production date:
Tuesday, May 4, 1965
Director:
Warren Somerville
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: Convinced her husband is having an affair with the woman across the street, a housewife confides in her sickly mother, their conversations transforming her fear into an obsession.

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650601+217+Mama's+Girl.flac

Cast: Elaine May, William Griffis, Claudia Morgan

2022-09-22

T5#216 Lake Toplitz

Episode number: 216

Network broadcast date: Monday, May 31, 1965
Lake Toplitz
Genre: Mystery drama
Author: Jim McGinn
Production number:
216
Production date:
Monday, May 3, 1965
Director:
Ted Bell
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: An Austrian innkeeper swears that when she was a child during WWII she witnessed Nazis dumping a trunk full of gold into a nearby lake. Even though it’s almost certainly an urban legend, tourists continue to flock to the small Austrian town — with deadly consequences.

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650531+216+Lake+Toplitz+LQ.flac

Cast: Vasek Simek, Lidia Prochnicka, Theo Goetz, Claus Jurgen, Renata Mannhardt

Notes:

This was an Eastern European cast of actors that worked together in many ethnic theatrical productions as well as more mainstream productions. Lake Toplitz is a real lake in Austria, and over the decades a number of people have died searching for Nazi treasure that’s supposed to be hidden at the bottom of it. In October, 1963 a German tourist drowned while diving in the lake and local authorities then banned all diving in Lake Toplitz, which is probably the inspiration for this story. 

2022-09-21

T5#215 The Protective Circle

Episode number: 215

Network broadcast date: Friday, May 28, 1965
The Protective Circle
Genre: Crime melodrama
Author: Max Berton
Production number:
215
Production date:
Friday, April 30, 1965
Director:
Warren Somerville
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: After a series of threatening phone calls, a high powered executive decides her business partner is right: it’s time for a vacation to the Caribbean. But the island retreat may not be the escape she hoped it would be.

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650528+215+The+Protective+Circle.flac

Cast: Joan Lovejoy, Toni Darnay, James McCallion, Georgia Burke, Jerry Hausner, Peter Ratray

Notes:

No opening tease; Georgia Burke played "Lily" for 14+ years in When a Girl Marries with Warren Somerville when he was director of the soap opera in the 1950s.

2022-09-20

T5#214 Barefoot in Athens

Episode number: 214

Network broadcast date: Thursday, May 27, 1965
Barefoot in Athens
Genre: Comedy drama
Author: Richard McCracken
Production number:
214
Production date:
Thursday, April 29, 1965
Director:
Warren Somerville
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: The ferry boat operator for a wealthy family has his heart set on marrying their beautiful daughter, but his aimless lifestyle is never going to fly with her demanding parents. Luckily, her scheming grandmother is another story…

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650527+214+Barefoot+in+Athens.flac

Cast: Cliff Carpenter, John Gibson, Abby Lewis, John McGovern, Elspeth Eric, Elliott Reid, Holly McIntire

Notes:

No opening tease

2022-09-19

T5#213 Incident at Phong Trang

Episode number: 213

Network broadcast date: Wednesday, May 26, 1965
Incident at Phong Trang
Genre: Topical drama
Author: Stanley Rubens
Production number:
213
Production date:
Wednesday, April 28, 1965
Director:
Warren Somerville
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: Imprisoned behind enemy lines, an American P.O.W. is grilled about the US’s latest technology. But the more the interrogator learns about his prisoner’s friendship with a Vietnamese “traitor,” the more the soldiers start to form their own unlikely bond.

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650526+213+Incident+at+Phong+Trang.flac

Cast: Robert Dryden, Gilbert Mack, Larry Robinson, James Monks

Notes:

Rubens was a writer but found most of his success as a business executive and real estate developer; his last local stage play was produced when he was 91 in 2005 (from 2006 obituary); no opening tease.

2022-09-18

T5#212 The Dance Hall

Episode number: 212

Network broadcast date: Tuesday, May 25, 1965
The Dance Hall
Genre: Drama
Author: Virginia Marie Cooke
Production number:
212
Production date:
Wednesday, April 28, 1965
Director:
Ted Bell
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: In the final hours before his execution, a death row inmate prepares for the electric chair while his attorney desperately chases a pardon from the governor.

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650525+212+The+Dance+Hall.flac

Cast: Frank Thomas, George Petrie, Erik Rhodes, Toots Thielmans, Arthur Kohl

Notes:

Toots Thielemans was a jazz musician mostly known for his harmonica, guitar and whistling skills, and his jazz compositions; it's likely Alexander Vlas Datzenko played a role in recruiting him for the appearance

2022-09-17

T5#211 Rocky Loves Julie

Episode number: 211

Network broadcast date: Monday, May 24, 1965
Rocky Loves Julie
Genre: Psychological drama
Author: Fielden Farrington
Production number:
211
Production date:
Tuesday, April 27, 1965
Director:
Ted Bell
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: What starts as a series of obscene phone calls quickly escalates when a young woman finds herself trapped in her apartment with an unhinged stalker.

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650524+211+Rocky+Loves+Julie.flac

Cast: Donald Buka, Joan Lorring, Corrine Orr

 

2022-09-16

T5#210 Two Birds, One Stone

Episode number: 210

Network broadcast date: Friday, May 21, 1965
Two Birds, One Stone
Genre: Suspense drama
Author: Hal Hackady
Production number:
210
Production date:
Monday, April 26, 1965
Director:
Ted Bell
Producer:
not announced

Plotline: After serving 15 years behind bars for embezzlement, a man returns to take revenge on the boss who framed him, then stole his work and his wife. But the ex-con is about to learn that the last 15 years have changed his boss too.

Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+650521+210+Two+Birds%2C+One+Stone.flac

Cast: William Griffis, Ralph Camargo, Vicki Vola

Notes:

No opening tease