S01/E03: THE VICIOUS DOG

In the pre-title sequence, a newspaper reporter, George Walker, arrives home in what appears to be late evening hours and gets out of his car in the garage. Another man holding a single shoe in one hand and walking a dog on a leach in his other hand is seen putting the shoe on the dog’s nose for a sniff. The dog is then released by the man and it runs wildly into the garage to attack Walker. The dog owner stops the brutal attack by blowing into a dog whistle (silent to humans). The man and his dog leave the area as George Walker comes stumbling out of the garage and drops to the ground. 

 

At the hospital, Peter Gunn meets with George Walker’s secretary, Nancy Davis. Nancy takes Gunn to a room just down the hall, explaining that doctors advised against any visitors, but Mr. Walker insisted on seeing him. Once inside the hospital room, Walker is seen in a hospital bed with much of his head wrapped in bandages (even though the dog attack showed only his arm getting bit). A nurse is attending to him and tells Gunn at the doorway, “I’m sorry, but no visitors.” Walker ignores her and tells Gunn to come in. George Walker refers to Gunn as “Pete”, a hint that they are old friends. He then tells Gunn that he can’t pay much to hire him (which seems unusual, since Walker is supposedly a seasoned newspaper reporter). He explains how the dog attack was no accident and wants the detective to look into it. Walker further states that he suspects a corrupt businessman named Carl Kane, who has been the subject of George Walker’s newspaper columns “exposing him”. Walker tells Gunn that he’s received anonymous threatening phone calls to “lay off [of Carl Kane] or else”. Walker suspects the man with the dog is on Kane’s payroll. Finally, Walker tells Gunn that about a week earlier his home was broken into and nothing was taken, except for a single shoe. As Peter Gunn leaves, Walker tells him to send the bill. Gunn replies, “It’s on the house.” (Making this the third episode in a row where Gunn isn’t paid!)

Once outside the hospital, Gunn is forced into the back seat of a car by some hoods and Gunn sits beside Carl Kane, the man who George Walker suspects is behind the dog attack. After Kane refers to the situation with Walker as an “accident” and Gunn says he doubts it was an accident, Kane tells Gunn to stay out of his way.

Next, Gunn visits an old friend and hobo named Homer Tweed in a wooded area appearing as a homeless encampment. Homer is reciting lines from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” to other vagrants seated around him. There are also numerous dogs seated there as if also interested in the Hamlet play performed by Homer Tweed. Homer offers Gunn coffee and he accepts. A vagrant pours some from a container over a bonfire and hands it to Gunn. Homer Tweed, though a drifter with no income, is supposedly the town's expert when it comes to dogs. Gunn asks Homer if he knows about a well-trained vicious dog. Homer refers to that as “an unfortunate dog” and says he has no knowledge of one. Gunn tells Homer to call him at Mother’s if he hears of such a dog. Gunn returns the coffee cup to a vagrant without ever having taken a sip from it.

At Mother’s, Gunn takes a seat at a table as Edie goes on stage to sing. Mother joins Gunn at his table. One of Kane’s hoods enters and orders a drink at the bar. Mother asks Gunn what he’s doing “on this side of the river”. Gunn only answers, “Working for Kane.” (The purpose of the hood being there is never made clear in this episode). – Gunn meets with Edie who is outside in the rear of Mother’s on the boat dock (where no docked boats are ever seen in this series). She is holding a penny and drops it into the river (a light splash is heard) just as Gunn comes up behind her. “Making a wish?” Gunn asks. But she won’t say what it is, saying it won’t come true if she does. She then drops a hint by asking, “Do you like kids?” After Gunn asks, “Why?” Edie wants to know if he has another penny. Gunn pulls a coin from his pocket, but it’s a dime. He gives it to her. Edie drops it into the river. “Expensive wish,” Gunn says. Edie says the other nine cents is for insurance, then says, “C’mon wish.” After Gunn kisses her, she says, “Hey, it works.” The couple are interrupted by Lt. Jacoby needing to see Gunn, who then tells Edie that he will see her later. Edie replies, “Eleven cents gone to pot if you don’t,” implying that the two coins dropped in the river for her wish will have been wasted. Lt. Jacoby tells Gunn about a home broken into and wants to know if he will have a look. “Why me?” Gunn asks. “It was your apartment,” Jacoby replies. 

At Peter Gunn’s home, Gunn tells Jacoby that the only thing missing is a single shoe. He hands the matching shoe left behind to Jacoby. Gunn receives a telephone call from newspaperman George Walker’s secretary, Nancy Davis, saying she has information about the man and dog that attacked her boss. They agree to meet outside Gunn’s apartment building where Nancy will pick him up in her car to drive “out into the country.” After Nancy hangs up the phone a huge wad of bills is placed beside her by corrupt businessman Carl Kane and they kiss.

Peter Gunn gets picked up by Nancy and they head out. Jacoby follows in his unmarked cruiser, apparently planned between him and Gunn. However, Nancy realizes she is being followed and panics. Nancy races the car at high speed while making turns and loses Jacoby. Lt. Jacoby puts out a call on his police radio to all units to be on the lookout for the car, but don’t apprehend. Jacoby also stated that the car is probably heading toward Glenbrook (how he knows this is not clear, but it happens to be correct). After Nancy has calmed down knowing she’s not being followed and slows her speed she tells Gunn that the man and his dog are in Glenbrook. A short time later a police cruiser goes past them in the opposite direction and the officer notifies Jacoby over the radio of the road the vehicle is on. Nancy stops the car and pulls a wad of cash from a small box and offers it to Gunn. “Ten thousand dollars,” she says. “That’s a lot of money,” Gunn replies. (The money looks fake; wrong design and wrong shape). Gunn tells Nancy he’d already guessed she was “mixed up with Kane.” Nancy attempts to deny it, but Gunn tells her how she was the only one who knew that he would be at the hospital to see George Walker “tonight.” (Which means it is still the same day Gunn visited Walker at the hospital soon after the dog attack!) Yet Carl Kane was waiting for him outside the hospital. When Gunn refuses the payment, Nancy pulls out a gun and forces Gunn to remove his weapon and place it on the seat and to get out of the car. She drives off leaving him stranded. Gunn looks around, obviously worried that he’s been set up in a trap. He hears a car door slam in the distance and takes off running. In the next scene, a man is seen unloading a dog from the back of a wagon and placing a shoe on the dog’s nose for a sniff (obviously Peter Gunn’s stolen shoe from his apartment). The dog takes off after Gunn. – Nancy drives past a police car and the officer calls it in to Jacoby. The officer tells Jacoby that the woman is now alone. “No man in the car.” Jacoby orders the car to be stopped. – Gunn is running for his life through a large grassy field. As the dog approaches, he removes an overcoat he was wearing. Gunn wraps the overcoat around his arm just as the dog attacks. Gunn’s back is on the ground as the dog chews on the overcoat wrapped around his arm for protection. Jacoby drives along a road and comes upon none other than the town’s dog-expert hobo, Homer Tweed, standing in the middle of the road. Tweed starts to run, but Jacoby quickly gets out of his car and orders Tweed to stop, shooting a shot from his gun up into the air. (Did police really do this back then in real life to get a criminal to stop running?). Homer Tweed freezes, but with his back to Jacoby he pulls out the dog whistle and blows into it. In the distance, the dog hears it and stops his attack on Gunn. However, the dog then attacks Jacoby, who shoots the dog dead. Homer Tweed admits to Peter Gunn that he was working for Kane. This should give Lt. Jacoby enough to put Kane and his girlfriend Nancy away for a long time. Gunn asks Homer Tweed, “Why you?” Tweed responds, “Oh Lord, the sin done for the things there’s money in,” (a line taken from the poem “The Everlasting Mercy” by English poet John Masefield). Homer Tweed is arrested. 

QUOTES:

At Mother’s, Peter Gunn is talking to Mother at a table…

Gunn: “Do you know anything about dogs?”

Mother: “What kind of dogs?”

Gunn: “Dogs. Four legs. Bark.”

A short time later…

Mother: “You know who might know about that dog? That literate old hobo with a menagerie [of dogs], now what’s his name?”

Gunn: “Homer Tweed; I’ve already seen him.”

NOTES:

Anyone with a sharp eye watching this episode could have guessed that it was Homer Tweed walking the dog during the opening of the pre-title sequence. There was a close-up of the bottom of his face with a scruffy facial haired chin while blowing the dog whistle. That same face was seen again when Peter Gunn visited him at the hobo’s encampment in the woods.

QUESTIONS: How did the garage door open as George Walker drove into the garage and the dog ran in to attack? (Remote in car in 1958? Or ground sensor that detects vehicle? The garage door closed during the dog attack and reopened when Homer Tweed blew the dog whistle calling off the attack; how did the garage door open for the dog to be released while Walker was lying on the ground?

Lola Albright sings “Don't Get Around Much Anymore” - Music composed by Duke Ellington and recorded in 1940 with lyrics added by Bob Russell in 1942.

See Lola Albright sing “Don't Get Around Much Anymore” here: Lola Alrbright Fans On DailyMotion

How did Lt. Jacoby know that Peter Gunn's apartment was broken into? (When the single shoe was stolen). Who reported it? Also, any signs of a break-in were never discussed while Gunn and Jacoby were at the apartment. 

No doubt Blake Edwards was instilling some sexual innuendo with the coin for a wish scene on the boat dock outside Mother’s, as it may be concluded that Edie was wishing for Peter Gunn to make a kid with her. It is also possible that she was wishing for marriage. Regardless, it looks like the show’s producers managed to slip another no-no in television broadcasting past the FCC.

What are the chances that the first person Peter Gunn goes to see for information while investigating this case, the hobo Homer Tweed, who is also on friendly terms with Gunn, happens to be the hired villain he was trying to hunt down?

The backdrop at 14 minutes into the episode sure does appear very much like the Brooklyn Bridge with Manhattan bridge just beyond it. (CLICK PICTURE TO ENLARGE)

The actress who played Nancy Davis was Virginia Christine, best known as "Mrs. Olson" in television commercials for Folgers Coffee during the 1960s and '70s.

Homer Tweed was played by veteran English actor J. Pat O'Malley, who appears again in the Peter Gunn series in different roles, then repeats one of those roles in the 1967 movie, “Gunn”.

DECEASED: Lt. Jacoby shoots attacking dog.

Total Gunn Kills: 0 - Series Total: 0

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