S01/E11: DEATH HOUSE TESTAMENT
In what is possibly the first opening of an episode with a scene occurring during daylight hours, a man, Whitey Collins, enters a public library and discretely hides a folded sheet of paper in a book. (If the sheet was meant for someone specifically to find, isn’t he taking a chance on someone else pulling that book off the shelf and finding the note?) As Whitey leaves, he is chased by some hoods with guns. He gets into a shootout, killing one of them, and eventually he’s shot in the back while in the middle of the road (but doesn’t die, we later learn). A police car with Lt. Jacoby quickly arrives as Whitey collapsed.
Peter Gunn arrives at the jailhouse to see Whitey Collins, who survived the shooting and is now incarcerated in a cell. The warden, surrounded by some jailhouse guards and a priest holding a Bible, tells Gunn he has ten minutes with Whitey. Whitey explains that there were four individuals involved in an armored car heist for a take of $700,000 and “it was never divvied up”. The other three guys are dead. He’s the last one left, and he can’t take the money with him where he’s going, Whitey says. (This indicates that there must have been a killing during the armored car robbery and Whitey was sentenced to execution--obvious from a priest with Bible standing beside him in the cell. Either that or he was convicted for shooting and killing the gangster who shot at him during the shootout in the pre-title sequence, which wouldn’t make sense since that should fall under self-defense).
Gunn says he doesn’t want to know about the location of the money, as that would put his life in danger. Whitey tells him it’s too late. When he leaves this meeting, gangsters of the underworld will believe Gunn has been told. Whitey reminds Gunn of a ten percent reward ($70,000) if the money is recovered and turned over to authorities. Whitey says he wants that reward money (that would be illegal, wouldn’t it?) But Whitey explains that he doesn’t want it for himself; he wants to give it to his estranged daughter. Whitey says his daughter, Margaret Wallace (going by her mother’s name), works at the public library. He tells Gunn that he stops in just to see her, even though she doesn’t know who he is since the mother left him when the girl was just born. The mother died when the girl turned 16, but Whitey was “serving a term” at the time. Peter Gunn suggests making a deal with the bonding company or the police. Whitey says he doesn’t trust them and in the end his daughter will learn where the money came from, which he doesn’t want. Gunn agrees to “play Santa Clause” for Whitey and asks for the location of the money. But Whitey says Gunn will have to do some research to find it and tells him to look in a book at the library; Reference section, Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography. (Whitey actually pronounces it wrong, saying “Appletons' Encyclopedia of American Biographies). The prison warden and guards show up telling Gunn and Whitey that their time is up. Gunn shakes Whitey’s hand and (with slow melodramatic music in the background) Whitey is led on a slow dejected walk to the death chamber to be executed. (This all appears rather abrupt. It seemed like only yesterday Whitey Collins was captured after being shot and injured on a street road. It is apparent, however, that a significant amount of time had passed, whereby he fully recovered from his injuries, went through a trial, was sentenced to death, and spent some time on death row. And that note he left in a book at the library will still be there for Peter Gunn to find? Also, although it was never discussed, one may presume that Peter Gunn will obtain his fee from the reward money when the stolen money is recovered).
Outside the State Prison, Gunn arrives at his car and finds a poodle on the seat barking at him. He then looks at the rear seat and finds a very attractive woman asleep on it. (A slowed down sexy rendition of the Henry Mancini tune "The Brother's Go To Mother's" is heard in scene's background, leading viewers to believe that something steamy is about to happen). Soon after she wakes up, Gunn asks the woman, Sandra Lee, if he can drop her off someplace and she accepts. Sandra, a drop dead gorgeous and sexy woman with short dark hair, gets in the front passenger seat, moving her body seductively as she does so to get Gunn’s attention, going so far as to aim her rear end at Gunn's face. Once Gunn is in the driver's seat, she tells him to kiss her. “I don’t even know your name,” Gunn says. After she says, “Sanda Leeds,” Gunn replies, “I always insist on a formal introduction.” (One of the best quotes of this episode). Gunn then kisses her, but only as a ruse to search her purse while they are kissing and he pulls a handgun out of it. After ending the kiss he removes the cartridge and hands her the gun. When Gunn asks her to explain herself, she invites him to have a cup of coffee with her.
Gunn and Sandra arrive at Joe’s Café and have a seat at a table. Unbeknownst to Gunn, some hoods inside were holding the employees and some customers hostage at gunpoint until his arrival. Sandra tells Gunn that if he discloses the location of the money that he will be “adequately compensated” by Mr. Romney Kelly with $100,000. When Gunn declines, Sandra continues, “And me.” (Whoa! We all know what that means. Very risqué for a 1958 television broadcast.) Sandra motions to one of the hoods that Gunn has turned down the offer and Gunn is forced out of the café at gunpoint. Gunn manages to turn around and punch the hood behind him, but another gangster seated at the counter coldcocks Gunn in the back of the neck with a gun, knocking him out. The two hoods carry Gunn to a car.
Gunn is taken to a place called Olford’s Rest Home where Professor Olford, the crackpot caretaker of the institute who wears glasses with lenses as thick as those found on magnifying glasses injects Peter Gunn with a drug to get him talking. (The drug is surely what in those days was referred to as a “truth serum”—see notes below). The professor, along with mob leader Romney Kelly and some hoods, continue torturing Gunn to no avail because Gunn truly doesn’t know the location of the money.
Gunn, left alone in a room on a bed, wakes up in a daze and appears to be hallucinating from the drugs. (An annoying dizzying soundtrack is played while Gunn is trying to make out his surroundings). Gunn eventually pulls himself together and gets out of bed. He can’t climb out the window because it has a chain-link panel on it. (Seems something easy to tear away with a bit of strength, but Gunn doesn’t try). He goes to the door and leans on it. Just outside the door, in the hall, there’s a hood on a chair guarding the room. The hood thinks he heard something. He gets up and walks to the door, but then returns to his seat. Gunn might have heard his walking or somehow knew there is someone on the other side of the door. Gunn then electrifies the doorknob in the following manner: He unplugs the electrical cord from the outlet. He then rips the cord from the lamp. Gunn attaches one wire to the metal frame for the doorknob and places the other wire under the carpet. He then pours a pitcher of water all over the spot of carpet where wire is underneath. Finally, he plugs the cord back into the electrical outlet. Gunn then pounds on the wall yelling, “Help!” The hood quickly opens the door and as soon as he steps on the wet carpet he is electrocuted and collapses. (It is not clear if he was killed or just knocked out). Gunn grabs the hood’s revolver and manages to escape. He proceeds to Professor Olford’s office where Olford and Romney Kelly are now terrified that Gunn is going to kill them both. Gunn forces Olford to call Lt. Jacoby. Sandra Leeds opens the door and walks in with her dog. She’s sad to learn that Gunn has taken back control and that she and everyone else with Romney Kelly’s gang will be headed to prison.
As promised, back at the public library, Peter Gunn delivers a check with a very large payout (amount not stated) to Margaret Wallace. Margaret would like to know who is giving her (“a perfect stranger”) so much money, but he refuses to tell her, saying only that her “benefactor” was someone special who “thought a great deal” of her.
Gunn meets with Lt. Jacoby outside the library who teases him about Sandra Leeds wanting Poochie (the pet poodle), to be fed a raw egg each morning. Gunn walks away with Poochie on a leach walking beside him.
QUOTE:
At the jailhouse where Peter Gunn meets with Whitey Collins…
Collins: “They tell me you can be trusted Gunn. Once you give your word, that’s it. Any comment”
Gunn: “Why gild the lily?”
(From Google) Gild the lily: Try to improve what is already beautiful or excellent.
NOTES:
The big question: If Whitey Collins had been killed in shootout during opening of this episode, how would mob boss Romney Kelly have ever learned the location of the stolen money?
The role played by Lucy Marlow appears in credits as “Sandra Lee”, but she is clearly heard saying “Sandra Leeds” when introducing herself (and ROKU Channel captions also show “Sandra Leeds”).
Sam Buffington, that actor who played Professor Olford, committed suicide at age 28 in 1960, just 17 months after this episode first aired.
Science has proven that a truth serum does not exist. There is no specific drug proven to cause enhancement of truth-telling.
It is unlikely that the electrified doorknob, in the manner it was connected, would have had any effect; the shoes worn by the hood would have surely insulated him from an electrical circuit when he stepped onto the wet carpet.
Filming/editing goof-up: In the final scene, Peter Gunn was shown leaving the library with his left hand wide open (that is, not holding onto a leach). He is then shown walking away holding onto the dog’s leach with that hand.
Minor goof: Lola Albright did not appear in this episode, yet in ending credits it is shown that her wardrobe was provided by JAX (of Beverly Hills, CA).
DECEASED: Whitey Collins shoots hood working for mob boss Romney Kelly during shootout. Whitey Collins executed by State (not shown).
Total Gunn Kills: 0 - Series Total: 5
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NEXT BLOG: S01/E12: “THE TORCH"
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