S01/E19: MURDER ON THE MIDWAY

Note: “Midway” is another way of saying “country fair” or “county fair” For this episode, the location name is actually called “Midway Carnival”.

In the opening, a carnival barker is yelling out all the attractions available to patrons. The camera pans across a scene of a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, and other amusement park rides. There is a woman weighting over 350 pounds (we’ve seen those regularly at the supermarket or mall, haven’t we?), a muscle man, a fire-eating man, and a magician.

The magician places a lovely lady in very skimpy attire into a standing mummy case and explains to the crowd how she will disappear. He closes the case and sets off a big puff of smoke. When the magician opens the case, the lady hasn’t disappeared. She’s still there and drops nose down to the ground dead, as spectators in the crowd let out screams in horror.

Peter Gunn is at the carnival and ordered cotton candy on a stick from an elderly woman at one of the concession stands. (Somehow it’s difficult to imagine the cool detective wanting to munch from a stick of cotton candy). The old lady asks for 25 cents. At that moment Gunn hears Jacoby yelling “Stop!” at a man running from him and who is about to run past Gunn. Gunn sticks out the cotton candy in the fleeing man’s face which causes him to stumble and fall to the ground. Jacoby picks the man up (who we will learn is Martin Franklin, husband of the magician’s assistant who was killed in opening of episode). The old lady is still telling Peter Gunn that he owes her 25 cents, but Gunn ignores her.

Jacoby asks Gunn what he’s doing at the carnival. Gunn asks why he is so special. There are a lot of other people there as well. Jacoby leaves with Franklin Martin in custody. When the old lady asks for payment again, this time saying “two bits”, Gunn holds up a five dollar bill. She wants to know if he has anything smaller, but he tells her he won’t need it if she can provide him with some information. Gunn wants to know about “the young fella under arrest.” The old lady says his name is Franklin and his wife Trixie was murdered and the police think it was him because they had been arguing and he had threatened to kill her. The old lady said he’s made that same threat many times before, but he’s not capable of killing.

Gunn then meets a man who introduces himself as “The Baron,” who also happens to be a carnival strongman attraction. (In realty he appears to be a short, overweight, pudgy, out-of-shape man). As it turns out, Baron is obsessively infatuated with the performer of an Egyptian dancing attraction who calls herself Rowena. Baron is concerned that Rowena is not herself lately and it’s because she may feel her life is in danger after the death of her carnival tent roommate, Trixie. (If Trixie was a roommate, then where did Trixie’s husband Martin Franklin live?) Baron wants to hire Gunn to protect Rowena and to keep an eye on her.

A moment later, Egyptian music begins playing nearby and Baron tells Gunn, “Come see for yourself.” Rowena appears dressed in sexy foreign Arabian-like garb dancing her way onto a stage as a barker tells the crowd a story of how she comes “straight from the banks of the Nile,” where she was held prisoner and how those in attendance will learn more (offering the notion of seeing a lot more) when purchasing a ticket to go inside for the show.

In the next scene, Peter Gunn is seated on a crate outside Rowena’s tent playing with a toy monkey on strings. Rowena arrives and she isn’t happy about the intrusion of what she thinks is another newspaper reporter and tells Gunn to leave. When Gunn begins to exit, she calls him back. Rowena realizes that Gunn, with his expensive suit, shoes, and gold cigarette lighter, must be wealthy and can’t be a reporter unless he also “owns the paper”. Not hiding her gold-digging ways, she invites Gunn to Mother’s, “a little place down on River Street,” where he can get her a steak and drink. Gunn is naturally terrified of appearing at Mother’s with a beautiful woman where his girlfriend Edie works and tries to talk Rowena out of it, but she insists, saying everyone from the carnival has been going there lately.

At Mother’s, a bearded woman walks in the door with a giant man. The obese woman is having a drink with someone at a table. At another table a man puts a flame of fire in his mouth. (Why the need to perform now?) Also seated is a man with his face covered in tattoos and he’s joined at his table by a dwarf couple. Gunn enters with Rowena. Mother appears surprised and angry at his being accompanied by some gorgeous woman. (Doesn’t she know that it might be related to a job he is working?)

Edie appears on stage and begins singing. When she looks over to the doorway and sees Gunn, she gives him one of those if-looks-could-kill stares. Mother walks over and, pretending she doesn’t know Gunn, offers them a table right in front of the stage where Edie is singing!

Gunn is obviously very uncomfortable. Rowena tells him to relax. Gunn removes cigarettes from his pocket and hands one to her. She then introduces Gunn to the owner of the carnival, Dave Sweetzer, and his wife Paula seated at a table beside them. Dave also appears uncomfortable. He gives Gunn a polite “how are you” greeting and then tells his wife they’re leaving. It seems obvious he doesn’t want to be around Rowena. (Even though she works for him).

Edie completes her song and walks over to Gunn and Rowena’s table where Rowena tells Edie how much she enjoyed her singing. Edie says she’s just getting started and looks at Gunn who suggests singing a song called, “You’ll Never Believe Me,” an attempt at explaining his situation since no such song exists. When Edie walks away and Gunn is about to sit back down, Edie pulls the chair away and Gunn’s ass hits the floor.

Back outside Rowena’s tent to say goodbye, Rowena had realized she got Gunn in trouble. She says, “I hope I loused up your romance.” Gunn replies, “It’s possible.” And she says, “Good.” Rowena then moves in close to Gunn and unexpectedly kisses him. Nearby, Baron was watching and goes into a jealous rage. After Rowena enters her tent, Baron attacks Gunn, saying, “You kissed her.” Gunn pushes Baron off him and says, “You got it backwards.” But Baron continues his attack. Gunn easily fights off the much weaker man with no fighting ability. (Carnival strongman?) Just when Baron wants to continue the fight, they hear a terrifying scream from Rowena's tent and then the sound of a gunshot. Both men go running into the tent. (Unarmed! After hearing a gunshot? Why would Gunn run in there without pulling his gun from the holster?) They find Rowena on the ground with blood on her forehead.

In the next scene, Lt. Jacoby and some uniformed cops arrive at Rowena’s tent. It appears everyone that works and lives at the carnival have gathered outside wondering what happened. Inside, Baron grabs Jacoby by the lapels of his jacket asking where he’s going. Jacoby easily drags Baron away by painfully bending his arm. Rowena is nursing her forehead. Apparently, the gunshot had only grazed her. Gunn introduces Rowena to Jacoby. Baron tries to lovingly attend to Rowena, but she says, “Get your paws off me.” Rowena is obviously disgusted by this man who is passionately in love with her. Jacoby asks Rowena if she knows who shot at her. She says she doesn’t know. Gunn tells her she screamed before the shot. Rowena explains she heard a noise in back of the tent and saw a shadow. (That caused her to scream? She lives on carnival grounds with about a hundred other people! It could have been anyone.) Jacoby tells Gunn that Martin Franklin was released on bail “about an hour ago”; he was bailed out by carnival owner Dave Sweetzer.

Outside the tent where everyone is still gathered, Jacoby tells Dave Sweetzer he’s closing down the carnival and wants everyone to wait in the dinner tent for questioning. (Nobody was working; seems the carnival was already closed).

At the dinner tent, Gunn listens in on Jacoby’s investigation. Jacoby wants to know Martin Franklin’s location, but nobody knows.. The cotton candy sales lady walks up to Gunn and asks if he has another five dollars. She tells Gunn that Martin Franklin is hiding inside a truck parked behind the shooting gallery. Gunn hands her a five dollar bill.

Gunn finds Martin Franklin who insists that he didn’t kill Trixie. Martin explains that he and Trixie had an argument “about three weeks ago” and she moved in with Rowena. He says that Trixie came upon something involving Rowena, but wouldn’t tell him what it was. Gunn tells Martin to turn himself in at the dinner tent and he agrees.

While Rowena is still at the dinner tent with everyone else being questioned by Jacoby, Gunn sneaks into her tent to have a look around. He finds a small caliber handgun (the kind Jacoby stated was used to kill Trixie) and a scrap book with incriminating information. (It isn’t clear exactly what he saw).

Rowena shows up and says the scrapbook is insurance to keep her from getting killed. (By leaving it in the tent where anyone can get to it?) Rowena tells Gunn that Trixie found the scrapbook and was trying to blackmail her or Trixie will spill what she knows. And that is why she killed Trixie. (Unlikely anyone would confess so easily to committing murder). She explains that when she “was a kid” she married her agent who was wanted by the police for forgery, but she didn’t know. Then he ran out on her. She says five years later she ran into him again and swore she would get even, so she bled him dry. (Meaning she blackmailed him to keep her mouth shut because police were still looking for him?) Gunn says according to an article in her scrapbook, the man’s name was Wagner. She says that’s not his real name, but before she has a chance to disclose the real name, a shot came into the tent killing her.

Gunn pulls his gun and shoots toward the opening in the tent, but the gunman takes off running. Gunn chases after him. Gunn enters what appears to be a tent for carnival attraction storage items. He finds a hat on the ground dropped by the gunman and likely recognizes the owner as that of carnival owner Dave Sweetzer, who must have been Rowena’s former husband and at some point went by the name Wagner as reported in a newspaper article in Rowena’s scrap book. Gunn makes his way through the carnival, now closed and mostly in the dark. (An annoying continuous drumbeat sound is used for background effect with this scene). A mummy case behind Gunn opens slowly and just as Sweetzer is about to shoot, Gunn turns around quickly and shoots first, killing Sweetzer.

Back in Rowena’s tent, the Baron, engulfed in tears, is kneeling on the ground with the dead woman’s head cradled in his arms.

 

QUOTES:

When Rowena sees a man (Peter Gunn) just outside her tent who she suspects is another reporter and tells him to leave, so he begins to leave…

Rowena: “Wait a minute.”

Gunn: “Isn’t this the way out?”

Rowena: “A lady can change her mind, can’t she?”

Gunn: “Ladies that change their minds that fast scare me.”

 

NOTES

The role of Rowena was played by sexy bombshell actress and model Nita Talbot.

If the scrap book was "insurance" to keep Rowena from getting killed, then why did Sweetzer shoot at her the first time?

Lola Albright sings “Too Marvelous for Words”. The song was written in 1937; composed by Richard Whiting and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It has been recorded by many different artists since then, the most popular possibly being that of Frank Sinatra in 1956 for his album “Songs for Swingin' Lovers!”

See Lola Albright sing “Too Marvelous for Words”

 

DECEASED: Magician’s assistant Trixie Franklin shot by Rowena. (The sound of the shot must have been timed by Rowena to occur at the same time magician shot a device causing puff of smoke for performance). Dave Sweetzer shoots Rowena. Peter Gunn shoots Dave Sweetzer.

Total Gunn Kills: 1 - Series Total: 7.

 

Comment below your thoughts on this episode and this blog

 

NEXT BLOG: S01/E20: "PECOS PETE"

 

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