S01E29: SKIN DEEP

A sexy blonde named Katie Mears is on her living room couch in a mansion, moving about rather seductively on the couch while engaged in a lovey-dovey conversation on the phone with someone she calls “Lovebird”. She turns her body around and lays face down on the couch while continuing her chat and giggling. The front door is seen opening and (with the production camera replacing movement of the person) an individual enters the room. The person (camera) moves past a close-up view of Katie’s rear end raised from the couch and then approaches the fireplace. The person picks up a heavy metal poker and walks over to Katie. (Production was very careful to avoid showing the person’s hand on the poker stick. Why?) Katie suddenly turns over to face her assailant and is about to let out a scream when she is whacked with the poker, causing her to fall over unconscious. (It appears Katie must have been struck in the head killing her, however, a blow like that would have surely caused a horrific splatter of blood, yet not a drop was seen).

Peter Gunn walks into Mother’s, now closed for the night. All the chairs are on top of tables and bartender Barney is sweeping the floor. Edie is at the bar turning over cards from a playing deck and using them to read her fortune. (Isn’t there a special type of deck of cards for that? She is using a regular deck. And when did Edie learn to read fortunes?) Edie isn’t happy with the results she’s getting. Gunn and Mother greet each other with a smile. He then walks over behind Edie and kisses her on the side of the neck. Edie appears frustrated with the cards. When Gunn asks if there’s a problem, she says that according to the cards, she should be with Lawrence Welk. (At the time this episode aired, 4/14/1959, Lola Albright, who plays Edie, was 34 years old. Lawrence Welk was 56. And how can any fortune cards indicate “Lawrence Welk” specifically? Ridiculous.) With the next card Edie chose, she says she could kill herself. It tells of a “beautiful woman, blonde, very rich.” Edie, we soon learn, is hinting at the woman that will be taking Gunn’s time from her this evening. Mother walks over and tells Gunn that the woman Edie speaks of is seated at a table waiting for him. She points at the table where a fairly attractive middle-aged blonde woman is seated. (Not certain “beautiful”—as Edie had mentioned—fits here.) She is wearing a fur coat (the Peter Gunn series producer’s customary way of letting viewers know this person is wealthy).

Gunn walks over to Helena Mears at the table and introduces himself. He offers her a drink and she declines. Helena eventually bursts into tears about her sister being missing for the past two days. Helena hints at how they come from a wealthy family, but her sister was independent and even held a job at a flower shop. She tells Gunn that she has already reported her sister’s disappearance to police, but Lt. Jacoby suggested that she contact Gunn. He tells Helena that maybe she went on a trip, but Helena says none of her things are missing.

Gunn visits the flower shop where Katie Mears was employed and meets with the shop owner, Floyd Landau. (Who appears to be this episode’s installment of a goofball character. Also, the name Floyd Landau was never actually said by anyone in the episode; we know that’s his name from ending credits.) Floyd is frustrated with a big, burly, ignorant-looking temporary helper named Charles who knows absolutely nothing about flowers; Charles, who appears mute because he never speaks, was hired after Katie had failed to show up to work the past two days. When Gunn asks about Katie Mears, Floyd indicates he’d prefer discretion and simply tells Gunn “We sell flowers.” (In other words, that’s what we do; don’t ask about anything else.) However, when Gunn pulls out a bill from his pocket and offers to buy flowers, Floyd starts providing information in return. Floyd tells Gunn that Katie never came by to pick up her paycheck. He says the flower shop is in shambles without Katie and how men would flock to the store to buy flowers when she was there, meaning business is down since she’s been gone. When Gunn asks for some of the men’s names, Floyd says he couldn’t do that. Gunn pulls out more money from his pocket and tells Floyd to make it two dozen flowers. Floyd suggests Gunn begin with the name Ramon Carrado, who lives at the Beverly Arms apartments, and to not let anyone know Gunn got the name from him because Carrado is a very good customer. As Gunn leaves he tells Floyd to send the flowers to Edie Hart at Mother’s.

Inside Ramon Carrado’s apartment, Gunn is looking over a slew of framed photographs lined across the top of a dresser, implied to be Ramon’s large stable of “lady friends”. Some photos are attached to the mirror. Gunn lifts one frame and tells Ramon, “Looks like you keep pretty busy.” Ramon is working out with weight pulling equipment attached to the wall and says some fellows like golf or tennis, but not him; implying that his sport is women. Gunn asks about Katie Mears and Ramon tells him he knows a lot of women. He says he’d only had a few drinks and laughs with Katie, but Gunn calls his bluff and says they had dated the night she disappeared. Ramon becomes angry at the insinuation that he had something to do with her disappearance and forces Gunn to leave. Carrado then quickly picks up the phone to make a call.

Peter Gunn then visits a Mexican restaurant belonging to a friend named Miguel. The real-life renowned Brazilian guitarist, Laurindo Almeida, is playing a Flamenco tune at the restaurant. A gorgeous Mexican waitress named Sarita is also watching Laurindo Almeida play. Miguel is thrilled to see Gunn. He is drinking a concoction to help with his ulcer while complaining about having been stupid enough to eat the meals cooked at his own establishment. When Gunn mentions the name Ramon Carrado, it appears Miguel is about to throw up. Gunn asks, “That bad?” Miguel explains that Ramon is a womanizer, and that he prefers them rich, but will take them even if they are not. Miguel calls Sarita over (who is also a close acquaintance of Gunn) and Miguel just says the name “Ramon Carrado” to her. Sarita drops her smile and says in Spanish, “Ese canalla!” (Sometimes also spelled canaya. Translated, Sarita had said, “That scoundrel!”) She then walks away. Miguel tells Gunn, “See what I mean?” Miguel tells Gunn that Ramon works with a lonely hearts club (what might be considered a 1950’s version of Match.com; a dating service before Internet). As Gunn leaves, Miguel asks if he wants something to eat, however, he quickly takes it back saying, “Am I crazy? I couldn’t do that to you.”

(What led Gunn to visit Miguel at a Mexican restaurant for information? Was it because Carrado is Mexican and likely frequents the restaurant?)

Gunn gets in his car and he’s followed by two thugs. (Based on production tendencies from previous episodes, they must have something to do with the phone call that was made by Ramon Carrado). Gunn arrives at the lonely hearts club, an office called “Grand Friendship Club” and on the door it reads: “Loneliness is a state of mind…Let Clarissa Holt move you to another state”. Inside the office, Clarissa is feeding chocolate from a box to a small dog she calls Lambert and tells Gunn how she thinks of herself as a "doctor of friendship". (Did people back in the 50s not know that chocolate is usually poisonous to dogs?) When Gunn asks about Ramon Carrado, Clarissa becomes defensive and tells Gunn he sounds like a cop. Gunn then seems to insinuate that something illegal is going on there (though it is never made clear what illegal activity is taking place) and tells Clarissa that he can call the cops instead if she wants. Clarissa says that won’t be necessary. Gunn requests to have a look at Clarissa’s catalog book of clients and she tells him that’s confidential. When Gunn picks up the phone as a threat to call police, Clarissa tells him to go ahead and look at the catalog.

Gunn finds photos of Ramon Carrado, one shirtless and one in a suit, with a long list of women’s names beside a photo. He says, “Looks like Ramon is the star of your stable.” At the bottom of the list he sees the name Katie Mears. However, when he looks up her profile in the catalog, it’s a picture of her sister, Helena Mears, the woman that hired Gunn.

Gunn walks out of the lonely hearts club and is yanked into a space between buildings where the two thugs that followed him beat him to a pulp. As Gunn lay beaten on the ground, one thug tells him to save what’s left of his nose and get himself another case to work on.

Gunn is at the police station meeting with tobacco pipe smoking Detective Harmon, filling in for Lieutenant Jacoby who is out of town. (Meanwhile, Gunn doesn’t have a single bruise or scratch on him after the terrible beating he’d just taken.) Gunn tells Harmon he’s unable to identify the thugs that beat him. Gunn wonders why Helena Mears decided to use her sister’s name at the lonely hearts club. (That question is never answered in this episode.) Harmon tells Gunn that all routes out of the city have been checked; bus lines, trains, airports, and none have information on Katie Mears having left town. Harmon also says he spoke to the Mears family lawyer regarding inheritance and that Helena received and controls all the money. Katie got none of it. Gunn says he’s going to see Helena to “try and get a straight answer” from her.

Gunn pulls up to Helena’s home. He parks just around the corner and spots Ramon Carrado arriving. Gunn gets out of his car to have a better look while maintaining distance so he’s not seen. Carrado walks to the front door. Helena Mears opens it and the two immediately share a passionate kiss before going into the home together. Gunn may believe he’s got some of his answers; he gets back in his car and leaves without needing to see Helena.

Gunn arrives at Ramon Carrado’s apartment building and waits for him in hiding in the hallway. Carrado arrives and Gunn shoves him into the apartment as Carrado opens the door. Carrado tries to put up a fight, but Gunn handles him easily and takes him down. Gunn then puts a choke hold on Carrado to get him to talk. Gunn accuses Carrado of hiring two hoods to work him over. He then tries a bluff and tells Carrado that Katie Mears’ body was found. Carrado says he had nothing to do with Katie’s death. He gets up from the floor and pours himself a drink from his bar and confesses to everything. He admits it’s true that he was after Helena for her money, but wanted Katie too. He says everything Gunn accuses him of is true, but swears he did not kill Katie.

Back at the police station, Gunn tells Detective Harmon he can’t figure out Helena Mears. She has looks and money, but she’s unable to hold onto a man; that she always lost out to her sister Katie and became so lonely that she had to join a friendship club. When Harmon asks Gunn if he thinks Carrado killed Katie Mears, Gunn shakes his head no. Harmon suggests that leaves the sister, Helena, as the killer. (Why reach that conclusion?) When Harmon says he can’t prove murder without a body, Gunn sets an elaborate scheme into motion to get Helena to lead him to it. Gunn picks up the phone and says he’s going to call the Mears home. (We later learn that the call was to inform Helena how Katie was seen at the flower shop where she was working.)

Helena Mears arrives at the flower shop and speaks with Floyd Landau. Floyd tells her that Katie was there and picked up her paycheck and said she was meeting with someone at Miguel’s restaurant. Helena dashes back out the front door. Peter Gunn comes out of a back room and hands Floyd money as payment for his performance. At the restaurant, Miguel tells Helena, “They were here.” (It is never made clear in this episode who exactly Katie was meeting at Miguel’s and is accompanying her. It is possible that Helena was to believe she was with Ramon Carrado, with Katie having snatched him from her once again.) Miguel tells Helena that Katie received a call from Peter Gunn and he asked her to meet with him at Mother’s. Helena arrives at Mother’s where Mother tells her that Katie was just there with a big, dark, good-looking fellow. Mother says she cashed a check for Katie. By this time Helena is completely losing her mind and nearly faints into Mother’s arms. Mother hollers at Barney to hurry and get some whiskey. (Whiskey for someone about to faint?) Helena regains her strength and runs out the door.

Helena gets in her car and takes off. Gunn, who was hiding behind a wall outside Mother’s, gets in his car and follows. Helena arrives onto the dirt grounds outside her mansion and while crying out in desperation she begins clawing at the dirt where she had buried her sister Katie. Helena is sobbing and yelling, “What are you doing to me? Haven’t you done enough? You’re here! I know you’re here! You gotta be here!” Gunn approaches and tells her, “She’s here, Miss Mears. She’s here.”

Gunn lifts her from the ground and while holding her up he leads her away. Off to jail, presumably.

 

QUOTES:

At Mother’s when Peter Gunn first meets Helena Mears …

Helena: “I’m not very good at small talk.”

Gunn: “That’s fine. Saves time.”

At the police station with Detective Harmon shortly after Peter Gunn was beaten badly by two thugs…

Detective Harmon: “You’re sure you couldn’t identify them, Pete?”

Gunn: “What’s to identify, Harmon? Hired muscle. And they weren’t very friendly.”

 

NOTES:

Helena Mears knew she had killed her sister and buried the body, yet she was led to believe that her sister was still alive. That scenario is so far-fetched it’s mind-boggling.

Some websites have claimed that this is the first episode in which Lieutenant Jacoby does not make an appearance. That is not true. Jacoby did not appear in Season 1, Episode 10 (“The Man with the Scar”). He also didn’t appear in Episode 20 (“Pecos Pete”).

A better title for this episode might have been, “The Gigolo”, as it was so much about one man “playing” different woman.

One might ask why in the world the killer, Helena Mears, would hire a P.I. to look into the disappearance of the person she’d killed. She had already reported her missing sister, Katie Mears, to police, which makes sense, as it would throw suspicion off herself. Not reporting it would make her very suspicious. But hiring Peter Gunn? Why? At one point she did say that Lt. Jacoby had suggested it. Therefore, possibly ignoring that would have been a problem for her? At 21:16 of the episode, Detective Harmon confirms that by stating how Helena might have hired Gunn “to keep the finger from pointing at her”.

This episode never made clear why Helena Mears used her picture with the lonely hearts club dating service, but used her sister Katie Mears’ name instead of her own.

In the opening scene when Katie Mears was on the phone, at one point she says something like “Happy Zitabera to you” or “Happy Zitabara to you” or “Happy Vitabera” or “Happy Vitabara” or something similar. The author of this blog would like to request information on what exactly was said and what it means. Google was tried. No luck.

Yet another segment of dialogue that wasn’t clear. At Mother’s, Gunn holds up the last “fortune telling” card that Edie had picked (the one about a beautiful, blonde, rich woman about to meet Gun) and he asks, “Frame up?” Edie then says, “You crazy? If I wanna stack a deck it’ll be my way. The author of this blog has no idea what this discussion was about. Can someone please clarify?

One framed photograph on the dresser in Ramon Carrado’s apartment is the same exact one seen in Episode 8 (“Rough Buck”) in Al Matson’s boxing gym office; it is a picture of Matson's girlfriend Sharon Moore (played by actress Larri Thomas). Several of the other photos on Ramon Carrado’s dresser also appear to be of famous actresses or models of the time.

If Ramon Carrado had nothing to do with Katie Mears disappearance/death, and he was not in cahoots with Helena Mears, why did he hire two thugs to beat up Gunn and scare him off the case of finding her? It doesn’t make sense that he was conspiring with Helena Mears (the killer), because as the plot explains, he wanted Helena because she controlled all the money, but he also wanted Katie because she was younger and sexier. Helena killed Katie because she wouldn’t stay away from Ramon.

Unable to find any info on the stunningly beautiful actress Bea Limon, who played the Mexican waitress at Miguel’s restaurant (and who actually does appear to be Mexican based on her accent when speaking Spanish). IMDB.com shows her to have appeared once in film in her lifetime, this Peter Gunn episode! No other information about Bea Limon was found on the Internet. Requesting any details anyone might have on other works of Bea Limon and what became of her.

It was interesting and nice to see from 20:21 of the episode until 21:43 a Black police officer working administrative duties at a desk in the station during a time in television when very few Blacks were seen in such roles. (It was not Sergeant Lee Davis.) The same officer was also seen starting at 17:01 of the episode walking around the office and pouring himself coffee before taking a seat. Soon after, another Black police officer approached to speak with him.

Possible film/editing goof up: When Gunn enters Mother’s near start of episode a piano is heard playing, but there is no one at the piano.

 

DECEASED: Katie Mears clubbed to death with a fireplace poker by her sister Helena Mears.

Peter Gunn Kills: 0 – Series Total: 7

 

Comment below your thoughts on this episode and this blog

 

NEXT BLOG: S01/E30: “FEBRUARY GIRL”

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