“A Home Away from Home.” An episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (Season 2, Episode 1). First air date: 27 September 1963. Ray Milland, Claire Griswold, Mary La Roche, Virginia Gregg, Ben Wright, Connie Gilchrist, Brendan Dillan. Writer: Robert Bloch, based on his short story in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, June 1961. Director: Herschel Daugherty.

   Young and pretty Natalie Rivers (Claire Griswold) is on her way to visit relatives when she decides to drop in on her uncle, Dr. Howard Fennick (Ray Milland), whom she has never actually met. Fennick runs a private sanitarium, where he practices “permissive therapy,” allowing the inmates more latitude than is usual in such institutions.

   Natalie isn’t really surprised by the behavior of the patients — that they would be rather egocentric is to be expected. Her apprehension level rises, however, when she encounters a man locked away upstairs who keeps claiming that he is the doctor’s assistant and that Natalie’s uncle is no doctor.

   Imagine Natalie’s level of apprehension when she discovers that dead body in the dumbwaiter ….

   Ray Milland (1905-86) was a versatile Welsh actor, a leading man when he was younger but a fine villain in his latter days. He was murdered in Payment Deferred (1932) but came back as Bulldog Drummond (Bulldog Drummond Escapes) in 1937.

   He also appeared in Ministry of Fear (1944), The Big Clock (1948), Alias Nick Beal (1949), Dial M for Murder (1954), The Safecracker (1958), Markham (a TV series, 1959-60, as a lawyer/detective), tangled a couple of times with Lieutenant Columbo (1971-72), featured prominently in “Too Many Suspects” (1975, the prequel to the Ellery Queen TV series), and even menaced the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew (1978).

   Robert Bloch (1917-94) specialized in horror, but he could do suspense as well. After Psycho (1960), he got into TV with five episodes of Lock Up, ten installments of Thriller, ten with Alfred Hitchcock Presents and seven more with The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, as well as three episodes of Star Trek (including “Wolf in the Fold,” in which 23rd-century spacemen encounter Jack the Ripper).

    “A Home Away from Home” can be viewed on Hulu here.

   We all remember the golden age of fantasy, SF, and horror television. Anthology series such as Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Night Gallery, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, One Step Beyond. One of the very best was Thriller, hosted by Boris Karloff and lasting 67 hourly episodes during 1960-1962.

   I was just a teenager at the time but I still remember skipping dates and not watching Phillies baseball, just in order to not miss the show. A few years ago I managed to track down a bootleg set of all the episodes on DVD, and I relived the joy of watching this great black and white spooky series.

   Somehow I had forgotten just how bland and mediocre some of the crime and mystery episodes were. All I had remembered were the great horror stories like “Pigeons from Hell,” “The Grim Reaper,” “The Cheaters,” “The Hungry Glass,” and others.

   After watching a dozen or so of the early crime episodes I was beginning to think that my memory was playing tricks on me and that the horror shows were from some other show.

   Then I got smart and started skipping around and watching the episodes out of order, especially paying attention to the eighteen episodes adapted from Weird Tales, that great pulp of the supernatural. Yes, you read right, I said eighteen of the stories are from Weird Tales!

   After watching these eighteen shows and other horror adaptations from various sources, I was able to even enjoy some of the crime and mystery plots, though in my opinion they could not begin to compare with the horror episodes.

   Frankly, I never figured the entire series would see an official DVD release but I am glad to say that I was mistaken. Image Entertainment recently released a box set containing all 67 shows and included such extras as over two dozen audio commentaries, mainly on the horror episodes, isolated music scores, episode promos, an so on.

       Since I had viewed all 67 shows just a few years ago, my intent initially was to only watch the horror stories again, and listen to the commentaries. But fate stepped in and I stumbled across an announcement that Pete Enfantino and John Scoleri would be hosting a discussion on Thriller by way of a blog.

   Comments are welcome and each day a different show is covered, starting from the first and continuing to the 67th and last one. There are also breaks for interviews and topics like “The Girls of Thriller”. Each show is rated by a system of “Karloffs” from zero to 4 Karloffs.

   I am happy to say that this discussion has become part of my daily viewing. Each day I watch an episode and then look at the blog to read about what Pete and John have to say.

   They are only on the 17th episode as I write this, and now would be a good time to dive in and join the fun. Especially since the horror episodes are starting to be discussed and you can skip some of the bland, more mundane crime shows. Or you can watch them also and then read what they have to say, and what they say is always done with wit and humor.

   The discussion takes place at www.athrilleraday.blogspot.com and gets my highest recommendation. It’s a lot of fun talking about the old Thriller shows, and comments are encouraged.

   By the way, the Thriller box set has a list price of $150 but is heavily discounted at the online stores. For instance I paid only $97 from Amazon. Even though I already had a bootleg set, I consider this “official” release money well spent.

MISSING. BBC-TV. Second series: 15 March through 26 March 2010. Pauline Quirke, Felix Scott, Pooja Shah, Mark Wingett.

   This is an afternoon programme returning for a second series of ten 45-minute programmes (no adverts). Pauline Quirke plays Detective Sergeant Croft who is in charge of a missing persons unit in Dover.

   She has in her squad a detective constable and a female assistant. Together they chase up all reports of missing persons occasionally using a local radio reporter to broadcast appeals. This series is complicated by a new aggressive Chief Inspector who casts a shadow over the team.

   This is very comfortable day-time viewing with no disastrous outcomes for the missing people. A happyish ending is usually in sight. However, twee as it is, I rather enjoyed this second series as I did the first last year.

   In mid-September 2010 the Library of Congress proudly announced that not only had it (the Library’s Moving Image Section) discovered some 68 rare British TV recordings in the Library’s National Educational Television (NET) Collection but they were handing over digital copies of this treasure trove representing Britain’s “golden age of television” to a very grateful British Film Institute (BFI).

   These treasures include such rare finds as Sean Connery and Dorothy Tutin in Jean Anouilh’s Colombe (BBC, 1960), the Zeffirelli-directed (stage) Much Ado About Nothing (BBC, 1967) and director-producer Rudolph Cartier’s Rembrandt (BBC, 1969).

   Perhaps for the crime and mystery buff, one of these treasures is (I am delighted to say) the 1966 BBC series Thirteen Against Fate, long considered “missing, believed wiped.” Now, along with the few surviving episodes held by the BFI, the discovery of the rest of the series (ten additional episodes from the Library of Congress) makes this, finally, a “complete” series. Soon, hopefully, all will be available for viewing; and, perhaps, one day, they’ll be out on DVD!

   The following quotes are from the the British editions of the daily newspapers:

   This seems like an appropriate opportunity to present an episode guide for your perusal:

A BBC production. Produced by Irene Shubik. Transmitted via BBC1: June to September 1966. Based on 13 non-Maigret stories by Georges Simenon.

1. The Lodger (transmitted 19 June)
Script: Hugh Leonard. Director: James Ferman.
Cast: Zia Mohyeddin, Gwendolyn Watts, Gemma Jones.
Based on Simenon story “Le Locataire” (1934).

2. Trapped (26 June)
Scr: Julia Jones. Dir: George Spenton-Foster.
Cast: Ronald Lewis, Keith Buckley, Sylvia Coleridge.
Based on “Cours d’Assises” (1941).

3. The Traveller (3 July)
Scr: Stanley Miller. Dir: Herbert Wise.
Cast: Kenneth J. Warren, Hywel Bennett, André van Gyseghem.
Based on “Le Voyageur de la Toussaint” (1941).

4. The Widower (10 July)
Scr: Clive Exton. Dir: Silvio Narizzano.
Cast: Joss Ackland, Henry Gilbert, Patricia Healey.
Based on “Le Veuf” (1959).

5. The Judge (17 July)
Scr: Hugh Leonard. Dir: Naomi Capon.
Cast: Alexander Knox, John Ronane, Peter Howell.
Based on “Les Témoins” (1955).

6. The Schoolmaster (24 July)
Scr: Alun Richards. Dir: Peter Potter.
Cast: Stephen Murray, Helen Cherry, Cyril Shaps.
Based on “L’Evadé” (1936).

7. The Witness (31 July)
Scr: John Hale. Dir: John Gorrie.
Cast: Pamela Brown, Daphne Heard, Moultrie Kelsall.
Based on “Le Haut Mal” (1933).

8. The Friends (7 August)
Scr: Anthony Steven. Dir: Michael Hayes.
Cast: Jessica Dunning, Frederick Jaeger, Sandor Elès.
Based on “Chemin sans issue” (1938).

9. The Survivors (14 August)
Scr: Stanley Miller. Dir: Rudolph Cartier.
Cast: Lila Kedrova, David Buck, Kathleen Breck, Terence de Marney.
Based on “Les Rescapés du Télémaque” (1938).

10. The Son (21 August)
Scr: Jeremy Paul. Dir: Waris Hussein.
Cast: Joan Miller, Simon Ward, Jack Woolgar, Clive Dunn, [way down the cast list] Lila Kaye.
Based on “Les Destins des Malous” (1947).

11. The Murderer (28 August)
Scr: Clive Exton. Dir: Alan Bridges
Cast: Frank Finlay, Michael Goodliffe, Annette Crosbie, Lyndon Brook.
Based on “L’Assassin” (1937).

12. The Suspect (4 September)
Scr: Donal Giltinan. Dir: Michael Hayes.
Cast: Marius Goring, Mary Miller, Peter Halliday.
Based on “Les Fiançailles de M. Hire” (1933).

13. The Consul (11 September)
Scr: Leo Lehman. Dir: John Gorrie.
Cast: Jonathan Burn, Michele Dotrice, Jeannette Sterke.
Based on “Les Gens d’en Face” (1933).

Editorial Comment: A complete listing of this recently uncovered cache of vintage BBC programs can be found here. (Scroll down.)

“Run for Doom.” An episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (Season 1, Episode 31). First air date: 17 May 1963. John Gavin, Diana Dors, Scott Brady, Carl Benton Reid, Tom Skerritt. Teleplay: James Bridges, based on the novel Run for Doom (1962) by Henry Kane. Director: Bernard Girard.

   Nickie Carole (Diana Dors) is beautiful and talented. She works as a nightclub singer for Bill Floyd (Scott Brady), whose interest in her is intensely personal; sometimes to get her attention he slaps her around a little, but she seems to enjoy it. Floyd takes her for granted, however, and that will prove to be a fatal error.

   Yes, Nickie is bad news, but that doesn’t stop naive young medico Don Reed (John Gavin) from wanting to marry her. Even after his father (Carl Benton Reid) tells him the findings of a private eye — that Nickie has already beeen married three times to well-to-do men — Don insists on marrying her.

   When his father dies unexpectedly, Don comes into a lot of money; so whenever he waves a diamond sparkler under her nose, Nickie’s big eyes get bigger and Don gets even more attractive.

   But the girl can’t help it; Nickie tries to seduce another man just to make Don jealous and because she’s bored with married life. What results from this fracas is a lifetime blackmail plan for Don unless he can figure out how to rid himself of this troublesome wench.

   And then Floyd re-enters their lives with his own solution to the Nickie Carole dilemma, this time one that involves more than just slapping her around a little…

   Diana Dors (a Brit whose accent is always on the verge of manifesting itself) had a reputation for being merely a sex kitten in the Jayne Mansfield tradition, but here she proves that she can act as well as sing provocatively in a strapless evening gown. There isn’t a false note in her performance; she is the perfect femme fatale — and she gets to perform two song numbers, as well.

   In addition to Psycho (1960), John Gavin was a spy in OSS 117 (1968) and had two TV series, Destry (1964) and Convoy (1965). Hitchcock reportedly was unhappy with Gavin’s performance in Psycho, but he more than makes up for it here, traversing the emotional gamut from funny to morose and from naive to sinister.

   Henry Kane wrote for TV as well as roughly 30 novels and about as many short stories, many of which featured his series character Peter Chambers. As for other media: Martin Kane, Private Eye (6 episodes, 1951-52), Mike Hammer (1 episode, 1958), Kraft Theatre (2 episodes, 1958), the screenplay for Ed McBain’s Cop Hater (1958), Brenner (1 episode, 1959), Johnny Staccato (1 episode, 1959), and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (2 episodes, 1963).

   He even wrote a TV tie-in novel to Peter Gunn (1960), a character some claim may have been “inspired” by Kane’s own Peter Chambers.

   You can see “Run for Doom” on Hulu here. For more on Henry Kane and his series character Peter Chambers, read Steve Lewis’s review of Until You Are Dead, earlier here on this blog.

JONATHAN CREEK. “The Judas Tree.” BBC-TV, 04 April 2010. Alan Davies (Jonathan Creek), Stuart Milligan (Adam Klaus), Sheridan Smith, with Natalie Walter, Paul McGann. Director: David Renwick.

   Earlier this year we have had a one-off “Easter Special” of this long-running series (the first one was in 1997) with the 95-minute (no adverts) “The Judas Tree”.

   When the series first started (back in 1997) it was a breath of fresh air, with impossible crimes — some with supernatural overtones — solved by a charismatic but entirely rational detective.

   In recent years, although the puzzles continue to beguile, the explanations fail to convince. The elaborate plots are still of great interest but the unravelling of them leaves, much to be explained.

   Also, now that we have “specials” rather than series we get longer stories which are padded out by entirely unfunny comedy sequences with magician Adam Klaus, Creek’s employer in his day-job. (At least this time not as preposterously as in the previous Creek, the Christmas 2008 special.)

   Anyway, in this one Creek is called in when Emily Somerton, housekeeper to crime writer Hugo Dore, encounters some strange happenings. Soon there is a violent death and Emily is accused of the crime. The explanation, when it comes, is ingenious all right, but unfortunately full of holes.

   I enjoyed watching it as it went along and the explanation that we got was good, even very good, in parts but the overall feeling was one of disappointment.

   As an interesting aside we saw the dust wrappers of five of Dore’s books and I was obsessive enough to copy them down. Each was subtitled “An Ellison Starberth Mystery” and the titles were:

       The Gilded Unicorn.
       Blind Skeleton Murders.
       The Case of the Whispering Attic.
       The Riddle at Hangman’s Cloister.
       The Four Wax Footmen.

   The first two seem to be a nod to John Dickson Carr (a combination of The Gilded Man and The Unicorn Murders, followed by The Blind Barber and The Skeleton in the Clock possibly) and just maybe the last is also (The Four False Weapons and The Waxworks Murder [UK title], maybe).

   But I have no idea about the other two. Any suggestions would be very welcome.

BEYOND THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE. Made for TV movie: NBC, 6 November 1975. Fred MacMurray, Sam Groom, Donna Mills, Suzanne Reed, Dana Plato, Dan White. Director: William A. Graham.

   One of my life-long weaknesses has been the indolent habit of napping in the afternoon. However, I have always observed that I don’t have any interesting dreams when I nap, and I have concluded that I might put the time to better use by propping my eyes open and reading a book or watching a film that I might, in my more alert moments, not want to waste my time on.

   I would like to think that this might occasionally lead to one of those “fortuitous” encounters in which the Surrealists believed and where marvelous consequences sometimes follow upon the most banal circumstance.

   For those of you who would like to delve more deeply into Surrealist philosophy on this point, I refer you to Andre Breton’s Nadja, especially those pages describing his addiction to the American chapter play, Trail of the Octopus.

   I was, earlier today, at a point where waking and sleep are no longer contrary conditions when my somnolent fingers brought into view on the TV screen, the opening scenes of a WTBS Sunday afternoon movie, Beyond the Bermuda Triangle.

   I have always been intrigued by psychic phenomena, ever since those years when I used to look for the door to the Land of Oz in the closets of my grandparents’ farm.

   Even in my bemused state, I quickly gathered in the essentials necessary to follow the storyline, which involved the disappearance of a boat in the area of the Triangle, and a young girl’s belief that her mother was still alive, somewhere “out there,” and was calling to her.

   I had some trouble with character relationships, but deduced that Sam Groom is courting the sister of the missing woman who is taking care of her young niece, while Fred McMurray (with either a hair-piece or his hair dyed a sinister black) is probably the grandfather of the bereaved child, but is somewhat distracted by his pursuit of a much younger woman who is, herself, to disappear into that same hungry triangular area where the compass goes batty but where there is always time to send one last radio message before static claims the airways. Whew!

   There is also a character to whom I felt peculiarly drawn, a retired professor who, years earlier, had lost his wife in the triangle and, at the last moment, close to the opening of the door to the “other side,” hesitated and was forever barred from crossing over.

   That had obviously bothered him no end, and, in a touching and significant scene, he tells MacMurray that there is one thing bigger than this life “down here” and that’s “love.”

   That choked me up a bit and fogged my glasses, and when I could see clearly again Fred was casting off to sea with Groom’s girlfriend.

   That lead to a really tense climax in which Groom, pursued by the Coast Guard, raced to intercept Fred’s boat. I don’t want to give away the ending (which would be foreign to the spirit of this blog), but let me tell you that the Old Professor was right on target, and some old geezers are quick studies.

      This made-for-TV movie had everything: a grieving child in peril, weird music, mysteries beyond our mortal ken, references to Atlantis, and an impressive, late-career performance by Fred MacMurray.

   Now, I know that some people think Fred wasn’t much of an actor and got by on an earnest look and a commanding, sonorous voice. Well, here it was all in the eyes: the body was slack, the demeanour reserved, but the eyes seemed to reflect glimpses of something that sent a shiver down my spine (or rather up, since I started sliding out of my seat at one point and almost jackknifed on the floor between the chair and footstool).

   I wish they had given the movie a less obvious title, something like Empty Boats. Still, since this might be a picture that only a recent retiree can appreciate, if you ever get a chance to watch it and don’t agree with me, don’t call me, I’ll call you.

   But while you’re waiting for my call, don’t go into your closet. You never know who … or what … might be coming into it from … out THERE!

“Who Killed Who?” An episode of Dragnet 1970 (Season 4, Episode 15). First air date: 29 January 1970. Jack Webb (Sergeant Joe Friday), Harry Morgan (Officer Bill Gannon), Jim B. Smith (Captain Brown), Herb Vigran (Paul Woods), Marshall Reed (Sergeant Hughes), Don Ross (Sergeant Doherty), Chuck Bowman (Jerry), Marco Lopez (Pedro Martinez, uncredited). Writer: Michael Donovan. Creator, producer, director: Jack Webb.

   Joe Friday and Bill Gannon are called downtown to a run-down three-story flophouse to investigate a multiple shooting. Before they can begin their investigation, one of the victims on a stretcher leaves Friday with a baffling dying clue — “oft one,” he says — but neither Friday, Gannon, nor Captain Brown can figure it out — not at first, anyway. The lack of any eyewitnesses further complicates the case.

   Methodically investigating the crime scene, Friday and Gannon note two dead bodies lying on the floor in front of a TV set that, like the victims, has also been shot once.

   Other clues include a number of expended 9-millimeter shells (later shown to be from a German-made Luger); a torn piece of red cloth with a shirt button clutched in one of the victim’s hands; and blood smears along the banister leading to the second floor, but which curiously end halfway up — with nary a sign of the perpetrator.

   Three dead, and very little evidence of how it went down. Later the significance of an apparently unrelated phone call to the police just before the massacre would become clear —but it’s only when Friday and Gannon discover a FOURTH body that the full story of the progress of this crime can finally be told.

   This show is just like one of those “Five Minute Mysteries” come to life. With its unusual emphasis on forensic evidence, this Dragnet episode could serve as a model for bloated crime scene investigation shows like CSI: Miami in how to compress an engrossing story into half the length. The only other Dragnet I can recall that put such emphasis on the forensics was “Homicide: Cigarette Butt.”

   One of the reporters Friday has to keep in check for the sake of his investigation is played by Herb Vigran (1910-86), who had over 300 appearances in movies and TV, usually playing annoying smart alecks, sometimes for laughs but often for hisses.

   The prime suspect in this case was played by Marco Lopez (b. 1935), who is primarily remembered for his regular role in another Jack Webb production, Emergency! (1972-78), playing a fire fighter cleverly named Marco Lopez. If memory serves, in “Who Killed Who?” he has no dialogue.

   You can see “Who Killed Who?” on Hulu here, and “Homicide: Cigarette Butt” here.

Editorial Comment:   Herb Vigran, whose face you see in the image above — did you recognize him? — was in seven episodes of this later Dragnet series, almost his longest-running gig. Most of the characters he played in his over appearances in movies and TV did not have names. The parts he played were often identified only as Salesman, Policeman, Judge, Fireman, Delivery Man, Waiter, Baggage Man, and So On. Most of his roles were speaking parts, however, and whenever you saw or heard him, you recognized him immediately.

“Dear Uncle George.” An episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (Season 1, Episode 30). First air date: 10 May 1963. Gene Barry, John Larkin, Patricia Donahue, Dabney Coleman, Robert Sampson, Lou Jacobi. Teleplay: James Bridges. Story and teleplay: Richard Levinson and William Link. Director: Joseph M. Newman.

   John Chambers (Gene Barry) writes an advice column for a local newspaper under the name Uncle George; of late, however, he has become disenchanted with his boss, Simon Aldritch (John Larkin), especially regarding Simon’s editorial decisions.

   One day Chambers gets a letter, which he dismisses at first. Someone has been observing the goings on in an apartment complex across the way; the note says that it’s fairly obvious a married woman is seeing a man who is not her husband.

   A hint here and a hint there and it’s not long before Chambers connects the dots: The unfaithful woman is his own wife, Louise (Patricia Donahue), and the man she’s seeing can only be his friend Tom Esterow (Dabney Coleman), an artist.

   Chambers sees red, and like many a cuckolded husband in a 17th century revenge tragedy he impulsively and violently lashes out. There remains only one problem, however: In his own mind he has killed the “right” person, so justice demands the other malefactor should suffer as well.

   Coolly and carefully he plants clues that will send the police after the other lover. Imagine Chambers’ surprise, though, when he discovers he’s framed the wrong person….

   Once again Levinson & Link score big with a marvelously involved plot and even some character development in John Chambers (Barry), who is more complex than merely being the murderer; because, you see, despite being a killer, he nevertheless tries to do the right thing — with ironic results.

   Since this an L & L prodduct, one may be forgiven for detecting one or two similarities between this story and Prescription: Murder (1968), the first Columbo film, in which Gene Barry also murders his wife; but in the latter production his cold and calculating premeditation contrasts with his crime of passion in “Dear Uncle George.”

   Moreover, Lt. Wolfson (Lou Jacobi), the investigating officer, differs from Peter Falk’s character in being too willing to trust in prima facie evidence.

   Gene Barry (1919-2009) died late last year. Some screen credits: The Atomic City (1952, his film debut), The War of the Worlds (1953, pursuing Martian vandals), Naked Alibi (1954), The Houston Story (1956), Hong Kong Confidential (1958), Thunder Road (1958), Istanbul Express (1968, TVM), Subterfuge (1968), a Perry Mason movie (1987, TVM); and the TV series Bat Masterson (1958-61), Burke’s Law (1963-66, 1994-95), The Name of the Game (1968-71), and The Adventurer (1972-73).

   You can view “Dear Uncle George” on Hulu here.

“Last Seen Wearing Blue Jeans.” An episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (Season 1, Episode 28). First air date: 19 April 1963. Michael Wilding, Anna Lee, Katherine Crawford, Randy Boone, James Anderson, Jesse Jacobs, Eve McVeagh, Russ Conway. Teleplay: Lou Rambeau, based on the novel Encounter with Evil, by Amber Dean (1961). Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.

    David and Roberta Saunders (Michael Wilding, Anna Lee) are touring America by station wagon with their teenage daughter Loren (Katherine Crawford). They make a late-night stop at a small diner on the Arizona-Mexican border to eat; after the meal a very sleepy Loren returns to the wagon and continues slumbering in the back.

    Some time later she wakes up, just in time to witness a murder. To her horror, she quickly realizes that she has crawled into the wrong car and been driven across the border without the killers being aware of her — but now they are. All she has to do is stay alive …..

   There’s something appealing about having Sleeping Beauty exposing an international criminal conspiracy — even if it’s unintentionally — and seeing Prince Charming drive a jeep. But as for this beauty’s detectival skills, Nancy Drew she ain’t.

   Michael Wilding’s criminous credits include Stage Fright (1950, with Hitchcock); Trent’s Last Case (1952, as one of the very few actors ever to play Philip Trent in films and TV); The Naked Edge (1961); and one appearance each on Burke’s Law (1963), The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966), and Mannix (1968).

   Anna Lee appeared in The Four Just Men (1939), Hangmen Also Die! (1943), Bedlam (1946), Prison Warden (1949), Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), In Like Flint (1967), and the long-running soap opera General Hospital. According to IMDb, she was also the goddaughter of Arthur Conan Doyle.

   Randy Boone was a regular on the TV westerns The Virginian (1963-66) and Cimarron Strip (1967-68), the latter featuring an episode, “Knife in the Darkness,” written by Harlan Ellison in which Jack the Ripper is loose in Cimarron.

   â€œLast Seen Wearing Blue Jeans” is available on Hulu here.

Editorial Comment:   Anna Lee also appeared in King Solomon’s Mines, the 1937 version, reviewed here by me not so very long ago.

[UPDATE] 08-09-10.   I neglected to mention (which is a euphemism for saying I forgot) that a review I wrote of Snipe Hunt, another one of Amber Dean’s mystery novels, was posted on this blog way back here, along with a complete listing of her “Abbie Harris” series.