Noirsville - the film noir: Noirsville Bonus - Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer Noir TV Series (1958

Bride and Doom - Directed by William Witney, written by Robert Turner. The DOP was Ray Corey.

Starred Darren McGavin as Mike Hammer, Frances Robinson (Backfire (1950)) as Joyce Conroy, noir vet DeForest Kelley (Fear in the Night (1947), House of Bamboo (1955), Illegal (1955)) as Philip Conroy, Sue Ane Langdon as Ruby Duvall, J. Pat O'Malley as Hugo, and Richard Angarola as Nick Mann.

This episode is one of the highlights of the series. We open with Mike engrossed in reading a pulp paperback while grabbing a cup of Joe from his hot plate set up on a shelf attached to the inside of the door of his office toilet which doubles as a "kitchen."

For shit's and giggles from freeze frame we see that the title is "The Murder Of The Missing Link" by Vercors, below:

A quick synopsis from Fantastic Fiction, the Tropi "are a large tribe of New Guinea cliff-dwellers who smoke their meat and bury their dead. Simian in many of their physical characteristics, they are normally erect in stance, though happy to drop to all fours at a moment's notice. Australian wool interests see the tropis as a dream come true - workers who can be trained without benefit of paycheck. Newspaperman Douglas Templemore is an idealist - by killing his son (bred by artificial insemination of a female tropi), he hopes to cause a riot in the realm of race relations. Is he a murderer or merely an owner of a pet, which he has "put to sleep?" As he comes up for trial scientific experts file into the witness box; none agreeing on what constitutes a human being. Is man to be defined by his jawbone? By his rational capacity? By his grasp of metaphysics? Or is the judge right when he muses (without a trace of cynicism) that the tropis must be animals because they are not cannibals?"

Mike goes back to his desk, sits, and in Voice Over narrates along the lines of, that in most detective fiction, these is always a beautiful damsel in distress that waltzes from out of nowhere into the office. Yea right....

At this point the door to his office does open.

A scantily clad hammer-tommicaly correct "showgirl" Ruby Duvall (Sue Ane Langdon), draped in a overcoat, walks into his office. Mike doing a double take is slightly stunned. It's a cute start.

The "showgirl" Ruby pleads with Mike to protect her. She tells him that she is about to be married but that her high society blue nose soon to be sister-in-law Joyce Conroy (Frances Robinson) disapproves of her.

Ruby (Sue Ane Langdon)

She tells Mike that Joyce has physically threatened her. Mike is still slightly mesmerized looking over her ample attributes.

Mike agrees to go talk to Joyce and tell her to back off and to sort of be her bodyguard until the marriage takes place. Ruby heads back to the theater, Mike heads over to the Park Avenue apartment of Joyce Conroy.

Looking at East 51st Street and Park Avenue that's the corner of St. Bartholomew's Church on right.

At the Conroy apartment Mike meets Ruby's fiance Philip (DeForrest Kelly). Mike tells Philip that Joyce has been scaring Ruby. Before their conversation goes much further Joyce arrives and dominates Philip, telling him to leave the room. Philip grudgingly acquiesces. Joyce tells Mike to get out, but not before Mike tells Joyce that he'll notify the police if she doesn't lay off Ruby.

Philip (DeForrest Kelly)

Mike and the Conroys

Joyce Conroy (Frances Robinson)

Meanwhile back at the Starlight Club Ruby enters her dressing room after a show. While she is seated at her dressing table her former boyfriend Nick Mann walks in.

Nick Mann (Richard Angarola)

Nick tries to rekindle some heat but Ruby cools him off basically telling him that she "used" him for kicks.

Good for a few kicks

Nick doesn't take the hint and starts pawing Ruby who fights back aggressively.

Ruby grabs a pair of scissors off the dressing table and chases Nick out.

Ruby calls Joyce and tells her that she decided to take the $5,000 she offered her not to marry Philip.

Later, Mike shows up at the Starlight Theater to escort Ruby after her last show. While waiting for Ruby, Mike schmoozes with some of the showgirls and the stage door watchman.

When he finally drifts over to Ruby's dressing room he finds her laying on the floor dead.

Mike springs into action first questioning the theater stage door watchman Hugo (J. Pat O'Malley) asking him who came through the door to see Ruby. For a fin Hugo tells Mike about Nick and Joyce Conroy.

Mike heads back to Park Avenue and confronts Joyce, who first denies being there at the theater but finally breaks down and tells him that she went to the theater to give Ruby the $5000 bribe she offered her. When she got to her dressing room she found Ruby already dead.

When Mike gets back to his office he finds a scared Nick waiting for him. Nick tells Mike that he didn't do it. He's afraid to go to the police because he is a three time looser. Mike believes him and figures that either Joyce or Hugo are lying. The police arrest Joyce, and Mike goes back to stakeout the theater to tail Hugo. It pays off.

Noirsville

There is a great monologue by DeForest Kelly that is arguably the best in the whole series. He delivers it in a memorable scene at the precinct house while wheeling around Joyce in his wheel chair. It's also a nice twist.

One of the better primarily studio bound episodes. 9/10

Times Square

Slab Happy - Directed by Frank Arrigo, written by Steven Thornley, DOP was Ray Cory. Another of the studio bound episodes with a few location footage loops that we've seen before. The most notable one being the Times Square montage above and below that is superimposed with various night club neon signs. The footage travels North through Times Square and them up 7th Ave. and ends in a turn onto West 46th Street in front of the old Latin Quarter entrance.

This sequence actually has a personal fascination for me. In the still above just above the "J and A" in Jack Dempsey's is the neon sign for Majestic Ballroom Dancing. This was a dime a dance "taxi" dancer joint. It was still in operation when I used to walk around Times Square in the mid to late 60s. It had a long stairway up to the second floor. At the top of those stairs was the ticket booth where you bought your strip of tickets. If I remember right the price was now up to a quarter a dance.

Right next door to it was one of the many Playland Arcades where I used to hang out and spend an afternoon. It was on one of these trips to the arcade that I ventured up to the dance barn, lol.

Back to Slab Happy. This episode stars Darren McGavin as Mike Hammer, noir vet Jack Lambert as Kid Dakota, Mary LaRoche (The Lineup (1958)) as Julie Gates, Bart Burns as Captain Pat Chambers, Ralf Harolde as Doc Badger, Peter Adams as Mitch Gates, and Joe Yrigoyen as a Police Officer.

Mike is on a date sitting in a club in Times Square.

Julie Gates (Mary LaRoche)

Kid Dakota visits his ex wife, gold-digger Julie in the old club that he used to own. He still loves her. He's concerned because he's heard that, Mitch her husband, has been knocking her around. The kid has been more than a little punch drunk ever since he lost his big bout. As a consequence Julie divorced him and eventually sole the club out from under him. But none of that matters to the Kid.

Mitch Gates (Peter Adams) left

When Mitch shows up at the club he get's into a confrontation with the Kid. They get into a scuffle and the Kid threatens to kill Mitch if he ever touches Julie again. Mike helps to break it up.

Kid Dakota (Jack Lambert)

A few hours later Mitch is cooling down to back alley temperature, ready for a toe tag. The Kid is the major suspect. The Kid disappears.

Julie comes to visit Mike asking him to find Kid Dakota before he's cornered by the police she thinks they'll have to kill him. While talking to Julie in his office he gets a call from The Kid who tells Mike that he didn't do it. Mike wants to talk with him to ask him some questions. But he tells the kid that he can't talk now. He asks The Kid where is he holed up. When Mike hangs up he finishes business with Julie who walks out the door. She has Doc Badger The Kid's ex manager waiting out in the hall. She tells him to follow Hammer when he leaves.

When Mike shows up at The Kid's flop the police are right behind him. The Kid thinks Mike finked and a fistfight knocks out the two cops and Mike. The Kid heads out into Noirsville.

Noirsville