Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 110: Marvel/ Atlas Horror and Science Fiction Comics!

 

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 95

January 1956 Part II

by Peter Enfantino

and Jack Seabrook

Mystery Tales #37

Cover by Carl Burgos

"The Martians!" (a: John Romita) ★★1/2

"Afraid to Look!" (a: Bob Brown) ★★

"The Man Who Moved" (a: Bob Powell) ★1/2

"The Evil Ones!" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★1/2

"The Man Who Stopped Living" (a: Doug Wildey) ★

Looking to cash in on a billion-dollar uranium lode, Mark Eaton stows away on what he thinks is a jet and takes a quick trip to... Mars! Yep, for some reason "The Martians!" were here on Earth, heard about a big strike, and zipped back home, with Mark in tow. There's hardly a lick of sense to this one but Romita's art is eye-catching; it's stark and resembles that of Krigstein rather than the Romita we're accustomed to.

With his mirror factory barely keeping its financial head above water, owner Paul Martin cannot survive any more setbacks. And that's exactly what happens when an accident destroys thousands of dollars' worth of glass; Martin knows he'll have to sell the plant at a loss. Then a very strange thing happens when an employee brings Martin a piece of the ruined mirror... as the man is speaking, the glass reveals what's really on his mind. Paul knows he can make millions and rule the world. In the grand tradition of Batman's greatest foes, Martin ignores the benefits to mankind and goes for the green. His wealth (and truth-speaking mirror) make him a lonely man and, in the end, he destroys the glass when his own reflection shows him what greed can do. "Afraid to Look!" isn't a bad little yarn, but the post-code preachiness of the climax is eye-rollingly bad.

In "The Man Who Moved," Chic Nolan busts out of prison and holes up in a museum. Exhausted, he falls asleep on a beautiful carpet, wishing he were anywhere but there. Suddenly, he's whisked away to foreign lands, facing dangers he never dreamt of. After almost being killed for the 44th time, Chic wishes he was in the safest place in the world and... finds himself back in his cell. Not even Bob Powell's art can save this one.

Eight wealthy men are to stand trial for attempting to start a war in order to line their pockets with even more money. "The Evil Ones!" decide to hop aboard a rocket and escape before any jury can find them guilty. The eight men manage to land on a planet rich with jewels and uranium and quickly agree to stock the ship with as many goodies as they can and return to Earth when their notoriety has died down. Unfortunately, their plans are interrupted by the planet that is racing toward them on a collision course of total terror! Evil... greed... we get it, but could the sermon by Carl Wessler have been delivered with a little more pizzazz? The Sinnott art just sits there, but he's not given much to work with other than talking heads.

The finale, "The Man Who Stopped Living," is convoluted poppycock about a man who's trying to convince his physician he's really dead. There's a "twist" in the climax about a guardian angel that doesn't make much sense at all. Doug Wildey's art is good, very good in spots, but it reminds me of the kind of art you'd see in daily newspaper strips. Hey Wildey fans... it's not a knock, just an observation.-Peter

Mystic #43

Cover by Carl Burgos

"The Private World" (a: John Forte) ★1/2

"It Happened at Night" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★1/2

"The Man Who Watched" (a: Tony DiPreta) ★

"Jukebox!" (a: Robert Q. Sale) ★1/2

"In the Dark" (a: Syd Shores) ★★1/2

Edgemont Peters has a particularly rare impediment: he sees the world upside down. The calamity of living in such a world seems to be nothing but a nuisance until he meets the stunningly gorgeous Kitty, who immediately falls for Edge as well. Knowing that his handicap would frighten the girl away, Edge avoids future plans and never proposes marriage. This slightly irks Kitty until, one day, she takes it upon herself to read Edge's diary and learns why he won't take the leap. She leaves without saying goodbye and Edgemont is sad. But then he learns from his doctor that his sight can be restored to normal. 

He has the operation and, coincidentally, Kitty returns. They are married, but his new wife never tells him that she had an operation to reverse her vision so that she could share "The Private World." Sheesh! Right from the get-go, this is a little confusing as some of the panels are drawn with the backgrounds right side up; I'm not sure if that was to show us that our world was not skewed, only Edge's vision, but the randomness was baffling. The twist at the end is kinda cute but it's been done before. The biggest question I have is why this isn't in one of the Marvel romance books rather than in a horror/sf title.

During the day, the old man is nothing but a janitor at a sleazy diner but, at night, he dreams of another world where he's big and strong and blonde, a warrior prepared to save his world from a dangerous threat. "It Happened at Night" is just as confusing as "The Private World," but I enjoyed this one quite a bit more. About halfway through the yarn, a character in the dream world explains to the old man's alter-ego (the blonde warrior) that he and the old man are actually sharing a life across dimensions and, at some point, they'll become whole in one world. That's where the scripter lost me. Fortunately, the story isn't schmaltzy and the Reinman art is nice to look at.

On Uranus, women serve their men and don't complain. They don't ask for French vacations or diamond rings or lobster dinners. They just do what they're told. Tyssus of Uranus (🤭) seeks to learn how the people of Earth differ from those on his own world, so he takes a scientific journey to study earth men and their mates. He happens upon a young couple, Bill and Frances Barnes, who argue over the typical things: Bill's back-breaking work hours and Frances's desire for a mink coat. They argue but, when little Bobby gets sick, their entire emotional output is aimed at getting the kid to the doctor, even though a driving storm rages outside. This intrigues Tyssus, but what really fascinates him is, once Frances has shown she can drive a car and save her own son's life, Bill breaks down and buys her the damn coat! Tyssus decides to change his own lifestyle when he gets back to Uranus. 

"The Man Who Watched" (about as generic a title as Stan could come up with and, I quickly add, one of eight "The Man..." stories just this month!) is a hilarious snapshot of family values circa 1956. Writer Carl Wessler seems to be heading for a message of "commodities mean nothing without good health" until Bill brings home the fur on the last page. What if little Bobby had died? Would Frances have gotten her expensive toy just for trying? I used to look forward to reading a story illustrated by Tony DiPreta, but it seems as though his penciling is sparkly bright now instead of the eerily-inked work he performed in the pre-code days.

A quartet of musicians stranded in a bar during a storm are gifted a "Jukebox!" that delivers on what it plays. "Pennies From Heaven" delivers a shower of pennies, likewise "An Apple for the Teacher" and "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" bring on a multitude of delights. But then one of the celebrants accidentally plays "Gone With the Wind" and... no, this is post-code, so only their presents disappear.

In the finale, "In the Dark," Ben Darrow selfishly steals the money from the mine office, thinking it's every man for himself, and then is trapped in a cave-in with only cash to eat. Knowing Ben is going to starve to death gives this one a little more edge than most of the post-code strips. I expected his friends to rescue him and Ben to confess to his crime, but the alternative grim ending is much more welcome.-Peter

Strange Tales #42

Cover by Sol Brodsky

"The Faceless One!" (a: Bill Everett) ★★★/2

"The Man Who Said No!" (a: Joe Maneely) ★★

"Moon-Man!" (a: Bernie Krigstein) ★★1/2

"The Vanishing Brain!" (a: Doug Wildey) ★★

"The Man in the Cell!" (a: Bob Powell) ★★★

For many years, Lester Greer has been the devoted servant to millionaire Jefferson Horner, "a cranky old man without a friend." Lester assumes he'll inherit when the old man dies, but when he discovers a photo of long-lost Gilbert Horner, Jefferson's son, Lester fears he'll be done out of his rightful wealth.

That night, a traveling magician knocks at the door and Lester agrees to pay him $10,000 to make him look just like the heir. The magician casts a spell and takes Lester's face while transforming the servant into a dead ringer for the son. Horner dies that same night and, when the will is read, the money is left to Lester. The magician gladly accepts the inheritance and reveals to the real Lester that he's actually the missing son and he's now inherited what was rightfully his.

Bill Everett's smashing artwork makes "The Faceless One!" a delight; even though I suspected that the magician was the son and predicted the twist ending, the story by Carl Wessler kept me in just enough suspense that I wasn't sure until the end.

Emil was big in vaudeville but fears auditioning for a spot on Roger Chapin's TV variety show until his friend Burt talks him into it. Chapin is so busy that he never looks at Emil, ignoring his many talents and dismissing him. As Emil walks out of Chapin's office, we see that he's a walking, talking ape in a three-piece suit.

It's nice to see Joe Maneely's work turn up in the pages of Strange Tales, but the fact that Emil's face is covered by one thing or another until the last panel makes the reader expect some sort of surprise; what we get is a letdown. The weak satire of the TV variety show world reminded me of some EC stories but, of course, Feldstein and co. did it better.

When a "Moon-Man!" stands in the middle of Grand Central Station and announces his arrival, people think it's a publicity stunt. It doesn't help that the man forgot where he parked his flying saucer. He's arrested and taken to see a psychiatrist, who recommends that he be committed; just then, representatives from the Capel Sanitarium arrive and take the moon man away. Soon, back on the moon, the moon man is told that every normal person knows it's not yet time to travel to Earth.

You have to like an issue of Strange Tales that opens with stories drawn by Everett, Maneely, and Bernie Krigstein. "Moon-Man!" doesn't have much room to tell a story, since it's only four pages long, and it ends with the characteristic Atlas thud, but at least the panels look good. The moon man resembles Curly from the Three Stooges.

Professor Philip Hayden is a 98-pound weakling who boasts of his own intelligence and puts down the musclebound college students in his classes. Pretty Lorna Bond prefers Hank Cobb, the athletic instructor, and Philip chides her for thinking "'of the strong men, the cavemen as romantic.'" Hayden strolls off alone and soon finds that he's walked through a "'break in the time flow.'" He's back in caveman times and the cavemen make him their slave. Eventually, he builds his body up to the point where he can overpower his captors and escape, walking back through the time warp and onto the campus, still wearing his loincloth, muscles bulging. He visits Hank, hoping to borrow some clothes that fit his newly bulked up form. Hank shows him that Lorna has married Philip's replacement, "'a real "brain,"'" and Hank and a shirtless Philip agree that she "'doesn't deserve the love of a real man.'"

The last panel, which I've reproduced here, veers dangerously close to a homo-erotic bonding between the two muscle men who previously were rivals in "The Vanishing Brain!" Almost as unexpected is the sharp art by Doug Wildey, who I think of as someone who usually does a lot of photo swipes. Here, he's drawing more in the mode of Kubert on Tor or Tarzan. Go figure.

Jim, a reporter, is picked up and taken out for lunch by his best pal, Colin, and Jim's girlfriend, Madge. Jim quickly loses his temper when others in the newsroom joke about Madge preferring Colin to Jim. Colin, Jim, and Madge eat and then Colin drives them to the airfield, where he confesses to Jim that he also loves Madge. When Jim admits that he loves her too, Colin agrees to back off. Jim pretends to threaten Colin and two men walk in just then and witness the threat, unaware that it's not serious.

Colin takes a test plane up for a flight and is gone for hours. When he lands, he tells Jim a strange story: he passed through a dimensional warp and entered an idyllic land where he fell in love with a beautiful woman named Ila. A wise old man told Colin that he could not stay and that he could only return if his love is strong enough. As Colin finishes telling Jim the story, he fades away, traveling back to the other dimension forever. Jim is later arrested and jailed for Colin's murder, though he's sure he'll be set free because he knows there is no corpse to be found.

"The Man in the Cell!" is a terrific story with dynamite illustrations by the great Bob Powell. There's no real twist ending, just a solid conclusion that loops back to the first panel, in which Jim is in a cell telling us that he knows he'll never be proved guilty. I wish more issues of Atlas comics were this good! Maybe Strange Tales got the best of what was produced, and perhaps that's why it's been collected and reprinted in book form.-Jack

Uncanny Tales #39

Cover by Bill Everett

"I Dare Not Sleep!" (a: Bill Everett) ★★★

"The Hunted!" (a: Vic Carrabotta) ★★

"The Building That Grew" (a: Ross Andru and Mike Esposito (?)) ★★

"Lost and Found" (a: Syd Shores) ★1/2

"Til Death Do Us Part!" (a: Paul Reinman) ★1/2

A writer named Hugh Denby lies awake on the couch at night, trying in vain to come up with an off-beat idea for a new script. He goes for a walk in the dark outside, passes under a ladder that is propped up against his house, and enters a parallel dimension where he is walking down a strange corridor that is lined with doors.

Through the glass in the doors he observes various people sleeping and recognizes them as neighbors and people from work. From behind a door emerges a man dressed as a doctor; Hugh recognizes him as Dean Ritchie, from his college days. The dean explains that this is the real world and Hugh is dreaming the other world, where he lives with his wife and kids. Hugh is told to get back to his bed and resume his dream. He enters a room, sees himself in bed, dreaming, backs out of the door, and is awakened by his wife, back in his original home. Now Hugh has a great idea for a script and tells himself, "I Dare Not Sleep!" before I get it down on paper.

In the short time that I've been walking down the Atlas post-code road with Peter, I've read a few stories that seemed like prototypes for episodes of The Twilight Zone. This one seems to anticipate the movie, The Matrix, what with the parallel world where the main character and others are dreaming their seemingly real existence. As is often the case, Bill Everett knocks the art out of the park.

Jim Agat and Andrew Trent are wealthy hunters who've seen it all. One day, while out hunting, Andy wishes that they could be amateurs again and experience the thrill of new challenges. Suddenly, they come upon a T-Rex, which chases them into a jungle that has giant trees. In a clearing they confront a saber-toothed tiger, which Jim shoots and kills. Even the vegetation begins to attack them! Fortunately, they end up back in their home forest. "And in a time-world in a parallel dimension," we see young Bobby's mother chastising him for playing with the timelock again.

Yikes. The old Atlas surprise ending, where a series of weird events turn out to be due to an alien boy playing with toys. Vic Carrabotta's art is as dull as the premise.

Ambitious architect Tom Simms builds a building higher than anyone  thinks is possible. His workmen give up at 1000 feet high but Tom keeps building, aided by a seemingly self-guided machine. Eventually, after the building is about 100,000 feet tall, volunteers agree to scale it and reach the top in order to ask Tom to stop so he can give the secret of his construction machine to the world. They make it to the top, where Tom tells them that he has a new home and is not going back. For some reason, he now has green skin and pointy ears and behind him are others who look the same and wear yellow outfits.

Does building a structure so high make Tom turn into a Martian? I have absolutely no idea. At least "The Building That Grew" is only four pages long.

Postal inspector Clark is assigned to investigate a strange classified ad from the "Lost and Found" section of the newspaper. The ad asks that a "portable space-travel blaster" be mailed to box 431 if found. At the post office, Clark discovers that everything that is put in the box mysteriously disappears without any evidence of the box having been opened. When a ray gun arrives in the mail, Clark points it at himself and accidentally pulls the trigger. He disappears and, the next day, an ad in the lost and found section of the paper queries whether anyone wants a postal inspector to be returned. Meanwhile, Clark is stuck on Mars.

Yet another story that attempts to explain a series of mysterious events by a last-panel "twist" involving an alien from another planet. Yawn. The art by Syd Shores is better than the story deserves.

Mark Clifton is a scientist whose wife Nora is loving and supportive, so he is promoted to director of a huge atomic power lab. True love can't separate the pair, so when Mark goes on a sea voyage and there's a meltdown at the nuclear reactor, Nora is the only one who knows how to stop the dangerous radiation from spreading. She undergoes emergency surgery and can't recall the missing equation until Mark visits her bedside. His encouragement helps her to remember. The doctors don't tell Nora that Mark was lost at sea weeks before and they wonder why there are footprints and seaweed on the floor next to her bed.

At least I think that's what happens in "Til Death Do Us Part." Paul Reinman's art is only average at this point. The most interesting thing about this story is the panel I've reproduced; in less than a decade, Bruce Banner would have a similar experience with a very different outcome.-Jack

Next Week...
In His First Appearance of the 1960s...
The Penguin!

The Hitchcock Project-Albert E. Lewin and Burt Styler, Part One-Cheap is Cheap [4.26]

by Jack Seabrook

Albert E. Lewin and Burt Styler wrote the teleplays for two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "Cheap is Cheap" and "Craig's Will," both of which explore the lighter side of murder.

Albert E. Lewin (1916-1996) was an animation artist at the Disney studio in the late 1930s and early 1940s, working on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia (1940), and Pinocchio (1940). He also wrote gags for radio comedians including Bob Hope and Jack Benny. He began writing for the movies in 1949 and for TV in 1955. Among his many TV scripts are episodes of My Favorite Martian and The Odd Couple. His papers are archived at UCLA.

Burt Styler (1925-2011) served in the infantry in WWII and began writing for radio after the war, teaming up with Albert E. Lewin. He placed one short story in a pulp magazine in 1949 and wrote gags, movies, and TV shows with his partner until they split in 1966. Styler went on the write for The Carol Burnett Show and won an Emmy for a 1972 episode of All in the Family. Styler and Lewin wrote at least one episode of The Dennis Day Show in 1954.

* * *

In an interview, Burt Styler said that he and Lewin had a story idea for Markham, a private eye series starring Ray Milland that ran from 1959 to 1960. The idea was thought to be too strange for that show, so the producer called Joan Harrison, who was producing Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and she gave the go-ahead for the duo to write the script. Styler added that it was written for Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester, but the show was filmed starring Dennis Day and Alice Backes.

Dennis Day as Alexander Gifford

"Cheap is Cheap" is a superb example of the macabre humor that usually was found in Hitchcock's remarks before and after each episode of the TV show, an extension of the sort of humor displayed in his film, The Trouble with Harry (1955). Yet there is no happy ending in this episode, and the consistency among the characters, who each behave the same way from start to finish and never change, makes it a delight.

The show begins as Alexander Gifford, played by Dennis Day, trudges up the stairs to his apartment and laments in voiceover that he did not get a Christmas bonus. The first sign of his extraordinary cheapness is that he does not lament his inability to splurge or to buy presents; instead, he laments the fact that he cannot earn interest by putting the money in a bank! There is a sight gag where Gifford picks up a newspaper that is in front of the door to an apartment and looks at it; only when he refolds it and puts it back in place does it become apparent that he is reading his neighbor's paper, since he walks across the hall to his own apartment!

Alice Backes as Jennifer

A viewer watching "Cheap is Cheap" in spring 1959 would be primed for humor, since Day was known as a singer and sidekick on The Jack Benny Show, a comedy. Unlike that show, whose star had a persona of being extremely cheap, in this episode, Day plays the cheap one. He enters his apartment and chides his wife, Jennifer, for turning on a three-way light bulb all the way; she appears unhappy and tired of his penny-pinching antics. The apartment itself is no frills and resembles the one inhabited by Ralph and Alice Kramden on The Honeymooners, with an icebox and a kitchen table rather than a modern refrigerator and a separate dining room.

Throughout the episode, cheerful music sets the tone, in contrast with the events depicted. It is this contrast that makes the episode succeed as black comedy. Alexander is distressed to see a present on the kitchen table, and he's even more concerned to see a steak on his wife's dinner plate. She explains that when she was dusting in the back of the bedroom closet, she found bankbooks that he had hidden, showing over $33,000 saved in six different banks. To his horror, Jennifer is determined to live like other people. When he makes a weak attempt to forbid this, she announces that she will get a divorce. Once again, Gifford's reaction is unexpected yet consistent with his extreme cheapness; in voiceover, he is concerned about the cost of divorce in a community property state, not with the loss of his beloved spouse. When Jennifer suggests that she would rather not live at all if she can't live the way she wants to, he immediately thinks of murder, once again in voiceover.

There is a dissolve to a scene showing Alexander at a drugstore, where he examines a spinner rack of paperbacks and selects one titled The Bashful Killer, which features a fake cover that can be seen in a few other episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He is certain that he cannot commit murder himself, so Alexander vows to find someone else to do the job.

Another dissolve leads to a closeup of the scowling face of Monk McGinnis, a prisoner in the county jail. Alexander meets with Monk and matter-of-factly asks for the name of a colleague to help have someone "'bumped off'"--according to newspaper reports, Monk was a member of "'Crime, Inc.'" The mix of naivete and forthrightness in Gifford's approach to hiring someone to kill his wife is very funny, and Dennis Day makes the actions believable by performing them with a straight face. Monk, on the other hand is shocked (or at least he pretends to be shocked) by the request, loses his temper, and storms out of the interview room. Alexander is nonplussed.

Frank Richards as Monk McGinnis

Back at home, he sees that Jennifer has purchased a new hat and dress. Absentmindedly, he saves the string that has been tied around the package. There is a knock at the door and Alexander opens it to find someone who casually identifies himself as a hit man sent by Monk, who must have been more receptive to Alexander's request than he seemed at the time. Alexander and the unnamed hit man meet later on a park bench for one of the best scenes in the episode. As they begin to discuss the cost of murder for hire, a cop on the beat strolls by and the hit man immediately begins to speak gibberish until the policeman is out of earshot.

The hit man tells Alexander that "'five bills'" includes murder and disposal of the corpse. Alexander is pleased by the price and counts out five one-dollar bills, but when the crook clarifies that the price is $500, Alexander is shocked. The hit man is quite understanding and admits, "'I'm a family man with expenses myself.'" He suggests that Alexander do the job himself and, in what may be the only time a character on Alfred Hitchcock Presents refers to an event from another episode of the series, mentions a TV show he saw where a "'cute dame...clobbered her old man over the head with a frozen leg of lamb.'" Of course he's referring to the classic episode, "Lamb to the Slaughter," which had aired a year before, on April 13, 1958. Alexander, remaining true to form, shoots down this suggestion with his reply, "'at 59 cents a pound?'"

The hit man takes out a little notebook and draws a diagram of how to blow up a car, but Alexander thinks this would be too costly as well. Finally, the hit man suggests poison and recommends that Alexander visit his friend Arthur, who will sell him poison without keeping a record of the transaction.

As great as the scene on the park bench is, it may be topped by the scene that follows in the laboratory of the poisoner. With bubbling beakers all around, Arthur resembles a mad scientist and, though he is at first reticent about talking to Alexander, once the visitor reveals that he is there to buy poison to murder his wife, Arthur perks up and pulls out a scrapbook with newspaper clippings of what seem like accidental deaths but what are really examples of his skilled work with poison. All seems to be going well until he tells Alexander the price of a bottle of "'L'amour de Nightshade'"--$600! Alexander exits as fast as he can.

Fred Essler as Arthur

Home again, Alexander sees a front page story (in the neighbor's newspaper, of course) about food poisoning at a picnic and gets an idea. In a scene where the only dialogue comes in Alexander's voiceover, he visits a biologist, who is not among the criminals Alexander has been visiting and, while the man's back is turned, Alexander pilfers a sample of botulism toxin by dipping his fountain pen into a test tube and filling it up with the poisonous liquid!

Back at home, Jennifer--dressed in a new outfit and very happy--leaves, at which point her husband emerges, takes a ham out of the refrigerator, and draws a big, black X on it with his poisoned pen. Later, at dinner, his wife has eaten the ham; Alexander says he was not hungry. That evening, while getting ready for bed, Jennifer collapses to the floor, poisoned by the contaminated ham. Alexander is visibly delighted. The next day, after Alexander gets home from work, a doctor makes a house call and emerges from the bedroom to tell Alexander that Jennifer is very ill. The doctor takes what's left of the ham to have it tested for botulism and, after he leaves, Alexander watches as his wife writhes in pain in bed. He ensures that she does not recover by smothering her with a throw pillow that bears the slogan, "Home Sweet Home."

Gage Clarke as the doctor

Next day, the doctor again visits and fills out the death certificate. Alexander is unhappy at the prospect of a costly funeral but, in the show's final shot, he is seen emerging from the front door of a medical school, where he has just sold his wife's corpse for $75!

There are moments in "Cheap is Cheap" where director Bretaigne Windust achieves a noir look, such as the shot early on when Alexander is looking into the living room light and criticizing Jennifer for turning on all three filaments. The first view of Monk's face in jail and the nighttime conversation on the park bench also feature noir lighting, though these shots contrast with the humorous conversations taking place.

Alexander is utterly consistent throughout the episode, viewing everything that happens through a lens of cost and waste. His wife seems like a reasonable person, yet to Alexander, her behavior is unacceptable and he is justified in seeking her demise. To him, marriage is far less important than money and he thinks of murder as "'the only sensible solution.'" Alexander completely fails to understand how his actions appear, so he matter-of-factly approaches Monk and asks for help planning his wife's murder.

Jack Lambert as the hit man

Of all of the criminals whom Alexander encounters, the hit man is perhaps most like him. He arrives at the apartment door like a door-to-door salesman, only what he's selling is murder for hire. On the park bench he tells Alexander that "'we depend on a volume business'" and he is nonplussed by his potential customer's cheapness; instead, he is quite understanding and they engage in a civil discussion. Arthur, the mad scientist, laughs hysterically after he reads each headline about death from his scrapbook aloud; once again, murder is treated lightly. Only when a price is quoted does Alexander decide that Arthur is a "'dangerous maniac.'" In the end, Alexander never seems psychotic, despite his murderous behavior: everything he does is perfectly in line with his love of money above all else. The humor in "Cheap is Cheap" is similar to that which Hitchcock usually engages in during his comments before and after each episode. Most satisfying of all is that Alexander never changes, never sees the error of his ways, never gets a comeuppance. He lives in a world where murdering one's profligate wife is completely understandable and not deserving of punishment.

"Cheap is Cheap" is one of two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents directed by Bretaigne Windust (1906-1960). Born in Paris, his family escaped to London during World War One and returned to Paris after the war. His parents divorced in 1920 and he and his mother moved to America, where he became a successful Broadway director, staging plays from the mid-thirties to the late fifties. He moved to Hollywood in 1947 and directed films from 1948 to 1952 and television shows from 1957 to 1960. He directed one other episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "The Avon Emeralds."

Dennis Day (1916-1988), who stars as Alexander, was born Owen McNulty and began appearing on the radio in 1939. He served in the Navy in WWII and was a regular singer on Jack Benny's show on radio and TV until Benny's death in 1964. Day continued to appear on screen until 1981 and this was his only role on the Hitchcock TV show. "Cheap is Cheap" aired two hours after The Jack Benny Show on CBS's Sunday night lineup.

Alice Backes (1923-2007) plays Jennifer; after serving as a WAVE during WWII, she worked in radio and then in film from 1948 to 1978. Her busy TV career lasted from 1952 to 1997 and included roles on Thriller, The Night Stalker, and six episodes of the Hitchcock series, including "The Jar."

In smaller roles:

• Fred Essler (1895-1973) as Arthur, the mad scientist who sells poison; born Fritz Essler in Vienna, he appeared on screen from 1943 to 1966 and this was his only role on the Hitchcock show.
• Jack Lambert (1920-2002) as the hit man on the park bench; he started on Broadway and then went to Hollywood, where he played many tough guys in a screen career that lasted from 1942 to 1970. He was on Thriller and appeared in three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "The Better Bargain."
• Gage Clarke (1900-1964) as the doctor; he was on Broadway from the late 1920s and his screen career lasted from 1949 to 1964. Clarke was on The Twilight Zone and Thriller and he appeared in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "The Right Kind of Medicine."
• Frank Richards (1909-1992) as Monk McGinnis, the prisoner; he served in WWII and appeared on radio; his screen career lasted from 1940 to 1984. He was on The Twilight Zone and one other episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "The Baby-Blue Expression."

"Cheap is Cheap" aired on CBS on Sunday, April 5, 1959. Watch it online here or order the DVD here. Read the GenreSnaps review of this episode here.

This cover shows up in other episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. See "Breakdown" (where the book is called Wolf Woman Strikes),  "Nightmare in 4-D," (Night of Horror) and "Insomnia." (The Bashful Killer).

Sources:

"Burt Styler." Burt Styler Oral History, www.classictvhistory.com/OralHistories/burt_styler.html.

"Cheap is Cheap." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 4, episode 26, CBS, 5 April 1959.

The FICTIONMAGS Index, www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/0start.htm.

"Finding Aid for the Albert Lewin Papers PASC.0314." Online Archive of California, oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt6k40398f/entire_text/.

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub., 2001.

IMDb, www.imdb.com.

Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org.

Listen to Al Sjoerdsma discuss "I Killed the Count, part one" here!

Listen to Annie and Kathryn discuss "Cheap is Cheap" here!

In two weeks: our short series on Albert E. Lewin and Burt Styler concludes with a look at "Craig's Will," starring Dick van Dyke and Stella Stevens!

Batman in the 1960s Issue 20: March/ April 1963

The Caped Crusader in the 1960s
by Jack Seabrook
& Peter Enfantino

Moldoff

Detective Comics #313

"The Mystery of the $1,000,000 Treasure Hunt"

Story by Dave Wood

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

"The Wizard Who Conquered J'onn J'onzz"

Story Uncredited

Art by Joe Certa

Commissioner Gordon receives a tip from an anonymous source that a heist is about to go down at the Store-All Warehouse and, rather than bother his cops, calls Batman and Robin to investigate. The boys arrive to witness Boss Barker and one of his thugs inside the warehouse, monkeying with a grandfather clock. The Dynamic Duo drop into the scene just as the clock shoots out restraining arms, trapping Barker's goon. At that moment, two members of a rival gang burst through the doors, tommy-guns a' blazin'. What gives?

After disarming and nabbing the criminals, Batman interrogates one of the hoods and learns that all the criminals in Gotham are on a high-stakes treasure hunt worth one million clams. Seems gangster Eli Maddan, lost at sea a month before, left a will with instructions for the hunt. Every goon in Gotham got one. Now they're all searching for clues to the prize. Maddan didn't want it to be too easy, though, so he tricked up each location with dangerous traps. 

Intrigued, Batman takes the copy of the will and he and Robin try to solve the puzzle. This leads them to such dangerous traps as a giant milk bottle and a huge record album that transforms into a flying cage. This cage ensnares the Dark Knight and transports him to a nearby silo, where he meets up with... Eli Maddan! Yes, reports of the man's death were exaggerated. Turns out the entire treasure hunt was designed to nab the Caped Crusader. Maddan is being paid one million to kill Gotham's favorite hero. He pushes a button and the cage containing Batman explodes. Next month in Detective Comics... J'onn J'onzz takes over the lead spot.

Just fooling! Batman is too smart for the gangster; picking up on an earlier clue and suspecting a trap, Batman sent Mecha-Batman in his place. The real Bats is in disguise in the silo and puts the cuffs on Maddan, who wishes he were dead. "The Mystery of the $1,000,000 Treasure Hunt" is one of those overly-complicated adventures that never satisfies in the end. It seems way too familiar. There are a couple of good chuckles to be had, though, if you pay attention. Despite Fred Wertham outing Batman and Robin as homosexuals in his groundbreaking study, I'm Gonna Run Comics Into the Ground, the professor must have frowned at writer Bill's obvious middle Finger panel of Bruce and Dick waking in the same room. Now, to be fair, they're in separate beds, but the point is that Wayne Manor has 66 bedrooms and they're sharing what appears to be one of the smallest. Gotham's gigantism fetish rears its ugly head once again with the big bottle factory. Who needs a whole factory devoted to making twelve-foot-tall glass bottles?

The Martian Manhunter tries to figure out why super-mob-boss Argus Weede is so interested in the Wand of Wodessa, an archaic, charming relic that has no power whatsoever. Or so J'onn J'onzz believes, until he sees Weede wield the wand and wreak havoc across the land. "The Wizard Who Conquered J'onn J'onzz" continues the ever-downward spiral of quality in the Martian Manhunter back-up. MM's villains are disposable, a new mob boss every issue it seems, and the routine is... routine. The only saving grace is that Zook must have been out of town this time out. Why do these early 1960s gangsters dress like business men? -Peter

Jack-What must it have been like to live in Gotham City at this time, surrounded by so many giant objects? No one seems the least bit surprised by oversized milk bottles or enormous record players that never stop. The puns fly fast and furious in this story. which I thought was pretty good. In the 1980s, this would have merited a multi-issue arc! As for J'onn J'onzz, it was good to see a villain with some power, though I did not see any explanation for his magical abilities. The art was better than usual.

Kane & Paris

Batman #154

"Danger Strikes Four"

Story by Bill Finger

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

"The Amazing Odyssey of Batman and Robin"

Story by Bill Finger

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

"The Strange Experiment of Doctor Dorn"

Story by Bill Finger

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

Dick happens upon Alfred as the butler is writing another imaginary story about Batman II and Robin II. The young ward reads the incomplete story, which tells of a giant robot named Magog that is hijacked by a renegade scientist who demands $1,000,000 or else the robot will go rampaging through Gotham City the next day. A quick look at the crime files tells Bruce Wayne that the scientist is a rare book nut, so a fake ad is placed in the paper to draw him out. The plan works and the scientist's hideout is discovered, but the robot is accidentally launched and is heading to wreak havoc on Gotham when the story is suspended because Alfred has run out of ideas.

Bruce bursts in to tell Dick about a real emergency, so they don their costumes and rush to the state pen, where a crook reveals that his gang is set to send a buzz bomb toward Gotham unless the crook is freed by 4 PM. Using a trick from Alfred's story, they locate the hideout and find the bomb, but it (like the robot in the story) is accidentally launched! To the Batplane! Robin makes a daring leap in mid-air and sends the bomb safely out to sea; he goes home and tells Alfred how to end his story with similar heroics.

Usually, the imaginary stories by Alfred are presented with a straight face until some wacky thing happens and it's revealed that what we're reading is not really happening. In "Danger Strikes Four," there's no secret, and the story is used to parallel real events. A detail from the story helps with the real crime, and the solution to the real crime is used to end the story. It all works out neatly but it's kind of dull. The robot is named Magog, which is a name from the Bible and the Koran; thanks, Wikipedia!

I also want to note that it seems the real Bob Kane penciled the cover, which is not something we see often (ever?). I was skeptical, but all of my research seems to suggest that he really drew it.

Batman and Robin were sailing the Bat-Boat to judge the yachting regatta in Bay City, but in the morning mists by the shore, two fisherman discover the battered hulk with no sign of the Dynamic Duo! The ship's log is recovered and Commissioner Gordon reads it over the airwaves that evening to explain the tragic story of "The Amazing Odyssey of Batman and Robin" and how it led to their deaths! Six hours out of port, they encountered a submerged volcano and a tidal wave that swept them into uncharted waters. They managed to avoid being drawn in by a giant Cyclops made entirely of lodestone by ancient people and made their way to an uncharted island.

After being caught by natives, they met the Great Kardo, a former circus magician who had turned to crime. He explained how he discovered a plant whose juice causes temporary amnesia, so he planned to use it in a robbery in Gotham City. Kardo escaped by seaplane and the Bat-Boat again set sail, until a giant squid attacked--and the logbook ends. Kardo goes ahead with his robbery, but--surprise!--he is stopped by Batman and Robin, who only pretended to be dead in order to draw him into the open.

Holy complicated plan! First of all, Kardo goes to a lot of trouble collecting amnesia juice from plants on an uncharted island only to use it to make cops in Gotham City woozy so he can rob the $100,000 in prize money that would otherwise be given to the winner of a TV contest. Second, Batman and Robin cook up a crazy plan that includes faking their own deaths, just so they can capture Kardo in the act! Most surprising to me was the fact that all of the things they encountered were real! Why not just fake the logbook and head home and relax?

A big, green, hairy monster is rampaging through Gotham City! Bullets have no effect, nor does fire. Batman deduces that the monster must have been in Dr. Dorn's mountaintop laboratory and he's right--Batman and Robin  drive to the lab and the monster promptly knocks them both out with socks to the jaw. They later awaken to find it gone and trail it to a chemical supply house, where the Dynamic Duo witness the creature stealing two bottles of rare chemicals.

Still later, they find a groggy Dr. Dorn in his lab. He gives them an antidote to destroy "The Strange Experiment of Dr. Dorn," but when Batman later has the opportunity to fling some chemicals as the monster starts to dismantle a bridge, he hesitates. Later, Batman and Robin watch through Dr. Dorn's window and witness the doctor unwillingly transform into the creature. They follow him on his next rampage and, once he returns to the lab, Batman uses a gaseous antidote to cure the poor doc once and for all.

Does something smell in here? Sorry, it's just this story, which is not just poorly illustrated and boring, but also utterly lacking in surprise or suspense. A five-year-old reader would not be challenged to figure out the monster's identity early on. I need an antidote for issues like this one.-Jack

Peter-Once again, in "Danger Strikes Four," Al neglects his Batsuit mending and puts fingers to Smith Corona for the benefit of all mankind. If Al has to have a tea and fantasy break, couldn't he come up with more imaginative plots than this drivel? I do like that Finger brought back Hal Durgin, if only for a bit of continuity. "The Amazing Odyssey..." is a tad better; lots of smiles crossed my face as I imagined an undersea volcano eruption and an "uncharted" island between Gotham and Bay City (wherever that is) that no one notices. Also, I love the Lovecraftian diary entry from Bats while Robin risks his life: "...Robin fights the tentacles of the gigantic octopus up top while I put these important words on paper. Wait, it's coming through the door... it's reaching for me... aaaaargh..." Did the lodestone statue have anything to do with any of the other events that transpired in this white-knuckler? Of the three stories this issue, I enjoyed "Dr. Dorn" the most, despite its truly hideous art. Better Dr. Jekyll than Trorg, Invader from the X-5 System, I always says. This story really accentuates Batman's wild stabs at what's going on (and 100% of the time he's on the money); he sees a piece of lint laying on the road and hypothesizes it's from Dr. Dorn's belly-button. World's Greatest Detective.

Moldoff

Detective Comics #314

"Murder in Movieland"

Story by Bill Finger

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

"J'onn J'onzz vs. John Jones"

Story by Jack Miller (?)

Art by Joe Certa

Commissioner Gordon notifies Batman and Robin that faded screen star Roger Carlyle has made threatening threats toward his former bosses at Monarch Pictures. Carlyle's career had descended into the crapper and the strain had made his brain short-circuit. Now, he blames the trio of millionaires for his problems.

First up, dressed as the Phantom of the Opera, Carlyle drops a ten-ton chandelier on the head of Henry Austin and then avoids capture by the Dynamic Duo. As Batman and Robin speed from the scene of the crime, the Dark Knight informs Robin that the masked man dressed as the Phantom could have been anyone. It's well-known to the subscribers of Variety (of which Bruce Wayne is an avid reader) that the three Monarch bosses have been warring amongst themselves for control of the studio. Carlyle might just be a scapegoat!

The duo motor to the palatial estate of exec Will Bates to check on his status; there they find fellow studio boss, Harmon, in a state of anxiety. He's just received a typewritten death threat from Roger Carlyle and wanted to see if Bates was still standing on two legs. After getting no response to the door's huge knockers, Batman, Robin, and Harmon enter to find the mansion empty. On the kitchen table is a death threat to Bates, signed by Carlyle. But where is Bates? Just then, Batman remembers an old Rona Barrett column in Variety, where the gossip queen excitedly bragged about her trip to Bates's private island. Bats and Robin inflate the Bat-Boat and head out to the island.

En route to the island, Batman and Robin catch a glimpse of Bates's yacht just before a mechanical white whale emerges from the sea and violently rams the vehicle. Bates sinks below the waves as the Dynamic Duo watch helplessly. An evil cackle emits from a hatch atop the whale and the boys spy a masked villain exiting the blowhole; surely, this must be Roger Carlyle, reenacting his most famous role as Ahab in Moby Dick (in this universe, Gregory Peck was off making a Grade-Z oater at the time). Batman hops aboard the craft but Carlyle escapes. 

The Caped Crusaders head to Monarch Studios, where Harmon is waiting for them. When they arrive, they're told by guards that their boss has been kidnapped by Carlyle and has been stuffed onto an old locomotive at the studio's western set. The heroes arrive just as the train is heading for the cliff and Bats rescues Harmon in the nick of time. Bats picks up a Fedora and examines it closely, remembering an old column in The Hollywood Reporter about the hat sizes of movie producers, and loudly proclaims that Carlyle could never have worn a hat such as this, stuffed with paper. Robin, doing his best to keep up, proudly states that the murderer couldn't possibly be Carlyle! The World's Greatest Detective then throws his index finger skyward and reminds his pre-teen chum that Bates's body was never found!

Um yeah...

The Duo head back to Bates's castle, where they discover master thespian Roger Carlyle handcuffed to a radiator in the basement. Carlyle explains that Bates was never on the yacht (he set the wheel to steer the craft without a skipper!!!) and that he's the monster behind the murders of Harmon and Austin. Bats tells the stressed movie star that he and Robin were able to save Harmon and that Carlyle should go home and get some rest. Shortly thereafter, the masked killer enters through the window of Harmon's study, where the producer is enjoying a book and a cognac. "This time, I'll make sure of your death!" cackles the madman, just before Harmon rises from his La-Z-Boy and decks him. He then removes his face to reveal Batman (ears and all) underneath. The killer is unmasked and Roger Carlyle stands before them. "Holy double-twist, Batman!" exclaims the bewildered Boy Wonder. Batman then explains all the intricate details that went into Carlyle's plan but, by then, Robin is napping. Needless to say, Roger Carlyle will be performing To Kill a Mockingbird only for his cellmates in the future.

Um, but...

At times, Bill Finger can load his scripts with endless, unneeded intricacies, as in the fabulously enjoyable "Murder in Movieland." There's way too much plot and at least five more twists than the average eight-year-old can hold in his tiny brain; it was certainly harder to follow than the average funny book story. The two-page Agatha Christie-esque expository at the climax had me reaching for a bottle of Excedrin. But, despite those drawbacks, this was one pleasurable funny book story in both story and art (hard to believe this is the same team we cringe at most months), a harkening back to the 1940s-style murder mysteries that the Dark Knight became famous for. I love how Carlyle has access to all these movie props and, even better, that any studio would build a mechanical whale that could actually hold its own as a motorboat and a battering ram. How about the backlot western set that includes fully-fueled locomotive plus deadly cliff drop? Sign me up for more of these retro-adventures.

In "J'onn J'onzz vs. John Jones," the Martian Manhunter faces his deadliest challenge in over thirty days when an escaped con from Saturn overpowers Jones and takes on his Earthbound identity. Only pretty patrolwoman Diane Meade and sidekick, Zook, can save J'onn from "himself." Lame story, lame art, lather, rinse, repeat. Just once I'd like to finish one of these awful Martian Manhunter stories with something other than an eye-roll. What the hell does Captain Harding do besides sit behind his desk and act angry? Why is Diane Meade always in the wrong spot at the right time? Why does a guy from Saturn know about oil companies and their underground pipes? Nothing in this twelve-page abomination points to creativity.-Peter

Jack-I'm right there with you regarding the Martian Manhunter story, which features unusually stilted art, the usual gang of lame supporting characters, and the Zook, which seems to have landed in a superhero comic rather than a funny animal comic by mistake. I'm not with you on the Batman story, which I found mediocre despite what initially seemed like a good premise. It's hard to believe a story with Batman and the Phantom of the Opera could be such a drag.

Next Week...
Everett Continues to Dazzle!