Show119
Grace Halley’s contract is an interesting snapshot of 1950s/60s values and expectations. It wasn’t unusual for a married woman to be disqualified from many jobs (sometimes not officially), including schoolteaching. While that is unfair, when we see what happens to people like Britney Spears and Charlie Sheen, maybe at least the “moral turpitude” clauses in contracts should be brought back. Submitted by gracenote, 9/16/2011.
+ Another interesting bit of archaic attitude: Albright just assumes that because he declares his love for Grace she'll instantly reciprocate his feelings. OLEF641 3/11/21
Grace didn't need a lawyer. She seemed to know she was in violation of the contract. Her living arangements and Buddy's comments about being tired of sneaking around showed that. If she wanted to break the contract all she had to do was have Mr. Frye move into the apartment or just inform the company of her status. Submitted by H. Mason 11/9/14
I think that the Grace character wanted to break the contract on her own terms: had the company known of her marriage, she might have been terminated and even accused of 'playing up' to Herman Albright - once one is suspect of deception, then other crimes can be suspected of you. Submitted by MikeReese, 12/11/2015
+ like 'subversive activity' ? StreetSense 10/28/2020
Several times we hear that evidence at the scene indicates the crime was committed by a woman, but are never told what that evidence is. What could it be? DOD 12/14/23
We must assume Caffrey arranged to meet Joy at the bar and told her to look for someone wearing that particular vest. Wouldn't Albright's rather naive and completely unsuspecting behaviour have been a tipoff all was not what it seemed? DOD 10/02/18
> And just why was Albright so unsuspecting ?? Didn't Caffrey offer any explanation of what was going on ?? wouldn't he think to ask ?? (Of course we don't see the entire interaction, and his not asking would mesh well with his general gullibility). Really the whole scenario - talk of an "unescorted" female, someone wearing a tattersall vest (or even knowing the term) - is so much of another era it's hard to relate to it...I see a modern remake being along the lines of TCOT Fatal Flip Flops. Notcom, 031221.
The superintendent of the apartment where TV repair man Paul finds clothing belonging to Caffrey, refers to a bald man going in and out all the time. Who is he actually referring to? Submitted by Wick 5/10/2022
Questions: Did Debutante Cosmetics get a new advertising agency? Did they keep Grace as Miss Debutante? Submitted by H. Mason 11/9/14
Ugh. Is 'Ida Albright' about as unpleasant a wife as a woman could get? And is 'Herman Albright' the most naive husband? I wonder, is a spouse (or more specifically, a husband) really responsible for their mates' gambling debts? I would have told 'Ida' that she could box with the Outfit boys (I'm from Chicago, so I KNOW) all she wanted ... wonder how much life insurance 'Ida' had? And as far as 'Herman' is concerned, my mother used to say, "There's no fool like an old fool", about such matters - well, a guy can dream, can't he? Submitted by MikeReese 11/27/14
+ I didn't understand that too. If she was such an unpleasant wife, he should have just handed her to the Casino guys and said "she wrote the bad checks, she's your problem."--yelocab 26FEB19
++ I think the issue is that the company can't afford any more scandal, with one partner already in jail. To protect the company and thereby his career, Albright pays off her debts. Although we do see people paying off gambling debts for spouses, siblings, grown children, etc., in other episodes. Sometimes out of love, a desire to protect the family reputation or to be spared personal shame. Just like having a baby out of wedlock was scandalous to a degree hard to imagine now, I guess gambling debts were, too! Submitted by JazzBaby, 9/8/2019.
This episode seems devoted to revealing the make-believe mindset of advertising people of the time, demonstrating that the best salesmen have to believe their own pitches.
- Albright is a wonderfully delusional character, who just 'knows' the beautiful young Grace would 'of course' instantly give up everything to run off to Mexico with him--and Erik Rhodes is the perfect actor for this part, as anyone who has seen him as the inflated, fantasy-driven Rodolfo Tonetti in "The Gay Divorcee" would recognize.
- Ida Albright seems equally caught up in her own fantasy world (PM has quite a few gambling addicts!), and she seems bizarrely unconcerned about just how the awful mess she has created will end up.
- Ad man Caffrey thinks out loud using goofy football analogies: 'Albright, you’re a very important member of our team here--but no one is irreplaceable...but on the other hand, the quarterback can only throw the passes--got to have somebody else to catch the ball!'
Meanwhile, the 'sane' Grace and her husband have been working this crazy advertising world for some success in violation of her contract, and she withholds HUGE parts of her story from Perry--even though she's been charged with murder--to hide the fact she is married. Submitted by ckbtao 5/25/20
Classic Line when Ida Albright is identifying her husband's body, and Tragg pursues the issue of the namesake vest, she replies "he wouldn't be caught dead in that!" (Given the commonality of the remark, we'll never know if black humour was intended by the writers or not, but the way the scene is played leaves the viewer well aware of irony of the remark.) Submitted by Notcom, 120115.
... and note how 'moved' Ida Albright is by her husbands' death .. Submitted by MikeReese. 12/11/2015
Dorothy Green looks a lot like Whitney Blake (TCOT Restless Redhead, TCOT Black-eyed Blonde). jfh 07Feb2019
Once in the main show, and again in the wrap-up, it was mentioned that the police knew that Herman Albright had been "shot by a woman" (and the whole case turned on that). How does a woman shoot? Underhand? Maybe it was the wimpy .25 caliber automatic brought to bear. "You shoot like a girl" sounds like a schoolyard taunt. JohnK, 9 October 2015
> I believe the mention is more along the lines of "there was evidence the person in the car with him was a woman", so presumably she was either seen or left behind something - a scent of perfume, a dropped lipstick - that indicated such...but of course not so revealing as to actually identify her. Notcom, 022720.
++ To quote Paul Drake, citing the "dope" that the police would give him: "All the evidence in the car points to the fact that Albright was killed by a woman." OLEF641 3/11/21
It does seem a rather weak point. After all, if there was evidence a woman was in the car, that does not necessarily mean that woman was the killer. Another of those plot devices we aren’t meant to think about too much. DOD 11/12/21
Mrs. Diamond, witness I have checked twice but maybe I missed it: Diamond testified that she saw Albright many times going in and out of Grace's apartment. Further Burger grilled Grace's husband Buddy, saying he could not dispute Diamond's testimony. What became of this? What did Diamond see? Rick P 10/18/21