THE DOREEN MANEY STORY

Airdate: March 31st, 1960
Written by Jerome Ross
Directed by Robert Florey
Produced by David HeUweil
Director of Photography Charles Straumer
Special Guest Star Anne Francis
Co-starring Christopher Dark, Connie Hines. Featuring George Mitchell, Richard Rust,Robert J. Stevenson, Jim Hayward, Lovyss Bradley

“On the evening of June 8th, 1933, at the Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York City, Max Baer knocked out Max Schmelling in the tenth round of their scheduled fifteen-round fight. At the gate, $240,000. One hour later an armored truck left the stadium. It was on its way to the warehouse where the box office receipts would be kept until morning for deposit in the bank. As the truck turned onto Cromwell Avenue, a female pedestrian stepped off the curb. What was seemingly an accident was really the first step in a well-planned hold-up. A tear gas bomb dropped into the rear of the truck forced the guards out of the vehicle. Then, in complete silence, but with well-rehearsed precision, the transfer of the money began. The four members of the holdup gang were Doreen Maney, Glen Carson and the leader of the gang, Shiek Humphries. Picked up for this particular job was Jake Logan, triggerman.”

For nearly a year, Eliot Ness and his men have been coming up empty handed in their investigation of a series of armored truck robberies, with only Shiek Humphries (Christopher Dark) and an unknown female companion being named. Eager to hide their recent stash after several guards are murdered, Doreen Hines (Anne Francis) stashes the loot in a locker at Penn Station and hides the key nearby.

As the Lovebirds take refuge in Maney’s childhood home, Shiek’s charms win over her sister Maybelle (Connie Hines) whose abusive father has kept her away from men. Thanks to information from one of Shiek’s partners, Ness arrives at the house and when the crew breaks from hiding, they agree to split up. Doreen wrecks her getaway car and is apprehended.

Intending to use Doreen as bait, Ness hopes Shiek will intervene as he transports her to lock up. Smitten with Doreen’s sister, Shiek fakes a rescue attempt, but sends in Maybelle to find out where she stashed the haul from the robbery. Furious at being replaced by her sister, Ness allows Doreen to escape and lure Shiek to Penn Station and to the money.

After finally reuniting, Doreen turns on Shiek – and intends to kill him, but not before Ness intervenes and arrests them both.

“And so on June 25th, 1933, due to the efforts of Eliot Ness and his Untouchables, the lovebirds finally ended up in separate cages.”

REVIEW

The Doreen Maney Story is a slight deviation from the traditional Untouchables formula. As Ness spends far too much time waiting for Shiek to save his girlfriend, the audience spends too much time waiting for something to happen. This isn’t to say the episode is bad or poorly performed, but very little happens.

This is one of the first episodes to pair Ness closely with a female antagonist, a theme that would be explored to great acclaim in the Second Season opener The Rusty Heller Story. It’s clear that the presence of a woman gives the writers and Stack a little more to do with Ness’ characterization.

Christopher Dark is always the swarthy sheik type, and this time his name is Sheik and he’s making a play for the sister of his girlfriend while she’s held captive. Lovely guy. Connie Hines was once a sassy, fetching, nice-but-not-too-nice girl as she demonstrates in this installment and throws a little sex into the 1930’s gangster saga. As Sheik handily seduces Maybelle, the camera lingers on her face in extreme close up to hit home the point. A few years later, Hines turned into an average housewife married to some moron that kept a talking horse named Ed.

HISTORICAL OBSERVATIONS

Though a minor story point, the fight between Max Baer and Max Schmelling in June, 1933 as shown in the historical footage.

OBSERVATIONS

• The stock footage of the railroad station shows Grand Central Terminal. The real Penn Station still existed at the time this episode aired.
• During a moment of Winchell’s narration, Ness enters his office and briefly appears in a dark suit, which was rarely seen. The set for Ness’ office is redressed for the Sheriff’s office, which makes one suspect this may have been a shot lifted from an earlier episode given that no audible dialogue is heard.
• Speaking of Winchell, the narration that occurs mid-pursuit is another rare and unusual choice that feels like it could have been easily covered in dialogue.
• For some reason, the footage of Ness visiting Shiek’s dying partner is flipped horizontally.
• Lovyss Bradley will play a police Matron three times in the series (perhaps as the same character?) and one of the few recurring female background artists, appearing in seven episodes total.