Joseph Sullivan | Through the Shattered Lens

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Decoy, which aired in Syndication in 1957 and 1958. The show can be viewed on Tubi!

Episode 1.33 “The Lieutenant Had A Son”

(Dir by David Alexander, originally aired on May 26th, 1958)

After spending five years overseas, career soldier Lt. Larry Hayes (Leo Penn) returns to New York City. He wants to see the son that he’s never met and he’s not happy when he discovers that, in his absence, his wife (Loretta Leversee) has married another man (Will Kuluva). His wife goes to the police for protection but, once it becomes obvious that she committed bigamy, Casey has to try to sort out who is married to who and who Larry, Jr. (Robie Grant) belongs with.

This was an odd episode. Absolutely no one was sympathetic. I even got annoyed with Casey for getting involved with these people. Lt. Hayes was a self-righteous martinet. His wife was a flake who simply didn’t seem to understand why she wasn’t being given a pass on the whole bigamy thing. Five year-old Larry, Jr. was played by a child named Robie Grant. I was not surprised to discover that this was Grant’s only credit because he was beyond lousy in the role. I have never been more annoyed by a five year-old.

The most interesting thing about this episode is that Larry Hayes is played by Leo Penn, the father of Sean, Chris, and Michael Penn. Leo Penn gives a believable performance as Larry. It wasn’t his fault that the character wasn’t particularly likable.

Episode 1.28 “Ladies Man”

(Dir by Stuart Rosenberg, originally aired on April 21st, 1958)

A man named (Michael Tolan) approaches Pearl Dillard (Chris Kane) at a subway station and gives her a box that he claims is an x-ray camera. The man claims to be an insurance investigator and he says that he’s pursuing a woman (Lois Nettleton) who has stolen some diamonds. He says that he needs Pearl to take a picture of the woman. Because it’s an X-ray camera, it will reveal that she has the diamonds on her. While the woman waits for her train, Pearl points the box at her and pushes a button. However, it turns out that the box is not hiding a camera but a gun! Pearl shoots the woman in the back.

The woman is named Lois and the man was her husband, Mike. The police get a tip that Mike is hiding out at an upstate hunting lodge. Casey, who pretends to be a lost tourist, heads up to the lodge. Mike is indeed there. With Mike is his new girlfriend (Joan Harvey), who refuses to believe that Mike could have done anything wrong.

This episode was a bit more melodramatic than the typical episode of Decoy. I found it hard to believe that anyone would fall for Mike’s camera-box lie but I guess there are probably people out there who would be naive enough to believe him. (I might accept the box from Mike but I would throw it away the first chance I got.) Unfortunately, once Casey tracked Mike down, Michael Tolan’s performance was so over-the-top that it became difficult to take him or the episode seriously.

Decoy worked better as a low-key, melancholiac show. I usually love melodrama but this episode didn’t work for me.