DESILU PLAYHOUSE: THE UNTOUCHABLES {PART 2 OF 2} (TV)
Summary
The second of two programs on this tape. One in this anthology series, hosted by Desi Arnaz. This episode, part two of a two-part drama which ultimately served as the basis for a network series, is based on the cases of federal agent Eliot Ness and his team of investigators as they battle corruption during the Prohibition era. Arnaz briefly discusses the show before presenting Walter Winchell, who introduces the episode. Winchell talks about the March 19, 1930 return of Al Capone to Chicago, with his gang facing a "critical" situation in the form of Ness and the Untouchables. Winchell details how an irate Capone vowed to get revenge on Ness, while at the same time, Ness was preparing to wreck other illegal breweries. Later, Chicago alderman Ed Marriatt comes to Ness's office to try and bribe him, and soon all the Untouchables realize that the Capone gang is trying to buy them off with "cabbage." Meanwhile, the Capone gang breaks the wiretap, leaving Ness with only one source of inside information -- George Ritchie. When Ritchie is seen sporting some expensive clothes, Ness realizes that Ritchie double-crossed him. Ness forces Ritchie to help him locate one of Capone's most significant breweries, near the stockyards, by meeting with his wife's mob-connected uncle, Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik. However, Guzik refuses to give the needed information. Later, Ritchie winds up dead at Ness's doorstep. Meanwhile, Ness's fiancee Betty Anderson gets assaulted by Capone's men, threatening to harm her due to Ness's actions. Later, Ness and Anderson marry in a small ceremony. Then, with only minimal tips, Ness and the Untouchables take the "fat chance" of locating Capone's hidden brewery amongst the city's environs. Next, during a mafia ritual, one of Capone's men, Jimmy Napoli, receives the "kiss of death," meaning he will soon have to commit murder. Later, Napoli makes an assassination attempt on Ness. Instead, the bullets kill Joe Fuselli. After a tip from Fuselli's friend, Angelo Picco, the Untouchables go after Napoli. Though under federal protection, Picco is found dead, another potential eyewitness slain. After a covert midnight meeting at a warehouse, the Untouchables -- aided by additional federal agents -- burst into Capone's newest, biggest brewery, where a shootout ensues. The next morning at 11 a.m., Fuselli's funeral procession, complete with Capone's confiscated beer trucks, pass by Capone's window at the Lexington Hotel, enraging the mob boss. Finally, the government successfully completes a tax evasion case against Capone, putting him away for eleven years. The program ends with Winchell detailing how the lives of Capone and Ness ended. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: April 27, 1959 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:51:47
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: T:47006
- GENRE: Drama, historical
- SUBJECT HEADING: She Made It Collection (Lucille Ball); Drama, historical; Crime and criminals; Prohibition
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1958-1960
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Bert Granet … Executive Producer
- Quinn Martin … Producer
- Jack Aldworth … Associate Producer
- Phil Karlson … Director
- Paul Monash … Writer
- Eliot Ness … Writer, Based on the book "The Untouchables" by
- Oscar Fraley … Writer, Based on the book "The Untouchables" by
- Johny Green … Theme Music by
- Wilbur Hatch … Music by
- Desi Arnaz … Host
- Walter Winchell … Narrator
- Robert Stack … Cast, Eliot Ness
- Keenan Wynn … Cast, Joe Fuselli
- Barbara Nichols … Cast, Brandy LaFrance
- Pat Crowley … Cast, Betty Anderson
- Joe Mantell … Cast, George Ritchie
- Bill Williams … Cast, Martin Flaherty
- Bruce Gordon … Cast, Frank Nitti
- Neville Brand … Cast, Al Capone
- Peter Leeds … Cast, La Marr Kane
- Eddie Firestone … Cast, Eric Hansen
- Robert Osterloh … Cast, Tom Kopka
- Paul Dubov … Cast, Jack Rossman
- Abel Fernandez … Cast, William Youngfellow
- Wolfe Barzell … Cast, Angelo Picco
- Frank Wilcox … Cast, Beecher Asbury
- Peter Mamakos … Cast, Bomber Belcastro
- Wally Cassell … Cast, Phil D'Andrea
- Herman Rudin … Cast, Mops Volpe
- Richard Benedict … Cast, Fur Sammons
- Bern Hoffman … Cast, Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik
- de Kova, Frank … Cast, Jimmy Napoli
- James Westerfield … Cast, Ed Marriatt
- John Beradino … Cast, Johnny Giannini
- Paul Picerni … Cast, Tony Liguri