CAGNEY & LACEY {CAGNEY AND LACEY}: JANE DOE #37 (TV)
Summary
One in this series of dramas about two policewomen, Chris Cagney and Mary Beth Lacey. Cagney and Lacey are put on recruitment duty, which they both despise. They also receive a case concerning a Jane Doe whose body was found by the river that morning, identifiable only by her shabby clothes and a rhinestone tiara. After some investigation they discover that the Jane Doe was a homeless woman living in the subway who called herself "Mary, Queen of Scots," claiming to be a descendent thereof. Further investigation reveals that she tried to give information to the police on the night she died and that she seemed highly agitated. Cagney and Lacey talk to the few officers who were at the station that night in the hopes of gaining more information, and they are given snippets of a seemingly nonsensical conversation "Mary" held with one of the desk sergeants. Next, they speak with the coroner, who gives them information about the circumstances of "Mary's" death. She was murdered via blunt force trauma to the head and was slightly intoxicated at the time of her death. Cagney is shocked to hear that "Mary" was severely underweight from malnourishment, and that although she appeared to be fifty years old she was actually in her mid-thirties; the coroner explains that these are side-effects of her homelessness. If they can't identify her in time, "Mary" will be buried as a Jane Doe. Cagney makes an excuse to not go to one of the recruitment session so that she can work on the case on her own time. She asks questions at a soup kitchen "Mary" used to frequent and learn that her only friend was a man named Maurice, and learns some disturbing facts about the homelessness problem in New York City. Cagney stays late at the police station to continue working on the case. After hours of guesswork and looking through files, she realizes that "Mary" was trying to tell the police that she saw a dead body on the pier off of 36th Street. She sends a team of divers to search the area, and they find a corpse at the bottom of the river. The body turns out to be a small-time mob boss who was shot in the head. Lt. Samuels takes Cagney and Lacey off the case, as the mystery behind the mob boss's body is under the jurisdiction of the OCCB; since they believe that "Mary" could be related to the case they wish to investigate her as well. They also discover that the recruitment board wishes to put them in a television commercial for the police force, much to their displeasure. Soon it becomes apparent that the OCCB is not particularly interested in "Mary's" identity, and Cagney is determined to find it out herself despite no longer being officially attached to the case. She tracks down her friend Maurice and talks to him, posing as "Mary's" niece. She learns more information about what "Mary" tried to report to the police, involving a truck company from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey. Cagney tries to take this information to the OCCB, but they don't want to move to quickly in the case. Cagney gets frustrated with their seeming apathy for "Mary" and is upset at the possibility that she might die without anyone ever knowing her true identity. To make matters worse, Cagney returns to her loft to find it ransacked and most of her possessions in ruins. She goes over to the Lacey residence to tell them about it; she is highly disturbed at the notion that she could end up just like "Mary" and feels a sort of empathy for her. While shooting the recruitment commercial, Cagney is approached by the OCCB and told that they have determined that the truck company "Mary" identified is a front for a mob operation. She participates in a raid on one of the mob operatives, only to find him dead in the trunk of his car. Lacey learns that she and Cagney are being taken off of the commercial, much to their relief. One of Cagney's leads pays off, and she finally learns "Mary's" identity: Mary Dunston, age 34, missing for six years. She also learns that Mary is survived by a husband and children; this revelation affects her emotionally. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: February 14, 1983 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:48:59
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:60774
- GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/private detective
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1982-1988
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Barney Rosenzweig … Executive Producer
- Harry R. Sherman … Supervising Producer
- Steve Brown … Producer
- Terry Louise Fisher … Producer
- Dick Reilly … Associate Producer
- P. K. Knelman … Associate Producer
- Stan Lathan … Director
- Barbara Avedon … Created by
- Barbara Corday … Created by
- Peter Lefcourt … Writer
- Dana Kaproff … Music by
- Bill Conti … Theme Music by
- Tyne Daly … Cast, Det. Mary Beth Lacey
- Sharon Gless … Cast, Det. Chris Cagney
- Al Waxman … Cast, Lt. Bert Samuels
- Carl Lumbly … Cast, Det. Marcus Petrie
- Martin Kove … Cast, Det. Victor Isbecki
- Sidney Clute … Cast, Det. Paul LaGuardia
- John Karlen … Cast, Harvey Lacey
- Troy Slaten … Cast, Michael Lacey
- Tony La Torre … Cast, Harvey Lacey Jr.
- Doris Roberts … Cast, Helen Freitas
- Dick Bakalyan … Cast, John Travis
- Stewart Moss … Cast, Joe Price
- Sal Viscuso … Cast, Keppler
- Paul Mantee … Cast, Lt. Sandusky
- Mary Grace Canfield … Cast, Shopping Cart Lady
- Peter Iacangelo … Cast, Bartender
- Jake Dengal … Cast, Maurice
- Harvey Atkin … Cast, Desk Sgt. Coleman
- Floyd Levine … Cast, Desk Sgt. Lubin
- Brian Burgess … Cast
- Jan Burrell … Cast
- Flo Di Re … Cast
- Vincent Palmieri … Cast