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IRONSIDE: I, THE PEOPLE (TV)

Summary

One in this series about Robert Ironside, a former police chief paralyzed from the waist down by a would-be assassin's bullet.

Ross Howard, host of a politically-charged late-night talk show, has recently been receiving death threats, and Commissioner Randall asks Ironside to look into it. Howard is considered to be a hero by many due to his heroic actions in the Korean War. Ironside is reluctant to take on the assignment, especially since Howard has been attacking another police officer, Captain Walter Finch, on his show repeatedly. However, Howard plans to run for the United States Senate, and thus must be protected as a political figure. Ironside visits Howard’s show and his met by his producer, Martha Webb. He meets Howard as well as Phil Manning, one of Howard’s employees who seems rather resentful of him. On the program, Howard incites his audience by verbally attacking various people and groups, including a college professor in favor of civil disobedience and a woman collecting welfare checks to take care of her children. Howard continues to call out Captain Finch, accusing him of police brutality, which further draws out Ironside’s dislike of Howard.

Ironside examines the death-threat letters to Howard while backstage with him; there are many who detest Howard and have lawsuits pending against him, thus the list of potential suspects is enormous. One of the guests on his show attempts to break into his dressing room; he is carried away but Howard seems shaken by this intrusion. Suddenly Howard collapses and is taken to a hospital; it is discovered that a box of fudge given to him by one of his regular audience members was poisoned with arsenic. Ironside and his team are on the investigation, although the letters themselves offer few clues save for a certain aluminum-based substance found on the envelope. Ironside is visited by Capt. Finch, who reveals that Howard, via Phil’s snooping, discovered that Capt. Finch was the subject of a disturbing the peace call twenty years ago, and that he allegedly hit his wife. However, the claim is untrue and was reported by an overly suspicious neighbor. Capt. Finch is very angry about Howard’s claims and wants to go on his show to refute them in person, but Ironside warns him not to, believing that it would only strengthen Howard’s claims.

Howard returns home from the hospital and his greeted by Norma, his much-younger wife; Norma no longer loves Howard and spends a great deal of her time drinking. He conceals the attempt on his life from her. Ironside reviews the footage of Howard’s show just before he was poisoned, and observes that the box of fudge he was given was switched between the time when it was received and the time when he opened it, meaning that someone in the studio at the time made the attempt. Detective Brown questions Phil, who says that although he hates Howard, he didn’t try to kill him. He explains that he had his own television show, but that Howard’s show bumped him off of the air, and furthermore he claims that Howard has no secrets that he could find out about him; he continues to work for Howard due to the high-paying job he offers him. Ironside and his team investigate further and find out that the day after Norma’s father died, she filed for divorce but withdrew it two days later. They also discover that Martha received a large check from Howard two weeks ago for no discernible reason, and that Phil and Norma used to date before she married Howard.

Another attempt is made on Howard’s life, this time via a drive-by shooting. Howard shows Ironside the bullet hole that the attempt made in his garage, and claims that it was too dark to accurately perceive the car. Norma confronts Howard in private and tries to get him to sign divorce papers, stating that she’s had it with him. It turns out that Howard served in the same marine unit as Norma’s father during the war, and blackmailed her into staying with him, otherwise he would reveal the fact that her father was not deserving of the accolades given to him for acts ascribed to him during the war. However, Norma perpetuates a blackmail scheme of her own, and gets Howard to sign the divorce papers. He tells her about the murder attempts, but she doesn’t believe him, and afterwards he invites her out to dinner to calm both of them down.

Whitfield finds out from Martha the real reason that Phil had to leave his show: he was discovered bribing a senatorial aide and the network fired him. She says that Phil’s job on Howard’s show is to find out incriminating facts about Howard’s guests. Norma secretly sends a message out of the house while Capt. Finch waits outside. Norma is then killed with a bomb rigged up to the ignition switch of her car. Police and firefighters are on the scene, as well as Ironside and Capt. Finch. The type of explosive device used was known to the man in Howard’s military unit, but Ironside is more worried about Capt. Finch: he claims he was there to confront Howard over his accusations towards him, but Ironside fears that Capt. Finch will be a suspect in Norma’s murder due to his bomb squad experience. At the studio, Martha and Phil come to blows over Norma’s death and Martha’s relationship with Howard. Howard stumbles out of his house and issues a proclamation to a news camera, calling out Norma’s murderer.

Soon Howard is back on his show, and Ironside visits Martha there again. She claims the check Howard gave her was a loan towards her new house. Capt. Finch arrives and decides that despite Ironside’s warnings he is going to confront Howard on his show. Phil arrives and receives the letter that Norma sent out, it turns out to have been intended for him. Ironside looks on and confronts him over the lies he told the police about the circumstances behind him losing his show and what he found out about Howard. Ironside believes that Phil’s high-paying job is a form of blackmail on Howard’s part, and Phil reluctantly gives Ironside the letters, bearing a brief message from Norma. Capt. Finch gets extremely agitated while on air with Howard until Ironside steps in and clears up the matter behind the old charges against Capt. Finch. Ironside then turns the matter towards the attempts on Howard’s life: the poison in the fudge was systemic and could only take effect over a long period of repeated doses. Furthermore, the aluminum substance on the letters was an ingredient in Howard’s stomach pills, indicating that he is the one who sent them. Howard denies all this but Ironside goes on with more evidence: the shot fired at Howard was from too close a range to have been from a vehicle, and reveals that the true person responsible for the heroic acts in the Korean War ascribed to Howard was his chauffeur, whom he paid to keep quiet. Norma discovered the man’s deposition and used that as blackmail to get Howard to sign the divorce papers, so Howard killed Norma with the car bomb, making it seem as though it was meant for him. The episode ends as Ironside has Capt. Finch arrest Howard, who vehemently denies the charges and pleads with his studio audience to believe him. Commercials deleted.

Details

  • NETWORK: NBC
  • DATE: October 31, 1968 8:30 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:47:01
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: T85:0564
  • GENRE: Drama, police
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police; African-American Collection - Drama
  • SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1967-1975
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Cy Chermak … Executive Producer
  • Douglas Benton … Producer
  • Barry Shear … Director
  • Collier Young … Created by
  • Milton Berle … Writer
  • Stephen Lord … Writer
  • Oliver Nelson … Music by
  • Quincy Jones … Theme Music by
  • Raymond Burr … Cast, Det. Robert Ironside
  • Don Galloway … Cast, Det. Sgt. Ed Brown
  • Barbara Anderson … Cast, Officer Eve Whitfield
  • Don Mitchell … Cast, Mark Sanger
  • Milton Berle … Cast, Ross Howard
  • Dane Clark … Cast, Phil Manning
  • Patricia Barry … Cast, Martha Webb
  • Gene Lyons … Cast, Commissioner Dennis Randall
  • Julie Adams … Cast, Norma Howard
  • George Murdock … Cast, Capt. Walter Finch
  • Abraham Sofaer … Cast, Maharishi Rahbu
  • Parley Baer … Cast, Commander Stevens
  • William Keene … Cast, Professor
  • Jason Wingreen … Cast, Man
  • Jean Howell … Cast, Woman
  • Jon Breakfield … Cast, College Student
  • Bill Welsh … Cast, Newscaster