You've heard the expression - 'He would kill his own mother....". Well, that's the story here, as a self-important public relations manager for Goliath Studios concocts the idea of making a recently deceased actress bigger than Valentino. If you're a viewer who came along after the Seventies or so, you probably can't even relate to that, but I digress. Nevertheless, the hype that PR man Jimmy Dolan (Joby Baker) is looking to build falls in the lap of a writer named Steve (Harp McGuire), who with all the patience of a saint puts up with Jimmy's theatrics to give him what he wants. But when the 'dead' actress turns up very much alive, it scuttles Jimmy's plans unless he can come up with another solution. He does, and says it was an accident, but this is one love secret from beyond the grave that will be his last.
8 Reviews
A PR Guru to die for
michael-115129 January 2023
What's with all the negativity here, this 1960 episode is a pastiche with over the top acting and such deep levels of cynicism, the Beverley Hillbillies could have dug a well with it.
Betsy Blake, a somewhat faded glamorous actress has died in a boating accident, Gladiator studios fanatically ambitious PR man, Jimmy (aged 23) wants her death to be used to promote the movie she's just completed, asking a supposedly poor chain-smoking author in the rather chic basement apartment next door to him, to write-up the blurb.
All goes well until Ms Blake turns up, having been rescued by a Swedish trawler and spent 90 days away, presumably discussing true cinema greats like Ingmar Bergman or Jan Troell. Her return dashes the marketing plans of the hyped-up pseudo executive with the morals of a rattlesnake - so he helps Betsy return to the condition everyone thought she was in, 90 days before.
Yes, there is an issue of a true glamour-girl (played by Meri Welles - what PR man gave her that name?) entering the writers apartment dripping from a fall in the ocean at the beginning, but having no further role in the script - other than showing that the ambitious Jimmy had pulling power.
You can take the plot - and the twist at the end - with a pinch of salt. It's a fairly garrulous and pale grey (or gray) shade of dark satire - with a little glimmer of truth about shallow ambition and meaningless marketing - such as Jimmy's stories in the Press about the living, but thought dead, Betsy's secret love life from beyond the grave - that makes it sufficiently endearing for a half hour drama.
Betsy Blake, a somewhat faded glamorous actress has died in a boating accident, Gladiator studios fanatically ambitious PR man, Jimmy (aged 23) wants her death to be used to promote the movie she's just completed, asking a supposedly poor chain-smoking author in the rather chic basement apartment next door to him, to write-up the blurb.
All goes well until Ms Blake turns up, having been rescued by a Swedish trawler and spent 90 days away, presumably discussing true cinema greats like Ingmar Bergman or Jan Troell. Her return dashes the marketing plans of the hyped-up pseudo executive with the morals of a rattlesnake - so he helps Betsy return to the condition everyone thought she was in, 90 days before.
Yes, there is an issue of a true glamour-girl (played by Meri Welles - what PR man gave her that name?) entering the writers apartment dripping from a fall in the ocean at the beginning, but having no further role in the script - other than showing that the ambitious Jimmy had pulling power.
You can take the plot - and the twist at the end - with a pinch of salt. It's a fairly garrulous and pale grey (or gray) shade of dark satire - with a little glimmer of truth about shallow ambition and meaningless marketing - such as Jimmy's stories in the Press about the living, but thought dead, Betsy's secret love life from beyond the grave - that makes it sufficiently endearing for a half hour drama.
Could it be as bad as the other reviewers think?
planktonrules11 April 2021
My hopes were set very low before I began watching "Madame Mystery", as there are three reviews for it already...and the BEST of them gave the episode a 3!! This really bodes poorly...especially since I often felt most reviews for the show have often been too positive. But who knows? Maybe I'll enjoy it anyway.
When the episode begins, a drunk and dripping wet woman walks into Steve's bungalow. It seems she's been out carousing and swimming in her dress with the neighbor, Jimmy Dolan, a PR man with limited skills but tons of confidence in himself. After the girl leaves, Jimmy has a proposition for Steve...that Steve writes up some great material promoting Betsy Blake's final film, as she apparently drowned recently. Jimmy's thinking is that with her death, the film could be made into a huge success if they can drum up interest among he public. There, however, ends up being a problem.... Blake turns out to be very much alive.
The worst thing about this sub-par episode isn't the twist. Yes, it's a dumb and hard to believe twist...but the acting really made it a terrible episode. All but Steve's character were over the top and annoying. Overall, a waste of a half hour.
When the episode begins, a drunk and dripping wet woman walks into Steve's bungalow. It seems she's been out carousing and swimming in her dress with the neighbor, Jimmy Dolan, a PR man with limited skills but tons of confidence in himself. After the girl leaves, Jimmy has a proposition for Steve...that Steve writes up some great material promoting Betsy Blake's final film, as she apparently drowned recently. Jimmy's thinking is that with her death, the film could be made into a huge success if they can drum up interest among he public. There, however, ends up being a problem.... Blake turns out to be very much alive.
The worst thing about this sub-par episode isn't the twist. Yes, it's a dumb and hard to believe twist...but the acting really made it a terrible episode. All but Steve's character were over the top and annoying. Overall, a waste of a half hour.
Long annoying road to a small payoff
cpotato101026 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
OK, right from the beginning, this episode goes wrong.
Poor "Steve" (name redacted to protect the innocent). In walks "Lois" (Meri Welles), who might be all wet. Then she leaves. What purpose did her character serve?
Next to arrive is the PR guy, "Jimmy Dolan" (Joby Baker), who is one of the most annoying characters of the entire series. We suffer through most of this episode listening to his rant.
Coming in a close second is the newly found "legendary actress", "Betsy Blake" (Audrey Totter). Remember Roseanne? Except "Betsy Blake" does not have the saving grace of being funny.
All this leads up to the final exchange between "Steve" and "Jimmy", which amounts to a "Who cares"?
Nothing of any real interest here, and if you have seen it once, no revisit is needed.
Poor "Steve" (name redacted to protect the innocent). In walks "Lois" (Meri Welles), who might be all wet. Then she leaves. What purpose did her character serve?
Next to arrive is the PR guy, "Jimmy Dolan" (Joby Baker), who is one of the most annoying characters of the entire series. We suffer through most of this episode listening to his rant.
Coming in a close second is the newly found "legendary actress", "Betsy Blake" (Audrey Totter). Remember Roseanne? Except "Betsy Blake" does not have the saving grace of being funny.
All this leads up to the final exchange between "Steve" and "Jimmy", which amounts to a "Who cares"?
Nothing of any real interest here, and if you have seen it once, no revisit is needed.
Going against the tide, somebody's finally pointing out the sleeze
glitterrose4 July 2022
This episode is perfect because it highlights how trashy and tacky people act when celebrities die. Jimmy's a sleeze ball and that's pretty much how I look at people trying to score money or attention by riding the coattails of the deceased.
So our episode centers on Jimmy, a writer named Steve and Betsy. Betsy is our supposedly dead actress that Jimmy's making a name for himself on creating this whole dead campaign around. He's absolutely giddy talking up his ideas to Steve. Madame Mystery, Is Betsy Blake still alive, etc. He's proudly proclaiming the best thing she ever did was die. But Jimmy's about to get a shocker as Betsy comes in and reveals she isn't dead.
Betsy tells Steve and Jimmy about her adventures she was having while people thought she was dead. Sounded like it was a taste of freedom for her tbh. Nobody around nitpicking her. Jimmy's upset and he's even in denial.
Betsy and Jimmy go off and Jimmy's still angry. Feels like Betsy's taking everything away from him by NOT being dead. He ends up pushing Betsy and this time she does fall to her death. Jimmy goes back to Steve's and Steve ends up calling the cops on Jimmy. You'd kill your own mother to be a big man. Jimmy asks him how he knew Betsy was his mother. Episode ends.
I honestly find it refreshing this episode exists. You can't tell me you don't have real people orchestrating stuff like this if a big name dies unexpectedly. People turn it into a side show freakshow. I adore Joby Baker's performance. This is a guy you're meant to be disgusted by. Joby knocked it out of the park.
So our episode centers on Jimmy, a writer named Steve and Betsy. Betsy is our supposedly dead actress that Jimmy's making a name for himself on creating this whole dead campaign around. He's absolutely giddy talking up his ideas to Steve. Madame Mystery, Is Betsy Blake still alive, etc. He's proudly proclaiming the best thing she ever did was die. But Jimmy's about to get a shocker as Betsy comes in and reveals she isn't dead.
Betsy tells Steve and Jimmy about her adventures she was having while people thought she was dead. Sounded like it was a taste of freedom for her tbh. Nobody around nitpicking her. Jimmy's upset and he's even in denial.
Betsy and Jimmy go off and Jimmy's still angry. Feels like Betsy's taking everything away from him by NOT being dead. He ends up pushing Betsy and this time she does fall to her death. Jimmy goes back to Steve's and Steve ends up calling the cops on Jimmy. You'd kill your own mother to be a big man. Jimmy asks him how he knew Betsy was his mother. Episode ends.
I honestly find it refreshing this episode exists. You can't tell me you don't have real people orchestrating stuff like this if a big name dies unexpectedly. People turn it into a side show freakshow. I adore Joby Baker's performance. This is a guy you're meant to be disgusted by. Joby knocked it out of the park.
No reason at all to watch this one.
FlushingCaps14 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
We see the exterior of a modest beach house, obviously southern California. Inside a man is at a typewriter, and a young, of course pretty, woman enters, with dripping wet clothes saying, "I fell in your ocean." He gets her something to put on to help her warm up. In comes Jimmy, who she was with. Jimmy is a neighbor of the man, Steven, and a publicity agent for a movie studio. Almost as soon as Jimmy comes in, the woman leaves-he tells her to go back to his place, and tells her rather rudely.
The woman is never seen or mentioned again. Almost from the get-go, we viewers are bumfuzzled as to the point of her being in the show at all.
Jimmy (Joby Baker) wants Steve's help. Steve is writing a novel. Jimmy needs help writing some stories for him to pass off as his own. He plops $300 on Steve's desk to pay him. The bit is this: An actress, Betsy Blake, has just finished shooting a new movie. The movie is in the can but isn't to be released for a few months. He wants Steve to create continuing publicity for Betsy so the picture will be a smash when it is released. The problem is, Betsy was in a speedboat accident where she was killed.
Steve comes up with a couple of ideas, and goes along with Jimmy's plan for the biggest funeral they could possibly stage. They call her "Madame Mystery" for reasons that aren't explained. Now we never leave Steve's little home. We never see the studio, never hear any public clamors about the woman, and we settle for being told by Jimmy when he visits Steve that things are going so well, Jimmy just inked a new contract with the studio for a huge raise in pay.
As he is talking with Steve, in walks Betsy Blake. She is not so young, not so pretty, and a loud-mouthed, annoying drunk. She wasn't killed, the body found was the girlfriend of the man who she killed in the accident. Because it wasn't found for a week, they just thought it was her. (Apparently they didn't check dental records in LA in 1960. Guess Joe Friday had it wrong, eh?)
Betsy was rescued by a sailor and stayed with him for three months. How she knew to find Jimmy at this writer's beach house is never mentioned. Jimmy is panicky because he figures her not being dead will foul up the new contract he just got. I didn't see how-he wasn't in charge of declaring her dead. If you ask me, that she "came back from the dead" would seem the kind of story that could keep the public interest in her and further help the movie become a hit.
Anyhow, he leads her out of Steve's and while arguing with her, shoves her. She falls through a weak railing about 15 feet to land on the beach, and somehow is killed. I know it could happen in a fall like that, but there certainly is a good chance someone falling like that would not be killed.
All this does is lead to a scene where Jimmy pleads with Steve to help him hide the body so the public will keep on thinking she died in that boating accident. Steve instead is phoning the cops when he learns a secret concerning Betsy and Jimmy. And the episode is over. To me, the secret was inconsequential, but I'll not reveal it. It was an accident but even so, there was nothing in the episode that dealt with handling the real death of the actress, so accidental or not, it didn't really matter.
We weren't given any reason to like or dislike Steve. Both Jimmy and Betsy were quite annoying people to be around. There was definitely no murder plot. There was nothing shown concerning hiding a body. And there wasn't anything in the script that was supposed to be funny at all. We are left with a big: "That's it?" reaction to this waste of time. Definitely one of this series' weakest episodes. A 2 is being generous.
The woman is never seen or mentioned again. Almost from the get-go, we viewers are bumfuzzled as to the point of her being in the show at all.
Jimmy (Joby Baker) wants Steve's help. Steve is writing a novel. Jimmy needs help writing some stories for him to pass off as his own. He plops $300 on Steve's desk to pay him. The bit is this: An actress, Betsy Blake, has just finished shooting a new movie. The movie is in the can but isn't to be released for a few months. He wants Steve to create continuing publicity for Betsy so the picture will be a smash when it is released. The problem is, Betsy was in a speedboat accident where she was killed.
Steve comes up with a couple of ideas, and goes along with Jimmy's plan for the biggest funeral they could possibly stage. They call her "Madame Mystery" for reasons that aren't explained. Now we never leave Steve's little home. We never see the studio, never hear any public clamors about the woman, and we settle for being told by Jimmy when he visits Steve that things are going so well, Jimmy just inked a new contract with the studio for a huge raise in pay.
As he is talking with Steve, in walks Betsy Blake. She is not so young, not so pretty, and a loud-mouthed, annoying drunk. She wasn't killed, the body found was the girlfriend of the man who she killed in the accident. Because it wasn't found for a week, they just thought it was her. (Apparently they didn't check dental records in LA in 1960. Guess Joe Friday had it wrong, eh?)
Betsy was rescued by a sailor and stayed with him for three months. How she knew to find Jimmy at this writer's beach house is never mentioned. Jimmy is panicky because he figures her not being dead will foul up the new contract he just got. I didn't see how-he wasn't in charge of declaring her dead. If you ask me, that she "came back from the dead" would seem the kind of story that could keep the public interest in her and further help the movie become a hit.
Anyhow, he leads her out of Steve's and while arguing with her, shoves her. She falls through a weak railing about 15 feet to land on the beach, and somehow is killed. I know it could happen in a fall like that, but there certainly is a good chance someone falling like that would not be killed.
All this does is lead to a scene where Jimmy pleads with Steve to help him hide the body so the public will keep on thinking she died in that boating accident. Steve instead is phoning the cops when he learns a secret concerning Betsy and Jimmy. And the episode is over. To me, the secret was inconsequential, but I'll not reveal it. It was an accident but even so, there was nothing in the episode that dealt with handling the real death of the actress, so accidental or not, it didn't really matter.
We weren't given any reason to like or dislike Steve. Both Jimmy and Betsy were quite annoying people to be around. There was definitely no murder plot. There was nothing shown concerning hiding a body. And there wasn't anything in the script that was supposed to be funny at all. We are left with a big: "That's it?" reaction to this waste of time. Definitely one of this series' weakest episodes. A 2 is being generous.
Trashy ending
monastery-8391725 August 2020
Nothing There
Hitchcoc30 April 2023
Fast talking employee for a big studio has finally hit the big time, but it depends on the death of Madame Mystery which supposedly occurred three months previously. He comes to his friend for some writing help. He carries on like he is possessed, yammering about all the things he can do. He has no talent beyond that. That's bad enough until Madame Mystery shows up, having risen from the dead and destroying any chance the guy has of breaking into the big time. There is a stupid realization at the end that is beneath the dignity of the writers of this series. I'm hoping for better pickings soon because things have really plummeted.
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