The Jokester (19 Oct. 1958)

Newspaperman Bradley's habit of playing practical jokes puts morgue attendant Pop Henderson in danger of losing his job.

Director:

Arthur Hiller

Writers:

Robert Arthur (story), Bernard C. Schoenfeld (teleplay)

Stars:

Alfred Hitchcock, Albert Salmi, Roscoe Ates

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Alfred Hitchcock	...	Himself - Host
Albert Salmi	...	Mr. Bradley
Roscoe Ates	...	Pop Henderson
James Coburn	...	Andrews
Jay Jostyn	...	Morgan
Arthur Batanides	...	The Police Sergeant
James Kirkwood Jr.	...	Dave (as Jim Kirkwood Jr.)
Charles Watts	...	The Police Captain
Baynes Barron	...	The Bartender
Claire Carleton	...	Millie
Richard Benedict	...	Mike

Storyline

A practical joker plays one joke too many and is punched and knocked unconscious. To the concerned bar owner he appears dead so he makes plans to dump the body in a bad part of town. But considering the jokester's reputation his demise might not be quite true.

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Plot Keywords:

hearing characters thoughts | drunken man | acoustic guitar | paralyzed | morgue | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 October 1958 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Republic Studios - 4024 Radford Avenue, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shamley Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The neon sign for "Mike's Bar" appears again a few weeks later in the Ray Bradbury story "Design for Loving."

User Reviews

I'M Alive! I'm Alive!

(Spoiler Alert) Having nothing to do but looking for some fun newspaperman Mr.Bradley, Albert Salmi, decided to pull a practical joke on morgue attendant Pop Henderson, Roscoe Ates,to liven up things a bit. Making believe that he's a stiff in the morgue Bradley gets Pop all excited by raising from a slab in the morgue refrigeration cabinet and with his face covered with a white sheet saying that he's in fact alive not dead.

With the joke on Pop, who tried to get help for the obvious live corpse, it's soon recommended by the local police that he's a bit too old-at age 63-for the job. And with Pop's both eyesight and hearing just about gone it's later decided to have the old man take his retirement by his boss in the morgue Charles Watts. That's until it's discovered that Bradley pulled a joke on Pop and he's then given a second chance to keep his job taking good care of the dead in town. Bradley still up his old tricks later slips Millie, Claire Caleton, a peppered up drink at the local bar that almost has her choke to death. That has Millie's outraged boyfriend Mike the cab drive, James Kirkwood Jr, lay the drunken Bradley out with a straight right to the jaw.

***SPOILERS*** With Bradley not only out cold but not breathing a terrified Mike, who's now facing a manslaughter rap, together with the only whiteness at the scene Millie and bartender Baynes Barron dump his body at the docks and take all his identification off him. Thus making it look like Bradley was a drunken bum who lost his balance and fell on the pier cracking his head open after gulping a bottle of Yukon Jack. As "luck" would have it Bradley ends up in the county morgue with Pop Henderson attending after him. Still alive and pleading for help Bradley gets no help from Pop who leaves him to his fate, certain death, in the morgue refrigeration unit to freeze to death.

P.S As things turned out Bradley played his last joke with one of his victims Pop Henderson not willing to be fooled by him a second time around which would end up costing Pop his job! Even though this time around Bradley wasn't joking at all! He was dead serious!