Ellery Queen (TV Series) The Adventure of Miss Aggie's Farewell Performance (1975) User Reviews

Caprious Actress Gets Out Maneuvered In Death

[DKosty123 · 9/10 · 8 May 2011]

This episode has a couple of strengths. One of them is being set in 1947, with Eve Arden as the victim as Eve was an actual radio star during that period in history gives it more of a feeling of being real. The second is a strong guest cast to go with her. The plot is well designed too though this series pretty much has that strength in all it's episodes. Arden is obviously wearing what looks to be a wig in this episode.

Miss Aggie is an afternoon radio soap opera which Arden stars in. She has manipulated the shows sponsor and the cast into making her the star. But the shows writer's are about to write her out because she is too demanding. Her scheme is to poison herself and create publicity so she can't leave the show. This episode is a great reminder of what the entertainment world was like When radio movies dominated it.

She is in the hospital recovering nicely with her plan until one of her enemies comes in and shoots her. There are suspects plenty and it takes a lot of little things for Ellery to solve this one.

If at first you don't succeed...

[kevinolzak · 9/10 · 20 October 2009]

Episode 6, "The Adventure of Miss Aggie's Farewell Performance," showcases Eve Arden (OUR MISS BROOKS) as actress Vera Bethune, best known for the role of Miss Aggie, leading character in a radio soap beloved by millions of listeners, who is making exorbitant salary demands that the sponsors are unwilling to meet. During the current broadcast, Vera collapses in the studio and is rushed to the hospital, a victim of poison. Within the hour she begins receiving the press, as well as the probing questions of Ellery and his father (whom she refers to as that 'funny little inspector'). Some time after midnight, an unseen assailant sneaks into Vera's room and shoots the defenseless actress dead, but not before the victim awakens and recognizes her killer. Both Queens blame themselves for the murder, even though the actress refused police protection, as well as the hospital. Everyone that was in the studio when Vera was poisoned falls under suspicion: fellow actor Lawrence Denver (Bert Parks), actress Anita Leslie (Penelope Windust), the newcomer being groomed to replace the temperamental star, announcer Wendell Warren (Paul Shenar), and organist Mary Lou Gumm (Beatrice Colen), who had a crush on Warren until he started dating Vera instead. Listening in the booth during the broadcast were Mr. Pearl (John McGiver), representative of the Vita-Cream sponsors, and Simon Brimmer (John Hillerman), unsuccessfully trying to make a new pitch for his own radio show, "The Casebook of Simon Brimmer." As usual, the overeager Brimmer fingers the wrong party during a special live broadcast intended to demonstrate to Mr. Pearl what a dependable sleuth he purports to be. Betty White, then still co-starring on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, appears as Louise Demery, Vera's agent, who meets Ellery at the hospital, dismissing his profession with the words, "I thought you said he was an author!" Nan Martin and Gerald Hiken play the show's writers, planning to kill off Miss Aggie if she failed to cooperate with the powers-that-be. Nina Roman makes a brief return as Grace, Inspector Queen's secretary, while this would be the final performance of delightful veteran John McGiver, who died on Sept. 9 1975, one month before this episode was broadcast on Oct. 16.

All There In Arden And White

[chashans · 8/10 · 13 March 2023]

Miss Aggie is a crafty old bird. She knows her time is up, so she refuses to give up via the act of giving up. A very intetesting quandary for Ellery Queen to ponder. Also a self-serving act which triggers the actions of the killer.

Yet another fun mystery, though not as comically inclined as the previous episode. Which is somewhat odd considering it features two of early television's funniest actresses. Eve Arden and the always delightful (even as the notorious Sue Ann Nivens on 70's TV comedy, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") Betty White. There are comedic moments, but unfortunately the two share very little screen time. Eve Arden is wonderfully snarky as the titular Miss Aggie. Betty White is terrific as Aggie's condensating (to novelist Ellery!) business manager.

Mr. Miss America himself, Bert Parks is also in the cast, but is given very little to do. John Hillerman is back as radio Mystery Show host, Simon Brimmer. He's there yet again to stick thorns into Ellery's side. Doing his utmost to push our hero out of the spotlight trained on the solver of the latest New York City murder. Of course, Brimmer gets it all wrong and Ellery could not care less about that spotlight.

But there is a problem, yet again, with the clue politely provided by the victim for the sake of eventual investigators. Not that the victim is able to improbably provide the clue, as with both "Too Many Suspects" and "The 12th Floor Expess". This time the problem with the clue is that it doesn't prove anything whatsoever. Here, Ellery successfully interprets the clue, but the only reason the killer goes to jail is because said killer blurts out a nicely detailed confession.

Another 40s Mystery

[Gislef · 7/10 · 18 July 2021]

As I've noted in previous reviews, the show seems somewhat dated. Yes, it's a 40s period piece. But the idea of the story being focused on a 40s radio soap opera, presented without a hint if irony, is both refreshing and hard to relate to. There are some shots at stardom and network sponsorship, what with Pearl offering 13 weeks guaranteed on the air, but it's all kind of feeble.

The dying clue against doesn't make much sense. Mostly because Vera refused to let anyone take the bracelet _before_ she was murdered. Did she know Louise was going to kill her, before Louise killed her? Generally, the dying clues so far have been mildly sloppy, not up to Link and Levinson's precision work on 'Columbo'.

Speaking of 'Columbo', he never required a rival, but Ellery gets two: Brimmer and Flannigan. We know the rivals aren't going to "win", but at least Flannigan has more of a friendly competition with the Queens going on than outright rivalry. Which is why I prefer him to Hillerman's Simon Brimmer. Brimmer is petty (he cuts his show off rather than let Ellery solve the case on the air), superciliousness (sucking up to Pearl), and generally a sore loser. Yes, he overlooks something that Ellery catches, but a) that doesn't speak well for his intelligence, and b) Simon tends to overlook the vital clue more because of his thinly-disguised contempt for Ellery than poor circumstance.

Part of the problem is the show's format, which no actor can address. As they say, a hero is only as good at his opponent. So far the victims have been mostly louses: Tom Bosley as Bud in "Comic Book Crusader". He belittles his staff and is a sexual harasser, and we're support to sympathize with him in any way? Even Vera in this episode is a scene-stealing "Hollywood phony" who insults her fellow cast members and poisons herself in a grab for public sympathy. The killers seem sympathetic in comparison, which makes Ellery out to be a bad guy for bringing them to justice when it often seems like they should be getting a medal.

Also, since the format disguises the killer until after the last commercial break, there's no "player on the other side" for Ellery to match wits against. The killers are clever, but mostly are "good actors (like Eugene Roche in "Chinese Dog", and here with Betty White) who to make their characters more sympathetic and caught in a web of circumstances beyond their control. But that's just after the first six episodes and pilot: maybe it will change. As I recall from watching the show's first run, it doesn't, though.

The mystery isn't bad despite the set-up. Beatrice Colen, whose character can't bear to look people in the eye and narrates her tale of woe with organ music and soap-operaish narration, is a hoot. But none of the other characters stand out other than Vera. Actress Eve Arden hams it up. A lot.

As for the regulars, Velie doesn't get much to do even though the episode is set in NYC. There's a subplot with Richard on a diet that resolves by the end of the episode. Jim Hutton as Ellery doesn't have much to do. He's the sympathetic, vaguely befuddled character who gets locked in a closet.

Overall, the episode is okay, and the acting by Hutton, Wayne, and Cohen bumps it up a notch. But it's nothing to write home about.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?