Aired 30 November, 1962
We are mostly at the Gaslite Square District, the hear of the St. Louis nightlife.
Written by series co-creater, Stirling Silliphant, the episode tackles the problem of alcoholism. Involving a 13 year old who has just lost his mother and is getting to know his father as a barroom piano player, and a nighttime drunkard.
Played by the brilliant Harry Guardino, a solid 50s and 60s TV and movie character actor, he brings in a moving performance throughout the episode.
Well-known bad-guy actor Mike Kellin also comes in very well.
Gaslite Square, home to the St. Louis blues, so named from the gas-fueled street lamps installed at the turn of the 20th century, was mostly at the corner of N Boyle St. x Olive St. in the West End. It really became a thriving entertainment district when Jay Landesman, who founded the Crystal Palace nightclub, on a buying trip to NY for his parents' antique gallery, became enamored by the beatnik scene at Greenwich Village and tried to replicate it in St. Louis. He moved it to the location of the show, 4240 Olive St, in 1957. Smokey Joe's was right nearby. Not to be confused with the famous Smokey Joe's Café of the Leiber/Stoller song by the The Robbins, based on a real café in Los Angeles.
The region suffered a hurricane in 1959 which killed 21, and a big fire in 1962. But it seems that the beginning of the end of the District was when artist Lillian Heller was fatally shot in a robbery in the vestibule of her apartment building at 4254 Gaslight. Today Gaslite Square is completely unrecognizable as it has been entirely rebuilt into mostly housing;
The One Fifteen Club was actually the Crystal Palace Annex at 4240 Olive St. If you look closely, the sign was stuck on the awning, no doubt confected by the little Screen-Gems sign painter.
The Rock Hill Quarries Company has become the Rock Hill Quarries Company Demolition Landfill at the same location, 1233 North Rock Hill Rd.
The bowling alley was probably the Arena Bowl, built in 1958 with 24 lanes, later expanded to 48 lanes after a tornado destroyed it in part, as one of the largest in the country. It was demolished in 1988.
The Barry Wehmiller Machinery Co. was founded in 1885 as a manufacturer of production line equipment for local beer producers such as Anheuser-Busch. The company still exists at 8020 Forsyth Boulevard, making other products.
The Chase-Park Plaza Hotel at 212 North Kings Highway Boulevard, opened in 1922, is still there as a condominium complex. The Chase was also famous for hosting a wrestling program called Wrestling at the Chase (1959–1983).
Curiously, no mention of, or visit to, the monumental Gateway Arch (which I have had the opportunity to ride the tram car inside the Arch). Construction had already begun at the time of the recording of this episode but the arch itself only began to rise 2 months after this episode, in Feb./1963.
I give this episode good marks for tackling a tough subject, and for Guardino's moving performance. Sholdar also does a good job.
Cast: Harry Guardino (1925–1995), memorable as Barabas in eponymous movie; Mike Kellin (1922–1983); Mickey Sholdar (1949- ) a child actor, did several other TV shows, becoming a regular on The Farmer's Daughter; Jennifer Billingsley (1940- ), the party girl that Todd begins to take away, went on to do several TV series and movies with James Caan, Burt Reynolds, and in the 1977 The Amazing Spider Man; Marilyn Rogers (1947–2010), the teen girl on the stage, appeared in a few series in the 60s; Duane Jones (III), no record; uncredited: the nightclub manager and the percussionist, the one character that mentions - albeit glancingly - something about the title... partially (typical Silliphant).
