Jack Kelly in "Deadlock"

Hello Everyone!

Fifty-three years ago today--May 17, 1967--Jack Kelly starred in "Deadlock", an episode of NBC-TV's Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre. JK portrayed police detective "Ray Baker".

The plot: There's a heat wave going on--and things suddenly get even hotter in Baker's squad room when "Virginia Cloyd" (Lee Grant) enters with a .38 pistol and a vial which she claims contains nitroglycerin. Mrs. Cloyd intends to kill another detective who just shot her lowlife husband in a bar. While on her way to meet Mr. Cloyd at the bar, she saw his body being removed from the premises. She doesn't realize the shooting was in self-defense (her husband had pulled a gun as the detective attempted to apprehend him).

Caption: "DEADLOCK  co-stars Jack Kelly and Lee Grant on Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, airing in color Wednesday, May 17 (9:00-10:00 pm ET) over NBC-TV. Tige Andrews, Brooke Bundy and Percy Rodriguez also star in the drama, set mainly in a police station, of a hoodlum's widow who seeks revenge for her husband's death."

The detective hasn't returned to the station yet, so Mrs. Cloyd holds Baker, two other cops and assorted crooks hostage in the sweltering squad room as she awaits his arrival. Detective Baker doesn't know if she's actually bluffing about the nitroglycerin, but he and his partners can't take the chance by trying to disarm her.

When the detective finally returns with a female suspect, a disturbing detail is revealed which causes Mrs. Cloyd to turn the squad room into a shooting gallery. During the commotion, the vial is safely retrieved and the vengeful widow is taken into custody. Later, the police lab informs Detective Baker that the vial did indeed contain nitro!

"WAITING GAME--Jack Kelly (left) is a detective and Lee Grant (right) a revenge-seeking hoodlum's widow...caught in the 'Deadlock' when that episode airs in color on Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre..."

Incidentally, the plot of "Deadlock" had previously been dramatized in 1961 under the title "Lady in Waiting" as an episode of the NBC series 87th Precinct. Both "Deadlock" and "Lady in Waiting" were adapted from the novel Killer's Wedge by Ed McBain (a nom de plume of author Evan Hunter). McBain/Hunter also wrote the teleplay for "Deadlock".  

And, "Deadlock" was the final episode of The Chrysler Theatre. Associated Press TV writer Cynthia Lowry noted:

"Bob Hope's weekly anthology series came to the end of its four-season run on NBC Wednesday night. Over-all, the programs deserved more attention than they received.

"The final show was 'Deadlock', a suspense tale as so many of them have been. It was well-acted, professionally and slickly produced and followed a story line that, in one form or another, is a television favorite."

(Hmm...I wonder if "Ray Baker" is any relation to "Bill Baker", the police detective JK portrayed in The Lucy Show?) ;>

Well, I'll detect more about JK in the next TDS, so please stay tuned--and stay healthy. :)