Peter Gunn - Season Two Episodes

Peter Gunn: Season Two Episodes

Copyright ©2011-2016 by Mike Quigley. No reproduction of any kind without permission.

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EPISODE 1: Protection

Written by Tony Barrett and Lewis Reed; directed by Boris Sagal
Original Air Date - 21 September 1959

SYNOPSIS:

This first show of the second season is very similar to the first show of the series -- thugs working for a mob boss named Clegg (Sheldon Allman) are terrorizing business people with their protection racket. At the beginning of the show, two of them -- Giant (Mickey Morton) and the appropriately-named Hoodlum (Val Avery) -- throw a bomb made with dynamite into a grocery store, killing the owner. When they drop in and start harassing Mother (played by Minerva Urecal, the replacement for Hope Emerson, who died a year later), she tells them to get lost. Gunn visits a old friend known as The Owl (Cyril Delavanti) who tells him to check out the Fulton Novelty Company, which is a front for Clegg. When Gunn shows up there, he engages in some tense verbal sparring with the Hoodlum, but finds out nothing. As he leaves, Hoodlum makes reference to The Owl, and when Gunn returns to his star-gazing friend, he finds The Owl dead. Hoodlum and Giant, along with some other goons, return to Mother's and totally trash the place, punching out Barney the bartender and even wrecking the piano. Gunn returns while this fracas is going on, but quickly leaves to return to the novelty company, where he faces off with Clegg. Managing to escape after fooling Clegg with a ruse that the police are outside, Gunn fights with one of Clegg's sidekicks, then manages to disable Clegg by throwing what looks like a boomerang at him. Back at Mother's, Edie, Mother, Barney and Emmett the pianist are all in a much better mood than one would expect, looking forward to rebuilding the club.

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EPISODE 2: Crisscross

Written by Lewis Reed; directed by Boris Sagal
Original Air Date - 28 September 1959

SYNOPSIS:

Poole (Ted Knight), a bank manager, sets off explosions of knockout gas shortly after the bank opens at nine in the morning. Donning a gas mask, Poole puts lots of money in a bag and passes it to a co-conspirator with a scar on his hand, George Morell (Leonard Graves), then takes off his mask and passes out like the other employees. At Mother's, which is being renovated, Gunn meets a sultry brunette, Barbara Fowler (Sylvia Lewis). She hires Gunn to track down the man with the scar, who she says borrowed money from her and then disappeared. But Fowler is actually in cahoots with Poole, who follows Gunn as he talks to one of his informants, Willie (Howard Dayton), who says that Morell recently left town for Italy. Taking an overseas flight, Gunn arrives in the small town of Cassano, where he is accosted by one of the locals, Carlo (Johnny Seven), who offers to guide him around. Saying he knows where Morell is, Carlo sends Gunn to a part of town where he is almost run over by a car. Then Carlo attacks Gunn while he is sleeping in his hotel room. Gunn forces Carlo at gunpoint to take him to see Morell, who is in hiding. When Gunn finally confronts Morell, Poole shows up and says he wants all of the money. Poole tells Gunn that he got Fowler to hire him to track down his former partner, otherwise he would have been tied into the robbery. A violent fight follows in a wine cellar, with both Carlo and Morell ending up dead.

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EPISODE 3: Edge of the Knife

Written by Tony & Steffi Barrett; directed by Boris Sagal
Original Air Date - 5 October 1959

SYNOPSIS:

In the teaser, a man rifling through a doctor's filing cabinet is surprised by a guard and falls out a window, seriously injuring himself. Following this, Gunn is hired by Victor Majeski (Vladimir Sokoloff) who wants him to find his 26-year-old daughter Ellen (Jeanne Bates) who recently got out of prison. She was serving a four-year stretch for being an accomplice to robbery and never identified the man who was her partner. With the help of the pickpocket Leather (Hope Summers), who beats the drum for a Salvation Army-type mission and calls Gunn "handsome," Gunn tracks down Dr. Snyder (Ben Wright), who performed plastic surgery on Ellen while she was in jail. When he arrives at Snyder's office, the doctor is being punched around by a couple of hoods, who Gunn quickly dispatches. With the doctor's help, Gunn traces Ellen to Guido's Restaurant, where she is waiting for her former partner Marty Walker (Frank Leo). When Gunn tells her that her father is wanting to see her, she says that is strange, since her father died when she was four years old. Gunn figures out that her "father" is really Victor Kaley, who was hired by Marty to track Ellen down, just like the man who was snooping in Snyder's records at the beginning of the show. Gunn goes to the garage where Marty works where he is overpowered by the mechanic and about to be shot, when Ellen suddenly shows up and shoots Marty dead, regretting that she never did this prior to her having plastic surgery.

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EPISODE 4: The Comic

Written and directed by Blake Edwards
Original Air Date - 12 October 1959

SYNOPSIS:

Shelley Berman gives a brilliant performance as Danny Holland, a paranoid stand-up comedian (some of whose routines are similar to Berman's own). He is convinced that his wife of six years is trying to kill him, and hires Gunn to investigate. Holland tells Gunn that the last couple of years of his marriage have been different. He says that his wife was sending him threatening anonymous letters which he recognizes as having been typed on his own typewriter and once tried to poison him. However, when Gunn talks to Holland's wife, he gets a completely opposite view of the marriage. She says the Danny is "sick," won't go to doctors for his problems, and their marriage has been "nightmarish." Gunn visits a doctor (sometime Peter Gunn writer Tony Barrett) who says that one of the two is lying, and the one who is not "should be extremely careful." When he returns to Mrs. Holland's apartment, Gunn is knocked out. Shortly after, she is seen in her husband's dressing room at the club, wanting to talk to him. Having recovered, Gunn encounters Jacoby at the club, where the lieutenant is investigating the murder of a bum who was seen hassling Holland in the noirish teaser (Holland thought the guy was sent by his wife and knocked him on the head with a brick). When Gunn and Jacoby go to Holland's dressing room, they find a trail of blood which leads to his wife's body in the alley. As Holland appears doing his final routine at the club (a very edgy performance, where he almost has a breakdown), the cops and Gunn are waiting to take him away.

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EPISODE 5: Death is a Red Rose

Teleplay by Lewis Reed & Tony Barrett; Story by Blake Edwards; Directed by Boris Sagal
Original Air Date - 19 October 1959

SYNOPSIS:

Gunn is hired by John Alastair (Don Keefer). He is a businessman in bad financial straits who "bought his [own] death" so his family could collect his life insurance. However, his financial problems were resolved when a rich relative lent him some money, so now he wants to cancel the contract. Unfortunately, Gimpy (Alvin Hammer) the man through whom he bought the contract is now himself dead. After giving Alastair the keys to his apartment so he can hide out, Gunn goes to the bar where Gimpy's murder took place. He finds out from the bartender (Clegg Hoyt) that one of the two men last seen with Gimpy was wearing a red rose in his lapel. At the police station, Jacoby gives Gunn a tip that Gimpy had a friend, Belle Decanto, who runs a dance studio. When he visits there, Gunn gets an eyeful from one of her pupils, Jeanie (Shari Robinson) who says that he is "cute" and would "look like a doll in a leotard." Unfortunately, Gunn leaves without any information. On the front steps of the building where the dance studio is located, Gunn finds a red rose, meaning that he is being followed. Gunn moves Alastair from his apartment (a new location compared to season one) to a room in the Bickford Hotel, where the front desk clerk is Herman Klip (Vitto Scotti), a geeky three-time loser with Coke-bottle glasses who practices opening a safe where he stores his lunch. When Gunn returns to his apartment, Jules Burnett (Henry Beckman), one of the two thugs who murdered Gimpy, is waiting for him. Gunn manages to distract Burnett, who is fatally shot during the ensuing fight, but not before he reveals the name of his partner in Gimpy's murder -- Drago. Gunn returns to the dance studio, where he finds Decanto dead, with a metronome ticking beside her on the floor. At the police station, Jacoby abuses Gunn for leaving a trail of death wherever he goes. A tip comes in with information about Burnett's address, and Gunn and Jacoby head there on the assumption that the two men lived together at that location. They are right, except Drago is not there -- he has gone to the Bickord Hotel, as per a piece of paper which Gunn finds on a table. At the hotel, Alastair has barricaded himself in his room because Drago showed up a few minutes before. When Alastair hears Drago outside on the fire escape, Gunn heads outside via a window and shoots him dead.

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EPISODE 6: The Young Assassins

Written by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Directed by Boris Sagal
Original Air Date - 26 October 1959

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Gunn makes a promise to Charlie Mays (Joe Sullivan), a convict on death row, that he will talk to his son Johnny (Don Easton). Johnny has fallen in with a gang of juvenile delinquents who murdered the boy from a couple necking in the park during the teaser (the implication is that the girl was part of the gang and lured the boy there). When Gunn shows up at Johnny's place, the kid tells him to get lost. Later, Gunn manages to track down Johnny's gang with the help of a junk dealer named Tallulah (Lili Valenty), who fences goods that they steal. When he shows up at the gang's hideout, which is in a sewer, Gunn is roughed up and thrown on the ground. Only the sudden appearance of Jacoby and the cops prevents Gunn from serious damage. The gang is held by Jacoby, who refers to them as a "murderous rat pack," but they are not talking. Gunn tells Jacoby to release Johnny, who immediately falls under suspicion that he is in league with either the cops or Gunn. When the gang is released after the obligatory 48 hour holding period, they hassle Johnny about why he was released ahead of them. Gunn shows up at their hideout again, asking Johnny who was responsible for the murder of the boy in the park. Without much hesitation, he identifies the gang leader Clip (Marc 'Butch' Cavell) and the gang meekly falls into line as Johnny heads back to the police station to follow up on the accusation! This show is kind of lame in comparison to the previous one.

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EPISODE 7: The Feathered Doll

Written by Lewis Reed & Tony Barrett; Story by Blake Edwards; Directed by Boris Sagal
Original Air Date - 2 November 1959

SYNOPSIS:

In this relatively complicated episode, an undercover cop named Jimmy Madigan is knifed to death during the teaser in the Chamber of Horrors at a midway on a pier. Soon after this, Ed Wilkens (Eddie Firestone), who works in the midway shooting gallery, tells his boss Bart Kendall (Tom Holland) that a cop (who we later determine to be Madigan) shot up everything in place, then claimed a feathered doll on a shelf which Kendall had expressly forbidden him to let anyone take. When he hears this, Kendall gives Wilkens a nasty beating. Wilkens shows up at Mother's and asks Gunn's help to keep Kendall from killing him. But this is all a scam, because Wilkens knows that the doll contains heroin, which the boss of the carnival, Jake Curlan (John Marley) is importing from the "Delgado Novelty Company" in Nogales, Mexico. Wilkens eventually murders Kendall and beats his face to a pulp so no one will recognize him, and to make the police think Kendall is him, dumps the body in the ocean with a note in the pocket mentioning Gunn. When Gunn finds out from Jacoby that whoever murdered Madigan was left handed and, with the help of a master engraver Scratch (Emile Meyer) determines that the note recovered from "Wilkens" was written by a left-handed person, he realizes that Wilkens was responsible for the murders of both Madigan and Kendall. Gunn and Jacoby head to the pier to check out the attractions, having also found a 50 cent ticket in "Wilkens'" pocket. Gunn confronts Wilkens in the Chamber of Horrors (where it is revealed he is indeed left-handed) and overpowers him.

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EPISODE 8: Kidnap

Written by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Story by Blake Edwards; Directed by Boris Sagal
Original Air Date - 16 November 1959

SYNOPSIS:

Lieutenant Jacoby is kidnapped at the beginning of the show by Les (Will J. White), an associate of Bert Fisher (John Lawrence), a hood whose brother Jacoby arrested years before. Bert's brother is scheduled to be executed in the electric chair at 11 p.m. that evening, and the kidnappers threaten to shoot Jacoby dead at the same time. Gunn is called into the case by Captain of Detectives A.C. Clark (Frank Albertson) because Gunn can get to places that the police can't. And Gunn does ... he manages to figure out where Jacoby is via a convoluted chain of events. First, he visits Dean, a trumpeter whose face was cut up by some thugs (played by real-life trumpeter Pete Candoli, who was seen in The Comic only four episodes before). Dean doesn't want to talk, but plays a riff on his instrument which Gunn understands means "Mary." As Gunn is outside Dean's room after, talking to police sergeant Davis (Morris Erby), Dean is shot dead by a man who comes into his room via the fire escape. Gunn wounds the man, who escapes. Giving the name of Mary to the cops suggests her full name is Mary Whitney (Carmen Phillips) and her boy friend is Lew Baxter (stuntman Dick Crockett), who Gunn recognizes from a mug shot as Dean's killer. Gunn tracks down Mary by talking to lounge piano player Manuel (Don Diamond), who used to play with Dean. When he arrives at Mary's place, Gunn is knocked out by Baxter, who is hiding in her bedroom. When he comes to, Gunn figures out that Baxter is visiting a doctor for his injuries by rubbing a pencil on a notepad that Baxter was using. When Gunn arrives at the doctor's, Baxter escapes, only to run out into the street where he is run over and killed by a passing car. Gunn finds a matchbook in Baxter's pocket for a cafe out in the sticks run by Chino Amalo, who Erby confirms is a known associate of Bert Fisher. Gunn arrives at the cafe and gets the run-around from Amalo. He leaves, only to return and sneak up behind Amalo as he phones Fisher, who is holed up in a cabin nearby. Gunn calls Clark, who arrives shortly after with some cops. Taking Amalo along with them, the cops force Amalo to call out to Fisher near the cabin, and when Les and Fisher, the two kidnappers, come outside, Gunn and the cops engage in a gun battle with them, which results in both of the hoods being shot dead. Jacoby is relieved that help arrived, since the time is exactly 11 p.m., when he was supposed to be executed.

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EPISODE 9: The Rifle

Written by Lewis Reed & Tony Barrett; Story by Blake Edwards; Directed by George Stevens, Jr.
Original Air Date - 23 November 1959

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In this story with Cold War overtones, Janos Kolanski (Wolfe Barzell), a Hungarian gunsmith, has himself smuggled out of Hungary in a coffin transported by a horse-drawn carriage at the beginning of the show. He arrives in the States in April of 1958, about a year and a half after the end of the Hungarian revolution. He is designing a rifle for use by revolutionaries in his home country which he says is "not Hungary any more." (But this does not jive with historical facts, since the revolution was brutally crushed by the Russians in late 1956.) He hires Gunn to protect him because "they [meaning Communists] have people everywhere." When Gunn suggests that Kolanski should talk to the police or the FBI, Kolanski says that this would mean trouble for his sister Anna and her son William who have been living in the States for several years. Gunn goes to visit Kolanski's sister and nephew, but they are mystified by the fuss over Kolanski's project. Gunn is soon approached by two "agents," who think that Kolanski gave Gunn plans to the rifle. Gunn is saved only by the intervention of Jacoby who shows up at his door unexpectedly. Gunn is supposed to meet Kolanski late at night at the bus depot, but when he arrives there, Kolanski is gone, and a clerk says that he left about twenty minutes before accompanied by a "large man." Gunn finds the cabin where the workshop is located. Kolanski says that he doesn't need Gunn's help any more, and gave the "large man" a set of bogus plans for the rifle earlier to get rid of him. Gunn wants to take Kolanski back to town, but just as they step out the door, William shows up and pulls out a gun -- it turns out that HE is an agent as well. William tells Albert (Howard Ledig), who has been acting as a bodyguard for his uncle, to shoot Gunn, but Albert drills William, since it turns out that Albert is an agent from the "Department of Investigation," obviously leaving out the word "Federal" because of some of kind of rights issue.

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EPISODE 10: The Game

Teleplay by Lester Aaron Pine; Story by Lester Aaron Pine & Louis Horowitz; Directed by Boris Sagal
Original Air Date - 30 November 1959

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Jack Shap (Sam Edwards), an employee of Beloff Brothers Diamond Merchants, is shot and robbed while transporting an $800,000 shipment outside the company's offices. It turns out that the robbers went too far, according to Benny Sicotta (Eddie Ryder), Jack's friend and co-conspirator in the robbery who arranged for a gang to steal the jewels. Gunn is summoned by Nickerman (veteran character actor Robert Emhardt), boss of the Consolidated Liberty Insurance Company. He tells Gunn that it is cheaper to buy the diamonds back from the crooks rather than pay out a full claim. He wants Gunn to act as the agent in the transaction, since the man who was the company's go-between previously died a few weeks before, and Gunn is known for having "contacts with the underworld." Gunn says that this is "a little out of my line," but takes the assignment anyway. He meets with the nervously jovial Mack Borden (Jack Petruzzi), boss of the gang who stole the diamonds, who is known to hang out in Hal's Health Bar, which dispenses nutritious drinks. When Benny has a change of heart over what he has done and calls the cops, naming names, Borden and his gang are picked up, making them think that it was Gunn who squealed on them. When Gunn shows up with the money, Borden's gang beats him near-senseless and takes the payoff, to make it look like Gunn welshed on the deal with Nickerman. Gunn stumbles back to his apartment where a gang of his friends is giving him a surprise birthday party, and falls face-first into his birthday cake. Following this, Gunn and Benny pull a scam on Nickerman and Borden, pretending that Jack has died in the hospital, so the charges have upped from a simple robbery to murder. The two men are arrested, and Borden's gang is put out of order by Gunn and Benny. Borden is only too happy to confess to the crime to avoid a murder charge.

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EPISODE 11: The Price is Murder

Teleplay by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Story by Blake Edwards; Directed by Boris Sagal
Original Air Date - 7 December 1959

SYNOPSIS:

Two convicts, Charlie Walsh (Robert Carricart, who looks like he could be Humphrey Bogart's brother) and Bob Welles (Dennis Patrick) escape from prison. Their first order of business is to kill Peter Gunn, since he was largely responsible for Walsh being jailed three years before. They try to knock off Gunn with a rifle outside Mother's, but their plan gets fouled up when some bum trying to hustle Gunn for money gets in the way. Their next tactic is to kidnap Edie by driving up to Mother's in an ambulance and presumably pretending that Gunn has been injured somewhere. This show recycles two actors playing characters similar to the ones they played in season one: Pithias (J. Pat O'Malley, the Shakespeare-quoting bum from #3, The Vicious Dog) and delicatessen owner Mr. Wineberg (Tenen Holtz, Norbert's father from #27, Breakout). Both of these guys help Gunn find where Edie is being held. With the help of Jacoby, Gunn has a brainstorm to call the fire department and pretend there is a fire in the building where she is, so everyone has to leave. Outside on the street, Walsh and Welles are shot and disarmed respectively and Edie faints dead away. Although the beginning of the show is pretty suspensful, Edie is really not seen much after she is snatched by the two crooks, and when she finally is seen, things move along in a rather predictable way.

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EPISODE 12: The Briefcase

Teleplay by Lester Aaron Pine; Directed by Blake Edwards
Original Air Date - 14 December 1959

SYNOPSIS:

A man on a train, Matthew Dunaway (uncredited), is murdered for a baggage claim ticket. His killer, a menacingly large man (Tom Monroe), was hired to do this by Dunaway's secretary, Lavinia Cooper (real name: Maxine Schiller, played by blonde Barbara Stuart). Lavinia hires Gunn to check up on "her husband" (the large man), who, we find out later, is actually her partner in crime. The claim ticket leads to a suitcase which is "loaded with lies," according to Tax Commissioner Sam Granger (another veteran character actor, Joe Sawyer). Granger worries about the dirt which the paperwork in the suitcase will reveal -- among other things, the fact that he took more than a million dollars in bribes and had 14 bank accounts in 7 different cities. Complicating matters are two quirky characters, Las Vegas dealer Rafael Blanco (Howard Caine, later of Hogan's Heroes), who helped transfer money to Granger by making it looks like gambling winnings, and Helmer (Tony Mafia [sic]), a greasy hoodlum. At one point, "Lavinia Maxine" ends up in Gunn's apartment (how she gets in is not specified) wearing his pyjamas, just as Edie comes knocking on the door. Blanco, Helmer and Granger all end up wounded or dead at Mother's at the end of the show. The episode is a confusing, crazy mixture of suspense and comedy, hinting at the kind of nuttiness director/producer/creator Edwards would display in some of his later films.

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EPISODE 13: Terror on the Campus

Written by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Directed by Boris Sagal
Original Air Date - 21 December 1959

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A series of peculiar events are unnerving the staff and students at a girls' school, producing an "aura of fear." At nighttime, a bell which has not rung for 20 years is sounding, and the power mysteriously goes off and on. Gunn is hired by Dean Norse (Anne Seymour) to help investigate after the police find nothing. When he arrives on campus, Gunn is surrounded by drooling co-eds. One of them, Jean Clayton (Anne Neyland, who resembles the young Lana Turner) even tries to take him for a ride. The most likely suspect is Professor Caldwell (Tom McKee). Despite the fact that he looks old enough to be Clayton's father, he admits to being attracted too closely to her. Now he is worried that she will expose their relationship with stories which would ruin him, saying that he was responsible for the mysterious occurrences. Gunn gets knocked out while snooping around at night, and is patched up by another Professor, Cleeter (Peter Brocco), who is working late into the evening along with his "assistant," Dora Miles (Nancy Millard). When Clayton is almost killed by a light falling from the ceiling in the school's theater, Caldwell is seen trying to escape from the building. Despite this, Gunn figures out that someone else is shooting at the bell, and finds a BB gun in the hothouse which is looked after by the gardener, Tomkins (Charles Bateman). After shooting at the bell himself, Gunn surprises Tomkins who comes to check out what is going on. The two of them have a terrific fight, and as Tomkins attempts to flee, they end up flailing at each other in a pond. The last minute or so of the show is pretty lame. It's revealed that Cleeter's assistant Dora was the one responsible for all the problems on campus. Her sister had an affair with Tomkins, and was expelled from the school, after which she killed herself. Miles got the handyman Tomkins to ring the bell and cause the power to fluctuate, perhaps because of what he did to her sister. Tomkins' transition from someone frantically escaping from Gunn to suddenly helping Gunn and Dean Norse catch Miles is far too abrupt.

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EPISODE 14: The Wolfe Case

Teleplay by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Story by Blake Edwards; Directed by Lamont Johnson
Original Air Date - 21 December 1959

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In the teaser, a blonde woman has just finished taking a shower, when she is shot in her apartment by someone with a silencer. Shortly after this, Gunn is hired by Edna Wolfe (Norma Crane), who is convinced that her husband George (Wilton Graff), a prominent local lawyer, is plotting with his mistress Nancy Fowler (Evan MacNeil) to kill her. When he tails her husband to Fowler's apartment that evening, we find out that Fowler -- who worked at the Gilded Cage nightclub, run by local mobster Eddie Young (Phillip Pine) -- is the woman in the teaser, who is very dead. Considering the murder weapon belongs to Wolfe, and a necklace Gunn finds in Fowler's dresser has a card with Wolfe's handwriting on it, Jacoby tries to get Wolfe to confess, but the lawyer's response along the lines of "I am not going to incriminate myself" are exemplary. Wolfe says that he never met Nancy Fowler before, which is odd, because his wife overheard the two of them talking on the phone, which motivated her to go and talk to Gunn. On his way to the police station, Gunn is forced into a car by Gus Winkler (Frank Richards), a thug who is later identified as working for Young. Gunn manages to escape by driving the car into a construction site, with Winkler being thrown out of the car and killed. The continuity in this sequence leaves a lot to be desired, because the car is seen on a level surface after it breaks through the fence, whereas in the next scene it is at an angle down a hill with Winkler's body outside. Gunn finally puts two and two together, realizing that Wolfe's wife is in cahoots with Young. He forces Young to call her and when she shows up, Jacoby and her husband also appear. She tries to suck up to her husband, saying what a generous guy he was, but finally has a meltdown, telling him that he is so old, and she can't stand the sight of him. As she is led away, Gunn tells Jacoby that Wolfe knew all along that his wife was trying to frame him over Fowler's murder, but lied to the police because he loved his wife so much.

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EPISODE 15: Hot Money

Written by Lester Aaron Pine; Directed by Alan Crosland, Jr.
Original Air Date - 4 January 1960

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At the beginning of the show, some well-dressed hoods dump a body in a laundromat dryer. The laundromat is owned by Louis Anza (Dan Barton), who later confides to Gunn that he was responsible with Willie Coronado (the body) for robbing the King's Armored Truck company of a million dollars several months before. The hoods are putting heat on Louis to cough up the money, which was in $1,000 bills with known serial numbers which Louis cannot spend. Louis wants Gunn to go to Harry Sonnenschien, the district attorney (Francis De Sales), and make a deal to turn in the money if he is not prosecuted. No sooner does Gunn talk to the D.A. than he is grabbed by the hoods and taken to their hideout, a room filled with fitness equipment. Their leader is the nattily-dressed ex-torpedo 'Shoes' Shoemaker (the gravelly-voiced Ken Lynch, who appeared in the first season episode Rough Buck). Gunn is hung suspended in handcuffs while one of Shoemaker's thugs slaps him around and Shoemaker plays ping-pong. After several minutes of abuse, they realize that Gunn doesn't have the money, but he can probably get it from Louis. To convince Gunn to do this, they drag Edie out of the back room, having kidnapped her (second time this season, previously in The Price is Murder, only 4 episodes before). After he gets a sample of the loot from Louis, Gunn meets Shoemaker and his gang back at the laundromat. Gunn manages to get Edie freed, and then the gang is rounded up by Jacoby and other cops, all undercover as laundromat patrons, including an older-looking policewoman who knows judo.

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EPISODE 16: Spell of Murder

Teleplay by Lewis Reed & Tony Barrett; Story by Blake Edwards; Directed by Lamont Johnson
Original Air Date - 11 January 1960

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Five years before, Arnold Simpson (veteran character actor Malcolm Atterbury) was involved in a mining venture. During a cave-in, he failed to help his partner Frank Victor, who was seriously injured, instead running away to save his own skin. Now Simpson, who has become successful in other businesses, is paranoid that Victor is out to get him, especially after receiving a threatening letter saying he will "pay for what [he] did." When someone takes a shot at Simpson, his wife Jane hires Gunn to investigate. She doesn't bother to tell her husband about this, so when Gunn arrives at the Simpson house, Arnold confronts Gunn with a revolver and then tells his wife he wants nothing to do with hiring a P.I. Along with the couple at the house are "Professor" John Wyler (Ben Hammer) and Ralph Logan (Stephen Joyce), Simpson's alcoholic nephew. Telling Gunn that the Professor doesn't trust him, Logan tries to eliminate himself as a suspect in the attempted murder, saying that because he "stay[s] drunk 24 hours a day," he wouldn't be able to shoot straight. After Simpson has a change of heart about using his services, Gunn tracks down Victor, who lives in a ramshackle house out in the sticks. From Victor's wife, Gunn finds out that her husband died the day before, and it is obvious that he was so crippled, there is no way he could have tried to kill Simpson. Soon after this, Gunn gets a weird-sounding phone call from Simpson who tells him to pick up a package at the Blue Pheasant Restaurant. Arriving there, Gunn has to endure a bizarre speech from Bernie Stone, the bartender (Charles Calvert), describing himself as "a pawn in the wheels of capitalism." Gunn delivers the package, but it contains a bomb which explodes, killing Simpson instantly. Figuring the bartender is involved, Gunn tracks him down, and convinces his landlady (who has hot pants for Gunn) to let him into Stone's room. In the room, Gunn finds Stone dead. He is then attacked by a man and a terrific fight follows, including a chase on the fire escape in the pouring rain. Gunn's assailant is revealed to be the Professor, who falls to the ground below. Before he expires, he tells Gunn that he was treating Simpson for "nerves" and after Simpson had told him the story about Victor under hypnosis, the Professor decided to blackmail Simpson and then kill him in cahoots with his wife. This ending is overly complicated, aside from believing the geeky Professor could fight in such a violent manner, though it's interesting to see Gunn get totally drenched in the rain.

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EPISODE 17: The Grudge

Teleplay by Lewis Reed & Tony Barrett; Story by Blake Edwards; Directed by Lamont Johnson
Original Air Date - 18 January 1960

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Miles Spence (Robert Gist), a psychotic bomber with serious issues over authority figures who once blew up a district attorney's house, escapes from the Green Gage State Mental Hospital. He breaks into the Pierce Chemical Company after murdering a security guard and steals the ingredients to make another bomb. He then sends a letter demanding that Mayor John Wills commit suicide by midnight or he will create yet more havoc. With a tip from Happy, a blind woman (Connie Davis), Gunn tracks down an old friend of Spence, Harry Lee (Edgar Stehli). At Harry's place, Gunn finds evidence that Spence has been there recently. Shortly after Gunn leaves, Spence returns and murders his friend. Acting on something that Harry told him, Gunn goes to a concert at the Civic Auditorium where a woman is playing Bach on the harpsichord. Spence appears and sits beside Gunn, holding the bomb on his lap. The two of them return to the police station, where Spence holds Jacoby hostage while Gunn is ordered to make sure the mayor carries out his directive. With not much time, Gunn gets information from Dr. Albert Crawford (Alexander Lockwood) that Spence is an "aggressive paranoiac" who didn't respond well to treatment. Instead, he would listen to music for hours at a time. Gunn purchases a used phonograph from a hi-fi shop, and returns to the police station just before midnight. Gunn gets someone to play a recording in the next room (the same music we heard earlier at the concert), which causes Spence to get distracted, just enough that Gunn can grab the bomb which has fallen to the floor and keep it from exploding. Spence is led away with Gunn asking Jacoby to get the bomb squad quickly.

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EPISODE 18: Fill the Cup

Written by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Directed by Boris Sagal
Original Air Date - 11 February 1960

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Wilson Getty (character actor John McIntire), a compulsive alcoholic, hires Gunn to keep him off the sauce so he can put on a good appearance for his daughter Barbara (Holly McIntire), whom he has not seen in 15 years and who is arriving on a plane the next day. Gunn has his hands full as Getty tries to escape from his apartment after Gunn locks the door. He finally manages to escape after knocking Gunn out, but Gunn soon recovers and follows Getty through the town's seedier section as he tries to convince various people into giving him either a drink or the money for a drink. Interestingly, though he goes to several places, including bars and liquor stores, he never actually touches a drop. Gunn tries to get Jacoby's help to find and restrain Getty, but he can't use the resources of the entire police department for this. Getty is finally nabbed by the cops after breaking the window of a liquor store and stealing a bottle of bourbon (which he drops on the street). Gunn finally gets him sobered up, and when his daughter arrives the next day, he is there to greet her at the airport. The first thing she does is ask her father to buy her a drink!

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EPISODE 19: See No Evil

Teleplay by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Story by Blake Edwards; Directed by Alan Crosland, Jr.
Original Air Date - 11 February 1960

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Albert Brenner (Lou Krugman) is sentenced to an lengthy jail term, but escapes from the courthouse on his way to prison with the help of a bogus elevator operator. When he gets out of the elevator, he murders both his guards in cold blood. Gunn investigates, asking questions of blind newspaper vendor Cliffie Thomas (character actor Walter Burke), who was brutally beaten and blinded by Brenner and his associate Vic Stringer (John Sebastian) years before. Cliffie knows that Stringer is still in town, and where he is, therefore Brenner can't be far away. Gunn gets Cliffie to hide out in a hotel, then asks makes inquiries of Igor (Benny Rubin), an eccentric "director" who is directing two women in wrestling moves. With the help of a mug shot that he borrows from Jacoby, Gunn checks up on Stringer, who hangs out at the Hotel Real. He follows Stringer out to the sticks, but finds himself in a trap from which he escapes by driving his huge tank-like car through a fence and down a hill. Going to Cliffie's hotel room, Gunn finds him dead. Then Gunn returns to the hotel where he tries to figure out what number Stringer was calling from the pay phone in the lobby. The phone company will not provide him or Jacoby the number without a court order, so there is an interesting sequence which goes through the process of getting such a document. The phone in question is located in the Sunview Sanitarium in Cloverdale, a nearby town. Gunn goes there, but on arrival, finds himself taken into custody by a couple of hoods. In the hospital, he is thrown in a padded room where he is menaced by a psycho named Bruno (Thor Johnson) in a very scary scene. Fortunately Jacoby has been tipped off as to what is going on at the hospital, and arrives in time to save Gunn from a serious mangling.

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EPISODE 20: Sentenced

Written by Lewis Reed; Directed by Lamont Johnson
Original Air Date - 8 February 1960

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Gunn seems much less "uncool" than normal in this episode. At the beginning of the show he is sentenced to death for his participation in a $400,000 bank robbery where a cashier was shot to death! Jacoby, who investigated the case, wants to talk to Gunn before he is taken to prison, but Gunn uses this as an opportunity to escape. He visits John Pauley (Robert Ellenstein), the bank manager who testified against him during the trial, getting him to admit that he was "hasty" to make his identification, but the manager pulls a pistol on Gunn, who escapes. He then looks up Joe Krosky (George Keymas), the cab driver who said in court that he had Gunn as a fare after the robbery. Even after Gunn twists his arm and threatens him, Krosky will not change his tune. Gunn visits one of his contacts, Sylvester (Ned Glass), who says that he has gone "legit," becoming a locksmith after group counselling at San Quentin (in order to open the front door of his place, you need to unlock it using a dial like on a safe). Sylvester tells Gunn to look up an illusionist named "Remarkable Rinehart" (Peter Adams) who is working in cahoots with local robber Marty Rizzo (Baynes Barron). When Gunn arrives at the abandoned theater where the two of them are known to hang out, he finds a makeup kit and a photo of himself. Gunn returns to Mother's on the sly, and gets Edie (who is heartbroken about his conviction) to tip off Jacoby, then returns to the theater where he confronts Rinehart who, for some reason, is wearing a Mission Impossible-like latex mask of Gunn. Rizzo and some hoodlum show up and are about to waste Gunn when Jacoby and several cops also arrive on the scene. A violent Gunn battle follows, with Rizzo falling through a glass window. Back at the police station, Gunn is off the hook, but Jacoby handcuffs him to his desk while he is getting the paperwork cleared up.

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EPISODE 21: The Hunt

Teleplay by Lewis Reed; Story by Blake Edwards; Directed by Jack Arnold
Original Air Date - 15 February 1960

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A consortium of mobsters pay a blonde hitman wearing dark glasses (Gordon Oliver, identified in the end credits only as "Killer") to knock off Gunn "out of town." Gunn is warned about the impending hit by Jacoby, but he says that if he allowed himself to have police protection, then the people he associates with would be wary of giving him information. Gunn is also warned by a bum outside Mother's. When he returns to his apartment, the killer is waiting for him. He forces Gunn to take him on an interminable drive, which goes on so long that night becomes day. Character actor Ralph Moody appears as the annoying owner of a service station who fills up Gunn's car while he is driving out of town with the killer in the back seat. Gunn tries to leave his mobile phone off the hook to attract someone's attention at the phone company, but the station owner notices this, putting Gunn's life in danger. Gunn and the killer end up at an abandoned mine in the middle of the desert, where Gunn manages to escape briefly into the mine itself. The game of cat-and-mouse goes on for quite some time, but finally Gunn is able to overpower the killer, who falls to his death outside the mine.

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EPISODE 22: Hollywood Calling

Written by Ben Perry & Richard Sokolove; Directed by Alan Crosland Jr.
Original Air Date - 29 February 1960

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During the filming of a Rebel Without A Cause-like gang drama, based on a true story and filmed at the locales in Gunn's city where it took place, Frankie Burns (Mark Houston), one of the juvenile delinquent actors, is shot dead by someone using a pistol with a silencer. Gunn gets hired by the production manager to investigate, and he talks to Nonamaker (Harry Lauter), the producer of the film, who is all business and not particularly co-operative. Gunn gets more interesting information out of newspaper vendor Jerry (Sid Melton), who provided some of the local talent who appeared in the film. He sends Gunn to Benny's Drive-In. There Gunn gets to ogle a couple of busty car hops, but he also has to think fast when someone drops a grenade in the back seat of his car. Later, Gunn ends up at the Sunset View Trailer Park, where he inspects the trailer where Frankie used to live. He finds some paperwork there with Nonamaker's phone number (WRen 4-2759) on it, and has to deal with the manager of the trailer park, a leggy blonde "interpretive dancer" named Louise (Tracey Roberts). At the police station, Gunn swaps theories with Jacoby about who wanted Frankie dead and persuades the lieutenant to let him look in a box containing Frankie's personal effects. Gunn phones Nonamaker and says he has some information which may interest him. Nonamaker arranges to meet Gunn late at night in a boatbuilding yard in the middle of nowhere, ostensibly because he is scouting the location for a scene to be filmed the next day. In a long convoluted story, interesting primarily for its use of closeups, Gunn tells Nonamaker that after reading Frankie's record at the police station, he determined that the producer is actually a hoodlum named Red Novak who knew Frankie as a young boy and was connected with the death of Frankie's sister. When the movie company came to town, Frankie recognized Novak's picture in the paper, then threatened to expose him. Novak gave him a role in the film, then shot him to keep him silent. The final scene, a gun battle between Novak and Gunn, is interesting for a stunt when Gunn almost gets crushed by a boat which is pushed off its base. Jacoby shows up in time, just as Novak falls and knocks himself out.

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EPISODE 23: Sing a Song of Murder

Written by Lewis Reed A& Tony Barrett; Directed by Lamont Johnson
Original Air Date - 7 March 1960

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Soon after Arnie Kelton (James Edwards), a down and out clarinet player, is released from prison after serving a five year stretch for second-degree murder, he finds out his wife Dina has died. He meets Gunn at the cemetery during her funeral and tells Gunn to find out why. He suspects that someone murdered her. Gunn makes inquiries of Bernie (Stanley Adams), a songwriter who cranks out hits like "Beguine the Baja" (which Gunn tells him has already been done, in a manner of speaking). Bernie tells him that Gunn should go to Monte's Place, a nightclub "across the river" where Dina used to hang out. When Gunn gets there, he encounters a singer named Donna Martin, who he realizes is Dina herself. Diahann Carroll plays Dina, and she sings two full-fledged songs, not abbreviated tunes like Edie sings at Mother's. Gunn tries to talk to Dina, but she slips out the back door. He gets her address from the club manager (Jan Arvan), but when he shows up at her apartment, she is fleeing up the fire escape. Gunn finally catches up to her, and Dina says she is afraid that Arnie is trying to kill her. In letters sent to her while he was in jail, Arnie blamed her for his predicament. Knowing he was being released, she staged the funeral to throw him off her track (though it seems like she was not really that far away and Arnie wouldn't have any real trouble tracking her down). Gunn is almost shot by Earl Mener (Paul Baxley), who Jacoby later identifies as a local gunman. Gunn suspects he was hired by Arnie. As well, Dina's former agent, who knew about her bogus funeral, is found dead in the river (this is the action that takes place during the teaser). With Dina's help, Gunn and Jacoby set up a stakeout at Monte's, where Dina performs under her own name. Sure enough, Arnie shows up, and before he can do any damage, he is subdued and taken away to jail again.

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EPISODE 24: The Long, Long Ride

Written by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Directed by Alan Crosland, Jr.
Original Air Date - 14 March 1960

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Mob boss Joe Webber (Robert Wilke), formerly into "beer, syndication and protection" and just released from prison after twenty years, hires Gunn to find out who wants him dead after an attempt on his life. When Gunn asks Jacoby who are likely suspects, Jacoby tells him to look in the phone book. Gunn consults Snooker (Elisha Cook Jr.), a former associate of Webber's, for information. Snooker currently belongs to some Salvation Army-like trio which sings religious tunes for down-and-out types at places like the Brothers of the Beacon Light Shelter. But Snooker and his two pals are the ones who have been hired to knock off Webber by another local hood, Al Sandville (Gregory Morton), who Webber says used to "hustle beer" for him in the old days. Webber tells Gunn he figures that Sandville is worried that he will pick up where he left off now that he is out of jail. When Webber hides out at his daughter's place, Gunn cautions him not to go outside. After getting his daughter to leave, Webber does this anyway, leading to a confrontation with Sandville where he pulls out a machine gun (!) and kills Sandville and an associate. But Webber is himself shot fatally. When Gunn and Jacoby arrive on the scene, Webber tells them that despite acting as if he wanted to go straight after having paid his debt to society, he really wanted to start up his empire again.

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EPISODE 25: The Deadly Proposition

Written by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Directed by Lamont Johnson
Original Air Date - 21 March 1960

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In the teaser Arthur Cole (Frank Maxwell), private secretary for 17 years to "builder" businessman Amoury Kinett (David White), talks to his boss, confirming that he will get $100,000 after he is arrested for murder. But in the next scene, when he meets with Gunn at Mother's, Cole tells Gunn he wants him to uncover evidence that Kinett killed his wife. She died recently in a car accident, and it was no secret that Kinett hated his wife and was going to divorce her. Cole tells Gunn that he was in love with Kinett's wife. When Gunn asks why Cole doesn't just go to the cops with his suspicions, Cole tells him that if Gunn finds the evidence, then his life won't be in as much jeopardy. From the director of the Palisades Museum where Kinett's wife used to hang out on a regular basis, Gunn finds clues that Kinett's wife met with Cole shortly before her death, and when he snoops in the auto wrecking yard where the wife's car is stored, he finds evidence of tampering with the brakes. Jacoby is furious, saying that three of his lab boys went over the car thoroughly. Obviously something is suspicious, and Cole is hauled in for questioning. When Gunn is left baby sitting Cole's daughter Angela, he finds an envelope from a medical clinic. Calling this place, he confirms that Cole was fatally ill and living on borrowed time. At police headquarters, Cole will not completely confess to being the killer, and dies during the interrogation from natural causes. Gunn confronts Kinett, but gets nowhere; when he returns to his apartment, one of Kinett's thugs tries to kill him. Gunn returns to Kinett's office and tells him that he wants half a million dollars not to go to the cops with details of the scheme,where Cole's daughter would be taken care of in exchange for Cole knocking off Kinett's wife. Kinett tries to shoot Gunn, but Jacoby suddenly appears and plugs him, and Kinett falls out the window of his office to his death.

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EPISODE 26: The Murder Clause

Written by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Directed by Boris Sagal
Original Air Date - 4 April 1960

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James Coburn gives an outstanding performance as Bud Bailey, a temperamental jazz trumpet player who can't deal with the fame that he has achieved. Bailey's wife Helen (Cece Whitney) meets Gunn at Mother's. She tells him that she thinks her husband is going to kill her, based on a phone conversation she overheard where Bud seemed to be buying a $150,000 life insurance policy on her. Describing Bud as intense and withdrawn, she asks Gunn to have a talk with her husband. Gunn goes to Bud's apartment where Bud basically tells Gunn to get lost, saying that his wife is nuts and complaining that people want a piece of him. When Gunn talks to the insurance company, he finds out that the policy was not on Helen at all, but on Bud, with his wife as the beneficiary. Helen's brother Clay Summers (Bob Hopkins) tells Gunn that Bud treats people badly, and threatens to kill him if Bud harms his sister. Finally, Gunn talks to Andy (Sam Edwards), clarinet player with Bud's combo. Andy tells him that Bud was different before he became so famous. Now he doesn't show up for work frequently, doesn't sign the band's checks, and Helen no longer hangs out at the club to see her husband perform. When Gunn goes to a cabin where Andy figures Helen is hiding out, he finds the place burned down and a body nearby which is seemingly Bud's. Evidence suggests that Helen murdered her husband, and Jacoby holds her on suspicion, but a fingerprint taken from the burned corpse is from some skid row bum known to the police. When Gunn and Jacoby go to the bum's flophouse room, they find Bud dressed in the bum's clothes, ready to leave town. Bud tells Gunn that he "wanted to be free" and to "get away from all of them." Aside from murdering the bum and making the cops think it was him, Bud created an elaborate scam, writing incriminating letters and putting dirt from the crime scene on his wife's shoe, which would have left her on the ropes for his murder. Bud is led away by Jacoby.

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EPISODE 27: The Dummy

Written by Lewis Reed & Tony Barrett; Directed by Lamont Johnson
Original Air Date - 4 April 1960

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Marcel Duboit (Maurice Marsac) opens up a studio so he can be close to The Marvellous Marvin, a former dancer who ran off with his wife years before. When this relationship resulted in a fight between the two men, Duboit ended up seriously injured, bringing his dance career to a close. His wife subsequently killed herself. Duboit intends to murder Marvin, who now entertains people at the Club Fantasy as a ventriloquist. But before Duboit can do the deed, someone beats him to it. He hires Gunn to find the killer, because he knows the cops will consider him the number one suspect. When Jacoby and Gunn show up in Marvin's dressing room, there is something missing: his dummy. Gunn talks to Artie (Wally Brown), a comedian who works at a low-budget strip club, to find out that Marvin was "off the circuit" for three months. The cops soon catch up with Marcel. After he is locked up, he commits suicide by hanging himself in his cell. Gunn finds out from Mr. Ulrich (Fred Essler), a craftsman who makes ventriloquists' dummies (he calls them "Hermans") that Marvin ordered a dummy from him and then never paid for it or picked it up. Gunn goes to Marvin's apartment to snoop around (once again the landlady is very co-operative). He finds some prescription drugs and calls the doctor who prescribed them to see what they are for. Annoyed that he is being hassled in the middle of the night, Dr. Cameron (Ken Patterson) tells Gunn that he treated Marvin for a throat condition, which he says was "unsuccessful." While Gunn is at the apartment, someone shows up, and Gunn prepares for a confrontation. But the visitor turns out to be a midget named Rinaldo (Richard Beals). In an interesting twist, it turns out that Rinaldo, playing Marvin's dummy, was actually the ventriloquist, projecting his voice for the speechless Marvin. Because he was getting "peanuts" for his work, and Marvin was raking in the big bucks, Rinaldo knocked off his partner. He came back to Marvin's apartment to grab whatever he could to take to the pawn shop. As he leads Rinaldo away to the cop shop, Rinaldo says there will be "big headlines" about this story in the papers. Gunn says, "Yeah, big..."

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EPISODE 28: Slight Touch of Homicide

Written by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Directed by Lamont Johnson
Original Air Date - 11 April 1960

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This episode brings back the quirky Howard McNear as Barnaby, a former member of the grand jury who has taken it upon himself to rid the community of underworld types who were indicted by the jury but were never brought to trial. At the beginning, Barnaby attaches a bomb to gangster Joe Norton's limousine, which immediately explodes. This scene doesn't make sense, because surely the chauffeur would be able to see him in the side mirror! Gunn is summoned by the local mob who want him to clear them of any suspicion that they were involved with Norton's death. They throw a pile of money on the table, which Gunn finds repugnant. Still, he takes the job when they tell him that if he doesn't clear them, innocent people are going to get hurt. Gunn uses an Irish informer named Sean (Terence de Marney) who he describes as "a nosy little leprechaun" to get information. When more gangsters are killed by an exploding birthday cake and later through a traffic detour, Jacoby is stumped. Gunn notes that all the people who have died were indicted by the grand jury, so he talks to the jury foreman, Arthur Wilkie (Rusty Lane). Wilkie remembers the quirky Barnaby, and when Gunn shows up at Barnaby's house, where there is a picture of Calvin Coolidge on the wall, the maid (Meg Wyllie) is equally nutty. Barnaby has a laboratory in his basement where he is preparing explosives. When Gunn asks him if he knows anything about the killings, Barnay admits right out that he caused them all. Gunn, incredulous, asks, "Mr. Barnaby, don't you know that killing people is against the law?" Barnaby says the dead men were not people, but gangsters, "a black mark on the escutcheon [sic] of society." There are some creepy moments as Gunn tries to leave, and Barnaby starts talking about the bomb he is holding in his hand. Near the end, Barnaby is seen visiting his wife (Lillian Bronson) in the state hospital (it is never specified in the show itself that this woman is his wife, only in the end credits). When he returns home, Barnaby is arrested by Jacoby. Told that he will probably be spending some time at his wife's hospital, he seems relieved.

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EPISODE 29: Wings of an Angel

Written by Lewis Reed & Tony Barrett; Directed by Lamont Johnson
Original Air Date - 18 April 1960

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Charlie Barnes (Sandy Kenyon) is a bank robber famous for his daring exploits who is serving a 99-year stretch in the penitentiary. He has been put in isolation in prison because he is a troublemaker. The warden, more interested in rehabilitating prisoners than punishing them, asks Gunn, an old friend of Charlie's, to escort him to his daughter's wedding, which takes place the next day. The wedding goes off without a hitch, but when Gunn and Charlie go to Mother's for a celebratory drink afterwards, Charlie disappears and Gunn gets knocked on the head. Jacoby is fit to be tied because if the press gets word of the escape, various people including the warden, the governor and himself will all be joining the unemployment line. From Rocky Zino (Buddy Lewis), a boxing trainer, Gunn gets a tip as to who might want to hire Charlie, a hood named Vince Canell (Len Weinrib). When he visits Canell's real estate office (a front), Gunn gets nowhere, and manages to escape from one of Canell's thugs only after throwing the guy through a window at the climax of a violent fight. Sure enough, Charlie is in the employ of Canell and is planning the bank robbery by entering through the roof. As he is breaking through the skylight with a heavy-duty drill, suddenly Jacoby, Gunn and some cops show up and subdue the gang. It seems that Charlie was working in cahoots with the cops or tipped them off (it is not specified which).

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EPISODE 30: Death Watch

Written by Lewis Reed & Tony Barrett; Directed by Alan Crosland, Jr.
Original Air Date - 25 April 1960

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College history professor Paul Conlan (Christopher Dark) is working late at night when he hears a horrible scream. Investigating, he discovers a co-ed, June Dorn, brutally murdered just as the janitor finds him standing over her body with the murder weapon (a piece of pipe) in his hand. Suspected by both the police and community, Conlan calls on Gunn to help clear his name. After the murdered girl's best friend Marjorie Miller (Jimsey Somers) tells that cops that June was having an affair with Conlan, he is locked up by the police, and subsequently brutalized by the other prisoners. Jacoby has some interesting comments on the kind of issues that prisoners, responsible for the most terrible crimes, can get upset about, as well as the public reaction to people in authority like teachers being suspected of crimes when they may be innocent. After an outraged member of the public throws a rock through Jacoby's window, he releases Conlan in Gunn's custody and Gunn puts him up at the studio of the eccentric artist Vladamir (Henry Corden, reappearing from season one -- his name there was spelled "Vladimar"). Gunn discusses the case with District Attorney Vaughn (Herbert Rudley) who assures him that Conlan will get a fair trial, despite what the public thinks. In court, there is a surprise ending, as Marjorie is caught in a lie about meeting June on the night of the murder. Describing herself as a "nobody" in comparison to the popular-on-campus June, Marjorie admits on the witness stand to killing June who lured her boyfriend away from her. After the charges against Conlan are dismissed, Gunn and Jacoby wonder if he will be going back to his old job. Conlan tells them that he will be leaving town.

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EPISODE 31: Witness in the Window

Written by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Directed by Boris Sagal
Original Air Date - 2 May 1960

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During the teaser, a blonde woman, who we learn later is Marion Venner (Leatrice Leigh), is brutally strangled. After she is dead, her murderer shoots and kills an old woman across the alley who witnessed everything. Following this, Anthony Scott (Charles Aidman) meets Gunn in a Spanish restaurant where there is a female flamenco dancer. He wants to hire Gunn to prevent him from being blackmailed by Venner who he got a bit too friendly with. When Gunn goes to Venner's place, she is not there, and he runs into Jacoby, who is investigating the bullet hole in the window. Gunn returns to Scott's place and tells him that he is now off the case, since it is a police matter. Gunn goes to Mother's, where he engages in some heavy smooching with Edie, who is overjoyed the two of them can actually spend some time together. But when Gunn gets a phone call from Scott, Edie is so pissed, so shoves him into the river! Gunn changes his suit and arrives at a hotel room where Venner said she wanted to meet Scott. He finds Venner dead, with a note saying she was going to commit suicide, In the note, Venner said she killed the woman next door because she had the DTs. But on his way out of the hotel, Gunn talks to the quirky desk clerk (Bruno VeSota), who says that he never saw Venner, only a trunk which was sent over by her "cousin." Back at the police station, where Gunn annoys Jacoby so much that the lieutenant sharpens his fountain pen in the pencil sharpener by mistake, Gunn finds out that Venner had a boyfriend, a fighter named Cal Moreland (Ralph Gary). He tracks him down, and Moreland says that Venner wouldn't have killed herself because the two of them were going to get married. Then Gunn finds out from the bartender at the sleazy watering hole where Venner used to work (Milton Parsons) that although she was a "nice dame," her hands were paralyzed from constant drinking, so it was very unlikely that she could have fired the gun to kill her neighbor. Gunn returns to Scott's place and confronts him with what he has found out, suggesting that Scott killed Venner. Scott confesses to everything, saying that he got involved with Venner because he found her more attractive than his bedridden wife Laura (Eleanor Audley), who we met earlier and who complained about being older than her husband.

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EPISODE 32: The Best Laid Plans

Written by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Directed by Alan Crosland, Jr.
Original Air Date - 9 May 1960

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The Governor is going to be assassinated during an upcoming visit to the city, and quite a few people know about it, other than the cops: Wilbur (Herb Ellis) from the coffee house and Josiah (Peter Whitney), a geeky guy with Coke-bottle lenses who collects fish, just to name two. Gunn gets a tip to go and visit Sloane (the sinister James Lanphier), who hides behind a screen and wants $100,000 to reveal the location of the rifle that will be used to kill the Governor. Gunn tells him that he will personally make sure the money is delivered, considering the time frame is too short to produce the cash right away and the time of day (the banks are closed). There are some tense moments as the Governor makes a speeech at the airport. When he gets back on his plane and takes off, everyone is relieved ... for a few moments. Then it's revealed that the murder plot was all a scam to distract the police from a million dollar bank robbery. Gunn gets further tips from Felony (Sterling Holloway), whose hobby is creating ships inside bottles, that the robbery was "engineered from inside," so Gunn goes to visit the head cashier, Harry Grover (Forrest Lewis). The nervous Grover initially denies any connection with the robbers. Gunn tells him that he is expendable, and sure enough, just as Gunn leaves, two bogus cops show up to take Grover away. Gunn trails them to the crooks' hideout, where Grover is shot dead. Gunn tips off Jacoby, who arrives with several officers who engage the crooks in a violent gun battle. Sloane is led away in handcuffs at the finale.

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EPISODE 33: Send a Thief

Teleplay by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Story by Blake Edwards; Directed by Alan Crosland, Jr.
Original Air Date - 16 May 1960

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After Frank Lyles (Charles Horvath), involved in a $200,000 payroll robbery and supposedly burned to death in a car crash, suddenly reappears, murders his ex-partner and demands the money from his wife Doris Stewart (Phyllis Avery), she hires Gunn to transport a briefcase supposedly containing the loot (it is actually empty). The idea is that when Lyles finds out that Gunn has the money, Gunn will theoretically get killed when he defends himself and then Lyles will be arrested for murder. But Lyles escapes, despite an incredible gun battle with Jacoby and other cops, who suddenly show up, tipped off by Doris. When Gunn grills her with questions about what was (not) in the bag, Doris comes up with a string of lies, saying that it contained papers which were connected with her former boss who was being investigated for fraud. Gunn gets knocked out and the bag gets taken, though it is now filled with junk paperwork from Jacoby's office. Gunn gets a tip from Babby, "the little man," that Lyles is hanging out at an oil refinery out of town, but when he shows up, Gunn is shot at by one of Lyles' old associates, Billy Reese (Don Ross) who is himself killed. When Jacoby tells Gunn that they have just discovered another partner of Lyles, Stewart (Doris's husband) dead, Gunn realizes he has been set up by his client. When he and Jacoby show up at Doris's place, she has been shot and is close to death, but tells them that Lyles took the key for the safety deposit box where the money is stored. At the bank, Gunn and Jacoby confront Lyles, who is shot while trying to escape.

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EPISODE 34: The Semi-Private Eye

Written by Gene L. Coon; Directed by Gene Reynolds
Original Air Date - 23 May 1960

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After investment counsellor Edward Cranfield (Edward Pratt, later Chief on Get Smart) attempts to flee with a million dollars of his clients' money, and murders a man from the securities commission and a policeman in the process, Gunn is contacted by Thorwald Janos (Wendell Holmes). Janos, a successful businessman, wants Gunn to keep an eye on his son Eric, who fancies himself to be a private detective, and is investigating Cranfield's disappearance. Janos describes his son as "a ridiculous nuisance" who he tried unsuccessfully to hide within his company with a minor job. Later, when Gunn asks Lt. Lacoby what he thinks about the meddling Eric, Jacoby says "it should be a felony to mention his name." Eric, played by Billy Gray ("Bud" from Father Knows Best) has a well-stacked blonde secretary named Sugar (Judy Bamber), who sits on his lap while taking dictation and has hot pants for Gunn when he shows up at Eric's office. Gunn, "talking shop," plants an idea in Eric's head that he heard from "the boys" that Cranfield is hiding out at his nearby lodge, since this is the least likely place the cops will look. Gunn is probably not expecting Eric to follow up, but Eric rushes off to investigate, much to Gunn's horror. Cranfield is indeed hiding out at the lodge, and Eric sneaks in through a window, making as much noise as possible. He is quickly grabbed by a couple of thugs that Cranfield has hired for protection. He tries to smart-talk his way out of the situation, but quickly shuts up when he is threatened with death. When Gunn shows up, the thugs are put out of commission ... for a few minutes. Thanks to more bumbling on Eric's part, they are soon back in action, and a well-choreographed fight takes place between the five, during which Eric is quickly knocked out. When Jacoby and the cops arrive soon after to take charge of the situation, there is one thing that he and Gunn can agree on -- that Eric is a huge pain in the ass!

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EPISODE 35: Letter of the Law

Written by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Directed by Robert Gist
Original Air Date - 30 May 1960

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In the teaser, a gorgeous brunette named Julie Kent (Baily Harper) is strangled by someone she knows. Shortly after, Gunn's presence is requested at the office of Henry Lockwood (Frank Overton), the District Attorney. Lockwood tells Gunn that his son Neil (Andrew Prine), who knew Julie, is under suspicion for her murder and he wants Gunn to investigate. Gunn talks to Neil at the college where is a brilliant law student, but Neil confirms his father's opinion of Julie as an "opportunist." When Gunn snoops around Julie's apartment, he finds a scarf stuffed down the kitchen drain which has the letters "DE" on it. He gets a tip from his friend the swishy fashion designer Sidney (Stanley Adams) that this is part of the haberdasher's label from DeSantis, "an emporium of gaucherie," which is a front run by local gangster Eddie DeSantis (Lewis Charles). When he confronts DeSantis with the scarf, all Gunn gets for his trouble is a conk on the head from two of DeSantis' thugs after he leaves, who take the scarf from his pocket. When he meets up with DeSantis again later, the DeSantis tells Gunn it doesn't make sense that he would knock off Julie, who once sang at his nightclub and he was friendly with, especially considering he is under federal indictment. Gunn finally realizes that the scarf was planted there by Neil, who really did kill his girl friend. The episode ends with Neil's shaken father ordering up an indictment for his son on a charge of first degree murder.

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EPISODE 36: The Crossbow

Written by Tony Barrett & Lewis Reed; Directed by Alan Crosland, Jr.
Original Air Date - 6 June 1960

SYNOPSIS:

Arthur Copeland (veteran actor Henry Daniell) hires Gunn to find out what happened to a crossbow stolen from his members-only Lance and Shield Club after Artemis Prenderville, a reclusive old man, is murdered in broad daylight with an arrow shot from this weapon. Having had some minor scrapes with the law in the past, the hyper-loquacious Copeland is worried what will happen to his sterling reputation if he is linked to the killing. As part of his investigation, Gunn has to listen to a lot of heavy-handed blather from a weapons aficionado named The Baron (Theodore Marcuse, season one's Chinese Hangman) about why people choose to kill each other with devices up to and including the atomic bomb. When a carney hootchy-kootchy girl is also murdered with the crossbow, Gunn wonders to Jacoby if a psychopath is on the loose, since she seemingly has no connection to Prenderville. The respected Judge Martin (Burt Douglas) is the third victim of the crossbow killer, producing another suspect in his handyman Karl (a German-accented George Kennedy), who is in charge of a huge, vicious Great Dane. Gunn, snooping in the judge's desk, finds some letters connected to a zoning issue where Copeland wanted to expand his club, a request that the judge turned down, as well as $32,000 worth of cheques signed by the judge, suggesting the judge was paying someone off. Under suspicion, Copeland is locked up by Jacoby, but after someone else is killed with a crossbow, he is released with apologies. He describes the police techniques as similar to the "Gestapo." Gunn figures out that the judge was the real object of the killing, and the others were all designed to throw the police off the track. The killer turns out to be the judge's son Ralph (Burt Douglas) who ran up huge gambling debts which his father's $25-a-week allowance would not cover.

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EPISODE 37: The Heiress

Written by Lewis Reed & Tony Barrett; Directed by Robert Gist
Original Air Date - 13 June 1960

SYNOPSIS:

Gunn gets a call from Walter C. Girard (Gage Clarke), a tycoon banker who is being held captive in his own home, like the "Prisoner of Zenda." Girard's daughter Lois (Selette Cole) is a do-gooder "causist," according to her father. She recently managed to get Frank Loomis, a notorious gangster, paroled. As part of the parole conditions, Loomis (Barry Russo, billed as John Duke) not only got bonded and a job in Girard's bank, but moved into Girard's house and is using it as the center for his operations, which include settling old scores against his rivals in the numbers racket. Gunn gets help from a crook named Sylvester (Ned Glass), who sells do-it-yourself burglary kits, who says that Loomis has called a meeting of his "operators" at a lodge in the woods, but when Gunn and Jacoby show up there, no one is to be found. The gangsters are watching them from the forest nearby, laughing at them. On his way back to town, Gunn is run off the road by Loomis and his hoods, after which he goes into hiding, pretending to be dead. He calls Lois, who comes to Mother's, where Gunn is hiding out in Edie's dressing room. Lois starts to make goo-goo eyes at Gunn and say things like "You're so cute," and "Aren't you going to kiss me goodbye?" just as Edie walks in the door. Figuring Sylvester tipped off Loomis as to the raid, Gunn gets Sylvester to connect with Loomis's two hoods, both of whom are knocked off, and then confront Loomis at Girard's place. When Loomis tries to kill Sylvester, both Gunn and Jacoby appear and shoot Loomis dead. Gunn says "Frank just broke parole." The episode ends with Girard finally being able to enjoy the freedom of his own home, and the wacky Lois welcoming another "cause" to her house -- an East Indian yoga guru.

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EPISODE 38: Baby Shoes

Written by Lewis Reed & Tony Barrett; Directed by Alan Crosland, Jr.
Original Air Date - 27 June 1960

SYNOPSIS:

Someone dumps a baby girl on Gunn's doorstep. Obviously he has no idea how to handle the kid, since his attempts at playing with her and his baby talk are ridiculous ... as Gunn realizes when he sees himself in the mirror. He quickly calls Edie for assistance. When Gunn later asks Jacoby where the baby came from, the lieutenant suggests she may have some connection to a subpoenaed woman who was recently knocked off, likely by Curt Beldon (Tony De Mario), "czar of Larceny Incorporated," who is clearing the books of witnesses before an upcoming trial. Following up a tip from Babby, "the little man," Gunn asks for help from Willie Kelso (James Millhollin), a pickpocket who gives classes with the motto "It's better to receive than give." He asks Willie to ask around to determine who owns the baby. On his way home, Gunn is approached on the street by an old war buddy Ernie Graves (Don 'Red' Barry), who has some connection to the baby, but before Graves can tell him anything, he is seriously injured in a drive-by shooting. In hospital, Graves tells Gunn that he was Belden's bookkeeper who spent time in prison until he decided to turn state's evidence to get out early on parole. With Babby's help, Gunn sets himself up to attract Beldon's attention, and a couple of hoods take Gunn into what looks like a giant meat locker to meet the crime kingpin. Gunn manages to escape, but then sets himself up again in a diner, this time with Jacoby and other cops nearby. When the two hoods show up, Gunn convinces one of them to tell him where Beldon is hiding out. At a shipping and export company in an industrial area, Gunn and the cops confront Beldon, who is shot dead.

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