Day 232: Columbo, Forgotten Lady

Show: Columbo

Episode Particulars: S5EP1, “Forgotten Lady”, original airdate September 14^th, 1975.

 Summary: Former musical star Grace Wheeler (Janet Leigh) is planning a comeback on the stage, and intends to use the money of her husband, Doctor Henry Willis (Sam Jaffe) to finance it. The trouble is, Willis doesn’t want to give her the money. So to achieve her dream, Wheeler drugs him, then puts a gun in his hand and makes it look like he committed suicide. After that, she’s free to prepare for her show, even if it means having to deal with the Lieutenant that’s snooping around, convinced the suicide wasn’t a suicide. But she may be so focused on her career that she’s oblivious to some of the other things going on around her…

Standalone Thoughts: This isn’t a bad episode, but as with “A Friend in Deed”, I think it could have been a lot better. There was potential here, especially given the ending, for the story to have turned into a Sunset Boulevard style tragedy, and I think Leigh could have pulled it off. Unfortunately, the really interesting elements aren’t overly explored, and indeed are kind of pulled out of nowhere at the very end (there is some foreshadowing if you know what you’re looking for, but a first time viewer will probably feel like it came out of thin air). The episode we get in lieu of that is fine, but it does mean that some of the material feels more like padding. It’s padding I can get behind because it relates to old Hollywood, but it’s padding nevertheless. Still, the trend of “interesting material shaking up the formula” continues, and I have high hopes that the rest of the season will do so as well.

Number of “Columbo-isms”: 4/6. Dog shows up, as does the car and a brief “Just one more thing”, and Columbo talks about his wife a fair bit, including the cute detail that she was his high school sweetheart. But the undisputed “Columbo-ism” today is the fumbling, because Columbo is so out of it when he first arrives that he’s forgotten his jacket, badge, notebook, and watch, and it takes him quite a while to realize all that. It’s also worth noting that Columbo sheds his raincoat at the end of the episode and puts on a tuxedo, which seems like it should be ridiculous but actually isn’t too bad. He doesn’t look all that different in a tux as he does out of it, but it also doesn’t look out of place on him, which is what really matters. And I will never say no to a man in a tuxedo, so I’m not complaining.

Other: *There is an absolutely massive continuity error in the beginning of this episode. Raymond the butler (Maurice Evans) is supposed to be bringing Willis a tray containing milk and his nightly sleeping pill. Then we cut to Willis in bed…and he’s got the tray on his bedside table before Raymond’s entered the room. And when Raymond does enter the room, the tray on the nightstand disappears. I accept most continuity errors, but some things just can’t be ignored.

*It’s a tiny little thing, but the brief interactions between Raymond and his wife Alma (Linda Scott) feel genuine and sweet, like they’ve been married for awhile and still love each other. I always enjoy seeing things like that, especially in shows where relationships aren’t the main focus.

*While the end credits don’t mention it, IMDB reveals that the older movie clips we see Wheeler watching throughout the show actually are from a movie called Walking My Baby Back Home that Leigh was in. I love it when media is self-referential like that, as long as it’s not done to excess.

*Columbo’s dislike of guns finally reaches the payoff I remembered, and a quick conferral with a family member suggests that it’s not really going to come up again in future episodes. It’s a fairly amusing bit that runs through the episode involving several different policemen nagging Columbo renew his gun license, culminating in Columbo finding a way to have his cake and eat it too. While it is fun and pops up infrequently enough that it doesn’t feel like blatant padding, it does call Columbo’s morals into question, which may bother some people. Then again, based on what he’s willing to do to get his man, they may have been having problems with him a lot earlier than this. And on a related note…

Would This Hold Up in Court?: Columbo’s argument for why he can prove Wheeler did it is well-reasoned, but it’s relatively shaky evidence. Also, he proved his argument by doing a bit of tampering, which I have stated numerous times that the courts probably won’t approve of. In this particular case, however, the point is moot, so this is a matter of speculation more than anything.