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Four Star Playhouse Season 2 Episodes

Season 2 Episode Guide

31 Episodes 1953 - 1954

Episode 1

Finale

Thu, Sep 24, 195330 mins

Steve Carlyle is an actor who can't find work because his famous nearly identical cousin Roger takes measures to keep him from getting any parts that would gain Steve any public exposure, because Roger knows that Steve is a better actor.

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Episode 2

The Squeeze

Thu, Oct 1, 195330 mins

Willie Dante begrudgingly lets the son of the district attorney play dice in his illegal gambling hall, under threat of exposure. Willie kicks him out anyway when he finds out that his checks are bad, but a gangster under indictment robs Dante of the boy's checks, in order to blackmail the DA.

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Episode 3

A Place of His Own

Thu, Oct 8, 195330 mins

A brain-damaged PT boat commander is exploited by his prominent family, but loved by his community. The World War II hero longs for his own small house, but his miserly sister-in-law refuses to provide the Commander with a $500 down payment, claiming that she needs every sou to marry off his troublesome younger brother to a wealthy woman.

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Episode 4

Love at Sea

Thu, Oct 15, 195330 mins

A woman on a cruise without her husband feels abandoned and alone, but her spirits are revived by a series of anonymous romantic gifts. Several men on the ship attempt to romance her, but which of them is sending her the gifts?

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Episode 5

The Witness

Thu, Oct 22, 195330 mins

A defense attorney idles in a swank restaurant while his client's on trial for murder. The attorney's PIs search for a female witness who can get the defendant off, so the attorney avoids court to keep delaying the trial. But as the judge's temper boils, the attorney wonders if the woman really exists.

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Episode 6

A Matter of Advice

Thu, Oct 29, 195330 mins

Weary Dr. Gentry gets no rest from his irritating patients. The pediatrician deals with ill-mannered kids and parents who can't make a move without checking with him first. An evening out with his wife to watch their oldest daughter star in "Romeo and Juliet" becomes a disaster when a panicked new mother interrupts the balcony scene with a silly phone call.

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Episode 7

Search in the Night

Thu, Nov 5, 195330 mins

A newspaper reporter is intrigued as to why a woman hired a dive team to retrieve her purse from the Chicago River.

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Episode 8

Moorings

Thu, Nov 12, 195330 mins

An overworked man is ordered by his doctor to take a vacation. While at the resort, he falls in love with a blind woman.

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Episode 9

The Hard Way

Thu, Nov 19, 195330 mins

Vic breaks the bank at Willie's gambling hall, and Willie unknowingly pays him off with counterfeit money. When Vic threatens him, Willie convinces him that they've both been duped, and they cooperate to track down the real culprit.

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Episode 10

For Art's Sake

Thu, Nov 26, 195330 mins

Ted Parker enlists his friend Addy, a famous art expert, into an elaborate ruse to portray his budding love interest as a break-out artist, despite her lack of talent.

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Episode 11

The Girl on the Park Bench

Thu, Dec 3, 195330 mins

Trudy is incensed when her rent goes up after the city relaxes rent control. She marches down to the mayor's office and threatens to make his name mud if he doesn't reinstate the controls. He doesn't, so she calls some reporters and sets up housekeeping in the city park.

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Episode 12

The Room

Thu, Dec 10, 195330 mins

A doctor opens an office in a small Cuban village, but he finds out that doctors are not allowed, according to the decree of a vengeful 200-year-old unseen tyrant.

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Episode 13

A Man of the World

Thu, Dec 17, 195330 mins

Predictable Andy Bush is taking a train to his annual three week vacation without his wife. A young woman in trouble approaches him and asks him to help her by pretending to be her husband.

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Episode 14

The Gift

Thu, Dec 24, 195330 mins

A businessman becomes moody and difficult ever year at Christmas because of his estranged son, who refused to follow in his footsteps and became a geologist instead. He sees his wife helping orphans and he has a change of heart about celebrating the Yuletide season.

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Episode 15

House for Sale

Thu, Dec 31, 195330 mins

A woman visits an isolated house expecting to meet with the realtor. Instead, she encounters a murderer who's escaped from a mental hospital. When a couple drops in to tour the home, she tries to escape with them, but they refuse to believe her story of a killer with a body in the fireplace.

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Episode 16

The Test

Thu, Jan 7, 195430 mins

A test pilot learns that it's possible that his sick daughter could have polio, just before he tests a new military plane.

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Episode 17

The Bad Streak

Thu, Jan 14, 195430 mins

The owner of a financially distressed casino faces a dilemma when his estranged son gambles against him. Either his casino will go bankrupt, or he'll bring about the financial ruin of his son.

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Episode 18

A String of Beads

Thu, Jan 21, 195430 mins

A gem expert declares a worthless string of beads worn by a poor governess to be a valuable pearl necklace.

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Episode 19

Indian Taker

Thu, Jan 28, 195430 mins

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Episode 20

Second Dawn

Thu, Feb 4, 195430 mins

A blind man has a chance for surgery to restore his sight, but it may last for just a few minutes.

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Episode 21

The Gun

Thu, Feb 11, 195430 mins

Dick Powell plays a cop who returns home after a tough night only to be confronted with noisy kids, his wife, neighbors, delivery men and a vacuum cleaner salesman. When he discovers his gun is missing, he must track everyone down to see who has it.

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Episode 22

The Bomb

Thu, Feb 18, 195430 mins

An engaged couple and the woman's former suitor take shelter in an abandoned house, too late to notice an unexploded bomb. Their retreat is cut off by a cave-in, and they must defuse the bomb with instructions delivered over a phone line.

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Episode 23

Meet McGraw

Thu, Feb 25, 195430 mins

McGraw, a private eye, meets Lila Lamont at a bar. She wants to hire him as a bodyguard. Her husband has threatened to kill her if she divorces him. But when she mentions his name, Louis Lamont, McGraw turns down the job. Lt. Smith joins him at the bar to find out what his connection with Lamont is. McGraw bumps into an old lady on his way out. She seems to be mugged in front of him but it turns out she stole his wallet instead. In his hotel room awaits a man who offers to return his wallet if McGraw follows him to Lila's house where the old lady, Martha, happens to work as a maid. Once there, Lila flirts with him. McGraw wants to leave so she offers to drive him. While kissing in the car, they hear gunshots. Lila disappears. Lt. Smith arrives on the scene and tells McGraw that Louis is in jail so Lila must have lied.

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Episode 24

Detective's Holiday

Thu, Mar 4, 195430 mins

A detective (Dick Powell) takes a trip to a cabin in the woods to get away from it all. A man, his wife, and his two kids entertain him. When one of the kids let's it slip that their step-mother just got her blond hair, the detective predicts she is running from the law and decides to check it out.

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Episode 25

An Operation in Money

Thu, Mar 11, 195430 mins

The chief teller of a bank openly embezzles a large sum of money to extort a pay raise from the bank's board of directors.

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Episode 26

Lady of the Orchids

Thu, Mar 18, 195430 mins

Neglected by her husband, Stacy goes out with wealthy bachelor Paul. The evening ends in a fatal car accident from which Stacy escapes unnoticed. She is the only one who can save Paul from manslaughter charges, but at risk of her own marriage.

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Episode 27

The Book

Thu, Apr 1, 195430 mins

A stranger tussles with John over a library book and is struck and killed by a passing car. John discovers a message in the book and follows it to a blind meeting, only to be mistaken for a hit man with an assassination team.

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Episode 28

A Study in Panic

Thu, Apr 8, 195430 mins

Wise-guy newspaperman Fred Jordan writes a column making fun of "normal" men who panic during a fire. Soon afterward he gets a letter from a deranged man who promises Jordan that he will soon know the "real" meaning of the word "panic"--because within 24 hours, the man is going to kill Jordan.

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Episode 29

Masquerade

Thu, Apr 15, 195430 mins

Kit and her fiancé are hosting a Mardi Gras costume party at her huge mansion when frightening news arrives. Her ex-husband, a crazed murderer, has just escaped from prison and is believed to be costumed as the corpse-like character from Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death."

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Episode 30

Village in the City

Thu, Apr 22, 195430 mins

An artist discovers that one of his favorite model's has been murdered and an investigation begins to discover the murderer.

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Episode 31

The Doctor and the Countess

Thu, Apr 29, 195430 mins

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