Episode 14, "The Adventure of the Eccentric Engineer," features TONIGHT SHOW sidekick Ed McMahon as Lamont Franklin, a brilliant inventor currently working on a special automated system using his elaborate train workshop located away from his house, who has led everyone around him to believe that he has regressed to the point of adolescence over the previous three months. Mrs. Franklin (Dorothy Malone) believed the ruse, but her brother, Doug Carmichael (Bobby Sherman), remained well aware of Lamont's continued financial wizardry. Roger Woods (David Hedison), Lamont's friend and associate, and his employer, Claude Sitwell (Arthur Godfrey), were kept informed on Lamont's progress on the new automation system, and both men stand to lose their high positions when Lamont returns to the company. One night, Roger sends a Broadway invitation by train to his reclusive engineer friend, only to have Lamont respond in the negative; Franklin is later found dead in his workshop, shot at close range by someone he knew, since only friends with a pass were allowed to gain access to his domain. Caught stealing a book of notes is Billy Geeter (Dick Van Patten), who aided the dead man in his designs before being fired months before. Art Balinger appears unbilled as a newscaster, and Ann Reinking ("All That Jazz", "Annie") debuts as Lorelie Farnsworth, an aspiring author hoping to get Ellery to help her write a love story, but ends up aiding his investigation. After trying to avoid her throughout the episode, Ellery is finally won over by her persistence, adding that he tried to write love stories, but that his heroines always got killed off!
