A young man is accused of being the driver in a fatal hit and run accident. He remembers nothing about the evening except that he gave a lift to a young woman in an elaborate dress with sequins. Blackie and Mary trace the dress as being the design of a pompous Hollywood designer named Severy and through him to Arcadia Pictures. The brief scenes of the studio's Western set are interesting. The story initially seems very straightforward but takes an interesting twist. I don't get the significance of the title which is niggling at me but doesn't distract from my liking the show. The lead actress in this episode was played by Marjorie Weaver in what is evidently her last film or t.v. appearance. I saw her in a fun 1940s mystery/comedy (Fashion Model) just a couple of months ago. I thought she was pretty good in that but quite frankly, she was not in this episode.
2 Reviews
Superior Episode
dougdoepke17 July 2017
Superior episode, with both suspense and a good look at the studio backlot. So what does a hit and run have to with a designer dress and a movie actress. Seems a woman who gets a ride from a drunk hits and kills a milkman while she's taken over the driving. But she runs off leaving the drunk as the fall guy. As a favor to the fall guy, Blackie's on the woman's trail. She turns out to be an actress, but with an inexplicable attachment to a fancy gown that turns out to be a crucial part of the case.
Except for the complicated solution, the narrative's well-written, generating more suspense than usual as we wonder about the gown. There're also some good shots of the studio's backlot where the actress is filming a western. I expect the production crew for the western was also the crew for the Blackie series. But my big question is where the blonde is that's in the episode's title "101 Blonde". To my eye, the gals were all brunette. Oh well, maybe I can get Blackie to clear up that mystery too.
Except for the complicated solution, the narrative's well-written, generating more suspense than usual as we wonder about the gown. There're also some good shots of the studio's backlot where the actress is filming a western. I expect the production crew for the western was also the crew for the Blackie series. But my big question is where the blonde is that's in the episode's title "101 Blonde". To my eye, the gals were all brunette. Oh well, maybe I can get Blackie to clear up that mystery too.
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