Tales of the Unexpected 1.02

Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat

starring Julie Harris, Michael Hordern

directed by Simon Langton

Mrs. Bixby goes to see the Colonel, her lover, as she does on a quarterly basis. She tells her husband that she is going to see her Aunt Maude as she does every three months. Her husband suspects nothing. She has a lovely weekend with her lover, the Colonel.

He gifts her a mink coat at the last minute, as she about to catch an airplane. He tells her that it is time for them to end their relationship. The mink coat is a parting gift. She doesn't know what to do with it because it will make her husband suspicious.

She goes to a pawn broker when she gets back in town. She pawns the coat for $50. She asks the pawn broker not to put anything on the claim ticket other than $50. She tells her husband when she gets home that she found a ticket in a taxi on the way home but she doesn't know what it is for.

Mr. Bixby explains that it is a claim ticket for a pawn broker. He says that he will go to retrieve whatever it was. She tries to get him to give the ticket back but he won't. The next day she calls him at his office to ask him what it was that the claim ticket was for. He won't tell her so she goes to his office.

She is very excited when she gets to his office. He surprises her by not giving her the coat but as she is leaving she sees the coat, being worn by her husband's young assistant.

Thoughts

This is the first of two episodes of this show in which Julie Harris appeared. I did not recognize any of the other actors in this episode.

The story that this was based upon had previously been made into an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955).

I wasn't sure exactly where the story was going until Mrs. Bixby went to the pawn shop and came home with the ticket. I thought they did an excellent with how they wrapped it up.