Four Star Playhouse 1.18

To Whom It May Concern

starring David Niven

written by Oliver Crawford, Wally Kline, Jack Hannum

directed by Robert Florey

Bingham (David Niven) has made plans to kill himself. He writes a letter explaining his reasons. He embezzled money from the bank where he works. He used it to buy some stock in but the value of the stock has dropped precipitously. He mails the stock certificates along with the letter but then sees a headline indicating that the company and it's stock price has rebounded.

Bingham rushes around desperately trying to intercept the letter. He makes numerous attempts. All seems lost and at the last minute he almost gets it back but he is oblivious to the fact that the letter is coming back to him due to insufficient postage and kills himself.

Thoughts

I like this episode very much. It really kept me in suspense wondering how and where it would end. I didn't think they would end it the way that they did. I was sure they would give it a happy ending. I'm very impressed that they found a way to make it pay off.

Notes

This is the fifth of 32 episodes of this show and the last one from the first season that starred David Niven. The previous one was 1.16 Night Ride. I like most of the David Niven episodes from this season. The only clunker in my eyes was the first one. 

Ned Glass played the part of a newspaper vendor. He played MSgt Andy Pendleton in 15 episodes of The Phil Silvers Show. He was in two episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959). He also had a small uncredited part in North by Northwest (1959).

Dayton Lummis played a mail clerk with whom Bingham interacts while trying to recover the letter. This is the first of three episodes of this show in which he appeared. He was also in three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955). 

Harry Cheshire played Mr. Wainwright, Bingham's boss. This is the first of two episodes of this show in which he appeared. He was in one episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955). He also appeared in uncredited parts in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).

There are three writers credited with writing this episode. All of them are credited as working on the screenplay. This is the only episode of this show on which any of them worked. Oliver Crawford also wrote for The Outer Limits (1963), The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Bionic Woman. This is the sixth of six screenplays that Wally Kline had a hand in writing. It is the only one that was for a TV show. All of the others were for movies dated between 1938 and 1941. This is just one of three screenplays that Jack Hannum had a hand in writing.

This is the 16th of 38 episodes of this show that was directed by Robert Florey.