THRILLER - "Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper" (1961)

 

It's a Whopping Good Time Wednesday down in The Dungeon, and this week I've got a wild episode of the killer TV show "Thriller" for you!

I never have time to plan things, so let me take a second and tell you how this works. In my many emails with Lord Litter in Berlin, he is always asking about or suggesting shows for me, since a lot of this is new to him, having never aired in Germany the first time. He was watching "Thriller," and I told him that it was right up there with my favourite shows like "The Twilight Zone," and "The Outer Limits," and then I realized we had never written up a "Thriller" before!

 

So, after looking at who was in different episodes, I decided I wanted to watch episode 16 from the first season because not only did it have The Shat in it, but Donna Douglas of "The Beverly Hillbillies" was also in it, but there was only one problem, I don't have a copy, nor could I find one, so I decided to watch something else that had to do with Beverly Hills, and that was Episode 28 also of season one, titled "Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper."

 

The host of "Thriller" was none other than the phenomenal Boris Karloff who does an outstanding job, just like he always does, no matter what the assignment!

 

The story begins in the 1800's in jolly olde England.

 

Jack continues his nefarious ways, by preying on the ladies of the night!

The first victim was played by Jill (The Third Man) Livesey.

 

Flash forward to 1961 New York, and suddenly it's all happening again!

Pamela (Mutiny In Outer Space) Curran is the second victim.

 

It was at this point I realized that this story penned by "Psycho" author Robert Bloch was almost exactly the same story as "The Night Strangler" I watched recently that was written by an equally talented Sci-Fi writer Richard Matheson. This is also the same story that Robert Bloch used to write the "Star Trek" episode called "Wolf In The Fold."

 

Joan Blondell's younger sister Gloria (The Twonky) Blondell, has the role of ex-burlesque star Maggie who discovers the body. Maggie makes a point of letting the authorities know that they need to get her name right, because she used to be a star. Gloria was the voice of Daisy Duck in a couple of Donald Duck cartoons, which seems natural, because she is quite animated.

 

John Williams is Sir Guy, a British authority on the crimes of Jack The Ripper, who tries to explain to the police, just as Kolchak did, that he believes this modern day Jack The Ripper is the same guy who did it decades before. Of course no one believes him, at least not in the beginning.

John played William Shakespeare in "The Twilight Zone" episode known as "The Bard."

In 1954 John Williams was in Hitchcock's "Dial M For Murder" with Dungeon Hero Ray Milland who directed this episode of "Thriller."

The police don't give much credence to Sir Guy's theories and might possibly believe it's Jack's son or grandson, but not the same man, so Sir Guy and Police Psychologist Dr. John Carmody, join forces to try and figure this thing out, and they start by going to some of the Bohemian places they think might attract Jack. The Doctor is played by Donald (13 Ghosts) Woods.

Sometimes being an artiste can be frustrating!

Adam Williams is the creative artiste named Hymie Kralik who has great imagination. He dooesn't know why he sees his model surrounded by all these ominous objects, it's just a vision he has. Adam was in two episodes of "The Twilight Zone," The Hitch-Hiker," and "A Most Unusual Camera."

As it turns out, Hymies gruesome vision comes true, and his model Arlene is the next victim. Arlene was played by Nancy (The Black Castle) Valentine.

 

There's nothing much more fun than a funeral in the rain!

The Doctor and Sir Guy head on over to a strip club that Sir Guy has determined is the place where the next attack will occur according to the pattern he's laid out. Sir Guy is unfamiliar with the concept of a strip club, and the Doctor has to explain to him that you sit, get a drink and watch young ladies disrobe. And that brings us to the star of the show, a woman named Beverly Powers, aka Miss Beverly Hills.

Beverly Powers was a popular and a very real life stripper and actually performed as Miss Beverly Hills on stage in clubs.

 

Bev was also in movies as herself, and numerous films where she

 played strippers and showgirls, often named Beverly Hills.

 

This was Beverly's on screen debut, and she went on to be in three Elvis movies, "Viva Las Vegas," "Kissin' Cousins," and "Speedway."  

Bev was also in "The Comedy Of Terrors," "Brides Of Blood," and "Invasion Of The Bee Girls."

The guys and the gals in the audience love her act and applaud like crazy!

I normally avoid using any nude pics on this blog in order to keep it open to all ages, but I had this old pic of Miss Beverly that is so nothing by today's standards, so I thought I'd show you what they couldn't on TV in 1961.

Sir Guy was 100% correct, and Jack or John, or whatever his name is, just might still continue to live to this day!