SURFSIDE 6: COUNTRY GENTLEMAN {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)

Summary

One in this series of dramas about three young private detectives who work out of a houseboat moored in a Miami Beach marina. An ex-convict named Marty Hartman has just purchased a mansion in Miami Beach from a retired naval commodore named Gladstone. Dave helped put him in prison back in New York. However, Gladstone has found out about Marty’s past and no longer wishes to associate with him. Marty is displeased with this decision, as well as at Fielding, the reporter who has been printing gossip about him in his paper. Dave and Sandy run into Marty coming out of the Boom Boom Room and talk with Fielding, whom they seem to dislike. Commodore Gladstone discusses Marty with his friend, Allan Abbott. His daughter Paula sneaks off to see Marty in the middle of the night, an enraged Abbott watches them from hiding. The next day, Abbott tells Dave that Gladstone was found dead in the bay that morning and he wants him on the case, specifically to pin the blame on Marty. Dave is skeptical at first but decides to investigate when he hears that Gladstone pulled out of a business deal with Marty. Dave visits Marty at his new home. Marty realizes he is the prime suspect but claims innocence, saying he was out for a walk at the time of the murder. He claims to be a changed man, owing to his new lifestyle. Dave, however, is not convinced of Marty’s desire to turn over a new leaf. Dave and Sandy interrogate Paula, but are unable to confirm any of their suspicions. Dave finds that the Gladstone case has made the papers, no thanks to Fielding. Marty visits Dave, believing that he deliberately spilled the story to Fielding, but Dave denies this. Sandy discovers that Abbott was deeply in debt to Gladstone. Furthermore, Abbott has designs on marrying Paula, although she is very much against it. When Dave confronts Abbott about this, he denies any culpability. He was the one who gave Fielding his story. Dave does not approve of Abbott twisting the news item to lay the blame on Marty without any hard evidence. That night, Dave is ambushed at Surfside 6 and knocked out by an unknown assailant. He awakens with Marty by his side; he claims to be visiting him to apologize for accusing him of giving Fielding his story. Dave receives an anonymous call warning him to get off the Gladstone case. When Dave mentions Paula, Marty angrily leaves. Dave finds a set of keys on the floor, dropped by the assailant. He meets with Abbott again and accuses him of being a suspect for Gladstone’s murder in order to get his hands on his money. Abbott reveals he saw Marty and Paula together, further fueling Dave’s suspicions. Marty’s bodyguard Stinger laments that his new lifestyle lacks the importance and position of authority that he enjoyed in his criminal life. Paula visits him and he tries to get her to forget about him, losing faith that he can fully acclimate to his new life. However, Paula indicates that she wants to be with him anyway. Dave enters after she leaves and confirms that Marty is now broke after the purchase of his new house. Meanwhile, Fielding returns home and is strangled by the mystery assailant. Dave tests the keys he found and discovers they fit into Marty’s car. This, coupled with tire tracks discovered leading from Fielding’s house to the bay, makes Marty the culprit in Dave’s eyes. However, Stinger confesses to the murders, believing he was helping Marty by forcing him to return to his old ways. In the ensuing struggle, Marty causes Stinger to accidentally shoot himself dead. Dave assures Marty that he did the right thing. Later, Paula visits Surfside 6 and Dave tells her that Marty is in custody and has a wife coming down from New York. However, Marty emerges from the other room when Paula leaves; the story was a fabrication that he invented to drive off Paula; he feels she deserves better. Paula, listening outside the door, returns and says she wants to be with Marty anyway and they kiss. Includes commercials.

Details

• NETWORK: ABC
• DATE: October 3, 1960 Monday 8:30 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:58:54
• COLOR/B&W: B&W
• CATALOG ID: B:10602
• GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/private detective
• SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1960-1962
• COMMERCIALS:
  • TV – Commercials – Aero Shave shaving cream
  • TV – Commercials – Kool cigarettes
  • TV – Commercials – Micrin mouthwash
  • TV – Commercials – Pontiac automobiles
  • TV – Commercials – Viceroy cigarettes
  • TV – Commercials – Woolite laundry detergent

CREDITS

• William T. Orr … Executive Producer
• Jerome L. Davis … Producer
• Irving J. Moore … Director
• Anne Howard Bailey … Writer
• M. L. Schumann … Writer
• Mack David … Theme Music by
• Jerry Livingston … Theme Music by
• Troy Donahue … Cast, Sandy Winfield II
• Van Williams … Cast, Ken Madison
• Lee Patterson … Cast, Dave Thorne
• Diane McBain … Cast, Daphne Dutton
• Margarita Sierra … Cast, Cha Cha O'Brien
• Ray Danton … Cast, Marty Hartman
• Mousie Garner (See also: Paul Garner) … Cast, Mousie
• Janet Lake … Cast, Paula Gladstone
• Frank DeKova … Cast, Stinger
• Fredd Wayne … Cast, Allan Abbott
• John Hubbard … Cast, Roger Fielding
• Robert Burton … Cast, Commodore Gladstone
• Donald Barry … Cast, Lt. Snedigar
• Gary Conway … Cast, Tad Watson