ADVENTURES OF HIRAM HOLLIDAY, THE: THE HOLLOW UMBRELLA (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy/adventure series about a nebbish yet highly skilled newspaper proofreader who travels the world as a man of action.
Mr. Prentice becomes frustrated with Smith’s failure to report on many of Holliday’s adventures, caused by Smith being away at key opportunities coupled with Holliday’s modesty in describing his encounters. He is sent with Holliday to Paris, where he yet again misses out on Holliday saving the French minister from a malfunctioning elevator. Holliday reveals he is in Paris on a truffle-hunting expedition. At a café, Holliday accidentally bumps into a bearded fellow and they accidentally switch umbrellas. The bearded man, Garreaux, meets with trapeze artist Wolfgang and Marlene, freed from prison after her earlier encounter with Holliday. They are working as spies delivering a secret message of great import hidden in the hollow handle of Garreaux’s umbrella. However, they soon discover that they have Holliday’s umbrella by mistake, and they vow to hunt down Holliday to retrieve the message.
Holliday discovers the hollow compartment inside the umbrella and the note within. It is written in the long-dead Etruscan language, which Holliday cannot translate. Smith believes this occurrence is of no import and leaves on his own affairs, but Holliday is curious and takes the message to a language institute to be translated. The language professor, upon reading the message, is horrified by its contents and rushes to call the gendarmes to arrest Holliday, believing he is at the root of some dark conspiracy. Holliday, confused by this turn of events, returns to his apartment to find Garreaux and Marlene waiting for him. Garreaux asks that they return each others’ umbrellas, but becomes angry when he finds the message is gone and holds Holliday at gunpoint to retrieve it. Holliday uses a trick to evade the gunfire and then knock Garreaux unconscious. Marlene claims that Garreaux’s men will be after him and asks that he stay with her for the time being.
At Marlene’s apartment, Holliday notices an autographed picture of Wolfgang on Marlene’s mantle, and he recognizes him from a poster he saw earlier. Marlene works as an exotic dancer in a café, and disguises Holliday so as to elude the gendarmes, although Holliday believes it would be better to turn himself in and explain everything. She has Holliday act as his dance partner and attempts to covertly murder him with a knife, but Holliday thwarts her attempt, somewhat by accident. When the gendarmes enter, she takes him to the circus and makes him wear a rubber pig nose. Holliday is accidentally hoisted up to the trapeze with Wolfgang, and introduced as part of the act. Smith is in the audience and watches with terror as Holliday swings back and forth across the trapeze without a net to catch him. Wolfgang tries to kill Holliday by allowing him to fall, but he catches onto Wolfgang with the hook of his umbrella handle and evades falling to his death. Wolfgang then fences Holliday on a tightrope and knocks him off, but Holliday saves himself with a trampoline and manages to get away and set everything right. Smith interviews him later about the story and is dismayed to learn that Holliday ate the secret message to prevent it from being intercepted. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: October 24, 1956 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:25:56
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: B:41683
- GENRE: Comedy; Action/Adventure
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; Action/Adventure
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1956-1957
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Philip Rapp … Producer, Writer
- Robert Stillman … Associate Producer
- William J. Hole … Director
- Robert Riley Crutcher … Writer
- Paul Gallico … Based on the stories by
- Frank J. Worth … Music by
- Wally Cox … Cast, Hiram Holliday
- Ainslie Pryor … Cast, Joel Smith
- Thurston Hall … Cast, Harrison Prentice
- Stanley Adams … Cast, Garreaux
- Eric Feldary … Cast, Wolfgang
- Lita Milan … Cast, Marlene
- Ivan Treisault … Cast
- Violet Rensing … Cast
- Rene Korper … Cast
- Fred Cavens … Cast
- Al Cavens … Cast
- Alfred Linder … Cast
- Norbert Shiller … Cast