ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS: MOTHER, MAY I GO OUT TO SWIM? (TV)
Summary
One in this dramatic anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock.
John Crane attends a coroner's board hearing and mentally recounts the events which led him to be a murderer. It began when he went on a vacation to Vermont while his mother Claire went to visit his sister and her children; she is to catch up with him in a few days. John is very close to his mother; he still lives with her and when they're apart she calls him nightly. At his hotel's gift shop, he meets the cashier, a young European woman named Lottie Rank, and the two of them quickly fall in love. They go out together to a nearby waterfall, where she reveals she lived in Germany during the war and did all she could to move to the United States to escape it. She recounts the deaths of her parents and how it affected her.
After a while, John proposes to Lottie, eager to introduce her to his mother. He returns to his room to find Claire waiting for him. He tells her about Lottie and is anxious for them to meet; secretly Claire is uneasy about meeting her. John arranges for the three of them to have tea that afternoon. While John is at the train station getting his mother's luggage, Claire visits the gift shop and meets Lottie, each of them unaware of the other's identity. She makes disparaging remarks about the shop's goods and implies that Lottie wants to marry an American solely to get citizenship before leaving, both of them irritated with the other. That afternoon, John brings the two of them together for tea and they each realize who the other one really is. They chat and Claire vows not to interfere with them, but Lottie is uneasy with her presence and excuses herself.
In private John asks Lottie why she doesn't like Claire, and she notes that John's extreme attachment to her prevents her from having a relationship with him. She indicates that only Claire's death will free him of her hold on him, and convinces John to tell Claire about their engagement. However, that night Claire remarks that when John marries he'll essentially abandon her. John can't bring himself to tell her about his proposal to Lottie. The next day, Lottie is convinced John has chosen his mother over her and says she will be going away unless they inform Claire of their engagement. She suggests bringing Claire to the waterfall with them, and John suspects Lottie intends to murder Claire. Faced with the opportunity to do away with one or the other, John decides to push Lottie down the waterfall, killing her. The episode ends in the coroner's hearing, where Lottie's death is ruled accidental; John exits alongside his mother. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: April 10, 1960 9:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:26:10
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: B:80183
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1955-1960; 1962-1964 / NBC - 1960-1962; 1964-1965
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Joan Harrison … Producer
- Norman Lloyd … Associate Producer
- Herschel Daugherty … Director
- James P. Cavanagh … Writer
- Q. Patrick … Based on a story by
- Alfred Hitchcock … Host
- William Shatner … Cast, John Crane
- Jessie Royce Landis … Cast, Claire Crane
- Gia Scala … Cast, Lottie Rank
- Robert Carson … Cast, Inquest Board Chairman
- Donald Elson … Cast, Clerk of the Court