Sister Grace “should be a very sweet, gentle, warm girl” in her twenties. The audience should realize very quickly that she’s shy; she’s never had an experience with a man. Huggins told Somkin how he wanted the characters to relate. “Curry finds her very attractive. He’d like to go to bed with her, but he realizes that that probably would put her in absolute shock.” [25] Instead of Curry worrying Grace about her preaching technique, Curry would like to “teach her how to kiss — although he doesn’t want to seduce her… he shouldn’t treat her like a nun. She’s not.” [26] As Mr. Fielding deals with the material needs of his charges, Sister Grace applies herself to saving souls. She conveys the admirable impression of total dedication and belief in her work, though personality-wise, she’d probably do better to serve hot meals in a soup kitchen.
Lucy Fielding is the one sexy woman of the three. She “has class — but she’s also got sex.” In the first telling of the story, Mrs. Fielding finds Heyes “rather attractive. She’s not trying to go to bed with him, but she just feels that Heyes is the kind of guy her husband isn’t. We realize that she’s really an unhappy and disenchanted woman. In a very subtle way, she’s being a bit seductive.” [27] Peripheral as she is to her husband’s career, Mrs. Fielding would be happier staying at home or shopping in New York or Boston. The West is as foreign to her as Paris or Rome would be, but she’s positive she’d like it better there. At her insinuation that all western men are like Heyes and Curry, Heyes is supposed to get angry with her. “If I’m gonna judge the East by you, I’m not gonna like the East any better than you like the West…” [28]
Heyes has no trouble dealing with ladies, but Lucy Fielding puts him off because he respects her husband. However, he questions Fielding’s assessment that the Chiricahuas may be reasonable. According to Huggins, this attitude was authentic but he wanted it avoided. “Our series is really not an accurate Western anyway. It’s kind of a fairytale Western — and we should avoid this truth, which is that all cowboys were anti-Indian.” [29] Heyes also wonders about the Chiricahuas’ penchant for continued fighting after they took on both the United States and Mexico and gave up only after running out of food and bullets. Given that knowledge, the Alias Smith and Jones timeline, hardly an exact reference, nevertheless dates this episode after September 1886.
In May 1885, Apache warrior Geronimo and his followers fled the Arizona reservation in an attempt to regain the freedom they had known before the government instituted the reservation system. He and his warriors slipped into Mexico’s Sierra Madre. General George Crook and the 6th Cavalry were sent to return them. In January 1886, the Chiricahuas, badly demoralized, agreed to negotiations for surrender. In a tragically confused incident, Mexican troops arrived and, mistaking the Apache scouts for hostiles, opened fire and mortally wounded a cavalry officer. After the Mexican departure, the Apaches agreed to meet with Crook who told Geronimo that unless he surrendered he would be hunted down and killed. Geronimo accepted a two-year imprisonment at Florida’s Fort Marion. While being led there, Geronimo and a handful of his followers broke free again. The army replaced Crook with General Nelson Miles, who committed five thousand troops to the recapture of the Indians. Even when confronted by a force of this magnitude, Geronimo's band eluded their pursuers for six months. When Apache scouts finally talked Geronimo into laying down his guns in September 1886, the surrender was bloodless and strangely anticlimactic. Miles sent the Apaches east on a train under heavy guard. With their departure, the Indian Wars of the Southwest came to an end.
In the mid-nineteenth century, the appointment of Indian agents was often patronage from politicians and major scandals erupted involving corruption among them. As middlemen with few checks on them, they could confiscate supplies meant for the Indians and sell them for profit. In December 1868, the Missouri Democrat published an article in which the reporter wrote that he knew of persons who got rich — accumulating from $75,000 to $100,000 each — in three or four years from salaries of $1,500 per annum. The rich persons he’s referring to were Indian agents.
Heyes admired Fielding’s courage in facing the Chiricahua and his plan to simply put up his hands and try to talk. In his private life, Peter Duel felt saddened by the racial prejudices and injustices he saw. Jo Swerling knew him well. He remembers that Peter brooded about bad things going on in the world and that not enough was being done to correct them. “[H]e was a really…essentially very decent, very nice man. A good person.” [30]
Night of The Red Dog
“Jones and me are pretty cowardly. When it comes to gambling anyway.”
Hannibal Heyes
STORY: JOHN THOMAS JAMES
TELEPLAY: DICK NELSON AND JOHN THOMAS JAMES
DIRECTOR: RUSS MAYBERRY
SHOOTING DATES: SEPTEMBER 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 1971
ORIGINAL US AIR DATE: NOVEMBER 4, 1971
ORIGINAL UK AIR DATE: JANUARY 31, 1972
Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry are in Wilksburg. An old man, Clarence Boles, collapses in the street and they rush to his aid. Leaning over him, Heyes realizes he isn’t drunk, so he must be sick. Billy Boggs and Jason Holloway join them and, because there is no doctor’s office, Jason suggests they take him to the undertaker’s. Heyes and Curry try to lift Clarence up. They give a mighty heave and almost collapse with the effort, clutching each other to keep from falling. “He can’t be that heavy,” protests Curry. They try again and only succeed in lifting Clarence’s shoulders an inch off the ground. With Jason’s and Billy’s help, the four men manage to lift Clarence enough to carry him into the undertaker’s parlor.
Ralph Marsden, the undertaker, points them to his back room. Heyes tells Ralph that Clarence is still alive as Billy goes in search of the doctor. Opening Clarence’s coat, the men discover the old man is carrying enough gold dust to open his own private mint.
With the town’s doctor out on a call, Billy returns with Dr. Chauncey Beauregard, who was waiting for the stage. Dr. Beauregard cheerfully asks which of them is the patient. The one lying down with his eyes closed, Heyes points out, while Curry explains that Clarence may just be exhausted from carrying two hundred pounds of gold in his pockets. The doctor examines Clarence and determines he’s near death.
Clarence has no family so, hearing he’s about to die, he tells the men about his gold mine. Hating to see the gold go to waste, he gives them a map, then falls silent. The men remove their hats as a sign of respect for his passing, then sheepishly put them back on when Clarence gives a gentle snore.
Doc Beauregard declares the map is a clear case of a deathbed gift and all of them agree they’d like to do some gold mining. Loaded with supplies, the group heads to the mountains.
Upon arriving, they draw cards to decide who will get what section of the river. Doc draws first, proclaiming, “As they said in medical school in Atlanta, character is fate.” He gets high card and first choice of sections.
For the next few weeks, each man works his site, collecting and carefully hiding their gold dust. Heyes and Curry believe they have at least $15,000.
Back in the cabin, Ralph announces it’s time to be heading back to town. Winter is coming. Ralph figures he has $30,000 and he’s satisfied. Jason has only $20,000 and wants to stay until the end of the week. Billy is happy with his $7,000. Doc hasn’t mentioned a number, but says he’s done much better than the rest of them, which brings to mind a young lad he knew at medical school in Baltimore. Curry points out the last time he talked about medical school it was in Atlanta. Doc testily informs him that doctors often attend more than one school.
The next day, as the men return from working, Curry notices new animals in the corral. Clarence throws open the cabin door and points an accusing finger at Doc. Clarence wasn’t even a little bit dead; he had a hernia from carrying all that gold. Now he’s back with a legal claim and they’re all claim jumpers. He did give them the map, so he’ll let them keep all the gold they’ve panned so far, but they have to leave in the morning.
Heyes and Curry head for their secret cache, but, though Heyes digs frantically, their gold is gone.
In the cabin, Clarence is weighing everyone’s gold. Doc has $65,000; Ralph $30,000; Jason $20,000; Billy $11,000. Heyes figures he and Curry have $400 today. Yesterday they had about $25,000, which has been stolen. Everyone offers reasons for their innocence. Heyes decides to forget it for now and chalk it up to bad luck. There’s nothing they can do.
The next morning Curry comments on the nip in the air as he dresses. When he opens the cabin door, it starts a small avalanche of snow. Clarence laughs uproariously; the greenhorns waited too long to leave — now they’re snowed in.
The men sit glumly around the cabin. They’re trapped for the winter in a one room cabin and one of them is a thief. There’s enough food that no one will starve, but what are they going to do for the next few months? Jason pulls out his deck of cards and suggests a game of poker.
A marathon game ensues as winter passes. Curry develops a cough and a fever, but insists he’ll be fine. He’s not fine, though, and during one hand simply keels over. Heyes rushes to his side and with Billy’s help he moves Curry into the storeroom and covers him with blankets. Doc examines him, listening to his heart with a stethoscope, remarking it’s beating much too fast. Heyes rips the stethoscope out of Doc’s ears and listens for himself. It seems okay to him. Doc places it over his own heart to show Heyes how a normal heartbeat sounds. Heyes grudgingly admits there’s some difference, but he doesn’t know why he’s listening to him, because he doesn’t think he’s a real doctor. At that, Doc’s heartbeat speeds up. Heyes is intrigued and apologizes for upsetting him. Doc denies he’s upset, so Heyes listens to his heart once more. It’s back to a normal rhythm. Heyes asks him where he studied surgery and finds that Doc’s heart speeds up when he answers. Heyes tests his discovery once more and finds that a question about Doc’s credentials causes his heart to beat faster. Heyes explains his finding, but Doc claims he’s not angry and he’s not lying. Doc believes Jones has pneumonia and, unfortunately, there’s nothing he can do.
Three days later, Curry awakens feeling better and is ready to play some more poker. Heyes shares his discovery about the stethoscope and his suspicion that Doc Beauregard is the one who stole their dust. There’s no way to prove he has it, but Doc Beauregard is a very bad gambler. He’d be the perfect mark for Montana Red Dog.
Curry rejoins the poker game. When it’s his deal he suggests a change — Montana Red Dog. Billy agrees eagerly. Jason and Ralph don’t mind either, but Doc is unfamiliar with the game. Curry explains it to him. The players are dealt five cards. When it’s their turn, they bet on whether they can beat the next card turned over, in the same suit. The minimum bet is $100, the maximum is the size of the pot. Doc agrees to play and Heyes’s plan to recover their gold dust is put in motion.
The game begins. Doc bets heavily, while Heyes and Curry bet the minimum every time. The pot grows to $5,000, most of it Doc’s money and he decides to bet the size of the pot when Clarence speaks up. Red Dog is a game for suckers, he tells Doc. You’ll keep betting the size of the pot, no matter how bad a hand you have. Doc changes his bet to just what he has in front of him in chips. He wins. “I knew I should have bet the size of that pot!” Doc exclaims and orders Clarence to keep his mouth shut.
As the game continues, Doc bets the size of the pot each time, afraid someone will win the pot away from him. Finally he reaches the point where he can only bet $5,000 of the $51,000 pot. He loses and is broke. Curry asks Heyes about the loan he made him in Denver. Heyes quickly catches on and feigns irritation, claiming the loan was for $12,000 and will knock him out of the game if he pays it back now. Curry insists because he wants to bet the size of the pot. Heyes hands over his chips and Curry bets $56,000. Tension grows as Ralph turns over the next card: the queen of clubs. The men watch intently as Curry pulls out the king of clubs and wins the pot. Curry announces he’s finished with gambling until spring.
The next morning, Jason heads for the door, but Curry stops him. He and Heyes went out to hide their gold and they don’t want anyone to go outside until it snows enough to cover their tracks. Jason acquiesces.
Spring arrives. When Heyes and Curry are ready to leave, they ask the others to stay behind for a few days. They still don’t trust one of them and don’t want to be bushwhacked on the trail. Everyone agrees. The boys go out to retrieve their gold only to discover they’ve been robbed once again.
They return to the cabin and announce whoever did it, did it again. Clarence knows anyone familiar with snow country would have been able to follow their tracks even after a new snowfall. Heyes comes up with a plan. He wants to ask each man to his face if they stole the gold, but he wants to listen to their hearts with Doc’s stethoscope as he does. The men agree. He questions everyone, including Curry who thinks fair is fair and takes the stethoscope from Heyes to ask him in turn. They retreat to the stockroom to discuss their findings. If Heyes’s theory is right, it wasn’t Doc Beauregard as he suspected, but Jason.
Back in Wilksburg, Heyes and Curry keep an eye on Jason. A saloon girl relays the information that he is getting ready to leave town. They follow him to his hiding place in the mountains, where Jason discovers his gold is gone. Heyes calls out, “Jason, don’t tell us it happened to you, too.” Jason denies knowing what they’re talking about, but admits it happened to him, too.
The three of them visit Clarence. As they eat, Heyes wonders who ended up with the $112,000. Clarence says Doc Beauregard didn’t sleep a wink after losing at Red Dog. He figures Doc saw Heyes and Curry go out to hide their dust, then later saw Jason go out. Doc is the one they need to find if they want their gold back.
Heyes and Curry track Doc Beauregard to San Francisco. They learn from his secretary that he passed on to his final reward a week ago. He met his demise trying to teach people a game called Montana Red Dog. But surely they’ll take comfort in knowing he left $100,000 to build a wing onto the hospital.
The boys watch the construction. Curry points out the bright spot in all this. Their lives won’t be a complete waste — the Chauncey Beauregard Hospital Wing wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for them.
GUEST CAST
PAUL FIX — CLARENCE BOLES
JACK KELLY — DR. CHAUNCEY BEAUREGARD
ROBERT PRATT — BILLY BOGGS
RORY CALHOUN — JASON HOLLOWAY
JOE FLYNN — RALPH MARSDEN
SHANNON CHRISTIE — FLORENCE
PATRICIA CHANDLER — SECRETARY
Roy Huggins proclaimed that his favorite episodes of Alias Smith and Jones were those which were about nothing. “Night of the Red Dog” certainly falls into that category. [31] Unlike episodes which insert a subtle message into the story, such as “Everything Else You Can Steal” and its stand on capital punishment or “The Bounty Hunter” and its take on racism, “Night of the Red Dog” is about nothing more serious than a months-long poker game. The writers keep it interesting by having Heyes and Curry use their card-playing skills to outwit the thief who stole their gold.
This episode is the second to feature a group stranded in one room with no way out. In contrast to “Stagecoach Seven” and “Shootout at Diablo Station,” the other one-room stories, this episode does not put anyone in physical danger. The snow has them trapped in the cabin, but they have plenty of food, so there’s no doubt they will survive until spring. Instead the dramatic tension comes through the interplay of the characters around the table — Doc getting ever more desperate as he loses one pot after another, Clarence throwing a monkey wrench in Heyes’s plan by telling Doc that Montana Red Dog is a game for suckers, and finally the moment when Curry announces he’s going to bet $56,000 on the next card. Usually Heyes is portrayed as the expert with cards, but this episode gives Curry the skill to win the game while Heyes watches and hopes Curry knows what he’s doing. In the first draft, though, writer Dick Nelson followed the precedent and gave Heyes the unbeatable hand.
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p; Having their gold stolen first by Doc, then by Jason, adds complexity to this simple story. The audience already knows the boys are good at cards, but now they are given another glimpse of why Heyes is the brains when he discovers that a stethoscope can be used as a lie detector, then turns the knowledge into a Hannibal Heyes Plan. Despite his initial suspicion of Doc Beauregard, he’s confident enough that his theory is correct to follow Jason when he rides out of town to retrieve the gold. In the first draft script, Curry is not so trusting. Hearing Heyes’s heartbeat speed up when he asks about the stolen gold, Curry decides Heyes’s discovery isn’t so useful after all, unless, of course, Heyes stole it. Huggins decided Heyes should not get nervous when his partner asks the question, so the scene was changed.
Huggins wanted the series to be infused with the kind of humor that comes from the character and not from the situation. The first draft of the scene where Curry collapses is a prime example. While the situation isn’t funny — Curry is seriously ill — Dick Nelson had fun with Billy, giving him some great lines. After helping Heyes carry Curry into the storeroom, Billy peers worriedly at him and says, “Sure hope he ain’t gonna die…ground froze like it is, be a chore to bury him.” Heyes replies sardonically, “What we could do is let him freeze solid and then stand him in a corner till spring.” Billy’s comment was not made maliciously, but only practically, and he’s appalled by Heyes’s attitude. Thinking he’s serious, Billy protests, “Golly, Josh — I thought he was your friend.” [32] Huggins loved this exchange, saying in the rewrite notes from August 18, 1971:
Here we have a very funny conversation about what they’re going to do with Curry if he dies. It would be even funnier if it involved the undertaker. Ralph could be looking at Curry — and we give Ralph this speech.
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