Alias Smith & Jones: The Story of Two Pretty Good Bad Men

by Sandra K. Sagala

  When the putty is dry, Harry pumps the air out of the safe. Exactly sixteen minutes later, Heyes pours the nitro into the tube leading into the safe. The vacuum will suck the nitro in, but it might blow up prematurely. Harry is appalled, but not willing to stop, and holds the tube with a shaking hand.

  Lorraine decides to shock Curry one more time. “Janet’s my mother,” she says. “She had me when she was fifteen.” Janet is doing this for her daughter and the bank robbery was Janet’s idea. Curry, gagged as he is, can only sigh at this new version of her story.

  The nitro has been harmlessly sucked into the safe. Heyes replaces the tube with a blasting cap and some fuse. He and Harry retreat to safety behind the tellers’ counter and light the fuse. The muffled explosion doesn’t bother the fat, lazy deputy at all.

  The men ride out of town with the money tucked away in the canvas bag. Harry gives Heyes a note to give Janet, after which she’ll take him to Curry. Heyes continues down the road as Harry rides off with the money.

  As the sun rises, Heyes and Janet arrive at the cabin where Heyes releases Curry from his bonds, then turns to Janet and demands she tell him where Harry is. He made a bomb and if they don’t find him soon, Harry and the money will blow up. Janet thinks Heyes is bluffing, but she can’t be sure. Heyes explains he’s the only one who can disarm the bomb.

  Heyes, Curry, Janet and Lorraine ride to Harry’s hideout. Harry doesn’t believe the bomb story, either. Listen to the bag, Heyes suggests. He’ll hear the clock he thought Heyes broke. Harry listens. Sure enough, the bag is ticking. Harry races out of the house, throwing the bag of money toward the well in an attempt to douse it. It falls short and everyone flings themselves to the ground. Instead of an explosion, there’s only the sound of an alarm ringing. “You know, Kid,” Heyes muses. “I guess I got to worrying so much about ruining all that money that I just forgot to stick in any blasting powder.”

  Heyes awakens Deputy Harper. He’s going to make the deputy a hero by bringing in the bank robbers. “Deputy Smith” explains that he and his partner resemble a couple of outlaws and the prisoners are going to claim that he and Jones are really Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry. Jones brings the chastened trio and the money into the jail. Harry whispers to Harper that the two men who brought them in are Heyes and Curry, but Harper ignores him. After thanking Smith and Jones, Harper turns back to the seething Harry. “I’m gonna ask you just one question…Would Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes hand over the loot from a bank robbery to a sheriff? Yes or no?” Harry sinks down on the bunk in defeat.

  GUEST CAST

  JACK CASSIDY — HARRY WAGONER

  JOANNA BARNES —JANET JUDSON

  KAREN MACHON —LORRAINE

  GREG MULLAVEY —DEPUTY LEE HARPER

  BOBBY BASS —LESTER WILKEY

  This is the first episode which shows the audience why Heyes and Curry were “the two most successful outlaws in history of the West.” Instead of crudely blowing the safe open with an overabundance of dynamite, Heyes’s technique for blowing a Pierce & Hamilton 1878 is sophisticated and makes use of advanced mathematics. As Heyes tells Harry, “There’s a formula for everything.” Just where Heyes learned the calculus necessary to figure out how long it takes to create a vacuum in a safe is left to the viewer’s imagination. Fortunately, the writer didn’t have to have a background in bank robbery to come up with the plan. During the story conference on May 14, 1971, he was told that he would “find the exact equipment in the research material Roy gave him.”

  The method Heyes uses to blow the P & H ’78 was actually used by a highly successful bank robber by the name of David Cummings in 1873, when he and his accomplices robbed the First National Bank of Quincy, Illinois. They got away with $539,000 in cash, government bonds and other securities. The technique is detailed in Our Rival the Rascal, a book Roy Huggins turned to more than once for criminal inspiration:

  This successful burglary was further remarkable in marking the first introduction of the air-pump for the purpose of blowing powder into a safe. The fine lines of junction between the safe door and its frame were carefully covered with putty to exclude the air completely except through a narrow interval at the top of the door. In this break in the cover of putty a fine pointed tube was inserted, and the air in the safe drawn out through the tube by an air pump. After exhausting the air, the removal of a bit of putty from the crack between the door and the frame caused a pressure of air which forced in through the crack sufficient gunpowder to blow open the safe, when fired by a fuse. [5]

  The writers turned the somewhat tame gunpowder into the more dramatic nitroglycerine, but other than that, followed the instructions as diligently as did Cummings and his cohorts, who learned it from a disgruntled traveling salesman for a safe company.

  The dark side of Hannibal Heyes shows itself in this episode. We’ve seen glimpses of it before, but his attempt to beat information out of Harry is a more sustained period of violence than is usual for Heyes. Curry uses his knowledge of Heyes’s dark side in a bid for escape. In the May 14 story conference, Huggins explained that Curry would try to charm Lorraine into letting him go, but eventually he’d try a subtle threat. “Curry tells Lorraine this isn’t going to work. Heyes is too smart for this. Somehow or other, Heyes is going to find a way to get out of all this. But Heyes might find a violent way. The smartest thing Lorraine could do would be to let Curry go.” [6] Besides commenting that Heyes might just kill Harry, Curry becomes violent himself when he overpowers Lorraine and promises to bash her face in if she doesn’t untie him.

  Lorraine adds an element of terror to the story. She’s unpredictable and perhaps psychotic. Her demeanor is calm as she weaves her unsettling and contradicting tales. One moment she’s preening and asking Curry if he thinks she’s pretty; the next she’s telling him of murdering her husband. Lorraine is introduced as Janet’s sister, but she later denies that, claiming first that Janet was her boss at a saloon, then that Janet is her mother. Which story, if any, is the truth? The audience is as much in the dark as Curry. To add to the feeling of wrongness, all of the scenes with Curry and his captors lack background music. A good music score will fade from consciousness, but when it’s missing altogether the audience can feel something is wrong even if they can’t identify just what it is. This subtle trick builds the sense of menace in Lorraine’s character. She is obviously far more dangerous than either Janet or Harry.

  This episode is an example of the best of Alias Smith and Jones. It uses the premise to good advantage and wrings humor from the situation while also putting the boys in serious jeopardy. That these seemingly contradictory story elements coalesce is due in part to the talent of the actors. Director Alex Singer was particularly impressed with Peter Duel. “He knew what the joke was and he knew how to play with its note…” [7] That ability brought distinction to this western series.

  Jailbreak at Junction City

  “Heyes, you get the feeling it’s being law-abiding doesn’t pay?”

  Kid Curry

  STORY: JOHN THOMAS JAMES

  TELEPLAY: JOHN THOMAS JAMES

  DIRECTOR: JEFFREY HAYDEN

  SHOOTING DATES: JUNE 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 1971

  ORIGINAL US AIR DATE: SEPTEMBER 30, 1971

  ORIGINAL UK AIR DATE: NOVEMBER 15, 1971

  A dynamite explosion rocks the local bank, awakening the citizens of Junction City. They hurry to alert Sheriff Sweeney. The bank robbers head out of town with a posse in pursuit.

  Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry ride into Big Bend and head first to the telegraph office, hoping Big Mac McCreedy has sent them a message about a job. He hasn’t. Heyes writes out a message to send; however, between them they can’t come up with sixty cents to send it.

  Despite their lack of funds, they enter the saloon where Heyes tells Curry to order two beers. Picking up one of the free eggs offered in a bowl on the bar, Heyes bets the barkeep $10 he can stand the egg on end without cracking the shell. The dubious bartender attempts it and c
an’t do it. Heyes supports the egg in his hand where he has surreptitiously sprinkled a little salt. When the bartender insists the egg stand on the bar,

  Heyes sets it down and, supported by the nearly invisible salt, it stands on end.

  Miffed, the bartender draws their beers and the boys turn around to discover Sheriff Slocum watching the trick with amusement. With the $10 they send the telegram to Big Mac, then head back to the saloon to play some poker.

  When a cowboy loses to Curry, he accuses them of playing partners. Heyes points out that the man asked for trouble when Curry opened and the cowboy stayed on a pair of jacks. Though no one else around the table thinks they were cheating, the cowboy insists one of them leave the game. When Curry refuses, the cowboy challenges him. As Curry rises, the sheriff walks into the saloon and Heyes attempts to warn his partner, but the confrontation is past stopping. Curry outdraws the cowboy and orders him to pick up his money and leave. The sheriff motions them over to his table.

  He’s been keeping an eye on them, he says, and is impressed with the way they handle themselves and with Curry’s fast draw. He offers them the job of deputies because his men are out rounding up the Junction City bank robbers.

  Casting sidelong looks at each other, Heyes says they’re flattered, but they are expecting a job offer from McCreedy. Otherwise they’d jump at the chance to be deputies.

  Unfortunately Mac’s reply to their telegram comes back in the negative. As they watch, Big Bend deputies ride into town with Ribs Johnson and Hank, two of the four robbers. They also notice the telegrapher hotfoot it to the sheriff’s office.

  Before Heyes and Curry reach the end of the street, the sheriff calls to them, happy with the news they are without job prospects. He again invites them to be deputized and they again refuse until he mentions that the one-time assignment would pay $100 each. All they need do is escort the prisoners back to Sheriff Sweeney in Junction City. Secure in the knowledge that they don’t know Sweeney, nor he them, they accept.

  Riding along, each is nervous at the sight of the badge pinned to his partner’s vest. Potts and Springer, the other two bank robbers, prepare to ambush them on the trail but hold off lest they spook the horses. That night, though, as Heyes stands guard, they approach with guns drawn. They may be good at robbing banks but they’re poor at trailing somebody, observes Curry, as he ambushes the ambushers.

  The next morning, Ribs offers to split the $62,000 bank loot with the deputies if they’ll let them go. The deputies can keep them tied up till they show them where it’s buried, then they can all go their separate ways. When one of his cohorts protests, Heyes points out why the idea won’t work. Ribs doesn’t want to return and be hanged which is what will happen because they accidentally shot Sheriff Sweeney. His replacement is Curt Clitterhouse.

  This is bad news. Heyes and Curry know Clitterhouse from Colorado.

  After bedding down their prisoners that night, Heyes and Curry debate what to do. They can’t let the men go. Curry suggests one of them deal with Clitterhouse in hopes he’ll settle for being a hero at having all four robbers and will let Curry and Heyes go. Since Heyes has the silver tongue, Curry elects him to do the talking.

  At the persistent knocking on his door, Sheriff Clitterhouse admits Deputy Smith and is surprised to find his nemesis Hannibal Heyes. Heyes tells him how they captured the other two robbers and are bringing in all four. Clitterhouse can have the reward on the two they caught if he promises to let him and Curry go. The sheriff gives his word, but Heyes is hesitant to trust him.

  When Heyes and Curry lead the prisoners to Clitterhouse’s office, Deputy Johnny herds them into a cell. Judge Hanley enters and wants to hear how the deputies captured the other two. After relating the tale, Heyes and Curry insist they must return to Big Bend right away. Clitterhouse can send them the reward money. Hanley is impressed with their devotion to duty and their trust. At that, Clitterhouse introduces them as Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry and puts them under arrest.

  Heyes stares at Clitterhouse, furious at being double-crossed. The confused judge asks for an explanation. Clitterhouse says when he gives his word to an upstanding citizen he keeps it, but when given to an outlaw, it doesn’t mean a thing. Hanley leaves, troubled. Watching the transaction, Ribs and his cohorts chortle at the “deputies” being led into an adjoining cell.

  “Whose idea was it to make a deal with Clitterhouse?” wonders a dejected Curry. “Yours, Kid, all yours.”

  After supper, Heyes leans against his bunk and whispers to Ribs in the adjoining cell. He suggests that Ribs and his gang break out of jail after making a deal with “honest” Sheriff Clitterhouse who won’t keep his word to outlaws. After all, Ribs has $62,000 to deal with. All Ribs has to do is tell Clitterhouse where the money is and they’ll stay in jail while he gets it. If he doesn’t let them go, then they’ll start yelling their heads off that he’s got it. But, reasons Ribs, if they escape, Heyes and Curry have to go too and Clitterhouse won’t go for that. Heyes replies that even Clitterhouse appreciates the difference between $62,000 and the $20,000 reward on them.

  Relaying the plan to Clitterhouse, Ribs tells him to put a gun inside a rubber balloon and then drop it in their soup. No one will know where they got it and Clitterhouse won’t be suspected as an accomplice, especially since he’ll be out $20,000.

  Clitterhouse takes the deal and digs up the money.

  Heyes and Curry send for Attorney Brubaker, hoping he’ll fight their extradition to Wyoming. When Brubaker learns that Heyes has only $8.12 and Curry $12.21 for his fees, he refuses.

  That night the supper fare is soup. Clitterhouse drops the balloon-wrapped gun in a bowl as promised. When Clitterhouse goes off duty, Ribs points the pirated pistol at Deputy Johnny and forces him to open the cell doors. The prisoners head for the livery stable. Halfway there, Curry and Heyes about-face and head back to the jail. Ribs, Hank, Springer and Potts are trapped in the stable when the big doors slide shut. A volley of shots can be heard, then Junction City citizens lead them back to the jail. On the way, they meet Clitterhouse, arrested for his complicity in the jailbreak.

  Judge Hanley sits down with Heyes and Curry. He received the warning they sent through Brubaker, but he can’t understand their motivation. They are Heyes and Curry, right? They affirm they are and admit to trying to clean up their record. Curry confesses being law-abiding gets to be a habit. Hanley suspects the governor offered them a secret amnesty deal.

  Attorney Brubaker bursts in with the money from the robbery that was found in Clitterhouse’s cabin. Hanley appoints him lawyer for Heyes and Curry and holds court. While he awaits their extradition papers and, because they’re not wanted on a capital offense, he fines Heyes $8.12 and Curry $12.21 in bail. Often, he says, people put up bail and the court never expects to see them again. Heyes and Curry understand perfectly.

  CAST

  GEORGE MONTGOMERY — SHERIFF CURT CLITTERHOUSE

  JAMES WAINWRIGHT — RIBS JOHNSON

  JACK ALBERTSON — JUDGE HANLEY

  KENNETH TOBEY — SHERIFF SLOCUM

  ANGUS DUNCAN — CHESTER BRUBAKER

  THOMAS BELLIN — SPRINGER

  ALLEN EMERSON — HANCOCK

  WILLIAM BRYANT — BARKER

  HARRY HICKOX — SAM BROCK

  JON LORMER — TELEGRAPHER

  BRYAN MONTGOMERY — DEPUTY JOHNNY

  HARRY E. NORTHRUP — POTTS

  Several changes took place in the production credits on the way from the story to the aired version. Roy Huggins first told the story to writer Dick Nelson on May 11, 1971, who brought in a first draft on June 1, very closely resembling the story Huggins had told. Overnight, Huggins read it and wrote only six pages of rewrite comments. Two days after that, Nelson turned in a second draft. On June 8, Glen Larson replaced Jo Swerling as producer. Steve Heilpern, who would become associate producer twelve episodes later, received rewrite notes on June 10. On June 14 another revision was completed. On June 23 filming began on the scrip
t whose first page showed a crossed off Dick Nelson as teleplay writer and John Thomas James as story originator and gave the ”written by” credit to John Thomas James.

  In one of the early scenes, when Kid Curry faces Barker, the disgruntled poker player, the script calls for him to “face his antagonist with an expression of put-upon weariness. Although he’s confident, Curry never faces a situation like this with boredom or smiling contempt, because he knows he could come up against someone some day who is better than he is.” As script writer, who usually follows the protocol of not supplying directions for the director’s shots, Huggins nevertheless added this note to show exactly what he had in mind: “We must see both men down to the holster in this and the following shot. We are using the draw that we use in all Smith and Jones shows in which we are on the antagonist for precisely twelve frames as he starts for his gun.” [8]

  According to Alex Singer, one of the directors of Alias Smith and Jones episodes, “this instruction is a familiar but always effective Editorial device. 12 frames is half a second of screen time. If the camera is on the antagonist for half a second while he’s going for his gun and then you cut to our man with his gun already drawn, you in effect ‘collapse’ the time interval in which our hero has made his draw. Since you were watching the other guy draw first you believe the Kid allowed him a head start, confident that he would outdraw him in any case and also clearly establishing the first offender. Putting the instruction in the script is the Producer’s way of making sure the Director gives the Editor the proper footage.” [9]

  Since Roy Huggins was a talented editor himself, he knew what he wanted and watched nearly all the dailies to make sure he got it. Very conscientious about the program, he said, “I never let somebody else edit the show…One way in which I spent more money than other producers at Universal was in editing. And I probably spent times three times as much. You know, simply because I spent three times more hours with the editors in the editing room and tried to make every show have something, even if it was just a good story.” [10]