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

by Sandra K. Sagala

  When they arrive at the cabin where the gun is hidden, Foster is surprised to find Sheriff Lindstrom waiting for him. A brief gun battle ensues and the sheriff kills Foster. Lindstrom unties the boys and confirms that Foster was stealing from his best client.

  Freed, Stokely is ready to ride out of town, but Curry is confused. Why not stay with Sarah now that the field is clear? Stokely explains his real name isn’t Stokely. He got into trouble and spent some time in jail, but at least it was under the alias. “I didn’t want to embarrass my family. I had a very proud father and mother. And a very lovely sister named Sarah.”

  GUEST CAST

  MONTE MARKHAM — JIM STOKELY

  MEREDITH MAC RAE — SARAH HENDERSON

  KEN LYNCH — SHERIFF GAINES

  ROGER PERRY — R. M. FOSTER

  NOAH BEERY — SHERIFF LINDSTROM

  PAUL CARR — HANK HENDERSON

  DICK VALENTINE — MESSENGER

  GARY VAN ORMAN — DEPUTY

  RALPH MONTGOMERY — POKER PLAYER #1

  HARPER FLAHERTY — POKER PLAYER #2

  JON LOCKE — MARSH

  BOB ORRISON — MAN

  JIMMY NICKERSON — STUNT DOUBLE, CURRY

  HOWARD CURTIS — STUNT DOUBLE, STOKELY

  Viewers could complain that this episode doesn’t flow, that it seems to be two unrelated stories put together instead of one cohesive whole. The beginning is full of wry humor, but suddenly the story turns much darker and suffers from a couple of significant plot holes. According to the original story notes, dated June 6, 1971, the viewers would be right. Roy Huggins created the story in his usual meticulous detail until the scene where Sheriff Lindstrom introduces himself to the boys and welcomes them to town. That is followed by “Note: that’s as far as we have gone in the story.” The last page of the outline gives some possibilities about where the story should go from there, along with an explanation of the relationship between Sarah and Stokely, but nothing specific is determined.

  In the story notes from June 8, Huggins continues to develop the story, adding the murder of Hank Henderson and the arrest of Jim Stokely. He also adds Life on the Mississippi into the mix, but at this point, remains mute on the reasons why. Huggins takes the story through to Foster’s capture of the boys and the confrontation with the sheriff, but acknowledges that “we have to work out a whole new way of ending this story, so there’s some excitement in it.”

  The next set of story notes, dated June 9, incorporates a new detail. The showdown in the saloon over the Hoyle rule is introduced in order to improve the relationship between Stokely and Curry. Huggins initially lamented that the relationship between Stokely and the boys was strictly adversarial. He wanted Heyes and Curry, as well as the audience, to like Stokely. Also, strengthening the friendship between them gives Heyes and Curry a stronger reason to help Stokely prove his innocence later on.

  One issue Huggins struggled with was exactly when to reveal the relationship between Sarah Henderson and Jim Stokely. Choosing the proper moment was very important for the story and he tried it in several different places. The story notes of June 9 put this revelation during Sarah’s visit to Stokely in jail. She explains to Sheriff Lindstrom that she asked Stokely to help her leave her husband and he agreed because he’s her brother. Heyes and Curry are present during this scene and this information becomes motivation for them to go to Foster on his behalf. When Foster refuses to represent Stokely in court, Heyes and Curry return to Sarah and ask about Foster’s relationship with her husband. Huggins eliminated this sequence before telling the story to the writer, which unfortunately led to a major plot hole. Without this discussion of Foster and Henderson’s relationship, Heyes and Curry have no reason to suspect the lawyer killed his client.

  These three sets of story notes were as far as Huggins went until he told the story to writer Nick Baehr on July 8. Huggins had finally decided on the story structure as it appears in the final episode, with the revelation that Sarah and Stokely are siblings being used as the tag. However, it seems that his concern about that revelation blinded him to the true problem with the story — the fact that there is no hint given to the audience that Heyes and Curry suspect Foster and enlist the help of Sheriff Lindstrom to trap him. The July 8 story notes also describe the theft of the evidence:

  Sheriff’s house. Night. Our boys are creeping in. They’re looking around by matchlight (or whatever) — and they finally find the sawed-off shotgun in a drawer. They take it. They start out — and they make a noise. The Sheriff comes out shooting — and our boys barely get away. They ride off; with the Sheriff firing at them. (He doesn’t see who they are.) [23]

  This doesn’t sound like the boys are sharing any theories with the sheriff or asking for his help. In the aired episode, this scene has been eliminated entirely, replaced by a short scene with the sheriff berating his deputy for the loss of the gun, still offering the audience no clue he was in on the theft.

  Heyes and Curry next go to see Foster and tell him they’ve stolen the gun. Heyes explains that, if Stokely can be proved innocent through fingerprints, then Foster shouldn’t object to representing him. According to the story notes, though, “our boys, of course, are lying. They know damned well it’s Foster.” Having deleted the scene in which they discuss Foster with Sarah Henderson, there’s no reason given to the audience to explain this knowledge and, in fact, it is not clear from the scene as written and played that Heyes and Curry do suspect Foster, although the audience might on the basis of his being the only other character in the story. But that’s poor storytelling, a complaint one can rarely level at Roy Huggins.

  Nick Baehr took the outline and wrote the first draft. On August 12, another story conference was held to discuss rewrites. Huggins notes one of Heyes’s speeches “tells our audience it’s Foster they’re after, and it should be rewritten…The longer we can hold back on revealing it’s Foster, the better.” Keeping the audience guessing is always a good thing, but the payoff has to have an element of inevitability to it. The audience should be left wondering how come they didn’t see the solution for themselves, not wondering what they missed along the way. Huggins and Baehr worked hard to keep the identity of Hank Henderson’s murderer a surprise as long as possible and, in the process, completely overlooked the problem of Sheriff Lindstrom. His presence in the cabin, obviously planned beforehand, is a surprise to the audience, but one which leaves them confused rather than satisfied because at no point in the story has it even been hinted that Heyes and Curry went to the sheriff with a plan.

  This confusing ending adds to the sense that this is really two separate stories — the story of Sarah and Jim and the story of Hank Henderson’s murder. Huggins had a great respect for his audience and always gave them credit for being able to get the point without it having to be spelled out for them step by step. In the August 12 rewrite notes he says regarding Lindstrom, “Cut ‘I had somebody check the books. He was stealin’ from Hank for years.’ The writer threw in a line earlier, wherein one of our boys was speculating that maybe Foster was stealing from Hank — and that’s enough. We do not have to tell the audience everything.” In this case, he didn’t tell his audience enough, rendering what could have been an excellent episode into one which is ultimately disappointing.

  Six Strangers at Apache Springs

  “Be a little frivolous, life will get grim soon enough without any help from you.”

  Kid Curry

  STORY: JOHN THOMAS JAMES

  TELEPLAY: ARNOLD SOMKIN AND JOHN THOMAS JAMES

  DIRECTOR: NICHOLAS COLASANTO

  SHOOTING DATES: AUGUST 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 1971

  ORIGINAL US AIR DATE: OCTOBER 28, 1971

  ORIGINAL UK AIR DATE: DECEMBER 13, 1971

  At a leisurely trot, Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry ride into peaceful Apache Springs. Checking into the hotel, they glance around the nearly deserted lobby and inquire about rooms and the likelihood of catching a poker game.

  Caroline Rangely,
a feisty middle-aged woman with upturned hat brim and suspenders supporting her trousers, approaches them. The sight of the good-looking men has aroused her curiosity. What do they do for a living? “As little as possible,” Curry is quick to point out. Nevertheless, she’d like to talk to them when they’re settled. Caroline confides to Smithers, the desk clerk, she believes she’s found just what she’s looking for — two men who are young, healthy, and not too smart.

  A stagecoach pulls up outside the hotel with passengers Edward and Lucy Fielding. He appears happy to be there but his wife heaves an aggravated sigh. Before her husband even signs them in, she complains about the dust and heat.

  Caroline hails the boys as they descend the stairs and wonders if they’re available for some work. Over a beer, she explains that two years ago she and Barney, her dear husband, dug for gold up in the hills. They buried it where they found it in twelve different spots. Fifty or sixty scrawny Chiricahua Apaches broke out of their reservation and attacked them. Barney was killed. Now she wants the two men to retrieve it. After careful consideration, she offers twenty percent of it as pay and Heyes promises they’ll think it over. “If we split it three ways,” counters Curry. Caroline gasps, how dare they take advantage of a helpless woman? As she stomps away, Heyes and Curry lift their beers in a toast to her, a woman who seems anything but helpless.

  The next stagecoach through town brings a serious young lady, demurely outfitted in a gray dress and black bonnet. At the desk, she inquires about room and board. The problem is she has no money, but she’s an evangelist and on Sunday, she’ll hold a service, take up a collection and pay her bill then. Smithers scoffs. Only sixty people are in town on a Sunday and half of those are cowboys hungover from Saturday night carousing. However, she could take on his job of cook for $8 a week, that’ll cover the $4 for a room and $4 for food. She accepts and introduces herself as Sister Grace.

  In the meantime, Caroline interrupts Heyes’s bubble bath to counter-offer a fifty-fifty split. Heyes agrees and slides down deeper into the tub, declining to stand up and shake her hand to seal the deal.

  At supper that evening, conversation centers on getting to know the new people in town. Caroline learns their names when they introduce themselves to the Fieldings. “Smith and Jones?” Caroline wonders if she’s made a wise decision to throw in with them.

  Mr. Fielding has come as a representative of the Indian Affairs Bureau. Unscrupulous agents have sold over half the meat that was supposed to go to the Indians. That’s the reason they left the reservation. He hopes to get them into a more reasonable mood and to settle grievances. Curry wonders how unreasonable the Chiricahua are. As for Lucy Fielding, this is her first trip out west and, from what she’s seen so far, she would simply like to leave.

  The next day, Caroline retrieves her map of the buried gold sites from the hotel safe and cuts off a corner showing two of the twelve sites, not trusting her new partners with the entire map. The three women watch as the three men head for the hills.

  After riding together for a while, each leading a pack mule, Heyes and Curry split from Fielding and head toward the first site. An Indian on a high ridge observes their progress. Comparing the map to the land, Heyes counts off steps and determines that they’ve reached the right place. They commence digging all the while being watched by the Indian. Several feet down, Heyes’s shovel uncovers the first bag of gold dust. Curry raises his head and spots five Indians not too distant. Whistling nonchalantly, they head for their horses and the second site.

  Mr. Fielding, too, finds himself observed by a handful of Indians as he plods on.

  Heyes and Curry easily locate the other site marked by a boulder. Just as they find the bag of gold dust, shots ring out. Indians pursue them but are appeased when Heyes and Curry surrender the mule. Still fleeing for their lives, the boys see a band of Indians pursuing Fielding. They shout at him to let the mule go. Triumphant at capturing the animal, the Indians turn away. Dejected, Fielding heads back to town with Heyes and Curry.

  At the general store, Mr. Evans weighs Caroline’s gold dust. She hustles out the door with it trailed by her partners. Reluctantly handing over their share, she urges them to return for more, but they’re pondering the wisdom of that. After all, they were shot at!

  Curry shares supper with Sister Grace and learns her story. She was doing missionary work in the West. Her sponsor, meanwhile, had set up gambling and dishonest games of chance outside the tent. When she learned of it, she fled and is on her way back to Boston but her money ran out by Apache Springs.

  It’s Saturday night and the quiet town has come alive with gambling, drinking and fighting cowboys. Heyes and Curry watch from the sidelines as chairs, glasses, and men fly through the air all about them.

  Next morning, Sister Grace stands on a crate preaching the gospel as the hungover cowboys get ready to head back to their ranches. After listening for a bit, Curry takes her aside and tells her she is too gentle to breathe the hellfire and brimstone expected from a good preacher. Meanwhile, Lucy Fielding joins Heyes, who surveys the scene from the hotel porch. She hopes that he and Mr. Jones won’t return to the hills because then her husband, who thinks of them as typical western men, might not either. Heyes smirks at the idea that they are “typical western men.” They are anything but — they travel a lot, pick up odd jobs, have no family or wives. He disagrees on another point, too — though she’s known her husband for eight years and Heyes has only known him for eight days, he knows Fielding would return to talk to the Indians whether he and Mr. Jones go or not. Lucy apologizes for thinking she doesn’t know her husband better, but whines that, with his job, they could be living in Paris or Rome! Heyes observes that Fielding doesn’t know her too well either.

  That evening, Curry visits Sister Grace in her room. He and Smith will be heading out for more of Caroline’s gold and he offers her money for a stagecoach ticket east. She’s been thinking about what he said and he urges her to let some fun into her life.

  Heyes and Curry ride out with Fielding. The boys wonder if he shouldn’t wait awhile. There’s no time, the agent explains, the army wants to ride in and kill all the Indians. Splitting off from him, the partners lie on their bellies watching a band of Indians snake through the hills.

  Caroline and Barney buried their third cache amidst the roots of a dead tree. An Indian shoots at the boys as they ride away from the site. They leave their mule again, hoping it will satisfy. Further on, when another shot brings down Heyes’s horse, he jumps onto Curry’s. A third Indian knocks them off it. After punching him senseless, the partners turn around to find themselves surrounded by the rest of the tribe.

  Tied back-to-back in a tepee, Heyes and Curry commiserate, hoping the stories about Indians they heard as kids are not true. Curry doesn’t have a gun and in Apache or Spanish, Heyes’s tongue isn’t silver. Relief floods over them when Fielding enters the tent, a free man. He says the Indians will keep their horses and gold but will let them go. He’ll be remaining to talk more with the tribal leaders.

  Next day, back in Apache Springs, Heyes and Curry relate the news about her husband to Lucy. Caroline doesn’t believe the boys’ story. She thinks they double-crossed her and are keeping her gold. Curry finds Grace waiting for him; she couldn’t leave without knowing he got back safely. She tells him she’s decided she can live life a little frivolously.

  Before Heyes and Curry board the stage going west, Heyes says goodbye to Mrs. Fielding, expressing hope that both of them find out who they married. Just then Mr. Fielding rides wearily into town. Promised more and better land, food and blankets, the Chiricahua will be returning to their reservation. Caroline, thrilled, can retrieve her own gold.

  On the stage, Heyes supposes they ought to do something restful next, like going down the Colorado River in a barrel!

  GUEST CAST

  CARMEN MATHEWS — CAROLINE RANGELY

  PATRICIA HARTY — LUCY FIELDING

  SIAN BARBARA ALLEN — SISTER GRACE


  JOHN RAGIN — EDWARD FIELDING

  LOGAN RAMSEY — SMITHERS

  WALLACE CHADWELL — MR. EVANS

  D. GALE THOMPSON — COWBOY

  Occasionally Roy Huggins revised his writers’ scripts so dramatically that, as John Thomas James, he was also given writer credit. That’s what occurred during the preparation of this episode’s script. Writer Arnold Somkin needed hand-on-the-shoulder guidance from the master. Huggins dictated the story on June 3 and three weeks later Somkin delivered the first draft. During a conference Huggins stressed the importance of character development and made it clear that any action or behind-the-scenes dialogue not shared by Heyes and Curry were to be avoided. He urged Somkin to research evangelism to get Grace’s sermon correct and gave the writer some geographical and historical information about the Indians. Somkin submitted a second draft on July 9. Another conference followed with eleven pages of rewrite notes, including an assignment to research the Chiricahuas’ grievances and the weight price of gold in 1880. Somkin was getting close to the ideal. Huggins called the script “excellent” except that the writer failed in the mechanical part of the job, for instance, he had the characters announce that they were going upstairs in the hotel instead of merely doing it. A third draft came in. A short run of the script was printed on August 2, and on August 6, a yet-again-revised full run.

  Once again, three diverse women share leading roles with Heyes and Curry. Huggins wanted Caroline Rangeley “not dressed in any ordinary way…she should not be dressed like Calamity Jane either…or perhaps she is.” He wanted her to be a “female Andy Devine.” Down to earth and bossy, Caroline exemplifies “gold digger” in character and fact. Only two strong-willed men like Heyes and Curry are able to stand up to her demands and that just barely. The promise of a substantial share of her gold is the only thing that keeps them interested. [24]