As many of our general readers know, we are somewhat wary of the internet here at Mid Century Cinema—seeing as how it has contributed to the end of civilization and all that. Nevertheless, here we are, and splashing around the shallow end of the social media pool one lazy summer day introduced us to the television show Decoy, which aired for thirty-nine episodes from 1957 to 1958. The show followed the exploits of undercover policewoman Casey Jones, played by Beverly Garland, who would go on to have a busy seven decade spanning career in television (and who also catches our eye for her roles in the 1949 film noir classic D.O.A. and the enigmatic New Hollywood movie Pretty Poison, with Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld).
Decoy’s storylines and exposition can’t be characterized as “must see TV”—though the show does seem remarkably edgy for its time. Gritty, quite daring (not much rock and roll, but surprisingly unflinching when it comes to sex and drugs), impressive on issues pertaining to gender, and, despite, inevitably, the restoration of truth and justice by episode’s end, nice flirtations with moral ambiguity. But Decoy is nevertheless of interest around here for three reasons. The creative force behind the show was Stuart Rosenberg (he directed nine episodes and also commonly took an “executive in charge of production” credit). A decade later Rosenberg would direct a number of notable New Hollywood movies, often in collaboration with Paul Newman (including Cool Hand Luke, WUSA, and The Drowning Pool). It is also good fun to spot dozens of future well-known performers (Colleen Dewhurst, Dianne Ladd, William Hickey. . .) as they show up in guest spots, often barely recognizable in their youth.
But most of all, the enduring thrill of watching Decoy is that it was shot in New York—at a time when the City’s architectural landscape was one of the wonders of the world. Nowadays, as the Big Apple is increasingly and irretrievably vandalized by ugly, incoherent, supertall towers that offend their surroundings (and the eye), it is a pleasure to discover another repository of the city that once was.
The New York Central Building, before the Pan Am was built
The Fifty-Ninth Street Bridge, ready for its close-up
Undercover on Coney Island
A glimpse of the old Singer Building (torn down in 1968)
Twenty-one year old Suzanne Pleshette is a prime suspect
Times Square, before Disney got to it
Hot Pursuit
Questioning artists in Washington Square Park
Nicholas Colasanto, in tough guy mode, a quarter century before Cheers
Colony Records, a mainstay on forty-ninth and Broadway for sixty-four years
Heckuva shot . . .
On the Waterfront
Peter Falk went all method in his guest starring appearence
Ed Asner, sporting a full head of hair
Remnants of an even more distant past
