IMDB SUMMARY: Carl may be up against the original Jack the Ripper, a black-caped, bullet-resistant, super-human killer of women.
Aired: Sept 13, 1974.
Directed by Allen Baron Guest Cast: Beatrice Colen, Mickey Gilbert, Ken Lynch, Robert Collins
Written by Rudolph Borcher
The series does a lot for The Kolchak Mythology not the least of which is one of the greatest theme songs in the history of Television. In this first episode we establish Kolchak having settled in as a reporter for the INS news service in Chicago— we assume he gets the job because his old editor Tony Vincenzo (Oakland) is the bureau chief. We also get to meet his rival, harmless nemesis and fellow reporter Ron Updyke (Jack Grinnage) who is a kinder gentler uptight stickler who often butts heads with Carl. The INS Newsroom staff will become major players in what makes the show great.
THE INS Headquarters right next door to an elevated train.
Other co-workers include the mentioned but yet to be seen Miss Emily, who writes an advice column for the news service (although there will be some confusion coming as to what her job — and her name for that matter— actually is). After getting himself into some trouble Carl is tasked to take over the column during her vacation, something he is in way over his head on. In typical Carl fashion he solves this by stashing the huge pile of mail away to focus instead on the string of killings currently going on.
Carl can’t understand why his photos never come out — Mailboy thinks he should get a real camera.
Newsboy/Copyboy/Darkroom Film Developer billed only as “Mail Boy” who operates the bureau darkroom out of the mens room. The character here is played by Rob Berger but a similar character will appear in a later episode played by someone else.
The series separates itself from the two movies further by defining Carl’s personality— no home life, no interest in women, he’s driven only to uncover the truth, avoid dentist offices, and try his best to enjoy his favorite pastime - a pro baseball game. We also get the first appearance of the Yellow Mustang convertible Carl will drive throughout the series, always with the top down, a strange choice given this is Chicago and many of the episodes take place during the colder months. The show was actually filmed in Los Angeles and there is an occasional palm tree popping up to break the Chicago illusion, but we love Kolchak for all of these things so it’s easy to overlook.
Vincenzo and Kolchak debate story angles
Vincenzo is more clearly defined, he’s totally in charge of the bureau here and he’s become a very snazzy dresser which makes him even more interesting. He’s constantly going to be battling high blood pressure, ulcers and dieting all with Manny’s Deli only five floors below at the street level.
Our two main oddballs this time around are Beatrice Colen as a reporter friend from another paper named Jane Plumm, who is called fat, and it’s mentioned a couple of times, but it shows us how weight was seen through the eyes of the 70s, flash forward to today and Jane Plumm is pretty slim. Colen would play Lynda Carter’s comedy sidekick Etta Candy on the WONDER WOMAN TV Series the following year. She was also a regular on BARNEY MILLER and HAPPY DAYS.
Carl tries to get Ron Updyke to reveal some information.
Updyke has a fairly large role in this episode, tasked with covering the Ripper Killings while Carl is writing the advice column, Updyke is not cut out for it in the least and instead gets his story from another reporter who could stand to be in the same room as the murder victim.
The other oddball is a Massage Girl played by Mews Small who had appeared in many big budget films including ONE FLEW OVER THE COOKOO’S NEST and Woody Allen’s SLEEPER. She’ll become one of the Ripper’s victims and speaking of the Ripper, he’s got no lines, but he’s played with some menace by stunt man Mickey Gilbert.
Oddball Cameo by Clint Young, a veteran character actor, as a driver who hits The Ripper with his car.
Miss Eggenweiller (Ruth McDevitt) examines Carl’s credentials before letting him in her home.
One last part worth mentioning is the old lady who writes in to the Miss Emily column and ends up being connected to the killer. She’s played by veteran actress Ruth McDevitt who had been in Alfred Hithcock’s THE BIRDS as the shop owner at the beginning of that film. Here she’s billed only as Elderly Woman but in the show she’s called Miss Eggenweiller, who is surprised to get a response from Miss Emily’s paper— even more surprising is that McDevitt will JOIN the cast as Miss Emily herself in a few episodes.
No girl friday this time around, but Jane Plumm sort of fills in that role here.
HOW’S THE MONSTER: Jack the Ripper— we don’t see him clearly, nice work!
Captain Warren address some reporters including Carl and Jane Plumm
HOW’S THE SEASONED COP/AUTHORITY FIGURE WHO HATES KOLCHAK?: Ken Lynch is Captain Warren. Warren was also the name of the inspector on the actual Ripper case, a nice little homage. He isn’t particulary memorable as far as Kolchak honcho’s go (some of them will have interesting sub plots themselves) but he’s passable and he’s better than Larry Linville from the first movie. Lynch was set to make a second appearance in the series but it was cancelled before that came together. Lynch was used to playing policemen, he was appearing as Sgt Grover on MCCLOUD.
Kolchak in the end battle against The Ripper— one of the things that makes Kolchak so great is he’s not perfect, he’s not confident and he’s often scared, although he’s got enough grit and determination to see him through most of these bizarre events.
Trivia Note: The House the Ripper lives in is The Munster’s House on the Universal Lot, also the house used in 1966’s GHOST AND MR CHICKEN.
Kolchak Excerpt (because the writing makes the show great);
Carl Kolchak: [Voiceover] Jane Plumm is fat. She talks a lot about water retention, big boned, but I have to believe the six or eight meals a day with snacks in-between to keep up her strength has a lot to do with it. And Plumm is a reporter however. We have mutual respect, mutual trust.
Jane Plumm: I don't trust you, Kolchak. You'd double-cross your own fairy godmother for a story.
Carl Kolchak: Why Jane, how can you say a thing like that? Now, you know me better than that.
NOTES: There might be an editing twist here; we get a scene where Ron Updyke, having been assigned to cover the murders by Vincenzo, comes stumbling into the newsroom distraught about the murder scene he just came from. In the interaction between he and Vincenzo and Carl he reveals that he never even saw the victim, he was just upset over what another reporter told him. Later in the episode we get a scene where Ron is walking bravely into a murder scene with wha appears to be some bravado, before stumbling and nearly falling onto the victim as the police examine the crime scene, causing him to run, sickened, out of the room. Could this scene have been meant to run before Ron comes back to the newsroom? He seems awful unaffected if this is his second murder scene of the evening.
KOLCHAK VICTIMS; It’s often cited that many of the victims in the series were sinners, while I don’t share that dour assessment of my favorite show, there are a few instances to back up the theory that the writers were lecturing bad behavior, as in all the partiers in the cruise ship episode become victims, etc, but like Carl I want some hard evidence so I’ll be going through each and every one of the victims each week so we can see if there’s any truth to this rumor.
Michelle Schiffner - Dancer. She’s not listed in the credits and the music is playing when Carl does his voice over so it’s tough to hear her name. No age given, she has the distinction of being the first victim of the first “Monster of the week” in the Kolchak series.
Debbie Fielder 22, - Miss Physical Therapist Contenstant- we don’t get her occupation but she’s leaving a building marked Miss Physical Therapist Contenstants so we can assume she wasn’t the cleaning lady.
Laura Maresko 24, Masseuse. She gets a name and a stuffed animal before she goes.
Masseuse - Massuese. This victim doesn’t even get the honor of getting a name or backstory like many of the other victims get. She also gets a speaking role (unusual for many victims) and she gets a screen credit as Marya Small who would later go on to be known as Mews Small and have a career as a character actor. She is killed in the massage parlor she works in just a few feet from a witness.
Jane Plumm - Reporter. Rare case of one of the oddball supporting characters becoming a murder victim. Jane was also a friend of Carl’s who he seems genuinely concerned about, another first. It’s rare for these murders to hit close to home.
KOLCHAK RATING:
4.5 HATS. It’s a good solid episode with some genuine chills. One of the best episodes of the series. The end battle with The Ripper is suitably scary.Next Up: Kolchak takes on a Zombie and Scatman Crothers!