77 Sunset Strip/5 (2)

5 (2)
Season 6, Episode 2
Airdate	September 27, 1963
Teleplay by	Harry Essex
Directed by	William Conrad
Produced by	William Conrad
← 6x01 5 (1)	6x03 → 5 (3)
77 Sunset Strip — Season Six

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5 (2) is the second episode of the sixth season of 77 Sunset Strip, and the one hundred eighty-eighth episode overall.

Starring: Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (Stuart Bailey)

Guest Stars: Victor Buono (Victor Traymund), Richard Conte (Detective Lieut. Butter), Wally Cox (Harold Harrison), George Jessel (Schluessel), Leonid Kinskey (Pete Kramer), Diane McBain (Carla Stevens), Burgess Meredith (Vincent Marion), Gene Nelson (Lundstrom), William Shatner (Paul DeVinger), Clint Walker (Cal Jasper)

Cast: Jimmy Murphy (Leroy), Dorothy Konrad (Woman Student), Phil Gordon (Musician)

Plot Overview

At the beginning of this episode, Bailey has suffered a severe beating and a fall down a flight of stairs, thanks to Leroy, a goon working for art dealer Oskar Pauker. After recovering from his injuries, he returns to the investigation, finding a painting of the dead man with a portion cut out of it. He also finds out who painted the portrait--the mysterious blonde who's been dogging him, whose name is Carla Stevens. Stu learns that she and Andy Marion were once involved, but like everything else, Andy 'poisoned everything he touched'. Once he learns that the portrait was damaged to find a pawn ticket that may have been hidden behind it, he then makes it a point to find the ticket, which turns out to be inside Andy's Bible. He retrieves a camera belonging to Carla that Andy pawned, only to be attacked again, this time by four thugs rather than just one, but the resourceful detective manages to salvage the film inside, leaving the creeps with a worthless camera. One of the pictures inside the camera is that of the key that several people have mentioned, and Stu is certain that he's seen the lock the key fits...but where? All the while, mouthy Lt. Butter is on his back, this time because Eva Stehlik, the young wife Andy abandoned, is missing and later is found dead, and Butter just wants to hang the murder on Stu. When he revisits his client, Vincent Marion, he learns that he's been fired, that the case is over...but Stu reminds Marion that it's just begun!

Trivia

Memorable Moments

The give and take between Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Richard Conte is as snappy as ever. Former MGM contract player and dancer Gene Nelson gets to make use of his tap-dancing skills in a couple of scenes, and George Jessel provides a couple of laughs as an elderly key maker.

Quotes

• Stu Bailey (to Lt. Butter): I'll bet your mother had a loud bark!

Obviously, Jack Webb got such a charge out of this line that it was reused a few years later on Dragnet, in a scene with him and Jill Banner in the Dragnet episode "The Hammer".

• Lt. Butter: What's the matter? Did I hit a nerve?

Stu Bailey: You couldn't hit a nerve in dental college!