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"Tales
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Season
2 (ABC) (1952-53)
Episode Guide
compiled by The Classic TV Archive
with contributions by: John Hallam, Rina Fox, Sal Crisanti
references:
TV Guide /
Library of Congress (telnet://locis.loc.gov)
Internet Movie Database (https://us.imdb.com)
UCLA Film and Television Archive
############# Tales of Tomorrow ##############
############# season 2 1952-53 ###############
############## (final season) ################
ABC Fridays 9:30-10:00pm Eastern
2.01 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: SUBSTANCE 'X'
03-Oct-1952 ABC Fri
written by Frank DeFelitta
starring
Vicki Cummings as Selena
James Maloney as Carmichael
Will Kuluva as Samuel
Charlotte Knight as Paula
Barry Nathan
Synopsis:
A young woman goes to her hometown at the behest of a food conglomerate. Her
assignment is to discover what the people of
the community are using for food after their only food outlet closes. She
discovers a scientist who has developed a food
substitute called 'Substance X'. Anyone who diets on Substance X is unable to
eat normal food from that time on.
2.02 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE HORN
10-Oct-1952 ABC Fri
written by Alan Nelson
starring
Franchot Tone
Stephen Elliot
Barbara Joyce
Joe Latham
Synopsis:
The story of a brilliant scientist who invents a super sonic machine that has power to dictate human emotions.
2.03 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: DOUBLE TROUBLE
17-Oct-1952 ABC Fri
written by Armand Aulicino
story by Paul Tripp
starring
Ruth Enders
Paul Tripp
Ferdi Hoffman
Raymond Bailey
Harrison Dowd
Frank Marth
Joseph Abdullah
Synopsis:
A drama about a man who writes about a death ray machine, and later finds
that the government has just such a thing and is trying to keep it a secret.
2.04 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: MANY HAPPY RETURNS
(aka Invaders at Ground Zero)
24-Oct-1952 ABC Fri
adapted by David Karp
written by Frederick Pohl
story by Raymond Z. Gallum
directed by Don Medford
starring
Gene Raymond as Andy
Flora Campbell as Jane
Clifford Sales as Jack
Edwin Cooper as Dr. Barnes
Richard Trask as Peter
Synopsis:
Jack and his father Andy are working on projects in the basement like any normal
American father and son. When Andy notices
his son is working on a peculiar electrical device and reaches over to turn a
switch Jack shouts at him not to touch it.
Jack has been instructed by a mysterious "Mr. White" on how to construct this
device. When Jack shows his dad a picture of
"Mr. White" sent from the Moon, Andy is horrified by the awful appearance of the
creature and even more alarmed when he
realizes his son is being controlled by "Mr. White" through some sort of mental
telepathy. When Andy questions his son more
he is horrified to discover his son has suddenly lost his voice. Andy discovers
that not only his son, but other vulnerable
children in the neighborhood are being controlled by "Mr. White" and decides to
send Mr. White an explosive package to break
the mind control he exerts over the children.
2.05 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: TOMB OF KING TAURUS
31-Oct-1952 ABC Fri
written by Mann Rubin
starring
Walter Abel
Synopsis:
An archeologist discovers an ancient king who has stayed alive for forty centuries in a tomb deep in the Egyptian desert. [RF]
2.06 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE WINDOW (live)
(aka Lost Planet)
07-Nov-1952 ABC Fri
written by Frank DeFelitta
directed by Don Medford
starring
Rod Steiger as Henry
Frank Maxwell as Al
Virginia Vincent as Jean
William Coburn as Father
Merle Albertson as Daughter
Muffet Peter as Secretary
Jim Walsh as Floor Manager
Robert F. Levine as Agency Executive
Don Medford as Director
Mort Abrahams as Producer
Merle Worster as Chief Engineer
Roger DeKovan as Announcer
Synopsis:
A mysterious signal interrupts a television show in production and we witness a murder about to take place. [RF]
2.07 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE CAMERA
14-Nov-1952 ABC Fri
written by Mann Rubin
starring
Donald Buka
Olive Deering
Synopsis:
A man uses photography for blackmail and finds a camera that will take pictures 25 years into the future. [RF]
2.08 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: QUIET LADY
21-Nov-1952 ABC Fri
written by Irwin Lewis & Armand Aulicino
story by Phyllis Sterling
starring
John Conte
Gaye Huston
Glen Walker
Una O'Connor
Martin Agronsky
Synopsis:
A deadly disease covers the earth and a little girl tries to do what doctors and scientist have failed in doing. [RF]
2.09 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE INVIGORATING AIR
28-Nov-1952 ABC Fri
starring
Joseph Buloff
Anne Seymour
Synopsis:
A young man, interest in science, produces a new kind
of air which proves to be more than he bargained for.
A wife feels that her husband is a bungler even after he creates a miraculous
"air".
2.10 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE GLACIER GIANT
05-Dec-1952 ABC Fri
starring
Edith Fellows
Chester Morris
Synopsis:
A reporter and a girl search for a giant encased in the ice in the Himalayan Mountains
2.11 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE FATAL FLOWER
12-Dec-1952 ABC Fri
written by Frank DeFelitta
starring
Victor Jory
Don Hamner
Jose Merced
Lovey Powell
Lee Firestone
May Lee Deering
Synopsis:
Two biochemists work in the lonely Brazilian jungle and develop a mysterious plant.
2.12 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE MACHINE
(aka Keep Out)
19-Dec-1952 ABC Fri
starring
Georgann Johnson
Gene Lockhart
Synopsis:
A doctor with a machine that foretells that one of his infant patients will grow up to be a murderer.
2.13 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE BITTER STORM
26-Dec-1952 ABC Fri
written by Armand Aulicino
starring
Arnold Moss
Joanne Woodward
Philip Pine
Ethel Remey
Warren Parker
Synopsis:
A man is able to bring back voices and sounds from the Garden of Eden.
2.14 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE MASK OF MEDUSA
02-Jan-1953 ABC Fri
starring
Raymond Burr
Steven Geray
Synopsis:
A murderer taking refuge in a museum laughs too soon at the curator's explanation of the 'life-like' quality of some statues.
2.15 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: CONQUERER'S ISLE
09-Jan-1953 ABC Fri
written by Nelson S. Bond
starring
Ray Montgomery
2.16 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: DISCOVERED HEART
16-Jan-1953 ABC Fri
written by David Durston
starring
Susan Hallaran as Josie
Jim Boles as Stranger
Alfreda Wallace as Rose
Frank Milan as Frank
Robert Patten as Phil
William Lee as Captain Hayes
Synopsis:
A scout for a hostile invasion force from out space comes to a lighthouse hoping
to use the lighthouse as a signaling station.
A precocious little girl win's the alien's heart and moves the extraterrestrial
to surrender his life to prevent invasion.
2.17 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
23-Jan-1953 ABC Fri
story by Oscar Wilde
starring
John Newland as Dorian Gray
Synopsis:
Dorian Gray sells his soul to the devil so that he may
have immortality thru his portrait. [RF]
2.18 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: TWO FACED
30-Jan-1953 ABC Fri
written by David Durston
directed by Don Medford
starring
Richard Kiley as Paul Amanston and Julio Venichio
Reba Tassell as Lucia
Mario Badolati as Dr. Marciano
Zolya Talma as Mrs. Rossana
Synopsis:
At her wedding reception, Lucia, reveals to her mother that she could never love
her new husband, Paul, because she will
always love Julio. Her evil mother quickly points out that Paul has money so she
should be happy. When Paul discovers the
truth about his new wife's feelings and learns that Julio has committed suicide,
he takes a drastic step. He is convinced by
his friend, Dr. Mario Marciano, who has claimed Julio's body, that he can have
Julio's head transplanted to his body. Out
of desperation to win the love of the woman he loves, Paul agrees to the
operation. [SC]
2.19 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE BUILD BOX
06-Feb-1953 ABC Fri
written by Armand Aulicino
starring
Glenda Farrell
Joey Fallon
Vaughn Taylor
Jack Davis
William Lee
Synopsis:
The owner of a gift shop gives a little boy a strange box which plays an important part in spoiling the plans of the boy's foster parents.
2.20 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: ANOTHER CHANCE
13-Feb-1953 ABC Fri
written by Frank DeFelitta
directed by Don Medford
starring
Leslie Nielsen as Harold 'Harry' Mason
Virginia Vincent as Carlotta & Regina
Robert Middleton as Dr. John Borrow
Synopsis:
A dark and rather harrowing story about a man named Harold who is about at the
end of his rope. When his wife sees the
headlines in the paper and realizes her husband has heisted a brooch, she tells
him "look at you...a real nothing...
Listen to me Harry Mason, I have wasted six years of my life with you." At his
wits end, Harold answers a newspaper ad
"I'm sure I can help you", and a mysterious man tells him "You have another
chance and I am going to give it to you."
Through a fantastic invention, he transports Harold to another room a thousand
miles away and seven years back in time
so he can start over. The problem is, Harold makes the same mistakes again, and
now, back in the present, can only go
into the future, which has a murder rap waiting for him. [SC]
2.21 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE GREAT SILENCE
20-Feb-1953 ABC Fri
written by Frank DeFelitta
directed by Don Medford
starring
Burgess Meredith
Lilia Skala as Pantomime
Paul Ford
Charles McClelland
William Kemp
Glenn Styres
Synopsis:
When the Government announces that a spreading paralysis of the vocal cords,
which started in far Northwest county of
Kenasha and is spreading rapidly, is no cause for alarm, a high degree of
skepticism is in order. It is not very reassuring
to hear that the situation is caused by Hydrogenic mists from the fall-out of
recent H-Bomb tests and that the loss of
everyones voice is only a temporary situation which "will pass in a few days".
In a cabin at the location where the
phenomenon first occured an illiterate mountain man, trying to communicate with
his wife, discovers the terrible truth.
An alien spaceship has landed and is trying to control the people of the United
States.
2.22 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE LONESOME VILLAGE
27-Feb-1953 ABC Fri
written by Barden & Blackner
starring
Raymond Bailey
Heywood Hale Brown
Stephen Elliott
Buzz Martin
Natalie Priest
Constance Clausen
2.23 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE FURY OF THE COCOON
06-Mar-1953 ABC Fri
written by Frank DeFelitta
directed by Don Medford
starring
Peter Capell as Brenegan
Nancy Coleman as Susan
Cameron Prud'Homme as Borden
Fernande Gude
Synopsis 1:
An expedition into the tropics is plagued by dissent, desertion, and an
invisible blood sucking leech that has arrived
from outer space. The remaining members of the expedition use an insecticide to
escape.
Synopsis 2:
After arriving at the camp where a scientific expedition has been inspecting a
meteorite site crash in the deep jungle,
a relief expedition headed by Brenegan discovers a giant empty cocoon. They then
discover that all the scientists, except
his dazed colleague, Susan, have been killed in a horrible manner. Brenegan
reason's that some giant leech of an animal
has drained them of every drop of blood. After reading the diary entry of one of
the scientists they learn that hundreds
of giant invisible insects have taken over the camp and they see with their own
eyes the plaster cast the scientists were
able to make of one of the captured insects.
2.24 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: SQUEEZE PLAY
13-Mar-1953 ABC Fri
written by Mann Rubin
starring
John McQuade
Joseph Wiseman
Elizabeth York
Murvyn C. Vye
Robert Patten
Charlotte Knight
Synopsis:
A jealous magician hypnotizes all the people with whom a reporter comes in contact so that they no longer know him.
2.25 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: READ TO ME, HERR DOKTOR (live)
20-Mar-1953 ABC Fri
written by Alvin Sapinsley
directed by Don Medford
starring
Mercedes McCambridge as Patricia
Everett Sloane as Professor Kinworth
William Kemp as Sidney
Ernest Graves as the Voice
Paul Lukas
Synopsis 1:
An old professor with failing eyesight builds a robot named Herr Doktor to read
him books that he had never had a chance
to read when he was younger. The relationship between the professor and the
robot is very close. The books the robot makes
give him the desire to be a complete person. Their roles become reversed. The
robot begins to demand that the professor
read aloud to him. Later, the robot then falls in love with the professor's
daughter. When she spurns it. It learns that
the books it has been reading were wrong and it des of a broken heart.
Synopsis 2:
A retired and aging Professor lives with his daughter, Patricia and occupies
himself by having a robot he created read the
classics to him. Patricia becomes concerned when she observes, as she describes
it to Sidney, a gentlemen caller, "He talks
to it now, they have literary discussions." "They..?" responds Sidney. Soon the
Robot takes control of the household and
forces the Professor to read to and educate the Robot. When the Robot goes after
the Professor's daughter, telling Patricia
that he has fallen in love with her, just like the romances in the books he has
read, she fights back saying "The books are
wrong!", which breaks his heart.
2.26 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: GHOST WRITER
27-Mar-1953 ABC Fri
written by Mann Rubin
directed by Don Medford
starring
Leslie Nielsen as Bert
Gaby Rodgers as Joan
Murray Matheson as Lee Morton
Harry Mehaffey as Lou
Synopsis:
A struggling writer needs money to pay the bills, but promises his wife to
finish his novel while she works hard to support
them. Against her wishes, he answers an ad to work as a collaborator for a
successful but mysterious writer, Lee Morton,
who wants him to finish several stories he has started but is unable to finish.
When he is offered $500 for each finished
story, the money seems too good to be true and he agrees to the bargain. When
the ending he has written that night for a
love triangle murder appears on the front page of the next morning's newspaper
and 40 people die that afternoon in a hotel
fire, which is the exact outcome he has written for another story, he realizes
something has gone horribly wrong. Agreeing
to his wife's plea to return the money, he is foolishly persuaded to finish one
more story for $1,000. To his horror he
realizes that this time he has written the ending of his wife's life. With a
devilish smirk the camera closes in on Lee
Morton who states, "if you want anything badly enough you pay the price."
2.27 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: PAST TENSE (live)
03-Apr-1953 ABC Fri
written by Jack Weinstock & Willie Gilbert
based on an idea by Robert F. Levine
directed by Don Medford
starring
Boris Karloff as Dr. Henry Marco
Robert F. Simon as Giles
Katherine Meskill as Jan
John McGovern as Laskey
Allen Nourse as Bonzy
Synopsis:
Physician Dr. Marco has invented a time machine and hopes to get rich by going
back in the past to bring the benefits of
Penicillin to the medical world of 1923. However, he hasn't counted on the
sceptical minds of the establishment. When they
ignore his pleas to use the drug to save lives, he becomes so distraught they
question his sanity. He later dies in a
State Mental Institution of the past in which he is placed because of his
"insane" suggestion that a drug can be made from
moldy bread that will save lives. Ironically, he dies of Pneumonia, a disease
from which Penicillin could have saved him if
he were back in the modern world.
.
2.28 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: HOMECOMING
10-Apr-1953 ABC Fri
written by Mann Rubin
starring
Edith Fellows
Brian Keith
Doro Merande
Harry Shepard
Johnny Olsen
Al Checo
Synopsis:
Arriving home after being stranded in the arctic for five years, an Air Force pilot
finds that he can live only in sub-zero temperatures.
2.29 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE RIVAL
17-Apr-1953 ABC Fri
written by Peggy Speed
starring
Anthony Ross
Mary Sinclair
Synopsis:
An elderly man brings home his new wife who finds her rival to be a cat. [RF]
2.30 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: PLEASE OMIT FLOWERS
(aka Please Send Flowers)
24-Apr-1953 ABC Fri
starring
Ann Burr
Frank Albertson
Synopsis:
A greedy mortician discovers a serum that induces a sleep closely resembling death. [RF]
2.31 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE EVIL WITHIN (live)
01-May-1953 ABC Fri
written by Manya Starr
directed by Don Medford
produced by Mort Abrahams
George F. Foley Production
starring
James Dean as Ralph
Margaret Phillips as Anne Crane
Rod Steiger as Peter Crane
Synopsis 1:
Inventing a solution that unlocks evil, his wife unknowingly eats some and
changes into a different woman with evil
thoughts. At the last moment he finds out and diverts his own murder by his
wife.
Synopsis 2:
Too busy with his career as a scientist creating an important serum, Peter
doesn't pay much attention to his wife Anne.
When she mistakenly ingests the serum which he has created to bring out the evil
within a person, she goes through a
dramatic change. Now confronted with her evil side, Peter must make amends for
his past behavior.
2.32 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE VAULT
08-May-1953 ABC Fri
starring
Dorothy Peterson
Cameron Prud'Homme
Helen Auerbach
Liam Sullivan
Synopsis:
"Deep in the Earth's core, four bewildered people ask
themselves are they the last remaining humans on earth or the
first of a great new world." Four people are trapped in a vault while making
scientific tests.
2.33 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: INK
15-May-1953 ABC Fri
starring
Joseph Anthony
Mildred Natwick
Katherine Balfour
Synopsis:
An embittered elder sister plans revenge when her
brother announces his plans to marry and establish a home of his own.
A chemist comes into possession of a recipe for an ink which has the power to
hypnotize all who look upon anything
written with it.
2.34 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: THE SPIDER'S WEB
22-May-1953 ABC Fri
written by Frank DeFelitta
directed by Don Medford
starring
Nancy Coleman as Jean Crawford
Henry Jones as Irwin Crawford
Don Hamner as Matt Radigan
Synopsis:
"What strange affect does radiation have upon Earth's creatures." Creatures who inhabit an island are affected by radiation.
2.35 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: LAZARUS WALKS
29-May-1953 ABC Fri
written by James P. Cavanaugh
story by Peggy Speed
starring
Olive Deering
William Prince
Joseph Wiseman
Synopsis:
"A man who died for an hour than lived again." A man who is revived after being dead
for a short time is found to have the facility for detecting lies.
2.36 [--] Tales of Tomorrow: WHAT DREAMS MAY COME
12-Jun-1953 ABC Fri
starring
Arnold Moss
Sally Gracie
Ernest Graves
Synopsis:
A woman is warned by telepathy that she is about to be murdered.
############# Tales of Tomorrow
##############
################### the end ##################
##############################################
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