Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Gabor, Donna Reed, Van Johnson, and Walter Pidgeon in The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)

Boris Karloff, Lucille Ball, George Sanders, Charles Coburn, and Cedric Hardwicke in Lured (1947)

Noah Beery Jr. and James Garner in The Rockford Files (1974)

Robert Armstrong, Jean Gillie, Sheldon Leonard, Edward Norris, and Herbert Rudley in Decoy (1946)

Ricardo Montalban, Shelley Winters, James Darren, Ella Fitzgerald, Burl Ives, and Jean Seberg in Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960)

Martha Hyer and Mark Stevens in Cry Vengeance (1954)

William Powell and Shelley Winters in Take One False Step (1949)

Colleen Dewhurst and Beverly Garland in Decoy (1957)

Beverly Garland

Frank Campanella

Joseph Sullivan

New York City policewoman Casey Jones&apos; assignment to fight crime often entails her going undercover in some of the seediest and most dangerous parts of the city.

Decoy

Deserves Another Look-See

Decoy&apos;s the first TV police drama to star a woman and casting couldn&apos;t have done better than Garland. She&apos;s strong and appealing but hardly glamorous, and really good at not over-playing her part though the tension is often there. As Casey Jones she goes undercover in downscale NYC to crack cases. The on-location filming in the city&apos;s seediest precincts lends a lot of color plus perspective to even the mildest episodes. Nevertheless, I&apos;ll bet the Chamber of Commerce was none to happy about grubby sites not often shown. Anyway, we get perspectives on the Statue of Liberty, crowded city streets, and soaring towers that seemingly entrap her as she walks along. All add color and period interest to the storylines. Of course some episodes are better than others but all offer abundant compensations. I haven&apos;t seen every episode, but let me recommend The Red Clown as particularly riveting. A look at the cast lists shows no stars but an abundance of familiar A-grade supporting players, e.g. Simon Oakland, Barbara Barrie. I guess ratings weren&apos;t strong enough for a second season (1958). Likely, 50&apos;s audiences weren&apos;t ready for a female lead in a traditionally male genre. Then again, to my knowledge, Decoy&apos;s never been re-run or put into syndication; so to say it&apos;s obscure is a mild understatement. Too bad, because the series was clearly ahead of its time, while its abundant human interest has no time limit.

In passing-- I caught up with the complete series in a DVD collection titled &quot;Decoy&quot; from Film Chest Media. I&apos;d recommend the collection because of the detailed notes about locations and historical aspects of the productions that the enclosed booklet provides. For those like me who&apos;ve never been to NYC, it&apos;s something of an interesting tour guide.

Decoy's the first TV police drama to star a woman and casting couldn't have done better than Garland. She's strong and appealing but hardly glamorous, and really good at not over-playing her part though the tension is often there. As Casey Jones she goes undercover in downscale NYC to crack cases. The on-location filming in the city's seediest precincts lends a lot of color plus perspective to even the mildest episodes. Nevertheless, I'll bet the Chamber of Commerce was none to happy about grubby sites not often shown. Anyway, we get perspectives on the Statue of Liberty, crowded city streets, and soaring towers that seemingly entrap her as she walks along. All add color and period interest to the storylines. Of course some episodes are better than others but all offer abundant compensations. I haven't seen every episode, but let me recommend The Red Clown as particularly riveting. A look at the cast lists shows no stars but an abundance of familiar A-grade supporting players, e.g. Simon Oakland, Barbara Barrie. I guess ratings weren't strong enough for a second season (1958). Likely, 50's audiences weren't ready for a female lead in a traditionally male genre. Then again, to my knowledge, Decoy's never been re-run or put into syndication; so to say it's obscure is a mild understatement. Too bad, because the series was clearly ahead of its time, while its abundant human interest has no time limit.

In passing-- I caught up with the complete series in a DVD collection titled "Decoy" from Film Chest Media. I'd recommend the collection because of the detailed notes about locations and historical aspects of the productions that the enclosed booklet provides. For those like me who've never been to NYC, it's something of an interesting tour guide.

New York City policewoman Casey Jones' assignment to fight crime often entails her going undercover in some of the seediest and most dangerous parts of the city.

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Decoy

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