OVERLOOKED TELEVISION: FOUR STAR PLAYHOUSE -- "THE MASQUERADE"

Happy Mardi Gras!

Here's a Mardi Gras episode of Four Star Playhouse from April 15, 1954, featuring Ida Lupino.

Four Star Playhouse was an anthology series that ran for 131 episodes from 1952 to 1956 and featured Ida Lupino, David Niven, Dick Powell, and Charles Boyer in rotating episodes.

In addition to Lupino, this episode's cast includes John Bryant (the "Marlboro Man" in 1950s and 1960s ads) as Lupino's fiancé and Carleton G. Young (the voice of Ellery Queen on the radio program) as Lupino's homicidal ex-husband.

Roy Kellino directed this episode (and 47 others in the series).  Kellino was at one time a business partner with actor James Mason and Kellino's first wife, Pamela, later married Mason.  Kellino's second wife was actress Barbara Billingsly.

"The Masquerade" was scripted by Frederick Brady and Thelma Robinson from a story by Charles Beaumont and Leonard Pruyn.  Brady was a prolific writer for television during the 1950s with over 100 credits.  Robinson was probably best know for writing some of the Maisie films, starring Ann Sothern.  Beaumont, of course, was a well respected script and short story writer; a number of his scripts were written with Richard Matheson.  This was Pruyn's only scriptwriting credit; he is probably best known for the SF novel World Without Women, co-written with Day Keene.

So, laissez les bon temp rouler.  Or, more fittingly, laissez le suspense rouler!

https://archive.org/details/FourStarPlayhouseMasquerade