OVERLOOKED TELEVISION: APPOINTMENT AT ELEVEN

This Friday Patti Abbott's cheerful group of Forgotten Books minions will be celebrating "Ed McBain Week" at pattinase.com.  Since I am not sure I will have something by "Ed McBain" (or Evan Hunter, S. A. Lombino, "Richard Marsten," "Curt Cannon," "Hunt Collins," "Dean Hudson," "Ezra Hannon," "John Abbott," "D. A. Addams." or even "Ted Taine") for Friday, I thought I would at least post something here for my Tuesday Overlooked Television contribution.

Evan Hunter's relationship with Alfred Hitchcock has been documented in his short memoir Me & Hitch (1998).  He famously wrote the screenplay for Hitchcock's The Birds, but his dealings with Hitchcock go back a few years earlier when two of his stories were adapted for the Alfred Hitchcock Presents Television show.  Then in 1959, he scripted this episode based on a story by Robert Turner.

"Appointment at Eleven" was directed by Robert Stevens, who helmed 44 episodes of Alfred Hithcock Presents and another five episodes the later Alfred Hitchcock Hour and was the only director of either show to win an Emmy.  "Appointment at Eleven" stars Clint Kimbrough, who had a minor television acting career in the late Fifties and early Sixties; his best-known film was probably 1970's Bloody Mama in which he played Arthur Barker.  Also featured in "Appointment at Eleven were Norma Crane (who played Miss Dean in Mr. Peepers), Clu Culager (The Virginian, The Tall Man, and a bazillion other television shows), and Sean McClory (The Californians, Bring 'Em Back Alive, and many others)

Arthur Baker is man with an appointment at eleven, or so he tells almost everyone he meets.

Enjoy.

(And don't forget to catch Ed McBain week at pattinase.com.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri7ELVw9DA0