Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Season 1, Episode 17: The Meal Ticket

1

A Killing At Sundial

A young interloper comes between a disgruntled wife and her older husband.

2

Something About Lee Wiley

The story of jazz singer Lee Wiley, her failed marriage to bandleader Jess Stacy.

3

Seven Miles of Bad Road

In a small southern town, the sheriff's wife is attracted to handsome Gabe Flanders, who is hitchhiking to California. Trouble ensues.

4

Four Kings

Four prisoners, who are all serving life sentences, are pulled out of jail by the US military and given an opportunity for a pardon. They are expected to do is sneak into Germany and steal the secret plans for the V2 missile.

5

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Under Stalin, it was inconceivable that anyone could publish a book attacking Soviet injustice. But under Khrushchev, a limited but distinct thaw has taken place. Prime evidence of this change was open publication of One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, an exposé of Stalin's labor camps where the author, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, himself did time. Tonight's adaptation of the novel is set in 1951 in Siberia. A group of prisoners persuade the authorities to transfer them to warmer work by promising to top the previous work record on the first day. But if they fail, it's back to laying barbed wire in the snow. One officer, Lieutenant Volkovoi, would like nothing better.

6

The House Next Door

Easterner George Warren thinks he has made quite a steal when he purchases a home in fashionable Waverly Hills, Cal. George is unaware that his next-door neighbor is mobster Ernie Santee.

7

The Fifth Passenger

A British Intelligence Officer suspects a Naval War Hero of giving secret information to the Soviets.

8

The Candidate

Things seem to be closing in on campaign manager Parker Hite: he can't get any supporters for his candidate, and his marriage is beginning to collapse.

9

It's Mental Work

Ernie Wigman is tired of the bar he owns and wants to get rid of it. Rich, his bartender, might be a good customer for it, only Rich doesn't seem to have the cash.

10

Corridor 400

Anita King, an undercover FBI agent. Posing as a nightclub singer, Anita gets a job in a nightclub owned by Ralph Traven. He takes quite a fancy to her; she wants to prove that he's a kingpin in a narcotics ring.

11

War of Nerves

Two suitors drive a beautiful woman crazy with their pursuit of her.

12

Runaway

When folksinger Richie Darden fails to show up for a performance, his girlfriend Cress thinks club owner Mig Semple should put Richie's expensive guitar in his safe. And Cress has the right idea--two customers are planning to steal the instrument.

13

The Seven Little Foys

The story of vaudeville performer Eddie Foy, widowed father of a brood of good-natured but exasperating children who are trying to get an education while at the same time continuing to perform with him on stage.

14

Two is the Number

Hoodlum Joey Rome is electrocuted in his home, and police suspect that middle-aged spinster Jenny Dworak is responsible. The murder investigation brings together two lonely people: Jenny Dworak, who runs a pawnshop, and a police investigator who is a widower.

15

A Wind of Hurricane Force

During a terrible storm in Mexico two men come to heads for the treasure they both seek.

16

Wake Up Darling

Polly Emerson, has aspirations to be an actress. Her husband, Don, is a successful advertising man, who yearns to be a playwright, and has a shelf of unproduced plays to his credit. Don, understandably, isn't too happy when Polly comes home with Deerfield Prescott, a very young man who has written Broadway's next musical hit - or so he tells Polly and Don.

17

The Meal Ticket

Eddie a fly by night kind of guy, finds romance with a wealthy woman.

18

The Square Peg

Comedy about a gangster who hires a ""personnel psychologist"" to evaluate the aptitudes of his gang.

19

White Snow - Red Ice

Secret agent Piper finds beauty and brains intriguing and disruptive to his assignment.

20

A Slow Fade to Black

Mike Kirsch built his studio from nothing in the 1920s; now, four decades later, he is on the way out, the victim of a corporate takeover. We follow Kirsch as he exercises his waning authority on a temperamental movie star, browbeats his alcoholic wife, rebellious daughter and longtime yes-man associate Landers, and vainly attempts to push through an outdated pet movie project. Finally he is wrenched off his throne by a former assistant, who is now in cahoots with the conglomerate buying the studio. Kirsch is left alone to weep in his projection room as one of his past hits plays upon the screen.

21

A Case of Armed Robbery

Montrose is an angry young man whose bitterness alienates him from his father, Alfred, his girlfriend, Jean, and his work foreman. He blames his ex-wife, Carol, for their marriage failure and clumsily attempts to show love for his son Danny. In his resentment he plans to rob a gas station, ends up getting involved with unsavory characters and doing worse.

22

Time For Elizabeth

After enduring a pompous and tyrannical boss for 28 years, Ed Davis has a brief argument with him, gets fired, and decides to retire to Florida with his wife.

23

The Game with Glass Pieces

A deadly game of cat and mouse, where everything isn't what it seems to be.

24

The Command

Major Morgan holds his Commander as coward and attempts to overtake his command.

25

The Sojourner

Called home because of his father's failing health, foreign correspondent John Ferris recalls the events that led to the collapse of his marriage.

26

Echo of Evil

Ex-crime boss Oscar Teckla, now out of the rackets and involved with respectable enterprise, Teckla would like nothing more than to bury the past. But the district attorney is anxious to break up Teckla's old mob. To do this, he must get Teckla on the stand--any way he can.