DECOY (1957-1958) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

DECOY (1957-1958) – Nobody doesn’t like Beverly Garland! For decades, she was a pleasant presence in B-movies and television. Here’s the very first tv show about a female cop, with Beverly pitch-perfect as a tough, savvy undercover policewoman. 

Garland starred as Patricia “Casey” Jones (yes, like the train engineer), who did a hard-boiled narration for her character’s adventures in 39 half-hour episodes of this series. Beverly WAS the whole show, being the only recurring character for the entire run.

NOTE: Frank Campanella is sometimes listed as her “co-star” but actually he played a different character in each of the 3 episodes he appeared in.

Always professional, always relentless in bringing down the bad guys, Casey was the original “no-frills” character. The only look into her personal life came from a few vague references to a past romance with a policeman who went on to get killed in the line of duty.

Reruns of the program often aired under titles like Policewoman Decoy and even Policewoman long before Angie Dickinson’s 1970s series of that name.

Some standout episodes:   

DREAM FIX – Casey poses as a nurse at Greenville Sanatorium in order to find the parties responsible for skimming narcotics and selling them on the street. Kolchak’s boss Simon Oakland guest stars.

THE SAVAGE PAYOFF (Basketball Fix) – Our heroine impersonates the sister of a college basketball star to investigate the game-fixing gangsters who killed him for not throwing a game as ordered. Don Hastings and Bill Zuckert guest starred.

DEADLY CORRIDOR – Excellent murder mystery for a half-hour story. Casey poses as prison inmate Billie (not Cody) Jarrett to play detective and solve the murder of an inmate. Colleen Dewhurst and Lois Nettleton guest starred as other lady convicts.

TO TRAP A THIEF – An armed robbery case ends with an honest policeman accused of pocketing some of the money. Before you can say “Casey, you’re going undercover” our heroine goes undercover to smoke out evidence to clear the cop. Mary James guest starred as a character named Louise Bamf for you Kurt Wagner fans.

DEATH WATCH – What starts out as a humdrum undercover operation to nail shoplifters turns dangerous when Casey realizes she is actually on to a murder for hire racket. With Frank Maxwell.

ODDS AGAINST THE JOCKEY – Our heroine poses as a daily regular at the racetrack hoping to sniff out clues regarding the recent murder of a gambler on the premises. Mason Adams is in the guest cast. 

NECKLACE OF GLASS – Casey goes undercover as a woman of wealth in order to smoke out a network of jewel thieves operating in New York City. Martin E. Brooks guest starred.

AN EYE FOR AN EYE – Ed Asner guest starred as a police sergeant in this tale of Casey posing as a drug addict in order to break up a narcotics ring.

ACROSS THE WORLD – After the murder of a woman who owned an import-export business, our heroine goes undercover as the late owner’s heir to get to the bottom of things. It turns out gunrunners are using the firm to smuggle their wares. Nicholas Colasanto guest starred.

THE SOUND OF TEARS – Casey goes undercover in order to prove a young woman (Suzanne Pleshette) innocent of murdering her fiancee.

EARTHBOUND SATELLITE – The latest mission for Casey – posing as a loose woman with a love of gambling. She wears state of the art electronic tracking equipment so police can follow her to an illegal underground casino when the smitten gangster in charge of it wants to impress her.

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