And one thing more: he had the most beautiful singing voice.
"Night of the Deadly Jester"(1)
CBS #6821 Shooting Order 100 - First Air Date: 3/14/69(2)
Wild Wild
West
Produced by Bruce Lansbury
Directed by Marvin Chomsky
Teleplay by John Knebuehl, from the tale by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Agent James West: Robert Conrad
"Ambrose Campbell"/Agent Artemus Gordon: Ross Martin
"Dottore Sansamore"/Dr. Miguelito Loveless: Michael Dunn
Aurelius Barth: Nehemiah Persoff
Dom Pedro II of Brazil: William Schallert
"Holm Sigerson": Paxton Whitehead
Marina Sadler: Linda Ronstadt
Livia Boscombe Barth: Suzanne Pleshette
President Grant: Roy Engel
Crown Prince Wilhelm Gottsreich: Bernie Kopell(3)
Colonel Richmond: Douglas Henderson
It is to be a most marvelous world's fair. It has all the requirements, and even a "monorail": a single-rail railway erected over the Bellevue Ravine on the Exhibition grounds is thought by some to be the future of railway technology. A narrow railway that could go on any narrow city street or county road - what could stop such an advance?(5)
The Secret Service has been tipped by the Pinkerton Agency of suspicious activity in a touring theatrical company now settling into one of the city's theatres. While Arte tries to infiltrate the Aurelius Barth Company in the guise of out-of-work thespian "Ambrose Campbell," Jim checks security on the Corliss Engine and its location in Machinery Hall. While there, he is set upon by thugs disguised as machinists and Exposition officials, fights them off and escapes. Unfortunately, it is not without personal damage, for Dr. Mackey informs Agent West that his leg sustained a severe fracture and bed rest is required. The Colonel will assign another agent to security duty in Machinery Hall.
Arte, in the meantime, has been accepted by Barth into the Company, and is cast as "Palmiero the Gondolier" in Dottore Sansamore's operetta, "The Red Jester". He is more than pleased to see that Mrs. Barth is an old friend, Livia Boscombe, with whom he had once performed Shakespeare in the mining camps of California. Arte also meets the ingenue Miss Marina Sadler (of Paterson, New Jersey) who plays "Casilida", and the rather intense young Englishman Holm Sigerson. The slim aquiline-nosed Sigerson is portraying young "Capitano Phillipo," a revolutionary of the Carbonari - apparently a small but important role, for the young swashbuckling Phillipo introduces the criminal mastermind, the jester Giacomo the Magnificent(6), to the Lady Casilida.
"Giacomo," of course, is to be played the Dottore himself - in reality the notorious Dr. Miguelito Loveless, the little Caesar of the sciences and tiny Tamurlane of terror.
And perhaps a Napoleon of Crime.
Arte finds much in common with the young Sigerson. A common delight in disguise ("I base my characterizations on the observation of trifles," says the young man), a flair for the dramatic, overwhelming interest in the universe and the sciences, and even a distinct and puckish sense of humor was to be detected in the Englishman. Sigerson is also a talented violinist, who regards Arte's banjo with suspicion. They share some tunes that they both are familiar with, as the British and American traditional musics share a common root.
"I learnt this one," says Arte of the song "Vandy, Vandy"(7), "from a
Johnny Reb during the War. He had a guitar strung with silver strings -
ever hear of such an innovation? Didn't matter if he had no cigarette
makings or salt pork for the pot, he just never let go of that guitar.
This Johnny said it had gotten him through the Present Unpleasantness to
that point and he expected it to get him home safe again." He begins:
Sigerson picks up the tune handily, and joins right it. Marina Sadler comes in now, and her contralto soon joins Arte in the song.
Both Artemus and young Sigerson are admirers of the dainty New Jersey Nightingale, which is viewed with disfavor by the brooding Dottore.
It is Sigerson who brings to Arte's notice that the President and Dom Pedro are expected to be the special guests of the Company at the premiere of "The Red Jester". Sigerson is nervous, although he tries to cover it up. Arte notices the artifice, and is amused. He slips out of the theatre to alert West and Colonel Richmond.
The 10th of May, 1876: after a rainy dawn, the day turns to sunshine through the clouds, a sign of better times ahead. A vast grandstand for 4000 dignitaries has been erected at the entrance of Memorial Hall. There an orchestra plays the anthems of the sixteen participating nations (except for the U.S.A.., which in 1876 still has no official national anthem. The orchestra plays "Hail Columbia" instead) The arrival of the President is heralded by the oncoming sound of the drum corps and cornet bands. President and Mrs. Grant are escorted by a mass of national guardsmen, sailors, and marines. The First Couple is joined by the gray-bearded Dom Pedro II of Brazil and his Empress. A specially-commissioned commemorative composition, the "Centennial Inauguration March" by Richard Wagner, is played. The camera loses focus as we see in jump-cuts: a Methodist bishop offers a lengthy prayer; "A Centennial Hymn", with words by John Greenleaf Whittier, is sung; various lengthy speeches are given by Exhibition officials; and a Centennial Cantata is sung. As an antidote to this, President Grant's speech is brief by nineteenth century standards, and modest for an occasion that more often prompts bombast and chauvinism.(8)
The President finishes on the stroke of noon, and the clocks of the exhibition halls ring out. National flags are hoisted up the flagpoles, and an organ and 800 singers begin to sing the Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah, and a chime of 13 large bells begin to peal. Artillery rings out in a hundred-gun salute from a nearby hill. Over two dozen parade marshals now muster the notables by 56 ranks of precedence - and the whole melange headed for Machinery Hall and the steam-driven wonder of the age, the Corliss Engine. It is the centerpiece of the Exhibition, the Eiffel Tower, Trylon & Perisphere or the Unisphere of its exposition.(9)
President Grant and Dom Pedro ascend the platform of the towering steam giant, to be met by the designer, George H. Corliss of Providence, who instructs them in their duties. (There is a quick cut to a scene showing a clutch of potential saboteurs and assassins under the careful care of U.S. Marines under the command of Jim West on crutches.) They turn the silver-plated cranks that start the engine, which drives a system of gears, shafts, and belts that set in motion countless clattering machines in the hall.
The crowd breaks into a great cheer that resounds throughout that hall.
Jim and Arte meet back in the private railway coach. while Artemus Gordon examines their prisoners' peculiar wrecking tools. These seem to be full of small mirrors, the instrument's object dependent on using cutting beams of coherent light(10)! "Loveless!" says West. "It's just the type of off-trail gimmick he'd come up with!" Arte agrees, and tells Jim of the theatrical company and its "Dottore Sansamore," another obvious nom de guerre of the sinister small man. "I wish that young Englishman Sigerson was here," says Arte," he has the type of mind that would useful in this case." Jim points out that they don't know if Sigerson is one of Loveless's secret lackeys ...
"I don't know, Jim - that's not what I've come to sense about that young fellah." Arte says with some emotion. "That boy can see - and observe what really goes on around him. He'd make a heck of a physician or some other sort of scientist or inventor - and even more a new-fangled detective of the type that this age requires! It's as if he's just growing into his potential powers ..."
Arte and Jim (against his doctor's commands) attempt to sneak into the theatre that night, and are captured by Miguelito Loveless and Aurelius Barth. Sigerson and Miss Sadler are already prisoners, caught while snooping. Aurelius Barth reveals that the Presidential & Imperial Box will be the target of a new weapon developed by Loveless, one that uses beams of coherent light for both targeting and for destructive force. Loveless trots out his mechanical demon automaton with its laser eyes, and gives his prisoners a startling display of its powers. In the chaos, Loveless will seize control of the nation. Barth will be named National Secretary for Culture, a veritable generalissimo of theatre and arts. "At last," declares Barth," the Arts will be able to flourish in this hemisphere outside the control of philistines, clerics, and crass market forces!"
Loveless has already rewritten the play to eliminate the characters of Palmiero and Phillipo. But he must still has his Casilida - and so Miss Sadler must be ready to perform to safeguard the others. For now, at least. Loveless and Barth exeunt with Marina in their custody.
After the principals have left, Mrs. Barth sneaks in and releases West, Gordon and Sigerson, and promises to do her best to protect Miss Sadler.
It is time for theater!
Giacomo the Magnificent has seemingly conjured up a mighty bat-winged demon! The mechanical demon's gaze turns towards the Presidential & Imperial Box, and begins to glow redly. But rather than stabbing rays of destruction, the automaton's head explodes and it collapses on stage. Arte & Sigerson's readjustment of the weapon's small mirrors and optics have caused it to destroy itself. The curtains begin to catch fire, and stage-hands rush to fight the flames.
President Grant and Dom Pedro remove their false beards and alter their body stances to reveal Special Agent Artemus Gordon and young Holm Sigerson. They scramble after the fleeing Loveless and Barth, who are heading for the upper reaches of the theater. "Stop them! They may have a balloon awaiting them on the roof!" They grab up stage swords along the way. The Germanic princeling Wilhelm Gottsreich, much struck by her beauty and voice, rushes to release Marina Sadler from her on-stage bonds.
On the roof, Loveless and Barth engage Gordon and Sigerson in swordplay. This is no theatrical scene now. This is to the death. Barth is slain in a stunning match with Sigerson (full of Shakespearean quotation(11)), but poor Sigerson is overbalanced on the edge and takes Gordon and Loveless over with him into the river below!
Sigerson and Arte explain that their last view of Dr. Loveless was as he was being pulled into a steel cylindrical submersible in the Delaware, after their fall from the heights into the river.
James West is pleased to renew his acquaintance with Mrs. Barth, who had once served the Confederacy and now worked for Allan Pinkerton. Sigerson is staying with a reformed Barth Company under the tutelage of Mrs. Barth, which will be following an abridged schedule of performances.
"We're booked into a theatre in the Vermissa Valley(12) of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Barth is sure that the miners will buy tickets 'like hot-cakes' for her new stage adaptation of Fenimore Cooper's The Spy -"
Sigerson is obviously pleased by the offers of employment with either the Pinkertons or the President's Secret Service, but still feels that his destiny lays in London. "I have a small flat in Montague Street waiting for me... it's close by the British Museum and the Reading Room, and convenient for my other studies at St. Bart's ..."
The lovely Marina Sadler is, alas, off to Europe and an operatic career, with the patronage of the officious Crown Prince Wilhelm Gottsreich(13). Sigerson's face and voice go cold when this subject is touched upon. He excuses himself, saying that there is an lecture at the Franklin Institute that he must catch.
"A remarkable young man," says Jim West. Livia Barth and Artemus Gordon agree that they expect to hear much more of the Englishman in the future, and the trio go in to dinner. The final shot is outside the railway carriage, of the determined face of Holm Sigerson as he walks off into the rain.
2 I've used the spot of a real episode with more than a few Sherlockian references, "Night of the Bleak Island".
3 Perhaps an ancestor of KAOS agent Siegfried?
4 There's always something going on there!
5 While not exactly the monorail of the Seattle World's Fair, it's still quite interesting in design. It was described at the time in Scientific American (yes, you forget how long that's been around, too!).
6 "King of Jesters, and Jester to the King!" See "The Court Jester", with Danny Kaye and Basil Rathbone.
7 A tip of the hat to the Silver John the Balladsinger series by Manly Wade Wellman (co-author of Sherlock Holmes' War of the Worlds) and the story "Vandy, Vandy".
8 I am not making this up, you know! This is right out of the Smithsonian's National Museum of History and Technology's publication, 1876: A Centennial Exhibition (1976), edited by Robert C. Post.
9 The symbols of the 1889 Paris, 1939-40 New York, and 1964-65 New York World's Fairs, respectively.
10 Laser weapons, of course. Dr. Loveless has a knack for this type of thing.
11 "Oh saucy Worcester!", perhaps, a la "Beyond the Fringe".
12 Site of the notable Scowrers case later in 1876.
13 More properly H.R.H. William Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Count von Kramm, and future Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein and hereditary King of Bohemia. He was to remain the "special friend" of the New Jersey Nightingale until his betrothal to Princess Clotilde, second daughter of the King of Scandinavia.
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