Suspense's "Shooting Star" is the story of a Hollywood actress and her peculiar revenge on a studio producer. The star of this episode is Virginia Christine, an actress familiar to most as friendly Mrs. Olsen from Folger's Coffee commercials of the 1960's and 70's.
Gay Lansing is an actress/dancer who has been working for J.D. Zimmer's studio for many years. She has been in one cheap movie musical after another, but she hopes that the studio will give her a serious role in their latest production.
Soon, however, Gay's agent informs her that not only will she not get a part in the new movie, but that J.D. Zimmer has dropped her contract. When Gay finds out that J.D. has gone down to his house in the desert for the weekend, she decides to pay him a visit. Gay wants to convince him, with her gun, to change his mind.
"Shooting Star" was written by Ruth Borne and produced/directed by Norman MacDonnell. Virginia Christine, in her only appearance on Suspense, played Gay Lansing. (She does break into a Scandinavian accent for a few minutes towards the end of this episode.) Joseph Kearns played J.D. Zimmer. Also appearing were John Dehner, Sam Edwards, and John Large. This episode aired on November 25, 1954.
. Download Suspense_1954.11.25_ShootingStar.mp3
Click below to watch Mrs. Olsen in action. Virginia Christine portrayed Mrs. Olsen in television commercials for 21 years.
Video from the Internet Archive.
Good episode. Predictable ending but still worth the time.
Posted by: Daryl Russ | February 04, 2008 at 02:32 PM