In "The Windy City Six," Fred MacMurray stars as a band player who becomes involved with a gangster's girlfriend.
The episode opens in a speakeasy in the 1920's. Ham, a drummer, gets in trouble for being distracted by a pretty lady in the audience. The bandleader is angry with him, but the men accompanying the young lady are even more annoyed. They call Ham over to tell him that they are keeping an eye on her--for someone important. If he doesn't stop looking at her, the consequences will be dire.
Next thing they know, the police bust in and raid the place! Ham and his bandmates sneak out the kitchen, and on the way, Ham witnesses a shooting.
When he gets back to his rooming house, Ham finds Cora Lee, the young lady from the speakeasy, waiting for him. Big Mike Donovan sent her to collect him. He wants Ham and his bandmates to play a private party in the mountains.
What Big Mike really wants is to find out which one of them witnessed the shooting...
"Windy City Six" was written by John Michael Hayes and E. Jack Neuman. Elliott Lewis produced and directed. Fred MacMurray starred. Also appearing were Mary Jane Croft, Elliott Lewis, Edmund MacDonald, and Joseph Kearns. This episode aired on February 8, 1951.
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Red Nichols and his Five Pennies provided the Dixie-land music for this episode. Red Nichols was one of the most popular and prolific recording artists of the 1920's. In 1959, Danny Kaye portrayed him in the Hollywood film The Five Pennies.
Here is the band in a short Vitaphone film from 1929.


The casting of this episode is what makes it intriguing. The role of a menacing young man who has "something wrong with his mind" was originally performed by 













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