M Squad The Healer (1957–1960) Online

Gloria Talbott makes a good "nutcase." There's nothing weird-looking about her, but there is something in the makeup of her face that convinces the viewer "Ellen Carter" is either off-her-rocker or a "bad girl." I've seen Talbott before in other TV shows of the era and she's good at playing the not-so-wholesome woman. Gloria played in a ton of TV westerns, the most popular genre on the tube in the mid-to-late 1950s.

In this episode, she's both mentally deranged and violent but mostly the former, although she does shoot somebody. Frank Ballinger's narration is a little too liberal here, almost feeling sorry for a shooter not the victims! Ellen even comes close to shooting Frank, but he doesn't seem to mind. Weird. I guess this was "ahead" of its time! This story makes a bigger villain out of a guy who does not have an degree but practices a form of psychiatry, a sort of "Dr. Phil,"but someone who isn't eligible to ask for money for his services. (You wonder how "Mr. Warman" stays in business.)

Dayton Lummis plays Jonas Warman, the pseudo-shrink Ballinger hates. Since "Ellen" went to "doc" a few times despite Warman's denial, "Det. Lt. Frank Ballinger" wants to throw the book at him. He paints him as the big villain in this episode, which seems a bit misplaced since even he told the messed-up girl not to contact him again because he can't help her. Maybe they had a lot of charlatans around making money at the time. Hmmm., maybe they still do.

M-SQUAD – The Healer -1958

This is the 32nd episode of the 1957 to 1960 Crime series, M-SQUAD. The series ran for 117 episodes and features Lee Marvin as the headliner. Marvin is a Lt with the elite M-Squad unit of the Chicago Police.

A friend, Robert Carson, of M-Squad's Captain, Paul Newlan, pays the squad room a visit. Carson is very worried about his daughter, Gloria Talbott. Talbott, who has a history of mental problems had just phoned Carson and told him she intended to kill him.

Carson would like the Police to find Talbott before she can harm anyone or herself. The Police send M-Squad Lt Lee Marvin to check out Talbott's apartment.

Marvin finds an empty ammunition box for a .38 pistol. He also finds some newspaper ads for a "Mental Health" office. Marvin checks with the regular head-shrinker, Sarah Selby, who had been treating Talbott. Selby tells Marvin that Talbott had really went off the rails when she started seeing this other so called Mental Health fellow.

Marvin checks out the man, Dayton Lummis. Marvin quickly finds out that the man is not a licenced doctor but a fraud handing out quack advice for a price. Marvin's search for Talbott goes up a notch after Talbott pays the real doc, Selby a visit and shoots her.

The Police tap into Lummis' phone and overhear him arrange to meet with Talbott. M-squad swoops in and puts the pinch on Talbott as well as Lummis. Talbott gets sent to a padded room for treatment. Lummis gets 2-5 in Joliet for impersonating a medical type.

A decent episode with cast and crew all handling their bits well. The director was former big screen veteran, Sidney Lanfield. Lanfield was a favourite of comedian Bob Hope and helmed 3 of his films.