Johnny Midnight

Season

1960

USA

7.2

Johnny Midnight (Edmond O'Brien) is an ex-actor/theater owner, now turned private eye. His turf is Broadway and New York City's theater district. He lives in a penthouse apartment above the Midnight Theater on West 44th St. and has an Asian houseboy/assistant named Aki (Yuki Shimoda). The majority of his clients are in the theatrical business and one of his trade marks is using his acting and makeup talents as disguises in his PI investigations. This series has very Noir-ish undertones that are emphasized especially with having Film Noir stalwart (D.O.A. and many others) Edmond O'Brien in the lead to provide that cinematic memory. Maxine Cooper (who played Velda in Film Noir classic Kiss Me Deadly) also makes an appearance in an episode titled Phantom Bribe. Set in 1960 the episodes are replete with beatnik slang and characters. The series also has a very nice jazzy score provided by Joe Bushkin.

Episode List

S1 • E1

X Equals Murder

Johnny Midnight is hired by a woman fearing for her husband's life. But Johnny's investigation uncovers more than the concerned wife ever anticipated, putting Johnny's life in danger..

S1 • E2

Voice of the Dummy

Julius Sneezer, the dummy of long-dead ventriloquist Dave Rankin, is fished out of Long Island Sound, sparking a taut psychological whodunit.

S1 • E3

The Villain of the Piece

A sleazy showbiz promoter is murdered, but all those with motive also have alibis. Aki's proverb provides Johnny the epiphany he needs to dispel the smoke and reveal the villain of the piece,

S1 • E4

Leading Lady

Brassy actress Delta Manning's husband Dan has been abducted. Johnny scours the city from piano bars and juke joints to a gymnasium in Astoria to find him. Along the way, Johnny and Delta uncover inconvenient truths about Dan.

S1 • E5

Once Again

Who really killed Helene Winters? A promising actress convicted of murder returns to the stage after three years only to find history repeating itself. Johnny Midnight is on the case.

S1 • E6

A Taste of Curry

A promising young architect and friend of Johnny's is accused of murder and takes it on the lam. Johnny and sidekick Joe Marshall travel far and wide to find him, dogged each step by the determined Lt. Harmon.

S1 • E7

Mother's Boy

Johnny is on the case when the leading lady of his play is murdered and the rap is pinned on his pal Joe Marshall. Suspects include a mollycoddled mama's boy, a mild-mannered sculptor, and a mercenary understudy. Whodunit?

S1 • E8

Award for Murder

A young man is arrested for murder when his fingerprints are found on the murder weapon -- his father's Goldie Award. Since the father was an idol of Johnny's and was sworn to look after his son, Johnny is out to find the real killer.

S1 • E9

Magic at Midnight

S1 • E10

The Inner Eye

S1 • E11

The Impresario

Murder on the stage of the Midnight Theater, prefaced by a cryptic warning about imperious show producer Michael Damon. Donning a disguise and summoning his showmanship, Midnight plots to catch the conscience of a killer.

S1 • E12

Beyond Infamy

Pity Quinn Rawlins: his daughter is engaged to a playboy actor twice her age and his wife is being blackmailed over nude photographs snapped a decade ago. Then add murder to the mix. Johnny sifts the suspects and outs the killer.

S1 • E13

An Old-Fashioned Frame

A beautiful young woman romantically linked to several show business personalities is found dead in a gas-filled apartment with a handwritten suicide note. Lt. Harmon says the case is closed, but Johnny Midnight just isn't buying it.

S1 • E14

Slight Delay at Dimity

S1 • E15

The 9th Doll

Johnny helps a friend in need: a faded stage star whose prized doll collection is stabbed and defaced as the first salvo in a psychological war to drive her insane. Who is waging this war and why?

S1 • E16

Death Over My Shoulder

S1 • E17

Phantom Bribe

In a shootout Lupo and Sanchez kill the wayward son of Johnny's friend, a distinguished actor but a derelict father. He vows revenge on the police officers, putting Johnny between a rock and a hard place.

S1 • E18

The Tokyo Doll

Aki is charged with murdering a Japanese nightclub singer, and Johnny's only clues for clearing his friend are a couple enigmatic photographs and the word 'Daimyos" uttered by the dying girl.

S1 • E19

Trouble on the Road

Johnny takes his talents to Beantown when a show producer in trouble taps Johnny for help squaring an actress pinned with a bogus narcotics rap.

S1 • E20

Registered Mail

Johnny and friends are blindsided by a plagiarism suit that threatens to scuttle their new hit play. A registered letter containing the script is offered as proof. When the murder happens, the suspects are many and the clues few.

S1 • E21

Somebody Loves You

A beautiful and talented Swedish actress is the talk of the town, so why did she attempt suicide? And what hold does her tyrannical manager have over her? Johnny isn't afraid to pull back the rug and expose ugly secrets.

S1 • E22

The Emerald Star

Johnny Midnight steps in when the celebrated star of his new play is threatened with blackmail by her small-time hood brother-in-law.

S1 • E23

Return to Murder

S1 • E24

One Over Par

S1 • E25

Tender Loving Care

S1 • E26

A Token of Love

Johnny's love for a beautiful young widow with a secret life plunges the private eye headlong into international intrigue and danger.

S1 • E27

Schatzi

Johnny goes south of the border to help an imprisoned friend and is fast embroiled in danger and enchanted by saloon singer Schatzi.

S1 • E28

The Sweet-Tooth Murder

Johnny's get-away-from-it-all fishing trip to Maine turns into a working holiday when a summer stock actress is murdered and Johnny's old friend Bess is charged with the crime.

S1 • E29

Ring of Truth

A distinguished dramatist discovers his wife and his young protégé in an amorous embrace. Drunk, he hires a killer. Sober, he returns to his senses and seeks Johnny's help. He's going to need it.

S1 • E30

Her Sister's Keeper

A young woman engaged to be married overdoses on sleeping pills. Suicide - or murder? Lt. Geller rules it a suicide, but the grieving fiancé hires Johnny, who visits the gloomy mansion of Gina's reclusive sister and Jamaican housekeeper.

S1 • E31

The Single

Breaking up is hard to do, especially for Benny Slade, one half of a comedy team unwilling to let his straight man enjoy a solo career. A murder mystery with many highly motivated suspects.

S1 • E32

Dark Trophy

Aki's best friend Pete Yamato is gunning for revenge against the two crooked beauty contest promoters he blames for his sister's death. Johnny brings a cool head to the seething situation.

S1 • E33

Inside Man

A quite comely but unwelcome guest at the Gordon mansion threatens to upend Danny and Kate's nuptials. Murder ensues, and only Johnny's acting acumen can save an innocent man from a murder rap.

S1 • E34

Ding-a-Ling

An investigative reporter on the cusp of cracking a communist cabal in New York City is murdered. Johnny is joined by a couple intrepid newspapermen in cracking this Cold War-era case.

S1 • E35

The Switchback Murder

Johnny goes undercover in Spanish Harlem to find his friend Lupo, who vanished while busting an immigrant extortion scam. Johnny must work fast, because the police are also searching for Lupo--to charge him with murder.

S1 • E36

Pay-Off to Death

A deathbed confession sets Johnny Midnight racing against the clock to clear a cop convicted of murder.

S1 • E37

Romeo and Julie

A union organizer is murdered by a mobster. Midnight must nab the killer before the victim's hot-headed brother takes justice into his own hands and delivers a double-tragedy to their aged father.

S1 • E38

How Tight a Web

An adulterous affair, an outraged husband, and a murder. It seems so simple - until Johnny Midnight begins tugging at the loose threads and unravels the whole sordid affair.