"Naked City" To Walk Like a Lion (1962)

The goofy music right off the bat kind of tipped me off that this could be a strange episode. Yes, it's still a crime story, as they all are, but, yeah, this is different: almost played more for low-key laughs, almost a dark comedy. Unfortunately, the laughs were far and few and the characters a bit too goofy.

It involves "Arnold Platt," a meek momma's boy who goes into his boss's office an hour and a half after his mother's funeral and tells the boss to call the police. He has robbed the company for about $8,000 with some manipulations in the books at the bank where he works. He used ALL the money to pay for his mother's medical expenses. Now, feeling guilty, he feels he should go to jail. His boss, however, is impressed that he did such a good job stealing and would rather not the police but have Arnold steal $75,000 more for him! When Arnold, played by Orson Bean, freaks out and pushes his boss into the closet and runs, the boss does call the police and tries to have him arrested. The first scene at the police headquarters with "Lt. Mike Parker" (Horace McMahon) is really bizarre with the bank manager and two female employees who stick up for Arnold. The dialog between the four of them is very strange.

Most of this show is just Arnold's friends talking to him or offering help. Really, almost nothing happens. This is, frankly, a really dumb episode which must not have pleased fans of the crime series when it ran. The "villain" is a harmless guy with a good heart.

Of note was that one of the characters was played by Mae Questel. I didn't know that until looking at the ending credits, so I went back and checked out the somewhat-frumpy 50-ish blonde lady. Questel was the voice of "Olive Oyl" on the Popeye cartoons from the 1930s through the '50s! It was great to finally put a face, even if she was older, to that famous voice! It made the episode worthwhile for me.