Night of Terror
Reviewed by Bruce Dettman

You still remember them, what's left of them anyway. The majority are in pretty bad shape, crumbling reminders of an older, nearly forgotten America when gas and hamburgers were cheap. They can often be glimpsed in the distance from modern highways, many long closed, others biding their time until they are torn down to make way for Walmarts or 7-11s. They went by different names, auto courts, travel courts and cabins. When you traveled across America -- as my family did by car from Illinois to California in early 1950s -- there were few good motels, mainly only in the bigger cities, so you often stayed in such places. They were usually ok, for the most part clean and well run. The big attraction in those days was TV in the rooms, some actually coin operated.

Outside of this, for kids anyway, they were pretty boring. If you were lucky there might be a swing set on the front lawn near the office so you could swing away for hours while drinking Dr. Pepper or Hires Root Beer from the outdoor soda machine. In Night of Terror Lois Lane, portrayed by TV's first Lois, Phyllis Coates, stops for the night at the Restwell Tourist Cabins not far from the Canadian border. Lois is on vacation and you have to wonder where's she heading. Lois worked too hard and I like to think she's going to have a clandestine rendezvous with some guy in Montreal. Anyway, she's unlucky enough to wander smack dab into a dangerous situation. Hoodlums have been using the place to hide out fellow criminals who are then smuggled out of the country. When the husband and wife owners find uncover the scheme the man is murdered by two thugs. Lois and the woman are next in line. The woman is Ann Doran who had a long track record in films and TV. You can spot her in a Three Stooges short and later she was James Dean's mother in Rebel Without a Cause. TAOS fans might be interested to know she played Dabbs Greer's wife in the science-fiction film It The Terror From Beyond Space. Lois, never the most even-tempered of heroines as portrayed by Ms. Coates, doesn't help matters by taking a swing at one of the criminals who reacts in kind. Phyllis was off her mark as the scene was staged and the actor, Frank Richards, actually knocked her out. I talked to Ms. Coats a few years back and she admitted it was all her fault. In any case, the other hit men are John Kellogg and Richard Benedict, both TAOS alumni. None of these guys are in the least squeamish about beating up women or killing them for that matter. This is a tough and mean episode. Remove Superman - and this is the case in many of the first year shows - and you still have a tidy little thriller. Meanwhile Clark is racing around the Daily Planet trying to figure out where Lois is. We meet Miss Backerack, the testy receptionist with her hair in a tight bun, and Oscar the janitor, and learn that Clark's office is on the 28th floor and that he has a drawing of what looks like the Golden Gate Bridge over his desk. Steve Carr, director Tommy's brother, makes one of his numerous appearances in the first year of the show, this time as a travel agent. Jimmy gets to the cabins first which means that Clark and he will have to cancel the White Sox game they had made plans to see that night. Jimmy tries his best to defend the two women but it takes Superman ---and a very obvious stuntman - to save the day. Problem is "Mr Big", referenced by the crooks as ordering the executions, is never caught. I guess even Superman has to occasionally settle for three out of four.

May 2005
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