I Married Joan S2 09 "Lost Check" 12/09/1953 with Florence Bates

“Lost Check” S2-09- (48) 12/09/1954 Director: John Rich, Writers: Jesse Goldstein, Phil Sharp, Sherwood Schwartz. This rare episode features the wonderful Florence Bates (Mrs. Van Hopper in Hitchcock’s “Rebecca”) in what was most likely her last screen appearance. She passed away January 31, 1954, less than two months after this was aired. She appears frail, but she is at the top of her game in her scenes as a most unforgiving librarian, and a great foil for Joan. You can see her also in IMJ’s “Ballet” from season one. The plot: Brad’s secretary is going on vacation for two weeks, so he posts a want ad. Joan wants the job. She goes to the interviews and scares off two young and pretty model types (Jane Easton and Carol Brewster). Joan gets the job by default. Brad is working with an ADA named Mitchell (James Nusser) on a high profile case. Brad gives Joan the particulars to put into the safe, including a $10,000 cashier’s check. She locks the safe with the check in her hand. When she has to hide it quickly, she puts it in a library book, “The Mystery of the Three Dead Women,” and later, to her horror, Brad tells her he returned the book. She and Beverly (Beverly Wills) go to the library to retrieve it. Joan interrupts a conversation between an officious librarian (Florence Bates) and a patron (William Bryant) to ask where the book is. She finds it with a man (Ed Wolff, a circus giant in real life) who puts the book on the highest shelf before she can intercept, to set the stage for Joan’s physical antics. This is an “A” episode. Joan at her best.