Decoy

Yes, this is a wonderfully gritty, no-nonsense cop yarn. What struck me is: Where's the sexism? Where's the condescension? Where's the "Oh, ya gonna arrest me, Officer Sweetie Pie?" This was the Fifties, right? It's a cop show with a twist: a cop who gets emotional over what she sees and what she has to do. But Casey Jones never, and I mean never, lets it get in the way of her completely professional approach to her job. She works with male officers, and they are nothing if not equals, comrades in arms. And for those of you who know Beverly Garland only from the fluff of My Three Sons, have you got a surprise coming. Great entertainment all the way around. And for something a little snappier, try Front Page Detective.

One would call "Decoy" for what it is... a female "Dragnet", with the beguiling Beverly Garland ("My Three Sons", "Scarecrow and Mrs. King") and the city of New York filling in for Jack Webb and sunny Los Angeles. But once you get caught in its premise, it's easy to overlook other aspects of the show. Such as the fact that Ms. Garland is required, in her role as undercover policewoman Patricia "Casey" Jones, to play a different role in each of the 39 episodes filmed. In one episode, she could play an exotic dancer in a carnival, in the next, she can play an addict, and so on and so on, all in the guise of a crime fighter. Whether Angie Dickinson, as Pepper Anderson - "Police Woman", took her cues from Beverly Garland is open to debate, but it's clear to say that Ms. Garland's Casey Jones is clearly a trailblazer for other lady lawmen to follow.

As for the other co-star, New York City... "Decoy" isn't the first series filmed on location in the Big Apple, nor was it the last, but it was certainly one of the most effective in terms of its film noir look and fully fleshed characters. This isn't "Naked City", but it's as close a similarity as you can get on a shoestring budget. And it does the city justice, as "Naked City" would do the next year. Check it out on DVD when you get the chance.

"Decoy" is a Pyramid Production in association with Official Films, Inc. with technical assistance from the Policewoman's Bureau, NYC Police Department. 39 episodes were filmed on location in 1957.

This past Christmas, I found a $3 discount DVD with four episodes of this obscure 1950s TV series. I was intrigued about a cop show featuring a female police officer dating back to the Father Knows Best and I Love Lucy era. Plus I admit I thought Beverly Garland looked cute in uniform.

I was very pleasantly surprised to discover - at least based upon the 4 episodes on the DVD - that Decoy was an excellent, ahead-of-its-time show. Yes, it was very much a forerunner of Police Woman, only without the cheesiness. In fact the show felt a lot more like Dragnet - complete with Garland providing a Jack Webb-style narration.

The 4 episodes all focused on women being victimized by crime, and Policewoman Casey Jones' efforts to right wrongs, often acting undercover (in one episode she becomes what is called a "honey trap" to attract a bad guy). Despite it being 1957-58, an era when women were not expected to be action heroes, Beverly Garland provides a surprising amount of action in an appealingly understated way, whether it be sneaking through a forest to snatch a hostage to freedom, or (in the DVD's most memorable moment) outdrawing a bad guy with a rifle!

Casey Jones is a character who takes her work very seriously. Perhaps too seriously -- but then Joe Friday was never a bundle of laughs, either. If I had to pick a modern-day equivalent to Casey, it would have to be Mariska Harigtay's policewoman in Law and Order Special Victims Unit. The two characters have much in common.

Sadly, Decoy only ran one season (and it looks as if some episodes were in cold storage for a couple of years before being aired), and while there are a few DVDs out there with episodes, the series looks set to fade into undeserved oblivion. Personally, with the popularity of such female action hero series as Alias and La Femme Nikita on TV and on DVD these days, I think a DVD release of the Decoy series would be a great move. Decoy is undeniably an historical document - but it stands up well more than 45 years later.

The original DRAGNET TV series ran from 1951 to 1959 until star Jack Webb decided to cancel it after 8 seasons despite continued high ratings. It became the template for every cop show that followed including a second DRAGNET from 1968-1971. Among the many police programs that followed in its wake was DECOY which featured a policewoman as its main character. That made it the flip side to DRAGNET. It featured Bevely Garland as policewoman Patricia "Casey" Jones and lasted for one season (39 episodes) in 1957-58. In many of those (25 of 39), Casey went undercover to try and catch the criminals thus the series title, DECOY. There were several other differences between the two shows besides having a female undercover officer.

To start with, DRAGNET was a West Coast produced show centering around Los Angeles (it was actually shot at Walt Disney Studios) with very little location shooting whereas DECOY was centered in New York City with lots of location shooting. Interior shots were done in the old Biograph Studios where D. W Griffith once worked. DRAGNET's performers were mostly from the movie industry while those in New York came from television and the NY stage. Jack Webb was already well known in Hollywood and, in addition to being the creator-star, he was also the head of production. DECOY's head of production was Stuart Rosenberg, an unknown TV director who would go on to a successful Hollywood career (COOL HAND LUKE, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR).

Each DRAGNET episode opened with "The story you are about to see is true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent" DECOY's disclaimer came not at the beginning but at the end of the episode and read "This story is based on actual cases. All names and places are fictitious for obvious reasons" Since the series featured a policewoman as its principal character, each episode opened with "Presented as a Tribute to Bureau of Policewomen, Police Department Of New York City". Also each opening featured some different New York locale before the title credit appeared. A celebrated, retired policewoman, Officer Margaret Leonard, on whom the Casey Jones character was based, was credited as the technical advisor for the show.

However the biggest difference between the two series was in the storylines. In DRAGNET, each program was basically "Chase 'Em, Catch 'Em, & Convict 'Em" while DECOY's was "Chase 'Em, Catch Em & And Try To Understand 'Em". Sgt. Joe Friday was just an ordinary, everyday, hardworking cop doing his routine job. Policewoman Casey Jones' job was more exciting. She got to pose as everything from a high class call girl to a fashion model to a nightclub singer as she tried to flush out the chief criminal responsible. Once they were caught, Casey would address the camera and point out how it was the faults in our Society that made these people criminals. DRAGNET closed out with the criminals being tried, convicted, and sentenced.

While Jack Webb was the ideal personification of Joe Friday (as it should be since he created the character), I can't say the same for Beverly Garland as DECOY's "Casey" Jones. Garland was a very capable actress as she proved in a number of 1950s B movies and she could be really tough when she had to be as shown in movies like SWAMP WOMEN and GUNSLINGER (both 1956). Here, however, I found her a little too glamorous to be believable as an undercover cop. It might work for the occasional high class assignment but not for the majority of the down and out characters like a singer in a nightclub or an inmate in a women's prison. I blame the producers and 1950s sensibilities for the glamour. Ida Lupino would have been my choice for the role.

Having said all that, there are 2 things that DECOY has going for it. 1) The New York City locations ca.1957. This show is a rare opportunity to glimpse iconic NYC locations such as Peen Central railway station, the Horn & Hardart automat, The Stork Club, Charlie Parker's Birdland Jazz Club, Colony Records on Times Square, and Sardi's Restaurant. 2) The performers. While there are old pros like Al Lewis, Vincent Gardenia, Albert Dekker, and Frank Silvera, it's the up and coming talent like Colleen Dewhurst, Martin Balsam, Ed Asner, Lois Nettleton, Larry Hagman, Frank Sutton, Suzanne Pleshette, and Peter Falk just starting out on their careers that are really interesting to watch. Almost all of them came from the New York stage and would later make their mark in television.

Although inspired by and modeled on DRAGNET, DECOY explored some controversial subject matter which DRAGNET avoided. These topics included obscene phone calls, heroin addiction, gun running, dysfunctional families, spousal abuse, and mental illness. Unlike DRAGNET which had several episodes in the can when it aired, DECOY's shows were only shot two weeks in advance before they aired. The location shooting used hidden cameras so people wouldn't stop and stare. Ultimately the controversial subject matter of some shows and the lecture-like endings discouraged advertisers and the series ended after only one season for lack of funds. Now thanks to Film Chest Media, all 39 episodes are available on 3 CDs with a lot of bonus materials for a very good price...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

Back in 1957, women were seen as homemakers, school teachers, nurses, sales clerks, and those roller skating waitresses at a "drive-in" diner. If they were a bit more down on their luck, they might be prostitutes, exotic dancers or bar waitresses on the seedier side of town.

But there was another role for particular women who could handle it, who were strong enough, brave enough and ready enough to step into it. And that's where this show tells its story.

At the beginning of each episode of "Decoy," there was a block of text that read as follows:

Presented as a tribute to the Bureau of Policewomen Police Department, City of New York.

This was the first time in television history that a woman was the lead character in a police-based action-adventure series, and the show was popular, though it wasn't available on a network, so it had a bit less reach. "Decoy" was telecast nationally, just not necessarily at the same time in every city and admittedly wasn't available everywhere, because of the limitations of syndication.

The decoy of "Decoy" is Detective Casey Jones, played by Beverly Garland, who goes undercover into the world of third shifters, nightclubs, and other sordid or common jobs that women might have to eke out a living at the time. She plays the roles in order to investigate cases of theft, drug trafficking, arson, racketeering, even murder.

As was the custom at this time, we never see or hear anything about the lead character's personal life, except what leaks out in her brief discussions with her colleagues, nearly all of whom are male. It's strictly police work and lots of it, with Casey needed to become proficient in all sorts of skills to find her way into the lives of the criminals and take them down. Conversely, Casey didn't have a partner, per se, and worked at night usually, so there really wasn't any time for blithe discussions about hobbies and relationships. That was important because it kept Casey a rock solid, no-nonsense character.

It was a tour-de-force role for Ms. Garland, who weekly got to do various things, singing, dancing, emoting, and fighting for her life as she was asked to step into the roles required of various jobs every week. She often had to play innocent, dumb, weak and vulnerable, though audiences knew that Casey was none of those things, which is another element that added quality to her portrayal.

New York played a part because the seamy underbelly of The City is always there and the need to stop crime when and where it happens is a regular element that, like NYC itself, constantly changed and grew. Current footage around town was included in each episode, which gave the series value as a Time Capsule for what NYC looked like at that moment, with the Times Square area being prominently featured, both in plots and in the program's opening titles.

"Decoy" wasn't canceled; it was ended because the producers ran out of cash to keep it going. This was well before a program like this could earn the kind of bucks that today's syndicated shows get. And it took nearly twenty years before Angie Dickinson took the titular role of "Police Woman" and a network finally picked up the concept of a woman undercover cop doing the job.

In a way, it's sad that more people don't know about this series and its groundbreaking star, who eventually played the part of Fred MacMurray's wife on the long running sitcom "My Three Sons" and played Amanda's mom on the comedy/drama "Scarecrow and Mrs. King," two roles that fell into the "typical" category for women to play on television.

The good thing is that "Decoy" is essentially in the Public Domain, so nearly all of the episodes are available to view on YouTube, and with a thirty minute run time (about 24 minutes without commercials), they are brief to watch and mostly pretty entertaining. Not a lot of lag time when you're setting up an episode, getting the baddies to fall into the trap and hauling them down to Central Booking.

This is presented as a tribute to a great, somewhat forgotten actress, Beverly Garland, who deserves to be remembered for her versatility, her balance and her convincing portrayal of a police officer at a time when only the guys were doing the tough stuff.