Double Trouble
Reviewed by Bruce Dettman

The California neighborhood where I grew up was a fairly stable place. Of the fifty some houses in our immediate area I only recall one family, the Mullers, moving out before their kids grew up and left home. It turned out that bill collectors were hot on their tails and one night, while the rest of the neighborhood dozed through late night test patterns or perhaps Jack Paar, they packed up and fled, never to be heard from again. Naturally, it was the main topic of conversation on the street for quite a long time, particular amongst the women during their nicotine-marinated a.m. coffee klatches.

This was quite an exception, however. The rest of our neighbors-the male ones I am now referring to-were what was then known as solid citizens. There was a school superintendent, the owner of the town's biggest nursery-and whose grandfather had been mayor of San Francisco-a civil engineer, an optometrist, and the vice-president of a sugar company who had seen action at Tarawa, a drama teacher at the local high school, a real estate agent, a postal inspector and my father, a sales representative for an aluminum company.

All of these men were nice and kind-hearted guys. I honestly don't ever recall a mean-spirited word from any of them, at least not unleashed in my direction and believe me, I was no saint. If I was coming home from the ball park in the rain I invariable got a ride from one of them. They always took time to chat with my brother and me, to help us if the occasion arose. I always feel lucky I grew up on a street with such dependable and friendly people. They were all pretty good role models too. I liked them all.
There was one occasion, however, a Halloween night that proved a bit different from the normal way of things.

After my friends and I had scoured the neighborhood in our costumes for the best treats we could find (we had this down to a science and over the years learned which houses to ignore, i.e. the ones where they gave you walnuts or a penny) I went home to find a bunch of neighbors had assembled in our living room for what appeared to be some kind of impromptu get together. The smell of tobacco and the clinking sound of martinis being stirred out in the kitchen quickly confirmed this.
Moreover, a few of those gathered were in Halloween getups, a rather unusual sight in the days before the holiday had been ambushed by adults. Back then, aside from a few of our teachers, only kids dressed up in costumes.

I think one of those present was done up as a clown, another as a pirate. My attention, however, was riveted to one individual and one individual alone, Mr. Harmon who lived three doors down from us and was an architect by profession, Mr. Harmon who stood about six foot three and weighed in the neighborhood of two hundred pounds was now attired in a skirt, high heels, a wig and large hat with a veil which did nothing to camouflage his severe five o'clock shadow.

Aside from Milton Berle I don't recall that I had ever seen a man dressed up as a woman before, certainly not in person. I found it a most jarring experience, particularly since the man in question was someone I knew very well, an adult I respected-as kids respected adults in those bygone days-and who was now acting, no doubt encouraged by the booze, in a pretty embarrassing manner. I didn't hang around long. I said good-night to everyone and took my bag of candy to my bedroom along with my dog who I shared some of my stash with.

Years later, however, recalling this peculiar event in our home, I would realize that there was another female impersonator who I had seen as a kid, namely actor Steven Carr in the first season's episode Double Trouble.

Double Trouble is a somewhat bizarre and convoluted show with lots of characters and aliases so that as a kid it initially took me a couple of viewings to get things straight in my head as to what was really going on.
The whole thing has to do with the aforementioned Carr, as Count Otto Von Klaben, smuggling some radium into the United States while aboard an ocean liner. He is later confronted by a certain Mr. Fischer (Howard Chamberlin) posing as a heath inspector who he murders then adopts-though none too convincingly-the female pose of Madame Charpentine. Jimmy Olsen just happens to be at the pier at the time waiting with Lois for an interview with a famous movie star but before this the Count cajoles the cub reporter into taking a package from her/him to some nearby ambulance attendants who are actually in the employ of a certain Dr. Albrecht (Rudolph Anders). Helpful Jimmy does just this-after obviously being totally hoodwinked, not to mention charmed by the cross dresser-but receives for his assistance a forced ride to the good doctor's headquarters where it is discovered that the box is empty and he is interrogated and held captive in a secret and electrified room.

Lois has seen Jimmy's abduction, however, and calls Clark but is oddly-and regrettably-not seen again in this episode. Kent, however, is most concerned and takes his worries to Inspector Henderson who is at first curiously dismissive of the whole business but then lets the reporter in on some suspicious business concerning Fisher and his ties to Nazi Germany and that fingerprints found at the site prove that the woman who occupied the stateroom is no woman at all. Obviously something very shady is going on here.
Clark gets copies of the fingerprints from the department's tech guy Jake (played by future head Disney Mousketeer Jimmy Dodd) then flies over to Germany where he asks the help of Colonel Redding (Selmer Jackson) of Army Intelligence who Clark earlier on announces is one of his best friends, a rather odd declaration since at this point the Smallville-raised reporter is fairly new to Metropolis so one has to wonder where and when this great friendship was initiated? In any case, one thing leads to another and all the pieces come together and the whole operation busted and Jimmy saved from a shocking end.

Double Trouble, written by Eugene Solow and directed by the always competent Tommy Carr, is an interesting first year episode with a lot of plot and characters crammed into its half hour running time. This was one of the shows where the dark and sinister shadow of the Cold War was all over the place although the actual bad guys are, given the political climate of the time, judiciously described as Nazis. Not a lot of wiggle room either for friendly banter between the regulars or any sort of buildup here since Jimmy gets into a jam almost immediately and although he doesn't recognize it at first, Superman is in a real race against time to locate and rescue the young reporter.

And for the record, my neighbors, all of whom have since passed away, never dressed up again in Halloween outfits, the only evidence of it being a few Kodocolor slides my father took of the long ago and rather peculiar event and which I ran across recently with great delight while going through some old family things.

February 2011
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