In the premiere episode, author O. Henry relates to his housekeeper a western story he wrote about experiences while living in Texas. Quicksand sheriff Buck (Ernest Borgnine) insists on law, order, and no guns in town. Former notorious badman Calliope (Dick Foran) returns to town to free his reckless young brother from jail. The merchants pressure Buck to go easy since a little notoriety is good for business, but has Cal really gone straight? Has he really mellowed toward violence?
One evening O. Henry sets out on a mission to find a "Man About Town," an elusive character he's been writing about but does not fully grasp who or what such a Man might be like. His quest leads from flower woman Mary to an elegant tramp on a park bench (Hans Conreid), to a shop girl who refused to date such a "Man," to a newspaper reporter (Alan Hale Jr.), to Follies dancer Trixie and a runaway automobile. You will never guess O. Henry's startling discovery in the surprise ending!
Sheriff Sam Plunkett (Denver Pyle) swears to avenge the murder of Millie (Jan Harrison), the love of his life. His relentless pursuit of the killer Wade Williams (Philip Reed) extends across the west until a tip leads him to an island off the coast of Argentina. Sam's plea to the American Counsel for help leads nowhere before a shocking conclusion and ironic twist ending.
In Panama, Civil War veteran and avid adherent of the Confederate cause Doc Milliken (John Carradine) befriends a young Northerner (Charles Bronson) when he becomes ill. Bronson turns soldier of fortune, joins a failed coup attempt, and is sentenced to the firing squad. O. Henry relates the story and twist ending to his publisher back in New York over lunch and just before the start of the annual Confederate Memorial Day Parade.
O. Henry relates to his housekeeper the strange tale of Charles Spencer James (Gerald Mohr), a safecracker who by day poses as a doctor. One fateful night, a policeman stops James on his way home from a burglary to aid an upscale family that needs immediate medical attention. The husband lies paralyzed from a seizure, while his battered wife needs much more help than it appears. When "Doc" James learns there is $10,000 in cash to be had, only the paralyzed husband stands in the way.
On a foggy night, author O. Henry (Thomas Mitchell) relates to a policeman his latest story about a man with an incurable disease who has given up on living. Carter (DeForest Kelley) travels to Texas where he meets an equally disillusioned young woman Rosa (Jean Cooper) who works as a "hostess" in a San Antonio saloon. They learn about each other's personal struggles and begin to fall in love.
O. Henry relates a humorous crime story to Hermitage, a precocious ten-year-old boy (Johnny Crawford). Suave safecracker Reginald Easton (Louis Hayward) crashes a ritzy party and falls in love at first sight with the lady of the house (Maureen Stephenson). When Reggie later opens the safe, the jewels are gone, and the real thief confronts him! The sly twist ending is amusing, and a second twist reveals O. Henry's reason for telling the boy a fable for which he shows no interest in the outcome.
O. Henry discusses with his publisher the story of an ancient feud between the Goree and Coltrane families in the town of Bethel. The only two remaining family survivors are determined to end the feud in friendship, but one of them is going to die. Hillbilly Pike Garvey and his ambitious wife come into money and move to Bethel to hopefully gain prestige among the townspeople and fulfill his wife's desire to become "quality folk." Pike buys his way into Goree's half of the feud and plots to shoot Coltrane to collect on his investment.
O. Henry spends a few nights in the only hotel on the tropical island of LaPaz. He meets two American visitors Ralph (Donald Barry) and Jean (Florence Conant) and spins the characters into a fanciful story in which each is hiding in exile because of committing murders back in the states. While relating the fictional story he is devising to hotel owner Tio (Pedro Gonzalez), to O. Henry's consternation, Tio fails to grasp the literary difference between poetic license and reality!
O. Henry pitches one of his early, more dramatic tales to his publisher Col. Derbin (Russ Thorson). A young woman (Gail Kobe) with abusive parents has led a sheltered life. A handsome hoodlum (Raymond Koslo) falls for her innocence and smile, but their budding romance is interrupted by his two-year jail sentence. They reunite when he is released, but more trouble lies ahead.
O. Henry debates writing a fictional version of a current news story with his publisher, Col. Derbin (Russ Thorson). A lawyer (Larry Dobkins) develops aphasia (memory loss) and disappears. When he is found living in a New York hotel his wife (Mary Shipp) and doctor visit him. The husband is then given the unique opportunity to romance and fall in love with his wife a second time while she discovers a kinder side of him she never knew.
O. Henry relates to his housekeeper the curious tale of Billy Casparis (Tom Brown) who risks investing in an unsuccessful ice manufacturing business in tropical Salvador. Billy accidentally gets caught up in a hot revolution after the corrupt government orders him to leave the country. In a sly surprise twist ending, Billy outmaneuvers the crooked Inspector General while celebrating one last American 4th of July in Salvador.
With his typewriter "Old Faithful" in the shop, O. Henry dictates to a secretary a saga that spans twenty years . The plot concerns two life-long friends in New York who become separated when Silk Arnold (James Davis) grows ambitious and decides to go west to seek his fortune. They agree to meet again 20 years later in the same place, assuming both are still alive. After hearing about Billy's often shady adventures over the years, the secretary asks if Silk ever killed anyone. O. Henry responds, "Emily, he broke the law every which way, but he never broke the law of God." What Silk discovers when he returns to New York after 20 years involves one of O. Henry's more ironic twist endings
O. Henry discusses his new story with his publisher Col. Derbin. The mystery begins with the gripping climax scene -- a gun, a pleading woman and darkness. Derbin: "I don't know how the public will react when they realize that to understand the beginning they need to read through to the ending." Anyone who watches this preview will understand how O. Henry could grab and hold his audience.
O. Henry pays his weekly visit to friends at the local police station and bumps smack into the characters in his next yarn. Kathy Williams claims the man with her (actually, her husband Philip) was rightfully arrested by the police and is the criminal they sought named James Williams. Confusing? You bet, but O. Henry spins it into a beguiling romantic comedy with a happy ending. The "golden circle" is a wedding ring.
O. Henry relates this story of redemption to his New York barber. A good-hearted Texan crosses paths with no-good drifter Cricket McGuire, who has health and attitude problems, and brings him back to his ranch to recuperate. Can any compassion bring bitter Cricket back to the world of the living? Is every human soul worth saving?
O. Henry discusses the dilemma his current characters find themselves in with his publisher Col. Derbin. Johnny Carter, a professional gambler, played by Chuck Connors, has the best horse in he National Handicap, but he begins to suspect that his long-time friend the jockey may need to throw the race for personal reasons.
O. Henry revisits a Texas town where he had lived some years earlier and runs into new characters with a dramatic story! An educated Cherokee Indian meets a runaway boy while traveling with a medicine show. When he returns the boy to his mother, they strike up a close friendship that is agreeable to all ... except to the lady's estranged husband!
John McCaskey, a street sweeper living in O. Henry's New York neighborhood once aspired to be somebody. Today he can barely hold his job or stand up to his wife Maggie. John's only joy comes from filling a neighbor boy with fanciful tales about serving with General Custer at the Little Big Horn massacre.
O. Henry attends a birthday party honoring his old friend judge Tom Derwent. A startling revelation ensues when the judge opens a present that contains a deadly rattle snake! The mystery of who is seeking vengeance against the judge, and the link to a counterfeit dollar coin, unfolds over the course of the story. The exciting climax takes place in a Texas ghost town after which the surprise twist ending is revealed!
In a Bohemian art gallery, O. Henry runs into Rudy Kerner, an aspiring but talentless artist who is too proud to take help from his shoe manufacturing father. His dipsy fiancee can't make headway in reconciling them, but O. Henry himself comes up with a secret plan that just might work!
Walking the streets at night O. Henry admires a fur coat on a mannequin in a store window and relates a yarn about sables to the store janitor. Former hooligan Eddie Kid Brady forsakes leadership of the Stovepipe Gang and trains to be a plumber out of love for his sweetheart Molly McKeever. He gifts her a sable stole on the same day that one disappears from a swank apartment where Eddie had just repaired the plumbing. Will their mutual love and trust prevail or will the law step in?
O. Henry meets a girl in a book shop who aspires to be a writer. Together they create characters and whip out a (mostly O. Henry) short story. A businessman hires a detective to locate Vivienne, a special young woman whose true nature is unknown to his wife and nagging mother-in-law, and unknown to O. Henry's readers until the comical twist denouement!
Christmas story set in an Arizona western town. A bitter but wealthy man Cherokee will not permit women and children to be in his home because he lost his own family ten years before. He begins to open his heart when he meets a young boy named California who was caught stealing food from his ranch.
O. Henry relates a tale of redemption with supernatural overtones. A wealthy land commissionar shaves the law so boundaries favor his cronies, until the spirit of his deceased young daughter reaches down from the great beyond to change his path. You will never guess this twist ending!
A train robber shoots his partner (and leaves him for dead) after the partner's horse falls and has to be destroyed.07/27/
Acquaintances of a deceased man must determine the significance of an apple left for one of them as a message from the grave.
A 33 year old fighter wants to quit and no one knows why. But his manager gives him a glove with a special material inside and promises he can't lose.
Story about a very intelligent and attractive young woman who has written a book about the sanctity of marriage.
A stranger seeking work at a lonely ranch house is taken on trust until a black mask found in his luggage arouses suspicion.
Two friends, parting to seek separate fortunes, agree to rendezvous in exactly 20 years to compare their lives.
A celebrated playwright suspects his wife of infidelity. O. Henry enlists the aid of a tramp to prove that he is wrong.
A famous gunfighter puts away his guns when a young spectator is killed in a senseless gun battle. After two years of drifting, he signs on as a hand at the ranch of a widow who is being persecuted by a ruthless cattle baron.
A handsome, wealthy, but girl-shy Texan is in New York on a buying trip for a friend who has feigned illness to get him to make the trip.
Separate careers and deception lead a young married couple to the brink of disaster.
A shady counterfeiting team innocently plays good fairy to a score of unusual people.
An unusual novel causes a murder, and a series of newspaper articles catches the killer.
Billy's father is a legendary figure in town. While Billy is proud of his father, Billy strongly desires to step out from under his father's shadow and stop being considered a lightweight
A mother who regards her son as ne'er-do-well suspects him of a $50,000 theft.