Original subtitles

(theme music plays)

WALTER WINCHELL: It started in Wichita, Kansas, in 1930--

a grotesque walk they called the "jake dance."

There were those who thought it was comical,

but then, as hundreds of Wichita citizens were stricken,

the humor suddenly turned to panic.

(siren wailing)

One percent of the adult population of Wichita--

one person in every hundred-- had been stricken.

Surprisingly, the cause was a medicine,

popular because it contained alcohol.

The slang term for it: "ginger jake."

As the epidemic spread, a call for help went out

to the United States Public Health Service,

To the firing line

came Associate Surgeon General, Dr. Victor Garr,

and his assistant, Dr. Daniel Gifford.

♪♪

Nuchal rigidity one-plus.

We're gonna have to move him upstairs-- do you mind?

Yes, I mind.

Sorry, Doctor. I guess I could use some sleep.

We all could.

We need the room badly.

We thought perhaps you wouldn't mind.

Sure, go ahead.

How many more cases you got out there?

I don't know. 25 or 30.

I'm trying to get more help.

Could you stay with us a while longer?

Well, I've got to catch a train in a couple of hours.

I'll stay till then.

All right, Doctor, you can get him out of here.

Can I get you some coffee, Doctor?

What do you think you're doing, writing a thesis?

The roof's falling in on these people.

If we're going back tonight, we'll need this information.

Sure we need it, but right now

we need a hand with these patients.

Play games with your statistics on the train.

I didn't deserve that, Doctor.

Check with Dr. Michaels.

He'll find something useful for you to do.

ANNOUNCER:

"Jake Dance."”

Starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness.

Co-starring John Gabriel...

Sondra Kerr...

and John Anderson.

With special guest stars Dane Clark...

and Joseph Schildkraut.

Narrated by Walter Winchell.

WINCHELL: Chicago, East Varney Street,

in the center of the commercial district,

9:35 p.m.

(horn beeping)

MAN: Sorry, we're closed.

Hey, fella? I said we're closed.

What's the matter with you, fella, can't you hear me?

Come on, roll in.

Let's go.

Okay, let's go. Back up, back up.

That-a-boy.

More. More.

Back, back, you're almost there.

♪♪

♪♪

(siren wailing)

Mr. Contine?

I'm Eliot Ness.

Oh, Mr. Ness, I'm glad you could come so quickly.

-Come into the office. -Lee.

I was here in my office, sitting at the desk here.

I do a lot of work here nights this time of year.

First thing I knew, somebody grabbed me from behind.

Pulled me up out of the chair.

Told me to lie down over there.

They tied my hands, taped my mouth.

Afraid I couldn't see very much.

Go ahead, Mr. Contine.

Well, they stole 21 barrels of hair tonic

-from the loading dock. -Usual amount of alcohol?

34%. It's a registered formula.

Has some essential oils, some medicaments.

Doesn't sound like anybody'd want to drink it.

(chuckles) Not unless they have a cast-iron stomach.

Here.

Try it.

We wholesale that stuff out to other companies for $164 a drum.

They add some more oil to it, their own perfume.

Sell it under their own label.

I suppose you think I'm a coward

because I didn't even try to put up a fight.

No, I don't think you're a coward, Mr. Contine,

I think you were lucky. If you'd put up a fight,

we'd be looking at you in the morgue right now.

Better go home and get some sleep.

I'd like to check the hospital first.

Joe Cully-- that's our night watchman--

he was hurt pretty bad, I think.

Thanks for your help.

WINCHELL: Six miles across town,

Dr. Victor Garr was checking into the Chicago offices

of the United States Public Health Service.

First order of business, the crisis in Wichita, Kansas.

He filed his report

with one of the Bureau's key research men,

Dr. Hans Frolick.

It's that bad, eh?

1,200 cases so far.

One percent of the adult population.

And we're getting bad reports from other parts of the country,

particularly the Southwest.

(phone ringing)

Gifford come in?

Mm-hmm. -(phone stops ringing)

You two had some sort of, uh...

trouble in Wichita, didn't you?

Small intramural collision.

I'm merely trying to teach him to be a doctor

-instead of a statistician. -I see.

And you lost your temper, eh?

Well, someone's got to shake him out of his textbooks.

Why, was he complaining to you?

Complaining? No, certainly not.

He just brought me a set of statistics--

very well done, too.

Might save a lot of people's lives, Victor.

Hans, I am not against statistics.

But I'm trying to balance one thing against the other.

We are doctors, not certified public accountants!

I know, I know, I know, I know.

Maybe we are a little bit of each, hmm?

Maybe you are a little too much doctor,

and he is a little too much scientist.

Maybe you two should settle for...

(chuckles) meet in the middle, no?

(phone rings)

Yes? Frolick.

Oh, hello, Mr. Ness. Trouble?

Read your bulletin about Wichita.

About two hours ago a quantity of hair tonic

was stolen from a North Side factory-- I'm wondering

if they can cover the taste of that stuff

with ginger jake and sell it as is.

Possible.

It has such a strong flavor, you know, the medical dosage

is only three drops.

Oh, uh, how much of that hair tonic did they steal, Mr. Ness?

21 barrels.

-21 barrels? -Here in Chicago?

Yeah. Uh, all right, Mr. Ness,

we'll, uh, notify all the drug distributors,

and we'll let you know if we have any reports.

Thanks, Doctor. I'll follow through on this end.

21 barrels! Victor, if they dump that stuff here in Chicago...

One percent of the adult population.

Maybe we'd better start looking for 23,000 hospital beds.

(sighs)

You got your heap here?

Yeah. You sure you got enough of that stuff?

Well, we ought to get as far as Kansas City.

(chuckles)

You take the boys home.

I'll handle the truck.

Better have that fender fixed.

-It's scraping the tire. -I'll take care of it.

Go on, knock off.

Come on, I said knock off!

Hello, boss?

It's Iggy.

Yeah. We got the stuff all here.

Mm-hmm. No trouble at all.

You contact the Feds?

Yeah.

They were very worried about my health.

WINCHELL: Late summer, 1930.

Eliot Ness and the Untouchables

search the hidden corners of Chicago,

trying desperately to locate 21 drums

of stolen hair tonic that could prove toxic

if compounded and sold as ginger jake.

Working in association with the Public Health Service,

the Untouchables blanketed the city,

and they came up empty.

5:45 a.m., September 7,

approximately three weeks after the robbery

at Contine & Company.

The aftermath of that robbery

began in a small apartment building

on the edge of the Haymarket District.

(laughing)

-Nah. -Big night, baby, huh?

Yeah!

You better hit the sack

before you start falling apart at the seams.

Now, you be sure to call me, hear?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -All right.

(exhales)

(humming a tune)

(singing indistinctly)

(sighs): Ah...

-6:00! -Oh, Mama!

Come on, Mary Kay.

Time to get up!

I don't feel so hot.

Ah, when I was your age, I could go and go and go.

Like tonight.

Come on, get up. I'll tell you all about it.

Boy, I sure did get tired yesterday, working.

And then like a dope, I went out with George after.

With George, huh?

Well, eat some breakfast, you'll feel fine.

(sighs)

Everybody's boppy in the morning.

You know,

we all have to be strong these days.

Think of the milkman.

He has to get up at 3:00

just to leave the milk outside our door.

(chuckles)

We came in just as he was going home.

(laughing)

(pouring liquid)

Oh.

We are really building this one up, aren't we?

Come on, Garbo.

Garbo?

Get the milk.

A little coffee will pep you up.

Me, too. I need it.

Come on.

Stop clowning.

(glass shatters)

(gasps)

Mary Kay?

Mary Kay!

(weakly): Ma... Ma...

M-M-M...

WINCHELL: Cook County Hospital.

The Untouchables checked on the condition of Joe Cully,

the injured night watchman from Contine & Company.

Cully was unavailable for questioning.

Two floors below, Dr. Victor Garr

was beginning an investigation of his own.

-Dr. Jarvis? -Yes?

Oh, are you Dr. Garr?

Where's the girl?

She's in Ward B with her mother.

Was she hurt when she fell?

The information's on the chart, Doctor.

If I wanted to read the chart,

I wouldn't be asking you, Doctor.

Oh, well, uh, there were minor abrasions,

but nothing broken, no concussion.

Nothing that would give her the symptoms she came in with.

First we suspected poliomyelitis.

And then I remembered your bulletin.

-What's the girl's name? -Mary Katherine Spencer.

Nurse, when Dr. Gifford comes in,

will you send him in to see me, please?

Dr. Garr,

I had an unpleasant little argument with her mother.

Regular Tugboat Annie type.

You, uh, might have better luck without me.

Excuse me.

Bed in the far corner.

Thank you, Doctor.

I'm Dr. Garr, Public Health Service.

You're Mary Katherine Spencer.

Yes. Hello.

She went out in the hall to get the milk.

She tripped.

Is that what happened?

Yes, I guess so.

You sure there wasn't something else?

MRS. SPENCER: Why should there be something else?

GARR: Please, Mrs. Spencer.

Will you let me talk to her?

Go ahead.

Now, are you sure that's all that happened?

Yes.

Did she seem ill last night?

I wasn't home last night.

Well, how about it, young lady,

did you feel sick last night?

Well, I kind of had the flu, like.

I got achy all over, so I went to bed.

Hold out your hand.

No, no, no. Raise your arm up a little higher.

A little higher.

That's it.

Now make a fist.

Come on, Mary Kay, do what they man...

Please, Mrs. Spencer, do you mind?

Okay, okay.

Now... the other arm.

A little higher.

That's it.

Make a fist.

(Mary Kay gasps)

What are you making such a big deal out of it for?

Mrs. Spencer, I'm going to have to ask you to be quiet!

Now, miss, do you drink?

MRS. SPENCER: What kind of a question is that to ask her?

She's 17. No, she doesn't drink!

Do you drink?

No, I-I... I don't drink.

You've never had a drink

of any kind of alcoholic beverage?

You heard what she said, she said she doesn't drink,

so she doesn't drink!

Is that right?

I don't drink.

Well... what happens now?

Your daughter will have to stay here for a time, Mrs. Spencer.

A time?

How long is a time?

Till we get through checking her.

It could take a day, it could take four or five.

She'll lose her job if you keep her here.

Where does she work?

In the cafeteria.

She serves at the steam tables.

What do you expect us to do? We need the money.

Do you work, Mrs. Spencer?

Not at the moment.

Then why don't you take her place at the steam tables?

I'll just see Dr. Jarvis about this.

We've very good friends.

You do that.

I'll be back, Mary Kay.

(departing footsteps)

Don't mind her.

She-she's just very worried about me.

Now, look, Miss Spencer...

Miss Spencer?

Call me Mary Kay.

Nobody calls me Miss Spencer,

except George when he's mad at me.

That's my boyfriend.

All right, Mary Kay.

Now, doesn't George ever take you out for a drink?

Oh, no, we go to restaurants,

and concerts and things like that

when George comes down from Canada.

He lives in Canada.

And you've never had a drink with him?

No, he's not like that.

He's a musician and a music teacher.

He's... very intellectual.

(door opens)

Sorry. I came as soon as I got the message.

This is Dr. Gifford.

Mary Kath... um, Mary Kay Spencer.

Hello.

We were talking about her boyfriend.

When did you see George last?

Is...

a week ago, Saturday.

Where did you go?

To a little café on the North Side.

Has it got a name?

I don't know the name.

It's a secret place.

Mary Kay, I'm going to ask you again.

Did you drink anything there?

Well, I had a little wine.

That's not drinking though.

Did you ever have any ginger jake?

GARR: Did you?

I-I tasted it once.

Well, I mean, I just wanted to see what it tasted like.

Lots of kids at the cafeteria drink it all the time.

When was this?

Uh... two or three weeks ago.

Where did you get it?

At a drugstore.

On, uh, Eureka and 12th Street.

It was one of those old-fashioned places,

you know, with those, uh, lighted balls in the window.

-You know? -Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know.

Thanks a lot, Mary Kay.

Take a run over to the drugstore,

see what's on the shelves.

You're not coming?

No, I'm going to report to Frolick and Ness.

WINCHELL: Seven hours later, night watchman Joe Cully

was released from the Cook County Hospital.

Within minutes, Eliot Ness and Lee Hobson

were at his apartment.

(door closes)

Mrs. Cully. Eliot Ness. This is Lee Hobson.

May we talk to your husband?

Well, he's pretty sick.

They just brought him home from the hospital

a little while ago.

Can he talk?

His jaws are wired together.

He could nod his head, couldn't he?

Well, I guess that couldn't hurt too much.

Come on in.

Now, don't stay too long.

We won't.

Mr. Cully, we want to ask you a few questions.

We know you can't talk.

Just nod your head for "yes," shake it for "no

You can do that, can't you?

Did you see any of the men who robbed your factory?

Well, did you hear any of them speak?

Did you see anything we might use to identify them?

How about the truck?

HOBSON: You got knocked out

before you got a good look at it?

The officer said he found you lying against the guardhouse.

Did they drag you there?

You were hit by the truck.

On the way out?

"Smashed fender."”

The truck smashed its fender on the way out?

HOBSON: Would that be the right-front fender?

That's all you can remember, eh?

Thanks, Mr. Cully.

You've been a big help.

(door opens, closes)

WINCHELL: Early the following morning,

the Untouchables began a systematic telephone check

of all Chicago garages.

Their aim: to locate a truck

with a damaged right-front fender.

By midafternoon, they had contacted every known garage

in the city, and they had come up empty.

Mary Kay.

-Hi. -Hi.

I went to that address you gave us.

Oh.

It was a vacant lot.

Well, maybe they tore the place down.

No, they didn't do that.

Well, I wasn't sure of the address.

George was talking all the time we were driving.

Maybe I was mistaken.

Mary Kay, you weren't telling us the truth, were you?

Why did you lie to us? Why?

I---

Are you trying to protect George?

No.

Let me tell you what I think.

I think you've been drinking ginger jake for some time,

and I think you know where it was purchased.

Not vaguely, exactly.

I told you the only address that I know.

Mary Kay, that stuff you drank was poisonous.

As poisonous as if it had a skull and crossbones

on the bottle.

If you drank it with George and some other friends of yours,

they're going to be a sick as you are.

You wouldn't want to be responsible for that, would you?

No, but...

(sighs)

I told you where it was.

You didn't tell me the truth!

Well, I told you all I'm going to.

I was in a town where people were drinking that stuff.

Over 1,200 of them are paralyzed for life.

What did... you say?

I said there were 1,200 people

in the hospital from drinking that stuff.

No, that's not what you... s-said.

You said that they were paralyzed for life.

Didn't you?

Didn't you?!

You've got to tell me where it was you bought it.

I'm not gonna get well, am I?

That's what you said, isn't it?

Isn't it?

Well, tell me!

Mary Kay, give me that address.

12-46 Shelton Avenue.

Now tell me.

As far as we know, there's no cure for it.

Oh.

(crying)

I'd like to see you outside, Doctor.

(sobbing)

What the devil do you think

you were doing to that girl in there?

The information that she...

Look, I don't know about you, Doctor,

but I don't any information that badly.

The address of the drugstore was a vacant lot.

Then we'll get the right address,

but you don't destroy a human being

in the process of getting it!

(Mary Kay sobs)

Come on.

I'll buy you a cup of coffee.

(crying)

ANNOUNCER: And now back to The Untouchables.

WINCHELL: Two days after their talk

with night watchmen Joe Cully,

the Untouchables' telephone check paid off.

They were called to a garage on North Duquesne Street.

A truck similar to the one described

had been brought in for repair.

(knocking)

IGGY: Come on, open up in there.

(knocking)

IGGY: Hear me? Open up.

(door creaks open)

What's the matter with you?

Told you I was coming back tonight.

It ready?

Yeah.

All right, how much you want?

47 bucks.

Oh, come on. I told you to fix a fender,

not build me a whole new truck.

So, it was a rush job.

All right.

Here.

Now, go on. Open the back door.

(truck engine starting)

Federal officers. Hold it right there.

Gun it.

(engine revving)

Hold that truck!

(engine revving)

(bullets ricocheting)

(horn honking, engine revving)

(gunfire)

(explosion)

Who are you guys anyway?

Driver's dead, Eliot.

Put that fire out.

Come on.

All right, Doctor. Where?

Thank you.

Uh, let me know when you admit him.

(sighs)

Eight new cases.

Over what period of time?

Over the last two hours.

We just had another one reported in 12th Street.

Yes, Dr. Jarvis.

Who gave you people authority

to tell my patient she was incurable?

Oh?

Did someone do that?

Yes, your Dr. Gifford did, and she hasn't eaten since,

nor slept, for that matter.

I've got a sick house on my hands.

There's enough to do without sitting up all night

with hysterical patients.

You can tell your Dr. Gifford this for me.

If he goes near that girl again,

I'll have him barred from the hospital.

(door slams)

I'm surprised.

This doesn't sound like Gifford.

I was there when it happened.

He was trying to find out where the stuff came from.

That's very unfortunate.

Very.

After all, we're dependent on...

on a good relationship with men like Jarvis.

We're also dependent on men like Gifford.

Mad at somebody, Doctor?

Something I can do for you, mister?

Yeah. You can send me a bottle of ginger jake.

I don't sell it without a prescription.

HOBSON: Don't you?

Sit down, boy.

Uh, who are you fellows?

Federal agents.

You kids, go on, get out of here.

GIFFORD: And every one of you see a doctor.

That stuff you're drinking could be pure poison.

Come on, move.

Dan, take a look at this.

Where'd you get these?

Uh, that one's from Omega Drugs.

The other's a local product.

Now, look, there's no law against dispensing it.

It's medicine.

You know a girl named Mary Katherine Spencer?

That's my niece.

What did she tell you?

Among other things, she tried to protect you.

The lousy little...

Do you know where she is how? Do you?

No. No, why should I?

She's in the hospital,

paralyzed from drinking that medicine you sold her.

I didn't sell her anything.

You're a liar, Spencer.

The fella she was with bought it for her.

What's his name?

Uh, George something.

He's a busboy at the cafeteria.

He's a bum. So is she.

Take it easy.

Come on, get your coat.

The more you work in this business, Doctor,

the madder you get.

Don't use it up all at once.

A lot more of these cockroaches around.

Come on.

Mary Kay?

I'm sorry you found out the way you did about your problem.

But you've got to understand that we have problems, too.

And getting that address was one of them.

We had to have it.

Mary Kay, you strike me as a girl with a lot of courage.

Now, you're not gonna make a liar out of me, are you?

You got to help us.

We don't want you to get worse.

You've got to eat!

Are you angry at Dr. Gifford?

Is that why you're doing this?

No.

I'm not angry at Dr. Gifford.

I hate him.

(yelling): I hate him!

I hate him.

(Mary Kay sobs)

You can buy time in the pen for those youngsters

who were in your place, mister.

And that's exactly what you're gonna get unless you talk.

Now I want to know where you got that ginger jake.

I tell you that, I'll lose my license.

You got one minute.

A guy delivers it.

Like a milkman. He, uh...

What guy? What's his name?

I don't know his name.

He comes and delivers the stuff,

and it's bottled and ready to go on the shelf.

I don't know the guy's name. I don't want to know.

Rico.

We'll give you a chance to put a finger on the guy

we think delivered the stuff.

If he's the one, I want to know it.

Yeah, that's the guy.

Can I go now?

Take them downstairs and book them,

and bring back Iggy.

-ROSSI: Book both of them? -Both of them.

All right, let's go. Come on.

Outside.

Mary Kay?

Mary Kay?

It's perfume.

You're supposed to read the card.

"To Mary Kay, with love from... George.”

It's from George.

George?

That's very nice of him.

He's very nice.

A little bit too intellectual sometimes.

But he's a nice man.

How'd you like to go out on the porch?

You know that fight we had?

Me and George?

I hated him.

What did you fight about?

Oh. He said some things that he shouldn't have,

you know.

He hasn't been to see me since.

I was mad at him.

Maybe he was ashamed.

I love perfume.

I'd like to go outside.

♪♪

(slow music plays)

It's like a restaurant.

Are you warm enough?

Uh-huh.

Could we go over to that table by the dance floor?

See that building just off to the left?

-Uh-huh. -That's where I work.

Oh.

Are you hungry, Mary Kay?

I'm starving.

What do they serve at this restaurant?

How would you like your pheasant?

(chuckles)

Medium-well.

Anything else?

You know what I always did want?

Pomme souffle.

What is that?

Little potatoes, cooked so they explode.

Like little potato balloons.

I'll have a whole platter full of those.

(chuckling)

You have excellent taste, madam.

You must think I'm pretty nutty,

carrying on like this, don't you?

Pretty girls can get away with anything.

You're a nice man.

Better eat your pheasant.

Oh.

WINCHELL: April 22, 8:45 a.m.

What had started as a minor incident had grown

into the beginnings of a major catastrophe.

Well, if this keeps up, we'll run out of pins.

Did you phone Ness?

He's doing the best he can.

So are the police.

They've cleaned all the stuff off the shelves.

(phone rings)

Yes, Frolick.

Who?

Old friend of ours.

Jarvis? Tell him we're busy.

He's in my office.

Yes, Dr. Jarvis, we'll be right there.

Come on, let's go, let's go.

JARVIS: I thought I told you to keep Gifford out of my ward.

You did.

And I meant it, too, Doctor,

but he was there again last night with the Spencer girl.

I filed a formal complaint.

You can read it if you wish.

Doctor...

I thought you might want to know in advance.

Thank you, Dr. Jarvis.

You're very kind.

(sighs, door closes)

Victor, didn't you speak to Gifford?

I mean, about going back there?

Did I speak to him?

I talked to him like a Dutch uncle.

I bought him coffee, I patted his head, I...

Well, maybe you should have punched it.

Maybe I will.

While you're at it, ask him to explain this.

Hospital gift shop sent it over.

It's a bill

for a bottle of perfume.

$25.

Dr. Gifford.

You went back to see that girl last night.

Have you gone out of your mind?

Not completely.

I warned you not to go back there,

and now Jarvis is blowing his stack.

I'm sorry, Vic.

What's all this about?

It's a personal matter.

The bill was sent to us.

Well, it should have gone to me.

It was a mistake.

What'd you do, uh,

take perfume to the girl?

You know a better way to apologize?

Now, I am telling you this, and I'm telling you this

for the last time, if you do anything like this again,

you're gonna be in real trouble.

Yes, sir.

You mind the store; I'll see if I can straighten things out.

(door opens)

(door slams)

Who's Jarvis's boss?

Dr. Bannon, why?

-A friend of yours? Mm-hmm.

All right.

I'll go square this beef with that wild-eyed Jarvis.

You do the same thing with Dr. Bannon.

Wait a minute, just a moment.

I was under the impression you were going

to punch Dr. Gifford in the head?

You just take care of your research, Doctor.

I'll take care of my personnel.

WINCHELL: That night, Iggy Minter,

the hoodlum apprehended by Ness in the Ducane Street garage,

was transferred to the Cook County Jail.

Get in.

Call Ness; tell him we're on our way.

Let's get that driver out of there.

He's off and running.

So far, so good.

♪♪

All right, try that on for size.

They let you go?

Not exactly.

Hold it right there.

(gunshots)

Get the others; I'll cover him.

(gunshot)

(gunshot)

(gunshot)

Dr. Garr, Nicholas Contine.

He makes poison for a living.

All right, move him out.

Okay, let's go.

Dan, you better grab a half a dozen bottles of this stuff.

We'll need it for a quantitative analysis.

Statistics, Dr. Garr?

Statistics, Dr. Gifford.

WINCHELL: With the capture of Nicholas Contine,

one of the primary sources of poisonous Jamaica ginger

was eliminated.

Druggist Miles Spencer died in Cook County Jail in 1934.

His niece, Mary Katherine Spencer,

inherited the drugstore, and she ran it successfully

for over 20 years.

One product not for sale,

a medicine referred to as ginger jake.