Four Star Playhouse: Season 4
Season 4 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Four Star Playhouse Season 3.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 4 Progress Shield
The Firing Squad
Oct 6, 1955
A WWII captain must oversee an execution he doesn't want to happen.
The Face of Danger
Oct 13, 1955
A 100-year-old woman who recalls her romance with a desperado during the days of the old West.
Let the Chips Fall
Oct 20, 1955
A reformed card sharp is recruited to unmask a suspected poker cheat among a group of wealthy gamblers. He finds it difficult to be impartial when the suspect enthusiastically befr
Full Circle
Oct 27, 1955
A particularly bad review causes a Broadway actress to scheme to humiliate the drama critic.
A Spray of Bullets
Nov 3, 1955
A former sheriff, Will Sonnett, known for his fast draw shows up in Mesa to see an optometrist; he's become nearsighted and badly needs glasses. Also in town is a punk gunfighter w
The Devil to Pay
Nov 10, 1955
In Hell, the administrating office is hopelessly out of date and incompetent, so Satan enlists the help of an exceptionally aggressive and heartless businessman to modernize the pl
Here Comes the Suit
Nov 17, 1955
A milquetoast employee at a novelty company is overlooked by everyone from his boss to the woman he crushes on. But after being suckered by a shady tailor into getting a shockingly
Looking Glass House
Nov 24, 1955
A woman is surprised when her fiancé turns out to have been married before.
Something Very Special
Dec 1, 1955
Alan moves to America when his wife dies, leaving his young daughter with her grandmother in Paris. When he returns after five years, his daughter has difficulty believing that he
A Place Full of Strangers
Dec 8, 1955
Industrialist Fleet Mason, a workaholic who doesn't realize how many lives he effects with his stressed-out working habits. When he thinks his loving wife has hung up on him in dis
One Way Out
Dec 15, 1955
A wealthy woman separates from her fortune-hunting husband. She rents a swanky New York penthouse in a building so new that she is the only one living there. When she awakens fro
Dark Meeting
Jan 5, 1956
When her long-time pin-boy retires, bowling proprietress hires the one guy who answers her want-ad right away. He turns out to be an escaped committed psychotic who, lonely and alw
Magic Night
Jan 12, 1956
Upset that his 25 years of service for the company are unappreciated, Henri treats himself to an expensive night on the town, on the company's dime. He then comes to his senses, di
Tunnel of Fear
Jan 19, 1956
While traveling alone in a train compartment, an elderly, wealthy, wheelchair-bound man (Cedric Hardwicke) is confronted by a younger man (David Niven), whom he had double-crossed
High Stakes
Jan 26, 1956
An employee catches attractive Mrs. Raymond making a pass at Willie, then Mr. Raymond comes to the club with a gun to get even. Willie shoots him in self defense, but Willie is fra
The Listener
Feb 2, 1956
Sheila and her brother engineer a gas leak to kill her husband so they can split the insurance money. Overhearing the plot is the husband's invalid father, but it's no concern beca
Safe Keeping
Feb 9, 1956
The chancellor of a foreign university gives newspaperman Frank Carstairs a document to smuggle out of the country. He anticipates being charged with treason by the totalitarian go
No Limit
Feb 16, 1956
Suave restaurateur-gambler Willie Dante rebuffs the attempt of racketeers to cash in on his gambling activities. He appears to change his mind, however, due to the influence of a b
Command
Feb 23, 1956
The first mate on a merchant ship has been waiting for years to take command of the ship. When the elderly captain makes a mistake at a time when the ship is in danger the first ma
Once to Every Woman
Mar 1, 1956
At a particularly vulnerable time in her life, Carol is wooed by charming David. They fall in love, but Carol then learns that David is married. He says that he will get divorced f
Red Wine
Mar 8, 1956
A police detective travels to Borneo looking for an American who murdered his wife for a huge insurance payoff. There are only three Americans there, all on a rubber plantation, bu
To Die at Midnight
Mar 15, 1956
The conflict of a prison warden who discovers exculpatory evidence on the eve of an execution.
Desert Encounter
Mar 22, 1956
A famous author gets embroiled in an unusual situation when he offers to drive a young Mexican girl to her ranch.
The Case of Emily Cameron
Mar 29, 1956
Emily is an invalid who needs a caretaker. Her husband leaves her home alone one day, and she begins to stew over the low regard that he has for her. He, on the other hand, resents
The Rites of Spring
Apr 5, 1956
An older husband tests the marital fidelity of his amorous young wife by anonymously sending her flowers from "a secret admirer".
Autumn Carousel
Apr 12, 1956
A TV writer finds inspiration from a little girl travelling to Los Angeles.
Wall of Bamboo
Apr 19, 1956
An undercover agent is dispatched to the anti-communist underground to search for an important contact. But when he's caught by the red Chinese, he's tortured in various ways for i
Touch and Go
Apr 26, 1956
Ted attacks old enemy Walter in a fit of rage. Stunned at the realization that Walter is dead, he hears a woman on the phone who overheard their conversation. Ted needs to find thi
A Long Way From Texas
May 3, 1956
Two con men target a naive young oilman from Texas. They visit Willie's gambling hall, and the con men threaten Willie. He decides to get revenge, and teach a lesson to the oilman.
That Woman
May 10, 1956
A young widow, who is in denial that her husband has died, moves in with her brother-in-law's family down on the farm. Her city ways and manners clash with the simple, pious life o
The Other Room
May 17, 1956
A teacher wanting to leave his unfulfilling job needs money to write the book he's dreamed of. A stranger enters and makes an unusual offer: $10,000 to take a physical for a dying
One Forty-Two
May 24, 1956
Ruthless dictator Mendoza summons a priest when 300,000 people in his country announce that they will pray for him to die at 1:42 that day.
Beneath the Surface
May 31, 1956
In an effort to escape her past, a woman takes a job in a plant.
Watch the Sunset
Jun 7, 1956
Philip Benton is entertaining thoughts of moving on from his wife, who has been in a sanitarium for five years. Just as he is starting a new relationship with his secretary, he rec
Second Chance
Jun 14, 1956
An experienced writer is in the middle of a professional slump when he is inspired by the story of an old long lost friend. While his career is reviving, he seems to be hindering t
Woman Afraid
Jun 21, 1956
While her husband is laid up in a farm house with a broken leg, Nina sees a prowling burglar. She calls for help, but the hired hand that she calls for is the burglar - and he's al
The Stacked Deck
Jun 28, 1956
Fresh out of prison, blackmailer Gus Anderson intends to use Willie's casino to launder his victims' money. To insure his cooperation, Gus' thugs are holding one of Willie's waiter
Distinguished Service
Jul 5, 1956
More interested in his career than in his duty as a physician, a noted doctor intentionally misdiagnoses a patient in an Asian city so he could get back to the U.S. and accept a ma
Yellowbelly
Jul 12, 1956
A military hero becomes circumspect as his wife expects their first child. In battle, he jumps into a protective hole instead of forging to the front of the line. His company nickn
The Stand-In
Jul 19, 1956
An aspiring actress has spent 20 years in Hollywood, not gaining fame as she had hoped, but as a stand-in for a well-known actress. Her ambition turns to despair, and her affection
Success Story
Jul 26, 1956
A man is assigned to force a small-town newspaper out of existence.