Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre was an American anthology series that ran on NBC from 1963 through 1967 and was sponsored by Chrysler. The format ran from musical to comedy to drama. Generally, each episode ran for an hour, but there were some special presentations that ran for 90 minutes. Although he starred in some episodes, Hope usually just introduced each episode with a few jokes. In syndication, without an opening or closing by Hope, the series was billed as Universal Star Time and Theatre of the Stars.
Jocelyn starred in an episode called One Embezzlement and Two Margaritas, which originally aired on May 18, 1966 (Season 3, Episode 20). Based on reports in Variety, the episode was produced in December of 1965.
In this episode, Jack Kelly plays the part of Frederick Piper, a sort of playboy/Yale-graduate private investigator that takes only cases that sound fun to him. In a prelude to Charlie's Angels, he has an assistant, Barbara Fremont (Karen Jensen), who only talks to him by phone and has never seen him (much to her chagrin). Piper is hired by a group of Trust Company executives/owners who need to track down their partner, Edward Parker Greene (Michael Rennie), who has skipped town with over $3 million. They simply want to keep everything quiet and get the money back, not actually have him arrested.
Piper uncovers a clue indicating that Greene has gone to a Mexico resort town to meet up with an English woman, so he heads down to Mexico to scope out the appropriate flight from England. Piper and a friend see an elegant woman, Maureen Hollings (Antoinette Bower), and presume that she must be the English woman meeting Greene, so Piper sets out in pursuit of her. They are wrong, however, as another passenger, the ditzy, gold-digging young starlet Ellie Randell (Jocelyn) is actually the mystery woman. The rest of the story follows Piper as he learns of his mistake and pursues Ellie and Green aboard Greene's boat. Things become more complicated when it turns out that Ellie has a couple of "managers" that are after Greene's money as well. Ultimately, Greene becomes disillusioned about Ellie's intentions, is confronted by Piper, and returns to his partners at the Trust Company (where he is forced to retire quietly and pay Piper's fee with his own funds).
As for Jocelyn, taking into account that there are a few TV appearances that I have not been able to locate, this is hands-down her best TV work. She is wonderful as the ditzy Ellie, with a thick British accent and lively persona. It is also one of her sexiest roles, as she is wearing bathing suits for the most part, and does a significant amount of dancing. One scene is in a one-piece bathing suit on Greene's boat, and the other is in a polka-dot bikini and black boots at a watusi party. She really hit a home run with her work on this episode. If only parts like this could have lead to more film roles. It seems like Jocelyn was the go-to actress whenever producers needed a "foreign" girl for a guest role on an American TV series in the mid 1960's. If you're a Jocelyn fan, this one is worth the effort to track down.
In this episode, Jack Kelly plays the part of Frederick Piper, a sort of playboy/Yale-graduate private investigator that takes only cases that sound fun to him. In a prelude to Charlie's Angels, he has an assistant, Barbara Fremont (Karen Jensen), who only talks to him by phone and has never seen him (much to her chagrin). Piper is hired by a group of Trust Company executives/owners who need to track down their partner, Edward Parker Greene (Michael Rennie), who has skipped town with over $3 million. They simply want to keep everything quiet and get the money back, not actually have him arrested.
Piper uncovers a clue indicating that Greene has gone to a Mexico resort town to meet up with an English woman, so he heads down to Mexico to scope out the appropriate flight from England. Piper and a friend see an elegant woman, Maureen Hollings (Antoinette Bower), and presume that she must be the English woman meeting Greene, so Piper sets out in pursuit of her. They are wrong, however, as another passenger, the ditzy, gold-digging young starlet Ellie Randell (Jocelyn) is actually the mystery woman. The rest of the story follows Piper as he learns of his mistake and pursues Ellie and Green aboard Greene's boat. Things become more complicated when it turns out that Ellie has a couple of "managers" that are after Greene's money as well. Ultimately, Greene becomes disillusioned about Ellie's intentions, is confronted by Piper, and returns to his partners at the Trust Company (where he is forced to retire quietly and pay Piper's fee with his own funds).
For the most part, the episode is rather light-hearted and humorous, but there are some serious injuries/deaths in a couple of fight sequences, which seem a bit out of place with the overall tone. The episode plays like it could have been a pilot for a show about the adventures of P.I. Frederick Piper.
As for Jocelyn, taking into account that there are a few TV appearances that I have not been able to locate, this is hands-down her best TV work. She is wonderful as the ditzy Ellie, with a thick British accent and lively persona. It is also one of her sexiest roles, as she is wearing bathing suits for the most part, and does a significant amount of dancing. One scene is in a one-piece bathing suit on Greene's boat, and the other is in a polka-dot bikini and black boots at a watusi party. She really hit a home run with her work on this episode. If only parts like this could have lead to more film roles. It seems like Jocelyn was the go-to actress whenever producers needed a "foreign" girl for a guest role on an American TV series in the mid 1960's. If you're a Jocelyn fan, this one is worth the effort to track down.
Unfortunately, as evidenced by the screen caps below, I have only been able to view this episode in a poor-quality VHS recording from a syndicated TV broadcast. As far as I can tell, the series has not been released on any home video format. Let's hope that one day it will see an appropriate release so that we can enjoy Jocelyn's fine work here in the quality that it deserves.
Here are two modeling-type publicity shots of Jocelyn that appear to have been taken in conjunction with her appearance in this episode, because it looks like she is wearing the bathing suits that were worn on the show.
