The Case of Karen Smith

Beautiful night club pianist Karen Smith is the toast of New York society. She is stunned when her boyfriend, detective Stan Janicek, encourages her to go out with another man - Walter Schuyler, a millionaire with designs on her. Schulyer, it seems, is involved in some shady business, and Stan wants his girlfriend to keep an eye on him for the police. Not really understanding but agreeing anyway, Karen goes to visit the crooked playboy in his lush apartment - where he is promptly shot dead by a jealous lover. Now Karen Smith is a suspect for murder, exacerbated by planted evidence pointing to her as the killer. Was she set up by her own boyfriend…or is the actual truth something far more sinister?

"The Case of Karen Smith" is a noirish mystery presented by Studio One, starring a young Leslie Nielsen at the beginning of his career. Studio One began as a CBS radio drama in the 1940s, and was reborn as a television series in 1948. It became the longest running one hour dramatic anthology in television history, lasting a full decade. Known for innovative production techniques, Studio One pushed the limits of live programming and became one of the most popular shows of its day. Episodes were filmed in New York, meaning that the producers could draw from the vast pool of talented up-and-coming NY theater actors, many of whom would go on to Hollywood. This included Leslie Nielsen, years before his star-making role in the science fiction classic Forbidden Planet (1956) and decades before he would send up his self-serious image in the Airplane! And Naked Gun film franchises. (Nielsen only made $75-$100 for his second-billed role in "The Case of Karen Smith"!) Felicia Montealegre, who gets top billing, was the wife of composer Leonard Bernstein and the mother of his three children. Character actor James Westerfield is best known for his supporting parts in classics like On the Waterfront (1954), Hang 'Em High (1968) and True Grit (1969). Julian Noa played Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet, for over a decade on radio's Adventures of Superman (1940-1951). "The Case of Karen Smith" is directed by Lela Swift, a pioneering female filmmaker who directed close to 600 episodes of Dark Shadows (1966-1971).