User Reviews

Except for the fact that June Havoc makes an unforgettable Texas Guinan under the pseudonym of Sally Kansas this is one of the more forgettable episodes on The Untouchables. Eliot Ness and the squad are in New York once again taking down another prominent hoodlum of the era which they had nothing to do with.

The real Larry Fay was a rum runner of note who got out of that and opened a nightclub where Texas Guinan brought in the crowd with her brassy style. How far out he got was a matter of speculation because nothing ever was pinned on him by any branch of law enforcement. And he was shot and killed New Year's Day by a disgruntled employee.

Sam Levene is a good and conscienceless Fay, but June Havoc is just wonderful as Sally Kansas. You can see the real Texas Guinan in a pair of films in the beginning of the sound era, Queen Of The Nightclubs and Broadway Through A Keyhole. Watch those and you'll see how well Havoc did with the role.

By the way the phrase 'butter and egg man' that Havoc uses got Texas Guinan her place in Bartlett's Quotations.

Milk.

Yup, that's the racket here....an unusual one compared to the normal, but not as much as you might think when you find out it's just another lucrative extortion racket by the gangsters.

Everyone drinks milk, so why not get into the action and demand a percentage? If diary farmers or storekeepers won't cooperate, you shake them down. One problem is the outcry from the public, as they now have to pay more for a quart of milk, thanks to criminals like Larry Fay, who takes two cents on every quart now for himself.

Fay is a violent and very greedy man, as well as a liar. Sam Levene does an outstanding job playing Fay. Most of his scenes are riveting....and so is the camera-work in this episode. There are lots closeups and good film-noir shots.

When his nightclub singing girlfriend, "Sally Kansas" (June Havoc, who's also great in here) wakes up and discovers who he really is, trouble starts. This episode is a tense all the way, sort of like Robert Stack's personality - always on edge.

Note: There really was a Larry Fay, a scumbag arrested about 50 times, but how much of this Untouchables episode is factual, I don't know. Fay operated out of New York City and was said to have won and lost millions of dollars.