Armstrong Circle Theatre presented the episode "The Contender"on November 30, 1954 on NBC. Directed by Marc Daniels and written by Edmund Morris, the teleplay included actors Paul Newman, Inger Stevens, Frank McHugh, and Nehemiah Persoff. Armstrong Circle Theatre was a dramatic anthology that ran from 1950 to 1963, eventually switching from the NBC network to CBS network.
Luckily for us, "The Contender" has survived when many other 1950's television episodes have been lost and/or destroyed over the years. It's readily available for us to watch, as well, on Youtube (here) and on the Internet Archive (here).
Inger was just 20 years old and had only been seen in commercials and one other show ("Thunder of Silence" on Goodyear Playhouse on November 21, 1954) before "The Contender" aired. Even in this early role, however, Inger is already displaying the qualities of her later, more seasoned performances. She was a natural from day one.
In the episode, Paul Newman's character Jimmy Polo meets former boxer Jeff Gardell (Nehemiah Persoff) on the street selling handkerchiefs. Jimmy's excited to see Jeff, a former champion and hero of Jimmy's, but quickly realizes that Jeff is nothing like his former self. Jeff clearly has brain injuries from years of taking hits to the head. Jimmy is horrified to discover that Jeff's memory is gone, his language limited and his strength nonexistent.
Jimmy's status and ego have been on the rise for some time. He's even given some bold statements in interviews that he predicts he will win and that he doesn't plan on listening to his manager, only to his own instincts. Jimmy's manager and trainer are upset and troubled by Jimmy's statements to the press but when they confront him, Jimmy has just met Jeff and wants out of boxing completely.
At home, Jimmy's wife Bess (Inger Stevens) is proudly admiring the clippings in her scrapbook on Jimmy's career. She is excited about the larger home they have plans to move into soon and is clearly in love with her husband. Their son Jackie (Dickie Belton) wants to be just like his dad. When Jimmy comes home irritated and ready to get out of the profession, Bess is stunned. She cannot believe that her husband would give up a career he has always enjoyed and is skilled at and jeopardize their future in the process. Jimmy explains the feeling of being a boxer, that he's been "trained to kill" and only ends up with a beaten, scarred body. He tells Bess that she has no idea what it's like to "taste your own blood." After seeing the former boxer Jeff on the street, Jimmy says:
Now I look around, I see what it adds up to. Number 1 contender today, number 1 bartender tomorrow, if you're lucky...if you're lucky!
It is not until Bess visits backstage at a boxing event that she understands what Jimmy means. Bess is horrified to see trainers and managers disregard the feelings of the battle-worn boxers. A boxer is bruised and bloodied and the men around him treat him like a fighting robot, not like a human. Inger represents this new discovery of Bess's perfectly in the visible changes in her face as she watches helplessly.
Bess is on Jimmy's side but asks him to box just one more night so that his fans, manager, trainer and son are not let down. She wants him to face a final match with courage, not disappearing from the profession and leaving a lot of people in the lurch.
Paul Newman, a favorite of mine, already displays the fine qualities of a man torn between being true to himself and following rules that others expect of him. We would see him in roles with similar character dilemmas in films for years to come. But when Paul filmed this, he, too, had not been featured in a film yet. That moment would come a month later when The Silver Chalice would arrive in theaters across the country. Interestingly, Paul Newman was also with Inger in "Thunder of Silence" so audiences had the chance to see Paul and Inger paired on the small screen two weeks in a row!
"Thunder of Silence" also still exists! Although I don't believe the full episode is online, there is a clip on Youtube (here).
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