Inspired by the recent (1951) televised crime hearings lead by Senator Estes Kefauver, Philco Playhouse looks at the most famous government corruption scandal up to that time, New York's Tammany Hall excesses in the nineteenth century. "Boss" Tweed managed to run a machine that put in place his hand picked crooks and violent thugs to run the city's justice system, the treasury and the board of elections and even the Mayor himself. Huge sums of money were stolen, and only exposure of the secret account books by newspaper men led to their downfall.
This play is unfortunately a very tepid effort, for even eighty years later, they tip toed on eggshells. They went to great lengths to never say the word "Democrat", which they all were. Tammany still apparently had power in 1952. Another thing they forced themselves to avoid is any mention of the fearless campaign against Tweed by the magazine "Harper's Weekly", where to this day the Thomas Nast cartoons of Tweed are considered milestones in journalism history. But Harper's went belly up in 1916 and the N.Y. Times was still around.
This play is unfortunately a very tepid effort, for even eighty years later, they tip toed on eggshells. They went to great lengths to never say the word "Democrat", which they all were. Tammany still apparently had power in 1952. Another thing they forced themselves to avoid is any mention of the fearless campaign against Tweed by the magazine "Harper's Weekly", where to this day the Thomas Nast cartoons of Tweed are considered milestones in journalism history. But Harper's went belly up in 1916 and the N.Y. Times was still around.