What Really Happened story
A housekeeper murders her boss, but his wife is charged with the crime. Directed by: Jack Smight. Story by: Marie Belloc Lowndes (novel), Henry Slesar (teleplay).
14 total · 9 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| coping with a spendthrift | major | Howard was furious to learn that Eve had been spending money so recklessly that she had at least $7,000 in overdue debts. |
| extramarital affair | major | Eve was accused of carrying on with her old friend Jack Wentworth behind her husband's back. |
| friendship | major | Jack Wentworth was such a good friend to Eve that he unhesitatingly wrote her a check for $10,000 when she found herself in financial dire straits. Addie and Eve were such close friends that Eve left her son with Addie and employed her as a housekeeper to have her close. |
| greed for riches | major | Howard's mother presented the case that Eve was a gold digger and circumstances suggest this characterization was not altogether unfounded, even though Eve was presented in an otherwise sympathetic light. |
| husband and wife | major | Eve and Howard Raydon. |
| mother and son | major | Addi tended to her son. It was later revealed that the boy was, unbeknownst to himself, Eve's son. Howard interacted with his overbearing mother in two scenes. |
| mother-in-law and daughter-in-law | major | Howard's mother had a stereotypical hatred for her son's chosen wife, whom she considered a profligate and a gold digger. |
| poison murder | major | Addie brought about Howard's untimely demise by putting the poisonous pet skin lotion Liniment k-944 in his milk. |
| spouse murder | major | Eve was accused of murdering her husband, Howard. |
| alternate points of view | minor | Eve and Howard's mother both seemed pointedly sincere although their recollection of certain events were incompatible with each other on numerous points. |