Burglar Proof story
Harrison Fell is an ad executive that needs to come up with an ad campaign to sell the 801 Burglar-Proof safe. Harrison invites the press and a notorious safe-cracker Sammy Morrisey to a gala ball. He challenges Sammy to open the safe in less than three hours. If Sammy can do it, he can keep an envelope containing $50,000 dollars that is being kept within the safe. If he can't, then he gets some consolation prize. Initially Sammy is reluctant. He has given up on safe-cracking and is trying out a new profession. Eventually, he agrees. At the party, Harrison puts the envelope in the safe and locks it. Sammy is given three hours, but he fails to open the safe. He is given the consolation prize. Harrison is pleased since his advertising plan is a success. Later, however, he opens the safe and discovers that the envelope contains worthless paper and no money. Sammy pulled a switch. His new profession is as a pick-pocket. Directed by: John Newland. Story by: Henry Slesar.
7 total · 3 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| how to crack a safe | major | Sammy tried every known method to get into the safe. |
| the art of salesmanship | major | The story concerns a PR stunt by a safe-manufacturer. |
| theft | major | Sammy had been in Jail for cracking safes. In the end we learn that he was a pickpocket and had just purloined $50,000. |
| father and daughter | minor | Sammy was teaching his daughter, Dorothy, how to pick pockets like her old man. |
| fear of heights | minor | In his sketch, Alfred Hitchcock professed to suffer from acrophobia. |
| medical occupation | minor | In his sketch, Alfred Hitchcock pretended to be a blundering dentist. |
| pride goes before a fall | minor | The PR man Harrison Fell was humbled when it became apparent that the notorious safe-cracker he hired to publicly demonstrate the 801 Burglar-Proof safe found an ingenious way to make off with the $50,000 in cash it supposedly contained. |