Wild Wild West episode Night of the Big Blackmail

Wild Wild West

Night of the Big Blackmail, #6801

While President Grant attends an event at the German Consulate, Baron Hinterestoisser invites him to a special reception, explaining he has something interesting for the president to see. Suspicious, agent James West retrieves the mysterious box the Baron refers to and finds a kinetoscope of a fake depiction of President Grant signing a secret agreement with the unscrupulous government of another nation. If the film is shown for the heads of other countries, Grant will suffer terrible indignation and upset international relations. If the film is not replaced, however, the Baron will accuse the U.S. of stealing on consulate soil, a far greater crime. Agent Artemus Gordon decides that the only alternative is to make a duplicate kintetoscope -- with some changes -- and return it to the consulate before it is discovered missing.

West and Gordon finish just as the president arrives. The Baron announces that he has proof of President Grant's connection with the corrupt foreign officials. But as the film is shown before an attentive crowd, it's not quite what Hinterestoisser expects.

Director Irving Moore remembered working with Korman. "In the scene where Harvey meets all the dignitaries, he came to me and said, 'You've got to be careful, because every time I start to speak I start to think of the Carol Burnett Show' So he came in, his mouth opened and I started to laugh; then he started to laugh."

Baron Hinterestoisser: Harvey Korman
Hess: Wilhem von Homburg
President Grant: Roy Engel
Dick January: Ron Rich
Directed by Irving Moore
Written by David Mossinger

* The above information was compiled from The Wild Wild West: The Series by Susan E. Kesler (Arnett Press), "Michael Garrison's Wild Wild West," an article by Robert Alan Crick in Epi-Log Journal #11 and other sources.
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