Series · 1959
Johnny Staccato
TELEVISION'S JAZZ DETECTIVE

The series
Jazz pianist Johnny Staccato supplements his meager musician's income by working as a private detective. The background for many of the episodes is his friend "Waldo's" jazz club in New York City's Greenwich Village, featuring performances by the Pete Candoli jazz combo which included Barney Kessel, Shelly Manne, Red Mitchell, Red Norvo and Johnny Williams. The theme was composed by Elmer Bernstein.
Episodes
Season 1 · 27 episodes · 1959
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Episode 110 Sep 195930m
The Naked Truth
A young singer is faced with the loss of his promising career because of a scandal magazine's blackmail scheme.
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Episode 217 Sep 195930m
Murder for Credit
A bandleader, making a comeback, learns that someone is trying to poison him. But four people might want him killed...
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Episode 324 Sep 195930m
Parents
""The parents"" have agreed to sell their child to a black-market racketeer. Now they tell Johnny they want to keep the child.
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Episode 48 Oct 195930m
Shop of the Four Winds
Investigating the murder of a Japanese friend, Johnny uncovers a scheme to swindle immigrants by promising them citizenship papers.
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Episode 515 Oct 195930m
The Nature of the Night
Dave, the new young bartender at Waldo's, comes under suspicion when a number of blonde women are slashed nearby. Johnny uncovers some darkly disturbing information.
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Episode 622 Oct 195930m
Viva, Paco!
When a Puerto Rican boxer goes missing just before a championship fight, Johnny suspects foul play.
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Episode 729 Oct 195930m
Evil
Johnny Staccato learns from his friend Barney that Barney's sister has given all her money to a local mission house. Knowing that the mission wouldn't ordinarily accept so much, Staccato suspects a bunco scheme.
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Episode 85 Nov 195930m
Murder in Hi-fi
An underworld boss forces Waldo to hire singer Barbara Ames. Then Johnny gets interested in the girl--and is beaten up by a couple of thugs.
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Episode 912 Nov 195930m
Fly, Baby, Fly
A millionaire hires Johnny as part of a plan to murder his wife (Gena Rowlands).
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Episode 1019 Nov 195930m
Tempted
Elizabeth Montgomery plays a rare pre-Bewitched role as a floozy jazz groupie who's the ex-wife of one of Staccato's former band mates. Out of the blue she shows up at Waldo's the jazz club (and Staccato's ""office"") to enlist Staccato's …
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Episode 1126 Nov 195930m
The Poet's Touch
Working on a murder case, Johnny Staccato trails two suspects to their hideout. With them is beatnik poet Dick Potter, whom the men attempt to implicate in the crime.
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Episode 1224 Mar 196030m
The Wild Reed
When Frankie Aspen's saxophone-playing takes a sudden turn for the worse, Johnny determines to find out what is bothering him.
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Episode 1310 Dec 195930m
A Piece of Paradise
A dance-hall girl is murdered, and Police Sergeant Joe Gillan suspects ex-jockey Stash McGill, a friend of the dead girl. Gillan asks Johnny Staccato if he can help locate McGill.
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Episode 1417 Dec 195930m
The Return
Korean War veteran Eddie Dasko escapes from a mental hospital. Dasko is sure that his wife has been seeing another man, and he intends to kill her,
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Episode 1524 Dec 195930m
The Unwise Men
Johnny tries to help a musician who, while moonlighting as a department-store Santa Claus, is being pressured by his ex-con brother to help set up a robbery at the store.
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Episode 1631 Dec 195930m
Collector's Item
A man called Red Top kills Hannah Green, but pianist Romeo Jefferson is the chief suspect until Staccato suspects that Romeo has been framed.
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Episode 177 Jan 196030m
Man in the Pit
A young man enters Waldo's and attacks Pete, the trumpet player. Johnny Staccato learns that the youth thinks Pete is his father, who deserted the family years before.
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Episode 1814 Jan 196030m
The Only Witness
Wealthy racketeer Barney Buford calls Johnny Staccato to ask him to look after his young sister, Karen. As he approaches Buford's apartment, Staccato is shot at by a gunman. Then inside, he finds Buford dead.
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Episode 1921 Jan 196030m
Night of Jeopardy
To evade Federal agents, a gang of counterfeiters hide their plates. Convinced that Waldo knows the hiding place, they threaten his life.
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Episode 2028 Jan 196030m
Double Feature
A bowling-alley proprietor is found murdered, and Johnny Staccato is identified as the killer.
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Episode 214 Feb 196030m
The List Of Death
A hunted criminal hires Staccato as a bodyguard and promises to turn himself over to police in exchange for letting him visit family members.
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Episode 2211 Feb 196030m
Solomon
Jessica Winthrop, a noted pacifist, is accused of killing her husband. Solomon Bradshaw, the lady's lawyer, comes to Johnny Staccato for help.
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Episode 2318 Feb 196030m
An Act of Terror
Ventriloquist Thad Clinton drops in to ask Staccato if he'll help locate his missing wife. Johnny finds out that the woman has been murdered.
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Episode 2425 Feb 196030m
An Angry Young Man
Johnny becomes concerned when an ambitious young man, whose family he has known for years, starts working in a bookshop that is just a cover for a criminal enterprise.
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Episode 253 Mar 196030m
The Mask of Jason
Johnny is hired to bodyguard an aspiring actress (Mary Tyler Moore) who is being terrorized by a man with a horribly scarred face.
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Episode 2610 Mar 196030m
A Nice Little Town
When a former soldier returns home after having defected to Red China, he is murdered by a group of vigilantes.
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Episode 2717 Mar 196030m
Swinging Long Hair
Staccato is mistaken for a concert pianist who has come to the United States to avoid his repressive government.

