A Warner Brothers anthology series that ran for twenty episodes. This episode is a light SF story by Alfred Bester with a teleplay by SF writer James Gunn. James Garner is in the cast along with character actor Stacy Harris. It’s a fun show.
A Polish immigrant. Johnny Vlakoz (Jacques Sernas) buys some books including a dusty Almanac of America. The bookstore owner doesn’t remember where it came from and charges him just a dollar.
Johnny leaves and he locks the door. He turns around and there’s a man in a white suit (Charles Ruggles). He’s looking for the Almanac and is told a local janitor just bought it. He doesn’t know where he lives. The owner turns around and the man is gone.
Johnny puts the book on a shelf and the spine shows the Almanac is from 1997. He goes to his friend Red’s (James Garner) apartment. He’s playing the ponies. Johnny is attracted to Red’s sister Maureen (Gloria Talbott). She says she wants to marry a rich man.
Johnny looks at the Almanac and sees the winner of a horse race. He tells Red to put a bet down for them. Two hoods, Arnie (Stacy Harris) and Bill know the race is fixed so Red bets on the sure thing. Of course Johnny’s pick comes in first. Arnie and Bill are upset and want to know if Johnny has something special that lets him pick winners.
They go to search Johnny’s apartment and are discovered by Johnny and Maureen. The show works its way towards a surprise ending that was almost too moralistic but doesn’t fall totally into that trap and that saves the show and makes it watchable.
Jacques Sernas appeared in a lot of spectacles including “Helen Of Troy” in 1956. In 1960 he was in “La Dolce Vita.”
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