The Rat! Legendary Episode of East Side, West Side (1963), “Who Do You Kill,” Starring James Earl Jones, Diana Sands, and George C. Scott

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

This is the most famous episode of East Side, West Side, which is the favorite TV show of old Reds. And this is their favorite episode, because it revolves around one of old Reds’ favorite clichés: The killer ghetto rat! All urban black families were at the mercy of killer rats!

black Red Richard Wright’s novel, Native Son, opens with black psychopath Bigger Thomas killing a rat in his family’s Chicago slum apartment. And so, for this episode of East Side, West Side, Communist executive producer Arnold Perl wrote a script in which a youngish black couple’s little girl gets bitten by a rat while sleeping in her crib, and dies.

There’s tremendous talent on hand, yet the gifted players are overwhelmed by Perl’s agitprop script. (Perl was blessedly blacklisted during the so-called “McCarthy Era.”)

“I don’t think any White man knows what it’s like, the life of a negro.”

Social worker Neil Brock (George C. Scott).

I know what the life of a negro is like!

The husband (Jones), who is in a continual state of rage, until his baby dies, refuses to take any work he considers “menial,” e.g., janitorial work.

“Reverend, why you get a White coffin? Is that supposed to make it nicer?”

Ruth Goodwin (Diana Sands)

Man, I’ve had to settle for such awful jobs that being a janitor would have been a big step up. One summer in West Germany (1982), the only job I could find entailed disposing of decomposed mice and rat carcasses that had been stacked in plastic containers on Friday afternoon, in a sweltering, unventilated room, and which then sat there all weekend, until we knocked them into the garbage on Monday, and washed the containers in a Hobart commercial dishwashing machine over the next two-and-a-half days. On those days, when I got home to my girlfriend’s dorm room after work, I’d strip off my Daimler-Benz overalls in her doorway, and run straight to the shower. But no matter how long and thoroughly I showered, I couldn’t rid myself of the stench of rotting mice and rats.

black supremacist propagandist Spike Lee, whom I suspect of being a member of the racist murder cult, the Nation of Islam, filmed Perl’s script in X (1992), which was considerably better than this script, though Lee tacked on his own agitprop ending, which ruined the picture.

 

 

“East Side/West Side is an American drama series starring George C. Scott, Elizabeth Wilson, Cicely Tyson, and later on, Linden Chiles. The series aired for one season (1963–1964) and was shown Monday nights on CBS.

“Set in New York City, the show explored issues of urban life, some of them grim. Though it won critical praise, it also generated some controversy. TV Guide ranked it #6 on their 2013 list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon" –

“The series centers on Scott in the role of Neil Brock, a New York City social worker who worked for the private agency Community Welfare Service, with his secretary, Jane Foster, played by actress Cicely Tyson. Episodes of East Side/West Side covered topics relevant to the inner city, with many controversial issues explored.

“An exemplary episode of East Side/West Side entitled "Who Do You Kill?" aired on 4 November 1963. The story portrays how a black couple in their early twenties living in a Harlem tenement face the death of their infant daughter, who is bitten by a rat while in her crib. Diana Sands played the mother who works in a neighborhood bar to support the family. Her husband, played by James Earl Jones, is frustrated by unemployment and grows more bitter each day. --Wikipedia/Mary Ann Watson

“Big ups to JoeyBoey the original poster. this episode is missing 5 minutes but has great performances from Scott, Tyson, Diana Sands and James Earl Jones remain powerful.”