"A Wig for Miss Devore" was an August Derleth story adapted by Donald S. Sanford, offering Patricia Barry the best of her three roles of the series, kicking off with the medieval execution of convicted witch Meg Peyton (Pamela Searle), who has no qualms about being hanged so long as her wig adorns her lovely features. Once the deed is done, the executioner grabs the wig and finds his hands transformed into wrinkled claws, for Meg had created it strand by strand from all her many victims, once worn it can restore a woman's beauty so long as it is never removed. Patricia's Sheila Devore is a 38 year old has been diva, off screen for too long and choosing as her comeback vehicle a horror film about Meg Peyton, complete with the actual wig. Her business manager, Herbert Bleake (John Fiedler), is able to convince Empire Studio chief Max Quinke (Herbert Rudley) to finance the picture due to his previous embezzlement of Sheila's accounts, aided and abetted by her director, George Machik (John Baragrey), and all are dazzled by the new Sheila on her first day on the set, both men suddenly clamoring for her affections after paying no heed to her before. Herbert, in love with her all these years, receives a letter detailing the evil background of Meg's hairpiece, but Sheila wants nothing to interfere with her revenge on Quinke and Machik, their attempts at seduction ending with 'accidental' deaths that make Sheila a wealthy starlet again. Were it not for the meddling of venomous society columnist Arabella Foote (Linda Watkins) things would look quite rosy for Miss Devore, but once she sinks in her claws there's no going back. Even the Derleth original was a satire of old Hollywood, characters as shallow as expected and deserving of their fates, apart from the reliable, sympathetic John Fiedler. Patricia Barry was 39 at the time and still a looker, mostly over the top yet still able to tap into her lost humanity when it comes to Herbert's unrequited love. The climax is suitably grim, and the final reveal very similar to Harry Townes' mirror apparition in "The Cheaters."
