The Dead Part of the House

Paul Burton is a widower who with his daughter Ann goes to live with his sister, Aunt Minna in Sausalito.

It is a mansion with a Chinese butler. Ann has a playroom and she acquires three pretend friends by way of dolls.

It just so happens some years earlier three children perished while left alone in the house.

Paul is a grouchy father who seems to be easily wound up by his daughter. Especially when she talks about her new friends.

Maybe the spirits are guiding Ann to reconnect with her father and move on and go live in a new city.

Some good acting from the girl who played Ann. The story is rather dry and dull with an element of seen something similar to it before.

Grieving widower Paul Burton ups and leaves, together with his young daughter Ann, to stay with his sister Minna. Father and daughter are somewhat distant, so Ann finds comfort in three dolls, that live in the dead part of the house.

A mixed bag this one, some good, some not quite so good. I liked the setup, I liked the ambiguity of the dolls, and the fractured relationship between Paul and Ann was well realised.

Maybe if we'd seen or heard something, that would have helped, as a viewer I felt left out.

I don't think tne story really goes anywhere, there's no threat, no tension, no spice, it's all just too slow and passed, the Chinese manservant served no purpose.

5/10.

Excellent episode was the best of the season, as a man(played by Philip Abbott) moves into an old house with his sister(played by Joanna Linville) and young daughter Anne(played by Mimi Gibson). Relations are strained between him and his daughter because his wife (her mother) died, and he unjustly blames her. Anne finds solace in her bedroom with three dolls(named Jennifer, Rose, & Mary) she becomes obsessed playing with, as they become her only friends, and as it turns out, may be possessed by the spirits of three girls who died there many years ago, and want Anne to join them there permanently... Most effective ghost tale with fine cast and atmosphere, and fitting end.

If there is one story that could be shown to a young kid, I guess that would be this one, this very episode. It is maybe not the best so far in the show, but it is cute, and never dull nor boring. Many folks among audiences could recognize themselves in those characters. This story is not my cup of tea but I think it belongs perfectly to the line, spirit and atmosphere standard of this TV show dedicated to eerie and fantasy stories. For a tV show including nearly one hundred episodes, you have to provide many kinds of stories, not only gritty, downbeat or frightening ones. Here, you have Philip Ahn, the most know Chinese actor for exotic thrillers or adventure yarns of the forties and fiffties in Hollywood.

Following the accidental death of his wife, in Denver, psychologically fragile Philip Abbott (as Paul Burton) and his young daughter Mimi Gibson (as Ann Burton) go to live with Mr. Abbott's sister, attractive Joanne Linville (as Minna Boswell), in San Francisco. A divorcée, Ms. Linville lives in a mysterious house, with stereotypical "old world" Chinese manservant Philip Ahn (as Song). Obviously, Mr. Abbott and Ms. Linville hope to provide a pseudo-family for lonely girl.

Both Abbott and his daughter are experiencing emotional shock, and grief. Credited writer Michael Plant elicits these kind of assumptions with a cleverly written script; it keeps your mind working. The props (music box, doll house) presage the "Dark Shadows" 1970 playroom frequented by Kathy Cody. Eventually, young Gibson discovers a sealed-off section of the house. There, she spends her time with friends Jennifer, Rose, and Mary - but, are they real people, dolls… or ghosts?

***** The Dead Part of the House (3/17/59) John Newland ~ Philip Abbott, Joanne Linville, Mimi Gibson, Philip Ahn