Diana Dors’ gory story
QUESTION Did Diana Dors play the leading role in a TV series considered unfit for broadcast?
IT WAS not a series, but an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents that was considered too gruesome to air in the U.S. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was filmed in August 1961 and scheduled to air on the NBC network in 1962.
In the early 1960s, British star Diana Dors spent much of her time at her Beverly Hills home in a failed attempt to escape tabloid interest in her spicy private life.
The script of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was adapted by Robert Bloch from one of his stories that first appeared in the January 1949 issue of Weird Tales.
Bloch was the author of the novel Psycho, which was made into one of Hollywood’s greatest horror films.
Dors plays Irene Sandini, the wife of a carnival magician, the Great Sandini (David J. Stewart).
Hugo, a simple young man, becomes infatuated with her. He believes she is an angel and her husband the devil. Hugo was played by Brandon deWilde, best remembered as Joey, the boy in the classic 1953 western Shane.
Irene plans to murder her husband and frame Hugo for the crime. She uses his inability to distinguish reality from fantasy to convince him that by killing Sandini, he will inherit his magic wand and gain its powers.
Following the murder, Irene falls, hits her head and is knocked unconscious. She wakes up in a box her husband used to saw his assistants in half.
The show ends with her screaming as the saw approaches and the picture fades to black as Hugo urges her gleefully: ‘Smile, Irene! Smile! Smile!’
While nothing explicit is seen, NBC’s sponsor Revlon decided it was a bit much for the audience and it was never aired.
It is the most widely distributed Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode and can be viewed free on the Internet Archive.
Carl Holden, Bolton, Lancs.
QUESTION Who invented the chainsaw?
THE first chainsaw was intended for medical purposes, not chopping down trees. It was invented in 1780 by Scottish surgeons James Jeffrey and John Aitken for a surgical procedure used during difficult childbirths.
Doctors had previously used a knife or saw to slice cartilage to widen the pelvis, which was time-consuming and painful in an era before anaesthesia.
Jeffrey and Aitken came up with a small tool the size of a kitchen knife with little teeth on a chain that was wound by a hand crank. The rotating blade was able to cut through bone.
Its small size meant it was faster and more precise than a knife or saw.
In 1830, German physician Bernhard Heine faced a similar challenge in his treatment of bone deformities, disorders and injuries.
His manual cutting tools were too crude, making his work messy and tiresome, so he invented the osteotome.
The word comes from the Greek osteo (bone) and tome (cut). A handheld, long blade was used to guide a chain with very sharp teeth. The handle was connected to a sprocket wheel.
These surgical instruments disappeared from medical practice when safety, hygiene and pain relief became the focus, but the ease with which they had cut bones gave other people the idea that they could be used to cut wood.
The oldest known chainsaw for chopping down trees was made in San Francisco by Samuel Bens.
The endless Chain Saw was a large, stationary unit comprised of chain links with cutter teeth that rotated on a guide bar frame. It was patented in 1905, but was large, heavy and cumbersome.
Canadian millwright James Shand developed a portable version in 1918.
Both designs were powered by generators mounted on tractors or crawlers, which made them difficult to use in forests. When Shand’s patent elapsed in 1930, German company Festo improved his design.
An important contributor to the development of the modern chainsaw was German mechanical engineer Andreas Stihl. He had patented an electric chainsaw for logging in 1926 and a gasoline-powered design in 1929.
Though a long way from today’s handheld machines, Stihl is credited with inventing the first mobile, motorised chainsaw.
Emilie McRae, Trowbridge, Wilts.
QUESTION Has a saltwater crocodile attacked a human in the sea?
CATEGORICALLY, yes. In Australia’s Northern Territory and Queensland, deadly saltwater crocs patrol rivers and the open ocean.
It’s a myth that salties can’t open their mouths and attack in the ocean. A valve seals off their throat, enabling them to open their mouths underwater.
Beaches in Northern Australia carry warning signs for a reason. Croc tracks can often be seen on the sand and the animals have been spotted out at sea up to 30 miles from the shore.
Unlike alligators or caimans, they have a special gland to expel salt and an impermeable lining to their mouth. A large saltie can survive a long time without drinking fresh water.
Attacks result in an average of two human fatalities a year in Australia including in the open ocean. In 2005, Russell Harris, 37, of Nottingham was killed by a croc while snorkelling off Picnic Beach in Queensland.
Tom Davies, Gerringong, New South Wales.