On this rainy day in Los Angeles, the wife and I curled up with some Columbo episodes.

We watched the great A Friend in Deed. I marveled at the great work of Val Avery in this episode. But my wife wondered how did Deputy Commissioner Halperin know to look at Artie Jessup's file to fin out his address?
Why did he pick him out of all the files Columbo had laid out of Sgt. Duffy's desk?

Are we just to assume that Hugh Caldwell described Artie Jessup to the commish?

I'm only going by memory, but I recall Halperin casually looking at the desk and grabbing a couple of files...but I could be wrong. I'm not so sure it's that Huge Caldwell described or even would have to described a known criminal like Artie Jessup to somebody like Halperin. I think all Caldwell would have had to do is give him Jessup's name. I love this episode. One of the best endings of any Columbo, in my opinion. One thing I get a kick out out of is that seemed to take Halperin about 3 seconds to drown his wife in the tub? **** that woman gave up quickly. Or maybe it was a case of censorship at its best in the 70s?

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Replying to:

On this rainy day in Los Angeles, the wife and I curled up with some Columbo episodes.

We watched the great A Friend in Deed. I marveled at the great work of Val Avery in this episode. But my wife wondered how did Deputy Commissioner Halperin know to look at Artie Jessup's file to fin out his address?
Why did he pick him out of all the files Columbo had laid out of Sgt. Duffy's desk?

Are we just to assume that Hugh Caldwell described Artie Jessup to the commish?

just like jack med, i'm going strictly on memory.

from what i can recall, lt. dryer (john finnegan) who headed the burglary division was asked by halperin to pick out the most likely suspects as to who was robbing all these houses. at the top of dryer's list was the 'lovable' artie jessup.

i'm sure he informed columbo and halperin about this in seperate conversations.

when halperin went into dryer's office, where columbo had taken up temporary residence, columbo had put artie's folder at the ready so halperin could find it easily.

Thanks Cass and Jack for your prompt responses.

But it still seems like a problem to me. I doubt Artie Jessup would have given his name to Caldwell so that Caldwell could pass it on to Halperin.

And even though the Finnegan character does have Jessup on the top of his list of suspects in the burglaries and may have told Halperin (though this is not shown in the episode), how does Halperin know that Jessup is the indeed the one trying to blackmail Caldwell?

Again you can assume that Halperin learns that Jessup is the leading suspect and that Caldwell may have described him to Halperin, but you do have to assume this as it is not shown.

ok...it's late here in jersey but i couldn't go to bed without trying to find some kind of answer for you and your sweet wife.

i went to THE SOURCE..the amazing 'columbo phile' by the equally amazing mark dawidziak.

reading his entry on this specific part of this episode, he refreshed my memory a bit more.

columbo, going on the fact that they should leave out the last two burglaries (because they included murders), he asked lt. dryer to pick his prime suspect for burglaries of this type.
when dryer points out artie jessup, columbo calls artie and convinces him to call hugh caldwell, telling hugh that he 'knows' that he killed his wife..and he wants $5,000.
hugh eventually contacts halperin who tells hugh to go ahead and give artie the money.

so when halperin was seemingly 'randomnly' going through the files on the desk, he knew exactly who's profile folder he was looking for.

As far as the drowning not being graphic because of censorship, I can think of some drownings (one at least) on EARLIER TV that were pretty graphic. On the other hand, things like TV censorship go in cycles to some degree, instead of in a straight line.
It isn't the speed of the drowning in the bath that bothers me as much as the speed of the SUPPOSED drowning in the pool. The way it's filmed, it takes Halperin SECONDS to get her out of that pool.

That bothers Columbo, too. He asks why she didn't swim.

The biggest charm of "A Friend in Deed" is in Columbo's alliance with a "criminal". The burglar is actually a good guy when compared to a cold-blooded killer like Halperin. The teaming-up of Columbo and Jessup to catch the villain is in my opinion far more effective than the good Lieutenant's alliance with the mob boss
in "Strange Bedfellows" many years later.

Columbo's friendship with a "criminal" is the show's greatest appeal ("A Friend in Deed"). When compared to a heartless murderer like Halperin, the thief is the hero. In my perspective, the decent Lieutenant's collaboration with the mob boss was not nearly as effective as Columbo and Jessup working together to apprehend the criminal. wordle today