Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate

*Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate*
Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate
	DVD cover
Genre	Mystery/Suspense/Comedy
Based on	Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate; by Doris Miles Disney
Screenplay by	John D. F. Black
Directed by	Ted Post
Starring	Myrna Loy; Helen Hayes; Mildred Natwick; Sylvia Sidney; John Beradino; Vince Edwards;
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producer	Lee Rich
Producer	Robert Jacks
Cinematography	Stanley Cortez, A.S.C.
Editors	Folmar Blangsted, A.C.E.
Running time	73 minutes
Production company	Samuel Goldwyn Studios
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	November 9, 1971

Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate^[1]^[2] is a 1971 American made-for-television mystery film directed by Ted Post, starring Myrna Loy, Helen Hayes, Mildred Natwick, Sylvia Sidney, John Beradino and Vince Edwards,^[3] with the screenplay adapted by John D. F. Black from a novel of the same name by Doris Miles Disney.^[4] It was broadcast as the ABC Movie of the Week on November 9, 1971.^[5]

Plot

Four middle-class Pasadena ladies in their late sixties habitually meet for lunch and exchange small talk with their waitress. They propose to create a fictitious young woman named Rebecca, and to submit her profile to a computer dating service. Several days after doing so they begin to receive letters from potential suitors, and derive additional amusement from reading them out loud.

Concurrently, a young woman becomes alarmed by her date Mal's attempts to force himself upon her, and manages to escape into her home. His audible thoughts reveal that he has dangerous difficulty in relating to women.

Mal turns his obsessive attentions to the fictitious "Rebecca", and not only sends a letter but tracks down the telephone number of "her" address. He calls and speaks to one of the old ladies, who impishly accepts a date with him at a local bar. In a spirit of fun, the four ladies wait at the bar to see what Mal looks like; however, when he arrives he mistakes a hooker, Brenda for "Rebecca", and leaves with her. When they arrive at Brenda's apartment and she asks for money, an outraged Mal attacks and kills her.^[6]

Once the ladies realize their actions have led to murder, they go to the police; however, they also investigate Mal themselves, which places them in grave danger...^[7]

Cast

Helen Hayes as Sophie Tate Curtis
Myrna Loy as Evelyn Tryon
Mildred Natwick as Shelby Saunders
Sylvia Sidney as Elizabeth Gibson
Vince Edwards as Mal Weston
John Beradino as Detective Hallum
Larry D. Mann as Police Sergeant Lutz
Barbara Davis as Brenda
Paul Smith as Cutter
Gary Vinson as Jonas
Diane Shalet as Ruth Mellon
Dodo Denney as Trudy
Patrecia Wynand as Hostess
Leonidas Ossetynski as Florist
John Mitchum as Mr. Tubbs
Margaret Wheeler as Mrs. Mellon
Joe Haworth as Detective
William Sumper as Man in Handcuffs

Brief continuation in a similar form

On December 16, 1972, 13 months after the ABC broadcast of Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate on November 9, 1971, NBC reunited Hayes and Natwick in The Snoop Sisters, a two-hour television film about two aged sisters who write mysteries as well as solve crimes.

Although different characters than in Do Not Fold, the Snoop sisters' relationship clearly resembles that of the one adventurous / one sensible style of Do Not Fold's Helen Hayes and Myrna Loy, but with Natwick now cast as the level-headed sibling. Four additional 90-minute episodes of The Snoop Sisters were broadcast between December 1973 and March 1974.^[8]

Reception

In the 1989 edition of Leonard Maltin's TV Movies & Video Guide, the film was rated "Average", with the comment that the "way in which prank turns frightening could've been handled far, far better; otherwise, good performances." Steven H. Scheuer's Movies on TV and Videocassette (1986–87 edition) gave the movie 1½ stars (out of 4), with the opening sentence stating, "[T]his all-star comedy about murder tends to be a bit coy..."

References

^ "Punched card readers sense the uniform rectangular holes in cards but damage to a card may make it unreadable. Frequently, office workers organize papers and forms by stapling or folding them together, or by impaling them on a spindle - all damaging to a card. Thus, beginning in the 1950s when punched cards became widespread, manufacturers printed a warning on cards that would be individually handled. IBM's “Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate” was the best known." — Balaban, Naomi E.; Bobick, James E., eds. (2011), The Handy Science Answer Book (Fourth ed.), Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press (published April 1, 2011), p. 34, ISBN 978-1578593217
^ "Spindle" refers to a pointed vertical metal pin on a weighted base that many office workers utilized on their desks to hold stray notes and documents; the sheets of paper would be "skewered" on the pin to form a stacked bundle of pierced pages. This device is less in use nowadays because of the injury hazard presented by the sharpened tip.
^ "Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
^ Doris Miles Disney (1970). Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate. New York City: Doubleday. ISBN 9997406311. OCLC 98757.
^ "Helen Hayes Tops Cast Of 4 Veteran Actresses" (Schenectady Gazette, November 6, 1971, TV section p.19)
^ Maxwell, Brini. "Helen Hayes & Myrna Loy in Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate" (The Obscurity Factor, April 3, 2011)
^ Photos, screenshots and other images related to Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate
^ The Snoop Sisters at AllRovi