April 28th, 1957-September 14th, 1958 (ABC)
A half-hour interview series with host Mike Wallace.
Mike Wallace interviews gangster Mickey Cohen. Cohen discusses the rackets and calls the Los Angeles police chief William H. Parker "a sadistic degenerate."
Also included, the opening of the "lost" Mike Wallace Interview, broadcast, the following week, May 26, 1958:
Host Mike Wallace issues an apology and retracts the statements made by Mickey Cohen, the week before, that adversely reflected the character of Los Angeles police chief William H.Parker and others.
Vice President of ABC TV Oliver Treyz appears and retracts all statements Mickey Cohen made adversely reflecting the character of the Los Angeles Police Chief William H. Parker, and others.
NOTE: The vast majority of the 72 episodes of ABC’s The Mike Wallace Interview are collected (and have been digitized) at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas. Several of those episodes exist solely on audio. However, one of the most controversial episodes–in which Wallace interviewed Mickey Cohen–is not part of the Ransom collection. Nor can it be found at any of the other big four television archives.
It can, however, be found at Archival Television Audio, Inc. ATA has the complete Mickey Cohen episode (originally broadcast May 19th, 1957). It also has the retraction read by ABC’s Oliver Treyz the following week, October 26, 1957; Ransom has this episode (with Senator Wayne Morse) but the retraction by Treyz is not included nor is a brief retraction by Wallace himself.