tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post2380556517077219308..comments2024-03-27T22:27:16.556-04:00Comments on It's About TV: Mitchell's Top Ten, #7: Nero WolfeMitchell Hadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-48067775126818394122013-08-29T18:27:06.107-04:002013-08-29T18:27:06.107-04:00First, correcting a mistake from yesterday:
Rex S...First, correcting a mistake from yesterday:<br /><br />Rex Stout died in 1974, aged 88.<br /><br />This next part is a little complicated, so follow along:<br /><br />Back in the '40s, there was a popular detective show called <i>The Fat Man</i>, a sort-of creation of Dashiell Hammett (loosely based on the Continental Op).<br />The radio <i>Fat Man</i> was called Brad Runyon, and was played by J. Scott Smart, an announcer with an appropriate physique.<br />Smart starred in a movie version for Universal circa 1950, but the radio show fell victim to Hammett's blacklisting not long thereafter.<br /><br />Fast forward to 1958: Screen Gems buys the title <i>The Fat Man</i> and dcides to mount a TV series.<br />At this same time, Screenwriters Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts (<i>White Heat</i>) have tried and failed to get TV rights to do <i>Nero Wolfe</i>.<br />SG then engaged Goff and Roberts to do their <i>Fat Man</i> show, which the two writers turn into a carbon copy of <i>Wolfe</i>; Robert Middleton plays "Lucius Crane" and Tony Travis is an Archie clone (I have this pilot in my DVD wall at home, which is how I know all this). This pilot didn't sell (probably after the lawyers got a look at it).<br /><br />Fast forward to 1976, after Rex Stout's death.<br />His estate puts <i>Wolfe</i> in play as possible TV fare; Paramount mounts a pilot with Thayer David (who had played a dozen different characters on <i>Dark Shadows</i>)for ABC, written and directed by Frank Gilroy (<i>The Subject Was Roses</i>). This pilot sits on ABC's shelf for several years, during which time Thayer David died; ABC finally burned off the pilot around 1980 in a late-night slot.<br /><br />Fast forward to 1982 or so; Paramount still has the <i>Wolfe</i> rights, and Orson Welles has expressed interest in the part.<br />Paramount puts a new pilot on fast track, to be produced and written by none other than Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts (see above).<br />By the time they get the script ready, Orson Welles has lost interest (see his entire career), and Paramount proceeds with Bill Conrad (one fat actor is as good as another, right?).<br /><br />And there things stood 'til the turn of the Millenium, when A&E suddenly got interested ...<br /><br />TV - It's Fun! It's History! It's America!Mike Dorannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-63093347273116449902013-08-28T18:13:23.428-04:002013-08-28T18:13:23.428-04:00I believe I've mentioned that I'm a Nero W...I believe I've mentioned that I'm a Nero Wolfean from way back - in my case, since I've been old enough to buy my own paperback books (high school).<br /><br />This would be the mid-to-late '60s. I actually still have many of those same editions - Bantam Books with a 50-60c cover price.<br /><br />But since this is a TV site, I'll just lay some history on you:<br /><br /><i>Nero Wolfe</i> was being proposed for TV as far back as the early '50s. There had a been a raesonably popular radio series the decade before (one of the radio Wolfes was Sydney Greenstreet), and Rex Stout's agent Edwin Fadiman was eager to take the character to the homescreen.<br />There was one problem: Rex Stout <i>hated</i> television.<br />Back in the '30s, he'd been burned by two botched movie versions of Wolfe, one with Edward Arnold, the other with Walter Connolly. In these movies, Archie was played by Lionel Stander - 'nuf sed.<br />Stout OK'ed the radio shows, but had nothing to do with their production; he had no desire to take on TV.<br />Fadiman was persistent, though, and after many false starts, he finally got a <i>Nero Wolfe</i> TV series ready to go on CBS in the fall of 1959.<br />CBS and Fadiman taped/filmed a pilot starring Kurt Kasznar as Wolfe and William Shatner as Archie; reportedly several more episodes were actually produced.<br /><i>Wolfe</i> even had a timeslot (Mondays at 10/9 Central) and a sponsor.<br />Then =, with almsot no notice, <i>Wolfe</i> was out and <i>Hennessey</i> was in.<br />The whole <i>Nero Wolfe</i> series vanished without trace - the pilot was never shown, no other episodes surfaced, without trace to this day.<br />No one knows for sure what happened.<br />The best guess seems to be that Rex Stout killed the whole project, but no one can seem to confirm that.<br />All that is known for sure is that no TV production of <i>Nero Wolfe</i> was mounted until after Rex Stout's death in 1972.<br />I'd send you somewhere for more info, but basically what I've written here is all that's known about <i>Wolfe</i>'59.<br />There's the website of The Wolfe Pack, with much Wolfean lore for you to sample, but they don't know much more than I do.<br /><br />In the meantime ... enjoy.Mike Dorannoreply@blogger.com