If you're like me, you probably gave up watching the news years ago. I mean, I already take medication to keep from getting depressed; the last thing I need is to go out there and intentionally find something that makes me even more depressed. But, you say, what if there was a happy news program out there, one that made you smile even through the worst of the news? Well, if that's what you're looking for, than New York's WABC has the answer.
Don't believe me? Here's a letter from a couple in White Plains, New York: "Here we are watching our favorite comedy program: Eyewitness News really knows how to make the news bearable. We're crying on the inside and laughing on the outside. Right on!" It's not, as Richard K. Doan points out, that the station ignores the bad news; they still cover "the rape, riot and revolution" of the day. They take what they do seriously; it's how they do it that brings smiles to viewers. Eyewitness News co-anchors Roger Grimsby and Bill Beutel lead the way; one night, Grimsby, having reported that striking cab drivers believed he had treated the news of their strike "too lightly," dryly remarked, "I'm not going to step off the curb when I hail a cab." And then there was the time when reporter Melba Tolliver signed off from a story from McSorley's Bar, as the camera panned to an outside view of a painting of "a voluptuous nude hanging on the wall." Cracked Beutel, "Didn't look much like Melba." And then there was the time that sports reporter Howard Cosell was introduced as the president of the Howard Cosell Fan Club.
Granted, from our perspective it may be pretty easy to keep a straight face in response to this banter, but there's no question that this does signal a shift from the traditional stern-faced, all-business news anchors we all know and love. As Doan points out, while there's no shortage of bad news on Eyewitness News, the fact of the matter is that most of the news is not about the war, inflation, drugs, hippies, and other ulcer-inducing stories; instead, the station bears down on "old-fashioned" bad news: robberies, muggings, stabbings, fires, and the like. It's tabloid news for a tabloid city, and it's helped catapult WABC into first place in New York City's ratings race. And the newscasters at Channel 7 are just one happy family, engaging in harmless kidding around between themselves.
And that might be another reason why we don't see anything so remarkable in this today: we're used to it. Probably every news market in America runs commercials showing their personalities parading around the city in staged group shots, while they act like the best of workplace friends in front of the camera. At least in Minneapolis-St. Paul, where I grew up, the news, weather, and sports anchors didn't even share the same desk until the late 1960s; typically, when the news finished there'd be a commercial break, after which you'd return to see the sports anchor occupying the desk, and likewise with the weather. In most of our 1960s TV Guides, the three segments of the broadcast are listed as three separate programs. If this was your typical view of the news, even the concept of having everyone together would be a development; the byplay between them would add to the family atmosphere.
But is this jocularity good for the news? Not everyone likes this approach; Time called the Eyewitness News crew "a happy-go-lucky bunch of banana men," and Marvin Kitman of Newsday described the broadcast as having "the flavor of a cocktail party a stranger has just wandered into. It is not good journalism." On the other hand, Kitman also suggested they should probably "win a prize for honesty," and Columbia University's William Wood suggested that this approach was a vast improvement over "the funeral, almost pompous" way people were accustomed to receiving the news. WABC's general manager, Kenneth MacQueen, isn't complaining about the station's increase in revenues, and defends the approach: "I don't think 'happy news' describes it. It's just humanistic," and Richard O'Leary, president of ABC's O&O stations, has expanded the approach to its stations in Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. "People want somebody to reassure them," O'Leary says in explanation of the format's success, "so they can take their fingernails out of their palms and go to sleep at night."
Naturally, success breeds imitation, and it won't be long before some form of this, whatever you want to call it, is the rule rather than the exception for local news. I'd go so far as to suggest that this is just the way news is nowadays everywhere, including networks and cablecasts. I'm not against it in principle; what I think we need more of in the industry today is actual journalistic reporting by people with at least a modicum of talent, and comedy is no replacement for gravitas. Just give me the damn news, and once you've established that you can handle it, then if you want to kid around a bit, you can. But remember, this isn't an evening at the improv. People didn't watch Cronkite because he acted like their best friend or empathized with them; they watched him because they trusted him. That's what we need more of today.
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From 1963 to 1976, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever they appear, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era.
If you were left in any doubt as to what Cleveland Amory thinks of CBS's daytime drama Love is a Many Splendored Thing, then his conclusion should remove any question. To the tune of the song of the same name:
Once on a high and windy hill
In the morning mist
Two lovers kissed
And the plot stood still
Well, I suppose you could say that about any soap opera, but it seems particularly appropriate in this case, for as Cleve says, nothing ever really happens on this show. "One day, for example, there was some really wild action—a phone call. Of course it didn't happen right away. Nothing ever happens right away on a show like this." He goes on to recount how they talked about the call on Monday. On Tuesday, they discussed the arguments for and against making the call. He skipped Wednesday, but he didn't miss anything, for on Thursday they finally made the call. And on Friday, they talked about why they made it. Fortunately, the weekend came along, and a break from watching. Which was a good thing, because "There is no man living who could do it every day. It is, for a mere male, too emotionally exciting."
Lest you think this is the only thing from which this show suffers, there's more. The series, Amory says, takes place around a hospital and a research foundation. "Which, we guess, is supposed to give it all a kind of nobility. One thing is certain—the characters don't. They are as shoddy a bunch as you would care to come across in this show or the next." There's so much misery, deceit, infertility, infidelity, and other things that it should be called a mope opera. And what else can one do should you find yourself in a situation like this but talk about. And talk. "All the characters, apparently on the theory they are just on radio, do nothing but talk." And, of course, fall in and out of that splendored thing called love. What amazes me is that Love is a Many Splendored Thing had already been on the air for four years at this point, and it has another couple to go before it's done. But if you're anything like Cleveland Amory, you're probably already done much sooner than that.
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After something like that, you have to admit, what's called for is something to cleanse the palette. To accomplish this goal, we turn to Dick Hobson's look at the success of The Beverly Hillbillies, and the man behind it all, Paul Henning.
We've written admiringly about Hillbillies before in this space, particularly Malcolm Muggeridge's insightful article about what the series really represents ("an innocence which triumphantly survives the possession of riches."), but I didn't realize until this moment that it has also played a role in "sanitizing sociocultural stereotypes." Yet, according to Al Simon, Columbia University English major turned situation-comedy entrepreneur, that's just what the show has accomplished. "Before The Beverly Hillbillies went on the air nine years ago, the word 'hillbillies' brought to mind the picture of dirty, unkempt people wearing long beards, inhabiting dilapidated shacks with outhosues out back. As a result of our show, the word has a new meaning all over America. Now, it denotes charming, delightful, wonderful, clean, wholesome people."
All this is something of a mystery to Henning, who was merely looking to produce a show that made people laugh. According to his colleague and collaborator, Dick Wesson, "Paul writes the show to be thigh-slapping funny. So many half-hour shows have those little warm moments of domestic heart-tug and homespun sentimentality. Paul doesn't do that. He writes the how to make you laugh, to really get to your belly."
One proof of the show's success is a $15 million suit filed by a CBS cameraman who claimed that Hillbillies pirated the concept of his presentation for a show, "Country Cousin," featuring a rustic farmer who visits his city-slicker New York relatives. The trial ended in a hung jury, and a new trial has been ordered, but the experience shook Henning up. "It was like walking down the street with your 4-year-old child by the hand and a stranger comes along and says, 'Hey, that's my child!' " Indeed, Hillbillies is Henning's baby through and through: parts of Granny's character come from his mother, while Elly May was based on daughter Linda. Henning himself has written or co-written 247 of thr 274 episodes made to date. And Henning supervises "every detail of production down to the last titter and snort on the laugh track."
Henning with Granny (Irene Ryan)
It only took five weeks for Hillbillies to reach #1 in the ratings, and the list of shows who've tried and failed to go against it is an impressive one: The Perry Como Show, Going My Way, Ben Casey, Espionage, Shindig, Gidget, Blue Light, and The Second Hundred Years. It's given credit for saving The Dick Van Dyke Show from cancelation; during its second season, Van Dyke was moved to a time slot immediately following Hillbillies and "inherited enough of an audience to prosper."
This shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone familiar with Henning's track record in sitcoms; prior to Hillbillies, he'd had a five-season success with The Bob Cummings Show. He's what is known as a "pressure writer," with the deadline bringing out the best in him. He also suffers through every line. "You apply yourself and work hard," he says. "It's simply a weekly grind." He derives great pleasure from Hillbillies, especially when he and Hobson put things in the script that they know won't get past the censors, such as a reducing farm with the motto "Leave your fat behind in Phoenix." The censor, surprisingly, didn't have a problem with that joke other than a request to change the locale to avoid sounding like a commercial for the Elizabeth Arden reducing farm in Phoenix. Even so, they didn't use the joke. "We never had any intention of using it because it just might have offended somebody. We're not writing deathless prose. It's just a line. It's something you grind out like sausage." Although, as Hobson concludes, "no sausage machine takes home $45,000 a week."
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Repeats are plentiful this week; we're advised that some of these episodes are among the best of the season, and we're in no position to disagree. We get started. however, with a first-run special debuting Saturday morning, NBC Children's Theatre's "The Sounds of Children" (9:00 a.m.), which was taped last December at the White House Conference on Children. The hour-long special is performed entirely by children, and includes song, dance, and musical performances, hosted by the Ritts Puppets, and featuring an appearance by First Daughter Julie Nixon Eisenhower. Finishing off Saturday morning, Dick Clark returns to Philadelphia for an American Bandstand reunion with some of the show's former dancers; Chuck Berry is among the musical guests (Noon, ABC).
Sunday features reruns of the full-hour Honeymooners episodes from The Jackie Gleason Show (9:00 p.m., CBS), and this week sees Ralph (Gleason) obsessed with entering contests after his in-laws won a free trip around the world. That's up against a "Lawyers" segment of The Bold Ones (9:00 p.m., NBC) that sees Walt Nichols (Burl Ives) defending a Vietnam vet-turned-hippie who's accused of having killed his best friend.
Plimpton and The Duke
On Monday, George Plimpton—"America's professional amateur," as he's billed—makes his movie debut in "Plimpton! Shoot-Out at Rio Lobo" (8:00 p.m., ABC), a behind-the-scenes look at his experience playing a crooked deputy in the John Wayne movie Rio Lobo. Plimpton is probably most famous for Paper Lion, his exploits in a training camp with the Detroit Lions, but he did a series of specials like this one, and they're all pretty entertaining, although none of them compare to seeing him try to impersonate a professional quarterback. If you like George here, you'll probably want to switch over to Book Beat (9:00 p.m., PBS), where he discusses his book American Journey—The Times of Robert Kennedy with host Bob Cromie. But that's only if you've already seen the original run of tonight's Carol Burnett Show (9:00 p.m., CBS), with Carol and her special guest, Rita Hayworth.
Tuesday gives us a couple of reruns worth watching; unfortunately, they're on at the same time, so hopefully you saw one of them previously. The aforementioned Beverly Hillbillies run into con man Shifty Shafer, played by Phil Silvers, in tonight's episode from Washington, D.C. (6:30 p.m., CBS), while Peter Ustinov stars in Hallmark Hall of Fame's "A Storm in Summer" (6:30 p.m., NBC), written by Rod Serling, and co-starring Ivan Dixon's son N'Gai as an urban youth spending his summer in upstate New York. Both Ustinov and Serling won Emmys.
Wednesday's episode of The Men From Shiloh, which you and I know and love as The Virginian (6:30 p.m., NBC), features James Drury's Virginian, accused of murder, in a hunt for the real killer. The real attraction here is the guest cast, which is exceptional even for a 90-minute series: Joseph Cotten, Brandon deWilde, Monte Markham, Sallie Shockley, Anne Francis, Rod Cameron, Agnes Moorehead, Neville Brand, and John Smith. As if that isn't enough star wattage, hang around for Kraft Music Hall (8:00 p.m., NBC), with host Alan King, who's joined by guests Lena Horne, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Stiller and Meara.
Thursday is a night for variety shows, with Flip Wilson leading things off at 6:30 p.m. (NBC), featuring Roger Miller, the Temptations, Lily Tomlin, and Redd Foxx. At 7:00 p.m., it's The Jim Nabors Hour (CBS), with guest Barbara McNair in a spoof of Cinderella that sees Jim playing a traveling shoe salesman who's mistaken for Prince Charming. And to round out the evening, it's The Dean Martin Show (9:00 p.m., NBC), with guests Engelbert Humperdinck, Dom DeLuise, Jackie Vernon, and Pat Crowley. For variety of a different sort, the late movie tonight is the controversial Lolita (10:30 p.m., KTVI), with James Mason, Shelley Winters, and Sue Lyon.
You'll have to stay up late for Friday's best, but it'll be worth it: a rerun of Dick Cavett's 90-minute interview with Fred Astaire (12:15 a.m., ABC). The show includes clips from some of Astaire's most famous movies, Fred discussing his dancing partners, and the highlight, in which Dick cajoles Fred into doing a little dancing right there. I've long complained about the quality of today's late night shows, but I don't think anyone will disagree with me that there's nobody in television today who'd be capable of doing 90 minutes with a single guest; Cavett was terrific at it.
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Since we began with a story from Richard K. Doan, we'll conclude with The Doan Report, and it was probably inevitable that the ratings race would get to the point where programs were in trouble before they even debuted. Programming consultant Herb Jacobs, looking at factors from star appeal to scheduling, is predicting that Shirley's World, starring Shirley MacLaine in a sitcom about a globetrotting photographer, and The Man and the City, with Anthony Quinn as a big-city mayor, will both bomb, while The Funny Side and The Chicago Teddy Bears are a "disaster area." As it happens, he's right about all four of them; what he gets wrong are the shows he predicts as hits, including Sandy Duncan's Funny Face, James Garner's Nichols, and Jimmy Stewart's Family Plan, which actually aired as The Jimmy Stewart Show; none of them see the promise of a second season, although in the case of Funny Face it was due mostly to Duncan's surgery for a brain tumor. Now, if they could only get to the point where some of these shows are cancelled before anyone even thinks of them. . . TV
My goodness, but we see a lot of articles about The Beverly Hillbillies in this job. There was a cover story on the female stars just a couple of weeks ago, and now the gang is back again. The British seem to have a particular fascination with the show; you'll recall Malcolm Muggeridge wrote a feature just the previous year that was probably more serious than it appears on first glance, and this week it's Ronald Searle, the British artist and cartoonist currently living in Paris (his illustrations accompany the article).
It's not just the Hillbillies that fascinates, of course; the entire concept of America seems to cast a spell on Europeans, as if they're encountering some form of alien life. (And, in the case of Meghan Markle, they probably are.) The American West holds a particular interest for them; as Searle says, "The American Western is considered one of the fine arts. A dress shop, with appropriate decor, may be called "Ranch," a bar may be hung with saddles and pistols, and the jeunesse wouldn’t be seen dead in anything but "louees"—Levi’s, to you." The "West" is also, according to Searle, an approximation—"Somewhere beyond New Jersey," he says.
Searle's particular fascination with The Beverly Hillibillies has to do with the show's success. "By normal standards their rustic program should have been strangled at birth. And yet they have achieved the thing for which many an alchemist sold his soul to the devil: the transmutation of base metal into gold. Golden corn to be specific." And it's not just American captivated by these corn-shucking millionaires; "The adjective 'corn' has been tossed at the Beverly Hillbillies in many languages the world over," he notes, but "the Clampetts are still running way up top on Tokyo TV and, no doubt, in Hong Kong and Hanover. You name it, they probably have it in their rustic bucket."
Why the popularity? Searle isn't sure; "Braver men than I have tried to fathom the success of this comic strip from the backwoods." That isn't important, though. What is important, and undeniable, is that "in every nook and cranny in the United States where men and women are assembled together, millions of dreams are realized through the Clampetts. Week after week harmless citizens wish themselves into the boots of Granny and Jed and Elly May and Jethro."
Granny rules the roost
That's where Searle's article ends, but the question is a lasting one. The Beverly Hillbillies has long served as the poster child for the decline of American television—its dumbing down, if you will. Not because of any particular animus toward the show or its cast, I think; Searle noted that "a nicer bunch you couldn't wish to meet." Undoubtedly critics latched onto the Hillbillies because of the show's massive popularity; it was the number one series in the ratings for the 1962-63 and 1963-64 seasons, the first sitcom to hold that position since I Love Lucy in 1956-57. It broke up the domination of Westerns in the top spot; between 1957 and 1967, it was the only top-rated program not named Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, or Bonanza. In the 1963-64 season, Hillbillies had a 39.1 rating; the 2018-19 top-rated series, NBC's Sunday Night Football, had a rating of 10.9. The most-watched episode of Hillbillies, 1964's "The Giant Jackrabbit," was the most watched telecast up to the time of its airing, and remains the most-watched half-hour episode of a sitcom.*
*One critic speculated that it could have been helped by having followed LBJ's State of the Union address, but I'm not sure that holds water, given that the first primetime State of the Union wasn't until 1965.
Yes, I know things have changed a lot over the years, but that remains a hell of a lot of people watching that show, and enjoying it. Muggeridge, in his article, speculated that it might have had something to do with the show's innocense in a cynical age: "We, too, yearn after wealth which does not corrupt; after an innocence which triumphantly survives the possession of riches." Jed may have hit the jackpot with that oil strike, but it hadn’t fundamentally changed either him or his family, and there's something tremendously appealing about that. He felt that the reason for the show's worldwide popularity was also clear: "Backward or undeveloped nations are shown by means of television the way of life toward which they so ardently aspire." And if we skip ahead to August of 1966, we'll see a review of Hillbillies by Judith Crist that points to the same thing, that "what makes the show both durable and endurable," is its "utter lack of pretension."
Whatever the reason, and whatever you think about it, The Beverly Hillbillies remains one of the most popular weekly shows in the history of television. Given its success in a turbulent time, could it achieve a similar success today? Well, not to that extent; no show, save the Super Bowl, attracts that kind of audience anymore. And you'd have to have a unique cast, one that radiated warmth and likeability rather than stupidity and snarkiness. Still, you have to wonder: wouldn't it be nice to see a show about a family unspoiled by wealth, untouched by the corruptions of modern society?
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During the 60s, the Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace were the premiere variety shows on television. Whenever they appear in TV Guide together, we'll match them up and see who has the best lineup.
Sullivan: Scheduled guests for this St. Patrick’s Day salute include Pearl Bailey; comics Wayne and Shuster; the Irish folk-singing Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem; puppet Topo Gigio; comic Jackie Vernon; the Three Kims, Swedish acrobats; magician Johnny Hart; the Emerald Society Police Pipe Band of the New York City Police Department; and the McNiff Dancers.
Some weeks are easier than others, and this is one of them. The Palace has one of the greatest dancers of all time hosting, one of the greatest mimes of all time as a guest, and one of the great belters of all time. With Fred Astaire, Marcel Marceau, and Ethel Merman, the show hardly needs one of the smoothest singers of the time, Jack Jones, but why not? Ed's big gun is Pearl Bailey, no slouch to be sure, but on mesasure this really isn't a contest: Palace wins in a song.
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Throughout the 60s and early 70s, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever we get the chance, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era.
One of the revealing aspects of the TV Guide collection is finding out how some of today's best-loved shows were, on first glance, not that big a deal. You might recall that Cleve was no great fan of Carol Burnett when her show first premiered, but it wound up outlasting his column. The same can't be said for I Dream of Jeannie; it only runs for five seasons, but it's been in reruns ever since, and remains one of the most popular of the classic TV sitcoms. To be fair, Our Critic doesn't hate the show, which he calls "the NBC answer to ABC's Bewitched (an unfair comparison, I'd say); in fact, he says that Jeannie, "which is only moderately well acted and directed, has at least three redeeming features."
Not surprisingly, first and foremost on that list (as it is with you, I'm sure) is Barbara Eden. Not only is she "a very good-looking girl," she's also capable of all the special-effects magic that Bewitched and other shows produce. And third, the show occasionally veers into actual satire; witness how Tony (Larry Hagman) can make Jeannie go back into her bottle any time he doesn't want her around. That would, Cleve points out, "make her the ideal wife." That's what Tony's friend Roger (Bill Daily) thinks, anyway, but Tony warns him not to go there. "Your friends will turn on you. Their wives will hate you. Do you think they’re going to watch her treat you with kindness and understanding and compassion? Do you think they’ll let her destroy everything they stand for?" Ouch.
Amory enjoys the fact that Jeannie, being a very jealous genie, which allows the writers to have a field day, as in the episode where Jeannie threatens to turn one of Tony's old girlfriends into a pillar of salt, whereupon Tony replies by threatening to pour ink in her bottle. She desperately wants to marry Tony; after being single for 2500 years, "I don't want to be an old maid." There's also a streak of michievousness in her, which can make things miserable for Tony, Roger, and Dr. Bellows (Hayden Rourke), and this, he says, "makes I Dream of Jeannie bearable for the rest of us." Now I grant you, this is the show's first season, so we don't know if Cleve modified his views as the series progresses. One would hope so; otherwise, Jeannie might just make one particular critic disappear.
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The latest effort of the American space program, the launch of Gemini VIII, is scheduled for Tuesday, March 15; it actually comes off the following day, following the successful launch of the Atlas-Agena target vehicle with which the Gemini capsule is scheduled to perform various docking manuevers. Network coverage begins with the twin launches on Wednesday morning, and continuesentire with the planned docking in the late afternoon. The networks also warn that programs "may be pre-empted" for coverage of the spaceflight, and if you know anything about Gemini VIII, you know that this promise was more than fulfilled.
The two first-time astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott, successfully dock with the Agena (the first such docking in history), but shortly after passing out of communications range, the coupled spacecrafts began to rotate along all three axes at a high rate of speed. Concerned that the rate of roll could cause the Agena to explode, Scott uncoupled the Gemini, whereupon the tumbling increased violently, along roll, pitch, and yaw, at a rate of 60 revolutions per minute. Charts and checklists flew around the cabin, and the unfiltered sunlight came through the windows with the effect of a strobe. With the astronauts close to blacking out, Armstrong decided to use the craft's reentry thrusters to stop the spinning. It was a bold, but necessary gamble; Scott later said of Armstrong, "The guy was brilliant. He knew the system so well. He found the solution, he activated the solution, under extreme circumstances ... it was my lucky day to be flying with him." Once the re-entry controls had been activated, mission rules required that the flight be aborted, and Gemini VIII prepared for an emergency landing.
Much like the Apollo 13 mission just over four years later, the networks interrupted regular programming—The Virginian on NBC, Batman on ABC, and, ironically, Lost in Space on CBS. Reentering over China, the craft landed safely in the Pacific; although it was still daytime at the splashdown site, it was the first to take place at night in the continental United States. The crisis itself had lasted for about 30 minutes; the entire flight, which had been planned for three days, ended after around ten hours.
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The Open Mind, hosted by Richard Heffner,debuted on public television in 1956, dedicated to "thoughtful excursion into the world of ideas." It reminds me of David Susskind's Open End, in that it tackles topics that you don't always see on programs like, say, Meet the Press. On Saturday night (8:00 p.m., KQED), we've got one that wouldn't be out of place today: "Are Flying Saucers Only Science Fic- tion?" And in fact, the program could still take up the topic (and include foreign balloons in the bargain!) since The Open Mind is still on the air, the 13th longest-running television program in American history, about to enter its 67th season and hosted by Richard Heffner's grandson, Alexander.
One other note about Saturday: NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies presents the American TV debut of A Place in the Sun (9:00 p.m.), based on Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy, and starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelley Winters. Saturday Night at the Movies expands to two and-a-half hours for this movie, and a note at the end of the listing explains why: "The Los Angeles Superior Court recently ruled that this film could not be televised if its artistic qualities were harmed. NBC is presenting it without cuts." That would have been quite something, considering the editing of movies due to length or content was a common, and controversial, practice back then.
A very funny parody of The Untouchables is the highlight on The Lucy Show (Monday, 8:30 p.m., CBS), with Robert Stack as an FBI agent who recruits Lucy to pose as the girlfriend of a soon-to-be-released-from-prison gangster, played by Bruce Gordon. Steve London, who played one of Eliot Ness's men on The Untouchables, is Stack's assistant, and the narration is provided, as it was then, by Walter Winchell. They even use the same theme music—but then, since Desilu produced The Untouchables, they shouldn't have had any trouble getting the rights. Stack and Gordon were good friends; Gordon never shied away from his casting as gangster Frank Nitti, so I wouldn't be surprised if they had a great time filming this. You can watch it all here.
Tuesday's 11:30 p.m. movie on KGO (not to be confused with the All-Night Movie, which doesn't start until 1:20 a.m.) is The Private Lives of Adam and Eve, which I would swear I'd seen on a program guide for an adult movie channel, but apparently not, since it's making its Bay Area TV debut. It's co-directed by Mickey Rooney, and it tells the allegorical story of a group of people seeking refuge from a storm in a country church. Rooney stars as Nick, aka the Devil, while who else could possibly play Eve but Mamie Van Doren? Need I include the fact that it's a comedy?
We don't know for sure what actually aired on Wednesday, what with the coverage of the Gemini VIII emergency, but the Bob Hope Comedy Special (9:00 p.m., NBC) sounds as if it would have been a good bet; skits include Phyllis Diller in "Pagoda Place" as a woman who's remarried, only to find out her first husband is still alive; an Academy Awards spoof with Jonathan Winters as Rock Surly, an actor accused of bumping off his fellow nominees; and Lee Marvin, one of those real-life nominees, as Slim Premise, a sissified gunfighter, and Bob as El Crummo, a bandit chief.
Part one of this week's Batman adventure was interrupted by last night's bulletins (at least twice, according to oral histories), but that won't stop ABC from airing part two on Thursday (7:30 p.m., ABC). It's called, unironically, "Better Luck Next Time," and it wraps up the first appearance of the one and only Catwoman (Julie Newmar). That's on up against The Munsters (7:30 p.m., CBS), which presents a rare look at the show's backstory, as Herman is visited by Dr. Frankenstein IV, decendant of the man who assembled him, and an evil Herman lookalike named Johann. Now that's scary!
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Friday night's episode of Camp Runamuck (7:30 p.m., NBC) features Spiffy (David Ketchum) falling under an oriental philosophy that causes him to make a truce with the ladies of Camp Divine. And that leads us to this week's starlet, Nina Wayne, who plays the "curvaceous counsellor" of the girls' camp, Caprice Yeudleman—also known as "the tall show girl with the tiny voice."
She didn't start out for a career in show business. Believe it or not, and there's no reason not to believe it, she and her sister Carol were afflicted with weak ankles and skinny legs—oh, and they were also pigeon-toed. Their uncle, a doctor, suggested they try ice skating, and they would up good enough at it that they joined the Ice Capades when Nina was 15. The Wayne Sisters toured with the Capades for two years, finally hanging up the skates when Carol fell and injured her knee.
From there, Nina moved first to Vegas and then Chicago, where she became "a model by day and a dancer by night"; her mother's only comment was that "Daddy and I would prefer that you wear a few more beads." She started working with Van Johnson in his nightclub act, which led to an appearance on The Tonight Show, where Johnny was charmed by her "kind of coo-coo way of speaking," and a comedy style that he described as "early idiot." (When Carson asked her, "How does it feel to work without any clothes on?" Nina answered, "Naked." David Swift, putting together a cast for a new sitcom, happened to see that appearance ("She has the voice of a grape comng out of a banana"), and two day slater she was doing the pilot for Camp Runamuck.
MST3K alert:The Indestructible Man (1956). "A death row inmate double-crossed by his lawyer gets a chance for revenge when a bizarre experiment brings him back to life. Lon Chaney, Casey Adams." (Friday, part of KGO's All Night Movie) Look for a small but pivotal role played by Joe Flynn, who's probably glad he's better-known for McHale's Navy. TV
At Comfort TV, David continues his journey through 1970s TV with Saturday night in 1970. I've mentioned this before, but one of the most striking changes in television over the years is how Saturday, now pretty much of a wasteland, used to be one of the biggest nights of the week; you can see evidence of it here.
The Horn Section looks at an episode of the 1987-88 Stephen Cannell series J.J. Starbuck, starring an actor I've always enjoyed, Dale Robertson. Hal explains what's good and bad about the series, and why, considering its timeslot, it never really had a good chance at success.
The Young Ones is a British series that used to run on MTV, and a series I never got into, but at Cult TV Blog, John as a good rundown on a particular feature of the series: someone called "The Fifth Horseman." Intrigued? You should be.
On Monday, Terence celebrated the 60th anniversary of the legendary sitcom The Beverly Hillbillieswith a very good review of the series over at A Shroud of Thoughts. It's a show that has popped up here frequently, with authors from Dan Budnik to Malcom Muggeridge discussing its meaning; Terence's article is a welcome addition.
That should keep you busy for awhile, and in the meantime, I'll try to figure out if maybe I'm just plain lazy. TV
You'll probably recognize our guest from his fantastic podcast Eventually Supertrain, which I've been pleased to appear on many times over the years, but he has also authored several books, including the book we're here to talk about today, From Beverly Hills To Hooterville: Exploring TV's Henningverse 1962-1971. And so, without further delay, Mystery Guest, will you enter and sign in, please?
[Thunderous applause]
Thank you, Mitchell, and hello everyone. I’m Daniel R. Budnik. Call me Dan. I’m a writer and podcaster. I’ve written fiction. But, I’m mainly known for writing about TV and movies. I have a book on 1980s horror and 1980s action. And they are delightful. But here, we’re going to talk all about Paul Henning and his three big shows of the 1960s. Or, at least, we’re going to talk about my book about those shows and Mr. H.
The book
It's About TV: I think most people who visit this site will recognize the shows that Paul Henning created: in order, The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres. For someone my age, they were a staple of CBS's lineup when I was growing up. (Which is one reason I loved the book.) That wouldn't have been the case for a whippersnapper like you, though. So how did you discover them?
Dan Budnik: Rick Mitz’s The Great TV Sitcom Book really hates Henning’s 1960s sitcoms. That book was a sitcom Bible for me (3rd edition) until I got Eisner and Krinsky’s Television Comedy Series. Those two loved The Beverly Hillbillies and adored Green Acres. So, when a station in 1985 (CBN) started showing Acres, I gave it a try. CBN were showing the series (more or less) in order. And they were near the end of the 6th season. I watched a few episodes and I just loved it. It made me laugh. It made me smile. I thought it was intelligent. And I wanted to watch it more. (Get Smart was the main 1960s show from that time that I had similar feeling about but that always got rotten syndication in Rochester. NY.) Then, WTBS started showing the Hillbillies and I fell in love. The laughs from Acres. The serialization and satire from Hillbillies. Always gave them a place n my heart. In the mid-1990s when Columbia House released Acres on VHS, I bought every tape. Junction came later. I first watched it on DVD. But, those two others were very important to me in the world of sitcoms from early on..
Introduce us to this fictional "Henningverse" that Paul Henning created? How did he come up with the idea, where did he start, how did he add to it?
To me, it began when Paul decided to make Bea Benaderet the lead in Junction. She played Cousin Pearl in Season 1 of the Hillbillies. Having an actress who was so familiar in a role (in a #1 TV show) and then giving her another important role, I feel like that stuck in people’s minds. And then, when Acres was created, it made sense to set it in Hooterville. Then, as time went on, it made sense to bring the Hillbillies characters into Hooterville. And that, suddenly, gave us a world, an integrated universe. Of course, the people on Acres used to watch the Hillbillies on TV. So, how does that all fit in? You got me. But, I have theories.
Although the three shows were all victims of CBS's rural purge, each has a distinct personality from the rest--they're not just cookie cutter clones. What makes the three shows different in a way that, say, the Warner Bros. detective shows of the early '60s aren't?
So, the Hillbillies, at its best, is beautiful satire. Some of it is dated, obviously. But much of it still holds true. It is a “fish out of water” show but with one advantage. These fish, the Clampetts, are richer than almost everyone else. Because of that, the people in the world they now a part of treat them as superior. Almost as royalty. Then, all of them get confused when they find hillbillies at the big, big mansion on the hill. At it worst, the show comes off as a bit dumb. But, generally, it is funny, and the serialization makes it rather modern. There are no reset switches thrown. If something happens, if someone appears, they probably will be back. And it probably will continue the story.
Petticoat Junction, apart from Season 2, is a standard 1960s sitcom. Sometimes there’s continuity, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes characters act within their characters, sometimes they act weird. But, if you like the setting ad the basic characters when they act like themselves, you will enjoy the show. It’s not as funny nor as sharp as the others but it sure can be fun.
Green Acres starts off relatively normal but highly serialized and very funny. At some point, Jay Sommers and Dick Chevillat (the main writers) decided to go a bit crazy. They decided to indulge all their comedy whims. And the show goes surreal, the show goes screwy, the show becomes really, really funny. Making it such a different beast from the other two.
And of course, John Charles Daly introduces the first episode of Acres, which explains why I started off our interview as a kind of homage. [Both laugh] So where did the idea for the book come from?
I was pitching ideas for my next book after 80s Action Movies on The Cheap. I like to come up with about seven or eight ideas. Right before that. I had started watching Hillbillies and Junction in tandem, as aired. I thought “This might make a fun podcast.” As I pitched books, I added, as the last entry, a book on the Henningverse, which I just made up. I had a lot of great book ideas. But, the publisher wanted the Hennigverse book. So, I spent the next 1 ½ years writing it. They rejected it. And I published it through Throckmorton Press.*
*Full disclosure: Throckmorton Press is also my publisher, as well.
This is a big book, that you can just pick up and start at a random point and be drawn into it. Tell us a little about how the book works.
You can start from where you want. To me, some folks buying it would prefer one show to another. And they’d skip around to the shows they wanted. Hopefully, later on, they’d read it all. Or you can start at the beginning and go. It’s a journey. It’s a very meticulous journey. It’s a step-by-step journey. But it is rewarding. If you chose to jump through randomly, remember that the book is cumulative. If you read an early Hillbillies review where I don’t mention the name of their hometown, I haven’t done that because the show hadn’t named it yet. (It’s "Bug Tussle.") So, please, don’t feel like the book is inept because of its structure. You need to read the intro before you dive in. The book learns as the creators tell us. Once you are conversant with how the book works, do whatever you want. Read a page and then eat it. I don’t care. That’s your thing. I don’t judge.
Was there any other addition to the Henningverse that he never had the chance to explore?
I think once Junction ended in 1970 (and it was supposed to end the year before) that fractured the Henningverse. Hillbillies was close to Junction and Junction was close to Acres. On Acres, Hillbillies was almost more fictional than "real." I think once Junction went away there was no way we were all going to get together as we did previously, although they were still technically together. Part of me wishes, Junction had gone on longer. But, as I think it’s the weakest of the shows, it was right to end when it did.
Do you have a favorite of the three shows? And do you have a favorite episode from each one?
Green Acres is my favorite. And it’s my favorite because it does a tricky thing. Back in 1986, when I was 13, I was watching the show. And I had a subscription to a magazine called Reruns, which focused on classic TV. (At the same time, I got TV Guide every week and was focusing on current TV. The moment one realizes that they can’t truly focus on all of it (from The Goldbergs to The Goldbergs) is a big moment. I realized that in late 1987. I ran away into music and horror/ exploitation films for some time after that.) In the back of Reruns were ads. From one of those ads, I ordered script copies of TV shows from a nice couple somewhere in the U.S. I ordered several Acres scripts from them. And I asked, at age 13, which show do you prefer, Hillbillies or Acres? The couple wrote back “Acres. Because of the relationship between Oliver and Lisa. No matter how crazy things got, they loved each other.” In the three shows, including Bettie Jo and Steve, there is no closer relationship than Oliver and Lisa. Their show was the funniest, but it was also the most human in some respects. Keeping it so screwy and yet keeping that relationship real isn’t easy. Acres did it. That’s why it’s my favorite.
Junction favorite episodes: Either "Cannonball Christmas" or "The Curse of Chester W. Farnsworth."
Hillbillies: "The Clampetts In Court." Because I think it’s the perfect encapsulation of what the show does best. Email me for another 10 episodes.
Green Acres: "Love Meets Arnold Ziffel," or "Lisa’s Vegetable Garden," or "Kimball Gets Fired." There are too many to name.
Where, in fact, is Hooterville? I've read many theories, but nobody seems to know for sure.
It’s near Chicago. That’s all I can gauge. Probably in Illinois. Maybe near Springfield, where the Simpsons live. But, I don’t really know where they live either.
I was talking recently with David Hofstede, who runs the blog Comfort TV, about what vintage television shows can provide us during these--I don't want to lapse into cliche, but I will--turbulent times. Do the shows of the Henningverse provide the same benefit?
I think Junction can provide great comfort if you get into the groove of it. Of the three, it’s the most “regular” sitcom. It’s a woman raising her three kids and trying to run a small country hotel. Apart from Season 2, which is quite funny and rather odd, it’s a sweet and almost simple show. Occasionally it goes topical and, occasionally, it embarrasses itself by doing so. But, if you can get into the world, it’s seven seasons of fun.
Hillbillies is sharp satire, at its best, that can still work today. It helps that it’s a very funny show. But there are times when it goes down odd rabbit holes, especially in its last two seasons. And those might be more exasperating to people than comforting. Can I just say one word? “Frogmen.”
Green Acres is one of my favorite TV shows of all time. (Did I mention that?) Pop in almost any episode and it will make you laugh and, possibly, calm you down. It’s a good show to take you out of the world for a while. And it does what it says it’s going to: it makes you laugh. And it brings you back again, because it did fulfill that promise.
The best shows are the ones that fulfill their promise. The sitcom that makes you laugh. (Or in the case of a show like My Favorite Martian, a sitcom that is clever and imaginative.) An action show that thrills you. A detective show steeped in good mysteries. That’s all I want. You give me one episode of one these shows that succeeds and I will return. And if you give me several or quite a few, I will buy your Complete Series boxset or hunt down all the episodes. I think there are many that fail. I think the members of the Henningverse succeed, some better than others. But they do. (And, not to be self-serving, Junction works better in tandem with the rest of the Henningverse than it does alone.)
The author
We know there are people out there who, for whatever reason—they've got recency bias, or they don't like black-and-white shows and movies; they're think they're not cool, even though Green Acres was always in color and Hillbillies and Junction were mostly in color—and they're like, "Why should I be bothered with these old TV shows?" What do you say to them?
One of the areas of pop culture I’ve written about quite a bit is a realm some might call the region of the “bad movie.” Or the movie that doesn’t meet blockbuster expectations. And so many times over the past 15 years or so, I’ve been asked or challenged about why one would watch these movies? (Except to laugh at them.) I’m happy to say that I have fought the good fight valiantly and have convinced some people to watch these things even though they aren’t huge, expensive epics. Some will never care or try. But, quite a few people will. And quite a few like it.
Now with TV, it is different because so much of what people watch nowadays is serialized. And the weird thing is I don’t think it has anything to do with age. My Mom was born in Eastern Europe in the late 1940s. She loves Lucy but she never watches any other old shows. She just watches new shows. My stepdad was the same way, apart from Sanford and Son. If I went to visit them and suggested we watch some Hillbillies or Acres, they might say “Sure,” watch an episode and then return to Ice City Truckers or something set in a pawn shop.
As if that's more real-life than Hooterville.
[Laughs] Or they might wonder why bother? It’s an old show. They make new shows. Why watch old shows? That is the attitude of almost all of the older members of my family. So, if the older members don’t care, why on Earth would the younger members care? I think the people who watch older shows are becoming more and more a select few. I don’t think it’s a dislike for the older shows. It’s just a “Why? Would I bother? I’ve only a certain amount of time in the day and I’d prefer to watch new shows.” I can’t argue with that. The only thing I can do is appeal to the quality of some of the older shows. I mean, there are plenty of bad old shows. Plenty of them. But the best ones should be watched and should continue to be watched. With people that I feel might try an older show, I’ll pick episodes very carefully and try to introduce them. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. But, when it does, it’s awesome. I knew when I wrote a book on the Henningverse it would appeal to a very small group and maybe annoy some others. In the end, I may have written the book for myself. It’s exactly the guide I want to have to these three shows. My complaint? Needs a better index. (I would like to apologize to myself for not having a better index. At this time, Amazon does not allow books over 800 pages. If I put in the complete index I wanted, the book would have been very close to (or over) that allotment. So, I kept it simple.)
Paul Henning
Where are the pictures? You know me—all these words make my brain hurt.
That was the original publisher’s idea. They pointed out that the cost of acquiring rights to a decent amount of photos would cost more money than I would make from the book. They suggested that I don’t include photos. I agreed. I do hope that everyone either knows what the main characters look like or don’t mind hopping on Google to find the images.
What's your next project?
I was interested in doing something related to more American shows from this time period. But, my encounters with the Henningverse Gatekeepers have stopped me there. (I won’t go into detail. But, they’re all men. They all claimed to have watched the shows when they originally aired. They don’t know why someone who wasn’t alive when the shows aired has written this book. They’re arrogant. They’re unpleasant. And, when questioned, they’re always wrong.) So, my next best is going to be a Doctor Who book. Reviewing each episode, like the Henningverse book. But, after each story/ serial, I will be including a postscript relating my personal experiences with the show from 1981 to the most recent episode, which aired on Easter. And also I will include some stories and remembrances regarding the history of the show, which some people may have forgotten. It’s going to be hefty but I think it’s going to be fun.
lll
As I often said about Eventually Supertrain, I hope you all had as much fun reading this as we did doing it. My thanks to Dan, not only for From Beverly Hills To Hooterville: Exploring TV's Henningverse 1962-1971, but for his time today, and his friendship. If this book isn't already on your classic TV bookshelf, make room for it. TV
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
There are certain questions in life that are simply unanswerable. When did time begin? What is the true value of pi? Will the Chicago Bears ever find a quarterback? To those questions can now be added a new one: "Wait—that show was a hit?" That's David's topic at Comfort TV, as he looks back to forgotten, short-lived shows that were hits in their time.
At The Last Drive-In, monstergirl considers Michel Legrand's moody score for Norman Jewison's classic The Thomas Crown Affair, with Steve McQueen and Faye Duanway, and its memorable, Oscar-winning song "The Windmills of Your Mind," sung by the former co-star of The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Noel Harrison.
The Broadcatsing Archives at the University of Maryland links to a classic episode from the British series The Secret Life of Machines. It's a remastered cut of "The Secret Life of the Television Set," which takes you inside the machine that takes us inside what goes on outside.
Television's New Frontier: The 1960s moves to 1962, and the debut of one of television's greatest sitcoms, the show that critics hated and the audience loved: The Beverly Hillbillies. Read about how Paul Henning's baby made it to the small screen, and the stars who made it work.
Terence at A Shroud of Thoughts is one who truly appreciates the actors and actresses, stars and everyday performers, who helped make the entertainment industry memorable, and never lets their passing go unnoticed. This week was particularly grim; this link is to his obit of Yaphet Kotto, but you'll also want to read about Frank Lupo, Henry Darrow, and Nicola Pagett.
At Shadow & Substance, Paul interviews Scott Skelton, co-author of the new book Rod Serling’s Night Gallery:The Art of Darkness, which contains high-quality reproductions of the paintings that did so much to make the show so evocative. Fans will not want to miss this.
Finally, a charmng way to end the week: at The Lucky Strike Papers, Andrew shares an audio recording of Your Hit Parade celebrating St. Patrick's Day, in 1952, with a performance of Andrew's mother, Sue Bennett, singing "Great Day for the Irish." TV
The most important thing on TV this week isn't in the TV Guide. It takes place just before midnight Eastern time on August 4, when President Lyndon Johnson addresses the nation on a conflict in the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam. According to the president, two American ships had been attacked by the North Vietnamese in two separate attacks, and LBJ had ordered appropriate and timely retaliation for this "unprovoked attack." "It is my belief," Johnson concluded, "that firmness in the right is indispensable today for peace; that firmness will always be measured." The speech took all of six minutes, and stations returned to their regular programming.
Thus, three months before the 1964 election and nearly four years before he would announce that he would not be a candidate in the 1968 election, the downfall of Lyndon Johnson had begun.
Entire books exist about the subject, and it's difficult to boil it all down to one paragraph here, but it was apparent almost immediately that there were serious doubts about the authenticity of the attacks, even among naval personnel in the Gulf. As reported here, "A later historical study by the National Security Council would conclude that the 2 August incident was initiated by the [American vessel] Maddox, and the 4 August incident [an attack on the Maddox and the C. Joy Turner] was not an attack by North Vietnamese forces but a salvage operation gone wrong." Nonetheless, the Johnson administration is overcome by what might be considered the "fog of war," and events rapidly escalate.
The Los Angeles Times refers to the attack as "the most serious incident since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. President Johnson sends a message to Congress on August 5, recommending "a resolution expressing the support of the Congress for all necessary action to protect our Armed Forces," and on August 7 Congress overwhelmingly passes the Tonkin Gulf Resolution (with votes of 416-0 in the House and 88-2 in the Senate), extending the president’s power to use "all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the United States and to prevent further aggression."* It's the moment when the United States makes a complete and total commitment to the conflict—the commencement of open warfare against North Vietnam—and it sets the precedent for Congress giving the president a broad range of military authority without the requirement of a formal declaration of war, an issue that continues even to this day.
*In one of those coincidences that appears too good to be true, the commander of the American fleet during the incident, Rear Admiral Herbert Morrison, was the father of Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors. Said Admiral Morrison of his son, with whom he had a "difficult" relationship, "I had the feeling that he felt we’d just as soon not be associated with his career. He knew I didn’t think rock music was the best goal for him." History truly is the gift that keeps on giving.
The Gulf of Tonkin incident inspires a public consolidation around LBJ, culminating in his landslide victory over Barry Goldwater in November. Well into 1965, a majority of college students support the war in Vietnam. However, as the war expands, and an increasing number of American troops become increasingly bogged down in a guerrilla war, it touches every part of American life, including television. And, as we saw a couple of months ago, the Democratic Convention in Chicago kind of unites it all, putting on display the vitriol against an incumbent president who, three months from the date of this TV Guide, will be elected to the presidency by a near-record vote.
Not for me to say, but think of how history might have been without this late-night speech.
ttt
During the 60s, the Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood
Palace were the premiere variety shows on television. Whenever they appear
in TV Guide together, we'll match them up and see who has the best
lineup..
Ed Sullivan: Ed's guests are jazz trumpeter Al Hirt; Metropolitan Opera soprano Roberta Peters; the Kim Sisters, vocal and instrumental group; violinist Itzhak Perlman; singer Frank Ifield; tap dancers Peg Leg Bates and Conrad "Little Buck" Buckner; the Trio Ariston, acrobats; and comics London Lee, Bob King and Georgie Kaye.
Close call here. Groucho goes a long way, and he's aided by Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie, the two funniest cast members of the Van Dyke show (in my opinion anyway, which, face it, is what matters when it's a website that has my name on it), but in the end they can't catch the trio of Al Hirt, Roberta Peters and Itzhak Perlman. Your mileage may vary, but I see the race ending with Sullivan winning by the tip of Groucho's cigar.
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Have I ever mentioned here that I'm a recovering baseball fan? Baseball was never my favorite sport, but I always enjoyed it, and when I watch old World Series games, the drama is as indescribable as anything sports has to offer. It's been several years since I've even watched a game on television though, let alone seen a game in person; between the crippling slowness with which it's played (pitcher makes pitch, batter steps out of box, pitcher steps off of rubber, batter unfastens and refastens his gloves, pitcher makes pitch, repeat) and the way sabermetrics have destroyed the organic development of the game, I'd much rather have multiple teeth pulled without anesthetic but with pliers than spend one-fourth of my waking hours watching one game. Thus, I have warm appreciation for a Letter to the Editor from Mr. Charles M. LaPiene of Springfield, Massachusetts, who, while praising Charlie Finley's idea for holding the World Series in primetime when people can watch it (July 18 article), notes that "The people who run baseball beneath the impenetrable crust of obsolete tradition certainly aren't doing an iota to make the game more desirable."
Also in the July 18 issue, TV Guide's technology expert, David Lachenbruch, mentions the potential for a home video recorder, then known as HVT (home video tape), which we know and love as a VCR. Mrs. J.G. Nicholson Jr. of Shreveport, Louisiana, points out the enormous potential for this machine, something which even Lachenbruch overlooked: "that of permitting the viewers to enjoy a program in the den and tape the one they are missing in the living room. This would also help stop the rat race for ratings."
And even though the media came under fire at the Republican National Convention in San Francisco—at one point, when former President Eisenhower accused the press of trying to divide the party, delegates turned toward the TV booths booing and shaking their fists at the anchormen—they get nothing but huzzahs in this week's letters. In TV Guide's own inimitable way, they print three letters: one praising each network.
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Well, there must be something on this week; let's see what we can find.
Corinna Tsopei of Greece, Miss Universe 1964
Saturday evening gives us a provocative episode of The Defenders, if that's not redundant, since almost every episode of the courts some kind of controversy. This week, E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed defend Dr. Mayer Loeb, who shoots a German speaker at a medical society banquet, claiming that the doctor was responsible for the deaths of Loeb's wife and son in a Nazi concentration camp. In 1964, that's still very much a topical issue. (7:30 p.m., CBS.) At 9:00 p.m. (same network), it's something that, at least in 1964, was far less controversial than The Defenders: the Miss Universe Pageant, live from Miami Beach. Jack Linkletter is the emcee on-stage, and John Daly and Arlene Francis are on-hand to interview the contestants backstage.
We're used to baseball teams broadcasting virtually all of their games, home and away, on television, but back in 1964 such was not the case, as we see on Sunday afternoon, when a pair of network games are blacked out in the Twin Cities because the Minnesota Twins, the local team, are home. It's done to protect the gate, since lazy bums like me would prefer to sit on their bums in front of the television if given the chance. The games: Los Angeles at Philadelphia (12:15 p.m., CBS) and San Francisco at Pittsburgh (1:00 p.m., NBC). By the late '60s, the blackouts had been lifted, although the Twins still couldn't appear on network TV if they were playing at home. Culture shock, I know. Sunday night features Jim Backus appears in a rare dramatic role on Arrest and Trial (7:00 p.m., ABC). Monday night is filled with reruns featuring recognizable stars, so let's get to them. Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, Gene Tierney and George Raft star in the murder mystery Black Widow on Monday Night at the Movies (6:30 p.m., NBC), while Nick Adams and Nancy Malone participate in "Fun and Games," a sinister episode of The Outer Limits (6:30 p.m., ABC). At 7:30 p.m. Bobby Darin is the guest trying to stump the panel of I've Got a Secret on CBS; that's followed by the summer series Vacation Playhouse with Van Johnson and Jan Sterling in a pilot first aired in May 1960. Neville Brand is a frontier scout on Wagon Train (7:30 p.m., ABC), and Shirley Temple is the guest on Sing Along With Mitch (9:00 p.m., NBC). That's not a bad lineup.
Nowadays a sizable portion of the American population would welcome communist invaders with open arms, but in 1964 the Cold War is as hot as ever, and on Tuesday NBC News correspondent takes a look at what it's all about in a Primer on Communism (9:00 p.m.) that divides the movement into four stages: ideology, revolution, totalitarianism and imperialism. Perhaps they could rerun this special on MSNBC sometime? Nah.
On Friday night, Rita Moreno is the guest on the primetime version of The Price is Right with Bill Cullen (8:30 p.m., ABC); Kate Smith and Sam Levenson chat Jack on The Jack Paar Program (9:00 p.m., NBC). Meanwhile, the College All-Stars take on the defending NFL champion Chicago Bears in the 31st annual College All-Star game, live from Soldier Field in Chicago (9:00 p.m., ABC), with Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman and former Heisman winner Johnny Lujak* behind the mics. The crowd usually pulls for the underdog collegians in this game, but with the hometown Bears as the opposition, things might be different (even though the Bears still play at Wrigley Field; they don't make the move to Soldier Field until 1971). One thing isn't different though: after falling behind early, the Bears rally to defeat the Stars 28-17, before a crowd of 65,000.
*As of this writing, Lujak, who won the Heisman Trophy for Notre Dame in 1947 before playing quarterback for the Bears, is the oldest living former Heisman winner, at age 95.He and his wife have been married for 71 years.
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The building you see above is the home of Mrs. Arnold Kirkeby of 750 Bel Air Road, Bel Air, California. It's known as Chartwell Mansion, except for Wednesday nights at 8:00 p.m., when it becomes known as the home to the most colorful residents of Beverly Hills, the Clampett family.
Back in 1961, Paul Henning paid Mrs. Kirkeby* $500 a day to use the mansion for the Beverly Hillbillies pilot. She was happy to oblige, donating the money to her favorite charity, and didn't think too much of it since it was only a pilot. But then the nation went and made the show the #1 series in America, and the rest is history.
*Her husband, the hotelier Arnold Kirkeby, whose holdings included the famed Beverly Wilshire Hotel, was killed in an airplane crash prior to the premiere of the program.
Facsimiles of the front door, kitchen, entrance hall, drawing room, and half a swimming pool were constructed for a cost of $65,000, and they're used for the scenes in the show. Notes set designer Howard Campbell, the interior rooms were embellished and made more ornate for effect on the small screen. You can see an example of their work below.
Mrs. Kirkeby is amazed, rather than angered, by the hoards of tourists who come by the mansion, forcing them to keep the gates shut. "They honestly think the Clampetts live here," she says, and when she visited the set recently, she told Buddy Ebson, "Gee, I wish you'd buy another house." Please, I hope this was a joke, that there are those who think the Clampetts are real people. As Malcolm Muggeridge noted here, they're actually more real than most people on television, but really—this is taking things to extremes, don't you think? TV
From 1963 to 1976, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever they appear, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era. 
