Around the dial

Before we get to our usual Friday content, a couple of notes from the mailbag. 

First, reader Gary asks if anyone knows whether or not there are copies of extant episodes of Woody Woodbury's talk show from 1967-68. I'm not aware of any; I've seen a handful of clips on YouTube, and the Woody Woodbury YouTube channel consists of excerpts from his comedy albums. My guess is that the tapes of his show were probably wiped back in the day, but as I'm the first to admit, I'm far from knowing everything, so if anyone out there has any thoughts, just let me know.

I also had a great email from Bill, whose family viewing habits have come to include Petticoat Junction, including the initial black-and-white episodes. "My wife said she used to watch the reruns as a child. However, they were only the color episodes as the first two years in black-and-white were not available for syndication.  So in a way, the first 74 shows were new to her.  For me, it’s gratifying to see my daughter appreciate a classic series.  Until now, with the exception of some of the game shows on Buzzr (Classic Concentration, Password Plus), she has not been interested in anything old-time TV let alone a show filmed in monochrome!  It’s also nice that we can sit down as a family and watch a program that doesn’t disturb or offend." Is this great or what? Aside from validating the worth of B&W programming, it's a throwback to the days when families used to, you know, do things together. Made my day! 

We begin this week's tour around the dial at bare-bones e-zine, where Jack's Hitchcock Project looks at the first of two contributions from the team of Albert E. Lewin and Burt Styler, the fourth-season episode "Cheap is Cheap," with a great starring turn by Jack Benny regular Dennis Day, who turns the tables on convention by being the cheap one in this tale of spousal murder.

John returns to the world of The Avengers this week at Cult TV Blog; he takes on "Double Danger," a first-season episode that no longer exists in video form. No problem for John, as his review is based on the original camera script, which he's read; now it's his turn to share it with us.

Benny Hill actually did have a career before his eponymous sketch comedy series; one example comes to us from the Metzinger Sisters at Silver Scenes, where they review Hill's starring role in the 1956 farce Who Done It?, where he plays a detective trying to smash a plot to destroy England though a weather-making machine. 

After a long break, The Twilight Zone Vortex returns with Jordan's review of the September/October, 1983 issue of The Twilight Zone Magazine, the bulk of which concerns the summer's release of Twilight Zone: The Movie, plus fiction features, interviews with director John Landis and writer Richard Matheson, and more!

TZ also features in A View from the Junkyard, where Mike and Roger butt heads over the 1963 episode "Steel," starring Lee Marvin in a future where boxing has been outlawed, and prizefighters replaced with robots. When his robot-boxer breaks down, Marvin is determined (foolish? Pig-headed?) to take the robot's place in order to get the money to repair it.

At Travalanche, it's a belated tribute to newsman Robert MacNeil, who died on April 12. I always had great respect for MacNeil; his reporting of the Kennedy assassination, his work on Washington Week in Review, his long stint on The MacNeil/Lehrer Report, and his hosting of other specials. He was one of the last of the great reporters of the era.

Television's New Frontier: The 1960s turns his attention to the 1959-60 syndicated dramatic anthology Deadline, featuring Paul Stewart as the host and occasional star of stories that flash back to a time when reporters were "heroes and the guardians of truth and justice." We started watching this a couple of months ago; while it's not great, it's usually pretty good and quite interesting.

Last Tuesday would have been the 100th birthday of the great composer Henry Mancini; among his many hits, Terence at A Shroud of Thoughts singles out perhaps his most influential: the "Peter Gunn Theme." If ever an instrumental theme summed up the coolness of a television show, this is it. 

"While Jim wrestles with the man-eating alligator, you can't afford for your family to wrestle with financial problems after you die. That's why you need insurance from Mutual of Omaha." If you remember Marlin Perkins saying something like this (and who doesn't?), you'll enjoy a review of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom by Paul at Drunk TV. TV  

Around the dial

I've often written about sports announcers who were what I called "big-game announcers," and since there's apparently a big game this weekend, it's appropriate to start with Bryan Curtis's profile at The Ringer of one of the last big-game announcers around: Al Michaels. Not only is it an interesting look at Michaels, it's a very good reminder of just what it is that makes announcers like him worthy of the title.

Richard Long is a familiar face to any classic television viewer: Bourbon Street Beat, 77 Sunset Strip, The Big Valley, and Nanny and the Professor roll off the tongue, and he did guest appearances on just about every show of the 1960s, which makes Rick's "Seven Things to Know" feature about Long at Classic Film & TV Cafe particularly fun. 

"See the Monkey Dance"--a title like that tells me that this story isn't going to turn out well. It's the name of Lewis Davidson's first teleplay for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and it's Jack's first look at him in this Hitchcock Project entry at bare-bones e-zine.

At Cult TV Blog, John continues his look at "orphaned episodes" with "The Facts of Life," an episode of the 1960s series Our Man at St. Mark's. Like the American series of the same name, "The Facts of Life" is a comedy, but the similarities end there. John also has a couple of requests for those who might be able to help.

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence commemorates the truly impressive career of special effects genius Douglas Trumbull, who died this week, aged 79. Trumbull played a pivotal role in the design of 2001: A Space Odyssey, directed the movie Silent Running, worked on all kinds of films (including Close Encounters and Blade Runner), and animated the beloved opening graphics for ABC's Movie of the Week. 

Martin Grams has a very interesting story on the 1976 British anthology series Plays for Britain, which he refers to as "the British Playhouse 90." It's available on DVD now, and while not every episode is a home run, he feels it's well worth checking out. Have you heard of this, John?

From the email inbox, Brendan Somers poses this question: "After coming from England and hitch hiking from the East Coast I somehow got on Dick Martin's new game show Mindreaders on the 15th August 1979 and would love to have a copy of that show. Sadly nearly all that series shows were destroyed except about 4 of which one was mine. Whilst Youtube has a video of this show purporting to be a "full" episode there's no footage of the men (of whom I was one) being questioned etc, but only the women. I wonder if you can help me in any way to get the footage of me. Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In was a favourite show of mine and I'd love to get a record of my meeting with him and the show." Brendan, I think it's a longshot, but I'll throw this out for anyone to comment on. Thanks! TV  

Around the dial

Xt bare-bones e-zine, Jack's Hitchcock Project continues to survey the work of Joel Murcott with the third season episode "Flight to the East," which sounds like it should be a Cold War drama but in reality is something quite different. Different also is Murcott's teleplay compared to the original short story—find out how.

Garroway at Large is back, and this week Jodie tells the story of the time Dave one-upped Milton Berle on Today. It's not often that Uncle Miltie becomes the straight man, so enjoy the story and pictures.

David poses an interesting question at Comfort TV: are classic TV fans introverted? It's an interesting question. David thinks they are, but I'm not sure—I'd ask someone, but I'm afraid to, and besides, I nevefr see anyone.

At the Broadcast Archives, a look back at the career of trailblazing newswoman Ann Corrick, who began working in radio news in the 1940s, and was on Group W radio from 1958 to 1967. There's not much of a record about her life, and there should be; I've heard recordings of her on Westinghouse's coverage of the JFK assassination, and was surprised that I couldn't find out more about her.

At Eventually Supertrain, Dan and I are back discusing Search. You'll also want to stick around for Planet of The Apes with Amy the Conqueror and Kolchak with Tim. A good time is had by all, including, we hope, the listeners.

And finally, in the Mailbag, an email from David, who writes:

"I am looking to replay an episode of Colonel the Clown (Channel 30 , Hartford, Conn) which I appeared on TV when I was about 8 years old in approx 1966. I was on the show with a few other youth because I won a contest related to 'Peanuts/Charlie Brown' and was awarded a Peanuts Character Bus! Do you have access to those as I would love to watch it. PLEASE let me know, if you do or know any other means by which I can view and/or obtain it.

David, I don't know how to get that video, if it hasn't been wiped by the local station, but one of our readers might know?

   TV  

Around the dial

Well, I'm confused, and that's probably as good a way as any to kick things off this week. Lately I've found it necessary to implement comment moderation in order to intercept the odd spam comment that makes it past the spam filter—the price of success, one supposes. I didn't expect to run across anything unusual in the process, but—of course there has to be a but, or else there wouldn't be a story here—I did. Specifically, a batch of comments from January of this year that, for no good reason, were quarantined as spam.  A couple of them were, but the rest—maybe a dozen or so—were not. So first of all, if your comment didn't appear when you wrote it, nothing personal! I will admit, however, that I was sorry to delete all those comments that started off, "You are an excellent writer and I learn much from your blog." Oh well.

Amidst all this, there was a question from one of our readers that was included in this unjust spam crackdown, and I want to rectify that immediately, so here goes. The question originally came from January 3 of this year, and the anonymous writer says: "Hey MY mom was on the Price Is Right in July of 1965, does anyone know where I might find some copies of it?" Readers, what do you think? Any suggestions: (And again, apologies for the delay!)

Now on to the blogs of the week.

At Classic TV and Film Café, Rick has "seven things to know about Robert Goulet," to which yours truly contributed a couple more in the comments section. I always liked Mr. G's voice, enjoyed his appearances on variety shows, and from what I've seen his short-lived espionage series Blue Light was better than TV Guide would have you believe. Speaking of espionage, remember this commercial from Super Bowl XLI?


Garroway at Large and Bob Crane: Life & Legacy both have reports on the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, about which you read my report last week. One of my regrets in life (regrets? I've had a few...) is that we're not able to get together often enough with these friends of ours; on the other hand, it's what makes an event like MANC that much sweeter. (And thanks to both of you for the shout-outs!)

At Comfort TV, David has a thought-provoking (as usual) piece on the recent crowdsourcing campaign for Dawn Wells. One of the many things I like about David's writing is that he forces us to think about things, to consider why we do what we do, even when it's the right thing to do.

I've been wondering when The Horn Section was going to return to Crazy Like a Fox, the mid-80s series starring Jack Warden and John Rubenstein as a father-son duo fighting crime, and it happens this week with a review of the 1985 episode "Fox in Wonderland," a perfect showcase for Warden's comedic talents.

Television Obscurities digs deep into the obscure file once again to look at The Ugliest Girl in Town, a very much of-the-times sitcom from 1968. Anyone out there remember this one? I don't know that I watched it when I was of the age, but I do remember it.

Finally, part four of Jack's Hitchcock Project entry on Bernard C. Schoenfeld is up at bare-bones e-zine. It's the second season episode "The Better Bargain," starring Robert Middleton and Henry Silva in Schoenfeld's elegant and concise adaptation of Richard Deming's story. TV  

Around the dial

For some reason I'm feeling particularly talkative about many of this week's links, and we'll get to them after one of our occasional digressions.

First, a note to any of you who are concerned about secure Internet connections: we now have one, which means you can access the same great content you've come to know and love by going to https://www.itsabouttv.com. No need to change your links, though: the regular http address still works as well, so either way you've got a path to the blog.

Second, we've received a request for information from a reader: Charles Rister writes of his

extreme frustration in trying to locate a particular TV Guide of several years ago.  I have spent hours (retired) searching E-Bay and Google trying to find the TV Guide which listed one of the first commercial television showings of the western Mackenna's Gold, with Gregory Peck. I know the exact time period because I was watching it at an emotional time in my young life.  I believe the time was spring/summer of 1970 (like one of those Saturday Night at the Movies) during the 1970 year.  The movie was released theatrically May 10, 1969 USA. It is possible it was on TV late 1969 but I'm pretty certain it was on TV in the year 1970.  Would you know of or have access to a data base to locate this TV Guide issue in 1970?  

Charles, you're not the only one who wishes TV Guide would do something about a database of their past issues (Jodie Peeler mentions it in her piece, which you'll read about next). I've done a bit of a search and have come up as empty as Charles. Are there any readers out there who can help out? I'm thinking of you, Mike Doran - and how was the weekend, by the way? I meant to answer your comment from last week, and ask you to pass along my best to Max Allen Collins - love his work, and the things he's doing to keep Mickey Spillane's work alive.

At Garroway at Large, Jodie has a really, really good article on Richard Gehman's fascinating two-part TV Guide profile of Dave Garroway. I was able to identify with this in a number of ways; I have the issue that contains the first of the two-parts to the story (and thank you, Jodie, for the gracious shout-out!); I also have the book Changing Channels: America in TV Guide by Glenn Altschuler and David Grossvogel (which, as she points out, is also good; I'll be bringing that with me to Baltimore for my talk at MANC); and I've written before about Gehman's writing style. And don't think I'm saying these things about Jodie's article because she's written for this blog; if she wasn't already a guest contributor before now, I would have asked her after reading this. If you're interested in Garroway, you'll enjoy this; if you're not, I think it will change your mind.

Likewise, there's a good feature over at Comfort TV on the pieces you'll likely never see posted there. I know just what David is talking about; I have my own collection of ideas that seemed pretty good at the time, but wound up never seeing the light of day. I still have high hopes for some of them, though, and I'll join in with the commenter who hoped that David would develop some of these some day in the future.

The Twilight Zone Vortex has a piece on Buck Houghton, the initial producer of the program, and how he was the "unsung hero" of Twilight Zone. I'm familiar with Houghton from having read Marc Scott Zicree's TZ book, and I've become sensitive to seeing his name in other classic shows of the era. It's a good piece that demonstrates how TZ was far from being a one-man (Serling) operation. I think you'll be impressed by him as well.

Ah, John, you're fortunate to have seen "Tunnel of Fear"  (isn't that a great title?), one of the rediscovered early episodes of The Avengers. It teams Patrick Macnee's Steed with Ian Hendry's Dr. Keel. You may be disappointed to see that there's no Mrs. Gale, Mrs. Peel, or Miss King, but to me it proves that without John Steed, there's no Avengers.

It's time for a new cycle in "The Hitchcock Project," Jack's review of Alfred Hitchcock episodes at bare-bones e-zine that tracks the works of a specific author. That's hardly an adequate definition, though, because Jack does more that simply look at the episode; he goes all the way back to the original story's publication (if it's an adaptation) and then examines the differences between the original and the adaptation. And even that description doesn't do it justice, because Jack just captivates you into reading about episodes that you haven't even seen yet, and doing it in such a way that it doesn't ruin the eventual viewing of the episode. The new cycle traces the work of Stanley Ellin, and begins with the season three episode "The Festive Season."

Don't forget: it's Friday the 13th, so let's be careful out there, and I'll be back tomorrow. TV  

From the mailbag: A TV Guide online website?

JACK ALBERTSON  SORTING THE MAIL IN THE PIVOTALSCENE OF MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET

This week an email from reader Mike Dowling, who writes:

I've been a fan of your itsabouttv.com for years--you do an amazing job of recreating TV as it was.  I've had a question that nobody has been able to answer.

Why doesn't anybody put old TV Guides online?  You come the closest, I would enjoy reading the actual pages.  Does the current owner hold the copywrite?  Has anybody tried it?

Great question, Mike - I've never seen an online repository of TV Guides (although I've certainly found the odd article and/or picture spread). and this gives me the opportunity to advertise for an opening at It's About TV, a non-paying volunteer job that offers you only an opportunity to have your name on the masthead - well, that plus I'll be eternally grateful.* The position available is Legal Counsels to the Editor.

*From Peanuts many years ago - Sally: "If you do this for me, big brother, I'll be eternally grateful" Charlie Brown: "Eternity is a long time."  Sally: (after a pause) "How about until next week?"

Mike's suggestion raises some questions: would creating such a website, with scans of entire images, be covered under some aspect of Creative Commons or anything like it? The material wouldn't be used for a book (at least not by me), and although I'd assume the content of the issues is covered under copywrite, does that only necessitate giving credit, or does it mean getting permission as well? And assuming this could be done at all, what kind of restrictions would exist?

This website has scans of many, many issues of the always-interesting Television magazine, which is no longer published, and this is the kind of website I'd envision - one in which the national section (you know, the shiny pages) would be reproduced for each issue, along with as many different programming listings as could be collected. I'm reasonably confident that with the number of collectors out there, as well as the number of classic TV buffs (like us), this kind of project is certainly doable. (Finding someone to host it, as well as how to get all the issues scanned, is another question, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.)

Therefore, the only question would seem to be whether this is legal, or if we'll all be doing our next blog session from some tennis prison somewhere. Is there someone (or a number of someones) out there confident enough in their own knowledge to offer a legal opinion on this? Because if it can be done, I think it's worth pursuing, and I also think a lot of you would want to be involved in it. So let me know in the comments, or email me if you'd prefer. After all, you'd be doing the classic TV community a great service. And you'd have our eternal gratitude.

Potpourri for $500

ART FLEMMING, PLAYING JEOPARDY! IN THE MOVIE AIRPLANE II THE SEQUEL

Remember the Jeopardy category "Potpourri"? It always fascinated me when I was a kid, because I didn't really recognize the word or know how to pronounce it - whenever Art Fleming said it, it would remind me of how he'd said it before, but it didn't stick - and I found it interesting that none of the questions seemed to relate to each other. Of course, later on I discovered that's that potpourri meant.*

*Speaking of Art Fleming's Jeopardy, did you know that the winner of the 1968 Tournament of Champions was Hutton Gibson, father of Mel?

Anyway, a little bit of this and that this week: announcements, questions, triv

• You might have noticed a few new additions to the sidebar this week, and if you haven't I'm going to call your attention to them now: British TV Detectives, from the creator of Classic Film and TV Cafe, among other blogs (and who also happens to be the organizer of the Classic TV Blog Association), takes a look at, well, the British TV detective. The Twilight Zone Vortex is another newby to the sidebar; as the title might suggest, this is a detailed look, episode by episode, of the great series. Both of these are terrific sites, deserving of inclusion in your regular blog reading.

• Another addition worthy of your attention is Movin' On, a site dedicated to the '70s classic of the same name, starring Claude Akins and Frank Converse. If you haven't thought about that show for awhile, this is a good time to brush up on it because next week I'll have an interview with Barry Weitz, one of the show's original producers. My thanks to Mark Rathaus for facilitating the interview, as well as answering some questions on his remastering of the series, now airing on Hulu and ProClassicTV.com.

• Here's a question from reader Sue Ann, who asks: "My father was a guest hobbyist on Charley Weaver’s Hobby Lobby in 1959, but there’s no reference anywhere to that episode. I got to skip school and go with him to NYC. They didn’t know what to do with me during the show, so they put me backstage with celebrity guest Gloria DeHaven who flipped out that she was made my babysitter. ( I was a very mature 12-year-old and didn’t need a babysitter.) Is there any way to find it?" I've done some basic research, so far to no avail. Any suggestions out there?

• A while back, reader Sheila Terrando asked about the mid-60s Saturday program on the Smithsonian. At her request, I'm trying to work on a story about it; does anyone have information they can share on that?

• Finally, David Von Pein, the excellent collector of "As It Happened" video concerning the television coverage of JFK's assassination, recently posted something I'd not seen before: the CBS Evening News for November 25, 1963. As Walter Cronkite comments at the outset of this expanded one-hour broadcast, there really was only one story that day, that of the President's funeral. Nonetheless, about 50 minutes into the program Cronkite does digress to some of the other stories of that day, and it's a fascinating look at the shadows hanging over the date. By that, I mean that if one were able to somehow photograph that moment in time, one might be able to see dim, blurry images in that picture that can't quite be made out, ghosts from the future casting their looming shadows on the present:
  
  At 50:00 into the broadcast, Cronkite spends a minute reporting on "the bloodiest fighting in almost a year" in Vietnam, including "massive Communist attacks" on strategic areas near Saigon. Vietnam was, of course, a big story even then, with U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge skipping the funeral to return to Vietnam after consulting with the new President, Lyndon Johnson. Nonetheless, it certainly wasn't foremost in the minds of most Americans, not like it would be in a few years. Included is Cambodia's announcement of an air agreement with Red China, a foreshadowing of the misery to come in that country. There's also a note about Communist rebels in Venezuela, and while it took them a little longer to assume control, that too would come to pass.
  
  At 51:15, Cronkite notes the discovery of a dead young woman (later identified as Joann Graff) in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the tenth victim in 17 months of "Boston's mystery strangler." Yes, the Boston Strangler. It had only been earlier that year that two Boston newspaper reporters, Jean Cole and Loretta McLaughlin, had first used that phrase to describe the killer. In 1964 Albert DeSalvo is charged and pleads guilty to the crimes. In 1968, Tony Curtis stars in the movie of the same name; as I recall, in the scene portraying Miss Graff's murder, the television set in the background is showing coverage of the Kennedy assassination. It's been a long time since I saw that movie, though - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Around the dial - Batman's butler, questions from readers, Buck Henry and more!

I suppose it really should be called "Odds-and-Ends" this week, because it's a collection of classic TV information from all over. But I hear what you're saying: just get with it!

Jim Bigwood has done us all a great favor by bringing Alan Napier's autobiography, Not Just Batman's Butler, to print. The book was completed in 1973, but as Mr. Napier—or Alfred, as we might think of him—said, it was not published at the time because "I haven't committed a major crime and I am not known to have slept with any famous actresses." Just like Alfred, don't you think? Anyway, I'm very grateful to Jim for bringing this to my attention, and seeing to it that the book has been published.

Faithful reader Mollie Stamets Krejci writes to ask for our help on "a television show that my parents did between 1947 and 1955. My Dad was Bob Stanford (Robert Stamets). He and my mother, Agnes were very active in television when it first came out in DFW [Dallas-Ft. Worth - MH]. They had “The Bob Stanford Show”, “The Frito Kid”, “footlight follies”.  I am trying to get information on Family Feud. I have some scripts and photos of the set but wondered if you have found any information on it. It was between Dallas families and Ft. Worth families." From what I've discovered online, the show probably would have gone by the title Stanford's Family Feud—do any DFW historians out there know more about it?

Continuing with emails, reader Sneha forwarded this infographic on some of television's iconic living rooms from various eras. I love the way this brings back the eras for me—the styles, the colors, the whole thing. How many of you remember growing up or living in one of these homes?

And one more: reader Sheila has asked me for information about the late '60s NBC television show The Smithsonian, which aired late Saturday morning (or early Saturday afternoon, depending on your time zone). Once again, this appears to be a case of a informative program that has disappeared from the radar screen; I've not been able to find anything on YouTube or at the Internet Archive, and while I have some episode descriptions in my TV Guides of the era, I'm hoping that some of you have some additional information to pass along. Thanks as always!

And now to the blogs. How many of you remember the Scholastic Reading Club? Comfort TV's David Hofstede does, and he has some great examples of TV-related covers from the club's magazine Dynamite. Wow, are those pictures a time capsule or what? Oddly enough, I have no memory of this myself; judging by the programs, it could have been slightly after my time—or it could be more proof that we were without civilization in The World's Worst Town™.  (And by the way, David, no TV Guide when you were growing up? I feel for you, friend.)

Classic Film and TV Cafe brings news of a new DVD set of classic episodes from The Danny Kaye Show. This is one program that stuck with me over the years, and I have no idea why. I hadn't seen White Christmas (or any of Kaye's other classic movies), and I probably didn't know him from a hole in the ground. Nevertheless, it must have been on TV in our house, because I vividly remember how he'd dance off the set, with a bit of a flying leap at the end, and I wasn't wrong. And Terry Teachout adds to the DVD parade with his review of VAI's release of the historic 1955 and 1956 telecasts of Mary Martin's Peter Pan, originally seen on NBC.

Amanda Reyes of Made for TV Mayhem updates us on some of her latest activities, including the joint YouTube appearance she and I and Daniel Budnik made a couple of weeks ago. And since she mentions my name kindly, I'm sure to bring it to your attention!

Twelfth anniversary for Thrilling Days of Yesteryear? And this blog has been around for, what, almost five years? I'm impressed, by the content as well as the longevity. I feel for Ivan and what he's been dealing with lately, and let's hope he has more time soon. In the meantime, am I probably the last person to know that he does the Radio Spirits blog? Whenever I'm not listening to the Met Opera channel on Sirius, I've got it tuned to Greg Bell.

A very good piece at Cult TV Blog, where the series on apartheid themes in The Prisoner continues. This week the episode is "Hammer Into Anvil," one of my favorites, and in introducing this piece there's a very shrewd observation regarding why people watch classic television. As you might recognize from my piece earlier this week, it's a topic I give a lot of thought to as well. There are indeed many ways to watch television, and in the next couple of weeks I'm following up on that via a look at someone who gives ten reasons why she got rid of her television.

Kliph Nesteroff at Classic Television Showbiz has another interesting interview (I should keep that as a micro, because just about every time I write about him I use that phrase) with Buck Henry. I have to admit being taken aback when I pulled up the interview, because right there I saw an ad for That Was the Week That Was that could have come from one of my Twin Cities TV Guides. I know the ad was in one of my issues—I just know it! Fortunately, I didn't let that distract me, because I would have missed some great stuff. As usual.

And for a large swath of both television and movie history, do not under any circumstances miss Will Harris' magnificent interview at The AV Club with Norman Lloyd (St. Elsewhere), who apparently knows everyone and worked on everything. Imagine sharing scenes with Orson Welles and Cameron Diaz. But then, the man is 101 on Sunday! TV  

It's time to go Around the Dial!

Before I get to this week's highlights, I have an email from a reader asking for information.  Since I'm stumped, I pass this along to my enlightened readers to see if they can help.  Mr. D. Witt (I presume it's Mr.) asks,

I have a very dim childhood memory of a 70's TV skit that nobody else I've asked can remember.  Since you seem extremely knowledgeable on this subject I'm hoping you'll have the answer.  Here's the basic info...

- American prime time comedy (and probably variety) show on sometime between 1970 -1972.

- Sketch about a couple living in a underwater house. ( I'm sure it was a reoccurring sketch)

-The set looked like a normal suburban home living room, but there was real water outside the large picture window. The audience would see the husband swim past the window dressed in a business suit.  When entering, he would open and close the front door real fast so not to let the water rush in.

- I think his wife would complain about living in a house that was underwater, but he bought the home because it was such a great deal. Although being about 5 years old when I watched this, I simply like to see the rush of water when the front door was opened.

Thank you for your time.

What about it - ring any bells with anyone?  The premise sounds to me like something Ernie Kovacs would do, but the timeframe is wrong (unless this was presented as a retrospective or something).  If you've got any ideas, let me know!

Ever since I correctly identified Beulah in a Trivial Pursuit game as the first sitcom to star a black actress, I've been saddled with the reputation as someone who knows about the most obscure of television shows.  To a certain extent that's true*, and so I always enjoy reading about someone who shares this, er, hobby.  At Classic Film and TV Cafe, Rick gives us a list of seven obscure shows that, for some reason, he's heard of.  Got to admit that I'd forgotten about Q.E.D., but I did remember the other six.

*This does beg the question as to how much important information I've misplaced because of all the useless trivia I remember.

Some great episode recaps available: bare-bones e-zine continues an ongoing look at Hitchcock adaptations of Roald Dahl works with the sixth-season episode "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat", while at The Horn Section, Hal looks at the 1958 episode of Love That Bob! entitled "Bob Gives S.R.O. Performance."  I love these reviews where I feel as if I've seen the episode, especially if it's from a series I haven't seen before.  Meanwhile, Television's New Frontier: the 1960s takes a closer look at the series Checkmate; I had high hopes for this series when I had the opportunity to watch a few episodes, but I found it falling short too many times for my liking.

Not a television piece per se, but ImagineMDD has a thoughtful reflection on actors who were able to humanize even the most unlikable characters, particularly Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney.  In my ongoing attack on modern police prodecurals, I've found that shows from the classic era - the ones that didn't spend so much time with the personal lives of their quirkbots - often gave far deeper portrayals of their perps, and these actors are able to do the same thing with the great depth of their performances.

At Classic Television Showbiz, Kliph has another of his excellent interviews, this one with George Schlatter, executive producer of Laugh-In among his many contributions to television.  I was really impressed with Schlatter reading his responses to Kliph (despite his politics!), and asking some great questions himself.  I envy Kliph, a man who's heard more and will likely forget more than I'll ever know!

A typically nice piece by Andrew at The Lucky Strike Papers takes a fond look back at "the other Ray Charles," the conductor whose name pops up a lot in my old TV Guides.  In addition to the death of Ray Charles, Andrew also notes the passing of Milton DeLugg, which really feels like the end of an era to me.  I'll take this time to repeat what I've often said: the people who make an impression won't be around forever, so if you're so inclined, don't be afraid to let them know how you feel.

Catching up from last week (since my piece here will probably be posted before his new one goes up), Television Obscurities continues a year in TV Guide with a look at April 24, 1965.  One of the articles is "Why Cable TV is Mushrooming"; I love reading these stories where you can see how far back the roots of our current situation go, and compare the predictions with the reality.

That's it for now - see ya back here tomorrow!

A deal for our readers, classic movies, tragic anniversaries, and Happy Birthday Dorothy Malone!

DOROTHY MALONE AND JOHN IRELAND IN A SCENE FROM THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS  

As is (too) often the case, it's time for me to play catch-up.  I've got announcements, emails from readers, requests for information, and more.  Let's get right to it, shall we?

A new benefit for our readers.  I've recently become acquainted with The Movie and Music Network, a website that offers streaming movies and music.  The good folks at MMN asked me to take a look around at the site, which offers all kinds of classic movies, foreign flicks, silent films, and more.  Best of all for us classic TV fans, there's a network devoted to our genre as well, with some very worthwhile shows for you to check out.

And now here's the good news.  A month’s subscription of unlimited streaming is ordinarily $5.99, but the Network has graciously offered my readers half-off of your first month.  To take advantage, just email Sonia at sonia@movieandmusicnetwork.com with the promo code “MITCHELL” to take advantage of this offer.

I'll be checking in from time to time with news on programs you might want to investigate, and why.  And speaking of which...

Happy Birthday Dorothy Malone & John Ireland!  Today's the 90th birthday of Dorothy Malone, and the 101st birthday of John Ireland.  Malone is, of course, known to classic TV fans for Peyton Place, and classic movie fans with a sharp eye and memory will remember her from her brief but memorable appearance in The Big Sleep.  In both of those roles, as well as so many through her career, she had a presence and appearance that caused you to turn your head and look - and remember.  Quite by accident, I read that she lives right here in Dallas, and with a little research - sure enough, she's right here in the phone book.  As a matter of fact, we've driven past where she lives without even knowing it!  It has been suggested that I should call her up and ask for an interview, but bold as I may be, I don't think I've got the guts to do it out of the blue.  Question of the day: am I a coward?

John Ireland's career was mostly in the movies, but he was no stranger to television either, with a raft of guest roles in series such as Bonanza, Thriller and Riverboat, and starred for two years in the British series The Cheaters.  (I wonder if Cult TV Blog knows about this?.  He also played a pivotal, Oscar-nominated role in the great political movie All the King's Men.  (I wrote about the Pulitzer Prize-winning book here.)

As luck would have it, you can catch both of these stars in Movie and Music Network's movie of the day, The Fast and the Furious.  No, not the franchise of films that seem to be in the theaters all the time, but the original, filmed in 1955.  It's a terrific noir thriller, and it's directed by Roger Corman - I mean, how much better can it get?  Not surprisingly, it's not nearly as frenetic as the remake (which, in fact, it only vaguely resembles), and seeing as how it's noir, you know that Malone's character is not as simple as first appears.  This movie also has a twist at the end that, I think, is somewhat surprising for the usually fatalistic noir genre - but why listen to me when you can check it out for yourself here.  And please do so - I don't think you'll be disappointed once you've visited MMN.

Calling Mike Dolan.  Mary Jo Schwartzhoff writes, "Hi, I have a question. I'm trying to figure out about what time I was born by what TV shows my sister remembers being on. Do you have the TV line up for Chicago for September 20, 1964?"   This sounds like a call for you, Michael.  Can you provide us with the information?

Remembering Apollo 1.  January 27 was the anniversary of the 1967 flash fire that claimed the lives of the three astronauts scheduled to fly the first manned Apollo mission - Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee.*  My friend Marc Ryan sends along this clip from NBC of his father Bill anchoring a special report on the disaster.  He also writes, "You'll notice a funny edit after about 90 seconds. He is ad-libbing the rest of the way."  I remember when this happened; I was only six at the time, but for a kid who'd watched as many space launches as he could, it was - as I said to Marc - a hell of a shock.

*And January 28 was the anniversary of the Challenger explosion.  A somber week for the American space program.

And finally...  If you're out there Jeff Alexander, some time back you asked me for some information, and I've been woefully, woefully slow in getting it to you.  And when I did send it, the email bounced back.  If you see this and still need the information, send me your new email address, and I'll get it to you!

That's it for today - see you tomorrow!

Odds and ends

Back in the day, TV networks used to fill their summer schedules with anthologies bearing such names as Summer Playhouse.  What they were was not a return to the days of Golden Age dramas; instead, they were a clearinghouse for networks to air unsold pilots.  Few of the episodes provided anything more than light entertainment, and most provided ample evidence of why they hadn't been picked up by anyone.

Today's column is a bit of a thrown-together collection of odds and ends, but that's where its similarity to Summer Playhouse ends - after all, we're talking about quality here!

First off, reader John, who asked a question about The Untouchables a few weeks ago, adds this wonderful footnote:

Gotta tell ya this story. In  Utica N. Y. in the early 70's there were two TV stations, WKTV 2  (NBC) & WUTR 20 (ABC). WKTV totally dominated the market, you know, a V vs a U. WUTR bought the Untouchables for $20 an episode - as opposed to nowdays 5 -8  Thousand $ an episode for Wheel of Fortune or Jepordy. For the first time WUTR beat WKTV in the ratings but only for the first half hour.  Still # 1 in the 2nd  half hour but took a sizable drop. Utica had a  heavily Italian population at the time. One of the local radio talk show host said it was because in the first half hour the Italians were winning!

Love that story!

And now a question from reader Erika, who writes:

I have a recording of my father-in-law Brian Reade talking about Aubrey Beardsley  on NBC TV. It's date is 1967 and it also features Vyvyan Holland, son of Oscar Wilde. It was given to Brian Reade by Tony Janak.

I am proposing to make an illustrated recording of this with some family and collected images.  Since you seem to know 'all about TV' I wonder if you foresee any legal problems with circulating this?

My first thought was that as long as it was being shared privately and not being produced for public sale, she was probably OK.  However, aside from a pre-law minor, I’m no expert in this area – anyone with some better ideas?  Please let me know either in the comments or via email.

And now for some quick hits:

Be sure and check out Comfort TV's article on "The Subversive Genius of Rocky and Bullwinkle," one of my favorite cartoons.  David is always well worth reading, and this is no exception.

Cult TV Blog has an interesting look at another of those 60s British series, Police Surgeon.  No, not the awful 70s syndicated version from Canada that was the plague of many a local station - this is the one that is widely seen as precursor to the fabulous Avengers.

Gotta run for now - back later this week!

TV  

Reader mailbag - The Untouchables

It's question time! From the electronic mailbag, Jeff writes to ask:

I have watching The Untouchables on ME-TV and been wondering what happened to Jerry Paris (Martin Flaherty) on the Series. At first he was a major character in every episode, then his appearances got smaller & smaller. Then he totally disappeared. They explained it the returned to run the office in Boston. I wonder did he just happen to land the part of Jerry on the Dick Van Dyke Show and left or was it something else? I noticed all the other Untouchables became background characters after that. Was this the producers idea or Robert Stack? Stack was known as one of the "nice guys" in Hollywood so it would seem strange he would want to hog all the action. What do you think?

My first thought was that Jeff's got good taste in classic TV - The Untouchables is a favorite of mine as well.  Not great drama in the sense that we think of other shows from the Golden Age, but a lot of fun nonetheless.

I've never read anything that explains why Jerry Paris left The Untouchables.  I do know that the show was under frequent pressure from Italian-American groups regarding its portrayal of the Cosa Nostra as being dominated by Italian-Americans, and that the Rico Rossi character (played by Nick Georgiade) was created to counteract the criticism and serve as a positive image for Italian-Americans.  Now, does that mean that the producers might have downgraded Paris' role (and his replacement, Anthony George, whose character was actually killed off) in order to emphasize Rossi?  Or did Paris really just leave for the Van Dyke show? Or is there another answer out there?

I'm thinking that one of you good reades - Mike Doran, perhaps? - might have some additional information on this. Anyone? TV