TV Jibe: How television programs are made

What's on TV? Saturday, March 9, 1957

Have you heard the one about the man who never missed a day of work until one day when he fell into a routine? I'm here all week, folks!

Seriously, I am a creature of habit. Even when it comes to watching classic television; we never binge-watch, but stick to one episode a week, if possible on the night of the week when the program generally aired. This might explain why this week's TV listing is running on Wednesday, rather than Monday, for if you looked in at the start of the week (and if you didn't, why not?), you know that was the day of my entry in the TV Sidekick Blogathon. Now, I could have simply posted this later in the day, or on Tuesday, but holding to that Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule is important. It's a routine I've become comfortable with over the years, and I try to keep to it whenever possible. This week it was possible, and so you're getting Monday's edition today. Think of it as a special Wednesday version.

"Book 'em, Danno!" Why Hawaii Five-O 's Danny Williams is the perfect sidekick for Steve McGarrett

McGARRETT (JACK LORD) AND WILLIAMS (JAMES MacARTHUR): THE LEADERSHIP OF HAWAII FIVE-O

First things first. We're not talking about the new Hawaii Five-0 here, the one with the younger, hotter, more "reckless" cast. No, this is New Coke vs. Classic, Clear Beer vs. Miller, Edra furniture vs. Ikea.  Back when real men didn't eat quiche, cops were indestructible, and every suspect had the right to be shot while evading capture. In other words, the good old days. From here on in, don't even think about the new show.

I've long argued that Steve McGarrett should not be viewed as a "realistic" character. Yes, it's true that when he's shot he (usually) bleeds, and I've even seen a couple of instances when his hair moves. But, all joking aside, Hawaii's top cop is best appreciated when you think of him as an archetype, a metaphor for law enforcement, rather than a flesh-and-blood cop. I first came to this conclusion while watching an episode in which some fool criminal trying to evade the long arm of the law splashed McGarrett in the face with gasoline as he raced past as gas pump. McGarrett was slowed, but only for a minute, continuing his hot pursuit as he wiped his face. There was no burning skin, no long-term eye damage; McGarrett barely missed a beat as he closed in and eventually captured the killer.

Rather than rendering this scene laughable, however, I chose to look at it differently. If you accept the idea of the metaphorical McGarrett, then you see him as the indestructible, incorruptible lawman, one who takes even the thought of crime on the islands as a personal affront. It's symbolic not only of blind justice in that McGarrett is just as determined to right wrongs as he is to apprehend suspects, but also the inexorable beat of the law, which criminals may be able to evade for a time but from which they can never escape. It doesn't really make McGarrett that much different from other lawmen of the time - think of Matt Dillon, for example - but as we seem to demand more and more "realism" in television*, it makes watching a series like Five-O easier if you manage your expectations. Besides, why let those kinds of small details get in the way of what are usually pretty good stories?

*That is, assuming combat-scale shootouts and exploding vehicles are part of daily life in Honolulu, or any other city outside of Baghdad.

And that brings me to the real focus of this piece - McGarrett's number-two man, Danny Williams. Danno for short. Played by James MacArthur - in real life, son of playwright Charles MacArthur (The Front Page), adopted son of Oscar winner Helen Hayes, godson of legendary actress Lillian Gish, It is a testament to Danno's effectiveness as a sidekick that it's taken me four full paragraphs to get around to mentioning him. Even in the "TV Sidekick Blogathon," a blogathon dedicated to role players like him, he's overshadowed by his boss.

That, however, is what makes him a good sidekick. He has all the necessary qualities:

• He doesn't overshadow his boss. You won't see him making any mistakes because he's dreaming of his name in the headlines.
• He's dependable and reliable; Five-O isn't going to fall apart on those days when Steve's out of the office.
• And yet, he's no threat to Steve. McGarrett can go about his business knowing he's not about to star in a remake of All About Eve, or see the point of a knife sticking out of his chest - the knife that Danny plunged in his back when he wasn't looking.
• Best of all, he's motivated and highly competent, but not so ambitious that he has a lean and hungry look about him. 
• He doesn't eat much and doesn't take up much room. By that, I mean his life is largely void of drama. Oh sure, there are a couple of times when he's falsely accused of murder, and then there's the time when he becomes obsessed with revenging the death of his girlfriend, but that's to be expected. No, Steve doesn't have to worry about him showing up late after an all-night bender, or sneaking out of the office to meet his pusher, or dealing with a half-dozen accusations that he failed to read someone their rights before booking him.

All these things mean that Danny is not just good, but the perfect sidekick. Perhaps he'd like a number one job himself, but he has no illusions about being as good as McGarrett, and for eleven seasons he was perfectly content to be the number two man in one of the best police forces anywhere.

There's another role he plays, however, and that's where I come back to the foundation I laid at the start. Because, in my opinion, if Steve McGarrett is the archetype, Danny Williams is the human face that allows the viewer to identify with the series. It is Danny who has the perspective that Steve sometimes lacks, not only in the crimefighting world, but as a connection to the larger world around them. 

Filer (Hume Cronyn) and his infamous phone

An example: "Odd Man In," a season four episode featuring Hume Cronyn reprising his season three role as bank robber Lewis Avery Filer. Filer has just broken out of prison utilizing a number of ingenious tricks including rewiring the phone system. McGarrett notes that there was enough phone equipment missing for Filer to start his own phone company, to which Danny drolly replies, "He probably will." Later, when McGarrett lists the various disguises Filer might be employing, Danny notes, "Wouldn't it be simpler to put an APB out on anybody?" In a story filled with gently humorous moments, it's Danny who, with those two lines, demonstrates his sense of the absurd, his ability to put even crime in perspective. Of course Filer will start his own phone company, Danny is thinking - and it'll probably be successful, too! Even in the most stressful of situations, life provides its own glimpses of humor, and Danny is the one who will see them. If McGarrett is the face of the relentless pursuit of justice, Williams is a reminder that policemen are men, not machines.

For all of his competence though, the viewer is never tempted to see Williams as a replacement for McGarrett. Every once in a while star Jack Lord will be virtually missing from an episode - usually this means McGarrett is "in Washington" attending hearings or meeting with top Justice Department leaders. At times such as this, it's up to Williams to take charge of the week's case. He doesn't always solve it himself, though - Steve might be just as apt to fly back for the episode's conclusion, taking the investigation Danny has headed and seeing it through to a successful end. Danny's work has been perfectly good, at times even brilliant, but we're never tempted to forget McGarrett's importance to Five-O. Just as Star Trek's Spock could never undermine Kirk's authority, Danny Williams will never suggest to us that Steve McGarrett is replaceable. 

Storywise, he also takes the burden off of McGarrett. As is the case with most sidekicks, Danno gets his own episode every once in awhile, one that allows the plotline to be about him. He may face allegations about his honesty, or he may be struggling with having possibly shot an innocent young man. It might be that he's lost his true love (see: Cartwrights, sons of Ben, for further examples), or it could be the aforementioned holding down the fort while McGarrett is away. On these occasions, Danny's more that up to the task, even if it's Steve who often solves the case. In real life, when James MacArthur leaves Hawaii Five-O after eleven seasons, it's not because he wanted more money, top billing in his own show, or even a movie career: it was because he felt the show had lost its edge, had become boring. Right to the end, he was the perfect second banana.

Is Danny Williams a conventional sidekick, in the same mold as many of the others we're reading about in this entertaining blogathon? I suppose not, but as we saw, when one lists the qualities needed to be a good sidekick, he ticks them all off. It's unusual in that Danny is just one of three "sidekicks" for McGarrett, but clearly he's first among equals. That means that in the world of sidekicks, he bears an extra burden, one that Chin, or Kono, or Al or Duke don't have. He has to be the not-quite star, the one who remains almost, but not quite. It's not everyone who can successfully manage that obstacle course, but Danny Williams, aka James MacArthur, does it quite well, thank you very much.


The TV Sidekick Blogathon is hosted by the Classic Film & TV Cafe. Please check out the rest of wonderful entries by clicking here.

This week in TV Guide: March 9, 1957

Two thoughts about Pat Boone: in 1962 he'll star in the remake of State Fair, which wasn't very good to begin with, and pales in comparison to the original, but it does give one a very good panorama of the State Fair of Texas. When we moved here three years ago, I was thrilled to find Fair Park much the same as it was in the movie, with Big Tex there to greet us.

And although I've never been a particular fan of Boone, a few years ago I saw a PBS documentary about his television show, and I was mightily impressed. He was only 23 when The Pat Boone Chevy Show started in 1957 on ABC, not only the youngest person ever to host a network variety show, but undoubtedly younger than most of his guests. He was still a student at Columbia when it started. Yet for all that, the clips from the series show a very mature, poised young man, totally at ease in front of the camera, completely comfortable with his famous guests. As I say, particularly when you compare him to today's celebrities, he cuts a very impressive figure.

It comes as no surprise when you read this week's issue, in which Boone's business savvy is apparent. He's already turned down three series offers, two because they were sponsored by tobacco companies, one because the sponsor was a brewery. Boone, of course, neither smokes or drinks, and he's sensitive to the influence he might have on his young viewers, so it's no surprise that his ABC contract, which will pay him $1 million over five years, gives him approval over sponsors.

He's also sensitive to the debt he owes Arthur Godfrey, on whose show he's been a regular since 1955. So deep is his loyalty to the Old Redhead that he refused guests spots with Steve Allen and Perry Como because the shows would air on networks other than Godfrey's CBS. Even though he wasn't under contract to either Godfrey or CBS, "why should I go on another network and maybe help that show to draw a bigger rating than CBS?" It takes ABC's offer of his own show to pull Boone away from CBS, and though Godfrey publicly praises it, in private he urges Boone to wait, saying he won't be ready for his own show for "another five or six years." With respect, I think Arthur Godfrey was wrong on that one.

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There's a charming profile of the charming French soprano Lily Pons, star of the Metropolitan Opera, and a recent guest on Perry Como's program. "Before a con-zairt, I stay in bed all day. I do not even speak upon the telephone. But for The Perry Como Show I re-harse all week. Eet was a miracle that I am in marvelous voice."

The Met has never really seen a soprano quite like Lily Pons before. The typical sopranos are, in the words of the article, "elephants." Miss Pons, on the other hand, stands 5 feet, ½ inch tall and weighs a mere 109 pounds. " 'I was the first,' she said, indicating a portion of her anatomy sometimes called a midriff, 'to appear from 'ere to 'ere - all nek-keed!" Despite her fame, Lily has no desire to go into television full-time - "Eev I do TV, I can do only TV; no opera, no con-zairt. One cannot do TV and be on hanything else" - but if she did, she envisions a version of Your Hit Parade only with classical music.

It's a pity Lily Pons isn't better remembered today. Even among opera buffs, her fame has faded as the Met has moved away from the repertoire that showed off her high coloratura. But if she had perhaps been born a few years later, when she could have made even more use of television, she might have become as famous as Roberta Peters, the all-time recordholder for appearances with Ed Sullivan. She did the Sullivan show, though, many times, as well as her appearances on The Perry Como Show, Your Show of Shows, The Jimmy Durante Show, Person to Person, What's My Line? and This Is Your Life. There are also the memories of her famed performances at the Met as Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, and here's a clip of her performing another of her standards, "The Bell Song" from Delibes' Lakme.

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One of the hallmarks of the Golden Age is the drama anthology. They were one of the prestige offerings on early television, attracting many actors and actresses who would go on to great fame in movies and television, names like Charlton Heston, James Dean, Elizabeth Montgomery, Charles Bronson and Lee Remick, and the shows spawned directors from John Frankenheimer and Franklin Schaffner to George Roy Hill and Sidney Lumet.

You'll also notice a lot of big names in the shows, though: those, like Robert Montgomery, who've retreated from the big screen and now work in production or hosting, with only occasional forays into acting; or those whose box office presence has faded over time; or those still at the top of their game who've been lured to television by the promise of an exceptional script or, more often, a nice payday and exposure for their next big-screen presentation.

By 1957, the glory days of the live anthology program are themselves beginning to fade; the advent of video tape and the consequent ability to improve the technical quality of the production has contributed to a shift away from live programming in many cases. There's also a feeling among some sponsors that consistent star appeal - having the same leads in the program every week - are more effective vehicles at attracting viewers - and, therefore, selling the sponsor's product. Nonetheless, as you see below, there are still plenty of them on the air. You'll also notice that in many cases, the sponsor's name is part of the title - either obviously, as in the case of Kraft Television Theatre, or more obliquely (meaning that it's not part of the title shown in TV Guide), as with Westinghouse Studio One. Either way, let's see what was on this week, among shows both prominent and little-known.

Saturday's lineup is dominated by sitcoms and variety shows, so we'll kickoff our look at anthologies on Sunday with CBS' long-running G.E. Theater, featuring one of those big names we talked about, Oscar winner Bette Davis, starring as a jilted novelist plotting revenge on the publisher who rejected her book in "With Malice Toward One." That's followed by the droll Alfred Hitchcock Presents, with Casablanca's Captain Louis Renault, Claude Rains, in "The Cream of the Jest."* Finally, The Loretta Young Show (NBC) has Vivica Lindfors (whom we'll see again later in the week) and Herbert Marshall, but not Loretta herself, in "Louise," the story of a woman trying to outrun her memories of World War II. There's also ABC's Omnibus, which isn't strictly speaking a drama anthology but occasionally dips into the genre, as it does tonight with "The Trial of Captain Kidd," starring Victor Jory.

*Fun fact: The Nazi target in Casablanca, freedom fighter Victor Laszlo (the one who escapes with Ingrid Bergman) is played by Paul Henreid, who directed many episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents - not, alas, this one.

Monday night features two of those prestige dramas - Robert Montgomery Presents, on NBC, has "Last Train to Kildevil," a domestic drama starring Martha Scott and David White, while CBS' legendary Studio One  offers the Abby Mann*-written drama "A Child Is Waiting," starring Mary Fickett and Pat Hingle. And I don't know - should we count NBC's Voice of Firestone, which is, after all, a musical anthology? It started on radio in 1928 and survived on television until 1963. I say we count it - tenor Brian Sullivan is tonight's guest.

*Fun fact: Abby Mann won an Oscar for the screenplay to Judgment at Nuremberg, and was the creator of the cop drama Kojak.

A trio of programs finish off Tuesday night, starting with NBC's The Jane Wyman Show. The Oscar winner and former wife of G.E. Theater host Ronald Reagan stars in as well as hosts "The Pendulum," which also features Bat Masterson star Gene Barry. That's followed by The Kaiser Aluminum Hour, which ran for only one season despite attracting stars such as Paul Newman, Ralph Bellamy and Kim Hunter. Tonight, Richard Kiley, June Lockhart and Larry Gates are in "The Story of a Crime." Finally, there's ABC's Du Pont Theatre, which began on radio in 1935 as "Cavalcade of America." Tonight's story is "One Day at a Time," the story of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, with James Daly as Bill W.

SOURCE ALL: HADLEY TV GUIDE COLLECTION

The U.S. Steel Hour, which alternates Wednesday nights on CBS with Armstrong Circle Theatre, has an unusual presentation: a dramatic fantasy with musical narration. It's "The Bottle Imp," based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson, with Farley Granger, Geoffrey Holder and Susan Oliver. Meanwhile, NBC has the venerable (11 seasons) Kraft Television Theatre, one of the first and oldest anthologies*, has the seafaring mystery "Collision!" with Peter Falk as part of the cast. ABC adds the eight-season program Ford Television Theater, which this week stars Linda Darnell in "Fate Travels East."

*Perhaps its most famous presentation was Rod Serling's "Patterns," which catapulted Serling to fame.

Thursday's Lux Video Theatre (NBC) goes one step further, presenting a full-blown operetta by the king of operettas, Victor Herbert. The star is singer and regular host Gordon MacRae, husband of Sheila, father of Meredith. It's good, but the prestige show on Thursdays is CBS' long-running Playhouse 90, although tonight's episode, a dramatization of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Last Tycoon," is not one of those that's most fondly remembered by classic TV fans. It stars a woefully miscast Jack Palance as Fitzgerald's protagonist Monroe Stahr, and features turns from Keenan Wynn, Peter Lorre, Viveca Lindfors and Lee Remick.

On Friday Schlitz Playhouse (CBS), another of the half-hour dramas of the genre, gives us Oscar-winner Ray Milland directing and starring in "The Girl in the Grass." It's preceded on CBS by Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, with another Oscar winner, Dean Jagger, starring along with John Derek* in the revenge tale "There Were Four."

*Fun Fact: John Derek is, at the time, married to future Bond girl Ursula Andress. He'll go on to marry Bo Derek and Linda Evans, though not at the same time.

And that's not even all of them. There are other series, such as West Point, The Joseph Cotten Show, Navy Log and Studio 57 (sponsored by Heinz, of course), and shows that function as virtual anthologies because of their concentration on the characters played by guest stars - Gunsmoke, for example, especially in its later years. Not all of them were hits, nor were the prestige shows always good. They were, however, an essential part of early television. Contemporary shows such as True Detective put a spin on the old formula by using an entire season, rather than one episode, to tell the story, then changing the cast entirely for the next season. It would, though, be nice if the public were attracted to prestige dramas once again.

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We've seen these before, but it's worth a reminder how much something like the telephone has changed. We think it's remarkable enough that we can carry them around in our pockets (or even on our wrists), how we can access the internet on them, take pictures with them, use them as a calculator, even pay our bills if we have the right app. But in 1957, something we take for granted - something as simple as a long distance call - was complicated. It was expensive, and therefore not only saved for special occasions, but one also had to give a great deal of thought to when the call was placed. As this ad points out, if you can wait until after 6:00pm or make the call on Sunday, you're going to save. A call from Fort Worth to New Orleans costs only 95 cents for the first three minutes, and each additional minute is only 25 cents. What a deal! Today, we don't even give it another thought - not only do most cell plans have free long distance, depending on our data plan we can just Face Time someone, and not only talk to them, but see them at the same time. Not unlike Dick Tracy's two-way wrist radio, eh?

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Finally, we haven't done any recipe sharing lately, but for those occasions when you've invited friends over to watch the latest spectacular on that new-fangled technology*, these "calorie-counted desserts top off an evening of television." You could also be like the family in the new header, sampling mom's new recipes after having dined off of the TV trays set up in the living room.

*It's helpful to recall that in January of 1958, 13% of American households still lacked even one television.  In June of 1955, less than two years before this issue of TV Guide was published, that figure was 33%.

Let's take a look at the two pictured at right: the first being strawberries glacé in caramel rings, weighing in (sic) at approximately 400 calories per serving.

Our next recipe is for tiger parfait, approximately 275 calories per serving.

My suggestion: try this out tonight by inviting some friends over to watch a movie from your DVD collection. Serve these to them for dessert, and let us know how things turn out! TV  

Around the dial

A
t Classic Film and TV Cafe, Rick spotlights the DVD release of "The New Doctors" segment of The Bold Ones, meaning the entire series - which included segments on "The Lawyers," "The Defenders," and "The Senator." I remember well "The New Doctors," which starred E.G. Marshall, David Hartman, and (for most of its run) John Saxon. Although Marshall was an established television star, it was the first time I'd seen him in a series, and the first time I'd seen Hartman, who'd go on to host Good Morning America. It was a good, if not great, series, and I'm glad it's out on DVD.

The Bold Ones, which premiered in 1969, was known as an "wheel" series, in that the overall title functioned as an umbrella for the "spokes," the separate components. A more famous example of that is the NBC Mystery Movie, and the most famous spoke in that series was Columbo. Once Upon a Screen gives us yet another welcome look at the man who made it all work, the unforgettable Peter Falk. (H/T The Last Drive In.)

Welcome back to Ivan at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear!

Television Obscurities goes in-depth, putting the spotlight on the thirteen-week CBS sitcom Glynis, starring Glynis Johns, with a few additional points here.

David at Comfort TV gives a shout-out to TV's occasional characters. The wiseass part of me wants to know what they are the rest of the time, but that detracts from David's fine look at memorable characters such as The Bob Newhart Show's Cliff Murdock (Tom Poston), Michael Dunn's immortal Dr. Loveless in The Wild Wild West (who only appeared in 10 episodes!), Marya (Nita Talbot), the Soviet spy who was the bane of Colonel Hogan's existence on Hogan's Heroes, and more.

Speaking of Hogan, if you haven't had a chance yet, I hope you'll go back and read Wednesday's interview with Carol Ford, co-author of the excellent (and definitive!) biography of Bob Crane.

And speaking of this blog, next week's schedule will be a bit different, with the "What's on TV?" feature moving to Wednesday so that I can present my entry in the TV Sidekick Blogathon.

That should be about enough for today—see you back here tomorrow, right? TV