The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

[The Old Mixer]

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Dragnet 1967

"The Hit and Run Driver"
Originally aired April 6, 1967

Friday and Gannon enlist the help of a forensic chemist after two pedestrians are killed by a motorist.

This is the city: Los Angeles, California. It's a city on wheels, constantly on the move. There are three and a half million cars in Los Angeles; over 132 miles of freeways. The maximum speed limit is 65 miles an hour. This is Central Receiving Hospital. On an average day, there are 161 accidents. Every month, 37 people die. It's a high price to pay to get somewhere in a hurry...especially when they never get there. [Junkyard] This is where their cars end up...what's left of 'em. [Cemetary] This is where the victims end up...what's left of 'em. When they do, I go to work. I carry a badge.

Thursday, June 26 (had last occurred in 1958): Friday and Gannon, working the day watch out of Felony Follow-Up Section, Accident Investigation Division, are meeting with a reporter at a police-themed cafe across from headquarters. This scene is only there to give the detectives a chance to overwhelm the audience with a rapid barrage of additional statistics, including Friday breaking down what happens during a collision in tenths-of-a-second detail. Then they're sent to investigate the titular accident, in which two senior citizen pedestrians were killed. Questioning eye-witnesses, they identify the car as a blue 1964 Lincoln, and get a break in finding the car when a body shop mechanic calls in about a car matching the description for which he replaced the windshield. He produces the damaged old windshield, which they take as evidence.

Now having the identity of the suspect, Clayton Filmore (Robert Clarke), they track him down to his office, where he's already got a lawyer shielding him. They proceed to arrest him, and back at the station he makes himself look particularly bad by offering that the victims didn't have much longer to live anyway. Friday establishes that Filmore's choice to remain silent doesn't protect him from receiving a lecture, and proceeds to deliver one that's laden with still more statistics, including a description of what happened to his victims. They also establish that he'd been drinking prior to the accident and has a long drunk driving record. Cutting to the point...

You may be out on bail in a coupla hours, and if so, you take this to lunch with you: Two people are lying over there in the county morgue and you put 'em there. You were in a hurry the night you killed 'em, you're in a hurry now to see how fast you can forget. And I wish you a lotta luck...I hope it takes the rest of your life. Now have a good lunch.

Filmore does get out on bail, but the detectives get some good news from the forensics man (Olan Soule), who's able to find definitive evidence that the car struck those two pedestrians (e.g., bits of matching shoe leather, blood, and hair).

After a commercial break, it's Thursday, February 18 (which doesn't match up with 1959, but had occurred in 1960 and 1965), and we're told that it's been five months since Filmore's trial, but we're not told how it went. Friday and Gannon are sent to investigate another accident, this time involving two cars. Two teenage girls in one vehicle were killed; the two in the car that struck them, which ran a light going at least 50, were Filmore and his wife, who are said to be in critical condition. Going to the hospital, the detectives find that Mrs. Filmore had only been suffering from traumatic shock, and is able to talk to them. She'd been pursuing a divorce when they'd first talked to her in June, but we learn that her husband had talked her out of it by promising to straighten himself out. She's clearly regretful about the accident, and informs the detectives that Mr. Filmore will be losing both of his legs.

On May 20, trial was held in Department 185, Superior Court of the State of California, in and for the County of Los Angeles....The suspect was found guilty on two counts of felony manslaughter. Felony manslaughter is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or in the state prison for not more than five years. Since this was his second offense, Clayton R. Filmore received the maximum sentence. However, because of his permanent disability resulting from the accident, the sentence was suspended. He was also forbidden to ever drive a vehicle again as long as he lived, despite the fact that artificial legs would have made it possible for him to do so.

Legally, I'd say the asshole got off shockingly light for having killed four people inside of a year.


"The Big Bookie"
Originally aired April 13, 1967

Friday works under cover in a drive to break up a gambling ring.

This is the city: Los Angeles, California. Like any other city, there are a great many ways to make money here...or lose it. This is one way [horse racetrack]. In the state of California, it's legal provided you buy a ticket of admission and place your bets here. In California, over $600 million is wagered annually at racetracks...all open, above board, and within the law. Like any other legitimate business where great amounts of money are involved, there are those who cut themselves in for an illegal percentage. Sections of this volume [The Penal Code of the State of California] were enacted just for them. It all begins with a ten-cent phone call to a man who keeps his business records on a plastic table top, and who doesn't bother to enter his profit and loss in the company ledger. Or who keeps his records on a highly volatile material known as flash paper--a simple kitchen match is often his key to freedom. [Exposition alert!] When this happens, it becomes part of my job. I carry a badge.

Monday, January 9 (Welcome to 1967!): Friday and Gannon, working the day watch out of Administrative Vice Division, begin the day attending a breakfast sponsored by a police post of the American Legion. After the benediction, Friday expresses his surprise to discover that the department has a chaplain, Sgt. Riddle (William Reynolds). Back at the station, Friday's assigned to work with Riddle to investigate a bartender named Clinger who's suspected of being a bookie (Bobby Troup again); Riddle has an established cover in the area. At the bar and grill where he works, Clinger isn't quick to take Riddle and Friday into his confidence when they start asking about some action. Friday turns to flirting with an attractive waitress named Angie (Luana Patten) to get information about Clinger out of her. She doesn't fall for his stiff charms, and doesn't have anything bad to say about her boss, who we learn is a widower with a ten-year-old who has a serious heart condition. Somewhere along the way, they also learn that he's using an alias and is wanted in Pennsylvania for forgery.

After two weeks of the undercover detectives working the joint, Clinger finally lets Friday and Riddle in on his action. They get a phone number from him, then obtain search warrants for the matching address and bust in, barely managing to prevent the man there from burning his evidence via--you guessed it--flash paper. With the information from his paperwork, they apprehend a total of six suspects in the ring, including Clinger. When Friday arrests Clinger at the bar and grill, Angie tries to lay a guilt trip on him about Clinger's daughter, but Friday retorts that Clinger should have thought about her.

A week after that (Wednesday, February 1--still in sync), they learn that Clinger's daughter has died while he's been in custody. He humbly asks Friday and Riddle to see to his daughter's funeral arrangements. He's particularly concerned that there'll be a minister there who can say the right words.

We've got somebody.

On April 15th, trial was held in Department 183, Superior Court of the State of California, in and for the County of Los Angeles....Five of the suspects were found guilty under Sections 182.5 and 337a of the California State Penal Code, conspiracy and bookmaking. The four clerks were each fined $250 and released. Gordon R. Westerfield was fined $500 and released.

In the interests of justice, the charges against Ross Clement, also known as Richard Clinger, were dismissed. He was, however, returned to the state of Pennsylvania to stand trial for forgery.

_______

Er... while I acknowledge the superiority of Jim Morrison and The Doors, my musical taste is not sophisticated enough to appreciate this.

Ah, here I thought we had ya. This song has a nice sound, but I can see where it isn't quite single strength. Alas, this will be neither the last nor lamest sub-Top 40 single to come from the still-forthcoming The Soft Parade album.

That's what I was saying about halfway through.

I think you beat TREK_GOD to the punch there!

My dislike for Frank Sinatra goes way beyond his lack of talent

Good to hear. I don't know that much about her.

Looking it up, I jumped the gun a bit. By her own account, she didn't know until she was 20.

 

[RJDiogenes]

This scene is only there to give the detectives a chance to overwhelm the audience with a rapid barrage of additional statistics, including Friday breaking down what happens during a collision in tenths-of-a-second detail.

This has been a public service announcement. Which is good, because those are some pretty grim statistics.

Legally, I'd say the asshole got off shockingly light for having killed four people inside of a year.

Indeed. He should have been put away forever.

After the benediction, Friday expresses his surprise to discover that the department has a chaplain

WTF. There's something Friday doesn't know?

Friday turns to flirting with an attractive waitress named Angie (Luana Patten) to get information about Clinger out of her. She doesn't fall for his stiff charms

Imagine my surprise.

A week after that (Wednesday, February 1--still in sync), they learn that Clinger's daughter has died while he's been in custody.

Okay, this is not exactly a feelgood episode.

I think you beat TREK_GOD to the punch there!

I will have no objections to this going on the rocket.

I'm not sure if you disagree about his talent or if you're fearing for my life for saying that out loud.

Looking it up, I jumped the gun a bit. By her own account, she didn't know until she was 20.

Twenty is pretty good, even then.

 

[The Old Mixer]

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50th Anniversary Viewing

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The Ed Sullivan Show
Season 21, episode 22
Originally aired March 16, 1969
As represented in The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show

Now here's the popular rock star Janis Joplin.

Janis has now recently gone solo and formed her own Kozmic Blues Band. I read that the song she's performing on Best of, "Raise Your Hand"--originally a 1967 Eddie Floyd number--was a staple of her live repertoire and will be performed at a place called Woodstock. She's in good form here.

The other song she performed, not shown on Best of, was "Maybe," which will be on her album I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! later this year:

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After a rambling story about his gratitude for receiving an award...

Now here are the four attractive youngsters known as Honey Ltd.

This short-lived group looks young and hip (especially Joan, second from our left), but their sound and style is a little Lawrence Welk. They perform two numbers, one I'm not familiar with in the vonderful, vonderful bubbles vein called "At Long Last Love," followed by a not-too-shabby cover of "Respect":

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Now here is big Ed Ames.

Ames, who's come to represent everything that I consider lame about Sullivan's more granny-friendly guests, is sporting a beard here, which clued me in to looking up that he'd left Daniel Boone by this point. The song he performs is called "Changing, Changing," which has a good sound for whatever it's supposed to be. He had a decent set of pipes, I'll give him that.

From Germany, the exciting Carals.

The man in this couple does the balancing and juggling of various odd objects (including both balancing and juggling at the same time), while the woman--I'd presume his wife--plays the role of assistant.

Following an audience bow for Buddy Hackett in which Ed plugs Buddy's then-current hit film, [Herbie] The Love Bug, Ed gives a very mumbly intro to Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer, and Boots Randolph that I won't attempt to transcribe, but it involves them being from Nashville. Here--there are Asian subtitles to help you along. First saxophonist Randolph plays "Yakety Sax," after which he introduces pianist Cramer playing "On the Rebound," followed by guitarist Atkins doing "Autumn Leaves". Following these relatively brief solos, the trio join forces on "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody". (You can see Buddy Hackett in the audience at the beginning of that clip.)

Also in the original episode according to tv.com:

Music:
--Ed Ames - "If I Had A Hammer"
--The United States Air Force Marching Band (Strategic Air Command band).

Comedy:
--Scoey Mitchell - stand-up monologue.
Also appearing:
--Jacques D'Amboise and Allegra Kent (ballet dancers) - Irish Fantasy with Marnee Morris.
--Norm Neilson (magic act).
--Barbara Joe Rubin (female jockey) - interviewed by Ed.
--Audience bows: Sherry Hackett [Buddy's wife]; Jerry Vale (singer); and Benny Friedman (University of Michigan 1925 All-American football star).

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The Avengers
"Homicide and Old Lace"
Originally aired March 17, 1969 (US); March 26, 1969 (UK)

Mother's two elderly aunties are all a-twitter over an improbable tale that he spins them: a dastardly plot to steal the Crown Jewels, illustrated with clips from earlier episodes.

I read that it's not all clip show...it's primarily a repurposing of an early-shot episode in the Tara King "series" that was felt to be unusable as it was, so they put the Mother narration framing story around it and embellished it with some scenes from other episodes. A notable sign that it was shot early in the "series" is that Thorson was wearing a blonde wig. I also read that the criminal organization involved, Intercrime, had been used previously in an old Cathy Gale episode.

Judging by the IMDb reviews, this is a very poorly regarded episode, thought by some to be the worst in the series, and particularly infamous for its mocking silent movie-style piano score. Mother's aunts actually make comments about weaknesses in the story, including one about Mother having run out of plot just before we cut to a newly shot expository scene between Mother and Steed that was obviously meant to fill in a perceived hole in the narrative.

The Intercrime scheme seems pretty far-fetched, but that's not unusual for this show. The organization seeks to take advantage of a British operation that would substitute forgeries for national art treasures, including the Crown Jewels, in the event of an emergency--gathering all of the genuine articles together in one robbable location.

Mother makes a cute reference at the end of his story to the shock of an explosion in the climax having turned Tara brunette. The newly shot coda features a lame gag in which Mother projects his voice through his assistant Rhonda after Steed comments about how he's never heard her speak.

Once I got into the swing of it, I thought the episode was kind of cute...the show making fun of itself.

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Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Season 2, episode 24
Originally aired March 17, 1969

Tony Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr., Werner Klemperer, Ann Miller, Garry Moore, Flip Wilson

This episode they use a subway sketch that's sort of like a substitute for the first cocktail party.

Laugh-In's Salute to Taxes:

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A fake Discovery of the Week, the Shaughnessy Brothers:

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The News from 1989 has Charles de Gaulle still in office; he actually stepped down in April of '69!

One gag has Sammy starting to lip sync "I've Gotta Be Me" and falling into a trap door.

The closing Joke Wall, featuring Sammy:

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This segment concludes a running gag throughout the episode of Sammy keeping a count of racially insensitive jokes.

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Adam-12
"Log 172: Boy, the Things You Do for the Job"
Originally aired March 22, 1969

In this lighthearted, well-written episode, a wealthy and beautiful young woman (Anna Capri) becomes literally obsessed with Malloy after he pulls her over for a traffic violation and is not bowled over by her charms.

Reed and Malloy are on patrol when a maroon Jag zips by them doing 50 in a 35-mile zone. When they pull it over, Malloy meets the driver, Penelope Lang (Capri), who has a poodle. She tries to charm him out of giving him a ticket, then offers to go on a date with him. When he sticks to just the ticket, ma'am, she can't believe that he's serious.

Following that, they get a call for a 459 silent, but we don't see them respond to it. Cut to the locker room after Reed and Malloy return from three days off, which is abuzz until Pete walks in, then goes dead silent, after which everyone starts teasing him for reasons that he doesn't understand at first. Then he gets a package that turns out to be from Penny, an 8 x 10 of her posing in a bikini, and subsequently learns that she's been at the front desk asking about him for the last three days. She shows up again in the parking lot as the officers are getting ready to go out on patrol.

Back at the locker room later, Malloy learns from a perturbed Ed Wells (who doesn't seem to have been off duty as long as was advertised) that she's been making false calls that he's been getting assigned to. Some time (presumably days) later in the break room, we learn that Pete's been actively avoiding her as she's staked out the station and attempted to tail him home.

One day Reed and Malloy respond to a 507 radio. The caller is a snooty building superintendent who's been getting complaints about a stereo on another floor, in an apartment with a new tenant. As the officers approach the apartment, we find that the music is that groovy stock instrumental that's very popular in the Mark VII-verse. And when the tenant answers the door...guess who? She moved in just to be in Pete's district! Pete's firm with her and mentions the non-fraternization regulation; then he proceeds to give her a bit of a chewing out, ultimately telling her that she turns him off.

Back at the station, Malloy gets called into Mac's office. Pete tells him the whole story (with a transition to the end for our benefit), then gets called out into the parking lot, where he finds that she's bought him a red Porsche. He refuses the car, but his solution to stopping the madness, with Mac's tacit blessing, is to finally call her for a date.

The next day, Malloy seems very matter-of-fact as Reed tries to find out how it went. Pete describes a very ordinary-sounding date, then adds...

Oh, um, there is one more little thing....Well, she's not gonna be a problem anymore. Not at all.

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Get Smart
"The Not-So-Great Escape: Part 1"
Originally aired March 22, 1969

Over a period of 6 months, 20 CONTROL agents have disappeared, and it's Max's job to protect agent Michael Kendall as he gets on a plane. Unfortunately, Kendall becomes KAOS abductee #21 right from under Max's nose. After the Chief goes missing, Max tries to arrange for himself to be kidnapped in a similar fashion, and uncovers the kidnapping method. It turns out that the CONTROL agents are being housed in a secret prison camp somewhere in New Jersey, which is run by Siegfried and Shtarker. Max visits the camp undercover as a top-ranking KAOS official in hopes of rescuing the prisoners. A parody of The Great Escape, and probably also in no small measure of the contemporary television show Hogan's Heroes.

Given the opening credits, you'd think Max would suspect a trick phone booth. And this one isn't very subtle, as it involves an entire revolving wall...like nobody's gonna notice that happening at what should be a busy airport. KAOS desk clerk Kathie Browne even accidentally shoots her fellow agent in the booth and nobody else is in the scene to notice.

The Chief is using the code name Harold Clark this week...and KAOS has it in their card file.

When 99 objects that Max's plan to infiltrate the camp is too dangerous...

Larabee: She's right, Max, let me go.
Max: Are you saying that because I'm married, Larabee?
Larabee: No, Max, I'm saying that because I'm married.​

It's pushing things that Siegfried wouldn't immediately place Max--His eye patch, mustache, and Gestapo-style uniform isn't exactly a Rollin-level disguise. Anyway, Max finally being recognized and jumping out the window into a dog kennel is the cliffhanger.

The episode had some distinctive directorial touches that I assume were spoofing on The Great Escape; I didn't notice anything distinctly Hogan's Heroes, though.

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Hogan's Heroes
"Happy Birthday, Dear Hogan"
Originally aired March 22, 1969

Belatedly realizing the information they’ve sent London is a Gestapo trap, the team struggles to undo the damage they’ve done, without letting the colonel know.

Hogan's contact at a movie theater is Mama Bear (Barbara Babcock). Somewhere in the middle of making out with him while Gestapo agents are watching, she warns him not to engage in any operations as the Germans are planning to set a trap.

Back at the camp during Hogan's absence, Hochstetter loudly gives Klink false info about a radar installation near an ammo dump being out of commission while LeBeau is working right outside the window. The prisoners take the initiative of calling it in to London as a birthday present to Hogan. Then the Colonel returns and they get the word from him. Hogan also notices that there's a radio detector truck nearby...so now they can't call off the bomber strike.

LeBeau goes to the theater to make contact with Mama Bear. He has a little fun, but after she isn't able to help, the guys fess up to Hogan, and he decides that the thing to do is put the truck out of commission so they can get a message out. They need some gunpowder, so they show Schultz how to play pin the tail on the donkey, borrowing his ammo belt and unloading his rifle while he's blindfolded. They set up some oversized birthday candles to act as flares, shooting at the truck so that the men manning it temporarily abandon their post. Later Hochstetter inidicates that the truck was completely put out of commission, but this doesn't seem likely from the rather tame pyrotechnics that we see.

And so goes our first show for this season. DIS-missed!

_______

A belated addition to the weekly playlist, as I just got the album for that end of things and discovered that it had spawned multiple lower-charting singles:

"Don't Forget About Me," Dusty Springfield
(Charted Mar. 1, 1969; #64 US; currently at #64)

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This has been a public service announcement. Which is good, because those are some pretty grim statistics.

I think the statistics might have been done better justice in a longer episode where they could have spread them out a bit more and presented them at a more digestible pace. They could have dealt with other accident cases along the way as well. While there's always the possibility that something was lost in syndication editing, I found it very awkward how we never learned what the outcome of the first manslaughter case was. The outcome of the second implied that he'd been convicted for the first, but there was no indication that he'd done any time; and things might have worked differently back then, but if he had been convicted of manslaughter while driving drunk, you'd think he'd have lost his license for a while. I have to think that this was either based on two different actual incidents, or two incidents that happened to the same person over a longer time frame, and something got lost in the fictionalization into a half-hour TV episode.

WTF. There's something Friday doesn't know?

In his defense, he's not Joe Sunday.

There was also a cute Gannon humor moment involved. Gannon was teasing Friday for being a "heathen" for not knowing about Riddle, and when Friday asked Gannon what else Riddle did in the department, Gannon insisted that he didn't have to do anything else, he was the chaplain. The next scene, Friday's getting assigned to work with Riddle undercover, and he shoots Gannon a "you're so full of something I'd never say" look.

I'm not sure if you disagree about his talent or if you're fearing for my life for saying that out loud.

Well both, now that you mention it....

Twenty is pretty good, even then.

I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing....

 

[gblews]

That's the Way Boys Are," Lesley Gore

Don’t know if Leslie Gore ever wrote a biography, but if she did I’de love to see it filmed. It had to be super frustrating for a pioneering pop music feminist to have to sing songs like this. Musically, the song is as beautifully rendered, a little slice of pop heaven, as you’re likely to find in the mid sixties this side of Brian Wilson or McCartmey, but the song is about dismissing assholish behavior because “thats the way boys are”. Whoa.

84. "My Girl Sloopy," The Vibrations

Saw this vocal group open for the Stones in 1965 or so. They blew Mick and the boys off the stage that night. But nothing but respect for the Stones for having them open the show. Mick, after all, actually had the guts to take what was left of the stage, after James Brown finished with it, at the T.A.M.I. Show.

 

[gblews]

This short-lived group looks young and hip (especially Joan, second from our left), but their sound and style is a little Lawrence Welk.

This has got to be one of the most hilariously lame covers of a song since Pat Boone took on Little Richard.

This is really the big difference between then and now. This is a classic example of a white pop group taking a "soul' song and removing all of the soul in order to sell it to a white audience. These days, because of mass communication, it is much less likely that a large segment of Americans would not hae heard the original version of a popular song.

I suspect the main reason for having this group on was they were young and pretty.

 

[The Old Mixer]

It had to be super frustrating for a pioneering pop music feminist to have to sing songs like this.

Well, she was still a teenager at the time.

Might as well take the opportunity to give this new 55th anniversary entry an unscheduled bit of spotlight since it's come up:

"My Girl Sloopy," The Vibrations

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(#26 US; #10 R&B; would become a #1 hit for The McCoys in 1965 as "Hang On Sloopy")

Mick, after all, actually had the guts to take what was left of the stage, after James Brown finished with it, at the T.A.M.I. Show.

But they were known to say later that following James Brown was the biggest mistake they'd ever made.

This is really the big difference between then and now. This is a classic example of a white pop group taking a "soul' song and removing all of the soul in order to sell it to a white audience. These days, because of mass communication, it is much less likely that a large segment of Americans would not hae heard the original version of a popular song.

That was certainly true of many earlier covers of R&B songs, especially in the '50s when Rock & Roll was breaking out, but it wouldn't have been a factor here, as Aretha's version of "Respect" was #1 on the Hot 100 in 1967.

 

[RJDiogenes]

This short-lived group looks young and hip (especially Joan, second from our left), but their sound and style is a little Lawrence Welk.

They seem vaguely familiar, although I may be thinking of another group with "Honey" in their name.

Mother's aunts actually make comments about weaknesses in the story

Who are these aunties? Superiors? Heads of other branches of the agency? Actual aunties?

Once I got into the swing of it, I thought the episode was kind of cute...the show making fun of itself.

I was about to say, seems kind of clever to me.

The News from 1989 has Charles de Gaulle still in office; he actually stepped down in April of '69!

Sometimes they come back.

Then he gets a package that turns out to be from Penny, an 8 x 10 of her posing in a bikini

The 1969 TV version of a nude selfie.

The next day, Malloy seems very matter-of-fact as Reed tries to find out how it went. Pete describes a very ordinary-sounding date, then adds...

Oh, um, there is one more little thing....Well, she's not gonna be a problem anymore. Not at all.

Okay, that's a little... ominous.

And this one isn't very subtle, as it involves an entire revolving wall...like nobody's gonna notice that happening at what should be a busy airport.

"I see NOTHink!"

LeBeau goes to the theater to make contact with Mama Bear. He has a little fun

The same kind of fun that Hogan was having? The war is going well for Mama Bear.

"Don't Forget About Me," Dusty Springfield

Nice, but definitely not hit single material.

I have to think that this was either based on two different actual incidents, or two incidents that happened to the same person over a longer time frame, and something got lost in the fictionalization into a half-hour TV episode.

And it's not like they haven't had months-long episodes before.

There was also a cute Gannon humor moment involved. Gannon was teasing Friday for being a "heathen" for not knowing about Riddle, and when Friday asked Gannon what else Riddle did in the department, Gannon insisted that he didn't have to do anything else, he was the chaplain. The next scene, Friday's getting assigned to work with Riddle undercover, and he shoots Gannon a "you're so full of something I'd never say" look.

Hah. Yeah, maybe not so odd that Friday didn't know about him.

I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing....

Ah, I see. No, I missed your point.

(#26 US; #10 R&B; would become a #1 hit for The McCoys in 1965 as "Hang On Sloopy")

I thought it a bit unusual that there were two songs about somebody named Sloopy. I love that song, and there's a funny story to go with it. About 25 years or more ago, when my youngest Brother was still a teenager, I got my Mother a genealogy program for her birthday or whatever. My siblings and I were playing around with it so that we could teach it to Mom and we were entering fake data. I typed in "Sloopy Hutchins," and Bro asked who that was. I made some offhand humorous remark, as is my wont, about him being the kid Mom had out-of-wedlock before me. They had to send him away, because that's how things were done then. "Didn't they ever tell you?" I assumed he knew I was kidding, but, of course, he completely believed me and asked my Mother about it later. We still get laughs out of mentioning what Sloopy's been up to.

 

[The Old Mixer]

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55th Anniversary Album Spotlight

The Times They Are a-Changin'
Bob Dylan
Released January 14, 1964
Chart debut: March 7, 1964
Chart peak: #20, April 18, 1964

The Times They Are a-Changin' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on January 13, 1964 by Columbia Records. Whereas his previous albums Bob Dylan and The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan consisted of original material among cover songs, Dylan's third album was the first to feature only original compositions. The album consists mostly of stark, sparsely arranged ballads concerning issues such as racism, poverty, and social change. The title track is one of Dylan's most famous; many feel that it captures the spirit of social and political upheaval that characterized the 1960s.

I wasn't sure I was going to write up this one, but discovered that Dylan had very recently put a bunch of stuff on his Vevo account, so here goes....

I found myself agreeing with this next part of the Wiki introduction:

Some critics and fans were not quite as taken with the album as a whole, relative to his previous work, for its lack of humor or musical diversity.

Indeed, I can see why this album, despite its iconic title track, didn't make the Rolling Stone list. It has nothing like the playfulness of "Bob Dylan's Blues," "Talkin' World War III Blues," or "I Shall Be Free" from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan; nor does it have any tracks that really stand the test of time next to the title track, unlike the previous album giving us multiple well-known classics: "Blowin' in the Wind," "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall," and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right". Overall, The Times They Are a-Changin' just doesn't have the charm of its predecessor. It takes itself way too seriously.

Nevertheless, the title track alone makes the album worth covering, as it wasn't released as a single in the US, and definitely deserves its moment of spotlight in our 55th anniversary timeframe:

"The Times They Are a-Changin'"

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(#9 UK in 1965; #59 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)

They don't get much more sign-o-the-timesy than that!

The album takes a sharp turn for the more dour with "Ballad of Hollis Brown," which the album's Wiki page describes as "a grim, rural Gothic story of a father killing his starving family". Bob's in good form, but...

"With God on Our Side," which expresses cynicism about the futility of war and the fickleness of political alliances, has a worthwhile message that might have been better served on a more diverse and engaging album:

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The gentle "One Too Many Mornings" is something of a breath of fresh air from the general tone of the album. Melodically, though, it sounds distractingly like the title track.

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Side 1 closes with a return to the album's dominant theme: "North Country Blues," another grim, humorless ballad, this time concerning a town that's mines have closed.

Side 2 opens with another of the more standout tracks by this album's standards--"Only a Pawn in Their Game," which uses the murder of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers as a starting point to paint a powerful portrait of institutionalized racism that victimizes poor whites as well as blacks.

From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks
And the hoofbeats pound in his brain
And he’s taught how to walk in a pack
Shoot in the back
With his fist in a clinch
To hang and to lynch
To hide ’neath the hood
To kill with no pain
Like a dog on a chain
He ain’t got no name
But it ain’t him to blame
He’s only a pawn in their game.

Alas, this is one of three songs on the album that still doesn't have an audio clip in the Dylan Vevo.

"Boots of Spanish Leather" is another song based on the arrangement of "Scarborough Fair" that Dylan used in Freewheelin's "Girl from the North Country". It was reportedly inspired by the absence of his then-girlfriend Suze Rotolo (with whom Dylan is walking through the Village on the Freewheelin' cover), as was the previous album's "Down the Highway".

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Bob's in good form again for "When the Ship Comes In".

According to Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin, "When the Ship Comes In" was written in August 1963 "in a fit of pique, in a hotel room, after his unkempt appearance had led an impertinent hotel clerk to refuse him admission until his companion, Joan Baez, had vouched for his good character." Heylin speculates that "Jenny's Song" from Brecht and Weill's Threepenny Opera was also an inspiration: "As Pirate Jenny dreams of the destruction of all her enemies by a mysterious ship, so Dylan envisages the neophobes being swept aside in 'the hour when the ship comes in'."

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Alas, it's back to another humorless, narrowly focused ballad with "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll," which "tells the story of a hotel barmaid who died after being struck by a wealthy white man". This song also achieves a lyrical low point when Dylan ends three lines in a row with the word "table".

The album closes with "Restless Farewell," reportedly a retort to criticisms and false allegations that were already circulating about Dylan at this early point in his career.

Oh a false clock tries to tick out my time
To disgrace, distract, and bother me
And the dirt of gossip blows into my face
And the dust of rumors covers me
But if the arrow is straight
And the point is slick
It can pierce through dust no matter how thick
So I’ll make my stand
And remain as I am
And bid farewell and not give a damn

Breaking it down song by song, this album definitely has its relative high points, but in stark contrast to its predecessor, the whole amounts to less than the sum of its parts.

Next up in 55th Anniversary Album-land: The Beatles' Second Album.

_______

They seem vaguely familiar, although I may be thinking of another group with "Honey" in their name.

The Honey Cone? A Taste of Honey?

Who are these aunties? Superiors? Heads of other branches of the agency? Actual aunties?

Actual elderly aunties, visiting him for his birthday. They brought a pair of antique pistols for him and had them pointing at the door when he entered (shown in the IMDb photo), and Rhonda got a cool moment whipping out her own pair of pistols before Mother called her off.

There was one continuity issue that stuck out at me in the episode. There was a car chase sequence in a parking garage that featured Tara's newer red sports car, which didn't go along with the episode featuring earlier wigged Tara. I'm thinking that the chase was newly shot as Tara herself was never shown in the sequence, just long shots of her car.

Okay, that's a little... ominous.

There's more than one way to interpret it, but the title of the episode implies that he "took one for the team" and satisfied her obsession.

The same kind of fun that Hogan was having? The war is going well for Mama Bear.

Yep. I'd say it was going well for Hogan and LeBeau.

Nice, but definitely not hit single material.

Yep.

And it's not like they haven't had months-long episodes before.

This was a months-long episode, but in this case I'm thinking that maybe that was too condensed.

I thought it a bit unusual that there were two songs about somebody named Sloopy. I love that song, and there's a funny story to go with it. About 25 years or more ago, when my youngest Brother was still a teenager, I got my Mother a genealogy program for her birthday or whatever. My siblings and I were playing around with it so that we could teach it to Mom and we were entering fake data. I typed in "Sloopy Hutchins," and Bro asked who that was. I made some offhand humorous remark, as is my wont, about him being the kid Mom had out-of-wedlock before me. They had to send him away, because that's how things were done then. "Didn't they ever tell you?" I assumed he knew I was kidding, but, of course, he completely believed me and asked my Mother about it later. We still get laughs out of mentioning what Sloopy's been up to.

You realize you gave your imaginary older brother a chick's name, right?

 

[gblews]

That was certainly true of many earlier covers of R&B songs, especially in the '50s when Rock & Roll was breaking out, but it wouldn't have been a factor here, as Aretha's version of "Respect" was #1 on the Hot 100 in 1967.

Oh, I didn't mean the group recorded their version of Respect for release on vinyl, I was referring to the way they "packaged" the song for the Sullivan audience which skewed older, "whiter", and more conservative (unless an act like the Beatles were on).

It's a classic example of the "watering down" of a song in order to sell it to a "broader" audience, even though in this case, the presentation of the song was live rather than recorded.

But this singing group's presentation did have a similar purpose; to reach a segment of the population who likely were not reached by either of the two most popular recordings of the Respect (despite Aretha's version having reached No. 1 on the pop charts).

 

[The Old Mixer]

In other words...the grannies.

Now I've got a hankering to see Ed Ames do a Sly & The Family Stone song....

 

[RJDiogenes]

Indeed, I can see why this album, despite its iconic title track, didn't make the Rolling Stone list.

I love Bob Dylan, but I'm not really familiar with most of the songs on this album, aside from that biggie, which is an absolute all-time classic, not only of Americana but of history in general. It sums up the Zeitgeist of that era like nothing else does. And there have been very few people in any generation with Dylan's gift for lyrical legerdemain and metaphorical magic, coupled with a unique insight into human nature on both the individual and cultural scale. For someone who is considered the patron saint of the protest song, he ultimately had no axe to grind. He just had x-ray vision.

Although I always remember when he was a "guest" in Doonesbury and told one of the characters, "I only wanted it to rhyme, man."

The Honey Cone? A Taste of Honey?

A Taste of Honey! That's what I was trying to think of.

Actual elderly aunties, visiting him for his birthday. They brought a pair of antique pistols for him and had them pointing at the door when he entered (shown in the IMDb photo), and Rhonda got a cool moment whipping out her own pair of pistols before Mother called her off.

They really should have given Rhonda more to do.

There's more than one way to interpret it, but the title of the episode implies that he "took one for the team" and satisfied her obsession.

Or disappointed her.

You realize you gave your imaginary older brother a chick's name, right?

Yeah, I know. It was a completely off-the-cuff thing. Although "Sloopy" is kind of a non-standard name, so who's to say it can't be either?

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

55th Anniversary TV Spotlight

Petticoat Junction
"The Ladybugs"
Originally aired March 24, 1964

Uncle Joe decides to cash in on Beatlemania by casting his nieces and Sheriff Ragsdale's daughter in a musical group called "The Ladybugs".

Note: "The Ladybugs" appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show the Sunday before this episode aired

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Oh I'll be your, yeah yeah
I'll be your Lady, yeah yeah
I'll be your Ladybug, yeah yeah
I'll fly with yooo-oooo-oooh SHRIEK!
If only you, yeah yeah
If only you, yeah yeah
If only you
Will be my Beatle

I just happened to catch this airing on MeTV early on a Saturday morning back in November, and was quite tickled. Now as somebody who grew up on syndicated reruns of '60s shows, I was seeing "British Invasion" episodes years before I knew much else about the Beatles. Sometimes they were parodying the Beatles--The Way-Outs on The Flintstones (Nov. 1965); The Mosquitoes on Gilligan's Island (Dec. 1965). Sometimes actual acts of the era guest-starred--Chad & Jeremy on The Dick Van Dyke Show (Feb. 1965) and Batman (Dec. 1966); American group The Standells sporting the look and sound of the British groups and covering the Beatles on The Munsters (Mar. 1965). But as you can tell from the dates listed, Petticoat Junction's contribution was remarkably early on the scene by comparison. I don't know what the turnaround time for producing an episode of a sitcom in this era would have been, but the following IMDb trivia point supports what I'd assume...that the episode was actually in the works prior to the Beatles' appearance on Sullivan.

When the February 9, 1964 debut of The Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show"...threatened to knock Paul Henning's other hit The Beverly Hillbillies (1962) off the top spot, Henning decided to write an episode parodying them by having the girls form a singing group called the Ladybugs.

And that's the other noteworthy difference from the above-listed examples...here the Beatles themselves are the center of the episode, albeit unseen, and their appearance on Sullivan is specifically referenced. And while that historic moment in television history has already passed when this episode aired and takes place, the expository nature of the reference--delivered as if there were anybody in America at that point who wouldn't have known what they were talking about--suggests that it was written before the event had actually happened.

There's also a joke about which one of them is "Ringo"--the Bradley sister who's playing drums or the guest character played by Sheila James (Zelda from Dobie Gillis) who fills out their quartet for most of the episode. And in addition to the original song quoted above, The Ladybugs perform a gender-swapped Beatles cover, "I Saw Him Standing There".

And this is where I belatedly take exception to this timely reference, also from back in November:

He seemed to be sort of in character format line with "Bub" (William Frawley) and Uncle Charlie (William Demarest) from My Three Sons, Mr. Wilson from Dennis the Menace or Uncle Joe Carson from Petticoat Junction--stiff, right out of the tried and true box.

You must be seeing a different Uncle Joe than I am...

The Ladybugs scheme was Uncle Joe's idea! It was the girls' mother who played the straight woman role of being shocked and scandalized at the spectacle of it all...

No wonder they call themselves the Beatles, those are four of the homeliest girls I ever saw!

And when James's character has to drop out of the band in the middle of the audition, it's Uncle Joe who dons a Beatle wig and fills in for her!

Sign o' the times: The Bradley sisters and Uncle Joe just now found out about the Beatles while in Pixley because the Shady Rest doesn't have a television!

Cross-reference to another rock & roll icon: The Ladybugs audition for "Colonel Partridge".

_______

I love Bob Dylan, but I'm not really familiar with most of the songs on this album, aside from that biggie, which is an absolute all-time classic, not only of Americana but of history in general. It sums up the Zeitgeist of that era like nothing else does. And there have been very few people in any generation with Dylan's gift for lyrical legerdemain and metaphorical magic, coupled with a unique insight into human nature on both the individual and cultural scale. For someone who is considered the patron saint of the protest song, he ultimately had no axe to grind. He just had x-ray vision.

Well said.

Although I always remember when he was a "guest" in Doonesbury and told one of the characters, "I only wanted it to rhyme, man."

And "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" failed even on that simple level.

They really should have given Rhonda more to do.

I didn't even really know that there was a Rhonda until this episode. I'm sure she must have been in other episodes, but she never did anything to stand out in a way that made me realize I was seeing a recurring character.

 

[gblews]

In other words...the grannies.

No doubt there were a fair number of "grannies" watching the Sullivan show, but they certainly didn't make up the majority of the studio or TV audience.

I would bet there there were a fair number of regular Sullivan viewers who'd never even heard the original versions of Respect despite the song having crossed over to the pop charts, given the still segregated radio markets in America at the time.

I also suspect that any number of the regular Sullivan viewers who had heard one or more of the previous versions of the song probably said something like "this version of that song sounds so much better without all that shouting and moaning and grunting".

 

[The Old Mixer]

No doubt there were a fair number of "grannies" watching the Sullivan show, but they certainly didn't make up the majority of the studio or TV audience.

From what I've seen on The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show, I'd say that most of the acts shown on Sullivan were aimed at an older audience than the "youngsters" (as Ed referred to anyone under 30) who would have been listening to the rock or soul artists of the era.

 

[gblews]

From what I've seen on The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show, I'd say that most of the acts shown on Sullivan were aimed at an older audience than the "youngsters" (as Ed referred to anyone under 30) who would have been listening to the rock or soul artists of the era.

No, the show wasn't aimed at a particular age group, although looking at it through the prism of today, it might seem that way.

The show was really aimed at "middle America", meaning not so much the Mid West, but at what was then considered to be the largest TV viewing audience in the country in the 1960's.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ I think Ed wanted to have literally something for everybody, to the extent that that was possible.

Petticoat Junction

Whaa--?

I don't know what the turnaround time for producing an episode of a sitcom in this era would have been, but the following IMDb trivia point supports what I'd assume...that the episode was actually in the works prior to the Beatles' appearance on Sullivan.

I guess they fast-tracked it. Haha. Get it? Because there's a train? Never mind.

There's also a joke about which one of them is "Ringo"

And so it begins.

The Ladybugs perform a gender-swapped Beatles cover, "I Saw Him Standing There".

Cool. They not only produced the episode and got it on the air, but they got the rights to one of their songs. I wonder if the Ladies actually sang and played.

And when Kuehl's character has to drop out of the band in the middle of the audition, it's Uncle Joe who dons a Beatle wig and fills in for her!

That reminds me of that Strange Tales cover where where Ben Grimm is wearing a Beatles wig.

Sign o' the times: The Bradley sisters and Uncle Joe just now found out about the Beatles while in Pixley because the Shady Rest doesn't have a television!

I always wondered how the Shady Rest even stayed in business. I would certainly vacation there to see Lori Saunders skinny dipping in the water tower, but they never really seemed to have anyone staying there. Perhaps, despite appearances, it was the no-tell motel of Hooterville.

Well said.

Thank you.

And "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" failed even on that simple level.

He was full of surprises.

I didn't even really know that there was a Rhonda until this episode. I'm sure she must have been in other episodes, but she never did anything to stand out in a way that made me realize I was seeing a recurring character.

I noticed her a couple of times. There was once in that big warehouse-like room-- I think there were things hanging from the ceiling and lots of booze. And I think she was his driver once.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Whaa--?

You must have missed the "And new on the boob tube" blurb in this week's 55 Years Ago post.

I guess they fast-tracked it. Haha. Get it? Because there's a train? Never mind.

Sitting out on the porch with Uncle Joe listening to the crickets.

And so it begins.

What's that? Referring to every Beatle as "Ringo," or just making fun of Ringo in general? For the girls' part (if you didn't watch it), the sister on the drums objected when one of the other sisters referred to Sheila James's character as their Ringo ("I'm Ringo!"); and the girls gushed over how cute Ringo was. But Kate told them that they were "all Ringo," especially Uncle Joe.

Cool. They not only produced the episode and got it on the air, but they got the rights to one of their songs. I wonder if the Ladies actually sang and played.

My impression would be that they did the singing...but the way the episode depicted them playing electric pop with acoustic instruments doesn't make authenticity in that area seem very likely....

That reminds me of that Strange Tales cover where where Ben Grimm is wearing a Beatles wig.

It does, now that you mention it. And IIRC, they first pulled that gag in an FF issue when the Yancy Street Gang sent Ben a Beatle wig, and he admired himself in the mirror. "I'm a livin' doll!!"

 

[RJDiogenes]

You must have missed the "And new on the boob tube" blurb in this week's 55 Years Ago post.

I just never expected a Petticoat Junction review to pop up! We need more!

Sitting out on the porch with Uncle Joe listening to the crickets.

Tough crowd in this joint.

What's that? Referring to every Beatle as "Ringo," or just making fun of Ringo in general? For the girls' part (if you didn't watch it), the sister on the drums objected when one of the other sisters referred to Sheila James's character as their Ringo ("I'm Ringo!"); and the girls gushed over how cute Ringo was. But Kate told them that they were "all Ringo," especially Uncle Joe.

I was thinking of the making fun thing. At least it was fair and balanced.

My impression would be that they did the singing...but the way the episode depicted them playing electric pop with acoustic instruments doesn't make authenticity in that area seem very likely....

No phone, but acoustic instruments that play electric pop-- that is one strange alternate universe. Or maybe a flawed holodeck simulation of the far future.

It does, now that you mention it. And IIRC, they first pulled that gag in an FF issue when the Yancy Street Gang sent Ben a Beatle wig, and he admired himself in the mirror. "I'm a livin' doll!!"

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

55 Years Ago This Week

March 30 – Merv Griffin's game show Jeopardy! debuts on NBC; Art Fleming is its first host.

April 4 – The Beatles hold the top 5 positions in the Billboard Top 40 singles in America, an unprecedented achievement. The top songs in America as listed on April 4, in order, are: Can't Buy Me Love, Twist and Shout, She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand, and Please Please Me.

Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

1. "Can't Buy Me Love," The Beatles
2. "Twist and Shout," The Beatles
3. "She Loves You," The Beatles
4. "I Want to Hold Your Hand," The Beatles
5. "Please Please Me," The Beatles
6. "Suspicion," Terry Stafford
7. "Hello, Dolly!," Louis Armstrong & The All Stars
8. "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)," Betty Everett

10. "Glad All Over," The Dave Clark Five
11. "Dawn (Go Away)," The Four Seasons
12. "The Way You Do the Things You Do," The Temptations
13. "Fun, Fun, Fun," The Beach Boys
14. "Don't Let the Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man)," The Serendipity Singers
15. "Needles and Pins," The Searchers
16. "Stay," The Four Seasons
17. "Kissin' Cousins," Elvis Presley
18. "You're a Wonderful One," Marvin Gaye
19. "Java," Al (He's the King) Hirt
20. "Hi-Heel Sneakers," Tommy Tucker
21. "Ain't Nothing You Can Do," Bobby Bland
22. "Money," The Kingsmen

24. "Hippy Hippy Shake," The Swinging Blue Jeans
25. "Dead Man's Curve," Jan & Dean

27. "Navy Blue," Diane Renay

29. "It Hurts Me," Elvis Presley
30. "Nadine (Is It You?)," Chuck Berry
31. "I Saw Her Standing There," The Beatles

34. "White on White," Danny Williams
35. "Hey, Bobba Needle," Chubby Checker

37. "See the Funny Little Clown," Bobby Goldsboro

39. "That's the Way Boys Are," Lesley Gore

41. "From Me to You," The Beatles
42. "We Love You Beatles," The Carefrees

45. "Penetration," The Pyramids
46. "Do You Want to Know a Secret," The Beatles

48. "Bits and Pieces," The Dave Clark Five

50. "My Guy," Mary Wells
51. "The Matador," Major Lance

58. "All My Loving," The Beatles

61. "I'm So Proud," The Impressions

65. "You Can't Do That," The Beatles

68. "Roll Over Beethoven," The Beatles

71. "My Girl Sloopy," The Vibrations

73. "Wish Someone Would Care," Irma Thomas

75. "Stay Awhile," Dusty Springfield

79. "Thank You Girl," The Beatles
80. "The Pink Panther Theme," Henry Mancini & His Orchestra

85. "A Letter to the Beatles," The Four Preps

100. "People," Barbra Streisand

Leaving the chart:

• "(Ain't That) Good News," Sam Cooke (10 weeks)
• "California Sun," The Rivieras (10 weeks)
• "I Only Want to Be with You," Dusty Springfield (10 weeks)
• "Oh Baby Don't You Weep," James Brown & The Famous Flames (10 weeks)
• "Who Do You Love," The Sapphires (12 weeks)

New on the chart:

You Can't Do That," The Beatles

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(B-side of "Can't Buy Me Love"; #48 US)

"Thank You Girl," The Beatles

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(B-side of "Do You Want to Know a Secret"; #35 US)

"I'm So Proud," The Impressions

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(#14 US; #2 R&B)

"Bits and Pieces," The Dave Clark Five

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(#4 US; #2 UK)

"My Guy," Mary Wells

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(#1 US the weeks of May 16 and 23, 1964; #1 R&B; #5 UK)

Total Beatles songs on the chart: 12
Total Beatles songs in the Top Five: 5
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...yeah!

_______

I just never expected a Petticoat Junction review to pop up! We need more!

Nah, don't think so. I may eventually be adding some regular 55th anniversary viewing business. I've currently got the earlier seasons of Hogan's Heroes recording on Me, and provided they keep the show in their lineup long enough, I'm planning to let Wild Wild West keep recording when they start over. Both shows started in Fall '65, so if my viewing load for the '70-'71 season is light enough, I might watch those in 55th anniversary sync. Otherwise, hiatus catch-up viewing.

 

[RJDiogenes]

You Can't Do That," The Beatles

A good example of that early Beatles sound.

"Thank You Girl," The Beatles

Lower-tier early Beatles.

"I'm So Proud," The Impressions

Yep, sounds like The Impressions.

"Bits and Pieces," The Dave Clark Five

A minor classic.

"My Guy," Mary Wells

A real classic. And sounds like the 50s.

Total Beatles songs in the Top Five: 5

Looks like we're gonna need a bigger chart.

Nah, don't think so.

Petticoat Junction was kind of a mixed bag, anyway. While I always loved the setup (and Lori Saunders), it never reached the level of the other shows in that little universe.