The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by The Old Mixer, Jan 11, 2016.

  1. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    And it's a good one.

    That's an interesting tidbit.

    Ironically named, given that sad fact.

    Two of her best-known and most often-played songs, recorded in the week before she died.

    Knowing Squiggy, he'd say, "Dis a cappella song needs what every a cappella song needs: Music." :rommie:

    That's certainly an appropriate farewell.

    Ah. :D

    Probably Ten Years Together. That was one my endlessly played 8-Tracks around that time.

    No, there wasn't much left of it. It was closet space on the first floor and mostly walled up on the second.
     
  2. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    _______

    50th Anniversary Viewing Revisited

    _______

    WWWs4e15.jpg
    "The Night of the Winged Terror – Part I"
    Originally aired January 17, 1969
    Substitute Artie Frank Harper (William Schallert) meets up with Jim at the familiar locale of Vasquez Rocks. After comparing notes they split up, with Jim hitting the railroad town of Pinewood, Arizona. Jim warns Mayor Pudney (Jackie Coogan) of an anonymous threat against his town, which was delivered to the president. Ahead of an expected train, a handcar with a raven and a detonator on it rides in, and the mayor puts on pair of red-tinted glasses, pushes down the plunger, and blows up the trestle. At the state capitol, Professor Simon Winkler (Vic Perrin) receives a box with a raven in it while wearing the same type of red spectacles. He starts slashing paintings and destroying museum pieces. Frank bursts in to stop him, and like the mayor, he throws down his glasses, breaking them, and seems to come out of the spell. Later Jim and Frank's train is stopped for a covert visit from President Grant and a Colonel Chaveros (Valentin de Vargas), assistant to the Mexican ambassador, who discuss how the incidents above and others like them south of the border indicate that somebody has found a way to make respectable figures engage in inexplicable destructive behavior. Then Grant gets a message on the train's telegraph that Wolfville is next.

    In Wolfville, a raven is brought into the office of Sheriff Elmo Stone (Harry Lauter), who puts on his specs and frees the Brass Gang, Judd, Tom, and Zack (James Milton George, Chuck Waters, and Chuck Courtney)...though Jim arrives in time to mop up the trio single-handed. Jim and Frank learn that the specs were given to the sheriff by the traveling Dr. Horatio Occularis, and that the sheriff had tipped Occularis off about his brother Hiram Sneed, who's the mayor of San Pablo. Jim follows the raven, which returns to Occularis like a homing pigeon...his wagon also parked conveniently at Vasquez Rocks. Inside is a helium-voiced damsel named Laurette (Michele Carey). Jim takes Occularis to the sheriff, where the doctor pulls a gun on them, but it turns out to have been rigged to fire backwards...and Laurette disappears.

    Meanwhile, Frank pays a visit to Mayor Sneed (Norman Leavitt) in San Pablo, getting there in time to see another Dr. Occularis wagon ride into town. Frank takes the mayor's place for his meeting with the second Dr. Horatio Occularis (Robert Ellenstein), and agrees to an examination, which involves eyedrops and a mesmerizing kinetoscope. After the exam, he receives his glasses. When Jim meets up with Frank, Harper finds a raven in a cupboard, puts on his glasses, and pulls a gun on Jim. But Jim finds that Frank, having been conditioned with orders meant for Mayor Sneed, is confused to be addressed as Frank Harper...thus Jim tells Frank to kill Frank Harper first, so Frank empties his pistol into a mirror.

    Jim tracks down Laurette to a cantina, where she uses a remote-triggered gizmo to shoot him with a knockout dart. Jim awakens near a kinetoscope to find himself the guest of a Prof. Thaddeus Toombs (John Harding), presiding over a meeting of an organization called Raven that has ambitions to...Dare I say it?...rule the world. Also present is a fellow with an abnormally large cranium named Tycho (Christopher Cary)...though the character's name isn't dropped in this half other than in the closing credits. Jim then wakes up again back in the cantina with Frank there and describes what happened. Outside, Jim and Frank find themselves bombarded by explosive piñatas.

    Afterward, the duo decide to split up again, with Harper going to Nogales to mind the Mexican ambassador while Jim stays in San Pablo to try to find Raven's lair. Jim conspicuously notes that he must not have been brainwashed, because he wasn't given a pair of glasses...you can smell a twist there. Anyway, Jim promptly bumps into someone who catches his attention...possibly somebody whom he saw in the lair...and follows him to a blacksmith's shop, where Jim watches through the window as the man opens a secret panel...talk about terrible spycraft! Jim goes in, opens it himself, and finds the lair, where he spies from a ventilation shaft on a Raven board meeting, attended by Occularis II and Laurette, where Toombs reports to Tycho.

    Those Three Words

    _______

    WWWs4e16.jpg
    "The Night of the Winged Terror – Part II"
    Originally aired January 24, 1969
    Wow, has it been a week already? In case you forgot what happened, there's a recap of a mere four and a half minutes.

    After the credits, we find Frank in Nogales minding Ambassador Ramirez (Frank Sorello). Jim rides into town to be greeted by Colonel Chaveros. Inside, as the ambassador is coming downstairs to speak, a man walks in with a raven on his shoulder, carrying a box with a pair of the red glasses and a gun inside, which Jim puts on and pulls out, respectively, then shoots Ramirez. But when Ramirez is carried back upstairs, we find that Ramirez had been replaced by Frank in disguise with a bulletproof vest. Still under the spell, Jim returns to the not-so-hard-to-find blacksmith shop entrance of Raven's lair. He wakes up as himself down under, where Laurette proudly shows him pictures of Ramirez's not body, then produces Chaveros to reveal that he's one of their agents.

    Laurette tries to woo Jim to join Raven on the basis that he's now a wanted man. Studying the photos, Jim notices a ring on Not Ramirez's finger--reminding us of how Frank was having trouble getting Frank Sneed's ring off his finger last week. Jim then entertains her proposition. The two of them ride through Vasquez Rocks, where she makes it clear that she's a true believer of Tycho. Back on the Wild Wild Express, Frank has a team of agents digging up info on Thaddeus Toombs via telegraph, turning up that he studied under an unethical scientist named Wolfgang Kralle, who experimented in behavioral control and is now supposed to be in a Prussian prison. Frank rides into San Pablo via coach disguised as Kralle, making a lot of noise about wanting to see Toombs...and is observed by Occularis, who approaches him in the cantina. Frank drops the name of one of Kralle's experiments, the Laslow Spectrum...which, when taken back to Toombs, gets his attention.

    At Raven HQ, West gets back in the shaft to sneak into the meeting room, where he finds Tycho, who keeps his chair turned away while gloating of his ambitions to topple the US. Jim lunges at him to find a dummy and speaker in the chair, and Tycho on the other side of a transparent panel. Tycho reveals that he's a 30-year-old man born with a brain twice as large as and more powerful than that of an ordinary man, before having Jim taken into custody.

    Occularis takes Frank to Raven HQ via a secret panel in the cantina, and he get "reacquainted" with Toombs, who presses him for details that would prove who he is. Frank produces a fake vial of mind control serum while improvising in an attempt to buffalo Toombs. Laurette takes Not Kralle to use the serum on Jim, who makes a point of getting gabby about Tycho for the benefit of a listening port that Tycho bragged about, which successfully persuades Tycho to want to see a demonstration of the serum for himself. Under the serum's fake influence, Jim breaks some boards martial arts-style. Then Toombs wants to test him by lighting a match under the palm of his hand to see if he feels pain. Fake Kralle insists on an alternate test that involves putting an explosive mix of two chemicals in the palm of Jim's hand. This produces a flash and bang that don't evoke a reaction from him. When everyone else leaves the room so that Tycho can speak with Kralle, Jim drops the act and he and Frank use some other explosive to blast the transparent barrier. This brings everyone else running, though, and Jim and an undisguised Frank find themselves trussed up over barrels of explosives with which Tycho plans to blow their now-exposed HQ. While the VIPs load into the back of Occularis's wagon, Jim gets the duo loose with his boot dagger, and they get out in time to hijack the wagon. But when they unload the Raven members, they find that Tycho has escaped via a floor hatch.

    In the train coda, Frank explains to Jim and a pair of female companions that the chemicals he used to test Jim were Artie's, and attempts to demonstrate how they worked, only for them to produce a not-so-harmless blast this time, destroying a metal bucket.

    At the beginning of Part I, Frank was camped at Vasquez Rocks playing cards when Jim, lying on top of a rock, dropped a card down--I think it was the ace of spades--to announce his presence to Frank, and Frank commented that it was his own calling card. Neither card playing nor the calling card came up again in the story, which makes it all the more interesting a bit of character business.

    _______

    I wasn't familiar with "Mercedes Benz" prior to this.

    Actually The Very Best of Peter, Paul and Mary. Compilations available in the digital age often aren't vintage ones. But some representative PP&M tracks were recently in my 50th anniversary master shuffle based on Ten Years Together being on the chart.

    Today's 50th anniversary Doonesbury has a pop culture reference of an interest.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2021
  3. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Meanwhile, Pudney got a complaint about immigration policy that was supposed to go to Grant.

    Do we know if the train stopped in time?

    Always frisk the ophthalmologist, Jim, always frisk the ophthalmologist!

    They're gonna need a lot more ravens.

    Okay, that's random. :rommie:

    This is the early days of spycraft, when people didn't even know enough to frisk ophthalmologists.

    "Sure! I'll abandon my deeply held principles and loyalties in a flash! Why not?"

    Good one! :bolian:

    Proto-Googling.

    Hopefully by c-section.

    Cop out. This was a good opportunity to show Jim's mettle.

    Uh oh! I forget if he ever recurred, but, man, his scheme made no sense whatsoever. And, while I obviously love the use of the raven, I don't see any significance to it-- did they mention any relevance to Poe at all?

    No doubt it would have played a part in the never-filmed Frank Harper spinoff series.

    That's interesting. I remember it being pretty popular at the time-- which is now doubly weird since I see that it wasn't even released as a single. I recall it as one of those songs that people would sing when they felt like bursting into song (like "Octopus's Garden"). Also, I remember it being played on BCN into the 80s.

    Cute. Also funny to think that Doonesbury is now better known than Mod Squad.
     
  4. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    _______

    50th Anniversary Viewing Revisited

    _______

    WWWs4e18.jpg
    "The Night of the Janus"
    Originally aired February 14, 1969
    This is the last of Charles Aidman's four appearances as Jeremy Pike; I'm not clear if it's the last episode with a Substitute Artie, as there are still more episodes ahead that Ross Martin isn't in.

    In Jackson Bend, Colorado, Jim is following up on the death of an agent named Brad Dorman when the undertaker points him to a saloon girl named Torrey Elder (yes, that Jackie DeShannon). She's singing a song that the agent left Jim as a clue when they're shot at, partially destroying the sheet music for "Two Faced Stranger in the Garden". Jim puts Torrey on a coach minded by an agent, then returns to the train, where Pike is examining what's left of the sheet music, aided by a girl from the regional office named Myra Bates (Gail Billings). An inquiry about the grade of paper used brings their attention to a Janus Music Company in the town of Eden.

    Jim takes the sheet to see a Prof. Montague at the Secret Service Academy in Denver, but is pointed to a darkened gymnasium where he's attacked. This turns out to be a demonstration of Jim's fighting prowess staged for the students of an old friend, academy operations director Warren Blessing (Anthony Eisley)...but a gun that was supposed to be loaded with blanks wings Blessing's assistant, another old colleague named Alan Thorpe (Jack Carter). Meanwhile, Pike heads to Eden, where Mr. Janus (Benny Rubin) gives him a music box left for him by Dorman, which plays a voice message to Jim, indicating a code in the music. It's also about to name a suspected traitor when Pike is interrupted by several armed thugs. Jeremy effects an escape via diverting blast, but the box is damaged.

    Jim proceeds to see Montague (Arthur Malet), the academy's absent-minded, Q-style scientific brain, who isn't able to find a message by studying the remains of the sheet music. Then he and Thorpe watch as students try to make their way through a booby-trapped living room...with one named Thomas (Bill Monemaker) proving successful, though he triggers a trap after he thinks the test is done. Pike arrives at the academy in the role of an officially announced Estovian baron who's visiting as part of an information exchange program.

    Following up on a message that's supposed to be from Blessing, Jim is attacked by hooded students and ends up in the Living Room test area, with a voice announcing that it is now rigged with more lethal traps. Jim carefully probes his way through the room using his own gadgetry, including an extending rod, the piton pistol, and a dagger, to trigger the traps prematurely...ultimately making it out through the observational balcony. Back on the train, Pike makes a discovery by playing a recording of the song's melody sped up, which turns it into a Morse code message about somebody hitting the Bureau of Engraving (adjacent to the academy, as it's a Department of the Treasury facility) on August 18...which has arrived. He and Jim deduce that the plot involves sewer work that's scheduled to end that day.

    Baron Pike presents Blessing with a letter from President Grant ordering that he be allowed to inspect the Bureau, where he and his guide, Blessing's aide Thompson (Nicky Blair), succumb to an unseen agent. Meanwhile, Jim breaks into the barricaded sewer entrance. It leads him to a chamber where a number of men are printing up completely authentic duplicate bills, but he's persuaded to surrender for the baron's safety...by Thorpe. Jim correctly guesses that a drug was used in the security hand stamp required to get into the Bureau. Pike, who's playing possum in the chamber, provides a noisemaking distraction that gives Jim the opportunity to overcome his captors. Afterward, Jeremy reveals that he was wearing a flesh-like glove to protect himself from the stamp, and Jim uses the duplicate bills to light their cigars.

    _______

    WWWs4e19.jpg
    "The Night of the Pistoleros"
    Originally aired February 21, 1969
    Responding to a request for help to the president from a Sgt. Tobin, who's posted at a territorial fort, Jim and Artie come upon a homestead where the owner has been knifed in the back, and find themselves surrounded by Los Pistoleros, the outlaw group that's trying to take over the territory...a situation that they shoot their way out of with the help of an pastel-billowing smoke bomb and a grenade-firing attachment on Jim's pistol. Most of the gang rides off, but the leader's order to capture Artie specifically and a picture of Artie found on one of the wounded outlaws left behind indicate an information leak at Fort Challenge.

    Jim proceeds to the the fort, currently being run by Lieutenant Murray (Robert Pine) during the absence of Colonel Roper and his second in command. Jim sneaks into the guardhouse where the chain of command-defying Sgt. Charlie Tobin (Richard O'Brien) is being kept. Tobin warns Jim of spies and traitors infiltrating the fort, and is particularly paranoid of potential impostors. He indicates that Murray is an impostor, and that Artie would be able to spot him because he knows the real Murray. Some guards burst in and overpower Jim, but Tobin grabs a felled guard's gun to coerce the duty sergeant (John Pickard) to release him. Meanwhile, Artie's at a photographer's studio checking into the photo of himself when he's shot by a dart from a camera by the outlaw band's leader, Sanchos (Perry Lopez).

    Artie awakes to find himself being looked after by a Dr. Winterich (William O'Connell) at the hacienda of Armando Galiano (Henry Wilcoxon), the man who wanted Artie captured at the homestead. Back at the fort, Tobin has been shot while escaping by a band led by Lt. Murray, but Jim is being hosted by the returned Colonel Roper (Edward Binns). Jim heads to the photographer's shop in town to find the proprietor, Bernal (Eugene Iglesias), with a knife in his back, pinning a note like one found on the homesteader. Artie turns up at the fort and recognizes Murray, though his voice/delivery sounds off. Indoors, the duo are ambushed by Santos and his Pistoleros, and Artie is fatally shot in the back.

    The fort gives Artie a burial with full honors, after which the colonel sends Jim to Mexico to inform a Colonel Vega of a visit from him. Once in Sonora, Jim hits a cantina and asks about Sanchos, but gets thrown out. He then sees Vega (an uncredited Nate Esformes) and delivers his message; Vega reluctantly grants his permission for Jim to look for Artie's killer. Jim promptly succeeds, and a tussle ensues in which Sanchos falls on his own knife. As his dying words, Sanchos tells Jim that Artie was killed to bring Roper to Mexico so he can be assassinated. Jim rides out to intercept the colonel before he can cross the border, and he sees Roper knocked from his horse by an explosion. Galiano then conveniently rides up and offers the services of his doctor. At the hacienda, Roper's smuggled through a hidden door into a dungeon, where he's replaced with a double and put in a cell with the real Artie--like you didn't see that one coming.

    Jim goes to see Fake Roper after he returns to the fort. Roper has his officers brought in and reads a communique from the president authorizing military action, which Jim questions the authenticity of, and is locked up. Jim negotiates with an imprisoned Pistolero there for info about the Pistoleros' head honcho in exchange for being sprung, then produces a lockpick and frees himself. The Pistolero confirms that Galiano is the honcho, but Jim slips out without freeing him. Back in the dungeon in the midst of effecting an escape, Artie exposits to Roper that the plan is to have Roper's cavalry wipe out Vega and his men, which will give Galiano control of Sonora. Jim pays a visit to the hacienda, a tussle with Galiano's men ensues, and Artie appears to save him from being shot by Galiano. I guess Jim didn't see it coming, because he seems genuinely shocked, in a loss-for-words sort of way.

    Jim returns to the fort and relieves Fake Roper and Fake Murray...by producing not the real Roper, but Artie impersonating a General Rodell, whom Fake Roper recognizes on sight despite the unconvincing disguise.

    _______

    I wasn't clear on that. We saw it approaching the trestle at speed, and a shot of the trestle blowing up. We were maybe meant to think that it didn't.

    I was reminded of the episode of Batman in which we saw that Bruce didn't even bother closing the curtains of his study, so that anyone could have been standing outside gawking in. Even when they're not using the poles, the Batphone's out in plain sight, for goodness sake! Aunt Harriet could see it while she's gardening!

    :lol:

    Highly unlikely, as we're just a handful of episodes from the end.

    If they explained it, they blew through it quickly. I don't recall Poe coming up. But Tycho did seem to love his raven...there were shots of him making kissy-lips at it.

    I read that it was one of her more popular tracks, but I don't seem to have ever heard it on radio.
     
    Last edited: Apr 1, 2021
  5. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    I wonder how that little cameo came about. Fan of the show, maybe.

    Agent Dorman was a student of mythology. :rommie:

    Now former friend. :rommie:

    Now With More Lethality! Is it just me, or have the last few episodes been more Batman-ish than ever?

    "I always keep a flesh-like glove in my Pike-Belt just in case I get into a hand-stamp situation, old chum."

    But not that Richard O'Brien.

    "You've missed your cardiology follow up, Mr Gordon. The AMA frowns upon such things."

    Personally, I am overwhelmed with relief.

    Where did all the doubles come from? I kept expecting a Double-Making machine and a Take-Over-America-By-Replacing-Everybody-Important-With-Their-Doubles plot.

    That's a high body count.

    Maybe that explains the dream I had back then of Aunt Harriet walking into the library just as the boys go down the pole. I could sense they weren't taking enough precautions. :rommie:

    At least he's an animal lover. Everybody has at least one redeeming quality.
     
  6. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    55th Anniversary Album Spotlight

    Going to a Go-Go
    Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
    Released November 1, 1965
    Chart debut: November 27, 1965
    Chart peak: #8 (March 5, 1966)
    #271 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003)

    The album opens strongly with one of the group's most esteemed numbers, "The Tracks of My Tears" (charted July 17, 1965; #16 US; #2 R&B; #9 UK in 1969; #50 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time):


    Daring you to sit still while listening to it is the album's title track and the group's fifth million-selling record...the catchy, upbeat "Going to a Go-Go" (charted Dec. 25, 1965; #11 US; #2 R&B; #44 UK):


    The previously released hits keep on coming with "Ooo Baby Baby" (charted Mar. 27, 1965; #16 US; #4 R&B; #262 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time), one of the most gorgeous songs ever recorded:


    As the least memorable of the major singles that found a home on this album, I'm surprised that "My Girl Has Gone" (Oct. 9, 1965; #14 US; #3 R&B) actually charted better on the Hot 100 than "The Tracks of My Tears" and "Ooo Baby Baby":

    Not that there's anything wrong with it...it's still chock full of that signature Smokey goodness.

    The very frontloaded LP takes a sharp turn for the more obscure with the next track, the cute but relatively undistinguished "In Case You Need Love".

    The first side closes on a smoother note with lesser-known soul charter "Choosey Beggar" (B-side of "Going to a Go-Go"; #35 R&B).

    Side two opens with the '50s-style "Since You Won My Heart," the B-side of "My Girl Has Gone".

    "From Head to Toe" also seems a bit old hat for the time...maybe more very early '60s.

    "All That's Good" is a decent track, but doesn't seem like it would have pulled its weight as the B-side of "Ooo Baby Baby".

    "My Baby Changes Like the Weather" seems like it maybe could have been one of the group's less successful singles.

    "Let Me Have Some" has some toe-tappability going for it, if not much else.

    The album closes on the second side's most worthy note, "A Fork in the Road":

    The B-side of "The Tracks of My Tears," this was reportedly a regional hit in some parts of the country.

    The singles are welcome in my 55th anniversary shuffle for the chart life of the album, but I'm not finding much in the other tracks that lives up to them. The second side in particular seems to drag for such a short album from the lack of classic, memorable material.

    _______

    Looks like she did some odd acting roles in the late '60s and early '70s. In fact, browsing her acting credits turns up that she was Mary Ann's singing voice in "Don't Bug the Mosquitoes"...has that come up before?

    Nah, secret agents love that sorta shit.

    I don't know about a trend, but the villain with the super-brain was pretty comic booky.

    Yeah, like Jim's Robin... :p

    Those were Winterich's handiwork...something I neglected to include in Artie's exposition. Just really good cosmetic surgery, I believe.
     
    Last edited: Apr 1, 2021
  7. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Definitely an uber classic.

    [​IMG]

    They should have spread out those heavy hitters, but he does make pretty much everything sound good.

    It does kind of ring a bell.

    True. :rommie:

    With a really quick recovery time, too, unless Artie was planned well in advance.
     
  8. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    55 Years Ago This Week



    Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

    Leaving the chart:
    • "Batman Theme," The Marketts (9 weeks)
    • "Batman Theme," Neal Hefti (8 weeks)
    • "Lightnin' Strikes," Lou Christie (15 weeks)
    • "My Baby Loves Me," Martha & The Vandellas (11 weeks)

    New on the chart:

    "(I'm a) Road Runner," Jr. Walker & The All-Stars

    (#20 US; #4 R&B; #12 UK)

    "Eight Miles High," The Byrds

    (#14 US; #24 UK; #150 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)

    "Leaning on the Lamp Post," Herman's Hermits

    (#9 US)

    "Monday, Monday," The Mamas & The Papas

    (#1 US the weeks of May 7 through 21, 1966; 3 UK)

    "When a Man Loves a Woman," Percy Sledge

    (#1 US the weeks of May 28 and June 4, 1966; #1 R&B; #4 UK; #54 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)


    And new on the boob tube:
    • Branded, "The Assassins: Part 2"
    • 12 O'Clock High, "Siren Song" (season finale)
    • Batman, "The Joker Trumps an Ace"
    • Batman, "Batman Sets the Pace"
    • Gilligan's Island, "The Friendly Physician"
    • The Wild Wild West, "The Night of the Burning Diamond"
    • Hogan's Heroes, "The Assassin"
    • Get Smart, "Ship of Spies: Part 2"

    _______

    I found myself questioning even that on side two.

    I wasn't clear on Artie's importance to the scheme. Did they need him as a live model to finish the surgery? And if the plan was to kill an impostor playing Artie, why not just kill Artie?
     
  9. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Never heard this before. It's okay.

    One of their classics.

    Cute. :rommie:

    Oldies Radio Classic.

    All-Time Classic.

    :rommie:

    And if it was about creating duplicates, why just Artie and not Jim?
     
  10. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    50 Years Ago This Week

    This was actually mislisted as having happened the Sunday before.


    Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

    Leaving the chart:
    • "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" / "Hey Tonight", Creedence Clearwater Revival (10 weeks)
    • "If You Could Read My Mind," Gordon Lightfoot (15 weeks)
    • "Mama's Pearl," Jackson 5 (10 weeks)

    Re-entering the chart:

    "Superstar," Murray Head w/ The Trinidad Singers
    (previously charted Jan. 31, 1970, and Jan. 2, 1971, reaching #60 US; reaches #14 US this run)

    New on the chart:

    "When You Dance I Can Really Love," Neil Young
    (#93 US)

    "Love Her Madly," The Doors

    (#11 US; #29 AC)

    "Treat Her Like a Lady," Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose

    (#3 US; #20 R&B)

    "Take Me Home, Country Roads," John Denver

    (#2 US; #3 AC; #50 Country)

    "Want Ads," The Honey Cone

    (#1 US the week of June 12, 1971; #1 R&B)

    "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)," The Raiders

    (#1 US the week of July 24, 1971; #11 AC)


    And new on the boob tube:
    • Hogan's Heroes, "Rockets or Romance" (series finale)
    • All in the Family, "The First and Last Supper" (season finale)
    • Adam-12, "Log 125: Safe Job" (season finale)

    _______

    Brassy, loud, and energetic, like their other singles thus far.

    More than just that...psychedelic rock starts right here! :cool:

    Someone's gotta be there for the preteen crowd while the rock & roll bands start getting all weird...

    Characteristically pretty, and their only chart-topper.

    Undeniably so, and yet this one tends to drag for me, unless I'm in just the right the mood for it.

    That too.
     
  11. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Sober up, Neil. :rommie:

    OMG! :adore: Just kidding. I do like this.

    A song I always enjoy on the radio, but I never knew who did it until now.

    I love this. I'm a big fan of John Denver. Or I should say early John Denver. He's sort of another Neil Diamond.

    Literally a lost 45. The only time I've ever heard this on the radio is on The Lost 45s. It's a good one.

    I love this one.

    Sooo grooovy!

    "Here's a nickel, kid...."
     
  12. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2002
    Location:
    The Old Mixer, Somewhere in Connecticut
    _______

    50th Anniversary Viewing

    _______

    The Ed Sullivan Show
    Season 23, episode 25
    Originally aired March 28, 1971
    As represented in The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show
    Series finale

    Alas, this is the only segment we have from this historic broadcast. The piece being performed appears to be an aria from the Saint-Saëns opera Samson and Delilah (which I actually recognize, so I may have a performance of it on a classical CD that I haven't listened to in many a year). Fun fact about the performer:
    Needless to say, she has a singing style very distinct from that of her famous sister...who's coming our way in 50th Anniversaryland very soon.

    And that'll be Ed's final bow for on-schedule 50th anniversary purposes...but we have two seasons of 55th anniversary business yet to be covered.

    _______

    All in the Family
    "Success Story"
    Originally aired March 30, 1971
    Archie comes home complaining of having gotten a ticket for jaywalking, while Edith is helping Mike and Gloria stuff envelopes--with "pinko propaganda"--for a free clinic that provides, among other things, treatment for VD.

    Archie: When I was a kid you had to be in the Army to get free shots for VD!​

    Archie and Mike have a discussion about the societal dropouts who'd make use of such a clinic. Then Archie gets a pair of packages at the door--a box of dollar cigars and an expensive gourmet gift basket--both from his old war buddy Eddie Frazier, now a car salesman in L.A. whom he says is worth $5 million. Mike questions Archie's unconditional respect for the man just because he's rich. Then Archie gets a call via secretary, and while Edith holds the phone, runs upstairs to, in Edith's words, "answer another call". (Was this our first Archie flush?) Eddie asks Archie to round up their old friends for a get-together the following night.

    Archie insists that Mike attends as he entertains Billy Pendergast (Len Lesser), Joe Frouge (George Savalas), and Fred Frouge (Frank Ford)...the latter two having been nicknamed "the Frouge twins" despite not being related. Then Eddie shows up (William Windom), and Mike makes a point of mentioning his support for Ralph Nader. While the others are making a big fuss about Eddie, Mike overhears as Eddie takes a call from his estranged son, who's his real reason for having flown to New York, and still doesn't want anything to do with him. Mike stays knowingly mum as Archie and the others remain oblivious to how unhappy their successful friend is.

    _______

    Ironside
    "Grandmother's House"
    Originally aired April 1, 1971
    A couple of shady guys in a yellow '67 Mustang pass Margaret Brainard (Jessie Royce Landis) taking a walk and turn around so one can get out and grab her purse, while a young girl watches. When Brainard calls the police, she'll only talk to the Chief. At the hospital, Ironside reacquaints himself with her grandson, Peter Brainard (Burr DeBenning), whom he knew as a child. Her husband was a police commissioner, and she tries pulling weight to ensure confidentiality in the matter, desperate to get the purse back because she was carrying $200,000 worth of family jewels in it, which she was bringing to show the girl, Alice (Nevada Spencer).

    The thieves, Lace Chambers (Bill Vint) and Tim Loudon (Gary Morgan), don't know what they've got, assuming that it's costume jewelry and being more interested in splitting the $43 she was carrying. Tim takes a piece to give to a girl he's interested in, Vangie (Quinn O'Hara). After he does, her boyfriend, Robby Nichols (Solomon Sturges), sees it and takes more interest, relieving her of it. Meanwhile, the Chief gets a visit from Martin Crowell (Clarke Gordon), an attorney on the board of Brainard's company who seems interested in the affair for his own purposes...which Ironside surmises is looking for an opening to oust her from chairmanship. He learns that the company isn't doing well and Crowell wants to expand it, and to that end has called for a competency hearing.

    It gets back to the Cave that somebody's getting estimates for one of the pieces, and Vangie drops in on Lace and Tim, asking about the other jewels. The team tries looking for Alice at the park at her usual time, but misses her. Noticing that flowers have been picked near her usual bench, the Chief finds her visiting the hospital. She's not only able to identify the car that was used, but caught the full license number. This leads them to Lace and Tim's garage, where Ed finds them in the running car, asphinxiated near to death by the exhaust. Vangie calls Peter to ransom the jewelry. When he informs his grandmother, she leaves the hospital.

    Lace dies, but Tim recovers to tell Ed what happened and identify Vangie and Nichols. The Chief confronts Margaret about her making a deal for the jewelry, now more interested nabbing Nichols for murder. The team converges on Peter, who takes a phone booth call for instructions, and tail him to a pier. Vangie grabs the case with the money and Nichols speeds up in his car to take her away without dropping off the jewelry, but the team intercepts them. Nichols threatens to drop the jewels in the drink, but Peter jumps in and stops him, and Ed takes Nichols into custody.

    Having gotten her jewelry back, Margaret submits her resignation from the board, on the condition that Peter replaces her.

    _______

    Adam-12
    "Log 88: Reason to Run"
    Originally aired April 1, 1971
    The episode opens with the officers responding to a call at the ranch of Slim Berkeley (Rod Cameron)--who's already acquainted with Malloy--where $100 and a gold belt buckle have come up missing from a cash box. When employee Neil Williams (Randolph Mantooth) walks into the office and sees police there, he runs for it. Malloy mentions Slim's history for taking in hard-luck kids, this one being from New York. Reed brings Neil back, and he has an attitude about being considered a thief before anyone accuses him. Riding pupil Hilary Warner (Linda Kaye Henning) sticks up for him, then her mother (Dorothy Green) arrives to pick her up. The officers proceed to search his quarters and have him empty his pockets. He gets so upset about it that Slim asks to drop the charges; then Neil starts packing and Slim sternly talks him out of it. Back in the car, Malloy describes how he met Slim on a previous call in which his horse bolted onto the freeway.

    Next they're sent to see a man at a phone booth over found evidence. At the scene, they find another man trying to break into the booth while the caller (Dick Whittinghill) is inside. Reed tackles the attacker, and it turns out that the caller found a bag of heroin--potentially worth as much as 10 grand--that had fallen loose from having been attached under the shelf with a cheap magnet.

    Back on patrol, the officers stop in front of a food stand to see that it's being robbed. Reed runs after the robber (Good boy!) and exchanges some shots with him in an alley, while Pete drives around to block the other end. The waitress (Sandy de Bruin) offers them free tacos afterward, but Malloy considers that a gratuity. They then return to the ranch, where they notice that the safe is wide open in the office. They inform Neil that they checked his New York records and there are no wants on him. Malloy then offers to Slim that the thief may be one of his customers.

    Outside of a liquor store, they stop to ask an attractive young woman (Francine York) to move her illegally parked car. She suspiciously stalls them, clearly unable or unwilling to move it...and the officers quickly find out why when a couple of men come out after having held up the store, taking cover behind other cars and opening fire. Malloy wings one of them, and the other surrenders (an uncredited Tim Donnelly--two future Emergency! regulars in the same episode). The girl insists that she didn't know they were robbing the store, and later gets off because her story checks out.

    Next they respond to a call for malicious mischief, concerning a convertible outside of a suburban home that's filled with concrete. The owner, Dewey Conroy (Norm Crosby), explains that he's a salesman who's been making frequent visits to a woman who lives there because she's looking at buying a gift for her husband; but the husband, who drives a cement mixer, has gotten the wrong idea. In private, Reed and Malloy doubt his story based on how long it would have taken that much concrete to harden, indicating that Conroy had been there for several hours.

    Finally, the officers get called back to the ranch, where $300 dollars of Slim's customers' money has disappeared from the unlocked safe. Hilary, who says that $100 of it was hers, now accuses Neil...but her mother arrives and turns in the previously stolen belt buckle, which she found in Hilary's drawer. She confess that her daughter has a history of kleptomania, which she's tried to sweep under the rug until now. The officers are forced to take Hilary (said to be 17...Henning was actually 26 at the time) into custody.

    _______

    This one's alright, but it didn't make it as one of the four representative album tracks on my master shuffle.

    We're now in the eleventh hour for Jim Morrison...or Act III...or whatever metaphor you want to use. He's booked a date to shoot up with the Grim Reaper in Paris.

    L.A. Woman was never one of my favorite Doors albums, though it has a couple of outstanding tracks on it--the title track and "Riders on the Storm". But it did make the original Rolling Stone list, and we'll see how it fares under the spotlight when the time comes.

    Definitely an enjoyable oldies radio classic.

    Denver finally breaks out as a performer two years after a song penned by him went to the top of the charts. He's one of those figures who seemed to be out and about a lot in the popular culture when I was a young lad. He's got a decent little run of hit singles ahead of him going through the middle of the decade...we won't be hearing from him too much for the next couple of years, but he'll peak in '74-'75 with four chart-toppers.

    This got healthy oldies radio airplay in my area. And it always sounded to me like another attempt to imitate the Jackson 5's sound.

    A belated final hurrah for this '60s act. And FWIW, reportedly Mark Lindsay says that he's 1/8 Cherokee.

    Isn't it, though?

    That won't even buy half of a Marvel Comic in 1966.

    Decades is doing a Police Woman Binge this weekend...last night I caught in the background an episode guest-starring William Shatner, with prominently billed Special Guest Star Smokey Robinson! It turned out that they had Robinson playing a high school basketball player who was peddling drugs...he was only 34 at the time!

    The episode before that had Bob Crane as a talk radio disc jockey who killed his cheating wife and tried to frame her boyfriend for it.
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2021
  13. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

    Joined:
    Nov 4, 2001
    Location:
    AI Generated Madness
    Really?
    Isn't everyone? ;)
     
  14. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2002
    Location:
    The Old Mixer, Somewhere in Connecticut
    My Mom's side of the family would have had me believe that I was as much as 1/4 Native American, possibly because of a surname that I looked up and found was English in origin. My sister had a DNA test a couple years back, and there wasn't a drop of Native American blood to be found. About 1/3 English, though, IIRC.
     
    Nerys Myk likes this.
  15. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2003
    Location:
    RJDiogenes of Boston
    A good idea for a DVD or special would be the first and last episodes back to back-- if the first episode even still exists.

    Now there's a pop culture innovation I could have lived without. :rommie:

    Commodore Decker-- possibly the best guest character on the original series. That scene where Kirk asks him about his crew sends chills down my spine every time. "Don't you think I know that?"

    How did he respond?

    Aww, good ending. It's always the restraint that sells the moral.

    Unwise decision making. Always the unwise decision making.

    Go ask Alice. Who is this kid and why didn't she help Brainard when she was robbed, and talk to the police then? And why was Brainard meeting her to show her the family jewels?

    Amateurs.

    Seriously, amateurs. :rommie:

    I wonder if this part gave Jack Webb the opportunity to gauge his acting ability.

    Reed is the action guy these days.

    For want of a nail. :(

    See? "Stop! In the name of the law!"

    That's my Malloy. :rommie:

    They're stumbling into a lot of crime this week. Also, I think at least a couple of these incidents would result in enough paperwork and reviews to keep them out of commission for the rest of the day.

    "Send the big tow truck."

    Now she has to buy two cars. :rommie:

    That's a pretty good metaphor.

    I like that one, too.

    We had the eight-track, so I guess I heard more of him than the average radio listener.

    It does, yeah.

    Cursed inflation!

    I never watched Police Woman a lot, but I remember liking Royster and Styles. It was one of those shows where the supporting cast was more interesting than the lead.

    Well, I suppose it's likely that I heard it somewhere along the line, but it rang no bells.
     
  16. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2002
    Location:
    The Old Mixer, Somewhere in Connecticut
    55th Anniversary Album Spotlight

    Turn! Turn! Turn!
    The Byrds
    Released December 6, 1965
    Chart debut: January 1, 1966
    Chart peak: #17 (March 5, 1966)

    The album opens with its uber-classic title track, "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season)," (charted Oct. 23, 1965; #1 US the weeks of Dec. 4 through 18, 1965; #26 UK), a times-signy cover of Pete Seeger's folk music adaptation of the Book of Ecclesiastes:


    "It Won't Be Wrong" (B-side of "Set You Free This Time"; charted Feb. 12, 1966; #63 US), written in 1964 by Jim McGuinn and his friend Harvey Gerst, is evocative of the sound of the band's debut album, Mr. Tambourine Man:


    Gene Clark's "Set You Free This Time" (charted Feb. 5, 1966; #79 US) is described by Wiki as "a densely worded rumination on a failed relationship that lyrically exhibited the influence of Dylan. The song had been written by Clark during the Byrds' 1965 tour of England after a night spent drinking with Paul McCartney at the fashionable Scotch of St James club in London."


    "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" is a recording of an actual, unreleased Dylan tune.

    The first side closes with "He Was a Friend of Mine," a traditional tune rearranged and relyriced by Jim McGuinn the night after JFK was assassinated:

    According to Wiki, this track was "notable for being the first Byrds' recording to feature McGuinn playing an acoustic guitar, instead of his usual twelve-string Rickenbacker."

    Randomly Expository Interlude:

    Side two opens with Clark's "The World Turns All Around Her," which Wiki asserts "echoed his Beatlesque songs of tortured romance on the band's debut album." Indeed, this is one of the tracks that hearkens back to that album's sound for me.

    Next is a cover of "Satisfied Mind," written by Red Hayes and Jack Rhodes...

    "If You're Gone," described as "a poetic confession of emotional insecurity," is the last of three Clark tunes on the album.

    The CD liner notes describe the band's rendition of "The Times They Are a-Changin'" as "probably the strangest and most wayward of the Byrds' Dylan cover songs":

    This was recorded with the intent of being the album's lead single, but rejected for that purpose.

    McGuinn/Crosby composition "Wait and See" is another track that captures the feel of the first album.

    Establishing a tradition from their choice of "We'll Meet Again" as the closing track on the first album, this time the band takes their bow with a rendition of Stephen Foster's "Oh! Susannah" that was meant to be similarly tongue-in-cheek.

    I've had this album in my collection for a couple of decades, and always considered it to be a disappointing follow-up to Mr. Tambourine Man. I think that it's grown on me with additional age and immersive retro context. While it's definitely a weaker overall package than its innovative predecessor, there's a lot to enjoy among its contents.

    Digital-age versions of the album include several bonus tracks, which I usually don't cover. But one of them, Clark-penned "She Don't Care About Time," was released as the B-side of the "Turn! Turn! Turn!" single. Reportedly George Harrison admitted that "If I Needed Someone" was partly based on this song, as well as the more obvious "The Bells of Rhymney".

    _______

    You got somethin' against the terlet, huh?

    Scowled a bit and then told Mike he hoped he'd be plenty successful. (Mike was framing it as wanting to help Ralph Nader fight corruption after he got out of college.) This was all after Eddie pinched his cheek!

    There was a running gag of Mike kind of going along with everyone else's reactions--yukking it up and whatnot--in a mocking way, and nobody noticing.

    A little girl Brainard befriended on her walks in the park. Brainard liked to tell her stories about the good ol' days in San Francisco high society. Brainard didn't want her involved, or the police through normal channels, which is why she insisted on talking to Ironside. The Chief was reluctant to take the case until the corporate intrigue angle reared its head.

    Yeah, they definitely started blowing over the procedures involved every time an officer has to fire his gun.

    It struck me while watching that there's a thin line between this sort of Adam-12 story vignette and a Love, American Style segment. "Love and the Concrete Convertible"?

    John Denver on eight-track...it doesn't get much more '70s than that!

    To be fair, it would only have bought half of a comic in 1938!
     
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2021
  17. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2003
    Location:
    RJDiogenes of Boston
    This is a great one, all right.

    That was well done.

    That is definitely odd, but not as bad as I expected after reading that description. :rommie:

    I can do without anything that involves excrement. :rommie:

    I was wondering if he was seeing Mike as an analog of his son. It sounds like that might be the case.

    Ah, okay. It sounds like she was younger than I pictured her.

    That's a funny idea. Re-edit the vignette and add the LAS blackout music and a laugh track and voila. :rommie:

    Far out, man!

    True enough. The price curve really escalated in the 70s and 80s.
     
  18. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2002
    Location:
    The Old Mixer, Somewhere in Connecticut
    55th Anniversary Fly-on-the-Wall Listening

    On April 6, the Revolver sessions commence with the Fabs going full-on psychedelic:


    But even while acid takes the forefront, on April 7 Paul puts forth a number that he would later confess was an "ode to pot":


    _______

    The liner notes guy claimed that they were doing the song ironically rather than sincerely, but the Wiki guy disputed that. It did seem like a case where rocking it up was only taking from the song, not adding to it.

    Eddie did make the association, in a casual, "I've got a boy about your age" way.

    Said to be 12. I didn't check the actress's age.
     
  19. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2003
    Location:
    RJDiogenes of Boston
    Yep, they sure do.

    That's disturbing. :rommie:

    What would be the point of doing it ironically?

    And he refrained from argument and Mike kept quiet-- nicely done.

    Yeah, I was picturing maybe late teens or twenty.
     
  20. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2002
    Location:
    The Old Mixer, Somewhere in Connecticut
    _______

    50th Anniversary Viewing Revisited

    _______

    WWWs4e20.jpg
    "The Night of the Diva"
    Originally aired March 7, 1969
    Artie rides into New Orleans on the train, transporting Italian diva Rosa Montebello (Patrice Munsel). Production-wise, I confirmed that this was Ross Martin's first episode back, and a very warm greeting is exchanged between Jim and Artie, who clearly haven't seen each other in some time. (More on the production order of Martin's absence below.) Artie is escorting the high-maintenance diva--who has him wearing earplugs--as a favor to the president. Jim offers to play Substitute Artie that night so that Artie can accept an invitation to dine at the governor's mansion. (Another instance of Artie receiving special attention that doesn't extend to Jim.) Outside in a coach that was at the station, two men watch Montebello's departure for the opera house--one of them wearing a gold, classical-style mask.

    At the performance of Lucia di Lammermoor, the curtain goes down when it's not supposed to, and Jim dives through a set wall to foil an abduction attempt by several costumed extras. One is killed by an accomplice's spear, and with his dying words brings attention to the ring he's wearing, which has a raised lightning bolt on it. Col. Richmond (Douglas Henderson) and a secretary from the local office, Ellen Collingwood (Patricia Dunne), turn up that the man was a Pierre Deluc (Khalil Bezaleel), that the ring indicates that the man is member of the Order of Lucia, and that there's a history of divas who've played the same role at that theater disappearing.

    Artie, disguised as a Count Vladislav de Raja, escorts Montebello to a reception at the manor of the mysterious Crenshaw brothers. Montebello introduces Count Artie to her host, Max Crenshaw (Patrick Horgan), while the unmasked man from the coach (Martin Kosleck, whose character's name we eventually learn is Igor) watches from a landing. Max takes Rosa on a stroll in the garden, where he explains that his brother, Karl, is a recluse because of an affliction. After spotting a matching ring on Igor, Artie snoops around upstairs, where he hears the masked man complaining to Igor about the dinner that was brought to him and Max's wandering attention. Through a peephole cut into stained glass, Artie sees a handbill about a Caroline Mason and a prominent portrait of her.

    Meanwhile, Jim investigates a club where singers are known to hang out, asking the bartender (Jorge Ben-Hur) about members of the order. The singer there, Angelique (Beverly Todd), takes an interest, as the ring belonged to her uncle. She arranges a rendezvous at the opera house while there's no performance. There she takes him to the back room where her uncle lived and tells him of how her Deluc started acting strangely after the death of Caroline Mason in a fire. They hear somebody outside and Jim is ambushed by men rappelling down from the rafters, but sends them scurrying. Ellen brings Jim Angelique's address. After he leaves, Artie exposits his plan to use Montebello as bait to draw the would-be kidnappers out, and when Ellen objects to the diva danger, he corners her into volunteering to impersonate Rosa.

    Artie escorts Not Rosa on a coach ride, and reassures her that everything's proceeding as intended when they're gassed. Jim finds Angelique's place ransacked, and a clue drawn in some powder. Jim goes back to Deluc's room in the theater and uses the ring to unlock a locker that's actually an elevator. In the requisite underground lair, he hears singing and crawls through the requisite roomy ventilation shaft to see the gold-masked figure playing an organ with two singers captive in hanging cages, criticizing their performances of Lucia against Caroline Mason's. Artie and Not Rosa are brought down, and the masked figure tells them of his ambition to train her to take Caroline's place...or else. He starts to play an organ and insists that she sing, then removes her veil to find that she's...Not Rosa. Jim ziplines down to the rescue and makes short work of the minions. The masked man takes a fatal tumble from the stairs and Jim finds that under the mask is...Caroline Mason (Geraldine Baron), her vocal chords damaged so that she sounds like a man, baby. Max explains how it was her maid that died in the fire and was identified as her.

    The coda takes place at a party hosted by the real Rosa, in which she's expresses her relief to the Fake Count that Mr. Gordon won't be there to spoil their evening together.

    Lester Fletcher is credited as Karl Crenshaw, a character who wasn't explicitly introduced. I think he may have been the man playing Mason's voice and the figure in the mask, whom we were clearly meant to think was Karl. I'm guessing that there never was a Karl, and the brother was a cover story for the unseen, man-voiced person who lived upstairs, but this could have been more clearly established.

    _______

    The Mod Squad
    "A Run for the Money"
    Originally aired March 11, 1969
    Pete's making out with his gal, animation artist Ginny Wells (Lesley Ann Warren, here sporting a short, dark blonde look), at her pad when she gets a call and rushes out, not even stopping for introductions to the arriving Linc and Julie outside. Being nosy cop types, they tail her in the now-functioning woodie to the state pen, where Pete learns from a trustee (Sam Edwards) outside that her father's an inmate. Back at Ginny's place, Pete fesses up to his snoopiness and asks her about the situation. She describes how a dying supermarket robber implicated her father as an accomplice; and tells him that a recent incident in which other inmates tried to beat the location of the money from him may have hurt his chances for parole. Pete asks to visit her father, John (Tom Bosley), and asks him to speak honestly about what happened. He admits that he did steal the money, and tells Pete that the two prisoners who beat him are threatening his life over the money, having a partner on the outside. He points Pete to the entrance of an old mine, saying that he wants to return the money via his lawyer. Pete seems suspicious of it all, but doesn't let on to what Wells told him to the other Mods outside. Meanwhile, John finds himself roughed up again over Pete's visit while hauling out laundry.

    Pete makes a solo trip to the mine at night, is attacked by a guy with a shovel, and is promptly arrested by a couple of patrol officers. Pete is interrogated by D.A. Chambers (Ed McNamara) with Greer present but maintaining Pete's cover. Wells is brought in, but won't admit to what he told Pete, and claims that Pete threatened him and that he told Pete the same story about a mine as he told the guys who beat him. Greer tries to intervene on Pete's behalf, but the names of the other prisoners and Wells's lawyer that Wells gave to Pete turn out to have been made up. With the shovel attacker in the hospital, things are looking bad for Pete, so Greer lets Chambers in on Pete's secret ID, but the D.A. is incredulous and insists that Pete be treated as any other suspect...so Greer has him booked.

    Ginny visits Pete in jail but wants to believe her father's story over Pete's. Greer informs the other Mods that Wells is getting his parole the next day (reinforcing the pattern that they're using the Gotham penal system on this show), then offers to get Pete out on bail if he behaves himself and doesn't go after Wells...though Greer plans to keep and eye on both, and breaks the idea to Pete that Ginny may be in on the whole thing. A couple of Larry's buddies watch as Pete leaves the jail, thinking that he knows where the money is. While Ginny's away, Wells slips out a second-floor window and loses his stake-out. Pete figures that the Wellses are heading to Mexico as Ginny had discussed doing with her father, and he and Linc head to the farm where she was raised that's along the way...while the shady goons follow. (Are they supposed to be the same guys who were just on the inside, too?)

    At the farm, Wells insists on going for a solo drive, leaving Ginny at the house. Pete arrives to talk to Ginny, and plays hardball with her, trying to convince her that her father's going after the money...which includes revealing his secret ID. She takes him to a lake that was a favorite fishing spot. Wells gets there first and uses a crowbar to loosen some rocks under a bridge, where a lockbox is hidden, full of cash. Pete, Linc, and Ginny arrive, and she catches her father green-handed. Then the thugs drop in, armed. Wells tosses the box at one of them, a multi-party struggle ensues, and Wells is shot at close range. He makes a dying confession of his own to Ginny, that Pete was telling the truth.

    In the coda, Pete's gotten off thanks to Ginny's testimony. She says that she plans to go to Mexico to see the place that her father was planning to take her too, and Pete joins up with the other Mods to walk off through the courthouse parking lot.

    One of the thugs was named Phillips (Bob Hoy), which I only caught thanks to the closed captioning. I'm not sure who the remaining three characters on the cast list were, though I assume some of them were the other thugs after the money.

    _______

    WWWs4e21.jpg
    "The Night of the Bleak Island"
    Originally aired March 14, 1969
    The episode opens with very familiar footage of weather starting getting rough and a tiny ship being tossed...
    WWW03.jpg
    Where's the courage of fearless agent Ned Brown when you need it? Jim's being boated to the island estate of Joseph Bleak, a wealthy, deceased recluse who donated the unique Moon Diamond to the National Museum. The boat is greeted by a guy who just killed the official greeter--a detail that doesn't seem to go anywhere--and the skipper (Jon Lormer) refuses to go ashore because of the legend of the Hound of Bleak Island...cue mysterious howling.

    In the island's manor, Jim meets a cast list full of susp...people who are there for the reading of the will. In addition to two who were on the boat--Bleak's business partner Ronald McAvity (James Westerfield) and nephew Mark Chambers (Gene Tyburn)--there's also Bleak's sister and house resident Celia Rydell (Beverly Garland); her husband, Steven (Robert H. Harris); Joseph's ward Alicia Crane (Jana Taylor), who has a thing going with Mark that Celia doesn't approve of; attorney Mordecai Krone (Richard Erdman); housekeeper Helen Merritt (Lorna Lewis); and IMDb doesn't say who was playing Professor Plum. While showing Jim his room, Merritt tells him that the Rydells were keeping Joseph isolated from the outside world; implies that she was Joseph's lover; and alleges that the howling is that of a beast that Celia has brought to the island to kill her. Jarvis the butler (Pat O'Hara) slips Jim a note requesting a meeting before the will is read, then drops dead. Jim bolts out of a clattering French door to pursue a hooded figure into the greenhouse, where he's assaulted by a group of hooded figures, who are sent running when Sir Nigel Scott (John Williams) comes to Jim's aide.

    An old acquaintance whom Jim worked with in London five years prior, Sir Nigel asserts that Jarvis was killed by a blowgun, expresses a low opinion of Scotland Yard, and insists that his old nemesis, Dr. Jacob Calendar--a master of disguise whom nobody has seen the true appearance of but is believed to be dead--is on Bleak Island. The famous detective was summoned by Celia to deal with the Hound of the Bleakervilles. The reading of the will commences. Celia and hubby get the estate; Mark gets the paintings; Alicia gets $300,000 for her wedding day; the National Museum gets the diamond; Helen gets Joseph's controlling shares in his company; and McAvity gets "a hell on Earth," "the fires of perdition". Then the lights go out, the doors burst open, and a pair of glowing eyes accompany the growling of the Hound, which is shot at, but no trace of it is found outside. Sir Nigel and Jim go to inspect the diamond in its chamber, and when the lights dim, Jim sends Nigel out, then is knocked out by a gas pellet thrown through the high, basement-style window, but not before seeing a figure carry the diamond off.

    Jim is slapped awake by Nigel; outside they come across Ellen, who says that Steven was shooting at her, but Steven claims that he thought he was shooting at the hound. It's discovered that the boat is missing, but from before the diamond was stolen, which makes it a locked island mystery. Back in the diamond chamber, Jim uses his piton pistol line to go up and inspect the window, and determines that it was broken from the inside, so he and Sir Nigel look for a secret entrance...finding one in a panel behind a mummy's coffin, which leads to a wine cellar where they find Krone well into the process of sampling the stock. In a barrel they find the diamond, and Sir Nigel disdainfully dismisses Krone as being too incompetent to be Calendar.

    In the greenhouse, Mark and Alicia have a rendezvous, but are interrupted by a figure with a knife. Alicia runs around outside for a bit and is caught up to by Jim and Mark. Jim asks her about the cellar, and she says that barrels of wine had been selected by Jarvis on behalf of Celia as gifts for Jim and some of the other visitors. Jim becomes intrigued by the nearby abandoned caretaker's cottage, which he inspects to be attacked by several hooded figures again. Then Sir Nigel reveals his presence, and Jim guesses that he's really Calendar...which I saw coming at least as long as Jim did. With some prodding from Jim, Nigel explains that there was a real Calendar, who is dead, but that he missed the excitement and challenge that his nemesis provided, so he assumed Calendar's role as well as his own. With the help of his henchmen, Sir Nigel takes the diamond and leaves Jim in a well. Nigel also reveals that the hound was brought to the island by him. Having left his pistol with Mark, Jim resorts to plan B for climbing out of the well...a pair of climbing claws that pop out of his sleeves (which I think may have appeared before). Meanwhile, the hound, which apparently doesn't get along with Sir Nigel, runs after and attacks him, causing him to fall off a cliff into the rock-lapping drink, leaving the diamond behind for Jim.

    In the coda, Jim is entertaining a Nancy Conrad (Yvonne Shubert) on the train, having delivered the diamond to the museum, when the newlywed Mr. and Mrs. Chambers drop in with a gift and note from Artie, who at this point is promising his imminent return.

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    Wild Wild West Season 4 production order note

    I finally noticed that Wiki's episode list includes production numbers off to the right...and as I suspected, the narrative of Artie's absence and return makes a lot more sense in production order than it does in airdate order, which makes a big deal about his prolonged absence when he's not in the episode, but has him popping in and out randomly.
    • Ross Martin was present for episodes 081 ("The Night of the Fugitives," aired 7th) through 092 ("The Night of Fire and Brimstone," aired 9th).
    • Martin was absent for 093 ("The Night of Miguelito's Revenge," aired 12th, which is Pike's first appearance in production order) through 101 ("The Night of the Tycoons," aired 24th as the season and series finale).
      • In production order, all of Charles Aidman's appearances as Pike are consecutive, followed by William Schallert's and Alan Hale's appearances.
      • "The Night of the Bleak Island" was episode 100, two episodes before Martin's return.
    • Martin returned for the last three episodes produced, 102 ("The Night of the Diva," aired 20th) through 104 ("The Night of the Cossacks," aired 22nd).

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    I actually like the early take of "Tomorrow Never Knows" better than the finished product. The ex and I used to refer to it as "the lava lamp song".

    Eh, nothing wrong with a little harmless personification. I'm sure that other artists have written songs about their guitars and such.

    Good question. The distinction was lost on me.
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2021