Maybe getting it mixed up with a Spanky & Our Gang appearance? I caught it, though I'd forgotten to say something about it. Not sure if that survived the syndication edit...don't recall seeing it.
_______ 50th Anniversary Viewing _______ The Ed Sullivan Show Season 20, episode 13 Originally aired December 3, 1967 As represented in The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show From a Best of installment that got half of its material from this date, we have... Gordon McCrae & Carol Lawrence performing "My Cup Runneth Over" from the Broadway musical I Do! I Do! Carol was a nice-looking lady in the day. There's a bit of string music in the song that sounds distractingly like some Christmas song or another that I have from a compilation CD. The Mecners: I've seen this act on a couple of episodes...a Polish act featuring a very small-looking young woman doing balancing and gymnastics on a pole held by the two men. She stumbles off the pole at one point in this one...that's live TV for you. But that doesn't deter her from proceeding to perform a double somersault from and back onto the pole. Frankie Fanelli: "This Is All I Ask"--I'm not familiar with this guy, and he reminds me of Wayne Newton. Definitely not my thing. In case this sounds like an underwhelming selection...it turns out that we have another case where what we got from the original episode on The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show isn't nearly as interesting as what we didn't get... So where the hell did that go!?! To YouTube! "Agent Double-O-Soul" (Originally a hit single for co-writer Edwin Starr; Starr's version charted Aug. 7, 1965, reaching #21 US, #8 R&B) "What'd I Say" (Ray's original single charted July 6, 1959, reaching #6 US, #1 R&B, and ranks #10 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time; There are lower-quality videos of the full performance available.) Note that the "What'd I Say" video, which is from the Ed Sullivan YouTube account, says that it's from December 8, 1968...which is the date that the other acts in this installment of Best of were from (to be reviewed at the appropriate date)...and also a date on which Ray Charles appeared. But several Google hits back up tv.com in indicating that Ray and Billy were on the show Dec. 3, 1967...one of those hits being none other than edsullivan.com! Also appearing in the original episode according to tv.com: Gordon McRae & Carol Lawrence perform two more songs Grand Music Hall of Israel (musical troupe) Comedians Bill Dana and Jackie Kahane All-American Offensive football team members Ron Yarey, O. J. Simpson, Lary Czonka, and Ted Hendricks Audience bows: David Merrick, John Strachan, and Jane Keane _______ Mission: Impossible "The Astrologer" Originally aired December 3, 1967 How disappointing...and the "usual manner" in this case is putting it in an ashtray, where it bursts into flames. Yeah, that was a weak point. I found the details of this one a little confusing, which hampered my appreciation of the scheme. TOS guests: Steve Ihnat (Garth of Izar); David Hurst (Ambassador Hodin, "The Mark of Gideon") _______ The Man from U.N.C.L.E. "The Man from THRUSH Affair" Originally aired December 4, 1967 Open Channel... A guest agent named Andreas Petros (played by Robert Wolders) substitutes for Illya in being captured for most of the episode. The Car from U.N.C.L.E. appears in this episode, but driven by other agents in the intro. TOS guest: Barbara Luna, as the wife of the main THRUSH baddie. His name is Killman, and he never lets you forget it because he has a tendency of referencing himself in the third person. Other than that awkward quirk, I thought he was a relatively well-portrayed Villain of the Week. As usual, the episode is hampered with bits of business that don't make much sense...like Killman making THRUSH's efficiency expert (replaced by Solo) walk to his stronghold on an unfamiliar island; Killman wanting Solo to continue working as his efficiency expert after he sniffs Solo out; and THRUSH making an announcement to the world about their superweapon as soon as they get word that it's completed, without having bothered to test it. Guesting William Boyett in a credited speaking role as Thrush Guard...this guy could really use a regular gig soon.... _______ The Rat Patrol "The Life for a Life Raid" Originally aired December 4, 1967 The teaser gives us a rather jarring non-transition between an outdoor-shot action sequence and the desert set. I think the set works better when they do distinct scenes on it rather than mixing and matching within the same scene. We get a cute exchange between a couple of the regulars about the subject of midwifing... Hitch: Sarge, can you? Troy: I never have...have you? Hitch: No. Troy: Then I'll have to. Guesting Paul Stevens, who really does look enough like Martin Landau for it to be a distraction. And this will be my last Season 2 episode in 50th anniversary sync. To be continued whenever H&I catches up to this point. _______ Batman "The Bloody Tower" Originally aired December 7, 1967 But...can't we leave Batgirl in bondage a little longer...? Yes, the Boy Wonder FINALLY gets to drive the Batmobile! Ah, the African Death Bee...that rubber bat on a shadow-casting pole in Dark Shadows was more convincing.... We get a couple of enjoyably absurd gadgets with the Anti-Lethal Fog Bat-Spray and Pocket Fog Bat-Reverser. The Caped Crusader doing an Indian rope trick, OTOH, is pretty lame...all the moreso because they handwave him having conveniently forgotten to pack a Batarang...as if. The whole thing about Lady Prudence playing both sides against each other is underdeveloped, and feels like a variation on the tired old repentant moll schtick. I'd dedicate a Beatles song to her, but it hasn't been written yet. Something about Lyn Peters here got me thinking of Diana Rigg. Ah, now an Avengers/Batman crossover...that would have been pure awesome. Sign o' the times: LBJ invites Batman & Robin to a Texas BBQ. The 1968 Democratic primaries are alluded to...kind of ironic, considering what's to come on that front. _______ Ironside "The Past Is Prologue" Originally aired December 7, 1967 25-year-old Harrison Ford, in only his fourth credited acting gig listed on IMDb, plays Tom Stowe, the son of the fugitive. He gets the first lines of the episode, as he's collecting on an old, five-dollar bet with Ironside during his graduation party. When Ironside caught Tom stealing hubcaps in his youth, he was convinced to let the boy go on a bet that Tom would go to college and graduate top of his class. Sign o' the times: Tom is planning to get a job on NASA's Moon project. What's more, Tom's the son of a carpenter--Wasn't carpentry what Harrison was doing between acting gigs when Lucas discovered him? One can see why the casting types of the time might not have seen leading man material in this gangly youth. The authorities bust up the party to take the father, Wally Stowe, into custody, with the intent of extraditing him back to New York where he'd been convicted. This causes Ironside to look into a 19-year-old cold case that nobody knew was still open from 3000 miles away to determine who the real killer was, turning up plenty of indications that Wally was railroaded to cover something up. Victor Jory, who plays Wally, is quite the scenery chewer here. At one point, when Ironside hops a jet to New York, we get a fisheye lens shot of the jet flying overhead, which looks like it might be the same one that would come to be used in the opening credits of Hawaii Five-O. Not only do the press follow Ironside around, but he plays them somewhat in this one in order to manipulate official actions. Ed: Chief, people say you're ruthless. Is that true? Ironside: Only when I want something. John Hoyt appears as some sort of aide of the New York governor (who would have been Nelson Rockefeller at the time). If we heard the official title of Hoyt's character, it was mumbled by Gene Lyons. There's talk of getting clemency for Wally, but Ironside is determined to prove his innocence. Ironside sniffs out that the supposed murder was actually a suicide early, but it turns out there was no deliberate foul play involved...it all came down to what had seemed to be a major hole in Stowe's story having been the result of the victim's wife not having reset her watch for Daylight Savings Time on the day of the suicide. _______ "It's a Mod, Mod World: Part 1" Originally aired December 7, 1967 I think this came up wherever back when Agent Carter was on, but the teaser and first scene after the credits have Ann meeting Noel at an automat: Other sign o' the times: Noel being a suave, young English type. We get some good comedic bonding moments between Donald and Mr. Marie as they become mutually concerned about Noel's intentions. There are vacation episodes...and then there are California episodes, which fly the characters cross-country for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of shooting on location right outside the studio. Though I assume we'll be getting the actual California shooting in Part 2. Donald narrates the preview of the next episode in-character. "Oh, Donald" count: 1 "Oh, Daddy" count: 3 _______ Tarzan didn't air a new episode, so it's a cinch we won't be getting any giant clam action this week.... _______ Star Trek "The Deadly Years" Originally aired December 8, 1967 Stardate 3478.2 See my post here. I should also mention here that I hadn't recognized Sarah Marshall as a future TOS guest when she appeared on 12 O'Clock High ("End of the Line," as the girlfriend-of-a-dead buddy who's manipulating Gallagher). _______ The Prisoner "It's Your Funeral" Originally aired December 8, 1967 (UK) This one started off looking like Six getting involved in the troubles of another Female Prisoner of the Week, but turned into something more twisty and seemingly Six-centric for a bit there. It makes good sense that Six is skeptical of the girl's nature....She doesn't know that she's doing a Two's bidding, but one is manipulating the situation. To what end, I wasn't clear on by the end of the episode. First, we have an unusual situation in there not only being multiple Twos in the episode, but having them overlap in a non-linear fashion...the Two who seems to be behind a scheme aimed at Six for the first half or so of the episode turns out to be an incoming Two, who's plotting to assassinate the outgoing Two. Maybe I missed some nuance, but I'm not clear on why New Two got Six involved in things in the first place. He wanted Six to uncover the patsy and try to stop his own assassination plot? Why? And when New Two was taking orders on the phone earlier in the episode, was it from Number One, or from Old Two? And killing an already-outbound Two seems like a vain pursuit, if not for the incoming Two (who may have his reasons), then for the prisoner who's being used as a patsy. I'm not familiar with Derren Nesbitt, who plays New Two, offhand, but he's an interesting type. Also, the communications device in the glasses have me wondering which show I've been watching also routinely featured somebody using a communications device hidden in glasses, but having to take them off to talk into them. I remember that Scanlon in The Green Hornet had a signaling device in his glasses. This episode gives us a cute look at a day in the life of Number Six, which includes introducing us to his outdoor gym...as well as to Kosho, which is making its first appearance in production order. We get a better look at it here...and yes, it's just water in that little pool. Evidently the goal is to get your opponent into it. We also learn more about the prisoner culture, specifically the existence of Jammers. It was pretty gutsy of Six to stall for Old Two by getting in close contact with the explosive-wearing New Two. A story about an assassination plot...unintentionally a little too sign o' the times, considering what the New Year has in store.... _______ Get Smart "The Mild Ones" Originally aired December 9, 1967 Here we get a a hippie biker episode. Alas, the premise sounds more interesting than it plays out. At least Barbara Feldon looks good dancing. Looking up the actor who played the hippie biker leader, I found that Michael Bell was the voice of Zan on Super Friends, Bruce Banner on the early-'80s Hulk cartoon, and the original Parkay Margarine tub! _______
As it happens, I just read the trade paperback of last year's DC/Boom! miniseries that did just that, Batman '66 Meets Steed and Mrs. Peel (since "The Avengers" in comics means something else). Not sure I'd call it "pure awesome," but it was a pretty good homage to both series and meshed them fairly well, with some good interplay of the two duos in multiple combinations, despite the use of the lame Marmaduke Ffogg as the primary Batman villain. The Avengers villains are the Cybernauts, which were invented by a character played by Michael Gough, who was Alfred in the Burton/Schumacher Batman movies. The comic features said inventor's daughter, whose character name is Michaela Gough. Also Groppler Zorn in TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint," Duke in G.I. Joe, Lex Luthor in the '88 animated Superman, and a couple of members of Lion Force Voltron.
_______ 50 Years Ago This Week Bonus "I Haven't Seen the Film, but This Scene Seems to Get the Point Across" Link Inexplicably missing from the timeline: December 10 – Otis Redding dies in a plane crash in Wisconsin. See below for more. Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week...with a bonus from the Bubbling Under chart: Leaving the chart: "Expressway to Your Heart," The Soul Survivors "Glad to Be Unhappy," The Mamas & The Papas "It Must Be Him," Vikki Carr "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)," The Hombres "(Loneliness Made Me Realize) It's You That I Need," The Temptations "Stag-O-Lee," Wilson Pickett "Wild Honey," The Beach Boys New on the chart: "Who Will Answer?," Ed Ames (#19 US; #6 AC) "Am I That Easy to Forget," Engelbert Humperdinck (#18 US; #1 AC; #3 UK) "My Baby Must Be a Magician," The Marvelettes (#17 US; #8 R&B) "Monterey," Eric Burdon & the Animals (#15 US) "Green Tambourine," The Lemon Pipers (#1 US the week of Feb. 3, 1968; #7 UK) Bubbling Under, we find the US chart debut of an act worth digging more deeply for: "I Feel Free," Cream (#116 US; #11 UK) More to come from those gents in the New Year. And new on the boob tube: Mission: Impossible, "Echo of Yesterday" The Monkees, "Monkees on the Wheel" Batman, "Catwoman's Dressed to Kill" That Girl, "It's a Mod, Mod World: Part 2" Tarzan, "Jai's Amnesia" Star Trek, "Obsession" The Prisoner, "A Change of Mind" _______ While he was the songwriter responsible for Aretha Franklin's #1 hit "Respect," and also shared credit for Arthur Conley's #2 hit "Sweet Soul Music," Otis Redding had enjoyed relatively modest chart success as a performer prior to his tragic death at the age of 26: "I've Been Loving You Too Long (to Stop Now)" (Charted May 15, 1965; #21 US; #2 R&B; #110 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time) "Try a Little Tenderness" (Charted Dec. 3, 1966; #25 US; #4 R&B; #46 UK; #204 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time) As for the posthumous #1 hit that would become his signature song...that's coming our way next month. Also killed in the same crash were members of the Bar-Kays, whose biggest hit was covered in this post. _______ I thought I might have read something about that. Of course a comic book made 50 years after the fact isn't going to have the Pure Awesome factor of an in-the-day live action crossover...which might not have been entirely out of the question if somebody had wanted to do it, as The Avengers was airing on the same network in the US.
Good idea...then forget about her after the production wraps. Too little, too late. In the comics, Robin displayed his independence by driving the Batmobile as a pre-teen in the 40s, and eventually, his own motorcycle long before the legal age for obtaining a driver's permit/license. On the series, he barely moved the car in the pilot, and did not drive until this season. Holy missed opportunity. A cheap trend starting with the Black Widow arc (late season two) using party store rubber spiders. Way to save a buck, Dozier. Yes, she was an underdeveloped character, but unlike molls such as Blaze (False Face) or Susie (Joker), her playing both sides referred to her working for Lord Boredom and trying to go into business for herself. Lyn Peters was interesting, easy on the eyes, and her interest in Robin would have made an interesting running plot if she returned to the ailing series. Oh, yes...a torrential, interconnected storm in the months to come, with tragedy (RFK's assassination), drowning leader (LBJ with Vietnam, while losing much of political clout he had gained in/with his Great Society initiatives) and anarchy (Chicago). No wonder LBJ looked as if he'd aged 20 years in only four.
But it was made at Elstree Studios in Greater London. It may have been aired on the American Broadcasting Company network, but the "ABC Television" that produced it was the Associated British Corporation, the forerunner of Thames Television. I doubt either show would've had the budget or the will to fly their cast 5,400 miles to do a crossover.
I know it would have been impractical...just a whimsical thought. Not to encourage you, but.... And passed away days after his hypothetical next term would have ended.
I don't know. How many "Ladybird" songs were there? It was a piece of business that Rowan and Martin had already been using for years in their comedy act. It quickly became a Laugh-In catchphrase, like "Sock it to me" and "Look that up in your Funk and Wagnall's!" Laugh-In was known for its political and topical humor, but it generally attacked pretty safe targets. What made the show so innovative was its form, not its content. Doing away with the conventions of variety TV that harked back to vaudeville, Laugh-In gave us a nonstop, machine-gun-paced stream of quick sketches, blackouts, musical numbers, one-liners, and non sequiturs. It certainly owed a great deal to the experimental TV comedy of Ernie Kovacs a decade earlier. Oh, and that cute skinny blonde girl -- Goldie what's-her-name? I wonder what ever happened to her?
I got in some Ed Sullivan viewing yesterday, which included a double dose of Tiny Tim-- once backed by an all-girl group. Also a couple of great clips of Ike and Tina Turner-- thankfully with less Ike and more Tina, plus her jiggly backup singers. Also, a cute bit with Liberace, where Ed models his extravagant robe and Liberace wonders if he'll ever get it back. I saw that one, and saw that act at least twice. Fun. I can dance just like that. Good song, but that's a pretty high position on the Rolling Stone list. Not to worry, guys, it pretty much takes care of itself most of the time. Who do you think she is, Wonder Woman? Agreed, and maybe one of those things that will happen someday with advances in CGI. I've got the crossover comic and it was pretty well written, capturing the characters and the rhythm of their speech patters pretty well-- but it suffers from the contemporary art, which is lacking in the storytelling department (these kids really need to study Will Eisner). Yeah, that was a long time ago in a country far, far away. Something else for our CGI future. Ah, the god-like Sidney Poitier starring in a great film, where he gets to deliver one of the all-time great lines in movie history: "You think of yourself as a colored man-- I think of myself as a man." No recollection of that one. Not a goodie. Englebert has done better. I saw him on Ed Sullivan yesterday, too. Cute lyrics. I like the little musical zing to the refrain. Not bad. Lots of name dropping. Sort of a junior "Woodstock." Now this is a 60s classic. Oh, yeah, Cream is a fantastic band and this is a great song-- although they did much greater. Heartfelt, if not brilliant. This is more like it. Great song. Actually, I credit Laugh-In, at least in part, with my love of Vaudeville and Burlesque. I think she did a movie or two. Personally, I was more interested in Teresa Graves and Judy Carne-- unfortunately, neither of them achieved that level of success.
Well, there's also the one covered in this post. Two such occurrences in such a short timeframe while Johnson was in office was enough to set off my Sign o' the Times Sense. Nevertheless, the content is a major attraction for me, because whether or not it was edgy, it was so very sign o' the times. I also get the impression from that nudist colony joke that they were signaling that they were aiming for a more adult audience...people who'd get that sort of thing without needing it spelled out for them. Not in the pilot special, FWIW...she comes in a few episodes into the first season. I would have seen all of that, whether or not I was watching closely at the time. Some of it will be coming up as 50th anniversary business. I distinctly recall the thing with Liberace's cloak--thought about bringing it up at the time. Perhaps I was saving it for the eventual review. That wouldn't have been when Liberace did "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," would it? If so, I'm tentatively planning to come back to it in...2020! I'll take your word for it. Pass the salt? His highest-ranking of five entries on the list...the others being "Georgia on My Mind" (#44), "I Can't Stop Loving You" (#161), "I've Got a Woman" (#235), and "Hit the Road Jack" (#377). Clearly they felt that "What'd I Say" was a particularly influential song by a seminal artist. Famously, the Beatles improvised long jams of "What'd I Say" to fill out their set when they were playing the clubs in Hamburg. That would have been glorious to behold. Their key era of development as a band was wasted on drunken German sailors! But those guys didn't even know enough to bring up the possibility of hot water. Everyone knows that the key ingredient in TV pregnancies is hot water. Ah...that's probably where I'd heard about it before. I think you brought it up previously either here or in the other thread. Touche. H&I is getting close enough to coming back around to Season 1 that I made a point of looking up the titles for the giant clam episodes. I'll be on the lookout for them in the New Year. Ah...I wasn't familiar enough with the film to be sure about picking out a representative moment. I was looking for a good period trailer at the time I found the clip that I linked to. I should probably watch the other clips from that film, at least. On the subject of Sidney Poitier...after my accidentally stumbling upon airings of films like To Sir, with Love and Planet of the Apes, I've been regularly checking the schedules of a few cable channels that routinely play films from the period. To Sir came up again a couple days back, and this time I recorded it to sit down and give it a proper viewing...so I may be revisiting it soon. Yeah...Ed Ames is one of those artists of the day who'd completely flown under my radar until I was exposed to him on various episodes of The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show...now he appears to be everywhere! He's sort of become one of my key examples of "what not to get" as I mine the weekly charts for more material to add to my collection. This and the next one are the only of this week's featured songs (including the Otis tribute songs) that I don't have, and am not planning to add. Engelbert has a half-decent Easy Listening sound, at least. Not somebody I'd get all Top 20 singles by, but it seems that I already grabbed "After the Lovin'" when working on my '70s playlists--probably mainly because the ex was fond of the song--so my hobgoblin will probably make me get his version of "Release Me" when it comes back up in my 51st anniversary playlist, so that I'll have both of his Top 10's. And this will be the last that the Marvelettes will be coming up in 50th anniversary business. Their remaining charting singles, going into '69, didn't make the Top 40. It's surprising to find a "girl group" whose string of hits extended this far...not counting the Supremes, as I don't even classify them as a "girl group" in the same sense...they were playing in a different league, and mostly well after the height of the girl group era. Far from their strongest work musically, but a good sign o' the times snapshot for its subject matter. Yep...relatively lightweight psychedelic-era fare, but one of those oldies radio staples. And another one-hit wonder of the era...the Lemon Pipers had a handful more charting singles, but none that made the Top 40. Looking forward to demonstrating this. So, how's your snow up there, RJ? Looks like I've got 4+ inches to dig out of later today.
That was it. Wise, in both cases. "Georgia On My Mind" definitely deserves that high ranking. That's just so you can have some tea while nature takes its course. That could be. I've had it for a while. I would highly recommend watching it, especially given your interest in immersing yourself in the times. You'll find it very inspiring, especially given what the world has come to today. I think Englebert was largely successful due to the hunk factor, but he did some good stuff. The Marvelettes were definitely retro for the period. Actually, it was the perfect storm-- in a good way. It didn't start accumulating until Saturday afternoon after I was home and continued all night. The fluffy snow stuck to everything, turning the world into a postcard. Sunday morning, everything was beautiful-- plus the plows and snowblowers had done their work. The snow practically fell off my car when I went out to clean it. It was cold, though, but I managed a short trip down to the Bay and Caddy Park for some pictures: No snow in that last one, but that's my view of Boston from Wollaston Beach.
I ask about 4+ inches of snow, he brings me seven 4+ inch pretty pictures! Showoff! When the ex and I used to vacation at the Cape in the summer, we wondered what it would be like to live there year-round, particularly in the winter. If it comes up on one of those channels, I probably will. I assume Movies! doesn't have it, at least, as they've been repeatedly playing To Sir and A Raisin in the Sun...if they had another Poitier film in their lineup, they'd have gotten some use out of it by now. _______ Kitchen Sink Review Business _______ Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 55 years ago this week: Of note among our new Holiday song entries: the ones by the Four Seasons and Ray Stevens are new releases in 1962; and this is also the first charting of Nat King Cole's fourth recording of "The Christmas Song," released in 1961, which became the definitive version that we still hear today. _______ 12 O'Clock High "Then Came the Mighty Hunter" Originally aired September 27, 1965 I can buy 23-year-old Beau being a little underage, but 15? That's pushing it. And it gets a bit silly after his age is revealed, when we have characters being ordered to put him to bed, repeatedly threatening to spank him, and whatnot. And then he still manages to stow away on a mission in which both waist gunners conveniently get killed, and gets his moment to prove himself under fire. For the Judy Carne fans, here she is as an Archbury saloon gal: Also appearing in this episode of 12...Oh, Donald, hi! His small role in the episode definitely seems filler-ish...it turns out that he was in the know about the real age of Beau's character, but doesn't bring it up until everyone else has already found out for themselves. Since Komansky joined the main cast, the top turret gunner has gotten in the habit of coming down into the cockpit a lot. Maybe there's real-world authenticity to that, but it feels like he's just photobombing Gallagher and his Co-Pilot of the Week... Hot damn, I just stumbled across the fact that no less than the Shat himself is coming to the 918th in about six weeks! (Or maybe sooner? Looks like H&I is going to skip a couple episodes. If they don't skip Shat's as well....) _______ To Sir, with Love Released June 14, 1967 (Previously touched upon in this post.) Well, I'm glad that I revisited this...it turns out that I missed a good hunk of the film, in addition to having watched the rest with divided attention previously. From what I read on Wiki, it seems that critics are kind of harsh on this film, dismissing at as being too much of a fantasy. I suppose that's a fair point, at least in that the film, while it definitely doesn't ignore the factor of racism--directly addressing it in many ways--does soft-pedal it somewhat. In particular, it seems like they wasted the opportunity to have at least one of the faculty be bigoted, which would have been more realistic for the time. And the film definitely caters to male wish fulfillment in presenting Thackeray with pretty young blonde woman who are interested in him on both sides of the desk. (The name "Pamela Dare" is almost Flemingesque.) The teacher's room looks kind of cozy, even if it has a lousy view. And Lulu's character, Babs, looks kind of posh for it being a rough school on the poor side of town. One very interesting part that I came in late for last time was Thackeray going ballistic on the girls over the burning sanitary napkin... And in a later class scene... I have to imagine that a teacher in an American school today would get in a lot of trouble for referring to female students as sluts. And while Movies! didn't censor any of this, they did feel the need to not only blur out what little the audience was meant to see of the nudie magazine that Thackeray takes from one of the male students, but also a sculpture of a pair of cherubs in the museum montage! And while the film establishes that the school doesn't have corporal punishment, there's something vaguely disturbing about the imagery of Thackeray often brandishing a thick baton while teaching. We get this previously alluded-to bit in one of the class scenes, which comes off as doubly sign o' the times... Not only a timely message, but a prescient one, given where things would be going the following year. And there's another Beatles reference later when one of the students suggests a field trip to the Cavern. Also sign o' the times, a bit of the contemporary British view of America from the teachers: Churchill passed away in January 1965, while Johnson was in office. And that is surprising! Though Wiki indicates that LBJ must have sent somebody... In the music department...the opening title also uses the alternate version of the song with additional percussion and different lyrics. Overall, I like that percussion, particularly as used elsewhere in the score, but it's more of a dramatic movie touch that wouldn't have worked in the single. In addition to the songs covered in the other post, there are a couple more original songs in the film... "Stealing My Love from Me," Lulu "Off and Running," The Mindbenders Back in the fantasy department, one kind of has to squint past Babs suddenly turning into Lulu at the dance...it might have helped if they'd set up her singing ability earlier in the film; it's a touching scene for the sentiment nevertheless. _______ Both of the Mindbenders' major hits were behind them by the time they did this film...one with their former frontman, and one after he'd left the group: "Game of Love," Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders (Charted Mar. 20, 1965; #1 US the week of Apr. 24, 1965; #2 UK) "A Groovy Kind of Love," The Mindbenders (Charted Apr. 16, 1966; #2 US; #2 UK) The single version of the title song, which is still on the charts 50 years ago this week, was far and away Lulu's biggest hit. While she enjoyed more success in the UK, her only other Top 20 hit in the US came quite a bit later than 1967... "I Could Never Miss You (More Than I Do)," Lulu (Charted Aug. 1, 1981; #18 US; #2 AC; #62 UK) And while this rings a vague bell about possibly having been first exposed to Lulu when she had a song on the radio around that time, I have absolutely no recollection of the song itself. _______ An odd bit of business...I failed to previously recognize the 50th anniversary of this first coming to TV on September 9, 1967: More challenged in the theme music department... These have got Ted Knight narration going for them, at least. _______ The Monkees "Monkees in Texas" Originally aired December 4, 1967 I think maybe I prefer this show without the canned audience telling me what I'm supposed to find knee-slappingly hilarious. The flaming kitchen sink gag was kind of funny; as was Mike paying the assayer with a handful of crude oil Mike: Lucy? Are you L--Well whatever happened to the buck-teethed and the knock-kneed, stringy-haired, bad-complexioned little girl I used to hang around with? Aunt Kate: That's your other cousin, Clara. She still looks the same. This episode gives us send-ups of the Lone Ranger and Tonto as well as Bonanza, with the Cartwheel clan being the villains. Len Lesser pops up again here; as well as future TOS guest Rex Holman (Morgan Earp, "Spectre of the Gun"; J'onn, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier). "Psychedelic" comes up as a buzzword again. Another song sequence in which the song is pretty incongruous with the content of the scene: "Words" For the disconnected end-of-episode sequence, we get a revisit to the "Goin' Down" video that had been used at the beginning of a previous episode. Here it sounds like it was abbreviated, either in the original episode or the syndication edit. It's interesting that "Sock it to me" seems to be doing the rounds as a catchphrase even before Laugh-In gets ahold of it. The most prominent early example that I'm familiar with would be "Sock It to Me, Baby!" by Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels from earlier in 1967. And with that, Season 2 of The Monkees is now in sync with 50th anniversary viewing business! _______
_______ 51st Anniversary Viewing _______ Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 51 years ago this week: _______ The Rat Patrol "The Lighthouse Raid" Originally aired December 5, 1966 You can tell from the title that this is going to be yet another Rat Patrol-by-sea episode. Well, it starts in the desert at least, and features them making their way to the lighthouse by land...definitely more their thing than stealthing in via rafts in commando outfits. We also get more expository narration in the opening describing their mission, with a bit more still in the middle. The episode seems overly compressed this time. Troy and Hitch precede the others, who are driving the unconscious general, to the lighthouse, and we only learn when Moffitt and Tully arrive that Hitch has taken the German guard's place while Troy is, unknown to Hitch, being held at gunpoint by the lighthouse keeper, who was supposed to be an ally but wants the reward on the general. It seems like we abruptly skipped past some worthwhile story beats. There's also an odd bit of syndication editing contributing to the episode's original shortcomings. In this case, we cut to syndication commercial with the lighthouse keeper under guard by Moffitt, come back from commercial with the keeper having escaped and running up the stairs, then it quickly fades to black for the original commercial (while the episode continues in syndication)! What ensues, oddly enough, feels more padded. The keeper ineffectually throws objects down the stairwell in an attempt to slow Troy's progress up the stairs, but he never bothers to close the obviously visible hatch doors to the stairwell and either lock them (there are also obviously visible latches for that) or put something heavy on them! Um...whatever. And of course, when he falls down the stairwell in a struggle with Troy, he gets a clean, fatal fall to the bottom. Finally, I can't help but think that the only reason the general they're rescuing happens to be unconscious the whole time is to save them the cost of one more credited actor...or any story time that might have been taken up by what he had to say. Dietrich is not in this episode. _______ "Phantom of the Horse Opera" Originally aired December 8, 1966 When Ann and Donald track down the source of the creepy music that's been filtering into her apartment, Ann finds the organist all charming and lonely and doesn't want to confront him, so she tries to find him a job. Donald writes an article on him without his knowledge/consent, and it turns out that he's a wanted man, and that all of his old movie memorabilia was acquired through illicit means. So the charming, lonely old man ends up finding a job and company...in prison. "Oh, Donald" count: 6 _______
The Cape in Winter can be bleak and occasionally brutal. I do love Winter in New England, though, as long as I can watch it from inside with a cup of hot chocolate. He did have kind of a baby face. I'd love to have been on the set for that. Wow, nice. It's very rare to see her pop up anywhere. Can't have that. It's all about the character and message. Personally, I'm not a big fan of realism-- I prefer artistry and theme take precedence. Rockin' Lulu. Pretty catchy. Also catchy. I like both of those, especially "Groovy." I wasn't paying too much attention to Top 40 in 1981, but that does sound vaguely familiar. Maybe just because there were so many songs that sounded like it. I used to watch this religiously at the time, which was odd because I did not read the comic much at all. This was my favorite comic. These I didn't watch at all. They look pretty good, though. Not bad, but it doesn't really have that Monkee sound. That is interesting. I always thought Laugh-In created that. That's a bit grim for That Girl. Does it end with Ann and Donald getting drunk and berating themselves?
Yeah, they were going for a big, comedic twist with the reveal that he was a criminal, but I just put my finger on why it didn't work for me--the reveal is conveyed entirely by Ann and Donald, with Holloway offscreen. He'd done such a good job getting the audience's sympathy as well as Ann's, that for the twist to work, we really needed a beat with him onscreen in the "after" part...maybe a prison visitation in which he's talking/acting more like a crook. Instead, we're told that he was a bad person, but it comes off more like something bad has happened to a nice person. And this is twice that a story was driven by Donald writing people up in his magazine without the basic journalistic courtesy of, y'know, making sure they're OK with it.
The popularizer of a thing is often mistaken for its originator. More than once, when double-checking the source of a famous saying for my writing, I've found that the person I thought it came from was actually just quoting an earlier saying. For instance, I always thought George Burns said "The key is sincerity -- if you can fake that, you've got it made." But though he popularized it, he was actually quoting an anecdote that another celebrity had told him, and she in turn was quoting some anonymous actor she'd overheard during an audition.
In many ways, the most faithful adaptation of Spider-Man to date, as it was made during the character's publishing zenith, and often captured the feel of the lead and the period. Challenged? Are you kidding? Ted Nichols' Fantastic Four theme was driving, and serious, with melodic traditions found in great scoring up to that point. Certainly one of the best superhero cartoon themes, unlike the faux "heroic" noise standing in for main/closing themes for most superhero cartoons produced since the 1970s. I also loved this seasons rapid jump cuts to just "magically" pop in characters, props, or whatever. Weird for the sake of it, and it worked. I referred to this episode earlier, and its funniest bit was the "For Emmy Consideration" caption across a freeze frame of the guest actresses, along with the Cartwheel patriarch and the sheriff referring to the Emmy's dinner. It was there to do its job: promote the new version of the track (the 1st version making a one-time appearance during the 1st season's "The Monkees in Manhattan") from the then-recently released (as of November, 1967), 4th Monkees LP, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd. You're hearing one of two versions of the song--one had additional verses and outro, which can be found on the expanded version of Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd. It's older than that, as it originated (like most catchphrases the media appropriated after thinking its "cool") on the urban streets.
_______ 50th Anniversary Viewing _______ Mission: Impossible "Echo of Yesterday" Originally aired December 10, 1967 I'll point out, as I always have to, that he was still using his birth name of Hans Gudegast in this period. From the roles he's getting in this period, though, I can see why he changed it! Gudegast is pretty watchable, of course...and quite different from Dietrich here, as it's a major story point that his character is a paranoid who's prone to breaking into rants. Compare and contrast to Dietrich's icy coolness. Well, that's close enough after last week's blast from the past. What jumped out at me in the portfolio scene: There's no Barney in this episode! How is the IMF gonna...do anything? The answer is, very low-techishly. The overall scheme is easy to follow but seems a little lightweight without the trademarked Collier wizardry. Even though Phelps is portraying an American neo-Nazi, Graves puts on a sort of halfass pseudo-accent...maybe because he's supposed to be speaking German? Whatever the case, it's annoying right out of the gate. Overall, I found the scheme to be pretty contrived and unconvincing. The similarity of Cinnamon's photographer cover to the industrialist's wife seem a little too on-the-nose; it seems a bit unbelievable that they're able to convincingly transform one of the industrialist's rooms on short notice based on some old black-and-white photographs; it's pretty harsh that they manipulate the old guy into taking a murder rap, as he was portrayed sympathetically despite his affiliation with the Nazis/neo-Nazis; and 1932 seems like an oddly early point in Hitler's rise to power to set the murder of the industrialist's wife. Deserving special attention is Rollin's Hitler impersonation, which was pretty unconvincing to me, never mind somebody who actually knew Hitler (even if that person was drugged at the time). This definitely felt like the show's reach exceeding its grasp. _______ The Monkees "Monkees on the Wheel" Originally aired December 11, 1967 I think the catchphrase might have been lost in the syndication edit...I didn't catch it, at least. And if I hadn't seen his name, I might not have recognized Rip Taylor without his mustache! Also guesting as Della is Sharyn Hillyer, who played a recurring UNCLE HQ girl in TMFU Seasons 2 and 3 I know it's supposed to be broad comedy, but it's pretty appalling how the police entrap the Monkees into signing a confession. Giggle-worthy is Micky doing dueling Cagneys with David Astor's Boss character: "The Door into Summer" "Las Vegas" here looks very TV-scale...like somebody's running an illegal gambling operation in their living room. For our disconnected end-of-episode song, we get an alternate video for the controversial "Cuddly Toy," shot on the same stage with the same costumes, sans the girl: _______ Batman "Catwoman's Dressed to Kill" Originally aired December 14, 1967 Holy sign o' the times! This one is so wrong in so many ways, but so much a reflection of when it was made, and hey, that's what this immersive retro experience is all about! And I'm sorry, but you gotta love Alfred disguised as a hippie! I like Eartha Kitt's Catwoman as well. Newmar is...a wee bit overrated in my book. YMMV. _______ "It's a Mod, Mod World: Part 2" Originally aired December 14, 1967 My assessment last week was completely off-target--This installment features a surprising lack of L.A./Hollywood location shooting for a "trip to California" episode. The best part, I think, is how Don and Noel, mutually injured in a brawl, bond a bit sitting next to each other on the plane back to NY. "Oh, Donald" count: 7 _______ Tarzan "Jai's Amnesia" Originally aired December 15, 1967 The sacred ruby appears to be a reuse of the orange mini-disco ball prop from "To Steal the Rising Sun." (Had to look that one up, my knowledge of this series is far from encyclopedic.) This is an effective version of splitting Jai and Tarzan up, with Tarzan on Jai's trail the whole episode rather than just disappearing to get out of the way of a Jai solo story. Even an amnesiac Jai who's conned into thinking he's a thief won't steal, so the bad guys of the week have to threaten some cuddly lion clubs that he befriended along the way. In the climax, an untrusting Jai holds Tarzan at gunpoint. Now even if he doesn't remember the Lord of the Jungle, he should be able to tell that they're on the same side by the way they're both dressed. TOS guests: John Crawford (Commissioner Ferris, "The Galileo Seven"); Hal Baylor (Policeman, "The City on the Edge of Forever"; Guard [uncredited], "Elaan of Troyius"). _______ Star Trek "Obsession" Originally aired December 15, 1967 Stardate 3619.2 See my post here. _______ The Prisoner "A Change of Mind" Originally aired December 15, 1967 (UK) Six's outdoor gym is featured more prominently in this episode. I love how Brits pronounce "privacy"...and "schedule"...and "tissue". The rostrum in that little waiting room seems like an underwhelming place to make a public statement of contrition. Here we definitely have the more sheeplike and controlled version of the Village population. I get that they're going for a McCartheyism allegory, but even in the sequences in which the idea is that Six is supposed to be isolated, he's the center of attention...everyone's too up his ass the whole time for him to find himself feeling very lonely. Number Six plays Number Two and the Village population a little too easily in the climax. Yeah, I'm a Bond geek...brief as his scene was, I recognized Michael Chow as one of the control room operatives from SPECTRE's volcano lair in You Only Live Twice. I just realized that I'd been overlooking Wiki pages for individual Prisoner episodes. Looking at the pages for some of the episodes that I've already watched, I found that the bit about Josette's music box theme appearing in "Dance of the Dead" had been covered: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_of_the_Dead_(The_Prisoner)#Trivia _______ I said "more challenged," in contrast to the Spider-Man theme. On one hand we have a timeless, singable classic that's been referenced in popular culture decades after its time...on the other we have a bland, generic "action cartoon" theme that I can't remember two seconds after I've heard it. The FF theme also doesn't compare well to the various songs from the Marvel Super-Heroes cartoon of the previous year. _______