The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

The Old Mixer · May 30, 2021

Looks like we lost Gavin MacLeod and B. J. Thomas today.

RJDiogenes · May 30, 2021

The Old Mixer said:
"I Don't Want to Do Wrong," Gladys Knight & The Pips

Average song, but I like how she's carrying on with the Pips on the cover. :rommie:

"Bring the Boys Home," Freda Payne

This is a good anti-war song.

"Sooner or Later," The Grass Roots

Not their best, but a nice, lively song.

"You've Got a Friend," James Taylor

I was never a big James Taylor fan, for no discernible reason.

Knew you'd like this one.

This one's a bit of a minor period classic. I was originally exposed to it through a Divinyls cover.

I don't think I ever heard that.

It was their best work so far at this point!

Oh, yeah. All this moving back and forth through time makes me dizzy. :rommie:

Tommy James has become something of a hometown-area hero to me because he was at the time and reportedly remains a resident of Niles, Michigan; and was originally exposed to this number that became his breakout hit when he saw another band performing it in a club in South Bend, Indiana.

That's cool. He certainly did some great work.

Another thought that popped in my head because of this conversation is that maybe he's the camp's Russian spy...who doesn't openly help the prisoners because he has his own agenda.

Now that's a good idea. I never thought of that. Maybe he even had his own gang of guys: Schultz's Swashbucklers.

Nerys Myk said:
Not sure either one were actually hippies or counter culture. Their look was probably marketing.

Yeah, I think you're probably right about that.

The Old Mixer said:
Looks like we lost Gavin MacLeod and B. J. Thomas today.

Yeah, I saw that.

Gavin MacLeod was very cool. If you watch Mary Tyler Moore and Love Boat, it's hard to believe he's the same guy. And BJ gave us a bunch of great songs, including a couple of immortal classics.

The Old Mixer · May 31, 2021

50th Anniversary Album Spotlight

Paranoid
Black Sabbath
Released September 18, 1970 (UK); January 1971 (US)
Chart debut: February 20, 1971
Chart peak: #12 (April 17, 1971)
#130 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003)

Wiki said:
Paranoid is the second studio album by the English rock band Black Sabbath, released in September 1970 through Vertigo Records. It contains several of the band's signature songs, including "Iron Man", "War Pigs" and the title track, which was the band's only Top 20 hit, reaching number 4 in the UK charts. It is often cited as an influential album in the early development of the heavy metal genre. Paranoid was the band's only album to top the UK Albums Chart until the release of 13 in 2013.

Sabbath remains not quite my cup of tea, but this one is an improvement with its duo of stone-cold classic numbers.

The album isn't shy about opening with its longest track, the nearly eight-minute "War Pigs / Luke's Wall":

Most of the songs on Paranoid evolved during onstage improvisational jams. In the Classic Albums documentary on the making of Paranoid, guitarist Tony Iommi recalls that "War Pigs" came from "one of the clubs" with [bassist Geezer] Butler adding, "During the song "Warning" we used to jam that out and that particular night when we were jamming it out Tony just went da-dum!"

The album's opening track "War Pigs" was originally intended to be called "Walpurgis". It was then changed to "War Pigs", which the band intended to name the album until it was changed to Paranoid after the record company became convinced that the song of the same name had potential as a single. Butler explained his intentions to Classic Albums: "I wanted to write a song called 'Walpurgis' – you know, the Satanic version of Christmas – write it about that Satan isn't a spiritual thing, it's warmongers. That's who the real Satanists are, all these people who are running the banks and the world and trying to get the working class to fight the wars for them. We sent it off to the record company and they said, 'No, we're not going to call it that. Too Satanic!' So I changed it to 'War Pigs'."

It was too late, however, to alter the artwork...."That album title had nothing to do with the sleeve," Osbourne explained to Phil Alexander in 1998. "What the fuck does a bloke dressed as a pig with a sword in his hand got to do with being paranoid, I don't know, but they decided to change the album title without changing the artwork."

Next is the much more radio-friendly signature number that the album was ultimately titled after, "Paranoid" (charted Nov. 28, 1970; #61 US; #4 UK; #250 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time):

The album's title track was written as an afterthought. As drummer Bill Ward explains: "We didn't have enough songs for the album, and Tony (Iommi) just played the guitar lick and that was it. It took twenty, twenty-five minutes from top to bottom." In the liner notes to the 1998 live album Reunion, bassist Geezer Butler recounts to Phil Alexander that they wrote the song "in five minutes, then I sat down and wrote the lyrics as quickly as I could. It was all done in about two hours." According to Alexander, "Paranoid" "crystallized the band's writing process, with Iommi initiating the ideas with his charred riffs, Ozzy (Osbourne) working on a melody, Geezer providing drive and the majority of the lyrics, and Bill Ward locking into a set of often pounding rhythms beneath Butler's bass rumble."

In 2013, Butler told Mojo magazine that the song "Paranoid" was "about depression, because I didn't really know the difference between depression and paranoia. It's a drug thing; when you're smoking a joint you get totally paranoid about people, you can't relate to people. There's that crossover between the paranoia you get when you're smoking dope and the depression afterwards."...According to Mick Wall's book Black Sabbath: Symptom of the Universe, Butler was dead set against the song because he thought it too closely resembled Led Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown", with the bassist admitting, "I thought it was so much like that we couldn't possibly get away with it ... They were our favorite band by that time."

Can't help bangin' the head a little with this one...it's reflexive.

Following that is the trippily mellow respite of "Planet Caravan"...

an unusually quiet song which showcased that the band was capable of more than bone crushing guitar riffs. Iommi admitted that the band had doubts about the mellow number, telling Classic Albums, "It was almost one of those 'Should we do this?'" with Butler adding, "We just came up with that in the studio and it was really laid back so and we didn't want to come out with the usual love crap. So it was about floating through the universe with your loved one, instead of 'Let's go down to the pub and have some chips', or whatever ... Just taking a spaceship out into the stars and having the ultimate romantic weekend." Django Reinhardt's jazz influence is apparent on Iommi's guitar playing.

On "Planet Caravan", Osbourne sings through a Leslie speaker, with the singer telling Mojo in 2010, "Then Rodger Bain used an oscillator on it – whatever that is. It looks like a fridge with a knob on."

The first side closes with the album's other uber-classic number, "Iron Man" (charts Jan. 29, 1972; #52 US; #310 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time):

The song "Iron Man" was originally entitled "Iron Bloke". Upon hearing Iommi play the main guitar riff for the first time, Osbourne remarked in awe that it sounded "like a big iron bloke walking around". The title was later changed to "Iron Man" as bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler composed the lyrics. The riff to "Iron Man" is iconic among heavy metal guitarists, with Osbourne declaring in his memoir that "...Tony Iommi turned out to be one of the greatest heavy rock riff-makers of all time. Whenever we went into the studio we'd challenge him to beat his last riff – and he'd come up with something like 'Iron Man' and blow everyone away." Butler wrote the lyrics as the story of a man who time travels into the future and sees the apocalypse. In the process of returning to the present, he is turned into steel by a magnetic field. His attempts to warn the populace are ignored and mocked. This causes Iron Man to become angry and vengeful, causing the destruction seen in his vision.

Osbourne sang behind a metal fan to get the sound effect in its first line, 'I am Iron Man!'.

Side two opens with "Electric Funeral," which "contains apocalyptic imagery dealing with nuclear warfare."

The band slips in some more down-to-earth social commentary with "Hand of Doom":

"Hand of Doom" dealt with the problem of soldiers returning from the Vietnam War strung out on heroin, which the band witnessed first-hand when they played two American Army bases but, as Butler observed to Matthew Longfellow in 2010, there was "nothing on the news about this. There was no programs telling you that the US troops in Vietnam, to get through that horrible war, were like fixing up and all this kinda thing. It just stuck in me head and when we got to "Hand of Doom", that's what I wrote it about."

The album takes a brief instrumental turn with "Rat Salad"...

According to Butler, Ward's drum solo "Rat Salad" resulted from the band having to play 8 and 3/4-hour spots a night in Europe early in their career. "Bill used to fill out a whole 45 minutes doing a drum solo just to get rid of that 45 minutes," he revealed to Classic Albums. "I have no idea where the title came from, though." While Butler may have now forgotten where the title of "Rat Salad" came from, in 1971 he was on record stating it came from a joke about Ward's hair having not been combed.

The album closes with "Jack the Stripper / Fairies Wear Boots":

In 2013, Sabbath biographer Mick Wall described the closing track on the album, "Fairies Wear Boots", as a "hard-driving riff sweetened by a beautifully baleful melody" with a lyric written by Osbourne about a nasty encounter with a group of skinheads.

The exact inspiration behind "Fairies Wear Boots" is unclear. In the 2010 documentary film Classic Albums: Black Sabbath's Paranoid, the band's bassist Geezer Butler states that Ozzy Osbourne composed the lyrics after a group of skinheads in London called him a "fairy" because of his long hair. However, Butler also stated Ozzy’s lyrics often went off in random tangents, and the second half of the song was about LSD. Osbourne, in the same documentary, said he wrote the lyrics about LSD. In 2010, Osbourne stated in his autobiography I Am Ozzy that he did not recall what the song was written about.

In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Steve Huey cited Paranoid as "one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time", which "defined the sound and style of heavy metal more than any other record in rock history".

The album was also the source of some controversy of a sort that would continue to inform heavy metal's reputation into my adolescence...

In the early 1970s, an American nurse committed suicide and the Paranoid album was found on her turntable. The album's possible influence in her decision to commit suicide was mentioned in the inquest, but ultimately it was decided that Black Sabbath were not to blame for her death.

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RJDiogenes said:
Average song, but I like how she's carrying on with the Pips on the cover.

She like her men merry.

This is a good anti-war song.

A bit obscure and maybe a little too on the nose.

Not their best, but a nice, lively song.

Sounds like the '60s.

I was never a big James Taylor fan, for no discernible reason.

How about the song?

That's cool. He certainly did some great work.

And he has a Sirius program on Sunday nights, which I sometimes catch.

Schultz's

Soviet

Swashbucklers.

RJDiogenes · May 31, 2021

The Old Mixer said:
Sabbath remains not quite my cup of tea, but this one is an improvement with its duo of stone-cold classic numbers.

I like Sabbath and Ozzy in the sense that I like some of their singles (and can never keep track of which is which).

Next is the much more radio-friendly signature number that the album was ultimately titled after, "Paranoid"

And this is one of them. Great music and lyrics, with kind of a stealth plaintiveness.

Following that is the trippily mellow respite of "Planet Caravan"...

This is interesting. Certainly very different for them, and the lyrics are very poetic. It's kind of funny how they seem to bounce back and forth from awkward and naive to melodic and insightful.

The first side closes with the album's other uber-classic number, "Iron Man"

This is another one, of course. Driving and relentless but it never gets boring.

The band slips in some more down-to-earth social commentary with "Hand of Doom":

Wow, that's amazing. The guy is right-- this is the kind of thing that you almost never heard in pop culture. Of course, I'm sure hardly anybody understood what they were talking about, but bonus points for the inspiration. They just went up a few notches in my estimation. In terms of artistry, the lyrics here are so much more incisive than the vague and imitative piousness of "War Pigs," because it's something they experienced first hand and were touched by.

The album was also the source of some controversy of a sort that would continue to inform heavy metal's reputation into my adolescence...

This sort of thing still goes on today and probably always will.

She like her men merry.

How about the song?

Can't say anything bad about it. It's a great sentiment, and even has similarities to "Bridge Over Troubled Water." I have no reason for not liking it except that I don't like it.

The Old Mixer · May 31, 2021

55th Anniversary Album Spotlight

If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears
The Mamas & The Papas
Released February 28, 1966
Chart debut: March 12, 1966
Chart peak: #1 (May 21, 1966)
#127 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003)

Wiki said:
If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears is the debut album by the Mamas and the Papas, released in 1966. In 2003, it was ranked number 127 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, with its rank rising to number 112 in the 2012 revision.

The album consists of just over half original numbers, all written or co-written (with various other members) by John Phillips. Backing instruments were played by members of the oft-referenced Wrecking Crew. The album's cover was censored in the day for having a toilet on it...this was usually covered by a promotional banner, the contents of which varied with different issues of the album.

The album opens with the band's new single at the time of release, which holds the distinction of being their only chart-topper, "Monday, Monday" (charted Apr. 9, 1966; #1 US the weeks of May 7 through 21, 1966; #3 UK; 1967 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal):

Next is a catchy if lightweight pop rocker, "Straight Shooter" (B-side of "Twelve Thirty" in 1967; bubbles under Sept. 2, 1967, at #130 US). That twangy electric guitar makes me think of the Monkees.

I was previously familiar with the lovely "Got a Feelin'" from its inclusion on a compilation that I once owned on CD. This track was also the B-side of "Monday, Monday".
I wish the album had a few more obscure gems like this one.

Following that we get the album's first and best-regarded cover, a novel arrangement of Lennon-McCartney composition "I Call Your Name," originally recorded by the Beatles in '64:

Cass Elliot whispers "John...John" during the instrumental break, a little tip of the hat to her crush on John Lennon.

Not as impressive is their laid-back cover of Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance" (issued as a single in 1968; charts Nov. 23, 1968; #76 US).

The first side closes with one of the album's better-known tracks, "Go Where You Wanna Go," which was given a limited promotional release as the group's first single:
A cover of this song will be the 5th Dimension's debut hit in 1967.

Side two opens with the Mamas and the Papas' own debut hit and evocative signature single, "California Dreamin'" (charted Jan. 8, 1966; #4 US; #23 UK; #9 UK in 1997; inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001; #89 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time):

The song was written in 1963 while John Phillips and Michelle Phillips were living in New York City during a particularly cold winter, and she was missing sunny California. He would work on tunes late at night and one morning brought her the first verse. At the time, John and Michelle Phillips were members of the folk group the New Journeymen, which evolved into the Mamas and the Papas.

They earned their first record contract after being introduced to Lou Adler, the head of Dunhill Records, by Barry McGuire. In thanks to Adler, they sang the backing vocals to "California Dreamin'" with members of the session band The Wrecking Crew on McGuire's album This Precious Time. Adler, impressed with the Mamas and the Papas, then had the lead vocal track re-recorded with Denny Doherty singing and paired with the same instrumental and backing vocal tracks and an alto flute solo by Bud Shank, reportedly improvised. The guitar introduction was performed by P. F. Sloan. McGuire's original vocal can be briefly heard on the left channel at the beginning of the record, having not been completely erased.

The single was released in late 1965 but was not an immediate breakthrough. After gaining little attention in Los Angeles upon its release, a radio station in Boston was the catalyst to break the song nationwide.

The song became a signpost of the California sound, heralding the arrival of the nascent counterculture era.

One of the album's better covers is an enjoyably airy version of Ben E. King's 1960 hit "Spanish Harlem" (written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector).

"Somebody Groovy" was originally released as the B-side of the "Go Where You Wanna Go" and "California Dreamin'" singles, and sounds pretty similar to "Straight Shooter".

The last original number on the album is perhaps its most forgettable, "Hey Girl" (B-side of "Glad To Be Unhappy" in 1967; bubbles under Oct. 26, 1967, at #134 US). Note that this shouldn't be confused with the much more memorable Goffin & King song of the same name that was originally recorded by Freddie Scott in 1963.

Steve Barri and P. F. Sloan composition "You Baby" was originally recorded by the Vogues in 1965, but is best known for the version by the Turtles that was a current hit at the time of this album's release.

The album closes with Billy Page composition "The 'In' Crowd," which was originally a hit for Dobie Gray in 1964.

Overall this album is a breath of fresh air compared to some of the 50th anniversary material I've been working through, though it's somewhat uneven and starts to peter out early on its second side.

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RJDiogenes said:
Driving and relentless but it never gets boring.

I wish I could say that about the whole album, but like many of them, it lost me at some point.

Wow, that's amazing. The guy is right-- this is the kind of thing that you almost never heard in pop culture. Of course, I'm sure hardly anybody understood what they were talking about, but bonus points for the inspiration.

There was a part that I didn't quote where one of the band alluded to fans and/or critics latching onto one line in the song and seeing it as pro-drug, when the overall song is anti-drug.

They just went up a few notches in my estimation. In terms of artistry, the lyrics here are so much more incisive than the vague and imitative piousness of "War Pigs," because it's something they experienced first hand and were touched by.

"War Pigs" is all about the riff, I think. But insightful comments overall...you found pros and cons in these songs that I wasn't enthusiastic enough to work at.

Can't say anything bad about it. It's a great sentiment, and even has similarities to "Bridge Over Troubled Water." I have no reason for not liking it except that I don't like it.

I'd imagine that you don't like the song because you associate it with James Taylor, whom you don't like for vague/unknown reasons.

RJDiogenes · Jun 1, 2021

The Old Mixer said:
The album's cover was censored in the day for having a toilet on it...

I oppose censorship, but.... :rommie:

The album opens with the band's new single at the time of release, which holds the distinction of being their only chart-topper, "Monday, Monday"

An Oldies Radio Classic, and I'm surprised it's their only chart topper.

Next is a catchy if lightweight pop rocker, "Straight Shooter" (B-side of "Twelve Thirty" in 1967; bubbles under Sept. 2, 1967, at #130 US). That twangy electric guitar makes me think of the Monkees.

Now that you mention it, it has an overall Monkees sound to it.

The first side closes with one of the album's better-known tracks, "Go Where You Wanna Go,"

Another goodie. I would have expected this to be another chart topper.

Side two opens with the Mamas and the Papas' own debut hit and evocative signature single, "California Dreamin'"

Would have expected a chart topper here, too. Kind of ironic that it was a Boston station that gave it a push. I wonder which station it was in those days. Probably WMEX or WRKO.

Overall this album is a breath of fresh air compared to some of the 50th anniversary material I've been working through, though it's somewhat uneven and starts to peter out early on its second side.

Most albums are like that for me.

I wish I could say that about the whole album, but like many of them, it lost me at some point.

Yeah, I like their singles, but I've never felt compelled to buy any of their albums.

There was a part that I didn't quote where one of the band alluded to fans and/or critics latching onto one line in the song and seeing it as pro-drug, when the overall song is anti-drug.

There's a few like that. "Cocaine" springs to mind.

I'd imagine that you don't like the song because you associate it with James Taylor, whom you don't like for vague/unknown reasons.

That's probably exactly it.

The Old Mixer · Jun 1, 2021

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55.5th-ish Anniversary Viewing

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The Ed Sullivan Show
Season 18, episode 4
Originally aired October 3, 1965
As represented in The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show

All of these segments were kept together in the same Best of installment.

Ed said:
Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Sophie Tucker!

Spoken intros about portraits on a piano tie together a medley consisting of "Give My Regards to Broadway" and "Louise". Ed then prompts her to do "Some of These Days". The Metacritic listing says that the medley also included "When My Baby Smiles at Me," "My Man," and "If You Knew Susie (Like I Know Susie)".

Ed said:
...Welshman Tom Jones...sings the thrilling "With These Hands".

Tom gives a characteristically overwrought performance of a song not previously covered that was his current hit at the time (charted Aug. 28, 1965; #27 US; #3 AC; #13 UK).

Next Ed does a live interview of a filmed Peter Sellers, who's in character as a Fellini-type director. As with many Best of segments, it's awkwardly edited from a longer original version.

Ed said:
Here is...Miss Judy Garland!

The real McCoy shows us what the male imitators are all about as she performs "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody".

Ed said:
A very amusing but completely different approach to comedy is that possessed by Jackie Vernon.

Vernon's deadpan, self-deprecating routine transitions from his eating habits to his pet watermelon.

Obviously edited Ed said:
Here again...Miss Judy Garland!

Judy brings a lot of bombast to "By Myself," after which she takes some half-bows and blows some kisses with Ed beside her onstage.

Other performances:

Music:
--Judy Garland - "Come Rain or Shine"
--The Swingin' Lads (singers who update classic music)
Comedy:
--Topo Gigio (Italian mouse puppet) - talks with Ed, and his bear friend Bobo, about the Dodgers.
Also appearing:
--Leyte Filipiniana Folk Dance Troupe (20 dancers using parallel bamboo sticks)
--Audience bow: Walter Alston (Los Angeles Dodgers manager)
--Audience bows: baseball players Lou Johnson, Don Drysdale, Ron Perranoski, Willie Davis and Jim Lefebvre.

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Branded
"I Killed Jason McCord"
Originally aired October 3, 1965

Xfinity said:
A gunman is led to mistakenly believe that he's a hero.

A man refreshing himself at a stream hides when he sees Jason coming to do the same and fill his canteen. He knocks Jason out with a rock and steals his jacket, money, gun belt, and horse. (This would have been a good set-up for an amnesia episode.) The man (I didn't catch a character name, so don't know who he might have been in the credits) proceeds to a saloon flashing his ill-gotten cash and tries to force himself on a girl who works there, Lorrie Heller (Karen Steele). Her beau, Tuck Fraser (Larry Pennell), ends up in a draw with the man and shoots him, following which the locals find belongings on the man's horse that lead them to mistakenly identify him as Jason. A rancher named Archie Fletcher (Bruce Bennett), whose son was killed at Bitter Creek, gives Tuck a $200 reward and offers him a job. While everyone's hailing Tuck as a hero, Jason shows up in a bad mood wanting to know who rode in on his horse. When he tells them that he's Jason McCord, Tuck doesn't want to believe him, and won't give up the broken sabre without a fight. The Sheriff (Baynes Barron) intervenes, believing Jason's story because nobody else would want people to think that he was a renowned coward. With the help of the undertaker (Billy Beck), they determine that the man was an escaped prisoner. The guys at the saloon now tease Tuck (though none of them are played by William Christopher), and Fletcher tells him that if he wants to keep the money, he'll have to finish the job everyone had thought he'd done.

Lorrie tries to talk Tuck out of this, then goes to warn Jason, who won't run from the problem, but instead goes to the ranch to talk with Fletcher. He describes how Fletcher's son ~~Bucky~~ Bobby sacrificed himself to save Jason's life by taking the reins of a runaway, burning munitions wagon. Fletcher doesn't welcome this news, but Jason underscores that if Fletcher kills him, he'll be rendering his son's sacrifice meaningless. When Jason returns to town, Tuck's itching for a showdown. Jason informs him that the reward for the escapee he shot is more than what Fletcher was offering for him; and when he points out that he's unarmed, several guns are tossed his way. Jason refuses to take the bait, so Tuck removes his gun, initiates a brawl, and becomes the latest guest character to get the crap beat out of him by a renowned coward in front of the whole town. Fletcher then rides in and declares that he's willing to give Jason enough benefit of the doubt that he won't have Jason's blood on his hands...and offers to let Tuck keep the money and the job. The matter resolved, Jason retrieves his things and heads out.

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12 O'Clock High
"The Idolator"
Originally aired October 4, 1965

Xfinity said:
A reckless lieutenant (Gary Lockwood) fabricates stories to cover detours onto unapporved missions; guest Lee Meriwether.

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-classic-retro-pop-culture-thread.278375/page-76#post-12292761

The Old Mixer said:
They decided to put Gary Lockwood in a new character this time, even though he'd appeared in two Season 1 episodes as recurring character Gus Denver. This is a type of story that I'm sure I've seen a time or three before on this series--This Lockwood character is an old childhood friend of Gallagher's who's engaged in a one-way rivalry, to the point that he endangers missions. He also tries to make time with Joe's Gal o' the Week, Lee Meriwether (who'd also previously appeared as another character, but only in one episode). In Act IV, Lockwood's character does a kamikaze dive on a tunnel to redeem himself.

Awkward bit o' business: Frank Overton's off this week, so they've got Sgt. Komansky, the next regular character in line, doing a major's work as Gallagher's administrative officer. Who cares if he's supposed to be a flight engineer and gunner? We're not paying another actor to pop up in Gallagher's door and tell him who's waiting outside his office!

The episode opens with Lt. Josh McGraw (Gary Lockwood, in his second role in the series) cockily flying in, buzzing the field and then landing without radioing in or getting permission. This perturbs Gallagher, who's watching from his office, and McGraw indicates to his co-pilot, Lt. Guy Kelly (Robert Hogan), that that's the idea. As mentioned in the original review, they've got Komansky subbing for Stovall this week, which seems unlikely not just because of their respective ranks, but also because they were just playing up last week how Gallagher was looking for leadership growth in Sandy. Now Komansky's barking relayed orders in the phone like it's business as usual for him. Gallagher turns out to be very happy to see his old childhood friend, whose father is also a general. A flight comes back from a rough mission, and the plane of the mission's leader, Captain Newman, bursts into flame upon landing, following which Gallagher gets serious with McGraw. McGraw indicates to Kelly afterward that he's got a chip on his shoulder about being compared unfavorably to Gallagher.

McGraw takes a call for Gallagher from Britt, whom Gallagher later confers with at Wing HQ...

Gallagher: There's one sure way of getting out of this war--join the 918th and convince Colonel Gallagher that you're good enough to lead a mission or two.

He's actually acknowledging that substitute mission leaders are always dead meat! The phenomenon is treated as a plot point this episode, as it's established that Britt won't let Gallagher lead all the missions, Gallagher's been losing a string of mission leaders, and he's motivated to play ball with McGraw because he sees in his old friend the right stuff to step up to the role. Gallagher has to break a date with Capt. Phyllis Vincent (Lee Meriwether), a member of General Britt's staff, to attend a meeting about some bridges that need to be bombed on the Eastern Front. He arranges for Josh to meet Phyllis at the Star & Bottle so that he can meet up with them later. As he's arriving, a German bomber is making a pass in the area, Josh and Phyllis take cover outside, and Josh starts making some moves, with Gallagher catching them kissing.

Back on duty, Josh takes offense at he and his crew being assigned to fly with 918th veterans for their first missions, and takes his grievance directly to Britt. He also tries to make a date with Phyllis, so she sets one up with Joe to let him know what Josh is up to. The first bridge mission, with Josh as Gallagher's co-pilot, goes well. The second bridge mission has Josh taking the pilot's seat, with Gallagher as his co-pilot, and is also successful. Josh makes another visit to Wing HQ and questions Gallagher's tactics in front of Britt. Being a keeper, Phyllis lets Joe know about this too. For the next mission, Josh is given command of his own plane. Josh deliberately breaks formation to take out another of the bridges on his own. He's successful, but Britt isn't pleased about his insubordination, though Gallagher wants to give him the benefit of the doubt. Gallagher tries to get across to Josh that they're on the same team and he wants McGraw to be as good as he is, but Josh maintains his attitude.

On his next mission, McGraw shoots down the German bomber that attacked Archbury, nicknamed Bed Check Charlie, which Britt had indicated they were letting go for intelligence reasons. Britt's ready to arrest McGraw over this, but Gallagher intervenes, pleading to handle it his own way. Gallagher has Josh brought in and confronts Josh with how he deliberately went after the other bridge. Then he brings Britt in and makes McGraw explain his incidents of insubordination to the general. Britt has a private talk with McGraw and makes it clear how much Josh has to prove before he's ready to be a lead pilot. But he then lets Gallagher decide what to do with Josh, and Gallagher gives Josh the choice of whether he wants to stay.

On the next mission, McGraw's bomber starts breaking formation because of engine damage; Gallagher orders him to go home, but he ignores the order. After the bomber takes another bad hit, Josh orders his crew to bail. He then flies solo to the targeted tunnel, crashing his plane into it. In the Epilog, they're still holding onto the slim hope that Josh managed to parachute out, but Gallagher is prepared to write a letter to his father.

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Gilligan's Island
"Smile, You're on Mars Camera"
Originally aired October 7, 1965

Wiki said:
A Mars Lander accidentally crashes on the island instead of landing on Mars. However, the scientists (Booth Colman and Arthur Peterson Jr.) believe it has landed on Mars. The castaways hope to use it to provide visual evidence to the world that they are still alive. Gilligan and his boiling glue, coupled with a multitude of feathers, has the scientists reaching the conclusion that they've discovered a race of chicken people. Larry Thor appears as a Newscaster.

While Gilligan's gathering bird feathers for Mr. Howell to make a pillow for Mrs. Howell, the scientists at Cape Kennedy fret over landing their probe. It ends up on the island, and these crack scientific minds assume they're looking at pictures of Mars when they see palm trees and grass huts. Their unmanned space program is years ahead of the real world's, but their knowledge of other planets in the solar system is at least a century behind. Back on the island, the Professor deduces the probe's purpose, and the castaways listen to news reports about life having been found on Mars and learn that the camera has been damaged. The Professor needs to repair it, which means searching for a missing lens. Unlikely situations ensue. (How is it that the Howells can be searching on one side of a rock, and Ginger and Mary Ann on the other, and they don't hear each other?) It turns out that Gilligan found the lens without knowing what it was, but promptly breaks it by accident.

The reporter who interviews Professors Corwell and Bancroft (Colman and Peterson) about the status of the lander is from CBS, of course. Back on the island, Gilligan goes to fetch some tree sap for gluing the lens back together. Super-sticky mishaps ensue, but the Professor manages to repair the probe. The castaways prepare signs for their camera moment, but Gilligan leaves a covered pot of glue boiling. While the castaways are waiting, it explodes, covering them with glue, following which the others chase Gilligan into the supply hut where he's been keeping the feathers. They run out covered in feathers and the scientists assume that they're looking at Martian chicken people. Gilligan goes to grab the signs and knocks a strut out from under the lander, breaking it for good.

In the coda, while the Professor and Skipper continue to work on the probe, Gilligan serves time as a supply hut-based cuckoo clock as punishment.

This is one that I distinctly remembered from childhood, at least the climax with the chicken people.

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The Wild Wild West
"The Night of Sudden Death"
Originally aired October 8, 1965

Wiki said:
Jim West is on the trail of counterfeiters and almost gets to tangle with crocodiles.

Masked tumblers break into the Carson City US Mint with the help of a security guard accomplice (Harlan Warde) who opens a high window. A tumbler releases gas into the room via a hose connected to a street lamp. The thieves knock out the man who helped them, set an explosive, and escape without taking any money. The mint workers end up in critical condition, some dying from burns and concussions, and it's discovered that the thieves switched real plates for counterfeit ones. Artie speculates that it's an attack on the US economy. Jim checks into a hotel and is attacked in his room by a tumbler perched on the ceiling, who gets away. A woman named Corinne Foxx (Julie Payne) tells Jim to go see her father, the mint guard, at the hospital. When he does, he finds that he's been attacked, and that the people at the hospital knew nothing about his daughter. The dying Foxx gives Jim a cryptic warning about Corrine.

At a restaurant meeting, Jim and Artie are served a deadly type of acid that smells like almonds (cyanide?), and see a poster indicating that Corrine is a bareback rider at the circus in town. There we see her being interrogated on an archery wheel by Warren Trevor (Robert Loggia), assisted by Janet Coburn (Antoinette Bower). Outside, unmasked tumblers attack Jim, and a flaming arrow leads him into the tent. He recognizes Trevor as a famous big game hunter, and Janet is introduced as his animal trainer. Jim asks to look around on the premise of guarding against the counterfeit loot being distributed via the circus. Janet shows him around a bit and Jim flirts with her a bit; then he's approached by a performer in a tutu with a parasol (Elisa Ingram), who claims that Corrine wants to see him, but lures him into a pond with an alligator.

Jim takes out the gator with a knife, is found by Janet, and hears what sounds like a printing press nearby. She takes him back to her tent, gets him into some circus clothes to dry off, and invites him to a dinner they're hosting for an African chieftain. Jim drops pretenses and asks her outright where the plates are, but she remains coy. Trevor's propositioning the chief, Vanoma (Joel Fluellen), about buying land in Africa. Corrine warns Jim during the dinner that they won't get out alive. Artie is on the scene as a clown, and tosses explosive balls to give them an opening to escape, but they're stopped. Following this spectacle, the chief leaves in a huff.

Jim, Artie, and Corrine are wrapped in drying animal skins on a platform outside--the idea being that the shrinking skins will kill them. Jim gets out of his by rolling around and dangling off the side of the platform, making it split. They head to the tent where the press is, extract the plates, and Artie stays behind to burn the ill-made money but is captured. Janet tries to stop Trevor from pursuing Jim, but he shoots her pet tiger and pursues his most dangerous game. He and Jim end up in a melee in which Trevor is tossed into the pond, where there's still a gator that's healthy enough to take care of him. Jim and Corrine go to free Artie and Janet from the cage they've been put in. In lieu of a train coda, we get a gag about Jim leaving Artie in the cage, but Artie getting himself out with Janet's hairpin.

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Hogan's Heroes
"The Late Inspector General"
Originally aired October 8, 1965

Wiki said:
Running a model POW camp is the only thing Klink has ever done well and he’s about to be promoted if the prisoners can’t succeed in making him look bad.

While planning a hit on an ammo train, the prisoners actually pretend to be doing something else when Schultz walks in. When Hogan sees thank Klink is being visited by Inspector General von Platzen (John Dehner, whose German accent is M:I bad), he tries unsuccessfully to call off the explosive diversion for their latest operation, meant to simulate a bomber attack, and then foils Olsen's (Stewart Moss, reprising his role from the pilot) escape via the dog truck. But it turns out that Klink was in better shape reputation-wise than he or Hogan expected, and von Platzen announces that he's going to promote Klink to being in charge of all camps...from Berlin.

During a barracks inspection, the prisoners turn on a hidden radio that picks up the BBC and have Newkirk lift the general's monocle and wallet and plant them on Klink. When von Platzen walks back to Klink's office, the ground collapses under him, revealing a tunnel. Schultz seems concerned during these incidents, like he still has a good idea what's going on. When the general tries to leave, it's discovered that the engine of Klink's staff car has been taken. Hogan thinks this is going too far, so he arranges for the next car to have Carter and LeBeau in front. Hogan and Klink listen from the camp to the sound of the general's train blowing up.

In the coda, Schultz has to turn up the hidden radio, and doesn't want to have to search the barracks--as if he has a pretty good idea what he might find--so Kinch opens a trunk full of watches, radios, and other contraband to hand him one.

In addition to Olsen appearing, von Platzen refers to the stalag as Camp 13.

Out! OUT!

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Get Smart
"Our Man in Toyland"
Originally aired October 9, 1965

Wiki said:
KAOS is secretly smuggling secrets out of the country. 99 discovers they are using a department store as a front and Polly Dollies to smuggle out the secrets. When one pulls the doll's string, Polly reveals top secrets. Max and 99 are trapped by KAOS. Using children's toys, Max and 99 attempt to fight their way to safety and stop KAOS' smuggling ring. John Hoyt guest stars as Herr Bunny (a spoof of Ernst Stavro Blofeld). A spoof of Our Man in Havana; the title is a spoof of Babes in Toyland.

After reporting to the Chief via his car's cigarette lighter while on a stakeout, Max uses the car phone to light his cigarette. In the department store, Max makes contact with Agent 12...the store's Santa. Other agents are posing as a reflection in a mirror and a mannequin and hiding in a serving cart, while 99's embedded as a perfume counter clerk. Max meets the manager, Mr. Bunny, who pets a fake blue rabbit. 99, who thinks they're on to her, later disappears, as do the other three agents in the store. It turns out that 99's evaded capture and is in hiding, and shows Max one of the dolls. While they evade a search after closing, Fang brings the doll to the Chief with a recorded message from Max. The agents end up overcoming their pursuers by fighting them with relatively dangerous toys. In the coda, the apprehended Bunny pulls out a gun and ends up shooting Max with a suction-tipped dart.

_______

RJDiogenes said:
Now that you mention it, it has an overall Monkees sound to it.

I checked to see if they might have used the same session guitarist, but it seems they didn't.

Kind of ironic that it was a Boston station that gave it a push. I wonder which station it was in those days. Probably WMEX or WRKO.

I only left that nugget in there for you, y'know.

RJDiogenes · Jun 2, 2021

The Old Mixer said:
Tom gives a characteristically overwrought performance

Give the people what they want. :rommie:

Next Ed does a live interview of a filmed Peter Sellers, who's in character as a Fellini-type director. As with many Best of segments, it's awkwardly edited from a longer original version.

Still pretty funny, though.

Vernon's deadpan, self-deprecating routine transitions from his eating habits to his pet watermelon.

Kind of an early version of Steven Wright.

He knocks Jason out with a rock and steals his jacket, money, gun belt, and horse. (This would have been a good set-up for an amnesia episode.)

It was also the setup for a Have Gun, Will Travel. Funny how these guys' sixth-sense fails them when the plot requires.

The man (I didn't catch a character name, so don't know who he might have been in the credits)

Be funny if it was actually Jason McCord. :rommie:

whose son was killed at Bitter Creek

The massacre at Bitter Creek makes Custer's Last Stand look like the OK Corral.

The guys at the saloon now tease Tuck (though none of them are played by William Christopher)

He describes how Fletcher's son ~~Bucky~~ Bobby sacrificed himself to save Jason's life

I think Jason says this about everybody.

The matter resolved, Jason retrieves his things and heads out.

He might want to consider moving to Boston, where it's vaguely possible that he won't meet people who know him every week.

(Gary Lockwood, in his second role in the series) cockily flying in

Gary Lockwood excels at cockiness.

He's actually acknowledging that substitute mission leaders are always dead meat! The phenomenon is treated as a plot point this episode

You'd think that people would start to see him as a jinx.

Josh starts making some moves, with Gallagher catching them kissing.

Josh has Gallagher envy.

Britt has a private talk with McGraw and makes it clear how much Josh has to prove before he's ready to be a lead pilot.

I think the problem is that he has too much to prove.

He then flies solo to the targeted tunnel, crashing his plane into it.

There goes a very troubled guy.

the scientists at Cape Kennedy fret over landing their probe. It ends up on the island, and these crack scientific minds assume they're looking at pictures of Mars when they see palm trees and grass huts. Their unmanned space program is years ahead of the real world's, but their knowledge of other planets in the solar system is at least a century behind.

Well, this is an entirely different universe, so you never know. Think of all the possible sitcoms set in the Gilliganverse: We've got Gilligan's Island, and It's About Time, the seven people in the Andes with the Yeti, and now some astronauts stranded on Mars with alien chicken people.

(How is it that the Howells can be searching on one side of a rock, and Ginger and Mary Ann on the other, and they don't hear each other?)

All those parrots and cockatoos.

The reporter who interviews Professors Corwell and Bancroft (Colman and Peterson) about the status of the lander is from CBS

I never noticed that. :rommie:

This is one that I distinctly remembered from childhood, at least the climax with the chicken people.

That is definitely one of the most memorable moments. :rommie:

and escape without taking any money.

They should have taken money, too, as a distraction (and to pay for lunch).

The mint workers end up in critical condition, some dying from burns and concussions

That seems unusually gruesome. I think they usually just say a couple of people were killed or something.

At a restaurant meeting, Jim and Artie are served a deadly type of acid that smells like almonds (cyanide?)

The restaurant is in league with the traveling circus?

Jim takes out the gator with a knife, is found by Janet

"Say, Janet, is this a gator or a croc? I can never tell the difference."

Jim, Artie, and Corrine are wrapped in drying animal skins on a platform outside--the idea being that the shrinking skins will kill them.

I wonder if they ever considered doing two half-hour episodes per week.

He and Jim end up in a melee in which Trevor is tossed into the pond, where there's still a gator that's healthy enough to take care of him.

Well, that sounded like a fun one. I don't think it made a lick of sense, but that's why they call it Wild Wild West. :rommie:

While planning a hit on an ammo train, the prisoners actually pretend to be doing something else when Schultz walks in.

Interesting how they seem to play it both ways in this episode. Maybe they're slowly hypnotizing him in stages or something.

von Platzen announces that he's going to promote Klink to being in charge of all camps...from Berlin.

He will be allowed to take his favorite prisoners with him, where they will build even better tunnels and go after Hitler himself!

Hogan thinks this is going too far

And if Hogan thinks something is going too far....

In the coda, Schultz has to turn up the hidden radio, and doesn't want to have to search the barracks--as if he has a pretty good idea what he might find--so Kinch opens a trunk full of watches, radios, and other contraband to hand him one.

Apparently they just hadn't really decided about who Schultz was yet.

Other agents are posing as a reflection in a mirror

That's a cool idea.

It turns out that 99's evaded capture and is in hiding, and shows Max one of the dolls.

It would have been funny to cast Telly Savalas as Mr Bunny. :rommie:

Fang brings the doll to the Chief

Another canis ex machina.

I only left that nugget in there for you, y'know.

Thank you, I thought as much. :rommie:

The Old Mixer · Jun 2, 2021

RJDiogenes said:
Still pretty funny, though.

I meant to clarify...the clip I posted is the full version. Best of had it edited down from that, and awkwardly.

It was also the setup for a Have Gun, Will Travel. Funny how these guys' sixth-sense fails them when the plot requires.

Or maybe just when they're thirsty.

The massacre at Bitter Creek makes Custer's Last Stand look like the OK Corral.

I think Jason says this about everybody.

Somewhere out there, there must be hardcore Branded fans who keep notes on everything that was established about Bitter Creek, and have no doubt found a discrepancy or two.

He might want to consider moving to Boston, where it's vaguely possible that he won't meet people who know him every week.

Maybe, but remember that a Season 1 episode established that his reputation precedes him even back East...he went to Washington, IIRC, and there was a newspaper headline about the coward coming back home with his tail between his legs or somesuch.

You'd think that people would start to see him as a jinx.

On the contrary, this is the only lead pilot who survives his missions. 918th crewmen are probably bucking to get on the Lily.

There goes a very troubled guy.

Yeah, there wasn't much to like or sympathize with in this character.

All those parrots and cockatoos.

This is where I'm reminded of the early episode in which the castaways were starving because of a crop blight, there apparently being a distinct lack of meat options on the island. (Of course, they haven't found the giant spider yet...)

The restaurant is in league with the traveling circus?

That, or one server was.

"Say, Janet, is this a gator or a croc? I can never tell the difference."

Neither can I.

I wonder if they ever considered doing two half-hour episodes per week.

TUNE IN TOMORROW--SAME WILD-TIME! SAME WILD-CHANNEL!

It would have been funny to cast Telly Savalas as Mr Bunny.

Keep in mind that he wouldn't be playing Blofeld for another four years.

Thank you, I thought as much.

I mean, if the city were Cleveland, I'd assume that nobody gave a shit.

RJDiogenes · Jun 3, 2021

The Old Mixer said:
I meant to clarify...the clip I posted is the full version. Best of had it edited down from that, and awkwardly.

Ah, okay, I thought that was the clipped clip.

Or maybe just when they're thirsty.

Gotta keep hydrated!

Somewhere out there, there must be hardcore Branded fans who keep notes on everything that was established about Bitter Creek, and have no doubt found a discrepancy or two.

Probably. There seems to be a fandom for everything. I have a friend who loves the Emergency guys and she found a huge archive of Emergency fan fiction. :rommie:

Maybe, but remember that a Season 1 episode established that his reputation precedes him even back East...he went to Washington, IIRC, and there was a newspaper headline about the coward coming back home with his tail between his legs or somesuch.

Oh, that's right.

This is where I'm reminded of the early episode in which the castaways were starving because of a crop blight, there apparently being a distinct lack of meat options on the island. (Of course, they haven't found the giant spider yet...)

Yeah, they should have said it was the middle of tropical bird migration season or something. It's a plot that would work better in a modern remake-- the Castaways could all be Millennial Vegans who all starve to death in the midst of plenty. :rommie:

Neither can I.

Nobody can. Some people just pretend they can.

Keep in mind that he wouldn't be playing Blofeld for another four years.

I was actually thinking of that Twilight Zone with the talking doll. :rommie:

I mean, if the city were Cleveland, I'd assume that nobody gave a shit.

Cleveland is very famous. Not every city has rivers of fire. :mallory:

The Old Mixer · Jun 4, 2021

_______

55.5th-ish Anniversary Viewing

_______

The Ed Sullivan Show
Season 18, episode 5
Originally aired October 10, 1965
As represented in The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show

The only segment from this episode on Best of is Lilly Yokoi, who does a balancing routine on a bicycle, which she eventually converts to a unicycle. We were just talking about the repeated musical pieces used on Best of...this features one that I don't distinctly remember having heard before.

Not on Best of...

Petula Clark, "Round Every Corner":
(She also did a song called "A Foggy Day in London Town".)

The Supremes, "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You":

The Little Step Brothers:

Somebody wake up Grandma! Wayne Newton, "Remember When":
(Also did a medley consisting of "Alabamy Bound," "Mammy," "Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye," "Shuffle Along," and "Waiting For The Robert E. Lee".)

And of course, Topo Gigio:

Other performances:

Kate Smith, "More" and "The Lord's Prayer"
Woody Allen

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Branded
"The Bar Sinister"
Originally aired October 10, 1965

Xfinity said:
Townspeople are forced to admit their prejudice against an Indian woman who is raising a seemingly orphaned boy.

The episode opens with Jason being winged by somebody wanting to settle a score concerning Bitter Creek; Jason kills him in self-defense. At the local cemetery, he intervenes in a dispute between Neela (Marian Seldes), the Indian housekeeper of a friend he was there to visit, Sam Whitlaw, and Whitlaw's cousin, Mayor Caleb Reymer (Stephen McNally), over custody of Sam's son, Jimmy (Michel Petit). Jimmy wants to stay with Neela, and she's determined to keep him. Jason surveyed Whitlaw's land, which belongs to Jimmy now, and determined that it includes Sandy Creek's main waterway, giving the mayor an ulterior motive for wanting custody. At the homestead, Jason has to put a henchman named Mills (Howard Curtis) in his place, and Reymer threatens to starve them into compliance.

In the coming days, Jimmy comes to reflect Reymer's prejudice against Neela. She reveals to Jason that she's Jimmy's mother, which the boy doesn't know. She and Sam were married in an Indian village, but she produces a judge's deposition recognizing her as Sam's wife. Jason goes to have a man-to-man talk with Jimmy about his attitude toward Neela and her heritage, then takes him back to the house so she can tell him the truth. They find that she's been abducted by Reymer, and Jimmy doesn't want to help her, so Jason drops the bomb on him. He doesn't want to believe it, or for others to know that he's half Indian. Jason gives him a stern chiding about what really matters, then proceeds into town to confront Reymer. He has to deal with Mills again, disarming him with the trusty ol' hurled broken saber. Reymer's trying to get the townsfolk not to listen to what Jason has to say based on his reputation from Bitter Creek when Jimmy rides in and tells everyone that Neela is his mother. Jason produces the deposition, and underscores that this puts Neela in de facto control of the land despite the law not allowing her to own it, which makes Reymer a little more willing to compromise.

Jason: Too bad, isn't it, that so many people are accepted for what they have, and not what they are.

A young townswoman hands Jason his saber as he departs.

_______

12 O'Clock High
"Big Brother"
Originally aired October 11, 1965

Xfinity said:
[Whoops! Didn't get it.]

My previous review of this episode was minimal.

Straggling behind the rest of the group after an unplanned landing following a shuttle raid, Gallagher's bomber is running low on fuel. He's told that the refueling runway in North Africa is rained out and obstructed with stuck vehicles, and that the rest of his group went to an alternate location 100 miles away. This happens to be where Joe's older brother, Lt. Colonel Preston Gallagher (Jack Lord), is currently operating, so Joe takes his chances to make it there. Preston, Lt. Col. Frank Bailey (Robert Colbert, reprising his role from the season premiere), and MSgt. Orland (Ken Lynch) watch as the Lily fights off attacking German fighters while landing.

The Gallagher brothers have a huggy reunion, but when Joe asks about getting refueled, he finds Pres to be less than helpful. Joe sees the rough conditions under which Pres and his men are living, and watches them in action as they fight off a stock footage German air raid that trashes the airfield. Afterward, Bailey tells Joe that Preston took the fuel from the group's planes for his trucks. When Joe confronts Pres about this, Pres informs him that he also plans to blow up the planes so his unit can move on from the airfield. Lt. Betty Russo (Julie Adams), who's sweet on Pres, tells Joe about how his brother is showing signs of combat fatigue.

Joe tries to bargain with Pres about getting enough fuel to have a few planes operational to complete his mission, which he considers very strategically important, as hitting France from this direction could cause major changes in German air defenses. But Pres doesn't want to play ball, concerned only with getting the survivors of his unit and the Australian forces out alive before a German motorized division arrives. When Joe orders Bailey to stop the officer in charge of blowing up the planes, Pres first reacts violently, then collapses. The unit's doctor (Douglas Henderson) tells Gallagher that Pres is suffering from exhaustion. Joe radios for a supply plane, and has to persuade Major Dutton (Bernard Fox) to hold the airfield long enough for them to land. (Apparently Adams with her bad English accent and Fox with his very English accent are both supposed to be playing Aussies.)

The plane bringing in gas is jumped by fighters, and Joe mans a machine gun to help fight them off. Nevertheless, the plane crash-lands and explodes. Pres leaves bed during the commotion and gets wounded, but proves that he's come back to his senses. He declares that he now intends to hold the airfield against the division. He also permits Joe to get back the gas that he needs. Pres briefs his commanders on his plan to entrap the German forces. Joe sends Bailey and Sandy with the operating planes to go get some ordnance and come back to attack the German column. As the Germans approach, Joe tensely has trouble establishing radio contact with the returning bombers. Just as the Germans get close enough for Pres to give the order for his men to open fire, radio contact is established and Joe directs Bailey to his target, which the bombers unload on.

In the Epilog, Pres and Betty have an affectionate moment of contemplation about their place in the war, while Joe and his full flight of bombers proceed to their target in France.

Pres's childhood nickname for Joseph Anson was--get this--Danzo.

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Gilligan's Island
"The Sweepstakes"
Originally aired October 14, 1965

Wiki said:
Gilligan wins a million-dollars in a sweepstakes and is invited to the Howell's exclusive island country club. After feeling lonely he issues IOUs to the others so they may also become members. He quickly misplaces the winning ticket and they all get evicted. Mr. Howell is mad at himself for letting Gilligan into his club without actually seeing the ticket. He has a dream he's in the Old West and is in a similar situation as Gilligan is. Mr. Howell lets Gilligan and the others back into his club.

Note: The saloon used in the dream sequence is the same set used for 20 seasons as the interior of the Long Branch Saloon in the series Gunsmoke.

Howell has a private club for the purpose of this episode, which, in one of those absurd microcosms, has a membership consisting of himself and Lovey, though Gilligan works as their waiter. Once they catch the radio report about Gilligan's ticket having the winning number, the Howells start primping him to be a member, giving him a blazer and lessons in golf and tea parties. Gilligan starts handing out his IOUs so that everyone can get in...though when he offers Ginger $50,000, she initially gets the wrong idea.

Feeling like he's been had after Gilligan can't produce the ticket, Thurston settles into bed with his teddy and goes into a dream sequence in which he's an old prospector who just struck gold. The Professor, in the role of the town's assayer, gives him a ticket in exchange for the gold, and Howell finds himself writing out $50,000 IOUs to the other castaways in various roles--Gilligan as the marshal, Ginger as the town's Miss Kitty, Mary Ann as a girl who needs money to save her ranch, and Skipper as a crooked gambler who "wins" a game with Howell at gunpoint. Despite the circumstances, when Howell can't produce the ticket for the Skipper, Gilligan arrests him and he's dragged outside to be hanged. After waking up, Howell goes to wake up Gilligan and finds the ticket pinned to Gilligan's hammock post. Howell lets everyone else back in the club, and only then is it brought up, between the Howells in private, that the sweepstakes ticket is two years old and not worth anything (which I'd been wondering about).

Gilligan finds this out for himself in the coda when he hears a radio report about the real winner having claimed his money; and we get a near-huggy moment in which Gilligan declares that Howell is really a sweet guy (though another way of looking at it would be that he's highly manipulative).

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The Wild Wild West
"Night of the Casual Killer"
Originally aired October 15, 1965

Wiki said:
Jim and Artie head out west to find the stronghold of a corrupt political boss and return him to Washington, D.C., for trial.

Tom Hendrix (an uncredited Ed Gilbert) from the attorney general's office rides into the area occupied by outlaw leader John Avery (John Dehner), accompanied by Marshal Kirby (Bill Williams) and a deputy, to take Avery into custody; but the party is surrounded by riflemen standing on rock formations and Hendrix is shot in response. Later the train's butler, Tennyson (Charles Davis), lets Army Captain Davis (uncredited Curtis Taylor) and Marshal Kirby board to brief Jim and Artie, who've been assigned to bring Avery in alive. President Grant has a political interest in bringing Avery before the Senate, as Avery used to be a confidante. The agents ride into Avery's turf on a show wagon, pretending to have lost their way, and are escorted into the otherwise abandoned town where Avery and his gang are holed up.

While Artie sets up the stage for a command performance, Jim is confronted by Avery's men, led by Mason (Len Lesser) and Harper (Mort Mills), who start to rough him up. Jim takes it, staying in character as a harmless dandy. Avery then takes Jim hunting, where he tests him and finds that Jim knows more about guns than he lets on. Later Jim is escorted to the well-furnished lair behind an abandoned laundry where Avery lives with Laurie Morgan (Ruta Lee), a singer whom he picked up in Frisco. After Jim leaves, Marshal Kirby comes in from another room to confirm West's true identity and purpose. Outside, Jim tries to gain Laurie's confidence, offering to help get her out.

The show goes on, with Jim performing magic despite heckling via gunfire. Artie then takes the stage in costume to perform Hamlet's soliloquy. Under the cover of inviting Jim to supper at Avery's, Laurie warns Jim backstage about the lawman on Avery's payroll. Jim continues to maintain his cover during dinner, through veiled conversation about Jim's nature as an actor. Eventually Avery drops pretenses and identifies Jim, but finds that the guard outside has been replaced by Artie. Now Jim and Artie have Avery captive in his own lair, but have to get him out past all his men.

Laurie nonverbally gives Jim clues as to the location of Avery's emergency exit, a cabinet that opens into a cellar. After Artie scopes it out, the quartet proceed down, and at the sound of pursuit, Jim uses an explosive pocket watch to cause a cave-in behind them. They make it to the tunnel exit to find Avery's men waiting...Avery having left a clue in his lair in the form of which hat he left behind. Jim holds the men off with a rifle, but they spread out into positions of cover. Artie pulls out his gift of mimicry to give Avery's men orders from afar while wearing his hat. They then ride a pair of mining cars down the rail while Jim tosses sticks of dynamite that Artie had concealed in his Hamlet costume. At the end of the ride, Jim takes down one last shooter with a pistol.

The train coda has Avery as a guest on the trip back East (while we're told that Kirby will be sharing the train's unseen cell with him), but Laurie disembarks, revealing that she's going in opposite direction.

This episode establishes that Artie hails from a stage background, which he has a hankering to return to.

_______

Hogan's Heroes
"The Flight of the Valkyrie"
Originally aired October 15, 1965

Wiki said:
Hogan’s plan to smuggle a baroness out of Germany is put in jeopardy when the Stalag receives a new senior POW who doesn’t believe the prisoners should be engaged in espionage.
First appearance of Colonel Crittendon (Bernard Fox).

Baroness Lili von Schlichter (Louise Troy) is smuggled into the camp via the dog truck and doghouse tunnel entrance, and is impressed by the Hogancave. Klink summons Hogan and mentions several strange things that have happened in previous episodes, as well as a recent incident involving a shot-down plane and pilot who disappeared. He then brings in Crittendon, whom he's had transferred from another camp to displace Hogan as senior POW. Crittendon's all business about getting things spit and polish, and is dismayed that there have been no escapes. Asked hypothetically about the prisoners' current operation, Crittendon says that he'd turn in any info about espionage activities to the commandant. The prisoners' plan is especially ambitious, as it involves sending the baroness out on the crashed plane--which was brought to the camp in pieces and is being reassembled in a tent under cover of fake orchestra practice (the prisoners playing a Wagner record loudly)--with its pilot.

Crittendon stumbles upon this while doing some escape tunneling, so Hogan drops a wrench on his head and tries to convince him when he comes to that the tunnel caved in and what he saw was a delusion. Crittendon continues to press for an escape plan, noting how poor the camp's security is, and Hogan plays along, assigning Newkirk and Carter to assist him. Schultz catches the baroness wandering the camp, and assumes that she's a spy but brings her directly to Hogan to avoid trouble. Then Crittendon walks in on her, she appeals to his sympathy, and he agrees to look the other way for 24 hours. Schultz then walks into the tent where they're working on the plane and sees noth-ing! Crittendon snips a wire in the fence and the whole section collapses, having been rigged to do so by his assistants. The plane comes out of the tent and takes off through the collapsed section. Crittendon is caught attempting to escape, but Hogan convinces Klink to have him transferred back to his old camp in order to protect Stalag 13's record.

Klink didn't say anything, but I guess you can go.

_______

Get Smart
"Now You See Him...Now You Don't"
Originally aired October 16, 1965

Wiki said:
A doctor meets Max at his apartment and convinces him that he has escaped from KAOS with an invisibility ray. KAOS then attempts to kidnap Max as he tries to figure out if the ray is real. The title is based upon a common magician's dialogue with the audience.

Max's pad makes its first appearance when Smart is visited by Dr. Paul Haskell (Gregory Morton), physicist. The two of them are held up by a pair of invisible KAOS agents, one holding a visible Luger. Haskell is abducted with the briefcase containing his invisibility ray plans, and the gunman knocks Max out with gas. The Chief is skeptical of Max's account, but puts a plan into action, which includes installing the invisible wall in Max's apartment; and Max demonstrates some security devices that he's already had installed. During this sequence, we get our first "Sorry about that, Chief" that I've noticed. Later two visible KAOS agents with Lugers (Val Avery and Welcome Back, John Sebastian) confront Max at his apartment. Max is emboldened by the invisible wall, until he realizes that he's standing in front of it.

Max is taken to Ehrlich (Joseph Ruskin), who introduces him to a couple of invisible associates and a sultry-sounding assistant named Sophie (Donna Walsh). Ehrlich then slips into a control room where the three people--one of them Haskell--are operating wires to fake the invisibility. They bumble things a bit, making Max suspect an extortion hoax, though he confuses things by trying the dummy ray himself and being convinced that he's invisible even though he can see himself. 99 is brought in and Haskell demonstrates his trick briefcase with a very-visible-wire-mounted Luger. The KAOS operatives take Max and 99 back to Max's apartment, where Max tries to give the arranged signal out his window but doesn't have a match; then tries to use his security devices, but fumbles each time so that they all get used on him. Eventually, though, he and 99 manage to use the fireplace fan on Ehrlich, sucking him up the chimney.

In the coda Max demonstrates one more device to 99, a sleeping gas system, which knocks them both out. Isn't 99 sleeping at Max's place kinda naughty for 1965 TV?

_______

RJDiogenes said:
Probably. There seems to be a fandom for everything. I have a friend who loves the Emergency guys and she found a huge archive of Emergency fan fiction.

Largely slash, I imagine.

I was actually thinking of that Twilight Zone with the talking doll.

Ah...Talking Tina. My ex's favorite TZ episode.

Cleveland is very famous. Not every city has rivers of fire.

Was that referenced in a song lyric somewhere...?

RJDiogenes · Jun 4, 2021

The Old Mixer said:
The only segment from this episode on Best of is Lilly Yokoi, who does a balancing routine on a bicycle, which she eventually converts to a unicycle.

I did that once. Ouch.

Petula Clark, "Round Every Corner":

"I know a place downtown around every corner...."

And of course, Topo Gigio:

The puppetry is actually very good, if not very flashy.

"The Bar Sinister"

Simon? I remember when I found out that Bar Sinister is a synonym for bastard-- my appreciation of Underdog became even greater. :rommie:

The episode opens with Jason being winged by somebody wanting to settle a score concerning Bitter Creek

"My second cousin twice removed drank from Bitter Creek and it was bitter cause of you!"

Sandy Creek's main waterway

If Jason ever finds a place called Freshwater Creek, he needs to build a house and settle down.

Reymer's trying to get the townsfolk not to listen to what Jason has to say based on his reputation from Bitter Creek

He's lucky he didn't get a public pummeling.

Jason produces the deposition, and underscores that this puts Neela in de facto control of the land despite the law not allowing her to own it, which makes Reymer a little more willing to compromise.

I wouldn't really trust a guy who resorted to starving people out and kidnapping. What was the purpose of that kidnapping, anyway?

Jason: Too bad, isn't it, that so many people are accepted for what they have, and not what they are.

Well said, Jason.

A young townswoman hands Jason his saber as he departs.

Take a hint, Jason!

Joe's older brother, Lt. Colonel Preston Gallagher (Jack Lord)

Oh, man. Jack Lord is his older brother? My sympathy for him just increased by an order of magnitude.

Betty Russo (Julie Adams)

The Lady From the Black Lagoon.

The unit's doctor (Douglas Henderson) tells Gallagher that Pres is suffering from exhaustion.

Betty already said that, doc.

Major Dutton (Bernard Fox)

Doctor Bombay! Colonel Crittendon!

Nevertheless, the plane crash-lands and explodes.

And carrying fuel. Damn. No survivors there.

Pres leaves bed during the commotion and gets wounded

"Aargh! My hair!"

In the Epilog, Pres and Betty have an affectionate moment of contemplation about their place in the war, while Joe and his full flight of bombers proceed to their target in France.

No handshake for Pres and Joe?

Pres's childhood nickname for Joseph Anson was--get this--Danzo.

"Bomb 'em, Danzo!"

the Howells start primping him to be a member, giving him a blazer

They even brought clothes for other people!

...though when he offers Ginger $50,000, she initially gets the wrong idea.

She's fine with it, though.

Howell lets everyone else back in the club, and only then is it brought up, between the Howells in private, that the sweepstakes ticket is two years old and not worth anything (which I'd been wondering about).

And this is what makes Gilligan's Island a great show.

Gilligan declares that Howell is really a sweet guy (though another way of looking at it would be that he's highly manipulative).

That's the thing. They're all a bit imperfect, but basically decent people.

The train coda has Avery as a guest on the trip back East (while we're told that Kirby will be sharing the train's unseen cell with him)

I wonder if Tennyson is really just a butler or trained to deal with prisoners and such. That would have been an interesting angle.

This episode establishes that Artie hails from a stage background, which he has a hankering to return to.

Which he eventually did, I think. Isn't that what he was doing in the first reunion movie?

Klink summons Hogan and mentions several strange things that have happened in previous episodes

Continuity?!?

Crittendon says that he'd turn in any info about espionage activities to the commandant.

Which is actually a legitimate ethical conflict.

it involves sending the baroness out on the crashed plane--which was brought to the camp in pieces and is being reassembled in a tent

This is like an MIT prank. :rommie:

Crittendon stumbles upon this while doing some escape tunneling, so Hogan drops a wrench on his head

I remember that. :rommie:

Schultz catches the baroness wandering the camp, and assumes that she's a spy but brings her directly to Hogan to avoid trouble.

Schultz then walks into the tent where they're working on the plane and sees noth-ing!

I've decided that the best explanation for Schultz is that he just couldn't handle the war and had a psychotic break.

Klink didn't say anything, but I guess you can go.

Thanks. I'll just leave through the big hole in the fence.

Welcome Back, John Sebastian

Didn't see that coming (ironically).

the three people--one of them Haskell--are operating wires to fake the invisibility.

So how did they do that in Max's apartment?

In the coda Max demonstrates one more device to 99, a sleeping gas system, which knocks them both out. Isn't 99 sleeping at Max's place kinda naughty for 1965 TV?

Especially under the influence of a drug!

Largely slash, I imagine.

No, she wouldn't go for that. And the impression I got of the site was that they wouldn't host stuff like that (or maybe in a separate adult section or something).

Was that referenced in a song lyric somewhere...?

At least once that I kind of know about. Somebody played it for me a long time ago when I referenced the incident. Talking Heads, maybe? I'll have to see if I can find it.

The Old Mixer · Jun 4, 2021

55 Years Ago This Week

June 5 – Gene Cernan made the second American spacewalk (and only the third ever), spending a record two hours and seven minutes outside of the Gemini 9 capsule as it orbited the Earth. During the time between Cernan's departure from the capsule at 10:59 a.m. Florida time, and his return at 1:06 p.m., the spacecraft made one complete orbit, which some likened to Cernan making a walk around the world. The Gemini craft landed safely the next day.

June 6 – The day after African-American activist James Meredith began his "March Against Fear", walking the 235 miles from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi, to "tear down the fear that grips Negroes in Mississippi", he was shot from ambush. Near the town of Hernando, Mississippi, Aubrey James Norvell came out from underneath a culvert on U.S. Highway 51, aimed his 16-gauge shotgun, and fired three blasts at Meredith, striking him in the head, right shoulder and leg. Because Norvell had loaded his gun with birdshot shells, Meredith's wounds were not life-threatening. Norvell was arrested by the DeSoto County and several deputies, although a witness said that the police had done nothing to stop the sniper when he had first appeared. Meredith was not alone in his march, and his was accompanied by five friends, as well as newsmen and police. One of the newsmen, Jack R. Thornell, took a photograph of Meredith, lying on the ground in pain, which also appears to show Aubrey James Norvell standing in a wooded area in the background. The photo would later win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography. Meredith would recover from his wound and rejoin the march before it reached Jackson. During his march, 4,000 African-Americans in Mississippi would register to vote. Norvell would be released from the Mississippi State Penitentiary after two years incarceration.

June 8

A North American XB-70 Valkyrie strategic bomber prototype is destroyed in a mid-air collision with an F-104 Starfighter chase plane during a photo shoot. NASA pilot Joseph A. Walker and USAF test pilot Carl Cross are both killed.
Topeka, Kansas is devastated by a tornado that registers as an "F5" on the Fujita scale, the first to exceed US$100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed, and the campus of Washburn University suffers catastrophic damage.

June 10

First UK release of the 'Paperback Writer' single. It is reported that American impresario Allen Klein has bet the wife of record producer Mickie Most that he will represent the Beatles in the USA before the end of 1966.
Janis Joplin made her debut as a rock vocalist, appearing with Big Brother and the Holding Company at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco.

Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

1. "Paint It Black," The Rolling Stones
2. "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?," The Lovin' Spoonful
3. "I Am a Rock," Simon & Garfunkel
4. "When a Man Loves a Woman," Percy Sledge
5. "A Groovy Kind of Love," The Mindbenders
6. "Strangers in the Night," Frank Sinatra
7. "Monday, Monday," The Mamas & The Papas
8. "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World," James Brown & The Famous Flames
9. "Green Grass," Gary Lewis & The Playboys
10. "Barefootin'," Robert Parker
11. "Sweet Talkin' Guy," The Chiffons
12. "Cool Jerk," The Capitols
13. "Oh How Happy," Shades of Blue
14. "Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'Bout Me)," The Four Seasons
15. "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," Bob Dylan
16. "The More I See You," Chris Montez
17. "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me," Dusty Springfield
18. "Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart," The Supremes
19. "Red Rubber Ball," The Cyrkle
20. "(I'm a) Road Runner," Jr. Walker & The All-Stars
21. "Double Shot (of My Baby's Love)," Swingin' Medallions
22. "Don't Bring Me Down," The Animals
23. "Girl in Love," The Outsiders
24. "Mama," B. J. Thomas
25. "Come On Let's Go," The McCoys
26. "Hold On! I'm Comin'," Sam & Dave
27. "Kicks," Paul Revere & The Raiders
28. "Paperback Writer," The Beatles
29. "Good Lovin'," The Young Rascals
30. "Message to Michael," Dionne Warwick
31. "Dirty Water," The Standells
32. "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore," The Walker Brothers
33. "Sloop John B," The Beach Boys

36. "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," The Temptations
37. "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?," Nancy Sinatra
38. "Crying," Jay & The Americans

46. "Popsicle," Jan & Dean

48. "Hanky Panky," Tommy James & The Shondells

51. "Little Girl," Syndicate of Sound
52. "He," The Righteous Brothers
53. "The Land of Milk and Honey," The Vogues
54. "My Little Red Book," Love

56. "Oh Yeah," The Shadows of Knight

64. "Along Comes Mary," The Association

70. "Solitary Man," Neil Diamond

72. "Rain," The Beatles

79. "Please Tell Me Why," The Dave Clark Five

86. "My Lover's Prayer," Otis Redding

90. "Sweet Pea," Tommy Roe

93. "River Deep – Mountain High," Ike & Tina Turner

98. "The Pied Piper," Crispian St. Peters
99. "Lil' Red Riding Hood," Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs

Leaving the chart:

"Eight Miles High," The Byrds (9 weeks)
"Gloria," The Shadows of Knight (12 weeks)

New on the chart:

"Sweet Pea," Tommy Roe
(#8 US)

"The Pied Piper," Crispian St. Peters
(#4 US; #5 UK)

"Lil' Red Riding Hood," Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs
(#2 US; #46 UK)

"Paperback Writer," The Beatles
(#1 US the weeks of June 25 and July 9, 1966; #1 UK)

"Rain," The Beatles
(B-side of "Paperback Writer"; #23 US; #463 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)

_______

Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki pages for the month or year and Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Day by Day, with minor editing as needed.

_______

RJDiogenes said:
"I know a place downtown around every corner...."

Beats sleeping in the subway.

The puppetry is actually very good, if not very flashy.

Yeah, somebody earned their check that week.

Simon? I remember when I found out that Bar Sinister is a synonym for bastard-- my appreciation of Underdog became even greater.

Ah, I was wondering what that meant.

"My second cousin twice removed drank from Bitter Creek and it was bitter cause of you!"

If Jason ever finds a place called Freshwater Creek, he needs to build a house and settle down.

He could take up ranching and raise a son...

He's lucky he didn't get a public pummeling.

I'll have to remember to use that next time!

What was the purpose of that kidnapping, anyway?

He was going to have Neela sent to a reservation.

Take a hint, Jason!

I'd make a crack about offering him a place to sheathe his saber, but it just makes me wince...

"Aargh! My hair!"

He's lucky his hair was there, it was the only thing that saved him.

No handshake for Pres and Joe?

I think their final parting of ways happened during the commercial, but I'm sure there was hugging.

"Bomb 'em, Danzo!"

That's the joke I wasn't finding!

They even brought clothes for other people!

Dammit, I had a comment prepared about that and forgot to add it! Yes, Mr. Howell not only brought his embroidered club blazer, he brought a spare embroidered club blazer!

And this is what makes Gilligan's Island a great show.

It seemed a bit tacked on, though...it didn't scan with how the situation played out in the rest of the episode. And IIRC, we got another coda like that involving the Howells in a previous episode...I think it was the one with the auditions for the play.

Which he eventually did, I think. Isn't that what he was doing in the first reunion movie?

Dunno, haven't watched it yet.

Continuity?!?

Yep. Keep in mind, this is a show that will establish a lot of recurring characters.

I've decided that the best explanation for Schultz is that he just couldn't handle the war and had a psychotic break.

He sure couldn't handle the Russian Front, then!

So how did they do that in Max's apartment?

The gun actually came out of the scientist's briefcase, mounted on a larger wire which they tried to handwave away as being less visible in dimmer lighting while one was tired late at night. It makes me cringe just to type that.

Nerys Myk · Jun 5, 2021

The Old Mixer said:
"Paperback Writer," The Beatles

(#1 US the weeks of June 25 and July 9, 1966; #1 UK)

"Rain," The Beatles

(B-side of "Paperback Writer"; #23 US; #463 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)

Two favorites. Peak Beatles.

RJDiogenes · Jun 5, 2021

The Old Mixer said:
During the time between Cernan's departure from the capsule at 10:59 a.m. Florida time, and his return at 1:06 p.m., the spacecraft made one complete orbit, which some likened to Cernan making a walk around the world.

A little insight into how the general population were trying to get their heads around space travel.

"Sweet Pea," Tommy Roe

Oh, yeah, I forgot about this. This is another one of those tunes that you'd hear people singing when they felt like bursting into song.

"The Pied Piper," Crispian St. Peters

I love this one. An Oldies favorite.

"Lil' Red Riding Hood," Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs

This is also a goodie.

"Paperback Writer," The Beatles

One of my favorite, if not my very favorite, Beatles songs.

"Rain," The Beatles

Not so familiar with this one, but it's really nice. And how young they look in these videos!

Beats sleeping in the subway.

True.

He could take up ranching and raise a son...

Hmm, and change his name...

He was going to have Neela sent to a reservation.

Oh, jeez.

He's lucky his hair was there, it was the only thing that saved him.

That's the joke I wasn't finding!

It took me a couple of tries.

Dammit, I had a comment prepared about that and forgot to add it! Yes, Mr. Howell not only brought his embroidered club blazer, he brought a spare embroidered club blazer!

In Gilligan's size. :rommie:

It seemed a bit tacked on, though...it didn't scan with how the situation played out in the rest of the episode. And IIRC, we got another coda like that involving the Howells in a previous episode...I think it was the one with the auditions for the play.

He has to keep up appearances. In any case, I found it very touching as a kid.

Yep. Keep in mind, this is a show that will establish a lot of recurring characters.

Yeah, that's true.

He sure couldn't handle the Russian Front, then!

Unless he was really a Russian. "Hold your fire for a sec, I'm coming home."

The gun actually came out of the scientist's briefcase, mounted on a larger wire which they tried to handwave away as being less visible in dimmer lighting while one was tired late at night. It makes me cringe just to type that.

The Old Mixer · Jun 5, 2021

50 Years Ago This Week

June 6

Soyuz 11 (Vladislav Volkov, Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev) is launched.
A midair collision between Hughes Airwest Flight 706 Douglas DC-9 jetliner and a U.S. Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom jet fighter near Duarte, California, claims 50 lives.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono appear on stage at the Fillmore East auditorium in New York with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. [Recordings from this performance will be featured on side four of John & Yoko's craptacular 1972 double album, Some Time in New York City.]

June 7 – The three Soyuz 11 cosmonauts become the first humans in history to step aboard an orbiting space station after their capsule successfully docked with Salyut 1.

June 10

The U.S. ended its trade embargo of the People's Republic of China, more than 21 years after China came under control of the Chinese Communist Party. U.S. President Richard Nixon authorizes the American export of "nonstrategic items" and lifted all controls on imports from China.
The U.S. and the Soviet Union exchanged samples of lunar soil after representatives met in Moscow to sign an agreement on expanding co-operation in space research. NASA official Lee R. Scherer provided six grams of material gathered by the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions, and Aleksandr V. Vinogratov of the Soviet Academy of Sciences gave Scherer three grams collected by the unmanned lunar probe Luna 16.
Corpus Thursday: A student rally on the streets of Mexico City is roughly dispersed.

June 11

The Occupation of Alcatraz came to an end after 19 months during which American Indians from various tribes occupied Alcatraz Island off of the coast of California and lived in the closed Alcatraz federal penitentiary. A group of 79 Indians had seized control of the island on November 20, 1969; by the time that the last group was evacuated, only 15 were occupying the island.
At O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, TWA Flight 358, with 26 people on board preparing to depart for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, was boarded by armed hijacker Gregory White, who demanded to be flown to North Vietnam, and killed a passenger, Howard Franks. The passengers stampeded, and White was apprehended by an armed Deputy who shot and wounded the hijacker while the airliner landed safely at New York. Franks, 65 years old, became the first U.S. airline passenger to be killed during a hijacking.
Neville Bonner becomes the first Indigenous Australian to sit in the Australian Parliament.

June 12 – In the last wedding to be held at the White House in Washington DC, U.S. President Nixon's daughter Tricia Nixon married attorney Edward F. Cox at the White House Rose Garden.

Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

1. "Want Ads," The Honey Cone
2. "Brown Sugar," The Rolling Stones
3. "Rainy Days and Mondays," Carpenters
4. "It Don't Come Easy," Ringo Starr
5. "Joy to the World," Three Dog Night
6. "It's Too Late" / "I Feel the Earth Move", Carole King
7. "Sweet and Innocent," Donny Osmond of The Osmonds
8. "Treat Her Like a Lady," Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose
9. "I'll Meet You Halfway," The Partridge Family
10. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" / "Brand New Me", Aretha Franklin
11. "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)," The Raiders
12. "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo," Lobo
13. "I Don't Know How to Love Him," Helen Reddy
14. "Never Can Say Goodbye," Jackson 5
15. "Superstar," Murray Head w/ The Trinidad Singers
16. "Double Lovin'," The Osmonds
17. "Don't Knock My Love, Pt. 1," Wilson Pickett
18. "When You're Hot, You're Hot," Jerry Reed
19. "Nathan Jones," The Supremes
20. "Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)," Daddy Dewdrop
21. "Love Her Madly," The Doors
22. "Here Comes the Sun," Richie Havens
23. "Right on the Tip of My Tongue," Brenda & the Tabulations
24. "Put Your Hand in the Hand," Ocean
25. "If," Bread
26. "Funky Nassau, Part 1," The Beginning of the End
27. "She's Not Just Another Woman," 8th Day
28. "I Don't Know How to Love Him," Yvonne Elliman

30. "Don't Pull Your Love," Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
31. "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be," Carly Simon

33. "Never Can Say Goodbye," Isaac Hayes
34. "Albert Flasher" / "Broken", The Guess Who

36. "The Drum," Bobby Sherman

39. "Reach Out (I'll Be There)," Diana Ross
40. "Toast and Marmalade for Tea," Tin Tin
41. "High Time We Went" / "Black-Eyed Blues", Joe Cocker
42. "Cry Baby," Janis Joplin

44. "You've Got a Friend," James Taylor

46. "Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again," The Fortunes
47. "I Don't Want to Do Wrong," Gladys Knight & The Pips
48. "Mr. Big Stuff," Jean Knight

52. "Take Me Home, Country Roads," John Denver

56. "Sooner or Later," The Grass Roots
57. "Bring the Boys Home," Freda Payne

68. "Never Ending Song of Love," Delaney & Bonnie and Friends

70. "I Am...I Said" / "Done Too Soon", Neil Diamond

73. "Signs," Five Man Electrical Band

80. "Walk Away," The James Gang
81. "If Not for You," Olivia Newton-John

84. "Rings," Cymarron

86. "Draggin' the Line," Tommy James

91. "I've Found Someone of My Own," The Free Movement

96. "Caught in a Dream," Alice Cooper

Leaving the chart:

"I Don't Blame You at All," Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (12 weeks)
"Stay Awhile," The Bells (14 weeks)
"Timothy," The Buoys (17 weeks)

New on the chart:

"Caught in a Dream," Alice Cooper
(#94 US)

"Rings," Cymarron
(#17 US; #6 AC)

"Draggin' the Line," Tommy James
(#4 US; #6 AC)

_______

Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki pages for the month or year and Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Day by Day, with minor editing as needed.

_______

RJDiogenes said:
Oh, yeah, I forgot about this. This is another one of those tunes that you'd hear people singing when they felt like bursting into song.

Sweet and kinda chewy and you can blow bubbles with it.

I love this one. An Oldies favorite.

Never got into this one much, but I have it. Very light, fluffy pop.

This is also a goodie.

I always thought this one sounded like the Stones, which may have been deliberate. And we seem to have a little storybook theme going on this week.

Nerys Myk said:
Two favorites. Peak Beatles.

RJDiogenes said:
One of my favorite, if not my very favorite, Beatles songs.

And now we get our first releases from the Revolver sessions, though not included on either version of the album. So much love for "Paperback Writer"...it sounds nice, but I'd long bought into a criticism I'd read that this was an example of how at this point, anything the Beatles released as a single was pretty much guaranteed to top the chart, and that it was rather eclectic and British compared to their other hit singles.

And on second thought, I don't think that Ed would have looked any more awkward or out of place in this video than Ringo does! They should have had him pounding his drumsticks on the ground or something.

Also, some people may have liked this song better the second time, when it was called "Last Train to Clarksville".

RJDiogenes said:
Not so familiar with this one, but it's really nice. And how young they look in these videos!

To repurpose a memorable quote from somebody, now they're cooking with acid! Note especially the backtracking in the song's coda...I believe this was their first release to use it. I always thought that it sounded kinda like John was singing "Stare it down and worries won't come near," but it's a line from the song played backwards.

And Ringo looks much more in his element here, as he gets to play his instrument. He's said that this was his favorite piece of drum work that he did with the group.

Note also that we're getting Paul in his chipped tooth period...from a moped accident he had in late '65.
https://www.beatlesbible.com/1965/12/26/paul-mccartney-moped-accident-liverpool/

In Gilligan's size.

That much we might chalk up to Mrs. Howell's tailoring skills.

Nerys Myk · Jun 5, 2021

The Old Mixer said:
Note also that we're getting Paul in his chipped tooth period...from a moped accident he had in late '65.
https://www.beatlesbible.com/1965/12/26/paul-mccartney-moped-accident-liverpool/

Reading the comments: Damn, Beatles fans are as bad as Trek fans, :lol:

The Old Mixer · Jun 5, 2021

Nerys Myk said:
Reading the comments: Damn, Beatles fans are as bad as Trek fans,

You didn't already know that?

RJDiogenes · Jun 6, 2021

The Old Mixer said:
In the last wedding to be held at the White House in Washington DC, U.S. President Nixon's daughter Tricia Nixon married attorney Edward F. Cox at the White House Rose Garden.

Interesting factino. Weddings in the White House is something I seldom think about.

"Caught in a Dream," Alice Cooper

I'm not sure if I've heard this. Certainly not one of his blockbusters.

"Rings," Cymarron

Another favorite. Definitely a sunny day song. I love the line, "With a happy tune, anybody can be a singer," which kind of fits in with "Sweet Pea." :rommie:

"Draggin' the Line," Tommy James

And here's another good one.

Sweet and kinda chewy and you can blow bubbles with it.

And catchy. It was in my head half the day, along with memories of Dorchester.

I always thought this one sounded like the Stones, which may have been deliberate. And we seem to have a little storybook theme going on this week.

It seems to me that fable or folklore kind of imagery was popular in those days all over. "Red Riding Hood." "Pied Piper." "Lady Godiva." "White Rabbit." Also in comics and other media. It's more of a feeling than anything I've given any thought to. I wonder if anyone else has ever done a study.

...it sounds nice, but I'd long bought into a criticism I'd read that this was an example of how at this point, anything the Beatles released as a single was pretty much guaranteed to top the chart

Well, this is one of those things that became a favorite more because of personal appeal than quality. It's not even very flattering, really. :rommie:

Also, some people may have liked this song better the second time, when it was called "Last Train to Clarksville".

Interesting. I never caught that resemblance.

That much we might chalk up to Mrs. Howell's tailoring skills.

True. Or Mary Anne's. :rommie:

Nerys Myk said:
Reading the comments: Damn, Beatles fans are as bad as Trek fans,

This is why I try to avoid comments and national conversations these days. My opinion of Humanity doesn't need to get any lower at this point.

The Old Mixer · Jun 6, 2021

50th Anniversary Cinematic Special

Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Directed by Don Taylor
Starring Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Bradford Dillman, Natalie Trundy, Eric Braeden, and Ricardo Montalbán
Released May 21, 1971

Wiki said:
Escape from the Planet of the Apes is a 1971 American science fiction film directed by Don Taylor and written by Paul Dehn. It stars Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Bradford Dillman and Ricardo Montalbán. It is the third of five films in the original Planet of the Apes series produced by Arthur P. Jacobs, the second being Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970). Its plot centers on many social issues of the day including scientific experimentation on animals, nuclear war and government intrusion. The film was well received by critics, getting the best reviews of the four Planet of the Apes sequels. It was followed by Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

During the events of the preceding film Beneath the Planet of the Apes, occurring off-screen, Cornelius (Roddy McDowall) and Zira (Kim Hunter) escaped Earth prior to its destruction when they accompanied their fellow chimpanzee Dr. Milo (Sal Mineo) in salvaging and repairing the spaceship originally used by Taylor. The shock wave of Earth's destruction sends the ship through a time warp that brings the apes to 1973 Earth, splashing down off the Pacific coast of the United States. (The backward time travel of the apes creates a time paradox which is a key element of the plot in the confrontation between the apes and Dr. Otto Hasslein: is it possible for the apes or humans in 1973 to alter the future where the apes have come from? Can the future dominance of apes be prevented from happening?)

The film takes us to an alternate near-future of 1973 in which our space program is much more advanced (it's said to be two years since Taylor's spacecraft was lost), William Windom is president, and Bradford Dillman and Ricardo Montalban are good guys. Milo is a new character who's been retconned into the situation. The ape civilization in the previous films didn't seem nearly advanced enough to study and use the spacecraft (which, IIRC, was lost underwater with the apes never having seen it).

The apes are transported to a secluded ward of the Los Angeles Zoo, under the observation of scientists Dr. Stephanie Branton (Natalie Trundy) and Dr. Lewis Dixon (Bradford Dillman). With Dr. Milo explaining their situation in private, the apes decide not to let the humans know that they can speak while agreeing not to reveal Earth's destruction from the Ape War. However Zira's impatience exposes the apes' power of speech during an experiment and Dr. Milo is killed moments later by a zoo gorilla [Janos Prohaska] who became agitated by the chimpanzees' argument. Lewis tries to communicate with the apes that he is peaceful and he wishes to treat them as equals, winning their friendship as a result.

A Presidential Commission is formed to investigate the return of Taylor's spaceship and determine how atypically intelligent apes came to be aboard it. The apes are brought before the Commission, where they publicly reveal their ability to speak. The council asks them about Taylor, but Cornelius and Zira tell them that they know nothing about him. They reveal that they came from the future and escaped Earth when war broke out. They are welcomed as guests of the government. Cornelius and Zira secretly tell Stephanie and Lewis that they did know about Taylor, explain how humans are treated in the ape-dominated future, and about the Earth's destruction. Stephanie and Lewis are shocked but still sympathetic, the latter advising the couple to keep this information secret until they can gauge the potential reaction of their hosts.

Somewhere in here there's some social commentary about apes believing that they were created in God's image. 3955 is said to have been the date of Earth's destruction...I don't know offhand if that's consistent with what the previous films established.

The apes become celebrities, and are lavished with gifts and media attention. They come to the attention of the President's Science Advisor Dr. Otto Hasslein (Eric Braeden), who discovers Zira is pregnant. Fearing for the future of the human race, he offers her champagne (for which she has developed a taste) to loosen her inhibitions and questions her further while recording it. Her candid responses enable him to convince the Commission that Cornelius and Zira must be subjected to more rigorous questioning.

The generally lighthearted nature of this part of the film belies how badly things will end for Cornelius, Zira, and the swapped chimp, setting the story up as a proper tragedy. The film is carried by McDowall and Hunter's charismatic and sympathetic portrayal of their now-leading characters.

Hasslein insists that he simply wants to know how apes became dominant over men. Cornelius reveals that the human race will cause its own downfall and become dominated by simians, and that simian aggression against humans will lead to Earth's destruction by a weapon made by humans. Zira explains that the gorillas started the war, and the orangutans supported the gorillas, but the chimpanzees had nothing to do with it. Hasslein suspects that the apes are not speaking the whole truth.

During the original hearing, Zira had accidentally revealed that she dissected humans in the course of her work. Hasslein orders Lewis to administer a truth serum to her while Cornelius is confined elsewhere. Lewis assures Zira that the serum will have the same effect as champagne. As a result of the serum, Hasslein learns details about Zira's examination and experimentation on humans along with her knowledge of Taylor.

Hasslein puts forth the premise of alternate futures, which both informs his actions in this film, as he believes that he can prevent the future that the apes come from, and sets up how apes history plays out differently that described here in the future films. Hasslein is the film's bad guy, and is nasty in his methods, but is actually trying to save humanity and the world. President Windom is pretty reasonable and contemplative about the idea of apes taking over someday and doesn't take the idea of altering the future lightly. As the situation escalates later in the film, he also tries to reign Hasslein in. Quite a contrast to the guy who was occupying the Oval Office at the time.

Zira joins Cornelius in confinement while Hasslein takes his findings to the President (William Windom), who reluctantly must abide by the council's ruling to have Zira's pregnancy be terminated and that both apes be sterilized. In their chambers, Cornelius labels Hasslein and the others savages for Zira's treatment as she reminds Cornelius that she did the same thing to humans and Taylor called them savages. Zira is relieved to have revealed the truth because she was tired of lying. Cornelius fears that the truth will get them killed. When an orderly arrives to offer the apes food, his playful reference to their unborn child as a "little monkey" makes Cornelius lose his temper and he knocks the orderly to the floor, before escaping with Zira. Cornelius assumes he merely knocked out the orderly, but he is actually dead. Hasslein uses the tragedy in support of his claim that the apes are a threat and calls for their execution, but is ordered by the President to bring them in alive as he will not endorse punishment for the orderly's death until due process has been served.

Joining our list of familiar faces and Trek guests in particular, Jason Evers is one of the CIA interrogators. The apes know a lot about how apes rose despite Earth's history being a surprise to them in the first film...there's an attempt at a handwave with Cornelius revealing that he had access to "secret scrolls". The ape uprising and Aldo first speaking is said to happen in 300 years...as I recall, the equivalents to these events happen much sooner in the next film, which takes place when Milo II is a young adult.

Branton and Dixon help the apes to escape, taking them to a circus run by Señor Armando (Ricardo Montalbán), where an ape named Heloise has just given birth. Zira gives birth to a son, whom she names Milo in honor of their deceased friend. When Hasslein, knowing that Zira's labor was imminent, orders a search of all circuses and zoos, Armando insists the apes leave for their safety. Lewis arranges for the apes to hide out in the shipyard in the Los Angeles harbor until the coast is clear to return to the circus as it heads to Florida, giving Cornelius a pistol as the couple do not want to be taken alive.

Zira (on humans): We've met hundreds since we've been here, and I trust...three.

Hasslein tracks the apes to the shipping yard and mortally wounds Zira when she refuses to hand over the infant, firing several shots into the infant before being killed by Cornelius. Cornelius is shot by a sniper and falls, Zira tossing the dead baby over the side and crawling to die with her husband, witnessed by a grieving Lewis and Stephanie.

As Armando's circus prepares to leave for Florida, it is revealed that Zira switched babies with Heloise prior to leaving the circus and that Armando is aware of this. Milo begins to talk.

The camera trick used when Milo repeatedly says "Mama" is too obvious.

Overall, this was a very watchable film that sets up future installments better than the last one did; but as sci-fi classics of the era go, it's not in the same league as the original movie.

_______

RJDiogenes said:
Interesting factino. Weddings in the White House is something I seldom think about.

When I toured the White House several years back, there was an exhibit about this in the Visitor Center.

I'm not sure if I've heard this. Certainly not one of his blockbusters.

This is included because the album is on the list, and the next one due for a write-up. I find it to be an enjoyable bit of '70s rock.

Another favorite. Definitely a sunny day song.

I haven't gotten this one yet as the version available for download differs from the single version, though it may have been the album version. I'm always suspicious of re-recordings when it's a one-hit wonder that's not available from a major label. I just might have heard this one on oldies radio back in the day, though it doesn't stick out in my memory.

And here's another good one.

This one is definitely a familiar oldies radio track. I read that the album was mostly about James expressing his Christian devoutness...didn't know that about him.

And catchy. It was in my head half the day, along with memories of Dorchester.

Can I have some tonic and a bite of your spucky?

It seems to me that fable or folklore kind of imagery was popular in those days all over. "Red Riding Hood." "Pied Piper." "Lady Godiva." "White Rabbit."

The last example, at least, was informed by the trippiness of the subject matter.

Well, this is one of those things that became a favorite more because of personal appeal than quality. It's not even very flattering, really.

I should note that both songs have great examples of Paul's signature melodic bass lines.

Interesting. I never caught that resemblance.

It's not a coincidence that the first Monkees single sounds so much like what was, at the time they were making it, the Beatles' most recent chart-topper.

True. Or Mary Anne's.

She wasn't in on the private club scene yet, though.

ETA: And now, Clarence Williams III.

Michael Cole is the last Mod standing.

The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

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