The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

[Nerys Myk]

Helena Carter,

I wonder if she's why Helena Bonham Carter is well, Helena Bonham Carter.

 

[RJDiogenes]

The Professor deduces that he has allergies

Professor gives a good demonstration of the scientific method in this sequence. It's surprising that he didn't get to the real solution, especially since he even tells Gilligan to wash. But, of course, then there would be no episode.

Gilligan ends up attempting to bed in each of the other huts

Have they lost the ability to build new huts?

Gilligan leaves a note declaring that he's moving to the other side of the island indefinitely.

This was kind of sad and touching when everybody tried to bring him back.

Then the Professor announces that he's developed a vaccine.

Apparently the Professor still thinks the problem is psychological. How did he develop a vaccine without knowing what the allergen was?

The others balk at having to be injected with a huge needle

I'm wondering how the Professor made the needle.

In the coda the Professor and Skipper pull a prank on Gilligan by making him think he has to get a preventative shot from a comically larger needle.

Payton (Dick Clark)

Rockin' guy!

Honey and Sam pay a visit to Mousey and the rest of Maxie's old gang at the Bastille Club of Beverly Hills, an exclusive establishment for men with records, which makes an exception to its gender requirement for Honey.

The Bastille Club fell for Honey.

With seconds left on the timer, the detectives rush outside and Sam tosses the bomb in front of the gang to stop them in their tracks and hold them at gunpoint.

Okay, so I get that Payton was using Maxie's MO to frame Maxie, but why? Did meeting Maxie suddenly inspire him to turn to a life of crime? Was it some kind of grudge? Wouldn't it have been better to distance himself from Maxie? Why were thugs beating up Sam and blowing up Honey? Why was that one thug working at the Bastille Club? And who the heck were Honey and Sam even working for? I have no idea why anything happened in this episode.

In the coda, the Bastille Club bestows Honey and Sam with honorary memberships, and Mousey, Maxie, and the gang take turns dancing with Honey to some old big band music.

No Honey Walk? It seems like Dick Clark was kind of wasted in this one. They should have come up with a story where he played himself.

I'm surprised you're familiar with it. It's not a better known one.

I'm not even sure how I know it. I vaguely think it has something to do with my Uncles, but I'm not sure.

I'm assuming that's humorously rhetorical.

Yeah, you were supposed to say, "Because it's there."

Coming in four years...along with a lot of freaking out.

Indeed! Fun stuff!

I always meant to catch this one after reading the play in a lit class.

It's very good. Gotta love those Shakespearian oratories.

That's the iconic image of schlocky, B-grade '50s sci-fi/monster flicks.

It's its own thing, that's for sure.

Goofy sitcom defense.

I'm down with that.

And what's wrong with that?

Nothing much, it just messed with my expectations.

Glyn's response was to quit and say to Paul on the way out of the studio to call him when he grew up and wanted to properly record an album.

Poor Paul was quite adrift when he was cut loose from The Beatles, I think.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

Post-55th Anniversary Viewing

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Gilligan's Island
"The Friendly Physician"
Originally aired April 7, 1966

A mad scientist invites the castaways to his island, where he hopes to conduct strange experiments on them.

A creepy, cloaked character named Dr. Boris Balinkoff (Vito Scotti) embarks on the island to find Gilligan sleeping next to a rescue fire that must always be manned--except for all those episodes when it isn't. Gilligan introduces the doctor to the other castaways, and he offers to rescue them via a yacht on his island. Gilligan and the Skipper go with him to scope out the situation, and are taken to his cobwebbed castle, which has secret panels; a big bruiser of a manservant named Igor (Mike Mazurki); a dungeon full of medieval torture implements; and a dog that sounds like a cat, a cat that sounds like a dog, and a parrot that sounds like a lion. Balinkoff explains that he's been changing animals into other animals, and is ready to experiment on humans...and has his visitors taken down to the dungeon.

While Gilligan and the Skipper are chained up down there, the other castaways are brought to the island...the Professor donning his rare blazer for the occasion. The doctor explains to Mr. Howell how he plans to transfer people's minds into other bodies, and the other castaways are bound in the dungeon. Gilligan and Mr. Howell return to the dungeon from Balinkoff's lab with their minds and voices switched. Next the Skipper and Mrs. Howell are taken to the lab. When we return to the dungeon, the Professor and Mary Ann have been switched, and Ginger's in Igor. Ginger uses Igor's strength to free the others, and they go up to the lab, where the Professor manages to get everyone switched back once Balinkoff returns, followed by Igor in Ginger's body--which is a surprise to him, making me wonder how it happened. The castaways lock Balinkoff into Igor's booth, while the cat and dog have gotten into the other. Gilligan pulls the lever, swapping Igor with the dog and the doctor with the cat.

The castaways take Balinkoff's motorboat (the same one in the Richard Kiel episode) to their island and plan to use it to return to civilization, but it sinks into the lagoon (even though it's up on the shore).

While the mind-switched characters were voiced over, there was some entertaining mannerism-acting going on. Mary Ann talking with the Professor's voice was oddly appealing...

_______

Hogan's Heroes
"The Assassin"
Originally aired April 8, 1966

Hogan plans to eliminate a German scientist working at Stalag 13.

Burkhalter brings Doctor Vanetti (Larry D. Mann) to set up an office where he can work on very secret research that even the general isn't in on the nature of, without the distraction of bombing. Eavesdropping via coffee pot, Hogan deduces that he's an atomic scientist, and shares this with the men. (It seems unlikely that these things would be as well-known as they're portrayed here.) Hogan seriously wants to kill the scientist, and learns from Schultz of a French assassin who was captured and sent to Stalag 16. Carter and LeBeau return with the assassin, Garreaux, as well as Colonel Crittendon, making his second appearance. The prisoners are shot at while making for the tunnel and Garreaux is captured. Having been brought in through the tunnel, Crittendon now understands the nature of the prisoners' operation, and wants to take charge of coming up with a plan.

But when Hogan's implementing a plan that involves creating a commotion outside so that Vanetti can be shot through the window with a crossbow, Vanetti approaches him about wanting to defect with his knowledge, and Hogan saves him from the bolt. Now Hogan has to do damage control, suggesting to Klink that he was the target; and trying to call off the overeager Crittendon, who pulls seniority in rank on him, and has the men working on high explosives in the tunnel, which shakes the whole camp. Again, Hogan tells Klink that he's the target, and devises an escape plan for Klink...while encouraging Crittendon to try to kill Vanetti, but putting him in Klink's escape car, both occupants hiding their identity so that each thinks the other is Vanetti. When each realizes who the other is, Crittendon makes a run for it and is shot at by guards...though as he's smuggling Vanetti out the tunnel, Hogan asserts that they replaced the guards' ammo with blanks. (If only they magically managed to do this more often.) Vanetti's absence is covered by making it look like he died in an explosion.

Dis!Missed!

_______

Honey West
"An Eerie, Airy, Thing"
Originally aired April 8, 1966
Series finale

Gordon Forbes threatens to jump from a [ledge] unless his wife is brought to him. But that may be difficult: Mrs. Forbes is dead.

Apparently yet another James Brown directed several episodes of the series. IMDb lists him as a separate individual with different birth and death dates from the actor who'd popped up before.

When Honey arrives at the scene of the potential jumping, Sam is already upstairs in the hotel room trying to talk down his old Marine buddy (Adam Williams), whose wife just kicked him out wanting a divorce because of his gambling debt. Honey goes to find Mrs. Forbes, whom Gordon is asking for, but when she arrives at the Forbes home she hears a couple of shots, sees a sedan screeching away from inside, and then discovers the advertised twist. While Lt. Barney is at the scene of the potential jumping (now billed as Lieutenant Wyman for some reason--used to be Keller...though onscreen, he even answers the phone with "Lt. Barney"), Bill Quinn's lieutenant comes to the Forbes home (billed as Lieutenant Curtis, which isn't a continuity error because he didn't have a name the last time he appeared). Unable to help back at the scene, Honey proceeds to the club that Forbes owes money to in order to scope out the motives of the owner, Stuart Bell (Lou Krugman), for killing Mrs. Forbes. He brings to her attention that Forbes has been bringing a different woman to the club and passing her off as his wife. Honey then searches Forbes's office and finds a picture of him with the pretty young brunette in question (Lisa Seagram)--who's identified as Connie Phillips, a local weather girl.

Next stop: KJHS, where Connie is on the air, of course! When questioned after her segment, Connie indicates that she'd recently stopped seeing Gordon, and seems surprised to learn of Mrs. Forbes's murder, but wastes no time in giving Honey the slip and heading back to her place to start packing. Sam intercepts her there and she pulls a gun on him, but Honey gets the drop on her from the hall and finds that the gun has been fired recently--but is missing four bullets. Back at the hotel, Honey encourages Gordon to jump, knowing he won't go through with it, and sharing her deduction that the whole jumping schtick is his alibi--he killed Diana beforehand and had Connie on the scene to fire the additional bullets when needed to reinforce his alibi. Faced with going through with the jump or taking his chances with a judge, Gordon chooses that latter.

The series ends on a routine-style coda note of the detectives going out for champagne, though under the circumstances, Honey prefers a cellar bar to the rooftop room.

_______

Originally planned as a double, pressure from Paul's label EMI brought the album down to a single. Three versions exist of the proposed double album track lists as well as an alternative single album track list.

The Deluxe Edition of "Red Rose Speedway" includes the final double album track list as a bonus CD, as well as a bonus CD of unreleased songs from the sessions.

Here's the thing, as a Double Album, it's now my preferred way of listening to "Red Rose Speedway". It shows off Paul's talent/maturity as a songwriter and the band has really gelled as a unit after months of touring. The problem, IMO, is that it doesn't "flow" as a Double Album should; it "lurches" from one song to the next.

When The Beatles were sequencing "The White Album", Paul, John, and George Martin, in their only 24-hour session, took care in making sure the songs/sides made some kind of sense when listening.

There's a discussion/poll on the "Steve Hoffman Music Forums" about whether the listener prefers "Red Rose Speedway" as a double or a single album, and the Double album wins by a landslide. Then the discussion usually asks, "Well, how would you sequence it?" and every response is different.

The same goes for the single album version of "Red Rose Speedway".

George Martin is on record saying he wanted "The Beatles" to be a single album of 12-14 "really great" songs instead of a double album.

That's the problem with "Red Rose Speedway". With so many songs to choose from, in paring down the album from a double to a single, Paul, IMO, chooses some of the weakest tracks, leaving an MOR album. Paul needed George Martin or Glyn Johns to help select the songs/sequence the album.

"Night Out", "1882", "The Mess", some of the hardest rocking songs on the album/sessions, were inexplicably left off the single version, as well as Linda's composition, "Seaside Woman" and Denny Laine's "I Would Only Smile", which would have elevated the material and shown Wings as a group band/effort. "1882", "The Mess", "Best Friend", being live cuts on the double album, also suggests a lack of confidence in the studio versions.

I can't recall that I'd ever heard this was originally supposed to be a double album until very recently...possibly here first, but backed up by having come across it on Wiki as well. I had read about the elaborate packaging of the original vinyl release, which it turns out was a holdover from the plan to make it a double album.

I've never heard a double-album version of it, but you yourself touch upon some points against it. One of those for me would be the inclusion of spotlights for the other Wings, which I thought weakened the group's post-BOTR albums.

As released, I find RRS to be an enjoyably tight little Paul album. It hits one particularly bum note that gets dramatically worse with age, but that's practically an interlude before the finale. It did always feel somewhat lopsided toward Paul's softer side, but nevertheless like a solid step in album-crafting quality toward BOTR. I'm not sure that adding generic rockers like "The Mess" would have improved it.

The closing medley is no Abbey Road, but it does demonstrate a continuing talent for fusing song fragments into something more interesting; which is also evident in this gorgeous number:

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While I'm shouting out album tracks well ahead of when I'll probably get around to doing a write-up, I always thought this was a nice light-rocker that might have had single chops:

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The album as-is also has strong memory association with the time in my life when I had it routinely playing in my car.

Fun fact. The film was shot in 3-D, but the director was blind in/had only one eye; therefore, he could only see in mono-vision.

Which gives me an opportunity to call out that atrocious theatrical trailer that was nothing but words on the screen going on about the miracle of THIRD DIMENSION!!! No clips, nothing about the story, who cares...it's in THIRD DIMENSION!!! They were even ripping off the Superman logo style there--or did Warner already own DC/National in those days?

Have they lost the ability to build new huts?

I was wondering why he didn't stay in the supply hut. Though the Professor's nighttime hut looked like it was supposed to be the supply hut, rather than the lab hut that we usually see him in.

I'm wondering how the Professor made the needle.

It was a big, bamboo-tech thing...and pops up again in a subsequent episode.

Okay, so I get that Payton was using Maxie's MO to frame Maxie, but why? Did meeting Maxie suddenly inspire him to turn to a life of crime? Was it some kind of grudge? Wouldn't it have been better to distance himself from Maxie? Why were thugs beating up Sam and blowing up Honey? Why was that one thug working at the Bastille Club? And who the heck were Honey and Sam even working for? I have no idea why anything happened in this episode.

Honey and Sam were working for Maxie. The idea was that Payton was exploiting a unique access both to Maxie's old methods and his current whereabouts; and to that end, kewpie doll guy was his mole in the club, so he'd know what Maxie and the entire gang were up to; as the whole idea of the ruse was to make them the suspects. I don't recall that they covered it specifically, but I guess that if they were all at a private club full of ex-cons, they effectively didn't have an alibi.

No Honey Walk? It seems like Dick Clark was kind of wasted in this one. They should have come up with a story where he played himself.

I get the impression that he wouldn't have wanted to...he was probably doing roles like this to get away from that.

Yeah, you were supposed to say, "Because it's there."

Too obvious.

Poor Paul was quite adrift when he was cut loose from The Beatles, I think.

A common criticism of post-Beatles Paul is that he didn't have anyone to say No to him.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Dr. Boris Balinkoff (Vito Scotti)

Ubiquitous character actor, and Dr Balinkoff was one of the few characters to make a return to the island.

his cobwebbed castle, which has secret panels; a big bruiser of a manservant named Igor (Mike Mazurki); a dungeon full of medieval torture implements;

As you can imagine, I loved this episode.

Gilligan and Mr. Howell return to the dungeon from Balinkoff's lab with their minds and voices switched. Next the Skipper and Mrs. Howell are taken to the lab. When we return to the dungeon, the Professor and Mary Ann have been switched, and Ginger's in Igor.

I got a kick out of everybody imitating everybody else.

Igor in Ginger's body--which is a surprise to him, making me wonder how it happened.

She got him drunk and seduced him so she could free the others. I remember Igor as Ginger saying, "Feels good!"

The castaways take Balinkoff's motorboat (the same one in the Richard Kiel episode) to their island and plan to use it to return to civilization, but it sinks into the lagoon (even though it's up on the shore).

The island is alive. It won't let them go.

While the mind-switched characters were voiced over, there was some entertaining mannerism-acting going on. Mary Ann talking with the Professor's voice was oddly appealing...

You're a sapiosexual.

Hogan deduces that he's an atomic scientist, and shares this with the men. (It seems unlikely that these things would be as well-known as they're portrayed here.)

Hogan is very in the loop.

Hogan seriously wants to kill the scientist, and learns from Schultz of a French assassin who was captured and sent to Stalag 16.

Seems strange that Hogan would want to outsource an assassination. They are pretty hardcore when they need to be.

Colonel Crittendon, making his second appearance.

He always cracks me up.

so that Vanetti can be shot through the window with a crossbow

By who?

Vanetti approaches him about wanting to defect with his knowledge

So for once it makes sense that something unlikely is happening at Stalag 13-- Vanetti somehow arranged it to defect. Of course, that would mean he somehow knew of the underground activities.

When each realizes who the other is, Crittendon makes a run for it and is shot at by guards...though as he's smuggling Vanetti out the tunnel, Hogan asserts that they replaced the guards' ammo with blanks.

Well, Crittendon does come back eventually.

Dis!Missed!

This was weird. Unless I misunderstood, it seems like Garreux disappeared as soon as he was captured, so I don't see the point of the character.

Apparently yet another James Brown

That clone factory is working overtime.

Sam is already upstairs in the hotel room trying to talk down his old Marine buddy

Wow, change of pace.

While Lt. Barney is at the scene of the potential jumping (now billed as Lieutenant Wyman for some reason--used to be Keller...though onscreen, he even answers the phone with "Lt. Barney")

More clones. The regular Lt Barney is with Homicide, so why would he be at the scene of a threatened suicide?

Next stop: KJHS, where Connie is on the air, of course!

She's vowed to keep broadcasting until the weather is over!

Back at the hotel, Honey encourages Gordon to jump, knowing he won't go through with it, and sharing her deduction that the whole jumping schtick is his alibi--he killed Diana beforehand and had Connie on the scene to fire the additional bullets when needed to reinforce his alibi.

Not a bad twist, but kind of a shame. It was a missed opportunity to give Sam some personal investment in the plot.

The series ends on a routine-style coda note of the detectives going out for champagne, though under the circumstances, Honey prefers a cellar bar to the rooftop room.

I'm sad it's over, but at least they went out on a... high note.

I was wondering why he didn't stay in the supply hut. Though the Professor's nighttime hut looked like it was supposed to be the supply hut, rather than the lab hut that we usually see him in.

I figured he lived in the lab, but maybe he just doesn't sleep much.

It was a big, bamboo-tech thing...and pops up again in a subsequent episode.

Okay, that would make an anti-vaxxer out of me, too.

Honey and Sam were working for Maxie. The idea was that Payton was exploiting a unique access both to Maxie's old methods and his current whereabouts; and to that end, kewpie doll guy was his mole in the club, so he'd know what Maxie and the entire gang were up to; as the whole idea of the ruse was to make them the suspects. I don't recall that they covered it specifically, but I guess that if they were all at a private club full of ex-cons, they effectively didn't have an alibi.

That makes more sense than it did at first glance.

I get the impression that he wouldn't have wanted to...he was probably doing roles like this to get away from that.

Yeah, I can see that.

Too obvious.

A common criticism of post-Beatles Paul is that he didn't have anyone to say No to him.

A lot of creative types need guidance.

 

[The Old Mixer]

50 Years Ago This Week

May 6

• The World Hockey Association's first championship was won by the New England Whalers, at Boston Arena, in Game 5 of the best 4-of-7 series against the Winnipeg Jets.

May 7

• A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and American Indian Movement activists who were occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, ended with the surrender of the leaders of the militants. Carter Camp and Leonard Crow Dog ordered the other militants to lay down their arms, and were transported to Rapid City to face criminal charges. Another 13 militants were arrested after they tried to slip through lines of federal agents who had surrounded the area. Another 120 members and sympathizers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) surrendered their weapons the next day as FBI agents and United States Marshals retook Wounded Knee.
• The U.S. state of Maryland ratified the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting states from interfering with a citizen's right to vote based on race, after having rejected it in 1870. The only states remaining that hadn't formally approved the 15th Amendment (which had become the law of the land in 1870 after approval by 30 of the then 40 U.S. states) were Kentucky, which would ratify in 1976, and Tennessee, which would do so in 1997.
• The Washington Post was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service as a result of the investigation of the Watergate break-in by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, but the individual prize for reporting went instead to Robert Boyd and Clark Hoyt of the Knight Newspapers chain.

May 9

• Operating at the Le Monnier crater on the Moon, the Soviet lunar rover Lunokhod 2 encountered an accident due to a ground control mistake two days earlier that allowed dust to fall on the rover's solar cells. The protective lid, open in order to bring out sensory and transmission equipment, was left open when the rover was being maneuvered out of the crater and struck a wall, allowing the dust in. The rover's batteries overheated and it stopped working on May 11, exactly four months after its January 11 launch. More than 40 years would pass before another motorized vehicle moved across the lunar surface, with the arrival of China's Yutu rover on December 14, 2013.
• Color television was introduced to Czechoslovakia, with Československá televize (ČST) TV2 showing the first color TV programs from its transmitting stations in Prague (now in the Czech Republic) and Bratislava (now in Slovakia).

May 10

• Former U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former Secretary of Commerce Maurice H. Stans were indicted by a federal grand jury on criminal charges of conspiracy to "conceal, by deceit, craft, trickery and dishonest means", along with financier Robert L. Vesco and their go-between, Harry L. Sears. The four were charged with not being cooperative in an investigation of Vesco's contribution to the 1972 re-election campaign of U.S. President Nixon. Vesco, who had fled to Costa Rica before the indictment was issued, had made the largest single contribution to the Nixon campaign, in the form of cash handed in a briefcase to Mitchell.
• President Nixon abandoned his plan to reorganize the executive branch of the government and the creation of a "super-cabinet" of three members who would oversee the heads of federal departments and agencies.
• The New York Knicks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, 102–93 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to win the National Basketball Association championship.
• The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Chicago Blackhawks, 6 to 4, in Game 6 of a best-3-of-5 series to win the Stanley Cup, championship of the National Hockey League.

May 11

• Sweden's parliament, the Riksdag, enacted the world's first computer data protection law, the Datalagen or Data Act.
• All federal espionage charges Daniel Ellsberg, arising from his 1971 leaking of the "Pentagon Papers", were dismissed by Judge William Byrne because of government misconduct in the prosecution and evidence-gathering. Byrne said in his order that "The totality of the circumstances... offend a sense of justice. The bizarre events have incurably infected the prosecution of this case."
• The Soviet Union made its fourth attempt to launch a space station, Salyut 3, having been successful with keeping Salyut 1 in orbit for six months in 1971, but failing to orbit a second station on July 29, 1972, and already seeing problems with Salyut 2, which had been unstable since its launch on April 3, 1973. The latest Salyut went up from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 6:20 in the morning local time, three days before the scheduled U.S. launch of Skylab, but was apparently damaged after it reached orbit, leading to the cancellation of the mission of two cosmonauts who would have docked with the orbiting station. Salyut 3 orbited the Earth 175 times over 11 days before burning up in the Earth's atmosphere on May 22.
• Died: Lex Barker, 54, American film actor best-known for portraying Tarzan in five films, died of a heart attack.
• Wings open their first proper tour of the UK with a concert at the Hippodrome, Bristol.

May 12

• Two American mountaineers, John Roskelley and Louis Reichardt, made the highest ascent of a mountain without using supplemental oxygen, climbing the seventh-highest peak in the world, reaching the summit at 26,795 feet (8,167 m) without oxygen tanks.
• Died: Art Pollard, 46, became the first of several people to be killed in the disastrous 1973 Indianapolis 500, after crashing during time trials at 191.4 miles per hour (308.0 km/h). David "Swede" Savage would be fatally injured in the race itself, and Armando Moreno, a member of one of the pit crews, would die instantly after being hit by a fire truck racing to Savage's crash site.

Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

1. "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree," Dawn feat. Tony Orlando
2. "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," Stevie Wonder
3. "Little Willy," The Sweet
4. "The Cisco Kid," War
5. "Drift Away," Dobie Gray
6. "Stuck in the Middle with You," Stealers Wheel
7. "Frankenstein," The Edgar Winter Group
8. "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia," Vicki Lawrence
9. "Daniel," Elton John
10. "The Twelfth of Never," Donny Osmond
11. "Reelin' in the Years," Steely Dan
12. "Wildflower," Skylark
13. "My Love," Paul McCartney & Wings
14. "Pillow Talk," Sylvia
15. "Daisy a Day," Jud Strunk
16. "Sing," Carpenters
17. "Hocus Pocus," Focus
18. "Out of the Question," Gilbert O'Sullivan
19. "Funky Worm," Ohio Players
20. "Walk on the Wild Side," Lou Reed
21. "The Right Thing to Do," Carly Simon
22. "Thinking of You," Loggins & Messina
23. "Peaceful," Helen Reddy
24. "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby," Barry White
25. "Masterpiece," The Temptations
26. "Steamroller Blues" / "Fool", Elvis Presley
27. "Playground in My Mind," Clint Holmes
28. "I'm Doin' Fine Now," New York City

33. "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)," Four Tops
34. "Right Place, Wrong Time," Dr. John

39. "No More Mr. Nice Guy," Alice Cooper

41. "Will It Go Round in Circles," Billy Preston

43. "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)," Gladys Knight & The Pips

49. "Stir It Up," Johnny Nash
50. "One of a Kind (Love Affair)," The Spinners

53. "Hallelujah Day," Jackson 5
54. "Long Train Runnin'," The Doobie Brothers
55. "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," Jim Croce
56. "Killing Me Softly with His Song," Roberta Flack
57. "You Can't Always Get What You Want," The Rolling Stones

59. "Daddy Could Swear, I Declare," Gladys Knight & The Pips

62. "Natural High," Bloodstone

69. "Why Me," Kris Kristofferson
70. "Behind Closed Doors," Charlie Rich

73. "Break Up to Make Up," The Stylistics

77. "I Like You," Donovan

81. "Diamond Girl," Seals & Crofts
82. "So Very Hard to Go," Tower of Power

85. "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," Bette Midler

89. "Monster Mash," Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers

Leaving the chart:

• "Danny's Song," Anne Murray (18 weeks)

New on the chart:

"Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," Bette Midler

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(#8 US; #1 AC)

"Diamond Girl," Seals & Crofts

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(#6 US; #4 AC)

_______

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

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50th Anniversary Viewing

_______

Kung Fu
"The Ancient Warrior"
Originally aired May 3, 1973
Season finale

Ancient Warrior (Chief Dan George), an aged Indian accompanied by Caine, seeks burial in his sacred, ancestral land, But the burial site is located dead center in a violent, Indian-hating town called Purgatory.

Cue flashback...

The origin opening just seems to be occurring randomly now...I wonder if they'll settle on a standard opening. It's perhaps present here to help make up for a lack of episode-specific flashbacks, other than a bit of Master Kan voice-over at the end...a bit of wisdom that echoes a major point of Caine's in the previous episode, about the true test of love being how you feel about somebody when they're gone.

[...]

This one revisits the "pay it forward x10" flashback, which is good continuity, but stresses that Caine is doing good deeds to fill a quota.

Victor French is more recognizable here in a mustache, but I would have missed Uncle Jesse if I hadn't seen his name listed. Among the local troublemakers whom Caine beats up this week are Gary Busey and Willaim Katt.

The mayor has THE CLOCK...way back in the Old West...or still around in the 1970s...take your pick.

The story beats with the old gunfighter who shows up the first time just to set up his next scene in which he gets shot seem a bit random. And this is the second episode I've watched recently in which the show comes back from a commercial break to have the characters suddenly in a new situation that makes you feel like you missed a scene. I wonder if that's the original editing or syndication cut business.

Caine picks up a new pseudonym in this one, Long Drink of Silence.

_______

She got him drunk and seduced him so she could free the others.

If that was originally in the episode, it was cut for syndication. But it still makes me wonder how it happened. How did they get in the booths? Who pulled the switch?

You're a sapiosexual.

I've heard of that.

Hogan is very in the loop.

But so are all of his men...everyone knew what he was talking about without a bit of period-appropriate exposition.

By who?

Crittendon. There was no explanation of where the crossbow came from, but he was very big on using it.

This was weird. Unless I misunderstood, it seems like Garreux disappeared as soon as he was captured, so I don't see the point of the character.

Gave them a reason to break prisoners out of the other stalag, which is how they got Crittendon.

I'm sad it's over, but at least they went out on a... high note.

Kind of a common coda gag for the show. In the pop art episode, the coda I didn't bother to mention was Honey, Sam, Aunt Meg, and Not Warhol at a restaurant, with the can of gumbo on the table. When a waiter asked if they wanted soup or salad, everyone shouted in unison, "SALAD!"

I notice that the show must have blown some budget early trying to make a first impression...seems like there was less location work as the series went on.

Meg and Bruce seemed to pop up less later as well...it'd be interesting to see how that played out in production order.

I figured he lived in the lab, but maybe he just doesn't sleep much.

It was maybe meant to be the sleeping area of his hut, but all you could see in the background were crates.

Okay, that would make an anti-vaxxer out of me, too.

While that needle was just somewhat comically large, the one that the Professor pranked Gilligan with was the size of a pesticide sprayer. It may have actually been a redressed pesticide sprayer.

A lot of creative types need guidance.

That was the magic of the Beatles when they were a functioning group--John and Paul curbed each other's bullshit.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

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I find it interesting that both 'The Midnight Special' and 'Johnny Carson' YouTube page uploaded clips of the Bee Gees performing their new single 'Saw A New Morning' on the same day, seeing as it's the 50th anniversary of the week it charted.

It's a pleasant enough single, from the album "Life in a Tin Can", but the Bee Gees were still out of favor with their audience, and it didn't chart in the UK and only #94 in the US.

Their next album, "Mr. Natural" would introduce the soul/disco elements that would come to fruition with the album "Main Course".

 

[RJDiogenes]

The World Hockey Association's first championship was won by the New England Whalers

The thing that I remember about the New England Whalers is that Channel 56 started broadcasting their games-- which pre-empted my shows!

Operating at the Le Monnier crater on the Moon, the Soviet lunar rover Lunokhod 2 encountered an accident

Following which, their insurance premiums went through the roof.

"Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," Bette Midler

Go, Bette, go. Sounds like the 40s.

"Diamond Girl," Seals & Crofts

Nice, Summery, and early-70s sounding.

If that was originally in the episode, it was cut for syndication. But it still makes me wonder how it happened. How did they get in the booths? Who pulled the switch?

I was just kidding. I don't remember the episode well enough to say. But if something weird and inexplicable happened, there's always the same answer: Gilligan.

Gave them a reason to break prisoners out of the other stalag, which is how they got Crittendon.

Ah, okay.

Kind of a common coda gag for the show.

Actually, the "high note" reference was my vague and unsuccessful attempt at an up-on-a-ledge joke.

I notice that the show must have blown some budget early trying to make a first impression...seems like there was less location work as the series went on.

You'd think Anne Francis would be enough. They should have tried another time slot.

Meg and Bruce seemed to pop up less later as well...it'd be interesting to see how that played out in production order.

I don't think the writers knew what to do with them. There didn't seem to be much point to either character.

While that needle was just somewhat comically large, the one that the Professor pranked Gilligan with was the size of a pesticide sprayer. It may have actually been a redressed pesticide sprayer.

It's a wonder the FDA didn't come to rescue them just to arrest the Professor.

That was the magic of the Beatles when they were a functioning group--John and Paul curbed each other's bullshit.

Yeah, what made them great also doomed them.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

Post-55th Anniversary Viewing

_______

Gilligan's Island
"'V' for Vitamins"
Originally aired April 14, 1966

The Professor tells his fellow castaways that if they don't find a way to grow more oranges and other fruits on the island, they risk dying from vitamin deficiencies.

The new food crisis begins when the Skipper can't lift a log that Gilligan and the Professor have no trouble with. The Professor examines Skipper with a huge bamboo stethoscope and a blood pressure meter that mostly looks like something out of The Flintstones, but has a normal rubber bulb. The Professor discovers the vitamin deficiency issue and determines that it will affect everyone according to their size, heaviest first. While the castaways debate who should get the last orange on the island (obviously should have been Skipper), it withers with unnatural speed in the sun. The castaways plant its seeds to try to grow orange trees, but they have to be kept warm with torches on a cold night...and Gilligan, on watch to keep the torches lit, falls asleep and slips into his Jack and Beanstalk dream.

The setting is still the island, but Gilligan dreams that he's sent to market by his mother (Mrs. Howell) with a box of jewels, and trades them with a swindler (Mr. Howell) for a bag of magic beans. Mrs. Howell tosses the beans out the window, a giant beanstalk grows into the sky, and Gilligan climbs it to enter a castle, where the maid (Mary Ann) meets him at the door to warn him of her master, the giant (Skipper)...and show him the giant's stockpile of goose-laid oranges. In a longshot of the giant chasing Gilligan around the crates of oranges, Bob Denver's uncredited son Patrick plays Gilligan. When the giant goes off to deal with a dragon who wants the oranges, Gilligan frees an old man and woman from a dungeon (the Professor and Ginger in old age makeup). Gilligan kisses the woman to restore her youth and beauty, but Mary Ann is tricked into kissing the man to no effect. The giant returns to deal with Gilligan, and he's woken up by the Skipper, who doesn't care about the torches having gone out because the Professor just discovered grapefruit and lemon trees. (You'd think by now they'd know what's growing where on the island, especially after that early previous food crisis.) When Gilligan teases the Skipper about knowing where to find a T-bone steak, the Professor removes Gilligan's hat so the Skipper can hit Gilligan over the head with his own.

In the coda, Gilligan's having little luck running a lemonade stand.

_______

Hogan's Heroes
"Cupid Comes to Stalag 13"
Originally aired April 15, 1966

Hogan wants Klink to forget about a promotion so he plays cupid for him and General Burkhalter's sister.

The prisoners are hosting a Captain Ferguson (George Tyne) in the tunnel so he can be snuck to a meeting with the underground, but Klink is wandering the grounds late at night, which includes popping by the barracks. Klink confides to Hogan as a fellow colonel how he feels like he's a failure for having been in the rank for so long, and is afraid that Burkhalter is planning to send him to the Russian front. But when the general visits, he wants to talk to Klink about advancing his career through the right marriage; and announces that his sister and niece will be visiting the stalag. Klink assumes that Burkhalter plans to set him up with his niece, Lottie Linkmyer (Inger Stratton), and is pleased when she turns out to be a blonde beauty. But Klink disregards her mother, Gertrude (Kathleen Freeman in her first of four appearances in the role)...not knowing that she's the one Burkhalter has in mind.

When Gertrude questions Klink about various marital matters, she announces that Lottie doesn't like him and has to approve the marriage, so Hogan offers to help Klink win the girl over. When Hogan delivers a dinner invitation message to Lottie, he learns that Gertrude's the prospective bride, and Lottie assumes that the invitation is for her mother. Klink is blindsided when Gertrude shows up for the dinner, and it becomes clear that he's won her over for the wrong reason. Chaperoning the dinner, Hogan pulls Klink's fat out of the fire by claiming that Klink is volunteering for the Russian front, where Gertrude's husband was lost, causing her to call off the engagement. A grateful Klink announces that he plans to sleep like a baby that night. (You'd think that ruse might backfire with Burkhalter...)

_______

Gilligan's Island
"Mr. and Mrs. ???"
Originally aired April 21, 1966

The Howells learn their marriage is invalid, so it's up to the Skipper as a ship's captain to perform an official ceremony.

Gilligans's serving the Howells, who are extolling the virtues of marriage, when they hear the news on the radio that Reverend Buckley Norris of Boston, Mass., who officiated at their wedding, is a fraud. The Howells are devastated, and Mrs. Howell--now considering herself to still be Miss Wentworth (Has her maiden name come up before?)--becomes more formal to Thurston, insisting that he find quarters elsewhere and on splitting up their possessions...including the trunk of cash. (If they were never married, would she be entitled to any of it?) Thurston jokingly suggests they simply paint a line down the middle of the hut. The Skipper decides to solve their problem by offering to wed them on a raft in the lagoon, which passes muster for the Professor's dubious legal expertise. Skipper practices by arranging a dress rehearsal using Gilligan and Mary Ann--to his little buddy's objections. When the actual ceremony happens--for which the Professor dons his blazer again and the Skipper buttons his shirt up all the way--Gilligan gets the ring stuck on his finger, and Thurston and Lovey get in a fight when he wants to use a cigar band in its place.

Thurston brings his possessions--which consist of several very large suitcases--to move in with Gilligan and the Skipper...effectively taking over the hut and forcing them to bed outside. Lovey moves in with the girls for some reason, so Ginger tries to scheme with Mr. Howell to make Lovey jealous. Meanwhile, the Skipper comes up with the idea to have Lovey make Mr. Howell jealous. At the island's outdoor restaurant, Mr. Howell dates Ginger while Lovey dates the Professor, sitting at adjacent tables...with a fake-mustached Gilligan playing waiter. Things don't seem to be working, so the Skipper resorts to Plan B--posing as an attacking headhunter, and getting beaned by Mr. Howell with a coconut, which causes Lovey to fall back in love with him.

In the coda, Thurston and Lovey are planning to go through with the ceremony when the radio announcer corrects himself, that the fraudulent reverend was actually Boris Knuckley. The still-Howells immediately retire to their hut to "make happy talk"...but promptly have another fight, causing Thurston to force his way back into Gilligan and the Skipper's hut.

_______

Hogan's Heroes
"The Flame Grows Higher"
Originally aired April 22, 1966

There seems to be a traitor in the escaped prisoner pipeline and Hogan has to find him by following the escape route.

Captain Warren (uncredited Jerry Ayres) is caught following an escape route from the stalag. The prisoners use smoke bombs to stage a nearby forest fire and con Klink to let them fight it, supervised by Schultz, whom they slip away from to scope out an inn that was Warren's first stop on the route, exchanging recognition codes with the frauleins running the place, Eva (Susanne Cramer) and Margit (Hannie Landman). Hogan romances Eva while questioning her about Warren, and begins to act suspicious of her. She sends him on to the next station, a farmhouse, which was Warren's last stop before he was captured.

The prisoners return to Schultz just long enough to take the truck, which they drive to the farmhouse. An armed Hogan bursts in on the Swedish couple there, Willy and Jenny (Charles Radilac and Irene Tedrow), and finds SS uniforms in the closet, only to be whacked with a chair by Willy. But when the other prisoners drop in, it turns out that the couple is on the level, the uniform being part of their operation. The couple then gets a call from the inn informing them to switch the route, so the prisoners suspect the girls again, returning to the inn, where Schultz catches up with them and then they're caught by Gestapo officers. Schultz plays along when the prisoners pretend to have been captured by him, and implicate the frauleins as double agents who were actually helping them.

At the recommendation of the Gestapo, Schultz receives a commendation. Klink considers transferring him to a combat unit, but Hogan pretends to be in favor of it, so Klink decides to keep him.

DIS-MISSED!

_______

Go, Bette, go. Sounds like the 40s.

Classic wartime number, and this may have been my primary exposure to it...but I have the Andrews Sisters' 1941 version, so I dunno. A couple of things I read about this--It was produced by Barry Manilow; and it was originally intended as the B-side of Bette's version of "Delta Dawn," but they switched single sides to not compete with Helen Reddy's upcoming version.

Nice, Summery, and early-70s sounding.

Decent, familiar oldies radio fare.

I was just kidding. I don't remember the episode well enough to say. But if something weird and inexplicable happened, there's always the same answer: Gilligan.

But was it Gilligan in Mr. Howell's body, or Mr. Howell in Gilligan's body...?

Actually, the "high note" reference was my vague and unsuccessful attempt at an up-on-a-ledge joke.

And the coda gag was theirs.

I don't think the writers knew what to do with them. There didn't seem to be much point to either character.

They had been putting Meg to work more often...doesn't hurt to have an unknown face to aide in undercover work. It strikes me that she could have been the agency's secretary rather than a relative (or both).

It's a wonder the FDA didn't come to rescue them just to arrest the Professor.

He practices psychology without a license, too.

 

[Nerys Myk]

He practices psychology without a license, too.

He's really Reed Richards. There for, a degreed expert in everything.

 

[RJDiogenes]

The new food crisis begins when the Skipper can't lift a log that Gilligan and the Professor have no trouble with.

The Skipper has scurvy!

Gilligan, on watch to keep the torches lit, falls asleep and slips into his Jack and Beanstalk dream.

One of my favorites.

the maid (Mary Ann)

Dawn Wells at her cutest.

and show him the giant's stockpile of goose-laid oranges.

I'm generally in favor of GMO, but this might be going a bit too far.

In a longshot of the giant chasing Gilligan around the crates of oranges, Bob Denver's uncredited son Patrick plays Gilligan.

That's a great scene.

Mary Ann is tricked into kissing the man to no effect.

Also a great scene.

(You'd think by now they'd know what's growing where on the island, especially after that early previous food crisis.)

The island is alive. It changes size and shape and topology.

the Professor removes Gilligan's hat so the Skipper can hit Gilligan over the head with his own.

Also a great scene. Overall, one of my favorites.

Klink confides to Hogan as a fellow colonel

This is one of the touches that I always liked about the show. I always wondered if Hogan and Klink ever encountered each other after the war.

the Russian front, where Gertrude's husband was lost

Sent there by Burkhalter?

(You'd think that ruse might backfire with Burkhalter...)

If he's resorting to Klink to marry off his sister, he's probably used to it.

Reverend Buckley Norris of Boston, Mass., who officiated at their wedding, is a fraud.

Probably just a documentation error. The Archdiocese is a mess.

Miss Wentworth (Has her maiden name come up before?)

I have a vague memory of her father coming up in conversation, but I'm not sure if it was before or after this.

(If they were never married, would she be entitled to any of it?)

I think this was before Palimony became a thing. But she's rich anyway, so she shouldn't even need it.

Thurston jokingly suggests they simply paint a line down the middle of the hut.

Yes!

The Skipper decides to solve their problem by offering to wed them on a raft in the lagoon, which passes muster for the Professor's dubious legal expertise.

He also has a sitcom law degree. I hope the Skipper is also a JOP or something.

a dress rehearsal using Gilligan and Mary Ann--to his little buddy's objections.

Seriously, what is wrong with that kid?

Lovey moves in with the girls for some reason

She's very pampered. She's probably never been alone in her life.

The still-Howells immediately retire to their hut to "make happy talk"...

An armed Hogan bursts in on the Swedish couple there, Willy and Jenny (Charles Radilac and Irene Tedrow), and finds SS uniforms in the closet, only to be whacked with a chair by Willy.

This was quite the Action/Adventure episode.

Schultz plays along when the prisoners pretend to have been captured by him, and implicate the frauleins as double agents who were actually helping them.

But the frauleins have knowledge of the underground resort at Stalag 13. They really needed to kill them, but that would be too much for a sitcom, I suppose. And what about poor Warren? This was a nice little action-packed adventure, but not well thought out.

the B-side of Bette's version of "Delta Dawn,"

I didn't know she recorded "Delta Dawn." I'll have to look that up on YouTube.

But was it Gilligan in Mr. Howell's body, or Mr. Howell in Gilligan's body...?

Well, if Gilligan's goofiness is caused by a structural defect or neurotransmitter imbalance, then the switch could have started affecting Mr Howell's personality... or am I overthinking again?

And the coda gag was theirs.

Right.

He practices psychology without a license, too.

So do a lot of us.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

Post-55th Anniversary Viewing

_______

Branded
"Kellie"
Originally aired April 24, 1966
Series finale

The daughter of a bank robber vows to get even with McCord for killing her father.

Jason and his Grandpa Joshua are setting up shop as McCord and McCord, Survey Engineers, when a bank robbery involving explosives draws the attention of the entire town. Various townspeople exchange fire with the robbers as they ride away, and Jason gets the one holding the bags (Lincoln Demyan, whose character is billed as Conway). Out of nowhere his titular urchin of a daughter (Suzanne Cupito) runs up to cry over him as he dies, then pulls a knife and threatens to pay McCord back. The girl, who we learn was tagging along with her father, is taken in by Ann Williams (Lola Albright, reprising her role as the newspaperwoman from "Mightier Than the Sword" for the second time; her in-between appearance having been in one of the recent episodes that we missed). Jason intends to keep the railroad payroll in his office safe, and the leader of the bandits, Trask (starship captain-framer Richard Webb), intends to go back to deal with the orphan to stop her from squealing on them...and maybe still get that payroll, too.

I don't recall how friendly Jason and Ann were in her original appearance, but she's his full-on romantic interest now. Jason buys Kellie a dress, which she angrily refuses. She does make friends with a boy with whom she tosses knives at a saloon door, but the boy's father comes out and gets in an altercation with the girl, in which Jason intervenes, giving him a quick pummeling in front of Kellie. Jason's reputation, which seems to be downplayed in these last episodes, is hinted at in the man's parting words, declaring that Jason doesn't belong in the town any more than the girl does. (Strong words from an uncredited character.)

Kellie goes to Jason's office to find out why he helped her, and defensively volunteers that she knows the names of the men her pa was riding with, thinking that's what he's after. He tries to reason with her about the situation her father was killed in, and she makes it clear that she wasn't proud of what her father was doing but still loved him, telling Jason of how her ma died when she was younger and they lost their house; and finally breaks into tears in Jason's arms. Outside, she's confronted by Trask and the gang, who emphasize that Jason killed her pa, and she offers to take them to where the money's being kept. Using Kellie as a front, the gang bursts into the office. As Jason starts to open the safe at gunpoint, Kellie knocks the lantern off his desk, giving him a chance to take down one of the robbers and take cover. Trask tries to flush Jason out of hiding with gunfire, which only makes it easier for Jason to return fire. General McCord enters, having taken care of the robber keeping watch outside, and Jason and Kellie hug.

In the coda, a cleaned-up Kellie--now formally in Ann's custody until family can be found, rather than being sent to an orphanage--wears the dress Jason bought her for a date with the general.

_______

Hogan's Heroes
"Request Permission to Escape"
Originally aired April 29, 1966
Season finale

Carter receives a Dear John letter and wants to join the rest of the prisoners that escape and go home.

The prisoners are planning a mission to get some microfilm into German hands to feed the Luftwaffe false intel about a bombing raid when mail call comes. Carter learns that his lifelong girlfriend Mary Jane is now seeing an air raid warden (and Kinch is belatedly informed that he's 4F). Carter makes his titular request, but apparently attempts to get out of Hogan's outfit aren't taken lightly. The prisoners try to take Carter's mind off of Mary Jane, including by having Helga come on to him, but it doesn't work; so Hogan informs Klink of an impending escape attempt so that he threatens barracks-wide punishment if anyone tries. Carter even gets guilted by Schultz about the consequences for him if a prisoner escapes. Finally, Hogan agrees to let Carter go.

But when Hogan comes up with a plan to have a prisoner volunteer to get caught trying to escape as a means of letting the Germans discover the microfilm, nobody volunteers because of the cooler time that would be involved, so Carter does, as one last mission. He heads to an inn where he approaches various uniformed Germans--including a private played by William Christopher--about how he's a prisoner who needs help trying to escape, but nobody believes him, assuming that he's a Gestapo agent...even an actual Gestapo officer who comes along (Martin Blaine). A Norwegian barmaid named Mady (Mary Mitchell) gets friendly with Carter, encouraging him to go back to his camp and get a good night's rest. Carter hitches a ride with the Gestapo officer back to the stalag, and by the time they get there, the Gestapo officer has been convinced and is turning Carter over to Klink. Carter makes a show of wanting to keep the lighter with the microfilm concealed in it, which makes the Gestapo officer suspicious enough to inspect the it and find the goods.

In the coda, Carter's using the tunnel to get out, not to return home to Mary Jane, but rather to see Mady again.

Request deNIED!

_______

Gilligan's Island
"Meet the Meteor"
Originally aired May 5, 1966
Season finale

Rays from a grounded meteor age trees 50 years in seven days, causing Gilligan to dream about that aging's impact on the castaways.

Gilligan and the Skipper watch the object fall in broad daylight, and the Professor warns them away from it, wary of what strange rays it may be emitting. The Professor cobbles together a bamboo tech Geiger counter...and Gilligan's duty of keeping everyone away from the hut because the Professor doesn't want to cause a panic only draws attention. The Professor detects cosmic rays, and constructs a protective screen of lead-coated bamboo that will also focus the rays skyward as a rescue signal. The trio don lead-coated clothing and lead makeup so that they can work near the meteor...but they find the screen gone and a small tree grown into a very large, old one, causing the Professor to deduce that the rays speed up aging.

Learning of an approaching electrical storm, the Professor seizes on the possibility of drawing the lightning to the meteor to destroy it. Meanwhile, the other castaways have gotten the news and consider themselves doomed, though nobody's actually showing signs of age. While the Professor and Skipper are working on creating a lightning rod of lead-coated bamboo, Gilligan falls asleep and has a dream about all of the castaways supposedly being 50 years older, and celebrating their 50th anniversary on the island...though everybody seems to be generically old-aged with no accounting for age differences between the characters/actors--Natalie Schafer was 35 years older than Bob Denver, and aged another 50 years would have been around 116! The party is interrupted by a storm, and Gilligan wakes up to find that the storm has started. He grabs the lightning rod, which is hit by lightning and, in its charged state, flies straight into the meteor, then draws more lightning which destroys it. In the coda, the Professor detects no lingering cosmic rays.

_______

He's really Reed Richards. There for, a degreed expert in everything.

I always thought he would have been a perfect Reed back in the day.

The island is alive. It changes size and shape and topology.

And yet they keep using the same set pieces, like that cave.

I think this was before Palimony became a thing. But she's rich anyway, so she shouldn't even need it.

It's a matter of whose money is on the island; but the possibility I hadn't considered is that she brought money into the marriage, increasing Thurston's wealth, in which case she would be entitled to her share.

He also has a sitcom law degree. I hope the Skipper is also a JOP or something.

The Professor didn't even claim legal expertise in this case...he just handwaved the legality of the ceremony away. "Well I guess that's good enough!"

Seriously, what is wrong with that kid?

Girls are yucky!

She's very pampered. She's probably never been alone in her life.

Then why not let Thurston stay in their hut?

But the frauleins have knowledge of the underground resort at Stalag 13. They really needed to kill them, but that would be too much for a sitcom, I suppose. And what about poor Warren? This was a nice little action-packed adventure, but not well thought out.

It does stretch credibility that they'd manage to keep their operation a secret. But in this case, the Gestapo officers were easily steered into thinking that the frauleins were making it all up to save themselves.

 

[vandevere]

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I find it interesting that both 'The Midnight Special' and 'Johnny Carson' YouTube page uploaded clips of the Bee Gees performing their new single 'Saw A New Morning' on the same day, seeing as it's the 50th anniversary of the week it charted.

It's a pleasant enough single, from the album "Life in a Tin Can", but the Bee Gees were still out of favor with their audience, and it didn't chart in the UK and only #94 in the US.

Their next album, "Mr. Natural" would introduce the soul/disco elements that would come to fruition with the album "Main Course".

I was one of the apparent few who loved "Saw a New Morning".

 

[RJDiogenes]

The girl, who we learn was tagging along with her father

Must be Take-Your-Daughter to work day.

Jason intends to keep the railroad payroll in his office safe

Does the town have no sheriff?

She does make friends with a boy with whom she tosses knives at a saloon door, but the boy's father comes out and gets in an altercation with the girl

Antagonizing a cantankerous teenage girl who throws knives for fun is not the smartest move.

General McCord enters, having taken care of the robber keeping watch outside, and Jason and Kellie hug.

"I killed this guy for loitering. Oh, was he trying to murder you?"

In the coda, a cleaned-up Kellie--now formally in Ann's custody until family can be found, rather than being sent to an orphanage--wears the dress Jason bought her for a date with the general.

I get the impression that they were setting up a format change for the next season. Jason settled down with the general and a steady job, married to Anne and adopting Kellie. That would have been pretty similar to Rifleman.

Carter learns that his lifelong girlfriend Mary Jane is now seeing an air raid warden

Geez, lady, the guy's a POW-- lie to him.

(and Kinch is belatedly informed that he's 4F)

That's pretty belated. What's wrong with him? Is this what leads to the actor leaving the show?

Carter makes his titular request, but apparently attempts to get out of Hogan's outfit aren't taken lightly.

I can see how that would cause some problems.

various uniformed Germans--including a private played by William Christopher

Wow, so Father Mulcahy was actually a former Nazi officer who escaped Germany in the last days of the war by switching identities with an American priest that he killed. I never realized that!

he's a prisoner who needs help trying to escape, but nobody believes him

Poor guy can't even get arrested.

In the coda, Carter's using the tunnel to get out, not to return home to Mary Jane, but rather to see Mady again.

Okay, that was kind of anticlimactic.

The Professor detects cosmic rays

That's coincidental, given the Reed Richards connection.

The trio don lead-coated clothing and lead makeup

Keep your fingers out of your mouth, Gilligan! You're bad enough as it is!

Meanwhile, the other castaways have gotten the news and consider themselves doomed, though nobody's actually showing signs of age.

Just keep your distance, except for bringing the citrus fruits closer to make them mature faster.

Gilligan falls asleep and has a dream about all of the castaways supposedly being 50 years older

That's two dream episodes almost in a row. Kind of weird that they would do that.

everybody seems to be generically old-aged with no accounting for age differences between the characters/actors

Dream logic. Or Gilligan logic.

He grabs the lightning rod, which is hit by lightning and, in its charged state, flies straight into the meteor, then draws more lightning which destroys it.

And Gilligan suffers no ill effects from being hit by lightning.

I always thought he would have been a perfect Reed back in the day.

That's true, he would have been great. And then maybe Mary Anne with a blonde wig as Sue, Gilligan with a blonde wig as Johnny, and Skipper as Ben. Then again, maybe not.

And yet they keep using the same set pieces, like that cave.

Maybe it's modular.

It's a matter of whose money is on the island; but the possibility I hadn't considered is that she brought money into the marriage, increasing Thurston's wealth, in which case she would be entitled to her share.

I'm pretty sure she's from a rich family, too. When you said Wentworth, I thought Wentworth Industries-- but I may be making that up.

The Professor didn't even claim legal expertise in this case...he just handwaved the legality of the ceremony away. "Well I guess that's good enough!"

As long as it gets the Howells back in their hut together!

Girls are yucky!

Not when you're thirty. Is he a proto-Millennial or something?

Then why not let Thurston stay in their hut?

Spite? They probably just both left without consulting each other, I guess.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

Post-55th Anniversary Viewing

_______

Gilligan's Island
"Up at Bat"
Originally aired September 12, 1966
Season 3 premiere

After a bat bites Gilligan in the neck in a cave, he is convinced that he will become a vampire and moves away to save his fellow castaways.

Shoulda saved it for a month or so. Gilligan rushes into "an unexplored cave" (the same cave they always use whenever there's a cave) to retrieve some coconuts he dropped and gets bit in the neck by a vampire bat. The Professor insists that Gilligan's fears are just superstition, but doesn't express any concern about rabies. Gilligan's fears are stoked when he can't see his reflection in a mirror of the girls' with a worn-off backing. As he murmurs in his hammock about biting his friends' necks in the middle of the night, he gets Skipper worked up enough to put a scarf around his neck. Gilligan arises in the night, sleep-walking in the role of a vampire, and ends up nibbling Mrs. Howell's neck.

Lovey (to Thurston): He came at me with that frightful look that you get when you're about to foreclose on a mortgage!​

In order to psychologically cure Gilligan, the Professor decides to whip up an "anti-vampire potion" that's just a harmless tranquilizer.

Skipper: What school did you go to, Batman U.?​

The potion puts Gilligan out immediately, and seeing a full moon out, Skipper puts the scarf on again. When he wakes up in the morning, he finds a vampire bat in Gilligan's hammock, and assumes that it's his little buddy. The Professor catches the bat flying around in the girls' hut and determines it to actually be a red fruit bat.

Meanwhile, Gilligan has isolated himself in a cave that he's closed up as a cell, and has a fantasy dream in which the Howells are traveling in Transylvania and come upon the castle of Gilligan as a bumbling vampire and Ginger as his wife. While Gilligan schemes to feast on the Howells, the Professor and Skipper arrive to investigate the castle as Inspector Sherlock and his assistant, Watney (having been summoned by the old maid, Mary Ann). They eventually find Gilligan attacking the Howells, and in case you didn't think this was at least partly about the Caped Crusader, a brief fight ensues in which sound effects are prominently displayed onscreen.

As the vampire is knocked out, Skipper wakes up Gilligan to tell him the news about the bat, but ends up chasing him around the island pretending to be Frankenstein's monster. In the coda, Gilligan and the Skipper are scoffing at how stupid they were to think they were dealing with a real vampire bat, only for another bat to appear in their window, causing them to panic.

_______

Hogan's Heroes
"Hogan Gives a Birthday Party"
Originally aired September 16, 1966
Season 2 premiere

Hogan tricks Klink into calling forth a bomber for study, but it arrives with a complication - a German general familiar with Hogan's style.

We go back to how Schultz was a little too in on things early in Season 1, when the prisoners are devising plans to take out the refinery at Stutterheim with the help of a couple of shot-down bomber officers whom they're also planning an escape for, Lts. Karras and Hardy (Peter Marko and L.E. Young). When Schultz walks in on them, Hogan is very open about what they're doing, causing Schultz to leave to maintain his plausible deniability. In Klink's office, Hilda (Sigrid Valdis) has replaced Helga (Cynthia Lynn); and Hogan maneuvers Klink into somehow pulling in resources to conduct research about the superiority of the Luftwaffe over Allied bomber crews...which involves Hogan being tested in German equipment that Klink obligingly brings in, which Kinch photographs, allowing the prisoners to recreate a control panel for the bomber crewmen in the tunnel, so they can prepare themselves for flying a stolen German bomber. But the Luftwaffe general who comes to the Stalag with a bomber as part of the plan, Biedenbender (James Gregory), turns out to be such a student of Hogan himself from Hogan's old 12 O'Clock High days that he even knows that it's Hogan's birthday, and anticipates an escape scheme on Hogan's part involving the plane that he brought.

Hogan thus has to adjust his scheme to outmaneuver the general...making obvious moves to steer Biedenbender into making the countermoves that he wants--which includes leaving for Berlin early, the night of the party that the general insists Klink throw for Hogan; and maneuvering a Schultz who knows too much into not summoning the general's plane crew, so Hogan can substitute his own--the prisoners, plus the two American crewmen. Schultz is persuaded to tag along as the general is taken prisoner on the plane, which Hogan pilots for the bombing run; and Carter gets the satisfaction of playing bombardier for bombs that he custom modified. After the successful raid on Stutterheim, the prisoners and Schultz jump from the bomber over Stalag 13, then Karras and Hardy take the bomber and general to England.

In the coda, the Germans think that Biedenbender flew the bombing raid himself and defected; and Hogan covers for Schultz.

_______

Does the town have no sheriff?

Victor French, in fact. Maybe he didn't have a safe; but ultimately it was a payroll that Jason was responsible for.

I get the impression that they were setting up a format change for the next season. Jason settled down with the general and a steady job, married to Anne and adopting Kellie. That would have been pretty similar to Rifleman.

Or cancelation was in the air and they wanted to leave things on a settling-down note.

That's pretty belated. What's wrong with him? Is this what leads to the actor leaving the show?

It was played as a joke--"Oh, now they tell me!" Also, Hogan got a letter that was redacted by being cut into Swiss cheese.

I can see how that would cause some problems.

There was a potentially nasty, uncomedic consequence that one's mind couldn't help going to...

Wow, so Father Mulcahy was actually a former Nazi officer who escaped Germany in the last days of the war by switching identities with an American priest that he killed. I never realized that!

Hogan's Heroes and M*A*S*H could take place in the same warped wartime timeline...

Okay, that was kind of anticlimactic.

You'da preferred they offed him?

Keep your fingers out of your mouth, Gilligan! You're bad enough as it is!

I was anticipating the other castaways seeing those three in their lead getup and thinking they were aliens.

Just keep your distance, except for bringing the citrus fruits closer to make them mature faster.

Other than the screen and the tree, which were very close to it, nothing else on the island was affected.

That's two dream episodes almost in a row. Kind of weird that they would do that.

Three now, across seasons.

I'm pretty sure she's from a rich family, too. When you said Wentworth, I thought Wentworth Industries-- but I may be making that up.

That does have a familiar ring about it. But if it came up before, I don't seem to have mentioned it in a post.

Not when you're thirty. Is he a proto-Millennial or something?

In one of the recently watched episodes, Gilligan said that he was 22.

Spite? They probably just both left without consulting each other, I guess.

She knew she'd just kicked him out.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Shoulda saved it for a month or so.

Strange how often that happens.

The Professor insists that Gilligan's fears are just superstition, but doesn't express any concern about rabies.

Imagine having to give Gilligan four doses of rabies vaccine with that giant needle.

In order to psychologically cure Gilligan, the Professor decides to whip up an "anti-vampire potion" that's just a harmless tranquilizer.

There he goes, practicing psychology without a license again.

The Professor catches the bat flying around in the girls' hut and determines it to actually be a red fruit bat.

So Gilligan will actually turn into a red fruit. More for the food supply.

While Gilligan schemes to feast on the Howells, the Professor and Skipper arrive to investigate the castle as Inspector Sherlock and his assistant, Watney

Weird little literary crossover there.

in case you didn't think this was at least partly about the Caped Crusader, a brief fight ensues in which sound effects are prominently displayed onscreen.

Cute.

"Hogan Gives a Birthday Party"

Once again, the placeholder title makes it to the final draft.

We go back to how Schultz was a little too in on things early in Season 1

I'd also like to know what happened to Schultz after the war. Was he put on trial? Did Hogan advocate for him?

which Kinch photographs

So much for being 4F.

allowing the prisoners to recreate a control panel for the bomber crewmen in the tunnel, so they can prepare themselves for flying a stolen German bomber.

That's a nice touch, actually. You don't just waltz onto a Klingon ship and figure it out in two minutes.

Biedenbender (James Gregory)

Inspector Luger, ironically.

turns out to be such a student of Hogan himself from Hogan's old 12 O'Clock High days that he even knows that it's Hogan's birthday

"You brilliant son of a bitch, I read your book!"

the prisoners and Schultz jump from the bomber over Stalag 13

Some things strain credulity even on a show like Hogan's Heroes. Was there any interaction between Schultz and Biedenbender?

Victor French, in fact. Maybe he didn't have a safe; but ultimately it was a payroll that Jason was responsible for.

Ah, okay.

Or cancelation was in the air and they wanted to leave things on a settling-down note.

It is a good way to end the series. Better than most shows got.

It was played as a joke--"Oh, now they tell me!" Also, Hogan got a letter that was redacted by being cut into Swiss cheese.

From who, I wonder.

There was a potentially nasty, uncomedic consequence that one's mind couldn't help going to...

Indeed.

Hogan's Heroes and M*A*S*H could take place in the same warped wartime timeline...

Yeah, even the actor's age would match up.

You'da preferred they offed him?

Heh, no, I mean he got over the girlfriend pretty easily in the end.

Other than the screen and the tree, which were very close to it, nothing else on the island was affected.

So there's not even any evidence that it affected animal life. They could have just left it alone. In fact, blowing it up with lightning would have made it even more dangerous by spreading it around.

Three now, across seasons.

That's really odd.

That does have a familiar ring about it. But if it came up before, I don't seem to have mentioned it in a post.

It could be something I'm remembering from the show or just something I hallucinated.

In one of the recently watched episodes, Gilligan said that he was 22.

That's plenty old enough. The Skipper should have a talk with him.

She knew she'd just kicked him out.

Ah, well, I guess the writers just needed them to interact with the other castaways.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

Post-55th Anniversary Viewing

_______

Gilligan's Island
"Gilligan vs. Gilligan"
Originally aired September 19, 1966

Bob Denver has a dual role as Gilligan and his look-alike, a spy whose government thinks the castaways are on a secret mission.

The others assume that Gilligan ate a coconut pineapple pie that Mary Ann made, though Gilligan claims that he only found the empty plate. Gilligan tries to track down the pie and finds a lookalike in duplicate clothes eating the pie in the jungle. Nobody believes Gilligan when he tells them; and we see that the double is a spy, Agent 222, who's studied Gilligan via film, been given plastic surgery to look like him, and reports to a submarine via a transmitter disguised as the spoon of a gold pocket knife. Gilligan brings up the knife that he saw, which the others find to be a conspicuous enough detail to lend credence to Gilligan's claims, so they search the jungle for a Gilligan lookalike. Gilligan comes upon the spy's packs, but is knocked out and tied up by 222, who reports in and is ordered that once he's gotten the information that he needs, he's to proceed to Phase 4...the elimination of the castaways.

The spy questions the Skipper about why they're on the island, and he thinks that Gilligan is accusing him of being a lousy captain. The next day, he comes on very strongly to Ginger, trying to seduce her. Finally, he tries to probe the Howells for information about who they're working for. The Professor puts that psychology degree to work and determines that Gilligan is suffering from delusions, encouraging the other castaways to play along with him. When the real Gilligan escapes and tries to tell everyone that he was kidnapped, they all effectively blow him off. He then spots his double going into the Howells' hut, searches for him while the spy is hiding in their closet, and a routine ensues in which 222 pretends to be Gilligan's reflection in the closet's mirrored door. (I've never noticed this before, and did they really bring a door-size mirror on the Minnow?) The spy slips up and Gilligan chases him as he runs for his hidden motorboat. The spy starts the boat, comes back on shore when he remembers that he forgot to kill the castaways, and after he comes face-to-face with Gilligan again and tells him about the death ray in his knife, the boat starts to take off without him and the spy jumps in after it.

In the coda, the Skipper assumes that Gilligan's story is another delusion, until the Professor shows him the now-nonfunctioning pocket knife gadget that he found in the lagoon.

_______

Hogan's Heroes
"The Schultz Brigade"
Originally aired September 23, 1966

Klink reluctantly falls in with two other Kommandants plotting against Burkhalter. Burkhalter finds out. Now Hogan must step in before Stalag 13 loses Klink the military way - by firing squad.

Schultz reluctantly posts a propaganda notice urging Allied POWs to join the Luftwaffe, and is persuaded to deliver an accompanying speech about it. Then Hogan teases Schultz about organizing a titularly named effort going in the opposite direction--sending German defectors to England to recruit the POWs there. Meanwhile, Klink is being pressured by fellow stalag kommandants Burmeister and Bussie (Parley Baer and Lou Krugman) to get Burkhalter ousted so one of them will be promoted in his place...only for a suspicious Burkhalter to bust their party, as the trio have previously met at the other two stalags. Burkhalter threatens to have all of them shot, pending a trial, for which Hogan volunteers to be called as a witness. The kangaroo court is conducted in Klink's office; but Hogan's testimony implicates Klink as the mastermind of the coup attempt, such that Burkhalter lets the other colonels go.

However, Hogan then uses the power of his testimony as leverage to persuade the other colonels to don American uniforms and defect to England...getting the titular organization started. The colonels' uniforms are donned by Newkirk and Carter, along with rubber fright masks, to make a faux assassination attempt on Burkhalter. Hogan has Klink busted out of the cooler so that he can lead the effort to rescue Burkhalter, sending the faux colonels running. Burkhalter is so grateful that he insists on hooking Klink back up with his sister. In the coda, Hogan gives advice to Klink about handling this situation, which gets him out of...

Thirty days in the COOLerrrr!

_______

There he goes, practicing psychology without a license again.

But cleverly, pretending to be using a different expertise.

So Gilligan will actually turn into a red fruit. More for the food supply.

Not to mention the bats themselves.

Weird little literary crossover there.

Pretty cute, though, and everyone seemed to be having fun...especially Denver going full-on Legosi.

Cute.

I'd also like to know what happened to Schultz after the war. Was he put on trial? Did Hogan advocate for him?

Only after tricking him into spilling everything he knew.

Inspector Luger, ironically.

And the way he got into Hogan's mind...almost like somebody who ran some sort of psychiatric institution...

"You brilliant son of a bitch, I read your book!"

Don't make me slap you and get sent on the war bond circuit.

Some things strain credulity even on a show like Hogan's Heroes. Was there any interaction between Schultz and Biedenbender?

Not on the plane...they were compartmentalized.

Heh, no, I mean he got over the girlfriend pretty easily in the end.

Via a tried and true method.

So there's not even any evidence that it affected animal life. They could have just left it alone. In fact, blowing it up with lightning would have made it even more dangerous by spreading it around.

They "disintegrated" it.

That's really odd.

My recollection was that they did do a lot of these. Maybe at this point they were trying to be more like Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, and fantasy dream sequences were their means.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

We're falling behind on our 50th Anniversary listening; we missed two important releases last week.

First up, Deep Purple with 'Smoke on the Water'.

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Released 5-May-1973 - reached No. 4 on the US charts.

Next we have Paul Simon and his album 'There Goes Rhymin' Simon' with the lead single 'Kodachrome'. (Wikipedia says the album was released on May 19, but according to the '50th Anniversary' thread on the Steve Hoffman forums, it was released a week earlier in some countries.)

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Album No. 4 on the UK charts and No. 2 on the US charts. The single peaked at No. 2 on both US and UK charts.

Finally, May 1973, Richard Branson launched Virgin Records with the release of the Mike Oldfield album 'Tubular Bells'.

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[RJDiogenes]

"Gilligan vs. Gilligan"

Our latest Evil Twin adventure.

Gilligan tries to track down the pie and finds a lookalike in duplicate clothes eating the pie in the jungle.

Apparently he also has a duplicate appetite.

the double is a spy, Agent 222

I wonder if his boss is a duplicate of Lloyd Haynes.

a transmitter disguised as the spoon of a gold pocket knife

An odd choice.

once he's gotten the information that he needs, he's to proceed to Phase 4...the elimination of the castaways.

Since they've garnered all this long-range intelligence, what do they possibly imagine the castaways to be up to? Is there a secret Soviet base on the island or something?

The next day, he comes on very strongly to Ginger, trying to seduce her.

"Gilligan, you're finally interested in girls!"

a routine ensues in which 222 pretends to be Gilligan's reflection in the closet's mirrored door.

A routine that originated with the Marx Brothers (as far as I know), and was later homaged by Lucy-- and probably others.

(I've never noticed this before, and did they really bring a door-size mirror on the Minnow?)

Maybe the Professor made it. Didn't he make one in another episode to signal a plane or some such thing?

he comes face-to-face with Gilligan again and tells him about the death ray in his knife, the boat starts to take off without him and the spy jumps in after it.

So... the entire plot remains unresolved, and the murderous spy remains at large, and the lives of the castaways remain in peril.

the Professor shows him the now-nonfunctioning pocket knife gadget that he found in the lagoon.

The Professor should be able to reverse engineer that sucker in no time!

Then Hogan teases Schultz about organizing a titularly named effort going in the opposite direction--sending German defectors to England to recruit the POWs there.

They should have called it the Schultzwaffe.

Burkhalter threatens to have all of them shot, pending a trial, for which Hogan volunteers to be called as a witness.

Burkhalter must be head of Human Resources.

The colonels' uniforms are donned by Newkirk and Carter, along with rubber fright masks

And here we have the secret origin of the IMF.

Burkhalter is so grateful that he insists on hooking Klink back up with his sister.

That firing squad probably doesn't look so bad now.

Not to mention the bats themselves.

Hmm. They probably taste like chicken.

Pretty cute, though, and everyone seemed to be having fun...especially Denver going full-on Legosi.

I'll bet. The show in general must have been great times for them all (except grumpy Tina Louise).

View attachment 34287
View attachment 34288
View attachment 34289

Remember that "enhanced reality" thing that allowed people to see Pokemon everywhere? They should do a version for sound effects.

Only after tricking him into spilling everything he knew.

"I knew everyTHINK!"

And the way he got into Hogan's mind...almost like somebody who ran some sort of psychiatric institution...

And ran it like a concentration camp.

Don't make me slap you and get sent on the war bond circuit.

Not on the plane...they were compartmentalized.

Eh, cop out.

They "disintegrated" it.

Maybe he really is Reed Richards.

My recollection was that they did do a lot of these. Maybe at this point they were trying to be more like Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, and fantasy dream sequences were their means.

I don't remember them being so bunched up, but that's probably because Channel 56 ran them out of order.

First up, Deep Purple with 'Smoke on the Water'.

Great song, with a great story behind it, especially the part about the guy saving all those kids. The thing that I remember most about this song is that it was played at the first dance I went to when I started junior high, which would have been that fall. The dance was held in the gymnasium of Central Junior High (later the town hall, and now an assisted-living facility). The sound system was one of those gray turntables from the A/V closet, and some kids brought in their 45s-- "Smoke on the Water" ended up getting played about a thousand times.

Next we have Paul Simon and his album 'There Goes Rhymin' Simon' with the lead single 'Kodachrome'.

Another great song.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

Post-55th Anniversary Viewing

_______

Gilligan's Island
"Pass the Vegetables, Please"
Originally aired September 26, 1966

Radioactive seeds yield vegetables that give the castaways unusual powers.

Fishing in the lagoon, Gilligan reels in a crate full of packages of vegetable seeds...not noticing the signage on the side of the crate that the seeds are experimentally radioactive. The castaways are ecstatic about the bounty of new food options and get to work planting them, for which Mary Ann's agricultural background comes in handy. (I wonder how many of these seeds could be expected to grow in the sand of a tropical island.) The crops grow with supernatural speed and in unusual shapes and sizes, but everyone is eager to feast. Then the obligatory radio announcement about the lost crate brings the nature of its contents to their attention.

Reading up on the effects of radioactivity, the Professor has everyone get physically active to keep the radioactivity from settling in one place. The first castaway to exhibit an unusual power is Mary Ann, whose carrots have given her super-vision capable of seeing a distant boat and the passengers aboard it. Sent to fetch wood for a signal fire, spinach-eating Gilligan picks up a large tree trunk with one hand. Meanwhile, sugar beets have given Mrs. Howell super-speed. The Professor determines that the cure for the unpredictable radioactivity is for the castaways to eat the soap that they've been making on the island. Their counter-feast turns the dinner table into Lawrence Welk's stage, as the castaways all start blowing bubbles.

In the coda, the castaways have been cured, and Gilligan's taken a liking to the soap.

I don't feel like they did enough with this one...the part where they had super-powers was over so quickly, and the effects of the vegetables on four of them were never accounted for.

_______

Hogan's Heroes
"Diamonds in the Rough"
Originally aired September 30, 1966

Hogan's operation is known to a Gestapo man who wants to trade his knowledge for $1,000,000 in diamonds, but can he be trusted?

An attractive milkmaid (Ulla Stromstedt) gets in the gate, in part by sweet-talking Schultz, in order to covertly deliver an anonymous message to Hogan to arrange a rendezvous in the woods by night. Making the rendezvous, Hogan and his men are arrested by the fraulein, who's a Gestapo agent. They're taken to meet the Gestapo's Major Hegel (Paul Lambert), who confronts Hogan with his detailed knowledge of the prisoners' operation...provided to him by a mole posing as a POW who temporary worked with them. But the major wants to use this information for personal gain, to the tune of the ransom mentioned in the description. Allied HQ turns down Hogan's request for the diamonds, so Hogan hatches a scheme that involves requesting counterfeit diamonds via code (as Hegel is monitoring their communications), then going to Klink with the story that Hegel wants the diamonds to let the prisoners escape, but plans to have them offed in the attempt.

Hogan arranges for Klink to be present when Hegel meets with Hogan by having the kommandant disguise himself as a private on guard duty. Schultz takes perverse pleasure in drilling Klink like an ordinary subordinate. At the work site, Klink eavesdrops as Hogan makes excuses for not being able to get the diamonds; and Hegel sets a deadline for the payment. Hogan steers Hegel into admitting that he'll kill the prisoners and Klink to cover things up if he's double-crossed. Back near the camp, the fake diamonds are air-dropped in by night.

The prisoners are allowed to escape to make the ransom rendezvous in a barn, followed by Klink commanding a contingent of soldiers to raid the place. When Klink announces his presence, Hegel admits that he planned to kill the prisoners either way--just as he sent his mole to Russian front and has recently had his female accomplice, Myra, killed. Against Hogan's emphatic advice that he slip out the back, Hegel walks boldly out front with the intent of ordering Klink to shoot the escaping prisoners inside. Instead, Klink has the soldiers open fire when Schultz reacts to Hegel being armed. Back at the Stalag, Hogan tells a story to a Gestapo agent (uncredited Martin Blaine) to cover for Klink, claiming that Hegel happened to be on the scene and got caught in the crossfire when Klink went after the escaping prisoners.

_______

An odd choice.

A memorable bit of business though. I remembered Gilligan's double talking into the spoon from watching the show as a kid; the same with the castaways' super-powers.

Since they've garnered all this long-range intelligence, what do they possibly imagine the castaways to be up to? Is there a secret Soviet base on the island or something?

I wonder if the castaways ever got any kind of retribution against all the parties who knew they were on the island and kept it to themselves.

Maybe the Professor made it. Didn't he make one in another episode to signal a plane or some such thing?

I don't recall that coming up yet.

They should have called it the Schultzwaffe.

Not bad.

And here we have the secret origin of the IMF.

Hmmm...

I'll bet. The show in general must have been great times for them all (except grumpy Tina Louise).

The fantasy sequences did let her get out of Marilyn Clone mode.

Story Television, one of the Weigel networks that shows old History Channel-type programming, is playing episodes of Extreme History with Roger Daltrey today. I'm recording.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

In case anyone here is interested, I found out via the "Steve Hoffman" music forums that the "Midnight Special" YouTube page is curated by its creator Burt Sugarman, who is still going strong at 84.

He's received permission from every artist that performed on the show, either living or through their estate, to upload their performance on the official "Midnight Special" YouTube channel. He'll be uploading about 15 new clips a week.

He'll also be uploading full episodes as well, starting with the pilot episode.

There are already several clips from 1973 on the channel, but I'll wait until the appropriate day/week to post them.