The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

[RJDiogenes]

Essentially, the series can be separated by two categories: The Farrah Period and The Post-Farrah Period.

I'd say three: Farrah, Cheryl Ladd's first season, and thereafter.

...with the better example of 70s Women's Lib TV being Police Woman (NBC, 1974-78). Not as much of a bikini show.

Different types of shows. Police Woman was a gritty police drama and Charlie's Angels was high adventure. And, personally, I like bikinis.

Someone sqealing for Shaun Cassidy? Here you go!

Funny, I don't see anything.

The late 70s delivered Out of the Blue (ABC, 1979), the angel-with-family spinoff from the horrid Happy Days.

I should have mentioned that, but it died a quick death-- of course, Living Doll didn't last long either (Mork & Mindy spun off from the horrid Happy Days, too).

All were pure crap, and certainly failed to make a cultural mark like your list of 60s fantasy sitcoms.

Failed to make a mark on my memory, too-- I don't remember any of them.

This is an example of the original 45 having split the song into two parts filling both sides...the bulk of the song, in this case, being on the B-side. While I'm not familiar with the split version, it's pretty easy to tell where the radio fade-out for the more commercial part of the song would be.

Ah, interesting. Yeah, I don't even have to listen again to know where the break was.

It's a cute little number, but I don't have much of an opinion about it one way or the other.

That's about how I felt about it.

On that note, a fun 50th anniversary fact that I stumbled across...1968 was the last year that Memorial Day didn't fall on a Monday. The act that moved that and a few other federal holidays to always fall on Mondays rather than a specific calendar date was passed on June 28, 1968. Prior to that, it fell on May 30...which was a Thursday in 1968.

I kind of remember that. There was a little bit of controversy until people started getting their long weekends.

I've heard the title before, that's about it...and that might owe to the fact that it was a film before the TV series.

True. I think TCM just showed it last year.

"Blowin' in the Wind"

One of the all-time classic works of humanity from any era, past, present, or future.

"A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall"

Another good Dylan song. I love Bob Dylan.

"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"

One of my favorites, although I heard the Peter, Paul, and Mary version first, thanks to that 8-Track we used to have.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I kind of remember that. There was a little bit of controversy until people started getting their long weekends.

Monday off is the gift that keeps on giving...a short work week to look forward to after the holiday. And it totally takes the edge off Sunday.

I love Bob Dylan.

As I dig deeper into him, I'm finding his music strangely spellbinding...I played that album on a loop for hours last night.

The Times They Are a-Changin' and Another Side of Bob Dylan aren't on the Rolling Stone albums list, and I was reading that they weren't generally as highly regarded as Freewheelin' or the rock trilogy that followed them...but at this point I'm inclined to get them when they come up as 55th anniversary business to get the fuller picture. Any opinions?

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Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for 51 years ago this week:

1. "Respect," Aretha Franklin
2. "Groovin'," The Young Rascals
3. "I Got Rhythm," The Happenings
4. "Release Me (and Let Me Love Again)," Engelbert Humperdinck
5. "Creeque Alley," The Mamas & The Papas
6. "Him or Me, What's It Gonna Be?," Paul Revere & The Raiders
7. "The Happening," The Supremes
8. "Sweet Soul Music," Arthur Conley
9. "Somebody to Love," Jefferson Airplane
10. "All I Need," The Temptations
11. "Mirage," Tommy James & The Shondells
12. "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon," Neil Diamond
13. "Here Comes My Baby," The Tremeloes
14. "She'd Rather Be with Me," The Turtles
15. "On a Carousel," The Hollies
16. "Somethin' Stupid," Frank & Nancy Sinatra
17. "Little Bit o' Soul," The Music Explosion
18. "Friday on My Mind," The Easybeats
19. "Six O'Clock," The Lovin' Spoonful
20. "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman," Whistling Jack Smith
21. "Close Your Eyes," Peaches & Herb
22. "Don't You Care," The Buckinghams
23. "When You're Young and in Love," The Marvelettes
24. "Happy Jack," The Who
25. "Shake a Tail Feather," James & Bobby Purify
26. "Do It Again a Little Bit Slower," Jon & Robin & The In Crowd
27. "Sunday Will Never Be the Same," Spanky & Our Gang
28. "Windy," The Association
29. "Come on Down to My Boat," Every Mother's Son
30. "7-Rooms of Gloom," Four Tops
31. "Sunshine Girl," The Parade
32. "Too Many Fish in the Sea & Three Little Fishes," Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
33. "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," Frankie Valli

35. "Alfie," Dionne Warwick
36. "Let's Live for Today," The Grass Roots

38. "Casino Royale," Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
39. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
40. "Tramp," Otis & Carla

43. "You Got What It Takes," The Dave Clark Five
44. "The Oogum Boogum Song," Brenton Wood
45. "Ding, Dong! The Witch Is Dead," The Fifth Estate
46. "I Think We're Alone Now," Tommy James & The Shondells
47. "When I Was Young," Eric Burdon & The Animals
48. "Dead End Street Monologue/Dead End Street," Lou Rawls
49. "New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Have You Seen My Wife, Mr. Jones)," Bee Gees

53. "Here We Go Again," Ray Charles
54. "Yellow Balloon," The Yellow Balloon
55. "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)," Scott McKenzie

58. "Shake," Otis Redding

63. "For Your Precious Love," Oscar Toney, Jr.

66. "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)," Janis Ian

70. "The Tracks of My Tears," Johnny Rivers

75. "Pay You Back with Interest," The Hollies
76. "Don't Sleep in the Subway," Petula Clark

81. "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat," Bob Dylan

83. "Up, Up and Away," The 5th Dimension

88. "Soul Finger," The Bar-Kays

90. "Step Out of Your Mind," The American Breed

94. "Release Me," Esther Phillips

98. "Light My Fire," The Doors
99. "Make Me Yours," Bettye Swann


Leaving the chart:

• "Jimmy Mack," Martha & The Vandellas
• "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You," The Monkees

I've been meaning to bring up that Macy's is using "The Oogum Boogum Song" in a current commercial!

 

[RJDiogenes]

Monday off is the gift that keeps on giving...a short work week to look forward to after the holiday. And it totally takes the edge off Sunday.

It was a brilliant idea. Any holiday not attached to a specific date should definitely be a long weekend.

As I dig deeper into him, I'm finding his music strangely spellbinding...I played that album on a loop for hours last night.

Hah. Been there.

The Times They Are a-Changin' and Another Side of Bob Dylan aren't on the Rolling Stone albums list, and I was reading that they weren't generally as highly regarded as Freewheelin' or the rock trilogy that followed them...but at this point I'm inclined to get them when they come up as 55th anniversary business to get the fuller picture. Any opinions?

Dylan in his prime was a controversial figure, even among his own fans, but I'd have to agree. Highway 61 and Blonde on Blonde are probably the strongest albums. I don't really think of Dylan in terms of albums, though, probably mostly because of how I discovered him. The compilation albums are probably a better way to listen to him, but since you're going for historical context that may not work for you.

 

[The Old Mixer]

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50th Anniversary Viewing

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The Ed Sullivan Show
Season 20, episode 37
Originally aired May 26, 1968
As represented in The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show

First we get the Muppets doing their routine to "Java" for the second time on the show. The instrumental is best known for trumpeter Al Hirt's hit single version (charted Jan. 4, 1964; #4 US; #1 AC; Al Hirt also did the theme for the Green Hornet TV show). I wasn't able to find a video from this date, but I did find one from the original performance that aired November 27, 1966:

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Next talk show host Mike Douglas does an uptempo, vaguely swingish rendition of the Doctor Doolittle song "Talk to the Animals," while wandering among life-sized stuffed animals.

Finally, from Madrid, Lucera Tena does a Spanish dance routine in a long, red flamenco dress...the kind that's tight down to about the knees and then becomes a train of ruffles.

Also in the original episode according to tv.com:

Guests:
--Nancy Sinatra - "Sock It To Me Sunshine" & "This Girl's In Love With You."
--Spanky & Our Gang - "Three Ways from Tomorrow."
--Mike Douglas sings "Why Did I Choose You?"
--Scoey Mitchell (stand-up comedian) - topics: taxes, race relations
--Henra & Ullett (stand-up comedy) - does a routine set at the UN.
--Bobby Remson (Ransen?) - stand-up comedy routine
--Trio Rennos (three acrobats from Italy)

--Audience bow: Tony Bennett
--Audience bows: a group of wounded Vietnam Veterans.

I see one item of interest in there:

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(B-side of "Like to Get to Know You")

And that's almost it for this season of Sullivan. In the original broadcasts there were two more episodes...the last, airing June 9, being a tribute to Bobby Kennedy on the national day of morning for him. Neither episode was represented in Best of...but I do have one odd bit of business coming up in August: a performance that had been newly inserted into a summer rerun....

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The compilation albums are probably a better way to listen to him, but since you're going for historical context that may not work for you.

That, and I already have his major singles, and the fact that he's really "popped" for me with full original album listening.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

The Times They Are a-Changin' and Another Side of Bob Dylan aren't on the Rolling Stone albums list, and I was reading that they weren't generally as highly regarded as Freewheelin' or the rock trilogy that followed them...but at this point I'm inclined to get them when they come up as 55th anniversary business to get the fuller picture. Any opinions?

If you want a more complete picture, listen to everything you have access to; album lists are limiting in view of any artist's career, which can miss important changes along the way.

On a personal note about Dylan, his "Lay Lady Lay" (from the Nashville Skyline album) is my personal favorite Dylan song by a country mile. A song really feeling the period of its creation, yet is very timeless as a composition.

 

[The Old Mixer]

If you want a more complete picture, listen to everything you have access to

Well I can't buy everything. I'm using the list as a list of recommendations and making choices from there.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Next talk show host Mike Douglas does an uptempo, vaguely swingish rendition of the Doctor Doolittle song "Talk to the Animals," while wandering among life-sized stuffed animals.

I saw this one, and it was weird seeing Mike Douglas do something besides be a talk-show guy. Kind of like the time Dick Cavett came on doing standup.

I see one item of interest in there:

Pleasant, but definitely a B-side.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I saw this one, and it was weird seeing Mike Douglas do something besides be a talk-show guy.

IIRC, he sang on his talk show.

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Caught all of CNN's 1968 the past couple of nights. Some odds & ends:

"Part One: Winter" opens with Simon & Garfunkel performing "The Sound of Silence."

Journalist Chris Connelly describes The Graduate as "probably the most important movie of the Sixties."

The episode closes with Johnson announcing he wouldn't run on the last day of March...and a lot of foreshadowing of Martin Luther King's fate a few days later (covered in Part Two).

"Part Two: Spring" opens with the Beatles performing "Revolution"...even though that single isn't coming until August. The first major item covered is the King assassination. They tie that in with In the Heat of the Night winning the Oscar via the ceremony having been delayed because of the assassination.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one of the commentators in this episode.

Nixon coins the term "the silent center" (a forerunner of "the silent majority") in mid-May.

They show Eugene McCarthy making a primary visit to South Bend! I didn't recognize anything in the footage.

They cover the rise and fall of Resurrection City on the National Mall in May/June...something not in the Wiki timeline. It was part of the Poor People's Campaign spearheaded by Coretta Scott King in the wake of her husband's death.

"Part Three: Summer" opens with "Time Has Come Today" by the Chambers Brothers (coming our way in August), which CNN has been using in some of the commercials for the show.

This installment is dominated by the presidential election season following Bobby Kennedy's death, including Reagan's 11th-hour entry at the Republican Convention and the brutal chaos of the Democratic Convention.

"Part Four: Fall" opens with "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones (not a single, but still coming our way in December). This one gets more into segregationist independent candidate George Wallace, including how he tried to get Colonel Sanders to be his running mate...! Nixon's appearance on Laugh-In is touched upon.

Oddly, they saved 2001 for this episode...

It reshaped my concept of cinematic art in fifteen minutes.

,,,,though they covered a bunch of other movies (including POTA) in an earlier one.

The coverage of the tumultuous year ends on a couple of high notes: Elvis's comeback special and the Apollo 8 Christmas Eve moment.

In addition to the mentioned opening songs, one of the earlier episodes (think it was the first one) covered Sly & the Family Stone, James Brown doing "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" (coming in September), and the Supremes doing "Love Child" (coming in October).

 

[RJDiogenes]

IIRC, he sang on his talk show.

Could be. I don't really remember the show. In fact, I had kind of forgotten he existed till he showed up on Ed.

Journalist Chris Connelly describes The Graduate as "probably the most important movie of the Sixties."

And we wasted all that time talking about 2001.

Nixon coins the term "the silent center" (a forerunner of "the silent majority") in mid-May.

Everybody who doesn't speak agrees with me. And everybody who doesn't show up for my inauguration was present by default.

This installment is dominated by the presidential election season following Bobby Kennedy's death, including Reagan's 11th-hour entry at the Republican Convention and the brutal chaos of the Democratic Convention.

And twelve years later, Reagan was president. It's a very short span of time, but it seemed like a century.

I'd really love to get a look at a world where Bobby Kennedy lived.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I just remembered something from my recent chart exploration of the earlier '60s...Mike Douglas had a Top 10 single:

"The Men in My Little Girl's Life"

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(Charted Dec. 25, 1965; #6 US; #3 AC; I skipped it)

And we wasted all that time talking about 2001.

Well, I did do a pretty detailed review of The Graduate as well.

I'd really love to get a look at a world where Bobby Kennedy lived.

Butterfly effect...you could be messing around with my very existence!

 

[RJDiogenes]

I just remembered something from my recent chart exploration of the earlier '60s...Mike Douglas had a Top 10 single:

"The Men in My Little Girl's Life"

Interesting. According to Wiki, he started out as a singer and was the singing voice for Prince Charming in Disney's Cinderella. He fell into talk-show fame pretty much by accident.

Butterfly effect...you could be messing around with my very existence!

True. Something that big would create significant changes in most people's lives pretty much immediately.

 

[Lord Garth]

Thanks my having CBS All Access (because of Star Trek: Discovery), I've started to look through the catalog of old shows they have.

For the first time, I've started to watch Family Ties. Before today, I'd only ever seen bits and pieces of it. Never an entire episode.

I like it. I'm only in the first season, since I just started watching today, but I really like the Thanksgiving Episode where the parents were arrested for protesting Nuclear Weapons, standing up for what they believe in.

This is a show I never would've fully appreciated during the actual 1980s, since I was only nine when the final season aired. It's like All in the Family but in reverse. The kids, Alex and Mallory (to a lesser extent) at least, are the ones who are conservative while the parents are liberal (though Edith was a liberal too, who secretly voted for Carter).

 

[The Old Mixer]

Antenna plays Family Ties as well. That show originally came at a time when I wasn't watching a lot of TV, but I caught it occasionally. I like how they twisted the All in the Family formula by having the parents be liberal ex-hippies and Michael J. Fox as the young Reagan Republican.

I think that what I caught of the show back in the day actually contributed to my interest in '60s retro.

 

[The Old Mixer]

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50 Years Ago This Week

June 3 – Radical feminist Valerie Solanas shoots Andy Warhol as he enters his studio, wounding him.
June 4 – The Standard & Poor's 500 index closes above 100 for the first time, at 100.38.

June 5 – U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Sirhan Sirhan is arrested. Kennedy dies from his injuries the next day.

Contemporaneous News Coverage Link

June 8 – James Earl Ray is arrested for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

1. "Mrs. Robinson," Simon & Garfunkel
2. "Tighten Up," Archie Bell & The Drells
3. "This Guy's in Love with You," Herb Alpert
4. "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," Hugo Montenegro, His Orchestra & Chorus
5. "Mony Mony," Tommy James & The Shondells
6. "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy," Ohio Express
7. "MacArthur Park," Richard Harris
8. "A Beautiful Morning," The Rascals
9. "Think," Aretha Franklin
10. "Honey," Bobby Goldsboro
11. "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
12. "Cowboys to Girls," The Intruders
13. "The Look of Love," Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
14. "Angel of the Morning," Merrilee Rush & The Turnabouts
15. "Delilah," Tom Jones
16. "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day," Stevie Wonder
17. "Like to Get to Know You," Spanky & Our Gang
18. "Master Jack," Four Jacks and a Jill
19. "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)," The Temptations
20. "If I Were a Carpenter," Four Tops
21. "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," Dionne Warwick
22. "I Love You," People
23. "Reach Out of the Darkness," Friend & Lover
24. "Take Time to Know Her," Percy Sledge
25. "Licking Stick (Part 1)," James Brown & The Famous Flames

27. "A Man without Love (Quando M'innamoro)," Engelbert Humperdinck
28. "The Happy Song (Dum-Dum)," Otis Redding

30. "She's Lookin' Good," Wilson Pickett
31. "Love Is All Around," The Troggs
32. "Soul Serenade," Willie Mitchell
33. "Tip-Toe Thru' the Tulips with Me," Tiny Tim
34. "The Horse," Cliff Nobles & Co.

36. "Young Girl," The Union Gap feat. Gary Puckett
37. "(You Keep Me) Hangin' On," Joe Simon
38. "Never Give You Up," Jerry Butler
39. "Choo Choo Train," The Box Tops
40. "Does Your Mama Know About Me," Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers

43. "She's a Heartbreaker," Gene Pitney

45. "The Unicorn," The Irish Rovers
46. "Cry Like a Baby," The Box Tops

50. "Here Comes the Judge," Shorty Long

52. "Indian Lake," The Cowsills
53. "Stoned Soul Picnic," The 5th Dimension
54. "Sky Pilot," Eric Burdon & The Animals

62. "Jumpin' Jack Flash," The Rolling Stones
63. "Some Things You Never Get Used To," Diana Ross & The Supremes
64. "Lady Willpower," Gary Puckett & The Union Gap

72. "Anyone for Tennis," Cream
73. "Pictures of Matchstick Men," The Status Quo
74. "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," The Byrds
75. "Folsom Prison Blues," Johnny Cash

77. "Face It Girl, It's Over," Nancy Wilson

83. "Grazing in the Grass," Hugh Masekela

Leaving the chart:

• "Funky Street," Arthur Conley
• "I Got the Feelin'," James Brown & The Famous Flames
• "Lady Madonna," The Beatles
• "Playboy," Gene & Debbe
• "Sweet Inspiration," The Sweet Inspirations

New on the chart:

"Some Things You Never Get Used To," Diana Ross & The Supremes

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(#30 US; #43 R&B; #34 UK)

"Jumpin' Jack Flash," The Rolling Stones

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(#3 US; #1 UK; #124 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)

"Lady Willpower," Gary Puckett & The Union Gap

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(#2 US; #26 AC; #5 UK)

"Grazing in the Grass," Hugh Masekela

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(#1 US the weeks of July 20 and 27, 1968; #15 AC; #1 R&B)

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This Week's Scheduled Catch-Up Viewing:

• 12 O'Clock High, "Big Brother" (Oct. 11, 1965)
• 12 O'Clock High, "The Hotshot" (Oct. 18, 1965)

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[RJDiogenes]

"Some Things You Never Get Used To," Diana Ross & The Supremes

I'm not familiar with this one. Not exactly a classic, but it's Diana Ross.

"Jumpin' Jack Flash," The Rolling Stones

But this one is definitely a classic. It's a gas, gas, gas.

"Lady Willpower," Gary Puckett & The Union Gap

Can't... stop... listening...

"Grazing in the Grass," Hugh Masekela

I'm not sure if this is my speaker issue or not, but this sounds like an instrumental. I do like the version with words.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I'm not familiar with this one. Not exactly a classic

Their next one will be, but as previously mentioned, that's not until October.

But this one is definitely a classic. It's a gas, gas, gas.

After their awkward foray into psychedelia, the Stones are back, and in better form than ever! This is about the point in their career where I start strutting around doing my Mick impersonation, but you wouldn't wanna see that....

Can't... stop... listening...

I think I see what you did there....

I'm not sure if this is my speaker issue or not, but this sounds like an instrumental. I do like the version with words.

This proved to be Hugh Masekela's only Top 40 hit, but "Grazing in the Grass" will be back in the Top 10 next year, covered by another act...and yes, with lyrics. I can dig it, he can dig it, she can dig it, we can dig it, they can dig it, you can dig it. Oh, let's dig it. Can you dig it, baby?

This seems to be a big year for hit instrumentals. We have another one coming our way in a couple weeks that will fall just short of the top of the chart. It's both a classic and a gas.

In 51st anniversary business, today is Sgt. Pepper Day on this side of the pond! In the first paragraph of their lengthy write-up when it topped their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list...

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the most important rock & roll album ever made, an unsurpassed adventure in concept, sound, songwriting, cover art and studio technology by the greatest rock & roll group of all time. From the title song's regal blasts of brass and fuzz guitar to the orchestral seizure and long, dying piano chord at the end of "A Day in the Life," the 13 tracks on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band are the pinnacle of the Beatles' eight years as recording artists. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were never more fearless and unified in their pursuit of magic and transcendence.

There are no new videos directly from Pepper on the Beatles VEVO to commemorate the occasion, but it seems that they finally posted the full version of the classic "Strawberry Fields Forever" promo video a few weeks back:

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Hey look, it's Martha!

What had been in Decades' schedule as a Through the Decades focusing on Bobby Kennedy now turns out to be another airing of the May episode of Decades Presents: 1968. The June episode of DP:1968 in a couple of days will be about Kennedy. (Though Xfinity's info is once again mislisting the new episode as a rerun of the January episode...fortunately, I caught that in time to set the DVR manually.) And according to the commercials they've been running today, the hour after that, they're running the episode of Dick Cavett that was recorded the day RFK died. Looks like Robert Vaughn was one of the guests.

 

[RJDiogenes]

After their awkward foray into psychedelia, the Stones are back, and in better form than ever! This is about the point in their career where I start strutting around doing my Mick impersonation, but you wouldn't wanna see that....

Especially since my Mother does that all the time.

I think I see what you did there....

This proved to be Hugh Masekela's only Top 40 hit, but "Grazing in the Grass" will be back in the Top 10 next year, covered by another act...and yes, with lyrics. I can dig it, he can dig it, she can dig it, we can dig it, they can dig it, you can dig it. Oh, let's dig it. Can you dig it, baby?

Ah, groovy. I dig those lyrics.

This seems to be a big year for hit instrumentals. We have another one coming our way in a couple weeks that will fall just short of the top of the chart. It's both a classic and a gas.

I think I see what you did there.

There are no new videos directly from Pepper on the Beatles VEVO to commemorate the occasion, but it seems that they finally posted the full version of the classic "Strawberry Fields Forever" promo video a few weeks back:

Yep, definitely an all-time classic.

And according to the commercials they've been running today, the hour after that, they're running the episode of Dick Cavett that was recorded the day RFK died. Looks like Robert Vaughn was one of the guests.

Wow. That could potentially turn out to be the most interesting program on that subject.

 

[The Old Mixer]

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Catch-Up Viewing Cinematic Special

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Twelve O'Clock High
Starring Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Millard Mitchell, and Dean Jagger
Directed by Henry King
Premiered December 21, 1949
Winner of 1950 Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Dean Jagger) and Best Sound, Recording (Thomas T. Moulton); Nominee for Best Picture and Best Actor in a Leading Role (Gregory Peck)

As a viewer of the show, I found it intriguing that the film opened with a framing story showing Stovall (Dean Jagger) living in England after the war. The mug of a bandit or pirate or whatever that they use in the officer's club to indicate when the bar is closed because there's a mission the next day, which triggered Stovall's trip down Memory Runway, also popped up on the show occasionally...possibly the same prop.

It sounds like the TV show's theme was based on the main title theme of the movie, but isn't the same piece. (The film's music is credited to Alfred Newman; the TV show's to Dominic Frontiere.)

It's interesting that a 1949 film gets a little more grisly about the injuries suffered by the pilots than a 1960s TV show does...though those injuries are described and not seen. There's even an offscreen suicide.

Some of what would become regular sets for the TV show look bigger in their original movie incarnations, including Savage's office and especially the briefing hut, which is clearly a lot bigger.

Gregory Peck is a lot more of a conventionally handsome leading man type than Robert Lansing. When we meet General Savage, he's working a desk job at Wing Command under General Pritchard (Millard Mitchell), who doesn't make a great first impression being laid up in bed. (His role would be played occasionally on the show by Paul Newlan.) A Colonel Davenport (Gary Merrill) is leading the 918th, but Pritchard decides that he's become over-attached to his men, so Savage is put in as a temporary replacement to test the men's limits...basically, to be a hard-ass. At this point, bomber command is still establishing the protocol of how the group operates...e.g., how many missions a crew does before being rotated out. There's no mention of the twenty-five mission limit that regularly factored into the show.

The 918th's Air Exec, Lt. Col. Gately (Hugh Marlowe), appears to be the basis for Joe Gallagher as we met him in the first episode of the show. He's the son of a general who's avoided flying missions, so Savage replaces him as Air Exec and assigns him to a bomber that will be named the Leper Colony, crewed by all the worst deadbeats in the group. The main difference is that, as I recall, Gallagher was aborting missions, not avoiding them altogether, and was given a rationale for doing so (being overly cautious). In the film, Savage comes right out and accuses Gately of being a coward, which I don't recall Lansing's Savage doing with Gallagher. In the film, assigning men to the Leper Colony becomes Savage's way of publicly humiliating them for screwing up in some manner. As that plotline develops, Gately gets a fractured spine off-camera and flies three missions with it before Doc Kaiser (Paul Stewart) discovers it. (Played by Barney Phillips, Kaiser will become the show's most frequently recurring non-regular.)

Stovall's civilian occupation of being a lawyer comes into play when the initially unpopular Savage needs his help to deliberately slow down the pilots' requests for transfers. I don't recall Stovall's drinking, used in the film for humorous effect, coming into play on the show.

The difference from the show that really stuck out at me as the film went on is that we don't accompany a crew on a mission until the last half-hour. There are missions being flown before that, but the film strictly keeps the perspective base-side. When we finally do get in one of the bombers, the crew wear flight helmets and use oxygen for altitude. In the show, the pilot and co-pilot always wear their hats, and I can't recall oxygen equipment ever having come into play.

By that point in the film, it turns out Savage is getting attached and doesn't want to give up the assignment. Soon after that's established, he has a nervous breakdown, and Gately cements his redemption by replacing Savage as leader of the climactic mission.

It's convenient for the show that the film's framing story leaves open the fates of Savage and the other characters who'll become regulars. The only thing in the film that one might see as "out of continuity" with the series is the Gately/Gallagher business, though one could rationalize that Savage reused the same tactic when faced with a similarly problematic officer.

The use of "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" was a nice period touch; I don't recall the show ever going out of its way to incorporate popular songs from the era.

_______

Wow. That could potentially turn out to be the most interesting program on that subject.

Darn it, now you've gone and made me record it. Guess I've got one more bit of 50th anniversary viewing business for this season. Looks like it was the show's first season, did air on June 6, and rates a paragraph on the show's Wiki page as one of its most notable moments:

June 6, 1968: Robert F Kennedy Assassination
Due to continuing coverage of the Robert F. Kennedy assassination that took place earlier that morning, Cavett's show didn't begin until 11 a.m., and was interrupted at 11:20 for 30 minutes of further updates on the unfolding tragedy. At 11:50, Cavett's show returned for its final 10 minutes. The assassination was the lone topic discussed during the entire 30 minutes the show was presented. On the following two mornings, the show began at its regular time of 10:30 a.m., and was once again devoted exclusively to assassination coverage, and presented without commercial interruption.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

"Lady Madonna," The Beatles

"Jumpin' Jack Flash," The Rolling Stones

Arguably, the group at the height of their powers--even above that of the tracks from usually over-celebrated Exile on Main St. released a few years later in '72.

"Lady Willpower," Gary Puckett & The Union Gap

The group was on a hot streak with that sound.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Arguably, the group at the height of their powers--even above that of the tracks from usually over-celebrated Exile on Main St. released a few years later in '72.

I never got the love for Exile myself, but I never got into the Stones' albums that much. I came to agree with something I once read that they were a singles band, not an albums band. But on my current trajectory, I guess I'll be giving it a fresh assessment in about four years....

Caught Bruce Lee in the background earlier on a 1969 episode of Here Come the Brides. The show's Wiki pages claims that "this character was the only dramatic English language non-martial arts role in Lee's acting career." I guess it'd have to be a non-martial arts role, because he'd totally kick Bobby Sherman's ass.