The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

[gblews]

What exactly did you hear me say? This is why I love the Internet. .

I quoted what you wrote in my post:

His name is remembered, but his spirit is forgotten. There's not a lot of love coming from the Left these days.[/quote]

Any further questions?

 

[The Old Mixer]

Criticizing the left does not equal championing the right. Politics is a spectrum, not a binary choice.

 

[gblews]

Criticizing the left does not equal championing the right. Politics is a spectrum, not a binary choice.

Okay, let’s not be silly. The type of “criticism” with no additional context, offered in his post, to me, sounds like an alignment with the right, and that brings with it a plethora of REALLY bad stuff, some of which I put in my post.

 

[RJDiogenes]

"Flamingo," Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

This one does not ring the slightest bell.

"Knock on Wood," Eddie Floyd

The title made me think of the Disco song, and, sure enough, it's an earlier version. I've never heard it before, but I like this one better.

"Girl on a Swing," Gerry & The Pacemakers

Not bad. Sounds like a Celtic Folk song or something.

"All Strung Out," Nino Tempo & April Stevens

Sounds pretty average.

"Love Is a Hurtin' Thing," Lou Rawls

Also pretty standard for Lou Rawls.

But it was strange that such a fuss was being made about gadgets used by the Joker being from a belt that nobody actually saw...doubly so in that it was the Joker's first appearance, so we didn't have a usual M.O. to contrast it with.

There's a lot of little such oddities in these first few episodes.

I believe that was the comics nickname for Batgirl, which they might have used on the show on occasion.

Ah, I don't remember that one.

I have to say, though I like this show, it takes a bit more effort in the viewing/note-taking and write-up.

I can imagine.

I seem to have missed at least one important character beat in the recording interruption, but she seemed to be out to prove herself to the society, and was perhaps not a full-fledged member yet.

Sounds perfectly primed to be redeemed and added to the team.

Kinda...it was, of course, not depicted graphically. We just saw them opening fire on him, and Schultz went out and came back to identify who was in the car.

Yeah, I don't remember a lot of scenes like that.

Huh...don't think I'd ever heard of that.

It's an obscure classic from 1975. It's more in the vein of Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles than Get Smart, and it's got a great cast that includes Bernie Kopell and Dick van Patten. And it's actually available on DVD.

The lyrics were pretty much straight out of the Tibetian Book of the Dead...it was about the arrangement.

I didn't realize that. They really went straight to the source for their trippiness.

It'd be a good show for their line-up if they had it...all these years following the various retro channels that I have and I can't recall that it's ever come up.

I don't think I've ever seen it in syndication either. It's really too bad.

 

[The Old Mixer]

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55.5th-ish Anniversary Viewing (Part 1)

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The Ed Sullivan Show
Season 18, episode 20
Originally aired January 30, 1966
As represented in The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show

The Best of edit splits the Four Tops' medley so that "I Can't Help Myself" appears as its own segment. The clip below includes the full performance and its intro.

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Not shown on Best of, they also cover Sinatra with "Nice 'n' Easy".

Now Barry Sadler is something very unique on our stage. He's a professional soldier....He wrote this ballad of Green Berets, and now he's gonna sing it for us...so let's have a very pleasant welcome for a guy back from Vietnam.

I'm surprised that the Sullivan account doesn't even have one of the old shortened clips of this.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, here...the team of Markworth and Mayana.

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The music at the beginning was replaced on Best of, but the music that builds up to the big shot is the same.

Puerto Rican star Joes Feliciano!

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They shoulda gotten him on The Green Hornet.

Ladies and gentlemen, here is...Dinah! Shore!

Another singing talk show host, Dinah performs "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from Mary Poppins. Metacritic says that she also sang "Something Wonderful" and a blues medley that included "Bye Bye Blues".

Here's our little Italian mouse...Topo Gigio has returned!

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Here is a very amusing guy by the name of Dick Capri!

Dick's physical comedy routine involves quickly pulling a variety of faces while pretending to be a mask maker who's trying on various masks.


Other performances, as listed on Metacritic:

• Jackie Vernon (comedian)
• Les Faux Follets (wooden clog dance)
• Audience bow: Jean Drapeau (Montreal Mayor)

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Branded
"McCord's Way"
Originally aired January 30, 1966

After killing a gunman, McCord is appointed sheriff by grateful townspeople.

Jason rides into Silverton to find the townsfolk assembled outside a saloon in anticipation of a shooting. A shot is heard and the sheriff walks out to fall to the ground. After chiding the men outside for not doing something, Dora Kendall (Mona Freeman) goes in with the sheriff's gun to confront Joe Latigo (Henry Capps), whose father killed her husband, the previous sheriff. Deputy Bill Tomlin (James Beck) is inside, but not eager to draw against Latigo, as three sheriffs have now been killed in a year. Jason intervenes and takes Latigo down quickly. Town spokesman Wes Trent (Willard Sage) recruits Jason to be the new sheriff, and he reluctantly agrees to stay on for a couple of weeks to earn supply money for the nearby mining engineer job that he had in mind. Jason's first action is to establish gun control, which isn't popular with the townsfolk, who are particularly put off by Jason's means of enforcing it, which doesn't involve allowing them fair draws against him when he comes for their guns.

A challenge is posted on behalf of Bill Latigo (Ben Johnson), Joe's father, and he subsequently rides into town. Jason gets him at rifle-point, and Latigo informs the townsfolk and spectators from out of town who Jason is. The deputy is afraid to disarm Latigo, who reluctantly rides out when Jason won't back down. The townsfolk confront Jason for not engaging in a fair gunfight with Latigo, and Jason has to deck one of them. Everyone starts seeing cowardice in "McCord's way" of preventing gunfights rather than encouraging them. Trent threatens to dismiss him if he won't fight Latigo, and even Dora thinks that he's teaching the children to be "sneaks and cowards". Jason hands over his badge, but as he's about to leave, Latigo reappears to challenge him to a showdown. This time, Jason outdraws him fair and square. The townsfolk try to get Jason to stay, but disgusted with their attitude, he refuses, leaving Silverton to raise "a fine crop of quick-draw killers," and cautioning Dora about her son's (Rocky Young) likely eventual fate in this environment. When Trent tries to pay Jason a bonus for standing up to Latigo, Jason decks him and rides out.

TOS guest: Tommy's friend Rob is played by Chris Hundley, a.k.a. Craig Huxley.

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12 O'Clock High
"The Outsider"
Originally aired January 31, 1966

An error-prone pilot ignores orders in an attempt to prove himself.

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-classic-retro-pop-culture-thread.278375/page-91#post-12403860

The 918th makes a rendezvous with an escorting P-51 squadron led by Maj. Zach Temple (James Callahan), and including Lt. Harley Wilson (James MacArthur). Gallagher's bomber gets shot up nonetheless, and back in the waist, Komansky discovers that the bullets are .50 caliber--friendly fire. Gallagher manages to pull off a tricky landing at Archbury. On the ground, the fighter pilots try to work out their confirmed kills, with Harlo claiming a German that was on Gallagher's plane. Outside, he enthusiastically approaches Sandy to serve as a witness, which is how Sandy finds that he's the one who hit the plane. Harlo goes to Wing HQ to talk to Gallagher about what happened, meets Captain Phyllis Vincent (Lee Meriwether reprising her role from a previous episode) manning a desk, and awkwardly asks her out, though she tells him that she's got a date. In Pritchard's office, after bombing film is reviewed to try to ascertain the location of the refinery they missed, Gallagher has P-51 gun camera footage played to confirm that Wilson hit his plane...which is embarrassing for Temple, but Gallagher reminds everyone how his plane accidentally hit a P-51 in a previous episode. Outside the office, Wilson is eager to volunteer for a P-51 recon mission that Gallagher and Temple will be flying the next day.

In the Officers Club, the already socially awkward Harlo learns that he's picked up the nickname "Shotgun" because of the incident. On the mission, Gallagher's fighter catches fire and he has to bail over enemy territory. Harlo disobeys orders to follow Gallagher down, land on the rough terrain, pick him up in what shouldn't be a two-seat variant, and take back off on while being strafed by Germans...all highly unlikely. You can practically smell Season 3 now. When they get away, Gallagher says that he's going to put Wilson up for a DFC. At the Star & Bottle, Harlo finds that he's suddenly become a lot more popular...the guys laugh at jokes that they'd previously dismissed as having heard before, Phyllis gives him a peck on the cheek, and Sandy apologizes to him while making it clear to the audience that he's developed some serious man-love for Gallagher since their adversarial introduction in the series premiere. But Harlo finds it all unsatisfying when he sees that Gallagher is Phyllis's date.

The recon photos having revealed the location of the refinery, Gallagher leads a mission to hit it the next day. On the ground, Harlo is anxious for his part of the mission, escorting the group back, which involves a later take-off. But in his squadron's briefing, Temple indirectly calls him out for disobeying orders in his heroic act. Elsewhere, the bombers blow the refinery, but the German fighters attack before the escort gets there. When the P-51s arrive, Wilson breaks formation to score his first kill, but the man he was supposed to be flying wing for is shot up because he wasn't there. Then Wilson disobeys withdrawal orders to protect a damaged bomber that can't maintain formation. Gallagher tries to first order him, then reason with him, to get back with his group, but he feels that he has too much to prove, and ends up making the ultimate sacrifice.

At the S&B, Gallgher, Temple, Captain Robbins (whose bomber Wilson saved; Dabney Coleman), Komansky, and Vincent soberly reflect on Harley, with Phyllis expressing guilt that if they'd been more kind to him, he might not have felt such a need to prove himself. The episode ends with the moment when the pub gal, Agnes (Vikki Harrington), doesn't remember having met him...which is understandable, because her previous scene of serving drinks during Wilson's moment of glory was pretty blink-and-miss-it. The real tragedy of this episode is that Gallagher never had the opportunity to introduce Harley to his brother.

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Batman
"Instant Freeze"
Originally aired February 2, 1966

Dr. Shivel aka Mr. Freeze has returned and is seeking revenge on Batman, who accidentally spilled a freeze solution on him, forcing him to live in a climate 50 degrees below zero. He commits crimes involving diamonds, or "ice", in different forms.

Special Guest Villain
GEORGE SANDERS
as
MR. FREEZE

The episode opens with "that diabolical snowman, who can only exist in temperatures of 50 degrees below zero or more," robbing an ice rink and making a getaway by icing the road behind him...in July. Teri Garr has an uncredited cameo as a girl outside the rink. This time Gordon gets a brief moment of silent agreement from two other officers besides O'Hara before picking up the Batphone. When the call comes in, the Wayne clan is hosting pitcher Paul Diamante (Robert Hogan) and two teammates from the Gotham City Eagles. In Gordon's office, there's a brief bit of exposition about Freeze's origin, which is an unusual beat for the show, emphasizing how Batman feels responsible for what happened to him. Our first version of Mr. Freeze has normal skin color and hair, and uses the memorable hideout gimmick of selected zones that are temporarily made warm enough for his henchman and butler to survive, marked by red lighting. Batman tests an anti-freeze capsule in a special freezing booth in the Batcave, but it isn't effective enough. The Giant Lighted Lucite Map of Gotham City makes its first appearance as the Dynamic Duo investigate a series of bogus Batman sightings--"Holy schizophrenia!"--and the pattern of sightings surrounds the diamond exchange. (There's also a "Leaping lumbago!" in here, but I didn't catch the context in which it would make sense.) Freeze is after the Star of Kashmir, the second most valuable diamond in the world. He freezes a guard with his special gun, then brings in his small army of decoy Batmen and Mr. Freezes before the Dynamic Duo arrive. A Batfight ensues with them and the regular henchmen, in which Robin briefly attacks the real Batman. Freeze uses his freeze gun on the Batmobile while making his getaway, accompanied by taunting skywriting, STRIKE ONE ON BATMAN.

Batman tries using the Interdigital Batsorter Anti-crime Computer to figure out Freeze's next move, but doesn't think he's after more jewels as he wasn't interested in the other diamonds at the exchange. He eventually turns up a likely target--the Ghiaccio Circolo (ice circle), the most valuable diamond in the world, which is owned by Princess Sandra of Molino, who's arriving in Gotham that night to attend a charity baseball game the next day. At the suite of Princess Sandra (Shelby Grant)--who's a native of Brooklyn--a crate is delivered with Mr. Freeze inside. The Dynamic Duo make a short, ropeless climb up to her second-floor balcony. Freeze tries to cover his getaway by setting drapes on fire, but after putting them out Batman and Robin come back down and Freeze reluctantly uses his gun on them, freezing them in place--such that they're unable to see the STRIKE TWO, BATMAN skywriting. This would qualify as our first proper cliffhanger death trap for the assembled and costumed Dynamic Duo, however impromptu...and the resolution will prove to be another bit of EIW.

HAS BATMAN STRUCK OUT?
IS ROBIN COOL...FOR GOOD?
CAN NO ONE SAVE OUR NOBLE PAIR OF HUMAN POPSICLES?
ANSWERS...TOMORROW NIGHT! SAME TIME, SAME CHANNEL!
ONE WORD OF WARNING:
BY WATCHING, YOU, TOO, CAN LOSE YOUR COOL!

_______

This one does not ring the slightest bell.

Definitely not as catchy/memorable as some of Herb's previous hits.

The title made me think of the Disco song, and, sure enough, it's an earlier version. I've never heard it before, but I like this one better.

I knew the disco song first, but definitely heard the original on oldies radio.

Not bad. Sounds like a Celtic Folk song or something.

I'm surprised that these guys are popping out this late...seems like it's been a while since they had a decent-charting single on this side of the pond. Maybe the Beatles going all weird has got the kids nostalgic for the simpler days of the British Invasion...

Sounds pretty average.

Sounds decent, but like the Walkers, Righteous-derivative.

Also pretty standard for Lou Rawls.

The key phrase here being "for Lou Rawls"...you can't go too wrong with a voice like that!

Sounds perfectly primed to be redeemed and added to the team.

Ah, now that's a tease...!

I didn't realize that. They really went straight to the source for their trippiness.

I'm gonna have to backpedal a bit, because I don't know firsthand how much John was repurposing and how much was just inspired by what he read.

Although Beatles aide Peter Brown believed that Lennon's source for the lyrics was the Tibetan Book of the Dead itself, which, he said, Lennon had read while under the influence of LSD, George Harrison later stated that the idea for the lyrics came from Leary, Alpert and Metzner's book. Paul McCartney confirmed this, stating that when he and Lennon visited the newly opened Indica bookshop, Lennon had been looking for a copy of The Portable Nietzsche and found a copy of The Psychedelic Experience that contained the lines: "Whenever in doubt, turn off your mind, relax, float downstream."

It sounds like he might have used that line as a kickoff and come up with the rest himself. I'd certainly like to give John the credit for "listen to the colour of your dreams".

I don't think I've ever seen it in syndication either. It's really too bad.

I saw it in syndication back in the '80s...

 

[J.T.B.]

It'd be a good show for their line-up if they had it...all these years following the various retro channels that I have and I can't recall that it's ever come up.

Me either. It seems like MeTV or Antenna TV or one of those had The White Shadow, an even less well-known MTM drama, a few years back. But it may have been a one-time special deal or something, now that I think about it. But Lou Grant I haven't seen scheduled.

Myself, I bought the DVD sets, and they were well worth it.

 

[The Old Mixer]

It seems like MeTV or Antenna TV or one of those had The White Shadow, an even less well-known MTM drama, a few years back.

I think H&I had that in their line-up for a spell, and there was at least one Decades binge at the time.

 

[Commander Troi]

Nice to see The Four Tops back in the day!

 

[The Old Mixer]

Okay, let’s not be silly.

 

[The Old Mixer]

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55.5th-ish Anniversary Viewing (Part 2)

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Batman
"Rats Like Cheese"
Originally aired February 3, 1966

There's still some early installment weirdness in the resolution of this cliffhanger, as the Dynamic Duo are taken to the hospital for defreezing, rather than freeing themselves through their own ingenuity.

Princess Sandra attends the baseball game accompanied by Bruce, and tosses out the first ball. Alfred, Aunt Harriet, and Dick sit behind them. Eagles pitcher Paul Diamante is mysteriously absent, and more skywriting appears, taunting Batman about his third strike. Bruce and Dick make an excuse to get to Gordon's office, where the commissioner takes a ransom call from Freeze, whose M.O. Batman realizes this caper doubly fits--Diamante meaning "diamond," and the victim having been taken from a baseball diamond. Batman agrees to meet Freeze alone, leaving Robin at Gordon's office, though the Boy Wonder lives up to his nickname in somehow managing to get back to the Batcave during the commercial, where he reveals to Alfred that he planted a homing device on Bruce. Batman is picked up from a remote location via helicopter, with Diamante being freed in his place. Getting around fast for not being able to drive, Robin appears right after and runs off to follow Batman on foot. I suspect that he's getting some off-camera help from Alfred here, but the episode never addresses it.

Batman is taken to Freeze's mountain hideout, where the Caped Crusader is confined to the space that's been warmed for him. Batman tries to attack Freeze, and instantly succumbs to the extreme temperature, with Freeze taunting him about being as weak as Freeze is at ordinary temperatures. Robin is caught off camera--Alfred took him up into the mountains? Over dinner, Batman tries to convince Freeze to let them get help for him...when he insists on revenge, the Dynamic Duo try to attack him...and while Robin is helpless in the cold, Batman clearly seems more acclimated, and promptly takes down Freeze and raises the temperature, revealing that he's wearing special thermal underwear. Freeze is confined to a cold area while the Dynamic Duo engage in a Batfiight with his three henchmen, immediately following which O'Hara arrives with a couple of officers.

The coda takes place at a bash thrown by the princess, with Diamante and the Wayne clan in attendance. Dick mentions a ball team from Motor City, apparently a Gothamized version of Detroit.

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Gilligan's Island
"Love Me, Love My Skipper"
Originally aired February 3, 1966

Everybody mistakenly believes that The Skipper wasn't invited to the Howells' cotillion. They plan to hold a masquerade party of their own and not invite the Howells. When everyone R.S.V.P.s that they won't attend the cotillion, the Howell's have a fight and separate. Gilligan later finds The Skipper's dropped invitation. Now everyone must find a way to reunite the Howells. The masquerade party goes on as planned. The Howells attend and get back together.

They already did an episode about the Howells breaking up, didn't they?

Mr. Howell is delivering invitations in a top hat and tails when he bumps into a tree and drops one of them...but he doesn't notice that he doesn't have one for the Skipper when he slips Gilligan's under their hut door...there are only so many castaways to keep track of. The Skipper goes around and is upset to learn that everyone else was invited, and Gilligan resolves that he won't go. The others come over and find out about it and without missing a beat decide not to go and to throw their own party--this all seems very abrupt, like it could have used another scene for set-up. The others RSVP that they can't attend because they're attending a party in honor of the Skipper. The Howells' argument ensues over why the others wouldn't come.

Gilligan stumbles upon the dropped invitation and takes it to the Skipper. Skipper wants to apologize to the Howells, but learns from Gilligan that they're separated. Skipper and Gilligan each talk to one of the Howells, who remain stubborn on the matter. Ginger comes up with the idea of inviting each of the Howells to their masquerade party, and arranges at the last minute for Mrs. Howell and herself to swap costumes, so that Mr. Howell will think Mrs. Howell is Ginger. (Even in a disguise, that seems unlikely.) Mr. Howell has a dance with Lovey thinking she's Ginger, then says that he can't go through with it because he misses his wife, and the couple reconciles.

_______

Hogan's Heroes
"The Great Impersonation"
Originally aired February 4, 1966

Hogan recruits Schultz to play the part of Kommandant Klink after Carter, Newkirk and LeBeau are captured while on a sabotage job.

The three of them and Kinch are out blowing a train, and they relied on Carter (who'll you'll recall is the newest guy, if the pilot is in continuity at all) to get them back to camp, but he's lost. Kinch goes out to scout around and the others are captured by a patrol. Kinch makes it back alone. The captured prisoners, who are wearing false dogtags, are questioned by a Gestapo captain (James Frawley). While Hogan and Kinch start to enact a scheme, they get Schultz to agree to silence about the three missing men, giving him a story about it. Then they persuade him to go to Stalag 4 posing as Klink to bring the three back before they blab about Schultz taking bribes and such. (It's not clear how Hogan even knows they're there.) They measure him for an officer's uniform (his waist is 52 inches), he has further doubts, and they secure his cooperation by planting evidence for Klink's benefit that he's been fraternizing with the prisoners. They coach Schultz on acting like a tough commandant, and Hogan accompanies him posing as a subordinate captain while attempting to direct his actions as he goes to Stalag 4 kommandant Major Bernsdorf (Bert Freed) demanding the release of the prisoners under their false dogtag names, supported by a call from Kinch posing as a general. The captured trio of prisoners are surprised to see Schultz in his role, which he finally starts to get into after their release has been secured...but once they're all in the truck, he faints. In the coda, the Gestapo captain comes to Stalag 13 looking for the trio, but they're not in the line-up thanks to Schultz's continued cooperation.

Have we gone a few episodes without a "dismissed"? IMMM-possible!

_______

Get Smart
"All in the Mind"
Originally aired February 5, 1966

Max poses as an insane colonel in order to prove that a KAOS psychiatrist is stealing confidential information revealed by his patients. This episode is notable for its use of a secret KAOS weapon: a phone booth that fills with water.

Dr. Braam (Torin Thatcher) catches secretary Joanna Sloan (future potential Sgt. Friday squeeze Merry Anders) snooping through his files after hours and instructs his henchman Markovich (King Moody) to deal with her. A concerned citizen who happens to live in Max's building, she calls him at home and he tries a variety of hidden phones before realizing that she's calling on the normal one. When the trap is sprung, Max doesn't believe her, but the operator (voice of Janet Waldo) subsequently informs him that his party has been drowned. The Chief is skeptical afterward as Sloan's body was found in the river...but he takes interest when he learns that Braam is involved, as his clients tend to be high-ranking officials with access to classified information, and arranges an appointment for the emotionally disturbed Colonel Smart. To this end Max consults with psychological warfare expert Dr. Stueben (Robert F. Simon), who gives him a series of standard psychological tests. He has particular difficulty putting blocks into the right holes.

Max arrives for his appointment with Braam, with 99 posing as his wife. Braam turns on a hidden recorder as Max discusses classified rocket research. 99 makes too much noise rifling through the files outside, and Max finds the recorder when Braam goes outside to check it out. The doctor returns to his office holding a gun on Max and calls Markovich to bring in 99, but she's slipped away. Max breaks away from them and hides in the corridor phone booth with 99, following which Markovich pumps in the water. As the water rises, Max's shoe won't work, so he uses the regular phone to have the operator connect him with the Chief...and while he insists that it's a highly classified number, she recognizes it as belonging to CONTROL. He's quickly disconnected for not having more change, but as he and 99 struggle to avoid drowning, 99 realizes that the diamond ring she's wearing will cut the booth's glass. Max and 99 go back into Braam's office soaking wet to apprehend the doctor and his henchman.

In the coda, something Max said on the tape about the Chief being willing to send agents to their deaths causes the Chief to spontaneously lie on his office couch and start unloading about his childhood to Max.

_______

 

[RJDiogenes]

Well, we're back. I kept getting timeouts this morning. Luckily, my schedule is more flexible these days.

I'm surprised that the Sullivan account doesn't even have one of the old shortened clips of this.

That one was a strange outlier, but it's actually a good song.

The music at the beginning was replaced on Best of, but the music that builds up to the big shot is the same.

I bet you don't see stuff like this on America's Got Talent.

They shoulda gotten him on The Green Hornet.

That would have been cool. Playing in a nightclub while a fight ensues or something. Those shows loved their celebrity cameos.

Other performances, as listed on Metacritic:

I liked Ed's little Jack Benny impersonation during the Topo clip.

he reluctantly agrees to stay on for a couple of weeks to earn supply money for the nearby mining engineer job that he had in mind.

Just crossing the country, taking odd jobs-- farmhand, cowboy, miner, sheriff.

Jason's first action is to establish gun control, which isn't popular with the townsfolk, who are particularly put off by Jason's means of enforcing it, which doesn't involve allowing them fair draws against him when he comes for their guns.

I wonder what the balance of the Supreme Court was in those days.

Trent threatens to dismiss him if he won't fight Latigo

"You'll recall I didn't even want this job."

The townsfolk try to get Jason to stay, but disgusted with their attitude, he refuses, leaving Silverton to raise "a fine crop of quick-draw killers,"

That was a nice use of the show's premise.

(James MacArthur)

Danno!

but Gallagher reminds everyone how his plane accidentally hit a P-51 in a previous episode.

I don't know how it doesn't happen all the time.

Harlo disobeys orders to follow Gallagher down, land on the rough terrain, pick him up in what shouldn't be a two-seat variant, and take back off on while being strafed by Germans...all highly unlikely.

Does he keep rolling and swing him up on the back like it was a horse?

The episode ends with the moment when the pub gal, Agnes (Vikki Harrington), doesn't remember having met him...

That's pretty sad.

"that diabolical snowman, who can only exist in temperatures of 50 degrees below zero or more,"

Ambiguous use of the word "more" here could prove fatal to Mr Freeze. "But, boss, I thought you meant...."

there's a brief bit of exposition about Freeze's origin, which is an unusual beat for the show

That's true, they never delve into origins much. King Tut springs to mind, but I'm not sure about anyone else.

Batman tests an anti-freeze capsule in a special freezing booth in the Batcave, but it isn't effective enough.

That's unusual, too-- both the fact that it isn't effective, and that he didn't have it prepared long beforehand.

such that they're unable to see the STRIKE TWO, BATMAN skywriting.

Is this Mr Freeze or the Riddler?

The key phrase here being "for Lou Rawls"...you can't go too wrong with a voice like that!

That's exactly it. It doesn't really matter what he sings, or says.

Ah, now that's a tease...!

I still think Suzanne Pleshette would have been the best for this show, but Yvonne Craig certainly would have fit right in.

I saw it in syndication back in the '80s...

I literally have not seen it since the last episode aired. It would be pretty sweet to catch it again.

There's still some early installment weirdness in the resolution of this cliffhanger, as the Dynamic Duo are taken to the hospital for defreezing, rather than freeing themselves through their own ingenuity.

The Caped Crusader seems off his game in general-- perhaps because of his guilt trip.

Batman realizes this caper doubly fits--Diamante meaning "diamond," and the victim having been taken from a baseball diamond.

Suddenly it all becomes crystal clear.

I suspect that he's getting some off-camera help from Alfred here, but the episode never addresses it.

That's what I was thinking. Alfred has been known to drive the Batmobile.

Dick mentions a ball team from Motor City, apparently a Gothamized version of Detroit.

Beantown could take them both.

They already did an episode about the Howells breaking up, didn't they?

They have a very tempestuous relationship for a couple of old timers.

The Skipper goes around and is upset to learn that everyone else was invited, and Gilligan resolves that he won't go. The others come over and find out about it and without missing a beat decide not to go and to throw their own party--this all seems very abrupt, like it could have used another scene for set-up.

That's my show, though.

Mrs. Howell and herself to swap costumes, so that Mr. Howell will think Mrs. Howell is Ginger. (Even in a disguise, that seems unlikely.)

We're talking about Mr Magoo here.

a Gestapo captain (James Frawley)

For a brief moment, I thought of William Frawley. That would have been funny.

he has further doubts, and they secure his cooperation by planting evidence for Klink's benefit that he's been fraternizing with the prisoners.

Now we have three Schultzes: Russian Schultz, Ignorant Schultz, and Blackmailed Schultz.

The captured trio of prisoners are surprised to see Schultz in his role, which he finally starts to get into after their release has been secured...but once they're all in the truck, he faints.

And that's the real Schultz.

Have we gone a few episodes without a "dismissed"?

Was Klink even in this one?

(future potential Sgt. Friday squeeze Merry Anders)

And popular genre adventuress, in movies like The Time Travelers.

the operator (voice of Janet Waldo) subsequently informs him that his party has been drowned.

Now that would have been a good part for Ernestine.

He has particular difficulty putting blocks into the right holes.

That's Max... always thinking outside the blocks.

99 realizes that the diamond ring she's wearing will cut the booth's glass.

Hmm. Is it normal for people to just go around wearing diamond rings?

In the coda, something Max said on the tape about the Chief being willing to send agents to their deaths causes the Chief to spontaneously lie on his office couch and start unloading about his childhood to Max.

Aww. That's kind of touching, actually.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Well, we're back. I kept getting timeouts this morning. Luckily, my schedule is more flexible these days.

The site was just plain down when I was first trying.

Just crossing the country, taking odd jobs-- farmhand, cowboy, miner, sheriff.

Such is the life of a pseudo-fugitive. But he usually goes for engineering jobs.

Ambiguous use of the word "more" here could prove fatal to Mr Freeze. "But, boss, I thought you meant...."

It was Gordon's error. For clarity, when I quote a colorful description of a villain without attribution, assume it's from him.

Is this Mr Freeze or the Riddler?

They all seem to be cribbing his compulsive clue-leaving to some extent.

That's exactly it. It doesn't really matter what he sings, or says.

Norvell Elliott
15 Lake Shore Drive
555-2661​

Beantown could take them both.

There ya go.

That's my show, though.

The problem was that they were supposed to be just learning about the situation, but it played like they came into the hut already knowing and ready to take action.

We're talking about Mr Magoo here.

Touché!

Now we have three Schultzes: Russian Schultz, Ignorant Schultz, and Blackmailed Schultz.

I'd consider the last two to be the same Schultz.

Was Klink even in this one?

Yep...hence my use of an alternate catchphrase of his.

Hmm. Is it normal for people to just go around wearing diamond rings?

She was posing as Max's wife...guess CONTROL doesn't skimp with costume jewelry.

 

[RJDiogenes]

It was Gordon's error. For clarity, when I quote a colorful description of a villain without attribution, assume it's from him.

Ah, gotcha.

Norvell Elliott
15 Lake Shore Drive
555-2661​

Swoon.

The problem was that they were supposed to be just learning about the situation, but it played like they came into the hut already knowing and ready to take action.

Gotta crack the whip on those plots sometimes, I guess.

I'd consider the last two to be the same Schultz.

I'm trying to see how many Schultzes I can come up with.

She was posing as Max's wife...guess CONTROL doesn't skimp with costume jewelry.

Good thing.

 

[The Old Mixer]

55 Years Ago This Week

September 11 – France's President Charles de Gaulle closed out his world tour with a visit to French Polynesia, and personally witnessing France's third nuclear test at the Mururoa Atoll near Tahiti while wearing a radiation suit. De Gaulle had spent the night on the navy cruiser De Grasse after unfavorable winds had forced a 24-hour postponement of test. Despite continued winds that would blow the fallout west toward inhabited islands, rather than south to Antarctica, the test took place so that the President could see it before he went to his next scheduled stop. As a result, nuclear fallout and radioactive contamination swept across Tahiti, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Samoan Islands, Tonga, Wallis and Futuna, Fiji and Tuvalu, as monitored by stations in New Zealand.

September 12

• After being launched into space on Gemini 11, astronauts Richard F. Gordon, Jr. and Pete Conrad) docked with an Agena target vehicle on their first try. The pair had lifted off from Cape Kennedy that morning at 9:42, after the Agena was launched at 8:05. At 11:07, using the space program's jargon of M being the number of orbits that it would take to effect a docking (and mimicking a catchphrase from the then-popular TV series Get Smart) Conrad radioed to his chief, Flight Director Chris Kraft, "Would you believe...M equals one?"

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• The first episode of the television series The Monkees was broadcast on the NBC network, introducing a rock band that had been assembled as part of the casting of a situation comedy, but whose records would become bestsellers. The group, composed of Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork, went on to have seven gold records, starting with "Last Train to Clarksville", released on August 16, a month before the show's debut. Later in the evening, the CBS network debuted the sitcom Family Affair, which would run for five seasons.

September 13

• Cultural Revolution in China: Clashes between the Chinese Communist Party and the Red Guards are reported by TASS in the Soviet Union.
• American astronaut Richard F. Gordon, Jr. attached a tether between Gemini 11 and Agena for later orbital mechanics testing and commenced extra-vehicular activity. While making the attachment, his work overloaded the spacesuit cooling system, and his vision became obscured by a fogged visor and sweat in his eyes, making it nearly impossible for him to see. Planned activities were curtailed by Command Pilot Pete Conrad and Gordon returned to the spacecraft. After the spacewalk was cut short, the Gemini crew activated the engines of the Agena vehicle to raise themselves to a record altitude of 848 miles (1,365 km) above the Earth. Conrad, becoming the first person to see an entire continent in one glance, told ground controllers, "You wouldn't believe it. I can see all of Australia and all around the top of the world."

September 14

• Richard F. Gordon, Jr. performed a stand-up EVA from Gemini 11, extending through the hatch to take astronomical photos. Pilot Pete Conrad reported that the spacewalk was so relaxing they both fell asleep for a moment after sunrise.
• George Harrison and Pattie Boyd fly to India for an indefinite stay, checking in at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay under the name of Mr and Mrs Sam Wells.

September 15 – The Royal Navy launched its first submarine capable of firing nuclear missiles, as the United Kingdom's new Polaris sub, HMS Resolution, departed from the shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness. HMS Resolution would fire its first test missile on February 15, 1968, and begin patrols later that year. Capable of carrying 16 nuclear-tipped Polaris missiles, each with a range of 2,500 miles, the sub was soon joined by HMS Repulse, HMS Renown and HMS Revenge.

September 16

• In South Vietnam, Thích Trí Quang ends a 100-day hunger strike.
• The Metropolitan Opera House opens at Lincoln Center in New York City with the world premiere of Samuel Barber's opera Antony and Cleopatra.

September 17 – The American television show Mission: Impossible made its debut, appearing on the CBS network. The premise was that a U.S. intelligence agency, the Impossible Mission Force, would secretly intervene against hostile foreign governments. "As the Vietnam protests mounted in strength," an observer would write later, "the idea of American agents toppling foreign governments became less popular, and the scripts changed, with the team now attacking organized crime." The "missions" of the IMF would continue for seven seasons, until 1973.

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Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

1. "You Can't Hurry Love," The Supremes
2. "Yellow Submarine," The Beatles
3. "Sunshine Superman," Donovan
4. "Cherish," The Association
5. "Bus Stop," The Hollies
6. "See You in September," The Happenings
7. "Land of 1000 Dances," Wilson Pickett
8. "Wouldn't It Be Nice," The Beach Boys
9. "Guantanamera," The Sandpipers
10. "Sunny," Bobby Hebb
11. "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep," The Temptations
12. "Born a Woman," Sandy Posey
13. "Working in the Coal Mine," Lee Dorsey
14. "Eleanor Rigby," The Beatles
15. "Sunny Afternoon," The Kinks
16. "Turn-Down Day," The Cyrkle
17. "Summer in the City," The Lovin' Spoonful
18. "Black Is Black," Los Bravos
19. "Wade in the Water," Ramsey Lewis Trio
20. "Wipe Out," The Surfaris
21. "Say I Am (What I Am)," Tommy James & The Shondells
22. "Respectable," The Outsiders
23. "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)," Jr. Walker & The All-Stars
24. "Cherry, Cherry," Neil Diamond
25. "96 Tears," ? & The Mysterians
26. "Reach Out I'll Be There," Four Tops
27. "Mr. Dieingly Sad," The Critters
28. "I've Got You Under My Skin," The Four Seasons
29. "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted," Jimmy Ruffin

31. "Open the Door to Your Heart," Darrell Banks
32. "The Dangling Conversation," Simon & Garfunkel

34. "The Joker Went Wild," Brian Hyland
35. "Blowin' in the Wind," Stevie Wonder
36. "Flamingo," Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
37. "Summer Wind," Frank Sinatra
38. "7 and 7 Is," Love
39. "Summertime," Billy Stewart
40. "God Only Knows," The Beach Boys
41. "Warm and Tender Love," Percy Sledge
42. "Psychotic Reaction," Count Five
43. "Last Train to Clarksville," The Monkees
44. "B-A-B-Y," Carla Thomas
45. "With a Girl Like You," The Troggs

51. "Sugar and Spice," The Cryan' Shames
52. "All Strung Out," Nino Tempo & April Stevens

54. "Just Like a Woman," Bob Dylan

56. "Summer Samba (So Nice)," Walter Wanderley

58. "Walk Away Renee," The Left Banke

60. "You're Gonna Miss Me," The Thirteenth Floor Elevators

75. "Hooray for Hazel," Tommy Roe

79. "Girl on a Swing," Gerry & The Pacemakers

81. "All I See Is You," Dusty Springfield

85. "See See Rider," Eric Burdon & The Animals

89. "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing," Lou Rawls
90. "Poor Side of Town," Johnny Rivers

97. "Knock on Wood," Eddie Floyd

Leaving the chart:

• "Go Ahead and Cry," The Righteous Brothers (6 weeks)
• "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love," Petula Clark (9 weeks)
• "Lil' Red Riding Hood," Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs (14 weeks)
• "Make Me Belong to You," Barbara Lewis (8 weeks)
• "My Heart's Symphony," Gary Lewis & The Playboys (7 weeks)
• "Sweet Pea," Tommy Roe (14 weeks)

New on the chart:

"See See Rider," Eric Burdon & The Animals

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(#10 US)

"Hooray for Hazel," Tommy Roe

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(#6 US)

"Poor Side of Town," Johnny Rivers

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(#1 US the week of Nov. 12, 1966)


And new on the boob tube:

• The Ed Sullivan Show, Season 19, episode 1
• Gilligan's Island, "Up at Bat" (Season 3 premiere)
• The Monkees, "Royal Flush" (series premiere)
• The Rat Patrol, "The Chase of Fire Raid" (series premiere)
• Batman, "Hot Off the Griddle"
• Batman, "The Cat and the Fiddle"
• Star Trek, "Charlie X"
• That Girl, "Good-bye, Hello, Good-bye"
• The Green Hornet, "Give 'Em Enough Rope"
• The Wild Wild West, "The Night of the Eccentrics" (Season 2 premiere)
• Tarzan, "The Ultimate Weapon"
• The Time Tunnel, "One Way to the Moon"
• Hogan's Heroes, "Hogan Gives a Birthday Party" (Season 2 premiere)
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E., "The Her Master's Voice Affair" (Season 3 premiere)
• 12 O'Clock High, "Massacre"
• Get Smart, "Anatomy of a Lover" (Season 2 premiere)
• Mission: Impossible, "Pilot" (series premiere)

_______

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

_______

 

[Commander Troi]

I really like seeing all these things together by time. So often, events/shows/music is presented without context. Thanks!

 

[RJDiogenes]

Despite continued winds that would blow the fallout west toward inhabited islands, rather than south to Antarctica, the test took place so that the President could see it before he went to his next scheduled stop.

I hope he sent them some of those radiation suits.

"Would you believe...M equals one?"

his vision became obscured by a fogged visor and sweat in his eyes, making it nearly impossible for him to see.

If you back into outer space, then your visor doesn't fog up.

The Royal Navy launched its first submarine capable of firing nuclear missiles

Then they took a shot at Tahiti, just to make sure it worked.

The "missions" of the IMF would continue for seven seasons, until 1973.

And that is one of the all-time classic themes and title sequences.

"See See Rider," Eric Burdon & The Animals

Not a great fit.

"Hooray for Hazel," Tommy Roe

Also, it's Judy's turn to cry.

"Poor Side of Town," Johnny Rivers

Now there's an uber classic.

I really like seeing all these things together by time. So often, events/shows/music is presented without context. Thanks!

It's Total Immersion Therapy.

 

[The Old Mixer]

50 Years Ago This Week

September 12

• The "Baker Street robbery" of £500,000 ($1,235,000) of cash from the Baker Street branch of Lloyds Bank in London, was completed by a gang of seven thieves who had burrowed into the bank vault after starting a tunnel from a vacant shop next door. Although police at Scotland Yard had been alerted by an alarm at 11:20 on Saturday night, and a ham radio operator had called police at 2:00 in the morning after picking up the conversations of the gang members from half a mile away, the Scotland Yard detectives waited until noon, after the radio transmissions had stopped to ask for outside assistance. British Post Office officials, who would have been able to provide radio-detector vans to trace locate the origin of the signals, criticized Scotland Yard for its handling of the investigation. Police, instead, checked all banks within a 10 miles (16 km) radius of the Marylebone area of London and discovered on Monday morning that the Baker Street branch had been robbed.
• A concert by Funkadelic was recorded, to be released 25 years later as Live: Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan – 12th September 1971.

September 13

• The Attica Prison uprising ended with the deaths of 37 people— nine hostages and 28 prison inmates — after New York State Correction Commissioner Russell G. Oswald gave the order, after clearance from Governor Nelson Rockefeller, for the prison grounds to be retaken by law enforcement officers. At 9:46 in the morning, two National Guard CH-34 helicopters dropped tear gas into the yard of Cellblock D and at the order of State Bureau of Criminal Investigation Captain Henry Williams, a force of 1,000 drawn from the New York State Police, sheriffs' deputies from 16 counties, and prison guards charged. The day after the retaking of Attica, the State of New York revealed that all nine of the dead hostages had been killed by gunfire from the rescue team.
• Another daughter, Stella Nina, is born to Paul and Linda McCartney, at King's College Hospital, London.

September 15 – Having successfully raised awareness for forest fire prevention through its cartoon character Smokey Bear, the United States Forest Service introduced Woodsy Owl and the slogan "Give a hoot! Don't pollute" for its anti-pollution public service announcement advertisements.

September 16 – The publishers of Look magazine, a biweekly U.S. periodical with a combination of photos and text similar to the higher-circulation Life magazine, announced that the October 19, 1971 issue of Look would be the last after a run of almost 35 years. Gardner Cowles, chairman of the board of Cowles Communications, said that the publication lost five million dollars in advertising revenues in 1970 and had been operating at a loss for all of 1971.

September 17

• Hugo L. Black retires as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States after serving for 34 years, at this time a record for longevity; Black dies eight days later.
• ITV and ABC aired the first episode of The Persuaders!, starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis.
• NBC aired the first episode of McMillan & Wife, starring Rock Hudson.

Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

1. "Go Away Little Girl," Donny Osmond
2. "Spanish Harlem," Aretha Franklin
3. "Ain't No Sunshine," Bill Withers
4. "Maggie May" / "Reason to Believe", Rod Stewart
5. "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey," Paul & Linda McCartney
6. "Smiling Faces Sometimes," The Undisputed Truth
7. "I Just Want to Celebrate," Rare Earth
8. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," Joan Baez
9. "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," Bee Gees
10. "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get," The Dramatics
11. "Stick-Up," Honey Cone
12. "Superstar" / "Bless the Beasts and Children", Carpenters
13. "Take Me Home, Country Roads," John Denver
14. "I Woke Up in Love This Morning," The Partridge Family
15. "Won't Get Fooled Again," The Who
16. "Do You Know What I Mean," Lee Michaels
17. "Liar," Three Dog Night
18. "Signs," Five Man Electrical Band
19. "Tired of Being Alone," Al Green
20. "If You Really Love Me," Stevie Wonder
21. "Sweet City Woman," Stampeders
22. "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep," Mac & Katie Kissoon
23. "Bangla Desh" / "Deep Blue", George Harrison
24. "The Story in Your Eyes," The Moody Blues
25. "So Far Away" / "Smackwater Jack", Carole King
26. "Beginnings" / "Colour My World", Chicago
27. "Make It Funky, Pt. 1," James Brown
28. "Riders on the Storm," The Doors
29. "Rain Dance," The Guess Who

31. "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)," Marvin Gaye
32. "If Not for You," Olivia Newton-John

35. "Thin Line Between Love and Hate," The Persuaders
36. "The Love We Had (Stays on My Mind)," The Dells

39. "I've Found Someone of My Own," The Free Movement
40. "Yo-Yo," The Osmonds

42. "Trapped by a Thing Called Love," Denise LaSalle

45. "Stagger Lee," Tommy Roe

49. "Easy Loving," Freddie Hart

60. "A Natural Man," Lou Rawls

66. "One Fine Morning," Lighthouse

70. "Birds of a Feather," The Raiders

78. "Get It While You Can," Janis Joplin

88. "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves," Cher
89. "Never My Love," The 5th Dimension

94. "Can You Get to That," Funkadelic

Leaving the chart:

• "Hot Pants, Pt. 1 (She Got to Use What She Got to Get What She Wants)," James Brown (11 weeks)
• "Mr. Big Stuff," Jean Knight (16 weeks)
• "Sweet Hitch-Hiker," Creedence Clearwater Revival (9 weeks)

Not-so-recent and new on the chart:

"You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks," Funkadelic

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(charted Apr. 10, 1971; #91 US; #42 R&B)

"Never My Love," The 5th Dimension

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(#12 US; #1 AC; #45 R&B)

"Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves," Cher

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(#1 US the weeks of Nov. 6 and 13, 1971; #6 AC; #4 UK)


And new on the boob tube:

• Hawaii Five-O, "Highest Castle, Deepest Grave" (Season 4 premiere)
• Adam-12, "Extortion" (Season 4 premiere)
• The Brady Bunch, "Ghost Town U.S.A." (Season 3 premiere)
• The Partridge Family, "Dora, Dora, Dora" (Season 2 premiere)
• The Odd Couple, "Natural Childbirth" (Season 2 premiere)
• Love, American Style, "Love and Formula 26B / Love and the Loud Mouth / Love and the Penal Code" (Season 3 premiere)
• All in the Family, "The Saga of Cousin Oscar" (Season 2 premiere)
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show, "The Birds...and...um...Bees" (Season 2 premiere)
• Mission: Impossible, "Blind" (Season 6 premiere)

_______

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

_______

I was disappointed that wasn't in the video.

And that is one of the all-time classic themes and title sequences.

Except for Captain EIW kicking off the credits...

My mission, which I've chosen to accept, is to endure two seasons of LIW...

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This series will self-destruct in 44 episodes. Good luck, Mix!

Not a great fit.

Blues rockers doing a classic blues song? That's their glove.

Also, it's Judy's turn to cry.

Sounds kinda proto-Archies.

Now there's an uber classic.

Indeed, and one of Johnny's "originals" from this period--songs that I'd associate primarily with him, as opposed to lame-o covers of songs that already had definitive versions.

It's Total Immersion Therapy.

 

[RJDiogenes]

The "Baker Street robbery" of £500,000 ($1,235,000) of cash from the Baker Street branch of Lloyds Bank in London, was completed by a gang of seven thieves who had burrowed into the bank vault after starting a tunnel from a vacant shop next door.

Too unbelievable. I'll pass on that script.

the United States Forest Service introduced Woodsy Owl and the slogan "Give a hoot! Don't pollute"

I remember Woodsy. I haven't seen him for a while.

the October 19, 1971 issue of Look would be the last after a run of almost 35 years.

I fondly remember Look and Life. There were always some interesting pictures in there, including a few things that my Mother wouldn't want me to see.

"You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks," Funkadelic

Well, it sounds like the 70s, I guess.

"Never My Love," The 5th Dimension

An excellent cover, as one would expect.

"Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves," Cher

I love this one. This is one of several great songs that Cher released in a brief period around this time, like "Half Breed" and "Dark Lady."

Except for Captain EIW kicking off the credits...

My mission, which I've chosen to accept, is to endure two seasons of LIW...

Okay, I know I should know what EIW and LIW mean, but it's just not coming to me.

Blues rockers doing a classic blues song? That's their glove.

I don't know. "House of the Rising Sun," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," "We Gotta Get Out of This Place,".... "See See Rider." One of these things doesn't belong here, one of these things just isn't the same....

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

55.5th-ish Anniversary Viewing

_______

The Ed Sullivan Show
Season 18, episode 21
Originally aired February 6, 1966
As represented in The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show

Now, ladies and gentlemen, here from England...the Animals!

The pioneering blues rock group performs their Top 20 single "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," which has been off the chart for a few months at this point:

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Next in the Best of edit, Pompoff & Thedy (actually a trio) take the stage unannounced to do a brief comedic magic bit, in which one of them "accidentally" reveals that he's ringing a cowbell behind a cloth that he seems to be holding with what turn out to be false arms.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, here is...Rosemary Clooney!

The only thing that a brief search for "Baby, the Ball Is Over" turned up was that Clooney did it on The Ed Sullivan Show.

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And now for all you golfers, here's my big friend Tony Lema, of the touring pros!

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Here's a comedy star of the impossible years, Alan King!

The Best of edit picks up King's routine at 4:50 in this video.

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And now, ladies and gentlemen, here is young Gino Tonetti!

Tonetti, whom I couldn't find much about, sings a number called "Al di là".

...with their new record, "Inside, Looking Out," here are...my chums, the Animals.

This lower-Top 40 single was being released in February and would be entering the chart late in the month.


Other performances, as listed on Metacritic:

• Rosemary Clooney - "All Alone"
• Deli skit with Nancy Walker, Charles Nelson Reilly and Julia Meade

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• Peter Gennaro with 6 women dancers - "I Got Rhythm" production number
• Audience bow: Jack Adams (Canada's Mr. Hockey, Detroit Red Wings coach)
• A clip from the movie Made In Paris with Ann-Margret and Louis Jordan

_______

Branded
"Nice Day for a Hanging"
Originally aired February 6, 1966

McCord steps in to prevent a friend's hanging.

Jason rides into a town as party tables are being set up in front of a gallows that's being prepared for a hanging. He finds an old acquaintance there, regional newspaper woman Nan Richards (Whitney Blake)--neither the same character nor actress as in "Mightier Than the Sword," which had Jason allying with a woman running the paper she'd inherited from her father. Jason tells her that he's there because he owes his life to the man they're hanging, Frank Allison. A young man from out of town, Lon (Beau Bridges), tears up one of the tables and shouts accusations at the townspeople. The deputy (William Tiny Baskin) starts subduing him, but Jason intervenes. It turns out that Frank is Lon's father.

In a local saloon, we learn that Jason knew Frank during the war, in which Allison won a medal, and Lon tells Jason and Nan how his father took to drinking and put him in an orphanage after his mother died, when he was 10. Jason visits Frank (James Anderson) at the jail and brings Lon. Frank accuses Lon of being a gutless kid and says that he doesn't want to see him. After Lon leaves, Frank gets into having experienced PTSD after the war, and relates how he's being executed for having killed a former bank robbing partner who'd tried to kill him and left him for dead. Meanwhile, Lon takes Nan hostage.

The gallows keg party commences and Frank is brought out. Allison is ready to face his fate, exchanging a meaningful look with Jason, when Lon reveals himself, holding Nan at gunpoint. He demands that his father be released, to Frank's visible approval. But Jason goes up to persuade Frank to talk the boy down, and Frank complies, telling Lon that he's guilty and not to throw his own life away...before tripping the trap door himself to settle the matter. Nan initially breaks away during Lon's moment of shock, then comes back to comfort him.

In the coda, Nan takes Lon with her to run the printing press at her newspaper, and leaves Jason with an open invitation to come back to her when he's ready.

_______

12 O'Clock High
"Back to the Drawing Board"
Originally aired February 7, 1966

A civilian master technician (Burgess Meredith) invents a device that allows B-17's to bomb accurately through cloud cover.

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-classic-retro-pop-culture-thread.278375/page-94#post-12419508

The 918th is having problems with cloud cover over the target again, while German colonel Ehrland (Alf Kjellin) waits pensively for all those 500-lb. shoes that never drop. Back at Archbury, Britt takes Gallagher to a section of the field where tents have been set up as the nefarious secret hideout of Dr. Michael Rink (Burgess Meredith) and his chief henchman, Sgt. Raymond Zemler (Robert Doyle). Rink plans to accompany a small group of bombers to hit the marshaling yards of Durand using his BTO (Bomb Through Overcast) device...a.k.a. airborne radar. While Rink has difficulty breathing at an altitude that doesn't normally require oxygen, the 918th catches the Germans with their pants down, and Ehrland leads a small group of fighters that he has hastily sent up for attempted interception despite the cloud cover.

Back in England, Rink is hospitalized and Britt and Gallagher learn that he has a heart condition. Zemler takes over for his mentor, briefing bombardiers on reading targets via radar. The 918th then strikes again, and while Ehrland's fighters locate them this time, their number is too small to take the group on However, one of Ehrland's men sees something on their ground radar that clues him in that the bombers are using radar, and he thinks that he can come up with a countermeasure. The next mission, led by Major Rice (Lee Farr) in the newly christened bomber Rink's Raidar, goes disastrously when the Germans use triangulation to accurately hit the group with AA. One of the three-plane force is shot down, Rice is killed, and Zemler's eyes are wounded, resulting in what appears to be permanent blindness. While Zemler's being taken to the operating room, he tells Sandy that he thinks the Germans zeroed in on their radar. While Rink wallows in self-pity, Gallagher takes Rink's Raidar back up, with Stovall back in the right seat for security reasons, and tests Zemler's theory by turning the radar on and off and maneuvering to avoid the flak, which results in the Germans firing at where the bomber was rather than where it's at.

Gallagher is ordered to bomb Hemstadt the next day regardless of the cost, and the bombardier needs a five-minute run with the BTO on. Sandy helps Gallagher get Rink back in the game by guilting him about Zemler, whom he's avoided visiting. When Rink finally does, the tin canteen cup that the sergeant's drinking from makes a light bulb go off over his head, and he has all the canteen cups available cut up into strips of what he calls "chaff". Dumped from the bombers by the waist gunners when the planes are approaching their targets, the chaff confuses the radar readings on the ground so that the AA doesn't know what to fire at; and after hitting the target, Gallagher--accompanied again by Stovall--manages to evade Ehrland's fighters by ducking back into the cloud cover.

In the coda, Zemler is planning to come up with a tuner that will let them find the Germans' radar frequency as a longer-term solution.

_______

Batman
"Zelda the Great"
Originally aired February 9, 1966

The Dynamic Duo arranges a trap for an elusive annual bank robber, but the female magician they are hunting is on to them with a new scheme of her own.

Special Guest Villainess
ANNE BAXTER
as
ZELDA

And this would be kinda sorta our first underwhelming villain that the series made up. The story is based on one from the comics, but the Zelda character is standing in for a male magician in the original.

Gotham's First National Bank is robbed of $100,000 via explosives by a gas-masked thief wearing a bullet-proof vest. The crime fits an annual pattern of April 1 capers in recent years, so another small assembly of officers is shamed by Gordon before he resorts to the Batphone option. This time he proactively uses the Bat-Signal as well, though he had no way of knowing that Bruce and Dick would be outside using a telescope; they make an excuse about attending a lecture in Latin American politics to get away from the dinner that Aunt Harriet's prepared. The stock footage of the Batmobile is day-for-night tinted, and the Dynamic Duo pull up to what I assume is meant to be the back of police HQ, though it doesn't match up well with the front. From Gordon's office, Batman "makes a lead" by planting a story in the paper about the stolen money being counterfeit. Spectrographic analysis turns up traces of multi-colored silk and perfume, indicating a female criminal, and Robin references the Catwoman, whom we've yet to meet.

At the Gnome Book Store, "strange Albanian genius" Eivol Ekdal (Jack Kruschen) has gotten the fake word that his cash is fake, and confronts Zelda about it, who's been reluctantly robbing banks for him and is quickly driven to allegedly fake tears. Ekdal then demonstrates a new escape-proof trap for her act, for which she needs to cough up the real cash. Ekdal intends the trap for Batman, the world's greatest escape artist. Meanwhile, Batman creates a transmitter-equipped copy of the Star of Samarkand, a famous emerald that will briefly be on display...but Zelda smells a Bat-trap. The Dynamic Duo are aided by the starstruck jeweler, Hilary Stonewin (Barbara Heller), in setting their trap, which involves hiding on an indoor balcony and having the Batmobile at ready concealed in a utility tent outside...but Zelda scopes it all out. Her countermeasure involves a villain again randomly involving the Waynes, by calling Aunt Harriet with a story about Dick having been injured in a playground ball game. Zelda makes her move on the emerald for the sake of the Dynamic Duo, but vanishes via tiny mirrors on her hat. Outside they find the fake emerald on the street, and get a call from Gordon on the Mobile Batphone about Mrs. Cooper being held for a $100,000 ransom. In another bit of EIW (see below) that you'd think would be the sort of gimmick they'd have saved to shake things up in later installments, we find Aunt Harriet hanging over a flaming drum, a blindfold completely covering her face (as it's no doubt not Madge Blake).

HOLY BACKFIRE'S RIGHT!
AUNT HARRIET HAS JUST ONE HOUR!!
WHAT'LL IT BE??
SPLASH OR SALVATION??
HOLD A HOPEFUL BREATH FOR AUNT HARRIET UNTIL TOMORROW NIGHT..
SAME BAT-TIME!! SAME BAT-CHANNEL!!

There's another minor discrepancy between the written and spoken words (saying but not writing "night"), but this is the first time that "BAT-TIME" and "BAT-CHANNEL" appear in the written version. It's particularly odd that a story that sets up an inescapable trap for Batman wouldn't use that as the cliffhanger.

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Batman
"A Death Worse Than Fate"
Originally aired February 10, 1966

Robin goes to Gordon's office solo and, as in the end of the previous episode, skirts with endangering his secret identity via his reactions to the situation. Batman's not with him so that Bruce can be there. The Conspicuous Duo then appear with Gordon on a sort of ransom-negotiation telethon, in which Robin confesses that the bank money is real, with Gordon producing a notarized statement from the editor of the Gotham City Times and Bruce's giving his assurance as the bank's director. Zelda agrees to release Mrs. Cooper, and drops her off on the street. Back at Stately Wayne Manor, Bruce reveals that he was able to deduce the kidnapper's identity from the incident, and Alfred produces a clue from the abduction--a matchbook from the Gnome Book Store.

At that establishment, Ekdal reveals that he plans for Batman to show him and Zelda how to escape from his trap, and that he's taken money from the Syndicate for giving them the opportunity to off the Caped Crusader after he's done that; while Zelda reveals that she left her clue deliberately. A pair of hitmen (Victor French and Bill Phipps) hide in sarcophagi with gun slits, and Zelda and Ekdal watch via periscopes as the Dynamic Duo are lured into the back room, where they rather naively walk right into the booth together. The hatch closes and Ekdal challenges them via microphone before releasing a deadly gas. The crimefighters use the electrified grill that the gas is coming from to ignite it, somehow blowing them free without harming them, which is handwaved by the duo covering their heads with their capes. Then Zelda warns them via microphone so that they duck in time and the hitmen take out each other--guess it was a bad idea to have the sarcophagi directly facing each other. Ekdal tries to run out and Batman intercepts him with a Batarang pulled from a very large, angled side pouch of his utility belt that isn't normally visible. Then Zelda reveals herself, again in tears, and there's an "if only" romantic moment between her and Batman as he takes out the Bat-cuffs.

In the coda, Bruce pays Zelda a visit at Gotham Penitentiary, where he offers her a job as resident magician at childrens' hospitals funded by the Wayne Foundation when she gets out. Zelda uses her sleight of hand to produce a flower, which she asks Bruce to give to Batman. Bruce puts it in his lapel as he leaves.

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Gilligan's Island
"Gilligan's Living Doll"
Originally aired February 10, 1966

A robot parachutes on to the island and the Professor learns it can be taught to do anything a man can do. A radio broadcast reveals that a search for the lost robot will not be conducted. The Professor insists that they can program it to rescue them. He puts a message about the castaways in the robots memory bank and then sends it off to walk under water to Hawaii. In the end Gilligan's rabbit's foot turns out to be not so lucky after all, when he attaches it to the robot for good luck, but it consequently fouls up the robot's message.

Gilligan's doing laundry with a pedal-powered makeshift contraption (using a metal barrel rather than bamboo--Where was this when the Professor was scraping together metal for an anchor?) when he and the Skipper see a parachute dropping toward the island. Gilligan soon runs into the robot (an uncredited Robert D'Arcy), which initally mimics everybody's speech. The Professor is hopeful that the Air Force will come looking for it, and once he's learned to give it commands, is amazed at the possibilities of the tasks it could perform for the castaways in the meantime, which prove to range from doing the laundry to caddying. Then they receive a report that the plane that accidentally dropped it was remote controlled, and there won't be a search because the Air Force doesn't know where it dropped. The Professor then orders it to build them a boat, but it produces a toy-scale sailing ship. It confirms that it can build full-scale modern ships, but would need the appropriate tonnage in steel. The Howells float the idea of a searchlight, but the robot says it would need electricity or carbon for batteries. (What about the robot's power source? Or what they use to charge the radio?) Ginger tries using her feminine wiles on the machine, which produces some reactions, including the typical smoke coming from the ears, but no useful results. Then Gilligan does it again when he comes up with the idea of having it swim to Hawaii. They show it how to dog paddle, but unsurprisingly, it proves to be too heavy; so Gilligan comes up with the alternate idea of having it walk to Hawaii, which the Professor calculates will take about 111 hours. The castaways see it off as it walks into the lagoon, and later listen on the radio as it's found...but the only information it conveys is a scrambling of the various tasks the castaways had it do; and the scientists find the rabbit's foot inside the robot, which has demagnetized its spools.

I have to wonder if the episode's title was a deliberate reference to the previous TV year's one-season wonder My Living Doll.

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Hogan's Heroes
"The Pizza Parlor"
Originally aired February 11, 1966

Hogan decides the best way to win an Italian’s heart is with his native food when he prepares to recruit an Italian POW commandant to his side of the war, a plan which involves a complicated game of "Telephone".

Schultz watches as the prisoners conceal the signs of LeBeau's cooking in various hiding places in the barracks before Klink comes in. Klink informs them that Italian major Bonacelli (Hans Conried) will be visiting the stalag to study Klink's methods. As Hogan's reporting to our Mama Bear of the Week (submarine skipper Harry Lauter), Bonacelli is attempting to desert to Switzerland by holding his German driver (Bard Stevens) at gunpoint. The driver escapes during an air raid, and the prompt arrival of an unaware motorcycle patrol forces the major to proceed to Stalag 13, where Klink is embarrassed when Bonacelli notices that Newkirk is holding Schultz's (unloaded) rifle while he's participating in a volleyball game. Hogan wastes no time in sewing some German/Italian rivalry, and when the major reacts negatively to the the German food--lots of potato options and sauerkraut--Hogan decides to have LeBeau, against national culinary pride-fueled objections, make pizza...for which they need Mama Bear to patch them through to a pizzeria in Newark run by the father of one of the prisoners for a recipe, though Mama has some trouble enlisting cooperation from Papa Bear (Jack Goode and Elisa Ingram) in London. While he's got indirect communication with Mr. Garlotti (Ernest Sarracino) established, Hogan also asks for the words to "Santa Lucia".

The prisoners lure Bonacelli into the barracks via the song and the smell of pizza, and as he enjoys the latter, they quickly learn of his intention to desert. Hogan persuades him to stay in Italy as an Allied agent, appealing to his national pride as a counter to his objections to being a traitor. But a kink is thrown in the plan when the injured driver is brought to the stalag and identifies the major as a deserter. Hogan uses the cooler tunnel (I think for the first time) to spring Bonacelli, then arranged a faux escape of ten prisoners so that the major can bring them back as a hero...which only takes a little stoking of Klink's ego by Hogan.

In the coda, Klink reads Hogan a letter from Bonacelli about how he has his American prisoners making pizzas for him, the number of which is an indicator of local German troop strength.

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Get Smart
"Dear Diary"
Originally aired February 12, 1966

Max must find the secret diary of a retired agent who lives at a rest home for retired spies. Burt Mustin and Ellen Corby guest star as elderly retired CONTROL agents.

Max visits the Spy City Retirement Home for Secret Agents in response to a message via carrier pigeon from Max's idol, legendary Agent 4 Herb Gaffer (Vaughn Taylor), who thinks somebody's after his diary, which contains all sorts of classified information. While Max is reacting to a decoy eavesdropping, Gaffer is nabbed through the balcony/patio doors.

In the Chief's office, Max insists on using the Magna-Lamp to examine a plan of Spy City, which blinds everyone and eventually burns the plan to ashes. An unseen individual is holding Gaffer captive in plain site...knocked out and tied hooded to a rack in the Spy City Museum, appearing to be a mannequin. Max and 99 are given a brief tour of the museum by CONTROL's retired gadget man, Professor Bush (Byron Foulger). Then they proceed to the rec room, where retired Security Agent 11, Agnes Davenport (Ellen Corby), TV Fu's Max to check his ID. Agent #8 (Burt Mustin), an old friend of the Chief's, is manning a small room full of mostly extremely outdated messages with a window hidden behind a dartboard, where he finds a note from Gaffer that contains a clue to the diary's location. Searching Gaffer's room, 99 finds the handyman (Ted Gehring) hiding behind a curtain, but he's shot by an unseen figure.

At the prodding of another retiree named Newfield (William Keene), the agents use Bush's invisible dust to make footprints appear to indicate the trail of the double agent when he searches for the diary again...but the footprints lead to discarded shoes in the museum, where Gaffer revives and shows the agents where he has the diary hidden in the same room. Newfield then reveals himself as the double agent, and Max uses an umbrella gun to take him out.

There are a couple of gags in the episode that demonstrate how Gaffer is an older version of Max, involving a moment of mutual clumsiness and a shared "Would you believe...?" gag.

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Too unbelievable. I'll pass on that script.

Whereas I can't get the sax riff from the Gerry Rafferty song out of my head.

I remember Woodsy. I haven't seen him for a while.

As do I. I was gonna post a video, but I couldn't find one labeled as a 1971 original.

Well, it sounds like the 70s, I guess.

I just recently stumbled across the fact that I'd missed an earlier low-charting single from this album.

An excellent cover, as one would expect.

Dunno...Marilyn McCoo doing easy listening covers kinda gives me Solid Gold flashbacks.

I love this one. This is one of several great songs that Cher released in a brief period around this time, like "Half Breed" and "Dark Lady."

We're definitely getting into her peak classic period now.

Okay, I know I should know what EIW and LIW mean, but it's just not coming to me.

I've been using EIW as an abbreviation for Early Installment Weirdness lately; LIW would be Late Installment Weirdness.

I don't know. "House of the Rising Sun," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," "We Gotta Get Out of This Place,".... "See See Rider." One of these things doesn't belong here, one of these things just isn't the same....

This is why some artists don't want to "sell out" by doing pop singles.

 

[Commander Troi]

• Love Johnny Rivers! I knew him mostly for Secret Agent Man, then got a "Best Of" CD and saw how awesome he was.
• My mom had that Cher album on 8-track. I think I memorized every song on it! My mom sings like Cher - yes, that low!
• I adore The Animals! One of the few bands my dad and I both love. He saw them perform at his air force base in '67.
• The Deli skit is still funny! I love Nancy Walker and I don't think I ever saw Charles with that much hair.