Well, Jack. I'm sure Eddie was just desperate for work.
Ah, Mad TV. I know I saw it, because I remember the animations, but I'm sure I only watched a handful of episodes, at best.
The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread
- Thread starter The Old Mixer
- Start date
50 Years Ago This Week
October 20
October 21
October 22
October 23
October 24
October 25
October 26
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
Recent and new on the chart:
"Distant Lover," Marvin Gaye
(Sept. 28; #28 US; #12 R&B)
"La La Peace Song," Al Wilson
(Oct. 5; #30 US; #19 R&B)
"I Feel a Song (In My Heart)," Gladys Knight & The Pips
(Oct. 12; #21 US; #1 R&B; #51 UK)
"Touch Me," Fancy
(Oct. 12; #19 US)
"Promised Land," Elvis Presley
(#14 US; #8 AC; #9 Country; #9 UK)
And new on the boob tube:
Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month and Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Day by Day, with minor editing as needed.
October 20
- David Pearson won the 1974 American 500 stock car race at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. By finishing third in the race, Richard Petty won the NASCAR Grand National driving championship for the fifth time.
October 21
- The Wiz, a musical based on L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but retold in the context of 1970s African-American culture and featuring an all-Black cast, was given its first performance. The show premiered at the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre in Baltimore.
- Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations George Bush arrived at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Beijing to begin service as the U.S. liaison to the People's Republic of China. The U.S. and China would not have full diplomatic relations until 1979.
- John Lennon spent the first of five consecutive days recording additional tracks for his album of rock 'n' roll oldies in New York.
October 22
- A 3:30 a.m. bombing caused $1,500 in damage to a room at the Midway Elementary School southeast of Charleston, West Virginia, a continuation of the violent protests over textbooks in Kanawha County. There were no injuries.
- The makers of the American children's television series Sesame Street filed a copyright infringement suit against Bergen Liquidators, Inc., of New Jersey, charging that the company had planned to sell defective hand puppets of characters from the series.
October 23
- The International Olympic Committee awarded the 1980 Winter Olympics to Lake Placid, New York, and the 1980 Summer Olympics to Moscow. The vote for the Summer Olympics was reportedly 39 for Moscow and 22 for Los Angeles, while Lake Placid was the only location that had offered to host the Winter Olympics.
October 24
- The U.S. Air Force successfully fired a Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that had been dropped from a C5A military transport aircraft at an altitude of 20,000 feet (6,100 m) off the coast of southern California. The missile was the largest object ever dropped from an airplane.
- George Harrison held a press conference to talk about his impending US concert tour.
October 25
- The northeastern U.S. railway network Conrail was incorporated in Pennsylvania, officially as the Consolidated Rail Corporation, to take over the operations of Penn Central Transportation Company, Erie Lackawanna Railway, Ann Arbor Railway, Lehigh Valley Railroad, Reading Company, Central Railroad of New Jersey, Lehigh and Hudson River Railway and Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines. The U.S. government owned 85% of the company and its employees owned the other 15%.
- A team of six mountaineers became the first persons to climb the 20,512 ft (6,252 m) high mountain Swargarohini I West.
October 26
- At the Scheveningen Prison in the Hague, four convicted terrorists took 22 people hostage, including several children, during a Roman Catholic Mass. Two of the criminals had been convicted for the March hijacking of a British Airways jet. After the terrorists had released all of the children and several adults, Dutch Marines and Hague police stormed the prison chapel on October 31, rescued the remaining hostages unharmed, and arrested the four terrorists.
- In the early morning hours between 2:55 and 3:35, Puerto Rican separatists of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña (FALN) terrorist group set off five bombs in Manhattan, with the largest bomb set off in New York's Financial District. Despite the damage, there were no injuries.
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
- "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe," Barry White (12 weeks)
- "Hang On in There Baby," Johnny Bristol (17 weeks)
- "Rock Me Gently," Andy Kim (18 weeks)
Recent and new on the chart:
"Distant Lover," Marvin Gaye
(Sept. 28; #28 US; #12 R&B)
"La La Peace Song," Al Wilson
(Oct. 5; #30 US; #19 R&B)
"I Feel a Song (In My Heart)," Gladys Knight & The Pips
(Oct. 12; #21 US; #1 R&B; #51 UK)
"Touch Me," Fancy
(Oct. 12; #19 US)
"Promised Land," Elvis Presley
(#14 US; #8 AC; #9 Country; #9 UK)
And new on the boob tube:
- Adam-12, "Roll Call"
- M*A*S*H, "Check-Up"
- Hawaii Five-O, "We Hang Our Own"
- The Odd Couple, "The Odd Candidate"
- Ironside, "Set-Up: Danger!"
- Planet of the Apes, "The Surgeon"
- Shazam!, "The Boy Who Said 'No'"
- All in the Family, "Gloria's Shock"
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show, "The New Sue Ann"
- The Bob Newhart Show, "Dr. Ryan's Express"
Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month and Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Day by Day, with minor editing as needed.
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50th Anniversary Album
The Rolling Stones - "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll"
US Album Chart - #1, UK Album Chart #2
SIDE A
1) If You Can't Rock Me (Jagger/Richards)
2) Ain't Too Proud To Beg (Norman Whitfield/Eddie Holland)
3) It's Only Rock 'N' Roll (But I Like It) (Inspiration By Ronnie Wood) (Jagger/Richards/Wood)
4) Till The Next Goodbye (Jagger/Richards/Taylor)
5) Time Waits For No One (Jagger/Richards/Taylor)
SIDE B
1) Luxury (Jagger/Richards)
2) Dance Little Sister (Jagger/Richards)
3) If You Really Want To Be My Friend (Jagger/Richards/Taylor)
4) Short And Curlies (Jagger/Richards)
5) Fingerprint File (Jagger/Richards)
The Rolling Stones - "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll"
US Album Chart - #1, UK Album Chart #2
SIDE A
1) If You Can't Rock Me (Jagger/Richards)
2) Ain't Too Proud To Beg (Norman Whitfield/Eddie Holland)
3) It's Only Rock 'N' Roll (But I Like It) (Inspiration By Ronnie Wood) (Jagger/Richards/Wood)
4) Till The Next Goodbye (Jagger/Richards/Taylor)
5) Time Waits For No One (Jagger/Richards/Taylor)
SIDE B
1) Luxury (Jagger/Richards)
2) Dance Little Sister (Jagger/Richards)
3) If You Really Want To Be My Friend (Jagger/Richards/Taylor)
4) Short And Curlies (Jagger/Richards)
5) Fingerprint File (Jagger/Richards)
The Rolling Stones 12th UK studio album and the last to feature guitarist Mick Taylor and the first to feature his eventual replacement Ronnie Wood.
The album was started in the fall of 1973 following the conclusion of the Stones European tour. Produced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards using the pseudonym "The Glimmer Twins," following the dismisal of producer Jimmy Miller and engineered by George Chkiantz, who had not worked with the group since 'Sticky Fingers'.
George recalls the band was at the height of disfunction, with a disillusioned Mick Taylor, Keith Richards in the midst of his heroin addiction, and a feuding Mick and Keith with George acting as mediator. Bassist Bill Wyman recalled in his autobiography finding several notes written by Taylor saying he didn't want to be in the band scattered around the studio.
Initially planned as a "half live"/"half covers" album with live tracks taken from the Stones recent European tour and the B-Side comprised of covers of some of the Stones favorite R&B tunes.
Sessions got underway with the recording of Dobie Gray's "Drift Away," Jimmy Reed's "Shame Shame Shame," and The Temptations "Ain't Too Proud To Beg"; the latter the only song to make the album.
Prior to the start of recording, Mick Jagger participated in a jam session at guitarist Ronnie Wood's house with Ronnie Wood's fellow Faces band members Ian McLagan, Kenny Jones, bassist Willie Weeks and David Bowie. George Chkiantz recalls getting at phone call at 11:30 at night by Mick saying, "We need an engineer and we need one now! It's all hot - can you come 'round to Ronnie Wood's house?" The resulting jam session resulted in the song "It's Only Rock 'N' Roll (But I Like It)." Mick took the tapes to Keith Richards who added additional guitar flourishes, otherwise, the track remained untouched from its initial origins.
The song's credit "Inspiration by Ronnie Wood" was particularly upsetting to Mick Taylor, who had been giving interviews to the press saying that the album would correct a long standing grievance of his over song writting credits. Five years with the band and Taylor had only one co-writting credit to his name and he hoped to see this rectified, claiming in interviews, that it was him, not Keith, who co-wrote 'Time Waits For No One,' 'Til The Next Goodbye,' and 'If You Really Want To Be My Friend,' with Jagger. When presented with a copy of album sleeve with his credits conspicuously absent, Taylor had had enough and called a band meeting.
A meeting was held the last week of October 1974, where Taylor aired out his long list of grievances to a disinterested Jagger and Richards. When Jagger and Richards announced that there would be no tour to support the album, a major source of income to the non-songwritting band members, instead they wanted to go back into the studio and start a new album, Taylor stormed out of the meeting. Taylor phoned Bill Wyman about month later and gave his resignation. The Mick Taylor era was over.
The album was started in the fall of 1973 following the conclusion of the Stones European tour. Produced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards using the pseudonym "The Glimmer Twins," following the dismisal of producer Jimmy Miller and engineered by George Chkiantz, who had not worked with the group since 'Sticky Fingers'.
George recalls the band was at the height of disfunction, with a disillusioned Mick Taylor, Keith Richards in the midst of his heroin addiction, and a feuding Mick and Keith with George acting as mediator. Bassist Bill Wyman recalled in his autobiography finding several notes written by Taylor saying he didn't want to be in the band scattered around the studio.
Initially planned as a "half live"/"half covers" album with live tracks taken from the Stones recent European tour and the B-Side comprised of covers of some of the Stones favorite R&B tunes.
Sessions got underway with the recording of Dobie Gray's "Drift Away," Jimmy Reed's "Shame Shame Shame," and The Temptations "Ain't Too Proud To Beg"; the latter the only song to make the album.
Prior to the start of recording, Mick Jagger participated in a jam session at guitarist Ronnie Wood's house with Ronnie Wood's fellow Faces band members Ian McLagan, Kenny Jones, bassist Willie Weeks and David Bowie. George Chkiantz recalls getting at phone call at 11:30 at night by Mick saying, "We need an engineer and we need one now! It's all hot - can you come 'round to Ronnie Wood's house?" The resulting jam session resulted in the song "It's Only Rock 'N' Roll (But I Like It)." Mick took the tapes to Keith Richards who added additional guitar flourishes, otherwise, the track remained untouched from its initial origins.
The song's credit "Inspiration by Ronnie Wood" was particularly upsetting to Mick Taylor, who had been giving interviews to the press saying that the album would correct a long standing grievance of his over song writting credits. Five years with the band and Taylor had only one co-writting credit to his name and he hoped to see this rectified, claiming in interviews, that it was him, not Keith, who co-wrote 'Time Waits For No One,' 'Til The Next Goodbye,' and 'If You Really Want To Be My Friend,' with Jagger. When presented with a copy of album sleeve with his credits conspicuously absent, Taylor had had enough and called a band meeting.
A meeting was held the last week of October 1974, where Taylor aired out his long list of grievances to a disinterested Jagger and Richards. When Jagger and Richards announced that there would be no tour to support the album, a major source of income to the non-songwritting band members, instead they wanted to go back into the studio and start a new album, Taylor stormed out of the meeting. Taylor phoned Bill Wyman about month later and gave his resignation. The Mick Taylor era was over.
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Soon to be a major motion picture starring Diana Ross. To say nothing of Michael Jackson.
This is weird. It must have been a licensed deal, so why couldn't they just not approve the release the products? I wonder what the defect was.
"Speak up, George! Man, they don't call him the Quiet Beatle for nothing."
Why? Because it was there.
I've never heard this one. The audience sounds more impressed than I was.
Also unfamiliar. It's okay.
I think I remember this from Lost 45s, but it has no connection to the 70s for me. It's nice enough.
I don't remember this at all. It's just kind of there.
No memory of this either. I must have been distracted this week.
It's certainly not their best album.
But this is one of their best songs. It's kind of cool that it just emerged spontaneously from a jam session.
Did they just not like the guy or what? They seem to have treated him pretty badly.
IMO, I think it came down to differences in personalities. Mick and Keith, at the time, were very much of the 'rock n roll' lifestyle (sex, drugs, alcohol), whereas Taylor was more reserved, more in line with Watts and Wyman. Trying to keep up with Mick and Keith (especially Keith) could be both emotionally and pysically demanding if you didn't have the constitution for it. Taylor has said that he was burned out and felt creatively stiffled, especially if he's not being credited or not being allowed to make suggestions to the songs.
Also, there's the issue of monetary compensation. When the Stones were signed to Decca Records under Allen Klein's ABKCO label, even though they had number one albums and singles and were selling millions of records, the Stones were hardly seeing any of that royalty money. It got so bad that they barely had enough money in their account to pay the electric bills and Bill and Charlie were in danger of losing their houses to foreclosure. In order to get out their contract with Klein, the Stones, namely Mick and Keith, had to sign away all their publishing rights to every song and album up to 'Let It Bleed'. The album 'Sticky Fingers' would be the first released under the new 'Rolling Stones' label, where Mick and Keith kept their songwriting royalties.
When the contract was signed to form the Rolling Stones label, it included Mick, Keith, Charlie, Bill and Brian Jones as the primary shareholders with the royalties being split five ways. When Brian Jones drowned in his swimming pool a few days after being fired from the band, the royalty rate was divided equally into fourths. When Mick Taylor was brought in as Brian Jones replacement, he was done so as a 'hired hand,' not a full-time member, meaning he didn't share equally in the royalties or voting rights. Which, again, could be a source of frustration if you're contributing to the making of the albums and you're not seeing the monetary rewards. The same thing happened when Ronnie Wood was brought on as Mick Taylor's replacement. He was with the Stones organization for twenty or so years before he was made a full-time member and equal shareholder.
Also, there's the issue of monetary compensation. When the Stones were signed to Decca Records under Allen Klein's ABKCO label, even though they had number one albums and singles and were selling millions of records, the Stones were hardly seeing any of that royalty money. It got so bad that they barely had enough money in their account to pay the electric bills and Bill and Charlie were in danger of losing their houses to foreclosure. In order to get out their contract with Klein, the Stones, namely Mick and Keith, had to sign away all their publishing rights to every song and album up to 'Let It Bleed'. The album 'Sticky Fingers' would be the first released under the new 'Rolling Stones' label, where Mick and Keith kept their songwriting royalties.
When the contract was signed to form the Rolling Stones label, it included Mick, Keith, Charlie, Bill and Brian Jones as the primary shareholders with the royalties being split five ways. When Brian Jones drowned in his swimming pool a few days after being fired from the band, the royalty rate was divided equally into fourths. When Mick Taylor was brought in as Brian Jones replacement, he was done so as a 'hired hand,' not a full-time member, meaning he didn't share equally in the royalties or voting rights. Which, again, could be a source of frustration if you're contributing to the making of the albums and you're not seeing the monetary rewards. The same thing happened when Ronnie Wood was brought on as Mick Taylor's replacement. He was with the Stones organization for twenty or so years before he was made a full-time member and equal shareholder.
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Klein knew how to tell his clients what they wanted to hear, even if the majority of it was bullsh*t; and he was able to get substantially higher royalty rates for the artists he represented.
There's a telling scene in The Beatles 'Get Back' documentary where John and Yoko arrive at Apple Studios one morning wildly enthusiastic about having dinner with Klein the night before and how he was going to straighten out Apple Records and how Brian Epstein signed them to bad contracts and everybody will get the money they agreed to when they (Paul, John, George and Ringo) signed to Parlophone and Capitol Records.
Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who was filming The Beatles for the 'Get Back' documentary, and had dealings with Klein via directing promotional videos for The Rolling Stones and Glyn Johns, who was producing the album and had also worked with the Stones, both seperately, went to John and said that Klein was bad news and that the Stones were trying to get out of their contract with ABKCO, but John wasn't convinced and he soon introduced George and Ringo to Klein, and we know the rest.
There's a telling scene in The Beatles 'Get Back' documentary where John and Yoko arrive at Apple Studios one morning wildly enthusiastic about having dinner with Klein the night before and how he was going to straighten out Apple Records and how Brian Epstein signed them to bad contracts and everybody will get the money they agreed to when they (Paul, John, George and Ringo) signed to Parlophone and Capitol Records.
Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who was filming The Beatles for the 'Get Back' documentary, and had dealings with Klein via directing promotional videos for The Rolling Stones and Glyn Johns, who was producing the album and had also worked with the Stones, both seperately, went to John and said that Klein was bad news and that the Stones were trying to get out of their contract with ABKCO, but John wasn't convinced and he soon introduced George and Ringo to Klein, and we know the rest.
Sounds like it wasn't.
I've got the six-minute-ish album cut of this. It's not particularly striking.I've never heard this one. The audience sounds more impressed than I was.
This one's new to me, but a bit more likably catchy.
Already had this one, but it's completely unmemorable.
It's distinct compared to what else was on the chart at the time, at least.
This is good and I can tell you how it goes, at least.No memory of this either. I must have been distracted this week.
Wow, that's insane.
I'm disappointed. The Stones didn't treat their "hired hands" very well, it seems.
Yeah, it was a Copyright infringement case. But the way it's phrased makes it seem like the issue was the defective merchandise, not that it was unlicensed.
And Elvis Lives!
50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 1)
M*A*S*H
"Springtime"
Originally aired October 15, 1974
Frndly said:
I don't recall Klinger being married prior to the Rosalind Chao character from the end of the series, whom a quick search jogged my memory of. Did the first marriage carry over further into the series or did his original missus run off to Montreal with Chuck Cunningham?
During a long surgery session, a burly Marine corporal (Alex Karras) is brought in and treated by Hawkeye. When the guys get out of the OR, Hawkeye's too exhausted to want to take advantage of a sudden onset of sunny spring weather. Radar briefly makes the acquaintance of Lt. Louise Simmons (episode co-writer Mary Kay Place) while she's sunning herself with cotton balls in her eyes. Radar proceeds to deliver a message to Klinger as he's reading poetry on a hillside; which sends Klinger dancing through the grass in his Scarlet O'Hara garb, leaving his book behind. Klinger informs Blake that his girl back home has agreed to marry him and asks for a week's leave in the States, but Henry assumes that it's another scheme. Radar makes a point of hovering around the bespectacled Lt. Simmons, but she doesn't seem to notice or recognize him. When Hawk returns to the OR, he finds the conscious corporal, Lyle Wesson, insistently promising to pay him back. As his first gesture, Wesson intimidates a couple of guys at a mess table, as well as Pvt. Straminsky, who's serving chow.
Hawk (quipping to Trap): "Dear Dad, I'm bringing home a Marine. He'll be the son you never had."
Blake arranges to have Klinger married via a ham radio connection in the States. After asking the guys for advice, Radar arranges to bump into Simmons while she's hanging her laundry and invites her to the current movie, to learn that she's more interested in poetry. (The movie is a fictitious Godzilla sequel, which would be another substantial anachronism, as the original film was released in Japan in '54 and didn't hit the States until '56.) When Hawkeye tries to get through to an unidentified, shell-shocked soldier (Greg Mabrey) who's been sitting in the ward petting a cat, the soldier puts him in a headlock, from which Pierce is rescued by Corporal Wesson. Radar comes by Louise's tent by night with the poetry book, and despite his awful recitation, she aggressively makes her move. Klinger, wearing bridal garb, is successfully married with Mulcahy officiating despite difficulty with the connection and obligatory objections from the Straw Couple. Lyle comes in to ask Hawkeye for his home address, and roughs up Burns on Hawk's behalf. Radar enters at the end of the ceremony, his clothes undone and lipstick covering his face after having been "slaked" (a word he doesn't know the meaning of that he picked up from the book).
In the coda, Radar comes back to the guys for help with his follow-up.
Hawaii Five-O
"Right Grave, Wrong Body"
Originally aired October 15, 1974
Paramount+ said:
As bodies are being exhumed from a cemetery plot for whatever reason, the steam shovel uncovers skeletal remains not in a casket, with a .45 caliber bullet in the skull. An ID bracelet is conveniently found identifying the body as that of Jess Kaneko, which Doc Bergman confirms against dental X-rays, while also estimating that the body was buried five years prior. McGarrett connects this with a bank robbery of $250,000 at about the same time in which an unidentified third partner was believed to have gotten away with the loot. Che determines that the gun matches one used in a recent liquor store robbery. Cut to a new robbery in which the clerk, Chun Hoy, uses the distraction of his wife (Marika Yamato) popping up to go for his gun, only to be shot by the robber (William Watson). Uniformed officer Dean Lyman (Charles Cioffi), driving a patrol car that's oddly unmarked other than the blue beacon light on top, comes upon the robber running from the scene, but loses him in an alley after a couple of ineffectual shots are exchanged. Che confirms that the gun used to kill Hoy is the same one.
Five-O brings in Mrs. Hoy to identify the robber by building his face via the transparencies of the identi-kit, which we've seen used before, though here it's explained in detail and shown in use multiple times throughout the episode. Starting with a sketch built of the man who'd killed the previous liquor store clerk, she has some details changed to match her recollection, Danno putting them into place by consulting a handbook and selecting the right facial features from a file box. Sgt. Lyman is then brought in to look at the two face build-ups, but he indicates that neither matches what he saw, and is then informed about the gun matching the one that killed bank robber Jessie Kaneko (treated as fact by McGarrett at this point). Later at home, Lyman has trouble sleeping and, when pressed by his wife, Marge (Josie Over), too easily spills the beans, showing her stacks of big bills that he's been hiding in a locked toolbox and describing how he'd shot a fleeing suspect in a firefight five years prior to discover the loot in his briefcase, which motivated him to bury the body and dump the suspect's car in the drink. He then tells her how his old gun, which he'd lost on a case a couple of years later, has recently been used in a series of robberies, and that he has to find it before somebody else does.
The liquor store robber, Don Hobart, pops up for a reunion with an old barfly (implied prostitute) girlfriend, Kelly Mitsui (Carole Kai), after having laid low on the mainland for a few years. Hobart threatens the man she had been working, then angrily sends away shabbily dressed wino Cas Ewa (David "Lippy" Espinda, who's already popped up in a number of roles on the show over the years) when he tries to hit Kelly up for some money. Later hitting the streets in his civvies, Lyman shows the sketch of the robber to Ewa, who's also a stoolie. Meanwhile, Hobart hits another liquor store, where the clerk presses a silent alarm, then makes a break through a back room. In his getaway, Hobart shoots an officer in back of the store. The surviving clerk provides a new sketch, while back at the bar, Hobart notices Ewa eyeing him with interest. At 5OHQ, Danno mans the identi-kit again as the team builds a fourth face from comparing where the three they have agree. Ewa tails Hobart back to his place, then calls Lyman, who meets him for a rendezvous, but the stoolie is shot by Hobart, whom Lyman pursues on foot through a construction site but loses. Bergman shows Danno and Ben Ewa's body, and produces a sketch of the robber that was found on him. Steve brings Lyman back in to look at the four sketches, but he initially denies recognizing any of them, then takes the opportunity to throw them off by disagreeing with a number of the features on sketch #4 and falsely confirming a fifth sketch that Danno builds.
Hobart hits yet another store with yet another risk-taking clerk--this one attacking the robber with his fists before being nonlethally overcome. The clerk works up another sketch with Danno, his changes to sketch #5 all undoing the exact changes that Lyman made. A piece of pistol butt plating is found at the scene, which Che determines had an HPD badge insignia attached to it. Che uses the rivet holes in the handle fragment to work up three digits of a badge number. Meanwhile, another wino stoolie has pointed Lyman to Mitsui, whom the sergeant leans on for Hobart's name and address.
Digging back far enough, Five-O comes up with a match to Lyman's old badge number from his rookie patrolman days; dig up how Lyman lost the gun; and get a positive match of the restored sketch #4 to Hobart. Steve talks to Mrs. Lyman, who turns over the money. Lyman is reported as being at a hotel, where he busts into Hobart's room and ransacks it. Steve and Danno are questioning the clerk downstairs when Lyman sees Chin and an HPD patrolman screeching up with their siren on. He considers the situation, then pulls his pistol and raises it up toward his head. Steve and Danno hear a gunshot and rush up to find Lyman's body. Chin then walks in with the apprehended Hobart, who was found with the broken-handled pistol on him.
McGarrett: Book him, Danno. Murder one, three counts.
The Odd Couple
"Strike Up the Band or Else"
Originally aired October 17, 1974
Wiki said:
Oscar skips a dinner that Felix has prepared for an interview with a Texas football team owner named Billy Joe Grissom (Pernell "Trapper Cartwright" Roberts) over a game of poker that leaves Oscar owing Grissom $500. Billy Joe's business manager, Dick (Dick Curtis), indicates that payment is expected within 24 hours, or it won't be pretty. Intending to get the money from Felix, Oscar comes home pretending to have an injured arm from a subway incident...which Felix, in his anger, doesn't notice for a while. Just as Felix is insisting on paying for the operation, Oscar blows his story by reflexively using the arm. When Felix brings up that his band, the Sophisticados, need a gig for exposure, Oscar sees an opportunity, as Grissom is throwing a party for which his country music act, Ma Gump, has canceled. Oscar sells up Felix's band as "Felix 'Red River' Unger and His Saddle Sores," but in actuality they're a very light jazz combo with barbershop quartet-style vocals, performing fare such as "Jeepers Creepers". The members include a piano player named Alan (Alan Copeland), a trumpet player named Vern (Vern Rowe), a stand-up bassist named Bob (uncredited), and Murray on ukulele.
Felix doesn't learn that he's agreed to play at a barn dance until he visits the venue and meets Billy Joe. While Felix is initially outraged, the rest of the band are up to the challenge. After Oscar makes a terrible attempt at leading the band in a rehearsal of "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," Felix agrees as well. The band show up for the gig in proper attire, Felix now fully embracing it in character, only to learn that he's doing it to pay off a gambling debt. But Felix is motivated to continue after Oscar makes another terrible attempt at leading the band, this time in mis-announcing a square dance so that the dancers make crazy, contortionist moves. Felix gets that role right while also goading Oscar into participating. In the end, Felix has fun--which includes making old-style ballroom broadcast announcements--and Billy Joe is pleased.
The streaming versions of this season's closing credits appear over a generic blue background. As I suspected from the set-up in the coda, IMDb indicates that another song was originally performed during the credits, apparently Pernell Roberts singing "Cocktails for Two".
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I have no recollection of this either. They must get divorced or whatever somewhere along the line, unless the writers just forgot.
Giant football player with dreams of being an actor someday.
Radar's libido returns again!
An odd pastime for Klinger. I don't remember him showing any interest in poetry at any other time.
The Max who cried wolf.
Maybe it's a prequel: Godzilla Year One Million BC.
You go, Radar!
Nice. I wonder if that's the only time in the series that he got slaked. Come to think of it, Lt Simmons would have made a nice recurring character.
They're building a new suburb, and you know what happens if you don't get all the bodies.
Somebody would have been wise to remove the bullet. Not to mention the ID bracelet. And what kind of sissy robber wears an ID bracelet?
Quite a coincidence that the cemetery would get dug up at the same time that Hobart returns from the mainland.
A little preview of Bones.
I'm wondering how far-fetched this is. Do they keep track of an officer's ammo? Would somebody have noticed that his gun had been fired? Was the car ever found? Would any forensic evidence have been able to tie him to it?
I guess the margin of error is small enough that Lyman couldn't have gotten away with saying that somebody must have stolen his gun and then killed Kaneko, but that might have been the wisest course of action, assuming he has an exemplary record.
I think she's been around before.
I'm assuming he survives, given the three murder counts.
Cute trick, if it's possible.
Ouch. That's exceptionally grim. Overall, this was a good episode, though it relied a bit too heavily on coincidence. They should have, and maybe they did, emphasize that he was a good cop who went off the rails that one time, and then tracked his deteriorating mental state as everything spun out of control.
Talk about persnickety!
A tidy sum in 1974 dollars.
The "operation?"
The first and last we'll hear of this band, I'm sure.
I'd likely consider that an improvement.
A fairly straightforward plot.
It's kind of a shame how music rights forces changes to old shows like that. It's still weird to watch Bosom Buddies without the Billy Joel theme.
Hence the Chuck C. reference.
It was in character for his wardrobe.
Actually, Firstborn of Godzilla.
You go, Radar!
Capped, in spite of my low exposure to horror from my own era.
It was embedded in his skull--he was a cop, not a surgeon.
Maybe it was in style in '69.And what kind of sissy robber wears an ID bracelet?
Yeah, that was a bit much. The liquor store holdups had to be current, but it seems like the body could easily have been found at an earlier time, with the bullet match causing them to take interest in the unsolved case.
He was off duty at the time, FWIW.
Unlikely, given that the body had composed down to a skeleton while buried in dirt. Maybe today, but not in '74.
The gun was lost two years later.
She has--three times previously and a couple more to come.
Good question...I'd assumed he was killed when watching, but they didn't make much of it.
There was some of that--he was played up as an old friend (of the week) of Steve's; and he apparently never did anything with the money, and was only holding onto it because by the time he had second thoughts, it was too late to come clean.
Whoops! I thought I was past that phase.Talk about persnickety!
Definitely.
A question I'd like to ask about something I saw not quite 50 years ago (40 or less).
A couple of memories came to me out of the blue...one was a comic from a school handout--a school lunchroom scene where one student freaked out about someone trying to steal his French fries (he was led off in a straight jacket)... another memory was earlier, this from the Weekly Reader EYE about dreadful passive solar homes--and how oil would vanish by 2000.
A couple of memories came to me out of the blue...one was a comic from a school handout--a school lunchroom scene where one student freaked out about someone trying to steal his French fries (he was led off in a straight jacket)... another memory was earlier, this from the Weekly Reader EYE about dreadful passive solar homes--and how oil would vanish by 2000.
Hmm. Who's he putting a performance on for way out there?
These are actually pretty good ideas.
Whatever works.
I was wondering if you would.
Yeah, but given what's at stake....
Could be.
That would have been better.
It mainly made me wonder if they keep track of the ammo they dispense down to the bullet, and if someone could keep a discrepancy under wraps.
I was specifically thinking of the car, but I suppose it's pretty much the same.
That's what I mean. There's a margin of error for the time of death, but it's unlikely that the doc would be off by two years. But given how things worked out, it might have been better to shrug and say that something must have caused the body to decompose faster than expected.
I counted three confirmed kills, so he must have been okay. Or the writers lost track. Certainly it's not possible that McGarrett made a mistake.
He also put his wife in an awkward position too. It seemed like she didn't want to betray him, but didn't hesitate to confess when confronted.
I was way out of school by that time, so I wouldn't know-- but they were definitely telling us back in the 60s that we'd be oil free by the 21st century.
Can't say either of those ring a bell, though it sounds like they may have been after my time. I was in junior high in '84. I'm reminded of the Teen Titans anti-drug one-shots, but I got those in comic shops, not at school.
Frank and Margaret were making out nearby.Hmm. Who's he putting a performance on for way out there?
Seems like there'd be ways of covering that. Cops practice at shooting ranges and whatnot.
The car, conveniently, was never fished out of the drink.
Now that I couldn't see working even with 1974 forensics. Doc Bergman was able to estimate how long the body had been buried based on the grass growth above it (though it seems like that shouldn't be his field).
One of them may have counted as second-degree murder, but I'm unclear exactly where the line is drawn.
The ease with which he spilled all to his wife was definitely a weak point of the plot. Josie Over, BTW, is another actress who pops up repeatedly throughout the course of the series in different roles...a total of sixteen times.
In what appears to be another case of a belatedly reported celebrity death, it looks like we lost Ron Ely, star of the 1960s Tarzan TV series, last month at the age of 86.
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Aw crap. I liked that show when I watched it in reruns. He also made for a good live action Doc Savage.
How did they like being serenaded by a poetic Klinger?
Yeah, that's true....
Aha.
Hmm. I assumed he based it on the level of decomposition or isotopes or something. Nobody had mowed the cemetery in five years? And he could tell how tall the grass was after it had been dug up? That doesn't seem like a very reliable method.
Ah, I didn't recognize her. That's a fairly unusual name, too.
I saw that headline yesterday, but I didn't realize it happened last month. As Darren notes, he also starred in that halfheartedly campy Doc Savage movie. RIP, Ron Ely.
I've got that movie on DVD, though I never saw it back in the day. He was a great choice to play Doc, but the movie did not turn out that great. At least it inspired the Marvel black-and-white magazine.
50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 2)
Shazam!
"The Treasure"
Originally aired October 19, 1974
Wiki said:
Billy and Mentor are taking in Vasquez Rocks when they get a call from the Elders about preserving what the desert has to teach future generations. Nearby, Johnny (John Linton) shows his grandfather (Ruben Moreno) an artifact fragment indicating that thieves have been pilfering their heritage...the suspects rowdily driving circles below in their Jeep, hooting and hollering like they're auditioning for The Dukes of Hazzard. Johnny slips trying to descend the big rock, becoming trapped on a ledge. The grandfather (billed as "Chief," though the character is referred to as Adam in the episode) flags down the Shazamvan for help, following which he, Billy, and Mentor pull Johnny up with a rope. The shot of Billy and Mentor standing next to each other in the opening credits comes from the following scene, as Adam and Johnny fill them in on what's going on. Billy recommends notifying the authorities, which Adam agrees with, but Johnny doesn't trust the law, whom he holds responsible for taking away their land.
Billy and Johnny proceed to where Jed and Artie (Allen G. Norman and Will Seltzer) are digging up more artifacts, and confront them by shouting down at them from a rock. While Artie is reluctant about what they're doing, Jed argues that it's buried treasure and a matter of finders keepers (no, really). Billy then threatens to call the authorities, which motivates the thieves to split...though they harass Billy and Johnny by circling them in the Jeep after they descend from their perch, until the van drives up.
Having apparently been camping nearby for days, Billy and Johnny visit Adam and Johnny's trailer one morning to find them gone. Elsewhere, while the thieves scout for more artifacts with a metal detector, Johnny starts to take a wrench to the underside of their Jeep, then hides in the back as they return. Adam flags down the van again, getting a lift while Mentor sets a bad example for future generations by calling the highway patrol while driving. When the fuzz pursues, the thieves dump their bag o' loot and proceed to an airport, where they board a white-and-red single-engine Cessna. Johnny tries to pull one of them out of the plane and ends up being pulled in as they taxi for takeoff.
Your assignment, which you've chosen to accept, is to give us the lowdown on white-and-red Cessna N5268Q. Good luck, RJ!
When Cap confronts the guys about their theft, they cite lack of evidence...but the HP arrives at the same time as the van, Adam produces Polaroids of the thieves pilfering artifacts (taken from unlikely close-up angles), and the dastardly duo is taken away. Billy, Mentor, Johnny, and Adam proceed to rebury the artifacts--Billy finding a bottle that he notes could become an artifact in another hundred years.
It had escaped my attention that last week's opening scene, which includes Butch Patrick, was part of this clip:
Emergency!
"Surprise"
Originally aired October 19, 1974
IMDb said:
The station is called to assist a middle-aged woman named Cora (Ann Morgan Guilbert) who was thrown from a trail bike while riding with her husband, Harry (Herb Voland), and became stuck sitting in a hillside cactus patch. From the road below, the firefighters rig two ladders together so that one is horizontal, allowing the paramedics to crawl over to her. They help lift her out and assist as she crawls down on the ladder. She's transported to Rampart, where Early and Morton get to work on removing the hundreds of needles.
Back at the station, Roy and Johnny are coordinating a surprise party for Dixie with several other squads, planning to get her a hair dryer. At Rampart, Dix indicates to Kel that she already knows all of this, and is reluctant about all the fuss. The station and other units are called to help a couple of workers who are hanging from brackets several stories up on the side of a building that a sign now dangling from a malfunctioning crane (operated by Kenneth Tobey) was formerly attached to. DeSoto and Gage are each lowered to one of the men on secured lines to pull them up...though the freely swinging sign and one man's injured arm and collarbone complicate the rescue.
Back at Rampart, a nurse named Betty (Dena Dietrich) takes Brackett to a room where Dix, who'd gone off duty to shop, is being treated for a broken ankle and mild concussion that she sustained in a cart accident. While Roy and Johnny visit, Dix fusses over who'll be operating on her and having Betty cover for her. Later, an overwhelmed Betty asks the doctors about her nurses' complicated work schedules. (It seems like there'd be others in the hospital more qualified to advise her on administrative matters.) Brackett visits an alcoholic regular patient named George (Dub Taylor), who insists on seeing Dix.
While Roy and Johnny are discussing what to do about the large party they've already planned, they're called to a suburban home where a man named Chuck (Joe Kapp) is locked in his newly built garage sauna. They pry it open and treat him for heat prostration while questioning his wife (Aneta Corsaut) about medical conditions that might have caused him to pass out. At Rampart, where things are in chaos between Betty's mismanagement and Nurse Carol's (Anne Schedeen) unfamiliarity with Brackett's preferences, the doctors diagnose Chuck as having early-stage Addison's disease. Meanwhile, George walks out; Early actually tries to work out the nurse schedules with a graph; and Brackett relents on letting Betty talk to Dix. (This all seems a bit exaggerated considering that the ER should routinely function while Dix is off duty.) Dix encourages Betty and offers to help her with the schedule, which Dix admits is still an issue for her as well.
The station and other units are called to a gas leak at an apartment building managed by a man named Haley (Bill Quinn). The paramedics search the building for residents who haven't gotten out and Roy finds a bedridden old lady with a bad hip (Celia Lovsky) who insists that they leave her. De gas explosion is de gas explosion, vhat can be done? After she's carried out, the place goes up like a car on Hawaii Five-O that ran over a speed bump doing 30, with Johnny still inside.
Johnny's laid up at Rampart with his leg suspended in a cast, and Dix, now in a wheelchair, brings the party he planned to him, including cake and music cassettes that he'd been arguing with Roy about bringing in previous scenes.
This one had lots of credited guests, many of them now in post-opening credits, which is something that I just noticed the show starting to do. I wonder if Eric Shea was up there and the IMDb contributor and I both missed it?
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
"I Love a Piano"
Originally aired October 19, 1974
Wiki said:
On one of those snowy Minneapolis evenings so common in fall episodes, Mary is throwing a party for her 1,000th show with WJM...though she comes to realize that she miscalculated and is still on 999. Ted brings a friend, divorced junior high principal Judith Chandler (Barbara Barrie), with the hope of hooking her up with Lou...though Mary reminds Georgette that he's now regularly seeing somebody. Judith ends up sitting and talking with Murray for hours, which Ted makes a big deal about the next day. Murray insists that nothing happened, and he was only discussing buying a piano from her...though he admits to Mary that he didn't tell Judith he was married. Soon he's coming back from lunch very late and drunk on French wine.
Lou: I don't know whether to give him black coffee or cheese.
As Murray enthuses over Judith, Mary expresses her concern about what this could mean for Marie.
Later, a sober Murray tries to have a talk with Lou which Ted insists on sitting in for about how he feels that he may be missing out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, though Lou tries to discourage him from making a mistake. Murray then goes to Mary's ahead of Judith's, seemingly looking for encouragement and wanting to know the plot of The Sting to support his cover story for Marie...though Mary postulates that he's actually there as a way of delaying what he's thinking of doing. He says that he has to find out what will happen and proceeds to Judith's, where she shows him the piano, on which he plays "Strangers in the Night" while repeatedly singing only the first line. After he pretends to entertain her price of $3,000, she starts to make a move on him, which he avoids by haggling the price down to $2,500. He apologetically starts to leave, she expresses her understanding, and he thanks her for helping him to find out what he'd do in such a situation.
Murray returns to Mary's to let her know how things turned out, while unsure of how to explain buying the piano to Marie when he was supposed to be watching The Sting.
The Bob Newhart Show
"The Grey Flannel Shrink"
Originally aired October 19, 1974
Wiki said:
As Carol and Bob are reviewing overdue patient bills, episode director Jerry tries recommending his collection agency.
Bob: I just don't want people hounding my patients. Y'know, a lot of them think they're being hounded anyway.
In a visit from recent patient Mr. Charlie Colton (John Anderson), the executive offers Bob a job as company psychologist for his insurance firm, Loggers (named by a lumberjack founder). Bob is naturally reluctant, but when Howard learns of the offer even as Bob is receiving a series of calls from Colton at home with increasing salary offers, Bob's encouraged to look into the proposition (Emily being out of town visiting her parents).
Bob visits the Loggers building--exterior shots apparently being of a San Francisco building with similar X-bracing to Chicago's John Hancock Center--to acquaint himself with his large, luxurious office, as well as some other Loggers execs--Wes Greenfield (Edward Winter), who's ambitious to oust Colton as president; insecure Paul Hollander (Jerry Fogel); and death projectionist Susan Wick (Mary Robin Redd).
That Friday, Bob arranges to start seeing his private patients at night (informing Ed Herd during his weekly visit). As Bob's leaving for the week, Jerry tries to offer Carol to Bob as a parting gift, but he's already got a company secretary. When Bob gets home, he finds Howard in an apron cooking for him.
Howard: Hi, Bob, how was your day?
Bob: How was yours, Felix?
We see Bob's new job in progress with a group therapy session in which he encourages the execs not to get stressed out over quotas and such. Colton then comes in to inform him that the board isn't happy with this approach and he's fired...which is a relief to Bob, who says that it feels like a great log has been lifted off his chest.
At one point, Howard makes a reference to recent film adaptation The Great Gatsby (describing an oversized bow tie that he's wearing as his "Gatsby look," while Bob likens it to Dagwood Bumstead). There's a running gag of Bob being unable to pull an ax from a log that's part of his office decor, which Wes manages to do casually.
They were outraged by his presence, of course.How did they like being serenaded by a poetic Klinger?
It was based on the thickness and/or root depth, I believe.
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