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As was mine, but it still slipped by me. It's been a long time.
I don't think the Hornet was ever DC.
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The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread
- Thread starter The Old Mixer
- Start date
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Nice.
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No, not really-- I think he was being published by Gold Key at that particular time-- but there was the TV connection between the two shows, which is what most people would be aware of.
The Green Hornet was originally a long-running radio series (from the creators of The Lone Ranger, who was implied to be Britt Reid's ancestor), plus a pair of movie serials based on it. There was a comic book series in the '40s based on the radio series, mostly published by Harvey Comics, but GH was never primarily a comic-book character. The '60s Gold Key comic was based on the TV series, not the other way around, and it lasted all of 3 issues. The reason Batman and the GH were paired was because both shows were from William Dozier's production company, that's all. (The same as when Batman and Robin showed up on The New Scooby-Doo Movies during the time that Hanna-Barbera had the TV rights to the DC characters.)
So Aretha was a Dozier series fan...he should have gotten her on Batman while he had the chance.
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Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for 55 years ago this week:
12 O'Clock High
"Underground"
Originally aired January 17, 1966
Robert Walker Jr.'s guest star credit posted here.
Bonus pic here.
Plus...I know it's tempting, Rob, but for God's sake, don't let her handle your Luger!
Somewhere out there, there must be 12OCH fans avid enough to count how many time the Piccadilly Lily crashes and/or gets blown to smithereens. And after two episodes with plots concerning the consequences of landing in neutral Switzerland, it makes sense that the show would eventually go there.
A military officer at the U.S. embassy slyly points Gallagher in the direction of contacts to help him escape. What ensues is a cloak and dagger episode, with Gallagher eluding Gestapo agents while navigating his way through the titular figurative underground. There's a literal railroad involved...and a boat...and lots of passphrases with responses.
Playing an also-desperate-to-escape German deserter, Karl Weigand, Walker does a not-bad German accent to my ear. Claudine's character, Liane, is the daughter of the man who was supposed to be Gallagher's contact. Her father's been captured and killed and she wasn't directly involved in his activities but is now in danger, so she and Gallagher have to figure their way out together, while wavering on how much they trust tagalong Karl.
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Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for 55 years ago this week:
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12 O'Clock High
"Underground"
Originally aired January 17, 1966
Xfinity said:
Robert Walker Jr.'s guest star credit posted here.
Bonus pic here.
Plus...I know it's tempting, Rob, but for God's sake, don't let her handle your Luger!
Somewhere out there, there must be 12OCH fans avid enough to count how many time the Piccadilly Lily crashes and/or gets blown to smithereens. And after two episodes with plots concerning the consequences of landing in neutral Switzerland, it makes sense that the show would eventually go there.
A military officer at the U.S. embassy slyly points Gallagher in the direction of contacts to help him escape. What ensues is a cloak and dagger episode, with Gallagher eluding Gestapo agents while navigating his way through the titular figurative underground. There's a literal railroad involved...and a boat...and lots of passphrases with responses.
Playing an also-desperate-to-escape German deserter, Karl Weigand, Walker does a not-bad German accent to my ear. Claudine's character, Liane, is the daughter of the man who was supposed to be Gallagher's contact. Her father's been captured and killed and she wasn't directly involved in his activities but is now in danger, so she and Gallagher have to figure their way out together, while wavering on how much they trust tagalong Karl.
Just when Gallagher and the audience thought Karl could be trusted, he turns out to be an SS agent who was using Gallagher to learn the entire underground route.
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51st Anniversary Viewing
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Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for 51 years ago this week:
The Monkees
"Alias Micky Dolenz"
Originally aired March 6, 1967
I thought this would be a vehicle for Micky's Cagney impersonation, but he's broadening his repertoire to a different flavor of gangster here.
"The Kind of Girl I Could Love"
Though completely absent from the story, Davy is also in the unconnected end song:
"Mary, Mary"
Needless to say, Antenna didn't include Davy's explanation.
I read in an IMDb review of the episode that Glen Campbell did lead guitar on "Mary, Mary".
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"You Have to Know Someone to Be Unknown"
Originally aired March 9, 1967
I recall that credits-introducing line being used in a Me commercial back in the day.
In one scene, Ann's picking between a couple of headshots that we've seen as pictures in the Marie home and/or Donald's apartment.
Sign o' the times touch: When we first meet Mr. Davis, he's looking at a robe-wearing, guitar-carrying hippie type for a part as a religious leader. The woman playing Davis's secretary (looks like her name was Dee J. Thompson) is very tall; she towered over the moving men in a scene that involved Ann being wheeled into Davis's office on a portable stage.
Jerry's back from his honeymoon, it seems.
Continuity point: Ann describes herself as hoping someday that she's going to be on a stage. While her luck has been mixed, I'm pretty sure she's been on at least a couple of stages at this point.
"Oh, Donald" count: 11 (3 in the teaser, including the first two words in the episode and the intro line quoted above; and one where the "oh" is laughed out)
"Oh, Mr. Davis" count: 1
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I've got Valley of the Dolls on in the background. Martin Milner's in it, too! He's playing Patty Duke's boyfriend...and getting a bit more to work with than in his then-recent Rat Patrol appearance.
Paul Burke's actually playing a guy named Burke.
I'm not familiar with Barbara Parkins from anything else, but she was very easy on the eyes.
The lawyer she works for has a big-ass version of The Clock:
TOS guest: Charles (Commodore Stocker) Drake
ETA: Movies! has been having some sort of transmission issues throughout the movie, but it completely lost the picture and sound in the last hour...had to change the channel.
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51st Anniversary Viewing
_______
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for 51 years ago this week:
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The Monkees
"Alias Micky Dolenz"
Originally aired March 6, 1967
Wiki said:
I thought this would be a vehicle for Micky's Cagney impersonation, but he's broadening his repertoire to a different flavor of gangster here.
"The Kind of Girl I Could Love"
Though completely absent from the story, Davy is also in the unconnected end song:
"Mary, Mary"
Needless to say, Antenna didn't include Davy's explanation.
I read in an IMDb review of the episode that Glen Campbell did lead guitar on "Mary, Mary".
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Ann Marie said:
"You Have to Know Someone to Be Unknown"
Originally aired March 9, 1967
Wiki said:
I recall that credits-introducing line being used in a Me commercial back in the day.
In one scene, Ann's picking between a couple of headshots that we've seen as pictures in the Marie home and/or Donald's apartment.
Oh Donald said:
Sign o' the times touch: When we first meet Mr. Davis, he's looking at a robe-wearing, guitar-carrying hippie type for a part as a religious leader. The woman playing Davis's secretary (looks like her name was Dee J. Thompson) is very tall; she towered over the moving men in a scene that involved Ann being wheeled into Davis's office on a portable stage.
Jerry's back from his honeymoon, it seems.
Continuity point: Ann describes herself as hoping someday that she's going to be on a stage. While her luck has been mixed, I'm pretty sure she's been on at least a couple of stages at this point.
"Oh, Donald" count: 11 (3 in the teaser, including the first two words in the episode and the intro line quoted above; and one where the "oh" is laughed out)
"Oh, Mr. Davis" count: 1
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I've got Valley of the Dolls on in the background. Martin Milner's in it, too! He's playing Patty Duke's boyfriend...and getting a bit more to work with than in his then-recent Rat Patrol appearance.
Paul Burke's actually playing a guy named Burke.
I'm not familiar with Barbara Parkins from anything else, but she was very easy on the eyes.
The lawyer she works for has a big-ass version of The Clock:
TOS guest: Charles (Commodore Stocker) Drake
ETA: Movies! has been having some sort of transmission issues throughout the movie, but it completely lost the picture and sound in the last hour...had to change the channel.
_______
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I see that Happy Together by The Turtles is on the charts.
That means Chip Douglas is pulling double duty; both as the bassist for The Turtles and producer of The Monkees.
You know, it took me years before I realized that the narrator in the song is stalking the girl.
It's all there in the lyrics
'Imagine me and you' - He's imaging what life would be like with her.
'If I should call you up' - He hasn't even worked up the courage to call her yet.
'I can't see me loving nobody but you' - Again imaging what life would be like with.
'How's the weather?' - He finally works up the courage to call her and all he can ask is how's the weather.
This is all sixteen years before 'Every Breath You Take'.
I recently checked out The Complete Turtles album collection from the library and I've come to find out that a lot of their songs are pretty subversive.
The guys even admit to it in the liner notes saying that they were trying to slip things past the record company and the censors.
That means Chip Douglas is pulling double duty; both as the bassist for The Turtles and producer of The Monkees.
You know, it took me years before I realized that the narrator in the song is stalking the girl.
It's all there in the lyrics
'Imagine me and you' - He's imaging what life would be like with her.
'If I should call you up' - He hasn't even worked up the courage to call her yet.
'I can't see me loving nobody but you' - Again imaging what life would be like with.
'How's the weather?' - He finally works up the courage to call her and all he can ask is how's the weather.
This is all sixteen years before 'Every Breath You Take'.
I recently checked out The Complete Turtles album collection from the library and I've come to find out that a lot of their songs are pretty subversive.
The guys even admit to it in the liner notes saying that they were trying to slip things past the record company and the censors.
That would have been something. Of course, she'd have to tie the good guys up together in a chain of fools.
That sounds very familiar.
Definitely none of that elusive Monkees sound here.
Not too bad, not too great.
Cameras were expensive in those days. They had to rely on publicity shots.
That's got to be the record. Unless it's growing as a catchphrase as the series goes on.
Sounds more like regular old daydreaming to me. Of course, it doesn't take much to be considered stalking in these creepy paranoid times we live in.
Being attracted from afar does not equal stalking.
I think one of the earliest episodes that I reviewed (though I'm not sure which season) had a similar count.
That's for the object of the attraction to decide.
I'd think that's for a court of law to decide, if the "object" has made an accusation.
The situation in the song as Darren interprets it is that the narrator is attracted to the "object" and is working up his nerve to make some sort of overture. As expressed in the song, he's perhaps being a bit obsessive in his own mind, but hasn't made any sort of overt gesture. If we're no longer entitled to the sanctity of our private thoughts and feelings, then tell Big Brother that I'm outta here.
Indeed.
Plus the disturbing aspect of demonizing normal human feelings. The obsession of love is one of life's great joys. But we live in dark times.
It seems early every TV series has to use the "evil lookalike" story, and this is The Monkees' one and only use of that plot device.
...and making it work. His comic timing is so on target, as he "forgets" his Baby Face Morales act and slips back to Micky, only to nervously return to mobster mode.
Another early Nesmith original (co-written with Roger Adkins), also produced by Wool Hat.
Yes--as he points out in the interview tag, he was back in the UK visiting his family when this episode went before cameras. By the time Jones returned (as "Alias Micky Dolenz" wrapped), the band launched a 12-city tour, with footage from that tour used in the 1st season finale, "The Monkees on Tour".
Don Kirshner must have regretted letting Nesmith be so prolific early on, as this Nesmith written & produced song is one of the key tracks of the entire Monkees' library, right up there with any Boyce & Hart or Neil Diamond songs.
We know the importance of sponsors, but Antenna is rather thoughtless in removing the interview tags, as they were part of how the public was able to feel familiarity with the guys beyond the sitcom scripts.
....and probably already signed for the forthcoming Adam-12.
Probably best known for being one of the stars of the 60s soap Peyton Place.
Yes, she was.
Yes, Mike Nesmith poached Douglas from The Turtles right around the time this song was released in February, 1967, with Douglas beginning to work with The Monkees on tracks that would not be released for several decades, including the original version of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere".
Agreed.
Well said. A thought is not subject to some false assumption/accusation of another. The Thought Police need not apply in this case.
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50th Anniversary Viewing
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The Ed Sullivan Show
Season 20, episode 18
Originally aired January 7, 1968
As represented in The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show
OK...according to tv.com, there was a Morecambe & Wise appearance in the March 3 episode, and that had been my "best guess" as to which episode the clip that I'm reviewing came from...but upon further investigation I turned up a reliable-looking search result indicating that it was, in fact, from the January 7 episode. Since I would have covered it back then had I known....
The British comedy duo (best known to me for that great clip of the Beatles appearing on their UK show that was used in the Anthology) perform a "dramatic sketch" in which Eric Morcambe approaches Ernie Wise pretending to be a complete stranger in NYC. When Ernie asks for directions to Times Square, Eric accuses him of being from Candid Camera, gets Ernie to strip down to long johns to prove that he's not concealing a camera, then pulls one out of his trench coat and reveals that he is from Candid Camera.
Other performers in this episode according to tv.com:
Mission: Impossible
"The Phoenix"
Originally aired March 3, 1968
It's a bit of a contrived situation that Prohesh, a former minister of security, is now in charge of the national art museum, just to give the IMF an excuse to pull a scheme in an art museum. Jim's back to his usual M.O. of sobriety and spotty accents.
The sound that Barney's alloy-identifying device makes is totally an Enterprise bridge sound...like the frequent beeping when the Enterprise was spiraling toward Psi 2000...proximity alert? Barney's also has a proximity-signaling device of his own in this episode...which is foiled by the cleaning lady!
The scheme is a set-up to frame Prohesh, but don't fell sorry for him...he speaks of himself in the third person, so he deserves it. (Only the Hulk can pull that off while remaining lovable.) Some IMDb reviewers spotted the same hole in the plan that I did: what Barney and Willy were doing with the sculpture (lots of welding and some spray-painting) should have been making quite a smell that the guards coming by to inspect it would have noticed.
_______
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Season 1, episode 7
Originally aired March 4, 1968
Wiki spoils the first John Wayne appearance...which was obviously shot separately from its intro.
Sometimes a timely gag on the show sends me to Google to find out what the hell the joke is about. Case in point, an onscreen blurb that said "EARTHA KITT...CALL YOUR DRAFT BOARD." The result: an incident at the White House on January 19, 1968, that ruined her career.
This week's installment includes a continuing gag from last week about Dick's "new talent" find, the talent-challenged but buxom Inga Neilsen.
Mod, Mod World takes a look at England.
On the subject of Dickens, Dan references Tiny Tim, provoking the usual reaction from Dick.
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Batman
"The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra"
Originally aired March 7, 1968
Pretty underwhelming one-shot villains to throw in this close to the end. The first scene of them back at their lair is overly conspicuous exposition...like Cabala wouldn't already be in on the plan.
The Portable Batphone gave me a good laugh--That's a gag they should have pulled sooner.
Holy Colonel Gumm...the Terrific Trio are turned into cardboard standups!
The stand-ins for the freed arch-criminals are pretty convincing...I was surprised that they showed them full-frontal. It's not clear why Tut is in his villainous personality and in prison, but that's Season 3 for ya. It also stretches credibility that they'd all go along with Cassandra's plan so readily, without any of them getting a word in edgewise. The Batfight with the invisible villains is both practical and novel, however.
Well, only one more to go for this series....
_______
Ironside
"Perfect Crime"
Originally aired March 7, 1968
Ironside gets the challenge via a ransom-style cut-and-paste letter...right after one of the students asked him about the perfect crime, making that student way too obvious a suspect. Alas, the actual perpetrator also comes off as obvious, though one gets the impression that it wasn't intended. We're actually told (by the college's dean, played by David [Warden Crichton] Lewis) that he's the least likely suspect, but the actor oozes "I'm the bad guy" throughout the episode...and he's also the highest-billed guest, natch.
The sniping incidents happen after the challenge, with nonlethal shots being taken at a student and Eve. The college has a rifle and skeet team that makes for 16 suspects, but Team Ironside quickly narrows it down to three prominent guests, including the two mentioned above. The incidents are setting up the opportunity for a lethal shot at Ironside, but the Chief foils the attempt with...
Sign o' the times: There's a campus fundraiser for supporting Olympic athletes...1968 was a Summer Olympics year.
_______
"Great Guy"
Originally aired March 7, 1968
Yes, Ruth Buzzi's still on the show as Ann's pal Pete...but not for long.
George generally comes off as a pretty endearing doofus, so Ann and Donald's concern about his less-than-traditionally-romantic behavior--which generally amounts to treating Pete like one of the guys complete with lots of play-fighting--seems a bit misplaced. Everyone realizes that George is the right guy for Pete after Donald winds up having to pay a series of friends to go out with her...which isn't very flattering to Ruth!
"Oh, Donald" count: 3
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Tarzan
"Four O'Clock Army: Part II"
Originally aired March 8, 1968
The pre-credits recap is over 3 minutes long, but it does convey useful information.
It turns out that Sir Basil wasn't taken prisoner, and Tarzan quickly escapes. The problem with the rifles involves the firing pins not having been connected...while he beats himself up about it, it's hard to believe that Basil wouldn't have checked or test-fired even one of the rifles prior to the battle.
Tarzan hooks up with Basil and Charity to rescue Jai and bring down the slavers. I didn't think they'd go there due to a bit of an age mismatch, but they actually play up a building romantic tension between Sir Basil and Charity.
Tarzan frees Jai but enlists the help of the tribesmen who were captured to remain captives so that Tarzan can follow the slave caravan to where other captives are being held. This time he doesn't just drive a Jeep, but commandeers one (I think it may have been the same one that he was driving in the previous episode, taken by the slavers), tricking the slavers into abandoning it by taking the ignition wires. He audibly speculates that there's no mechanic among the slavers...but it seems there is one among the Ape Men!
The climax involves the Lord of the Jungle doing some parasailing with a load of dynamite strapped around his torso for tossing at the slaver boss's motorboat!
_______
Star Trek
"The Ultimate Computer"
Originally aired March 8, 1968
Stardate 4729.4
See my post here.
_______
Get Smart
"Spy, Spy, Birdie"
Originally aired March 9, 1968
Back to at least one Wiki contributor's usual M.O., this episode has absolutely nothing to do with Bye, Bye Birdie other than spoofing the title.
The scale of the plan is even worse than the Batman episode with the mice. One pigeon with a little silent explosive strapped to its leg can destroy a statue, a building, or a city...and a modest-looking coop of them threatens the world? At any rate, Max foils it all with the old "long-playing, high-frequency, ultrasonic, stereophonic strike-the-match-against-the-sounding-board" trick.
_______
50th Anniversary Viewing
_______
The Ed Sullivan Show
Season 20, episode 18
Originally aired January 7, 1968
As represented in The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show
OK...according to tv.com, there was a Morecambe & Wise appearance in the March 3 episode, and that had been my "best guess" as to which episode the clip that I'm reviewing came from...but upon further investigation I turned up a reliable-looking search result indicating that it was, in fact, from the January 7 episode. Since I would have covered it back then had I known....
The British comedy duo (best known to me for that great clip of the Beatles appearing on their UK show that was used in the Anthology) perform a "dramatic sketch" in which Eric Morcambe approaches Ernie Wise pretending to be a complete stranger in NYC. When Ernie asks for directions to Times Square, Eric accuses him of being from Candid Camera, gets Ernie to strip down to long johns to prove that he's not concealing a camera, then pulls one out of his trench coat and reveals that he is from Candid Camera.
Other performers in this episode according to tv.com:
_______
Mission: Impossible
"The Phoenix"
Originally aired March 3, 1968
Wiki said:
The reel-to-reel tape in a welding shop said:
It's a bit of a contrived situation that Prohesh, a former minister of security, is now in charge of the national art museum, just to give the IMF an excuse to pull a scheme in an art museum. Jim's back to his usual M.O. of sobriety and spotty accents.
The sound that Barney's alloy-identifying device makes is totally an Enterprise bridge sound...like the frequent beeping when the Enterprise was spiraling toward Psi 2000...proximity alert? Barney's also has a proximity-signaling device of his own in this episode...which is foiled by the cleaning lady!
The scheme is a set-up to frame Prohesh, but don't fell sorry for him...he speaks of himself in the third person, so he deserves it. (Only the Hulk can pull that off while remaining lovable.) Some IMDb reviewers spotted the same hole in the plan that I did: what Barney and Willy were doing with the sculpture (lots of welding and some spray-painting) should have been making quite a smell that the guards coming by to inspect it would have noticed.
_______
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Season 1, episode 7
Originally aired March 4, 1968
The Wiki list of guest appearances said:
Wiki spoils the first John Wayne appearance...which was obviously shot separately from its intro.
Sometimes a timely gag on the show sends me to Google to find out what the hell the joke is about. Case in point, an onscreen blurb that said "EARTHA KITT...CALL YOUR DRAFT BOARD." The result: an incident at the White House on January 19, 1968, that ruined her career.
This week's installment includes a continuing gag from last week about Dick's "new talent" find, the talent-challenged but buxom Inga Neilsen.
Dick said:
Mod, Mod World takes a look at England.
There's another Beatles (and Rolling Stones) reference in the accompanying musical number:
On the subject of Dickens, Dan references Tiny Tim, provoking the usual reaction from Dick.
The Duke said:
_______
Batman
"The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra"
Originally aired March 7, 1968
H&I said:
Pretty underwhelming one-shot villains to throw in this close to the end. The first scene of them back at their lair is overly conspicuous exposition...like Cabala wouldn't already be in on the plan.
The Portable Batphone gave me a good laugh--That's a gag they should have pulled sooner.
Holy Colonel Gumm...the Terrific Trio are turned into cardboard standups!
The stand-ins for the freed arch-criminals are pretty convincing...I was surprised that they showed them full-frontal. It's not clear why Tut is in his villainous personality and in prison, but that's Season 3 for ya. It also stretches credibility that they'd all go along with Cassandra's plan so readily, without any of them getting a word in edgewise. The Batfight with the invisible villains is both practical and novel, however.
How old is Robin supposed to be? He's got his driver's license now!The Caped Crusader said:
Well, only one more to go for this series....
_______
Ironside
"Perfect Crime"
Originally aired March 7, 1968
Wiki said:
Ironside gets the challenge via a ransom-style cut-and-paste letter...right after one of the students asked him about the perfect crime, making that student way too obvious a suspect. Alas, the actual perpetrator also comes off as obvious, though one gets the impression that it wasn't intended. We're actually told (by the college's dean, played by David [Warden Crichton] Lewis) that he's the least likely suspect, but the actor oozes "I'm the bad guy" throughout the episode...and he's also the highest-billed guest, natch.
The sniping incidents happen after the challenge, with nonlethal shots being taken at a student and Eve. The college has a rifle and skeet team that makes for 16 suspects, but Team Ironside quickly narrows it down to three prominent guests, including the two mentioned above. The incidents are setting up the opportunity for a lethal shot at Ironside, but the Chief foils the attempt with...
the old "dummy in a borrowed wheelchair" trick.
Sign o' the times: There's a campus fundraiser for supporting Olympic athletes...1968 was a Summer Olympics year.
_______
"Great Guy"
Originally aired March 7, 1968
Wiki said:
Yes, Ruth Buzzi's still on the show as Ann's pal Pete...but not for long.
George generally comes off as a pretty endearing doofus, so Ann and Donald's concern about his less-than-traditionally-romantic behavior--which generally amounts to treating Pete like one of the guys complete with lots of play-fighting--seems a bit misplaced. Everyone realizes that George is the right guy for Pete after Donald winds up having to pay a series of friends to go out with her...which isn't very flattering to Ruth!
"Oh, Donald" count: 3
_______
Tarzan
"Four O'Clock Army: Part II"
Originally aired March 8, 1968
H&I said:
The pre-credits recap is over 3 minutes long, but it does convey useful information.
It turns out that Sir Basil wasn't taken prisoner, and Tarzan quickly escapes. The problem with the rifles involves the firing pins not having been connected...while he beats himself up about it, it's hard to believe that Basil wouldn't have checked or test-fired even one of the rifles prior to the battle.
Tarzan hooks up with Basil and Charity to rescue Jai and bring down the slavers. I didn't think they'd go there due to a bit of an age mismatch, but they actually play up a building romantic tension between Sir Basil and Charity.
Tarzan frees Jai but enlists the help of the tribesmen who were captured to remain captives so that Tarzan can follow the slave caravan to where other captives are being held. This time he doesn't just drive a Jeep, but commandeers one (I think it may have been the same one that he was driving in the previous episode, taken by the slavers), tricking the slavers into abandoning it by taking the ignition wires. He audibly speculates that there's no mechanic among the slavers...but it seems there is one among the Ape Men!
The climax involves the Lord of the Jungle doing some parasailing with a load of dynamite strapped around his torso for tossing at the slaver boss's motorboat!
_______
Star Trek
"The Ultimate Computer"
Originally aired March 8, 1968
Stardate 4729.4
MeTV said:
See my post here.
_______
Get Smart
"Spy, Spy, Birdie"
Originally aired March 9, 1968
Wiki said:
Back to at least one Wiki contributor's usual M.O., this episode has absolutely nothing to do with Bye, Bye Birdie other than spoofing the title.
Siegfried said:
The scale of the plan is even worse than the Batman episode with the mice. One pigeon with a little silent explosive strapped to its leg can destroy a statue, a building, or a city...and a modest-looking coop of them threatens the world? At any rate, Max foils it all with the old "long-playing, high-frequency, ultrasonic, stereophonic strike-the-match-against-the-sounding-board" trick.
_______
But they did do at least one "good lookalike" plot as well.
Were they a regular feature? If so, Antenna hasn't shown a single one of them.
I guess that would depend on whether or not they did the pilot episode particularly early. Valley came out in late '67, so it would have been filmed earlier that year. Regular production on Adam-12 probably didn't start until Summer of '68, I imagine. But yes, we'll be hearing a lot more from Marty Milner in the next TV season. (Hard to believe we're so near the end of this one already...shows are gonna start dropping off as early as next week.)
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50 Years Ago This Week
(Could they have found a less flattering shot of Bobby Kennedy?)
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
New on the chart:
"Up from the Skies," The Jimi Hendrix Experience
(#82 US; no video available)
"Forever Came Today," Diana Ross & The Supremes
(#28 US; #17 R&B; #28 UK)
"Delilah," Tom Jones
(#15 US; #8 AC; #2 UK)
"Funky Street," Arthur Conley
(#14 US; #5 R&B; #46 UK; Hey, those are the same dancers as the ones in the "Mighty Quinn" video!)
"Take Time to Know Her," Percy Sledge
(#11 US; #6 R&B)
"I Got the Feelin'," James Brown & The Famous Flames
(#6 US; #1 R&B)
And new on the boob tube:
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50 Years Ago This Week
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre
(Could they have found a less flattering shot of Bobby Kennedy?)
Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
Leaving the chart:
- "Green Tambourine," The Lemon Pipers
- "Judy in Disguise (with Glasses)," John Fred & His Playboy Band
- "Woman, Woman," The Union Gap feat. Gary Puckett
New on the chart:
"Up from the Skies," The Jimi Hendrix Experience
(#82 US; no video available)
"Forever Came Today," Diana Ross & The Supremes
(#28 US; #17 R&B; #28 UK)
"Delilah," Tom Jones
(#15 US; #8 AC; #2 UK)
"Funky Street," Arthur Conley
(#14 US; #5 R&B; #46 UK; Hey, those are the same dancers as the ones in the "Mighty Quinn" video!)
"Take Time to Know Her," Percy Sledge
(#11 US; #6 R&B)
"I Got the Feelin'," James Brown & The Famous Flames
(#6 US; #1 R&B)
And new on the boob tube:
- The Ed Sullivan Show, Season 20, episode 27, featuring the 5th Dimension and the Canestrellis
- Mission: Impossible, "Trial by Fury"
- The Monkees, "The Monkees Blow Their Minds" *
- Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Season 1, episode 8
- The Rat Patrol, "The Never Say Die Raid" *
- Batman, "Minerva, Mayhem and Millionaires" (series finale)
- Ironside, "Officer Bobby"
- That Girl, "The Detective Story"
- Tarzan, "Rendezvous for Revenge"
- Star Trek, "Bread and Circuses"
- Get Smart, "Run, Robot, Run"
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I saw a rather odd episode of Laugh-In yesterday morning. During the opening duologue, Dick had a pet dragon offstage, which was represented by a giant chain, which kept jerking him to the side, and by clouds of smoke or steam. I don't remember them ever doing anything quite like that before.
I saw that one. You never know what will pop up on the Ed show.
At least it wasn't first-person plural. We find that really irritating.
Wow, that is news to me. Not a big surprise when you think about it, though. LBJ was Nixon before Nixon was Nixon.
I seem to remember one of the goons commenting that it's a shame Batgirl has been flattened.
There's a font for that now, making life easier for kidnappers and snipers.
Well, she has a reputation for pummeling her admirers.
Ah, the first appearance of the Tarz-Glider. I hope he remembered his Shark Repellent Tarz-Spray.
There's an alternate universe I'd like to see.
Not their best work, but Diana Ross is always listenable. That Sci-Fi noise in the background made me jump because I thought my phone was ringing.
An eerie classic made eerier by people dancing to it.
Well, that was a song. It had words and music.
When Quinn the Eskimo gets here, everybody's gonna jump for joy. When he leaves, they keep going without him for a while.
I've never heard of this one. Kind of meh.
Same here.
I seem to remember one of the goons commenting that it's a shame Batgirl has been flattened.
Pretty sure that was Howard Duff's character who said that. I don't think they had the budget for speaking goons.
Morecambe and Wise did multiple appearances on the show, some predating the British Invasion. I have a Best of saved with a 1963 appearance. I'd never heard of them before Anthology, so I was surprised catching them on Sullivan to find that they'd gotten exposure in America back in the day.
With a definite article! "We are the Prohesh...."
Kind of scary to read of such a McCarthyist incident happening that much later. It made me speculate if maybe the use of Newmar's double as Catwoman in this week's Batman was informed by the Kitt incident, but I'm not sure how far in advance they would have been filming the episode.
Cabala might have said something like that. I don't think this one had any goons, other than the doubles playing the uncharacteristically acquiescent arch-criminals.I seem to remember one of the goons commenting that it's a shame Batgirl has been flattened.
She must have picked that up from George.
It was very Bondian, except Tarzan did it before Bond did it. He even had Sir Basil's cigar clenched in his teeth, as he was using it to light the dynamite.
This one was a last-second addition to account for some more recent developments in my methodology that have me exploring more artists at the Top 30 level, causing me to reexamine weekly playlists that I'd worked up in advance. My first impression of this song was that it reminded me a lot of one of their other songs, but I wasn't placing which one.Not their best work, but Diana Ross is always listenable. That Sci-Fi noise in the background made me jump because I thought my phone was ringing.
ETA: It's "Love Child," which is coming later this year on a different album. Guess they put the sound of "Forever Came Today" to better use.
Tom...he's fine with staying Top 20.
It is pretty lightweight. And it's Arthur Conley's second of only two Top 20/30 hits, the first having been the much more memorable "Sweet Soul Music" in early '67 (#2 US; #2 R&B; #7 UK).
And this would be the fourth of four Top 20/30 hits from the artist who gave us 1966's "When a Man Loves a Woman" (#1 US the weeks of May 28 and June 24, 1966; #1 R&B; #4 UK; #54 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time).
James Brown, OTOH, ain't goin' nowhere anytime soon! This one is more memorable to me, but I'm not sure if I had a previous familiarity with it or if it's just that it's been in my collection long enough. Either way, it's funky enough for me!
So on the methodology issue, I retroactively slipped a few things into this week's list of selections that didn't get covered on their debut weeks, even though some of them are now descending from their peaks. Just so there won't be any surprises when they come up as having left the chart:
"I Can Take or Leave Your Loving," Herman's Hermits
(Charted Jan. 13, 1968; #22 US; #11 UK)
"Carpet Man," The 5th Dimension
(Charted Feb. 3, 1968; #29 US; This one got covered when they did it on Sullivan.)
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow," The Four Seasons
(Charted Feb. 24, 1968; #24 US; originally a #1 hit for the Shirelles in 1960-61)
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So, I watched that movie last night, and found out just how badly I'd mangled some of the quotes. So is "Play it again, Sam" one of those famous misquotes of a line that was never actually said? Also caught a few I was familiar with that I hadn't thought of before and/or didn't know were from the film..."Here's looking at you, kid" (which Bogart used so many times that I should have kept a count); "the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world"; and looking into it, apparently this film is the origin of the phrase "the usual suspects"!
I feel like I've heard the name Victor Laszlo in a different context; did somebody use it as an alias in something else that I've seen or read?
Some bits offered historical insight, considering that the film came out in the middle of the war...unoccupied Paris as a subject of nostalgia; the contemporaneous mention of concentration camps (I wasn't sure how well-known they would have been in America at this point). And at least one unfortunate sign of the times that made me cringe: Ilsa referring to Sam as "the boy".
I've never been an old movie buff, so I know some actors mainly by reputation and imitations without being that familiar with their work. Bogart definitely had a strong screen presence.
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Yes, one of the more famous ones.
That does ring a bell. I think some character in some show or movie in the past few years used that alias, but I can't recall where. (In my most recent Star Trek: Enterprise novel, I had a spy use "Victor Lund" as an alias.)
It was known that they existed (and America had its own concentration camps for Japanese-Americans, let's not forget), but it wasn't discovered until their liberation just how brutal and murderous they were. The term "concentration camp" was first used in the Second Boer war in 1900-02, for the camps where the British confined Boer civilian farmers that they'd rounded up en masse. So it wasn't a new concept.
Sinking down another 1000 rungs of the quality scale is Ida Lupino in a dress that makes her look like the joke oldsters who were hanging around the Whiskey to hit on 20-somethings.
Perfect for West's performance by this time.
It was so cheap that if you described this to someone who never watched the episode, I'm sure they would say, "They did what in that fight scene??"
BTW, the Catwoman double was one originally hired for Newmar, not because of Kitt's disastrous run-in with Lady Bird and Lyndon. Greenway--being cheap as ever in season three--used the person they had on hand (and Newmar had a double since season one), since I've never seen any evidence of a Kitt double being hired for the series.
How old is Robin supposed to be? He's got his driver's license now!
That's never established in the series, other than to point out (as in the pilot) that he was too young to drive. So, Robin can fly a helicopter (the movie: he's clearly controlling it alone as Batman is on the rope-ladder), but cannot drive on the streets of Gotham. Whoakaayy....
Yep. ABC delivered the axe not too long into this season, but the episodes were in the can and would be aired. More on that, and why there was no genuine effort made in Winter of '68 to save the series when you post your next review.
Not regular as in every episode, but the interview tags were in many 1st season episodes, but not featured as much for season two.
Could be, but it was not uncommon for pilots to be shot over a year before the series was picked up and/or added to a network schedule. For example, the pilots for The Mod Squad and Land of the Giants were shot in '67, but their series did not premiere until September of 1968. It would be interesting to see the production schedule records from Mark VII Limited/Universal for those details.
Not one for their memorable tracks.
Great group...with a surprisingly lousy remake.
The IMDb page for the pilot episode says that shooting dates were 25 September 1967 - 4 October 1967, so looks like you were more or less on the money...he could very well have been signed while Valley was in theaters, at least.