Mr. Novak, NBC TV Series 1963-65. (1 Viewer)

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Heather Angel was an effective comedy player also, as seen in her many golden age films...a few years after her brilliant performance on Mr. Novak (The Tower , see previous page), she guest starred in a very funny episode of The Guns of Will Sonnett, A Fool and his Money (Mar. 8, 1968)...co-starring with Rawhide's Paul Brinegar and Nina Shipman...screen caps from the TMG set, from the faded and fuzzy King Features sources, of course...

Heather Angel in her earlier years...

 

[Flashgear]

Marian Collier was, of course, cast as Miss Scott, the home ec teacher and sometimes romantic interest for the title character of Mr. Novak. Unfortunately, as with most of the extended cast, she was most often seen on the periphery of a show that was story driven primarily with a heavy emphasis on the guest star and their interaction with Novak, Vane or other guest players...the busy story telling structure of a network hour show. In a few episodes, James Franciscus and Dean Jagger themselves were hardly seen. In author Chuck Harter's brilliant book on the series, Marian and others recounted the promised expansion of her role, and even the prospect of a Miss Scott centered episode in season two...but that was not to be, partly as a result of Leonard Freeman (Hawaii 5-0) coming on as a producer in season two to assist series co-creator and executive producer E. Jack Neuman...Freeman would have his own vision of the show, possibly contributing to the unfortunate departure of the valuable Jeanne Bal and the comic relief of Steve Franken as well...Marian Collier would continue to contribute her delightful presence on the show, but with Dean Jagger's ongoing health problems (ulcers) leading to his departure a little more than halfway through season two and the cast changes, the show would have a slightly different feel, but rest assured, overall, Mr. Novak retains it's compelling power and remains one of the finest mid '60s TV dramas in season two!

Chuck Harter's superlative book was greatly aided in his primary research by Marian Collier. She was E. Jack Neuman's widow and allowed Chuck complete access to the Neuman personal papers and productions archive. I thought it's time for a bit of a tribute to her on Mr. Novak and her television afterlife post Novak...

James Franciscus and Marian Collier in S1's A Feeling for Friday...

Here she is about 4 years later on Mannix season two, Fear I Fall (Dec. 21, 1968)...wearing the very same brooch!...the brooch must have been a favorite of hers...Screen caps from CBS/P DVD sets...

And on Gidget Daddy Call Home! (Oct. 6, 1965) not long after Novak closed shop...screen caps from Mill Creek set...

Harvey Korman as the cop doing a welfare check on daddy and his date...Gidget has phoned the cops to check on the whereabouts of daddy's late date and police dispatch has mistaken Gidget as the the rightfully concerned "mother" of daddy!

Korman tells Marian Collier, "You have a real doozy of a mother-in-law in your future" ha, ha...

Anybody who collects '60s TV should get the Mill Creek Gidget set, maybe the best value ever for your collecting dollar as it's dirt cheap and as you can see, this old Screen Gems show looks stunning on DVD...and, of course, Sally Fields is adorable, it's a real pop culture artifact from the surfin' 60s and the show is funny!

 

[Matt Hough]

You can see Gidget on Prime, too.

 

[Neil Brock]

I can see it on my Sony DVDs from 15 years ago.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

And on Gidget Daddy Call Home! (Oct. 6, 1965) not long after Novak closed shop...screen caps from Mill Creek set...
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Harvey Korman as the cop doing a welfare check on daddy and his date...Gidget has phoned the cops to check on the whereabouts of daddy's late date and police dispatch has mistaken Gidget as the the rightfully concerned "mother" of daddy!
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Korman tells Marian Collier, "You have a real doozy of a mother-in-law in your future" ha, ha...
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Great news that you're feeling better and more yourself these days, Randall! And also great to see more postings from you on Mr. Novak, as well as your always interesting career retrospectives of certain actors and actresses. My Novak S1 set (along with Gidget) is currently sitting safely in my parents' home in Washington State, awaiting my annual August visit. Can't wait to get my grubby paws on the set and start watching some episodes!

 

[Flashgear]

It seems that while the show is 55 years old, things in our educational system have not changed much. There are still not enough hours in the day to adequately prepare for classes, retain certification, be available to students, attend meetings, dances, ball games, PTA functions, assemblies, etc. A fairly accurate look at what goes on each week in our school system. Absolutely one of the best "blind buys" I have ever made. Thanks, Randall.

Glad to hear that Doug! So glad you enjoyed season one of Mr. Novak, one of my favorite early '60s shows...I think we all owe a debt of gratitude to author Chuck Harter, his phenomenal illustrated history of the series, Mr. Novak - An Acclaimed Television series really kick started the release of season one by Warner Archive, with WAC chief George Feltenstein being highly impressed with Chuck's totally unexpected achievement in producing such a high quality book on that 55 year old series...accelerating the process of it's release...sure hope we don't have to wait too long for the equally excellent season two...I'll try to feature those season two episodes that I have in my collection with episode synopsis and screencaps from my old homemade DVDs...in past pages I've already done such posts on 5 of those episodes...

Great news that you're feeling better and more yourself these days, Randall! And also great to see more postings from you on Mr. Novak, as well as your always interesting career retrospectives of certain actors and actresses. My Novak S1 set (along with Gidget) is currently sitting safely in my parents' home in Washington State, awaiting my annual August visit. Can't wait to get my grubby paws on the set and start watching some episodes!

Good to hear, Jeff. You've got a lot of great TV coming to you there! Gidget, I think, is a real treasure too...the show should have gone at least another season, but ABC put it up against the ratings juggernaut of The Beverly Hillbillies on CBS and the last half hour of NBC's The Virginian...

Gidget is a well written, witty and smart sit-com artifact, reliably funny, topical to 1965 and the teenage surf culture of that era...quite often hilarious in it's pop culture satire...Sally Field is epic in her adorableness, of course, and already very good at that young age as a comic actress (playing a 15 year old, but 18 at the start of filming)...she's anybody's ideal teenage girl and daughter...she does go through periodic rebellious phases (not really of course) and those episodes are quite often my favorites...

With Peter Duel...screen caps from the Mill Creek set...Is it Love or Symbiosis?

One of my favorite episodes...All the Best Diseases are Taken... Gidget's new interest in angry rocker Billy Roy Soames has daddy quite concerned...

The angry young rockabilly star with attitude is hilariously played by Henry Jagblom...did this album chart in '65? ha, ha...maybe just behind the Beatles Rubber Soul and Beach Boys Pet Sounds...

Gidget tries her smoking style with an unlit cigarette...The Great Kahuna...

"Surfing" tandem with The Great Kahuna himself, Martin Milner, a year after his long run with Route 66, and a few years before Adam-12...

Lots of welcome young beauties (and fine actresses) in Mr. Novak too...Marta Kristen, about a year before Lost in Space, in season one's finale episode, Senior Prom...I'll post about that one soon...screen caps from the new WAC set...I think this episode represents her finest television work that I have yet seen...

 

[Neil Brock]

Not for anything, but is it possible to discuss things in a thread without cluttering up with a ton of screen caps?

 

[Jeff Flugel]

I believe you started another thread about Mr. Novak a while back. I'm guessing that one has few, if any, screen caps.

 

[Flashgear]

Mr. Novak S1E2, To Lodge and Dislodge (Oct. 1, 1963) W: E. Jack Neuman. D: Boris Sagal. Inroducing Kim Darby. With Tony Dow and David Kent. This is one of three first season episodes that I was only able to view with the release of the Warner Archive S1 set. There is some question as to whether TNT aired it back in 1988-90, if so, many Novak collectors like myself never had it in our alternatively sourced copies. There were 2 or 3 episodes in Mr. Novak season two which were never aired back then as well.

There's no doubt that part of the concept for this series to be successful depended on the good looks of series lead James Franciscus to draw female viewers of all demographics to the viewing audience. It was all about audience share as Mr. Novak was potentially effective counter programming to the action oriented WW2 drama Combat!, and it would be in tough to pry TV sets away from that successful show...thus, you could pretty much expect several episodes where Novak's good looks would be high lighted in romantic scenarios. But the creators and cast of Mr. Novak were determined to produce an important and compelling drama to match such series as it's sister MGM show Dr. Kildare, and to aspire to the ranks of the finest network television drama series of it's day. You would expect at least one episode to feature a "puppy love" scenario with a student, but with the aspirations of this show to elevate itself beyond mere melodrama, you have the twist of a blind girl displaying her naivety and vulnerability in falling for the compassionate and comforting voice of Novak instead...co-creators E. Jack Neuman and Boris Sagal were involved deeply in producing this touching and effective episode, but there would only be one such story produced in the entirety of the series 2 season run. All the other Novak romance episodes would feature Novak in relationships with age appropriate women, mostly fellow teachers. An interesting later episode Love in the Wrong Season, would feature the provocative interactions between a woman teacher and an infatuated boy, with Novak only being peripherally involved. As this was only the second episode aired, you almost get the feeling that Neuman and Sagal wanted to get this kind of a story theme over and done with. In my opinion, to have even revisited this kind of story once more would have damaged the credibility of the show. Everything is appropriate, sensitive and well handled here. Young Kim Darby is effective in her "introducing" role, and it allows for some fine establishing interactions between James Franciscus and Dean Jagger, one of the central structural elements that make Mr. Novak one of the best dramas of it's television era...I took these screen caps from the Warner Archive release...

 

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Mr. Novak S1E30, Senior Prom (April 14, 1964) W: John Ryan. D: Michael O'Herlihy. Guest starring Marta Kristen. Another of the previously missing episodes. The series closes out it's inaugural season with the fitting depiction of the Senior Prom, and an effective, inspiring and melancholy episode it is. Well nigh perfect.

At fictional Jefferson High, principal Albert Vane (Dean Jagger of course) has deemed that the junior class organize and stage the senior prom for the graduating class...we're told it is as a leadership initiative for the juniors and a long standing tradition at the school. I've never heard of this kind of thing before...at my high school some 10 years later, the seniors did all of this for themselves, along with faculty and parents of course. Along with the Mandatory R.O.T.C. course for boys as revealed in the episode The Private Life of Douglas Morgan Jr., this represents another unusual idiosyncrasy unique to Jefferson High, or at least the story requirements for the series. We are also told that the prom will cost $2000 in 1964 dollars, paid for by the football concessions and the advertiser supported publishing of the student directory...and it will be free for the graduating seniors themselves. The kids and parents hope to self cater the affair (at a local hotel!), no alcohol allowed, with "chain parties and buffets at private homes" to "discourage the usual nightclub bar hopping"...yeah, that'll work, ha, ha...

Young Marta Kristen, soon to be cast in Lost in Space, plays the junior who has volunteered to be chief organizer for the senior prom. She's a popular social butterfly who is eager to please but slow to actually get started on the myriad of responsibilities now under her auspices. She is paralyzed with anxiety as the deadlines approach, and Novak explodes when he discovers the grad is endangered of becoming a fiasco...

After a halting and hesitant start, the girl finds herself caught up in the panicky whirlwind of quickly getting everything lined up... hoping she doesn't crack under the pressure first...she nearly does collapse into a nervous wreck...

A big problem arises when the hotel tries to cancel their booking and move the prom date...in favor of a much more lucrative client, the local city college...the hotel manager, played by John Hubbard, shows up at Jefferson High, expecting the nervous pushover of a girl to fold under pressure...he instead encounters a now resolute and determined girl who has rallied the kids and faculty to the fray...and the signed contract in hand...

In a wonderful and hilarious scene, the hotel manager has discovered that this mere girl has used her upper crust social connections to go over everyone's heads and marshal the who's who of local government and captains of industry to her side of the fight...the hotel manager is chagrined to discover he must honor the original booking, allow the kids to cater the event themselves...and worse yet, because of Jefferson High's no alcohol proviso, he must also close the three bars in his hotel on prom night!

Having completely surrendered, the hotel manager tells Miss Pagano (Jean Bal), "you raise some tough negotiators here"...

Setting up the hotel ballroom for the Prom...the girl, having immersed herself so totally for the last several weeks in frantic planning, and close to a nervous breakdown, fearing that she has angered and alienated her friends along the way, has no date for herself and no intention to attend the prom, she plans to stay home. Novak is aghast...

The depiction of the idyllic high school senior prom is lovingly staged in this episode...

The French teacher, played by Andre Philippe in his ongoing role as Mr. Johns, proves himself a very capable singer in this episode...a lovely rendition of Hi Lilly, Hi Lo, to the accompaniment of a beautiful score by Lyn Murray...

As he heads home, Novak detours to the girl's house...eager to tell her how beautiful and perfect her prom turned out to be, afterall...and to congratulate her and tell her how proud he is of her...

A melancholy and inspiring close to the brilliant first season...I've never seen a more perfectly realized depiction of a high school prom on film...

 

[Flashgear]

When we first got word from Warner Archive via author Chuck Harter that Mr. Novak season one was actually being prepared for a DVD release, it was initially stated that they would be transfers derived from new scans of the original 35 mm camera negatives...over the course of the intervening 18 months or so, and with the declining DVD market realities and changing priorities at Warner Archive becoming apparent, it became a reality that the first season would instead utilize the old transfers originally done by Turner Entertainment and broadcast on TNT in 1988-90...more than acceptable in my opinion, if the alternative was for no DVD release at all...the transfers are good, as you can see from my screen caps...but the original TNT transfers also inherited some mostly minor film source scratches and damage to at least two episodes where I find it most noticeable...but in each case, the scratches are only seen momentarily...however, there is a more serious stretch of film damage in the final season one episode, Senior Prom...this is by far the most serious damaged segment, but rest assured, the damage, (a longitudinal scratch of varying intensity), only lasts, at most, 34 seconds during the prom sequence...I don't know if this was perhaps the reason this episode wasn't run on TNT originally...for me, this does not interfere or detract from my enjoyment of this wonderful and essential episode...here are two screen caps that I took of the film damage at it's worst...as I say, only 34 seconds at most running time before it's gone, not to reappear...

 

[bmasters9]

When we first got word from Warner Archive via author Chuck Harter that Mr. Novak season one was actually being prepared for a DVD release, it was initially stated that they would be transfers derived from new scans of the original 35 mm camera negatives...over the course of the intervening 18 months or so, and with the declining DVD market realities and changing priorities at Warner Archive becoming apparent, it became a reality that the first season would instead utilize the old transfers originally done by Turner Entertainment and broadcast on TNT in 1988-90...more than acceptable in my opinion, if the alternative was for no DVD release at all...the transfers are good, as you can see from my screen caps...but the original TNT transfers also inherited some mostly minor film source scratches and damage to at least two episodes where I find it most noticeable...but in each case, the scratches are only seen momentarily...however, there is a more serious stretch of film damage in the final season one episode, Senior Prom...this is by far the most serious damaged segment, but rest assured, the damage, (a longitudinal scratch of varying intensity), only lasts, at most, 34 seconds during the prom sequence...I don't know if this was perhaps the reason this episode wasn't run on TNT originally...for me, this does not interfere or detract from my enjoyment of this wonderful and essential episode...here are two screen caps that I took of the film damage at it's worst...as I say, only 34 seconds at most running time before it's gone, not to reappear...
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Which is why, as I've said w/Timeless' releases of M Squad and The Rebel, the play's the thing-- if the show's good, as this Mr. Novak evidently is (rave reviews from all who have gotten that first-season Warner Bros. MOD), then 34 sec. of a tear in the film is very inconsequential.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

When we first got word from Warner Archive via author Chuck Harter that Mr. Novak season one was actually being prepared for a DVD release, it was initially stated that they would be transfers derived from new scans of the original 35 mm camera negatives...over the course of the intervening 18 months or so, and with the declining DVD market realities and changing priorities at Warner Archive becoming apparent, it became a reality that the first season would instead utilize the old transfers originally done by Turner Entertainment and broadcast on TNT in 1988-90...more than acceptable in my opinion, if the alternative was for no DVD release at all...the transfers are good, as you can see from my screen caps...but the original TNT transfers also inherited some mostly minor film source scratches and damage to at least two episodes where I find it most noticeable...but in each case, the scratches are only seen momentarily...however, there is a more serious stretch of film damage in the final season one episode, Senior Prom...this is by far the most serious damaged segment, but rest assured, the damage, (a longitudinal scratch of varying intensity), only lasts, at most, 34 seconds during the prom sequence...I don't know if this was perhaps the reason this episode wasn't run on TNT originally...for me, this does not interfere or detract from my enjoyment of this wonderful and essential episode...here are two screen caps that I took of the film damage at it's worst...as I say, only 34 seconds at most running time before it's gone, not to reappear...
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Thanks for the fine episode overviews, Randall...as well as highlighting the brief couple of flaws inherent in the elements used for this Mr. Novak S1 set. As Ben states above, a small price to pay for getting this show out on disc! I'm really looking forward to digging into my set early next month...

 

[Flashgear]

I've been featuring some of the other TV work done by the regular and continuing cast of Mr. Novak. As much to examine the contemporary television age that was Mr. Novak, and to examine the acting careers of James Franciscus, Dean Jagger and the supporting cast. I'll continue in the future to examine season two of Novak with screen caps from my homemade DVDs until we hear of a season two release from WAC, hopefully in the not too distant future...

To me, one of my favorite appearances by James Franciscus was on Alfred Hitchcock Presents season 6, Summer Shade (Jan.10, 1961). D: Herschel Daugherty. W: Teleplay by Harold Swanton, based on the short story Summer Evil by Nora H. Caplan and published in the October 1960 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. This episode was one of the rarer, though not uncommon, supernatural episodes. It could easily have aired as an episode of Twilight Zone or stretched out for Boris Karloff's Thriller...

Hitchcock's intro is typically a hoot...and one of the signature elements that fans of Hitch love this series for...my screen caps from the R1 Universal DVDs...

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen. Do you have the feeling that we are moving ahead too swiftly? That in the quest for fame, for material wealth, we are neglecting some of the old traditions, the old customs from whence we once drew our strength? This for example? It may look like a seesaw built for one, but it is a dunking stool. In Puritan times, if a woman was a scold or a gossip, she was placed here. The seatbelt was fastened securely and a number of brave men and true proceeded to dunk her in a pond as though she were a donut. It was most invigorating, I'm sure. Unhappily in modern days, we have no such convenience. Today, if a woman is a gossip, she isn't dunked. She is syndicated...

The exquisitely lovely Julie Adams and James Franciscus play a young married couple, their little daughter is played by Susan Gordon. The family is looking to relocate for hubby's new job and are checking out some of the new builds in "New Salem" Mass., The local land developer obviously trades on the well known heritage of Salem to move the lots...

The new houses leave something lacking...while they continue to explore, Julie Adams suddenly feels a mystic impulse to turn off the highway and check out one of Salem's heritage properties...something with character...

The old house is by chance (?) available for rental and eventual purchase. Naturally, it's owned by a kind old lady and very much welcoming long time resident, played by Charity Grace...they arrive in their beautiful 1961 Mercury Montego covertible...Universal was shilling for Ford in these days...

The house is seemingly perfect, except for the fact that mom and dad fear their little girl will be very lonely this long summer until school starts...there are apparently no neighboring children in the vicinity, and they would have hoped for a little girl playmate for their daughter, who has always been happy at play and has an active imagination...soon enough, the little girl soon finds a happy playmate, "Letty", just her own age...even though the girl is at play with her new friend on a daily basis, mom hasn't see the new playmate at all and confides her concerns with her husband...perhaps a child's overactive imagination and an imaginary friend isn't of great concern if it keeps the girl's loneliness at bay? But...but, this is Hitchcock after all...

While recounting her happy days at play with "Letty" at the family breakfast table, the parents are astounded by their little girl's sudden knowledge of 17th century New England, the Puritan colony and the "Olde English" of bygone days in Salem...she tells her parents that they just missed seeing Letty because she had to leave, riding a "Gig" (a Wagon) to village "meetings" (socials) about colony business and mass at church...now the parents have a serious concern...how did their daughter come by this knowledge of old Salem?

Dad's concerns rise when he tucks his little girl in for the night...and finds a ghastly talisman of old New England superstitions in the bed sheets...a necklace made of buzzard bones...she tells dad that Letty gave it to her, to ward off "The Pox"...Smallpox, of course, but completely unknown in the New Salem of early 1960s America...but very much a fearful scourge of 17th century Salem!

Having called the village minister (John Hoyt) for advice, the preacher is confounded to hear the name "Letty" and "The Pox" mentioned in the same sentence and shows the newcomer mom the grave marker in the old towne cemetery for 9 year old Lauretta "Letty" Bishop, who died of smallpox in 1694!

Mom is now horrified...how could the reassuring notion of an active imagination explain this?

Before the spooked parents can consider other means, they are suddenly reassured by the introduction of a flesh and blood playmate for their lonely daughter...a little girl has just arrived in town, very much needing a playmate of her own...the kind old lady landlord introduces "Judy", and she's ideal, being the same age as their own daughter...

Judy is played by 9 year old Veronica Cartwright (older sister of Angela Cartwright and recently playing the recurring character of "Violent Violet" on Leave it to Beaver and later Jemima Boone on Fess Parker's Daniel Boone)...a happy ending or something sinister?

Having unsettled us for another week, Hitchcock's closing segment is a cute gag...

Now I must hurry off...I'm shooting a picture...

 

[Rustifer]

Gidget is a well written, witty and smart sit-com artifact, reliably funny, topical to 1965 and the teenage surf culture of that era...quite often hilarious in it's pop culture satire...Sally Field is epic in her adorableness, of course, and already very good at that young age as a comic actress (playing a 15 year old

I agree with you wholeheartedly, Randall! I didn't enjoy the series that much when it first aired, but love watching it now--despite a slightly uneasy feeling of pedophilia about young Ms. Field.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I agree with you wholeheartedly, Randall! I didn't enjoy the series that much when it first aired, but love watching it now--despite a slightly uneasy feeling of pedophilia about young Ms. Field.

I think it’s ok to admire from afar, even when it’s measured in decades.

 

[Bert Greene]

Just watched Dean Jagger in a supporting role in the zesty B-film "Car 99" (1935). The film actually headlined Fred MacMurray, in one of his first starring roles. Jagger and MacMurray played Michigan state-policemen hunting down a bank-robber gang, led by professorial Sir Guy Standing. I'd first seen the film about 40 years ago, and always remembered liking it. Interestingly, William Frawley played the ornery police captain giving rookie MacMurray a lot of grief... decades later the two were kept busy together with "My Three Sons." I think Jagger was under contract to Paramount at this time (mid-1930s) for a year or two. They gave him mostly small roles at first, like his playing the drunk Indian (of all things) that sets things in motion for Gene Raymond and Sylvia Sidney to meet up in the somewhat oddball but amusing drama, "Behold My Wife" (1935). Later that same year, Paramount thought enough of Jagger to give him the lead in Zane Grey's "Wanderer of the Wasteland." I probably already mentioned that one upthread, as I have a nice original lobby-card to the film, with a great portrait shot of Jagger and leading lady Gail Patrick. Never seen the film itself, unfortunately.

If the second-season of "Novak" does ever come out, I'm afraid I'm going to really miss Jagger in those episodes in which he's replaced by Burgess Meredith. The latter is a fine character actor, but there's just something about the prickly Jagger that adds a lot to the series.

 

[Neil Brock]

I was internet surfing and just came across this:

IT’S OFFICIAL!!! – The first season of Mr. Novak will be released in 2018 in a DVD set by Warner Home Video. Prints will be struck from the original 35mm camera negatives and will look pristine. No release date yet but might be as early as March or April of 2018. – George Feltenstein.

Except they weren't. They were taken from the 35 year old Turner one-inch transfers. Oops.

 

[Neil Brock]

No season two. And Feltenstein is gone. I guess we'll have to live with our TNT copies for the second season, minus the ones they never ran.

 

[timk1041]

Jackie and Gayle wanted to know why their teacher couldn't look like Mr. Novak