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77 Sunset Strip / Hawaiian Eye, etc. (2 Viewers)

Gary16

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Episode Revisited
"Switchburg" (S2E16)

When you really have nothing better to do (as I often have), it's time to mix an improving cocktail and watch some old favorites. If memory serves, I've already done an episode commentary on "Switchburg" some time ago--so this just represents some stuff I jotted down that I may or may not have missed in the first go-around. They're mainly half-thoughts and details as opposed to well-thought out comments. They may be interesting to you. Or not.

View attachment 59098

  • When Stu asks the hotel clerk to point out the scruffy sheriff of Kingsley, the clerk comments "Not much like Dan Troop, is he..." (WB loved to cross-reference their properties)
  • Stu spends almost the entire episode dressed in white levis (no belt) with ankle-length boots overlapping the cuffs and a western-style denim shirt. Not much different than what I wore most days in junior high
  • Coffee in the Switchburg cafe costs .25 cents--and by the look on Stu's face upon sipping, not worth it
  • Stu runs into the old lady clerk from the courthouse (Charity Grace) in the bar, where she blithely orders a double whiskey
  • I had just watched a Maverick episode, and noticed the same Western town the he's riding out of is the same setting used in Switchburg
  • Some really good closeups of Stu's Thunderbird. Funny scene with gas station attendant trying to find the gas cap location (behind the license plate), and being astounded that the hood opened back-to-front.
  • The inside of the Switchburg Hotel could well have been the same interior used for Miss Havisham's house in Great Expectations if it was filmed at the same studio (which it wasn't).
  • Stu gets to the second floor of the hotel by climbing up the elevator shaft. The hotel was supposedly deserted in 1916, which I assume it was built long before that. Were there elevators back then?
  • The crooked sheriff remarks "My friends live and work in this musty, humorless town." Pretty erudite language from the chawbacon sheriff. Not to be outdone, Stu quips "If the business is so impecuniary, why keep at it?"
  • Can one ever get enough of William Fawcett as the ubiquitous tattered old ranch hand?
  • Stu encounters a skeleton in one of the rooms--an office sign designated it as H.H. Osborne--General Practice. A doctor's office in a hotel? Maybe not so unusual back then.
  • Not a damn thing wrong with Dolores Donlon, who played twins Nan and Ann Polly:
View attachment 59099 View attachment 59100

I think what made this Monty Pittman episode one of my favorites was the atmospherics. The mysterious lights in the creepy hotel, a near-deserted town, peculiar characters at every turn, etc. Almost like a Hardy Boy mystery.


Next:
I'm going to go back over some of the dreaded "international" episodes that I've avoided to see if I change my mind like I did with Season 6. Stay cool, stay dry, stay tuned...
Great commentary as always. By the way the first elevator was installed in 1857.
 

Mysto

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Great commentary as always. By the way the first elevator was installed in 1857.
Not too far away from me in Tampa is what used to be the Tampa Bay Hotel. Now the University of Tampa with a wing devoted to the Henry Plant museum. It had Florida's first elevator installed in 1888 and it is still in use today. So take that Russ.:P
There are more things in heaven and earth than dreamt of in Carmel :laugh:
Gosh - I miss pullin' your chain. Nice write up though.
 

Rustifer

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Not too far away from me in Tampa is what used to be the Tampa Bay Hotel. Now the University of Tampa with a wing devoted to the Henry Plant museum. It had Florida's first elevator installed in 1888 and it is still in use today. So take that Russ.:P
There are more things in heaven and earth than dreamt of in Carmel :laugh:
Gosh - I miss pullin' your chain. Nice write up though.
Yeah, I put that elevator thing in because I knew somebody would jump on that fact. Anything to keep the thread rolling along.
 

Mysto

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Yeah, I put that elevator thing in because I knew somebody would jump on that fact. Anything to keep the thread rolling along.
That's one of the reasons we love you - ya big lug.:P
Anybody that can keep up writing all the great reviews and has three times as many likes as posts must be doing something right.
 

MartinP.

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Yeah, I put that elevator thing in because I knew somebody would jump on that fact. Anything to keep the thread rolling along.

HOTEL CORONADO:
Otis #61 is a very famous 131-year old elevator. One of the first fully functioning electric elevators manufactured in America, Otis #61 has graced the main lobby of the Hotel del Coronado since the resort opened in 1888. There is also a second elevator, Otis #62, located near the West entrance. Otis #61 still carries the original OTIS serial #0003. Parts for a 131-year-old elevator are no longer available, so craftsmen were called in to create many replacement pieces.





 

Rustifer

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HOTEL CORONADO:
Otis #61 is a very famous 131-year old elevator. One of the first fully functioning electric elevators manufactured in America, Otis #61 has graced the main lobby of the Hotel del Coronado since the resort opened in 1888. There is also a second elevator, Otis #62, located near the West entrance. Otis #61 still carries the original OTIS serial #0003. Parts for a 131-year-old elevator are no longer available, so craftsmen were called in to create many replacement pieces.

Uplifting info, Martin.
 

Rustifer

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Anybody that can keep up writing all the great reviews and has three times as many likes as posts must be doing something right.
Thanks, Marv, but is there a proper ratio of "likes" to posts in this forum? I'm still trying to just figure out what the heck are trophy points and the distribution of titles, e.g. screenwriter, supporting actor, et al...
 
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Rustifer

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Episode Revisited
"The Secret of Adam Cain" (S1E15)

I'm pretty sure I did a review of this episode some time ago, but since it's one of the "international" entries, I probably truncated my commentary fairly significantly. So, here's my attempt to ply a little more deference to it this time around.

The opening shot is of the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel, with its "Vacancy" sign lit. It seems to me that vacancy signs should be relegated only to places such as the Bates Motel rather than snobby-chic Beverly Hills hostelries. Nonetheless, we find Stu entering one of the rented cottages on the premises to meet Frederick Cain and his sis Venice (David Frankham, Lisa Davis). Both hip-hip-old-chap Brits with an upper crust attitude that suggests their brand of toilet paper is far superior to yours. Lurking outside is "John Brown" (Don Gordon), who has no compunction against eavesdropping while in his swim trunks.

Frederick and Venice's cottage has been burgled, with a family heirloom vase being stolen. They want to hire Bailey to find it, but refuse to reveal its noteworthiness. Only that it belonged to their deceased oil baron Uncle, Adam Cain, from Oklahoma. Stu spends a considerable amount of time touring antique and swap shops in slim hopes of finding the relic. John Brown is not far behind. He, too, wants the vase for reasons of his own. Clues lead Stu on the trail to San Dede in South America, where he spends about 5 minutes before getting the poop knocked out of him.

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David Frankham, Lisa Davis, Don Gordon, Liliane Montivecchi

When Stu awakens (to inexplicable Star Trekky theremin music), he finds himself in WB's Algiers backlot setting, just catty-corner from Rick's Cafe. Lots of archived WB North African location footage help in establishing the venue. Seems John Brown is behind Stu's kidnapping and removal to foreign soil. Brown explains to Stu that Adam Cain used the design on the vase to indicate the whereabouts of a fabulous oil deposit in Africa. He then buys Stu a breakfast of fried eggs in goat butter. What better way to secure a friendship? He also introduces Tosca (Liliane Montivecchi), a wide-eyed street urchin beauty who seems to have resources to find the vase--which, by this time, has ping-ponged from one thief to another. Stu and Tosca form an uneasy relationship. Tosca's young brother--who I'm sure was named Aladdin--had the vase in hand but sold it to a lady for $10 as she boarded a ship for England. During a scuffle the vase is lost overboard into the sea.

Upon sadly recounting the vase's demise to Frederick and Venice, both are unnaturally delighted. Their Uncle Cain's ashes were in the vase and his last wish was to be buried at sea. And that was its entire net worth.
Directed by Montgomery Pittman, there's that nice unanticipated twist to the ending--although it was akin to a joke that's way too long to get to the punch line.

Notes:
In one scene, Don Gordon is furiously slapping a guard for falling asleep on the job. There is absolutely no sync between Gordon's slaps and the guard's head correctly snapping in response. In slo-mo, it's hilarious.

There is a mere degree of separation between Lisa Davis and Richard Long (Rex Randolph), who he dated after his wife, Susan Ball, died. In 1957, Davis was arrested for parading down a street wearing a diaphanous pink nightgown to advertise an upcoming movie. Sadly, no photos of the event exist.
 
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cadavra

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Gotta love a movie poster with a bunch of half-clad girls and no-name actors. The best kind! It probably earned about $134 at the box office.

I hate to be a pedant, but Frank Albertson was certainly not a no-name. He worked non-stop over a 40+ year career, racking up over 200 movie and TV credits. He was a leading man at Columbia in the early 1930s, and was still doing guest shots on TV when he died in 1964. He's best remembered today as Jimmy Stewart's pal Sam in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE and as the rich Texan whose money is stolen by Janet Leigh in PSYCHO.
 

criblecoblis

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Episode Revisited
"The Secret of Adam Cain" (S1E15)

I'm pretty sure I did a review of this episode some time ago, but since it's one of the "international" entries, I probably truncated my commentary fairly significantly.

Russ, between the two of us we now have this episode covered like a blanket!

The opening shot is of the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel, with its "Vacancy" sign lit. It seems to me that vacancy signs should be relegated only to places such as the Bates Motel rather than snobby-chic Beverly Hills hostelries.

You must learn to be grateful for location shots whenever you can get them. Especially you. But yeah, it does seem hilariously incongruous that the Beverly Hills Hotel should have a vacancy sign. It's right out of a Zucker-Abrans-Zucker film.

There is a mere degree of separation between Lisa Davis and Richard Long (Rex Randolph), who he dated after his wife, Susan Ball, died. In 1957, Davis was arrested for parading down a street wearing a diaphanous pink nightgown to advertise an upcoming movie. Sadly, no photos of the event exist.

Nice sleuthing! Keep the Google-fu flowing!

"The Secret of Adam Cain" is not one of the episodes I think of when reviewing my favorites, but whenever I watch it I am reminded that it, in fact, is. There is a masterful subtlety to the plot that rewards minute examination. Montgomery Pittman's early passing was one of the great cultural tragedies of the twentieth century.

EZ himself considered it the pivotal episode that sent the show into the precincts of greatness. Personally, I think it was the run of episodes 2 through 10 that had already done that, but there is no doubt that most of the truly great episodes involved either Pittman himself or his distinct influence, which was EZ's overall point.
 

Rustifer

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Russ, thanks for enlivening the thread, and especially with Pittman episodes!
Thank you, Rob. Truthfully, I'm running out of episodes on which to comment. I love writing them, so I need to find new excuses to continue. One idea is to do a rewind on all the Pittman episodes and review them more from his directing / writing angle. Another idea is to pick certain episodes and concentrate on only one character. Or, I may just rewrite commentaries I've already done without re-reading my original take just to see how / if I approach it differently the second time around. Perhaps I require a few martinis to enlighten my path.

I honestly do wish MeTV would rev up Hawaiian Eye or Surfside 6 so that we'd all have a whole new palette from which to paint.
 

Rustifer

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I hate to be a pedant, but Frank Albertson was certainly not a no-name. He worked non-stop over a 40+ year career, racking up over 200 movie and TV credits. He was a leading man at Columbia in the early 1930s, and was still doing guest shots on TV when he died in 1964. He's best remembered today as Jimmy Stewart's pal Sam in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE and as the rich Texan whose money is stolen by Janet Leigh in PSYCHO.
You are absolutely right, Mike! I had to Google Frank in order for my recognition factor to click in. Although I didn't connect with his name, I instantly recognized him--remembering his character as the lieutenant in The Enemy Below and as the mayor in Bye Bye Birdie.

upload_2019-6-2_11-36-43.jpeg
upload_2019-6-2_11-38-1.jpeg
 

Rustifer

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criblecoblis

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Russ -this is off topic but someone resurrected a poll on Star Trek Movies and a commentary by Jonathan Perregaux looks like it could have been written by you. Maybe you have a doppleganger here.

Nah, Marv. The guy is similar--the edgy snark and gimlet eye are there--but Russ never works blue.
 

Rustifer

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Episode Re-look
"The Bouncing Chip" (S1E5)

Interestingly enough, I meant to do a re-look or "Two and Two Make Six" and concentrate on guest star Whitney Blake. But when I replayed my DVR recording, MeTV had mis-listed the episode. So I was stuck with "The Bouncing Chip" instead. Fair enough. There were three interesting elements in this ep on which I'll concentrate.

As stated in my earlier commentary, the story focuses on counterfeit chips being used at a Las Vegas Casino, thus causing it to lose money. Not an easy feat for a casino, so the firm of Bailey and Spencer are hired to look into the whole affair. It's a good script and very much in the flavor of Season 1. So, my three focus points are:

Guest star Ruta Lee
Stu Bailey as a vacuum cleaner salesman
Dyan Cannon in a bit part

Let's start with Stu as he's learning all about the manufacture of casino chips--special aluminum powder and secret plastic formulas that make up the faux currency of Las Vegas. Stu visits the plastics lab of Anton Krieger (Otto Waldis), who looks more like Heidi's grandfather than the head of a plastics' firm. Stu gains entry as a vacuum cleaner salesman--and EZ does a performance par excellence, affecting a perfect nasally New York accent and slightly effeminate manner. I personally think it's one of the funniest stints of the entire series.
"Just listen to the suction of that powerful motor..." Stu chirps as he eagerly sweeps up plastic dust from the floor for later analysis.

We soon meet Ruta Lee (playing Diane Adams) who, in 1958, was probably entering the apex of her TV career. At 33, she has a slightly mature but stunningly pretty profile--with a flip hairdo (for which I'm a sucker), a slight bump on the bridge of her nose that's more a cute characteristic than a flaw, and fills out a blouse better than a Victoria's Secret mannequin. Diane is the unwitting counterfeit chip mule for her boyfriend, Frenchy La Tour (Brad Dexter). As she sits poolside with Stu (same pool used as the Fontainebleu Hotel in Surfside 6), she smokes a cigarette in a manner that is seen so much more sexy than as a nasty habit. Damn near made me want to go back to my bad ways.

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EZ and Ruta; a very young Dyan Cannon; Brad Dexter

Dyan Cannon appears as Sheila, the boyfriend of Lou Lewis, one of Frenchy's henchman. She essentially has but one line "You look fine to me", and has that wide-eyed young, fresh look that would eventually turn yummy enough to snare the likes of Cary Grant. In one scene she fleetingly looks directly at the camera, a somewhat rookie mistake that did not get edited.

Notes:
Ah, there's actually one more memorable scene that has Stu's fancy cigarette lighter booby trapped to blow up when lit. Each time he goes to light his cig, some fortunate interruption occurs that saves him from becoming wall pizza. It could have come right out of a Hitchcock movie with its breathless anticipation of pending doom.
 
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