criblecoblis
Supporting Actor
My only problem is purely personal--I've never been a jazz enthusiast. I also miss the office/Dino's setup.
Stick around. We aren't close to being done with the music yet.
My only problem is purely personal--I've never been a jazz enthusiast. I also miss the office/Dino's setup.
I really should read EZ's My Dinner of Herbs...has anyone here read his book and can comment?
Episode Revisit
"Downbeat" (S1E31)
Stu's drunkenness makes an amateur of Foster Brooks. Plus he's been piling up DUIs like chips in a Pringles can.
It works as a scheme to attract his old war buddy Hedrick Van Horn (John Van Dreelen)
As an added incentive, Dorothy Provine in a bikini and high heels is thrown in
Notes:
A memorable scene includes Stu figuring out how to get alcohol from a locked liquor cabinet. Priceless in his dexterity.
Ohhhh, I like where this is heading!Saving The Strip: Seventh Season, 1964–65
Part 6: The Music, Continued
When Orr took over the production of the seventh season, he inherited the problem of having to bring the music back to the show’s environment in a compelling way, on very short notice.
The simple solution, of course, was simply to keep using Dino’s as before, but Orr didn’t really want to do that, because it would conflict with his goal of updating the depiction of the Strip.
Sadly, by that time, Dino’s was no longer a hip place. Dean Martin and all the celebrities were long gone, and Martin had already waged an unsuccessful legal battle to have his name and likeness removed from the sign. He had also sued his former partners for fraud, likewise unsuccessfully.
To make matters worse, on September 1, 1963, the restaurant’s image was tarnished when its waiters staged a walkout in the middle of a Saturday night dinner rush, an event that received heavy news coverage in the city.
Dino’s Lodge was in reality now just another overpriced Strip eatery, featuring a never-ending procession of obscure girl singers. It was still fairly popular, but this was mostly due to its frequent depiction on the show, which gave the place a nationwide cachet that was now entirely unjustified. Orr was thus eager to stop giving the place what amounted at this point to free advertising.
But he really couldn’t afford to, at least not right away. The music had to come from somewhere, and it was too late to come to a new agreement with another suitable place nearby and build new sets before shooting started for the season.
Thus, at the beginning of the season Dino’s is used as it was in the first five seasons, its recent history blithely ignored, with Frankie Ortega still in residence. The hard-bop themes and cues, having already been produced, are used, but the rest of Webb’s plan for the music is abandoned.
Instead, Orr returns to his old strategy of featuring, from time to time, acts from the studio record label’s roster, which recently had been significantly augmented by the purchase of Reprise Records.
Once he has the season successfully underway, Orr returns to the problem of replacing Dino’s. One day, he drives along the Strip in search of inspiration, and as he passes Dino’s, he looks on the other side of the street and sees Chez Paulette.
Chez Paulette! Of course! That could be at least a partial solution to the problem. And they already had the set! He drives back to the studio and orders the set to be pulled out of storage and re-assembled on the soundstage. Coming to a new agreement with Max Lewin was a simple, inexpensive matter.
Orr resolves to use Chez Paulette as Kookie and JR’s default hangout, and to transition the rest of the gang gradually from Dino’s to various generic, unnamed locations along the Strip, of which only the interior is shown. These will be the locations for the guest musical acts thenceforth.
In other musical matters, we again see Jeff play his guitar and sing from time to time, and Stu has taken to playing the piano (as we saw him do, briefly, in S4E12 “Reserved for Mr. Bailey”). We mostly see these musical interludes in the Pittmanesque episodes (about which more later), and Stu seldom performs for an audience.
We do see Stu play a little four-hand piano with Frankie Ortega in the wee small hours during a celebration at Dino’s upon the successful completion of a case in an early-season episode, but generally Stu only plays when he is alone and pondering a difficult case (and they can contrive to get him near an unoccupied piano). It seems to help him think.
Mostly he plays small snippets of familiar Classical and Romantic pieces, but from time to time he does play an entire brief piece, such as a Chopin waltz or Brahms intermezzo, and occasionally he does little improvisations of his own.
Next: seventh season developments.
Ohhhh, I like where this is heading!
Like I said--worry not about my peccadilloes--just keep up the imaginative narrative. Combining actual historical sidelines with your fictional account is fascinating!Russ,
I'm happy to hear that! I was afraid you wouldn't like what I reported about Dino's.
Rob, I was just curious as to what your overall impression of EZ's autobiography My Dinner of Herbs is?...a quality, detailed, honest and engaging narrative or not? Hopefully satisfying and doing justice to his interesting and likable self? I would really hope for rich detail in his recounting of his WB contract years and afterward, both in feature films (Bombers B-52, Crowded Sky, Fever in the Blood, etc.), but mostly centered on 77 Sunset Strip and The FBI. I would also hope for some detail about his combat experiences during the awful and bloody battle of the Huertgenwald in WW2... I'll probably get it anyway, but we've all had the disappointing experience of dud celebrity autobiographies...the unfortunately dull and self serving books better left unwritten in the first place...but your anecdote from EZ about Monty Pittman's personally inspired touches in his script for Downbeat in regard to his remembrance of desperate alcoholism leads me to believe that EZ's book is very much worth having...Randall,
I've read it a few times. What in particular did you want comment on?
Rob, she is very alluring in Downbeat (and Upbeat, Roaring '20s, Sugarfoot, Man From UNCLE, Good Neighbor Sam, Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die etc.)...I took these screen caps from one of my DVD copies of Downbeat...That first image of her reclining on the chaise with her hat down is—well, I seldom use this word, but to me that image is iconic. I've never seen Dorothy Provine more lovely than in this episode.
Very funny and sarcastic review as always, Russ! It's an entertaining and memorable experience to witness the immaculate Stu's determined and relentless descent onto skid row as depicted in Downbeat...I'm the guy on the left of the picture below...this slick dude Stu has invaded my turf at "Mike's International Bar", one of the finer and more discerning night clubs on LA's skid row of 1958...Anyway, the first half of the episode is to drive home Stu's stupendous slide into depravity. A defective detective, if you will. It works as a scheme to attract his old war buddy Hedrick Van Horn (John Van Dreelen), who visits Stu at his rat trap hotel--later to be downgraded to a Days Inn. Van Horn buys into Stu's down-and-out act and recruits him to the fun side of Communism. As an added incentive, Dorothy Provine in a bikini and high heels is thrown in. It's enough to attract Jerry Falwell to the far side, by golly. She's Stu's nurse in the "sanitarium" where he's been committed to dry out. He eventually goes on the wagon, cleans up, and Dorothy begins to nibble on him like Yogi Bear with a pic-a-nic basket.
Rob, I was just curious as to what your overall impression of EZ's autobiography My Dinner of Herbs is?...a quality, detailed, honest and engaging narrative or not? Hopefully satisfying and doing justice to his interesting and likable self?
I would also hope for some detail about his combat experiences during the awful and bloody battle of the Huertgenwald in WW2.
Rob, she is very alluring in Downbeat (and Upbeat, Roaring '20s, Sugarfoot, Man From UNCLE, Good Neighbor Sam, Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die etc.).
My mind could be playing tricks but I recall hearing that the Hays office didn’t always pay as much attention to shorts as they did to features.Crazy Sh*t
Sunday Night at the Trocadero (1937)
I saw this little gem on TCM a while ago and I didn't know where else to put it. Since it focused on the Trocadero, which was just down the Street from our 77 SS setting, I thought this thread might be the best place in which to showcase.
The Trocadero night club was the place to be seen in the 30's-40's, with reporters--cameras in hand--snapping pics of stars and starlets for the various fan magazines. Sort of the birth of the paparazzi. For those of us in the dusty Midwest, the joint just screamed sophistication and glamour.
This film short--an MGM production--was a blatant effort to promote some of their stars as well as feature dancers, musicians and singers. The very thin veneer of the script--and I repeat thin--was to have Reginald Denny hopping from table to table taking pictures of various stars at their four-tops opening surprise gifts. The likes of Chester Morris, Dick Foran, Frank Morgan, Sally Blane, Groucho Marx and Robert Benchley were just a few on hand. One hilariously unintended scene showed Glenda Farrell opening her present and pulling out a miniature rolling pin--which unfortunately looked convincingly like a marital aid.
View attachment 64475 View attachment 64476
Pop right in for a good time; An interior fit for a Des Moines Holiday Inn; Smoking allowed
Interspaced in all this nonsense was a slight back story of a waiter doing impressions of stars in order to get a movie contract. Not once did I recognize any voice he attempted. The club itself, while I'm sure was the height of fashion back in 1937, looked like a cheap tiki bar now. Walls that appeared to be covered in aluminum foil and a dance floor festooned with metallic palm trees felt like something from a high school prom. Showgirls dressed in outfits that most assuredly escaped notice of the Hays Code danced on the bar top while tuxedo-wearing gents smoked cigars and watched from their red vinyl bar seats with chrome legs. Singing acts waited for their cue in a dressing room the size of a 727 lavatory. One such act, the young Brian Sisters, were a far cry from the cute little Shirley Temple-types practically lining Hollywood streets at that time.
This was an odd but interesting little short that I understand was included on the DVD version of the Marx Bros. Night At The Opera.
By 1947, the famed Cafe Trocadero was kaput and eventually demolished--its site stood vacant until a storefront was built in 2013.
Crazy Sh*t
Sunday Night at the Trocadero (1937)
Thanks as always, Randall.Very funny and sarcastic review as always, Russ!
That last thing you said, Randall. It is an enjoyable read throughout, and authentically EZ. I can't imagine that any of us here would not love the book. My only real complaint is that it is too short.
His clear intention was to write a memoir of his life complete, with emphasis given to the less-known parts of it. While he speaks with great affection of his film and television career, he gives it less scale than the other aspects of his life.
Thank you so much for your impressions of EZ's book, Rob! Very much appreciated. I will be seeking it out. So true about WW2 combat veterans in general, and both of our fathers in particular. I never once got my father to talk about his expansive keloid burn scars on his body, nor about the jagged scars that he and my uncle shared...I found out the truth by reading a history book in my high school library, which described the torpedoing of his warship that killed two thirds of the crew, and the 2 days and nights that they struggled to survive in rafts on the icy Atlantic...these guys only opened up when they were with their fellow veterans, perhaps enjoying a drink or two...in my case my father and his brothers...they forgot that a young boy was hiding under the table, not having fell asleep, and listening to them in the hope of hearing something thrilling like the things he saw on his favorite TV shows...what I overheard was something entirely different, and even as a 9 year old I suddenly understood why these painful things were best not told in casual conversation with people who simply could not have understood...My experience with WWII veterans, including my own father (especially him), was that they would talk about everything but their personal experience in battle. As far as I can recall, so it is with EZ. He talks at length of his recovery from his injury (which was lengthy), because it had a bearing on his future, and of the relationships he formed during his service, but not much else.
Don't change your style, Russ! And we won't change the channel, ha, ha...we understand totally what you are affectionately trying to achieve, which indeed you have accomplished! Honestly, you could be a professional comedy writer...and we get your pop culture references, as only our withered and decrepit generation can...so, please don't change a thing...and if you or Rob ever publish a book, I'm buying those books too!Thanks as always, Randall.
I know that in the past I've used the term "sarcastic" in describing my commentaries--but now when I see the term, it kinda makes me feel like I'm being somewhat demeaning or disrespectful to the shows I actually love watching and discussing.
I'm hoping that "ironic" or "satirical" are more suitable and a little less harsh. My main goal has always been to just be entertaining and, sometimes, informative.
And, by all means, do NOT take this as umbrage to your comment. You've been much too great of a supporter for me to take it any way other than a compliment. I'm just being a little internal contemplative on how I write.
So true about WW2 combat veterans in general, and both of our fathers in particular. I never once got my father to talk about his expansive keloid burn scars on his body, nor about the jagged scars that he and my uncle shared.
I think I could fill in at least a few blanks in Efrem Zimbalist Jr.'s WW2 story.
Don't change your style, Russ! And we won't change the channel, ha, ha...we understand totally what you are affectionately trying to achieve, which indeed you have accomplished!
Something Different
"Made In Paris" ( MGM 1966)
Thanks, Rob! I missed the additional three 77 SS connections--good addition!Russ,
Another fun post! When I read it, I said to myself, "I bet Wifey is familiar with this film." I asked her, and she replied, "Ann-Margret, Louis Jordan, Chad Everett. . ." and then proceeded to give a brief synopsis. I think she saw pretty much every film released in the mid-Sixties, because she has an encyclopedic knowledge of them!
Checking it out on IMDb, it looks like a TV-ish sort of production (not that there's anything wrong with that), starting with Boris Sagal as director. And I see three more 77SS alumni, Marcel Hiliaire, Majel Barrett and Paul Bryar (uncredited!).
Sounds like a fun film!
I always found it curious that Jacqueline Beer got such small parts in so few films after her exposure in such a popular series. Pillow Talk, The Prize and this movie are all examples of bit roles. Certainly not because of adverse looks. Maybe her accent? Or perhaps she just didn't want to work that much.