I was 12 then but could stay up as late as I wanted. Always watched 77 of course but then either TZ or The Detectives. I don’t recall ever watching Mr. Shayne back then but ironically have acquired a few prints recently which I’ve enjoyed watching. Just my two cents.
Great links, Randall!! I wish I could trip over your bag of cool stuff so I could see ALL of it strewn over the floor.
You're welcome Russ. And it's all free, courtesy of Earl's labor of love for his site. Some of the shows on Uncle Earl's Classic TV streaming Library (like 77 Sunset Strip) look a little rough, as they're sourced from films and video dupes long circulated among collectors (like myself)...but there's a lot of great looking episodes and movies too...an almost endless resource of great old TV and theatrical films...his 77 Sunset Strip is complete for all 6 seasons...sadly, he as yet hasn't put up any Hawaiian Eye, Surfside 6 or Bourbon Street Beat...but there are a couple of rough looking episodes of Roaring '20s on there...it's an easily navigated site, categorized as to genre and individual stars...
It was. Your stuff is extremely funny.
Thank you, Bob. Glad you enjoy the commentaries.
What a fantastic find!!I thought I'd bring this up again because it comes from the days and times of 77 Sunset Strip. Recently Gary16 posted the intriguing item about a possible cameo appearance of Sinatra and Lawford to publicize their new restaurant Puccini, which we (or at least I) had never heard of before.
A couple of you here who have frequented NLA know that I posted about the restaurant and location on that site to see if anything might come of it in terms of photos or such.
A couple days ago NLA contributor Scott Charles posted about finding this among his relatives things he's been going through. His father was a reporter at one time:
The "High Hopes" reference is in regards to the Oscar winning song from the film "A Hole in the Head." Both the song and the film were released around that same June 9th (1959) time frame mentioned in the note. The Garden of Eden was the name of the hotel in the movie.
According to her daughter, Joely's, autobiography (Growing Up Fisher, 2017) Connie is in poor health, rarely goes out and would likely be unrecognizable to even her most devoted fans. Other than that sad news, the book is a fun read and won't tarnish the readers' impression of Connie in the least.
I remember when I was a teenager, I thought when I turned 30 that I'd be old. Once I hit 30, I began to fret about turning 50, y'know--AARP bait. Yet time inexorably moves on and 50 came and went. Personally, I thought I'd never see 70...but now I'm moving too quickly to 71 and you know what I've learned? Not to think about it any more.
At 72, when "discomforts of age" annoy me, Eric Idle starts singing in my head, I pack up my camera gear, and get back out there! Want to hear him too?
Leslie Stevens by all accounts a strange egg and an Outer Limits co-creator.Episode Revisited*
77 Sunset Strip
"Crash Out"
I admit I've developed quite a nest egg of recorded 77 SS episodes that I just don't always get around to. I get caught up in other massive time consumers like fixing a leaky toilet or shopping for drapes with my wife. It's just exhausting.
So last night I chucked all my husbandry duties, made a martini, and settled in to watch "Crash Out", which I haven't seen in years.
If you're into prison movies, this ep has all the familiar clichés--prisoners whacking their tin cups against the cell bars and calling the guards "lousy screws", being put into the "hole" and sweating menial jobs in the machine shop.
The headlines scream CRIMINAL BERNIE GRAVES CAPTURED--SENT TO HIGH SECURITY PRISON! We see Bernie being escorted to his cell--a tough looking hombre and chewing gum as if to impart "I've-got-a-chip-on-my-shoulder-and-I'm proud of it" sort of demeanor. The chewing gum thing is a bad boy habit probably absorbed in middle school despite the teacher's admonitions. But wait! Bernie is actually Jeff Spencer! How can this be?
Wellll, I'll tell you. Seems the warden and Lt. Gilmore have cooked up a scheme to put Jeff in a cell with convicted robber Eddie Marco (Michael Parks in his best James Dean haircut) in order to hopefully learn where he's stashed the holdup loot before being caught. Eddie's girlfriend, Jan (Nancy Rennick), is a sweet unassuming type who makes you wonder how she got wrapped up with such a loser. She visits Eddie on occasion despite his best efforts to drive her away with his dickishness.
Michael Parks--remember him in 'Then Came Bronson'? You can probably dig up a thread on that show somewhere in this labyrinth of a forum. Also shown is Nancy Rennick, Allyson Ames
Jeff plans a breakout hoping Eddie will want into it and pay for the privilege, thus revealing where the money is hidden. He fakes an accident in the machine shop in order to get sent to the infirmary and from there makes his and Eddie's escape. So far, so good.
They make it to Jan's apartment (at the corner of Hollywood and Vine according to the street sign) where they meet up with Jan's
bad boy brother (Don O'Kelly) who's Eddie's co-robber in the heist. What do you do right after you break out of prison? Why sure, you get dressed up and go to a party and twist the night away to some crappy early '60's canned music that's supposed to sound hip. Eddie confides to Jan where the money is hidden, a sure script sign that he's probably not going to live to ever see it again.
At the party, Jeff hooks up with a pretty undercover cop (Allyson Ames) who mistakenly blows his cover. It was a good plan up until then, but like a defective cannonball it fell a little short.
Everyone ends up at the hidden loot site with a gunfight that rivals the OK Corral. Eddie gets shot but lives to enjoy happy visitations again from Jan after he's re-incarcerated. Some dumb folks never change.
This ep was directed by Paul Landres who did a slew of WB series in the '60's and 70's and written by Jerry Davis. I've got to give the show credit for using a prison motif in order to break away from its usual haunts.
EDIT: The pic I posted of Allyson Ames is actually Kate Manx. I don't know why Google got them mixed up, other than Allyson and then Kate were each married to writer, director, producer Leslie Stevens. Neither marriage went well. Kate committed suicide and Allyson became a "nervous wreck" after divorcing him.
*First posted July 9, 2018, page 79
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