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

[Flashgear]

Yes, Jeff, these screen caps are from the Timeless sets. I have seasons 1 to 6 in my collection, and each and every one of the many episodes, up to 30 per year, is brilliantly remastered with beautiful color and is highly recommended. But I really love Westerns. Great guest stars throughout on The Virginian...these two Brenda Scott episodes feature Telly Savalas, Buck Taylor, Robert J. Wilke, Robert F. Simon and Colleen Gray. Typical casting for this show. I would say that Men With Guns (Jan. 12, 1966), an especially good and powerful story, is probably an essential Trampas episode for Doug McClure fans as well. I'll probably pick up seasons 7 and 8 at some point too. I really liked the Lee J. Cobb years (1 to 4), but I don't think the show was any less entertaining with Charles Bickford and John McIntire as the boss men of Shiloh. Season 9, renamed The Men From Shiloh with Stewart Granger, was not remastered. I'm really not interested in that reboot. I haven't checked in awhile, but I think some of the season sets (10 discs!) can be had for good prices.

 

[Flashgear]

A selection of screen caps from the opening credits of Mr. Novak...featuring the real life kids of John Marshall High School in Los Angeles...filmed during the shooting of the pilot episode in December 1962, and used throughout the series run. I wonder how many of those kids, likely grandparents of retirement age now, can identify their younger selves? The brunette girl in the vertically striped dress is certainly hard to miss, as she "bops" along right behind James Franciscus...you just know she was a teenage force of nature, whoever she is...

 

[bmasters9]

Yes, Jeff, these screen caps are from the Timeless sets. I have seasons 1 to 6 in my collection, and each and every one of the many episodes, up to 30 per year, is brilliantly remastered with beautiful color and is highly recommended. But I really love Westerns. Great guest stars throughout on The Virginian...these two Brenda Scott episodes feature Telly Savalas, Buck Taylor, Robert J. Wilke, Robert F. Simon and Colleen Gray. Typical casting for this show. I would say that Men With Guns (Jan. 12, 1966), an especially good and powerful story, is probably an essential Trampas episode for Doug McClure fans as well. I'll probably pick up seasons 7 and 8 at some point too. I really liked the Lee J. Cobb years (1 to 4), but I don't think the show was any less entertaining with Charles Bickford and John McIntire as the boss men of Shiloh. Season 9, renamed The Men From Shiloh with Stewart Granger, was not remastered. I'm really not interested in that reboot. I haven't checked in awhile, but I think some of the season sets (10 discs!) can be had for good prices.

Bumping this up: OT, but a question about the Virginian releases-- one critical review of said releases (at least for the first one) says that the discs are coded such that you can never see how much time is left on any one episode. Is this true?

Here is that review:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-...f=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B006ZL1P84

 

[Bob Gu]

Ben, it is a player compatibility thing with some older Timeless releases. I had a Toshiba made in 2004 that didn't show anything on the counter for some Timeless releases.

I just checked Virginian S1 Disc 1 on a 2008 Toshiba, two Philips, and a Samsung and all four displayed run times with the onscreen display.

Randall, on your Brenda Scott with Mannix picture, her expression reminds me a little of another Novack student, Lane Bradbury, seen here with Festus, as her occasionally recurring character on GUNSMOKE. (I could not find a Lane Bradbury picture with the same expression as Brenda's.)

Lynn Loring? Must be the bangs. I'll have to think about her, maybe the rest of the day.

 

[Flashgear]

Bob, Lynn Loring sure looks alluring in that picture! Roy Thinnes should have taken more downtime in battling the Invaders invasion...it's like the guys in WW2 being reminded of what they were fighting for...

I almost think we need a dedicated thread devoted to the many vintage and classic tv babes that grace our DVDs and fevered youthful imaginations, ha, ha...what say ye? Or is there one already? Believe me, if given half an excuse, I'll fire up my computer to take screen caps of every dream girl I can think of, many well known but also many lesser known Goddesses...makes you feel like a teenager again...

Coming soon on Mr. Novak...Barbara Barrie, Kathryn Hays, Terri Garr and Marta Kristen...

 

[Bob Gu]

Alluring? I was going for funny pulling the bangs back.

Flashgear's Classic TV Cuties Tribute: That would be a good thread for the TV on DVD and Blu-Ray Forum. I think there are more TV Fan oldtimers in this forum than in the Off Topic section. Not only screencaps, but there are amazing amounts of publicity photos online, for some actresses, (and surprisingly few for some others), and it is not really that exploitive since they are, after all, publicity photos. Then again, just working the pics into regular threads is still good, too.

Off Topic already has Tributes to Brunettes, Redheads, and Blondes but those are, also, open to movie actresses, singers, and models.

 

[Jobla]

Lynn Loring fans shouldn't miss the Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode MEMO FROM PURGATORY, nor should fans of Walter Koenig, either. Both give superb performances in difficult roles.

 

[Flashgear]

Alluring? I was going for funny pulling the bangs back.

Flashgear's Classic TV Cuties Tribute: That would be a good thread for the TV on DVD and Blu-Ray Forum. I think there are more TV Fan oldtimers in this forum than in the Off Topic section. Not only screencaps, but there are amazing amounts of publicity photos online, for some actresses, (and surprisingly few for some others), and it is not really that exploitive since they are, after all, publicity photos. Then again, just working the pics into regular threads is still good, too.

Off Topic already has Tributes to Brunettes, Redheads, and Blondes but those are, also, open to movie actresses, singers, and models.

All good ideas Bob. I don't think I've ever browsed the Off Topic forum here, I should take a look. I agree that a devoted thread to the immortal babes of vintage TV might be in order in this forum. I think it would be a lot of fun. Thanks for the encouragement.

Lynn Loring fans shouldn't miss the Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode MEMO FROM PURGATORY, nor should fans of Walter Koenig, either. Both give superb performances in difficult roles.

Jobla, I have the R2 Fabulous Films complete box set of all 3 seasons of AHH. I haven't viewed that episode in awhile, but thanks to your suggestion, I think I will rewatch it soon. Lynn Loring is featured prominently in the Mr. Novak season 2 episode Born of Kings and Angels, a very unusual episode in that it is set on a bus roadtrip, away from the usual settings of Jefferson High. Peter Helm returns in that one. Walter Koenig is back for 2 more episodes in season 2, the controversial With a Hammer in His Hand, Lord, Lord and the equally excellent The Firebrand...man, there's just so much great B+W TV that hasn't received a proper release in R1 or anywhere for that matter. Universal seems to be a lost cause for AHH, and we have reason to wonder if they'll ever finish AHP with season 7. I also completed my Hitchcock run with the Fabulous Films AHP season 7.

 

[Flashgear]

Episode 24, "How Does Your Garden Grow?" (March 3, 1964) W: Joseph Calvelli. D: Michael O'Herlihy.
Guest starring Barbara Barrie, Patricia Morrow, Pamela Baird, Terri Garr. Screen caps from 16 mm film source.


Barbara Barrie plays a newly minted substitute teacher who is called into action at Jefferson High during a Flu outbreak with up to 30% of the faculty and students absent because of sickness. I think this was the year of the Hong Kong Flu, so that's topical, also being set in the late winter storywise, pertinent to this episode's original airdate. Barrie's character is a somewhat detached egghead, in pursuit of her Doctorate, but unsure if she wants to be a teacher at all...Novak finds her on a staircase, having broken the heel of her shoe...



The Gallant Novak is gonna fix her heel...he's in full cobbler mode, and perfect and all (what can't this guy do?), but the wood shop boys will probably end up with the job...




School nurse Marion Ross (Happy Days) returns to take everyone's temperature and hand out the sick notes...Principal Vane is checked for a fever...he's read the script and probably wants to go home, ha, ha...


Barrie is assigned to teach an English Lit class...but mistakenly walks into a study group on the honor system because of the short staff...the almost unbearably cute Terri Garr (17 at the time) rises to inform her of her error...



Having found her way to the right class, Barrie is enormously adept at giving a clinical, but dispassionate lecture on the 19th century intersections of Guy de Maupassant, Flaubert and Emile Zola...full of dense detail, but completely irrelevant to the Frenchmen's inspiring contributions to western literature and thus leaving the kids cold and disengaged...the lovely Pamela Baird in the foreground...


The fragile Barrie begins to have the onset of something akin to an anxiety attack and retreats to the hallway where she is encountered by principal Vane and Miss Pagano...they are not impressed, but need her nonetheless to fill in until the sick faculty return...Vane calls her in to his office to get to the bottom of this...


Vane discovers that she has had some success in teaching "retarded" children (1964 lingo)...curiously, she tells him: "one of the requirements in teaching handicapped children is the ability not to become emotionally involved. I tried to help them so much that I became maudlin, and over sympathetic and a little bit of a neurotic. I felt that I was doing more harm than good. I loved the children too much...well maybe it wasn't love but pity. I've never been able to tell"...clearly, she has unsettled and unresolved issues at play in her head...
Claiming to have a lack of leadership ability, Principal Vane assigns her to sit in on Novak's class and observe the confident and inspiring teacher at work, hopefully to learn from his example...


And thus the most interesting (and important) scene ensues...Novak is leading the discussion about Mark Twain's Huck Finn...the kids are upset with the casual cruelty shown in the story by Huck toward Jim while on the raft...a girl from the deep south (Patricia Morrow) rises to read a passage that she finds inspiring, where Huck feels remorse and shame for his treatment of Jim: "It was 15 minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a N..... But I done it. And I want never to be sorry about it afterwards neither." Yes, this being 1964 and true to the text, the N word is spoken. Historically relevant, but something you'd never see on network TV today. The girl sums up: "Huck risked everything for the friendship of a man who didn't have the right to be his friend"...Novak goes on to say: "what Twain is telling us is that a set of values - an inferior set of values - begins to crumble". Especially pertinent to the convulsive events in the civil rights movement in 1964...The original ideological and spiritual intent of Mark Twain is clear, despite the inflammatory language of the 19th century...


Barrie witnesses this inspiring interplay between teacher and student, but curiously begins to feel that she would never be capable of emulating Novak's substance and gravitas...she knows she simply doesn't have it in her...


Novak finds himself falling for her...despite the script not providing a convincing case for this to be, at least in my opinion. It just doesn't feel plausible to me...I wouldn't touch a headcase like this with a barge pole, but that's just me...this is a script out of character with this usually well written show...It's not the actor's fault here, the script just lets them all down...


Knowing she is going to resign, she tells Novak that she simply doesn't have what it takes to be a teacher and that: "I'm an amateur human being, and a terrible teacher. Being a pathologist or a researcher is not for me. I'm a scrambled egghead, and not a teacher. I'm a little white mouse and a bore."...hoo boy...


Nevertheless, Novak doubles down with his usual compassion..."You're not a scrambled egghead any more. You're not a pedantic sedative, and you certainly are not a little white mouse! I don't know if I'm infatuated or in love, but I do know I'm a happier person for knowing you." Really? all well and good, Novak, but you don't have to fall in love with her...oh, hell, this is a terrible script anyways, ha, ha...


Parting is such sweet sorrow...



Every great series has to have a few duds...this episode isn't awful, but it just isn't very good. The failure is in the script, unconvincing. But it has that one great scene...seemingly detached from the rest of this story, where the immortal and righteous TRUE essence of Mark Twain's Americana is examined in a scenario with deep and important resonance to 1964, and thus, also to this day...

Next week, Novak falls in love yet again, and this time it is beautiful, sincere and eloquently genuine...and that outing is yet another hallmark episode for this acclaimed series...

 

[Flashgear]

Watching Barbara Barrie in the disappointing "How Does Your Garden Grow?", and being let down by a script that has her going in about three directions at once, I couldn't help but think of a brilliant and wonderful performance that she gave in Naked City season 4, "...And by the Sweat of Thy Brow" (Oct. 10, 1962), with co-star Richard Jordan...a memorable and powerful reworking of Beauty and the Beast...sounds like something with a lot of dreadful potential, doesn't it? Instead, it is a beautifully realized and very touching drama that really stays with you...Jordan plays a young recluse in the slums who was badly disfigured in a fire as a child. Barrie is the lonely and compassionate woman who reaches out to him...screen caps from the Image DVD release...

Barbara Barrie is still working as an actress today, with current credits in production on IMDB...

 

[Matt Hough]

Richard Jordan was such an interesting and often galvanizing actor. Barbara Barrie's skills have entertained me for decades.

 

[bmasters9]

View attachment 49436

Per that last one where it says E. Jack Neuman created this series: he was also credited at the bottom of each episode of Petrocelli as developing that NBC legal series for television (which, I would imagine, functions the same way); screencap of that credit from Petrocelli episode "The Gamblers," OAD 11/12/75 on NBC (from VEI both-in-one DVD)

 

[Flashgear]

Per that last one where it says E. Jack Neuman created this series: he was also credited at the bottom of each episode of Petrocelli as developing that NBC legal series for television (which, I would imagine, functions the same way); screencap of that credit from Petrocelli episode "The Gamblers," OAD 11/12/75 on NBC (from VEI both-in-one DVD)

View attachment 49530

Yes Ben, E. Jack Neuman created, produced or developed for television these series...Sam Benedict, Mr. Novak, A Man Called Shenandoah, Police Story and Petrocelli...with all of Sam Benedict, A Man Called Shenadoah and Petrocelli out on DVD...and 3 seasons of Police Story, that leaves only Mr. Novak unreleased on DVD thus far...he was another of the great television script writers in the tradition of Rod Serling, Sterling Silliphant, Roy Huggins, Reginald Rose, Boris Sagal, Joseph Stefano, Leslie Stevens, etc. and many more who pioneered the creative development of early television...quite the legacy of great television, considering the quality of all 5 of these series, and the hundreds of great teleplays he wrote also...

 

[Jobla]

Flashgear, regarding the Region 2 Fabulous Films three sets of AHH, are they Blu-ray or DVD? Do they suffer from PAL speed-up, such as cartoony-sounding voices?

 

[Flashgear]

Flashgear, regarding the Region 2 Fabulous Films three sets of AHH, are they Blu-ray or DVD? Do they suffer from PAL speed-up, such as cartoony-sounding voices?

Jobla, these are beautifully remastered DVD episodes of AHH, similar visual quality to the Universal AHP releases here in R1...but they do have a noticeable PAL speed-up, mostly noted in Hitchcock's well known and familiar voice, tempo of music, etc, on my Samsung region free player....noticeable, but not a critical irritation to me. I'm fine with it, as it's a similar effect that I hear on my NTSC time sped sets, like Combat!...I know some others are more sensitive to this, and for them, apparently, a no-go. I think some more advanced region free DVD players (like OPPO) have compensating signal processing to eliminate this PAL speed-up effect during playback.

 

[Flashgear]

I don't have episode 25, "The Tower" (Mar. 10, 1964), with golden age film star Heather Angel, I don't know if TNT ever aired that one, among the 5 or so Mr. Novak episodes they skipped over back in the 1988-90 network run.

Episode 26, "One Way to Say Goodbye" (Mar. 17, 1964), W: E. Jack Neuman, D: Richard Donner. Starring Kathryn Hays, Tom Nardini.



In an effort to do effective counter programming to ensure audience share against Combat! and Red Skelton Hour, NBC and MGM slipped in two romantic episodes featuring Novak in love, to capitalize on James Franciscus' matinee idol good looks and his appeal to teenage girls, housewives, and career women...letting the socially conscious and often controversial examination of societal ills lie fallow for a couple weeks during which ratings would be all important in whether NBC renewed Mr. Novak, or not...

As this episode opens, Novak and his fellow faculty at Jefferson High are working late, preparing for a parent / teacher open house. As Novak is on his way out, he encounters a sharply dressed, beautiful stranger who lingers over the trophy case, framed photos and plaques of Jefferson High's storied past...she is Jenny Peterson, a former alumni on a trip down memory lane, played by the exquisite Kathryn Hays...she informs Novak that she now lives in New York, but wants to visit her hometown LA haunts of her youth..."I stopped by rather impulsively. I wanted to enjoy some compulsive memories...I must sound foolish"...


She asks Novak about Principal Vane and her other former teachers, including Mr. O'Neil, in a nice nod to story continuity...Novak informs her that O'Neil is recently deceased, as depicted previously in Death of a Teacher...but Novak and Jenny share several affectionate and humorous anecdotes about Vane and the other teachers that she holds in fond remembrance...she is wonderfully warm and delightfully animated in her manner, and with her stunning beauty, Novak is carried away in the sheer bliss and head spinning ecstasy of her presence..completely intoxicated with love at first sight...here, it's completely believable in the intelligent and witty warmth of their conversation. Another well written script by series creator and producer E. Jack Neuman. And deft direction by Richard Donner...


Responding to the sweet and powerful attraction that they both feel, Novak impulsively informs her that he wants to see her again ASAP...blurting it out like a love struck teenager, surprising even himself...they part with no definite plan of doing that, but in a flirtatious, delightful and brilliant extended scene that is pure magic, she decides to crash Novak's parent / teacher open house the very next evening!...their easy flowing and lively flirtatious witty interplay is something to behold...funny, genuine and magical...wow...


She learns that the shy Novak's middle name is "Francis", and mischievously writes it in chalk under Novak's name on the blackboard...she also playfully introduces him to the parents as Francis...much to his chagrin and embarrassment...but he is bewitched by this beauty in a way that most men can only pray for, once in a lifetime, if you're lucky...the head spinning bliss of new found love itself, the disorienting sensory ambrosia of the Romantic Poets so close to Novak's own heart...the parents are likewise completely charmed by her easy grace and mirth...some think she is a teacher too, and some think she is Novak's girlfriend, or even, his wife...



Jenny witnesses the sincere gratitude that several parents express to Mr. Novak, and the high regard they hold him in...A parallel sub plot is introduced in the personage of a Father (George Petrie), much troubled by his rebellious teenage son, a student of Novak's...talking about his son, the Father laments, he's "very close to being a hoodlum"...


Novak and Jenny finally have a proper first date...in front of a romantic fire, she asks Novak: "You come from a long line of scholars?"...Novak responds laughingly, "No, I come from a long line of coal miners"...Jenny, appreciating his depth and poet's soul, asks him about his childhood: "when you were a little boy, you spent a great deal of time alone, hmm? But there's a difference between loneliness and solitude, and you were never lonely. Am I right in that? When I was a little girl, I spent a great deal of time alone. Somehow I imagined you were doing the same thing I was doing, so we had our childhood together in a way."... Novak really lets his guard down now, and we learn more about his past...the foundation of suffering that made him the man and teacher he is today...his origin story of a kind...his Korean War service at Kimpo airfield in South Korea, and the memory of a man who died there, perhaps in his place..."he had a bullet hole in the middle of his forehead...I was glad it wasn't me. Anyway, it was him. Somebody did die! It didn't seem right! Life being the precious thing that it is."...


The next day, Novak is back teaching class...he rhapsodizes over George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan...citing the iron clad certainty of faith that exemplified the life of Joan of Arc...a girl student approaches Novak after class, she is in torment over the separation and impending divorce of her parents...she asks Novak to "please pray for me."...


On his second date with Jenny, Novak has the misfortune of encountering the aforementioned "hoodlum" student (Tom Nardini) and his girlfriend (Toni Basil)...the idiot kid has a grudge against Novak and is spoiling for a fight...in defending himself and Jenny, Novak loses his cool and pounds the kid out...much to Novak's ensuing shame and Jenny's shock...




Tragically, although Novak and Jenny's new found and powerful love is beautiful to behold, it is not to be. I won't disclose the fatal factor behind that star crossed and painful destiny...but what plays out from here represents some of the finest work of the late James Franciscus...

Novak to Jenny: "I don't have any children of my own, but in a way, I'm a parent...In Loco Parentis, (in place of a parent), Because I'm a teacher. Everyday in class, those half children, half adults look at me...for what I'm thinking, what I'm saying, what I'm doing...and they look at me. And some of them look at me harder than the others. I can almost tell who they are by that look. They're the ones looking for that parent that they haven't got. Yesterday, one of them wanted me to pray for her. Last night, one of them wanted to fight me...there's too many broken kids, too many broken worlds, too many broken marriages"...


Jenny to Novak: "I've always had a special dislike for searching out a friend...and crying."...


Jenny: "who said you can never go home again?"...Novak, ever the English teacher, painfully responds: "Thomas Wolfe"...


Jenny: "A woman is only a young girl once, and then you were standing there"...



A beautifully written and performed love story..completely convincing in the making, and losing, of love...you really care for these characters...genuine, authentic and very moving...and another hallmark episode of excellence for the series...

 

[Flashgear]

Kathryn Hays of "One Way to Say Goodbye" is one of those dream girls of my youth that I've rediscovered on home video in my DVD collection...what a beauty she was, and a talented actress as well...she's still with us today at age 85...here's some screen caps I've taken of her from various appearances in a number of series...

Naked City season 3, "The Rydecker Case" (June 6, 1962)...Wow!

In Mr. Novak's MGM sister show, Dr. Kildare season 2, "An Island Like a Peacock" (May 16, 1963)...with Leonard Nimoy and Forrest Tucker...

In another MGM sister show, The Lieutenant, "Cool of the Evening" (Sept. 21, 1963)...

Mannix season 2, "End of the Rainbow" (Oct. 26, 1968)...

Perhaps her most famous role, as "Gem" in Star Trek season 3, "The Empath" (Dec. 6, 1968)...

Once again reunited with Leonard Nimoy in Night Gallery season 3, "She'll be Company For You" (Dec. 24, 1972)...

 

[Neil Brock]

Speaking of Kathryn Hays, it really is such a shame that the series The Road West, which starred both the beautiful Miss Hayes AND Brenda Scott is one of the scarcest series of the 60s. Only a re-edited version of the 2-part opener, under the title This Savage Land, has seen any kind of availability. 16mm prints have never turned up in the collectors' market and the show has not had any re-airings anywhere in the home recording era. Even Timeless/Shout couldn't release the show as 16mm elements are not available. Not a great show, just an average western, but worth it for those 2 actresses.

Regarding E. Jack Neuman, I believe that it was the feature article on the show in the TV Collector magazine which led to TNT pulling the series off the air a few episodes prior to completing the run. They interview Neuman's widow and she may have contacted them asking for residuals or some kind of compensation. It was after this happened that TNT stopped show episodes. But at least we were able to get about 95% of the series anyway.

 

[Bob Gu]

Kathryn Hays spent 38 years on AS THE WORLD TURNS. Along the way I think she may have danced in a 70s or 80s Leggs commercial, as the ads used other New York based soap stars. I could not find it on YouTube, but found one starring her ATWT costar Colleen Zenk. I won't post it since Zenk would have been too young to have played a student of Mr. Novack in 1964.

Brenda Scott was also a regular on the Andy Griffith series ADAMS OF EAGLE LAKE, which stopped production after two episodes. The two episodes were shown and even rerun.

 

[Flashgear]

Episode 27, "Day In The Year" (Mar. 24, 1964), W: Sidney Marshall, D: Ida Lupino.
Starring Malachi Throne, David Sheiner, Richard Eyer, Patricia Hyland, Mark Slade.
Screen caps from homemade DVD derived from TNT airings many moons ago...


Directed by pioneering Female director Ida Lupino, the first woman to helm an episode of Mr. Novak...
Her name in the credits is always a hallmark of excellence...a superb director!


As the episode opens in Novak's English class, Martha Hyland, a drowsy 15 year old girl (Patricia Hyland, 19 at the time), becomes delirious and collapses before the horrified Novak and the students...her boyfriend is played by 18 year old Richard Eyer...you might remember him as the boy Genie in Ray Harryhausen's great fantasy film from 1957, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad...



The unconscious girl is taken to the nurse's office...the school nurse is once again Marion Ross...her family doctor (the great David Sheiner) hurries to the school to examine her, and determines she has overdosed on narcotics of the intravenous kind...Novak and Asst. Principal Pagano (Jeanne Bal) look on in great concern...


Novak has never seen anything like this before and is a little upset by what he perceives to be the doctor's clinically detached manner...Novak shouldn't jump to conclusions about a veteran physician who has seen it all before, and far too many times in his career...David Sheiner shines in this scene, finally reacting to the perturbed Novak in a shock to reality he really should keep in mind as further developments will attest...Doctor to Novak: "That's the whole story right now, Mr. Novak. The rest I hate to think about. You see, I brought that little girl into the world!"...


Principal Vane watches the ambulance arrive, to transport the now critically ill girl to hospital...


Principal Vane and Novak try to understand the potential dimensions of this crisis..the good doctor believes other kids may be at risk...


Novak comforts the boyfriend, but is suspicious also of him...the kid sobs "She's my girl!"...


An LAPD narcotics squad detective (the superb Malachi Throne) arrives to investigate...he questions Novak about the girl, her friends and the school itself...


Novak is once again confounded and angry over this policeman's seemingly callous and clinical detachment...Novak the sterling humanitarian is offended by the apparent coldness of his manner...first, he offends Novak by asking him if the girl had "ever made a play for him?" !!! Novak's handsome good looks once again playing into other's prejudicial suspicions about him in relation to the swooning young girls at Jefferson High...that approach sends Novak, rightfully, ballistic in his anger...Novak: "Now wait a moment! This just happened this morning! I didn't even know what it was when I saw it. And I don't care about that! I care about Martha Hyland! What did they say about her at the hospital?"


Once this bomb is defused, the detective goes on to question him about the girl's friends and classmates..."Did you see any signs, any symptoms? Did you hear any lingo? Did you watch for the student who seems unusually drowsy? Did you see any unusually high? Did you watch for excessive tensions, the suddenly aggressive ones? The ones that wear long sleeves to hide the needle marks on their arms? The ones who drop out of clubs, athletics? And the interests they had in school?"


To a shocked Novak: "She's on the critical list. She'll probably die...something somebody gave her, most likely...like a trip to eternity"..."there's a pusher working this school right now, Mr. Novak! No telling who he's gotten to!"...


The detective and Miss Pagano search the girl's locker for clues...or contraband...great reverse camera shot from "inside"...


Being old school and not gentle in his investigative manner, the detective roughly handles the boyfriend's arm, looking for needle tracks...Miss Pagano is at first horrified and upset, but soon remembers other 'informing" events of her past...there is an understanding that the boy may be more than just a grieving partner...he asks the kid: "who was she tearing around with?" ...the kid responds: "some guy named 'Fresno'..."


I don't think I'm detracting from anybody's enjoyment of this episode in revealing that 'Fresno' is this kid, a 22 year old imposter enrolled at Jefferson under a false I.D....there to be a pusher...the real pleasure of watching this great episode are the riveting performances and brilliant execution of this story...not any mystery as to who the perp is...here played by 24 year old Mark Slade...3 years before he became 'Blue' on High Chaparral...season one of that fine series has just been released by Shout...


The detective and his squad show up to arrest this bum...the pusher yells at Novak: "They put that stuff in my pocket, Mr. Novak!"...Novak grimaces in disgust, and the detective now shows his long suppressed and explosive rage at this scum...roughing him up...this being 1964, there's no 'Miranda' reading or talk of 'probable cause' in searching him...



And now, the great scene that I didn't expect, a riveting scene that sneaks up on you with rising intensity and tears your heart out...the real reveal is that the great Malachi Throne owns this episode...a superb and supremely intense actor of incredible power...Wow!

To Novak: "I hope that he gets what the law permits. Instead of turning him loose again. That happens you know?....too often, every morning, every night, a dozen times a day! I offer a prayer that my own two kids never meet up with a scum like that. Every time I see a bright young kid who just shot and killed a gas station attendant, or some 16 year old girl who's selling herself to support her habit, those statistics don't seem to mean anything anymore. Everything boils down to my own two kids..."


"Matha Hyland died 15 minutes ago!"...