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

[Flashgear]

Thank you for all the interesting comments, replies and encouragement, it's not easy keeping a discussion going for a show like Mr. Novak, that hasn't been seen by most collectors and vintage tv fans at all. Hopefully, that changes soon with the promised WAC season one release.

Chuck Harter's book on Mr. Novak is terrific! Now, if we could only entice Chuck to write one on The Defenders

Good to hear, Sean! I don't know if Chuck has it in him right now to tackle another book of the magnitude that The Defenders would deserve. Right now he is polishing the 'Way Out book that he is doing with Martin Grams. I'm looking forward to that one too. The Defenders would be a tremendous subject for a first class author and researcher like Chuck Harter, among the very few authors working in the field of classic tv history who might be able to do it justice. I'll mention the idea to him. A big problem would be just accessing the season 2 to 4 episodes in the few museum/archive facilities where it might be available for supervised viewing, Paley Center, UCLA, University of Wisconsin, etc. And access to original CBS, Plautus, Herbert Brodkin and Reginald Rose production papers would be essential to flesh out the history with any authority. I hope to heaven that Shout Factory and CBS can come to some accommodation where the rest of the series can be released, with CBS doing the right thing and providing new remastered sources for Shout to release. It's incredible and admirable that Shout paid for transferring season one themselves. I think we need to give The Defenders thread a bump and keep interest alive, at least...

Mr. Novak, in my opinion, is a show that compares favorably with the great Defenders. That's one of the reasons I'm rather desperate to see it released on DVD. We have relatively few of the contemporary prestige dramas from that era available. We were very lucky to get Route 66, Naked City, Stoney Burke, The Lieutenant, Dr. Kildare, S1 of Eleventh Hour, Sam Benedict, Wide Country, Arrest and Trial, Perry Mason, Going My Way, Gallant Men, Combat! and S1 of The Defenders. But many more hour long dramas from that era seem irretrievably missing, likely never to be released for disc or streaming. Armstrong Circle/US Steel Hour, Follow the Sun, Bus Stop, Dick Powell Show, Ben Casey, Saints and Sinners, It's a Man's World, The Nurses, Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Breaking Point, East Side/West Side, Richard Boone Show, Kraft Suspense Theatre, Temple Houston, Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre and others...Of course, much of the great drama in that era was also presented in the many great westerns of the day, and in that respect, we have been blessed. Some hour long action and adventure series also presented quality and important drama on occasion.

Thanks for all that info, Randall! There do seem to be a number of music clearance issues in season 2 that would possibly make releasing that season problematic. Let's hope the Archive follows the Mayberry, R.F.D. plan (as Tony alluded to) and release season one sometime early to mid 2019. That would be a good way for them to gauge customer interest in the series. My guess is they are already looking into the rights issues for that second season. At any rate, if Chuck Harter has met with Feltenstein three times now, season one must surely be in the offing eventually. Good to hear!

Thank you Jeff for your ongoing support and interest, I appreciate it! I think you are spot on as to what is happening behind the scenes at Warner Archive concerning Mr. Novak. I just hope the trumpet duel between Johnny Crawford and Tommy Sands (dubbed by James Zito and a legendary jazz ensemble including Artie Kane, Keith Mitchell and Shelley Manne) from season two's Let's Dig a Little Grammar aren't a killer for music clearance, as it may involve CBS music rights and the estates of Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie (?)...who knows...

I don't have the final episode from Mr. Novak's season one, Senior Prom, starring a pre-Lost in Space Marta Kristen...from what I can see in Chuck Harter's extraordinary book, that episode and Marta's performance received positive reviews in the trade papers and tv critic's columns upon the original broadcast on April 14, 1964. Marta Kristen plays the student organizer of the graduating class senior prom. She portrays a lackadaisical and popular student who under the growing stress of organizing the perfect prom becomes a victim of her own rigid perfectionism and suffers an epic anxiety attack. Ironically, the prom turns into a sad experience for her personally, and amid all the chaos, she doesn't even have a date of her own with which to attend...Marta was interviewed by author Chuck Harter for her memories and impressions of working on the show for his great book on the series...

 

[Flashgear]

So, I've completed my rundown, screen caps and reviews for Mr. Novak season one...This show, in my subjective opinion, produced an extraordinarily high proportion of excellent to truly great episodes in it's inaugural season. Here is my summary of the initial 30 episodes that comprise season one...

Excellent to Great Episodes...17 / 27 (30 total, 3 unseen, not in my collection)......in order of original airdate...

I Don't Even Live Here (great script, tremendous performances by Herschel Bernardi and Diane Ladd, one of James Franciscus finest too, usual quality direction by Abner Biberman).

X is the Unknown Factor (script, fine performance by Dan Macklin, Richard Donner directed).

A Single Isolated Incident (powerful ensemble performance by the regular cast. Great story. Another fine Biberman episode).

The Risk (Script as always. Fine performances by Alexander Scourby and Sherry Jackson. Franciscus and Jagger at the top of their game. Solid direction by Michael O'Herlihy).

A Feeling For Friday (James Franciscus owns this episode and carries it beautifully. Fine and memorable support from Diane Baker, John McGiver and Peter Breck. Another solid O'Herlihy episode).

Pay the Two Dollars (Great performance by Martin Landau. Another fine Franciscus outing. Directed by Walter Doniger).

Love in the Wrong Season (Fine performances by Patricia Crowley and Tommy Kirk in a rather daring story. The great Ida Lupino directed).

The Boy Without a Country (great performances by Walter Koenig and Jeanne Cooper. Dean Jagger shines brightly. Michael O'Herlihy directed).

He Who Can, Does ( superb performances by Edward Mulhare and Jeanne Bal. Franciscus is very good too. Directed by Irving Lerner).

Sparrow on the Wire (powerful script. Superb, knock-out performance by Mike Kellin. Beau Bridges and Neil Nephew. One of the best for Franciscus. Great Biberman episode).

Death of a Teacher (powerful ensemble performance by the cast. Great performance by Harry Townes and Dean Jagger. Directed by Richard Donner).

Chin Up, Mr. Novak (Memorable and touching performance by Hermione Baddeley. O'Herlihy directed).

Fear is a Handful of Dust ( brilliant, astounding and powerful performance by the young and lovely Brenda Scott. Franciscus and Jagger excellent. Fine script by Carol O'Brien. Biberman directed).

One Way to Say Goodbye (beautiful, authentic and touching love story with fine performances by Franciscus and the lovely Kathryn Hays. Directed by Richard Donner).

Day in the Year (Powerful and explosive performance by Malachi Throne. Ida Lupino directed).

Moment Without Armor (great and memorable performance by Jeanne Bal. Fine script by Margaret Armen. O'Herlihy directed).

Fare Thee Well (Touching and authentic performance by a young Noreen Corcoran. Fine support by Kevin McCarthy. Another great Carol O'Brien script. Biberman directed).

Good to Very Good Episodes...8...

Hello Miss Phipps (good script, Lillian Gish is solid. Don Medford directed).

To Break a Camel's Back (Joey Heatherton is breathtaking in looks and competent in performance. Fine Royal Dano cameo. Solid Franciscus episode. O'Herlihy directed).

A Thousand Voices ( good episode with Frankie Avalon conveying the sometimes desperate obsessions of youth. Richard Donner directed).

Song of Songs (Edward Andrews and young Brooke Bundy good. Franciscus and Jagger reliably good in support).

The Exile (Fine performance by Richard Evans. Good Franciscus outing also).

The Private Life of Douglas Morgan, Jr. (Good performances by Peter Helm and Frank Maxwell. Richard Donner directed).

I'm On the Outside ( good performance by Teno Pollick. Abner Biberman directed).

My Name is Not Legion ( good and memorable performance by Peter Lazar. Directed by Bernard Girard).

Average Episodes...2...

First Year, First Day (Pilot episode introducing the cast and scenario in a competent, utilitarian way. The highlight being Dean Jagger delivering a wonderful and memorable monologue that is almost the mission statement for the series as a whole. Co-creator Boris Sagal directed from a script by Joseph Stefano).

How Does Your Garden Grow? (A standard and unremarkable episode with a sub par script but competent delivery. The usually excellent Barbara Barrie and James Franciscus do what they can with it. Not bad, just ordinairy, perhaps more noticeable in comparison to the usual excellence of the series. O'Herlihy directed).

Not aired originally by TNT or unseen by me since 1963-64...3 Episodes...

To Lodge and Dislodge (solid reviews from trade paper and tv critic's columns of the day, as seen in Chuck Harter's brilliant book on the series. Touching story and performance by a young Kim Darby with solid support from Franciscus and Jagger).

The Tower (good contemporary reviews and notices. Silent film star Heather Angel portrays an elderly teacher that is forced into retirement).

Senior Prom (Likewise good reviews and favorable notices in the trades. An apparent fine performance by a young Marta Kristen with able support from James Franciscus as both the television season and school year story arc come to a close).

Honestly, to me, not a single bad episode in the 30...Co-creator, Executive Producer and writer E. Jack Neuman is quoted in Chuck Harter's book as saying: "We made 7 bad pictures out of the 30. And that kills me. Mainly, they were badly written...two by me...but the press of the time and my own stubbornness caused me to go through with them. One show looked good on paper but just didn't play. We did another about off campus clubs and got so far "in" nobody knew what we were talking about. In another we tried getting Novak away from school, but it didn't work. Stories set in hotel rooms and cocktail bars you can get anywhere. Those eager, hurrying kids are the most attractive background I can get and I'm going to stay with it". Mr. Novak - An Acclaimed Television Series by Chuck Harter P.95, quoting a Los Angeles Herald-Examiner interview with E. Jack Neuman, April 19, 1964.

From the above quote, I can discern E. Jack as referring to A Thousand Voices, which is, to me, a good episode, certainly not a bad one. The other episode must be A Feeling For Friday, which, to me, is one of the great episodes from season one, and probably the best opportunity that James Franciscus had to shine on his own, up to that point in the series. John McGiver is brilliantly memorable in that one also. That script has a lot to say, and effectively, about the sociology of the day, wealth, work ethic and professional integrity. Peter Breck is the perfect smarmy, sarcastic and slick bastard foil for Novak. Lost love with the lovely Diane Baker also. I definitely think Neuman was being overly critical of himself.

My Absolute Favorite Episodes...

I Don't Even Live Here
A Single Isolated Incident
A Feeling For Friday
Pay The Two Dollars
Boy Without a Country
He Who Can, Does
Sparrow on the Wire
Death of a Teacher
Chin Up, Mr. Novak
Fear is a Handful of Dust
One Way to Say Goodbye
Day in the Year
Moment Without Armor

 

[Jobla]

Interesting news about the WAY OUT book, which I presume is the early sixties series that followed THE TWILIGHT ZONE one season. Didn't only about five episodes of WAY OUT actually air? There may have been more episodes.

WAY OUT developed the reputation for being "too scary for TV," but I doubt that was really the case. On a vaguely related note, Kino has just released THE GHOST OF SIERRA DE COBRE/THE HAUNTED, which was a horror pilot that didn't sell. It too had that "too scary for TV" rep, but that phrase is usually as much hype as anything else.

 

[Flashgear]

Jobla, the book that Chuck Harter is writing in collaboration with Martin Grams should be published next year. It's my understanding that there were 14 episodes produced for 'Way Out, all of which aired on CBS from March to July 1961, preceding Twilight Zone on Friday nights. 10 episodes are available for viewing in watchable video on Youtube. I just got the Blu of Ghost of Sierra de Cobre and it is stunning in HD! The padded out feature film runs at 1:20:45 and The Haunted pilot at 53:05. KL is doing us right! I hope WAC does the same soon for Mr. Novak.

 

[Flashgear]

The great character actor Nehemiah Persoff turned 99 in August. Among his hundreds of memorable credits, he turned in a powerful performance in the Mr. Novak season two episode Enter a Strange Animal, co-starring with Martin Landau in that prescient and startling episode concerning the introduction of computers ("learning machines") in the schools of 1965! Here is a recent photo of him, he looks pretty good! And a photo of him during his prime when he turned in memorable performances in Some Like it Hot, Untouchables, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Naked City, Route 66, Gunsmoke, I Spy, Wild Wild West, Twilight Zone etc.,

The great Nehemiah Persoff today at the age of 99...

 

[Jobla]

I also found him great in RED SKY AT MORNING (1970), a film that has sadly never been released on home video anywhere in the world, not even on VHS back in the day.

 

[Flashgear]

Oh, I agree about Red Sky at Morning, Jobla! What a beautiful film, both visually with the stunning New Mexico locations...and a touching, nostalgic and beautifully rendered story set on the home front of WW2. It is a memorable performance by Nehemiah Persoff, who seemed to be able to morph into any number of ethnic characters. And the rest of the cast is wonderful, a pre Waltons Richard Thomas, Catherine Burns, Richard Crenna, Claire Bloom, Harry Guardino, John Colicos, Strother Martin, and a somewhat jarring very adult role for Desi Arnaz Jr., Great music by Billy Goldenberg...I'm a sucker for all of those nostalgic WW2 home front movies that they made in the 70s...Summer of '42, Class of '44 and Baby Blue Marine...

Richard Thomas and Nehemiah Persoff...

In the hope that Red Sky at Morning might be in the new Universal deal with Kino Lorber, I asked about it on the KL Insider thread earlier this year, with no response. I believe you mentioned it there too? I suspect there might be problems with the elements, due to the re-cutting for tv where they cut out the nudity of course, but also adding much more voice over narration ala The Waltons...the other great film that Richard Thomas made with Catherine Burns, Last Summer (1969), is owned by WAC, and they have said on multiple occasions on FB that Last Summer needs a lot of work on the film elements...sadly, not just the oldest films are in peril, as many films from the '70s and later are falling apart too, depending on who owns them and how they were archived and preserved (or not) over the years...

 

[Jobla]

Yes, the KL Insider said that RED SKY AT MORNING wasn't in their latest deal. There have been several theories over the years regarding why the film was never released on home video:

Universal hates the film because it was dwarfed at the box office by SUMMER OF '42.
There is some sort of rights issue, either with music or literary rights.
The original negative was cut up for the censored TV version, and is in bad condition.

The only way to see the original version is to see a copy of a one-time airing on the Sundance Channel (I think that was the cable channel that aired the original version, as opposed to the censored network TV version).

I really thought that Catherine Burns would be around a long time, as a younger character actress (like a young Estelle Parsons, for instance). But she moved on, and I think she later became an author of some sort.

The film would make a great Blu-ray, and the three young leads (Richard Thomas, Catherine Burns, and Desi Arnaz, Jr.) are still alive and could conceivably be "reunited" for a featurette.

 

[Astairefan]

Within the last hour, WAC's FB page posted one of their "unboxing" videos for a set of Mr. Novak (Season 1, I believe), so the odds are good it will be released in November.

 

[Darby67]

Within the last hour, WAC's FB page posted one of their "unboxing" videos for a set of Mr. Novak (Season 1, I believe), so the odds are good it will be released in November.

Thanks for the tip, Neil. I just watched the video (https://www.facebook.com/warnerarchive/) and when they flip through the discs I noticed the discs are purple which would indicate that they are burned rather than pressed. Hopefully, the actual release is on pressed discs.

 

[Jobla]

I have no inside info, but I don't expect MR.NOVAK to be a Blu-ray. Therefore, I expect that it will be a burned MOD, rather than a pressed BD-R. The target audience for the series isn't very large.

Since this news has just dropped today, I have to assume that Warner and Feltenstein were simply waiting for Flashgear to finish his highlighting of season one!!

Now, on to season two?

 

[bmasters9]

Thanks for the tip, Neil. I just watched the video (https://www.facebook.com/warnerarchive/) and when they flip through the discs I noticed the discs are purple which would indicate that they are burned rather than pressed. Hopefully, the actual release is on pressed discs.

Just saw that, and I noticed that the K in the Mr. Novak title has a taller stem-- did you notice that?

 

[Darby67]

I have no inside info, but I don't expect MR.NOVAK to be a Blu-ray. Therefore, I expect that it will be a burned MOD, rather than a pressed BD-R. The target audience for the series isn't very large.

Since this news has just dropped today, I have to assume that Warner and Feltenstein were simply waiting for Flashgear to finish his highlighting of season one!!

Now, on to season two?

I'm not expecting this release to be on Bu-ray at all. I am expecting pressed DVD discs consistent with WAC's previous history of multi-season television series releases.

 

[Darby67]

Just saw that, and I noticed that the K in the Mr. Novak title has a taller stem-- did you notice that?

I did not notice it on my first viewing, but I do now. Thanks for the catch.

 

[bmasters9]

I did not notice it on my first viewing, but I do now. Thanks for the catch.

Not a problem!

 

[Flashgear]

Thank you Neil, 'Astairefan' for posting that info here!

Wow! Great news! I'm ecstatic that Mr. Novak season one will likely be coming before Christmas! I wonder if the graphics are final for this release, as Ben first noted, the longer stem on the 'K' in Novak is not original from the series titles...the 'First' in first season is highlighted in white or silver...and the presenter points out the typo on the 'diploma', "Yale Unibersity" , so that may be a clue that the dvd packaging art isn't final. This is a nice tribute to James Franciscus, as he himself was indeed an alumni of Yale University! It must be an 8 disc set, and harder to tell if WAC will do a pressed run, or just DVD-R. Between Mr. Novak season one and the forthcoming Blu's of Thing From Another World and Dark of the Sun, and everything that KL, Olive, Shout, TT and Criterion have coming in November and December, It will leave my wallet bleeding...but I'm a happy man!

I'm also ecstatic that many other fans will finally discover the forgotten treasure that Mr. Novak represents as the groundbreaking, sometimes daring and important serious drama of the 'New Frontier' age of early 1960s American television drama! If you love WAC's Dr. Kildare, The Lieutenant and Eleventh Hour...or love season one of The Defenders or Route 66 and Naked City...I can almost guarantee that you will love Mr. Novak as well!

 

[Flashgear]

I have no inside info, but I don't expect MR.NOVAK to be a Blu-ray. Therefore, I expect that it will be a burned MOD, rather than a pressed BD-R. The target audience for the series isn't very large.

Since this news has just dropped today, I have to assume that Warner and Feltenstein were simply waiting for Flashgear to finish his highlighting of season one!!

Now, on to season two?

Ha, ha, thanks Jobla, but this announcement and my finishing my reviews and screencaps of season one are purely coincidental. At least I think so. But author Chuck Harter (who I talked with tonight) did relay to me that he was told that the WAC people, perhaps George Feltenstein himself, have "looked in" on this thread from time to time!

I think that author Chuck Harter is most responsible for expediting the DVD release of Mr. Novak. Anybody who has read his magnificent book knows what an achievement his thoroughly researched and supremely authoritative book represents as one of the all too few greatest books ever on the history and impact of a once almost forgotten television drama. George Feltenstein agrees!

I'm happy that we will have a beautifully remastered and complete season one before Christmas. But I hope that season two will be following ASAP. There are MANY great episodes in Mr. Novak's season two. And the series as a whole cannot be fully appreciated without it.

With Eleventh Hour, fans of that show are still waiting for season two to come along.

 

[Flashgear]

Thanks to Ben, 'bmasters9', for getting a freeze frame from the Mr. Novak WAC "unboxing" video proving that this will be a six DVD set, with 5 episodes on each disc. Not the 8 discs I assumed. Let the discussion begin on that, ha, ha. I'm no tech head, but I know there are some very sophisticated digital signal encoding and authoring processing techniques that they utilize these days, optimizing bit rate for desired HD definition. And these transfers are supposed to be from at least new 2K scans (maybe, hopefully, 4K) derived from the original 35 mm film camera negatives. So, I expect (hope for) stunning results. Sam Benedict, with 28 episodes, was presented on six discs. Older WAC releases of Dr. Kildare (Kildare S1 and 2 with 34 eps on 9 discs, S3 with 34 episodes on 8 discs, etc., all split into half season volumes) and The Lieutenant (29 episodes on 8 discs divided into 2 half season volumes). Maverick season four with 32 episodes on 8 discs presented in two volumes.

 

[bmasters9]

Thanks to Ben, 'bmasters9', for getting a freeze frame from the Mr. Novak WAC "unboxing" video proving that this will be a six DVD set, with 5 episodes on each disc.

Not a problem-- glad you noticed, and thanks again for the response on the PM I sent you!

 

[Flashgear]

Thanks Ben, I really appreciate your help!