Question on highway patrol (3 Viewers)

[disctrip]

I have just started watching season 4 of the series (found it for a good price) and I have a question. I notice that
Broderick Crawford seems to be wearing either loafers or slippers with his suit. Did he have foot problems? Was this true from season 1?

 

[Eric_Bee]

I have just started watching season 4 of the series (found it for a good price) and I have a question. I notice that
Broderick Crawford seems to be wearing either loafers or slippers with his suit. Did he have foot problems? Was this true from season 1?

While I can't answer your question, it did remind me of John Byner's great comment about Crawford on Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast a few months ago: "On Highway Patrol, do you know why Broderick Crawford was always leaning against the open car door when he was standing and using the car radio? Because he was drunk out of his mind!"

 

[Flashgear]

Hank, I also love those brief glimpses of him wearing slippers during some scenes of season 4! Apparently, Broderick Crawford broke his ankle while jumping out of a helicopter during filming of season 3 in early 1958...you can sometimes catch a glimpse of his ankle cast in late season 3 episodes...by that time, the hard drinking Crawford had gained a lot of weight and because of his drinking on set and big meals at lunch time, he could not be depended upon to perform anything challenging in the afternoons...According to the show's co-creator Guy Daniels, "We got all the dialogue in by noon, or else we wouldn't get it done at all. He would bribe people to bring him booze on set" (from Wikipedia article on Broderick Crawford) The star of the show had been stopped and had his California driver's license suspended on multiple occasions, necessitating some filming on private roads so Crawford could be shown actually driving while under suspension...or while being towed by a camera mounted vehicle...active duty CHP technical advisor, Officer Frank Runyon, was informally assigned to be Broderick Crawford's "minder", to keep the actor sober...among CHP and LAPD officers, Crawford was known as "Old 502", the code word for DUI.

But Crawford desperately wanted to find sobriety for himself and his family. He was a dedicated and talented Oscar winning performer despite his demons, and had a ten percent stake in the show's gross proceeds from ZIV's increasingly rich syndication sales. He personally made over 2 Million dollars from his contract with Frederick Ziv, including a commitment for the 1962-63 show King of Diamonds, one of the very last ZIV shows. (from Wikipedia article on Broderick Crawford).

I absolutely love Highway Patrol...a fun show with good action... with unsurpassed and fearless location shooting on the long lost '50s streetscapes of Southern California. Early appearances of Clint Eastwood, Leonard Nimoy, Stuart Whitman, Peter Breck and Robert Conrad, among many others. And sometimes, the show was capable of surprising me with unexpected emotional impact, as in the great season one episode "Mental Patient" with Anthony George...God love TGG for giving us the rest of the series on DVD...

Publicity photo from the season 3 episode, "Hideout" (Ep 14, first aired in LA Jan. 6, 1958), with Jean Engstrom as one of the many hard boiled, down and dirty dames of Highway Patrol...the murderous roadhouse waitress "Flo"... mastermind of a robbery and intent on polishing off her hoodlum minions to have all that cool cash to herself...on to the chair with her... "ol' sparky" in those days...

Nice autographed picture of Dan Mathews in the '58 Plymouth Fury...after placing himself under arrest!

 

[moviepas]

Now that you mention it, I recall all too well how he slouched at the car door with the 2-way radio mic in his hand. The series was well played in Australia in its day.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Apparently, Broderick Crawford broke his ankle while jumping out of a helicopter during filming of season 3 in early 1958...you can sometimes catch a glimpse of his ankle cast in late season 3 episodes...by that time, the hard drinking Crawford had gained a lot of weight and because of his drinking on set and big meals at lunch time, he could not be depended upon to perform anything challenging in the afternoons...According to the show's co-creator Guy Daniels, "We got all the dialogue in by noon, or else we wouldn't get it done at all. He would bribe people to bring him booze on set" (from Wikipedia article on Broderick Crawford) The star of the show had been stopped and had his California driver's license suspended on multiple occasions, necessitating some filming on private roads so Crawford could be shown actually driving while under suspension...or while being towed by a camera mounted vehicle...active duty CHP technical advisor, Officer Frank Runyon, was informally assigned to be Broderick Crawford's "minder", to keep the actor sober...among CHP and LAPD officers, Crawford was known as "Old 502", the code word for DUI.

But Crawford desperately wanted to find sobriety for himself and his family. He was a dedicated and talented Oscar winning performer despite his demons, and had a ten percent stake in the show's gross proceeds from ZIV's increasingly rich syndication sales. He personally made over 2 Million dollars from his contract with Frederick Ziv, including a commitment for the 1962-63 show King of Diamonds, one of the very last ZIV shows. (from Wikipedia article on Broderick Crawford).

I absolutely love Highway Patrol...a fun show with good action... with unsurpassed and fearless location shooting on the long lost '50s streetscapes of Southern California. Early appearances of Clint Eastwood, Leonard Nimoy, Stuart Whitman, Peter Breck and Robert Conrad, among many others. And sometimes, the show was capable of surprising me with unexpected emotional impact, as in the great season one episode "Mental Patient" with Anthony George...God love TGG for giving us the rest of the series on DVD...

Randall, you never cease to amaze with your incredible knowledge of classic television and related fields. Thanks for another fine and informative post. It's always good to hear behind the scenes stories about shows like this, and actors like Crawford. According to Lee Server's excellent biography about Robert Mitchum (Baby, I Don't Care), Broderick Crawford was considered one of the three physically toughest men in Hollywood, along with Mitchum himself and (no surprise to anyone, I'm sure) Jack Palance. Of course, this was likely when Crawford was in his prime, years before he was on Highway Patrol. It's always sad to hear about people, including movie and TV stars, whose lives and reputations were ruined by alcoholism. Too many to name.

I haven't watched much of this series, but I plan to pick up season 3 or 4 someday soon, as I hold most ZIV shows in high esteem. (I'd like to start with season 1, but its pretty pricey).

 

[bmasters9]

I haven't watched much of this series, but I plan to pick up season 3 or 4 someday soon, as I hold most ZIV shows in high esteem. (I'd like to start with season 1, but its pretty pricey).

$59 on Amazon for the first go as I just checked it; expensive, yes, but much less than the $200 it was before (yes, that's what it was-- way out of sight)!

 

[Jeff Flugel]

$59 on Amazon for the first go as I just checked it; expensive, yes, but much less than the $200 it was before (yes, that's what it was-- way out of sight)!

Yes, that's what I recalled...I checked before I posted above and was a little surprised that it had dropped down to $59...still too high, but a dang sight better than it was a little while ago!

Season 4 is around $12...a much nicer price for what basically amounts to a blind buy.

 

[Flashgear]

I got the pricey MGM MOD 10 disc (yes, 10!) set of Highway Patrol season one after previously buying the other 3 seasons in those excellent and dirt cheap TGG Direct releases...in the intervening years since TGG came out of nowhere and gave us Highway Patrol, Sea Hunt, Ripcord and Bat Masterson, I have often felt deep gratitude to them in making their ZIV foray into home video...a gambit which apparently was disappointing sales wise for them, unfortunately! Between TGG and the few excellent ZIV releases we got from Timeless (Harbor Command, West Point, Tombstone Territory, Science Fiction Theatre), at least we have about a half (?) of the ZIV catalogue. ZIV really stood for quality entertainment in early syndicated TV, despite the prevailing $20K episode budgets of the day. Amazing what they accomplished!

Thanks Jeff for the kind words, and the great anecdotes about Crawford, Mitchum and Palance...I think Lee Marvin and Jimmy Stewart would also belong in that catagory of "Toughest" Hollywood star, if not physically, then certainly for the psychological and emotional strength that was forged in them by the horrors of WW2 combat. Same with Eddy Albert and Alvy Moore of Green Acres, both battle hardened Marines of the Pacific War...and my fellow Canadian James Doohan of Star Trek, wounded badly on D-Day at Juno beach. And wouldn't you know it? All these guys were great friends in their private life. Lee Marvin, Alvy Moore and James Doohan were all roomies trying to save a buck as unknown actors in Hollywood.

Jeff, if you get season 4 of Highway Patrol, you can look forward to some great episodes with young Leonard Nimoy, Robert Conrad and Peter Breck as greasy, desperate hoodlums given the bum's rush when collared by good 'ol Dan Mathews...in at least a few episodes you hear Broderick Crawford mutter under his breath in his trademark staccato delivery, "C'mon you bum!" while dragging 'em out by the collar...without any "Miranda" warning being read to these bums...straight to the hoose-gow!

Leonard Nimoy in Highway Patrol, season 4, "Blood Money"

On location at Bronson Canyon...

 

[bmasters9]

Season 4 is around $12...a much nicer price for what basically amounts to a blind buy.

And I have that fourth and final one, BTW (that and the third one, but not the first or second).

 

[disctrip]

This show is so much fun to watch just for the "classic" cars that everybody drove. They were "boats"

 

[Jeff Flugel]

This show is so much fun to watch just for the "classic" cars that everybody drove. They were "boats"

Oh, yeah, I love all the big, stylish gas guzzlers in shows from the 1950s - 1970s! So much class. Cars, fashions, apartment interiors, all those great street shots of cities before the "strip mall-ization" of America...the time capsule element of vintage television is one of its biggest appeals.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

ZIV-TV was a pioneer in color films for television and began filming CISCO KID in 16mm Kodachrome in 1948.

According to trade journal articles in Broadcasting, Sponsor and Variety, the forward-thinking company filmed many episodes of HIGHWAY PATROL in 35mm ZIV-COLOR and some were tested over the air in April 1956. Have those been released?

 

[Bob Gu]

A fan-site on SEA HUNT, run by a guy named Bill Jones/Scuba Guy, said he had information that the first two episodes, of SEA HUNT, were filmed in color, but he never could track down any prints, or find anyone who remembered seeing them.

Season Two of RIPCORD was released in color by TGG on DVD. I have the DVD set of SCIENCE FICTION THEATER, but have not opened it, I assume the known color episodes are on that set. Some color episodes of SFT have shown on TV, on one of the digital sub-channels.

VCI released 80 episodes of THE CISCO KID in color. Heroes and Icons is showing all 156 color CISCO episodes, I think.

It's odd that all the color CISCO KID episodes are around and have been for a long time, but other color ZIV shows like I LED THREE LIVES seem to be missing?

 

[bmasters9]

a much nicer price for what basically amounts to a blind buy.

About this-- why do some all-in-ones (like Mill Creek's of Hunter) sell for far too much, whereas many others are more reasonably priced?

 

[Regulus]

A fan-site on SEA HUNT, run by a guy named Bill Jones/Scuba Guy, said he had information that the first two episodes, of SEA HUNT, were filmed in color, but he never could track down any prints, or find anyone who remembered seeing them.

Season Two of RIPCORD was released in color by TGG on DVD. I have the DVD set of SCIENCE FICTION THEATER, but have not opened it, I assume the known color episodes are on that set. Some color episodes of SFT have shown on TV, on one of the digital sub-channels.

VCI released 80 episodes of THE CISCO KID in color. Heroes and Icons is showing all 156 color CISCO episodes, I think.

It's odd that all the color CISCO KID episodes are around and have been for a long time, but other color ZIV shows like I LED THREE LIVES seem to be missing?

In a rather unusual manner Season one of Science Fiction Theater was in color but season two was in Black and white. Ripcord's first season was B&W and it's second season is in color.

 

[RBailey]

I would love to see a legit release of ZIV's Boston Blackie series. A textbook on what Los Angeles looked like in 1951-1952. Incredible location work and great stunt work.

 

[smithbrad]

About this-- why do some all-in-ones (like Mill Creek's of Hunter) sell for far too much, whereas many others are more reasonably priced?

If you are talking about current pricing, on say Amazon, it is because it is out of print and the pricing is based on third party sellers trying get it astronomical amounts. I rechecked and i picked it up on Amazon back in 2012 for $31 (complete series).

 

[Bob Gu]

Randall/Flashgear's mention of hard boiled dames got me thinking about one of my favorite HIGHWAY PATROL episodes.

There is a great female character in the episode, "Blast Area Copter", S1-EP31. The part is played by an actress named, Helene Stanton. Her character is taken hostage by a nutty armed robber and army deserter played by Paul Richards. She is scared, but smart and tough, and starts to 'play' Richard's character to gain his sympathy to try to escape. Dynamite performance by an actress with only ten credits listed at IMDB.

Coincidentally, the picture Randall posted in Post #8, with Tyler McVey, Broderick Crawford, and (Sgt.) Morgan Jones is from this episode.

 

[The 1960's]

Highway Patrol 84 episodes of Highway Patrol this weekend on Decades! September 25-26, 2021

---

 

[Purple Wig]

Great thread, not sure I saw it the first time around. Wish I got Decades, though I have 3 seasons on dvd.