Tributes To Your Favorite Classic TV Stars (1 Viewer)

[The 1960's]

Here is a four-post Tributes Salute to the newly released classic television series by the WarnerArchive … The Alaskans. The HD images below have been slightly modified.

The Alaskans is a 1959–1960 ABC/Warner Bros. Western television series set during the late 1890s in the port of Skagway, Alaska. The show features Roger Moore as "Silky Harris" and Jeff York as "Reno McKee", a pair of adventurers intent on swindling travelers bound for the Yukon Territories during the height of the Klondike Gold Rush. Their plans are inevitably complicated by the presence of singer "Rocky Shaw" (Dorothy Provine), "an entertainer with a taste for the finer things in life”… Continue @ Wikipedia

The pilot episode I am saluting today is a bundle of fun with a large cast and strong performances. It plays out more like a feature film or a serial, and reminds me of a 1950’s vintage comic book, the characters with zany and clever names. The story packs a load of plot into a one-hour presentation. It might have easily been 2 one-hour long episodes. As you will see, it’s no secret that Dorothy Provine as Rocky Shaw simpy steals the show. She is joined by Silky Harris (Roger Moore) and his fellow gambler and conman Reno McKee (Jeff York) among the next gold-hunters headed for the Klondike in 1898. It is quite frankly, one of the strongest premiere episodes for a television series I’ve ever seen!

The Alaskans (1959-1960)

S01E01 Gold Sled (Oct.04.1959)

Directed by
Joseph Lejtes
Writing Credits
Lowell Barrington
Harry Whittington

Stars
Roger Moore … Silky Harris
Dorothy Provine ... Rocky Shaw
Jeff York … Reno McKee
Sam Buffington … Count Menshikov
George Mitchell … The Searcher
Anthony Eustrel … Tweed
Jack Big Head … Chilkoot
Hank Patterson … Tool Bridge Man
Allyn Joslyn … Quag
Fred Aldrich … Prospector
Pat Comiskey … Boxer
Jimmy Dime … Prospector
Ben Frommer … Prospector
James Gonzalez … Prospector
Duke Green … Prospector
Al Haskell … Prospector
Jack Henderson … Prospector
Al Hopson … Professor
Jack Kenny … Prospector
Cactus Mack … Prospector
Mathew McCue … Prospector
Billy McCoy … Prospector
Frank Mills … Prospector
Ford Raymond … Prospector
Sammy Shack … Prospector
June Smaney … Saloon Girl
Stephen Soldi … Prospector
Chalky Williams … Prospector
Harry Wilson …Prospector

Produced by
William T. Orr
Harry Tatelman
Cinematography by
Wesley Anderson

Editing by
David Wages
Art Direction by
Howard Campbell
Set Decoration by
William L. Kuehl
Makeup Department
Gordon Bau
Production Management
Oren Haglund
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
C. Carter Gibson
Sound Department
Samuel F. Goode
Editorial Department
James Moore
Music Department
Mack David
Jerry Livingston​

Our tale begins in the Alaskan port city of Skagway as Rocky Shaw (Dorothy Provine) is visiting the office of J.D. Martin the local M.D. where dying friend Ben Frommer is trying desperately to tell her about a gold sled buried in snow containing $150,00 in gold dust.

Meanwhile in the heart of town Silky Harris (Roger Moore) is pitching a boxing match between The Mighty Kodiak (Pat Comiskey) and Reno McKee (Jeff York).

Silky tries to get Rocky to place a bet on the bout.

Rocky pleads with Mr. Tweed (Anthony Eustrel) for $3000 to help finance a mission to Dawson and find the sled before someone else claims the gold. She offers him 10%. He refuses.

Rocky Shaw: That man said he’d pay three to one.
Mr. Tweed: Silky Harris? That’ll be a warm day in Alaska.
Rocky Shaw: When I want a gold sled, I’m gonna have it!

Now looking to place a bet on the bout Rocky asks Mr. Quag (Allyn Joslyn) for advice.

Rocky Shaw: Who’s going to win Mr. Quag?
Quag: Get your money on the Kodiak.

Rocky places her bet on Reno McKee.

It’s a knockout!

Silky hands over his $4000 cut to Reno.

Silky Harris: Now Reno, about my proposition.
Reno McKee: No.
Silky Harris: But with my brains and your brawn think what a team we’ll make?
Reno McKee: If you’re do smart how come your man lost, ah ha and now you’re broke?
Silky Harris: Reno , the Klondike is simply starved for entertainment. In Dawson City, working together, we can clean up a fortune.

Silky mentions girls.

They flip a coin. Silky wins! Both sides of the coin are tails.

Silky’s Pitch

Rocky Shaw performs at the saloon with her inaugural number, “I Don't Care”.

​

Reno questions Silky about the phony coin, but Silky proves he’d been telling the truth by showing him a receipt for $4000 in supplies at Lake Bennett for Harris and McKee.

 

[The 1960's]

Time to celebrate with a drink! Reno gets his first look at Rocky.

Silky Harris: That’s what we’re going to have, girls like her.

Reno McKee: Is that right? But what about her?

Rocky Shaw, “I Don’t Care”

​

Quag reappears at the saloon, introduces himself to Reno and Silky and buys drinks for all, paid with gold dust.

Quag: Hear that? Means a big spender is buying. Quag’s the name, cowpuncher. Turn around.
Reno McKee: What for?
Quag: Live and let live. Always turn your back while the bar tender is weighing gold dust. Biggest insult in the Klondike is to question his honesty while punchin’. Turn around.
Silky Harris: Now that’s what I call digging. No pick shovel or sweat, just long fingernails

Mr. Tweed tells Silky that Miss Shaw is looking to go to the Yukon.

Silky Harris: You know, you sing very well and you’re very pretty, and of course the farther end into Kondike you get, the uh prettier you get.
Rocky Shaw: Well uh about how far did you have in mind?

Silky Harris: Dawson.
Rocky Shaw: To do what?
Silky Harris: To star in my new Box Theater.
Rocky Shaw: Just one question Mr. Harris.
Silky Harris: Yes?
Rocky Shaw: When do we leave?

Silky Harris: As soon as you pay Count Menshikov your passage.
Rocky Shaw: I pay my own way”
Silky Harris: Why you happened to have won a thousand dollars from me.
Rocky Shaw: Hahhha.
Silky Harris: Oh I assure you, you’ll get it back.
Rocky Shaw: I assure you I will.

Mr. Tweed: Now why did you give him money? He wants you in Dawson. He would’ve paid your way.
Rocky Shaw: Because he’s broke.
Mr. Tweed: Ah that kind never gets broke. Hope you know what you’re doing.
Rocky Shaw: I usually do. Just take $2000 dollars.
Mr. Tweed: Well in any case you have to deal with Count Menshikov now. If you find that sled, what’s to prevent him from stealing it all?
Rocky Shaw: You.
Mr. Tweed: Me? Huh, how? I’m hear in Skagway?
Rocky Shaw: Because if he comes back here without me, you’ll turn him over to the authorities for hanging.

At the saloon, Quag is frozen in fear after spotting "someone" from his sordid past.

Note: IMDb refers to this character as The Searcher (played by George Mitchell.) Thus, from this point forward The Searcher will be used.

The group, finally on their way to locate the gold dust, are being spied upon by The Searcher.

 

[The 1960's]

Toll collecting, $1 per person, $5 per dog sled.

Reno shakes up Silky for pocketing $500, half his passenger fee.

The Searcher continues looking on …

Rocky Shaw: You’re the boss, I’m going to bed.
Quag: You’ll be safer here.
Rocky Shaw: Me? In Here?
Quag: Lots of wolves in this area and with three other bodies around you you’ll be safer and warmer.
Rocky Shaw: Suppose I decide that.
Quag: Help yourself.

Quag: Better leave space for her in the middle. She’ll be back.
Reno McKee: Sure is a friendly country.

Rocky offers Menshikov a 50% cut when the sled is found.

As Rocky is about to enter her tent she hears something.

When Menshikov takes the wrong trail (intentionally), in order to stop him, Reno fires his gun nearly causing an avalanche.

Not to be overlooked is a fair amount of tongue in cheek humor.

Reno McKee: Hiiiyaaa!
Quag: These are sled dogs not mules, the word to “go” is mush not hiiiyaaa!
Reno McKee: Hiiiyaaa!

The Searcher continues tracking.

A proposition from Rocky.

Rocky Shaw: You’re looking after me fine Reno.

Reno McKee: Trying to.
Rocky Shaw: If you loved a girl and left her your fortune, how would you feel if somebody tried to take it away from ner?
Reno McKee: I wouldn’t like it very much. Not talking about yourself are you Rocky?

** Rocky Shaw: A “sourdough” friend of mine left me a $150,000 dollars, and I was going to marry him.
Reno McKee: $150,000 dollars?
Rocky Shaw: It’s on a sled near that cabin we’re going to.
Reno McKee: Who told you you had to give up half?
Rocky Shaw: Menshikov.
Reno McKee: Menshikov? Why that fat slob.
Rocky Shaw: Unless you help me Reno I have to. If you help, I ’d be very glad, give you 25%. That’s nearly $40,00 dollars.
Reno McKee: You don’t owe me anything.
Rocky Shaw: But I’d want to be fair.
Reno McKee: Hahaha, that Menshikov, what I’ll tell him.
Rocky Shaw: You won’t tell him anything. Now when we get to the cabin, you let me do the talking. Just sit and listen. You and I Reno, together. We’ll manage.

** NOTE: The term “sourdough” is used frequently throughout with little explanation as to what the reference really means. Thanks goes out to Doug Wallen, who was able to find the answer. See the final paragraph in this article …

Now, back to our story!

Rocky fakes a a leg injury and she’s exposed.

Silky Harris: What happened?
Rocky Shaw: I, I slipped. Help me Silky help me.
Silky Harris: She fell.
Quag: Like I say folks don’t starve to death, they tried something else.
Reno McKee: Oh shut up.
Reno McKee: It’s not broken is it Rocky?
Rocky Shaw: Don’t know. It feels funny.
Silky Harris: Well that’s a good sign.
Reno McKee: Why’s that?
Silky Harris: Well soon after a fracture there wouldn’t be any feeling at all.
Rocky Shaw: I’m awfully sorry, but I really don’t think I can go on now at all.

Quag: She can’t stay here.
Reno McKee: What I’ll do? I’ll stay here with her.
Silky Harris: You will?
Reno McKee: Well sure sure sure, the Count here he can take the rest of you on up to the lake and pick us up and take us to Skagway and herd up a doctor.
Silky Harris: You ahh need a doctor, do you Rocky?

Reno McKee: Well with a broken leg, what else?
Count Menshikov: Hahhahah
Silky Harris: What do you say Count Menshikov?
Count Menshikov: I truly admire cleverness. She’s more clever this one than I thought.
Rocky Shaw: And what do you mean by that?
Silky Harris: He means you’re a liar Rocky.
Rocky Shaw: About what?
Silky Harris: About your leg for one thing. Healed quickly didn’t it?

Rocky Shaw: Reno?
Reno McKee: What are trying to make of this?
Silky Harris: First she didn’t want Quag on the party. Quag the experienced “sourdough” that could help us all on our way to Dawson. Then suddenly she wants to take the longer route to this cabin.

Silky Harris: Last night she went to Menshikov for some kind of help, now she pretends an injury in order to stay at this cabin. Or to make something of it, that’s a fair start.

 

[The 1960's]

Reno McKee: You went to Menshikov last night, why?
Count Menshikov: To offer me 50%
Reno McKee: You tried to rob her!
Count Menshikov: Rob her of what?
Rocky Shaw: Reno would you shut up you clumsy cowpuncher!
Count Menshikov: Hahaha, 50% of a gold sled somewhere near this cabin. A gold sled with $150,000 dollars on it.
Silky Harris: A gold sled?
Rocky Shaw: Yes! Yes!
Silky Harris: And ahh, how much did she offer you Reno to cut Menshikov out?
Reno McKee: 25%
Rocky Shaw: That’s 50% to Menshikov, 25% to you, that’s 75% which leaves ..
Count Menshikov: Well well what if she could, be above all, bring the dying man in?
Rocky Shaw: Stop it, stop it stop it!!

Quag: Hahhahahahahaa ..
Reno McKee: What’s so funny?
Quag: Like every fool “sourdough” that ever lived, dividing up and spending your goid before you’ve even tried to find it. Hahahaha …

Count Menshikov: Tea everybody?

Rocky, Liar

A frenzy to find the gold as everyone now searches for it however, Quag is the first to dig it up.

Meanwhile Rocky makes her apologies to Silky.

Silky Harris: I don’t imagine your gold sled will be along this way?
Rocky Shaw: Why not?
Silky Harris: Well your “sourdough” friend spent his last night at the cabin didn’t he?
Rocky Shaw: Yes.
Silky Harris: Well then the next day he continued on towards Skagway. The other side.

Rocky Shaw: Oh. What if he were turned around in the blizzard? Mixed up.
Silky Harris: Gold mixes up alot of people it seems.
Rocky Shaw: I was born in a mining camp. When my mother died washing dirty clothes in a muddy stream I begged for food at 4 and I sang for my supper at 6. My father dug for gold. He never found it. You know what it can do to you to grow up hungry?

Rocky Shaw: We finally think you found something. Do any good to say I’m sorry?

Silky Harris: Why’cha you try it?
Rocky Shaw: I am sorry Silky.

Silky Harris: Well that’s settled. Now all that remains is the small matter of finding the gold.

Quag packs the gold on his sled and prepares to take it way with him.

The Searcher finally confronts Quag.

Quag: Don’t kill me, I can, I can make it up to you. I swear it, a gold sled. I just found it. A $150,000 of gold in pouches. I can prove it. I, I can take you there right now. It’s yours, all of it yours. Only don’t kill me.

Count Menshikov, Rocky, Silky, and Reno discover Quag has found the gold sled and are immediately in pursuit.

Quag: I didn’t lie, I didn’t lie, it’s yours, yours. See? See? You won’t shoot.
The Searcher: I worked all my life for the wife and me and the first time I struck it rich you jumped my claim Quag. Broke her heart, killed her.
Quag: No, that isn’t so.
The Searcher: You the same as killed her. Took an oath on her grave.
Quag: Funny thing. The gold I was throwing around in Skagway like a big spender, that’s all there was. Your claim I jumped, it wasn’t any good. Go ahead Mister.

Quag: The joke’s on me anyway.

The gunshots cause a massive avalanche burying both men.

Count Menshikov, Rocky, Silky, and Reno run for their lives and find shelter in a cave.

They build a fire and realize that everyone else has perished.

Rocky Shaw: Everyone swept away and the gold scattered back on the plains where it came from. Did fine didn’t we?

Silky Harris: We’re alive.
Reno McKee: Too bad about Mr. Quag. You know I was getting so I kinda liked the old blowhard. Well, sled’s ready.
Rocky Shaw: Well back to Skagway with my feather’s dragon.

Silky & Reno: Skagway?
Silky Harris: Ha hah girl, we’re going to Dawson.
Rocky Shaw: Dawson? I don’t wanna go to Dawson!
Silky Harris: Do you mean you don’t want to be the biggest star of the Klondike? Have your own Box theater?
Reno McKee: Hey, don’t forget my private box.
Rocky Shaw: Ohh, starve my old box.
Silky Harris: You know Reno, she’s probably right. I doubt if she could begin to even handle it.
Rocky Shaw: Just where do you two get off??!!

Rocky Shaw: If I want to, mind you, I’m don’t say I’m going to, I can have everybody in Dawson City in my pocket the very first night!
Silky Harris: Oh sure, sure.
Rocky Shaw: One look at me and those“sourdoughs” will trade in their shirt.

Silky Harris: We’ll have time to dig for gold.
Reno McKee: Hahah, I’ll have a lotta time to eat.

Closing Credits

​

Official Tech Notes:

Episodes in this set are on par with Colt 45. Each episode is between 10 and 11 GBs in size. Housed in a single wide case are nine bluray discs.

Upcoming Tributes Through September 2024

September 10th Wayde Preston Birthday Memorial
September 11th Earl Holliman 96th Birthday Tribute
September 13th Barbara Bain 93rd Birthday Tribute
September 14th Walter Koenig 88th Birthday Tribute
September 14th Clayton Moore Birthday Memorial
September 19th Kathie Browne Birthday Memorial
September 26th Kent McCord 82nd Birthday Tribute
September 28th William Windom Birthday Memorial
September 30th Angie Dickinson 93rd Birthday Tribute

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Wayde Preston Birthday Memorial​

Not a whole hell of a lot seems to have been reported about former WB contract player and star of Colt .45, big, laconic Wayde Preston, another of Hollywood's many "could have been..." stories of careers that didn't quite work out. Some salient details, courtesy of the actor's IMDB bio follow.

Born Sept. 10, 1929, Preston (whose birth name was William Erskine Strange) grew up in Laramie, Wyoming, was a high school athlete, accomplished musician, studied pharmacy at the University of Wyoming, attained the rank of First Lieutenant in the Army and served in the Korean War. Upon returning to the U.S., he worked as a park ranger at Grand Teton National Park and also toured the rodeo circuit in Wyoming (watching his work in westerns, it's clear that he knew his way around horses). A licensed commercial pilot, he flew for TWA and, reportedly, used a loan from WB head honcho Jack Warner to buy his own airplane and run his own piloting service. He got his first acting break in an episode of Cheyenne before landing the gig for which he is best known today, as the lead in the half-hour western series, Colt .45. Like many of his fellow lead actors at the time, Preston chafed at the low pay, long hours, busy public appearance schedule and demand to do his own stunts, all required by the cheapskate WB television division, ruled with a by-all-accounts iron fist by Jack Warner's son-in-law, William T. Orr. During Colt .45's second season, the fed-up Preston walked off the set and refused to come back, resulting in an abortive season with a mere 13 new episodes filmed. He eventually was forced to return and finish out the show's third year, but by then the damage had been done, and he was unofficially blackballed in Hollywood...though he did show up in a handful of roles in other WB westerns, inlcuding two episodes of Maverick, four crossover appearances on Sugarfoot (as Christopher Colt), as well as a brief, early appearance in a S5 episode of Bonanza ("The Waiting Game"). After Warner Bros. rendered him persona non grata in Tinseltown, Preston sought work overseas in Europe, filming a fistful of "spaghetti westerns" from the mid-'60s to 1970, including roles in Today We Kill...Tomorrow We Die!, A Long Ride from Hell, Hey Amigo...Rest in Peace, as well as scoring supporting parts in the star-studded Italian WWII film, Anzio and the violent Vic Morrow-directed western, A Man Called Sledge (with old WB stablemate James Garner).

Preston eventually returned the U.S. later in the '70s, nabbing the occasional film and TV series role, including brief bits on Starsky & Hutch and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries and the 1990 version of Captain America. By this time, Preston's acting career was over, though he made several appearances at various Western film festivals, up until his death on February 6th,1992 from colon cancer at age 62. Preston was briefly married to actress Carol Ohmart from 1956-1958.

Judging from what I've seen of his TV work, Preston is easily able to embody the stoic, honorable character of his signature role of Christopher Colt. He might be an actor of limited range, but Colt .45 is built around his solid, ramrod-straight persona. He likely brought a heightened version of himself to the part: a real man's man, courtly to the ladies and possessing an easygoing, polite demeanor. But there's real steel and determination underneath...and woe betide anyone who tries to push him around. As mentioned above, Preston seems to have been a dab hand at horsemanship, as well as having an impressive facility with firearms, and carries himself with the sort of offhand, quiet confidence that is convincing.

Colt .45
The show's premise - of Colt being an Army captain carrying out government missions under the guise of being a Colt .45 salesman - is a clever one, with Colt several times having to go to great lengths to keep his identity a secret....and even in one episode, impersonating a cold-blooded gunslinger. As a nominal gun salesman, Colt gets to show off his wares as well as his skill at gunplay, which leads to several fun scenes of shooting demos, trick shots and the like. I had only seen a single episode of this show before now (S3's "Calamity"), via a crappy old motheaten 16mm verson on YouTube, so watching Warner Archives 2024 restored Blu-Ray set has been a revelation. It's a program that is basically all new to me, but is 100% my kind of western. The variety of storylines on display in these early episodes is rather impressive, showing the skill and ingenuity of WB's stable of writers who were forced to be creative to come up with interesting storylines week after week. It certainly helps that the series looks absolutely gorgeous in HD.

(A big thank you to Tributes guru Neal a.k.a. The 1960's for providing the stellar Blu-Ray episode screencaps in these posts.)

1.1 "Judgment Day"
Gun salesman (and undercover government agent) Christopher Colt (big, ramrod straight, quietly imposing Wayde Preston) arrives in Cottonwood, Arizona, ready to sell his new line of guns, but a young missionary (Erin O'Brien) blames him for helping contribute to the culture of violence in the west. Meanwhile, the town bully (Andrew Duggan, at 6'5", a physically well-matched opponent for Preston) tries to goad Colt into a gunfight. Well, he gets his wish, fat lot of good it'll do him. Preston has a calm, quiet dignity and gravitas that I really like, and seems to have hit the ground running with his stoic, principled character fully intact. Also with Peter Brown, Bob Steele and Kenneth MacDonald in a recurring role as Colt's superior, Col. Parker.

1.2 "A Time to Die"
While Colt is escorting affable prisoner Jim Girard (Wayne Morris) across the desert, they are attacked by Indians. Girard manages to break free, leaving Colt stranded without a gun, horse, food or water. Chris barely makes it out of the desert alive, and, after recovering from his ordeal, is determined to bring his man in...even if it means walking into Girard's mountain lair alone. With Dan Blocker, John Daheim and Sean Garrison.

1.3 "The $3,000 Bullet"
A rattlesnake mean outlaw gets shot down in a saloon. Three townsfolk then try to claim the $3,000 reward, each having fired a shot - though only one bullet hit its target, the one fired by rancher Hodges (Richard Garland). Chris pretends to be the dead man's friend, a deadly gunslinger, to lure in another criminal, but things get tense when Hodges tries to challenge him to gunfight. Colt has no beef with Hodges, only admiration, but needs to keep his cover intact. With Harlan Warde, Michael Dante and Walter Reed.

1.4 "Gallows at Granite Gap"
Chris captures the notorious outlaw, "The Comanche Kid" (Laramie's John Smith) and brings him back to Granite Gap. The townspeople are bound and determined to hang the Kid for numerous killings, but a woman (Virginia Gregg) arrives, tormented by the belief that the ruthless murderer is her long-lost son, taken by the Comanche when he was a child. With Stuart Randall, Harry Antrim and, briefly, Ken "Eddie Haskell" Osmond.

1.5 "Small Man"
Chris meets seemingly mild-mannered tenderfoot John Barton (Jay Novello) on the stage, and is mystified when the man later challenges two notorious gunfighters and kills them both, despite the other men clearly beating him to the draw. Colt finds the answer in the dime novels that he saw Barton carrying. With Charles Fredericks, Rayford Barnes and Chris Alcaide.

1.6 "Final Payment"
Chris goes undercover in an attempt to nab three nasty brothers, who are running roughshod over a territory, on tax fraud charges. Former cowboy star Dick Foran plays a friendly, hard-partying local with an eye for trouble who Colt deputizes...but can he be trusted? Also with Hollis Irving and Walter Barnes.

1.7 "One Good Turn"
Colt finds a badly wounded man in the jungle and takes him to a small Mexican village nearby...but none of the residents there want him - and especially the dying man - to stay. Turns out the villagers are fearful of the depredations of the vicious Cranley gang, not realizing that Colt has come to help put a stop to Cranley's reign of terror. With Lisa Montell, Robert Anderson and Myron Healy (billed as "Michael Healy"). It's amusing to see the 6'4" Preston absolutely towering over his co-stars.

1.8 "Last Chance"
While on vacation, hoping to go fishing with an old buddy, Sheriff Ben Mason (Stacy Keach, Sr.), Chris encounters a woman (Tina Carver) who claims to have witnessed a murder at her husband's mine. The sheriff thinks he's got a clear-cut case to finally send an old enemy (Willard Sage) to the gallows, but a skeptical Colt uses his expertise with weapons and ballistics to prove the man innocent...and someone else, guilty. Also with Kent Taylor.

1.9 "Young Gun"
Young Jimmy Benedict (Peter Brown) buys a gun from Chris, ostensibly as a birthday present for his father. Later, a dismayed Colt learns that the boy is only 16, and out for retribution against fast-gun outlaw Danny Gordon (Charles Bronson), who shot and killed Jimmy's father during a post office robbery. Colt follows the kid to try and keep him alive. Bronson is good as a killer who surprisingly shows a brief spark of mercy toward the kid, before Colt steps in to put him down like the dog he is. Also with Lurene Tuttle, Jaclynne Greene and James Anderson. (Murvyn Vye receives screen credit but doesn't actually appear in the episode.)

1.10 "Rebellion"
Colt heads down to New Mexico to investigate a secessionist plot by disgruntled members of the Confederacy. His only clue: a peso with a mysterious symbol on it. Mary Beth Hughes plays a saloon madam who is in on the plot to turn the territory into its own fiefdom, and tries to keep Colt from getting too close to the truth. Also with Robert Warwick, Fran Bennett and Leslie Bradley.

1.11 "The Gypsies"
Colt arrives in a town to find his old friend, Marshal Terry Wilson (Steve Darrell), living like a hermit, broken-hearted after his daughter (Lyn Thomas) ran off and married the leader (Paul Picerni) of a Gypsy band. Don Megowan plays a pig-mean former gunslinger turned deputy, who has taken over the town while the Marshal sits idly by, until Chris is finally able to rouse him back to duty by reuniting him with his daughter. Of course, slimeball Megowan is no match for Chris, who, as the theme song says, is "a lightning bolt / when he drew that Colt / .45!" (This is the first episode featuring the show's signature theme tune during the closing credits).

1.12 "Sign in the Sand"
Colt takes it personally when he inadvertantly relays a secret message about an army shipment carrying $100,000 to an imposter (Lydon) who tortured and murdered his true contact. The imposter and two cronies coldly gun down the Army guards and take the money. Indian pictograms left by the dead man lead Chris to the town of Snake River, where he delivers deadly justice to the killers. Fans of the Henry Aldrich series of B-movies might taken aback to see star Lydon playing a scumbag. Kenneth MacDonald gets a larger chunk of screentime than usual as Col. Parker.

1.13 “Mirage”
Colt (big Wayde Preston) finds himself coming to the aid of a small Mexican settlement in the middle of the desert, the only source of water for miles in each direction. Slick shyster George Foley (John Vyvian) is trying to trick the village headman (Frank Puglia) into signing over the rights to his land, using renegade Army raiders under the leadership of Capt. Thane (Don “Red” Barry), to enforce his plan. A quirky episode from the always-creative pen of Montgomery Pittman, who also directed. Also with Valentin de Vargas and Ana Maria Majalca.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Wayde Preston Tribute (continued)​

Colt .45
1.14 “Blood Money”
Wanted man Joe Bullock (Jerry Paris) approaches Colt to give himself up, but requests that Colt first gives him $500 in advance of the bounty to send his sick girlfriend, Julie (Randy Stuart), back east to get treatment, without telling her that he’s heading to prison. But Julie has a sordid past of her own that she wants to hide from Joe, and a slimeball named Roper (John Cliff) threatens to expose her, unless she coughs up the dough. Colt intervenes, and…well, let’s just say, Roper doesn’t live long enough to spend any of that $500.

1.15 “Dead Reckoning”
Colt takes the place of prisoner Rocky Norton (Richard Webb), who’s been offered $10,000 to come kill a man. Colt, who must play along until he learns just who the target is, arrives in town and is promptly approached by Norton’s contacts for the job, Devery (mean-eyed Lee Van Cleef) and Blake (Kem Dibbs). They don’t quite trust that Colt is who he says he is, so they set up a surprise visit from Norton’s lovely young wife (Joan Vohs) and daughter. The wife plays along, but things go pear-shaped when the real Norton – who has escaped while being moved to another prison - shows up just in time to assassinate a state senator. Exciting episode, with Colt racking up three more notches on his belt before the credits roll.

1.16 “Decoy”
Christopher Colt (strapping, laconic Wayde Preston) heads down to Mexico to flush out a notorious bandido leader responsible for the robbery of an Army shipment of guns which resulted in the deaths of many soldiers, and finds himself, along with the daughter (gorgeous Kathleen Crowley) of a disgraced colonel, in a Most Dangerous Game-type scenario, hunted by the ruthless Don Ramon (Christopher Dark).

1.17 “Rare Specimen”
Colt is wounded in a well-planned train robbery masterminded by the crooked local sheriff (Charles Cooper). Frank Ferguson plays a friendly herpetologist who, along with his pet lizard, comes through in a clinch to distract the baddie long enough for Colt to give him a well-deserved dirt nap. Also with Casey Rogers as a seamstress who played a key part in the case.

1.18 “Mantrap”
Colt is waylaid by the three rambunctious Birdwell brothers (Peter Whitney, Don “Red” Barry and Travis Bryan) who bring him back to their ranch as a combination guest and prisoner. Colt is perplexed as to their agenda, but it turns out the men hope he might become romantically interested enough to marry their shy, pretty younger sister, Valentine (Venetia Stevenson), who’s just turned 18. However, young Will Turner, an orphan raised by the Birdwell’s, is in love with Valentine himself. Colt plays Cupid while corralling a notorious fugitive who’s been terrorizing the territory in this typically offbeat, quirky entry written and directed by the great Montgomery Pittman.

1.19 “Ghost Town"
Colt rides into the abandoned town of Something Springs, in the hopes of apprehending no-good outlaw Jack Lowden (Bing Russell) and freeing his hostage, Kate Henniger (Joanna Barnes). But it turns out that Kate is a willing accomplice…at least, until she learns just how bad the man she’s hooked up truly with is. She also learns some startling information about her long-absent mother from an old prospector (John Littel). Poor Chris Colt takes several pistol whacks to the head in this one. Warner Bros. shows always managed to gin up some nice spooky ghost town atmosphere in their westerns when required, and this one is no exception.

1.20 “The Golden Gun”
Edd “Kookie” Byrnes (about 8 months before his debut on 77 Sunset Strip) portrays the estranged son of a notorious, terminally-ill gunfighter (Paul Fix) who inherits his the father's titular gun, which holds the secret to a stolen stash of $50,000...and a whole host of problems for the son.

1.21 “Circle of Fear”
Colt (Wayde Preston) is escorting a prisoner (Tol Avery) on a stagecoach along with several others passengers when it is ambushed by marauding Indians. Colt, the passengers and the wounded driver take cover in a box canyon, surrounded on all sides. There are only four horses and seven people. Which four will ride out to safety, and which ones will stay to face certain death? Also with Jean Willes (playing a sympathetic character for a change), Robert Clarke, Joan Weldon, Harvey Stephens and Sean Garrison.

1.22 “Split Second”
This one is arguably the best of these five episodes, and even includes a first for the series - a flashback. Colt gets involved when he rides into town prior to the hanging of ruthless outlaw Frank Fowler (Arthur Batanides). The chief witness in the case is an old friend of Chris’, former marshal Tack Bleeker (Richard Garland), who once eschewed guns, but has been transformed into a deadly gunslinger after Fowler killed his wife. Events take a turn when the younger sister of Tack’s dead wife (also played by Elaine Edwards), shows up in town for the trial, still carrying a torch for him.

1.23 “Point of Honor”
Chris tries to help Lea Taylor (Marcia Henderson), a rare female doctor in the west, who arrives in town one day to a clinic full of expensive equipment, bought a by mysterious, ill benefactor whom her brother (Laramie’s John Smith) works for. Turns out her supposed benefactor is in fact vicious outlaw Tom Shannon (Emile Meyer), who wants Doc Taylor to cure the gout plaguing both his legs – or else.

1.24 “The Deserters”
This one’s notable for guest-starring a young and (no surprise) beauteous Angie Dickinson. She plays the fiancée of Ab Saunders (Michael Dante), an Army deserter who stole Colt’s horse and guns. Colt tracks the pair down to an outpost in the Montana Territory, but is less interested in nabbing Saunders than he is in squashing the criminal racket who’s been taking advantage of similar deserters before bumping them off. Also with Myron Healy, Robert Foulk and Robert Anderson.

1.25 “Manbuster”
Army agent Christopher Colt (Wayde Preston) follows embittered, crippled former ramrod Monty Chandler (Chris Warfield) to a town, hoping he will lead him to wanted outlaw Pete Cerrilos (George Keymas). Monty, desperate to make some much-needed cash, is supposed to be on his way to Santa Fe to help Cerrilos’ gang blow a bank safe, but is tempted to stick around town and aid Harriet Brenner (Jaclynne Greene), a lonely woman running a store by herself, who sparks an attraction when she calls Monty out on his self-pity. When Cerrilos and his henchman come calling, thinking Monty betrayed them to the law, Colt, feeling responsible for Monty’s plight, steps in, six-guns blazing, to set things right.

1.26 “Long Odds”
A retired sheriff (Karl Swenson, dusted with old age makeup) with a formidable reputation comes to town, to move in with his daughter and idolizing grandson, but the nosey kid soon gets him challenged by a hardcase outlaw (Robert J. Wilke, on reliably mean form). The humiliated old man straps on his six-gun and goes to confront the baddies; lucky for him, Christopher Colt’s on hand to serve up some lead naps to a couple of deserving creeps. This closes out the show's first season; it's been a treat to work my way through all 26 S1 episodes of this rock-solid, WB western, which looks amazing in HD

Maverick - 2.21 "The Saga of Waco Williams"
Wonderful action-packed story sees Bret (James Garner) trying to keep straight-talking Waco Williams (Wayde Preston) alive in order to collect $2,500...a tough prospect, as the two wind up in a town caught in the middle of a range war, lorded over by the hardcase colonel (R.G. Armstrong) who founded it - and Waco is not a man to back down from anything. Maverick's presence proves superfluous, as Waco proves more than capable of taking care of himself, going against every single piece of "protect your own neck" advice that Bret doles out. It's a blast watching big, laconic Wayde Preston, already firmly established as a lead on his own WB western series, Colt .45, play Waco, a man who vowed after age 5 to never let anyone "make him eat dirt" again, taking down his enemies with aplomb and not playing by any of the standard Maverick rules. Also with a young and very pretty Louise Fletcher, and a raft of familiar bad guy cowboy faces, including Lane Bradford, Brad Johnson, Ken Mayer and Harry Lauter. No surprise that this gem came from the fertile minds of Montgomery Pittman (who gets a "Story by" credit) and Gene Coon.

Sugarfoot
2.11 "Return of the Canary Kid"
This crossover episode features a welcome appearance by Wayde Preston as Christopher Colt. Another idiosyncratic gem written and directed by Montgomery Pittman, this sequel features the return of Tom Brewster's outlaw doppleganger (a mere six episodes later in the season!) Tom agrees to pose as his ruthless "cousin" while the Canary Kid is cooling his heels in prison, in order to help stop the cattle rustling activities of the Kid's gang. Things go pretty smoothly until the real Canary Kid escapes from prison and turns up at the gang's camp. This one's even better than the first Canary Kid tale. Don "Red" Barry and Doye O'Dell provide amusing comic relief as the Kid's cheerfully homicidal compadres...and once again, mega-hot Saundra Edwards is on hand as the Kid's sultry, perpetually barefoot, cheroot-smoking girlfriend, Prudence, whose affections begin to sway towards the more gentlemanly Tom.

3.1 “Trial of the Canary Kid”
Tom Brewster (Will Hutchins) is blackmailed into helping defend his nasty lookalike cousin, the Canary Kid, from being hanged on a murder charge. If he doesn't get the Kid off, a good friend of his, held captive by Canary's gang, may wind up taking a dirt nap. So Brewster reluctantly takes the case. The Kid insists he's innocent of this particular crime, but how to prove it? The show returns to the evil (or, at the very least, rascally) twin well for the third time (out of a total of four)...but under the sure hand of creative genius Montgomery Pittman, this sequel proves to be just as much fun as prior installments.

What really sets this one apart is the plethora of WB western crossovers. Not only do we see the return of Colt .45's Christopher Colt (Wayde Preston, who appears in all four Canary Kid entries), but we also get brief appearances by Bronco (Ty Hardin, who gets a fun fight scene), deputy Johnny McKay (from Lawman), Adam West as Doc Holliday - and even a sly Maverick cameo (brother Bret’s mugshot on a wanted poster in the jail). Lisa Gaye plays a former moll in the Kid's gang, now gone straight and married to henpecked former gang member Edgar (William Phillips), who desperately wants out from under her thumb and back in Canary's gang.

As if all of the above is not enough, the episode is chock full of splendid character actors, such as Don "Red" Barry, Gordon Jones, Olan Soule, John Hubbard, and “Aunt Bea” herself, Frances Bavier, as a distant relative of Tom's who gets him involved in the first place. The script (from a story by Pittman, who also directed) is credited to famed science fiction / fantasy writer C.L. (Catherine Lucille) Moore. This one is a hoot and a half, despite its limited town / jailhouse / courtroom setting.

Wayde Preston once again playing a lawman in The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries

Here's hoping that Warner Brother Archive's Blu-Ray release of Colt .45 will right some old wrongs and gain Wayde Preston some new and well-deserved fans. At the very least, his stalwart, calm and capable work in that signature leading man role has now been preserved for posterity.

 

[The 1960's]

Earl Holliman (September 11, 1928 ) 96th Birthday Tribute​

Henry Earl Holliman (born September 11, 1928) is an American actor, animal-rights activist, and singer known for his many character roles in films, mostly Westerns and dramas, in the 1950s and 1960s. He won a Golden Globe Award for the film The Rainmaker (1956) and portrayed Sergeant Bill Crowley on the television police drama Police Woman throughout its 1974–1978 run…Continue @ Wikipedia

Earl Holliman initially did not want to take the role. Despite appearing in the famous 1953 film Forbidden Planet, Holliman was not fond of science fiction and fantasy. But the opportunity to work with Rod Serling and the quality of the script ultimately decided him in favor of doing the pilot. Serling later wrote Holliman a letter of praise citing his performance as essential not only to the success of "Where Is Everybody?" but also to the future success of the series. For Holliman, this sort of praise was the most satisfying form of compensation and he kept Serling's letter famed upon a wall in his home for many years afterwards.

Earl Holliman later recalled what he thought of as "dreadful" read-throughs with Serling, director Robert Stevens, and producer William Self, in which Holliman was essentially forced to deliver a protracted monologue, unable to engage in the accustomed practice of reading with another performer. It is an incredibly effective performance in that there is never a moment when Holliman loses the audience’s attention. Holliman later recalled to interviewer Douglas Snauffer that the entire first day of shooting on "Where Is Everybody?" was lost due to a camera malfunction. To make matters worse, Holliman discovered he had the flu and was running a high fever. The effects of the illness can be heard in Holliman's hoarse voice at moments in the episode.”

Earl Holliman was born in Delhi, Louisiana in 1928 and studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse and UCLA. In 1956 he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his role as Jim Curry in the film The Rainmaker, starring Burt Lancaster and Katherine Hepburn. His other notable film appearances include Forbidden Planet (1956), Giant (1956), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) and The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), the latter with John Wayne and Dean Martin. In the 1960’s he began a long and versatile television career. On the same night that “Where is Everybody?” was first broadcast (October 2, 1959) Holliman also appeared in the starring role of the first episode of the short-lived CBS western series Hotel de Paree, which also featured Strother Martin and Jeanette Nolan, both of whom would later feature on The Twilight Zone. From 1974 to 1978 he starred as Lieutenant Bill Cowley in the CBS series Police Woman with Angie Dickinson. In 1983 he was featured in the critically acclaimed mini-series The Thorn Birds.“

“Loneliness is the primary theme at work in "Where Is Everybody?" The show would return to this theme many times throughout its five season run in episodes like “The Lonely,” “A Stop at Willoughby,” “Nothing in the Dark,” “Two,” “Miniature,” “Probe 7 – Over and Out,” and many more. “Where Is Everybody?” is an episode which depends, almost entirely, on the performance of its lead actor. Earl Holliman is completely believable as the frantically lost Mike Ferris. His role is not an easy one, considering that his character is alone for the majority of the episode and speaks aloud to himself as a way of providing exposition to the audience.” (TwilightZoneVortex)

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Today, September 11th, 2024 is the 96th Birthday of actor Earl Holliman!! Perhaps not his signature role, yet one of his best which brought him much notoriety and also happened to be where it all began on The Twilight Zone. It’s about a man who is struggling for his very sanity, close to wits end entitled, “Where Is Everybody” (October 2nd, 1959). It did not take Mr. Serling very long to display his talent and his signature trademarks which would set the tone for what he had in store for the entire series. Earl Holliman couldn’t have been a better choice as Mike Ferris.

And Now, Mr. Serling
(recorded in 1961 for a re-run of the episode)

“I’m about to show you a picture of something that isn’t what it looks like. Pleasant little town? It isn’t this at all. It’s a nightmare. It’s a chilling, frightening, journey of one man into a mystifying unknown. You’re invited to join that man in a most unique experience. Next week, Earl Holliman asks, and you’ll ask with him, Where is Everybody?"

"Here’s an item we forgot. A moment for the people who pay the tab. It’s often said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ Case in point. Before we meet again try Oasis. You’ll know what I mean.”

The Twilight Zone (1959-1964)

​

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

“The place is here, the time is now, and the journey into the shadows that we’re about to watch could be our journey.”

S01E01 Where is Everybody (Oct.02.1959)

Directed by
Robert Stevens
Writing Credits
Rod Serling … Writer
Rod Serling … Creator
Stars
Earl Holliman … Mike Ferris
James Gregory … Air Force General
Paul Langton … Doctor
James McCallion … Reporter #
John Conwell … Air Force Colonel
Jay Overholts … Reporter #2
Carter Mullally Jr. … Air Force Captain
Garry Walberg … Reporter #3
Jim Johnson … Air Force Staff Sergeant
Rod Serling … Narrator
Produced by
Buck Houghton
Rod Serling
Music by
Bernard Herrmann
Cinematography by
Joseph LaShelle
Editing by
Roland Gross
Art Direction by
Robert Clatworthy
Alexander Golitzen
Set Decoration by
Russell A. Gausman
Ruby R. Levitt
Makeup Department
Bud Westmore
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Joseph E. Kenney
Sound Department
Leslie I. Carey
Vernon W. Kramer
Van Allen James
Animation Department
Sam Clayberger
Rudy Larriva
Joe Messerli
Music Department
Bernard Herrmann
Additional Crew
Herbert Klynn
Crew believed to be complete
​

Additional Opening Commentary:

"The sensation was unrelated to anything he'd ever felt before. He awoke, but had no recollection of ever having gone to sleep. And, to mystify him further, he was not in a bed. He was walking down a road, a two-lane black macadam with a vivid white stripe running down the center. He stopped, stared up at a blue sky, a hot, mid-morning sun. Then he looked around at the rural landscape, high, full-leafed trees flanking the road. Beyond the trees were fields of wheat, golden and rippling." From “Where Is Everybody?" by Rod Serling (Stories from the Twilight Zone (1960)

The Twilight Zone "Where Is Everybody?" by Bernard Herrmann
For the full effect, it is mandatory that you listen to this film score while viewing the photo commentary.

The episode begins as Mike Ferris discovers a mysterious town with signs of life in every direction but no visible inhabitants. He’s traveling on foot down a rural highway when he wanders into a quaint little town that looks like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

A quiet, idyllic place, complete with town square, drugstore, diner, and movie theater. It will become the setting of his nightmare.

He has no memory of who he is and no known destination. The town shows all the normal signs of a functioning community except for one essential element: there are no people. Ferris wanders into a café where a jukebox plays to an empty room.

A meal at the ready. A broken clock, time stands still. No one in sight. No memory of who you are!

Mike Ferris: Ham & Eggs. Eggs over easy, Hash Browns. Hey, you got a customer out here! Ham & Eggs. Eggs over easy, Hash Browns. Hungry cash customer. I got two dollars and eighty-five cents American money. Sure American money, well we got that much settled, I’m an American. See there’s some question about my identity. Let me put it to you this way, I’m not sure who I am? I mean I got two dollars and eighty-five cents and I’m hungry, that much is established. Two dollars and eighty-five cents and I’m hungry! I’m gonna wake up in a minute, I’m gonna wake up.

A highway into a desolate town where a Church steeple chimes.

A bakery. Someone is in sight.

Mike Ferris: Hey Miss. Miss over here! Look, I wonder if you could do me a favor? It’s the craziest thing, but I’ve looked and I haven’t seen anybody around maybe they’re all asleep or something but, ha, literally I haven’t seen a soul.

Mike Ferris: I don’t want you to think l’m nuts or anything, it’s nothing like that it’s just that, well, it’s just that I don’t seem to remember who I am.

Mike Ferris: Well it’s a real oddball thing but when I woke up this morning, I well I didn’t exactly wake up, I just, just found myself out on that road walking.

Mike Ferris: Ha, amnesia, isn’t that what they call it? Well, that must be what I got cause I just don’t remember a thing I can’t seem to find anybody to ask. You’re the first person I’ve seen.

Mike Ferris: Look, I really don’t want you to be frightened or anything, but I was wondering if there’s a doctor or some …

Hey Miss Over Here!

​

A phone rings inside an empty phone booth.

Mike Ferris: Helllo, hello hello, operator, hello operator. Hello operator. Operator!
Operator: This is the special operator
Mike Ferris: Operator look.
Operator: The number you have reached is not a working number. Please make sure you have the right number when dialing directly.
Mike Ferris: Operator, operator, will you listen to me please?
Operator: This is the special operator. The number you have reached is not a working number. Please make sure you have the right number when dialing directly.
Mike Ferris: Are you outta your heads down there? I didn’t dial a number I dialed the operator.
Operator: This is a recording.
Mike Ferris: A rec …
Operator: This is the special operator…
Mike Ferris: Operator look, ail wanna know is where I am.
Operator: The number you have reached is not a working number.
Mike Ferris: Look please can you ..
Operator: Please make sure you have the right number when dialing directly.

Perhaps help will be found in the Oakwood Alphabetical Telephone Directory?

Mike Ferris: Abel Adams, c’mon boys where are you, where do you boys live just in this book? Banker Bartman Blot Bellman the gang was watching the store. Was watching any of the stores. (looks all around) i

The paranoia of being watched.

Telephone

​

A smoking cigar lies unattended in an ashtray in the local police station.

Mike Ferris: I wish I could shake that crazy feeling of being watched … listened to. Calling all cars calling all cars unknown man walking around police station suspicious looking character probably wanted by the F ..

In a cell at the jailhouse the water is running in the sink, a washcloth in the ready.

Mike Ferris: I’m gonna wake up now. Time to wake up now.

The cell door begins closing, by itself.

Mike Ferris: Hey, hey, WHERE IS EVERYBODY?

Where is Everybody?

Post 1 of 3​

 

[The 1960's]

As he wanders from place to place Ferris grows suspicious. The Steeple Bell chimes.

In the drugstore at the soda fountain.

Mike Ferris: Anybody want a Sundae?

Mike Ferris: I’m sorry old buddy I don’t recollect the name? The face is vaguely familiar but the name escapes me.

Mike Ferris: I’ll tell you what my problem is. I’m in the middle of a nightmare I can’t wake up from. And you’re part of it.

Mike Ferris: You and the Ice Cream and the Police Station and the phone booth, little mannequin. This whole bloody town, wherever it is? Whatever it is. I just remembered something.

Mike Ferris: But now I’ve had it. I’d like to wake up. I’d like to wake up now. If I can’t wake up I’d like to find somebody to talk to. Well I must be a very imaginative guy. Nobody in the whole bloody world could have a dream as complete as mine. Right down to the last detail.

As night falls on the town, his paranoia and loneliness finally eats away at what is left of his rationality.

He enters a movie theater.

Mike Ferris: Air Force, Air Force, I’m Air Force! Air Force, I’m Air Force!

Mike Ferris: Air Force, I’m in the Air Force!

Mike Ferris: Hi! I’m in the Air Force!

Mike Ferris: Air Force! Air Force! What does that mean? Is there a b .. That must have been it, a bomb? But if there’s a bomb then everything would have been destroyed? Nothing is destroyed.

Suddenly, a film begins playing.

Mike Ferris: Hey! Who’s up there, who’s running the picture? Who’s up there, who’s running the picture? Hey! Who’s up there? Can’t you see me? Who’s in here?

Pure hysteria.

Serling’s off-kilter shots.

The Optometrist eye.

Mike Ferris: Hey!

Post 2 of 3​

 

[The 1960's]

Finally he comes to a street light crossing. He collapses against a stoplight, frantically pushing the ‘walk’ button and pleading for someone to help him.

Mike Ferris: Please, please help me. Please somebody help me. Help me, help me. help me. Please help me. Help me. Help me. PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME, HELP ME PLEASE, SOMEBODY HELP ME,

Mike Ferris: PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME. SOMEBODY’S LOOKING AT ME!

Mike Ferris: SOMEBODY’S WATCHING ME, HELP ME PLEASE HELP ME HELP ME PLEASE!!! SOMEBODY’S LOOKING AT ME!

Mike Ferris: HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME ….

Colonel: Get him out of there quick!

Mike Ferris is being observed on a monitor by a group of military officials!

He has been inside an isolation chamber for the past 400 hours!

The ‘walk’ button he believes himself to be pressing is actually the panic button inside the chamber.

Sergeant: Be careful Colonel, don’t cut his hand, the glass on the clock is broken.
Colonel: I can see that Sergeant.

Ferris is an Air Force astronaut aboard a simulated flight to the moon. Upon witnessing his fragile condition, the General in charge of the project decides to have Ferris removed from the chamber.

After a few moments Ferris regains his grasp on reality and inquires of the staff doctor if he was “off his rocker?”

The doctor explains to Ferris that man has an instinctive need for companionship and without it the mind will begin to make up scenarios in order to fight the loneliness.

As he is being taken away by medical personnel he realizes that when the time comes for him to go on a real flight to the moon there will be no panic button to push and no one to come and rescue him from his own mind. The one thing that can never be simulated is man’s need for companionship. The barrier of lonliness.

Mike Ferris: Next time it won’t be just a box in a hanger will it?
Colonel: No Mike. Next time you’ll really be alone.

Mike Ferris: Hey, don’t go away up there!

Mike Ferris: Next time it won’t be a dream or a nightmare.

Mike Ferris: Next time it’ll be for real. So don’t go away. We’ll be up there in a little while.

Next Time …

​

Rod Serling’s closing narration:

“Up there, up there in the vastness of space, in the void that is sky, up there is an enemy known as isolation. It sits there in the stars waiting, waiting with the patience of eons, forever waiting…in The Twilight Zone.”

Closing Credits

​

Closing Comments:

“Where is Everybody?” remains an immensely enjoyable episode, one which holds a distinctive place in the lexicon of popular culture as the beginning of one of the most celebrated series in the history of American television.

Episode Notes:

1. Where Is Everybody?" introduces a number of symbols and motifs in the episode which would be repeated throughout the course of the series. The broken clock, in "Time Enough at Last" and "A Kind of Stopwatch." The otherworldly call in a phone booth, also in "The Hitch-Hiker" and "The Jungle." The mirror, one of the show's most oft-repeated images, seen in "Mirror Image," "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room," "The Mirror," and "The Masks." Mike Ferris enjoys a drugstore sundae, also seen in "Walking Distance."

2. Rod Serling initially got the idea for "Where Is Everybody?" while walking around an empty studio backlot, which resembled a real town but was devoid of people. A similar experience inspired Earl Hamner Jr. to craft his thematically related fifth season episode, "Stopover in a Quiet Town." This subtle approach to fantasy compliments the first half of the episode rather nicely in that there is only a suggestion that anything supernatural is occurring. However, once the curtain is drawn and it is revealed that all of the events we are witnessing are taking place in Ferris’s mind, the lack of the supernatural seems to take the audience in an unanticipated direction. It takes the viewer into an entirely new story with new characters, a new setting, and a new perspective of the protagonist.

3. The episode also owes a great deal to director Robert Stevens, whose fluid camera work brings Serling’s script to life. In one of the more memorable shots from the series, Stevens frames Earl Holliman as he races down the stairs in the movie theater and runs straight into, and shatters, a full length mirror; it is only here that the audience realizes Stevens was not actually filming Holliman but rather Holliman’s reflection in the mirror. In the early 1950’s Stevens made a name for himself as director, writer and producer on the live CBS series Suspense. Today he is best remembered for his prolific work on Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, where he directed nearly fifty episodes between the two shows.

4. The final aspect of "Where Is Everybody?" which bears mention is the excellent musical composition by Bernard Herrmann. Herrmann possessed an almost unique talent for capturing the otherworldly in his melancholy scores. Herrmann was a prolific composer for film, television, and radio, renowned for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock (Vertigo, Psycho, etc.). The Twilight Zone was very fortunate to acquire Herrmann's talents throughout the course of the series, as he would lend his distinctive music to some of the most enduring episodes, including "Walking Distance," "The Hitch-Hiker," "Eye of the Beholder," and "Living Doll." Herrmann's original title theme music, featured during the first season, is the preferred theme music by many fans of the series, ourselves included.

5. Rod Serling later wrote that he got this idea for "Where is Everybody?" from walking around a movie backlot one day and was struck with how frightening it would be to walk into a city with no inhabitants. Also, the scene where Holliman gets stuck in the phone booth supposedly comes from a real incident where Serling believed he had locked himself in a London phone booth.

6. “Where is Everybody?" was adapted into a short story by Rod Serling in Stories From the Twilight Zone (Bantam, 1960). It was also made into a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring John Schneider (Falcon Picture Group, 2002).

7. Although this was the first aired episode of The Twilight Zone (1959), it is not the first one written. Rod Serling wrote an episode called "The Happy Place", which was rejected because of its subject matter (a society where people were executed when they turned 60), which was considered too depressing.

8. The scene where Mike Ferris becomes trapped in the telephone booth was based on an incident which happened to Rod Serling. Serling was at an airport, making a call when he heard the boarding announcement for his flight over the intercom. Trying to get out of the booth, he started pushing on the door, forgetting in his panic that phone booth doors open by pulling the door's handle, inwards. Serling waved down a passerby for help, and the man kicked in the door. Though Serling found his mental lapse embarrassing, he incorporated it into this episode.

9. When Mike leaves the mannequin factory building and looks around, the shoot is of a very familiar town square. The set has been used for decades - it was later used in Bye Bye Birdie (1963) (during the number, Honestly Sincere), Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969), the Back to the Future (1985) films, and TV shows too numerous to count or mention as well as films. The courthouse was also used in the Academy Award winning movie "To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)", and the town set was known as Mockingbird Square before it became associated with the "Back to the Future" series.

10. Rod Serling was not the original narrator for either this pilot episode or the series. Announcer Westbrook Van Voorhis recorded the original narration and was expected to remain on as the series narrator. Due to multiple contractual obligations, Van Voorhis decided he could not commit to the series and withdrew from the show. CBS Producer William Self felt that Van Voorhis sounded too pompous and unconnected to the show's science fiction theme, anyway, and looked for a more suitable replacement to narrate the show. He sought out Orson Welles, however Welles wanted too much money to do it. 'Finally,' said William Self, 'Rod himself made the suggestion that maybe he should do it. It was received with skepticism. None of us knew Rod except as a writer. But he did a terrific job." Serling overdubbed Van Voorhis and became the permanent narrator.

11. Although this pilot episode sold CBS on the idea of "The Twilight Zone" as a series, Rod himself was not happy with the story as it aired. There was no final reality twist or mind blowing ending that the show later became famous for. To satisfy his original vision, when Serling put together his collection of stories for the book "Stories from The Twilight Zone" (1960), he added the twist of having Ferris remove the theater ticket from his pocket after he leaves the isolation room, suggesting that it wasn't just a hallucination after all. Ultimately, this omission from the filming script might have been best for the future of the series. Considering how conservative the forces were against buying the show, adding one more dimension of weirdness might have torpedoed its sale to the network right there.

12. With the exception of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1964) (acquired from an outside source), this was the only The Twilight Zone (1959) episode not filmed at MGM Studios.

13. In the drugstore scene, the one book on every rack of one spindle is "The Last Man On Earth" by Richard Matheson (also known as Logan Swanson), one of the Twilight Zone's main writers. This novel, more frequently published under the title "I Am Legend," was the basis for the films The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971), and I Am Legend (2007).

14. Tony Curtis was offered the role of Mike Ferris, but he wanted too much money.

15. Although this pilot episode was originally broadcast on Friday, October 2, 1959, it bears a copyright date of 1958 (MCMLVIII), during the closing credits, signifying that it was completed over nine months earlier, and possibly even many months earlier than that.

16. Where is Everybody?" was adapted into comic book form for the 1979 book Stories from the Twilight Zone (Bantam; Skylark Illustrated Book) by Rod Serling, stories adapted by Horace J. Elias and illustrated by Carl Pfeufer.

Special Tribute Note:

It’s really something special this month. Two actors from the same classic tv series are celebrating nonagenarian birthdays only 19 days apart.

Earl Holliman (September 11, 1928 -) 96th Birthday Tribute and Angie Dickinson (September 30, 1931) 93rd Birthday Tribute

On September 30th Jeff @Jeff Flugel will complete the picture by featuring these two memorable actors as they appeared together in the now classic Police Woman Pilot Episode utilizing images from a previously unknown HD master!

Happy 96th Birthday To Yet Another True Living Icon, Earl Holliman.
Continued Good Health!!​

 

[JohnHopper]

93rd BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE • BARBARA BAIN (September 13, 1931)

Barbara Bain Biography
Barbara Bain (born Mildred Fogel, September 13, 1931) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Cinnamon Carter Crawford on the action television series Mission: Impossible (1966–1969), which earned her three Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as a Golden Globe Award nomination. She also starred as Dr. Helena Russell on the British-Italian coproduction science-fiction television series Space: 1999 (1975–1977). Continue to read at Wikipedia.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE SEASON 3

Episode #1
“The Heir Apparent” (1968)
producers: William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter
executive producer: Bruce Geller
associate producer: Barry Crane
script consultant: Robert E. Thompson
script supervisor: Allan Greedy
writer: Robert E. Thompson
director: Alexander Singer
cinematographer: Andrew J. McIntyre
composer: Lalo Schifrin
theme music: Lalo Schifrin

Tape scene:
Jim drives a white convertible inside a park and stops by. He inserts a key in the lower part of an out of order public phone and the two 25 cents coins at the top, presses a button and turns the key that opens a lower panel. He picks up a tiny envelop and listens to an extremely mini reel player.

Summary:
To prevent the iron overthrow of the Slavic monarchy of Povia by the ruthless General Qaisette (actor Charles Aidman) and let Archbishop Djelvas (actor Torin Thatcher) freely name a new successor to the throne, Cinnamon poses as the so-called dead and blind Princess Celine. Jim creates a diversion inside the royal cathedral and Barney and Willy are arrested by the police, sent to a solitary cell, escape and customize the royal vault by adding a phony diary of the late Prince regent and by tricking a puzzle box. Qaisette makes a deal with Jim for $100,000 and a visa so that Cinnamon-as-Celine will be officially unmasked as an impostor and put an end to Archbishop Djelvas’ political influence.

Cast and details:
• General Envir Qaisette (nickname: Quisi) played by Charles Aidman
• Qaisette’s chief of the secret police Zageb played by Rudy Solari
• Archbishop Djelvas played by Torin Thatcher

Jim Phelps
Jim poses as a tourist visiting the royal cathedral and taking pictures and also the leader named the Professor of a Topkapi gang along with his associates: Barney and Willy. Jim stays at the Metropole hotel, room 409—but we see that it is the Europa hotel through Jim’s driving mirror. Jim as the Professor is visited and interrogated by General Envir Qaisette and chief of the secret police Zageb.

Cinnamon Carter
Cinnamon poses as first a silent nun from the Order of St. Cassik during Act 1 who goes to confession and sticks a portable suction pad (containing special tools for Barney and Willy: silent hammer and graver, bunch of keys) in the booth and as the old blind Slavic Princess Celine from Act 2 with two scares on her arm; she uses drops of a serum to turn blind. At Jim’s hotel room, Cinnamon-as-Celine’s sight is tested with a lighter by General Envir Qaisette. At first, Qaisette is highly skeptical but makes a financial bargain with Jim as a Machiavellian strategist to use the so-called Celine to fool the royal court of inquiry and gets rid of Archbishop Djelvas and later on, the gang.

Barney Collier and Willy Armitage
Barney disguised as a monk and Willy as a cleaning man who sprays some acid on a display cabinet to make a wax impression of a royal locket via a thurible filled with clay. To escape from their cell, Willy takes the glasses off of his Soviet spectacles to help Barney digging a solid brick’s wall and then borrow a conduit to go to the confessional to remove another brick’s wall and eventually to sneak into the royal vault! To help Cinnamon-as-Celine, Barney figures it out how the puzzle box works and Willy paints the puzzle box with dots of nail varnish in specific sides and adds a diary. In the end, both men resume to the cell as if nothing ever happen! After their releases, they both become the official chauffeurs of Princess Celine to leave the Church.

Rollin Hand
Rollin poses as the 73 years old Dr. Emil Holsein and then a Povia aristocrat in the royal cathedral. As Dr. Emil Holsein, he is visited and interrogated by General Envir Qaisette and chief of the secret police Zageb about a past operation.

Comments:
Known for managing the infamous last season of Rawhide, script consultant Robert E. Thompson writes this story and another one (“The Bargain”), will later produce two episodes (“The Elixir” and “The Play”) and will also produce the early season 1 of Harry O. Director Alexander Singer used to be a good friend of Stanley Kubrick with whom he worked on his early films like Day of the Fight, Killer’s Kiss, The Killing (associate producer); Singer directed five Mission (the season 2 “The Seal” with Darren McGavin and the season 3 “The Heir Apparent”, “The Execution”, “The Freeze”, “The Exchange”) and one Mannix (the season 1 “Coffin for a Clown”). Actor Rudy Solari was one of the leading character of a 1967 anarchist WWII series entitled: Garrison’s Gorillas. The guards in the cathedral are dressed as Spanish policemen unlike the prison guards which look like totalitarian season 1 types a la “Old Man Out”. Keen watchers will notice that the office of Joe Mannix is transformed into an interrogation room when thieves Willy and Barney are grilled by the chief of the secret police Zageb. Features no dossier scene! Act 1 gives the false impression that there is a failure in the well-oiled plan when Barney and Willy are arrested by the police.

Review:
The first episode that launches the monarchic plot with a reference to the Anastasia princess! Among the best season 3 because of actress Barbara Bain’s personal commitment and tour de force performance as a disabled old woman and guest actor Charles Aidman’s cynical foe part but not on my list because too sentimental and too manipulative. The peak of the drama is the well-synchronized scene of Cinnamon quietly opening the puzzle box while Rollin removes his disguise piece by piece (leathered pockets, moustache, lapels, tie, spectacles, locks of hair) in the middle of an Orthodox ceremony! Anyway, notice Lalo Schifrin’s highly suspenseful slavic cimbalom/harp/violin-laden score plus Celine’s slow harpsichord theme aka a Baroque slow-moving rendition of the series theme for Cinnamon (Act 2: Cinnamon meets Qaisette at Jim’s hotel room; Act 3: Qaisette examines the sick arm of Cinnamon-as-Celine; Cinnamon-as-Celine enters the church, assisted by Jim-as-The Professor; Act 4: Cinnamon-as-Celine touches the royal seal of state, refuses the throne and leaves the church assisted by Jim) and the royal puzzle box theme made with violins, harp and flute (Act 3: Barney is first cracking the puzzle box in the vault; Act 4: blind Cinnamon is opening the royal box in front of the high officials in the church). The score is again stamped with the People’s Republic sound made with a cimbalom following the season 1 leaning.

Actor Notes:
Bain is graduated in sociology from the University of Illinois and is trained by Lee Strasberg at the Actor’s Studio where she met actor Martin Landau. Start her career in the late 1950’s television and appears in detective story series like Mike Hammer (starring Darren McGavin), Richard Diamond, Private Detective (starring David Janssen), Philip Marlowe (starring Philip Carey), Mr. Lucky (starring John Vivyan and Ross Martin), Tightrope (starring Mike Connors), Hawaiian Eye (starring Robert Conrad and Anthony Eisley), 77 Sunset Strip (starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr.). She has one fun part in the short-lived military series The Lieutenant: see “A Touching of Hands”. She works thrice with her husband Martin Landau: Mission: Impossible, Savage (directed by Steven Spielberg), Space: 1999. She participates at four telefilms from the Seventies: Murder Once Removed (1971), Goodnight, My Love (1972), Savage (1973), A Summer Without Boys (1973). Barbara Bain is the last living member of the original IMF team. She excels as fashion model/femme fatal/spy Cinnamon Carter posing as in the following Mission: Impossible’s parts:

(season 1)
“Pilot”
-Sexy Mrs. Lanier aka the lady in pink
“Operation Rogosh”
-Rogosh’s phony Soviet secretary Magda Brujetski
“Old Man Out”
-A Mind reader assistant
“Odds on Evil”
-Rich Idle Heiress Meredith with a silly husband
“Wheels”
-Robbed tourist Catherine Block
“A Spool There Was”
-American Photographer Betsy
“The Carriers”
-Soviet agent Marya Glinska posing as Go-Go dancer Gloria Cabot
“The Short Tail Spy”
-Mata-Hari Cinnamon Carter
“The Frame”
-The phony mistress of gangster Jack Wellman
“The Legend”
-Neo-Nazi daughter Ilsa Raynor
“Snowball In Hell”
-Red Cross nurse Lynn Carlin working at Dr. Kronen’s hospital
“The Confession”
-Newsworld magazine reporter Miss Carter
“Action!”
-Soviet Actress/Extra Tina Mikeli
(season 2)
“The Widow”
-The wife of drug dealer Mark Walters
“The Bank”
-Inspector Pruss who also poses as a bank clerk
“The Slave”
-Slave Singer Andrea Lynn/Jim’s wife
“Charity”
-Invalid rich woman Miss Irene Baldwin
“The Council”
-Makeup artist Cora
“The Astrologer”
-Astrologer Miss Varnay
“Echo of Yesterday”
-German Student photographer Fraulein Rose Lister
“The Photographer”
-Benton Research Institute biochemist Dr. Cinnamon Carter Crawford working for the Federal Security Department
(season 3)
“The Heir Apparent”
-Blind Slavic Princess Celine
“The Elixir”
-Journalist Miss Candy Carlton
“The Play”
-Subversive American playwriter Miss Joan Vincent
“The Exchange”
-Caught up Major Gagri aka Austria agent Fraulein Louisa Leeb
“The Mind of Stefan Miklos”
-Art collector Sandra Marshall: the so-called fiancée of Walter Townsend
“The Test Case”
-Journalist Miss Maria Engstrom
“The Glass Cage”
-Agent Anna Nilas posing as head of the prison system Christine Zensky
“Doomsday”
-Dr. Elizabeth Norris, Mr. Collins’ nuclear physicist
“Live Bait”
-American agent Miss Helga Majek
“The Bunker”
-East German Major Nadja Bradislav
“Nitro”
-Foreign Correspondant Mademoiselle Adrienne Duvray from “La Presse Océanique” aka Colonel Hakim’s mistress
“Illusion”
-Hot cabaret singer Mona Bern


Mission: Impossible | The Heir Apparent | Main Titles/Trailer

Mission: Impossible | The Heir Apparent | Meet Princess Celine

Mission: Impossible | The Heir Apparent | Princess Celine opens the Royal Box

Mission: Impossible | The Heir Apparent | Princess Celine leaves the Church

Pictures of Cinnamon Carter as Princess Celine (actress Barbara Bain).

 

[JohnHopper]

93rd BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE • BARBARA BAIN (September 13, 1931)

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE SEASON 3

Episode #12
“The Exchange” (1969)
producer: Stanley Kallis
executive producer: Bruce Geller
associate producer: Barry Crane
script consultant: Robert E. Thompson
script supervisor: Allan Greedy
writer: Laurence Heath
director: Alexander Singer
cinematographer: Keith C. Smith
composer: Jerry Fielding
theme music: Lalo Schifrin

Quote:
“She may not be the same Cinnamon we knew once they’ve finished with her, but they’ll break her. And then they’ll kill her.”
—Jim Phelps about the fate of Cinnamon Carter.

Tape scene:
No tape scene.

Summary:
Cinnamon as an officer Infiltrates the east wing of the East German secret police’s HQ, cracks the safe of the security vault, takes pictures of secret files (containing lists of agents under their codes and their locations). Out of the blue, a pigeon lands on the edge of the window and, by accident, passes through the electric eyes and triggers the alarm. She immediately throws her mini-camera out towards Jim and she is captured by East German police led by Colonel Josef Strom (actor John Vernon). In his West German hotel room, annoyed Jim designs a plan hatched on-the-fly to get her out by trading a notorious agent: Rudolf Kurtz (actor Will Kuluva) which the IMF makes him escape from the maximum security section of the West German Thorengia prison led by prison warden Major Mecklin (actor Curt Lowens) and to obtain a full confession of his subversive activities. The prisoners’ exchange is negociated at dawn at the Heilwigstrabe crossing: the border between the East and West.

Cast and details:
• Stasi Colonel Josef Strom played by John Vernon
• West German Thorengia prison warden Major Mecklin played by Curt Lowens
• Convict agent Rudolf Kurtz played by Will Kuluva
*Strom’s East German team:
• Captain Anders played by Michael Bell
• Psychologist torturer Dr. Emil Gorin played by Robert Ellenstein

Cinnamon Carter
Cinnamon poses as Major Gagri before the arrest, and as Fraulein Louisa Leeb, Austria agent working for a Geneva apparat. Here’s the detail of Cinnamon’s infiltration: she takes off her slide from her hair and releases a key to open the “Verbot Auf Përmetz” door that leads to the security vault. She opens the protected window to watch Jim and Rollin waiting near a fountain. Cinnamon bypasses the alarm system by connecting an additional red wire (she strips the insulator of the cable with a little pair of blue pliers before). Here’s some details of Cinnamon’s detention: she is stripped away of her military clothes in front of Colonel Strom and deprives of sleep and, at Strom’s office, she is sat on a red chair in which wires are connected to a heartbeat control machine and a bug is stuck in the desk of Strom so that Dr. Gorin and Captain Anders listen and analyze Cinnamon’s primal reactions: her fear of isolation and extreme confinement (claustrophobia). In her cell, she removes the steel tip of the heel of her shoe in order to unscrew the air grid when Dr. Gorin triggers a moving ceiling to flatten her out and locks her in a tight air duct. Under drugs and high anxiety, she hears the voice of Jim through Strom’s microphone and reveals Phelps’ first name, Jim; for the exchange, Jim gives Cinnamon a heavy bullet proof overcoat to wear.

Rollin Hand
Rollin poses as an East German officer along with Jim, then the new disabled East German Consul General who replaces Kurtz with an inflatable dummy and hides him in his wheelchair (see the same hide out used in the season 2 “Recovery”) and, needless to mention that Major Mecklin has already bugged the vent of the cell while Rollin and Kurtz talk to each other; Rollin’s wheelchair moves thanks to a motorized hub; Rollin is the voice of an East German border officer.

Jim Phelps
Jim poses as Vienna-born Herr Kliegmann, Swiss corporation representative (who takes pictures with a lighter of Strom’s office and later, first offers $2 million then an agents’ exchange to Colonel Strom), the voice of a West German border officer and the new chief of East Germany Intelligence Colonel Geist who gives a fake newspaper to Kurtz showing Strom as a traitor (same situation as in the season 1 “Operation Rogosh”). Jim wears a bullet proof overcoat during the exchange of prisoners.

Barney Collier
Barney poses as an East German cab driver who brings Jim to the HQ of the Stasi—Barney installs a tape recorder in a padded box labelled “Möve Reisebüro” magnetized to the top of a Mercedes cab in order to record the sound effects of a 26 minutes trip from the West to the East zone.

Willy Armitage
Willy poses as Rollin’s chauffeur and a truck driver delivering a crate with Kurtz in it to the HQ of the Stasi. The travel con is executed by attaching a crate labelled “Industriälishe” into a hydraulic platform operated by Rollin and Willy to create artificial motions and Barney to add realistic sound effects in a warehouse; Willy as a truck driver turns upside down the crate while Jim imitates the voice of a West German border guard checking the load and Rollin the voice of an East German one; Willy finally puts the crate into a fork lift. The replica of Strom’s office that Jim used for cooking Kurtz is bugged via the desk light while Barney listens to them.

Comments:
This is the first episode produced by Stanley Kallis and this story will influence the series up until season 4 and especially in “The Controllers” (the torture aspect of the drama), “Fool’s Gold” (the sound effects during the crossing of a closed place) and “Robot” (a female IMFer posing as a State official to infiltrate a security office, the replacement dummy in a cell). As East German officers, Jim and Rollin drive an old 1960’s New York Checker cab painted in olive drab. For the anecdote, Cinnamon’s first scene as a photographer is recycled from the season 2 “The Spy” in which Jim executes the same task and, moreover, the police HQ and Strom’s office comes from the same source. No dossier and no apartment scene: actually, the briefing takes place in the hotel room where Willly shows the team the dummy of Kurtz and Barney activates a motorized wheel. For the anecdote, in the hotel room of Jim during Act 1, you can see the woman’s painting from the season 3 “The Mind of Stefan Miklos” on the wall. Director Alexander Singer works twice in a Barbara Bain-oriented episodes: “The Heir Apparent” and “The Exchange” and both are supervised by script consultant Robert E. Thompson.

Review:
Producer Stanley Kallis launches his first East German military folklore trade mark. Moreover, it’s a tough departure from the series’ format that takes place during an assignment in progress, a character’s study and the best Cinnamon’s episode that deals with her claustrophobia thanks to writer Laurence Heath’s sado-masochist script who reworks the torture aspect of his season 1 “Shock”: see the moving ceiling of the cell; the plot is about breaking two agents from opposite sides in a limited time span with a behaviorist method: the IMF uses illusion and the Stasi uses mental torture. Not only Cinnamon suffers but Jim is torn-inside by her fate. Find another travel con but in a crate between the West and East Germany (reminiscent of “The Chimes of Big Ben” from The Prisoner) and an unexpected and shocking ending conclude with the following dramatical editing tricks: freeze frame then optical zoom in on the couple. Kurtz is hidden twice: the back of the wheelchair and the padded crate (supposed to contain copper tubing). One suspenseful moment stops the travel con: after Jim shows him a newspaper, Kurtz asks to read the arrest report of the so-called “traitor” Strom. Notice Jerry Fielding’s outstanding German score loaded with harsh electronic sound effects for Cinnamon’s torture scenes, combined with some anamorphosis optical trick. For the anecdote, to identify Rollin, Kurtz pronounces the first part of a key sentence: “There is much rain this spring.” and Rollin replies right: “But it will clear before Easter.”

Actor Notes:
Barbara Bain didn’t appear in the following Mission: Impossible’s episodes: the four narratives from season 1 (“Zubrovnik’s Ghost”, “Elena”, “The Reluctant Dragon”, “The Trial”), the one from season 2 (“The Condemned”), the two from season 3 (“The Diplomat”, “Nicole”). Barbara Bain as Cinnamon Carter evolves: during the first season, the female character is fresh, young and untamed and from season 2, she tends to standardize and becomes a steady lady and even a first lady-like agent: take a look at her haircut and clothes. She performed three songs (“Buy my Glass of Wine”, “The Lady ’Bove the Bar” and “Ten Tiny Toes”) written by Bruce Geller in the season 3 Mission: Impossible’s episode entitled: “Illusion”. Mission: Impossible earned her three consecutive Emmy Awards for “Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series”.

Stock music:
• “The Play” by Robert Drasnin (Act 1: Cinnamon cuts off the wires of the safe)
• “Pilot” by Lalo Schifrin (Act 1: Rollin knocks down an East German guard and leave with Jim; Act 2: Cinnamon is stuck up in the vent and shouts; Act 4: Strom leaves the cell of Cinnamon; Jim and Cinnamon get up and walk to the West Zone to join the team)
• “The Council” by Jerry Fielding (Act 3: Releasing Kurtz from the wheelchair in the warehouse; Kurtz is summoned at the bogus office of Colonel Geist; Act 4: Jim and Cinnamon are gunned down and get down)
• “The Heir Apparent” by Lalo Schifrin (Act 4: A red car stops at the West border and Jim and Kurtz come out)
• “The Execution” by Jerry Fielding (Act 4: Jim and Kurtz cross the half of the border zone)


Mission: Impossible | The Exchange | Main Titles/Trailer

Mission: Impossible | The Exchange | Cinnamon infiltrates the Security Vault

Mission: Impossible | The Exchange | The Interrogation of Cinnamon

Mission: Impossible | The Exchange | The Claustrophobic Cell of Cinnamon

Mission: Impossible | The Exchange | The Exchange of Cinnamon at the Border

Pictures of Cinnamon Carter as Louisa Leeb (actress Barbara Bain).

 

[JohnHopper]

93rd BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE • BARBARA BAIN (September 13, 1931)

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE SEASON 3

Episode #24
“Illusion” (1969)

Mission: Impossible | Illusion | Mona Bern sings “Buy my Glass of Wine”

Mission: Impossible | Illusion | Mona Bern sings “Ten Tiny Toes”

Mission: Impossible | Illusion | Mona Bern sings “The Lady ’Bove the Bar”

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Kenneth Cope Memorial
(April 13th, 1931-September 11, 2024)​

I just learned the sad news of the passing of British actor Kenneth Cope, who died this past week at the ripe old age of 93. Cope (see his Wikipedia entry here) was a prolific character actor who racked up an impressive 119 credits in British films and television in a career that spanned six decades, from 1953-2009, including parts in movies like Hammer's X: The Unknown, These Dangerous Years, Dunkirk (1955), Tank Force, The Damned (a.k.a. These Are the Damned), Father Came Too!, Ghengis Khan, Hammerhead, Night of the Big Heat, three of the Carry On... films, and Juggernaut. He also appeared on numerous TV series, including William Tell, One Step Beyond, Z Cars, The Avengers, Catweazle, The Adventures of Black Beauty, Crown Court, Dixon of Dock Green, Shelley, Doctor Who, Strangers, Juliet Bravo, Rumpole of the Bailey, the BBC's Miss Marple: Sleeping Murder, Bergerac, Casualty, Minder, Lovejoy, A Touch of Frost, Kavanagh QC, 171 episodes of the soap Brookside, The Bill, Doctors, Hustle, The Last of the Summer Wine...and capped his career off playing long-running character Jed Stone on ITV's flagship prime time soap opera, Coronation Street, among many others.

Cope guest starring on Miss Marple: Sleeping Murder (1987)​

But the role Cope is most well-known for among classic TV fans is as Marty Hopkirk, ghostly partner to London private eye Jeff Randall (Mike Pratt), on the memorable ITC series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), which aired for 26 episodes on the various ITV networks across the U.K. from 1969-1970. Retitled My Partner, the Ghost when shown in the U.S., Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) is a charming mashup of the fantasy, detective and action/adventure genres, created by Dennis Spooner and produced by Monty Berman. The first episode, titled "My Late, Lamented Friend and Partner," begins with the hit-and-run murder of Marty Hopkirk (Cope) by the husband of a client. Before he moves on to the afterlife, Marty is compelled to hang around as a ghost that only his partner, Jeff Randall (Pratt), can see, in order to help him bring the man responsible for his murder to justice.

At the end of the pilot episode, Marty decides to stick around permanently, to keep an eye on Jeff, assist him in his cases and (especially) make sure that he keeps his mitts off Marty's lovely widow, Jeannie (Annette Andre), who hires on as Jeff's infrequently paid secretary after her husband's death. Marty's presence is both a help to Jeff (as Marty slowly learns how to use his limited supernatural powers, frequently saving his partner's life in the nick of time) and a hindrance, leading as it does to all kinds of complications, as those around Jeff, including Jeannie (Annette Andre), frequently catch Jeff seemingly talking to himself (when he's really having a conversation with Marty), and start to think he's gone off his rocker.

The late, lamented British label Network Distributing released the entire series both on DVD (with some nice special features, including a reunion bonus feature between Cope and Andre) and Blu-Ray set, the latter featuring sparkling, remastered HD transfers. The same transfers have since been reissued in Australia by ViaVision/Imprint, along with some additional special features. The show is not an out-and-out home run, as the creators did not always see eye-to-eye on the direction the series should take, sometimes leaning heavily into the supernatural aspect of the series (as was Dennis Spooner's wont) and at other times hewing to more typical ITC "action man" material... That said, the series as a whole is very good fun, benefitting from a game and extremely likable main cast, some clever stories, great music and the usual run of high-caliber guest stars, and comes highly recommended to fans of archive U.K. telly in general and ITC in particular.

So as a memorial tribute to the talented Mr. Cope, here are a handful of reviews of some noteworthy episodes of his signature series.

Randall & Hopkirk - Deceased
1.5 "That's How Murder Snowballs"
London gumshoe Jeff Randall, played with laconic, hangdog charm by Mike Pratt, goes undercover at a variety revue stage show to uncover a murderer, with his ghostly partner Marty Hopkirk (Kenneth Cope) giving him a supernatural assist. Annette Andre co-stars as Marty's widow, Jeannie, who works as Jeff's secretary. Look for a very young David Jason and Bond film and Hammer horror stunner, Valerie Leon, as a chorus girl (in a rather eye-popping costume). A very good episode, and another spectacular restoration job by Network.

1.7 "Murder Ain't What It Used to Be"
An aging Chicago mobster arrives in London for the first time in 15 years, and hires Randall to protect his estranged daughter (Sue Gerrard) from vengeful colleagues...but the real danger comes from the ghost of the mobster's long ago betrayed and murdered partner, Bugsy (Davids Healy). Bugsy, having been a ghost far longer than Marty Hopkirk, has a lot more powers at his incorporeal disposal and uses them to threaten Marty's widow, Jeannie (Annette Andre, looking particularly nice this episode in her brightly-colored minidresses) to force the detectives to do away with his old nemesis. The way the story works out renders Jeff's role in the plot is essentially meaningless, and Healy's cigar-chomping performance becomes grating after a while, but it's enjoyable to see the series playing with its supernatural format more than usual.

1.14 “Who Killed Cock Robin”
Private eye Jeff Randall (Mike Pratt) is hired to protect an aviary of birds which belonged to a wealthy, eccentric and deceased old lady, whose will stipulates that her heirs will inherit her two million pound-plus estate only if the birds are all dead. But before long it’s not the birds that are dying, but the heirs…being killed off one-by-one by poison dart. It’s up to Jeff and his ghostly partner Marty (Kenneth Cope) to find and stop the killer before there’s no one left standing. Seductive Sandra (Jane Merrow) is the last in line…but is she the killer?

This one’s a cracker…if a bit of a bloodbath, with a good half-dozen dead by the time the credits roll. A fun riff on an Agatha Christie-style whodunit, nicely directed by Roy Ward Baker, with a witty script (by Tony Williamson) and never a dull moment. Jane Merrow is sexy as hell in this one, and her character seems to take a real shine to Jeff. Cope’s Marty gets quite a lot to do here, too, including using a ouija board at a party to communicate a message to Jeannie (Annette Andre) that Jeff’s in danger. ITC resident musical genius, Edwin Astley (responsible for the catchy main themes and music to The Saint, Danger Man, The Baron, Gideon's Way and Department S) provides the memorable main theme and incidental music here, replete with harpsichord flourishes and a slightly downbeat, mournful air. Also with Cyril Luckham, Tennial Evans and David Lodge.

1.17 “Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave”
One of the sillier episodes of this series…which is saying something when we’re talking about a program wherein the lead private detective’s partner is a spirit that only he can see. Ghostly Marty Hopkirk (Kenneth Cope) interrupts Jeff Randall’s makeout session with a hot-to-trot lady friend to tell him that someone is messing around his (Marty’s) grave. Jeff (Mike Pratt, on perfect hangdog form) reluctantly heads over to the cemetery to check things out, and gets clobbered for his pains by a couple of crooks in tricorn hats. This leads him into an odd case involving an eccentric millionaire who has recently purchased a country estate, the man’s agoraphobic son, and a kidnapping. Everyone is basically ineffectual here: the kidnappers are pretty useless and played for mostly comic effect; Jeff doesn’t really accomplish much, other than to have his sanity questioned by everyone; and a distracted Marty spends most of the episode popping in and out of the announcer’s booth at a World Cup soccer final. That this still remains an entertaining romp is down to the likability of the central performers, and the startling clarity and beauty of the HD transfers on Network’s Blu-Ray set. Oh, and Patricia Haines, as a far-too-sexy-for-anyone’s-good housekeeper in a miniskirt, helps this squeak into the plus column.

1.22 "It's Supposed to Be Thicker Than Water"
Down-at-his-heels private detective, Jeff Randall (Mike Pratt), works cases with the help of his ghostly partner, Marty Hopkirk (Kenneth Cope) and Marty's widow, Jeannie (Annette Andre). As usual, Jeff desperately needs cash, and so takes a job working for a mysterious, rich elderly man (Felix Aylmer), who is promising to leave his fortune to one of his distant relations. Of course, the would-be inheritors soon start dropping like flies...

Carry On... alum Liz Fraser (renowned for her comedic timing and large...ahem...eyes) plays one of the endangered heirs, and Hammer stalwart Michael Ripper has a cameo as an informant. This is also one of the infamous ITC episodes featuring the "white Jaguar careening over a cliff" footage, first seen in The Baron and reused multiple times by the cost-effective studio.

1.23 - “The Trouble with Women”
Scrappy, perennially short of cash gumshoe Jeff Randall (Mike Pratt) accepts a rather dubious case, when sexy blonde Susan Lang (Denise Buckley) offers him a 100 pound advance to prove that her husband (Edward Brayshaw) is having an affair. Jeff soon learns that hubby is a shady casino owner with criminal connections. Still, a few bats of Susan’s "come hither" eyes keep Jeff’s suspicions at bay, at least for a time. Jeff, tough and dogged yet far from the sharpest tool in the P.I. shed, realizes too late that he’s been set up as a patsy for her husband’s murder by Susan and her lover, smooth casino manager Corder (Paul Maxwell). Fortunately, Jeff's ghostly friend and partner, Marty Hopkirk (Kenneth Cope), once again saves his bacon, co-opting a séance to alert the police. Annette Andre's Jeannie is left with little to do once again, but looks quite fetching in a variety of colorful minidresses. The series overall is always entertaining, low-key yet endearing, with a nicely seedy late ‘60s London vibe, terrific music and extremely likable leads.

1.26 “The Smile Behind the Veil”
Jeff Randall has a real bad time of it this episode - all thanks to his ghostly partner, Marty (Kenneth Cope). While watching his devoted widow Jeannie (Annette Andre) put fresh flowers on his grave, Marty notices a funeral in process nearby. He’s taken aback that one of the mourners (Hilary Tindall) is grinning widely behind her veil. When he finds out that the recently deceased was murdered for her inheritance, he tricks Jeff into getting involved in the case. For his trouble, poor Jeff gets knocked out several times, tossed in a river to drown, has a bomb left in his office (which, in one of his more competent moments, he defuses), gets tossed down a well, and is otherwise treated quite shabbily by all concerned. A good episode with some lovely location filming, which sparkles on Network’s Blu-Ray. Alex Scott is back, playing another slimeball, aided and abetted by slinky femme fatale, Hilary Tindall.

By all accounts, the three leads (Pratt, Cope and Andre) got on like the provebial house on fire.

Here are a few trailers put together by Network when they were releasing the Blu-Rays of the series in individual volumes. They should give the uninitiated a good idea of what the show was like:











Cope was married to his wife, actress Renny Lister, from from 1961 until his death. The couple had three children.

Rest in peace, Mr. Cope, and thanks for all the enjoyable performances over the years.

 

[ScottRE]

Barbara Bain Birthday Post​

As @JohnHopper posted, today is Barbara Bain's birthday and he went into such great detail, I could never do better. While she is probably most well known for her Emmy winning work on Mission: Impossible, for me she will always be, first and foremost, Dr. Helena Russell from Gerry Anderson's blockbuster sci-fi series Space:1999.

Starring once again with husband Martin Landau, she was the second lead in both years of the series and stands as one of the first and strongest female leads in a mainstream science fiction series.

Quietly breaking television boundaries, Helena was the head of the medical center and often took a command role, both on Moonbase Alpha when Landau's Commander Koenig was elsewhere or off the base herself on exploratory missions.

She is decisive and brilliant. Her first season approach to the role did earn some criticism for her decision to play Helena as coldly professional and very serious. While the description of "wooden" was an overstatement, she did play it very straight and very seriously, but with a wide range of emotions and steely resolve. She was tough, stood up to Commander Koenig when she disagreed with him and was not to be taken lightly.

In the second year, under new producer Fred Freiberger, Helena was fleshed out and made more approachable, humorous and human. She and Koenig's affection became a full romance and she was given more flattering makeup.

As budgetary concerns forced the production to split the cast and film episodes simultaneously, Helena was given more opportunities to lead episodes. She opened nearly every episode with an "Alpha Log" entry, effectively becoming the voice of the series in that second year.

Coincidentally or not, September 13th is also the date Gerry Anderson chose to have the moon blast from Earth's orbit.

So for this awesome bit of trivia, I didn't want the day to go by without a Happy Birthday from me, a nearly lifelong fan!

Happy Birthday, Ms. Bain!

 

[ScottRE]

WALTER KOENIG BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE

​

Walter Marvin Koenig (/ˈkeɪnɪɡ/; born September 14, 1936) is an American actor and screenwriter. He began acting professionally in the mid-1960s and quickly rose to prominence for his supporting role as Ensign Pavel Chekov in Star Trek: The Original Series (1967–1969). He went on to reprise this role in all six original-cast Star Trek films, and later voiced President Anton Chekov in Star Trek: Picard (2023). He has also acted in several other series and films including Goodbye, Raggedy Ann (1971), The Questor Tapes (1974), and Babylon 5 (1993). In addition to his acting career, Koenig has made a career in writing as well and is known for working on Land of the Lost (1974), Family (1976), What Really Happened to the Class of '65? (1977) and The Powers of Matthew Star (1982). Continue at Wikipedia

STAR TREK
“Spectre of the Gun”
Written by Lee Cronin (Gene L. Coon)
Directed by Vincent McEveety


Starring William Shatner. Co-starring Leonard Nimoy and Deforest Kelley as Dr. McCoy
Featuring James Doohan, Walter Koenig and Nichelle Nichols
Gues Starring Bonnie Beecher, Ron Soble, Bill Zuckert, Charles Maxwell, Rex Holman
and Abraham Sofaer as the Melkot​

The Enterprise is on a mission to establish diplomatic relations with the mysterious Melkot race “at all costs.” Stopped by a warning buoy, and given a telepathic messages to everyone in all their native languages, Kirk pushes on with the usual cautions from Spock. A leading party consisting of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty and Chekov beam down into a fog shrouded limbo and faced with the floating Melkotian representative. Angry at their disregard for their privacy and fear of the unknown, they use Kirk’s thoughts as the pattern for their death sentence. The landing party suddenly find themselves in an incomplete representation of Tombstone, Arizona on the eve of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Each member of the party represents someone from the Clanton gang. Unsure whether this is a true replay of history – which Spock insists cannot be changed – they are faced with the dire fact that the Clanton’s lost the fight.

Entering a saloon after a man is gunned down (“death is real”), they meet Sylvia (Bonnie Beecher) who runs to Chekov (representing Billy Claiborne) and kisses him. Billy and Sylvia are a couple, something that enrages “the man who kills on sight” – Morgan Earp. Narrowing avoiding a gunfight, Kirk tries to convince the townspeople they are not who they seem, with no luck. Efforts to leave town are thwarted by Melkotian force fields, so they split up and try to find the ingredients to create a gas grenade. If they can knock out the Earps before the shooting starts, they hope to avoid inevitable death.

Chekov, finding his ingredients in a general store, runs into Sylvia. She asks him to marry her, which fills Chekov with regret. Morgan suddenly arrives, strikes Chekov and drags Sylvia away. Chekov regains his feet and tries to stop Morgan. Before Chekov can reach him, Morgan guns Chekov down. The rest of the crew arrive and McCoy confirms Chekov is dead. Yet, as Spock later observes, Billy Claiborne survived the gunfight. Their situation can apparently be changed. When they test the gas grenade, it doesn’t work, but it should. Spock realizes their entire situation is unreal.

Appearing at the O.K. Corral minutes before the gunfight, Spock is able to mind meld with the crew and convince them their situation is not reality and the bullets will not harm them. The result is swift: the Earp's shoot, the bullets pass harmlessly through them, and Kirk kicks the snot out of Wyatt Earp (Wyatt was the only one stupid enough to approach Kirk who was still nursing his grudge). Kirk stops short of killing him and the crew find themselves back on the bridge of the Enterprise, along with a very much alive Chekov. The entire situation, from the moment of the initial telepathic contact, was an illusion. They are still facing the buoy, which explodes. The Melkot is amazed that the humans didn’t kill. Kirk convinces them they are still coming in peace and the Melkot allows them to approach in friendship, their mission a success.

 

[ScottRE]

This is a fantastic episode, the first show filmed for the third season, but broadcast fifth. A very strong entry with great, surreal imagery and wonderfully played characters. This is a rare episode that gives Walter Koenig scenes of substance and charm, which he fills admirably. Chekov was often given the short shrift on Star Trek, playing Chekov for laughs or, worse, against his conception by playing a stiff establishment type (Chekov was created in answer to the free-spirited Davy Jones). Later films, after the third, dumbed him down further, but here Chekov and Koenig are given a chance to shine.

The chemistry between Koenig and Beecher is strong and their scenes carry a great deal of warmth. Chekov is clearly smitten with the girl, but shows deep remorse when he realizes how artificial everything is and how he can’t commit to her. He still sacrifices his life to save her, showing his character and moral integrity even to an illusion.

Walter does great work here in what is his greatest dramatic performance in the role until Star Trek II. As the production was gearing up for the third season, Gene Roddenberry discussed using Chekov more with Koenig and apparently had plans for the character. However, once NBC banished Star Trek to Friday night at 10pm, Roddenberry stepped away and Fred Freiberger had no such plans. When he did finally get around to showcasing Chekov, it was the mostly intolerable “The Way to Eden.”

After Star Trek, Walter Koenig went on to do a few guest roles here and there, but mostly focused on his writing career until landing on Babylon 5 as Psi Corp villain Alfred Bester (named after the prolific science fiction novelist). Bester was an excellent character who showed up once or twice a season and Koenig was able to show a totally different side.



He appeared in every classic cast Star Trek movie and, as noted, was outstanding in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He also had a short role in the beginning of Star Trek Generations.



Afterward, he did some fan films as the character and even showed up as his descendant Anton Chekov in Star Trek: Picard. He continues to be a charming and self-depreciating presence on the convention and podcast circuit. He has long since settled his differences with William Shatner and is always available for fans and interviews.

He was married to his wife Judy from 1965 until her death in 2022. They had a son, Andrew, who sadly committed suicide in 2010 and a daughter Danielle, actor, author and comedienne.

Walter Koenig turns 88 today and to him we wish a very Happy Birthday!

 

[Bob Gu]

CLAYTON MOORE- Sept. 14, 1914-Dec. 28, 1999. Part 1 of 5.

Clayton Moore, like many action and western actors, would take any role. He would be unbilled, sometimes he would be the star in a feature or serial, or even be the main 'dog-heavy' henchman in a serial, or one of the gang or posse, with a line or two. This could all be happening in the same year.

Clayton Moore came to show business as an acrobat and trapeze artist. After an injury he became a model and made his way to Hollywood.

He did stunt work and bit parts and worked his way up to larger parts in movies.

He had good visible speaking parts in THE SON OF MONTE CRISTO-1940, with Louis Hayward and BLACK DRAGONS-1942, with Bela Lugosi and Joan Barclay.

Clayton Moore's oddest, odd Hollywood job was escorting actress Lupe Valez around Hollywood hot spots so she could be seen and attract publicity for her show biz career.

Lupe Valez with Clayton Moore.

He began his run as a 'Serial King' with THE PERILS OF NYOKA-1942, starring Kay Aldridge as Nyoka.

Kay Aldridge and Clayton Moore.

Don't you hate when that happens.

THE PERILS OF NYOKA had a name change.

When World War II started up, Clayton Moore went into the U.S. Army Air Force. in the training and entertainment services.

After the war he resumed his work in features and serials.

He's a reporter in HELORADO-1946 with Roy Rogers, Gabby Hayes, and Dale Evans and a Border Patrolman in another Roy Rogers picture, THE FAR FRONTIER-1947.

Moore would, star, co-star, or be the lead henchman, for the mystery villain in ten serials. He was a 'Serial King'.

Menacing another 'Serial Queen', Linda Stirling.

Roy Barcroft, Clayton as Jesse James, and Linda Stirling.

Where's the masked man?

Clayton with Ramsey Ames.

 

[Bob Gu]

CLAYTON MOORE- Part2 of 5.

In 1949 after playing the masked lead in the serial, THE GHOST OF ZORRO-1949, Clayton Moore was hired to play THE LONE RANGER, with Jay Silverheels, as TONTO.

Moore made 78 LONE RANGER episodes which ran without reruns on ABC, from Sept. 15, 1949, to March 8, 1951. (Then the show repeated until the John Hart LONE RANGER episodes began for a straight 52 week new episode run, beginning Sept. 11,1952 and ending Sept. 3, 1953.)

After his 78 LONE RANGER episodes, Moore went back to features, serials, and early TV episodes.

THE ADVENTURES OF FRANK AND JESSE JAMES-1948.

Steve Darrell and Clayton Moore, as Frank and Jesse James, with Noel Neill.

FRONTIER INVESTIGATOR-1949, a Rocky Lane series feature, with Clayton Moore and Gail Davis.

GHOST OF ZORRO-1949.

Clayton Moore and Pamela Blake.

Notice 'Zorro's' stance. You can tell it's Clayton Moore, with Roy Barcroft, Pamela Blake, and Gene Roth.

RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON-1952.

Lead henchman Clayton Moore with Peter Brocco.

SON OF GERONIMO-1952.

BUFFALO BILL IN TOMAHAWK TERRITORY-1952. A widely panned western, probably due the the bad public domain copies around. But as usual CM looks great.

JUNGLE DRUMS OF AFRICA-1953.

With Phyllis Coates.

GUNFIGHTERS OF THE NORTWEST-1954.

Clayton Moore, Jock Mahoney, and Lyle Talbot.

In his autobiography, "I Was That Masked Man", Moore mentions this story. Moore was injured on the location of GUNFIGHTERS OF THE NORTHWEST and could not ride for awhile. Co-star Phyllis Coates was being visited on the location by John Hart. Hart doubled Moore's horse riding scenes, while Moore recovered.

John Hart with Clayton Moore.

Later.

 

[Bob Gu]

Clayton Moore-Part 3 of 5.

In his autobiography, Clayton Moore speculated that, they went to the nose covering mask early in the series because they may have already been thinking of replacing him and wanted to make the Ranger less recognizable.

In his book, Clayton Moore says he never knew why he was not called back to do the next 52 episodes. Later, he also never asked why John Hart didn't continue.

Again from his book, Clayton Moore describes a strange meeting with THE LONE RANGER owner/creator, George Trendle, when he was called back to resume doing THE LONE RANGER.

Moore says, Trendle , who he had not seen in close to three years, asked Moore, "Where's your beard?"

Clayton pointed to his chin and said he never had one.

Trendle said, "Does this mean you haven't been running around Hollywood Boulevard quoting Shakespeare, either?"

Moore said, "Did someone tell you that, too?"

Trendle said, "Yes. I thought you were a lunatic".

Moore says he didn't want to push the issue. The decision had been made to bring him back, once, I guess,Trendle could see for himself that Moore was not a 'lunatic'.

Trendle may have already been in talks with Jack Wrather to buy THE LONE RANGER. Some sources claim it was Wrather that wanted Moore back.

Moore's next 52 LONE RANGERS started production in June, 1954. The deal with Wrather went through a couple of months later. Trendle and Jack Chertok finished the last 52 B&W episodes. Wrather produced the 39 color episodes and the two color features.


Redemption, Forgiveness, Limitations, and Marion Ross.

Equality.

Silver in action and Phyllis Coates.

He was a master of disguise.

The Padre, Edward Colmans, introduces the Governor, Charles Meredith, to the Old Prospector.

Do you suppose Warner Brother has the widescreen version of THE LONE RANGER-1956.

Intro from THE LONE RANGER-1956. Press Play.

Intro from THE LONE RANGER AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD-1958. This new song and into was used for the thirteen, 3 episode each, feature compilations of the 39 color episodes, which I first saw in the 1980s. Press Play.

Autographed, but a picture made from a flipped negative, note the belts.

Flipped to right-reading.

At Clayton Moore's suggestion the smaller open nose mask was brought back for the color features and TV episodes.

 

[Bob Gu]

Clayton Moore- Part 4 of 5.

Jay Silverheels, as TONTO, was in 217 of the 221 LONE RANGER episodes. according to IMDB. He missed a few episodes because of a heart attack, Jay and Clayton were both in a Gene Autry movie, THE COWBOYS AND THE INDIANS-1949, a Christmas Autry. Jay's the Chief and Clayton's a henchman. Jay was also somewhere in THE PERILS OF NYOKA. And, of course, Jay Silverheels was in the two LONE RANGER features. Jay Silverheels died on March 5, 1980, at 67.

Clayton Moore was in the two features and 169 LONE RANGER TV episodes.

John Hart was the LONE RANGER in 52 episodes and died on Sept. 20 2009 at 91. During the period where Wrather Corp. didn't want Clayton Moore wearing the mask, they didn't seem to notice John Hart playing THE LONE RANGER on "Happy Days" and "The Greatest American Hero". Hart, also, had a part in THE LEGEND OF THE LONE RANGER-1981. (Clayton Moore declined.) John Hart and Jay Silverheels played THE LONE RANGER and TONTO in THE PHYNX-1970, a really odd movie filled with pop culture icons in cameos.

Stuntman, Chuck Courtney played the Ranger's nephew, Dan Reid, in 14 LONE RANGER episodes. I was surprised to see, today, that he died on January 19, 2000, at 69, only 22 days after Clayton Moore died.

There were two Silvers plus stunt horses for Silver and Tonto's horse Scout. The first Silver was used for all of the first batch of Moore's 78 episodes. The second Silver started with the John Hart episodes. Both Silvers were used for the rest of the series and two movies. The first Silver was a little less spirited and could be counted on not to step on anybody in close stunts.

TONTO and THE LONE RANGER with owlhoot Zon Murray.