GJValent

My family had a long history of Sunday 9:00 pm (Chicago central time) TV viewing. The DpSotW was one of our faves, This was the era of corporate shows. Armstrong Circle Theater, the United States Steel Hour, the Bell Telephone Hour, Kraft Suspense Theater, Kraft Music Hall (to shake things up a bit). DuPont gave us a mix. Dramas, documentaries, semi-variety. I remember Jeremy Rabbit, as well as a history of the US auto industry hosted by Groucho Marx, an overview of toys hosted by Carol Burnett. A drama starring Lee Marvin, The Richest Man in Bogota based on a story by J. G. Ballard ? A presentation of Ken Murray's historic Hollywood home moves, that had appeared on Broadway. Such was the magic of broadcasting, when the 'major networks' had to provide a variety of infotainment. It was GREAT !

Why has this episode gotten a reputation as never shown ? It was shown, because I saw it. I can even quote a scene where Gary Lockwood is talking to Nichelle Nichols who is sitting in a convertible. He leads off discussing her fiancé with the phrase,'he's Negro and I'm Caucasian'. She responds,'lieutenant, it's perfectly acceptable to say black and white'. I remember this vividly. It's even listed for Feb 22 1964. If someone can correct me, please do. Note: another listing states that the network refused to pay the costs of this episode, not that it never aired. The basis of the plot in To Set it Right, race relations, will crop up many times in Gene Roddenberry's next series, the classic Star Trek, of course.

Seriously, I caught this show in second run on WGN in Chicago,(like at least one other poster), in the early 1960s. As I remember the opening, Keenan Wynn comes uphill towards the camera on a motorcycle, (make, unknown), and Bob Mathias comes down towards the camera riding a hook on a construction crane. They are, the troubleshooters ! Interesting look at the life of 'globe trotting' construction workers. Aside from their work, these two, naturally, get involved in the lives of the people who work for, with, or, around them. One episode had them, and their crew, build an iron lung for a young local/native lad who had apparently contracted polio, or a similar type of respiration paralysis. Another had them hold a carnival, subsidized by the construction company they work for, to raise funds for something or other. The highlight of this episode was a booth where each kid got a free ice cream cone, which they could either eat, or, throw at Keenan Wynn's face sticking through a canvas backdrop. Now, the telling part. As I remember, the name of the construction company was Corbett. At the same time, early 1960s, my uncle worked for a Corbett Construction Company, on the project to build what is now the Michigan Ave., Oak St. Lake Shore Drive interchange. Yet, I can't find it on Google.

As posted by others, I caught this on TCM and was amazed ! A half hour TV drama with John Wayne, directed by John Ford. From the date, I'll place this just after Wayne's I Love Lucy appearance. Instead of the actor/director craft, I'd just like to mention the timing. Right on the cusp of the movie/TV revolution/evolution. The stars of the biggest, co-existing with the craft of, the smallest. John Wayne went on to more TV later on, mostly as a guest on friend's shows, Red Skelton, Jack Benny, Dean Martin, etc. But, John Ford, being a director, went on to unheralded roles as the same. Check out a long sought after episode of Wagon Train, or, Flashing Spikes, (which I actually saw with baseball commentary by a long gone uncle). In the early days, the film stars avoided TV, as earlier stage stars avoided film !?! Yeah, right !

Thank you uber_geek. I thought that I was the only one who remembered Dweebs, and it being the obvious progenitor of TBBT. Of course, it took me five seasons of TBBT to remember it. Four nerdy, brilliant guys, and one, hot, down to earth, not so nerdy girl ? You can catch the first episode, in parts, on YouTube. Dweebs even skips the establishing scene breaks. TBBT does it with the atom animation. Dweebs does it with a Windows 3.1 style icon screen and a cursor that selects the next scene. If it had been a hit, would we have gotten two more girls to make it more like Friends, with brains ? I've been a computer tech all of my life, starting with college in 1968. That was before we landed on the moon. (Which, by the way, happened on my 19th birthday.) Another thing, check out this plot synopsis from season 1, (their only season), episode 4,'Warren is contacted by woman through instant messaging and Carey responds for him in a flirtation manner. However, not everything is as it seems. Karl is selected for a NASA software mission into space'. As a friend pointed out, introduction to Amy, plus, Howard going into space. What more proof do you want ? Anyway, a show, apparently, ahead of its time, as TBBT is one of CBS biggest hits.

I saw this flick as a 10:15 pm, Sat. night presentation on a local Chicago TV station. It was presented as a World Premier movie, not just a television premier. This was a minor trend in the mid/late 1960s TV world, preceding made for cable stuff. (A technology of the future.) It may have been regional, but, I recall several movies of the ilk. Probably, theatrical films that were deemed not worthy of standard distribution. Sold to TV as part of standard film 'packages'. Other titles include Dimension 5 with Jeffrey Hunter, and, a few that I can't recall. Anyway, this is not a review, complaint, or thanks. Just some info.

I thought it was an okay series. Nothing special, but, up there with most of the Desilu output. It could have gone another season at least. Anyway, it aired right at the cusp of color TV dominance. When NBC was the only network taking color-casting seriously. CBS was died in the wool B&W, even though they had presented occasional color telecasts in the past. (There was even one episode of Perry Mason shot in color, although I don't know if it was b-cast in color the first time around.) Anyway, Bing was in B&W, except, for a Christmas show that they did. (ABC had a smattering of color shows.) It was just musical numbers performed by the cast, on the show's regular set. But, it was in color. They even used the old ABC color intro of the rolling color circles that morphed into the lower case abc logo. Now, you know.

I'm basing this on the year and the cast as I recall. A series of plays for television, (yes, another one), broadcast on PBS. William Windom as a marginally successful playwright. The entire production takes place in his studio apartment, with a loft bedroom for he and his married girlfriend. For the life of me, I cannot recall a chubby Ann B. Davis in this role. Again, as I recall, it centers on him working on a play, with a troupe of friends parading through, drinking, eating, commenting on society, and even disturbing he and his lover while they attempt love making. Hey, it's an open loft bedroom and your friends are crashing right below ! Rememberances; Lou Gossett arguing with Windom about Windom's girlfriend getting older and not wanting to do 'it' as much anymore. Severn Darden obsessed with his pussy (cat) throwing up a furball. Yep. Not a lot like it on TV at the time. Apparently for good reason. PBS versions of cutting edge theatre of the time to check out, Steambath !

I was young, but, I still don't remember the show lasting 4 seasons. Anyway, during the first season, Joey wasn't a talk show host. he was just a schmo still living with his mother. The kicker was the Double Exposure episode, wherein two hoods, Lee Van Cleef and Neville Brand, kidnap Joey Barnes thinking that he's Joey Bishop. They only believe he isn't, after seeing the 'real' Joey Bishop on TV, filling in for Jack Paar, I think. (I'm pretty sure this was before Johnny Carson took over.) The final scene has Joey Barnes meeting Joey Bishop, in the same frame. (Good effect.) The two hoods show up, are confused, and believing that the real Joey Bishop would never admit it, (which he had), kidnap Joey Barnes, again.

This was an entry in the second Golden Age of television drama. After the development of portable TV/video equipment. You no longer had to live with the clarity of live/video for interiors, only to see the fuzziness of exterior filmed outdoor scenes. This technological step ALMOST overshadowed the performance of all of the actors involved. Peter Ustinov should have won every award he was ever nominated for. An actor of his range, playing the old Jewish proprietor of a delicatessen in upstate New York ? A match made in heaven. Young N'Gai Dixon as an inner city black youth sent to spend the summer with Ustinov, without either knowing it ? Dramatic perfection. I saw this once. Its television debut. 20 years old living with my parents. It didn't interest them at all. Even my father, who revered Mr. Ustinov. A late scene with Ustinov crying over his deli counter mourning those that he's lost, brings tears to my eyes as I type this. That, triggered by the death of young Dixon's brother in Viet-Nam, as I remember it. As much as I love Peter Falk, his recent filmed for TV version lacks.

I am so glad to make my review the tenth for this series. So long ago that I'm sure it started as Discovery '61. Anyway, once my family discovered it, my dad would rush home from work and we all watched over supper. The hook for him, and most of us, was Corpuscle. How could Frank and Virginia compete with a dog. Of course, that was the hook to get kids to watch. The science and technology was almost an afterthought. Sure we learned, but, we got to see Corpuscle. It must have been during the early '63 season, ABC aired a one hour primetime special called, I think, This is Discovery. Ostensibly so disinterested parents would see what their kids were watching. They went way back to the beginning shows, which we had missed, showing C. when he was just a pup. In fact, I think the first episode we every watched, while channel surfing, among Chicago's five, in those days, was when we hit on the Discovery Puppy Pen. A screened pen full of puppies, a grown Corpuscle, and, Frank Buxton. I once heard him introduced on a TV show as Dr. Frank Buxton, but, alas. According to his bio, he only has a Bachelor's and a Master's. Virginia Gibson had a pretty good film career, but, not much after Discovery. Nickelodeon just doesn't cut it.

One reviewer mentions Colditz as being shown on History Channel. Oops, missed it. Anyway, I recall in the early 1970s(?), Robert Wagner discussing this series on the Tonight Show, and, others of the ilk. I'm guessing that he, and others, assumed this would be picked up by US television. It was the dawning of the age of the mini-series, and, other Brit produced shows had done well. Especially on PBS. Never happened, and, apparently no DVD release either. Will this go down in tele-history as one of the great series that never was ? Earlier flick The Colditz Story is great. One wonders what the producers did with more than two hours to fill.

Here goes. This film was shown outdoors, in the campground, during a mid-week evening break during the 1978 National Speleological Society convention in New Braunfels, Texas. Some local promoter offered this flick, because it was about 'caves'. It really isn't. It's about a drought, in a contemporary New World jungle community, and their attempts to end same. One young local villager shows his hi-tech readiness, as he owns a flashlight. Whoopee. This film played at Facets Multimedia in Chicago the following year, along with a review in the Chicago Reader which pretty much ripped it apart. Basically, following the customs of the society depicted, it doesn't make much sense. Interesting I guess, but, if it became a lost film, I wouldn't bother looking for it.

As alluded to, this is an updated variation on Most Dangerous Game. Chuck Connors plays a sportsman/hunter/psycho who blames Don Ross for a friend's death, or something. (When I saw this on TV, the Rifleman had just premiered.) He challenges Don to a game, where they hunt each other using 'camera' guns. First one to photograph the other, wins. Apparently just using cameras wouldn't have been any fun. But, Chuck's 'camera' gun, is a REAL gun. How will he get away with killing Don ? Claim ignorance ? Anyway, they start out from separate locations carrying these standard appearing, cased, rifles over their shoulders. And, in mid-1950s Los Angelos, it's no big deal !?! Don does get picked up by the cops, but, once they see that it's not a 'real' gun, they let him go. Now the fun begins. It starts raining, so Chuck and Don both duck into the same store to pick up raincoats, without seeing each other, and naturally, the guns get switched. Chuck soon discovers this, and now, he's on the run. If you ever catch this, it's more than interesting, but, not much more. The mid 1950s LA locations are kind of cool. Even some scenes shot on the old Avalon excursion ship, that use to ferry tourists to and from Catalina Island. Now, for some perspective. I was in Telluride Colorado for the 1983 Jazz Festival. There was a young woman walking down the street with a basket of laundry and a pump action shotgun over one shoulder. Now, you know.

I saw this flick, (or, maybe the revised version), in a community college business class in 1969. I and a few other students recognized James Doohan as Scotty, from Star Trek. Anyway, it's an 'educational' film about labor unions and management. It purports to show how they may work together to overcome differences during a labor dispute. It's actually a first class flick without the 'Coronet Films' educational feel to it. Well, written, well directed, well acted. What more could you ask for. It's set in a Canadian town, and concerns the lives of workers in a furniture factory. James Doohan being one of them. There's a labor dispute over wages, and if it's not solved, the workers, including him, may go out on strike. He's rightly concerned for the well being of his family, and, it's just before Christmas. But, just as they're ready to hit the picket lines, the union leaders and management come to an agreement and all is well. The version I saw, had a voice- over in places explaining what was happening on screen. Perhaps that's the revision in the 'revised' version. Without the narration, it would have been a pretty good entry in a half-hour anthology series, such as were popular at that time. Maybe it was.

I saw this some years ago as a 'late night' flick. It's pretty standard 1930s gritty/humor stuff. Annie Brennan, (Marie Dressler), and husband Terry, (Wallace Beery), are tugboat runners in Puget Sound. They have a son, Alec,(Robert Young), who's now the skipper of a fancy ocean liner. They're proud of him, but, they stay out of his way, and his new life and sweetie, Pat,(Maureen, 'Jane', O'Sullivan). After all, they're only tugboat people. One night, during a terrible storm, they have the only tug available to save his ship. The Narcissus has always had problems, but, to accomplish their mission, Wallace has to enter the boiler, while it's fully stoked and fired, to patch some leaking water/steam tubes. Hard to watch for anyone, Marie has to. His pain, and her concern and horror, showcase what superb actors both were. For a prequel with both lead actors playing similar characters, check out Min and Bill.

Sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s, Lon Chaney Jr. made an appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. During the interview, Johnny asked about the accuracy of this flick. Lon replied, (agreeing with Johnny),'close enough'. Johnny also asked about Lon Jrs. favorite film role. Lon asked,'what do you think'? Johnny replied,'I would think, Of Mice and Men'. Lon Jr. replied,'thank you'. He was getting along in years at this time. I would like to think that Of Mice and Men was his favorite role. My late father, who didn't particularly care for actors, loved movies. He said that Lon Jr. was FANTASTIC in the role of Lenny. My dad saw it as a first run, back in the days.

I was at my cousins house when this telecast started. He proclaimed,'Rivak the Barbarian, this should be good'! So, we watched it. According to the IMDb info, I have the title correct, and, if the date is right, I was ten years old. I don't have that many memories of pre-1960 TV, so, this is right on the cusp. It was my first viewing of, (future Oscar winner), Jack Palance. Perfect facial features for a 'barbarian'. I recall an early line of his, something like,'what in the name of creation is that', upon his first sighting of an elephant. That's about where the memories end. Apparently it was on NBC before hardly anybody, (including us), had color TV. It led to a mid 1960s fandom of Hercules type flicks on TV.

I didn't catch this flick until after it had been shown on network TV several, (many?), times. As such, I thought the DS character Oddball, was right in keeping with the times. I base this opinion on one thing, and, I will explain. In a Playboy magazine anniversary issue, (I don't recall which one), they reprinted an article from the 1950s by Jack Kerouac, voice of the Beat generation. (Termed beatniks by the press.) He stated clearly, that the non-conformist individuals know as beats, began appearing in cities in the late 1930s. The ancestors of the later generation hippies. Anyway, I had read the article before viewing KH, and it made perfect sense. Oddball wasn't a time shifted hippie, he was an early beat. If Kerouac was still around, I'm sure he would have recognized him.

You have Stewie and Brian as the main characters, WW II, Hitler, Churchill, war, big oil, and baby boomer references throughout. What else could they do ? Oh yeah, several definitely non-politically correct references to Jews, Poles, Germans, the British and Republicans. I have to explain this episode, (and many others), to friends of mine who should get it, but, don't. Such as,'not so good with the atomic bomb, but, much better with 100 Luft Balloons', (one bursts), 'oh, damn'. Also, as the goofs point out, the British Lancaster heavy bomber depicted didn't hit the skies till 1942, but, I recognized it as a Lancaster in the show. Animation doesn't get much better. BTW, it's only a cartoon.

I caught this in the mid 1960s as a late Sunday night, (intended for adults), telecast here in Chicago. It was presented under the 'Beauty and the Robot' title. I thought it was pretty good. You had Mamie as a super intelligent, HOT, babe, taking on an entire college and trying to win the smart guy, Todd, from Route 66. She gets to hypnotize John Carradine into dancing. She gets to drive a fire engine. Bridget Bardot's sister wears the frat pin of her boyfriend on her bra strap, which sticks out of the over-sized, FlashDance', neck of her sweatshirt. Super hot rodder Norman 'Woo Woo' Grabowski is a major character. Louis Nye plays an old man. What more do you need ? Also, the full name of the computer/robot is SAM Thinko. The SAM stands for System Analog Modulator. It means nothing, but, sounds technical. Would be great to watch with friends and a few beers. Oh, yeah, we had a color TV, and, I swear this was in color. Maybe not.

I saw The Black Pirate during the first season(?) of Silents Please, before the Ernie Kovacs hosted episodes. Of course, it was a truncated 20 or so black and white minutes of a 90 minute color film. Still, the two scenes that stuck in my mind were the 'sword ride down the sail', and the underwater swimming sequence. I saw this episode once, and at 9 or 10 years old, didn't pay much attention to the actors. Once after that, I asked my father if that was the, 'pirate from the silent movie', while we were watching something with Gilbert Roland. My father had no idea what I was talking about. Now, sometime in the 1990s, I caught a cable documentary about silent films, (there are ****loads of docs about them), and one featured a short color sequence of The Black Pirate. OMG, I saw that 40 years ago ! Now I knew the flick, the star, the format. A quick Google and I ordered a Kino video, (pre DVD), of The Black Pirate. Everything I remembered was there, and, a LOT more. Like 70 minutes more, and, in COLOR. I don't know how big a hit this was, but, it should have been the Titanic of its day. A fast moving story, lots of action, sex(sort of), violence, revenge, and COLOR ! Also, you only had to sit still for 90 minutes instead of 4 hours. Anyway, Doug shows again why he was the King of Hollywood. Great stunts, good looking, able to do ANYTHING. BTW, the additional features on the video/DVD show you how he was able to do anything. If you haven't seen it, this 'footnote' to the history of 'silent, color film', is a must see/have.

I've only seen this movie twice. Once as a network flick in the early 60s. Again as a local late nighter in the 90s. The first time, I was a scared twelve year old. The second, I was a thoughtful adult. I have to disagree with many about the ending. It does clean things up a little quickly, but, it makes this a satisfying suspense film, rather than a schlocky corpse/zombie movie. The meager budget and dependence on one main set, the small caretakers office, fairly screams that this is an adapted stage play. After reading many of the other posts, apparently this was written for the screen. It should be on the list of small theatre companies across the country. A well done stage version would be very effective. Live on stage or a revival of this film, what's in your mind is always more terrifying than what you're watching. As for the cast, Richard Boone is great, wooden perhaps, but as a man who is terrified of his own imagined power. I'll always think of Herbert Anderson as the father of Dennis the Menace. Theodore Bikel, Scottish ? Oh, well.

One of the previous poster's referred to this NOT being a Cinerama film. He's right, it's not. However, he alludes to it having been advertised as such in some cities. Chicago was one of those. Circus World premiered in Chicago at the McVicker Theater on Madison just west of State. (That theater had previously screened How the West was Won, a TRUE Cinerama film. HTWWW ran there for what seemed to be a year before moving to the neighborhood theaters.) As stated, they had three screens to fill. The newspaper ads even used the Cinerama trademark, (the accordion folded logo). A friend saw it there with his parents, and all he talked about was the ship capsizing sequence. I saw the flick on TV, and, that seemed very anti-climactic. All in all a pretty underwhelming film. One big fluke, near the beginning, John Wayne is being wheeled around the circus ring on top of a stagecoach at full speed. He then shoots burning lamps (or something) off the tops of poles held by assistants in front of the stands full of spectators. Um, wouldn't the bullets being fired hit at least some of those folks behind the targets ? Maybe my memory isn't so good.

Back in the early eighties, I got my first vehicle with an FM radio. It allowed me to 'discover' All Things Considered on NPR. One of the things that I noticed right away, the ATC theme was from the film Murder, He Says. I've never bothered to write them about it. I'll now assume that others have. Sometime in the late eighties or early nineties, they broadcast a report purporting to search for the roots of the theme. A LOT of pieces of obscure classical and pop tunes were played, along with their references, but, not one mention was made of Horses Flies is, In Comb Bees is. Maybe I'll get the ambition to write them. Meanwhile, as Fred says in the film,'In Town, Police is'.