The Boy Who Cried "Wolfe"

 

 

This is my entry in the 12th Annual Favourite TV Show Blogathon hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts. 

 

 

I love Sherlock Holmes, but second only to him is my love of Nero Wolfe. 

Nero Wolfe was the creation of one Rex Stout, whose first published Nero Wolfe story was Fer-de-Lance, published way back in 1934. It wasn't his first novel ever, however. He had about 9 novels under his belt before the introduction of his legacy character. But it is a sure bet that when you mention the name Rex Stout, the first thing that will come to mind of the average bibliophile will be "Oh, yeah! He wrote those Nero Wolfe stories!" 

Over the years after Wolfe appeared on the scene, there were numerous attempts to bring him into the audio and visual world. The first two attempts were in the realm of Hollywood films. Meet Nero Wolfe and The League of Frightened Men were films released in the late 30's. Then came several attempts to bring him into the home via radio programs (in the days when was radio did what TV does today).

In 1977, a pilot was created for TV, featuring Thayer David as the portly detective, but it was abandoned before it could get off the ground because David passed away shortly after it was filmed. However, a couple of years later, another attempt was made to create a TV show, this time with William Conrad as Wolfe, along with Lee Horsley as his legman, Archie Goodwin. Unfortunately that only aired for one season.

The detective was essentially on hiatus until 2000, when a producer managed to secure the rights to film another series. This series would end up lasting for two seasons and featured Maury Chaykin as Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie. In my opinion this series was the best in it's portrayal of Wolfe, taking great pains to stick to the original source material. (Each episode was based on an actual story or novel written by Stout).

Both the Conrad and the Chaykin efforts got their start in their respective series with an adaptation of the Stout novel The Golden Spiders. This entry in the canon featured Wolfe out of his normal milieu, in that his "client" wasn't a rich person who could pay his exorbitant fees, but a young neighborhood boy for whom Wolfe gradually got involved because of his own sense of obligation. 

It is not a spoiler, since it is primary to the story, but in the novel the young boy is killed, and since Wolfe had served the boy some cookies and a coke at his dinner table it was an affront to his personal dedication to decorum to find the killer and bring him (or her) to justice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First I want to tell the basic story as it appeared in print in The Golden Spiders novel by Rex Stout. I will later describe the similarities and any differences in each production. The Golden Spiders  was first published in 1953.

The story begins with Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin sitting down to dinner.  Fritz brings in the dish and Wolfe stops, distracted by the smell. He queries Fritz on the alteration of the recipe he was expecting, because Fritz had decided, on his own, to try to do it different from the normal way he had made it before. Wolfe decides to admonish Fritz and have it taken away, instead opting for some eggs and toast. But Archie throws a little gas on Wolfe's ire by saying he will sample the fare.

During this minor kerfuffle, there is a ringing of the doorbell. This further irks Wolfe, not only because he has not scheduled a meeting with anyone, but he has never conducted business during meals. When Archie goes to the door he finds, not the expected adult who would normally be the cause of intrusion, but a neighborhood kid, Pete Drossos.

Pete has a case for Wolfe. During his duties as a street window wiper he encountered a woman in a fancy car, wearing spider earrings. The woman mouthed a message to Pete; "Help! Get a cop!" but the male passenger made her drive off. Pete thinks there might be some kind of trouble and maybe a reward in it, since the car was a high end Cadillac and thus  meant she was probably rich, and wants to split it 50/50 with Wolfe if he will help.

Wolfe has Archie check out the car description, along with the license plate that Pete had jotted down. It turns out that the same car was described as having killed Matthew Birch, an agent with INS (the Immigration and. Naturalization Service). Initially Wolfe comes to the conclusion that Birch may have been the male passenger. 

The next day, the car is identified in the death of Pete on the street who had been going about his window wiping job. This in itself is an affront to Wolfe because the boy had been basically a guest in Wolfe's house.  The police, in the person of a police sergeant, comes to inquire about Wolfe's ad searching for the driver of the car that Pete saw the woman in, and informs Wolfe of the boy's death.  

Not long after they receive the news of Pete's death, his mother shows up and gives Wolfe his life savings, $4.30, and tells Wolfe that Pete's last request was that mom give the money to Wolfe and ask him to get the guy who ran him over. But Wolfe does not want to get involved, that is until a very obstinate Archie berates him and demands that he at least try to find the woman in the golden spider earrings.

Laura Fromm, a wealthy widow, shows up claiming to be said woman, but Wolfe determines she is lying. She eventually admits she was not the driver, but she thinks she knows who was. But she asks for a day to verify her suspicions. She leaves Wolfe a retainer, mostly to help her avoid being implicated in the crime. However, Laura also turns up dead, having been pushed out the window of her apartment. . There were several people at a party who were the last to see Laura alive, at a dinner party, prior to her death. Now Wolfe is strong in his conviction to get to the bottom of the crimes. And his main suspects are those people she was last seen with.

Among the people at the party were Jean Estey, Laura's secretary, Dennis Horan, an attorney who was there with his wife, and Angela Wright. All were involved in a charity that helped displaced persons (immigrants). Wolfe puts his regular associate detectives, Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin and Orrie Cather, on various angles to investigate, and Archie poses as himself, but as a less than scrupulous associate of his employer, in that he proposes to each of the suspects that he has information about the private meeting between Fromm and Wolfe that each would be interested in, but will only sell it at a price.

There are some subtle goings on in the meantime. Saul poses as an immigrant who needs help but is approached by a suspicious man who tries to blackmail him. Fred follows two hoodlums and ends up being exposed as an associate of Wolfe and is tortured. Archie and Orrie rescue Fred and take the two hoodlums back to Wolfe's place. Saul recognizes one of the hoodlums as the guy who tried to blackmail him and exposes him as a small time gambler "Lips" Egan. It turns out that Egan's lawyer is Horan, one of the friends last seen with Laura Fromm, but he is not so willing to own up to knowing who Egan is.

As typical in a Wolfe mystery, Wolfe invites all of the suspects to his office and with the presence of Inspector Cramer, exposes the culprit. It turns out that Fromm's secretary, Jean, was running a scam operation that blackmailed potential immigrants into paying money for a quick transition to citizenship. Fromm had discovered the scam, as had Birch, so that's why they were killed. Pete was just a kid in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he could have easily identified Jean as the woman driving the car, and maybe Birch as the passenger.    

Nero Wolfe  The Golden Spiders (air date Jan. 16, 1981):

Cast members:

Nero Wolfe: William Conrad

Archie Goodwin: Lee Horsley

Fritz Brenner (cook): George Voskovec

Inspector Cramer: Allan Miller

Saul Panzer: George Wyner

Pete Drossos: David Hollander

Mrs. Drossos (Pete's mom): Rhoda Gemignani

Laura Fromm: Penelope Windust 

Jean Etsey: Carlene Watkins

Angela Bell (subbing for Angela Wright from the novel): Katherine Justice

 

 

The 1981 version of the story diverges quite often from the original source novel. In the first place, Archie is not dining with Wolfe as he has a date, but after he plays his prank with Wolfe and Wolfe decides to call his bluff, he is forced to forgo the date and take notes.

The second thing is the boy is not killed. Chalk this one up to late 70's / early 80's sensibilities. You couldn't exactly have a kid die, even if it was after the family hour block of night time TV programming.

What stays the same is the appearance of Pete's mother who gives Wolfe the money Pete had (which, this being 1980 instead of 1953, is actually a bit more than the $4.30 from the novel),  and gives him the message that Pete asked Wolfe to find out who ran him over. And Laura Fromm does show up. And she is indeed exposed as a fraud.

Of course, it goes without saying, that any of the subplot involving attempts to remove Pete from the land of the living after the accident are not a part of the original novel, including a scene where a hit man from New York who had been hired by someone as yet unknown in the timeline of the story. The same hitman tried to take Archie out of the picture by wiring his car to explode. Needless to say, there was not hitman in the original novel.

Being that this novel had to be condensed to accommodate the 50 minute running time, there were several subplots that had to be left by the wayside. For one, most of the scenes involving the small time hoodlums were left by the curb. And those that were included had to leave out the characters of Fred Durkin and Orrie Cather. Saul Panzer filled in most of those other two roles in his own story line with the undercover operation he was conducting.

At least they didn't change the ultimate reveal of the criminal murderer. But one other point, one that might disturb people who insist on their favorite characters being consistent with the ones in print, is the fact that Nero Wolfe, who almost NEVER left the house, and when he did it was almost always in the company of his legman Archie, leaves to visit the boy in the hospital. Although we don't actually see him in the hospital, it is implied that he WAS there.

This particular episode, being ostensibly a translation to film of a bona fide story in the Nero Wolfe canon, is a little frustrating for someone, like me, who objects to changes in the story. The TV version only bears some resemblance to the original novel, and there are enough alterations that, while entertaining in it's own right, come off more like one of those older radio shows: i.e. based on the characters of Rex Stout's creation, but not entirely consistent. 

The series only lasted one season, and of the 14 episodes in the run, 6 of them were original stories (that is, not based on any specific story in the canon. Of the remaing 12 stories, all of them ostensibly based on Stout

Nero Wolfe The Golden Spiders (air date Mar. 5, 2000):

Cast members: 

Nero Wolfe: Maury Chaykin

Archie Goodwin: Timothy Hutton

Fritz Brenner (cook): Colin Fox

Inspector Cramer: Bill Smitrovich

Saul Panzer: Saul Rubinek

Pete Drossos: Robert Clark

Mrs. Drossos (Pete's mom): Nancy Beatty

Laura Fromm: Mimi Kuzyk

Jean Etsey: Larissa Laskin

Angela Wright: Nicky Guadagni

Orrie Cather: Trent McMullen

Fred Durkin: Fulvio Cecere

 

Being that there was a lot more time to develop the story (the running time of a typical episode of the series ran anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours), the episode based on The Golden Spiders could spend a lot more time fleshing out characters. Not only that,  but the producers were more faithful to the original source. Typically if any changes were made, they usually consisted of condensing the scenes to make them more manageable (as would be the case if they were filming a major story for theater release.)

The best part of this and some of the other episodes in the series was that they had decided at the outset to keep the episodes firmly entrenched in the 1940's. You won't see a cell phone or a computer, or for that matter, a car on the road that is not a 40's or earlier model. 

The stories that Rex Stout wrote ran from the 30's into the 70's, and although the other kept them more or less current with the times, they never aged. So in 1934, Archie was about 30 and Nero was about 50, and in 1975, Archie was about 30 and Nero was about 50. Same with the TV series. 

The interesting facts to pint out are: Since this was basically just a one-off  film with as yet no plans to develop a series, you may notice a few things. For one, the character of Saul Panzer was played by Saul Rubinek, but when the series moved forward, Rubinek was cast as Archie's newspaper contact, Lon Cohen, and the Panzer role was taken over by Conrad Dunn.

Most of the TV series actors, other than the ones playing main characters are not here. Did you know the TV series was basically run as a touring company type of show? Meaning many actors were recycled into various roles throughout the series, much like a traveling Shakespeare touring company, also referred to elsewhere as an "ensemble cast".

As stated earlier in this post, one of the things I admire about this episode is that the producers didn't shy away from pointing out that the young boy Pete Drossos was killed. Apparently 20 years since the 1981 TV show, they thought the audience could handle such a drastic event. To be honest, I really couldn't find ANY drastic changes to the script. Those few that did occur are so minimal that only a nit-picker could grouse about them.

As I stated in a previous blog entry on the overall series, The Big Bad Wolfe, this series is well worth checking out. 

Until next time, drive safely folks.

Quiggy

 

Christmas with the Nerds

 

 

 

 

A favorite TV show of mine was The Big Bang Theory. The show centered around a group of four friends who, unlike most TV sitcoms, were a cut above the norm, intellectually speaking. The shows main stars were Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), a Ph.D. in experimental physics, and his friend/roommate Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), a Ph.D. in theoretical physics. Rounding out the quartet of friends was Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar), a Ph.D. in astophysics, and the "dumb bunny" of the group,  Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg), who only has a Master's Degree (in aerospace engineering).

 

One of the more admirable aspects of the show, in my opinion, was the casting of those last two. Raj, who is from India, was actually played by a real Indian actor and Howard, who is Jewish, was played by an actor who was from a Jewish background. Too often, especially in early TV, you were expected to believe that a white Anglo Saxon actor was really of some foreign extraction. This made the characters seem more believable. 

In the first couple of seasons it was just these four along with a new neighbor that moved in to the apartment next door, Penny (Kaley Cuoco). Added to this crew in later seasons was a wife for Howard, Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) and a girlfriend for Sheldon, Any (Miyam Bialik). In addition a relationship would develop between Leonard and Penny. Raj, on the other hand was usually the odd man out, as he had even more trouble connecting with members of the opposite sex than the rest of the nerds.

This set up the second episode I will discuss in this piece. 

But the first one I am discussing, called The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis, which was actually a second season episode, was actually the first Christmas episode of the series, and one of my favorites. There are three separate story lines here that are connected as can only happen in the sitcom world. The first is: a highly lauded and very very intelligent fellow professor, David Underhill (Michael Trucco), asks Leonard for help in the university lab for an experiment he is conducting. Leonard is overwhelmed by this, experiencing what may be called a "bromance" with David.

 

But the bromance becomes seriously undermined when David meets Leonard's neighbor, Penny, and starts to spend more time with her than he does with Leonard.  The reasons are actually two-fold, because Leonard has had a crush on Penny since the day she first moved into the building and sees David as an interloper. Not to worry, though, because as per Penny's usual success with long term relationships with guys, it turns out that David is actually married.

 

The second part of the episode involves Sheldon, who is distraught to find out that Penny has bought him a Christmas present. Rather than being receptive to the spirit of Christmas, Sheldon has long dismissed Christmas as a church adaptation of a pagan ritual, neither of which he is very receptive. But to complicate matters, he now feels obligated to buy Penny a present. Having no clue what women would even consider a good present, he goes with Howard and Raj to a knockoff Bed, Bath and Beyond store. But even then he has trouble deciding which of the gift baskets to buy, not wanting to be seen as buying something way to cheap by comparison, or way too expensive.

 

So his solution is to buy several baskets, then after opening Penny's present, retrieve the one closest to value to her gift, and then return the others for a refund. But Penny's gift is just a napkin from the Cheesecake Factory where she works... Ah, but there's a twist! The napkin is signed by Leonard Nimoy, who we all know was Spock on Star Trek. Not only that, but Nimoy wiped his mouth on the napkin before signing it, so it contains DNA from Nimoy himself. And Sheldon enthuses he could grow his own Leonard Nimoy from it.  (Note:  I have since seen an article that states you couldn't get reliable usable DNA from spit, but that doesn't detract from the story). Sheldon is overwhelmed and gives Penny ALL the gift baskets, as well as hugs her (and that is impressive in itself, since Sheldon probably only hugs about 3 or 4 people during the entire run of the show...)

 

The second episode covered here was a sixth season episode, titled The Santa Simulation. In the beginning Leonard (who is now in a relationship with Penny), Howard (who is now married to Bernadette) and Sheldon (who is ostensibly in a relationship with Amy) explain to their respective paramours that they are going to be playing a game of Dungeons and Dragons that night and that none of the ladies can come, because it is a guys only affair.

 

In a sort of retaliation, Penny and Bernadette and Amy plan a girls night out, complete with seductive dresses which they flaunt to their guys before they go out.

 

 

Meanwhile, during the D&D  game, a game that Dungeon Master Leonard has designed with an overt Christmas theme, has the boys on a quest to rescue Santa Claus from a bloodthirsty band of ogres. Overly enthusiastic Raj, in character, bursts into a room that is trapped, without checking beforehand for traps... something you should never do in a D&D game... even I know that, Raj... Raj's character dies and he appears to be doomed to be sidelined for the rest of the night.  But the girls come along with their taunting technique. And graciously allow Raj to accompany them on their "girl's night out".

 

Now, the scenes with Raj and the girls in the bar somewhat detract from the better part of the two-fold story line. Raj, as per usual, strikes out, and laments that the one's he is attarcted to always seem to be out of his reach. The girls try to help out getting Raj hooked up but have no more success than he does on his own.

Meanwhile, back in the apartment at the D&D game, the crew discover they have to use a variety of Christmas themed songs, including Sheldon insisting that they sing all four verses of Good King Wenceslas and having to play Jingle Bells on some bells to get a secret door to open. In the room beyond the door they find Santa Claus chained to a wall. But Sheldon throws a monkey wrench into the operation by throwing the key to free Santa into a chasm. He then relates why he hates Santa. It seems one year, when he was a young boy, he had asked Santa to bring his grandfather back, who had just recently died. And, of course, since Santa could not perform that miracle, Sheldon has harbored a resentment against him.

 

The denouement finds Sheldon waking up early Christmas to find Santa in his apartment. And Santa shoots him with a cannon for leaving him to be mauled and eaten by ogres in the D&D game. Then Sheldon wakes up from his nightmare. (Or was the whole episode part of his nightmare...?)

 

Big Bang Theory lasted 12 seasons. How much longer it might have gone on is a matter of conjecture. It wasn't declining in ratings numbers by the end of season 12. The main reason for the end was the fact that it's main star, Jim Parsons as Sheldon, had decided he wanted to move on. The character of Sheldon was an integral part of the series and the producers decided that, rather than recasting the part or developing a new character (both of which would probably have had a negative impact, if past history of television shows is any indication) , they would decide to just end the show. One of the more interesting developments in the final season was that the apartment elevator, which had been out of order since the beginning of the series, was finally repaired. It only took them 16 years. (It had been broken for 4 years by the time the series started...)

Well, Merry Christmas to all.

 

Quiggy 

 

Green Holidaze

 

Yes, folks it's yet another Christmas entry (And you say: "Bah! Humbug! It's not even Halloween yet!").

 

OK, I'll concede to the Scrooge-y outcry. You want Halloween, you say? Bet you weren't expecting this...

 

In 1977 the television animation studios at ABC presented the world with what amounts to a prequel to the classic 1966 Christmas tradition of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Titled Halloween is Grinch Night, it was presented to the public on October 28 of that year, and quickly became a Halloween holiday tradition, much in the same way that it's predecessor did as a Christmas tradition.

 

What's that, you say? This never became a Halloween tradition? Hmm... What a shame! Maybe the ill sweet sour winds were blowing in the wrong direction. 

 

OK, I'll be honest. Although I was alive, and in my late teens, when this cartoon hit the airwaves, I don't recall having ever seen it. In fact, until I ran across a DVD collection called Dr. Suess's Holidays on the Loose, I wasn't even aware that it even existed. (Just a note: You never know what you'll find in those garage sales and resale barns. I paid $2 for this, but I would have never even thought to look for it...)

 

 

 

 

The DVD also includes another Grinch cartoon that I never heard of, this one brought out in 1982. It's called The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat. But in the case of that one, I have an excuse for not even noticing it. It first aired in May of 1982. At that time I was in college and wouldn't have been caught dead watching a kiddie cartoon show.  Besides, at that time I had a job throwing a newspaper route, and was probably asleep so I could be prepared for my job at midnight.

 

Of course, nowadays I wouldn't be so dismissive of children's fare. Possibly because at my age I am looking back at a long life, and regretting that period of my life when I didn't have a childlike innocence and missed out on some fairly good stuff in retrospect. Just for instance: In my 20's, an animated film would have been the LAST choice I would make in picking my weekly theater experience. But just look at what I missed out on during that period: The Black Cauldron, Labyrinth, The Last Unicorn, The Never-Ending Story, The Secret of N.I.M.H., every Muppet movie until  The Muppet Christmas Carol (and I only went to that one because the Dickens story is one of my favorite stories). All of those I have since watched and found entertaining.

 

Dr. Suess had been around for decades prior to the first television cartoon adaptation of his work, the now famous How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but with the exception of a few Private Snafu animated shorts released in theaters during WWII, his work was hardly every translated to film. But after the Grinch a succession of Suess inspired cartoons were made for TV, including Horton Hears a Who, The Cat in the Hat and The Lorax. And you are probably already aware of the full length movies released in theaters in recent years that include the Jim Carrey version of the Grinch story and the Mike Myers version of the Cat in the Hat. (I'm still waiting for a film version of "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins", BTW, if anyone in Hollywood is checking out this blog...) 

 

Firstly, just to appease the Grinchier crowd who might be objecting to an early Christmas entry...

 

 

 

Halloween is Grinch Night (1977):

 

 

 

 

Things look pleasant in Whoville, But Josiah (Hal Smith; "Otis" from The Andy Griffith Show) smells a "sweet sour wind" in the air. He gets his wife, Mariah (Irene Tedrow; Mrs. Elkins on Dennis the Menace) to double check, and sure enough, the wind has that sweet sour smell.  That means the local Grunker's Pond will be disturbed, awakening the gree-grumps, who will begin to howl. That will make the hakken-krakks star to yowl.

 

 

 

That can only mean one thing. The villainous Grinch (Hans Conried), who lives on the nearby Mount Crumpit will be lurking about, because it is now Grinch night. The Whos in Whoville scurry inside and lock the doors and windows, and they won't go outside... not even for $1.50... The whole town keeps an ear to the radio for the coming on the Grinch, as posted by Sgt, MacPherson (Jack DeLeon; who was memorable as one of the first openly gay characters on TV, Marty in Barney Miller ), who acts a weather broadcaster, only in this case, the watchful eye of the ill wind of the Grinch.

 

 

 

The Grinch, on the other hand, is ecstatic because it's his night to howl. He loads up his wagon, puts his poor dog Max on the reigns, and begins his descent on Whoville where he plans to have a big party in the Whoville town hall.  He will be the guest attendee.  Really, he will be the ONLY attendee...

 

 

 

Poor Max bemoans the lost childhood he had and his fate at being a slave to the Grinch, but he really has no choice.   As the Grinch begins his ascent to Whoville, Euchariah (Gary Shapiro), the young son of Josiah and Mariah, suddenly realizes he needs to go to the "euphemism" (Really. That's what they call it. Cover your eyes, ye easily shocked readers, because it means he needs to go to the...  outhouse...)

 

 

 

The wind, however, is really strong, and despite his struggle to get there he is blown off course, and ends up om Mount Crumpit, the home of the Grinch.  Euchariah runs into the Grinch and bravely stands up to him, but the Grinch is dismissive of such a small foe. He gives Euchariah the discount store scare and figures that is that.

 

 

 

But Euchariah decides that the only way to save the town from the Grinch is by his own work.  He stands up to the Grinch and basically dares the Grinch to do his best at scaring him.  The Grinch, who is not one to back down from a challenge, proceeds to throw everything he can at young Euchariah. 

 

 

 

Unfortunately for the Grinch, young Euchariah is determined, and despite all the spooks and monsters the Grinch throws at him, he bravely endures. And just long enough, too, because the sweet sour wind of Grinch night dies down, which is basically the death knell on the Grinch's activities for the night. He turns his cart around to make the trek back up the mountain, promising he will be even worse on the next Grinch Night. But his dog, Max, deserts him and becomes the dog of his new master, Euchariah.

 

Hans Conried had to fill in for Boris Karloff as the voice of the Grinch, since Karloff had passed away by the time this prequel was made. He does a passable job of it, but it's not quite the sinister twang that the legendary icon put on the original. But hey, nobody lives forever. It was bound to happen. Fortunately the fantastic deep bass singer, Thurl Ravenscroft, was still around to do the musical parts of the Grinch story.  

 

Just one note here, story-wise: This is supposed to be taking place before the events of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Yet in that later story the Grinch has Max back in his lair. Did the dog decide that life in Whoville was too sedate and return to the Grinch? Or maybe sometime in between the Grinch managed to rope in another dog...  

 

Halloween is Grinch Night won the 1978 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program, beating out, among others, The Fat Albert Christmas Special. 

 

OK, you Ebenezers... happy now? 

 

What? Still not ready for cheer and eggnog? OK. I'll play along for now. The second feature on this DVD is:

 

 

 

 

The Grinch Grinches The Cat in the Hat (1982):

 

 

 

This piece (probably) comes after the transformation of the Grinch into a happy carefree figure he became at the end of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, because the sun rises and the Grinch (Bob Holt) is smiling and laughing. Even Max is a little wary, but apparently the afterglow of the events in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (see below) he is a new character.

 

The first thing that comes into play in this piece by the way is the fact that the narrator is none other than Mason Adams. (Adams may not have been a dynamic actor on screen (IMDb only credits him with 77 appearances), but as a voice actor, for me, it's always a treat to hear him. He did narration and voice over credits throughout his career.)  

 

But' in the Grinch's lair, his reflection in the mirror is not so ready and willing to accept this transformation. The mirror image reminds the Grinch of his venomous nature and makes him repeat the "Grinch Oath". With the Grinch apparently saved from a life of charity and goodwill, he leaves the house to find something dastardly to do to prove his Grinch-i-ness.

 

 

 

On the other side of town, the Cat in the Hat (also voiced by Mason Adams) has decided it's such a nice day he is going on a picnic. Unfortunately for him however, he fails to pull his car completely off the road. And the Grinch comes along and hits it.  Of course, the Grinch blames the Cat in the Hat and has a few choice words for him. But the Cat in the Hat, if anything, is accommodating and apologizes.

 

 

But the Grinch isn't going to let it go with just some wimpy apology. Can you say "road rage"? Eventually the Cat in the Hat arrives safely at his own home, but that's not the end of it. In a series of illustrations as to how letting it go and getting over it is the right way of reacting and an endless series of attempts to get revenge is the wrong way, the Grinch errs of the wrong side several times.

 

One way is he has developed a device which distorts sound within a radius, and pointing it at the Cat in the Hat and his surroundings causes confusion. In essence, whenever anyone or anything makes any kind of noise within it's radius, it comes out as gobbledygook. But it doesn't stop there. Because the Cat in the Hat is not turning into the raging antagonist that the Grinch seems to expect.

 

So the Grinch amps it up. He has a device he calls a "darkhouse". It's like a lighthouse, except in reverse.  It casts a shadow of darkness wherever it is pointed. 

 

 

 

This still isn't getting the results so the Grinch casts a pink glow which causes, among other things, to make food look really unappetizing.

 

The Cat in the Hat has an imaginary thought bubble psychiatric session with the Grinch, trying to figure out what makes him tick and why he's so mean-spirited. 

 

 

 

And during this imaginary session a thread of hope comes out. The Grinch really loves his mother, which eventually leads to the denouement. as patrons at the restaurant where the Cat in the Hat was dining when the Grinch used his pink ray all band together to go to the Grinch's house and serenade him with a song about Mom.

 

 

 

The Grinch becomes teary-eyed and sentimental once again. And when the mirror refection tries to entice him back to his Grinch side, Max points the noise disrupting ray at it and it starts spouting gobbledygook.

 

This production was also awarded a Primetime Emmy award, beating out not just one, but two each, of Charlie Brown and the Smurfs cartoon specials. 

 

OK. Now can I do my Christmas theme?  

 

 

How the Grinch Stole Christmas  (1966):

 

 

 

This is the one cartoon that I will make a point to watch every year. I was a wee lad, not even yet 5 when I first saw it. I probably watched it every year until I was well into my 20's, after which it was only if the broadcast was convenient for my work schedule, since I often had a night time job. But somewhere in my late 30's I was able to jump back on board with making it an annual tradition.

 

"Fa-who for-aze! Da-who dor-aze!  Welcome Christmas bring your light!

Fa-who for-aze! Da-who dor-aze!  Welcome in the cold, dark night!

Welcome Christmas, fa-who ra-mooze!  Welcome Christmas, da-who da-mooze!

Welcome Christmas, while we stand, heart to heart, and hand in hand!

Trim up the tree with Christmas stuff, like bingle balls and whofoo fluff!

Trim up the tree with goowho gums, and bizelbix and wums!

Trim every blessed window, and trim every blessed door!

Hang up who boo hoo bricks, then run out and get some more!

Hang pantookas on the ceiling. pile panfoolas on the floor!

Trim every blessed needle on the blessed Christmas tree!

Christmas comes tomorrow! Trim you! Trim me!

Trim up the tree with fuzzle fuzz and blipper bloos and wuzzle wuzz!

Trim up your uncle and your aunt with yards of who faunt flant!!!"

 

 

 

The Whos down in Whoville absolutely love Christmas. What joy! What fun! Singing an dancing and Christmas fun! And then there's the toys! All the kids get to enjoy their new found toys and make such noise!

 

Noise! Noise! Noise! That's the one thing that the Grinch, who lives just north of Whoville hates the most. (And just out of curiosity, what is it about the "north" that causes such animosity in these tales. It seems to me that every villainous sort of character in these tales happens to live in the north part of the region...)

 

 

 

Anyway, the Grinch hates all the goody good Whos down in Whoville and their overbearing happiness and good cheer. And most annoying is the Christmas season, when that "good nature attitude" comes out in waves of cheer and good will. But what can he do, it's just going to happen, and that's a part of life.

 

But maybe  not this year.  Maybe, just maybe, the Grinch can pull off a feat of such transcending evil that the Whos will transform from their happy-go-lucky selves into wailing and bemoaning spirits, and that would please the Grinch to no end. 

 

 

 

So what is his plan? He will dress up as Santa Claus and sneak into town while all the Whos in Whoville are asleep and steal every present, every tree, every decoration, and even all the Christmas dinner and just sit back and watch the fun as the Whos discover that there won't be a Christmas in Whoville this year after all.

 

 

 

"You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch, you really are a heel!
You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel! 

Mr. Grinch!
You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel!

You're a monster, Mr. Grinch, your heart's an empty hole!
Your brain is full of spiders, you've got garlic in your soul! 

Mr. Grinch!
I wouldn't touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!

You're a vile one, Mr. Grinch, you have termites in your smile!
You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile! 

Mr. Grinch!
Given the choice between the two of you, I'd take the seasick crocodile!

You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch, you're a nasty wasty skunk!
Your heart is full of unwashed socks, your soul is full of gunk!

Mr. Grinch.
The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote: "Stink! Stank! Stunk!"

You're a rotter, Mr. Grinch, you're the king of sinful sots!
Your heart's a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots!

Mr. Grinch.
Your soul is an appalling dump heap, overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable... mangled up in tangled up knots!

You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch, with a nauseous super "naus!"
You're a crooked dirty jockey, and you drive a crooked hoss! 

Mr. Grinch!
You're a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich, with arsenic sauce!"

 

Note: I really don't understand why the Grinch had to dress up as Santa if he expected to be able to get in and out of Whoville undetected. Of course, as we will see, that Santa outfit did come in handy after all. For, while he is busy trying to stuff a Christmas tree up the chimney, a little who, Cindy Lou Who, who was no more than two, wakes up and catches him in the act, and he has to pretend he is Santa and that he is taking the tree back to his workshop to fix a glitch with the Christmas lights on it.

 

 

 

Once the Grinch succeeds in his nefarious plan he heads back to his cave on Mount Crumpit and deliciously anticipates the cries and wails of the lost season down in Whoville. But to his amazement the Whos come out singing and generally expressing joy. Without presents. Without decorations. Without even the Christmas feast. And the Grinch realizes that the Christmas spirit comes from somewhere else, not the things that can be had by the physical realm, but from somewhere deep in the heart. And the Grinch himself has a change of heart, and returns the gifts, and becomes the leader of all the good will that Whoville has to offer.

 

 

 

Outside of Boris Karloff as the narrator and the voice of the Grinch, no one received any credit for their role. Specifically, the classic "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was actually sung by Thurl Ravenscroft, who's big claim to fame at the time was as the voice of Tony the Tiger in Frosted Flakes commercials. ("They're GREEEAT!") Also missing was the credit for the one vocal that was NOT Karloff, that of Cindy Lou Who, who was actually voiced by June Foray.

 

How the Grinch Stole Christmas is the only one of these three that was not in the running for an Emmy for children's program the following awards year. Just to clarify, a 1966 filming of the Jack in the Beanstalk was the winner, beating out, among others, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. But in retrospect, in later years it has been awarded it's own heritage in standing. In 2004 a list by TV Guide named it #1 out of the 10 Best Holiday Specials.  (A Charlie Brown Christmas came in second.)

 

Rejoice, ye Ebenezers. It will be after Halloween before the next Christmas themed entry comes your way. Still before Thanksgiving, true, but you gotta take your pleasures where you can find them... (And since today is Halloween, theoretically the next one could be tomorrow...)

 

Quiggy 

 

 

 

 

  

October 10, 1962: The Date That Changed the World

 

Once again, I am finally getting around to a project that I had intended to do 3 years ago.  As with my post Dec 11, 1961, which I initially wanted to post in 2020 for my 60th birthday, I had intended to do another post for my sister the following year for her 60th birthday, this time picking a schedule of shows which appeared on TV the night she was born. In this case I queried her about the choices, since it was intended as a birthday present, so I wanted the shows to be the ones she would have liked to see.

Her tastes being a bit more sedate than mine, for the most part, since she likes old TV westerns and dramas. Unfortunately, in order to stick to the theme, that is, the schedule actually had to be feasible to watch in one night, I couldn't give her an entire night of TV westerns. (To wit, both Wagon Train and The Virginian aired episodes that night, but they were on at the same time.) But for the most part, this is her selection for that night. Once again I am making use of a website that lists the night's available broadcast schedule:

October 10, 1962

 

And since by the time she was born our parents were living in Texas, the following listings are in Central Standard Time (as opposed to EST, which I used in my own birthday post).

A brief spoiler alert!  I tell the plot of the whole episode in the following encapsulations of each TV show. You can still watch the shows, they are all watchable, but if you want to go through the list and find the episodes and watch them first, I'll still be here when you get back.

As with my post last year for my own birthday TV night, I am endeavoring to post a link to a place where you can watch the episode, always assuming someone hasn't removed it from the internet. 

 

TV Night at Karen's House: October 10, 1962:

 

 

7:00 PM: The Virginian: ("The Big Deal")

(Note: Unfortunately there is no YouTube link to this episode, but I found a Daily Motion link, albeit divided into two parts.) 

The Big Deal (pt. 1)

The Big Deal (pt. 2) 

 

Background: The Virginian was a TV series that was based on a movie, which in turn was based on a novel by a guy named Owen Wister. As with the book and the movie, the main character in the TV show was known only as "The Virginian". Even his friends address him as "Virginian". You can see this crop up occasionally in movies, although in most other cases the character actually has a name given during the course of the plot, even if everybody addresses them by the nickname. (See James Caan's character "Mississippi" in the movie El Dorado. The character actually has a name, "Alan Traherne", but nobody calls him that, not even himself.) The Virginian (James Drury) is the head honcho on a ranch owned by Judge Garth (Lee J. Cobb). The Virginian's main cohort in running the ranch is Trampas (Doug McClure). The show is a typical 60's era western with lots of moral dilemmas solved, along with the occasional gun play that can be found in such series.

 

In "The Big Deal", Judge Garth is faced with a dilemma.  He owns much of the land that he runs his cattle on, but one section he has only been leasing, because it is owned by a South American (Columbia) entrepreneur. The entrepreneur has since died, and his son Enrique Cuellar (Ricardo Montalban) has come to Wyoming to negotiate a sale of the land, as he is not interested in continuing the lease.

Cuellar ingratiates himself with several of the women in town, including newspaperwoman Molly Wood (Pippa Scott) and Garth's daughter, Betsy (Roberta Shore), but he has some trouble making fast friends with male members, including Trampas who just doesn't trust him. Maybe Trampas has a clue on the nature of Cuellar...

Because when the chips are down, Cuellar tells the Judge to make him an offer on his land.  The Judge offers a tentative amount of $5000, but Cuellar counters him with an offer of his own, $100,000, which apparently is more than it would cost to buy the whole state of Wyoming, considering the Judge's reaction. The Judge rejects Cuellar exorbitant price.

 The Judge tells his men to move the cattle off the meadow where they are grazing back to the base farm area. Unfortunately that requires that he pass through Cuellar's land. And since Garth is not only NOT the owner and no longer has a valid lease for use of it, he is trespassing. 

 

Cuellar objects, but the Judge tells him he will have to wait six days for a circuit judge to come through and issue a restraining order to make him cease and desist. So it comes back down to a battle of wills, and although the Judge is a bullheaded type, Cuellar may just be a bit stronger in that department.  Cuellar makes several attempts to get his point across, including stringing up some barbed wire across his section of the land.

The whole thing ends in rather maudlin fashion (not surprising since this is a 60's idealistic vision of the west) as Betsy gets caught up in the barbed wire and is badly hurt.  There of course are no bad effects from this, and the two combatants come to an agreement amicably. I gotta say it just seemed to schmaltzy an ending for my tastes however. 

Also, after watching a few episodes of the show, I have no love for the Judge character. He is kind of a jerk. But he is the money man in town so everyone seems to kowtow to him. But that's just my opinion. 

 

8:00 PM: The Beverly Hillbillies ("Meanwhile, Back at the Cabin")

 

 

Background: The premise of The Beverly Hillbillies is thus: Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen), a backwoodsman in the Ozark Mountains region of Missouri discovers oil on his property. As a result he is encouraged to move to the Beverly Hills area of California, because after all, you can't live in the backwoods of Missouri if you worth millions of dollars... The rest of the Clampett clan that moves with him are his daughter, Elly Mae (Donna Douglas), his mother-in-law, Granny (Irene Ryan) and his nephew, Jethro (Max Baer, Jr.). The TV show involved a repetitive series of "fish out of water" vignettes, as the clueless Clampetts and the snobbish elite in Beverly Hills clash. 

 

In the first season we get to witness the arrival of the Clampetts in Beverly Hills, The third episode of the series involves establishing the "fish out of water" theme that would make the series popular during it's initial run, as well as that "meanwhile, back at the cabin...: portion. 

In the scenes that take place at the new mansion that the Clampetts have begun their occupation, they are still set in the mindset of life back in the hills. Among the vignettes, we are treated to Granny washing clothes in a tub on the lawn and hanging them out to dry on a clothesline, even though the mansion is probably equipped with one of those "new-fangled" electric washer and dryer contraptions. We also get to see Ellie may take a bath in a wooden washtub set up in the kitchen, with bath water hauled in from the "cement pond" out back (that is a swimming pool to you and me...) 

Jethro gets himself a new girlfriend in the form of Miss Hathaway (Nancy Culp), the secretary for Mr, Drysdale ( Raymond Bailey), the executive at the Clampetts' bank. Miss Hathaway has made it her goal to refine Ellie Mae into debutante material, including getting her to dress up in fancy dresses (ye, gods!). And Ellie Mae thinks a bra that Miss Hathaway brought is some kind of a fancy slingshot, further showcasing the tomboy nature of the young girl.  And Miss Hathaway is shocked to find out that Ellie Mae is still bathing in a wooden tub, despite the fact that there are several bathrooms upstairs.  (The Clampetts think all those rooms upstairs belong to other residents in the mansion.)

 

"Meanwhile, back at the cabin", Jed's cousin, Pearl (Bea Benaderet) is taking care of the cabin for Jed for when he returns. In the process, she meets Mr. Brewster (Frank Wilcox) who has come to tell Pearl that her cousin and his family are safe in their new digs. Pearl, being the essence of a man hunting female looking for a new beau tries to put the charm on Mr. Brewster. When Mr. Brewster wants to call the Clampetts he finds out the nearest phone is actually some 40 miles away.  Pearl offers to help him find the phone, but ends up taking him 60 miles out of the way, and then suggests that they might as well go on to Beverly Hills by car. 

 

This episode, although basically just establishing the naivete of the mountain folks in their new roles as members of high society, is an example of the kind of episodes the entire series would promote. The show lasted for 9 seasons, but by the end of it's last season it proved to be losing it's connection with the public at large.  It was cancelled in favor of the pressure by the studio brass to transition to more urban connections. Pat Buttram, a star on another rural series, Green Acres, is quoted as saying that 1971 was "the year that CBS cancelled everything with a tree- including Lassie." The Beverly Hillbillies would be replaced by the likes of All in the Family, Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and Cannon, as well as a few that wouldn't even last the next season. But that was pretty much it for the theme of rural comedy, for a while at least.

 

8:30 PM The Dick van Dyke Show ("The Attempted Marriage"):

 

 

 

Background: The premise of The Dick van Dyke Show centered around Rob Petrie (Dick van Dyke), who was a comedy writer for a fictional variety show called "The Alan Brady Show". Working with Rob were two other comedy writers, Sally Rogers (Rose Marie) and Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam). Some of the sketches centered on them and their interactions at work, while others centered on his home life with his wife. Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) and their son, Ritchie (Larry Matthews). Also making appearances were Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon), the producer of The Alan Brady Show, and occasionally Carl Reiner as the titular star of the fictional TV series, Alan Brady.

 

In "The Attempted Marriage" Ritchie wakes Rob, who is trying desperately to sleep in on his day off. What Ritchie wants is for Rob to read him the inscription on a platter that he, Ritchie, found while tooling around in the basement (because there's nothing good on TV).  The platter, it turns out was a wedding gift from his platoon to Rob and Laura after they got married.

This inspires Ritchie to inquire about the circumstances of how they actually got married. It turns out there were a few problems on the way to the altar. (You didn't think the title "The Attempted Marriage" was just a misprint, did you?)

 

The first thing is that Rob shuffles and stumbles in his proposal, and is surprised when Laura says "Yes". He actually expected her to reject him... But plans are made to get married that Sunday. (What, no wedding plans that extend for a few months?) Later, on the day of the marriage, Rob sits in the jeep at their site where he proposed, having second thoughts and trying, but failing, to talk himself out of it. 

Eventually he comes to his senses, but the jeep is not cooperating with him. He decides he is going to run to the chapel. Except he ends up spraining his ankle. And with less than 10 minutes to get to the chapel, and him being an hour away (now more like two hours, since he is going to have to hop there). Of course, when he gets there the wedding party is long gone.  And Laura thinks Rob stood her up for his own marriage.

He convinces her that he sincerely does want to get married and they arrange to do it the next Sunday. But Rob, after getting himself checked out by the Army doctor, finds out that he has a virus and the doctor wants to quarantine him for a week. (Maybe this whole "get married on a Sunday" is a bad idea?  Why not try for a Wednesday...)

Of course, the doctor is insisting on the quarantine against the objections of Rob, who rightly so figures that this delay might be the straw that breaks the camel's back on his impending marriage and relationship with Laura, so he tries to duck out.  But at the church he collapses.  Thus instead of a marriage in a church, Rob and Laura do get married, only in a hospital room.

Ritchie professes his gratitude that they finally did get married, otherwise he wouldn't have been born (at least not while we are entrenched in the conservative 60's TV world..), and thus he would have missed out on his favorite TV shows. 

The Dick van Dyke Show, in my humble opinion, was better when it centered on relationships at work. Neither Sally, Buddy or Mel appear in this episode, so the interaction with his co-workers is on hiatus. But it does have quite a bit of the physical comedy for which the show was famous.  Van Dyke was a great physical comedian in his early career.  (He is still alive as of this writing, and will celebrate his 100th birthday in December). 

 

 

9:00 PM Naked City ("And by the Sweat of Thy Brow"): 

Background: Naked City was a police procedural drama. The police crime show has been a fixture on TV, and radio before it, since the inception of the media. Some have had an everlasting impact on the culture (who hasn't ever heard of Dragnet, with the iconic Jack Webb?) Naked City may not be one the most memorable of the genre, but it ran for 4 seasons. It featured several different lineups over the years, mainly attempts to try to get the public interest going, although in one case, an actor quit the show because he didn't like having to travel all the time to NYC, where the show was filmed. (The show centered around a NYC police precinct, and was filmed there, apparently mostly for authenticity). 

 

One of the things of interest to the modern viewer is the raft of then unknowns who appeared on the show, "before they were famous". (Martin Sheen, for instance, appears in this episode, although he is uncredited... and it's one of those "blink and you'll miss him" appearances... he has one line, and is only on camera for about 15 seconds. The rest of the scene is focused on the other two characters in the scene.)

The scene opens with a guy skimming across rooftops where he is stealing the money left out for milk deliveries. Later identified as Jonah (Richard Jordan in his first role), he catches another guy attempting to perform a purse snatch. The woman, Sarah (Barbara Barrie), is overwhelmed until Jonah swoops in and rescues her.  But he doesn't want to hang around for the thanks she has to give 

The police are looking for the purse snatcher and eventually come across a man (David Clarke). The man identifies Jonah as the one who was the purse snatcher and seemingly draws their attention away from him, when in fact he was the attacker.  The police focus on finding Sarah so she can identify him, but are also looking for the other guy, Jonah.

Meanwhile Sarah seeks out Jonah, trying to draw him out of hiding.  Jonah is friendly with her, but is reluctant to come out into the light.  The reason for this is he suffered from a disfigurement earlier in his life and because he considers himself hideous, stays in the shadows. 

But, as so often happens in these kinds of stories, she eventually draws him out.  And the police find Jonah and bring him in.  But when two other victims of the purse snatcher identify the other man as the guilty one, they let Jonah go. Detective Adam Flint (Paul Burke) tries to help Jonah and eventually finds him a job.

Both Flint and Sarah succeed in drawing out Jonah from his reclusiveness and it appears, by the end, that a friendship (and possibly a more romantic relationship) may be on the horizon for Jonah and Sarah (who is also something of a loner).

The core of this particular episode is not so much on the police procedural as it on the acceptance of people who are different, making the difference not so important as the two major protagonists may view that difference.

Well, folks, the night's entertainment draws to a close.  Time to toddle off to bed.

 

 

Quiggy