Ado's Blog

The World's Greatest Cliff-hanger - Who Shot JR? (1980)

2012-01-31T12:50:00.000-08:00

In the final scene of the 1979–1980 season, the character J.R. Ewing played by Larry Hagman, was shot by a hidden assailant. The episode, titled "A House Divided", was broadcast on March 21, 1980. Viewers had to wait all summer and most of the autumn because of a Hollywood actors' strike (and Hagman's own holdout), to learn whether J. R. would survive, and which of his many enemies was responsible.

T-shirts printed with such references as "Who Shot J. R.?" and "I Shot J. R." became common over the summer, the latter eventually being seen in the first episode of British/Irish sitcom, Father Ted. Betting parlors worldwide took bets as to which one of the 10 or so principal characters had actually pulled the trigger. A session of the Turkish Parliament was suspended to allow legislators a chance to get home in time to view the Dallas episode. During the 1980 US Presidential Elections, the Republicans distributed campaign buttons that claimed "A Democrat shot J. R.", while Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter joked that he would have no problem financing his campaign if he knew who shot J. R. When Hagman was offered £100,000 during a British vacation for the identity of the shooter, he admitted that neither he nor anyone in the cast knew the answer.

Viewers had to wait an additional two months to find out the answer to the famous question, as a strike by the Screen Actors' Guild in July 1980 caused the production of most new network shows to be delayed by eight weeks. Ultimately, the person who pulled the trigger was revealed to be Kristin Shepard (played by Mary Crosby) in the "Who Done it" episode which aired on November 21, 1980. Kristin was J. R.'s scheming sister-in-law and mistress, who shot him in a fit of anger. J. R. didn't press charges, as Kristin claimed she was pregnant with his child as a result of their affair.

It was, at the time, the highest rated television episode in US history. It had a Neilsen rating of 53.3 and a 76% share, and it was estimated that 83,000,000 people watched the episode. The previous record for a TV episode, not counting the final installment of the miniseries Roots, had been the 1967 finale for The Fugitive. "Who Shot J. R.?" now sits third on the list, beaten in 1983 by M*A*S*H* and Super Bowl XL1V but still remains the highest rated non-finale episode of a TV series by a wide margin. In 2011, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly named the episode number one of the seven most "Unforgettable Cliff-Hangers" of prime time dramatic television.

The great success of this 1980 stunt helped popularize in the US the practice of ending a television season with a cliff-hanger. The episode also inspired a novelty record by radio personality Gary Burbank which hit the Billboard Top 100 in 1980.

The Bill star dies - Tributes paid to Colin Tarrant

2012-01-29T12:24:00.000-08:00

A Star of hit cop show "The Bill" has died after being found injured at home. Colin Tarrant, 59, played Inspector Andrew Monroe in the long-running show and was popular with fans. It was reported last night Mr Tarrant had died in a suspected suicide after being discovered with knife wounds. He had been seen performing in a number of stage shows after the police drama was axed after 2,400 episodes in 2010.

Last night actors off the show united in paying their respects to Mr Tarrant and his grief-stricken family. Writing on Twitter, Jeff Stewart - the show's PC Reg Hollis, said: "Shocked by sudden news of Colin Tarrant's death. "A lovely man who was a greatly admired colleague. RIP." And Andrew Lancel, who played DI Neil Manson, said: "Very sad to hear about Colin Tarrant. A huge part of The Bill. "We never worked together but Inspector Monroe was iconic to bill fans. RIP." Their thoughts were echoed by West End theatre producer David Pugh. He added: "Colin was a lovely man, he loved the theatre, his politics and his family. "Our hearts must go out to his son Juma, his partner Sabrina and their baby son Louis."

Radio Times Presents the Third Doctor Who! (1970)

2012-01-29T02:12:00.000-08:00

I really can not believe that it is now forty two years, but way back in January 1970 the BBC, or rather the Radio Times introduced the late, great Jon Pertwee to the world as the third incarnation of Doctor Who in the story, Spearhead from Space. Jon Pertwee turned out to be the best of all the great Doctor's incarnations. Inside there was a short introduction to the new TV season and highlights Jon Pertwee's arrival, while his inaugural episode is treated to a photograph on the listings page.

Roger Moore as Ivanhoe (1958)

2012-01-28T02:52:00.000-08:00

Long before Roger Moore found fame as Simon Templar and then James Bond the youthful actor was cast in his first television role as the dashing Knight, Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe the British television series first shown on ITV in 1958-59 a series of adventures aimed at a children's audience. It used characters drawn loosely from Sir Walter Scott's 1819 novel.

The series was set in England during the 12th century reign of King Richard the Lionheart, who had gone to fight in the crusades and failed to return. In his absence, power had been taken by his younger brother, the ambitious and wicked Prince John, who sought to strip the people of their rights and land. The dashing and heroic Knight Ivanhoe, with his father-and-son companions Gurth and Bart whom he had freed from servitude (from the evil Sir Maurice), attempted to right wrongs, secure justice, help those in need, and thwart John and his allies.

Swashbuckling adventures for a younger audience, such as The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel, The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Adventures of Sir Lancelot, were a mainstay of television programming in Britain in the mid-1950s. In December 1956, Columbia Pictures signed up Roger Moore, then working with limited success in Hollywood, to play the title role in an intended series for transmission in both America and the UK. The series was a co-production between Columbia subsidiary Screen Gems and British producer Sydney Box.

The budget was far more lavish than that of the Robin Hood series running at the time and filming started in early 1957, mostly at the ABC Studios at Elstree Studios and on location around Buckinghamshire in England, but with some shooting also taking place in California. The series premiered on ITV in January 1958, while filming continued to complete all 39 episodes through to June 1958. Although a pilot episode was filmed in colour, the series was shot in black and white. The executive producer was Peter Rogers, who shortly afterwards began producing the Carry On films. Guest stars on the series included Christopher Lee and John Schlesinger. Other supporting actors included Jon Pertwee, Paul Eddington, Leonard Sachs, Kenneth Cope and Adrienne Corri.

Moore insisted on undertaking much of the stunt work himself, resulting in several injuries including three cracked ribs from a fight scene and being knocked unconscious when a battleaxe hit his helmeted skull. Moore later commented: "I felt a complete Charlie riding around in all that armour and damned stupid plumed helmet. I felt like a medieval fireman."

The series finished when Roger Moore returned to Hollywood after Warner Brothers offered him a movie role in The Miracle.

Each episode started with the title song:

"Ivanhoe, Ivanhoe

Side by side we’re proud to ride with Ivanhoe

At his call we spring to help him ride along

The song we sing is free and joyous song

Ivanhoe, Ivanhoe

Far and wide throughout the countryside they know

There’s freedom on his banner

Justice in his sword

He rides against the manor

Where tyranny is lord

Rich and poor

Together we go

Forward with Ivanhoe

With I-van-hoe."

Each episode ends with the following song:

"Ivanhoe, Ivanhoe

To adventure, bold adventure watch him go

There's no power on earth can stop what he's begun

With Bart and Gurth, he'll fight 'till he has won

Ivanhoe, Ivanhoe

He's a friend who will defend the people's foe

He'll strike with speed like lightning bold and brave and game

In justice he is fighting to win the fairest dame.

Shout a cheer, adventure is here

Riding with Ivanhoe

With I-van-hoe."

Stacy Keach as Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer

2012-01-25T04:32:00.000-08:00

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, with Stacy Keach in the title role, was the classic television series that originally aired on CBS from January 28, 1984 to January 12, 1985. The series was 24 sixty minute episodes. The show follows the adventures of Mike Hammer, the fictitious private detective created by crime novelist Mickey Spillane, as he hunts down criminals on the mean streets of New York. While firmly situated in the 1980s, the tone of the show also incorporated elements of classic film noir detective films, such as The Maltese Falcon. For example, each show featured the protagonist's narrative voice-over and, much like the archetypal hard boiled detectives of years gone by, Hammer would rarely be seen without his wrinkled suit, fedora and trench coat. While his get-up made a particularly awkward fashion statement for the time, the juxtaposition of old and new was a central theme in the show. Indeed, Keach's Mike Hammer left the viewer with the impression that this detective had been somehow transported from a 1940s film set to 1980s New York City. The show's theme song "Harlem Nocturne" by Earle Hagen, a jazz tune featuring a deeply melancholy saxophone, set a gritty tone for each episode. The song proved to be one of the most popular elements of the program.

In contrast to the charming male leads in other popular detective shows of the day (e.g.,Remington Steele, Thomas Magnum), Mike Hammer was unapologetically masculine with little concern for political correctness. A prominent feature of most episodes was the inclusion of a number of female characters (known in casting sessions "Hammer-ettes") who would exchange a double entendre or two with Hammer while wearing very low tops and push-up bras emphasizing their ample cleavage. Hammer would regularly wind up in bed with the highly-sexualized female characters in the show, who would never fail to melt once they had fixed their eyes upon the brawny detective. The show's writers latched on to this element of clashing eras and often used it a comic relief in the show. Examples of this include Hammer's love for cigarettes being at odds with the growing social disdain for smoking and the detective's humorous inability to comprehend the youth trends of the decade.

Like its 1950s predecessor, Keach's Mike Hammer never shied away from violence. Whether it was with his fists or his trusty gun, "Betsy," a Colt Model 1911A1 .45 ACP semiautomatic pistol, which was always tucked neatly inside a leather shoulder holster worn under his suit jacket, Hammer would never fail to stop a criminal dead in his tracks. Mickey Spillane insisted that Stacy Keach carry the .45 caliber pistol in the show because that was the weapon Mike Hammer carried in all of Spillane's "Mike Hammer" mystery novels. Unlike most detective shows of the decade, the bad guys onMickey Spillane's Mike Hammer were usually killed by the protagonist by the time the closing credits rolled.

Prior to the show's debut, Keach starred as Mike Hammer in two made-for-TV movies Murder Me, Murder You (April 9, 1983) and More than Murder (January 26, 1984). Like the syndicated series, these two-hour movies were executed under the guidance of acclaimed Executive Producer Jay Bernstein.

Other actors who played prominent roles in Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer include Don Stroud as Captain Pat Chambers, Lindsay Bloom as Hammer's secretary Velda, Kent Williams as Assistant District Attorney Lawrence D. Barrington, Danny Goldman as "Ozzie the Answer", and Donna Denton as "The Face"—a beautiful and mysterious woman who Hammer would see briefly in each episode but would then vanish before he had a chance to meet her.

Production of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer was interrupted near the end of the season when Keach was arrested in England for smuggling1¼ ounces of cocaine. He was in the country filming Mistral's Daughter, a television mini series based on a novel by Judith Krantz. Keach found himself sentenced to nine months in Reading Prison but he was released after six months with time off for good behaviour.

A year later, Stacy Keach returned to his role as Hammer in the made-for-TV movie The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, which aired on April 18, 1986. Thanks to the positive reception of the movie and the tenacity of Jay Bernstein, a new Mike Hammer series, The New mike Hammer, went to air on CBS on September 27, 1986. In the new series, several recurring characters were absent and elements previously criticized as sexist were significantly downplayed—although the violence was not. The show was cancelled after one season with the final episode airing on May 21, 1989.

Keach's version of Hammer was revived with 26 more syndicated episodes produced in 1997–1998 under the title Mike Hammer, Private Eye. The revived version failed to establish wide distribution or much of an audience and was cancelled after one season.

Bernie Hamilton (1928 - 2008)

2012-01-24T03:41:00.000-08:00

Bernie Hamilton (June 12, 1928 – December 30, 2008) American Actor was born in East Los Angeles and attended Oakland Technical High School, where he first became interested in acting. In films from 1950, he laboured in bit roles for years before getting noticed in the film One Potato, Two Potato (1964), the story of an inter-racial marriage. He is best remembered for his role as the brusque, no-nonsense Captain Dobey in the classic 1970s police series Starsky and Hutch.

Bernie Hamilton was the brother of jazz drummer Chico Hamilton. Hamilton was also an impresario; since the late 1960s he had run a nightclub/art gallery called Citadel d’Haiti on Sunset Boulevard. Hamilton also produced Rhythm and Blues Gospel music recordings on his own record label called Chocolate Snowman. One of his releases featured himself, it was entitled Captain Dobey Sings the Blues.

Fred Williamson, the action star of two movies that Hamilton appeared in during the '70s -- the crime dramas "Hammer" and "Bucktown" -- has called Hamilton "an extraordinary actor." "He's a very versatile actor and never really got the recognition he deserved for his work," Williamson, who played Capt. Dobey in the 2004 movie version of "Starsky and Hutch," told the Oakland Tribune at the time.

Raoul Hamilton said his father's "authoritative" police captain performance hit close to home. "It was an extension of who he was as a real person," he said. "He was a self-made man. He comes from a family of five brothers and one sister from the east side of Los Angeles; they came from humble beginnings."

He phased out of acting after "Starsky and Hutch" and spent the next 20 years in the music business producing R&B and gospel records. Hamilton also sang, and one of the albums he produced was called "Capt. Dobey Sings the Blues." His record label was called Chocolate Snowman. And in the early '80s, his son said, he created a children's doll called the Chocolate Snowman that was manufactured in South Korea and sold at Toys "R" Us. In addition to his son, Bernie was survived by his daughter, Candy Hazarika Hamilton; his brothers Chico and Don; and two grandchildren.

The Death of Elvis Presley - August 16th 1977

2012-01-23T13:23:00.000-08:00

Elvis Presley died at Graceland on August 16, 1977. He was 42 years old.

Through the early morning of the 16th Elvis took care of last minute tour details and relaxed with family and staff. He was to fly to Portland, Maine that night and do a show there on the 17th, then continue the scheduled tour.

Elvis retired to his master suite at Graceland around 7:00 AM to rest for his evening flight. By late morning, Elvis Presley had died of heart failure.

In a matter of hours the shock registered around the world.

Paramedics were called, but they failed to revive Elvis, and he was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital where further attempts to resuscitate him failed. He was pronounced dead by his physician, Dr. George Nichopolous, who listed the official cause of death as erratic heartbeat, or cardiac arrhythmia.

As the news of Elvis' death spread across the country, radio stations immediately began to play his records. Some stations quickly organized tributes to Elvis while others simply played his music at the request of listeners, many of whom were in a state of shock over his sudden death.

Some people called their favorite radio stations just because they wanted to tell someone their stories about the first time they'd heard Elvis sing or to talk about how much his talent and his music meant to them.

In the same way that many people remember exactly where they were when they heard President John F. Kennedy had been killed, most of Elvis' fans remember where they were the day Elvis died. Mick Fleetwood, of rock group Fleetwood Mac, recalls, 'The news came over like a ton of bricks. I was driving back from the mountains, and I had the radio on. They were playing an Elvis medley, and I thought, 'Great' --- And then they came back with the news'.

The staff of television newsrooms considered Elvis' death a late-breaking story. There was not enough time for TV reporters who had been sent to Memphis to file stories for the evening news. Executives had to decide quickly what film footage they could use from their files and where to place the story in relation to the other news of the day. NBC-TV not only rewrote their news lineup to lead off with the story of Elvis' death, but the network also made immediate plans to delay The Tonight Show and put together a late-night news documentary. David Brinkley, a national news anchor for NBC at the time, opened his broadcast with three minutes devoted to Elvis' sudden death. ABC-TV also decided to lead with the Presley story.

When they learned that NBC would be doing a late-night news special about the significance of Elvis Presley to American music, ABC announced that they would also air a half-hour documentary.

CBS did not follow suit, however. The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, featuring the most respected man in broadcasting at that time, had led the news program ratings for more than a decade. CBS executives chose not to open the evening broadcast with the Presley story. Arbitron's records indicate that when millions of viewers realized this they immediately switched the channel to another network.

The CBS decision not to lead with Elvis' death gave the CBS Evening News its lowest ratings in years. (For the record, Roger Mudd was substituting for Walter Cronkite that evening.) CBS devoted only 70 seconds to its story on Elvis, placing it after a lengthy segment on the Panama Canal. The producer for that evening's news was vehemently opposed to leading off with Elvis' death, in spite of other members of the CBS programming staff suggesting it repeatedly. Interviewed later, the producer agreed that he was out of sync with the national consciousness. Two days later, CBS tried to save face by putting together a documentary on Elvis.

Even though Elvis never performed in Europe, countries from all over the world sent reporters to Memphis. The press coverage in foreign newspapers and on European television was almost as extensive as the reporting in the United States. Everywhere in the world, people lamented the loss of an irreplaceable entertainer.

Within one hour after Elvis' death, fans began to gather in front of Graceland.

Numerous celebrities attended Elvis' funeral, including Caroline Kennedy, country music guitarist Chet Atkins, performers Ann-Margret and George Hamilton, and television evangelist Rex Humbard, who was one of the speakers during the service. Comedian Jackie Kahane, who had opened many of Elvis' concert performances, delivered his eulogy, and a local minister also spoke. Gospel performers sang, including Jake Hess, J.D. Sumner, James Blackwood, and their vocal groups, as well as singer Kathy Westmoreland. The casket was carried to Forest Hill Cemetery in a long motor cortege of all-white automobiles.

Later, when someone threatened to steal Elvis' remains, his casket was moved to the Meditation Garden behind Graceland. Gladys's body was also moved to the Meditation Garden in 1977; Vernon Presley died and was buried there in 1979; and Minnie Mae Presley was laid to rest beside the rest of her family in 1980.

Vernon Presley, Elvis Presley's father, places a rose on his son's grave Nov. 24, 1977, as newspeople were permitted inside the grounds at Graceland in Memphis, Tenn., for the first time since Elvis' funeral.

Here comes Bod! (1975)

2012-01-23T04:30:00.000-08:00

Bod was a BBC children's television programme first shown in 1975, with thirteen episodes, based on four original Bod books by Joanna and Michael Cole. It was an animated cartoon series narrated by John Le Measurier & Maggie Henderson with music by the multi-talented Derek Griffiths and produced by David Yates. The four books were published in 1966 in the United Kingdom and later in the United States and France. They were: Bod's Apple, Bod's Present, Bod's Dream andBod and the Cherry Tree. The French version of Bod's Apple was called La Pomme de Gus.

Before the animated series was commissioned, the four books had been read on another BBC children's programme — Playschool. In 1974, thirteen five-minute episodes were created for transmission on the BBC as part of the Watch with Mother series, and were also sold to Australia's ABC channel. Soon thereafter, it was shown in New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Poland and Israel. In the United States, Bod aired on Nickelodeon as a segment on the Pinwheel program.

The character of Bod is a boy who lives in a town with Aunt Flo, PC Copper, Frank the Postman and Farmer Barleymow. Each of the characters have their own theme music performed by Griffiths which is heard when they appear. Regular features are animal identification and Bod Snap.

There is also another set of characters who appear in each episode called Alberto Frog and his Amazing Animal Band. This section featured short extracts from famous pieces of classical music as part of the story, and always ended with Alberto choosing a different flavour of milkshake as his reward for solving a problem, and was narrated by Maggie Henderson.

Bod has appeared in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Kids TV Shows and 100 Greatest Cartoons, and the creators of Homestar Runner. have cited it as one of their inspirations. Bod continues to be very popular in Northern Ireland

All thirteen Bod episodes are available on DVD.

The Alberto Frog segments were produced separately by the BBC and were originally shown alongside the Bod episodes; only five out of thirteen of these segments survive in the BBC archives, following a decision in the early 1990s to wipe a large amount of videotaped 1970s children's programmes but all these are present on the Bod DVD

Jack Lord (1920 - 1998)

2012-01-23T02:42:00.000-08:00

John Joseph Patrick Ryan (December 30, 1920 – January 21, 1998), best known by his stage name Jack Lord, was an American television, film, and Broadway actor. He was known for his starring role as Steve McGarrett in the classic American television series Hawaii Five O from 1968 to 1980. Lord appeared in feature films earlier in his career, among them Man of the West (1958). He was the first actor to play recurring character Felix Leiter, in Dr. No, the first James Bond movie. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Lord was the son of Irish-American parents. His father, William Lawrence Ryan, was a steamship company executive. He grew up in Morris Park (now known as Richmond Hill), Queens, New York.

Young Lord developed his equestrian skills on his mother's fruit farm in the Hudson River Valley. He started spending summers at sea, and from the deck of cargo ships, painted and sketched the landscapes he encountered—Africa, the Mediterranean and China. He was educated at St. Benedict Labre Joseph School, John Adams High School, in Ozone Park, New York, and the United States Merchant Marine Academy, then located at Fort Trumbull in New London, Conneticut, graduating as an Ensign with a Third Mates License. He attended New York University on a football scholarship, and earned a degree in Fine Arts.

He spent the first year of World War II with the U.S. Army's Corps of Engineers, building bridges in Persia. He returned to the Merchant Marine as an Able Seaman

before enrolling in the deck officer course at Fort Trumbull. While making maritime training films, he took to the idea of acting.

Lord received training from Sanford Meisner at the Neighbourhood Playhouse. He worked first as a car salesman for Horgan Ford, then later as a Cadillac salesman in New York to fund his studies. Later he studied at the Actors Studio

His Broadway debut was as Slim Murphy in Horton Foote's The Traveling Lady with Kim Stanley. The show ran for 30 performances, October 27, 1954 through November 20, 1954. Lord won the Theatre World Award for his performance. Lord was then cast as Brick in a replacement for Ben Gazzara in the 1955–1956 production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. He had been in The Little Hut (his first play), The Illegitimist, and The Savage.

His first commercial film role was in the 1949 film The Red Menace aka Project X, an anti-Communist production. He was associate producer in his 1950 film Cry Murder. In 1957, Lord starred in Williamsburgh: The Story of a Patriot which has run daily at Colonial Williamsburg since then. In 1958, Lord co-starred as Buck Walden in God's Little Acre, the film adaptation of Erskine Caldwells1933 novel.

Lord was the first actor to play the character Felix Leiter in the James Bond film series, introduced in the first Bond film, Dr. No. According to screenwriter Richard Maibaum, Lord demanded co-star billing, a bigger role and more money to reprise the role in Goldfinger, which resulted in director Guy Hamilton casting the role to an older actor to make Leiter more of an American "M".

In 1962, Lord starred as series namesake Stoney Burke, a rodeo cowboy from Mission Rodge, South Dakota. The basis for the series was real-life champion rodeo rider Casey Tibbs. The series featured Warren Oates and Bruce Dern in recurring supporting roles. Lord credited Gary Cooper as his on-screen role model, and the inspiration for his characterization of Stoney Burke.

Lord was considered for Eliot Ness in The Untouchables before Robert Stack won the role. In 1965 he guest-starred as Colonel 'Pres' Gallagher in second season episode 5, "Big Brother" of 12 O'Clock High (TV Series). Other television guest appearances include Appointment with Adventure, Bonanza, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.., The Reporter starring Harry Guardino, The Fugitive, The Invaders, Rawhide, Ironside, and The F.BI. Lord appeared on the first episode of Have Gun Will Travel, Lord appeared with Susan Strasberg in the film The Name of the Game is Kill.

According to William Shatner in 1966, Gene Roddenberry offered Lord the role of Captain Kirk on Star Trek, to replace Jeffrey Hunter whose wife was making too many demands. Lord asked for 50 percent ownership of the show, so Roddenberry offered the role to Shatner

Jack Lord starred for twelve seasons on Hawaii Five-O as Detective Steve McGarrett, appointed by the governor to head the state police criminal department in Honolulu, HI. The opening sequence includes a shot of Lord standing on a penthouse balcony of The llakia hotel. Chin Ho Kelly, the name of the police detective played by Kam Fong was a tip-of-the-hat to Ilikai developer Chinn Ho. Lord's catchphrase, "Book 'em, Danno!", became a part of pop culture. He was instrumental in the casting of native Hawaiians, instead of mainland actors. Lord insisted his character drive Ford vehicles; McGarrett drove a 1967 Mercury Park Lane the pilot, a 1968 Park Lane from 1968–1974, and a 1974 Mercury Marquis for the remainder of the series (this very car was shown in the 2010 remake, Lord was a perfectionist. When series creator Leonard Freeman died in 1974, the show's ownership was shared among Lord, CBS, and Freeman's estate, with a contract that made Lord executive producer and gave him complete control over content. He was a hands-on partner who paid attention to minute details,and was known for battles with network executives.

After his series ended in 1980, Lord kept a low profile, rarely making public appearances. His final TV appearance was that same year in a failed pilot for CBS called M Station: Hawaii which he also directed. Lord suffered from Alzheimers in his last years. He died of congestive heart failure at his home in Honolulu, Hawaii on January 21, 1998, at the age of 77, leaving an estate of $40 million. He was a philanthropist and the entire estate went to Hawaiian charities upon his wife Marie's death in 2005.

Wacky Races (1968-1969)

2012-01-22T03:52:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you guys, but I love Wacky Races, the animated television series produced by Hana - Barbera. The series features 11 different cars racing against each other in various road rallies throughout North America, with each driver hoping to win the title of the "World's Wackiest Racer." Wacky Races ran on CBS from September 14, 1968, to January 4, 1969. Seventeen episodes were produced, with each episode featuring two different races.

The cartoon had an unusually large number of regular characters, with twenty-three people and animals spread among the 11 race cars, plus the unseen (and never identified) race announcer. Reruns of the series currently air several times a day on Cartoon Network's classic animation network Boomerang.

One of the unused plans for the series was that the races would be part of a live-action quiz show made by Merrill Heater and Bob Quigley Productions in which contestants would bet on which Wacky Racer would cross the finish line first. Although the game show concept was eventually scrapped, the series still retained a Hanna-Barbera/Heatter-Quigley dual production credit.

It is one of the few Heatter-Quigley series not currently owned by successor company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the studio where the Hanna-Barbera team got its start with Puss get the Boot. In 1988, a made-for-TV movie, Around the World with the Wacky Racers, was planned as part of Hanna-Barbera's Superstars 10 series of TV movies, but it never got past the concept stage.

Dick Dastardly and Muttley:

The antagonists of the series, in a purple, rocket-powered car with an abundance of concealed weapons and the ability to fly. Dastardly (voiced by Paul Winchell, in a manner that Winchell would use several years later to portray the Smurfs' nemesis Gargamel) is an archetypal mustache-twirling villain; Muttley (voiced by Don Messick) is his wheezily snickering, anthropomorphic dog henchman. Dastardly concocts plans and traps in order to maintain a lead, but most of his plans backfire, causing him to finish in last place.
Because of this, Dastardly has never won a Wacky Race or even officially finished in the top three. In fact, he has only crossed the line five times: thrice in last place, once in fifth place (beating the Surplus Special) and even once in first place (but in the replay was "disqualified for stretching a point"). He is often foiled by the finishing line itself, where he makes a sprint at the end to gain the lead but whilst sneering and looking behind him at the other competitors fails to notice that parts protruding from the mean machine (often sails or rockets) are too big to get under the finish banner and he subsequently crashes into it. Dick Dastardly and Muttley would also appear in Fender Bender 500, racing against characters like Yogi Bear and Quick Draw McGraw. In this series they were actually able to pull off a win.
The Mean Machine appears to have been by far the fastest vehicle, providing Dastardly with a theoretically unbeatable advantage. But in every episode, after blazing far ahead of the others, Dastardly would stop to set up various booby traps for the other racers and this would eventually cost him the race. It never seems to occur to him to race fairly even though he would presumably triumph every time.

The Slag Brothers in the Bouldermobile 1:

Rock and Gravel Slag (voiced by Daws Butler and Don Messick) are Cavemen driving a wheeled boulder. The Slag Brothers sometimes reconstruct their car from scratch just by using their clubs on any large boulder that is available. The Slag Brothers can summon up a Pterandon to help them. They accelerate by hitting the car (or at times, each other) with their clubs. Often they directly attack other drivers with their clubs and various rock attacks. If the whole Wacky Races series had been scored according to the Grand Prix point scoring of the period the Slag Brothers would have been the champions. The Slag Brothers' character design was re-used for Captain Caveman!

The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe 2:

Big Gruesome (a lurching, huge humanoid character voiced by Daws Butler) and Little Gruesome (a purple-skinned vampire voiced by Don Messick) are monsters driving a hearse-like car with a belfry which houses a dragon, ghosts, serpents, and other horror-themed characters as well as storm clouds. The Gruesomes can summon these creatures to either help them along in the race or fend off other drivers. The Gruesome Twosome are often prone to foul play and use their range of creatures to scare off or sabotage the other competitors. Little Gruesome acts as the brains of the duo while Big Gruesome acts as the muscle.

Professor Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car 3:

A scientist (voiced by Don Messick) in a boat-shaped plane like car which can change into just about anything that moves, from mundane vehicles (such as a motorcycle) to outlandish ones (such as a giant bowling ball). He often uses his car's multitude of gadgets to help out the other drivers if they all get caught in the same trap. His alternative name is a pun on the phrase "Patent Pending". Most of his gadgets seem to be defensive as opposed to Dastardly's offensive devices.

The Red Max in the Crimson Haybailer 4:

An air ace (voiced by Daws Butler) whose name is a combination of the Red Baron and the Blue Max, in a car/plane hybrid that is capable of limited flight, usually just enough to leapfrog over racers or obstacles in its path. The Haybailer has a mounted machine gun which is used sporadically. The machine gun can fire bullets, pepper, and other substances. The Haybailer's transformation from plane to car seems to have significantly weakened its flying ability, and Max often has to bail out when the Haybailer breaks down.

Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat 5:

Penelope Pitstop (voiced by Janet Waldo) is the lone female among the Wacky Racers. She is a Southern Belle who drives the Compact Pussycat, a fancy pink car fitted out with all manner of girlie beauty supplies—effectively, a beauty parlour on wheels. Penelope often takes time during the race to maintain her appearance, which causes the other racers to lose ground when her gadgets malfunction. The other male racers are very chivalrous towards her, and rarely attack her car, sometimes even allowing her to pass them. Turbo Terrific driver Peter Perfect is particularly fond of her, frequently calling her "Pretty Penny." Penelope also had her own cartoon, The Perils of Penelpoe Pitstop, which featured the Ant Hill Mob.

Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly in the Army Surplus Special 6:

Two soldiers, one a sergeant (voiced by Daws Butler) and the other a private (voiced by Paul Winchell), racing in an armytank/jeep hybrid with a small steamroller‘s wheel attached to the front. The Army Surplus Special makes use of its tank facilities while racing, including its cannon, which can spin around to face forward or back, and the hatch, where Sergeant Blast rides. The Surplus Special is equipped with a supply of land mines and back-mounted thrusters. The Surplus Special fires its gun backwards to propel itself forwards for extra speed. As their names suggest, Private Meekly is very meek and merely follows orders without question, while Sergeant Blast "blasts" orders in a stereotypical drill-sergeant voice.

The Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb 7:

The Bulletproof Bomb (occasionally referred to as the "Roaring 20s") is a 1920s sedan, driven by a group of 7 pint-sized gangsters (a play on the Seven Dwarfs): leader Clyde (voiced by Paul Winchell), Ring-A-Ding (voiced by Don Messick), and five others. Clyde is a parody of Edward G. Robinson's character in the film Little Caeser and of the male half of Bonnie & Clyde. Their usual method of improving the speed of their car is "Getaway Power", which is achieved by extending their feet through the floor of the car and running, in a reference to The Flintstones. On occasion the Ant Hill Mob would use their tommy guns against the other racers.

The Ant Hill Mob re-appeared in the spin-off series The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, with Clyde in a silver outfit and his wingmen, with new names, wearing blue outfits and riding in a living car, Chugga-Boom. The Mob were the protagonists in this series, along with Penelope herself, and were constantly rushing to her rescue.

Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug 8:

Luke (voiced by John Stephenson) is a Hillbilly who tends to drive steering with his feet while half-asleep; Blubber (also voiced by Stephenson) is his timid pet bear, clad in a scarf and early aviator's helmet with goggles. The Chuggabug is constructed of wood and is powered by a coal-fired pot-bellied stove in the rear of the vehicle. The stove can be prone to exploding, usually if another competitor blocks the exhaust. Luke tends to use low-tech means of improving the performance of his car. He pours various liquors into the stove for a quick speed boost (but the stove would often explode afterward). He has also been shown using various balloons and gum type traps.

Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific 9:

A gentleman driver (voiced by Daws Butler) driving a dragster. The Turbo Terrific, despite its name and Peter's adulation, is highly unreliable; it often falls to pieces in the middle of a race, usually after Peter praises it for how well it is doing. Peter Perfect has a crush on Penelope "Pretty Penny" Pitstop, who often returns his affections. The Turbo Terrific seems to be able to sprout an additional four rear wheels, giving eight wheels in total, for extra speed.

Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth in the Buzzwagon 10:

Rufus Ruffcut (voiced by Daws Butler) is a tough, muscle-bound lumberjack, while Sawtooth (voiced by Don Messick) is his anthropomorphic pet beaver. The Buzzwagon is a wagon made of logs, with buzzsaws for wheels, hence its name. The buzzsaws gave the car the ability to cut through almost anything, destroying the object in the process.

Every episode is introduced and commented on by an unseen Narrator (Dave Wilcock), who often communicates with the racers as they drive. The racers respond by speaking to the audience, breaking the Fourth Wall. Dick Dastardly has oddly nicknamed the Narrator 'Boopsie,' used as a female character's nickname in Doonesbury shortly thereafter.

The other characters seem to get on with each other, they are often seen (especially Pat Pending and usually Peter Perfect and Penelope Pitstop) helping each other out of traps set by Dastardly. They also at times use "dirty tricks" on each other (Army Surplus shooting other cars or Gruesome Twosome using their Dragon). Some of these tricks are as bad as Dastardly's, but they seem to get away with them.

Penelope Pitstop and the Ant Hill Mob were spun off into another cartoon series in 1969 titled The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. Also in 1969, Dick Dastardly and Muttley were given a spin-off series titled Dastardly & Mutley in their Flying machines. The series is sometimes mistakenly known as Stop The Pigeon, after the show's working title and theme song. Both series ran for two seasons.

The basic ideas behind Wacky Races and some of the characters were used again by Hanna-Barbera in later years:

The new character of Mumbly (star of the 1976 The Mumbly Cartoon Show) bears a strong resemblance to Muttley.
The new character of Captain Caveman (star of the 1977 Captain Caveman & The Teenagels series) bears a strong resemblance to the Slag Brothers.
In 1977, Mumbly (who, in contrast to his role as a detective on his solo series, is now depicted as a villain) and Dread Baron (who strongly resembles Dick Dastardly) became the leaders of the Really Rottens team on the Laff-A-Lympics cartoon, which featured three teams of Hanna-Barbera characters (including Mumbly's villainous "Really Rottens" team, Yogi Bear's "Yogi Yahooeys" team that consisted of many of his friends from Yogi's Gang, and Scooby Doo's "Scooby Doobies" team that included many of the crime-solving characters from that era, including Captain Caveman) competing in races and competitions around the world. However, in the Latin American version ofLaff-A-Lympics, the Dread Baron and Mumbly were credited as Dick Dastardly and Muttley.
The 1978 series Yogi's Space Race featured Hanna-Barbera stalwarts such as Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and others racing against each other throughout outer space while fending off a tall, thin villain (Phantom Phink) and his snickering dog (Sinister Sludge).
Dick Dastardly and Muttley returned in the 1985 series Yogi's Treasure Hunt as they competed in a treasure hunt against Yogi Bear and many of his prior "Yogi Yahooeys" teammates. Instead of driving the Mean Machine, Dastardly piloted a submarine called The SS Dirty Tricks and a World War 1 biplane in this series.
Dread Baron and Mumbly (once again replacing Dick Dastardly and Muttley) return to antagonize Yogi and many of his "Yogi Yahooeys" teammates in the 1987 film Yogi Bear & the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose.
The 1990 syndicated series Wake, Rattle & Roll featured a segment called Fender Bender 500. It featured Dick Dastardly and Muttley (and a revamped "Mean Machine" that is renamed "Dirty Truckster") racing against Yogi Bear, Winsome Witch, Quick Draw McGraw, and other Hanna-Barbera stars.
In 1991, teenage versions of Dick Dastardly and Muttley appeared on the Yo Yogi! series with Yogi Bear, Boo-Boo Bear, Cindy Bear, Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry Hound.
In 2006, the pilot for a spin-off series titled Wacky Races Forever was produced for Cartoon Network. The series depicted the sons and daughters of the original racers competing against each other, including Parker and Piper Perfect, the children of now married Penelope Pitstop and Peter Perfect. Other characters included Dick Dastardly and Muttley (working for Mr. Viceroy), the Slag Brothers, Professor Pat Pending, and a teenage version of the Gruesome Twosome. This series was not picked up by Cartoon Network.

Whatever Happened to the Oxo Family?

2012-01-21T03:50:00.000-08:00

One of Oxo's best-remembered advertising campaigns was launched in the UK in 1983, when "The Oxo Family" debuted on commercial television. The campaigns made household names of Michael Redfern (the father) and Lynda Bellingham (the mother), while the children were played by Blair MacKichan, Colin McCoy and Alison Reynolds. The adverts typically featured the family sitting down to a meal at which Oxo gravy would be served. The product was not always mentioned by name, occasionally appearing only as a logo in the corner of the screen at the end of the commercial. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the family were seen to grow older, and when the campaign was retired in 1999 the family moved out of the house. But whatever happened to the famous Oxo family?

Michael Redfern has appeared in numerous television dramas and comedies as policemen over the years, namely The Young Detectives, Crossroads, The Offence, And Mother Makes Five, George & Mildred, Robin's Nest, The Young Ones, Filthy, rich & Catflap, Boon and Fool's Gold: The Story of the Brinks - Mat Robbery

His other comedy appearances include roles in Man About The House with Richard O'Sullivan, Bless This House with Sid James and Some Mothers Do 'ave 'em with Michael Crawford. With Ronnie Barker in Open All Hours, Porridge and The Two Ronnies 1982 Christmas Special playing the barman in the famous drink ordering sketch. The '80s and '90s saw him act in episodes of Hi-De-Hi!, Never The Twain, Three Up, Two Down, Terry & June, Sorry with Ronnie Corbett, Girls on Top, The Nineteenth Hole, Bottom and The Detectives. Michael was also in 1 episode of EastEnders

After the Oxo adverts, Redfern worked as a taxi driver and restaurateur before moving with his wife Carol to Spain, where he often works as a compere for quiz nights.

Twice in the 1960s Lynda Bellingham Bellingham appeared in the Pendley Open Air Shakespear Festival. She got her big break as a nurse in an ITV afternoon Soap Opera of the 1970s, General Hospital. She went topless for her roles in Confessions of a Driving Instructor and Sweeney! (1977).

She is best known as the head of the family in the Oxo adverts during the 1980s. Other prominent roles included the All Creatures Great & Small (where she was the second actress to play Helen Herriot on television, replacing Carol Drinkwater) and the Situation Comedy, Second Thoughts and its sequel, Faith in the Future.

She starred in the 14-part Doctor Who serial The Trial of a Timelord (1986) as the Inquisitor. Lynda Bellingham reprised the Inquisitor character for the Big Finish Productions audio series, Gallifrey. In 1998 she appeared in The Romanovs: A Crowned Family as Empress Alexandra.

From 2000 to 2003, Bellingham played Pauline Farnell, the compassionate accountant in At Home with the Braithwaites alongside Amanda Redman and Peter Davison. In 2007, she appeared alongside Redman again, this time playing DCI Karen Hardwick in New Tricks. For several months in 2004, she had a recurring role in The Bill as villainess Irene Radford.

She also had a memorable role in the ITV comedy Bonkers playing Mrs. Wadlow, a man-eating suburban housewife who seduces her neighbour's teenage son and turns him into her gigolo. Later that year she filmed guest appearances in episodes of Love Soup and Robin Hood. In October 2007, she appeared in a play entitled Vincent River at the Trafalga Studios in London. Her performance received critical acclaim, and it was announced on Loose Women in early 2008 that the play would be moving to Broadway in July of that year, although this never actually transpired.

From September 2008 to July 2009, she played the role of Chris Harper in the stage version of Calendar Girls on tour and in the West End. She returned to the show for further tours in 2010 and 2011.

Blair MacKichan is a British Actor, Jazz Musician, vocalist and songwriter. As an actor he appeared in adverts for Oxo during the 1980s and 1990s, while as a songwriter he has written for Will Young and Lily Allen. As a musician he fronts a band named Blair and Friends.

In the Oxo adverts, MacKichan played the oldest son of the Oxo Family, starring alongside Michael Redfern and Lynda Bellingham who played his parents. He started his musical career playing drums, then later progressed to the piano. In 1997 he fronted the house band for Channel 5's The Jack Docherty Show, a nightly chat show recorded at the Whitehall Theatre in London. MacKichan writes a lot of his own material, and won a Brit Award for the 2004 song Your Game after it became a hit for Will Young. He also co-wrote Lily Allen's 2007 hit Shame For You. In addition, Blair has composed music for film and television.

Then: From aged 13, played youngest son for 11 years. Remembered for teasing his sister about vegetarian boyfriend Troy. Now: Divorced with three sons he lives in Highgate, North London. Trained as a forensic chemist but wanted to be a professional magician - performs a cabaret magic act at weddings. Colin McCoy was a quality control manager vistiing chocolate factories Works for Woolworths says: "It definitely helped with the ladies when I was younger when people recognised me. I still do magic cabaret so I do still like the performing side.

"I was absolutely gutted when the ads were dropped. You just know you are never going to experience that again. I think to succeed in acting you need to be 100 per cent dedicated - which I wasn't able to be."

Alison Reynolds, then: Debuted aged eight as the precocious daughter and filmed the final episode aged 23. Her catchphrase was: "What's for dinner Mum?" Now: Full-time mother in Dagenham, Essex, with two sons, Kai and Wyn. Alison met husband Andrew Levell, an electrician, at Viking battle re-enactment. Says: "People often ask me if I was at school with them or if I used to live in their area because the public have seen me grow up."

TV-Times (1975)

2012-01-20T15:37:00.000-08:00

This classic edition of the TV-Times dates back to September 1975 and gracing the cover are Comedian Frankie Howerd and Opportunity Knocks supremo Hughie Green. There's also a new written serial based on the cult soap, Crossroads!

The Real Amy Turtle

2012-01-20T15:26:00.000-08:00

Amy Turtle was a character in Crossroads, the classic British television soap opera, played by Ann George from 1965 to 1976 and again from 1987 to 1988.

Amy first came to prominence in the series helping out at the antique shop in Kings Oak (the fictional village where Crossroads was set), but it was as the cleaner at the Crossroads Motel that she is best remembered. Her job gave her the perfect opportunity to listen to gossip and pass it on, yet, despite her irritating ways the staff remained strangely fond of her; as David Hunter ( Ronald Allen), the motel manager, commented in a 1974 episode when Amy had been away from the Motel for a while: "I miss Amy. Don't know why, I just do."

Over the years, Amy was involved in many storylines, some dramatic, some comedic. The last storyline she was involved in was the death of her son Billy. Amy went to visit her nephew in America, and didn't return to King's Oak until 1987.

It has often been (mistakenly) suggested that Amy Turtle was the inspiration for Victoria Wood's parody of Crossroads, Acorn Antiques; Victoria has denied this, and Julie Walters (the actress who portrayed Mrs Overall) more than suggested with her performance and appearance that Mrs Overall was in fact based on Crossroads character Mavis Hooper played by Charmian Eyre. However Walters commented in 2002, that when she first saw the script of Acorn Antiques the Mrs Overall role she thought instantly of Amy Turtle, and so she wanted her to have a Birmingham accent.

Ann George joined the cast of Crossroads in 1965 playing the cleaner Amy Turtle. She got the part after apparently complaining to ATV producers that there were not enough true Birmingham accents. She first appeared in 1966, working in the antique shop. She later became a cleaning lady at the Crossroads Motel, working for the formidable housekeeper Mrs Loomis. Critics derided George's performance; Crossroads was shot as live, and the low budget meant that the recording could not be edited and retakes were rare. Any slips made had to remain for the transmission; memorably, Amy would often answer the telephone with the show's catchphrase "Crossroads Motel, can I help you?" - five seconds later the phone would actually ring.

In 1976 she was axed from Crossroads. There followed a famous photograph of her in the British newspaper The Sun, waving her fists outside the ATV Studios. In the storyline, Amy was convicted of shoplifting; only later did the truth become known, that it was a cry for help as her son Billy had been killed in tragic circumstances. One of her last performances was a storyline in which Amy broke into Coventry Cathedral in the dead of night in order to mourn her son. The character is also famous for a story that never happened. The storyline of Amy being arrested for being a Soviet Double Agent, Amelia Turtleovski wasn't seen on-screen. Crossroads Appreciation Society researchers, working through the show's script documents, discovered that Amy was never arrested, nor was she accused of any crime. Simply a Russian guest at the motel mistook her for Amelia, and left Amy baffled by his reaction to her. In her final 1976 storyline, Amy went to see her nephew living in Texas in order to get over the death of Billy. After her departure the staff of the Motel never mentioned her again.

During these years George worked in clubs and pantomimes, before returning to the soap opera 11 years later. In 1987, she made a return to the programme. Crossroads was now under the management of producer William Smethurst, who insisted on bringing Amy back. When she walked into the studio for the first time in 11 years the cast - many of whom had worked with her first time round - broke into a spontaneous round of applause which brought tears to her eyes. It has been reported that George was unable to climb the stairs to the studio, which meant her appearances were limited to the occasional cameo in the studio, or on location in the village of Tanworth-in-Arden that doubled for the fictional King's Oak. The ATV Centre, however, had at the time fully operating lifts to all floors - including the studio level, so where this story originated from is still a mystery.

Movie Life (1946)

2012-01-20T04:16:00.000-08:00

Movie Life was Hollywood's only All-Picture magazine. This particular cover dates back to January 1946 and gracing the cover is legendary actor, Gregory Peck wearing a bandanna. Also: In colour are, Diana Lynn, Elizabeth Taylor, Jimmie Stewart & Roy Rogers.

Nick Drake: (1948 - 1974)

2012-01-19T13:43:00.000-08:00

Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar-based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone. Although he failed to find a wide audience during his lifetime, his work gradually achieved wider notice and recognition; he now ranks among the most influential English singer-songwriters of the last 50 years. Drake signed to Island Records when he was 20 years old and released his debut album, Five Leaves Left, in 1969. By 1972, he had recorded two more albums—Bryter Later and Pink Moon. Neither sold more than 5,000 copies on initial release.

His reluctance to perform live, or be interviewed, contributed to his lack of commercial success. Yet he was able to gather a loyal group of influential fans who championed his music, including his manager, Joe Boyd, who had a clause put into his own contract with Island Records to ensure Drake's records would never be put out of print. Drake suffered from depression and insomnia throughout his life, and these topics were often reflected in his lyrics. On completion of his third album, 1972's Pink Moon, he withdrew from both live performance and recording, retreating to his parents' home in rural Warwickshire. There is no known footage of the adult Drake; he was only ever captured in still photographs and in home footage from his childhood. On 25 November 1974, Drake died from an overdose of amitriptyline, a prescribed antidepressant; he was 26 years old.

Drake's music remained available through the mid-1970s, but the 1979 release of the retrospective album Fruit Tree caused his back catalogue to be reassessed. By the mid-1980s Drake was being credited as an influence by such artists as Robert Smith, David Sylvian and Peter Buck. In 1985, The Dream Academy reached the UK and US charts with "Life in a Northern Town", a song written for and dedicated to Drake. By the early 1990s, he had come to represent a certain type of "doomed romantic" musician in the UK music press, and was frequently cited as an influence by artists including Kate Bush, Paujl Weller and The Black Crowes. His first biography appeared in 1997, and was followed in 1998 by the documentary film A Stranger Among Us. In 2000, Volkswagen featured the title track from Pink Moon in a television advertisement, and within a month Drake had sold more records than he had in the previous 30 years.

His father Rodney Drake (1908–1988) had moved to Rangoon, Burma, in the early 1930s to work as an engineer with the Bombay Burma Trading Corporation. In 1934, Rodney met the daughter of a senior member of the Indian Civil Service, Mary Lloyd (1916–1993), known to her family as Molly. Rodney proposed in 1936, though the couple had to wait a year until Molly turned 21 before her family allowed them to marry. In 1950, they returned to Warwickshire to live in the country estate of Far Leys, near Tanworth-in-Arden in west Warwickshire, just south of Solihull. Drake had one older sister, Gabrielle, later a successful film and television actress. Both parents were musically inclined, and they each wrote pieces of music. In particular, recordings of Molly's songs which have come to light following her death are remarkably similar in tone and outlook to the later work of her son. Mother and son shared a similar fragile vocal delivery, and both Gabrielle and biographer Trevor Dann have noted a parallel sense of foreboding and fatalism in their music. Encouraged by his mother, Drake learned to play piano at an early age, and began to compose his own songs, which he recorded on a reel-to-reel tape recorder she kept in the family drawing room.

In 1957, Drake enrolled at Eagle House School, an English preparatory boarding school in Berkshire. Five years later, he went on to public school at Marlborough College in Wiltshire, where his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all attended. He developed an interest in sport, becoming an accomplished sprinter (his record for the 100-yard dash still stands) and captain of the school's rugby team for a time. He was also Head of House in C1, the College's largest house. School friends recall Drake at this time as having been confident and "quietly authoritative", while often aloof in his manner. His father Rodney remembered, "In one of his reports [the headmaster] said that none of us seemed to know him very well. All the way through with Nick. People didn't know him very much."

Drake played piano in the school orchestra, and learned clarinet and saxophone. He formed a band, The Perfumed Gardeners, with four schoolmates in 1964 or 1965. With Drake on piano and occasional alto sax and vocals, the group performed Pye covers and jazz standards, as well as Yardbirds and Manfred Mann numbers. The line-up briefly included Chris De Burgh, but he was soon ejected as his taste was seen as "too poppy" by the other members. Drake's academic performance began to deteriorate, and while he had accelerated a year in Eagle House, at Marlborough he began to neglect his studies in favour of music. He attained seven GCSE O-Levels in 1963, but this was fewer than his teachers had been expecting, and he failed "Physics with Chemistry". In 1965, Drake paid £13 for his first acoustic guitar, and was soon experimenting with open tuning and finger picking techniques.

In 1966, Drake won a scholarship to study English Literature at Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge. He delayed attendance to spend six months at the University of Aix-Marseille, France, beginning in February 1967. While in Aix, he began to practice guitar in earnest, and to earn money would often busk with friends in the town centre. Drake began to smoke cannabis, and that spring he travelled with friends to Morocco, because, according to travelling companion Richard Charkin, "that was where you got the best pot". Drake most likely began using LSD while in Aix, and lyrics written during this period—in particular for the song "Clothes of Sand"—are suggestive of an interest in hallucinogens.

Upon returning to England, he moved into his sister's flat in Hampstead, before enrolling at Cambridge that October. His tutors found him to be a bright student, but unenthusiastic and unwilling to apply himself to study. Dann notes that he had difficulty connecting with staff and fellow students alike, and points out that official matriculation photographs from this time reveal a sullen and unimpressed young man. Cambridge placed much emphasis on its rugby and cricket teams, yet by this time Drake had lost interest in playing sport, preferring to stay in his college room smoking marijuana, and listening to and playing music. According to fellow student (now psychiatrist) Brian Wells: "they were the rugger buggers and we were the cool people smoking dope." In September 1967, he met Robert Kirby, a music student who went on to orchestrate many of the string and woodwind arrangements for Drake's first two albums. By this time, Drake had discovered the British and American folk music scenes, and was influenced by performers such as Bob Dylan, Josh White and Phil Ochs. He began performing in local clubs and coffee houses around London, and in February 1968, while playing support to Country Joe at the Fish at the Roundhouse in Camden Town, made an impression on Ashley Hutchings, bass player with Fairport Convention. Hutchings recalls being impressed by Drake's skill as a guitarist, but even more so by "the image. He looked like a star. He looked wonderful, he seemed to be 7 ft."

Hutchings introduced Drake to the 25-year-old American producer Joe Boyd, owner of the production and management company Witchseason Productions. The company was, at the time, licensed to Island Records and Boyd, as the man who had discovered Fairport Convention and been responsible for introducing John Marytn and The Incredible String Band to a mainstream audience, was a significant and respected figure on the UK folk scene. He and Drake formed an immediate bond, and the producer acted as a mentor figure to Drake throughout his career. A four-track demo, recorded in Drake's college room in the spring of 1968, led Boyd to offer a management, publishing, and production contract to the 20 year old, and to initiate work on a debut album. According to Boyd:

In those days you didn't have cassettes—he brought a reel-to-reel tape [to me] that he'd done at home. Half way through the first song, I felt this was pretty special. And I called him up, and he came back in, and we talked, and I just said, "I'd like to make a record." He stammered, "Oh, well, yeah. Okay." Nick was a man of few words.

In a 2004 interview, Drake's friend Paul Wheeler remembered the excitement caused by his seeming big break, and recalled that the singer had already decided not to complete his third year at Cambridge.

Drake began recording his debut album Five Leaves Left later in 1968, with Boyd assuming the role of producer. The sessions took place in Sound Techniques Studio, London, with Drake skipping lectures to travel by train to the capital. Inspired by John Simon's production of Leonard Cohen's first album, Boyd was keen that Drake's voice would be recorded in a similar close and intimate style, "with no shiny pop reverb". He also sought to include a string arrangement similar to Simon's, "without overwhelming... or sounding cheesy". To provide backing, Boyd enlisted various contacts from the London folk rock scene, including Fairport Convention guitarist Richard Thompson and Pentangle bassist Danny Thompson (no relation). He recruited John Wood as engineer, and drafted Richard Hewson in to provide the string arrangements.

Initial recordings did not go well: the sessions were irregular and rushed, taking place during studio downtime borrowed from Fairport Convention's production of their Unhalfbricking album. Tension arose between artist and producer as to the direction the album should take: Boyd was an advocate of George Martin's "using the studio as an instrument" approach, while Drake preferred a more organic sound. Dann has observed that Drake appears "tight and anxious" on bootleg recordings taken from the sessions, and notes a number of Boyd's unsuccessful attempts at instrumentation. Both were unhappy with Hewson's contribution, which they felt was too mainstream in sound for Drake's songs. Drake suggested using his college friend Robert Kirby as a replacement, although Boyd was sceptical at taking on an amateur music student lacking prior recording experience. However, he was impressed by Drake's uncharacteristic assertiveness, and agreed to a trial. Kirby had previously presented Drake with some arrangements for his songs, and went on to provide a spare chamber music quartet score associated with the sound of the final album. However, Kirby did not feel confident enough to score the album's centerpiece "River Man", and Boyd was forced to stretch the Witchseason budget to hire the veteran composer Harry Robinson, with the instruction that he echo the tone of Delius and Ravel.

Post Production difficulties led to the release being delayed by several months. It has been alleged that the album was poorly marketed and supported, though the inclusion of the opening track "Time Has Told Me" on the Island Records sampler Nice Enough to eat brought him a very wide audience (a track from his second album was likewise included on the subsequent sampler Bumpers). Drake was featured in full-page interviews in the pop press. In July, Melody Maker referred to the album as "poetic" and "interesting", though NME wrote in October that there was "not nearly enough variety to make it entertaining". It received radio plays from the BBC's more progressive disc-jockeys such as John Peel and Bob Harris. Drake was unhappy with the inlay sleeve, which printed songs in the wrong running order and reproduced verses omitted from the recorded versions. In an interview his sister Gabrielle said: "He was very secretive. I knew he was making an album but I didn't know what stage of completion it was at until he walked into my room and said, 'There you are.' He threw it onto the bed and walked out!

Drake ended his studies at Cambridge nine months before graduation, and in autumn 1969 moved to London to concentrate on a career in music. His father remembered "writing him long letters, pointing out the disadvantages of going away from Cambridge ... a degree was a safety net, if you manage to get a degree, at least you have something to fall back on; his reply to that was that a safety net was the one thing he did not want." Drake spent his first few months in the capital drifting from place to place, occasionally staying at his sister's Kensington flat, but usually sleeping on friends’ sofas and floors. Eventually, in an attempt to bring some stability and a telephone into Drake's life, Boyd organised and paid for a ground floor bedsit in Belsize Park, Camden.

In August, Drake recorded three songs for the BBC's John Peel show. Two months later, he opened for Fairport Convention at the Royal Festival Hall in London, followed by appearances at folk clubs in Birmingham and Hull. Remembering the performance in Hull, folk singer Michael Chapman commented:

The folkies did not take to him; [they] wanted songs with choruses. They completely missed the point. He didn't say a word the entire evening. It was actually quite painful to watch. I don't know what the audience expected, I mean, they must have known they weren't going to get sea–shanties and sing-alongs at a Nick Drake gig!

The experience reinforced Drake's decision to retreat from live appearances; the few concerts he did play around this time were usually brief, awkward, and poorly attended. Drake seemed unwilling to perform and rarely addressed his audience. As many of his songs were played in different tunings, he frequently paused to retune between numbers.

Although the publicity generated by Five Leaves Left was minor, Boyd was keen to build on what momentum there was. 1970's Bryter Later again produced by Boyd and engineered by Wood, introduced a more upbeat, jazzier sound. Disappointed by his debut's poor commercial performance, Drake sought to move away from his pastoral sound, and agreed to his producer's suggestions to include bass and drum tracks on the recordings. "It was more of a pop sound, I suppose", Boyd later said, "I imagined it as more commercial." Like its predecessor, the album featured musicians from Fairport Convention, as well as contributions from John Cale on two songs: "Northern Sky" and "Fly". Trevor Dann has noted that while sections of "Northern Sky" sound more characteristic of Cale, the song was the closest Drake came to a release with chart potential. In his 1999 autobiography, Cale admits to using heroin during this period, and his older friend Brian Wells began to suspect that Drake was also using. Both Boyd and Wood were confident that the album would be a commercial success, but it went on to sell fewer than 3,000 copies. Reviews were again mixed: while Record Mirror praised Drake as a "beautiful guitarist—clean and with perfect timing, [and] accompanied by soft, beautiful arrangements", Melody Maker described the album as "an awkward mix of folk and cocktail jazz."

Island Records was keen that Drake promote Bryter Layter through press interviews, radio sessions and live appearances. Drake, who was by this time smoking what Kirby has described as "unbelievable amounts" of marijuana and exhibiting "the first signs of psychosis", refused. By the winter of 1970, he had isolated himself in London. Disappointed by the reaction to Bryter Layter, he turned his thoughts inwards, and withdrew from family and friends. He rarely left his flat, and then only to play an occasional concert or to buy drugs. "This was a very bad time", his sister Gabrielle Drake recalled, "He once said to me that everything started to go wrong from [this] time on, and I think that was when things started to go wrong."

Although Island neither expected nor wanted a third album, Drake approached Wood in October 1971 to begin work on what would be his final release. The sessions took place over two nights, with only Drake and Wood present in the studio. The bleak songs of Pink Moon are short, and the eleven-track album lasts only 28 minutes, a length described by Wood as "just about right. You really wouldn't want it to be any longer." Drake had expressed dissatisfaction with the sound of Bryter Layter, and believed that the string, brass and saxophone arrangements had resulted in a sound that was "too full, too elaborate". Drake appears on Pink Moon accompanied only by his own carefully recorded guitar save for a single piano overdub on the title track. "He was very determined to make this very stark, bare record," Wood later recalled. "He definitely wanted it to be him more than anything. And I think, in some ways, Pink Moon is probably more like Nick is than the other two records."

Drake delivered the tapes of Pink Moon to Chris Blackwell at Island Records, contrary to a popular legend which claims he dropped them off at the receptionist's desk without saying a word. An advertisement for the album placed in Melody Maker in February opened with "Pink Moon—Nick Drake's latest album: the first we heard of it was when it was finished." Pink Moon went on to sell fewer copies than either of its predecessors, although it did receive some favourable reviews. In Zigzagmagazine, Connor McKnight wrote, "Nick Drake is an artist who never fakes. The album makes no concession to the theory that music should be escapist. It's simply one musician's view of life at the time, and you can't ask for more than that."

Blackwell felt Pink Moon had the potential to bring Drake to a mainstream audience; however, his staff were disappointed by the artist's unwillingness to undertake any promotional activity. A&R manager Muff Winwood recalls "tearing his hair out" in frustration, and admits that without Blackwell's enthusiastic support, "the rest of us would have given him the boot." However, following persistent nagging from Boyd, Drake agreed to an interview with Jerry Gilbert of Sounds Magazine. The "shy and introverted folk singer" spoke of his dislike of live appearances and very little else. "There wasn't any connection whatsoever", Gilbert has said. "I don't think he made eye contact with me once. If you wanted to be uncharitable, you could say he was just a spoiled boy with a silver spoon and went around feeling sorry for himself." Disheartened and convinced he would be unable to write again, Drake decided to retire from music. He toyed with the idea of a different career, even considering the Army.

In the months following Pink Moon's release, Drake became increasingly antisocial and distant from those close to him. He returned to live at his parents' home in Far Leys, and while he resented the regression, he accepted that his illness made it necessary. "I don't like it at home", he told his mother, "but I can't bear it anywhere else." His return was often difficult for his family; as his sister Gabrielle explained, "good days in my parents' home were good days for Nick, and bad days were bad days for Nick. And that was what their life revolved around, really."

Referring to this period, John Martyn (who in 1973 wrote the title song of his album Solid Air for and about Drake) described him as the most withdrawn person he'd ever met. He would borrow his mother's car and drive for hours without purpose on occasion, until he ran out of petrol and had to ring his parents to ask to be collected. Friends have recalled the extent to which his appearance had changed. During particularly bleak periods of his illness, he refused to wash his hair or cut his nails. Early in 1972, Drake suffered a nervous breakdown, and was hospitalized for five weeks.He lived a frugal existence, his only source of income being a £20-a-week retainer he received from Island Records. At one point he could not afford a new pair of shoes.He would often disappear for days, sometimes turning up unannounced at friends' houses, uncommunicative and withdrawn. Robert Kirby described a typical visit: "He would arrive and not talk, sit down, listen to music, have a smoke, have a drink, sleep there the night, and two or three days later he wasn't there, he'd be gone. And three months later he'd be back."

In February 1974, Drake again contacted John Wood, stating he was ready to begin work on a fourth album.^] Boyd was in England at the time, and agreed to attend the recordings. This initial session was followed by further recordings in July. In his 2006 autobiography, the producer recalled being taken aback at Drake's anger and bitterness: "[He said that] I had told him he was a genius, and others had concurred. Why wasn't he famous and rich? This rage must have festered beneath that inexpressive exterior for years." Both Boyd and Wood noticed a discernible deterioration in Drake's performance, requiring him to overdub his voice separately over the guitar. However, the return to Sound Techniques studio raised Drake's spirits; his mother later recalled, "We were so absolutely thrilled to think that Nick was happy because there hadn't been any happiness in Nick's life for years.

By autumn 1974, Drake's weekly retainer from Island had ceased, and his illness meant he remained in contact with only a few close friends. He had tried to stay in touch with Sophia Ryde, whom he had first met in London in 1968. Ryde has been described by Drake's biographers as "the nearest thing" to a girlfriend in his life, but she now prefers the description 'best (girl) friend'. In a 2005 interview, Ryde revealed that a week before he died, she had sought to end the relationship: "I couldn't cope with it. I asked him for some time. And I never saw him again." As with the relationship he had earlier shared with fellow folk musician Linda Thompson, Drake's relationship with Ryde was never consummated.

At some time during the night of 24/25 November 1974, Nick Drake died at home in Far Leys from an overdose of a type of antidepressant. He had gone to bed early the night before, after spending the afternoon visiting a friend. His mother stated that, around dawn, he left his room for the kitchen. His family was used to hearing him do this many times before but, during this instance, he did not make a sound. They presumed that he was eating a bowl of cereal. He returned to his room a short while later, and took some pills "to help him sleep" Drake was accustomed to keeping his own hours; he frequently had difficulty sleeping, and would often stay up through the night playing and listening to music, then sleep late into the following morning. Recalling the events of that night, his mother later stated: "I never used to disturb him at all. But it was about 12 o'clock, and I went in, because really it seemed it was time he got up. And he was lying across the bed. The first thing I saw was his long, long legs." There was no suicide note, although a letter addressed to Ryde was found close to his bed.

At the inquest that December, Drake's coroner stated that the cause of death was as a result of "Acute poisoning—self-administered when suffering from a depressive illness", and concluded a verdict of suicide. Though this has been disputed by some members of his family, there is a general view that accidental or not, Drake had by then given up on life. Rodney described his son's death as unexpected and extraordinary; however, in a 1979 interview he admitted to "always [being] worried about Nick being so depressed. We used to hide away the aspirin and pills and things like that." Boyd has stated that he prefers to believe the overdose was accidental. He recalled that Drake's parents had described his mood in the preceding weeks as having been very positive, and that he had planned to move back to London to restart his music career. Boyd believes that this levity was followed by a "crash back into despair". Reasoning that Drake may have taken a high dosage of his antidepressants to recapture this sense of optimism, he said he prefers to imagine Drake "making a desperate lunge for life rather than a calculated surrender to death". Writing in 1975, NME journalist Nick Kent comments on the irony of Drake's death at a time when he had just begun to regain a sense of "personal balance". In contrast, Gabrielle Drake has said she prefers to think Drake committed suicide, "in the sense that I'd rather he died because he wanted to end it than it to be the result of a tragic mistake. That would seem to me to be terrible."

On 2 December 1974, after a service in the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Tanworth-in-Arden, Drake's remains were cremated at the Solihull Crematorium and his ashes later interred under an oak tree in the adjoining graveyard of St Mary's. The funeral was attended by around 50 mourners, including friends from Marlborough, Aix, Cambridge, London, Witchseason, and Tanworth. Referring to Drake's tendency to compartmentalise relationships, Brian Wells later observed that many met each other for the first time that morning. Molly recalled "a lot of his young friends came up here. We'd never met many of them.

The Mamas & The Papas: California Dreamin' (1965)

2012-01-19T01:27:00.000-08:00

I really do love this song, it has the knack of picking me up when I'm down. "California Dreamin'" the classic song by The Mamas & The Papas, first released in 1965. The song is No89 in Rolling Stones' list of The 500 Greatest Songs of all Time. The lyrics of the song are about a man in a cold winter landscape longing for the warmth of California. According to John Phillips in a Bravo documentary, and Michelle Phillips in an NPR piece, the song was written in 1963 while they were living in New York. He dreamed about the song and woke her up to help him write it. At the time, the Phillips' were members of the folk group The New Journeymen which evolved into The Mamas & The Papas.

They earned their first record contract after being introduced to Lou Adler, the head of Dunhill Records, by the singer Barry McGuire. In thanks to Adler, they sang the backing vocals to "California Dreamin'" on McGuire's album This Precious Time. The Mamas and the Papas then recorded their own version, using the same instrumental and backing vocal tracks to which they added new vocals and an alto flute solo by Bud Shan k. McGuire's original vocal can be briefly heard on the left channel at the beginning of the record, having not been completely wiped. The single was released in late 1965 but it was not an immediate breakthrough. After gaining little attention in Los Angeles upon its release, Michelle Phillips remembers that it took a radio station in Boston to break the song nationwide. By early 1966, the song peaked at No4 and stayed on the charts for 17 weeks. "California Dreaming" and "The Ballard of the Green Berets" sharply divided the popular music market in March 1966.

The song is used repeatedly in the 1994 Wong Kar-Wai film Chungking Express, in which a character played by singer Faye Wong obsessively listens to it. The original song by The Mamas & the Papas was also used in the soundtrack on the Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning film Forrest Gump. A version by the band The Bald Eagles was used for the remake of the movie The Hills Have Eyes. In the movie Congo the song is sung by members of an expedition as they prepare rafts for an ill-fated river trek.

"California Dreamin'", as covered by Bobby Womack (1968), features prominently in 2009 British film Fish Tank by Andrea Arnold, where the main character Mia dances to it and uses it as her audition piece. The collection CD on which the song appears also plays a role, and is "The Best of Bobby Womack" (2008), on which "California Dreamin'" appears on track 17, as Mia requests at her audition.

The song was also used in the South Park episode 201.

In the British time travelling sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart, one of the main characters, Phoebe, sang this song, thinking it had been written by her husband, Gary Sparrow. (Gary Sparrow travels from the 1990s to the 1940s and claims to write songs, which are actually songs from popular bands or singers, such as "Yesterday" by The Beatles, "Imagine" by John Lennon and "Back To You" by Brett Anderson.)

A cover of the song by Shaw Blades was used in the final scene of the season 2 finale of Californication.

The song is used in promos for HBO Films' Cinema Verite.

It was also used in a "Butter Menthol" Cough Lolly TV advertisment in Australia

In 2004 the Mexican bank Banamex use the theme for a TV Commercial.

Billboard Hot 100 (1965)

2012-01-18T14:38:00.000-08:00

1965 was a great year in music. The Beatles ruled the charts again but even with their five No1 hits there was plenty of room for some old favorites and newcomers alike. The Rolling Stones had one of the biggest hits of the year with "Satisfaction", this song has been voted as one of the top five rock songs of all times.
Possibly the last gasp for good old rock&roll was a song by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs called "Wooly Bully". It never hit No1 but it managed to stay in the Top 40 for over 14 weeks. Music was becoming more complicated and "Wooly Bully" was a throwback to simpler rhythms and lyrics.

The British invasion continued with No1 hits from Herman's Hermits, "I'm Henry VIII, I Am" and "Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter" as well as the Dave Clark Five's hit, "Over And Over".

There was quite a lineup of newcomers in 1965. Sonny & Cher took a No 1 spot with their "I Got You Babe" even if it did sound suspiciously like "It Ain't Me Babe" from Bob Dylan. The Byrds with an all star lineup would have a hit with a Bob Dylan tune, "Mr. Tambourine Man". Their popularity would only last a couple of years, changes in members due to successful solo careers would eventually end the group. While they were together they are credited with creating the genre 'folk rock' along with Pete Seeger and Dylan, they also pioneered 'country rock' sounds as well as the beginnings of 'psychedelic rock'. Their musical interpretations would influence music throughout the remainder of the 1960's.

Another newcomer was The Jefferson Airplane with Grace Slick, they didn't have a chart success until 1967 though. Out of the San Francisco Bay area and not causing much of a stir until later years was a group that was eventually known as the Grateful Dead. Their pioneering in long musical improvisation gave rise to the musical term jamming.

Number of Charted Songs Top 100:

Beatles - 5
Supremes - 3
Herman's Hermits - 3
Byrds - 2
Four Tops - 2
Yarbirds - 2

And The Grammy Goes To:
Record of the Year - "A Taste of Honey" - Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
Album of the Year - "September of My Years" - Frank Sinatra
Song of the Year - "The Shadow of Your Smile?" - Paul Francis Webster
Best Rock and Roll Recording - "King of the Road"- Roger Miller

Roger Miller had the biggest Country & Western hit of the year with "King of the Road" proving again that there can be a cross over market for C&W. While folk music was turning electric Simon and Garfunkel had a more acoustic hit with "The Sound of Silence" which would hit No1 on New Years day 1966.
In the grown-up world movie soundtracks were ruling with some all time greats like "The Sound of Music", "Doctor Zhivago", My Fair Lady", and "Fiddler on the Roof" leading the way.


SONG	ARTIST (click to purchase)	# OF WEEKS	DATE
*Downtown*	*Petula Clark*	2	*1/23*
*You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'*	*The Righteous Brothers*	2	*2/06*
*This Diamond Ring*	*Gary Lewis and the Playboys*	2	*2/20*
*My Girl*	*Temptations*	1	*3/06*
*Eight Days A Week*	*Beatles*	2	*3/13*
*Stop! In The Name Of Love*	*The Supremes*	2	*3/27*
*I'm Telling You Now*	*Freddie and the Dreamers*	2	*4/10*
*Game Of Love*	*Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders*	1	*4/24*
*Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter*	*Herman's Hermits*	3	*5/01*
*Ticket To Ride*	*Beatles*	1	*5/22*
*Help Me, Rhonda*	*Beach Boys*	2	*5/29*
*Back In My Arms Again*	*Supremes*	1	*6/12*
*I Can't Help Myself*	*The Four Tops*	2	*6/19*
*Mr. Tambourine Man*	*The Byrds*	1	*6/26*
*Satisfaction*	*Rolling Stones*	4	*7/10*
*I'm Henry VIII, I Am*	*Herman's Hermits*	1	*8/07*
*I Got You Babe*	*Sonny & Cher*	3	*8/14*
*Help!*	*Beatles*	3	*9/04*
*Eve Of Destruction*	*Barry McGuire*	1	*9/25*
*Hang On Sloopy*	*The McCoys*	1	*10/02*
*Yesterday*	*Beatles*	4	*10/09*
*Get Off Of My Cloud*	*Rolling Stones*	2	*11/06*
*I Hear A Symphony*	*Supremes*	2	*11/20*
*Turn! Turn! Turn!*	*The Byrds*	3	*12/04*
*Over And Over*	*The Dave Clark Five*	1	*12/24*

Cloppa Castle - Episode Seven - Off Duty

2012-01-18T01:45:00.000-08:00

The castle guards are protesting again at the fact they have been on duty for months without a break. The Queen decides that they should all have a day off and go to the seaside. Before they can go Cue-ee-dee has to build a new wagon to carry everyone. Alas for poor Cue-ee-dee he has built inside his lab and the doorway is not big enough for it to get out. Whilst this problem is being dealt with, the castle comes under attack from the Hasbeenes.

Elbow is most annoyed as this may mean he cannot have a holiday. Suddenly the Byegones realise that they could use Beosweyne battering ram to smash a hole in the laboratory and thus get the wagon out. It all goes to plan and Beosweyne comes rushing into the castle and crashes through the lab wall. He is about to claim victory when the Queen invites both him and his men for a day out. A twenty four hour truce is thus called. Everyone is very happy and has a nice time relaxing, although the sea is at very low tide. At the end of the day they are all hungry and it is up to Mudlin to bring out the food.

He makes a complete mess of it and Beosweyne is not happy about it. He starts to complain and the Queen leaps into her chariot and with the wagon in tow, she heads for the castle leaving everyone stranded at the beach. Beosweyne decides to show all the others how to organise a feast and party back at his camp. Everyone has a great time part from the Queen who is in bed at Cloppa Castle.

Saluting the Greatest - Happy 70th, Muhammad Ali

2012-01-17T13:28:00.000-08:00

Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942) the American former professional Boxer, Philanthropist and Social Activist Considered a cultural icon, Ali was both idolized and vilified.

Originally known as Cassius Clay, Ali changed his name after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964, subsequently converting to Sunni Islam in 1975, and more recently practicing Sufism. In 1967, three years after Ali had won the World Heavyweight Championship, he was publicly vilified for his refusal to be conscripted into the U.S. Military, based on his religious beliefs and opposition to the Vietnam War. Ali stated, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong... No Viet Cong ever called me nigger" – one of the more telling remarks of the era.

Widespread protests against the Vietnam War w had not yet begun, but with that one phrase, Ali articulated the reason to oppose the war for a generation of young Americans, and his words served as a touchstone for the racial and antiwar upheavals that would rock the 1960s. Ali's example inspired Martin Luther King Jr. – who had been reluctant to alienate the Johnson Administration and its support of the civil rights agenda – to voice his own opposition to the war for the first time.

Ali would eventually be arrested and found guilty on draft evasion charges; he was stripped of his boxing title, and his boxing license was suspended. He was not imprisoned, but did not fight again for nearly four years while his appeal worked its way up to the U.S.Supreme Court, where it was eventually successful.

Ali would go on to become the first and only three-time Lineal World Heavyweight Champion.

Nicknamed "The Greatest," Ali was involved in several historic boxing matches. Notable among these were three with rival Joe Frazier, which are considered among the greatest in boxing history, and one with George Foreman, where he finally regained his stripped titles seven years later. Ali was well known for his unorthodox fighting style, which he described as "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee", and employing techniques such as the Ali Shuffle and the rope-a-dope. Ali had brought beauty and grace to the most uncompromising of sports and through the wonderful excesses of skill and character, he had become the most famous athlete in the world. He was also known for his pre-match hype, where he would "trash talk" opponents, often with rhymes. In 1999, Ali was crowned "Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated and Sports Personality of the Year by the BBC..

Clay won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amatuer Athletic National Title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Clay's amateur record was 100 wins with five losses.

Ali states (in his 1975 autobiography) that he threw his Olympic Gold Medal into the Ohio River after being refused service at a 'whites-only' restaurant, and fighting with a white gang. Whether this is true is still debated, although he was given a replacement medal at a basketball intermission during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where he lit the torch to start the games.

Ali is generally considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time by boxing commentators and historians. Ring Magazine, a prominent boxing magazine, named him number 1 in a 1998 ranking of greatest heavyweights from all eras.

Ali was named the second greatest fighter in boxing history by ESPN.com behind only welterweight and middleweight great Sugar Ray Robinson In December 2007, ESPN listed Ali second in its choice of the greatest heavyweights of all time, behind Joe Louis.

Muhammad Ali has been married four times and has seven daughters and two sons. Ali met his first wife,Cocktail Waitress Sonji Roi, approximately one month before they married on August 14, 964. Roi's objections to certain Muslim customs in regard to dress for women contributed to the breakup of their marriage. They divorced on January 10, 1966.

On August 17, 1967, Ali married Belinda Boyd. After the wedding, she, like Ali, converted to Islam and more recently to Sufism, changed her name to Khalilah Ali, though she was still called Belinda by old friends and family. They had four children: Maryum (b. 1968), Jamillah and Rasheda (b. 1970), and Muhammad Ali Jr. (b. 1972).

In 1975, Ali began an affair with Veronica Porsche, an actress and model. By the summer of 1977, Ali's second marriage was over and he had married Veronica. At the time of their marriage, they had a baby girl, Hana, and Veronica was pregnant with their second child. Their second daughter, Laila, was born in December 1977. By 1986, Ali and Veronica were divorced.

On November 19, 1986, Ali married Yolanda Ali. They had been friends since 1964 in Louisville. They have one son, Asaad Amin, who they adopted when Amin was five.

Ali was a resident of Cherry Hill, New Jersey in the early 1970s. Ali has two other daughters, Miya and Khaliah, from extramarital relationships.

As a world champion boxer and social activist, Ali has been the subject of numerous books, films and other creative works. In 1963, he released an album of spoken word on Columbia Records titled I am the Greatest! He has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated on 37 different occasions, second only to Michael Jordan. He appeared in the documentary film Black Rodeo (1972) riding both a horse and a bull. His autobiography The Greatest: My Own Story, written with Richard Durham, was published in 1975. In 1977 the book was adapted into a film called The Greatest, in which Ali played himself and Ernest Borgnine played Angelo Dundee. When We Were Kings, a 1996 documentary about the Rumble in the Jungle, won an Academy Award and the 2001 biopic Ali garnered an Oscar nomination for Will Smith's portrayal of the lead role.

For contributions to the entertainment industry, Muhammed Ali was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.

Radio Times - Graham Stark (1964)

2012-01-17T03:57:00.000-08:00

My first Radio Times posting of the new year and gracing this 1964 cover is the late Graham Stark advertising the fact that his new show, The Graham Stark Show is back on air every Tuesday. All the editions of the show were scripted by Johnny Speight and each one featured a different group of supporting actors, including Deryck Guyler, Arthur Mullard, Derek Nimmo, Patricia Hayes and Warren Mitchell. Stark worked and socialised quite a bit with Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers, and is mentioned throughout biographies of them, such as Pauline Scudamore's (1985) biography of Milligan, and especially in Roger Lewis's comprehensive (1995) biography of Sellers.

Alias Smith & Jones (1971-1973)

2012-01-17T01:18:00.000-08:00

Another great classic from the good old 1970s. Alias Smith and Jones was an American Western series that originally aired on ABC from 1971 to 1973. It starred Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy as Jedediah "Kid" Curry, a pair of Western cousin outlaws trying to reform. The deal: a promise of conditional amnesty, by a governor who wants to keep the pact under wraps. The dilemma: for now, they'll still be "wanted".

Alias Smith and Jones began with a made-for-TV movie of the previous year called The Young Country, about con artists in the old West. It was produced, written and directed by Roy Huggins, who served as executive producer of Alias Smith & Jones and, under the pseudonym of John Thomas James, at least shared the writing credit on most episodes.

Roger Davis starred as Stephen Foster Moody, and Pete Duel had the secondary but significant role of Honest John Smith, while Joan Hackett played a character called Clementine Hale, the same name as a part played on two Alias Smith & Jones episodes by Sally Field. This pilot was rejected, but Huggins was given a second chance and, joined by Glen A. Larson, developed Alias Smith and Jones. Both The Young Country and the series pilot movie originally aired as ABC Movie of the week entries.

Alias Smith and Jones was made in the same spirit as many other American TV series, from Huggins' own The Fugitive to Renegade, about men on the run crisscrossing America and getting involved in the personal lives of the people they meet. One major difference was that Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry were guilty of the crimes that they were accused of committing, but were trying to turn over a new leaf.

The series was inspired by the success of the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, starring Paul Newman & Robert Redford (Universal contract player Ben Murphy was handed to the producers because he was considered a Paul Newman lookalike.) There were a number of connecting themes: one of the heroes was named Kid Curry which was also the nickname of Harvey Logan, an associate of the real Butch Cassidy, played in that film by Ted Cassidy. (However, unlike the TV version, the real Kid Curry was a cold-blooded killer.) The names "Smith and Jones" originated from a comment in Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid when the characters are outside a bank in Bolivia and Sundance says: "I'm Smith and you're Jones."

The series also featured a group of robbers called the Devil's Hole Gang which was based on the Hole in the Wall Gang from where Cassidy recruited most of his outlaws.

However, in order to give them an element of sympathy, Heyes and Curry were presented as men who avoided bloodshed (though Curry did once kill in self-defense) and trying to reform.

Heyes was deemed "cunning", and Curry was "gunning". Heyes/Smith was considered the brains of the duo, and a card sharp. Curry/Jones was the master gun hand, and the brawn. Usually, Heyes figured out ways to make money and save the twosome from precarious situations. After Davis was hired as Heyes, his distictive voice could no longer be used in the theme intro. Ralph Story was brought in to provide narration for the series (he rather than Davis had done so in the pilot). Story's slightly revamped intro partially explained why the renowned duo didn't split to evade capture - they were cousins.

Recurring characters include:

Kyle Murtry (Dennis Fimple) and Wheat Carlson (Earl Holliman), members of the Devil's Hole Gang, formerly led by Heyes and Curry;

Harry Briscoe (J.D. Cannon), a Bannerman detective who occasionally finds himself on the wrong side of the law;

Patrick "Big Mac" McCreedy (Burl Ives) and Señor Armendariz (Cesar Romero), two ranchers on opposite sides of the US-Mexico border/Rio Grande waging a feud over a valuable bust which represents land that had been owned by Armendariz until the river temporarily switched course, moving the border with it, allowing MacCreedy to sell the land. Heyes and Curry get stuck in the middle;

Clementine "Clem" Hale (Sally Field), an old friend who has no problem with blackmailing the reformed outlaws when necessary. Field had appeared in only one episode before Duel's death, and she declined to return to the program. Several scripts intended for her were rewritten to feature Georgette "George" Sinclair, who was played by Michelle Lee. In the third season, Field did appear as Clem one last time;

Soapy Saunders (Sam Jaffe) and Silky O'Sullivan (Walter Brennan), both retired confidence men that the boys call on when in need of a large sum of cash and a good con to get them out of trouble.

In the early morning hours of Friday, December 31, 1971, series star Pete Duel died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 31. He was reportedly suffering from depression and had been drinking heavily. Upon learning of Duel's death, executive producer Jo Swerling, Jr. initially wanted to end the series but ABC refused. Swerling later stated:

ABC said, "No way!" They said, "You have a contract to deliver this show to us, and you will continue to deliver the show as best you can on schedule or we will sue you." Hearing those words, Universal didn't hesitate for a second to instruct us to stay in production. We were already a little bit behind the eight ball on airdates. So we contacted everybody, including Ben [Murphy], and told them to come back in. The entire company was reassembled and back in production by one o'clock that day shooting scenes that did not involve Peter - only twelve hours after his death.

Series writer, director and producer Roy Huggins contacted actor Roger Davis (who had appeared in episode 19 "Smiler With a Gun" and provided narration for the series) the day of Duel's death to fill the role of Hannibal Heyes. Davis was fitted for costumes the following day, and began re-shooting scenes Duel had previously completed for an unfinished episode the following Monday. According to Swerling, the decision to continue production so soon after Duel's death was heavily criticized in the press at the time.

Roger Davis' original theme voiceover referred to the characters as "latter day heroes". The Ralph Story intro substituted that disciption with the phrase, "Kansas cousins". In the first episode with Davis (season 2, episode 19), "The Biggest Game In the West", Heyes shouts to Curry: "Yes sir! Cousin, you're alright!". In the episode "Don't Get Mad Get Even", Curry and Heyes both make reference to their Irish grandfather Curry.

The series continued for another seventeen episodes, but never regained its popularity after the loss of Duel. This, as well as the fact that the long prominent Western genre was giving way to police dramas, brought the show to an end on January 13, 1973. On January 16, 1973,Bonanza aired its final episode, leaving the eighteen-year-old Gunsmoke, and the syndicated comedy-western, Dusty's Trail as the only Westerns scheduled for 1973.

The Persuaders - Episode Three - Five Miles to Midnight (1971)

2012-01-15T07:16:00.000-08:00

Five Miles to Midnight was the third episode of the classic ATV series, The Persuaders and guest starred Joan Collins. Smuggling an American Gangster out of Italy proves to be no joy ride for Brett & Danny, despite the assistance of a glamorous girl photographer.

The killing of an Italian Underworld boss named Gino Franco detonates a havoc - ahead explosion for Brett Sinclair (Roger Moore) & Danny Wilde ( Tony Curtis). The assassin is Frank Rocco (Robert Hutton) a New York Gangster who is sitting comfortably in Rome to evade a tax evasion charge awaiting him back in the States. Now, he is on the run again. There is no way out for him. He promises U.S. authorities that if they save him and reduce his sentence, he will lift the lid on an East Coast crime syndicate.

The U.S Authorities agree and Danny & Brett find themselves with another assignment from Judge Fulton (Laurence Naismith) who wins their reluctant co-operation when he tells them that if they get Rocco back to America it will be the biggest breakthrough ever made against organised crime!

Danny sets off with Rocco hidden under a tarpaulin in an old truck owned by Sidonie (Joan Collins) a beautiful girl photographer who smells a great scoop here and insists on accompanying them. Brett follows in his car creating a dramatic diversion at a police checkpoint which enables Danny to drive Rocco off in a different direction.

Unnoticed in the melee, a car starts silently after Brett. It carries Torrino (Robert Rietty) a big time Italian Mobster bent on vendetta. When Brett catches up with Danny and his passengers they abandon the truck because the police now know the number and begin to make their way on foot. Reaching an imposing villa they tell the owner, Sangallo (Ferdy Maine) that their car has broken down and he invites them to dinner.

Brett & Danny have chosen their host unwisely, he later locks them in and calls Torrino and they find themselves surrounded. Their escape has a melodramatic note, but is successful and they wind up a mountain road with Torrino and his henchmen in hot pursuit. Ahead is police block. But they get through on foot, bicycles and an old farm truck and have only five miles to go to the border when Sidone spots the sinister convoy of gangster cars.

Brett sends Sidone and Rocco into the bushes and drives on as a decoy with Danny, but Torrino catches up with them. It's not quite the end of the trail though. There's a big surprise for Torrino and an even bigger surprise for Brett & Danny!

Edward Woodward is Callan (1967)

2012-01-13T13:12:00.000-08:00

Callan is the classic British television series set in the murky world of espionage. Originally produced by ABC Weekend Television and later Thames Television, it was aired on the ITV network over four seasons spread out between 1967 and 1972. The series starred the late, lamented Edward Woodward as David Callan, a reluctant professional killer for a shadowy branch of the British Government's intelligence services known as 'the Section'.

The series pilot episode aired in February 1967, in a play entitled A Magnum for Schneider by James Mitchell. Mitchell also created the equally popular When the Boat Comes In (1976–81). The haunted character of Callan caught the public's imagination to such an extent that a six-episode series was commissioned, later in the same year.

The series ran from 1967 to 1972, proving popular with audiences. A cinema film followed in 1974, directed by Don Sharp and simply entitled Callan. Callan was last seen in the 1981 feature-length television story made by ATV, entitled Wet Job.

Callan has been fired from an anonymous government agency known as "The Section" which is run by Colonel Hunter. ("Hunter" is a pseudonym for the current Section Chief, like the C of CIS.) The Section removes those who pose a danger to the "innocent" by persuasion, blackmail, extortion or death.

David Callan had been the Section's top operator but he had become too curious about his targets and the rationale for their removal. The Section considered him vulnerable, volatile and dangerous and had laid him off to a dead-end book-keeping job for an ungrateful employer. Callan is where Hunter can keep an eye on him and also in daily, casual and unknowing contact with his next victim. If he can kill Schneider after making his acquaintance as a fellow war games enthusiast then he can kill anyone: this is the question to which Hunter urgently requires an answer.

Hunter describes Callan as "a dead shot, with the cold nerve to kill" and considers him far too useful to be allowed to retire. In this screenplay, Hunter invites Callan back to the Section to remove Schneider as a favour. Schneider's nefarious activities are known to the authorities but he is too clever to be caught by normal methods. Hunter wants Scheider eliminated but offers Callan no help from the Section—ostensibly to allow Callan to prove his loyalty and dedication. Hunter secretly sends Toby Meres to set Callan up to take the fall for the assassination, should this become necessary.

Callan's curiosity about his victims overwhelms him again and he investigates Schneider, discovering a massive gun-running operation. Satisfied, Callan formulates his plan. He calls on his petty criminal contact Lonely, played by Russell Hunter. Lonely is unsure of Callan's identity and motives but fearfully provides a "Noguchi .38 Magnum" plus 20 rounds (Callan returning the .38 revolver he had previously purchased from Lonely). Callan has a chance meeting with Schneider and finds common ground in their interest in model soldiers and war games.

At Schneider's house, where Callan and his host re-play a scenario from the Peninsular War and go on to recreate the the Battle of Gettysburg , Meres breaks in, distracting Callan. Hunter sends the police in order to ensure Callan is caught red-handed. Schneider, suspicious, uncovers Meres and holds the two men at gunpoint. Schneider searches Callan but misses the Magnum and Callan kills Schneider.

Meres attempts to finish the set-up but Callan knocks Meres unconscious. Callan phones Hunter about Schneider and says he will leave Meres to the police, quitting the Section. Hunter orders Callan's file to be changed to a red folder—targeting him for removal.

By 1969, ABC Weekend Television had, via enforced merger, become Thames Television. A second season of fifteen episodes that had already been completed by ABC was therefore transmitted by its successor. This run ended with "Death Of A Hunter" in which the Section chief meets his demise, and Callan is shot - perhaps fatally. It had not been decided whether the show would return for a third series, so this device was used to leave open either the possibility of more stories in the future, or a way of winding-up the show. Two endings were taped, in which Callan either lived or died. In the end, Thames decided to bring the programme back for the 1970 series, this time in full colour.

A final set of thirteen episodes was broadcast in 1972. This saw Callan develop further than before. An unsuccessful mission meant Callan was exchanged with the Russians for one of their agents and now he was known, he was a liability. What to do with the Section's top agent was solved by promoting him into the role of Hunter - a post he disliked as much or even more than actually serving under a Hunter but which he was eventually relieved of by his predecessor when the danger had all but passed. The final three episodes were a trilogy based around the defector Richmond, played by T.P. McKenna, (and sub-titled "The Richmond Files"), at the end of which he pleads for Callan to kill him instead of capturing him - you know what they do to people like us. Having disobeyed orders to help A Man Like Me (Final episode title), Callan finally walks out of the Section.

Successive Hunters were played by Ronald Radd, Derek Bond, Michael Goodliffe and William Squire. The latter's steely exterior and ice-cold decisive nature was often the match for Callan and he is probably the best remembered of all the supporting actors. Toby Meres was brought to life by Anthony Valentine (Peter Bowles in the pilot) and when he departed for a posting in the US (in truth, to appear in the series Codename on the rival BBC network) in came the young, brash, and unpredictable Cross (played by Patrick Mower) who was just as arrogant and who needed teaching a lesson more than once in a while by his experienced teacher.

Bonnie's Total Eclipse of the Heart (1983)

2012-01-10T04:06:00.000-08:00

"Total Eclipse of the Heart" is the title of the smash hit song written and produced by Jim Steinman and recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler for her fifth studio album, Faster Than the Speed Of Light. Released as a single in 1983, it was the first release from the album and became Tyler's biggest hit reaching number one in several countries including the United States, making her the first and, to date, only Welsh singer to reach the top of the Billboard Charts.

The power ballard remains Tyler's most successful song, peaking at No. 1 in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. At its peak, it sold 60,000 copies per day, and approximately 6 million copies in total. It won the Variety Club award in the UK for best single of 1983. The song also made number 82 of VH1's top 100 love songs.

According to Meat Loaf, Steinman had given the song, along with "Making Love (Out Of Nothing At All"), to Meat Loaf for his album Midnight at the Lost & Found; however, Meat Loaf's record company refused to pay for Steinman and he wrote separate songs himself. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was then given to Bonnie Tyler and "Making Love (Out of Nothing At All)" to Air Supply

The song's melody originally appeared as part of the soundtrack for the 1980 film A Small Circle of Friends.

The music video for "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was directed by Russell Mulcahy. It was story-boarded by Jim Steinman and drew inspiration from the 1976 film Future world. The Gothic-themed video features Bonnie Tyler clad in white, apparently having a dream or fantasy about her students in a boys' boarding school. Young men are seen dancing and participating in various school activities such as swim team, karate, gymnastics, football, fencing, soccer, and singing in a choir. The video was shot at Holloway Sanitorium, notable for its Gothic architecture and distinguished for the multi-arched grand entrance as seen at the end of the video.

The Persuaders - Episode Two - To The Death, Baby (1971)

2012-01-08T05:23:00.001-08:00

To The Death, Baby was the second episode of the cult classic, The Persuaders. A beautiful girl is a crock of Gold to men in search of Millions - but there are surprises at the end of the rainbow. A rich girl is inevitably the subject of envy & attention, and Shelley Masterson is a very rich girl indeed. She has inherited a soap empire and a fortune.

Lord Brett Sinclair (Roger Moore) & Danny Wilde ( Tony Curtis) slither along the softy soaped trail to intrigue when in Spain and witness a row between two men named Hatton (Thorley Walters & Foster (Terence Morgan) Hatton tells them that he is Shelley Masterson's financial adviser and hike is worried because Shelley has fallen for the wiles of the slithery Foster, an undoubted con man with all the charm of his profession.

Thirty million dollars are at stake - the size of Shelley's fortune. Foster has, in fact, been backed by a notorious gangster, Coady (Harold Innocent) to finance the seduction. Coady's cut will be half of Shelley's fortune when it falls into Foster's hands.

Brett & Danny can see one possible way out of the difficulties. They must both vie for Shelley's attentions in the hope that one of them will lure her away from Foster. Meeting Shelley Masterson (Jennie Linden) is a pleasure. She is not only wealthy, she is very, very beautiful and worth fighting for on her looks alone.

Brett & Danny soon discover though, that trying to win Shelley's affections is just the start of the explosively dangerous project, the first intimation of which is finding a document signed by Shelley, giving Foster control of her money should anything happen to Hatton. And it looks as though something is going to happen when he disappears.

Brett tails Foster to a village, where he finds the abducted Hatton who, after being rescued, says he has been forced to sign a document for 100,000 Dollars in Foster's favour, but it needs Shelley's counter signature. The solution would be a court case, but Shelley says she can not face being a public figure of fun.

Brett & Danny decide on another way to help. Unknown to each other, they stake Shelley to 100,000 Dollars to pay Foster off - and then find that Shelley and Hatton have disappeared and, with Foster's help, have taken Brett & Danny for 200,000 Dollars - or so they think. Shelley Masterson is a phoney, in league with the others, but they still have gangster Coady to reckon with and he wants his promised cut of the money.

Shelley is now in such deadly danger that Hatton has to go to Brett & Danny for help.

Look-in - Number 12 (1974)

2012-01-07T11:46:00.000-08:00

La La La La Look-in. This edition is number 12 from 1974 and on its cover is David Carradine as Kung Fu. Below are some of the classic picture strips from this particular edition.

All Aboard the Magic Roundabout (1963)

2012-01-07T02:18:00.000-08:00

The Magic Roundabout (known in the original French as Le Manège enchanté) the classic kids programme created in France in 1963 by Serge Danot. Some 450 five-minute-long episodes were made and were originally broadcast between 1964 and 1971 on ORTF.

The BBC produced a version of the series using the original stop motion animation footage with new English-language scripts, written and performed by Eric Thompson, that had no relation to the original storylines. This version, broadcast from 18 October 1965 to 25 January 1977, was a great success and attained cult status, being watched by adults for its dry humour as much as by the children for whom it was intended.

Although the characters were common to both versions, they were given different names depending on the language.

The main character was Dougal (Pollux in the original French-language version) who was a drop-eared variety of the Skye Terrier.

In the French version Pollux was a British character who spoke somewhat broken French with an outrageous English accent, as a result of Ivor Wood's role as co-creator. His sweet tooth, shown through his fondness for sugar lumps, was based on a French belief that one of the traits of the English is a liking for sweets.

Other characters include Zebedee (Zébulon), a Jack-in-the-box; Brian (Ambroise), a snail; Ermintrude (Azalée), a cow, and Dylan (named after Bob Dylan) (Flappy) a rabbit, who in the French version was Spanish. There are two notable human characters: Florence (Margote), a young girl; and Mr Rusty (le Père Pivoine), the operator of the roundabout. Other less well known human characters, only seen on the roundabout itself during the credits, are Basil, Paul and Rosalie. There is also an adult character, old Mr McHenry who is seen only a couple of times.

The show had a distinctive visual style. The set was a brightly coloured and stylised park containing the eponymous roundabout (a fairground carousel). The programmes were created by stop motion animation, which meant that Dougal was made without legs to make him easier to animate. Zebedee was created from a giant pea which was available in the animation studio and was re-painted. The look of these characters was the responsibility of British animator Ivor Wood, who was working at Danot's studio at the time (and who subsequently animated The Herbs, Paddington Bear and Postman Pat).

The British (BBC) version was especially distinct from the French version in that the narration was entirely new, created by Eric Thompson from just the visuals, and not based on the script by Serge Danot. A former BBC employee, interviewed on BBC Radio in 2008, maintained that the original contract with the French owners did not include the scripts which accompanied the original animations (contrary to BBC assumptions). The BBC, instead of making a further payment to acquire the scripts, which would have required translation, decided to commission its own version - without access to the original French, and the English-language version therefore bears no resemblance to it.

The first BBC broadcasts were stripped across the week and shown at 5.44pm, just before the early evening news each day on BBC1. This was the first time an entertainment programme had been transmitted in this way in the UK. The original series, which was a serial, was made in black-and-white. It was made in colour from series 2, although the series was still broadcast in monochrome by the BBC up until the first colour episode was transmitted on 5 October 1970.

Fifty-two additional episodes, not previously broadcast, were shown in the United Kingdom during 1991 on Channel 4's News Daily. Thompson had died by this time, and the job of narrating them in a pastiche of Thompson's style went to actor Nigel Planer.

The British Dougal was grumpy and loosely based on Tony Hancock, an actor and comedian. Ermintrude was rather matronly and fond of singing. Dylan was a hippy-like, guitar-playing rabbit, and rather dopey. Florence was portrayed as courteous and level-headed. Brian was unsophisticated but well-meaning. Zebedee was an almost human creature in a yellow jacket with a spring instead of feet. He always appeared and disappeared with a loud "boing"-sound and usually closed the show with the phrase "Time for bed". In the first episode he was delivered to Mr Rusty in a box which he burst from like a Jack-in-the-box, hence the spring.

In the foreword to the recent re-release of the books, Emma Thompson explains that her father had felt that he was most like Brian of all the characters and that Ermintrude was in some respects based upon his wife, Philyda Law.

Other characters included Mr McHenry (an elderly man who rode a tricycle), Uncle Hamish and Angus (in "Dougal's Scottish Holiday"), and a talking Train with a 4-2-2 wheel arrangement and a two-wheel tender. Three other children, Paul, Basil and Rosalie, appeared in the original b/w serial and in the credit sequence of the colour episodes, but very rarely in subsequent episodes.

Part of the show's attraction was that it appealed to adults, who enjoyed the world-weary Hancock-style comments made by Dougal, as well as to children. The audience measured eight million at its peak. There are speculations about possible interpretations of the show. One is that the characters represented French politicians of the time, and that Dougal represented De Gaulle. In fact, when Serge Danot was interviewed by Joan Bakewell on Late Night Line-Up in 1968 his associate (perhaps Jean Biard) said that in France it was thought at first that the UK version of Pollux had been re-named De Gaulle, mishearing the name Dougal (as seen in the Channel 4 documentary The Return Of The Magic Roundabout (broadcast 08:50 on December 25th 1991 and 18:00 on January 5th 1992), and in the BBC4 documentary The Magic Roundabout Story (2003)).

In 1998, Thompson's stories were published as a series of four paperbacks, The Adventures Of Dougal, The Adventures Of Brian, The Adventures Of Dylan and The Adventures Of Ermintrude with forewords by Emma Thompson (Eric's daughter). The paperbacks were a major success for Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.

For years, the series had re-runs on Cartoon Network (UK & Ireland), and was later moved to its sister channel, Boomerang.

In 1971 BBC Records released The Magic Roundabout (RBT 8) an LP containing 10 stories taken from the soundtracks of the TV series as told by Eric Thompson. Scripts by Eric Thompson, Original Music composed by Alain Legrand, Luc Aulivier, Serge Danot and Jacques Charriere, Musical arrangement and orchestral direction by Alain Legrand. The stories were:'Dougal's Experiment/A Starry Night/The Moody Concerto/Dougal's Adventure/The Stiff Necked Heliotropes' on side one and 'The Birds School/The Piano Carrier/Banana Skin/The Musical Box/The Announcer' on side two. This album has been re-released twice by the BBC on CD, in 2005 (BBC Audio:Children's) to coincide with the 'new' film and again in 2010 (Vintage Beeb) with a bonus interview with Eric Thompson and featuring the original LP artwork.

French soundtrack recordings were also issued in France in the 60's on three EP's and again on an LP 'Pollux' in 1983 along with an original single 'C'est moi Pollux'.

Blockbuster Bob Dies

2012-01-06T14:10:00.000-08:00

I am sad today to hear the news that Bob Holness, best known as the genial host of hit quiz Blockbusters, has died aged 83. His family said he "passed away peacefully in his sleep". Holness, who suffered a number of strokes and had been in a nursing home, leaves his wife Mary, three children and seven grandchildren.

His family said: "Iconic television host and broadcaster Bob Holness passed away peacefully in his sleep during the early hours of the morning, aged 83, after his health deteriorated following a number of minor strokes over the past few years.

"Although Bob will be best remembered for being the host of the cult television programme Blockbusters, it should be mentioned Bob was also an accomplished theatre actor and his radio broadcasting career spanned over six decades.

"The famous Pinner resident was beloved by students everywhere for his catchphrase 'I'll have a P, please, Bob'." Holness was born in Natal, South Africa, but grew up in Kent after his family moved back to England. He returned to South Africa as a young man to begin a career as an actor and broadcaster that saw him star in radio plays, including one where he played an early version of superspy James Bond.

In a 2008 interview, he told the BBC: "Well, that just came up through a hole in the floor. I was doing lots of radio plays at the time but I wanted to do something a bit different, so when James Bond came up I ventured in and said yes. I had never even heard of him at the time but it became an amazing part to play and the response from listeners was terrific."

He returned to England in 1961 and became a familiar face on television, but it was roles as chairman of BBC1's Call My Bluff and host of Blockbusters that made him a household name. The quiz, which ended in 1993, featured student contestants answering a series of trivia questions based on the letters of the alphabet. A regular feature of the show saw Holness trying to keep a straight face despite facing sniggering students asking him: "Can I have a P, please, Bob?" - a question he claimed never to be fed up with hearing. The arrival of dance drug ecstasy on the rave scene also saw Holness regularly asked for an E by his student contestants.

One mark of his popularity was the widespread urban myth, believed by many, that he played the trademark saxophone solo on the Gerry Rafferty hit Baker Street. It is believed to have been started as a spoof by journalist Stuart Maconie in music paper NME in 1990.

Joe 90: Episode 6 - International Concerto

2012-01-06T03:08:00.000-08:00

"Am rehearsing Rachmaninov's Eighth Symphony.

The Interesting Minor Melodic Interpretation Now Expected Next Tuesday."

Joe 90 receives the brain patterns of a world famous Pianist,

Who is also a top agent.

Igor Sladek is a world famous Concert Pianist, but why should the World Inteligence Network require his brain patterns? Professor McClaine is puzzled - until he makes the discovery that Sladek is, in fact, one of the WIN organisation's top agents!

The sensible precaution of taking his brain patterns becomes clear when the Pianist, during a concert tour of Eastern Europe, is detected by the authorities, and a coded message received in London warns that he hears he is about to be arrested.

The brain pattern is therefore transferred to Joe 90, who accompanies Professor McClaine to Europe just as Sladek's latest radio Concert is to begin, watched closely by the Authorities. Joe Succeeds in getting permission to turn over the music for the Pianist and Sladek asks for the baffle screens to be shifted slightly. In doing so, he knows he will be out of sight of those watching him. During the Concert, Joe puts on his special glasses, taking over the Pianist's brain pattern, then changes places with Sladek at the keyboard. It is impossible to detect any difference in the playing which makes it possible for Sladek to be smuggled out of the Broadcasting studio without anyone suspecting that Joe has taken over from him.

Professor McClaine drives him away in a car. A Border Guard is suspicious, but a telephone call confirms that the recital is still in progress and they are allowed through. But what of Joe 90? Will he be able to get away when the trick has been discovered?

Abba - Dancing Queen (1976)

2012-01-05T12:31:00.000-08:00

"Dancing Queen" the pop classic recorded by Swedish sensation ABBA at the height of their fame. It was released in August 1976, but was first performed two months earlier, on 18 June 1976, during a Royal Variety Show in Stockholm the evening before the Swedish Royal Wedding. It was the follow-up single to the hit "Fernando" and is commonly regarded as one of the most successful singles of the 1970s. "Dancing Queen" was written by Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, and Stig Anderson and is considered by many to be ABBA's signature song, as it reached the number 1 position on popular music charts in 13 countries. Recorded in 1975, it was released on the group's album Arival the following year and as a single with "That's Me" as the B-Side

The song was re-released as a single in 1992 to promote the compilation "ABBA Gold Greatest Hits".

In 2009, the British performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited celebrated its 75th anniversary by listing the 75 songs that have played most in Great Britain on the radio, in clubs and on jukeboxes. "Dancing Queen" was number eight on the list.

"Dancing Queen" features the shared lead vocal performance of Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.

The recording sessions for "Dancing Queen" began on 4 August 1975. The demo was called "Boogaloo" and as the sessions progressed, Andersson and Ulvaeus found inspiration to the dance rhythm in George Mcrae's disco classic "Rock your Baby", as well as the drumming on Dr. John's 1972 album Dr John's Gumbo. Fältskog and Lyngstad recorded the vocals on sessions in September, and the track was completed three months later.

During the sessions, Benny Andersson brought a tape home with the backing track on it and played it to his then-fiancée and band member, singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad, who apparently started crying when listening. "I found the song so beautiful. It's one of those songs that goes straight to your heart."

While working on the lyrics, half of the second verse was scrapped: "Baby, baby, you're out of sight/hey, you're looking alright tonight/when you come to the party/listen to the guys/they've got the look in their eyes...". It survives in footage from a recording session.

The track was premiered on Swedish TV on 18 June 1976, during an all-star live gala in honour of King Karl XV1 Gustaf of Sweden and his bride to be, Silvia Somerlath, who were to be wedded the next day. Benny Andersson has cited it as "one of those songs where youknow during the sessions that it's going to be a smash hit". Also Agnetha Fältskog has stated in a TV-programme: "It's often difficult to know what will be a hit. The exception was Dancing Queen. We all knew it was going to be massive".

"Dancing Queen" was a massive hit. It became ABBA's only No1 in the United States in April 1977. It also hit No1 in at least 13 other countries worldwide: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, West Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and Rhodesia. "Dancing Queen" also reached the Top 5 in Austria, Canada, Finland, France and Switzerland. The track peaked at No14 in Italy, where ABBA never achieved the same degree of popularity as elsewhere. The song sold over three million copies.

"Dancing Queen" was the last of three consecutive No1s the band had in the UK in 1976, following "Mamma Mia" and "Fernando" earlier in the year.

On December 5, 2010, Britain's ITV broadcast the results of a poll to determine The Nation's Favourite ABBA Song, in which "Dancing Queen" placed at No2

The Six Million Dollar Man Board Game (1975)

2012-01-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

From Parker - The Six Million Dollar Man Board Game, boxed 1975. You can be Steve Austin, compete to finish 4 assignments and prove you are the 'Bionic Man'. Complete set it includes - game board, bases and markers, power cards, computer spinner and full instructions. The Game is for 2 to 4 players. So takes me back!

Coronation Street on This Is Your Life (Part Two)

2012-01-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

Part Two featuring the cast of Coronation Street, who, over the years, have been featured on 'This Is Your Life'

William Roache (Ken Barlow)

16th October 1985

Eamonn dressed as an Arab sheik, and was accompanied by a camel, to surprise William at a cast photo shoot to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the soap. Guests on the show included Norman Wisdom, Arthur Marshall and Mike Yarwood.

Bill Waddington (Percy Sugden)

15th October 1986

Eamonn surprised the former variety comedian at Euston Station, with long-time friend Joe Loss and his Orchestra. Bill’s guests included a fellow comedian who worked with him at Manchester’s Hulme Hippodrome in the fifties - Jill Summers - the Street’s future Phyllis Pearce.

Roy Barroclough (Alec Gilroy)

21st October 1987

Roy was summoned back from holiday so Eamonn, disguised as an AA patrolman, could surprise him from under the bonnet of Julie Goodyear’s supposedly broken down Rolls Royce. On hearing ‘This Is Your Life’ Roy, who was initially furious at cutting short his holiday retorted: “Oh no it bloody isn’t”

Elizabeth Dawn (Vera Duckworth)

10th January 1990

Michael Aspel’s first visit to Coronation Street was to surprise Liz Dawn in the Rovers Return. Among those paying tributes were Bernard Manning and Larry Grayson.

Thelma Barlow (Mavis Riley)

13th November 1991

Michael interrupted the filming of a scene in The Kabin to surprise Thelma - “How lovely to see you!” Thelma’s show included a reunion with two former Coronation Street actresses Madge Hindle and Anne Reid.

Corgi Toys - The Batmobile (1966)

2012-01-02T07:50:00.000-08:00

The Christmas market was dominated yet again in 1966 by a Corgi toy after the success of the Aston Martin DB5 the previous year. This time, the Batmobile, released in October 1966, a George Barris customised 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car from the American Television series, 'Batman' The car featured, rocket launches, pulsating flames from the jet engine exhaust, a chain cutting device and models of 'Batman' and the Boy Wonder 'Robin' sitting in the car.

Another massive sales success for Corgi, the Batmobile went on to sell over five million examples in its lengthy life, staying in the market until the 1980s. The June of the following year, GS3 was issued, consisting of the 'Batmobile' towing a 'Batboat' on a trailer.

TV-Times (1960)

2012-01-02T07:24:00.000-08:00

Here are two editions of the TV-Times from the year 1960

Elvis - Blue Hawaii (1961)

2012-01-02T02:01:00.000-08:00

Elvis Presley's eighth film was 'Blue Hawaii', filmed in the tropical paradise of the Hawaiian islands of Oahu and Kauai. 'Blue Hawaii' was Elvis' biggest commercial success. With 14 songs, more than any other Elvis film, the soundtrack album spent a total of 79 weeks on Billboard's pop album chart, with 20 of those weeks at No1. Blue Hawaii, a musical comedy originally tided Beach Boy, became the most successful film of Elvis Presley's career. Elvis stars as Chad Gates, whose wealthy family owns a successful pineapple plantation in Hawaii, At the beginning of the film, Chad has just returned from the Army, and his family is eager for him to pursue the family business. Instead, Chad lands a job as a guide in the tourist agency where girlfriend Maile, played by Joan Blackman, also works.

His new vocation not only allows him to use his knowledge of the Islands' most beautiful sites but also affords him enough time to cavort on the beach with his native Hawaiian buddies. Tension mounts as Chad's blue-blooded mother, played by Angela Lansbury, objects to his job, his girlfriend, and his beach-loving friends. Chad eventually proves a success in the tourist business, and he finally wins the approval of his family by marrying Maile and making plans to open his own tourist agency. Filming for 'Blue Hawaii' began on March 27, 1961 in the lush islands of Hawaii. Location shooting took place on the islands of Oahu and Kauai and was finished by April 17th. The cast and crew then returned to Hollywood where filming continued until May 23rd.

The original working title of the film was 'Hawaiian Beach Boy'. The famous wedding scene was shot on Kauai at the Coco Palms Resort Hotel which had been in operation since 1953. Unfortunately, the resort closed after Kauai was hit with devastating Hurricane Iniki in September 1992. In the 1800s, the land where the Coco Palms is located was the ancestral home of Kauai's last reigning queen, Queen Deborah Kapule. The 'Call to Feast' featured in the film with its ceremonial torch lighting had taken place there every night at 7:30 PM for 40 years until Iniki hit. Elvis loved Hawaii. It was one of his favorite places to vacation and this movie provides us with a glimpse into the beauty of these islands. That combined with the romantic tropical music Elvis sings creates within us all the desire to visit 'Blue Hawaii'.

Elvis' leading lady in 'Blue Hawaii' was Joan Blackman, who played Maile Duval. The following year she played Elvis' love interest in 'Kid Galahad'. Elvis had dated the actress when he first came to Hollywood in 1956.

Roland Winters played Elvis' father Fred Gates. Like Lansbury, he was a respected character actor with many films to his credit. One career highlight was his portrayal of detective Charlie Chan in several of the'Charlie Chan' movies from 1947 to 1950, the third actor to take on that role in these films. He can also be seen portraying a judge in Elvis' 1962 movie 'Follow that Dream'. You might also recognize him from the 1973 remake of the movie 'Miracle on 34th. Street' in which he played Mr. Gimbel.

Angela Lansbury played the role of Elvis' ditzy mother even though she was only 35 years old at the time and Elvis was 26. She began her career in 1944 in a movie called 'Gaslight', which quickly earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She would go on to achieve great fame and numerous accolades in film and television and on Broadway. She has starred in such films as 'National Velvet', 'The Picture of Dorian Gray', 'The Harvey Girls', 'The Manchurian Candidate', 'The Greatest Story Ever Told', 'Harlow', 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks', 'Mrs. Santa Claus' and 'Beauty and the Beast' (voice for animation). She is probably best known for her role as mystery writer and sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the 'Murder, She Wrote'television series. To name just a few of her accolades, she has received three Academy Award nominations, thirteen Emmy nominations, six Golden Globe wins out of fourteen nominations, four Tony Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award.

Much of Blue Hawaii was filmed on location in Hawaii, which had only joined the union in 1959. The new state of Hawaii was as eager for the exposure in a major Hollywood film as the producers and actors were to shoot there. Such beautiful Hawaiian locations as Waikiki Beach, Ala Moana Park, Lydgate Park, and the Coco Palms Resort Hotel were used in the film; also used were such unglamorous locations as the Honolulu jail.

Despite working primarily on location, the producers experienced only minor problems. The first occurred just prior to shooting. Juliet Prowse, who had been Elvis' costar in the successful G.I. Blues, was cast opposite Elvis in the role of Maile Duval. She was loaned to Paramount from Twentieth Century-Fox for the film. Eleven days before filming was to begin in Hawaii, Prowse declared that she was not going to report to work until three demands were met. Prowse wanted her Fox makeup man to do her makeup, she wanted the traveling expenses of her secretary to be paid by the producers, and she wanted a change made in her contract regarding her billing. Wallis replaced Prowse with the lesser known Joan Blackman.

Shooting on location was always a problem when Elvis was the star of a film because increased security was necessary to protect him from fans. When Elvis arrived in Honolulu, thousands of fans nearly broke down the barricades before the singer was whisked to his hotel.

Since mobs waited around his hotel daily, security guards were on duty around the clock.

Elvis was disappointed that he could not visit the sites, and he often looked out his window to watch others strolling along the beach. One morning he saw a heartfelt message written in the sand by the very fans he needed to be protected from. Elvis was touched by the simple message: 'We love you, Elvis!' One minor incident that caused an unnecessary delay was actually the fault of Colonel Parker. Rain moved in on the location one day, causing the crew to wait hours for a break in the weather. The rain finally stopped, and just as director Taurog was able to roll camera on Elvis running out of the surf, Parker rushed in front of the camera yelling, 'Cut, cut!' Proper etiquette on the set maintains that only the director can stop the action. Hal Wallis and Taurog were furious and demanded to know what could be important enough for Parker to halt the shot.

Star Trek - Gold Key Comics: 1967

2012-01-01T11:57:00.000-08:00

Gold Key comics were published by Western Publishing, a company with an interesting and confusing history. Some comics in this series were published with US and UK price variants, pin-up photos, and the Whitman logo.

"The Planet of No Return"
Issue Number 1

The Enterprise is carrying out an exploration mission through "Galaxy Alpha", but has discovered no life until the "space scope" picks up a fertile green planet. Captain Kirk orders a close-up view on the "T.V. scanner." The planet is steeped in vegetation. (Scotty comments that it looks "Kelly Green") Kirk sends the Enterprise closer to the planet, and orders a landing party be assembled to survey the surface. While closing on the planet, theEnterprise passes through an "eerie space fog." Within the mysterious mist float a handful of strange plant spores, and they fasten themselves to the hull of the ship. In only minutes, the powerful one-celled spores have penetrated the ship, seeping through the very superstructure.

Spock and Dr. McCoy are gathering supplies in sick bay for the landing party. Suddenly, the laboratory guinea pigs begin squeaking frantically. The two go and look at the animals just in time to see them mutate into a form of plant! Before they can react, all of the other lab animals have transformed into "giant, hostile trees" which go on a rampage and try to destroy them. Spock calls for security. The guards arrive, and Spock orders them to fire their phasers at the central "pollen areas" of the plants. The plants are destroyed just in time before they crush McCoy and Spock with their tentacles. "We'd better report this to the Captain at once!" says the Doctor (really... you think?!) "no telling where or when those plant creatures will pop up again!"

Kirk calls an emergency conference to discuss the creatures. Spock suggests that they may be related to tests that were performed in space weeks ago on the laboratory animals, and that the animals may have picked up "alien spores." Kirk orders Spock to continue research on his theory, while he beams down to the surface along with Dr. McCoy, Yeoman Janice Rand, and several security guards. He tells Spock that he will make an "hourly t.v.-radio report" back to the ship.

The landing party arrives on the surface of the planet K-G (newly named in honor of Scotty's comment on the bridge), and begins a search. Crewman Hunt passes through a patch of the mysterious mist. He begins sprouting branches and turning into a plant, just like the animals on the ship had! At that moment, the crew members are pulled backwards toward a huge cannibal plant, which is trying to suck them in. Just before they are devoured, a giant tree attacks the cannibal plant and destroys it. After the battle, the giant tree collapses to the ground dead. The landing party discovers crewman Hunt's identification bracelet around one of the branches, and realize that Hunt had become the giant tree! He had died trying to save the landing party. The crew buries the remains of the tree in a shallow grave.

Kirk calls the ship and tells Spock what has happened. He decides to keep the landing party on the surface of the planet in order to find out what is causing the mysterious plant attacks. The party walks through the forest and comes upon a "community of vegetation", with plant creatures, houses, and buildings just like on Earth! The Captain realizes that it is an intelligent society, and leads the party toward the village for a closer look. As they approach, the party is suddenly attacked by trees on all sides. The crew members use their phasers to blast a path through the living trees and escape. The party sees a natural cave, and uses it for shelter. As they rest, a huge crawling vine attacks them! The creature wraps Yeoman Rand up in a tentacle, and takes her from the cave.

The remaining members of the landing party chase the giant plant. It takes Yeoman Rand to a large "cattle pen" made of thorns, and deposits her inside, where other animals are grazing. The landing party tries to use their phasers on the thorny wall of plants, but the thorns regenerate as fast as they are destroyed. Kirk guesses that the large plants use the animals for food, and since Janice is with them - she is in danger of being eaten!

Kirk calls the Enterprise and orders Spock to fire a pinpoint "laser beam" at the wall of the pen. The blast destroys the pen, and kills a large plant creature that is about to devour Yeoman Rand. The landing party rescues her, and Kirk tells Spock to bring them back up to the ship. They are beamed up just in time, before more deadly plant spores "pollinate" them.

When they arrive on the Enterprise, Spock tells Kirk that if the spores from the planet continue drifting through space, other planets may be in danger. "We must orbit that hideous little globe until all foliage upon it is decimated by our laser beams!" Spock says. "I have set a course for the mission already!" The Enterprise moves slowly over the surface of the planet - using its weaponry to destroy all life, before it can continue its tour of research through the vast reaches of the universe.

Look-in - Number 19 (1971)

2012-01-01T05:36:00.000-08:00

The front cover and a few snippets from the classic kids mag Look-in. This particular edition dates back to 1971.

Remembering Harry O (1974-1976)

2012-01-01T04:22:00.000-08:00

Harry O was an American Crime Drama series that aired for two seasons on ABC from 1974 to 1976. The series starred the late, lamented David Janssen and was executive produced by Jerry Thorpe. Harry O followed the broadcast of two pilot films: Such Dust as Dreams Are Made On (airing March 11, 1973) and then the second (with noticeable retooling), Smile Jenny, You're Dead (airing February 3, 1974), both starring Janssen.

David Janssen starred as the title character Harry Orwell, a San Diego cop forced into retirement when he is shot in the back. To support himself, he sets up a Private Investigation practice out of his beach house on Coronado Island, in San Diego. Henry Darrow originally starred as Lt. Manny Quinlan. Late in the series' first season, the location of the series shifted to Santa Monica, California due to the high production costs of filming in San Diego. Harry again set up a PI agency out of his beach house (somewhere along the PCH between Santa Monica and Malibu), with Quinlan killed off, and Anthony Zerbe (who later won a Primetime Emmy Award for his role on the series) became Orwell's foil/contact, Lt. K. C. Trench of the Santa Monica Police Department.

Additional characters included Farrah Fawcett - Majors, as Harry's attractive next-door neighbor and sometime girlfriend Sue Ingram; Paul Tulley as Sgt. Don Roberts, Lt. Trench's assistant; Les Lannom as Lester Hodges, a bumbling private-eye wannabe; Tom Atkins as Sgt Frank Cole; and Bill Henderson as Spencer Johnson, Harry's frustrated car mechanic.

Ratings for the series were initially fair and got a boost after the series was retooled in January 1975. Harry O was picked up for a second season and continued to gain viewership and critical acclaim, however, then-ABC president Fred Silverman decided to take the network in a different direction and canceled the series in favor of Charlie's Angels. The last original episode aired on April 29, 1976. The series cancellation greatly disenchanted star Janssen, who vowed never to participate in a television series again.