(1908-1994)
Official Website
You probably don't know his name, but you certainly know his music. His most famous piece, Powerhouse, is one of the most familiar pieces of film music ever (especially the second section).
Scott was something of a pioneer. He came to prominence when jazz was king and he got a job working for the CBS radio house band. There, he formed his own jazz group, the Raymond Scott Quintette** and began following his one idiosyncratic path. Scott worked with his musicians to compose his music, but once they came up with something he liked, they were supposed to stick with it (a practice jazz purists, who favored improvisation, did not like). He also pissed off traditionalists by the whimsical names he chose for his music: "
| Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals," "Reckless Night on Board an Ocean Liner," "New Year's Eve in a Haunted House."*** Scott was a restless soul and rarely stayed with the same type of music for long periods. The Quintette only existed from 1936-1939, whereupon he moved on to other forms of music. And, in 1942, he made the decision that made his music ubiquitous: he sold it all to Carl Stalling at Warner Brothers for use in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. Stalling made the most of the purchase. Scott's music was used in over 100 Warner Brothers cartoons, including many classics. "Powerhouse" became the theme for whenever some sort of factory machine was shown, but many others appeared in the background. Scott, if known, is often referred to as "the man who made music for cartoons," but that was never his intention. It was not even a sidelight to his career, just a side effect. As time moved on, Raymond Scott moved on, too. He did a Broadway score, TV show music, and popular jazz. But his main interest after the 40s was in electronic music. He was a pioneer of the form, a man who influenced and taught many others. Just about all electronic musicians in the 50s and 60s paid a visit to Scott's labs to learn of his innovative ways of creating music. Scott faded out from the industry in the 70s, becoming an obscure, forgotten figure (even though Powerhouse has become part of the popular culture). But he's a name that fans of music and cartoons should cherish. _______________________________________________ *And for the same reason. **Which started out with six members. ***This , of course, has disadvantages. It's hard to remember the names of his songs. And since they were instrumental, that makes it even harder.
 (2003)
Written and Directed by Siddiq Barmak
Starring Marina Golbahari, Arif Herati, Zubaida Sahar, Khwaja Nader
IMDB Entry
I've always had a liking for foreign films*. They often have a different point of view than US films, and I am especially interested when I start discovering films from a country that is just joining the world cinema stage. So, when I heard about Osama, the first film from post-Taliban Afghanistan to make it to the US, I knew I wanted to check it out. And I wasn't disappointed. Of course, given the time frame of the film, it should be obvious that it would be about life under the Taliban. We know in the West about some of their abuses, but this brings to light things that we probably never considered. Under the Taliban, not only were women forbidden to hold jobs, but they could not go out of their houses without a husband or male escort. This hits a 12-year-old girl (Marina Golbahari) and her mother (Zubaida Sahar) hard. The mother is fired from her job in a hospital. Worse, because her husband and father have been killed in fighting, they are not allowed to leave their house. Given the rules, they would have stayed "virtuous" -- and starved to death. Desperate, they form a plan. The girl is to disguise herself as a boy and get a job. It works for awhile, but she is caught up in a sweep to recruit boys as soldiers and ends up in a training camp, where she is given the nickname Osama**. She befriends Espandi (Arif Herati) a boy in the camp and is also singled out for her zeal by one of the teachers (Khwaja Nader).  The actors in the film are uniformly excellent. They were not professionals, but were found in Kabul. Marina Golbahari is heartbreakingly good in the title role, and Kwaja Nader is a type of movie villain rarely seen: a gentle monster. He seems so sweet as he also shows the dark side of religious fanaticism.
The final scene is one of the saddest in the history of film***. Out of context, it means nothing, but as you see the entire film, you understand exactly what it means and are horrified. The film did well enough**** and won awards all over the world, including a Golden Globe. Director Barmak remains working in the Afghan film industry. Golbahari has made several other films since then. Calling her a major Afghan film star may be faint praise, but it fits her. There isn't a cheerful film and has no happy ending. But sometimes tragedy must be told, too. _______________________________________________ *I'm not one to dogmatically state foreign films are always better than US films, but I do recognize that if a foreign language film gets to the US, it is among the best that country has to offer. Bad foreign films never make it to America, which is why it seems like so many are critical faves. **Given the circumstances, how could it not be? The director did want to have a more hopeful ending, but decided that wouldn't be right. ***Yes, named after that Osama ****It was shot for less than $50,000, which helped.
 (1984-89)
Created by Sherry Cobean
Starring Susan St. James, Jane Curtin, Frederick Kohler, Ari Meyers, Allison Smith
IMDB Entry
It's rare that a relatively recent TV show that was both a critical and ratings success could be considered forgotten, but that's exactly what happened to Kate and Allie. The show's premise certainly didn't stand out all that much. In it, Allie Lowell (Jane Curtin) and her two kids, Emma (Ari Meyers) and Chip (Frederick Kohler), move to New York to share an apartment with Allie's childhood friend Kate McArdle (Susan St. James) and her daughter Jenny (Allison Smith)decide to share an apartment after the two of them divorce. Kate was a stay-at-home mother who needed to learn how to be more independent, while Allie had a job and had trouble trying to be taken seriously in the workplace. Though the premise seems routine now, it was still unusual to have to independent women characters in a sitcom. But what made the show work was the quality of the writing and the scripts. In a fairly low-key way, they dealt with many social issues -- not only the role of women in society, but other issues like homelessness and what makes a family. The latter was the basis for the episode I remember the best, where Kate and Allie were threatened with a big rate increase because they weren't a family. They pretended to be a lesbian couple,* claiming that to be a family, too, which backfired when they discovered their landladies were a lesbian couple. But instead of letting hijinks ensue, Kate and Allie told that this was only a ploy, and that they were a family nonetheless. The show was successful not because of the social issues, but because it was very funny. It wasn't the usual sitcom putdown comedy, but often contained conversations that revealed the characters while making you laugh. It reached the top ten in its first season and kept in the top 20 through most of its run. Alas, the show jumped the shark at the end of its next to last season. Throughout the run, Allie was learning to be stronger and more independent, and in the final episode, she remarried. She was going to be more of an equal than how she was in her first marriage, but the entire premise of the series was betrayed. The final season did poorly in the ratings and the show was canceled. Despite winning several Emmys for Jane Curtin, the show seems to have vanished off the map. Maybe it shows that the concerns of the 80s have become a bit dated, but the show is certainly still funny after all these years. _________________________________________________ *Reports have it that CBS was concerned that people might jump to this conclusion.
(1991-1994, 1994)
Created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey
Starring Sam Waterston, Regina Taylor, Jeremy London, Ashlee Levitch, John Aaron Bennett, Kathryn Harrold, Peter Simmons
IMDB Entry Television shows are rarely about history. They are set in the present and not in any identifiable historical period.* But in some cases, someone will try, and I'll Fly Away succeeded admirably.  The title come from an old hymn and the show was set in the South in the late 1950s/early 1960s and dealt with the emergence of the Civil Rights movement.* It concentrates on Forrest Bedford (Sam Waterston), a widower raising three children, teenaged Nathan (Jeremy London), preteen Francie (Ashlee Bedford), and young John Morgan (John Aaron Bennett). Bedford hires a black housekeeper Lily Harper (Regina Taylor). She is a servant in a highly segregated society, and we -- and eventually Bedford -- discovers the problems of being in that position.
The show stayed away from the melodramatic. Sure, the Klan was mentioned, but wasn't usually part of the story. What was shown was the subtle racism of the society, and how Bedford -- a decent man who accepted racial inequality because it was all he knew -- began to see how wrong it was. Lily, too, slowly became more and more aware that there were things she could do other than accept the status quo. The actors were all uniformly first rate. Waterston is the best known, of course, but this was the one show that allowed him to show just how good he was.*** But Regina Taylor is striking as Lily. She played the role with quiet intensity and dignity, rarely raising her voice but giving the impression she was seething underneath. Jeremy London was good as the teenage Nathan, and John Aaron Bennett was totally charming as the innocent youngster. The show never actually named the state in which it was set, though I got the impression they meant Georgia. Brand and Falsey have said that the idea came from To Kill a Mockingbird, and there are certain similarities in Forrest Bedford and Atticus Finch. I especially liked some of the character names. Forrest and Nathan Bedford are obviously named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate cavalry officer and known as one of the founders of the Ku Klux Klan.**** Likewise, John Morgan was another Confederate cavalry officer. The show ran for two seasons on NBC to acclaim (including Golden Globe and Emmy wins) and so-so ratings before being canceled. It should have ended there. But, like Homicide: Life on the Street, the producers managed to get the cast together***** for a two-hour special on PBS. Entitled I'll Fly Away: Then and Now, it tied up loose ends and showed Lily Harper in the present. Sam Waterston and Jeremy London went on to become solid TV performers, Waterston on Law and Order and London on Party of Five and Ashlee Levich has worked regularly in TV. Regina Taylor also has found a niche in TV as Molly Blaine in The Unit. Brand and Falsey were involved deeply in Northern Exposure. _______________________________________________ *The TV western bears no resemblance to the actual old West -- if it even existed. **Certainly a subject for drama that's been under utilized. ***I saw him on Broadway in Lunch Hour with Gilda Radner, and he showed a fine knack for comedy, too. **** Bedford Forrest is usually listed as a vehement racist, but the evidence is unclear. It is based on two things. One was the battle at Ft. Pillow in the Civil War, where his troops massacred black soldiers who had surrendered. But accounts seem to indicate he never ordered the massacre and tried vainly to stop it. The second is the Klan. His name was indeed listed, but they may have just used his name, possibly without permission, and there's no evidence he actively took part. Finally, there was clear evidence that he had no problems with equal rights for blacks; he was the first white speaker at The Independent Order of Pole-Bearers Association, precursor to the NAACP, where, in 1875) he spoke quite movingly about equal rights for Blacks and shocked white society by giving a Black woman a kiss on the cheek. *****Except for Jeremy London, who had other commitments. Luckily, he had a spare: his twin brother, Jason. Oddly enough, Jason was originally offered the part, but had to bow out due to other commitments, giving Jeremy the chance for the role.
 (1962-1980s)
Wikipedia Page
Early TV took its role as an educational medium seriously, and that included science education. And the king of kid's science programming in the US was Don Herbert ("Mr. Wizard"). I never was a fan of Mr. Wizard. Oh, the show was educational enough and Herbert was a successful and earnest popularizer of science. But Mr. Wizard was the MisterRogers of science -- nice, somewhat bland, and like your science teacher in school*. Julius Sumner Miller, on the other hand, was a mad scientist. Miller was born in Massachusetts and got his physics degree in 1933 and started teaching physics in various colleges until settling down at El Camino Junior College in California. Students packed his lectures, and it somehow got the attention of producers at Disney, who marketed him as "Professor Wonderful" and had him do segments on The Mickey Mouse Club and elsewhere. Sumner Miller was a hit. With his wild hair and staccato way of blurting out his presentation in short, sharp phrases, and his boundless enthusiasm, he was perfect for television. He would go through his presentations of basic science, pretty much live: you got the feeling he was improvising wildly to give the demonstrations he wanted. And he did a lot of demonstrations. Sumner Miller rarely lectured; he'd show -- and ask you questions as he talked, some of which he left to you to find out the answer**. The experiments were pretty basic, but always memorable. From Disney, Sumner Miller branched out. He appeared on The Steve Allen Show and The Tonight Show, performing science demonstrations that were as much entertainment as education. He worked on TV networks in Canada and Australia, as well as on PBS in the States, finding ways to show scientific principles divorced from dry lectures and in an immediate and fascinating way that made you want to run out a learn more. Miller continued his role of popularizing science until his death in 1987. There is a foundation in his name that works to get more students to learn about science, but since most of his work was in black and white, and he rarely had a show to his own,*** his demonstrations are hard to find (though there are some Youtube videos). His importance in popularizing science is incalculable. ________________________________________________ *I grew to like MisterRogers and respect Mr. Wizard, but as a kid, I'd change the channel whenever I saw them. **I'm still trying to puzzle out this one: you have a metal plate with a pin hole drilled in it. You heat the plate. The metal expands, of course. Does the pin hole get bigger, smaller, or stay the same size? ***In the US. He did have success with Why Is It So? in Australia.
(1969)
The Beatles. It seems unlikely that there is anything by the Beatles that can truly be labeled "forgotten." They are one of the most popular musical groups of the 20th Century and their work is still being repackaged today. Yet there are several songs of theirs that are not known to the casual fan, or even to more serious Beatles lovers. And they're collected on the album Yellow Submarine. This is not an album that is well-known in the Beatles' discography*. There are several reasons for this. First, it's the soundtrack album for the movie -- a great animated film, of course, but from watching it most people might think the album was entirely made up of well-known Beatles songs. And even if you look at the album, you discover that half of it is George Martin's background music for the movie, plus "Yellow Submarine" and "All You Need is Love," songs that are easily found in many other places. There are really only four new songs on the album, and the only one that actually made it fully into the film was McCartney's "All Together Now," a catchy but slight tune sung at the end. Most listeners would pass it by. Yet the songs are respectable parts of the Beatles' output. In addition to "All Together Now," they are: - "Hey Bulldog" -- a John Lennon composition with a growling vocal and heavy piano beat. A sequence was filmed for the movie, but cut:
- "Only a Northern Song" -- George Harrison's complaint about being the third-best songwriter in the group. Nothern Songs was Lennon and McCartney's publishing company and Harrison was a little peeved that they got money from his songs. I also find it saying basically that people were reading too much into the Beatles songs -- they're only songs. "Only a Northern Song" was actually written for Sgt. Pepper, but cut in favor of "Within You Without You," which I don't care for much.
- "It's All Too Much" -- another Harrison tune. This did make it into the movie toward the end, but in a truncated version of about two and a half minutes. The album version is over six minutes long.** It's an unusual song, filled with feedback and organ.
At the time the album came out, I was not a fan of Harrison's songs, but I found the two here were the first that I really liked. The album sold, of course, and there have been CD reissues (of course). But only the most die-hard Beatles fans have copies. It's a shame, since the new songs on this are more than respectable members of the Beatles' canon. ___________________________________________________ *The All Music Guide calls it "inessential." ** There evidently was an eight-minute version.
 (1991)
Written and Directed by Albert Brooks
Starring Albert Brooks, Meryl Streep, Rip Torn
IMDB Entry
I first became aware of Albert Brooks when I was in college and his album, Comedy Minus One, showed up at our radio station. The first side was a very funny standup routine, but the title track (the entire second side)*was inspired: a comedy routine, only Brooks was the straight man and you were the comic. The dialog was included, so you could make a fool of yourself reading it and having Brooks respond (with a laugh track). I knew I wanted to see more of him. Brooks has been called "literally a comedian's comedian," since his father, Harry "Parkyakarkus" Einstein.** After trying his hand at standup, I next heard of him as a writer and maker of short films in the first season of Saturday Night Live. In 1979, he made the film Real Life, possibly the first proto mockumentary.*** He made two other films in the 80s (Modern Romance and Lost in America), to good critical notices and mediocre box office. Defending Your Life was his fourth feature and his best. Daniel Miller (Brooks) is a self-centered yuppie who is killed by crashing his brand new BMW into a bus. He wakes up in Judgment City, where the lives of the newly dead are judged before sending them to their permanent home -- and how you are judged determines where you go. While there, he meets Julia (Meryl Streep), someone who lived an exemplary life and clearly will be moving on to a higher existence. Miller's chances are not very good, and he may be doomed to go back to Earth to be reborn and try to get it right. Brooks is fine, though this is a typical role for him. Streep is excellent in a difficult role. She is able to be Mary Poppins perfect without being cloying. People remember her in her serious roles, but it's often overlooked that she's a very talented comic actress. Rip Torn gives his usual strong performance as Bob Diamond, Miller's representative at the tribunal, who tries his best despite his doubts. The film is filled with clever touches. Judgment City is like a cheesy resort (though there is a hierarchy -- Julia's hotel is better than Miller's more touristy version). People ride around on trams that were originally used for the Universal Studio tours. What makes this film Brooks's best is its message, which is that we need to face our fears and learn from our mistakes. Miller -- like many of Brooks's characters -- is neurotic and tentative in everything he does, and he has to learn to leave that behavior behind. The ending is extremely satisfying and really says a lot about how to live life. The movie did well enough at the box office to give Brooks other chances to make films. He followed it up with Mother, about a science fiction writer who was blocked due to issues with his mother (played very nicely by Debbie Reynolds) and The Muse, about a filmmaker who was having trouble writing his next film until visited by an actual muse (played by Sharon Stone). Neither was a big success and Brooks continued with acting and especially voice acting, where he became an voice star as Marlin, who spent an entire movie Finding Nemo. It would be nice is Brooks returned to writing and directing again (his last attempt, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim Word, was a flop), but he has a good list of quirky and neurotic comedies, along with the excellence of Defending Your Life. ________________________________________________ *Back when records had two sides, children. **Yes, Brook's real name is "Albert Einstein." He tells the story that he once asked his father about it, and his father said he never heard of the other Einstein, though Brooks has also commented that his father was probably joking. Brooks is also brother to "Super Dave" Osborne. ***Zelig came out in 1983, This is Spinal Tap in 1984. The main difference was that Real Life was scripted, while the standard mockumentary is ad-libbed.
 (1955)
Directed by Jack Arnold
Screenplay by Robert M. Fresco and Martin Berkeley from a story by Fresco and Jack Arnold
Starring Leo G. Carroll, John Agar, and Mara Corday.
IMDB Entry
Giant insect movies of the 50s get a bad rap. The science is impossible, of course, and many (but not all) of the effects are crude compared to modern techniques. And there's the glib oversimplification that they were a reaction to the fears of the atomic bomb. Of course, some of the movies are quite bad, too. But there are a couple of gems. Them! is well-known and highly respected, but lesser known was Jack Arnold's Tarantula*. I've written about Arnold before, but if the name means nothing to you, it should. His 50s science fiction films are all minor classics: It Came from Outer Space, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature, The Incredible Shrinking Man. He was able to take some very silly SF concepts and turn out classic films using them. Any one of his films has surprises that make them stand out from the ordinary monster flick. Tarantula is the story of Professor Gerald Deemer (Leo G. Carroll). One of his assistants is found dead with an advanced and unusual case of acromegalia.** The local doctor, Matt Hastings (John Agar) tries to get at the heart of the mystery and when the dead assistant is replaced by Stephanie Clayton (Mara Corday), Dr. Hastings drives her to Professor Deemer's lab. There they discover Deemer is working on a formula to increase growth in animals as a way to relieve hunger. But Deemer has been accidentally injected with the formula -- and a tarantula that had been injected has escaped. The plot involves the obvious: the tarantula keeps growing and growing, killing people and terrorizing the community. But it also concentrates on Professor Deemer, who is not a mad scientist, but someone who genuinely wants to develop a scientific breakthrough, and who has to race to keep his own creation from killing him like it had his assistants. Leo G. Carroll*** does a fine job as a man under a self-inflicted death sentence and who may not be able to do anything about it.  The effects on the movie are surprisingly good, due to the decision to use a real tarantula as much as possible. And while giant spider legs are probably not convincing in close ups, the long shots work very well.
The film is also notable in being on of Clint Eastwood's first roles. He plays an air force pilot trying to kill the monster, but is unrecognizable under his oxygen mask. The film was a hit, and Arnold continued on a successful career in film and later television. But the film got lumped in with other giant monster films like The Deadly Mantis and The Giant Gila Monster as a sign of how bad films of the 50s were. It is probably the least well-known of Arnold's SF films, but is nothing to sneer at. __________________________________________________ *Yes, I know a tarantula is not an insect. Let's keep this is a nitpick-free zone. **An actual disease -- it's a glandular condition that causes abnormal growth. ***A favorite of mine from the TV shows Topper and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
(1960-64)
Rob Freedman's Freedomland Page 
By 1950, the American amusement park was dead. What were once the jewel destination of urban areas had deteriorated into a place for carnival game ripoffs, it they remained open at all. In fact, when Walt Disney tried to get money together for one in the early fifties, he found it next to impossible.* But Disneyland showed that you could create an amusement park in a suburban setting and have people flock to it. And people tried to follow suit. This included Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood. Wood credentials were golden: he had worked with Disney to help create Disneyland. After a falling out,** he struck out on his own, forming Magic Mountain in Denver and Pleasure Island in Wakefield, MA. Then he went on to the biggest market in the country -- New York City. And Freedomland U.S.A. was born. Wood chose an American history theme for the park, and took it all the way. It was shaped like a map of the US and was divided into sections like "Old New York," "Old Chicago," "New Orleans," "The Great Plains," "San Francisco," and "The Old Southwest." Each section had a rides and exhibits tied in with the theme. "The Old Southwest," for instance, included the Burro Trail (real burros), Mine Caverns, Pony Express, Opera House and Saloon (non alcoholic drinks and entertainment), and Casa Loca (a house built all askew so perspective was messed up). It was billed as "Disneyland East." I visited the park the first year it opened. I remember wanted to ride the burros (though the line was very long) and the Casa Loca. Great stuff when you're eight. Of course, there were problems. While the park had plenty of parking, it was not easily reachable by public transport. And running an amusement park in sunny southern California gives you many more days of operation than around New York City. Though it attracted good crowds the first year, it couldn't sustain it. The "Disneyland East" comparison only made sense if you had never seen the real Disneyland. Wood may have had some interesting design ideas, but the park, even new, didn't have the "spare no expense" design that made Disney a hit. Attendance continued to drop. Attempts were made to attract a teenage audience, but that was doomed because of the poor public transport. Finally, in 1964, the park, citing competition from the New York World's Fair, closed down. The land was sold to build Co-op City (an apartment complex) and was quickly torn down. Some of the rides and equipment were sold to various amusement parks, several to The Great Escape in Glens Falls, NY. When I visited there several years ago, I didn't realize that the Cyclone ride had been taken from the original Freedomland. Alas, once the park was sold to Six Flags,*** the Freedomland remnants were slowly retired. Very little exists now, except in memories and web pages. But, for a short while, at least, Freedomland was the future of fun. ________________________________________________ *He finally convinced the fledgling ABC TV network to bankroll the park in exchange for the rights to a TV show featuring Disney movies and characters. Disneyland was ABC's first top five TV show, so both sides made out well in the deal. **Disney removed Wood's name from any history of the park; as far as they are concerned, he never existed. ***Whose corporate mission seems to be to make visits there as unpleasant as possible, and makes it quite clear that they think their customers are cash cows to be milked dry.
(1966)
Created by Bruce Geller
Starring Stephen Hill, Barbara Bain, Peter Lupus, Greg Morris, and Special Guest Star Martin Landau
IMDB Entry Of course you remember Mission: Impossible. The Impossible Mission Force, led by Dan Briggs, would further US foreign policy by secret undercover spy derring-do. Briggs would get his message on a tape, and the catchphrase, "Please dispose of this tape in the usual manner" was on everyone's lips.  "Dan Briggs?" you ask. "Who is Dan Briggs?"
And that's what has been forgotten. Briggs, played by Stephen Hill, was the lead in the first season of the show. In every episode, you'd see him choosing his team, going through a bunch of pictures and news clippings as he made his selections.* Then he'd lay out his plan and have his team execute it. Briggs was the mastermind who sat on the sidelines and oversaw, occasionally jumping in to make changes as the plans had to adapt. It was rare for him to take direct action. Briggs didn't use the same team each time. Oh, there were the regulars -- Cinnamon Carter (Barbara Bain), Barney Collier (Greg Morris), and Willie Armatage (Peter Lupus) -- but special members of the team would show up from time to time as needed. You got the impression that Briggs had dozens of agents on call and would select the right person for the job. And, of course, the one expert who showed up the most (in every episode the first season, as a matter of fact) was Rollin Hand (Martin Landau). Landau was not part of the original cast, but was hired for a guest shot in the pilot.** Bruce Geller liked what he saw, so kept hiring him back, but for contractual reasons, he was not considered part of the regular cast.*** The show was a sensation. It was always well plotted, with some tense and edgy stories (and, of course, a theme song). The most memorable one for me was "Zubrovnik's Ghost," a mixture of spy story and Twilight Zone episode. At the end of the first season, though, Hill decided to leave. One reason was his religion: He is an orthodox Jew and refused to shoot episodes on the Sabbath. Geller kept insisting, so Hill walked away from the lead in a smash hit over it. Geller didn't mind the loss. He wanted the head of the IMF to be a more conventional action hero who could get in the middle of things, so he hired Peter Graves. For me, that's when the show started to deteriorate. I liked Briggs the mastermind more than Jim Phelps the man of action. Also, the show had already become stylized and even routine. "This tape will self-destruct" was used in every episode.**** The IMF was the same agents every time. The list of fictional Eastern European countries (you could tell they were foreign because all the stop signs said "Alt!") grew longer and longer. What was fresh and new the first season became familiar. The show was a big success from the beginning, but the Phelps era ran for six seasons. Since there were so many more episodes, people remember him as the only leader. I would suspect that syndication tended to leave out the first season.***** Hill continued to act and finally reached a modicum of familiarity as D.A. Adam Schiff on Law and Order. Since he only appeared in a couple of scenes each episode, his religious preferences were simple to accommodate. And I have no doubt there's a Mission:Impossible season one DVD out there. But Stephen Hill (and Martin Landau) were what made Mission: Impossible into something other than an average spy show with a great theme song. _______________________________________________ *Later, it became a series of 8x10 color photos.
**He was married to Barbara Bain, of course.
***I'm not entirely sure if he ever was officially made a cast member.
****It did start the first season, but Briggs also disposed of the tape himself by doing such things as tossing it into a furnace.
*****I remember when our local TV station finally started running the first season episodes. The tape (which is disposed of in the usual manner) says, "Welcome Back, Dan. It's been some time," and I agreed with the sentiment.
(1965-66)
Executive Producer William T. Orr
Starring Dick Kallman, Linda Foster, Howard St. John, Lloyd Corrigan, Katie Sweet.
IMDB Page With a new show of this name set to premiere in the fall, it's time to remember the original, a funny and short-lived comedy starring the talented Dick Kallman.  The basic setup was far from ordinary. Hank Dearborn (Kallman) was a young man with a dream to attend college. But after the death of his parents, he could not afford it. In the days where student loans were not the norm, he hit upon a plan: he would "attend" the classes without enrolling and go through college that way.*
Hank's attempts to get a free degree did not go unnoticed by the registrar, Dr. Lewis Royal (Howard St. John), who knew someone was attending classes without paying, but never could catch or even find him (Hank impersonated legitimate students who were out of class when roll calls were required). Which was lucky for Hank, since his girlfriend Doris Royal (Linda Foster) was the registrar's daughter. So Hank had to juggle his job, his classes, his love life, and the care of his younger sister Doris (Katie Sweet). The show was a genial comedy that saw Hank trying to avoid the snags that would take all his plans down. Hank would often get into trouble by showing his athletic prowess, causing coach Ossie Weiss (Dabs Greer) to want to put him on the team. It was all held together by the talent of Kallman, who had worked on Broadway and even recorded an album or two. Unfortunately, it did poorly in the ratings and was canceled after one season. Kallman never got a major role afterwards (his biggest TV role was as one of Catwoman's henchmen on Batman), and eventually left acting in 1975 to sell antiques. Sadly, he was murdered in 1980 during a robbery. The show was certainly not a comedy classic, but it was a better than average show from the time with an appealing cast. ________________________________________________ *Don't point out the flaws. I work at a college and know he couldn't get an actual degree this way. But go with it.
 (1973)
Directed by Richard Lester
Written by George Macdonald Fraser from the novel by Alexander Dumas, père.
Starring Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, Frank Finlay, Raquel Welch, Faye Dunaway, Charton Heston, Christopher Lee, Geraldine Chaplin, Spike Mulligan
IMDB Entry
When you think great directors, Richard Lester rarely comes to mind. Yet his influence on modern film is probably greater than any other (for better or for worse). Lester was born in Philadelphia, but moved to the UK, where he started directing and producing TV shows in the 1950s. He broke into films with a short, The Running, Jumping, Standing Still Film, starring Peter Sellers and other from The Goon Show, which ended up with an Oscar nomination. He then moved to features and was entrusted with The Mouse on the Moon. But his career really took off when he was hired to do a quickie film to cash in on the popularity of a group of musicians before they were forgotten. A Hard Day's Night was a smash, and Lester was on the top of the heap.* Critics noted one idiosyncrasy to his style: he favored quick cuts within a scene instead of following the actors. Nowadays, of course, you can't find a popular film that doesn't use this technique, but back in the early 60s, it was groundbreaking.** Lester continued with kinetic comedies like Help and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. But he tried creating films that didn't fit into commercial expectation. How I Won the War had mixed success, while Petulia was a critical hit. But Lester's next film, The Bed-Sitting Room -- a post-apocalypse absurdist comedy -- was a critical and commercial flop and Lester went several years looking for work until he finally hooked up with Alexander Salkind to to an all-star remake of a beloved classic, The Three Musketeers. You know the basic story: D'Artagnan (Michael York) meets up with three of the King's musketeers -- Athos (Oliver Reed), Porthos (Frank Finlay) and Aramis (Richard Chamberlain). They get involved in thwarting a plot by Cardinal Richelieu (Charlton Heston), aided by Milady de Winter (Faye Dunaway) to discredit the queen (Geraldine Page). Of course, Lester's background was in comedy, not adventure. But he manages to combine the two. George Macdonald Fraser (author of the Flashman novels) knew a thing about putting together humor and derring-do, and the result is consistently entertaining. Fraser was smart enough to stick closely to Dumas's story and just fill it in with humor.  Special credit is due to William Hobbs, who staged the swordfights. They were a major departure from older fight scenes, with their genteel and closely choreographed fighting of two people trying to hit the other guy's sword and not his opponent. Hobbs made these into fights. There were no rules, and you got the impression that the people involved were really working to defeat the other guy. One fight was set in a courtyard full of drying laundry and the hanging clothes were as much a part of the fight as the characters.
The sets and costumes were also wonderful. One little touch I remember fondly is that it showed the Musketeers with muskets, something that makes you say "of course," but never seems to come up in other films of the story. All the actors were fine in their roles, but an especial note goes to Raquel Welch as Constance, D'Artagnan's lover. Raquel was (and still is) pretty much a joke as an actress, but the role is one of her best and she is quite good. Spike Mulligan also has a small role as her husband.*** Lester realized that the film of the entire book would run too long, so he cut it into two pieces and released The Four Musketeers the next year. The actors weren't happy to have made two movies and only getting paid for one, so they sued. Luckily, they were able to settle. The Four Musketeers kept the style, but was less successful, probably because it picked up in the middle -- and the big setpieces of the story were in the first half. But it revitalized Lester's career. He went on to direct films like Robin and Marian and The Ritz, along with blockbusters like Superman II and Superman III. After a few flops, though, he managed to get together most of the cast of his Musketeers film for The Return of the Musketeers. After this, he retired (though he did direct a concert film for Paul McCartney). Lester's career was long, but with a relatively low number of films, and he has been suffering from critical neglect. Few people give him credit for A Hard Day's Night (and it's clear that the Beatles were the ones running the movie), and many of his films are fairly obscure. I was actually surprised to have three of his films on my list. But I think he was a first-class talent who just never gets his due. ______________________________________________ *The popular music act did pretty well, too. **It had been done previously, of course; I've come to believe that nearly all breakthroughs in film have antecedents that just didn't catch on. Years later, MTV honored Lester as the founder of the music video (for A Hard Day's Night) and the entire music video style. Lester, ironically, didn't really like to be remembered for that particular style. ***This was France, after all, where at one point the king's mistress had to marry a nobleman so the king could present her at court.
(1961)
Starring Darryl Hickman and Richard Davalos
IMDB Entry  While the TV western was a staple of the 1950s and 1960s, the time period immediately preceding the west* -- the Civil War -- got little attention. But, when the 100th anniversary of the war rolled around in 1961, NBC** decided the time was ripe for a TV series set in that time period. So they picked up a show based on a series of stories in The Saturday Evening Post and The Americans was born.
The concept was a good one: the Canfield brothers, Ben (Darryl Hickman) and Jeff (Richard Davalos) live in Harper's Ferry, Virginia when the war starts. Older brother Ben runs off to join the Union forces, while Jeff thinks loyalty to Virginia is more important and joins the Confederates. The show alternated between the two, one showing Ben's adventures with the North, the next showing what was going on with Jeff and the South. Occasionally, they both appeared (as in the episode "The War Between the States," a lighter show*** where characters from individual states argue with each other for reasons not related to the war). The show concentrated on their individual lives in the army, with battles occurring from time to time. One of them seems to be the Battle of Ball's Bluff -- well known to Civil War buffs, but not one of the major battles of the war. The show did suffer from the timidity of TV executives of the day. They wanted the character of Jeff so viewers in the South would watch (though the obvious conflict with the brother vs. brother theme made for good drama). And, of course, the issue of slavery was kept in the background. I don't believe the Canfields owned slaves, which would have made things a bit difficult to defend. Darryl Hickman has been a very successful child actor who made the transition to an adult actor. If the name is vaguely familiar, it's likely because you're probably thinking of his brother, Dwayne, who became a major early TV star on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Dichard Davalos had had minor parts in TV and a few movies. The show wasn't a big hit. It was criticized for being too violent, and quite possibly southern viewers looked elsewhere. And, of course, the racial issues of the war were not discussed for fear of alienating viewers. The show only ran from January until May and then canceled. Davalos and Hickman continued with TV work, though they were never stars, and Hickman was even more overshadowed by his brother. But as a kid whose interest in history was ignited by visiting Gettysburg, the show was required viewing -- and pretty good overall. ________________________________________________ * The Hollywood West, of course, which could be any time from about 1865 (F Troop) to as late as 1912 (Nichols). **In researching, I was surprised to discover I could even watch NBC at this point; the nearest NBC station was UHF and I hadn't realized we got a UHF tuner so early. It also precluded being able to talk with friends about the show, because they couldn't get it (my father sold TVs, so got the tuner). ***Many dramatic shows in the 60s had comic episodes (think "The Trouble With Tribbles" on Star Trek) in among the more serious ones. Now comedy is used to lighten the drama, and an entire lighthearted show is rare on a drama series.
 (1972)
by Chris Rush
Back in the early 60s, comedy albums were big. People would go to parties not expecting to hear music, but, instead, the host would put on a comedy record for everyone. And comedians loved to cash in, since it was a great way to reach a larger audience for an extended act. Most TV shows only gave you five minutes or so; a record could be 40 minutes, allowing you to build into a full routine. For a time, comedy albums actually topped the album charts. The popularity faded away, but up through the 70s, record companies continued to put out new talent to try to hit the jackpot. And the funniest record I ever heard was First Rush by Chris Rush. Rush was a former National Lampoon writer* who went into stand up. His act was dirty mouthed, though not with much preoccupation with sex. But he had a unique comedy style. Nearly all comedians use the form of setup-punchline-setup-punchline, alternating between setting up the joke and then telling going with the punchline. Some use a double punchline -- a topper to the joke following immediately afterwards. Chris Rush told his jokes in the format setup-punchline-punchline-punchline-PUNCHLINE, with each punchline funnier than the next. You'd barely have time to laugh at the first before he hits you with another. You end up developing "laugh face,"** where your cheeks and jaws end up hurting from all the laughs. The subjects were kind of a mixture of George Carlin and Lennie Bruce*** He observes things about life at the time, with hilarious results. My favorite was "Abie's Magic Hat," more a single joke than a routine, but one that nails the absurdity of some religious practices. "Jesus in a Dope Bust" was also fairly well known, based on the concept that Jesus hung out with the type of people who would be considered hippies in the 60s. The album is long unavailable and doesn't seem to have made the transition to CD. Rush continued as a comedian, even putting out a few CDs, but never became a major star. First Rush's drug references date it a bit, but it's still as funny as anything you'll hear. ______________________________________________ *Well, he was billed as such. It looks like he only wrote seven articles (several of which ended in "Best of Lampoon" collections, though) in the first year of the magazine, and was not among their major names like Doug Kenny, Henry Beard, Michael O'Donoghue, etc. **Rush used the term himself on the LP. ***Some critics of the time thought he paled next to Bruce. I've seen very little of Lenny, but I think they were focusing on Rush's language and not seeing a whole different style of comedy.
(1976)
Produced by Norman Lear
Starring Louise Lasser, Greg Mullavey, Dody Goodman, Mary Kay Place, Graham Jarvis, Debralee Scott, Dabney Coleman, Philip Bruns, Bruce Solomon, Victor Killian, Martin Mull
Wikipedia Entry Norman Lear ruled mid-70s TV comedy. His All in the Family and spinoffs were such major hits that he was able to do what he wanted. A few were ratings misfires (like The Hot L Baltimore) but that didn't stop the networks from putting his shows on the air. And All in the Family seemed to executives to be such a weird concept to be a hit, they were willing to accept weird concepts. So, in 1976, Lear decided on another direction: a satirical soap opera, running five days a week, that would parody the genre, as well as anything else that came to mind. The result was Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.  The show was set in the fictional Fernwood, Ohio, where Mary (Louise Lasser) lived and loved. Her best friend Loretta Haggers (Mary Kay Place) thought she was going to be the next country music superstar, despite having no noticeable talent. Mary had issues with her husband (Greg Mullavey), her dippy mother (Dody Goodman) and even her grandfather (Victor Killian*) -- the Fernwood Flasher.
The show had very plot-driven humor. It thrived on incidents and twists, along with characters that were all bizarre amalgamations of all sorts of soap opera cliches. At five nights a week, it didn't try for big laughs every scene, but handled plenty of small laughs that were referred to in such a way as to make them funnier and funnier as time went on. Even today, I can't think of International House of Pancakes or a station wagon full of nuns without smiling. One favorite scene of mine was when Loretta, who was close to her dream, appeared on the Dinah Shore show, where she commented on how nice a Jewish production assistant was, especially since he "was one of the people who killed Our Lord." The screen then went to an immediate apology the the part of Dinah Shore that opinions expressed were not those of the show or anyone within six degrees of separation from it. But that joke indicated some of the show's problems. First of all, no network was willing to give Lear a half hour a day for one particular show. Lear produced it and sold it on a station-by-station basis. At the same time, the controversial nature of the show made it inappropriate for prime time hours, so it was usually shown after the news.** I was lucky to catch most of the first season because I was working nights at the time, and was alone with the TV after 11:30. The show was helped by good casting. Louise Lasser was the best-known member of the case (mostly because she was known as Woody Allen's ex-wife), but quite a few people went on to long successes, including Mary Kay Place and Dabney Coleman. Eventually, Louise Lasser tired of the role and moved on, and the show morphed from a soap opera parody, Fernwood 2Nite. Despite the controversy, the show is not well remembered. First, because of the late time slots and controversial subject matter*** few saw it (though many heard of it). Also the five-nights-a-week format doesn't lend itself well to DVD repackaging. There are some "Best of" DVDs, but Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was not a show about individual episodes, but rather due to cumulative effect. It would be very difficult to cut it into manageable chunks without losing what made the show so good. It would be great if someone could repackage the show correctly, but until then, we can all go down to the International House of Pancakes and have a good meal. _______________________________________________ *As a side note, Killian may be the only actor in history who starred in the movie, but whose name was removed from the credits. It was in something called Unknown World -- something like The Core, but with even worse science. Killian probably would have been listed atop the credits, but while the film was in post-production, he turned up on the McCarthy blacklist, so the producers decided not to mention the fact he was in the movie. **At the time, the options for late-night TV were pretty much The Tonight Show or nothing. Most stations ran their own programming after the news and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman filled this niche. ***Actually, not all that different from the daytime soaps.
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