Tributes To Your Favorite Classic TV Stars (3 Viewers)

[Capt D McMars]

JACKIE GLEASON BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE
Part Two!​

Gleason’s chemistry with his cast is magical. The long scene where he and Meadows argue over the scheme is blistering, filled with emotion and insults until Ralph goes just one step too far over the line.

Alice: “Listen, Ralph, I'm getting pretty sick and tired of this. Every week you come home with some new, crazy, harebrained scheme. That's all I've heard for the past 14 years. One crazy, harebrained scheme after another. That is all I have heard since the day that we got married.”

Ralph: “You heard one of my harebrained schemes before we got married...I proposed to you!”
Alice: (pause): “Don't you ever say that again, Ralph.”
Gleason’s entire body language changes as his face sinks.
Ralph (softly): “All right, I'm sorry.”

The characters are a large reason why the series endures and the love between Alice and Ralph is what keeps them together. This is one of the most well drawn and hysterically funny episodes in the run of the series and arguably one of the best of the 50’s. Jackie Gleason’s comedic genius and his gift for casting made this episode, the series, and the characters television legends.

View attachment 214241 View attachment 214242 View attachment 214243 View attachment 214244 View attachment 214245 View attachment 214246 View attachment 214247 View attachment 214248 View attachment 214249 View attachment 214250 View attachment 214251 View attachment 214252 View attachment 214253 View attachment 214254 View attachment 214255 View attachment 214256 View attachment 214257 View attachment 214258 View attachment 214259

One of the most legendary appearances Gleason made was as the host of a new series called You’re in the Picture. It was a massive failure, a show so badly received, the following week’s installment consisted of nothing but Gleason on a bare stage apologizing to the audience for being part of such a disaster. It was an incredibly funny half hour of mostly ad-libbed stand up comedy.





After that, the series was retitled The Jackie Gleason Show and became an interview program for the remainder of its 13 episode run.

Honestly, I have to admit to a real guilty pleasure. Gleason’s utter train wreck of a film…Smokey and the Bandit Part 3. Originally written and conceived as a Gleason dual role to make up for the fact that Burt Reynolds was not interested in a third “Bandit” film, the movie was originally titled Smokey IS the Bandit.



Yep, Gleason was to somehow play both roles. However, it seems a rough cut (long discarded) was so utterly terrible, it was reshot and re-edited into a barely acceptable sequel with Jerry Reed stepping in as Cletus taking the place of the original Bandit.

This film is just insanely awful, but it’s still my favorite of the three films because Gleason just gives it everything. And it also has a killer soundtrack with some of the best songs in the series.



I cannot recommend the film, but it was a staple of the early days of HBO and it was rerun often. It’s so bad, it’s good. Like The Room or Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Gleason was also a composer of romantic mood music and, as stated in part one, his first album “Music for Lovers Only” still holds the record for the longest stay on the Billboard Top Ten Charts (153 weeks).



While Gleason was a multitalented man, I will always cherish Ralph Kramden and, in particular, the Classic 39 primarily because the late night run came at a time in my life when I needed comfort the most. Not to mire this in maudlin memories, but from 7th through 12th grades, I had a horrible time at school socially. It was a lonely and dire existence and my only escape came from my friends in the Boy Scouts and in time filled with fantasy such as comics, music, movies, and – most prominently - TV. During the day, we had lots of great 60’s reruns. At night, since it was the 80’s, there was a plethora of escapist programming. As I mentioned previously, at night was my favorite local lineup of The Odd Couple, The Honeymooners, Star Trek and The Twilight Zone. I would stay up as late as I could so I could sop up as much comfort and joy as possible before suffering through the 9 months of 7 hours of misery per school year.

The Honeymooners end credits (reportedly composed by Gleason) still hit me hard because of the joy the series gave me when I needed it most. That lovely, haunting music (“You’re My Greatest Love”), particularly the ending crescendo, can still bring a tear of warmth and nostalgia. It is a reminder that, as alone and solitary as I felt then, there was an escape and reasons to laugh. It got me through some rough times and I freely admit that television and music kept me alive.


View attachment 214262
Anyway…

All of this merely scratches the surface of the incredible career of The Great One, Happy Birthday, Mr. Gleason. You continue to entertain decades after your passing.

Nice honorarium, But also I think of the Jackie Gleason Show..."live From Miami Beach Florida"!!! It was a fun variety show and some still exsist in color!!

 

[timk1041]

Terrific! Marta also appeared in an episode of Leave It To Beaver playing a girlfriend of Eddie Haskell! Jimmy Hawkins also appeared in the same episode. The episode was Wally & Dudley (the character played by Jimmy Hawkins). Marta Kristen played Christine Staples. She was also in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Mr. Novak and My Three Sons.

 

[timk1041]

JACKIE GLEASON BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE
“THE GREAT ONE!”

February 26, 1916

Per Wikipedia:​

John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916 – June 24, 1987), known as Jackie Gleason, was an American actor, comedian, writer, and composer also known as "The Great One". He developed a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, and was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy, exemplified by his city bus driver character Ralph Kramden in the television series The Honeymooners. He also developed The Jackie Gleason Show, which maintained high ratings from the mid-1950s through 1970. The series originated in New York City, but filming moved to Miami Beach, Florida, in 1964 after Gleason took up permanent residence there.

Among his notable film roles were Minnesota Fats in 1961's The Hustler (co-starring with Paul Newman) and Buford T. Justice in the Smokey and the Bandit series from 1977 to 1983 (co-starring Burt Reynolds).

Gleason enjoyed a prominent secondary music career during the 1950s and 1960s, producing a series of bestselling "mood music" albums. His first album Music for Lovers Only still holds the record for the longest stay on the Billboard Top Ten Charts (153 weeks), and his first 10 albums sold over a million copies each.[4] His output spans more than 20 singles, nearly 60 long-playing record albums, and more than 40 CDs.

And awayyyy we go!

Jackie Gleason!
THE HONEYMOONERS
With the stars Art Carney, Audrey Meadows, and Joyce Randolph




Episode 7
“Better Living Through TV”
Airdate: November 12, 1955

Written by Marvin Marx & Walter Stone
Directed by Frank Satenstein

​

Ralph presents Norton with a money-making idea to get rich. There’s a box of labor saving devices - "Handy Housewife Helpers" - available from a warehouse. The device opens cans, takes corks out of bottles, cores apples, and many other things. Ralph's plan is to borrow money from their wives to buy the box and pay for a live TV commercial. It's a "sure thing"

Alice refuses to loan Ralph the money, so he borrows it elsewhere.

Ralph and Norton work out a commercial in which the "chef of the future" shares the wonders of the kitchen gadget that does everything and makes housewives happy. During the rehearsal, everything goes well, but as the show goes live, Ralph develops stage fright and freezes up, while Norton tries to save the commercial.

Growing up, I knew of Jackie Gleason from two sources: one was as “Buford P. Justice, fearless law of Texas, the man who chased the Bandit coast to coast” in the Smokey and the Bandit Trilogy. The second was as Ralph Kramden. The Honeymooners was a staple of my late night TV viewing as part of a local lineup on WPIX. The Odd Couple, The Honeymooners, Star Trek and then The Twilight Zone. Never have four so dissimilar series worked so well together. To this day, for me these shows are connected.

The Honeymooners plots were simple. For the most part, they involved Ralph Kamden (the late great Jackie Gleason) coming up with some far-fetched scheme to better his financial position or reputation, usually roping in his dimwitted best friend Ed Norton (brilliantly played by Art Carney). His long-suffering wife, Alice (the drop dead gorgeous Audrey Meadows), would be ignored voice of reality. Gleason’s slow burns would erupt into bellicose shouting and threats of violence which never scared Alice even a little (which really takes the edge off the repeated threats of spouse abuse). Each attempt for more money would fail and Ralph would get his comeuppance very time. Even with the shouting and threats to both Alice and Norton, they would be patched up in the end. Ralph was always likeable and his love for Alice and Ed was usually on display as much as his anger.

While a great many “episodes” of The Honeymooners exist, it is the Classic 39 which most people remember and cherish. These are wonderful comedies that Gleason had the foresight to film on 35mm rather than merely save as Kinescopes of live broadcasts (ala the “lost episodes”). These episodes have been run and rerun continuously for nearly 70 years.

Because they’re still funny.

Gleason was a genius at physical comedy, slow burns, and reactions. He was also generous, making sure some of the larger laughs were given to others at his expense. He was also a demanding taskmaster with an eidetic memory. He knew his lines after a single read-through and needed far fewer rehearsals than his castmates.

This episode, one of the more famous and quotable, is a perfect example of the formula and Gleason’s comic ability. The first two-thirds of the episode are typical for the series, but the final act is a comic gem. With Ralph as “The Chef of the Future” and Ed as “The Chef of the Past,” they rehearse their commercial before they must perform it live. Ralph, the over confident braggart, belittling Ed for his nervousness, is suddenly stuck with crippling stage fright as soon as the commercial starts. His stammering delivery and awkwardness as he belts out “Chefadafutcha!” is comedy gold. As Carney and Gleason attempt to demonstrate the superiority of the "Handy Housewife Helpers" over typical kitchen tools, and failing miserably, Gleason literally brings the house down as Ralph falls through the set. The live audience explodes in response and the episode closes on Ralph’s latest failure.

View attachment 214188 View attachment 214189 View attachment 214190 View attachment 214191 View attachment 214192 View attachment 214193 View attachment 214194 View attachment 214195 View attachment 214196 View attachment 214197 View attachment 214198 View attachment 214199 View attachment 214200 View attachment 214201 View attachment 214202 View attachment 214203 View attachment 214204 View attachment 214205 View attachment 214206 View attachment 214207


A classic episode. Not without faults, though. Alice refuses to give Ralph the money to buy the stock of "Handy Housewife Helpers" and make the commercial, but he does get the money from somewhere. And we never see Ralph face the music, but it happens often enough, we know he’s going home, contrite and ashamed until the next time.

Enjoyed this!

 

[Flashgear]

Great star tributes you guys!

Neal...epic and awesome thoroughly illustrated posts on Sherry Jackson, Hugh Beaumont and Dane Clark! Great caps from Dane Clark and Joan Marshall's 'Bold Venture' (sure wish Timeless or TGG had given that a DVD release) and including Sherry's guest star appearance from the newly available on Prime color 'My Three Sons' episode, and an incredible amount of work there!

Jeff...likewise your usual, excellent and extraordinary work on Sherry Jackson, with terrific synopses, superb pictures and screen caps! And including some of her less well-known performances. You have me revisiting her 'Lieutenant' and 'Gomer Pyle' episodes! I might have to pick up the 'Starsky and Hutch' season one set, for another chance to see her in a Bikini, ha, ha!

John Hopper...wow, an incredibly thorough analysis of John Vernon's work on Mission Impossible, beautifully capped and an awesome amount of detail therein! I got the Mission Impossible complete series Blu-ray a couple of years ago and will watch this episode soon! Another awe-inspiring amount of work there!

Doug Wallen...another wonderful and heartfelt tribute to John Vernon, an actor I grew up with on Canadian TV (CBC's 'Wojek') before he became a stalwart in American movies and TV, a lot of which you featured. You'll have me re-watching him in 'Dirty Harry', 'Charley Verrick', 'Brannigan' 'Outlaw Josey Wales' and revisiting 'Animal House' too! (let alone his enormous and great body of TV work) Well done!

Bryan...welcome post with nice screen caps of the lovely Marta Kristen! You'll have me going back to that 'Mannix' episode. She was drop-dead gorgeous, and a fine actress when given the chance to shine, as in her 'Mr. Novak' episode (Senior Prom), where she's so memorable!

Nice additional pics and comments, Skyking, Ponset/Clark, Todd and Timothy!

Scott...truly thorough and affecting tributes and great caps and pics in your wonderful tributes to Kevin McCarthy (in his immortal in more ways than one TZ episode as Walter Jameson) and the great one himself Jackie Gleason and his beloved 'Honeymooners' Ralph Kramden...more awesome work there, and enriched by your personal recollection of youthful resonance with that show that is very touching, and for which I want to express my gratitude!

 

[The 1960's]

Marta Kristen (February 26, 1945- ) 79th Birthday Tribute​

Marta Kristen (born February 26, 1944) is a Norwegian-born American actress. Kristen is best known for her role as Judy Robinson, the oldest child of Professor John Robinson and his wife, Maureen, in the television series Lost in Space (1965–1968). Her character was a young adult, around 20 years of age … Continue @ Wikipedia

I don’t profess to know very much about Marta Kristen, but as a young man I’d tune into Lost In Space every week just to gaze at her beautiful eyes. Many of the images in this photo commentary will focus on Ms. Kristen, so Happy 79th Birthday Marta - - this one’s for you!

Wagon Train (1957-1965)

Series Theme

S08E16 The Wanda Snow Story (Jan.17.1965)

Directed by
Joseph Pevney
Writing Credits
Earl Hamner Jr.

Stars
Marta Kristen - Wanda Snow
John McIntire - Christopher Hale
Robert Fuller - Cooper Smith
Frank McGrath - Charlie Wooster
Arthur O'Connell - Dabney Pitts
Michael Burns - Barnaby West
Donnelly Rhodes - Jeremiah Stewart
Dabbs Greer - Hiram Snow
Alice Backes - Delphine Hostatter
Ken Mayer - Junius Hostatter
Billy Bowles - Thurston Hostatter
Terry Wilson - Bill Hawks

Produced by
Howard Christie
Frederick Shorr
Cinematography by
Walter Strenge
Editing by
Carl Pingitore
Art Direction by
Howard E. Johnson
Set Decoration by
John McCarthy Jr.
Ralph Sylos
Makeup Department
Larry Germain
Bud Westmore
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles S. Gould
Sound Department
Melvin M. Metcalfe Sr.
Costume and Wardrobe Department
Vincent Dee
Editorial Department
David J. O'Connell
Music Department
Jerome Moross
Stanley Wilson​

The Sixteenth Episode of the unusual and final Eighth Season of Wagon Train entitled, The Wanda Snow Story (January 17th, 1965) was one of only a handful of sci-fi / fantasy themed episodes from this series. However, this one plays out like a gruesome horror story in many ways as well. It co-stars 20-year old Marta Kristen in her 12th acting credit and was directed by Joseph Pevney who also directed fourteen episodes of the original Star Trek, more than any other director but one. It was written by another well known name, Earl Hamner Jr. who is best known as the creator of The Waltons.

This is a story about a woman who has a unique ablity to predict future events and is branded a Witch by those who fear what they don’t understand. She and her father are persecuted wherever they go. Wanda Snow is a woman who’s life is always in turmoil struggling with a gift which has, up to this point in her life, only been a curse.

Wanda Snow tells Chris Hale that Cooper Smith is going to encounter danger while scouting. Hale questions her father Hiram Snow (Dabbs Greer) about her claims to foresee future events. Being a god-fearing and mostly ignornant man, Hiram hints that his daughter is mentally imbalanced.

Hiram Snow: When are you going to learn your lesson?
Wanda Snow: I saw it Pa, plain as day. He’s got a right to know what’s going to happen tomorrow!

The following day while scouting, Cooper Smith is attacked by the Cheyenne.

Charlie gets crocked on Professor Pitts’ Magic Elixir.

In the evening, Barnaby meets up with Wanda Snow. He explains he’s looking for an Ax lost by Charlie. Immediately Wanda gets a premonition and tells him exactly where it is. Barney shows his appreciation by inviting Wanda to see the Wagon Train’s Medicine Show.

At Dabney Pitts’ Medicine Show, Pitts performs some dazzling tricks. Then he invites Wanda to participate which proves quite embarrassing for the Professor when her visions captivate the audience more than his magic tricks. Delphine Hostatter and her husband Junius so upset by what they saw, go to Hale claiming that wherever Wanda Snow is seen, calamity follows. “She’s a Witch”, they tell him. Hale advises them to forget about believing in Witches.

Wanda is suddenly awakened by another premonition, this time she envisions an argument between a drunken Professor Pitts and his mean-spirited assistant in the medicine show, Jeremiah Stewart (Donnelly Rhodes), who attempts to shoot him with a fake gun.

 

[The 1960's]

Afterwards she decides to warn Pitts. He then invites Wanda to be his new assistant. Stewart overhears the entire conversation, sneaks up behind Pitts and stabs him in the back.

While the young son of the Hostatter’s, Thurston, goes swimming Wanda sees a vision of him drowning and saves his life. Instead of being grateful his mother, Delphine Hostatter, blames her of being responsible for his near death experience but no one will believe her. The Citizens Protective Committee is intent on taking action against Wanda, however Christopher Hale stops them in their tracks, or so he thinks.

You’re That Witch!

​

Sensing the moment is his, Stewart convinces Hiram Snow and the members of the Wagon Train, already compromised with fear and suspicion, that the time is right to conduct an exorcism and rid Wanda of the Devil that has taken over her soul. Hiram, a weak frightened man gives his permission.

Jeremiah Stewart: My friends, we are gathered near the river to fight for the soul of this lost child. Because of her great affliction she has never walked in the light.
Group: Amen
Jeremiah Stewart: But has been condemned to walk in the shadows al the days in her life. Because of her great affliction she has heard forbidden voices and been a witnesss to a forbidden burden for her to bear. Because of her great affliction her father has been condemned to wander the earth all the days of his life with a dark horse of fear riding always beside his wagon.
Group: Amen.
Jeremiah Stewart: Because of her great affliction there are those present who’s suffering has been great but who stand ready to forgive the hurt that was done them, amen. And what is her great affliction? It is the Devil. The Prince of Hell, The Dark Angel. It’s old Satan and we all know his ways. Oh, he comes to us in diverse ways tempting us with a sin and a sly promises and before you know it he’s got his claws crunched around your heart and his black soul bound into yours. Child we are all weak and we’ll try to understand. Think back now, and try to recall when you first made a pact with the devil. And what did you take in exchange for your soul?
Wanda: [Shakes her head, no.]

Jeremiah Stewart: Help her friends, lord have mercy, forgive her lord.
Group: Lord have mercy, forgive her lord.
Group: Lord have mercy, forgive her lord.
Jeremiah Stewart: What did you take in exchange for your soul?
Wanda: Nothing!
Jeremiah Stewart: Was it a pretty dress of silk?
Wanda: Nothing!
Jeremiah Stewart: A pair of bright and shining beads?
Group: Lord have mercy, forgive her lord.
Jeremiah Stewart: The smile of a young man?
Group: Lord have mercy, forgive her lord.
Jeremiah Stewart: A night of love when the moon was hot and round and full?
Group: Lord have mercy, forgive her lord.
Jeremiah Stewart: What did you take in exchange for your soul!!?:
Wanda: Nothing. I made no bargain!

Group: Lord have mercy, forgive her lord.
Group: Lord have mercy, forgive her lord.
Group: Lord have mercy, forgive her lord.
Group: Lord have mercy, forgive her lord.
Jeremiah Stewart: Devil, hear me. I command and abjure you to leave this child. Child, renounce your master.
Wanda: Please no!
Jeremiah Stewart: Devil hear me!
Group: Lord have mercy, forgive her lord.
Group: Lord have mercy, forgive her lord.
Jeremiah Stewart: Vile spirit, flee from this creature you have claimed for a slave he commands you who rules the sea, the winds, and the tempest. I command you Satan enemy of the human race. Cause of death, thief of life destroyer of justice, fallen angel, source of evil, root of lice, seducer of men, deceiver of nations, vile dragon be gone fron this woman!
Wanda: Let me go!
Jeremiah Stewart: Friends, this child is struggling to be free, when the all hell has got her too strong. He’s here now I can feel his fire breathing, breathe all around. But water is stronger than fire. Brother, help me quench the Devil’s fire.
Group: Lord have mercy, forgive her lord.
Group: Lord have mercy, forgive her lord.

 

[The 1960's]

The Great Affliction

​

A familiar face floats to the surface.

Jeremiah Stewart meets his fate in horrible fashion. Chris Hale calls for a meeting of the entire Wagon Train. Wanda’s unique powers are given a very special name.

Clairvoyant / Closing Credits

Marta Kristen Related Media​

In 1961 at the tender age of 16, yup that’s 16 years of age, in only her second film credit, Marta Kristen appeared in Leave It To Beaver S04E25 Wally and Dudley (Mar.18.1961). Here are a few HD images featuring Marta.

My Three Sons

S01E11 Spring Will Be a Little Late (Dec.08.1960)
Stars Fred MacMurray William Frawley Tim Considine Don Grady Stanley Livingston Marta Kristen as Peggy 'Pig' Meredith​

---

Robbie is overwhelmed when his mechanic friend "Pig" puts on a dress and perfume and becomes the lovely Peggy.

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968)
Stars Mamie Van Doren Mary Marr Paige Lee Marta Kristen​

---

Astronauts landing on Venus encounter dangerous creatures and almost meet some sexy Venusian women who like to sun-bathe in hip-hugging skin-tight pants and seashell brassieres.

Insight (1960-1984​

---

American Roman Catholic religious-themed anthology shedding light on the contemporary search for meaning, freedom, and love.

S01E317 Is the 11:59 Late This Year - Show # 317 (Oct.05.1969)
Stars Hal Frederick Marta Kristen Alan Oppenheimer Ann Sothern Howard Duff Guy Stockwell Roger C. Carmel Joel Fluellen Paulene Myers Pitt Herbert Ellwood Kieser​

---

Five people who are running away from life are joined at the train station by a flower child who has every reason to run away. Looking at them, she is forced to reconsider

Marta Kristen | The Complete Pioneers of Television Interview (2022)​

Marta Kristen, star of "Lost in Space", sits down and tells never before heard stories from her career.

Lost in Space: Marta Kristen’s journey from child of a German solider to playing Judy Robinson. (2023)​

Marta Kristen was abandoned as a baby after being born to a German soldier and a Norwegian mother. Her life changed after the four-year-old was adopted by an American couple. Marta relives her incredible journey including being discovered and why she originally passed on the role of Judy Robinson in Lost in Space. Marta also shares stories of her famous co-stars, and travelling to Europe to track down her biological mother, her siblings and then meeting the love of her live.

Happy Birthday 79th Birthday Marta Kristen

 

[timk1041]

The Great Affliction

View attachment 214382 ​

A familiar face floats to the surface.

View attachment 214372​

View attachment 214373 View attachment 214374 View attachment 214375

Jeremiah Stewart meets his fate in horrible fashion. Chris Hale calls for a meeting of the entire Wagon Train. Wanda’s unique powers are given a very special name.

View attachment 214376​

View attachment 214377
View attachment 214378
View attachment 214379

View attachment 214380

Clairvoyant / Closing Credits

View attachment 214383

Marta Kristen Related Media​

In 1961 at the tender age of 16, yup that’s 16 years of age, in only her second film credit, Marta Kristen appeared in Leave It To Beaver S04E25 Wally and Dudley (Mar.18.1961). Here are a few HD images featuring Marta.

View attachment 214364 View attachment 214365 View attachment 214366 View attachment 214367 View attachment 214368 View attachment 214369 View attachment 214370 View attachment 214371

My Three Sons

S01E11 Spring Will Be a Little Late (Dec.08.1960)
Stars Fred MacMurray William Frawley Tim Considine Don Grady Stanley Livingston Marta Kristen as Peggy 'Pig' Meredith​

---

Robbie is overwhelmed when his mechanic friend "Pig" puts on a dress and perfume and becomes the lovely Peggy.

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968)
Stars Mamie Van Doren Mary Marr Paige Lee Marta Kristen​

---

Astronauts landing on Venus encounter dangerous creatures and almost meet some sexy Venusian women who like to sun-bathe in hip-hugging skin-tight pants and seashell brassieres.

Insight (1960-1984​

---

American Roman Catholic religious-themed anthology shedding light on the contemporary search for meaning, freedom, and love.

S01E317 Is the 11:59 Late This Year - Show # 317 (Oct.05.1969)
Stars Hal Frederick Marta Kristen Alan Oppenheimer Ann Sothern Howard Duff Guy Stockwell Roger C. Carmel Joel Fluellen Paulene Myers Pitt Herbert Ellwood Kieser​

---

Five people who are running away from life are joined at the train station by a flower child who has every reason to run away. Looking at them, she is forced to reconsider

Marta Kristen | The Complete Pioneers of Television Interview (2022)​

Marta Kristen, star of "Lost in Space", sits down and tells never before heard stories from her career.

Lost in Space: Marta Kristen’s journey from child of a German solider to playing Judy Robinson. (2023)​

Marta Kristen was abandoned as a baby after being born to a German soldier and a Norwegian mother. Her life changed after the four-year-old was adopted by an American couple. Marta relives her incredible journey including being discovered and why she originally passed on the role of Judy Robinson in Lost in Space. Marta also shares stories of her famous co-stars, and travelling to Europe to track down her biological mother, her siblings and then meeting the love of her live.

Happy Birthday 79th Birthday Marta Kristen

View attachment 214381​

Thanks, Neal for posting these wonderful photos and those interviews for Marta. My question is whether she was born in 1944 or 1945. I've seen both years posted from various sources. Well.. I guess only she knows for sure. Anyway, I hope she had a terrific birthday.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Here's a little tribute to classic TV (mostly sci-fi/horror/fantasy series) I edited together, for fun, as an intro to a chatroom "watch party" situation a couple of weeks ago...



Most are pretty easy, but can you i.d. all the clips featured in the intro, as well as the connection the music has with classic tv?

 

[ScottRE]

Here's a little tribute to classic TV (mostly sci-fi/horror/fantasy series) I edited together, for fun, as an intro to a chatroom "watch party" situation a couple of weeks ago...



Most are pretty easy, but can you i.d. all the clips featured in the intro, as well as the connection the music has with classic tv?

"Diiiiiiick Tracy....He's a good cop!" That was great!

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

"Diiiiiiick Tracy....He's a good cop!" That was great!

Correct! The Ventures' theme to the pilot to what would've been the live-action 1960s DICK TRACY tv series, from William Dozier (BATMAN, THE GREEN HORNET).

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Great stuff, Peter! That "Friday Night Chat" classic TV watch party sounds like a lot of fun.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Thanks! Yup, it was a good time. Usually it's movies, rather than TV episodes, and I've whipped up intros to some of those, too.

















--We now return you to Favorite Classic TV Star Tributes, already in progress...

 

[ponset]

Thanks guys for all your wonderful February Tributes. Well Done!

I have seen John Vernon in many projects but as a life-long Batman fan, Vernon excelled at voicing RUBERT THORNE on
Batman: The Animated Series.

Onto the Great one.

 

[Doug Wallen]

Here's a Leap Day Special.

James Hong

February 22, 1929


​

Even though his birthday is past, I feel we should not overlook this tremendous character actor who just celebrated his 95th birthday.

You may not know his name, but you have surely seen him all over classic television and films since the late 50's. He is generally not the lead but is recognizable and effective in whatever role he appears in. He has an incredible 459 credits listed on imdb.com. He has a featured role in 2022's Everything, Everywhere, All At Once and even one project in production for 2024.

James Hong (February 22, 1929) is an American actor, producer and director. He has worked in numerous productions in U.S. media since the 1950s, portraying a variety of roles. He is known as one of the most prolific character actors of all time.

I first became aware of the ubiquitous James Hong in John Carpenter's Big Trouble In Little China. He made such a fine villain as the near immortal David Lo-Pan. The film had it all, over the top performances by all involved and the wildest ssend-up of Asian karate flicks I had ever seen. I have been a tremendous fan ever since. Seems like he has made guest appearances in just about every television series that has been produced.

After becoming aware of him, he popped up everywhere. Being a devoted fan of “classic TV”, I started seeing him on so many series. I was stunned to see him in Three Days Of The Dragon on the original Outer Limits. It is still one of my favorites from that series.

I don't know how many times he appeared as “background” in episodes of Hawaii Five-O. Seems he also appeared in the reboot.

His list of credits is, as I have stated above, a whopping 459!!! His appearances always delight. Seems there is not any show where he is not immediately recognizable and very effective in whatever role he has.

Here is just a small smattering of his credits:
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, Disney's Zorro, Peter Gunn, Death Valley Days, Sugarfoot, Bonanza, Cheyenne, Have Gun-Will Travel, Perry Mason, Ben Casey, The Fugitive, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Sand Pebbles, Gomer Pyle: USMC, I Spy, Family Affair, Colossus: The Forbin Project, Mission: Impossible, The Bob Newhart Show, Ironside, Kung Fu, All In The Family, Harry O, The Rockford Files, Wonder Woman, Salvage 1, Soap, Dallas, St. Elsewhere, Dynasty, T. J. Hooker, The A-Team, Magnum, P.I., The Equalizer, Tour Of Duty, Jake And The Fatman, Seinfeld, The Adventures Of Brisco County, Jr.,Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Chicago Hope, The X-Files, Nash Bridges, Murphy Brown, Ellen, Friends, The Practice, Dexter's Laboratory,Alias, The West Wing, Law & Order: SVU, The King Of Queens, Bones, Chuck, Elementary and Kung Fu Panda, etc.

He is a consumate actor who has obviously entertained millions of folks during his career. I feel privileged to have been just one of them. I think it is amazing that he is age 95 years (young!) and doesn't appear ready to retire just yet.

Interesting fact from imdb.com:
In The Case of the Weary Watchdog (Perry Mason - 1962) (original air date 11/29/62), he played the role of a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. Twenty-nine years later, in The Chinese Restaurant (Seinfeld - 1991) (original air date 5/23/91), he advanced to being the maître d'--possibly the owner--of a Chinese restaurant. Fifteen years later, in an episode of The King of Queens (1998) (original air date 2/6/06) he advanced to being the owner of a Chinese restaurant in New York.

 

[The 1960's]

Doug a truly fabulous and important Tribute to James Wong. I'm ashamed that I didn’t even recognize his name when you included him on your list of favorite actors.

Of all the classic television stars covered here at Tributes, (as you noted), I believe his acting credits eclipsed every single one!

These are the kind of actors that cannot be forgotten. And that he’s still active is even more incredible!

It needs to be restated to look closely at his incredibly acting career. Expand his credit list here at IMDb.

James Hong | Actor, Producer, Writer

Known for: Everything Everywhere All at Once, Big Trouble in Little China, R.I.P.D.

www.imdb.com

On IMDb’s list of Actors with 400+ acting credits, he comes in at 6th place!

Thank you for this wonderful Tribute!

 

[JohnHopper]

BIRTHDAY MEMORIAL • ROBERT CONRAD (March 1, 1935-February 8, 2020)

Robert Conrad Biography
Robert Conrad (born Conrad Robert Falk; March 1, 1935 – February 8, 2020) was an American film and television actor, singer, and stuntman. He is best known for his role in the 1965–1969 television series The Wild Wild West, playing the sophisticated Secret Service agent James T. West. Continue to read at Wikipedia.

THE WILD WILD WEST SEASON 1

Episode #14
“The Night of the Howling Light” (1965)
creator: Michael Garrison
producer: John Mantley
executive producer: Philip Leacock
assistant to producers: Herbert DuFine
production associate: Gene Fowler, Jr.
associate producer: Leonard Katzman
story consultant: Preston Wood
writer: Henry Sharp
director: Paul Wendkos
director of photography: Ted Voigtlander
composer: Richard Markowitz (stock)
theme music: Richard Markowitz
regulars: Robert Conrad, Ross Martin
guests: Sam Wanamaker, Scott Marlowe, Ralph Moody, E.J. André, Ottola Nesmith, Don Kennedy, Robert Bice, Dan Riss, Roy Barcroft, Linda Marsh

Quote:
“He holds the high cards. Maybe he’ll win the pot, but I’m going to give the good doctor a run for his money.”
—James West (actor Robert Conrad).

Summary:
Agent James West (actor Robert Conrad) must deliver a message of peace to Chief Ho-Tami (actor Ralph Moody), head of the Indian tribes who is assisted by a traitor and a plotter named Ahkeema (actor Scott Marlowe). James West is summoned at the Samaritan Hospital to confirm the death of his partner Artemus Gordon when the sadistic Dr. Arcularis (actor Sam Wanamaker) gases him down and abducts him in an attempt to stop the treaty signing and transforms James West into a killing machine without conscious in his lab-lighthouse.

Comments:
Find the first episode produced by the new Gunsmoke team: John Mantley, Philip Leacock, Herbert DuFine. What links the third and fourth regime of season 1? One man named Preston Wood who works as a story editor with Freiberger and as a story consultant with Mantley hence the continuity in the realm of fantasy. The character of James West first undergoes a sinister simulacrum during the prologue in which he answers to a phony emergency message and a phony nurse leads him to a phony hospital doctor that shows him the body of a phony Artie. “The Night of The Howling Light” anticipates by two decades the 1897 scientific case of Pavlov’s dog that is classical conditioning—originally experiments using dogs by the Russian physiologist and behaviorist Ivan Pavlov—but developed into a political assassination framework that loosely reminds Richard Condon’s novel The Manchurian Candidate, adapted by John Frankenheimer in 1962. Find the first scientist (Dr. Arcularis played by Sam Wanamaker) who performs the art of hypnosis during that regime which will influence the future “The Night of the Steel Assassin” and Lieutenant Torrès (actor John Dehner). Actor Sam Wanamaker reprises the part of Khigh Dhiegh from The Manchurian Candidate and, here, hijacks the entire personnel of a lighthouse that he uses as his desensitized slaves for the masterplan. The theme of brainwashing and conditioned killer was already exploited on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea through two episodes: “The Saboteur” and “The Enemies” (Crane versus Nelson). Two years later, The Prisoner will tackle the Pavlov’s dog experiment in “Checkmate”: see the little scene of the thirsty caged man. After “The Night That Terror Stalked The Town”, this is the second episode in which Jim is abducted and held prisoner. This is the first of a duet of episodes that depicts Jim as a guinea pig killer: see the future “The Night of the Murderous Springs”. After “The Night of the Double-Edged Knife” with American Knife (actor John Drew Barrymore), here is the second Indian scholar and from Act 2, we learn he plans the whole scheme and Dr. Arcularis is merely an underling. We discover the believe system of both men when Ahkeema exclaims: “How wonderful! The triumph of science over bravery” and Dr. Arcularis answers with disdain: “Bravery? To a scientist, that is a sentimental term signifying nothing”. Actor Scott Marlowe will play another subversive Indian in the season 4 episode of The FBI entitled “The Young Warrior”. The lab of Dr. Arcularis is recycled from “The Night The Wizard Shook The Earth”. Witness if you will the interior set from the old Republic Studios (1935-1967) recycled in the western series The Big Valley when Jim borrows the large Barkley’s staircase in Act 3. Director Paul Wendkos is mostly associated with a cult film noir entitled The Burglar (1957), starring Dan Duryea, but also the rookie cop drama The Case Against Brooklyn (1958), starring Darren McGavin and the renegade western Face of a Fugitive (1959), starring Fred MacMurray. Director Paul Wendkos uses weird tilted shots twice: Jim’s awakening in the cell of the lighthouse and the old crazy inmate’s scene with Artie.

The Gadgets:
Artie uses a bag of exploding knockout gas to stun two crooked sailors on the dock.

Jim’s Covers:
Jim keeps his identity but almost looses his soul. After being gased down by Dr. Arcularis, kidnapped and transported in a casket by his henchman, Jim tries to escape from his cell, fights three manservants and goes to the last floor of a lighthouse where he is tied up to chair and is forced to look into the harsh light (the power of 250,000 candles) of the lightouse’s lamps and lenses. When Dr. Arcularis tries to torture a woman slave servant named Indra (actress Linda Marsh), Jim reacts violently and gives him a punch in the belly. In the lab, Jim faces a man locked up in a cage begging for water that Dr. Arcularis conditions to stop drinking at the sound of a whistle and a clay double of Chief Ho-Tami. Jim undergoes a second torture-conditioning through the sound of the bells in his cell so that he shoots the clay Indian. Jim talks to servant Indra in the rest room and tries to reason with her and forces her to disobey. During a seance of light conditioning, Jim escapes from his chair, locks up the top of the lighthouse and sends an SOS to a ship thanks to a blanket but in vain. Later on, the light contioning continues and Jim eventually shoots the clay double but the glow of Ahkeema’s precious stone brooch revives his conscious. Back at the lab, Jim is hypnotized with a metronome by Dr. Arcularis who orders him to repeat his killing mission. Inside his St. Louis hotel room and on his way to shoot through the window the Indian chief, Jim is interrumpted by Ahkeema. After eliminating the wrong target, Jim returns to the lighthouse for revenge! Jim faces a new ordeal: brainwashed Artie tied up to a chair of the lab. Jim fights Artie and runs away. Armed with a handgun, zombified and violent Artie tracks Jim down to the staircase.

Artie’s Covers:
Artie doesn’t get along well with a young, impulsive, hate-filled Osage scholar named Ahkeema (actor Scott Marlowe) who threatens him with a handgun at the train. Artie investigates on the disappearance of his colleage Jim, armed with a sword-cane. Artie stops at the Samaritan Hospital to interrogate the director about the coming of Jim but in vain when he is forced to leave and is suddently attracted by the light of a schizoid inmate that leads him into her room: an old woman on a wheelchair that introduces herself as Madame Defarge playing with a toy guillotine—actually a veiled reference to a fictional character that belongs to Charles Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities. Artie negotiates a box of candies against her notebook that mentions Jim’s predicament at the hospital. Later, Artie investigates on the foggy harbor as in “The Night of A Thousand Eyes” and interrogates with his menacing sword stick a sailor in charge of delivering Jim to the lighthouse while getting rid of two cut-throats with a bag of exploding knockout gas. Artie heads to the lighthouse (off camera) and is turned into a killer slave in a very short time (off camera) which makes no sense considering the long periods of conditioning undergone by Jim.

The Government Official:
None.

Review:
It’s amongst the best episodes from that fourth production team that is served by the expressionistic film-making of Paul Wendkos and by cinematographer Ted Voigtlander’s harsh and sharp lighting style, a strict dead-serious mad scientist drama with no fat and a realistic showcase for actor Robert Conrad’s acting who plays a guinea pig killer or a passive killer conditioned like a Pavlov’s dog. Besides, the guest cast is also very good: Sam Wanamaker, Scott Marlowe. Features no tag scene at the train but instead our two heroes casually chat about women while we hear screaming Dr. Arcularis lynched by the personnel of the lighthouse! The theme of Jim as a brainwashed killer will be reworked during the season 4 two-parter “The Night of the Winged Terror”.

The Book:
The Wild Wild West, the Series
by Susan E. Kesler
foreword by producer Bruce Lansbury
(Downey, Arnett Press, 1988, 251 pages, ISBN 0-929360-00-1)

The DVD Set:
The prints of season 1 are not restored and still look good enough. Unfortunately, the inferior print of this episode looks rather terrible and needs a serious update because the picture quality is not sharp and the contrasts are unbalanced. A blu-ray edition is really needed and with real English subtitles and not cheap closed captions!

Guest Actor Notes:
Robert Conrad is a notorious television character-actor of the Silver Age era who used to be the leading man of many series (Hawaiian Eye as private detective Tom Lopaka, The Wild Wild West as agent James West, The D.A. as Deputy D.A. Paul Ryan, Assignment: Vienna as spy Jake Webster, Baa Baa Black Sheep as Major Greg ‘Pappy’ Boyington, Centennial as French Canadian trapper Pasquinel—Conrad’s single greatest performance ever—, The Duke as ex-boxer Oscar Ramsey turned private eye, A Man Called Sloane as freelance spy Thomas R. Sloane) and a guest on countless telefilms and series that includes Warner Brothers western (Maverick, Lawman, Colt .45, Temple Houston), Bruce Geller productions (Mission: Impossible, Mannix), The NBC Tuesday Mystery Movie (Columbo: the excellent season 4 “An Exercise in Fatality” as Milo Janus). He also had a modest feature film career: see, among other things, Young Dillinger and Murph the Surf.

Richard Shores - The Night of the Season Two Trailer (1966)
Portrait of America’s best secret service agents James West and Artemus Gordon, protectors of President Ulysses S. Grant.


Stock Music:
“The Night of A Thousand Eyes” by Richard Markowitz
“The Night of The Deadly Bed” by Robert Drasnin
“The Night That Terror Stalked The Town” by Richard Markowitz
“The Night of The Casual Killer” by Robert Drasnin
“The Night of The Sudden Death” by Richard Markowitz
“The Night of The Glowing Corpse” by Richard Markowitz


The Wild Wild West | The Night of the Howling Light | Jim is gased down

The Wild Wild West | The Night of the Howling Light | Jim is tortured with Sounds

The Wild Wild West | The Night of the Howling Light | Jim is tortured with Lights

The Wild Wild West | The Night of the Howling Light | Jim shoots the Wrong Man

The Wild Wild West | The Night of the Howling Light | Jim fights Artie

Pictures of Agent James West (actor Robert Conrad).

 

[JohnHopper]

BIRTHDAY MEMORIAL • ROBERT CONRAD (March 1, 1935-February 8, 2020)

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE SEASON 5

Episode #1
“The Killer” (1970)
producer: Bruce Lansbury
executive producer: Bruce Geller
associate producer: Barry Crane
story consultant: Laurence Heath
script supervisor: Barbara Atkinson
writer: Arthur Weiss
director: Paul Krasny
cinematographer: Ronald W. Browne
composer: Lalo Schifrin
theme music: Lalo Schifrin
music supervisor: Kenyon Hopkins

Quote:
“Oh, get it on, baby!”
—Eddie Lorca from the prologue.

Prologue:
In a cheap hotel room—extreme close-up on the tattoo of an arm that depicts: a pair of dices (6 and 1) and the slogan “Born to Win”, followed by the MISSION logo. Eddie Lorca reads a magazine and takes a drink on a bed, launches a pair of dices and obtains a 7. A young woman with long hair dances to the funky music coming from a radio set when the phone rings. Lorca walks to pick the set, asks her to lower the sound level and accepts a contract for his usual $25,000 fee. He watches and searches his opened bag, grabs a bottle of after-shave and asks the little lady to move but kisses her goodbye.

Tape scene:
An old man fishes on the shore when Jim, dressed casual (orange sweater, white loafer) steps into and recites a password (- Jim: “How are the bass biting?” - The Old Man: “I’ve caught three” - Jim: “Yeah, good. I’ve caught six myself yesterday”): notice the heavy grain of the pictures due to the optical zooming. The old man leaves and Jim opens a fishing wood box and removes two compartments where he finds a little yellow envelop covering a mini reel player.

Summary:
This is Friday in Los Angeles, California, and irrational hired killer Eddie Lorca must eliminate the President of Local 85 named William Barton (a Union leader of the construction workers) who stays at the Knickerbocker Hotel, Room 526, and rehearses his speech between 4:30 and 5:00 P.M. The IMF replaces his target by Barney and fashions a tailor-made hotel (Bower Hotel: 215 South Elm Street) in 20 minutes to control Lorca’s moves and to locate and know the identity of Scorpio, Lorca’s boss.

Cast and details:
• The unsteady, suntanned, womanizer, macho killer Eddie Lorca played by Robert Conrad
• Underworld bigwig Alfred E. Chambers aka Scorpio played by Byron Morrow
• Bag woman Flo played by Carole Carle
• Union leader William Barton played by Davis Roberts
• Lorca’s hotel room girl played by Pegi Boucher

Guest IMFers
Featuring a group of craftsmen (among them Richard Cangey, former stuntman on The Wild Wild West) that allow to decorate the blank Bower Hotel with all labeled items and symbols in 20 minutes and undercover agents posing as Bower Hotel customers and employees: bellhop (Tom Huff, former stuntman on The Wild Wild West) and maid (Victoria Hale) who brings towels; and, later, three gangsters on a black fast car whose one takes a potshot at Dana with a tommy gun.

The Actions of Eddie Lorca
At the exit of the Los Angeles airport, Lorca selects a hotel at random by pointing his finger at a directory of a phone booth then he rejects the cab of Willy who makes the mistake of opening the door. He picks Paris’ cab but remains suspicious and checks him out many times: he notices his slow driving at 35 miles per hour in a highway whose speed limit is 45. He chooses his room thanks to his dices which gives him 7. He asks for a bottle of scotch. He uses a telescopic club to play golf in his room. He call Scorpio’s number (555-7177) at 2:15 in the phone booth of the hotel’s lobby and talks to bag woman Flo while an undercover receptionist presses a red button behind the desk to warn Jim who records the secret conversation and traces the call: we can see a device that displays the phone numbers. He expects Flo in 45 minutes and meets Dana that he suspects, challenges (“You’re not the girl I talked to on the phone”), teases (“The girl I talked to on the phone sounded, uh, sexy”) and fires (“You’re weird. You’re violent. Get out of here”). Later, he gives a false name—Lou Lawrence (perhaps, a veiled reference to writer Laurence Heath)—for the reservation over the phone at the Knickerbocker Hotel and demands first the fifth floor to the clerk then the sixth for Room 626. He borrows the back alley of the hotel, climbs up the fire escape ladder and picks the lock on Room 626. He first selects a pistol, lauches his dices and obtains a 11. As in the season 3 “The Execution”, the hitman finds an original way to achieve his job: a time bomb made with three broken golf balls and a timer (released from the tip of his telescopic club). He calls Barney and pretends to be a Union man to meet him in the lobby at 4:00. He removes the grill of the ventilation to suspend the time bomb with a wire in the air duct to Room 526 and calls back Barney. Out of the hotel, He calls again Barney in a public phone booth to keep him near the phone of his room. He finally calls Dana-as-Flo for the payoff appointment: in 20 minutes at the corner of 12th Street and Spruce. He witnesses Dana’s murder, reacts vividly while examining the contents of the brown bag (wads of newspaper) and hearing her confession. He becomes mad, does the devil sign with his two fingers and gets in a cab enroute to Scorpio’s lair. He violently breaks in the living-room of Scorpio, points a gun, shoots and gets killed by Scorpio’s hidden gun as in the tradition of the Mexican stand-off.

Jim Phelps
Jim poses as the Bower hotel receptionist who borrows a secret passage a la Wild Wild West (a moving wall-glass case) at the desk to see the team of craftsmen manufacturing in the back room. He offers Lorca a room but he refuses. He watches Lorca through a monitor and records his telephone conversation in the back room. He takes a polaroid of Barney’s face and inserts it inside Lorca’s instructions envelop, previously given by bag woman Flo. Inside Barney’s room, he adds an additional part to the bottom of the phone to listen to the calls from the Bower Hotel. He has a subliminal intuition (extreme close-up on Jim’s eyes intercut with quick shots of Barney’s hotel room) about the killing method of Lorca but warns Barney about it at the last minute. After the fatal outcome, he finds Scorpio’s real name via the ex-libris of his book, takes Lorca’s dices, launches them and gets two 1 (freeze frame: end of the episode): meaning Lorca versus Scorpio.

Paris
Paris poses as first a “gutsy” cabbie with sunglasses (to Lorca: “Hey, look, mister, sit back and relax. If any cabbie in town can get you there in 15 minutes, I can” and to truck drivers: “Hey, what is it with you guys? You think you own the street or something?”) from the Red & White Cab company to delay his customer: Paris’ cab is a Plymouth and makes Lorca pay a $6,40 fare. He poses as Lorca and imitates his voice over the phone to call bag woman Flo back and changes the appointment to 3:00 at the Park (on a bench near the corner) where he intercepts the instructions envelop. He watches the corridor of Barney’s Room with his mini talkie-walkie. He verifies if lying on the floor Barney is not wounded. After the final shout-out at Scorpio’s house, he calls an ambulance and the police.

Willy Armitage
Willy poses as a Red & White cab driver with a moustache and as a maintenance employee with purple sunglasses who unlocks the traffic signal control and stops the traffic lights and Lorca’s cab. He also hides behind a car and orders two trucks by talkie-walkie to block each side of the road to slow down Lorca’s cab. Still equipped with a mini talkie-walkie to communicate with Jim, he checks the lobby, the service entrance and the main entrance of the Knickerbocker Hotel and pinpoints Lorca on his way to a public phone booth. He calls the manager of the hotel so that he runs to make a short public announcement concerning the lethal explosion (“A man’s been killed up there! Blown to pieces!”) and therefore obliquely informs Lorca of his success. He watches Lorca calling Dana-as-Flo. Later, he poses as a cab driver without moustache to lead Lorca to Scorpio’s Beverly Hills residents: 1223 Rim View, up in the hills.

Dana Lambert
Oddly enough, Dana is attracted by Lorca’s methodology during the apartment scene: “That’s quite a philosophy. If I don’t know what I’m doing, then neither does anybody else, so I’m safe.” Dana has a hipster look (see her colored trousers and her hairstyle during the hotel preparation) and installs a camouflaged camera in a wall lamp. Dana poses as Scorpio’s bag woman Flo with a blue mini-skirt to misinform Lorca (she gives him the updated instructions envelop and, later, a message with a new phone number for the payoff)—she asks Lorca for a drink (scotch and water) and kisses him but slaps him and makes a scene to leave (“You lousy ape! You guys think you can just come into town, have your fun and split...”); she plays the dead woman in front of him thanks to a blue belt stained with blood in the backlot of Paramount that is supposed to be the corner of 12th Street and Spruce in Los Angeles. Before dying, she reveals to Lorca that Scorpio sets thing up to get rid of him: “My payoff… from Scorpio. He tried to get you… too… too.” A few minutes later, she moves out while the bogus bills fly and spread all over the ground and gets in Jim’s black Chrysler along with Barney and Paris to track Lorca’s trail to Scorpio.

Barney Collier
Barney first poses as a cab driver but in vain and replaces a Union figure and also adopts the young look and wears a blue casual trendy jacket. He opens up a black case and adds a dummy of himself in the room of the human target. Barney tries to figure it out how Lorca will murder him. He receivs a warning call from Jim and rushes to the door: the bomb blows up! The Knickerbocker Hotel is already seen during the Act 1 kidnapping scene from the season 1 “Operation Rogosh”.

Comments:
The astrological name Scorpio is typical of the early 1970’s movies folklore: see the killers in Michael Winner’s Scorpio (1973) and Don Siegel’s Dirty Harry (1971). From that season, full-time producer Bruce Lansbury updates the series formula by starting the narrative with a prologue that presents the foe and by deleting the dossier scene. All tape scenes appear before the opening credits. The end credits still mentions Bruce Geller as “executive producer” but that means “created by” because Geller left the show at the end of season 4. Pay attention to the new end credits graphics: a freeze frame (with heavy grain) of the hand that lights the match—this is the last graphics and that will remain until the final season 7. The character vignette of Willy from the opening credits comes from this apartment scene. The character vignette of Barney hasn’t changed since season 3. It still contains the original opening theme and Kenyon Hopkins is credited as music supervisor.

Review:
This is the season masterpiece and unpredictable episode: the TV companion piece that foreshadows Michael Winner’s 1972 The Mechanic. Producer Bruce Lansbury re-hires Robert Conrad (a.k.a. spy James West) from his previous series: The Wild Wild West, and carries the show on his shoulder as a great performer—incidentally, the name Lorca implies some Spanish origin which is confirmed when he drinks a toast to Dana and says: “Salud”. This is the first script by Arthur Weiss (former associate producer on The Fugitive) in a trilogy of irrational foes: Lorca has no modus operandi but functions at random due to his dices and wild impulses—both Lansbury and Heath also sweat hard over the details of the script. In a way, Eddie Lorca can be interpreted as the anti-thesis of Stefan Miklos: Eddie goes with the forces of hyper-sensitivy (hot) unlike Stefan who follows the the rigid logic of hyper-rationality (cold). The moral of the story is a gambling one: he lives by the dices (start of prologue: Lorca launches one 6 and on 1 as in his arm) and dies by the dices (end of Act 4: Jim launches two 1). Notice a deep change in the writing team which will continue until the end of the series: writer Laurence Heath’s promotion to the status of story consultant and the arrival of newcomer script supervisor Barbara Atkinson, replacing Allan Greedy. Director Paul Krasny has the knack to make a very effective three shots scene (due to his film editor background) depicting the brutal assassination of Dana, gunned down in the alley by the gangsters’ car: objective point of view of Dana carrying the brown bag then holding her stomach (medium shot from head to mid-legs), cut to a subjective point of view of Dana falling (made with a hand-held camera), cut to an objective point of view seen at remote distance of Dana falling fast and sordidly lying on the ground (long shot). For the anecdote, Krasny and Conrad used to work previously together on a Mannix season 3 episode entitled: “The Playground”. Krasny will later direct two Conrad series: The D.A. and Assignment: Vienna. The final lethal showdown between Lorca and Scorpio is fast and furious! Listen carefully to the top-notch urban and funky down score composed by Lalo Schifrin with its Dirty Harry distorted and dissonant psychedelic arrangements. Don’t miss the prologue with Lorca and his girl of the day who dances to the music.

Jerry Fielding - Buggy Ride (1969)
Music clip from the season 3 episode of Mannix entitled “The Playground” (1969) in which actor Mitch Cantrell (actor Robert Conrad) drives private detective Joe Mannix (actor Mike Connors) to the set of his new western film and slaloms into the Majestyc Studios on his fast buggy.


Bloopers:

Scene of Act 1
After Jim gives Lorca the key of Room 7, he opens the fake bookcase passageway and crosses the backroom of the Bower Hotel, we can catch a glimpse of the ceiling lights of the set.

Scene of Act 3
When Eddie Lorca comes out of the booth, stares at the Knickerbocker Hotel and walks towards the alley, we can see the visible vignetting around the lens of the movie camera.

Actor Notes
This is Robert Conrad’s best performance for Mission: Impossible among his three appearances that includes the season 3 two-parter “The Contender” as boxing coach Bobby and the season 7 “Break!” (also directed by Paul Krasny) as gangster Press Allen. “The Killer” is a highly recommended Conrad performance as well as his Columbo installment: the season 4 “An Exercise in Fatality” as Milo Janus. Why his performance as Eddie Lorca in “The Killer” is good because he is the anti-thesis of his heroic parts and simply portrays a human beast with its hubris that leads to self-destruction. The irony is that the unpredictable Eddie Lorca is manipulated by reason (i.e., the IMF team).


Mission: Impossible | The Killer | Eddie Lorca’s Hotel Room

Mission: Impossible | The Killer | Main Titles/Trailer

Mission: Impossible | The Killer | Eddie Lorca selects a Cab

Mission: Impossible | The Killer | Eddie Lorca fires Dana

Mission: Impossible | The Killer | Eddie Lorca gets his Payment

Mission: Impossible | The Killer | Eddie Lorca shoots Scorpio

Pictures of Killer Eddie Lorca (actor Robert Conrad).

 

[ScottRE]

VITINA MARCUS BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE​

Vitina Marcus (born March 1, 1937) is a retired American actress of Sicilian and Hungarian descent. Her parents were Rose and Frank Marcus, and her Sicilian grandmother was named Vitina. She now works in real estate.

Ms. Marcus doesn’t have a very long resume in Hollywood and it is mostly filled with appearances on the various Irwin Allen productions.

Her first role under his employ was as the native girl in The Lost World, a very basic and simplistic retelling of the famous Arthur Conan Doyle’s story. This film also has the distinction of featuring David Hedison as a young reporter, who would go on to greater success with Allen in the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea series. Subsequently, Marcus and Hedison would work together for Allen twice more.

In 1964, Irwin Allen’s television version of Voyage was a big hit. In an effort to make up some production costs, as the series was going well over budget and schedule every week, he cannibalized his own film and presented an abbreviated version of The Lost World. For “Turn Back the Clock” he had the second half of the episode filled with footage from the film, even dressing David Hedison in the same outfit (complete with reporter’s notepad and jaunty scarf). Ms. Marcus was hired back to fit into her movie costume and play out roughly the same business with the series cast while also allowing Allen to reuse film footage. The public noticed (hell, the age change in the actors alone is obvious) and protested. Little did they know, the Fox film and music library would be raided by Allen often.

Ms. Marcus returned a year and a half later in a much more memorable role and it is her best work for Irwin Allen. Billed only by her first name, Vitina plays both Maria and Lani in the episode “The Return of the Phantom” and she gives a strong performance. Lani is the ghostly spirit of Captain Kruger’s (Alfred Ryder) old love. Lani is a simple native girl who looks exactly like her. Both women are clearly different. Ms. Marcus is given more dialog in this episode than any other and she’s really excellent. Her creepy yet sympathetic turn as Lani helps sell the episode.

Watch this classic episode here:



Next, she would appear in the role that arguably gave her some measure of fame. For Lost in Space, Mr. Marcus was cast as “the green girl” Athena (named after the daughter she had with Rory Calhoun), a space siren who had a weird jones for Dr. Smith. While her first appearance in “Wild Adventure” is mysterious, her return engagement in “The Girl from the Green Dimension” was ridiculous and aired when the series had fully embraced being cheap children’s theater.

Luckily, she had two more appearances for Irwin Allen to go, both on The Time Tunnel in memorable episodes. In “Chase Through Time” with Robert Duvall, she played Zee, a worker from the future. This role would be barely taxing of anyone's abilities.

However, in “Attack of the Barbarians,” she had more to do as Sarit, the daughter of Kublai Khan. She has the distinction of being the only romantic entanglement of the series as she and Tony Newman (James Darren) have a brief, if chaste, love affair.

Ms. Marcus was very close with Irwin Allen, some even suggested they had an affair. He used her in nearly every production until she felt Irwin had become uncomfortably possessive of her. After her final appearance on The Time Tunnel, she ended her association with Allen (she skipped out before she would do a Land of the Giants). After only one more guest role (The F.B.I.), Ms. Marcus retired from acting.

She had a distinct look about her and with the right material, she could be very effective. Each one of her characters was quite different from the others and Athena proved to be quite popular among Lost in Space fans.

Vitina Marcus is still with us and continues to correspond with fans and has made a few convention appearances. Happy Birthday Vitina!

 

[ScottRE]

NOTE: Please hold your comments until all our Tributes today have concluded. Next up is Neal's Tribute to Ron Howard on his 70th Birthday. Thank you all!