Soldier and Me (1974)

In 1974, Granada Television aired one of the most gripping afternoon adventure serials ever aimed at younger audiences, the nine-part thriller Soldier and Me. This unusually intelligent series plunged its viewers into a world of Cold War spies, urban grit, and genuine danger, proving that teenage drama could be every bit as tense and sophisticated as adult thrillers.

Its story begins in a rough northern schoolyard, where Jim Woolcott (Gerry Sundquist), a tough but fundamentally decent Manchester schoolboy, comes to the aid of a bespectacled Czech refugee named Istvan Szolda (Richard Willis). Jim jokingly shortens his awkward surname into “Soldier,” and from that moment the two boys, so different in temperament and background, are drawn into an uneasy friendship that soon becomes a desperate alliance when Soldier overhears a plot between Czech agents to eliminate a dissident - "an old crippled man." 

Soldier has a dickens of a time persuading Jim that what he heard was true, but when they do investigate they become unwilling witnesses to the murder of this man. The police don't believe the boys, especially when they go to visit the old man and he is very much alive ("Did anyone shoot you tonight?" the police ask him). However, the Czech agents know they witnessed the killing and before long the boys are racing across northern England pursued by these men who are determined to silence them forever.

This is when Soldier and Me veers away from city drama and turns into a breathless cross-country pursuit through the Pennines and the Lake District, with the boys fleeing through forests, scrambling over hillsides, hiding in an abandoned quarry, and even leaping from a moving train. Unlike many children’s serials of the period, this one never softens the reality of the boys’ plight. Hunger, exhaustion, fear, and the chilling realization that adults cannot be trusted all become part of their journey.

"It's a technical map....a technical map!!"

In many ways, Soldier and Me plays out like a parallel English version of The Secret of Boyne Castle (1969). In that serial, which aired on Walt Disney's The Wonderful World of Color, Kurt Russell and Patrick Dawson were the two boys being pursued by spies, only it was set in Ireland instead of England. There were 4-5 agents in that story as well who, like in Soldier and Me, appear to cover every road in all directions. In spite of the constant danger the lads were in, the chase seemed thrilling - almost fun - in the Disney version, even while the action was similar (being chased on a motorbike, jumping off a train, running across fields, being kidnapped, etc). Not so in this series. The boys are having anything but fun. It also doesn't help that Soldier gets on Jim's nerves so much that throughout the chase he is wishing the "twit" would get lost. 

The relationship between these two young leads is what makes this series especially memorable. Gerry Sundquist gives Jim a dry, deadpan resilience that perfectly suits the hard-edged realism of the production, while Richard Willis makes Soldier both impossibly "twit"ish and yet quietly courageous. At first, Jim regards the younger refugee boy as an annoyance who simply refuses to go away, but as the pursuit intensifies, their friendship deepens into one forged by fear, hunger, and survival. The gradual shift from irritation to mutual trust gives the serial its emotional ballast and keeps it from becoming merely a chase story. Jim's narration throughout the series also provides the humor the series required, as he makes his thoughts known to the audience. 

Like The Owl Service and The Intruder, two other great Brit series of the 1970s, Soldier and Me carries an almost documentary sense of realism, no doubt helped by its location filming and its no-nonsense direction. The script was based on the book "Run for Your Life" written by Lionel Davidson ("The Night of Wenceslas"), an adventure writer who took up the pseudonym of David Line for this young adult novel. After Soldier and Me's popularity on television, Line penned a similar spy-adventure thriller "Mike and Me" in 1974. 

Soldier and Me can be viewed on Youtube here. 

I Love Lucy - "Off to Florida!" (1956)

Lucy and Travel equal Trouble... and in "Off to Florida," that's exactly what she finds herself in. Granted, Lucy isn't to blame for most of the trouble she and Ethel encounter in this episode, but that doesn't make it any less funny.

Ricky, Fred, and Little Ricky set off to Florida for a few days of fishing, with Lucy and Ethel planning to join them later via train. Naturally, Lucy loses the train tickets, so the only option (or rather, the cheapest) is for them to scour the classifieds for someone looking to share a ride. That someone is none other than Elsa Lanchester. Lucy and Ethel think the ride sharing will work great until they set off with this Mrs. Grundy. She insists on driving from 4 a.m. to midnight, avoids the main highways, won't stop at any restaurant along the way or at any hotel, so Lucy and Ethel are left hungry and frazzled after sleeping in the car.

They turn on the radio one night to lull themselves to sleep and hear about Evelyn Holmby, the hatchet murderess who escaped from prison. The gray-haired woman was last seen in a cream-colored convertible, just like the one Mrs. Grundy has, heading south from New York City. Lucy instantly puts two and two together ("only travels at night... on back roads... won't stop anywhere...") and jumps to the conclusion that Mrs. Grundy and Evelyn Holmby are one and the same—an idea that Ethel at first dismisses until she remembers seeing the hatchet in the trunk!

"Hatchet!" - Lucy and Ethel

"We're just jumping to conclusions. She brought that hatchet along to, uh...to, uh..." - Ethel

"To what? Chop watercress?!" - Lucy

"Off to Florida!" was aired on CBS on November 12, 1956, as episode 6 in the sixth season of I Love Lucy. Lucy and the gang had already been to California and to Europe, so a trip to Florida was a great addition. The crazy redhead had already encountered every kind of character imaginable in previous episodes, so having her and Ethel meet up with a potential killer was a new one for the books—and what a great basis for comedy it made!

The episode is chock-full of humorous scenes, and the laughs escalate the nearer they get to the Sunshine State. The best scene is when they stop at a roadside coffee shop in Florida and Lucy, Ethel, and Mrs. Grundy all rush inside to call the police. When they learn the phone is out of order, they decide to gesture signs of distress to the waiter (Struther Martin), who says, "Y'all must be from up north," after watching the looney birds in action. 

"We have to stop so I can call my landlady and tell her my tub is running over." - Lucy

"I thought you said she [pointing to Ethel] was your landlady?" - Mrs. Grundy

"Oh....[facing Ethel] Landlady, my tub is running over!" - Lucy

Elsa Lanchester was perfectly cast as the dotty driver. This was her first appearance on I Love Lucy and one of her rare television roles in a sitcom. She always played eccentric characters so it seemed perfectly natural that she'd be an escaped criminal, or so Lucy thought. 

"Off to Florida!" is slightly different from the usual I Love Lucy episodes in that Ricky and Fred are only seen in the introduction and closing scenes. I guess the writers couldn't imagine a scenario with all four of them hitching a ride with a killer. Normally, their presence would be missed but this one is filled with so many funny moments you wouldn't even notice their absence. Check it out some time, it's well worth a watch! 

This post is our contribution to the 12th Annual Favorite TV Show Episode Blogathon being hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts. Click here to check out other reviews of favorite Classic TV episodes written by other bloggers. 

A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974)

Ever since Victorian times, it has been a tradition in England to tell ghost stories at Christmastime and the BBC, in keeping with this tradition, aired an annual teleplay of a ghost story each year beginning in 1971. This series of supernatural tales were released under the title A Ghost Story for Christmas. 

They were inexpensive productions but their filming (in 16mm), by director Lawrence Gordon Clark, was excellent and the actors who starred in them were excellent as well. The series ran for 8 years and then it was revived again in 2004 and 2005 by BBC Four productions. 

Most of the original 1970s episodes were based on short stories by that legendary writer of the supernatural, Mr. M.R. James. Since his stories were short so were the episodes with most clocking in at under 40 minutes. It's not a lot of time to tell a chilling tale and yet the stories are surprisingly compact and manage indeed to send chills down your spine... especially if you watch them at night. 

One particular episode, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, we do not recommend watching on Christmas Eve as it will leave you with a decidedly gooey feeling afterwards... but it's worth checking out this week before the holiday.

The Treasure of Abbot Thomas tells the tale of a young lord who is studying Latin under the tutelage of the Reverand Justin Somerton (Michael Bryant), a medieval historian and a clergyman. One of the documents that Lord Peter (Paul Lavers) is learning to decipher is a book written by Abbot Thomas, a monk from the 15th century who was disgraced by his involvement with alchemy. His words speak of a treasure of gold which he himself hid near the grounds of the very abbey where the Reverand and Lord Peter study. 

In the document, he shares the first clue to finding this treasure, which the twosome decide to investigate. It leads them to an old stained-glass window featuring images of four Biblical characters, each of whom have a cryptic phrase written in Latin beneath them (“They have on their vestments writing which no-one knoweth”, “On one stone are seven eyes” "He looks down high to see what is hidden"). These clues lead them eventually to a culvert where the Rev. Somerton believes the treasure may be hidden. Despite the fact that Abbot Thomas had warned that he "set a guardian" to protect his treasure, the Reverand goes in search of the fabled gold.... much to his regret. 

M.R. James' "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas" was heavily revised by screenwriter John Bowen for this teleplay but, unlike some script revisions, Bowen's improved upon the original. As in many of James’s tales, the plot follows academic characters whose rational worldview unravels when they encounter something supernatural. In the Reverand's case, we sense that he wanted to believe that there really was a legendary golden treasure to be found but at the same time, disbelieved in the message being true. It is only Lord Peter's eagerness and insistence that sparks Somerton's curiosity as well. Bowen's script adds new characters and situations to James' story but he also leaves in James' hints of ambiguity. At the end we are left wondering whether Lord Peter returned the treasure or kept it for himself. A nice touch. 

Michael Bryant and Paul Lavers play their parts so well that it makes one wish they had paired up again as these characters for a series of mysteries. It certainly would have been better than many of the crime shows that were available stateside in the 1970s. The music for this particular episode also contributes greatly to its eerie ambiance. It is a strange concoction of vocal chanting and drumming that was later mimicked in Children of the Stones (1977), another spine-tingling British television production. 

Feeling intrigued enough to watch this? Check it out on AMC+ or at this link. 

Check it Out! The Kessler Twins

Last week, I read in the news that the Kessler twins passed away. In Germany, assisted suicide has been legalized since 2019, and Alice and Ellen Kessler, 89, chose this way to die together. They were an internationally renowned pair of entertainers and gained the spotlight stateside through their numerous appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s. 

Their death has relit the debate over assisted suicide in Germany, but instead of focusing on their chosen method of leaving this world, I want to highlight the talent of this incredible sister act. It has been a few years since I have watched their performances on The Ed Sullivan Show, so yesterday - thanks to the magic of Youtube - I was able to sit back and enjoy their beautiful dancing and singing through the clips shared by The Ed Sullivan Show Channel. 

The Kessler twins were best known as dancers but they were also blessed with lovely singing voices and they sang in harmony in almost all of their performances - in English, German, and Italian. After their appearances on The Red Skelton Hour and The Ed Sullivan Show, the leggy duo were featured on the cover of Life magazine in 1963, performed with Frank Sinatra, Danny Kaye, Fred Astaire, and Harry Belafonte, and toured in nightclubs throughout America. 

Alice and Ellen Kessler represented West Germany in the 1959 Eurovision contest placing 8th with "Heute Abend wollen wir tanzen geh'n" and I was surprised to read that they had appeared in 12 different films in the 1950s and 1960s, usually in dancing roles. 

Like most identical twins, if you look at them long enough you can tell the slight difference between them, but once they got into a change of costume you had to begin the spot-the-difference game all over again. 

Below are videos from some of the appearances they have made on The Ed Sullivan Show. Check out their unique singing and dancing style - they were truly a one-of-a-kind (or should I say two-of-a-kind) duo! 

A November 24, 1968 performance of "I Say a Little Prayer". 

"Two by Two and Tea for Two" on April 24, 1966. Their skirts always tend to come off at the end of their programs... that's a carried over tradition from German nightclubs. 

"When in Rome"....do as the Romans do! Supposedly, they dance. This catchy number aired on October 16, 1966. 

"The Shadow of Your Smile" performed by the handsome Italian singer Sergio Franchi. We grew up with his LPs. This also aired on October 16, 1966. 

The always popular "Mas Que Nada" from April 19, 1970. 

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Perfect Crime (1957)

On October 20, 1957, television audiences were treated to a rare pairing of two masters of suspense: Alfred Hitchcock and Vincent Price in, what is hard to believe, their only work together. In The Perfect Crime, the third episode of Season 3 of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Price dons the role of Charles Courtney, a smug prosecutor with a penchant for collecting case mementos—each one neatly labeled and shelved like trophies in a macabre curio cabinet. But there’s one conspicuous gap on the shelf, reserved for what he calls “The Perfect Crime.” You can guess where this is going.

Enter James Gregory as John Gregory (yes, the names are confusing), a defense attorney with a bone to pick. He believes Courtney sent an innocent man to the gallows, and he’s got the evidence to prove it. What follows is a tense tête-à-tête that spirals into murder and a chilling twist that only Hitchcock could deliver with such dry wit.

Price is in his element here—oozing charm, arrogance, and just the right amount of menace. However, much of the episode unfolds through Gregory’s riveting narration, as he reconstructs the tragic events that lead to the innocent man's unjust prosecution. 

Hitchcock, ever the showman, introduces the episode wearing a deerstalker and puffing bubbles from a calabash pipe—a cheeky nod to Sherlock Holmes and a wink to the audience that this mystery is anything but elementary.

The episode is one of only seventeen directed by Hitchcock himself, and it shows. The pacing is taut, the dialogue crisp, and the conclusion deliciously absurd. It’s a compact gem that reminds us why Alfred Hitchcock Presents remains a gold standard in televised suspense.

So if you’re in the mood for a little murder, a lot of ego, and a kiln that doubles as a crime scene, The Perfect Crime is a must-watch. Just don’t ask what’s in the vase.

Get Smart: The Exploding Bomb Game (1965)

Would you believe that there was a Get Smart boardgame with an exploding time bomb? That's a gimmick that only Ideal could have come up with and the toy company did a great job of capturing the spirit of the popular spy spoof series with this fun game. 

Each player plays Maxwell Smart (Secret Agent 86), who must collect clue cards from various locations to piece together a picture of an enemy KAOS agent. But watch out for Kaos agents for they are everywhere! Worse yet, there is an exploding (spring-driven) time bomb that is ready to go off at any second! 

The board featured some cute graphics of the four Kaos agents wreaking havoc and an ambulance with what looks like a caped woman hanging on by the bumper. The game usually sells for $50-$75 but often the spring on the time bomb is broken...or the bomb is missing completely (what kid could resist pocketing it?). 

Ideal also made a Get Smart Card Game for those who didn't want to mess with bombs. Don Adams lent his likeness to other toy companies in the 1960s and 1970s, namely for a line of "Skittle" games for Aurora toys. There was Skittle Tennis, Skittle Horseshoes and Skittle Tac-Toe among others. 

Gidget Grows Up (1969)

Gidget Grows Up has been playing a number of times on the Cinevault channel on Roku over the past few months and I always happened to catch little bits of it but never had time to sit and watch it all the way through... until today, that is. 

Like many women, I grew up with the Gidget film series and have seen them all many times over. A lot of people say Sandra Dee is their favorite Gidget, no doubt because she was the first and defined the role, but I always liked Cindy Carol in Gidget Goes to Rome and Sally Field in the Gidget television series. Years ago, I read about a television movie being made with Karen Valentine in the role but never looked into it, so when Gidget Grows Up started playing on television, I had to check it out...and I am so glad that I did! 

Karen Valentine does an excellent job of playing Gidget in her various stages of maturing. She begins much like Sally Field, as an energetic headstrong girl and then blossoms - in the span of one hour and fifteen minutes - into a lovely young woman. As one might expect, Gidget has a breakup with her surf-hero Moondoggie again (played by Paul Peterson) and once more falls for an older man, but not the grizzled Kahuna from the first Gidget movie, instead it is the dapper Australian diplomat Alex McLaughlin (Edward Mulhare). For you see, Gidget has taken on the job of being a guide at the United Nations building in New York City so she is a long way from the beach now. 

Frances Lawrence aka Gidget is learning about love and relationships in a deeper way then what she experienced at the beach, and this makes the film more touching than any of the other Gidget pictures. Yet, it still has a light and playful air about it in keeping with the series. 

The film has a surprisingly good cast of seasoned actors for a made-for-television movie. These include Robert Cummings as Gidget's father, Paul Lynde as a movie-loving landlord, Nina Foch as her teacher at the UN, and Warner Anderson as an ambassador. In addition to the big name actors, you will enjoy spotting a number of bit-time actors who were busy in television in the late 1960s and 1970s. 

James Sheldon, a veteran TV director, did an excellent job of filming Gidget Grows Up and the musical montages are especially nice. The background music is performed by Jean King who sings "Growing Up" beautifully. You can hear it in this sequence. 

Gidget Grows Up is currently available to watch on DVD, via streaming with Tubi (along with all of the other Gidget films), or for free on Youtube. 

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Don't Look Behind You (1962)

In 1962, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour premiered, expanding on the popular half-hour thriller series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Like its predecessor, each episode opened with an introduction from the Master of Suspense himself Mr. Hitchcock, who teased his audience about the story to follow. 

"Don't Look Behind You" was only the second episode in this new hour-long format and, unfortunately, it played out like a half-hour episode stretched to fit the new timeslot. 

The episode, based on a novel by Samuel Rogers, was about a crazed killer who stalked the woods at night murdering young women in the college town of Woodside. One evening, Daphne (Vera Miles) decides to take a chance and crosses the woods as a shortcut to get to a dinner party - she makes it out alive but knows for certain that someone was following her close behind. At the party, arriving shortly later, is her fiancé Harold (Jeffrey Hunter), a psychology professor who looks a bit bedraggled. Also arriving late is Dave (Dick Sargaent) a science teacher who has a crush on Daphne. Another admirer of hers is Edwin (Alf Kjellin), a pianist who has a bent towards the morbid. 

Harold comes up with the brilliant idea of using Daphne as bait so he can catch the killer himself and throughout the episode we are supposed to wonder whether the lunatic is Harold himself, Dave, or Edwin, all of whom happen to be in the woods the same night Daphne is walking through it. All three men look crazy but Harold seems to be the most dangerous and one cannot help but wonder how Daphne can be so blind as to not realize it. 

"Pain is only a secret name for pleasure, my darling"

The wonderful director John Brahm (The Lodger, Hangover Square) directed "Don't Look Behind You" and, while the scenes through the woods are atmospheric, the episode as a whole is a letdown. This could have been a tense thriller with nail-biting "who can the killer be?" ending, but instead it is so obvious that most of the episode fails to build any tension. Jeffrey Hunter's character of Harold should have been a sympathetic intelligent man whom Daphne relies on, this would have given her plausible reason for staying in Woodside with a killer on the loose and would have made the ending have more of that Hitchcockian-twist. 

"Don't Look Behind You" features one of the best introductions of any of the Alfred Hitchcock episodes with Vera Miles walking in a flowing white dress down a secluded dark wooded shortcut, but overall, it just fails to stir up the shivers like any decent Alfred Hitchcock episode should. Nevertheless, Vera Miles gives a wonderful performance as the innocent victim and there is a cast of familiar faces including Abraham Sofaer (Elephant Walk), Madge Kennedy, and Ralph Roberts (Bells are Ringing).

Counter-Attack (1960)

A little-known fact of World War II history is that the German forces occupied the Channel Islands for five long years. We all know that stalwart English citizens such as Professor Emelius Brown and Eglantine Price helped to stave off coastal attacks from German troops, but how many of us know that nearly 20,000 Germans were parked only 80 miles from England's shore?

Whether this is news to you or not, you are sure to enjoy Counter-Attack, a wonderful seven-part children's miniseries that showed how three youths - Terry, Cliff, and Carol - reacted to the Nazi occupation of their homeland in 1940. 

Like most Brits, they instinctively knew to spit in the eyes of the Nazis. However, Terry (14-year-old Jeremy Bulloch) the eldest of the main characters, feels that tripping soldiers and throwing mud in their face isn't quite enough and so he decides to turn the children's club - the Argos - into a counter-attack unit of resistance. 

Hidden away in an old mill and armed with a crude radio set, the children plan out their attacks and then relay messages to British forces on the mainland. The British officers receiving these messages do not realize that the mysterious "Argo" are a group of children and so they tell them to be on the lookout for an agent that they will be sneaking onto the island at midnight. Their task is to hide him from the Nazis and aid him in destroying the German's ammunition dump. How exciting! Things get really hot to handle when Major Wolf (Joseph Furst) of the German army and his junior officer Kurt billets the house where the children are staying.

Counter-Attack was released on television in the U.K. in January of 1960...just twenty years after the occupation of the Channel Islands, so many viewers vividly remembered the experiences and feelings the characters were going through. While the series was aimed at children, it is entertaining for all ages. Cliff and Carol's older sister Jean (Etain O'Dell) has a slight romance with the agent (Oliver Neville) the children are hiding out and there is enough wartime excitement to keep the adults hooked. 

ITV producer Sidney Newman announced in a TV Times interview that "..if [the series] is one tenth as fantastic as the truth about the wartime occupation of the Channel Islands, I will be happy!" Well, he had much to be pleased about with Peter Ling's script even though Ling knew that the teatime adventure series would be "on the cautious side". Mary Field, the programme advisor, drew on her own experiences of growing up on the Channel Islands during the occupation and Ling wove these reminiscences into his script. 

All of the child actors do a good job with their parts, especially Jeremy Bulloch who did a number of children's series in the early 1960s but is probably best known for playing Boba Fett in the Star Wars franchise. Young Cliff (Murray Yeo) could be a handful at times, but that was what created most of the drama for the episodes' cliffhangers. Children aren't always as cautious as their parents would hope. 

Counter-Attack has not yet been released on DVD but is available for viewing online. 

Film Albums: Nelson Riddle Plays TV Themes

Nelson Riddle's name seems to be synonymous with Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, but this talented arranger/composer cut a pile of albums bearing his own name. "Route 66 Theme and Other Great TV Themes" and "More Hit TV Themes" are two albums that feature Riddle's sizzling arrangements for television themes... and some of them are very imaginative! 

This is the first LP we've ever come across that had a reinterpretation of the famous Andy Griffith Show theme and Riddle's cha-cha rendition of My Three Sons is so catchy it should have been swapped with Frank DeVol's original version.  Riddle also included a lot of brassy versions of the famous detective and legal drama themes of the day, including The Untouchables, The Defenders and Sam Benedict. Among the western shows, Bonanza and Have Gun Will Travel are included, but - my personal favorite - is the not-often-heard Lucy Show theme. 

Click here to listen to both albums on Youtube.

Route 66 and Other TV Themes

Side One:

Route 66

The Alvin Show

The Andy Griffith Show

Ben Casey

My Three Sons

The Untouchables

Side Two:

Naked City

Sing Along

The Defenders

Sam Benedict

Dr. Kildare

This Could Be the Start of Something Big

More Hit TV Themes

Side One:

The Beverly Hillbillies

Bonanza

Moon River

Stoney Burke

McHale's Navy

The Dickens and Fenster March

Side Two:

Supercar

Have Gun, Will Travel

The Lucy Show

The Lawrence Welk Show

The New Naked City

The Dick Van Dyke Show

Top Picks: The Andy Griffith Show, This Could Be the Start of Something, Lucy Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show

From the Archives: Hazel (1962)

              

Caught in the act! Oh, Mr. B... you should be ashamed of yourself. Hazel caught you raiding the refrigerator again - and after you swore that you were going to stick with your diet! Tsk, tsk, tsk. 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures

Film Albums: T.V. Themes - 101 Strings Orchestra

These days, you rarely come across an album that includes a selection of popular television themes, especially not one performed by an orchestra! But albums like this were quite common in the 1960s and 1970s, and one rare gem is "T.V. Themes" by the 101 Strings Orchestra, released by Alshire records (S-5323). This 1975 release includes themes from some of the most popular shows at the time - Kojak, Hawaii 5-0, Ironside, All in the Family, and Theme from M.A.S.H - all played in lush string arrangements. 

It would have been nice to see the theme from Laverne and Shirley included on this as well, but I'm complaining since they included three real groovy non-television themes in this line-up: Run Alice Run, Concrete Forest and the upbeat Mystery Magazine. 

Click here to listen to the album in full via Youtube.

Track Listing

Side A

Hawaii Five-0

F.B.I Theme

Ironside Theme

Mystery Magazine

Run Alice Run

Side B

Kojak 

Theme from M.A.S.H.

Theme from All in the Family

Little House on the Prairie

Concrete Forest

Top Music Picks: Hawaii Five-O, Mystery Magazine, Theme from MASH, Little House on the Prairie

The Andy Williams Christmas Special of 1966

Back in 1962, the popular singer Andy Williams, released a special Christmas edition of his usual weekly series The Andy Williams Show. It was an hour-long production filled with wonderful Christmas songs and visits from Bette Davis, the New Christy Minstrels, Debbie Reynolds, and the Osbond brothers. The show was such a hit that many other Andy Williams Christmas Shows were filmed in the coming decade, but I think the 1966 special one stands out as something extra special. 

This one featured Andy singing Christmas tunes that would soon become famous for him: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year and We Need a Little Christmas. It also featured beautiful renditions of The Christmas Song, Love in a Home, and My Favorite Things (performed with his wife Claudine Longet). Andy's parents come to visit, he sings Christmas medleys with his brothers, and lastly the Osbond Brothers so a wonderful Peppermint factory dance routine to Whistle While You Work. Overall, it's just an entertaining way to spend an hour this Christmas....so check it out! The link is down below or you can view it above. 

The Andy Williams Christmas Show (1966)

Merry Christmas, dear readers! 

Riverboat (1959-1961)

On September 13, 1959, an entertaining new television series called "Riverboat" set sail on the small screen, taking viewers on a journey into the American frontier of the mid to late 1840s. This one-hour show, produced by Revue/Universal, aired on NBC on Sunday nights.

Week after week, little kiddies and their western-loving parents followed the characters and crew aboard The Enterprise as they traveled up and down the Mississippi and Ohio rivers ferrying passengers to their destinations. 

Darren McGavin starred as Captain Grey Holden, a kindly but rugged seaman who owned the 100-foot-long sternwheeler known as The Enterprise. Unlike Star Trek's Enterprise, this vessel wasn't boldly going where no man had gone before...but many of its passengers were seeking out a new life in new lands. In fact, the focus of the series was on the passengers who changed from week to week (as passengers on a ship are apt to do). This clever premise allowed for great flexibility in storylines and for the inclusion of guest stars, which the series had plenty of. Jeanne Crain, Eddie Albert, Russell Johnson, Mona Freeman, Vincent Price, Cliff Robertson, Vera Miles, Anne Baxter, Debra Paget, Richard Carlson, and George Kennedy all booked passage on the boat during its two-season run. 

In addition to its great cast, Riverboat had a marvelous theme song penned by Elmer Bernstein. Bernstein must have loved this theme quite a bit because he reworked most of its closing segment into The Magnificent Seven, made the following year. 

The Enterprise was often churning the muddy waters of the Mississippi, but in later episodes, it tended to steer westward on the Missouri which gave the writers an opportunity to include more tried-and-true western scenarios involving Indian attacks and settlers. 

Some critics called the series "Wagon Train on water" since the steamboat, though a central element, served as little more than a backdrop to the different characters and storylines that were introduced each week. While all of these were entertaining, they left little room for developing the series regulars, which included a young Burt Reynolds as pilot Ben Frazer, Dick Wessel as engineer Carney, and William D. Gordon as crewman Joe Travis. In the episode "The Face of Courage", Joe gets killed in an Indian attack and is written off the series (quite unusual for the time) and, in that same episode, Jack Lambert and little Michael McGreevey join the cast. 

Darren McGavin was always good at interacting with children, so the addition of Michael McGreevey as cabin boy Chip lent Captain Holden a more fatherly image...plus it gave the younger viewers a character they could relate with. Later in the series Burt Reynolds left and Noah Berry Jr. came aboard as Captain Bill Blake, a new co-owner.  

Riverboat was a well-written series overall and had some engrossing episodes, many of which involved the lady loves of the Captain, who cut quite a dashing figure. He had won The Enterprise in a poker game but he was very proud of the vessel and of his position as captain. Most of the episodes had him defending his passengers from river ruffians and dangerous criminals. 

Riverboat chugged along throughout its first season run with good ratings even though it had some formidable competition against Maverick on ABC and Lassie and The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS. Eventually, the series ran aground when it was moved to Monday night and Riverboat's producer Boris Kaplan decided to make Captain Holden more hard-nosed in the second season. 

FAVORITE EPISODES 

The Unwilling (Season 1, Episode 5)

Eddie Albert guest-stars in this episode as Dan Simpson, a merchant eager to open up a general store in the West, but a gang of river pirates are set on stealing his merchandise. Debra Paget also stars. 

The Boy from Pittsburgh (Season 1, Episode 11)

A stowaway overhears a plot to sabotage the engine room of the Enterprise but no one believes him since he lied before one too many times. Mona Freeman and Tommy Nolan star. 

Strange Request (Season 1, Episode 13)

An actress - Jan Sterling - charters the Enterprise to head to an abandoned trading post where she retrieves a boy being held by river pirates. 

Three Graves (Season 1, Episode 26)

The captain and his crew encounter a bubonic plague epidemic at one of the towns that they dock in. Beverly Garland stars as a woman doctor trying to help the residents. 

To read more about Riverboat and the making of the show, check out the book Riverboat: The Evolution of a Television Series by S. L. Kotar and J. E. Gessler. 

7 Favorite Disney TV Movies

When my sister and I decided to write a post about our 7 Favorite Disney TV movies, I didn't realize just how many television films Walt Disney Studios had made....or how many I enjoy!  A good sign of a "favorite" is how often you watch the movie so, using that criteria, we picked the films we watch the most frequently and enjoy the most when we do see them. We also ranked them in order from 1st to 7th place. So let's begin with the Number One favorite....The London Connection!

1. The London Connection (1979)

Jeffrey Byron stars as Luther Starling, a young agent for a CIA-like organization. He's on holiday in London but when an old scientist slips a gold ring in his pocket, he decides to delve into a mysterious kidnapping led by the group known as Omega. 

This film was actually released in theaters first (as a double-bill with The Aristocats) but it aired on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color soon after and has always been shown on television since under the title The Omega Connection....hence, the reason we are including it. What makes this deserve the top-spot on our list? Well, it's a family favorite that we have been watching every summer for the past fifteen years but it also has a great blend of action and comedy hi-jinks. In other words, it is just an all-around fun family film to watch!  

You can read our full review here. 

2. Bejewelled (1991)

Another summertime family favorite. This one is more for the kiddies because it has a lot of corny humor, but we never tire of it anyway! Emma Samms stars as an American woman who is transporting a set of valuable jewelry to England for a museum exhibition. While disembarking at the airport, the hatbox she was carrying the jewels in gets lost in a shuffle and she then has to spend a frantic weekend traveling all over London trying to retrieve the jewels. Aiding her in her endeavor is Denis Lawson and two children whom he is chaperoning. 

Like The London Connection, I think it is the English setting that draws us back to this film so often. Bejewelled boasts a great cast of British/America actors (Jean Marsh, Jerry Hall, et al ) and, even though the humor is geared for little ones, it still makes us laugh every time we watch it.

You can read our full review here. 

3. Diamonds on Wheels (1973)

Another fun mystery/suspense film! This one is about a group of teenagers who enter their MG sports car in a treasure-hunting road rally and quickly discover they are being chased by crooks for the diamonds that were hidden in their car (unbeknownst to them). A young Peter Firth stars as the driver of the car and Spencer Banks plays his navigator. Banks was a popular British TV child star. You'll also spot a bevy of familiar actors from British television in supporting parts, namely Patrick Allen, George Sewell, and Edwin Richfield. 

You can read our full review here. 

4. The Secret of Boyne Castle (1969)

The Secret of Boyne Castle was a three-part television movie that aired in February 1969. Kurt Russell and Patrick Dawson star as two Hardy-Boys-like teens who buzz all over Ireland trying to avoid capture by a Russian agent, all the while also trying to aid American spy Glenn Corbett (Russell's older brother in the film). This movie features one of the cleverest crooks to be found in any Disney film: Kersner. This man is a master of disguise and always seems to be one step ahead of the boys, who are constantly in danger of being killed. The film was shot on location in and around the Emerald Isle and is just a wonderful way to spend a few days (I'd recommend breaking it into 1-hour segments over 3 days....ideally, the week of St. Patrick's Day).

You can read our full review here. 

5. Child of Glass (1978)

This has been a longtime favorite Saturday afternoon flick...especially on a rainy fall day. If you like ghosts and legends and the old South, then you'll enjoy this one. Steve Shaw stars as Alex, a young boy with psychic powers. He and his family recently moved into an old Georgian manor once owned by a sea captain. Alex sees the glowing ghost of Captain Tremaine's daughter in the attic one afternoon and she pleads with him to help her solve a riddle so that she could be freed from her state of limbo. The movie isn't packed with excitement, but it holds your interest. Fans of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory will recognize Denise Nickerson as Alex's sister. 

You can read our full review here.

6. Escapade in Florence (1962)

Tommy Kirk was not only busy starring in films for Walt Disney Studios but on the small screen as well. This film, which was released on the heels of The Horsemaster, reunited Annette Funicello with Kirk. They play students abroad in Florence, Italy, who get mixed up in mystery and suspense when they get unexpectedly involved in an art forgery operation. The movie was filmed in Italy and features many colorful locations, including a chase sequence during the famous Palio horse race in Sienna. It also features some playful Italian-esque tunes by the Sherman Brothers, most of which are performed by Annette. 

7. The Whiz Kid and the Mystery at Riverton (1974)

This was the first of two television films that were made about Alvin Fernald, a wonderful character from the imagination of writer Clifford B. Hicks. Alvin was a child inventor who liked to tinker with gadgets every chance he had. Most of the summer he spends in his basement laboratory/workshop but this summer, he and his friend Shooey discover a case of corruption in their town of Riverton and Alvin decides to put his inventions to use as they try and solve the mystery. Tagging along is his little sister Daphne, played by Kim Richards. 

This film has a lot going for it. Not only does it boast a great cast of character actors (including Edward Andrews as the mayor of Riverton), but the children are perfectly cast and are a delight to watch. I wish Disney had developed the Alvin Fernald stories into a television series instead of just two films. 

Well, that wraps up our list of favorite Disney TV movies. Do you have any memories of watching these films? Or do you have any Disney TV movies you would pick as favorites? 

Secrets of the Pirate's Inn ( 1969 )

"A fortune in treasure....waiting to be discovered!"

Walt Disney Studios made a number of television movies in the 1960s and 1970s to air on their television series The Wonderful World of Disney...most of which have been forgotten now except among Disney fans. Secrets of the Pirate's Inn is one such title. Most people never heard of this film, but those who saw it when it first aired remember it well. 

The story is set down south in Georgia in the present times. Three children - Scott, Tippy, and Catfish - like to play on the grounds of an old abandoned inn belonging to an Irish sea captain ( Ed Begley ). It is rumored in town that Jean Lafite, the pirate, had at one time buried treasure on the property but no one knows where. The children and the captain decide to piece together clues to find the whereabouts of the old pirate treasure....but they soon discover that someone else is searching for the loot and is desperate to get their hands on it!

Secrets of the Pirate's Inn was based on the book "The Secrets of the Pirate Inn" ( 1968 ) by Wylly Folk St. John, a popular author of children's mystery stories in the late 1960s and 1970s. It is a simple story and yet one that quickly captures your imagination. Who can resist that potent mixture of sea captains, hidden treasure, and pirates? Director Steven Spielberg enjoyed stories like these when he was a youngster and most likely had watched this on television as a boy because the similarity between it and The Goonies, made 16 years later, is obvious. 

Secrets of the Pirate's Inn was one of actor Ed Begley's last films and he does a good job of playing the old salt Mr. McCarthy. The children were relatively new to acting but give good performances all around. Jimmy Bracken ( Scott ) did some work on television, Annie McEveety who plays Scott's sister Tippy, is from the McEveety family ( she is the granddaughter of director Vincent McEveety ), all of whom had long careers at Disney Studios. After Secrets, she made The Wacky Zoo of Morgan City for Disney as well as The Strange Monster of Strawberry Cove before she quit acting to become a camera operator. And lastly, Patrick Creamer ( Catfish ) did a bit of acting before trying his hand at producing.

Secrets of the Pirate's Inn was popular enough when it first aired that all three children revised their roles in the sequel The Strange Monster of Strawberry Cove ( 1971 ) which featured Burgess Meredith as a teacher who believes he saw a lake monster. It was a good idea, but that film lacked the secret staircases and cobweb caves that made Secrets of the Pirate's Inn so engaging.

Also in the cast is Charles Aidmen, Paul Fix and Disney regular Bill Zuckert. Secrets of the Pirate's Inn has not yet been released on DVD but can be viewed on Youtube here. 

From the Archives: Blacke's Magic ( 1986 )

Hal Linden strikes a debonair pose in this publicity photo from the short-lived NBC television series "Blacke's Magic" ( 1986 ). Linden portrayed magician Alexander Blacke who, along with his con artist father ( Harry Morgan ) solved mysteries using trickery and illusion to capture the culprit. 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store : http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures

Check it Out! Iconic TV Homes Being Demolished

Recently ReMind Magazine posted an article about the famous Partridge Family and Bewitched house sets being demolished at Columbia Ranch. We are sharing the article below, which came from their website, www.remindmagazine.com. Check it out! 

https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/1845/iconic-tv-homes-demolished/

These houses sat empty for many years on the lot so it is understandable that they would want to demolish them to make way for more soundstages, but it is surprising that no one ever approached Warner Bros studios ( who now owns the Columbia Ranch lot ) to purchase the houses! If I had several million dollars lying around handy, I certainly would have offered to buy the Bewitched house and move it to a new location. 

The article does not mention anything about the Baxter residence from the television series Hazel ( 1961-1966 ) but that house will probably be demolished as well since it sat right next to the Bewitched house. 

Check it Out! - Sally Ann Howes and Howard Keel on "The Bell Telephone Hour" ( 1960 )

Check out this wonderful clip from a rare color episode of The Bell Telephone Hour ( 1960 ) featuring Sally Ann Howes and Howard Keel singing "Tonight" from the Broadway musical West Side Story. Two beautiful actors with beautiful voices. 

77 Sunset Strip Airing All Weekend!

Every weekend Decades TV ( Channel 35 if you live in the Cleveland area ) runs a marathon of a particular TV show....this weekend it happens to be the classic private-eye series 77 Sunset Strip. It is well worth tuning in to watch at least one episode because the series is rarely shown on television and has still not received a DVD release. 

77 Sunset Strip stars Efram Zimbalist Jr. and Roger Smith as two private detectives who operated an agency at 77 Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Aiding them in many of their cases is Ed "Kookie" Byrnes, a wanna-be PI who started as a valet parking attendant at Dino's, the club next to their office. 

The series ran for six seasons ( 1958-1964 ) and featured a number of entertaining one-hour cases. Decades TV began the marathon early this morning and it will continue to run until 5am EST on Monday. On Sunday, beginning at 10am EST the five-part episode titled "5" will be airing. This one has Efram Zimbalist tracking down an art thief and boasts an excellent cast including Peter Lorre, Herbert Marshall, Diane McBain, Burgess Meredith, William Shatner, Ed Wynn - and his son Keenan, Wally Cox, and Walter Slezak.