A Noted Television Theme

 

Jerrold Immel (1936-) is an American television music composer, famous for his theme to the television series, Dallas. Accompanying sweeping aerial filming of the Ewing ranch, Immel captured the expanse of Texas in the fashion of an epic western but with a disco tempo and his use of soaring french horns to carry the melody. Lesser known is his theme to Voyagers!, the short-lived science fiction series about time travel that aired on NBC. Immel got his break into television scoring with CBS in the Seventies, composing for Gunsmoke, and contributed to Hawaii Five-O, Logan's Run, Walker, Texas Ranger, and Knots Landing. His film scores include Matilda (1978), Death Hunt (1981), Sourdough (1981), and Megaforce (1982).

Dallas theme

Reel Character Series

 

Jack Lambert (John Thomas Lambert 1920-2002) was an American character actor who specialized in playing movie tough guys and heavies. His pre-war roles were typically uncredited until film-noir picked up pace. With his craggy face, squinty eyes, and a gruff voice to match, he was a familiar figure in westerns and crime dramas in such post-war movies as The Killers, in a gravitating role as "Dum-Dum" Clarke, The Enforcer, Bend of the River, and Vera Cruz. For many, his first memorable role might have been playing the psychotic cat-loving, iron-hooked Steve "The Claw" Michel in Dick Tracy's Dilemma. He was a human punching bag, underestimating the fists of prizefighter, John Payne, in 99 River Street. Two years later, he played Sugar Smallhouse in, Kiss Me Deadly. Lambert seemed to garner some of the best character names in film.

His one-dimensional characters shifted his career primarily to the small screen with numerous television appearances during the 1950s and 1960s in such shows as Rod Cameron's State Trooper, Gunsmoke, Have Gun – Will Travel, Sugarfoot, Wagon Train, and Bonanza. He had a recurring role as a cast member in the Darren McGavin series, Riverboat. Lambert appeared in the occasional comedy movie or television series. Still playing a thug. He was a Zombie in Martin and Lewis' Scared Still of 1953. Lambert had a humorous turn as a thoughtful hitman alongside singer/comedian, and Jack Benny regular, Dennis Day, in the 1959 dark comedy episode, Cheap is Cheap, for Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Lambert meets Day in a park to discuss doing away with his high-maintenance wife. Lambert empathically offers options but his fee is too high. He then suggests Day could do it himself. 

Retiring in 1970, he and his wife ran (of course) a boutique in Carmel, California.

First Accurate Atomic Clock

 

On this day in 1955, Louis Essen and Jack Parry, at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK, invented the first accurate Caesium-133 atomic clock. It was capable of accurately recording time to the second, falling behind only one second every for an estimated 300 years. The atomic clock is simply a laboratory apparatus that keeps time. In 1945, Columbia University physics professor Isidor Rabi suggested that a clock could be made from a technique he developed in the 1930s called atomic beam magnetic resonance. Modern atomic clocks, like the NIST-F2, invented by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado, are capable of telling the accurate time down to the second for an estimated 100 million years. Close enough.

Brainiac details HERE

Museum Quality

 

On this day in 1919, The Hotel Pennsylvania opened its 2,200 guest rooms across the street from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden in New York City. Built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and operated by Ellsworth Statler, it was the largest hotel in the world for nearly a decade. William Symmes Richardson, of the firm of McKim, Mead & White, had also designed the original Pennsylvania Station. The lower Indiana limestone facade of the hotel was intentionally designed to closely mirror the architecture of the station.

In recent years the hotel deteriorated significantly. The cost of maintenance and lack of demand outweighed demolition, which was underway by 2021. Many historic elements of the hotel, including the large brass mailboxes throughout the lobby level, some guest room doors, and the original 22-foot-tall fountain in the former Cafe Rouge, will be salvaged and repurposed for a future museum.

This is Jim Rockford

 

Jim -- Madame Arcana at the Zodiac Restaurent. You don't pay that dinner tab, we're gonna repo your birthday...

Jim's answering machine: 

Where's Houston? 1976; written by Don Carlos Dunaway
Guest stars: Lane Bradbury

From Spectre to Phantom

 

On this date in 1962, the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation delivered the first F-110A Spectre to the United States Air Force. The F-110A was intended to continue the "Century Series" but under pressure from Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, the USAF and US Navy aircraft designation systems were combined into a single scheme resulting in the F-1 to F-11. President Kennedy requested Congressional approval for the procurement of Navy F4H-1 derivatives for the Air Force under the designation F-110. The USAF F-110A and US Navy F4H-1 became F-4C and F-4B respectively. 

Above, Sanford N. McDonnell hands over the keys to the first F-110A Spectre to Colonel Gordon Graham and Colonel George Laven, USAF, at the McDonnell plant at St. Louis, Missouri.

Faster Than a Speeding Ocean Liner

 

On this date in 1932, Imperial Airways’ Handley Page HP.42, G-AAXF, named Helena, departed Croydon Aerodrome, South London, England, on the first leg of the airline’s new intercontinental mail service to South Africa. The flights would leave Croydon Wednesday and arrive at Cape Town on Friday, ten days later. The route was London, Cairo, Khartoum, Juba, Nairobi, Mbeya, Salisbury, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The initial flights carried mail only, but scheduled passenger service was soon added.  The HP.42 could carry 20 passengers and a large amount of baggage. The cost of the flight from London to Cape Town was $178.00 (£130). The HP.42 had a cruise speed of 96 miles per hour and a maximum speed of 120 miles per hour and a range of 500 miles. 

Casting Call Regular

 

Pippa Scott (Philippa Scott 1935-) is an American actress of stage, film and television who studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in England before returning to the United States and winning a Theatre World Award for her 1956 Broadway debut in Child of Fortune. Scott signed a contract with Warner Bros. that same year and made her movie debut in John Wayne's epic, The Searchers, as his niece. Her television career was already in play when she was cast as Maggie in the single season series, Mr. Lucky (1959-60). Television was still heavily into westerns and she frequented most of them. She appeared as Molly Wood in six episodes of The Virginian in 1962. As the Sixties progressed she moved into modern dramas for, The Felony Squad, Ben Casey, and Perry Mason and others. She had a pivitol role in a 1960 The Twilight Zone episode, The Trouble wth Templeton, playing the late wife of a renowned stage actor who returns to 1927 to join her again. In a particularly nasty role, she cleverly plots to murder her sister in one episode of, The Fugitive. By the Seventies, she could be seen in the popular police or detective series of the day plus a recurring role on the short-lived, Jigsaw John, in 1976. 

Scott's expressive performances and dramatic facial structure played large on the small screen, often playing uncompromising characters. Despite some powerful roles, and a memorable first name, she generally got lost in a long line of female guest stars hired to fill a role. Scott and her husband at the time, producer Lee Rich, were founding partners of Lorimar Productions, an Emmy-award winning television company. The single largest provider of programming to the networks for two and a half decades. Lorimar produced the Emmy-winning The Waltons, Dallas, Falcon Crest, Knots Landing, Eight is Enough, and The Blue Knight.

Be Careful Spending Your Million

 

On this date in 1955, The Millionaire anthology series premiered on CBS. Produced by Don Fedderson and Fred Henry, it explored the ways that sudden and unexpected wealth changed life, for better or worse. The episodes were more often dramatic than comedic. The premise is lifted from past Hollywood movies, 1932's If I Had A Million perhaps the earliest. The series opened up endless story variations. For viewers, it was a Hollywood who's who of guest stars wanting to be on the popular five-season hit. 

The stories revolved around those given one million dollars from a benefactor who insists he remains anonymous. The benefactor was John Beresford Tipton (voiced by character actor and voice artist, Paul Frees) who was never seen with the exception of his outstretched arm to give the cashier's check to Michael Anthony, his executive secretary. Tipton died a few years prior so the stories were told in flashback, as if from Anthony's case files. There might be stipulations on how the money should be spent. It was Anthony's job to deliver that check to its intended recipient. The character is rarely seen after this. Michael Anthony was played by veteran character actor and radio and television announcer, Marvin Miller (above). 

Series profile here

Dempsey and DeSoto Relevancy

 

Jack Dempsey (William Harrison Dempsey 1895-1983) was an American professional boxer and the world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926. A huge celebrity icon of the 1920s, many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first million-dollar gate. He pioneered the live broadcast of sporting events in general and boxing in particular. By his own recollection, he first competed as "Jack Dempsey" in the fall of 1914. In retirement, he opened his own restaurant in New York City and was a commercial pitchman for a variety of products including Chicken of The Sea, Royal Crown Cola, and Everlast. He outlived DeSoto by twenty-two years.

Nicknamed Kid Blackie, and The Manassa Mauler, according to a 2004 PBS documentary, "Dempsey's boxing style consisted of constantly bobbing and weaving. His attacks were furious and sustained. Behind it all was rage. His aggressive behavior prompted a rule that boxers had to retreat to a neutral corner and give opponents who had been knocked down a chance to get up."

DeSoto was launched ten years before this 1938 DeSoto advertisement

Entertaining Renaissance Man

 

Robert Q. Lewis (Robert Goldberg 1921-1991) was an American entertainer of radio and television, a game show host, commercial pitchman, and part-time actor in film. If that were not enough, Lewis had a very popular nightclub act as singer and comedian. Aside from his wit, he is famously recognized by his bold-rimmed glasses, which became his trademark. In fact, for his second Robert Q. Lewis Show, they became a logo for the show's title card. 

Already a fixture during television's early years, Lewis is perhaps best known today for his game show participation, regularly appearing as a panelist on Goodson-Todman-produced shows. He first settled into his enduring game show role as host of ABC's The Name's the Same (1952-54). Lewis was often recruited to fill in for performers who were ill or otherwise unable to perform. He frequently sat in for Arthur Godfrey, whom Lewis credited for giving him his first big breaks in show business. He hosted and appeared on a multitude of television shows and sitcoms through the 1970s. By far, he was most visible as a panelist on What's My Line? with forty appearances. Lewis had a sketched pair of glasses amusingly applied on his blindfold that was used during the final celebrity guest segment. 

The "Q" was simply part of his professional name. Lewis added the middle initial accidentally on the air in 1942 when referencing another radio comedian's character, Colonel Lemuel Q. Stoopnagle, saying, "and this is Robert Q. Lewis." He retained the unique moniker by telling interviewers that it stood for "Quizzical."

Note: Lewis scored his biggest hit song in 1951 with the Italian dialect humorous novelty song, Where's-a Your House?, (a parody of the Rosemary Clooney hit, Come On-a My House) about a guy who cannot locate Rosie's house. You can hear it here.

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

After saving children from a burning school bus, Kimble is nursed back to health by a sheriff and his wife, a nurse. His heroic rescue garners publicity, something always on Lt. Gerard's radar. 

Nightmare at Northoak, 1963
Guest stars: Frank Overton, Nancy Wickwire 

Possible Punchboard Prize

 

On this day in 1905, punchboards were patented by Charles Brewer & C G Scannell, in Chicago, Illinois. Punchboards are the descendants of handmade lottery game boards, used in the US as early as the eighteenth century. Lotteries were popular but they required a large number of ticket-buyers to be successful. Brewer constructed a game board out of wood, about eight inches square, then drilled a number of holes in the board, filling each with a slip of rolled paper. He then charged patrons a fixed sum of money for a chance at several prizes or sums of cash. The patron would use a nail to push one of the slips of paper out of its hole. Each slip of paper had a number printed on it, and if the customer's number corresponded to a number listed as a winner, the customer won that prize. Like most aspects of gambling, punchboards attracted their share of mob figures and shady characters over the years. 

1939 version pictured

A Noted Television Composer

 

Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (1932-) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film scores incorporating jazz and Latin American musical elements alongside traditional orchestrations. He is a five-time Grammy Award winner, and has been nominated for six Academy Awards and four Emmy Awards. Among his best known film compositions include the scores to Cool Hand Luke (1967), Bullitt (1968), the Dirty Harry series (1971-1988), The Four Musketeers (1974), and the Rush Hour trilogy (1998-2007). 

Schifrin wrote one of the most iconic television themes for Mission: Impossible (1966), a distinctive tune written in the uncommon 5/4 time signature, last notably used by David Raksin's earlier theme to Ben Casey. Similarly, his theme for the hugely successful Mannix private eye show was composed a year later in a 3/4 waltz time. Lesser-known perhaps, is his up tempo theme to the medical drama, Medical Center (1969-1976). While electric guitars and drums crank out the rhythm over bright, high contrast graphics, a synthesized starts on a low note and gradually rises in pitch to become a "siren" and the instrument that carries the melody.

Medical Center theme

Hustler for The Win

 

On this day in 1961, Major Henry J. Deutschendorf, United States Air Force, 43rd Bomb Wing, Strategic Air Command, flew from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas, to Edwards Air Force Base, California, with a Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler, serial number 59-2442, named Untouchable (above). He flew two laps of a 1,000 kilometer circuit between Edwards and Yuma, establishing six new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) speed records at an average of 1,061.81 miles per hour. Major Deutschendorf and his crew, Captain Raymond R. Wagener, Defensive Systems Officer, and Captain William L. Polhemus, Radar Navigator/Bombardier, were each awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The delta-winged plane did not have a stellar safety record with takeoffs and landings being particularly dangerous. Whether due to political preferences, advancements in radar detection, or a combination of both, all were withdrawn from active service by 1970. Untouchable was sent to The Boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona, in 1969. It was scrapped in 1977. Convair built 116 Hustlers. 

Reel Character Series

 

Frank Lovejoy (1912-1962) was an American actor in radio, film, and television, best known for his supporting roles as the “everyman” caught up in challenging circumstances. He was one actor not needing to change his last name just to stand out from the Hollywood crowd. Whether in military uniform, as a detective, or common laborer, he handled a variety of roles with near-flawless performances, from tough cop to sensitive husband. Lovejoy had the voice of someone who spent the day in the stands yelling for his NFL playoff team and has not yet recovered. A smokey, nasal sound like few others, it lent intrigue to his radio characters or the narrator for his radio crime show, Night Beat. Somewhat surprisingly, the 1950s was his only full decade of work, starting out that decade with a strong leading role in the chilling, Try and Get Me! aka The Sound of Fury, as a struggling out-of-work family man spiraling into a life of crime with an arrogant instigator, Lloyd Bridges. In 1951, he had the title role and narrator for I Was a Communist for the FBI, going undercover to expose Communism. He was notable as a supporting player in The Hitch-hiker, the classic film noir of 1953. He crammed down a lot of scripts in 1955, his busiest year, with seven films and seven television appearances. Oddly or not, the nearest I can figure he had a total of fifty-five acting roles as well. Though he completed three more films in the late Fifties, he spent the balance of his career in television. Had he lived longer, he might have provided some interesting characters well into his seventies. 

This is Jim Rockford

 

Jim -- Sally. Hey, I just found out you're an Aries. Listen, if you have Virgo rising, give me a call.

Jim's answering machine: 

The Italian Bird Fiasco, 1976; written by Edward Lakso
Guest stars: William Daniels, Camilla Sparv

Note: Rockford's first meeting with the arrogant Thomas Caine (Daniels) is a joy to watch.

Project Skyhook

 

On this day in 1948, Captain Thomas Francis Mantell, Jr., 165th Fighter Squadron, Kentucky Air National Guard, received a request from the control tower at Fort Knox, Kentucky, to investigate an Unidentified Object. The object was observed by four members of the control tower staff for approximately 35 minutes. Mantell led four North American Aviation F-51D Mustang fighters in pursuit. Two pilots broke off because of low fuel, and Mantell became separated from his wingman. He reported that he was climbing through 15,000 feet. 

It is likely that Captain Mantell lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen. The wreckage of his fighter was found 5 miles southwest of Franklin, Kentucky. Mantell did not survive. In seven decades of hindsight, he spotted either Venus or the top secret Project Skyhook balloon, which could ascend to more than 100,000 feet. “The Mantell Incident” was one of the most publicized “UFO” reports of the 1950s, coming exactly six months after “The Roswell Incident” in New Mexico. 

Details at Project Skyhook program

Resurrected Radio of The Macabre

On this day in 1974, The "CBS Mystery Theater" premiered on radio. It was meant for an audience who remembered when old-time radio drama was a popular form of family entertainment. Riding on the era's wave of nostalgia fever, the radio show actually attracted many younger listeners. The series garnered a wide array of talent, many of whom were popular during the Golden Age of Radio. Having a window cracked open during a summer night's rain added the perfect atmosphere. The series was rebroadcast on NPR at the beginning of the twenty-first century but by then had lost any relevance beyond nostalgia's sake.

Each episode started promising with the ominous sound of a creaking door while a spooky, descending music theme introduced the host, "Come in! Welcome. I'm E. G. Marshall." Like many old macabre classic radio programs, the endings could be unbelievable and disappointing. Especially sitting still for about forty-five minutes. Marshall would provide concise commentary before or after a commercial break and at the conclusion, the door would swing shut, with his sign-off, "Until next time, pleasant…dreams?" 

Episode archives and details at:

Archive

CBS Radio

Technology Not Quite Ready

 

On this day in 1956, the prototype Piasecki Helicopter Company YH-16A-PH Transporter twin-turboshaft, tandem-rotor helicopter was returning to Philadelphia from a test flight, when the aft rotor desynchronized and struck the forward rotor and the aircraft broke up in flight and was completely destroyed. Test pilots, Harold W. Peterson and George Callahan, were tragically killed. At the time, the YH-16 was the largest helicopter in the world. The United States Air Force intended it as a very long-range rescue helicopter, while the U.S. Army expected it to serve as a heavy lift cargo and troop transport. A second YH-16A was modified during manufacture but the program was canceled.

Plymouth Ascension

 

Chrysler's Plymouth division introduced the Sport Fury in 1959 as a premium model available in two versions, a 2-door hardtop, and a convertible. A 318 cubic inch V8 was standard, putting the sport in the standard Fury. It marked the third year for Chrysler's "Forward Look" for Plymouth. If a manufacturer wanted flamboyancy, this may be the most acceptable blend of sporty and flashy to end the fifties. A distinctive Sport Fury feature, outside Chrysler's tendency to rapidly rust, is the upper side spear curving upwards to match the line of the rear fins. This is filled with a silver or gold anodized aluminum panel with "Fury" script mounted at the far end. The front end of the car is as bold as the modified tailfins from the previous years, with its sweeping size and thinner shape, canted slightly outward. The trunk featured the “Sport Deck,” a fake adornment fashion trend of the "continental kit," itself a fake derivative of an actual spare tire carried typically at the rear of an automobile in the twenties and thirties. The 2-door hardtop had a starting price of $2,927. A similarly equipped model from General Motors, the Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe, was priced at $2,717.

Bob Hope Gets His First Show

 

On this day in 1935, Bob Hope made his national radio debut on the Blue Network. With his success on The Rudy Vallée Show, NBC offered Hope his own radio show, The Intimate Revue. Sponsored by Emerson's Bromo-Seltzer, alongside Hope were singers James Melton, Jane Froman and Patricia Wilder with musical accompaniment from Al Goodman. Radio programs were generated constantly during this era and Hope's show ended four months later. It was the first of several precursors to the long-running The Pepsodent Show, beginning in 1938, which ran for a decade. The American radio comedy program starred Hope and his long-time sidekick, Jerry Colonna, (above) along with a continuously rotating supporting cast and musicians.

Actor of Endless Characters

  

Vito Scotti (Vito Giusto Scozzari 1918-1996) was an American character actor in both dramatic and comedy roles on Broadway, and in films, though perhaps most recognized on television from the fifties through the seventies. The "man of a thousand faces" had the ability to convincingly conquer various ethnic types, everything from a Mexican bandit, a Russian doctor, a Japanese sailor, an Indian travel agent, or an Italian chef (in real life as well). He often sold his character as an expert at his job, whether accurate or not, while never relinquishing his honor. He would seem compelled to offer advice, as well. Sort of a Joe E. Brown in that respect. The San Francisco-born native could play a vicious criminal, a shyster, or an adorable loyal friend. His supporting roles were put to better use on the small screen and his credits are too numerous to mention here. But suffice to say he appeared in nearly everything from The Rifleman to The Golden Girls. He racked up more than 200 screen appearances in his fifty-year career. His last performance was as the manager at Vesuvio's in the crime film comedy, Get Shorty.