Better Television

Roy Huggins was a successful novelist, television producer, film and television screenwriter, and creator of numerous television series, with his most successful being Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip, The Fugitive, The Rockford Files, and Hunter. For his later television screenwriting, he used the pseudonyms Thomas Fitzroy, John Thomas James, or John Francis O'Mara.

Huggins was given Executive Producer credits for 14 episodes of The Fugitive reboot starring Timothy Dalton in 2000. It squeaked out 23 episodes from its "spoiler alert" premise. Roy Huggins died on April 3, 2002. The day the writing stopped.

My chronological highlights of his career:

1948: "I Love Trouble" crime movie introduced Stu Bailey character (Franchot Tone). Based on Huggins' novel, "The Double Take." Also wrote screenplay. Character reinvented for "77 Sunset Strip" TV series.

1948: Wrote story for the movie "The Fuller Brush Man" starring Red Skelton.

1950: Huggins' story from The Saturday Evening Post, "Appointment with Fear" became "The Good Humor Man" film starring Jack Carson.

1954: Huggins provided screenplay for the crime film, "Pushover," starring Fred MacMurray and Kim Novak in her first major role. Average suspense noir noted for photogenic Novak.  

 
1955: Producer/writer and developed Warner Bros. TV western "Cheyenne" starring Clint Walker, the 1st hour-long western. Originally a "wheel program" that alternated with 3 different Westerns.

1956: Producer/writer for one season of "Conflict," a TV anthology series. James Garner caught producer Huggins' attention with comedic performance in a time travel scenario entitled "Man from 1997."

1957: Series creator for Warner Bros. Western "Maverick." Huggins envisioned star, James Garner, as an anti-hero. Garner's comedic expressions were unique for a Western at the time. 17 years later he revamped the premise into "The Rockford Files."

1962-63: Executive Producer of 17 episodes of the 1st 90-minute, western, "The Virginian." Filmed in color, the series was loosely based on a 1902 Western novel by Owen Wister. Huggins began tenure as vice president for the TV division at Universal.

1963: Series creator for the hugely popular series, "The Fugitive." An idea that nearly every myopic network executive rejected. Catapulted David Janssen to an icon of TV stardom. Quinn Martin produced.

1965: Series creator of "Fugitive" inspired "Run for Your Life" which starred Ben Gazzara as an attorney with fatal decease. Attempted to squeeze 30 years in only 1-2 years (85 episodes).

1968: Created "The Outsider" with Darren McGavin as an ex-con who spend 6 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Then became a private investigator in LA. Premise more successful with James Garner.

1971-73: Exec. Producer for "Alias Smith and Jones" western series playing off success of the blockbuster movie, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Initially with Peter Duel & Ben Murphy, Duel's suicide re-cast Roger Davies in role. 

1973-74: Toma was a promising series and execs. figured Tony Musante would change his mind of continuing after 1 year. He did not. Many on the Toma writing staff would write episodes for "The Rockford Files." Retooled with Robert Blake as "Baretta." 

1976: Producer for 13 episodes of "City of Angels" series set in the 1930s starring Wayne Rogers as unethical private detective. Successful film, "Chinatown," was its inspiration.

1974-80: Concept for "The Rockford Files" as modern Maverick character. Series co-created with Stephen J. Cannell. Perfect fit for Garner. Great scripts and cast.

1976: Executive producer, 8 episodes, of "Captains and the Kings" TV Mini-Series. A rags-to-riches tale of an Irish immigrant (Richard Jordan) in late 1800s co-starring a long list of "who's who" in Hollywood per mini-series standards.

1984: Exec. Producer for 10 episodes of "Blue Thunder" (based on the movie) about an advanced prototype police helicopter and the ground crew battling crime. James Farentino, Dana Carvey. 

1985-90: Exec. Producer for 68 episodes of "Hunter" (1984-91). The show was influenced by the "Dirty Harry" character. 2 reunion TV movies led to 5-episode series in 2002-03, but without Huggins due to his ill health.

1993: Exec. Producer for the film "The Fugitive" starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. Successful film. Great screenplay. Never understood change of Gerard's name from Philip to Sam.

Broadcast Pioneers

Howard K. Smith (1914-2002) was an American journalist, radio reporter, television anchorman, and political commentator. He was one of the legends of early television news broadcasting. His initial "K" stood for Kingsbury.

Smith's career blossomed by 1940, when he was sent to Berlin, joining the CBS network under Edward R. Murrow, making him one of the original members of the team of war correspondents known as one of Murrow Boys. Smith returned to Berlin to recap the German surrender in May of 1945.  went to London for CBS with the title of chief European correspondent. CBS sent him to London in 1947, to make a broadcasting tour of most of the nations of Europe, including behind the Iron Curtain.

Smith was embroiled in a contract dispute with CBS in 1962 for editorializing during a broadcast. He was subsequently fired. With his move to the ABC network, Smith reported on the Robert F. Kennedy assassination, moderated political debates, and assessed President Lyndon Johnson's presidency. Smith became the first national television commentator to call for Nixon's resignation over Watergate. Smith remained a co-anchor at ABC until 1975.

Smith was honored five times with various awards, spanning 1955 to 1963. He made a number of appearances in motion pictures and television as himself over nearly a twenty-year period starting in 1964.

Twentieth Century Talkers

 

John Charles Daly (John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly, 1914-1991) was an American journalist, radio and television personality, ABC News executive, TV anchor, and game show host. 

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, by eleven his home was in Boston, Massachusetts where he attended Tilton School, eventually graduating from Boston College. He became a reporter for NBC Radio and, later, CBS and was the first national correspondent to report the attack on Pearl Harbor and the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

With television on the brink, by 1950 he became the host and moderator on the CBS panel show produced by Goodson–Todman, What's My Line? The show lasted 17 years, with Daly hosting all but four episodes of the weekly series. During this time, Daly became the vice president in charge of news, special events, public affairs, religious programs and sports for ABC and won three Peabody Awards. There was no conflict with What's My Line? because he was employed by Goodson-Todman Productions, not CBS. Daly's closing line on the ABC newscasts was "Good night and a good tomorrow." In 1959, along with the Associated Press writer John Scali, Daly, above far left, reported from Moscow on the infamous "Kitchen Debate" between First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev and Vice President Richard M. Nixon.

He filled in occasionally on NBC's The Today Show, making Daly one of the few people to work simultaneously on all three networks. One memorable broadcast during the show was when Harpo Marx was promoting his book Harpo Speaks. Marx caused such on-camera chaos for Daly, he became completely convulsed in laughter during the live telecast. 

Note: He provided the voice of a CONELRAD for a 1954 broadcast of The Motorola Television Hour on ABC titled Atomic Attack, which showcased a suburban family dealing with the aftermath of a hypothetical H-bomb attack fifty miles away. It was later reflected in the 1962 film, Panic In The Year Zero. CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) was a method of emergency broadcasting to the US public in the event of an enemy attack during the Cold War.

A Television Transition

Wisely changing his name from Gustav William Tweer Jr. to Walter Brooke, he became a staple of television audiences for his supporting roles. He always was in command of those characters, whether playing the straight man in comedies, an unscrupulous businessman, a doctor, or any number of authority characters. After a string of uncredited film roles as a reporter or clerk in the Forties—opposite Flynn and Bogart and the like—Brooke quickly got on board the television express. He spent almost his entire career on the small screen. There were a few exceptions: the low-budget science fiction, Conquest of Space (1955), two infamous roles in, The Party Crashers (1958), and Bloodlust! (1961), then his small role with a big impact in the major hit, The Graduate (1967).

Born in New York City in 1914, Brooke landed roles in many popular series of the Fifties including five appearances on The Big Story (1952-59). But I will start with his two episodes of The Twilight Zone, four episodes of McHale's Navy, and three episodes of The Fugitive. He landed a regular role on The Green Hornet series as D. A. Frank Scanlon followed by several appearances in Judd For The Defense and Death Valley Days. He made the rounds on many popular series of the Seventies, including Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law (1971-74), and then hit the cop shows from Mannix to Barnaby Jones, The Rookies, and notable roles on The Rockford Files before landing another recurring role on The Waltons as Clarence Johnson. He finished out his prolific television career through the end of the Eighties until his death in 1986.

Note: above is a capture from his first appearance on The Rockford Files, 1974.

Reel Character Series

 

Ellen Drew (Esther Loretta Ray 1914-2003) was an American lead and supporting actress with a high-voltage contagious smile. The B-movie actress got noticed by actor William Demarest, who eventually helped her get into films. She started her career as Terry Ray, unfortunately, the same name as a male actor. She "won the toss" however and for the next twenty-five features, that was her professional name. She officially became Ellen Drew under her 1938 Paramount Pictures contract, thanks to the aforementioned Demarest. After a string of forgettable films, she moved to RKO in 1944 and co-starred in a few notable films such as Johnny O'Clock (1947), The Man from Colorado (1948), The Crooked Way (1949), and as a Technicolor blonde in the likable, Man in The Saddle (1951), looking more like a mashup of Celeste Holm and Betty Grable. Interesting but totally forgotten, she played Margaret Anderson in the television pilot episode of Father Knows Best (1954). Her television career was brief, mostly starring in the popular anthology series of the 1950s before retiring in 1961.

Synopsis: Thrust Into Television

 

Probably best known for his Western villainy, Harry Lauter (1914-1990) also snagged bit parts in a few significant modern-day films as in White Heat (1949) or as a well-hidden platoon leader in The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951). The former male model neared stardom on television's Tales of The Texas Rangers (1955, above). One might find him in such comedies as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet or My Favorite Martian as the straight man, of course. He was cast in Adam-12 and other series during the 1970s. Lauter spent time on the rodeo circuit before turning to acting. For his many Westerns, he also learned how to safely do his own stunts. Learning from the best: Jock Mahoney. Unknown to most entertainment fans, much of his energy later in life was devoted to his own paintings and running an art gallery. 

Lee's Post-War Planning

 

After World War Two, winning at home was a priority for Lee Tire and Rubber Corporation of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, and their Republic Rubber division in Youngstown, Ohio on puncture-proof pneumatic tires for trucks and passenger cars.

J. Ellwood Lee opened his first factory in 1887 selling medical supplies. In 1905 Lee believed automobiles would become popular and merged his medical supply company with Johnson & Johnson, leading to the creation of the Lee Tire and Rubber Company which opened in 1914. The company fell on hard times in the 1960s and was taken over by a New York firm before being sold in 1965 to Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The sale helped delay the company’s demise until 1980. The main building of the Lee Tire and Rubber Company, now known as Lee Park, is a historic factory complex built in 1909 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.