Synopsis: Thrust Into Television

Many movie character actors found steady work and arguably more exposure with the advent of television. 

ANTHONY CARUSO (1916-2003)

The American character actor appeared in more than one hundred films, usually playing villains, gangsters, Native Americans, or a variety of ethnic characters. He made his film debut in 1940 and was often uncredited throughout the decade. Caruso's fortunes changed overnight after playing mobster Louis Ciavelli in The Asphalt Jungle (1950). By the mid-1950s, television became his medium, working steadily throughout the 1960s and 1970s on numerous popular series in Westerns, police dramas and comedies, where he often parodied a gangster persona. Caruso's face became very familiar. In the fantasy world of Hollywood, Caruso's life was 180 degrees from his many tough-guy roles. His passion for gardening and cooking, along with his wife of sixty-three years, continued after retirement from acting in 1990.

Discover more about Carsuso's career at IMBD.

Yes, Virginia, There Are Two

From left are Virginia Christine (1920-96) and Virginia Gregg (1916-86). Both enjoyed a lengthy careers in radio dramas, film, and television. Both were talented voice actresses as well. Both were Midwest-born yet both died in California. They started their film careers in the mid-1940s, often uncredited. Gregg was a busy radio actor and worked frequently with Jack Webb's Dragnet radio and television series among many other shows. Christine became widely known as the matronly Mrs. Olson, the Folgers coffee spokesperson on television commercials for twenty-one years. Her hometown of Stanton, Iowa, honored her by transforming the city water tower to resemble a giant coffee pot.

Broadcast Pioneers

Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981. Cronkite received numerous honors including two Peabody Awards, a George Polk Award, an Emmy Award, and in 1981 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Jimmy Carter. He was the only non-NASA recipient of an Ambassador of Exploration award. Cronkite is vividly remembered for breaking the news of the assassination of John F. Kennedy and reporting into the wee hours on the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Cronkite reported many events in his career, including bombings in World War II, the Nuremberg trials, combat in the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King Jr., and Beatles musician John Lennon. He was also known for his extensive coverage of the U.S. space program. Considered universally the dean of broadcast news, he is known for his departing catchphrase, "and that's the way it is", followed by the date of the broadcast. The phrase was often used in parody.

Perhaps due to his low register voice, his mustache, and his comforting tone, in certain circles, he was affectionately referred to as "Uncle Walter." Cronkite served in an era when politically biased reporting was kept under wraps. His political leanings became a bit more forthcoming after leaving his anchor post.

Chameleon Actress

Virginia Gregg (1916-1986) was an American actress known for her many roles in radio dramas, television series, and as a voice artist. Gregg made more than forty-five films from 1947 to 1981 in supporting roles or bit parts. Not exactly Lana Turner in the looks department, with Gregg's great vocal work in radio she could illicit the same attractiveness and in turn, shame Turner's acting ability.

As a prolific radio actress, Gregg could handle a wide range of characters from a sultry temptress to a deranged business owner. Listeners would hear her regularly on such programs as Dragnet, Gunsmoke, The Jack Benny Program, CBS Radio Mystery Theatre, and Mutual Radio Theater, to name a few. A distinction was her role as Miss Wong, Hey Boy's girlfriend, in Have Gun–Will Travel, starring John Dehner as Paladin, and in Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, as the title character's girlfriend.

The chameleon actress whom many could not associate a name with, Gregg was certainly the most visible on television for over twenty years in supporting or bit roles from any vocation. She could be an angry old bitty, a revenge-filled wife, or not above committing murder. Among her notable series were 77 Sunset Strip, Bonanza, Perry Mason, Maverick, Wanted Dead or Alive, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, Bewitched, The Waltons, and The Rockford Files. But she is probably best remembered for her many appearances in Dragnet, starting with the 1954 film. Jack Webb hired her many times to play any number of characters, but usually someone sarcastic or comedic. In the 1970s, she continued in Webb's creations, Adam-12 and Emergency!. 

Note: Before Gregg's radio career launched, she played the double bass in the late 1930s with the Pasadena Symphony and Pops. She was a member of the Singing Strings group heard initially on KHJ in Los Angeles and later on CBS and Mutual. 

Man With A Niche

Peter Whitney (Peter King Engle 1916-1972) was an American actor in many Hollywood films in the 1940s and 1950s. His career started at the beginning of the Forties with a supporting role in Action in The North Atlantic, opposite Humphrey Bogart, and Destination Tokyo, starring Cary Grant, both films released in 1943. He kept busy throughout the Forties but the television medium beckoned. 

Whitney may be most visible on the small screen as the tall and increasingly heavier brute from more than twenty years of playing narrow-minded villains or slow-witted characters on countless television series. In general, if one could name a popular series during the Fifties and Sixties, Whitney was probably cast in them to one extent or the other. From his many westerns to crime dramas and comedies, he always made an impact on a wide variety of ethnic characters. His final role was for Rod Serling's Night Gallery in 1972. 

Inventing Self-Service Shopping

The Piggly Wiggly franchise was founded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1916 by Clarence Saunders. His store concept was the original self-service "super" market. Although the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (later simply A&P) preceded Piggly Wiggly by some 46 years, customers needing groceries at A&P would hand their shopping list over to a clerk who would fill the order from the shelves and hand shoppers a bag full of their items. Piggly Wiggly turned that routine on its head by establishing the model for the modern market. 

Customers entered the store through a turnstile, handed a shopping basket, and were left to wander the aisles to fill their carts with whatever products caught their eye. The employees wore uniforms and the store price-marked items from merchandise that was organized into departments. Instantly, packaging and brand recognition became important to companies and consumers alike. By 1930, markets across the country adopted Saunder's concept. In 1937, Piggly Wiggly's Oklahoma branch became the first company to provide shopping carts for customers. Certain franchises had a pig mascot that would attract attention by welcoming customers approaching the store. Piggly Wiggly was among the first to develop a loyalty card discount membership program similar to many other national merchants. 

Through a series of questionable stock transactions, Saunders lost control of the company in 1922. By 1928, the Kroger chain purchased a controlling interest in Piggly Wiggly Corporation, buying approximately 400 franchised Piggly Wiggly stores, mostly in the Midwest. Near this time, Safeway acquired most of the West Coast Piggly Wiggly stores. After additional buyouts and selloffs, those Piggly Wigglys were absorbed into the chain's operation. Today, the Piggly Wiggly headquarters is in Keene, New Hampshire, operating over 500 stores in 18 states, mostly in smaller communities in the southeast. 

Note: Clarence Saunders was reluctant to explain the origin of the company's name, leaving it to consumers and the business world to conjure up their own legends. The original Memphis store is pictured above in 1916. 

Condensing a 15-year Career Down to 5

 

Edward Platt (1916-1974) was an American actor of stage, film and television. Born in Staten Island, New York, he spent a part of his childhood in Kentucky and upstate New York, where he attended a private school in Lake Placid, and was a member of the ski jump team. He also studied at the Juilliard School and Princeton University but left after his first year. Platt served in the United States Army during World War II.

The operatically trained bass-baritone made his Broadway debut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Allegro. While working together in the Broadway play The Shrike, José Ferrer, helped Platt land his first film role in the 1955 film version. Platt was usually uncredited during that year but soon moved into more notable roles by the 1960s. Platt was probably most well-known for his appearances on many popular shows of the 1960s. Indeed, his frequent film roles have all been forgotten after his five-year stint as The Chief in the television comedy, Get Smart. 

Enlarge the image above for insight into Platt and as head of CONTROL. Some interesting quotes from a guy suffering from depression and his subsequent suicide.

Note: Platt had an interesting role in an unusual and low-budget film, The Rebel Set. Check out my comments.

Bud Meets Randy

 

Bud Boetticher (1916-2001) was an American film director who can be held in high esteem simply for six low-budget westerns, Seven Men from Now, The Tall T, Decision at Sundown, Buchanan Rides Alone, Ride Lonesome, and Comanche Station. He achieved his major breakthrough when he teamed up with actor Randolph Scott and screenwriter Burt Kennedy to make the first film listed above in 1956. Spanning a four-year partnership, all six films are crafted with care and precision, despite some factual inaccuracies. The cinematography offers tight places within the Alabama Hills, juxtaposed to wide grand vistas, and pastoral surprises. He would stop panning and hold the camera for a moment, taking in the natural beauty near Lone Pine, California.  

These bare-bones westerns made good use of Randolph Scott as a quiet, somewhat alienated hero on a journey through a hostile landscape, crossing paths with self-serving villains. His graceful, economic physicality or his calm use of his voice is consistently compelling. Always playing a character of few words, he out-Coopered Gary Cooper. Scott's screen presence glues these films together and one cannot help but like these charming and self-assured roles.

More Appreciated After Death

 

Artist and author, Eyvind Earle (1916-2000), possessed a distinctive graphic design approach for many of his landscape interpretations. The suggested low light, perfectly round silhouette of trees, and bright colors were surrealistic in certain works. Earle began his long and successful career of selling Christmas cards in 1939 that he designed and printed himself for the American Artist Group. He created over 800 designs through 1995 and sold more than 300 million copies. Earle joined Walt Disney Productions in 1951 as an assistant background painter and received credit for his experimental background paintings. Earle returned to full-time painting in the mid-sixties, producing watercolors, oils, sculptures, drawings, scratchboards, and limited-edition serigraphs. Much of his work was never exhibited in his lifetime, but The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rahr West Art Museum, Phoenix Art Museum and Arizona State University Art Museum purchased Earle's works and are among their permanent collections. 

More stunning works at: Eyvind Earle

Mastering Radio and Television

Virginia Gregg (1916-1986) was an American actress known for her many roles in radio dramas and prolific work in television from the Fifties into the mid-Eighties. Gregg's versatility as a voice actress on radio cast her in the major programs of the day, including Lux Radio Theatre, Dragnet, Dr. Kildare, Gunsmoke, The Jack Benny Program, Let George Do It, and Mutual Radio Theater, to name a few. During the Bob Bailey years in Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, she was exceptional, often cast as his sexy potential love interest yet ultimately her true nature arose by the episode's end as a two-timing criminal. Gregg was equally effective as Richard Diamond's girlfriend, the wealthy Helen Asher, on the Richard Diamond, Private Detective radio series starring Dick Powell. In addition, Gregg made more than forty-five films from 1947 to 1981.

But she made her indelible mark on television. Roles that somewhat typecast her as a homely, disgruntled housewife, belligerent individual, or a condescending co-worker. Her ability to appear in these roles thanks to no makeup and an angry countenance. A face that eventually was made for radio. But she was much more than this. She appeared in nearly every narrative television series in the late Fifties through the mid-Seventies, including Bourbon Street Beat, Hawaiian Eye, 77 Sunset Strip, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Perry Mason, Wanted Dead or Alive, The Virginian, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Wagon Train, Mannix, Make Room for Daddy, My Favorite Martian, The Twilight Zone, and The Rockford Files, just to add a smattering. Gregg perhaps is best remembered for her many appearances in Jack Webb's Dragnet television series, but she and Webb had a long working relationship since his radio version.

Note: Before going into radio, Gregg played the double bass with the Pasadena Symphony and Pops. She was a member of the Singing Strings group heard initially locally in Los Angeles in 1937 and later on CBS and Mutual.

Ordinary Appearance. Extraordinary Talent.

 

Though a few notable supporting roles in major films made their way into Edward Binns (1916-1990) resume, 12 Angry Men (1957), North by Northwest (1959), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), the B-52 aircraft commander in Fail Safe (1964), Patton (1970) and The Verdict (1982), it was the mass audience of television of which he was most associated. The American stage and television actor often portraying competent, dedicated, and purposeful characters in various roles.

The Philadelphia native's theatrical career began shortly after his 1937 college graduation when he participated in a repertory theatre in Cleveland. He followed that with a year as actor and director of the Pan-American Theatre in Mexico City. He was involved in television productions early in its infancy, appearing in over 500 television programs, either live, taped or on film. Binns had his own series, Brenner (1959-62), playing the title character as a police lieutenant. His casting calls were endless as a sought-after actor in most of the popular series of their day such as, Perry Mason, The Twilight Zone, The Untouchables, The Fugitive, M*A*S*H, a recurring role on It Takes a Thief, The Rockford Files, and many others.

Some sources say he was somewhat peeved that he was often mistaken for the actor Frank Lovejoy who shared a similar career path and sandpaper voice. Binns also was employed as a narrator, voicing commercials for Amtrak and United Way. He served in the Army Air Forces in 1942.

Cement by Moonlight

 

To honor Cleveland's WWII veterans, a stretch of highway was first known as the Memorial Shoreway, the first east-west freeway in Greater Cleveland. Known officially as the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway (a section of I-90), it closely follows the shore of Lake Erie and connects the east and west sides of Cleveland via the Main Avenue Bridge over the Cuyahoga River. The 1960 illustration is by Peter Helck (1893-1988). Best known for his automobile paintings, note his inclusion of a current model Buick and Ford Falcon. But the Ford Thunderbird, center, is not brand new as a 1960 model has six taillights. You may note the red 1960 Chevrolet left of center and the burgundy Chrysler product at the far left going in the opposite direction.

Founded in 1916, Portland Cement Association is the premier policy, research, education, and market intelligence organization serving America’s cement manufacturers. Headquartered in Skokie, Illinois, and Washington, DC., they have facilities in all fifty states. 

Hammers In The Head

 

Anacin is the trade name of several analgesics manufactured by Prestige Brands. Anacin ingredients contain aspirin and caffeine. Their advertising campaigns became legendary in the Fifties and Sixties and were one of the earliest and best examples of a concerted television marketing campaign. The commercials advertised "tension producing" situations, and "hammers in the head" with slogans like "Tension. Pressure. Pain." Anacin was also a leading sponsor of the television soaps Love of Life, The Secret Storm, and the early years, The Young and the Restless.

Anacin was invented by William Milton Knight in 1916. It is one of the oldest brands of pain relievers in the United States, first sold in the 1930s. The pain reliever was originally sold by the Anacin Co. out of Chicago, Illinois. American Home Products (formally Whitehall Pharmacal Company) purchased the manufacturing rights in 1930. Insight Pharmaceuticals acquired the brand in the early 21st century which was in turn purchased by Prestige Brands in 2014.