I had intended to do this post to celebrate my 60th birthday way back in 2021. But if you have been following this blog since it's beginning, you know that the circumstances of the onset of COVID caused me to lose interest for a period of time and 2021 passed by with only a couple of entries on the blog. And this one wasn't one of them.
Yes, folks, I'm an old man. This year I am turning 63. The idea for this blog entry was inspired by an idea. What would I have watched on TV the night I was born? (Assuming, of course, that I could actually watch TV at only a few hours old...) Using a webpage that lists what was actually on the schedule that night:
I arbitrarily decided which shows I would have chosen for the night. So let's go back to that time and watch a night of TV.
(Note: These times are listed by EST airings (and since I was actually born in Durham, North Carolina, those would be the actual times the shows aired for me. Of course, the time of the show's airings would have been different depending on where you were at the time. For instance, I now live in Texas, so an 8:00PM airing on the East Coast would have aired at 7:00PM if we had been in Texas. And, BTW, Texas is where I was when my first birthday rolled around..)
A brief spoiler alert! I tell the plot of the whole episode in the following encapsulations of each TV show. You can still watch the shows, they are all watchable, but if you want to go through the list and find the episodes and watch them first, I'll still be here when you get back.
TV Night at the Quiggy House (Dec 11. 1961):
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| TV Guide: Dec 9-15, 1961 |
Note: To begin, a brief apology: Unfortunately, my first show for the evening, (Pete and Gladys) had a very limited selection of available episodes online. The episode broadcast on Dec. 11, called "The Live-In Couple", was not available anywhere I looked. So by necessity, and for the sake of completion, I selected a later episode. The actual air date for "Hero in the House" was actually three weeks later., on New Year's Day. (The rest of the slate of shows, however, were actually aired on the date in question)
As a bonus, in case you'd like to watch, I have included the episodes from youtube (always assuming someone hasn't taken them down...).
8:00PM: Pete and Gladys ("Hero in the House")
Background: Pete and Gladys was an early example of the classic "spinoff". On a TV show from the 50's December Bride, starring Spring Byington, Harry Morgan played a next-door neighbor, Pete who often showed up on the show. Pete would often grouse about his wife Gladys (who was never seen on that show). Sometime after the cancellation of December Bride, a new show, Pete and Gladys appeared giving us some insights into a character already familiar to the fans of the previous show. The brief two season run of the show followed the usual sitcom format, with daily interactions between the stars and various other characters.
Interestingly enough, although it only lasted two seasons, it did garner some attention. Cara Williams was up against a few others competing for the 1962 Emmy awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Series (she lost to Shirley Booth for her role in the series Hazel, however).
In addition to Morgan and Williams the shows brief run had a Who's Who cast of guest stars, many of which will be familiar to fans of 50's and 60's TV, as well as movies. Among them: Donna Douglas, Nancy Kulp and Raymond Bailey (from The Beverley Hillbillies), Morey Amsterdam and Richard Deacon (from The Dick van Dyke Show), Bea Benaderet and Frank Cady (from Petticoat Junction), Ronny Howard and Howard McNear (from The Andy Griffith Show) and a host of others. (BTW, I don't really know, but I'm PRETTY sure they were not playing the characters from their other shows... but without the benefit of watching I can't say...)
Pete (Harry Morgan) and Gladys (Cara Williams) are having dinner with their friends, Ernie (Joe Mantell) and Peggy (Mina Kolb). They are going to go to a movie afterwards, which is going to be a French film. Ernie says he doesn't like foreign films because of the effort to keep up with the subtitles and is promised that next week they'll go to an American film (Gee! A weekly trip to the movies??? Rich people...)
But then Gladys says next week will be out because Pete is going to a veteran's convention, which leads to Gladys pestering Pete to tell his war story, something along the lines of having taken on and captured a whole platoon of enemies single-handedly. Except it turns out that the story is not real. He later tells Ernie that he just made it up to impress his wife, and to explain why he has a Japanese samurai sword. But his wife thinks it's true, so...
At the movie theater, a rather big, stocky guy tries to make the moves on Gladys. She gets angry and walks away from him and tells Pete about it. Pete initially thinks a littler guy is the fresh guy, but when he finds out that it was the bigger guy he backs away from the encounter, and of course later becomes, as is wont to be among these kinds of characters, a little frustrated and guilty with himself for not having shown any backbone against said bigger guy. And of course, not only is HE not going to get any sleep over it, he's not going to let Gladys get any sleep over it either...
So what's the solution to regain his sense of self-respect? How about setting up an imaginary fight... (Yeah, that ALWAYS works out... unless you are living in a sitcom...) Ernie takes Pete to meet a friend of his, Charlie (Henry Kulky), who is a big guy. and one who occasionally does stunt work on film. Charlie teaches Pete how to throw and take fake punches, and then arranges to show up at Pete's house and pose as a burglar, whom Pete will proceed to thrash in front of Gladys. (You see this coming already, don't you...? I did anyway... or at least, I thought I did...)
Charlie shows up, and bangs a few pots around, but Pete has trouble waking Gladys, and when he finally does, she won't let him leave the bedroom to confront the "burglar". So Charlie, who has to pick up his wife, leaves. Finally Gladys lets Pete go down to investigate, but Charlie is not there. Who is there is Ernie. Ernie, who had been on hand to let Charlie in, ends up being dragged into an impromptu fight with Pete. (Pete has to justify his ruse somehow, doesn't he?) After Gladys finds out it was Ernie that Pete was fighting, Pete breaks down and confesses the whole setup.
But Gladys, being the doting, loving wife she is, arranges a separate fight so that Pete can regain his self respect. She sets up an event where a friend of hers has his cousin flirt with Gladys in public. When they go to the restaurant where the "fight" has been arranged, Gladys spies the guy she thinks is her friend's cousin. But, it turns out, the man is NOT the friend's cousin, but a total stranger. Yet Pete, acting like she had planned, stands up to the guy. And becomes her hero, especially after she learns the truth about the guy.
OK, so I (and you, too, maybe) thought the fight back at the apartment was going to turn out to be a real burglar, which is how the plot would have gone if this had been played out the usual way sitcom situations run. I liked the surprise ending of the situation. But I can see that this sitcom was not along what were the expectations I associated with the tropes that normally occur. If this was a standard throughout the run, it might have been a nice change.
8:30PM: The Rifleman: ("Long Gun from Tuscon")
Background: In the town of North Fork in New Mexico Territory in the early 1880's, Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) raises his young son Mark (Johnny Crawford). Much of the series involves moral tales, one in which one character or another is faced with his (or sometimes her) prejudices or preconceptions and must modify his attitude to be more accepting. A frequent costar was Paul Fix as Micah, the town marshal (and this is one of those characters that is given a second chance at life, as Micah is a recovering alcoholic.)
Side note: The opening credits of The Rifleman always got to me on various levels. For one, the rifle that Lucas uses apparently has more rounds in it than I would have believed possible. (By my count he gets off 12 shots before he has to reload. It's explained during the course of the series that Lucas' gun has been modified, but I still can't believe he has the capacity in that gun to hold 12 shots.
The second is that dirty go-to-hell look he gives the camera as the
announcer intones "The Rifleman... starring Chuck Connors". I remember
as a kid watching the show (in reruns) I used to get up and slap the TV screen,
telling him to wipe that nasty look off his face.
Anyway the episode opens with John Holliver (Peter Whitney) showing off the shooting advantages of his "long gun" to his associates. In rides a fellow conspirator, Deecie (Brian G. Hutton) who informs Holliver that the whole town is basically deserted as most of the town has left to go to a neighboring town for a celebration. Holliver says there's no rush; in fact it might be a nice gesture to let the man Holliver has come to North Fork to kill spend the night worrying about his impending death.
In the temporarily deserted town Lucas is acting as a temporary marshal while Micah is out of town. But he was not around 5 years earlier. That's when Holliver had gunned down a 19 year old boy, making it look like self defense. Except the town didn't see it that way and ran him out of town. Not just "ran him out of town" but apparently ran him out of town on a rail, which isn't just a euphemism. They actually tied him to a rail. Which hurt Holliver's pride (not to mention probably his butt and back...)
Anyway, Holliver has returned to seek vengeance on the town. But in the tradition of an old western trope, the town is full of a bunch of lily liver chickens who don't want to face him. Leaving Lucas, as acting sheriff, to stand up to Holliver and his three men. At sunup. (of course, its sunup, when else would it be.)
Even though Mark wants to help, Luke tells him to stay put in his friend's house and not interfere, because he wants the boy to have time to "grow up", to be a boy while he can, and approach manhood at a normal pace.
At sunup, Holliver and his men enter the street. Lucas comes out to meet them, but at the last minute he has three others join him, three men who had expressed a desire to not be involved, but apparently had a last minute change of heart. And, of course, it's now four on four, and of course, the good guys win and the bad guys go down in short order.
BTW, if you are like me and have a fairly good memory for faces, Peter Whitney might look familiar. He had a pretty decent career in the film field. ("Hey, I Know That Guy" has been a idea that had been percolating on my to do list for this blog, which I actually kicked off last month. The idea being that somebody in the supporting role on a TV show triggers a memory and I go do a review of the film I remember him or her from. But I had to go to my old standby of IMDb to figure out where I remembered Whitney. And surprise, surprise... the memory was from the same movie that inspired me to that blog idea... he was Deputy Courtney in In the Heat of the Night). See the "Hey! I KNOW that Guy"s first entry here for more on that.
9:00 PM: The Danny Thomas Show: ("Toonoose's Plot)
Background: The Danny Thomas Show started out life as Make Room for Daddy, but due to some necessary changes (brought own by the death of Jean Hagen, the original star as Danny's wife, and a few other issues) was transformed into The Danny Thomas Show. The basic premise remained in effect throughout, however. A family oriented comedy which involved the daily interactions of Danny Williams who was a successful nightclub comedian and his family. By 1961 the cast included Marjorie Lord as his wife and Rusty Hamer and Angela Cartwright as his kids.
Danny (Danny Thomas) and his wife, Kathy (Marjorie Lord) are frantically trying to get ready for a date night. Or at least Danny is... As is typical in the 50's and 60's family scenes at least on TV, Kathy is delaying the start (because after all, women could never have the sense of urgency for a date night that men did...)
Both of the children are extremely friendly towards their dad, although each has an ulterior motive for their agreeable attention: Rusty (Rusty Hamer) wants Dad to sign his report card without even looking at his grades (which must not be very impressive), and Linda (Angela Cartwight) has apparently done something not that good with Dad's electric razor (Getting bubblegum out of it? She was shaving bubblegum?)
To complicate matters, Danny's uncle, Toonoose (Hans Conreid) shows up, with the intention of moving in. He has left his home in Toledo to come to New York, with the stated intention of never going back. The reason? The family bought a plot of land on a former golf course, with the intention of turning it into a burial ground for members of the family.
The prime spot on the land is a hill over looking it all, with a nice plum tree at the top. Toonoose is of the opinion that it should be afforded to the most prominent member of the family... and who is the most prominent member? Why, Toonoose, of course. But cousin Habib has initiated a coup that will insure that he, Habib, gets that spot. So Toonoose has abandoned the Toledo family for good in disgust. And intends to move in with his favorite nephew.
Hijinks ensue as Toonoose becomes an unwanted guest (in more ways than one). He "educates" Linda in an American history that does not fit the accepted one. He convinces Rusty that real he-men members of the family are strong warriors, causing Rusty to get a black eye after instigating a fight with the biggest kid in school. He redecorates the apartment with some really ugly stuff that Kathy objects to. He makes a mess of the kitchen, which doesn't set well with the maid, Louise (Amanda Randolph). And the straw that breaks the camel's back is that Toonoose dumps Danny's golf clubs out of the golf bag so he has a place to store the rice he cooked while making a mess of Louise's kitchen.
So the diplomatic Danny takes things into his own hands and calls Habib to try to remedy the situation. He tells Habib that really, the prime spot in the family plot would be the area of the sand trap which would cause family members to remember Habib as the most humble of all the family members. Which convinces Habib to relent and let Toonoose have the hilltop plot.... Only, Toonoose, overhearing Danny's conversation with Habib, has now decided that HE wants to be the most humble member... (If you strive to be known as "humble" you failed already, but that is a lesson for another story.)
9:30PM: The Andy Griffith Show ("The Clubmen"):
Background: The Andy Griffith Show revolved around the daily goings on in the small town of Mayberry in North Carolina. Andy Taylor was the sheriff, a widowed man with a young son, Opie, his Aunt Bee and his best friend, Barney Fife, who also served duty as his deputy at the sheriff's office. Various other characters made appearances now and then, townspeople which are doubtless familiar to just about anyone even if they have never watched the series: Floyd, the barber. Otis, the town drunk. Gomer Pyle, the local service station operator and mechanic. And a few others that would crop up now and then, including Helen Crump and Thelma Lou, who were romantic interests for Andy and Barney respectively.
By the way, did you know that The Andy Griffith Show was a spinoff of the previous show in tonight's program, The Danny Thomas Show? It's true. Danny Williams had a run-in with Andy Taylor while traveling through Mayberry in an episode of said show which was the jumping off point to create this show a year or so earlier
Andy (Andy Griffith) is dropped off in front of the sheriff's office by a friend, George (George Neise), with whom he has been fishing. George expresses a desire to go fishing again, bringing a few friends from the state capitol (Raleigh, in case you don't know your geography) and Andy tells him come by any time. George invites Andy to come up to Raleigh for the next meeting of his men's social club, The Esquire Club. Everybody knows that The Esquire Club is the be all and end all of all the clubs out there. It is known as fairly elitist, acquiring only the best of the best of the best, so a membership means something.
Andy says the only way he could come if he could bring his deputy Barney (Don Knotts) and George, never having met Barney, assumes that any friend of Andy is good enough for him and his fellow members. Andy is fairly laid back about the opportunity. But Barney just about hits the moon over the possibility. And proceeds to let the rest of the town know about what is a sure thing in his mind, acceptance of membership. But if you know anything about Barney you know that he is NOT exactly "laid back".
Barney insists that he and Andy (especially Andy) has to learn how to act with these bigwigs. Andy, of course, just wants to be himself and let the cards land as they are dealt. At the meeting, Barney of course, comes across as a little brash and not very well knowledgeable. (For instance, he thinks that one member, who shots in the 80's in golf ought to be taking lessons from one who shoots in the 90's instead of the other way around...)
As expected, Barney is blissfully unaware of the faux pas he is committing. And thinks that they are both a shoe-in for membership. But when George and a friend show up at the sheriff's office later, they tell Andy that he is accepted, but the members decided that Barney was not club material. Andy, ever diplomatic, tells the group that he appreciates the honor, but that he and Barney will not be joining. When Barney comes in and Andy tells him that only one of them was admitted, Barney is absolutely incensed, sure that it was ANDY that was rejected.
The show ends with Andy telling Barney that another club has accepted both of them as members. It is young Opie's (Ronny Howard) Tomahawk Club.
10:00PM: Thriller ("The Return of Andrew Bentley")
Background: The basic premise of Thriller was the same as it's competitor The Twilight Zone, an anthology series in which each week the host, Boris Karloff, would present a story. Although with an eerie, suspenseful plot, with sometimes horror elements added to it to differentiate it from the other more well-known show.
The time period for this episode, apparently is the late 1800's ( a deduction made by the fact that the style of clothes hints at it, as well as the fact that our two protagonists arrive in a horse drawn carriage). A suitably Gothic scene for what will turn out to be a suitably Gothic story.
Arriving at the home of his Uncle Amos (Terence de Marney), Ellis Corbett (John Newland) and his wife, Sheila (Antoinette Bower) find the old man in an agitated state. He tells Ellis that he is about to die and his leaving his estate to Ellis, because Ellis is his only living relative. Even though, as he states he is not happy about it, but he has no choice.
Why? Because he has certain stipulations that accompany this bequeath of his estate. First he must promise to stay in the house 24/7 (that alone would leave me out. I get antsy even after about 6 hours in the house.). Second he must be on constant watch for evil spirits that might come to take the body, or worse, the soul, of Amos. Apparently he has plans to be entombed in the confines of his house for eternity. (That is not entirely bad, in my mind, even if it is a little weird). One of the other rules to get his inheritance is that Ellis must inspect the tomb every day for signs of tampering.
As Boris Karloff, the host warns the audience there are unknown things in the arts of black magic, but "everyone knows here is no such thing as magic".
Or is there?
It seems that Amos is worried about a previous event in his life. Amos is a practitioner of black magic. He had a partner named Andrew Bentley (Huh? Amos and Andy? Really?) By the way, Andrew's spirit is played by Reggie Nalder. For those of you unfamiliar with the name (or his repertoire), he was the uncanny faced villain in several movies, including the assassin who was such a threat to Jimmy Stewart in The Man Who Knew Too much, and notably, for me, as the vampire in the 1979 TV movie adaptation of 'Salem's Lot.
Well Ellis and Shiela eventually get the estate, but Shiela keeps trying to get Ellis to renege on the deal because the place gives her the willies. But it's not until Ellis actually sees the ghost of Bentley trying to break into the crypt that he starts to get edgy himself. The ultimate facts come to light. The only way to get rid of Bentley is to destroy his corpse. But no one knows where it is. Amos killed Andrew 3 years earlier, but some one stole his corpse. And now it is a threat.
Ellis enlists the help of the local Reverend (played by Oscar Beregi, whom you will recognize as having been a frequent actor in The Twilight Zone) Together they find the corpse and destroy it, thus saving the day and the resting place of Amos.
This episode really gave me the creeps. I'm glad I watched it in the afternoon, instead of around bedtime. Which is a good thing, because in terms of the blog, this would be the wrap for the evening.
Well, folks, it's time to toddle off to bed. And since I'm only a few hours old at this point, I bet I sleep like a baby. (OK, save the groans and the raspberries... don't even THINK I didn't hear that.)
Quiggy
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Quiggy
Happy Birthday, guy! Cool idea for a post.
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