BARNEY VS. CAPTAIN KANGAROO

The age-old battle....

I wish Barney did try to invade the Treasure House. He'd be no match against Captain Kangaroo and his allies. Mr. Moose could have gored the purple dinosaur with his antlers; Bunny Rabbit could have pummeled him with a deluge of ping pong balls; Dancing Bear would have floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee with his fancy footwork; while Grandfather Clock would have cleaned Barney's clock. (Sorry about that, Chief.)

If the lavender lizard survived the battle, he'd be put on display by Mr. Green Jeans.....

BCnU!

BLACK POTUS

In Skitlandia, the line of succession for the President of the United States should have been a little different than it is in Toobworld and the real world:

 
BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD: BILL McKINNEY'S LAST APPEARANCE IN TOOBWORLD

Another actor who passed away this week was Bill McKinney, perhaps best known for making Ned Beatty squeal like a pig in "Deliverance".

Here's his last role, filmed only two weeks before his death. This Doritos commercial is in the running for Doritos' Super Bowl blipvert entry, but we won't know until the game whether it was chosen or not.

Just in case, I hope to pay tribute to the man by showcasing the video here:

BCnU!

BUDDY HACKETT'S PIZZA RUN

Like I said, there's no real theme to this Saturday edition of the Inner Toob Video Weekend.....

BCnU!

HARRY MORGAN & SHERMAN POTTER

Harry Morgan passed away on December 7th. He was 96, but he'll live forever thanks to all the great movies and TV shows he left behind.

Here he is reminiscing about his most famous TV character, Colonel Sherman Potter of 'M*A*S*H'.....

BCnU!

REMEMBERING HARRY MORGAN: "DRAGNET: SKITLANDIA"

Both Sgt. Joe Friday and Detective Bill Gannon are members of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, and deservedly so since they are true multiversals. They've appeared in Earth Prime-Time (including blipverts as ghosts), the Tooniverse, the Cineverse, and even Skitlandia......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: HERMAN CAIN

Herman Cain's birthday is this coming Tuesday......

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Kenan Thompson

TV DIMENSION:
Skitlandia

From Wikipedia:
Herman Cain (born December 13, 1945) is an author, business executive, restaurant industry lobbyist, syndicated columnist and radio host from Georgia. He was chairman and CEO of Godfather's Pizza from 1986 to 1996, deputy chairman of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from 1992 to 1994, and chairman from 1995 to 1996. From 1996 to 1999, Cain was president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association. Before his business career, he worked as a mathematician in ballistics as a civilian employee of the United States Navy.

Cain is a candidate for the 2012 U.S. Republican Party presidential nomination. During September and October of 2011, he was the front-runner for some time. In November, his campaign struggled to deal with several controversies, including the resurfacing of sexual harassment claims from the late 1990s, and he suspended his campaign on December 3.

That Hulu link probably won't last for very long, but hopefully the CNN report via YouTube will......

Happy birthday, Mr. Cain!

BCnU!

"WHAT'S ALAN WATCHING?"

Just a mish-mosh of stuff today for Video Weekend.....

First up:

Here's the TV pilot which gave its name to the blog written by TV columnist and critic Alan Sepinwall:

BCnU!

TRACING MORGAN

As a shared fictional universe, the Toobworld Dynamic is based on visual media only. You know how the Master Serlinguist would always say 'The Twilight Zone' is a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of the mind? Toobworld is a Universe for the Eye. Other shared universes like the Wold Newton Universe and the TV Crossover Universe, whose caretakers are my fellow overlords Win Scott Eckert and Robert Wronski, Jr., respectively, are the true Universes for the Mind. They absorb from other sources, like literature and the graphic arts, and blend it altogether. Characters whose back-stories combine such sources are meant to be "viewed" as one's imagination might see them. The TwD must adhere to how they actually look on screen, which is why "we" at Toobworld Central must depend on the established theories of alternate TV dimensions and splainins for recastaways like plastic surgery, quantum leaping, alien impersonation, and robotic replacements.

So for the most part, Toobworld is made up primarily of what has been broadcast on TV. But two other sources must be considered as well. Technological advancements and their societal impact have made it necessary to consider online content from the Internet to be part of the fabric in the tele-mosaic known as the TV Universe. And certain movies can be drawn into the mix as well - but not all of them!

The usual suspects are the following:

• the "Star Trek' franchise
• the 1966 "Batman" movie
• "Maverick" (because James Garner's character of Zane Cooper was using an alias)
• the original "McHale's Navy" movies - but NOT the remake
• those movies in which a certain TV character does appear, but not if those same movies have different actors playing other TV roles. An example - "Dragnet" with Harry Morgan as Bill Gannon. But the Joe Friday in the movie was the original's nephew, so he's not a recastaway. Two examples of those films not eligible - "M*A*S*H" (speaking of the late Mr. Morgan) with only Gary Burghoff going on to recreate his role on television, and "The Beverly Hillbillies" with a different cast, but with a guest appearance by Buddy Ebsen as Barnaby Jones. (The 1966 "Batman" still qualifies even though it's Lee Meriweather as Catwoman and not Julie Newmar. "Catwoman" is an assumed identity, not the actual person.)

I would love nothing more than to include books and comic books, etc, if for no other reason than to bring in "Ishmael", a novel by Barbara Hambly which crossed 'Star Trek' with 'Here Come The Brides' (with appearances by other TV Western characters.) But even those books in approved tie-in franchises sometimes contradict each other and even the parent source as well. (See the original sources for the 'Doctor Who' episodes "Blink" and the two-parter "Family Of Blood" and "Human Nature".)

Better to just avoid that head-ache altogether. Besides, my aforementioned allies in this madness do a much better job utilizing all of those artistic influences.  (You'll find the links to their endeavours to the left, my maties - "The Wold Newton Universe" for Win, and "The TV Crossover Universe" for Rob.)

Getting back to Harry Morgan, who passed away this year on the remembrance day for Pearl Harbor, he was involved in two such movies that are considered part of the TV Universe. One was originally a movie which was absorbed by the great maw of the Toobworld Dynamic; while the other one was the previously mentioned movie "Dragnet".

"Dragnet" had ventured forth into the "Cineverse" before, but Jack Webb had been involved in those productions as Sgt. Joe Friday. This time out, Webb - and thus, Joe Friday - were already dead and the Joe Friday of the 1980's movie was not a recastaway, but the "real" Sgt. Friday's nephew and namesake. Harry Morgan returned as his character of Friday's old partner, Bill Gannon, but Time showed that it indeed marches on - Gannon was now a captain in the LAPD.

Harry Morgan's other contribution was the 1940's noir film "Strange Bargain" which also starred Jeffrey Lynn and Martha Scott (both seen above). In this movie, he played Lt. Webb (t'hee!) who was investigating the murder of the boss of Lynn's character. Over thirty years later, author and amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher got involved in the original case and discovered that what we saw in the movie wasn't how events actually played out.

(I would suggest watching both "Strange Bargain" and then the 'Murder, She Wrote' follow-up as a double-feature some cold and dark night this winter.  "The Days Dwindle Down" is available for streaming at Netflix.)

This was just another "Hat Squad" entry in our salute to the late, great Harry Morgan.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: JOHN NETLEY

"Why do you think you possess this morbid fascination with serial killers?"

The Demon Blurk

'Millennium'

 Back to the well......

JOHN NETLEY

AS SEEN IN:
"Jack The Ripper"

AS PLAYED BY:
George Sweeney

From Wikipedia:
John Charles Netley (1860–1903) was a cab driver who is notable because of claims that he was involved in the 'Whitechapel Murders' committed by Jack the Ripper.

In 1976, author Stephen Knight accused Netley of complicity in the crimes in his book "Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution". According to Knight, Netley drove the coach in which Sir William Gull carried out the actual killings as part of a conspiracy involving the royal family and freemasonry. Most scholars reject the theory as a fantasy, and consider Netley to be innocent. However, Netley was a twin - his brother William Henry survived for only a few months - and as such, might well have been left-handed. Police surgeons examining the Ripper victims believed that the murderer was left-handed and according to the legends of Freemasonry, a Masonic execution called for three executioners to be present and the final wound, the cutting of the throat, to be inflicted from left to right.

Knight's conspiracy theory originated from the story of Joseph Sickert, who claimed to be the illegitimate son of Walter Sickert, another 'Ripper' suspect. He related that after the killings had concluded, Netley was heavily involved in attempts on the life of the young Alice Crook (supposedly the illegitimate daughter of Annie Crook and Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, the grandson of Queen Victoria), trying to run her down with his carriage.

Joseph Sickert claimed that he drowned after the attempt, having run to Westminster where he jumped off the pier. Sickert was wrong in this and therefore could not have based his story on any contemporary evidence, as has often been suggested. A newspaper report was found of a man who gave his name as "Nickley" being rescued by from the river by the pier master, and later discharging himself from hospital. Nickley could have been a misheard Netley - or a quickly assumed name. Stephen Knight said that the Dictionary of British Surnames did not list Nickley.

Netley died in an accident when the wheel of his van hit an obelisk in London's Park Road, where it joins on to Baker Street, near to Clarence Gate in Regent's Park. He was thrown from his van under the hooves of the horses where his head was crushed by a wheel.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: BUGS MORAN

From the New York Times
By MICHAEL POLLAK
Harry Morgan, the prolific character actor best known for playing the acerbic but kindly Colonel Potter in the long-running television series “M*A*S*H,” died Wednesday morning at his home in Los Angeles. He was 96. His son Charles confirmed his death, saying Mr. Morgan had been treated for pneumonia recently.

In more than 100 movies, Mr. Morgan played Western bad guys, characters with names like Rocky and Shorty, loyal sidekicks, judges, sheriffs, soldiers, thugs and police chiefs.

Today's "As Seen On TV" showcase is in memory of Harry Morgan....

AS SEEN IN:
'The Untouchables'

AS PLAYED BY:
Harry Morgan

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

STATUS:
Recastaway (plastic surgery?)

From Wikipedia:
George Clarence Moran (born Adelard Cunin on August 21, 1891 – February 25, 1957), better known by the alias "Bugs" Moran, was a Chicago Prohibition-era gangster born in St. Paul, Minnesota. Moran, of Irish and Polish descent, moved to the north side of Chicago when he was 19, where he became affiliated with several gangs. He was incarcerated three times before turning 21. On February 14, 1929, in an event which has become known as the Saint Valentine's Day massacre, seven members of his gang were gunned down in a warehouse, supposedly on the orders of Moran's rival Al Capone. He has been credited with popularizing the act of driving by a rival's hangout and spraying it with gunfire, now referred to as a drive-by shooting.

Harry Morgan was the third actor to play Moran in 'The Untouchables', with "Double Cross" being broadcast in December of 1962. ('The Untouchables' from 1993 belongs in the TV dimension of remakes, so that portrayal doesn't count.) Before Morgan, Lloyd Nolan originated the role in 1959 for one episode and Robert Wilke played Moran twice earlier in 1962.

Coming up with a splainin for the change in appearance for Moran, an historical figure, deserves to be more rooted in reality than quantum leaping or alien impersonation. But it also means Moran's life in Toobworld has to diverge from his established biography.

Toobworld Central is going with that old stand-by, plastic surgery. At some point between the time he was played by Lloyd Nolan and by Robert Wilke, (with Time flowing at a different pace in Toobworld's reality than in scheduled television), Moran was scarred by either an explosion or perhaps some kind of corrosive agent. He underwent whatever plastic surgery was available at that time (and we know that with the right surgeon, it was quite advanced even by the 1870's, thanks to 'The Wild Wild West'), and regained some semblance of his former appearance.

Of course, throughout the ordeal and the procedure, some damage occurred to his vocal chords, which is why his voice changed over time as well.

Hopefully that will work. I don't like breaking up TV series into individual segments and flinging them throughout the TV Universe......

Harry Morgan appeared once before in the ASOTV Gallery, in a quick post while I was on summer vacation last year. This time out, it's a little more detailed.......

Good night and may God bless.......

TV ACADEMY HALL OF FAME NEWS

Here are the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences new inductees for the Academy’s Hall of Fame

Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray (producers of 'The Real World' - BOOO!)

Michael Eisner, former head of Disney

Don Francisco, host of the Hispanic game show 'Sabado Gigante'

Sherman Helmsley, star of 'The Jeffersons' and 'Amen'

Bill Klages, lighting designer

Chuck Lorre, creative power behind 'Dharma & Greg', 'Cybill', 'Roseanne', and 'Two And A Half Men'

The late Vivian Vance and William Frawley, without whom 'I Love Lucy' would have had no shock absorbers for Lucy's manic ways........

This will be the 21st annual induction ceremony and it will be held March 1st at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

It's really nice to see someone on the technical side like Mr. Klages be honored for his work like this. But I also noticed there isn't a single script-writer in the batch.......

BCnU!

OFFICE MEMO

So I watched the 'Leverage' episode "The Office Job" Monday morning once I got home from work and I think the original assessment will still work.

The documentary being produced within that episode would be the same company that has been airing the documentary series about the 'The Office' in Scranton that sells Dunder-Mifflin paper products.

The company being examined was the Good-Cheer greeting card company in Massachusetts, which was a small, formerly family-owned business that was the life-blood for that town's economy for so many decades. I was hoping the greeting card company was a subsidiary of Dunder-Mifflin - that in order to keep the interest in their series high after so many years in the cable hinterlands (where Michael Scott couldn't even find it in his local listings), the video-makers decided to branch out and look at some new people working for the company. 

Is that a Bigfoot stance?

But.. not a problem.

Good-Cheer was being bought out by the Hearfelt card company, which was a stand-in for Hallmark, obviously. I would have preferred a nameless corporate giant (or at least a company bigger than Good-Cheer) whose representatives never do show up, because I thought that factor didn't work at all. Even after all was right with their world, there was no way Heartfelt could have felt confident enough to buy the biz, even if the rep was as big a fan of football as the company's owner. Everything should have been wrapped up long before the Heartfelt reps made their appearance. (And of course, being a nameless company, we could have then figured it was Dunder-Mifflin coming to negotiate the take-over.)

But again... no problem-o.

Having the production company be the same as the one making 'The Office' (which must be its name because it has been name-checked in several other shows) is good enough for me to make an unofficial link.

And it would have been an attempt by that company to make a pilot episode for a new series, since I think within the Toobworld reality, the time is coming fast for their version of 'The Office' to end. So they hired a new director (a Werner Herzog wannabe), but used mostly the same format (only this time, the camera crew was more intrusive.)

However, they played it safe and didn't break any new ground with the topic of their documentary.  So I have a feeling that this is one pilot for a TV show within a TV show that won't get picked up next Fall......

I'm just glad the writers for this episode didn't take the easy way out and staff that office with caricatures for all the characters from 'The Office'. Although the owner of the company was a bit doltish, he wasn't insufferable like Michael Scott. And we certainly didn't need a Creed clone or a variation on the Kelly & Ryan relationship. And there can be only one Dwight... hopefully.

It would have played hob with the believability of both companies existing in the same TV dimension. (Although there was a black guy at his desk who may not have looked like Stanley, but certainly acted like him.)

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: GEORGE GODLEY

GEORGE GODLEY

AS SEEN IN:
"Jack The Ripper"

AS PLAYED BY:
Lewis Collins

From Wikipedia:
George Albert Godley (31 October 1857 – 20 July 1941) was a police officer of the Metropolitan Police who was involved in the hunt for Jack the Ripper in 1888.

Born at East Grinstead in Sussex in 1857, Godley initially worked as a sawyer. He then joined the Metropolitan Police on 26 February 1877, and was assigned warrant number 61230. At the time of the Jack the Ripper murders in 1888 Godley was a Sergeant in London's J Division (Bethnal Green). He transferred to H Division (Whitechapel) where he assisted Inspector Frederick Abberline in the hunt for the killer. The Times of 12 November 1888 reported:

"Since the murders in Berner Street, St. Georges, and Mitre Square, Aldgate, on September 30th, Detective Inspectors Reid, Moore and Nairn, and Sergeants Thick, Godley, M'Carthy and Pearce have been constantly engaged, under the direction of Inspector Abberline (Scotland Yard), in prosecuting inquiries, but, unfortunately, up to the present time without any practical result. As an instance of the magnitude of their labours, each officer has had, on average, during the last six weeks to make some 30 separate inquiries weekly, and these have had to be made in different portions of the metropolis and suburbs. Since the two above-mentioned murders no fewer than 1,400 letters relating to the tragedies have been received by the police, and although the greater portion of these gratuitous communications were found to be of a trivial and even ridiculous character, still each one was thoroughly investigated. On Saturday (10th November) many more letters were received, and these are now being inquired into."

When Godley arrested poisoner George Chapman in 1903 the then retired Inspector Abberline allegedly said "You have caught Jack the Ripper at last" or similar words.

Godley retired on 20 January 1908 by which time he was an Inspector in K Division. He died in July 1941 aged 84.

BCnU!

TDVDS@50: MARK OF THE HECKLER

Back in November, I promised a new post about 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' on the first day of the month until next year's anniversary for the show. And here we are, into the second month and I've already broken that promise.

Better late than never, though, right? Hopefully.....

While Rob Petrie was in the Army, he reluctantly hosted a contest to win a date with Camp Crowder's "Bivouac Baby". The reason he did so reluctantly was because the Bivouac Baby happened to be his girl-friend, USO dancer Laura Meehan.

Among the soldiers in the audience, hoping for a chance to win was one guy who was identified in the credits as just "Heckler". He needled Rob about how the eventual winner was going to get the chance to take his girl-friend out on the town - well, to a Chinese restaurant, anyway.

And when Rob tried to invalidate the winner of the contest because he wasn't there in person to accept the "prize" - and then to take it for himself! - this heckler led the booing until the contest winner did show up.

It could be that Rob and the heckler met up again years later in 1966. By this time, he was working as a bartender in an Albany, New York, hotel. And Rob was hoping for the chance to watch a fashion show on the bar's TV since the one in his room was broken. However, the bartender had to follow union rules - once the bar's piano player began her set, the TV had to g off.

Because of the passage of time since Rob had been at Camp Crowder with the heckler, it didn't seem as though the two of them recognized each other.

As a hazard of the job, I guess, that bartender became an alcoholic. He quit the business and moved to Hollywood, California, in hopes of making a fresh start. There he got a job as a gopher at the TV studio where 'Inspector Lucerne' was filmed. And he became friends with the show's star, Ward Fowler. (By this point, we learned that the heckling bartender's name was Mark Davis.)

Fowler planned to murder Claire Daley, the producer of 'Inspector Lucerne', in order to end her blackmailing of him. It turns out that she knew he had been a deserter from the Army during the Korean Conflict and had gone to Canada where he became an actor. Fowler used Mark Davis as part of his alibi, first by drugging his drink. (Davis being an alcoholic was established in this episode. Fowler knew this and figured on Mark being too embarrassed about passing out to become suspicious.) He then reset Mark's watch and recorded a sports broadcast so that he could play it back for Mark when he woke up. That way, Mark would be convinced that it was playing in real time.

And so while Mark Davis was out cold, Fowler murdered Claire Daley.

Fowler's big mistake was resetting Mark's watch to the correct time once he fell asleep again. Mark always kept it five minutes fast so that he could be on time to do things in his job at the studio.

It may have been unjust, since it wasn't Mark's fault, but it could be that he was fired from the studio because of his "involvement" in the murder. If so, he could have set himself up with a shop (perhaps a pawn shop) near the beaches of Los Angeles County. There he met a lifeguard named Cody Madison in 1996, who wanted a gold medallion appraised which he had found on the ocean floor. Knowing it was worth far more, Mark offered Cody 3500 dollars for it, but Cody turned him down.

As always with my Toobworld theories, this is all just conjecture.....

SHOWS CITED:
'The Dick Van Dyke Show' - "No Rice At My Wedding"
'The Dick Van Dyke Show' - "Bad Reception In Albany"
'Columbo' - "Fade In To Murder"
'Baywatch' - "Go For The Gold"

BCnU!
 
PS:
If anybody has access to screen captures of Bert Remsen in that episode of 'Baywatch', I'd be most appreciative to get one.....

AS SEEN ON TV: LEES & MANSFIELD

For a return to "Two For Tuesday" in the ASOTV Gallery, here are two of the major players in the Jack the Ripper investigations......

ROBERT JAMES LEES

AS SEEN IN:
"Jack The Ripper"

AS PLAYED BY:
Ken Bones

From Wikipedia:
Robert James Lees (born 12 August 1849 in Hinckley, Leicestershire – died 11 January 1931 in Leicester) was a British spiritualist, medium, preacher, writer and healer of the late Victorian era and early twentieth century known today for claims that he knew the identity of Jack the Ripper, responsible for the Whitechapel murders of 1888.

At the time of the Jack the Ripper murders in 1888, Lees was living in the London area. His diary entries for 1888 reveal that on October 2, during a month when no Ripper murders took place, Lees went to both the City of London Police and Scotland Yard offering his assistance in catching Jack the Ripper. However, he was turned away as a madman on both occasions, though Scotland Yard offered to write to him.

One story, frequently quoted in books and films on the subject, is that Lees, using his psychic power, lead the Police to Jack the Ripper. This story first appeared in print on April 28, 1895, in The Chicago Herald. Another version of the same story was also published in The People on May 19, 1895.

The Chicago Herald article claimed that over a number of years Lees had been troubled by psychic visions of Jack the Ripper killing his victims. Each of these visions came true. Lees became disturbed by the visions and sought medical advice, going abroad as a result, where he no longer had the visions. Back in London, he and his wife Sarah were travelling on an omnibus when a man got on at Notting Hill. Lees turned and told his wife that the man was 'Jack the Ripper'. Even though his wife laughed at him, when the man got off the bus at Marble Arch Lees followed him. Finding a Police Constable on the way Lees told him of his suspicions, but the Constable also laughed at him.

After more murders Lees was able to convince the Police of the truth of his visions and lead them to a fashionable house in London which was home to a noted physician who had treated members of the Royal Family. On being found in incriminating circumstances, the doctor was put in a lunatic asylum under the name of Thomas Mason 124, and a mock funeral held. According to the Chicago Herald, the tale had been related by a Dr. Howard of London, who, when drunk, had told the story to a man who then told the newspaper.

Some Ripperologists disregard the story but in 1970, Dr. Thomas Stowell, a surgeon who worked with Theodore Dyke Acland, wrote in The Criminologist magazine that Acland's wife, daughter of Sir William Gull, told him of a visit to her parents' home in Mayfair of a police inspector and a man calling himself a medium. It corresponded with Lees' own account of his visit to the home of the famous physician and Dyke Acland went against medical tradition by signing Gull's death certificate - perhaps giving some support to Lees' claim that a mock burial was held for the famous physician.

This account was dramatized in the episode "Jack The Ripper" from the TV series 'The Veil'. Only Lees was called Walter Durst and Dr. Gull was known as Dr. Willowden.
 

RICHARD MANSFIELD

AS SEEN IN:
"Jack The Ripper"

AS PLAYED BY:
Armand Assante

From Wikipedia:
Richard Mansfield (24 May 1857 - 30 August 1907) was an English actor-manager best known for his performances in Shakespeare plays, Gilbert and Sullivan operas and for his portrayal of the dual title roles in "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde".

Mansfield was performing in the "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" in late summer – early autumn 1888 during the time that Jack the Ripper was murdering prostitutes in London. One frightened theatre-goer wrote to the police accusing Mansfield of the murders because he could not believe that any actor could make so convincing a stage transformation from a gentleman into a mad killer without being homicidal. Mansfield attempted to gain public favour and stem the criticism that he was receiving by offering a performance of "Prince Karl" for the benefit of the Suffragan Bishop of London's home and refuge fund.

WNU-TOOB: A SPLAININ IN BOHEMIA

When Cyber-Monday rolled around, I - being naturally self-centered - purchased only items for myself. Among these was the DVD box set of the complete "Sherlock Holmes" series starring Jeremy Brett, David Burke, and Edward Hardwicke. For this televisiologist, Brett's Holmes is the definitive version, the official portrayal for Earth Prime-Time, despite Ronald Howard, Peter Cushing, Douglas Wilmer, Stewart Granger and others having come before.

I've taken the collection to work, where I'm watching an episode each night during my lunch break. And if there's something relevant for Toobworld, I'll bring it up here.

I believe we have to take these stories by Dr. John Watson at face value as presented in the series, that we are seeing what actually transpired - even though the argument could be made that what we are seeing is the visualization of a book within Toobworld (as is the case with 'Burn Notice', 'Pushing Daisies', and 'Jack Of All Trades'.)

As such, Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, who appears in perhaps the second most famous story in the Holmes canon "A Scandal In Bohemia", is the actual King of Bohemia. Some Sherlockian theorists have conjectured that he is the veiled, roman a clef version of Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, and that the actress from New Jersey, Irene Adler, is in fact Lilly Langtry, the Jersey Lilly.

But for Toobworld, they are two distinct characters.

Also, Toobworld is inundated with fictional countries. Bohemia is a real place, but it was never a monarchy in the real world. In TV Land, it is. (And when will Ruritania finally get a live-action version in Earth Prime-Time?) There is mention of Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, daughter of the King of Scandinavia. For us in the Trueniverse, "Scandinavia" refers to the general area covered by Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark. But back in the 1880s, it must have been its own tiny kingdom in Toobworld, but probably one that was eventually absorbed by one of those aforementioned nations.

And perhaps in the construction of the Earth by the Magratheans, Slartibartfast was responsible for the crinkly bits along the shores of Scandinavia as well as for those of Norway......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: BERTIE'S DAUGHTERS

THE THREE DAUGHTERS OF KING EDWARD VII

AS SEEN IN:
'Edward The King'

AS PLAYED BY:
Louise - Vanessa Miles

Toria - Madeleine Cannon

Maud - Rosalyn Elvin

From Wikipedia:
PRINCESS LOUISE
The Princess Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife (Louise Victoria Alexandra Dagmar; 20 February 1867 – 4 January 1931) was the third child and the eldest daughter of King Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark. She was the younger sister of George V and the fifth daughter of a British monarch to be styled Princess Royal.

On Saturday 27 July 1889, Princess Louise married the 6th Earl Fife (11 October 1849 – 12 January 1912), at the Private Chapel in Buckingham Palace. He was eighteen years her senior, but her third cousin in descent from George III. Two days after the wedding, Queen Victoria created him Duke of Fife and Marquess of Macduff in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The Duke and Duchess of Fife had three children.

The Princess Royal died in January 1931, at her home in Portman Square, London and was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Her remains were later removed to the Private Chapel, Mar Lodge Mausoleum, Braemar, Aberdeenshire.

PRINCESS VICTORIA (TORIA)
The Princess Victoria (Victoria Alexandra Olga Mary; 6 July 1868 – 3 December 1935), also called "Toria", was a member of the British Royal Family, the fourth child and second daughter of Edward VII; the younger sister of George V.

Although she had a number of suitors, the most famous of them was King Carlos I of Portugal, Princess Victoria never married and as such bore no children. Her mother, Alexandra, is believed to have actively discouraged her from marrying. Instead she remained a companion to her parents, particularly her mother, with whom she lived until Queen Alexandra's death in 1925. The Princess then set up her own home at Coppins, Iver, in Buckinghamshire.

Princess Victoria died at home in December 1935. Her funeral took place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and she was buried at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore, Windsor Great Park. Her death greatly affected George V, who died one month later.

PRINCESS MAUD
Princess Maud of Wales (Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria; 26 November 1869 – 20 November 1938) was Queen of Norway as spouse of King Haakon VII. She was a member of the British Royal Family as the youngest daughter of Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark and granddaughter of Queen Victoria and also of Christian IX of Denmark. She was the younger sister of George V. Queen Maud was the first queen consort of Norway since 1380 who was not also queen consort of Denmark or Sweden.

Queen Maud never lost her love of Britain, but she quickly adapted to her new country and duties as a queen consort. She supported charitable causes, particularly those associated with children and animals, and gave encouragement to musicians and artists. She learned to ski and arranged for an English garden at Kongsseteren, the Royal lodge overlooking the nation's capital Oslo. Queen Maud's last public appearance in Britain was the coronation of her nephew, King George VI, in May 1937.

Maud died of heart failure in London on 20 November 1938, six days before her 69th birthday (and the thirteenth anniversary of her mother's death), three days after an operation. Her body was returned to Norway on board the HMS Royal Oak, the flagship of Second Battle Squadron of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. Queen Maud was buried in the royal mausoleum at the Akershus Castle in Oslo. At her death, Queen Maud was the last surviving child of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD: KEN RUSSELL & SHELAGH DELANEY

I try to keep track of all the TV-related obituaries through the year (and I wouldn't be as close to complete as I could be were it not for the blogs "Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear", "Boot Hill", and "Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine".) And as I add names to the list, I often find strong links to others already on that year's roster. (Like the year both Len Weinrib and Jack Wild of 'H.R. Pufnstuf' passed away.)


Just recently a link was completed with the passing of visionary director Ken Russell, perhaps best known for movies like "The Who's Tommy", "Altered States", and "Lair Of The White Worm". Just a week before him, playwright Shelagh Delaney passed away - while still a teenager, she wrote her most famous play "A Taste Of Honey".

Together they collaborated on a short documentary for the TV series 'Monitor':

Good night and may God bless.......

FAN-MADE "WHO"

Of course, no Inner Toob Video Weekend would be complete without some 'Doctor Who'......

Not a bad tip o' the hat.  I'd go so far as to say that either this is one of the Doctor's many reincarnations in his 500+ run, or it's from the original line of thirteen regenerations from the Valeyard's timeline.......

BCnU!

SKED ALERT! "LEVERAGE" - SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2011

For now, I'm only going to post the promotional blipvert for tonight's episode of 'Leverage', known as "The Office Job":

After I've had a chance to see it myself, I'll weigh in on its connections to the American version of 'The Office'.

At the very least, right now I'm prepared to say that both TV within TV series are produced by the same production company......

BCnU!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! (FROM "STEPTOE AND SON")

From now until Christmas Day, I'll be posting Christmas videos from one particular show each Sunday. And since this weekend has been putting the spotlight on 'Steptoe And Son', why not continue the trend with their Christmas special (which I believe was the final show in the series.)

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: HARRY H. CORBETT

HARRY H. CORBETT

AS SEEN IN:
"The Curse Of Steptoe"

AS PLAYED BY:
Jason Isaacs

From Wikipedia:
Harry H. Corbett (28 February 1925 – 21 March 1982) was an English actor.

Corbett was best known for his starring role in the popular and long-running BBC Television sitcom 'Steptoe and Son' in the 1960s and 70s. Early in his career he was dubbed "the English Marlon Brando" by some sections of the British press.

A chance meeting with writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who had been successful with 'Hancock's Half Hour', changed Corbett's life.

And so in 1962, Corbett appeared in "The Offer", an episode of the BBC's anthology series of one-off comedy plays, 'Comedy Playhouse', written by Galton and Simpson. He played Harold Steptoe, a rag-and-bone man living with his irascible father Albert, played by Wilfrid Brambell, in a junkyard with only their horse for company.

The play was a success and a full series ran, with breaks, until 1974, when the Christmas special became the final episode. Although the popularity of 'Steptoe and Son' made Corbett a star, it ended his serious acting as he became irreversibly associated with Steptoe (even during his appearance as a lead character in "Carry On Screaming!") in the public eye. Before the series began Corbett had played Shakespeare's Richard II to great acclaim; however, when he played Hamlet in 1970 he felt both critics and audiences alike were not taking him seriously, because they could only see him as Harold Steptoe.

Production was made stressful as Brambell was an alcoholic often ill-prepared for rehearsals, forgetting his lines or movements. A tour of a 'Steptoe and Son' stage show in Australia in the late 1970s proved a disaster. Brambell drank heavily, which sometimes affected his acting. However, the two re-united in 1981 for one final performance as 'Steptoe and Son' in a commercial for Kenco coffee.

There were two 'Steptoe and Son' films: "Steptoe and Son" (1972) and "Steptoe and Son Ride Again" (1973). He also had the leading role in two other television series, 'Mr. Aitch' in 1967 (written especially for him) and 'Grundy' in 1980.

After the 'Steptoe and Son' series officially finished, he played the character again on radio (in a newly written sketch in 1979) as well as two television commercials for Ajax Soap power and one for Kenco Coffee.

Corbett also released a string of 45rpm record releases, most of which were novelty songs based upon the rag and bone character, including "Harry You Love Her" and "Junk Shop". In 1973 he also recorded an album titled "Only Authorised Employees To Break Bottles" which was a 'showcase of accents', with songs from Corbett in a range of accents including Liverpool, Birmingham, and Mancunian. Including the album, he released over 30 songs.

Corbett was a Labour Party campaigner, had appeared in a party political broadcast, and was a guest of Harold Wilson. Harold Steptoe had been Labour Party secretary for Shepherd's Bush West in the sixth series episode, "Tea for Two". In 1969 Harry appeared as Harold Steptoe in a Labour Party Political Broadcast, where Bob Mellish had to defend Harold Steptoe's accusation that all parties are the same. This was not in any way affiliated with Galton and Simpson who wrote Steptoe.

As Prime Minister, Wilson wished to have Corbett awarded an OBE, but the middle initial "H" was lost in the process and the award went to the Sooty puppeteer, Harry Corbett, instead. Both were eventually included the same New Year's Honours list on 1 January 1976.

A heavy smoker, Corbett had his first heart attack in 1979. He appeared in pantomime at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley, within two days of leaving hospital. He was then badly hurt in a car accident. He appeared shortly afterwards in the BBC detective series 'Shoestring', his facial injuries obvious.

Harry H Corbett died of a heart attack in March 1982 in Hastings, East Sussex. He was 57. He is buried in the churchyard at Penhurst, East Sussex.

Corbett married twice, first to the actress Sheila Steafel, and then to Maureen Blott, who bore him two children, one of whom, Susannah Corbett, is an actress, known for the role of Ellie Pascoe in the BBC's television adaptations of Reginald Hill's 'Dalziel and Pascoe' detective novels.

He is commemorated in the name of the Corbett Theatre at the East 15 Acting School at Loughton, which was founded by Margaret Bury and Jean Newlove, two members of Theatre Workshop, where Corbett worked.

BCnU......