As part of our salute to 'Centennial' during this TV Western month, we
featured the character of Tranquilino Marquez, as played by A Martinez, earlier
this week. And as we do on occasion (with characters like Cass Caldicott from
'The Rifleman') we use certain TV characters to make hypothetical links between
TV shows based on theories of relateeveety. Tranquilino is such a character -
we claimed that many of Martinez's characters on other series were all descended
from him.
One of these was Daniel Morales on 'L.A. Law'. I guess he was brought in
to be the token Latino after Jimmy Smits as Victor Sifuentes moved on.
Here's the introduction to the show for Morales:
Morales' mention of Santa Barbara at the end is an in-joke reference to the
soap opera in which A Martinez played his best loved role, Cruz Castillo.
Based on this, I'm going to claim that Cruz and Daniel were identical
cousins, growing up together in 'Santa Barbara'. Being cousins, there doesn't
have to be any reason why either one of them should have mentioned the
other......
I couldn't find a full episode of 'Rango' on YouTube to "salute" the late
Norman Alden, but for today's Westview feature, I chose another TV Western
comedy screw-up:
Back in July, actor Norman Alden passed away; he was in his 80s. I think
his best known role in Toobworld would have been Coach Leroy Fedders on 'Mary
Hartman, Mary Hartman'. And that was mostly because of the way he signed
off.....
In my opinion, that has to be the best death scene actually seen on
TV.
Alden did a lot of voice work in the Tooniverse. He was the first voice to
be associated with the super-hero Plastic Man:
And since this is the month in which we celebrate TV Westerns, Norman Alden
was a regular on Tim Conway's short-lived sitcom 'Rango' in which he was a
bumbling Texas Ranger. Alden played his boss, Captain Horton at the Deep Wells
Ranger Station. Horton wanted to get Rango transferred, but that was impossible
when Rango's father was the head of the Texas Rangers.
Not only one of the best characters in the book and series, but one of the best names as well.
From Wikipedia:
A range war develops between the cattle ranchers led by Seccombe, farmers
led by Hans Brumbaugh, and sheep herders led by new settler Messmore Garrett
(Clint Ritchie). New town sheriff Axel Dumire (Brian Keith) tries to settle the
conflict peacefully but it soon escalates into violence.
Sheriff Dumire has
suspected the Wendells of shady activities since their arrival and questions
them about the missing businessman. He hounds the Wendells but they won't crack
and without a body the sheriff can do nothing. The Wendells' young son Philip
admires the sheriff and has no respect for his father. He wants to tell him the
truth but cannot bring himself to betray his own flesh and blood. The sheriff is
killed by remnants of the gang hired to drive the farmers out in the range war,
and Philip begins to reveal the secret only as Dumire dies.
Phyllis Thaxter, 92, an actress who had an active film career in the 1940s
and '50s and capped it with her portrayal of Clark Kent's mother in the 1978
version of "Superman," died Tuesday at her home in Orlando, Fla., said her
daughter, actress Skye Aubrey. She had Alzheimer's disease.
Thaxter also
had numerous television parts in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Lux Video
Theatre" and other anthology series as well as prime-time episodic
programs.
One of those anthology show episodes was for 'The Twilight
Zone'......
Among those episodic TV programs were episodes of 'Murder, She Wrote',
'Medical Center', 'Marcus Welby, M.D.', 'Coronet Blue', 'Cannon', and 'Barnaby
Jones'. Plus, she did a number of TV Westerns, among them 'Lancer', 'Bonanza',
'Rawhide', and 'Wagon Train'.
This being the month in which we celebrate the TV Western, here's the
'Wagon Train' episode which was named after her character:
The 'V' alien invasion of Earth Prime-Time took place in the original
Toobworld timeline. But it was wiped out with all of the following reboots and
revisions. This was caused by the introduction of the rag-tag fleet of
spaceships led by the 'Battlestar Galactica', which arrived in the Sol System in
1980. Three years later when the "Visitors" arrived, the Galacticans were
well-established as the guardians of the Lost Colony of Earth. They destroyed
the "Visitors" with the people of Earth being none the wiser about what
happened.
But with or without the 'V' invasion, the same TV characters would still
have existed in Toobworld, only their fates would be different.
Such a character would be Sancho Gomez.
SANCHO GOMEZ
From the 'V' wikia:
Sancho Gomez is a gardener in the employ of the Maxwells, Dupres,
Bernsteins and several other neighborhood families at the time of the First
Invasion. Though he regretfully stops working for the Maxwells as his other
clients know of their scientist status, he helps them escape through the Visitor
security checkpoints, however, Eleanor Dupres hears Katie Maxwell crying in his
truck and alerts the Visitors to Sancho's location, and they arrest him after
discovering evidence of him smuggling the family away. He is brutalized while in
custody but is rescued by Mike Donovan and they, along with a now-captive Robin
Maxwell, escape in a Visitor Skyfighter. During the chase by pursuing fighters,
he shoots down the fighters and joins the Resistance upon reaching safety.
Sancho is part of the discussion of whether to use the Red Dust to force the
Visitors to leave Earth and part of the attack team on the Visitor Mothership
orbiting Los Angeles, and helped secure the ship for the Resistance and return
it to Earth under their control. He stated that his grandfather fought with
Zapata during the Mexican Revolution of the early 1900s.
Since Sancho's grandfather fought alongside Zapata in the Mexican
Revolution (which began in 1910), then his grandfather could have been the son
of Nacho Gomez, left behind when Nacho fled to Centennial, Colorado, with his
nephew Tranquilino Marquez.
IGNACIO "NACHO" GOMEZ
And so a theory of relateeveety can connect a traditional TV Western
mini-series to an allegorical science-fiction TV mini-series......
As we celebrate the many characters from the epic mini-series 'Centennial'
based on the book by James Michener, we're also paying tribute on the Fridays to
the three actors from the show who passed away in July of this year.
This is the last of those tributes.......
PROFESSOR LEWIS VERNOR
CREATED BY:
James Michener
PORTRAYED BY:
Andy Griffith
AS SEEN IN:
'Centennial'
TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time
TV STATUS:
From Georgia, he may be related to Ben Matlock......
From Wikipedia:
Professor Lew Vernor (Andy Griffith) and writer Sidney Enderman (Sharon
Gless) arrive in town to do research on the history of Centennial. Vernor goes
to Paul Garrett to learn the history of the region. Later while exploring the
town Vernor discovers a washed-out cave with human remains on the Wendell's
property. Morgan, recognizing the scene from his father's tales, orders Vernor
out and hides the evidence of the century-old murder that made his family
wealthy.
While telling Vernor and Enderman the history of Centennial, [Paul
Garrett] is persuaded to run against Wendell in the election for the new
statewide office of Commissioner of Resources, an elected office that will
balance economic growth with environmental and historical preservation.
"The Scream of Eagles" picked up over forty (40) years after "The Winds of Death" in the late 1970s. A history professor named Lew Vernor has been hired
by a magazine to examine the studies and work of a historian named Carol
Endermann, whom they had earlier hired to research Centennial's history for an
article. During his visit to Centennial, Vernor is given a tour of the region by
Paul Garrett, the current owner of the Venneford Ranch. Not
only does he become aware of the area's history, Vernor also becomes interested
in a growing political showdown between Garrett and local landowner Morgan
Wendell for the position of Colorado's new Commissioner of Resources, a position
designed to balance the state's economic growth with environmental and
historical preservation.
The episode featured some solid acting from the likes of Andy Griffith
and Sharon Gless, who portrayed Lew Vernor and Carol Endermann - the two
outsiders researching Centennial's past.
Tranquilino Marquez, a migrant farm worker in Centennial, Colorado, and
nephew to Ignacio Gomez, was married to his childhood sweetheart, Serafina.
They had three children - Victoriano, Triunfador, and a daughter.
Around the turn of the 20th Century, the Marquez family found themselves
back in Mexico and caught up in the revolution. Serafina was allowed to go back
to Centennial with the two youngest children, but Victoriano had to stay behind
with Tranquilino and fight alongside the rebels.
If he was old enough to make war, Victoriano was probably old enough to
make love. It's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that Victoriano had at least one
sweetheart, perhaps a few, among the village girls with whom he had become
intimate. And when he shipped off on the train with his father, Victoriano may
have left behind at least one of those girls carrying his child.
If so, Victoriano didn't live long enough to go back and see his
offspring......
Triunfador and his sister grew to adulthood in the relative safety of
Colorado. There the girl married and stayed true to her husband. But to make
my theory of relateeveety work, she gave birth to several daughters. Each of
them grew up and married and had their own children, all bearing the surnames of
their fathers. (This will help spread the theory of relateeveety
farther.)
Triunfador would be the town-catter in the family, proving his
"swordsmanship" all across the West. And by "swordsmanship", I mean more along
the lines of Lothario than Zorro.
And I don't think he confined himself to just his own people, the
Mexicans. Triunfador probably had affairs with Anglos (among them an Irish
woman), and among the Indians as well. Not just the Arapaho in the Centennial
region, but he may have traveled north to Wyoming - into Absaroka County. There
he could have impregnated a Cheyenne woman by the name of Nighthorse.
As is the way with tele-genetics, a DNA strain closely resembling the core
essence of Tranquilino Marquez was recreated in the late 1940's among all those
descendants of his. All of those children would grow up to look exactly like
him.
By that point in time, many of those children grew up in California, most
prominently one in Santa Barbara, but also one in Calabasas and most of the
others in the East L.A. area.
We saw one of his descendants down in Mexico, Curro Rangel, working for
retired bull-fighter Luis Montoya. (Montoya used a bull to kill Curro's
father.) Curro could likely count Victoriano Marquez as his
grandfather.....
Here are a few others of the "Grade A" citizens of Toobworld that could be
descended from Tranquilino Marquez:
"Longmire"
Jacob Nighthorse
"The Bold and the Beautiful"
Dr. Ramon Montgomery
"One Life to
Live"
Ray Montez
"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"
Assemblyman
Danilo Zamesca
"For the People"
Michael Olivas
"Profiler"
Agent Nick 'Coop' Cooper
"L.A. Law"
Daniel
Morales
(Two years earlier, Morales' identical cousin Hector Rodriguez showed up in
the episode "The Last Gasp". Since Daniel was in Santa Barbara before joining McKenzie-Brackman, he could be identical cousins with Cruz Castillo as well.)
"Santa Barbara"
Cruz Castillo
(Probably the most famous of the TV roles assayed by A Martinez. I'd love
to see him show up as Cruz in an episode of 'Psych'!)
"Whiz Kids"
Lt.
Neal Quinn
"Cassie & Co."
Benny Silva
"General
Hospital"
Roy DiLucca
And these were just the regular characters A Martinez played, or in the
case of the Las Vegas assemblyman, a recurring role.......
I don't include the sickly mobster named Calderon from an episode of 'Castle' in this litany, as that show takes place in another TV dimension......
Tranquilino Marquez was the nephew of Ignacio "Nacho" Gomez. His wife's
name was Serafina, and he had three children - Victoriano, Triunfador, and a
daughter. With Nacho's help, he fled north across the border to Colorado in
order to escape the violence of revolution.
There in Centennial he worked for
Hans "Potato" Brumbaugh in his sugar beet fields.
Theory has it that the Amerind planet (as seen in the 'Star Trek' episode
"The Paradise Syndrome" where Kirk became "Kirok") was seeded by "the
Preservers" with Native American tribes. According to Spock's analysis, the
members of Miramanee's tribe were comprised of Mohegan, Delaware, and Navajo, a
curious blend.
But this was just one tribe, and the Amerind people had been on the planet
for millennia. Surely the Preservers took samplings from many other tribes as
well in order to maintain a strong gene pool - the Cherokee, the Pequot, the
Cheyenne, the Sioux....
So why not Arapaho?
And if they did, who's to say the Preservers didn't cull members of the
Arapaho tribe to which Lame Beaver of 'Centennial' belonged? (Albeit from
hundreds, if not thousands, of years in the past.)
So there's a theoretical link between 'Star Trek' and 'Centennial' which
benefits from the inability to counter the claim.....
Frank Skimmerhorn [is] a religious zealot who arrives at Major Mercy's camp and offers to lead the war against the Indians. Mercy is frustrated with the government's refusal to honor their promises but has not given up on achieving a lasting peace with the Indians. His good intentions infuriate Skimmerhorn, who secretly inflames the people of the territory and gets them to support a private army. Only Major Mercy and young officer John McIntosh are brave enough to stand up for the Indians. Ultimately, with the help of Levi Zendt and Skimmerhorn's son John, justice is served.
On Zendt's recommendation, [Oliver Seccombe] hires young John Skimmerhorn to round up the men and cattle needed to launch the West's largest cattle ranch, the Venneford.
Traveling to Texas, Skimmerhorn hires R.J. Poteet, an experienced trail boss, who hand picks a team of seasoned drovers and eager youngsters.
Accountant Finlay Perkins has been sent to the Venneford to do an audit for his British employers. Unable to understand Oliver Seccombe's creative accounting or the intricacies of running a cattle ranch, he accuses him of misconduct--despite a lack of concrete evidence--demands his resignation, and appoints ranch foreman John Skimmerhorn as his replacement.
The newly widowed Charlott Seccombe returns briefly to England but eventually returns to the land she loves to take over the ranch holdings with manager John Skimmerhorn and foreman Jim Lloyd.
- Written by Joe Ross
Having married Jim Lloyd, Charlotte Buckland Seccombe Lloyd maneuvers a new job for John Skimmerhorn as the manager of another ranch so that Jim can become the manager of the Venneford. Jim sees through the ploy.
Jim Lloyd started out as a 14 year old greenhorn working the first cattle
drive along the Skimmerhorn Trail, and was then hired on as a ranch hand at the
Crown Vee (Venneford) Ranch. He later became ranch foreman and then the ranch
manager culminating in his marriage to the widowed owner, Charlotte Buckland
Seccombe.
John Milton Chivington (January 27, 1821 – October 4, 1894) was a colonel in the United States Army who served in the American Indian Wars during the Colorado War and the New Mexico Campaigns of the American Civil War. In 1862 he was celebrated as a hero following the Battle of Glorieta Pass against a Confederate supply train.
Chivington gained infamy for leading a 700-man force of Colorado Territory militia during the massacre at Sand Creek in November 1864. An estimated 70–163 peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho – about two-thirds of whom were women, children, and infants – were killed and mutilated by his troops. Chivington and his men took scalps and other body parts as battle trophies, including human fetuses and male and female genitalia.
The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War conducted an investigation of the massacre, but no charges were brought against Chivington or other participants. The closest thing to a punishment Chivington suffered was the effective end of his political aspirations.
Later he became the first Grand Master of Masons of Colorado.
I haven't done a Tiddlywinkydink in a very long time, perhaps years! It's a Toobworld category in which we look at the real world inspiration for a TV show..... BCnU!
It's just another Maniac Monday: the subjects of each of today's posts have something in common - the eradication of the Red Man.....
COLONEL FRANK SKIMMERHORN
CREATED BY:
James Michener
PORTRAYED BY:
Richard Crenna
AS SEEN IN:
'Centennial'
TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time
From Wikipedia:
A recent Colorado settler named Frank Skimmerhorn (Richard Crenna) forms a
volunteer militia to deal with the tribes. Skimmerhorn, a survivor of tribal
wars in Minnesota, is a charismatic but mentally unbalanced leader who has a
pathological hatred of all native Americans. He leads an attack on a band of
peaceful unarmed Arapaho ordering the slaughter of everyone in the camp
including women and children.
Captain John McIntosh (Mark Harmon), a young officer under Skimmerhorn's
command, refuses to join in the massacre and is court martialed for
insubordination. At the trial, graphic testimony from a young soldier turns
public opinion against Skimmerhorn. However, by manipulating the facts,
Skimmerhorn is able to regain favor with the people, culminating with his
capture and summary execution of Jake Pasquinel.
Seeing no hope, Mike Pasquinel is convinced by the Zendts to surrender to
the Regular Army in Denver where, in theory at least, he will receive a fair
trial. As they are marching to the Army's command headquarters waving white
flags Skimmerhorn (who is giving an interview to a local newspaper editor)
shoots Mike in the back killing him in cold blood. Public opinion is then firmly
turned against Skimmerhorn.
Maxwell Mercy, outraged at his brothers-in law's murders, challenges
Skimmerhorn to a duel and nearly kills him only to be stopped by Levi Zendt.
Disgraced and rejected by his son John, Skimmerhorn leaves
Colorado.
James A. Michener loosely based his character Frank Skimmerhorn
in the novel Centennial on Chivington. In the 1978 miniseries based on
Michener's novel, Frank Skimmerhorn was portrayed by Richard Crenna.
Every episode of this series had as its title "Client: ____" with the name of that week's client filling in the blank. Neal Adams (a name more famous in the world of comic books) was played by James Drury, who would go on to greater glory as "The Virginian" in the show of that same name.
We never did find out the name of The Virginian......
This is another good video clip to highlight today's "ASOTV" character,
Alexander McKeag. This time, instead of McKeag telling the truth about himself,
we have Pasquinel weaving a tale about his new young partner that will become
part of the legend rather than the history. And it will also help keep him
alive - thieves might think twice before attacking the man who fought in
hand-to-hand combat against a gang of Pawnee... and at such an early age!
(Chamberlain pulled off the portrayal of a twenty-something.)
The video was posted to highlight that episode's big-name guest star, Clint
Walker as Joe Bean. It was rather a wasted used of the former TV Western star
(having played Cheyenne Bodie, a member of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, Class
of 2003.) But we could say that Joe Bean of Kentucky was the grandfather of
'Cheyenne'.
But there's something else of Toobworldly value in this scene to which I
would like to draw your attention.
I've always said that EVERYBODY seen in a TV show has a story, even those
"atmosphere people" in the background of a scene. And we have a great example
as seen in this frame grab.
Carrying that barrel behind Clint Walker, Richard Chamberlain, and Robert
Conrad is a 17 year old just starting out in the business.
His name? George Clooney.
It's easy enough to figure out how to play this extra's life story.... He
is the ancestor to Douglas "Ace" Ross of Chicago. Known by the nickname of Ace,
Doug Ross put himself through medical school by working as an orderly and
paramedic at Clark Street Hospital in Chicago.
(However, to help keep his
relationship to his aunt, Joan Thor, who is the head nurse in the emergency
room, a secret, Doug used the name of "Mark Kolmar" rather than "Doug Ross." It
was already known by the others who worked with Nurse Thor that her maiden name
was Ross and that she had a nephew named Doug. To make it simple for himself,
Doug/Mark insisted that everybody call him by his nickname of "Ace.")
Once he graduated from medical school, Doug Ross worked in the emergency
room across town in Chicago, at the County General Hospital.
This ancestor of Doug Ross didn't want to spend his life working for
others, lifting heavy barrels in the trading post town of St. Louis, Missouri.
So when he was older, he followed the Mississippi River north until he reached
the river's watershed on the Great Lakes in the area that would one day become
known as Chicago. There he established himself and started a family, which
culminated with Dr. Doug Ross of the 'ER' (and 'E/R'......)
Pasquinel once again heads west and meets up with Alexander McKeag (Richard
Chamberlain), a Scottish-born trapper captured by the Pawnee. He saves the
Scot's life by giving the Pawnee chief the gun that Pasquinel had previously
promised him. Pasquinel also gives the chief some of Bockweiss' silver, even
though some of the chief's braves had previously tried to kill Pasquinel. The
Pawnee chief accepts and guarantees Pasquinel and McKeag safe travel through his
lands. After McKeag's life is saved, the two become partners and lifelong
friends.
From the Chamberlain Fans
website: The
handsome and classy Richard Chamberlain, played against type, transforming
himself into the rugged, crusty, frontiersman. What a sensational frontiersman
he was! When the gorgeous Alexander McKeag, with glorious golden red/blonde
hair, and matching beard, emerges on the screen, he literally takes your breath
away. The handsome actor is beyond spectacular, when he slips effortlessly into
the character of Alexander McKeag. Richard often speaks warmly of this
best-loved role. He loved playing the gentle, but tough Scotsman, who trusted
himself and caused the beloved actor, to feel especially whole.
As always with Richard Chamberlain, you get a top-notch performance, and an
actor who is just fabulous to look at, as an added bonus. He looked and sounded
so Scottish (perfecting a flawless Scotch brogue), that this character may well
have been his career Magnum Opus! He was absolutely marvelous. One is amazed,
the Indians let him get away, without confiscating that glorious head of hair
for their trophy poles.
'Centennial' was one of the TV roles that established Chamberlain as "the
King of the Mini-Series", the others being 'Shogun' and 'The Thorn Birds'.
