MISSING LINK - BLACK DRESS

Before she hit it big in the movies as the 1970s dawned, Karen Black was guest-starring in several TV series - 'Run For Your Life', 'The Name Of The Game', 'Adam-12', and 'The Invaders'.  She even did a couple of Westerns - 'The Iron Horse' and 'The Big Valley'.  (When her movie career no longer commanded the attention it once garnered, Toobworld welcomed her back.)

With one of those Westerns, there's something decidedly Toobworthy about her appearance which intrigued this televisiologist.  I can't claim credit for discovering it; that honor goes to the wonderful "Cowgirl" who runs the "Rifleman" website.

Before we get down to discussing the particular, why not enjoy one of the earliest performances by the late Karen Black.....

Any idea what was of particular note about Ms. Black's character of Clara Roberts?

It was that dress she wore, as seen at the top of the post.

As "Cowgirl" discovered with her keen eye to detail when it comes to TV Westerns, the design of that dress proved to be mighty popular in the wild, wild West - all of the young frontier ladies apparently owned a copy....

But I'm not quite satisfied with just the fact that all of those women ordered the same dress.  I want to know who they bought it from, preferably bringing in another TV show to this patch of the tele-mosaic.  

Therefore, I think they all found it offered in the dry goods catalogue from Levinson's in Cincinnati, Ohio.

(Isidore Levinson is the late father of Cora, the Countess Grantham of 'Downton Abbey'.)

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - JEFF GOLDBLUM

JEFF GOLDBLUM

From Wikipedia:

Jeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum (born October 22, 1952) is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including "The Fly", "Jurassic Park" and its sequel "Jurassic Park: The Lost World", and "Independence Day". He starred as Detective Zach Nichols for the eighth and ninth seasons of the USA Network's crime drama series 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent'.

Goldblum replaced Chris Noth as a Senior Detective on 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent'. In the series, Goldblum plays the role of Detective Zach Nichols. In August 2010, media outlets reported that Goldblum had decided not to return to Criminal Intent due to persistent concerns about the program's future.

AS SEEN IN:

'Easy To Assemble'

"Co-Mingling"

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TOOBWORLD SPOTLIGHT: NOT SO BUTCH CASSIDY

Cassidy Brown is a young actress who hasn't hit the big time yet, but she is steadily working in both films and TV for the last few years.  And she has two unnamed roles in TV shows that put her ⅔ of the way towards membership in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.  (But more than likely only as part of the Birthday Honors List.)

'Center of the Universe'
"And the Silver Medal Goes To..." (2004)
Office Assistant

'Franklin & Bash'
"Out of the Blue" (2013)
Club Waitress

Here's how it would play out:

This young, currently unnamed woman is originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she worked as an office assistant.  But at some point after 2004, she must have decided to try her luck in Los Angeles, perhaps as an actress.

To that end, she got a job as a waitress at a country club frequented by many of the luminaries in the legal field, including Stanton Infeld, Leonard Franklin, and the late Judge Henry Dinsdale.

Should Cassidy Brown appear again in some small role set in Los Angeles, and which has no strings attached (extensive backstory, for example), we might even include it as part of the character's growing resume.  Even if such a character has been given a name, that would still be allowed.  However, once named, it would be difficult (but NEVER impossible for ye olde Toobmeister!) to later claim that another named character played by Cassidy Brown was the same person.

Every so often I'll be checking back in to the IMDb to see if Ms. Brown's alter-ego has expanded her life during Prime-Time......

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - DARLA HOOD

DARLA HOOD

From Wikipedia:

Darla Jean Hood (November 8, 1931 - June 13, 1979) was an American child actress, best known as the leading lady in the "Our Gang series from 1935 to 1941. She was born in Leedey, Oklahoma", the only child of James Claude Hood and Elizabeth Davner. Her father worked in a bank and her mother was a music teacher.

Hood then went out on her own with singing engagements in nightclubs and guest appearances on TV. She was a regular on 'The Ken Murray Show' from 1950 to 1951. In 1955, she was a leading lady in the act of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. She had a hit record in 1957, "I Just Wanna Be Free", and appeared in the movie "Calypso Heat Wave" (1957) singing a duet with Johnny Desmond. She also recorded two songs with the Ray Whitaker Orchestra, "Only Yours" and "Silent Island," for RayNote Records.

Hood was a guest on such TV shows of the early 1960s as 'Tell It to Groucho' and 'The Jack Benny Show', where she appeared on October 30, 1962 as "Darla" in a spoof of the Our Gang comedies with Jack Benny (who appeared as Alfalfa), and 'The Charlotte Peters Show' in St. Louis. She did singing and voice-over work on TV commercials, which included Campbell Soup and Chicken of the Sea tuna. She appeared in her own nightclub act at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles, the Copacabana in New York, and the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

AS SEEN IN:

'The Screen Directors' Playhouse'

"It's A Most Unusual Day"

SYNOPSIS:

Darla was one of the singers in Jimmy McHugh's revue at the Mocambo's nightclub.  She sang "On The Sunny Side Of The Street".

O'BSERVATION:

Darla was listed as one of the vocalists in the credits, but was never acknowledged as playing herself.  But since Jimmy McHugh was appearing as himself, why not his singers?

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - "THE NEWCOMERS"

'DEFIANCE'
"IF EVER I LEAVE THIS WORLD ALIVE"

Lawkeeper Nolan was upset that his foster daughter Irisa would be "sequestered" in the mines "with a bunch of 'slaghead' minders who think she's Typhoid Mary."

"Slag" was the pejorative term used to describe the Tenctonese when the former alien slaves sought refuge on Earth back in the early 1990's (as seen in the TV series 'Alien Nation'.)  They were also called "sponge-heads".

'Defiance' takes place in the future of an alternate TV dimension, but it could be that the Tenctonese were to be found on that world as well.  And after so many decades, the terms may have been corrupted over Time and then combined to become "slagheads".

Or maybe not.  But it wouldn't mean that the Tenctonese never arrived on Earth before the Votan races.

The splainin as to why we haven't seen any Tectonese (no longer "Newcomers" by that point) in Defiance, Missouri, is because most of them settled in the Los Angeles area.  That's where their slave ship came down in the desert after the slaves rebelled against their Overseers.  And on the whole, they may not have survived the Pale Wars or the radical terra-forming of the planet... especially if they were exposed to massive amounts of salt water during those chaotic times.

But it brings up another question - where are the Tenctonese today in Earth Prime-Time?  If they are still around in Los Angeles, shouldn't we have seen at least one in L.A.-based series like 'Major Crimes', 'Franklin & Bash', 'Californication', and 'NCIS: Los Angeles'?  (And then there are the sitcoms!)

Splainin?  A handful may have decided to remain on Toobworld - the Francisco family, for example, and Cathy Frankel who married to human detective Matthew Sykes.  (I like to think that we could see George Sam Francisco on 'Major Crimes' if only Captain Raydor chose to visit his office at police headquarters instead of Russell Taylor's, the Assistant Chief of Operations. I think George Francisco would have been kicked upstairs to a management position based on his prowess in the field.)

But as for the thousands of others?  I think they accepted an offer to be taken off-world to a new planet that could be wholly their own, with no indigent sentient species to contend with... and NO salt water!  (Lessons learned from the mistakes made regarding Israel and Palestine, perhaps?  Except for the salt water part, of course.)

And who would have been able to provide such a monumental taxi service to this New Tencton?

Just sayin', is all.......

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - JIMMY McHUGH

JIMMY McHUGH

From Wikipedia:

James Francis McHugh (July 10, 1894 – May 23, 1969) was an American composer. One of the most prolific songwriters from the 1920s to the 1950s, he is credited with over 500 songs. His songs were recorded by such artists as Bill Kenny, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland (who died only one month after McHugh), Billie Holiday, Adelaide Hall, Nina Simone, Chet Baker, Dinah Washington, June Christy, Peggy Lee, Deanna Durbin, and Ella Fitzgerald.

AS SEEN IN:

'Screen Directors' Playhouse'

"It's A Most Unusual Day"

SYNOPSIS:

Peter and Margie Terrence went to the Mocambo's nightclub to see & hear the Jimmy McHugh revue.  Each of his songs reminded them of a key moment in their past life together.

SONGS FEATURED:

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THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY - THE PATTERSONS OF SANTA BARBARA

The gubernatorial candidate represented by Nicholls, Darrell and Darrell in "Shriek Of Silence" (an episode of 'The Bold Ones') was Stephen Patterson.  He owned a ranch just outside of Santa Barbara and had several children, most of whom were young adults or at least of college age.

So I decided to look through the cast lists for the TV series 'Psych' - also set in Santa Barbara - to see if I could make a theory of relateeveety.

Not only did I find two other Pattersons, but their casting makes the theory all the more interesting.

I regret now that I didn't take a picture off the TV screen of Patterson (played by Craig Stephens) as he celebrated with his family at the end of the episode.  One of his sons had to be about 25 at least, certainly old enough to start a family.  

But who would he have married?  

I'm thinking she was a black woman.

The two Pattersons who showed up in two different episodes of 'Psych' were both black.  And with Chelsea Patterson, played by Ecstasia Sanders, she looks to be of mixed heritage.  (Ms. Sanders' resume says that she can play the ethnicities of Caucasian, Mixed, Caribbean, Latin/Hispanic, and African American.)

The other Patterson - no first name given - was played by Reese Alexander and if I'm not mistaken, he was a fireman working in Santa Barbara.  Chelsea Patterson didn't fare well in her adult life - working at a company called CyberVault, she was discovered to have met with the bad guys who murdered an old friend of Gus.  

Both of them could be the children of one of Stephen Patterson's sons, most likely the oldest one given the apparent age of Patterson the fireman.

And that son could be Tony Patterson, who was the District Attorney in 'Santa Barbara'........

If this theory of relateeveety works, then the Patterson family would link 'The Bold Ones' ('The Lawyers'), 'Psych', and 'Santa Barbara'.

SHOWS CITED:

'The Bold Ones' ('The Lawyers') - "Shriek Of Silence"

'Psych' - "Earth, Wind, and... Wait For It...."

'Psych' - "High Top Fade-Out"

'Santa Barbara' - 14 episodes

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - SUSAN LUCCI

SUSAN LUCCI

From Wikipedia:

Susan Victoria Lucci (born December 23, 1946) is an American actress, television host, author and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the ABC daytime drama 'All My Children'. The character is considered an icon, and Lucci has been called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with New York Times and Los Angeles Times citing her as the highest-paid actor in daytime television. As early as 1991, her salary had been reported as over $1 million a year.

In 1996, TV Guide ranked Lucci number 37 on its 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time list. In 2005, she received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2006. She was named one of VH1’s 200 Top Icons of All-Time and one of Barbara Walters’s Ten Most Fascinating People. She has also played roles in made-for-TV movies, hosted many shows and guest starred on television comedy series, including 'Saturday Night Live' and 'Hot in Cleveland'. She also has her own line of hair care products, perfumes, lingerie and skin care, called The Susan Lucci Collection. As of 2012 she hosted 'Deadly Affairs', and currently stars as Genevieve Delatour in the Lifetime television series 'Devious Maids'.

AS SEEN IN:

'Hot In Cleveland'

"Tornado"

"I Love Lucci Parts One & Two"

"Life With Lucci"

SYNOPSIS:

Susan Lucci is the rival and arch-nemesis of fellow actress Victoria Chase.

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CLASSIC TELEVISION THEATER - "THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES" ("THE INDIANS ARE COMING")

O'BSERVATIONS:
WARNING!  It's been nearly fifty years since this episode was first broadcast.  Sensibilities have come a long way since then, and so this episode will probably be offensive to today's audience.....

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - JOHN WAYNE II

JOHN WAYNE

AS SEEN IN:

'The Beverly Hillbillies'

"The Indians Are Coming"

SYNOPSIS:

from bkoganbing at IMDb:

When Indians threaten the oil lands of that poor mountaineer who one time barely kept his family fed, it's a call to arms for Irene Ryan as Granny.

Most of this episode involved a boundary dispute that would have been settled in court, but this is the Beverly Hillbillies and television where these people are not used to city ways.

After a lot of hilarity involving some movie studio Indians and Granny sending for the best Indian fighter she knew from the screen at the very end of the episode the bell rings at the Clampett mansion. It's the Duke, but not in western gear, in a business suit. Granny is so disappointed she shuts the door on him leaving him standing on the Clampett walk.

Granny is no different than a lot of film fans who really believe the people on the screen are exactly who they are.

Good fun and the Duke got his fifth of scotch as payment.

O'BSERVATIONS:

Our guest commentator has the facts a bit wrong about Wayne's appearance, but as you'll see in our next post, he got the intent right......

BCnU!

PRIME-TIMELINE - "THE BOLD ONES" - "SHRIEK OF SILENCE"

In 1969, 'The Bold Ones' ('The Lawyers') had an episode called "Shriek Of Silence" in which a gubernatorial candidate was framed for murder.  He knew he would be exonerated, but not before the election in November.

This is one of those cases where the episode does not take place around the same time as it was broadcast.  Ronald Reagan was elected in 1967 for two consecutive terms ending in 1975.  So he wouldn't have been running again until 1970.  

Either this episode took place before the 1967 election, two years before the broadcast, or it was a look into the future at the events a year later.

I don't want to play hob with the entire timeline for 'The Lawyers', which debuted with two pilot movies at the end of 1968 and in March of 1969.  It began it's three season run in September of 1969.  And since the overall premise of the show began in 1968 with Walter Nicholls hiring the two Darrell brothers to help with his workload, I really can't push the show back a year to 1967.

Better to consider "Shriek of Silence" to have been from the show's future, a year later than it was broadcast.  Stephen Patterson was going to run against Reagan in the 1970 election.

(One other idea that I rejected - that in Earth Prime-Time, the election cycle is different from that in the real world.  Such an idea works for the TV dimension which houses  'Smallville', 'The West Wing', and 'Mr. Sterling'.  But I'd rather keep that aspect aligned with the real world since so many TV shows could have episodes thematically timed to various elections.)

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LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - GEORGE TAKEI

GEORGE TAKEI

From Wikipedia:

George Hosato Takei (April 20, 1937) is an American actor and author, best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS Enterprise in the television series 'Star Trek'. He also portrayed the character in six 'Star Trek' feature films and in an episode of 'Star Trek: Voyager'. He is a proponent of gay rights and active in state and local politics as well as continuing his acting career. He has won several awards and accolades in his work on human rights and Japanese–American relations, including his work with the Japanese American National Museum.

AS SEEN IN:

'Futurama'

"Saturday Morning Fun Pit"

TV DIMENSION:

The Tooniverse

O'BSERVATIONS:

The cartoon he appeared in was considered fiction by the people of the Tooniverse in the year 3013.  Therefore, he is not really a homicidal maniac.  But it was the Tooniverse Takei that made that cartoon.

Thanks to my Little Buddy Sean Cleary for getting me these frame grabs!

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TVXOHOF, HAT SQUAD EDITION - STEVE LAWRENCE & EYDIE GORME

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eydie Gorme, a popular nightclub and television singer as a solo act and as a team with her husband, Steve Lawrence, has died. She was 84.

Gorme, who also had a huge solo hit in 1963 with "Blame it on the Bossa Nova," died Saturday at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas following a brief, undisclosed illness, said her publicist, Howard Bragman.

Gorme was a successful band singer and nightclub entertainer when she was invited to join the cast of Steve Allen's local New York television show in 1953.

She sang solos and also did duets and comedy skits with Lawrence, a rising young singer who had joined the show a year earlier. When the program became NBC's "Tonight Show" in 1954, the young couple went with it.

"Eydie has been my partner on stage and in life for more than 55 years," Lawrence said in a statement. "I fell in love with her the moment I saw her and even more the first time I heard her sing. While my personal loss is unimaginable, the world has lost one of the greatest pop vocalists of all time."

In the last couple of years, it's been my practice to admit qualified candidates into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame upon news of their deaths.  In this case, it just didn't seem right to induct Eydie Gorme without Steve Lawrence.

Here are the three sitcom appearances in which they appeared entitling them to become members of the TVXOHOF:

'The Nanny'
"Canasta Masta"

At Sylvia's, Brighton shows an incredible talent for playing canasta, so he joins Yetta's canasta team to play in Atlantic city.  Fran runs into Steve & Eydie there but thinks they're celebrity impersonators.  They sing for her but can't convince her that they're the real Steve & Eydie.

'Sanford And Son'
"Earthquake II"

Fred wakes up one morning to discover what looks like a robbery took place but learns that there was a small earthquake overnight. Grady breaks the news that a big one is scheduled to hit on the 6th and a fed up Fred decides to sell the house and move. Meanwhile, Fred heads to Las Vegas to avoid the earthquake on the 6th and has a run in with Merv Griffin and Steve and Eydie.

'Here's Lucy'
"Lucy the Peacemaker"

Lucy attempts to resolve the marriage separation between Eydie Gorme and Steve Lawrence.

Good night and may God bless, Eydie Gorme......

CLASSIC TELEVISION THEATER - "LAW OF THE PLAINSMAN" ("AMNESTY")

Because of the recent death of Michael Ansara, we're looking at episodes of the second series in which he had the starring role, 'Law Of The Plainsman'.  Ansara played Sam Buckhart, a Harvard-educated Apache who was the deputy U.S. Marshal in the New Mexico territories.  The show ran for one season.

This week:

[27] Law of The Plainsman: AMNESTY
  07Apr60 NBC Thur  
Written by: Lee Berg
Director: Robert Gordon
Starring: Michael Ansara

Guest Cast:
Chris Alcaide ................. Conroy
Robert Warwick ................ Gen. Lew Wallace
(General Lew Wallace, author of novel Ben-Hur),
Biff Elliott .................. Mike Williams
Paul Sorenson ................. Ludwig
Natalie Norwick ............... Clara
Fred Graham ................... Joe Graham

Amnesty is declared by the territorial governor, and a vicious killer escapes a
murder rap.  Then Sam Buckhart hires him as a lawman.

[Thanks to the CTVA - link to the left, Range Riders!]

From Wikipedia:

In the Autumn of 1878, the president appointed Lew Wallace, a former Union Army general, as Governor of the New Mexico Territory. In an effort to restore peace to Lincoln County, Wallace proclaimed an amnesty for any man involved in the Lincoln County War who was not already under indictment.

I've written about Lew Wallace twice before - once as the daily Tiddlywinkydink, and the other time when he was inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

When we first met Sam Buckhart on 'The Rifleman', those two episodes took place after 1881.  That was the year the McCains settled on a ranch outside of North Fork, New Mexico.  So 'Law Of The Plainsman' begins a few years earlier in order to facilitate the inclusion of General Wallace's real-world history.

Governor/General Lew Wallace is one of those historical characters who have been seen several times in Toobworld, and always recast with different actors.  It's easy enough to dismiss the stand-alone TV movies and specials - they can be banished to alternate TV dimensions.

These would include:

• The Andersonville Trial (TV movie) Played by Cameron Mitchell 
• Billy the Kid (1989) (TV) Played by Wilford Brimley 
• Longarm (1988) (TV) Played by Rene Auberjonois
• Der Andersonville-Prozess (1972) (TV) Played by Alexander Hegarth

In fact, that last production must be from German Toobworld, the alternate TV dimension in which the Nazis won WWII.

Two other portrayals of General Lew Wallace can be found in anthology TV series:

"Death Valley Days"
– Shadows on the Window (1960) Played by Dayton Lummis

"The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse"
    - The Death of Billy the Kid (1955) Played by Matt Crowley

And that means they could also be transported into other TV dimensions.  Or, in the case of the 'Death Valley Days' episode, we could just be seeing the dramatization of a story told by the Old Ranger.

But when an historical character appears in more than one regular series, recastaways can be a thorny issue.  We want to keep as many of those shows in Earth Prime-Time as possible.  So one splainin used to account for the different looks to an historical character would be that each one is how the main character of the show perceives him or her.

So that's what we're using here in the case of Lew Wallace.  Each of these appearances are of the televersion of the General/Governor.  However, the details differ because of how each was seen by the main character.  (The historical character most often associated with Wallace is Billy the Kid, and his splainin for the recastaways is different.  Clu Gulager is the Toobworld Billy McCarty, and all the other portrayals are of wannabes trying to cash in on his name.)

Oddly enough, it was in the Clu Gulager series 'The Tall Man' in which we got two different actors playing Wallace.  It could be that Pat Garrett's opinion of him changed since their first meeting.  Or it could be that one televersion is Pat Garrett's point of view while the other is Billy the Kid's.  Or even farther out there, the General was replaced by a Quantum Leaper from the future.

Here are the episodes in which Lew Wallace has a televersion:

"Branded" 

    - A Destiny Which Made Us Brothers (1966) TV episode, Played by Len Hendry

"The Tall Man" 

  - The Great Western (1961) TV episode, Played by Frank Ferguson
    - The Black Robe (1962) TV episode, Played by Robert Burton

"Law of the Plainsman"
    - Amnesty (1960) TV episode, Played by Robert Warwick

"Bronco"
    - Death of an Outlaw (1960) TV episode, Played by Forrest Lewis

"Colt .45"
    - Amnesty (1959) TV episode, Played by Willis Bouchey

"Tales of Wells Fargo"
    - Billy the Kid (1957) TV episode, Played by Addison Richards

Well, enough about that!  Let's get on with the episode!

BCnU!

TOOBMUSIC - "ALL-AMERICAN BOY"

A powerful country-western song......

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - PETER, PAUL AND MARY

PETER, PAUL AND MARY

From Wikipedia:

Peter, Paul and Mary were a United States folk-singing trio whose nearly 50-year career began with their rise to become a paradigm for 1960s folk music. The trio was composed of Peter Yarrow, (Noel) Paul Stookey, and Mary Travers. After the death of Mary Travers in 2009, Yarrow and Stookey continued to perform as a duo under their individual names.

"Puff, the Magic Dragon" was made into three animated specials, each featuring songs by Peter Yarrow. The first features Yarrow himself as Jackie's father in voice and appearance alike.

"Early in the Morning" was used in the series 'Mad Men', at the end of the episode "A Night to Remember".

AS SEEN IN:

'The Jack Benny Program'

"The Peter, Paul And Mary Show"

O'BSERVATION:

Today's episode links to yesterday's showcase on Dimitri Tiomkin (because of that song).

BCnU!