Tuesday, September 19, 2017

HISTORY, CHANNELED - KHRUSHCHEV & DISNEYLAND


'BURKE'S LAW'
"WHO KILLED THE JACKPOT?"

This is the episode which introduced multidimensional private eye Honey West into the world of the Toob.  With Anne Francis in the role, she went on to headline her own series and was eventually inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame (thanks to some splainin by yours truly to get that third requirement.)

But this episode also had another crossover... in a way.  Actually it was more of a verification of the existence in the TV Universe of a real person from the Trueniverse.  But this person has been represented in at least one Toobworld series and so I see it as a viable crossover.

At one point in this episode, Captain Amos Burke was tied up on the phone with the Governor of California and then a Senator when he should have been out catching a killer.  And the longer he was held up, the more likely it was that Honey West was going to be in trouble.

During the conversation with the Senator, we heard Captain Burke's side of the dialogue exchange:


"He's coming here?
That's very nice... 
And you want me to take him on all the rides,,,?
Yes, I know he didn't make it the last time. 
I feel sorry for the poor fellow."

On the Toobworld timeline, this episode took place in April of 1965.  And as far as I can figure, there could only be one person Amos Burke could have been referring to......

From history.com:

SEPTEMBER 19, 1959
In one of the more surreal moments in the history of the Cold War, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev explodes with anger when he learns that he cannot visit Disneyland. The incident marked the climax of Khrushchev’s day in Los Angeles, one that was marked by both frivolity and tension.

For more details, click here.

Nikita Khrushchev has had several actors portraying him on television, but not all of them in Earth Prime-Time.  One definite appearance in the main Toobworld happened in... 'The Twilight Zone'.  The episode?  "The Whole Truth".  Used car dealer saved his own livelihood by selling to the Soviet premier an antique car which compelled its owner to only speak the truth, and nothing but.

There have been other portrayals of Khrushchev in many TV dimensions, not only in the main Toobworld.  Among them are:

"Danger 5"
5 episode (2015) 
Played by Steven Zachary Parker (as Khrushchev)

"Vasiliy Stalin" 
12 episodes

"The Folklorist"
    - Cuban Missile Crisis, American Army of Two, the Grasshopper & the Ant, Amelia Earhart (2013) 
Played by Jim Hammond

"The Untold History of the United States"
    - Chapter 6: JFK - To the Brink (2012)  
Played by Mark Ivanir (as Nikita Khrushchov)

"Mosgaz" (2012) 
Played by Sergey Losev (as Nikita Khruschyov)

"Zhukov"
    - Episode #1.8 (????) 
Played by Aleksandr Potapov

"The Kennedys"
    - Cuban Missiles (2011)  
Played by Eugene Lipinski

"The Company"
    - Episode #1.1 (2007) 
Played by Zoltán Berzsenyi (as Nikita Khruschev)
    - Episode #1.2 (2007) 
Played by Zoltán Berzsenyi (as Nikita Khruschev)

Georg (2006)
Played by Andrus Vaarik

"Space Race"
    - Race for Rockets (2005) 
Played by Constantine Gregory (as Khrushchev)

"Timewatch"
    - Who Killed Stalin? (2005) 
Played by Miroslaw Neinert (as Khrushchev)


"Passions"
    - Episode #1.674 (2002) 
Played by Alex Rodine

Stalin (1992)
Played by Murray Ewan (as Khrushchev)
"Hot Metal" 

    - The Modern Promethius (1986) 
Played by Aubrey Morris (but as a Nikita Kruschev impostor)

Red Monarch (1983) 
Played by Brian Glover (as Nikita Kruschev)

"Presidentti"
    - Episode #1.4 (1982) 
Played by Ari Piispa (as Nikita Hrustsev)

Suez 1956 (1979) 
Played by Aubrey Morris

Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident (1976)
Played by Thayer David 


The Missiles of October (1974) 
Played by Howard Da Silva (as Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev) 


"The Twilight Zone" 
    - The Whole Truth (1961) 
Played by Lee Sabinson

"Playhouse 90"
    - The Plot to Kill Stalin (1958) 
Played by Oskar Homolka (as Khrushchev)

Most of those would be shipped off to alternate TV dimensions but the episodes of 'The Company', 'The Twilight Zone', and 'Passions' at least would be sharing the same Toobworld as the reference from 'Burke's Law'.  (Actually, in 'Passions' we're seeing Khrushchev's soul in Hell.)

BCnu!

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