DAVID BURNS

As many in Team Toobworld know, I'm more focused on the characters of Toobworld rather than the actors who played them.  But for me, David Burns was always a man of mystery - nearly fifty years in the business, but mostly on stage. He was in a lot of movies since his film debut in "De-Luxe Annie" on this date 100 years ago.

He won two Tony Awards, one for "The Music Man" and the other for "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum".  That last one really impressed me - with so many other characters of acclaim in that show (Hysterium, Marcus Lycus, Milos Gloriousus), Burns must have been incredible in a smaller role like that.

I only know him from 'The Trials Of O'Brien' as The Great McGonagle, a rather bookish low-life of a private investigator (who looked more like an accountant with the eyesight of Henry Bemish.)  Had he lived, I think Mr. Burns would have been a perfect fit for 'Barney Miller' as one of the repertory players to visit the Ol' One-Two.

From Wikipedia:

[David Burns] won two Tony Awards for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, for his performances as "Mayor Shinn" in The Music Man and as "Senex" in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum".  Burns introduced the hit song "It Takes a Woman" from "Hello, Dolly" as the original "Horace Vandergelder".

David Burns also won an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Drama Series for his role of Mr Solomon in the 1971 TV episode (Hallmark Hall of Fame) "The Price" by Arthur Miller.

He died on stage, of a heart attack, in Philadelphia during the out-of-town tryout of Kander and Ebb's musical "70, Girls, 70".

BCnU!

TVXOHOF - THE NEW YORK CHRONICLE (05/18/18)

You may have noticed there was a gap of about two weeks in the blog before I picked up again this past Monday.  I was in the hospital, and while I might be considered now on my third life, I'm home again.

But it got me thinking that Life is indeed short.  And along those lines, maybe inducting new members into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame more often than just once a month.  

So until it burns me out, I'm aiming to induct a new TVXOHOF member every Friday.

And we're kicking it off with the first of five in a series - the New York Chronicle newspaper.

The Chronicle is perhaps most famous as being the newspaper which kept a roof over the heads of the Lane Family in Brooklyn Heights.  (Martin Lane was the editor of the paper while his twin brother Kenneth was a foreign correspondent.)

So here are examples of the paper as seen in 'The Patty Duke Show' and other TV series.

'THE PATTY DUKE SHOW'

'McCLOUD'

'THE ROGUES'

'THE THIN MAN'

'ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS'

'ALEX, INC.'
[As of this year, the New York Chronicle transformed into a tabloid newspaper.]

'THE TWILIGHT ZONE'

'HEROES'

[This series began in Earth Prime-Time, but once Hiro traveled back in Time, he altered the Future and so the show created a new Toobworld.]

And from Toobworld-MOTW:

"ELLERY QUEEN: DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU"

And here are a few of the blog posts I've written about the New York Chronicle:

http://toobworld.blogspot.com/2008/10/view-all-about-it.html

http://toobworld.blogspot.com/2008/10/chronicle-of-missing-links_14.html

http://toobworld.blogspot.com/2007/09/la-triviata-read-all-about-it.html

http://toobworld.blogspot.com/2018/04/monday-minutiae-adding-to-ny-chronicles.html

http://toobworld.blogspot.com/2012/11/chronicling-link.html

http://toobworld.blogspot.com/2012/05/chronicle-of-missing-links-iii.html

Next week, we'll have the logical extension of this inductee....

TELE-FOLKS DIRECTORY - JACK STROLLER, "COLUMBO" COP

Warren Berlinger has always been a fun character actor for me to watch.  I can’t remember when he first stood out for me – might have been in the TV movie “The Girl Most Likely To….” (written by Joan Rivers) or ‘A Touch of Grace’, a sitcom in which he played Shirley Booth’s son-in-law.  (Personally I think he looked like her son.)

He was lucky enough to join the ‘Columbo’ alumni late in the series’ run, during its ABC years.  And even better, he got to be a member of that corps of LAPD detectives who assisted Lt. Columbo.

‘COLUMBO’
“DEATH HITS THE JACKPOT”

As Detective Jack Stroller, he helped Columbo bring Leon Lamarr and his nephew’s wife to justice for killing his nephew.

It was his only appearance in the series, but that doesn’t mean his existence Is limited to just that murder investigation.  He had a life before the ‘Columbo’ episode and it continues to this day.  God willing, may he continue for many more years.

As to that previous life, this is where the Inner Toob feature “Fanficcer’s Friend” comes in.  Publicity photos for actors are perfect in expanding the lives of the characters they played.

So here we have an early publicity picture of Berlinger. 

But we can also claim that it’s a photo of Jack Stroller, a fresh graduate of the police academy, ready to start his career in the Los Angeles police department.

As for this next picture, I don’t know its source.  But I’m fairly certain it’s from a movie, the Cineverse, and therefore fair game to be used for different purposes in Toobworld.  Therefore, why not consider it a picture of Stroller in the locker room when he was still a patrolman.

So now we’ve given a backstory for Detective Jack Stroller in Toobworld which will never be seen on your TV screen.

Oh!  Just one more thing....

We have a theory of "relateeveety" for Detective Jack Stroller.  He has a brother, older by five years, and considered far more handsome (even by Jack.)  But they were estranged - and by more than just the fact that Jack's brother had emigrated to Great Britain.

Albert Stroller sought his life's fortunes on the other side of the Law.  He was a grifter, looking to make a 'Hustle' in all manner of con games.  And he enjoyed doing so, working the long game with Mickey Stone's crew....

BCnU!

 

THE HAT SQUAD - REMEMBERING MARGOT KIDDER

Actress Margot Kidder, best known for her portrayal of Lois Lane opposite Christopher Reeve's Superman, has died. She was 69.


As expected, many of the tributes to Ms. Kidder will focus on her role as Lois Lane.  But for Toobworld, we're going in a different direction.

In 1971, she played Ruth the barmaid in the town of 'Nichols', opposite James Garner as Sheriff Nichols.  Two decades later, she played a cameo role as Margaret Mary in the movie continuation of Garner's star-making role of 'Maverick'.  

But that's the order in which they occurred in the Real World timeline.  In Toobworld, the order is reversed.  'Nichols' is clearly established as beginning at the beginning of World War I, 1914.  As for "Maverick", I think it has to be circa 1906.  I believe Bret Maverick had sired a son out of wedlock back in the late 1860s.  This would be Mel Gibson's character of Bret Maverick Jr. in the movie.  

So Ms. Kidder's character of Margaret Mary showed up first in the Toobworld timeline.  And being older, and resembling Ruth so closely, it is my contention that Margaret Mary is Ruth's mother - widowed and estranged from her daughter.

Good night and may God bless, Ms. Kidder......

TWO FOR TUESDAY - AFTER THE FOX

A little something for “Two for Tuesday” – ‘Columbo’ as seen in Earth Prime-Time and in what I’m calling Theo’s World.

Theo Solorio is a very talented artist who works in the style of Don Bluth and other animators.  And luckily for this “Columbo-phile”, she is currently doing most of her work in translating ‘Columbo’ characters into the world of funny animals.  (Search her art out on Facebook, mostly in the Columbo-TV group.)

‘COLUMBO’
“DOUBLE SHOCK”

So here we have a side-by-side comparison of Lt. Columbo and one of his main suspects in the murder of Clifford Paris – Dexter Paris, the murder victim’s nephew.  Dexter was a cooking show host and he cajoled Columbo out of the audience to assist him in making a recipe on TV.

In Theo’s version, Columbo is (as always) a “volpone”, a sly little fox as he was described in another episode.  As for Dexter Paris, Theo loves to go for the visual in-jokes.  Since Clifford Paris was electrocuted in his bath, Dexter is portrayed as an electric eel.  (The same holds true for his identical twin brother, Norman Paris.)

Another excellent job, Theo!

 

TIDDLYWINKYDINKS - TEDDY ROOSEVELT & HIS MAINE GUIDES

‘MURDOCH MYSTERIES’
“THE GREAT WHITE MOOSE”

Teddy Roosevelt:
The first I went hunting was in Maine.

I was taught by the best.

Bill Sewall, Wilmot Dow.
William Murdoch:

What were you hunting?
President Roosevelt:
Waterfowl, mostly.

I was rather nervous at first.

The anticipation.

The exhilaration of lying in wait, finger on the trigger.
And now I lie in wait for someone to shoot me.

From the National Parks & Recreation:
“They were tough, hardy, resolute fellows, quick as cats, strong as bears, and able to travel like bull moose." -Theodore Roosevelt writing on Sewall and Dow

"We were very close in those days and he talked over about everything with me.” -Bill Sewall reflecting on Theodore Roosevelt in the 1880s
 
William Wingate Sewall and Wilmot Dow first met Theodore Roosevelt in the 1870s, when they served as hunting guides for Roosevelt in Maine. Although they were skilled outdoorsmen, hunters, and woodsmen, that hardly qualified them for work as ranch hands; Sewall was more comfortable riding logs than he was riding horses. Nevertheless, when Roosevelt asked his two trusted companions to manage his new Elkhorn Ranch in 1884, they agreed. 

A photograph of Theodore Roosevelt, William Wingate Sewall, and Wilmot Dow during a hunting trip in Maine.

Left to right: Roosevelt, Sewall, and Dow.