AS SEEN ON TV: WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT

Only three days before Inauguration Day, when Barack Obama becomes our 44th President! And to celebrate, each day here at Inner Toob we're supplying the picture of a former president as he looked in Toobworld.

Today we're featuring William Howard Taft, as seen in the mini-series 'Backstairs At The White House'. Taft is another one of those presidents, like Benjamin Harrison, William Henry Harrison, and Franklin Pierce, who wouldn't have much call to be featured in anything but one of those Ken Burnsish documentaries; the kind where a celebrity would read from the subject's letters. And Millard Fillmore hasn't even had that honor bestowed on him! (The way things are going for that "do-nothing" president, the best I'll ever hope for is showing the Millard Fillmore Soap-On-A-Rope from the Kia commercial!)

Oy! Don't get me started!

But William Howard Taft kicks off the line of presidents to parade through the lives of the servants who worked in the White House from the turn of the century up into the 1950s. And that's why out of all the choices in that mini-series, I decided to go with Taft.

Besides, when it comes to roles played by Victor Buono, who doesn't like a nice Vic pic?

BCnU!
Toby O'B

CROSSING ZONE: TWO CLASSIC FORDS

The late Pat Hingle appeared in a 'Twilight Zone' episode about "The Incredible World Of Horace Ford". It may not be as familiar to TZoners as many other episodes, mainly because it was part of the hour-long batch of episodes. As it turned out, the Reginald Rose script feels awfully padded when the story could have been told in half that time, like most of the stories on 'The Twilight Zone'.

Here's a basic description of what the episode was about:

"Horace Ford is preoccupied with his childhood...he longs to return to a time that passed him by all too quickly. His wife and mother can't stand to watch him go through this and it so interferes with his livelihood that he gets fired from his job as a toy designer. Eventually, he comes full circle and realizes that his childhood is not worth going back to, that it was all a bad nightmare."

Eight years earlier, Reginald Rose's first version of the story was told on 'Studio One'. It was still called "The Incredible World Of Horace Ford", but it was Art Carney who played Horace.

Now usually it's been the Toobworld Central ruling that the show which is first broadcast is the one that holds priority in Toobworld. Any remake that comes along after should be sent packing to another dimension. That's what's happened in the past with 'The 87th Precinct', 'The New Addams Family', 'Dark Shadows', the Tim Daly 'Fugitive', etc. It's why we accept the original version of 'Battlestar Galactica' over the highly praised "re-imagining" that just returned for its final run of episodes. (Well, that and the fact that it has too many good connections to other shows!)

But in this case, Toobworld Central made an exception. It's Pat Hingle as Horace Ford that is a citizen of the main Toobworld, not Art Carney's. Our reasoning is that even though it's not aired as frequently as other 'T-Zone' episodes, "The Incredible World Of Horace Ford" with Pat Hingle at least is shown often enough for people to remember. And one of the things that keeps Toobworld alive is memory. As great a series as 'Studio One' is considered from Television's Golden Age, how many people get to see any of the episodes - unless they go to the Paley Centre, or check out what's available on DVD.

And lo, the last shall be first.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

DEVIL IN DISGUISE?

Here's a report from Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly:

'Reaper''s wickedly funny devil, Ray Wise, is briefly retiring his pitchfork to guest on a February ep of 'Numb3rs'. He'll play a jury consultant for a defendant which Robin, Don and co. are trying to convict of murder.

You know, the Devil doesn't just consort with his minions, like Sam. It was established in 'Reaper' that he even had a relationship with at least one mortal woman.

And since Toobworld is basically inclusive and 'Numb3rs' should exist in the same dimension as 'Reaper', why can't we make the assumption that no matter what he says his name is, and no matter what he may claim his background to be, he's actually the Devil?

Have you seen that movie where Gene Hackman was a jury consultant? They already work for him, so why shouldn't he step in and do the job himself?

BCnU!

Toby O'B

THE HAT SQUAD: JOHN MORTIMER

John Mortimer, the creator of Horace Rumpole, the British counterpart to the American Perry Mason, has died. He was 85.

I cobbled this together from Wikipedia:

Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE QC (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was an English barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.

He developed his career as a playwright by rising early to write before attending court and his work in total includes over fifty books, plays, and scripts.

Mortimer is best remembered for creating a barrister named Horace Rumpole, whose speciality is defending those accused of crime in London's Old Bailey. Mortimer created Rumpole for 'Rumpole of the Bailey', a 1975 contribution to the BBCs 'Play For Today' anthology series.

Played with gusto by Leo McKern, the character proved popular, and was developed into a 'Rumpole of the Bailey' television series for Thames Television and a series of books (all written by Mortimer). In September/October 2003, BBC Radio 4 broadcast four new 45-minute Rumpole dramatizations by Mortimer starring Timothy West in the title role. He also dramatised many of the real-life cases of the barrister Edward Marshall-Hall in a radio series starring ex-'Doctor Who' star Tom Baker.

In 1986, his description of what he saw as Britain's descent into the viciousness of Thatcherism – "Paradise Postponed" – was televised.

Mortimer was credited with the adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited" for Granada Television in 1981. However, Graham Lord's biography, "John Mortimer: The Devil's Advocate", revealed in 2005 that none of Mortimer's submitted scripts had in fact been used and that the screenplay was actually written by the series producer and director.

Mortimer adapted John Fowles' "The Ebony Tower", starring Laurence Olivier for Granada in 1984. From 2004, Mortimer worked as a consultant for the politico-legal US comedy television show 'Boston Legal'.

As Red Skelton would say, "Good night, and may God bless......"

BCnU....
Toby O'B

COINKYDINK AND YOU

As I was working on my Hat Squad tributes to Patrick McGoohan and Ricardo Montalban, I noticed a few similarities - starting with the obvious:

Patrick McGoohan and Ricardo Montalban both died this week, within hours of each other.

Both men were Catholic and sometimes applied their beliefs into their work.

Each actor was best known for two roles on TV - McGoohan for Number 6 of 'The Prisoner' and 'John Drake' of 'Secret Agent'; Montalban for Khan of 'Star Trek' and Mr. Roarke of 'Fantasy Island'.
Both played murderers on 'Columbo', a most sought after acting job in its day.

Both appeared in theatrically released movies as their TV characters. Montalban in "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" and McGoohan in "Koroshi" as John Drake (although this was actually two episodes of the series stitched together).

Death has a strange way of dabbling in coincidences. For example, it was announced today that renowned artist Andrew Wyeth passed away. And just a few days ago, Leonard E.B. Andrews also passed away - he made his name in the art world by buying up hundreds of the paintings Wyeth did of the woman known as "Helga".

On last night's 'Smallville', it was said that the universe is made up of coincidence......

Can you think of any more for Montalban and McGoohan?

BCnU!
Toby O'B

ORANGE ALERT ON YOUTUBE!

FiL is one of my compadres in Iddiocy and he'll be playing some music on his Tuesday afternoon show in dedication to Patrick McGoohan. One of these songs is "I helped Patrick McGoohan Escape" by the Times.

FiL sent along a link to their 1983 video for the song which was filmed on the Portmeirion site in Wales. It's full of 'Prisoner' imagery - the ID buttons, human chess games, particular location shots, KAR120C, a penny-farthing bicycle, and even Rover makes an appearance!

You can see it here.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

THE HAT SQUAD: RICARDO MONTALBAN

I got an IM last night from a friend, asking where is the blog-love for Ricardo Montalban, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 88. Well, it was just a matter of personal priorities - the death of Patrick McGoohan had more of an impact on me and that needed to be addressed first. Hell, I haven't even finished my tributes to Pat Hingle yet either!

Like Patrick McGoohan, Ricardo Montalban offered up two giants among his varied directory of TV characters - Khan Noonian Singh of 'Star Trek' and Mr. Roarke of 'Fantasy Island'.

Khan may have languished in the roster of Montalban's many other TV roles, elevated slightly above General Sefra, Colonel Vautrain, Nick Grobbo, and Damon West by the fervor of 'Trek' geekdom, had it not been for the show's incursion into the movie universe.

In "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan", his persona expanded as his hatred of Kirk threatened to consume that universe. It's been said that Montalban out-hammed Shatner when it came to "chewing the scenery" in that movie.

That's a lotta ham.

Both of Montalban's major characters span centuries in the Toobworld timeline. As every good 'Trek' fan knows, Khan was born in the 20th Century (as to where? More later....) but he won't die until the 24th Century.

It was established in the original series of 'Fantasy Island' that Mr. Roarke, the host of 'Fantasy Island', was at least 300 years old... in that incarnation. (And we'll have more on that in a later post as well.)
Like McGoohan, Montalban played a murderer on 'Columbo', but only the one time. (McGoohan matched wits with Lt. Columbo as four different killers.) Montalban's Luis Montoya may have been a cliche to him - a Mexican bullfighter - but he delivered more nuance to the man than probably needed.

Ricardo Montalban was the Anthony Quinn of the small screen - a master at playing many different nationalities and ethnicities - Greeks, Portugese, Spanish, French, Italians, Eastern Europeans, Japanese, members of several American Indian tribes, the Crown Prince of Montalbania and even a cow in the Tooniverse! If only for concerns about being politically correct, no one could match that variety today. (So it was only appropriate that Anthony Quinn should give that lifetime achievement award to Montalban back at the 1993 SAG Awards.)
And yet there were also quite a few roles that rose above ethnic origins, like Zach Powers of 'Dynasty' and Damon West of 'Dr. Kildare' as well as Teddy Green, Stephen Baird, Adam Steele, Martin Lynch, and TJ Gaynor from many other series.
Then there was the role of Ricardo Montalban himself, which he turned into a pop culture icon as he suavely sang the praise of the soft Corinthian leather in the Chrysler Cordoba. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that car only sold because of Montalban's masterful salesmanship.

So here's to you, Sir. Thank you for all of the great characters you've given us over so many years!

Good night and may God bless....
- Red Skelton

And speaking of Red, I have to go to the movie universe for this fitting exchange of dialogue between Mr. Skelton and Mr. Montalban. (You'll know who's who.....)

José O’Rourke:
"Hasta la vista."
Jack Spratt:
"Huh?"
José O’Rourke:
"I’m sorry. In your language that means, ‘Adios, amigo.’"
"Neptune's Daughter"

Adios, amigo......

BCnU....
Toby O'B

AS SEEN ON TV: RONALD REAGAN

For those who regularly visit Inner Toob, for the last week we've been showcasing American presidents as seen on TV. This has all been a lead-up to Tuesday's inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th POTUS.

Today, the spotlight is on Ronald Reagan, former actor, former governor of California, and the 40th President of the United States.

It's been said that because of his career in Hollywood movies and on television, Reagan is the most photographed president we've ever had. He even appeared as himself in a few TV shows.

But it's how he looked in Toobworld as played by others that we're showcasing today. And as such, I couldn't decide which version I wanted to use. So instead, I'm going to feature both!

First up, here's Richard Crenna as Reagan in "The Day Reagan Was Shot": And here's James Brolin in "The Reagans": BCnU!
Toby O'B

THE McGOOHAN DOUBLE VISION: 4÷2=1

Many fans of 'The Prisoner' have argued that Number 6, as played by Patrick McGoohan, was actually the character of John Drake from McGoohan's earlier series 'Danger Man' and 'Secret Agent'. When asked this (as he must have been hundreds if not thousands of times!), McGoohan would always say no, that they were two different characters.

Of course, legally he would have to say that. Otherwise, he and Lew Grade would have had to pay the creator of Drake royalties for coming up with the secret agent man.

But Toobworld Central is not bound by such stricture. It's our belief that it was John Drake who resigned, only to find himself a prisoner in the Village - where "they" had given him a number, and taken away his name.

Just as the line goes in the 'Secret Agent Man' song.......

But Number 6 wasn't the only character played by McGoohan in 'The Prisoner'. In the episode "Schizoid Man", McGoohan also portrayed Number 12 (real name: Curtis) who was used in a plot to break McGoohan. He presented himself as the real Number 6 in order to get 6 so thoroughly unsure of his own identity that he would spill the beans on why he resigned.

Near the end of the episode, Number 6 gets the better of Number 12 and forces him to give up the password to get by Rover, the "watchdog" of the Village. When they are both confronted by the possibly sentient balloon, the real Number 6 says "Gemini" first; Rover attacks and kills Curtis after he then gives the password.

But just because Curtis died in the Village, that doesn't mean he had to stay dead. As we would learn later in the final episode "Fall Out", Death is transient in a place with their futuristic devices. So if the Village was able to resuscitate Number 2, why couldn't it do the same for Curtis?

And once he was alive again, where did he go?

It's the Toobworld Central theory that he returned to his previous employ as a spy; actually as a double agent, working for both sides. For the CIA he was known as Nelson Brenner, code name: Colorado; he remained Curtis for the Other Side. And it was as Nelson Brenner that we saw him again - this time in the 'Columbo' episode "Identity Crisis". Behind the scenes, this episode was directed by Patrick McGoohan with several allusions to 'The Prisoner'. The number "1" was seen at the amusement park, where Brenner was seen wearing a windbreaker very similar in style to the outfit worn by Number 6 and most of the Villagers. And if I'm not mistaken, he would say "Be seeing you" to the Lieutenant.

This theory that Nelson Brenner and Curtis were the same man was presented here in the past. (Or maybe it was in the old website of The Tubeworld Dynamic.) But with the death of Patrick McGoohan, I thought it would make a nice, typically Toobworldly tribute to bring it up again.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

KINGSLEY AMISS

In the "Red Rum" episode of 'The Mentalist' this week, a witch named Tamsin Doves placed a spell on CBI agent Cho. She said that he would kneel before the king of beasts.

Later, he helped tackle a suspect and as he knelt on the ground to cuff the kid, a "Kingsley Cleaners" van drove by. Its logo showed a lion wearing a crown.

And so the spell was fulfilled.

But to Hecate with all of that! What really matters in the Toobworld scheme of things is that Kingsley Cleaners just very well may be yet another franchise owned by Hank "Hey Now!" Kingsley, the former sidekick on 'The Larry Sanders Show'!

BCnU!
Toby O'B