INNER TOOB

Saturday, December 3, 2011

SKED ALERT! "BOARDWALK EMPIRE" - SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3RD

There are only two more episodes to go for 'Boardwalk Empire'.....

Episode #23: “Under God's Power She Flourishes”
Debut: SUNDAY, DEC. 4 (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Written by Howard Korder; Directed by Allen Coulter

With Margaret pondering the consequences of sin, Nucky prepares her for a worst-case scenario as Esther Randolph plays out her trump cards. Jimmy revisits his college days with Angela and Gillian; Mickey Doyle chafes at sharing his liquor profits; Eli refuses to cop a plea. Nelson’s past comes back to haunt him, tipping the scale in Nucky’s favor.

BCnU!

A BIT O' STEPTOE

Here's a segment from one of the 'Steptoe and Son' episodes, which was probably featured on its own at YouTube because the guest star was a young Joanna Lumley. (I was tempted to make the claim that this was Patsy Stone of 'AbFab' fame under her original name, but over the years we learned too much about Patsy's family and there is no way one can forget Eleanor Bron in the role of Patsy's mother to even make the claim that this woman could be her with plastic surgery.)

But that excerpt does give a good showcase for the talents of today's "ASOTV" showcase - Wilfred Brambell as Albert Steptoe.

BCnU!

"THE CURSE OF STEPTOE"

"The Curse of Steptoe", a BBC TV play about Wilfred Brambell and his co-star Harry H. Corbett, was broadcast on 19 March 2008 on digital BBC channel BBC Four, featuring Phil Davis as Brambell and Jason Isaacs as Corbett. The first broadcast gained the channel its highest audience figures to date, based on overnight returns. (Wikipedia)

The first part of this TV special is missing, but it doesn't feel like anything of great importance was in that segment. It was probably the opening credits and perhaps more about Wilfred Brambell.......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: WILFRED BRAMBELL

WILFRED BRAMBELL

AS SEEN IN:
"The Curse Of Steptoe"

AS PLAYED BY:
Phil Davis

From Wikipedia:
Henry Wilfrid Brambell (22 March 1912 – 18 January 1985) was an Irish film and television actor best known for his role in the British television series 'Steptoe and Son'. He also performed alongside The Beatles in their film "A Hard Day's Night", playing Paul McCartney's fictional grandfather.

It was this ability to play old men that led to his casting in his most famous role, as Albert Steptoe, the irascible father in 'Steptoe and Son' (his son Harold being played by Harry H. Corbett). Initially this was a pilot on the BBC's 'Comedy Playhouse' anthology strand: but its success led to a full series being commissioned, which lasted throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s. A constant thread throughout the series was Albert being referred to by Harold as a "dirty old man", particularly, for example, when he was eating pickled onions whilst taking a bath, and retrieving dropped ones from the bathwater. There were also two feature film spin-offs, a stage show and an American re-make entitled 'Sanford and Son', based on the original British scripts.

The success of 'Steptoe and Son' made Brambell a high profile figure on British television, and earned him the major role of Paul McCartney's grandfather in the Beatles' first film, "A Hard Day's Night" in 1964. A running joke is made throughout the film of his character being "a very clean old man", in contrast to his being referred to as a "dirty old man" in 'Steptoe and Son'. In real life however, he was nothing like his Steptoe persona, being dapper and well-spoken. In 1965 Brambell told the BBC that he did not want to do another 'Steptoe and Son' series, and in September of that year he went to New York to appear in the Broadway musical "Kelly" at the Broadhurst Theatre; however, it closed after just one performance.

After the final season of 'Steptoe and Son' was made in 1974, Brambell had some guest roles in films and on television, but both he and Corbett found themselves heavily typecast as their famous characters. In an attempt to take advantage of this situation, they undertook a tour of Australia in 1977 with a 'Steptoe and Son' stage show. On one occasion, Brambell used bad language and was openly derogatory about New Zealand cathedrals in an interview. Despite this, Brambell did appear on the BBC's television news paying tribute to Corbett after the latter's death from a heart attack in 1982. The following year Brambell appeared in Terence Davies's film "Death and Transfiguration", playing a dying elderly man who finally comes to terms with his homosexuality.

In 2002, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary film, entitled "When Steptoe Met Son", about the off-screen life of Brambell and his relationship with Harry H. Corbett. The film claimed that the two men detested each other and were barely on speaking terms after the Australia tour, caused in part by Brambell's alcoholism, which led to the pair leaving the country on separate aeroplanes. This claim is disputed by the writers of 'Steptoe and Son', Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who were unaware of any hatred or conflict. Harry H. Corbett's nephew from his second marriage also released a statement which claimed that the actors did not hate each other. "We can categorically say they did not fall out. They were together for nearly a year in Australia, went on several sightseeing trips together, and left the tour at the end on different planes because Harry was going on holiday with his family, not because he refused to get on the same plane. They continued to work together after the Australia tour on radio and adverts."

Brambell was also a closet homosexual at a time when it was almost impossible for public figures to be openly gay, not least because homosexual acts were illegal in the UK until 1967. In 1962 he was arrested in a toilet in Shepherd's Bush for persistently importuning and given a conditional discharge. Earlier in his life he had been married, from 1948 to 1955, to Mary "Molly" Josephine but the relationship ended after she gave birth to the child of their lodger in 1953.

Brambell died of cancer in Westminster, London, aged 72. He was cremated on 25 January 1985 at Streatham Park Cemetery, where his ashes were scattered.

BCnU........

(It was after watching the season - series? - finale of 'Whitechapel' that I realized how much I've come to enjoy the acting of Phil Davis, now one of my favorite current British actors. This showcase on his role as one of the more famous TV actors from Great Britain is my way of tipping my hat to Davis' work........)

THE HAT SQUAD: REMEMBERING ALAN SUES

In memory of Alan Sues, who has passed away at the age of 85, here are a couple of videos to celebrate his career on television.

First up, his appearance on 'The Twilight Zone':

But his career took a new turn once he joined the cast of 'Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In' where he created two indelible characters in "Skitlandia": Sportscaster Big Al and Uncle Al, the Kiddie's Pal.

Here's Uncle Al:

And here's a blooper clip from the show featuring Orson Welles:

Finally, here's his interpretation of Peter Pan:

I gotta say, I'd rather have seen him in the role than Cathy Rigby.....

Good night and may God bless.

BCnU......

Friday, December 2, 2011

THE JACK THE RIPPER INNER TOOB LINKS HUB

"There are many who believe that Jack the Ripper still walks the Earth,

still continues his diabolical activities.

That's a chilling thought.

Especially when it's accompanied by highly convincing proof that it may be true...."

Boris Karloff

'Thriller'

AS SEEN ON TV: SIR CHARLES WARREN

SIR CHARLES WARREN

AS SEEN IN:
"Jack The Ripper"

AS PLAYED BY:
Hugh Fraser

From Wikipedia:
General Sir Charles Warren, GCMG, KCB, FRS (7 February 1840 – 21 January 1927) was an officer in the British Royal Engineers. He was one of the earliest European archaeologists of Biblical Holy Land, and particularly of Temple Mount. Much of his military service was spent in the British South Africa, but in earlier life he was Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, the head of the London Metropolitan Police, from 1886 to 1888, during the period of the Jack the Ripper murders. His command in combat during the Second Boer War was criticised, but he achieved considerable success during his long life in his military and civil posts.

Warren's biggest difficulty was the Jack the Ripper case. He was probably unfairly blamed for the failure to track down the killer and faced press accusations that were frequently baseless. He was accused of failing to offer a reward for information, although in fact he supported the idea and it was blocked by the Home Office. He was accused of not putting enough police officers on the ground, whereas in fact Whitechapel was swamped with them. He was accused of being more interested in uniformed policing than detective work, which was true, but failed to take into consideration the fact that he allowed his experienced detective officers to conduct their own affairs and rarely interfered in their operations. He was accused of not using bloodhounds, and when he did eventually bring them in he was accused of being obsessed with them.

He responded to these criticisms by attacking his detractors in the pages of Murray's Magazine, supporting vigilante activity, which the police on the streets knew was a bad idea, and publicly complaining about his lack of control of CID, which brought an official Home Office reprimand for discussing his office publicly without permission. Warren had had enough and resigned...coincidentally right before the murder of Mary Jane Kelly on 9 November 1888. Every superintendent on the force visited him at home to express their regret.

Warren's resignation hindered the investigation. He had given an order that if another murder occurred, nobody was to enter the scene - a strange turn of phrase as the four previous victims had all been found in the open street - until he arrived to direct the investigation. Consequently, when the murder of Kelly was discovered by a rent collector who looked in through the window of her room in a Spitalfields lodging house, the police did not enter the room for some three hours because, unaware of his resignation, they were waiting for Warren to arrive. He returned to military duties.

He was appointed Knight Commander of the Bath (KCB) on 7 January 1888.

It's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that the televersion of Sir Charles Warren could be the biological father Captain Arthur Hastings, friend and investigative companion to Hercule Poirot......

BCnU!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

HARRISON BERGERON - TWICE UPON A TIME

In the multiverse of Toobworld, many of the characters from TV shows set in Earth Prime-Time have duplicates in the other TV dimensions. You can find their counterparts of course in the Land of Remakes, but also in the Tooniverse (Fonzie and Jeannie the Genie, for example), Skitlandia (like Lenny and Squiggy and Eddie Munster - all from 'SNL'), Doofusland (low IQ versions of George W. Bush and Abe Lincoln being the most prominent), even the movie of the week dimension - where the presidential line of succession has been different from our own since at least the 1930s ("Of Thee I Sing").

Precedent was established in 'Journeyman' that timing is everything (at least when it comes to "conceptual sex", for want of a better term) in keeping the characters exactly the same from one dimension to another. But there are times when a character was conceived in which the wrong sperm reached the egg first, but still the parents gave the same name to that character as he or she would have had in the main Toobworld. They may not only have different careers in the alternate dimension, but different looks as well.

That's why the Josiah Bartlet of Earth Prime-Time was a doctor once seen at St. Eligius Hospital and looked like the gentleman on the left, while the Josiah Bartlet of Earth Prime-Time/West Wing became the President of the United States and looked like the fellow on the right......

It's the kind of thing we've come to expect in the Land of Remakes, and especially in Earth Prime-Time/BET (a name in progress) where all the previously established characters are now black. ('The Odd Couple', 'Barefoot in the Park', even the "Honeymooners" feature film......)

Back in the early 1970's, Stony Stephenson was a jingle writer who got blasted into the Chrono-Synclastic Infundibulum, in which he experienced a multitude of parallel dimensions all at the same time. In one of these alternate TV Landscapes, it was mandatory for everyone to be no better than anybody else - this meant everyone had to be saddled with handicaps to keep them on an equal footing with the majority.

But one man rebelled against that dictum - genius and superior athlete Harrison Bergeron, who commandeered air time on TV to show how beautiful it was to be yourself at your very best. At least until Handicapper General Diana Moon Glampers put a stop to his rebellion....

In that parallel TV dimension, it was also the 1970's as it was in Stony's original world, evident by the type of broadcasting equipment used in the studio.

Back here in the main Toobworld, Earth Prime-Time, Harrison Bergeron led a far different life because there were no equality laws like those found in that alternate dimension. Maybe it was a more dissolute life on the seamy side, but at least he got the chance to continue living.

And as we can see by these comparison pictures, there wasn't too much of a radical difference when it got down to the chromosomal level....

Of course, it could be that "Harrison Bergeron" was just another alias; we already know he went by the name of Donald Stark when he was running the sperm bank. And if so, this is no more than a guy who liked to read Vonnegut......

But I'll stick with my original idea.

SHOWS CITED:
'Bored To Death'
"Between Time And Timbuktu"
'Journeyman'
'St. Elsewhere'
'The West Wing'
'The Odd Couple'
'Barefoot In The Park'
"The Honeymooners"
'Happy Days'
'Fonzie And The Happy Days Gang'
'I Dream Of Jeannie'
'Jeannie'
'Laverne & Shirley'
'The Munsters'
'Saturday Night Live'
'That's My Bush!'
'The Secret Files Of Desmond Pfeiffer'
"Of Thee I Sing"

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: DAME SUSAN GULL

DAME SUSAN GULL

AS SEEN IN:
"Jack The Ripper"

AS PLAYED BY:
Ann Castle

From Wikipedia:
On 18 May 1848, Dr. Gull married Susan Ann Lacy, daughter of Colonel J. Dacre Lacy, of Carlisle. Shortly afterwards he left his rooms at Guy’s and moved to 8 Finsbury Square.

They had three children. Caroline Cameron Gull was born in 1851 at Guy’s Hospital and died in 1929; she married Theodore Dyke Acland MD (Oxon.) FRCP, the son of Sir Henry Acland, 1st Baronet MD FRS. They had two children, a daughter (Aimee Sarah Agnes Dyke Acland) who died in infancy in 1889, and a son, Theodore Acland (1890–1960), who became headmaster of Norwich School.

Cameron Gull was born about 1858 in Buckhold, Pangbourne, Berkshire and died in infancy.

William Cameron Gull was born on 6 Jan 1860 in Finsbury, Middlesex and died in 1922. He was educated at Eton College, inherited his father’s title as 2nd Baronet of Brook Street, and later served as the Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament for Barnstaple from July 1895 to September 1900.

Sir William Gull's will, with a codicil, was dated 27 November 1888. The value of the estate was £344,022 19s. 7d - an enormous sum at that time.

The following persons were appointed as executors: his wife, Dame Susan Anne Gull, his son, Sir William Cameron Gull, of Gloucester Street, Portman Square (the new baronet), Mr. Edmund Hobhouse, and Mr. Walter Barry Lindley.

Under the terms of the will, £500 was bequeathed to each of the acting executors. A jewelled snuffbox presented to Sir William Gull by the Empress Eugénie, widow of Emperor Napoleon III of France became an entailed heirloom, along with his presentation plate.

Lady Gull was bequeathed the remainder of his plate, his pictures, furniture, and household effects and the sum of £3,000, along with the use for the remainder of her life of the house at 74 Brook Street. She also received a life annuity of £3,000, commencing 12 months after Sir William's death.

From Comic Vine:
Susan Ann Lacy was born c. 1820, the daughter of Colonel J. Dacre Lacy. She married Dr William Gull on May 18th, 1848. Together they moved to 8 Finsbury Square. They had three children together, two of whom survived to adulthood. Their first child, Caroline Cameron Gull, was born in 1851. The second, Cameron Gull, was born in 1858, and died in infancy. The third, William Cameron Gull, was born in 1860. When her husband was given the title of 1st Baronet of Brook Street in 1872, she was given the title of Dame.

When her husband died in 1890 she was bequeathed a great deal of money, as well as the house that they had shared. She died four years later in 1894. She was 74 years of age.

BCnU!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

AS SEEN ON TV: DR. THEODORE DYKE ACLAND

"Izzy wizzy, let's get busy!"

'The Sooty Show'

Thanksgiving week vacation is over; time to get back to business.....

On November 9th, actor Richard Morant passed away unexpectedly due to an aneurysm. He is perhaps best known for playing Dr. Dwight Enys in 'Poldark' and for playing Harry Flashman in 'Tom Brown's School Days'. (We wrote about his version of Flashman here.)

Morant also is involved in my continuing series of essays about Jack the Ripper, which is currently running here at "Inner Toob". He played Dr. Gull's son-in-law, Dr. Acland, in the 1988 TV movie "Jack The Ripper". He is the second actor from that production to die this year. (The first being TP McKenna who played O'Connor.)

Here is a look at Morant's televersion of Acland.....

DR. THEODORE DYKE ACLAND

AS SEEN IN:
"Jack The Ripper"

AS PLAYED BY:
Richard Morant

From Wikipedia:
Theodore Dyke Acland MD, FRCP, FRCS was a British physician, surgeon and author and was the son-in-law of Sir William Gull, a leading London medical practitioner and one of the Physicians-in-Ordinary to HM Queen Victoria. For many years Acland was the Medical Adviser to the government of the Sudan.

Theodore Dyke Acland was born on 14 November 1851 in Killerton, Devon, England. He was the third son of Sir Henry Wentworth Acland, 1st Baronet, and Sarah Cotton, and the grandson of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet. Acland was educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, the University of Oxford, as well as the University of Leipzig, the University of Berlin and St. Thomas' Hospital. He graduated from Oxford University with the degree of Master of Arts (MA).

Acland married Caroline Cameron Gull (1855–1929), the daughter of Sir William Withey Gull and Susan Anne Lacy, on 12 April 1888. They had two children: Aimee Sarah Agnes Dyke Acland was born on 14 May 1889 and died in infancy later that year; and Theodore William Gull Acland was born on 7 Nov 1890. The family resided in Bryanston Square, London W1, England.

Acland became posthumously involved in the Jack the Ripper Royal conspiracy theory when Dr. Thomas E. A. Stowell suggested in a 1970 article in The Criminologist that Sir William Gull, the Royal physician, attempted to certify Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, who was the Ripper. Stowell claimed that his main source was Gull's daughter Caroline, Acland's wife. Having studied under Acland Stowell referred to him as "one time my beloved Chief". Stowell was an executor of Acland's will.

Stephen Knight, in his 1976 book "Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution" went even further, claiming that Jack the Ripper was actually a three-man team, with Gull as the actual killer. All three, Knight alleged, were Freemasons and the killings were carried out according to Masonic ritual. Knight claims that Gull afterwards became insane and was certified in an asylum under the name "Thomas Mason" and a sham funeral service carried out in the pretence that he had died. Cited as evidence in support of the theory is the fact that Acland signed his father-in-law's death certificate in an attempted cover-up. In fact, while Acland's actions were unusual and were not encouraged, they were not illegal.

In the 1988 mini-series "Jack the Ripper" Acland was played by Richard Morant.

Acland died on 16 April 1931 aged 79.

Good night, Mr. Morant, and may God bless....

Saturday, December 3, 2011

SKED ALERT! "BOARDWALK EMPIRE" - SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3RD

A BIT O' STEPTOE

"THE CURSE OF STEPTOE"

AS SEEN ON TV: WILFRED BRAMBELL

THE HAT SQUAD: REMEMBERING ALAN SUES

Friday, December 2, 2011

THE JACK THE RIPPER INNER TOOB LINKS HUB

AS SEEN ON TV: SIR CHARLES WARREN

Thursday, December 1, 2011

HARRISON BERGERON - TWICE UPON A TIME

AS SEEN ON TV: DAME SUSAN GULL

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

AS SEEN ON TV: DR. THEODORE DYKE ACLAND

Just An Old Cowhand On The TiVo Grande

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