ITEMS OF INTEREST - TANAKA'S TREASURES

'MURDER SHE WROTE'

"THE BOTTOM LINE IS MURDER"

Back in 1987, Jessica Fletcher was conducting her own investigation into a murder at TV station KBLR in order to help clear the name of her niece's husband.  She met the station's janitor, Burt Tanaka, who had been working there for 35 years and had his own little museum of celebrity trash in his office.

He showed Jessica three of the items in the collection.  First up was a bronzed apple core from David Eisenhower, which showed that he must have had a chipped tooth. 

Eisenhower didn't play himself in any TV series, but has appeared in a Bob Hope special and on several news/talk shows as himself.  Over in Skitlandia and a TV movie dimension, he was portrayed by other actors.

But the other two items were better fits for making connections to other TV shows and could guarantee Burt Tanaka an honorary position in the Television Crossover Hall of Fame as the curator of such exhibits.

The second item was a salami wrapper encased in a lucite block which belonged to Frank Sinatra.  Ol' Blue Eyes has been mentioned in plenty of other TV shows, mostly when the regular characters have tickets to his shows.  (Or, in the case of the 'Here's Lucy' episode "Lucy Gives Eddie Albert The Old Song And Dance", Lucy read about Sinatra coming out of retirement in 1973 in Joyce Haber's column.)

But Sinatra did make appearances as himself on quite a few shows and one TV movie:

"Young at Heart"

'Daddy Dearest'

- You Bet Your Life

'Who's the Boss'

- Party Double

'The Name of the Game'

- I Love You, Billy Baker: Part 1
- I Love You, Billy Baker: Part 2

'Make Room for Granddaddy'

- A Hamburger for Frank

'The Thin Man'

Neighbor
- Scene of the Crime

Sure, that last one isn't necessarily supposed to be Frank, but he's in that league with Sammy Davis Jr., Bob Hope, George Burns, and Milton Berle where they are more convincing as themselves rather than as fictional characters.  So why couldn't Frank Sinatra have been that neighbor?


The last item from Tanaka's collection was also encased in a lucite block.  It was a milk container which Pat Boone had discarded only a month before.  So that would have been in January of 1987.  [See top of post.]

Here are Pat's credits in which he appeared as himself:

'Dave's World'
- Touched by an Agent

'The Fall Guy'

- Beach Blanket Bounty

'That Girl'

- She Never Had the Vegas Notion

'The Beverly Hillbillies'

- Collard Greens An' Fatback

'Second Noah'

- Diving In

Both Pat Boone and Frank Sinatra will one day be inducted into the Television Crossover Hall Of Fame as themselves.  I may even devote an entire year to that theme......

BCnU!