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Twilight Zone – The Old Man in the Cave

★★★★1/2 November 8, 1963 Season 5 Episode 7

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

As far as the rating on this one. I was in between 4.5 and 5…it could go either way. It is a great episode.

James Coburn (French) and John Anderson (Goldsmith) are terrific in this Twilight Zone episode. The Old Man in the Cave dwells on a small group of Atomic Holocaust survivors whose status quo is maintained by an unseen source that lives in a cave. Mr Goldsmith is the leader of this group and he is told what to do by this cave dweller.

Coburn’s character is the neighborhood bully with power. He swaggers in with his men and take over the group. He mock’s Mr. Goldsmith about the faith he has with the cave dweller’s instructions. Against Goldsmiths vehement objections, they distribute food and liquor branded contaminated by the Old Man in the cave. Resentful over their past restrictions, the townspeople force Goldsmith to open the cave. The “Old Man” is seen…but as what?

The ugly side of human beings is on full display in this episode. Humans without faith in something can be scared, frightened, and in turn… scary.

From IMDB: Based upon the short story “The Old Man” by Henry Slesar. Though it was copyrighted in 1962, the story went unpublished until 1980, when it appeared in the anthology Microcosmic Tales from Taplinger Pub. Co.

This show was written by Rod Serling and Henry Slesar

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

What you’re looking at is a legacy that man left to himself. A decade previous he pushed his buttons and a nightmarish moment later woke up to find that he had set the clock back a thousand years. His engines, his medicines, his science were buried in a mass tomb, covered over by the biggest gravedigger of them all—a bomb. And this is the earth 10 years later, a fragment of what was once a whole, a remnant of what was once a race. The year is 1974 and this is The Twilight Zone.

Summary

Ten years after an atomic apocalypse, a small group of survivors manage to eke out a very difficult existence. They’ve managed to survive in large part due to the advice they receive from an old man who lives in a cave outside of the town. Goldsmith acts as the intermediary and the old man’s advice on things like crops or the safety of a batch of old canned goods are usually correct. When four soldiers led by Major French arrive in the town, the social order is upended with the townsfolk attacking the old man’s cave but not really prepared for what they find inside

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Mr. Goldsmith, survivor. An eyewitness to man’s imperfection. An observer of the very human trait of greed. And a chronicler of the last chapter—the one reading “suicide”. Not a prediction of what is to be, just a projection of what could be. This has been The Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
James Coburn … French
John Anderson … Goldsmith
Josie Lloyd … Evie, townswoman who says, “We already took chances. The old man told us not to plant on the north acreage.”
John Craven … townsman who asks, “Been to the cave, Jason?”
John Marley … Jason
Uncredited (in order of appearance):
Natalie Masters … townswoman
Don Wilbanks … Furman

Beatles Rooftop Concert at IMAX

My son Bailey bought us tickets to see The Beatles rooftop concert in the IMAX theater on Friday night. If you get a chance to do this…do it. It sounds like you are there listening live. It lasts around 1:30 minutes. They added a brief Beatles history and a little followup after the performance.

They played on the freezing rooftop of Apple Records on January 6, 1969. It was the first time they played in front of an audience since August 29, 1966. You could see the breath of people on the roof and in the street. It is not easy playing in cold weather. Your fingers freeze and you cannot feel the strings. It’s a wonder their guitars didn’t go out of tune more.

It was clear that the Beatles could have toured like their peers The Stones, Led Zeppelin, and The Who and sounded every bit as good. They were very raw and earthy sounding because of the type of songs they were writing at the time. Songs that could be played live, not the Sgt Peppers experimental music. The songs linked to the style of the White Album.

They had just written these songs and rehearsed them that month so the songs were new to them except One After 909. John and Paul wrote that one when they were teenagers. It’s hard to believe how young they were at the time. None of them were thirty but they had packed a lot of living in their years being The Beatles.

John Lennon was normally a rhythm guitar player but he plays the lead on Get Back and you can tell he enjoyed stepping up and doing that. They would complete one more album after this…and that was Abbey Road. That is called going out on top.

To see them in an IMAX theater was amazing. It looked like it was recorded yesterday…not 53 years ago. I’ve seen the Get Back documentary twice but it’s nothing like seeing the concert at a theater…it changes the dynamics of it…plus IMAX just makes it that much better.

It would have been interesting to see them play in a more controlled enviroment but I’m glad we got this. Right after John Lennon said ” I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we pass the audition.”…someone in the theater shouted out…”You most certainly did John”

That about sums it up.

….

Beatles – Help! ….Album

I don’t post many albums, but I wanted to go over this one. This will be the UK version of the album. The American version was a different album with the soundtrack music replacing some of the songs.

In my opinion, it was one of the most important albums the Beatles ever released. The album signaled a change with the Beatles. Rubber Soul is usually credited as the album that represented the Beatles transformation from pure a rock/pop band into something more. I’ve always seen Help! as the bridge from Beatlemania to the middle period of Rubber Soul and Revolver. With songs like You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, The Night Before, I’ve Just Seen A Face, and Ticket to Ride it was apparent that a change was coming.

Was the album as good as Rubber Soul? No, but it cleared the way for the change that was coming. In 1963 the Beatles released She Loves You…4 years later they recorded A Day In The Life. That is only 4 years…it would be like building a go-cart and 4 years later building a rocket and going to the moon. There were steps in between though and Help! was one of them. What makes the Beatles so special is they didn’t repeat themselves. They progressed with every album into a different sound and feel. It wasn’t only drugs but social issues, fame, isolation, and superior songwriting skills.

You can tell pot had some influence on this album. Most of the songs were not as fast-paced with a beat group mentality. You still had some songs that were the Beatles that everyone knew at the time. Songs like You’re Going to Lose That Girl, and the two covers Act Naturally and Dizzy Miss Lizzy. I’ve always liked You’re Going to Lose That Girl with the call and response and Ringo did an excellent job on Act Naturally.

I think the most underrated song on the album is The Night Before. If any other band did this song…it would have been a single. Other songs that I like (that were not hits) are It’s Only Love (although Lennon hated it), I’ve Just Seen A Face, I Need You, and Another Girl.

I shouldn’t rate Beatle albums because it’s hard for me to be objective about them but I would give this 5 out of 5 stars. A fun movie also if you get a chance …watch it.

Track Listing

Help!
The Night Before
You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
I Need You
Another Girl
You’re Going To Lose That Girl
Ticket To Ride

Act Naturally
It’s Only Love
You Like Me Too Much
Tell Me What You See
I’ve Just Seen A Face
Yesterday
Dizzy Miss Lizzy

Twilight Zone – Living Doll

★★★★★ November 1, 1963 Season 5 Episode 6

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This episode launched a lot of horror movies like Child’s Play. It did have a future star…the great Telly Savalas as a stepfather named Erich Streator. Mr. Streator is not a likable character but yet you may have a little pity for him as the show goes along. He shows glimpses of being a decent human being but fails miserably with his role as a stepfather. You do have to look deep to find sympathy.

He has a great wife (Mary La Roche) and a stepdaughter (Christie) who loves her new doll. The doll can talk and move… “My name is Talking Tina and I love you very much.”

You have so much sympathy for his wife Annabelle…even without the doll. Some people might say that the episode is predictable but remember…there weren’t many shows out about talking dolls at the time…maybe none. There is no comedy in this one like the Chucky movies that came decades later. The doll is working as Christie’s protector…at least you think so. Is it all in Erich Streator’s head?

From IMDB:

June Foray, the voice of the “Talky Tina” doll, was also the voice of Mattel’s “Chatty Cathy” doll, upon which the doll in this episode was based.

Tina and Christie are both nicknames for Christina. The doll and the child share a name, so among many other interpretations it could be argued that the doll is a proxy through which Christie expresses hostility toward her stepfather and protects her shy, frightened mother.

According to The Twilight Zone Companion, this episode was written in one day by Jerry Sohl, even though credit was given entirely to Charles Beaumont.

The child actress who portrays Christie is credited as being the voice of “Lucy Van Pelt” in the classic TV special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.

This show was written by Rod Serling, Charles Beaumont, and Jerry Sohl

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Talky Tina, a doll that does everything, a lifelike creation of plastic and springs and painted smile. To Erich Streator, she is the most unwelcome addition to his household—but without her, he’d never enter the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Erich Streater is upset when his wife comes home with her daughter Christie having bought her yet another doll. Christie loves her new Talking Tina doll but her stepfather takes an immediate dislike to it. Anytime he is alone with the doll, it spouts abusive comments to the effect that it hates him and that it’s going to kill him. He’s convinced that his wife is behind it all, something she vehemently denies. He tries to get rid of the doll but it always seems to reappear – and also seems intent on following through with its threats.

WARNING…VIDEO SPOILERS

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Of course, we all know dolls can’t really talk, and they certainly can’t commit murder. But to a child caught in the middle of turmoil and conflict, a doll can become many things: friend, defender, guardian. Especially a doll like Talky Tina, who did talk and did commit murder—in the misty region of the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Telly Savalas … Erich Streator
Mary La Roche … Annabelle Streator
Tracy Stratford … Christie Streator
June Foray … Talky Tina (voice) [uncredited]

Hank Williams – Move It On Over

Whenever I’m asked if I like country music…at first, I wonder what country they mean. If they mean commercial top 40…then not. If they mean Hank Williams, then a big fat yes. In this country, I hear a little rockabilly and country mix…which is a great thing.

Hank Williams as a songwriter is up there with the greats. Bob Dylan and more idolized him and his writing. This song was his first big hit. The song was written by the man himself. He released this song in 1947. Two years later, he received his invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry after his successful recording of the minstrel era song, “Lovesick Blues.”

Move It On Over peaked at #4 in the Country Charts in 1947.

Despite never learning to read music, Williams was a prolific songwriter including country music classics such as “Hey, Good Lookin’,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart.” He recorded a total of 66 songs in his six-year recording career, 37 of which became hit records. It was not unheard of for Williams to record three hit songs in one afternoon. Now think about this… out of 66 songs recorded…37 were hits… That is like batting over .500.

Williams was plagued by back pain throughout his life, likely due to spina bifida. Life on the road as a Country singer only made it worse. An operation in 1951 gave him no relief and actually increased his pain. The combination of unending physical pain and the pressure of being a successful recording artist led to Williams seeking solace in drugs in alcohol.

Many of you will remember this song by George Thorogood released in 1978 and picked up a lot of airplay.

Move It On Over

I come in last night about half past ten
That baby of mine wouldn’t let me in
So move it on over, rock it on over
Move over little dog, the mean old dog is movin’ in

She told me not to mess around
But I done let the deal go down
Move it on over, rock it on over
Move over nice dog, a big fat dog is movin’ in

She changed the lock on my back door
Now my key won’t fit no more
Move it on over, rock it on over
Move over nice dog, the mean old dog is movin’ in

She threw me out just as pretty as she pleased
Pretty soon I’ll be scratchin’ fleas
Move it on over, slide it on over
Move over nice dog, a mean old dog is movin’ in

Yeah, listen to me dog before you start to whine
That side yours and this side mine
So move it on over, rock it on over
Move over little dog, the big old dog is movin’ in

Yeah, she changed the lock on my back door
Now my key won’t fit no more
Move it on over, rock it on over
Move over little dog, the big old dog is movin’ in

Move it on over, move it on over
Move it on over, won’t’cha rock it on over
Move over cool dog, the hot dog’s movin’ in

Beatles – Ticket To Ride

According to John Lennon, when the Beatles were in Hamburg, prostitutes had to have a piece of paper proving they have a clean bill of health…as in a Ticket To Ride. McCartney said it was “a British Railways ticket to the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight.” Lennon’s description caught a 9-year-old boy’s imagination much more.

George Harrison came up with the way the riff was played. Ringo came up with a distinctive staccato drum pattern for this song based on the way George played it. He said a big part of his drumming style is being a left-handed drummer trying to play right-handed.

I remember this the most by it being used in the Beatles movie Help! in the scene where The Beatles ski… poorly. Copies of the original single released on Capitol Records say: “From the United Artists Release ‘Eight Arms To Hold You’,” which was the original working title of Help!

The Beatles were one of the first groups to make music videos, which were done so they could promote their songs without showing up at TV stations. They made one for “Ticket To Ride” in a shoot where they did four other songs as well. All the footage was shot in the studio; this one saw the band performing in front of oversized tickets for trains and busses.

The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, Canada and the UK in 1965.

Carl Palmer: “One of the most exciting, rhythmical patterns and parts and songs that I ever heard, which I thought was really big-time and had it all going is a track by The Beatles called ‘Ticket To Ride, the drum part on that I always thought was exceptional.”

From Songfacts

The Beatles taped a performance of this song that was broadcast on an episode of Ed Sullivan Show that aired September 12, 1965 (the last Ed Sullivan show broadcast in black and white). The Beatles recorded it prior to their Shea Stadium concert that took place August 15.

The Carpenters covered this in 1969 with the gender reversed to suit lead vocalist Karen Carpenter (“he’s got a ticket to ride…” Their mellow version was released as the duo’s first single and included on their first album, which was also called Ticket To Ride. Their rendition didn’t chart, but made its way onto plenty of light rock playlists.

In Stephen King’s 1977 novel The Shining, a supernatural Big Band ensemble plays a swing version of this at The Overlook Hotel.

Ticket To Ride

I think I’m gonna be sad
I think it’s today, yeah
The girl that’s driving me mad
Is going away

She’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
But she don’t care

She said that living with me
Is bringing her down yeah
For she would never be free
When I was around

She’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
But she don’t care

I don’t know why she’s ridin’ so high
She ought to think twice
She ought to do right by me
Before she gets to saying goodbye
She ought to think twice,
She ought to do right by me
I think I’m gonna be sad
I think it’s today yeah
The girl that’s driving me mad
Is going away, yeah

She’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
But she don’t care

I don’t know why she’s ridin’ so high
She ought to think twice
She ought to do right by me
Before she gets to saying goodbye
She ought to think twice
She ought to do right by me
She said that living with me
Is bringing her down, yeah
For she would never be free
When I was around

Ah, she’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
She’s got a ticket to ride
But she don’t care

My baby don’t care, my baby don’t care
My baby don’t care, my baby don’t care
My baby don’t care, my baby don’t care

Comedian Quotes III

This week we are going to feature some Comedians from the 70s and 80s. My personal favorite is Bill HIcks…the darkest comedian I have listened to but funny. Steven Wright takes the quotes to a different level.

Steven Wright

If a man says something in the woods and there are no women there, is he still wrong?

Right now I’m having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I’ve forgotten this before.

The other night I was lying in bed, looking up at the stars, and I wondered, ‘Where the hell is my roof?

Last night I played a blank tape at full blast. The mime next door went nuts.

Whose cruel idea was it for the word “lisp” to have an “s” in it?

I have an inferiority complex, but it’s not a very good one.

Is it true that cannibals don’t eat clowns because they taste funny?

Bill Hicks

I loved when Bush came out and said, ‘We are losing the war against drugs.’ You know what that implies? There’s a war being fought, and the people on drugs are winning it.

We all pay for life with death, so everything in between should be free.

I believe that there is an equality to all humanity. We all suck.

When two or more people agree on an issue, I form on the other side.

On the theft of his material by Denis Leary: “I have a scoop for you. I stole his act. I camouflaged it with punchlines, and to really throw people off, I did it before he did.

It’s all about money, not freedom, y’all, okay? Nothing to do with fuckin’ freedom. If you think you’re free, try going somewhere without fucking money, okay?

The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God’s infinite love. That’s the message we’re brought up with, isn’t it? Believe or die! Thank you, forgiving Lord, for all those options.

Sam Kinison

If I get married again, I want a guy there with a drum to do rimshots during the vows.

Folks, I’ve been straight for seventeen days… Not all in a row.

My view of life is, ‘If you’re going to miss Heaven, why miss it by two inches? Miss it!

Rock Against Drugs, what a name. Somebody was high when they came up with that title. It’s like Christians Against Christ. Rock created drugs.

I don’t worry about terrorism. I was married for two years.

I look for women I know are gonna bust me up good. Come on, man, who can resist that? Who can resist that emotional pain? Yeah, they all have the same line, they’re so sweet: I’m not gonna hurt you like all the others. Really I’m not. I’m gonna introduce you to a whole new level of pain!

Jesus is still up in Heaven, thumbing through his Bible, going ‘Where did I say build a water slide?

I called a detox center – just to see how much it would cost: $13,000 for three weeks! My friends, if you can come up with thirteen grand, you don’t have a problem yet.

Eddie Murphy

I spent my 30s fixing everything I broke in my 20s.

The best way you hurt rich people is by turning them into poor people.

The advice I would give to someone is to not take anyone’s advice.

Getting divorced didn’t sour me on the institution of marriage. I’ll tell you what I’ll never do: I’ll never get divorced again.

As you get older, you get different, and I’m a mushier, softer person as I get older.

Steve Martin

You know that look that women get when they want to have sex? Me neither

I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy.

Boy, those French! They have a different word for everything

I gave my cat a bath the other day…they love it. He sat there, he enjoyed it, it was fun for me. The fur would stick to my tongue, but other than that…

Thinking too much also creates the illusion of causal connections between unrelated events.

George Burns

There’s an old saying, ‘Life begins at forty.’ That’s silly. Life begins every morning you wake up.

I get up every morning and read the obituary column. If my name’s not there, I eat breakfast.

You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.

It takes only one drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can’t remember if it’s the thirteenth or the fourteenth.

I’d rather be over the hill than under it.

When I was a boy the Dead Sea was only sick.

Twilight Zone – The Last Night of a Jockey

★★★1/2 October 25, 1963 Season 5 Episode 5

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

Rod Serling was great at this kind of low-life character. They were not evil but just the bottom of society. Mickey Rooney plays Grady who was small in more ways than one. He was a jockey who was disqualified from racing and he blames everyone but the one responsible…himself. Mickey Rooney runs a gamut of emotions from rage to grief to terrible self-loathing and is credible throughout. He carries the show…although he must because he is the only actor in it. A bit of Twilight Zone justice is dished out at the end.

This is another character that you won’t have much sympathy with at all. It is an impressive one-man show. Agnes Moorehead did this in The Invaders and was incredible.

This one is by no means a bad episode. It’s just not a classic one. I think the basic story was done better in Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room, another episode of a self-pitying loser being lectured by his alter ego.

From IMDB: With exactly one performer appearing–either in image or voice, not counting Rod Serling’s routine turn as host–this episode features the smallest cast of any in the series. Close runner-ups include The Twilight Zone: Where Is Everybody? (1959), The Twilight Zone: King Nine Will Not Return (1960), The Twilight Zone: Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room (1960), The Twilight Zone: The Invaders (1961) and The Twilight Zone: Two (1961).

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

The name is Grady, five feet short in stockings and boots, a slightly distorted offshoot of a good breed of humans who race horses. He happens to be one of the rotten apples, bruised and yellowed by dealing in dirt, a short man with a short memory who’s forgotten that he’s worked for the sport of kings and helped turn it into a cesspool, used and misused by the two-legged animals who’ve hung around sporting events since the days of the Coliseum. So this is Grady, on his last night as a jockey. Behind him are Hialeah, Hollywood Park and Saratoga. Rounding the far turn and coming up fast on the rail—is the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Grady is a champion jockey who has recently been banned from the sport owing to his participation in race fixing and the drugging of horses. He claims he is innocent and currently has an appeal with the racing commission but his agent isn’t hopeful. Suddenly, Grady begins hearing a voice – his own as it turns out, speaking to him from his own mind. As Grady rages over the unfairness of it all, he is granted his one true wish.

WARNING…VIDEO SPOILERS

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

The name is Grady, ten feet tall, a slightly distorted offshoot of a good breed of humans who race horses. Unfortunately for Mr. Grady, he learned too late that you don’t measure size with a ruler, you don’t figure height with a yardstick, and you never judge a man by how tall he looks in a mirror. The giant is as he does. You can make a parimutuel bet on this, win, place, or show, in or out of the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling…Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Mickey Rooney … Grady

Barney Miller… TV Show Draft

This is my first selection in the first round of the SlicetheLife TV Draft. And the envelope says……..Barney Miller.

I’ve watched Barney Miller at least 7 times through. Why is it my favorite show? It would be the writing, the acting, and that glorious dirty set that only got dirtier as the show went along. Another reason would be the continuity of the show. My pet peeve with shows is when you would meet someone’s “Uncle Joe” as his only uncle…and a season or two later…the same person never had an uncle. That is lazy writing and research…Barney Miller doesn’t have that. The show ran from 1975 to 1982 for 171 episodes.

You will see the same actor play different criminals (great 70s-character actors and actresses) but the storyline is set. Barney Miller was a comedy but also would dip in drama at times. Whatever was going on…the characters stayed true. It doesn’t hurt that the show had one of the best…if not the best theme songs. Dig that bass!

Many real life detectives were asked about the most realistic police show on television. Barney Miller was picked because they showed the drudgery parts like the paperwork involved that is a part of every policeman’s day. I’ve read where some officers today still say it is accurate in that way.

The guests on the show every week were usually the criminals they captured. They never had serial killers or anything like that (save for one episode when they were switched to homicide for that one show) …usually just people who caused a disturbance. You had every known petty criminal in the world on that show. Pickpocket, prostitute, madams, thieves, white-collar crime, and etc.

The jail cell in Barney Miller encapsulated the seventies and its times. The show could be topical about New York in the seventies. One episode has the squad listening to an actual speech given by President Ford only a few weeks before the show aired, in which he refused to bail out a near-bankrupt New York City while still committing aid to essential services like the police.

The show was ahead of its time. Barney Miller had diversity in the cast and guests. The diversity wasn’t there just to have diversity…it fit the story…it was never forced.

Danny Arnold created this show. He also wrote and produced some of Bewitched, That Girl, McHales Navy, and more.

Hal Liden has mentioned that they would film until 2-3 in the morning with script changes at the last minute. That was normal, not the exception. They had a studio audience at first but soon dropped that partly because of the script changes. The show never went down in quality. It was never a big ratings show because frankly, it was written well with subtle humor that it wasn’t as accessible as other shows.

If you haven’t given Barney Miller a chance…it’s worth one.

I’m going to list the characters in this show because it is such a character-driven show.

The characters are:

Barney Miller (Hal Linden) The man that leads with common sense and wisdom over his squad of quirky detectives and officers. Hal Linden has said that his character could not get as crazy as the other ones because the audience had to identify with him and have someone to compare the others to.

Det. Stan Wojciehowicz..”Wojo”(Max Gail) – An ex-Marine who fought in Vietnam who is sometimes naive and childlike but really looks to Barney as a mentor. Wojo is not always tolerant of people with different views than him but is a good detective but highly emotional.

Det. Ron Harris (Ron Glass) – A well-dressed man who lives beyond his means at times. He wants the finer things in life and can be a little snobbish at times but he is a good guy. As the show continued, he was trying to establish a writing career and he wrote the best-selling book called “Blood on the Badge” that sometimes disrupted the station but he would stay loyal to Barney even through their differences.

Sgt. Nick Yemana (Jack Soo) – A Japanese Detective that always had an answer, loved gambling and he would call his bookie often… and he made the coffee for the office…and supposedly the worse coffee ever…To me, he was one of the funniest characters on the show. Actor Jack Soo passed away while the show was in its 5th season in January of 1979. During that season the cast did a tribute show speaking as themselves and showed clips of Jack.

Sgt. Arthur Dietrich (Steve Landesberg) – A one-of-a-kind character and my favorite on the show. Dietrich was a know it all…not in the usual way. He really knew about every statistic on any subject that came up. He was an intellectual but also could have fun with it. One of the funniest and deadpan characters I’ve ever seen on television. He never lost his cool in any situation.

Sgt Philip Fish (Abe Vigoda) – The senior member of the crew who was played by Abe Vigoda always looked older than he was at the time. It was a running joke about him having hemorrhoids, needing to go to the bathroom, being old, and delivering many marriage jokes. He would leave the show for a spinoff “Fish” officially in the 4th season. He would come back and make guest star appearances. He was the break-out star of the show.

Sgt. Chano Amenguale (Gregory Sierra) – He was Puerto Rican and would be very talkative and emotional. Whenever he was really upset, he would start speaking Spanish loudly. I really liked Sierra’s character, but he left after the second season.

Officer Carl Levitt (Ron Carey) – Levitt was a short overachiever and kept hounding Barney for a promotion. He would not be too subtle to Barney about his hard-working habits. The rest of the station would pick on him but all of them respected his hard work. He would fill in when a Detective was out. He finally got promoted at the end of the show’s run.

Deputy Inspector Frank Luger (James Gregory) – A totally old school superior who would drop by “the old one two” to talk with Barney. Luger never even tried to keep up with the times. He would tell Barney of the good old days…sometimes to Barney’s annoyance. Overall Luger was a great character who was brilliantly played by James Gregory.

Elizabeth Miller (Barbara Barrie) She was Barney’s wife who always wanted him to quit the force because she worried about his safety. She was on regularly at first but the show started to concentrate on the station rather than their home. She was involved in a story later on in the series when Elizabeth and Barney separated for a while…they eventually got back together.

Det. Janice Wentworth (Linda Lavin) She was a detective in the squad room who had a romantic interest in Wojo. Prone to excitement trying to prove herself in a room full of men. The writing for her character was great…it was realistic and always suited Lavin’s character. The character would have stayed on the show but Linda Lavin got her own show…Alice.

Ben Scanlon(George Murdock) – Scanlon worked in Internal Affairs and was the one bad guy in the show. He would try to find trouble when he visited…always wanted to find some wrongdoing to bring down the 12th Precinct because they had a perfect record.

I’ve searched on youtube for some different scenes…most of what they have is the “best of” each character. The good news is… youtube has many full episodes. I’m including the full episode of one the best….It’s called Hash. I’m also including the super theme song…again you gotta love that bass!

The theme song to Barney Miller

….

Elvis Presley – I Forgot To Remember To Forget

It’s been too long since I posted about the big E. How could someone, not like a song with a title like that?

Elvis didn’t want to record this song because he thought it was too Country, so drummer Johnny Bernero from Memphis was added to the mix. Up until this time, there was only Scotty Moore on guitar, Bill Bass on bass, and Elvis on rhythm guitar. This added an up-tempo beat…Elvis liked it and recorded the song, which became a Country hit. I know Elvis is Elvis, but his backing band was just as special to me. Scotty Moore was one of a kind.

This song was released twice. The Sun Records release first charted the following week (September 17, 1955) at #14 on Billboard’s Country Charts. On November 21, 1955, it was released yet again. On that day RCA Victor purchased Elvis’s contract from Sam Phillips. As part of the deal, RCA obtained the rights to all of Presley’s Sun recordings. Soon after, RCA pressed and distributed a single of “I Forgot to Remember to Forget” and “Mystery Train” on its own label.

This was Elvis’ first #1 on any chart. It peaked at #1 in the Country Charts and #2 in Canada in 1955.

The Beatles never recorded this song in the studio, but they did it for the BBC with George singing lead.

The song was written by Charlie Feathers and Stan Kesler. Kesler had already written Presley’s “I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone” when he had the idea for this song.

Stan Kesler: “At that time, I was on the kick of catchy titles,” Kesler recalled. “When I began to think about that phrase, it just expanded into ‘I forgot to remember to forget her.’ From there, I started working on it, and it all fell together.”

The Beatles version… live in the BBC studios.

I Forgot To Remember To Forget

I forgot to remember to forget her
I can’t seem to get her off my mind
I thought I’d never miss her
But I found out somehow
I think about her almost all the time
The day she went away
I made myself a promise
That I’d soon forget we ever met
But something sure is wrong
‘Cause I’m so blue and lonely
I forgot to remember to forget

The day she went away
I made myself a promise
That I’d soon forget we ever met
Well, but something sure is wrong
‘Cause I’m so blue and lonely
I forgot to remember to forget

Hollies – Carrie Anne

I have a soft spot for the Hollies. They started in the early sixties and continued through the seventies without Graham Nash who quit the Hollies for what he thought was a hipper band…Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Soon to include the elusive Neil Young.

Hollies members Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks, and Graham Nash wrote this song and shared the lead vocals, with each taking a verse (Clarke, then Hicks, then Nash). The Hollies had great harmonies and also a secret weapon in Tony Hicks as a guitar player. He was and still is outstanding but was never as known as his later neighbor George Harrison and his other peers.

Tony’s son Paul Hicks was in Dhani Harrison’s band and has worked with Giles Martin on Beatle remastering projects.

This song is about the British singer and actress Marianne Faithfull, who is well known for her relationship with Mick Jagger. She also had a brief fling with lead singer Alan Clarke. For a short time. “Marianne” was changed to “Carrie-Anne” so it wouldn’t be so obvious.

The song peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100, #9 in Canada, #3 in the UK, and #2 in New Zealand in 1967. This song was a straight-ahead pop hit, but changes were coming. Sgt Peppers was released so The Hollies, with the urging of Nash, tried going the more psychedelic route. The next single was King Midas In Reverse which only peaked at #18 in the UK and was considered a failure. Personally…it’s my favorite early Hollies song.

A side note…The Canadian actress Carrie-Anne Moss, best known for playing Trinity in The Matrix, was named after this Hollies hit. The song was on the charts at the time of her birth in August 1967.

From Songfacts

The group didn’t let on that the song was about Faithfull until 1995, when Graham Nash spilled the beans in a documentary.

In the song, the singer recalls the schoolyard days when he and Carrie Anne were friends, but she went for the older boys. Now their older and he tells her that although she’s lost her charm, he’s willing to “be her teacher” and take her on. By the end of the lesson, he’s sure she’ll be his girl.

According to the book Forty Years of Steel by Jeffrey Thomas, this song marks the first use of steel drums in a commercial pop record. Steel drums evoke an island vibe, but there’s nothing tropical about this song and none of The Hollies played the instrument (it’s not clear who played it on the record, but their producer, Ron Richards, apparently arranged it). Still, inserting a steel drum solo where a guitar solo would be certainly made the song stand out. Stephen Stills, Nash’s bandmate in Crosby, Stills & Nash, incorporated steel drums into his 1970 hit “Love The One You’re With.”

The Hollies had a very impressive run of hits starting in 1963, but Graham Nash wanted to put hit-making aside so they could create songs with more weight behind them. He ended up leaving the group in 1968 and forming Crosby, Stills & Nash. In an interview with Bruce Pollock, Nash said listeners “want to hear songs that mean more to them than ‘Hey Carrie Ann, what’s your game.'”

Carrie Anne

Hey, Carrie Anne
Hey, Carrie Anne
When we were at school, our games were simple
I played a janitor, you played a monitor
Then you played with older boys and prefects
What’s the attraction in what they’re doing

Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play
Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play

You were always something special to me
quite independent, never caring
You lost your charm as you were aging
Where is your magic disappearing

Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play
Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play

You’re so, so like a woman to me
(So like a woman to me)
So, so like a woman to me
(Like a woman to me)

Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play
Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play

People live and learn but you’re still learning
You use my mind and I’ll be your teacher
When the lesson’s over, you’ll be with me
Then I’ll hear the other people saying

Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play
Hey, Carrie Anne, what’s your game now
Can anybody play

Carrie Anne, Carrie Anne, Carrie Anne

Twilight Zone – A Kind of a Stopwatch

★★★★ October 18, 1963 Season 5 Episode 4

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

Richard Erdman plays Patrick Thomas McNulty who is an insufferable know it all bore. He is a self-proclaimed idea man…but not a good one. He is given a gift…a very special gift that he wanted to exploit. Mr. McNulty was given a stopwatch that could control time. This story is made for the Twilight Zone but it helps when you have sympathy for the main character. You don’t in this one but yet it still works. It does have a good Twilight Zone ending.

It reminds me a little of Time Enough at Last but not as good. Erdman does a great job playing McNulty because he is a convincing pain. The inspiration for the episode came from a book written by John D. MacDonald published a year earlier called “The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything”. Much later the book was made into a movie called The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything in 1980.

The biggest disappointment is Potts, he is the fellow that gave McNulty the stopwatch. The dialogue doesn’t give us many clues…its supposed to make Potts seem the kind of eccentric character who might give a total stranger a mysterious and magical device, but it plays very flat. Potts is no more than a plot device, the intention being to get the watch into McNulty’s hands as quickly as possible. It was a wasted opportunity in not exploring that charcacter.

The reason I bring it up is an early draft of the script featured an alternate closing shot: One of the “frozen” people, whom McNulty has just run past, turns to face the camera after McNulty vanishes around a corner. It’s Potts, who smiles and winks at us…indicating that, as with the watch he gave McNulty, there’s a lot more to him than meets the eye.

This show was written by Rod Serling and Michael D. Rosenthal

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Submitted for your approval or at least your analysis: one Patrick Thomas McNulty, who, at age forty-one, is the biggest bore on Earth. He holds a ten-year record for the most meaningless words spewed out during a coffee break. And it’s very likely that, as of this moment, he would have gone through life in precisely this manner, a dull, argumentative bigmouth who sets back the art of conversation a thousand years. I say he very likely would have except for something that will soon happen to him, something that will considerably alter his existence—and ours. Now you think about that now, because this is The Twilight Zone.

Summary

After Patrick Thomas McNulty gets fired from his job, he goes to a neighborhood bar where his non-stop chatter drives all of the customers away. One of the last patrons in the bar has a gift for him: a stopwatch. It’s a strange gift and he has no idea what he might do with it. When he presses the button however everything around him stops. He returns to work the next day and tries to market it, but to no avail. He then returns to the bar and again drives everyone out the bar with his bombast.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

Mr. Patrick Thomas McNulty, who had a gift of time. He used it and he misused it, and now he’s just been handed the bill. Tonight’s tale of motion and McNulty – in the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Richard Erdman … Patrick Thomas McNulty
Herbie Faye … Joe Palucci, the bartender
Leon Belasco … Potts, the drunk who gives McNulty the stopwatch
Doris Singleton … Secretary to McNulty’s boss Mr. Cooper
Roy Roberts … Mr. Cooper, McNulty’s annoyed boss
Richard Wessel … Charlie, drinker in Palucci’s bar
Ray Kellog … Fred, who delivers coffee to McNulty’s office
Ken Drake … Daniel, last patron in Palucci’s bar who tells McNulty, “Come on fella, we’re trying to watch.”
Sam Balter: … sports announcer on TV in Polucci’s bar
Al Silvani … one of the drinkers in Polucci’s bar

Duane Eddy – Rebel Rouser

There is something about the 1950s and 60s with great instrumentals. This one has that great echo swimming all around the guitar lines by the great guitarist Duane Eddy.

Speaking of swimming…this was recorded in a Phoenix studio that had an echo chamber that was originally a large water tank. A single speaker was placed at one end of the tank, the microphone at the other, and the guitar was piped in there.

Who said that the 70s and 80s were the two decades of albums with multiple singles? The 1958 album this song came off of was named…Have Twangy Guitar Will Travel.

Now that title demands respect. The title is not the only reason it demanded respect…FIVE charting singles came off of it. Ramrod #27, Cannonball #15, The Lonely One #23, Moovin’ N’ Groovin’ #72, and last but not least…our song for today…Rebel Rouser peaked at #6 in 1958.

The album was released in 1958 and it peaked at #5 in the Billboard Album Charts and #6 in the UK.

Lee Hazlewood produced this track and helped Eddy get his distinctive guitar sound. Hazlewood went on record duets with Nancy Sinatra and also her hit “These Boots Are Made For Walking.”

The hand claps and shouts were provided by The Sharps, who later changed their name to the Rivingtons and had hits with Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow and The Bird’s the Word. As any Family Guy fan will tell you…The Trashmen later covered The Bird’s The Word in 1963.

Duane Eddy: “We were recording in Phoenix, starting my first album, and one of the guys said, ‘Man, that guitar sounds twangy.’ And (Hazlewood’s business partner) Lester Sill fell down laughing. He’d never heard that word and it became a running joke. ‘Is that twangy enough?’ So we finished the album and called it Have Twangy Guitar Will Travel. To be honest I never really liked the word. I thought it was kind of corny and rather undignified, but at the same time so many people liked it I just shut up and went with it.”

Rebel Rouser

No need for lyrics…just cool twangy guitar

…

Twilight Zone – Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

★★★★★ October 11, 1963 Season 5 Episode 3

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

As far as classics go…you can’t get much more classic than this one. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet goes beyond the Twilight Zone into pop culture. It’s been parodied and remade, but this is the definitive version. The Twilight Zone the movie redid this one and they did a good job but it’s not as eerie as this one. The new Twilight Zone in 2019 also did a version.

William Shatner does a great job in this episode as a man (Bob Wilson) who just recovered from a nervous breakdown. Wilson is complex, intelligent, and insecure. He is a man on the brink, trying desperately to hold on to his recently regained normalcy. Shatner’s over-the-top mannerisms work in this episode. The episode still works, partly because of the claustrophobic airplane setting with an added violent thunderstorm. I’ve heard criticism on the monster makeup but if I saw that thing on the wing of a plane I was on…I would freak out also.

Shatner’s character reminds me of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, but this time will he be vindicated?

Richard Donner (Superman and the Omen) directed this episode. The logistics involved in filming Nightmare at 20,000 Feet were enormous. The set consisted of the interior of an airline passenger cabin with the left airplane wing attached to the outside. This was all suspended over a huge water tank, in order to contain the water from the rain effect. Donner remembers the shooting as one big headache.

Richard Matheson’s scripts were so respected that they were filmed almost exactly as written. The only change was one of title, from Flight to The Last Flight.

To show what a great sense of humor Rod Serling had…read the last quote by him down below.

Richard Donner: Because you were suspended up, you had no stage floors. Every movement was a bitch. He lists the factors that had to be considered in virtually every shot. A man flying in on wires. Wind. Rain. Lightning. Smoke, to give the effect of clouds and travel and speed. Actors. You couldnt hear yourself think because of the noise of the machines outside. And fighting time, all the time. It was just unbearable. If any one of those things went wrong, it ruined the whole take. All of this consumed lots of time. We were supposed to take a fourth day in the tank set with the airplane

Then they found out that the studio had committed it to another company. We had to work all night to finish it up. We went overtime till early the next morning.

I love it, I do love it. Its just such an unusual thing for television, really, to see that much energy go into a little half-hour film. And the story was good, too.

From IMDB: William Shatner played an elaborate prank on set when he conspired with a friend who was visiting the filming, actor Edd Byrnes, to trick director Richard Donner into thinking Shatner died. Between takes, and when Donner was off set getting coffee, Shatner and Byrnes staged a fake fight on the set, which was suspended some 30 feet above a giant, empty tank. When Donner ran back in the studio to see what was happening the two men chased each other around the back of the airplane set and wound up atop the plane wing. Donner saw a body falling off the wing and Byrnes yelling in terror as it impacted the concrete floor. Donner said when he ran to the fallen, motionless figure, thinking it was a dead or grievously injured William Shatner, he was greeted with laughter the moment he realized it was just an articulated human dummy the two men had found in another part of the studio and threw off the wing. Donner later joked, “Honestly, my first reaction was, ‘Don’t tell me I have to shoot the whole show over again.'”

Rod Serling: The final story on Nightmare at 20,000 Feet occurred several months after the shooting. Matheson and I were going to fly to San Francisco. It was like three or four weeks after the show was on the air, and I had spent three weeks in constant daily communication with Western Airlines preparing a given seat for him, having the stewardess close the [curtains] when he sat down, and I was going to say, Dick, open it up. I had this huge, blownup poster stuck on the [outside of the window] so that when he opened it there would be this gremlin staring at him. So what happened was we get on the plane, there was the seat, he sits down, the curtains are closed, I lean over and I say, Dick at which point they start the engines and it blows the thing away. It was an old prop airplane. … He never saw it. And I had spent hours in the planning of it. I would lie in bed thinking how we could do this.

This show was written by Rod Serling and Richard Matheson

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

Portrait of a frightened man: Mr. Robert Wilson, thirty-seven, husband, father and salesman on sick leave. Mr. Wilson has just been discharged from a sanitarium where he spent the last six months recovering from a nervous breakdown, the onset of which took place on an evening not dissimilar to this one, on an airliner very much like the one in which Mr. Wilson is about to be flown home—the difference being that, on that evening half a year ago, Mr. Wilson’s flight was terminated by the onslaught of his mental breakdown. Tonight, he’s traveling all the way to his appointed destination, which, contrary to Mr. Wilson’s plan, happens to be in the darkest corner of the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Bob Wilson is on a flight when he sees a creature of some sort out on the wing of the aircraft. He’s only recently recovered from a nervous breakdown and isn’t sure that what he is seeing is real. Every time someone else looks out the window, the creature hides from view. When the creature begins to tamper with one of the engines he begs his wife to tell the pilots to keep an eye on the engines. If they see nothing, he agrees to commit himself to an asylum when they arrive at their destination. His paranoia drives him to a desperate act

WARNING…VIDEO SPOILERS

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

The flight of Mr. Robert Wilson has ended now, a flight not only from point A to point B, but also from the fear of recurring mental breakdown. Mr. Wilson has that fear no longer… though, for the moment, he is, as he has said, alone in this assurance. Happily, his conviction will not remain isolated too much longer, for happily, tangible manifestation is very often left as evidence of trespass, even from so intangible a quarter as the Twilight Zone.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
William Shatner…Bob Wilson
Christine White…Julia Wilson
Edward Kemmer…the flight engineer
Asa Maynor…stewardess Betty Crosby
Nick Cravat [uncredited]…the gremlin

Animals – Sky Pilot

I bought this song on a single along with San Franciscan Nights when I was getting into the Animals as a pre-teen. This was not the same Animals of House of the Rising Sun and others…everyone but Eric Burdon and drummer Barry Jenkins had been replaced.

A Sky Pilot is a military chaplain, in the lyric he blesses the boys as they stand in line. The song finds the chaplain telling the soldiers that they are fighting for a greater cause, as they are soldiers of God. Eric Burdon tape-recorded The Royal Scot’s Dragoon Guards at a school and used the music during the middle of the song along with the war sound effects.

The song peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100, #7 in Canada, and #40 in the UK in 1968. The single was split into two parts to fit on the 45 so to hear the rest of the song… you had to flip the record over.

Eric Burdon received an angry letter from the British government for his use of pipe music. The song he used was “All The Bluebonnet’s Are Over The Border,” which is a classic Scottish war piece written as an anti-war epic during the Vietnam War.

Sky Pilot

He blesses the boys as they stand in line
The smell of gun grease and the bayonets they shine
He’s there to help them all that he can
To make them feel wanted he’s a good holy man

Sky pilot…..sky pilot
How high can you fly
You’ll never, never, never reach the sky
He smiles at the young soldiers

Tells them its all right
He knows of their fear in the forthcoming fight
Soon there’ll be blood and many will die
Mothers and fathers back home they will cry

Sky pilot…..sky pilot
How high can you fly
You’ll never, never, never reach the sky
He mumbles a prayer and it ends with a smile

The order is given
They move down the line
But he’s still behind and he’ll meditate
But it won’t stop the bleeding or ease the hate

As the young men move out into the battle zone
He feels good, with God you’re never alone
He feels tired and he lays on his bed
Hopes the men will find courage in the words that he said

Sky pilot… sky Pilot
How high can you fly
You’ll never, never, never reach the sky
You’re soldiers of God you must understand

The fate of your country is in your young hands
May God give you strength
Do your job real well
If it all was worth it

Only time it will tell
In the morning they return
With tears in their eyes
The stench of death drifts up to the skies

A soldier so ill looks at the sky pilot
Remembers the words
“Thou shalt not kill”
Sky pilot…..sky pilot

How high can you fly
You never, never, never reach the sky

***WARNING…VIDEO SPOILERS***

Steven Wright

Bill Hicks

Sam Kinison

Eddie Murphy

Steve Martin

George Burns

***WARNING…VIDEO SPOILERS***

***WARNING…VIDEO SPOILERS***

WARNING…VIDEO SPOILERS

WARNING…VIDEO SPOILERS

WARNING…VIDEO SPOILERS