I Love Lucy and Its Place in Latino Television History

I Love Lucy debuted on CBS on October 15, 1951. That makes this Thursday the show's 75th anniversary. I Love Lucy numbers among the most influential shows of all time, from it being shot on 35 mm film in front of studio audience to Lucille Ball's real life pregnancy being written into the show's storylines. Among other things, I Love Lucy occupies a unique place in the history of Latinos on television.

For those few of you who are not familiar with I Love Lucy, it centred on Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) and her husband, Cuban bandleader Ricky Ricardo (Lucy's real life husband Desi Arnaz). They lived in an apartment in New York City that they rented from Ethel and Fred Mertz (Vivian Vance and William Frawley). Many of the show's plots centred on Lucy trying to break into show business or various other schemes.

Of course, in Lucy being married to Ricky, I Love Lucy was the first ever show to feature a multiethnic marriage. While Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were married in real life and no states expressly forbade individuals of Northern European descent from marrying Cubans, this was still revolutionary for the time. Indeed, many states did forbid white and various other ethnicities from marrying. For instance, Texas anti-miscegenation laws were so strict that whites could not marry anyone who wasn't white.

Given the times, it should come as no surprise that when I Love Lucy was in development, CBS initially objected to Desi Arnaz, playing Lucy's husband on the show, despite the fact that they were married in real life. They were convinced that television audiences would not accept an "all-American" woman being married to a Cuban man. To prove to CBS this was not the case, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz developed their own stage act, written by Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr., who had written Lucille Ball's radio show My Favorite Husband. They took this act on the road and proved to be very successful. It was the success of this act that convinced CBS executive Harry Ackerman that a show starring both Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz could be a hit. OF course, it also helped that Lucille Balll's proposed new show was drawing interest from CBS's rival NBC. With the prospect of losing Miss Ball to NBC, Harry Ackerman eventually gave into Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's wishes.

No secret was every made of Ricky Ricardo's Cuban ancestry and, in fact, the character was largely based on Desi Arnaz himself. Ricky was an immigrant from Cuba to the United States, just as Des Arnaz had been. Both were bandleaders who played Cuban music. Of course, to a degree Ricky Ricardo was something of a stereotype. e was highly excitable and he had a bit of a temper. When upset it was not unusual for Ricky to erupt with a stream of rapidly spoken Spanish.

While there were aspects of Ricky Ricardo that were stereotypical, there was much else about Ricky that ran counter to common assumptions about Latinos in the United States at the time. Ricky Ricardo was college educated, having attended Havana University. Starting out as the bandleader at the Tropicana, he eventually bought the club and renamed it the Club Babalu. This was a sharp contrast to other Latino characters on American sitcoms in the Fifties. Frank the gardener on Father Knows Best was so naive that it seems likely he couldn't function in American society without the Anderson family. Pepino on The Real McCoys always deferred to the McCoys and was often the target of Amos McCoy's tirades. Regardless, I Love Lucy was not only historic in featuring the first multiethnic marriage, but in featuring the first Latino lead character on an American sitcom.

Beyond the fact that I Love Lucy was the first American show to feature a mixed marriage and the first sitcom to have a Latino as one of its leads, it also exposed American audiences to a good deal of Cuban music. Many episodes feature performances by Ricky Ricardo and his band. Among the songs included on the show were Desi Arnaz's signature song "Babalú," "El Cumbanchero," and "The Straw Hat song." The musical numbers on I Love Lucy drew heavily upon Desi Arnaz's act in real life and his orchestra.

While Ricky Ricardo was the only Latino to appear regularly on I Love Lucy, the show featured several Latin guest stars. In "Ricky's Old Girlfriend," Mexican American actress Rosa Turich played Cuban singer Carlota Romero, after Ricky had just fabricated a story about an old girlfriend by that name.Guatemalan actress Lillian Molieri was also in the same episode, appearing as Carlotta in a nightmare that Lucy has. Cuban born actress Rita Conde appeared in the episode "Cuban Pals." "The Ricardos Visit Cuba" featured some of Ricky's relatives played by Mexican American actor Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., Mexican American actor Jorge Treviño, and Nicaraguan actress Lillian Molieri: At the time of I Love Lucy, Latinos appeared infrequently on American TV shows outside of Westerns (where they were often stereotypical Mexican bandidos).

Ultimately, I Love Lucy broke a good deal of new ground with regards to Latinos on American television. It was the first show ever to feature a multiethnic marriage. It was also the first American sitcom to feature a Latino as a lead character. It exposed American audiences to Cuban and Latin music on a somewhat regular basis. And it occasionally featured Latino guest stars in prominent roles.

"Number 9 Dream" by John Lennon

John Lennon was born on this date in 1940. With that in mind, I thought that for today I would just leave you with one of my favourite songs he did as a solo artist. "Number 9 Dream" was released on December 16, 1974. It was the second single from John's Walls and Bridges album. Fittingly enough, it peaked at no. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Also fittingly enough, "Number 9 Dream" came to John Lennon in a dream. While the chorus, "Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé" sounds like it is from an actual language, in reality it has no meaning. The song was one of John Lennon's favourites, although he would later dismiss it as a "throwaway." Personally, I think John was being too hard on the song. I think it is an excellent song and reminds me quite a bit of the sort of the work John Lennon had done with The Beatles.

Popi (1969)

Today one does not hear very much about the movie Popi (1969), but upon its release it received mostly positive reviews and it did moderately well at the box office. It was also nominated for various awards, from the Golden Globes to the WGA. It also happens to be significant in the history of Latinos in American film.

Popi (1969) centres on Abraham Rodriguez (Alan Arkin), a Puerto Rican living in Brooklyn, New York. He is the father of two sons, who both refer to him as "Popi." He wants to marry his girlfriend Lupe (Rita Moreno), but hasn't the money to do so. What is worse, his neighbourhood is increasingly being affected by gang violence. Popi then hatches a scheme to get a better life for his sons. 

Popi (1969) was written by Lester and Tina Pine, both of who had earlier written for television. It was directed by Arthur Hiller, who had already directed such films as The Wheeler Dealers (1963), The Americanization of Emily (1964), and Penelope (1966). Alan Arkin had initially rejected the part of Popi, whereupon producer Herbert B. Leonard offered it to Marcello Mastroianni, who turned it down, but he rejected the idea of playing a Puerto Rican. The script was then reworked and once more offer to Alan Arkin, who this time accepted the role of Abraham "Popi" Rodriguez. As to Popi's sons, around 5000 boys auditioned for the roles. Many of the boys who tried out for the role came from both Spanish Harlem (in which Popi was set) and  the 11th & Second Avenue Boys Club in East Harlem.

Filming began on Popi (1969) on April 21, 1968. It was shot on location in New York. Among the locations used in the film were 91 Central Park West, the apartment building where Popi worked as a handyman and the New York Hilton Midtown, where Popi worked as a busboy. Part of the film was also shot in Miami, Florida, where the latter part of the movie takes place.

Popi premiered in New York City on May 27, 1969. Popi (1969) premiered in New York City on May 27, 1969. For the most part it received positive reviews with a few critics who did not care for the film very much. Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun-Times was among the critics who gave Popi (1969) a good review, although he did have some problems with the movie. He felt with Popi's scheme in the second half of the movie that it was where the film "...bogs down."  He went onto write, "The first half, set in New York, is rich and warm, filled with the flavor of city life. The second half, involving the Florida plan, functions only on the level of TV situation comedy." While Roger Ebert liked Popi (1969), the critic at Variety did not, commenting, "Arkin is given too much free rein for his very personal style, and is sometimes guilty of working a scene, meant to be poignant or even dramatic, for a laugh, which he usually gets. The undecided mood of the film works against it for any lasting impression on the viewer." Vincent Canby in The New York Times outright hated Popi (1968). He referred to it as "insidious" and even claimed it played poverty for laughs. Regardless of what critics thought of Popi (1968), it did fairly well at the box office, where it made $2 million in North America.

Today viewers (including myself0 would object to Alan Arkin being cast as a Puerto Rican. Apparently, neither Herbert B. Leonard nor Arthur Hiller considered any Latinos for the role of Popi. Even in the Sixties it was not unusual for actors of other ethnicities to play Latino characters. Except for Rita Moreno, the Sharks and other Puerto Rican characters were all played by whites in West Side Story (1961). Egyptian Omar Sharif played Che Guevara in the movie Che! released the same year as Popi (1969). Brownface was still very much a fact of life in Hollywood in the late Sixties. It is perhaps fortunate that Rita Moreno, who is Puerto Rican, played Lupe in the film.

While Alan Arkin was miscast as Popi, his performance in the role is a bit more complicated. Alan Arkin's performance as Popi is nuanced and does possess emotional depth. It is not one-dimensional at all. At the same time, there are times where Alan Arkin's accent seems a bit too exaggerated and there is a stark contrast between Mr. Arkin and Rita Moreno and the young actors who played Popi's sons. The emphasis on slapstick, prominent in the latter half of the film, has also been criticised in later years. Regardless, Alan Arkin's portrayal of Popi was much more sensitive and much more humanistic than other Latino characters played by non-Latno actors.

The success of Popi (1969) would lead to a short-lived sitcom of the same name that aired during the 1975-1976. In the TV show Popi, Popi was played by an actual Puerto Rican, Héctor Elizondo. The show received positive reviews from critics, but it failed in the ratings. Scheduled against Laverne & Shirley on ABC and Movin' On on NBC, it was cancelled after 10 episodes.

While most people today would object to Alan Arkin being cast as a Puerto Rican, Popi (1969) is still somewhat historic with regards to Latino characters in American films. In 1969, there were not very many movies centred on Latino characters. When Latino characters did appear in movies of the era, they were often blatant stereotypes. Popi (1969), for what flaws it may have, presented a Puerto Rican father with some sympathy and even some dignity. 

The Legendary Eva Marie Saint

Eva Marie Saint, who starred in such movies as On the Waterfront (1954) and North by Northwest (1959), died yesterday, October 6, 2026, at the age of 102.

Eva Marie Saint was born on July 4, 1924, in Newark, New Jersey. She grew up in Delmar, New York attended Bethlehem Central High School there. In high school she played field hockey and she was a cheerleader. She attended Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where she majored in elementary education. She tried out for the school play Personal Appearance, and was cast as the lead. Afterwards, she changed her major to drama. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, she moved to New York City to pursue a career as an actress. 

Her first work as a professional actress was for The Borden Show, for which she was paid to applaud off camera. She also appeared as a cheerleader in a commercial for Keds and had bit part consisting of two lines as a telephone operator on the radio soap opera Rosemary. During this period, she studied acting at  Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio. On television, she appeared on such shows as Kraft Television Theatre; The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre; Lights Out; Suspense; Actors Studio; The Clock; Buck Rogers; The Prudential Family Playhouse, and  One Man's Family. She also appeared on radio.

In 1953, she appeared in the Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse in "The Trip to Bountiful." It would be adapted as a Broadway play, in which she also appeared. This lead Ms.Saint to being cast as Edie Doyle on On the Waterfront (1954). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. In the Fifties, she also appeared in the movies That Certain Feeling (1956), A Hatful of Rain (1957), Raintree County (1957), and Exodus (1960). She appeared in what could be her most famous role, that of Eve Kendall, in North by Northwest in 1959. On television, she appeared on City Hospital, Man Against Crime, Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, ABC Album, The Web, Robert Montgomery Presents, Eye Witness, Studio One, The Revlon Mirror Theatre, Bonino, Kraft Television Theatre, Omnibus, General Electric Theatre, and Producer's Showcase. She was a regular on Martin Kane, Private Eye.

In the Sixties, Eva Marie Saint appeared in the movies All Fall Down (1962), 36 Hours (1964), The Sandpiper (1965), The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming (1966), Grand Prix (1966), The Stalking Moon (1968), and Loving (1970). She appeared on television in Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre and the TV movie Carol for Another Christmas.

In the Seventies, she concentrated on television appearances rather than movies. She appeared several TV movies and on the TV series How the West Was Won. She appeared on Broadway in The Lincoln Mask. She appeared in the movie Cancel My Reservation (1982). In the Eighties, Eva Marie Saint appeared as Maddie Hayes's mother on the TV show Moonlighting. She guest starred on the TV show The Love Boat and was a narrator on an episode of American Masters. She appeared in the mini-series Fatal Vision and A Year in the Life, as well as several TV movies. She appeared in the movie Nothing in Common (1986).

In the Nineties, Eva Marie Saint appeared n television in the mini-series Titanic. She appeared in several TV movies, including an adaptation of Willa Cahter's My Antonia. She guest starred on the sitcom Frasier.  She appeared in the movie I Dream of Africa (2000). In 2003, she appeared in the TV movie Open House. She was a voice on the TV series The Legend of Korra from 2012 to 2014. In the Naughts, she appeared in the movies Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), Don't Come Knocking (2005), and Superman Returns (2006). In the Teens, she appeared in the movies Winter's Tale (2014) and Mariette in Ecstasy (2019). 

Eva Marie Saint was a remarkable actress with an incredible range. This can be seen in her two best-known roles. Edie Doyle in On the Waterfront was virginal and yet at the same time bold, indignant, and resilient. Eve Kendall in North by Northwest was nearly her opposite. She ws cool and confident, and could be both seductive and duplicitous. In between those two parts, Eva Marie Saint played a wide variety of roles. She played Elspeth Whittaker, the wife of Walt (Carl Reiner). While Walt was constantly stressed out, Elspeth was calm, composed,  and level-headed. As Maddie's mother Virginia on Moonlighting, she was both intelligent and resourceful, yet the same time vulnerable. Eva Marie Saint gave a number of great performances during her career, and in a variety of roles.

By all accounts, Eva Marie Saint was also a remarkable person. One never heard a bad word about her. She was married to Jeffrey Hayden for 85 years and devoted to her family. She was known for both her kindness and her generosity, Eva Marie Saint was known for her elegance and dignity, and she was the very definition of a lady. 

The Late Great Bob Mackie

Bob Mackie, the costumer and fashion designer known for his work on The Carol Burnett Show and for designing fashions for everyone from Cher to Taylor Swift, died on September 14, 2026, at the age of 87. 

Bob Mackie was born on March 24, 1940 in Monterey Park, California. He attended Rosemead High School in Rosemead, California and then Pasadena City College and the Chouinard Art Institute. He started his career as a sketch artist with Jean Louis. It was during this period that he drew the original sketch of the gown work by Marilyn Monroe at President John F. Kennedy's 1962 birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He also worked as a sketch artist with Frank Thompson at Paramount. He worked under designer Ray Aghayan as a novice designer and assistant. He worked with Edith Head on the movies Donovan's Reef (1967) and A New Kind of Love (1963). 

Bob Mackie did his first work for television on the special Arthur Freed's Hollywood Melody in 1962. In the Sixties, he worked on such shows as The King Family Show; ABC Stage '67; and The Hollywood Palace. He worked on The Carol Burnett Show from the very beginning in 1967 and stayed with the show for all eleven seasons. He also worked on several TV specials and movies during the decade. He designed costumes for the movie Divorce, American Style (1967). In 1966, he was hired by Mitzi Gaynor to design her costumes for her Las Vegas shows. He would go onto work on several of her TV specials. 

In the Seventies, Bob Mackie continued to work on The Carol Burnett Show. He worked on the TV shows Cher; The Sonny & Cher Show;; Carol & Company; and Donny & Marie. He also worked on several TV specials, including the notorious Star Wars Holiday Special. He worked on the movies Lady Sings the Blues (1972) and Funny Lady (1975). On Broadway, he worked on Lorelei; Debbie; and Platinum.

The Eighties saw Bob Mackie work on the TV mini-series Fresno and several TV shows and events, including the 54th Annual Academy Awards. He worked in the movies ...All the Marbles (1981), Pennies from Heaven (1981), and Max Dugan Returns (1983). In the Nineties, he worked on Broadway on The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas Goes Public; Moon Over Buffalo; Putting It Together; and Minnelli on Minnelli. On television he primarily worked on specials and big events, including various Carol Burnett specials and the TV movie Mrs. Santa Claus. On Broadway, he worked on the special benefit Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert for Broadway Barks Because Broadway Cares.

The Naugths into the Teens saw Bob Mackie work in television on the TV movie Putting It Together (based on the Broadway show), specials featuring Cher and Diahann Carroll, and and the game show Wheel of Fortune. In 2018, he worked on Broadway on The Cher Show. 

Bob Mackie was known for his over-the-top fashions. Indeed, he was known as "the King of Sequins." At the same time, his costumes were always appealing to the eye. And Bob Mackie was nothing if not versatile. Others might look to his work with Cher, The Supremes, Mitzi Gaynor and so on, but to me the height of his career was his work on The Carol Burnett Show. On the show, he proved he could design nearly anything. He not only designed evening gowns, but everyday clothing worn by characters in sketches and costumes for the musical guests on the show. He designed the famous curtain rod dress for the "Went with the Wind" Gone with the Wind parody, which could well be his best known work. He also designed the overly tight skirts for Mrs. Wiggins (Carol Burnett), the secretary of Mr. Tudball (Tim Conway) and the dowdy clothes worn by Eunice Higgins in "The Family" sketches. Quite simply, Bob Mackie was not only creative, but he had a sense of humour that came through on The Carol Burnett Show.

Beyond being a great costume and fashion designer, Bob Mackie simply seemed like a various nice man. He  not only appeared at the TCM Classic Movie Festival, but multiple times on the channel itself. He always amiable, down-to-earth, and, despite his accomplishment, entirely humble. He also had a wonderful sense-of-humour and a youthful energy that many half his age would find envious. In the end, Bob Mackie wasn't just a remarkable designer, but an all-around great human being. 

The Original Dick Van Dyke Show Opening

It was 65 years ago today, on October 3, 1961, that The Dick Van Dyke Show debuted on CBS. Among many other things, The Dick Van Dyke Show is well known for its opening, in which Dick Van Dyke trips over an ottoman or some variant thereof. As fans of The Dick Van Dyke Show well know, this was not the original opening of The Dick Van Dyke Show. Instead, the original opening featured photos of the characters and still shots of scenes to a jazzier version of the theme written by Earle Hagen. The opening in which Dick Van Dyke trips over the ottoman was introduced at the start of its second season. 

Beyond the Border: Latino Representation in Hollywood (2026)

If you are a regular viewer of Turner Classic Movies, you may have seen the documentary Beyond the Border: Latino Representation in Hollywood a few weeks ago. For those of you didn't, you really should check Beyond the Border: Latino Representation in Hollywood out. It is a documentary directed by Clara and Julia Kuppererg that examines Latino stereotypes, Latino erasure, and the eventual challenge to Hollywood that came about with the civil rights movement.

What makes Beyond the Border: Latino Representation in Hollywood remarkable is that it features a number of Latino actors and directors discussing Latinos and their relationship with the American film industry. Among those featured are comedian and actor John Leguizamo, director Gregory Nava, actor Esai Morales, author Luis I. Reyes, actor and director Edward James Olmos, and actor Jimmy Smits. While I might be biased, a highlight for me was Daniel Villareal discussing various locations important in Chicano film history (I have been friends with Daniel for some time) and Ingrid Oliu discussing Stand and Deliver (1988). 

Beyond the Border: Latino Representation in Hollywood does a fairly good job of covering the history of Latinos in Hollywood. It covers such important figures as actress Dolores del Rio, Gilbert Roland, Rita Moreno, and Dolores Huerta. It also covers the phenomenon of brownface, in which Caucasians and foreign actors being cast as Latinos, the various Latino stereotypes that existed for much of film history, and the fact that Latinos are still underrepresented in Hollywood.

As might be expected, Beyond the Border: Latino Representation in Hollywood spends a good deal of time on Chicanos and Mexicans. This should come as no surprise as people of Mexican descent comprise the majority of Latinos in the United States, not to mention Mexico neighbours the United States. For that reason, Chicanos and Mexicans have historically been more represented in American films than other Latinos. Beyond the Border: Latino Representation in Hollywood does devote a good deal of time to the boom in Chicano movies that took place in the Eighties and Nineties, and included such movies as Zoot Suit (1981), El Norte (1983), Stand and Deliver (1988), Blood In Blood Out (1993), and others. 

If Beyond the Border: Latino Representation in Hollywood has one flaw, it is that of omission. Despite how important she is in the history of people of Mexican descent in American film, Lupe Vélez is never mentioned by name. Lupe Vélez  was arguably more popular than Dolores del Rio, and while Miss del Rio often played non-Latina roles, the majority of Lupe Vélez's roles were identifiably Mexican. And while her "Mexican Spitfire" movies arguably capitalized on Mexican stereotypes, they also featured a heroine who kept her career and something of her independence after marriage. Indeed, it featured a mixed marriage at a time when mixed marriages were still illegal in much of the US.

Beyond the Border: Latino Representation in Hollywood also fails to mention The Lawless (1950) or The Ring (1952), two films that are seminal in the history of Chicanos in Hollywood. The Lawless (1950) centred on Chicano fruit pickers in California and may be the first American film in which the term "cholo" appears, although it is used in a derogatory fashion. The Ring (1942) centres on a Chicano from a poor Los Angeles neighbourhood who tries to improve himself through boxing. It portrays the segregation that existed in Los Angeles at the time, as well as the racism. For me, failing to mention Lupe Vélez, The Lawless (1950), and The Ring (1952) are serious oversights in any documentary on Latinos in American film.

Despite these oversights, Beyond the Border: Latino Representation in Hollywood does a very good job of covering the representation of Latinos in Hollywood, and there will be much to learn for many people. It is certainly worth watching for anyone who in interested in film history or Latino history. 

The Late Great Peter Max

Psychedelic artist Peter Max died at the age of 88 on September 14, 2026, at the age of 88. In 2021, he had been diagnosed with advanced dementia.

Peter Max was born Peter Max Finkelstein on October 19, 1937, in Berlin. His family fled Nazi Germany for Shanghai when he was still a baby. They lived there for ten years. They spent some time in Tibet before migrating to Haifa, Israel, where they lived for many years. They spent a few months in Paris before settling in New York City. Peter Max was 16 at the time. He attended Lafayette High School in Brooklyn where among his classmates were actor Paul Sorvino and baseball legend Sandy Koufax. He studied art at at the Art Students League, the School of Visual Arts, and Pratt Institute. 

It was in 1962 that Peter Max opened an art studio in New York City called "The Daly & Max Studio" with Tom Daly. It was not long before Peter Max saw a good deal of success. He designed the flyers for the second "Be In," a political gathering in Central Park in New York City held On March 26, 1967. There were mass marketed posters featuring his psychedelic designs. He worked on campaigns for the American Cancer Society, General Electric, and Gibley Gin, as well as a campaign for pre-recorded cassette tapes. He designed the poster for the movie Paint the Wagon (1969) and covers for the Manhattan Yellow Pages.

In the early Seventies, Peter Max closed his studio for a time so he could get back to painting. After his return to public life, He did the art for a United States postal stamp commemorating Expo '74 in Spokane, Washington. He painted a series of portraits of the Statue of Liberty. He also designed bilingual welcome signs to be put up at the borders of the United States. 

Peter Max provided artwork for several events, including Earth Day, the FIFA World Cup, the Grammy Awards, several Super Bowls, the U.S. Open, and the Winter Olympics. He painted portraits of six different presidents. Despite claims that Peter Max's work was not taken seriously, it had been displayed at such museums as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Denver Art Museum, the Modern Art Museum in Munich, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, among others.

Given how ubiquitous his artwork was in my early childhood, Peter Max was probably the first artist outside of comic books of whom I was aware. He was definitely my favourite artist when I was growing up. His artwork was certainly colourful, and I swear there are some of his paintings where he uses every single colour visible to the human eye. His artwork also often utilized various American icons, from the Statue of Liberty to George Washington to various presidents. 

Peter Max is perhaps the artist most associated with the late Sixties and the early Seventies, and it is difficult picturing the era without his artwork. He certainly had a strong influence on the era. The popularity of Peter Max's artwork was such that it saw a rise in popularity of similar artists and psychedelic artwork in general. Peter Max was not responsible for the art of the movie Yellow Submarine (1968). That was Heinz Edelmann, who pioneered psychedelic artwork. That having been said, if not for the popularity of Peter Max's work, it seems likely that Yellow Submarine (1968) may have looked entirely different. Peter Max was also not responsible for 7Up's famous psychedelic 7Up ad campaign. Other artists were responsible for that art in that campaign, including Pat Dypold and psychedelic art pioneers John Alcorn and Milton Glaser. Again, it seems likely that the 7Up Uncola campaign may not have taken shape as it did if not for the popularity of Peter Max's artwork. While several artists worked in psychedelic art, Peter Max was the best known and the most popular.

The Late Great Gerrit Graham

Gerrit Graham, who appeared in such cult classics as Phantom of the Paradise (1974) and Used Cars (1980), died on September 15, 2026, at the age of 77. The cause was complications from lung disease.

Gerrit Graham was born on November 27, 1948 in New York City. Growing up, he lived in St. Louis; Grosse Pointe, Michigan; and Chicago. He attended Columbia University in New York City, but did not graduate. While there he was a manager of the university’s theatre company, the Columbia Players.

Gerrit Graham made his film debut in Brian De Palma's movie Greetings in 1968. His second movie was directed by Brian De Palma as well, Hi, Mom! (1970). In the Seventies, he appeared in the movies Beware! The Blob (1972), Phantom of the Paradise (1974), Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw (1976), Tunnelvision (1976), Special Delivery (1976), Cannonball! (1977), Demon Seed (1977), Pretty Baby (1978), Old Boyfriends (1979), Home Movies (1979), and Used Cars (1980). He was a regular on the short-lived TV show Stockard Channing in Just Friends. He guest starred on the TV shows The Rookies; Harry O; Baretta; Medical Story; Starsky and Hutch; Future Cop; Dog and Cat; and Laverne & Shirley.

In the Eighties, Gerrit Graham had a recurring role on Dallas during the 1988-1989 season. He guest starred on the shows New Wave Theatre; The A-Team; The Dukes of Hazzard; Whiz Kids; The Twilight Zone; Fame; St. Elsewhere; Sidekicks; Throb; Sledge Hammer!' Miami Vice; My Two Dads; Dear John; Tales from the Crypt; The Young Riders; The Nutt House; Sugar and Spice; China Beach; and Parenthood. He appeared in the movies The Creature Wasn't Nice (1981), Soup for One (1982), Class Reunion (1982), The Annihilators (1985), The Man with One Red Shoe (1985), TerrorVision (1986), Chopping Mall (1986), Last Resort (1986) , Ratboy (1986), It's Alive: Island of the Alive (1987), Walker (1987), Police Academy 6: City Under Siege (1989), Big Man on Campus (1989), C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud (1989), Martians Go Home (1989), Night of the Cyclone (1990), and Child's Play 2 (1990).

In the Nineties, Gerrit Graham appeared in the movies Frozen Assets (1992), Sidekicks (1992), This Boy's Life (1993), Philadelphia Experiment III (1993), The Pornographer (1994), My Girl 2 (1994), Stuart Saves His Family (1995), The Break (1995), Magic in the Mirror: Fowl Play (1997), and One True Thing (1998).  He had a regular role on the show Now and Again. He had a recurring role on Parker Lewis Can't Lose and was a voice on the animated series Fievel's American Tails, The Critic, and The Pink Panther. He guest starred on the shows The Wonder Years; Stat; Reasonable Doubts; Davis Rules; A Different World; TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes; The New WKRP in Cincinnati; Likely Suspects; Civil Wars; Seifneld; Family Matters; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; Moon Over Miami; Babylon 5; Rebel Highway; Diagnosis Murder; Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman; The Larry Sanders Show; and Law & Order He was a guest voice on the animated shows The Tick, Dumb and Dumber, and Gargoyles. 

In the Naughts, he guest starred on the show Third Watch. He appeared in the movies Building Girl (2005), Chaotic Ana (2007), and Stick It in Detroit (2008). His last movie appearance was in Cove Road (2012), where he was billed as Bud T. Chud. 

Gerrit Graham was an enormously talented actor. I have no doubt he will always be best remembered as the flamboyant, camp, neurotic glam rocker Beef in Phantom of the Paradise. He will also be well-remembered as the overly superstitious and eccentric used car salesman Jeff in Used Cars. While his best known roles are comedic in nature, Gerrit Graham could play other sorts of roles as well. In Pretty Baby, he played Highpockets, the abusive boyfriend of Hattie (Susan Sarandon). In Demon Seed, he played Walter Gabler, a computer scientist concerned by the AI program Proteus VI. Over the years, he played a wide variety of roles, both comedic and dramatic, including aspiring country singer Perman Waters in Cannonball!, commune leader Magic Ray in Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw, and Fred Hughes, the ruthless right-hand man of Carter McKay (George Kennedy) on Dallas. Gerrit Graham could play a wide variety of roles and he could play all of them well.  

Hammer Horror on TCM in October 2026

Well, it's almost October, when Turner Classic Movies will show several classic horror movies. Of course, among these will be several from Hammer Film Productions, perhaps the most beloved studio of classic horror fans besides Universal. Unfortunately, I am somewhat disappointed in how TCM is handling the
Hammer Horrors this year. The bulk of them are being shown very late at night or early of a morning, and none of them are being shown in the days leading up to Halloween. Indeed, for the first time in years (maybe more than a decade), TCM is not showing The Devil Rides Out (1968). My advice to Hammer fans is to set their DVRS or stock up on coffee or Red Bull! Anyway, here's when Hammer Horror movies will be airing on TCM next month.

Thursday, October 1:
8: 45 PM The Nanny (1965)

Thursday, October 15:
11:45 PM The Brides of Dracula (1960)

Friday, October 16:
1:30 AM Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971)
3:15 AM Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1969)
5:00 AM Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
6:45 AM The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
8:15 AM Dracula (1958)
9:45 AM The Mummy (1959)

El Super (1979)

El Super (1979) is historic as the first American feature film to focus on Cuban exiles. It centres on Roberto (Raimundo Hidalgo-Gato) and Aurelia (Zully Montero), two Cubans who have been living in New York City for ten years. Roberto is the superintendent of the apartment building in which he lives, and constantly puts up with complaints from his various tenants. Roberto and Aurelia's daughter is Aurelita (Elizabeth Peña, in her film debut), who is thoroughly Americanized and whom they often have difficulty understanding. Roberto's best friend is Pancho (Reynaldo Medina), who has fantasies about having fought at the Bay of Pigs and is overly paranoid about Communists. Another friend is Cuco, a Puerto Rican who is somewhat fluent in English who is very happy living in the Continental United States, even as Roberto wants to return to Cuba as soon as Fidel Castro is no longer in power.

El Super (1979) was based on a stage play by Iván Acosta. It was directed by Leon Ichaso, who was himself a Cuban exile. It was truly an independent film and produced on a shoestring budget of around $30,000, a small amount for a movie even in the Seventies. With such a small budget, El Super (1979) was shot in actual apartments and on the streets of New York City. It was shot in the winter of 1978, when it ws particularly cold and there was a good deal of snow on the ground. 

What sets El Super (1979) apart even from other independent films of the Seventies is that almost all of the dialogue is in Spanish. Roberto and Aurelia never learned English. When a building inspector visits, Roberto has to call Cuco to act as an interpreter. Of the main characters, only Roberto and Aurelia's daughter Aurelita and Cuco are fluent in English, and Cuco only moderately so. 

El Super (1979) is also set apart from other movies in that it has no real plot. It is instead a slice of life of Cuban exiles living in New York City in the late Seventies. It plays out as a series of vignettes, all of which could have easily been taken from real life. And while Roberto hates living in New York City and longs for the day Castro is out of power so he can return to Cuba, there is as much comedy as there is drama in El Super (1979). And despite the fact that it is focused on Cuban exiles, El Super (1979) is not a particularly political film. Instead, it focuses on the everyday struggles of Roberto and Aurelia.

El Super (1979) has an excellent cast, although with the exception of Elizabeth Peña, I doubt most Americans have heard of them. Raimundo Hidalgo-Gato had considerable experience on stage, and was a member of the Centro Cultural Cubano de Nueva York. Zully Montero had appeared on radio and the theatre as well. Elizabeth Peña came from an acting family and graduated from the High School of Performing Arts in New York City. Like Aurelita, she had no real experience of Cuba. Her parents had migrated to the United States when she was only a year old.

El Super (1979) premiered at the Miami International Film Festival. It was later screened at the Venice Film Festival and the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival, where it tied for the Grand Prize with Családi tüzfészek (1979). It received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics.

Although El Super (1979) is identifiably movie from the late Seventies, it is still relevant today. Roberto's dissatisfaction with is life, the generation gap between Roberto and Aurelia and their daughter Aurelita, and the day-to-day problems of hm and his family are still things with which modern day viewers can identify, regardless of their ethnicity or nationality.   In El Super (1979), Cuban exile is not played as high drama, but a fact of life with which to be dealt. As mentioned earlier, El Super (1979) is the first feature film to centre on Cuban exiles. It is also one of the first American films to be shot almost entirely in Spanish. Between its high quality and its subject matter, El Super (1979) would become a cult film and is now regarded as a classic.

The Late Great Anjanette Comer

Anjanette Comer, who starred in such movies as The Loved One (1965) and The Appaloosa (1966) and guest starred on shows from The Donna Reed Show to Columbo, died on May 28, 2026 at the age of 86. Her death only was only recently made public. She had suffered from leukaemia and had issues with her heart.

Anjanette Comer was born on August 7, 1939, in Dawson, Texas. When she was 16 she was named queen of the Corsicana Fair and Rodeo. She studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. It was there that she was discovered by agent Byron Raphael. She made her television debut in an episode of My Three Sons in 1962. She made her movie debut in Quick Before It Melts in 1964.

During the Sixties, Anjanette Comer starred in the movies The Loved One (1965), The Appaloosa (1966), Banning (1967), Guns for San Sebastian (1968), In Enemy Country (1968), and Rabbit, Run (1970). On television, she guest starred in the shows The Donna Reed Show; Gunsmoke; Ben Casey; Arrest and Trial; Dr. Kildare; Bonanza; Combat!; The Young Lawyers; Then Came Bronson; The Mod Squad; and Love, American Style.

In the Seventies, Anjanette Comer appeared in the movies The Firechasers (1971), Blood Feast (1972), The Baby (1973), Lepke (1975), The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery (1975), and Fire Sale (1977). She guest starred on the shows The Most Deadly Game; Banyon; Love, American Style; Columbo; Mannix; Search; Doctor Simon Locke; Police Story; The Wide World of Mystery; Petrocelli; Harry O; S.W.A.T.; Barbary Coast; The Blue Knight; Jigsaw John; Baretta; and Barnaby Jones. She appeared in the mini-series McNaughton's Daughter, as well as such TV movies as Terror on the 40th Floor and Dead of Night.

In the Eighties, she guest starred on the shows Mike Hammer and Hotel. She appeared in the TV movie The Long Summer of George Adams. In the Nineties, she guest starred on the shows Jake and the Fatman; Profiler; and The Practice. She appeared in the mini-series The Streets of Laredo and the TV movie Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo. She appeared in the movies Netherworld (1992) and Underneath (1995).

In the Naughts, Anjanette Comer appeared in the TV movie The Pennsylvania Miners Story. She appeared in the movies Screen Door Jesus (2003) and Possessed (2005). Her last two movies were A Bird of the Air (2011) and Zombie Bloodlines (2026).

I must confess that I had a crush on Anjanette Comer. She had an ethereal quality, as if she came from another world. This proved particularly useful in her role as Aimee Thanatogenous, the naive funeral home cosmetician more comfortable with death than life in The Loved One. Although it could be her best known role, Anjanette Comer could play many, very different roles. She was the somewhat duplicitous Trini in The Appaloosa. In The Baby, she played yet another very different role, that of the earnest, but guilt-ridden social worker Ann Gentry in The Baby. Her work in television could be equally impressive. She was nominated for the 1964 Emmy for Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role for An Actress for her role as a prostitute in an episode of Arrest and Trial. In the TV movie Dead of Night she appeared in the segment "No Such Thing as a Vampire," in which she played a woman who may or not be the victim of a vampire attack. In the Combat! episode "Weep No More," she played a mute French woman. Anjanette Comer was not simply another pretty face, but an actress of considerable talent who could play a wide variety of roles.

The Late Great Will Murray

I have put off writing this eulogy, as I knew it would be difficult to write. Will Murray was not a close friend, but he was an acquaintance whom I regarded with a good deal of warmth. There is no doubt that Will was the foremost expert on Doc Savage and the heroic pulps in general. He was also a prolific writer of fiction, writing everything from many The Destroyer novels to Doc Savage novels to works featuring characters from The Spider to Tarzan. Comic books fans may know him as the co-creator of the Marvel Comics character Squirrel Girl with artist Steve Ditko. Sadly, Will died suddenly on August 25, 2026 at the age of 73.

Will Murray was born on April 23, 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts. He spent his early years in the Jamaica Plain neighbourhood and spent the rest of his formative years in Quincy, Massachusetts. He became a Doc Savage fan while very young, and began collecting pulp magazines. He was twenty years old when his article "Reflections in a Flake-Gold Eye" was published in The Doc Savage Club Reader no. 2/3 in 1973. He wrote articles on the pulps for such fanzines as Xenophile, Duende, and Skullduggery. His first full-length non-fiction book was The Duende History of The Shadow Magazine, published by Odyssey Publications in 1980. 

Of course, as mentioned above, Will Murray also wrote fiction, starting with ghost writing Destroyer novels. Will Murray approached the creators of The Destroyer, Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, for interview for Skullduggery. He later did research for Richard Sapir. This eventually led to Will Murray writing the Destroyer sourcebook The Assassin's Handbook. He began ghost writing The Destroyer with the 56th book, Encounter Group, in 1984. He began regularly ghost writing The Destroyer with the 69th book, Blood Ties, and continued writing it until the 107th book, Feast or Famine. He wrote the first of many Doc Savage novels, Python Isle, in 1991 under the pseudonym Kenneth Robeson (the house pseudonym used by Street & Smith Publications for all the writers on Doc Savage). He would go onto write works of fiction featuring Tarzan, The Spider, Secret Agent X, and Sherlock Holmes. He also wrote works of fiction using H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.

As I mentioned above, Will Murray was the foremost expert on Doc Savage and the heroic pulps in general. He wrote a good deal of non-fiction on the pulps, including such books as Writings in Bronze, Master of Mystery: The Rise of The Shadow, and Knight of Darkness: The Legend of The Shadow. Over the years he wrote several articles for magazines and fanzines, not only on Doc Savage and The Shadow, but on topics ranging from Captain Future to DC Comics to Honey West to The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Will also adapted the 1934 Doc Savage novel The Thousand-Headed Man as a six-part radio serial for NPR Playhouse. He produced a line of audio books for Radio Archives featuring such characters as The Spider and G-8. 

As mentioned above, Will Murray created Squirrel Girl with Steve Ditko for Marvel Comics. He also contributed to prose anthologies featuring such heroes as Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, The Hulk, and others. He also wrote introductions to several comic book anthologies.

I am not sure when I first read Will Murray's work or what it was. In all likelihood, it may have been one of The Destroyer novels, which I read voraciously in the 1980s. Of course, it could have also been one of his articles on Doc Savage. Even by the Eighties, Will Murray as a titan in pulp fandom. There were few, if any, people who knew as much as he did about Doc Savage, The Shadow, and the Street & Smith characters in general. As both a fiction writer and a non-fiction writer, his work was easy to read and always filled with detail. Indeed, his Doc Savage novels were so well-done and so loyal to the source material that one could believe they were written by Lester Dent himself. 

Will was very private, but he was also a very nice guy. I first encountered him on MySpace where there was a thriving pulp community. Will was an enormous help when it came to my blog posts on Doc Savage, The Spider, and other pulp characters, pointing any errors and praising me for my work. No one could have been more supportive than Will was. Everyone who corresponded with Will or met him person all agree that he was not only knowledgeable, but one of the kindest people one could meet. With Will's death, the pulp fan community has lost one of its giants, and one of the nicest people around as well. 

The 50th Anniversary of Charlie's Angels

It was 50 years ago today that, on September 22, 1976, that Charlie's Angels debuted on ABC. The show would prove to be an immediate hit, ranking no. 5 during its first season and continued to do well for its next few seasons. While ratings for Charlie's Angels would eventually falter and it would be cancelled after five seasons, it would not only prove to be a success in syndication, but would lead to feature films and even reboot series.

Charlie's Angels centred on three female private investigators who work for the Charles Townsend Agency. The original Angels were Sabrina Duncan (Kate Jackson), who was the level headed brains of the three women, Jill Monroe (Farrah Fawcett), the action-seeking athlete of the group, and Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith), the cool, calm glamour girl of the group. Assisting the Angels was Charles Townsend Agency employee John Bosley (David Doyle). As to Charlie (the voice of John Forsythe), the Angels had never met him in person nor would they ever meet him in person. He gave the Angels their assignments via speaker phone. Charlie had many enemies, so he never met the Angels face to face in order to protect them. While the Angels had never met Charlie, Bosley had. In the initial concept, the Angels were all graduates of the Police Academy who found themselves unhappy in their work after being given menial assignments. This would be changed for the final season.

Charlie's Angels was created by writers Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, who had written the classic movie White Heat (1949) and for such shows as Burke's Law, Ironside, and Mannix. Due to the success of Police Woman starring Angie Dickinson, Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts developed an idea for a TV show titled The Alley Cats, which would centre on three beautiful female private eyes. It was early in the pre-production of the series that producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg brought Kate Jackson, who had earlier appeared in their series The Rookies, onto the project. Kate Jackson was initially cast as Kelly Garrett, but found himself more drawn to the role of Sabrina Duncan. She then asked for her role to be switched. She also disliked the title The Alley Cats and requested that the title be changed. Kate Jackson partially came up with the new title after seeing a picture of angels in Aaron Spelling's office. She then suggested the three women could be called "Angels." The series would then be called Harry's Angels, with the Angel's boss being named "Harry." ABC objected to the title, worrying it could be confused with the show Harry O starring David Janssen. What had started out as The Alley Cats and was then named Harry's Angels was renamed Charlie's Angels.

Farrah Fawcett was the second Angel to be cast. At the time, she was married to Lee Majors and so she was billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors. Aaron Spelling had seen her in the movie Logan's Run (1976) and offered her the part of Jill Monroe. Auditions were held for the role of Kelly Garrett. Initially Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg had wanted the women to be a brunette, a blonde, and a redhead, but the role ultimately went to brunette Jaclyn Smith because of how she interacted with Kate Jackson and Farrah Fawcett.

Initially, Charlie would have been a millionaire who assisted the Angels in the field. It was Kate Jackson and Aaron Spelling who decided that Charles Townsend should be more of a mystery. While Charlie remained a millionaire, he communicated with the Angels only by speaker phone. Gig Young was originally cast as Charlie, but showed up so drunk he could not even read his line. In a panic as to what to do, Aaron Spelling made an emergency call to his friend John Forsythe, who was already in bed. John Forsythe rushed to 20th Century Fox wearing only his topcoat and pyjamas and read the lines. John Forsythe then became Charles Townsend.

Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg cast David Doyle as John Bosley. ABC was concerned that audiences would not accept three women fighting crime more or less on their own, so for the pilot David Ogden Stiers was cast as Scott Woodville, who was Charlie's second in command and hence both the Angels and Bosley's superior. As it turned out, the character of Scott Woodville was not well-received by audiences. Aaron Spelling, who felt having both Woodville and Bosley was redundant, used this as leverage to persuade network executives that the character should be cut from the show.. Bosley would then remain the Angel's only liaison with Charlie.

Charlie's Angels proved to be a hit in the ratings, and ultimately ranked no. 5 for the year in the Nielsen ratings for the 1976-1977 season. While television viewers loved Charlie's Angels, many critics dismissed the show as fluff, lacking any substance at all. Worse yet, many critics labelled "Jiggle television" or "T&A Television," the term "Jiggle television" having been coined by NBC executive Paul Klein as a criticism of ABC under Fred Silverman's leadership. Other shows labelled "jiggle television" while Fred Silverman was president of ABC Entertainment were Three's Company and Wonder Woman.

Although Charlie's Angels was labelled "jiggle TV" and developed a reputation for putting its actresses in skimpy costumes, none of this was actually warranted. The vast majority of time the Angels wore what could be described smart streetwear: blazers, button-down blouses, turtlenecks, and the like. The only time that any of the Angels might appear in skimpy clothing was only under very circumstances, such as at a pool party or in a beauty pageant. Indeed, it was in Kate Jackson's contract that she would never appear in a bikini.

The success of Charlie's Angels resulted in a proposed spinoff series. The fourth season episode "Toni's Boys" was a backdoor pilot for show to be called Toni's Boys. It would have essentially been Charlie's Angels with the genders reversed. Toni Blake, played by the legendary Barbara Stanwyck, had her own detective agency in which she employed three handsome young men as her operatives. Unlike Charlie, who always remained hidden from the Angels, Toni ran her agency in person. Ultimately, ABC did not pick Toni's Boys up as a series.

During its run, Charlie's Angels would go through several cast changes. The first and most famous would be when Farrah Fawcett left the show after its first season. Farrah Fawcett left the show for multiple reasons, including the desire to pursue a movie career as well as the intense production schedule of a weekly television series. She had no formal long-term contract, so this would result in a protracted legal battle with ABC.Ultimately, Farrah Fawcett agreed to return for six guest appearances. On the show, it was explained that Jill Monroe had left the Charles Townsend Agency to become a race car driver.

Farrah Fawcett's departure necessitated the search for a new Angel. Eventually Cheryl Ladd had been the singing voice of Melody on the animated series Josie and the Pussycats and had made guest appearances on such shows as The Partridge Family and The Rookies. She was cast as Kris Munroe, Jill Munroe's sister. Cheryl Ladd would remain with the show for the rest of its run.

As Charlie's Angels continued, Kate Jackson became disenchanted with the show. She felt the script quality had declined dramatically from what it was in the first season. During the third season, she was offered the role of Joanna Kramer in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) , but the production schedule of Charlie's Angels forced her to turn the role down. Ultimately, Kate Jackson asked to be released from her contract.

Several actresses would be considered as Kate Jackson's replacement. Among them were Barbara Bach, Connie Sellecca, Shari Belafonte, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Ultimately, Shelly Hack was cast as Tiffany Welles. At the time, she was best known as the face of Revlon's Charlie perfume. Unfortunately, Shelley Hack was not well received. Critics attacked her acting ability. Audiences did not warm to her either. Charlie's Angels ranked no. 10 for the year in its third season. With its fourth season, it dropped to no. 20. Ultimately, Shelley Hack would be fired from Charlie's Angels.

As Shelley Hack's successor, supposedly 2000 actress applied to be the new Angel. Among those who tried for the role were Jayne Kennedy and Susie Coelho. Ultimately the role went to Tanya Roberts, who had appeared in such movies as The Yum-Yum Girls (1976) and Tourist Trap (1979) and had guest starred on the show Vega$. Tanya Roberts's character Julie Rogers was a sharp break from earlier Angels. While previous Angels had all been graduates of police academy, Julie was a model who had a rough background including a six month stint in the Sybil Brand Correctional Facility.

While Tanya Roberts appeared to be better received by audiences than Shelly Hack had been, ratings for Charlie's Angels would plummet in its fifth season. Having aired on Wednesday night for its entire run, ABC moved Charlie's Angels to Sunday night where it faced the high-rate Archie Bunker's Place and One Day at a Time on CBS and the high rated CHiPs on NBC. ABC would move Charlie's Angels back to Wednesday at mid-season, but it was too little too late. For the first time ever, Charlie's Angels did not rank in the top thirty for the season in the Nielsen ratings. In the end, Charlie's Angels was cancelled after five seasons.

This would hardly be the end of Charlie's Angels. It proved to have a successful run as a syndicated rerun. It would air on such cable channels as TNT, TV Land, and Cloo, and on such digital broadcast networks as MeTV, Cozi TV, and get TV. It is currently available on several streaming services, including Crackle, Plex, Prime Video, The Roku Channel, and Tubi.

Charlie's Angels would also become a franchise years after the show had been cancelled. The movies Charlie's Angels (2000) and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) could very nearly be considered sequels to the original series, with John Forsythe returning as Charlie. A reboot of the original show aired on ABC during the 2011-2012 season, but was cancelled after only seven episodes. Yer another film, this one again titled Charlie's Angels, was released in 2019.

During its original run, Charlie's Angels was dismissed as fluff and worse yet as "Jiggle TV." From today's perspective, it seems that critics were not giving the show enough credit. True, Charlie's Angels was not Playhouse 90, but it was not necessarily a bad show either. Shelley Hack may have said it best in an article in People after she had been cast on the show, "Of course it's fluff, but high-grade fluff. You don't compare Agatha Christie to Tolstoy."

What is more, it was high-grade fluff with an important subtext. Before Charlie's Angels, there were only a few action-adventure shows with female leads. In the Sixties, there were The Avengers, Honey West, and The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. In the Seventies, there were Police Woman and Wonder Woman. And on most of these shows, the female leads were assisted by a male character. The Angels were intelligent, independent, and competent women who fought crime on their own (Bosley really wasn't that much help). Girls and yong women at a time when women only recently had gotten the right to have their own credit card could look to the Angels and realize that they were not limited to the traditionally female occupations of the era. Charlie's Angels may have been an escapist show, but it was one with an important underlying message.

Thank You for A Successful Blogathon

I want to thank everyone for a successful 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon. Provided no unforeseen circumstances occur between now and next September, I can guarantee the blogathon will return next September! 

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

(This post is a part of the 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon, hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts)

The 1940s saw a number of supernatural fantasy films on both sides of the Pond. From Hollywood emerged such movies as Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), I Married a Witch (1942), It's a Wonderful Life (1946). The British film industry produced such films as The Ghost Train (1941), Blithe Spirit (1945), and Miranda (1948). Arguably, the greatest British supernatural fantasy of the 1940s was A Matter of Life and Death (1946). The movie was produced, written, and directed by The Archers, a film-making partnership consisting of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It counted among the best movies The Archers ever made, and they made some of the greatest movies of all time.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) centres on RAF Squadron Leader Peter David Carter (David Niven), who miraculously survives after parachuting out of his damaged Lancaster bomber over the English Channel. As it turns out, Peter was supposed to die, but survived when his guide to the afterlife, Conductor 71 (Marius Goring) failed to find him in the dense fog. By the time Conductor 71 does make contact with Peter, he has already met and is in the process of falling in love with June (Kim Hunter), a United States Army Air Forces radio operator stationed in England. Fortunately, Conductor 71 tells Peter than he had been granted an appeal. If he can prove his case before a Heavenly court, he will be allowed to return to life.

The origins of A Matter of Life and Death (1946) emerged from World War II. After being united for much of the war, friction began to reemerge between the United Kingdom and the United States late in the war. Jack Beddington, head of the British Ministry of Information’s film commission, then approached The Archers about making a film that would address this friction. Fortunately, for movie lovers everywhere, the Archers agreed to do so. To a degree, A Matter of Life and Death (1946) had some basis in a true story. On March 24, 1944, RAF tail gunner Nicholas Alkemade bailed out of his failing Lancaster bomber from 18,000 feet without a parachute and miraculously survived. Another source of inspiration was the 1938 book Journey Around My Skull by Frigyes Karinthy, which chronicled his experience with a non-cancerous brain tumour and the surgery to remove it. To this mix, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger added a plot involving a romance between a British serviceman and an American, and the plot involving the Heavenly court.

From the beginning, The Archers wanted David Niven to play Peter. This would not set well with actor Marius Goring. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger offered him the role of Conductor 71, but he wanted to play Peter instead. Messrs. Powell and Pressburger solved the problem by telling Mr. Goring that if he turned down the role of Conductor 71, it would go to Peter Ustinov instead. For the role of June, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger had no particular actress in mind, beyond the fact that they wanted an American. They went to Hollywood with the goal of casting the role of June, and even considered Betty Field, who turned out to be in a play on Broadway. It was Alfred Hitchcock who suggested Kim Hunter. Mr. Hitchcock had used Miss Hunter to read lines off-camera for Ingrid Bergman's screen test for Spellbound (1945). 

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) was filmed at D&P Studios and Denham Studios in Denham, Buckinghamshire.The scene on the beach in which Peter meets June after he bailed out of his plane was filmed at  Saunton Sands in Devon. The village seen through the camera obscura belonging to Dr. Reeves (Roger Livesey) was Middle Street in Shere, Surrey. The film was shot from September 2, 1945, to December 2, 1945. 

Pre-production on A Matter of Life and Death (1946) would be both long and complicated.  Much of this was due to the construction of the escalator (nicknamed "Ethel") that connects Earth to Heaven above. The escalator was built under the supervision of the London Passenger Transport Board. It took three months to build  £3,000 to build (that's £116,226.85 today). Ethel was massive. It had 106 steps, each of which was 20 feet wide. To power Ethel, it took a 12 horsepower engine. Over the years, film trivia sites and accounts of the production have claimed that Ethel was so noisy that all dialogue had to be dubbed in post-production. This seems unlikely given cinematographer Jack Cardiff has said that the escalator was completely silent.

With regards to the photography in A Matter of Life and Death (1946), it can be considered the reverse of The Wizard of Oz (1939). The scenes in Heaven were in black-and-white, while the scenes on Earth were in colour. One might think the scenes in Heaven were shot in black-and-white, but in truth they were shot in three-strip Technicolor. When the scenes were printed, color simply was not added.  As a result, the scenes in Heaven look different from most black-and-white movies of the time. In the credits, the process is referred to as ""Colour and Dye-Monochrome Processed in Technicolor." 

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) would be historic as the first film chosen for the Royal Film Performance. This occurred on November 1, 1946, at the Empire Theatre in London. It went into wide release in the United Kingdom on December 15, 1946. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) opened under the title Stairway to Heaven in New York City on Christmas Day, December 25, 1946. The title was changed for American audiences because of Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin, who were marketing the movie in the US. They argued that films with "death" in the title had never done well at the American box office. Emeric Pressburger pointed out the obvious example of Death Takes a Holiday (1934), but Messrs. Krim and Benjamin argued it only did well because Death was on holiday and hence there would be no death in the movie. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) did very well at the box office in the United Kingdom. In North America, it made $1.75 million, a respectable amount for the era.

While the public clearly loved A Matter of Life and Death (1946), critics in 1946 did not quite know what to make of the movie.  E.W. and M.M. Robson thought with A Matter of Life and Death (1946), The Archers  intended to "bash the British in the sight of our Allies." A critic in The Observer was puzzled by the film's tone, writing that it "leaves us in grave doubts whether it is intended to be serious or gay." American critics were much more receptive of the movie. Surprisingly, Bosley Crowther of The New York Times gave A Matter of Life and Death (or Stairway of Heaven, as it was called in the United States) a positive review. He wrote in his review, "And if you will listen now to this reviewer you will hear that the delicate charm, the adult humor and visual virtuosity of this Michael Powell—Emeric Pressburger film render it indisputably the best of a batch of Christmas shows."

Of course, now A Matter of Life and Death (1946) is not only regarded as one of the best supernatural fantasies of the 1940s on both sides of the Atlantic, but one of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's best films. Indeed, A Matter of Life and Death (1946) is an extraordinarily sophisticated film. The "other world" in the film is never referred to as Heaven, although there are several clues that it could be, including a brief scene of individuals being measured for angel wings. It is also unclear whether Carter's visit to a another world and the celestial court are real or simply hallucinations produced by his damaged brain. There are things in the plot of the film that can support both ideas. This sets A Matter of Life and Death (1946) apart from other films of the era, such as It's a Wonderful Life (1946), in which the events in the movie are undeniably real.

While the movie has an impeccable script, in addition to the direction of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and the cinematography of Jack Cardiff, it would not have succeeded without David Niven, Kim Hunter, and the rest of the cast. There isn't one bad performance in the entire film.

British critics were a bit baffled and even offended by A Matter of Life and Death (1946) upon its release, although it proved to be a favourite with audiences on both sides of the Pond. If there is a reason for its success, beyond the fact that it is a very sophisticated movie, it's that it is a film that insists, to paraphrase Song of Solomon 8:6, love is stronger than death. For those who have lost someone or very nearly lost someone, this is a powerful message and one that is full of hope. While there I have no doubt it had an impact on those who had lost loved ones during World War II, it still has an impact to this day.

The 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon

The 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon is Here! While many think of Hollywood when they think of movies, the fact is that many classic films originated in the United Kingdom. From the Gainsborough melodramas to the Ealing comedies to the Hammer Horrors, the United Kingdom has made many contributions to classic film. The Rule, Britannia Blogathon will run from Friday, September 18 to Sunday, September 20 2026.

Without further ado, here are this year's entries

Realweeegiemidget  Reviews: "FILMS… Revisiting Richard O’Sullivan, as a Hip Young Thing in an Early British Slasher Movie" 
Realweeegiemidget  Reviews:  "FILMS… Soft Top, Hard Shoulder (1993)"

Silver Screenings: "Monday at the Theatre: Curtain Up (1952)" 

Smoke in the Library: "Villain"

Films from Beyond the Time Barrier: "What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Four Sided Triangle"

Diary of a Movie Maniac: "If... (1968)"

Crítica Retrô: "Um Gosto de Mel (1961)/A Taste of Honey"

johnrieber: "O Lucky Man! Malcolm McDowell’s “Seinfeld” Connection!!"

Liberal England: "Sammy Going South, Suez and the end of the British Empire" 

A Shroud of Thoughts: "A Matter of Life and Death (1946)"

Moon in Gemini: "The 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon: Waking Ned Devine (1998)"

The Spirochaete Trail: "Kill List (aka There's A Bigger Picture In The Business World)"

18 Cinema Lane: "Take 3: The Winslow Boy (1948) Review"

Godspeed Leslie Parrish

Leslie Parrish, who appeared in the movies Li'l Abner (1959) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and guest starred on shows from 77 Sunset Strip to Star Trek, died on November 14, 2025 at the age of 90. Her death was not made public until late August.

Leslie Parrish was born Marjorie Hellen in Melrose, Massachusetts on March 18, 1935. She grew up in Black Eddy, Pennsylvania. She studied piano when she was very young and studied piano and composition at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music when in her early teens. She was 19 when she became a model with the Conover Agency in New York City, primarily to earn money to continue her education at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. She was "Miss Colour-TV" for NBC, who used her to check skin tones for their colour broadcasts. It was not long before she was signed to Twentieth Century Fox.

At Twentieth Century Fox, she appeared in the movies A Man Called Peter (1955), Daddy Long Legs (1955), The Virgin Queen (1955), How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955), The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955), and The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (1956). She signed with MGM in 1956 and for the remainder of the 1950s she appeared in such movies as The Power and the Prize (1956), The Opposite Sex (1956), Hot Summer Night (1957), Man on Fire (1957), Missile to the Moon (1958), Tank Battalion (1959), and Li'l Abner (1959). She made her television debut in 1959 in an episode of Steve Canyon. In the Fifties, she guest starred on the shows 77 Sunset Strip; The Rough Riders; Bold Venture; Tightrope; The Aquanauts; The Roaring 20s; Bat Masterson; Hawaiian Eye; The Red Skelton Show; Perry Mason and Michael Shayne.

In the Sixties, Leslie Parrish's career shifted largely to television. She guest starred on the shows Acapulco; Hot Off the Wire;77 Sunset Strip; Bringing Up Buddy; Follow the Sun; Surfside 6; Perry Mason; Bachelor Father; The Red Skelton Show; Hawaiian Eye; Alcoa Premiere; Channing; The Lieutenant; Kraft Suspense Theatre; Kentucky Jones; The Reporter; My Three Sons; The Wild Wild West; Tarzan; Batman; Star Trek; Good Morning, World; The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; Insight; Iron Horse; The Big Valley; My Friend Tony; Family Affair; Petticoat Junction; To Rome with Love; Love, American Style; and Mannix. She appeared in the movies Portrait of a Mobster (1961), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), For Love or Money (1963), Sex and the Single Girl (1964), Three on a Couch (1966), The Money Jungle (1967), The Candy Man (1969), The Devil's 8 (1969), and Brother, Cry for Me (1970).

In the Seventies, she guest starred on Love, American Style; Hogan's Heores; Bearcats!; Marcus Welby, M.D.; Cade's County; O'Hara. United States Treasury; Adam-12;The Magician; McCloud; Logan's Run; and Police Story. She appeared in the movies The Giant Spider Invasion (1975), Crash! (1976), and The Astral Factor (1979). After the Seventies, Leslie Parrish retired from acting to focus on social activism and environmental causes.

Leslie Parrish was certainly lovely, which explains why she was so much in demand as a love interest in movies and TV shows, but her presence on film and television went well beyond merely being ornamental. Leslie Parrish had real talent and could play a variety of roles. She may be best remembered as Daisy Mae, who was hopelessly in love with Abner in L'il Abner, and the sweet, but ill-fated Jocelyn Jordan in The Manchurian Candidate, but she could play roles well-removed from those. In the Batman episode "Ice Spy"/"The Duo Defy," she played the glamorous, slightly narcissistic ice skater Glacia Glaze, who was working hand in hand with Mr. Freeze (Eli Wallach). In the Star Trek episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?,' she played archaeologist and anthropologist Lt. Carolyn Palomas, who becomes the focus of the god Apollo's attentions. In the Wild Wild West episode "The Night of the Flying pie plate she played the leader of a trio of female con artists claiming to be from Venus. In Three on a Couch, she played Southern belle Mary Lou Mauve, one of three women dated by Christopher Pride (Jerry Lewis). Leslie Parrish was a remarkable actress with a great deal of talent, who also accomplished a lot with regards to various social and political causes.

Thoughts on the 60th Anniversary of The Monkees

Sixty years ago today, on September 12, 1966, The Monkees debuted on NBC. The Monkees would go onto become a cultural phenomenon, resulting in a highly successful recording career, a movie, and two television specials. It has also been my favourite sitcom since childhood. The Monkees also remain my favourite American band of all time. I already wrote an extensive post on the occasion of The Monkees' 50th anniversary, so today I will simply write my personal remembrance of both the show and the band.

The earliest I can remember watching The Monkees is when reruns of the show joined CBS's Saturday morning line-up in 1969. That having been said, I remember being excited when I saw the ads announcing The Monkees was coming to CBS, so I must have been aware of the show or the band before then. Given my age, it's possible I may have seen at least part of the original primetime run of The Monkees on NBC. I had certainly heard The Monkees by that time. My much older sister owned their albums and they were constantly played on the radio in thee mid to late Sixties. 

Regardless, I became hooked on the TV show when it was rerun on Saturday afternoons on CBS. According to my siblings, I could not be moved from the TV set and would throw a tantrum if my parents insisted that I did. I played my older sister's records and even cut the 33 1/3 records off Post Cereal boxes that came out in 1970. In 1972, The Monkees moved to ABC, although it was regularly preempted by sporting events, which did not make me happy.

The Monkees entered syndication in 1975, although I would not get to see it regularly. None of the stations carried it in the Columbia/Jefferson City market, and our reception of the St. Louis stations could be hit and miss. I wouldn't get to see it again until February 23, 1986 when MTV showed a marathon of The Monkees. A lot of times we learn that things we enjoyed as children really weren't that good, but that was not the case with The Monkees. I loved it as much in my early twenties as I did when I was five years old. The marathon was such a success that it sparked renewed interest in The Monkees. MTV began airing it daily and Nick-At-Nite also picked it up. Local stations began airing The Monkees again. I was able to watch it on KPLR out of St. Louis.

Unfortunately, MTV, Nick-At-Nite,  and local stations would eventually drop The Monkees, and I would go years without seeing it again. I did watch the special Hey, Hey, It's The Monkees that aired on ABC on February 17, 1997, but as much as I loved it, it wasn't the same as the original series.  Fortunately, in 2000 it was rerun back to back with The Partridge Family as part of the Screen Gems Network that was syndicated to local stations by Columbia Pictures. This programming block would only last for the summer of 2000, when the two shows were replaced by reruns of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie (the shows that had originally aired on the Screen Gems Network). Fortunately, I would not have to wait so long to watch The Monkees again.

It was in 2003 that Rhino Entertainment released the entire series of The Monkees on DVD, with each of its two seasons in a box set, along with the special 33⅓ Revolutions per Monkee. Never again would I have to go without watching The Monkees. Not that I would have to. In 2011, Antenna TV began airing The Monkees and did so for years. IFC also aired the show. FETV started showing it in 2017.  In 2019 MeTV began rerunning The Monkees and did so for time. More recently, it was added to Catchy Comedy's schedule. It was only recently that The Monkees became available on streaming. It can be seen on Tubi and The Roku Channel.

As to why The Monkees has remained my favourite sitcom for nearly sixty years, that is difficult to say. Much of it must be nostalgia. The Monkees reminds me of my early childhood, when I didn't have much responsibility and all of my needs were seen to by my parents. Watching The Monkees transports me back to a time when I felt safe and secure and my biggest worry was what was on television on any given day. And it is easy to see why the show would appeal to little boys. Over the course of the show, The Monkees faced gangsters, mad scientists, spies, Western outlaws, and even aliens. And through all of this they played some of the best pop rock songs of the era.

Beyond the nostalgia factor, another reason it is that in many ways The Monkees was ground-breaking. Not only did it employ the sort of zany humour common to sitcoms in the Sixties, but it was meta before meta was a thing. Not only did the show regularly reference pop culture ("The Spy Who Came in From the Cool" referenced both I Dream of Jeannie and From Russia with Love), but The Monkees regularly broke the fourth wall. For a Sixties show, it was very fast-paced and even experimental in nature, using jump cuts, sped-up film, and montages of the sort for which videos on MTV would become known. Indeed, The Monkees won Emmy Awards, including  Outstanding Comedy Series (beating out The Andy Griffith Show, Bewitched, Get Smart, and Hogan's Heroes) and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy. 

Ultimately, what I think appealed the most to me about The Monkees, especially as a young man, was that no matter what happened, The Monkees won in the end. Here was this down-and-out rock band composed of four twentysomethings who still somehow managed to defeat everything from alien invasions to organized crime to foreign spies. Quite simply, the messages of The Monkees were to never give up in the face of adversity, that even an underdog can win if the cause is just, and that good always defeats evil in the end. As corny as those messages may sound, I think they were important in 1966 and they are still important to this day.

As it is, I think The Monkees will continue to be popular for decades to come. The reruns on CBS and ABC on Saturday morning in the late Sixties and Seventies created a new generation of fans. The syndication run created yet more and the MTV run even more. Each revival of The Monkees has created new fans. Indeed, today I encountered a 19 year-old fan whose favourite show is The Monkees and whose favourite band is The Monkees. She wasn't even born in the century in which the show originated. The Monkees has been popular for sixty years now. I think it will remain popular for sixty more