Fond Farewells

Beverly Garland
October 17, 1926 - December 5, 2008

Beverly Garland was an actress of great vibrancy. Her winning personality was an asset to every role she tackled. The perfect tv wife to Bing Crosby in a short-lived series and Fred MacMurray on My Three Sons. The perfect tv mom on Remington Steele, Scarecrow and Mrs. King and Lois and Clark. Beverly's first movie role was in 1950s noirish D.O.A. She had small roles in A pictures and starred in well remembered B's such as Gunslinger in 1956. She was tv's first lady cop in Decoy (1957 - 1959) and if you had a favourite tv show then you saw Beverly guest star.

My favourite movie memory is a bit in 1953's The Glass Web. Murderer Edward G. Robinson is trying to tidy up the crime scene (his girl's apt.), a long playing record is on (an Eddy Duchin sort of thing). Drunken reveller Bev leaves the party next door to pound on the door, interrupting our frightened criminal with "Hey, I like classical music as much as the next guy, but could ya' keep it down!"

Page Cavanaugh
January 26, 1922 - December 19, 2008

What can I say about this legendary musician that isn't said perfectly at pagecavanaugh.com? Check it out, folks. I will say that ever since I first heard the trio on the Disney tv show extolling the Truth About Mother Goose, I was in Heaven. Just in case you were wondering, it's what I call real Paddy Lee music. Classic movie fans check out Howard Hawks' musical retelling of Ball of Fire as A Song is Born or Romance on the High Seas for more of the smoothest, coolest sounds ever.

Don Galloway
July 27, 1937 - January 8, 2009

Kentucky born Don Galloway studied acting with Herbert Berghof in NYC and, as so many have, got his start on the soaps with The Secret Storm in 1954. Handsome and talented, he had a busy career, but it is as Sergeant Ed Brown on Ironside that he has an eternal place in my heart. He's family.

Ricardo Montalban
November 25, 1920 - January 14, 2009

He's just so cool! Handsome leading man who has left us some amazing movie and television memories. I recall reading once that he never turned down a job because an actor is only an actor when he is working. I have two images of Montalban. One is of the television guest star in such series as Bonanza or his Emmy winning role in How the West Was Won. The other is the MGM leading man of the 40s and 50s. Three fine movies to check out are William Wellman's Battleground, and the crime dramas Border Incident and Mystery Street. Married for 60 years to Georgianna Young, Montalban is surely an inspiration for hard working actors and hopeful couples.

James Whitmore
October 1, 1921 - February 6, 2009

Oooh, he's one of the good ones. You see James Whitmore's name in the credits and you rub your hands with glee and settle back for a fine piece of work. This ex-Marine studied acting on the GI Bill and won awards for his Broadway entree, Command Decision. In one of his first film roles, the memorable Battleground from 1949 he was nominated for an Oscar. From The Asphalt Jungle and Them! and Kiss Me, Kate to Where the Red Fern Grows and The Shawshank Redemption, he has generations of admirerers. Television appearances on the likes of The Big Valley, The Twilight Zone (On Thursday We Leave for Home), and The Virginian have left indellible memories. Name someone else with a roster of one man shows that matches Will Rogers USA, Give 'Em Hell, Harry and Bully: A Teddy Roosevelt Adventure. Yes, indeed. He's one of the good ones.

Favourite tv shows: Ironside (1967 - 1975)

Original cast: Don Galloway, Barbara Anderson, Don Mitchell, Raymond Burr

Seasons 5 to 8: Don Galloway, Raymond Burr, Don Mitchell, Elizabeth Baur

The late TV Guide critic Cleveland Amory wrote: Maybe every episode of "Ironside" isn't the best episode of "Ironside", but we watch it anyway because we love spending time with the Chief, Ed, Eve and Mark.

I would agree that that is one of the reasons Ironside is a favourite of mine. I don't watch much regular programming these days. Do people still make a family of their favourite shows?

I wonder what the betting was in 1967 that Raymond Burr could create another successful television character/series after the phenomenon of Perry Mason. I was ten years old at the time and I recall vividly the impact of the pilot movie for Ironside written by Collier Young, Don Mankiewicz and directed by James Goldstone. Quincy Jones' driving theme song, the flashy editing and, for me, exotic setting of San Francisco made for a collective wow!

Confined to a wheelchair by a sniper, SFPD Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside investigates his own case, bullying the Department into creating a special consulting position for him and okaying his staff of Sgt. Ed Brown and Police Woman Eve Whitfield. Handsome Don Galloway (1937 - 2009) played Ed with a down-to-earth charm and easy-going professionalism. Devoted to the Chief and smart, in my mind he was the Archie Goodwin to Burr's Nero Wolfe-like boss. Barbara Anderson's Eve was a society girl looking for more in life and found it in a career. Classy in a Grace Kelly sort of way, she wore her heart on her sleeve and 60s fashions with elan.

Don Mitchell was the icing on the cake as Mark Sanger, a young man with a criminal background who joined the family as physical trainer and assistant to the Chief. Most crime shows of that period didn't delve too much into the personal lives of our protagonists. The idea behind the shows was the crime and the solving of it. Most of the characters would not advance beyond their pilot blueprint. Audiences had the opportunity to see Mark grow from an angry young man to a struggling and confused law student, a rookie cop, and from a bachelor to a married man (lovely Joan Pringle).

The format of Ironside gave the actors and guest stars plenty of range. What would it be this week - a caper, a murder mystery, a character study, something on the light side perhaps or international intrigue?

Who would be our guest star - Anne Baxter, Myrna Loy, Bradford Dillman, Burgess Meredith, Paul Winfield, Suzanne Pleshette, Ivan Dixon, Richard Basehart, Bill Bixby, Clu Gulager, maybe Barbara Hale? Would Gene Lyons (Police Commissioner) ever win an argument with the Chief? Maybe that fine connection to the "real" department, Lt. Reese played by Johnny Seven would put in an appearance. A sampling:

All in a Day's Work
Written by Ed McBain featured Eve in a heartbreaking story as she shoots a young thief.

Nightmare Trip
Ed Brown has an awakening to how cops treat the public in a tense episode directed by Raymond Burr.

The Last Payment
A very human story written and starring four time guest star Felton Perry.

Barbara Who (season 1)/Goodbye to Yesterday (season 3)
Vera Miles guest starred as an amnesiac romantic interest for the Chief.

Why the Tuesday Afternoon Bridge Club Met on Thursday
Jessie Royce Landis and Arthur O'Connell guest star as the Chief's aunt gets mixed up in murder.

Cross Doublecross
A love story for Fran guest starring Gary Lockwood and Mike Farrell.

Memories of an Ice Cream Stick
Mark is torn between childhood loyalties and the realities of his present life.

Downhill All the Way
The Chief creates a new family when he leaves the Force to find a criminal. Features a couple of songs by Marty Paich, who provided wonderful background music and tunes for a couple of years.

In the 5th Season Barbara Anderson left the show and a new character came on board. Elizabeth Baur played Fran Belding. A cop from a family of cops. Good at her job, but like Eve, having to deal with the stigma of working in a man's world at that time. Fran was likable and wanted to please. She felt she had a lot to prove.

An interesting spin-off was Amy Prentiss starring Jessica Walter as the first female Chief of Detectives. More well-done stories, but perhaps the world wasn't ready and the the show lasted less than one season (1974). George Kennedy's excellent but short-lived Sarge (1971) also spun out of Ironside.

The bittersweet reunion TV movie The Return of Ironside aired in 1993, the year Raymond Burr passed away. The whole gang was there, Eve, Fran, Chief Brown and Judge Sanger. As with the Perry Mason movies completed at the same time, it must have been important to Raymond Burr to get the family together at that time.

Years ago I saw Burr and co-stars Galloway and Mitchell in a stage mystery at the Royal Alexandra in Toronto called Underground. The theatre was filled with fans and filled with love.

The first two seasons of Ironside have been released on DVD, but there is no word on when or if Shout Entertainment plans to continue the issue. Frustrating news for me and for Ironside's legion of fans.

Pet Peeves

Caftan Woman is grumpy.

It's not Etta James' classic At Last. It is Harry Warren and Mack Gordon's classic ballad At Last. If you like Ms. James' version of the song - fine.

It is not Crazy by Patsy Cline. It is by Willie Nelson, who would probably be the first to tell you that Patsy made a wonderful record.

Willie Nelson would probably be the first to tell you that he did not write his hit record of Blue Skies, that was a fellow named Irving Berlin.

Channel surfing can be surprisingly annoying.

I came across an entertainment program (probably on E!) wherein the peppy young announcer informed me that Reese Witherspoon was descended from one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence - John Wilkes Booth! For shame on the dozens of people involved in putting on that program for not realizing the true notoriety of John Wilkes Booth. FYI: Dr. John Witherspoon was a Presbyterian Minister and representative of New Jersey and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Again with Witherspoon - Entertainment Tonight announced the release of the most recent version of The Importance of Being Earnest by describing it as a "romantic comedy set at the turn of the century". Let's not mention Oscar Wilde. Oh, no. Whoever heard of him?

When the movie Finding Neverland was released I happened upon star Kate Winslett being interviewed by Diane Sawyer on Good Morning, America. Not once during the interview did Ms. Sawyer mention the name Sir James M. Barrie. Instead, she always referred to the character played by Johnny Depp as "the man who created Peter Pan". Toward the end of the interview Ms. Winslett brought up the name Sir J.M. Barrie. I believe she said it through clenched teeth or perhaps that was me shouting at the television.

A note to mainstream media: if you treat people like idiots then they will become idiots.

Broadway to Hollywood trivia

Horace "Stephen" McNally
1913 - 1994

Former attorney Horace McNally decided to become an actor in the late 30s and toiled in Hollywood under his given name in a number of small roles in B pictures roles and the Broadway stage. A Broadway hit was Elmer Harris' Johnny Belinda in which he played the role of a compassionate doctor who helps the victimized heroine.

Under the heading of "what's in a name", Horace changed his name to Stephen and became a leading actor upon his return to the west coast. He was even tapped for a role in the film version of Johnny Belinda. However, he did not play the role he did on stage. In the movie Stephen McNally took on the part of the despicable Locky McCormick.

Three cheers for Stephen McNally. Check out Winchester '73, The Lady Gambles, No Way Out and The Black Castle.

The Emily Webb Connection

Martha Scott
1912 - 2003

Thornton Wilder's 1938 Pulitzer Prize winning play Our Town can rightly be considered a timeless American classic. An examination of life through the life of a small town and of a small town girl, the role of Emily Webb proved a career beakthrough for actresses beloved by fans of classic films.

Martha Scott was so successful as Emily on Broadway that she was tapped to play the role in the film adaptation in 1940 when none of the Hollywood auditionees passed muster. She was Oscar-nominated for that first movie performance. Popular roles would follow in such movies as Cheers for Miss Bishop, One Foot in Heaven, The Desperate Hours and Ben Hur. Broadway and television roles would command her time from the 60s onward. She was particularly delightful as Bob Newhart's mother in The Bob Newhart Show. Her role in 1949's Strange Bargain would be reprised in an episode of Murder, She Wrote entitled The Days Dwindle Down featuring co-stars Jeffery Lynn and Harry Morgan.

Dorothy McGuire
1916 - 2001

Lovely Dorothy McGuire was an understudy to Martha Scott and would play the role of Emily in New York during Our Town's initial run. In 1941 she would star in the play Claudia catching the eye of Hollywood and traveling west west to star in that film adaptation. Many classic roles would follow such as The Spiral Staircase, The Enchanged Cottage, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Gentleman's Agreement, Old Yeller, A Summer Place, Friendly Persuasion and Swiss Family Robinson. On television she was the perfect Marmee in a mini-series based on Little Women and most beautifully cast as the lost love of of Michael Landon's angel Jonathan on Highway to Heaven, a casting choice that seems a perfect tribute to Ms. McGuire's special qualities as an actress.

Teresa Wright
1918 - 2005

Teresa was also an Emily understudy although she never got the chance to play the role in New York. In 1939 she was cast in the outstanding success Life With Father and Hollywood came a-calling. Her first film was Wyler's outstanding filming of The Little Foxes and she worked with that great director again in Mrs. Miniver, The Miniver Story and The Best Years of Our Lives. Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt still thrills audiences. Unforgettable in Pursued, The Pride of the Yankees and Enchantment. Broadway and golden age of television also benefited from her presence through the years. One of her last appearances was in the 1990 made-for-tv movie Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Decision. What a treat to enjoy her talents again.

The next time you are enjoying a play, check the program for the names of the understudies. Who knows what future stars are lurking backstage?

Caftan Woman, chorister

What do you think of my David Tennant glasses? I think they make me look clever.

Janet: How was rehearsal tonight?
Me: Well, I wasn't kicked out this week.

In my former life I studied music and theatre. My free time was devoted to community theatre. Life, kids and illness...mainly illness, has kept me from doing what I loved to do. I missed it. I missed music in my life. I actually bought a book to teach myself the harmonica. I am sorely grieved that there is something Jim Belushi can do that I can't.

Last September there was a notice in the paper announcing an Open House for the Etobicoke Centennial Choir, entering its 42nd season. Why not? I should be able to manage one rehearsal a week without my body falling apart. In that former life I mentioned I was usually placed in the lower section of the chorus. A proud alto or sometimes a mezzo with delusions. At my audition, the choir director and I had a good chuckle over my sight-reading and he placed me in first soprano. I actually tried to argue with him. The guy knows what he's doing. I felt comfortable vocally, but strange personally. You can't spend your life giving sops dirty looks and then all of a sudden become one.

The Christmas concerts were a success and I achieved my first goal which was not to screw up. Tonight we begin rehearsals for the Easter concert. My new goal is to relax and enjoy the challenge, the learning experience and the sense of accomplishment.


Check out: etobicokecentennialchoir.ca

Photo courtesy of Maureen Nolan
check out: monolan @ flickr

Favourite movies: Duck Pimples (1945)

I used to think I was pretty hot stuff when it came to the movie buff game. I thought I knew my Disney. All that was before HIMSELF, THE BOY came into my life. Gavin has his challenges (autism/developmental delay), but the kid knows Disney. It was HIMSELF, THE BOY that introduced me to the wonderful and wacky Duck Pimples, a short from 1945.

Based on a story by gagmen Virgil Partch and Dick Shaw, it is unlike any Disney or Donald 'toon before or since. It's directed by Jack Kinney, who also gave us the delightful Donald's Diary wherein Donald's inner voice is the dulcet tones of Ronald Colman. In Duck Pimples, Donald is thrown into a surrealistic, noirish nightmare that abounds with animated gags and thrills.

Donald expert, director Jack Hannah referred to his protagonist as "the duck" and explained that "the duck" was such a good character because as Mickey Mouse became a star he could no longer get away with the cheeky antics of his youth. Bad-tempered, hard-luck Donald fulfilled that comic need. Animator Ward Kimball put it this way: "Is there anything we didn't do to poor Donald?"

Well, the duck is certainly put through his paces in this short that HIMSELF, THE BOY and I enjoy particularly at Hallowe'en. We're sure you'll enjoy it as well. 

Note: Hugh Hennessy was an animator whose work for Disney spanned from The Band Concert to Lady and the Tramp.