Men of Action - Part 2

It's Boston's news radio.

The final hour of night Side is here six minutes into itself. I am Morgan White Junior. The announcer just told you that my guest, we're having fun here. They've let the inmates run the asylum. Is this Arkham? I hear there are a lot of funny going on going on at Arkham. And my guest is mister Ed Robertson. I've had him on many a time. He is a very prolific gentleman. Has written a great number of books

Oh, then I dropped the phone. Hello, I know I just called it, but nobodys calling you, and you know I love this sort of thing. I have your I have your Terry Mason books, and that's really it's really amazing.

Oh thank you.

Yeah. I wish I we somebody to do a book about the Untouchables. I wanted to talk a bit about that. But I know this.

Book, this book covers the Untouchables.

Okay, is it like a comprehensive thing or just overviewer, because I wish I had an episode guys.

But I mean I found an episode guy in here for the original series and this series that came back just for two years.

I didn't even know there was a nineties one. Yeah, no, I mean I just actually, about three months ago I watched I watched the entire series of Untouchables. Again. This is what I do. I live in the past and then I'm only.

You will you will love this book, Alison.

Okay, I'm living in the past because I'm living in I'm watching a show from the nineteen fifty is about the nineteen thirty so that's like a double whammy or something. But no, but I mean some of the villains and things are on now. Of course mister Gordon was always good with Gordon, Yes, but they're just I just watched some, you know, some of them with kacky. Just show out a few and you'll probably know, right, because usually I geek out about this thing and Morgan catches a lot

This is Bizarrow rather Allison, let me tell it something, Okay. Allison tries to get as many words in as she can.

She does a very good job of it.

And I just want you to know you have to learn to speak. Alison.

You were forty five RPMs and everybody else is thirty three, and I think quite if you were sixteen, but let's not go into that.

I would say you're going at seventy eight.

But okay, it's just the way I am, especially when I get into things i'm really interested in. It's just well anyway.

Blah blah blah.

So I was thinking that, you know, like some stories episodes like the Lily Dallas story, I can't remember who the actress was now, but whoever was was so fierce in that. Do you remember who the actress was in the Lily Dallas story?

For some reason, I want to say Barbara Stanwick, but I'm no, it wasn't.

No, No, no, no, I was trying to look it up on the DVD, but I didn't have time. But anyway, it was she was in the last season where it got kind of whimpy. And it's so weird how they were, you know, how they were criticizing how violent it was, even though you almost never saw blood, you know, and it.

Was all blacks, I know. And in fact, Walter Grahman, who was one of the great directors of the Golden Age, he he's by the way. June Benson, Norma Crane were the guest stars in the Little in the Lily Dallas story, as well as Barbara Parkins and Debt and the Great Dad's Greer and Larry Parks and Larry Parks who played al Jos and Joel You were.

Kind of heartbreaking because he loved the Lily Dallas the character, and then he was really really cool.

But one of the great things about the Untouchables is because they had to they had to do things within standards of nineteen sixty nineteen sixty one. They they would some of the gruesome violence that the that Bruce Gordon would do, they would do off camera and and and so you would play off the reaction of the actors witnessing the gruesome murder, and so as the viewer that left that left it to the viewer's imaginations to what

Oh sometimes they would get counted the Tommy gun, so they really would, even though you were absolutely absolutely, like Philip pie in one of the early episodes, got really cut down that way. But I just I want to ask you of it. A couple more weird episodes of it. They were crazy. There's one called Strangleholds with Ricardo Montleban and two ubiquitous character acts from the time, Philip Pine and Kevin Hagen and the two skip man or they

Sixty, very near episode time.

Very amazing episode. I mean, nothing's ever said latently, but it's amazing. And my favorite episode actually is because I always liked flooky stuff. So I'm going back a bit farther and my favorite episode was the The Underground Court with Joan Bondell, which was in Richard Devon. It was essentially oursonnicon o'lace meets meets the Untouchables.

It was so sy.

I just love that episode.

Well. And as we said before being Touchables, there was another example of an anthology show with one or two regular characters. Robert Stack was Robert Stack and whoever was the whoever played the because they changed the actors who played the supporting on touching most from year to year. But Robert Stack, as this was the constant. But you would have all these great guest stars like Rip Torn and Neamyah purs Off and he was everywhere Montgomery and and and and and all of that, and Robert Stack

Said to another episode, Now, what's that one called on? It was? But Elizabeth Montgomery is involved with David White in that.

Yes, I mean right, yes, I'm I'm I'm I'm going off memory. But she got she got an Emmy nomination for it. Okay, she got an Emmy nomination for it. And I will probably remember it when we go to break in two seconds, but I'm sorry.

And then the two part early on about the you know, Zangara attempting to kill Roosevelt.

The Rusty Heller story, the.

Rusty Heller story, great episode, and that the one they called The Unheared Assassin, the two parter where it's Sangara.

Because because who ever wound up Alison for tonight the moon spring is still unfurrowed.

Okay, but no, but come on, the Unheared assass And it was a great two parter because it really in the early days they wove in more of the real history, and later on they had it, you know, they came up with original stories because they'd run out of a lot of it. But Joe Mantell and that is Don Gara, I thought was amazing and uh, another ubiquitous character actor, you know, two parter because he was gonna tried to kill Roosevelt and he ended up killing Anton Stermax, the

I guess you as a friend of mine and said, Allison, you have good knowledge. You have you have very good knowledge about the Untouchables. You will love manufaction.

Okay, thanks so much, thank you. Good to talk to you. I do you like to get a more word in the wife Morgan.

I'm just gonna say it's time for a break.

Allison, call be seeing you, okay, And that's from the prisoner.

Be Seen Patrick. We're going see.

We could do this forever. You're lucky. I don't live out there. I'd be knocking on your front door all the time. Six four ten thirty or eight eight eight nine two nine ten thirty. You can do what Glenn did, what Allison has done, and many others all night long. Give us a call. We have touched upon so many performers, actors whose names you know may not remember, and at

Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.

It's Morgan. I'm here tomorrow night as well. I will have Bob and Donna Jenks will be speaking with them about catering and maybe after today. With all the relative relatives coming to your house and dishes and footmarks on the rug, you might want to have someone someone do it for you so you don't have to lift the finger. Bill and Bo Winnaker they will be here, and Bill called in earlier tonight, and my buddy Cleo Campbell will be here right now. I've got Ed Robertson and we've

Hey, how you guys doing.

We're just crazy?

Hey, I got a tri your questions for you? I guess there does he know the great act of Brian McKenzie.

Name rings Bell, Well that's my name.

I'm just joking with.

You, guys.

Oh there you go.

Okay, I'm having a great time, Morgan, You've got a great guest, and I'm going to continue listening. I just thought I hit around and pull that out there.

Well, thank you for that. Okay, by wait wait Brian, before you go, Glen, do you remember any of these four TV series Harry O, the Magician, Run for Your Life, or The Untouchables, The Untouchables? What about the Untouchables comes to mind?

Well, I'm sixty seven on my mind not as good as it used to be, but I just remember the name of the program, you know, and me and my family probably watched it a many times. But now you got me.

Do you know who the executive producer of that show was?

Don't tell me, Brian McKenzie, no.

No, no, but I am going to tell you a name you should know, Dissey earn Is.

Oh wow, I love Lucy Sho.

So tell you what. You keep listening because I'm going to have Ed go into a story that a lot of people know of but necessarily don't know the correct story. So thank you for your call.

And Morgan, yes, real quick, if I may say, you know how you know sometimes I'll go to a bar and the kids would be talking about college, you know. Okay, so I said to them. There were three of them, two guys and a girl. I said, I went to abbed And five minutes later the girl weaned over and said, too, what you made you in? And I said, well, I didn't makee I did go to hobbit. I walked in the front, towing off the back.

Oh yeah, let's all play rim shop, all right.

Try to be all tip you wators on the way out.

How about that? Could you get into the story about how the real life dieern Is Junior and the real life son of al Capone Or at the same bastion of learning and one was talking to the other. They knew each other, and al Capone Junior made a request of his friend don Is Jor.

Yes, he told Desi not to not to do the show because she He said, if you do the show, it will come back to bite you, and uh, some unsavory people may do you harm and I won't be able to do anything to help you. And DESI thought about it, but he figured. But but he you know, he he had he had a very viable property. And this was around the time that Elliott Nessa's book with Oscar Frehley had hit the market and did very very well, was the best seller, and that led to CBS developing

So some people may remember Desi looking old and frail when he was doing the publicity tour for my book, had Piography.

A book, a book, a book, which I think is one of the coolest titles ever. It's just a book, a book, a book, but it is.

But he looks so.

Frail, yeah, yeah, well, you know, he he he was one of those you know, two or three pack that pack of day smokers, right, and that makes its toll, you know. And but he he we may have mentioned this before on the air, but he was the one. He was the one who he did not originate the idea of filming three cameras, but he made it into an art form and he made and basically by filming

And you don't think of this as in the irony. But one of the last Desilu filmed shows, of which there were so many was Star.

Trek, was Star Trek and Mannix and A Mission Impossible, all of which premiered within a year of each other. And uh and at the time uh Desi had stepped down, but Lucy was running the studio in addition to starring on The Lucy Show at the time, and I think she was also doing her radio show for CBS Radio

The funny thing about Gene Roddenberry, he was trying to who get the concept that a Western TV series that was the number one show in those years late fifties was doing and doing quite well.

Yeah, yeah, he pitched it up wagon Trained to the Stars. That's right, that's right. And uh and so but so so it like Lucy, you know, Lucy was not as Lucy, by her own admission, was not as visionary as DESI was.

More money than every other Desilu production port side by side by, side by side times Tan, absolutely times Tan. And like you mentioned the spin offs, I mean Voyager, the separate shows of the new one below Decks. I mean I could go on.

Deep Space nine with Avery Brooks also known as Hawk from Spencer of Higher Spencer for Hire, and you almost were.

Hawked, you know, I told you that story you did. Oh my goodness, all right, let me let me look at the clock. I can tell this in thirty five minutes seconds. I mean I worked for an agency that was situated in the Saltensas building right next to the Massachusetts Film Borough Bureau, and I knew several people. I had left the agency for another job for the city as a matter of fact, and they were looking for a black actor who had a decent voice and was

The role, and you you would have been the one who said Spencer.

No, No, no, Spence. See the difference.

See the difference.

Let me take my break the time. If you're one, look all in six, one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty or eight eight, eight, nine, two, nine, ten thirty to call. We have about thirty minutes a show to go here on night Side, eleven thirty at night. Temperature is still forty two degrees.

Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.

I'm gonna tell you right now. Yeah, yeah, Morgan right Junior filling in for Dan Ray Nightside. Yes, I'm going to have Ed Robertson back with me in January. You know, I usually skip a month when I have a guest, and we'll promote men of Action again, just so I can talk to Ed and have fun. That's all I care about is having fun on radio, and he is a fun guest. See what you've done to me? Ed.

I appreciate that very much, Morgan.

And we've spoken about all the shows. I don't think we've spoken enough about the magician. So I'm going to kind of point a finger at the magician.

All magic you're about to see is perform without trick photography.

And that that was important because he Bill Bixby learned from the great Mark Wilson how to seemingly make cards appear. You hold your hands straight out and you kind of curl your fingers and puff an ason and king appear. How did that happen? Ooh, it is magic. No, it's pressed the digitation, doing something manipulation with your hands that if you could see behind the magician's hand, you would

Mark Wilson, who was the he was the technical consultant on the show, and he worked with the showrunner and he was very close to Bixby. During the time The Magician was in production, there were plans for a big multi city tour where Bill Bixby would perform magic in various venues including Las Vegas. I believe in promotion for what was anticipated to be the second season of The Magician. Now, The Magician had a very it had a very interesting broadcast history that it.

Was.

It went to series in the spring of seventy three, around the time a writers guild strike that shut down production and curtailed production of a lot of news series at the time, including The Magician. And so by the time the strike was settled, the show was sort of in a chaotic behind the eight ball a situation. But and they changed formats, and they changed producers at least

Spite because my memories of Harry oh two words, it worked. Yeah, Henry Darrow leaving. I think he left like the first half of the first year.

He left around the time they moved production from San Diego to to Los Angeles. And it would not have it would not have been in the world television. It would have made as much sense as than anything else to have Henry to have Manny Quillen transferred to UH Los Angeles around the same time that Harry O moved to Los Angeles. But when they we tooled the show, Jerry Thorpe, the show runner, felt that they needed a little They needed an actor who provided more of a

Show and that's why I watched it. Yeah, it's funny because the private eye detective character on TV always need like Stu Bailey needed Detective Quinlan, like Magnum needed Tanaka. You had to have that rather caustic police person who had to follow the book, who couldn't take the liberties of a detective. Meanwhile, detectives are breaking all kinds of rules left, right and center. But that detective really loved the police detective, loved the detective like a brother.

Yeah, I mean a colleague of mine described the relationship between Harry and Lieutenant Trench as frenemies.

You know, that's a twenty first century title, that's.

Very much a twenty first century word. But but you know, the Trench respected Harry's independence. He respected Harry's style, even though harry style drove him up the walls, you know, nine times out of ten. Because Trench was, you know, by the book, because he had to be he had a department to run, he had rules to follow, and and and so forth. He envied Harry's independence. There's a great scene in the episode Anatomy of a Frame, which is the first episode of the second season, where Harry

For an example, Dan Tanner and Dave Nelson played by.

Greg Morris, Greg Morris and.

Spencer Spencer Hire and Lieutenant Quirk Richard.

Uh play Great Richard Yes all of.

Those characterizations are pretty much the same. The cop is locked into rules and laws that he cannot step around, while the private detectives steps all over those rules and laws.

And the key to making a successful show is to fin to is to find enough, you know, uh, enough enough angles, enough quirks to each character to make them different enough. And sometimes it has to do with the casting, you know, the casting of the actor. What the actor brings the character they you know, they'll they'll flesh it

Let me take my last break. I have a caller, and John in North Carolina will get to you after a few commercials. I promise time and temperature eleven forty five forty two degrees.

Now back to Dan Way live from the Window World, Nice Sight Studios on WBZ News Radio.

Roughly ten minutes of show to go, John in North Carolina, You've waited long enough. Here's your chance to speak with Ed Robertson. Hi.

Ed, I'm Morgan.

Hello.

Hi.

I thought it was interesting when I heard you speaking about Roy Huggins, because I just recently read a detective novel by him. It was it was called The Double Take. It was from nineteen forty six, if.

I remember correctly, that was that was the That was the novella that he introduced Stu Bailey exactly.

That's that was something I was going to mention that. And it's from nineteen forty six, so I guess about ten years before seventy seven Sunset Strip. But I thought it was very good. It was kind of a Raymond Chandler esque type mystery.

Well, Roy, that's that's That's how Roy started his career. He started his career as a novelist into Chandler vein and he his publisher at the time was a man named Howard Brown. He published several of his novellas, and then one thing led to another and Roy saw the future in a storytelling in television and when about fast forward about ten years in the early nineteen fifties, when Roy established himself as a various as one of the

Well, did Roy then leave Warner Brothers and become an independent producer?

No, he left Warner Brothers in fifty nine sixty. He was a little burned out because and for reasons that I explained in detail in Maverick Legend of the West, my book on the Map show. He was feeling he was responsible for like seventy percent of Warner Brothers prime time shows on ABC. But because of the way Warner Brothers ran his television apartment in the early going, they refuse to give an independent writer created by a credit which gave him or her a share of the pie,

Wow, well you mentioned warners. Now I think what I read when Jack Warner set up that TV division, did he not expect it to be very much? He just did it. What did he put his son in charge of it?

He did his son in law, if I remember correctly, William Peatwoor, and.

He did it.

Jack Warner did it reluctantly. He did it because all the other studios were leaving their mark were entering television. Warners was at the time, Warners was still very famous. You know when he made movies, when Warner Brothers made movies, you know, we're not going to portray a living room scene with the television in it. Because he saw television as the enemy. And so when they finally did enter television, as we said, they took a very narrow approach to it,

Uh.

Then, not only did they treat their they worked there, they overworked their writers, and they didn't they they didn't let them share in the pie, so to speak. But they signed their actors to seven year contracts, they paid them next to nothing, and then they but they exploited them until James Garner famously stood up to them and said, I ain't going to do this anymore, and he took them to court and he beat them in court, and the Warner Brothers realized, Okay, we have to change the

It was, for an example, Hawaiian and I was surfside six not in not in Honolulu, but in.

Miami, and both Hawaiian and I and serve side six for variations of seventy seven sunset strip, which was the which which originated with Roy Huggins. And so that that's why Roy felt a little That's why Roy felt a little put upon it, as he put it himself, because there were three shows that started with him, and yet the studio was making money off of off of those off of those shows, but they wouldn't recognize him.

And John, I gotta let you go because I'm almost out of time and I want to say a proper goodbye to Ed. So John, thank you for your.

Call, Thank you for calling.

All right, and I got to do this again with you. I'll call you and set up something in January.

Absolutely is always a pleasure to talk to you and your audience, Morgan, and I hope some of your listeners will pick up a copy of Minute Action available Amazon dot com. If you love classic television, if you love the history of television, it's it's a great gift idea. You really like this book.

Riverboat Ring your Bell Taillywell Anna Belle Luck is a lady that he loves the best. And I'm going to tell you something I get a minute before I have to sign off. Nancy, who's sitting next to me. She got all the lyrics from Brett Maverick and framed them with a royal flesh hand in the middle. That's what a partner is supposed to do. Absolutely, And on that note, I thank you enjoying the rest of your holiday weekend and we'll talk again.

Happy you take care.

And by the way, Dan, you did a good job tonight. Thank you. And Nancy sitting next to me, and Gray on the floor on the rug. Thank you for all of you who listened, whether you called or not. I appreciate the fact that you made Nightside your choice for this Thanksgiving evening, and now that it has become time to say it. Eleven fifty eight by Boston, forty two degrees