stills for KING KONG VS GODZILLA

A Quick Look at TV: The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson

   The Tonight Show ran for decades, and I guess technically is still running. Begun under the hostship of Steve Allen, and then Jack Parr, it really hit it's stride with the coming of actor/comedian Johnny Carson. Carson had forged his skills of comedy and interviews through his solo series The Johnny Carson Show and the game show Who Do You Trust?, where Johnny first worked with character actor and TV pitch-man Ed MacMahon. Carson's easy, friendly manner and ability to get a fun story out of average people made him the perfect late night talk show host. He remains the standard against which others are measured (though few, if any to've come since, measure up). Johnny, as host of The Tonight Show, became a phenomenon welcomed into most every television-owning home in the United States (and a few other countries) for thirty-plus years. The format of the show was pretty simple. Johnny would open with a monologue, then go to his desk and do a bit with Ed. From there it was a series of interviews broken up by occasional comedy skits by either Johnny or one of his guests. In the course of the series, Carson interviewed some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, as well as a who's-who of political figures, and a kooky assortment of regular folk with a good story to tell. Johnny's reign as the king of late-night television lasted through the last great era of fame. Notorious for taking vacations, Johnny's chair was frequently filled-in by an eclectic assortment of guest hosts. Toward the end, it was usually comedian Jay Leno who filled this position. When Johnny finally decided to retire, it was Leno who took over as host. Leno's version of the show lasted long enough for Jay to be considered the reining monarch of late-night, "the old guy" to so many youngsters who never saw the show during it's greatest influence. Johnny had a unique gift, a persona of being an average Joe while at the same time being the biggest star in showbiz. This truly endeared him to viewers, who over time began to see Johnny as a member of the family. Along with Ed, Johnny's team included band-leader/musician Doc Severinson, he known for his hideous, Herb Tarlek-like suits. Doc's sidekick and occasional fill-in was Tommy Newsom, the amiable human sleeping pill. Not long after Johnny retired, his estate licensed a video collection of Carson's favorite moments from his long run as host. A bit better, full routines and skits were packaged as the syndicated Johnny Carson And Friends. Recent years find the full episodes of The Tonight Show airing on Antenna TV under the title Johnny Carson. Even decades after his passing, Johnny remains an American institution.

A dandy double!

THE DEADLY MANTIS poster art

A Quick Look at TV: THE SECRET SERVICE

   The Secret Service is one of the most obscure teleseries ever produced by a major company. The show was barely seen in it's native England (only regionally broadcast there) and never aired in the States. It has only lately been discovered in large part by the DVD release. The Secret Service was Gerry Anderson's final Supermationation series, and combined live action sequences with it's puppetry -which itself was about as advanced as you could get without just doing it with actors anyway. Charming, quirky, and relatively small scale compared to the earlier shows, The Secret Service was built around comic actor Stanley Unwin. Unwin voiced (and in long shots doubled) Father Stanley Unwin, an unassuming Catholic priest with a beloved 1917 Model T Ford. What most weren't aware of was the fact that Father Unwin had been recruited by the spy organization B.I.S.H.O.P. as a field agent. Unwin had in his possession the last work of a great scientist who was a member of his flock, a miniaturizer ray camouflaged as a book. Assigned to Unwin was special agent Matthew Harding (pictured), who would routinely be miniaturized to a foot high to engage in espionage activities -carried about in a special case by Father Unwin. A priest makes for an unusual spy, chiefly in that he can't lie. To aid in misdirection, Unwin uses a peculiar sort of gibberish which was actually a bit of the real Stanley Unwin's act. Unwinese, it was called, and it defies written description. The distributor didn't think the show would make it in the all-important American market, and cancelled the show half-way through the broadcast of the pilot! The show lasted but 13 episodes, which is a shame, because it was really quite lovely.

A drawing of Christ

A Quick Look at TV: THE HONEYMOONERS

   For many, I Love Lucy's biggest competitor for best 50's sitcom remains The Honeymooners. Born of a series of sketches done on The Jackie Gleason Show, the filmed series told of Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden and his eternal search for a better life for himself and his long-suffering (though quite beautiful) wife, Alice. They lived in a run-down apartment building near their best friends, the Nortons -kooky Ed and his more stable wife, Trixie. The show was loved mainly for it's cast. Jackie Gleason, of course, was the dimwitted dreamer and designated loser Ralph. Audrey Meadows was originally turned down for the part of Alice on the grounds that she was too glamorous (a set of in-character photos convinced Gleason she was right for the part). Joyce Randolph was the most passive personality the show offered in the form of patient-but-opinionated Trixie. The real break-out star of the series was Art Carney as Ed Norton. Ralph's frustrations manifested largely in a big mouth and thundering voice, with which he would often berate Alice (though he was quick to apologize -even during a heated argument- if he ever crossed the line). Despite his bravado, Ralph often evidenced fear of his wife, and the thought of ever losing her. What some people have missed is that the Kramdens, for all their fighting, genuinely loved each other. One need look no further than the episode in which gangsters tie the cast down and take Ralph into the next room. During what is perceived to be a savage beating on Ralph, Meadows unleashes some of the most spine-tingling shrieks of concern ever recorded. Ralph's biggest problem was that he was short-sighted. While often thinking of himself first, he did have concerns about his wife's future, and she meant just as much if not more to him than he himself often did. His attempted verbal abuses of her were more the result of his anger at himself, and his inability to give Alice what he knew she really deserved. (It's also obvious that Ralph knew Alice could take it, otherwise he might've moderated his tone a little.) Thus, a layer of psychological complexity marked The Honeymooners, and kept it fresh over decades of reruns. Only 39 episodes were filmed as official Honeymooners segments (the kinescoped "lost episodes" which hit video and TV syndication were segments taken from the old The Jackie Gleason Show). The characters would be revived for a series of specials throughout the 60's. It would also inspire The Flintstones, the first prime-time animated sitcom.