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Posted: |
Jul 19, 2020 - 10:28 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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On 2 January 1973, ABC aired a made-for-television film called FIREHOUSE. In the film, conflict erupts within a close-knit engine company of a big city fire department when a black recruit (Richard Roundtree) and a bigoted white veteran (Vince Edwards) clash during a wave of suspected arson.
When the film was turned into the series “Firehouse”, all of the cast (except for a character played by Richard Jaeckel) was dropped, and the series was produced as a show similar to “Emergency!,” which was currently a hit on NBC. The series was set in Los Angeles at a small inner-city fire station. The five-man crew of Engine Company 23 was led by “Captain Spike Ryerson,” played by James Drury. Drury attended the Los Angeles City fire academy prior to filming the series, and finished 4th out of a class of 127.
The cast of “Firehouse”: (from left) Bill Overton, James Drury, Brad David (in back), Richard Jaeckel (in front), and Michael DeLano
ABC premiered “Firehouse” on Thursday, 17 January 1974 at 8:30 PM. It was a midseason replacement for the second half of the police series “Toma,” which was moved to Friday nights. The lead-in show for “Firehouse” was another new half-hour series, “Chopper One.” “Firehouse” faced the same withering competition that had driven off “Toma,” CBS’s family drama “The Waltons,” which was the #2 show on television that season. “Firehouse” could not make any headway in the ratings and was cancelled after the airing of its 13-episode order.
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Posted: |
Jul 19, 2020 - 12:12 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Kenny Rogers’ character from “The Gambler” films, “Brady Hawkes,” was back in THE GAMBLER RETURNS: THE LUCK OF THE DRAW. He's about to lose his primary means of livelihood, when a law banning gambling is about to be passed. But before that, there's going to be one last great poker game and all one needs to join is $100,000. A madame named “Burgundy Jones” (Reba McEntire), along with four other madams, is willing to put up the money for Brady, but first he has to compete against four other gamblers. In the end it comes down to Brady and a man named “Luke Cantrell” (Christopher Rich). Brady barely beats him.
Brady, Burgundy, and an old friend of his, “Ethan Cassidy” (Rick Rossovich) set off for the big game, which is in San Francisco. But Cantrell's a sore loser and is following them. Also following them is a band of outlaws who are planning to steal the money. Along the way, the trio encounter and/or are aided by some famous individuals, in what was one the greatest cast of television western heroes ever assembled. They included:
Gene Barry as Bat Masterson
Hugh O’Brian as Wyatt Earp
Brian Keith as “The Westerner”
Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain, The Rifleman
Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick
Clint Walker as Cheyenne Bodie
David Carradine as Caine
Doug McClure and James Drury from “The Virginian”
Apparently, the character names of “Trampas” and “the Virginian” could not be used, so McClure and Drury are simply called “Doug” and “Jim” in this film. Although Bruce Boxleitner left the series, Linda Evans returned as “Kate Muldoon,” from the first GAMBLER sequel. Dick Lowry directed the film, which for whatever reason shifted from CBS to NBC. It aired on 3 November 1991. Mark Snow provided the score (and I'm wondering if each hero was introduced with a snippet of the theme from his series).
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Posted: |
Jul 20, 2020 - 10:14 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In speaking of his days on “The Virginian,” James Drury said: “The majority of...episodes were shot in eight days. When we started out, they took about ten days. They decided they couldn't afford that much time because we aired the episodes every five days (excluding weekends). To keep up with the airing schedule, we had to run multiple units--as many as four or five different episodes filming at the same time. I would ride my horse or take the studio limousine back and forth between the sets to do my two-line piece in one episode, ten pages of dialogue in another episode, do a cattle drive in another episode, a wild horse drive in another, and then a gunfight and a robbery in yet another episode. I had to keep everything straight, and it was absolutely no problem and a joy to do. I would do it all over again tomorrow.”
Fortunately, it’s all available to us to see and enjoy, something that would never have occurred to Drury while he was making those episodes. Farewell, Jim, and thanks.
with James Arness (left) in “Gunsmoke”
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Posted: |
Jan 31, 2022 - 4:37 PM
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By: |
filmusicnow
(Member)
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Owen Wister’s 1902 book “The Virginian” was adapted by Wister and Kirke La Shelle for a stage production. The Virginian opened at the Manhattan Theatre on January 5, 1904, and ran until May 1904. The book and play was then adapted four times for the big screen:
1914 - a silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Dustin Farnum,
1923 - a silent film directed by Tom Forman and starring Kenneth Harlan,
1929 - directed by Victor Fleming and starring Gary Cooper,
1946 - directed by Stuart Gilmore and starring Joel McCrea.
Then there was the half-hour “Decision” episode from 1959 in which James Drury had played the title character. In that show, the Virginian, with a noticeable southern accent not present in the subsequent network series, and wearing a Confederate belt buckle marked "CSA", arrived by invitation at the ranch of “Judge Henry” (played by Robert Burton) to be an accountant and manager and soon became involved in unraveling a plot to destroy the judge's efforts to create a new town in the surrounding region. Other actors included Don Quine, Tim Matheson, Andrew Duggan, Jeanette Nolan, and Dan Blocker, the latter in a small, nonspeaking role. Some of these would later appear in the series.
When Revue Productions' hour-long western television series “Wagon Train” moved from the NBC network to ABC, “The Virginian” was proposed to replace it.
The subsequent NBC series, set in the late 19th century revolved around the tough foreman of the Shiloh Ranch, played by Drury. He and his top hand, “Trampas” (Doug McClure), were the only characters to remain with the show for the entire run. As in the book, the foreman went only by the name "the Virginian". The series was set in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. From the beginning, the 90-minute series was filmed in color on 35mm film. It was television’s first 90-minute western series.
James Drury and Doug McClure in “The Virginian”
The series focused on the foreman's quest to maintain an orderly lifestyle at Shiloh Ranch. The ranch was named after the two-day American Civil War Battle of Shiloh, at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. As the show progressed, Trampas became the more developed of the characters, and continues to be the role for which actor Doug McClure was best-known.
The owner of the ranch was “Judge Henry Garth” (Lee J. Cobb). His daughter “Betsy” (Roberta Shore) lived at the ranch with him, and had a sister relationship with the ranch hands. Ranch hand “Steve Hill” (Gary Clarke) joined in episode storylines.
Lee J. Cobb and James Drury
NBC premiered the series on Wednesday, 29 September 1962 at 7:30 PM. Even though the show was going up against ABC’s “Wagon Train,” the #25-rated show for the season, “The Virginian” held its own, coming in right behind it at #26.
Doug McClure, James Drury, and Gary Clarke
The second season (1963-64), saw Randy Boone joining the show as a youthful ranch hand who played guitar and sang duets with Betsy. “The Virginian” now faced off against two comedies on ABC—“The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” and “The Patty Duke Show.” Even though those two series ranked #29 and #18, respectively, “The Virginian” beat them both, finishing in the #17 slot for the season.
Roberta Shore and James Drury
In the third season (1964-65), Clu Gulager, who had previously guest-starred twice in earlier seasons, was added to the show as the restless deputy “Emmett Ryker.” ABC’s sitcoms dropped in popularity, with “Ozzie and Harriet” falling out of the top 30 shows and “Patty Duke” coming in at #28. And “The Virginian” faced strong CBS competition in its third half hour from “The Beverly Hillbillies” at #12. The Virginian finished at #22 for the season.
Season 3 cast of “The Virginian”: Roberta Shore, Clu Gulager, Lee J. Cobb (seated), Doug McClure (standing), Randy Boone and James Drury.
Walter Huston played Trampas in the '29 version which starred Gary Cooper, though he was transformed as a hero in the television series played by Doug McClure, though it was nice to see Huston play a villain.
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