Tom Holmberg

"The Rice Estate." (Season 3, Episode 16) "77 Goes Gothic." Stu arrives at the massive Rice estate, the last large parcel of undeveloped land in L.A. (by 2018 standards worth the paltry sum of $500,000, according to the show) during a torrential rain storm to meet the owner Eunice Rice (soap opera star Peggy McKay). The reclusive widow Rice lives alone in the mansion, having been treated basically like a slave by her late husband, unable to leave or socialize. Property rich, but cash poor, Eunice has been living by depleting the pantry and burning the furniture for fuel, as the gas has been turned off for non-payment. Ever since she put the property up for sale, she had been receiving threatening phone calls and letters warning her against selling. Eunice wants to hire Stu on credit to investigate the threats. The police, checking the letters found only Eunice's fingerprints on them even though she claimed she never touch the letters. They obviously think she's crazy. Stu, attracted to the somewhat creepy Eunice, agrees to take the case and even loans her money to get the gas turned back on. It's still raining when Stu leaves and he's waylaid in the dark by a motorcycle riding young man who socks him and tells him to stay away from the Rice estate. When Stu arrives the next day bringing groceries, he finds a new padlock on the gate and the wires of the intercom cut. When he gets into the estate Eunice comes running from the house claiming someone is in the house. When Stu investigates they see a figure at the top of the stairs, which turns out to be a statue with Eunice's coat on it. Unpacking the groceries Eunice jokingly suggests that they should have a party. Stu runs with the suggestion and says they should have a real party so that Eunice can start socializing again. Stu calls Jeff to have all the guests of his costume party meet at the Rice estate instead of Jeff's apartment. Stu and Eunice go to the attic to look for costumes and find fresh cigarette butts. Eunice sees a mysterious figure at the window and Stu gives chase, ending up locked in the crawlspace under the porch and the figure escaping on his motorcycle. At the party, where Suzanne is dressed as a sexy witch and Roscoe as the emperor Nero, Eunice becomes anxious with all the noise and crowds. Out on the terrace with Stu, an evil clown throws a glass of champagne in Eunice's face, saying its acid. Stu gives chase and tackles a clown who turns out to be Kookie (how the man ended up in the exact same costume as Kookie is one of the unexplained literary mysteries). Pursuit of the evil clown leads to Eunice's bedroom where someone has scrawled a skull and crossbones on the door. Searching to room Stu finds Eunice's stepson Colton Jr. (Gary Conway, "The Land of the Giants") and his hulking accomplice Bobby (Charles Hicks, had a long career in mostly bit parts, actually has an inordinate number of "uncredited" parts in TV shows ). Kookie arrives in time for a evil clown vs. good clown fistfight (I was hoping the fight would end in throwing pies, but no such luck). Eunice, destroying another of her valuable antiques that she didn't have enough sense to sell for the money, saves the day. Besides Jeff getting some guitar slapping in at the party, the episode's writer Montgomery Pittman appears at the party as the "Russian" and the episode ends with Stu getting a plug in for the WB oater "Bronco." We've come full circle from when this forum started, so this will be my last recap. Thanks for reading! Maybe someone else will want to give their views of the show.

Watching the news on France24 (the French-in English-version of the BBC WorldNews, which is on a number of PBS digital services in the US) yesterday, they showed that the Christmas lights along the Champs-Élysées were lit yesterday (Thanksgiving Day).

"The Dresden Doll." (Season 3, Episode 15) Half of Bailey & Spencer are in Hawaii advertising the WB series "Hawaiian Eye." Cricket entertains both casts while Jeff sulks over his lack of female companionship. Back in L.A. Kookie consoles the still dateless Jeff. At Dino's, where Frankie Ortega has added a conga drummer to the Trio, even Roscoe has a date with a beautiful Southern belle who picked him up at the track. Roscoe's date proposes that Roscoe kill her husband, so Roscoe makes himself scarce and oversexed Jeff decides to step in. The Southern belle is Dolly Stewart (Myrna Fahey, Madeline Usher in the 1960 “House of Usher”, four 77SS appearances), wife of the wealthy building contractor "Prefab King" Steven Stewart (Raymond Bailey, AKA, Milburn Drysdale, of course). Rather than kill her husband, Dolly wants to hire Jeff to protect her husband from her ex, small time hood Jerry Brent (H.M. Wynant, long career in TV, movies and on stage). Rex recognizes Dolly from NOLA as burlesque queen, Dolly the Dresden Doll. When Jeff gets home he finds Jerry waiting for him with a gun, he wants info on Steven's current whereabouts. After Jerry punctuates his warning and Jeff's wall with six gunshots, Dolly phones to invite Jeff over for a nightcap. Before he leaves Roscoe tells Jeff about Dolly's earlier proposal and Rex fills Jeff in on Dolly's background, including that Jerry was about to be executed for murder before he got a last minute reprieve. Dolly does her burlesque routine in Stewart's hospital room and then suggests they have a second marriage ceremony before they leave for and extended trip to Europe. Jeff arrives early at the palatial Stewart home in time to question housekeeper Mrs. Adams (Kay Stewart), who obviously dislikes (and is jealous of) Dolly, tells Jeff there's something evil in the Stewart house (without saying its name is Dolly). After Mrs. Adams leaves, someone tries to run Jeff over. Dolly arrives and gives Jeff a sob story about her poor white trash upbringing and hard life as an on-and-off stripper. Jeff visits the hospital where Steven is staying and, after trying to pick up the nurse, hears from Steven that he knows all about Jerry Brent )but not that he was reprieved) and that Dolly was just kidding about Roscoe killing her husband. As he leaves, Jerry attacks Steven, but gets away before Jeff can stop him. Jerry rushes to he Stewart house and tells Dolly he's going to kill Steven for his money, but Dolly knifes him just as Jeff arrives. Jeff tries to call homicide, but Dolly gets the drop on him with a gun. Rex arrives just in time to throw a spanner in Dolly's works. Even with two extended musical numbers, but thankfully no guitar slapping from Jeff, this is a fairly fast-paced episode. Not much of a mystery, but in spite of the plot, plenty of humor. The whole Hawaii opening is superfluous.

If you have to do this, the crust is too thin. Then again I'm a Chicago Deep Dish or Detroit-style pizza guy.

I bought a Sangean DT-200X FM-Stereo/AM Audio Digital Tuning Radio from Amazon for listening while walking and it worked great for me and it fits in a shirt or jacket pocket.

I like looking at the one Peleton chick sweat, but it doesn't make me want to buy a Peleton. :)

Chicken & Waffles are amazing when done right. Although the modern version of chicken & waffles started in Harlem, Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles in L.A. made them famous. I've been to Chicago's House of Chicken and Waffles a number of times. Everyone I've taken there, despite their original doubts, liked it. KFC is offering C & W through the end of the year. Let's talk about the ads for BDO, Ask Marcum, etc. Who's the audience for these? Really, do people who have the sort of money the people in the ads have, use TV ads to find advisors? As for regular people, like us, what use would they be and would they even be interested in us?

"The Affairs of Adam Gallante." (Season 3, Episode 13) Mousy librarian Alice Smith Gallante (the always cute, never mousy Sue Randall) hires Jeff to locate her missing husband of three weeks Adam Gallante after someone has taken a shot at her. Alice, still in love with Adam, describes him as "medium." Adam disappeared after passing out during their wedding ceremony at city hall. With Rex and Stu out of town, Jeff gets Kookie to assist on the case. That night Alice phones Jeff that she is being followed by a black sedan. Jeff sends Kookie to follow her and the black sedan tries to run Alice off the road as she drives down one of L.A.'s many deserted country dirt lanes. Jeff investigates Adam's former digs, questioning Adam's gorgeous movie star landlady, Sheila Storm (Marilyn Monroe wannabe Carol Ohmart), who tells him Adam was the kind of man every woman dreams about. Kookie visits Adam's former place of employment, Oooh La La Imports, but other than learning the owner Joey Webb (Robert Quarry, “Count Yorga, Vampire”) is a complete ass, gets nowhere. Roscoe gets a job selling door-to-door Oooh La La's sexy lingerie and beach wear, with Kookie assisting because he figures selling sexy lingerie is a good way to pick up chicks. Roscoe learns that the women won't buy anything if Adam Gallante isn't selling. Suzanne schools him on ladies' undergarments. One of Kookie's Oooh La La customers, former dime-a-dance girl Peaches Schultz (Marianne Caba, Sept. 1959 “Playmate of the Month”,), turns out to also be married to Adam, who disappeared on their wedding night. Peaches tells Kookie that she had had a visit from another Gallante wife, Karma Onyx. As Kookie leaves Peaches' house she is almost killed when the sabotaged porch railing collapses. Roscoe visits Gallante wife number three Karma Onyx (former showgirl Carmen Phillips, played Mime #2 in “Easy Rider”), a far-out Vampira-esque student of the occult. She tells Kookie that Adam disappeared immediately after the wedding but not before confessing to another marriage under hypnosis, saying "I killed Cecily." Research at the newspaper morgue by Jeff turns up a story of Adam inheriting the late Cecily Courtwright's fortune. At the Courtwright mansion, Maude Courtwright (famous face Norma Varden, played supercilious society dames, haughty nobility and comic foils), Cecily's aunt, who is as impressed by the gallant Gallante as all the other females, explains how Cecily was trampled to death by a wildebeest on Cecily and Adam's honeymoon. Maude adds that Cecily died with a smile on her face. Jeff and Kookie are at 77SS, with Kookie explaining his scientific criminal detection system for the case, when who should show up but Mr. Wonderful himself, the surprising Adam Gallante (famous face Alvy Moore, best known as county agent Hank Kimball from "Green Acres"). Adam explains that he dropped out of sight to undergo rigorous treatment by a psychoanalyst who determined that his problem was that he was born into the wrong century and that he's "the last romantic." While Jeff pretends to call the police, Gallante takes it on the lam, with Kookie following in his new, less interesting hotrod. Kookie follows Gallante to Oooh La La with Jeff showing up shortly after. Jeff solves not only the whole case, but Gallante's marital difficulties and all the other loose ends in time for a number by the Frankie Ortega Trio and Rex and Stu to turn up. Another good Gloria Elmore written script. Pretty much a perfect light-hearted 77SS episode, with quirky characters, bits for the secondary cast and a fun story. Apparently some people don't like these light-hearted episodes and only want noirish episodes, but frankly 77SS did the comic episodes better than the serious ones.

"The Duncan Shrine." (Season 3, Episode 10) Wallace Friend (famous face Richard Deacon, "The Dick Van Dyke Show", "Leave It to Beaver" and thousands of guest shots), manager of Celestial Acres cemetery, hires Rex Randolph to locate the missing memorial statue honoring the late singing cowboy star Dustin W. Duncan. Each year the cemetery wallows in the publicity it gets from the annual visit of unknown "The Veiled Lady" who leaves a wreath at the statue. This year, when the mysterious woman appears, the statue is gone. Rex assigns Roscoe the improbable task of locating the sculptor of the statue (Hasn't Rex been watching the show? Roscoe's supposed to scour the underworld of L.A.'s bowery hangouts and cheap bars for clues.) Meanwhile ever-resourceful Kookie reports he's got a lead on the identity of "The Veiled Lady." Meeting a Dino's, Kookie's lead Wendy Wayne (Judith Rawlins, Mrs. Vic Damone) tells Rex that a talent agency tried to hire her to be this year's "The Veiled Lady." At the L.A. art museum, where the lady curator is a fellow degenerate gambler, Roscoe gets tips on the races and the identity of the sculptor. Back at 77SS Rex and Jeff find "The Veiled Lady" by comparing photos in the casting directory with the photo of the un-Veiled Lady in the newspapers, and Duncan buddy Frank Baker (famous face Donald Woods, known as the "King of the Bs") shows up to try to buy off Rex from continuing the investigation. Rex has to slap Baker around a little to convince him that a Bailey & Spencer man can't be bought off. Rex visits Carla Roland (Sally Todd, pinup model and Feb. 1957 Playmate of the Month), this year's "Veiled Lady" who throws him out on his ear, only to call Rex later that night with fears that she is being watched. By the time Rex arrives at Carla's bungalow, he finds his lead deceased on the floor. Roscoe discovers that the sculptor of the Duncan statue is dead, but his daughter Jennifer Cross (Barbara Gates, another 77SS wacky lady artist) is also a sculptor. While trying to get a lead on who paid for the statue, Ms. Cross wants the "anthropoid beast" Roscoe to pose for her. Rex visits "Vada-Voom Girl" Bessie St. Clair (famous face Marjorie Bennett, usually playing snobby socialites and comic foils), Dustin's usual co-star and the one everybody thinks is "The Veiled Lady." The dotty old lady seems to be still living in the 1920s, but after Rex leaves, she makes a blackmail phone call. Artist's model Roscoe has discovered that it was a Rose Durkee (famous face Meg Wyllie, first “Star Trek villain in the pilot “The Cage”, “Golden Girls” frequent regular) who commissioned the Duncan statue. When Rex turns up at Rose's house he finds no one home, but investigated the backyard garden he finds an empty pedestal and gets sandbagged (of course). Returning to Bessie's house Rex finds the nutty old broad's been coshed as well and is conscious enough to say Rose Durkee. Returning to 77SS Rex is surprised to find the Duncan statue on his desk and Rose Durkee waiting in his office, Rose confesses that she stole the statue and that she was the original "Veiled Lady." When Rex figures out who Rose really is, she flees from the office and is involved in a hit-and-run on the Strip. Though hit by a car Rose feels well enough for Rex to drive her home, where they confront the real person behind the whole mystery. Having solved the crime Rex and Jeff relax at Dino's to the strains of the Frankie Ortega Trio. Roscoe shows up with his statue and Kookie shows up with Rex's date, Wendy Wayne. All is right in the world, except for Stu who doesn't appear in the episode (he's probably fighting Communism somewhere). The basic plot of a mysterious visitor to a dead star's gravesite is, as Rex mentions, a copy of the famous "Lady in Black" who annually visited Valentino's grave (http://allanellenberger.com/18552/). The episode was written by Gloria Elmore who wrote a number of good 77SS episodes, not deep, dark mysteries, but enjoyable stories that have quirky characters and a mix of mystery and humor. * "The Double Death of Benny Markham." (Season 3, Episode 11) It's Jeff's turn to have a case overseas. Jeff is on London visiting the stock footage sites and solving a blackmail case when yeggman Benny Markham (famous face diminutive Walter Burke, known for playing leprechaun's, petty criminals and jockeys) shows up to hire Jeff to find the person who murdered him. Benny had been hired by British mobster Blackpool Eddie (Peter Forster, an actual Englishman) to steal a tube of metal from the safe of a warehouse. The tube, as Benny only learned later, was a deadly new radioactive isotope, that the possession of has poisoned Benny and he only has two weeks to live according to underworld doctor Wm. Macdougal (Tudor Owen, a Hollywood go-to Britisher, Towser in “101 Dalmatians”). Benny gives Jeff a lead to China Mary's (cute Gale Garnett, actually from New Zealand, won the 1964 Grammy Award beating out a bunch of famous musicians) pub in Limehouse. On the way there he stops off at Scotland Yard, who not being Gil, tells Jeff that they don't want any of his American private eye shenanigan's in Jolly Old England and to stay out of police business, by Jove. The Yard puts a tail on Jeff just to be safe. China Mary's is a low dive filled with stereotypical lower class scum extras. Mary hasn't seen Blackpool Eddie lately. Doc Macdougal has no clues to offer, but confirms Benny only has a couple of weeks to live before he dies a horrible painful death. The next night Jeff is supposed to meet Benny at China Mary's (Benny's enjoying his last few days at the dog track with a bevy of lamppost Jezebel's and a bottle of champagne instead), where Mary points out Eddie's old flame, Sheila. Jeff plies Sheila with drink, getting her drunk enough to reveal Eddie's address. At Eddie's apartment, Jeff barely has time to introduce himself before Eddie is shot and killed. His Scotland Yard tail and the local bobbies chase Jeff over the rooftops of the London set in Stage 14 at WB's before Jeff gives them the slip and returns to China Mary's looking worse for wear. Benny finally shows up, but so does Scotland Yard. Jeff and Benny hideout in a secret room at China Mary's. The next morning Benny buys Jeff clean clothes, dressing him in Hollywood's idea of a proper English toff. Going through the clues Jeff stole from Eddie's wallet and pockets, they find a ticket from the garage where Eddie stashed Benny's getaway car from the isotope robbery. Searching the car, they find a clue to Strohmann's art gallery. Checking the gallery out in his Canadian gentleman persona, Jeff conveniently spots a mummy case Strohmann's (Frederick Ledebur, pals with John Huston, improbably played the cannibal Queeqeg in “Moby Dick”) selling to a museum in Poland and a picture of Strohmann from after the big war, WWII, with an ex-Nazi field marshal who went over to the Russkies. Jeff pretends to be interested in a sculpture and says he'll be back the next day. Doc Macdougall gets Jeff a bunch of radiation detecting film strips which he stashes around the gallery the next day when Strohmann's assistant isn't looking. Jeff retrieves the strips later and Macdougal has them tested. The strips, especially those that were hidden under or near the mummy case show high concentrations of radiation. Benny, getting sicker from radiation poisoning, hears that Strohmann was the mastermind in the fatal robbery and decides to get revenge while he can. Jeff follows the vengeful safecracker. At the gallery Benny gives his life so Jeff can capture Strohmann. Despite being overseas, and despite the stupid early 60s stereotypes of any foreigner 77SS always indulges in, this is a decent story. They could have just set it in L.A., but WB has that library of stock footage so why not use it. The clues come to easily, but don't they usually, and despite the grim background to the story, it works.

More and more commercials are getting like perfume/cologne ads. People do incomprehensible things for thirty seconds and then the product name comes up.

When I was very young I really wanted a "transistor." An adult neighbor said he'd give me one. I was all excited. A few days later he gave me an actual transistor, not the radio. Damned adults! :) We did also call them "pocket radios" and "portable radios."

OPRF in the News: ‘Sometimes stupid is criminal’ https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/judge-tells-teen-accused-sharing-swastika-picture-stupid-is-criminal-oak-park/ The Nov. 11 demonstration, prompted by swastika incident, was second in two weeks http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/11-13-2018/Rocky-few-weeks-at-OPRF-culminate-in-march-/ Afterthought on 'America to Me' With comments by some of the featured students http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/11-13-2018/Afterthought-on-'America-to-Me'/

Ah, the Greek restaurant defense! :) Coincidentally, in Chicago, they call it "Greek Lightning."

I originally thought the husband torched Sheila's chi-chi she-shed (along with a bunch of other people I asked about it), but I think it's clear (after seeing the damn thing too many times) that it was supposed to be lightning. I doubt they are actually paying for advertising promoting insurance fraud.

OK, here's an ad for a toy I really really wanted when I was a kid (but of course never got):

I'm waiting for a good genital wart commercial. :)

"Double Trouble." (Season 3, Episode 8) After Roscoe scams the whole Bailey & Spencer crew in a fix card game, Stu gets an urgent call from government man Emory Blaine (famous face Bert Freed, played tough guy cops, gumshoes, gangsters, etc.) in Washington, D.C. Stu flies out to Washington where Blaine gives him the job of impersonating his double, a top-notch mob hitman nicknamed The Executioner, but also known as Sandy. In one of those coincidences that only occur in popular fiction, Stu looks exactly like Sandy except Sandy has graying hair and blue eyes. Elusive mob boss Silk Cipriano (Bruce Cabot, “King Kong” and a regular in John Wayne’s films) is trying to muscle into Baldy Mike Hannigan's West Coast drug racket and he needs his old buddy Sandy to eliminate Baldy, who won't play Cipriano's game. The feds train and make up Stu to act and look like Sandy. Smuggling Stu into Cipriano's San Francisco hotel, he switches places with the assassin in an elevator and the fed put Sandy on ice while Stu tries to put one over on the mob boss, and Cipriano's bodyguards Nelse (John Dennis, longtime character actor) and Scotty (Frank Nechero). Stu also has to fool Rena (Dolores Donlon, last of five 77SS appearances), Nelse's wife and Sandy's secret love interest. Stu gets the feds to bring in Kookie to act as his contact at the hotel. Stu and the feds (including Max Baer in a bit part) waylay Baldy and put him on ice, while Stu returns to Cipriano's suite for his payoff and a chance to get Cipriano to brag about his previous crimes while Stu tapes his confession. That night Rena shows up in Stu's room for a little of the old in-and-out to discover that it turns Stu's blue eyes brown. Rena rats Stu out to Cipriano, but Stu manages to cleverly talk his way out of it. Just as he tries to leave the apartment for some "fresh air," who should show up at the door but the real Sandy, who somehow gave the feds the slip (I blame Jethro, the incompetent double-naught spy). How's Stu gonna get out of this predicament? I think you can guess who saves the day (I'll give you a hint, it's NOT Roscoe.). A better than middling episode, somewhat typical of Stu, who just can't stay in L.A. and solve crimes among Hollywood's rich and famous. At least he's not overseas fighting the Red Menace, though he is still trading on his OSS reputation.

And they'll take your eye out.

"The Laurel Canyon Caper." (Season 3, Episode 8) Everyone in Hollywood wants sleazy scandal sheet publisher Mike Ransome (Fredd Raye, best known for portraying Benjamin Franklin) dead including former Dino's headliner, lounge singer Barry James (Jock Mahoney, stunt man and actor, Yancey Derringer and Tarzan). Ransome uses his rag to blackmail Hollywood personalities. After a confrontation with Barry at Dino's, Ransome tries to hire new Bailey & Spencer partner Rex Randolph to be his bodyguard. Later that night Barry's wife Lois James (Gayla Graves) calls Rex and tells him she's afraid her hubby is going after Ransome. Rex shows up in time to get Barry to leave and KO Ransome, only to be sandbagged himself in Ransome's garden. Rex wakes to find Gil investigating Ransome's shooting. Ransome's dying words are that Barry shot him. Rex doesn't believe Barry is the killer despite the deathbed confession. Back at 77SS Gil gives Rex the nod to investigate, but says Barry is suspect number one. Gil arrests Barry who's been hiding out in Stu's office, leaving Rex to find the real killer. Rex suspects corn-fed country comic, America's Neighbor Chick Little (famous face Peter Leeds, supposedly appeared over 8000 times on television shows), who Ransome was also blackmailing. Lois tells Rex that the info Ransome had on her husband was that he was an ex-con. She also confesses that she was formerly married to Ransome and that that was the reason Ransome hated Barry. Pursuing his Chick Little theory, Rex sneaks on to the set of Little's corny comedy show and questions the married Little's Playmate girlfriend April Moon (Roxanne Arlen, nicknamed “The Wiggle,” ‘nuff said), before getting beat up by a couple of thugs in the studio parking lot. One of the thugs leaves an El Llano Club matchbook behind. At the smoke-filled club Rex runs into teen heart-throb Johnny Poe (Gary Conway, "Land of the Giants" and “Burke’s Law”), who is being blackmailed by Ransome, and his girlfriend, the club's torch singer Belinda Lane (Kaye Elhardt, appeared in eight 77SS episodes). Leaving the club, Rex spots one of the thugs and slaps some sense into him before his partner sticks a gun in his back and takes him to see mob boss, Nicky Nardo (famous face Lewis Charles). Nardo tells Rex he'll pay him $10,000 if he finds Ransome's stash of blackmail material. Honest and upright Rex refuses to play ball. Belinda visits Rex and tells him she's the daughter of Nardo and that she was paying off Ransome. Rex sends Kookie to stakeout Ransome's hose and when the cops leave Rex shows up to look for Ransome's stash of dirt and finds Kookie's been coshed (making him a full-fledged B&S man). In the house Rex finds Ransome's neighbor, retired doctor Robillard (John Hubbard, busy character actor wit seven 77SS appearances), who had pronounced Ransome dead way back at the beginning of the episode, also looking for Ransome's stash. With the help of Kookie, Rex gets the drop on Robillard, just as Nick Nardo shows up. Needless to say Rex solves the case, finds the stash, saves all of Hollywood's reputations and gets paid $5,000, to boot. All in a night's work for our faithful gumshoe. A decent Hollywood mystery, with too many suspects, some good-looking chicks, a musical number or two, and a surprise killer. The rest of the cast get brief appearances (except for Stu). How did Barry James knock the Frankie Ortega Trio out of headlining at Dino's?

"The Office Caper." (Season 3, Episode 4) Another somewhat unusual episode in that the leads have very limited airtime. Criminal contractor, Hugo Womack (famous face Bruce Gordon, Frank Nitti on "The Untouchables" and frequent gangster bad guy) has been hired by the mob to eliminate Stu before he can testify as a witness in a mob trial. Womack has rented an office on the second floor of 77SS to facilitate his nefarious plan. Womack engaged nerdy criminal subcontractor Vern Fletcher (Robert McQueeney, looking a bit like an early Michael Caine, with his horn-rimmed glasses and blonde hair. McQuenney quit show biz to become a Catholic priest.) to line up the talent for the hit. Unfortunately for Womack, Roscoe recognizes Womack's name on the building directory as an ex-bookie who owes him a double sawbuck from way back. Womack manages to get rid of Roscoe by offering him $100 and expenses to go the San Diego and pick up some papers for him. Roscoe sets out on his new scooter. Vern taps Bob (famous face Richard Jaeckle, "The Dirty Dozen" and many other tough guy roles) and Shirley (77SS semi-regular Sherry Jackson, going against type as a hard-boiled bad-girl) Bent, to actually do the job, Bob as the triggerman and Shirley the getaway driver. The plan consists of waiting in the upstairs office until morning and shooting Stu when he arrives (okay, it’s not the world's most clever plan, but would probably work in the real world). The impetuous Bob is the first fly in the ointment. First Shirley has to take his gun away from him before he shoots one of them, then he gets bored and decides to drop into Dino's for a nightcap. New partner Rex Randolph shows up at 1:30 am to sleep in his office, but Kookie offers him a bed at his pad. Then jealous Bob gets into a fight with Kookie over Shirley. Shirley has to solve the problem by sandbagging Bob. Back in the upstairs office, Bob finally comes to and they enact the plan. Bob's going to wait in Stu's office for Stu to arrive, while Hugo and Vern wait upstairs and Shirley acts as lookout in the getaway car. Hugo explains to Bob that Stu could come through the door to his office, or he could come in through the door from Jeff's office, or he could come in through the door from the alley. Even dumbbell Bob looks a bit dubious at the way the clever plan plays out. Instead of Stu, Jeff comes in early, as does Suzanne. The plan starts to look less and less clever. Jeff hears incompetent Bob in Stu's office, and when he checks he sees the smoke from behind the desk where genius Bob is hiding. He ends up shooting Bob, which alerts Womack and Vern, who get the drop on Jeff and Suzanne. Shirley comes in to announce the Stu dropped into Dino's for morning coffee and discovers Bob's been shot. Shirley shoots Vern and Jeff gets the gun away from Womack. Jeff's stunt double and Womack's stunt double get in a knock down, drag out, while Shirley and Suzanne get in a cat fight Suzanne has a mean right uppercut). Roscoe turns up just in time to get KO'd. Though the regular cast has minimum screen time the episode works, moving swiftly to the inevitable conclusion. Hint: Stu doesn't get assassinated. Again a decent cast of guest stars helps the episode. * "The Widescreen Caper." (Season 3, Episode 5) "Someone is Killing the Mediocre Actors of Hollywood." Celebrity astrology columnist Jon Keith (famous face Jim Millhollin, TV’s Franklin Pangborn impersonator) has predicted violence at the Hollywood Film Festival. Agent to the (bad) stars Shelly Blair (Walter Reed) hires Bailey & Spencer to protect his stable of stars after another client of his died in mysterious circumstances at the previous year's festival, a death also predicted by Keith. Keith predicts that violence will befall one of Shelly's clients. A klieg light already almost crushed actress Sprite Simpson. Stu assigns each of the cast members to protect one of the client's stars: Kookie is to protect high school publicity hound and ingénue Sprite Simpson (Sharon Hugueny, Mrs. Robert Evans); Jeff is to protect sexy eurotrash importee Helga Heller (Swedish actress Lili Kardell); Rex gets phony, julep-swigging Southern belle Melissa Mateneau (series semi-regular Ruta Lee); Roscoe is to protect race tout, former silent movie star Eleanor Ferris (Beatrice Kay in spite of her age, never appeared in the silents); Suzanne is to protect egomaniac French actor Jean-Paul Cartier (David Cross, appeared three times on 77SS as Frenchmen, even though he was born in New Jersey) and Stu is to protect nice-girl Hong Kong native Lotus Lee (Judy Dan). Later that night, after a press party at Dino's where the myriad cast and their idiosyncrasies are introduced, Stu gets a call that someone tried to shoot Cartier at Keith's palatial mansion. At Keith's Gil explains that a bullet just missed Cartier. Stu questions Keith who tells him he was standing next to Cartier when the shot was fired. Stu and Keith disagree over the veracity of astrology. After investigating Keith further, Stu obviously concludes that Keith uses his column to blackmail Hollywood stars, who then pay him big bucks for "personal horoscopes" (even though Stu doesn't say so until later). Stu questions agent Shelly's wife and ex-partner Karen Blair (Paula Raymond, a near-fatal 1962 car crash hurt her career, as did a later series of accidents), who's bitter about Hollywood, the movie business and her life (Keith is hinting in his column that a well-known Hollywood agent is unfaithful to his wife). However she won't admit that Keith is blackmailing her. At the big film festival gala, the B&S crew are again protecting their charges. Stu follows Keith backstage, only to get locked in a dressing room. Stu escapes in time for Lotus to win the festival award, discover the truth before Keith gets his comeuppance. A Hollywood story, which is probably what most viewers at the time wanted. There's a lot (too many?) of suspects, though the writers really don't really develop their characters or give them much motivation. The real killer comes as a bit of a surprise. Real life insult comic Buddy Lester is the emcee for the festival (Lester appeared in a number of Rat Pack movies, and Jerry Lewis flicks).

You can be comforted (or not) by the fact that the inventor of green bean salad just died. Yes, somebody working for Campbell soup had to invent green bean salad, and then live with the shame for over 60 years! http://www.grubstreet.com/2018/10/dorcas-reilly-inventor-of-green-bean-casserole-dies-at-92.html

"Attic." (Season 3, Episode 1) Fresh off the "Silent Caper," Jeff doesn't get to say much again. Jeff follows sultry suspect Vetta Nygood (Kathleen Crowley) to a farm that looks suspiciously like the farm in "The Silent Caper", where's he's waylaid by misplaced hillbilly Kim MacGowen (Robert Colbert). Vetta, Kim and criminal mastermind Mark Hammet (John Dehner) are hold up at the farm waiting for fourth gang member Deek (Lee van Cleef) to show up for the split of the loot from the Onyx payroll robbery. Jeff being Jeff, tries to woo Vetta before the gang tie him up and gag him and stuff in the shack's attic with a nest of rattlesnakes. They do a three way split of the dough and then do a split, leaving Jeff in a bind. If all that's not bad enough, Beaver's pal Larry Mondello (Rusty Stevens) and Dennis the Menace’s pal Seymour (Robert Pittman) show up and threaten to burn down the old shack with Jeff in it just for fun (they don’t know he’s there, but I suspect it wouldn’t matter to Seymour). The punk kids take off when they hear Deek show up late for the split. Obviously Deek is annoyed that the rest of the gang took off with the loot. Meanwhile Gil is searching for Jeff, who he knows was following gang member Vetta. Kim gets run over and killed by a car after getting in a bar fight, while Vetta lounges at the pool of a Las Vegas hotel feeling guilty about abandoning Jeff in the old shack. Hammet returns to his apartment only to find an angry Deek waiting. Hammet kicks the bucket just after Gil and the cops show up, but before he can say where Jeff is. In Las Vegas Vetta meets a Jeff look-alike who stirs her conscience and she returns to the scene of the crime at the same time as Deek. She's last on Deek's list, but Jeff manages to free himself in time (using a method given to him by talkative mastermind Hammet) and save the day. John Dehner manages to sneak in a plug for the WB western "Lawman," a show he only appeared on once. I was hoping Jeff would drop the rattlesnake on Deek, but no such luck. As mentioned, Jeff is only slightly more talkative than in the "Silent Caper." Gil has little to do, as do Kookie, Roscoe and Suzanne. Despite the simplicity of the plot, the episode works thanks to the top-notch cast including some frequent 77SS guest stars, so there’s no need to give their backgrounds.

"The Silent Caper." (Season 2, Episode 35) "Speak up, I can't hear you!" Not a typical 77SS episode, not even a typical episode for ant show of the era (except maybe "The Twilight Zone"), but probably the best known episode of the run of the show for its uniqueness. The silent gimmick (sound effect and music, but no talking. Even the sound is out on Jeff’s TV) would be more typical of shows of the 80s or 90s, but 77SS goes silent for a whole episode. Driving through the city, Jeff sees a woman being attacked in the window of an apartment. Investigating Jeff finds a bell earring near the front door of the apartment house where the attack occurred. The next morning Jeff steals his neighbor's newspaper and reads a story about burlesque queen Jingle Bells (Ann Duncan), witness in a murder case. Jeff recognizes her and her signature bell earrings as the woman he saw the night before. Visiting the apartment building again, Jeff finds the apartment unlocked and deserted and the matching bell earring. He also finds a notepad with an address impressed on it. Getting his kicks on Route 66, Jeff ends up at a ranch high up in the mountains of Stage 14 on Warner Bros.'s backlot. This being 77SS, Jeff gets blackjacked and wakes up literally out in the woodshed, guarded by a rustic type with a rifle and a German shepherd. Jeff escapes from the woodshed before he winds up in a shallow grave. He leads the yokel on a chase into the papier-mâché mountains where he hides out in a convenient cave. The yokel tries to smoke Jeff out, but Jeff turns the tables on him and garrotes him. Back at the ranch, Jeff rescues Ms. Bells from the Hood (Dale van Sickel, former football player and stuntman for Republic Pictures, long-time actor, seriously injured doing a stunt on the film “No Deposit, No Return”) holding her. He steals the Hood's car and takes off as the Hood shoots a hole in the car's gas tank. The car runs out of gas at Petticoat Junction, so Jeff hides in the water tank (unfortunately none of Kate's three daughters are home). The Hood catches up with him, leading to fistfight. Jeff saves the day. Hoorah! Directed by george WaGGner and written by Roger Smith. Not a great story, but the silent gimmick provides the episode's interest. Roscoe rides his scooter and almost hits it big at the track. * "Family Skeleton." (Season 2, Episode 36) Frankie Ortega swings, afterwards Dr. Northrop reports to Stu that millionaire Phil Staunton (Walter Reed, had a long career mostly as a supporting player, appeared on 77SS 6 times), an old client, has been kidnapped. Unknown to everyone Phil has one of the mysterious fictional diseases that requires him to get an injection every day or he dies. While Northrop is engaging Stu to investigate, Phil's wife, Terry (Gale Robbins, actress/singer) former torch singer and ex-wife of murdered small-time hood Nicky Ranger, is visiting mob Mr. Big, Bennie Cannon (tough guy Frank Gerstle), for help finding her husband. At the Staunton mansion, Stu questions Diane Loring (Suzanne Storrs), Phil personal secretary, and Luanna Staunton (Yvonne Craig, TV's "Batgirl"), Phil's sister, who were present when the kidnappers called. Terry comes home and tells Stu to keep out of the case and, by implication, let the mob deal with it. Stu tells her he's obligated to go to the local police. The local police chief, an old friend of Stu's, gives Stu 24 hours to clear up the case before he calls in the Feds. Roscoe, working the streets, reports that the whole underworld is out looking for the kidnappers. He also reports that small-time sleazeball Johnny Ritchie (Boyd Santell) was dating Luanna, who was dropping big bucks on her loser boyfriend. Stu visits one of Ritchie's hideouts and roughs up the bartender for info on Ritchie. Returning to the office, Stu gets his obligatory daily beating. At the Staunton's slutty Luanna (who makes more passes than a pro quarterback, according to Stu) tries to make time with Kookie who Stu has planted in the house with a tape recorder to tape the next call from the kidnappers. Stu gets a visit from mob boss with a heart of gold Bennie, who explains that despite what Stu may think Terry's a "real lady." Stu and Roscoe drop in on sleazy himbo Ritchie, who actually has Roscoe as an alibi. The kidnappers call with instructions on paying the ransom. Stu, Dianne and Luanna drive out to the sticks to deliver the $200,000. Stu and Luanna go into the woods to leave the money, leaving Diana with the car. Diana takes off, and when Stu tries to see what's going on, Luanna drops off the ransom and joins him. They find the car gone and when they go back for the ransom, that's gone too. Diana rescues Phil and with all the suspects back together at the Staunton's Stu solves the case. Kookie is now riding Roscoe's scooter! I didn't think it was possible to sink lower that his Ford Falcon, but a scooter? Really? Maybe they were still punishing Edd Byrnes for going on strike. God, Yvonne Craig is a cutie, but that hairdo!

Oak Park newspaper on final episode: http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/10-30-2018/Bringing-'America-to-Me'-...-to-a-beginning%3F/ "Bringing 'America to Me' ... to a beginning?" OPRF needs money: http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/10-30-2018/OPRF-facilities-plan-cost-jumps-to-nearly-$220M/

They can't say Viagra because this is the generic version. When Viagra first came out, my local town was getting a minor league baseball team and the city was having a contest to name the team. I sent in "The Viagras" and said they could use the slogans "We're always up for a game" and "The biggest bats in town." Later the mayor was interviewed in the local paper and said they didn't want suggestions like "The Viagras." Win!