The Wild Wild West - General Discussion

[chessiegal]

The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on the CBS network from 1965 to 1969. During its four-season run a total of 104 episodes were broadcast. The Wild Wild West blended Westerns – hugely popular on television at the time (Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Rawhide, etc.) – with spy adventure, which came into vogue in the wake of the highly successful James Bond films, resulting in such spy-oriented series as The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Avengers and Secret Agent.

The Wild Wild West is set in the 1870s and deals with the exploits of James West (played by Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin), two agents of the United States Secret Service who work directly under the command of President Ulysses S. Grant. James West is presented as a sort of "James Bond of the West", i.e. the handsome, muscular action-hero who is handy with his fists, as well as a dashing ladies' man. Artemus Gordon is West's partner, a master of disguises and also the inventor of the many gadgets that the two of them use in the course of their adventures. The two men travel about in a private train and use their talents to vanquish the many dastardly villains that threatened the United States – among them, disgraced ex-soldiers seeking revenge against President Grant, power-hungry megalomaniacs, and mad scientists with their brilliant but diabolical inventions.

ETA: Above information is from Wikipedia.

Wikipedia entry for all episodes of The Wild Wild West

Edited April 13, 2023 by chessiegal

[Bethany]

I haven't seen this is years!  It used to be on in the afternoons after school and my sister and I were huge fans.  

[chessiegal]

1 hour ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

I haven't seen this is years!  It used to be on in the afternoons after school and my sister and I were huge fans.  

Currently, MeTV is airing an episode on Saturday at 10 am (ET). fetv aired it recently for 2 years, but then didn't renew it.

This week's episode is "The Night of the Man-Eating House". William Talman (Hamilton Burger, Perry Mason) makes a guest appearance as a sheriff, one of only 4 characters on the show, other than an uncredited female voice.

[Tom Holmberg]

At the time this was originally on, I was obsessed with everything spy-related.  So obviously the Bond films (which we would take the El downtown to the Loop to see in a first-run theater the weekend they opened). TV shows like Man from UNCLE, Get Smart, the Avengers, The Prisoner, Wild Wild West, Amos Burke, Secret Agent (which wasn't very good), etc.  Also comics like Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD and books like the Nick Carter series, even had the spoof, Israel Bond, Oy Oy Seven books. 

[giovannif7]

Pluto TV has a Western TV channel in their Classic TV section that regularly shows The Wild Wild West - they're currently running blocks of the show during prime time in my area, so if the new network shows aren't holding my interest, I switch over and catch up on an old adventure with Jim and Artie. In addition to the wonderful Dr. Loveless' episodes, I'm especially partial to The Night of The Vicious Valentine, with guest star Agnes Moorehead as a power-hungry society matchmaker.

 

For those who aren't yet using it, the Pluto TV app is completely free, and is available on Smart TVs or on streaming devices like Roku, Chromecast, FIrestick, etc. You can also get it for mobile devices, or just go to pluto.tv.

Edited April 14, 2023 by giovannif7

[chessiegal]

9 hours ago, giovannif7 said:

I'm especially partial to The Night of The Vicious Valentine, with guest star Agnes Moorehead as a power-hungry society matchmaker.

 

Agnes Moorehead won an Emmy for her performance, the only Emmy the show won.

[chessiegal]

When I started looking for background on this show, I started with the Wikipedia site for the show that I linked upthread. In the entry for each show, it lists the director, producer, writer, air date, actors and the characters they play, plus a brief description of the plot. I also discovered the book by Susan E. Kesler The Wild Wild West The Series. It contains a summary of each episode, sometimes including other information about an episode, plus many interesting photos and behind the scenes information. The IMBd page for each episode also contains a plot summary and other interesting information.

On Saturday morning. April 15, MeTV will be airing "The Night of the Man-Eating House". The following plot summary is from the IMBd page for the episode.

Quote

Agents West and Gordon are sent to transport a prisoner to the hospital after the prisoner spent nearly thirty years in solitary confinement for treason. Looking for a place to spend the night, the men come upon a deserted mansion whose doors mysteriously swing wide open for the travelers and slam shut once they enter. As night approaches, the men begin to hear a crying woman but they can not find its source.

The episode aired December 2, 1966, the 12th episode aired in Season 2. This episode is unique to the series. There are only 4 actors plus an uncredited female voice. In addition to Conrad and Martin, William Talman, who plays prosecutor Hamilton Burger in Perry Mason, as a Sheriff, and Hurd Hatfield as Liston Day, the prisoner being transported. Day's role is blatantly fashioned after Hatfield's performance in the movie "The Picture of Dorian Gray" from 1945. 

The writer is John Kneubahl. When he wrote the script, he had the mansion being haunted. CBS nixed the idea as being too scary for children, so he changed it to the house itself being the ghost, but that still didn't cut it with CBS. So, he changed it so the ending shows the entire episode was a dream by Artie. There is one review on the IMBd page saying it was the best show of the series, especially the twist at the end of it being a dream. The reviewer obviously didn't know the ending was done to satisfy CBS. 

It's also the only episode that has West and Gordon together in every scene.

The portrait of Caroline Day is a portrait of Harriet West (later Mrs. William Woodgate) painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence in 1824-1825.

Some goofs in the episode. Day says his rats will be infected with bubonic plaque from ants. Bubonic plague is carried by fleas. Day also says bubonic plaque killed 3/4 of the population Europe in the 1400s. It was actually around 1/3.

[Tom Holmberg]

The whole ant thing was strange.  I can't believe any adult would think the plague was caused by ants, so did the writers include it just so they could show an "ant farm."  I guess Day could have had a flea circus. :)

[chessiegal]

Saturday, April 22 at 10 am ET, MeTV is airing "The Night of the Skulls", original airdate December 16, 1966.

Quote

During a violent argument after a foxhunt, West shoots and kills an unarmed Gordon, then flees the scene. At Gordon's funeral it is revealed that notorious murderers have recently been disappearing; accusations are made that the Secret Service is shielding West, said to be suffering from a nervous breakdown, accusations which Senator Stephen Fenlow strenuously protests. Of course it all turns out to be a ruse - the agents hope that West will end up with the other killers so work can begin on breaking up whatever dastardly scheme is afoot. And their plan works very well... in fact, almost too well...

The above synopsis is from tvtropes The Wild Wild West. 

Writers Dennis and Barret said they treated this episode as if they were writing a comic book story. 

Gordon, king of disguises, has four in this episode - minister at his own funeral, a bum in the barn, the hunchback Tigo, and an assistant to the Secretary of State. Tigo, played by Robert Herron, is Ross Martin's stunt double in the series.

Colonel Richmond, identified as the head of the Secret Service, makes his first appearance. He was a hit with fans, so they brought him back in later episodes. Since the show says West and Gordon report directly to President Grant, Colonel Richmond is an interesting addition.

There is a shot in a graveyard of a female headstone with a scarf/hood that looks like Caroline Day's in the previous episode "The Night of the Man-Eating House".

West as quick-change artist: In the first two segments, West is wearing a green suit with matching ascot and vest. Once captured, with no access to his wardrobe, when West wakes up, he is wearing a blue suit with matching ascot and vest. West then leaves the cell in the green outfit.

When Gordon fights with Tigo in the stable, you can see the tines on the pitchfork wiggling like soft rubber.

West and Gordon find themselves in a pit with a bucket on a rope at the top. When West is throwing a rock trying to get the bucket down, Gordon suggests it would make a good game, calling it bucketball. This idea is dismissed by West. Gordon is ahead of his time. In 1891, Dr. James Naismith of Springfield College created basketball.

In the "it can't happen" department, loose black powder is placed under the bucket to propel West out of the pit. At best, the burning powder would fizzle out.

The episode talks about the Secretary of State as being the successor for the presidency after the Vice President. At the time of this episode during the Grant administration, the Senate President pro temp is next in line after the VP.

All in all, a fun, campy episode.

 

 

 

[chessiegal]

Artie's comments about creating the game of bucketball were edited out, which makes Artie saying - you finally sank one, seem abrupt, as it appears Jim got it on the second try.

Lisa Gaye, who played Lorelei, appears in the Wagon Train episode that followed WWW this morning.

[Tom Holmberg]

On 4/21/2023 at 1:07 PM, chessiegal said:

Saturday, April 22 at 10 am ET, MeTV is airing "The Night of the Skulls", original airdate December 16, 1966.

In the "it can't happen" department, loose black powder is placed under the bucket to propel West out of the pit. At best, the burning powder would fizzle out.

 

 

 

 

When this and the other episode using this escape method originally aired I really liked it.  Despite being unrealistic, it's a very "James Bond" method of escape.

[chessiegal]

1 hour ago, Tom Holmberg said:

When this and the other episode using this escape method originally aired I really liked it.  Despite being unrealistic, it's a very "James Bond" method of escape.

Garrison conceived the show as being Westerns meets James Bond. Sometimes they would reverse the film to have Jim going in the opposite direction. Not sure if that's what they did in this case, but they may have. They also would attach wires to have him move in a direction, such as when he's using a pulley on a wire to get somewhere. Conrad was an amazing athlete, so most of the time it's just Conrad using his talent. Conrad liked to say he did all his own stunts, but that's not true. He had a stunt double.

[chessiegal]

Saturday, April 29, 10 am ET MeTV is airing "The Night of the Infernal Machine".

Air date was 12/23/66, 14th of Season 2.

Quote

West and Gordon are assigned to protect Judge M’Guigan, chairman of a federal judge convention, after a crate of missing dynamite is traced to the convention's location. An exploding pool ball sets the agents on the trail of Zeno Baroda, an anarchist and explosives expert who was recently paroled - by M’Guigan - from a life sentence. Despite further attacks, M’Guigan is reluctant to go after Baroda; the agents soon find they have their hands full protecting the judge, finding the assassins and ensuring the convention doesn't end in disaster.

The above recap is from tv tropes "The Night of the Infernal Machine".

The villain in this episode, Judge M'Guigan, is played by veteran actor Ed Begley (father of Ed Begley, Jr.).

Susan Kesler, in her book The Wild Wild West The Series, says this was not an exciting episode. The episode was the 3rd shot for Season 2, but aired 14th. Kesler says this shows CBS agrees by pushing it back so far. Kesler says it seems like a problem any Secret Service agent could have tackled and is not worthy of the Secret Service's best and finest. The one review on IMBd says this is an episode you can skip. I disagree. I found it enjoyable. But then for me any episode with my tv boyfriend Robert Conrad is enjoyable. 😉

Martin's disguise in this episode is a German pastry chef, Herr Osterpolyer. Kesler says this was one of Martin's favorite disguises.

When the show went to color in Season 2, they deliberately used rich colors of forest greens and red crimsons for fabrics and costumes, reflecting the Victorian era. I believe this is the first episode where we see West in a red velvet crimson smoking jacket during some scenes in the train. 

One anachronism is the use of the image of the Statue of Liberty and quoting Emma Lazarus's poem. The statue was not completed until 1886, after the Grant administration. The poem wasn't put on the pedestal until 1903.

During rehearsal for the entertainment at the banquet a woman is shown playing "Yankee Doodle" on a bugle. Bugles have no valves, so this tune could not be played on it.

When Jim is chasing a suspect, they break through a wooden fence which breaks cleanly rather than with jagged edges showing it had been cut before they went through it.

This was a fun episode for me with some good slapstick humor.

[Tom Holmberg]

On 4/28/2023 at 3:02 PM, chessiegal said:

Saturday, April 29, 10 am ET MeTV is airing "The Night of the Infernal Machine".

😉

Martin's disguise in this episode is a German pastry chef, Herr Osterpolyer. Kesler says this was one of Martin's favorite disguises.

 

I recall that this is a Ross Martin episode, he stands out as the German chef.

[chessiegal]

The episode that really showed Martin's acting chops was "The Night of the Big Blast". The writer of the episode, Ken Kolb, said he put a lot of Artemus Gordon in it because Martin was so much of a better actor than Conrad. Kolb described Conrad as a stunt man that didn't care about plot. 😄

The only thing I noticed in this episode that got the syndication cut was the Judge telling Vashti to keep the entertainment routine classy because of all the distinguished guests that would be there. Gotta get those extra commercials in!

The china used on the train has a deep green edge with a white center, and the coffee cups match the green trim. I noticed that the same china was used for the banquet at the convention. It makes sense for the prop department to use what they had.

Conrad's hair was much darker than it usually was.

Another anachronism is the Judge listing Lily Langtry as one of the great immortals of the theater. Langtry didn't make her debut on stage until 1881.

[Tom Holmberg]

This episode also includes one of my favorite character actors, Vito Scotti (another being Royal Dano).  He's good no matter what he's in.

[Tom Holmberg]

This week's forthcoming episode is one of the best, "The Night of the Lord of Limbo."  West time travels. I look forward to your take on it.

[chessiegal]

Saturday, May 6 at 10 am ET, MeTV is airing "The Night of the Lord of Limbo". This episode is Season 2, Episode 15 and originally aired 12/29/66.

Quote

West and Gordon are invited to a magic show, in the midst of which the magician, his lovely assistant and Gordon disappear from the stage, leaving only a saber behind. West traces the saber back to its owner - Noel Bartley Vautrain (Ricardo Montalbán), a former Confederate colonel crippled during the Battle of Vicksburg. Vautrain has developed some rather remarkable powers and, after a few demonstrations on the agents, reveals that he intends to travel back in time and attempt to regain the use of his legs. That isn't quite all he has in mind, though...

The above summary is from tvtropes The Night of The Lord of Limbo.

This episode addresses the fourth dimension of time travel. The villain is well-known actor Ricardo Montalban. 

My name is Bond, James Bond: We have West having his Bond moment not once, but twice. When James meets Vautrain's niece Amanda, he introduces himself as West, James West. He repeats it later when he later meets Artie in another dimension.

We get a year for this episode when Vautrain tells West he has waited 7 long years to get revenge for West saving his life at the cost of his legs at the Battle of Vicksburg, which was a series of skirmishes that ended in 1863. This puts the year at 1870, the second year of the Grant administration. 

The first time I saw this episode I was taken aback by Vautrain's Spanish accent. I learned there were Mexican Americans fighting on both sides of the Civil War, so his accent is quite plausible.

Jim and Artie look quite handsome in their tuxes at the magic show.

Dianne Foster, who plays Amanda, makes her 77th and last appearance on tv and movies.

West tells Vautrain that the house seems familiar, which made me laugh as the set with the descending staircase is used in many episodes. We find out that Captain West commandeered the house when he was aide-de-camp for General Grant. 

When West and Vautrain are eating dinner, when the camera is showing Vautrain, there are wine glasses on the table. When the camera is behind Vautrain, the wine glasses are missing.

It is really hard to see, but if you know to look for it, when West is riding into Vicksburg, you can see an airplane over West's shoulder before it goes behind trees. Now that's time travel!

The following is from IMBd under trivia for this episode.

Quote

The scenes where Jim and/or Artie shift through the time portal look eerily reminiscent of the dimensional shift scenes in Star Trek: The Alternative Factor (1967). Note that this episode aired three months prior to the Star Trek episode.

In the final scene where West is preparing his report, he says it's for Col. Falk, a nod to Conrad who was born James Conrad Falk. In the credits at the end, that actor is credited as Col. Fairchild. An ad lib by Conrad?

In addition to getting his legs back, Vautrain wanted to assassinate General Grant and alter the outcome of the Civil War. In the end, the legs he gained are gone again and Grant wins Vicksburg. This seems to suggest that time travel doesn't allow the future to change.

 

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by chessiegal

[chessiegal]

What made the syndication cutting room floor for "TNOT Lord of Limbo": In the original airing, after Artie dies in the alternate universe, Conrad stands up picking Martin up and carries him off screen. This is disappointing as it shows how physically strong Conrad was to be able to hoist Martin from a kneeling position.

[Gharlane]

On 5/5/2023 at 5:46 PM, chessiegal said:

Saturday, May 6 at 10 am ET, MeTV is airing "The Night of the Lord of Limbo". This episode is Season 2, Episode 15 and originally aired 12/29/66.

Quote

West and Gordon are invited to a magic show, in the midst of which the magician, his lovely assistant and Gordon disappear from the stage, leaving only a saber behind. West traces the saber back to its owner - Noel Bartley Vautrain (Ricardo Montalbán), a former Confederate colonel crippled during the Battle of Vicksburg. Vautrain has developed some rather remarkable powers and, after a few demonstrations on the agents, reveals that he intends to travel back in time and attempt to regain the use of his legs. 

 

He wants legs. And he knows how to get them.

[Tom Holmberg]

Giving Artemus a little credit:

 

[chessiegal]

That's a nice homage to Martin. He was the talented actor of the two, but saying the series was cancelled due to dropping ratings being due to Martin's absence when he was recovering from his heart attack is a stretch. Martin missed nine of the 24 episodes of the final season. The violence in television act definitely contributed. The series was expensive to produce. Many of the actors would go to the Backstage Bar across the street from Studio City after filming wrapped up for the day. Conrad got into a serious bar brawl there once, and some speculate the studio was tired of his antics.

Conrad went under contract with Warner Bros. in 1956. The studio encouraged all its actors to learn how to ride, providing instructors and horses. Conrad took advantage of this and became an accomplished horseman who enjoyed riding. I always watch to see if he pats his horses head after tying him up. He doesn't do it all the time, but enough to notice. I read that Conrad bought his horse from the studio when the series was not renewed and took him to his ranch where he lived out the rest of his days in leisure.

Martin, on the other hand, did not like riding horses. You can catch Martin's double on horseback here and there. I also chuckle at the writers having Artie complain about riding horses now and then. I figure it's an inside joke.

[Tom Holmberg]

33 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Conrad went under contract with Warner Bros. in 1956. The studio encouraged all its actors to learn how to ride, providing instructors and horses. Conrad took advantage of this and became an accomplished horseman who enjoyed riding. I always watch to see if he pats his horses head after tying him up. He doesn't do it all the time, but enough to notice. I read that Conrad bought his horse from the studio when the series was not renewed and took him to his ranch where he lived out the rest of his days in leisure.

 

Not too unusual.  If you watch Randolph Scott movies you see he rode the same palomino in many of them.

https://horseyhooves.com/stardust-randolph-scott-horse/

[chessiegal]

Saturday, May 13, MeTV airs "The Night of the Tottering Tontine" at 10 am ET. It originally aired January 6, 1967.

Quote

West and Gordon are assigned to protect Robert Raven (Harry Townes), inventor of an important new weapon. They soon discover that Raven is a member of a tontine - an investment group operating on the law of survival. A meeting of the tontine's members is imminent and several attempts are made on Raven's life as they travel to it; additionally, the agents learn that three other members of the group are already dead. They arrive at the meeting with the body count still rising and find themselves trapped in their host's house with a mysterious killer.

The above recap is from tvTropes "The Night of the Tottering Tontine"

When I first saw this episode I thought, okay, Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians. The IMDb page mentions a link to Christie's And Then There Were None published in 1945. It was republished years later with the title Ten Little (offensive term). Knowing this would not go over in the US, it was published again in 1964 with the title Ten Little Indians.

We see a bicycle made for two in the streets. Bicycles were in use in this time frame, but we don't often see them on this show.

The following anachronism is from the IMDb page.

Quote

The Wile E. Coyote type plunger detonator used to blow up the tobacconist's shop is a 'magneto induction detonator'. Moving the plunger up and down cranked the generator (magneto) that made the electricity that set off the blasting cap that blew the dynamite. This was available by 1878, just a little too late for a series which takes place during Ulysses S. Grant's presidency (1869-1877).

It was a dark and stormy night when West, Gordon, and Dr. Raven reach the house where the tontine is meeting. The bluish shot of the house is a stock shot of the Carson house in Eureka, CA. We also see it in "The Night of the Vicious Valentine" (Season 2, Episode 20).

One of the tontine members, Mr. Pearce, is introduced as one of the leading heavy weight contenders. Boxing was illegal in the US during the Grant administration.

This episode is full of nefarious ways to kill people, with lots of twists and turns. There is an underground railroad, West getting tied to a rocket that is propelled from the basement into the sea below, an exploding crystal ball, to name a few.

Edited May 13, 2023 by chessiegal

[Tom Holmberg]

18 hours ago, chessiegal said:

Saturday, May 13, MeTV airs "The Night of the Tottering Tontine" at 10 am ET. It originally aired January 6, 1967.

 

Tontines were very popular plot devices in 50s and 60s TV shows, probably every drama show that ran for multiple seasons used it at some point.

[chessiegal]

Boy howdy, they lopped off a good minute of this show for syndication - enough for (4) 15 second ads. 

In the beginning, the original has an overhead view of a port city with the chyron "San Fransisco" and a much longer segment of the band playing that included the bicycle made for 2.

In the end, the final scene is West and Gordon bringing their dates into the train car, with the women oohing and aahing over it, and saying - you never told us what happened with the tontine. There was discussion about this before we have the crystal ball part.

When Jim is getting himself loose from the rocket railroad car, you can clearly see the straps on his pant leg that go under the sole of his shoe to keep his pants from riding up.

We did get to see another shot of the hearse used in "The Night of the Skulls".

[chessiegal]

Saturday, May 20 at 10 am ET MeTV is airing "The Night of the Feathered Fury". This episode first aired January 13, 1967. The following summary is from the IMDb page for the episode.

Quote

Special Agents Jim West and Artemus Gordon meet a mysterious woman with a toy chicken who has important information about the dastardly Count Manzeppi. West and Gordon notice the Count, disguised as an organ grinder, outside their window, when a monkey tosses in a smoke bomb. When the smoke clears, the woman is gone but the toy chicken remains. Manzeppi is after the chicken which contains the mystical Philosopher's Stone. The stone will turn anything near it to gold in the light of a full moon.—Tiff Banks

This is the second time the agents encounter Manzeppi, the first being "The Night of the Eccentrics". Manzeppi is played by Victor Buono. This is Buono's third and last appearance on the show. Buono's first appearance was in the Pilot episode "The Night of the Inferno". At the end of this episode, Manzeppi says he would return, but he does not. CBS planned on having Manzeppi be a recurring villain like Dr. Loveless. However, CBS didn't see him being popular, so along with that and Buono's busy acting schedule, he does not return.

The actor playing Gerda, Michele Carey, also appears in two more West episodes, "The Night of the Winged Terror", Parts 1 and 2.

Gerda's loyalty depends on which way the wind blows, which adds some interesting twists.

Shots of West going down a shoot are from other episodes. No point in letting good film go to waste.

West again finds himself held prisoner in a suspended bird cage, with the threat of being skinned alive. Yikes!

I'll be interested in seeing what ends up on the syndication editing floor.

All of The Wild Wild West is available on DVD. The first season has commentary by Robert Conrad. It also has some extras. The last 3 seasons are the show, no extras.

Edited May 19, 2023 by chessiegal

[chessiegal]

Syndication editing cuts: The first is when West and Gordon are talking about wanting to know about who made the toy chicken. There was an entire discussion before that with them projecting a picture of the chicken on a screen with Gordon explaining how he had examined the chicken every which way without finding out who made it before West takes down the morse code from the chicken with the name of the manufacturer. The second cut is more egregious. The segment with West watching Manzeppi on the hand cranked film projector was horribly cut. It starts with Manzeppi pulling out scarves, a rubber chicken, a live rabbit, and ends with a doll of West in his blue suit which Manzeppi crushes as he puts it in the hat, then turns the hat so the sparkly dust falls out. That cut removes the foreboding of Manzeppi's intent for West's fate.

The shot of West going down the shoot (wearing green suit and gold vest) was used in TNOT Poisonous Posey, TNOT of the Raven, and is originally in TNOT Cobra. A magic shoot - West goes in wearing blue, green as he goes down, and blue again when he comes out.

[SnarkShark]

Just watched the First episode (the first aired, at least).  Had never seen it before.

It never occurred to me before that the protagonist of this show AND Star Trek are both "James T. Lastname" (they say the "T" in the episode, when he meets President Grant).  Did Roddenberry simply copy?  They were probably shooting the second pilot for Trek right about the time that The Wild Wild West first aired.

 

Edit - Never mind.  Found the likely answer.  Gene L. c**** worked on both.

Edited May 21, 2023 by SnarkShark

[chessiegal]

4 hours ago, SnarkShark said:

Just watched the First episode (the first aired, at least). 

The first episode that aired, "The Night of the Inferno", was the first episode shot, so it was a true Pilot episode. It aired September 17, 1965. The villain is Wing Fat, played by Victor Buono. The lovely Suzanne Pleshette plays the part of Lydia Monteran who unwittingly lives in a mansion with munitions in a basement being used to arm an insurgency meant to take away the Southwest Territory from the US.

Conrad comments on the DVD of this episode about how much he enjoyed working with Suzanne, saying she was so professional, noting she never complained when he was treating her roughly as the part called for.

The episode gives us the first view of the luxurious train car, along with many of the gadgets West uses. We also see Gordon in his first of over 100 disguises he did over the course of the show. When Ross Martin found out he had gotten the part of Gordon and read the script, he drew a sketch of the disguise showing makeup how he wanted to look. 
 

[chessiegal]

Saturday May 27 at 10 am ET, MeTV is airing Season 2 Episode 18 "The Night of the Gypsy Peril" that originally aired on January 20, 1967.

Quote

West and Gordon are assigned as escort to the Sultan of Ramapur and find themselves also protecting the Sultan's gift to President Grant - Akbar, a sacred white elephant calf. En route to Washington, D.C., bandits board the train and steal Akbar. West goes after the bandits while Gordon tries to deal with the Sultan's threats to declare hostilities unless paid $1 million in compensation. Neither agent is very successful; they soon join forces and follow Akbar's trail, which leads them to a nearby gypsy circus.

The above synopsis is from tvTropes The Night of the Gypsy Peril.

This is one of the more light-hearted episodes of the series. No one gets killed! The writer of this episode is Ken Kolb. He said he originally wrote the script for Hanna Barbara's "The Thief of Bagdad" about a stolen elephant. It was never used, so he pitched it to WWW.

When West joins a gypsy circus, we get a chance to see Conrad show off his athletic abilities. On a shallow note, I enjoy shirtless Conrad. 😉

Zoe, the gypsy of all trades, is played by Ruta Lee Millard. Ruta played one of the brides in the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

If you look closely when Zoe is opening the valve under her fortune table to release gas to put Hillard to sleep, you can see the coin dangling from Zoe's bracelet is a Canadian Penny.

Anachronism: When Zoe introduces herself listing all the things she does, the last one is bail bondman. Bail bondman didn't exist until 1898.

[Tom Holmberg]

Ruta Lee had to be one of the hardest working actresses in Hollywood.  Besides appearing on WWW 2 times, she was on Perry Mason 5 times, 77 Sunset Strip 2 times, Burke's Law 3 times, Hawaiian Eye 3 times, etc.  in 1961 alone she appeared on 12 different shows. He first appearance was in 1952 and her last listing on IMDB is in 2021. She never appeared regularly in a series until 1988.

[chessiegal]

5 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Ruta Lee had to be one of the hardest working actresses in Hollywood.  Besides appearing on WWW 2 times, she was on Perry Mason 5 times, 77 Sunset Strip 2 times, Burke's Law 3 times, Hawaiian Eye 3 times, etc.  in 1961 alone she appeared on 12 different shows. He first appearance was in 1952 and her last listing on IMDB is in 2021. She never appeared regularly in a series until 1988.

Thank you @Tom Holmberg. I'm usually good spotting actors who have appeared in more than one episode (Leslie Parrish, John Dehner), but I missed that one, where she appears with Dehner. 🙂

[Tom Holmberg]

On 5/28/2023 at 4:55 PM, chessiegal said:

Thank you @Tom Holmberg. I'm usually good spotting actors who have appeared in more than one episode (Leslie Parrish, John Dehner), but I missed that one, where she appears with Dehner. 🙂

John Dehner was working just as hard or harder (around twice as many appearance as Ruta Lee), but he was at least a regular on a number of series, unlike Ruta Lee. (He started off doing voices for Disney cartoons)

[chessiegal]

Dehner had such a commanding voice that you don't even need to look at the screen to know who it was.

[Tom Holmberg]

The Women of Wild Wild West

 

 

[chessiegal]

Saturday June 3 10 am ET, MeTV is airing "The Night of the Tartar". The original air date was February 3, 1967.

The following recap is from the episode's IMBd page.

Quote

By order of President Grant, Agents James West and Artemus Gordon must bring Russian prisoner Rimsky to Vladivostok, Siberia, in exchange for American Vice Consul, Millard Boyer. When he tries to escape, Rimsky falls to his death forcing Gordon to disguise himself as Rimsky to complete the exchange. The Russian contact arranging the exchange has West and Gordon imprisoned with the Vice Consul instead. There, they learn that Rimsky should have returned with 5 million dollars in extortion money from wealthy Russian immigrants. Now, the corrupt Russians are waiting for Rimsky and their cut of the ill-gotten treasure.—Tiff Banks

John Astin, familiar to some as Gomez Addams of The Addams Family, plays the role of Count Sazanov. The role of Kuprin is played by Malachi Throne, another hard-working character actor of the 50s and 60s, known for his deep baritone voice. The part of Anastasia Rimsky is played by Susan Odin, included in the lovely women of WWW that @Tom Holmberg linked above. Susan Odin was married to the director of this episode Charles Rondeau.

West tells Sazanov that he can't send them to Alaska, because Russia sold it to the US 5 years ago. That puts the year of the episode as 1872, consistent with being in the Grant administration.

Both Ross Martin and Malachi Throne speak Russian in the episode. Both men spoke Russian IRL. Martin's parents came to the US when he was an infant, from what is now Ukraine. 

Martin was both talented and smart. This is from his Wikipedia page.

Quote

Martin spoke Polish, Yiddish, and some Russian before learning English and later added French, Spanish, and Italian.

Martin attended City College of New York, where he graduated magna cum laude, then earned a law degree from the National University School of Law (later part of the George Washington University).[1][2]

I saw an interview with Martin where a young boy says he wants to get into acting and asks Martin for advice. Martin told him to take any acting job he could get, including school plays. Looking at Martin's career in acting, that is exactly what Martin did.

As West and Gordon ride out of the barn toward the old prospector, you can see 2 jet contrails in the sky.

I have in my notes that this is one of my least favorite episodes. I'm not sure why, but maybe my 2 favorite Secret Service agents being drugged and duped didn't sit well with me. 😄

[Tom Holmberg]

Malachi Throne might be best known by retro TV watchers as Robert Wagner boss on "It Takes a Thief."  He also turned down the role of Dr. McCoy on "Star Trek."

[chessiegal]

"It's in his kiss". I'd forgotten the look on Anastasia's face when she finished kissing Gordon. A woman knows these things! That's the problem I have with the doppelganger trope. Just because two people look alike doesn't mean they sound alike or have the same mannerisms, or kisses!

The huge syndication edit was the sequence in the beginning when the agents get drugged and are fooled into thinking they spent weeks on a ship, complete with showing them being rocked like they were at sea. West and Gordon explain it to the 2 women at the end of the episode, but that part of the episode was cut from this episode. I'm guessing it was at least 15 seconds, if not more.

Speaking of the 2 women at the end - West and Gordon pick up women with Southern accents in San Francisco? Come on, writers.

I have no idea what they were going for with disco ball at the end, other than this is in the future. To what end? It didn't seem to be connected to anything in the plot.

I did like the Russian Sazanov quoting Churchill talking about Russia - a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

[Tom Holmberg]

18 hours ago, chessiegal said:

The huge syndication edit was the sequence in the beginning when the agents get drugged and are fooled into thinking they spent weeks on a ship, complete with showing them being rocked like they were at sea. West and Gordon explain it to the 2 women at the end of the episode, but that part of the episode was cut from this episode.

And that was kind of important!

[chessiegal]

On Saturday June 10 at 10 am ET MeTV is airing "The Night of the Vicious Valentine". This is episode 20 of Season 2 that originally aired February 10, 1967.

Quote

Rich industrialists are being systematically murdered. President Grant is concerned that their holdings may end up concentrated in the wrong hands, endangering the U. S. economy, so he assigns West and Gordon to investigate. They find a clue which leads them eventually to Miss Emma Valentine (Agnes Moorehead), a hostess and matchmaker who specializes in finding young, beautiful wives for wealthy older men - including the four men who recently ended up dead. She is in town to arrange yet another marriage; West and Gordon work to save the life of her victim and to discover, then foil, her even more grandiose schemes.

The above summary is from tvtropes The Night of the Vicious Valentine.

The villain is Emma Valentine played by Agnes Moorehead. Moorehead won the series' only Emmy for Best Supporting Actress.

Artie has one disguise in this episode as a tailor.

P. J. Lambert plays a prospective groom named Henry Beckman. Lambert played the part of California governor in "The Night of the Torture Chamber" (Season 1, 
Episode 13). There is a portrait of Beckman that is also used in TNOT Torture Chamber.

The bluish house shot is a stock photo of the Carson Mansion in Eureka, California that was also used in "The Night of the Tottering Tontine" (Season 2, Episode 16).

The IMDb page for this episode lists the following "character error" that should be fun to see.

Quote

During the final fight sequence right after the laughing henchman goes face first into the cake, Henry Beckman (Paul J Lambert) is seen in the background left breaking character, laughing out loud and looks at Ross Martin to see his reaction before getting back into character (looking serious) the next time he is shown in the frame.

West is held captive by Valentine in a chair with arms that hold him in place. We saw West being held by arms "The Night of the Eccentrics" (Season 2, Episode 1).

While restrained, Valentine determines West's perfect woman by feeding his description of her into a machine which determines she is a combination of Aphrodite, Helen of Troy, and Lola Montez. I am always disappointed that Valentine doesn't look at the camera and say "It's you, chessiegal!" 😂

Also from the IMDb page, in the opening scene in the train car, the 2 windows have mismatched images behind them.

I enjoyed the women's costumes in this episode. The colors are vibrant and the dresses beautiful.

[Tom Holmberg]

In this episode " The Laughing Henchman" was played by Whitey Hughes, long-time Hollywood stuntman. Hughes was the stunt coordinator on WWW for four seasons. Hughes performed stunts in 177 movies and TV episodes and often worked with director Sam Peckinpah.  Due to Hughes short stature he was stunt double for Johnny Crawford on "The Rifleman", and doubled often for women.  Hughes said that in the WWW set he often called, "Roll the cameras and call the ambulances."  You'll often see Hughes as one of the villain's henchman on WWW.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Tom Holmberg

[chessiegal]

Despite Whitey being one of the regular stuntmen crew on WWW, he was uncredited in this episode. 

[chessiegal]

On Saturday June 17 at 10 am ET, MeTV will air Season 2 Episode 21 "The Night of the Brain" which originally aired February 17, 1967.

Quote

Newspapers are delivered to the agents which predict the deaths of various friends of theirs. These predictions come true, despite their efforts to prevent them, and investigation leads to the shop which printed the papers. From there the trail leads to a tarot card reader and then to a self-declared supergenius named Braine, who is possessed of a souped-up wheelchair, a nasty lieutenant named Leeto and a desire to take over the world.

The above recap is from tvtropes The Night of the Brain.

The trope of replacing world leaders with imposters so a villain can control the world is the same as the first tv movie The Wild Wild West Revisited which aired May 9, 1979.

The villain Braine is played by well-known character actor Edward Andrews. Andrews played over 100 roles in film and television.

The newspaper at the beginning shows a date of July 11, 1872, putting it during the Grant administration.

In the room where life masks are made, you can see masks for Kate Jackson, Bela Lugosi. Tor Johnson, Charles Laughton, and Basil Rathbone hanging on the walls.

The miniature of West on the chessboard is a 12" GI Joe introduced by Hasbro in 1964. The modification includes adding life-like hair.

One of the world leaders to be replaced is Archduke Maximillion of France. France never had an Archduke. There is the famous Archduke Maximilian of Austria and Emperor of Mexico, who was killed by firing squad in 1867 (used as the backstory for "The Night of the Eccentrics").

When West and Gordon leave the train to go to the print shop, they are not wearing their gun belts, while they are wearing them when they get to the print shop.

The show makes good use of the cave set at CBS studios.

[Tom Holmberg]

On 6/16/2023 at 4:09 PM, chessiegal said:

On Saturday June 17 at 10 am ET, MeTV will air Season 2 Episode 21 "The Night of the Brain" which originally aired February 17, 1967.

The brain, Braine, was played by familiar face Edward Andrews, a long-time character actor and "that guy" (an actor whose name you don't know but you recognize as "that guy") who usually played jovial grandfathers or affable businessmen.  He appeared in 188 movies or TV episodes. He was one of the regulars in the "McHale's Navy with women" series "Broadside."

Edited June 19, 2023 by Tom Holmberg

[Tom Holmberg]

Jim West's train in the series was the "Inyo" - a 4-4-0 - built in Philadelphia in 1875. Paramount bought the train in 1937 and it was used in a number of films over the years besides WWW.  The engine's number was "22" but it was changed to "8" for the show so reverse shots could be used to save filming.  (A different train was used in the show's pilot.) The train is now in the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City and it was used as one of the trains in the centennial celebration of the Golden Spike.

[Gharlane]

"The Night of the Brain". This ep wasn't particuarly interesting.
Jim is manipulated by a mysterious figure into being present at the
murder of two of his old friends without him having the ability to
prevent their deaths. Clues lead him to be captured and brought to the
underground lair of Braine, a super genius who wants to take over the
world by replacing the leaders of the United States, Great Britain,
France, Spain and Russia with doppelgangers and having them launch a
world war. He plans to create a new world order from the ashes with
himself in charge, but needs Jim’s help because he needs the security
protocols of the White House in order to kidnap the world leaders in
the first place. Needless to say, he is unsuccessful. Braine does,
however, go out with a bang when he tries to run Jim over with his
armored wheelchair/tank which explodes in as much of a fireball as a
1960’s television special effects can muster when he crashes into a
wall. A rather inglorious end to a dull ep. Why kill two of Jim’s
friends to lure him to Braine's secret lair? Why not just kidnap him
instead? For that matter, if Braine can create perfect duplicates of
world leaders, why not just pull their strings instead of starting a
devastating war? Braine is making things much harder than they have to
be. No wonder he was dumb enough to crash his wheelchair.

[chessiegal]

Any episode with handsome Robert Conrad in tight pants is a good episode in my book. 🤣

I agree that the killing of 2 of Jim's friends makes no sense in terms of plot. The other thing that didn't make sense was the hooligans attacking him when he was outside the Colonel's house. It seemed to have no function other than giving Conrad a chance to show off his athletic skills (and those of the other stunt men).

One thing I liked about TNOT Brain is that we had lots of Jim and Artie together. 

[Gharlane]

On 5/12/2023 at 4:39 PM, chessiegal said:

Saturday, May 13, MeTV airs "The Night of the Tottering Tontine" at 10 am ET. It originally aired January 6, 1967.

Jim an Artie are assigned to escort a member of a investment group to its annual business meeting. The group is unusual in that they have arranged for the fortune amassed by each member’s small investment will go exclusively to the sole survivor. If you figure that arrangement is just begging for the members to be murdered off, you would be correct. Four have already been killed. Six remain. Our heroes, their assigned investor, and the five others wind up trapped in a room in a professor’s seaside mansion
where the house itself appears to have been rigged to murder everyone. There is a menagerie of investors, most all with unlikable
personalities and/or a compelling motivation to wat the fortune now. It turns out the first investor, who was killed in the teaser, was
actually the twin brother of an investor named Dexter. Dexter is also the architect who designed the mansion with various medieval torture devices set to kill off everyone else. Jim himself has to deal with a rocket sled that falls into the ocean, a moving, spiked wall, a line of rifles which fire automatically, and a rotating blade lowering from the ceiling in a locked room. Dexter winds up killed on the last one, leaving his accomplice--the pretty girl--to take the rap for murder alone. Murdering a twin brother in order to fake your own death so you have a fantastic alibi for murdering everyone else while your girlfriend inherits the fortune and you both run of together. Yeah, right...

[Tom Holmberg]

2 hours ago, Gharlane said:

Braine does,
however, go out with a bang when he tries to run Jim over with his
armored wheelchair/tank which explodes in as much of a fireball as a
1960’s television special effects can muster when he crashes into a
wal

The steam-powered attack wheelchair was very steampunk.  Anyone who spent time reading comics or watching old movies knows that the villain always used an overly elaborate scheme to kill the hero, when he could just as easily and more effectively just shoot him. This was pointed out in the first Austin Powers movie.