PAUL MICHAEL GLASER IS 80 TODAY - REMEMBERING 1970S US COP/PI TV

 

I read that Paul Michael Glaser, he of Starsky (& Hutch) fame is 80 today (25 March).  It reminded me of what I think is a golden decade of American cop and private investigator television shows.  

There were quite a few that did not make it from the US to the UK, but there were plenty to keep us entertained.

Here's an incomplete list as I salute several of my favourites. The actors with stars against their names are ones I admired most.  James Garner gets a double portion!

Charlie's Angels (1976 to 1981) - Kate Jackson (massive crush), Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd, etc

5 seasons and 115 episodes.

CHiPS (1977 to 1983) - Larry Wilcox, Erik Estrada, Robert Pine

6 seasons and 139 episodes

Columbo (1971 to 1978 including later specials and revivals) - Peter Falk 💫💫💫💫💫 and a glorious list of guest stars

10 seasons and 69 episodes

Griff (1973 to 1974) - Lorne Greene, Ben Murphy, Vic Tayback, Patricia Stich

1 season and 13 episodes

Hart to Hart (1979 to 1984, and revived later in TV movies) - Robert Wagner, Stefanie Powers (crush), Lionel Stander, Freeway the dog

5 seasons and 110 episodes

Hawaii Five - O (1968 to 1980) - Jack Lord, James MacArthur, Kam Fong

12 seasons and 281 episodes

Hec Ramsay (1972 to 1974) - Richard Boone, Harry Morgan

2 seasons and 10 episodes

Ironside (1967 to 1975)  - Raymond Burr, Don Galloway, Barbara Anderson, Don Mitchell

8 seasons and 199 episodes

Kojak (1973 to 1978) - Telly Savalas 💫💫💫💫💫, Kevin Dobson, Dan Frazer, George Savalas

5 seasons and 118 episodes

McCloud (1970 to 1977) - Dennis Weaver, J D Cannon

7 seasons and 45 episodes

McMillan & Wife (1971 to 1977) - Rock Hudson, Susan Saint James (crush)

6 seasons and 40 episodes

O'Hara, US Treasury (1971 to 1972) - David Janssen 💫💫💫💫💫

1 season and 41 episodes

Quincey, ME (1976 to 1983) - Jack Klugman, Robert Ito, Garry Walberg

8 seasons and 148 episodes

The Rockford Files (1974 to 1980 + TV movies) - James Garner 💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫 

Noah Beery Jr, Joe Santos, Stuart Margolin, Gretchen Corbett

6 seasons and 124 episodes

Starsky & Hutch (1975 to 1979) - David Soul, Paul Michael Glaser, Antonio Fargas, Bernie Hamilton

4 seasons and 93 episodes

The Streets of San Francisco (1972 to 1977) - Karl Malden 💫💫💫💫💫, Michael Douglas

5 seasons and 121 episodes

SALUTING KIRK DOUGLAS

Here's a blog post I wrote on his 100th birthday (December 1916), which I had the pleasure of discussing with Michael Bradley on BBC Radio Ulster's Arts Show.

John Wayne had the walk, Robert Mitchum had those hangdog eyes, Burt Lancaster had the athleticism and lyrical delivery, James Stewart had the hesitant drawl and Kirk Douglas had the dimpled chin. They and others lit up the screen in their own unique ways and established themselves as class actors in distinguished careers.  All but one has passed away and the exception is Kirk Douglas who turns 100 on 9 December this year. His story is literally a rags to riches tale. He was born Issur Danielovitch Demsky in Amsterdam, New York to poor Russian immigrant parents. He was one of seven children, the only boy. His father was a ragman and junk seller who would drive his horse and cart around the neighbourhood trying to scrape together nickels and dimes. “I came from abject poverty, “he said, “there was nowhere to go but up.” He also recalled: “My mother and father were illiterate immigrants. When I was a child they were constantly amazed that I could go to a (library) building and take a book on any subject. They couldn’t believe this access to knowledge we have here in America. They couldn’t believe it was free.”

 

Young Issur would do odd jobs to help the family finances but as he grew older, he developed a strong urge to leave home and the pressures of living with a large family in restricted living space. He saw college as his escape. He acted in some school plays and even wrestled for a time but it was acting that became his primary ambition. After securing a scholarship, he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. One of his classmates would become famous as Lauren Bacall.

 

Issur changed his name to Kirk Douglas* around 1941 when he joined the US Navy and participated in the Second World War. He was discharged on medical grounds in 1944. In 1943, he married Diana Dill with whom he had two sons, including Michael who would follow in his father’s on-screen footsteps. It was the first of two marriages.

 

Kirk Douglas loved the theatre and seemed to be content with the work but his friend Lauren Bacall helped him win his first screen role in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), starring Barbara Stanwyck and Van Heflin. It was more than enough to get him noticed in Hollywood. His biggest breakthrough was three years later when he played ambitious and ruthless boxer Midge Kelly in Champion. It showed off Douglas’s powerful intensity as an actor and his peak physical condition in the fight sequences, attributes that he developed in more dramatic and action films during his career. In 1947, Douglas starred alongside Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer in Build My Gallows High considered by many critics and film buffs to be a superb example of film noir. Once again, Hollywood took notice. 

 

Throughout the 1950s, Kirk Douglas built a reputation as a compelling leading actor and a major box-office star. Films like Ace In The Hole (1951), Detective Story (1951), The Bad And The Beautiful (1952), Lust For Life (1956) (as Vincent Van Gogh) and Paths Of Glory (1957) proved beyond any doubt that he could handle highly dramatic roles. But it was westerns that honed his reputation as an action man. Always physically fit, he adapted naturally to the genre; The Big Sky (1952), Man Without A Star (1955), The Indian Fighter (1955) and as Doc Holliday to Burt Lancaster’s Wyatt Earp in Gunfight At The O.K. Corral (1957). But he was no stranger to historical epics; Ulysses (1954), The Vikings (1958) and into the 1960s with one of his biggest successes Spartacus as the heroic slave who takes on the might of the Romans. In 1962, he starred with Walter Matthau in one of his finest and favourite films, Lonely Are The Brave, a tour-de-force story of a tough cowboy loyal to the old ways and resisting the modern world.

 

Apart from epics and westerns, Douglas made some successful war films including Seven Days In May (1964), The Heroes Of Telemark (1965), In Harm’s Way (1965), Cast A Giant Shadow (1966) and Is Paris Burning? (1966). He was canny enough to form his own production company early in his film career, emulating Burt Lancaster who did much the same to retain control over his projects. They made seven films together concluding with Tough Guys (1986) hamming it up beautifully as two old gangsters.  Of being master of his own destiny he said: “I don’t need a critic to tell me I’m an actor. I make my own way. Nobody’s my boss. Nobody’s ever been my boss.”

 

Douglas was nominated three times for Academy Awards and was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1991. In 1981 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Jimmy Carter and a host of lifetime achievement awards from various organisations. He won a Golden Globe and a New York Film Critics Award recognising his outstanding performance as Van Gogh in Lust For Life. 

 

In January 1996, at 79, he suffered a severe stroke, impairing his speech but he fought back and recovered his ability to speak. He wrote about the experience in A Stroke Of Luck. His autobiography, A Ragman’s Son, is an honest and delightful story of his upward journey from poverty. On Michael Parkinson’s BBC chat show in 1978, he described his rags to riches life as a typical, corny American immigrant story.  Along with his second wife Anne, he has donated considerably to charities and causes close to their hearts.

 

Kirk Douglas is by any measure one of the greatest actors we have ever witnessed. From the outset he was committed to extremely high standards of performance and production. He devoted himself to his career and he took control of it. His screen CV is staggering, varied and impressive. His energetic work rate over his prime years is breathtaking. He was a risk taker – “In order to achieve anything, you must be brave enough to fail”. 

 

It is too tempting to say that he is the last of that breed of superior actors from the 1940s to have lit up the big screen, but he might well be. “People are always talking about the old days. They say that the old movies were better, that the old actors were so great. But I don’t think so. All I can say about the old days is that they have passed.”

 

In conclusion, here’s a line from Spartacus - ”Maybe there's no peace in this world, for us or for anyone else, I don't know. But I do know that, as long as we live, we must remain true to ourselves.” Kirk Douglas at 100 just emphasises his greatness as a magnificent star and as an amazing human being.

*The story goes that in his early years, he met a fellow actor called George Sekulovich who advised him to change his name. It is lost in the mists of time why he chose Kirk Douglas but young George had already decided to change his name to Karl Malden.

KILL THE DEVIL BY TONY MACAULAY & JUVENS NSABIMANA

 

I am so thrilled to have received a complimentary copy of Kill The Devil by Tony Macauley and Juvens Nsabimana.  The background to this book is inspiring.

Here's the Amazon link if you want to buy it. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kill-Devil-Love-Story-Rwanda-ebook/dp/B0BXLVTMSR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1Z9804LDTO4GI&keywords=kill+the+devil&qid=1679512042&sprefix=Kill+The+Devil%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-1

 Here's the Waterstones link. https://www.waterstones.com/book/kill-the-devil/tony-macaulay/juvens-nsabimana/9781803136219

Here's Tony Macaulay's website. https://tonymacaulayauthor.com

And I'm sure the book is available in other places.

I will be blogging about it in due course.

 

COCO THE CLOWN - FIRST CELEBRITY I SAW IN PERSON (1963)

 

 

I can’t be sure of the exact date (sometime in 1963) when Coco the Clown visited St. Teresa’s Primary School, Belfast.  But I do remember the day.  Coco was the most famous clown in the UK at the time.  The excitement amongst us kids was intense.  Somebody famous was coming to our neck of the woods when very few celebrities did.

He was born Nicolai Poliakoff in Latvia in 1900.  He ran away from home in 1908 to find a circus that would give him a job.  After a sob story, he was hired and gained a little experience of that life before reconnecting with his parents.  His father decided to let his son follow the dream.  Nikolai was apprenticed to Rudolfo Truzzi, a member of a famous Russian circus dynasty.  He learned trapeze, acrobatics and horse riding.  By 1919, he was married and would eventually father six children.  

He pursued his circus ambitions, first across the Soviet Union, before eventually joining Bertram Mills Circus which took him to Manchester in 1929.  He stayed with Mills for over 35 years, evolving into the role of resident clown.  In the Second World War, Coco joined the logistical operations unit known as the Pioneer Corps.  Then, as part of the Entertainment National Service Association (ENSA), he entertained troops.  In 1949, he and his wife Valentina became British citizens.  He was a Bertram Mills clown until 1964, close to the time he came to our wee Belfast school.  

In 1959, Coco was involved in a serious road accident which made him think of using his fame and talent to champion a cause.  He chose road safety, specifically with regard to children and toured the UK frequently.  Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the OBE.  

He was a journeyman circus performer and eventually a full-time clown and, as mentioned, the most famous clown in the UK, boosted by many television appearances.

Our primary school event took place in the adjacent St. Teresa’s Parochial Hall. As soon as Coco was announced and as he was bounding on to the stage, we clapped, shouted and screamed.  This was the first major star celebrity I had ever seen.  I was about nine years old.

Coco had his trademark face make-up of exaggerated eyebrows, a big nose, a silly moustache and a whitish face.  His trick hairpiece had hinges in the central parting and, somehow, he would lift and flap the sides over his ears to emphasise surprise or just to get a laugh.  His clothes were baggy and his shoes were enormous.

He clowned around for a while and we roared with laughter.  I seem to recall a few tricks with a yo-yo.  It was pure magic and he had us in the palm of his hand.  We listened intently to his road safety advice.  We all got a colourful badge with Coco’s face at the centre.  Again, we hooted and hollered as he left the building.  Excited, entertained and enlightened, we returned to school to draw road safety posters.

This event has stayed with me nearly 60 years. Obviously, I cannot remember all the fine details but the fact that I recall it at all is a testament to its power as a lasting experience.

Funnily enough, apart from Coco, I never really liked clowns, or circuses for that matter.  I never found them and their antics funny – the honking car whose doors and wheels fell of, the rough and tumble fights with buckets of water, routines involving planks of wood that would eventually knock someone to the ground and manic chases around the Big Top.

There was a renowned clown called Charlie Cairoli who performed around the same time as Coco, but he didn’t appeal to me.  I have been to one circus in my life and while the various acts kept things moving along, I had no inclination to go to another one. I much preferred the comic actors who clowned around on screen.  I suppose I’m just funny about clowns and comedy.

In 1962, Eammon Andrews surprised Coco in London for TV’s This Is Your Life and about a year later, an audience of pupils in a Belfast primary school actually saw him in person.  

Nicolai Poliakoff died at 74 in 1974.  He is buried alongside his wife at St. Mary’s Church, Woodnewton, Northamptonshire. The gravestone says: “Coco the Clown, Loved and Remembered Always.”  Amen to that, says this Belfast kid.

 

 

SONG FOR MY MOTHER - MARGARET MARY 'RITA'

 

This is a song for my mother - 1925 - 2011 - If anyone is interested in recording it for dementia charities, please get in touch.

 

CHORUS

Songs of you come easy, from love’s lament to lullaby

Songs of you come easy, we said farewell but not goodbye

 

Your memory preserved forever,

Showing you in silhouette,

You gave us all we’d ever need,

You gave us nothing to regret

So many moments looking back,

Crystal clear inside our minds,

A decent soul, a loving heart,

Heaven’s child, one of a kind.

 

CHORUS

Songs of you come easy, from love’s lament to lullaby

Songs of you come easy, we said farewell but not goodbye

 

No one said life would be easy

You were dealt a heavy hand

Left to raise your sons and daughters

We were too young to understand

You kept us safe, you were our haven,

You found the will, you found the way,

You taught us right, you taught us wrong,

You loved us each and every day

 

CHORUS

Songs of you come easy, from love’s lament to lullaby

Songs of you come easy, we said farewell but not goodbye

 

In darker days and troubled nights,

After all your faith and prayer 

Your three angels held you near,

To comfort. you with loving care

Came the hour, came the moment,

Came the time for life to cease,

In spite of all the tears and sorrow,

Came your time to rest in peace

 

CHORUS

Songs of you come easy, from love’s lament to lullaby

Songs of you come easy, we said farewell but not goodbye

MICK JAGGER'S CHATEAU

 

Of all the stuff I've written, this is a true story and I love the last line. 

The old potter told us
that Mick Jagger's chateau
was not far away,
so we drove towards
Poce sur Cisse in the hope
that we would find it.
We think we did,
squinting through some snatches
of space in a high, thick hedge,
a magnificent white building,
majestic entrance steps,
immaculately tended gardens.
But, alas, in our vain search
for a glimpse or two
of rock star action,
we failed to spot Mick
and we didn't get
no satisfaction.

THE ST PATRICK'S TREASURY BY JOHN KILLEN

First posted on this blog a couple of years ago.

 

The Saint Patrick's Treasury
Celebrating the myths, legends and traditions of Ireland's patron saint
by John Killen

The Blackstaff Press
2018

https://blackstaffpress.com/product/st-patricks-treasury-celebrating-the-myths-legends-and-traditions-of-irelands-patron-saint-by-john-killen/

 

If I was suddenly confronted with the question: Tell me everything you know about St Patrick, I reckon I would stutter and stammer, hum and haw stuff like patron saint of Ireland, something about Downpatrick and Armagh, a French connection, something about Wales, a nod towards Glasgow, snake expeller and a sort of emblem for an annual booze-up on 17 March every year when shamrock, green suits and hats and black stout define Oirishness. In other words, I could not stretch my thin knowledge to more than three sentences. Shameful, for a Belfast boy.

 

But now, there is no excuse, thanks to John Killen who has compiled The St Patrick’s Treasury, celebrating the myths, legends and traditions of Ireland’s patron saint. This is a brilliant and comprehensive collection that is both informative and entertaining. It covers St Patrick’s life, his writings, his travels and all manner of things that make him three-dimensional compared to my miserable two-dimensional thin sketch.

 

‘He was the son of a Roman official, Calpurnius, living probably in Wales. As a boy, Patrick was captured by raiders and sold to an Irish chieftain, Milchu. He spent years in slavery, herding sheep on Slemish Mountain in County Antrim.’ But he escaped, boarded a ship and headed for France. In a dream, ‘he heard voices calling him back to Ireland’ and back he came on a mission to get rid of paganism and convert the Irish to the Christian faith ‘until Judgement Day’. His years and journeys are recorded in fine detail, even though the story contains things that might have happened, perhaps happened and probably happened, such is the vagueness of his life. In one section of the book there is ‘A Possible Chronology for Saint Patrick’ but, and this is the fascinating thing, it doesn’t matter about the details because John Killen maintains our interest throughout. We have a sort of a timeline and that will do.

 

Patrick’s writings are explored in The Confessions and Epistle to Coroticus, both humble yet forceful and encouraging essays/sermons setting out his beliefs, failings and unbending faith. His geography and journeys are explored in Places of Pilgrimage; several County Down locations, Leinster, Munster, Lough Derg, amongst others, and ‘across the water’ in Auxerre, Tours and Rome to name three. His last resting place was Dundalethglass (Downpatrick).

 

Americans go nuts for Patrick from Boston to New York to Philadelphia to Baltimore to Charleston to Savannah to Washington. At least one day in the year, much of the world smiles through Irish eyes. Not only is St Patrick a saint, he is also a brand, no matter how much of a shiver that provokes.

 

A look at Relics and Representations of items linked to St Patrick (check out the jawbone story if you can get a hold of the book) and an analysis of the man, the myth, the legend concludes a mesmerising book that is written superbly, blending facts and assumptions on this fascinating man of mystery. Hail, glorious Saint Patrick!

 

The St Patrick’s Treasury is beautifully produced and illustrated and I and many others will have no excuse whatsoever for stuttering and stammering when asked about St Patrick. I know a lot more now and if ever I get stuck in conversation, I’ll just reach for my ‘John Killen’, a masterwork, to be sure, to be sure.