Gargoyles through Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat
Charles Bronson was once an Emmy nominee?! Yep, the movie tough man did it with The General Electric Theater, and of all the superstars they had on that series, ranging from Bette Davis to Jimmy Stewart, he was the only one to claim a nomination for his acting there. And that was a year when just three actors competed in the category too (he lost to Roddy McDowall for Equitable’s American Heritage). Wow.
G.E. College Bowl – See General Electric College Bowl
G.E. Theater – See General Electric Theater
Gargoyles
CBS Tuesday 9:30-11 p.m., Nov. 21, 1972
W: Makeup (Del Armstrong, Ellis Burman, Stan Winston)
Anthropologist Mercer Boley (Cornel Wilde) and his daughter Diana (Jennifer Salt) are terrorized by the title creatures in the desert as they attempt to defeat the human race and take over the planet. A TV-movie with more hoots than horrors for anyone over the age of 10, this terror tale’s biggest assets are its eerie score by Robert Prince (see The Name of the Game) and its winning lizard-like rubber appliances on a handful of actors, including an unrecognizable Bernie Casey as the main gargoyle (with a dubbed electronic voice). Best known as a 1940s and 1950s film star (A Song to Remember, The Greatest Show on Earth), Wilde rarely acted on TV and made only three guest shots after this on the medium until his death in 1989. If this was the kind of material he was getting, I don’t blame him.
Armstrong: Eleanor and Franklin. Burman: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager. Winston:
General Electric College Bowl
CBS Sundays 5:30-6 p.m.* (also NBC), Jan. 4, 1959-June 14, 1970
W: Panel, Quiz or Audience Participation Program, 1963
N: Daytime Program, 1967
The brainiest game show ever, General Electric College Bowl featured a host (Allen Ludden 1959-62, Robert Earle 1962-70) reading rapid-fire questions about history, geography, literature and other classical arts to two competing quartets, each representing a university. The first team member to buzz in and answer correctly won points, and the team with the highest score at the end of the show returned the next week to defend their championship. Quite possibly the fastest-moving game show ever (contestants rarely had more than two seconds to provide an answer or be counted incorrect), this show’s format was stolen for other later academic competitions on TV featuring high school students and university graduates (e.g., Alumni Fun, which ran on CBS 1963-66). The only surprise is that this celebration of intellectuals did not receive more nominations – it could have competed under the special classifications category in the late 1960s, for example. Ludden left the show due to a possible scheduling conflict with the other game show he hosted, Password. Ironically, that show ended up winning more Emmys than did General Electric College Bowl, despite being a much simpler game to play.
The General Electric Theater
CBS Sundays 9-9:30 p.m., Feb. 1, 1953-Sept. 16, 1962
N: Director – Half Hour or Less (Herschel Daugherty, “The Road That Led Afar”), 1956, (Daugherty, “One is a Wanderer”), 1959 and (James Neilson, “Kid at the Stick”), 1959; Cinematography (Robert W. Pittack, “The Glorious Gift of Molly Malloy”), 1956 and (John L. Russell, “The Night Goes On”), 1956; Art Direction – Half Hour or Less (Martin Obzina, John Robert Lloyd, John J. Lloyd, John Meehan, George Patrick), 1956; Film Editing (Michael R. McAdam, “Trail to Christmas”), 1957 and (Dan Landres, “The Patsy”), 1960; Dramatic Series – Less Than One Hour, 1959; Writing, Single Program of a Drama – Less Than One Hour (Samuel Taylor, “One is a Wanderer”), 1959; Supporting Actor or Actress, Single Program (Charles Bronson, “Memory in White”), 1961
Prior to entering politics and later becoming United States president, Ronald Reagan hosted this dramatic anthology from 1954-62, originally live from Hollywood but mostly filmed by 1955. It distinguished itself by typically starring major actors in their first TV acting role, thanks to the fact that it came from Revue Productions, a subsidiary of the giant entertainment talent agency MCA, who virtually forced its clients to appear on it. Ironically, the presentations were extremely variable mostly in the acting – for every solid performance such as James Dean as a drifter in “I’m No Fool” (first done in 1954 and repeated after his death a year later) or Henry Fonda as Emmett Kelly in “Clown” in 1955, there were stiffs like MacDonald Carey walking through his role as a grieving minister in “Easter Gift” in 1956. Nevertheless, The General Electric Theater spent most of its run in the top 30 thanks to its lineup of stars and its placement after The Ed Sullivan Show, peaking at #3 in the 1956-57 season. But competition from Bonanza devastated it by 1962. The most interesting of its 11 Emmy nominations had to be Charles Bronson as the series’ sole one among all its top guest actors, and a supporting one at that – it was his only nomination for an acting role. The show’s title was revived for a couple of specials in the 1970s – for more on them, see In This House of Brede.
Pittack: Private Secretary, Twilight Zone. John J. Lloyd: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Checkmate, It Happened One Christmas, Vanished. Landres: Arrest and Trial, Schlitz Playhouse.
General Motors 50th Anniversary
NBC Sunday 9-11 p.m., Nov. 17, 1957
N: Live Camera Work
Since competitor Ford sponsored an all-star variety special for its half-century shindig in 1953, General Motors felt obliged to do the same, although it jumped the gun a little as it did not officially hit the big 5-0 until 1958. Hosted by Kirk Douglas and Ernest Borgnine (appearing courtesy in promotion of their movie The Vikings, as noted in the credits), this live from New York in color extravaganza spotlighted a lumpy mass of some 30 stars in quite variable and often too long sketches, filmed spots, and songs and dance routines emphasizing corny truisms. Douglas and Borgnine said at the end that the theme was “Dare to live and know that you are alive,” about as an amorphous and innocuous concept to build a two-hour show as I have ever heard. Douglas did a swell job introducing the acts, which ranged from Chita Rivera’s sizzling South Seas footwork as the high point and sloppy, dramatically inert playlets wasting Don Ameche and Claudette Colbert, among others, as the low point. There was also Pat Boone crooning, Helen Hayes performing a dramatic monologue, June Allyson re-enacting part of the climax of Our Town, and … well, you get the picture. The uncredited camera work was fine, but I’m glad Playhouse 90 beat it. While it is tough to find a copy of this show (I watched it at the Paley Center in New York City), there was an original cast LP released on RCA Victor, in case you want to track it down for your sadomachistic urges.
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
NBC Saturdays 8:30-9 p.m.* (also ABC), Sept. 21, 1968-Sept. 18, 1970
W: Actress (Hope Lange), 1969, 1970
N: Comedy Series (Stanley Rubin, P), 1969; Actor, Comedy (Edward Mulhare), 1969; Supporting Actor, Comedy (Charles Nelson Reilly), 1970; Film Editing, Series (Axel R. Hubert, “The Great Power Failure”), 1970
Based on a 1947 film of the same name, this fantasy had widow Carolyn Muir (Lange), her daughter Candice (Kellie Flanagan) and son Jonathan (Harlen Carraher) rent a New England seaside cottage from high-strung owner Claymore Gregg (Reilly). What had made it a hard sell for Claymore to previous tenants was that his late uncle, bearded Capt. Daniel Gregg (Mulhare), haunted the house to ward off newcomers. But Mrs. Muir did not scare so easily, even with Capt. Gregg able to materialize at whim with just a musical cue to announce his arrival, so he tolerated them and their housekeeper Martha Grant (Reta Shaw), and eventually fell in love with Mrs. Muir (didn’t see that coming, did you?). The result was a serviceable though not noteworthy brew of three 1960s sitcom conventions – families, widows and the supernatural – which Emmy voters admired more than viewers. Despite finishing far behind its 1968-69 competition, The Lawrence Welk Show and My Three Sons, ABC felt the NBC show had potential and picked it up for a second season, but it died Thursdays too opposite Family Affair. Lange, previously an Oscar nominee for supporting actress for 1957’s Peyton Place, earned an Emmy nomination for That Certain Summer in 1973 and co-starred in The New Dick Van Dyke Show from 1971-74 as Dick’s wife before her career waned, though she continued to act into the 1990s before her death in 2003 at 70.
Lange: That Certain Summer. Rubin: Babe. Reilly:
The Glass House
CBS Friday 9-11 p.m., Feb. 4, 1972
W: Director, Drama – Single Program (Tom Gries)
N: Writing, Drama – Adaptation (Tracy Keenan Wynn); Editing (Gene Fowler, Jr.)
Adapted from a Truman Capote story, and officially named Truman Capote’s The Glass House, this TV-movie contrasted the bittersweet fates of a college professor convicted of manslaughter (Alan Alda, billed as “Special Guest Star”) sent to a state prison with a new guard (Clu Gulager). The two become allies as they fight against injustices incurred by the resident cellblock boss (Vic Morrow, in one of his best nasty roles), which included a gang rape for one inmate – a first for network TV. Well-done effort filmed on an actual state prison (unnamed, but somewhere where they have snow) with a sturdy supporting cast – Billy Dee Williams, Dean Jagger, Kristoffer Tabori – but the inadequacies of the penal system have been detailed previously often in fiction and nonfiction, and the film does not add enough new material to the discussion to make it a classic. Gries was a surprise winner over the favored Buzz Kulik for Brian’s Song.
Gries: East Side/West Side. Fowler Jr.: The Waltons, Blue Knight. Wynn: Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Tribes.
The Glass Menagerie
ABC p.m., Dec. 16, 1973
W: Supporting Actor of the Year (Michael Moriarty); Supporting Actor, Drama (Moriarty); Supporting Actress of the Year (Joanna Miles); Supporting Actress, Drama (Miles)
N: Lead Actress, Drama (Katharine Hepburn); Supporting Actor, Drama (Sam Waterston)
Officially titled Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie in honor of the author, this adaptation of the 1940s Broadway hit featured legendary actress Hepburn in her TV acting debut as Amanda Wingfield, who wants the best for her son Tom (Waterston) and daughter Laura (Miles), who live with her in Mississippi, but her flighty, domineering demeanor results only in heartbreak for all involved, particularly as Amanda plays matchmaker for her daughter with one of Tom’s co-workers (Moriarty). An excellently acted drama by all involved that nevertheless does not have the dramatic punch it brings in the theater. Director Anthony Harvey tried to make this as cinematic as possible, but it still comes off as a filmed stage play. Emmy was wise not to make this a nominee for comedy or drama special in 1974. Winner Miles has stayed fairly active on TV up to the present without receiving another Emmy nomination, while Law & Order fans know that Moriarty and Waterston worked together again on that series.
Moriarty: The Equalizer, Holocaust, James Dean, Law & Order. Hepburn: The Corn is Green, Love Among the Ruins, Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry. Waterston: I’ll Fly Away, I’ll Fly Away: Then and Now, Law & Order.
Go Ask Alice
ABC Wednesday 8:30-10 p.m., Jan. 24, 1973
N: Writing – Drama, Adaptation (Ellen M. Violett); Film Editing (Henry Berman)
Fifteen-year-old Alice (Jamie Smith-Jackson) gets hooked on drugs, runs away from her powerless parents (Julie Adams and William Shatner, the latter hard to recognize with a moustache and glasses) and finds redemption from a priest (Andy Griffith) – but she was not out of the woods yet. A preachy melodrama, this sanitized adaptation of the grittier book of the same name is as artificial as most of the cover versions of rock songs performed in the background. It’s hurt even more by the lead’s inadequate performance, John Korty’s slipshod direction and Earl Rath’s murky cinematography. Contemplating how in the world Violett got nominated for writing this (and in a category with only three contenders!) is enough to make you want to take a hit of LSD. This was the third (and the least) of four nominations without a win for Berman (he received two for The Man from U.N.C.L.E.), but he did win an editing Oscar for 1966’s Grand Prix.
Violett: CBS Playhouse. Berman: Babe, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Goldbergs
CBS Mondays 9:30-10 p.m.* (also NBC, DuMont and syndicated 1955-56), Jan. 10, 1949-Oct. 19, 1954
W: Actress (Gertrude Berg), 1951
N: Kinescoped Show, 1949
In the syndicated series Molly now lived in the fictional suburban community of Haverville amid WASPy neighbors – a sign of how bland 1950s TV was becoming.
Berg: The Gertrude Berg Show
Gore Vidal’s Lincoln – See Lincoln
The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat
ABC Thursday 8-8:30 p.m., May 20, 1982
W: Animated Program (David H. DePatie, EP; Friz Freleng and Ted Geisel, P)
N: Animated Program Direction (Bill Perez)
Two favorite Dr. Seuss characters meet in this disappointing outing as the grumpy Grinch bedevils the fun-loving cat until seeing the errors of his way. While the animation is strong as ever, the storyline never quite sparks, Joe Raposo’s songs are so-so, and the honeyed voice of Mason Adams is wrong for the mischievous Cat in the Hat. I imagine this program’s award came as either the Academy’s attempt to atone for not nominating the superior previous specials starring the lead characters, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) and The Cat in the Hat (1971), or the result of the two competing Peanuts specials (see Charlie Brown Celebration and Someday You’ll Find Her, Charlie Brown) splitting the vote to allow for this win. For a special from the producers that deserved an Emmy more than this one, see The Hoober-Bloob Highway.