We get a lot of really nice architecture stills this week.
They bookend historical photographs of a particularly successful nature fire.
How about that? Joe giving props to firefighters and promoting inter-departmental harmony.
This is another of our Bel Air establishers:
All right, back to our old stomping grounds at Parker Center this week!
King of Hearts.
Queen of Spades.
Hold the phone.
Seriously, the shot of the pullback from Gannon is nice. There are the stupid louvres instead of a backdrop, but John McCarthy and/or Sturtevant did a good job of piling up the things that represent being in the PAB Set - Filing cabinets, boxes, the box of phone directories. There are three black multiline phones in this single shot!
Have at that, Mad Men! Have at that, Wes Anderson!
Welcome to the past. It's time for "Computers of Yesteryear."
Bert Holland is here to amuse us with his cartoonish ways while it would appear that we are actually inside of a real, actual, computer card system with a real actual lady computer operator.
Look at all these cards!
The walls look a bit "spongy" as if to be minimalist with texture and/or absorb sound.
There's also a tureen full of coffee because IT, duh.
Trusty Bert leads us through some more doors - the reflection in the glass of the opposite ceiling gives away also that this is a location and not a set.
Back in the Adam-12 Crossover Episode, the glass was (clearly) removed from the walls of the skipper's office.
THIS MACHINE IS ALSO FULL OF CARDS
We've seen this machine before, but now we know that Bert Holland was behind it all along.
SO MANY CARDS
Look at all the lights! So futuristic. What could go wrong?
Magnetic tape machines!
And a super fast tractor-feed printer with the lid up so we can see how quickly it runs.
Wow. An IT guy in a suit.
He calls this their "console typewriter."
It also spews paper in lieu of a CRT monitor.
OH BERT
You're so cute. They let you tear the paper at the perforation. Very good.
WES ANDERSON
WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?
SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS SEARCH - SS# 567-54-3726
ILLEGAL TRANSACTION -
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REASON FOR REJECTION - RECORD MARKED DECEASED
This has got to be on the stage at Universal.
There's not anything even on the coat tree!
Brown carpet, though. Bold call. Very forward thinking.
Bert Holland has gotten out of the used car sales racket and it totally vested in "computing."
OH MY GOD
I NEVER THOUGHT WE WOULD SEE ANOTHER FRESH APARTMENT HOUSE ESTABLISHER
And this is enough to make me swoon - gold mailboxes on a gold wall!
YES IT IS TO DIE FOR
Herb Vigran, Landlord.
BEST WALLPAPER EVER
Dang, there's the drive-up shot we've seen a dozen times or so.
They put Jack Sheldon is a pretty hip cardigan.
"Sergent Joe Faraday."
(So cool, right?!)
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ILLEGAL TRANSACTION -
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REASON FOR REJECTION - RECORD MARKED DECEASED
That does seem to be the same printout, but without Jack's hand.
TO THE FAIRLANE
We get the blue truck, Standard Oil…and they're still using the car that doesn't have a rearview mirror.
Any ideas?
We'll come back to that.
Art Director John E. Chilberg, II is doing really well evolving the classroom-style sets so far.
Sidney Clute and Howard Culver, of course.
FLORENCE LAKE! So mousey. Wonderful. Welcome.
The above shot is 100% Dragnet production style. It's the parti of the PAB set.
Black on white sign, solid neutral, book matched wooden paneling, black and gold numbers, sans serif.
That is it.
It seems as though Don Ross is never going back to his Latent Prints box.
It's okay. He's good at identifying muddy letter E's.
Robert Rosen. Jerry Bunon. Arnold Cooper. Gary Jackson.
I know they said Bunson, but it says Bunon.
HOLD THE PHONE
Here's a nice driving sequence; home to another "blink and you miss it" Mustang.
The lighting and character of the street suggest that this belongs to the above footage.
Support your local police! Keep them independent!
Two great things come of season three - fantastic wallpaper and great big sideburns.
Gannon standing before another piece of midcentury wall art by Francisco Bizarro:
Striped wallpaper, two equal but opposite table lamps. Two equal and opposite tables. A blue rotary phone. A vase to knock over with the errant coiled cord upon hearing banal news.
What about the sculpture of grapes?
The coffee table looks pretty nice.
The wig… I mean the jig is up!
Peggy Sue Thompson
Now serving her term in the California Institution for Women, Frontera, California.
Paul William Nichols
Now serving his term in the state prison, San Quentin, California.
S3e19
Starred
Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday
Harry Morgan as Officer Bill Gannon
Bert Holland as Harvey Peterson
Florence Lake as Elvira Norton
Jack Sheldon as Howard Levin
Herb Vigran as Mr. Ferguson
John Gilgreen as Paul Nichols
Howard Culver as Mr. Grange
Don Ross as Frank Silver
Sidney Clute as Mr. Ferber
Additional Cast
______ as Peggy Sue Thompson
Additional Notes
Art Direction - John E. Chilberg, II
Set Decor - John McCarthy & John Sturtevant
Costumes - Vincent Dee
Written by Burt Prelutsky
Aired 20 February 1969
Before we adjourn for coffee and doughnuts…
see you next time.
Suzy Dragnet
The fifth color picture down may be (maybe) Stately Wayne Manor from a different angle we were used to seeing it on Batman.
ReplyDeleteYour blog makes me so happy. Thank you for it.
ReplyDeleteJack Sheldon misreading Joe's name as "Faraday"...wonder if he was thinking of Inspector Farraday from the Boston Blackie pictures?
ReplyDeleteThat's an RCA Spectra 70 system, wonder where the shot was taken.
ReplyDelete“The machine did what?”
ReplyDelete"OH BERT
ReplyDeleteYou're so cute. They let you tear the paper at the perforation. Very good."
Your captions really make this blog a hit for me!
Who played Peggy Thompson?
ReplyDeleteWhere is that suitcase now? Do the sideburns still exist somewhere in this world? Are they still inside that suitcase after all these years? Is that sculpture still hanging some place? i guess we will never know.
ReplyDelete