This is a shot out from Universal Studios; the bottom 1/4 of the screen shows a lack of depth in the construction.
Jack employs some fresher Dodger Stadium footage -
Phillies Vs. Dodgers!!
This looks like the last gasp of maybe a rejected shot of Georgia Street Juvenile.
I like the composition. The framing respects the stoic facade.
One has to intuit that this is Georgia Street - It's too difficult to make out the text along the eaves.
The eave-pan is the most used sequence to Georgia Street Station; we've seen it a ton of times.
Even our typical entryway shot seems brighter.
They still take us in through the front door that we almost went through with Joe & Bill that one time.
Joe gets a low angle shot. Heroic 'n stoic.
Click to enlarge. If you dare.
Cathleen Cordell is back as our token 'Society Lady'. I believe that this is the second episode in which Joe traumatizes her with photos of child abuse/neglect.
Her outfit is great. Vincent Dee is on top of his game with dressing society types.
Blue and gold, because of course. But the gold in her accessories break the colors before they can reach her face - this way she looks nicer on TV. Herringbone is difficult to represent; her pattern is large enough not to cancel itself out on screen. If I had gone to fashion college instead of architecture college, I could probably better explain myself.
There is literally no point in dressing up. I guess It's just fun?
Is society really so helplessly casual? Does no one dress up?
April is child abuse prevention month. Yeah! So hard, sometimes.
LOOK AT THIS, LADY
IT'S SO BAD, THE NETWORK WON'T SHOW IT
OY CHAVAL
This looks like some of our old Bel Air shooting day footage.
Maybe it's new. Who knows?
Brick pavers and stone. Hard surfaces!
Oh! Elizabeth Knowles and her weird accent!
So prissy, so feminine this set. Flowers, gold leaf, fragile vases, a Van Gogh print, lovely/bizarre gold light switch plate. Double entry doors and a damn chandelier!
Is that green wall-to-wall carpet?
ACTUALLY YES
Books! Candlesticks! A rotary phone! An apothecary lamp with a conical shade.
Jeepers! This lady is so rich that her books are even all organized on bookcases.
You always know it's sound stage because there is never a good view.
This is the starkest, yellowest principal's office ever.
YELLOW IS LITERALLY THE LEAST IDEAL COLOR FOR A PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE
OK MAYBE RED WOULD BE WORSE
Here's a shot recycled all the way back from episode one of season one of Central Receiving Hospital:
Stacy Harris is here to play the Olan Soule figure this episode.
Sometimes Harry Bartell fills in, like that time Officer Dave got shot.
I won't stand for it! I'm out of here!
HOLD THE PHONE
Beards have reached critical mass and are now going out of style.
Now, in 2014. It's true! I read it in a thing.
SHE READ IT IN A THING
Great luggage is always in style!
Fleeing your ex-wife and son? Only the greenest of luggage will do!
Leather with gold hardware for those lengthy, cross-country trips.
Luggage - For when it's time to GTFO
What's GTFO?
It's-
NOTHING
NEVER MIND, KID
Len Wayland's desk has a nice clutter - but we still are seeing drapes rather than backdrops.
Are we in Parker Center or Georgia Street Juvenile?
This dress is so villainess! Perfect, right?
YES THIS IS THE BEST VINCENT DEE EPISODE EVER
Is this the Hall of Justice set? It's obviously just a couple of walls and a little signage, but still.
"In a moment, a conclusion on tonight's story."
Mrs. Marian Devon
Now undergoing psychiatric treatment as a condition of her probation.
S3e20
Starred
Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday
Harry Morgan as Officer Bill Gannon
Elizabeth Knowles as Marian Devon
Cathleen Cordell as Mrs. Sadler
Logan Harbaugh as Chris Devon
Stacy Harris as Doctor Manning
Edward Faulkner as Lawrence Devon
Vinton Hayworth as Judge Crosson
Len Wayland as Captain Morris
Frankie Kabott as Andy Fulkerson
Ron Pinkard as Officer John McKee
Additional Cast
Additional Notes
Art Direction - John E. Chilberg, II
Set Decor - John McCarthy & John Sturtevant
Costumes - Vincent Dee
Written by James Doherty & Robert C. Dennis
Aired 27 September 1969
Now undergoing psychiatric treatment,
Suzy Dragnet
In the fourth photo down viewing Dodger Stadium, if you looked directly behind you from that vantage point you would have a pretty good view of the L A Police Academy.
ReplyDeleteThat's perfect.
DeleteThey spent a day shooting (at least) at the Police Academy. We'll have to cross-reference, but I believe they only show the sign by the entrance from the point of view of the road. The remainder of shots (cadets marching, etc.) are low angles in the courtyard.
Cheers,
Suzy Dragnet
Suzy: Only about a month or so from our trip to LA. Planning on definitely taking the Universal tour. Colonial street I understand is now called Wisteria Place and I'm hoping to recognize something: maybe Gannon's house, and I would definitely recognize the Temple of the Expanded Mind (but I doubt it's still there.) Interesting note: You can see where we will stay in your driving sequence in Police Commission DR-13. The church is still there. You see the Chevron station on the left? Next to it is a cleaners. That is the current location of the Loews Hollywood on Highland. I am psyched. When I get back I will let you know if I saw any Dragnety locales. Kenny P
DeleteThis one's for the second anonymous, myself being the first.
DeleteIf I still lived in LA I could show you literally dozens of original locations that are still standing throughout the mid city and San Fernando Valley.
Same with Adam 12 locations.
Many of these places are dwarfed by more modern development or somewhat altered through properties changing hands, but if you know where to look LA in general remains the worlds largest and most memorable back lot in the world.
Just try cruising Wilshire Blvd between La Cienega and Alvarado, or Fairfax between say Pico and Beverly and you'll probably feel a Dragnet Deja Vu.
For that same Adam 12 sensation, Any stretch of Ventura Blvd east of Sepulveda, or any neighborhood in Toluca Lake and much of North Hollywood should make you feel right at home.
Though I believe Biff's Coffee Shop is gone, several of Reed and Molloy's favorite taco stands, gas stations, markets and liquor stores are still standing.
Although by season 4 fake street signs were regularly employed, earlier seasons left the actual signs in place and watching those earlier episodes with Google street view will show you how many of those areas are still at least similar to how they were over 40 years ago.
We respect KennyP's rejection of registering through blogger. He's planning this trip and has promised to bring home something to the blog. Wonderful that you you can give us a hand. He's such a regular around here that I dedicated my "How it's Made: Dragnet Style Blog" post to him. Hi KennyP! Welcome back.
DeleteAs a lifelong resident of the northern Carolina, I have learned everything I know about Los Angeles from architecture college and Dragnet, basically. Repo Man, if that counts. Oh, and The Big Lebowski. I know that bowling alley was torn down, for instance.
Regarding Biff's - I saw that in early Adam-12 - I thought - 'this one is too good looking to have survived.' - It seems like a fantastic location. Maybe it was once a backlot dream.
Thank you for the street names, Anonymous person! Glad to have you along!
See you soon!
Suzy Dragnet
I'm glad you capped this episode. There was a lot to talk about here.
DeleteOMG; Elizabeth Knowles's accent. It was driving me crazy the entire episode. She reminded me of a Swiss woman I used to date whose voice is currently being impersonated and used as the voice of my friend's terrier mutt. I'm guessing that the real reason Mr. Devon had to split the scene was to get somewhere where he would be unable to receive her phone calls. It's probably why the Devon child "misbehaved" so much. He wanted out as well. Note on Elizabeth Knowles; IMDB shows her last film credit as... wait for it... "Behind the Green Door." Thankfully, there usually isn't that much talking in porn.
I grew up in Malibu / Pacific Palisades / Santa Monica and remember a Biff's on Wilshire Blvd. and 3rd Street. Now, it's the 3rd Street Promenade. Back then, it was a scary place full of weird book stores, a toy store with a nasty old man who wouldn't let you in without your parents, and theaters that showed Mexican movies. But, I'm pretty sure there was actually a chain of Biff's around the city.
Glad you're back!
Suzy, I will see you the soundstage wall-to-wall green carpet and raise you a den carpeted with olive green shag, as well as three back bedrooms and a hallway covered in sculptured berber, all in an equal shade of olive.
ReplyDelete(Did I mention that the den in question is lined with faux walnut panelling to go along with the olive green shag?)
Gold accents, along with amber glass swags, are particularly effective at offsetting the olive green and walnut decor.
Seriously, I have enjoyed the stuffing out of your past 2 blog entries. We are having to clean out my mother-in-law's house which bears an uncanny resemblance to the decor highlighted over the past two weeks, right down to the white milk glass/gold leaf fragile vases. It would be impossible to overstate the comparison.
God love her, her house is immaculately pristine, just like one shown above. Then you start opening up the closets, and the cabinets, and the drawers and then you realize that not only is there waaaaaay more stuff there than you ever imagined possible; but that there's also no way it's ever going to fit back into the nook or cranny from which it came. It turns out there's an additional **three estates' worth** of stuff time-capsuled away in plain sight, all in its Nixonian finery. I think it multiplies, much like the muted virus from the Andromeda Strain, when you leave it out overnight. -CVH :)
Oh! And your screenshots of Stacy Harris are way awesome too, but you knew that already. -CVH :)
ReplyDeleteTo other anonymous - Thanks for the geographical tips. Fortunately we will have a car the entire time we're in LA and I will try to notice if we are on those streets. I'm really not sure what I'm expecting. Sometimes I see so many episodes of Dragnet or Mannix, for example, that I feel like when we arrive in LA we're also going to be arriving in 1967-68. Wouldn't THAT be a blast! I's easy to get wrapped up in this stuff. It's like watching "It's a Wonderful Life" around Christmas. You get drawn into that world. I find Dragnet, in an odd way, draws a person in - not necessarily to the case, but to the entire culture of those days, which for me were my high school years. I know when we arrive in LA the streets will not be filled with "Boss" Mustang GT's. But just to be in that original environment will be really stimulating. I will derfinitely hit Wilshire Blvd. I guess that's enough hallucinating for one night. Thanks for reading. KennyP
ReplyDeleteThe judge, Vinton Hayworth, had the interesting distinction of being uncle to both Rita Hayworth and Ginger Rogers. Rita Hayworth's mother was his sister, and he was married to the sister of Ginger Rogers's mother. Who sez Hollywood wasn't a family oriented place?
ReplyDelete"Herringbone is difficult to represent; her pattern is large enough not to cancel itself out on screen."
ReplyDeleteI think you mean moire effect. It's a function of tight lines on television not being accurately represented by the scan frequency. They sort of come alive. Remember Joe Mannix and his sport coats?
No, I never saw Mannix!! You are correct. it's a moire effect.
DeleteBest,
SD
Regarding the subject of the show, battered children, we now have extra-legal Child "Protective" "Services" enforcing local "guidelines" (you may or may not know about them) which you may find yourself a "client" of depending how a total stranger regards your style of parenting or household.
ReplyDeleteNobody wants to see battered children - OF COURSE - but I'd rather have a cop with a warrant at my door than a Social Services investigator who doesn't need to read you any rights and can take your child out of class and interview him or her without your knowledge or permission or develop a case against you during a "chat."
And yes, we have personal experience with this. Long story. It was our very own Government Moment.
Wow, that's terrifying. Sorry you had to go through that!
DeleteHopefully future posts of Everyone Nods will give you "good" government moments.
SD
Lawyer here. Yes I know. An extra legal LE agency. And most of them are dumb as wood and looking for trouble.
DeleteKnowles slips into pronouncing 'th's as 'f's every now and then. Possibly a cockney trying to sound American and failing?
Delete"OMG; Elizabeth Knowles's accent. It was driving me crazy the entire episode."
ReplyDeleteAGREED!
Elizabeth Knowles accent sounds like it got caught half way across the Atlantic (or Pacific even). To my British ears, it sounds like an English (or upper class Australian) woman trying to get rid of her accent for the role, and failing miserably.
ReplyDeleteI didn't notice an accent (New Yorker here) but I did fall in love (or lust) with her. Yes, she is about 75 years old now, if still alive. That's why I'm here, is she still alive? She's made a bunch of K list movies including "Behind the Green Door", Triple X. Who wooda thunk?
ReplyDelete