Richard Kimble

An early episode (c. 1957) of Leave It To Beaver (possibly the pilot) shows a toilet -- IIRC the boys get hold of a baby alligator and let it swim in the tank.

we no longer allow fluoride near our precious bodily fluids

A rather sardonic article on the Whatever Became Of series series by the great pop culture observer Kliph Nesteroff: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/03/whatever_became.html

I've seen Hugh Beaumont in a number of pre-Beaver things. But the only time I've ever seen Barbara Billingsley pre-Beav is in the following, in which she has a major role: https://youtu.be/jKYc2MCmB2Q

You knew Dan Tobin? Did he ever talk about working with Welles on The Fountain of Youth? Allardice died in early '66, the AHH went off the air in '65. From what I've read he wrote every word of the wraparounds.

Of course that very well might be the reason. However, Lemmon's only 1964 release, Good Neighbor Sam, came out in July; presumably it was shot before KMS went into production, in the late winter/early spring (Sellers had shot about five weeks on KMS when he had a heart attack on April 5). Lemmon's next film, How To Murder Your Wife, would not be released until Sept 1965. So it would seem he had a long window between his two releases. Even leaving KMS aside, it's curious why Lemmon released only one film in 1964, arguably the height of his popularity

Tony Randall's cameo "in his own face" in The 7 Faces of Dr Lao: His other faces:

http://www.thegeektwins.com/2010/08/10-crazy-but-true-facts-about-wizard-of.html

This documentary contains footage from a contemporary newsreel, which features a reenactment of the B&C shooting, allegedly featuring some of the actual posse members:

I'm a fan of the Paladin-Bat Masterson-Yancy Derringer debonair dandy in the saddle school, and in my own private alternate universe the short-lived radio show Frontier Gentleman (London Times correspondent and English army vet roams the West) went on TV in the fall of 1958. But instead of a miscast John Dehner (too familiar a figure on the frontier, and didn't sound English anyway) it starred Nigel Patrick, who decided to stay on in Hollywood after Raintree County, becoming an unexpected star during Frontier Gentleman's three year run.

The Get Smart episode "The Secret of Sam Vittorio" features an appearance by Floyd Darrow and Connie Barker, the daughter of a carny barker

You keep my flippant quips out of this

I saw an interview with Arthur Penn where he defended B&C by saying he set out to make a film about the 1960s, not the 1930s. With that in mind he specifically avoided things like going over Walker Evans photos to recapture that look.

My favorite such story, apocryphal or not: Fred Zinneman got stuck in a meeting with some barely-post-pubescent studio exec who apparently had just gotten out of the mail room that morning. The kid looks at his name on the appointment card and then says, "So Freddy, why don't you tell us what you've done." Zinneman simply stared at him for a while, and then replied quietly, "You first."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/leslie-martinson-dead-batman-director-921817 Director Leslie H. Martinson, who worked on more than 100 television series during his prolific career and helmed Batman: The Movie in 27 days between the first two seasons of the wildly popular 1960s ABC show, has died. He was 101. Martinson, who seemingly directed episodes of every TV program from The Roy Rogers Show in 1953 to the late 1980s syndicated comedy Small Wonder, died Saturday of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles, his family announced. Martinson also helmed several features, including the John F. Kennedy naval tale PT 109 (1963), starring Cliff Robertson, the beach comedy For Those Who Think Young (1965) and the light-hearted Raquel Welch adventure Fathom (1966). Moving easily from genre to genre, the Boston native with the wicked New England accent put his stamp on TV Westerns (Maverick, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot), crime stories (Mannix, Ironside, 77 Sunset Strip), action (Mission: Impossible, Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman), drama (Dallas, Eight Is Enough) and comedy (The Brady Bunch, Love, American Style, Diff'rent Strokes). Martinson's credits range from some of television's most popular hits, including Fantasy Island, CHiPS, Cannon and Barnaby Jones, to such long-forgotten shows as Dusty's Trail, The Alaskans and The Chicago Teddy Bears. It's hard to find a series that doesn't bear his name on at least one episode. "If you want to be a director, you can start studying before you're anywhere near a set," Martinson said during a 2003 interview with the Archive of American of Television. "Every time you watch a television show, you're learning your craft. You don't watch a show for entertainment, you watch to study."

I've never considered DFJr to be a very physical screen presence, certainly not in the same league with his father. I've read that he often had to be doubled in duels, though I haven't studied his films closely enough to confirm that. Jr is okay as Rupert, it's just that smirking condescension is something Mason does better than just about anyone. You could make the case that Mason acually hurts the '52, as he is such a stronger presence than Granger he sort of throws the film out of whack.

Get Smart spoofed POZ twice: first in an episode titled "The King Lives?", then again in the two-parter "To Sire, With Love", which features the credit "and Rupert of Rathskeller as himself" -- guest villain James Caan agreed to appear on condition his name not be used.

Return to Zenda Before POZ was a film it was a hit play. Perhaps the playwright simplified the story for stage presentation, and this structure was so accepted by the public that film producers kept it. I think the '37 version is quite superior to the '52, aside from James Mason's Rupert. Granger is OK as the English visitor but cannot handle the King. I have a copy of the novel from 1922 w/ photos from the current film version. Never read it though. Zenda fans probably know about the spoof in the Great Race, but also check out George MacDonald's Fraser's Flashman novel Royal Flash, which is a pastiche/homage. It was indifferently filmed in 1975 with a miscast Malcolm McDowell, but the novel is a delightful entertainment. There's an amusing conceit at the end, as our hero Flashman tells his story to a journalist named Hawkins, which is the real name of Anthony Hope...

Zero Mostel, Fiddler On The Roof Cliff Gorman, Lenny Not Broadway or an original production, but perhaps the stage performance I most wish I could have seen: an LA little theatre production of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, starring Warren Oates as McMurphy (1966). Jack Klugman, who saw this as well as Kirk Douglas on Broadway, said it was the best McMurphy ever. Douglas IMHO was totally wrong for the role -- he's a straightforward schemer. Nicholson doesn't quite seem right either -- he's not bad, but he's always been essentially the cleaned-up, acceptable Warren Oates. Oates, with his hillbilly thuggery and causeless rebelliousness crossed with childlike petulance and impetuousness, might have been perfect. IMHO he seems to have been born to play the role. But Douglas owned the film rights, and would not release them during Oates' brief period of semi-stardom.

By coincidence I happened to watch The Fiend Who Walked The West last night. RIP, but I can't let a Hugh O'Brian thread go by without mentioning the classic Hollywood cycle of stardom: 1. Who is Hugh O'Brian? 2. Get me Hugh O'Brian 3. Get me a Hugh O'Brian type 4. Get me a young Hugh O'Brian 5. Who is Hugh O'Brian?

Completely disagree on Keyes, EGR was perfect. Also prefer Stanwyck to LS. Mitchum is too cynical from the get-go for Walter. Fred M's all-American boy-next-door makes an excellent sap. But I've sometimes wondered about another Paramount contract player in the role. What if Bing Crosby had played Walter? Not that Paramount would have ever done such a thing, what with Bing minting them money in musicals and comedies. Bur how might his career have gone?