True Grit

True Grit is a 1968 novel by Charles Portis that was first published as a 1968 serial in The Saturday Evening Post. The novel is told from the perspective of a woman named Mattie Ross who recounts the time when she was 14 years old and sought retribution for the murder of her father by a scoundrel named Tom Chaney. It is considered by many critics to be "one of the great American novels".



 In 1969 it was adapted for the screen as a Western film True Grit starring John Wayne as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (a role that won John Wayne Best Actor at the Academy Awards) and Kim Darby as Mattie Ross.

Mia Farrow was originally cast as Mattie and was keen on the role. However, prior to filming she made a film in England with Robert Mitchum, who advised her not to work with director Henry Hathaway because he was "cantankerous". Farrow asked producer Hal B. Wallis to replace Hathaway with Roman Polanski, who had directed Farrow in "Rosemary's Baby," but Wallis refused. Farrow quit the role, which went to Kim Darby.

 Wayne called Marguerite Roberts' script “the best [he’d] ever read”. He particularly liked the scene with Darby where Rooster tells Mattie about his wife in Illinois, calling it the best scene he ever did. However, Wayne found working with Kim Darby a very unpleasant experience. He said that "she is the worst goddamned actress I have ever worked with".

He called Darby a spoiled brat and completely unprofessional. Wayne also had issues with actors Dennis Hopper and Robert Duvall during filming. It was said that he chased Hopper with a loaded gun and almost got into a fistfight with Duvall.

In the last scene, Mattie gives Rooster her father's gun. She comments that he's gotten a tall horse, as she expected he would. He notes that his new horse can jump a four-rail fence. Then she admonishes him, "You're too old and fat to be jumping horses". Rooster responds with a smile, saying, “Well, come see a fat old man sometime”, and jumps his new horse over a fence. Contrary to rumors that Wayne didn't do his stunts, the fact is that he did in fact do the stunts which was verified by Kim Darby.

Wayne liked the horse he used in the film, A chestnut Quarter horse gelding, Dollor ('Ole Dollor) so much that he used the animal in The Shootist and several other films. Robert Wagner rode the horse in a segment of the Hart to Hart television show, after Wayne's death.

Laugh In

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In was a sketch comedy television show that ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to May 14, 1973. It was hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin and was broadcast over NBC. It originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, 1967 and was such a success that it was brought back as a series, replacing The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Mondays at 8 pm (EST). The title of the show was a play on the "love-ins" or "be-ins" of the 1960s hippie culture, terms that were, in turn, derived from "sit-ins", common in protests associated with civil rights and anti-war demonstrations of the time. In 2002, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In was ranked #42 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.



Each episode followed a somewhat similar format, often including recurring sketches. The show would start with a short dialogue between Rowan and Martin. Shortly afterward, Rowan would intone: "C'mon Dick, let's go to the party". This live-to-tape segment comprised all cast members and occasional surprise celebrities dancing before a 1960s "Mod" party backdrop, delivering one- and two-line jokes interspersed with a few bars of dance music (later adopted on The Muppet Show, which had a recurring segment that is similar to "The Cocktail Party" with absurd moments from characters). The show would then proceed through rapid-fire comedy bits, pre-taped segments, and recurring sketches.

 At the end of every show, Dan Rowan turned to his co-host and said, "Say good night, Dick", to which Martin replied, "Good night, Dick!" (varying a bit from the Burns and Allen old-time radio show). The show then featured cast members opening panels in a psychedelically painted 'joke wall' and telling jokes. As the show drew to a close and the applause died, executive producer George Schlatter's solitary clapping continued even as the screen turned blank and the production logo, network chimes, and NBC logo appeared.

Frequently recurring Laugh-In sketches included:

 Judy Carne was often tricked into saying "Sock it to me", which led to her being doused with water or otherwise assaulted. ("It may be rice wine to you, but it's still sake to me!")

 "The Mod, Mod World" segment, with its own signature tune, comprised brief sketches on a theme interspersed with film footage of female cast members go-go dancing in bikinis, their bodies painted with punchy phrases and pithy wordplay. The dancers were usually Goldie Hawn, Judy Carne and Chelsea Brown; Ruth Buzzi and Jo Anne Worley popped up rarely, as did frequent guest Pamela Austin.

 The Judge. Originally portrayed by British comic Roddy Maude-Roxby as a stuffy magistrate with black robe and powdered wig. Each "Judge" sketch would feature an unfortunate defendant brought before the court. Guest star Flip Wilson introduced the sketch with "Here come de judge!," the venerable catchphrase of black nightclub comedian Pigmeat Markham. Markham was surprised that his trademark had been appropriated, and he petitioned producer George Schlatter to let him play The Judge himself. Schlatter complied and Markham sat atop the bench for one season. The sketches were briefly retired until another guest star, Sammy Davis, Jr., donned the judicial robe and wig.

“Laugh-In Looks at the News", a parody of network news, introduced by an unjournalistic song and dance chorus line including the female cast members, and often a female guest celebrity. This commented on current events. The segment often included "News of the Past" which lampooned historical events, and "News of the Future", predicting unlikely or bizarre future stories to comic effect. Rowan actually nailed some, mentioning "President Ronald Reagan" in a story from "1988, 20 years from now", eliciting laughter.

New Talent Time, introducing oddball variety acts. The most famous of these performers was Tiny Tim.

The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award, saluting actual dubious achievements by the government or famous people, such as the announcement of a new Veterans Administration hospital to be erected in Southern California shortly after another such facility was destroyed in the Sylmar earthquake of 1971. The trophy was a gilt, outstretched finger atop a square base. "The flying, fickle finger of fate" was already a familiar catchphrase on the show (Dan Rowan would use the phrase when ushering "new talent" like Tiny Tim on stage).

 Henny Youngman would appear to tell one-liner jokes for apparently no reason. Often, corny one-liners would be followed by the line, "Oh, that Henny Youngman!"

Dan Rowan, in addition to hosting, had a recurring character known as General Bull Right, a far-right-wing representative of the military establishment and outlet for political humor.

 Announcer Gary Owens standing in an old-time radio studio with his hand cupped over his ear, making announcements, often with little relation to the rest of the show, such as (in an overly-dramatic voice), "Earlier that evening..."

 Arte Johnson, whose recurring characters included: Wolfgang the German soldier – Wolfgang would comment on the previous gag by saying "Verrry interesting", sometimes with comments such as "...but shtupid!" He eventually would close each show by talking to Lucille Ball as well as the cast of Gunsmoke — both airing opposite Laugh-In on CBS; as well as whatever was on ABC.

Tyrone F. Horneigh (pronounced "hor-NIGH," presumably to satisfy the censors) – A dirty old man coming on to Gladys Ormphby (Ruth Buzzi) seated on a park bench, who almost invariably clobbered him with her purse. (Both Tyrone and Gladys became animated characters in the "Nitwits" segments of the 1977 animated television show, Baggy Pants and the Nitwits.) A sample exchange: Tyrone: Do you believe in the hereafter? Gladys: Of course I do! Tyrone: Good. Then you know what I'm here after!

Piotr Rosmenko, the Eastern European Man – Piotr stood stiffly and nervously in an ill-fitting suit while commenting on differences between America and "the old country," such as "Here in America, is very good, everyone watch television. In old country, television watches you!" This predated a similar schtick by Yakov Smirnoff. Occasionally guest star Sammy Davis, Jr. teamed with Johnson as "The Rosmenko Twins."

 Rabbi Shankar (a pun on Ravi Shankar), an Indian guru – Dressed in a Nehru jacket dispensing pseudo-mystical Eastern wisdom laden with bad puns. He held up two fingers in a peace sign whenever he spoke.

 An unnamed "man in a yellow raincoat" and hat, riding a tricycle. The image of him pedaling, then tipping over and falling, was frequently used between sketches. (Judy Carne was once reported to have said that every member of the cast took turns riding the tricycle at one time or another.)

 Ruth Buzzi, whose recurring characters included: Gladys Ormphby – A drab, though relatively young spinster who was the eternal target of Arte Johnson's Tyrone; when Johnson left the series, Gladys retreated into recurring daydreams, often involving marriages to historical figures, including Christopher Columbus and Benjamin Franklin (both played by Alan Sues). She would typically hit people repeatedly with her purse. The character was recreated, along with Tyrone, in Baggy Pants and the Nitwits. Buzzi also performed as Gladys on Sesame Street and The Dean Martin Show, most notably in the Celebrity Roasts.

 Doris Swizzle – A seedy barfly paired with her husband, Leonard Swizzle, played by Dick Martin.

 Busy Buzzi – A Hedda Hopper/Louella Parsons-style gossip columnist.

 Henry Gibson, with recurring roles as: The Poet – The Poet would hold an oversized flower and read offbeat poems. He pronounced his name "Henrik Ibsen".

 The Parson – A character who made ecclesiastical quips and, in 1970, officiated at a near-marriage for Tyrone and Gladys.

 Lily Tomlin in a Laugh-In publicity photo. Lily Tomlin, whose characters included: Ernestine/Miss Tomlin – An obnoxious telephone operator with no concern for her customers ("'Fair'? Sir, we don't have to be fair. We're the phone company.").

 Edith Ann – A child who ended each of her short monologues with: "And that's the truth", followed by "Pbbbt!" . Tomlin performed her skits in an oversized rocking chair that made her appear small.

 Mrs. Earbore. A "tasteful" society matron, Mrs. Earbore would express quiet disapproval about a tasteless joke or remark, and then rise from her chair with her legs spread, and sometimes got doused with a bucket of water.

 Lily Tomlin later performed Ernestine for Saturday Night Live and Happy New Year, America (hosting the latter in character), and Edith Ann on children's shows such as Sesame Street.

 Judy Carne. In addition to being the "Sock it to me" girl, Carne had two characters known for their robotic speech and movement: Mrs. Robot in "Robot Theater" – A female companion to Arte Johnson's "Mr. Robot", both equally inept.

 The talking Judy Doll, usually played with Arte Johnson who never heeded her warning: "Touch my little body, and I hit!"

 Alan Sues as Big Al – A clueless and fey sports anchor who loved ringing his bell, which he called his "tinkle", and as hungover children's show host "Uncle Al, The Kiddies' Pal"

 Goldie Hawn was best known as the giggling "dumb blonde", stumbling over her lines, especially when she introduced Dan's "News of the Future".

 Jo Anne Worley sometimes sang off-the-wall songs using her loud operatic voice, but is better remembered for her mock outrage at "chicken jokes" and her melodic outcry of "Bo-ring!". Many times, during the Cocktail Parties, she talked about her boyfriend Boris (a married man).

 Barbara Sharma as the dancing meter-maid who ticketed anything from trees to baby carriages, and often praised vice president Spiro Agnew, calling him 'Pres-ee-dent Agnew.'

 Richard Dawson appeared as Hawkins the Butler, who would always start his piece by asking "Permission to...?" and proceed to fall over.

 Flip Wilson, whose character, the female Geraldine, originated the phrase "What you see is what you get". Another catchphrase was "The devil made me do it". Wilson and his alter ego had their own variety show in the early '70s.

 The first season featured some of the first music videos seen on network TV, with cast members appearing in films set to the music of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Bee Gees, The Temptations, the Strawberry Alarm Clock and The First Edition.

During the September 16, 1968 episode, Richard Nixon, running for president, appeared for a few seconds with a disbelieving vocal inflection, asking "Sock it to me?" Nixon was not doused or assaulted. An invitation was extended to Nixon's opponent, Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, but he declined. According to George Schlatter, the show's creator, "Humphrey later said that not doing it may have cost him the election", and "[Nixon] said the rest of his life that appearing on Laugh-In is what got him elected. And I believe that. And I've had to live with that."

In addition to those already mentioned, the show created numerous catchphrases:

 A six-note pattern preceding a code-word or punchline to an off-color joke, such as "do-doo-doo-da-do-doo ... smack!" or "... family jewels!" (sometimes extended to 18 notes by repeating the GGGDEC pattern two more times before the code-word). This same musical phrase had been used as a "signature" at the end of many pieces played by Spike Jones and his City Slickers.

 "I didn't know that." (Dick Martin's occasional response to what happened on an episode)

 "Easy for you to say!' (Dan Rowan's reply whenever Dick Martin tripped on his tongue during a joke)

 "Ohhh, I'll drink to that." (Martin's response to something Rowan said that he liked.)

 "I was wondering if you'd mind if I said something my aunt once said to me." A phrase that Dick Martin would always say to interrupt Dan Rowan's announcements on what would happen during their next show; this phrase was followed by a story about a bizarre situation that his aunt went through.

 "Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls! (a lesser-known set of reference books whose phonetically funny name helped both Laugh-In and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson to poke fun at NBC censors)

 "Go to your room."

 "Uncle Al had to take a lot of medicine last night" (line by Uncle Al, the Kiddies' Pal, played by Alan Sues)

 "You bet your sweet bippy!"

 "Here come de judge!" (reprising comedian Pigmeat Markham and further popularized by guest stars Flip Wilson and especially Sammy Davis Jr.)

 "Beautiful downtown Burbank" (various actors/characters, referring tongue-in-cheek to the Los Angeles suburb in which the NBC studios (and thus the program) were located; the same term was frequently used by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson).

 "'Ello, 'ello! NBC, beautiful downtown Burbank" (the response to calls received by a switchboard operator played by Judy Carne). When the series was syndicated in 1983, the NBC logo and the network's name were edited out.

 "And that's the truth." (Edith Ann, summarizing whatever she just said, and capping it with a juicy raspberry)

 "One ringy-dingy...two ringy-dingies..." (Ernestine's mimicking of the rings while she was waiting for someone to pick up the receiver on the other end of the telephone lines)

 "A gracious good afternoon. This is Miss Tomlin of the telephone company. Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?" Ernestine's greeting to people whom she would call

 "I just wanna swing!" Gladys Ormphby's catchphrase

 "Is that a chicken joke?" Jo Anne Worley's outraged cry, a takeoff on Polish jokes

 "Here comes the big finish, folk!" (usually before the last of a series of a star's bad puns)

 "Sock it to me!" experienced its greatest exposure on Laugh-In although the phrase had been featured in songs like Aretha Franklin's 1967 "Respect" and Mitch Ryder's 1966 "Sock It To Me, Baby!"

 "Oh, that Henny Youngman"

 "Marshall McLuhan...what're you doin'?" (Henry Gibson)

 "I don't know. I've never been out with one!" (First introduced by guest star Marcel Marceau, this catch-all punchline would be uttered by any guest star. Goldie: "Are you of the opposite sex?"

 Tiny Tim: "I don't know, Miss Goldie, I've never been out with one.")

 "Blow in my ear and I'll follow you anywhere."

 "Now, that's a no-no!"

 "Tune in next week when Henny Youngman's wife burns Jell-o!"

 "If [so-and-so] married [what's-his-name], divorced him and married {etc.}" The purpose being to try to set up a tongue-twister, involving the last names of celebrities. Example: "If Rosemary Clooney married Regis Toomey, divorced him and married Mickey Rooney, divorced him and married Paul Muni, divorced him and re-married Regis Toomey, she'd be Rosemary Clooney Toomey Rooney Muni Toomey!" Sometimes, the punchline results would be take-offs of songs or plays or products: "If Kaye Ballard married former astronaut Wally Schirra, divorced him, married his brother, she'd be [singing "Que Sera, Sera"] Kaye Schirra Schirra."

 "Morgul the Friendly Drelb" (a pink Abominable Snowman-like character that appeared in the first episode and bombed so badly that his name was used in various announcements by Gary Owens for the rest of the series (usually at the end of the opening cast list, right after Owens himself: "Yours truly, Gary Owens, and Morgul as the Friendly Drelb!") and credited as the author of a paperback collection of the show's sketches)

 "That's the most beautiful thing I ever heard."

 "Ring my chimes!"

 "Want a Walnetto?", was a pick-up line Tyrone would try on Gladys, which always resulted in a purse drubbing.

 "We have to stop meeting like this. My wife's getting suspicious." (or some other variant form of the phrase)

Trouble on the set

The leader of the IMF is initially Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill. As an Orthodox Jew, Hill had to leave on Fridays at 4 p.m. to be home before sundown and was not available until sundown the next day.

Although his contract allowed for filming interruptions due to religious observances, the clause proved difficult to work around due to the production schedule and as the season progressed, an increasing number of episodes featured little of Dan Briggs. Hill had other problems as well.

After cooperatively crawling through dirt tunnels and repeatedly climbing a rope ladder in the episode "Snowball in Hell," in the following episode ("Action!") he balked at climbing a stairway with railings and locked himself in his dressing room. Unable to come to terms with Hill, the producers re-shot the episode without him (another character, Cinnamon Carter, listened to the taped message, the selected operatives' photos were displayed in "limbo", and the team meeting was held in Rollin Hand's apartment), and reduced Briggs' presence in the five episodes left to be filmed to a minimum.

 As far as Hill's religious requirements were concerned, line producer Joseph Gantman simply had not understood what had been agreed to. He told author Patrick J. White, "'If someone understands your problems and says he understands them, you feel better about it. But if he doesn't care about your problems, then you begin to really resent him. Steven Hill may have felt exactly the same way".

Hill was replaced without explanation to the audience after the first season by Peter Graves playing the role of Jim Phelps, who remained the leader for the remainder of the original series and in the 1988–1990 revival.

The Man From Uncle

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement agency called U.N.C.L.E.

Originally co-creator Sam Rolfe wanted to leave the meaning of UNCLE ambiguous so it could be viewed as either referring to "Uncle Sam" or the United Nations. Possible legal action from the UN in using the name of the United Nations without their permission forced the producers to have UNCLE composed of letters standing for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Each episode of the television show had an "acknowledgement" credit to the U.N.C.L.E. on the end titles.

 The series consisted of 105 episodes screened between 1964 and 1968 produced by Arena Productions using the studio facilities of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The first season was broadcast in black-and-white.

When approached by the other co-creator, Norman Felton, James Bond creator Ian Fleming contributed to the show's creation. The book The James Bond Films reveals that Fleming's TV concept had two characters: Napoleon Solo and April Dancer (The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.). ("Mr. Solo" was originally the name of a crime boss in Fleming's Goldfinger.) Robert Towne, Sherman Yellen and Harlan Ellison wrote scripts for the series, which was originally to have been titled Solo.

Solo was originally slated to be the "solo" star of the series, the only "Man." But a small scene by a Russian agent named Illya Kuryakin caught fire with the fans, and the two were permanently paired.

 The series centered on a two-man troubleshooting team working for U.N.C.L.E.: American Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn), and Russian Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum). Leo G. Carroll played Alexander Waverly, the British head of the organization (Number One of Section One). Lisa Rogers (Barbara Moore) joined the cast as a female regular in the fourth season.

 The series, though fictional, achieved such a high status as to have artifacts (props, costumes and documents, and a video clip) from the show included in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library's exhibit on spies and counterspies. Similar exhibits can be found in the museums of the Central Intelligence Agency and other agencies and organizations involved with intelligence gathering.

 U.N.C.L.E.'s archenemy was a vast organization known as THRUSH (originally named WASP in the series pilot movie). The original series never explained what the acronym THRUSH stood for, but in several of the U.N.C.L.E. novels written by David McDaniel, it was expanded as the Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity, and described by him as having been founded by Col. Sebastian Moran after the death of Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls in the Sherlock Holmes story "The Final Problem." Later, an alternate—and more plausible—explanation was offered, with THRUSH rising out of the fall of Nazism and founded by high-ranking Nazi officials—including Martin Bormann--who fled to Argentina when defeat was seen as inevitable, taking with them enormous financial wealth, including gold and precious works of art.

 THRUSH's aim was to conquer the world. Napoleon Solo said, in "The Green Opal Affair," "THRUSH believes in the two-party system: the masters and the slaves,", adding in another episode ("The Vulcan Affair") that THRUSH will "kill people the way people kill flies: a careless flick of the wrist--reflex action." So dangerous was the threat from THRUSH that governments, even those most ideologically opposed such as the United States and the USSR, cooperated in the formation and operation of U.N.C.L.E. Similarly, if Solo and Kuryakin held opposing political views, the writers allowed little to show in their interactions.

 Though executive producer Norman Felton and Ian Fleming had developed the character of Napoleon Solo, it was producer Sam Rolfe who created the organization of U.N.C.L.E. Unlike the nationalistic organizations of the CIA and James Bond's MI.6, U.N.C.L.E. was a worldwide organization composed of agents from all corners of the globe. The character of Illya Kuryakin was created by Rolfe as a Russian U.N.C.L.E. agent.

 The creators of the series decided that the involvement of an innocent character would be part of each episode, giving the audience someone with whom it could identify.[4] Through all the changes in series in the course of four seasons, this element remained a factor—from a suburban housewife in the pilot, "The Vulcan Affair" (film version: "To Trap a Spy"), to the various people kidnapped in the final episode, "The Seven Wonders of the World Affair."

Apart from Solo, Kuryakin and Waverly, very few characters appeared on the show with any regularity. As a result, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. featured a large number of high-profile guest performers during its three and a half year run.

 William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy appeared together in a 1964 episode, "The Project Strigas Affair," a full two years before Star Trek aired for the first time. Shatner played a heroic civilian recruited for an U.N.C.L.E. mission, and Nimoy played a rival of the villain's henchman. The villain is played by Werner Klemperer. James Doohan appeared in multiple episodes, each time as a different character.

 Barbara Feldon played an U.N.C.L.E. translator eager for field work in "The Never-Never Affair," one year before becoming one of the stars of the very different spy series Get Smart. Robert Culp played the villain in 1964's "The Shark Affair."
 Solo and Kuryakin, trained in martial arts, also had a range of useful spy equipment, including handheld satellite communicators to keep in contact with UNCLE headquarters. A catchphrase often heard was "Open Channel D" when agents used their pocket radios; these were originally disguised as cigarette packs, later as a cigarette case, and in following seasons, as pens. One of the original pen communicators now resides in the museum of the Central Intelligence Agency.

One prop, often referred to as "The Gun," drew so much attention that it actually spurred considerable fan mail, often so addressed. Internally designated the "U.N.C.L.E. Special," it featured a modular semi-automatic weapon, originally based on the Mauser Model 1934 Pocket Pistol, but it was unreliable, jamming constantly, and considered so small that it was dwarfed by the carbine accessories. It was soon replaced by the larger and more reliable Walther P38 pistol. The basic pistol could still be converted into a longer-range carbine by attaching a long barrel, extendable shoulder stock, Bushnell telescopic sight, and extended magazine. In its carbine mode, the pistol could fire on full automatic. This capability brought authorities to the set early on to investigate reports that the studio was manufacturing machine guns illegally. They threatened to confiscate the prop guns. It took a tour of the prop room to convince them that these were actually "dummy" pistols incapable of firing live ammunition.

 Filmed in color during 22–24 November 1963 with sequences filmed at a Lever Brothers factory in California, the show was originally titled Ian Fleming's Solo and later Solo before legal action required the show to be renamed. Fearing further legal action because the name of THRUSH sounded like SMERSH, the episode had the organization redubbed WASP. The role of the head of UNCLE was Mr. Allison played by Will Kuluva rather than Mr. Waverley played by Leo. G. Carroll. David McCallum's Illya Kuryakin only had a brief role. The episode was titled The Vulcan Affair with Leo G. Carroll reshooting Will Kuluva's scenes and THRUSH replacing WASP when the episode aired on American television.

 Additional sequences with Luciana Paluzzi deemed too sexy for television were shot in 1964 and added to the pilot to be released outside the United States by MGM as a second feature titled To Trap a Spy.

 With the popularity of the show and the spy craze, To Trap a Spy and the second UNCLE feature The Spy with My Face were released in the USA as an MGM double feature in early 1966.

 The show's first season was in black and white. Rolfe created a kind of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland world, where mundane everyday life would intermittently intersect with the looking-glass fantasy of international espionage which lay just beyond.

The U.N.C.L.E. universe was one where the weekly "innocent" would get caught up in a series of fantastic adventures, in a battle of good and evil. In its idealistic depiction of an international organization that transcended borders and agents of all nationalities working together, Rolfe's U.N.C.L.E. anticipated Gene Roddenberry's interstellar United Federation of Planets in "Star Trek" two seasons later.

Rolfe also blended deadly suspense with a light touch, reminiscent of Hitchcock. In fact, U.N.C.L.E. owes just as much to Alfred Hitchcock as it does to Ian Fleming, the touchstone being North by Northwest, where an innocent man is mistaken for an agent of a top-secret organization, one of whose top members is played by Leo G. Carroll. This role led directly to Carroll being cast as Mr. Waverly in the show.

 U.N.C.L.E. headquarters in New York City was most frequently entered by a secret entrance in Del Floria's Tailor Shop. Another entrance was through The Masque Club. Mr. Waverly had his own secret entrance. Unlike the competing TV series I Spy however, the shows were overwhelmingly shot on the MGM back lot.

The same building with an imposing exterior staircase was used for episodes set throughout the Mediterranean and Latin America, and the same dirt road lined with eucalyptus trees on the back lot in Culver City stood in for virtually every continent of the globe. The episodes followed a naming convention where each title was in the form of "The ***** Affair", such as "The Vulcan Affair," "The Mad, Mad, Tea Party Affair," and "The Waverly Ring Affair." The only exceptions being, "Alexander the Greater Affair," parts 1 & 2. The first season episode "The Green Opal Affair" establishes that U.N.C.L.E. itself uses the term "Affair" to refer to its different missions.

 Rolfe endeavored to make the implausibility of it all seem not only feasible but entertaining. In the series, frogmen emerge from wells in Iowa, shootouts occur between U.N.C.L.E. and THRUSH agents in a crowded Manhattan movie theater, and top-secret organizations are hidden behind innocuous brownstone facades.

In its first season The Man from U.N.C.L.E. competed against The Red Skelton Show on CBS and Walter Brennan's short-lived The Tycoon on ABC. During this time producer Norman Felton told Alan Caillou and several of the series writers to make the show more tongue in cheek.

Switching to color, U.N.C.L.E. continued to enjoy huge popularity, but succeeding Rolfe, who left the show at the conclusion of the first season, David Victor, the new producer, read articles that called the show a spoof and that is what it became.

This campiness was most in evidence during the third season, when the producers made a conscious decision to increase the level of humor, with episodes like "The My Friend the Gorilla Affair" (which featured a scene in which Solo is shown dancing with a gorilla) the show tested the loyalties of its followers and this new direction resulted in a severe ratings drop, and nearly resulted in the show's cancellation. It was renewed for a fourth season and an attempt was made to go back to serious storytelling, but the ratings never recovered and U.N.C.L.E. was cancelled midway through the season.

Robert Francis Vaughn, (born November 22, 1932) was born in New York City to performer parents: Marcella Frances (née Gaudel), a stage actress, and Gerald Walter Vaughn, a radio actor. He was raised in an Irish Catholic family, living with his grandparents in Minneapolis, Minnesota while his mother traveled. He attended North High School and later enrolled in the University of Minnesota as a journalism major. Vaughn earned a Ph.D. in communications from the University of Southern California, in 1970 and in 1972, he published his dissertation as the book Only Victims: A Study of Show Business Blacklisting.

Vaughn made his television debut on the November 21, 1955 "Black Friday" episode of the American TV series Medic, the first of more than two hundred episodic roles by mid-2000. His first film appearance was as an uncredited extra in The Ten Commandments (1956), playing a golden calf idolater and also visible in a scene in a chariot behind that of Yul Brynner. Vaughn's first notable appearance was in The Young Philadelphians (1959) for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture. Next he appeared as gunman Lee in The Magnificent Seven (1960), a role he essentially reprised 20 years later in Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), both films being adaptations of filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese samurai epic, Seven Samurai. Vaughn played a different role, Judge Oren Travis, on the 1998-2000 syndicated TV series The Magnificent Seven.

Vaughn is a long-time member of the Democratic Party. His family was also Democratic and was involved in politics in Minneapolis, Minnesota and early in his career, he was described as a "liberal Democrat". He was the chair of the California Democratic State Central Committee speakers bureau and actively campaigned for candidates in the 1960s.

Vaughn was active in the Vietnam War-era peace group, Another Mother For Peace, and, with Dick Van Dyke and Carl Reiner, was a founder of Dissenting Democrats. Early in the 1964 presidential election, they supported the candidacy of Eugene McCarthy, mentioned for the vice presidency. The choice was prophetic, as McCarthy was not selected for the second position but did seek the presidency in 1968.[8] Vaughn was also reported to have political ambitions of his own, but in a 1973 interview, he denied having had any political aspirations.

In his memoir, A Fortunate Life, Vaughn recalls watching his good friend Jack Nicholson stumble his way through a scene of Bus Stop in a mid-1950s acting class without the "confidence" to carry it off. "Nicholson declared, 'Vaughnie, I'm going to give myself two more years in this business. Then I'm going to look for another way to make a living.' 'Hang in there, Jack,' Vaughn told him. 'You're too young to quit.'"

 Vaughn married actress Linda Staab in 1974. They appeared together in a 1973 episode of The Protectors, called "It Could Be Practically Anywhere on the Island", in which Staab guested as a ditzy American whose dog was stolen. Vaughn's character Harry Rule stepped in to find the dog. They have adopted two children, Cassidy (b. 1976) and Caitlin (b. 1981). They reside in Ridgefield, Connecticut. They also have a Labrador Retriever mix named Sam, which was adopted after the death of their previous dog, a Bichon Frisé named Peaches.

David Keith McCallum, Jr. (born 19 September 1933) was born in Glasgow, the second of two sons of Dorothy Dorman, a cellist, and orchestral leader (principal first violinist) David McCallum, Sr. When he was ten, his family moved to London. McCallum won a scholarship to University College School, a boys' independent school in Hampstead, London, followed by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (also in London). McCallum became Assistant Stage Manager of the Glyndebourne Opera Company in 1951.

In the 1960s, McCallum recorded four albums for Capitol Records with producer David Axelrod: Music. The best known of his pieces today is "The Edge," which was sampled by Dr. Dre as the intro and riff to the track "The Next Episode."

He was married to actress Jill Ireland from 1957 to 1967. They had three sons: Paul, Jason. He has been married to Katherine Carpenter since 1967. They have a son, Peter, and a daughter, Sophie. David and Katherine McCallum are active with charitable organizations that support the United States Marine Corps: Katherine's father was a Marine who served in the Battle of Iwo Jima, and her brother lost his life in the Vietnam War. David and Katherine McCallum live in New York.

Leo Gratten Carroll (25 October 1892 – 16 October 1972) was an English-born actor His Roman Catholic parents named him after the reigning pope Leo XIII. In 1897, his family is directly related to the American Carroll’s, the only Irish-American and Catholic signers of the Declaration of Independence and, for a brief time, the richest family in the US. In 1972, Carroll died in Hollywood of pneumonia and cancer, nine days before his 80th birthday. He was interred in the Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

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Sixties TV, I love it

12 O'clock High

The 87the Precient (Lasted like, two months but there's the guy from Three's Company)

Adam-Twelve...you know, I really didn't like this show all that much

The Adams Family....was never the Munsters

Andy and the boys, I still watch this...did you know it was supposed to be a show about the 1930s?

The Andy Williams Show...Moon River!

Coronet Blue was to hip for TV and way, way, way ahead of its time, to hear the theme song go here  http://www.televisiontunes.com/Coronet_Blue.html

Gentle Ben...I don't remember this show but I do remember  Grizzly Adams although I never watched it.

The Man From Uncle...Steve McQueen Cool...what else can you say about it?

Laugh In...was more like chuckle in but anyway

Teddy for you in 62

While standing at a factory gate shaking hands as the midnight shift left, an older worker came up to Teddy Kennedy and said "Kennedy, they say you never worked a day in you life"

Teddy shrugged.

"Well" the man said "Kid, you ain't miss'n a Goddamn thing"

"What's the point in being Irish, if the world doesn't break your heart?" JFK

"While Bobby was touring Harlem, he stopped in on a Christmas party for homeless children. One of the kids, about 7 years old, came up to him and said "Your brother is dead" All of us in the group just froze and the child, realizing he had said something wrong, started to cry. Bobby bent down to him and said to him "Yes, but it's okay, I have another brother"