Happy Birthday, Richard Anderson

The Bionic Woman (1976-78) came along when I was the perfect age for a female role model.  I loved the show, loved Lindsay Wagner as Jaime Summers, and just barely tolerated Steve Austin (Lee Majors), who fortunately didn’t pop in too often.  Richard Anderson was kept busy starring as Oscar Goldman in both The Six Million Dollar Man (1974-78) and its spin-off.  I liked him well enough, but I was too young and he was too old to really give him much of my attention.  Well, neither of us have gotten any younger!  Today is Mr. Anderson’s 86th birthday, and I wish him all the best.

I “rediscovered” Richard Anderson last fall, when I watched his six guest appearances on The Rifleman.  He was suave, charming, and usually on the wrong side of the law.  I guess I finally reached the right age to appreciate him.  It’s great that he’s still making public appearances at various reunions, conventions and autograph shows.  He’s still got that charming smile, too!

Richard Anderson appeared with Robert Fuller in Jungle of Fear (1965), part of the Kraft Suspense Theatre anthology series.   I have an abridged version on my YouTube channel in three parts.  Anderson wears a fairly ridiculous costume, but he manages to keep a straight face.

Remembering Don Grady

Don Grady has passed away at the age of 68.  I woke to the news this morning when I visited facebook.  I grew up watching My Three Sons, became obsessed with The Mickey Mouse Club in reruns in the early 70s, and watched Grady in his guest roles on The Rifleman just this year.

Born in San Francisco (or San Diego, since different sites disagree) on June 8, 1944, Grady was a musical prodigy.  He was a third season mouseketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club.  After that, he had guest roles on shows like The Rifleman (in the episodes Heller and The Patsy) and Wagon Train.  He was almost signed for the part of Andy Sherman on the western series Laramie, but the role went instead to Robert Crawford Jr.  (More about this here.)  Grady was then cast in My Three Sons, which ran from 1960-1971.

Many younger viewers of My Three Sons thought Grady’s Robbie was the oldest son, because we never got to see the black and white seasons in syndication.  Tim Considine (Mike) was actually the oldest, but he left the show—er, went off to college.  Not enough sons?  Okay, let’s adopt Ernie.  How convenient that he looks an awful lot like Chip.  (Barry and Stanley Livingston are real life brothers.)   The series ran for so long, Grady’s character got married and had three sons of his own—triplets, no less.  I went to elementary school in San Diego for one year with those triplets.  Well, one set of them, anyway.  Don’t ask me if they were the Swansons or the Todds!  It was too long ago.  We weren’t in the same grade, but the kids were always talking about them.

Grady was in a band that had a hit called The Yellow Balloon in 1967.  That’s the name of the band and the song.  He went on to have a long, successful career as a composer.  His death yesterday from cancer has shocked and saddened his many friends and fans.  RIP, Don Grady.

Don Grady in The Rifleman (The Patsy, season 2)

Don Grady in The Rifleman (The Patsy, season 2)

The Yellow Balloon (1967) Don Grady is in the wig and sunglasses.

Happy Birthday, Chuck Connors

Chuck Connors was born on this day in 1921.  He starred in my favorite TV western, The Rifleman, with Johnny Crawford and Paul Fix.  Connors passed away in 1992, but The Rifleman and the character he created are as popular as ever.  There’s even a reboot of the show in development, but Connors left some awfully big shoes to fill.   For his fans, Chuck Connors will always be the definitive Lucas McCain.

(click for larger, sharper version)

Related posts:  Happy Birthday, Cowboys!    The Rifleman

Happy Birthday, Cowboys!

Today, The Ugly Bug Ball celebrates two birthdays.

My grandfather was born on this day in 1909.  He wasn’t actually a cowboy.  He was a National Park ranger.   Still, I love this photo of him in a jaunty cowboy hat.

My grandfather in the early 1960s

It’s also Johnny Crawford’s 66th birthday.

Johnny Crawford

He’s best known for playing young Mark McCain on The Rifleman, which everybody knows is my favorite western.  Mark was never seen celebrating his birthday on the show, so I got silly in photoshop to change that.

A Birthday Party at the McCain Ranch (click to see larger, sharper version)

Happy Birthday,  Grandpa John and Johnny!

Rest in Peace, Joan Taylor

Actress Joan Taylor passed away on Sunday at the age of 82.  She played store owner Milly Scott in seasons 3 and 4 of The Rifleman.  As a love interest for widower Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors), she brought mature intelligence and warmth to this classic western.

Joan Taylor on The Rifleman with (clockwise from top) Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford and Paul Fix

The Elusive Billy Hughes

I’ve spent the last three months doggedly pursuing my goal of watching all 168 episodes of The Rifleman (1958-1963).   With the help of a good friend willing to DVR and send along various episodes, I am down to just one (Heller).  I will be sad when there are no new ones left, but at least the episodes are worth watching repeatedly.  That’s why the series has been in continuous syndication for over 49 years.  I now appreciate the character actors who worked in the classic westerns of the period, and I’m fascinated by several of them.  I’m starting here with the youngest.

Billy E. Hughes Jr. (November 28, 1948—December 20, 2005) was a young actor whose father and uncle were both stuntmen in Hollywood.  Hughes was a small but sturdy boy who was cast in his first movie partly because he could carry a large dog (Ole Rex, 1961).  After a bicycle accident, a broken front tooth made him look like a real kid, so it became part of his distinctive appearance.  Hughes was an emotive, natural actor with an interesting blend of vulnerability and grit.  He had guest roles in many television series and did a handful of movies, mostly low budget productions involving other members of his family.   Hughes appeared in three episodes of The Rifleman in the later seasons: Long Gun from Tucson, Day of Reckoning, and most memorably, The Sidewinder.  He was also in three episodes of Gunsmoke: Milly, Reprisal, and Us Haggens, the episode that introduced the character of Festus (Ken Curtis).

Hughes may have found himself in the business because of his family, but he came to believe that he was born to act.  After a leading role in My Six Loves (1963) with Debbie Reynolds, many more offers starting coming in, and his career was set to take off.  Sadly, his family was going through difficulties, and Hughes was sent to live with his grandmother.  She wanted to get her grandson away from everything Hollywood, so she refused jobs on his behalf and threw away the scripts that were sent.  By the time Hughes was old enough to make decisions for himself, it was too late.  The entertainment business has a very short attention span, and most child actors are unwanted once they grow up.  Billy Hughes found satisfaction in his adult life from raising his son, but he acknowledged in an interview that he suffered from depression and a lack of direction.  He died in his sleep at the age of 57.

I refer to him as elusive because his work is so hard to find.  His three episodes of The Rifleman are not included in the 50 shown on hulu.com, and only a clip from Long Gun from Tucson is currently available on YouTube.  Only one of his movies, Stakeout!, is available on DVD, and it has serious quality issues.  Ole Rex is almost impossible to find in any form, although lobby cards can be found occasionally for sale on ebay.  I have not been able to find any of his other television appearances besides the three Gunsmoke episodes, which are all available on YouTube.  When I watch Billy Hughes in what little there is see, I can’t help wondering what he might have achieved if he’d been allowed the chance.

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Other links:

Gunsmoke:  Milly (part one)   Reprisal (his one scene in part two)   Us Haggens (part one)  The other parts of each episode are linked to these.

Stakeout! (clips only)

The Law and Mr. Jones:  part 1     part 2

Wagon Train: The Eli Bancroft Story  part 1  (addition parts linked to first one)

IMDb page    wikipedia page      in memoriam page      riflemanconnors.com page

Note: In the book Growing Up On The Set by Tom and Jim Goldrup, the episode from The Rifleman which is described in the interview with Hughes is misidentified as Day of Reckoning.  It was actually Long Gun from Tucson, directed by Joseph H. Lewis.  The scene with Johnny Crawford is shown in two stills in the slideshow above.

Update: See the comment section for a link to a Lassie episode on YouTube.  Also, My Six Loves pops up on YouTube in various forms, often to disappear again.  Other new links are being added above, as I discover them.

Photoshop: Before and After

I’m always mentioning what I do in photoshop.  It’s time for a little demonstration.  Here are some before and after versions.  I don’t usually save the originals once I’ve done corrections, so putting this together was a challenge!  I use version 7, which is old but effective.  How these look on your computer will depend on your screen and how it is balanced, but hopefully the “afters” will be much improved.

Here’s an example of cropping and improving contrast:

Hadley Fraser and cast in The Phantom of the Opera

No matter how good a movie looks on DVD, the stills can always be better.  The original here was a few seconds before the one I used in my post for A Little Princess:

Liam Cunningham as Prince Rama in A Little Princess

I enjoy working with images from The Rifleman, because there’s no worry about color balancing.  It’s fun to restore the contrast, but I have to be careful not to wash out the lighter parts.  It’s also fun to remove unwanted elements using my favorite tool, the clone stamp:

Johnny Crawford in The Rifleman (The Pet, season 1)

Old family photos fade.  With my Epson scanner, I can scan them and restore the color and contrast quite a bit:

Christmas Party, 1970 (I'm on the far right in red)

I’m certainly no expert at photoshop, but I have a great time learning new tools and techniques.  As I learn, I’m tempted to go back and fix the images in older posts, especially since getting a new laptop with a different screen.  I just have to resist the urge!

Mark McCain

I’ve been neglecting things here, what with the holidays and my obsession with The Rifleman.  I’ve been busy over in photoshop making a Christmas video for friends and family, a project that’s replacing my usual paper Christmas card.  I’m also making a couple of videos for Christmas presents.  Last but not least, there might just be a video tribute to The Rifleman and my favorite character, Mark McCain, played by Johnny Crawford.  Here’s a teaser.

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Update:  Here’s my video tribute on YouTube, where it shall remain as long as the copyright demons allow.  Of course, it won’t be very interesting to anyone who isn’t familiar with The Rifleman, or for those who watch the show for the rifle!

Update:  And yet another video, because I had too many good images for just one.

The Rifleman

The Rifleman comic book (from Johnny Crawford's facebook page)

My latest discovery after re-scanning for television channels is MeTV.  Like RetroTV, it’s a station that shows old shows from the 50s, 60s, and 70s.  MeTV airs more half hour sitcoms that RetroTV, and the programming is 24 hours, instead of a combination of paid programming and old shows.   I’ve been watching The Mod Squad, Gunsmoke, Columbo, The Big Valley, Cannon…but what I’ve been enjoying the most is The Rifleman.   With 12 episodes available to watch each week, it’s easy to get lost in this classic.

The Rifleman aired for five seasons from 1958 until 1963.  Of the 168 episodes made, only 50 currently stream on hulu.  None of those are from the final season.  Only three episodes are currently available on DVD.  This is why watching The Rifleman on MeTV is such a treat.  I’ve come in late in the third season, but I hope to eventually see every episode.

I like to watch The Rifleman for the relationship between father Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) and his son Mark (Johnny Crawford).  Lucas says in The Spiked Rifle (season 2, episode 9): “That boy!  He’s my strength and my weakness.” This really sums up the show, since Lucas raises Mark alone while trying to protect him from every kind of danger.  I’m far less interested in how well Lucas uses his rifle, although I’d like to total up the number of people he shoots in the course of the series.  I suspect he fills up at least one cemetery in North Fork.

"Don't worry, son, there's a cure for your anthrax." (The Pet: season 1)

Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford have a special chemistry as father and son, although they look nothing alike.  This is explained away in lines like this one from The Visitor (season 2, episode 18): “You know, he does favor his mother!”  Mark McCain is a sensitive boy, and the role requires Crawford to cry often.  He also looks tiny next to 6’5” Lucas, which makes him seem even more vulnerable.  The bad guys love to threaten Mark and take him hostage, when they’re not hurting his pa while he looks on helplessly.  That is, until Pa gets the upper hand with his trusty rifle.

Johnny Crawford was one of the original mouseketeers on The Mickey Mouse Club, but during the course of the first season, quite a few of the 24 kids were dropped from the show.  That must have been devastating for those kids—the darker side of show biz.  At least Crawford was free to pursue other acting jobs, leading to The Rifleman.  He was 12 years old playing a convincing 10 when the show began.  He got to sing in a couple of episodes, and he had a fairly successful recording career as a teen.  I’ve caught up with his career on facebook and twitter, and he now has a dance orchestra based in Los Angeles featuring arrangements from the 20s and 30s.  The band sometimes travels, and since I rarely do anymore, I hope they come to San Francisco.  His music is available on Amazon, and there are some videos of his orchestra performing on YouTube.

Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain

Chuck Connors was a professional baseball and basketball player before he turned to acting.  He was great in Old Yeller, playing Yeller’s original owner who ends up trading the dog for a horny toad with little Arliss (Kevin Corcoran).  Connors was a political conservative whose good friend was Richard Nixon, and he became infamous for accidentally swearing during a live baseball broadcast in the 70s.  He died in 1992.  Connors and Crawford remained friends after The Rifleman, which isn’t surprising considering their onscreen rapport.

Many famous and soon-to-be famous actors made guest appearances on The Rifleman.  Dennis Hopper was in the pilot episode.  Other guest actors were Adam West, Sammy Davis, Jr, Michael Landon and James Coburn.  Some actors just kept coming back—Dabbs Greer appeared eight times in different roles, and Chris Alcaide made ten appearances.  So far, I’ve seen Alcaide die five times!

Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford, and Paul Fix (Marshal Micah Torrance)

The Rifleman tells a complete story in an economical half hour.  There are only a couple of two-part episodes with longer storylines. Even with less time for commercial breaks, it’s still an impressive feat of writing, directing and editing.  These were the days before viewers became accustomed to rapid editing techniques and montages to hurry things along.

It’s fun to watch for anachronisms in The Rifleman.  The show is supposedly set in the 1880s.  The McCain house says “rebuilt by Lucas and Mark McCain in 1881.”  McCain’s rifle is a Winchester 1892.  It fires 11 rounds, but the opening credits throw in an extra, or not, depending on who you ask.  In Boomerang (season 1, episode 9) a newly dug grave has a cross with the date 1871.  In The Wyoming Story (season 3, episode 20) Lucas pulls out a wallet photo of Mark smiling, printed on thin photographic paper.  Everything I know about the history of photography makes this kind of photo unlikely for the 1880s.

Buddy Hackett in The Rifleman

Something else that amuses me is how some of the costumes are aged.  It looks like they were attacked with spray paint.  I’m still working my way through the episodes, but the most obvious example I’ve seen so far is on Buddy Hackett’s costume in The Clarence Bibs Story (season 3, episode 28).  It looks like the costumer sprayed a cartoon face on his chest!

I love The Rifleman just the way it is, and I don’t think it needs an update, just a decent DVD release.  Wouldn’t you know it?  CBS is now planning to re-make the series, since westerns seem to be making a comeback.  Except for the possibility of  Johnny Crawford appearing in some capacity, I’m pretty worried.  All I can do is wait and see.

Visit www.therifleman.net for more information, photos, and an episode guide.  Watch the show on MeTV, RetroTV, and AMC.  Beware, AMC cuts out scenes for longer ad breaks, which is frustrating.  Other fun sites to check out are www.riflemansrifle.com, and www.riflemanconnors.com, which has an active fan forum.

Update:  I knew I wasn’t the only one who thought about tallying the show’s body count.  I’m so relieved I don’t have to do this myself!