Leon Errol Series: OH, PROFESSOR BEHAVE! (1946)

OH, PROFESSOR BEHAVE! (1946 RKO Short)  Starring Leon Errol as Leon, Dorothy Granger as Mrs. Dorothy Errol, Charles Coleman as the Butler, Amelita Ward as Professor James, Joe Devlin as the Fake Professor.  Also starring Myrna Dell, Betty Gillette, Phil Warren, and "Daisy" as Boots.  Written and Directed by Hal Yates.

The introduction to our Leon Errol Salute series is at this link.


Leon Errol is in hot water yet again.  The Mrs. has caught wind of his activities during her vacation, and she arrives home early to find him happily dancing with Dell--not the only young blonde at what is obviously a lively party.  Not buying Leon's claim that he's entertaining clients before a big sell ("Looks to me like you're on the buying list!"), Dorothy tells him to explain it to her lawyer before her haughty exit.

Meanwhile Leon agrees to provide accommodations in Dorothy's temporarily vacant room for Professor James as a favor to a friend.  Ol' Rubberlegs hasn't met the instructor, and is initially delighted once he learns that the bespectacled James is actually young, beautiful and female--until the Mrs. returns, that is.  With Leon's angry, threatening brother-in-law Warren at her side, she has agreed to give the Mr. just one more chance.  But after the scene witnessed by Dorothy earlier, how's the hubby to explain the presence of a comely brunette in her bedroom?

The mouse is playing while the cat's away once again in Oh, Professor Behave!   Lone gives every indication that he's making plenty of whoopie during his wife's soon-to-be truncated vacation.  Curiously, though, Leon urges the piano player to "speed it up" while he's slow dancing with nubile Dell--you'd think he'd want to do just the opposite, no?  No matter--Dorothy brings the festivities to a halt.  But the freneticism is just beginning.

Hal Yates was on a real roll at this stage of the venerable series, with entries like Beware of Redheads and Double Honeymoon brimming with sight gags stemming from ingenious set-ups.  Unfortunately, there's much that is hard to swallow here--distractingly so.  Professor Ward looks way too young to be more than a graduate student and complete stranger Devlin climbs up a vine-covered ladder to the second story on Leon's command, no questions asked!

If one is willing to accept such loopy contrivances, Oh! Professor Behave certainly offers one of the least labored joke barrages of the series in its second reel.  The stand-in professor turns out to be a total crook, deftly pickpocketing a much higher fee than the $50 Leon hastily offers for masquerade and aiming for all the silverware in the house amidst the chaos.  Meanwhile, the real Professor suffers unthinkable indignities--Leon's come-on, Daisy making off with her nightgown, and being bound and gagged by the butler and eventually wrapped up in linen by Leon.  At least, that is, until the last one: the Fake Professor unknowingly kidnaps her!

Making his only appearance in an Errol short is "Daisy", best known for playing the dog of the same name in 28 BLONDIE feature films for Columbia from 1938 to 1950.  Yes, you read that right---Daisy was really a male whose real name was Spooks.  Further confusing things, butler Coleman calls him "Boots" here.  Daisy was adopted for a mere $3 (some sources said fifty cents!) and ended up earning well into six figures by trainer Rennie Renfro.

This does appear to be the original Daisy I, though I could be mistaken: there were at least two successors as of the 1957 BLONDIE TV series.  Daisy I would have been around eight years old when Oh, Professor Behave! was filmed.   Boots plays hide and seek early on (hiding his face adorably) and later produces the real professor's nightie at an inopportune time for master Leon.  Daisy's high fee was usually worth it, and it is refreshing to see RKO shelling it out for what was often a modestly budgeted series by the late forties.

RKO starlet Myrna Dell started her Hollywood career at RKO, appearing in seven Errol shorts between 1945 and 1948.  Dell was usually the "other woman" making whoopie with Leon behind the wife's back, and while Oh, Professor Behave! is no exception to that rule, she doesn't appear past the opening scene.

Myrna Dell (THE BUSHWHACKERS) wasn't overshadowed often, but it happens here with stunning Amelita Ward in the titular role.  The future bride of BOWERY BOY Leo Gorcey is the brunt of much of the slapstick, enduring it all with almost impossibly good humor.  Ward retired from acting after her 1949 marriage (which lasted only seven years) but did return to the Leon Errol universe one more time in 1948's Secretary Trouble.

But forget the lovely ladies (if you can): the real show-stealer here is beefy character actor Joe Devlin, who understandably had multiple credits as "Mug" and Mussolini during the decade.  Hell, forget the show, the Fake (and decidedly un-scholastic) Professor tries to make off with the entire Errol household in addition to far more than his share of dinner.  He also has some delightfully unscholarly dialogue for the guise foisted on him--it's a shame this was Devlin's appearance in the long-running series.

As for the Great Man himself, he's as reliable as the word gets.  Whether he's stammering, leering, dancing or slamming doors, his timing is perfect.  His chief co-conspirator is perennial butler Coleman as they take turns in this game of hide the Professor.

Oh! Professor Behave is mirthsome but ultimately middling for a Yates-Errol short, if you prefer your two-reelers to have just a tad of verisimilitude. Still, the craziness is undeniably fascinating--Leon never realizes he's been ripped off, the police are never called, the only transgression punished is---Leon's.  The Errol World in a nutshell: giving a thief carte blanche in your house is preferable to facing the wrath of the wife.  But why, Leon?  You've had vases broken over your bald head dozens of times!  The sight gags alone make Oh! Professor Behave worth a second look.  While we're at it, Amelita Ward is worthy of a third, "Daisy" is a welcome surprise and it's nice to see Coleman get more time in the spotlight than usual.  (**1/2 out of four)

Television Review: LOVE THAT BOB: "Bob Retrenches" (1958)

LOVE THAT BOB a.k.a. THE BOB CUMMINGS SHOW: "Bob Retrenches" (1958 Laurel-McCadden Productions/NBC) Original Air Date: April 8, 1958.  Starring Bob Cummings as Bob Collins, Rosemary deCamp as Margaret MacDonald, Ann B. Davis as Schultzy, Dwayne Hickman as Chuck MacDonald, Charles Lane as S. J. Jollison, Rose Marie as Bertha, Pattie Chapman as Gertrude, Dorothy Johnson as The Model.  Written by Paul Henning, Shirl Gordon and Dick Wesson.  Directed by Bob Cummings.


Series overview for LOVE THAT BOB a.k.a. THE BOB CUMMINGS SHOW at this link:


It's initially a cause for celebration when Bob Collins Photography posts its most successful year to date, beating the past year's gross income by $7426.80.  ($64,467.76 in today's dollars, btw.)  Bob generously gives Schultzy extra money to treat her friends to the day's coffee break, tells nephew Chuck to treat himself to a new wardrobe using a charge card, and prepares to pay his 1957 income tax in one lump.

Bob's trip to pay the taxman ends the party, as the net income is a different story and turns out to be insufficient to satisfy the amount levied by the I.R.S.  Every single expense now warrants Bob's closest scrutiny, from "flowers for gardener" (which turns out to be Bob's attempt to woo Ava Gardner) all the way down to that diamond needle for Chuck's record player.

In an effort to make up for lost income, coffee is no longer free and Chuck is sent out to collect on past due accounts.  But why stop there....?  Schultzy adds an idea of her own as Bob sets out to persuade I.R.S. Agent Jollison that those so-called "dates" are actually business expenditures: just research and development (of new models) which should be deductible, right?

I don't think he's buyin' it, Bob...

LOVE THAT BOB mines more conventional turf than usual in this outing (hasn't every long-running sitcom lead been questioned by the Internal Revenue Service at some point?) with the financial problems created by prosperity taking center stage over our leading man's nocturnal pursuits.  It quickly turns Bob the swingin' single into a veritable square with accounting on the brain.  Not that combining business and pleasure is completely discounted: 1955 Miss Oregon Dorothy Johnson makes her series' debut, credited as "The Model" Bob is interviewing.  While her fate is undetermined at the fade-out, she was obviously hired since Johnson became a semi-regular during the following season as model Harriet Wyle.

Dorothy Johnson at right with our loverboy

Johnson wasn't the only semi-regular-to-be making her bow in Bob Retrenches. This was also the first episode for Rose Marie, who would join the cast during the 1958-59 season as Schultzy's close confidant Martha Randolph.  As is the case with Johnson, same character/different name: she's called "Bertha" in the credits.  Whatever the moniker, Schultzy's buddy joins her in thinking that Bob is the cat's meow.  Just like the photographer's subjects and apparently most of the females in the building judging from the turnout for Schultzy's afternoon coffee break festivities (the best sight gag, expertly timed).



Charles Lane and Rose Marie

Ubiquitous (368 IMDb credits!) TV sourpuss Charles Lane is put to good use as--what else?--I.R.S. agent Jollison, whose humorously terse conversation with Bob is a comic highlight.  Lane and Marie add considerable oomph to a script that was slightly below par for the 1957-58 season.  There's a number of smiles throughout but few belly laughs, and the concept of charging admission to watch The Master in action had been handled better in the superior Bob Gives S.R.O. Performance only a month earlier.

WHO WAS BLOCKING?

With money on the brain for everyone, Bob faced no resistance to his efforts to romance his prospective new model.  Hell, even Schultzy was encouraging him here, since The Show proved to be profitable!

DID BOB SCORE?

Our playboy lays one on Ms. Johnson during her audition, so he seemed on his way.  However, Jollison's ill-timed office call landed Bob in the clink for fraud at the fadeout, so in the end I'd have to say no.  (At least, he probably didn't want to score there.)  Though he did give Schultzy a noticeably longer kiss than usual earlier, when things appeared successful......

Not a bad episode by any means, just unexceptional.  A significant number of smiles, though; this one only suffers in comparison to howlers like Bob Gives S.R.O. Performance and Bob Goes Bird Watching that had aired recently.  The gags may not be gut-busters but they go down easy enough.  Cummings the director has another inspired moment near the end with his presentation of the high-demand "performance and coffee", but there's fewer of those from him and the writers than we've become accustomed to in Bob Retrenches.   (**1/2 out of four)

MAVERICK Mondays: "War of the Silver Kings" (1957)

MAVERICK Mondays: Number 23







MAVERICK: "War of the Silver Kings" (1957 ABC-TV/Warner Brothers) Original Air Date: September 22, 1957.  Starring James Garner as Bret Maverick, Edmund Lowe as Phineas King, Leo Gordon as Big Mike McComb, John Litel as Judge Thayer, Carla Merey as Edie Stoller, Bob Steele as Walter Jackson, John Hubbard as Bixby.  Teleplay by James O'Hanlon.  Directed by Budd Boetticher.


Bret Maverick rides into Echo Springs dirty and disheveled, but not broke--thanks to the $1,000 bill he keeps pinned inside his coat for emergencies.  Tracing this lone large around a sheaf of newspaper with his penknife, Maverick maneuvers himself into a nice room at the hotel with his "quintupled" bankroll.

One subterfuge leads to the next, placing Bret in the local poker game with the incredibly wealthy and seemingly invincible mining magnate Phineas King.  Maverick deftly deduces that Phineas is a cheat, and hands King a rare defeat at the table, which the mogul refuses to take lying down.  First Bret is not-so-subtly warned to leave town.  Then, a beating from the King's men convinces Maverick that his adversarial bully needs humbling, so Bret decides to hit him where it hurts---right in the silver vein.

Point Blank was creator Roy Huggins' choice for MAVERICK's pilot episode, but with Jack Warner's insistence that every WB series had to be based on a studio-owned property, that honor went to The War of the Silver Kings instead.  It would be the first of three installments directed by Budd Boetticher (THE TALL T) and also the first of three teleplays from James O'Hanlon (Betrayal).  While it's impossible to defend Warner's cheapskate ways (denying Huggins his royalties for a "created by" credit), the final result isn't harmful.  In several ways The War of the Silver Kings is actually a better introduction to professional gambler Bret Maverick.

The card game is barely present in Point Blank, but poker plays a much larger role in O'Hanlon's script with Bret's takedown of Echo Springs' table bully setting the plot in motion.  Maverick shows us a masterful bluff of the hotel's clerk before the game, but this is dwarfed by the crispness of his play during it.  Bret is dealt a pair of Aces on an early hand, receives a third Ace on the draw---and promptly folds to King's seemingly routine bet on what is revealed to be a full house that King has drawn three cards to.

Quickly identifying Phineas as a cheat, Bret waits until he has King heads-up to make his move.  Demonstrating a full read on his man, Maverick asks for a cut before the draw.  King quickly tries to save face with a $1,000 bet after Bret's check, which turns into a check-raise when Maverick comes over the top with his (importantly, sealed) envelope with "$4,000" inside from the hotel's safe.  Unable to manipulate the hand to his liking, King folds his unimproved pair of Jacks to what we see is Bret's unimproved pair of fives).  It's clearly the first crack in King's armor, but more troubling to the mining boss is the fact that Bret is on to him.  Perhaps the wiser move would be accepting this one loss---after all, Bret isn't likely to stay long-term and this is only one pot---but King is not one to truly take any chance.  Especially not this one.

The War of the Silver Kings also aptly displays Bret Maverick's derring-do away from the table.  He neatly protects himself from further attack with a simple newspaper ad and gets a non-King man elected Town Judge with a stealth word-of-mouth campaign.   But good old fashioned study plays just as big a role as charm: it is Maverick who brushes up on the legal reading and finds that the Apex Law remains intact.  Echo Springs is slowly moved from one man's fiefdom into a mining town with full-blown competition.

The combination of Maverick's easygoing charm and King's increasingly unsavory demands moves henchman Big Mike McComb into Bret's camp, making McComb the first of the colorful recurring characters in the MAVERICK universe.  It is hinted at the fadeout that McComb will be a permanent sidekick.  While that didn't come to pass, Leo Gordon would reprise the role four more times--notably in Boetticher's According to Hoyle and the legendary Shady Deal at Sunny Acres.

That oft-cited Law of the Apex really did exist, as a provision of the General Mining Act of 1872.  The courtroom scene seems to be the sole element of C. B. Glasscock's 1935 book War of the Copper Kings (to which Warner Brothers owned the rights, meeting Jack Warner's criteria) that was retained by O'Hanlon.

The War of the Silver Kings ended up being the final television appearance for longtime leading man Edmund Lowe, who appeared in only three more films before retiring.  John Litel has a nice showcase as the town drunk who makes the most of his second chance, and would return as another honest politician in The People's Friend.   Longtime cowboy hero and future F TROOP regular Bob Steele is noticeable as one of the townspeople under King's villainous yoke.

With Boetticher at the helm, this initial MAVERICK offering is played straight, with Bret impacting several lives in a positive way by episode's end.  Even King, who comes to accept sharing the mining community's riches and to respect his adversary's "guts".  But Huggins's creation is already mostly realized, at and away from the table: Bret never fires his gun (he pulls it only once, on McComb) and generally gets the worst of the fisticuffs.  Bret Maverick is one hero who prevails on his wits, proving the effectiveness of poker skill in other areas of life.

HOW'D BRET DO AT POKER?

See above.  He at least tripled that $1,000 initial stake by the end of the evening.

WISDOM FROM PAPPY?

None yet.  Bret didn't start spouting Pappy's proverbs until the third episode.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

The key shortcoming in The War of the Silver Kings is a change that Huggins was forced to make: originally, Bret Maverick was to keep a healthy portion of the mining settlement, but both ABC and Warner Brothers objected.  Huggins realized he'd have to subvert expectations in stages, so he played it straight at the denouement and acquiesced to these wishes.  As a result, Bret Maverick gives all of the money to the miners, something we would later learn to be completely out of character.  This dings the installment a little, but neither network nor studio could mask all the skewed conventions in this sterling debut.  (***1/2 out of four)


MAVERICK is back on Encore's Western channel Monday through Friday at 2:45 P.M. Central, and also airs on MeTV every Saturday morning at 9 AM Central.

Television Review: HONDO: "Hondo and the Sudden Town" (1967)

"Your lives are meaningless compared to HONDO!" 

HONDO: "Hondo and the Sudden Town"  (1967 ABC-TV/MGM/Batjac Productions) Episode 11; Original Air Date: November 17, 1967.  Starring Ralph Taeger as Hondo Lane, Noah Beery Jr. as Buffalo Baker, Gary Clarke as Captain Richards, Willam Bryant as Colonel Crook, Michael Pate as Vittoro, Glenn Langan as Victor Tribolet, William Benedict as Willie, Gene Raymond as Senator Alden Knight, Rod Cameron as Martin Blaine,  Leonard Stone as Gus Kelso, Tom Reese as Chad Wilson. Written by Palmer Thompson.  Directed by Harry Harris.

Series overview and introduction to the HONDO episode guide at this link. 

Former Senator Alden Knight--the "Silver Knight of the West"--and partner Martin Blaine arrive in the territory intending to revive the ghost town of Surprise, Arizona and its eponymously named silver mine in the heart of Apache hunting ground.  Game driven out during the previous boom is just starting to come back to the area, but Knight's name still carries a lot of weight in Washington: the troopers are under orders to protect the real estate investment fronted by the ex-Senator (yet quietly masterminded and largely financed by Blaine).

It figures to be a short exploration since Surprise No. 1 has been grubbed out for years, but Blaine has already arranged to make success certain.  Having made those preparations, Kelso blackmails Blaine for a higher cut of the profits.  Blaine's response is to kill two birds with one stone by having Kelso silenced permanently and framing the Apaches for the murder.  Meanwhile, employees are hired, Tribolet trades freighting services for land, and business is booming in the former Surprise, now renamed Silver Knight.  There's only one thing missing--actual silver bullion from the all important mine.

"It's kind of like tryin' to patch up a leaky water trough.  You plug up one end, the other end busts open."

Hondo and the Sudden Town brings another external threat to the ever-fragile peace in Arizona Territory.  This time, it's newly private property purchased by the politically connected that threatens the treaty, and all based purely on chicanery.  The geological test is likely as fraudulent as the scheme--note that it was apparently done without Vittoro's blessing, unlike the survey in Hondo and the Superstition Massacre.  This highly artificial stimulation is initially successful, trickling profits all the way down to the newly employed town drunk Willie.  But the gravy train stops with the white man--Apaches will face a great challenge in putting food on the table if the ghost is revived permanently.

"Your word has always been good, my Son."

Vittoro hears about the return of settlers from his scout, and for once we see the wise old Chief's patience tested--along with (briefly) his faith in Hondo Lane.  The end of Emberato's two moon timetable finds Silver Knight still filled with miners and more traffic on the way.  Even the Chief's son-in-law isn't immune to being scuffed up a bit when it appears that Lane was lying.

"You've been put out to pasture for pennies."

His love for taking center stage is intact even after he sours on the deal's legitimacy, but Senator Alden Knight isn't the expected blowhard.  An honest statesman for most of his adult life, Knight ended up pushed out by "a younger man with a chestful of medals" and facing his winter years financially insecure.  A widower as a young man (like Hondo) who never remarried, he longs for the cheering crowds almost as much as monetary gain.  Becoming Blaine's figurehead is understandably appealing, for Knight's political career could be resuscitated right along with the mine.

"My friends, a new day is dawning for this territory!"

By the time the Senator discovers the dirty dealings beneath the facade, it's too late for the frontman to bail--his name is on everything.  A decent man unwittingly ensnared in Blaine's web, the Silver Knight is a tragic figure in the end.  The cost of retaining his moral sense is losing that sterling reputation that took four decades to build and meant far more to the Senator than money.

Little wonder that Blaine and Tribolet hit it off--in fact, the latter even seems awed by the newcomer at times.  Blaine is just as bastardly as Fort Lowell's resident magnate, yet even more skillfully connected at the nation's capital and smoothly efficient at eliminating obstacles without ever getting his hands dirty.  Martin Blaine coolly imposes his will on forces both physically (Wilson) and politically (Knight) powerful without ever breaking a sweat.  Blaine's lone error is choosing the bigoted Wilson for the most unpleasant task--the henchman is simply too ignorant of Apache ways to convincingly pin Kelso's demise on the tribe.

Hondo and the Sudden Town was the first of back to back segments directed by Harry Harris, who handles the show's fisticuffs better than anyone outside of Lee Katzin.  Reliable heavy Tom Reese (FLAMING STAR) gets two bouts with our titular hero.  For once, Reese isn't the most physically imposing actor on the set with 6'5" Rod Cameron around.  The grandiose actor was widely known for his canny business sense in real life, choosing first-run syndication for all three of his 1950's vehicles (for the fatter residuals).  Cameron proves to be an inspired choice for Blaine, one of his few villainous roles on the small screen.

Cameron (STATE TROOPER) rates special guest star status in the opening credits, but Gene Raymond gets the showier part as he recounts his greatest D.C. glories at the saloon and later baffles 'em with BS when explaining the scheme's profitability.  Likely better known as the husband of Jeanette MacDonald than for his own lengthy career, Raymond is unexceptional but credible.

Beery and Benedict (R)

Hondo and the Sudden Town was the last of four appearances for longtime Bowery Boy Billy Benedict as saloon fixture Willie.  It is somewhat surprising for a character actor with 317 IMDd listings and a career spanning 53 years, but these four episodes are Benedict's highest number for any TV series.   The Oklahoma native went uncredited frequently, but that only happened to him once on HONDO (Hondo and the Comancheros).  Incidentally, the real Surprise, Arizona has become something of a sudden city in the 21st century: the population has more than quadrupled (from 30,848 to 132,677) since the year 2000.

HOW MANY CANS OF WHOOPASS?

Damn close to a six-pack.  As noted above, henchman Chad Wilson runs afoul of Hondo twice, failing to get revenge in the rematch.  The ill-fated Kelso and Blaine also end up on the wrong end of Hondo's fists.  Lane's ring record is marred a little by Apache braves angered at the white man's continued intrusion, but to be fair, it took a sneak attack by four of them.

IS THE CANTINA STILL STANDING?

Hondo's brief dispatchment of Kelso caused no property damage, and every other fracas took place outdoors.

A DOG'S LIFE:

Sam's the one who locates the key evidence convincing Hondo of Apache innocence in Kelso's killing, and also gets to display his horse-fetching skills.  Sam also gets some amusing visuals during the montage of rebuilding Silver Knight, and Harris never has him far from the action.

MISSING MINUTES:

This might be the episode harmed most by edits in syndication, as every TV print I've seen is missing the crucial scene at Destarte's grave between Senator Knight and Hondo.  We learn a lot about Knight's early life before public service in a short time (including somewhat surprising commonalities with Lane) and the monologue is crucial to the final resolution, which seems a little rushed without it.

NAGGING QUESTION:

Which state did Senator Knight represent for forty years?  If he was the Silver Knight of the West, even California wouldn't have been a state long enough in 1869 (the year in which Hondo is set).  Louisiana (admitted 1812) is the most westward state that would fit that timeline.

Writer Palmer Thompson contributed scripts to over three dozen TV series before his untimely death at age 51.  While Thompson's tale of Surprise has few of them, he does have a great grasp on these characters and the rather heart-rending arc of the unfortunate Knight is compelling.  Speaking of sad fates--ABC's quick hook for HONDO become official just days before this superb installment arrived.  A real shame, for Hondo and the Sudden Town displays a show in full stride after only eleven installments.  (***1/2 out of four)

HONDO airs at 10:15 A.M. Central every Sunday morning on GetTV, and on Saturday, June 30th GetTV airs a HONDO marathon from 11 AM until 7 PM Central which includes this episode.  

HONDO: THE COMPLETE SERIES is also on DVD from Warner Archive.