Kent McCord TV movie

Kent McCord in between filming Adam-12 took on the role of a blind man in this TV movie, Beg, Borrow ...or Steal. 

Jim Reed teams up with Joe Mannix and Pete Cochran of the Mod Squad. Look for some other familiar faces of the era too. This was a decent TV movie. It treated handicapped men with dignity. TV movies used to be good. 

Adam-12 Patrol Lankershim and Otsego 1968

 Adam-12 at Lankershim and Otsego in 1968. Nice shot of the Orange Julius and Earll Floor Co. Carpets on the southeast side of the street. The west side of Lankershim has been demolished and rebuilt as a Monsterbox nightmare. 

Meet Sgt Mac at Universal

Come on down to Universal in April of 1974 and meet one of these actors. I need an insider to tip me off about which day is Mac Day! Just think, if you had someone to tip you off, you could only be notified by phone. A rotary phone at home. 

I took this photo of the former Boyett Family home in Studio City. It's very close to where Reed and Malloy chased the bad guys into the Tujunga Wash in the pilot episode of Adam-12. It might look and sound like a nice middle class family home, but because of its location, that would list for around $1.7 million.

Just wanted to end July with a Mac-based post.

Adam-12 Drive All Over Pig is a Three Letter Word

Log 23: Pig is a Three Letter Word, aired Saturday October 11, 1969. I covered the actors in my previous post. This post focuses on locations.

The easiest Valley location to identify was this one because the two apartment buildings are still there (for how much longer?) and Adam-12 love Tujunga Avenue (though they're north of Moorpark this time!)

My recent photo of 5056 Tujunga:

When the car turns the corner, we see a lost corner of North Hollywood:

The Monster Boxing of Los Angeles outrages me to the point I can't stand to look. Had I started this project in the 90s, most every Adam-12 location would have still been intact, and I'd have taken some of the last photographs of them (who knew!)

If you've read much of this blog (thank you!), you'll know I rage about this a lot. It hurts. The "re-imagining" of Los Angeles in the 21st century is an abomination. And it's why so many of the houses and apartment buildings Adam-12 drove past look familiar, so very Valley, but you just can't find them now. Someone dropped a Monster Box on them.

Note for non-Angelenos, it's "Tuh-HUN-guh." You may recall Reed calling in their pursuit in the Tujunga wash in the first episode. (I spent decades calling both the Tujunga wash and LA River "the storm drain"! It actually rained in the 80s and sometimes you'd see a proper river of water in there, in addition to shopping carts and graffiti. Pre-internet I think we all knew the names of every Los Angeles newscaster, and anytime it rained, it was delivered as a major catastrophe: "Stormwatch!" Everywhere else in the country it would have been reported as "rain." I digress!)

I'll try to go in some sort of order. My main interest is seeing the San Fernando Valley in the late 60s. Then I like learning more about the actors, seeing the cars that were still on the road (but I suspect the "hey, look!" ones were all provided by Universal and not just local people's cars that got caught in the shot), looking at Mac (!), noting any contemporary social commentary, laughing at various things, and last of all following the story.

In this episode too much time was wasted on the back lot, but they still packed in a lot of their part of the Valley, a clear Temple Street view, and some nice old cars. 

Great view of the opposite side of the Rampart station:

The Lewelleyn was a big deal 40 years before the new Rampart station (Adam-12 headquarters, allegedly Central division -- which was actually in Parker Center).

The Rampart Division headquarters where Adam-12 were based (while patrolling far away North Hollywood most of the time 😁) was new in 1966.

Adam-12 Meet Alex Clarke and Other Unsung Actors

Log 23: Pig is a Three-Letter Word, aired Saturday October 11, 1969 at 8:30.  Season 2, Episode 4. I liked the young actor in this episode, so I did some research on him and the other lesser-known actors in this episode.

Your viewing choices that Saturday night:

This entry will focus on the actors, and a separate post on this episode will focus on the locations. On to the actors:

Actor Byron Mabe had quite a few bit parts on TV shows of the Adam-12 era, including many of my faves (Cannon, Mannix, Police Story, Harry O), but I don't think he reached "Hey, it's that guy!" status. Here he played a most brutal child molester, and Reed was outraged. Rather shocking they had an episode where a five-year-old boy is raped to death, even if it was only talked about and nothing shown.

Byron Mabe was also the star of "The Doberman Gang" in 1972.

Mac finds out this child molester suspect is training dogs to rob banks:

This episode had three other officers with speaking parts but neglected to show their name tags or have their names spoken in conversation. Stuart Thomas and Breland Rice I found on other shows to confirm their identities. The man with the lengthy part and great close-ups didn't get a credit! He had just passed his probationary period and sits down with Reed, who doesn't bother to say his fellow officer's name. Mystery solved: It was Byron Bradley! He appears as the store detective in Season 5, Episode 16, Citizens Arrest- 484. He gets his credit in that one.

In the locker room, these two unnamed officers say much less than the man above, but somehow had character names in the credits! Breland Rice and Stuart Thomas:

The new actor who stands out in this episode is W. Alex Clarke (billed here without the W) as "Jessie Smith," a bit of a peacemaker in a time of tense Black-White relations.

He was the nephew of writer and agent Lillian Cumber, who helped him get started.

Tragically, there was a fire at Ms. Cumber's Hollywood Hills home in 1967. It sounds like the people were alright, but the property damage was probably why the house was soon up for sale. The house still stands and looks great from the outside at least. Alex Clarke is mentioned in the news article on the fire.

His first big role was in a film called "The Learning Tree."

Alex Clarke earned himself an NAACP Image Award. Also, an award went to Gail Fisher of "Mannix" fame. (I love Mannix!)

Sometimes credited as W. Alex Clarke, his credits on imdb are very brief. This one in a 1970 Disney film release (with the omnipresent William Schallert) is not listed. 

I would have enjoyed seeing more of this actor. He passed in 2010. 

The bad guys from this bust:

A familiar face is guest star Herbert Anderson, of "Dennis the Menace" father fame (a show I've never seen.)

A father-son burglar team composed of veteran character actor Ralph Manza and late 60s child actor Tony Fraser keep taking things from Herbert Anderson's home.

Ralph Manza had three Adam-12 appearances and a "Highway Patrol," but not a Mac episode. The man worked right up until his passing at the age of 78.

Child actor Tony Fraser had quite a few credits in the second half of the 60s. 

Was Ellen Corby the female William Schallert for her omnipresence? 

And our lady in the backseat. Groovy dress! A twist on the axe murderer in the backseat urban legend.

Now why didn't this featured player get a credit? And more importantly, what is his name? UPDATE! It's Bryon Bradley! He appears (with a credit) as Parlow in "Citizen's Arrest-484" Season 5, Episode 16. All of the other speaking roles got credits. 

I know Breland Rice's face was hard to get a large shot of, but I matched him to his small appearance as an officer on "The Green Hornet" for confirmation.

Byron Bradley, no credit this time. They already had one "Byron" in the credits. Was that what did it?

I (will) have a separate post for this episode on the locations and cars.

Pete Malloy Gets Paired Off Adam-12's Final Season

Pete Gets Paired Off

Suddenly Dirty Old Man Malloy does a 180 from checking out girls while on duty to pairing off with a single mom his own age in Season 7. We hear about her first and then get to see her twice, in episodes 16 and 24.
 
Possibly they named her "Judy" as a thank you to the real Mrs. Freckles, else it was just easier for Freckles to remember. Not sure how they chose Aneta Corsaut. 

Ms. Corsaut was a fine actress, but just not who I would have cast as Malloy's serious love interest. 

Here’s the short list I would have had, counting down # 5 to # 1.
 
My fifth choice would have been

Judy Milner. They had already done Bring Your Daughter to Work Day for Amy Milner and Kristen McCord. Why not Bring Your Wife? Think how much fun it would have been for the Freckles clan to watch Mom and Dad together on Adam-12 reruns years into the future.
 
My fourth choice:

Vera Miles. The last we saw her with Freckles, he was pretending to be Mr. Nice Guy, only to have her hauled away for a psychiatric evaluation. I always like a good Twilight Zone reunion.

My third choice:

Patty Duke. This could have been a shocker as Patty Duke shows up at the station as Pete’s ex-wife. Reed’s eyes would have opened wide for that one! They had married young and split up because of her drug addiction. Now she’s back and hopes to patch things up, but it turns out she’s still in the drug scene, which could disrupt Malloy's shot at making sergeant. A conflicted ending, leaving that little opening for a spin-off. That’s how I would have written it.

My second choice:

Barbara Baldavin. This lovely actress had put in three Adam-12 appearances: once with her baby threatened by Zalman King, the king of TV psychos for a while; once as Wells’ wife – yeah, right! – and once as Pete’s nurse girlfriend. Remember how she held the gun on the burly biker creep in the backlot Western town? She was a good match. [She will show up in a bit part on my Murray Hamilton blog, but she’s not there yet.] She had a fairly regular gig on Medical Center with hunky Chad Everett and film noir bad girl Audrey Totter.

And my top pick for who they should have cast to be the future Mrs. Malloy:

Barbara Eden. For starters, they might have still been married for the past decade! They could have thrown in lines like, “Malloy get married? He’d rather be thrown off a bridge!” She would have been perfectly age-appropriate, she’s cute as can be, and she was used to a man in a uniform.
 
But instead they cast Aneta Corsaut as Female Pete: red hair, a bit overweight, smoky voice. Female Pete. Given the show had Malloy chasing after the much younger Tina Sinatra, I’m surprised they didn’t give the final lady friend role to young Kelly Harmon. They’d already featured her siblings Kristin and Mark. Why not three for three of the Tom Harmon children? When Adam-12 went off the air, Kelly Harmon was already divorced from John DeLorean. Yes, that John DeLorean! Wild world of show-biz.
 
Sadly, Ms. Corsaut passed away at only 62 (curses to cancer), and she is buried in, yes, North Hollywood. Donations could be made to Richard and Diana Basehart’s foundation, Actors and Others for Animals, also based in NoHo.