The Rogues, Sixties Light Drama Series

This light drama television series had lots of humorous moments, but it was a crime drama. The series centered around a crime family, but not in the sense of what we usually think of as an underworld crime family that tries to keep control over liquor, gambling or prostitution; rather the members of this family were all related, with one member being from France, others from England, and still others from the United States. What made this family unique was, they had a standard to only rob wealthy people whom they felt deserved to part with some of their money because they had acted so poorly toward others. The main cast featured English actor David Niven, French/American actor Charles Boyer (he became an American citizen during the early part of World War Two), American actor Gig Young, English actress Gladys Cooper and English actor Robert Coote. Gladys Cooper lived in the United States for an extended period, but I believe she only retained her UK citizenship, as did Robert Coote, who also periodically lived in the U.S. A few episodes of "The Rogues" cast English actor John Williams as an inspector with Scotland Yard. John Williams is someone you would likely recognize by face, but perhaps not by name (if you watched the 1960s show "Family Affair," with Brian Keith, John Williams filled in for Sebastian Cabot for a time, when Cabot took a leave of absence. He also played the chief inspector in famous Alfred Hitchcock movie "Dial M For Murder," with Ray Milland and Grace Kelly). Further, then essentially unknown American actor Larry Hagman was in two episodes of the show to try to help ease scheduling problems for the trio of well known male stars (Niven, Boyer, Young), who had commitments elsewhere. Hagman would soon go on to become famous in NBC's "I Dream of Jeannie" comedy series, and then later still as J.R. Ewing in CBS's "Dallas" series. He was the son of then well known film and stage star Mary Martin, who is likely best known to my generation for playing Peter Pan on stage and on television.

 

The Rogues" aired for one season on Sunday nights from 10 pm until 11 pm from September of 1964 until April of 1965 on the NBC network. "The Rogues" had a catchy theme song, instrumental only, no vocals, composed by Nelson Riddle. I watched "The Rogues" often in those times, and I have long had good memories of the show. Although the show was canceled after only one season, it had a truly outstanding regular cast (see below), and "The Rogues" won the Golden Globe Award for Best Show, and two regular cast members, Gladys Cooper and Robert Coote, were nominated for Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievements. The show also featured a number of well known guest stars, like Broderick Crawford, Ricardo Montalban, James Gregory, Dina Merrill, George Hamilton, Jill St. John, Dana Wynter, Ida Lupino, Walter Matthau, Eddie Albert, George Sanders, Zachary Scott, and others. There are DVD releases of the show and the show has aired on TVLand, I believe, and perhaps on some other such stations.

 

Stars David Niven and Charles Boyer were two of the owners of Four Star Television, the company that produced "The Rogues." The original intention for the series was to have Niven, Boyer and Young each take turns playing the lead for a weekly episode, with one or both of the other two stars adding some support, and with Coote and Cooper being the main support for the lead actor. David Niven, Charles Boyer and Gig Young were all established, well known stars. The thing was, David Niven was often unavailable for full episodes due to other commitments, so Boyer and Young shared the lead in many of the episodes, although Boyer's schedule periodically also proved to be problematic, leaving Gig Young as the most common lead. Understand, David Niven did lead in a couple of episodes. "The Rogues" showed the difficulty of doing a weekly television series with three big stars, all of whom still had strong ties to the movie industry; and thus, they had periodic scheduling conflicts.      

 

Main regular cast:

 

David Niven as Alec Fleming

Charles Boyer as Marcel St. Clair

Gig Young as Tony Fleming

Gladys Cooper as Margaret "Meg" St. Clair

Robert Coote as Timmy St. Clair

Larry Hagman as Mark Fleming 

 

In one episode, guest star Mexican actor Ricardo Montalban plays the ruthless owner of a shipping company (the Rogues call him a "barracuda;" which is a type of ferocious predatory fish). He has the bow of one of his ships reinforced and it then proceeds to ram and sink a rival company's ship, but the authorities can't prove it. When he answers a British reporter's question as to why his ship had its bow reinforced, he says it was for protection against icebergs; to which the reporter asks, "In the Mediterranean?" (Hahaha) The "family," as they tend to call themselves, come up with a scheme to have the shipping owner part with some of his money by them buying some outdated U.S. Navy ships cheaply and then getting the shipping owner to buy them at a much higher price by making him believe one of the ships contains gold bullion from the World War Two era. In another episode, the family determines it will go after a London gambling house that cheated "Uncle Bertie" (played by Donald Foster), one of their elderly relatives, in a card game. The gambling house is led by guest star English actor Patric Knowles. Because the family fears the English part of the family may be recognized in London, they call upon their American relative, Tony Fleming, to get back Uncle Bertie's money, but complications arise, and family elder Margaret is called into action to bring the plan to fruition. (Note: I always liked Gladys Cooper, who was in her 70s when she was cast in "The Rogues," and she is totally delightful in several episodes, but especially in this one. In various episodes, when told of how the family plans to teach a wealthy scoundrel a lesson, she utters, "Lovely!" A number of years before, Gladys Cooper was a very well known actress in her native England and the rest of Britain, although she also lived in the United States for a number of years. Famous American actress Bette Davis adored her, and Gladys Cooper famously played Bette Davis's mother in the film "Now, Voyager.") Another episode has the family trying to sell a diamond manufacturing machine to a greedy diamond mine owner (played by American actor James Gregory). Of course, the machine doesn't work, but their job becomes trying to convince the man that it does work. The family drops hints about a machine that makes diamonds, which causes the stock in the man's company to lose value (why do you need a diamond mining company, if you can just make diamonds), and the family then gets stock in the company at a cheap price, believing that when the diamond machine is finally proved to be unable to produce the valuable stones, the company stock will again surge upward, making them a large amount of money. And another episode has veteran American actor Broderick Crawford as a hard nosed multi-millionaire who preaches "don't ever give away anything, unless you get something better back." He owns a Rembrandt painting, and the family intends to use a copy of the painting done 20 years earlier by their forger employee, Henri, to get money from the rich tightwad to help the aging Henri open a restaurant in the south of France, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea (Henri is played by long time actor Steven Geray*).

 

* Steven Geray (an Anglicized version of his birth name) was born in what was then Austria-Hungary, but in the Hungarian administered area of what is now a part of Ukraine. The history and ethnic composition of that region is complex, so I'll just say that Geray came from an area with many Ruthenians, a Slavic people closely akin to the Ukrainians, but I'm not sure of his family background, and he is usually listed as Hungarian. In the 1930s, Geray appeared in many parts of Europe, including in London and Paris. His cabaret performances in prewar Paris saw him give unflattering portrayals of Hitler and Mussolini (GOOD FOR HIM!), which prompted protests from the German and Italian governments. He came to the United States during the early part of World War Two. If you've seen movies from the 1940s and 1950s, especially, chances are you have seen Steven Geray. As with many actors, he began to appear in television shows on occasion.  

 

 

The Skaryguyvideo multiple dvd set

 

Public domain photo of the cast of the NBC show, taken from Wikipedia. Gladys Cooper seated with the bulldog, standing left to right: Charles Boyer, Gig Young, David Niven and Robert Coote

WORD HISTORY:

Rogue-The history of the word "rogue" in English is tough, but it seems to be from Latin. The word entered English in the 1500s with the meaning, "a tramp, a beggar who pretends to be without money to earn sympathy and, thus, money." This seems to have formed the basis for the more modern meaning, "a scoundrel, a conman," and the secondary meaning, "an animal that roves outside the herd" (from the mid 1800s), and also, "a person who operates outside the rules or traditions of a system." This goes back to the Latin verb "rogare," which meant, "to ask (for something)," which goes back to Indo European "reg," which had the notion, "to move or lead in a direct line." The Indo European form is the source of numerous words including, "rich" and "right," from the Germanic roots of English, and of "direct," "correct" and "regulate," all Latin derived words borrowed by English, and of "rule," a Latin derived word borrowed by English via French. Latin "rogare" spawned a slang thieves' term, "roger" in English (pronounced with a hard 'g') with the meaning of "someone who pretends to be poor to get money from others because of sympathy." The term "rogues' gallery" started in the mid 1800s with daguerreotypes (and later photographs) of known criminals kept by law enforcement officials.   

My Friends Were NOT Losers or Suckers

A few months ago I thought back to the 1960s, a tumultuous time in the world and in the United States. One hot spot in the world was Germany. After World War Two, the country was divided, with Austria again becoming independent, with the victorious Allies occupying the country. Germany was divided into occupation zones, with each of the four major Allies (the U.S., Britain, France and the Soviet Union) administering a zone. The eastern part of Germany was in the Soviet zone; thus, it became communist dominated with a pro-Soviet German government eventually installed. The thing was, lots of Germans, including many highly skilled workers and well educated people, crossed over into the western areas of Germany. By the early 1960s, the East German government, supported by the Soviets, cracked down on people leaving their sector, and they began building a wall to halt the out migration to West Germany. This all caused a crisis. Then not long thereafter, the U.S. announced they had evidence that the Soviets had shipped missiles to Cuba, a communist nation only 90 miles from the U.S. shore and run by dictator Fidel Castro. This REALLY caused problems and it looked as if the world could experience a nuclear war, as President Kennedy leaned on the Soviets to remove the missiles by ordering a naval blockade of Cuba. Finally, after many tense days, which included air raid drills in schools, the Soviets withdrew the missiles.

With these things going on, not many people paid as much attention to the then increasing tensions in South Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia. It was one of those countries that had been created by splitting the main country into a communist dominated North Vietnam, and a pro-Western government in South Vietnam. American foreign policy began to focus on stopping the spread of communism to South Vietnam, as we were eventually told and given to believe, that if South Vietnam became a communist nation, we could expect to be fighting Vietnamese communists in the streets of Los Angeles and Seattle, not to mention perhaps in Boise, Idaho. Thousands of U.S. troops were sent to South Vietnam, and while the reasons may seem odd today (almost funny, if the result hadn't been so bloody), the call to nationalism and American fear of communism was quite real in those days, and politicians of both major parties did not want to end up on the wrong side of the issue. We in the public were told how we were close to ending the threat in South Vietnam, but in fact, the situation grew worse, and soldiers by the tens of thousands were sent to try to end the conflict, with more than 50,000 dying by the time Americans were completely withdrawn from South Vietnam. 

A few months ago, as I thought about those times, I looked online for two friends who died in Vietnam. These guys were from right in my neighborhood. "Gary" was like 4 or 5 years older than me and the guys I hung around with. Now, if you're 10 and another guy is 14 or 15, that's a big difference at that age, and Gary was like a big brother to some of us, even though he wasn't a tall guy in that sense. Gary joined the Marines a few years later. He was sent to Vietnam and killed in action in 1967. Then there was "Robbie." He was just a year or 2 older than most of us and we all played ball together in the schoolyard and did all the things that young people and teenagers do. He was also not a tall guy at all. As the war became big news in the second half of the 1960s, he talked of wanting to be a Marine and to serve in Vietnam, or "Nam," as he would say. When he was still too young for military service, I think many of us thought and hoped the war would be over before Robbie might end up in it, and some of my firends poked fun at his gung ho attitude, perhaps to ease the thoughts of what might happen to him. Well, the war continued and Robbie joined the Marines. In the first few days of 1970 he was killed in action. The thing that most of us feared had happened.

 

I found my two friends online and I saw their photos from all of those years ago (both in their uniforms). I sat and cried and I'm not doing well at keeping my composure as I write this. Since I saw their pictures, word has come out that there were likely bounties paid by Russia to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan, and then word came that the "little man" (dis)serving as president of the United States called American wounded and dead soldiers "loosers and suckers." These things alone, along with his disparaging comments about John McCain and attacking the parents of a soldier killed in action, should be QUITE ENOUGH to tell any American all they need to know about the despicable creature and his mob-like culture occupying our White House. He is worthy of nothing but contempt. 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Fidelity-This word is closely related to "fealty," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English via French, and it is related to "confide," a word borrowed by English directly from Latin. Further, it may be distantly related to "bide" and "abide," both words from the Germanic roots of English. "Fidelity" goes back to Indo European "bheidh," which had the notion, "to trust," with extended meanings like "to convince" (bring someone to trust in your feelings about something), "to obey" (put trust in someone by following their orders). Italic rendered the "bh" as "f," which gave Latin "fidere," meaning "to trust," and the noun "fides," meaning "faith," which produced the adjective "fidelis," meaning, "faithful," which produced the noun "fidelitas," meaning "faithfulness." This was taken into French as "fidélité," with the same meaning, and English borrowed the word in the first half of the 1400s (initially as "fidelite?").            

Gilligan's Island Episode: The Little Dictator

This episode was first broadcast in September 1965.

"Gilligan's Island" was a comedy originally aired on the CBS television network in the mid 1960s. The show's first season, 1964-65, was broadcast in black and white, but the show began airing in color with the 1965-66 season. The basic idea of the series was that seven people had been shipwrecked during a severe storm after the tour boat they were on sailed from Hawaii. The boat was beached on a small uncharted island where these seven representatives from various parts of American society had to learn to get along in order to survive. Some viewers took the show far too seriously, as many particulars of the episodes certainly didn't make sense,* but those of us who loved the show didn't care, and "Gilligan's Island" was and still is one of my all time favorite shows. The show was canceled after the 1966-67 season, but these episodes from the 1960s were aired for decades in syndication in the United States and around the world. In addition, three full-length movies were made in the late 1970s and early 1980s featuring all of the original cast, except Tina Louise, who remained embittered about how the show had damaged her career, as movie and television execs felt she was too tied to her "Ginger" character from the show, and this restricted the roles offered to her. Some of the other cast members were embittered too, until they came to realize how beloved they and the show were to so many people around the globe.

Cast:

Bob Denver ................. Gilligan
Alan Hale, Jr. .............. (the) Skipper
Jim Backus ................. Thurston Howell III
Natalie Schafer ........... Mrs. Howell, aka "Lovey"
Tina Louise ................ Ginger Grant
Russell Johnson ......... the Professor
Dawn Wells ............... Mary Ann
Nehemiah Persoff ...... Presidente Rodriguez 
 
This episode was done as a parody of Central and South American countries of that time period in the 1960s, as so many of those countries often were politically unstable back then. This episode uses a fictional country called "Equarico" to make that point. The guest star was Nehemiah Persoff, a favorite of mine, and a man now 100 years old! 

A deposed dictator from the fictitious Latin American country of "Equarico" is exiled to the island, complete with his pistol. He meets Gilligan and introduces himself as Ex Presidente Rodriguez, but Gilligan doesn't believe him and sarcastically introduces himself as George Washington, which brings Rodriguez to mistakenly reply, "They exiled you too?" From this point on, Rodriguez calls Gilligan "George." In the world of Equarico, Rodriguez has learned that "he who has gun is the leader." Rodriguez implements this doctrine and he sees the castaways as his new subjects, and he declares himself as "the provisional presidente, until such time as it is safe to hold free and democratic elections." When the castaways ask, "When will that be?" Rodriguez responds, "You should live so long." The castaways make a couple of attempts to overthrow Rodriguez, but they fail, which brings Rodriguez to prepare to execute Gilligan, but when he pulls the trigger of the pistol, the gun is out of bullets. The castaways now take the dictator into custody. Rodriguez assumes he will be executed or exiled, because that's what happens in Equarico. Instead, the castaways simply want Rodriguez to become one of them and to be a good citizen of their island community, where he can become "anything he wants." Of course, what Rodriguez wants is to be the leader, and he plans to use Gilligan ("George") as the means to achieve that wish by trying to convince Gilligan to become the "leader" of the island, with Rodriguez always being there to "help" him. (Democracy is always vulnerable to want to be dictators, if people don't keep vigilant.) He tells Gilligan to sleep on the proposal and Gilligan has a dream about being the "leader," but in his dream, he realizes that much is wrong in his realm, and that Rodriguez won't let the truth about his nation's problems come to his attention. Rodriguez is self aggrandizing, interested in his own well being, not interested in the country and its people. Gilligan's loyal and truthful cabinet members (all portrayed by the castaways) are executed by Rodriguez, who fears the truths about the country they are trying to show to Gilligan. Rodriguez finally tells Gilligan that he has no real power, rather he is a puppet ruler, with Rodriguez pulling the strings. Gilligan awakens from the dream and races outside to tell Rodriguez he will not be his puppet, but he finds Rodriguez getting into a boat sent by Equarico to take him back to that nation so he can be restored to power, as there has been another revolution. He promises he will send a ship to rescue the people on the island. The castaways begin to learn a few basic words in Spanish for their trip, but on the radio comes the announcement that Rodriguez has again been overthrown and exiled to the top of the Andes Mountains. So much for any rescue. 

* No question about it, the castaways had access to things that magically appeared, and to items that certainly would not have been carted along on a tour boat, including Mr. and Mrs. Howell's extensive wardrobes. I suppose if you totaled up everything the seven people had available to them, the tour boat, the SS Minnow, might have been closer to the size of the Queen Mary. In one episode, Gilligan thinks he's won a million dollar sweepstakes, bringing Mr. Howell to grant Gilligan a membership in Howell's exclusive club, complete with a special blazer adorned with the club seal. Where did Mr. Howell get the special blazer for Gilligan? I don't care. Remember, this was a comedy. In another episode, the castaways salvage movie equipment and costumes from a sunken ship; the key here being "sunken ship." The thing is, the equipment and costumes are all in perfect condition and totally dry, in spite of the fact that the ship had sunk decades earlier, and again, it was a sunken ship, as in, how did everything remain dry? Again, I don't care, and it was a funny episode.

Photo is from the Turner Home Entertainment/Warner Brothers' Complete Second Season DVD Set 

WORD HISTORY:
Puppet (Pupa)-This word is distantly related, through Indo European, to "few," a word from the Germanic roots of English, but it is more closely related to "pupil," meaning, "student and also the middle of the eye," both (meanings) of Latin derivation and borrowed by English from French. It goes back to Indo European "pau," meaning, "small in size or amount." This gave Latin "pupus," meaning "boy, a male child," and "pupa," meaning "girl, female child" (see "pupa" below), but with the feminine form also meaning "doll;" thus also, "puppet." This gave Latin-based Old French "po(u)pee," meaning "doll, puppet," which provided the basis of the French diminutive "po(u)pette;" thus, "little doll, puppet." English borrowed the word as "poppet" (initially as "popet"?) meaning "small doll, small person." This then became "puppet" by the 1500s and with the meaning of "a small doll made to move by attached strings, wires or sticks" (later also including "hand manipulated dolls in glove form"). About that same time came the generally negative figurative meaning of, "a person manipulated by another to act in a certain way." The word "pupa," meaning "an intermediate stage of development of an insect," is a direct borrowing, circa 1775, from the above mentioned Latin form, which had that meaning attached by Swedish botanist/zoologist Carl Linnaeus in the mid 1700s.        

Ironside: Memorable Raymond Burr Role

Canadian born actor Raymond Burr was well known to the American public, and even somewhat to the international public, by the mid 1960s, after a long stint of portraying defense attorney "Perry Mason" in the CBS television series of that name. But Burr was also known for numerous movie roles prior to his television duties, especially in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window," which starred James Stewart and Grace Kelly, in which Burr played the murderer, and also when he played the lead as a reporter in one of the best known monster pictures of all time, "Godzilla, King of the Monsters," not uncommonly just called "Godzilla" by the public. Raymond Burr's personal life only garnered much attention after he died in the second half of 1993. He had had a quiet, long term relationship of more than 35 years with a man named Robert Benevides, to whom Burr left everything.

Right after "Perry Mason" ended its run, Raymond Burr took on the character of Robert T. Ironside, the former chief of detectives in San Francisco, making him known to many associates simply as "Chief." Ironside is confined to a wheelchair after being severely wounded in his spine by a sniper. He subsequently becomes a special adviser to the San Francisco Police Department and its commissioner, played by Gene Lyons. As support, Ironside has a detective, Sergeant Ed Brown, played by Don Galloway, and Officer Eve Whitfield, played by Barbara Anderson. Further, he has Mark Sanger, played by Don Mitchell, as his own personal live in aide, who helps take care of Ironside and who drives his specially equipped van. Sanger, who is black,* is a young man turning his life around from crime to student, and Ironside's confidence in him helps to keep Mark moving forward. Ironside is a stern, blunt and sarcastic leader for his little group, as he tries to teach his knowledge of detective work and life to his "students." He angers them at times, and ruffles their feathers, but they see and understand his purpose, so his cantankerous personality becomes an endearing element to them as the "Chief." After four seasons, Barbara Anderson chose to leave the series and she was replaced by Elizabeth Baur, as Officer Fran Belding.

I regularly watched "Ironside," which was on NBC on Thursday evenings, except for one season, when it aired on Tuesday evenings. The series began in 1967 and ended in early 1975. I recently bought the first season of the show, and remarkably, I recalled one of the episodes, not in great detail, but the gist of it. It certainly fits in with today and all of the events of the last couple of years about people shot by police and police shot by criminals, sometimes in ambush. It dealt with Officer Whitfield shooting and killing a robber who stops to fire at her while fleeing with his older accomplice. It turns out, the guy is only 17 years old and his mother is embittered at Whitfield, who is distraught over the boy's death, even though he fired at her. While not always so easily seen in real life, the episode clearly shows Officer Whitfield fired and killed the man as he tried to kill her, but the 1960s were tense times, as civil rights marches and anti Vietnam war protests developed into violence at times, bringing confrontation between demonstrators and police, and the then inevitable charges and counter charges. Remember, no camera phones in those days to show what had happened, and unless a reporter with a camera crew was lucky enough to catch the events on film, it often came down to one side's word against the other, with no pictures or film to support either side's claims.

The theme song of the series was composed by Quincy Jones.

Since I have only watched the first season, I may do another article later, as I plan to watch the other seasons of the show too.

* During the 1960s, Hollywood began to make more of an effort to use black American performers in more than just little roles. Some examples: Bill Cosby was given a starring role alongside Robert Culp in NBC's "I Spy;" Diahann Carroll got the starring part in NBC's "Julia;" Ivan Dixon played Sergeant Kinch Kinchloe in CBS's "Hogan Heroes;" and comedian Flip Wilson made regular appearances on NBC's "Laugh In," before scoring big with comedy recording albums and then his own television show on NBC in the early 1970s. Black performers also began to get more guest appearances on television shows.      

Photo is of the Shout! Factory Season 1 DVD Box Set

WORD HISTORY:
Stern-English has two words of this spelling, but this is for the adjective, meaning "strict, hard, tough, very serious in behavior." It is related to "stare," "start," "startle," and "stark," all original English words from Old Germanic. It goes back to Indo European "ster," which had the notion of, "stiff, tight, rigid." This gave Old Germanic "sturnjaz," which meant, "astounded" (that is, "serious expression firmly fixed with amazement"). This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "styrne," meaning, "strict, hard, severe." This became "sterne," before the modern form. "Stern" is closely linked with forms of "stare" in the other Germanic languages, which makes it somewhat difficult to separate them, but Dutch has "stuurs," meaning "harsh, unkind, rough, brutal," German has "stur," meaning, "pigheaded, stubborn, obstinate," and also, "störrisch," meaning, "stubborn, mulish, hardheaded," Swedish has "stursk," meaning, "impudent, arrogant." 

Hazel, TV Show of the Past

"Hazel" started on NBC in 1961 and was shown in black and white, but it then changed to color thereafter. The show's fifth and last season saw the comedy transfer to CBS, with some cast changes. "Hazel" was about a maid, played by Shirley Booth, who worked for the Baxter family.: George Baxter, played by Don DeFore, was a lawyer, his wife Dorothy, played by Whitney Blake, and their son Harold, played by Bobby Buntrock. Shirley Booth always reminded me of my paternal grandmother, and so in many ways, I suppose, I associate Hazel with my grandmother (see a few lines down about what character Mr. Griffin said about Hazel in the show). Hazel was a down-to-earth, strong willed, highly opinionated person, who helped more than a little in managing the Baxter household, often bringing her into some conflict with George, whom she called "Mr. B," but who usually came to see Hazel's wisdom after a bit of a tussle, and he also knew she had his and the family's best interests at heart. George also needed Hazel beyond her reliability and common sense, as she was able to soften his most important client, hard-nosed and difficult businessman Harvey Griffin (played by Howard Smith), who fawningly would say, "She reminds me of my mother." Hazel's great cooking also helped soothe Mr. Griffin's cantankerous personality, and he loved being invited to dinner, so much so, that at times he pretty much invited himself. Hazel gave advice to any and all, including other maids in the neighborhood, and to Barney the mailman. She was a good bowler and she got along well with everyone, except George's snooty sister, who would occasionally try to get Hazel into trouble. 

The show just wasn't the same when it switched to CBS, and that's because both Don DeFore and Whitney Blake were dropped by CBS, and the audience dropped "Hazel." In a post-show tragedy, Bobby Buntrock was killed in an automobile accident on a bridge just a few years later. Shirley Booth lived to be 94, passing away in 1992, followed a year later by Don DeFore at the age of 80, and by Whitney Blake in 2002 at the age of 76.

Photo is from the 2006 Sony Home Entertainment First Season DVD set (now sold by Shout! Factory)

WORD HISTORY:

Can-This is the noun for "a metal container." It goes back to Indo European "gann," which meant "container, vessel for drinks." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "kanna/kanno," which followed the same meaning of "vessel for drinks, cup." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "canne" (the ending "e" pronounced "eh/ah"), with the same general meaning. The word remained as such until much later when it was eventually spelled "can," and it was not until the mid 1800s that the meaning of "metal container for preserved food," became widespread, as such a container had been more commonly called a "tin," before that, and even by some long after "can" came to be applied to the container. The verb, meaning "to store and preserve food in a container, either glass or metal," came into use in the mid 1800s. By the way, it does not seem that "can" is related to "canister," which originally meant "wicker basket," but it had its meaning later altered by the influence and similarity of "can." The other Germanic languages have retained the "container for liquids" meaning, which is now archaic in English: German "Kanne," meaning "coffee or tea pot, jug," Low German Saxon "Kann," meaning "jug," West Frisian "kanne," meaning "jug, pitcher, tea/coffee pot," Dutch "kan" meaning "jug, pitcher, crock," Danish "kande," meaning "jug, pitcher," Norwegian "kanne," meaning "pot, jug," Icelandic "könnu," meaning "pitcher, tea/coffee pot," and Swedish "kanna," meaning "pitcher, jug."   

A Witness To Changes For The Better On Race, But With Caveats

First published in April 2013, but with an ending note added, July 27, 2017 and a small addition on June 1, 2018, with another addition May 13, 2021.

I've seen a good many changes in my life. Change isn't always easy to accept for some, probably even most of us, at least early on in the process. I was lucky, my parents were not racists and that helped me to look at racial issues in what I think were balanced ways. In the 1960s racial issues exploded across much of the United States, including in my high school, where something less than 10% of the students were black. Race was a red hot issue, but even back then there was cause for hope, as I found most people, regardless of race or background, wanted to get along. I sat next to a black girl in my biology class. When Martin Luther King was assassinated, she came into that classroom, looked at me and said, "I'm supposed to be mad at you." I just played dumb, something I do VERY well, since it comes naturally, and I asked her why. She mentioned the assassination, but then followed with, "but I can't be mad at you." This incident, be it seemingly ever so small, has stayed with me all of these years. I was elected to the school interracial council, a small group developed to diffuse racial problems before they became explosive.

My paternal grandparents were divorced and my father and one uncle lived with my grandfather in Baltimore during a good part of the 1930s. The black population of Baltimore back then was around 18%, a considerable percentage for a non-southern city at that time, but I never heard my dad say anything negative about black people when he talked about his Baltimore days when I was growing up. He always used the term "Negro," the "proper" term in white society back then. He talked about how Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby broke the "color barrier" in major league baseball, and he even recalled how badly black athletes in general had been treated.

I grew up in an all white neighborhood and when I was about five or six, I was standing with a couple of the other kids on the sidewalk when a black guy came down the street on a bicycle. One of the other kids said, "That's a n-----." Later, when I went in the house, I asked my mother, "Mom, what's a n-----?" She grabbed me and said, "Don't you EVER use that word again, or I'll wash your mouth out with soap," a common saying back in those days. I don't recall what she did or didn't explain, but the thoughts of bubbles flowing from my mouth is still with me to this day, although I'm sure my mother did the best she could to explain things to her little son, who unknowingly had uttered a derogatory word.

I don't want to place the crown of sainthood on the heads of my parents, but they were generally ahead of their time on the issue of race, although their views were never tested by having a black family move next door, but then again, they came to my house later on, and I lived next door to a couple from a racially mixed marriage. I certainly wasn't troubled by this fact, nor were my parents, who had seen discrimination toward blacks, segregation, the attitudes of white superiority, and the beginnings of the reversal of these ideas during their lifetimes. Further, a cousin of mine on my mother's side married a black man and I don't recall my mother declaring this would end civilization. No, my parents may have asked little questions about race between themselves* and my dad continued using "Negro" long after he should have dropped the term, but on balance I'd say they knew that things like bombs going off at the Boston Marathon, hijacked planes being flown into buildings, or bankers exploiting the mortgage business were far more important than people allowing race to divide them.

So I've seen lots of changes for the better in my life, although it's been a pretty slow process, which still continues. With the inclusive attitudes of today's young folks, there will be many more positive changes, changes I won't be around to witness, but the country might just truly become the UNITED States, with liberty and justice for all. 

NOTE: 7-27-17: We still have a long way to go on racial issues. The presidency of Barack Obama showed how many Americans were able to move past race and elect a man of mixed racial heritage to lead the nation for 8 years. The early belief and giddiness of some, that we were in a "post racial" era, was far too naïve, as some Americans still felt fearful of voting for Obama, and still others, seemingly a smaller, but more outspoken segment, chose hate, racism and bigotry in reaction to his presidency. To not have voted for Barack Obama does not make a person a racist, just as having voted for Donald Trump in 2016 doesn't make a person a racist, although there are racists in both groups. Addition 5-13-21: Americans still continue to struggle with race, but when I saw protests in the 1960s about civil rights, most protesters, by far, were black Americans. In more recent times, protests about racial inequality almost always have large numbers of Americans of many races and backgrounds included, but as these Americans seek to bring change to racist and bigoted attitudes of a persistent hardcore of Americans, the ugly head and voice of Donald Trump, "the racist in chief," incited acts against Asian Americans, just as his rhetoric had told extremist groups holding torchlight parades in Charlottesville, Virginia and shouting "Jews will not replace us," that they were morally equivalent to people there protesting racism and hate. There has been a tragic rise in anti-semitic incidents, including killings, over the last few years. Fighting such evil is a full time job and we cannot afford to take a vacation from this struggle. 

* Change requires understanding and understanding requires questions to help us understand, and understanding race means we need to answer questions about those who are different in some physical ways from ourselves. Asking questions and wanting to learn about others is not racism. In one of the great scenes in a truly outstanding movie, "Nowhere in Africa," a film that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2002 (it is in German, with English subtitles), when the young main German Jewish character arrives in Africa, the Kenyan cook for the family picks up the girl and she feels his hair as he holds her close. His hair is different from her hair. This is followed not long after by a young Kenyan boy sneaking up behind the girl's mother, just to feel her hair, much to the delight of his young Kenyan friends. Her hair is different from his own. My article about this wonderful film is here: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/06/nowhere-in-africa.html 

WORD HISTORY:
Learn-This goes back to Indo European "lais/leis," which meant "trail, track." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "liznojan," which meant "to learn, to obtain knowledge;" the notion seemingly being "to acquire knowledge through the track of life." A variant apparently developed which then produced Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "leornian," which meant "to acquire knowledge, to study to obtain knowledge." This then became "lernen," before the modern version. English also once had "laeran" (and derived forms) which meant "to teach," and its close German cousin still has "lehren" which means "to teach," and a "Lehrer," is a male teacher, while a "Lehrerin" is a female teacher. English "teach" comes from a Germanic word the basic meaning of which is "to show," and this eventually prevailed over forms of "laeran." The use of "learn" to also mean "to study" generally began to die out in English when "study" was borrowed from French. Learn is closely related to "lore."^  Forms of "learn" in the other Germanic languages are: German "lernen," Low German Saxon "lehren" (which means both "learn" and "teach"), West Frisian "leare," Dutch "leren," Danish and Norwegian  "laere," Icelandic "laera," and Swedish "lära."

^ For the "Word History" for "lore," see my article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/12/german-question-part-sixty-one.html

"The Beverly Hillbillies," Big Hit of the 1960s

This was originally published October 5, 2012 as "The Beverly Hillbillies Made Great Points," but I slightly edited and updated it on January 21, 2015, especially to reflect the then recent passing of Donna Douglas, who played Elly May.* I then did a bit of an expansion to the article on January 7, 2018.

The early 1960s brought a new show to television, "The Beverly Hillbillies," which spawned or paved the way for a number of other shows with a "country" or "rural" theme. The show garnered high viewer ratings through the years, except for near the end of its run, which was for nearly a decade. In those times, virtually all regular shows were recorded in black and white ("Bonanza" was an exception), and it wasn't until the mid 1960s that color was used for all shows, and so it was with "The Beverly Hillbillies," which started out in black and white and then switched to color production. For those unaware, the general idea of "The Beverly Hillbillies" was that a poor family from way back in the hills struck oil on their property. They had led a life essentially isolated from (then) modern society and its devices, and when an oil company executive offered them money for the rights to their oil, they thought they were going to be paid in some sort of "new dollars," because he offered them "million" dollars, as "million" was a term beyond their vocabulary. When all was said and done, these formally uneducated folks moved to Beverly Hills, a wealthy suburb some ten miles from downtown Los Angeles. The family was headed by Jed Clampett, played by actor Buddy Ebsen, a widower with an attractive daughter, Elly May, played by Donna Douglas, and references during the series seem to indicate that the Ellie May character would have been in her late teens when the show started. She was sheer tomboy through and through, and she loved to climb trees and she had a natural gift with animals of all sorts, or "critters," as the Clampetts called them. Elly May was also not afraid to take on her cousin, Jethro Bodine, played by Max Baer, Jr., Jed's nephew, a tall strapping boy (supposedly also in his late teens), who was the "educated" one of the family, as he "gradgeeated" 6th Grade; the Clampett way of saying "graduated." The family's final member was "Granny," Jed's mother in law, unforgettably played by Irene Ryan. Granny was a little old woman, sometimes religious, sometimes sweet, and sometimes as cantankerous as a bunch of angry yellow jackets. She took care of the family when they were sick and she called herself an "MD," for "mountain doctor." Collectively they were called "the Clampetts," and they moved into a luxurious Beverly Hills mansion next door to the mansion of their moneygrubbing banker, one Milburn Drysdale, played by Raymond Bailey, and his snooty blue blood wife, Margaret, played by Harriet MacGibbon, who constantly tried to "rid the neighborhood" of what she considered the Clampett blight, although the Clampetts did their best to be friendly to Mrs. Drysdale and even to do things for her. The Clampetts always referred to Mrs. Drysdale as "Miz Drysdale." Mr. Drysdale was ably served at the bank by his secretary, Jane Hathaway, played by Nancy Kulp, an unmarried woman who took a strong liking to Jethro. Drysdale often took Miss Hathaway's ideas, claiming them as his own when they worked, but blaming her for his own failed schemes.**

The writers for this show did such a great job in contrasting the lifestyles of the Hillbillies and their Beverly Hills' neighbors. Banker Drysdale was consumed with moneymaking, and with tens of millions of Clampett money deposited in his bank, he was forced to go along with some of the family's beliefs and practices out of fear of losing their account. Drysdale and others couldn't understand why the Clampetts didn't just settle down and let their oil contracts and investments bring in the money, like many of their wealthy neighbors did, and they could then conform to the social ways of Beverly Hills high society. Instead, the family's values didn't really change with their newly acquired wealth, and in fact, their values dictated they had to keep busy and earn a living, as well as help others, for FREE, a concept totally lost on Drysdale, who called it "un-American." When Jed learned that the government needed money, he offered to pay more in taxes, an idea that astonished the money loving Drysdale, who claimed that it was the American way to try to avoid paying taxes, although Jed told him he didn't mind paying the taxes, because "I can afford it." The family refused to have servants and Granny cooked their "vittles" (victuals; that is, food) every day, a diet of things like groundhog, possum, hog jowls, turnip greens, hawk eggs, and gopher gravy. Granny made her own lye soap in a big "kittle" (kettle) out by the "cement pond" (pronounced "ceement" pond=swimming pool). She also kept a still (shortened form of "distillery") for making her "rheumatiz medicine," which was really booze, "white lightnin'," and as she told one lady with rheumatism as she handed her a glass of "medicine," "I've had rheumatiz for about forty years... Loved every minute of it."  

In one episode, in an effort to keep busy, the Clampetts decide to convert their mansion into a boarding house, a practice against the zoning laws in their "exclusive" neighborhood. In an absolutely hysterically funny scene, they place signs along the street to lure in potential boarders (also against the law there). As Drysdale and his secretary approach the Clampett mansion, they see all of these signs, one of which says something like, "Just a little bit more, keep on comin'," then followed by another sign saying, "Outdoor swimmin' and indoor plummin'." All efforts by Drysdale and Miss Hathaway only manage to move the Clampetts a little toward modern times, but their timeless decency and practicality remain the same. In another episode, Drysdale tries to get Jed to take up a hobby instead of pushing a dilapidated cart around the neighborhood with a sign offering to fix things for people, FOR FREE. He shows Jed a boat in a bottle, a project which took the owner several years to complete. Jed promptly tells him how much easier it would have been to build the boat outside the bottle. When Drysdale tells him the man wanted to build the boat inside the bottle, Jed calmly notes that he won't be able to float it inside the bottle. The banker then tells Jed it isn't for sailing, it is just for viewing, which brings the response from Jed, "Why?" followed by a comment about people needing to do useful things, including helping others. Drysdale changes the subject to stamp collecting, pointing to one Hawaiian stamp and telling Jed that it cost thousands of dollars. When he asks Jed if he would like to own it, Jed responds that he doesn't know anyone in Hawaii to write to, and that it obviously costs too much money to send a letter there anyway. In a final effort, Drysdale brings out a coin collection and shows Jed a dime that cost the owner several thousand dollars. Jed then wants to know why the guy would pay that much for a dime, since it's only worth ten cents. When Drysdale tries to explain, Jed asks something like, "If your friend puts that dime into a candy machine, will he get thousands of dollars worth of candy?" It's tough to argue with common sense.

There were so many hilarious episodes, I can't begin to go into all of them, but.... you're not getting off this easy, so here are some comments about other episodes. In one great episode, Mrs. Drysdale has a gardener begin flower beds for the Drysdale backyard, but Elly May's chimpanzee keeps taking his gardening tools. Mrs. Drysdale believes Granny is stealing the things, and the situation sets off a feud between Mrs. Drysdale and Granny. In another episode, back at their property in the hills, there is a minor property boundary dispute with a neighboring Indian tribe. The chief of the tribe and his son are highly educated individuals, but Granny hears of the dispute by telephone and she assumes that there is a pending Indian attack, an attack Granny is so insistent will take place, Drysdale has to organize an Indian raid, just to keep Granny happy. In a couple of the very highly rated episodes, the Clampetts went to England to care for Jed's ailing English relative. Well.... ah, the Clampetts and American English and societal customs were not exactly on super close terms, but the Clampetts trying to understand the English spoken in England and English society made for some great laughs. In what I believe Buddy Ebsen later said was his favorite episode, Drysdale wants the Clampetts to consider buying a yacht. Jethro gets Jed a uniform for when they go to the yacht, but it's an admiral's uniform, and the Clampetts get the dock number mixed up and end up aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer! When the ship's officers and crew see Jed's uniform they think he's a real admiral there for an inspection, while Granny is upset that if they buy the "yacht," she'll have to cook and look after the couple hundred men of the crew! In a somewhat touching episode, actress Gloria Swanson appears as herself and the Clampetts see an article that Miss Swanson is moving from her California home. She is having an auction conducted for many of her belongings to raise money for charity, but the Clampetts misunderstand and they think the star of silent pictures is being evicted from her home and her belongings are being sold off to help pay debts. The Clampetts go to the rescue of Gloria Swanson, an effort much appreciated by the famous actress, who finds out she still has quite a following in a little rural town called "Bugtussle." 

Like part of the show's main subject, "The Beverly Hillbillies" was not a beloved show to some who feared Americans, under the strong influence of television, would all begin speaking "Clampett," instead of English and these folks must have been inwardly, if not outwardly, furious that the public LOVED the show, as demonstrated by its strong numbers in the viewing audience ratings. When the show ended, it only really ended in new episodes, because the existing episode catalog was replayed on a continuing basis on stations all over, which was a way of fans telling the show's critics to go jump in the "ceement pond!"

For fans of the show, check out, "The Beverly Hillbillies," by Stephen Cox, Cumberland House Publishing, Inc. Initial publication 1988, then in 1992 and 2003.       

* For more about Donna Douglas, this is the link to my January 3, 2015 post:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2015/01/elly-may-cant-be-gone.html
 
** To give proper credit, the show's catchy theme song was played by bluegrass duo Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, and sung by Jerry Scoggins. All three have passed on, with Earl Scruggs just passing away in 2012 at the age of 88. Flatt and Scruggs made several appearances on the show over the years. Irene Ryan, who in real life was much younger than the "Granny" character she played on television, died only a couple of years after the show ended. She was 70. Buddy Ebsen died in 2003 at the age of 95, but he had successfully transitioned from playing "Jed Clampett" to a private investigator in the hit CBS drama "Barnaby Jones" in the 1970s. Raymond Bailey died in 1980 just a couple weeks shy of turning 76. Harriet MacGibbon died in 1987 at the age of 81. Nancy Kulp died in 1991 at age 69. After the end of the "Beverly Hillbillies," Kulp became part of the cast of NBC's hit comedy, "Sanford and Son." She later ran for Congress as a Democrat in her native Pennsylvania, but lost to the Republican. Buddy Ebsen, a Republican, recorded an ad against Kulp, a deed which split the two veteran performers until not long before Kulp died. See note one, above, for Donna Douglas' information. Max Baer Jr. is now 81 years of age (as of December 2018). He had a rough go as an actor after the show ended, as Hollywood saw him as too tied to the character of Jethro, but he successfully got into producing and directing.

Photo is from the 2016 CBS Studios/Paramount DVD for Season One

WORD HISTORY:
Hill-This word is distantly related, through Indo European, to "excellent," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English from French, and it is much more closely related to "holm" (as in "Stockholm"), a word from Germanic borrowed by English from Old Norse; perhaps at least, in its main meaning of "small island," but English "may" have already had its own form of the word. "Hill" goes back to Indo European "khel/khol," which had the notion of "height, elevation." This then produced Indo European "kholiz," with the same meanings. This gave Old Germanic "hulniz," which seems to have meant "top rocks, elevated land or rocks." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "hyll," which later became, "hyl," and finally "hill." Low German had "holm," meaning "hill, elevated piece of land, small island in a river or sea," and this passed into German in the 1600s, but its use has been mainly literary, not in every day speech. Icelandic has "hóll, meaning "hill." Others had, or still have, forms that meant/mean "island;" that is, "land elevated above water," or "rock," from the idea of "elevated above ground or sea level," as Danish has "helle," with both meanings. Dutch "hil," is an old form meaning, "elevated land, hill."