Tag Archives: dragnet

Quote of the Week

Posted by Marisa on

One day on my first Dragnet, I stepped outside the soundstage to have a cigarette with Jack [Webb] and Ben Alexander. As we were standing there, we heard a commotion and looked toward the front gate of the Disney lot, and through a chain-link fence we could see a couple of studio guards chasing a tall guy in our direction. The guy came flying over the fence and landed on our side of it and grabbed a-hold of Jack’s lapels and pushed him up against the wall, babbling, ‘You gotta use me on the show! You gotta use me on the show!’ It was frightening! Turns out it was a madman of an actor named Timothy Carey. With a crazy look on his face, he demanded that Webb let him appear on Dragnet and Webb, obviously hoping to calm him down and get him to let go, said, ‘Yeah, sure, you’re in the show, when do ya want to start??’ Jack assured Carey that he would be in a Dragnet, and that quieted him down; the guards arrived at that point and took him away.

Timothy Carey might have been a great Dragnet villain but he scared the shit out of us. He was nuts! Carey was an actor who would do anything to get a role; I once heard that he went into the Columbia Studios office of the producer of the motion picture The Caine Mutiny, pulled a gun on him and said, ‘You gonna give me a part in this show?’ When you have that burning desire to be an actor and be on the screen, some people will do whatever it takes.

– Paul Picerni, from Steps to Stardom: The Autobiography of Paul Picerni by Paul Picerni with Tom Weaver (BearManor Media, 2007)

Flight to Hong Kong

Timothy with Rory Calhoun in the only film he and Picerni did together (no scenes together though), Flight to Hong Kong (1956)

New addition to Tim’s filmography!

Posted by Marisa on

A special treat for the last day of the year! Today’s guest blogger is my awesome husband Byron Caloz. He has a keen interest in lost and/or previously undiscovered films and TV shows. He recently made an exciting discovery and wants to share it with you. Take it away, Byron!

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A new addition is now confirmed for Timothy Carey’s filmography/videography: Two episodes in the first broadcast season of Gang Busters! Alas, most of the episodes from the first season are not on DVD. They were filmed so it is possible they exist somewhere, but at least we know which episodes are his (we had heard from Romeo Carey, Tim’s son, that Tim had told him he was on Gang Busters).

Tim Carey appeared as the character Legenza in “The Tri-State Gang” which was broadcast as part 1 on  November 9, 1952 on NBC, and then part 2 on Nov. 27, 1952 (Gang Busters was broadcast at the same time and day but on alternate weeks with the original Dragnet television series). Interestingly, the two part episode was not filmed as all one production and then split, but rather was filmed as two separate productions, part 2 first as production 12, then part 1 as production 15; both directed by George Habib.

This information came from the superbly researched book by Martin Grams, Jr. titled Gang Busters: The Crime Fighters of American Broadcasting. While the cast list is available, there is no plot summation, but Legenza is clearly the gang leader and the F.B.I. investigator on his tail is Agent Hibbs, played by Larry Dobkin.

Here is the original plot which was first used for the radio on Sept. 14, 1935 for the pre-cursor series to Gang Busters: G-Men. Walter Legenza and Robert Mais shot their way to freedom while being transported from a jail to see their attorney. They shot two guards and a police officer and the police officer died. Later the two with their gang robbed a bank but police caught up with them and soon captured them.

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On that note, all of us here at The Timothy Carey Experience (that is, Byron and myself) wish all of you a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year! Here’s hoping you tackle whatever problems come your way with the same sense of triumph and love of life that Timothy displays in this promotional shot from Fast-Walking (1982). For Auld Lang Syne, everybody!

Pic of the Day: “Flight to Hong Kong”

Posted by Marisa on

Today’s pic (don’t forget to click to embiggen) is from Joseph M. Newman’s Flight to Hong Kong (1956). Tim is Lagarto, another low-life thug hired by Tony Dumont (Rory Calhoun) to steal a guy’s luggage. There are diamonds involved.

Flight to Hong Kong

Paul Picerni, who also co-stars here, once related an incident that occurred a couple years before this film was made:

“One strange thing happened on the Dragnet set. Jack Webb, Ben Alexander and I were taking a cigarette break and all of a sudden we see a commotion by the front gate. We see this tall guy running and two security guards chasing him. And he runs toward us and he grabs hold of Jack Webb and pushes him up against the wall and yells: ‘You gotta give me a part in your show! You understand!’ And Jack says, ‘Yeah, of course, you got it, whatever you want!’ The guy was a madman. It was the actor Timothy Carey. They got rid of him, of course. He might have been a great villain, but he scared the shit out of us. He was nuts.”

That’s our Tim!