In Search Of, Redux

Posted by Marisa on March 6, 2015

Yesterday we received the exciting news that Season 3 of CHiPS has finally been released on DVD. That means that we will soon have Timothy’s episode “Kidnap” in our hot little hands and will be posting screencaps ASAP. So in that spirit, I’ve decided to repost an edited version of this post from last year that details all of Timothy’s work that I have yet to discover. I have removed the CHiPS episode and added a couple of new entries. As always, your help in obtaining these is more than welcome. Here we go…

********

As awesome as it would have been for Timothy to have shown up in an episode of that Leonard Nimoy-hosted “mysterious mysteries” series, this post isn’t about that. Instead, as mentioned yesterday, I’m going to list Timothy’s film and television appearances that I have yet to acquire on DVD. I have a want list up for most of these over at ioffer.com, but just in case any of you lovely people have any leads on where one might get ahold of “collector to collector” copies of these, I thought I would present them here. So, in chronological order, let’s start our search:

1. Chevron Theatre: “The Survey Man” (1952)

A brand-new addition to Tim’s IMDb page, although his presence in it is listed as “unconfirmed.” Season 1, episode 16; directed by the great Norman Lloyd. First broadcast on April 18, 1952, which would make this his earliest recorded performance on record, if indeed he is in it.

2. Invitation Playhouse: Mind Over Murder: “The Last Act” (1952)

Here’s another new one that has appeared on Tim’s IMDb page since I made the original post a year ago. Directed by William Asher, who later directed Tim in the Beach Party films. Additional cast includes Gene Roth, veteran of several Bert I. Gordon films, and former silent star Claire Windsor.

3. Gang Busters: “The Tri-State Gang” (1952)

My hubby wrote about this one here a while back. It hasn’t been added to Tim’s IMDb page, but it really should be as its existence is well documented. A two-parter from season 1, first airing on November 9 and November 27, 1952. It’s out there somewhere.

4. Death Valley Days: “Cynthy’s Dream Dress” (1953)

Season 1, episode 9. This is another recent addition. It was first broadcast on March 3, 1953. Ed Wood stalwart Lyle Talbot is in it too!

5. Cowboy in Africa: “The Red Hand of Michael O’Neill” (1968)

Season 1, episode 19; first broadcast on February 5, 1968. Portraying Tim’s daughter is Bonnie Beecher, who later became Mrs. Wavy Gravy!

6. The Outsider: “For Members Only” (1968)

Pilot episode of the series, first airing on September 18, 1968. Star Darren McGavin met his future wife Kathie Browne while filming this episode.

7. The Name of the Game: “Aquarius Descending” (1970)

Season 3, episode 13. The second of two episodes of the series in which Tim appears, this one was first broadcast on December 11, 1970. He plays a character who goes by the intriguing name of “Desert Rat.”

8. Toma: “A Funeral for Max Fabian” (1974)

Season 1, episode 13; first broadcast on February 22, 1974. It’s listed as “A Funeral for Max Berlin” on IMDb, but numerous other sources list it as “Max Fabian” (oddly enough, the name of the put-upon theatrical producer portrayed by Gregory Ratoff in All About Eve [1950]), so I’m going with that. Based on the real-life adventures of undercover cop David Toma, the series was retooled after one season and became Baretta, after star Tony Musante refused to sign on for another season. Which leads us to…

9. Baretta: “The Marker” (1978)

Season 4, episode 16; first broadcast on February 16, 1978. The last of Tim’s four appearances in the series. From reading the brief plot synopses found around the internet, I have a feeling Tim’s character is particularly heinous in this one.

10. Hard Knocks (1979)

This one’s a puzzle. It’s been released under several titles, including Hollywood Knight, Mid’Knight Rider, Mid-Knight Rider and Mid Night Man. An online version can be found here (Warning: The first part of the film is NSFW). It’s not very good, and I sat through the whole thing – no Timothy to be seen. So either there’s a version out there with him in it, or there’s another film by that name with him in it. Not a clue.

And there you have it! Man, that took forever. Thanks, everyone!

Quote of the Week

Posted by Marisa on February 22, 2015

Timothy Carey had one of the most unusual careers of all Hollywood character actors, obtaining full cult status for his portrayals of the doomed, the psychotic and the plain crazy. Carey’s career was an “Only in America” type of story, and he retains his status as a Great American Original a decade after his death.

As a 22-year-old acting school graduate, he made his film debut in 1951 as a corpse in a Clark Gable western [Across the Wide Missouri (1951)], but it was his brief, uncredited part as Chino, a member of Lee Marvin‘s motorcycle gang The Beetles [actually, Marvin played Chino, not Tim] in The Wild One (1953) that made an impression and was a harbinger of the unsavory things to come. Prone to improvising, it was the fearless Carey who came up with the idea of squirting beer in Marlon Brando‘s face, even though the Great Method Actor himself had expressed reservations about what Carey was up to. He also registered that year [1955, actually] as the bordello bouncer who threatens James Dean in East of Eden (1955), making his face, if not his name (he was uncredited in both parts), known to the mass audience.

Carey followed this up with superb acting jobs in two Stanley Kubrick films, The Killing (1956) and Paths of Glory (1957). In the former he played the sociopath Nikki Arane [last name is actually Arano], who is contracted to shoot a race horse, which he does with great glee. In Paths of Glory Carey had an atypically sympathetic role as French soldier Pvt. Ferol, unjustly condemned to be shot to atone for the stupidities of his generals during World War I. However, it was in Bayou (1957) that Carey reached his apotheosis as an actor: as the psychotic Cajun Ulysses, he crafted an indelible performance that went beyond the acceptable limits of cinema scenery-chewing. He became Ulysses, on-screen, the mad Cajun who epitomized evil, his insanity perfectly encapsulated in the psychotic jig Carey danced to more fully limn his character’s madness. This classic exploitation film was re-cut and re-released as Poor White Trash (1961), and became a grindhouse Gone with the Wind (1939), playing to crowds until the 1970s (and becoming, retrospectively, one of the top-grossing films of 1957).

– Jon C. Hopwood, Timothy Carey on IMDb

In Search Of…

Posted by Marisa on February 7, 2014

As awesome as it would have been for Timothy to have shown up in an episode of that Leonard Nimoy-hosted “mysterious mysteries” series, this post isn’t about that. Instead, as mentioned yesterday, I’m going to list Timothy’s television appearances that I have yet to acquire on DVD. I have a want list up for most of these over at ioffer.com, but just in case any of you lovely people have any leads on where one might get ahold of “collector to collector” copies of these, I thought I would present them here. So, in chronological order, let’s start our search:

1. Chevron Theatre: “The Survey Man” (1952)

A brand-new addition to Tim’s IMDB page, although his presence in it is listed as “unconfirmed.” Season 1, episode 16; directed by the great Norman Lloyd. First broadcast on April 18, 1952, which would make this his earliest recorded performance on record, if indeed he is in it.

2. Gang Busters: “The Tri-State Gang” (1952)

3. Death Valley Days: “Cynthy’s Dream Dress” (1953)

Season 1, episode 9. This is another recent addition. It was first broadcast on March 3, 1953. Ed Wood stalwart Lyle Talbot is in it too!

4. Cowboy in Africa: “The Red Hand of Michael O’Neill” (1968)

Season 1, episode 19; first broadcast on February 5, 1968. Portraying Tim’s daughter is Bonnie Beecher, who later became Mrs. Wavy Gravy!

5. The Outsider: “For Members Only” (1968)

Pilot episode of the series, first airing on September 18, 1968. Star Darren McGavin met his future wife Kathie Browne while filming this episode.

6. The Name of the Game: “Aquarius Descending” (1970)

7. Toma: “A Funeral for Max Fabian” (1974)

8. Baretta: “The Marker” (1978)

9. CHiPs: “Kidnap” (1980)

Season 3, episode 18; first aired January 26, 1980. Directed by recently-deceased Gordon Hessler, who also directed Tim in the Kung Fu episode “Ambush” (4.4.75). Also appearing is our favorite Klingon, Michael Dorn, in his first regular role in a television series.

And there you have it! Man, that took forever. Thanks, everyone!

Pic of the Day: “Naked Gun” revisited

Posted by Marisa on January 2, 2014

Happy 2014! Let’s kick off the new year with another look at mustachioed Timothy in Naked Gun (1956), not the Leslie Nielsen cavalcade of hilarity but the low-budget Western featuring B-movie action star Willard Parker. Here we see grinning henchman Hartman helping his boss Joe Barnum (Barton MacLane) greet Sonny Glenn (Tom Brown) and Susan Stark (Veda Ann Borg). There’s a cursed Aztec treasure floating around the plot somewhere as well.

Quintessential tough guy MacLane was in the home stretch of his impressive career by this point. He was so closely identified with the no-goodniks and knock-abouts he portrayed on film that, according to his IMDb entry, “his name was for a time used proverbially, to generally describe a shouting, hard-nosed ruffian.”

Video of the Week: “Francis in the Haunted House” trailer

Posted by Marisa on March 21, 2012

Our video for this week is the trailer for Francis in the Haunted House (1956), directed by Charles Lamont. See Tim as as Hugo, silent lumbering servant of the castle, literally getting his butt kicked by Francis the Talking Mule! Francis is voiced by the great Paul Frees, whom Timothy would later hire to provide the silky smooth seductive tones of The Snake in The World’s Greatest Sinner (1962).

Timothy’s IMDb filmography also has him listed as appearing in another Francis film, Francis in the Navy (1955), as “Auctioneer’s Helper (uncredited).” I have seen the film several times, watched the one auction scene carefully, and I do not see him anywhere. Unless there is compelling evidence that he is indeed in the film, I believe it should be removed from Tim’s filmography until such evidence, if any, can be presented.