Richard Levinson & William Link's greatest creation, Columbo, had a humble beginning in an episode of The Chevy Mystery Hour, later rechristened as The Sunday Mystery Hour near the end of its run.
In "Enough Rope", we are introduced to Lt. Columbo (Bert Freed), as he investigates the murder of a doctor's wife. Richard Carlson co-stars. This would be remade, after a run on stage starting in 1962, as "Prescription: Murder", the first of two Columbo pilots leading to the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie. "Prescription" starred Gene Barry (The Name of The Game) in the role originated by Carlson, with Nina Foch as the doomed wife.
Here's "Enough Rope":
The Chevy Mystery Hour came from singer Dinah Shore's production company, with Henry Jaffe as executive producer. The subsequent Columbo pilots and series were produced by Universal, starting in 1968.
Rating: A.
Clarification Time:
ReplyDeleteThe Chevy Mystery Show was the summer replacement for The Dinah Shore Chevy Show in 1960; what we're looking at here is a repeat broadcast from the following summer, when Chevrolet no longer controlled the NBC timeslot.
Check YouTube, and you can find a few other Chevy Mystery Shows which still have the auto-centric titles from 1960.
For the one-year-later rerun, all the Chevy commercials and billboards had to be removed, and replaced with NBC-sold spots; Joel Aldred, Chevy's designated pitchman of that time, had to be redubbed at the start of the show (NBC stafffer Jerry Damon, who sorta sounded like Aldred, drew the job for '61).
As to the episode itself, watch it and you'll notice that Lt. Columbo isn't really more than a supporting character here; Dr. Fleming is the central character, and the story stays with him throughout.
When Levinson & Link developed Prescription: Murder as a stage play, they found in the rewriting that Columbo was a lot more compelling than they'd thought (mainly due to Thomas Mitchell, who stole scenes naturally).
Years later, when L&L were looking to sell Prescription as a TV-movie (with no thought of making a series), they had Lee J. Cobb in mind as Columbo.
NBC had the notion of using Bing Crosby in the part (they probably thought it would be "cute").
Both actors were approached, both turned the part down.
Peter Falk, who was still in his 30s in 1968, had to really sell himself to L&L, Universal, and NBC as Columbo; as things turned out, the rest was history ...
... but not right away; as noted, Prescription: Murder was intended as a one-shot TV movie.
It was a while before before Universal and NBC thought about Columbo as possible series material, and they had to invent the mystery wheel before Peter Falk would consider doing it (all of this is extensively documented elsewhere).
More Than You Wanted To Know will return ...
It took them 3 years before Columbo went to series, and in the interim, a 2nd TV-movie had been produced.
ReplyDeleteIn hindsight, Cobb & Crosby were both right to turn it down. Cobb had done the Derek Flint movies with James Coburn, and I don't know if Crosby would've fit the part anyway.
Correction:
ReplyDeleteAgnes Moorehead wasn't in Prescription: Murder; the murdered wife was played by Nina Foch.
Just back from YouTube, where I was able to find three more Chevy Mystery Shows, two of which have the original Chevrolet titles and commercials.
The third one is a Sunday Mystery Hour from late in the run, when Vincent Price had replaced Walter Slezak as host.
They aren't at all bad; check 'em out ...
I'll fix the notation.
ReplyDeleteI already have "The Suicide Club" up, as I did that one a while ago. I have that particular episode on DVD. Slezak didn't finish the season, but I'm not sure why.
Patching up:
ReplyDeleteWalter Slezak's departure from the Mystery Show was likely due to a schedule conflict; he was New York-based, with many theater commitments, while the Mystery Show was produced in Hollywood.
Since the Mystery Show was only a summer placeholder, Vincent Price, a reliable man all his career, was a go-to guy to step in for a couple of shows at the end of the string.
IIRC, Price did the last three episodes, including Suicide Club.
ReplyDelete