#SteveRandall TV 1.11 cont'd.
I'm not getting anything from Melvyn Douglas as Steve Randall in the sense that he doesn't have the persona of #MartinKane, the brilliance of Mike Barnett or the foppish quality of David Chase. I like his thought patterns and this inner monologue in scenes at least.

#SteveRandall TV 1.01 cont'd.
This reminds me of the formulaic #FrontPageDetective another pre-filmed in LA TV series that underwhelmed. Such TV shows just can't compete with live from New York TV drama like #MartinKane, #ThePlainclothesman and #RockyKing no matter how shiny they are.

#RichardDiamond TV ep #3.16 "Rough Cut" (07-Jun-59).
Pretty strong ep albeit the finales of all these eps are so cookie cutter.

I didn't recognise Marcia Henderson from #ManAgainstCrime TV ep #6.06 "Algiers Caper" (05-Aug-56) or from #MartinKane TV ep #1.36 "Murder on Ice" #1.36 (04-May-50).

#RichardDiamond TV 2.16 cont'd.
When the show sticks to NY crime capers and not filler eps about truckers in the middle of nowhere it lands.

Re: the one punch endings. I can forgive #MartinKane or #ManAgainstCrime doing a one punch ending in a 1951 live TV ep but it's 1958. Things have moved on.

#CharlieWild With nearly every ep that survives held in either in the UCLA Archive or the Paley Centre Archive this will be a super quick walkthrough.

I shall split it by lead actor much as I did on the #MartinKane walkthrough.

#MartinKane Actually there's a lot of humour for adults that opened my eyes in this kids puppet show and indeed it was watched by more adults than children!

"Kukla, Fran and Ollie" ran on NBC TV from 1947-1957 & 1962-1970. Hundreds of early eps were kinescoped and still exist!

#RabbitholeWarning🚨

#MartinKane Addendum #2. Though the first TV ep that exists is from 1950 there is a 1949 TV ep!

NBC kid's TV show "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" (07-Dec-49) contains a parody case with a detective called "Martin Dragon Private Tooth"!

The earliest TV parody of a TV show??

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmSq...

#MartinKane TV 5.08 cont'd.
This was quite a strong ep and though we couldn't see Mark Stevens he was far better in this ep than the 2 later S5 eps near the end of his run that do exist. Maybe be was knackered after 30+ eps back-to-back and not fully remembering his lines. Not the case here.

#MartinKane Addendum #1: An audio track of one TV ep originating from specific TV band radios also exists.

It's a Season 5 ep possibly TV ep #5.08 (22-Oct-53) as per the CTVA.biz website. So based on that site not TV p #5.09 (29-Oct-53). Title unknown.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6M8...

#MartinKane A 6th series aired 1957/58. It was pre-filmed in Europe where Martin Kane was relocated "The New Adventures of Martin Kane". Sounds shit but it did recast the original actor William Gargan to lend it credibilty.

It was 39 TV eps long meaning Gargan now made 128 TV eps & 99 Radio eps.

#MartinKane The last ep of the original show aired a few weeks later namely TV ep #5.40 (17-Jun-54). That was Mark Stevens 40th and last TV ep.

Overall 229 live TV eps were made as well as 177 Radio eps. But it seems to me just 19 TV eps are available today?

But Martin Kane would soon return...

#MartinKane TV ep #5.35 "The Milk Bottle Murder" (13-May-54).
There's a good ep here but Mark Stevens isn't giving me anything to interface with. If anything King Calder is carrying the show.

Stevens is like Frank Lovejoy in that poor 1956 series of #ManAgainstCrime.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr6C...

#MartinKane TV 5.29 cont'd.
The old lady played by Charlott Knight has been in everything just quietly:

#LightsOut TV ep #4.15 "The Silent Supper" (03-Dec-51)
#TalesOfTomorrow TV ep # 2.07 "Substance X" (03-Oct-52)
#OneStepBeyond TV ep #2.14 "Make Me Not a Witch" (22-Dec-59).

Not my usual pin-up!

#MartinKane TV 5.29 cont'd.
The secretary played by Hope Miller had a short TV career but I know her from #LightsOut TV ep #4.05 "Rappaccini's Daughter" (24-Sep-51).
I might catch in one or two other things but maybe not.

#MartinKane TV 5.29 cont'd.
Lee Tracy and Walter Kinsella have been replaced by younger, slicker but blander stand ins.
Mark Stevens might be great at Martin Kane but he's not giving me much in this ep.
Likewise Hap's tobacco shop has some wank running it. His bits are now just ads and not story.

#MartinKane TV ep #5.29 "The Shoeshine Murder" (01-Apr-54).
The show looks a bit more advanced a year later.
Was that actual location footage of Kane driving or in studio?
I liked the premise: Kane must find the killer to stop a building jumper suicide.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=24Gx...

#MartinKane The fourth lead actor is Mark Stevens who played the lead part 27-Aug-53 to 17-Jun-54.

Of his 40 TV eps it looks like just 2 are available today. Hope they make these two count.

#MartinKane TV 4.53 cont'd.
After 61 TV eps and 30 Radio eps Lee Tracy left the role so just 5 TV eps of his exist.

Again the first three Martin Kane's are all great. Gargan and Tracy are quite similar and a bit older than Nolan. In terms of the most definitive it might be Lee Tracy?

#MartinKane TV 4.53 cont'd.
Ona Munson is in this and looking nifty at 50 it has to be said. She tried some TV after a long movie career as so many did but likely many movie stars didn't take to early TV and so the great divide began.

Less than two years after this ep she committed suicide.

#MartinKane TV 4.53 cont'd.
In the final scene Martin Kane talks about some internationals conference due to be in Bermuda. This conference was a real thing and was actually meant to take place in June 1953 but Winston Churchill had a stroke so it didn't take place until December 1953.

#MartinKane TV ep #4.53 "Trip to Bermuda" (25-Jun-53).
Well it's Eva Marie Saint time as she plays a beauty queen who gets murdered in Bermuda.

I just saw the 101 year old and still living Oscar winner in
#ManAgainstCrime TV ep #4.20 "Exclusive" (11-Feb-53).
She's gets to do more in this ep.

#MartinKane TV ep #4.51 "Subway Switch" (11-Jun-53)
Great ep, everything works. No wonky denouement either.
Six actors here were born in the 1800s!

Good twist, set pieces, everything!

The sergeant now switches actor every ep so losing Nicholas Saunders was a bad idea.
archive.org/details/vol....

#MartinKane TV ep #4.49 "Eyewitness Resurfaces" (28-May-53).
Based on how similar the production looks in terms of adverts and the scale of Hap's presence I now think what I thought above was TV ep #4.19 "The Nevan's Murder Trial" (16-Oct-52) is this ep. So I'll now say #4.19 untitled doesn't exist.

#MartinKane TV ep #4.44 "The Comic Strip Killer" (23-Apr-53).
Didn't land as well as it might. The mystic in these is usually someone in disguise but he's a bit peripheral here.
Again I must ask about the client being guilty. A re-watch would answer that better.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLED...

#MartinKane TV 4.19 cont'd.
Despite the convenient denouement there's a good twist in this.
Though I'm unsure why the guy turned on the woman. I guess he was conflicted?
In the subway scene where 4 women await the train with the guy were we meant to think one of the 4 is possibly the murderer?

#MartinKane TV 4.19 cont'd.
II act live TV can't compete with III act Radio. Both are 30 mins but Radio is so pacey they make an extra act into the same duration. At the end of a TV ep there's more off screen plot to explain despite Hap's tobacco shop scenes doing good work to accelerate said plot.

#MartinKane TV ep #4.19 "The Nevan's Murder Trial" (16-Oct-52).
Again I'm not sure about this ep's date so I might change it after I watch Lee Tracy's other eps.
The wire trace at the end let it down. Maybe say his phone was already being monitored by the cops.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=26tC...

#MartinKane TV 4.24 cont'd.
The sister might've returned at the end. The actress Marjorie Steele later became an Irish citizen, lived in Dublin here till 2018!
Married Lovejoy's Dudley Sutton!
She sculpted 2 James Joyce statues one on North Earl Street.
Holy shit!
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/film...

#MartinKane TV 4.24 cont'd.
Hap has celebs visiting his tobacco shop now as singer Juliana Larson arrived! She's fine in her scene in the shop but when she is sucking down that ciggie at the end in the advert she's struggling with the lines and using the idiot cards.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX8i...

#MartinKane TV 4.24 cont'd.
The surviving file is dark. Clearly something went wrong in the recording but boy is it super noir now.
I LOLed when Martin rang Hap's tobacco shop to find Lt. Gray. You know the whole at sea thing Ted where you ring a tobacco shop for help!
archive.org/details/vol....