Video posted to YouTube by airheadnut.
Monthly Archives: December 2009
Before Shakira, There Was Eartha Kitt
Video posted to YouTube by privatedancer74.
My recipe for life is not being afraid of myself, afraid of what I think or of my opinions. Eartha Kitt
Video posted to YouTube by shellalujan’s.
The cobra is deadly but mongoose can overcome it. We all have possibillity to defeat prejudice and resentment in our lives. Fear is the thing that makes us attack, that makes us strike. We must overcome it. We must.” Shakira
Two talented women whose times overlapped somewhat and who were born in different places, but each with a passion for justice and a wonderful appetite for life.
Of note, by the way: I believe Eartha Kitt was in her 70s in that video, although it may be before she was diagnosed with colon cancer (2006). She was 81 when she died in 2008.
Before ChiPs, There Was Highway Patrol
Video posted to YouTube by chuckcollins.
“Whenever the laws of any state are broken, a duly authorized organization swings into action. It may be called the State Police, the State militia, or the Highway Patrol. These are the stories of the men whose training, skill, and courage have enforced and preserved our state laws.” Highway Patrol narrator, Art Gilmore
And remember, leave blood at the Red Cross, not on the highway.” Broderick Crawford’s closing comments after each episode of Highway Patrol.
“My trademarks are a hoarse, grating voice and the face of a retired pugilist: small narrowed eyes set in puffy features which look as though they might, years ago, have lost on points.” Broderick Crawford
Highway Patrol (1955-1959) was hugely popular in its day. Oh boy, I loved it and Broderick Crawford. It remains the gold standard by which I still judge police procedurals. Showcasing the skill of state highway patrol officers and patterned on the California Highway Patrol, it demonstrated the most modern crime-detection tools of the day including high-speed cars, motorcycles, and helicopters. Like the original Dragnet series that preceded it (1950-1959), it was a police procedural supposedly based on real case files.
I suspect that ChiPs is largely remembered for the motorcycle officer Ponch; that is, Francis Poncherello played by Erik Estrada. It’s likely that Highway Patrol is best remembered for the performance of Broderick Crawford as Chief Dan Matthews, a force to be reckoned with. The last show I saw Crawford in was a 1982 episode of Simon & Simon, where he went back to his bad-guy roots.
After years of playing a gangster in mostly supporting roles, Crawford won the Oscar in 1949 for his role as Willie Stark in the original move version of All the Kings Men. He was equally stunning as Lenny Small, the large, lumbering, mentally limited field-worker in Of Mice and Men. As near as I can calculate he played some 150 roles between television, movies and theatre during a career that was just sort of fifty years. But just as Highway Patrol is best remembered for him, Broderick Crawford is best remembered for Highway Patrol.
