We continue our reviews that focus on Batman actors in other detective and mystery programs as part of our Amazing World of Radio Summer Series, focusing on their old-time radio work. This week we look at Ida Lupino’s last television acting appearance in an episode of Charlie’s Angels called “I Will Be Remembered”, which aired on March 9, 1977.
Aging Hollywood Actress Gloria Gibson (Lupino) is looking to stage a career comeback by playing the mother’s role in a remake of a film she made as a young actress. However, she’s been seeing ominous and horrifying sights right out of her old movies. She’s a friend of Charlie’s and Charlie suspects a “gaslight” scheme and so has the Angels (Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson, and Jackly Smith) go undercover to find out the truth.
Ida Lupino turns in a tour de force performance. She’s compelling and owns every scene she’s in. Like Burgess Meredith in Mannix a few weeks ago, Lupino delivers a performance that’s massively above what anyone would expect for a TV mystery guest actor. She also has a really great speech on the difference between screen acting and stage acting in making her case to be given the part.
As for the rest of the episode, I have to confess I’ve never seen an episode of Charlie’s Angels before, but it’s a series that you know something about even if you haven’t seen it, particularly the central premise of three beautiful female private eyes working for a male boss who is never seen. The series also had a reputation as being a bad program that tried to use the leads’ sex appeal to paper over weak scripts.
I was pleasantly surprised by the episode. It was a good, competently plotted mystery. Each of the three angels took their own part in the investigation, had her own moment to shine. The mystery was interesting and had a clever solution that didn’t become readily apparent until the last five minutes. While I wouldn’t put it in the same class as the era’s best detective programs, like Columbo or The Rockford Files, this particular episode was a fun hour.
There were a few bits of cheesy dialogue, and two of the Angels crashed through a security gate for no good reason but that’s kind of par for the course for 1970s programs. If there is one issue with the episode, it’s that the solution of how the perpetrators did what they did offers a broad hand-wave solution that’s a massive stretch for at least one incident.
Still, with Ida Lupino’s great performance, this was a solid outing for Charlie’s Angels.
Rating: 3.75 out of 5
This episode of Charlie’s Angels is currently available for free viewing on Tubi
Today’s Mystery: Johnny initially comes to New Orleans to investigate a hotel theft but becomes involved in finding out who’s making attempts on life of a retired Prohibition-era Racketeer
Original Radio Broadcast Dates: October 31-November 4, 1955
Originated from Hollywood
Stars: Bob Bailey as Johnny Dollar, Lillian Buyeff, Betty Lou Gerson, Barney Phillips, Will Wright, Forrest Lewis, Marvin Miller, Jay Novello, Jack Moyles
We continue our look at actors who played villains in the 1966 Batman TV series. This time we turn to Ida Lupino, who played Cassandra Spellcraft, alongside her then-husband Howard Duff, who played her bumbling sidekick Cabala in the 1968 episode, “The Enchanting Doctor Cassandra”.
We begin by featuring an episode of Suspense in which they appeared together.
A wife and her husband (Lupino and Duff) take a shortcut down a country road where a deranged woman has escaped from a mental institution and already killed. They then run out of gas and find a woman screamning at them demanding to be let in their car.
Original Radio Brodcast Date: May 10, 1959
We then take a look at the Season 3 Batman Episode, “The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra”, where Lupino plays the titular alchemist who has figured out the secret of invisibility and has a daring plan to take care of the Terrific Trio and rule Gotham City.
Nora is out all night, breaks a mirror, and asks another man to marry her. Nick suspects she’s been drugged. Things get even more serious when they find a corpse.
Original Air Date: October 6, 1944
Originating in New York
Starring David Gothard as Nick Charles, Claudia Morgan as Nora Charles
Nick Charles, a retired private detective, is drawn back to detection with the insistence of his wife, Nora, when a former client is suspected of several murders.
Original Air Date: June 8, 1936
Originating in Hollywood
Starring: William Powell as Nick Charles; Myrna Loy as Nora Charles
We continue our reviews that focus on Batman actors in other detective and mystery programs as part of our Amazing World of Radio Summer Series, focusing on their old-time radio work. This week, we take a look at Art Carney’s performance in one of two leads in a 1976 TV movie that was a pilot for a short-lived TV series called Lanigan’s Rabbi. The film was based on the first of Harry Kemelman’s Rabbi Small novels.
In a small California town, the local rabbi, David Small (Stuart Margolin, The Rockford Files), is facing problems from within his own congregation, from board members who want the synagogue to build a bowling alley, rather than actually doing the sort of youth work Rabbi Small thinks is important. Things get far worse for the already besieged rabbi when the body of a secretly pregnant maid who worked for a woman in his congregation is found murdered in his car after a rainstorm. He ends up getting drawn into the mystery despite Chief of Police Paul Lanigan (Carney) trying to get him to leave the case alone.
Rabbi Small is a likable character who is very well realized by Margolin. If you, like me, are most familiar with his work playing Jim Rockford’s Shady friend, Angel, this character is a huge change of pace. Rabbi Small has a cunning intellect that makes him a great amateur sleuth, but he also has the right mix of eccentricity, constantly losing his keys, even forgetting that he’s on his way to a wedding when he stops in to visit Chief Lanigan. It’s reminiscent of Columbo with Margolin’s own unique spin.
Carney’s Chief Lanigan strikes a really neat balance. The police foils for amateur detectives are usually belligerent idiots, arrogant know it-alls, or bumbling fools. Lanigan is a good cop and nobody’s fool. He initially tries to dissuade Rabbi Small from his investigation for sensible reasons; normal cops don’t usually want local clergymen going out and trying to solve crimes. However, Lanigan relents as he comes to like and respect Rabbi Small. He has his own eccentricities, as illustrated by his comic battle against his wife’s desire to buy a new suit. The rabbi and the chief bond throughout the episode and the great chemistry between Margolin and Carney helps to sell the relationship.
There are some really strong guest performers, including Lorraine Gary (Jaws) and Robert Reed (The Brady Bunch). Janet Margolin (no relation to Stuart) has some very strong performances as Miriam Small and delivers a key clue that helps lead to the solution.
One thing I really liked was the open credits sequence that tied into the motif of the murder happening during a rainstorm. It was really a great way to add atmosphere.
The mystery itself offers a lot of twists and clues, and just the right number of suspects, all of whom have surprisingly sordid interrelated motives. Given the way, the movie plays out, the solution is a bit of a surprise. However, it borrows from one of the great classic clerical detectives, Father Brown.
Overall, this is a very good production with two likable leads and an engaging storyline. And if you like TV mystery films, this is worth checking out. Currently, it is only available on YouTube, as a 1980s replay of the TV film as a late movie (complete with 80s commercials).
Johnny is sent to New Jersey to investigate an allegation by an insured’s daughter that her father, a famous chemist, was pressured into changing his beneficiary to his research partner.
Original Radio Broadcast Date: March 17, 1957
Originating from Hollywood
Starring: Bob Bailey as Johnny Dollar; Virginia Gregg; Harry Bartell; Howard McNear; Forrest Lewis; Jack Kruschen; Russell Thorson; Frank Gerstle; Bob Bruce
Danny suspects a prize fight involving a promising young boxer is going to be fixed.
Original Radio Broadcast Date: March 27, 1949
Originating in New York City
Starring: Anthony Ross as Lieutenant Danny Clover; Gilbert Mack; Jean Carson; Julie Stevens; William Quinn; James Goss; Peter Capell; Paul Luther; Ted Jewett
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