Guest Who: "Lucy" Has a Clint in Her Eye!

During my recent post commemorating the 1,000th entry here, there was one glaring omission from the collection of favorite things that I focused on. I left this out on purpose, knowing that a post would soon be in the chute regarding the subject at hand. That subject is, of course, my dream man Mr. Clint Walker. Today, we'll take a gander at Walker's turn at bat on The Lucy Show in November of 1965. The pairing was so dynamic that he returned in March the following year!

In case you've been living under a rock and don't know, Clint Walker was a towering, gentle giant who starred in the much-beloved western series Cheyenne. By 1965, he had also starred in a number of movies and was also trying to branch out from his die-cast image as a cowboy.

This magazine clipping from some years prior demonstrates how popular these two TV stars were. She'd been voted Favorite TV Comedienne in a poll and his show had been selected (from countless others in competition then) as readers' Favorite TV Western Program.

I've never been able to get my fill of CW in his prime.

Season 4, Episode 9 opens with Walker going over the details of a new office building with Mr. Mooney (Lucy's boss and major-league foil, played by Gale Gordon.)

Ball comes stumbling onto the site and soon enough is down, but not out. She's saved by the handsome Walker (who clearly has her attention already!)

I just love his jaunty little construction helmet. The arms... well, that goes without saying.

Thanks to the danger around, he issues her a helmet, too, which somehow is able to overcome her bouffant hairdo.

They eventually find themselves sharing lunch together waaaayyy up on the girders of what will become a 39-story skyscraper! (Incidentally, I couldn't love his li'l shoes any more if I tried. They're more clearly visible in the cover photo, albeit in black & white, and would still be acceptable style-wise today, I think!)

I'm not sure I could do such a thing myself, even for Clint, but Lucy was always putting herself in ludicrous situations for one reason or another.

He ultimately cajoles her into standing upright (and, natch, this was filmed in a studio in which they were barely off the ground!) Before its over, she's donned the wacky, flower-decorated helmet shown at the top of the post with her name painted on it.

The two have a dinner date for which they get all gussied up. (The studio audience went ape for Walker in a tuxedo, being so used to him in buckskin and canvas.)

Unfortunately, Walker has been up for 48 straight hours! He's ready to doze off at a moment's notice, regardless of his interest in Ball. Furthermore, he informs her that, once-asleep, he shouldn't be suddenly awakened because he tends to burst forth with karate immediately after being wrestled from slumber!

See what I mean? This contrived, gimmicky story line is really never believable for a moment, but it affords Ball a chance to (over)react and find herself in more personal comic peril.

After he takes out one of the columns in her home (!), she suggests he sit on the couch a moment.

But soon enough he's out again, has her pinned down, and she's afraid to rouse him!

It's rough, but what a way to go...

As I say, the looming Mr. Walker was enough of a hit that he was back again in Season 4, Episode 24. This time, he's working on another project financed by Mr. Mooney.

And, once again, Ball pratfalls her way into the site and into Walker's arms. (I'm not going to chide her for this as I've actually done similar things myself multiple times. In fact, one time as I shimmied down a row of stadium seats and "tripped" into the lap of a man I had a crush on, his girlfriend looked at me as said, "Yeah... I've seen your act before." Ha ha ha!!! Let it be known that she and I became fast, long-term friends after that. I thought it was hysterical. And she knew I was getting nowhere anyway. They're now married!)

Take a look at the differential between the looming Walker and the stout Gordon.

As is to be expected, Ball is agog over Walker once again. She finds out that his birthday is fast approaching and, since Gordon won't advance her any money for a present (he oversees a trust of hers), she decides she'll knit Walker a sweater!

While he rattles off figures regarding the construction site, she keeps trying to measure various parts of his build.

The two are often intertwined or otherwise physically engaged.

During one measurement attempt gone wrong, she winds up on top of the man! (She never does get that tape measure where I would be checking. Ha ha!)

Before it's all said and done, she's slammed him into a freshly-plastered wall.

Something clearly didn't go as planned, for when she's done with the sweater, it's massive, even considering that she's trying it out on Gordon...!

On his birthday, which happens to coincide with the bank's summer picnic, invitee Walker is coerced into playing the harmonica for a few of the revelers.

It was fun to see, among the small group of admirers, one Kathryn Janssen, a prolific TV and movie extra who is well-known among fans of The Poseidon Adventure (1972) as "Bun Lady."

Having worked on the sweater and all prepared to give it to him, Ball is mortified to discover that her gentle giant cannot stand the color red...! She tries to ditch the box in the lake and underground, but it keeps making its way back to her.

Finally, she hands over the distressed gift box to Walker only to find that the darn thing has SHRUNK!

Fortunately, he misunderstands and thinks that the sweater was meant for his beloved dog, Lightning!

So all is well in the end. And that, my friends, bring us to...

The End!

Oh, but wait! Yes, this is the end, but I simply had no choice but to re-excavate this HYSTERICAL YouTube comment that I found several years ago. It made such an impression on me then that I did a screenshot of it, which I've never discarded. I posted it here once many moons ago, but it's so outrageous that it bears seeing again. In fact, I have read this probably a minimum of 15 or 20 times since the day I found it and it has never, ever, including right now, allowed me to get all the way through it without wheezing hysterically and having tears well up in my eyes. The Internet is teeming with crazy, but this one gets the blue ribbon from me. Ha ha ha ha!!!!! Be good, my friends.

Young Gun

Funny how one single photo can send you down a rabbit hole and lead to all sorts of information, trivia and visual interest. This happened to me very recently regarding the subject of today's post. It wasn't the photo I have as the cover for this post. I just thought that one helped put the title across nicely. (And I didn't want said photo to be the one that shows up when the post is listed.) The man above is someone I really had no knowledge of previously. His name is Tony Young. (If the gal looks familiar, she's Jean Hale, who popped up in quite a few camp classics in the mid-1960s such as The Oscar, 1967, In Like Flynt, 1967, and the TV series Batman.) 

This is the photo that launched my trip... I saw it on eBay while researching something else. It's of Dan Duryea and Young in the movie Taggart (1964) and the reason it caught my eye ought to be pretty clear.

The son of successful radio-turned-movie actor Carleton G Young (known best for "The Adventures of Ellery Queen" and "The Whisperer"), Tony was born in New York City in 1937, but by 1944 was living in Tinseltown thanks to his father's relocation there for movie work. His father forbid him to pursue a screen career until he'd received an education.

This the young man did first via a stint in the US Air Force (learning various skills via the Armed Forces Network) followed by classes at Los Angeles City College. Still, the biz was beckoning and by 1959 - age 22 - he was attending drama school and earning bit parts on shows like The Alaskans, Lawman, Maverick and Bourbon Street Beat. Next came small film parts in Walk Like a Dragon (1960), starring Jack Lord, and The Marriage-Go-Round (1961), a Susan Hayward-James Mason comedy. Young was already married in 1958 to a young model and aspiring actress. Connie Mason, in the wake of their 1962 divorce, became a Playboy centerfold - Playmate of the Month for June 1963!

Amid parts on Laramie, The Deputy and Bronco, dark-featured Young did as virtually all of his peers were coerced to do by playing Native Americans with names like Johnny Brassbuttons or Yellow Knife. (He's seen here on Cheyenne.)

Possessing a cocksure air and with a wide-set jaw (not unlike Charles Bronson or James Coburn, two men who found great success with such) and a very low, resonant voice, it wasn't long before all that toiling on the countless TV westerns of the 1950s and '60s paid off.

In 1961, he was granted his very own mid-season replacement western series Gunslinger. While the show made little impact against My Three Sons/The Untouchables and The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, it won the hearts of many teenage girls who fell hard for the stoic young man with the deep voice. Twelve episodes were produced and aired, but the series was not picked up for the following season.

Undeterred, he proceeded to roles on 77 Sunset Strip and Death Valley Days. In 1964, he was granted the leading role in a western movie called He Rides Tall (I'll bet...!) The western costarred Dan Duryea as a cold-hearted bad guy. In this, Young was also cast opposite his second wife (married in 1962), Madlyn Rhue.

The Jewish Rhue practiced Catholicism during this period. (I feel like that may be the back of Dick Sargent's head in the first photo?)

Young's only child, daughter Julie, came from this union. Young and Rhue would appear on 77 Sunset Strip together and later on The Virginian, though they divorced in 1970.

The same year as He Rides Tall, Young made the western Taggart, which utilized Duryea again as an antagonist. The stern, "underplayed" Young made a capable if not exactly electrifying leading man. But as you no doubt guessed. It was really his pistol-packin' pants that created the most stir and which inspired this post.

It seems only natural that the costumer appeared to take inspiration from Bonanza's Michael Landon (another show-er!) when selecting Young's look for this movie. The still shot from eBay which led me to look the film up wasn't even framed the same way in the film proper (as is often the case with publicity stills), but - trust me - there was plenty to see throughout. Should you wish to try Taggart out, this is the link to it in a beautiful transfer. (And now I want to see what's up in his other 1964 western, too!)

Though neither of those minor westerns led to anything of note, Young continued to work steadily. He showed up on Bonanza, did a few eps of The Iron Horse and then appeared on Star Trek, in a typically offbeat sci-fi get-up.

His episode was called "Elaan of Troyius" - a bastardization of the Helen of Troy story, with France Nuyen in the title role. Fans of the show will recall that Young's wife Rhue also appeared on Trek as a key guest opposite Ricardo Montalban as Khan.

Following guest spots on It Takes a Thief, Love, American Style and The Virginian, along with parts in movies like Charro! (1969) with Elvis Presley and A Man Called Sledge (1970) featuring James Garner, Young shifted gears a bit. He took part in the revenge flick Chrome and Hot Leather (1971) as a Green Beret hunting down bikers who've killed his fiancee.

Seen here at a screening for Leather are the movie's producer Wes Bishop (embracing Young) and the director Lee Frost. Young soon became a favorite of theirs, appearing in a variety of entertainingly gritty and sleazy drive-in style movies.

One of these, The Bert Convy Story (I'm teasing! The film was 1973's Superchick!) had Young as one of three gentlemen who are being juggled by Joyce Jillson. He's seen shirtless, about to join her in the sack, and on the beach in an abbreviated pair of trunks. (I actually prefer his overall look here than I do his younger years.)

1974 brought the rough and tumble exploitation flick Policewomen. (The movie was about only one policewoman, but the title was altered to avoid confusion with Angie Dickinson's TV series Police Woman, which was then on the air.) During this period he was also popping up on Mannix, Medical Center, Barnaby Jones, among other shows, and the occasional movie such as The Outfit (1973) with Robert Duvall. 

This promotional pic is better than the previous one. If the gal starring in this seems familiar, you may recall her as I did from her guest-starring role on The Golden Girls. Sondra Currie played a red-haired lady who becomes engaged to Blanche's Big Daddy, enraging her future daughter-in-law ("Maybe we oughtta get her a boostah seat!") In 1976, Young wed Currie, his third and final wife, and they divorced a decade later.

Many more TV roles of varying size and scope were to follow. You and I likely saw him time and again and took little notice. He was on S.W.A.T., The Rookies, Starsky and Hutch, Fantasy Island, The Fall Guy and, as seen here, Knight Rider. He continued in this vein until 1993 when he retired. Young's father Carleton had died in 1971 of cancer at age 64. Young himself died of lung cancer in 2002... at age 64.

We hope you enjoyed this closer look at an actor who spent more than 30 years on screen, yet who remains lesser-known among TV and moviegoers.

I think that wraps it up!