Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Poseidon Quickies: Joe Gannon, Just What the Doctor Ordered!

Over the last year or two, we've enjoyed decompressing with various editions of "Comfort TV;" programming that takes us back to simpler times or which otherwise helps to soothe the rough edges that the times we're currently living in make so raw. Speaking of edging (ha!), I give you the star of the popular hospital drama Medical Center, which ran from 1969-1976, Mr. Chad Everett as Dr. Joe Gannon. 

Everett had been busily employed as a Warner Brothers contract player in the early-1960s and was put through his paces on their carousel of hit shows such as Maverick, Lawman, Bronco, Surfside 6, 77 Sunset Strip and Hawaiian Eye. He also was granted small roles in movies like Claudelle Inglish (1961), Rome Adventure (1962) and The Chapman Report (1962) before starring in a show of his own called The Dakotas. This led to a half-dozen years of costarring in a variety of light romances (like Made in Paris, 1966, opposite Ann-Margret) and westerns (Like The Last Challenge, 1967, opposite Angie Dickinson) until he returned to TV once more with Center.

Now with much experience under his belt, he could take on the role of earnest, passionately dedicated and (usually) progressive surgeon Joe Gannon. Faced with an assortment of established guests stars, there was no shortage of drama at the center. (And surely I will be turning my attention to some of these stars in a future post. But like everything else, it's slow in coming...!) During that first season, Everett's blue eyes jumped off the screen, the taupe and brown clothing he favored only enhanced the effect, as seen here. 


Set on a university campus, Everett was all business at the hospital, but in his free time wore mod get-ups like this belted leather jacket (there was also a blue leather coat as well.) The hip sunglasses and red convertible completed the look...!

His off-duty clothing was often eye-popping, but never more so than in the episode in which he went to Mexico for a long overdue vacation and wound up falling for the hotel's activity director. The gal was played by his real-life wife (of 45 years!) Shelby Grant.

I dearly love this shirt he's sporting in this scene. And it does take a special person to be able to wear pull off the pants he's wearing in the inset.

Needless to say, the chemistry between Everett and Grant was effortless (and equally needless to say, her character was stricken with a serious illness!) This ep was a rare chance to see some really far out duds on Mr. E. It was also a treat to see him in some swim trunks, something not very common, at least in early seasons of the show.

Be sure to note the football-lace closure on the front of these (very!) clingy trousers... If gents wandered around in outfits like these in 1969/70, I was definitely born too late!

He looked good coming and going.

This other installment featured another crazy get-up. Now at first glance, there doesn't seem to be anything amiss about this chocolate brown, zip-up deal with a wide collar...

...until you realize that it's a "one-sie!" The only thing missing are built-in feet and a trap door in back. LOL Meant to be something comfy to slip into for quiet nights and a brandy at home, it actually looks quite UN-comfortable, riding up in the back and probably pinching his undercarriage at times. (The male cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation often bellyached about their first season costumes, which were like this!)

The well-groomed, smartly-dressed Everett was easy on the eyes as is. But in The Underworld we like our men clad more scantily whenever possible.


Take this instance, in which we spy Everett coming out of the O/R changing room showers wearing nothing but a towel.

I was too young to have seen this when it aired, but I sure remember the impact of Gregory Harrison taking a shower in front of Pernell Roberts in the pilot for Trapper John, M.D.! So I can well imagine how many little hearts showed blips on their EKGs with this episode came on. 

 
I couldn't help noticing (let's face it, in scenes like this, I notice everything!) how much care Everett took when sitting down to avoid an under-the-towel flash. We wish in this instance he'd been less considerate! Ha ha!
 
For a millisecond, as he's getting up to leave, we catch a teensy glimpse of bare flank where his towel meets! He likely had on some flesh-tone undies or some other modesty item like a dance belt, but it's still fun to speculate. (And how we gasped when it was demonstrated in the Starsky & Hutch pilot that David Soul was truly nude under his towel...)

True fans of Medical Center will tell you, though, that the most eye-popping action was not in the slacks or swim trunks or even towels. It was in Everett's legendary surgical scrubs...! 

Rare is the episode that doesn't feature our fearless doctor bopping around the center in his famous blue/seas green scrubs.

Must see TV before the term "Must See TV" was coined...!

If you can try to direct your eyes to them (and I assure you, they are in the pics), he also wore the cutest little clogs, which were surely the then state-of-the-art footwear for surgeons. (That's guest stat George Grizzard in these pics. You may remember him as the deceased George Devereaux on The Golden Girls?)

Loving closeups are nice and all, but often during this show one waits with bated breath for another of those long walks down a hospital corridor, with the camera pulled back enough to show everything...
 
...and I do mean everything! With that, I'm ready to be admitted (or is it committed?!) Till next time.

16 comments:

cjude1962 said...

My first childhood crush, and what a crush he was!

http://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/ said...

You just made my day, Poseidon!

Know what would make my life? If the clip of Chad Everett singing "Ain't No Sunshine" on "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" ever shows up on YouTube. Chad rocks an Elvis jumpsuit, complete with writhing dancers in the background. My Mom and I still joke about it... and she was a huge Chad fan.

And wasn't Joe Gannon's boss on the show, James Daly, Tim and Tyne's pop, gay?

Well, thanks again for the words AND pix!

Cheers, Rick

rigs-in-gear said...

Chad also aged very well, becoming the epitome of the "Silver Fox".

A said...

Big crush on Chad Everett. I was twelve when the episode about a homosexual aired. I remember saying to the kid next door,"Oh, so thats us, I guess."

Also, doesn't Ann-Margret look like Susan Hayward in that pic?

Thanks again, Poseidon!

Shawny said...

Those buns, damn. And I love your double entendre with pulling off a pair of pants.

Gingerguy said...

I can't believe I was just thinking of "Claudelle Inglish" today and then read this. That was trash but nothing could drag him down. He always seemed decent and nice, besides being really handsome. And a groovy guy as witnessed here by his clothing. Quite a rear view in those knit pants, glutes for days. He's fun in "Made In Paris" too. I know the feeling about comfort tv, I found Lawrence Welk again on a channel and it's the most peaceful hour of my week.

Poseidon3 said...

cjude1962, Glad you liked this. Thanks for taking a moment to comment!

Rick, I am now on a Holy-Grail-like quest. I HAVE to see that. I love anything of that sort... Tom Jones gyrating to "We Can Work it Out" and so on. Love that stuff! [And, yes, after James Daly's death, The National Enquirer broke a story about his male lover. It was quite the sensation.]

rigs-in-gear, I agree completely. I remember audibly gasping, something I do try to avoid [perpetuating stereotypes and all!] but just couldn't help it, when I saw his name pop up in the [mostly horrible] remake of "Psycho." Yum...

A, I wish I'd have paid more attention to the kid next door...! LOL Actually, he was across the street from my grandparents and we never got beyond "looking." But he did turn up 40 years later married to a man. We must strike when irons are hot! ;-) Glad you liked this!

Shawny, I do try... Thanks!!

Gingerguy, I'll have to watch "CI" again sometime. I love Diane McBain (and Constance Ford!) I didn't make mention of it in this post, but Chad and his wife (who basically quit acting not long after this) were inspired by the milieu of "Medical Center" to help others. Together, they sponsored more than 20 heart surgeries performed on children. (Someone's gotta keep up with Danny and Marlo Thomas! LOLOL) Oh, and I love, love, love "The Lawrence Welk Show." The more cheesy and colorful the better. Thanks!

Dan said...

“Why, yes doctor, I’d be happy to turn my head and cough”.
I, too, covet that paisley shirt - have one very like it. And in those white pants, it looks like he’s smuggling party balloons.
Looking at pics like these makes me wonder if men’s underwear had even been invented by the 70s, there is just so much of that ‘free and easy’ lifestyle going on.

bobraleigh said...

Chad Everett, swoon. Thanks for this column. One of my favorite movies “Rome Adventure “ with virginal Suzanne Pleshette ?!!

has Chad listed in the credits but I’ve yet to see him in the film. He must have ended up on the cutting room floor.

Have you seen him in the film?

Unknown said...

I enjoyed the show and assorted eye candy. Crush for days. Thanks for sharing.

josh said...

big crush - as a wee-one back in the day i had a big crush (of course) on & regularly confused, chad everett (MC) & van williams (GH) - my mind wandered with my little guy fantasies over them both LOL :)

Ciara24 said...

He is so hot

John Berry (he/him) said...

Whoa the blueness of those (surely photoshopped?) eyes! I could refuse him nothing. No wonder the trousers clung so tight....

Poseidon3 said...

Dan, I have almost no reason to dress with any sort of style or flair anymore. Every great once in a while. And when I do, I like vivid shirts like that myself, too! (My profile pic... I was wearing a pretty boldly patterned shirt to attend a musical "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and the lobby display seemed to compliment/coordinate with my get-up, so I posed thusly! LOL) Chad does have skimpy briefs on. They created some unsightly panty lines in several of his trousers, which I tried to avoid showing when I could. Thanks!!

bobraleigh, when I tell you, you won't believe it....! At about the 1:55 mark, he's in Angie Dickinson's hotel lobby reading a newspaper. When Troy Donohue walks in and asks for her room, he gets a big closeup. But... he's wearing a hat and has on some ridiculously thick glasses which make his eyes HUGE. One has to assume that the part was meant to be a private investigator staking out the place on behalf of her wealthy husband or something like that, but the teensy moment is all that ended up in the movie...

Unknown, glad you liked this!

josh, I all but worship Van myself. I apparently have VERY similar taste to lascivious Hollywood agent Henry Willson since virtually everyone he represented was gorgeous to my eyes as well.

John, it was no photoshop. The combination of very bright studio lights and the old school cameras/film did something special to many performers' eyes, particularly blue ones. Lynda Carter remarked on it in her DVDs of "Wonder Woman," stating that her eyes really aren't as blue as they appear in the show, shot with Panavision cameras. You'll note that later (even today's) video rarely, if ever, did people the same justice. The price of "realism" over fantasy I guess! Unless special filters are used to create a "period" or other special look. Thanks! Glad you enjoyed him. ;-)

jobj69 said...

Great post, Poseidon! If you have yet to see it, check out The Impossible Years, featuring Chad as a sexy, bespectacled, nerdy...grad student (?) plus a bunch of horny "18-year-olds" in bathing suits on a groovy movie set! The film is very dated - so sexist and wouldn't fly today - but still a guilty pleasure, mostly from my memories of first seeing it on a big screen as a 10-year-old!

Poseidon3 said...

jobj69, if I ever saw that movie, it was ages ago on TNT in a cut-up, cropped version. I'll have to try again and see what I was missing! Thanks!