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!
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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.
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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.
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I've never been able to get my fill of CW in his prime.
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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.)
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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!)
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I just love his jaunty little construction helmet. The arms... well, that goes without saying.
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Thanks to the danger around, he issues her a helmet, too, which somehow is able to overcome her bouffant hairdo.
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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!)
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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.
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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.
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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.)
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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!
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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.
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After he takes out one of the columns in her home (!), she suggests he sit on the couch a moment.
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But soon enough he's out again, has her pinned down, and she's afraid to rouse him!
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It's rough, but what a way to go...
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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.
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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!)
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Take a look at the differential between the looming Walker and the stout Gordon.
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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!
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While he rattles off figures regarding the construction site, she keeps trying to measure various parts of his build.
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The two are often intertwined or otherwise physically engaged.
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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!)
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Before it's all said and done, she's slammed him into a freshly-plastered wall.
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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...!
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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.
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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."
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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.
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Finally, she hands over the distressed gift box to Walker only to find that the darn thing has SHRUNK!
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Fortunately, he misunderstands and thinks that the sweater was meant for his beloved dog, Lightning!
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So all is well in the end. And that, my friends, bring us to...
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The End!
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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.
7 comments:
LOL! I was wondering why Clint Walker didn't make that list of "favorite things" in your 1000th post! (I didn't say anything, because I was worried you'd had a falling out...)
I guess it was just the age I was during his heyday, but wouldja believe that I never took any notice of Clint Walker AT ALL until I ran across that shirtless publicity photo with the axe from FORT DOBBS in a large book on movies that I bought when I was about 18 or 19? After that, I definitely noticed!
Oddly enough, I've still never seen a single episode of CHEYENNE and only a handful of his movies (I sure made a point to see FORT DOBBS!), but I remember both these episodes of THE LUCY SHOW from endless rotation on TV. And I've tracked down a number of clips on YouTube, like this one of his debut at 27 as a "Tarzan" pastiche in the "Bowery Boys" B-feature JUNGLE GENTS (1954):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M45v4FTKhsM
I'm pretty sure I saw it on ME-TV or Antenna TV rather than YouTube, but I also caught part of an episode of THE JACK BENNY SHOW where he guested-- and while introducing him, Benny pretty much drooled over him and actually even *climbed up him* to get a closer look at his blue eyes! Then after that manhandling, Clint went over to another set and performed a couple of songs in that distinctive deep voice of his. Whew!
Thanks for posting this "catch-up" on one of our shared "favorite things," Poseidon-- and for all you do! This blog is one of MY "favorite things"!
Love to all, and be safe and well, everyone!
Clint was like another species entirely. His incredible physique seems to have trapped him in the role of “object of desire”, by women and men. I hope he had a sense of humor about all the gawking and pawing he must have endured.
hsc, I lost it when Jack Benny (who always struck me as a bit lavender-ish) began CLIMBING Mount Walker. LOL If ever you should decide that the time has come to watch an ep of "Cheyenne" - a show that I enjoy, but don't LOVE, be sure it is Season Two - Episode Eight - "The Trap!" Walker is unfairly sentenced to 90-days hard labor in a silver mine and he's shirt-free for MUCH of the time. Two women, one young-one older, clash over him. Can't fathom why.....!
Dan, I hope that CW was able to reconcile his amazing looks with the lascivious meat market that was Hollywood. He sure wasn't reluctant to hurl his shirt to the ground and often (for which we're thankful!) He was SUCH a moral person with a strong sense of right and wrong. The only time I'm aware of in which he had even a scintilla of scandal was when he stood up to Jack Warner and quit "Cheyenne" for a time. He'd been promised movies along with the show and it wasn't happening. So he stood his ground and won. But that aspect of him might have cost him some later work, too, because he wouldn't take roles with "adult" language and in the smash hit "The Dirty Dozen" he begged off of being the one who drops grenades into a bomb shelter - as scripted - because it killed civilian women in the process. Thus, his part was diminished somewhat. (Jim Brown did it instead.) He sort of wound up in sometimes dreary family fare. (Though God knows "Night of the Grizzly" made up for it with a senses-shattering wood chopping scene! LOL) Thanks!
I've seen Clint in a couple of movies but never noticed him. I would have if there had been shirtless scenes. He looks like a gi joe action figure. Super hot body, but his face is a bit intimidating. Btw the comment screen shot made me laugh. I didn't think it would. Sometimes people don't realize how ridiculous they come off. And I've seen that type of discourse a lot over the years. Kind of the chat empty threat equivalent of "you'll hear from my lawyer!" Which was sort of popular when I was younger.
I remember Clint from the movie The Night of the Grizzly. I've seen it several times. He was so handsome. Growing up in the early 60's without a father (my mother was a "divorcee"), when I first watched this on tv, I was maybe 6 or 7, I wished his character, "Big Jim", were my father. I also enjoyed and envied the relationship he had with his daughter "Gypsy." She was adorable. Ron Ely was in it this as well as the 2 lesbian actresses Ellen Corby (Grandma Walton) and Nancy Culp (Miss Jane). It had a great cast. Martha Hyer had such a distinct speaking voice. I remember getting upset when their mule got mauled. I have always abhor any violence/abuse of against/of an animal in movies or real life. Even rats.
Call me a Blubbering Betty but when "Ben" girlfriend in Willard got killed by Ernest Borgnine I was a bit shook. It stayed with me for awhile on the bus ride home from the movie theater. (Every Sat. my older brother and I and a few friends from the neighborhood would go to the afternoon double feature - they made some great movies back then in the 70's).
As for Lucy, she had such wonderful taste in clothes. She always looked "smart" on both the big screen and on tv/talk shows. She was truly a class act all the way!
We all want to be "filled" by Clint Walker!!!
Shawny, I think Clint's "intimidating" face is offset by that super-velvety, warm voice. But we all have to enjoy what we enjoy. I want to do a party game and, in fact, may do it Sunday at the annual pumpkin carving get-together, in which one person after another has to read that YT comment screenshot aloud without bursting into laughter. The one who can do it wins a prize. I STILL cannot do it myself!!!! Ha ha ha!!!
Bee's Knees, I admire the simple tailoring of Lucy's clothes. Very streamlined. And she clearly kept her figure, even after two kids, with all that physical clowning (and chain-smoking!) I'm gaga anyway over most mid-'60s clothing. Men's sportswear was so clean-looking and flattering. Women's clothes had great lines and let the color or pattern do a lot of the work. Whoever costumed her probably had to pay attention to whatever shenanigans the story line called for.
Forever1267... oh my! LOL
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