Guest Who: "O" Mary.....

Apart from a few faded, piecemeal memories from waaay back in my childhood, I've never really seen an episode of Harry O. Harry O was one of countless private investigator dramas of the 1970s and starred David Janssen (of the hugely popular The Fugitive) as the title character, a bullet-wounded ex-cop named Harry Orwell, who now lives a simple life on a San Diego beach and takes paying clients as they come. I literally picked a random episode to watch recently, without even examining who the guest stars were (I like to be surprised in any case, most of the time.) It was season one, episode five and what it contained had me rather agog. I won't get specific about that until we come to it as I reflect on several remarkable details that this installment had to offer all together. 

Janssen's character spent most of his downtime at the beach, either working on his rather dilapidated boat, The Answer, or fishing. 

His fishing attire was a ratty pair of cut-off jeans and a jacket. Midway through season one, the P.I. would relocate from San Diego to Los Angeles, though he remained on the beach (not far from James Garner's Jim Rockford of The Rockford Files, which had come into being around the same time! The shows never cross-connected with one another, though.) 

This time out, Janssen is hired by the diminutive Joan Darling (best known for the legal series Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law) to find her missing husband, who's on the run from the mob. And why...?

Because their little moppet, the even more diminutive Dawn Lyn (sister to Leif Garrett and known for appearing on My Three Sons near the end of its long run.) It seems she's got failing kidneys, along with a rare blood type, and needs a transplant. Darling hopes the girl's father will step up and help. 

A running gag for much of the series' run was Janssen's Austin-Healey convertible, which is on the fritz more often than not. Here, some mechanics help him push it into their shop's parking lot. 

More than most any other eps, this one has a plethora of creative camera angles that one might only see in the 1970s. Here, Janssen and Darling discuss Lyn's medical condition and possible leads for her father while shot through a mirror in the dialysis ward. 

When he enters the girl's room for a visit, the scene is presented through the bags and tubes containing her blood which is being cleansed!

Down at the police station (with his semi-reluctant contact Henry Darrow of The High Chaparral), this portion is shot from the inside of a file cabinet!

The trend continues when Darling is asked by her manager at the seafood restaurant where she works if she can stay late. It is directly after this that my antennae went up like the leads on My Favorite Martian.

In one of many shots through a window, we spy a body walking along the deck of a pool.

This is apparently where the beautiful people live or at least gather and this man is heading to the nearby door of his oceanfront home. 

He saunters in, dripping wet, and tosses his towel onto the back of a bar chair. The other inhabitant is presently popping the cork on a bottle of wine. 

We're in long/medium shots at this point, so it may not be readily obvious to you who they are (if you happen to know then to begin with.) Uncorking the wine is Granville Van Dusen and striding into the sunken living room is David Dukes. 

Dukes opens an antique brass box to retrieve a cigarillo. Now I'm on record as loathing voluminous swim trunks, but mercy... this is one TIGHT swimsuit. I mean, it looks like it's cutting into his thighs. 

Van Dusen gets pissy when Dukes plops down - still wet - onto the leather sofa and tosses Duke's towel at him in a snit. 

It's very clear that this is a vaguely-shrouded gay relationship. Not blatant enough to rouse Uncle Clarence and Aunt Laverne but unmistakable to those in the know. Van Dusen's fiddling with the neck and head of the wine bottle is one of several phallic images to be found in this hour of 1974 television entertainment. 

As Duke rises and heads to the other room to grab his rose, he arches his back and sticks his rear end out.

Just then the phone rings, photographed from under the glass table top!

Check the expression Duke shoots his "roommate" in this moment.

Van Dusen is thrilled to convey that they "have a new contract." 

It seems they've been hired to tail Janssen in the hopes that he will lead them to Darling's husband, whereupon they can take him out. (By that I mean, kill him!)

There isn't an abundance of touching between these two, but the positioning of Van Dusen's hand here helps to connect some of the dots. It's something like a blend of the lovers from Rope (1948) and the homosexual assassins Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd from Diamonds Are Forever (1971.) 

By the end of the scene, it's clear that they are both happy and gay. We've barely had a chance to react to this wrinkle when...

An army of foot-long hot dogs pops on screen! (To be honest, this is after a commercial when aired on TV, but in the DVD it's the very next shot!) 

With the 12-incher hovering near his pelvis, the food-stand clerk starts piling on all sorts of extras.

It's so big, Janssen seems to have difficulty getting it into his mouth. 

After that first taste, however, he does pull it back and shoot it an appreciative glance before going to town on it again!

I can't believe you'd still be skeptical, but - just in case - let me tell you that the man on the run works at Reptile-O-Rama at a local amusement park!

Lyn's father, played by outre character actor Kenneth Mars (of The Producers, 1967), is a snake handler who secures venom on the side for additional income. 

He becomes irritated by the snitch who talked to Janssen and turns around with his big, long snake ready to pounce. 

Needless to say, this instills panic (gay panic? LOL) in his pal Archie Hahn. 

When Janssen's car breaks down again, he's holding up traffic on the road, with Van Dusen and Dukes hot on his tail. 

They decide to make the best of an unexpected situation and opt to gently tap Janssen's rear end and gleefully push him into a nearby parking lot.

Janssen, not one for bucket-loads of smiles, as a rule anyway, takes it like a man and winds up feeling grateful for the gesture. 

How convenient that the parking lot is for a massage parlor! 

On a subsequent occasion, our gays guys are still following Janssen around when his car konks out again!

Camera angles continue to be a factor as he gets out and pulls back the hood. 

The bemused hit-men lie back and wait for him to get his motor running again. The shot depicted here could easily be misconstrued as two dudes getting simultaneous head! (Tell me you see this, too, and it's not just that I'm a haggard old perv.)  

Janssen has successfully ditched his followers and has made his way to the ocean-side amusement park where Mars works at "Reptile-O-Rama." San Diego residents have to appreciate these vintage shots of local landmarks such as Belmont Park. First on the scene in 1925, it's had a roller-coaster existence over the years but remains in operation today!

Janssen's search for Mars contains a lot of low-angle shots. I had to laugh at these rat-faced kids/extras who refused to follow the rules and chose to point, laugh, wave and look into the camera!

The moment ends with "Hey, look how cool I am" 1970s gestures and expressions.

The composition of this shot is neat, but note the looming, phallic pole in the frame, which is keeping with the overall symbolism to be found in this episode.

Naturally, when he gets to the reptile repository, Janssen has his own encounter with a long, slippery beast.

Meanwhile, the baddies have made their way to Darling's apartment.  

As they grin menacingly, Dukes pulls the phone out of the wall and Van Dusen poses in the skintight red pants he opted for that morning. 

Again with the low angles... Did Dawn Lyn operate the camera when she wasn't in front of it?

Things ultimately come to a head and Dukes puts his gun into Van Dusen's hand. 

Van Dusen can hardly wait to pull the trigger on it. 

The two spread their legs and zero in on Mars and Janssen. 

Unfortunately, it doesn't end well for the dynamic duo. 

While Dukes lies motionless on the pavement, Van Dusen frets, begins to cry and relentlessly strokes his hair. 

Before this highly unusual television episode is over, it's fast becoming a bit like the finale of West Side Story!

Harry O, which was eventually re-tooled to a new setting and with a new supporting cast (including Farrah Fawcett as a recurring neighbor/stewardess and love interest for Janssen) was unceremoniously canceled when Fred Silverman wanted to steer ABC more towards "jiggle TV." It was replaced by Charlie's Angels. Janssen was so disheartened by this that he vowed never again to star in a weekly television show. And he didn't. 

Charlie's Angels never dotted today's guests' resumes, but... Van Dusen worked with Cheryl Ladd in A Death in California (1985) and Dukes appeared with Jaclyn Smith in George Washington and Sentimental Journey (both 1984.)

This was also neither actor's only foray into playing gay. Dukes costarred with Richard Gere in Broadway's concentration camp drama Bent. Sadly, Dukes passed away altogether too early from a heart attack in 2000 at age 55. 

Van Dusen appeared on Hotel with The Brady Bunch's Robert Reed. Reed's wife Diedre Hall finds the two men showering together...! Van Dusen, retired since 2012, is still with us today at 81. 

The End! (Or is it?)

The End!