Poseidon Quickies: More Bumps in the Road

Ryan O'Neal

The month of September to date has wound up as another unintentional hiatus from posting.  Not only have I lost a significant source of material thanks to an issue with my home internet and laptop no longer coordinating, but I just lost another resource in that one of the sites I rely on has instituted software that prevents screen-caps! Some days it's like I'm a laboratory rat in a maze and the researchers keep putting up barriers whenever I head down one of the corridors. I have a (very) small collection of bulge photos that I'm going to share in the meantime. In March and April of 2021, I did three posts of this sort called "Bumps in the Road" and here is a late addition. I'm also going to take a moment to mention one thing. I recently got a comment on an older bulge post in which the viewer's sole comment was to deride the quality of one of the photos (there were 73 in all on the post!) It's a photo I still stand by regardless. Then they felt the need to comment again in order to correct a mis-naming that I did - not in the post but in the comments section. I let them ride rather than deleting them, but these are the type of "dicks" I DON'T need. If any photo here is not up to one's standards, then I suggest scrolling to the next one. And if that still doesn't do it, then I suggest heading to another, more explicit, site. There are plenty to choose from! I have, literally, thousands of bulge photos here, many of them quite rare and unusual, and some are more pronounced than others, but we do what we can to serve the cause. LOL! Now on we go... 

Lemme tell ya, it takes a lot to make my eyes veer from the visage of Miss Joan Crawford, but it did happen. She's seen here walking with on-screen hubby Fred MacMurray in 1943's Above Suspicion. They're trying to avoid any issues with the soldiers walking behind them.

With each step, the one on the far left seems to be revealing parts of himself.

Pretty soon, even Fred wants to know what's back there...! Ha ha!

"Ah jes love a man in uniform..."

 

On the subject of uniforms, I give you some space-age soldiers from the lesser-known Keir Dullea show The Starlost.

 

That's a mustached Dullea in the tan smock... if you can draw your eyes to him.

For some reason, and we ain't complaining, 1960s & '70s (and '80s!) sci-fi employed a lot of skin-tight fabric in the costuming.

This glimpse of Tony Curtis (seen with then-wife Janet Leigh - she's on the left!) was a reader submission.

Daktari is not a show I have ever seen a lot of. I think I saw some reruns as a kid, but memories are vague. However, after seeing costar Yale Summers in this installment, I'm beginning to think I missed out!

Summers is really not my usual type, but I think his slim, young-ish appeal will be of interest to some of you. (He actually looks younger than he was - He was 33 when the show began!)

There's a scene in the lab where I thought perhaps I was noticing something...

...then a shadow fell and I wasn't sure.

Then the sun came out again and I saw that I had been right...! (Or is this considered "left!" LOL)

 

In case you're wondering, Daktari is Swahili for Doctor... not that other D.

Vintage television isn't always dull and boring, no matter what anyone may tell you!

We've long been aware of Ben Gazarra as a potential bulger. His 1960s series Run for Your Life had its moments of example.

Seen here in a season one ep with Howard Keel and Bernie Hamilton, Gazarra wears some of the damnedest pants you're likely to see...

As I said once about another person in snug trousers. This took some balls! Ha ha!

'Course musician Frank Zappa took it to the next level...!

And so, as Fred Williamson might have said, "That's it until next time, baby!"

Guest Who: New "Life" for a Stalled Career

Over-the-air stations have carried the lesser-known Roy Huggins-produced series Run for Your Life, but otherwise it has been difficult to find in recent years. In the wake of the whopping success of The Fugitive (1963-1967), Huggins (creator of that show) produced this similar series. Whereas The Fugitive was an anthology that traced the wanderings of a an unfairly accused man on the run, Run for Your Life (1965-1968) was an anthology that traced the wanderings of a man given less than two years to live, who wanted to pack as much living into those remaining months as possible.

35 year-old Ben Gazzara played the stricken star of Run for Your Life. Seen in a different locale every week, he attempted to squeeze the most out of whatever months he had left.

This episode opens with a young lady, forlornly strolling the beach while a (very syrupy) song plays. The song is the same as the ep's title, "Someone Who Makes Me Feel Beautiful," sung by Sue Raney. (Raney would sing the title song for 1967's Wait Until Dark.)

A closer look reveals a little more familiar face, one known primarily from a couple of high-profile movies, but now in stasis. Remarkably, no seagulls dive-bomb her.

Yes, it is Miss Tippi Hedren, of The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964.) She catched a glimpse of Gazarra as he is floating by on a fishing charter. (And, no, before you ask, the hair didn't come attached to this headband! LOL It's all hers.)

Hedren had, of course, tangled with director Alfred Hitchcock, who had her under personal contract, and was unable to make another movie until 1967. In one of his crueler moments, he wouldn't let her be hired by another director until the time on the agreement had run out. So a just-prior Kraft Suspense Theatre installment (with Jeffrey Hunter) and this episode of Life was it until then. 

The action then shifts back to Gazarra, who's occupied with his big rod. He's chartered the boat in order to go looking for swordfish, but, considering his own mortality, he let's them go once captured...

Also guest-starring (and I'm sorry the quality of the video isn't better) is one Fernando Lamas. Known for his own endowments, this is a true sword fight among the gents. Ha ha!

Inside the boat's cabin, 'Nando tells Gazarra that he's grown a beard during this once-per-year outing so that he can avoid women (who are drawn to him like bees to a flower.) He's usually a gigolo, but needs a recharge one month a year! (I don't know if the real Lamas ever required such a thing...! LOL) For a moment, I wondered if the very-intrigued Gazarra was thinking of trying something new during his own personal ticking time clock...

Unfortunately, an explosion blows the boat to smithereens and injures Gazarra's leg in the process, too.

His rescuer Lamas has all hands on deck until he can get his injured pal back to safety.

Safety comes in the form of Hedren's hospitality.

Turns out that she (also 35) is recently-divorced and very wealthy. However, she's also quite damaged by the disaffection of her ex-husband and is in sore need of being brought out of her defensive shell.

It looks as if a grateful Gazarra will likely be up to the task at hand.

But, wait, faithful readers... What's this? A newly-shaven (and sadly now boat-free!) Lamas has dropped in to check on the patient.

He's also there to check on the rich caregiver! He describes his career to her as a sort of "animal husbandry!" (I am not making this up...)

Still-gimpy Gazarra can only look on and marvel at how slick Lamas is operating with his latest prey.

Lamas departs, but not before setting a date with Hedren. She begins to question whether she's done the right thing and confesses to Gazarra that her ex made her feel unattractive to the point that she tried to commit suicide.

The date, at a local cantina, is going along all right, though.

Hedren is enjoying a couple of locals flamenco-dance themselves silly.

Lamas, in the tightest pants he could muster up, begins his own mating ritual. But this suddenly worries his date and she asks to leave the place.

A walk on the beach leads to Lamas coming on strong...

...and the Tipster isn't completely immune to his charms.

But in the end she feels the need to bid him goodnight. Alone. (The 1965-68 period of this show means that we are often treated to fun whirl-a-whip hairdos and simple, colorful clothes of the sort seen in this post.)

Gazarra has witnessed this whole scenario and warns Lamas off from hurting Hedren any further. She's fragile and susceptible.

As his condition improves, he begins to take her out some himself.

Lamas (50 at the time of this episode) just doesn't get it. He takes Hedren (of all people!) to a cockfight! She's appalled. Note the hilarity, though. She's wearing a dress with an artful rooster embroidered on it!

Gazarra gets further with a seaside picnic lunch.

It's becoming rather clear for which man Hedren is developing some real feelings.

The three of them head out onto another boat for some more fishing.

Ben's got his equipment on display again.

But down below, Lamas lays all the cards on the table.

A stunned Hedren now has a big decision to make and it's now more complicated.

The men are able to remain friends no matter what. (With Gazarra making sure there's a reason to tune in next time...!) Mr. Gazarra passed away of cancer in 2012 at age 81. Mr. Lamas had been taken of cancer long before in 1982 at age 67. (Both were pancreatic.)

Meanwhile Hedren has to live with her decision. In real life, she proceeds with the remnants of a derailed career. Fortunately for her there was a half-century's worth of acting roles in her future, though she would never fully regain the momentum that those two early movies promised. As of this writing, she is 93. A survivor indeed. 

This episode may be seen (in a trimmed for broadcast rendition) right here.