Small House of Everything

Small House of Everything

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

OVERLOOKED TELEVISION: MICHAEL SHAYNE

Michael Shayne, everybody's favorite tough guy redhead, began his literary life in 1939 in the novel Dividend on Death by Davis Dresser writing as "Brett Halliday."  My memory is fuzzy, but I recall reading somewhere that Dresser based the character on a man he chanced upon in a bar in (maybe) Mexico.  Anyway, Michael Shayne blazed his way through novels, short stories, movies (first played by Lloyd Nolan pre-Fixodent commercials, then by the Beaver's dad, Hugh Beaumont), radio (with a number of actors taking the title role, including Jeff Chandler), a mystery magazine, and -- of course -- a television show.  Although Dresser retired in the late 1950s, "Brett Halliday" and Michael Shayne continued on in books and stories via a number of ghost writers, including Robert Tyrell, Ryerson Johnson, Dennis Lynds, and James Reasoner.

     Michael Shayne, the television series, ran for 32 episodes from 1960 to 1961 and starred Richard Denning, who had previously played Jerry North in the series Mr. and Mrs. North.  Shayne's secretary, Lucy Hamilton, was first played by Patricia Donahue, then by Margie Regan.  The show created a younger brother for Lucy, Dick Hamilton, played by heart-throb Gary Clarke (later seen in The Virginian.)  Rounding out the regular cast were Herbert Rudley as Police Lt. Will Gentry and a young Jerry Paris (The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Bob Newhart Show, and a zillion other things) as reporter Tim Rourke.

     The episode below, Murder in Wonderland, was one of several written for the show by William Link and Richard Levinson (Mannix, Ellery Queen, Columbo, Murder, She Wrote), and has Patricia Donahue as Lucy.  This video, from 1960, is a little jerky but will give you the flavor of the series:

http://www.archive.org/details/MichaelShayneMurderInWonderland

     For more Overlooked Films, drop by Sweet Freedom, where Todd Mason will have the latest low-down.

UPDATE:  In his comment, Randy mentions that this series slipped by him.  It probably slipped by a lot of us (myself included) because it ran against The Twilight Zone.  The slot was the kiss of death.

7 comments:

  1. Never seen any of these. If memory serves, Richard Denning played the governor on the original Hawaii Five-O.

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  2. Yup...till Denning quit or was fired and they started referring to actual incumbent Gov. George Ariyoshi.

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  3. Dresser wrote a little essay called "Michael Shayne as I Know Him" that appeared in the back of some of the books and various other places, including from time to time in MSMM. In it he talked about how he met a redheaded tough guy named Connor Michael Shawn in a bar in Tampico. Shawn was in trouble with some shady characters. The impression was that Shawn was almost as shady as the guys who were after him. Dresser thought that Shawn had been killed, but then he turned up later as a private detective in Miami, so Dresser used that as the inspiration for creating Michael Shayne. Maybe it's true, maybe it's every bit as much fiction as the Shayne novels, but it's a good yarn either way.

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  4. I was always a big fan of Richard Denning especially in the Mr. and Mrs. North series. He was in his element then. I also remember him as the not very bright and overly ambitious co-lead in THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. I actually preferred him to Richard Carlson who was the 'good guy' lead. Much better looking.

    It was that gorgeous blond hair. :)

    I vaguely remember the Michael Shayne series since I liked detective shows even as a kid and probably watched this one at some point.

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  5. For me it's one of those things where you already have a mental picture of a character before seeing the show. Denning was okay in the series but never quite "right" for me.

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  6. Jerry, except perhaps emotionally, THE TWILIGHT ZONE wasn't that much of a powerhouse, even at 10p on Fridays (which would seem a good slot). But...of the competing programs on the three commercial networks in that season, ROBERT TAYLOR'S THE DETECTIVES also survived into the next season (albeit jumping networks to do so)...and MICHAEL SHAYNE was the only one of the three to have a Completely incompatible lead-in...ABC led into THE DETECTIVES with a genuine powerhouse, 77 SUNSET STRIP, CBS led into TZ with the rather compatible MR. GARLUND/THE GARLUND TOUCH (albeit 77SS had wiped it out by midseason), and MICHAEL SHAYNE followed THE BELL TELEPHONE HOUR...never a ratings powerhouse, always a "prestige" item devoted usually to classical music.

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  7. Ah. I see my memory of the later BELL TELEPHONE HOURs misleads me...reportedly, the early seasons were mostly "MOR" pop music ("middle of the road").

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