The ‘Star Trek’ / ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ connection

I’m not sure when I first noticed that some of the cast of that classic 1962 drama “To Kill a Mockingbird” had later turned up in “Star Trek” TV episodes and movies, but I was watching the Gregory Peck film – an adaptation by Horton Foote of Harper Lee’s novel of tolerance – recently and was struck when I realized that not one, not two, but three members of its cast had memorable roles in “Star Trek” within a few years.

It’s likely the easiest-to-spot connection is actor Brock Peters, who played criminal defendant Tom Robinson in the movie.

Peters is memorable for two “Star Trek” roles. He played Joseph Sisko, father of Avery Brooks’ Benjamin Sisko, in the 1990s series “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” And he played Starfleet Admiral Cartwright in “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” and “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,” two of the best in that series. (How can you tell? They’re both even-numbered “Trek” movies.)

Also easy to spot is William Windom as the prosecutor, Gilmer, in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Windom had one of the showiest guest-starring roles in all of the original “Star Trek” series, as Commodore Decker, the doomed starship commander who squares off against “The Doomsday Machine” in the memorable 1967 “Star Trek” of the same name.

The hardest-to-spot actor who crossed over from the movie to the “Trek” universe might be Paul Fix, who played Judge Taylor in the movie.

If things had gone differently, Fix might be as familiar a Hollywood figure as any of the “Star Trek” regulars. Fix was cast as Mark Piper, the ship’s surgeon of the Enterprise, in “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” the second pilot for “Star Trek.” Yes, Piper was the early version of Leonard “Bones” McCoy, The ship’s doctor was McCoy by the time the series began airing, but Fix is there throughout “Where No Man Has Gone Before” as Kirk’s doctor and confidant.

While the series was still trying to find a spot on NBC’s schedule, the network rejected Gene Roddenberry’s original pilot, which featured Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike. “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was the second pilot, and made several alterations to the make-up of the crew, including the addition of William Shatner as Kirk.

Although Fix – who died in 1983 – was a solid character actor, the mix of great writing and DeForrest Kelley’s portrayal of Bones McCoy made that character a classic. It’s impossible to imagine Mark Piper saying, “He’s dead, Jim!” with as much feeling as Kelley.

 

Look out below: ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ poster

Head’s up!

Above is the new “Star Trek Into Darkness” poster, with the Enterprise falling through the atmosphere.

And here’s one of the earlier posters for “Iron Man 3,” with Tony Stark falling through the atmosphere.

We’ll see both in May. In the meantime, I suggest you wear a hard hat.

 

Classic toys: G.I. Joe

In the 1960s – before the horrors of the morass developing in Vietnam became obvious – World War II was a fascinating period in history for young boys. We played with green army men and watched “Combat” and “Rat Patrol.” For me and other friends, World War II was an experience that our fathers didn’t talk about much but was obviously a big part of their history. The subject of my 1960s fascination with World War II is a topic for another day.

But out of that interest in the war grew the popularity of G.I. Joe, the doll – action figure – for boys.

Marketed by Hasbro beginning in 1964, G.I. Joe was a 12-inch action figure that earned the name: Unlike the stiff Barbie for our sisters and female cousins, Joe had joints at his elbows and shoulders and knees that made it possible to us to pose him in elaborate fighting scenarios. (Not to mention the “kung fu grip” added later, but that was really after my time).

Like Barbie, Joe had a variety of outfits and accessories – only the manliest, though – including guns and canteens and inflatable rafts. I believe it was those accessories that added to Joe’s lasting appeal. Unlike Johnny West – another action figure I had and enjoyed – Joe’s wealth of outfits and accessories made him immensely variable and playable.

The most elaborate accessory I had for my G.I. Joes was the Mercury space capsule. I played for hours and hours with the capsule, being a big fan of the space program.

Joe went through a lot of variations, including weird fuzzy hair and beard. Online sources say that in 1969, after Americans were soured on Vietnam, Hasbro thought Joe should be recast as an adventurer instead of soldier. That led to sets in which Joe hunted the Abominable Snowman, for pete’s sake.

But for me, G.I. Joe was a soldier and remained one. He was a great toy, but he was always a reminder of the war that so fascinated me as a kid.

Classic TV: ‘The Edge of Night’

I loved sitting in on my mom’s soap operas when I was a kid. I would catch glimpses of “Another World” or “Days of Our Lives” when I was home sick. And of course “Dark Shadows” was must viewing after school.

But there was one daytime drama that that thriller-loving kids like me didn’t have to feel silly about watching.

“The Edge of Night” ran on daytime TV from 1956 to 1984 and, for much of its run, focused on the crime-busting cops and attorneys of the Midwestern city of Monticello. Most memorable to me were characters like Mike Carr and Adam Drake, who appeared about as often as any characters during the show’s 7,420 episodes. Most of the episodes appeared on CBS with a few last few years’ worth airing on ABC.

Monticello must have been the most crime-ridden city ever. Murders, assaults, arsons and robberies seemed to happen with such frequency I can only imagine the Greater Monticello Chamber of Commerce had its hands full.

Monticello was modeled after Cincinnati, hometown of sponsor Procter and Gamble. That city’s skyline was glimpsed in the show for many years.

But as in most soaps, the settings were highly fictionalized, sometimes to the point of amusement. For example: The state capital was Capital City, not unlike in “The Simpsons” many years later.

Carr (played by three different actors) and Drake, played by Donald May from 1967 to 1977, were the most fascinating characters for me. The credits ended “And Donald May as Adam Drake,” which tipped me off that this character was cool and important. And I had a crush on beautiful Maeve McGuire, who played his wife, Nicole Drake.

The show featured a number of actors on their way up, from Larry Hagman to Frank Gorshin to Dixie Carter.

“The Edge of Night” had a regular audience of nine million viewers, many of them men because of the emphasis on murder and mayhem and because of the 4:30 p.m. timeslot, which allowed blue-collar workers and students like me to get home in time to watch.

The show’s scripts were generally recognized as best when Henry Slesar was head writer. And the ominous tones of announcer Hal Simms, who said, “The Edge … of Night” with just the right dramatic pause, added to the mood.

 

Don’s new fling: Linda Cardellini in ‘Mad Men’

Every few scenes in last night’s season premiere of “Mad Men,” I was wondering: Who’s the actress playing the wife of Don and Megan’s neighbor, heart surgeon Dr. Rosen?

After the final scene, I was wondering: Who’s the actress playing the wife of Don and Megan’s new neighbor, heart surgeon Dr. Rosen, whom Don is boinking? (The wife, that is. Good god, people. He’s not Don’s type.)

She looked so familiar, but I couldn’t figure it out. Was this another actress from the 1990s, like Madchen Amick as Don’s flirtation last season?

The credits went by way too fast to catch a name, so I turned to online sources and was shocked to discover the character was played by Linda Cardellini.

Lindsay from the classic TV show “Freaks and Geeks!”

Mind. Blown.

 

First look: ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’

Yes, we know production has only just begun on “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” Yes, we know the sequel won’t hit theaters until 2014. But doggone it, we have to get excited about the first official photo from filming.

The picture appears to show actor Chris Evans, returning to play Cap for a third time, behind the scenes on the set with his shield on his back and a big SHIELD emblem on the wall.

We knew SHIELD plays a big role in the movie, with Samuel Jackson returning as Nick Fury, Scarlett Johansson returning as the Black Widow and Robert Redford (!) debuting as SHIELD officer Alexander Pierce.

What’s so good about this picture? It’s the way Chris Evans is wearing Cap’s shield. All of us growing up reading Marvel Comics saw Steve Rogers and Cap portrayed many times as wearing the shield on his back. Sometimes Steve even wore it under his street clothes, particularly under his jacket. While that seems kind of cumbersome (duh), it implied that he was as ready as Spider-Man or Superman to leap into action.

What’s not so good? Okay, I will admit to being distracted by a couple of things in this photo. Namely, the things on either side of Evans. What are those? Is that SHIELD helicarrier plumbing?

We can tell the shot is behind the scenes because of the light reflecting screens on each side of the SHIELD emblem.

But no worries. I totally trust Marvel, Evans and the directors of the sequel, Anthony and Joe Russo.

I’m ready for some Cap action and I’m counting down to April 4, 2104.

Pop Culture Lost and Found: Eight track tapes

If you were of a certain age, you got your music from vinyl albums and singles. But if you wanted to take your music portable, there was a period when you did it via eight track tapes.

From the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, eight track tapes provided a handy if aurally substandard portable medium for music. The thick and boxy eight track cartridges were an important bridge for the delivery of music between vinyl albums and cassette tapes.

Eight tracks were just another delivery system for our favorite albums. Used in portable players – including both hand-carried and dashboard models for cars and cool home systems – eight tracks had a lot of weaknesses. The running order of tracks on an album often had to be rearranged to fit on the tapes’ multiple tracks. And sometimes songs had to be broken into pieces, with the first part on one track and the rest on another.

But eight tracks seemed to me to be a cool and trendy alternative to unwieldy and fragile vinyl. Not that eight tracks weren’t of limited lifespan. I can’t count the number of cartridges I lost to unspooled and broken tape.

FYi, there are eight-track tapes and components available for sale online, but there’s probably no greater depth of information about eight tracks available than at http://www.8trackheaven.com/

Classic TV: ‘Duel’

Four years before Steven Spielberg became one of the few Hollywood directors to be a household name – thanks to “Jaws” in 1975 – he made one of the most-watched TV movies of all time. It even won a Golden Globe.

“Duel” featured Dennis Weaver – TV’s “McCloud” – as a salesman traveling the backroads of Southern California, pressured to make it to an appointment on time, when he runs afoul of the driver of a tanker truck. The two take turns passing each other on a winding two-lane road and it quickly becomes obvious that the trucker has more than just an attitude. Weaver comes to believe that the man intends to kill him.

When Spielberg made “Jaws” just a few years later, a lot of people drew comparisons to “Duel.” Both do feature a large unstoppable force finally brought down by a lone man. Spielberg has said the movies share the theme of “leviathans targeting an everyman.”

The movie was written by Richard Matheson, one of the great fantasy writers of all time. Matheson’s stories have been adapted into movies ranging from “The Incredible Shrinking Man” to “I Am Legend.”

There’s not a lot of character development – heck, there’s not a lot of characters – in “Duel.” I guess we’re supposed to think that Weaver starts off kind of wimpy – he doesn’t say anything when a neighbor makes advances on his wife – and ends up saving his own life and taking a menace off the road.

Watching this movie again recently made me think it played like a prequel to Pixar’s “Cars.” And not just because the truck in question looks like rusty, lovable ol’ Mater on steroids. The story plays out on a dusty two-lane western road that seems like the one that leads to and from Radiator Springs. No wonder people quit going to that town: the charming little road was filled with psychotic truckers!

“Duel” was Spielberg’s second TV movie, after an episode of “The Name of the Game.” Although it lags in spots – Weaver’s sojourn in a cafe seems to go on forever – it’s tense and gritty when Weaver is on the road, being pushed and bullied by the trucker.

It’s an interesting choice by Spielberg to keep the trucker anonymous. Other than a pair of boots and an arm, we never see him, even at the end.

“Duel” was released in theaters, particularly overseas, and its short running time required that some scenes be added. Weaver’s call home to his wife was one of those, as was a scene with the truck driver idling ominously while Weaver tries to help a stranded school bus. Also added was a great railroad crossing scene.

“Duel” was the state of the art for TV movies more than 40 years ago and is still quite suspenseful and effective.

Carmine Infantino RIP

So sad to note, in the wake of the passing of Roger Ebert, the death at age 87 of classic comic book artist and editor Carmine Infantino.

As an artist from the 1940s on, Infantino left an indelible mark on comic books.

If he did nothing else but create the Silver Age Flash in 1956 – the re-introduction of classic DC characters who would go on to spawn the modern age of comics – Infantino would be a legend.

He created, after all, that distinctive Barry Allen Flash outfit: Crimson with yellow boots and yellow lightning bolts. It is the uniform that survives, with small variations, to this day and is the Flash that several generations of comic book and animation – and maybe, one day, live-action movie – fans think of when they think of the character.

But Infantino also created or co-created other Silver Age characters like Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon and, for goodness’ sake, Flash’s Rogues Gallery, including Captain Cold and Gorilla Grodd.

He even helped revamp Batman and Robin to make them relevant for the mid-1960s.

And as one of DC Comics’ top editors in the 1960s, he oversaw a massive overhaul of that comic book house.

For a lot of us who grew up reading comic books in the 1960s – even for those of us who more often sought out the irreverent pleasures of Marvel Comics than the childlike pleasures of DC – Infantino’s images and his many, many covers are what we think of when we think of comics.

Carmine Infantino, you’ll be missed.

Roger Ebert RIP

It was ironic but delightful that when Roger Ebert lost his voice, he gained another.

Ebert, the longtime Chicago Sun-Times movie reviewer, who died today at 70 after a long battle with cancer, was – as was former partner Gene Siskel – one of the most familiar faces and voices in film criticism for decades beginning in the 1970s.

After operations for cancer of the thyroid, salivary glands and chin in the past decade, Ebert lost much of his lower jaw as well as his ability to eat solid foods and speak.

But coincidentally to those losses, Ebert – who had written thousands of movie reviews during his career and several books – became a frequent blogger and even more frequent Twitter user. Hundreds of thousands of people – including me – followed him on Twitter, and I would venture a guess that most of us enjoyed his pithy comments on not only movies but politics and art and life.

The best thing that can be said about Ebert is that he was always fun to read, educational and entertaining. The other best thing is that, thanks to his drive and his embracing of social media, he was always relevant.

The balcony is closed.