A Pair Of Jacks--Kelly and Klugman! :)

Hi Everyone,

Jack Kelly worked with a lot of great actors. One of them was Jack Klugman, born this day, April 27, in 1922.

In honor of Mr. Klugman's birth anniversary, I'd like to share these fabulous stills of JK--and JK!--from "Time Of Flight", an episode of Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre which originally aired on September 21, 1966. 

"Time Of Flight", written by prolific screenwriter and author Richard Matheson, was a far-out installment of the anthology series. Directed by Joseph Sargent and produced by Stanley Chase, "Time of Flight" was also an unsold pilot for a series which would have starred Jack Kelly. A review in the Dover, OH Daily Reporter described it as "Another suspense story...Jack Kelly guest-stars as Al Packer, a private eye down on his luck who accepts as a client one Buddy Markos (Jack Klugman), a small-time hood. When Markos is cornered and killed in Packer's apartment, Packer calls the police--only to have Markos come alive again. The story is full of resurrected corpses, and the whole thing is saved from incredibility by the fine performance of its leads, particularly Klugman. Juliet Mills stars as Packer's girl, Mary."

The original "snipe" on the back of this tense photo says, "PAIR OF JACKS...Jack Klugman (l) and Jack Kelly (r) are paired in a suspense drama about 'murder' victims who won't stay dead in 'Time Of Flight' for 'Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre', on Wednesday, September 21 (9:00-10:00 pm ET) in color over NBC-TV. Juliet Mills also stars in the murder mystery with a twist of science fiction." (Hmm, sounds like a case for "Quincy" ;>)

Everyone looks pretty tense in this pic, too, especially Mr. Klugman. The snipe says, "DOORWAYS TO TROUBLE...Jack Klugman, Juliet Mills and Jack Kelly star in a drama about 'murder' victims who won't stay dead in 'Time Of Flight', the first science fiction offering from 'Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre'."

 

Mr. Kelly and Ms. Mills look much happier (and cozier) here. Incidentally, Ms. Mills (daughter of Sir John Mills and sister of Hayley Mills) would later co-star in the sitcom Nanny and The Professor with Richard Long, JK's old pal from Maverick.

More trivia: Jack Klugman is, of course, fondly remembered as "Oscar Madison" in the original TV version of The Odd Couple. Jack Kelly also played Oscar in various stage productions.

The "Decades" nostalgia network is saluting Mr. Klugman by airing some of his TV performances today. (I hope they'll do the same for the other Mr. K when September 16th rolls around.) :)