Jack Kelly in "Deadlock"

Hello Everyone!

Fifty-three years ago today--May 17, 1967--Jack Kelly starred in "Deadlock", an episode of NBC-TV's Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre. JK portrayed police detective "Ray Baker".

The plot: There's a heat wave going on--and things suddenly get even hotter in Baker's squad room when "Virginia Cloyd" (Lee Grant) enters with a .38 pistol and a vial which she claims contains nitroglycerin. Mrs. Cloyd intends to kill another detective who just shot her lowlife husband in a bar. While on her way to meet Mr. Cloyd at the bar, she saw his body being removed from the premises. She doesn't realize the shooting was in self-defense (her husband had pulled a gun as the detective attempted to apprehend him).

Caption: "DEADLOCK  co-stars Jack Kelly and Lee Grant on Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, airing in color Wednesday, May 17 (9:00-10:00 pm ET) over NBC-TV. Tige Andrews, Brooke Bundy and Percy Rodriguez also star in the drama, set mainly in a police station, of a hoodlum's widow who seeks revenge for her husband's death."

The detective hasn't returned to the station yet, so Mrs. Cloyd holds Baker, two other cops and assorted crooks hostage in the sweltering squad room as she awaits his arrival. Detective Baker doesn't know if she's actually bluffing about the nitroglycerin, but he and his partners can't take the chance by trying to disarm her.

When the detective finally returns with a female suspect, a disturbing detail is revealed which causes Mrs. Cloyd to turn the squad room into a shooting gallery. During the commotion, the vial is safely retrieved and the vengeful widow is taken into custody. Later, the police lab informs Detective Baker that the vial did indeed contain nitro!

"WAITING GAME--Jack Kelly (left) is a detective and Lee Grant (right) a revenge-seeking hoodlum's widow...caught in the 'Deadlock' when that episode airs in color on Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre..."

Incidentally, the plot of "Deadlock" had previously been dramatized in 1961 under the title "Lady in Waiting" as an episode of the NBC series 87th Precinct. Both "Deadlock" and "Lady in Waiting" were adapted from the novel Killer's Wedge by Ed McBain (a nom de plume of author Evan Hunter). McBain/Hunter also wrote the teleplay for "Deadlock".  

And, "Deadlock" was the final episode of The Chrysler Theatre. Associated Press TV writer Cynthia Lowry noted:

"Bob Hope's weekly anthology series came to the end of its four-season run on NBC Wednesday night. Over-all, the programs deserved more attention than they received.

"The final show was 'Deadlock', a suspense tale as so many of them have been. It was well-acted, professionally and slickly produced and followed a story line that, in one form or another, is a television favorite."

(Hmm...I wonder if "Ray Baker" is any relation to "Bill Baker", the police detective JK portrayed in The Lucy Show?) ;>

Well, I'll detect more about JK in the next TDS, so please stay tuned--and stay healthy. :)

"Sale" Away With Jack Kelly Part II! :)

More fun with JK and Sale of the Century:

Newspaper ad from Syracuse, NY

 

Was it difficult getting a 1970 Pontiac Le Mans automobile into the show's eighth-floor studio so it could be offered as a prize? You don't know the "half" of it:

 

Image of 1970 Pontiac Le Mans courtesy ClassicCarCatalogue.com

 

 

And, here's a heart-warming article about a special yuletide segment of Sale which aired on 12/25/1970. Some very lucky kids got to "join Jack Kelly at a grand piano for Christmas songs":

 



"Sale" Away With Jack Kelly! :)

Hello!

On September 29, 1969, a new quiz show premiered on the NBC television network. Titled Sale of the Century, its ebullient emcee was none other than Jack Kelly.

An actual admission ticket for Sale of the Century

 

A typical publicity blurb for the show read: "Jack Kelly (remembered as TV's Bart Maverick), is the star and host of NBC Television Network's new daytime game show, Sale of the Century, which tests the general knowledge, reflexes and shopping savvy of three contestants each day." The game "...was designed for every housewife who has ever succumbed to the temptation to pick up an irresistible 'bargain'."

 

I'm sure we've all seen the many Sale promo photos (like this one) of JK hamming it up with grocery items:

 

 

This 1969 photo was inexplicably used to illustrate

 a 2015 article about investing on the Financial Times website!

 

 

Well, here's a pic of our favorite quizmaster actually hosting the show:

 

Items up for "Sale" include

a Hoover vacuum cleaner, Samsonite luggage...and a mynah bird!?

MORE ABOUT Sale of the Century NEXT TIME! :)







TBT--Merry Christmas Edition! :)

 

I know--every day is "Throwback Thursday" at TDS. But since today is also Christmas, I thought I'd share this 1970 pic of Jack Kelly guest starring on the NBC game show Concentration. JK is in the lower right corner of the pic (that's host Bob Clayton on the left).

 

 

It's kind of hard to tell, but JK is wearing a Santa suit. Concentration had a Christmas tradition of having "mystery" Santas play the game for charity, revealing their identities at the end of the episode. 

 

According to the Internet Movie Database, this episode aired 12/23/70. JK played for the charity CARE along with the late Joan Rivers. They were joined by 18 children from 12 different nations costumed in their native attire. JK was hosting Sale of the Century on NBC at the time, so he didn't have to travel very far to make his guest appearance.

I wish everyone a Christmas blessed with faith, family, friends and fun! :)

On Guard! :)

Howdy All!

Well, it happened again--while on YouTube, I stumbled upon a Jack Kelly performance I hadn't yet seen. It's in A Double Life. Unfortunately, it's not the 1947 feature film starring Ronald Colman. Nope, this is the 1978 pilot film for a short-lived NBC series called Sword of Justice.

The late Dack Rambo stars as "Jack Cole", a "millionaire playboy" who was unjustly imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. But, Cole put his time in the stir to good use. No, he didn't raise birds or earn a law degree. He learned how to become a crook. Not to worry, though: once out of the joint, Cole uses his newfound bad skills for good.

In A Double Life, Cole puts the squeeze on the murderous mastermind (a slightly pre-Dallas Larry Hagman) behind a scheme involving counterfeit wine.

I slogged through 11 segments of A Double Life on YouTube and found the three where JK briefly appears as "Walters", a surly security guard at the winery.

In the first segment, he comes in at about 1:00. As you'll see, he wears a laughably large hat. And, although his character is generally a grouch, JK does get in a funny line near the end of the clip:

In the segment below, JK comes in about 2:23 and yells at one of the winery workers (who is actually Cole's undercover operative):

Finally, JK wraps up his appearance starting at about 4:11:

Since Sword of Justice aired in early 1978 and was produced by Glen Larson, I wonder if perhaps Walters was working undercover, too, and was actually Harry Hammond of the Justice Department who became the boss of the Hardy Boys later that year... ;-)