Fifties sitcoms are the blueprints for the genre (borrowed liberally from the radio and certain master comedians like Fields), while the Sixties sits moved into the very high-concept area with flying nuns, talking cars, goofy castaways, and sea-captain ghosts. This find is a low-key buddy comedy that I remember watching as a very tiny kid, but had no clear memories of. I’m happy to report it’s cute as hell, with some decent gags. The Good Guys ran only a season and a half (1968-70), and involved the dynamic between a down-on-his-luck diner owner (the blessed Herb Edelman) and his cabbie friend (uber-sidekick Bob Denver, fresh from his stint with the Skipper and Mary Ann). The show is charming and simple — Edelman tries to avoid the stupid plans hatched by Denver, while long-suffering spouse Joyce Van Patten puts up with it all. This particular episode finds Denver getting involved with a heartsick young musician and Edelman trying to avoid a rich rival (played by the priss exemplar William Daniels).
The show was created by veteran scripter Jack Rose (who worked on Bob Hope pics in the Forties and wound up doing things like A Touch of Class in the Seventies), and was produced by Leonard Stern (who produced comedies from Get Smart to Grace Under Fire). It's 40 years old this year. DAMN, I wish the “classic TV” networks would put stuff like this on.
Check out the pilot episode here:
Or just sample the super-’60s theme song here. The credits sequence was done by the long-unheralded director/title designer Reza Badiyi, who directed countless TV episodes of classic shows, was once Jennifer Jason Leigh's stepdad, and helped craft many credits montages, among them Hawaii 5-0 and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Loving You Has Made Him Bananas: Guy Marks
It may appear that I am wholly and completely bound up in the past from the entries on this blog, but I will note that I’m actually functioning in the present tense, I watch contemporary TV shows, follow present-day political developments (much to my chagrin), and am just as happy as the next fan when musicians “drop” their albums online for free, as has been the case this past week with Trent Reznor of that ol’ Nine Inch Nails. That said… I must indicate my joy at discovering nuggets from the past on this here Net, and so I present yet another mind-bender, a novelty tune by a comedian that most people forgot and even more never even hear of.
Guy Marks is best known by me for his appearance on a Dick Van Dyke Show episode where he performs at one of Rob’s house parties (damn, they had fun in the imaginary Sixties show-biz suburban environment). He was better known as an impressionist (click here to see him doing his shtick on The Dean Martin Show). Someone has uploaded him doing his novelty song “Loving You Has Made Me Bananas,” a parody of old big-band ballads, that contains the amorous phrase “Close cover before striking.” Yes, it’s goofy as hell, but I’m glad someone recorded the damned thing (and someone in the U.K., actually, check out the v.o. comment at the end). Guy is gone but not forgotten by those who remember goofy melodies.
Guy Marks is best known by me for his appearance on a Dick Van Dyke Show episode where he performs at one of Rob’s house parties (damn, they had fun in the imaginary Sixties show-biz suburban environment). He was better known as an impressionist (click here to see him doing his shtick on The Dean Martin Show). Someone has uploaded him doing his novelty song “Loving You Has Made Me Bananas,” a parody of old big-band ballads, that contains the amorous phrase “Close cover before striking.” Yes, it’s goofy as hell, but I’m glad someone recorded the damned thing (and someone in the U.K., actually, check out the v.o. comment at the end). Guy is gone but not forgotten by those who remember goofy melodies.
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