BURKE'S LAW - "Who Killed Snooky Martinelli?" (1964)

This week's Saturday Night Special is good enough that it actually comes with a cherry on top!

From 1964, it's season one, episode sixteen of "Burke's Law."

This episode was called "Who Killed Snooky Martinelli?"

I've been doing this for quite a few years now, but this show is different and has more strange surprises in it than anything else I've seen lately.

It all starts with Amos Burke entertaining a bunch of drunken party-goers in his apartment. He's singing and dancing around like a lounge singer in Las Vegas. This is a side of Amos Burke I've never seen before!

Just in case you ever wondered where Postmodern Jukebox gets some of their influences from!

Here's my favorite PMJ video! It's Hot!!

So just what in the Hell is going on here anyway?

This is a full song, and by the time it was almost over, I literally didn't know what to think!

Next thing you know, Amos Burke is shot and killed!

So, as it turns out that wasn't Amos Burke at all, but instead was a notorious playboy named Snooky Martinelli, who looked just exactly like Amos Burke. Now it's up to the real Amos Burke to piece it all together, and there are a ton of fascinating suspects!

All I've got to say is....what a cast!

 First off, there's Janice (The Ambushers) Rule as Seraphim Parks, a friend of Snooky's.

 

Then there's one of the funniest men on the planet, Carl (The Jerk) Reiner as the hair challenged Binky Fawcett. They didn't mention it, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had a brother named Leaky Fawcett!

Cesar (The Joker) Romero is swinger Louis Simone.

 

Arlene (Journey To The Center Of The Earth) Dahl is Snooky's estranged and strange wife, Eva Martinelli.

 

Next is Hoagy Carmichael as lounge singer "Jango" Jordan, and the real reason I sat down to watch this show in the first place, and here's where the real fun begins.

I was listening to one of Lord Litter's radio shows the other day, and in the Legends part of his show, he played a couple of songs by the 60's pop/rock band Spanky and Our Gang, and you can hear that show right HERE!  One of those songs was called "Hong Kong Blues."

 I thought the song sounded familiar to me, and then I remembered I had heard this cool version done by Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra many years ago.

Even that Beatle guy George Harrison did a cover of this Classic! 

So I looked to see who had written this novelty song, and I found out it was written by singer/songwriter Hoagland (Hoagy) Carmichael, who wrote classic songs like "Stardust." Hoagy also wrote the music for the classic "Georgia On My Mind."

 Here's an awesome video of Hoagy performing "Hong Kong Blues," taken from the classic film "To Have And Have Not."

But I have to say that currently my favorite version of "Hong Kong Blues," after Hoagy Carmichael is by Harry Hosono after he re-invented himself again as the leader of a country band!

Check this out and see if you don't agree!! 

So where's the cherry on top?

 How about one of the roughest toughest guys to ever be on television, none other that Broderick (Highway Patrol) Crawford as washed up pugilist with his hair in curlers while he gets his nails done!!

 This show streams free on YouTube, but the copy on the Internet Archive is much better, and you can find it

 RIGHT HERE!

 

"Heart  And Soul"