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"

DEPUTY DAWG In "Astronut" - 1962

Here's a fun cartoon for a Friday where Deputy Dawg and Muskie encounter a frisky little spaceman, so let the craziness begin...

Deputy has fixed the Sheriff's car and is taking it to him when Muskie asks to go along for the ride. But then something weird happens.

A funny little spaceman shows up and is buzzing Deputy Dawg in his spaceship.

Then it stops in the middle of the road, blocking Deputy's path.

The little thing puts Deputy Dawg in his ship and gestures that he wants to trade vehicles with him, it's in love with the Sheriff's old clunker

It jumps in and starts driving the old car around.

But Deputy Dawg draws his gun and forces the spaceman out of the car.

Deputy and Muskie speed away in the Sheriff's car and Deputy puts it in a jail cell for safe keeping, what's the little spaceman to do now?

Well, it's a simple task, just hook the building to the ship and...

It takes the building and turns it on its side, exposing the Sheriff's car. And it get's taken away by the spaceman and it starts driving the old jalopy around at full speed.

Deputy jumps in the spaceship but has some trouble figuring out how it works.

He even goes into space before he finally gets a handle on how to operate it.

Deputy gets back to Earth and chases the little trouble maker.

They run head first into each other with the vehicles and parts fly everywhere. 

They start gathering them up but end up fighting over the parts. 

The parts get all mixed up and the little spaceman barely gets back into space.

The Sheriff shows up to pick up his car, Deputy Dawg's tells him it's in tip top shape.

But the Sheriff gets a trip into space when he starts it up, and Deputy Dawg is in a peck of trouble of course. See you tomorrow for more from The Dungeon Gang.

THE WILD WILD WEST - "The Night Of The Flying Pie Plate" (1966)

 

It's not just Wednesday, and it's not just Wild Wednesday, it's Wild Wild Wednesday down in The Dungeon!

 

Tonight's feature is the second episode of the incredible TV show "The Wild Wild West," and the name of this episode is "The Night Of The Flying Pie Plate."

If this group of cowboys looks totally astounded by what they see, it's because they've just come across a flying saucer, or in cowboy lingo, a flying pie plate!

Speaking of flying pie plates, check out this Offbeat version!

My first question of course is how do a bunch of cowboys even know what a flying saucer is? They have no TV, radio or internet! Hell, they don't even have books or running hot water and there are not even cars yet!

So that takes away a lot of credibility of the story right from the start!

This green-skinned blonde Goddess exits the spacecraft to a group of freaked out cowpokes! 

Leslie (Missile To The Moon) Parrish was also Glacia Glaze on the "Batman" TV show.

Gol'durn it! What the heck??

What do you think? We don't even know what a flying saucer is, and now one has landed right here! How is that even possible?

Two more sisters pop out to the amazement of the gathered throng!

The two sisters are Arlene Charles who was also one of Dr. Goldfoot's robots, and Cindy Taylor who was one of the gnome-maidens in "The Gnome-Mobile," so they are experienced at these kinds of roles.

The girls outfits are covered in precious stones that they are willing to trade for the 400 pounds of gold they need to power their ship back to Venus.

The guy in the middle is Hellfire Simon, the local religious fanatic that thinks everything is evil, especially this space ship!

Artemus Gordon inspects the jewels for authenticity!

Wait a minute! Who is this peering out of a hole in the side of the saucer? That doesn't look like the eye of one of the girls.

The townsfolk put all their gold together in expectation of trading it for jewels worth ten times the money, but even though it was the result of years of work, they are still 300 pounds short!

 

Ironically, the reason Jim West is in town is to watch over a gold shipment that needs to sit in the local assay office vault for a couple of days. And No, they can't borrow it!

The plan all along was for the space girls to steal the gold!

The jig's up. It's fake, The flying saucer is made out of wood and was dropped by a hot air balloon, and the girls are all just a bunch of pretty petty thieves!

The ole hidden knife in the boot trick is put to good use!

Most of the bad guys go ka-blooey, and the girls might have to do some prison time, but it won't be for long I'm sure.

The story ends with what appears to be a real UFO in the midnight sky!

Fantastic, Incredulous, and you can watch it all for free on YouTube!