Jack Webb

[Ultimajock]

Jack Webb's little ensemble of actors (used on his shows many times over) was interested. Virginia Gregg was a friend of my father, and she was very fond of Webb - not least because he helped her pay the bills. Scenes in Webb shows were shot quickly - usually in one or two takes. and it was typical for the actors to come in cold and read their lines off cue cards.

Another actor in Webb's ensemble was Howard Culver - a well known radio news anchor in the 60s and 70s.

...in fact, there were at least a couple of times he pulled Dick Whittinghill, the immensely popular morning host for Gene Autry's radio station in Los Angeles, KMPC, over to Universal City for some appearances on either Dragnet or Adam-12...

...and he loved when Stan Freberg spoofed Dragnet with that sequence of novelty records he did for Capitol in the mid-50s, to the extent that he was one of Freberg's best friends until the day Jack died. Webb also was good pals with Mort Sahl, partly out of their mutual love of jazz...

 

[Mark Giardina]

I remember that Webb also produced a TV series in the mid 70s called O'Hara US Treasury, or something like that. It starred former TV Fugitive David Janssen as a treasury agent. The show lasted one season before being cancelled.

Webb also hired his former wife to star in his TV show "Emergency." She played a nurse.

 

[landtuna]

Webb also hired his former wife to star in his TV show "Emergency." She played a nurse.

Ah yes.....the beautiful Julie London. Also staring in that same show was Julie's then-husband Bobby Troup. Troup and Webb turned out to be very good friends and Webb is said to have frequently complimented Troup on his raising of Webb's two daughters by London.

 

[earshot]

By the way, the biographies I've read are My Name's Friday : The Unauthorized but True Story of Dragnet and the Films of Jack Webb by Michael J. Hayde and Just the Facts, Ma'Am: The Authorized Biography of Jack Webb by Daniel Moyer and Eugene, Ph.D. Alvarez.

It's been so long since I looked at them that I can't offer a review other than a couple of things about his personal life: Workaholic, heavy smoker, drinker (things not unusual in that era). They went into his love of jazz, including a vast record collection and constantly updating his hi-fi set to the latest technologies.

One time period I learned about was his professional career in the late 50s, as he tired of the Dragnet role and looked to do other things. A failure that was mentioned was his early 60s short stay at Warner Brothers. During this time, he took over production of 77 Sunset Strip. The changes he made to the show were not successful and it was canceled midway through its last season. This may have been documented more fully in the "unauthorized" biography. Again, time has blurred my memory between the two books and their details. It was clear, however, that this period of time and his tenure at Warner was unhappy for him.

I should have mentioned what jarred my memory to start this thread. As I was Christmas shopping for DVDs, I discovered Dragnet 1968 and Dragnet 1969 were released earlier this year. That leaves only Dragnet 1970 to be released. I read through Amazon's buyer reviews. Shout Factory has taken over the DVD franchise and people are raving about their production, particularly the color quality.

Universal, who produced season one, is panned for their DVD releases. Dim pictures, color blurring, dirt showing from the film, etc. As Joe Friday would say, "I'll bet your mother had a loud bark!"

 

[wbhist]

One time period I learned about was his professional career in the late 50s, as he tired of the Dragnet role and looked to do other things. A failure that was mentioned was his early 60s short stay at Warner Brothers. During this time, he took over production of 77 Sunset Strip. The changes he made to the show were not successful and it was canceled midway through its last season. This may have been documented more fully in the "unauthorized" biography. Again, time has blurred my memory between the two books and their details. It was clear, however, that this period of time and his tenure at Warner was unhappy for him.

One of the things Mr. Webb produced during his short-lived Warners' run was a short feature, Red Nightmare, in 1962, which would later be released on home video as The Commies Are Coming, The Commies Are Coming! One of the co-stars in this was one Patricia Woodell, before she was cast as the first Bobbie Jo Bradley on Petticoat Junction. Some places incorrectly list the year of this production as 1957. But 1962 is the correct year for this piece which was considered "propaganda" in its day, but in later years considered as campy in its own way as Reefer Madness. (Also, Miss Woodell was a Warners' contract player in the 1962-63 period, before going on to PJ.)

 

[earshot]

I have to say that this forum in general and this thread in particular has made me feel less like an oddball for being a fan of the classic shows and actors. I was born in 1969, so many of my favorites precede me or were produced when I was too young to really know what was going on. I've taken a lot of (good natured) ribbing from friends and girlfriends about it!

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Jack Webb was one of the great "what if's" in movie histry...He was supposedly at one time considered for the role of Dean Wormer in "Animal House". How cool would it have been to hear him say, "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son"?

 

[LKellerIII]

Jack Webb was one of the great "what if's" in movie histry...He was supposedly at one time considered for the role of Dean Wormer in "Animal House". How cool would it have been to hear him say, "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son"?

No put down intended toward John Vernon - but Webb would have been terrific as Dean Wormer.

 

[earshot]

Jack Webb was one of the great "what if's" in movie histry...He was supposedly at one time considered for the role of Dean Wormer in "Animal House". How cool would it have been to hear him say, "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son"?

No put down intended toward John Vernon - but Webb would have been terrific as Dean Wormer.

You know, they could have almost pulled the audio from one of his Dragnet speeches and dubbed it in for that scene! When he would go off on somebody, they knew they had been TOLD!

 

[cyberdad]

The story that I heard was Webb turned down the "Animal House" role because he felt it ridiculed authority figures....although supposedly he did seriously consider it.

As it was, I thought John Vernon turned out to be superb in the role. I went to a small college in a small town in the '60s and we had a dean who was just like him. Right down to the "snitches" in his pet fraternity. The guy would have "his boys" sitting in parked cars a half block away from the local pub observing who was coming and going! Vernon's portrayal was so spot-on it was scary. I can only imagine what Webb would've been like.

 

[Ultimajock]

The story that I heard was Webb turned down the "Animal House" role because he felt it ridiculed authority figures....although supposedly he did seriously consider it.

...sounds like what Mel Brooks says was John Wayne's rejection of playing The Frisco Kid in Blazing Saddles. Brooks says Wayne took a copy of the screenplay home from a chance meeting at the Warner Bros. commissary, and came back the next day and said, "I can't appear in a movie like this -- but I'll sure as hell be the first one in line to see it!" ;D ...

 

[Corky Marlowe]

I never heard John Wayne was offered the Waco Kid role...Supposedly Gene Wilder replaced Gig Young because Young had problems with showing up for work sober. On the topic of Jack Webb, were his shows "Sam" and "Project UFO" the last half hour dramas on network TV?

 

[Kelly Watts]

Jack Webb was a genius! From Dragnet, to Adam 12, to Emergency. He had a great stable of actors including his Ex Julie London (pant pant) her husband Bobby Troop, Robert Fuller, Randolph Mantooth, Kevin Tige, and even such classic "extra's" as Burt Mustin. (look him up). My favorite Jack webb show was Emergency, as a young volunteer firefighter, I spent many a Saturday night at the firehouse with a group of other people watching intently the pogram. Oh yes, we did find mistakes, and wrote a couple of letters to Mark VII productions, which were answered. Jack's use of real equipment, radio proceedures, and in many cases real firefighters, (think Mike Stoker, engineer for one) made the show. I believe that Emergency did a lot of untold good for the fire service, and may have been the spark that expanded the Paramedic program all over the country. BTW I didn't forget the classic movie Pete Kelly's Blues, Jack was great in that as well, but hi real skil was on the small screen!

 

[Tim L]

The mention of Burt Mustin reminds me of a couple of things..One Dragnet episode where Friday and Gannon are investigating a apartment house murder and Mustin's Character keeps showing up, knowing all kinds of police procedure..Too many coincidences..Friday/Gannon are sure he is a prime suspect..They finally take him downtown..Turns out the man is a retired Police Detective from Chicago and knows a lot of Friday/Gannon's surperiors..(The reason I remember this so well is that its one of RTV's most repeated episodes)..

Plus it seems that Mustin played the same 80 year old man for over 40 years on TV and in the movies..

 

[LKellerIII]

FYI for those of you who may not know: many episodes of Dragnet (Year) are available online from Hulu's free service.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

What about the '50s Dragnet (B&W) episodes? I've seen a few DVDs available, but don't
want to purchase if I'm going to get crummy old 16mm prints as the source.

Do the 35mm negatives still exist and are these "masters" used in any of the DVDs?

 

[mleach]

Spaking of Webb, are there any pics out there of Jack Webb taken during his later years? I remember that pic of him and Julie London taken on the set of Emergency but nothing after that even though Jack lived for another 8 years.

A former co-worker of mine had told me once that he had seen a photo taken of Jack Webb, his wife, Julie London and her husband Bobby Troup taken at the 1982 premier of the Dustin Hoffman flick "Tootsie" and from what he was telling me Jack really didn't age all that much over the years BUT Julie London and Bobbby Troup did...a lot. Even though neither London and Troup didn't really do all that much in the biz after Emgerency.