Grace, You really knocked it out of the park with this one. I am probably one of Dick Powell's staunchest fans. A wonderful man. Every series Four Star had was good, even shows like Stagecoach West that only lasted one season. You can see him on TH-cam in a September, 1962 What's My Line, just four months before his death the following January. Again, thank you.
After this pilot was produced, Dick Powell was apparently dissatified with Don Taylor's approach to the role of "Richard Diamond". If anyone was a better judge of who should portray him, it was Powell himself, as he appeared as "RICHARD DIAMOND" on radio for four years (1949-'53). According to June Allyson {Mrs. Powell}, in her autobiography: "One day Richard showed me some film on David Janssen, who had been a child actor and then had graduated to minor adult roles. Richard said, *'That's the guy I'd like to have take over the Richard Diamond role that I used to do on radio.'* "I said, 'Richard, he isn't at all the right type'. "So then Richard knew he'd made the right choice. David Janssen did take over and he was brilliant in it."
This was directly adapted from one of the later radio episodes. The things they couldn't do in this unaired pilot was use the "Leave It To Love" whistling theme heard at the beginning and end of the radio program, or have Diamond croon a song at the end, as Dick used to do. By the time David Janssen filmed the series- which first appeared as the 1957 summer replacement for "DECEMBER BRIDE"- the characters of "Lt. Walt Levinson" and "Helen" had been written out.
Exactly why Powell wasn't happy with the end result of this first attempt to bring "RICHARD DIAMOND" to television. Janssen was much better. And, in turn, when Dick himself played "Captain Amos Burke" in a prototype pilot {"Who Killed Julie Greer?"} that was telecast as the first episode of "THE DICK POWELL SHOW" in September 1961, producer Aaron Spelling wasn't satisfied with Dick's performance, later noting that he looked uncomfortable wearing a tuxedo {"Dick was more of a sports jacket guy", Aaron insisted}- and Lee Goldberg, a mystery writer who wrote the "Unsold Television Pilots- 1955 through 1988" book, said of Dick's attempt, "Powell played Burke with all the panache of Jack Webb as 'Sergeant Friday'." Fortunately, Powell approved of Aaron's choice of Gene Barry for the second "BURKE'S LAW" pilot- filmed around the time of Powell's death in January 1963, and sold to ABC for the 1963-'64 season.
🥰Nice introduction 😃Thank you 👍📺👍A good old tv show 📺Wishing you a nice weekend 💐🌹
Thank you so much!
Grace, You really knocked it out of the park with this one. I am probably one of Dick Powell's staunchest fans. A wonderful man. Every series Four Star had was good, even shows like Stagecoach West that only lasted one season. You can see him on TH-cam in a September, 1962 What's My Line, just four months before his death the following January. Again, thank you.
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!
@@VintageFilmChannel You're welcome.
Thanks a lot for this rare thing!
After this pilot was produced, Dick Powell was apparently dissatified with Don Taylor's approach to the role of "Richard Diamond". If anyone was a better judge of who should portray him, it was Powell himself, as he appeared as "RICHARD DIAMOND" on radio for four years (1949-'53).
According to June Allyson {Mrs. Powell}, in her autobiography:
"One day Richard showed me some film on David Janssen, who had been a child actor and then had graduated to minor adult roles. Richard said, *'That's the guy I'd like to have take over the Richard Diamond role that I used to do on radio.'*
"I said, 'Richard, he isn't at all the right type'.
"So then Richard knew he'd made the right choice. David Janssen did take over and he was brilliant in it."
Don Taylor wives: Phyllis Avery and Hazel Court.
Of course it's David Janssen not Jantzen. 😊 Script reminds me of the radio series but Taylor doesn't have the charisma of Janssen.
Oops, thanks. I'll fix it.
This was directly adapted from one of the later radio episodes. The things they couldn't do in this unaired pilot was use the "Leave It To Love" whistling theme heard at the beginning and end of the radio program, or have Diamond croon a song at the end, as Dick used to do. By the time David Janssen filmed the series- which first appeared as the 1957 summer replacement for "DECEMBER BRIDE"- the characters of "Lt. Walt Levinson" and "Helen" had been written out.
Exactly why Powell wasn't happy with the end result of this first attempt to bring "RICHARD DIAMOND" to television. Janssen was much better.
And, in turn, when Dick himself played "Captain Amos Burke" in a prototype pilot {"Who Killed Julie Greer?"} that was telecast as the first episode of "THE DICK POWELL SHOW" in September 1961, producer Aaron Spelling wasn't satisfied with Dick's performance, later noting that he looked uncomfortable wearing a tuxedo {"Dick was more of a sports jacket guy", Aaron insisted}- and Lee Goldberg, a mystery writer who wrote the "Unsold Television Pilots- 1955 through 1988" book, said of Dick's attempt, "Powell played Burke with all the panache of Jack Webb as 'Sergeant Friday'." Fortunately, Powell approved of Aaron's choice of Gene Barry for the second "BURKE'S LAW" pilot- filmed around the time of Powell's death in January 1963, and sold to ABC for the 1963-'64 season.
The Richard Diamond character was better suited for David Janssen (who’d later become The Fugitive).
Oh Ricky!!