RARA-AVIS: RE:Dick Powell in "The Long Goodbye"

From: Dick Lochte ( dlochte@adelphia.net)
Date: 04 Aug 2005


I've been hunting for a copy of this for a long time with no luck. I actually saw the show when it was broadcast, though I clearly don't remember much of it. As I recalled, Cesar Romero played Terry Lennox. But Tom Drake is better casting. What I do remember vividly is the movie heavy Jack Lambert being shot and killed and getting up on camera with a silly gee-I-goofed grin on his face. This was live TV, not film. "Goodbye" was the debut show of Climax!. At an hour minus commercials, it would be hard to do justice to Chandler's longest and most complex and, arguably, best novel, but who wouldn't want to check it out?

While on the subject of Marlowe's television appearances, I'd also like to get a look at the complete series, Philip Marlowe, Private Eye, with Phil Carey as Marlowe. Twenty-something episodes on film, half hour, black and white, from the producers of a bunch of game shows, Goodson & Todman. As far as I can tell, only one episode is in circulation, "Murder Is A Grave Affair." It's pretty good TV and Carey, I think, comes closer to physically resembling Marlowe than anyone else who's played the role, except maybe James Garner. For some reason, all of the episodes were original stories, no adaptations of Chandler, though Charles Beaumont did adapt his own powerful short story, "The Hunger," to put Marlowe into it. It's the only one I remember seeing back in '59. Chandler, who, according to Carey, liked the idea of the series, didn't see any of the shows. He died a few months before it debuted.

Dick Lochte

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   Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 14:44:39 -0800 (GMT-08:00)
   From: Terrill Lankford < lankford2000@earthlink.net> Subject: Re: Dick Powell in "The Long Goodbye"

I'd love to see this, too. Hopefully someone will dig it out of the vault and put it out on DVD. Anyone know of a bootleg source for it?

TL

-----Original Message----- From: Richard Moore < moorich2@aol.com> Sent: Aug 3, 2005 2:33 PM To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com Subject: RARA-AVIS: Dick Powell in "The Long Goodbye"

Cruising around the great IMDB website I stumbled upon what must be the first television production of a Philip Marlowe novel. "The Long Goodbye" was the debut episode of the series "Climax!" broadcast on 7 October 1954. It had a great cast with Dick Powell, one of movie's best Marlowes, in the lead role. Tom Drake was Terry Lennox, and that sounds like a good fit as well. Horace McMahon, Cesar Romero and Teresa Wright were also in the cast. I've searched around the Internet and apparently it is not available on DvD.

At least one episode has long been available which lends me hope of one day seeing "Goodbye" but perhaps less confidence in the potential merit. The third episode was an adaptation of "Casino Royale" featuring Barry Nelson as Bond and Peter Lorre, Linda Christian, and Kurt Katch. I have a copy of it somewhere and it is worth seeing for the belly laughs. Nelson is "Jimmy Bond" and listening to Lorre whisper Jimmy's name cracks me up every time.

I would still love to see "The Long Goodbye" episode. The novel is my favorite Marlowe novel. I even like the Altman version.

Richard Moore

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