Reflections on “Sizzling Cold Case” (The Legend of Lori London) — A Barnaby Jones Novel (by Buddy Ebsen with Darlene Quinn)

The original plan for the book “Sizzling Cold Case,” by Buddy Ebsen with Darlene Quinn, was originally intended to be a teleplay, but author Buddy Ebsen also realized it could be a standalone book as well. He’d filled many yellow legal pads with his handwritten prose (his favored way of writing) with exactly that dual intent, before he became ill and died on July 6, 2003 at age 95. His widow, Dorothy Ebsen, was determined to share his final book with all who loved him, as her collective gift to her husband’s fans. Enter family friend and author Darlene Quinn, who was clearly the right person to take Buddy’s manuscript and complete it.

This information was learned from listening to a recent interview shared on Kiki Ebsen’s web site, “Buddy Ebsen Birthday Chat,”—a lovely discussion between Kiki, Dorothy Ebsen and Darlene Quinn. They reminisced over some great memories, and shared some insight on the book. First published in hardback, and later in paperback and for Kindle, there’s an entirely new format that caught my eye, or ear, rather—audiobook.

Chalk it up to a nice quality of William E. Fortier’s voice as narrator, but while listening, it was so easy to visualize the old television show “Barnaby Jones” episodes I used to watch that I thought I was right back in the 1970s waiting for the familiar theme by Jerry Goldsmith to come on and open the CBS weekly program.

As you hear the theme, you see the puzzle piece-type squares coming together to read “Barnaby Jones, A QM Production,” and the opening photo of Buddy dressed in a blue suit and tie that compliments his eyes. Remember, he’s reading a report at his desk? I listened to the announcer, Henry F. (Hank) Simms, saying “Barnaby Jones, starring Buddy Ebsen” followed by “Also starring, Lee Meriwether” followed by his saying “with Guest Stars”…and then at the very end, you could see the final “A QM Production” slate again.

From the very opening chapter (there are 66 of them) in the book, you’re pulled back into Barnaby’s reminiscence of how his son, Hal, had been murdered, and now a thread from the past introduced a connection to understanding what really happened in what would be Hal’s last case that he was working on before his death. The reopening of the Lori London case began immediately.

Hearing the scene describing a location familiar to everyone who lives in or has toured Los Angeles…the iconic Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard. It is there where Barnaby surveils someone putting a single rose on the star of the late actress Lori London, whose life story is central to the theme of the book and whose passing was previously considered a suicide, when Barnaby’s late son, Hal, didn’t believe that for a minute. Barnaby takes up where Hal left off, even though it had been a few years since he’d been active.

Also, watching this event from a different purview is a newly christened detective, Craig Scott, and then the story takes off. A red Ferrari driven by a gentleman who placed a red rose on the sidewalk, stood silently for a moment, and as fast as that car drives away, you’re whisked away on quite the adventure. Cold cases are always the most interesting of mysteries for any reader to unravel, because you must learn the predicate of the case, then you think through along with the detective about current events and wonder how to deconstruct the case to ultimately find a correct logical solution to the crime that was mis-solved and remained unsolved all this time.

The dialogue is fresh and really, it’s just as though you’d stepped into Barnaby’s world just a few years later. Barnaby Jones was so much more than a milk-drinking crime-solver who knew what Geritol was and how to use it. Originally, he was the lead partner and father in a father-son detective agency, Jones & Jones. Further, Barnaby was different than virtually every other Quinn Martin series detective in that he was a forensic scientist and criminologist. You used to see him in his home laboratory with test tubes, Bunsen burners, beakers and all the trappings of forensics pre-Abby Sciuto’s lab in “NCIS.”

So, aside from a propensity to wear a carnation or drink a glass of milk, two charming contrived visuals from Edward Hume (who also created “Cannon,” “The Streets of San Francisco,” and “Toma”), he’s the very same man. The first episode of Barnaby Jones, “Requiem for a Son,” “found a retired Barnaby leaving retirement to find his son’s killer.”

Therefore, in Buddy’s mind, when circumstances of his late son’s final case, which Hal knew not to be a suicide, were resurrected and refreshed, one more time (Buddy decided) that Barnaby would leave retirement and solve the incorrectly resolved case. Thus, the plot is perfectly plausible in 2017 as it was in 2002 when Buddy began working on it.

Once again, he envisioned Hal Jones’ wife Betty, Lee Meriwether, had been the agency’s right hand for before and since her husband’s death would be part of the story, although in more cursory fashion. The reminder of beautiful Lee Meriwether was a lovely memory to consider; even Jedediah (played on TV by Mark Shera) makes an appearance in the novel, though Fortier gives him a less strong character voice possibly to express youthfulness.

So, why should you acquire this book (reprints are available in paperback on Amazon.com) some 37 years after the TV show ended? Because you won’t be disappointed. So many times when we revisit beloved childhood favorites (for Baby Boomers) or contemporary friends (among the Greatest Generation), we end up wishing we hadn’t gone there. Remakes of movies such as “Bewitched” or breathing new life into “Full House” is an example of returns to the originals gone wrong.

On the other hand, the “new” Barnaby Jones novel, is an extremely successful journey back home, to the days when TV detectives caught the bad guys without “CSI,” “Law & Order,” and the invention of the word “procedurals” to describe 60-minute (or 48-minute) storyboards where you already knew who-dun-it and had to watch the good guys catch the bad guys. This time, you get to walk alongside Barnaby and use your own deductive reasoning to consider who might be the bad actor in the case. When Barnaby resolves the case, you might (or might not) know who did it. The joy is in the journey of looking for clues on your path. Thanks to Darlene Quinn, we all have a fun book to enjoy, one which helps us relive the grand old days of detectives we know and loved.

You can find more info on Ms. Quinn's other books on her web site. Barnaby Jones was, and remains, a thinking person’s detective, armed with an equal dose of charm, sage pondering, and reflective questioning before settling on an answer, and a perpetrator. It’s great television of yesteryear and fulfilling reading/listening present day. Get the book, in whatever format you want it. Case closed.

Chuck Barris, The Legend, The Myth, and a Few Versions of the Truth According to Chuck

When the news came that the iconic entertainment jack-of-all-trades Chuck Barris had died on Tuesday, March 21, the first thing I thought of was not “The Gong Show,” but instead the Freddie Cannon hit, “Palisades Park.” It’s less well known that the Prince of Silly TV (my name for him) actually wrote the 1962 hit. It was “just one of those things” that showed Barris had real talent, even if he constantly played a buffoon as the host of “The Gong Show” for several seasons.

Palisades Park, the amusement park is famous outside its home state, mostly due to WABC DJ, Bruce Morrow’s “Star Spectaculars,” featuring entertainers like Frankie Avalon, Tony Orlando, The Sentimentals, and of course Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon performing there in 1960s weekends. Morrow is better known as “Cousin Brucie,” as he still plays his role today on SiriusXM 60s on 6, and hosts live broadcasts from time to time at Palisades Park in New Jersey. Back in the day, admission there was only $.30; time has changed that!

Chuck Barris Productions began as a series of launching (at the time) slightly racy game shows in 1965, the first being “The Dating Game” featuring favorite host, Jim Lange.” Everyone remembers the horn-heavy popular tv theme:

And then Lange would introduce the three bachelors or bachelorettes hidden away from the contestant, whose job was to quiz them to select a potential date. Many popular celebrities of the day appeared as contestants but they weren’t under any obligation to actually keep the dates that were made. A Barris special caveat, no doubt.

That show was so popular that Barris then launched “The Newlywed Show,” with the ever-smiling host Bob Eubanks.

Newly married couples were quizzed on how well they knew each other, and when they didn’t get the answers right….that’s when the fun began.

Ultimately, though, it would be “The Gong Show” that brought Chuck to the forefront of audiences’ attention. He was constantly laughing on camera; he’d laugh at his own jokes, and the show was essentially a farce created by Canadian producer Chris Bearde, who was also known as the co-producer of “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour” with Allen Blye. The only reason to mention that is that “The Unknown Comic” of “The Gong Show” was Murray Langston, who was also a popular regular on “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.” Every time he came on, Murray put a brown paper bag over his head, came out to do a few bad jokes, and he never missed the chance to insult Chuck. To Chuck's delight, Murray reprised the role many times over the life of the show.

On “The Gong Show,” America also fell in love with people who would have otherwise been considered “forgotten talents,” including Jaye P. Morgan, Jamie Farr, Arte Johnson, and Rip Taylor among those who could judge the talent (limited as the contestants typically were) and put the audience out of their collective misery by hitting the gong. People loved the parody aspect, they loved to watch Chuck (or “Chucky Baby” as he was nicknamed) crack up at his own creations week after week. They loved Gene Patton, aka "Gene, Gene the Dancing Machine," as he took every opportunity to dance whenever he heard "his" theme song, "Jumpin' at the Woodside." And, he had everyone dancing with him, including Chuck. In real life, Patton was a stagehand at NBC, but when he danced, everyone thought that dancing was his full-time job.

Here are some snippets of their 400th episode, where Chuck said, “And they said it wouldn’t last!” It did.

In rewatching “The Gong Show,” all the favorite things he’d say came back, “We’ll be right back after a lot of 'stuff'” and various other signature catch phrases. But the more I watched him laugh, crinkle his eyes, and throw his head back and smile, it seems almost exactly like Matt Czuchry used to as he portrayed Logan Huntzberger on “Gilmore Girls.” That could be Gilmore overload talking, though.

Chuck Barris lied to get his first job at NBC, a page, if memory serves correctly. He schmoozed his way through a lot of his career, ultimately working as an assistant to Dick Clark, but he was crazy like a fox as he managed to rise in an industry that surely would never have welcomed him in the first place. Truth was not always a necessity in Chuck’s world…in his biography he claimed he’d once worked for the CIA, as an assassin, per his biography “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” and the Biography channel collective. The CIA disavows all knowledge of that being correct of course, and then again, accuracy is in the eye of the beholder.

“Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” both Barris’ autobiography and the 2002 movie based on the book may or may not contain the truth, but it was always “Barris’ version of the truth” that audiences saw and enjoyed on TV. That, and probably George Clooney’s directing the movie starring Sam Rockwell (as Barris), Drew Barrymore, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Cera (as a young Chuck Barris), and even Jaye P. Morgan and Dick Clark played themselves.

Here’s an interview from 2007 where he answered a few questions about the shows he created:

Chuck created an image far larger than life, and yet his personal life contained sufficient tragedy. Ultimately, he wrote a book, “Della: A Memoir of My Daughter,” in remembrance of the daughter he lost far too soon, a victim ultimately of drugs and alcohol, fueled by a trust fund she received from Chuck when she turned 16. She defiantly had decided to move out, but Chuck agreed and then provided her means to live on. Ultimately, it ended tragically.

Chuck was actually a prolific writer, given his 1974 book "You and Me, Babe," "1984's "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," "Bad Grass Never Dies" (2003), "The Big Question" (2007, "Who Killed Art Deco" (2009), and "Della, A Memoir of My Daughter" (2010).

Music gave him a start, television fueled his success, and writing gave him an outlet for his overly creative expression. And who knows, maybe he was a CIA assassin. Or not. It doesn't matter.

Looking back over the body of work Chuck created in his career, we have much to be grateful for and much to laugh about.

Thanks for the hours of entertainment, Chucky Baby, and most of all, thanks for “Palisades Park.”