The cable channel TVLand is running another Alfred Hitchcock marathon on Saturday and Sunday, June 23 and 24. According to the weekly schedule at http://www.nickatnitestvland.com , episode 074 of the “Alfred Hitchcock Hour” will be aired on Saturday, June 23. Web episode guides say that this is “Memo from Purgatory”, starring James Caan as “the author” (Harlan Ellison) and a young, fresh-faced Walter Koenig as the ruthless gang leader!
The TVLand weekly schedule says the episode will start at 5 PM Central time. Check the TVLand site before Saturday to verify the time.
In some previous marathons, TVLand didn’t time their programming exactly, so later episodes started a few minutes early. If you’re taping this show, you might want to allow for a start time of plus or minus 5 or 10 minutes. Alternatively, check earlier episodes to see if they’re on time or not.
A few years ago, TVLand ran BURKE’s LAW, and I caught three of the four eps Ellison penned. The man is my favorite writer, and I’m not worthy to carry his pencil case, but… for the most part, they were pretty lame. Some great guest casts, but I can’t help but recall one (recall the scene but forget the ep title, I think it was the “Who Killed (The Hugh Hefner-Inspired Character)?” one) wherein Amos Burke has a conversation with a “chippie,” full of hep 60s patois. Ugh, bad stuff, big daddy-o, if ya dig me?
I saw this episode recently during a SciFi channel chain reaction. It is NOT to be missed!! It’s hilarious to see Walter Koenig as the head of a street gang, and the time period, the clothing, the lingo…“You crummy fink!” It’s a real hoot.
The casting on that Hitchcock show always bugged Ellison since, physically speaking, he’s much more like Koenig than Caan. But he and Koenig became friends then and they are still friends AFAIK. When Koenig had his heart troubles, Ellison went on the radio show Hour 25 to inform everyone and tell where his fans could send get-well cards.
One time, about 6 or 7 years ago, I was in Dangerous Visions bookstore for an Ellison autograph party and, unexpectedly, Koenig walked in with a woman. (His wife, I guess.) Koenig’s hair back then was nearly all grey; it’s obvious it was dyed when he played Bester on B5.
If you’re in Los Angeles, Unca Harlan will be signing The Essential Ellison on June 26th in front of PINK’S Famous Chili Dogs (featured in one of his stories) at 709 N. La Brea from 7PM to 9PM.
Harlan is also trying to stop internet piracy of his works. If you find a website that has published one of Harlan’s works without his permission, let him know.
Sorry about the hijack here, but back in college I had a roommate who loaned me some Harlan Ellison paperbacks. I really enjoyed them. Fast forward to now. Whenever I think to look for books by Ellison when I’m at Border’s Books, etc., I can’t find any titles by him. Do his readers usually have to special order his books? Are they generally difficult to find?
upperdeckfan, they’re pretty easy to find if you know where to look. You see, there’s this thing called “the internet”. If you have a computer, you can go shopping for books at places called “Amazon.com” “Buy.com” and “barnesandnoble.com”, and the books actually cost less than in bookstores.
Seriously, though, I know what you mean. The last time I went to the local Barnes and Noble, they had exactly two books by Ellison, a compendium of his short fiction, and a deluxe, hardback version of “Repent Harlequin, said the Ticktock Man”.
BTW, if you have never listened to a recording of Ellison reading one of his works, you’ve really missed something. He’s a dynamic reader and you can really feel the emotions of his characters. The recordings also have some music and occaisional sound effects. I once told him I thought he would have had a great career in the 20s and 30s doing radio drama like Orson Welles (acting and writing) and he said that was one his many regrets. I said I thought it might be, and he was very touched.
I have a friend who used to be into Con’s. You know, WorldCon, RustyCon etc. And she told me a (probably apocryphal) story about Harlan Ellison.
He is apparently not a very nice person IRL. And he is short.
So at this one Con, he was the Author Guest of Honor. He got really drunk, and wandered up to this really tall, statuesque woman. Waving his drink, and with his face about level with her breasts, he said “So, whaddya say to a little f**ck?”
She waved her hand, dismissing him, and said “Go AWAY little f**k!”
If I’m not mistaken, Isaac Asimov started the “little F” story, though Harlan denies it happened (of course he would).
HE has about a million legends surrounding him. Supposedly he once told Sinatra and Mafia goons to f off and lived to tell about it (over and over and over again).
I personally am privileged to have my words attached to Scotticher’s. And it does have a rough symetry, somehow.
Trying to think of another Harlan story. He claims to have filmed about half an ep of THE DATING GAME (in the 60s), only to be thrown out of the taping, and having the tape destroyed, after he told the lady choosing a bachelor that his version of a perfect date would be taking her to the L. A. Dump to shoot rats.
This is simply a joke that got Ellison’s name attached to it because he’s not very tall. The same joke was told about little person Michael Dunn (Dr. Loveless from the TV series The Wild, Wild, West).
Also, you probably don’t know this, but Ellison is allergic to alcohol. If he drinks, he gets violently ill; he simply CAN’T get drunk!
Anybody have any recommendations on stuff of his to read before August 31st? I’m going to be at a con in Atlanta (okay, I’ll be one of thousands of people) and if I run into him I don’t want to come off like an idiot; I understand that while that story may not be true, other ones probably are. But I’m not going to shell out for those hardbacks I’ve seen at the store for a writer I’ve never read, even one of his caliber.
