# WTF dialogue on the old "Room 222" show **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785 "2016-05-14T19:41:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/41 "2016-05-17T03:21:56Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > I can’t find out what’s happened to Jason Allen (the actor Heshimu, aka, Arlington Banks). He was in “They Call Me Bruce” and had some parts on TV, but he seems to have been somewhat of a mystery. Somewhat like the beautiful young actress Katie Saylor, who appeared in an ABC made for TV martial arts movie, “Men of the Dragon”, before a lead role in the bizarre, short lived SF series “Fantastic Journey” (as an Atlantean warrior princess) before apparently dropping off the face of the earth. Different reports have her having died of cancer, others have her having marrying her attorney, dropping out of show business, and living in Studio City. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/42 "2016-05-17T14:28:26Z")
I did not say that Palin _looked_ like Karen Valentine, only that her (Palin) 2008 speech brought Valentine to mind in terms of voice tone, cadence, etc. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/43 "2016-05-18T00:29:05Z")
> [@Arizona\_Mike](#): > > One of the other regulars was Helen Loomis, played by Judy Strangis. She later played Dyna-Girl to Deidre Hall’s Electrawoman on a Sid and Marty Krofft live action Saturday morning kid’s show. Very attractive girl, she later left the business because of the number of stalkers she had. I did not know that about Judy Strangis. She was certainly a beautiful girl. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/44 "2016-05-18T00:34:22Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > No shit! > > What WAS it about Karen Valentine? She was just…something? But what was “it” that she was? > > She was the perfect America’s Sweetheart. Not too beautiful, but most definitely not unattractive. Was it all personality? Or did we just like “cute” girls back then? She’s like Sally Field’s Gidget. Or Sandy Duncan. > > She was everywhere for a long time, then just got replaced. The last thing I remember see Karen Valentine in was an episode of “Starsky & Hutch” where they did a take-off on _Play Misty For Me_ - Hutch sleeps with KV, and she turns Obsessed Stalker on him. Way casting-against-type. I remember it being VERY effective. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/45 "2016-05-18T00:53:17Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > During the year of the show’s first season, I actually had a class (English) in Room 222. I had AP English in a room 222 my senior year of high school, and what makes it even better was how often my teacher would compare my class to the kids in the show, and say how much less idealistic we were. But then, his parents were Nazis, so idealism isn’t always positive. (Yes, Nazis. Not Germans who were stuck in Germany during the war, but actual Nazis. He wanted us to know that for some reason. ) ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/46 "2016-05-18T01:20:15Z")
I loved Room 222. I was 9 when it first aired, 13 when it ended–the perfect age for it. I wanted to be Karen Valentine. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/47 "2016-05-18T01:37:36Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I conflated Karen Valentine in my preteen brain with **Valerie Bertinelli** - like KV was the older version of VB… > > > [@terentii](#): > > > > Even worse!!! :mad: Yeah! Barbara Cooper? WTF? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/48 "2016-05-18T01:45:20Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Yeah! Barbara Cooper? WTF? Barbara Cooper, mmmmmmmmmmm! :o ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/49 "2016-05-18T02:34:23Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Barbara Cooper, mmmmmmmmmmm! :o You know that Antenna TV is rerunning _One Day at a Time_, and they just got to the prime Barbara hair years, right? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/50 "2016-05-18T04:12:09Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > During the year of the show’s first season, I actually had a class (English) in Room 222. > [@Derleth](#): > > I had AP English in a room 222 my senior year of high school… I was also in high school at the time of the show’s popularity. Our Room 222, though, was a French class. I remember the French teacher acknowledging the show on the first day of class, and reminding us that she had her own name–we were not to call her “Madame Dixon.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/51 "2016-05-18T06:50:13Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > You know that Antenna TV is rerunning _One Day at a Time_, and they just got to the prime Barbara hair years, right? Unfortunately, I don’t get Antenna TV. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/52 "2016-05-18T15:04:07Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > The last thing I remember see Karen Valentine in was an episode of “Starsky & Hutch” where they did a take-off on _Play Misty For Me_ - Hutch sleeps with KV, and she turns Obsessed Stalker on him. Way casting-against-type. I remember it being VERY effective. :eek: Wow, I remember that too! ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/53 "2016-05-18T15:07:48Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > I did not know that about Judy Strangis. She was certainly a beautiful girl. According to IMDB, the stalkers led her to do mostly voice-over work, and she’s done voice work on the Batman animated series. It also says she is the niece of comic bandleader Spike Jones, and she appeared on several of his records. I saw a short clip of her on a Room 222 reunion, she’s still very attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/54 "2016-05-21T01:27:12Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > The \*Mad \*satire (“Room 222ZZZZZ…”) marveled that within the perfectly integrated student body, there were no interracial couples (the illustration showed white couples, black couples and an Eskimo couple). > > This \*really \*reaching into the mists of obscurity… > > Not long after “Room 222ZZZZ…”, _Mad_ once included an insert that contained capsule-description satires of TV shows. It used photographs instead of the artwork \*Mad \*was known for. I’m almost certain it was done by someone other than the"usual gang of idiots" - it was edgier, more adult humor. > > One of the satires was “Room 347”. A photo showed the principal’s office (with his name spelled, “Mr. Coughman”). The school was named, “Totally Integrated High School”. Spell the acronym backwards… > > Unrelated to the OP: > > Another satire in this insert described “The Even Newer Dick Van Dyke Show”, a comment on “The New Dick Van Dyke Show” which was less successful than “The Dick Van Dyke Show”. The capsule described how this would be the first Dick Van Dyke show that would be filmed without Dick Van Dyke: the plot would claim that the star was snowed in at a ski cabin somewhere for the first half of the season, hopefully until the series was renewed for a second season. > > _Mad_ were the masters of the cynical behind-the-curtain look at the motivations of big institutions like TV networks. But that insert seemed to take things further. What I remember about the “Mad” magazine parody was the Karen Valentine character finding out how to control the class…threaten to scratch her fingernails on the chalkboard. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/55 "2016-05-21T01:29:06Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > What I remember about the “Mad” magazine parody was the Karen Valentine character finding out how to control the class…threaten to scratch her fingernails on the chalkboard. “One word, and I SCRAPE them!” ---
**Author:** ![nomanisan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nomanisan/32/10773_2.png) [@nomanisan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nomanisan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2025, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785/56 "2025-08-19T04:58:48Z")
Here is what I have collected about Arlington Banks (middle name Dudley): Gossip on the [SitcomsOnline forum](https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=74991) in 2004 thought he was working at San Francisco radio station KSFX in “the early 1980s.” KSFX was renamed KOSF in 1982. Several people-search websites give his last known address as an apartment in Hawthorne, California (LA County), but that listing for him has not been updated since 1985. Some sites think the address is his current address, but as it happens, they often say that about dead people too. ☹ Some landline phone numbers in his name, in the same general location, are as recent as 2010-2016, but of course, these search sites’ phone listings are prone to errors. A Facebook commenter in 2011 said he had died, but did not give a date or details, and that commenter’s public profile has not been updated since 2013. Here is that conversation: > **[Denise Nicholas - Denise took my sister and I to the set of Room 222 when we...](https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=149323045131405&set=a.149322998464743&comment_id=268469303216778)** > > Denise took my sister and I to the set of Room 222 when we were kids. I had no desire to work in the entertainment business at the time. I got in trouble because I was walking around the studio... I would love to know what happened to him. I hope he is well, or at least that he had a good life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-dialogue-on-the-old-room-222-show/754785.md?page=2)