Dragnet, having been revived as a mid-season replacement at the beginning of 1967, began its second season with "The Grenade". Seems Jack Webb and his staff of writers, in this case Robert C. Dennis, had a handle on societal ills affecting the youth of the 60's.
Consider, then, the case of Gerald Paulson (Mickey Sholdar, ex-The Farmer's Daughter). As explained by Paulson himself, his father passed away, and his mother remarried. However, as the story progresses, we begin to see that Gerald hasn't entirely connected with his stepfather. After pouring acid on a classmate's jacket in a darkened movie theatre, Gerald is first brought to the Georgia St. Juvenile precinct. However, things go from bad to worse when he doesn't get invited to a party being given by a girl he seems to be interested in.
Jan-Michael Vincent (billed as Michael Vincent, a year away from Danger Island) and Heather Menzies (later of Logan's Run, and better remembered as Mrs. Robert Urich) co-star.
I first discovered this episode during Dragnet's syndicated run in the 70's. I'd later find out that Webb was a little more open to fight scenes during the series' 1st run in the 50's than he would be during this run, hence his struggle to disarm Paulson, but also to ensure the grenade didn't go off.
George Fenneman (ex-You Bet Your Life) and John Stephenson are the announcers.
Rating: A.
4 comments:
I've seen this episode before but I didn't realize that was Jan Michael Vincent as Gerald's burn victim (or Heather Menzies as the witness!). JMV looks so different as a bleached blond! Probably was told to go for the "surfer dude" look when he started his career!
My father was in the US Army back in the day and kept souvenir grenades at home (actually, they were used for training so they weren't dangerous). That's the classic "pineapple" grenade used in WW2 and Korea. However, by the late 50s (when my dad was in the service) they had just started making the transition to more modern grenades. He used to tell me you "lob" the pineapples, while the smooth rounder ones were thrown like baseballs. The things you learn!
Seen that in a few movies and comics, so I know what you're talking about.
Jan-Michael Vincent, I don't think, had the bleach by the time Danger Island came along a year after this episode aired.
Belatedly:
The opening announcer is George Fenneman.
Art Gilmore turned up frequently on-camera as Friday & Gannon's Captain du jour, but he isn't in this episode.
Midway through the run, John Stephenson stepped down, and George Fenneman did all of Dragnet's announcements.
Fenneman was also the announcer for the original run, too. I'll fix the first post, Mike, thanks.
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