Resin (second from right) with Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield and Ted Knight in the hit 1979 comedy Caddyshack.
American baby boomers are mourning the death of 79 year old actor Dan Resin, who is better known as the Ty-D-Bol Man in a series of vintage TV commercials for a toilet cleaner. In the absurd, but iconic spots, Resin portrayed a man who lived inside your toilet tank and dispensed information about the effectiveness of Ty-D-Bol in removing bothersome stains. Resin also appeared in feature films, most notably Caddyshack as Dr. Beeper. Despite his affiliation with Ty-D-Bol, he did not live in Flushing, New York! Click here for more (Click here to watch 1971 Ty-D-Bol ad)
Mitch Miller immortalized in a painting by Norman Rockwell
By Lee Pfeiffer
Mitch Miller, who became a pop culture icon in the 1960s, has died at age 99. Miller was a record producer whose 1960s weekly TV show Sing Along With Mitch made him instantly recognizable throughout the world. The thin man with the Don Quixote look would conduct in a virtually immobile style as his all-male choir sang popular standards. A key novelty of the show was a bouncing ball that allowed audience members to sing along. The concept actually began with a series of records that included lyrics sheets. When transformed to TV, the show proved to be a hit, despite the fact that Miller was on the air when rock 'n roll was booming. Miller had some career mishaps including a notorious flop novelty record he produced for Frank Sinatra, one of the few embarrassments of the great singer's career. Yet, Miller remained a fixture in American pop culture long after his show left the air. Additionally, Miller also contributed to the classic 1962 war movie The Longest Day: his choir sang the title song, which was written by Paul Anka. For more click here
“Let me get this straight, Noah. It Takes a Thief is finally out on DVD?â€
“That’s right, Al. There’s just one catch — it’s
available only in Germany. A company called Polyband just listed Season One on
Amazon’s German affiliate.â€
“Terrific.â€
“Granted, you’ll need a region-free DVD player to
watch the discs. But the good news is that the language options include
English.â€
“You sold me, Noah. Where’s my laptop?â€
The Backstory
Yep, it’s finally happened. The coolest TV show
never to be released on DVD has at long last entered the digital domain. Not in
this country, of course. License holder Universal is still hedging its bets
regarding the American market, for reasons known only to fools and madmen. It
took the Germans, for crying out loud, to recognize the commercial DVD
potential of It Takes a Thief, the
action-adventure series that ran from 1968 to 1970 and starred Robert Wagner in
his career-defining role as Alexander Mundy, master thief, international
playboy and smooth cat extraordinaire.
Besides being must-see TV in the States, the series
also proved a hit in Germany, where it debuted on November 18, 1969 under the
title Ihr Auftritt, Al Mundy! (Rough
translation: Your Appearance, Al Mundy!)
One of the reasons for its popularity there was due to the dubbing, which made
the lines funnier than they were actually written. This lighter approach was
also reflected in some of the episode titles. “A Thief is a Thief†was
Germanized to “A Chance for the Playboy,†and “A Spot of Trouble†became “More
Champagne for the Ladies.â€
The show’s premise was ingenious and irresistible:
Mundy was cooling his heels in San Jobel Prison when Noah Bain, head of the
secretive SIA spy agency, offered Al a get-out-of-jail card on the condition
that he thieve for the government. Bain, played with gruff authority by Malachi
Throne, regularly dispatched Al to glamorous European locales to steal secret
formulas, defense papers, kidnapped scientists, and whatever else the SIA
needed to appropriate in the interest of national security. Naturally, Mundy
found time to purloin more than a few feminine hearts along the way. The result
was a unique blend of crime and espionage that set the show apart from anything
else on the television landscape.
Wagner’s charisma was, of course, integral to the
show’s appeal. He was 38 when the series debuted (though he looked a decade
younger), and had matured from the callow actor of the early 1950s into a
versatile and sophisticated performer. Wagner’s physical grace allowed him to
convincingly handle the show’s action imperatives — scrambling cat burglar
fashion up and down buildings, throwing down with international spies and
criminals, and sweeping an endless succession of nubile females off their
lovely feet. Wagner maintained an unimpeachable cool in and out of trouble, and
had few equals in the art of repartee. The show’s writers gave him plenty of
opportunities to showcase the latter ability. Here’s a typical example from the
Season One episode “When Thieves Fall Inâ€:
Alexander Mundy:
“What happened?â€
Charlene Brown: “Chloroform with a vodka
chaser.â€
Mundy: “You’re not supposed to spray that
stuff on yourself!â€
Malachi Throne provided brilliant support as Noah
Bain, a gruff, tough badass with no compunctions about sending Mundy into the
most desperate and dangerous circumstances; yet who invariably had Al’s back
when the chips were down. The series’ guest stars were the cream of the
Hollywood crop, from seasoned veterans like Ida Lupino (“Turnaboutâ€) to
promising newcomers like Susan St. James (“It Takes One to Know Oneâ€) and Bill
Bixby (“To Steal a Battleshipâ€). The series’ creative DNA also boasted clever,
literate scripts; inventive direction; quality production values; and Dave
Grusin’s hipper-than-hip theme tune. Throughout its three-year run, It Takes a Thief effortlessly blended
action, suspense, humor and style into a potent televisual cocktail that
retains its intoxicating appeal four decades after its debut.