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'Fury' and Peter Graves


Classic TV actor Peter Graves died last night. I rarely feel grief or loss when hearing about the death of a celebrity, but I did with Graves. I only have two titles under “Favorite TV shows” on my Facebook profile and Graves was the lead in one of them (“Mission: Impossible”). He also appeared in what I consider one of the funniest movie scenes of the 20th century, his conversation with little Joey in “Airplane” (“Have you ever seen a grown man naked?”).

But appropriate to this thread is Peter Graves’ starring role in the Saturday morning TV series, “Fury” (1955-1960). He played Jim Newton who adopted an orphan street kid named Joey. Holy Crap! I just realized that the name of the boy in “Airplane” was an in-joke about this series! That never occurred to me before. Wow.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes, “Fury.” Anyway, Jim moves Joey to the Broken Wheel Ranch. There, Joey tames the wild horse of the title and becomes the only person who can ride him. We waited eagerly each week (and took seriously) the scene when Fury would return to the ranch to get help (“Is Joey in trouble? Take us to Joey, boy. Take us to Joey.”). Bobby Diamond, who played Joey, is now an attorney in Los Angeles.

There is a fan site called brokenwheelranch.com, but beware. McAfee gives this a red alert meaning “dangerous.” That is why I didn’t make the link clickable. Copy and paste if you want to take your chances.

Here’s to Peter Graves.

mf

"I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody." -Franny

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He really was a good actor and I watched Fury as a young child and of course watched Mission Impossible and Airplane as well.

He'll be missed.

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I am sorry about Mr. Graves passing. I loved "Fury". I think I saw every episode. "Airplane" was the funniest movie I ever saw. What a wonderful life he had.

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I watched Fury as a kid too, in the early 60s. Loved the show, but don't remember much about it. Thanx for reminding me, Mike.



The Mighty Lemon Drops http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZkbu-Z5mL8

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wasn't the sidekick for Graves..ol Pete? What was Joey's pal's name?

Fortune does favor the audacious!

Erasmus

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Joey's pal was PeeWee. You're showing your age; worse yet, you're showing *my* age.



But throughout it all, my motto was "Dignity! Always dignity!".

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Yeah, I know...older than dirt. lol. I often try to think I can remember what I
used to watch on Saturday mornings. Test pattern, Learn to Draw with Jon Nagy (I didn't), then the shows...Howdy Doody, Fury, RuffnReady, Heckle and Jeckyl(I hated those birds), Mighty Mouse, The Lone Ranger, Sky King,Roy and Dale, RinTinTin, Wild Bill Hickcock w/Jingles, Hopalong Cassidy/westerns, then in the afternoon...Ramar, Jungle Jim, The Foreign Legion, Annie Oakley, Cisco Kid and finally, Sgt Preston.

Fortune does favor the audacious!

Erasmus

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Weren't Shari Lewis and My Friend Flicka in there somewhere? Also Fireball XL5 and Supercar? And let's not forget Winky Dink And You. Of course, any of those might have conflicted with Mighty Mouse, which I never watched because of the singing (I had such plebian tastes back then).


But throughout it all, my motto was "Dignity! Always dignity!".

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did you have Crusader Rabbit? I forgot about Flicka...and there was a space cadets or something on Saturdays too. I only remember that they were sponsored by Ovaltine and we got those spaceship mix/shakers to mix the ovaltine in. Though, we then deserted Ovaltine for Bosco chocolate syrup.

When I was a kid, we moved from St.Louis to San Francisco. Their tv on Saturday blew chunks, though, I did appear on an afternoon tv show there that had you drawing on easels..and then some great WB cartoons. At the close of the show, my brother's cub scout troop, of which my Mama was the Den Mother, was featured but I was the one they did the final closeup of and watched me draw my poster..I was sooo cute back then. lol. Of course, the rest is history.

Fortune does favor the audacious!

Erasmus

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