Lois Smith

I have not read the True Blood books by Charlaine Harris but I have been watching the TV series on DVD. I alternate between Route 66, True Blood & dumb action horror movies.
While it's clear Sookie Stackhouse has inherited her telepathic powers it is not clear what is going on with her ancestry. Imagine my surprise when I spotted granma Adele in a 1962 Route 66 episode, "Only by Cunning Glimpses", as a second generation psychic named Brycie.
All is clear now.
Congratulations to Lois Smith on a 5 decade acting career. Hope there's more to come & given the nature of True Blood, she might even show up there again. Who knows?
yeah, the people who have read the books.....

Only by Cunning Glimpses is on Route 66 Season 3 Disk 3
and it's in CLEVELAND !

Route 66

Janice Rule 1931-2003
In a previous post I gushed about my love affair with the old TV series, Route 66. It is interesting on a couple levels. For one thing, modern characters don't get much of a chance to say more than a couple lines & they tend to use a vocabulary & sentence structure dumbed down to a 6th grade level. Another thing, and this is probably because I am an old fart, is seeing so many old iconic modern actors performing so early in their careers. One of the coolest things about the show is that it was almost all filmed on location. It is just an amazing view of the world in 1960-64. And it actually was film ! ..in glorious black and white.
In one episode they bitch about these new freeways. "Whatever happened to the quaint little towns ?"
Anyway, when I see someone who intrigues me or whose name sounds vaguely familiar, I Google 'em.
To my surprise, one actress, who appeared several times, was a smokin' hot Norwood girl, Janice Rule.
Route 66 didn't have a great track record filming in Ohio. Cincinnati never made the cut. Cleveland did a few times. Kinsman made it but was called Amity & wasn't even in Ohio. Ohio 66 has some great documentation of the Route 66 episodes filmed here. Alas, nothing on Ms Rule or other actors who might have hailed from the Buckeye State.
To hell with Cruise & Hoffman, I want to see Milner & Maharis crossing the Clay Wade Bailey !
hm, maybe with computers.....

UPDATE: I didn't realize it when I posted this but Sep. 1, 1928 is George Maharis' birthday. Happy 81st, dude ! (belated but may not look like it (?).....)

Route 66


The classic television show, Route 66, was re-released on DVD recently. The show ran from 1960 - 1964 starring Martin Milner and George Maharis as Todd and Buzz - two young men traveling the back roads of the US taking odd jobs as they go and meeting the diverse people who make up America.
The show was primarily the work of Stirling Silliphant. He made a name for himself with the show as he delved into the darker side of people's characters showing a world that frequently wasn't what it appeared to be on the surface. He also made a name for himself with his character's dark soliloquies. In about the 4th episode Lew Ayres (playing a Nazi hunter (the show was only about 15 years out of WWII)) delivered this gem:
"I hope you live a long life and never know the blistering forces which sear and destroy, turn men into enemies and sweep past the last frontiers of compassion. Once you've seen that dark, unceasing tide of faces... of the victims...the last spark of dignity so obliterated that not one face is lifted to heaven, not one voice is raised in protest even as they died..."
Of course, it's all pretty fantastic and idyllic. Halfway through the first season they might have intersected with route 66 once.
What I am really loving about watching the show, however, is that it was almost completely shot on location around the country. The backgrounds and sets - the houses, offices, farms and towns offer a very real glimpse of life in America in the early 60s.
And it's all shot in stunning black and white !
The supporting guest stars are a daggone Who's Who.
Lon Chaney Jr, Roger Carmel, Robert Duvall, Robert Redford, Leslie Nielsen, Bruce Dern, Suzanne Pleshette, Pat Hingle, Inger Stevens, Harvey Korman, DeForrest Kelley, Lee Marvin, Anne Francis, John Astin, Peter Graves, Barbara Eden, Susan Oliver, and a seriously hot Donna Douglas.
All in all, it's a great look back at a time that wasn't in a time that very much was.