Flashing Spikes

Last updated
"Flashing Spikes"
Alcoa Premiere episode
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 1
Directed by John Ford
Written byJameson Brewer
Story by Frank O'Rourke (novel)
Presented by Fred Astaire
Featured music John Williams
Cinematography by William H. Clothier
Editing byRichard Belding
Tony Martinelli
Original air dateOctober 4, 1962 (1962-10-04)
Running time52 min.
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
 Previous
"The Time of the Tonsils"
Next 
"Guest in the House"

"Flashing Spikes" is a 1962 television play directed by John Ford and starring James Stewart, with a lengthy surprise appearance by John Wayne, billed in the credits as "Michael Morris" (apparently based on Wayne's birth name "Marion Michael Morrison"). [1] The hour-long drama revolving around a disgraced ex-baseball player (Stewart) was broadcast as an episode of the anthology series Alcoa Premiere hosted by Fred Astaire.

The script was based upon a novel by Frank O'Rourke and the supporting cast includes Jack Warden, Tige Andrews, Patrick Wayne, Don Drysdale, Vin Scully, Harry Carey, Jr., and Edgar Buchanan. The Director of Photography was William H. Clothier.

This show's director John Ford, actors James Stewart and John Wayne, and cinematographer William H. Clothier also filmed The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance together the same year. Ford and his cast had made a similar show earlier, with Ford directing a half-hour baseball television drama shown on Screen Director's Playhouse in 1955 with an almost identical motif, Rookie of the Year , also with Patrick Wayne as the phenomenal young player but with his father John Wayne, Vera Miles, and Ward Bond in the leads, all of whom Ford would direct in The Searchers the following year.

"Flashing Spikes" remains available for public viewing at the Paley Center for Media in New York City and Los Angeles.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Howard</span> American filmmaker and actor

Ronald William Howard is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Howard started his career as a child actor before transitioning to directing films. Over his six decade career, Howard has received two Academy Awards, four Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2003 and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2013. Howard has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions in film and television.

<i>M*A*S*H</i> (TV series) American war comedy-drama TV series (1972–1983)

M*A*S*H is an American war comedy drama television series that aired on CBS from September 17, 1972, to February 28, 1983. It was developed by Larry Gelbart as the first original spin-off series adapted from the 1970 feature film M*A*S*H, which, in turn, was based on Richard Hooker's 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. The series, which was produced with 20th Century Fox Television for CBS, follows a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the "4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War (1950–53).

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centered on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Lester</span> American film director (born 1932)

Richard Lester Liebman is a retired American film director based in the United Kingdom, famous for his comedic and campy tone style of shooting movies and for his work in both USA and UK cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Marsters</span> American actor (born 1962)

James Wesley Marsters is an American actor, voice actor, musician, singer, comic book writer, and audiobook narrator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Ford</span> American film director (1894–1973)

John Martin Feeney, known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and was one of the first American directors to be recognized as an auteur. In a career of more than 50 years, he directed over 140 films between 1917 and 1965, and received six Academy Awards including a record four wins for Best Director for The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952).

<i>The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance</i> 1962 American film directed by John Ford

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a 1962 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and James Stewart. The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck was adapted from a 1953 short story written by Dorothy M. Johnson. The supporting cast features Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O'Brien, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Woody Strode, Strother Martin and Lee Van Cleef.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vera Miles</span> American actress (born 1929)

Vera June Miles is an American retired actress, best known for playing Lila Crane in the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho, later reprising the role in its sequel, Psycho II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billing (performing arts)</span> Performing arts term

Billing is a performing arts term used in referring to the order and other aspects of how credits are presented for plays, films, television, or other creative works. Information given in billing usually consists of the companies, actors, directors, producers, and other crew members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandon Routh</span> American actor (born 1979)

Brandon James Routh is an American actor. He portrayed Superman in the 2006 film Superman Returns, which garnered him international fame. In 2011, he played the title character of the film Dylan Dog: Dead of Night. He also had a recurring role in the NBC series Chuck, as Daniel Shaw. Routh also has supporting roles in the film Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008), playing Todd Ingram in the film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) and the animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Allen (actress)</span> American actor

Elizabeth Allen was an American theatre, television, and film actress and singer whose 40-year career lasted from the mid-1950s through the mid-1990s, and included scores of TV episodes and six theatrical features, two of which were directed by John Ford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Stewart filmography</span> List of films 1934–1991

James Stewart was a prolific American actor who appeared in a variety of film roles in Hollywood, primarily of the Golden Age of Hollywood. From the beginning of his film career in 1934 through his final theatrical project in 1991, Stewart appeared in more than 92 films, television programs, and short subjects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Wayne</span> American actor

Patrick John Morrison, better known by his stage name Patrick Wayne, is an American actor. He is the second son of movie star John Wayne and his first wife, Josephine Alicia Saenz. He made over 40 films, including eleven with his father.

<i>Cheyenne Autumn</i> 1964 film

Cheyenne Autumn is a 1964 American epic Western film starring Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, James Stewart, and Edward G. Robinson. It tells the story of a factual event, the Northern Cheyenne Exodus of 1878–79, told in "Hollywood style" using a great deal of artistic license. The film was the last western directed by John Ford, who proclaimed it an elegy for the Native Americans who had been abused by the U.S. government and misrepresented by many of the director's own films. With a budget of more than $4 million, the film was relatively unsuccessful at the box office and failed to earn a profit for its distributor Warner Bros.

<i>Island in the Sky</i> (1953 film) 1953 film by William A. Wellman

Island in the Sky is a 1953 American aviation adventure drama film written by Ernest K. Gann based on his 1944 novel of the same name, directed by William A. Wellman and starring and coproduced by John Wayne. Because of its realistic depiction of an actual aircraft crash, some consider the film as among the classic aviation films. The film also features Andy Devine, Lloyd Nolan, James Arness and Paul Fix.

<i>Screen Directors Playhouse</i> American radio and television anthology series

Screen Directors Playhouse is an American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcast adaptations of films, with original directors of the films sometimes involved in the productions, although their participation was usually limited to introducing the radio adaptations and taking a brief "curtain call" with the cast and host at the end of the program. During the 1955–56 season, the series was seen on television, focusing on original teleplays and several adaptations of famous short stories.

Alcoa Premiere is an American anthology drama series that aired from October 10, 1961, to September 12, 1963, on ABC. The series was hosted by Fred Astaire, who also starred in several of the episodes.

"Rookie of the Year" is a 1955 half-hour baseball drama directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, and Patrick Wayne, all of whom Ford would direct in The Searchers the following year. This film was an installment of the television anthology series Screen Director's Playhouse.

"The Colter Craven Story" is the November 23, 1960 black-and-white episode of the American television western series, Wagon Train, which had an eight-season run from 1957 to 1965. Presented as the 9th installment of the hour-long program's 4th season, it is the third of four episodes of various television series directed by filmmaker John Ford, the only four-time winner of the Academy Award for Best Director.

References

  1. Matheson, Sue. The John Ford Encyclopedia . Rowman & Littlefield, 2019. 85.