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Girl on the Run | |
---|---|
Screenplay by | Marion Hargrove |
Story by | Roy Huggins |
Directed by | Richard L. Bare |
Starring | Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Erin O'Brien Shepperd Strudwick Edward Byrnes Barton MacLane |
Music by | Howard Jackson |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producer | Roy Huggins |
Cinematography | Harold E. Stine |
Editor | Harold Minter |
Running time | 77 minutes |
Original release | |
Release | October 10, 1958 |
Girl on the Run is a 1958 private detective film directed by Richard L. Bare and starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Erin O'Brien, Shepperd Strudwick, Edd Byrnes and Barton MacLane. [1] [2]
The film is based on characters and situations created by writer Roy Huggins in a series of 1940s novels and novellas. It aired on ABC as the pilot episode for 77 Sunset Strip after a brief theatrical release in the Caribbean. [3] [4]
In a large Northeastern American city, nightclub singer Kathy Allen witnesses the murder of a witness in a major trial. Though she had a good view of the murderer, she is unable to identify his photograph in police files. After a sniper unsuccessfully makes an attempt on her life, Kathy flees to the West Coast of the United States.
Singing under a new identity, "Karen Shay", and hair style, Kathy meets Stuart Bailey, a former university professor of languages and O.S.S. agent who she discovers is a private detective. Stu realises he's been hired by someone to locate her and make her the target of a young hired assassin.
O'Brien's singing voice was not dubbed; she appeared as a featured solo singer on six episodes of The Steve Allen Show during this period.
Writer Roy Huggins created the story's characters in a series of 1940s novels and novellas, but Marion Hargrove wrote the screenplay for Girl on the Run. Warner Bros. released the film with Hargrove's title, and when it later aired on television, it was not the debut of a new series but the television premiere of a theatrical film. This allowed Warner Bros. to claim that the resulting 77 Sunset Strip television series was based on Girl on the Run, which it wholly owned, rather than on Huggins' literary work. [5]
In an interview with the Archive of American Television, director Bare recalled that the film was a result of an idea that Warner Bros. Television could create a B movie feature film. The film was shot in ten days, however it was decided to show the film to the American Broadcasting Company who wanted to turn the film into a weekly series, but with two provisos. The film would not be shown theatrically in the USA but would appear as the first episode of the series. Secondly, ABC wanted Edd Byrnes as a series regular. In the film Byrnes played vicious killer Kenneth Smiley, who compulsively combs his hair. When the youth audience reacted favorably to his performance, Byrnes was offered the role of a new recurring character in the television series.
In 77 Sunset Strip, Byrnes became Kookie, a comical carhop who also compulsively combs his hair. Byrne's appearance in Girl on the Run was addressed directly in the series. At the beginning of the episode that followed Girl on the Run, Zimbalist broke the fourth wall with the announcement:
We previewed this show, and because Edd Byrnes was such a hit, we decided that Kookie and his comb had to be in our series. So this week, we'll just forget that in the pilot he went off to prison to be executed. [6]
Maverick is an American Western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins and originally starring James Garner as an adroitly articulate poker player plying his trade on riverboats and in saloons while traveling incessantly through the 19th-century American frontier. The show ran for five seasons from September 22, 1957, to July 8, 1962 on ABC.
77 Sunset Strip is an American television private detective drama series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Roger Smith, Richard Long and Edd Byrnes. Each episode was one hour long when aired with commercials. The show ran from 1958 to 1964. The character of detective Stuart Bailey was first used by writer Huggins in his 1946 novel The Double Take, later adapted into the 1948 film I Love Trouble.
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. was an American actor best known for his starring roles in the television series 77 Sunset Strip and The F.B.I. He is also known as recurring character "Dandy Jim Buckley" in the series Maverick and as the voice of Alfred Pennyworth in the DC Animated Universe.
Edward Byrne Breitenberger, known professionally as Edd Byrnes, was an American actor, best known for his starring role in the television series 77 Sunset Strip. He also was featured in the 1978 film Grease as television teen-dance show host Vince Fontaine, and was a charting recording artist with "Kookie, Kookie ".
Roy Huggins was an American novelist and an influential writer/creator and producer of character-driven television series, including Maverick, The Fugitive, Hunter, and The Rockford Files. He became a noted writer and producer using his own name, but much of his later television scriptwriting was done using the pseudonyms Thomas Fitzroy, John Thomas James or John Francis O'Mara.
Norman "Norm" Grabowski was a Polish-American hot rod builder and actor. The heavy-set crew cut-wearing Grabowski appeared in minor roles in many films produced by Albert Zugsmith and Walt Disney.
Shepperd Strudwick was an American actor of film, television, and stage. He was also billed as John Shepperd for some of his films and for his acting on stage in New York.
Erin O'Brien was an American actress and singer, active during the mid-twentieth century and best known as the leading lady of arguably the first made-for-TV movie in 1958, Girl on the Run, which also served as the pilot for the television series 77 Sunset Strip written by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr., which played briefly in theaters before airing on television on October 10, 1958.
Edward Thomas Marion Lawton Hargrove Jr. was an American writer.
Don Ralke was an American music arranger, composer, and record producer, working for four decades in the Hollywood studio system in films, television, and pop recordings.
William T. Orr was an American actor and television producer associated with various Western and detective programs of the 1950s-1970s. In most of his Warner Bros. series, he was billed as "Wm. T. Orr." Orr began his career as an actor; his film credits included The Mortal Storm, The Gay Sisters, and The Big Street.
Robert Francis Logan was an American actor who appeared in numerous films and television programs, the most notable of which were a successful series of family adventure films in the 1970s.
"Shady Deal at Sunny Acres", starring James Garner and Jack Kelly, remains one of the most famous and widely discussed episodes of the Western comedy television series Maverick. Written by series creator Roy Huggins (teleplay) and Douglas Heyes (story) and directed by Leslie H. Martinson, this 1958 second-season episode depicts gambler Bret Maverick being swindled by a crooked banker after depositing the proceeds from a late-night poker game. He then surreptitiously recruits his brother Bart Maverick and a host of other acquaintances to mount an elaborate sting operation to recover the money.
Yellowstone Kelly is a 1959 American Western film based upon a novel by Heck Allen with a screenplay by Burt Kennedy starring Clint Walker as Luther Sage "Yellowstone" Kelly, and directed by Gordon Douglas. The film was originally supposed to be directed by John Ford with John Wayne in the Clint Walker role but Ford and Wayne opted to make The Horse Soldiers instead.
I Love Trouble is a 1948 American film noir crime film written by Roy Huggins from his first novel The Double Take, directed by S. Sylvan Simon, and starring Franchot Tone as Stuart Bailey. The character of Stuart Bailey was later portrayed by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. in the television series 77 Sunset Strip.
A Fever in the Blood is a 1961 Warner Bros. American courtroom drama directed by Vincent Sherman with music by Ernest Gold, cinematography by J. Peverell Marley and editing by William H. Ziegler. It is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by former lawyer William Pearson. The film stars Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Angie Dickinson, Jack Kelly and Don Ameche. Carroll O'Connor appears in his film debut.
"Kookie, Kookie " is a song written by Irving Taylor and performed by Edward Byrnes and Connie Stevens. The single was produced by Karl Engemann and arranged by Don Ralke, and was featured on Byrnes' 1959 album, Kookie Star of "77 Sunset Strip".
Follow the Sun is an American television adventure series that aired on ABC from September 17, 1961, to April 8, 1962. The episodes follow a pair of freelance magazine writers based in Hawaii who seek out interesting stories while leading an active social life both on the mainland and aboard their boat, The Scuber. The series is characterized by a host of guest appearances by popular film and television actors.