In August is my name and in August is my fame and in August is my fortune...

That's a riddle from one of the books of the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigator series that I read in the late 1960s and early 1970s when I was growing up. I loved those books much more than the formulaic Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books.

Sadly, when Alfred Hitchock died and the books were reissued, they decided to remove the character of Hitchcock from the books and replace him with someone named Sebastian.

In one sense you can see why they did it - Hitchcock was dead.... but in another sense it was just stupid.  Why not add in cell phones and computers while you're at it - something these books of the 60s and70s didn't have.

Why not just keep the setting of the books in the 1960s where they belonged?

I'm going to share a link from Amazon to purchase the first book in the Three Investigators series - Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators in The Secret of Terror Castle. One of my favorites.

Obviously you'll have to buy a used, hardback version - but the entire set, or at least the first 20 or so, are worth getting.

Paul Temple: the TV series

Just spent $25 for the surviving 11 episodes of Paul Temple, a British/German TV series from 1969-1971. Received the discs today.

The last episode of the series was "Critics, Yes. But This is Ridiculous." It survives. Simon Lack played Inspector Agnew, with his actual Scots accent.

He only shows up in the last ten minutes, when Japp, a hippie, is murdered. (Although staged to look like suicide.)

There's a bunch of hippies in this episode - not part of the Paul Temple scene at all. There's drug taking, which is. Not from Paul and Steve, of course, but from the hippies. And the hippies aren't the easy going ones of the USA, but sullen, violent ones who attempt to stomp to death the murderer when he is found.

Not a cheerful episode, and not one that properly sends off the series, imho,

I wonder if "they" - the casting directors/powers that be - cast Lack in this because he'd been practically all the radio episodes and so deserved to be in the final ep...but if so I wish they'd given him a better vehicle in which to shine - redo the Alex Affair where he's the villain, or the Van Dyke Affair - something where he could show his acting chops!

Simon Lack in They Drive By Night (1938)

Every so often, I do a google image search on Steve Ihnat and Simon Lack, just to see if anyone's put some photos on the web. (And if there are photos, there'll be text!)

Well, today my search finally paid off. For Simon Lack, at least.

In doing a Google image search, I found a Spotlight Casting Directory page that had a very young Simon Lack on it, circa 1939. (He'd be 24 if born in 1915, which most sources say.) (The photo was newly uploaded as a memorabilia company in London was offering it for sale.)

It listed his height - 5' 9" I have to admit I was surprised by that. He'd always seemed much shorter than that to me. I guess everyone he ever acted against must have been very tall. (Patrick McGoohan was 6'2, so he was 5 inches shorter than him...I guess that's why he looked so short in his Secret Agent ep when he was speaking with McGoohan.)

Anyway, the paper also listed three movies he'd been in...one of which was They Drive By Night (1938). I checked the IMDB and he wasn't listed in it. Then I checked YouTube, and glory be it was there, uploaded in its entirety. )Being 74 years old I guess it's in the public domain.

I started watching it, and a very young Simon Lack appeared within the first 5 minutes. As the star of the film is coming out of prison, Simon stops him. He wonders if Shorty had known Allen in prison. Shorty give shim a flip reply and walks past, until Simon says that Allen is his brother. Allen is due to die at 9 o'clock am for having killed a woman. Simon speaks in a soft, Scottish-accented voice (which of course makes sense as he is Scottish!) and then bows his head as 9 am tolls and inside the prison he knows his brother is being hung.

Simon Lack on the left talks to Emlyn Williams as Shorty on the right.

 "Roy Allen" wants to know if Shorty knew Allen in prison (they never give his first name) and how he took his last day before his scheduled execution.

A bell begins to toll nine am. (That white streak at Emlyn's mouth is a cigarette.)

Paul Temple and the Alex Affair - Synopsis

Simon Lack

Paul Temple and the Alex Affair, aired in 1968, was the last Paul Temple radio mystery for 30 years.

Part 1
A conductor collecting tickets on a train finds a woman dead. He enlists a passenger, Mr. Wilfred Davis, a Welshman, to verify. On the window is scrawled the word, Alex.

Sir Graham Forbes and Inspector Crain visit Paul Temple to ask him to look into it. Paul refuses - he's started a new book and he's promised Steve not to get mixed up in any more murders. He does ask Sir Graham to give him the history of the Alex murders - this is the second one - and Forbes mentions that both victims had, written in their diaries, the name "Mrs. Trevelyan."

He goes to Broadcasting House, driven by Steve, to take part in a Question Time show. One of the other guests dies, but before doing so whispers to Temple the name, Alex. Steve is driving home with Paul when a car tries to force them off the road. They both get the number, and Steve releases Paul from his promise.

Paul and Steve wait in a bar for Spider Williams, an acquaintance of Paul's. He's tracked down the number - the car belonged to a Doctor Kohima. (At the same time, he is greeted by Wilfred Davis, who mistakes him for a man named Simon Phipps.)

The next day Paul visits Dr. Kohima, while Steve has come with him to go to a registry office to find a new valet, as their old one, Charlie, is in the hospital. In Dr. Kohima's waiting room, he meets Carl Lathom (Simon Lack). Lathom is there early for his own appointment with the Doctor. A playwright - the actress Norma Rice who had been found in the railway carriage had been in his one and only play - He tells Paul that he's been suffering from hallucinations - a woman dressed all in brown following him - but that Dr. Kohima had cured him.

The secretary comes in and tells Paul that Dr. Kohima (a nerve specialist) will see him in a moment, and tells Lathom that he's early. Lathom says he was in the area with nothing to do, so decided to come in and wait. The secretary goes back to her sanctum and Lathom tells Paul that her name is Mrs. Trevelyan.

Part 2
Paul goes in to Dr. Kohima, and tells him Kohima that his car had been used to try to run them off the road the night before. Kohima says his car has been in a garage for repairs for several days, and asks Paul to call the garage to verify. Paul does so, and learns the car had been ready the night before, and that it had been taken out for a few hours by Kohima's chauffeur. Kohima denies having a chauffeur.

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8
Carl Lathom is revealed as Alex. He pulls a gun and hold the others at bay, but valet Ricki hits him on the head with a vase, saving the day.

2 Audio programs featuring Conrad Veidt

1. A doc on Connie put together about April 3, 1993, when the ashes of Connie and his wife Lily were laid to rest in Golders Green

2. Connie has a few lines in the radio play, Return to Berchtesgaden. He speaks at about the 3 minute mark.

An Example of the Effects of Prolonged Exposure to Musical

The True Gift of Christmas

A christmas on ice special i videotaped 23 years ago....

A special that chronicles a young boy's magical journey through time and legend to discover the true meaning of Christmas. This fantasy on ice features major international skating stars portraying the legends, magic, music, folklore, and Christmas traditions of England, Germany, Holland, and Russia.

Martha Gibson -Befana
Eric Hebert - Chris

Toller Cranston
Robin Cousins
Norbert Schramm
Kitty Carruthers
Peter Carruthers
Simone Grigorescu
Shelley MacLeod
John Rait
Jojo Starbuck
Ken Shelley

Charters and Caldicott pts 21-23

Charters and Caldicott pts 16-20

Charters and Caldicott pts 11-15

Charters and Caldicott pts 6-10

Charters and Caldicott starred Robin Bailey as Charters and Michael Aldridge as Caldicott, with Caroline Blakiston as Margaret Mottram.

In the US, it aired on Mystery! introduced by Vincent Price.











14 for more parts to go!

Charters and Caldicott

Starring Robin Bailey and Michael Aldridge. At Youtube in 23 parts.

Here's the first 5 parts

John Sutton in The Adventures of Casanova

This 1948 movie starred Arturo de Cordova as Casanova, along with Turhan Bey and John Sutton.

They changed his character - instead of a lover, he's also an Italian "Zorro" - returning to his home to fight against the invaders, in this case the villainous Comte de Brissac played by John Sutton. Sutton of course steals the films, in his all-too-few scenes.

The actor who plays Bernardo is Fritz Leiber, the father of Fritz Leiber Jr., the science fiction writer. [Leiber Jr, wrote a funny (albeit confessional) story entitled "237 Talking Statues, etc.", inspired by his difficult relationship with his father, in which Francis LeGrand II is confronted by the statues and paintings of the title, all self-portraits of his father in various roles, with which he discusses his relationship with his father.]

(Sorry it's in so many parts but my laptop was behaving very badly while I was doing this).

Simon Lack in The Apple Cart

Way back in 1975, I was in England for the second time, along with my family. I was 14. They all had gone off somewhere, leaving me in the hotel room. I can't remember why...mebbe i wasn't feeling well, but while there I watched The Apple Cart, starring Nigel Davenport. And I liked it. 40 years later I remember that - I don't remember why I liked it, I just did. (Apart from the fact that Davenport was very slim and trim and commanding!)

Anyway...The Apple Cart was reminded to me last year when I did my research into Simon Lack's ouvre - he has a small part in it, at the very beginning (which I didn't and don't remember - he had no scenes with Davenport).

I never thought I'd be able to see it again, as I looked for it on DVD on Amazon and it was not there. But, just a week or so ago, I was reading ...something...about Maggie Smith in The Millionairess, and the author of the post said that The Apple Cart was an extra on the Millionairess dvd. (Ah, now I remember, I think I was searching for Maggie Smith on You Tube, and a commenter on a video mentioned it.

Anyway, I ordered the DVD, it arrived today, and below are screencaps of Simon Lack.

Screencaps of Nigel Davenport to follow. ; )

[Quality of the transfer isn't that great, so neither is quality of the photos).

Charles Simpson Actor - Found!

Around October of last year I'd made a post about an actor named Charles Simpson whom I liked... I'd first heard him in a radio show called Breathing Underwater, liked him, and sought out more of his work. He'd been active in radio for quite a while, less so on TV... sort of like another fave, Simon Lack - although Lack's career did span 40 years [similar in that they each were only in supporting roles, never the star]!

Anyway, just discovered why Charles Simpson hasn't been acting in the last 8 years or so. He and another former actor formed a company called Garnett & Simpson, and they go to big corporations and train their people in communication skills. And considering how many client logos they've got, they seem to be doing pretty well.

So while I'm disappointed he's no longer acting, I'm glad to see he's still in a lucrative career and not working as a waiter somewhere, which is what out of work actors in the US do!

Simpson was also a lawyer before he became an actor, according to the bio on their website, and I thought that was pretty interesting.

(By the way, if anyone from the Garnett & Simpson website comes across this little ol' blog entry, jazz up your website! You need to add some video samples of your work - preferably with Charles Simpson doing the demonstrating. ; )

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: Polly Burton

Simon Lack had a small role in the opening episode of the second season of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway, in 1973.

I had thought that the detective was going to be The Old Man in the Corner, because Polly Burton is a reporter who always goes to a certain teashop to discuss cases with him.

But in this filmed version, Polly is an aspiring reporter who also works as the assistant for her uncle, Sir Arthur - a criminal lawyer.She also dates a police sergeant.

Sir Arthur is played by John Savident. His schtick is that he's always eating candy.
Polly Burton was played by Judy Geeson.
Her police boyfriend, Richard Frobisher, was played by Richard Beckinsale.
Among the other players, Anthony Higgins - a very young Anthony Higgins, played William Hazeldene, and Simon was Andrew Campbell.


John Savident


Christopher Timothy - very small role


Lois Baxter and Anthony Higgins.

Supposedly, Lois Baxter played Madame Lamia in Doctor Who: "The Androids of Tara," according to the IMDB, but frankly she looks different in both roles...I pride myself on being able to recognize actors but she looks totally different as Madame Lamia.

The rest of the screen caps are of Simon Lack as Andrew Campbell. He's in the first scene, as a man in the train who sees the soon-to-be-murdered woman and a man (whom we never see) talking, then at the trial he identifies Sir Arthur's client as the man...only to be revealed as totally unreliable by Sir Arthur under cross examination.

Noel Coward's Original Production of Relative Values (1952)

Noel Coward's play Relative Values made its debut in 1952, with Gladys Cooper, Angela Baddeley, Richard Leech, Ralph Michael Hugh McDermott, Judy Campbell, and Simon Lack.

Simon Lack in Cone of Silence

Simon Lack had a couple of scenes, for about 5 minutes worth of screen time, in Cone of Silence (aka Trouble in the Sky) (1960).

Bernard Lee plays a pilot who, at the beginning of the film, is reprimanded for bad judgement in a crash that allowed his co-pilot to die. In actual fact, the plane has design flaws, and when it's really hot (as happens in India where the film takes place) the take-off characteristics change for the plane. But Bernard Lee, who does everything by the book (and there's an actual book - a manual he checks) ends up being killed in another crash - presumably with the rest of his crew, including poor Simon Lack!) when the book gives him the wrong info for his next takeoff.

In Simon's first scene (in the creits he's just called "Navigator" but in the film he is called Taylor), he is figuring various kinds of calculations for the plane. While Bernard Lee doublechecks them, Simon gets in a wink at the co-pilot, and in the end of the scene when Lee tells him he's right, he has a nice little comic, "Thank you sir."

Then he's got a few seconds in the next scene, where everyone is in the cockpit, and he shares some new calculations with pilot Lee. Then they start their takeoff run, it's evident they're not going to be able to lift off, and they crash - but we don't see Simon's expression at this point.

Also in the film is a slim and trim, fiftyish George Sanders, and a slimmer and trimmer and fortyish Peter Cushing. An actor named Michael Craig is the star of the film, helping Bernard Lee's daughter clear his name.

I'll be uploading screencaps of those actors shortly.

Simon Lack in Cage Me A Peacock, 1948

In 1948, Simon Lack co-starred in a musical called Cage Me A Peacock, based on a popular book of the time by Noel Langley.

Music: Eve Lynd
Lyrics: Adam Leslie
Book: Noel Langley
London production opened at the Strand Theatre on June 18, 1948 and ran for 337 performances

Collatinus - Ballard Berkely
Lucrece - Yolande Donlan
Mercury - Bill O'Connor
Cassandra - Linda Gray
Sextus - Simon Lack
Dionysus - Richard Littledale
Volumnia - Mai Bacon
Octavius - GEorge Bradford
Britannicus - - Simon Traherne


Simon Lack far right as Sextus. Lucre (Yoland Donlan) far left. Man gesturing towards her, Collatinus (Ballard Berkely).


Bill O'Connor as Mercury and Linda Gray as Cassandra direct Sextus and Casso in search of Lucrece. Simon lack far right.


Simon Lack as Sextus plighting his troth to Althea (Lucrece)


Sextus and Althea in fond embrace


Sextus sees his bride with Octavian