Odd appearance of the original Josette music box theme

[Gothick]

Fans,

As is well known, the original 1967 Josette's music box theme was a track composed for Patrick McGoohan's series THE PRISONER.  I presume that this track somehow wound up in an ABC music library and that was how it found its way into our show.  I believe that episode of the McGoohan series was filmed sometime in the Fall of 1966 but I'd have to check that.  The series was broadcast on ABC, I think, sometime in 1967. When the 1795 storyline started on DS, Robert Cobert composed a new tune for the music box which was then used for the remainder of the series.  I was quite startled and perplexed (no internet and no DS reference books available then) when I first saw the 1967 shows in a 1976 syndication and the tune was different from the one I had known.

Anyhow, I was quite surprised when the tune showed up as background music in a scene in the 1972 ACE OF WANDS serial, "Mama Doc."  It's heard starting around the 8 minute 30 second mark here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCFay1dXFIE

ACE OF WANDS was produced by Thames television, which I think had merged with the studio that had produced THE PRISONER (Britain's ABC network), sometime around 1968.  I'd have to check Wikipedia for the specifics and dates.

ACE OF WANDS is about a stage magician named Tarot who gets involved with various occult themed mysteries.  In some ways it's reminiscent of 1970s DOCTOR WHO.  Tarot's companions are a brother and sister, Chaz and Micki.

The whole topic of "library music" in television and films is a fascinating one.  There are some really great tracks that wound up being circulated in this fashion.

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Very interesting, Gothick. And Ace Of Wands sound like something I would definitely like to check out!

(And OT, speaking of '60s British TV, one of my Christmas gifts to myself was to finally get the all Emma Peel boxed set of The Avengers. Back in the day I loved those eps and Diana Rigg (still love her), but despite the fact that they have turned up on cable and the new retro-TV stations, I hadn't seen them since the '70s because I didn't have or couldn't get those stations. But I'm now about halfway though the set, and I'm enjoying the eps just as much as I did back in the day, if not more...)

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Yes, The Avengers was a great show, especially with Dame Diana Rigg and the late, lamented Patrick MacNee.

In one of the Emma Peel episodes, entitled Epic, there is a scene where Mrs. Peel is "threatened" by a vampire, who is portrayed by actor Peter Wyngarde.  It almost has a Dark Shadows flavor to it.  Great fun!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

In one of the Emma Peel episodes, entitled Epic, there is a scene where Mrs. Peel is "threatened" by a vampire, who is portrayed by actor Peter Wyngarde.  It almost has a Dark Shadows flavor to it.  Great fun!

(I haven't come to that one yet. Definitely sounds like something to look forward to. Though I have seen one titled Castle De'ath that was set in a "haunted" Scottish castle that was great fun. And it had the added benefit (at least for me) of featuring Gordon Jackson, who played Hudson, the butler on the original Upstairs Downstairs.)

[Gothick]

"Castle De'ath" is a fabulous episode of THE AVENGERS.  I am very happy for you MB as THE AVENGERS has been comfort food for me for years now.  I first bought the VHS release of the shows, then replace the tapes with the DVDs.  If I got rid of most of my collection, THE AVENGERS is one thing I would definitely keep because I do revisit at least some of the shows a few times each year.

In "Epic," Peter Wyngarde plays a washed-up, aging actor who is part of a plot to make a "snuff" film starring Mrs. Peel.  Wyngarde's costume in the scene mentioned by Bob the Bartender does look like the kind of gear a Hammer vampire would wear, but the character in that skit is supposed to be a mad scientist.

It's great stuff!

G.

[Uncle Roger]

I am a huge Avengers fan. My initial exposure to the show came during my DS phase. I never missed an episode. It's a series that I enjoy now, even more than I did as a kid, although on a completely different level. All sorts of interesting people pop up on the series. Donald Sutherland and Charlotte Rampling appear in The Superlative Seven. Character actors Ron Moody and Roy Kinnear make multiple appearances, the latter as the amusingly named Bagpipes Happychap. Hammer icons Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Barbara Shelley all do guest shots, though Barbara Steele does not. Post Avengers, I was quite surprised when Linda Thorson spent a couple of years as Julia Medina on One Life to Live.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Hammer icons Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Barbara Shelley all do guest shots, though Barbara Steele does not.

IF ONLY Barbara Steele had been on!!

[Uncle Roger]

Hammer icons Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Barbara Shelley all do guest shots, though Barbara Steele does not.

IF ONLY Barbara Steele had been on!!

Nirvana!

[Gothick]

It's worth mentioning Michael Gough's role in the 1965 episode "The Cybernauts."  I think Dame Diana Rigg said in a talk she did a year or so ago at the British Film Institute that "The Cybernauts" was the first episode she filmed.  Michael Gough played a very 1960s styled mad scientist, wheelchair-bound.  In the color season a year or so later, he appeared in a more comic-flavored turn as a Russian spy scheming to turn the tables on Steed and Mrs. Peel.  The delightful Anna Quayle also appeared, as did Philip Madoc--both were noted for other genre appearances.  The episode was titled "The Correct Way to Kill."

Bringing it back at least slightly to DS, THE AVENGERS was a huge hit for ABC in 1967, the same year that DS started to be big.  And it all happened 50 years ago now.

G.