Pop Culture Roundup for September 28-October 10: Star Trek, Cathy Gale, Lost Locations, and More!

by Karen A. Romanko

Once again, I’m pulling together my pop culture posts from social media. The Roundup has been shifting between the 60s and 80s for last 12 days, so fasten your safety belts. Jumping the 70s always brings a jolt!

September 28: Wondering where my Amazon package is, I pick up a small device, tap “track package,” and I’m whisked to a map that tells me I’m the next stop. I look up from the phone, and hear the package drop on the front porch. Not quite Star Trek, but pretty amazing.

September 30: I’ve always been fascinated by television history, a fascination which eventually led me to write books on the subject. When hubby and I moved to LA from the East Coast in the late 80s, I was thrilled to be in Hollywood, and loved being surrounded by film and television history. I became a little “gaga” for spotting Los Angeles locations in TV shows, especially the older ones. Last night, I watched a fine episode of The Fugitive, “Death Is the Door Prize” (1966), and was finally able to determine the location of a pretty hotel with expansive grounds, The Chapman Park Hotel and Bungalows at 3405 Wilshire Blvd., unfortunately demolished in the late 60s. Top photo: The Fugitive, David Janssen (right), catches up with the wrong one-armed man on the hotel grounds. Bottom: layout of The Chapman Park, with an incorrect street number listed. (You had one job!) Would have loved to see this hotel in person!

October 1: Female TV Crimefighter of the Day! Cathy Gale of The Avengers (1961-1969, 161 episodes, UK). Dr. Gale, an anthropologist, finds herself in the unlikely role of amateur operative when she assists secret agent John Steed (Patrick Macnee) on a case in “Mr. Teddy Bear” (1962). As portrayed by Honor Blackman, Cathy is smart, independent, assertive, and adept at hand-to-hand combat, whether attired in street clothes or her signature black leather suit and boots. Gale blazes a trail that other female spies and detectives will soon follow, including her successor on The Avengers, Emma Peel (Diana Rigg), and American P. I. Honey West (Anne Francis).

October 2: Remembering beautiful and talented Roy Fitzgerald a.k.a. Rock Hudson on the 36th anniversary of his passing. Always loved.

October 3: Happy birthday to one of my favorite series, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, which premiered on this day in 1983. Amanda, please put 38 candles on your poppyseed cake, aka “your Sistine Chapel.” Here’s “the big fella,“ Lee “Scarecrow” Stetson (Bruce Boxleitner) and housewife–turned-spy Amanda King (Kate Jackson).

October 8: Four faces of stunning Katy Jurado, who portrayed Maria Gertrudis Barceló in “La Tules,” a 1962 episode of Death Valley Days. The real Barceló, often called "La Tules," was a casino owner and businesswoman who built a small fortune in the American Southwest during the mid-19th century. Married at the age of 23, Barceló was a woman ahead of her time, retaining her maiden name, property, and the right to sign contracts, all practices contrary to the customs of her era. I was delighted to find this photo and acquired it for my book in progress, Historical Women on Scripted Television.

October 10: Female TV Crimefighter of the Day! Dee Dee McCall of Hunter (1984–1991, 153 episodes, USA). Sgt. Dee Dee McCall (Stepfanie Kramer), a homicide detective, works with partner Rick Hunter (Fred Dryer) to rid Los Angeles of its worst riffraff. Nicknamed the “brass cupcake,” beautiful Dee Dee is one tough cookie (brass cupcake, some kind of hard-to-bite baked good), unafraid to tackle a perp by jumping off the hood of a car and unflinching when a hulking good ol’ boy harasses her. This series is on the broad side, with an inordinate number of chases which end with the launch of a flaming car into the sky, but Kramer has moments of real feeling as a cop whose husband was on the job and killed in the line of duty. Available on Tubi, Peacock, and others.

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Last, but not least, please check out my books about women and television from McFarland Publishers, available in trade paperback and Kindle editions at Amazon:

Television's Female Spies and Crimefighters and Women of Science Fiction and Fantasy Television
 On sale now!