Magnum Mania!

Little Garwood wrote:
An early photo of the elder Simon:

He resembled one of the guys from that 70s pop duo, England Dan & John Ford Coley.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_D ... y_1976.jpg

MHTR: Going by my own childhood recollections of the '70s, most every guy looked like that!

Another Pirate's Key observation: When they drive the truck into the water and get stuck, Rick utters "Shhhhh....", only he adds the "it" at the end! Guess that one got by the censors!

Now you too can wear an exact (sort of) duplicate of Rick Simon's iconic hat:



I don't have a screen cap handy, but I recently watched a S4 episode of Simon & Simon and Rick wore an ever-so-slightly different variation on his usual hat. This particular hat had some about a half dozen tiny vents on either side.

There's also a wider brimmed, not-a-cowboy-hat cover he wore in Pirate's Key. In the pilot at least, Rick was more Jimmy Buffett than any kind of Countrified type character he later resembled.

Simon & Simon have their own Luther H. Gillis. It's hardboiled San Francisco private detective Sam Penny, who literally wrote the book on private investigation. He's a hero of A.J. Simon's, who has read Penny's book countless times and considers him "The President of the Fraternity" (of private eyes).

Sam Penny was played by veteran actor Robert Lansing in two Simon & Simon episodes: S3's Shadow of Sam Penny (aired November 3 1983) and S5's Reunion at Alcatraz (aired November 14 1985). The IMdb lists a TV movie called Shadow of Sam Penny, but I have been unable to confirm its existence. The volume of Movies Made for Television I have only goes up to 1979.

While both Sam Penny and Luther H. Gillis are both hardboiled detectives in the classic-but-outdated tradition, but while Gillis is played for comedy, Sam Penny is largely serious. His world-weary attitude on life is a direct homage to spiritual ancestors like Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe.

Sam Penny never wore out his welcome, and it's too bad he didn't get at least one more appearance on Simon & Simon. His two episodes are well worth watching.

Late last year I began writing my (idiosyncratic) S5 Simon & Simon episode reviews--more observations than reviews, though I do rate each show with a 1-10 ranking--and was posting them on the (late) IMDb message boards. However, since those are no more I may have to terrify the Magnum Mania populace with them.

Gerald McRaney won an Emmy this year!

Jameson Parker, on his blog (ReadJamesonParker), has directed his readers to his daughter's GofundMe page. Katherine Parker is near her financial goal so that she may purchase a new power wheelchair.

I have not linked directly to JP's blog on this matter--I do not wish to run afoul of M-M's rules if it forbids such posts--but I encourage my fellow Magnum fans to read Jameson Parker's blog, as he provides lots of food for thought, whether you agree with his views or not.

I'm cool with some reviews for S&S on Magnum Mania. S&S is a show that's been on my "to watch list" forever, but it's not on TV. The first 3 seasons are on Hulu, but Hulu and my isp don't get along so great.

I agree that Parker's blog is a good read.

I'm not sure if Shout! Factory, the company that's released many DVD sets has a streaming service...

Today is Jameson Parker's 70th birthday. In fact, both of the Simon brothers actors are 70 now.

Been a fan of S & S for years. I have the first four seasons on dvd but unfortunately Shout decided for seasons 5-8 that they would not include closed captioning....so I will not buy them. Too bad really, I’d love to have them. Great show.

Hey Garwood. Any chance you could update the earlier posts with the photo bucket fix discussed in the main forum?

MagnumsLeftShoulder wrote:S&S is a show that's been on my "to watch list" forever, but it's not on TV.

I've just watched a couple of episodes I DVR'd off Cozi TV. I think it's on after midnight. One was about John Dillinger still being alive.

Pahonu wrote: I've just watched a couple of episodes I DVR'd off Cozi TV. I think it's on after midnight. One was about John Dillinger still being alive.

Saw that one recently too! Love that show.

Little Garwood wrote:In the ongoing search for decently-sized Simon & Simon promotional photos, I submit the following:



More to come...

Trying the photobucket fix myself for this...not working for some reason.

Hi Styles.... it works fine for me,I'm halfway through the Robin's Nest thread.

Sam wrote:Hi Styles.... it works fine for me,I'm halfway through the Robin's Nest thread.

Maybe you have to be the original poster? I just tried quoting Garwood's text. Kudos to you for taking on that big project!

Yeah Styles only the original poster can edit a post.