"Faster than a speeding bullet..."--favorite openings
 

My co-workers and I were talking about old TV shows at lunch. Remember how the TV dramas of the 50s and 60s used to have voice-over introductions at the beginning of each episode? Some of these were pretty cool, and really set the mood. Some have become classics. Seems like few modern TV shows have these intros anymore (Law and Order is one exception.) Wonder why?

Because it was one of favorite shows as a kid, I like the opening sequence of "Ben Casey." Where the hand writes the symbols on the blackboard, and Sam Jaffe's voice says, "Man....woman...birth...death...infinity."


http://www.vinceedwards.tv/casey1.html

That curling wave on "Hawaii 5-0" that appears with no sound for just an instant before the theme song kicks in. That, my friends, is beautiful.

Ken

I Spy -- sillhouettes of them playing tennis transitioning James-Bond style to them holding guns, all very stylistically done.

Any Quinn-Martin production like The Fugitive,Cannon etc

Wasn't it Outer Limits that started out: "Do not adjust your set...we will control the horizontal...we will control the vertical..."

"Another challenge for the Green Hornet, his aid Kato, and their rolling arsenal the Black Beauty. On Police records a wanted criminal, the Green Hornet is really Britt Reid, owner-publisher of the Daily Sentinel, his dual identity known only to his secretary and the district attorney. And now, to protect the rights and lives of decent citizens, rides THE GREEN HORNET" {Green Hornet theme played by Al Hirt starts}

The narration is by William Dozier, producer of the show, who also narrated Batman. Awesome stuff!

"Little did John Kent know as he slipped behind the wheel that day, that his truck had become his ticket to (swell music) the Twilight Zone..."

Out of the blue of the western sky.......

Was that Sky King?

Yup

I'm still trying to identify the march used in the old 50s Tvshow,"Rin Tin Tin".

I love the opening of "The Incredible Hulk" very much!

Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.

The Six Dollar Man on Sesame St was a great take-off of that... :D

"With his faithful Indian companion Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early Western United States. Nowhere in the pages of history can one find a greater champion of justice. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the great horse Silver."

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/dressed/bek019.gif

That, dear friends is sheer poetry.

Ooohhhh, running home from school to sit in front of the big ol' b&w.

"Hi-yo Silver, awaaayyyyy!"

Sniffle...

A particular favorite of mine as well since my handsome mug would invariably appear.

I have the original soundtrack if you are interested. I will even autograph it for you. :yes:

"Space...

...the final frontier. These are the voyages of..."

"This is the city. Los Angeles, California. I work here. I carry a badge. My name's Friday..."

Heck, the theme song itself was pretty good, too! Makes a great piece to get your legs moving in a gym... :banana:

But that curling wave? Um, OUCH! Surfed there once in the late seventies. in the off season. Dislocated my shoulder, trying not to get drowned by the undertow. No one had told me WHY they only surf there for half the year, but I figured it out pretty fast after that experience. :no:

They also used the curling wave right after a usually suspensful moment and before the commercial break. Very ominous. But the premise itself was omninous- nefariousness and evil in paradise.

I think Horatio Kane (David Caruso) in CSI Miami is a direct theft of my legendary character and alter ego in Hawaii 5-0.

1) "there is nothing wrong with your television"
2) Johnny River's singing "There's a man who leads a life of danger, To everyone he meets, he stays a stranger, With every move he makes, another chance he takes, Odds are he won't live to see tomorrow
3) Johnny Cash singing "Johnny Yuma was a rebel, He roamed through the West. Did Johnny Yuma, The Rebel. He wandered alone. He got fighting mad, this rebel lad, He packed no star and he wandered far, Where the only law was a hook and draw, The Rebel. Away, away, away rode The Rebel. "
Elvis originally sang the theme but the shows producer prefered the way Cash did it.

The Green Hornet theme was actually "Flight of the Bumblebee" played by Al Hirt. :thmbsp:

Sounds like AK'ers...

Kenwood, receiver. A unit barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the technology. We have De-oxit!

Hey, did you know that Traci Lords named herself after you?

She added an "S".

Amongst other things. :D

I just loved the opening theme song by Nilsson for: "The courtship of Eddies father"

Another cool opening was "The Rockford Files". The theme music was always kicked off with a few moments of funny dialouge.


Russ

Sorry to tell you, but Nada!
Flight of the Bumblebee was used for the Green Hornet radio shows. The soundtrack for the tv show was done by Billy May. There is some FOTBB influence there, but it is a completely different, but VERY cool, piece of music. One of my prize possessions is the original soundtrack album.
There are references all over the interweb about FOTBB being the TV theme. I need to get on Wikipedia sometime and change it there too!

Thanks for some cool flashbacks:

That "Outer Limits" : "Do not adjust your set, we control the vertical, we control the horizontal..." used to freak me out when I was about 7 years old. My dad finally explained it was just an o-scope trace -- showed me one -- and not to worry. That show regularly used to send me hiding behind the couch. Had quite an over-active imagination in those days...

Sky King! What an opening it had.

And of course, Hawaii 5-0 with its Ventures opening and scanty (for '60s) clothes girls.

If you were a Superman fan (who wasn't?) its opening was mighty impressive. I want to go see "Hollywoodland" which is a movie about typecast George Reeves who played Superman and died under mysterious circumstances.

Hasn't anyone mentioned the campy (and repetitious) opening theme to "Batman" with Adam West, or the "Monkees" : "Here we come, walking down the street..." Stupid shows, but huge in the '60s.

I still get warm 'n' fuzzy over the Black Beauty....it's basically a Mopar version of the suicide-door Lincoln, a guy named Elwood Engel designed both of 'em. A review of all of the American luxocars at the time said the '65 Imperial was really the best of the lot. But yeah, that jazzy music, & the Black Beauty..Oh, man...<grin>

There is some really interesting info on the web about the Black Beauty. I have always wanted to get an Imperial of that vintage. That car totally changed my desire for cars. Maybe that is why I drive an Olds 98 (last traditional AMERICAN looking sedan that GM put out.) and LOVE fender skirts.
As an interesting aside, a lot of people credit George Barris with the design, as he did the Batmobile for the other superhero show of the time. However, it was actually the great Dean Jeffries who did the work. While Jeffries is arguably the greatest customizer of his time, he was apparently a total wacko and a pain to deal with. Not that unusual amongst great artists....

Naked City
 

Naked City, an amazingly smart, sophisticated detective show from 1958 always ended each episode with:

"There are eight million stories in the Naked City. This has been one of them."

Not TV, but I have always liked this one... Click the old radio on the right.

http://www.radiohof.org/adventuredrama/cbsradio.html

CBS Radio Mystery Theatre, hosted by E. G. Marshall.

Miami Vice.

Flamingos, babes in bikinis, cigarette boats (no doubt running cocaine AND bikini babes!) and Crockett and Tubbs in the Ferrari Daytona Spyder all overlaid with that great themesong! Whew! Now that's a mood-setter!

Although y'all were in diapers, maybe you remember the theme to Peter Gunn. That set a mood, too.

The 1948 film noir that inspired it, down to the ending phrase, was very good, too.

Yeah, baby...Peter Gunn. Mancini. 1958. Jazz. Black & White. About says it all..Detectives were "Hard Boiled", drank martinis, smoked 4 packs of Luckys a day, ate nothing but steak 'n' baked potatoes, wore sharkskin suits, women were "Dames" & knew when to keep their traps shut.

women were "Dames" & knew when to keep their traps shut.

And wore stockings (real stocking, not pantyhose) and high heels. Gams.

Yep, an' remember how it was absolutely SCANDALOUS if the seam of a Dame's hose wasn't ramrod straight...Hell, she might have been "Loose" or something...<grin>

"It's"


Monty Python

Yeah, but the best part of all was when she turned around and bent over to straighten her seams... :drool: