Bonne chance M. Lucky

Considering the talent in front of the camera and behind it, Mr Lucky's scripts and fights were lame. The fights were also poorly blocked by the directors. Hovering between comedy and mystery, the show should have lasted at least two years. The show needed more intriguing gambling stories. And were Lucky and Andamo the only crew? A ship like that would need 30 men to run it. They had one janitor.

This TV series, very loosely based on the movie by the same title, is about a suave gambler, Mr. Lucky (John Vivyan), his faithful sidekick, Andamo (Ross Martin), and various guest stars (such as Frank Gorshin) who undergo their adventures on Lucky's yacht, the Fortuna II (Fortuna I sank in episode 1). Anchored beyond L.A.'s twelve-mile limit, the yacht is a center of gambling, classy dining, and intrigue. Lucky and Andamo get themselves into all kinds of danger, but always manage to get themselves out by the time the closing credits roll. While the setting is creative, the magic of this series is created by Hank Mancini's fabulous musical score. The theme "Mr. Lucky" plays throughout, as does Mancini's "Chime Time" and other lovely numbers (e.g., "Blue Satin").

Sadly, this series lasted just one season. Even sadder is the fact that these few episodes have not been reissued in DVD. Just a handful have been released in VHS mode. Maybe this will change. I certainly hope so.

Some of us who enjoy this show in general and Ross Martin's work on it in particular, have been discussing it episode-by-episode at www.andamoinmrlucky.proboards.com.

Here's an example, from one of my own posts, which provoked argument from another member:

"Anyway, back to 'The Money Game': Notice the difference between how natural Rovacs sounds when he says, "The bird from Wilbur College?" and how unnatural Lucky sounds when he says, "The bird who said this country has no respect for mathematicians . . . ." I think the writer missed it with that line. Lucky just can't use slang terms like "bird." And the writer did it again, though not so blatantly, with Lucky's dialogue with Eddie about the "fish." Lucky has too much respect for his customers to refer to them with derogatory words like that. Poor John Vivyan-- what he must have thought when he saw this week's script. In addition to having to speak out of character, he sure got stuck with some lame lines this time."

In retrospect, I'm not sure I agree with myself there about the fish. We'd sure welcome other voices, other opinions, from people who'd like to watch and seriously discuss the show with us.

"Mr. Lucky" was a half-hour television series attempting to cash in on "Peter Gunn"'s success. Based on an old '40's feature film that had starred Cary Grant, the t.v. "Mr. Lucky" starred John Vivyan as the title character, Ross Martin as his partner Andamo, Pippa Scott as Mr. Lucky's girlfriend, Maggie, and Tom Brown as Lt. Rovaks of the police department, Lucky's sometimes friend, sometimes adversary. Mr. Lucky was the owner of the ship Fortuna, a floating gambling casino moored off of the California coast's 12 mile limit. Each week Lucky and Andamo would become entangled with an assortment of con-men, gamblers, fugitives, even entertainers working for Lucky aboard the gambling casino. Inevitably it would appear that Lucky was either involved in some type of illegal activity or at the least aiding those involved with the activities. This was all done to a modern jazz musical score supplied by "Peter Gunn"'s Henry Mancini.

The series ran one season (during the '59-'60 season) and is probably best remembered for spawning two hit record albums from Henry Mancini, "Theme from Mr. Lucky" and "Mr Lucky Goes Latin".

I was nine-years old (and living in New York) when this show premiered, and it quickly became my favorite series. Friday nights meant "77-Sunset-Strip" and then staying up to watch "Mr. Lucky" with a big bottle of Coke and a bag of Fritos. I can still remember the car he drove -- a black 1959 Chrysler Imperial. To me, Mr. Lucky was the epitome of "class."