Honey West

Is anyone aware that the man who worked on Special Effects for Honey West is the same man who did the Special Effects for the Star Trek series just a year later? The man's name was Jim Rugg. He was my Pops. He also worked on such shows as The Rifleman, Burkes Law, Broken Arrow, Mission Impossible, Cannon, Barnaby Jones and Hawaii Five-O. He worked on such movies as The Wizard of Oz, River of No Return, Bus Stop, The Day the Earth Stood Still, On the Riviera and Silent Running. Pops had a pyrotechnic license and he made a living blowing everything up from cars to boats to airplanes... you name it. He was most proud of the fact that in no show that he was in charge of did anyone ever get hurt. My Dad is gone now but he was the best in the business... just ask anyone who ever worked with him.

The same building housed "H. West & Company, Private Investigators" and "Charles Townsend Associates, Private Investigations." Whenever I see the camera shots of the exterior of that building I always wonder, did Hank West (Honey's father) and Charlie know each other? Did Honey West and Charlie's Angels ever run into each other from 1976 on? Surely Honey's macho partner Sam Bolt must have been aware of the Angels, hehe, but then again, he was secretly stuck on Honey.

Over a decade earlier it was September of 1965 and I was eight years old when Honey West sizzled the airwaves. Producer Aaron Spelling had been inspired to bring the pulp fiction heroine to television after viewing Honor Blackman play Dr. Catherine Gale, the blond anthropologist partner of secret agent John Steed in the original episodes of the British television series "The Avengers." All I remember about "Honey West" from that time is seeing her face in the honeycomb cells during the title sequence. Then it was off to another channel to watch good ol' Gomer Pyle.

Most people don't know that the enormously popular "Make Room For Daddy/Danny Thomas Show" spun off the enormously popular "Andy Griffith Show", which in turn spun off the enormously popular "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.". With Honey West in the same Friday night time slot as Gomer Pyle, how could she buck a tradition like that? On Friday nights the people who would be more devoted to watching "Honey West" would probably be out on the town anyway. What's more, Anne Francis said in an interview that the second season was going to be in color but there was a dispute between ABC and Four Star Productions, so ABC decided they could just air "The Avengers" cheaper than they could make "Honey West." They also thought they didn't need two catsuit-clad, karate-chopping women on the air at the same time. I disagree. Cathy Gale's successor Emma Peel was British -- played by Diana Rigg, she was the first Avenger woman to be seen in the States -- and Honey West was American. I would have watched both because I loved "The Avengers," and now I know I would have loved "Honey West" too.

When the TV Land channel aired a "Honey West" marathon during the late 1990's ("brought to you in VertiVision, the vertical stacking modern marathon miracle where you know what show is coming up next by the show you're watching now!"), a friend of mine videotaped several of the episodes for me. Yowsa! I soon realized that Honey West knew the secret of being a great entertainer: she left me wanting more! And not just because of her sex appeal; she was strong, she was smart, and the stories brought back that wonderful world of thirty-minute dramas and mysteries which we just don't see anymore. I also dug that crazy jazz score, which I can listen to over and over again without getting tired of it. With a little bit of suspension of disbelief, "Honey West" is credible to me; and contrary to the sleazy pulp fiction novels on which it was based, the TV series can be safely watched by the whole family. I'm so glad those DVDs are finally available!

I mean that in a complimentary manner. Before there was Pamela, or Farrah, or Sigourney, there was...Anne Francis as Honey West. The producers of "Honey" knew exactly what their strong hand was in this series, and that is the sex appeal of Anne Francis as the smart, resourceful, but above all else, sexy Honey West. But, while she could play the soft and feminine sex object in one scene, in the next Honey could show she was no cupcake when it came to battling it out with the baddies on the street.

For those of us who remember the sexually liberated sixties, Honey West was the epitome of raw sexuality dressed up in evening clothes. Yet, at the same time, she had the same quality of femininity when wearing a skin tight jumpsuit ala Emma Peel of The Avengers. Anne Francis is one of those rare females who looks as if she could glide off the runway of a fashion show and slip into the working garb of a private investigator without a hair out of place or smudge of makeup.

The storylines of this series were by no means bad. They featured the usual blend of mystery and intrigue, spiced with some (for the time) techno-gadgetry (courtesy of Honey's partner, Sam, who spent many hours in his "Bolt's TV Repair" panel truck eavesdropping on the bad guys, and would pop out in the nick of time to assist or occasionally save Honey from peril), and a good amount of action. Honey could hold her own against the bad guys when it came to kickboxing or gun battles, and always did so with style and flair and her usual touch of femininity. But, make no mistake, the storylines are merely vehicles for the display, to the pleasure of male viewers, of the sex appeal of Miss Anne Francis.

While Miss Francis is the show's feature player, a nod goes to John Ericson as Honey's able assistant, Sam Bolt. Fans will recognize the ruggedly handsome character actor from his lead role in the 1960 movie Pretty Boy Floyd. Here, he goes over to the right side of the law, and provides the rough-edged male counterpart to Honey's cool and soft femininity. While there was sexual tension between Sam and Honey, I always thought that Sam also felt a protectiveness towards Honey since he was her father's partner in the business and retained that loyalty. Still, the episodes never showed Sam putting any serious (in today's context) moves on Honey, something that intrigued and puzzled by fevered adolescent brain to no end.

All in all, Honey West was a fun hour of escapism and distraction, and will be fondly remembered, thanks to the smoldering sexuality of Miss Francis, by legions of men like myself who came of age in the midst of the sexually liberated sixties.

The sort of show that epitomised mid 60's Hollywood hip-great clothes and cars,fab music,graced with the presence of slim beautiful Anne Francis as the foxy sleuth.Okay the plots are elementary at best,and can veer towards silliness("Little green Robin Hood" anyone?),and the show is too darn short at half an hour to do real justice to itself.Also it's in black and white-but who cares-just watch Francis and John Ericson in action.Like the "Burke's Law" series-where Honey West first appeared on screen-there's quite a lot of wit in the writing(this show,like "Burke's Law",is from "4 star" television productions).And there's Bruce,Honey's amusingly roguish ocelot.Some interesting guest stars include Everett Sloane(in one of his final appearances),Edd Byrnes,Alan Reed(Fred Flinstone!)and Dick Clark!Special mention should be made of the brilliant montage of pictures accompanying the jazzy opening credits.

People see something of The Avengers in this series and the connection is stronger than some may realize. As I've read it, Aaron Spelling had been to England and saw The Avengers with Patrick MacNee and Honor Blackman. I even think I know the episode he saw: Both the 1962 Avengers episode `Death of a Great Dane' and the 1964 Burke's Law episode `Who Killed the Richest Man in the World?' are about a reclusive billionaire who is actually dead but his staff is pretending he's alive to split up the profits from his empire. He was so impressed with Blackman that he offered her a job as the star of a private eye series he would create called `Honey West'. But she opted to do `Goldfinger' instead. Spelling wasn't willing to give up on the idea and searched for the actress who most reminded him of Blackman and decided it was Anne Francis. Honey West was then introduced on the Burke's Law episode `Who Killed the Jackpot?' in 1965. The series began the following fall but lasted only one year as it was on opposite the huge hit Gomer Pyle.

I don't think I ever watched a single episode of Gomer Pyle. I fell hard for Anne Francis, who I think was much better than the rather dower Blackman in The Avengers, (which I didn't see until A & E showed the earlier version of the series in 1990). If you rate Francis with the `Avenger Girls', the only one who really ranks with her is Diana Rigg, although I liked Linda Thorson as well. I think Francis and Rigg were easily the best actresses in those parts and brought both a dramatic weight and light comic touch to the characters and the show.

Looking at Honey West now, it doesn't seem like much of a show other than what Francis brings to it. John Ericson is a `he-man' who's only job is to argue with Honey whenever she tries to do anything dangerous. Quite a difference from Steed's genuine respect for the capabilities of Cathy Gale and Emma Peel. Irene Hervey as `Aunt Meg' adds nothing whatsoever to the show. The pet ocelot was more interesting. The fact that the show was only a half hour show also hurt: it came off as a cartoon rather than a dramatic adventure.

But a half hour with Anne Francis makes it worth it.