#Bill Williams

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

The West Wing 1x3 | The Wonder Years 2x6

[biscuitsnow]

[countesspetofi]

Today in the Department of Before They Were Star Trek Stars, George Takei guest stars in "A Matter of Honor," episode 10 of the single season of Assignment: Underwater (original air date November 11, 1960).

There are a couple of caveats here. Firstly, the only copy I could find of this episode was a very lo-res kinescope, but I thought it was interesting enough to make up for the fuzzy images.

Secondly, I wanted to take a minute to talk about depictions of non-Anglo cultures in this series of posts. Sometimes, I'm comfortable just shrugging and saying "Times were different back then" and sometimes I'm not. I've skipped over episodes where the use of yellowface or redface seemed gratuitous to me, or where there aren't any other things going on in the episode that made me feel it was worthy of note. I'm still on the fence about other episodes, where the depiction of BIPOC aren't necessarily negative, but are just kind of ignorant, or reliant on stale storytelling tropes, where you can tell that the White screenwriters didn't really make much of an effort at research, or consultation with people in the culture they're depicting. (NB: I don't think any of this reflects on the actors involved; sometimes you just need to pay your bills and do the best you can with the scripts you get.)

This episode of Assignment: Underwater feels like it might be dipping its toe into that last category. Japanese and Chinese culture are kind of lumped in together, there's some "model minority" stuff going on with the Japanese-American family, and Italian-Americans don't exactly come out smelling like roses. But I thought the episode was interesting enough to make it worthwhile. It's available for free on The Internet Archive, so I encourage anyone who's interested to watch and make up their own minds.

Takei plays Ken Kitigawa, the oldest son of an immigrant family who are friends with the main character, who is in charge of some kind of U.S. Navy underwater rescue/civil defense operation. Ken has gotten involved with an organized crime syndicate, who are sending him to sabotage the boat of one of their rivals. The hero stops him in the nick of time, he agrees to turn state's evidence, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Other Trek Connections:

Takei's gangster boss is played by Stanley Adams, AKA Cyrano Jones in the Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles,"

And his girlfriend is portrayed by BarBara Luna, who played Marlena Moreau in the Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror," as well as appearing in two episodes of James Cawley's fan production Star Trek: Phase II.

[daily-cassie-sandsmark]

[jisforjudi2]

Cissy is a habitual runaway. Lives in the streets and sells drugs to live.

Della is her mom.

Kit Carson's her supplier.

[federer7]

G.I. Jane #8. July 1954

Cover: Bill Williams

[evelynmiller]

RDR2 + The Onion

[comic-covers]

(1967)

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[gatutor]

Bill Williams-Estelita Rodriguez "La rosa de Habana" (Havana rose) 1951, de William Beaudine.

[kwebtv]

Season 1 Episode 7

Assignment: Underwater - Charlie Noble's Pearl - Syndication - October 21, 1960

Adventure

Running Time: 30 minutes

Written by Tom Gries

Produced by Bernard Glasser

Directed by Gene Fowler Jr

Stars:

Bill Williams as Bill Greer

Diane Mountford as Patty Greer

Edgar Buchanan as Charlie Noble

Wayne Heffley as Lt. Crane

Tommy Cook as Richie Quint

Michael Vandever as Bob Post

[howardhawkshollywood]

Bill Williams and John Wayne in Rio Lobo (1970)

[jhsharman]

snooze ruse, "a little sleep"

[oldshowbiz]

Date with the Angels (1957): The Gorilla

[jisforjudi2]

Barbara and Bill made a movie together? I just finished reading the chapter about Barbara Hale in The RKO Girls and I saw this still picture (in black and white) from their movie Slim Carter

[frommybookbook]

I just love that Bill Williams got to play allllll the roles on Perry. He was the defendant, the victim, and the killer, a perfect trifecta.