Barry Lane

I read Paul Mavis's DVD review of Dallas - The Complete Tenth Season at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=35941 and..Paul, when Jim Davis passed, I presented Stewart Granger as a possible replacement. Howard Keel got the gig, interesting, but not as interesting as Jim might have been...and why are you reviewing television programs. I'd like to see a man with your level of erudition gravitating to something "better".

Paul Mavis

Barry, I guess I don't understand; you "presented" Stewart Granger as a replacement for Jim Davis? Were you one of the show's producers, or Granger's agent? Or do you just mean you wrote a letter or something to the show?

As for your last comment, while I appreciate your vote of confidence concering my "erudition," (talk to some of the other guys here at DVDTalk for a vigorous and detailed rebuttal), I see television as a true art form -- certainly not as something lesser in comparision to "better" forms of art. There are elements of Dallas, for example, that I find as interesting, as valuable, as entertaining, and as enlightening, as any other example of a so-called "higher" artistic expression, such as a classic piece of literature or music or sculpture.




That goes for "CHiPs", too.

Barry Lane

Paul:

I was, as discussed Louis Hayward's personal manager. During the sixties, seventies, and into the early eighties I had professional contact with a great many successful actors, and Jimmy Granger was one of them. At that time he was represented formally and exclusively by Jay Harris an attorney, but I did indeed represent him, acting as agent, in this single event. A few years later, I produced a revival of The Pleasure of His Company in Toronto with Cyd Charisse heading the cast. I tried at that time to bring Granger aboard and we did have some discussion. I think this l ead to his acceptance of "The Circle." In any case, I hope so, because at the time of our conversations, he was a little shy of committing to stage work.

Paul Mavis

Wow -- so you represented Granger just once in connection with Dallas? Fascinating!
Why did his longtime representative allow that? My experience with agents are they're pretty territorial about such things -- particularly if they're exclusive with a famous client like Granger.

I always liked Granger, but I'm not sure he exactly summons up the image of a Texas oilman, though. They really would have had to stretch a character to fit him into Dallas.

Shannon Nutt

I may be remembering wrong, but I think that the producers of DALLAS fully intended to have Steve Forrest actually BE Jock Ewing, but when word got out in the press, fans were so outraged at the idea of anyone replacing Jim Davis in the role, that they quickly backtracked and wrote the character out of the show.

Barry Lane

Re: erudition

The old pulps were a lot of fun, and certainly had plenty of entertainment value, but we do not give them equal value to Scott Fitzgerald, John O'Hara, and all the others.

Barry

Barry Lane

Paul:

At that time Granger was not represented by an agent, only by his attorney. He and I had met in Toronto and got on extremely well. As far as the casting is concerned, he played in many westerns. North To Alaska, Gun Glory, The Last Hunt and the revised Virginian. Not to mention the Old Shatterhand pictures. In real life, he had also been a ranch ower.

Paul Mavis

Well, it's all relative, isn't it, Barry? Critics disliked Fitzgerald's masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, when it first came out, and the public was indifferent to it. And O'Hara's work, which was quite popular in its day, isn't on any college reading lists today. Things come and go out of fashion, of course, but "equal value" depends on who's writing the review, Barry. And who's reading it.

Paul Mavis

Well, I saw him in North to Alaska and The Last Hunt, and he stuck out like a sore thumb in both, but to each his own, Barry....

Paul Mavis

That's great info, Shannon! That's what I suspected in the review, but I don't remember any press on it at the time. But it certainly makes sense if it's true: every scene is set up for him to be Jock, and then boom! He's gone, with no explanation.

Barry Lane

OK.

Barry