Mr Lucky

I was a faithful watcher of this short lived CBS TV series (Oct 59 - Sep 60) when I was too young to really understand what "suave and sophisticated" meant. John Vivyan with his chiseled chin and being tall and thin looked very good in a tuxedo which if I remember correctly he usually wore being an owner of a pretty good sized money making floating casino (how he got the funds to purchase a boat that size was probably vaguely mentioned - won in a high stakes game?). I've always known that Mr Lucky was created due to the success of the NBC "Peter Gunn" series but it wasn't until a few years ago that I learned that the idea of this CBS series was based on the 1943 movie with the same name starring the ultimate "suave and sophisticated" actor Cary Grant co-starring with Laraine Day. The characterization of Lucky in the Series wasn't as clear cut as Cary's Lucky in the movie. There was a slight question of which side of the law the TV Lucky was really on (but in my young heart I knew he was a good guy - how could anyone that good looking be....... he just had questionable taste in friends/girlfriends and definite crooks as enemies). The movie Lucky started out with Lucky being definitely crooked but it took the love of a good woman.... to set him on the correct path in life (it didn't hurt that she had the money to help him change his ways).

To lend a helping hand in the series and in the casino was Lucky's faithful friend "Andamo" who acted like a tagalong friend to Lucky but who some times was smart enough to help Lucky out of trouble when Lucky couldn't get himself out. Andamo was played by the late/great character actor Ross Martin who played Andamo subdued with a dash of humor. Mr Martin played a less subdued Andamo type with a dash more tongue in cheek as "Artemus Gordon" on the mid 60's CBS series "The Wild, Wild West".

It was the combination of the intro to the show of the rolling white dice, the one eyed black cat in the black and white format and the outstanding 60's jazz sound of Henry Mancini who continued his latiny, jazzy, night clubby sound for "Mr Lucky" and for the "Peter Gunn" Series which NBC aired on TV a year before "Mr Lucky". "Peter Gunn" was fortunate to last a year longer than "Mr Lucky". The music from both of these shows and the subsequent additional music albums contributed to the legend that was Mancini.

This box set provides a good sampling of the Lucky episodes and includes episodes with Lucky's most constant girlfriend, Maggie as played by Pippa Scott (who went on to play "Molly" on "The Virginian" TV series in the early 60's).

It also has episodes with various well known actors/actresses who were just getting started in their careers such as the very young pre "Dr Kildare" Richard Chamberlain.

There are very few shows that we watched on TV each week when we were younger that when we see them now are as good as we remember them - hey we've grown up! But if you would like to see what we thought was "cool" or "gear" or whatever terminology you use for whatever generation you are, back in the 60's this would be a good investment in the past.

P.S. To really get the mood of the show be sure and watch it late at night when it's quiet and the lights are low to get that smokey small nightclub atmosphere and maybe you will meet a suave, sophisticated type........

Now somewhat campy, bit still very enjoyable, particularly from a 60s nostalgia standpoint. I remember seeing Mr. Lucky when it was originally broadcast and the Henry Mancini score (including the end music) was a hit album at that time. The best part of the show may be, however, picking out guest actors such as Jack Nicholson before they became full-fledged stars. (Just a quick note to one of the earlier reviewers--T.H.E. Cat was a show from the later 60s starring Robert Loggia and was not broadcast before Mr. Lucky.)

Okay, so John Vivyan is actually the title character, but his sidekick, a "Latin American" named Andamo, is played by Ross Martin. The set includes 10 half-hour episodes of this 1959 TV series, one of them apparently being the pilot film. In all episodes but the pilot film, Lucky and Andamo live on Lucky's yacht, the Fortuna II (the original Fortuna was sunk, unseen, in the pilot), which by night is a popular casino. Lucky himself is a gambler, and Andamo, well, Andamo is the side-kick. Pippa Scott shows up sometimes as Lucky's girlfriend, and there's a gruff police lieutenant that shows up in each one. The episodes themselves range from so-so through not bad up to down-right entertaining. The quality of the video was a lot better than I was afraid it would be. The end music is amazingly annoying, despite it being composed by Henry Mancini. The titles, I've been told, are exactly the same as the titles for an even earlier series called "T.H.E. Cat" (except for the names, of course). The main attraction of the collection, other than Ross Martin, is seeing the various guest stars. Richard Chamberlain and Jack Nicholson are in the same episode. Nehemiah Persoff is in the pilot. Jack Elam, Frank Gorshwin, Barbara Bain are some of the other guests, and there's a good sprinkling of "Oh, hey, that's what's-his-name", the actors that you see everywhere but never quite learn their names. While not wildly exciting, the Mr. Lucky Box Set is certainly enjoyable.