The Streets of San Francisco Season Three

Just finished watching season three of this show. Here are some more addenda to Mr. Mike's episode reviews.

S03E01: One Last Shot

This episode is the first to feature a newly recorded version of the series theme over the opening credits. The episode score by Patrick Williams is very strong and quite refreshing after all of the repetitive tracked music during the latter half of the second season.

S03E02: The Most Deadly Species

In the opening shots in Candlestick Park, it looks like there are a lot of fans on the lower level in fair territory near home plate, but once the scene shifts to the concourse there appears to be very few fans along the third-base line or in the outfield, as seen through the entryway. This does not appear to be shot at an actual game.

Keller introduces himself to Bruce as "Steven Keller" and she immediately calls him "Steve."

Sydney is originally from New York. Steve says he grew up in Modesto.

Sydney is a pro: why didn't she clean up her glass and ashtray from the bar?

The actor who plays Albanese doesn't look very Italian.

Sydney uses the pseudonym "Jewel Ferguson" when calling Albanese on the phone.

Both of Albanese's vehicles blow through a stop sign and then so does Keller.

The Richard Markowitz score is not as stellar as Patrick Williams' score to the previous episode, but Markowitz does compose some nice variations on Williams' series theme, and again it's refreshing to hear music that is not overly familiar. The score in Markowitz's papers at UCLA is dated August 29, 1974, which is likely the music recording date for this episode.

This is the first episode to feature a new format in the end credits where all guest actors are identified by their roles.

Keller's address is 287 Union Street (not 289); his neighbor William Anderson lives at 289.

The idea that a hit woman would arrange to sublet the apartment next to Keller to ply him for information about the target she has been hired to kill is indeed far-fetched, but even so, how did all this get arranged so quickly? The baseball game wouldn't have begun any sooner than noon, it would have taken a while for Stone and Keller to get to the crime scene, then visit Brennan, who then tells his right-hand man that he wants to hire Sydney. Later that day, Stone drops Keller off at his apartment, but it is still quite light out, so that gives Sydney five or six hours to set all this up?

Brenda Vaccaro had previously guest-starred as a police officer in "Act of Duty" (SE01E15). She had starred with Michael Douglas in the 1971 film SUMMERTREE, the screenplay for which was co-written by Ed Hume, who soon thereafter developed THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO for television and wrote the pilot script. Vaccaro and Douglas had begun dating before she was cast in SUMMERTREE, which was produced by Kirk Douglas, and remained together until 1976 (so throughout Douglas' tenure on SoSF).

S03E03: Target: Red

This is the second episode in a row with a sequence shot at Candlestick Park. Schilling's ticket is for a twi-nite doubleheader between the Giants and the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday, May 21, 1974, with the first game starring at 5:30 p.m.

The crowd looks to be the same as at the beginning of "The Most Deadly Species," so these sequences were likely shot at the same time. The only baseball action is a closeup of a Braves player wearing number 31 hitting the ball. (The crowd starts cheering right away, which is strange, because they should be rooting for the Giants, not for a Braves player to get a hit, unless the ball was hit directly to a Giants player who made a nice defensive play.) The Braves player appears to be wearing a home uniform! Max León wore number 31 for the Braves at this time, but the person on screen was not Max León.

John Condon (William Bramley) is chief of inspectors. He previously appeared as SFPD officer Peter Morgan in "The Unicorn" (S01E25), as a parole board chief in "A String of Puppets" (S02E19), and would appear once more as Condon in "Solitaire" (S03E23).

Andrew Duggan plays Robert "Red" West. Does the code name "Target: Red" refer to him or to the target of the assassination, who is from "Red China"?

Why couldn't they trace the license plate of the hooker's car? And wouldn't Schilling be afraid that they could, so why would he go back to the hooker's place and hang out there?

When Schilling places the special gun in the safety-deposit box it is in pieces stored in the pockets of a vest, but when he retrieves it, the gun is fully assembled, then he disassembles it and puts the pieces back in the vest pockets.

S03E04: Mask of Death

It takes Scott a long time to remove the Carol Marlowe makeup but less than a minute to remove his Carol Channing getup and return to the stage as Ken Scott. (His playoff music can be heard continuously after his Carol Channing number until he reappears.)

Lori appears to be Ken Scott's girlfriend, not just an "assistant." She lives with him and kisses him romantically at one point before breaking up with him.

Winkler says Ken/Carol resembles "Ruby Keeler in FOOTLIGHT PARADE."

October 4–24 (the dates of Scott's previous San Francisco engagement, as seen in the newspaper microfiche) was "eight months ago," so this episode took place in June. The previous episode ("Target: Red") took place in late May.

Kenneth Jackson Scott was born in 1940.

Stone sings a bit of "Once in Love with Amy" from the play CHARLEY'S AUNT.

Markowitz's UCLA papers relating to this score mention "sketches (including 12-tone materials)" but the music is not really twelve-tone: some of the music for Ken/Carol's schizophrenia as hear din the show is dissonant but there is a macabre (yet tonal) waltz-like theme associated with the character. Markowitz again incorporates Pat Williams' theme into some of his cues. The recording date for the score was apparently September 19, 1974.

The end credits say "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" was sung my Craig Russell (and Davidson certainly didn't do a good job of lip-synching — or maybe Russell recorded after the fact and the editors didn't match up his vocals very well?) but Davidson himself did sing "My Heart Belongs to Daddy." Producer John Wilder (in an interview quoted in James Rosin's book about the show) said that Davidson "worked hard with Jim Bailey the renowned female impersonator" to "coach him and get him through the recording" of that first song, "which because of the falsetto he had to use, was done line by line."

Wilder also says that Dean Jones had originally been cast in the role, but then backed out after filming a wardrobe and makeup test. Rosin's book includes excerpts from a script outline, teleplay (final draft dated August 1, 1974) and ABC standards-and-practices memo (dated May 31, 1974) for "Mask of Death." The Carol Marlowe character was originally named "Norma Lawson."

S03E05: I Ain't Marchin' Anymore

When Keller calls Stone from the payphone at the gas station, he appears to drop a dime, but wouldn't this be a long-distance call? (Keller says he thinks he is 40–50 miles from San Francisco.)

This is first episode of the season to use tracked music.

S03E06: One Chance to Live

Stone and Keller respond to a code 909X at beginning. Do they just patrol the streets at night or are they returning from a homicide investigation. This happens in other episodes as well. Is it merely a dramatic device to explain why they would respond to a call not involving a homicide?

There are two long reverse tracking shots, one to open Act III with Keller and Howard in Civic Center Plaza with City Hall in the background (one minute, 24 seconds), the other to open Act IV with Stone and Keller in Golden Gate Park (two minutes, 5 seconds).

Would Downing really air-mail flowers from Toronto to San Francisco? Hadn't he heard of FTD?

This is the second of two TSoSF score by Billy Byers, who was better know as an arranger than a composer. His music seems a bit at odds with other original scores for the show.

S03E07: Jacob's Boy

Jacob and Peter discuss a Giants game that ends in a 3–2 score. They mention Bobby Bonds (who played for the Giants in 1974) and Mike Marshall (who played for the Dodgers that year). None of the actual Giants–Dodgers games that season ended in a 3–2 score. They also mention a double header the next day, but none of the Giants' doubleheaders that season followed a game against the Dodgers (or a 3–2 win).

S03E08: Flags of Terror

There is some stereotypical "Oriental" scene-setting music at the beginning of Act I to establish Japan as the location of the first scene. I don't remember hearing this music in SoSF before and this score is otherwise tracked, not original; was this from another QM show?

The miniature projector is right out of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (and so is the weapon).

Stone calls for a Code 3000 (blockade) when they begin chasing the terrorists.

Does Stone really need a dime to call the operator when he uses the pay phone? Maybe it's force of habit.

Keller's ID has his name as "Steven J. Keller."

The terrorists plan to blow up an embassy, but embassies are in D.C. — San Francisco would have a consulate. (And would they have a consulate for some obscure African country?)

The trivia says Batasi is in East Africa, but the dialogue says the terrorists want to go to North Africa.

Why can't they just jam all three frequencies?

A TV news update is seen on station KBAY.

Jack Leist, the annoying radio reporter, works for KBEX.

The boat on which the terrorists hold Keller and the others hostage is the SEAPLAY, registered out of Atlanta (which is strange, because where would you use a boat like this in Atlanta, and how did it get to San Francisco?).

The head sharpshooter plays pinochle with Keller and Keller is the only one he can beat at the game.

S03E09: Cry Help!

Leonardo Bercovici, who is credited with the story and co-credited with the teleplay for this episode, was blacklisted in the 1950s and moved to Europe. He wrote and directed SQUARE OF VIOLENCE in Yugoslavia in 1961 (later released by M-G-M) and STORY OF A WOMAN in Italy in 1968 (released by Universal in 1970 — it bombed). In the 1980s he started teaching writing seminars at UCLA. Between 1974 and 1976 he wrote or co-wrote one episode each of PETROCELLI, STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO and IRONSIDE, and two for POLICE STORY.

Paul, is supposed to be 13 but actor David Gruner was actually around 17 at the time (and certainly looks much older than 13). Clint Howard was 15 and his character was supposed to be 14; he actually looks a bit younger.

Paul has Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants pennants on his bedroom wall.

There is a reverse tracking shot (about 45 seconds) with Stone, Keller and Cooper near the beginning of Act IV. Is Cooper a "spokesman" or (also) one of the counselors for the "Childbeaters Anonymous" place?

Mariette Hartley previously appeared as police officer Drea McCormick in "Shield of Honor" (S02E10) and Clint Howard had previously appear in "The House on Hyde Street" (S01E21).

S03E10: For Good or Evil

Mike Evans and Berlinda Tolbert play high schoolers, but they were both around 25 at the time. (Evans is slightly more convincing as an 18- or 19-year-old.)

Hari Rhodes really steals the show in this episode. Too bad he wasn't a recurring villain.

S03E11: Bird of Prey

When Stone, Keller, Higgins and Brice are watching the black-and-white film of Abel's POW debriefing, the film switches from a medium shot to a closeup; this wouldn't happen.

Maybe the dry cleaner had been alerted to watch out for colonel uniforms and he called the APs, who then hung out nearby when the uniform was ready to be picked up?

In these military-themed episodes no one in the military ever seems to have a military crewcut.

William Watson had already appeared twice on TSoSF (as vice detective Milt Dedini in season two).

S03E12: License to Kill

Probably a coincidence, but this episode was first broadcast two weeks before the James Bond movie THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN was released (007 has a "license to kill").

In Stone's living room we see a photo of his deceased wife, Helen; she somewhat resembles Mona Malden, Karl's real-life wife.

When Keller waits in the car to check out the hoods parked down the block, he says he wants to listen to the 49ers game on the radio, then the game is on TV that same night at Stone's house. Stone subsequently reveals that it is a replay of a game that took place the night before. Would a game like this be rebroadcast the next day both on radio and TV? The next day is a Saturday, according to the epilog, so that means the game would have taken place on a Thursday, but all of the 49ers' regular-season games during the 1974 season were played on Sundays and Mondays. They mention a player named Jensen, but there were no players with that name on the 1974 49ers roster.

Next to the newspaper article about the Chicago killing is another article with a headline partially obscured by Keller's thumb ("Plans to Launch Tests of New Missile System Here…"); the second paragraph of the missile article repeats a paragraph from the killing article and the first paragraph is some mumbo jumbo unrelated to missile tests.

The synopsis says Waco drops something and makes a noise, alerting Lujack, but Waco actually makes a noise by sliding a window open wider to get a better shot.

S03E13: The Twenty-Five Caliber Plague

The title echoes that of "The Twenty-Four Karat Plague" (S02E09).

Graham listens to a news bulletin on radio station KBAY.

S03E14: Mr. Nobody

The street number of Dempsey's "steakery" is 414. The back office looks quite a bit like the back office of the steakhouse owned by Hari Rhodes' crime boss in "For Good or Evil" (S03E10).

A microphone shadow is visible on the wall of Stone's office when he is interrogating Zubatuk.

Stone has known Zubatuk since he (Stone) was 7 or 8

The score uses a recurring "Eastern European"–style theme for Zubatuk played by English horn with bass clarinet accompaniment. I don't recall hearing it previously, and it doesn't seem to be from another show, because at one point the bass clarinet plays a variant of the SoSF theme for a shot of Stone. Otherwise, the score seems to be tracked.

Near the end, Dempsey's two goons carjack a delivery truck from Solis Flowers.

The synopsis says "some books" but there is just one notebook in the box.

Robert Sherman (not the songwriter), the writer of this episode, was also credited with the story for "The Twenty-Four Karat Plague" (S02E09). He would become an associate producer for BARNABY JONES on that series' fourth, fifth and sixth seasons, then a producer for the final two seasons.

S03E15: False Witness

The writer of this episode is listed as "Mort Fine" in the opening credits.

Vega calls in a "904 code 3" when they bust Perez and Chico at the beginning of the episode.

Keller has known Vega for five years and they attended the academy together in 1969. Vega dropped out of high school and joined the Navy before enrolling in the police academy.

The judge at Perez's trial is George Gilbert, the same as in "Jacob's Boy" (S03E07) with the same nameplate on his bench, but is played here by by a different actor (Robert Brubaker).

S03E16: Letters from the Grave

Stone implies that he knows Kovic Junior, but then has to introduce himself and show his ID when he approaches the younger Kovic in a courtroom.

William Windom's character's name is spelled "Jon" Kovic (not John, as in the synopsis). His office address is 111 Sutter.

S03E17: Endgame

Stone and Baker went to school together.

When Stone turns in his badge, it looks different than the one he showed in "A String of Puppets" (S02E19).

Jeannie is reading the book "Days and Nights" by Konstantin Simonov.

In this episode the SFPD has been after Doyle for a long time because he is running "all the gambling and prostitution in town" but two episodes before, Dempsey was running a ring of bookies all over town.

S03E18: Ten Dollar Murder

The taxi the two teen hoodlums hold up at the beginning is cab number 601 from the "Tri-Circle Cab Co."; they request to be taken to 1142 Oakwood (which appears to be a fictitious address).

Irene Elliott says Stone "just looks like a priest when he's tired" when the hooker she arrested runs to him for help.

There is a reverse tracking shot (48 seconds) with Stone and Keller walking through the Bryant Street parking garage.

"Tiny" Reynolds and Bobby Elliott attend Central High. They are presumably 18 or 19 years old: Michael Talbott (Tiny) was about 19 at the time but Mark Wheeler (Bobby) was about 27!

At the basketball game, Stone asks for three hot dogs but walks away with two plus a drink.

Benson, the undercover cop posing as a cabbie, is driving a taxi from Golden Gate Cab; the bogus number on the door 555-4664. The teens ask to be taken to Worth Street.

In the cab, a forensic technician finds a ticket stub for "Tunnel 6, Row LL, Seat 29" with "Acme Printing Company 37207" on the back. It appears to be printed on white paper but a coach at Central High tells Keller, "that color yellow, that's from a swimming meet more than two months ago." It seems unlikely there would be a row LL or a tunnel at a high-school swim meet, or that the coach could make that identification based on the stub.

Keller calls the pep pills that Tiny takes "bennies."

Irene's street number is 2222.

"Five minutes" after the mounted cop finds Tiny's body, Stone and Keller arrive, another detective, forensic technicians and the ME are already on scene, and a witness has been interviewed. This seems unlikely, especially since the location seems rather remote.

S03E19: The Programming of Charlie Blake

Norman Jessup has a huge phone in his office; it looks like he could run the switchboard of a large company. (Perhaps it also operates his recording system, but that's still a lot of buttons.)

The Joan Warren death story is on page one of the San Francisco Dispatch. When Keller hands the paper to Jill Allerman, she is looking at the half below the fold, but the next shot shows the above-the-fold portion facing her.

The phone number at Jessup's house appears to be 555-2368

Keller has 11 units of a psychology minor.

Jessup sets the priceless clock to 8:00 before smashing it (to set up Blake).

The reel-to-reel audio tapes in Jessup's home office are labelled with names and addresses of patients (and possibly phone numbers, although some of these, such as 143-8970, are clearly bogus if they are meant to be phone numbers): Howard Hester, Bob Jeffords, Peter Johnson, Joe LaLoggia, Zeke Logan, Ed Marks, Lon Massey, Mike Miner, Eric Morse. Bob Jeffords was an assistant producer on TSoSF for much of the third seasons, so the other names might also be connected to the show.

John Stephenson, who plays the lawyer, was a voice actor who played Mr. Slate on THE FLINTSTONES (among many other roles).

Inspector Bob Carr noticeably jumps when Stone's door slams.

This is the first of two third-season appearances of Lenny Murchison; he hasn't been seen since the beginning of season two.

Jessup does have a receptionist: she shows Keller in when he visits Jessup's office in Act IV.

Charlie is innocent of the murders but should be arrested for his ridiculous haircut!

At the end of Act IV Jessup says, based on hearing the re-creation of the tape he forced Blake to make: "You broke into my office. That's illegal. Those tapes are confidential, and you can't use them against me." This shows that he knows that he has a tape of Blake (pretending to) make an obscene phone call, which might be enough to get a warrant for the complete tape, because his only claim against the search warrant would be doctor-patient privilege (which the patient would certainly waive at this point).

Blake said the light was off when he got there. If the light was broken in the struggle when Mrs. Jessup was killed, then this would provide evidence that she was already dead when Blake showed up — but Blake could be lying! Or he could have killed Mrs. Jessup and knocked over the lamp before he came out of his trance. Even if there is some explanation to this whole business that makes sense, the screenplay sheds no light (no pun intended) whatsoever on what that explanation might be.

The credited screenwriter for this episode is "Rick Blaine," who has only one other IMDb credit (an episode of THE INVISIBLE MAN from around the same time). But the final draft of the script (dated November 5, 1974) in the Michael Douglas papers credits it to Richard Danus, who also wrote episodes of HARRY O, THE ROOKIES, MCMILLAN & WIFE and SERPICO around this time. Did he use an Alan Smithee–style pseudonym because the script was so bad?

S03E20: River of Fear

Unlike the episodes immediately before and after it (both copyright 1975), the copyright year for "River of Fear" in the opening credits is 1974. There is no script by this title in the Michael Douglas papers at the University of Wisconsin, but there is a final draft of a script for an episode called "Save the Children" by Robert Malcolm Young with a date of September 6, 1973; its production number places it between the season-two episodes "Shield of Honor" and "The Victims," which aired November 15 and 29, respectively, in 1973. November 22, 1973, was Thanksgiving and SoSF aired a repeat. The Bob Jeffords papers at UCLA have a script for "Save the Children" as well as for "River of Fear" dated July 30, 1974, so the episode was likely filmed in July or August 1974.

Was it supposed to air earlier in the third season? "The Programming of Charlie Black" and "Asylum" have consecutive production numbers (with scripts dated November 5 and 15, 1974) but both deal with "mental health" storylines, so maybe the producers wanted to split them up?

Act I opens with a reverse tracking shot (about one minute, 10 seconds).

Betty Todd was the proprietor of the Brookfield Guest Farm.

Mrs. Rand makes a point of calling Dunson "Mr. Dunson" (not "Dr."), as she clearly distrusts him. His full name is William Fitzpatrick Dunson.

Inspector Bill Tanner checked out Dunson with the "state board of medical examiners" (this does not appear to be the correct name of the relevant organization) in Sacramento and found no record of him.

The footage of Stone and Keller arriving at San Quentin appears to be reused from "Letters from the Grave" (S03E16).

The car of the local policeman who assists Stone and Keller has a uniform patch and patrol car that says "county sheriff" but doesn't specify the county. He says the nearest coroner is in Santa Rosa, so they are likely in Sonoma County or somewhere nearby.

When Stone and Keller arrive at the farm and Dunson has gone off on horseback to chase the children, they do not seem to have noticed Dunson's car. Did he hide it somewhere?

Aunt Helen lives near Edenton (also fictional). The synopsis implies she is not really the children's aunt, but the dialogue clearly states she is the sister of the dead woman.

A crew member without a shirt can be seen through the window when Stone arrives at Helen's house.

The sheriff shoots Dunson even though he wasn't armed.

How did the kids get the money up into tree if Keller has such a hard time getting it down?

Dunson likely heard about the money from

Why did Dunson need to kill his wife? He could have just returned home with her, chosen and opportune time to steal the money from the barn, then disappeared. Betty Todd probably wouldn't even have been able to report it to the police because she would have implicated herself in lying about the robbery loot for all those years. (The answer, I suppose, is that Stone and Keller would never been involved in the case had he acted more rationally.)

Stone and Keller don't appear much in this episode compared with most others. There is, however, a wonderful scene with Keller driving and Stone leaning back in his seat with his hat over his eyes in which Stone intuits most of the plot points. Otherwise, the emphasis on the kids running from a bad guy seems more like a WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY episode from this era.

S03E21: Asylum

The opening-credit music is looped in a couple places at the beginning to extend the titles an extra 15 seconds or so to accommodate all the guest stars.

Paul (full name: Paul William Bierce) says the address of the Rabb psychiatric home is 300 Lake Street, but this doesn't match the address (1850 Kearny Street, not Keary as in the trivia notes) on the paperwork Keller sees later when snooping in a file cabinet. The Lake Street address is currently (in 2023) a "home for the aged" that somewhat resembles the Rabb facility in the show; maybe the Kearny address was for Rabb's lawyer or accountant?

Paul and Susan witness the murder of Max Collins. Stone and Keller end up sending Paul back to his death (after being given 100 mg of phenobarbitol by the medical staff), but the cops don't show much remorse about this.

Jonas Rabb uses "new chemotherapy techniques" on his patients.

Robert did not rape and murder his own daughter, as stated in the review. Stone says Robert's daughter "was raped by a guy who broke into the house to steal. When the charges didn't stick, [Robert] took it upon himself to handle it."

Also, Watson laces the fruit punch and gives it to Susan, not Keller. Instead of drinking it, she then offers Keller. Did Watson want to poison Susan because she was a witness to him offing Collins? He couldn't have know that Steve would end up drinking it.

When Stone arrives at the hospital, he barges into Rabb's office and somehow knows Rabb is speaking to Murchison on the phone. Then when he enters the cafeteria right as Keller barges out he somehow seems to know that keller is unbalanced.

A bit of the Carol Marlowe music from "Mask of Death" (S03E04) is tracked in for the drugged Keller.

S03E22: Labyrinth

The opening credits are again extended a bit to accommodate extra guest stars.

The full name of the muscleman is Dominick V. Papus.

The synopsis says Fabrieze "took a fall" in a St. Louis fight, but he actually did not take a fall as he had been instructed (because his young son was in the crowd) and that's why he was in trouble with the mob.

Keller calls in a code 3000 (blockade) for the hotel.

Judith returns to the hotel in a Golden Gate cab (phone number: 421-4701) at the beginning of Act IV.

The final sequence would have been unnecessary had Landers cuffed Harry.

Tony's wife likely brought the kid to the hotel at the end, but maybe she was hanging back because she loathes Tony.

I inferred that the stocky guy with the nose pushed all over his face was Stone, because Keller abandons that line of questioning when Stone shows up.

Even if Vinson didn't kill anyone himself, the cops don't necessarily know that and he's certainly an accessory to some of these deaths (although the heavy getting tossed through the window certainly wouldn't be first-degree murder since it wasn't premeditated). Also, Stone may have just been putting the pressure on Vinson so he would cooperate.

S03E23: Solitaire

The opening credits are a bit shorter than usual because of the solitary guest star.

This episode has a copyright of 1974, not 1975. The final draft of the script was dated May 8, 1974, and its production number places it between "Target: Red" (S03E03) and "Birds of Prey" (S03E11). Perhaps it was produced earlier and held as a strong episode to conclude the season?

Norman Alden, who plays Lt Pete Alizo (of the narcotics squad), previously played Sgt. Dan Healy in three first-season episodes.

William Bramley also played Condon in "Target: Red" earlier in the third season (when he was identified as chief of inspectors).

Steve is reading the book "I Confess" in the hospital library.

Tony Lo Bianco's performance is turned up to 11 for most of this episode.