Althouse: Goodbye to Wrangler Jane.

August 29, 2015

Goodbye to Wrangler Jane.

Melody Patterson has died at the age of 66.

Ken Berry reminds me of Scott Walker:

23 comments:

Wince said...: "Not in front of the men."; 8/29/15, 10:31 AM
madAsHell said...: said Jason Bradley of Cremations of the Ozarks, which is handling her funeral arrangements.

How sad!! This is why you have children.
I know who is coming to my funeral.; 8/29/15, 10:34 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I know. "Cremations of the Ozarks." Sad.

Sounds like the title of an edgy new comedy series on HBO.; 8/29/15, 10:37 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Melody Patterson was one of the Donna Douglases of the era.; 8/29/15, 10:38 AM
Ann Althouse said...: The answer to the question Did "Hogan's Heroes" have a Donna Douglas? is yes.; 8/29/15, 10:41 AM
Irene said...: It's odd that a crematorium would state she will be "laid to rest."; 8/29/15, 10:54 AM
madAsHell said...: Sounds like the title of an edgy new comedy series on HBO.

Starring Hillary Clinton, Webb Hubbell, and Vincent Foster!!

Larry Storch is 92, and still among the living.
Ken Berry is 81.; 8/29/15, 10:58 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Scott Walker always looks like he needs to sneeze, as did Ken Berry. Theme song lyrics:

The end of the Civil War was near
When quite accidentally,
A hero who sneezed abruptly seized
Retreat and reversed it to victory.; 8/29/15, 10:58 AM
dwick said...: eh... how can she have only been 66?
F Troop was on from 1965-67 - meaning she would have had to have been like 16 to 18 years old when the series ran. Even back in the 'swingin' 60s' seems a bit young to be playing 'the romantically aggressive girlfriend' of Ken Berry's character, Captain Parmenter - unless F Troop was a Roman Polanski production.; 8/29/15, 11:21 AM
Stephen Taylor said...: Watch Melody Patterson stretch her legs a little in "Blood and Lace", a terrible little horror movie from 1971; poorly made, it's still a lot of fun to watch. With Gloria Grahame in the twilight of her career, dependable character actors Vic Tayback and Milton Seltzer leering at Melody, and Len Lesser (Uncle Leo of "Seinfeld" fame) as the homicidal handyman. I watched it last night, and enjoyed it.

Here's a review....and yes, she was only 16 when she did "F Troop". Unclear how that happened.

http://craneshot.blogspot.com/2015/08/blood-and-lace.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JohnnyLaruesCraneShot+%28Johnny+LaRue%27s+Crane+Shot%29; 8/29/15, 11:42 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: But only Donna did Elvis. Well Ann Margaret did too, but I digress...; 8/29/15, 12:06 PM
MisterBuddwing said...: eh... how can she have only been 66?

Because Melody Patterson was, by her own admission, still a minor when she got the "F Troop" role. Which made things a bit awkward when the producers found out, and until she achieved majority.; 8/29/15, 12:11 PM
rcocean said...: She was very cute and sexy. I never thought she was under 18. Of course, when I saw that show anyone over 17 was an "Old person".

I had several friends who lived on the near by Indian reservation who loved "F troop"; 8/29/15, 1:31 PM
Etienne said...: If I remember right, her role was to be horny for the commander, who was obviously as queer as a $2 bill, as my dad used to say.; 8/29/15, 3:06 PM
The Godfather said...: @Coupe: It should be "queer as a three dollar bill". A $2 bill is unusual, and said to be unlucky, but there's nothing queer about it. I bet your dad had it right, and you just misremembered.; 8/29/15, 3:58 PM
AllenS said...: I remember reading an article about her while she was in the series, she said she had lied about her age to get the job, she was 16 when she started (I think)

Ads; 8/29/15, 4:41 PM
Jay Vogt said...: So, you're saying the producers didn't know she was a minor. . . . . . .uh huh.

She was a pretty girl and I assume (though not having see her) an attractive woman in a TV sixties way. Of course, all the women were derivatives of Elizabeth Montgomery.

She has, to my eye a very strong resemblance to Rebecca De Mornay. Who is oddly only a decade younger.; 8/29/15, 5:00 PM
Johanna Lapp said...: Of course, the NYT article refers to Sergeant O'Rourke and Corporal Agarn as "officers". Does no copy editor at the NYT understand ANYTHING about the services?; 8/29/15, 6:31 PM
ken in tx said...: Well, they are Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs). But I bet the NYT doesn't know the difference.; 8/29/15, 7:48 PM
CatherineM said...: "This is why you have children." What? Why? What do you know about her?

She is survived by a husband and who knows who else, but because the NYT didn't mention other loved ones, you consider her sad? You know nothing about her. I don't understand what's sad other than a woman dying relatively young.; 8/29/15, 8:51 PM
CatherineM said...: I never liked F Troop other than the look out stand being knocked over. If I was home sick from school and watching old re-runs on UHF stations, that was one of the few I could never enjoy. That and Mayberry RFD and Green Acres (outside of the theme song which I can still recite and him climbing the telephone pole to make a call). Perhaps the humor was over the head of. 7 year old unlike the Munsters.; 8/29/15, 9:01 PM
Roger This said...: Mad as Hell,

Actually she did have kids. One died young and then she married Bob Crane and had one or two more.; 8/30/15, 1:35 AM
ganderson said...: That episode you posted guest stars James Gregory, one of the best of the 60's-70's "Oh, THAT guys."; 8/30/15, 9:09 AM