Del Moore Movies

The titular "dinosaur" is veteran police officer Art McCall, played by prolific movie bad guy Warren Stevens. Sidelined by an injury, McCall returns to the LAPD after an eight-year absence. Unfortunately, he is unable to adjust to the changes made in law enforcement during those eight years, and it is up to Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) to curb McCall's gonzo methods...notably his fondness for beating up suspected criminals. This episode was directed by TV- sitcom legend Ozzie Nelson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) arrest young Bill Erickson (David Westberg) on a drunk-driving charge. Soon afterward, Bill's father (Del Moore), a wealthy industrialist, implores the two cops to drop the charges against his son--and promises to make it well worth their while if they do. Elsewhere, the two mobile officers investigate a possible case of euthanasia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Officers Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and Jim Reed (Kent McCord) answer a summons from a bemused suburbanite, who can't figure out why over fifty Mexican youngsters have "adopted" him as a surrogate father and camped out on his front lawn. Elsewhere, the two patrolman capture a robber, and try to extricate a sniper from a small bungalow. And it what may turn out to be the most terrifying incident on their shift, Pete and Jim try to break up a fistfight between two drunken middle-aged ladies. Featured in the guest cast are Batman's former "Chief O'Hara" Stafford Repp, and frequent Jerry Lewis costar Del Moore. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bea Benaderet(Kate Bradley) does not appear in this episode, in which budding singer Billie Jo (Meredith MacRae) cuts her first record album. Billie's new agent Ted Swift (Del Moore) aggressively promotes the album with a gaudy--and fraudulent--publicity campaign centering on the girl's home town of Hooterville--whereupon the townsfolk enter into the spirit of things by inflating and misrepresenting the town's role in American history. Meredith MacRae sings "Good-bye Love". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hoss Cartwright once again falls victim to a clever palm reader, in this case a travelling prognosticator named Madama Morova, played by no less than Zsa Zsa Gabor. Giving Hoss a Stradivarius, Morova informs him that he is an undiscovered violin virtuoso, destined to give his first public concert within a week. The resultant "rehearsal" scenes have to be seen (and heard!) to be believed. Featured in the cast are three expatriates from the Jerry Lewis films: Kathleen Freeman as Miss Hibbs, Del Moore as Hank, and Doodles Weaver as Barney. First telecast on May 7, 1967, "Maestro Hoss" was written by U.S. Anderson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Beach parties abound in this youthful adventure that centers on two surfers-turned-detective as they look into the mysterious theft of a priceless Chinese scroll. Musical highlights include Little Richard singing "Scuba Party", and The Cascades with "There's a New World Opening for Me". The film is alternately titled Never Steal Anything Wet. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

George Gobel guest stars as Henry Terkel, the eccentric inventor cousin of Wrangler Jane (Melody Patterson). Terkel's arrival precedes that of the Army's Inspector General, who plans to check F Troop's pension fund--which O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) has just lost in a poker game with Dapper Dan Fulbright (Del Moore). O'Rourke's only hope in salvation rests with Terkel, who has created a device that will allow him to hold a winning hand every time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Toward the end of Jerry Lewis's Paramount studio period, Lewis slapped together this bitter comedy about Hollywood phoniness and fame that has to be the most rancid portrait of the Hollywood star system in the Rat Pack era this side of Clifford Odets. When a famous entertainer suddenly is killed in an airplane crash, his team of flunkies -- producer Caryl Fergusson (Everett Sloane), writer Chic Wymore (Phil Harris), press agent Harry Silver (Keenan Wynn), director Morgan Heywood (Peter Lorre in his final film role), valet Bruce Alden (John Carradine), and secretary Ellen Betz (Ina Balin) -- decide to continue their life style by finding a complete unknown and manufacturing him into a Hollywood star. That unknown turns out to be the nervous and inept bellboy Stanley Belt (Jerry Lewis). They train Stanley to become an over-night singing sensation, and despite a disastrous recording session and a failed nightclub performance, the public relations blitz makes Stanley's recording of "I Lost My Heart in a Drive-In Movie" a smash single. So much so that Stanley is given a shot at appearing on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Expecting the worst, Stanley's management team abandons him right before his performance. But Stanley musters up enough confidence to go on the live program alone and manages to surprise his pessimistic ex-staff. A collection of Hollywood celebrities circa 1964 --George Raft, Ed Wynn, Ed Sullivan, Mel Torme, Rhonda Fleming and Hedda Hopper -- make cameo appearances. High spots include an apocalyptic music lesson with voice teacher Dr. Mule-rrr (Hans Conried), Ed Sullivan performing a bizarre impersonation of himself, and an ending that would make even Jean-Luc Godard blush. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Professor Julius F. Kelp (Jerry Lewis) is an addle-brained, absent-minded chemistry instructor always incurring the wrath of the university administration by continually blowing up the classroom laboratory. The shy guy has his eyes on the student body of Stella (Stella Stevens). When a football-playing bully humiliates him, Kelp tries to concoct a chemical to help him gain physical strength and stature. The potion turns him into the handsome, hard-edged nightclub singer named Buddy Love. The mild-mannered professor's alter ego becomes a self-absorbed campus favorite at the Purple Pit, a hangout for hip cats and kittens. Stella falls for the enigmatic entertainer who wows the crowd with his jazzy, breezy delivery and cool demeanor. Buddy mixes it up with the bartender (Buddy Lester), who is instructed on how to mix the latest drinks by the professor-turned-party animal. The drawback of the potion is that it wears off at the most embarrassing an inopportune times for Buddy, turning him back into the helpless Kelp. Buddy performs at the annual student dance, and while on the dais, the elixir starts to wear off. The students and staff watch in amazement as he changes back into the professor. He gives an impassioned plea that people must learn to like themselves before others can like them in return. Stella still wants to be the teacher's pet, and the two make future plans together. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

When their TV antenna is blown off their roof in a storm, Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Viv (Vivian Vance) decide to get another one installed. This, alas, requires a lot of money, and the coffers are far from full in the Carmichael-Bagley household. At this point, Lucy gets another of her bright ideas: Wouldn't it make sense for herself and Viv to save some cash by putting up the antenna themselves? If the hilarity that follows seems a bit abrupt at times, it is because this episode had to be extensively edited to fit within the usual 30-minute confines (there was simply too much funny material!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title character in this standard comedy about the foibles of military life is Archie Hall (Robert Mitchum), a puffed-up dandy whose strutting personality makes the other privates in a Civilian Pilot Training program absolutely certain he is a spy. They figure him for a multiple-star general, out to entrap a Japanese spy by the unlikely name of Cindy (France Nuyen). A series of enlisted men and officers contribute to the misadventures due to the misunderstanding, including comics like Don Knotts as Captain Little and Louis Nye as Private Sam Beecham. Jack Webb directs, and plays the role of Archie's sidekick. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Both director Frank Tashlin and his comic star Jerry Lewis dilute their comic talents to play for the kiddie crowd in this fractured fairy tale version of the Cinderella story. This simply-told tale lards over the fairy story with un-needed songs and production numbers, but the basic story is still the same, only switched to a male Cinderella. Lewis is Fella, a put-upon flunky to a mean and rich dowager (Judith Anderson) and her three surly sons (all of whom appear to be pushing fifty). Fella falls for the beautiful princess (Anna Maria Alberghetti) and with the assistance of his screwy fairy godfather (Ed Wynn) gets transformed into a pre-Buddy Love lounge lizard who sweeps the Princess off her feet as he struts down an ornate stairway to the beat of The Count Basie Orchestra, leaving his stepbrothers with their mouths agape. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

One of the earliest filmed syndicated comedy series in the United States, Life With Elizabeth was a showcase for actress Betty White -- a full-fledged star two decades before The Mary Tyler Moore Show and three decades before Golden Girls. The series originated as a series of short comic sketches, telecast live on a local basis from the Los Angeles studios of KLAC-TV beginning in 1952. Originally telecast as part of the station's daily, five-hour variety show Hollywood on Television, Life With Elizabeth concerned itself with the marriage of heroine Elizabeth (White) and her husband Alvin (played by L.A. announcer and future Jerry Lewis movie regular Del Moore). The stories covered a variety of familiar domestic situations, from bringing the boss home to dinner to building an addition to the porch.
In some episodes, Elizabeth and Alvin were newlyweds; in others, they had been united in the bonds of holy matrimony for several years. Whatever the case, the KLAC announcer traded quips with the two main characters at the beginning of each sketch, in fine "golden age" radio fashion; and at the end of each playlet, Elizabeth and Alvin would turn to the cameras and bid the viewers at home a fond goodbye. This basic format, right down to the breaking of the traditional "fourth wall," was retained when Life With Elizabeth was committed to film beginning in 1953, then syndicated by producer Don Fedderson (The Millionaire, My Three Sons) on behalf of Guild Films. Stars Betty White and Del Moore were joined by such featured players as Lois Bridge, cast as the couple's neighbor Chloe Skinridge; Ray Erlenborn, as Alvin's boss; Dick Garton as Alvin's dimwitted buddy Richard; and veteran radio personality Jess Kirkpatrick, who was usually cast as one of Elizabeth's relatives. Rounding out the cast were the couple's pets, Stormy the St. Bernard and Bandie the Pekinese. Prolific game show MC Jack Narz was the announcer, while the series' head prop man was none other than future film director Sam Peckinpah! In the spirit of its local L.A. original, the filmed version Life With Elizabeth contained three unrelated sketches per half hour episode. This was done because star Betty White was worried that her character was not strong enough to sustain a full half-hour story every week. The "fragmentation" of each of the series' 65 half-hours proved beneficial to some local TV stations, who ran Life With Elizabeth as a daily 10- to 15-minute "filler," thereby having 195 separate "episodes" at their disposal. The series remained in production until 1955, and in active syndication for at least ten years thereafter. As popular as Life With Elizabeth was in the United States, it was even more so abroad; at one time it was Australia's highest-rated filmed sitcom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide