T-Bone See - "Monster"

Tall Man, The - Deputy Sheriff Pat Garrett (Barry Sullivan) earned this title because he stood tall and firm against all dishonesty in Lincoln County, New Mexico in the 1870s. The TALL MAN/NBC/1960-62 was based on two real-life characters Pat Garrett and his friend and later adversary, William H. Bonney, a.k.a. "Billy the Kid" (Clu Gulager).

Tarzan - Based on the classic jungle adventure "Tarzan of the Apes" (1914) written by American author Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950), the television adaptation TARZAN/NBC/1966-68 told the story of Englishman, Lord Greystoke, who was orphaned in the jungles of Africa after his parents were killed. He was consequently raised by apes who named him Tarzan (meaning "White Skin" in ape language). Rescued as an adult, he returned to England where he was educated in the finest finishing schools. However, the lure of the jungle brought him home to the dark continent where he lived with his pet chimpanzee, Cheetah. Tarzan's literary companion, Jane was written out of the TV adaptation TARZAN/NBC/CBS/1966-69 and replaced by a small orphaned boy, Jai (Manuel Padilla, Jr.) who shared his many adventures. Ron Ely who played the TV Tarzan was the 14th such actor to play the "King of the Jungle." Earlier Tarzan's included silent film star Elmo Lincoln (the first film Tarzan), Jimmy Durante, in a comic take-off; and Gordon Scott and Denny Miller who played Tarzan in a series of 1950s and 1960s film adaptations. The most memorable performance was given by former Olympic swimmer, Johnny Weissmuller, whose supposed screen delivery of "Me Tarzan, you Jane" has become a piece of Americana. Weissmuller premiered in Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932) and finally hung up his loin cloth in his 12th film Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948). An animated cartoon TARZAN, LORD OF THE JUNGLE/CBS/1976 contained many stories about Tarzan's attempt to save the ecological balances of the Jungle. The Tarzan cartoons became a part of THE BATMAN-TARZAN ADVENTURE HOUR/CBS/1977-78 and later on TARZAN AND THE SUPER 7/CBS/1978-79; and TARZAN/LONE RANGER/ZORRO ADVENTURE HOUR/CBS/1981-82. In the fall of 1991, a new TV syndicated version called TARZAN starred Wolf Larsen as Tarzan, a vine-swinging righter-of-wrongs who prevented ecological terrorists from destroying his jungle. In this adaptation Tarzan's friend, Jane Porter (Lydie Denier) was a French environmental scientist running an African wildlife institute. Still another reincarnation TARZAN: THE EPIC ADVENTURES/SYN/1996-97 starred Joe Lara as John Clayton (a.k.a. Tarzan) with Aaron Seville as Themba, Tarzan's faithful friend. Disney's THE LEGEND OF TARZAN offered an animated retelling of the classic jungle character on UPN in 2001. TRIVIA NOTE: Tarzan was born 11/22/1888. The first Tarzan story appeared in the October, 1912 issue of All Story Magazine. The first Tarzan movie, Tarzan of the Apes (1917) starring Elmo Lincoln was shot at the Atchafalaya River delta near Morgan City, Louisiana. A tourist attraction at 725 Myrtle Street now commemorates the spot.

Taurean Blacque - The showbiz alias of Herbert Middleton, Jr., who portrayed the black plainclothes detective Neal Washington on the police drama HILL STREET BLUES/NBC/1981-87. His first name was derived from his astrological sign "Taurus." His last name came from the obvious fact that he was black.

Tenspeed  See - "Brown Shoe"

Thief of Bad Gags, The - Nickname given to comedian Milton Berle by influential Broadway columnist, Walter Winchell for allegedly pirating other comics materials. Defending himself against such accusations, Milton Berle once quipped "Not True. I never stole a joke in my life. I only found them before they're lost." TRIVIA NOTE: Reportedly, Jackie Gleason used to hire two ushers' at Loew's Metropolitan Theater to copy down and supply him with materials taken from such well known vaudeville comedians as Milton Berle and Eddie Garr (Terri Garr's father). See also - "Mr. Television" & "Mr Tuesday" and "Uncle Miltie"

Thin Man, The - Name of character (murder victim Clyde Miller Wynant, an inventor) appearing in the 1932 "Thin Man" novel written by American writer Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961), who originated the gritty, realistic detective novels, The Maltese Falcon (1930) and The Thin Man (1932). The 1934 film adaptation of The Thin Man starred William Powell and Myrna Loy as socialites Nick & Nora Charles who always found themselves in the midst of some criminal investigation. The TV spin-off THE THIN MAN/NBC/1957-59 starred Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk. The made-for-television movie Nick and Nora (1975) starred Craig Stevens and Joanna Pflug. The Thin Man novel has inspired such romantic detective adventures as HART TO HART/ABC/1979-84, JACK & MIKE/ABC/1986-87, MOONLIGHTING/ABC/1985-89, and REMINGTON STEELE/NBC/1982-87. See also - DOGS: "Asta"

Third Man, The - Based on the novel The Third Man (1950) written by English novelist Graham Greene, the TV adaptation THE THIRD MAN/BBC/NTA/1959-60 starred Michael Rennie as Harry Lime, a Vienna import/export businessman who often got involved with solving mysteries on his travels about the globe. The suave debonair TV Harry Lime was a watered-down version of the literary character originally conceived as a shady, confidence man involved in the dark side of things who double crossed anyone for a better deal. Orson Welles starred in both the 1950 movie adaptation The Third Man (film script by Graham Greene) and the subsequent syndicated spin-off series aired on radio during the early 1950s. Jonathan Harris, (later of LOST IN SPACE/CBS/1965-68), costarred on the television series as Harry Lime's assistant, Bradford Webster.

Three Hookers, The - Tongue-in-check moniker given to the female cast of the sitcom THE PETTICOAT JUNCTION/CBS/1963-70. During the quiet time in between shooting schedules, three of the female cast Linda Henning (Betty Jo), Meredith MacRae (Billy Jo) and Lori Sanders (Bobby Jo) routinely circled up in a nice cozy corner of the set and hooked rugs to pass the time.

Three Musketeers, The - Based on the classic novel written by Alexandre Dumas (1802-70), the syndicated series THE THREE MUSKETEERS/SYN/1956 told the stories of the King's Musketeers-D'Artagnan (Jeffrey Stone), Porthos (Peter Trent) and Aramis (Paul Campbell)-three royal guards in the service of King Louis of France in the 1620s. The Musketeers took their name from the weapons they carried, a small hand held cannon fired from the shoulder (ancestor to the modern rifle). The Three Musketeers was based on the semi-fictitious "Memoires de M. d'Artagnan" (1709) by Courtile de Sandras. The original musketeers were Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. They were later joined by the penniless Gascon d'Artagnan.

Three Rocks, The - Nicknames given to the three major networks ABC, NBC, and CBS in the 1960s. NBC (a.k.a. "30 Rock") was located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza; CBS (a.k.a. "The Black Rock") was headquartered in a dark granite building; and ABC was named "Hard Rock" because its was the third place network. ABC has since moved away from the original Avenue of the Americas location. See also - "The Rock"

Three Stooges, The - The showbiz nicknames for Moses "Moe Howard" Horowitz, Samuel "Shemp Howard" Horowitz and Larry "Larry" Fine, the original zany trio of madcap morons who starred in nearly 200 movie shorts from the 1930s through the 1950s. Brooklyn born brothers Moe (June 19, 1897) and Shemp (March 17, 1900) were the original nucleus of the group which would later become "The Three Stooges." In 1923 both joined forces with straight man, Ted Healy. The group was billed variously as "Ted Healy and His Three Stooges; His Southern Gentlemen; His Gang; His Racketeers; or King of Stooges." Larry Fine (born Philadelphia in October 5, 1902) became the third stooge in the act in 1928. Fred Sanborn was added as the fourth stooge when the group starred in the 20th Century Fox film Soup To Nuts (1930) written by Rube Goldberg. In 1933, Shemp left the group to play the part of Knobby Walsh in the "Joe Palooka" film series. His vacancy was filled by Moe and Shemp's younger brother Jerome "Curley Howard" Horowitz (born in 1911) who sported short brown hair and a waxed mustache. To complement Moe's crazy bangs and Larry's frizzy brillo top hairdo, "Babe" (as Moe called Jerome, his baby brother) shaved his face and head clean. In 1934, Moe, Larry & Curley departed the company of Ted Healy (Healy later died in a nightclub brawl in 1937) and Fred Sanborn to be billed as "The Three Stooges" in a series of comedy shorts produced by Columbia Pictures, the first of which was Woman Haters. The Stooges trademark antics included Moe's knocking his partners silly with a barrage of multiple face slappings, deadly comic eye-pokes and torturous nose and hair pulling stunts; and Curley's garbled "Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk" laugh and wisecracking remarks like "I'm the victim of circumstance" and "Why Soitanly!" It was said that Curley's classic routines such as when he laid on the floor on his side and ran in circles screaming "Wub-wub-wub-woo" or when he shuffled backwards out of a room until he was off camera were devices he used when he had forgotten his lines. The resulting distraction either gave him the time to remember his scripted part or to have someone discretely tell him what he had forgotten. Sadly, after hundreds of pratfalls, back-flips and silly one liners, Jerome (Curley) Horowitz, at the age of 40, fell victim to a stroke while making the 1946 movie short Half-Wits Holiday. He returned for a short part in Hold That Lion (1947) but his career was over. He died at Baldy View Sanitarium in San Gabriel, California on January of 1952 at the age of forty-eight. Shemp returned to the group to make some 70 movie shorts until his death on November 22, 1955 (the result of a heart attack while on the way home from a boxing match in San Gabriel, California), but the group was never really the same after the loss of Curley. The career of the "Stooges" seemed destined to end in the 1950s when the studios chose (due to high expenses) to drop movie shorts in favor of full length feature films. But fate smiled softly on our wacky weirdos in October 1949, when ABC bought exclusive rights to thirty of the Stooges early Columbia releases. Within ten years, TV children's program hosts such as Officer Joe Bolton on WPIX-TV in New York and Cowgirl Sally Starr on WFIL-TV in Philadelphia were among the family of 84 stations which carried the 194 Stooges comedies produced between 1933-58. With a new generation of young fans in the making, the Stooges career was on the move again. Throughout the 1950s, the Stooges continued their slapstick antics first with Joe Besser from 1955-58 (Joe Besser left the act in 1958 when his wife became ill) and then with a plump and balding Joe DeRita, a close friend of Moe's and Larry's. Because of DeRita's resemblance to the original Curley, they called him "Curley Joe." He was often mistaken for the original Curley by a new generation of youngsters which the "Stooges" met while on tour throughout America (DeRita died July 3, 1993 at the Motion Picture and Television Fund hospital and nursing home in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 83). During the 1950s and into the 1960s, the Three Stooges toned down their on-screen violence when they starred in a number of family oriented feature films, including Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959); Snow White and The Three Stooges (1961); The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962), and The Three Stooges Go Around The World In A Daze (1963). The Stooges, as a group, came to an end when Larry Fine suffered a stroke on January 9, 1970. Soon after his illness Larry Fine with the help of James Carone wrote his 1973 autobiography called "Stroke of Luck". Moe continued to strut his stuff on TV shows like the talk show THE MIKE DOUGLAS SHOW where he demonstrated very effectively how to do the "Stooges" stunts which included throwing pies into people's faces. Larry died in January of 1975 at the Motion Picture Country Home and Moe soon followed on May 4th of that same year (he died of cancer in Hollywood, California) but not before both had received the adulation of thousands of new baby boomer fans and recognition on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the 1980s. TRIVIA NOTE: In 1985, WPIX-TV in New York City deleted Moe Howard's classic eye-poking routine from the televised versions of their live-action comedy shorts. It seemed that the poke which had delighted millions of fans suddenly appalled the socially conscious critics of TV violence. Actually, the thrust was accomplished by placing two fingers near but not into his partners eyes. Ironically, in the 1990s, the cable channel known as THE FAMILY CHANNEL routinely aired Three Stooges film shorts on a daily basis.

Thumper - Football nickname of Coach Wood Newton (Burt Reynolds) when he played at Evening Shade High School on the sitcom EVENING SHADE/CBS/1990-94. When Wood later played quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, he was called "Clutch."

Back to Top