The Other Half

I always appreciate an opportunity to hear Ken Curtis sing, using his "real" voice. Ken was one of the great popular male singers of the past 100 years. Don't take my word: check out his big-band, Western, and radio credits yer'self.

In this episode, Mr. Curtis sings a verse (unaccompanied) of "Shall We Gather at the River" during the funeral scene early on. Other than that and the welcome presence of actor Patrick Knowles, there's not much to recommend here. It's an OK 50 minutes.

I was glad that one of the "Twin" brothers got blown away very early in the show, since viewers were spared what would probably have been a whole mess of scenes with doubles, and maybe even split-screen effects to create the illusion of TWO Lee Kinsolvings (I'll resist the temptation to quip "ONE is quite enough").

The brief shot of Jess (or was it Jay?) in the background early on is SO unconvincing; the body-double is built NOTHING like Lee K. So thank goodness there was no more of that to sit through.

Kinsolving was one of those "angry young mean" who came out of the Actors Studio in the 50's, and I never quite understood his appeal, since everything I've seen him in has featured a rather bland, unremarkable performance. His early career onstage must have been another matter, since he won awards and high critical praise.

Oh, well. LR.