Dante (TV series)
Dante is an NBC adventure/drama television series starring Howard Duff as Willie Dante, a former gambler who operates Dante's Inferno, a San Francisco, California, nightclub. Alan Mowbray co-starred as Stewart Styles, the Maitre d'; Tom D'Andrea as Biff, the bartender and Dante's "man Friday", and Mort Mills as police Lieutenant Bob Malone.[1]
| Dante | |
|---|---|
 Howard Duff and Barbara English in The Devil to Pay, 1961 | |
| Created by | Blake Edwards |
| Starring | Howard Duff Alan Mowbray Tom D'Andrea Mort Mills |
| Composer | Leith Stevens |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Picture format | Black and white (1960-1961) |
| Original release | October 3, 1960 – April 10, 1961 |
Dante claims to have put his past behind him but has retained old associates Stewart and Biff. While his club is legitimate, neither the police nor the mob believe that he is truly finished with the criminal underworld. Dante's old associates in crime keep appearing at the club in efforts to lure him back to the underworld.[2]
Dick Powell had previously played Dante in eight episodes of his Four Star Playhouse, initially written by Blake Edwards, who had previously created the radio drama Richard Diamond, Private Detective for Powell. There, Willie operates an illegal gambling operation in the back room of the "Inferno", which police soon shut down. The only regular from the Four Star Playhouse version to be cast in the series as well was Mowbray, who had first played a millionaire named Jackson who had gambled away his fortune and then worked as one of Dante's waiters. These episodes were subsequently rebroadcast under the collective title The Best in Mystery.[3]
The inspiration for the Dante character may have come from the 1942 film Casablanca and Humphrey Bogart's character of Rick Blaine. Dante has been compared to the 1959-1960 CBS adventure/drama series Mr. Lucky, starring John Vivyan, as the operator of a legitimate gambling ship, with Ross Martin as his screen associate, Andamo. Pippa Scott portrayed Lucky's girlfriend, Maggie Shank-Rutherford. Mr. Lucky, because of its Henry Mancini theme music, has been more remembered over the years than Dante.[3]
Duff's wife, Ida Lupino, one of Powell's partners in Four Star Television, along with David Niven and Charles Boyer, directed some of the episodes. Duff and Lupino had co-starred in the 1957-1958 CBS sitcom, Mr. Adams and Eve. Dante ran at 9:30 p.m. Eastern on Monday nights from October 3, 1960, to April 10, 1961. The series proved unable to compete against CBS's The Andy Griffith Show and ABC's Adventures in Paradise, starring Gardner McKay.[1] The TV cast were to have reunited in 1963 for an episode of the anthology series, The Dick Powell Show guest-starring Peggy Lee, but plans fell through following Powell's death in January 1963. Four Star President, David Charnay announced plans for a feature film revival in 1968 starring Howard Duff, but nothing came of it.
Episode list
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "One For The Birds" | Richard Kinon | Harold Jack Bloom | October 3, 1960 |
| 2 | 2 | "Opening Night" | Ida Lupino | Aaron Spelling | October 10, 1960 |
| 3 | 3 | "The Feline Traveler" | Richard Kinon | Harold Jack Bloom | October 17, 1960 |
| 4 | 4 | "Dante's Dilemma" | Richard Kinon | Story by : E. Jack Neuman Teleplay by : Harold Jack Bloom | October 31, 1960 |
| 5 | 5 | "The Misfortune Cookie" | Richard Kinon | Harold Jack Bloom | November 7, 1960 |
| 6 | 6 | "San Quentin Quill" | Alan Crosland Jr. | Harold Jack Bloom | November 14, 1960 |
| 7 | 7 | "The Unclean Green" | Richard Kinon | Palmer Thompson | November 21, 1960 |
| 8 | 8 | "The Bavarian Barbarians" | Richard Kinon | A. Sanford Wolf and Irwin Winehouse | November 28, 1960 |
| 9 | 9 | "My Pal, The Bullseye" | Richard Kinon | Jack Laird | December 5, 1960 |
| 10 | 10 | "The Jolly Roger Cocktail" | Harry Harris Jr. | Harold Jack Bloom | December 19, 1960 |
| 11 | 11 | "A Punch From Judy" | Richard Kinon | Arthur Dales | December 26, 1960 |
| 12 | 12 | "Don't Come On'a My House" | Richard Kinon | Harold Jack Bloom | January 2, 1961 |
| 13 | 13 | "Wine, Women, and Willie" | Richard Kinon | Harold Jack Bloom | January 9, 1961 |
| 14 | 14 | "Dial D For Dante" | Alan Crosland Jr. | Joel M. Rapp and Charles R. Marion | January 16, 1961 |
| 15 | 15 | "The Devil To Pay" | Alan Crosland Jr. | Joseph Calvelli | January 23, 1961 |
| 16 | 16 | "Dante Rides Again" | Alan Crosland Jr. | Harold Jack Bloom | January 30, 1961 |
| 17 | 17 | "Dante's Fickle Fate" | Christian Nyby | Jack Laird | February 6, 1961 |
| 18 | 18 | "Aces And Eights" | Alan Crosland Jr. | Story by : William Spier Teleplay by : Harold Jack Bloom | February 13, 1961 |
| 19 | 19 | "Light Lady, Dark Room" | Richard Kinon | Fred Freiberger and Harold Jack Bloom | February 20, 1961 |
| 20 | 20 | "Not As A Canary" | Alan Crosland Jr. | Harold Jack Bloom | February 27, 1961 |
| 21 | 21 | "Pick A Peck Of Diamonds" | Richard Kinon | Story by : Bernie Giler Teleplay by : Bernie Giler and Harold Jack Bloom | March 6, 1961 |
| 22 | 22 | "Dante In The Dark" | Richard Kinon | Tom Gries and Harold Jack Bloom | March 13, 1961 |
| 23 | 23 | "Hunter With a Badge" | Alan Crosland Jr. | Harold Jack Bloom | March 20, 1961 |
| 24 | 24 | "Friendly Assassin" | Alan Crosland Jr. | Harold Jack Bloom | March 27, 1961 |
| 25 | 25 | "Sesame Key" | David Orrick McDearmon | Palmer Thompson | April 3, 1961 |
| 26 | 26 | "Around a Dark Corner" | Alan Crosland Jr. | Harold Jack Bloom | April 10, 1961 |
References
- Alex McNeil, Total Television, New York: Penguin Books, 1996, 4th ed., p. 197
- "Ed Stephan, Plot summary for Dante (1960)". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved March 21, 2009.
- "Title page, Dante (1960)". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved March 16, 2009.
External links
- Dante at IMDB
- Dante at CVTA