Honey West is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 17, 1965, to April 8, 1966, as an entry in the 1965–1966 television season. Based upon a series of novels that had launched in 1957, the series starred Anne Francis as female private detective Honey West and John Ericson as her partner Sam Bolt. It was one of the first network TV series whose title was the name of a female lead character, another being Hazel in 1961 (the syndicated Annie Oakley had a similar distinction in its category a decade earlier).
Thirty half-hour episodes were produced. Historians today sometimes call the show "ground-breaking" due to its portrayal of the female lead.
Contents
Creation
The Honey West character was created by Gloria and Forrest E. "Skip" Fickling under the pseudonym "G.G. Fickling" in the late 1950s. Skip had been a United States Army Air Forces air gunner during World War II, then enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve after the war, when he was called back into active service during the Korean War. The G.G. represented the initials of his wife, Gloria Gautraud, whom he married in 1949, with initials used so the sex of the author would remain vague. Though Gloria said that most of the writing was done by Forrest, Forrest said Gloria's ideas were used to make a plausible female character, with Gloria also providing Honey's dress sense. Forrest told the Los Angeles Times, "I first thought of Marilyn Monroe, and then I thought of [fictional detective] Mike Hammer and decided to put the two together ... We thought the most used name for someone you really like is Honey. And she lives in the West, so there was her name."
West was one of the first female "private eyes" to appear on television. Francis first played West in the second-season episode of Burke's Law entitled "Who Killed the Jackpot?", broadcast on April 21, 1965, which led to this series being commissioned as a spin-off. West drove a Jaguar convertible in the Burke's Law episode and was twice referred to as the "private eyeful". She carried a gun and was trained in martial arts. Honey West was intended to be the American equivalent of characters Cathy Gale and Emma Peel in the British series The Avengers.
Producer Aaron Spelling's first choice for the role of Honey was Honor Blackman, whom he had seen in England playing Cathy Gale on The Avengers and as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger. Blackman turned down the role. Anne Francis' fashions in the Honey role were by Nolan Miller, and her action scenes choreographed by Gene LeBell. The series was developed for television by Gwen Bagni and Paul Dubov, writers of several Burke's Law episodes.
Synopsis
As in the Burke's Law episode introducing her, West has a partner and man-Friday, Sam Bolt (John Ericson), who communicates with Honey via a radio hidden in her lipstick case. In the television series, she keeps a pet ocelot named Bruce.
Honey's alluring feline qualities were reflected in her animal-print wardrobe and apartment decor. For sneaking around at night and engaging in fight scenes, she wore a black fabric bodystocking. West often went on solo undercover missions that required a provocative or revealing outfit.
She used a number of James Bond–like gimmicks: a high-tech surveillance van, an exploding compact, a garter-belt gas mask, and tear-gas earrings. West was a black-belt in judo, as was Sam, an ex-Marine.
Some episodes of this series, including the final one, were scripted by Richard Levinson and William Link, who would later be affiliated with such series as Columbo and Murder, She Wrote. Episode 3, "The Abominable Snowman", has a plot where cocaine is being smuggled inside snow globes, and is one of the earliest references in popular TV culture to cocaine as "snow".
Cast
Anne Francis as Honey West
John Ericson as Sam Bolt
Irene Hervey as Aunt Meg
Guest stars
Among those appearing during the series' 30-episode run were Joe Don Baker, Fred Beir, James Best, Lloyd Bochner, Edd Byrnes, Dick Clark, Duke Fishman, Chuck Hicks, Bern Hoffman, Charlene Holt, George Keymas, Nancy Kovack, Joel Lawrence, Leon Lontoc, Kevin McCarthy, Maureen McCormick, Troy Melton, Bert Parks, Joseph V. Perry, Joe Ploski, Michael J. Pollard, Wayne Rogers, Frank J. Scannell, Everett Sloane, Bobby Sherman, Paul Stader, Jack Tornek and Charles Wagenheim.
Reception
Honey West was cancelled after just one season, largely because of competition from the more established Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and financial considerations. ABC executives reportedly decided it would be cheaper to import The Avengers and air it in the same time slot rather than produce Honey West at a significantly steeper price.
While the series was short-lived, it was one of the high-water marks of Francis's professional career. She received nominations for a Golden Globe Award and a Best Actress Emmy, the latter for which she was declared the winner.
The series was rerun in the late 1990s as part of TV Land's inaugural lineup. It also occasionally aired on Decades (currently Catchy Comedy).
Home media
In 2006, Delta Home Entertainment released the entire series on Region 0 DVD in the UK.
VCI Entertainment issued a North American Region 1 DVD release of the series in September 2008.
Print adaptations
Gold Key Comics issued a one-shot comic book adaptation of the television series in September 1966, scripted by Paul S. Newman, with artwork by Jack Sparling. Overlook Press published Honey West - This Girl For Hire, a novel, in 2005. From 2010-2013, Moonstone (comics) produced Honey West comics, a hardcover novel, and a two paperbacks. BearManor Media, in 2011, published a profusely illustrated 228-page tribute to the series, examining it in detail with interviews of the surviving cast members, and listings of websites, addresses, bibliographies, episode synopses, and an appendix.
