''Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer'' is the first syndicated television series based on

Spillane Spillane is a family name derived from the Ireland, Irish (Gaelic) surname Ó Spealáin or Mac Spealáin. It has also been anglicised as Spellman, Spillan, Spilane and Spallon. It may refer to: People * Adrian Spillane (born 1994), Gaelic football ...

hard-boiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence ...

private detective

Mike Hammer Michael Hammer or Mike Hammer may refer to: *Michael Armand Hammer (1955–2022), American philanthropist and businessman *Michael Martin Hammer (1948–2008), engineer and author *Mike Hammer (character), a fictional hard boiled detective ** ''Mick ...

, played by

Darren McGavin Darren is a masculine given name of uncertain etymological origins. Some theories state that it originated from an Anglicisation of the Irish first name Darragh or Dáire, meaning "Oak Tree". According to other sources, it is thought to come from ...

. The series was produced from 1957 to 1959, and had a run of 78 episodes over two seasons. Episodes were filmed in black and white and filled a half-hour time slot. As a syndicated television series, original air dates and the order of episodes vary by geographic location – for example, in New York City, the series debuted January 28, 1958, on

WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station WL ...

, and the first episode aired was "Letter Edged in Blackmail".

Cast

Main

as Mike Hammer *

Bart Burns George Joseph Burns (born March 13, 1918 in New York City – died July 17, 2007, in West Hills, Los Angeles, California) was an American character actor. He is known mostly for playing Pat Chambers on the 1959 '' Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer'' t ...

as Captain Pat Chambers

Recurring

Vito Scotti Vito Giusto Scozzari (January 26, 1918 – June 5, 1996), also known as Vito Scotti, was an American character actor who played both dramatic and comedy roles on Broadway, in films, and later on television, primarily from the late 1930s to the ...

as Geta * Johnny Seven as Carl Pate *

Dale Van Sickel Dale Harris Van Sickel (November 29, 1907 – January 25, 1977) was an American college football, basketball and baseball player during the 1920s, who later became a Hollywood motion picture actor and stunt performer for over forty years. Van ...

as Blackie Davis *

James Westerfield James A. Westerfield (March 22, 1913 – September 20, 1971) was an American character actor of stage, film, and television. Early years Westerfield was born in Nashville, Tennessee, to candy-maker Brasher Omier Westerfield and his wife D ...

as Bill 'Murph' Murphy *

Patricia Huston Patricia Huston (August 10, 1929 – September 25, 1995)Pat Lou Baker in the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claim Index, 1936–2007, retrieved froAncestry.com was an American stage, film, and television actress. She had an explosive ear ...

as Mary Otto *

Walter Reed Walter Reed (September 13, 1851 – November 22, 1902) was a U.S. Army physician who in 1901 led the team that confirmed the theory of Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay that yellow fever is transmitted by a particular mosquito species rather than b ...

as Fred Rankin

Production and casting

played the title role. McGavin would go on to play another hard-boiled private detective in the short-lived 1968 series ''The Outsider''. He is perhaps best known as Carl Kolchak in the television series '' Kolchak: The Night Stalker'' and the curmudgeonly father in ''

A Christmas Story ''A Christmas Story'' is a 1983 Christmas comedy film directed by Bob Clark and based on Jean Shepherd's semi-fictional anecdotes in his 1966 book '' In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash'', with some elements from his 1971 book ''Wanda Hickey's ...

''.

played Captain Pat Chambers, Hammer's main ally in the Police department.

Episodes

Season 1 (1958)

Season 2 (1959)

Home media

On September 20, 2011,

A&E Home Video A&E Networks (stylized as A+E NETWORKS) is an American multinational broadcasting company that is a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company through its General Entertainment Content division. The company o ...

released ''Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer: The Complete Series'' on DVD in Region 1 for the first time. The 12-disc set featured all 78 episodes of the series.

Reception

Public and critical reaction to the show was mixed. While ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' referred to it as "easily the worst series on TV", McGavin said that the show was "instantly successful". Some reviewers were critical of the show for its use of excessive and gratuitous violence. However, McGavin made a point of playing the role of Hammer with a hint of

tongue-in-cheek The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scott ...

satire – against the wishes of

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

executives. Unlike the series that appeared in the 1980s, Mickey Spillane had minimal involvement in the production of the 1950s program. "I just took the money and went home," Spillane said of the show. "Believe me, I had bigger fish to fry, namely, that darn elusive Batmanfish."

References

External links

* {{Mike Hammer 1950s American crime television series 1958 American television series debuts 1959 American television series endings American detective television series Black-and-white American television shows First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Television series by Universal Television Mike Hammer (character) television series