Just One More Thing.
“Just one more thing.”
On Sunday November 26th 1972, I heard that phrase on television for the first time and on that evening I would become infatuated with the character who spoke those four words. Little did I know on that night I would be watching for the first time what would go on to become my favorite all-time television show.
Well, that is other than All In The Family.
On that Sunday evening I was introduced to the disheveled, raincoat wearing, cigar smoking Los Angeles homicide detective affectionately known as Lieutenant Columbo.
My mother had many friends from her Kingdom Hall and they were all a very close knit group who for the most part only associated amongst themselves. Most of her friends I could tolerate, some I detested and a few of them I really liked. Back then I was just biding my time until I could abandon the Kingdom Hall and everything it stood for. I knew pretty well even at an early age I was getting the hell out once I got older, but until then I had to live under my mother’s roof and abide by her rules. Trust me she made it perfectly clear, it was either her way or the highway. Her way would have to suffice since I really had no other options.
I was just twelve years old.
Peggy and Cliff were definitely two of my mother’s friends who I really liked. They were an older couple and both were retired. Peggy had been a nurse and Cliff had worked for Canada Post. They lived in a brand new luxury apartment building on Neptune Avenue, just northeast of the housing project where I was living. Peggy and Cliff invited the three us over for dinner on that Sunday night and it was an evening I will never forget.
Cliff had driven over to pick us up at our apartment on Flemington Road. When we arrived back at their apartment it was the big dining room table that made an immediate impression on me. I had never seen, let alone eaten at a table set like this one before and I felt like I was royalty or someone famous. There were flowers, candles, goblets, big cloth napkins all set on a bright red tablecloth under a big crystal chandelier. Each of the five table settings had multiple plates, forks, spoons and knives all arranged from the largest out to the smallest.
At home I usually used just one fork for everything when I ate.
Their big one bedroom apartment was easily twice the size of our little two bedroom apartment. They had a sunken living room with a white shag rug covering the floor and they also had a big console colour television. Back in 1972 I didn’t know anyone who had a colour TV.
Shortly after our arrival, dinner was served and I wish now I could have seen my face. I am sure my face mimicked the orphans in the early scenes of the movie Oliver. It would be when the Governors of the workhouse are feasting on a sumptuous banquet. As the orphans pass by their eyes are all wide open while straining to peek in the window at the food glorious food. All the while the everyday gruel was being dished out.
It was by far the best and the fanciest meal I had ever eaten up to that point in my life. From the starter shrimp cocktails, the prime rib with all the trimmings to the strawberry shortcake for dessert, everything was perfect. It was on that night I would also learn some valuable table manners. I learned utensils are always placed in order of use, from the outside in. I had three of each on that night. I also learned when finished eating, your knife and fork are placed parallel across your plate.
I have never forgotten what I learned that night.
When we had all finished eating, Cliff could tell that my brother and me were getting a bit antsy just sitting at the table while the grownups talked. We retired over to the big sunken living room where Cliff turned on the television for us and he then went back to the table. Within minutes Columbo started and my eyes became immediately fixated on the screen. 'Dagger of the Mind' would be my first ever episode. The two hour movie revolved around Lt. Columbo who was visiting London England. He winds up assisting Scotland Yard in the solving of a murder within a Shakespearean theater company.
Columbo, using his childhood marble playing skills had planted a piece of crucial evidence in the form of a pearl. It was discovered in an umbrella at the unveiling at a wax museum exhibit portraying the two lead actors who unknowingly to everyone in attendance were also the killers. The husband and wife actors were dumbfounded when the pearl was discovered and they quickly babbled out a confession. Columbo had solved the murder and Scotland Yard closed the case.
I was now obsessed with Lt. Columbo and it was all I could think about as Cliff drove us back home that night after Columbo ended. From that night on every Sunday night when Columbo was featured on the NBC Sunday Night Mystery Movie I watched.
At the beginning of every episode, Columbo's genius was hidden by his frumpy and friendly demeanor. The point at which Columbo first begins to suspect the murderer is often early while he lures the killer into a false sense of security. In some episodes the killer's arrogance and cocky attitude would allow Columbo to manipulate his suspects into self-incrimination. Columbo would generally maintain a very friendly relationship with the murderer right up until the end.
Little did I know when I was just a kid how that evening at Peggy and Cliff's apartment would become so memorable. So much from that evening had made a huge, lifelong impression on me. Although I was just twelve years old, I can still recall in detail as if it had been last night. Peggy and Cliff eventually both passed away and I was saddened when my mother told me the news. Their act of kindness had given this boy from the projects a memory that he will always cherish and would never ever forget.
Over the following decades I would attend many fancy dinner parties. Yet not one would even come close to making the same lasting impression on me as that Sunday night at Peggy and Cliff’s apartment.
Today I still love watching Columbo reruns, mostly the old NBC episodes. I like those older ones the best. I have seen all of the forty-five episodes multiple times and I know all the storylines, the scenes and all the dialogues. I still watch right up to the end and the final sequence of events leading up to the arrest of the killer. However, in my favorite scene Columbo is walking away usually while exiting a room. He stops, turns around and while scratching his head inquisitively says the catchphrase he forever made famous.
“Just one more thing.”
On Sunday November 26th 1972, I heard that phrase on television for the first time and on that evening I would become infatuated with the character who spoke those four words. Little did I know on that night I would be watching for the first time what would go on to become my favorite all-time television show.
Well, that is other than All In The Family.
On that Sunday evening I was introduced to the disheveled, raincoat wearing, cigar smoking Los Angeles homicide detective affectionately known as Lieutenant Columbo.
My mother had many friends from her Kingdom Hall and they were all a very close knit group who for the most part only associated amongst themselves. Most of her friends I could tolerate, some I detested and a few of them I really liked. Back then I was just biding my time until I could abandon the Kingdom Hall and everything it stood for. I knew pretty well even at an early age I was getting the hell out once I got older, but until then I had to live under my mother’s roof and abide by her rules. Trust me she made it perfectly clear, it was either her way or the highway. Her way would have to suffice since I really had no other options.
I was just twelve years old.
Peggy and Cliff were definitely two of my mother’s friends who I really liked. They were an older couple and both were retired. Peggy had been a nurse and Cliff had worked for Canada Post. They lived in a brand new luxury apartment building on Neptune Avenue, just northeast of the housing project where I was living. Peggy and Cliff invited the three us over for dinner on that Sunday night and it was an evening I will never forget.
Cliff had driven over to pick us up at our apartment on Flemington Road. When we arrived back at their apartment it was the big dining room table that made an immediate impression on me. I had never seen, let alone eaten at a table set like this one before and I felt like I was royalty or someone famous. There were flowers, candles, goblets, big cloth napkins all set on a bright red tablecloth under a big crystal chandelier. Each of the five table settings had multiple plates, forks, spoons and knives all arranged from the largest out to the smallest.
At home I usually used just one fork for everything when I ate.
Their big one bedroom apartment was easily twice the size of our little two bedroom apartment. They had a sunken living room with a white shag rug covering the floor and they also had a big console colour television. Back in 1972 I didn’t know anyone who had a colour TV.
Shortly after our arrival, dinner was served and I wish now I could have seen my face. I am sure my face mimicked the orphans in the early scenes of the movie Oliver. It would be when the Governors of the workhouse are feasting on a sumptuous banquet. As the orphans pass by their eyes are all wide open while straining to peek in the window at the food glorious food. All the while the everyday gruel was being dished out.
It was by far the best and the fanciest meal I had ever eaten up to that point in my life. From the starter shrimp cocktails, the prime rib with all the trimmings to the strawberry shortcake for dessert, everything was perfect. It was on that night I would also learn some valuable table manners. I learned utensils are always placed in order of use, from the outside in. I had three of each on that night. I also learned when finished eating, your knife and fork are placed parallel across your plate.
I have never forgotten what I learned that night.
When we had all finished eating, Cliff could tell that my brother and me were getting a bit antsy just sitting at the table while the grownups talked. We retired over to the big sunken living room where Cliff turned on the television for us and he then went back to the table. Within minutes Columbo started and my eyes became immediately fixated on the screen. 'Dagger of the Mind' would be my first ever episode. The two hour movie revolved around Lt. Columbo who was visiting London England. He winds up assisting Scotland Yard in the solving of a murder within a Shakespearean theater company.
Columbo, using his childhood marble playing skills had planted a piece of crucial evidence in the form of a pearl. It was discovered in an umbrella at the unveiling at a wax museum exhibit portraying the two lead actors who unknowingly to everyone in attendance were also the killers. The husband and wife actors were dumbfounded when the pearl was discovered and they quickly babbled out a confession. Columbo had solved the murder and Scotland Yard closed the case.
I was now obsessed with Lt. Columbo and it was all I could think about as Cliff drove us back home that night after Columbo ended. From that night on every Sunday night when Columbo was featured on the NBC Sunday Night Mystery Movie I watched.
At the beginning of every episode, Columbo's genius was hidden by his frumpy and friendly demeanor. The point at which Columbo first begins to suspect the murderer is often early while he lures the killer into a false sense of security. In some episodes the killer's arrogance and cocky attitude would allow Columbo to manipulate his suspects into self-incrimination. Columbo would generally maintain a very friendly relationship with the murderer right up until the end.
As fate would have it, within a few weeks my mother would receive a bag of used clothes from the Kingdom Hall. The usual routine was my mother would take out what we could use. She would add any clothes that we had outgrown or no longer wore and she would then pass the bag on to another needy family. Inside the big garbage bag was a raincoat. I took it right away and I wore it everywhere for years after. It was exactly like the one Columbo wore on television and the wrinklier it got; the more I loved wearing it. Just like Columbo I even had a little notepad and pencil in my pocket and I don’t recall ever having the raincoat cleaned.
On one of my visits to Los Angeles I drove out to actor Peter Falk’s house in Beverly Hills. I wanted to see where Frank Columbo lived, maybe hoping to meet him and get an autographed photo. I was very surprised at how unobtrusive the house really was especially compared to other Hollywood stars of that era. I was told by a security guard that Peter was out of town that weekend so I never got the chance to meet my television hero.
On June 23rd, 2011, Peter Falk died at the same house that I had gone to thirty years earlier. He had died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. Sadly, before he died Peter Falk had no recollection of ever playing the character he had made famous.
On one of my visits to Los Angeles I drove out to actor Peter Falk’s house in Beverly Hills. I wanted to see where Frank Columbo lived, maybe hoping to meet him and get an autographed photo. I was very surprised at how unobtrusive the house really was especially compared to other Hollywood stars of that era. I was told by a security guard that Peter was out of town that weekend so I never got the chance to meet my television hero.
On June 23rd, 2011, Peter Falk died at the same house that I had gone to thirty years earlier. He had died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. Sadly, before he died Peter Falk had no recollection of ever playing the character he had made famous.
He was 83.
During the 70's decade watching Columbo and his basset hound dog named Dog cruising around Los Angeles in his ’59 convertible Peugeot jalopy was a television staple for me. Columbo always got his man (or woman) with most of the fictional characters portraying the elite of LA’s society.
After seven seasons Columbo went off the air in 1978. ABC attempted to revive the character once again in 1989. After twenty-four sporadic episodes, ABC pulled the plug on Lt. Columbo in 2003. Columbo was now retired for good. It was a pretty impressive run for a cop show about a cop who never carried a gun.
During the 70's decade watching Columbo and his basset hound dog named Dog cruising around Los Angeles in his ’59 convertible Peugeot jalopy was a television staple for me. Columbo always got his man (or woman) with most of the fictional characters portraying the elite of LA’s society.
After seven seasons Columbo went off the air in 1978. ABC attempted to revive the character once again in 1989. After twenty-four sporadic episodes, ABC pulled the plug on Lt. Columbo in 2003. Columbo was now retired for good. It was a pretty impressive run for a cop show about a cop who never carried a gun.
Little did I know when I was just a kid how that evening at Peggy and Cliff's apartment would become so memorable. So much from that evening had made a huge, lifelong impression on me. Although I was just twelve years old, I can still recall in detail as if it had been last night. Peggy and Cliff eventually both passed away and I was saddened when my mother told me the news. Their act of kindness had given this boy from the projects a memory that he will always cherish and would never ever forget.
Over the following decades I would attend many fancy dinner parties. Yet not one would even come close to making the same lasting impression on me as that Sunday night at Peggy and Cliff’s apartment.
Today I still love watching Columbo reruns, mostly the old NBC episodes. I like those older ones the best. I have seen all of the forty-five episodes multiple times and I know all the storylines, the scenes and all the dialogues. I still watch right up to the end and the final sequence of events leading up to the arrest of the killer. However, in my favorite scene Columbo is walking away usually while exiting a room. He stops, turns around and while scratching his head inquisitively says the catchphrase he forever made famous.
“Just one more thing.”
