''Johnny Staccato'' is an American private detective

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

starring John Cassavetes that ran on NBC from September 10, 1959, through March 24, 1960. The program was initially titled ''Staccato''.

Synopsis

Titular character Johnny Staccato, played by John Cassavetes, is a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and private detective. The setting for many episodes is a

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

jazz club belonging to his friend, Waldo, played by Eduardo Ciannelli. The show featured many musicians, such as Barney Kessel, Shelly Manne, Red Mitchell, Red Norvo, and Johnny Williams. (Although the show was set in New York City, all of these men were closely identified with the West Coast jazz scene, and it was filmed largely in Los Angeles.) Elmer Bernstein composed both of the main theme tunes, and Stanley Wilson was music supervisor. Cassavetes also directed five episodes. After its initial airing on NBC, ABC presented reruns of the series from March 27 to September 25, 1960.Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', New York: Penguin Books, 1997, p. 782 On October 12, 2010, the series was released on Region 1 DVD by Timeless Media Group. Episodes have aired on stations specializing in nostalgia programming, such as

GetTV Get (Great Entertainment Television, stylized as get. since 2023, and formerly stylized as getTV) is an American Digital subchannel#Commercial networks, digital multicast television network owned by the Sony Pictures Television#Sony Pictures Tel ...

Notable guest stars

* Warren Berlinger * Geraldine Brooks * Walter Burke * Elisha Cook, Jr. (twice) * Lloyd Corrigan * Frank DeKova * Norman Fell * Marianne Gaba * Ingrid Goude * Harry Guardino * Arline Hunter * Martin Landau *

Michael Landon Michael Landon Sr. (born Eugene Maurice Orowitz; October 31, 1936 – July 1, 1991) was an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in ''Bonanza'' (1959–1973), Charles Ingalls in ''Little House on th ...

* Cloris Leachman * Ruta Lee * Sylvia Lewis * Charles McGraw * John Marley *

Elizabeth Montgomery Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery (April 15, 1933 – May 18, 1995) was an American actress whose career spanned five decades in film, stage, and television. She portrayed the good witch List of Bewitched characters#Samantha Stephens, Samantha Step ...

* Mary Tyler Moore * Susan Oliver * J. Pat O'Malley * Gena Rowlands * Vito Scotti * Dean Stockwell * Nita Talbot * Jack Weston

Episodes

Production

''Johnny Staccato'' replaced '' The Lawless Years'', broadcast on Thursdays from 8:30 to 9 p.m. Eastern Time. Bristol-Myers and Salem cigarettes were alternate sponsors. William Frye was the executive producer, and Everett Chambers was the producer. Elmer Bernstein composed the music.

Home media

Timeless Media Group released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 on October 12, 2010.

In popular culture

*The show was later parodied on '' SCTV'' as ''Vic Arpeggio'' (portrayed by Joe Flaherty), a saxophonist/private investigator whose cases were usually solved by accident. Arpeggio claimed to have been “framed” for drug possession, and that the detective gig was merely a sideline until he got his solo career back on track. *

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), th ...

references Johnny Staccato in his 2009 novel ''

Inherent Vice ''Inherent Vice'' is a novel by the American author Thomas Pynchon, originally published on August4, 2009. A darkly comic detective novel set in 1970s California, the plot follows sleuth Larry "Doc" Sportello whose ex-girlfriend asks him to i ...

'', set in late 1960s Los Angeles. Pynchon's main character, private investigator Larry "Doc" Sportello, praises Staccato as "the shamus of shamuses," ranking him with past greats Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade.Pynchon, Thomas. Inherent Vice. New York: Penguin, 2009, 97. *The theme, performed by Elmer Bernstein, received little attention in the US, but went to #4 in Britain. *Legendary artist

Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ...

parodied the show in his classic ''

Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' is an 1894 collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who ...

'' (Ballantine Books 1959) as "Thelonius Violence" *The Colts Drum and Bugle Corps' 2015 show was called "...and a Shot Rings Out: A Johnny Staccato Murder Mystery", which was a reference to the TV show.

References

External links

* {{John Cassavetes 1959 American television series debuts 1960 American television series endings 1950s American crime drama television series 1960s American crime drama television series American detective television series Black-and-white American television shows NBC original programming Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in New York City Television shows filmed in Los Angeles NBC television dramas