Turn-On! Turned Off (coda)
A brief recap on the talent involved in Turn-On!:
In addition to Schlatter, Friendly, and Wolfe, and guest hosts Conway, Culp, and Nuyen, the show included some well established talent, some up and coming talent, some soon to vanish talent, and some really…odd talent.
Chuck McCann was doubtless the most famous person in the regular, a constantly working comedy actor who delivered the goods even with the most unpromising material. He died in 2018.
Teresa Graves guest starred in a few TV shows and movies, then landed the eponymous roles in Get Christie Love, a popular female cop show in 1974. Graves felt a spiritual calling, however, and abandoned show biz to become an evangelist. She died tragically in a house fire in 2002.
Hamilton Camp is either the second or third most famous acting alumni from Turn-On! after McCann and Graves. Another perennially working actor with scores of credits, he died in 2005.
Maura McGiveney played “The Body Politic” on the show and was arguably the most acclaimed performer in the group, having received a Golden Globe nomination in 1966. Best known as a Broadway actress, she was also an established TV guest star by the time she joined Turn-On!. Her last onscreen appearance was in 1987, she died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1990.
Mel Stwart is another old familiar face to TV fans, appearing in scores of films and TV shows. Died of Alzheimer’s in 2002.
Bonnie Boland appeared on TV later in Love, American Style, a comedy anthology that used Turn-On!’s style for their interstitial skits and bumpers. She also appeared in A Day at the White House which Imdb describes as “A woman sent by the President of the United States to infiltrate and bring down the Los Angeles porn industry instead falls in love with the well-endowed founder of the city's only rental house for animal sex performers.” Whereabouts unknown.
Ken Greenwald is an actor / director nominated for an Oscar in 1971 for his short film, Good Morning. There is nothing on Imdb regarding him after that until 2009 when he made another short film, Dark Readings. He appeared once on The Carol Burnett Show. Whereabouts unknown.
Maxine Greene has appeared in a handful of independent productions since Turn-On!, the most recent in 2019. Whereabouts unknown.
Carlos Manteca played every Hispanic stereotype imaginable on the show. Past that, there are no known references. Whereabouts unknown.
Cecile Ozorio’s acting career spans 1968-1970. Whereabouts unknown.
Debbie Macomber also appeared in 1966’s Step Out Of Your Mind a now lost rock & roll exploitation film by legendary pornmeister Joe Sarno. Whereabouts unknown.
Robert Staats played the only named character on the show, “E. Eddie Edwards,” a fast-talking sleazeball. It’s a character he played again in movies like Night Call Nurses and Auditions. He appeared in a couple of legendary early underground features, Putney Swope and The Projectionist with Chuck McCann. Despite similarities with a similar character in Monty Python, Staats created his first. Seeing him on Turn-On! makes one wonder if Dan Ackroyd’s sleazy salesman “Irwin Mainway” on Saturday Night Live derived inspiration from him. Whereabouts unknown.
Among the writing staff:
Bob Arbogast is primarily known today as a voice actor. Died 2009.
Albert Brooks is the best known member of the show’s writing team, though he admitted her never got what the show was supposed to be about. He went on to become a stand-up comic and a film maker.
George Burditt wrote and produced numerous sit-coms. Died 2013.
Ed Hider’s last known credit was in 1979 on The Soupy Sales Show. Whereabouts unknown.
Norman Hudis’s writing career covered a whopping 52 years in both the UK and the US. Died 2016.
Bryan Joseph wrote / story edited / produced TV sitcoms up to 1991. Died 2008.
Jack Kaplan wrote for kid-vid and sitcoms. His last known credit is in 1976 for an episode of Snip, a Lesley Ann-Warren sit-com that was cancelled before it premiered when NBC got cold feet over an openly gay character in it. Whereabouts unknown.
Lester Pine started his career in stand up, then began writing for the screen in 1945. At 52 he was the old man in the writers’ room. Died of prostate cancer in 2001.
Steven Pritzker atoned for Turn-On! by writing for The Mary Tyler Moore Show and others. Whereabouts unknown.
© Buzz Dixon
