If you have been keeping up with Don Stugots’ blog you’ll have noticed that he has twice mentioned Street Hawk. Twice. Once here. And once here. It may seem random, but it’s not.
Street Hawk starred a crush of mine (and countless others), the one and only Rex Smith. And the fact that Don Stugots has mentioned him twice before I could mention him once is a mother fucking thorn in my side.
Oh dear lord, just look at him will you? Me. Ow.
Anyhoooooo. Let me back up a second here.
Being a child of the 70s and 80s I was privy to some very groovy shit. I’ve told you about the 4:30 movie, I’ve spoken about watching wrastlin’ even before it was the WWF on Saturday mornings. And one day soon we’ll discuss the amazing live action Saturday morning shows of the 70s. Also Kukla, Fran and Ollie will most definitely make an appearance here in my blog as well.
In the 60s and 70s TV movies were a staple of the three networks’ (ABC, NBC and CBS) lineup. Once a week each network would run a movie, edited or written for television.
On March 25 1979 a little movie called “Sooner or Later” introduced the world to Rex Smith. I’ve never been the same (my Rex Smith ebay purchases prove that.)
Because of its story line Sooner or Later would most likely not get the green light today. The plot is basically this, a 13 year old girl sees a hot local rock singer and wants him for herself. She hires him for guitar lessons and wears makeup so she can pass for 18, hoping he’ll date her. And he does. LOL.
Other than the dreamy love story about a tween and her crush there was music. Most famously the song “You Take My Breath Away” which became a really big hit for the time.
Fun fact time: Bruce and Carole Hart wrote the screenplay for Sooner or Later. Bruce Hart also wrote the lyrics for the music. You know what else he wrote? The theme song for Sesame Street.
Moving on. “You Take My Breath Away” remains a song that I love and that takes me right back to that night in March watching this amazing movie. But there’s another song that die hard Sooner or Later folks like me love more.
The song is Simply Jesse. The song where Michael declares his love for Jesse in front of a small crowd and his band.
“Sooner or Later” more like “Swooner or Later” am I right? That moment right there. Oh boy.
Here’s a quote from Rex about the movie.
On March 25, 1979, my life changed overnight. I was one of the stars of a made-for-TV movie called Sooner or Later, along with Barbara Feldon and Denise Miller. In the film, I was a guitar instructor, and I fell for one of my young students who lied about her age (she was only thirteen). The movie was written and directed by Bruce Hart, who also wrote the Sesame Street theme. The day before the movie aired, I could walk the streets without being noticed, but that next day, I was literally swamped by five hundred girls when I tried to go shopping for clothes. Suddenly, I was this teen idol with a hit record from the film called “You Take My Breath Away”, which I recorded for Columbia in one take. When it was played back in the studio, I said I needed to go to the bathroom. There, crying, I just knew I’d just recorded a big, big hit record. You can just tell. It was an amazing time in my life.[3]
Source: Wikipedia
The Harts followed up the movie with a few book sequels (YES I HAVE THEM.) Rex went on to appear as Frederic in the Pirates of Penzance movie and then starred on Street Hawk. He also appeared in a few episodes of Battle of The Network Stars, a show that also deserves it’s own podcast.
What Don Stugots and SimplyJon may NOT know however, is that Rex Smith was the very first Matt Murdock.
Yep, the first and best Dare Devil as far as I’m concerned. But don’t take my word for it … Check out this awesome article about it here on TechTimes.com.
Now if you’ll pardon me, I have to watch Simply Jesse a gazillion more times.
Keep on keepin’ on my friends.