MovieChat Forums > Ironside (1967) Discussion > Never went to the bathroom.

Never went to the bathroom.

posted 17 years ago by juanmonge69
14 replies | jump to latest

Let me start out by saying that I think that this is one of the great television shows. The music is great; the writing is intelligent, you don't know in the first two minutes who did it. And there is a great relationship between the chief and Mark.That being said if you start to watch the show you notice that he never had any physical obstacles to overcome. Whether it was a fifth floor walkup or a beatnik dive in a basement he was able to get there. There is only one episode "Barbara Who" where she invites him up to her apartment-Mae West style, where he notices the stairs and deems that he cannot go up. Also the only thing that he ate was Chili, bourbon and black coffee. you would think once that he would say: Mark roll me into the bathroom :I got to drop a deuce.

[–] sweet1310452 17 years ago

The show was cutting edge for 1967 when there were no (or almost no?) shows about disabled persons. Lots of things about the show scream progressive 1960s series: Mark and Eve's roles come to mind most. How on earth did this dude live on such a diet?

[–] Burt-11 17 years ago

I do remember other kinds of food being on this series. On in particular seems to come to mind. It involved a case with some Turkish immigrants. After the case was settled as a gesture of thanks the Turkish man invited the chief and his gang over for dinner. The chief had been talking about how he really looked forward to a wonderful Turkish meal. They were all sitting at the table and the host lifted off the cover of the platter to reveal hamburgers!

[–] Burt-11 17 years ago

For the times I think that was something which was not talked about so much on the air. Going to or using a toilet that is. Like not very long before this it seems like toilets could not even be shown on television.

[–] sweet1310452 17 years ago

The show left some stuff to the imagination, but it was very entertaining and to me it holds up well over time. Presumably, Mark had to carry the Chief up quite a few flights of stairs over the years that they worked together- honestly I think that Ironside took Mark's physical and mental traits into consideration when he hired him- the actor looked strong enough to carry him (Raymond Burr plus that chair must have weighed in at about 250 lbs), he also was nobody's fool and had integrity. In the ep with the woman who asked Ironside to come up to her flat Mark tells him that he should have gone.

I noticed that they drank a ton of coffee and booze on this show and seemed to spend most of their time in and around police work. This is what I call a hard lifestyle.

[–] terry_l_kiser-1 17 years ago

sweet1310452: An excellent post, but just one small quibble: the 250 lbs. weight figure was Burr's alone during most of the series' production. The chair he used at that time was an extensively customized, utilitarian style Art Deco Everest & Jenning Custom Premier, about 87% fabricated in chrome plated cold-rolled steel which in the uniquely altered configuration it had been ordered in from the factory tipped the scales at close to 52 lbs.

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[–] porfle 16 years ago

As much as I like Raymond Burr, I'm not really all that interested in watching him go to the bathroom--so I'm kinda glad they spared us any special "Ironside Takes A Dump" episodes.

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[–] ricecakes 16 years ago

It's only been in recent times that it seems "important" to include shots of characters going to the bathroom. Frankly, I think it's stupid and there is no need to see men standing around a urinal and listening to the tinkling and the flushing of toilets in the background.

Why anyone would think this is important to include in any show is beyond me.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] theoldbull 16 years ago

galirora is right, no shows before the 70s showed bathroom functions or talked about them. One of the running topics of discussion among Star Trek fans is where the bathrooms were on the Enterprise, if there were any. One of the mysteries of Star Trek is how did Khan Noonian Singh recognize Pavel Chekov in the second Trek movie even though Chekov (played by Walter Koenig) wasn't in the episode. Koenig's explanation is that Chekov was "reading a magazine" in the Enterprise's only loo when Khan was awakened after 300 years in hibernation. The story goes Chekov took his time on the can and made Khan hold the three centuries of buildup that much longer, so Khan had it out for Chekov ever since.

All In The Family was probably the first TV show where bodily functions were discussed on a regular basis.

[–] acter 16 years ago

Like others have said, it just wasn't shown in that time -- All In The Family got press for a LONG time because they had the sound of a toilet flushing!

But also, it is quite possible that, since he was paralyzed from the waist down, he would have been cath'd anyway.

Acter

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] sueeastlake 9 years ago

In the pilot, Ed and Mark helped the Chief get back in the wheelchair when Ironside pushed himself purposely out of the wheelchair on the porch. Also, there was an episode where Ironside pulled himself into the wheelchair, using cushions from a sofa, after the friend he was visiting pushed over the wheelchair. Lastly, Ironside was locked in a bank vault with poison gas and was able to slide himself out of the wheelchair and down in a hole in the vault.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] 16 years ago

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