F Troop actress Melody Petterson dead at 66

[Kevin M.]

Wrangler Jane was... well... the female character in F Troop. And I suppose, even though in most cases the white soldiers were the buffoons and not the Native Americans, political correctness will probably prevent too many reruns of F Troop on TV, so if some channel decides to show a few episodes in the coming days as tribute, catch 'em while you can.

http://variety.com/2015/tv/obituaries-people-news/f-troop-actress-melody-patterson-dies-at-66-1201576106/

P.S. Larry Storch is still alive?

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Mark Jeffries]

Saturday mornings at 5 a.m. (double pump), Sunday mornings at 7 a.m. (double pump) on MeTV.

Mark Jeffries
Saints Spotlight Editor
spotl...@gmail.com

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[Kevin M.]

You can always count on MeTV, though those are horrible hours to be awake, let alone watching TV

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Doug Fields]

So Melody Patterson was 16 and 17 years old during the two year run of F Troop, as the love interest of Captain Will Parmenter, played by a 32- and 33-year-old Ken Berry.  Interesting.

 

Talk about your non-political-correctness.  I’m just sayin’… 

 

Doug Fields

Tampa, FL

[PGage]

On Fri, Aug 21, 2015 at 10:19 PM, Doug Fields <do...@flids.net> wrote:

So Melody Patterson was 16 and 17 years old during the two year run of F Troop, as the love interest of Captain Will Parmenter, played by a 32- and 33-year-old Ken Berry.  Interesting.

 

Talk about your non-political-correctness.  I’m just sayin’… 

If it helps at all, the wikis say she lied about her age (she was 15 at the audition), leading them to low key the romance in season 1.

I don't know if it is so-called "Political Correctness" that is keeping F Troop off the air. It got a lot of play on Nick in the 90s, and as noted here has been running on ME. While it does present without much comment the killing of Indians by US soldiers as a matter of course, the show is not so much racist as very broad. Get Smart and Hogan's Heroes stand up better over time, but even those frequently, and most of the rest of that kind of humor, which at the time was kind of hip, or at least insider, comes across now as corny.

[Doug Fields]

“If it helps at all, the wikis say she lied about her age (she was 15 at the audition), leading them to low key the romance in season 1”

 

Ummmm…no. 

 

If she’d lied and the producers never knew the truth, that’d be one thing.  That they found out, and “low keyed it” might make it even a little creepier.  J

 

Doug Fields

Tampa, FL

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[Doug Fields]

Or, wait…do you mean they “low keyed” the on-screen romance, as in toned it down?  I was writing under the theory that you were saying they tried to hide the fact that she was underage, while she was going all Sadie Hawkins on Capt’n Wilt.  (Is “Sadie Hawkins” still a thing?)

 

From what I recall from the last time I saw an episode of F Troop (probably around the turn of the century), they certainly didn’t tone it down enough if they knew  they were paying a 32-year-old to suck face with a 16-year-old-pretending-to-be-an-adult on camera.   But, hey…it was Hollywood in a different era.  J

[Kevin M.]

On Sat, Aug 22, 2015 at 1:59 PM, Doug Fields <do...@flids.net> wrote:

“If it helps at all, the wikis say she lied about her age (she was 15 at the audition), leading them to low key the romance in season 1”

 

Ummmm…no. 

 

If she’d lied and the producers never knew the truth, that’d be one thing.  That they found out, and “low keyed it” might make it even a little creepier.  J

A conversation I've been having with people at work and elsewhere over the past several months involves the number of songs that endorse what can -- at best -- be called young love (at worst it is called statutory rape). We can go for weeks without mentioning it, but then somebody will rush in having just heard another song on the radio and quote the lyrics.

"She was just 17 if you know what I mean..."

"Little sister won't you do what your big sister won't..."

"16 will get you 20, that's alright..."

"I'm not a girl, not yet a woman..."

The entire song "My Sharona"

There are laws against it, as the former spokesman for Subway can attest, but as a recent article I read about a 14-year-old model for Christian Dior flatly states, it is still accepted and endorsed by all forms of media.

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Tom Wolper]

On Sat, Aug 22, 2015 at 5:12 PM, Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:

A conversation I've been having with people at work and elsewhere over the past several months involves the number of songs that endorse what can -- at best -- be called young love (at worst it is called statutory rape). We can go for weeks without mentioning it, but then somebody will rush in having just heard another song on the radio and quote the lyrics.

"She was just 17 if you know what I mean..."

"Little sister won't you do what your big sister won't..."

"16 will get you 20, that's alright..."

"I'm not a girl, not yet a woman..."

The entire song "My Sharona"

There are laws against it, as the former spokesman for Subway can attest, but as a recent article I read about a 14-year-old model for Christian Dior flatly states, it is still accepted and endorsed by all forms of media.

You missed what I thought was the obvious song, Ringo Starr's "You're sixteen, you're beautiful, and you're mine." What all these songs have in common is that they are aimed at teenage boys who are surrounded by all these girls, and not middle aged men.

[PGage]

On Sat, Aug 22, 2015 at 2:08 PM, Doug Fields <do...@flids.net> wrote:

Or, wait…do you mean they “low keyed” the on-screen romance, as in toned it down?  I was writing under the theory that you were saying they tried to hide the fact that she was underage, while she was going all Sadie Hawkins on Capt’n Wilt.  (Is “Sadie Hawkins” still a thing?)

 

From what I recall from the last time I saw an episode of F Troop (probably around the turn of the century), they certainly didn’t tone it down enough if they knew  they were paying a 32-year-old to suck face with a 16-year-old-pretending-to-be-an-adult on camera.   But, hey…it was Hollywood in a different era.  J

Your second take is what I was trying to convey. In the first season of F Troop Wrangler Jane is crushing on Parmenter, and wants to marry him, but he is uncomfortable by her affection, though I think is supposed to be read as shy, not closeted.

By the standards of the early 21st century, the age disparity (let's say 16 and 32) is disconcerting, (and illegal in some states). But by the standards of the late 19th century, the disparity was common and not illegal at all (the age of consent was 10 in some states in the 1890s).

As the father of two (now grown) daughters, I am hardly defending Hebephilia of course. 

[bermuda999]

" Little sister don't you do what your big sister done"

"She's too cute to be a minute over 17"

[Doug Fields]

“By the standards of the early 21st century, the age disparity (let's say 16 and 32) is disconcerting, (and illegal in some states). But by the standards of the late 19th century, the disparity was common and not illegal at all (the age of consent was 10 in some states in the 1890s).”

 

Perfectly true.  But I always looked at “F Troop” as absurdist comedy…never a documentary.  J

 

I’m bowing out after this.  I never thought this was a very serious topic in the first place…just remarking on what the math revealed about Wrangler Jane’s real age when I saw Patterson’s obituary.  I hadn’t known she was so young, and was remarking on it.  I’m already surprised at how much commentary I managed to stir up.  Sorry about that.  J

 

Doug Fields

Tampa, FL

 

 

From: tvor...@googlegroups.com [mailto:tvor...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of PGage
Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2015 8:29 PM
To: tvor...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [TV orNotTV] F Troop actress Melody Petterson dead at 66

 

On Sat, Aug 22, 2015 at 2:08 PM, Doug Fields <do...@flids.net> wrote:

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