Week of September 16: The Best of Dubin and Goodbye, Ruth

By Sylvia Gurinsky

Television directors, unlike their film counterparts, are frequently the anonymous heroes of the medium, not receiving much public recognition or respect.

Charles Dubin, who died last week, was at the top of that list.

Dubin directed numerous prominent television programs, from the live dramas of the 1950s to filmed classics such as "Hawaii Five-O," "Kojak," "Lou Grant" and particularly "M*A*S*H."

Some of his best:

*"Omnibus: The Art of Conducting," December 4, 1955: Long before there were PBS, "Great Performances" and "Live From Lincoln Center," CBS was the place to find the performing arts program "Omnibus." Dubin directed this one with Leonard Bernstein, who would later bring classical music to new generations with his "Young People's Concerts":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrILZgv_0oQ

*"Highest Castle, Deepest Grave," "Hawaii Five-O," September 14, 1971: This episode channeled the classic movie "Laura," as Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord) investigated two recently uncovered skeletons and unearthed a lot of ghosts. Shadows and images played a major role in this episode.

*Vashon trilogy, "Hawaii Five-O," November, 1972: This was "Five-O's" answer to "The Godfather": McGarrett versus three generations of a crime family, with the first two generations portrayed by Luther Adler and Harold Gould. Dubin would also direct a followup episode, "The Case Against McGarrett," two years later.

*"Point of View," "M*A*S*H," November 20, 1978: One of the very best episodes of the series puts the camera in a hospital bed as a patient, looking at Hawkeye and company from that perspective.

*"Old Soldiers," "M*A*S*H," January 21, 1980: Is something wrong with Colonel Potter? The answer to that question comes in a moving scene in Potter's tent that involves all of the principal cast members.

"Roots: The Next Generations," episodes 2 and 4 (February, 1979): The successor to "Roots" also drew large numbers of viewers, as this concluded Alex Haley's saga.

All of these are available on DVD.

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Next week will feature a look at "All My Children's" best storylines, as we get set to say "goodbye," at least for now. (An "AMC" without Susan Lucci, if that's what goes online, is no "AMC.")

This week, Mary Fickett, who played Ruth Martin for most of the show's run and had a distinguished career on stage and television, died at 83. In 1973, she won the show's first acting Emmy when daytime Emmy awards were still presented as a part of the primetime Emmys.

Here's a look at a 1983 scene with Ruth and Opal Gardner (originally played by Dorothy Lyman):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQEHYMKk824

See you next week. Until then, Happy Viewing!