1960s Handbook: The Defenders
The 1960s Handbook takes a closer look at the cultural references that appear in each week's episode of Mad Men.
The coutroom drama The Defenders was on air from 1961 to 1965 and starred E.G Marshall and Robert Reed as a father-son legal team. Although the series wasn't shy about courting controversy, the April 28, 1962 episode was a date to remember nevertheless. That Saturday, CBS aired an episode that took on the weighty issue of abortion, this despite the fact that the program's regular advertisers pulled their sponsorship and ten affiliates refused to carry it.
In this episode (entitled "The Benefactor"), the two lawyers defend a doctor who supports (and performs) abortions for very personal reasons: His daughter died having one performed. Significantly, this physician advocates legalizing the procedure -- an especially contentious stance pre-Roe v. Wade. A "remarkable demonstration of the use of theatre as an instrument of editorial protest," the show "penetrated the national curtain of embarrassed silence" wrote the New York Times. That may be but advertisers -- Brown & Williamson, Lever Brothers and Kimberly-Clark -- still backed out. In the ensuing firestorm, viewers complained the program had "'crossed the line' and was no longer dealing with 'the law' as much as moral or political crusading." (So cites Professor Steven Classen of California State University.) The editor of a Jesuit magazine likewise criticized the episode's "tacit approval of the physician and his actions." Undaunted The Defenders went on to push buttons moving forward as it dealt with such polarizing topics as the Hollywood blacklist and capital punishment.
This was a great show, along with another "Arrest and Trial".
I commend any program willing to remind us there was a time - only 3 and a half short decades past - before sterile, legal abortion was available to all women and not just the wealthy. It is something we surely take for granted.
Yeah, jamm, and the old standby "Perry Mason" !I remember "The Bold Ones" to? Burl Ives as a lawyer! But, he was good and it was good, too, but not as good as "The Defenders" IMHO. Remember how TV seasons used to cycle from all westerns, to all courtroom dramas,all comedies, or all medical shows? I guess it still does, but not as pronounced as the olden days of TV. or maybe it just seemed that way to a kid....
When I heard them mention the name "Bob Reed", it struck a chord, but I couldn't figure out why? Then I remembered.."Robert Reed"..MR. BRADY!!
Gene Hackman auditioned for Mike Brady and they gave the part to Robert Reed because his name was known in Hollywood. Gene Hackman went on to do French Connection and won an oscar. Robert Reed always felt the role of Mike Brady destroyed his career and became bitter in the end. Despite the fact he thought it was a mistake to do the Brady Bunch, he can never grasp how much he continues to be loved and remembered as Mike Brady because of Brady Bunch reruns.
After Brown & Williamson, Lever Brothers and Kimberly-Clark abandoned the commercial time, in a remakably courageous gesture, CBS President Frank Stanton vowed to run the show anyway. In the end, the time was sold to Speidel, the maker of the Twist-O-Flex watchband.
Hmmm. Got that one wrong, never heard of the show.
OK, I'm pretty good well beyond my years for guessing TV and pop-culture references. I was convinced the TV Pilot was "Perry Mason" especially when the Judge addressed someone in the courtroom scene as "Mr. Mason" Did anyone else catch that???
I remember that show, and the topic. Back then, we thought if abortion was legal, then there would be no more unwanted children, and poverty would end. We really believed that. We never imagined 30 million abortions would be performed and it used to birth control. Like Nazis, we don't want to admit the "solution" is a bigger problem than the problem we started with.
The Defenders was one of the first to strongly preach social change. Even Bonanza became a tool for change. Later, all the shows were in 'tune' with the current cause, complete with taboos on challenging abortion.