Christopher Jackson (of Hamilton fame) performs:
“Touched By an Angel” by Maya Angelou
“As” by Stevie Wonder
I’ve always wanted to vid about my first and second season private love affair with the show. Before third season, I learned that Paul was suing to get out of the show. To be honest, it was the drama that broke the spell, not knowing if we’d even have a third season. Don’t get me wrong. I loved future seasons, and was grateful there were future seasons. I just wish Paul had wanted to do them.
While I knew that for quite some time I had wanted to vid something nostalgic and personal, I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it. Then five years ago, I saw an Emmy performance that would make the perfect template. But I couldn’t find it online.
During the SHareCon panel (Starsky & Hutch Fandom, Then and Now) many shared how they discovered the show. This had me thinking about my early years with the show and it inspired me to search for the Emmy footage again. And this time, I found it and the video was of quality!
I finished this project in two weeks, though I believe it should have taken months.
Here is some needed background:
On December 17, 1975 my father introduced the show to me. He told me about these two funny guys who called their car a striped tomato. I sat on the floor with my sister next to the Christmas tree and my first episode was “Shootout.” What I witnessed took my breath away.
You will see a picture of my father. You will also see a short clip of a home movie of what my living room looked like around Christmas time. (We decorated the same way every year.)
I walked to the store every week the day the new TV Guide came out. The store was called Sell Rite and they usually had the new TV Guide on the stands a day early. I would read about the new episode while walking the two blocks home. Sell Rite is also where I bought Rona Barrett magazines and The Starsky & Hutch Story, though I was always a bit embarrassed about it. In a small town, these magazines were my only connection to fandom outside of my small town.
You will see my bedroom with my one and only Starsky & Hutch Torino poster (which clashed with my pink flowered bedspread — and would you believe I had long matching curtains?) I remember my mother buying the poster for me at a Long’s Drug Store one night. She must have seen my reaction, because I would have never asked her to buy it. I was very secret about my obsession, but she bought it for me. I did not know about the brass bed poster. I would have flipped had I known about it. In the video, I made the brass bed poster in black and white, symbolizing something I did not have. It’s the only photo included that is not Starsky & Hutch oriented, as I really wanted to make this about the show.
Starsky & Hutch was shown in syndication during a late night airing (up against Johnny Carson). So during first season I was able to catch up on first season episodes by sneaking out of bed to watch the show on my black and white TV in my bedroom. If my memory serves me right, it was at 11:35 p.m. on Thursday nights, a school night. It was on a Bay Area channel and sometimes I got a snowy picture. Sometimes I had to twist and turn the antenna and move the TV (on a cart with squeaky wheels) to get a clear picture. Adrenaline was flying, as I did not want to get caught! As nerve-wracking as these nights were, they are some of my fondest memories. I saw episodes like “The Fix” and “A Coffin For Starsky” for the first time.
I also used to tape record episodes and then listen to them at night while in bed. I used the cushions of (2) blue chairs to stack up next to the living room television speaker to record. You’ll see one of the two blue chairs.
In one clip, you’ll see a painting that was in my front room as background. I tried to add this as a personal touch to connect this show to my home environment.
And lastly, I salute today’s fandom that still connects me to the show to this day. Who would have thought?
Thank you to Suz and Amber Raine for their help. And for personal reasons, I ask that this not be re-posted online.
Long live Starsky & Hutch!
I haven’t even watched the vid yet but I LOVE your recollections of the show and how you got into it. 💗
Thank you! My recollections are so much a part of me.
So good. Thank you 🙂
Thank you!
I am sitting here with tears streaming down my face. Your recollections brought back a flood of memories of me watching the show. Like you I would sit on the living room floor although I was home alone at the time (my parents had bowling league when Starsky and Hutch was on) and I was 13 when the show started airing. We had a black and white TV too and I also would tape record the episodes. I’d replay them when I’d be in bed at night just to listen to my 2 favorite guys. Shootout wasn’t the first ep I saw–I watched the show from the beginning but it’s the first show I remember watching down to the way I sat nearly on top of the TV to catch every moment.
I accidentally cut off my comment. So thank you, thank you, thank you for this look into what this show meant to you personally. I think that’s the truly beautiful thing about this show, this fandom–that it connects so many of us on a personal level more than any other fandom I’ve ever been in. The friendship and love between Starsky and Hutch, between Paul and David is so real that it can’t help but draw all of us together and maybe just maybe help us recognize the humanity in others. Thanks don’t seem adequate for how beautiful this vid is–but it’s all I have to offer.
I love it–it’s wonderful. And anything that not only has Starsky and Hutch but also has Christopher Jackson singing has me over the top swooning!
What Babs said…
Your passionate post matched the passion in which I created it. Thank you!
Your video is so, so beautiful. It really does encapsulate everything that means so much to us about Starsky and Hutch, about just how truly special Paul and David, two such beautiful human beings, made the show in their own magical way. The wonderful images in your video, the beautiful music, combined with your own memories, written and visual, all made me feel quite emotional. Thank you so much for this treasure.
Thank you, Deborah!
This took my breath away – it really did. It is amazing how this show continues to connect with its fans all these years later. Thank you for making this and for sharing your personal story. It was wonderful!
Thank you, SHybaby. I don’t recognize your handle.
Wonderful, T.M. just wonderful! What a unique and clever approach to a video. I love how your memories are woven into the beautiful images of Starsky and Hutch and Paul and David. What a great tribute video to the show and to the boys.
Thank you, Lisa!
Phenomenal, both your words and vid. A thank-you isn’t enough but it will have to suffice.
Any feedback is priceless. Thank you for your kind words.
Beautifully done. So many wonderful memories, including your personal ones, that makes this special. Thank you.
Thank you, Kat!
Just beautiful. I’m so happy you shared!
Thanks, Suz. But it never would have happened without your help.
I’m speechless…
I’ll just say I loved it and will watch it again and again.
Thank you!
Thank you for for all your beautiful responses to my vid. I made this not intending to share it in general fandom, because if felt too exposing (and who’d want to see strangers in a fan vid?), but as I was able to distance myself from it, I decided I could share it in the safe confines of this group. I wasn’t disappointed.
Thank you again, for your very generous comments.
T.M.
I didn’t know your videos could get any better. This was AWESOME!!!!!!!! It filled my heart with so much warmth. You are truly the master of S&H vids. I’m SO glad you’re in this fandom. Thank you for a really, really, really wonderful holiday treat!
Such wonderful memories! I used to walk to the local store in high school to get TV guide the day it was put out to sell, too! And sneak out at night to watch reruns after people were asleep. I did have the brass bed poster in college. Couldn’t get the mute to turn off on the video!
Did you see the video?
Oh no! The music is kinda important.
Oh wow….Speachless. Thankyou.
Thank you!
Wow.
I mean I could parrot all the lovely comments before me about how great this is and how you created something so personal, but so universal to share, but just –
Wow.
Thank you!!
What a wonderful video! I can relate to so many things. I was 9 when the show first aired in France. I watched it on a b&w TV; I was instantly fascinated. There was something in their relationship (Starsky/Paul and Hutch/David) I couldn’t put into words… I also had a S&H poster (from a French magazine) in my bedroom. Thank you, thank you for sharing your memories and feelings in such a beautiful way. So moving.
I’m so glad you could relate! Thank you for your fabulous feedback.