The Bright and Dark of Partners
By Audrey W.
“You ever notice it’s always a light-haired guy paired with a dark-haired guy in these shows?”
Roy DeSoto pondered his partner John Gage’s comment as the latter kept his focus on the television screen. The two were watching one of their favorite weekly TV shows, ‘Adam-12’, which starred a police team just as Gage had described.
“I mean, look at these guys, Reid and Malloy. Reid’s got dark hair, Malloy’s a blond. Then there’s ‘Starsky and Hutch’. Starsky has dark hair, Hutch is blond. Even take ‘Police Woman’ for example. I mean, she’s not a guy of course, but the main point is, she’s blonde, her counter part has dark hair.”
Roy was about to comment, when John went on with, “Then there’s ‘Dragnet’, ‘Man From Uncle’. . .” and don’t forget ‘Simon and Simon’. Sure, those two are brothers so of course they’re gonna work together, but they apparently had to get actors that had dark hair and light hair. Couldn’t have ‘um the same.”
“Cagney and Lacey are another partnership like that,” Roy finally was able to contribute.
“Exactly! There’s also Ponch and John from CHiPs.” He quickly got off the subject when that brought him to an event several months prior. “Hey, remember when they had us in that scene for a mock accident near the 405?”
“You mean the one where our squad made it in the background and we ended up on the cutting room floor?”
Gage frowned. “Yeah. . . that one..” His face brightened some as he added, “But still it was kinda farout to be there. Meet the actors.”
Roy nodded slightly in agreement. “It was interesting. For awhile. . ..”
It had quickly gotten boring for Roy when the reality of down time between takes hit.
“Well, anyway, I wonder why they never have two dark-haired partners?”
“Or light-haired.”
“It’s not like partners have to be different in real life to work well together. . .I mean, look at us!”
Roy eyed Gage, then thought about his own appearance. Realization registered on his face about the same time it did on the other’s.
John Gage’s hair was dark, Roy’s lighter, though not quite as much as it had been when they’d first been assigned as partners.
“Hey, maybe that’s why the fire department paired us!” John said as the same words went through Roy’s mind. After all, they were now known as one of the best paramedic teams in the entire county.
The two looked at the TV screen with ‘Adam-12’ still on it.
“I guess these shows might be onto something after all,” the younger paramedic admitted, a crooked smile on his face.
Roy nodded, but with a thoughtful expression soon added, “Except we forgot about shows like ‘The Streets of San Francisco’, ‘Get Smart’, ‘McMillon and Wife’ and ‘Car 54, Where Are You?’.”
John’s frown returned just as soon as Roy’s words blew up the theory he’d been so sure he’d figured out.
This was inspired by my own thoughts over the years on the subject and the picture. :o)
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July Picture 2017 Stories Page
