Peter Gunn was an American private-eye television series that aired from 1958 to 1961. Craig Stevens played the title character, a private investigator who was not, however, a standard hard-boiled detective like Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. Where other gumshoes were often coarse, Gunn was portrayed as the epitome of cool: a sophisticated hipster and a dapper dresser who loved jazz music. Gunn operated in a nameless waterfront city, and was a regular patron of Mother’s, a wharf-side jazz club where his girlfriend Edie Hart (played by Lola Albright) sang. Gunn also associated with Lieutenant Jacoby, a police detective played by the great Herschel Bernardi. The series is also remembered for its signature music, the Emmy and Grammys award winning Peter Gunn Theme, by Henry Mancini. The seven episodes of Peter Gunn that I have been able to find on the Internet (ca. ½ hour each), along with Mancini and The Harry Gibbs Orchestra performing the theme song, are now available at my new Peter Gunn page at The Sagacious Iconoclast. |
