"Please, Jane, not in front of the men."
September 3, 2015 3:52 AM   Subscribe

Actress Melody Patterson, best known as Wrangler Jane Angelica Thrift in F-Troop, died August 21 at the age of 66.
posted by bryon (19 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I don't recall her character at all, but having been confused by her age, and RTFA, I admire her moxie.

.
posted by Mezentian at 4:39 AM on September 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:53 AM on September 3, 2015


Gosh, Melody Patterson AND Donna Douglas both gone this year, and poor Melody Patterson only 66 to boot. Watch out, Dawn Wells, these things happen in threes, and there aren't many '60s sitcom cuties left.
posted by briank at 4:56 AM on September 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


Dang ... I wish her drive had been more rewarded with career highlights.

.
posted by allthinky at 5:00 AM on September 3, 2015


.
posted by Gelatin at 5:05 AM on September 3, 2015


.

She was a lot of fun on F-Troop (and I'm not sure if I ought to be ashamed to admit I enjoyed that show!). I hope she had a good life.
posted by easily confused at 5:39 AM on September 3, 2015


Dang ... I wish her drive had been more rewarded with career highlights.

Seems like her career after F-Troop was derailed so she could be with her husband, James "Hawaii Five-O's Danno" MacArthur(who was a dozen years her senior) in Hawai'i where the series filmed on location. I find that pretty sad, since she'd had a smattering of roles on TV shows and Hollywood Squares that suggested she might have had the potential for more. This is her with Ken Berry, in more recent years than the F-Troop promotional pictures in most of her obits.

Larry Storch announced her death in a FB post.

An interesting detail I didn't know is that she lied about her age in the audition, and was actually a minor when F-Troop started filming. Also, curiously, she wrote a short column, "Wrapping with Wrangler," for several issues of the obscure magazine "Wildest Westerns," the content of which has been poured into a bloggy framework here.

Okay, that's all I have to placate my childhood crush on Wrangler Jane.
posted by aught at 5:44 AM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm sad to report that F-Troop is not on Hulu, so no nostalgic binge-watching. Okay, I'm done now.
posted by aught at 5:48 AM on September 3, 2015


.
posted by ogooglebar at 5:49 AM on September 3, 2015


So young! And yes, me and my siblings loved us some F-Troop!
posted by maggiemaggie at 7:06 AM on September 3, 2015



I haven't seen it in [redacted] years, but there was one ep where they formed a folk-rock band, with Wilton and Jane singing. They performed "Lemon Tree" (a hit for Trini Lopez) to counter the influence of the new electric rock band in town, The Bedbugs (featuring Lowell George and Richie Hayward).

A brief search reveals no online video of "Lemon Tree", but here's Wrangler Jane singing the refrain to "Mister Tambourine Man" over and over from the same episode.


.
 
posted by Herodios at 7:15 AM on September 3, 2015 [4 favorites]


A brief search reveals no online video of "Lemon Tree",

If Dailymotion links are allowable one can see it at 20:45 here.
posted by aught at 8:49 AM on September 3, 2015


Melody Patterson was one of a trio of daytime rerun goddesses, along with Batman's Julie Newmar and Bewitched's Elizabeth Montgomery. F Troop was a great, baggy-pants burlesque of a Western, and she was the very classy lady in the midst of the swirl of shtick.

aav.

.
posted by the sobsister at 10:01 AM on September 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:15 AM on September 3, 2015


.
posted by Splunge at 10:32 AM on September 3, 2015


If Dailymotion links are allowable one can see it at 20:45 here.

Thanks, Aught. That was every bit as good -- and bad -- as I thought I remembered it to be.
 
posted by Herodios at 12:58 PM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 4:41 PM on September 3, 2015


Haven't thought about "F-Troop" in years and years, but it was a staple of my childhood. Always loved that show, and she was fantastic.

.
posted by jzb at 4:58 PM on September 3, 2015


I used to watch it sometimes. It wasn't a bad show. Shame! So young!
.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 10:21 PM on September 3, 2015


« Older Follow the Brown Signs...   |   Women geeking out about geeky women Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments