Daktari

Daktari
Clarence and Judy.
Genre	Children's drama
Created by	Art Arthur Ivan Tors
Written by	William Clark Meyer Dolinsky Lawrence L. Goldman Alf Harris John Hogan Jack Jacobs Robert Lees Robert Lewin D.D. Oldland S.S. Schweitzer Stanley H. Silverman Malvin Wald
Directed by	Paul Landres Andrew Marton Otto Lang
Starring	Marshall Thompson Cheryl Miller Hari Rhodes Yale Summers Hedley Mattingly
Theme music composer	Shelly Manne Henry Vars
Composer(s)	Herbert Doerfel Shelly Manne Henry Vars
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	89 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Ivan Tors
Producer(s)	Leonard B. Kaufman
Editor(s)	George Hively
Cinematography	William A. Fraker Fred Mandl Paul Ivano Richard Moore
Running time	45–48 minutes
Production company(s)	Ivan Tors Productions MGM Television
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Picture format	Metrocolor
Audio format	Monaural
Original run	January 11, 1966 (1966-01-11) – January 15, 1969 (1969-01-15)
Chronology
Preceded by	Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion

Daktari (Swahili for "doctor") is an American children's drama series that aired on CBS between 1966 and 1969. The series, an Ivan Tors Films Production in association with MGM Television, stars Marshall Thompson as Dr. Marsh Tracy, a veterinarian at the fictional Wameru Study Centre for Animal Behaviour in East Africa.

Concept

The show follows the work of Dr. Tracy, his daughter Paula (Cheryl Miller), and his staff, who frequently protected animals from poachers and local officials. Tracy's pets, a cross-eyed lion named Clarence and a chimpanzee named Judy, were also popular characters.

Daktari was based upon the 1965 film Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion, which also stars Thompson as Dr. Tracy and Miller as his daughter. The concept was developed by producer Ivan Tors, inspired by the work of Dr. A.M. "Toni" Harthoorn and his wife Sue at their animal orphanage in Nairobi.^[1] Dr. Harthoorn was a tireless campaigner for animal rights, and with his research team developed the capture gun,^[2] used to sedate animals in order to capture them without injury.

On the series, Clarence didn't do all his own stunts, he also had a stand in. Leo, another Ralph Helfer-trainer feline, doubled for Clarence whenever there were any trucks involved, since Clarence spooked at the sight of these vehicles. Leo even had his own makeup artist who applied cosmetic scarring like Clarence's, so that he would resemble Clarence when photographed in closeups. This was referred to in an inside joke from the preview trailer for the movie Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion, that Leo (who also appeared in the MGM logo and had a gentle temperament very similar to Clarence's) was not at all related to Clarence!

Another less-friendly lion, also named Leo, doubled for Clarence in some scenes. He was used only for the snarling scenes and general scenes which didn't involve close proximity with humans. Leo had come from a family in Utah. His ferocity was due largely to abuse he received from former owners that beat him badly with a stick.

In the show's final season, child star Erin Moran joined the cast as Jenny Jones, a seven-year-old orphan who becomes part of the Tracy household.

Cast

• Marshall Thompson .... Dr. Marsh Tracy
• Cheryl Miller .... Paula Tracy
• Ross Hagen .... Bart Jason (1968–1969)
• Hedley Mattingley .... District Officer Hedley
• Erin Moran .... Jenny Jones (1968–1969)
• Hari Rhodes .... Mike Makula
• Yale Summers .... Jack Dane (1966–1968)

Episodes

Main article: List of Daktari episodes

Production notes

Location

According to the show's closing credits, it was "filmed in Africa and Africa, U.S.A.," a 600-acre (2.4 km²) wild animal ranch created by animal trainers Ralph and Toni Helfer in Soledad Canyon 40 mi (64 km). north of Los Angeles^[3]. Ralph Helfer was the animal coordinator of the show. Leonard B. Kaufman, the producer, wrote in liner notes for Shelly Manne's Daktari, that he shot the series on location in Mozambique. ^[4] Indeed, the outdoor scenes involving the actors were shot in the Africa, U.S.A. compound in California, with footage of African landscape and animals in between to get the African look and feel. The indoor scenes of the animal hospital were shot in Ivan Tors' studios in Florida.

Music

The show had distinctive theme and incidental music, a fusion of jazz and African influences, conducted by American jazz drummer Shelly Manne. Manne released the associated record, Daktari: Shelly Manne Performs and Conducts His Original Music for the Hit TV Show, on the Atlantic Records label in 1968. On the album, Mike Wofford plays a tack piano to evoke an African sound, and Manne is joined by percussionists Emil Richards, Larry Bunker, Frank Carlson, and Victor Feldman. According to the record liner notes, Manne and fellow percussionists play ankle and wrist jingles, Thai mouth organs, aungloongs, ocarinas, vibraphones, tympani, and different kinds of marimbas.

DVD Release

Warner Archive released the complete first season in Region 1 format on November 15, 2011.

Notes

1. ^ Hart, Susanne (1969). Life with Daktari: Two Vets in East Africa. Atheneum. p. 35. 
2. ^ Brown, Alexander Claude (1977). A History of Scientific Endeavour in South Africa. Royal Society of South Africa. p. 145. 
3. ^ Vasquez Rocks Retrieved on May 8, 2007
4. ^ Leonard B. Kaufman, liner notes for Shelly Manne, "Daktari," Atlantic Records SD 8157

External links

• Daktari at the Internet Movie Database
• Daktari at TV.com
• Daktari Episode Guide