Continuing my deep dive into the career of Toni Basil,
last night I finally got to watch her earliest television appearance, and first known onscreen credited role, in an episode of the one-hour drama series Mr. Novak, which ran for two seasons and sixty episodes on the NBC network between 1963-1965. Created by E. Jack Neuman, Mr.
Novak cast the handsome James Franciscus in the title role of John Novak,
an idealistic young English teacher making his way through his first year on
the job at Jefferson High School in Los Angeles. Co-starring Dean Jagger as Principal
Albert Vane (replaced later by Burgess Meredith), Mr. Novak tackled a
lot of serious and controversial topics during its run, and is considered one
of the first television shows to depict teacher/student relationships in a
realistic and meaningful way. The first season of the series received a Peabody
Award in 1963 for, amongst other things, “restoring dignity and honor to the popular
image of the American schoolteacher”.
Toni Basil’s appearance on Mr. Novak comes in
the first season episode “One Way to Say Goodbye”, which first aired on March
17, 1964. Written by Boris Sagal and directed by the great Richard Donner, the
episode guest stars Tom Nardini as Tony Sinclair, a troubled – and troublemaking
– student of Mr. Novak, who gets into even more trouble when his father berates
him after the teacher reports his disruptive behaviour (and even subjects him
to the most horrific of parental punishments: the taking away of car privileges).
Playing Tony’s girlfriend, Randy, Basil only has one
scene in the episode, which comes about two-thirds of the way through, but it
is an important and pivotal moment in the story. As Novak and his date Jenny
Peterson (Kathryn Hays) are enjoying an evening coffee in a small café, Tony
and Randy arrive from out of the rain like a whirlwind. When Tony spots Novak, he
begins to taunt him and hurl threats, blaming him for having lost use of the family
car, and even making sexual insinuations towards Jenny, suggesting a bit of partner
swapping (still a rather taboo topic in 1964 America). Rather than try to
placate Tony and diffuse the tension, Randy instead does her best to manipulate
him into taking things even further, her wide, playful eyes and the teasing
lick of her lips suggesting she enjoys orchestrating mischief and trouble.
Even at this very early stage in her career, you can already see so much strength and unique
creativity evident in Basil’s acting techniques, not just in the delivery of her dialogue (where
she makes the most of her minimal lines), but also in her facial movements and
body language. Toni’s extensive background in dance no doubt influenced
some aspects of her on-screen movements and postures, which makes her young
character here seem all the more assured. Her Randy is emotionally much stronger
and more manipulative, as well as more intelligent, than Tony. Basil imbues
Randy with a taunting and teasing toughness, in that classic pulp bad girl way,
but she also manages to convey the suggestion of inner doubt and turmoil, and the fear of rejection or being unloved, which
is what makes her performance so interesting and effective.
Copyright John Harrison 2022
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| Above: Behind the scenes photo of Toni Basil on the set of Mr. Novak. |
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