Episode 69: Cathy Gale Era
Page 69 of 192
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Production completed: 22 November 1963
UK Premiere (London, Season 3): 4 January 1964
US Premiere (A&E cable): ca. 22 March 1991
When an albino elephant disappears, attention
is drawn to Noah's Ark, an "animal distribution center" for zoos worldwide.
Posing as a hunter (not a stretch, as she really was one while living in Africa), Cathy
keeps tabs on the comings and goings of animals, while Steed buys a new hand gun and
orders kinky handcuffs from businesses involved in an ivory smuggling scheme.
IMHO |
A shame that it's somewhat uneven and unexciting, as there is
potential here: a good assortment of characters, some decent guest actors, and a lavish
production—they hired dozens of animals for the show, including a variety of birds, a few
monkeys and a leopard. No elephant, however.
Trivia |
It would seem that the producers couldn't make the claim, "No animals were harmed in this production..." as supposedly one of them died during filming. I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the birds during the shoot-out at the end, as Steed fires his gun right beside one of the bird cages, and the bird goes nuts!
Indeed, Alan and Alys Hayes found this great tidbit attached to the back of a still photo: "ZOO TIME WITH THE AVENGERS. In 'The White Elephant' on 4th January, THE AVENGERS fight it out with the enemy in a private zoo. PATRICK MACNEE and HONOR BLACKMAN crouch for cover beside the cage of a leopard which gave everyone in the Studio some anxiety: it could easily have slipped out between the bars if the gun-fire had excited it too much."
See the dot on Steed's forehead in the second image? That's not a spot of dirt on the film frame... it's a fly that was crawling around on the monitor during the transfer to film! It hung around for a couple of minutes, in fact, threatening Steed, Cathy, and a gun salesman (see third grab).
Some scenes were pre-recorded on 21 November 1963 in advance of the main recording.
