Here's another photo of Charles Lane, this time playing a gym coach in the 1965 movie, Billie. In the film, Patty Duke played a high school girl who tried out for the boys' track team and put all the males to shame. Her secret? A little rock 'n' roll mantra she called "The Beat." I know it's hard to believe, given that plot summary, but it was not a great movie. If you want to order a copy of it on DVD, here's a link but I don't particularly recommend it. The film's main redeeming feature is that it was filled with good character actors including Jim Backus (seen at right above), Ted Bessell, Billy DeWolfe, Richard Deacon and, of course, Mr. Lane. Remember when you could cast people like that and make unwatchable material watchable?
But I didn't post the above photo to make that point. One of my oldest friends is a devout reader of this weblog, Bruce Reznick, and this is for him. Hey, Bruce! Recognize that track in the background? You and I used to run around it back when we both could run. That's University High School in West Los Angeles, our alma mater…though I don't remember us having any gym coaches like Charles Lane. Ours were much meaner.