SPECIAL NEWS FOR ALL FANS OF ALIAS SMITH & JONES
by Liz Williams

British Alias Smith & Jones Fan Club Newsletter

Superstar, July 1973

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July is Superstar's "Pete Special" month. So I hope you'll like the fantastic feature we've got for you this month--all on Pete! I know you're all crazy about him anyway, but I reckon that, after reading this issue, you might well feel you've come closer to the real Pete than you ever have before. Some of the words are Pete's own, others are things that his friends and family have said about him.

I'm afraid we're going to be getting fairly expert 'waiters' the way things are going with Ben right now! You remember that he was hoping to make it over to see us all around August time--some time this summer anyhow? Well, the film he'll be working on here in Britain has hit a few trouble spots in the finance field. So Ben now doesn't hold out too much hope of the trip coming off before February.

And we're not the only ones who are disappointed about this...Ben's a bit uptight about it himself!

Fortunately, everything seems to be running smoothly as far as his new series is concerned. Did I say running smoothly? Well, it's not so much running as jog-trotting actually, because everything is having to mark time waiting for this everlasting scriptwriters' strike to reach an end!

Ben told me that things were so bad now that there would actually be a hold-up in starting the new TV 'season'. And, of course, all new shows like this one Ben's going to be in are being hit really hard. They just can't get any scripts through. Ben's verdict: "It's all very sad... A lot of folks are being laid off, who just can't afford to be, and the whole TV and movie scene out here has gone dead. It's kinda like living in a ghost town."

Meanwhile, though, Ben's been spending quite a bit of time away from the ghosts, appearing in live theatre. And he's also been giving some thought to Ben Murphy, detective-style. Because that's the role he'll be playing in this new series. It'll most probably be called "Griff" after the character played by Lorne Green in the series.

Ben sounded quite keen on the type of character he'll be playing:

"You know how Kid Curry was no ordinary cowboy?" he asked.

"Well, this new part of mine is to detectives as Kid was to cowboys. Do you follow?"

I followed as far as it making him no ordinary detective. But then, no detective played by Ben could be ordinary in my eyes anyway!

"The way I see it, this guy's going to have a bit of the maverick in him--Hey! Maybe that's why they thought of me for the part! I'll be getting into all sorts of scrapes...The sort that no detective should get into, but which solve the crime and catch his man anyhow."

Sounds like this is really going to be something to see.