American TV series or program
| Straightaway |
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| Genre | Adventure drama |
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| Starring | Brian Kelly
John Ashley |
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| Theme music composer | Maynard Ferguson |
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| Country of origin | United States |
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| Original language | English |
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| No. of seasons | 1 |
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| No. of episodes | 26 |
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| Producer | Josef Shaftel |
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| Running time | 30 minutes |
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| Production company | Racer Productions |
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| Network | ABC |
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| Release | October 6, 1961 (1961-10-06) –
April 4, 1962 (1962-04-04) |
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Straightaway is an American adventure-drama television series starring Brian Kelly and John Ashley which centers around two partners in an automobile workshop who design race cars. Original episodes aired from October 6, 1961, until April 4, 1962.[1][2]
Synopsis
Scott Ross and Clipper Hamilton are the co-owners of the Straightaway Garage, an automobile workshop, where they design, build, and maintain race cars. Scott specializes in designing cars, while Clipper is the better mechanic. Their work involves them in the world of lovers of speed and professional auto racing, which leads to various adventures for them, often after a client brings a car to the garage.[1][2][3]
Production
Straightaway, produced by Racer Productions, was plagued with production problems.[1] While the series was in development, it went through three producers before finally settling on Josef Shaftel — the fourth person to take the job — as the series producer.[1] Originally, the show was to have the title The Racers[citation needed] and include exciting racing sequences, and its original sponsor, the spark plug manufacturer Autolite, approved of the show's racing focus.[2] During the summer of 1961, however, the Ford Motor Company bought Autolite.[1][2] Ford wished to emphasize the safety of automobiles for family use, an image of cars obviously lacking in auto racing scenes.[1][2] Before the show premiered, and at the insistence of Ford, the show was retitled Straightaway, the ten episodes that Racer Productions had already filmed before Ford became involved had to be reedited to delete their racing sequences, and later episodes had to deemphasize the show's original focus on racing.[1][2]
Co-star John Ashley in real life was a rockabilly performer, and his character Clipper Hamilton occasionally sang during episodes of Straightaway. Maynard Ferguson composed the theme music for Straightaway,[citation needed] and his 1961 album "Straightaway" Jazz Themes contains music he composed for the television series.
Selchow and Righter produced a Straightaway-themed board game in 1961.[4]
Broadcast history
Straightaway premiered on ABC on October 6, 1961, and for the remainder of that year aired on Fridays at 7:30 p.m.[1][2] At the beginning of 1962, it moved to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesdays, where it remained for the rest of its run.[2] ABC cancelled it after only one season, and its last original episode aired on April 4, 1962.[citation needed]
After the show ended, ABC broadcast prime-time reruns of Straightaway during its normal Wednesday time slot, beginning on April 11, 1962, a week after the last new episode aired.[citation needed] The last prime-time rerun aired on July 4, 1962.[1][2]
