New Book Explores Award-Winning Series From The 1960s.
ca. 1960s — James Franciscus, as his character John Novak, from the TV series Mr. Novak (1963-65) — Image by © Corbis
A new book, Mr. Novak An Acclaimed Television Series, tells the complete story of the series that ran only for 2 seasons back in the 1960s. It was about a young teacher in Los Angeles, played by actor James Franciscus, and all the things that teachers and staff had to deal with in both their school and private lives. Backing up Franciscus was actor Dean Jagger playing the principal of the school, and a stellar list of guest actors.
It is interesting that fifty years ago things were a lot different, and the quality of the Mr. Novak series reflected it. The series took on very serious issues, and a visit to the website, MrNovakBook.com has an entire section devoted to “Progressive Themes of the Mr. Novak Television Series.”
The show tackled the tough issues, drug abuse, teen pregnancy, racism, anti-semitism, and much more. The series reflected our great schools and teachers. It might help to release the dvds of the series, maybe we can find a clue to what has gone wrong in California education in the last 50 years.
Congratulations to Chuck Harter for his excellent and well-rounded presentation of Mr. Novak, an acclaimed television series.
Click below to view author Chuck Harter’s video tour of 2 of the locations where the exterior shots of the series were filmed, John Marshall High School and Hamilton High School.
The Book is available now in Hardback, Paperback, and Kindle editions at amazon.com
Author Chuck Harter:
Chuck Harter is an author, musician and popular culture consultant. He is the author of the new book “Mr. Novak An Acclaimed Television Series” – Bear Manor media (AMAZON) and has written four previously published books which include…”Superboy & Superpup: The Lost Videos” – Cult Movies Press (AMAZON), “Superman on Broadway” – Co-Authored with Bob Holiday (Holiday Press), “Johnnie Ray: The Year of the Atomic Ray” (Self Published) and “Little Elf: A Celebration of Harry Langdon” – Co-Authored with Michael J. Hayde – Bear Manor Media (AMAZON). Chuck wrote the acclaimed Television Documentary “Hey! Hey! We’re the Monkees” – Rhino/Disney Channel and…among others… “Gossip: Tabloid Tales” for A&E. He has appeared as a commentator on such TV programs as “North Mission Road”, ‘Cops: America’s Most Wanted”, “Places of Infamy”, A&E Biography”, “Mysteries and Scandals” and “Unsolved Mysteries”. Under his musical performing name of Chuck Winston he has produced four cds of musical recordings and recently finished a compilation cd of the best previously released material = “The Best of Chuck Winston” – Kickz Records. He has performed in concert many times in the Los Angeles area. Chuck’s current book is “Mr. Novak An Acclaimed Television Series” which covers the 1960’s program about education, and was published by Bear Manor Media (AMAZON) in October of 2017. His next project will be a book on the 1961 Horror TV series “‘Way Out” in which he will partner with author Martin Grams, Jr. Publication is scheduled for September of 2018. Chuck lives in Los Angeles near Culver City.
