An old DPD Detective says "Goodbye" to Fish.

The news today of the passing of Abe Vigoda, who played the role of "Fish" in the old "Barney Miller" series, just loosened an avalanche of memories for me today. While I never met Abe Vigoda, he and his crew at the old NYPD 12th Precinct Detective Bureau always reminded me of my days as a detective at the 10th Precinct [[Livernois) D.B. My god, the "Barney Miller" series was dead on to what went on in a precinct Detective Bureau every day. We, of the D.B., roared every week at the show, and all of us in the years to follow in re-runs. Back about 1978, we invited Hal Linden [[Barney Miller) to visit us in Detroit, and he and his wife accepted and made the rounds in the various precincts of the DPD. The fact that Max Gail [[Wojo) was a native Detroiter made it even more believable!

That said, God rest you, Abe Vigoda. You were a little bit of each and every one of us was who ever carried the badge of a DPD detective.

Bottom photo is Hal Linden and me, 1978.

Well, yeah but... He was the mobster Tessio in The Godfather too. :)

RIP to one of the greatest character actors. Great picture of Ray1936 too.

Abe Vigoda 90th Birthday With Hal Linden

Ray, it's nice to see the face that goes with the name. For a second though, I thought I was looking at Kevin Spacey.

I'll bet there aren't too many on here that remember Barney Miller, one of the funniest shows on TV.

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Originally Posted by 3WC

Ray, it's nice to see the face that goes with the name. For a second though, I thought I was looking at Kevin Spacey.

I'll bet there aren't too many on here that remember Barney Miller, one of the funniest shows on TV.

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Well, bear in mind that the face is nearly 40 years older now. But thanks for the kind comment anyway! :)

Ah yes, I recall his bad day ala Godfather:

"Can you get me off the hook Tom? For old times sake..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d30Y0n1nDH4

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Originally Posted by Lowell

Well, yeah but... He was the mobster Tessio in The Godfather too. :)

RIP to one of the greatest character actors. Great picture of Ray1936 too.

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Great picture Ray.

I certainly remember Barney Miller. Great show with a great ensemble cast and a lot of often very subtle humor. Upon hearing of Mr. Vigoda's death today my dad called me up to ask where he could watch one of our old favorite shows. [[Turns out that some it is available streaming, and a few episodes are also on YouTube).

Fish & Co. Unwittingly Consume Hashish-laden Brownies

One of the best shows of the era.

I love your picture with Hal Linden! I also LOVED "Barney Miller", such a great show and every character important to the big picture. I was also sorry to see Abe Vigoda had passed away, what a wonderful actor.

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Originally Posted by Jimaz

Abe Vigoda 90th Birthday With Hal Linden

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Great video. Hey, Ray! When do we get to see you tap dance??

The Barney Miller show was before my time. What was accurate about the portrayal?

I used to watch it. Barney Miller was excellently cast, and very well written. The characters were showcased well and equally. It would be a spearhead to later, far more gritty 'cop shows' but held up very well for the time.

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Originally Posted by Hypestyles

The Barney Miller show was before my time. What was accurate about the portrayal?

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I'd have to defer to Ray1936 to answer the accuracy question.

I do recall that police in general were grappling with public relations problems after the turbulent 60s, e.g., they were commonly referred to as "the pigs." Barney Miller seemed to be an attempt to soften the image of police in the public eye. I'd say it accomplished that goal very well.

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Originally Posted by Hypestyles

The Barney Miller show was before my time. What was accurate about the portrayal?

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Well, it showed the humdrum of routine, for starters. On "Law and Order", for example, those guys got into a once-in-a-career type case every week. Don't happen that way. L&O SUV always had guys shooting something or someone. In my 25 years, never fired a shot once. Nor did 98% of the guys I worked with.

It also showed the personal concerns of the guys. Harris writing a book and worrying about his agent. I edited and wrote for the monthly magazine of the Lts. & Sgts. Association; loved doing it. Our publisher often suggested I write a book. I thought of it but declined; I'm good on the short stuff but lack the 'stick-to-it' determination for anything of length.

And, Jeez, how could I forget Inspector Luger [["Inspector Frank Luger, NYPD, at your service.")??? We had a few of them around, living in the past and afraid to retire. Trying to be helpful but being nothing but a pain in the ass.

And the set! Damn, it looked just like most of the precinct detective bureaus in Detroit, especially in the older precinct buildings, like Palmer Park or E. Davison. Clipboards with year-old memos hanging from the walls, wanted posters that no one ever looked at, leaky ceilings and rusty water pipes. The architects who designed DPD buildings probably all flunked Construction 101.

Lastly, the citizens and the arrested ones. A hodgepodge of sanity and nutsy, just like in real life. The real wackos, as you see in the other cop shows, were really few and far between. And yes, we often had sympathy for someone who we had to charge with a crime. Just like the Barney Miller crew.

Believe me, "Barney Miller" was as accurate as you'll see on the tube. And thanks for asking.

You should write a book on the legendary 10th Precinct narcotics event...I've heard about it on the street for years, but never had any direct confirmations. Something about the entire narc squad getting indicted for dealing, employing the neighborhood kids. I may have started a thread on it years ago...

Found it...five years ago.

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...-10th-Precinct

Yeah, the Rudy Davis case. When it broke, the dope dealer was tight lipped, except that he claimed he gave an expensive diamond ring to a 10th precinct sergeant, and the ring had the initials RD. Internal affairs focused on Rudy Davis at once. The only other sergeant at #10 with the initials of RD was......well, let's just truthfully say I never got any diamond ring. :cool:

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Originally Posted by Jimaz

Fish & Co. Unwittingly Consume Hashish-laden Brownies

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I watched this one this morning, still funny...

Thanks, Ray. That was the lead I needed...found some meaty stuff on a search of "Rudy Davis Detroit 10th Precinct scandal". Updating that old thread now, if Lowell will let me!

Did you find this Gannon

http://freeingjohnsinclair.aadl.org/node/200376

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Originally Posted by Gannon

You should write a book on the legendary 10th Precinct narcotics event...I've heard about it on the street for years, but never had any direct confirmations. Something about the entire narc squad getting indicted for dealing, employing the neighborhood kids. I may have started a thread on it years ago...

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Why should Ray write that book? Maybe you can use that boundless energy and do it yourself? Of course, nobody really cares about that incident at this late date, so maybe a one off of self publishing may be in order. There's machines for that, you know. ;)

Barney did it on the comedic side. Hill Street did it on the dramatic side.

Probably more true to life that most people wanted to admit at their times.

Because he is a direct witness to it, the "RD" anecdote is enough.

There are TONS of folks who care about this type of corruption, which recurs periodically enough to be called systematic. Every decade has seen a huge scandal within the DPD...at least.

Too often, they are centered around narcotics...even though personal-use and abuse should be a health concern rather than criminal.

As I recall, Rudy Davis and his crew [[two other police officers) got burned because he was trying to do a right thing in a wrong way. He supplied some dopers with narcotics to 'buy' information on the dealers. The junk he used was stuff confiscated in raids, etc. He really [[in his mind) meant well on the drug war, but used strictly illegal methods in his quest. A good guy who did some dumb things. I don't know what the outcome was; my memory tends to forget bad things in favor of retaining the funny things.

I suppose that's healthy.

At one point Abe Vigoda was claimed to be dead in error!

The Decades-Long History of the Abe Vigoda Death Error

http://www.vnews.com/lifetimes/20756...da-death-error

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Originally Posted by jfk

Did you find this Gannon

http://freeingjohnsinclair.aadl.org/node/200376

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No...but it was really great. Thanks.

I was up reading all night.

Funny how it shows on the Ann Arbor news searches, but almost nothing from the Freep or News archives.

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Originally Posted by Ray1936

The news today of the passing of Abe Vigoda, who played the role of "Fish" in the old "Barney Miller" series, just loosened an avalanche of memories for me today. While I never met Abe Vigoda, he and his crew at the old NYPD 12th Precinct Detective Bureau always reminded me of my days as a detective at the 10th Precinct [[Livernois) D.B. My god, the "Barney Miller" series was dead on to what went on in a precinct Detective Bureau every day. We, of the D.B., roared every week at the show, and all of us in the years to follow in re-runs. Back about 1978, we invited Hal Linden [[Barney Miller) to visit us in Detroit, and he and his wife accepted and made the rounds in the various precincts of the DPD. The fact that Max Gail [[Wojo) was a native Detroiter made it even more believable!

That said, God rest you, Abe Vigoda. You were a little bit of each and every one of us was who ever carried the badge of a DPD detective.

Bottom photo is Hal Linden and me, 1978.

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Was that the 10th Precinct at Livernois and Elmhurst?

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Originally Posted by garyalex

Was that the 10th Precinct at Livernois and Elmhurst?

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It was. And also the annex on the southeast corner, AKA Oscar's Bar. :)

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Originally Posted by Ray1936

It was. And also the annex on the southeast corner, AKA Oscar's Bar. :)

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Including that bar. Omar's across the street. I spent way too many hours of my youth standing on that corner. I also became familiar with the lockups in the 10th. I have some very bad memories of some of the detectives in the 10th. Sometimes it's hard to believe I survived all that. Some of the things I did were just stupid. Ah, youth.

Reminds me of an episode of "Taxi" where Latka brings in his family recipe cookies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-c4cd_Lm-Q
Another great series from the past. Good times!