The Peter Gunn private eye series, starring Craig Stevens, debuted at the start of our junior year at Rogers. That was 1958. The show was cast as the film noir genre, but with a twist. More on the twist in a minute.
I learned that term, “noir” lately, after researching the origin the character Guy Noir, on NPR's Prairie Home Companion. It basically means that a show exhibits the attitude of hardboiled crime fiction. Think of the Sam Spade kind of character, who wears a trench coat and talks in a voice-over, making humorous ironic remarks about his low situation. The cinematography often was black-and-white, with a lot of shadows, silhouettes, and fog.
Chris Rossmeir, my friend from Cooper elementary, and Rogers, referred to Peter Gunn as “Pete.” Now for the twist. This character (Pete, not Chris), differed from the standard noir coarse character, in that Pete was dapper and suave, not poor and bitter. Pete’s girlfriend was Edie Hart. She was also cool. They hung out at Mothers, an upscale wharf-side club.
The show’s theme music completed the twist. It threw the effect of sophistication and hip in your face. The theme was a jazz theme played by Henry Mancini. Indeed, a jazz theme accompanied every move Pete made. Mancini, not Stevens, was the real-life benefactor of the show. He earned two Grammys and an Emmy for his Peter Gunn scores. Many blues and rock artists went on to create arrangements of their own. People younger than us, who never heard of Pete, can often recognize the Peter Gunn Theme.