Cassa, I mentioned this in another post, but, if you recall, Danny Green was dating Santini's daughter. Santini doesn't approve and he ends up throwing his daughter out of the act. This is a subtle point, but recall that Santini was a Nazi concentration camp guard. Although they don't say it explicitly, Danny Green is a Jew and Santini is appalled that his daughter would have anything to do with him. If you don't understand that, then the whole scene with Santini interviewing a woman to replace his daughter doesn't make any sense. This shows Santini and his fellow Nazis are total fanatics who don't even care about their own families in their pursuit of their racial fantasies (shades of the modern suicide bomber terrorists!). This is why the Danny Green character is very important. Don't forget that he was in the final scene where Santini is caught.

Ok..I apologize, YM.

Serioulsy....for the life of me, I never noticed any of this stuff before you pointed it out in that other post. All this stuff went right over my head, including the part about him firing his daughter. I have it on tape but I will wait to watch it again when I buy the season 3 dvds.....and I will pay close attention to all these insightful points you make.

um......I'll be waiting a long time to be able to watch Now You See Him on the season 3 dvds...since that episode was from season 5!!

I guess I'll just dig out my vhs copy.....

Well, YM, my husband and I just watched Now You See Him. I really overlooked a lot of innuendo and down-right evidence there about Satini being so anti-Semitic...to put it mildly. It is very clear to me now that the things you spoke of were quite apparent, and there to see. Thanks for the insight...it made it a much deeper episode for me.

Ditto here...I just sort of glazed over the fact he was looking for a new sidekick for his act. Also, my VHS copy was taped off of Bravo and I suspect they trimmed off a few things.

Speaking of that...when I got season 2 on DVD I loved seeing the part where Columbo tumbles down that hill! That was another one I taped off of Bravo and they cut it out.

In all these years, it never occurred to me that Danny Green is supposed to be Jewish. Probably because there is not explicit reference. The reasoning seems to make sense, as Santini is an ex-Nazi.

This connects well with what we discussed in the other thread about "race relations" as reflected in Columbo. The writers and producers generally tended to downplay these things and deal with them indirectly.
Of course there were exceptions like the "Italian-Mafia" connection in "Candidate for Crime" and, of course
the IRA in "The Conspirators".

Bravo's not the only culprit. Two weeks ago, after the great pearl-in-the-umbrella climax in Dagger of the Mind, they lopped out the scene where Columbo tells Durk the story about where he learned the pearl-flipping trick. Wish these guys would take one last Coke or Swiffer commercial, but I guess I should be happy they show 'em on Sunday afternoon.

And besides the Jewish/Nazi conflict in Now You See Him, there was also mention of a "Syndicate" connection with Jesse Jerome....and that whole napkin thing that Headache had explained to me.
And also in Murder By The Book, we had Ken Franklin implying that James Ferris had somehow ired the mobsters into knocking him off.

I didn't see the posting about the napkin.
Could you tell me the meaning?- it has always puzzled me.

uh...oh....YM...I think I might have to disappoint you a bit on the napkin thing. As I said, I believe it was Headache who explained it to me or it could have even been Mrs. Peck....but for the life of me I can't remember the full explanation. I only can remember that when there is mob style hit the head is sometimes covered with a cloth or a napkin. Maybe someone else on here can help us out?

Wow! I totally missed that. What a nice subtle point. It makes sense to me.

I'm glad this point about Danny Green was made; I never thought about this before either. However, I've always thought one reason Columbo was a superior series was its ability to hint at much larger issues than the crime itself (which other series in the genre do not). For example (and I'm certain I'm not the first to point this out) in Prescription: Murder, aren't the writers warning us of our misplaced faith in the omniscience of physicians and psychiatrists, who are often mistaken for modern-day miracleworkers? In the end, we realize our trust should be in folks like Columbo, who "walk humbly" so to speak. On the other hand, maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Michael, I don't think you are reading too much into it at all. I truly agree with you that Columbo is such a great show because it goes beyond a murder mystery. It delves into social issues that many other shows feared to encounter. And it exposes the high and mighty, who may seem to be the great ones in society, as mere mortals and sometimes not very nice mortals.

In the same vein as Prescription: Murder you have the ruthlessness of Dr. Mayfield in A Stitch in Crime, who murders twice, and almost kills a third. His profession warrants him to save lives not take them away.
And in The Bye-Bye-Sky High I.Q. Murder Case, we witness the top 2% of intelligentsia, and they all come off as babbling idiots who seem to know nothing about a simple thing called "common sense"

I agree completely, but I was trying to say that Columbo hints at even larger issues. The "good" see themselves as part of a whole, whereas the "bad" cannot see themselves as a part of the whole--they are "separate" and unto themselves. And people who believe in their separateness often view themselves as superior to the whole. While Columbo is eccentric as the dickens and quite the unusual character, he realizes that life doesn't revolve around him--he's a part of life, not the center of it. Columbo has--I think--a near religious message about the value of humility. Isn't pride the worst of the Cardinal Sins?

Interesting stuff...and of course we have the great Columbo line at the mensa club, something like "Here I am among the top 2% (etc etc) and I didn't even realize"!

Well Michael......what can I say?...........you bring up a very interesting and insightful point. And I believe that what you say is true. The humility of the Columbo character is what draws us to him...because in our own lives, that is the way most of us deal with things everyday. Those "others" are so filled with their own prestige and presence in life that they cannot imagine a world which didn't have them as a member. Their self-centered ways will not allow them to do so. And your point about Columbo being an almost spiritual experience is well-taken with me. You have made that fairly clear to me. The values he possesses...politeness..humility..are all things that are the makings of a blessed human being...and they are qualities which should be admired and emulated.

So eloquently stated! This sounds a bit far-fetched, but I'm sure you've seen those books with titles like "The Gospel in Peanuts" and the like. It would seem to me that an imaginative person could make the case for "The Gospel in Columbo."

Thank you Michael.
And yes, I have heard of those Peanuts books....they are quite similar to the books The Tao of Pooh and The Tao of Piglet....there is a deeper meaning to Pooh and Piglet....as well as Columbo.