Release Bruce Lee From Archive Prison!!!

Child actress sheds light On Lost Bruce Lee TV Show

Pamelyn Ferdin a Hollywood child actress in the 1960s recently shed some light on meeting Bruce Lee in the 13th episode of the TV series Blondie that aired on 9th January 1969. This episode is thought to feature lost and unseen footage of Bruce Lee.

The missing episode is entitled “Pick On A Bully Your Own Size”. Blondie stars Patricia Harty and Will Hutchins as Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead, a suburban couple raising two precocious children, a boy called Alexander played by Peter Robbins and a girl called Cookie played by Pamelyn Ferdin. Plots mixed typical sitcom tropes from home life and work life.

Seems like Bullying is a perennial topic from the 60s to right now…

Ok, so far so good, but where does Bruce Lee fit in to this tale of sitcom suburbia?

In the missing show the father Dagwood and Alexander are victims of bullies from the Colby family. Dagwood thinks the solution is to take classes in self-defence so he enrols at a karate school, but things turn out unexpectedly. Of course, Bruce was Dagwood’s Karate Instructor, in a similar role to the one he played in an episode of “Ironside” entitled “Tagged for murder”, this time he plays the role for laughs.

Pamelyn recalled, “The last episode of “Blondie” we filmed featured guest star Bruce Lee, fresh from “The Green Hornet,” as a martial arts instructor. Lee was charming and friendly and had a great sense of humour. He also had amazing skill. Getting ready to shoot one scene set in the martial arts school, Lee asked the director if he could demonstrate a whirling kick move on Will Hutchins.”

Pamelyn continued, “The director said no, he did not want to risk Hutchins getting hurt if Lee accidentally kicked him in the face. Lee said he understood, then suddenly whirled around and kicked backwards at the director. We all froze until we saw Lee standing there on one leg, smiling, with his foot about an inch from the director’s face. We applauded, and Lee got to do his kick in the scene.”

Pamelyn Ferdin is a former child actress who played the Bumsteads’ daughter Cookie in the 1968–1969 CBS revival series Blondie. She is also remembered for her appearance in the original TV series of Star Trek in 1968 as one of a group of orphaned children led by an alien with sinister motives in the episode “And the Children Shall Lead” . Ferdin also made guest appearances in American TV shows such as Branded, The Monkees, The High Chaparral, Mannix, The Streets of San Francisco, Berretta & Chips. In addition, she had a supporting role in notable civil war film The Beguiled (1971) with Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Page. Ferdin distanced herself from acting in the late 1980s, and shifted her career to animal rights activism, working as an activist and protester in animal protection programs in New York City and Los Angeles.

We Say Release Bruce Lee From Archive Prison!!!

The “ Blondie “ episode has never been see publicly since its airing back in the sixties even though its star Will Hutchins has talked about his meeting with Bruce, and a trailer is readily available to watch. Its producers King features (well known for their distribution of the Popeye the cartoon sailor) and its distributor CBS have not replied to any enquiries to release this last footage of Bruce Lee in action.

Maybe one day a young executive will see its value and make it available to all. Join our campaign to Release Bruce Lee!!!

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As a side note, it is interesting that Bruce was not the only one to star in this episode, who had also appeared as a regular in the Green Hornet, Wende Wagner who had played Lenore Case secretary to Brit Reid the Green Hornet, but in Blondie yet again played Dithers’ Secretary.

Here’s the Promo for the show enjoy:-

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