September 14, 1963: "The Lieutenant" Premieres on NBC

September 14, 1963: The Lieutenant premieres on NBC. It was the 1st TV show created by Gene Roddenberry, up until then known as a writer, especially for the TV Western Have Gun -- Will Travel.

Gary Lockwood played 2nd Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice, a recent graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. The Naval Academy trains officers for both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps, and Rice had chosen the Marines. As the series begins, he is a rifle platoon leader and a training instructor at Camp Pendleton, a Marine base outside San Diego.

Robert Vaughn, who had been one of The Magnificent Seven, played Rice's company commander, Captain Raymond Bainbridge. Unlike Annapolis graduate Rice, he came up through the ranks. Richard Anderson had a recurring role Lieutenant Colonel Steve Hiland, the battalion commander. Linda Evans appeared as his daughter, Nan, who flirted with Rice, but nothing ever happened between them.

The series focused primarily on Rice's various assignments as a junior officer, which often involved special details or difficult situations. Several of the later episodes featured Rice becoming an undercover investigator with military intelligence, allowing for plots and scenarios which Rice would otherwise not be involved with as a second lieutenant.

On February 22, 1964, NBC shelved an episode of the show that it had intended to air that evening, titled "To Set It Right." It was directed by Vincent McEveety. The plot concerned a black Marine who was persecuted by a Corporal, played by Dennis Hopper. A year earlier, Hopper had played a neo-Nazi guided by the ghost of Hitler on a Twilight Zone episode titled "He's Alive."

The black Marine, Private Ernest Cameron, was played by Don Marshall, later to star on Land of the Giants. Making her TV debut as his girlfriend, Norma Bartlett, was a 31-year-old cabaret singer named Nichelle Nichols.

NBC said its advertisers wouldn't like the episode. Roddenberry went to the NAACP, and showed it to some executives. But they also objected, because Private Cameron appeared to be a stereotype they couldn't stand, the angry black man. With blowback from both racists and civil rights advocates, NBC dropped the episode, and announced the series' cancellation a week later. The final episode aired on April 18, 1964.

The series ended with the Rice character being restationed to a fictional country that was clearly an analogue to Vietnam. If it had lasted longer, it might have run into trouble with the way stories about that country were told. Also, an officer as bright as 2nd Lieutenant Rice might have been promoted to 1st Lieutenant, but he would have risen through the ranks beyond that, rendering the show's title out of date. Given the Department of the Navy's use of "Mr." as a title for officers, regardless of rank, adopted from Britain's Royal Navy, perhaps the show, had it continued, would have been renamed Mister Rice.

The experience of not being able to talk about race, war, and other important things on that show led Roddenberry to discuss such topics in allegory form on his next show, Star Trek. For that show's 2nd attempt a pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," he hired the star of The Lieutenant, Gary Lockwood, as Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell, First Officer and Navigator of the starship USS Enterprise.

Mitchell was written as the best friend-turned-antagonist of the show's lead character, William Shatner's Captain James Kirk. A tombstone created by Mitchell in that episode had him listed as "James R. Kirk." But in the Season 1 episode "Tomorrow Is Yesterday," the Captain gives his name as "James T. Kirk." Trek fans have come up with a few explanations for that changed middle initial since. And in 1973, Star Trek: The Animated Series gave his middle name as "Tiberius," same as William Rice.

Also joining Roddenberry from The Lieutenant to Star Trek were Nichols; McEveety, who would direct 6 Trek episodes; his girlfriend (later wife), Majel Barrett; Marshall, who played Lieutenant Boma in a one-shot appearance in the Season 1 episode "The Galileo Seven"; and series guest stars Leonard Nimoy, Walter Koenig and Ricardo Montalban.

The Lieutenant was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and after its cancellation, they gave Vaughn the lead role in a new series, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Anderson would later have a key role on The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. Evans would star on Dynasty. And Lockwood would be forever remembered as ill-fated astronaut Dr. Frank Poole in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

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September 14, 1963 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees split a doubleheader with the Minnesota Twins at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The Twins won the opener, 6-2. Dick Stigman outpitched Bill Stafford. Vic Power, whom general manager George Weiss traded 10 years earlier, rather than allow to become the 1st black Yankee, went 4-for-5 with an RBI for the Twins. Elston Howard, who did become the 1st black Yankee, and who would soon be named the American League's Most Valuable Player, hit a home run. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-4, before leaving with an injury. 

The Yankees won the nightcap, 3-1. Ralph Terry outpitched Gerry Arrigo. Tom Tresh hit a home run. Mantle did not play. Roger Maris did not play in either game. The Yankees had clinched the Pennant by beating the Twins the day before, so there was little reason to risk either of "The M&M Boys." Over the 2 games, Harmon Killebrew went 2-for-8 with an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the Houston Colt .45s, 4-0 at the Polo Grounds. Ken Johnson pitched a 4-hit shutout. Carl Warwick hit a home run. Four days later, the Mets lost to the Phillies in the last baseball game at the Polo Grounds. The next year, they moved into the new Shea Stadium. The year after that, the Colt .45s moved into the new Astrodome, and became the Houston Astros.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-1 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators, 7-5 at District of Columbia Stadium (later Robert F. Kennedy Stadium) in Washington.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Willie Mays went 2-for-5. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-5. Willie Stargell went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Former Oriole Gus Triandos won it with a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning, off Robin Roberts. Al Kaline went 0-for-3 with a walk. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Neither Frank Robinson of the Reds nor Ernie Banks of the Cubs appeared in the game.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Braves, 3-2 at the 1st Busch Stadium (formerly the last Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Bob Gibson was the winning pitcher. Bill White hit a home run. Stan Musial, in his last month as an active player, went 0-for-3. Joe Torre hit a home run. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Athletics, 6-4 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Dick Stuart hit 2 home runs. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* And the Los Angeles Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Angels were groundsharing while waiting for their Anaheim stadium to be built.

It was the opening week for the college football season, and 2 games were played by teams that we would now recognize as "major colleges." Georgia Tech beat Florida, 9-0 at Grant Field in Atlanta. And Memphis State (now the University of Memphis) beat Southern Mississippi, 28-7 at Mississippi Memorial Stadium in Jackson.

It was the opening week for the NFL season, and 2 games were played on this Saturday rather than Sunday. The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Dallas Cowboys, 34-7 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. And the Detroit Lions beat the Los Angeles Rams, 23-2 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

It was the 2nd week of the season for the AFL, and 1 game was played: The Houston Oilers beat the Denver Broncos, 20-14 at Jeppesen Stadium in Houston.

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal crossed town to beat Fulham, 4-1 at Craven Cottage in West London.