A personal mystery of mine concerns the TV pilot Kovacs made just before his death. The show was called "Medicine Man," and was a western about an itinerant snake-oil salesman (Kovacs) and his mute Indian sidekick (Buster Keaton!). Both Kovacs and Keaton made the show solely for financial reasons. I've seen the pilot, and it's hard to enjoy. The show is extremely formulaic and predictable and the laugh-track is blatantly obvious, moreso to me because the formula, canned laughter and western format are the complete opposite of what Ernie Kovacs was all about.

The mystery for me is this: Here is a point in time, maybe one or two weeks of shooting, when the two greatest comic minds - especially in terms of comic visual sense and understanding of their respective media - worked together. But in no book on Keaton or Kovacs have I ever seen any mention of this, beyond stating the fact that the pilot was shot. What did these two men have to say to each other? Kovacs was a fan of Keaton's, and Keaton must have been impressed with Kovacs' TV work. They both struggled with maintaining creative control of their work, they both preferred working in silence; there are definite similarities in their work (e.g. Kovacs' Baseball Film and the baseball game in Keaton's The Cameraman).

I'm sure one of the main reasons this isn't discussed is because it was, for both of them, something they did quickly for money. It was also one of the last things Kovacs worked on, so it may be difficult for people who knew him to talk about. But I still think it's sort of a mini-event in the history of screen comedy, and even if it's only a footnote, I'd love to know how they got along on the shoot, etc. Maybe there's an A.D. who worked on the show who's around and remembers something. If anybody knows anything about this, or lives in California and is interested in doing a little research, I'd appreciate it. I'll do what I can from here.