![]() Word on the street is that this was a tragic accident. And just as predictably he’s mistaken for a meddling onlooker by Rumford, who asks Sergeant Kramer to remove him from the crime scene. Predictably Lieutenant Columbo is amongst the officers sent to investigate. ![]() Rumford initially mistakes Columbo for a slack-jawed gawker at the crime scene One yank of the cord and KABLAMO! William Haynes is splashed all over the parade ground. The cannon is prepped to fire, rigged shell and all, and Haynes strides out to meet his destiny. Cadets dressed like toy soldiers march on parade, brass band tunes a-blaring. ![]() In seizing the opportunity to hurt Rumford, Haynes has sealed his own fate. He will not play a background role – he’ll be front and centre and will fire the ceremonial cannon shot to commence the day’s festivities. Rumford goads Haynes into presiding over the Founder’s Day ceremony by telling him he’s not welcome and should beat it off campus ASAP. The two trade barbs, with Rumford leaving his office door ajar to allow busybody secretary Miss Brady to overhear. “ And that is why institutions like this academy cannot be allowed to die.” There are too many people set on destroying our country,” the Colonel returns, evenly. “The shoe-shamed Boodle Boy sags like a limp lettuce and trails away to an uncertain future.” “The truth is nobody wants to play soldier anymore. The academy is failing, despite its proud history. Haynes has his heart set on shutting down the academy and replacing it with a co-ed junior college – something that Rumford vehemently objects to. That guest of honour at Founder’s Day is none other than William Haynes, grandson of the academy patriarch, who has had a fractious relationship with Rumford since his own days as a ‘poor cadet’ some 20 years prior. The Colonel remains in combative mood after arriving at his office to meet a special guest. Following this morning’s ceremonies you will report to my office for discipline.” The Boodle Boy sags like a limp lettuce and trails away to an uncertain future… ![]() “How do you explain those shoes, Miller?” the Colonel barks. It’s Founder’s Day, you see, the most important date on the calendar of the Haynes Military Academy, and certainly not a day to scrimp on the shoe shine. Rumford for the rest of the semester.Īnd while the coffee he’s delivering meet’s Rumford’s approval, the state of his shoes does not. It’s BOODLE BOY MILLER (Woooooooooooooooooooo!), whose poor geometry skillz appear to have landed him the unenviable role of lackey to the cannon-corrupting Colonel Lyle C. His view centres on a jar of CIDER hanging in a dormitory window, which he can just make out through a small gap in the trees. A look of thunder that suggests someone is going to pay flickers over his face as he takes an about turn and strides away.Ī bugle sounding reveille breaks the silence and a nervous, fresh-faced lad knocks of the door of the army man’s abode. He takes the shell and returns it to a locked case in the armoury before strolling out to a vintage French 75mm cannon and surreptitiously pushes a cloth down the barrel. He dresses in an army uniform and silently slips out into the lightening dawn. It’s either a humid morning, or the thrill of kneading plastic explosive before breakfast is just too real! The nature of the work? Tampering with explosives! The mystery man tips gunpowder from a 75mm shell and adheres a ring of putty-like substance to the inside of the casing before replacing the projectile’s cover and washing the powder down the sink. Rumford: Patrick McGoohanĮpisode synopsis: Columbo By Dawn’s Early LightĪ lone, sweaty man is hard at toil in the crude kitchenette of a no-frills homestead. But does Early Light live up to the hype? Or to put it another way, is it a full-blooded hero of an episode, or the televisual equivalent of a pathetic Boodle Boy? And are we ready to find out?ĭramatis personae BOODLE BOY: Robert ClotworthyĬolonel Lyle C. Yes folks, the dear Lieutenant’s 28th outing would pit him against one of the most iconic guest star adversaries in the show’s proud history, all set against the austere backdrop of the Haynes Military Academy. Octowas a BIG day in Columbo circles: it was the day Patrick McGoohan made his series’ debut in By Dawn’s Early Light.
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