Jake Rubidoux
Created by Lee Hutson

William Devane starred as tough guy JAKE RUBIDOUX in ther 1982 TV pilot The Big Easy (not to be confused with the 1986 Dennis Quaid/Ellen Barkin flick).

Jake was a clarinet-playing gumshoe who hung out at "The Big Easy," a joint in the French Quarter run by a friend of his. In the pilot, Jake gets roped by a wealthy Texan into looking for his missing daughter -- unaware he's actually fingering the girl for an assassin.

He hits plenty of New Orleans landmarks in his endeavours; his legwork apparently not discouraged by what one person who's actually seen it remembers as "a rather syrupy Creole score."

But by most accounts, it was decent enough, even garnering an Emmy nod (to writer Lee Hutson for Best Television Feature or Miniseries). Alas, it didn't win. And the pilot failed to get picked up.

TELEVISION

• THE BIG EASY
  (1982, ABC)
  60 minutes
  Teleplay by Lee Hutson
  Directed by Jud Taylor
  Produced by Joseph Stern
  Executive Producer: Dan Curtis
  Music by J J Johnson
  With performances by The Camellia Jazz Band Music Performer
  Starring William Devane as JAKE RUBIDOUX
  with Lane Smith as Lieutenant Frank Medley
  Also starring Nicholas Pryor, Matt Clark, Stocker Fontelieu

RELATED LINKS

• O'Neil De Noux's Favorites, and Other Big Easy Eyes
  Author and The Thrilling Detective Web Site contributor O'Neil De Noux is a former real-life police officer and private investigator. He currently writes the NOPD Detective Dino La Stanza police procedural series, and has written several stories about 1948 New Orleans private eye Lucien Caye.

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.