Winky on Rocky Jones, Space Ranger

Winky, second from the top. Posing with a space ladder.

I should quit doing this, but I turned on a movie to put myself to sleep last night. It was called Menace from Outer Space. They just strung together episodes of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, an old syndicated TV series from the mid-1950's.

25-year-old Scotty Beckett played Rocky Jones' sidekick, Winky. I don't know why they gave him such a stupid name. Beckett had been a Little Rascal for a short time then became a prominent child actor in Hollywood. He was friends with Elizabeth Taylor and Roddy McDowall. As an adult, he became a drunk and a gambler, but refused to pay gambling debts or repay loans. He was arrested after an armed robbery at a hotel. He was found passed out drunk in the hotel basement with a gun but not the money.

Because he didn't have the loot and the clerk couldn't positively identify him, Beckett was charged only with possession of a weapon. He got out on bail and fled to Mexico with his wife and 3-year-old son. They ran out of money. He used his acting ability to pass fake cashier's checks from a nonexistent bank to local merchants. When Mexican police tracked him to the hotel where they were staying, he tried to sneak himself and his family out. Police spotted him and Beckett and the cops got into a gunfight. Luckily for all involved, no one was killed.

Beckett spent four months in a Mexican jail before being sent back to the United States where he plead guilty to the weapons charge and was given three years probation. He must have felt pretty stupid running off to Mexico when all he got was probation anyway.

But, of course, that ended his role on Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. Kind of weird that Winky was such a tough customer in real life.