The Munsters: The All-American Family?

September 4, 2023November 18, 2022 / thewritelife61 / 2 Comments

This month’s blog “theme is “Kinda Creepy.” These are not shows that will give you nightmares or have you sleeping with the nightlight on. But they did have a touch of ghoul or terror. First up is one of our All-American families, The Munsters.

The creators of Leave It to Beaver, developed this series to be a satire of suburban life. The opening credit shows Lily handing her family their lunches as they run out the door just like Donna Reed did in The Donna Reed Show in the fifties. The Munsters are a perfectly normal family except for a few eccentric and trivial things like Herman (Fred Gwynne) being a Frankenstein, Lily (Yvonne De Carlo) being a vampire, Grandpa (Al Lewis) who can turn into a bat, and werewolf son Eddie (Butch Patrick). In real life, Lewis was a year younger than De Carlo who played his daughter and Gwynne was four years younger than De Carlo.

Living with the family is Lily’s niece Marilyn (Beverly Owen/Pat Priest), who seems a little abnormal to the family but looks like any high school girl of the time, except a little bit prettier. Owen was engaged when she got the part and did not think the show would be picked up. When it became popular, the cast convinced the network to release her from her contract, and Priest, who looked very similar, took over. Gwynne and Lewis had previously been part of the cast of Car 54, Where Are You? and were good friends. (To learn more about their friendship and their individual careers, see my blog from July 10, 2017.)

This series aired on CBS, and ABC featured The Addams Family whom we’ll meet next week. Both shows debuted in 1965 and were off the air after two seasons.

There were a few recurring characters including Paul Lynde as Dr. Edward Dudley (Dom DeLuise also played Dr. Dudley in one episode), Herman’s boss Mr. Gateman (John Carradine), and Clyde (Chet Stratton), a colleague of Herman’s.

The family lives at 1313 Mockingbird Lane. Herman works for Gateman, Goodbury and Graves, a funeral parlor, as a grave digger. In an interview with Daily Variety, Al Lewis, explained that with the unusual family, “they could do a lot of satirical pointed things on society that you couldn’t do on an ordinary show.”

The show actually had four pilots which I don’t think I have ever seen before. The first one was filmed in 1964 with Gwynne, Lewis, and Owen. Joan Marshall was Phoebe, Herman’s wife and Nate Derman was Eddie. For the second pilot, De Carlo replaced Marshall and changed her name to Lily. In the third edition, Patrick was brought on board to replace Derman. The cast stayed intact for the fourth pilot, but Eddie’s character was changed a bit. He was a bit of a brat and they toned it down.

The family had a pet dragon named Spot that lived under the stairs. When the staircase opened up, you could see the fire he was breathing and sometimes you would see his tail only.

Makeup for the show was credited to Bud Westmore who had worked for Universal during their monster movie phase. However, the actual work was done by several people. Perc Westmore worked with Grandpa. Abe Haberman applied Lily’s new face, while Michael Westmore worked with Patrick and Priest. Bill Mumy was the original choice for Eddie, but his parents said “No” when they learned about how much makeup would be used for each episode.

Patrick was asked about the cast and how they got along in an interview with Fox News. He said it was a good relationship. If he had to pick another actor whom he bonded with more than another it would probably be Lewis. He discussed the amazing comedic timing that Gwynne and Lewis shared. He said that the person he enjoyed working with the most was his makeup man, Westmore. He said he was the first person he saw every morning. He also mentioned Westmore was a very handsome guy who owned a Jaguar and was a bachelor, so he looked up to him as a role model also.

Karl Silvera did Herman’s makeup. Gwynne had the toughest time of all the characters. He had to spend two hours in the makeup chair first thing in the morning. He wore forty pounds of foam rubber padding and drank copious amounts of lemonade. Despite that, he lost a lot of weight doing the show. In one month, he lost ten pounds. They also put a piece of foam latex on his head to flatten the top. His shoes were asphalt paver’s boots with four-inch soles. The producers rented a compressed air tank and would poke the nozzle inside his collar to blow cool air on him.

The show aired on Thursday nights at 7:30. Many shows began filming in color in the mid-sixties, but the studio did not want to pay the extra $10,000 per episode, so it was shot in black and white. For its debut year, it was number 18, tied with Gilligan’s Island, but it took a drastic drop for season two and landed at number 61. The show competed with The Flintstones and Daniel Boone in year one In year two, Batman debuted in color and The Munsters’ viewers switched networks in droves. The show was canceled with 70 episodes for syndication. From the comments that I read, I’m not sure Lewis and Gwynne would have continued another season anyway. They wanted a different type of humor and, of course, Gwynne had to endure so much with his costume.

If you were looking at the merchandising that accompanied the show, you would never guess it was only on for two seasons. Between 1965-68, 16 Gold Key Comics were produced. The show rolled out Colorforms, car model kits, both a Herman Munster doll and a puppet, and View Masters. You could also purchase several different action figure sets, a board game, and a lunch box, among other items.

Although the show, not surprisingly, never received an Emmy nomination, it was up for Best Television Series for a Golden Globe in 1965 which did surprise me.

The theme song was an instrumental, simply titled “The Munsters’ Theme.” It was composed by Jack Marshall. It was nominated for a Grammy in 1965. There are lyrics for the song, written by Bob Mosher, but they were never used on the air.

For a show that was only on the air for two seasons, it has had a lot of staying power. I think that it was so different and the fact that The Addams Family was also on two seasons and very similar just provided it with that perfect fan base. I do remember watching the show and buying The Munsters coloring books and paper dolls, but I don’t remember it being a “must see” for me. Of course, I was only five when it was canceled, so I primarily saw it in reruns. Sadly, I would also choose Batman over The Munsters, so I understand why the viewers drifted. However, it is never a waste of time to watch Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis in action. If you never watched the show or want to binge watch it, seventy episodes is an easy one to get through.

June Lockhart Rocked the Acting Profession

January 11, 2021May 17, 2023 / thewritelife61 / 4 Comments

As we check out some of my favorite actresses this month, this week we learn about one of the most prolific actresses on the small screen. With more than 170 credits between 1938 and 2004, June Lockhart had a very successful career.

Perhaps destiny planned for June to become an actress. Both her parents, Canadian-born Gene and English-born Kathleen Lockhart, were actors and she traveled with them as a young child while they performed. Although she was born in New York City in 1925, she was brought up in Beverly Hills.

She was only 8 when she took the role of Mimsey in “Peter Ibbetson” at the Metropolitan Opera.

In 1938, at age 13, June made her film debut in A Christmas Carol with her parents. She appeared in more than thirty movies, including Meet Me in St. Louis, Sergeant York, All This and Heaven Too, and The Yearling.

Meet Me in St. Louis, 1944 ~ June Lockhart, Judy Garland & Lucille Bremer | Judy garland, Hollywood, Holiday movie — Photo: pinterest.com Meet Me in St. Louis

In 1948, she won a Tony for Outstanding Performance by a Newcomer for her role in “For Love or Money.”

Although her appearances in film and on Broadway would have been a lucrative career n themselves, it was in television that she found most of her fame. In 1949 she accepted a role on The Ford Theater Hour. During the 1950s she would make 56 appearances on drama theater shows. In addition, she was in Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, Rawhide, and Wagon Train.

In 1951 she married John Maloney. In 1959 they divorced and that same year, she married John Lindsay whom she was married to until 1970.

But it was in the television show, Lassie from 1958-1964 that she became a household name as Ruth Martin, Timmy’s (Jon Provost) mother. The show was about the Martin family’s life on the farm and the heroics of Timmy’s dog Lassie.

The 1960s continued to be very productive for her as an actress. She appeared in a variety of television shows, including the dramas Perry Mason, The Man from UNCLE, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and the comedies Bewitched, Family Affair, and The Beverly Hillbillies.

She also starred in two long-lasting sitcoms. From 1965-1968 she was Maureen Robinson on Lost in Space. On the show, a family with three children travel with Major Don West to colonize a new planet. Dr. Zach Smith is a stowaway who tried to sabotage their mission by throwing their ship off course and ends up having to live with the people he thought were his enemies.

In an interview with Bill Mumy who played her son Will on Lost in Space, he said that Lockhart always made time for the kids on the set. He said she kept them occupied between takes which she didn’t need to do. He said “she spent a lot of time nurturing Angela’s and my developing thought processes. Teaching us.”

In 1968 she was offered a role as Dr. Janet Craig for the final two seasons of Petticoat Junction. Bea Benaderet, the star, passed away in 1968, and Janet filled in as a “mother” to the girls.

Although she would not take on any additional regular roles for sitcoms, she continued to keep busy through the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. During these decades , she could be seen on Love American Style, Marcus Welby, Adam-12, Police Story, Ellery Queen, Happy Days, Magnum PI, Falcon Crest, Quincy, Murder She Wrote, Full House, Roseanne, Drew Carey, Grey’s Anatomy, and in Beverly Hills 90210 where she had a recurring role, along with 33 other series.

Her last acting role was an animation movie, Bongee Bear and the Kingdom of Rhythm, in 2016.

Lockhart is an interesting person as well as a successful actress. She hosted the Tournament of Roses parade for eight years and the Macy Thanksgiving parade for five years.

During my research, I learned several surprising things about her. She was an Ambassador for the California State Parks system. She won the NASA award for Exceptional Public Achievement Medal for inspiring the public about space exploration in 2013. She served as a panelist with several White House correspondents on a quiz show Who Said That in the fifties. That job provided her with an open invitation to attend White House briefings which she did and said were fun.

Her hobbies included gold mining, antique motorcars, lighter-than-air aircraft, and learning about the Old West. She kept medical texts near her bed for nighttime reading. She was a member of a kite-flying club. She also loved old steam engines.

Her husband bought her a 1923 Seagrave pumper fire engine named “Cordelia Delilah Lindsay” which she drove around even though it got two miles to the gallon. She actually had the largest parking space at the studio.

If all those facts aren’t interesting enough, in an interview with Bill Mumy by the Archive of American Television, he relayed that she loved rock and roll. In 1967, she hired the Allman Brothers Band (then called Hour Glass) to play at her house. She took Angela Cartwright and Bill to the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. He also said that “in the 1980s she carried a picture of only one person in her wallet and it was David Bowie.”

I’m truly impressed that with as busy as she was as an actress, she made time for both her two daughters and her television children, and enjoyed a ton of hobbies as well. It seems she had a joy for learning about new things and continued to add interests to her life. She is a great role model for all of us.

The Friendship and Careers of Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis

July 10, 2017 / thewritelife61 / 6 Comments

Fred Gwynne was born in New York in July of 1926 and died in Maryland in 1993. Al Lewis was born in New York in April of 1923 and passed away in New York in February of 2006. At first glance, they don’t seem to have a lot in common, but a closer look reveals why they enjoyed a long friendship.

Fred Gwynne

Fred Gwynne grew up in New York and had a very wealthy and advantaged upbringing. He was a radioman in the Navy during World War II. When the war was over, Gwynne entered Harvard, studying drawing and dramatics. He became a member of their Hasty Pudding Club, being involved with many theatrical productions. Gwynne graduated in 1951 and went on to work for a Shakespeare repertory company. He was a talented man with a variety of interests and earned his living from several careers. He was a copywriter, a musician, a book illustrator, and a commercial artist.

In 1952, he made his Broadway debut, acting with Helen Hayes in “Mrs. McThing.” The play ran for 320 performances. In 1953, he performed in his second Broadway play, “The Frogs of Spring” which had a much shorter run. In 1954, he had a small role in On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando.

He also began appearing on television in the 1950s, and most of his roles were on dramas such as Kraft Theater or DuPont Show of the Week.

The one exception was The Phil Silvers Show where he appeared in 1955 and 1956. The producer of this show, Nat Hiken, went on to create a similar show called Car 54 Where Are You? about New York policemen. He cast Gwynne as one of the leads, Francis Muldoon. The show ran for two seasons and when it was cancelled, Gwynne went back to his theatrical dramas.

In 1964, the creators of Leave It to Beaver, decided on a different concept for a show called The Munsters. Fred was cast as the lead role. While this show also ran two years, the part of Herman Munster was much harder to overcome than Francis Muldoon had been. Gwynne struggled to find new roles, and when he was unsuccessful, he went back to Broadway. He did make one pilot during these years for a show called Guess What I Did Today, but no network picked it up. His favorite Broadway performance was Big Daddy in 1974 when he starred in “Cat On a Hot Tin Roof.”

During the 1980s, his cinema career picked up and he ended up with 15 movies to his credit from 1979-1992. Included in this list are The Cotton Club, The Secret of My Success, Fatal Attraction, Ironweed, Pet Sematary, and My Cousin Vinny.

His book writing and illustrating also continued. His first book, The Best in Show, was published in 1958. The King Who Rained came out in 1970, and Simon and Schuster published A Chocolate Moose for Dinner in 1976 and A Little Pigeon Toad in 1988.

Throughout most of his career, Gwynne lived a quiet life far from Hollywood. He was married to his first wife Roxy from 1952-1980 and his second wife from 1981 until his death from pancreatic cancer in 1993.

Al Lewis

Al Lewis claimed he was born in 1910 and was a circus performer in the 1920s. He also said he went to Columbia and graduated with a PhD in child psychology. After he passed away, his son confirmed that he was born in 1923, and Columbia had no record of him attending school with his given name or his stage name. His son thought he made himself older to get the role of Grandpa in The Munsters because in real life Yvonne DeCarlo was a year older than he was.

Some of his other jobs included a salesman, hot dog vendor for the Brooklyn Dodgers, waiter, pool room owner, and store detective. He was a good basketball player in high school and apparently worked as a basketball scout at some time in his early life. A friend convinced him to join an actor’s workshop in 1949 and that led to a career in vaudeville. In the 1950s and 1960s, he appeared in a variety of TV shows including US Steel Hour, Route 66, Lost in Space, and Gomer Pyle. He too was cast in the Phil Silvers Show which later resulted in his role of Patrolman Leo Schnauzer in Car 54 Where Are You?

In 1964, he too was offered a role in The Munsters. In 1966 when the show went off the air, he continued making television appearances and starred in cinema movies. During the 1970s and 1980s, he appeared on Night Gallery, Green Acres, Love American Style, Here’s Lucy, Taxi, and Best of the West. His career featured 22 films including They Shoot Horses Don’t They, Boatniks, Used Cars, Married to the Mob, and a remake of Car 54 Where Are You?

Like Gwynne, he was married twice: to Marge from 1956-1977 and to Karen from 1984 until his death from heart complications in 2006. Lewis also published several children’s books during his acting career.

Midway through his career he opened an Italian restaurant, Grandpa’s Bella Gente, which Gwynne designed the logo for. He also got into radio and was featured on Howard Stern’s Show often.

It is surprising that both of these stars were in two sitcoms which both lasted only two years. Let’s take a look at the shows that made them household names.

Car 54 Where Are You?

This sitcom, set in the 53^rd precinct in Brooklyn was an early Barney Miller. Gwynne played Francis Muldoon. His partner, Gunther Toody, was his exact opposite. While Muldoon was a bachelor, an intellectual, calm and quiet, Toody was married, naïve, excitable, and talkative. In one show, when the precinct is debating splitting up the two men, Muldoon says “I guess most of the men are smarter than Gunther and less trouble than Gunther, but . . . well, I’m so used to Gunther. When he chatters away, the days just fly by. I’d just be lost without Gunther.” Gunther concurs, “You mean ride around with someone next to me that’s not Muldoon? Francis is a quiet man. He doesn’t say a word. He just sits there all day thinking. It’s very comforting for a man like me to know there’s someone next to him doing the thinking for both of us.” Of course, they split them up only to partner them up again because no one else could take the silence or constant chatter.

Al Lewis played Officer Leo Schnauzer, appearing in every episode.

Policemen were split on their view of the show. Some took offense and felt they were portrayed in a negative light, while others enjoyed it and identified with some of the comedic elements. It was filmed in The Bronx at Biograph Studio. There was a large sign out front identifying it as the 53^rd precinct till a woman came in pleading to save her from her abusive husband and the sign was quickly taken down.

Originally titled Snow Whites, the show aired at 8:30 eastern time Sunday nights between The Wide World of Disney and Bonanza. The only clue I could find for the original name was that the show was sponsored by Proctor and Gamble who made several detergents for clothing. It was filmed in black and white, but the police cars were red and white so they would show up better on black and white film. The show also starred Beatrice Pons, Charlotte Rae, Nipsey Russell, Alice Ghostley, and Larry Storch.

Perhaps what the show is best remembered for was its catchy theme song. Anyone who viewed an episode or two can probably remember the fun lyrics:

There’s a hold up in the Bronx, Brooklyn’s broken out in fights.

There’s a traffic jam in Harlem that’s backed up to Jackson Heights.

There’s a scout troop short a child; Kruschev’s due at Idlewild . . .

Car 54, where are you?

The Munsters

In 1964, the creators of Leave It to Beaver decided to feature another “wholesome” family who just happens to live at 1313 Mockingbird Lane in Mockingbird Heights. The family consists of Grandpa who is always experimenting in his lab; Herman who is the funeral director at Gateman, Goodbury, and Graves; his wife Lilly, a vampire; their son Eddie who is a werewolf; and their beautiful black-sheep Marilyn. Marilyn was beautiful but they viewed her as odd looking and she seemed to get a lot of dates but when she brings them home, they never ask her out again. The family also owns two pets – Spot, a prehistoric animal Grandpa rescued and Igor, a bat. They lived a somewhat normal life but drank bat milk and cooked in a cauldron. On the hour, a cuckoo clock chimed and a raven, voiced by Mel Blanc, appeared and said “Nevermore.”

All the actors had to endure a two-hour make-up session, but Gwynne had the worst time because he had to wear 40-50 pounds of padding. One day he lost 10 pounds filming under the lights. They gave him gallons of lemonade between takes and later rigged a way to blow cool air on him underneath the material.

The entire family could have been played by different actors. John Carradine was offered the role of Herman. The pilot featured Joan Marshall as the wife and instead of Lilly, her name was Phoebe. Marilyn was played by Beverly Owens for 13 episodes and then Pat Priest took over for the rest of the show’s run. Eddie was first offered to Bill Mumy, Will Robinson from Lost in Space, and Grandpa to Bert Lahr from The Wizard of Oz.

After the show was cancelled, the Munster mobile often traveled to memorabilia shows. There was also a Dragula built with purple silk upholstery and chrome pipes for the exhaust. Although the show was only on the air for two years, there were a lot of collectibles such as board games, lunch boxes, paper dolls, and coloring books.

In 2001, the McKee family of Waxahachie, Texas was such a huge fan of the show that the family built their 5000+ square foot house to exactly resemble the Munsters’ home including the crooked weather vane and grand staircase that lifted up to feed Spot.

Both Gwynne and Lewis were born in New York. They both appeared on the show Brenner early in their careers. Both were tapped from their roles in The Phil Silvers Show to play roles on Car 54 Where Are You? They both went on to star in The Munsters. Neither of them ever had another series. They both chose to live on the east coast. They both wrote children’s books. They were each married twice and married to their second spouse for the rest of their lives. They both had a lot of success in the movies as well as television. They were both men with fascinating careers before they ever entered acting. I learned a lot about these interesting friends. Happy Birthday to Fred Gwynne would have been 91.