Before we get into our topic of the week I’m celebrating today. This is my 475th post! Thank you to everyone who has joined me in my journey. We are in the final week of our blog series this month, “It’s Their Show.” We are winding down with The Debbie Reynolds Show. While most of the shows we learned about this month were on air in the late fifties and early sixties, The Debbie Reynolds Show appeared in 1969 on NBC.
The show was created by Jess Oppenheimer who Lucille Ball called “the brain” behind creating I Love Lucy. This month we learned a bit about Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Pugh Davis who created and wrote for I Love Lucy and The Tom Ewell Show, and they are back to write for this sitcom as well.
The show didn’t get off to a great start because Reynolds was clear that she wanted no cigarette commercials on her show. However, NBC was courting American Tobacco as the sponsor and Debbie threw a fit. When the tobacco company learned Reynolds was threatening to quit, they pulled their funding. Reynolds assured NBC that she would agree to forego NBC’s promise of a second year of the series, and she gave up her ownership in an NBC film What’s the Matter with Helen?, although she was able to star in the film.
The plot of this show was that Reynolds was married to Jim (Don Chastain), a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Sun. Like Lucy always trying to get into show business, Debbie Thompson wants to be a reporter, and she comes up with various schemes to get her that job. Jim just wants her to be a stay-at-home wife.
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Rounding out the cast were Debbie’s sister Charlotte (Patricia Smith), Charlotte’s husband Bob (Tom Bosley) and Bruce (Bobby Riha), Debbie’s son. Like George Burns had done in his show, Debbie often addresses the audience directly.
Debbie Reynolds did double duty in this one, singing the theme for the show, “With a Little Love.”
Sadly, Reynolds was not in the same financial situation that many screen stars were when they agreed to try a television series. When the show was canceled after one season, she lived in her car for a while and her career never got back on track. For 35 years after this sitcom was canceled, Reynolds played bit parts, appeared as herself, or did animation. It must have been hard to tolerate after being a big star on the silver screen.
Tom Bosley talked about appearing in this sitcom in his interview with The Television Academy. He said the network allowed the cast to make seventeen episodes, but from the beginning they knew the show would be canceled because of the stunt Debbie and her PR rep pulled regarding the sponsorship.
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Bosley thought Oppenheimer was a genius, but Bosley said even without the issue Reynolds had with the network, the show needed reworking for it to remain on the air. Bosley said Reynolds was very energetic, but she was bitter about her husband leaving her for Elizabeth Taylor, and her second husband was a gambler who left her with half a million dollars of debt to pay off.
To make ends meet, she went to Las Vegas to perform and started a costume museum to preserve the artifacts.
Unfortunately, this show was doomed from the start. While I admire Reynolds for standing up for what she believed in, the way she went about it was not helpful. It should have been written into her contract or handled in a nonpublic discussion. If Reynolds had let the network take care of sponsorships, things would have been okay. A few months after this show debuted, Congress took their anti-smoking initiative one step further and passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, banning the advertising of cigarettes on television and radio starting in 1971, so many shows walked away from tobacco companies in 1970. However, when Reynolds dug her heels in and threatened to quit, she not only lost her two-year minimum deal and her upcoming movie profits, but the studio was just biding its time because it had already decided to cancel the series because of her behavior.
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Even though Oppenheimer was described by everyone as an amazing creator and producer, this show felt like another I Love Lucy with a different occupation, and I’m guessing viewers felt that way too. It was similar to Sherwood Schwartz who kept revising The Brady Bunch for decades and kept writing sitcoms with the main characters somehow “lost” that were all duplicates of his Gilligan’s Island.
By 1969, it was time to move away from the hard-to-restrain wife in the sixties concept. In addition to being a copycat of I Love Lucy, I have to be honest. While I found something fun and charming about the other series we learned about this month, the episodes I tried to watch for this blog were painful. The characters were not likable, the writing was not witty or even easy to listen to, and considering what a great cast they had, the show just fell flat. Sadly, I recommend avoiding this one unless you are trying to put yourself to sleep some night.
This month we are starting a new blog series, Casting Celebrities. We’re going to take a look at four shows that featured a group of celebrities every week. We’ll learn more about Love, American Style; Fantasy Island; The Love Boat, and Supertrain. When we discuss Supertrain, we’ll also look at the small number of stars who appeared on all four shows.
Today we begin with Love, American Style. This show was an iconic 1970s show. Like Laugh In, the clothing, furnishings, and vocabulary do not make it timeless. But it was a lot of fun. This fast-paced anthology series featured two to four mini episodes each week, and between them were quick skits, often featuring a brass bed. Each smaller episode is titled “Love and the _______.”
📷gms.com The regular cast
A troupe of players was featured on each show for the in-between skits. These regulars included William Callaway, Buzz Cooper, Phyllis Davis, Mary Grover, James Hampton, Stuart Margolin, Lynn Marta, Barbara Minkus, and Tracy Reed. Margolin went on to a regular role in TheRockford Files; Tracy Reed was featured in McCloud and Knot’s Landing; Phyllis Davis was part of the cast of Vega$ and Magnum PI, and James Hampton will be familiar if you watched The Doris Day Show or F-Troop.
The show had a memorable and catchy theme song. Written by Arnold Margolin, the first year it was performed by The Cowsills. The snappy melody was set to the following words:
Love, Love, Love
Love, American Style, Truer than the Red, White and Blue. Love, American Style, That’s me and you.
And on a star-spangled night my love,
My love come to me. You can rest you head on my shoulder. Out by the dawn’s early light, my love I will defend your right to try.
Love, American Style, That’s me and you.
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During the second and subsequent years that Love, American Style was on the air, the theme song was performed by the Ron Hicklin Group. The Ron Hicklin Group could be heard in a variety of motion pictures and commercials, and they also appeared on recordings with stars such as Paul Revere and the Raiders and Cher. John and Tom Bahler, brothers who sang under The Charles Fox Singers were also part of this group. The band provided television theme song recordings including Batman, That Girl, Happy Days, and Laverne and Shirley. They also did the singing for The Partridge Family theme and songs performed on the show as well as the Brady Bunch Kids. Ron retired in the early 2000s, and Tom does a variety of things. He is also known for writing Bobby Sherman’s hit, “Julie Do You Love Me?”. John married Janet Lennon, one of the Lennon sisters who performed on The Lawrence Welk Show. He currently lives in Branson and conducts the “new” Lawrence Welk orchestra.
Paramount Television developed the show. The executive producer of the show was Arnold Margolin, Stuart’s brother. There were 53 different directors during the four-year run. The series received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1970 and 1971; Best Music Composition in 1971, 1972, and 1973, winning in 1973; and winning the Emmy in 1970 for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.
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Many people wrote for the show, but Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson received the most credits. One of the writers, Peggy Elliott, was interviewed by the Huffington Post in May of 2013, and she talked about her time writing for the show.
“But the show I loved writing the most, was Love, American Style. For every other show, I was writing for characters created out of someone else’s head. Sure, we could create the occasional guest-star role, and we had been told to make every role, no matter how small, a real person. ‘Think of the actor who’s playing that delivery boy,’ I can hear Billy Persky, the co-creator or That Girl, say: ‘This is a big break for him — it’s the biggest role he’s had so far. Give him something to work with.’
But with Love, American Style, every character was our very own; every situation came out of our heads. Each segment of the hour the show ran each week was a one-act play created entirely by us. Added to the attraction was the fact that we could say and do things that were taboo on every other TV show in the early ‘70s. Arnold Margolin, co-creator of the show with Jim Parker, told me recently that the creative side of the network wanted the show to be more daring, while the censors kept their red pencils ready. There was a full-time position on the show just to run interference.
We must have put both sides through the hoops with one episode we wrote: ‘Love and The Hand-Maiden.’ A young guy was dating a centerfold model. As their relationship developed, he discovered that she had no problem with shedding her clothes, but she always kept her hands covered — with artful poses in magazines, and with gloves in real life. He became obsessed with seeing her hands and came up with one ruse after another to get her to take off her gloves. We had a ball writing it, with one double-entendre after another.”
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If you were a star of any kind in the early 1970s, you most likely were on Love, American Style. The show produced 108 episodes, and those shows featured 1112 different actors. Some of the famous names showing up in the credits include Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Phyllis Diller, Arte Johnson, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, Regis Philbin, Burt Reynolds, Sonny and Cher, Flip Wilson, and Jo Anne Worley.
Brad Duke wrote a biography about Harrison Ford, and he said Ford had fond memories of appearing on Love, American Style. “He recalled that he had been given little time to prepare his wardrobe for the role of a philosophical hippie in the November 1969 episode, “Love and the Former Marriage.” He appeared on set with long hair and a beard thinking they were appropriate for the role. He was surprised when he was told he needed a haircut and trim and then was given a navy blue dress shirt and vinyl burgundy jeans with a large belt. They even had a scarf with a little ring to put around my neck. And I thought, someone has made a mistake here. So, rather than argue with the wardrobe people, I put on the clothes and went to find the producer. I walked on the set and he was pointed out. I tapped his shoulder and when he turned around he had on the same clothes I did. He was a hippie producer I guess. At least the check went through, and I got paid.”
The best way to get a good understanding of what the show was like is to look at a couple of the episodes.
January 23, 1970: Love and the Big Night
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Starring Ann Elder, Buddy Lester, Frank Maxwell, Julie Newmar, and Tony Randall, this episode is often listed as a favorite of viewers. Randall is a married businessman who escorts his voluptuous secretary (Newmar) to her apartment after a late night at the office. Eager to get home to his wife, Randall hurriedly tries to open a stubborn jar of mayonnaise and winds up covered with mayo. Newmar cleans his suit, but while it’s drying, it’s stolen. After a series of amusing mishaps, Randall finally gets back to his own apartment and creeps into bed with his wife–only to find out she’s not there.
February 25, 1972: Love and the Television Set
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It starred Harold Gould, Marion Ross, Ron Howard, and Anson Williams. Reading this list of names might give you a hint about what happened to this episode after it aired. Garry Marshall had written a pilot about a 1950s family that did not sell. He turned it into an episode for Love, American Style. George Lucas caught the episode and was impressed with Ron Howard and offered him a role in his new movie American Graffiti about 1950s teens. The movie was so popular that the network decided to put Marshall’s pilot in the fall line-up as Happy Days. Harold Gould’s role was given to Tom Bosley for the series. When Love, American Style went into syndication, this episode was retitled “Love and the Happy Days.”
October 22, 1970: Love and the Bashful Groom
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This is the episode I recall when I think of the series. When I watched it originally, I was staying overnight at my grandparents’ house and my grandmother was shocked at the “vulgarity.” It really seems quite tame today, but back then it probably was unexpected. She would approve of Tom Bahler marrying Janet Lennon though because I watched Lawrence Welk with her and my grandfather whenever I was at their house.
In this episode, Paul Petersen, Christopher Stone, Meredith MacRae, Jeff Donnell, and Dick Wilson are featured. Harold (Petersen) and Linda (MacRae) are getting married. He learns that she grew up in a nudist colony and is not comfortable being naked for his wedding. After a soul-searching talk with his best friend, and realizing he loves Linda enough to be uncomfortable, he decides to go through with the ceremony. He gets to the church a bit late and walks in, only to see that everyone else is dressed in their Sunday best. His bride informs him that they always dress up for weddings. One of the congregation members says something like “Let’s not make him uncomfortable,” and they all begin to undress. Of course, you see nothing improper, no naked bodies, only clothes flying. This was probably not the best episode to “expose” my grandmother to as a first glimpse of the show.
The show lasted for four years and was cancelled in 1973. In 1985, a reboot was created, but it was on in the mornings and only lasted a few months. The show was on at the same time as everyone’s favorite game show, The Price is Right. For the 1998 fall season, a pilot was created for prime time, but it was never ordered. While doing my research for this blog, I noticed that there was a Love, American Style project in production, so we may see it resurface again. I’m not sure I would want to watch a contemporary version of the show though. It was such a product of its time, and I fear what a current version would be like after seeing the reboot of Match Game which has been airing the past few years.
This month we are celebrating some of our favorite Supportive Men, actors who usually are not the star of a show but add the special flavor only they can to some of our favorite shows.
Before we move on to our topic today, can I just say a huge THANK YOU to all of you who have joined me on this journey through classic television. Today is my 400th blog and it has been so much fun. Next week will be 401, but for today we are looking at the career of Vic Tayback.
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Most of us probably know him best as Mel on Alice; he played Mel Sharples in both the original movie, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, as well as the television show that was on for nine years.
Tayback was born in Brooklyn in 1930. His parents settled there after leaving Aleppo, Syria. During his teenage years, the family moved to California where he attended Burbank High School. He loved sports and played on a variety of teams, his favorite being football.
After high school, he enrolled at Glendale Community College. He also spent some time with the US Navy.
With his love of sports, he decided to attend the Frederick A. Speare School of Radio and TV Broadcasting to be a sports broadcaster. While there he was required to perform in a production of “Stalag 17” for one of his classes. He wasn’t thrilled about doing so, but he realized that he loved making people laugh and decided to switch his career to acting. While trying to break into the industry, he paid his dues driving a cab and working as a bank teller.
📷embarrassingtreasures.com Family Affair
The first of Tayback’s astounding 151 acting credits occurred in 1958 in a little-remembered series, Buckskin. This western was set in Annie O’Connell’s boarding house in Buckskin, Montana in 1880 and the stories were told by ten-year-old Jody. Vic continued to receive a few other appearances on television in the late fifties, as well as two films.
In the sixties, Tayback’s career took off. He would show up on 32 television episodes and 9 big-screen films, including With Six You Get Eggroll with Doris Day and Brian Keith. His tv roles were in comedies such as F-Troop, I Dream of Jeannie, Family Affair, Get Smart, The Monkees, and That Girl. He also could be seen in a variety of dramas that included 77 Sunset Strip, Dr. Kildare, Rawhide, Cimarron Strip, Star Trek, and Mission Impossible.
📷newyorkdailynews.com The Cheap Detective
The sixties also found Vic in the role of groom. In 1963, Tayback married Sheila Barnard, and they remained married until his death.
During the seventies, his appearances escalated to more than forty television series and ten movies. Some of his television shows included Bonanza, TheMary Tyler Moore Show, Bewitched, Columbo, Mannix, Ironside, Mod Squad, The Partridge Family, All in the Family, Barney Miller, Cannon, Medical Center, Family, and Hawaii Five-0. His movies included a few genres running from Disney’s The Shaggy DA to Papillon (Papillon was the story of a French convict who befriends a fellow criminal in South America in the 1930s, and he plans an escape).
It was during the mid-seventies that he was offered the role of Mel Sharples. In 1974 the movie was released, and the television show aired in 1976. The show was very popular with viewers. Vic said he and Mel were somewhat similar characters. While people still quote Flo on the show with her “Kiss my grits,” Tayback had his own tagline on the show, “Stow it.”
📷imdb.com Alice
If you didn’t see the show, it featured a greasy-spoon diner in Phoenix, Arizona. Alice moves there after the death of her husband with her son Tommy. She becomes a waitress at Mel’s along with sassy Flo and shy, gullible Vera. Despite the bad food, they have a lot of regulars who come in for a meal. If you want to visit the restaurant, the building it was based on is at 1747 NW Grand Ave in Phoenix and was called Pat’s Family Restaurant. (It was also featured in American Graffiti.) It is now called Mel’s Diner. According to Trip Advisor, it is ranked #448 out of 1795 restaurants in Phoenix.
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The role of Mel won Tayback Golden Globe awards in both 1979 and 1980. In 1978 he was nominated for an Emmy as Supporting Actor in a Comedy. While he did not win, he was in some amazing company. That year, fellow nominees included Harry Morgan and Gary Burghoff for M*A*S*H, Tom Bosley in Happy Days, and Rob Reiner from All in the Family, who took home the win that year.
The series aired on Saturday nights and the first year was in the top thirty. In 1977, its second season, it was moved to Sunday nights, following All in the Family where it rose into the top ten. In 1979, All in the Family left the airwaves, and Alice then followed One Day at a Time. Seasons three-five, it continued to be in the top thirty. In 1981, the show was moved to Monday nights up against M*A*S*H where it fell out of the top 30. However, season seven found it back on Sundays following The Jeffersons where it rose back into the top thirty. However, it took another dive in ratings the next year and then was cancelled. I think it probably stayed on the air a year or two beyond when it should have. However, interestingly enough, the year it was cancelled, CBS introduced 15 new shows. I’m not sure most people have ever heard of any of them; they were all gone by 1986 with the exception of The Twilight Zone (reboot) and West 57th, which was a news show aimed at younger audiences.
Vic was also an avid horse-racing fan and owned quite a few thoroughbreds. On Alice, Mel was also a track fan, and sometimes the writers asked Mel for names of horses they could use, and he often gave them names of his horses.
On the show, Vic was often made fun of for his bad cooking. In a 1985 interview he said, “If I walked into a restaurant, the other diners would look around and say, ‘I hope you’re not cooking.’” Heinz then offered him the role of spokesperson for their Heniz 57 sauce and his line in the commercials, was “I used to be a lousy cook.” He was also remembered for an Aqua Velva commercial he did with Pete Rose.
Unfortunately, Tayback was a heavy smoker which caused heart trouble for him. While doing Alice, he had a triple-bypass surgery. While he did try to quit numerous times, he just could never kick the habit. In 1990, he died from a heart attack at age 60.
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While we were cheated of several decades of performances from Vic with his early death, he did leave an amazing legacy in the Company of Angels theater in Los Angeles. According to its website, “In 1959, a group of actors, including Tayback, Leonard Nimoy, Richard Chamberlin, and Vic Morrow founded the theater to provide a space for actors and other theater artists to work on their craft free of commercial constraints.”
Thank you, Vic Tayback, for deciding to make people laugh in your career and investing in the future of acting so those memories continue in the future.
This month we are discussing Supportive Men, and I thought it was time to look at the career of Ted McGinley. He’s never been the star of a show, so he often sneaks under the radar, but he is someone we all recognize and appreciate.
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McGinley was born in Newport Beach, California in 1958. He could definitely pull off the California Surfer boy image, so it’s no surprise that he was into athletics, especially swimming, in high school. He worked as a lifeguard at the beach in the summer. USC gave him a scholarship for water polo, and he majored in urban planning and real estate.
Even though he was the MVP of his team, his scholarship was not renewed. He had been doing some modeling work on the side and with the lack of a scholarship, he decided to move to New York for more opportunities.
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His modeling career spurred his acting career when he was spotted in GQ and cast as Roger Phillips, a Cunningham nephew from 1980-1984 on Happy Days. After winning the nationwide talent search, he had to face a steep learning curve with no acting experience at all. He doesn’t watch his early work on Happy Days because he hates to be reminded of his awkward performances. He said he “had to work on his lines at home and concentrate on the set before my cues. It was all so new. I’m bumbling away, and I hear stories of Ronny Howard, who forgot his lines just twice in seven-and-a-half- years.”
He studied his costars Henry Winkler, Marion Ross, and Tom Bosley. He also joined an improv class. He learned timing and great tips for developing acting skills.
He also spent four years on The Love Boat as Purser Ace Covington Evans from 1983-1987.
📷metv.com On The Love Boat
This was the decade his movie career began when he was cast in Revenge of the Nerds as Stanley Gable; McGinley reprised his role in the third and fourth Nerd movie franchise hits as well.
After The Love Boat ended, he made the rounds, appearing on shows that were popular including Dynasty, Hotel, and Perfect Strangers. He also took on several movie roles every year.
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In 1989, he joined the cast of Married . . . with Children as Al Bundy’s best friend Jefferson D’Arcy, which he called a great, great gig.” It was during this time, Ted married Gigi Rice.
McGinley kept busy for the rest of the 1990s and early 2000s, never going long in between movies or television appearances; he had recurring roles on several shows including Sports Night, The West Wing, and Charlie Lawrence. Many people don’t recall the last show, because it was only around for a short time in 2003. It starred Nathan Lane as a freshman congressman from New Mexico who lives near Graydon Ford, played by McGinley, a neighbor from the opposing political party.
He got another break from 2003-2005 when he starred on Hope & Faith.
📷tvseriesfinale.com Hope & Faith
McGinley has continued his busy streak since 2005, although he has not been part of a cast during the past two decades. He’s amassed 96 acting credits since 1982. In 2008, he took a stab at Dancing with the Stars, paired with pro dancer Inna Brayer. Unfortunately, he was the second contestant to be eliminated.
Considering McGinley got his first job without any acting experience and had to learn this skill thrown into the fire, he has developed a very successful career. His years on The Love Boat get lost because he is not part of the original crew. I have to admit, when I think of McGinley, I think of Jefferson D’Arcy. No surprise to those of you who have gotten to know me during these past eight years, Married . . . with Children was not a favorite of mine, but I appreciate the place it has in television history. I know a lot of people remember it fondly. I do remember McGinley fondly though for his supporting roles over the years.
Today we are learning about the career of Henry Winkler. Although he was typecast for many years following Happy Days, he managed to continue his career with a variety of roles.
Photo: wikifandom.com
His parents were German Jews who lived in Berlin during the occupation of Nazi Germany. His father knew they would not be safe there and left in 1939. Winkler described what happened in an interview with Terry Gross on NPR in 2019: “My father knew that it was time. He got a six-week visa from Germany to come and do work in New York but was expected to come right back. I have told this story–that he took his mother’s jewelry, bought a box of chocolate, melted the chocolate down, put the pieces of jewelry in the chocolate box, melted–poured the chocolate over the jewelry, put the box under his arm, so when he was stopped by the Nazis and they said, are you taking anything of value out of Germany, he said, no, you can open every bag; we’ve got nothing. And the jewelry that he encased in chocolate, he sold when he came out of Ellis Island into New York and was able to start a new life here, slowly but surely. I have the actual letters from the government each time my father requested to stay a little longer, and they would say yes. And I was born.”
Photo: goodhousekeeping.com
Although his family did not keep kosher, Henry and his sister Beatrice were raised with the traditions of Conservative Judaism.
Winkler struggled with his studies but he was popular and very funny. His parents were frustrated by his inability to learn. Apparently, his father spoke eleven languages and could easily do math in his head. Henry’s self-esteem began to suffer during these years. Because his grades weren’t better, he was banned from most theater productions, which was what he was most interested in. He was able to appear in “Billy Budd” in eighth grade and in “Of Thee I Sing” in high school.
Photo: imdb.com
When Winkler gave a talk at the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, he tried to describe what it had been like for him in school: “You want so badly to be able to do it and you can’t. And no matter how hard you try, it’s not working . . . I would study my words. I would know them cold. I would know them backwards and forwards. I would go to class. I would pray that I had retained them. Then I would get the test and spend a lot of time thinking about where the hell those words went. I knew them. They must have fallen out of my head. Did I lose them on the street? Did I lose them in the stairwell? Did I lose them walking through the classroom doorway? I didn’t have the slightest idea of how to spell the words that I knew a block and a half away in my apartment the night before.”
Photo: understood.org
After high school, he attended Emerson College to study theater. He applied to 28 colleges but his grades kept him from being accepted at 26 of them. He majored in theater and minored in child psychology. During his time there he was a member of the Alph Pi Theta fraternity. He had a role in “Peer Gynt” as Peer Gynt. Although he also struggled with college courses, he stayed the course for four years and graduated in 1967. He was admitted to the Yale School of Drama in 1967. He appeared in a number of productions there. He received his MFA in 1970. Twenty-six years later he spoke at Graduation Day at Yale.
He began doing commercials in New York after graduation and starred in TheLords of Flatbush and Crazy Joe, two independent films. He appeared one day on Broadway; the show opened and closed on the same day. He also performed with an improv group, Off the Wall in New York.
Photo: usajacket.com
In 1973 he moved to California. His first role there was on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Although he paid his dues in New York, he was hired as Arthur Fonzarelli on Happy Days his second week in Hollywood. He would portray the Fonz for a decade. The part was originally written a minor role on the show. Winkler did not want to portray the character as a stereotyped role which is probably why he became so popular. He was allowed to wear a black leather jacket only on his motorcycle the first year. Winkler never drove the cycle because the first time he tried, he crashed. His motorcycle on the show was the same one Steve McQueen used in the last scene of The Great Escape in 1963.
During his time on the show, he was diagnosed with dyslexia, explaining his tough time at school.
During the middle of season two, his character became a regular cast member. Many fans attribute to his performance in the episode “Guess Who’s Coming to Christmas.” By season three, he was considered one of the leads in the show.
Both Ron Howard who played Richie and Winkler told writer Stephanie Nolasco of Fox News how they felt about each other and their time on Happy Days. Winkler had a hard time dealing with his sudden fame, and Howard was able to provide some grounding for him. Winkler described this time, “It’s unnatural—the human condition does not prepare you for stardom. That’s just the way it is. So, you have to hold on to yourself and then you’ve got friends like Ron who doesn’t take it all seriously. I learned from him; he was my teacher. And Garry Marshall never took bad behavior from anybody. He was a father figure. He was very funny and very idiosyncratic, and then he was very strict.”
With Ron Howard Photo: decider.com
Winkler also discussed his friendship with Howard. “I think people gravitate to the Fonzie/Richie relationship because Ron and I are ten years apart. He was 19 and I was 27. We had a connection that you cannot describe in real life, and it was similar off-camera. He gave me my first mitt; I’d never played baseball before. He’s my brother.”
Howard echoed the sentiments. “We were fast friends from the beginning. It continues all these years later. It was exciting for me to work with Henry because he was really a trained actor who attended Yale Drama School; just a trained New York actor. And, I’d grown up sort of through the Hollywood television system, so for me to work with this guy who was so thoughtful, so creative, and yet so hilarious, was really an opportunity for me to learn and grow and we just clicked, you know.”
Happy Days Photo: ew.com
The sudden fame for Fonzie might have damaged the friendship Winkler had with Ron Howard, but they were both professionals and never had their egos inflated. They honestly discussed what was happening and while Howard had a harder transition with the show, he understood that Fonz had become a national icon. Even now decades after the show ended, people recognize his “Ayyy” and “correctamundo” catch phrases and his thumb’s up gesture.
After the show was canceled, his leather jacket was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution for the National Museum of American History. A bronze statue of the Fonz was erected in Milwaukee in 2008 along the Milwaukee Riverwalk.
Photo: ew.com
Fonzie was adored by many kids, especially kids who needed some extra help or attention. Marshall was asked if the show could do something to help kids realize how important reading was. In one of the episodes, The Fonz went to the library and checked out a book, saying “Everybody is allowed to read.” That week, library card registrations increased by 500%. In another situation, one day a call came to Paramount Studios. It was from a teenage boy who was contemplating suicide. He wanted to talk to Fonzie. Winkler picked up the call and gave the boy hope, convincing him not to take his life.
Tom Bosley and Marion Ross Photo: ebay.com
He received 50,000 letters a week. He also received $50,000 an episode. Winkler described The Fonz as his alter ego; he said that Fonz was everything he had always wanted to be: in charge, confident, and adored by others. Winkler credits Marion Ross and Tom Bosley, Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham on Happy Days, with being his acting mentors. He loved them for what they taught him and for being great people. When Bosley died, Winkler said “Tom was a family member, both on and off the sound stage. We acted together, traveled together, and played charades together. He was a loving husband, a doting father, and a fantastic grandfather.”
During his years on Happy Days, Winkler was able to tackle several other roles in the off season. He was a Vietnam War vet with PTDS in Heroes for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. He was in Carl Reiner’s The One and Only and in Ron Howard’s Night Shift.
Henry and Stacey Photo: wideopencountry.com
He also tackled the role of husband, when he married Stacey in 1978. After two years of dating, they married in the same synagogue where Winkler had his bar mitzvah. Together they raised three children, and they have been involved with a variety of children’s charities including the Children’s Action Network, the Annual Cerebal Palsy Telethon, the Epilepsy Foundation of America, the Toys for Tots, the National Committee for Arts for the Handicapped, and Special Olympics.
Even with these roles and several other television appearances under his belt, when Happy Days ended, Winkler was typecast and could not get quality roles. Winkler went the route of producer and director. He was one of the developers of MacGyver and produced and directed Sabrina the Teenage Witch. He worked on two movies: Memories of Me with Billy Crystal and Cop and a Half with Burt Reynolds. He also had appearances in Scream in 1996 and The Waterboy in 1998 and on television in The Practice in 1997 and Arrested Development in 2003.
In 2003, he added writer to his resume, creating a new series of children’s books, Hank Zipzer about a dyslexic boy, with co-author Lin Oliver. The BBC televised the series, and Winkler appeared as Mr. Rock in the show. Winkler and Oliver went on to create Here’s Hank, the Ghost Buddy series and the Alien Superstar series. Queen Elizabeth appointed him Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2011, and he was named one of the United Kingdom’s Top Ten Literary Heroes in 2013. In 2019, he was awarded the Bill Rosendahl Public Service Award for Contributions to the Public Good for his book series. In 2016, the award was renamed after Bill Rosendahl, a progressive political leader, Los Angeles’ first openly gay City Council member, an educator, a Vietnam veteran, an award-winning host of thousands of public affairs programs, and president of the Los Angeles Press Club.
In 2016 he joined the ranks of actors participating in reality shows on Better Late Than Never. During season two, Winkler traveled to Berlin and shared his family’s story. This was a quirky 12-episode reality show. NBC described it as: “This hilarious fish-out-of-water comedy/reality show follows cultural icons Henry Winkler, William Shatner, Terry Bradshaw and George Foreman on their greatest adventure yet. Deciding it’s Better Late Than Never, these four national treasures embark on the journey of a lifetime, traveling across Asia on their own with no schedule and no itinerary. The only “help” will come from Jeff Dye, a young, strong, tech-savvy comedian with an agenda of his own – who isn’t above leading the men off track. Each stop is packed with hilarious cultural experiences, heartwarming spectacles and unexpected twists as our legends take on this unforgettable adventure.”
Photo: entertainmentweekly.com
Photo: vanityfair.com
In 2018, Winkler starred in the show Barry and won his first Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy. The plot features a hit man from the Midwest who moves to Los Angeles and becomes fascinated with the city’s theater life.
The show was on HBO for two seasons and Bill Hader, one of the creators and star of the show, wanted Henry for the part of acting teacher Gene Cousineau. Winkler mentioned he was 27 when he got the regular role on Happy Days and 72 when he got the role on Barry. Stage 19 of Paramount was where Barry was filmed; it was also the same sound stage used for Happy Days. Hader wrote Cousineau as a dark, cold character and while he could humiliate his students, Winkler brought some warmth to the character as well.
Winkler is a loyal Democrat and has campaigned for, and financially supported, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, and Barack Obama.
With Friend John Ritter Photo: outsider.com
In addition to being lifelong friends with Ron Howard, Winkler was a close friend of John Ritter. They met at an ABC party in 1978 and became close friends. Winkler was actually on the set of John’s show when he collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital shortly before his death.
I do like to add some personal stories to my blogs when possible. I found a fun article in New York Magazine that looked at what famous people like to buy. One of the pieces was about Henry Winkler from October 2021. So, what did the famous Mr. Winkler purchase?:
Penn Ultra-Blue racquetballs to play with his dog Sadie. ($4); A Sony Alpha a6000 Mirrorless Camera ($650); Landmark Theatre Gift Cards ($5); Katz’s Pastrami and Rye food boxes ($155), a reminder of his youth; Munster Cheese from The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills ($15); Winston Boron fly fishing rod ($825); Knudsen’s heavy whipping cream ($4); Gotham Coffee Roasters Brooklyn Blend Coffee ($18) which needs the above cream, no half ‘n half for Henry; and Lavley I’d Rather Be Fly Fishing socks ($12), because no one likes the socks where the elastic stops working after two wash cycles. A bit of fun trivia about an icon’s shopping list.
Perhaps one of the best stories that displays the importance of Henry Winkler comes from journalist Anderson Cooper. Cooper is also dyslexic and said that one of the books that influenced his life was The Fonz: The Henry Winkler Story. He keeps it in his office at CNN. He also mentioned that in meeting Winkler in person as an adult, he realized what a kind and gracious person he is. That is something I read over and over; everyone described Winkler as kind, level-headed, grounded, unbelievably nice, and many other similar sentiments.
Photo: sandiegocountynews.com
Henry Winkler would be amazing just based on what he did with the character of The Fonz. He would be amazing just based on what he has done for his children’s charity work. He would be amazing just based on how seriously he takes his roles as husband and father. He would be amazing just based on his directing and producing work. He would be amazing just based on his later roles on Arrested Development and Barry. He would be amazing just based on his friendships with coworkers including Ron Howard, Marion Ross, Tom Bosley, Adam Sandler, and John Ritter. He would be amazing just based on his book series as an author. And he would be amazing just based on the work he has done to help others understand dyslexia. Put them all together and add the fact that no one can talk about him without describing what a genuine and kind person he is, and he is well, just simply amazing. Thank you, Henry Winkler, for all the ways you have amazed us over the decades.
This month we are checking out a few favorites in a blog series: “Examining Our Favorite Medical Shows.” Last week we learned a bit about Ben Casey. Today we are looking at a similar show to Ben Casey, although in many ways it was very different: Dr. Kildare.Dr. Kildare was also on the air from 1961-66. MGM produced this show created by Max Brand in the 1930s. The show had previously been a movie and a radio series. Unlike Ben Casey who seemed to argue with everyone, Dr. Kildare (Richard Chamberlain) was a respectful intern at Blair General Hospital. He wants to help his patients and listens to his mentor, Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Raymond Massey). In season three, Kildare became a resident, and the episodes focused more on the stories about the patients.
In 1960 a pilot was filmed with Joseph Cronin in the Kildare role and Lew Ayres as Gillespie which did not sell. The role of Kildare was offered to William Shatner and James Franciscus who both turned it down. In 1961, a new pilot was produced with Chamberlin and Massey. One of the reasons Massey accepted the role is because he was certain the show would only last one season, and he wanted to continue with his movie career. The popularity of the show put his film career on hold for five years.
Photo: medium.com
Other cast members who appeared on the show included Dr. John Kapish (Ken Berry), Nurse Fain (Jean Inness), Dr. Agurski (Eddie Ryder), Dr. Gerson (Jud Taylor), Dr. Lowry (Steve Bell) Nurse Conant (Jo Helton), and Nurse Lawton (Lee Kurty).
The guest stars on this show were amazing. I feel like this should be read in auctioneer mode but here goes: Eddie Albert, Jack Albertson, Fred Astaire, Ed Asner, Lauren Bacall, Ed Begley, Joan Blondell, Tom Bosley, Beau Bridges, Charles Bronson, James Caan, Robert Culp, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Angie Dickinson, Olympia Dukakis, Barbara Eden, Linda Evans, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Peter Falk, Beverly Garland, Ron Howard, Kim Hunter, Celeste Holm, Carolyn Jones, James Earl Jones, Brian Keith, Ted Knight, Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Jack Lord, Walter Matthau, Gavin McLeod, Ricardo Montalban, Harry Morgan, Jack Nicholson, Leonard Nimoy, Carroll O’Connor, Suzanne Pleshette, Basil Rathbone, Robert Redford, Robert Reed, Cesar Romero, Gena Rowlands, William Shatner, Jean Stapleton, Gloria Swanson, Rip Torn, Sam Waterston, Dennis Weaver, and Robert Young. For a show that was only on five years, it was an impressive guest cast.
Photo: imdb.com
To add more realism to the show, writer E. Jack Neuman spent several months working with interns in a large hospital. Technical advice was provided by the American Medical Association.
The show was realistic in portraying all the drama that is truly found in a city hospital. The plots involved a lot of medical and social issues including smallpox, physician competency, drug addiction, malpractice, and euthanasia. Neuman definitely captured what life in a large, city hospital was like. Kildare makes about $60 a month, or $500 in today’s terms, works long hours, rotates through the various medical departments and has senior physicians overrule his diagnoses.
Just like Ben Casey, the first seasons produced stand-alone episodes and after the success of Peyton Place, storylines carried over from one show to another to entice the audience to tune in again the next week.
The theme music for the series was composed by Jerry Goldsmith. A CD set was released in 2009 which included the theme, the original music from the 1960 pilot, Richard Chamberlain’s recording of “Three Stars Will Shine Tonight,” and musical scores from the five seasons by Hurr Sukman, Richard Markowitz, Morton Stevens, Lalo Schifrin, John Green, and Burt Bacharach.
Airing on Thursday nights, the show was in the top ten during season one and the top twenty for seasons two and three. The show received about 12000 fan letters weekly, and, in addition, Chamberlain received letters personally asking for medical advice.
The network moved the show to Tuesday nights against Red Skelton and McHale’s Navy for season five and the viewers did not follow. The ratings declined, and the show was canceled.
This show really changed Chamberlain’s career. He had always been a small-role guy before this show, but he suddenly became a teen idol. He received more than 35,000 fan letters a month. Onscreen the idealistic Kildare and the wise, sometimes cantankerous, Gillespie don’t always agree but they had great chemistry on the set and apparently off the set as well. Unlike BenCasey, the cast on this show did get along and Chamberlain mentioned that he always enjoyed working with Massey.
Richard said he grew up in a family where they all pretended to be perfect. So, he went through life trying to be perfect too. He said that philosophy did not work well for his life, but it did work well for Dr. Kildare.
Following the show he would take a turn on Broadway, in big-screen movies, and back on television where he specialized in mini-series like Shogun and The Thorn Birds, both in the 1980s.
One fact I found interesting was that the DVD release of the show included a never-aired pilot from a different medical show, The Eleventh Hour in 1962. The episode originally was written for Dr. Kildare. Drs. Kildare and Gillespie assist Dr. Bassett (Wendell Corey), a psychiatrist diagnosing one of his patients Ann (Vera Miles). Instead of airing on Dr. Kildare, Chamberlain and Massey were cut out of the film and it was submitted as a pilot for the show, with the title “Ann Costigan: a Duel on a Field of White.”
Even Mad Magazine got on the Kildare bandwagon. The 1962, #74 issue, featured “Dr. Killjoy,” a parody of the show.
Everyone seemed to like this show. Then again, what is not to like? You have a handsome doctor, exhilarating drama, a fun guest star every week, and realistic stories. The show would go on to inspire the talents behind a variety of medical series including Marcus Welby MD, ER, House, and Grey’sAnatomy.
Car 54, Where Are You? aired on NBC beginning September of 1961. I was surprised to learn that there are only 60 episodes in this series. The show revolves around officers Gunther Toody, Badge 1432 (Joe E. Ross) and Francis Muldoon, Badge 723 (Fred Gwynne). Their patrol car is Car 54, and they are with the 53rd precinct in New York. Toody and Muldoon are complete opposites which is why they get along so well. Toody is short, extremely talkative and not overly bright. He’s married to Lucille (Beatrice Pons), a bit of a loud, overbearing woman. Muldoon is tall, quiet and very smart. He’s a bachelor who lives with his mother (Ruth Masters) and two younger sisters.
Photo: imdb.com
Rounding out the large cast are officers Dave Anderson (Nipsey Russell), Omar Anderson (Ossie Davis), Kissel (Bruce Kirby), Nelson (Jim Gormley), Nicholson (Hank Garrett, O’Hara (Albert Henderson), Schnauser (Al Lewis), Steinmetz (Joe Warren), and Wallace (Frederick O’Neal), as well as Captain Block (Paul Reed), Sergeant Abrams ( Nathaniel Frey), Sylvia Schnauser (Charlotte Rae), and Claire Block (Patricia Bright).
A young Nipsey Russell Photo: yahoo.com
Nat Hiken (the creative force behind The Phil Silvers Show) created the series. He wrote many of the scripts and also directed several episodes, one of which he won an Emmy for. The show was nominated for three other Emmys. It was up for Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Humor in 1961 which went to The Bob Newhart Show (not that Bob Newhart show, this was a variety show hosted by Newhart) and for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy in both 1961 and 1962 but got beat out both years by Carl Reiner for The Dick Van Dyke Show.
As recounted in Martin Grams, Jr.’s book Car 54, Where Are You?, after visiting a New York police precinct house and noticing what a communal feel it had, unlike any of the depictions of police on television, Hiken came up with the idea for a police-themed situation comedy. He continued to do research by spending weeks in a precinct squad room during late 1960, getting a feel for how the officers talked and interacted amongst each other, members of the community, and even repeat offenders, who were often treated more like family than threats. Hiken enlisted the support of Eupolis Productions and then pitched the idea to Proctor & Gamble, who agreed to finance a pilot.
Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis were coworkers before they were relatives Photo: shoutfactorytv.com
According to Kliph Nesteroff in the definitive account of Joe E. Ross’ tawdry life off-screen, “King of Slobs: The Life of Joe E. Ross,” Hiken originally wanted to cast Jack Weston in the role of Gunther Toody (televisionheaven.co.uk says it was Jack Warden) and Mickey Shaughnessy as Francis Muldoon, but contract negotiations broke down with both, so he turned to Ross and Fred Gwynne as suitable replacements, though in Ross’ case he later regretted it.
John Strauss who had collaborated with Hiken on the theme song for The Phil Silvers Show, teamed up with Hiken once again for this theme. Strauss was married to Charlotte Rae, who appeared on the show. Strass was the composer, and Hiken wrote the lyrics. The familiar theme song is:
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,
Khrushchev’s due at Idlewild,
Car 54, where are you?
The show was originally titled “The Snow Whites.” (Maybe because the sponsor made Chlorox bleach.) The show was given a great time slot on Sunday nights between Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color and Bonanza. The producers thought the working title would confuse viewers since the show followed Disney. Since the theme song was already written, the last line of the song became the show’s title.
Critics were split on the show. While many people praised the series, some reviewers considered it disrespectful. The Chicago Sun Times deemed it “a preposterous (and sometimes cruel) depiction of the policeman.” The Dallas Times Herald stated, “The humor might be there, all right, but not much of it was showing.” The Alabama Journal complained, “It is insulting to the law enforcement and to the general public.” However, many policemen liked the show and found it funny.
The show was filmed at Biograph Studios in the Bronx and on location. The cars were painted bright red and white which photographed perfectly. There is some controversy about the patrol cars. Some articles listed them as Savoys, some as Dodges. According to Martin Grams’ blog from May 4, 2012, “On June 29, 1961, Arthur Hershkowitz signed the contract and during the first week of July, the following four automobiles were delivered to Eupolis Productions”: two 1961 Plymouth Belvederes, one Dodge Dart, and one Plymouth, all four-door sedans. Grams said “the cars were returned to the dealership and when the show was renewed for season two, the following cars were delivered”: two 1962 Plymouth Belvederes, three 1962 Plymouth Furys, one 1962 Dart 330, and a 1962 Chrysler New Yorker. One article I read said that the large circular object on the dashboard between the officers was an auxiliary fan used before air conditioning was available.
Despite the success of Car 54, which placed 20th in the ratings for 1961-62, Hiken soon began to feel overwhelmed with his responsibilities. Apparently, NBC wanted part ownership in the show in exchange for renewing it for season three, and Hiken would not agree to the deal. The show’s sponsor Proctor and Gamble tried to talk CBS into taking the show over, but there was no room on their schedule. Hiken was a bit burnt out with writing, directing, and overseeing the show and was exasperated with Ross who caused a lot of issues not remembering his lines, so Hiken ended the show and never worked on another series again.
Considering the short time that the show was on the air, there was a full slate of guest stars including Carl Ballantine, Tom Bosley, Wally Cox, Hugh Downs, Margaret Hamilton, Katherine Helmond, Hal Linden, Mitch Miller, Charles Nelson Reilly, Sugar Ray Robinson and Jean Stapleton.
The episodes are well written and similar to other sitcoms at the time.
Photo: shoutfactory.com
In one, Toody is feeling henpecked by Lucille, but musters the courage to become king of his castle after seeing a stirring performance of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.”
In another, Muldoon shares a childhood experience when the kids at school called him “Horse Face.” Toody, trying to console him, says “Don’t worry Francis, kids just repeat what other people say” and later added “After all, Francis, everybody liked Black Beauty.”
One script has Toody working an undercover detail in Brooklyn with a female cop posing as his wife and a small boy as his child. When his wife’s sister spots him, the rumors begin.
Even though there were only 60 episodes, the show went into syndication in 1964. It was one of the staples on Nick at Nite in the 1980s, aired on Comedy Central in the 1990s, and a few years ago it could be seen on both MeTV and Decades. The show came out on DVD in 2011 and 2012.
Like any show that was even somewhat successful, the show had a film made based on the series in 1994. The big screen version starred John C. McGinley as Muldoon, David Johansen as Toody, Rosie O’Donnell as Toody’s wife Lucille and Fran Drescher as Velma Velor. Not surprisingly, it was a dud. One reviewer said it “was one of the worst movies to ever come out of Hollywood.”
One fun fact I learned doing research for this blog was that this show was William Faulkner’s favorite tv show. He hated television but visited a friend’s house weekly to watch the show.
Photo: amazon.com
This show debuted during the decade when merchandising was a big part of every show. There were at least six comic books based on the show. There was a board game, puppets of Toody and Muldoon, and a car model.
The show was funny in its prime, but I’m not sure it holds up as well today as other shows from the sixties. However, two seasons of DVDs is not a large investment, so check out an episode on youtube and see what you think.
As we continue our Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem series, we move from Maine where senior citizen Jessica Fletcher solved mysteries to the streets of Los Angeles, where a hip trio infiltrates the counterculture to solve crimes.
Photo: pinterest.com
Airing from
1968 till 1973, The Mod Squad was a
unique concept. Created by Buddy Ruskin, a Los Angeles police officer, the show
took eight years to become a reality. Ruskin based the concept on his time as a
squad leader for an undercover narcotic division in the 1950s.
Aaron
Spelling was the executive producer. Spelling worked on a number of projects
from 1960 onward, but his biggest hit shows were still in his future when he
took the helm of The Mod Squad.
As soon as the jazzy theme song by Earl Hagen began, we knew this was a different type of show. The sixties hippie culture and counterculture drug scene had not been explored in depth on television before.
Photo: pinterest.com
In order to
get the necessary evidence, three young team members were trained to go
undercover to solve cases. Michael Cole was Pete Cochran, a wealthy kid who was
arrested for stealing a car; Peggy Lipton was Julie Barnes, who had run away
from a bad home situation; and Clarence Wlliams II was Linc Hayes, who was
arrested during the Watts riots. Captain Adam Greer (Tige Andrews) supervised
the trio. He mentored them and provided “parently” advice and wisdom. He
hand-picked them for his team. (Similarly, Spelling’s Charlie’s Angel’s would also feature a father figure hand picking
three non-traditional members for his crime-solving team.)
None of these kids were innocent, and their records were eliminated when they chose to work with the LA police. But they soon realized they had the ability most cops did not to inconspicuously fit in to help stop criminals from killing or hurting other young adults.
Photo: pinterest.com
Similar to Room 222, which aired almost the same
time, The Mod Squad covered a lot of
socially relevant topics: abortion, domestic violence, drug addiction, child
abuse, police brutality, illegal immigration, and racism. Though the pilot was
written sixty years ago, these issues are still on the front page today.
The writers, including Tony Barrett, Harve Bennett, Sammy Hess, and Buddy Ruskin, created realistic characters. These three outcasts were a bit rebellious; they lived in the gray instead of black or white. They understood good people sometimes did bad things, and racism and domestic violence were not to be tolerated. Their speech and clothing marked them as quintessentially 1960s. Linc often said “Solid” or “Keep the faith.” You would probably hear “groovy” at least once an episode.
Photo: tvinsider.com
The team traveled in an old green 1950 Mercury wood-paneled station wagon that they affectionately referred to as “Woody.” Unfortunately, it was burned in an accident at the end of the second season.
Photo: pinterest.com
The show was definitely controversial. It aired at a time when westerns, rural sitcoms, and Lawrence Welk were popular. The episodes pushed the envelope a bit on topics that had been taboo on television in the past. The team was like a family and on one episode, Linc gave Julie a brotherly kiss on the cheek which had the network up in arms, but not one complaint came in. Their relationship with Captain Greer helped America see how the generation gap could be bridged.
Photo: davidcassidy.com Stars David Cassidy and Marion Ross
Despite the
controversy, the show attracted a lot of famous guest stars. Some of the actors
who can be spotted during the show’s run include Ed Asner, Jim Backus, Tom
Bosley, David Cassidy, Tyne Daley, Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Dow, Andy Griffith,
Carolyn Jones, Leslie Nielsen, Stefanie Powers, Vincent Price, Robert Reed,
Marian Ross, Sugar Ray Robinson, Martin Sheen, Bobby Sherman, Danny Thomas,
Daniel Travanti, and Billy Dee Williams.
Each episode ended with the squad walking away from the camera.
Photo: gettyimages.ca
The show was
extremely popular given its uniqueness. It was the 28th most popular
show its first year and number 11 in its third season. The show received seven
Emmy and four Golden Globe nominations. In 1970, it was nominated for
Outstanding Series. During its final year, it only ranked 54 and the “hipness”
of the show was starting to age a bit, so it was cancelled.
It did have
an afterlife. In 1979, a tv movie, The
Return of the Mod Squad, aired on ABC with the original cat. In 1999, a
big-screen film was released starring Giovanni Ribisi, Omar Epps, Claire Danes,
and Dennis Farina. Don’t feel bad if you don’t remember it; not many people do.
Photo: pinterest.com
The Mod Squad could be seen on MeTV in 2014 and 2015. Apart from that, it has not fared well in syndication. Like Room 222, the show can feel dated quickly due to its language and fashion.
Photo: eaumg.com
The show is still celebrated for its ground-breaking scripts, and in 1997, TV Guide included an episode, “Mother of Sorrow” as 95th of the greatest 100 episodes of all time.
Photo: nndb.com
While you probably won’t find it on television, it is available on DVD. Although the show may not be known by many people today, it was one of the first shows to break the barriers of going where television had not been before. In many ways, it paved the way for the creation of shows such as All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Miami Vice. What more could you ask for: relevant topics, well-rounded characters, and exciting plots. Although its language and fashions date it, it captures a unique time in our history and is worth exploring.
We are kicking off a new series: Murder, Mystery and Mayhem. Perhaps no person represents this theme better than Jessica Fletcher, the crime solver behind Murder She Wrote.
Photo: crimereads.com
Airing on CBS from 1984-1996, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) is one of our longest-running sleuths on television, averaging more than 30 million viewers a week in its prime. The series produced 264 episodes and four made-for-television films. The title was a play on words from Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple story, Murder She Said from 1961.
Although it’s hard to picture anyone else in the role, Lansbury was not the first choice for the part; both Jean Stapleton and Doris Day turned down the role.
The creative team who worked on Murder She Wrote was the same team behind Columbo—Richard Levinson, William Link, and Peter S. Fischer. While Columbo’s tag line is “Just one more thing,” Jessica’s is “I couldn’t help but notice.”
Photo: tvseriesfinale.com
Jessica lived in Cabot Cove, Maine. (Spoiler alert: the show was actually filmed in Mendocino, CA.) She was a widow and retired English teacher who becomes a successful mystery writer. Her first novel was The Corpse Danced at Midnight. Although she has no children, she has a network of friends and extended family in her small hometown. She had four siblings but only Marshall, a doctor, was seen on the show.
Photo: christmastvhistory.com
We get to know many of the town folk. Dr. Seth Hazlitt (William Windom) is the local doctor and one of Jessica’s best friends and a potential romance. Sheriff Amos Tupper (Tom Bosley) works with Jessica often on crime cases. Sheriff Mort Metzger (Ron Masak) takes over when Tupper retires and moves to Kentucky. Jessica’s nephew Grady (Michael Horton) seems to get in trouble with the law often despite his aunt’s influence. Jean O’Neil (Madlyn Rhue) is the local librarian. Sam Booth (Richard Paul) is the mayor and is voted in every year because he promises to do nothing and that is exactly what he does. Eve Simpson (Julie Adams) is the local realtor and gossip extraordinaire. Loretta Speigel (Ruth Roman), keeps up with Simpson’s gossiping and is a hairdresser. Ethan Cragg (Claude Akins) is a fisherman.
Photo: eonline.com
Of course,
none of us would want to live in Cabot Cove because there was a huge number of
murders occurring there over a twelve-year span. In fact, the term “Cabot Cove
Syndrome” was coined to describe the constant appearance of dead bodies in remote
locations. During season eight, Jessica rents an apartment in New York City to
teach criminology and participate in more murder cases.
The police around the town never seem to learn. They are always ready to arrest the wrong person until Jessica solves the case. Some officers appreciate her help, knowing her skill for deducing the murderer while other officers dread seeing her show up at a crime scene.
Photo: pinterest.com
Several characters who Jessica worked with regularly included insurance investigator Dennis Stanton (Keith Mitchell); private investigators Harry McGraw (Jerry Orbach) and Charlie Garrett (Wayne Rogers); British agent Michael Haggerty (Len Cariou); and NYPD detective Artie Gelber (Herb Edelman).
Cabot Cove was almost another character on the show. Viewers loved getting to know the charming town with a population of 3650. Jessica never drove a car around town; she biked or took a cab.
Photo: hookedonhouses.net
With twelve years’ worth of shows, it is not surprising that the guest star list is formidable. Just a smattering of stars include Ernest Borgnine, George Clooney, Neil Patrick Harris, Buddy Hackett, Janet Leigh, Julianna Marguiles, Leslie Nielsen, and Joaquin Phoenix
In its final season, the show was moved from its Sunday night slot with loyal viewers to Thursday night against Mad About You and Friends. The show went from 8th to 58th in the ratings and was cancelled. Although Lansbury considered retirement several times during the show’s airings, she was blindsided by the move. In a Los Angeles Times article, she was quoted as sharing “I’m shattered. What can I say? I feel very emotional about it. I just felt so disappointed that after all the years we had Sunday night at 8, suddenly it didn’t mean anything. It was like gone with the wind.”
Photo: irishtimes.com
Obviously, the show was popular with viewers staying on the air for twelve years, but it was also popular with critics. Lansbury received an Emmy nomination for best lead actress in a drama every single season the show was on the air. Unfortunately, she never won.
Often when you picture a crime solver, it’s someone who is young and sexy, such as the cast on Charlie’s Angels or Magnum PI. Jessica Fletcher does not pretend to be young or anything other than a middle-aged woman from Maine. But she does like to travel, she has romantic relationships with men, and has interests and a career. What you see is what you get. Perhaps that was the biggest reason for her popularity during those twelve years.
Photo: pinterest.com
The show continues to do well in syndication, appearing on WGN mornings and the Hallmark Mystery and Movie Channel at night. Spend some time with the good folks in Cabot Cove and watch Jessica Fletcher solve a few murder mysteries. No one embodies murder, mystery, and mayhem more than she does.
There was something magical about the Friday evening television schedule from 1971-1973. Anyone who was born in the late 1950s or early 1960s can remember sitting down in front of the television at 7 pm (central time) for the Brady Bunch and staying put through The PartridgeFamily, Room 222, The Odd Couple, and Love, American Style. Sitting through an entire evening of shows was almost unheard of back then, but we binge watched every Friday night. While the boys were divided between Marcia Brady and Laurie Partridge, every girl of that age had was in love with Keith Partridge. Watching an episode of The Partridge Family today makes me feel 10 again. For the next five weeks, I’m taking a look at each of the shows that made this schedule so enjoyable.
Today we begin with Love, American Style. This show was an iconic 1970s show. Like Laugh In, the clothing, furnishings, and vocabulary do not make it timeless. But it was a lot of fun. This fast-paced anthology show featured two to four mini episodes each week, and between them were quick skits, often featuring a brass bed. Each smaller episode is titled “Love and the _______.”
A troupe of players was featured on each show for the in-between skits. These regulars included William Callaway, Buzz Cooper, Phyllis Davis, Mary Grover, James Hampton, Stuart Margolin, Lynn Marta, Barbara Minkus, and Tracy Reed. Margolin went on to a regular role in TheRockford Files; Tracy Reed was featured in McCloud and Knot’s Landing; Phyllis Davis was part of the cast of Vega$ and Magnum PI, and James Hampton will be familiar if you watched The Doris Day Show or F-Troop. Both Reed and Davis were featured on Love Boat episodes which had a similar format to Love, American Style.
The show had a memorable and catchy theme song. Written by Arnold Margolin, the first year it was performed by The Cowsills. You will see a lot of overlap between these five Friday night shows, and music is one of those cross-overs. The Partridge Family was based on the life of The Cowsills.
During the second and subsequent years that Love, American Style was on the air, the theme song was performed by the Ron Hicklin Group. The Ron Hicklin Group could be heard in a variety of motion pictures and commercials, and they also appeared on recordings with stars such as Paul Revere and the Raiders and Cher. John and Tom Bahler, brothers who sang under The Charles Fox Singers were also part of this group. The group provided television theme song recordings including Batman, That Girl, Happy Days, and Laverne and Shirley. They also did the singing for The Partridge Family theme and songs performed on the show as well as the Brady Bunch kids. Ron retired in the early 2000s, and Tom does a variety of things. He is also known for writing Bobby Sherman’s hit, “Julie Do You Love Me?”. John married Janet Lennon, one of the Lennon sisters who performed on The Lawrence Welk Show. He currently lives in Branson and conducts the “new” Lawrence Welk orchestra.
The snappy melody was set to the following words:
Love, Love, Love
Love, American Style,
Truer than the Red, White and Blue.
Love, American Style,
That’s me and you.
And on a star-spangled night my love,
My love come to me.
You can rest you head on my shoulder.
Out by the dawn’s early light, my love
I will defend your right to try.
Love, American Style,
That’s me and you.
Paramount Television developed the show. The executive producer of the show was Arnold Margolin, Stuart’s brother. There were 53 different directors during the four-year run. The series received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1970 and 1971; Best Music Composition in 1971, 1972, and 1973, winning in 1973; and winning the Emmy in 1970 for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.
Many people wrote for the show, but Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson received the most credits. One of the writers, Peggy Elliott, was interviewed by the Huffington Post in May of 2013, and she talked about her time writing for the show.
“But the show I loved writing the most, was Love, American Style. For every other show, I was writing for characters created out of someone else’s head. Sure, we could create the occasional guest-star role, and we had been told to make every role, no matter how small, a real person. ‘Think of the actor who’s playing that delivery boy,’ I can hear Billy Persky, the co-creator or That Girl, say: ‘This is a big break for him — it’s the biggest role he’s had so far. Give him something to work with.’
But with Love, American Style, every character was our very own; every situation came out of our heads. Each segment of the hour the show ran each week was a one-act play created entirely by us. Added to the attraction was the fact that we could say and do things that were taboo on every other TV show in the early ‘70s. Arnold Margolin, co-creator of the show with Jim Parker, told me recently that the creative side of the network wanted the show to be more daring, while the censors kept their red pencils ready. There was a full-time position on the show just to run interference.
We must have put both sides through the hoops with one episode we wrote: ‘Love and The Hand-Maiden.’ A young guy was dating a centerfold model. As their relationship developed, he discovered that she had no problem with shedding her clothes, but she always kept her hands covered — with artful poses in magazines, and with gloves in real life. He became obsessed with seeing her hands and came up with one ruse after another to get her to take off her gloves. We had a ball writing it, with one double-entendre after another.”
If you were a star of any kind in the early 1970s, you most likely were on Love, American Style. The show produced 108 episodes, and those shows featured 1112 different actors. Some of the famous names showing up in the credits include Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Phyllis Diller, Arte Johnson, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, Regis Philbin, Burt Reynolds, Sonny and Cher, Flip Wilson, and Jo Anne Worley. Karen Valentine from Room 222, Ann B Davis and Robert Reed from The Brady Bunch, and both Jack Klugman and Tony Randall from The Odd Couple show up along the way.
Brad Duke wrote a biography about Harrison Ford and he said Ford had fond memories of appearing on Love, American Style. “He recalled that he had been given little time to prepare his wardrobe for the role of a philosophical hippie in the November 1969 episode, “Love and the Former Marriage.” He appeared on set with long hair and a beard thinking they were appropriate for the role. He was surprised when he was told he needed a haircut and trim than given a navy blue dress shirt and vinyl burgundy jeans with a large belt. They even had a scarf with a little ring to put around my neck. And I thought, someone has made a mistake here. So, rather than argue with the wardrobe people, I put on the clothes and went to find the producer. I walked on the set and he was pointed out. I tapped his shoulder and when he turned around he had on the same clothes I did. He was a hippie producer I guess. At least the check went through, and I got paid.”
The best way to get a good understanding of what the show was like is to look at a couple of the episodes.
January 23, 1970: Love and the Big Night
Starring Ann Elder, Buddy Lester, Frank Maxwell, Julie Newmar, and Tony Randall, this episode was often listed as a favorite. Randall is a married businessman who escorts his voluptuous secretary (Newmar) to her apartment after a late night at the office. Eager to get home to his wife, Randall hurriedly tries to open a stubborn jar of mayonnaise and winds up covered with mayo. Newmar cleans his suit, but while it’s drying, it’s stolen. After a series of amusing mishaps, Randall finally gets back to his own apartment and creeps into bed with his wife–only to find out she’s not there.
February 25, 1972: Love and the Television Set
It starred Harold Gould, Marion Ross, Ron Howard, and Anson Williams. Reading this list of names might give you a hint about what happened to this episode after it aired. Garry Marshall had written a pilot about a 1950s family that did not sell. He turned it into an episode for Love, American Style. George Lucas caught the episode and was impressed with Ron Howard and offered him a role in his new movie American Graffiti about 1950s teens. The movie was so popular, that the network decided to put Marshall’s pilot in the fall line-up as Happy Days. Harold Gould’s role was given to Tom Bosley for the series. When Love, American Style went into syndication, this episode was retitled “Love and the Happy Days.”
October 22, 1970: Love and the Bashful Groom
This is the episode I recall when I think of the series. When I watched it originally, I was staying overnight at my grandparents’ house and my grandmother was shocked at the “vulgarity.” It really seems quite tame today, but back then it probably was unexpected. She would approve of Tom Bahler marrying Janet Lennon though because I watched Lawrence Welk with her and my grandfather whenever I was at their house.
In this episode, Paul Petersen, Christopher Stone, Meredith MacRae, Jeff Donnell, and Dick Wilson are featured. Harold (Petersen) and Linda (MacRae) are getting married. He learns that she grew up in a nudist colony and is not comfortable being naked for his wedding. After a soul-searching talk with his best friend, and realizing he loves Linda enough to be uncomfortable, he decides to go through with the ceremony. He gets to the church a bit late and walks in, only to see that everyone else is dressed in their Sunday best. His bride informs him that they always dress up for weddings. One of the congregation members says something like “Let’s not make him uncomfortable,” and they all begin to undress. Of course, you see nothing improper, only clothes flying. This was probably not the best episode to “expose” my grandmother to as a first glimpse of the show.
The show lasted for four years and was cancelled in 1973. In 1985, a reboot was created, but it was on in the mornings and only lasted a few months. The show was on at the same time as everyone’s favorite game show, The Price is Right. For the 1998 fall season, a pilot was created for prime time, but it was never ordered. While doing my research for this blog, I noticed that there was a Love, American Style project in production, so we may see it resurface again. I’m not sure I would want to watch a 2019 or 2020 version of the show though. It was such a product of its time, and I fear what a current version would be like after seeing the reboot of Match Game which has been airing the past year or so.
Let’s all write to Antenna TV and Me TV to see if they will make the original 1971 television schedule happen, and we can watch these original shows again, reliving the excitement we experienced the first time around.
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