Sisters: “All kinds of weather, we stick together”

May 13, 2024December 15, 2023 / thewritelife61 / 2 Comments

This month we are examining shows about brothers and sisters in Sibling Rivalry. Today it’s Sisters.

Sisters debuted on NBC in May of 1991 which was a weird time to start a show, but they decided to air seven episodes as a test run. It was successful, so it was put on the fall schedule for that year. It was on the air for six seasons. Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman created the series and filled the role of producers.

The show featured four sisters, the Reeds, who live in Winnetka, Illinois. The sisters were very different but were close. Their father had been a successful doctor who was not involved in the girls’ lives much but was involved in the lives of other women. Their mother Beatrice (Elizabeth Hoffman) became an alcoholic to help her through his absence and affairs.

Dr. Reed made it known he wanted sons and the girls all were given “boy” nicknames. Alex (Alexandra) (Swoosie Kurtz) was the oldest. She was wealthy and married to Wade (David Dukes), a plastic surgeon. They have one daughter Reed (played by three actresses over the course of the show: Kathy Wagner [s1], Ashley Judd [s2-4] and Noelle Parker [s6]. Teddy (Theodora) (Sela Ward) was a laid-back artist who never could figure out what she wanted to do with her life. She has a daughter Cat (Heather McAdam) from her prior marriage. Georgie (Georgiana) (Patricia Kalember) was married to John (Garrett M. Brown) and was a stay-at-home mom of two boys, Evan (Dustin Berkovitz) and Trevor (Ryan Francis). Frankie (Francesca) (Julianne Phillips) the youngest, was a businesswoman trying to make a name for herself. She was a bit of a workaholic and an overachiever.

Ward was brought in to audition for the role of Frankie, but after reading the script she felt she was better suited to Teddy.

The first two seasons opened with the sisters having a weekly steam bath and chatting about what was going on in their lives. The sisters did not love this part of the show. Phillips said, “it was miserable.” She said “they were sprayed with mineral oil, sat in a cold towel for hours on a smoke-filled soundstage. . . . We were all severely uncomfortable, and it would go on forever.” Kalember said that it helped the actresses become close though. She said, “if you aren’t able to bond under those circumstances, you are not human.”

A lot of flashbacks are included on the shows, allowing us to learn where some of their personality traits developed and situations in their past that still influence the present. The show found the perfect blend of comedy and drama. They also had a few Moonlighting-like episodes where they were based on movies like The Wizard of Oz or the sisters were in fantasy situations.

During season one Beatrice sells the family home and moves into a condo. She is arrested for driving under the influence. Alex suspects her husband of having an affair only to learn that he is a cross dresser. Teddy returns home to Winnetka and learns that her ex-husband Mitch (Ed Marinaro) is now dating Frankie. She struggles with this and pursues Mitch who discourages her. One night they end up together, but he asks Frankie to marry him, and they plan a quick wedding that Teddy ruins. Frankie stops seeing Mitch, and Teddy realizes she behaved badly and decides to go back to California; however, before leaving she learns Georgie’s son Evan has leukemia, so she stays to help her sister.

In season two, Georgie is dealing with Evan’s treatment. Alex realizes Wade has been cheating on her for six months and they divorce. Reed drops out of school to punish them. Frankie and Mitch spend some time together for a business investment and decide to elope. Teddy realizes she is pregnant and knows it is Mitch’s. She tells her family it was a one-night stand; later Mitch figures out it was his, but Teddy has a miscarriage. Beatrice starts dating Truman (Philip Sterling) who lives in a condo near her. Teddy gets a job at a boutique but that doesn’t last, and she goes through several jobs during the season, eventually designing clothing for local women. Wade tries to convince Alex to come back home and she oddly begins dating her plumber. Alex and Wade reconcile. Frankie learns she cannot have a child, so she asks Georgie to be her surrogate.

Season three finds Beatrice eloping. There is an elaborate ceremony planned that they don’t show up to and Reed ends up marrying her boyfriend Kirby (Paul Rudd). Georgie gives birth to Thomas George and has a hard time not being a mom to him. Teddy finds an investor and is very successful but then he sells it to another person without consulting her. The new investor does not see eye-to-eye with Teddy’s vision, so she leaves the company. Frankie and Mitch divorce and fight over custody of Thomas. In another weird twist for Alex, she discovers she has breast cancer and develops a comedy routine to perform.

A lot of activity occurs in season four. Cat is raped and the police investigator, Falconer (George Clooney) helps her remember and identify him. He is eventually shot at the courthouse by a former victim. Frankie gets out of her stressful job and buys Sweet Sixteen, a local diner. Teddy runs into Falconer at an AA meeting, and they begin dating. Georgie struggles with a deep depression. Her son Trevor runs away from the school he was at and does not contact the family. Alex is hired for a television talk show. She meets Big Al (Robert Klein) who owns a large appliance store and sponsors her show. They eventually marry. Georgie and John have separated with all the drama in their family, and they reunite. You always know it’s a bad sign when another sibling is brought into the fold because it usually means ratings are down. In this show, Charley (Charlotte) (Sheila Kelley) meets her sisters because she needs a bone marrow match. None of them can help her but a donor is found, and she becomes part of the family. At the end of the year, Trevor returns after a tornado hits Winnetka, Reed comes home and gives birth to a daughter, Teddy and Falconer marry on a plane during a storm, and Big Al is arrested for tax evasion on his wedding night.

Teddy learns in season five that she is not meant to be happy. Falconer is murdered by a criminal he was going to testify against in court, and Teddy starts drinking again. Georgie sees a therapist who causes her to remember things about her father molesting her that never happened. (The therapist was played by her real husband, Daniel Gerroll) They begin an affair, and she leaves John, thinking this is her great love, but the doctor ignores her. Frankie’s old investment ends in her managing a boxer whom she begins to date. Big Al gets out of prison and decides to run for mayor. Truman has Alzheimer’s and Beatrice has to deal with that. He wants her to end his life when the disease has advanced. She does and to help her afterward, Charley offers her a job as a receptionist at her free clinic. Teddy has a brief relationship with Jack Chambers (Philip Casnoff) the man who got Falconer’s transplanted heart. Frankie has moved to Japan to market a new cow character she created.

In the final season, Georgie goes to graduate school for psychology. She begins seeing a 24-year-old student. Teddy and Cat are carjacked. Teddy buys a gun for protection and is accidentally shot in the head with it. She is in a coma, and Alex convinces Dr. Sorenson (Stephen Collins) to operate. Teddy and Sorenson start a relationship after her recovery. Cat decides to enter the police academy. Reed returns to Winnetka after divorcing Kirby and losing custody of her daughter. She starts a high-priced prostitution company and Alex turns her in and Reed is sentenced to community service. Big Al needs a heart transplant which he survives.

In the finale, Georgie reads her thesis about sisters which makes Alex and Charley mad. Beatrice has a major stroke and dies, which brings the sisters back together. Frankie moves back to Illinois. Georgie and John reconcile at Bea’s memorial service. Teddy is pregnant with a daughter she has already named Beatrice Rose.

The ratings for this show were never stellar. It was in the fifties for the early seasons but dropped to #75 for season five and #103 for season six. However, it received eight Emmy Award nominations. Sela Ward won for Outstanding Actress in 1994. Swoosie Kurtz was nominated that same year and in 1993. Kurtz was beat out by Kathy Baker for her role in Picket Fences.

I think the success of the show, despite some soap-opera-like plots was the fact that it blended humor with heart. Also, the actresses were believable as sisters. Phillips said that “if God himself came down and said, ‘I’m going to design a show: Who would you like to work with?’ you couldn’t pick better people.” She went on to say that “There was something that just clicked. That chemical, indescribable thing. There was a real comfort and connection. It doesn’t happen often.”

Kurtz agreed. She said that “from the beginning we had chemistry on camera, but we had chemistry in real life too. . . . I’m an only child, so I thought this is my chance. Siblings by proxy.”

I could not find out why, but the show is not available on DVD. There is an avid fan club for this series, and they have campaigned to bring it to Netflix or another streaming service, but so far, they have had no luck. It’s too bad because it is a show well worth revisiting. For now, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Little House on the Prairie: Drama On and Off the Set

February 12, 2024December 5, 2023 / thewritelife61 / 4 Comments

This month we are visiting with some of our favorite families. I absolutely would have included The Waltons this month if we had not covered the show recently. However, another historic family, the Ingalls, is on the schedule. Little House on the Prairie was on the air for nine seasons. Many of us got to know the family through Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books.

Television producer Ed Friendly acquired the film and television rights from the books. Oddly enough, the other show Friendly is known for as producer is Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In. He decided to make Little House a two-hour pilot and asked Michael Landon to direct it. Landon agreed to do so if he could also play Pa, Charles Ingalls. The pilot aired in March of 1974, and in September the series began.

Along with starring in the show, Landon continued to direct as well; he directed 87 of the 204 episodes. The other directors included William F. Claxton, Victor French, Maury Dexter, and Leo Penn.

Landon also got in on the writing of several episodes. He had written several scripts for Bonanza when he appeared on that show, and several of them were recycled for Little House.

Like The Waltons, while this series was often happy with comedic notes, it dealt with many serious issues as well, including alcoholism, drug addiction, poverty, racism, child abuse, and rape. The show focused on the struggles and joys of a pioneer family living in the late 1800s.

Along with Landon, Karen Grassle played Ma, Melissa Gilbert played Laura, Melissa Sue Anderson was Mary, with Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush alternating as Carrie. In addition to the Ingalls family, other town folk on the show included Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim), Nels Oleson (Richard Bull), Harriet Oleson (Katherine “Scottie” MacGregor, and Miss Beadle (Charlotte Stewart).

Some of the guest stars included Willie Aames, Anne Archer, Lew Ayres, Hermione Baddeley, Ken Berry, Ray Bolger, Ernest Borgnine, Johnny and June Carter Cash, Burl Ives, Charles Lane, Vera Miles, Sean Penn, and Ray Walston.

The theme song, “The Little House,” was written and conducted by David Rose. Rose won two Emmys for his work on the show.Although the pilot ranked #3 for the 1974 ratings, the first two seasons were much lower. Season 3 found the show on Monday nights where it remained one of the highest-ranking series through season 7. Season 8 had a significant decline and season 9, with the loss of most of the family members, never really caught on with viewers. However, season two is the only year the show was not in the top 30. The schedule was a bit crazy when you analyze it. Although, this show did have to compete with The Jeffersons and WKRP in Cincinnati, because they were half-hour shows and this was an hour show, many people probably continued watching the second half. For many of these years, there were up to six different shows in this time spot on CBS and many of them changed from year to year, so there were rarely shows in this spot against Little House for more than a month or two.

After eight seasons, both Michael Landon and Karen Grassle were ready to move on; however, Landon did stay on as a director and writer. The show focused on Laura Almanzo and the younger generation for the ninth and final season.

The show was loved by critics as well as viewers and received sixteen Emmy nominations. The series won four of them, all for music and cinematography. The only cast member nominated was Melissa Sue Anderson; she lost to Sada Thompson for Family.

Viewers were not ready to leave the Ingalls for good. Three made-for-tv movies were written: Little House: Look Back to Yesterday in 1983, Little House: The Last Farewell and Little House: Bless All the Dear Children, both in 1984. In 2008 the Ingalls’ lives also became a musical at the Guthrie Theater.

One fun story is when the show moved from Paramount to MGM Studios in the late seventies, they were uncovering sets so they could build new ones and found the yellow brick road from the Wizard of Oz which delighted the kids in the cast; I’m guessing it delighted many of the adults as well.

Another fun story was learning what the cast ate on the show. Since beef stew was a popular meal in the 1800s, the family often had that for its meal and when they did, they were actually eating Dinty Moore Beef Stew. When they had chicken, it was KFC that appeared on their plates.

The kids must have been troopers because each episode took about seven days to shoot. They were on location at Big Sky Ranch for four days and in the studio for interior shots about three days. In addition, they were probably witnesses to off-air scenes that were not the best. Grassle and Landon were not close, probably because his role seemed much bigger than hers and he was directing as well. Unfortunately, both Grassle and Landon were alcoholics, and alcohol was part of their life on set. During season four, Grassle quit when she realized the seriousness of her problem. Landon was never able to kick his dependence and died from pancreatitis.

Gilbert said that Michael Landon had interesting ways to inspire his kids to get emotional on the set. He worked himself up to become very emotional and with eyes full of tears would ask her “Do you know how much I love you?” which would bring tears to her eyes as well.

It might have been a way to get her to cry, but it was not a lie. Gilbert lost her own father when she was eleven, and Landon became a second father to her. He often had Gilbert at his house on the weekends. She said it was a huge house and the kids ran through the house at will. Often Landon would hide behind doorways and jump out and scare them. Gilbert said Landon provided her with a lot of great advice. The most memorable for her was that nothing is more of a priority than home and family, and no success is as important as loving your people and contributing to a community. And to have fun above all in your career.

That is sage fatherly advice for us all to remember.

The Millionaire and His Wife: Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer

July 9, 2018 / thewritelife61 / 8 Comments

Today we continue our month-long series about the characters on Gilligan’s Island and the stars who portrayed them. We begin with the millionaire, Thurston Howell III, and his wife, Lovey. On the island, their money is worthless, but it doesn’t stop Mr. Howell from bribing other captives when it’s in his best interest. He must have been a boy scout who learned the motto, “Be prepared,” because he and his wife took clothes on a three-hour tour to last a few years. In real life, Natalie Schafer was the millionaire. Both Backus and Schafer had very interesting careers.

Jim Backus

Jim Backus was born in Cleveland in February of 1913. He was one of those stars who seemed to excel in everything: radio, Broadway, animation, big-screen movies, and television series. In an interesting aside, Margaret Hamilton who would go on to have a full career including the Wicked Witch of the West at the Wizard of Oz, was one of his grade school teachers. Jim grew up in a wealthy area, attending Shaw High School in East Cleveland. His father was a mechanical engineer. I could not find exact proof of this but several articles mention he was expelled from the Kentucky Military Institute for riding a horse in the mess hall. He later attended the American Academy of Dramatic Art.

In 1939 he married Betty Kean; they divorced in 1942. One of his famous quotes was “Many a man owes his success to his first wife and his second wife to his success.”

In the 1940s, Backus began appearing on radio as the “rich man,” which he often portrayed afterward on radio and television. He played the role of aviator Dexter Hayes on Society Girl on CBS Radio Network. He also appeared on the Mel Blanc Show as Hartley Benson, an arrogant character, and as Hubert Updike on The Alan Young Show. He also showed up regularly on The Jack Benny Program.

During his radio years, he married Henny Backus whom he was married to the rest of his life.

He began his big-screen cinema career in 1949 and would go on to appear in almost 100 movies, including Here Come the Nelsons, Pat and Mike, and Rebel Without a Cause (seen above). His most famous movie role was probably Tyler Fitzgerald in It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. My favorite movie of his is Hello Down There with Tony Randall and Janet Leigh from 1969.

During the 1950s, he began auditioning for roles on television. He would go on to appear on 18 different series during that decade, including I Married Joan, on which he starred with Joan Davis. On the show, Backus played a respected judge and Davis was his scatterbrained wife. The show was very popular and lasted three seasons.

As if he wasn’t busy enough with acting in the 1950s, he also made a song recording with Phyllis Diller that hit the top 40 in 1958. It was called “Delicious,” and the two of them would take a sip of champagne throughout the song, saying “Delicious.” As the song continues, they get more drunk and a bit giddy, slurring their words and laughing hysterically.

His television career continued to be demanding in the 1960s. He appeared on 25 series, and four of them had regular starring sitcom roles. In 1960, The Jim Backus Show debuted. The program focuses on Backus in the role of Mike O’Toole, the editor/proprietor of a low rent wire service struggling to stay in business.

He had made movie shorts about Mr. Magoo in the 1950s and in 1960, he starred in 130 episodes of Mr. Magoo and would make 26 more episodes under the title The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo in 1964-1965. Mr. Magoo was an older nearsighted man who was very popular, appearing in ads and merchandise for years. The humor of the show was based on the difference between what Mr. Magoo thinks he sees and the reality of what was really there. Jim Backus liked to repeat a story about his famous character. He was in the movie, Don’t Bother to Knock, with Marilyn Monroe. She asked Jim to meet her in her dressing room later and his curiosity got the best of him, so he went, only to learn she wanted him to portray Mr. Magoo which he did.

This was also the decade he was offered the role of Thurston Howell III on Gilligan’s Island in 1964. That same year he was asked to play the role of Abner Kravitz on a new show, Bewitched but turned it down because he was committed to Gilligan’s Island. Gilligan’s Island would run from 1964-1967 and he would go on to appear in several Gilligan revivals including the far-fetched The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island.

During 1968-1969, Backus took the role of Mr. Dithers in a revival of Blondie.

During the 1960s, he also appeared on 77 Sunset Strip, The Beverly Hillbillies, Daniel Boone, The Wild, Wild West, and I Spy, among others.

Backus continued his television work into the 1970s where he appeared on 31 shows. He appeared in a variety of genres including I Dream of Jeannie, Young Dr. Kildare, Medical Center, The Brady Bunch, Gunsmoke, Ellery Queen, Charlie’s Angels, Fantasy Island, and The Love Boat.

Backus also continued his commercial work in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the spokesperson for La-Z-Boy furniture and General Electric. He and Natalie Schafer appeared in an ad for Redenbacher’s popcorn. They played their characters from Gilligan’s Island but apparently had been rescued and were in a luxurious home. In a sweet ending, it was the last television appearance for either of them.

When Jim Backus had a little bit of free time between acting jobs, he loved to golf. He also tried his hand at writing a few books and film scripts, including his autobiography which he wrote with his wife, Only When I Laugh in 1965.

In July of 1989, Backus died from pneumonia, after suffering from Parkinson’s disease for many years.

He had a long and varied career and seemed to have many friends in the business.

Natalie Schafer

A millionaire in real life, Natalie Schafer seemed like a very fun woman, a bit of a character. She was born in November of 1900 in New Jersey and raised in Manhattan. She was quite secretive about her age, often claiming she was born in 1912.

She began her career in Broadway, appearing in 17 plays. She married actor Louis Calhern in 1934 and they divorced in 1942. She moved to Los Angeles in 1941 to become a film actress and received parts in 34 movies. Incidentally, she and her ex remained friends and appeared together in the movie Forever Darling in 1956.

Like Backus, Schafer typically played wealthy and sophisticated roles. She did not have the versatility her tv husband had but continued to stay busy acting on television. While Gilligan’s Island was her only long-term role, she appeared on 21 shows in the 1950s (including I Love Lucy, Loretta Young, Phil Silvers, and Topper); 8 in the 1960s (including The Beverly Hillbillies, 77 Sunset Strip, and Route 66); 15 in the 1970s (including Mayberry RFD, The Brady Bunch, and McMillan and Wife); and an additional 8 shows in the 1980s before she passed away (including Three’s Company, The Love Boat, Trapper John, and Simon and Simon).

Schafer made most of her money from investments, particularly in real estate.

Several sources revealed that much of her fortune was bequeathed to either her Gilligan’s Island co-star Dawn Wells or to care for her dogs; however, at least $1.5 million was donated to the Lillian Booth Actors’ Home to renovate their outpatient wing. I never saw any answers from Wells about inheriting money, but on Vicki Lawrence’s talk show, she did say that Schafer spent her last years living with her. Like many wealthy people, she was quite thrifty. She often admitted that she accepted the role of Mrs. Howell because she got a free trip to Hawaii to film the pilot and didn’t expect it to get picked up.

Everyone seemed to like her on the set. Dawn Wells said she especially adored Schafer and Backus. Schafer was a hard worker and liked to keep fit. In a Chicago Tribune article from October 25, 1965, she relayed her secrets for staying in shape. For one thing, she did her own stunts on the show. She also said she swam nude every morning and evening, doing 100 strong kicks at the side of the pool. She also invented an ice cream diet for herself. She claimed to eat a quart a day, saying she had a bowl of vanilla ice cream with her coffee, two bowls of varying flavors for both lunch and dinner, and another single bowl for an afternoon snack. She claimed that she would lose three pounds in five days.

In 1990, Schafer passed away from liver cancer. After her death, she wanted people to realize her true age, and many of her closest friends were quite surprised to learn she was 12 years older than she claimed.

While Thurston Howell III and his wife Lovey were two interesting characters, I don’t think they can compete with the characters who were Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer. I had a lot of fun learning about them.