1970'S ABC FRIDAY NIGHT PROMO

MR PEEPERS STARRING WALLY COX

NBC SITCOM AIRING FROM 1952-1955

Wally Cox started out in New York City giving dance lessons. In the evenings, Cox wrote some stand up routines and tried them out on his roommate, Marlon Brando, and some other friends. They thought he was pretty funny and encouraged him to try out his routine in coffee houses in the Village. These were not jokes or one liners but humorous stories.

NBC discovered him in a coffee house and hired him to star in The Copper, which was about a timid policeman. The story aired on the Philco TV Playhouse and it was a hit. A TV series based on The Copper was attempted but did not work out. So NBC got the idea for a show about a timid science teacher in a small town and Mr. Peepers was born.

MAIN CHARACTERS

Wally Cox as Robinson J. Peepers

Patricia Benoit as Nancy Remington who was the school nurse and Mr. Peepers girlfriend and later wife.

Tony Randall as Harvey Weskitt who was the English teacher and Mr. Peeper's friend.

Marianne Lorne as Mrs. Gurney who was an elderly friend.

When NBC first decided to make the show, early in 1952, the script incorporated lots of slapstick. But Wally Cox insisted on taking it out. His humor was not compatible with any slap stick or violence. The humor from the show came from the characters and down to earth situations dealt with in a funny way.

The show was first aired in the summer of 1952 with Ford Motor Company as the sponsor. It was popular immediately but NBC decided not to renew the show since they felt it was too complicated to film. But there were thousands of letters of protest and when a slot opened up in the fall season, Mr Peepers was on his way.

 

BROADCAST

The show was broadcast live on the East Coast. Kinescopes were made and sent to the West Coast for broadcast there. Kinescopes were very crude, it basically involves filming a television screen while the live broadcast was airing. The films were then sent to the West Coast to be rebroadcast. So it was a film of a film and the film itself wasn't that great a quality.

The show was broadcast in black and white with somewhat crude lighting and the sets were flimsy. These shows were not rerun, just one broadcast and that's it. But UCLA did digital restoration of the shows and they are now available on DVD. The films are of only fair quality, restoration can't make them better than they were originally. But the shows are still good and showcase the gentle humor of Wally Cox.

AFTER THE SERIES

After the show Wally Cox was, unfortunately, typecast as a meek, mild intellectual. For the rest of his life he played, with few exceptions, variations on Mr. Peepers. A few years after the show ended he was offered the lead in Hiram Holiday about a proofreader who goes around the world as a spy. It didn't last long and Wally Cox perhaps his greatest success as a regular guest star on the game show Hollywood Squares.

MUNSTERS SEASON 1 EPISODE GUIDE PART 2

LOW CAL MUNSTER
Herman's army reunion is coming up and he wants to go in uniform, however he has gained some weight. So he goes to the doctor to be put on a diet. The diet is very strict and leads to him having to skip Thanksgiving dinner. Second appearance of Paul Lynde as Dr. Dudley.

TIN CAN MAN
Eddie is failing science and to make up for it, he and Grandpa are building a science project, a robot.

HERMAN THE GREAT
Mr. Ramsey, the father of Eddie’s friend, is impressed that Herman can bend steel bars with his bare hands. So he hires Herman as the Masked Marvel, a wrestler. But Herman can’t win a match because he falls for all his opponent’s sob stories.

KNOCK WOOD, HERE COMES CHARLIE
Charlie, Herman’s twin brother, comes to town and convinces Lily to spend $5,000 for a machine that extracts uranium from sea water. Marilyn is sure Charlie is a con man and she is right, he sells the Munster’s neighbor one of the phony machines and Herman has to buy it back.

MUNSTERS SEASON 1 EPISODE GUIDE PART 1

MUNSTERS MASQUERADE Marilyn is dating Tom Daley and is anxious for Tom to meet her family. Tom suggests to his parents that they invite Herman and Lily to their upcoming costume party. Grandpa has a tantrum until he is also invited. Herman wearing a suit of armor, sees Tom's father dressed like a Frankenstein's monster.

MY FAIR MUNSTER Marilyn scares off another boyfriend when she brings him home, so Grandpa makes up a love potion for her. But the potion ends up in the breakfasts of Eddie, Herman and Lily. Eddie is chased home from school by adoring girl, the lady next door falls in love with Herman and Lily is serenaded by the mailman.

WALK ON THE MILD SIDE Herman is having problems sleeping so he goes walking in the park late at night. There is a mugger working the same area and the police mistake Herman for the mugger.

ROCK A BYE MUNSTER Marilyn will be having a child she is babysitting stay with the family for a few days. Herman and Grandpa overhear them talking and reach the conclusion that Lily is expecting a new baby. First appearance of Paul Lynde as Dr. Dudley, their family physician.

PIKE'S PIQUE The city wants to put a gas pipeline under the Munsters house, but Grandpa is reluctant because he worries about who they might dig up. The city ends up trying to put it there without getting permission. This leads to workmen breaking into grandpa's dungeon laboratory.

MUNSTERS SEASON 1

The Munsters first aired in September 1964 and the last episode aired in May of 1966. The show was never a big hit, but it has been available for syndication ever since and has since become popular.

The show is a family sitcom with a difference; the family were monsters. Universal was noted for it's monster movies and they just translated those characters into a comic family. Herman is a homage to Universal's Frankenstein's monster.

The Munsters are supposedly a regular, everyday family. They moved from Transylvania decades ago and live in Mockingbird Heights. Herman works in a funeral parlor, Lily is a housewife, grandpa is a mad scientist and Eddie and Marilyn go to school.

Marilyn, who the family calls unfortunate, is the ugly one of the family, looks like a wholesome Marilyn Monroe. She has many dates but they always flee when faced with her family.

The family has 3 pets; a raven that lives in the cuckoo clock, a cat that roars like a lion and Spot, a dragon/dinosaur who lives under the stairs and breathes fire.

CAST

Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster
Yvonne de Carlo as Lily Munster
Al Lewis as Count Dracula, Lily's father
Butch Patrick as Edward Wolfgang Munster, Herman and Lily's son
Beverly Owen and Pat Priest as Marilyn Munster, Lily's niece

1960'S DETECTIVE SERIES MANNIX

This crime series aired on CBS from 1967 to 1975. The first season, Joe Mannix worked for a large detective agency, run by Lou Wickersham. This agency made extensive use of computers and Mannix didn't really fit into this environment.
Joe Mannix was a old school, tough guy PI and starting in the second season, Mannix was in a more appropriate environment, Mannix now worked out of a small ,one-man LA detective agency with his secretary, Peggy Fair, one of the few African Americans with a regular role on a TV series.

Mannix had regular contact with some police officers, who helped or hindered him on his cases. Mannix was a stoic character who got beat up every other episode. Joe Mannix, while not being a very handsome man, was a ladies man. The show was noted for lots of fights and car chases.

CAST
MIKE CONNORS AS JOE MANNIX

GAIL FISHER AS PEGGY FAIR

ROBERT REED AS ADAM TOBIAS (COP)

ARTHUR MALCOLM AS WARD WOOD (COP)

LARRY LINVILLE AS GEORGE KRAMER (COP)

MARK STEWART AS TOBY FAIR (COP)

JOSEPH CAMPENELLA AS LOU WICKERSHAM (SEASON ONE ONLY)

POOR, POOR PEGGY

Robert Bianco in the Pittsburgh Press newspaper had this to say about Mannix. I loved the "Who will kidnap Peggy this week " series. Why didn't he fire that woman? She was never at work, she was always causing trouble...By the end of the series, when they had run out story ideas, it seemed like someone was kidnapping her every week. That was all she did besides saying, "Here's your phone calls." That seemed to be her job description. Answer the phone and get kidnapped."

I think a more pertinent question, is why didn't she quit? Peggy was kidnapped quite a bit, you would think after the first or even second time she would have handed in her notice. But , no, Peggy stays and just keeps getting kidnapped.

1950'S OUR MISS BROOKS SITCOM

The series originated on CBS radio in the late 1940’s and continued to run through the mid-1950’s. From 1953 to 1956, Our Miss Brooks was also performed on television, with pretty much the same cast.


Eve Arden had a long career in films before the series, mostly in supporting roles. She was also quite popular on the radio, partially due to her great comic timing. But Arden is perhaps best known for Our Miss Brooks.


CAST

Eve Arden as Connie Brooks
Gale Gordon as Osgood Conklin
Robert Rockwell as Phillip Boynton
Richard Crenna as Walter Denton

Connie Brooks was an English teacher at Madison High School. She had a big crush on fellow teacher, Philip Boynton, who was very shy and taught biology. The principal of the school was Osgood P. Conklin, played by Gale Gordon. His character was always flying off the handle, sort of like his future character Mr Mooney on the Lucy Show. One of her students, Walter Denton, was played by Richard Crenna.

In the last season, Madison High was torn down and Miss Brooks went to work at Mrs. Nestor’s Private school. Mr. Conklin and eventually Mr. Boynton both taught at the new school. There was also a new teacher, Gene Talbot, played by Gene Barry, who started to pursue Miss Brooks, but her heart still belonged to Philip Boynton. They never did marry in the series, but in the feature film released that same year, there was finally a marriage.