Dick Van Dyke Show promo

Love is All Around from the Mary Tyler Moore Show

Sonny Curtis wrote the theme song for MTM and then recorded his own country version, it's pretty good but very different than the TV version.

Lucy Show 1962 promo

Munsters advertise Cheerios 1960's

Donna Reed for Kodak film (1960)

Halloween TV Dick Van Dyke Show Ghost of a Chantz

I make sure to watch this episode every Halloween, more funny than scary, it is a classic.

Halloween TV Odd Couple the Exorcists

TV star Donna Reed for Kodak 1960

1956 Bilko for Camels

flintstones for Alka Seltzer 1961

1956 Sgt Bilko at the beach for Camel

1964 Tv's Hazel for RCA

1960 Dennis the Menace for Rice Krispies

In 1966 GE was giving away Halloween masks

1966 Munsters advertise Encyclopedias

This is interesting, Herman doesn't really read anything but comic books and all Grandpa reads is his book of potions, maybe Lily uses the encyclopedia though.

HALLOWEEN TV 1973 Odd Couple

This is just about the funniest episode of the Odd Couple where Felix hears something odd and is convinced the apartment is haunted. Victor Buono steals the show, as he did on every show he was on.

BATMAN TV GUIDE COVER

WALLY COX NIGHT CLUB ACT

Before Wally Cox became famous as Mr. Peepers he regularly performed in NYC nightclubs.

Once he gained fame on television some of his monologues were released in album form.

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.