ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

[gregg75]

ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

Never had heard of this, but I saw an episode tonight (must be public domain) on a local
religious channel. It was a pretty decent show with some well known actors. Ann Southern
played a secretary. Frank Caddy was a barber in this episode.

Susie was the syndication title. Southern ended the show when she did a Suzanne Summers
and walked out in a contract dispute.

Emmy winning:
1955 Best Actress
1955 Best Situation Comedy
1956 Best Cinematography
1956 Best Actress
1957 Best Actress
interesting entry on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Secretary_(TV_series)

 

[landtuna]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

I remember Ann Southern staring in a couple of TV series in the 50's and early 60's but her show wasn't the kind of thing a pre-pubscent male teen might be attracted to.

I did watch another similar show though starring Gale Storm. She seemed to have more "character" than Southern.

 

[visaman]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

Never had heard of this, but I saw an episode tonight (must be public domain) on a local
religious channel. It was a pretty decent show with some well known actors. Ann Southern
played a secretary.

Private Secretary alternated with The Jack Benny Program. Benny was still doing radio at this time, so his TV show was shown every two weeks, Private Secretary would cover the week, Benny was off.

 

[nsa1]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

I remember seeing this on Nick at Nite in the 80's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyQ90ySHCkU

Never had heard of this, but I saw an episode tonight (must be public domain) on a local
religious channel. It was a pretty decent show with some well known actors. Ann Southern
played a secretary. Frank Caddy was a barber in this episode.

Susie was the syndication title. Southern ended the show when she did a Suzanne Summers
and walked out in a contract dispute.

Emmy winning:
1955 Best Actress
1955 Best Situation Comedy
1956 Best Cinematography
1956 Best Actress
1957 Best Actress
interesting entry on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Secretary_(TV_series)

 

[bpatrick]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

Elsewhere there's a thread on "The Mothers-In-Law." Desi Arnaz
once said he considered hiring Ann for the role that eventually went
to Kaye Ballard because, as he put it, "Eve [Arden] and Ann would
have been too much alike."

Desilu produced Ann's second series, "The Ann Sothern Show," which
followed Danny Thomas on Monday nights for two seasons, was replaced
on Mondays by "The Andy Griffith Show" in 1960, moved to Thursdays, and
collapsed in the ratings. About midway through the first season Don Porter
was brought back to play Ann's boss; Ann Tyrrell played her best friend on
both shows. Watch for Louis Nye, Ken Berry, and Jesse White on this series
(White also played on "Susie," IIRC). Trivia note: Lucille Ball appeared as Lucy
Ricardo on the first episode of this series.

And I think we all know what Ann did next: the voice of "My Mother The Car."

As for Gale Storm, her show, "The Gale Storm Show" (a/k/a "Oh, Susanna!")
aired on CBS Saturday nights for three years (1956-59) and ABC on Thursdays
for one (1959-60); she played the cruise director on a luxury liner who was always
getting into trouble with the help of her friend (and maybe the real star of the show)
Esmerelda Nugent (ZaSu Pitts), who ran the ship's beauty salon (although you'd never
know it to look at her). (Gale had done "My Little Margie" prior to this show.)

Ironically, one of the highest ratings "The Love Boat" ever got was when Gale made
a guest appearance in, I believe, 1981. Although she had made a few appearances on
other shows following a long bout with alcoholism, this was the first time most people
had seen her in some 20 years. And it was appropriate that she would play a passenger
on a cruise ship; the cruise director's baton had been figuratively passed to Lauren Tewes.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

I think this ran on Nick at Night for a brief time back in the 80's.

 

[johnnyu]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

I remember watching it originally. You young whippersnappers wouldn't know what I was talking about.

 

[Markxxx]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

Ann Sothern was a very good actress that never got the recognition she deserved. She was nominated for an Oscar for the "Whales of August." She could do both comedy and drama.

I read she was asked why she did "My Mother The Car," and she said, "I'm an actress, it was what I could get at the time and I want to work, besides it was voice only, it was easy money."

She was considered as a replacement for Vivian Vance on "The Lucy Show." And of all the people they tried in the roll, (such as Joan Blondell), Ann was the only one that had the same quality as Vance. The problem was, though Sothern and Lucy, were great friends in real life, she she wanted to be an "equal" with Lucille on the show. And this was exactly the reason Vance was leaving. As neither Vance nor Sothern, wanted to play second fiddle to Lucy anymore.

Sothern left "Private Secretary" over a dispute with either the network or production company. That is why she had the second show, which featured a lot of the same people. She took who she could then recreated the show. Don Porter came later when she could finally get him over to her new show.

If you ever look at Sothern's old movies, you can see how pretty and how she was really built. She had, what was termed as "dangerous curves." Sothern blamed her weight gain on a "kidney problem." I don't know if this was true, seeing she lived quite a long life, but she would try to hide it with huge dresses and by standing behind things.

 

[gregg75]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

Interesting, as the episode I watched she had on what looked like a sweater top......but from
her boobs down it was all some kind of black frilly stuff.....I thought that looked odd, now you
explained it.

 

[rnigma1]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

I recall both of Ann's shows from their Nick at Nite runs... and saw some of her "Maisie" movies when they ran on TNT one night. (She also did a Maisie radio series.)
I'd noticed that she put on a little weight during the "Ann Sothern Show," and it seems like they were trying hard to hide the extra pounds, while the theme song was telling us how hot she was.
Yeah, she was in a few "Lucy Show" episodes, I remember now... Ann played the "Countess Framboise" (raspberry), an old pal of Lucy's who married into royalty...
Ann's daughter Tisha Sterling tried an acting career but apparently did little apart from that "Village of the Giants" movie.

 

[bpatrick]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

Ann's weight (especially from the waist down) shot up after a
near-death bout with hepatitis around 1950. She almost always
wore black--more flattering to her figure.

Tisha Sterling is the daughter of Ann and the late Robert Sterling
(of "Topper" fame) before he married Anne Jeffreys.

 

[bpatrick]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

On "The Ann Sothern Show" there was once a line of dialogue which
could have come from Ann, not her character, Katy O'Connor. For
those who may or may not have seen the show, Katy was the assistant
manager of the Bartley House Hotel in New York. When the show debuted
in the fall of 1958 actor Ernest Truex was playing her boss, Jason Macauley.
It didn't work; at midseason Macauley was sent to manage one of the company's
overseas hotels and Don Porter was brought in as James Devery. Now recall that
Porter played Susie McNamara's boss on "Private Secretary," and during his first
appearance on "The Ann Sothern Show" she said (and this is approximately her
words), "Face it, we're inseparable." I doubt if truer words have ever been spoken.
In fact, I don't think I've ever seen the Truex episodes but I have seen the Porter ones.
(BTW, Truex deserves a small place in history for playing the husband in the Broadway
version of "George Washington Slept Here," which became a movie with Jack Benny and
Ann Sheridan. In the play it was the husband who wanted the old house, but the roles
were reversed for the movie to fit Benny's stingy character. Percy Kilbride played the
handyman in both versions.)

Most of you will probably remember Porter best as Gidget (Sally Field)'s dad. One of
my favorite of his appearances was in an episode of "The Paper Chase," where he played
the dad of Franklin Ford, a member of Hart's study group who was trying to become (I
believe) a fourth-generation lawyer. I remember how the group's comic relief, Bell, kept
pestering him for a job, claiming he was a third-year law student, but blew it when he
said he was taking Property, a first-year course (Bell, of course, was a first-year law
student). (If you've read the book or seen the movie you know that Bell was obsessed
with Property and bragged about his 800-page course outline.)

 

[Hal Erickson]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

(BTW, Truex deserves a small place in history for playing the husband in the Broadway
version of "George Washington Slept Here," which became a movie with Jack Benny and
Ann Sheridan. In the play it was the husband who wanted the old house, but the roles
were reversed for the movie to fit Benny's stingy character. Percy Kilbride played the
handyman in both versions.)

Ernest Truex was a major Broadway star who had vehicle specifically written for him for decades. He was also (if backstage reports of GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE can be believed) a shameless scene-stealer who delighted in overshadowing his fellow actors and throwing them off balance with unrehearsed dialogue and bits of business. Possibly he was up to these old tricks on THE ANN SOTHERN SHOW, which may be why he was replaced.
BTW, has anyone ever seen the original opening titles for "Private Secretary"? I've only seen the "Susie" titles from the syndicated version.

 

[Markxxx]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

...Possibly he was up to these old tricks on THE ANN SOTHERN SHOW, which may be why he was replaced.
BTW, has anyone ever seen the original opening titles for "Private Secretary"? I've only seen the "Susie" titles from the syndicated version.

It's possible but not likely. I'm a big fan of Sothern, and she has stated she wanted to move her entire cast from "Private Secretary" to "the Ann Sothern Show" but Porter was under contract and she couldn't get him.

As soon as he became available, she lept at the chance to bring him on the show. It seems like he was well liked but Porter was who she wanted, he was just unfortunate to be there at the time, so he got axed.

 

[bpatrick]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

(BTW, Truex deserves a small place in history for playing the husband in the Broadway
version of "George Washington Slept Here," which became a movie with Jack Benny and
Ann Sheridan. In the play it was the husband who wanted the old house, but the roles
were reversed for the movie to fit Benny's stingy character. Percy Kilbride played the
handyman in both versions.)

Ernest Truex was a major Broadway star who had vehicle specifically written for him for decades. He was also (if backstage reports of GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE can be believed) a shameless scene-stealer who delighted in overshadowing his fellow actors and throwing them off balance with unrehearsed dialogue and bits of business. Possibly he was up to these old tricks on THE ANN SOTHERN SHOW, which may be why he was replaced.
BTW, has anyone ever seen the original opening titles for "Private Secretary"? I've only seen the "Susie" titles from the syndicated version.

I didn't know that about Truex, perhaps because I associate him exclusively with "George Washington Slept Here" and that his character was transferred to Ann Sheridan for the movie. So I don't know if his apparent propensity for frustrating his fellow actors led to his departure from "The Ann Sothern Show."

If I've ever seen the original opening of "Private Secretary" it must have been when it was still in production (and the show was two years old when I was born); I'm familiar only with the typewriter (what we had before word processors, for you younger readers) typing out the letters in "Susie."

But I'll say it again: Katy O'Connor's line to Don Porter about being inseparable could just as easily have been Ann Sothern talking for real.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Re: ANYBODY REMEMBER "SUSIE" 1953-57 CBS SITCOM A.K.A. "PRIVATE SECRETARY" ?

I remember Ann Southern staring in a couple of TV series in the 50's and early 60's but her show wasn't the kind of thing a pre-pubscent male teen might be attracted to.

I did watch another similar show though starring Gale Storm. She seemed to have more "character" than Southern.

Re, Gale Storm-- you are probably referring to her memorable My Little Margie sit com character, "memorable" because of the energy she brought the Margie character. Comparing Gale Storm to Ann Southern would be like sizing up Lucile Ball and Gracie Allen; all four could make us laugh, though Lucy and Gale were the more hyper performers; much of their schtick was what TV once called sight gags. Gale storm brought the same boldness to her next sit com, Oh Susanna.