I Married Joan

[dustintv]

Local Ion station aired a couple eps(public domain probably) not too long ago. I've read it's been panned as a bad Lucy-knock off but I didn't find it too bad although I would say Joan Davis and Jim Backus have zero chemistry. All in all a nice little forgotten 50s series and of course Backus moved on to bigger and better things one might say...

 

[mleach]

The reason there was "zero chemistry" between Joan Davis & Jim Backus on "I Married Joan" was due to the fact that Davis and Backus HATED each other and the hate between those two was even worse than that between William Frawley and Vivian Vance. Forgotten now but Vance & Frawley back in the 50's when I Love Lucy ruled the ratings, they were able to "hide their hate" quite well to the public when it came to making public appearances and interviews for I Love Lucy, while Backus & Davis couldn't. I believe there is even an old film out there from the early 50's where Vivian Vance was accepting some award where she calls William Frawley "..a dear friend and a joy to work with !!" meanwhile Backus in at least one of his bios as I can recall he really was blunt..he really didn't like Joan Davis.

There used to be a tribute site for I Married Joan ( last I checked it was offline ) and some of the stories of Joan Davis post-I Married Joan weren't pretty like slapping a little boy at a restaurant only because the child asked for an autograph and her suing a beauty salon in Hawaii when in a fit of rage SHE as in JOAN knocked over a bottle of bleach and the reason why she had done I Married Joan in the first place was to provide a nestegg for her daughter Beverly Wills who sadly like Joan would NOT reach her "golden years".

I Married Joan was a nice little show from the 50s but between Joan's actions after I Married Joan, Joan's sudden death in 1961 and her family in that 1963 fire that killed daughter Beverly Wills, her two grandkids and Joan's mother ( chief reason why the show is pretty much in public domain today ), I really believe all of this played a role as to why I Married Joan is a forgotten series today.

 

[biggguy]

The reason there was "zero chemistry" between Joan Davis & Jim Backus on "I Married Joan" was due to the fact that Davis and Backus HATED each other and the hate between those two was even worse than that between William Frawley and Vivian Vance.

From what I have read- the title of the show should have been "I Hated Joan".

The word out in the day was that Joan Davis was an absolute horror to work with- everyone relates what a taskmaster Lucille Ball was, but compared to Joan Davis she might as well have been Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm! I guess Davis was an absolute tyrant, and everything on the show was done to cater to her whims, and when she didn't get her way, she allegedly berated the offenders involved in terms that would make a sailor blush....and Jim Backus was a favorite target.

I have also heard that a large part of the show's demise was due to the fact Jim Backus just refused to do it anymore- I read that he fulfilled his contract- and he was done!

Too bad! Even though I am far too young to have seen the program originally, I have watched the reruns whenever available (and when I was a child they were somewhat common), and I have always enjoyed the show immensely. Sure, it plays a little like "Lucy"- but the shows had a common premise- two comediennes in a sitcom that was based around their wacky and scatterbrained antics with their long suffering husbands as straight men.

I guess Joan Davis was a "diva" before the term became popular. It cost her in the long run.

 

[Tim L]

Funny that this show should come up. Our local TCT- TV channel, WRLM-47 Canton, Ohio (The former WOAC-67) plays this show as part of an hour and a half "Family TV" block on their HD digital channel (47-2) and I happened to see an episode last night..Knowing what I have heard about Miss Davis, it made it hard to watch..No one can outdo Lucy..Its too bad that Miss Davis chose not to realize what a pro she had in Jim Backus as a co-star and tried to get along with her cast and crew better. They would have had a better show and it would have been more fondly remembered.

BTW, WRLM/TCT shows currently:
9PM Beverly Hillbillies
9:30 I Married Joan
10PM Robin Hood

They appear to switch out these shows every few weeks..All Public Domain, of course

 

[landtuna]

I was a viewer of both "Lucy" and "Joan" in the 50's and remember thinking that "Joan" never was as good as most of the "Lucy" shows were. Of course, Lucy was married to a bandleader and the non-stop backstory was Lucy was always trying to get into showbiz which had many more comedy possibilities than being married to a judge as was Joan.

I always thought it was strange that Joan's intro boasted something about "America's Favorite Comedienne" or something to that effect. Outside of her TV show I'd never heard of her whereas everyone knew about Lucille Ball.

 

[Paige Turner]

Joan's sudden death in 1961

You know, whenever I watch these shows that were before my time, I like to google the stars to find out whatever happened to them. I had, indeed, read that about Joan Davis' death and the fire, etc. A few others that have surprised me...

The little blonde-haired kid on Hazel (Bobby Buntrock?) died in a car accident in his early 20s.

Donna Reed & Carl Betz (Donna Reed Show) both died at relatively young ages, as did Christopher George (Rat Patrol).

Rusty Hamer (Make Room For Daddy) shot himself at 42.

While it's widely known that Joseph Kearns (Dennis the Menace) and Alice Pearce (Bewitched) both died while their respective series were still in their original runs, I was amazed to learn that Joseph Kearns was only 55 and Alice Pearce 48.

 

[LKellerIII]

Joan's sudden death in 1961

You know, whenever I watch these shows that were before my time, I like to google the stars to find out whatever happened to them. I had, indeed, read that about Joan Davis' death and the fire, etc. A few others that have surprised me...

The little blonde-haired kid on Hazel (Bobby Buntrock?) died in a car accident in his early 20s.

Donna Reed & Carl Betz (Donna Reed Show) both died at relatively young ages, as did Christopher George (Rat Patrol).

Rusty Hamer (Make Room For Daddy) shot himself at 42.

While it's widely known that Joseph Kearns (Dennis the Menace) and Alice Pearce (Bewitched) both died while their respective series were still in their original runs, I was amazed to learn that Joseph Kearns was only 55 and Alice Pearce 48.

Sadly, both Donna Reed and Carl Betz succumbed to cancer.

Like many child actors of the 50s and 60s, Rusty Hamer did not fare well in adulthood, either professionally or personally. The burgeoning drug culture was probably partially to blame, as was the fact that TV actors were not paid all that well, and did not get residuals until the late 60s. So these kids not only had to cope with the loss of their celebrity, they were often left without any financial support.

Ironically, Paige, you've done a little "six-degrees-of-separation" thing in your post - Reed and Betz's co-star on The Donna Reed Show was child actor Paul Peterson; he played their son. Peterson has worked for years with former child actors who have developed addictions and emotional problems. One of the actors he has worked with is Jay North (Dennis the Menace).

 

[mleach]

Joan's sudden death in 1961

You know, whenever I watch these shows that were before my time, I like to google the stars to find out whatever happened to them. I had, indeed, read that about Joan Davis' death and the fire, etc. A few others that have surprised me...

The little blonde-haired kid on Hazel (Bobby Buntrock?) died in a car accident in his early 20s.

Donna Reed & Carl Betz (Donna Reed Show) both died at relatively young ages, as did Christopher George (Rat Patrol).

Rusty Hamer (Make Room For Daddy) shot himself at 42.

While it's widely known that Joseph Kearns (Dennis the Menace) and Alice Pearce (Bewitched) both died while their respective series were still in their original runs, I was amazed to learn that Joseph Kearns was only 55 and Alice Pearce 48.

I have done the same thing, sometimes spending way too much time actually on checking out those tribute sites since one can learn something new everday like for example Jay Leno, Bill Maher and Jimmy Kimmel...had made appearances on the old Linda Lavin/Vic Tayback show "Alice" though Kimmel wasn't credited only because he didn't have a speaking role. Sadly a lot of those tribute sites have bit the dust mainly because a lot of them were on Geo-Cities and those webmasters didn't bother ( or may have forgot ) to move their sites to another hosting company.

But for every star who had died young, many of others have gone on the bigger and better things because they knew when to get off the Hollywood train and some of those reasons were interesting in their own right but its the "troubled" that gets mentioned the most such as the many of things written about the troubles of the Our Gang kids while on the flip side little is mention about those who did the Blondie & Dagwood movie series from the 40s, just about the entire cast lived to be a ripe old age and the kids who appeared like Alvin, Baby Dumpling/Alexander and Cookie are still with us ( last I heard anyway ). A another great example was "The Lucy Show', when Lucille Ball decided to get rid of her TV kids Jimmy Garrett, Ralph Hart and Candy Moore in 1965, Vivian Vance actually called up the parents and begged them to take their kids out of show business..RIGHT NOW. Which the parents did as those kids have done very little acting roles since, not too mention when was the last time we heard about the kids of The Lucy Show finding themselves in trouble? Too my knowledge they never were.

Too bad Vivian Vance didn't do this with other kid actors from other shows.

 

[RicoGregg]

I'm wondering where I Married Joan was filmed. IMDB was no help. Anyone got that info? Thanks.

 

[Braves2005]

Anyone have any idea where they got that Joan Davis was the Queen of Comedy when they announce it at the beginning of the show where it was Lucille Ball who was that title? Was it NBC's idea, Joan Davis' idea or both in giving her that title? The only things that Davis did that I know besides I Married Joan were some comedy movies with Abbott and Costello in the 1940's. Odd that they would warrant her that title when she came to TV.

 

[Tim L]

The Spiel at the beginning actually said.."America's Favorite Comedy Show, Starring America's Queen Of Comedy, Joan Davis, as Mrs. Joan Stevens..(After a pause..)And Featuring Jim Backus, as Judge Bradley Stevens"

I Married Joan was NOT "America's Favorite Comedy Show" by a long shot

 

[Paige Turner]

Like many child actors of the 50s and 60s, Rusty Hamer did not fare well in adulthood, either professionally or personally. The burgeoning drug culture was probably partially to blame, as was the fact that TV actors were not paid all that well, and did not get residuals until the late 60s. So these kids not only had to cope with the loss of their celebrity, they were often left without any financial support.

Ironically, Paige, you've done a little "six-degrees-of-separation" thing in your post - Reed and Betz's co-star on The Donna Reed Show was child actor Paul Peterson; he played their son. Peterson has worked for years with former child actors who have developed addictions and emotional problems. One of the actors he has worked with is Jay North (Dennis the Menace).

Oh yes, that's right... Paul Peterson started a foundation, and if I'm not mistaken, Rusty Hamer's death may have been the driving force behind it. Also, I think both he and Shelley Fabares had something to do with a Donna Reed museum in her hometown in Iowa.

Good ol' Jay North... I love Dennis the Menace but, I have to tell 'ya, knowing the story now about the abuse he went through on the set certainly makes you watch it in a different light. I feel the same way about those old Bing Crosby Christmas specials after the stories surfaced about how strict he was with his kids.

But for every star who had died young, many of others have gone on the bigger and better things because they knew when to get off the Hollywood train and some of those reasons were interesting in their own right but its the "troubled" that gets mentioned the most such as the many of things written about the troubles of the Our Gang kids while on the flip side little is mention about those who did the Blondie & Dagwood movie series from the 40s, just about the entire cast lived to be a ripe old age and the kids who appeared like Alvin, Baby Dumpling/Alexander and Cookie are still with us ( last I heard anyway ). A another great example was "The Lucy Show', when Lucille Ball decided to get rid of her TV kids Jimmy Garrett, Ralph Hart and Candy Moore in 1965, Vivian Vance actually called up the parents and begged them to take their kids out of show business..RIGHT NOW. Which the parents did as those kids have done very little acting roles since, not too mention when was the last time we heard about the kids of The Lucy Show finding themselves in trouble? Too my knowledge they never were.

That's interesting. I never knew that about the Lucy kids. You're right... we hear about the worst cases, which is true with everything, I guess. When you mention child actors, people automatically think of the ones like Anissa Jones, Todd Bridges, and Dana Plato.

 

[HHH]

Joan Davis began in vaudeville, and was a radio fixture by the early 1940s, appearing as a regular on the Rudy Vallee Show, and actually taking it over when Vallee went into the Coast Guard during WWII. She did some comedy sidekick roles in films of the era, and was considered a rising star with great potential.

She did two films in the 1940s with Eddie Cantor, and reportedly had an affair with him.

She was pretty talented, but the "I Married Joan" show was no "I Love Lucy" in terms of writing, production and (yes) chemistry. Quite simply, there was no Desi Arnaz to whip the elements into shape. Even when Lucy and Desi's marriage collapsed in the late 1950s, they both still covered pretty well on the last few Westinghouse hours. You can tell Backus and Davis just can't quite make it work.

Never knew much about Davis' work habits, attitude, off-camera behavior, etc. Sad to hear (if true) that she was so whacked.

Speaking of child stars, isn't it interesting that the greatest child star of them all Shirley Temple turned out to be such a wonder in later life. No drugs, booze, crazy behavior, etc. She chucked her first husband (John Agar) right away when he got abusive, then married Charles Black, which lasted 40+ years until his death. He career in diplomacy was remarkable. Even the fact that her father reportedly pissed away most of her trust fund didn't send her into depression. Pretty amazing lady. Still around. Looked pretty good when she got the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime award a couple of years ago.

 

[mleach]

Good ol' Jay North... I love Dennis the Menace but, I have to tell 'ya, knowing the story now about the abuse he went through on the set certainly makes you watch it in a different light. I feel the same way about those old Bing Crosby Christmas specials after the stories surfaced about how strict he was with his kids.

Jay North in recent years at least it seems has gotten over "Dennis The Menace" and the abuse but for the longest time as a result of the abuse Jay sure did some questionable things himself which made many of people just scared to even be near him such as calling the girls of the TV show The Facts of Life "a bunch of trashy whores", girls he didn't even know and accusing LA radio dj Rick Dees of being a pedophile and North had never met Dees either. But with the help of Paul Petersen from Donna Reed and later David Spade who used North in his movie "Dickie Roberts", I believe Jay North has since got his life back on track and he is actually willing to discuss Dennis The Menace and won't bite the ears off of those who bring up the show to him.

 

[landtuna]

There are many sad stories of juvenile actors who got into trouble and short lives as adults but none are as depressing and redeeming as that of Lauren Chapin ("Father Does Know Best-The Lauren Chapin Story"). If you are into this sort of material it is well worth reading.

Lauren Chapin starred as "Princess", the youngest TV daughter of "Father Knows Best". Her real life was about as far apart from that sitcom as could be imagined.

Unlike many others however her story has a happier ending.

 

[LKellerIII]

Good ol' Jay North... I love Dennis the Menace but, I have to tell 'ya, knowing the story now about the abuse he went through on the set certainly makes you watch it in a different light. I feel the same way about those old Bing Crosby Christmas specials after the stories surfaced about how strict he was with his kids.

Jay North in recent years at least it seems has gotten over "Dennis The Menace" and the abuse but for the longest time as a result of the abuse Jay sure did some questionable things himself which made many of people just scared to even be near him such as calling the girls of the TV show The Facts of Life "a bunch of trashy whores", girls he didn't even know and accusing LA radio dj Rick Dees of being a pedophile and North had never met Dees either. But with the help of Paul Petersen from Donna Reed and later David Spade who used North in his movie "Dickie Roberts", I believe Jay North has since got his life back on track and he is actually willing to discuss Dennis The Menace and won't bite the ears off of those who bring up the show to him.

I first heard about Paul Peterson's work from a talk show he appeared on 15 or 20 years ago (Donahue, Oprah...can't remember). He appeared with a number of former child stars. One of them was Jay North, and he did come off as extremely angry - like a guy who could lose it and strike out without much provocation.

RE: the ones that turned out fine - I watched a PBS documentary on 60s comedies that included many of the former child stars. Many were doing fine, and it seems like the older ones (the ones that played teens on these shows) fared much better. Tony Dow had a successful but low-key career in TV behind the camera, and is an accomplished sculptor. Ken Osmond came off as a bitter guy, but I suspect that was as much due to his later career as an officer with the LAPD, when he was shot in the line of duty.

Another kid actor who turned out well is Jon Provost, who has been a successful businessman (real estate, I think) in the North SF Bay Area.

I've noticed that you rarely hear bad news about 90s child stars, other than the occasional bout of anorexia for some of the women...perhaps there have been greater legal protection for them and their assets in more recent times.

 

[RicoGregg]

Everyone remembers Jim Backus either for Gilligan's Island, or as the voice of Mr. Magoo. Another notable thing he did was provide the voice of "That Little Old Wine-Maker" in the Italian Swiss Colony wine commercials. The ads were live action with an actor, dressed in a Swiss Alps costume, lip-synched Backus' saying "That little old wine-maker, me!"

Backus had a one-of-a-kind voice and manner of speaking that served him very well.

 

[bk77]

Re: Joan Davis and her on the set fits, I have to wonder if she and the others who did the same thing back in those days had some kind of mental illness? There is debate to this day as to whether or not Joan Crawford , even Lucille Ball had Bipolar disorder or that story that has been around for some time about the time Art Linkletter was sitting on the beach only to have a woman and her small child asking him for an autograph only to have Art not only cuss out the woman and her child but even pulled down his pants and said the only way he would sign anything was for them to give him oral sex. This was shortly after the death of his daughter Diane and some say the stress of her death for a time had pushed Art over the edge.

With so many meds available out now for those who suffer from mental illness, I have to wonder if such things were around back in the 50's, 60's, 70's heck even the 80's would things had turned out differently for people like Joan Davis, Rusty Hamer, Anissa Jones, Diane Linkletter, Sal Mineo, Elvis Presley and so forth.....

 

[RicoGregg]

With so many meds available out now for those who suffer from mental illness, I have to wonder if such things were around back in the 50's, 60's, 70's heck even the 80's would things had turned out differently for people like Joan Davis, Rusty Hamer, Anissa Jones, Diane Linkletter, Sal Mineo, Elvis Presley and so forth.....

Joan Davis died from a heart attack.
Sal Mineo was stabbed to death.
Elvis died from too many pills.

How could things turn out differently for them? What do you mean?

 

[Ultimajock]

Anyone have any idea where they got that Joan Davis was the Queen of Comedy when they announce it at the beginning of the show where it was Lucille Ball who was that title? Was it NBC's idea, Joan Davis' idea or both in giving her that title? The only things that Davis did that I know besides I Married Joan were some comedy movies with Abbott and Costello in the 1940's. Odd that they would warrant her that title when she came to TV.

...well, Davis appeared in comic scenes with Milton Berle in the 1941 Glenn Miller movie Sun Valley Serenade; perhaps Berle was still friendly with her by the time of the series and insisted NBC add the opening tag...