TV Widows

[LKellerIII]

"And who could forget John Forsyth, the dashing "Bachelor Father" back in the 50s."

Loved that show when I was a little kid. I don't think Bentley Gregg was a widower, though. If I remember correctly, he was a lifelong bachelor. He had become guardian of his niece because her parents (presumably, including his brother or sister) had died.

Bachelor Father was in reruns for awhile after the original run ended in 1962, but disappeared after the mid 60s. always presumed it was because Peter, who Forsythe referred to as "his houseboy" was a politically incorrect caricature in the awakening civil rights era.

 

[Braves2005]

CBN aired reruns of Bachelor Father during the mid 1980's during the afternoons, I remember watching that show very well along with the other classic shows on CBN.

When Jean Hagen left Make Room For Daddy/Danny Thomas Show in 1956, Danny Williams became a widower for an entire season until the first episode of the 1957-1958 when Danny was remarried to Kathy.

Glenn Morley was a widower with two sons on The Farmer's Daughter. I don't believe that in the movie starring Loretta Young that the governor had any children.

 

[firepoint525]

How was The Dukes of Hazzard ever explained? "Uncle" Jesse was the uncle of the three Duke cousins, who were all cousins to each other, not siblings. And then how were the two additional "cousins" (Coy and Vance) explained during the season when Bo and Luke were away on the "stock car circuit"? ???

I seem to recall one episode in which an actual brother of one of the cousins made an appearance, but I don't remember much else about it.

 

[Stanislav]

CBN aired reruns of Bachelor Father during the mid 1980's during the afternoons, I remember watching that show very well along with the other classic shows on CBN.

One of the few reasons I ever had to tune to CBN was the classic shows. (All approved as "wholesome" by Pat Robertson, I'm sure). Those, plus checking out Another Life now and then -- a soap opera actually cheesier than network soaps -- all the schmaltz and cliches with a few miracles thrown in for good measure.

 

[LKellerIII]

"CBN aired reruns of Bachelor Father during the mid 1980's during the afternoons, I remember watching that show very well along with the other classic shows on CBN."

I'm not surprised Pat Robertson would buck the trend on political correctness. I suspect he's the kind of guy who nostalgically longs for the day wealthy people could call their servants "houseboy."

 

[dhett]

I think Ben Kinchloe would disagree with you.

 

[bpatrick]

I've never heard if Chinese-Americans were offended
by the term "houseboy" in 1962, but I do know that
ABC had some problems with another Tuesday-night
show that year: the animated "Calvin And The Colonel,"
created by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who
also created and performed (on radio) "Amos 'n' Andy."
Calvin and the Colonel may have been a bear and a fox,
but any resemblance to "Amos 'n' Andy" was purely
intentional, and I suspect that African-Americans caught
on to that fact pretty quickly. "Calvin" was pulled off the
Tuesday-night schedule by November 1961 and brought
back in January 1962 to languish in a Saturday-night slot
until it was canceled in September. It is also the only one
of ABC's early-'60s primetime animated shows ("The Flintstones,"
"The Jetsons," "Top Cat," "The Bugs Bunny Show") that was
never rerun on Saturday mornings.

But I was always under the impression that "Bachelor Father"
was still pulling decent ratings when ABC canceled it, so I
don't know the real story behind the cancellation.

 

[Ultimajock]

I've never heard if Chinese-Americans were offended
by the term "houseboy" in 1962, but I do know that
ABC had some problems with another Tuesday-night
show that year: the animated "Calvin And The Colonel,"
created by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who
also created and performed (on radio) "Amos 'n' Andy."
Calvin and the Colonel may have been a bear and a fox,
but any resemblance to "Amos 'n' Andy" was purely
intentional, and I suspect that African-Americans caught
on to that fact pretty quickly. "Calvin" was pulled off the
Tuesday-night schedule by November 1961 and brought
back in January 1962 to languish in a Saturday-night slot
until it was canceled in September. It is also the only one
of ABC's early-'60s primetime animated shows ("The Flintstones,"
"The Jetsons," "Top Cat," "The Bugs Bunny Show") that was
never rerun on Saturday mornings.

...however, Calvin & The Colonel was a big hit throughout the '60s in Australia, where, of course, they never got the "Amos 'n' Andy" radio show. Did Australia ever get The Amos 'n' Andy Show on TV, I wonder?...

 

[LKellerIII]

"I think Ben Kinchloe would disagree with you."

I guess I'm behind the times of The 700 Club...I had to Google Ben Kinchloe. Is he not a right-wing conservative? I keep seeing that Al Gore funded global warming PSA with Pat Robertson and Al Sharpton. The fundies aren't all turning into Democrats are they? What's the world coming to!

 

[Markxxx]

How was The Dukes of Hazzard ever explained? "Uncle" Jesse was the uncle of the three Duke cousins, who were all cousins to each other, not siblings. And then how were the two additional "cousins" (Coy and Vance) explained during the season when Bo and Luke were away on the "stock car circuit"? ???

I seem to recall one episode in which an actual brother of one of the cousins made an appearance, but I don't remember much else about it.

Yeah if they were really cousins then there must've been 7 sibilings of which six were somehow killed off and Uncle Jesse left. But they were probably cousins in the sense that southerners use "Cousin" to mean any relative that isn't a sibling.

I just saw an episode of "Beverly Hillbillies" where Granny explains the history of the clan and she says "But Jethro calls him Uncle Jed and Elly calls her Aunt Pearl, even though strictly speaking they is second cousins, and I'm Granny to them all."

I've never heard if Chinese-Americans were offended
by the term "houseboy" in 1962, but I do know that
ABC had some problems with an

It's funny but on Burns and Allen and Fibber McGee and Molly, during the World War II years all their Chinese/Japanese help turned into Filipinos. I loved Gracie Allen's dialog...

Houseboy) I am not Mr Reagan, I'm his Chinese boy
Gracie) I didn't know he had a Chinese wife?

 

[Corky Marlowe]

It's funny but on Burns and Allen and Fibber McGee and Molly, during the World War II years all their Chinese/Japanese help turned into Filipinos.
So did Cato on "The Green Hornet"...

Back on topic, were either of the dads on "My Two Dads" widowers, or were they both just single man-skanks?

 

[Tim L]

"I think Ben Kinchloe would disagree with you."

I guess I'm behind the times of The 700 Club...I had to Google Ben Kinchloe. Is he not a right-wing conservative? I keep seeing that Al Gore funded global warming PSA with Pat Robertson and Al Sharpton. The fundies aren't all turning into Democrats are they? What's the world coming to!

Kinchloe was Pat Robertson's cohost for many years. He later served as a TBN "Praise The Lord" Program host for a time.

 

[STF]

I just saw an episode of "Beverly Hillbillies" where Granny explains the history of the clan and she says "But Jethro calls him Uncle Jed and Elly calls her Aunt Pearl, even though strictly speaking they is second cousins, and I'm Granny to them all."

I know this used to confuse me because I had aunts and uncles that were actually something like first cousins once removed. We started using the standard "Cousin" title for relatives that were cousins of some sort, but were older than us. This was because it felt awkward calling my mom's cousins by their first name so they become "Cousin Kay" or "Cousin Bill." That's how my family handles it now at least. I, personally, don't like referring to people as aunts or uncles unless they are actually some sort of aunt and uncle for example. That's just me and my family of course.

 

[LKellerIII]

I've never heard if Chinese-Americans were offended
by the term "houseboy" in 1962, but I do know that
ABC had some problems with another Tuesday-night
show that year: the animated "Calvin And The Colonel,"
created by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who
also created and performed (on radio) "Amos 'n' Andy."
Calvin and the Colonel may have been a bear and a fox,
but any resemblance to "Amos 'n' Andy" was purely
intentional, and I suspect that African-Americans caught
on to that fact pretty quickly. "Calvin" was pulled off the
Tuesday-night schedule by November 1961 and brought
back in January 1962 to languish in a Saturday-night slot
until it was canceled in September. It is also the only one
of ABC's early-'60s primetime animated shows ("The Flintstones,"
"The Jetsons," "Top Cat," "The Bugs Bunny Show") that was
never rerun on Saturday mornings.

But I was always under the impression that "Bachelor Father"
was still pulling decent ratings when ABC canceled it, so I
don't know the real story behind the cancellation.

I wasn't suggesting that Bachelor Father was cancelled in its original run because of Sammee Tong's portrayl of the "houseboy." That's the kind of problem the writers can solve - just by eliminating the word "houseboy" and possibly by toning down the sterotyped speech or behaviors in the actor's portrayl.

What I said was - I think that might have been the reason the show seemed to disappear from re-run syndication by the late mid or late 60s.

Along the lines of Calvin and the Colonel - my father was an amimated cartoonist, and worked for UPA studios in the early 60s on Mr. Magoo and Dick Tracy cartoons. The animated Tracy basically played the "straight-man" in those cartoons to two bumbling detectives - Joe Jitsu (think Mr. Moto or Charlie Chan, only inept), and Go-Go Gomez. As I remember, Gomez was lazy and liked to take siestas. Needless to say, they represented uncomfortable ethnic stereotypes. So Dick Tracy also seemed to disappear from rerun syndication by the late 60s. It probably didn't help that Chester Gould, the creator of the Tracy comic strip, was a notorious right-winger who frequently got in trouble by putting his opinions in his comic strips. The LA Times and a number of other papers dropped Tracy by the early 70s.

 

[RicoGregg]

Mr. LKeller, I respect you and your postings, and I have a ton of respect for animators. They can have all the PR in the world, and people still wouldn't understand the realm of the animator. Making a brief visit to the Hanna-Barbera studio when I was a teen still ranks among my most fascinating visits anywhere.

However, I have to wonder about the wisdom, admittingly 20-20 today, about using characters such as Joe Jitsu, Go Go Gomez, Hemlock Holmes, & Heap O'Calorie. I don't think any mean-spiritness was intended, but the intended humor effect fell short.

I know that it's much easier to look back all these years later and take a good hard look at UPA animation, but wouldn't it have been perhaps a better idea to make a cartoon show with Dick Tracy a cartoon show that actually featured Dick Tracy?

Why did UPA come up with these silly side characters? I'd would have rather seen Johnny Lawfoot Himself.

 

[LKellerIII]

Mr. LKeller, I respect you and your postings, and I have a ton of respect for animators. They can have all the PR in the world, and people still wouldn't understand the realm of the animator. Making a brief visit to the Hanna-Barbera studio when I was a teen still ranks among my most fascinating visits anywhere.

However, I have to wonder about the wisdom, admittingly 20-20 today, about using characters such as Joe Jitsu, Go Go Gomez, Hemlock Holmes, & Heap O'Calorie. I don't think any mean-spiritness was intended, but the intended humor effect fell short.

I know that it's much easier to look back all these years later and take a good hard look at UPA animation, but wouldn't it have been perhaps a better idea to make a cartoon show with Dick Tracy a cartoon show that actually featured Dick Tracy?

Why did UPA come up with these silly side characters? I'd would have rather seen Johnny Lawfoot Himself.

Agreed - I'm sure no offense was meant. Poltically, my father was the most liberal of liberals. If he had taken note of the ethnic..uh..."satire" involved, I'm sure he wouldn't have quit his job in protest (he needed a paycheck, after all), but I'm sure he would have taken it as an opportunity to use it as an object lesson to teach me about ethnic stereotyping and racism. I don't remember that he did that - it probably didn't occur to him.

It was just different humor for a different time - a few years before civil rights really took hold as a social force in this country. Another example is humor about child molestation and rape. Though there was much more censorship in the media in the 60s, it was typical to hear stand up comics on TV or late night talk hosts make jokes about criminal sexual behavior. That kind of thing makes us cringe today, and it's even uncomfortable for me to use the words "humor" and "rape" in the same sentence.

Or think of the "Frito Bandito." I imagint that started because some clever advertising guy noticed that the words rhymed. It was considered cute in its day, but wouldn't fly now. Certainly, social consciousness has changed.

I can't tell you why the studio decided to go with the bufoonish ethnic characters instead of making Dick Tracy the star of his own cartoons. I remember being disappointed at age 8 (or whatever) when I first saw them. I had assumed they would be more dramatic cartoons, along the lines of Superman, or similar.

 

[Stanislav]

However, I have to wonder about the wisdom, admittingly 20-20 today, about using characters such as Joe Jitsu, Go Go Gomez, Hemlock Holmes, & Heap O'Calorie. I don't think any mean-spiritness was intended, but the intended humor effect fell short.

Or think of the "Frito Bandito." I imagint that started because some clever advertising guy noticed that the words rhymed. It was considered cute in its day, but wouldn't fly now. Certainly, social consciousness has changed.

Interesting to note that both Go-Go Gomez and the Frito Bandito were voiced by Mel Blanc, himself the cartoon voice of Speedy Gonzalez, and also the little Mexican in the famous Jack Benny "Si-Sy-Sue" routine. Such characterizations were considered routine and inoffensive in those days -- think of Bill Dana's "Jose Jimenez," which was hugely popular then and would be condemned now.

I know that it's much easier to look back all these years later and take a good hard look at UPA animation, but wouldn't it have been perhaps a better idea to make a cartoon show with Dick Tracy a cartoon show that actually featured Dick Tracy? Why did UPA come up with these silly side characters? I'd would have rather seen Johnny Lawfoot Himself.

That is odd, unless they felt that they couldn't do justice to Gould's characters and situations, and just wanted to use Tracy as the "figurehead" of the show to attract viewers. I mean, the show is named after Dick Tracy, yet he's just a bit player in his own show. (In that one single piece of animation that they used over and over in each episode -- his mouth deliberately obscured by his arm when he calls on his wrist radio, so they could just change the audio track and recycle the animation. I know TV cartoons had to be made on the cheap but, c'mon.....) :

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Although I was not a "Full House" fan, (unless I missed it on this thread) how can anyone forget Danny Tanner (Bob Saget)? I do recall seeing, IIRC, one second-season episode that showed a home video of his late wife Pam (who was killed in a car accident by a drunken driver, referenced in a later-season episode where DJ tried to stop Kimmy from drinking) coming home from the hospital after giving birth to Michelle (which in "reel" time would have occurred in 1986 based on the Olsen twins' births, one year before the series began). I don't remember if any reference was made in very early episodes regarding the proximity of Pam's death to the beginning of the series.

 

[Markxxx]

On the show "Gimme A Break," the first year Nell was shown to have moved in very recently just having promised to take care of the Chief's kids.

But there was a lot of flack with Carter playing a stereotypical black mammy character so they changed the storyline to show Nell having raised the girls from the time they were little, thus appearing more like an actual mother to the girls.

 

[Ultimajock]

...there were two cases of what I thought were widowerhood in the first episodes of two successful ABC series, but in my researching them it turns out the killings were of women before they marrid the lead characters. The first was The Avengers, in which the fiancee of Dr. David Keel is killed by a drug ring and Keel and John Steed set out to avenge the murder, thus giving the series its name. The Keel character was dropped at the end of the first season when Ian Hendry, who played him, left the series during a 1961 ITV labour dispute to pursue a film career; only one full episode of that first season appears to exist, and it wouldn't be until several seasons later that The Avengers popped up on the ABC schedule. Then there was the first episode of Baretta, which had Baretta's girlfriend murdered by order of an underworld boss; of course, this was reminded of us seemingly endlessly when Robert Blake's wife was killed seven years ago...