The Bob Cummings Show: Bob Judges a Beauty Pageant

The Bob Cummings Show: Bob Judges a Beauty Pageant
NBC
December 16, 1958
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This episode, the twelfth of the fifth season, has a title that's again a misnomer.  (He wants to judge but doesn't get the chance.)  The Henning & Wesson script is definitely sexist and looksist even by the standards of the series, but the guest stars almost redeem it:

• Madge Blake (pre-Batman) as Florence Patterson,
• Peter Lawford as himself (referencing his wife Pat),
• Rose Marie in her recurring role of Martha Randolph, 
• future That Girl director (two episodes) Sidney Miller as Roscoe Dewitt (he also did the voice of Francis Church in the TV-movie Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus),
• and best of all, Nancy Kulp (pre-Beverly-Hillbillies) in her recurring role as Pamela Livingstone

Dorothy Johnson again appears as Harriet Wyle.  Cummings directed again.  I have to say that Hickman isn't given much do on any of these three episodes, but Ann B. always works with what she gets.

The Bob Cummings Show: Bob in Orbit

Sacque dresses

The Bob Cummings Show: Bob in Orbit
NBC
November 18, 1958
Sitcom
DVD
C-

Henning & Wesson wrote this eighth episode of the season, where Bob's grandfather Josh (also played by Cummings) gets him into trouble with the Air Force.  Bob doesn't actually go into orbit, or any flight except in his grandpa's "old Jenny" biplane.  This is a pretty weak episode, mostly because of the change in setting.  Cummings directed again.

The Bob Cummings Show: Bob and the Dumb Blonde

Aren't you glad they didn't go in this direction
for the title of The Dick Van Dyke Show?

The Bob Cummings Show: Bob and the Dumb Blonde
NBC
September 30, 1958
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Well, look what I found while packing for my move.  My boyfriend owned this DVD and gave it to me a couple years ago, and then I promptly forgot about it.  (It wasn't in the boxes with my other DVDs for the previous move.)  Anyway, as long as we've given up on strict chronology, let's journey back to three episodes from the late '50s.  This one is the second episode of the fifth season of a series that ran in syndication as Love That Bob.  It's also one of thirty-six episodes written by Dick Wesson, who played Schultzy's boyfriend Frank Crenshaw on four other episodes besides this one.  His co-writer Paul Henning is most famous as the producer of the "Hooterville Trio" (Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres), but for the purposes of this blog it's most significant that he co-wrote all three of the Burns & Allen episodes I reviewed at the beginning of this project.

The regulars on this series:

• 48-year-old Bob Cummings as the Danza-ly named Bob Collins; 
• 32-year-old Ann B. Davis, still with her most famous role (Alice, the Bradys' maid) yet to come, here in her Emmy-award-winning part as Bob's infatuated secretary Schultzy;
• 48-year-old Rosemary DeCamp, later Ann Marie's mother on That Girl, as Bob's widowed sister Margaret MacDonald;
• and 24-year-old Dwayne Hickman, who was still youthful enough to play the title role in Dobie Gillis the following season, here as Bob's nephew Chuck MacDonald.

This episode is slow to get going but it does manage to juggle its various farcical situations-- including Bob telling an English girl he's "been saving himself"!-- with a pay-off where they all intersect.

Dorothy Johnson would return as Harriet Wyle, including for one of the episodes coming up.  This is one of 44 episodes of the series that Cummings himself directed.

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Bullwinkle's Water Follies

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Bullwinkle's Water Follies
ABC
December 31, 1959
Cartoon
DVD
C

Bullwinkle goes over the falls but is saved by a mooseberry bush and Rocky.  Boris of course absconds with the bush.

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: The Flying Casket

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: The Flying Casket
ABC
December 24, 1959
Cartoon
DVD
C

R & B have to get back home to Frostbite Falls to gather mooseberries for the formula, and the only way to travel seems to be to charter a plane, so of course Boris (who's going through a lot of disguises already) passes himself off as a pilot.

One of the more pointless historical interludes.  He doesn't even finish the symphony.

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: There's No Place Like Space

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: There's No Place Like Space
ABC
December 17, 1959
Cartoon
DVD
B-

The best episode since the pilot, with better "friends" segments than lately (the Fairy Godmouse is so random in the Jack & the Beanstalk story), and an increasingly convoluted plot with the moonmen.  They're embraced by the public and soon inspire fads, but they tire of fame and just want to go home, taking R & B along to prevent them rediscovering the formula.  (Gidney & Cloyd overheard a hypnotized Bullwinkle recite the recipe, but none of the Earthlings know yet.)  But anyway, this is the episode you watch for the very interesting bookcase on the spaceship:

Not just Sex on Planet "X" but a Forever Amber satire.

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Squirrel in a Stew

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Squirrel in a Stew
ABC
December 10, 1959
Cartoon
DVD
C+

This time, our heroes tangle with the U.S. Government, as well as B & N and the moonmen.  (Although they never seem that worried about the aliens for some reason.)  Rocky spells out in the sky that he's a U.S. taxpayer (I have no idea what his occupation is), so everything seems OK for awhile, but then they're arrested at the end.

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: The Scrooched Moose

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: The Scrooched Moose
ABC
December 3, 1959
Cartoon
DVD
C+

Mostly notable for the mocking of various governments, with the moonmen having a slogan that includes "Uber Alles" but also a Churchill-like leader, while we get some glimpses of Boris & Natasha's Iron Curtain homeland.  As on the previous episode, the Fairytale and Sherman segments are meh.

Note, from this point on, I will be fast-forwarding through most of the credit  and transition sequences, which seem to make up a good portion of each episode.

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Bullseye Bullwinkle

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Bullseye Bullwinkle
ABC
November 26, 1959
Cartoon
DVD
C

Despite the introduction of actual moonmen (Gidney and Cloyd), this is a mostly forgettable episode, although the quick flashbacks to Bullwinkle's youth are cute.  I'm using my favorite of the four subtitles, which will probably be what I'll do with future episodes.  (Each has two R & B segments.)

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Jet Fuel Formula

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Jet Fuel Formula

Natasha is more of a Mata Hari type here than later.

ABC
November 19, 1959
Cartoon
DVD
B-

The history of this show, including the title and subtitles, is a bit tangled, but I'm going to go with what makes sense to me, and not worry too much about how the series was packaged and repackaged.  I'm using the title from the DVD release, even though the series was originally Rocky and His Friends, because obviously Bullwinkle was an important costar from the beginning.  In turn, "Jet Fuel Formula" is actually the name of the very long-running story arc, and it isn't till the "tune in next time" part that the punning alternative episode titles begin.

As an introduction to the show (and its shows within the show), this isn't bad.  Rocky and Bullwinkle are introduced as supposed spacemen who turn out to be Frost Bite Falls residents with an explosive cake recipe that's also the formula.  (Note that Boris and Natasha do not yet have their distinct characterizations, although the voice acting is basically as it would be later.)  The Fractured Fairytale (narrated by the one and only Edward Everett Horton) is more straightforward than later ones, a fairly literal interpretation of Rapunzel, although with humor of course.  The Peabody's Improbable History portion explains how the dog adopted his boy Sherman and invented the WAYBAC machine for Sherman's amusement.

You Bet Your Life, 7.21

You Bet Your Life, 7.21
NBC
February 14, 1957
Game Show, Comedy
VHS
B-

Broadcast just a couple weeks after the other episode I own, this is mostly notable for the appearance of John Barbour (later of Real People) and his then wife.  The secret word is "dollar," and not surprisingly both couples say it.  The other couple has a woman who keeps cracking herself up while trying to tell a joke and never finishes it.  Both couples go for the (comparatively) big money but sadly miss such relatively easy answers as Mary Shelley and Samuel Gompers.

You Bet Your Life, Episode 7.19

You Bet Your Life, Episode 7.19
NBC
January 31, 1957
Game Show, Comedy
VHS
C+

The copy I have is from a local Southern Californian PBS series of the late '80s, called I Remember Television, so I think it's edited down from what you might see on YouTube or elsewhere.  The basic format is here though, with the two man-woman pairs successively trying for amounts of money that weren't much even at the time.  (When the quiz show scandal happened, YBYL was in the clear, very obviously not fixed.)  It's all an excuse for Groucho to gently mock the contestants, who are of course good sports about it and occasionally joke back.  This time the secret word (worth $100) is "head" and is won by the Italian war bride and her partner the talent agent.  (The other female contestant is an airline pilot and apparently future astronaut, Jan Dietrich.)

A lively moment on what is mostly a slow-moving episode.

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show: Wardrobe Woman Wins Free Trip to Hawaii

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show: Wardrobe Woman Wins Free Trip to Hawaii
CBS
October 9, 1952
Sitcom
DVD
B

This was the premiere for Season Three (when they switched over from live to film), and we can see that the show is closer to what we think of it as.  Earlier episodes had George standing by the curtain, making wisecracks and observations about the plots and subplots, but by this point the show-within-a-show aspect is firmly established.  In fact, when a wacky situation ensues out of the win of the title-- with Gracie thinking that her married wardrobe lady is single and thus needs a groom to take on a Hawaiian honeymoon-- George starts taking notes in hopes that it'll be a good premise for an episode.  (He ends up throwing away the notes at the end, figuring nobody would believe it.)  It's a gentle, quiet farce that works.  Instead of the Three's Company sitcom attitude of later (or some I Love Lucy episodes for that matter), this is not a case of "If only these people would talk to each other, this could be easily resolved."  No, we have George (the future God) being omniscient but letting things play out.  There's also a sweet but funny little scene of G & G reminiscing about their honeymoon.

The writers and director are again the same as before.  This sort of consistency was I believe a carryover from radio but would become gradually rarer as television continued.

Harry Von Zell doesn't take Gracie's matchmaking well.  Note George's notepad.

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show: The Beverly Hills Uplift Society

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show: The Beverly Hills Uplift Society
CBS
October 11, 1951
Sitcom
DVD
B-

The second episode of the second season, with the same director and writers as before, this shows an improvement, as people settle in more.  Fred Clark is the new Harry Morton and his bickering with Benadaret provides counterpoint to George and Gracie's loving, supportive relationship.  (Blanche sarcastically compares her husband to Errol Flynn after an air-kiss.)  Harry Von Zell steps in as the new announcer and would continue to the end.  He here plugs sponsor Carnation in a really overt way, which adds unintentional humor.  Gracie again has convoluted finances in this episode, this time impacting the women's group of the title.  Surprisingly, there's a reference to one woman's husband running off with the maid, which seems racier humor than on I Love Lucy or Jack Benny, although the only reference to "sex" is in the sense of gender.

Von Zell is sworn in as an honorary woman so he can donate $120 and promote Carnation.  And they say Gracie is the daffy one!

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show: The Income Tax Man

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show: The Income Tax Man
CBS
March 1, 1951
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Co-written by Willy Burns (George's older brother), Sid Dorfman, Harvey Helm, and Paul Henning, and directed by Ralph Levy, all of whom would contribute to many other episodes in the series, this shows television in a very raw, primitive state.  It was the twelfth episode of the first season, and aired a few months before I Love Lucy debuted.  It was broadcast live and you can hear performers stumbling over their lines a bit.  (George and Gracie of course had had the luxury of scripts in front of them on radio.)  I consider the series to be under-rated, but it did take them awhile to find their bearings.  Still, it's interesting to see not only George and Gracie, but also Bea Benadaret as neighbor Blanche Morton (her voice unmistakably that of the future Betty Rubble).  As for this episode specifically, Gracie has a financial plan that of course confuses the title character.  There's a Truman reference, so this really is early television!

Note, this was the next to last episode for John Brown, who was soon to be replaced (multiple times) as Harry Morton.

This is actually the subplot, with a baker.