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.