Many Happy Returns (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Many Happy Returns is a situation comedy
television series that ran on CBS
for twenty-six episode
s, from September 21, 1964 to April 12, 1965, under the sponsorship of General Foods
.
John McGiver
(1913-1975). Known for his emphatic, precise, dogmatic bearing and firm command of the English language
, McGiver played the part of a widower, Walter Burnley, the manager of the complaints department at the fictitious Krockmeyer's Department Store
in Los Angeles
.
Elinor Donahue (Father Knows Best
, The Andy Griffith Show
) played McGiver's daughter, Joan Randall. Mark Goddard
(Lost in Space
, Johnny Ringo
) played Joan's husband, Bob Randall. The Randalls' daughter, Laurie, was played by Andrea Sacino. Elena Verdugo
(Marcus Welby, M.D.
) played complaint department employee Lynn Hall.
Others on the series were Richard Collier as Harry Price, Jesslyn Fax as Wilma Fritter, and Mickey Manners
as Joe Foley, all cast as store employees. Character actress Doris Packer
(Leave It to Beaver
, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
) played the role of Cornelia. Russell Collins was cast as Burnley's demanding, often unreasonable boss, Owen Sharp.
. Manners, unable to match McGiver for preciseness of language, convinces the boss to train him in ways to appreciate Shakespeare
. When Manners does not respond suitably to McGiver's instruction, Manners decides to mouth the lines, while the precise McGiver reads the role of Romeo out of the sight of the audience.
The program was directed by Gene Reynolds
, who later went on to work on several episodes of M*A*S*H. Episode titles of Many Happy Returns include:
(for the same sponsor), which stopped production in 1964 after eleven years on the air, first on ABC
, then on CBS. It aired at 9:30 Eastern on Mondays opposite the short-lived sitcom The Bing Crosby Show
on ABC and The Andy Williams Show
, alternating weekly with The Jonathan Winters Show
, on the NBC
schedule. Many Happy Returns theoretically benefited from having followed The Lucy Show
on CBS. It preceded the drama Slattery's People
.
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
television series that ran on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
for twenty-six episode
Episode
An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...
s, from September 21, 1964 to April 12, 1965, under the sponsorship of General Foods
General Foods
General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the USA by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The name General Foods was adopted in 1929, after several corporate acquisitions...
.
Cast
The show starred character actorCharacter actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
John McGiver
John McGiver
John Irwin McGiver was a character actor who made more than a hundred appearances in television and motion pictures over a two-decade span from 1955 to 1975....
(1913-1975). Known for his emphatic, precise, dogmatic bearing and firm command of the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, McGiver played the part of a widower, Walter Burnley, the manager of the complaints department at the fictitious Krockmeyer's Department Store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
Elinor Donahue (Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...
, The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
) played McGiver's daughter, Joan Randall. Mark Goddard
Mark Goddard
Mark Goddard is an American film actor who has starred in a number of television programs. He portrayed Major Don West, the space adversary of Dr. Zachary Smith in the cult 1960s CBS series, Lost in Space, and Detective Sgt...
(Lost in Space
Lost in Space
Lost in Space is a science fiction TV series created and produced by Irwin Allen, filmed by 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast on CBS. The show ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15, 1965, and March 6, 1968...
, Johnny Ringo
Johnny Ringo (TV series)
Johnny Ringo is a Western television series starring Don Durant that aired on CBS from October 1, 1959, until June 30, 1960. It was loosely based on the life of the notorious gunfighter Johnny Ringo, who tangled with Wyatt Earp, John "Doc" Holliday, and "Buckskin" Franklin Leslie.This fictional...
) played Joan's husband, Bob Randall. The Randalls' daughter, Laurie, was played by Andrea Sacino. Elena Verdugo
Elena Verdugo
Elena Verdugo is an American actress who began in films at the age of six in Cavalier of the West . Her career in radio, television, and film spanned six decades....
(Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D. is an American medical drama television program that aired on ABC from September 23, 1969, to July 29, 1976. It starred Robert Young as a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, and was produced by David Victor and David J. O'Connell...
) played complaint department employee Lynn Hall.
Others on the series were Richard Collier as Harry Price, Jesslyn Fax as Wilma Fritter, and Mickey Manners
Mickey Manners
Mickey Manners is an American actor, singer, dancer, and stand-up comedian.- Acting Career :He was a regular panelist on the game show Pantomime Quiz. He also appeared on Murphy Brown, Here's Lucy, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, Hogan's Heroes, Lost in Space, Get Smart, and Perry Mason...
as Joe Foley, all cast as store employees. Character actress Doris Packer
Doris Packer
Doris Packer was an American actress, possibly best known as Mrs. Cornelia Rayburn, Theodore Cleaver's principal in Leave It to Beaver....
(Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1959 to 1963. The series and some episode scripts were adapted from a 1951 collection of short stories of the same name, written by Max Shulman, that also inspired the 1953 film The Affairs of Dobie Gillis with Debbie...
) played the role of Cornelia. Russell Collins was cast as Burnley's demanding, often unreasonable boss, Owen Sharp.
Episodes
Mickey Manners' character, Joe Foley, struggled in one episode ("Krockmeyer on Avon") in regard to an amateur production of Romeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
. Manners, unable to match McGiver for preciseness of language, convinces the boss to train him in ways to appreciate Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
. When Manners does not respond suitably to McGiver's instruction, Manners decides to mouth the lines, while the precise McGiver reads the role of Romeo out of the sight of the audience.
The program was directed by Gene Reynolds
Gene Reynolds
Gene Reynolds is a former American actor turned award-winning television writer, director, and producer.-Early life:He was born Eugene Reynolds Blumenthal on April 4, 1923 to Frank Eugene Blumenthal and Maude Evelyn Blumenthal in Cleveland, Ohio, he was raised in Detroit, Michigan, where his...
, who later went on to work on several episodes of M*A*S*H. Episode titles of Many Happy Returns include:
- "Many Happy Returns" {pilot episode} (September 21, 1964)
- "Walter Meets the Machine" (September 28, 1964)
- "It Shouldn't Happen To A Dog" (October 5, 1964)
- "Bye Bye, Cupid" (October 12, 1964)
- "Burnley At the Bridge" (October 19, 1964)
- "Joe's Place" (October 26, 1964)
- "The Best Seller" (November 9, 1964)
- "Mother Burnley's Chickens" (November 16, 1964)
- "Krockmeyer on Avon" (November 23, 1964)
- "East Is West" (November 30, 1964)
- "The House Divided" (December 7, 1964)
- "The Fashion Show" (December 14, 1964)
- "The Shoplifter" (December 21, 1964)
- "The Surprise Visit" (December 28, 1964)
- "Taming of the Beast" (January 4, 1965)
- "No Nose Is Good Nose" (January 11, 1965)
- "Foster Father of the Bride" (January 18, 1965)
- "The Diamond" (January 25, 1965)
- "Three on a Honeymoon" (February 1, 1965)
- "Pop Goes the Easel" (February 8, 1965)
- "The Krockmeyer Caper" (February 15, 1965)
- "Big White Lie" (March 8, 1965)
- "Idol Threats" (March 22, 1965)
- "A Date for Walter" (March 29, 1965)
- "The Woodsman" (April 5, 1965)
- "It’s a Gift" (April 12, 1965)
History
Many Happy Returns was technically the successor to The Danny Thomas ShowThe Danny Thomas Show
The Danny Thomas Show is an American sitcom which ran from 1953-1957 on ABC and from 1957-1964 on CBS...
(for the same sponsor), which stopped production in 1964 after eleven years on the air, first on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, then on CBS. It aired at 9:30 Eastern on Mondays opposite the short-lived sitcom The Bing Crosby Show
The Bing Crosby Show
The Bing Crosby Show is a 28-episode situation comedy television program starring crooner, film star, iconic phenomenon, and businessman Bing Crosby and actress Beverly Garland as a middle-aged couple, Bing and Ellie Collins, rearing two teenaged daughters during the early 1960s...
on ABC and The Andy Williams Show
The Andy Williams Show
The Andy Williams Show is a television variety show which ran from 1959 to 1971 , and a short-lived run in syndication, beginning in the fall of 1976...
, alternating weekly with The Jonathan Winters Show
Jonathan Winters
-Early life:Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore , a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio...
, on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
schedule. Many Happy Returns theoretically benefited from having followed The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show is an American situation comedy that aired on CBS from 1962 until 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to I Love Lucy. A significant change in cast and premise for the 1965-66 season divides the program into two distinct eras; aside from Ball, only Gale Gordon, who joined the program...
on CBS. It preceded the drama Slattery's People
Slattery's People
Slattery's People is a 1964-1965 American television series about local politics starring Richard Crenna as title character James Slattery, a state legislator, co-starring Ed Asner and Tol Avery, and featuring Carroll O'Connor and Warren Oates in a couple of episodes each. James E. Moser was...
.