The Danny Thomas Show
Encyclopedia
The Danny Thomas Show is an American sitcom which ran from 1953-1957 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...

 and from 1957-1964 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...

. A revival series known as Make Room for Granddaddy aired on ABC from 1970-1971.

In March 1953, Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor, best known for starring in the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy . He was also the founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...

 first signed the contract for the show with ABC and chose Desilu Studios
Desilu Productions
Desilu Productions was a Los Angeles, California-based company jointly owned by actors Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, who were married to each other from 1940 to 1960....

 to film it using its three-camera method. Two proposed titles during pre-production were The Children's Hour and Here Comes Daddy.

Synopsis

Thomas played Danny Williams, a successful comedian and nightclub entertainer. Jean Hagen
Jean Hagen
-Early life:Hagen was born as Jean Shirley Verhagen in Chicago, Illinois, to Christian Verhagen , a Dutch immigrant, and his Chicago-born wife, Marie. The family moved to Elkhart, Indiana when she was 12 and she subsequently graduated from Elkhart High School...

 played his serious and loving wife Margaret, Sherry Jackson
Sherry Jackson
Sherry Jackson is an American actress and former child star. She made her film debut at seven years old in the musical You're My Everything, starring Anne Baxter and Dan Dailey. During the course of appearing in several of the Ma and Pa Kettle movies during the 1950s as Susie Kettle, one of the...

 their daughter Terry, and Rusty Hamer
Rusty Hamer
Rusty Hamer was an American television actor best known for his role as Rusty Williams in the popular NBC/CBS situation comedy The Danny Thomas Show also known as Make Room for Daddy.-Career:...

 their son Rusty. The show's premise dealt with Danny rarely having time to spend with his family and Margaret dealing with the children on her own. Margaret often felt neglected by her husband and on several occasions felt like leaving him. Margaret was a society woman and strict with the children but loved her family. Louise Beavers
Louise Beavers
Louise Beavers was an African-American film and television actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s to the 1930s, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Beavers was a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American...

 made several appearances during this era as the Williams' maid, Louise Evans, and often found herself at odds with Danny and sided with Margaret in most fights between the couple. Nana Bryant
Nana Bryant
Nana Bryant was an American film actress. She appeared in over 100 films between 1935 and 1955.She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and died in Hollywood, California. Her grave is located at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery....

 appeared often as Margaret's kind mother, who Danny and the children were fond of; but Margaret, who had been raised by her aunt and uncle because of her mother being away on stage tours often, was not as warm towards her mother. Bryant died in late 1955 and her character simply stopped appearing. During 1955, Louise Beavers became ill and Amanda Randolph
Amanda Randolph
Amanda Randolph was an American actress and singer. She was a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and was the older sister of actress Lillian Randolph. She was the first African-American performer to star in a regularly scheduled network television show, appearing in DuMont's The Laytons...

 took over the role of Louise.

Series changes

Shortly after the third season (1955-56) finished filming, Jean Hagen left the show due to dissatisfaction with her role and frequent clashes with Danny Thomas. Thomas was upset with her for leaving as he felt the show wouldn't last without her, but he decided to push on without Hagen. At the start of the fourth season (1956-57), it was explained Margaret had died suddenly off-screen. Danny had Louise and his friends often looking after the children while he was still touring. He decided to move them to a boarding school but later relented and the family moved into a new apartment. During the season, Danny dated a few other women and nearly got engaged to a widowed singer until he found out she didn't like children. By season's end, Rusty fell ill with the measles
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...

 and Danny hired Kathy O'Hara (Marjorie Lord
Marjorie Lord
Marjorie Lord is an American television and film actress. She played Kathy "Clancy" Williams opposite Danny Thomas on Make Room for Daddy and later Make Room for Granddaddy.-Early life and career:...

), a young Irish nurse, to look after him. Danny and Kathy became fast friends and Danny fell in love with her very quickly as did the kids. In the season finale, Kathy proposed to Danny (as Danny was too nervous to do so himself) and the two became engaged.
Danny and Kathy were married by start of the fifth season (1957-58) and the Williams moved into a larger, brand new apartment and Linda (Angela Cartwright
Angela Cartwright
Angela Margaret Cartwright is an English-born American actress primarily known for her roles in movies and television...

), Kathy's young daughter from her first marriage, was adopted by Danny, and the show's ratings dramatically increased. During this season, Randolph was sick and rarely appeared as Louise. The majority of the season, Louise was said to be recovering from the flu and Kathy was seen doing most of the housework.

During the early part of the sixth season (1958-59), Sherry Jackson
Sherry Jackson
Sherry Jackson is an American actress and former child star. She made her film debut at seven years old in the musical You're My Everything, starring Anne Baxter and Dan Dailey. During the course of appearing in several of the Ma and Pa Kettle movies during the 1950s as Susie Kettle, one of the...

 was let go by Danny Thomas because he felt she was too old for the part and had few ideas on where to take the character. Terry was said to have gone to a girls school in Paris, Kathy adopted Rusty, and the show then was presented as though Danny and Kathy were always married and Linda and Rusty were both their children. During season seven (1959-60) Terry was brought back played by Penny Parker
Penny Parker
Penny Parker was a series of 17 books written by Mildred A. Wirt Benson and published from 1939 through 1947. Penny was a high school sleuth who also occasionally moonlighted as a reporter for her father's newspaper....

 (as Jackson was still insulted by her firing the year before and refused to return) for a seven episode story arc which saw her engaged and eventually married to Pat Hannigan (Pat Harrington, Jr.
Pat Harrington, Jr.
Pat Harrington, Jr., is an American voice, stage, and television actor most popularly known for his role as building superintendent "Schneider" on the CBS sitcom One Day At A Time. He is the son of Pat Harrington, Sr.- Biography :...

), a nightclub friend of Danny's. After the wedding, the Hannigans moved to California and Terry was rarely mentioned and never seen in the program again.

During the last two seasons, Danny and Kathy both regularly traveled (Danny Thomas and Marjorie Lord were tired from their roles and decided to reduce them to a degree) and much of the tenth season they were touring Europe (a handful of episodes featured location shot footage from Europe) and Rusty and Linda were looked after by the Danny's manager, Charlie Halper (Sid Melton
Sid Melton
Sid Melton was an American actor known for his roles as incompetent carpenter Alf Monroe in the CBS sitcom Green Acres and as Uncle Charlie Halper, proprietor of the Copa Club, in Make Room for Daddy and its spin-offs.Born as Sidney Meltzer in Brooklyn, New York, he was the brother of screenwriter...

) and his wife, Bunny (Pat Carroll
Pat Carroll
Pat Carroll may refer to:*Pat Carroll *Pat Carroll *Pat Carroll *Pat Carroll *Pat Carroll *Pat Carroll...

). During the eleventh and final season, Thomas decided to retire from the show and the program ended in spring 1964.


Cast

  • Danny Thomas
    Danny Thomas
    Danny Thomas was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor, best known for starring in the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy . He was also the founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...

     as Danny Williams
  • Jean Hagen
    Jean Hagen
    -Early life:Hagen was born as Jean Shirley Verhagen in Chicago, Illinois, to Christian Verhagen , a Dutch immigrant, and his Chicago-born wife, Marie. The family moved to Elkhart, Indiana when she was 12 and she subsequently graduated from Elkhart High School...

     as Margaret Williams (1953–1956)
  • Marjorie Lord
    Marjorie Lord
    Marjorie Lord is an American television and film actress. She played Kathy "Clancy" Williams opposite Danny Thomas on Make Room for Daddy and later Make Room for Granddaddy.-Early life and career:...

     as Kathy "Clancey" O'Hara Williams (1957–1964)
  • Rusty Hamer
    Rusty Hamer
    Rusty Hamer was an American television actor best known for his role as Rusty Williams in the popular NBC/CBS situation comedy The Danny Thomas Show also known as Make Room for Daddy.-Career:...

     as Rusty Williams
  • Angela Cartwright
    Angela Cartwright
    Angela Margaret Cartwright is an English-born American actress primarily known for her roles in movies and television...

     as Linda Williams (1957–1964)
  • Sherry Jackson
    Sherry Jackson
    Sherry Jackson is an American actress and former child star. She made her film debut at seven years old in the musical You're My Everything, starring Anne Baxter and Dan Dailey. During the course of appearing in several of the Ma and Pa Kettle movies during the 1950s as Susie Kettle, one of the...

     as Terry Williams (1953–1958)
  • Penny Parker as Terry Williams (1959–1960)
  • Louise Beavers
    Louise Beavers
    Louise Beavers was an African-American film and television actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s to the 1930s, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Beavers was a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American...

     as Louise (1953–1955)
  • Amanda Randolph
    Amanda Randolph
    Amanda Randolph was an American actress and singer. She was a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and was the older sister of actress Lillian Randolph. She was the first African-American performer to star in a regularly scheduled network television show, appearing in DuMont's The Laytons...

     as Louise (1955–1964)

Supporting

The supporting cast included:
  • Sid Melton
    Sid Melton
    Sid Melton was an American actor known for his roles as incompetent carpenter Alf Monroe in the CBS sitcom Green Acres and as Uncle Charlie Halper, proprietor of the Copa Club, in Make Room for Daddy and its spin-offs.Born as Sidney Meltzer in Brooklyn, New York, he was the brother of screenwriter...

     as Charlie Halper
  • Pat Carroll
    Pat Carroll (actress)
    Patricia Ann “Pat” Carroll is an American actress. She performed in numerous stage productions, and portrayed the roles of "Bunny Halper" on CBS's The Danny Thomas Show, Shirley Feeney's mother on ABC's Laverne and Shirley, and is the voice of the villainous Ursula in The Little Mermaid film...

     as Bunny Halper
  • Sheldon Leonard
    Sheldon Leonard
    Sheldon Leonard was a pioneering American film and television producer, director, writer, and actor.-Biography:...

     as Phil Brokaw (1957–1961)
  • Ben Lessy
    Ben Lessy
    Ben Lessy was an American television and film actor. He was born in New York, New York, United States.-Career:Lessy appeared in 32 films and television programs between 1951 and 1981...

     as Benny (1953–1959)
  • Pat Harrington, Jr.
    Pat Harrington, Jr.
    Pat Harrington, Jr., is an American voice, stage, and television actor most popularly known for his role as building superintendent "Schneider" on the CBS sitcom One Day At A Time. He is the son of Pat Harrington, Sr.- Biography :...

     as Pat Hannigan (1959–1960)
  • Horace McMahon
    Horace McMahon
    Horace McMahon was an American actor.- Biography :In his early career he mostly played thugs or jailbirds, but in 1949 he starred in his most acclaimed role, as Lieutenant Monaghan in the drama play Detective Story and in 1951 he reprised his character in Paramount Pictures' film version Detective...

     as Horace (1953–1954)
  • Jesse White
    Jesse White
    Jesse White may refer to:*Jesse White , film and television actor*Jesse White , Illinois politician*Jesse J. White, member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives*Jesco White, the West Virginia "Dancing Outlaw"...

     as Jesse Leeds (1953–1957)

Notable guest stars

Hans Conried
Hans Conried
Hans Georg Conried, Jr. was an American comedian, character actor and voice actor.-Early years:He was born on April 15, 1917 in Baltimore, Maryland to Hans Georg Conried, Sr. and Edith Beyr Gildersleeve. His mother was a descendant of Pilgrims, and his father was a Jewish immigrant from Vienna,...

 had frequent guest appearances as Danny's eccentric Lebanese
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

 "Uncle Tonoose". (In real life, Thomas was Lebanese, Conried was not.) Other frequent guests included Bill Dana as "Jose Jimenez", Annette Funicello
Annette Funicello
Annette Joanne Funicello is an American singer and actress. She was Walt Disney's most popular cast member of the original Mickey Mouse Club, and went on to appear in a series of beach party films.-Early life and early stardom:...

, and Thomas protegee Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 teenaged singer Piccola Pupa.

Theme song

The theme music was various versions (changing over the years) of the traditional Irish song, "Danny Boy
Danny Boy
-Background:The words to "Danny Boy" were written by English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly in 1910. Although the lyrics were originally written for a different tune, Weatherly modified them to fit the "Londonderry Air" in 1913, after his sister-in-law in the U.S. sent him a copy. Ernestine...

".

Ratings

  • 1957-1958: #2 (35.3)
  • 1958-1959: #5 (32.8)
  • 1959-1960: #4 (31.1)
  • 1960-1961: #12 (25.9)
  • 1961-1962: #8 (26.1)
  • 1962-1963: #8 (28.7)
  • 1963-1964: #9 (26.7)

Spin-off and crossovers

The series was responsible for the creation of another long-running sitcom, 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...

. In the seventh season, Danny Thomas is arrested by Sheriff Andy Taylor
Sheriff Andy Taylor
Sheriff Andrew "Andy" Jackson Taylor is the principal character on The Andy Griffith Show, an American sitcom which aired on CBS, . The character made a few appearances in the show's spinoff Mayberry R.F.D. and appeared in a reunion telemovie Return to Mayberry...

 (Andy Griffith) and detained in the small town of Mayberry
Mayberry
Mayberry is a fictional community in North Carolina that was the setting for two American television sitcoms, The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D. Mayberry was also the setting for a 1986 reunion television movie titled Return to Mayberry...

 in an episode entitled "Danny Meets Andy Griffith". The episode aired in February of 1960 and The Andy Griffith Show aired later that year.

The series also crossed over
Fictional crossover
A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...

 to several other series including The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour
The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour
The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour is a CBS television situation comedy. The show is a collection of occasional specials rather than a regular series and originally served as part of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse...

and The Joey Bishop Show.

Sequel

The show ended in 1964, but Danny Thomas, Marjorie Lord, Angela Cartwright, Rusty Hamer, Sherry Jackson and Hans Conried returned in two hour-long "reunion" specials on 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...

- The Danny Thomas TV Family Reunion in 1965 (considered the first TV reunion show), and Make More Room For Daddy, which aired as an episode of The Danny Thomas Hour
The Danny Thomas Hour
The Danny Thomas Hour is an American anthology television series that was broadcast on NBC during the 1967-68 television season.-Synopsis:...

in November 1967. There was then a CBS reunion special, Make Room for Granddaddy, in 1969. The special did so well that it was picked up as a series by CBS but Thomas considered the slot they gave it to be a death slot and pulled the show.

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...

 brought it back on a weekly basis in 1970, in Make Room for Granddaddy. In the series, the character of Terry left her son, 6-year-old Michael (played by Michael Hughes) in the care of his grandparents while she and her soldier husband were stationed overseas. New characters were played by Stanley Myron Handelman
Stanley Myron Handelman
Stanley Myron Handelman was an American stand-up comedian who, during a ten-year period between 1965 and 1975, appeared on numerous television variety shows.-Early years:...

 and former football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player Roosevelt Grier. The show only lasted a single season, producing 24 episodes.

Syndication

Reruns were aired Monday through Friday, on 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...

 from 1960 to 1965. Subsequently, most of the CBS episodes were then syndicated and played on local stations. The first four seasons from ABC were not put into syndication.

From February 1, 1987 to 1991, the show's 5th through 9th seasons were shown on Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite is the nighttime Cable network that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon on Sundays from 8.p.m.-7.am., Monday through Fridays from 9 p.m.-7 a.m. and Saturdays from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. . Though it shares channel space with Nickelodeon, A.C. Nielsen Co...

. TV Land
TV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...

 has also showed several of the Marjorie Lord
Marjorie Lord
Marjorie Lord is an American television and film actress. She played Kathy "Clancy" Williams opposite Danny Thomas on Make Room for Daddy and later Make Room for Granddaddy.-Early life and career:...

 episodes. GoodLife Television aired the majority of the episodes from the fourth season up until the seventh season (and select episodes from Season Eight and Nine).

DVD releases

On September 28, 2004, Questar released the complete fifth season on Region 1 DVD. The set includes two special episodes: the fourth season finale, "Danny's Proposal", and the pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

 for The Andy Griffith Show.

The complete sixth season on DVD was released on January 22. 2008. It was released by a different company than the season 5 package and contained uncut episodes with vintage second-run opening credits, though not the actual network, prime time opens.

Several of the early episodes with Jean Hagen can be purchased on discount DVDs, due to the lapse of copyrights and the episodes entering public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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