Pamela Britton

A mid-1960s TV documentary special (and a New Yorker cartoon before that) was the inspiration for If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. The film is a likeable satire of "packaged" European tours, where the nonplused tourists are expected to rush from one landmark to another in a breathless 18 days. Ian McShane stars as the amorous tour guide, with Suzanne Pleshette as the American department store buyer he falls for; their romance ends when Pleshette decides that the supposedly worldly McShane is too immature for her. An all-star cast, including Murray Hamilton, Peggy Cass, Pamela Britton, Marty Ingels, John Cassavetes and Vittorio De Sica, pops up in comic cameo roles. Our favorite bit: an American and German tourist, simultaneously regaling their respective wives with wildly divergent accounts of the same wartime confrontation. If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium was reworked in 1987 as a made-for-TV movie, cleverly title If It's Tuesday, It Still Must be Belgium. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The third and final season of My Favorite Martian found the series switching from black-and-white to color, and also making a few adjustments in its format. The basic premise remains the same: a misplaced martian (Ray Walston) has crash-landed on Earth and has moved in with young newspaper reporter Tim O'Hara (Bill Bixby). While the martian endeavors to repair his damaged spaceship, Tim protects the visitor from the authorities by passing him off as his "Uncle Martin." This charade is swallowed hook, line, and sinker by Tim's landlady Mrs. Lorelei Brown (Pamela Britton), who has a bit of a crush on Uncle Martin. Lorelei's detective ex-boyfriend Bill Brennan (Alan Hewitt) can't help but notice that strange and magical things happen whenever Martin is around, thus arousing Brennan's suspicions big time. During season three, Brennan would continually try to alert his police chief boss Roy Engle to Martin's curious behavior, only to be repeatedly made a fool of by the clever and resourceful extraterrestial. What is radically different about the third season is that Uncle Martin has begun transporting himself and Tim through various historical periods, by means of a time machine of his own invention. In the two-part season opener, Martin and Tim are hurtled back to the Old West, where they meet Bill Brennan's grandfather (also played by Alan Hewitt) and embark upon a search for gold, an ore needed for Martin's crippled space vehicle. In later episodes, the two time travelers land in Hollywood during the silent movie era, attempt to solve one of history's most baffling jewel robberies, have a dangerously close encounter with Frank and Jesse James, bring a nonplussed Leonardo Da Vinci back to the 20th century, and, in the series' final episode, inadvertently talk the Indians out of selling Manhattan Island to Peter Minuit, thereby doing considerable damage to the time-space continuum! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As My Favorite Martian enters its second season, young newspaper reporter Tim O'Hara (Bill Bixby) has become quite accustomed to having a martian as his house guest. He has also come to take for granted the fact that his "Uncle Martin" (Ray Walston) has a super-genius I.Q., is able to travel through time and space by means of teleportation, can move objects through the air by simply pointing his finger, and can turn invisible at the drop of a hat (or in his case, the raising of an antenna). As for Uncle Martin, he regards Tim as a good friend and excellent company, but he is still rather impatient with his forced stay on the primitive planet Earth, and continues to try to repair his damaged spaceship, which is kept hidden in Tim's garage. Meanwhile, Tim's landlady Mrs. Lorelei Brown (Pamela Britton) has developed something of a crush on Uncle Martin, never suspecting that her tenant is from another planet. Indeed, no one suspects that there is something amiss about Uncle Martin except for a new character introduced in season two, Mrs. Brown's erstwhile boyfriend Detective Bill Brennan (Alan Hewitt). Like Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched, Brennan suspects that Uncle Martin isn't quite who he claims to be, and goes to great lengths to uncover his secret -- and, like Gladys Kravitz, Brennan is invariably foiled and humiliated by the resourceful extraterrestrial. After climbing to tenth place in the ratings during its first season, My Favorite Martian didn't even crack the Top 30 during season two, which may explain why the producers altered the format a bit for its third season, and also hyped its audience appeal by switching from black-and-white to color. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Making its CBS network debut on September 29, 1963, in the same Sunday night time slot previously held down by Dennis the Menace, My Favorite Martian starred Ray Walston as the title character, an affable, hyper-intelligent and extremely resourceful space alien whose one-man flying saucer crash-landed on a lonely stretch of California highway. Rescued by Tim O'Hara (Bill Bixby), a reporter for "The Los Angeles Sun," the martian is taken to Tim's house to recover from his injuries. At first intending to capitalize on his house guest by turning in the news scoop to end all news scoops, Tim was persuaded not to give away the martian's true identity. Thus, the space visitor would ever after be passed off as Tim's "Uncle Martin," consigned to remain on earth until he was able to repair his damaged vessel. Although human in virtually every respect -- he spoke even better English than Tim -- Uncle Martin had all sorts of remarkable powers, including the ability to teleport himself from one place (or time) to another; to telekinetically move objects through the air; and to make himself invisible. The viewer was always tipped off that Uncle Martin was about to make Martian magic when his tiny retractable antennae emerged from his head. Inasmuch as this was a sitcom, it should not be surprising that Uncle Martin usually exercised his powers to get the hapless Tim out of a jam. Also in the cast was Pamela Britton as Tim's widowed landlady, Mrs. Lorelei Brown, who had a bit of a crush on the likeable Uncle Martin; Alan Hewitt as Detective Bill Brennan, Lorelei's erstwhile boyfriend, who had a sneaking suspicion (which he could never verify) that there was something very odd about Uncle Martin; and during the first season only, Anne O. Marshall as Lorelei's teenaged daughter, Angela, and J. Pat O'Malley as Tim's editor, Mr. Burns. Filmed in black-and-white during its first two seasons and in color for its third and final year on the air, My Favorite Martian ended its network run on September 4, 1966. A Saturday morning cartoon spin-off, My Favorite Martians, was seen on CBS from 1973 to 1975. In 1999 there appeared a theatrical feature adaptation of the original series, with Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Martin, Jeff Daniels as Tim O'Hara, and Ray Walston in a key supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

George Sidney directs this pleasant romantic comedy concerning mayoral love. During a convention of mayors in San Francisco, Clarissa Standish (Loretta Young), the mayor of a small town in Maine, meets Steve Fisk (Clark Gable), the down-to-earth leader of a tiny northern California community. During the rowdy proceedings of the convention, the two find themselves pushed together frequently, with the typical result -- they fall in love. After the convention, the two head back to Steve's town, where crooked local politician Les Taggart (Raymond Burr) is squaring off against Fisk in a mayoral election. With the help of Clarissa, Steve gears up for his reelection bid. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This mammoth musical is at base the story of two sailors on leave in Hollywood. Brash Joseph Brady (Gene Kelly) has promised his shy pal Clarence Doolittle (Frank Sinatra) that he will introduce Clarence to all the glamorous movie starlets whom he allegedly knows so well. Actually, the only actress whom Joseph meets is bit player Susan Abbott (Kathryn Grayson). He arranges for the golden-throated Susan to be auditioned by musician José Iturbi, but when she seems to want to return the favor romantically, Brady tries to foist the girl off on Clarence. But Clarence only has eyes for a fellow Brooklynite (Pamela Britton). Also involved in the plot machinations is runaway orphan Donald Martin (Dean Stockwell). Featuring Kelly dancing with such partners as a cartoon mouse (courtesy of MGM's house animators Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera), Anchors Aweigh was a huge hit in 1945, assuring audiences future Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra teamings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide