Frank Nelson Movies

Vera (Beth Howland) is overwhelmed with plaintive poems, pretty balloons and assorted expensive presents. The explanation: Vera has a secret lover. The question: Is it anyone she knows (or for that matter, anyone WE know)? Originally filmed for Alice's seventh season and slated to air on June 5, 1983, this episode was held back until Season Eight due to a Hollywood writer's strike. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This rather complex animated adventure concerns the quest of a toy wind-up mouse and his son to become self-winding.The two accidentally fall off a shelf, and are thrown out with the garbage. Then, they must escape from an evil rat who imprisons them. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Sanford and Son launched its sixth and final season with an unforgettable location-filmed jaunt to Hawaii. Heading to the land of pineapples and hula skirts for a junkman's convention, Fred and Lamont Sanford (Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson) get innocently mixed up with jewel thieves. The crooks plant their loot on Fred in hopes of smuggling the gems to L.A. -- but of course, their best-laid schemes go hilariously agley. Highlighting Part One of "The Hawaiian Connection" is Fred Sanford's impromptu hula lesson. (This episode, originally running a full hour, has since been edited into two half-hour segments for syndication.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Reconciled to the romance between his son Lamont (Demond Wilson) and Janet Lawson (Marlene Clark), Fred (Redd Foxx) gives his blessing to the couple's engagement. Soon, however, he tries to revoke that blessing when he learns that Lamont and Janet don't intend to live with Fred after their marriage. Frank Nelson, the "Eeeeeyesss?" man of The Jack Benny Show fame, makes a cameo appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Den mothers Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Viv (Vivian Vance) are slated to escort their Cub Scout pack on a trip to Washington. Inspired by the kids' sugar-cube replica of the White House, the girls get the bright idea to present this bit of patriotic kitsch to the President Himself. Alas, the replica is destroyed en route to the White House, forcing Lucy and Viv to do some quick improvising at a roadside diner. Elliott Reid, who appears on-screen as Ross Dowd, also supplies a certain very familiar Boston-baked voice in the final scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For the second time in Flintstones history, a Hollyrock movie producer sees star potential in cave-wife Wilma Flintstone. Galvanized by the prospect of having a movie queen in the family, Fred appoints himself Wilma's manager, then proceeds to get into a deep financial hole as he pays for singing lessons, acting lessons, dancing lessons etc. The highlight of the episode is the spoof of My Fair Lady: "The ants in France stay mainly on the plants." (By George, we get it!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tired of Wilma's complaints that he takes her for granted, Fred arranges to spend a second honeymoon at the couple's former romantic rendezvous, the Rock Mountain Inn, on the occasion of their 15th wedding anniversary. Upon their arrival, Fred and Wilma are told that the judge who presided over their marriage was a phony--meaning, of course, that they aren't legally married. You guessed it: Fred is forced to woo and win Wilma a second time...and she isn't about to make it easy for him! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Thanks to Fred's well-meaning interference, Barney loses his job. Hoping to make amends, Fred arrange new employment for his pal. Unfortunately, Barney is hired as a "repo man"--and his first assignment is to repossess the TV set owned by one Fred Flintstones. Listen for the voice of perennial Jack Benny Show supporting player Frank Nelson ("Eeeeeyesssssss?") as Barney's boss. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) vs. Betty Ramsey (Mary Jane Croft) as both ladies compete to win the gold cup at the annual Westport flower show. For her part, Lucy carefully cultivates a garden of tulips, then asks Ricky (Desi Arnaz) to mow the lawn to make the Ricardo backyard "picture perfect." But Ricky doesn't finish the job, leaving Lucy and Ethel (Vivian Vance) to do it themselves -- and to accidentally "do in" Betty Ramsey's tulips in the process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Luther Davis' racy wartime comedy Kiss Them for Me was expurgated a bit for the 1957 film version. Cary Grant, Ray Walston and Larry Blyden portray three navy war heroes who've been booked on a morale-building "vacation" in San Francisco. Eluding their ulcerated public relations officer (Werner Klemperer), the trio arranges a wild party with plenty of pretty girls. Cary Grant is paired with knockout Suzy Parker, an icy socialite who eventually thaws under his charms. Also on hand is Jayne Mansfield, playing a "good time girl" whose profession was a bit more explicit in the original play; the role was originated by Judy Holliday, who brought a wistfulness to the character that Ms. Mansfield couldn't quite manage. TV sitcom fans will get a kick out of the supporting cast of Kiss Them For Me: Ray Walston, later star of My Favorite Martian plays a libertine navy officer; Werner Klemperer, shorn of the accent he'd use as Colonel Klink in Hogan's Heroes, is hilarious as the flustered p.r. man; and Richard Deacon (Leave It to Beaver, The Dick Van Dyke Show) pops up unbilled as a dour businessman who can't understand the war-hero mystique. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Several changes occurred in the I Love Lucy format during the series' sixth and final season on the air. For one thing, little Richard Keith, a talented six-year-old drummer, was cast in the role of Little Ricky, the son of Cuban bandleader Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) and his wacky wife Lucy (Lucille Ball) (the character had previously been played by uncredited infants). For another, Ricky had quit his job at New York's Tropicana Club and opened his own nitery, the Club Babalu. With more money coming into the Ricardo household, Lucy and Ricky decide to leave New York City and move into an attractively appointed ranch house in suburban Connecticut. Not surprisingly, the Ricardos' longtime friends Fred and Ethel Mertz (William Frawley and Vivian Vance) likewise make the big move to the 'burbs. The change of locale also permits the introduction of two new characters, the Ricardos' next-door neighbors Ralph and Betty Ramsey (Frank Nelson, Mary Jane Croft). Despite the scenery shifting, I Love Lucy still delivers laughs in its classic, time-tested manner with Lucy hatching zany schemes and getting her family and friends knotted up in a variety of ridiculous situations. One episode, "Lucy Raises Chickens," features the longest sustained audience laughter in the series' history -- proof positive that the bloom was definitely not off the rose for this venerable property. Other highlights of I Love Lucy's final season (at least in its half-hour format) include guest appearance by Bob Hope, Orson Welles, and George Reeves (in his familiar guise as "Superman"); a Christmas episode comprised of clips from earlier seasons, which for many years was removed from the series' syndication package and did not resurface publicly until 1989; and the last I Love Lucy installment, "The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue," in which Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz' real-life son Desi Arnaz Jr. makes his TV acting debut. ~ All Movie Guide

Gladys Glover (Judy Holliday) is an unsuccessful model and actress who believes that a jolt of publicity will do her career a world of good. She gets that publicity by renting a billboard in the middle of Manhattan, emblazoned with her name and photograph. As a result, Gladys is showered with endorsement by (Peter Lawford). He becomes enamored with Gladys, which irritates her "unofficial" boyfriend, documentary-director Pete Sheppard (Jack Lemmon) (in his film debut). Pete grows tired of Gladys' publicity stunt, feeling that it is turning her into an object rather than a human being, but Gladys luxuriates in the fame and fortune. A happy ending may be inevitable, but it's a hard-won happiness for both hero and heroine. Scriptwriter Garson Kanin had intended this as a vehicle for Danny Kaye, but Kanin's wife Ruth Gordon suggested the gender-switch to Judy Holliday, noting that what might seem aggressive from Kaye would appear merely whimsical from Holliday. In one of the best scenes, real-life celebrities Melville Cooper, Ilka Chase and Constance Bennett show up as talk-show panelists -- the ideal magnet for the likes of Gladys Glover, who has become famous merely for being famous. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Ricky (Desi Arnaz) insists that he hasn't the money for a Hawaiian vacation, Lucy endeavors to win a free trip by submitting the story of her "miserable" life to a Strike It Rich-style game show called "Be a Good Neighbor." She even goes so far as to claim that she doesn't want the vacation for herself, but for the "impoverished" Mertzes and their elderly, grey-haired mother (actually Lucy in disguise). Figuring out what Lucy is up to, the show's prankish host Freddie Fillmore (Frank Nelson) conspires with Ricky to teach our heroine a lesson by subjecting her to all manner of on-camera pranks and practical jokes, leaving her soaking wet and splattered with eggs and pastry. ~ All Movie Guide