Sid Melton Movies

The cast from the popular television cornball comedy series are reunited when Oliver must save Hooterville from developers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Game Show Models transcends its exploitational nature with some truly penetrating satire. A group of well-endowed young ladies go through a grueling audition procedure to be selected as "pointers" and "hand holders" on a popular (albeit fictional) TV game show. Those that are chosen must then run the gauntlet of libidinous producers, hosts and guests. The film's "stars" are virtual unknowns, but the supporting cast includes such veteran favorites as Sid Melton and Dick Miller--not to mention Hollywood columnist Charles Champlin. Clearly designed for the grindhouse trade, Game Show Models is better than one might expect. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sheila (Jeannie Berlin) is not one of life's golden people: she's not especially good-looking, charming, charismatic, or smart. As a result, she has to struggle constantly. For some reason, she decides to move from the suburbs to New York City. Now she has a roommate (Rebecca Dianna Smith), a job with a record company, and a self-imposed obligation to try to meet some men. One night she goes out to a singles bar and meets Sam (Roy Scheider), a nice-looking doctor. They have what is for him a one-night stand, but Sheila is smitten. She hasn't had all that much luck with men, and this one she would like to keep. Embarrassed, Sam tries as gently as he can to ignore her. This becomes much more difficult when he starts dating Sheila's personable roommate. The screenplay for this gentle comedy was adapted by Gail Parent from her best-selling book of the same name. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Diana Ross plays the magnificent, tragic song stylist Billie Holiday, who while writhing in a strait jacket in a prison cell, awaiting sentencing on drug charges, reflects on her turbulent life. Raped in her youth by a drunk (Adolph Caesar), then compelled to work as a domestic in a Harlem whorehouse, Holliday is encouraged to try for a singing career by the bordello's pianist (Richard Pryor). She rises as high as it is possible to go in the white-dominated show business world of the 1930s, but can't handle the pressure and turns to narcotics. The film takes several liberties with the 44-year existence of "Lady Day." Among the Billie Holiday standards performed by Ross are "My Man," "I Cried for You," "Lover Man," "Them There Eyes," and the title song. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episode was originally designed as a lead-in for the zany variety series Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, which I Dream of Jeannie preceded on NBC's Monday-night lineup during the 1968-69 season. Thanks to her zany behavior, Jeannie (Barbara Eden) is invited to appear as a guest on Laugh-In, whereupon Roger (Bill Daily) appoints himself as her agent. Appearing in cameo roles as themselves are Laugh-In regulars Judy Carne, Arte Johnson and Gary Owens, as well as the series' producer George H. Schlatter. (Trivia note: As originally conceived, the Laugh-In installment which followed this episode on February 24, 1969, was to have included a production number in which Barbara Eden's navel would make its first network TV appearance; alas, this gag was scuttled, reportedly at the insistence of the I Dream of Jeannie production staff!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Bradley sisters, alias the "Singing Sweethearts", are signed sight unseen to perform on the TV show hosted by Buddy Buster (David Ketchum). But Buddy isn't very happy upon discovering that Betty Jo Bradley (Linda Kaye Henning)--who hadn't wanted to be on the show in the first place--is visibly pregnant. Sid Melton, better known as "Alf Monroe" on Petticoat Junction's spinoff series Green Acres, is seen as fast-talking talent agent Ted Swift. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season three of Green Acres begins as attorney Oliver Wendell Douglas (Eddie Albert) is nominated for the political post of state senator. Alas, this dream come true is destined to become as much a comic nightmare as city slicker Oliver's efforts to become a successful farmer in the bucolic community of Hooterville. Likewise doomed to failure is Oliver's attempt to improve the local telephone service; by season's end, our hero returns to his usual routine of accepting calls by climbing a nearby telephone pole and tapping into the party line. In another episode, Oliver's glamorous wife, Lisa (Eva Gabor), harks back to World War II, when she and her husband first met. Lisa is also the center of attention in the episode in which one of her Hungarian relatives moves into the farm and makes life even more miserable for poor Oliver. In other season-three developments, handyman Ed (Tom Lester) falls in love and elopes, but soon returns to the Douglas farm a single man. Carpenters -- and twin siblings -- Alf and Ralph Monroe (Sid Melton, Mary Grace Canfield) dissolve their partnership just as they are finally poised to finish building the Douglases' bedroom. Lisa saves herself and her husband from bank robbers by serving up her notorious indigestible hotcakes. And Arnold the pig, the pampered, TV-watching pet of neighboring farmers Fred and Doris Ziffel (Hank Patterson, Barbara Pepper), is whisked off to Hollywood, where in a two-part story he is groomed for film stardom. This particular escapade brings the third season of Green Acres to a close, with the promise of even more rustic zaniness to come in season four. ~ All Movie Guide

Though officially one of the "Monroe Brothers," Ralph Monroe (Mary Grace Canfield) is a certified female, and as such has the same yearnings as any other certified female. Alas, when she falls in love with agriculture agent Hank Kimball (Alvy Moore), he does not reciprocate. The reason? Hank is reluctant to start a relationship with any girl named Ralph. Somewhat reluctantly, Oliver (Eddie Albert) agrees to briefly return to law in order to get Ralph's name changed...but.... ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The legendary Hooterville volunteer fire department springs into action when an alarm brings them to the Douglas house. Lisa (Eva Gabor) is unimpressed, but Oliver is convinced that the fire brigade could use his services. However, there's a catch: the volunteers like to play music in their (ample) spare time -- and Oliver hasn't got an instrument. Need we add that the group's favorite selection is a rousing (if somewhat phlegmatic) version of "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight"? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

City slickers Oliver and Lisa Douglas (Eddie Albert, Eva Gabor) make the best of another year of "farm livin'" in bucolic Hooterville as Green Acres enters its second season. Still stubbornly determined to make a profit on his rundown farm, Oliver continues to be flustered by such local looneys as con artist Mr. Haney (Pat Buttram), dopey handyman Eb (Tom Lester), and terminally self-contradictory county agent Hank Kimball (Alvy Moore). Meanwhile, the sophisticated, cosmopolitan Lisa Douglas has resigned herself to her rural environs, though she still can be found donning her most glamorous gowns and most valuable jewels to perform such simple chores as milking the cows and raking the leaves. (She still has not learned to cook, however, despite her most valiant efforts!) Gaining prominence throughout season two is Arnold, the pet pig of neighboring farmers Fred and Doris Ziffel (Hank Patterson, Barbara Pepper). Beginning with an episode in which Arnold is mistakenly drafted into the army, the porcine superstar will by the end of the season become the second most popular nonhuman actor on television, losing first place only to Lassie. Conspicuous by their presence during season two are two additional supporting characters: carpenter Alf Monroe (Sid Melton) and his sibling and partner Ralph -- who happens to be a girl (played by Mary Grace Canfield). Of the 30 second-season Green Acres episodes, the most memorable is the one in which Oliver, Lisa, and Hank Kimball appear in a charity-show staging of the TV series The Beverly Hillbillies -- which, like Green Acres, was produced by Paul Henning (what a coincidence!). ~ All Movie Guide

The third of producer Paul Henning's enormously successful "rustic" comedies of the 1960s, Green Acres made its CBS bow on September 15, 1965. Reversing the situation established on Henning's The Beverly Hillbillies, in which a group of yokels was transplanted to luxurious Beverly Hills, Green Acres stars Eddie Albert as prosperous Manhattan attorney Oliver Wendell Douglas, who to fulfill a lifelong dream forsook his sophisticated surroundings to become a farmer in the tiny rural community of Hooterville. Reluctantly going along for the ride was Oliver's sexy Hungarian wife, Lisa (Eva Gabor), who though she eventually resigned herself to farm life still insisted upon wearing expensive clothes and jewelry while milking cows and plowing the North 40. Alas, she never quite learned to cook, and her rock-hard hotcakes would soon become the source of many hearty laughs from the viewers. Unfortunately for Oliver, the farm he purchased was in deplorable condition, and the surrounding 160 acres weren't much better. Our hero had been suckered into this situation by bucolic con artist Mr. Haney (Pat Buttram), who continued to fleece the Douglases by selling them expensive -- and generally useless -- farm implements and creature comforts throughout the series' six-season run.

Mr. Haney was but one of the many eccentric characters who seemed to have been put on earth to make Oliver Douglas' life miserable. Others included county agent Hank Kimball (Alvy Moore), who never made a statement without immediately contradicting himself ("Good morning, Mr. Douglas. Well...it isn't really good because it's gonna rain...and it's after noon, so it's not really morning..." etc., etc., etc.); doltish handyman Ed Dawson (Tom Lester), who looked upon the Douglases as his surrogate parents and constantly prevailed upon them to bail him out of trouble (usually girl trouble); carpenters and twin siblings Alf and Ralph Malone (Sid Melton and Mary Grace Canfield), who never quite managed to finish construction on the Douglases' bedroom; and neighboring farmer Hank Ziffel (Hank Patterson) and his wife, Doris (played first by Barbara Pepper, then by Fran Ryan), owners of a TV-watching pig named Arnold, who regarded himself as a human being -- and who developed into the series' biggest "superstar"!

Inasmuch as Green Acres was the sister series to Paul Henning's Petticoat Junction -- also set in the mythical village of Hooterville -- there were a number of crossover episodes between the two programs. Also, Frank Cady appeared as storekeeper Sam Drucker on both shows, while one of Petticoat Junction's main characters, Uncle Joe Bradley (Edgar Buchanan), dropped in from time to time. One of the series' most endearing trademarks was its strain of surrealistic humor. This manifested itself in many ways, but none quite as memorable as the method in which the opening credit titles were presented. In several installments, a confused Lisa Douglas would comment upon "those little names" that appeared in front of her on the screen; and in at least one instance, the directorial credit showed up on a newly laid egg! Although it is not generally known, Green Acres was based on a radio series titled Granby's Green Acres, which like its TV counterpart was created by Jay Sommers and written by Dick Chevillat. All but one of the TV series' episodes was directed by Richard L. Bare, a past master at depicting comic frustration, as could be seen in his wonderful "Joe McDoakes" theatrical shorts of the 1940s and '50s. Green Acres might well have run forever had CBS not decided during the 1970-1971 season to purge itself of all its "rural" comedies; thus, the series came to an end on September 7, 1971, still as popular and hilarious as ever. ~ All Movie Guide

Once again, city slicker Oliver (Eddie Albert) is outfoxed by country bumpkin Haney (Pat Buttram). Seems that Oliver wants to buy a rooster, but Mr. Haney is only willing to rent him one -- and this particular rooster seems to have developed laryngitis! Alvy Moore makes his first series appearance as indecisive agricultural agent Hank Kimball...just as the Douglas farm is declared a disaster area. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hired to babysit the son of Dr. and Mrs. Dudley (Paul Lynde, Marilyn Lovell), Marilyn (Beverly Owen) informs her family that a "little visitor" will soon grace the Munster mansion. At the same time, Lily (Yvonne DeCarlo) is sneaking around in an effort to purchase a car as a birthday present for husband Herman (Fred Gwynne). Misreading Marilyn's comments and Lily's secrecy, Herman jumps to the obvious (and dead wrong!) conclusion that Lily is about to have a baby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide