Betty White Movies
Actress Betty White got her start in local Los Angeles television as the "telephone girl" for video emcee Al Jarvis. By early 1950 she was one of the stars of the daily, five-hour series Hollywood on Television. One of the highlights of this program was a husband and wife sketch titled "Life With Elizabeth," which when committed to film and syndicated nationally in 1953 became White's first starring TV sitcom. She went on to headline her own network variety series in 1954, then co-starred with Bill Williams in the weekly TV domestic comedy Date With the Angels (1957), which without Williams was retitled The Betty White Show in early 1958. For the next 15 years she made guest appearances on various variety and quiz show efforts, and toured the straw-hat theatrical circuit in such plays as Critics Choice and Who Was That Lady, often appearing opposite her husband, TV personality Allen Ludden. Two years after hosting the 1971 syndicated informational series The Pet Set, she guest-starred as libidinous "Happy Homemaker" Sue Ann Nivens on the fourth season opener of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. This Emmy-winning episode led to White being cast as an MTM regular; she remained with the series until its final episode in 1977. She then starred on her own short-lived sitcom (again titled The Betty White Show) before returning to the guest-star circuit. In 1985, she joined the cast of TV's The Golden Girls as middle-aged grief counselor Rose Nyland. This top-rated program lasted seven seasons before metamorphosing into the rather less successful Golden Palace (1992). White was a regular on the 1995 series Maybe This Time, and in 1997 she won an Emmy for her one-shot appearance on The John Laroquette Show. Though she has starred and co-starred in several made-for-TV movies, Betty White had appeared on the big screen only once, as a Margaret Chase Smith-like senator in Otto Preminger's Advise and Consent (1962). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1955
Included are four Christmas episodes from '50s television shows: A Date with the Angels, Racket Squad, The Ruggles and Dragnet. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1954
With the first batch of 39 Life With Elizabeth episodes raking in big bucks in every local TV market to which the series had been sold, producer Don Fedderson (My Three Sons, Family Affair) opted to produce an additional 26 installments, which were first circulated in mid-1954. As in the first 39 shows, the series stars a very young Betty White as perky bride Elizabeth and character actor Del Moore as her husband Alvin. Each episode is divided into three brief, unrelated segments, depicting the trials and tribulations facing the "typical" young married couple of the era. In some of the stories, Elizabeth and Alvin are newlyweds; in others, they have been comfortably settled into connubial bliss for several years. Whatever the case, the series adheres to several "constants": The angelic harp glissando introducing each episode, the narration of announcer Jack Narz (who sometimes interracts with the on-screen characters); and the end of each separate installment, wherein the actors "break character" and bid the viewers a cheery farewell. Depending on the needs of local stations, the 65 Life With Elizabeth episodes filmed between 1953 and 1955 were shown as "whole units" or broken up into 195 ten-minute fillers. Either way, the series was immensely successful, and remains a delightful experience when seen today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty White, Del Moore, (more)
- 1953
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One of the earliest filmed syndicated comedy series in the United States, Life With Elizabeth was a showcase for actress Betty White -- a full-fledged star two decades before The Mary Tyler Moore Show and three decades before Golden Girls. The series originated as a series of short comic sketches, telecast live on a local basis from the Los Angeles studios of KLAC-TV beginning in 1952. Originally telecast as part of the station's daily, five-hour variety show Hollywood on Television, Life With Elizabeth concerned itself with the marriage of heroine Elizabeth (White) and her husband Alvin (played by L.A. announcer and future Jerry Lewis movie regular Del Moore). The stories covered a variety of familiar domestic situations, from bringing the boss home to dinner to building an addition to the porch.
In some episodes, Elizabeth and Alvin were newlyweds; in others, they had been united in the bonds of holy matrimony for several years. Whatever the case, the KLAC announcer traded quips with the two main characters at the beginning of each sketch, in fine "golden age" radio fashion; and at the end of each playlet, Elizabeth and Alvin would turn to the cameras and bid the viewers at home a fond goodbye. This basic format, right down to the breaking of the traditional "fourth wall," was retained when Life With Elizabeth was committed to film beginning in 1953, then syndicated by producer Don Fedderson (The Millionaire, My Three Sons) on behalf of Guild Films. Stars Betty White and Del Moore were joined by such featured players as Lois Bridge, cast as the couple's neighbor Chloe Skinridge; Ray Erlenborn, as Alvin's boss; Dick Garton as Alvin's dimwitted buddy Richard; and veteran radio personality Jess Kirkpatrick, who was usually cast as one of Elizabeth's relatives. Rounding out the cast were the couple's pets, Stormy the St. Bernard and Bandie the Pekinese. Prolific game show MC Jack Narz was the announcer, while the series' head prop man was none other than future film director Sam Peckinpah! In the spirit of its local L.A. original, the filmed version Life With Elizabeth contained three unrelated sketches per half hour episode. This was done because star Betty White was worried that her character was not strong enough to sustain a full half-hour story every week. The "fragmentation" of each of the series' 65 half-hours proved beneficial to some local TV stations, who ran Life With Elizabeth as a daily 10- to 15-minute "filler," thereby having 195 separate "episodes" at their disposal. The series remained in production until 1955, and in active syndication for at least ten years thereafter. As popular as Life With Elizabeth was in the United States, it was even more so abroad; at one time it was Australia's highest-rated filmed sitcom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In some episodes, Elizabeth and Alvin were newlyweds; in others, they had been united in the bonds of holy matrimony for several years. Whatever the case, the KLAC announcer traded quips with the two main characters at the beginning of each sketch, in fine "golden age" radio fashion; and at the end of each playlet, Elizabeth and Alvin would turn to the cameras and bid the viewers at home a fond goodbye. This basic format, right down to the breaking of the traditional "fourth wall," was retained when Life With Elizabeth was committed to film beginning in 1953, then syndicated by producer Don Fedderson (The Millionaire, My Three Sons) on behalf of Guild Films. Stars Betty White and Del Moore were joined by such featured players as Lois Bridge, cast as the couple's neighbor Chloe Skinridge; Ray Erlenborn, as Alvin's boss; Dick Garton as Alvin's dimwitted buddy Richard; and veteran radio personality Jess Kirkpatrick, who was usually cast as one of Elizabeth's relatives. Rounding out the cast were the couple's pets, Stormy the St. Bernard and Bandie the Pekinese. Prolific game show MC Jack Narz was the announcer, while the series' head prop man was none other than future film director Sam Peckinpah! In the spirit of its local L.A. original, the filmed version Life With Elizabeth contained three unrelated sketches per half hour episode. This was done because star Betty White was worried that her character was not strong enough to sustain a full half-hour story every week. The "fragmentation" of each of the series' 65 half-hours proved beneficial to some local TV stations, who ran Life With Elizabeth as a daily 10- to 15-minute "filler," thereby having 195 separate "episodes" at their disposal. The series remained in production until 1955, and in active syndication for at least ten years thereafter. As popular as Life With Elizabeth was in the United States, it was even more so abroad; at one time it was Australia's highest-rated filmed sitcom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty White, Del Moore, (more)
- 1953
Introduced as a series of brief sketches on a local Los Angeles daytime variety show in 1952, the pioneering TV sitcom Life With Elizabeth was filmed for syndication the following year, with 39 half-hour episodes produced during its first season. Each half hour is divided into three short segments, portraying the domestic life of lovely young bride Elizabeth (Betty White) and her rising-executive husband Alvin (Del Moore). Future game show MC Jack Narz introduces each segment, sometimes conversing (and even quarrelling) with the on-screen characters. The storylines cast a variety of familiar situations in a gently comic light, including Alvin's efforts to balance the budget, Elizabeth's various experiments with new and tasty dinner dishes, the couples' trials and tribulations with unwanted relatives and overbearing friends, and the occasional attempt to add spice to their lives by planning exotic vacations or redecorating the house. In typical sitcom fashion, Elizabeth is slightly brighter than her headstrong husband, but is wise enough to let him know this fact! At the time the first-season Life With Elizabeth episodes were syndicated nationally, local stations were given the option of running them as half-hour "whole units," or subdividing them into ten-minute vignettes. In either case, the series was a big hit and a major step up in the burgeoning career of the multi-talented Betty White. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty White, Del Moore, (more)
