Edmund L. Hartmann Movies

After three years on CBS' powerhouse Monday-night schedule--and two consecutive years in TV's "top ten" list--Family Affair moved to a Thursday berth for its fourth season on the air. Despite this displacement, not to mention fresh competition from NBC's long-running Daniel Boone and the ABC upstart The Ghost and Mrs Muir, the series retained its huge following, remaining securely fastened into the "Number Five" ratings position. Beyond the shift to a different evening, very little had changed on Family Affair proper. We still find bachelor engineer Bill Davis (Brian Keith) gamely coping with the pressures of surrogate parenthood as guardian of his orphaned nephew Jody (Johnnie Whitaker) and nieces Buffy (Anissa Jones) and Cissy (Anissa Jones). Likewise still on hand is Bill's supremely efficient British manservant Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot), who has grown to like his role as the children's "male nanny"--with reservations, of course. This season's guest stars include the magnificent Ida Lupino as a titled British lady whom Mr. French fondly remembers as his former sweetheart, a London barmaid named Maude; a very young Darlene Carr (remember her as Karl Malden's daughter on Streets of San Francisco?) as a starry-eyed teenager who develops a crush on the hapless Bill; former B-western star Bob Steele as. . .a former B-western star; and in an unusually serious episode, Dana Andrews as a troubled ex-convict who has trouble going straight. Also showing up with increasing frequency is Gregg Fedderson, the son of Family Affair creator Don Fedderson, who after a brief apprenticeship in character parts is seen in the recurring role of Cissy's boyfriend Gregg Bartlett. Perhaps the most memorable episode this season is "What's So Funny About a Broken Leg", hastily written to accommodate the fact that costar Anissa Jones' leg was really in a cast. Certainly the most elaborate installment is the two-part Season Four opener, wherein the entire family seriously considers bidding farewell to New York City and moving bag and baggage to Tahiti! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Despite some awkward, uncomfortable and downright embarrassing moments during Season One, Season Two of Family Affair finds the Davis household in a relative state of peace and contentent, with bachelor consulting engineer Bill Davis (Brian Keith) having thoroughly acclimated himself to his duties as surrogate parent to his orphaned nephew and nieces. For their part, 7-year-old twins Buffy (Anissa Jones) and Jody (Johnnie Whitaker) and 16-year-old Cissy (Kathy Garver) are more secure than before with the stability of their home life, fairly certain that their beloved Uncle Bill isn't about to bundle them off to another relative on the slightest pretext. Even Bill's imperious butler Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot) has learned that being a "male nanny" isn't such a horrendous fate. The season opens with the celebrated "facts of life" episode, in which the twins try to wade through an ocean of contradictory information about the human reproduction process. Later on, little Jody suffers his first true "love pangs", while sister Buffy tends to prefer the company of her doll Mrs. Beasley and older sibling Cissy is off on her own 1960s-teen orbit. Guest stars this season include Ann Sothern and Anna Lee as two of Mr. French's former flames (still waters run VERY deep!); former child stars Jackie Coogan and Marcia Mae Jones as a freewheeling blue-collar couple; Joan Blondell as a flamboyant, Ethel Merman-esque Broadway star; Martha Hyer as a glamorous movie queen who may very well forsake her career to marry Bill (or maybe not!); and an odd Brady Bunch-like exercise, wherein Bill gets serious about an attractive widow (Colleen Gray) with three children of her own. Also, Gregg Fedderson, the son of series producer Don Fedderson and soon to join the cast in the semi-regular role of Cissy's boyfriend Gregg Bartlett, begins showing up this season in other roles. The 1967-68 TV season was a very good one for CBS, with four of the network's series heading the "top ten" list--and Number Four just happened to be Family Affair, despite the formidable opposition of ABC's Peyton Place. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first episode of the first season of Family Affair finds the carefree lifestyle of globetrotting consulting engineer (and swinging bachelor) Bill Davis (Brian Keith) scattered to the four winds when his newly orphaned nephew Jody (Johnnie Whitaker) and niece Buffy (Anissa Jones) arrive on the doorstep of his Manhattan apartment. The six-year-old twins had been living with their Aunt Fran (Louise Latham), but her husband can't stand kids and so Bill is appointed the new surrogate father. He isn't keen on the prospect, nor is Bill's veddy British butler Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot) thrilled at the prospect of being a "nanny". By episode's end, of course, the kids have won Bill over, but not before a crisis wherein Buffy, feeling completely unwanted, hides in the basement of the apartment building. And there's another big surprise in store for Mr. French at fadeout time ("Good Heavens! I AM a nanny!"). In this episode, Philip Ober appears as Bill's business partner Ted Gaynor, a role later played by John Hubbard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season One of Family Affair is by and large a "shakedown cruise" for wealthy consulting engineer Bill Davis (Brian Keith) and his new, ready-made family. After the deaths of his brother and sister-in-law in an accident, Bill is placed in charge of the couple's three children: 6-year-old twins Buffy (Anissa Jones) and Jody (Johnnie Whitaker), and 15-year-old Cissy (Kathy Garver). The responsibilities of instant parenthood understandably puts a crimp in Bill's swinging-bachelor lifestyle, but he loves the children enough to grit his teeth and make the best of things--as does his "veddy British" gentleman's gentleman Mr. Giles French (Sebastian Cabot), who has quite a time overcoming the shock of being, for all intents and purposes, a "nanny." Stories during Season One deal with Bill's trials and tribulations dealing with such necessities as getting the kids enrolled in school and coping with the orphaned youngsters' insecurities arising from spending the previous several months being shunted from one relative to the next. The most poignant moments find Buffy, Jody and Cissy recalling their deceased parents--and it is particularly compelling to witness Buffy's obsessive attachment to her doll Mrs. Beasley, the one remaining viable link between herself and her late mother. On a more upbeat note, despite his newly acquired parental obligations Bill still manages to find time to squire several lovely young ladies, played by such attractive actresses as Mary Murphy, Rita Gam and Kathleen Crowley--not to mention Judith Landon, the then wife of series star Brian Keith. Among the noteworthy guest stars showing up in Season One are Myrna Loy, cast as a once-wealthy dowager reduced to domestic work; Brian Donlevy as a down-to-earth "hardhat" who turns out to be a millionaire architect; Richard Loo as a stuffy Chinese diplomat; Sterling Holloway as a window washer who happens to be a whiz at math; and John Agar as a charismatic rodeo star. This is also the season in which John Williams makes nine guest appearances as Mr. French's brother Nigel French, who signs on as temporary replacement in the Davis household while his brother briefly serves the Royal Family (in real life, Sebastian Cabot had been forced to briefly bow out of the series due to illness). Though nowhere near as popular as its Monday-night competition Peyton Place, Family Affair still managed to carve out a comfortable ratings niche and accumulate a loyal audience during its Freshman season on CBS, ending up as the nation's 14th highest-rated program. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bob Hope tries to capture the comic magic of his 1946 costume farce Monsieur Beaucaire with the splashy Technicolor romp Casanova's Big Night (filmed in 1952, released in 1954). Set in 18th century Venice, the film casts Hope as Pippo, the humble tailor of notorious ladies' man Casanova (an unbilled Vincent Price). When Casanova skips town without paying his debts, the local tradesman's guild, led by Casanova's butler Lucio (Basil Rathbone), conspire to pass off one of their number as the great lover and arrange a profitable marriage. Selected to impersonate Casanova is the hapless Pippo, who soon afterward is hired by the imperious Duchess of Castelbello (Hope Emerson) to test the fidelity of the duchess' future daughter-in-law Elena (Audrey Dalton). Along the way, Pippo is given lessons in etiquette and swordsmanship by both Lucio and tradeswoman Francesca (Joan Fontaine). Eventually, Pippo finds himself up to his neck in court intrigue, courtesy of the scheming Doge of Venice (Arnold Moss). Further complications include a couple of hilarious swashbuckling scenes, an interlude in a dungeon with addlepated prisoner Emo (Lon Chaney), and the obligatory disguise scene. The Pirandellian ending of Casanova's Big Night was later imitated by such films as The Maltese Bippy (1969) and Wayne's World (1992). Bob Hope is in fine form, the production is sumptuous and the supporting cast superb, but somehow there's a little something missing in Casanova's Big Night. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally intended as a 3D film, this standard-issue Bob Hope musical comedy was released "flat." The 50-year-old Hope plays over-aged chorus boy Stanley Snodgrass, whose attempts to get ahead in the early 20th-century theatre world always come acropper. His luck suddenly changes when he's promoted to the leading-man role in a show headlined by Irene Bailey (Arlene Dahl). What Stanley doesn't know is that he's been set up as a decoy to bring the murderous Jack the Slasher (Robert Strauss) out in the open. It seems that Jack is obsessed with Irene, and has a nasty habit of cutting all of her male co-stars into ribbons. Meanwhile, Stanley lays waste to the show by performing all of his big numbers incorrectly, but his faithful gal Daisy Crockett (Rosemary Clooney) loves him all the same. Tony Martin also appears as Irene's boyfriend, while Millard Mitchell makes his final film appearance as Stanley's stepfather (and never mind that he and Hope were the same age!) A brief clip from Here Come the Girls showed up in, of all places, the 1953 sci-fier Conquest of Space. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Damon Runyon's Broadway fable The Lemon Drop Kid was filmed twice by Paramount Pictures, but only the 1934 version with Lee Tracy paid more than lip service to the original Runyon story. The second version, filmed in 1951, was completely retooled to accommodate the talents of Bob Hope. Known far and wide as the Lemon Drop Kid because of his fondness for that particular round, yellow confection, Hope is a bookie who finds himself deeply in debt to Florida gangster Fred Clark. Magnanimously, Clark permits Hope to head to New York to raise the money--but he'd better have the dough ready by Christmas, or else. Ever on the lookout for Number One, Hope decides to exploit the Christmas spirit in order to get the money together. With the help of unsuspecting nightclub-singer Marilyn Maxwell, Hope sets up a charity fund to raise money for an "Old Doll's Home"--that is, a home for down-and-out little old ladies. He claims to be doing this on behalf of big-hearted Jane Darwell, but he has every intention of double-crossing Darwell and all the other elderly women by skipping town with the charity funds and leaving them at the mercy of the authorities. By the time Hope has seen the error of his ways and tries to do right by the old dolls, Maxwell's boss Lloyd Nolan has decided to muscle into the racket by using the ladies' home as a front for a gambling casino. To set things right, Hope finds it necessary to disguise himself as a fussy old spinster at one point. The best line in the film goes to William Frawley, playing one of many Broadway toughs who are being pressed into service as street-corner Santas. "Will you bring me a doll for Christmas?" asks a little girl. "Naw, my doll's workin' Christmas Eve" is Frawley's salty reply. The Lemon Drop Kid is the film in which Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell introduced the enduring Yuletide ballad "Silver Bells", written (reportedly in a real hurry) by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This second of four film adaptations of Damon Runyon's Little Miss Marker is tailored to the talents of Bob Hope. A shifty Broadway bookie, Sorrowful Jones (Hope) becomes a reluctant foster parent when an anxious gambler leaves behind his little girl Martha Jane (Mary Jane Saunders) as a "marker," or IOU. When the father is killed by mobster Big Steve Holloway (Bruce Cabot), Sorrowful decides to hide Martha Jane from the authorities, lest the poor girl get tossed in an orphanage. Lucille Ball co-stars as Sorrowful's erstwhile girlfriend Gladys, who along with Mary Jane is instrumental in "reforming" the cynical Jones. The climactic scenes, wherein Sorrowful tries to smuggle a horse into a hospital in order to bring the little girl out of a coma, deftly combines slapstick with pathos. A remake of 1934's Little Miss Marker, which starred Shirley Temple in the title role, Sorrowful Jones was itself remade in 1962 as the Tony Curtis vehicle Who's Got the Action; it was filmed again in 1980, once more as Little Miss Marker, with Curtis as the villain and Walter Matthau in the Bob Hope role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sexual harassment can work both ways as can be seen in this romantic comedy when ad man endeavors to maneuver out of a relationship with his girlfriend. This is difficult as she controls a major account for his company and refuses to renew it unless he continues to go out with her. The frustrated fellow then begins having neurotic fits until, at last, he is taken off her account. For his new assignment, he must promote a psychiatrist's latest book. They meet and he is captivated by the lovely doctor. The nervous fellow then becomes her patient, and before long they both fall in love. Unfortunately, the other woman has not given up. His troubles are far from over when he later discovers that the shrink doesn't really love him--she is only using him for a case study. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Director William "One Take" Beaudine handles Face of Marble with his usual hasty professionalism. John Carradine stars as Professor Randolph, a brilliant brain surgeon. At the moment, Randolph and his assistant David Cochran (Robert Shayne) are experimenting with restoring the dead to life. But there's an unfortunate side-effect: the deceased sailor upon whom Randolph conducts his first human experiment promptly turns to marble when he's revived from the dead. All of this is eventually tied in with the clandestine romance between Cochran and Randolph's faithless wife Elaine (Claudia Drake), and with the sinister incantations of voodoo practitioner Marika (Rosa Rey). John Carradine is quite good, considering the circumstances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this a briefcase containing four wills is found next to the unconscious body of a man. He lies beside a plane crash. Each of the wills is made out to the man. Meanwhile a recent widow and a man work together to get the money her husband died for. They almost get it when they are accosted by the man who was found lying beside the planed. He claims to be a Nazi spy who is trying to get the money and use it to escape to Germany. The couple captures the spy and donates the money to their government. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

At 88 minutes, Here Come the Co-Eds is one of the longest of Abbott & Costello's Universal starring vehicles, and though not necessarily the best, it manages to sustain a high comic content throughout. The scene is a financially strapped girl's college, where professional dancer Molly (Martha O'Driscoll) lands a scholarship. Molly's manager-brother Slat (Bud Abbott) has arranged this as a means to publicize his sister's showbiz career, which angers the college's chairman of the board (Charles Dingle), who threatens to foreclose on the school. To keep tabs on Molly and also find ways of raising the mortgage money, Slats and his pal Oliver (Lou Costello) takes jobs as school caretakers, immediately running afoul of ill-tempered groundskeeper Johnson (Lon Chaney Jr.) One of Slats' schemes involves a championship basketball game, in which Oliver, hypnotized into thinking that he's petite female student "Daisy Dimple", effortlessly sinks one basket after another (Costello, a top high school athlete, performed these scenes without the aid of a double). What ultimately saves the college is a concert by Phil Spitalny and his all-girl orchestra, featuring "Evelyn and Her Magic Violin." While the obligatory chase scene in Here Come the Coeds (this time involving a sailboat on wheels!) is a disappointment, several of Abbott & Costello's comic setpieces are hilarious, notably the time-honored "Jonah and the Whale" routine and the "oyster in the chowder" bit. Funniest line: while performing a musical duet with costar Peggy Ryan, Costello sighs "I feel just like Donald O'Connor." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide