It's Always Jan
Encyclopedia
It's Always Jan is an American situation comedy
starring Janis Paige
, which aired on CBS
in the 1955-1956 season. It was the lead-in program at 9:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday evenings to the first season of the long-running western
, Gunsmoke
, starring James Arness
.
. A Desilu Production
, It's Always Jan borrowed elements of various programs and films from the period but lacked the ingredients for general popularity and long-lasting success. Janis Paige's hairstyle resembled that of Lucy Ricardo, CBS's most successful comedy character of the decade in the I Love Lucy
program, starring Lucille Ball
, also the Desilu co-owner. With three single women in the series, the program borrowed on the theme of the films Three Coins in the Fountain
and How to Marry a Millionaire
, later made into a syndicated
television series co-starring Barbara Eden
and Merry Anders, Paige's co-star.
Jan Stewart devotes much of her time in the series not to the children or the roommates but to her potential paramours and her performances at the night-club called Tony's Cellar in New York City
, the setting of the series. As with other programs such as The Red Skelton Show
and The Ann Sothern Show
, Paige closed each episode by saying "Good night" to the home audience.
played the character Stanley Schreiber, the delivery boy from a delicatessen, and rocketed to fame more than a decade later in the NBC
comedy Laugh-In, and Sid Melton
played Jan's agent, Harry Cooper. Several years later, Melton became known as the comical nightclub manager, Charlie Halper, on CBS's The Danny Thomas Show
, with Pat Carroll
, playing his wife "Bunny" Halper.
Jeri Lou James appeared in ten episodes in the role of Paige's young daughter, Josie Stewart. Among the episode titles are the following: "Pat's Romance," "Guilty Conscience," "Housekeeper," "Propriety", and Love Rings Bells." The program, a Jannard Production affiliated with Desilu, was filmed at RKO Studios in Hollywood.
Patricia Bright's acting career was minimal thereafter, but she made four appearances as Mrs. Claire Block in the NBC
police sitcom Car 54, Where Are You?
.
It's Always Jan faced competition on NBC from the second season of The Jimmy Durante Show
, a comedy/variety show
which ended its 51-episode run three months after the Paige series ceased new production. In the 1956-1957 season, It's Always Jan was replaced by Hey, Jeannie!
, another unsuccessful situation comedy, which starred Jeannie Carson
as a young Scottish
immigrant woman living in New York City.
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
starring Janis Paige
Janis Paige
Janis Paige is an American film, musical theatre and television actress. Born Donna Mae Tjaden in Tacoma, Washington, she began singing in public from the age of five in local amateur shows...
, which aired on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in the 1955-1956 season. It was the lead-in program at 9:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday evenings to the first season of the long-running western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, starring James Arness
James Arness
James King Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon in the television series Gunsmoke for 20 years...
.
Synopsis
The program centers on Jan Stewart, a war widow and single mother, and her two single female roommates, secretary Pat Murphy, played by Patricia Bright, and model Val Marlowe, portrayed by Merry AndersMerry Anders
Merry Anders is an American actress who has appeared in a number of television programs and films since the 1950s. In 1954, she succeeded Ann Todd as Stuart Erwin's daughter in the final season of his TV series, The Stu Erwin Show.In the 1955-1956 season, she joined Janis Paige in the 26-week CBS...
. A Desilu Production
Desilu Productions
Desilu Productions was a Los Angeles, California-based company jointly owned by actors Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, who were married to each other from 1940 to 1960....
, It's Always Jan borrowed elements of various programs and films from the period but lacked the ingredients for general popularity and long-lasting success. Janis Paige's hairstyle resembled that of Lucy Ricardo, CBS's most successful comedy character of the decade in the I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
program, starring Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, also the Desilu co-owner. With three single women in the series, the program borrowed on the theme of the films Three Coins in the Fountain
Three Coins in the Fountain (1954 film)
Three Coins in the Fountain is the 1954 film that introduced the song of the same name, which became an enduring standard. It tells the story of three American girls looking for romance in Rome while employed at the American Embassy...
and How to Marry a Millionaire
How to Marry a Millionaire
How to Marry a Millionaire is a 1953 romantic comedy film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Jean Negulesco and produced and written by Nunnally Johnson. The screenplay was based on the plays The Greeks Had a Word for It by Zoe Akins and Loco by Dale Eunson and Katherine Albert. The music score...
, later made into a syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
television series co-starring Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early years:...
and Merry Anders, Paige's co-star.
Jan Stewart devotes much of her time in the series not to the children or the roommates but to her potential paramours and her performances at the night-club called Tony's Cellar in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the setting of the series. As with other programs such as The Red Skelton Show
The Red Skelton Show
The Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for two decades, from 1951 to 1971. It was second to Gunsmoke and third to The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings during that time. Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as...
and The Ann Sothern Show
The Ann Sothern Show
The Ann Sothern Show is an American sitcom starring Ann Sothern that aired on CBS for 93 episodes. The series began on October 6, 1958, and ended on September 25, 1961. The Ann Sothern Show was Sothern's second sitcom for CBS...
, Paige closed each episode by saying "Good night" to the home audience.
Other starring roles
Two actors who later became known in other roles each guest starred in three episode of It's Always Jan. Arte JohnsonArte Johnson
Arthur Stanton Eric "Arte" Johnson is an American comic actor. Johnson was a regular on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. His best-remembered "character" was that of a German soldier with the catchphrase: "Verrrry interesting, but...['stupid', 'not very funny', and other variations]".-Early life:Johnson...
played the character Stanley Schreiber, the delivery boy from a delicatessen, and rocketed to fame more than a decade later in the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
comedy Laugh-In, and Sid Melton
Sid Melton
Sid Melton was an American actor known for his roles as incompetent carpenter Alf Monroe in the CBS sitcom Green Acres and as Uncle Charlie Halper, proprietor of the Copa Club, in Make Room for Daddy and its spin-offs.Born as Sidney Meltzer in Brooklyn, New York, he was the brother of screenwriter...
played Jan's agent, Harry Cooper. Several years later, Melton became known as the comical nightclub manager, Charlie Halper, on CBS's The Danny Thomas Show
The Danny Thomas Show
The Danny Thomas Show is an American sitcom which ran from 1953-1957 on ABC and from 1957-1964 on CBS...
, with Pat Carroll
Pat Carroll (actress)
Patricia Ann “Pat” Carroll is an American actress. She performed in numerous stage productions, and portrayed the roles of "Bunny Halper" on CBS's The Danny Thomas Show, Shirley Feeney's mother on ABC's Laverne and Shirley, and is the voice of the villainous Ursula in The Little Mermaid film...
, playing his wife "Bunny" Halper.
Jeri Lou James appeared in ten episodes in the role of Paige's young daughter, Josie Stewart. Among the episode titles are the following: "Pat's Romance," "Guilty Conscience," "Housekeeper," "Propriety", and Love Rings Bells." The program, a Jannard Production affiliated with Desilu, was filmed at RKO Studios in Hollywood.
Patricia Bright's acting career was minimal thereafter, but she made four appearances as Mrs. Claire Block in the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
police sitcom Car 54, Where Are You?
Car 54, Where Are You?
Car 54, Where Are You? is an American sitcom that ran on NBC from 1961 to 1963. Episodes had various directors, the most recognized being Al De Caprio. Stanley Prager and Nat Hiken also directed several episodes. Most of its filming was on location in The Bronx, and at Biograph...
.
It's Always Jan faced competition on NBC from the second season of The Jimmy Durante Show
The Jimmy Durante Show
The Jimmy Durante Show is a 51-episode half-hour comedy/variety program presented live on NBC from October 2, 1954 to June 23, 1956.-Production background:...
, a comedy/variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
which ended its 51-episode run three months after the Paige series ceased new production. In the 1956-1957 season, It's Always Jan was replaced by Hey, Jeannie!
Hey, Jeannie!
Hey, Jeannie! is a 32-episode half-hour situation comedy starring Jeannie Carson as a young Scottish woman living in New York City. Twenty-six segments aired on CBS from September 8, 1956 to May 4, 1957 in the Saturday slot following The Gale Storm Show and preceding the western series Gunsmoke.Six...
, another unsuccessful situation comedy, which starred Jeannie Carson
Jeannie Carson
Jeannie Carson is a retired English-born United States-based comedienne and musical theatre actress...
as a young Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
immigrant woman living in New York City.