Margie (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Margie is a television situation comedy
starring Cynthia Pepper
that was broadcast on ABC
from October 12, 1961 to April 12, 1962 in the 9:30 Eastern Thursday time slot, sponsored by Procter & Gamble
. The series was adapted from a 1946 film of the same name starring Jeanne Crain
.
town in the 1920s
. The character Margie, played by the then 21-year-old Pepper, attends Madison High School and lives with her parents, Harvey Clayton (Dave Willock
) and Nora Clayton (Wesley Marie Tackitt). Also in the home are her brother Cornell Clayton, portrayed first by Johnny Bangert and then by Billy Hummert, and her aunt, Phoebe, played in four episodes by Hollis Irving. Margie's best friend, Maybelle Jackson, was played by Penny Parker. Her boyfriends, Haywood Botts and Johnny Green, are played by Tommy Ivo
and Richard Gering, respectively. Jimmy Hawkins
, originally a child actor
also appeared in the series.
In the first episode, "The Vamp", Margie's aunt gives her advice on how to attract boys, much as Maybelle appears to be doing. Other episodes include "County Fair" on October 19, "Margie, the Matchmaker" on November 16, "The Jazz Band" on November 30, "Whatever Mama Wants" on March 15, "Friendship is for Friends" on March 22, "Margie, the Gossip Columnist" on March 29, and the final episode, "The Professional Man" on April 12. In that segment, Margie meets a new boy at the dentist's office and waits for him to ask her to the big dance.
which remind viewers to "Please pay attention" or "The plot thickens" during critical times. The show features raccoon coat
s, open-top jalopies
, music
of the 1920s (see Jazz Age
), and references to flapper
s. Margie was the big break for Cynthia Pepper. Thereafter, Pepper starred as Corporal Midge Riley in Elvis Presley
's 1964 film Kissin' Cousins
.
Margie had a favorable time slot, following My Three Sons
and preceding The Untouchables
. Its direct competition was NBC
's comedy Hazel
. On CBS, Margie faced competition for the first thirteen weeks from James Franciscus
's adventure
-drama
series The Investigators. Margie failed to draw the audience to proceed to a second season. The half-hour vacated by Margie was filled by thirteen new episodes of ABC's James Whitmore
crime drama, The Law and Mr. Jones
, which had aired thirty-two segments on Fridays during the 1960-1961 season.
Margie replaced Soupy Sales
's program in the Thursday time slot on ABC. Years later, Pepper and Sales met and became good friends. Pepper, who graced the cover of TV Guide
magazine in December 1961, still makes public appearances but has rarely appeared on television since 1972.
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 Cynthia Pepper
Cynthia Pepper
Cynthia Pepper is a blonde American actress whose principal work was accomplished during the early 1960s. Born Cynthia Anne Culpepper in Hollywood, California, she was the daughter of entertainer Jack Pepper , and Pepper's second wife, Dawn...
that was broadcast on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from October 12, 1961 to April 12, 1962 in the 9:30 Eastern Thursday time slot, sponsored by Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
. The series was adapted from a 1946 film of the same name starring Jeanne Crain
Jeanne Crain
Jeanne Elizabeth Crain was an American actress.-Early life:Crain was born in Barstow, California, to George A. Crain, a school teacher, and Loretta Carr; she was of Irish heritage on her mother's side, and of English and distant French descent on her father's...
.
Plot
The show is set in a small New EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
town in the 1920s
1920s
File:1920s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Sean Hogan during the Irish Civil War; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the 18th amendment, which made alcoholic beverages illegal throughout the entire decade; In...
. The character Margie, played by the then 21-year-old Pepper, attends Madison High School and lives with her parents, Harvey Clayton (Dave Willock
Dave Willock
Dave Willock was an American character actor. Willock appeared in 181 films and television shows from 1939 to 1989. He is probably most familiar to modern audiences from his performance as Baby Jane Hudson's father in the opening scenes of the cult classic What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?...
) and Nora Clayton (Wesley Marie Tackitt). Also in the home are her brother Cornell Clayton, portrayed first by Johnny Bangert and then by Billy Hummert, and her aunt, Phoebe, played in four episodes by Hollis Irving. Margie's best friend, Maybelle Jackson, was played by Penny Parker. Her boyfriends, Haywood Botts and Johnny Green, are played by Tommy Ivo
Tommy Ivo
Tommy Ivo , also known as "TV Tommy", is an actor and drag racer, who was active in the 1960s racing community. In the late 1950s, Ivo raced a twin Nailhead Buick engined dragster which was the first Gasoline Powered dragster to break the nine-second barrier. The car held the Drag News Standard...
and Richard Gering, respectively. Jimmy Hawkins
Jimmy Hawkins
James F. Hawkins , known as Jimmy Hawkins, and later, Jim Hawkins, is an American actor and film producer whose career began as a child actor to such Hollywood stars as Lana Turner, Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, and Donna Reed...
, originally a child actor
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
also appeared in the series.
In the first episode, "The Vamp", Margie's aunt gives her advice on how to attract boys, much as Maybelle appears to be doing. Other episodes include "County Fair" on October 19, "Margie, the Matchmaker" on November 16, "The Jazz Band" on November 30, "Whatever Mama Wants" on March 15, "Friendship is for Friends" on March 22, "Margie, the Gossip Columnist" on March 29, and the final episode, "The Professional Man" on April 12. In that segment, Margie meets a new boy at the dentist's office and waits for him to ask her to the big dance.
History
Margie is unique in that it featured cues from silent moviesSilent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
which remind viewers to "Please pay attention" or "The plot thickens" during critical times. The show features raccoon coat
Raccoon coat
Raccoon coats were a fad in the United States during the 1920s, particularly with college students in the mid- and later years of the decade. They are full-length fur coats. They became popular due to the stories of Davy Crockett and popular artist James Van Der Zee.-External links:* * *...
s, open-top jalopies
Jalopy
A jalopy is a decrepit car, often old and in a barely functional state. A jalopy is not a well kept antique car, but a car which is mostly rundown or beaten up. As a slang term in American English, "Jalopy" was noted in 1924 but is now slightly passé...
, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
of the 1920s (see Jazz Age
Jazz Age
The Jazz Age was a movement that took place during the 1920s or the Roaring Twenties from which jazz music and dance emerged. The movement came about with the introduction of mainstream radio and the end of the war. This era ended in the 1930s with the beginning of The Great Depression but has...
), and references to flapper
Flapper
Flapper in the 1920s was a term applied to a "new breed" of young Western women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior...
s. Margie was the big break for Cynthia Pepper. Thereafter, Pepper starred as Corporal Midge Riley in Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's 1964 film Kissin' Cousins
Kissin' Cousins
Kissin' Cousins is a 1964 musical film comedy starring Elvis Presley in two roles, one as an American soldier, the other a hillbilly. The screenplay was nominated in the category of best written American musical by the Writers Guild of America...
.
Margie had a favorable time slot, following My Three Sons
My Three Sons
My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas , raising his three sons.The series was a cornerstone of the CBS...
and preceding The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
. Its direct competition was 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...
's comedy Hazel
Hazel (TV series)
Hazel is a Screen Gems television series about a fictional live-in maid named Hazel Burke and her employers, the Baxters. The five-season, 154-episode series aired in primetime from September 1961 until April 1966...
. On CBS, Margie faced competition for the first thirteen weeks from James Franciscus
James Franciscus
James Grover Franciscus was an American actor, known for his roles in the series The Naked City and The Investigators, and in feature films.-Life and career:...
's adventure
Adventure
An adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports...
-drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
series The Investigators. Margie failed to draw the audience to proceed to a second season. The half-hour vacated by Margie was filled by thirteen new episodes of ABC's James Whitmore
James Whitmore
James Allen Whitmore, Jr. was an American film and stage actor.-Early life:Born in White Plains, New York, to Florence Belle and James Allen Whitmore, Sr., a park commission official, Whitmore attended Amherst Central High School in Snyder, New York, before graduating from The Choate School in...
crime drama, The Law and Mr. Jones
The Law and Mr. Jones
The Law and Mr. Jones is a 45-episode half-hour television crime drama starring James Whitmore. The series aired on ABC in two nonconsecutive seasons from October 7, 1960, to September 22, 1961, and again from April 19 to July 5, 1962...
, which had aired thirty-two segments on Fridays during the 1960-1961 season.
Margie replaced Soupy Sales
Soupy Sales
Soupy Sales was an American comedian, actor, radio-TV personality and host, and jazz aficionado. He was best known for his local and network children's television show, Lunch with Soupy Sales; a series of comedy sketches frequently ending with Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his...
's program in the Thursday time slot on ABC. Years later, Pepper and Sales met and became good friends. Pepper, who graced the cover of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
magazine in December 1961, still makes public appearances but has rarely appeared on television since 1972.