The Halls of Ivy
Encyclopedia
The Halls of Ivy is an NBC radio sitcom
that ran from 1950-1952. It was created by Fibber McGee & Molly co-creator/writer Don Quinn before being adapted into a CBS
television comedy (1954-55) produced by ITC Entertainment
and Television Programs of America
. British husband-and-wife actors Ronald Colman
(1891-1958) and Benita Hume
(1906-1967) starred in both versions of the show.
Quinn developed the show after he had decided to leave Fibber McGee & Molly in the hands of his protege Phil Leslie. The Halls of Ivy's audition program featured radio veteran Gale Gordon
(then co-starring in Our Miss Brooks
) and Edna Best in the roles that ultimately went to the Colmans, who demonstrated a flair for radio comedy during their late 1940s recurring roles on The Jack Benny Program
.
Ivy College, and his wife, Victoria, a former British musical comedy star who sometimes felt the tug of her former profession, and followed their interactions with students, friends, and college trustees. Others in the cast included Herbert Butterfield as testy board chairman Clarence Wellman; Willard Waterman
(then starring as Harold Peary
's successor as The Great Gildersleeve
) as board member John Merriweather; and Bea Benaderet
, Elizabeth Patterson, and Gloria Gordon as the Halls' maids. Alan Reed
(television's Fred Flintstone) appeared periodically as the stuffy English teacher, Professor Heaslip.
The series ran 109 half-hour radio episodes from January 6, 1950, to June 25, 1952, with Quinn, Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee writing many of the scripts and giving free if even more sophisticated play to Quinn's knack for language play, inverted cliches and swift puns (including the show's title and lead characters), a knack he'd shown for years writing Fibber McGee & Molly. Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee continued as a writing team; their best-known play is Inherit the Wind
. Cameron Blake, Walter Brown Newman
, Robert Sinclair, and Milton and Barbara Merlin became writers for the program as well.
In subject matter, the program was often notably ahead of its time, forward looking, and willing to tackle controversial topics.
"Hell Week," first broadcast in 2 January 1952, boldly addressed the unforeseen dangers of college fraternity hazing. "The Leslie Hoff Painting"(27 September 1950) and "The Chinese Student" (7 February 1950) both openly countenanced and dealt with instances of racial bigotry. Another episode centered on an unmarried student's pregnancy.
But listeners were surprised to discover that the episode of 24 January 1951, "The Goya Bequest"—a story examining the bequest of a Goya painting that was suspected of being a fraud hyped by its late owner to avoid paying customs duties when bringing to the United States—was written by Colman, who poked fun at his accomplishment while taking a rare turn giving the evening's credits at the show's conclusion.
A further treat was the episode of 22 November 1951, on which Jack Benny appeared as himself, in a storyline involving his accepting Victoria Hall's invitation to perform for charity at Ivy College.
The sponsor was the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company
("The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous"). Nat Wolff produced and directed. Henry Russell handled the music and co-wrote the theme with Vick Knight. Radio veteran Ken Carpenter
was the announcer.
(1910-1995) as Alice, the Halls' housekeeper, and Ray Collins
(1889-1965), later of Perry Mason
, as Professor Merriweather. The TV version premiered on October 19, 1954 and ran for thirty-eight half-hour black-and-white episodes. Its last airing was October 13, 1955. Many television episodes are missing so that some credits and episode titles are unknown. It is known, however, that Ronald Colman personally supervised production of the TV series, with William Frye as producer, under executive producer Leon Fromkess. John Lupton
(1928-1993), later of the western
series Broken Arrow
, and Jerry Paris
(1925-1986), later of The Dick Van Dyke Show
, appeared in some episodes as students. The creator of the television version was Don Quinn and virtually all of the scripts were adapted from those originally heard on radio.
The Halls of Ivy aired at 8:30 p.m. ET on Tuesdays, after The Red Skelton Show
, for alternate sponsors International Harvester
and Nabisco. Its competition on NBC was the last half of the rotating trio of programs: The Milton Berle Show, The Bob Hope Show and The Martha Raye Show
.
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...
that ran from 1950-1952. It was created by Fibber McGee & Molly co-creator/writer Don Quinn before being adapted into a 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...
television comedy (1954-55) produced by ITC Entertainment
ITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company was a British television company largely involved in production and distribution. It was founded by Lew Grade.-History:...
and Television Programs of America
Television Programs of America
Television Programs of America, Inc was a New York-based US television production company in the 1950s. TPA had a Canadian subsidiary, Normandie Productions....
. British husband-and-wife actors Ronald Colman
Ronald Colman
Ronald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
(1891-1958) and Benita Hume
Benita Hume
Benita Hume was an English film actress. She appeared in 44 films between 1925 and 1955.She was married to actor Ronald Colman from 1938 to his death in 1958; they were the parents of a daughter, Juliet...
(1906-1967) starred in both versions of the show.
Quinn developed the show after he had decided to leave Fibber McGee & Molly in the hands of his protege Phil Leslie. The Halls of Ivy's audition program featured radio veteran Gale Gordon
Gale Gordon
Gale Gordon was an American character actor perhaps best remembered as Lucille Ball's longtime television foil—and particularly as cantankerously combustible, tightfisted bank executive Theodore J. Mooney, on Ball's second television situation comedy, The Lucy Show...
(then co-starring in Our Miss Brooks
Our Miss Brooks
Our Miss Brooks is an American situation comedy starring Eve Arden as a sardonic high school English teacher. It began as a radio show broadcast on CBS from 1948 to 1957. When the show was adapted to television , it became one of the medium's earliest hits...
) and Edna Best in the roles that ultimately went to the Colmans, who demonstrated a flair for radio comedy during their late 1940s recurring roles on The Jack Benny Program
The Jack Benny Program
The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century American comedy.-Cast:*Jack Benny - Himself...
.
Radio
The Halls of Ivy featured Colman as William Todhunter Hall, the president of small, MidwesternMidwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
Ivy College, and his wife, Victoria, a former British musical comedy star who sometimes felt the tug of her former profession, and followed their interactions with students, friends, and college trustees. Others in the cast included Herbert Butterfield as testy board chairman Clarence Wellman; Willard Waterman
Willard Waterman
Willard Lewis Waterman was a character actor in films, TV and on radio, remembered best for succeeding Harold Peary as the title character of The Great Gildersleeve at the height of that show's popularity.Peary was unable to convince sponsor and show owner Kraft Cheese to allow him an ownership...
(then starring as Harold Peary
Harold Peary
Harold Peary was an American actor, comedian and singer in radio, film, television and animation remembered best as Throckmorton P...
's successor as The Great Gildersleeve
The Great Gildersleeve
The Great Gildersleeve , initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. Built around Throckmorton Philharmonic Gildersleeve, a character who had been a staple on the classic radio situation comedy Fibber McGee and Molly, first Introduced to...
) as board member John Merriweather; and Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet was an American actress born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, California. She is best remembered for her wide variety of television work, which included a starring role in the 1960s television series Petticoat Junction and Green Acres as Shady Rest Hotel owner Kate...
, Elizabeth Patterson, and Gloria Gordon as the Halls' maids. Alan Reed
Alan Reed
Alan Reed was an American actor and voice actor, best known as the original voice of Fred Flintstone on The Flintstones and various spinoff series...
(television's Fred Flintstone) appeared periodically as the stuffy English teacher, Professor Heaslip.
The series ran 109 half-hour radio episodes from January 6, 1950, to June 25, 1952, with Quinn, Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee writing many of the scripts and giving free if even more sophisticated play to Quinn's knack for language play, inverted cliches and swift puns (including the show's title and lead characters), a knack he'd shown for years writing Fibber McGee & Molly. Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee continued as a writing team; their best-known play is Inherit the Wind
Inherit the Wind (play)
Inherit the Wind is a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. The play, which debuted in 1955, is a parable that fictionalizes the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial as a means to discuss the then-contemporary McCarthy trials.-Background:...
. Cameron Blake, Walter Brown Newman
Walter Newman (screenwriter)
Walter Newman was an American radio writer and screenwriter active from the late 1940s to the early 1990s. He was nominated three times for Academy Awards , but he may be best known for a work that never made it to the screen: his unproduced original script Harrow Alley.Newman's radio...
, Robert Sinclair, and Milton and Barbara Merlin became writers for the program as well.
In subject matter, the program was often notably ahead of its time, forward looking, and willing to tackle controversial topics.
"Hell Week," first broadcast in 2 January 1952, boldly addressed the unforeseen dangers of college fraternity hazing. "The Leslie Hoff Painting"(27 September 1950) and "The Chinese Student" (7 February 1950) both openly countenanced and dealt with instances of racial bigotry. Another episode centered on an unmarried student's pregnancy.
But listeners were surprised to discover that the episode of 24 January 1951, "The Goya Bequest"—a story examining the bequest of a Goya painting that was suspected of being a fraud hyped by its late owner to avoid paying customs duties when bringing to the United States—was written by Colman, who poked fun at his accomplishment while taking a rare turn giving the evening's credits at the show's conclusion.
A further treat was the episode of 22 November 1951, on which Jack Benny appeared as himself, in a storyline involving his accepting Victoria Hall's invitation to perform for charity at Ivy College.
The sponsor was the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company
Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company
The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company was an American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was once the largest producer of beer in the world. Its namesake beer, Schlitz, was known as "The beer that made Milwaukee famous" and was famously advertised with the slogan "When you're out of Schlitz,...
("The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous"). Nat Wolff produced and directed. Henry Russell handled the music and co-wrote the theme with Vick Knight. Radio veteran Ken Carpenter
Ken Carpenter (announcer)
Kenneth Lee Carpenter was a longtime TV and radio announcer, who was best known for being the announcer for singer and actor Bing Crosby for 27 years.- Early life and education :...
was the announcer.
Television
For the television series the Colmans and Butterfield repeated their radio roles with Mary WickesMary Wickes
Mary Wickes was an American film and television actress.-Career:Wickes was born as Mary Isabelle Wickenhauser in St. Louis, Missouri, of German Irish Protestant extraction. She graduated at the age of eighteen with a degree in political science from Washington University in St. Louis, where she...
(1910-1995) as Alice, the Halls' housekeeper, and Ray Collins
Ray Collins (actor)
Ray Bidwell Collins was an American actor in film, stage, radio, and television. One of Collins' best remembered roles was that of Lt. Arthur Tragg in the long-running series Perry Mason.- Biography :...
(1889-1965), later of Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
, as Professor Merriweather. The TV version premiered on October 19, 1954 and ran for thirty-eight half-hour black-and-white episodes. Its last airing was October 13, 1955. Many television episodes are missing so that some credits and episode titles are unknown. It is known, however, that Ronald Colman personally supervised production of the TV series, with William Frye as producer, under executive producer Leon Fromkess. John Lupton
John Lupton
John Rollin Lupton was an American film and television actor.Upon graduation from New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Lupton secured immediate stage work. Then he was signed as a contract player at MGM in Hollywood...
(1928-1993), later of the 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...
series Broken Arrow
Broken Arrow (TV series)
Broken Arrow is a Western series which ran on ABC-TV in prime time from 1956 through 1958 on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Repeat episodes were shown by ABC on Sunday afternoons during the 1959–60 season...
, and Jerry Paris
Jerry Paris
Jerry Paris was an American actor and director best known for playing Jerry Helper, the dentist and next door neighbor of Rob and Laura Petrie, on The Dick Van Dyke Show.-Life and career:...
(1925-1986), later of The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom that initially aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from October 3, 1961, until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff....
, appeared in some episodes as students. The creator of the television version was Don Quinn and virtually all of the scripts were adapted from those originally heard on radio.
The Halls of Ivy aired at 8:30 p.m. ET on Tuesdays, after 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...
, for alternate sponsors International Harvester
International Harvester
International Harvester Company was a United States agricultural machinery, construction equipment, vehicle, commercial truck, and household and commercial products manufacturer. In 1902, J.P...
and Nabisco. Its competition on NBC was the last half of the rotating trio of programs: The Milton Berle Show, The Bob Hope Show and The Martha Raye Show
The Martha Raye Show
The Martha Raye Show is an hour-long comedy/variety show which aired live on NBC from January 23, 1954, to May 29, 1956. The series was hosted by the late Martha Raye, a Montana native, who often called herself "The Big Mouth." Her boyfriend on the program and a foil for her humor was portrayed by...
.
Further reading
- Ohmart, Ben. It's That Time Again." (2002) (Albany: BearManor Media) ISBN 0-9714570-2-6