The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
Created by Ozzie Nelson
Directed by Ozzie Nelson David Nelson
Starring: Ozzie Nelson, Harriet Nelson, David Nelson, Ricky Nelson.
Country of origin United States
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American sitcom, which aired on ABC from October 3, 1952 through April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it continued its success, initially running simultaneously on radio and TV. The series starred the entertainment duo of Ozzie Nelson and his wife, singer Harriet Nelson, and their sons, David and Ricky. Don DeFore had a recurring role as the Nelsons’ neighbor “Thorny”.
Early radio days In the early 1930s, a booking at the Glen Island Casino in New Rochelle, New York gained national network radio exposure for Ozzie Nelson’s orchestra. After three years together with the orchestra, Ozzie and Harriet signed to appear regularly on the radio show, The Baker’s Broadcast (1933–1938), hosted first by Joe Penner, then by Robert Ripley (famed for Ripley’s Believe it or Not!) , and finally by cartoonist Feg Murray. The couple married on October 8, 1935 during this series run, and realized working together in radio would keep them together more than continuing their musical careers separately.
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet radio show
When Red Skelton was drafted in March 1944, Ozzie Nelson was prompted to create his own family situation comedy. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet launched October 8, 1944 on CBS, it moved to NBC in October 1948, then made a late-season switch back to CBS in April 1949. The final years of the radio series were on ABC (the former NBC Blue Network) from October 14, 1949 to June 18, 1954. In total 402 radio episodes were produced. In an arrangement that exemplified the growing pains of American broadcasting, as radio “grew up” into television, the Nelsons’ deal with ABC gave the network the option to move their program to television. The struggling network needed proven talent that was not about to defect to the more established and wealthier networks like CBS or NBC.
The Nelsons’ sons, David and Ricky, did not join the cast until the radio show’s fifth year (initially appearing on the February 20, 1949 episode, ages 12 and 8, respectively). The two boys were played by professional actors prior to their joining because both were too young to perform. The role of David was played by Joel Davis from 1944 until 1945 when he was replaced by Tommy Bernard. Henry Blair appeared as Ricky. Other cast members included John Brown as Syd “Thorny” Thornberry, Lurene Tuttle as Harriet’s mother, Bea Benaderet as Gloria, Janet Waldo as Emmy Lou, and Francis “Dink” Trout as Roger. Vocalists included Harriet Nelson, The King Sisters, and Ozzie Nelson. The announcers were Jack Bailey and Verne Smith. The music was by Billy May and Ozzie Nelson. The producers were Dave Elton and Ozzie Nelson. The show’s sponsors included International Silver Company (1944–49), H.J. Heinz Company (1949–52) and Lambert Pharmacal’s Listerine (1952–54).
Here Come the Nelsons feature film
In 1952, the Nelsons starred with Rock Hudson in the Universal-International feature film, Here Come the Nelsons. The film depicted Ozzie as an advertising executive assigned to a campaign promoting women’s underwear. The film, produced in the summer of 1951 while the radio show was on hiatus, opened theatrically on February 23, 1952. It also doubled as a pilot for the television series, as Ozzie wanted to see if his family would be accepted on film as they were on radio. The success of Here Come the Nelsons convinced him that Ozzie & Harriet’s future was on the small screen, while continuing their weekly radio show
Before the television series aired, Ozzie Nelson persuaded ABC to agree to a 10-year contract that paid the Nelsons whether the series was canceled or not. The unprecedented contract and Ozzie’s insistence on perfection in the series’ production paid off in the series’ remarkable longevity. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet premiered on ABC on October 10, 1952, staying until April 23, 1966; in 1962, it became the first prime-time scripted series on American television to reach the 10-year milestone.
The series strove for realism and featured exterior shots of the Nelsons’ actual southern California home at 1822 Camino Palmero Street in Los Angeles as the fictional Nelsons’ home. Interior shots were filmed on a Hollywood Center Studios sound stage recreated to look like the real interior of the Nelsons’ home. Viewers naturally assumed the action took place in Los Angeles since the occasional exterior shots were of actual Los Angeles streets rather than a studio backlot. But for many years the opening credits of each episode noted that the Nelson characters were “played by” the Nelson family, as though taking pains to ensure viewers knew these were not literal true-life accounts. And a 1959 episode titled “Ozzie Changes History” is devoted entirely to the history of “Warfield,” the fictional town where they live. This finally accounted for the small-town atmosphere of the series whereby, like the other main sitcom families of the era (the Andersons and the Cleavers), the Nelson home seemed to be within walking distance of the town center.
Like its radio predecessor (which finally ended in 1954), the series focused mainly on the Nelson family at home, dealing with everyday problems. As the series progressed and the boys grew up, storylines involving various characters were introduced. Many of the series story lines were taken from the Nelsons’ real life.
When the real David and Rick got married, to June Blair and Kristin Harmon respectively, their wives joined the cast of Ozzie and Harriet and the marriages were written into the series. What was seldom written into the series was Ozzie’s profession or mention of his lengthy and successful band-leading career. The popular joke about his career was that the only time he left the house was to go buy ice cream. According to his granddaughter, actress Tracy Nelson, Ozzie went to Rutgers to study law and when pressed would tell interviewers that the TV Ozzie was a lawyer.
By the mid-1960s, America’s social climate was changing, and the Nelsons, symbolizing the 1950s values and ideals, were beginning to seem dated. Ozzie, who wrote and directed all of the series’s episodes, attempted to alter the series to fit the times, but most viewers associated the series with a bygone era. The series cracked the top thirty programs in the Nielsen ratings for the first and only time in its eleventh season (1963–1964), when it ranked in 29th place. It made the transition from black-and-white to color in the 1965–66 season. That year, Ozzie tried to recapture the series’s early success by introducing 9-year-old Joel Davison and other young children to relate to younger families. Although Davison appeared in three episodes, the series’ Nielsen ratings continued to decline. In January 1966, ABC moved the series to Saturdays where it completed its 14-season run that spring. Having run for a total of fourteen seasons, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet which averaged 29–30 episodes per season, remains the longest-running live-action American television sitcom. On April 1, 2017, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was renewed for a thirteenth and fourteenth season, which tied for the record in number of seasons, but not in total episodes aired.
Supporting
The following represents the major supporting cast associated with the show.
(Source: The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present (Ninth edition))
Don DeFore as Erskin “Thorny” Thornberry
Parley Baer as Darby
Lyle Talbot as Joe Randolph
Mary Jane Croft as Clara Randolph
Connie Harper (Constance Nelson) as Miss Edwards
Skip Young as Wally Plumstead
Gordon Jones as Butch Barton Frank Cady as Doc Williams
Lloyd Corrigan as Wally Dipple Joseph Kearns as Herb Dunkle
James Stacy as Fred
Jack Wagner as the announcer and the soda clerk
Joe Flynn as Mr. Kelley
Kent McCord as Kent, Kappa Sigma fraternity brother
Jimmy Hawkins as Jimmy, Kappa Sigma fraternity brother
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia