OVERLOOKED TELEVISION: UNCLE FRED FLITS BY

The May 5, 1955 episode of Four Star Playhouse is a gem:  a P. G. Wodehouse story adapted by Oscar Millard (The Conqueror, No Highway in the Sky, The Salzburg Connection) and starring David Niven (who also produced this episode) as Uncle Fred.  Robert Nichols plays Fred's nephew Pongo.  Also featured are Norma Varden, Jennifer Raine, Leon Tyler, Alex Frazer, Tudor Owen, Marjorie Bennett, and Charlotte Knight.  Roy Kellino, whose television career comprised some 114 episodes of various anthology series, directed.

In typical Wodehouse fashion, Uncle Fred descends on a suburban home, wreaks havoc, and unites two lovers, as Pongo watches on in horror and is enlisted by Uncle Fred for his plan.

Niven and Nichols played the same characters in a 1953 version which aired on Hollywood Opening Night.  Then, in 1967, Wilfred Hyde-White and Jonathon Cecil played Fred and Pongo for Comedy Playhouse.  Uncle Fred first appeared on television in 1950 and was played by Arthur Treacher in The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse adaptation of Wodehouse's novel Uncle Dynamite.  And Ballard b\Berkeley played Uncle Fred in the 1981 adaptation of Uncle Dynamite on Thank You, P. G. Wodehouse.

It's obvious that television loves Uncle Fred.  I think you will, too.

Enjoy.

https://archive.org/details/unclefredflitsby