Thorne Smith (1892-1934) made it big with his first novel, following two anecdotal books about a hapless Navy recruit and a book of poetry. Topper (1926) was a comic supernatural fantasy about two ghosts -- George and Marion Kerby -- whose special mission in the afterlife was to rescue staid banker Cosmo Topper from a drab life. A sequel, Topper Takes a Trip, was also a success. The book spawned a series of three movies, the first of which starred Cary Grant and Constance Bennett as the ghosts. Topper was also an NBC Radio summer replacement series in 1945, and made it to television in 1953, featuring Anne Jeffreys as Marion Kerby, Robert Sterling as George Kerby, and Leo G. Carroll as Cosmo Topper. Lee Patrick plays Topper's wife Henrietta. Seventy-eight episodes were aired. In 1979, Kate Jackson, Andrew Stevens, and Jack Warden starred in a television movie, but it lacked the charm of the original movies and the 1953 television show.
In the first episode, George and Marion Kerby are killed in a skiing accident, as was the alcoholic St. Bernard, Neil. Three months after the accident, Topper buys their home and discovers that they are haunting the house. Because he was the one who discovered the ghosts, he remains the only person who can see or hear them. Just because they are dead doesn't mean that the Kerby's are not fun-loving.
Topper was a popular series, due in part to the on-screen chemistry of Jeffreys and Sterling, who were married in real life, in part due the spot-on performance of Carroll (who would go on to become U.N.C.L.E.'s Mr. Waverley), and in part due to the quality of the writing. A number of episodes were written by a young guy named Stephen Sondheim.
Let's go back to the beginning and enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRXVnYu2HOA
First TV show I remember loving.
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