"My name is Michael Anthony, and until his death just a few years ago, I was the executive secretary to the late John Beresford Tipton. John Beresford Tipton, a fabulously wealthy and fascinating man, whose many hobbies included the habit of giving away one million dollars, tax free, each week -- to persons he had never even met."
The Millionaire (also known as If You Had A Million in syndication) was a top-rated anthology drama series airing on CBS from 1955 to 1960 for a total of 207 episodes. That's a lot of millions; ac tually it was $206 million -- one person returned the money. A million back then would be worth over $11 million today. The show explored how wealth -- sudden and unexpected -- could change the lives of ordinary people, for better or for worse. (Although never stated or acknolwedged, Tipton was essentially playing a petty god, toying with the lives of others, redgardless of the consequences. So, yes, the rich are different.)
Michael Anthony was played by Marvin Miller (1913-1985), he was also noted for being the voice of Robbie the Robot in the 1956 SF classic Forbidden Planet, and was the announcer on old-time radio's The Whistler. Miller also did a one-man, fifteen-minute dramatic anthology, Armchair Adventures, for CBS Radio, and in 1950. recorded 260 episodes of a five-minute series of vignettes about famous people (title unknown). A popular voice-over artist, Miller was the voice of Aquaman for the Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. the voice of Buddy Birdwell in the animated series Fantastic Voyage. and was the off-screen voice in The Pink Panther Show. He won two Grammies for his recordings of Dr. Seuss stories in 1965 and 1966. His role in The Millionaire was to take the cashier's check from Tipton and deliver it to "our next millionaire"; Tipton often told him he needed a full report.
Playing Tipton was an unknown character actor (or actors?) -- Tipton's arm was usually shown handing over the check to Anthony. voicing Tipton, however, was character and voice actor Paul Frees (1920-1986), best known as the voices of Boris Badenov and Ludwig von Drake. Frees also llent his voice to many of the Disney Theme park attractions, including The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.In addition to Boris Badenov, Frees provided voices for other Jay Ward cartoons, including Dudley Do-Right''s Inspector Fenwick, and characters in George of the Jungle, Tom S;ick, Superchicken, and Hoppity Hooper. For Rankin Bass, he provided voices for The Mouse on the Mayflower. The Little Drummer Boy. Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, Rudolph's Shiny New Year, The Last Unicorn, The Hobbit, and The Return of the king, among others. For George Pal. Frees did voice-over work for The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, Atlantis -- The Lost Continent, and Doc Savage. He could also be heard as the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy, Toucan Sam, 7-Up's Fresh-Up Freddie, and the farmer in the Green Giant commercials. Frees also worked with Tex Avery, Stan Freberg, Spike Jones, Hanna-Barbera, Walter Lantz, He voiced both Jophn Lennon and Geroge Harrison in The Beatles cartoon show, and was Ben Grimm (The Thing) in The Fantastic Four. He was the narrator for The Manshurian Candidate, the Steve Canyon television show, did voice-overs and looping for The List of Adrian Messenger, and was the vopice of Josephine (the female persona of the Tony Curtis character) in Some Like It Hot. And that's just a small part of his ouevre. He also did a couple of cameos in The Millionaire.
John Beresford Tipton by the way, got his name from the birthplaces of producer Don Fedderson (Beresford, South Dakoata) and Fedderson's wife Tido (Tipton, Missouri). Tido Fedderson also appeared an an extra in vitually every episode.
It was never revealed how or why the recipients of the check were chosen, although Tipton has said that he considered this a chess game, setting the pieces in motion to see what would happen.
In this episode, the meek don't inherit the earth, but they sure can do a lot with a million. Newmn Johnson is constantly harried byn his overbearing employer, and has to deal with a conniving co-worker, a nosy sister-in-law, and a critical wife. Things change when he uses his new-found wealth to buy the company.
Orson Bean is featured as Newman Jackson. Also featured are Sue Randall, Douglas Dumbrille, Amzie Strickland, Peter Leeds, Rick Ellis, and Alica Allyn. Tido Fedderson's cameo this time is as an office employee. The episode was directed by James Sheldon, who directed 45 episodes of the series. It was scripted by Leonard Kantor, whose many credits include 151 episodes of The Doctors.
If someone offered me a million dollars today, I'd probably hold out for something more valuable, like a month's worth of groceries.
Have fun enjoying someone else's wealth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzU3b0CPA84
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