OLD-TIME RADIO: THE ADVENTURES OF TOPPER

Cosmo Topper, the staid banker whose life was upended by the happy-go-lucky ghosts of George and Marion Kirby (and the their ghost dog, Neil), made it to radio after the success of of the character in three movies based on the characters created by Thorne Smith.  Fifteen episodes were aired on NBC as the summer 1945 replacement for The Dinah Shore.  (Thirteen episodes had originally been planned but the show was such a success that two more episodes were added and placed in the time slot for final two weeks of  The Burns and Allen Program's summer hiatus, and airing just before Dinah Shore when her show returned.)

And who should play Cosmo Topper?  None other than Roland Young, who starred as the character in all three movies.  (The fact that Young was also a regular on The Dinah Shore Show gave the replacement series a sense of continuity.)

Paul Mann and Frances Chaney played the ghosts of George and Marion Kerby.  Hope Emerson was cast as Malvina Topper, Cosmo's stern and impatient wife.  The smart and witty scripts were written by Stanley Wolf.  Kirby Hawks directed, and Ron Rawson served as the show's announcer.

For some reason lost to time, this great show was not renewed by NBC for the fall season.  Cosmo Topper would not return for eight years, when Leo G. Carroll portrayed him for two season in the CBS television program Topper from 1953 to 1955.

It's interesting to note that General Foods was the sponsor of the program, most notably with Maxwell House Coffee and Post Toasties cereal.  Thorne Smith, who created the characters in two popular novels, was a descendant of Don Jose Maxwell (his mother was Maxwell's granddaughter), for whom Maxwell House Coffee was named.

The link below takes you to three of the radio episodes:  "Topper and the Psychiatrist" (a.k.a "Malvina Hires a Psychiatrist"), July 5, 1945;  "Topper's Mother in Law Visits (a.k.a. "Malvina's Mother Visits") August 30, 1945; and "Topper and the Spiritualist" (a.k.a. "Rajah"), September 6, 1945.  The last is one of the added episodes and is an hour long.

Enjoy.

https://archive.org/details/TheAdventuresOfTopper

MUSIC FROM THE PAST: TAKIN' IT TO THE STREETS

The Doobie Brothers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9_e0rRvyz8

BAD JOKE WEDNESDAY

I enjoy crosswords but have become so good that I finish them in record time.  This has gotten me really down because the real fun is in mulling over the clues.  I explained to my analyst that I was getting depressed because I finish my crosswords too soon.  He told me not get 2 down.

MUSIC FROM THE PAST: THE WEIGHT

A classic from The Band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFqb1I-hiHE

OVERLOOKED TELEVISION: I MARRIED JOAN

An oddball wife.  A staid but loving husband.  Misunderstandings.  Some physical comedy.  Mix well and you have the template for many television comedies of the Fifties.  It worked for George and Gracie.  It worked for Lucy and Ricky.  And it certainly worked for Joan and Bradley.

I Married Joan was a popular NBC comedy that ran from 1952 to 1955 for a total of 98 half hour episodes.  First slated against against Arthur Godfrey and His Friends, the show soared in popularity when the public turned against Godfrey for his on-air firing of Julius LaRosa.  During its third season I Married Joan was opposite a new show called Disneyland.  The resulting drop in ratings led to its cancellation.  It then went into syndication (strangely, it became the property of CBS Paramount.)

The "Joan" of the title was played by Joan Davis (1912-1961), a well-liked veteran comedienne who worked in vaudeville, films, and radio prior to the series.  Joan was married to local judge Bradley Stevens, played by Jim Backus (1913-1989), best known today for his role of Thurston Howell III on Gilligan's Island and as the voice of the myopic Mr. Magoo.   During the show's second season, Joan was helped in her antics in several episodes by her sister Beverly (played by Davis' real-life daughter Beverly Wills).

Joan Davis continued an active career in television under her untimely death (of a heart attack) at age 48.  (Her daughter Beverly died two years later, age 30, in a house fire that also claimed Beverly's grandmother and her two sons.)

The episode linked below -- the show's pilot -- recounts how Bradley Stevens met his future wife, then a newly minted airline hostess.  The show then segues to Joan's efforts to hide a fur coat from her husband.  Filled with fifties' sensibilities, the pilot remains warm and funny.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m85OvOn-n2w

MUSIC FROM THE PAST: OLD PEOPLE IN LOVE

John McCutcheon.  Wonderful talent.  Wonderful song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joHUM9u8avg

INCOMING

• Stephen Jones, editor, Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth.  Lovecraftian horror anthology with twelve stories, eight of them original to this book.  An impressive author lineup, with H. P. Lovecraft (of course, with a discarded draft of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"), John Glasby, Richard A. Lupoff, Basil Copper, Kim Newman, Paul McAuley, GHugh B. Cave, Steve Rasnic Tem, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Ramsey Campbell, Michael Marshal Smith, and Brian Lumley.  Originally published by small press Fedogan & Bremer, now reprinted by Titan Books.