Mayor of the Town (TV series)

Last updated
Mayor of the Town
Genre Sitcom
Created byJean Holloway
Written byJean Holloway
Directed by John Rawlins
Starring Thomas Mitchell
Kathleen Freeman
Jean Byron
Tudor Owen
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes39
Production
Executive producers Jack J. Gross
Philip N. Krasne
ProducerJohn Rawlins
Running time30 minutes
Production companyGross-Krasne Productions
Original release
Network First-run syndication

Mayor of the Town is a syndicated [1] American sitcom that aired in 1954.

Contents

Premise

Mayor of the Town was based on the radio series of the same name, which ran from 1942 until 1949. [1] In 1954, writer Jean Holloway created a televised version of the radio program. The series, also titled Mayor of the Town, premiered in November 1954.[ citation needed ]

The series took place in the fictional small American town of Springdale. The series mainly focuses around the mayoral and personal life of Mayor Thomas Russell, (played by Thomas Mitchell). The series co-starred Kathleen Freeman as Mayor Russell's housekeeper, Marilly, and his ward, Butch, was played by David Saber. [1]

Background

Planning for the program began in 1951, calling for Lionel Barrymore to reprise his radio role as the title character. However, production did not begin until 1954, when Barrymore's health prevented him from acting. Mitchell was selected to take Barrymore's place. [2]

Cast

Production and distribution

Rawlins-Grant Productions and Gross-Krasne Films produced the series. UTP was the initial distributor, followed by MCA. [2] All 39 episodes of the series were broadcast in first-run syndication before generally ending in 1955. [3] The Los Angeles market was an exception, as broadcasting of the series there began in 1956 with sponsorship by Richfield Oil. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lionel Barrymore</span> American actor, director, screenwriter (1878–1954)

Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul (1931) and is known to modern audiences for the role of villainous Mr. Potter in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.

<i>Space Patrol</i> (1950 TV series) American television series

Space Patrol is an American science fiction adventure series set in the 30th century that was originally aimed at juvenile audiences via television, radio, and comic books. It was broadcast on ABC from March 1950 to February 1955. It soon developed a sizable adult audience, and by 1954 the program consistently ranked in the top 10 shows broadcast on a Saturday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Mitchell (actor)</span> American actor and writer (1892-1962)

Thomas John Mitchell was an Irish-American actor and writer. Among his most famous roles in a long career are those of Gerald O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, Doc Boone in Stagecoach, Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life, Pat Garrett in The Outlaw, and Mayor Jonas Henderson in High Noon. Mitchell was the first male actor to gain the Triple Crown of Acting by winning an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony Award.

<i>Death Valley Days</i> American television series

Death Valley Days is an American Western anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. From 1952 to 1970, it became a syndicated television series, with reruns continuing through August 1, 1975. The radio and television versions combined to make the show "one of the longest-running Western programs in broadcast history."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Denning</span> American actor (1914–1998)

Richard Denning was an American actor who starred in science fiction films of the 1950s, including Unknown Island (1948), Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Target Earth (1954), Day the World Ended (1955), Creature with the Atom Brain (1955), and The Black Scorpion (1957). Denning also appeared in the film An Affair to Remember (1957) with Cary Grant and on radio with Lucille Ball in My Favorite Husband (1948–1951), the forerunner of television's I Love Lucy. He's more well-known as Governor Paul Jameson in late 1960s-early 1980s police procedural TV series Hawaii Five-O.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Ticket Entertainment</span> American production company

Big Ticket Television, Inc. is an American production company. Big Ticket is a subsidiary of CBS Studios, a division of Paramount Global. It is best known for producing the syndicated mainstay Judge Judy from 1996 to 2021.

<i>Mr. District Attorney</i> Radio, television, and comic book crime drama series

Mr. District Attorney is a radio crime drama produced by Samuel Bischoff that aired on NBC and ABC from April 3, 1939 to June 13, 1952. The series focused on a crusading district attorney initially known only as Mister District Attorney or Chief, and was later translated to television. On television, the attorney's name was Paul Garrett, and the radio version adopted the name in its final years when David Brian played the role. A key figure in the dramas was secretary Edith Miller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen Freeman</span> American actress (1923–2001)

Kathleen Freeman was an American actress. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, she portrayed acerbic maids, secretaries, teachers, busybodies, nurses, and battle-axe neighbors and relatives, almost invariably to comic effect. In film, she is perhaps best remembered for appearing in 12 Jerry Lewis comedies in the 1950s and 1960s and The Blues Brothers (1980).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cameron Mitchell (actor)</span> American actor (1918–1994)

Cameron Mitchell was an American film, television, and stage actor. He began his career on Broadway before entering films in the 1950s, appearing in several major features. Late in his career, he became known for his roles in numerous exploitation films in the 1970s and 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Four Star Television</span> Defunct American television production company

Four Star Television, also called Four Star International, was an American television production company. Founded in 1952 as Four Star Productions by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Charles Boyer and Joel McCrea, it was inspired by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz founding Desilu Productions a year earlier. McCrea left soon after its founding to continue in films, television and radio, and was replaced by Ida Lupino as the fourth star—although Lupino did not own stock in the company.

Martin Kane, Private Eye is an American crime drama radio and television series sponsored by United States Tobacco Company. It aired via radio from 1949 to 1952 and was simultaneously a television series on NBC from 1949 to 1954. It was the "earliest of successful cops-and-robbers series" on television.

The Range Rider is an American Western television series that was first broadcast in syndication from 1951 to 1952. A single lost episode surfaced and was broadcast in 1959. In 1954, the BBC purchased rights to show the program in the UK . It was also shown in Melbourne, Australia, during the 1950s. It was broadcast in Canada and in Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Byron</span> American actress (1925–2006)

Jean Byron was an American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for the role of Natalie Lane, Patty Lane's mother in The Patty Duke Show. She was also known as Jean Audette and Jean Burkhart early in her career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snooky Lanson</span> American singer (1914–1990)

Roy Landman, better known as Snooky Lanson, was an American singer known for co-starring on the NBC television series Your Hit Parade.

<i>Dr. Christian</i> American radio and TV medical drama

Dr. Christian is a radio medical drama series with Jean Hersholt in the title role. It aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from November 7, 1937 to January 6, 1954. Two years after the conclusion of the long-running radio program, the series was adapted for television on 1956 where it aired in syndication also through CBS on the Ziv Television production company until 1957, with a younger "Dr. Mark Christian" portrayed by Macdonald Carey as Dr. Paul's nephew.

<i>The Loretta Young Show</i> American television series

The Loretta Young Show is an American anthology drama television series broadcast on Sunday nights from September 2, 1953, to June 4, 1961, on NBC for a total of 165 episodes. The series was hosted by actress Loretta Young, who also played the lead in various episodes.

Dangerous Assignment was an NBC Radio drama starring Brian Donlevy broadcast in the US 1949–1953, a syndicated television series distributed in the US 1951–52, and an Australian radio series broadcast in 1954-56 as remakes of the original American radio scripts.

Mayor of the Town is a radio comedy-drama in the United States. From September 6, 1942, to July 3, 1949, it was broadcast at various times on ABC, CBS, Mutual and NBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tudor Owen (actor)</span> Welsh actor (1898–1979)

Roy Tudor Owen, known professionally as just Tudor Owen, was a Welsh character actor. Owen is most famous for voicing the role of Towser in the 1961 Disney movie One Hundred and One Dalmatians.

Big Town is an American television dramatic series that was broadcast beginning on October 5, 1950, and ending on October 2, 1956. It began on CBS and moved to NBC in 1954.

References

  1. 1 2 3 McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television (4th ed.). New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 535. ISBN   0-14-02-4916-8.
  2. 1 2 3 Erickson, Hal (1989). Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years, 1947-1987'. McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 66–67. ISBN   0-7864-1198-8.
  3. "Mayor of the Town 1954, TV show". TV Guide. Retrieved November 29, 2014.