The Danny Thomas Show
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The Danny Thomas Show (known as Make Room for Daddy during the first four seasons ). It sitcom ran from 1953 to 1957 on ABC and from 1957 to 1964 on CBS.
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Series
Danny Thomas played Danny Williams, a successful comedian and nightclub entertainer. Jean Hagen was his wife Margaret, Rusty Hamer Hamer their son Rusty, and Sherry Jackson their daughter Terry. Louise Beavers played the maid Louise. In 1955, Beavers left and was replaced in the role by Amanda Randolph.
In 1956 Jean Hagen quit the show, and the producers had her character written out as having died. The following season, Thomas's character dated several women, with the help of his children. At the end of the season, he met widowed Kathy O'Hara, played by Marjorie Lord, who had a young daughter, Linda, played by Angela Cartwright. No wedding was ever shown, but when the show returned in 1957, with the new title, Danny and Kathy were married, and Linda was adopted by Danny.
Hans Conried had frequent guest appearances as Danny's Lebanese "Uncle Tonoose". Other frequent guests included Bill Dana, Annette Funicello, Pat Harrington Jr., Sheldon Leonard (the show's producer) and Thomas protegee Italian teenaged singer Piccola Pupa.
In 1958 the character of Terry was written out as she was supposedly away at school. The character returned in the following year, recast with actress Penny Parker. She, too, was written out when the character married and left the show.
Syndication Packaging
The show is packaged for syndication as below,
The Jean Hagen Episodes
Seasons 1-3 are known as the Jean Hagen Episodes. These epsiodes have not been offered for syndication since 1964, but they still are shown on rare occaisons (see Syndication section below).
The Marjorie Lord Episodes
Seasons 5-11 are the Marjorie Lord Episodes. Season Four is often dubbed the "widowed episodes", but they are also sold in syndication with the Marjorie Lord episodes. These are the most commonly ran episodes.
Sequel
The show ended in 1965, but Danny Thomas, Marjorie Lord, Angela Cartwright, Rusty Hamer, Sherry Jackson, and Hans Conreid returned in 1970 in the show Danny Thomas in Make Room for Grandaddy. The character of Terry had supposedly left her son, 6-year-old Michael, played by Michael Hughes, in the care of his grandparents while she and her soldier husband were stationed overseas. New characters were played by Stanley Myron Handelman and former football player Roosevelt Grier. The show only lasted a single season.
Andy Griffith Pilot
The Danny Thomas Show is also notable as having been the vehicle by which The Andy Griffith Show spun off. The character of Andy Taylor appeared in an episode in which Danny Williams was caught for running a stop signin the small fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina.
Syndication
The show has been shown in syndication on several CBS-TV affilites over the years. During the late 1980's and early 1990's the shows 4th through 9th seasons were shown on Nick at Nite. TV Land has also showed several of the Marjorie Lord episodes. Only about 195 episodes are shown in reruns today. The first three seasons have not been seen on television since the 1960's and the last two seasons are owned by Marjorie Lord and are not shown in reruns. Although starting with Season Five the show was known as "The Danny Thomas Show", all the syndicated episodes are shown in reruns under the title "Make Room For Daddy". Many of the shows from Seasons 1-3 can be bought on discount DVD's and "classic" TV DVD collections. A few low buget TV stations and privatly ran cable stations have also shown the Jean Hagen Episodes.
DVD Releases
The complete fifth season was released to DVD on September 28, 2004, with two special episodes: the fourth season finale, Danny's Proposal and the pilot for the Andy Griffith Show. Several of the early episodes with Jean Hagen can be puchased on discount DVD's.
Trivia
- The show also spunoff The Joey Bishop Show and crossed over with I Love Lucy.
- Margaret Williams was the first TV character "killed off" a sitcom.