| Happy | |
|---|---|
| Format | Sitcom |
| Starring | Ronnie Burns (actor) Lloyd Corrigan Doris Packer Burt Metcalfe Yvonne Lime |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | E.J. Rosenberg |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Picture format | Black and white |
| Original run | June 8, 1960 – September 8, 1961 |
Happy is an NBC situation comedy about a talking baby, starring Ronnie Burns (1935–2007), the adopted son of George Burns and Gracie Allen, which aired from June 8 to September 28, 1960, and again from January 13 to September 8, 1961.[1]
Burns appeared as Chris Day, the manager of the Desert Palm Hotel in the resort city of Palm Springs, California. His co-stars were Yvonne Lime as his wife, Sally; Lloyd Corrigan (1900–1969) as Sally's Uncle Charlie; Doris Packer (1904–1979) as Clara Mason, a woman romantically interested in Charlie; Burt Metcalfe as their friend Joe Brigham, and Wanda Shannon as Terry Brigham, Joe's wife. Chris and Sally have an infant son, Christopher Hapgood Day, called "Happy," played by twins David and Steven Born. He is the talking child of the series. Leone Ledoux supplied Happy's voice. The idea of a talking child was adapted from Jackie Cooper's earlier NBC sitcom The People's Choice, which features a talking basset hound named Cleo.[1]
Notable Happy guest stars included Jack Albertson, Malcolm Atterbury, Richard Deacon, Howard McNear, and Olan Soule.[2]
Happy first ran as a summer replacement in 1960 for Kraft Music Hall starring Perry Como at 9 p.m. Eastern on Wednesdays. It returned in 1961 at 7:30 p.m. in the first half of the Friday time slot vacated by Skip Homeier's unsuccessful detective series, Dan Raven. Its Friday competition was the CBS western series, Rawhide and ABC's cartoon series Matty's Funday Funnies.[2]
The idea of the talking baby was revived in the 1989 film, Look Who's Talking, in which Bruce Willis provided the voice for a baby whose thoughts could be heard by the audience.[1]
Lloyd Corrigan also played the mayor of Mayberry on CBS's The Andy Griffith Show. Packer had important supporting roles on both CBS's The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis as Mrs. Osborne and on ABC's Leave It to Beaver as principal Mrs. Rayburn. Ronnie Burns later did technical work for his father's 1964-1965 sitcom, Wendy and Me, co-starring Connie Stevens, Ron Harper, J. Pat O'Malley, and James T. Callahan.