The New Phil Silvers Show

The New Phil Silvers Show

Silvers as Harry Grafton with his nephew, Andy, niece, Susan, and sister, Audrey.
Genre Sitcom
Written by R.S. Allen
Rod Amateau
Harvey Bullock
Seaman Jacobs
Ed James
Ed Jurist
Laurence Marks
Bud Nye
William Raynor
A.J. Russell
Phil Sharp
Danny Simon
Lou Solomon
Ben Starr
Myles Wilder
Directed by Rod Amateau
David Davis
Al Lewis
Thomas Montgomery
Guy Scarpitta
Starring Phil Silvers
Elena Verdugo
Stafford Repp
Sandy Descher
Herbie Faye
Ronnie Dapo
Buddy Lester
Composer(s) Harry Geller
Country of origin United States
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 30
Production
Producer(s) Rod Amateau
Editor(s) Robert Moore
Cinematography James Van Trees
Running time 30 min (approx)
Production company(s) Gladasya Productions, in association with United Artists Television
Broadcast
Original channel CBS
Picture format Black-and-white
Audio format Monaural
Original run September 28, 1963 – April 25, 1964

The New Phil Silvers Show is an American situation comedy starring comedian Phil Silvers which aired thirty episodes on CBS from September 28, 1963, to April 25, 1964, under the sponsorship of General Foods.

Contents

Synopsis

Silvers tried to revive with considerable changes the theme of his earlier much more successful The Phil Silvers Show (CBS, 1955–1959). In the 1963–1964 version, Silvers played Harry Grafton, a plant foreman at the Osborne Corporation, who like the previous Bilko character is always eager to embrace a get-rich-quick scheme.[1]

The large supporting cast included Stafford Repp as Grafton's supervisor, Mr. Brink; Jim Shane as Lester; Herbie Faye as Waluska; Douglas Dumbrille as Mr. Osborne, the factory owner; Eric Morris as Stanley; Steve Mitchell as Fred Starkey; Bob Williams as Bob, Buddy Lester as Nick; Pat Renella as Roxy, and Norm Grabowski as Grabowski.

At mid-season, the "new" program was altered again, as the Spanish actress Elena Verdugo joined the cast as Grafton's widowed sister and housemate, Audrey. Sandy Descher played Audrey's teenaged daughter and Grafton's niece, Susan. Child actor Ronnie Dapo played Audrey's son and Grafton's 11-year-old nephew, Andy.[1]

The New Phil Silvers Show aired at 8:30 Eastern on Saturday, following The Jackie Gleason Show and preceding the acclaimed legal drama, The Defenders. Opposite Phil Silvers, NBC offered The Joey Bishop Show a sitcom with Joey Bishop and Abby Dalton, and ABC aired the first half of The Lawrence Welk Show.[2] In November The Defenders returned to its former (1961–63) 8:30 slot and Silvers' show moved to 9:30, according to Brooks and Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present, 7th edition, 1998.

Notable guest stars

Episodes

Episode # Episode title Original airdate
1-1 "Man It's Like Progress" September 28, 1963
1-2 "The Great Forklift Contest" October 5, 1963
1-3 "Birthday Boy" October 12, 1963
1-4 "The Tortoise and the Harry" October 19, 1963
1-5 "Harry Today, Gone Tomorrow" October 26, 1963
1-6 "The Little Old Gluemaker, Me!" November 2, 1963
1-7 "Triple Indemnity" November 9, 1963
1-8 "A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the Coffee Break" November 16, 1963
1-9 "Harry Who" November 30, 1963
1-10 "Las Vegas Was My Mother's Maiden Name" December 7, 1963
1-11 "Son of Pygmalion" December 14, 1963
1-12 "Have I Got a Boy for You" December 21, 1963
1-13 "Who Do Voodoo? Harry Do!" December 28, 1963
1-14 "Stop the Factory, I Want to Get Off" January 4, 1964
1-15 "Beauty and the Least" January 11, 1964
1-16 "7512 Trombones" January 18, 1964
1-17 "My Son, the Governor" January 25, 1964
1-18 "Leave It to Harry" February 1, 1964
1-19 "Smile, Harry, You're on 'Candid Camera'" February 8, 1964
1-20 "Pay the Two Dollars" February 15, 1964
1-21 "Harry, the Good Neighbor" February 22, 1964
1-22 "Cyrano DeGrafton" February 29, 1964
1-23 "Take Her, She's Tall" March 7, 1964
1-24 "Will the Real Harry Grafton Please Stand Up?" March 14, 1964
1-25 "Auntie Up" March 21, 1964
1-26 "Grafton's the Name, Football's My Game" March 28, 1964
1-27 "Keep Cool" April 4, 1964
1-28 "Vanity, Thy Name Is Harry" April 11, 1964
1-29 "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" April 18, 1964
1-30 "Moonlight and Dozes" April 25, 1964

References

  1. ^ a b McNeil, p. 598.
  2. ^ McNeil, "1963–1964 American network television schedule," appendix of Total Television
  • Alex McNeil, Total Television, New York: Penguin Books, 1996, 4th ed.

External links