The Dennis Day Show
The Dennis Day Show is an American comedy/variety show that aired on NBC from 1953 to 1954. The series stars singer and radio and television personality Dennis Day (1916–1988), whose career otherwise was rooted as a supporting cast member of the long-running The Jack Benny Program on CBS and later NBC.[1]
Overview
From 1952 to 1953, Day hosted the related RCA Victor Show Starring Dennis Day,[1] which on February 8, 1952, included the first episode of Day's own subsequent series. The RCA Victor Show aired at 8 pm Fridays. In the spring of 1952, the RCA Victor Show alternated with The Ezio Pinza Show, starring Italian opera singer Ezio Pinza, also sponsored by RCA.[2]
In the revamped The Dennis Day Show, Day portrays a single bachelor who lives in a Hollywood apartment priced above his income level, but considers this arrangement essential to his hopes of succeeding in show business. Cliff Arquette portrays Charley Weaver, a name he later adopts for his own show business career. This Charley Weaver is the custodian in Day's building.[3] Other supporting cast members were Hal March and Jeri Lou Jones.[2] One of the writers for the Day series was Paul Henning, who later wrote for the Walter Brennan sitcom The Real McCoys and went on to create The Bob Cummings Show, The Beverly Hillbillies[4] (starring Buddy Ebsen) and Petticoat Junction as well as executive produce Green Acres.
On April 12, 1954 one of the last episodes of the series was entitled "The Party Pooper," with Elisha Cook, Jr., as a guest star. Among Day's directors was Rod Amateau, later in the same role with CBS's The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.. Other occasional cast members were the comedian Billy Barty, who plays a leprechaun in one segment, Parley Baer, also a regular on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and subsequently The Andy Griffith Show, and George O'Hanlon, later the voice of George Jetson on ABC's The Jetsons, a cartoon comedy about life in the Space Age.[4]
The Dennis Day Show aired at 9 pm ET on Mondays opposite the third season of CBS's I Love Lucy. It preceded Robert Montgomery Presents on NBC.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dennis Day. parabrisas.com. Retrieved on January 21, 2011.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Alex McNeil, Total Televisio, p. 211.
- ↑ The Jack Benny Show; The Dennis Day Show. lifeisamovie.com. Retrieved on January 22, 2011.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Dennis Day Show. Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved on October 30, 2020.
- ↑ Alex McNeil, Total Television, 1953-1954 network television schedule, appendix.
