December Bride: I Love Lucy's other neighbor

You may think of Fred and Ethel Mertz as the neighbors on "I Love Lucy" but From 1954 until 1958 "December Bride" was a situation comedy seen on CBS right after Lucy aired. So December Bride was a Lucy neighbor, too!

Although this series has been long forgotten, LenW's Youtube channel has posted much of the series from washed out reruns on a local station. It is really a hoot for any fan of "I Love Lucy" as the whole series has a "Lucy" aura to it. The laugh track, the music, the set and even the bit players are very familiar.

If you have never seen this series you are in for a treat. Here a a few discoveries I have made as an "I Love Lucy" fan.

The laugh track is the same as from "Lucy." You will often hear the famous "oh-oh" on December Bride (the "oh-oh" lady was supposedly Lucy's mother!).

The series starred Spring Byington, Dean Miller, Frances Rafferty and Harry Morgan. 

Remember Mrs. Porter, the maid hired by Lucy? Mrs. Porter was none other than Verna Felton who played the much more adorable character Hilda in "December Bride"!

Get ready to see a lot of Lucy alumni on the screen or in the credits.

Here's Kathryn Card (aka Mrs. McGillicuddy--Lucy's mom)

Here's Joseph Kerns (who appeared as the theater manager and doctor on "I Love Lucy")

Here's Desi Arnaz himself guest starring in an episode

I even spotted Lucy's stand in Hazel Pierce in the background on at least one episode. 

The background music sounds very familiar. Wilbur Hatch uses incidental music which sounds much like a Lucy episode.

The set looks very "I Love Lucy" like to me. The kitchen door and sink are in the same position as are the open windows leading into the living room area.

Any Lucy fan will recognize these names from the credits

And of course get ready for the Desilu logo!

From what I have read "December Bride" didn't do well when CBS moved it out of its post Lucy time slot. The show later aired daytimes on CBS and was in syndication but never fared too well. One reason is they said children couldn't relate to the story lines as the cast was older. I don't know about that, however it would be great if someone could rescue this show from the archives of oblivion and let us see it again from clear prints! Until then thank you LenW for giving us the rare chance to visit with Lucy's neighbor "December Bride". A real treat.

Ozzie and Harriet: A old TV friend rediscovered

 From 1952 until 1966 "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" aired on TV. That's a long run. I remember the show from reruns but it never seemed to gain the status of cult following to me and the reruns weren't around much. Maybe it is because the rights to the show were held by Ozzie Nelson himself and syndication from a big studio was not in the cards.

Once in a while we got a glimpse of some faded print or a few selected episodes when the show ran on the Disney Channel years ago. There are also a lot of public domain type DVDs out there that are so washed out you can't tell whether you are watching Ozzie or Harriet!

Apparently for years the heirs of the Nelsons have been working on getting the series released on DVD and it is finally here...at least the first few seasons. 

Of course the Nostalgic Rambler wanted to see this show so the DVDs are part of our daily viewing for now. Season One is on the agenda. It is really a charming show but very slow moving. The opening of the show features the lengthy "here's Ozzie...here's Harriet...here's David...here's Ricky..." which is gets kind of old after the first few shows...we KNOW who they are! The camera doesn't really move around much. "I Love Lucy" was also filmed around this time and you can sure tell the difference between the way the camera angles were thought out on "Lucy" compared to O&H.   

It's fun to watch for famous guest stars...or actors who were not house hold names yet. A very tiny Jerry Mathers aka the Beaver makes an appearance for instance as a trick or treater in a Halloween episode and Ellen Grandma Walton Corby plays Harriet's aunt in a show.

I imagine the later seasons may attract more DVD interest as heart throb Ricky Nelson starts his singing career. In season one he is a little boy far from any imagination of rock star status. The shows revolve around simple themes and yes they are very corny for our times...but as times get more and more complicated it is a great escape to the 1950s past of huge houses, housewives that look like they are ready to appear on a fashion show, men dressed in suits, and kids who are so polite and sweet you may need your diabetic medication. You gotta love the Nelsons and Ozzie and Harriet is a great series to discover for the first time or re-discover again. 

Although a few sponsor tags were left in, it would have been nice to see the original commercials...and there aren't any extras on the DVD but it's worth a look. An MPI Home video release.

Vintage TV is back -- on the Roku -- We dumped Dish network

 It's not too often that The Nostalgic Rambler embraces modern technology.  Sometimes people push us into it and recently it paid off big time. We have had Dish Network for years. Their price went up recently and we thought to ourselves "who needs this same old same old programming anymore at fees that don't justify what we watch?"

Enter the Roku. What is the Roku you might ask? I never heard of it until a few weeks ago when JaCk, (yes "JaCk" NOT "Jack") Copeland told me about it.  It's the latest thingie you hook up to your TV. Using a wireless internet connection it allows you to watch practically anything imaginable on TV and much of it is FREE.

Do you know what a Pub D Hub is? I didn't. It is the Public Domain Hub on the Roku. It is one of several channels allowing me to live in the past. Who knew the 1950s tv show "I Married Joan" could still be seen in 2013? It's here on Roku! I always get a kick out of hearing the announcer proclaim "America's Favorite Comedy Show with America's Queen of Comedy Joan Davis." Joan who? Lucy doesn't have anything to worry about, but it's fun to watch Joan try to be another Lucy.  Jim Backus aka Mr. Howell aka Mr. Magoo is also this series. 

 The Desilu Production of Our Miss Brooks starring Eve Arden is another great ancient find. Lots of Lucy alumni on the show and behind the scenes including Gale Gordon and Mary Jane Croft. It's on the Roku!

 I have watched some Best of Groucho on the Roku, The Lucy Show, The Jack Benny Program, and Our Gang comedies. Lots of old movies are on the Roku as well from Bob Hope/Bing Crosby to Shirley Temple. There are lots of obscurities I never saw on my Dish Network package.I even watched "Rescue from Gilligan's Island."  Hokey but lots of fun.

The Roku allows us to watch several of my church's channels, German news and movies, cool programming from The Smithsonian Channel and (as they used to say in the commercials) much much more. The Roku is available on line or at stores like Walmart or Best Buy. There is so much to watch I better cut this blog short to get back to the TV!