1. Rick Mitz, The Great TV Sitcom Book (New York: Perigee Books, 1988), p. 311.
1. George Burns, Gracie: A Love Story (New York: Putnam’s, 1988), p. 175.
2. Ibid, p. 164.
3. Ibid, p. 241.
4. “Burns & Allen To Join TV Parade,” Variety, August 23, 1950, p. 31.
5. “B&A’s 18G Weekly As Carnation Buys CBS Video Series,” Variety, September 6, 1950, p. 29.
6. Variety, October 18, 1950.
7. Burns, Gracie, p. 245.
8. Cynthia Clements and Sandra Weber, George Burns and Gracie Allen: A Bio-Bibliography (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996), p. 31.
9. Fred De Cordova, Johnny Came Lately: An Autobiography (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988), p. 109.
10. Burns, Gracie, p. 157.
11. Max Wilk, The Golden Age of Television: Notes from the Survivors (New York: Delacorte Press, 1976), p. 177.
12. Martin Gottfried, George Burns and the Hundred-Year Dash (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996), p. 166.
13. Burns, Gracie, p. 274.
14. Yvonne Lime Fedderson, letter to the author, December 2, 2005.
15. “Burns Without Allen.” Time, March 3, 1958, p. 46.
16. Cheryl Blythe and Susan Sackett, Say Good Night, Gracie!: The Story of Burns & Allen (New York: Dutton, 1986), p. 187.
17. Variety, September 2, 1964.
18. Maria Efantis Brennan, telephone interview with the author, December 12, 2005 (all subsequent quotes from Brennan are from this interview).
1. James Gregory, The Lucille Ball Story (New York: New American Library, 1974), p. 45.
2. Alvin Krebs, “Eve Arden, Actress, Is Dead at 83,” New York Times, November 13, 1990, p. 26.
3. Current Biography (1953), p. 32.
4. “Eve Arden: One-Man Woman,” TV Guide, April 2, 1954, pp. 6–7.
5. “No Competition,” Time, October 13, 1952, p. 88.
6. Jack Gould, “TV’s Top Comediennes,” New York Times Magazine, December 27, 1953, p. 17.
7. Hyman Goldberg, “’Our Miss Brooks’ America’s Favorite Schoolmarm,” Cosmopolitan, June 1953, p. 71.
8. “No Competition,” p. 91.
9. Gerald Nachman, Raised on Radio: In Quest of the Lone Ranger ... And Other Lost Heroes from Radio’s Heyday (New York: Pantheon Books, 1998), p. 219.
10. Douglas Brooks West, telephone interview with the author, January 10, 2006 (all subsequent quotations from West are from this interview).
11. “Goodbye, Miss Brooks?” TV Guide, April 28, 1956, p. 14.
12. TV Guide, March 3, 1956, p. 18.
13. “Goodbye,” p. 14.
14. Variety, September 25, 1957.
15. TV Guide, December 28, 1957.
16. Eve Arden, Three Phases of Eve: An Autobiography (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985, p. 268.
17. New York Times, February 23, 1983.
18. New York Post, February 23, 1983.
19. Bert A. Folkart, “Eve Arden, 82; Portrayed TV’s Beloved ‘Our Miss Brooks,’” Los Angeles Times, November 13, 1990, p. 24.
20. Arden, Three Phases of Eve, p. 70.
21. Ibid, p. 121.
1. Hector Arce, Groucho (Putnam, 1979), p. 261.
2. Warren G. Harris, Lucy & Desi: The Legendary Love Story of Television’s Most Famous Couple (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), pp. 120–121.
3. Bob Johnson, “What Is Lucy Really Like?” TV Star Parade, April 1965, p. 72.
4. Variety, September 20, 1950.
5. Eleanor Harris, The Real Story of Lucille Ball (New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, 1954), p. 56.
6. Jess Oppenheimer, Laughs, Luck, and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time (New York: Syracuse University Press, 1999), p. 139.
7. Diane Haithman, “The Industry’s Debt to Lucy,” Los Angeles Times, April 30, 1989, p. 3.
8. Oppenheimer, Laughs, Luck, and Lucy, p. 170.
9. Steven Bender, Greasers & Gringos: Latinos, Law, and the American Imagination (New York: New York University Press, 2003), p. 17.
10. Lucille Ball, Love, Lucy (New York: Putnam, 1996), p. 217.
11. Jim Brochu, Lucy in the Afternoon: An Intimate Memoir of Lucille Ball (New York: Morrow, 1990), p. 152.
12. Johnson, “What Is Lucy,” p. 72.
1. Brandon Tartikoff and Charles Leerhsen, The Last Great Ride (New York: Turtle Bay Books, 1992), p. 150.
2. Jordan R. Young, The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing in Radio and TV’s Golden Age (Beverly Hills, CA: Past Times Publishing Co., 1999), p. 19.
3. Warren G. Harris, Lucy & Desi: The Legendary Love Story of Television’s Most Famous Couple (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), p. 209.
4. Boze Hadleigh, Hollywood Lesbians (New York: Barricade Books, 1994), p. 26.
5. Desi Arnaz, A Book (New York: Morrow, 1976), p. 277.
6. Elsa Molina, “Happiness Knows No Season,” TV Radio Mirror, November 1955, p. 94.
7. Current Biography (1956), p. 94.
8. Molina, “Happiness,” p. 94.
9. New York Times, October 25, 1950, p. 45.
10. Charles Stumpf, “Spring Byington: Eternal Spring!” Classic Images, June 2000,
11. Pressbook, According to Mrs. Hoyle, Monogram Pictures, 1951.
12. Daily Variety, May 31, 1951.
13. “The Female of the Species,” TV Guide, September 21, 1957.
14. Jeff Kisseloff, The Box: An Oral History of Television, 1920–1961 (New York: Viking, 1995), p. 543.
15. “Spring Byington: Flying Grandmother,” TV Guide, March 10, 1956, p. 15.
16. Hadleigh, Hollywood Lesbians, p. 27.
17. Axel Madsen, The Sewing Circle: Hollywood’s Greatest Secret: Female Stars Who Loved Other Women (New York: Birch Lane Press, 1995), p. 144.
18. Hadleigh, Hollywood Lesbians, p. 27.
19. Molina, “Happiness,” p. 93.
20. Spring Byington, “What Should I Do?” Photoplay, October 1956, pp. 8–16.
21. Variety, October 8, 1958.
22. Robert Fuller, telephone interview with the author, December 7, 2005 (all subsequent quotations from Robert Fuller are from this interview).
23. Molina, “Happiness,” p. 94.
1. “Joan Davis: Crazy Mixed-Up Kid?” TV Guide, July 2, 1954, p. 16.
2. “Sneak-In Success,” Time, September 10, 1945, p. 57.
3. Jack Gaver and Dave Stanley, There’s Laughter in the Air!: Radio’s Top Comedians and Their Best Shows (New York: Greenberg, 1945), p. 269.
4. Jordan R. Young, The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing in Radio and TV’s Golden Age (Beverly Hills, CA: Past Times Publishing, 1999), p. 151.
5. Gregory Koseluk, Eddie Cantor: A Life in Show Business (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1995) p. 315.
6. Goldman, Banjo Eyes: Eddie Cantor and the Birth of Modern Stardom (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 238.
7. “Campbell, United Drug in Bid for Davis-Haley Package; Upped to 25G,” Variety, January 17, 1945, p. 27.
8. “Joan Davis Drops Off Sealtest For United in Fall,” Variety, January 31, 1945, p. 19.
9. “Joan Davis’ No. 3 Spot Cues Trade O.O. at Web Maneuvers on Drug Deal,” Variety, March 7, 1945, p. 30.
10. “Sealtest’s ‘You Can’t Say Goodby’ Irks Joan Davis,” Variety, July 4, 1945, p. 27.
11. “Agency, Sponsor, RKO in Joan Davis Promotion Parlay for CBS Teeoff,” Variety, August 29, 1945, p. 24.
12. “Sneak-In Success,” p. 57.
13. Fredda Dudley, “Leave it to Joan,” Radio & Television Mirror, November 1949, p. 54.
14. Gaver and Stanley, There’s Laughter in the Air!, p. 267.
15. “Joan Davis TV Show Prepped as CBS Kine,” Variety, January 24, 1951, p. 25.
16. “CBS Preps Situation TV Comedies As Answer to NBC’s Star Lineup,” Variety, February 7, 1951, p. 27.
17. “Heavy Switch to Film; 46 Shows Now Set for Lensing This Fall,” Variety, September 17, 1952, p. 33.
18. Jim Backus and Henny Backus, Forgive Us Our Digressions: An Autobiography (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1988), p. 154.
19. Variety, October 22, 1952.
20. Backus, Forgive Us Our Digressions, p. 157.
21. “Joan Davis: Crazy Mixed-Up Kid?” pp. 15–17.
22. “I Married Joan,” Radio-TV Mirror, October 1953, p. 73.
23. Sherwood Schwartz, telephone interview with the author, May 23, 2006 (all subsequent quotes from Schwartz are from this interview).
24. Jack O’Brian, “TV Off-Guard in New York,” TV Star Parade, May 1955, p. 82.
25. Jim Backus, “Jim Backus Takes A Long, Humorous Look at TV Ratings,” TV Guide, July 27, 1957, p. 9.
26. James Robert Parish, The Slapstick Queens (New York: Castle Books, 1973), p. 166.
27. Ibid.
1. Variety, June 13, 1945, p. 34.
2. “Anne Jeffreys: TV’s Loveliest Ghost,” TV Guide, June 4, 1954, p. 12.
3. Michael Mallory, “Ghosts with the Most! Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling.” Scarlet Street, no. 38, 2000, p. 45.
4. Atkinson, Brooks, “New York to Music,” New York Times, January 19, 1947, section II, p. 1.
5. Steffen Silvis, “First Rose,” Willamette Week, March 23, 2005,
6. Douglas Hunt, “Anne Jeffreys: ‘Sickly Child’ Overcomes Tragedy to Become Hollywood Star,” Journal of Longevity, vol. 8, no. 9 (2002), p. 11.
7. Mallory, “Ghosts with the Most!” p. 48.
8. Meryle Secrest, Stephen Sondheim: A Life (New York: Knopf, 1988), p. 97.
9. Variety, October 14, 1953.
10. Jack Holland, “Thank You, Darling,” TV Star Parade, May 1955, p. 57.
11. Chris Pustorino, “Fly on the Wall: Kathleen Freeman,” Scarlet Street, no. 37, 2000, p. 51.
12. “Anne Jeffreys: TV’s Loveliest Ghost,” p. 11.
13. Steven Lance, Written Out of Television: The Encyclopedia of Cast Changes and Character Replacements, 1945–1994 (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1996), p. 407.
14. Variety, November 30, 1955.
15. Variety, January 22, 1958.
16. Mallory, “Ghosts with the Most!” p. 51.
17. Mark Teschner, telephone interview with the author, March 30, 2006 (all subsequent quotations from Teschner are from this interview).
18. Harry Haun, “Playbill on Opening Night: Match’s Frank Langella Chex It Out,” Playbill, April 9, 2004,
19. Kulzer, Dina-Marie, Television Series Regulars of the Fifties and Sixties in Interview (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1992), p. 73.
1. Freeman, Donald. “Donna Reed: Fire and Ice,” Saturday Evening Post, March 28, 1964, p. 22.
2. “Donna Reed, Farmer’s Daughter,” TV Guide, May 6, 1961, p. 14.
3. Ibid, p. 12.
4. Jay Fultz, In Search of Donna Reed (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1998), p. 75.
5. James Jones, From Here to Eternity (New York: Delta, 1998), p. 847.
6. Fred Zinnemann, A Life in the Movies: An Autobiography (New York: Scribner’s, 1992), p. 124.
7. “Just What the Doctor Ordered,” TV Guide, December 13, 1958, p. 10.
8. Fultz, In Search, p. 119.
9. Roseanne Arnold, My Lives (New York: Ballantine Books, 1994), p. 5.
10. Fultz, In Search, p. 118.
11. “Donna Reed, Farmer’s Daughter,” p. 13.
12. Variety, October 1, 1958.
13. “Just What the Doctor Ordered,” p. 9.
14. Variety, October 7, 1959.
15. “Just What the Doctor Ordered,” p. 11.
16. “No Prima Donna,” TV Guide, March 26, 1960, p. 26.
17. Richard F. Shepard, “Star on a Campaign: Busy Exploitation Schedule Devised for Donna Reed of A.B.C.-TV,” New York Times, November 1, 1959, p. X-13.
18. Marian Dern, “‘Sweet, Sincere, and Solvent,’” TV Guide, June 20, 1964, p. 11.
19. Jay S. Harris, ed., TV Guide: The First 25 Years (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978), p. 96.
20. Freeman, “Donna Reed: Fire and Ice,” p. 22.
21. Dern, “Sweet, Sincere,” p. 12.
22. Ibid.
23. “Legends of the Games: Paul Petersen of Dream Girl of ’67,”
24. Brenda Scott Royce, Hogan’s Heroes: A Comprehensive Reference to the 1965–1971 Television Comedy Series, with Cast Biographies and an Episode Guide (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1993), p. 34.
25. Fultz, In Search, p. 156.
26. “Donna Reed, 64, Dies of Cancer at Her Home,” Los Angeles Times, January 14, 1986, p. 1.
27. “Legends of the Games,” .
28. Michael Seiler, “Donna Reed, Oscar Winner and TV Star, Dies at 64,” Los Angeles Times, January 15, 1986, p. 3.
29. Larry Hagman with Todd Gold, Hello Darlin’: Tall (and Absolutely True) Tales About My Life (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001), p. 212.
30. Ibid.
31. Fultz, In Search, p. 191.
32. Patricia Brennan, “Waiting for Word on Coach: Another Chapter in Her 43-Year Success Story,” Washington Post, April 29, 1990, p. Y-7.
33. Don Freeman, “Outtakes: Simply Fab,” Emmy, January/February 1995, p. 72.
1. Richard G. Hubler, “A Belle Named Sothern,” Coronet, June 1959, p. 93.
2. Hubler, “Belle,” p. 92.
3. James Robert Parish, ed., The Great Movie Series (South Brunswick, N.J.: Barnes, 1971), p. 241.
4. Kyle Crichton, “Amazing Maisie,” Collier’s, July 12, 1941.
5. Variety, July 18, 1945.
6. Aljean Harmetz, “Ann Sothern Dauntless,” New York Times, October 11, 1987, p. A-1.
7. Kirk Douglas, The Ragman’s Son: An Autobiography (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988), p. 145.
8. Wender, Susan, “I Can Never Marry You (Richard Egan-Ann Sothern),” Modern Screen, June 1956, p. 93.
9. Hubler, “A Belle Named Sothern,” p. 92.
10. “Sympathetic Susie,” Time, April 20, 1953, p. 64.
11. “Those Beverly Hills Beauties,” Complete TV, August 1957, p. 19.
12. Elaine Woo, “Ann Sothern; Gave Strong Women a Voice in Film and TV,” Los Angeles Times, March 17, 2001, p. B-6.
13. “Sympathetic Susie,” p. 62.
14. “Singing Secretary,” TV Guide, September 18, 1954, p. 21.
15. “Ann Sothern in Tirade at Emmy; Demands a Probe,” Variety, February 6, 1957, p. 25.
16. “Ann Sothern to Scrap ‘Secretary’ Unless TPA Works Out a New Deal,” Variety, February 27, 1957, p. 31.
17. “A Belle Named Sothern,” p. 93.
18. “Everything Is In Limbo,” TV Guide, July 20, 1957, p. 21.
19. Variety, October 8, 1958.
20. “Ann Sothern Is Playing That Blonde Again,” TV Guide, October 18, 1958, p. 18.
21. “Don Porter’s Back, and Ann Sothern’s Got Him,” TV Guide, April 16, 1960, p. 14.
22. Ibid.
23. “Ann Sothern, Businesswoman,” TV Guide, March 21, 1959, p. 14.
24. Ibid.
25. “Goodson-Todman Pitch New Ann Sothern Show,” Variety, July 18, 1962, p. 22.
26. Geoffrey Mark Fidelman, The Lucy Book: A Complete Guide to Her Five Decades on Television (Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 1999), p. 200.
27. Michael Buckley, “Ann Sothern,” Films in Review, March 1988, p. 138.
28. “Nick to Dust off Two Sothern Skeins,” Variety, January 28, 1987, p. 54.
29. Buckley, “Ann Sothern,” p. 140.
30. Harmetz, “Ann Sothern Dauntless,” p. A-1.
31. Aljean Harmetz, “Ann Sothern Is Dead at 92; Savvy Star of B-Films and TV,” New York Times, March 17, 2001, p. C-17.
1. Gale Storm, as told to Jane Morris, “You Can’t Buy Happiness,” TV Star Parade, December 1954, p. 33.
2. Storm, “You Can’t Buy Happiness,” p. 58.
3. McLellan, Dennis, “A Star with a Place in the Sun: Gale Storm Is Looking Ahead to a Marriage and New Film Roles,” Los Angeles Times, April 14, 1988, p. 3.
4. Jean Lewis, “Dreams Do Come True,” TV Picture Life, April 1957, p. 52.
5. Gale Storm, telephone interview with the author, January 19, 2006. All subsequent quotations from Gale Storm, where not otherwise noted, are from interviews on January 19 and 24, 2006.
6. Lewis, “Dreams Do Come True,” p. 52.
7. Gale Storm. I Ain’t Down Yet: The Autobiography of My Little Margie (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1981), p. 64.
8. Variety, June 18, 1952.
9. “‘Margie’ Coming Home to Roost on CBS-TV Sked,” Variety, October 22, 1952, p. 23.
10. “Storm Battered,” Variety, October 15, 1952, p. 20.
11. Storm, I Ain’t Down Yet, p. 68.
12. Variety, September 9, 1953.
13. Storm, I Ain’t Down Yet, p. 75.
14. Boyd Magers and Michael G. Fitzgerald, Westerns Women (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999), p. 231.
15. “The Hands Have It,” TV Guide, April 6, 1957, p. 14.
16. “Gale Storm Tells Why She Has Lasted,” TV Guide, June 29, 1957, p. 18.
17. “Gale Storm Changes Her Course,” TV Guide, June 6, 1959, p. 26.
18. Ibid.
19. Variety, October 7, 1959.
20. Storm, I Ain’t Down Yet, p. 89.
21. Ibid, p. 94.
1. “Betty White: My First 46 Years in Television.” Lecture recorded at the Smithsonian Institution, September 7, 1995,
2. Betty White, telephone interview with the author, February 27, 2006. All subsequent quotations from Betty White, except where otherwise noted, are from this interview.
3. “Biography: Betty White.” New York: A & E Home Video, 2003.
4. Betty White, Betty White: In Person (New York: Doubleday, 1987), p. 111.
5. Tess White, “My Daughter, Betty White,” TV Radio Mirror, February 1955, p. 30.
6. Betty White, Here We Go Again: My Life in Television (New York: Scribner’s, 1995), p. 34.
7. White, “My Daughter,” p. 78.
8. Brent Mark, “The Girl Who Reversed the Trend ... in Necklines,” TV and Movie Starland, May 1954, p. 61.
9. Ibid.
10. Daily Variety, May 19, 1952.
11. Variety, January 6, 1954, p. 104.
12. Mark, “Girl Who,” p. 61.
13. White, Here We Go Again, p. 88.
14. Variety, October 21, 1953.
15. “Guild Films Set $2,200,000 Budget for ’54 Product,” Variety, January 27, 1954, p. 27.
16. Jack Holland, “Can I Ever Be a Wife?” TV Star Parade, December 1954, p. 38.
17. “Vidpix Producers Face a Dilemma,” Variety, December 9, 1953, p. 29.
18. “The Angels Rush In.” TV Guide, July 27, 1957, p. 19.
19. White, Here We Go Again, p. 110.
20. TV Guide, July 9, 1957.
21. “The Angels Rush In,” p. 20.
22. Variety, February 12, 1958, p. 34.
23. Valerie J. Nelson, “Naughty Lady of Shady Lane,” Los Angeles Times, July 13, 1999, p. 1.
24. Bill Davidson, “Kidding the Network for Fun and Profit,” TV Guide, September 24, 1977, p. 22.
25. Ibid, p. 21.
26. White, Here We Go Again, p. 249.
27. Lori Golden, “Betty White: A Golden Girl to All Animals,” The Pet Press, January 2001, >
28. Gale Storm, telephone interview with the author, January 24, 2006.
29. Nelson, “Naughty Lady,” p. 1.