The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet Radio Show: "Haunted House"

Harriet & Ozzie

The TV show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is probably well remembered by many people of a certain age. Indeed, until It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia broke its record last year, at 14 seasons it was the longest running live action sitcom. What is not as well remembered is that before it aired on television, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was a radio show that ran from October 8 1944 to June 18 1954. Both the television show and the radio show centred on the every day life of Ozzie Nelson, his wife Harriet Hilliard, and their sons David and Ricky.

Like many radio shows before it and like the TV show after it, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet would have episodes dedicated to Halloween. Among these was "Haunted House," which aired on October 31 1948. "Haunted House" begins with David and Ricky getting ready to go trick or treating. Here they must explain trick or treating to Ozzie, although oddly enough later in the episode he does seem to be familiar with the concept. It is while Ozzie and his sons are discussing trick or treating that he tells the boys that when he was a boy they would visit haunted houses on Halloween. He also mentions the old MacAdams house as one that could be haunted, and the boys think it would be a good idea if he visited it. After the boys go trick or treating, Harriet sends Ozzie to get candy at the drug store, and he encounters their friend Thorny (John Brown) on the way. Once home Ozzie tells Harriet that he is going to the old MacAdams house. Unfortunately, along the way he encounters Emmy Lou (Janet Waldo), one of their little neighbour girls, who tells him how the MacAdams house is haunted by one of the original owner's dead suitors, a Scotsman named MacTavish. The story scares Ozzie so that he decides not to go to the MacAdams house after all. Once home he tells Harriet that he didn't go to the MacAdams house, and she finally convinces him to go by agreeing to go with him.

"Haunted House" is notable not simply because it was one of the Halloween episodes of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, but because it features one of the earliest references to trick or treating in American popular culture. Although today it might seem like it is a long established custom, trick or treating would not emerge until the 20th Century. The first reference to trick or treating anywhere is in the the November 4 1927 issue of the Herald (published in Lethbridge, Alberta). From Canada it would spread to the Western United States and the Midwest in the early to mid-Thirties, and from there to the East Coast. This is probably why David and Ricky have to explain to Ozzie the whole idea of trick or treating. As a relatively new phenomenon, there might have been listeners who were unfamiliar with it.

It is because trick or treating was a rather recent development that references to the custom were rare in American popular culture in the Thirties and Forties. Arsenic and Old Lace (released in 1944, but filmed in 1941) would be the first movie to reference trick or treating. Following World War II, trick or treating would be referenced on various radio shows. Trick or treating played a central role in the plot of the November 1 1946 episode, "Halloween Show", of The Baby Snooks Show. With regards to radio, the year 1948 would seem to be a banner year for trick or treating.  The same night that The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet episode "Haunted House" was aired, The Jack Benny Program also aired an episode featuring trick or treating, "Jack Goes Trick or Treating."

Of course, "Haunted House" was not the only Halloween episode of the radio version of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. The episode "Halloween Party" aired on October 27 1950. Halloween episodes would not be unknown on the television version of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet either. In fact, the very first Halloween episode of the television version of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, "Halloween Party," was only its fifth episode.

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet would make the transition to television on October 3 1952. The radio show would continue to air along side the radio show until 1954, finally ending its run on June 18 1954. While The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet only ranked once in the top thirty during its long run (it came in at no. 29 during the 1963-1964 season), it was popular enough to last 14 seasons. Although I have to think many younger viewers are unfamiliar with the show, it remains popular to this day.