The Bob Cummings Show centred on Hollywood photographer Bob Collins (Bob Cummings). Bob was a bachelor who dated various beautiful women, as well an Air Force reserve officer. It is perhaps no coincidence that "Bob Collins" was also the name of Bob Cummings' character., a decorated USAAF officer, in the movie You Came Along (1945). Bib lived with is widowed sister Margaret MacDonald (Rosermary DeCamp), who disapproved of her brother's lifestyle. Margaret had a teenager son, Chuck (Dwayne Hickman), who idolized Bob and was always trying to attract the models Bob worked with. Bob's Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz (Ann B. Davis), who had an unrequited crush on Bob.The show also featured several recurring characters, including nodel Shirley Swanson (Joi Lansing),. Bob's old Air Force buddy Paul Fonda (Lyle Talbot), and Pamela Livingstone (Nancy Culp), a friend of Schultzy and a birdwatching expert who pines for Bob. There were several episodes in which Bob Cummings would perform double duty, playing Bob Collins and Bob's grandfather Josh Collins. Grandpa came from Joplin, Missouri, as did Bob Collins (and Bob Cummings, for that matter).
Bob Cummings not only had a movie career, but he had even starred in a sitcom before The Bob Cummings Show. On My Hero he played real estate agent Robert Beanblossom. The show did not prove to be a success, only lasting one season and 33 episodes. Despite the failure of My Hero, Bob Cummings remained a popular actor, so that it was inevitable he would get another show. It was then that writer Paul Henning came up with an idea for a show starring Mr. Cummings.
Paul Henning already had already worked as a writer on radio for years. Like Bob Cummings, Paul Henning was a native of Missouri (Mr. Cummings was born in Joplin, while Paul Henning was born in Independence). He had begun his career on radio in Kansas City, Missouri before moving onto such national radio shows as Fibber McGee and Molly and The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show/. He moved with Burns and Allen to television and also wrote for such TV shows as The Dennis Day Show and Where's Raymond?.
Having written for years for both the radio and television versions of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Paul Henning turned to George Burns for help with his idea for a show for Bob Cummings. Both George Burns and Bob Cummings were clients of the talent agency MCA. It was then that MCA got George Burns and Paul Henning together with Bob Cummings so that they could pitch the show to him. The Bob Cummings Show was produced by McCadden Producitons, which also produced The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and The Jack Benny Program. A new production company, Laurel Productions, was also formed to produce The Bob Cummings Show.
With regards to the cast, not only was Bob Cummings a movie star, but too was Rosemary DeCamp, who had appeared in films from Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) to On Moonlight Bay (1951). With regards to Schultzy, the role had been written for yet another veteran of film, Jane Withers. As it turned out, the show's producers were unwilling to meet Miss Withes's demands. It was Eddie Rubin, who would be one of the show's directors, who suggested Ann B. Davis for the role. Dwayne Hickman was the younger brother of child actor Darryl Hickman, who had appeared in The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers (1946). Dwayne Hickman had previously appeared with Bob Cummings in Heaven Only Knows (1947). He also appeared in such films as The Boy with Green Hair (1948) and Mighty Joe Young (1949). When Bob Cummings offered him the role, Dwayne Hickman was trying to decide whether he should take the part or if he should take a temporary job with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Bob Cummings himself was the reason that The Bob Cummings Show debuted in January rather than September, when most shows at the time made their debuts. The Bob Cummings Show was sold in August 1954, making it fully possible it could have debuted as early as September or October of that year. Despite this, Bob Cummings felt the failure of his previous sitcom, My Hero, was due to the fact that it did not have enough of a backlog of scripts when it debuted. Contrary to popular belief, The Bob Cummings Show was not the first midseason replacement, as several others debuted before it had (among them My Friend Irma and Dragnet).
The Bob Cummings Show debuted on NBC on January 2 1955. For the 1954-1955 season, it aired on Sunday night, following The Loretta Young Show. For the 1955-1956 season it moved to CBS. It remained there throughout the 1956-1957 season before moving back to NBC where it remained until it ended its run in 1959.
Although it never ranked in the top ten for the season in the Nielsen ratings, The Bob Cummings Show remained relatively popular throughout its run. According to Bob Cummings it was his decision to end the show. By 1959 The Bob Cummings Show had reached five full seasons, which at the time was considered the minimum for syndication. Bob Cummings wanted to sell the show into syndication before it became too dated. Bob Cummings also wanted a break.
Starting on October 12 1959 reruns of The Bob Cummings Show began airing on ABC under the title Love That Bob. It would also air under that title in syndication for quite some time. Much of the reason the title Love That Bob persisted is that beginning on October 5 1961 an entirely new show starring Bob Cummings debuted on CBS, also titled The Bob Cummings Show. Since it was constantly getting confused with Bob Cummings's older show, it was re-titled The New Bob Cummings Show on December 28 1961. The New Bob Cummings Show would not repeat the original show's success. It only lasted 22 episodes. As to the original, whether as The Bob Cummings Show or Love That Bob, it persisted in syndication for decades. Even now it can be found on such streaming services as Tubi and Local Now.
Aside from remaining popular for decades and starring a well-known movie star, The Bob Cummings Show may be most remarkable for how many of those who worked on it went onto even bigger success. It would only be a few years after the end of The Bob Cummings Show that its creator, Paul Henning, would see his career peak with The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres. Rod Amateau, who directed many episodes of The Bob Cummings Show (only Bob Cummings himself directed more), went onto produce the show Dobie Gillis as well as direct most of its episodes. Of course, as fans of both The Bob Cummings Show and Dobie Gillis know, Rod Amateau was not the only veteran of The Bob Cummings Show to go onto Dobie Gillis. Dwayne Hickman signed to star as Dobie in December 1958.
Several other individuals from The Bob Cummings Show would also go onto great successes in their career. Ann B. Davis. who had won Emmy Awards for playing Schultzy on The Bob Cummings Show, went onto play housekeeper Alice Nelson on The Brady Bunch. Nancy Kulp, who played birdwatcher Pamela on The Bob Cummings Show, would work with Paul Henning again and in a bigger role on a show. She was Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies. Both Joi Lansing and Lisa Gaye would become frequent guest stars on television in the Sixties.
Curiously, Bob Cummings would be one person who would not repeat his success on television. The New Bob Cummings Show lasted only one season. And while it has a cult following now, My Living Doll with Julie Newmar also lasted only one season. While he might not have seen any more success on TV, Bob Cummings aould see further success in such movies Beach Party (1963), The Carpetbaggers (1964), and What a Way to Go! (1964).
The Bob Cummings Show presented a sharp contrast to the domestic comedies popular in the mid to late Fifties, shows such as Father Knows Best and The Donna Reed Show. Not only was Bob Collins a bachelor, but he was entirely resistant to the idea of getting married. Bob devoted most of his free time to pursuing beautiful women. And while sexual intercourse was never mentioned on the show (this was the Fifties, after all), it seems likely most adult viewers thought Bob Collins was having sex. Although tame by today's standards, The Bob Cummings Show was risque for its time.
The Bob Cummings Show also differed from the domestic comedies of the time in the nature of its comedy. The humour in many of the family sitcoms of the era tended to be gentle. In contrast, the humour ion The Bob Cummings Show could be very broad, as one would expect a comedy created by Paul Henning to be. In fact, The Bob Cummins Show resembled Paul Henning's later creation The Beverly Hillbillies to a degree. While many of the domestic comedies episodes would revolve around a crisis that were neatly resolved in a half hour, the emphasis on both The Bob Cummings Show and The Beverly Hillbillies was on comedy. What is more, like The Beverly Hillbillies would later, The Bob Cummings Show would sometimes feature story arcs that unfolded over multiple episodes.
The Bob Cummings Show was nominated for several Emmy Awards from 1956 to 1959 in categories from Best Comedy Series to Best Editing. It won two Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Ann B. Davis as Schultzy.
Many today would consider The Bob Cummings Show to be sexist, and on the show Bob certainly objectifies women. Of course, it must also be pointed out that many women objectified Bob as well, not to mention the fact that his womanizing almost never went well. While an argument can be made that the show is dated, it can also be pointed out that it was in some ways ahead of its time. The Bob Cummings Show paved the way for The Beverly Hillbillies, which would pave the way for future sitcoms that sometimes used story arcs and did not resolve things neatly in one half hour. Of course, The Bob Cummings Show would also serve as a launching pad for further success for many of those of who worked on the show, from actors Ann B. Davis and Dwayne Hickman to director Rod Amateau to producer and creator Paul Henning. The Bob Cummings Show may not be known to many younger people, but it was a revolutionary show for its time.
1 comment:
Terrific and accurate writeup as always, Terence. Obviously I've written about this one a lot myself. It is a close call as to whether BOB or BILKO was the most subversive sitcom of the decade. I tend to vote for the former, though they're both great. On my YouTube channel I have posted about 9 episodes that were not previously available there, and i hope to find acceptable prints from my old tapes to post more.
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