Television Review: LOVE THAT BOB: "The Sergeant Wore Skirts" (1956)

LOVE THAT BOB a.k.a. THE BOB CUMMINGS SHOW: "The Sergeant Wore Skirts" (Laurel/McCadden Productions/CBS-TV 1956) Original Air Date: May 10, 1956.  Starring Bob Cummings as Bob Collins, Rosemary deCamp as Margaret MacDonald, Dwayne Hickman as Chuck MacDonald, Ann B. Davis as Schultzy, King Donovan as Harvey Helm, Mary Lawrence as Ruth Helm, Julie Bishop as Sergeant Helen Brewster, Margie Tenney as Model (uncredited).  Written by Paul Henning, Shirl Gordon and Phil Shuken.  Directed by Rod Amateau.


Series Overview/Introduction to the LOVE THAT BOB/THE BOB CUMMINGS SHOW episode guide is at this link.

Special thanks to Jacksonupperco!


Bob's old WWII comrade Harvey Helm is having wife trouble again.  This time, he has a complaint that he'd never dare voice in front of Ruthie--the romance has gone out of their marriage.  Bob pins the problems on Harv this time, since he last took her out "in February"--to the hospital for her delivery!

Advising Helm to take his wife out on a date and regain the form that made him "Hot Lips Helm" back in The Big One, Bob resumes his lensing labors.  He's interrupted a second time by the WAC who gave Harvey the nickname, Sergeant Helen Brewster.  Would Ruthie be jealous of a girlfriend from a decade ago?  Foolish question.  For that reason, Bob decides to keep them apart with a little white lie and invite Helen to dinner at the Collins household--which is exactly where Harv and Ruthie have decided to drop in unannounced to open the recommended evening out.

"You know the trouble with you husbands?  The minute you marry a girl, you stop courting her!"

Henpecked Harvey Helm needs help.  Always a winning LOVE THAT BOB premise, bringing the show's sly subversion to the surface.  True, it wasn't that novel to show a married man complaining about his wife, but it was an eye opener in 1956 for the writers (one female) to be so firmly on the side of the single guy getting laid (with a different date every night) in the happiness debate over the married man with kids.  Henning, Gordon and Shuken get to have it both ways here by ingeniously putting the Playboy on Ruthie's side when Harv blames his wife for a marriage now lacking romance.

"Now go home and make her forget that she's married to over the hill Harv!"

The Sergeant Wore Skirts also gives us insight into those heroic days during the Second World War via two flashbacks (at least the first one).  Based on Bob's other recollection of those WWII days, Hot Lips Helm was no more of an Alpha than the current version, so co-dependent that he couldn't avoid making sickeningly sweet calls to his girlfriend during an enemy attack.  This brings into question the show's frequent implication that marriage turned Harv into a Beta male.  On the other hand, Helen gives no indication that her nickname for him was ironic.  Suffice to say that if Bob's memory isn't faulty, Helm must have been a better wingman on the ground than in the co-pilot's seat back in the day. 

"There are times when faced with great danger that a man rises above himself."

Whether Bob was exaggerating the first flashback is uncertain, but Sergeant Brewster's expression afterward gives truth to it.  The second recollection is hilariously fabricated after Helen's slip of the tongue in front of the formidable Mrs. Helm, with silver tongued orator Collins forced to think on the fly to save Harvey's hide.  The concocted story doesn't fully get past Ruthie's B.S. detector, but in the end it doesn't appear that the planned romantics at the Coconut Grove will be interrupted.

Cummings' frequent co-star Julie Bishop (MY HERO) makes her only appearance on his eponymous series here.  It came just a week after her real-life husband, General Clarence A. Shoop, debuted on LOVE THAT BOB as Colonel Collins' Air Force reserve commander.  Shoop met Bishop during filming of PRINCESS O'ROURKE (1943), which also starred Cummings.  The Shoops remained married until the General's 1968 death; Julie Bishop passed away in 2001. 

BREWSTER: "You have a wife and a child!  That's wonderful."
COLLINS: "I have a sister and a nephew and (leering) that's even better!"

Sergeant Brewster seems to still have a thing for Harvey, so maybe Ruthie's ever-green jealously isn't entirely unjustified.   The line above (delivered devilishly by Cummings) has you briefly thinking that Bobby might be interested in more than a simple reunion, but fear not--Bob invites her back to meet the sister and nephew instead of trying to take the Sarge to Mulholland.  In one of her last roles before retiring from acting in 1957, Bishop has some priceless reactions (such as the one in the top photo above) in the background of both scenes. 

"You don't go to the filling station when you've got a full tank."

In his Emmy-nominated season (that saw him moved to McCadden's BURNS AND ALLEN after it) Rod Amateau milks the most from a setup with basically two extended scenes (the studio for Act One, the Collins home for the second half) punctuated by a flashback in each.  Amateau is aided by a script chock full of quotables, with the bulk going to Cummings and Donovan.  The Sergeant Wore Skirts gives the latter a chance to flash a romantic side with Ruthie that rapidly fades once Brewster's arrival restores two things LOVE THAT BOB fans are used to: Ruthie's icy glare and Harv's high strung hilarity.  Unhurriedly paced with winning lines sprinkled liberally throughout, this one lands safely.

WHO WAS BLOCKING?

Nothing to block this time, though Schultzy was fully prepared when the skirt-wearing Sergeant arrived.

DID BOB SCORE?

He didn't make a pass at the apparently still single Sergeant Brewster, so maybe this wolf has too much honor to go after his buddy's ex.  Then again, perhaps Collins already had some action going with the blonde model we saw in the studio.  If so, well, you don't drive to the filling station......

Low key entry with simmering rewards is a stealthy winner from a show just entering its prime as it neared the end of its second season.   Cummings and Bishop work well together, but this episode's MVP is King Donovan, probably the reigning bundle of nerves on prime time before Don Knotts pinned on his deputy's badge.   One winning line after another from the crack writing staff, with a perfect capper.  (***1/2 out of four) 


Want to see The Sergeant Wore Skirts for yourself?  Here ya go:

The Horn Section Salutes: ANDREW J. FENADY (1928-2020)

Sad news to report: longtime producer/writer and raconteur extraordinaire Andrew J. Fenady passed away last weekend at the age of 91.

The University of Toledo graduate got his start in television with multiple installments of the Paul Coates documentary series Confidential File.  Interviewed by Bob Anderson years later, Fenady recalled this as his "real training ground".  It was while working on that series that Fenady met young director Irvin Kershner.  They soon moved into feature films, with Fenady writing and producing and Kershner directing.from that to writing and producing the feature films STAKEOUT ON DOPE STREET (1958) and THE YOUNG CAPTIVES (1959).

At that point Fenady moved into television, where he would spend much of the next decade producing a trilogy of classic westerns dealing with the aftermath of the Civil War: THE REBEL (1959-61), BRANDED (1965-66) and the series that most endears him to us here at The Horn Section, HONDO (1967).

Conceived by Fenady as "Jack London in the West", THE REBEL made a television star of Nick Adams and was popular enough to spawn a pilot for a proposed Fenady-created spinoff, THE YANK, which would have starred a young James Drury in the title role.  Both were initially slated for the Fall 1961 season after two well-rated seasons for THE REBEL, then both were abruptly dropped by the perennially third-place ABC.

Fenady's next success starred RIFLEMAN Chuck Connors in BRANDED, an ex-Union officer accused of cowardice and seeking to clear his name.  Like THE REBEL, BRANDED was successful in the ratings, initially slated for a third season, then off the schedule in a late decision.  It was the highest rated cancellation of the 1965-66 season (32nd place).  The series also had a second life in syndication that continues to this day; it is currently airing on INSP.

HONDO completed the trio and for the next two decades appeared to be the lone flop of the producer's television run.  After running less than four months (opposite GOMER PYLE and STAR TREK in a killer time slot) and largely remaining forgotten for the next two decades, HONDO began airing on TNT in June 1989 as part of the package of MGM catalog Ted Turner had acquired the rights to.  I've written about it before, but HONDO finally became a hit, running for ten consecutive years on the network on Saturday mornings despite having only 17 installments to run.  Even the Wall Street Journal took notice of the show's belated popularity, calling it "one of cable's most successful resurrections" in the August 9, 1991 issue.

HONDO is repeating that success story on getTV.  After premiering on September 19, 2015 alongside James Garner's NICHOLS and Robert Horton's A MAN CALLED SHENANDOAH, HONDO is still airing every Sunday morning nearly five years later, outlasting those two shows (which had considerably more star power) on the schedule.  A half-century later, HONDO might well be the best-known and most watched program of Fenady's TV trilogy.

CHISUM, TERROR IN THE WAX MUSEUM, HE MAN WITH BOGART'S FACE and the Charles Bronson remake of THE SEA WOLF were among Fenady's film projects over the quarter century that followed.  He contributed mightily to Trail Dust magazine throughout the 1990's, a quarterly dedicated to "preserving the history of television and feature-length Westerns".  Fenady won a much deserved Golden Boot Award in 1995.

Interspersed throughout this post are excerpts from Fenady's 2015 interview with Rob Word, with many fascinating details about the producer's TV work, working with John Wayne and Robert Taylor, and much more.  (Incidentally, Andrew J. Fenady's brother Georg was a highly successful TV director in his own right, and he directed this much-loved QUINCY, M.E. episode from the show's hilarious years.)

R.I.P. to one of television's greats.  Stay tuned for the conclusion of the HONDO episode guide soon here at The Horn Section.

Leon Errol Series: WHAT A BLONDE (1945)

WHAT A BLONDE (1945 RKO Radio Pictures) Starring Leon Errol, Richard Lane, Veda Ann Borg, Michael St. Angel, Lydia Bilbrook, Clarence Kolb, Elaine Riley, Chef Milani and Ann Shoemaker.  Written by Charles E. Roberts and Oscar Brodney.  Directed by Leslie Goodwins.

Introduction to the LEON ERROL SALUTE SERIES is at this link.


A national emergency resulting in rationing of raw materials and "non-essential" employees and businesses being told to stand down.  Ripped from today's headlines?  No, a 1945 comedy showing that history does indeed rhyme---an amusing artifact from the tail end of our last "Fourth Turning".



Dunno about you but this looks as essential as a business gets if you ask me.

Lingerie tycoon Errol makes the argument that his product is indeed crucial for national morale--soldiers in The Big One need those pin-ups!  Unfortunately he doesn't succeed with it when he petitions the ration board for additional gasoline coupons.  Once Leon learns that carpooling will net him extra vouchers, he risks the misrepresentation penalty (10 years or $10 grand) by hiring people to ride with him, even offering to board them at the mansion while the Mrs. (Bilbrook) is away for two weeks.  Young promoter (and boyfriend to Leon's secretary Riley) St. Angel is quickly hired to start the ball rolling.

Shifty butler Lane secures the services of laid off dancer Borg to round out a trio of riders, but Errol unwittingly finds himself hosting Borg's entire entourage of racy showgirls.  Simultaneously, bluenose textile manufacturer Kolb (who Leon badly needs materials from) decides to drop in on Errol, forcing unrefined and reluctant Borg to play Leon's "much younger" spouse.  Naturally, Bilbrook returns much earlier than anticipated, giving him too many wives and nowhere near enough bedrooms when the pious Kolbs are forced to stay the night.

A longtime scribe of Errol pictures, Charles E. Roberts (RIVERBOAT RHYTHM) adapted WHAT A BLONDE from a story by lawyer turned screenwriter Oscar Brodney (HARVEY).  In what is likely Roberts' finest screenplay, WHAT A BLONDE is wonderfully complex with minimal contrivance.  Roberts weaves an increasingly tangled web for Leon, packing enough gags for half a dozen short subjects into its 70 minutes.

Outside of a brief reference to a fling ten years past (that Lane has been milking for that same decade of employ), Leon steers clear of philandering and inebriation for once.  Butler Lane is the implied womanizer (Borg is one of his girl friends) and provides apparent support for Errol's schemes that unfortunately adds a new problem for every one solved, whether he's providing extra riders, siphoning needed gas, or using his charm to provide temporary (but too scantily dressed for the sanctimonious guests) domestic help.  Lane made a living playing sharpies, and meshes perfectly with Errol--no wonder that Lane soon ended up with his own two-reel series at Columbia (with Gus Schilling).  It's a close race who gets more laughs during the first half of WHAT A BLONDE.

However, Leon pulls way ahead in the home stretch, with one perfectly timed denial after another as he alternatively kowtows to the devout but critical Kolb, attempts to placate his increasingly angry Mrs., creates a plumbing disaster and repeatedly finds himself in the wrong room.  The beginning of Leon's terrible, horrible, no good very bad day at home was no better: he inadvertently ruined Lane's arrangement to get around meat rationing and caused his entire domestic staff to resign at the worst possible time.

While other outside-the-box Errol films ranged from decent (POP ALWAYS PAYS) to way below average (HURRY, CHARLIE, HURRY!) and generally relied on Leon to do all of the heavy lifting, WHAT A BLONDE gives the comedian probably his finest material of the 1940's.  With nary a wobble in his walk, the veteran responds with flying colors and gets fantastic support from Lane, Borg, and the always stentorian Kolb.  Bilbrook also played Leon's wife in five MEXICAN SPITFIRE movies (as Lady Epping) and Deer! Deer!  

WHAT A BLONDE was the first credited feature for Elaine Riley (He Forgot to Remember).  Real life TV chef Joseph Milani usually went uncredited, but gets prominent billing as the butcher who turns out to be Leon's first (but not last) nemesis.  Jason Robards Sr., Dorothy Vaughan, Lloyd Corrigan and Emory Parnell are among those noticeable but missing from the credits.   

Directed by Leslie Goodwins (F TROOP, MAVERICK), WHAT A BLONDE gains steady steam right up to its satisfying climax.  It's a wonderful discovery for fans of classic screwball comedy and an absolute must for anyone who doubts that Leon Errol belongs among the greats of the first half of the 20th century.  Highly recommended, and now available on DVD from Warner Archive.

Television Review: LOVE THAT BOB: "The Models Revolt" (1957)

THE BOB CUMMINGS SHOW a.k.a. LOVE THAT BOB: "The Models Revolt" (1957 Laurel-McCadden Productions/CBS-TV) Original Air Date: January 24, 1957.  Starring Bob Cummings as Bob Collins, Rosemary deCamp as Margaret MacDonald, Ann B. Davis as Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz, Dwayne Hickman as Chuck MacDonald, Joi Lansing as Shirley Swanson, Lisa Gaye as Collette DuBois, Lita Milan as Marie De Paulo, Margie Tenney as the Blonde Model.  Written by Paul Henning, Shirl Gordon, Dick Wesson and Phil Shuken.  Directed by Bob Cummings.


Overview to the BOB CUMMINGS SHOW/LOVE THAT BOB episode guide is at this link.


The Horn Section gives special thanks to Jackson Upperco of That's Entertainment.  Subscribe for lots of great classic TV reviews several times a week!

Fat chance Chuck has of convincing his Uncle Bob to go on a fishing trip next weekend.  The Biltmore in Palm Springs is hosting a fashion show with twenty-five of Hollywood's most beautiful ladies on the runway in "everything from evening gowns to bikinis".  Naturally the go-to girls for Bob Collins shoots will be there, but Bob has promised his down time to his special lady.  Well, make that ladies: Shirley, Marie and Collette all received the same promise the prior evening, and Bob kept making the rounds well after that trifecta of speed dating.

"Last night's web: The Wildflower, The Ambassador and The Thief."

Unfortunately, in doing so the lascivious lensman overplayed his hand, ending up with a studio full of piqued posers who finally rebel against his playboy ways and organize the D.D.T.: Don't Date the Two-Timer.  Staying footloose and fancy free in Palm Springs is now the least of Collins' worries.  Needing the homegrown harem restored, Bob zooms in on the firewall's weakest link before setting sail for the Sonora.

"Well, I have yet to catch anything in the desert with a hook and line."
"Not with a hook, maybe, but your line..."

The Models Revolt was Cummings' second outing behind the camera after taking the reins from Norman Tokar midway through the third season.  The star would become a top-notch (and IMO Emmy worthy) director by season's end, but The Models Revolt shows there was a learning curve before Bob blossomed in the chair.  He's a little self-indulgent in the opener, as Collins tries to get the family to persuade him to take the time off in the "dry climate" his cold requires.

Director Cummings allows star Cummings to display his "symptoms" often enough to stretch this scene out to nearly nine minutes.  He would quickly become more ruthless in the editing room, but the stretch marks show here, stalling the show's usual momentum for the first third.  At least this is lampshaded by having Chuck and Margaret speak out loud of Uncle Bob's hamminess.  Despite some great lines, one key question goes unasked: if Collins has a cold, why was he out literally all night?

Once the plot finally starts thickening, we start the racing to the finish line, and Cummings is already a pro with the camera placement.  The director provides some expert sight gags during The King's make-out sessions, for which rigid timing is ironically required.   Every wink and leer is milked for full effect as the silver-tongued shutterbug weaves his tangled web in multiple locations.  Of course, Bobby Boy saves venerable Mulholland Drive for the midnight moonlight.

Change was also afoot in the writing staff, as actor Dick Wesson (Bob Batches It) joined the team of Shuken, Henning and Gordon for what would prove to be a highly successful second career.  Wesson would not only prove to be a permanent addition to the CUMMINGS team (co-writing over 50 of the show's remaining scripts) but to the Henning team as well, with 61 BEVERLY HILLBILLIES installments to his credit.  The scribes must have had some fun with the infusion.  Listen closely for one of those patented Henning in-jokes about Rosemary deCamp's DEATH VALLEY DAYS side hustle near the 6:15 mark.  Quick reference point for the young'uns follows:

Lita Milan (The Dominant Sex) takes over the role of Marie de Paulo from Donna Martell.   Third different model was the charm for Milan after playing two different models previously; she returned to this role in Bob Saves Dr. Chuck.

Bob with Margie Tenney

The unnamed blonde model who was apparently Bob's fourth date the previous night is an uncredited Margie Tenney, who has no lines, but nevertheless gets about ten attention grabbing seconds.  Joan Garris and Carole Conn also appeared with Tenney, Lansing and Gaye in newspaper publicity photos, but not in the episode itself.  Apparently that scene in the studio got some last-minute rewrites.

Of course, Lisa Gaye and Joi Lansing were the MVM's of the show throughout its run, probably providing the 1950's equivalent of the "Ginger or Mary Ann" question.  Predictably, neither disappoints.  This was the first time either was directed by the show's star; years later Gaye stated Cummings was the best director she ever worked with.

Cummings and Wesson would both settle into their new roles quickly, but The Models Revolt is a tad more ragged than most LOVE THAT BOB segments that followed.  It still has a lot of laughs, with Bob's harangue in the living room about the D.D.T. arguably even funnier than the flowery flattery that preceded it.

Schultzy's not happy, but gives no difficulty.

WHO WAS BLOCKING?

Only the models themselves once they realized the deception.  Hence, the title.

DID BOB SCORE?

The time limitations make it unlikely he got very far on the basepaths, but we have visual evidence of him getting to first base three times before midnight, with another plate appearance at 2 A.M.  The OBP is outstanding, but the OPS probably suffers from Bob's lack of focus this time.  He also jeopardizes his chances for the immediate future.  Sometimes less is more Bob!

IMDB CORRECTIONS SUBMITTED:

Directed by Cummings alone, the second of his 92 episodes behind the camera.  And Phil Shuken, not Bill Manhoff, co-wrote with Henning, Wesson and Gordon.  Neither Rod Amateau nor Manhoff had any involvement with LOVE THAT BOB after the second season, with the former moving to THE BURNS AND ALLEN SHOW.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Lots of laughs provided, but not as brisk as the top tier tangles.  Perhaps The Models Revolt suffers a bit from too many behind-the-scenes changes at once.  Still highly amusing once the adrenaline kicks in at the one-thirds mark.  A weak three star or a strong two and a half.  I went back and forth on it, but eventually, Bob's hilariously cheesy lines pushed it to.... (*** out of four)

If you'd like to check out The Models Revolt for yourself: