Classic TV: The Bob Cummings Show (aka Love That Bob)(1955)

"Hold it! I think you're going to like this picture!"

I don't know if that was actually a catchphrase professional photographers used back in the 50's, but it was Bob Cummings' catchphrase to open his self-titled 1955-9 sitcom, which bounced back & forth between NBC & CBS after debuting as a mid-season replacement in January 1955.

Bob Collins (Cummings) was a playboy shutterbug based out of L.A., living with his sister and nephew. Over the course of the series' five season run, there were the usual, predictable misadventures. Cummings also would periodically double up and play Grandpa Collins, such as in this Christmas offering from season 2. There are the subtle clues that give this away in the course of the episode.

Series creator Paul Henning had been a writer for Burns & Allen, and of course would go on to greater success with the trilogy of sitcoms he produced in the 60's (Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, & Green Acres). Dwayne Hickman (Chuck) followed up with The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Rosemary DeCamp would later surface in the late 60's series, That Girl. Finally, Ann B. Davis (Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz) gained iconic status with The Brady Bunch and reprised as Schultzy in, of all things, the first "Brady Bunch Movie" with Shelley Long in the 90's.

"Grandpa's Christmas Visit", like some of the other entries this week, and leading up to Christmas, appears on a "Holiday Classics" DVD compilation released by Mill Creek 2 years ago.



Rating: C.