What do Tab Hunter, Betty Hutton and Dennis O’Keefe have in common? They all had eponymous television shows that you never heard of that featured animated opening credits. Actually the animated opening credit bit was widespread through late 50s–mid 60s era and the above reel displays quite a few of them for shows that you’ve heard of (‘The Lucy Show’–an early black and white version, ‘Please Don’t Eat The Daisies’, ‘Dennis The Menace’) as well as shows you probably missed (‘Accidental Family’? ‘The Hathaways’?). All in all a good way to kill seven minutes. I can’t say that these openers made me nostalgic for the era of laugh-track slathered one-camera black and white TV comedies–most of them are just too silly to get through at this point–but it did make me wonder about the short-lived but much admired James Thurber series ‘My World And Welcome To It.’ I wonder if it’s still as good as its rep?
April 19, 2024
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Fun stuff. As to “My World . . .” I have bootleg copies of some of the episodes — they do seem to hold up – though the quality of the recording ranges from bad to hideous – so it gets hard to concentrate from time to time. Too bad that old TV restoration is pretty much done now and a good version will never see the light of day. Nonetheless — I still have a fond memory of that show.
I suggest a modest MWAWTI retrospective when I’m next in LA!