She Gets the Laughs

For my money, She Gets Her Man, released by Universal in 1945, is Joan Davis' best comedy feature. There are laughs aplenty, and scarcely a dull moment, in its 72-minute running time.

Joan is cast as Jane Pilkington, daughter of the late "Ma" Pilkington, former police chief of a small town, Clayton. The town is in an uproar thanks to a blowgun-wielding serial killer who attacks local citizens with poison darts. Since her mother was a top-notch crimefighter, Jane is just the gal to restore law and order in Clayton, right? Well...

She Gets Her Man is a terrific showcase for Joan's finely honed comedic skills and impeccable timing. It's not an A-list film comedy with an all-star cast and a generous budget -- Joan never got those -- but I'd be surprised if most viewers didn't get at least a few chuckles from it. I certainly did. The reviewer for Box Office Digest concurred, saying, "Joan Davis comes into her own ... The laughs are consistently present and plenteous."

One prominent comedian who didn't find the film amusing was Harold Lloyd, who after taking a good look promptly contacted his lawyer. For that story, as well as an in-depth look at its star's life and career, check out Joan Davis: America's Queen of Film, Radio and Television Comedy.

The Defamation of Joan Davis

Backus and Davis, the not-so-happy couple?

It's a lonely job, but someone has to do it. I'm talking about the ongoing battle to speak in defense of Joan Davis (1912-1961), one of my favorite comediennes. Almost without exception, when her name comes up in Facebook groups or other social media outlets, someone can't wait to tell us what a horrible person she was. These are, of course, people who never met her.

This news flash is usually attributed to her sitcom husband, the late Jim Backus. It's true that the chapter on I Married Joan in his memoir (co-authored with wife Henny) does not paint a flattering picture of Joan. But I think Backus himself, who wasn't above a bit of embellishment to make a good story better, might regret what he wrote, if he could see how it's been used to bludgeon a talented performer who's no longer around to defend herself.

I can only hope that those who truly want to learn more about Miss Davis' life and career will take a look at Joan Davis: America's Queen of Film, Radio and Television Comedy. The book, which is based on a substantial amount of research, doesn't try to make Joan a saint -- or crucify her. I believe it's a balanced presentation that treats her with the respect her accomplishments deserve. I'm sorry that's in danger of becoming a minority viewpoint.

Joan's Best Buddy

When I interviewed the late Sherwood Schwartz for my book on Joan Davis, he told me that the star's favorite TV sidekick (her "Ethel Mertz") was actress Geraldine Carr, who played Joan Stevens' buddy Mabel. That made me wonder why Miss Carr did not appear in the later episodes of I Married Joan filmed. The sad answer, as some research disclosed, was that she died in a car crash on September 2, 1954, while the series was still in production.

The recurring TV role was a career break for the up-and-coming actress, whose previous credits included supporting roles in The Sniper (1952), as Arthur Franz's unsympathetic supervisor, and in The Long, Long Trailer (1954). Miss Carr made two guest appearances on I Married Joan, in non-recurring parts, before being cast as neighbor Mabel. Seen frequently during Season Two, she was contracted for regular appearances the following year, until tragedy struck. She was 40 years old at the time her life was so abruptly cut short.

For many reasons, I'm glad that I Married Joan is currently enjoying a revival on the Decades cable channel; one is the opportunity to appreciate the work of gifted performers no longer with us. For more on this underappreciated comedy series and its cast, please see my book Joan Davis: America's Queen of Film, Radio and Television Comedy.

Morning Merriment

Fans of classic comedy are in for a treat! Decades, the digital broadcast TV network, is giving its viewers plenty of laughs, with a double dose of morning comedy. Two of the best comediennes of the 1950s are brightening Decades' morning lineup, with the revival of I Married Joan (above), starring Joan Davis, and Our Miss Brooks (below), starring Eve Arden.

And if, after admiring their comic gifts, you find yourself wanting to know more about the lives and careers of these two very funny ladies, I have a suggestion or two for you about that.

The Price is Right (Lower)

Joan Davis appreciates a good book, as you can see. But when you're looking for something a little lighter than a scientific tome on Einstein's theories, try my first book, The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of 1950s Sitcoms. Like the title says, you'll learn all about the leading female sitcom stars of early TV. Aside from Joan herself, the book spotlights Gracie Allen, Eve Arden, Spring Byington, Anne Jeffreys, Donna Reed, Ann Sothern, Gale Storm, Betty White, and, of course, Lucy.

If you've been thinking of checking out the book, now's a great time to do so, because my publisher, McFarland, has just given it a spiffy new (read: lower) price of $29.95. For the moment, you'll have to go to the publisher's website to get this deal. But Amazon and other online retailers should catch up with the new price shortly.

I loved writing about these talented ladies, and having the chance for exclusive interviews with Betty White and the late Gale Storm, as well as Eve Arden's son and others who worked with the talented ten. I hope you'll enjoy the book just as much.

Acres and Acres

They're two of radio and TV's most recognizable character actors, but I'd be willing to bet many of you aren't familiar with the show they're performing here. Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet played the starring roles in CBS' radio comedy Granby's Green Acres in the summer of 1950. The comedy was not picked up for a regular season run, and there it ended. At least, it ended until nearly 15 years later, when writer/producer Jay Sommers revived the concept for television, where Green Acres became much more successful.       

Gordon and Benaderet, of course, moved smoothly from their success as radio performers to being equally in demand on television. In fact, it was the popularity of Petticoat Junction, starring Benaderet, that prompted CBS to ask for another show from executive producer Paul Henning. Busy with Junction and The Beverly Hillbillies, he sought the help of Sommers, and together they concocted the idea of placing Green Acres in Hooterville.

Incidentally, Granby's Green Acres was followed on the CBS schedule that summer by Leave It to Joan, starring none other than our pal Joan Davis. See how neatly I did that?

It's Joan's Birthday -- Isn't It?

Wishing a very happy birthday to the late, great comedienne Joan Davis, born on this date in 1907. Or was it 1912? 

This is one time you'd do well not to rely on the Internet for a correct answer (excepting this blog, of course!) Both dates have been reported by multiple sources, so in researching Joan Davis: America's Queen of Film, Radio and Television Comedy, I was determined to give the definitive answer.

Thanks to the considerable help of my genealogist friend PD (who doesn't like her name bandied about online), I was able to obtain a copy of Joan's birth certificate. It provided a few surprises, including a given name that wasn't quite what I expected, a notation as to when and how it was legally amended, years after it was filed -- and a date ...

Well, for that part, please check out my fifth book, published in 2014. Too little is known about this gifted funny lady, who died much too young in 1961, and the book represents my best effort at filling that need. I hope you'll give it a look.

Frankie and Joannie

Recognize this young fellow sharing a script with Joan Davis? Yep, it's that bobby-soxer idol of the 1940s, Frank Sinatra. (Guys sure wore their pants hiked up high back then, didn't they?) In the fall of 1943, he was a guest star on The Sealtest Village Store, where Joan's always man-hungry character did her best to catch his eye.

Unfortunately for Joan, it was no fun for the gag writers -- or the audience -- if she actually won the heart of her would-be swain. So instead, when she told co-star Jack Haley that the new dress she was wearing was "just for Frankie," he retorted, "Well, I hope it looks better on him than it does on you."

What's on the Radio?

If you're serious about studying -- or just enjoying -- Old Time Radio, this is a reference volume that belongs in your library:

Mr. Hickerson has compiled an impressive amount of information about the classic shows from the Golden Age of radio. I found his book very helpful when researching the careers of radio stars like Eve Arden and Joan Davis, and I was pleased to receive this announcement of an updated edition.

We should all be thankful for OTR lovers like Mr. Hickerson who have contributed so much to our knowledge of this historic medium.

Joan Davis, Radio Star

Though many know her primarily for her film or television work, Joan Davis was also a major radio star in the 1940s. One of my goals in writing about her was to better document her work on popular shows such as The Sealtest Village Store, The Joan Davis Show, and Leave It to Joan. To do so was one of the biggest challenges in researching and writing the book, which is why I was especially pleased by a review in the August newsletter of the Radio Collectors of America.

Leave It to Joan, with Joseph Kearns.

According to reviewer Bob Jennings, Joan Davis: America's Queen of Film, Radio and Television Comedy "offers the best and certainly the most complete examination of Joan Davis' radio career ever assembled ... he has connected almost all the radio programs Joan Davis did, including all of her guest appearances, with plots, cast, and background information that reveals some of [the] turmoil and pressure that creating those shows caused." In conclusion, he notes, "This is a good book. It is well worth the asking price, and it's a reference book anyone who has an interest in the life and career of Joan Davis will find invaluable..."

Since only a small percentage of Joan Davis' radio comedy is currently in circulation among Old Time Radio collectors. I can't help agreeing with Mr. Jennings when he writes, "Perhaps it is not being too optimistic to believe that treasure troves of Joan Davis' original radio shows may yet surface." Here's hoping!

"Say, Aren't You..."

Here's a face you probably never expected to see on I Married Joan. Bing Crosby makes a cameo appearance in the closing scene of "Opera," a first-season episode which aired on February 25, 1953. Der Bingle plays a new neighbor who drops by, though he firmly insists he's not...you know. At this juncture, General Electric was sponsoring both I Married Joan and Crosby's CBS radio show, explaining the unexpected walk-on.

Joan and Bing also appeared in print ads for their sponsor, as you can see below:

Professor Joan

Joan Davis the intellectual? Who'd have thought it? Certainly not fans of her 1940s radio shows, nor most of her movies at Fox. But Joan showed her versatility in the 1946 Universal comedy She Wrote the Book. In early scenes, she plays shy mathematics professor Jane Featherstone, faculty member of a small college. But throw in a train trip, and an unexpected knock on the head, and soon Jane is mistaken for Lulu Winters, author of the scandalous bestseller Always Lulu. What happens after that makes for one of Joan's best comedy films, one that has yet to have a proper DVD release.

Off-screen, of course, Joan was an extremely intelligent woman who made the most of her hard-earned talent as a comedienne, and successfully operated her own corporation, Joan Davis Enterprises. Want to know more about that? Well, here's my suggestion. Amazing what you can find in books these days, isn't it?

Joan Davis Attends a TVParty!

As a longtime reader of Billy Ingram's fun, informative TVParty! site, I'm delighted by today's featured post, a review of my Joan Davis book. Click here to see what he has to say. Unbelievably, it's now been more than 50 years since Joan's trailblazing career was cut short by her untimely death at the age of 48. Thanks, Billy, for helping make sure her life and work are remembered.

A Special Message from The Joan Davis Channel

If you're a Joan Davis fan, you probably know about the terrific Joan Davis Channel on YouTube. It's a dream site for followers of this brilliant comedienne, founded by collectors who have devoted many hours to preserving her work.

That's why I'm thrilled to have their endorsement for my new book. Check out their amazing video for more information. And while you're there, watch an episode or two. The laughs are on them.

Joan is Kindled

The Kindle version of Joan Davis has just been released, and right now it's available for only $9.95. This price may or may not last, so hop to it if you want to cozy up with your e-Reader and America's Queen of Film, Radio and Television Comedy. Happy reading!

P.S. That's the late, great John Rich above with Joan, directing her in a classic I Married Joan segment.

What You Don't Know About Joan Davis

Although I included a chapter on Joan Davis in The Women Who Made Television Funny, I hesitated before going forward with a full book about her. Much as I admired her work, and wanted to shed new light on her impressive career, I knew it wouldn't be easy to research her life, and add much to what information was already available. I drafted nearly half the manuscript before mentioning it to my publishers, in case I fell short of my goal.

Joan in vaudeville with husband Si Wills.

But I believe I can say with confidence that even those who already know this great comedy star, and have read everything they can about her, will learn at least a few new things from Joan Davis: America's Queen of Film, Radio and Television Comedy, now available from McFarland and via online stores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. (Right now, it's available in print, but an eBook version is soon to follow).

Here are a few examples of the information to be found within the book's pages:

1. Joan's real birth name (it's not "Madonna Josephine Davis," as she often told reporters during her lifetime), verified date of birth, and family background.

2. The name of the traveling act she joined as a teenager, dropping out of school to do so.

3. An account of how one of Joan's best-loved films became the subject of a plagiarism suit on behalf of another famous comedian, who not only sued for damages but tried to have all copies of Joan's movie destroyed.

4. The name of the 1960s television show that was on the verge of casting Joan's daughter Beverly Wills as a regular player, just prior to Beverly's untimely death.

5. The complete story of Joan's 1956 pilot for an ABC-TV sitcom, which nearly made it to the network schedule that fall, only a year after I Married Joan ended.

I hope that's whetted your appetite enough to consider diving into the book. It was a labor of love for me, and I'd be very pleased if it introduced at least a few new people to her unforgettable comedy.

Joan Has Arrived!

So you've been wanting to read that new book on your favorite comedienne, but online sellers are telling you you have to wait until mid-May? Not true! Joan Davis: America's Queen of Film, Radio and Television Comedy is available today from its publisher, McFarland & Company. Click the link above to have a copy in your mailbox faster than Joan Stevens can spend her $412 clothes budget for the year! Once you've finished reading it, you'll Sing and Be Happy that you know so much about the life and career of this extraordinarily funny lady.

The Burden of Proofing*

Talk about mixed emotions. One day a little email appears in my inbox, telling me that page proofs for my forthcoming book on Joan Davis are ready for my review. This is good news, right? I've worked hard on this book over the last couple of years. I'm proud of the new information I've uncovered about her life and career, and I'm eager for readers to see it. I download the page proofs and they look terrific. Even before I wrote books for McFarland, I often read their books, and I loved the way they looked. They've taken my manuscript and made it into a beautiful book (love the new typeface, by the way!)

So what's the downside? Well, there's the little matter of proofreading. For the past week or so I've spent a lot of hours staring at those pages, trying to nip anything in the bud that I don't want found in the finished book. Even after a good copy editor has done his or her best to clean me up, there are still little things here and there. I'm really good at leaving words out sentences -- er, out of sentences -- and that's always a hazard. Sometimes things have changed since I turned in the manuscript -- sadly, my reference to Shirley Temple (born 1928) now needs to read (1928-2014). Despite all my best efforts, there will be flaws in the book when it's published. For someone like me, who's capable of slight perfectionist tendencies, that's frustrating.

But in a couple more days, I will send my corrections to the nice folks in Jefferson, North Carolina, and then wait for that day when the UPS man delivers ten author copies of the book to my front doorstep. And even after five books, that's pretty exciting.

*with apologies to Scott Turow

He Married Joan

What is it about February and funny men? A few days ago, we observed the birthday of Gale Gordon; today, we remember Jim Backus on the 101st anniversary of his birth. Born February 25, 1913, James Gilmore Backus will long be remembered for his classic roles as Thurston Howell III on Gilligan's Island, Judge Bradley Stevens on I Married Joan, and as the voice of the visually challenged cartoon character Mr. Quincy Magoo.

The short-lived Jim Backus Show.

Although a longtime TV mainstay, Backus had a love-hate relationship with series work, and claimed to have formed a support group called Series Anonymous. "Agents love to put an actor in a series," he groused in 1969, "'cause you don't bother them for nine months ... You live in a vacuum and come out asking who's president." Series Anonymous, he joked, would do an intervention for an actor offered a series role. "They call me up, bring over a bottle of booze, and I talk them out of it."

Apparently no one did that for Jim himself. You can read about his starring sitcom, The Jim Backus Show: Hot off the Wire in my book Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television. Jim also figures, naturally, into my new book on I Married Joan star Joan Davis, due out this spring. Jim's memoirs painted a less-than-flattering picture of Joan as a colleague; my book provides another perspective, and I hope will encourage you to seek out this classic comedy of early TV.

Ab---ner! It's Sandra Gould!

Scoff if you will, Bewitched fans, but to me Sandra Gould was always the "real" Gladys Kravitz. When I first saw the show, in syndicated reruns of the 1970s, the black-and-white episodes were never shown, so it wasn't until much later that I had the chance to appreciate the genius of the late Alice Pearce, who created the role (and was awarded an Emmy for it, posthumously). Because Pearce was so good in the role, it was a challenge for Gould (1916-1999) to win over fans when she assumed the role in Season 3.

Gould as a telephone operator on Gilligan's Island.

I recently read a 1966 interview she did with writer Joan E. Vadeboncoeur, shortly after she joined the show. Gould explained that she originally declined to read for the part. Not only had she been friendly with Pearce, with whom she shared a dressing room when they worked in the film Dear Heart (1964), but Gould was also grieving the loss of her husband, producer Larry Berns, to cancer. "I stayed home and nursed him [for] five years," Gould recalled. "When he died I was like a basket case." She finally agreed to meet Bewitched executive producer Harry Ackerman because "I knew I had to get out of the house. They had already read 60 actresses and I read with 14 or 15. Then they wanted me to test, and I was still reluctant ... [O]ne day they called and said, "Come down and sign your contract." Once cast, Gould chose not to view episodes in which her predecessor appeared. "I can't be Alice," she decided, "so I'll do it the way I am."

Gould had been making people laugh the way she was for years, including a long run as Miss Duffy on radio's Duffy's Tavern. She was also a favorite of the late Joan Davis, and I enjoyed seeing Gould in numerous episodes of I Married Joan, as I researched my forthcoming book on its star. Sandra Gould had a rich, rewarding career as a character actress, not the least of which was giving us a memorable Take Two on Gladys Kravitz.