Behind every iconic TV show from the golden age lies a story almost as entertaining as what aired on screen. These classics didn’t just appear out of nowhere—they were the result of creative risks, behind-the-scenes drama, and a little bit of TV magic. Whether it’s the secrets behind the sets or the surprising origins of our favorite characters, these shows have tales to tell that are just as fascinating as their episodes. Let’s pull back the curtain and take a closer look at the stories that brought these legendary programs to life.
Do you want to get a general idea of what old-time Vaudeville was like? Watch some old episodes of The Ed Sullivan Show. The TV variety show was really patterned after Vaudeville shows, with musical acts, guest appearances, comic sketches, and zany slapstick skits. For many people today, The Ed Sullivan Show makes us immediately think about the Beatles, who made their American TV debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, or Elvis, who was famously filmed from the waist up so that viewers – and censors – wouldn’t see his gyrating hips. While these entertainers may be fixed in our memories, it was actually a comedy duo from Canada, Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster, who logged the most The Ed Sullivan Show appearances with close to 80 guest appearances.
One of the early forerunners of the reality family show genre, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, which ran from 1950 to 1958, was a television sitcom but it was based on the real lives of husband and wife, George Burns and Gracie Allen. Gracie Allen knew that many of their viewers believed they were actually glimpsing the couple living their normal lives, therefore she wanted the show to be as realistic as possible. She made sure the set was decorated how she would have decorated her own home. And she insisted on actually doing the various tasks her on-screen character was doing, whether it was writing out an envelope, rolling a cigarette, or chopping vegetables for dinner. The irony of that is that Allen was shown cooking in many of the episodes, but she was really a terrible cook. She and Burns had a family chef to prepare their meals for them or they dined out.
If you pay close attention, you will notice that Broderick Crawford, who starred as officer Dan Matthews in Highway Patrol, is not shown driving his squad car very often. And when he is shown driving, it is almost always on a rural, two-lane road with no other traffic. The reason for this may surprise fans of the fast-paced police drama. Broderick Crawford didn’t have a valid driver’s license. His driver’s license had been revoked for drunk driving. Initially, the series was supposed to be based on the adventures of the California Highway Patrol, but the producers thought it would be limiting and boring to show cops enforcing driving laws. The show was broadened to include all types of law enforcement.
Pay close attention the next time you are binge-watching reruns of Dragnet, the 1967-1970 police drama. In many episodes, Sergeant Joe Friday, played by Jack Webb, and Officer Bill Gannon, played by Harry Morgan, mention an off-screen police officer name Lieutenant Klingin. Most of the references have to deal with suspects taking lie detector tests with Klingin. But did you know that Lieutenant Klingin was a real police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department? He served as an advisor on the set of Dragnet. Interestingly, Gene Roddenberry the creator of Star Trek, used to work with Lieutenant Klingin during Roddenberry’s stint in the public relations department of the LAPD. He honored Klingin by morphing his name into the name of his Star Trek villains, the Klingons.
One of the unique things about the television western, Laramie, which ran from 1959 to 1963, was devoted to authenticity. For that reason, the show’s two main characters, Slim Sherman, played by John Smith, and Jess Harper, played by Robert Fuller, actually did the required work on the ranch. When an episode showed the characters chopping wood, the actors were really chopping the wood. They fed chickens, repaired the roof, washed dishes, and cleaned stalls. Other westerns of the time – and there were a lot of them – weren’t as dedicated to this degree of authenticity. It helped to add a dose of realism to the show.
The American television series, McHale’s Navy, was based on a BBC radio program called The Navy Lark. Like the British radio show, the antics on McHale’s Navy follow a zany naval crew based in a fictional location. In the BBC version, the setting is the fictional country of Potarneyland which is vaguely noted as being somewhere near the Indian subcontinent. In McHale’s Navy, there are two fictional settings. One is a base in the South Pacific called Taratupa. The other is a town in southern Italy named Voltafiore. Keeping the locations fictional and vague allowed the writers of both The Navy Lark and McHale’s Navy to take liberties with the storylines.
Bob Cummings and Julie Newmar starred in the mid-1960s sitcom, My Living Doll. This series is one of the first science fiction shows that explores the quest for human emotions (or at least, to understand them) by a robot. In this case, Newmar plays the robot, a realistic android that is under the care of Dr. Bob McDonald, played by Cummings. The majority of the storylines revolve around Newmar’s character trying to understand human emotions, misinterpreting human emotions, or striving to acquire human emotions. We see this concept in plenty of future television shows and movies, such as Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
One unique aspect of the 1960-1961 sitcom, My Sister Eileen, was that the two main characters, Eileen Stritch and Shirley Boone who play sisters, Ruth and Eileen Sherwood, were single, career-minded women trying to earn their own way in life. The series was adapted from a series of short autobiographical stories that were written by Ruth McKenney and ran in The New Yorker magazine. The short stories were later published into a book, then made into a 1940 stage play. Two film versions of the short stories were made, in 1942 and 1955, before the television series was created.
Did you know that Richard Crenna was the first actor who was over the age of 21 and was cast to play a teenage high school student? He played the role of high schooler Walter Denton in Our Miss Brooks even though he was 25 years old at the time. To make it seem more plausible, Crenna spoke in a higher-pitched voice. Crenna set a standard for adults portraying teens on the small screen and big screen. For example, Stockard Channing was 33 when she played Rizzo in Grease. Alan Ruck was 29 when he played Cameron, Matthew Broderick’s wingman in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. And, Ben Platt, age 27, recently starred as a high school student in Dear Evan Hansen.
Although he is not featured in this photograph from a scene of the TV comedy, Petticoat Junction, the family’s adorable dog may have been the most recognizable performer on the show. Higgins the dog, who was named “Dog” on Petticoat Junction, was a tan and black mutt with Cocker Spaniel, Schnauzer, Norwich Terrier, and Border Terrier. He was rescued by accomplished animal trainer Frank Inn from a Burbank animal shelter in 1960 and trained to be a performer. Following his appearances on Petticoat Junction, Higgins the dog went on to star in Benji, making him one of the most beloved animal actors of all time.