Tag Archives: Johnny Whitaker

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Family Affair Friday: Season 1, Episode 12, Love Me, Love Me Not

TV Radio Mirror April 1969

Welcome to the latest installment of my weekly Family Affair series!

Season 1, Episode 12, “Love Me, Love Me Not,” 12/5/1966

Written by: Peggy Chantler Dick. Directed by: William D. Russell.

Synopsis

In the opening scene, Jody accidentally breaks a vase with Uncle Bill’s golf club. Bill reacts with typical restraint, noting that accidents happen.

Later, Jody accompanies French to an Italian grocery and witnesses his friend Pepino being spanked for breaking a window.

Pepino gets tough love from his father, a character who escaped from Life with Luigi

Pepino gets tough love from his father, a character who apparently escaped from Life with Luigi

When Jody expresses his confusion, Papa Umberto explains that he punishes his son out of love.

Pepino himself seems less convinced about the spanking=love argument.

Pepino himself seems less convinced about the spanking=love argument.

Suddenly, Uncle Bill’s patience begins to seem like indifference, and Jody tries to provoke a spanking.

First, Jody gives Scotty the doorman Uncle Bill's favorite skiing sweater. This only earns Jody a commendation for generosity.

First, Jody gives Scotty the doorman Uncle Bill’s favorite skiing sweater. This only earns Jody a commendation for generosity.

Jody’s second transgression is disturbing the chess game Mr. French is playing by mail. But what finally sets Uncle Bill off is his worry when Jody runs away at night (though Jody never actually leaves the building).

The little runaway.

The little runaway.

The little runaway, discovered.

The little runaway, discovered.

Uncle Bill delivers a stern–though not physical–punishment but promptly begins to doubt himself and relent. Finally, he realizes where Jody’s coming from and gives the boy a punishment and a gentle spank (“for thinking for one minute that I don’t love you”).

preparing to spank

Preparing to lay the smack down.

Random Thoughts

This episode shows why Brian Keith’s Uncle Bill is such an ideal father figure–affectionate, playful, understanding. In these early episodes, Uncle Bill is warm and demonstrative with Jody in a way that seems unusual and refreshing for a 1960s TV father and son.

Aww...

Aww…

Johnny Whitaker is also adorable in this episode, especially in the scene at the end when he’s waiting for his spanking with closed eyes and gritted teeth.

Is this cute or what?

Is this cute or what?

Uncle Bill’s self-doubt with regard to parenting is realistic and continues the theme of adjustment which has been building all season.

Guest Cast

Pepino: Ricky Cordell. Umberto: Romo Vincent. Scotty: Karl Lukas.

Continuity Notes

The kids’ favorite TV show, Captain Hippopotamus, is mentioned twice. Uncle Bill’s partner, Ted Gaynor, is mentioned, though not seen.

Okay, this is a Jody episode, but how about a little random Buffy cuteness?

Okay, this is a Jody episode, but how about a little random Buffy cuteness?

Notable Quotes

“I wish I could get Uncle Bill to love me enough to sock me.”–Jody

“When he socks me, half of it will be yours.”–Jody to Buffy

“An apology is the act of a real man when he knows he’s wrong.”–Uncle Bill

aww again

So manly and rugged and yet so gentle and loving with kids…sigh.

Today’s Bonus Feature

This might be a little hard to follow. TV Radio Mirror April 1969 featured two articles that both had a split focus on Brian Keith and Diahann Carroll. The “TV Kids” article is worth reading, especially for the description of interaction between Keith and Johnny Whitaker.

(The other headlines on this magazine cover are ridiculous, and why did they use a cover photo that showed Anissa Jones at such a disadvantage?)

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Family Affair Friday: Season 1, Episode 11, “Take Two Aspirin”

Welcome to the latest installment of my weekly Family Affair series!

Season 1, Episode 11, “Take Two Aspirin,” 11/28/1966

Written by: George Tibbles. Directed by: William D. Russell.

Synopsis

The prospect of spending three months in New York makes Uncle Bill restless, both at home and at work.

Buffy and Jody spy on a jumpy Uncle Bill. Prominent here is the rarely seen Davis TV, rabbit ears and all. You might think that, like Chekhov’s gun, the TV will become important later. It doesn’t.

He jumps at the chance to work with his old friend Dave McCovey on a project in Mexico. Dave is building a pipeline, and three other engineers have disappointed him.

“You have to go around that shale,” Uncle Bill tells Dave. That’s the kind of engineering advice you can only get from Bill Davis (and only on site).

Besides respecting Bill’s engineering acumen, Dave also admires his friend’s attitude toward family. “You love ’em but you don’t get tied down,” Dave says, launching Bill into a tizzy of worry.

Meanwhile, at home, Cissy leaves to spend the weekend with a friend, and French comes down with the flu. Buffy and Jody do their best to take care of French, and you can imagine how that goes.

On a call home, Bill gathers that French is sick and that the twins are cooking. Understandably, he becomes alarmed. First grader Jody doesn’t even know the difference between the words “fly” and “flu.” These are definitely not kids who should be trusted near an oven.

French feels better after a nap–until he sees what Buffy and Jody have prepared for him.

Buffy’s “omelet”

Jody’s peanut butter sandwiches (laced with aspirin!)

French’s reaction.

After a quick swoon, French rallies enough to take the twins out for dinner. Cissy arrives home unexpectedly to an empty apartment and becomes alarmed. Uncle Bill picks that moment to phone home again, and his own nervousness increases.

Odd overreactions drive this episode. I’m fan-wanking that the sudden death of the kids’ parents left all the Davises with PTSD and hair-trigger nerves.

Uncle Bill does reach French later and finds out that he’s okay. While they’re talking, the twins break a vase in the hallway, and French announces that “the Ming” is gone. The phone line cuts out, and Bill’s left believing that the family has been robbed.

The “Ming”

Bill decides to head for home. By the time he arrives, of course, everything’s fine. He suggests a school composition topic for Cissy–the tricks that the imagination can play. (Cissy’s planned topic was long hair on men!)

My Thoughts

This rather choppy episode is not one of my favorites. Mr. French is at his irritable best sick in bed, though.

“Sloshing damp rags on a chap when he’s lying down–that’s not cricket.”–French after Jody awakens him by dropping a wet cloth on his head.

The twins’ attempts to cook are also funny.

Guest Cast

Dave McCovey: Norman Alden. Ted Gaynor: John Hubbard.

Norman Alden’s voice was perhaps more memorable than his face. He was a ubiquitous guest on 1960s and 1970s TV shows. Generation Xers like me might remember him as Polly’s father on My Three Sons, Frank Heflin on Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, or the voice of Aquaman on Superfriends. He died in July of this year.

Continuity Notes

Jody’s turtle gets a final mention–he dies while Uncle Bill is out of the country. (Previously referred to as Dinky, the turtle is called Alexander in this episode.) Scotty the doorman is mentioned but not seen. Uncle Bill’s service in Korea comes up again. (He contracted malaria, but he didn’t let it slow him down.)

Random Fashion Moment: The kids’ going-out-to-eat-on-a-rainy-day clothes are cute.

Today’s Bonus Feature
This article about Anissa Jones is from TV Radio Mirror, March 1967. It includes adorable publicity photos of Jones, Johnny Whitaker, and Sebastian Cabot on an outing at the Los Angeles Zoo.

Enjoy my whole Family Affair series!

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Family Affair Friday(ish): Season 1, Episode 10, Beware the Other Woman

I’m sorry that this week’s installment of my Family Affair series is late. Yesterday was my birthday, and I was caught up in a mad whirl of festivity. (Actually, I was so exhausted from my work week that I fell asleep at 9 p.m.)

Season 1, Episode 10, Beware the Other Woman, 11/21/1966
Written by: Elroy Schwartz. Directed by: William D. Russell.

Synopsis

An old friend–Louise Marshall–re-enters Uncle Bill’s life. Meanwhile, Cissy finds a new friend, Sharon.You can tell that Sharon is sophisticated because she describes herself as “between mothers,” with the third one having left recently. She’s also a total you-know-what stirrer, who convinces Cissy that Uncle Bill will marry Louise and ship the kids back to Terre Haute.

Sure, Sharon looks sweet here, but she sets a total Davis weep-fest in motion.

Cissy’s first impulse is to make sure that she and the twins are meeting Uncle Bill’s every need, so that he has no wish to marry. At her age, she should be able to see the fatal flaw in this plan.

The kids “help” Uncle Bill prepare for an evening out.

When that doesn’t work, she shares her fears with the twins–way to go, Cissy! Soon, everyone is bawling.

These tears aren’t terribly convincing.

Uncle Bill is able to set things right, of course. He says he has no immediate plans to marry, and marriage wouldn’t mean separation for their family anyway. He also reveals that Louise’s husband with killed in the Korean War, a few feet from where Bill was standing. (Then, he switched their dog tags and headed for Manhattan…Whoops. Right city and decade. Wrong show.)

Commentary

This episode gets way too maudlin, but it has a few nice moments.

Cute horseplay-with-Uncle-Bill scene.

Elroy Schwartz is the brother of Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island creator Sherwood Schwartz and a prolific TV writer in his own right. His Brady Bunch writing credits include the one where Marcia and Greg run against each other for student body president and the one where Tiger gets lost.

Guest Cast

Ted Gaynor: John Hubbard. Sharon James: Sherry Alberoni. Louise Marshall: Rita Gam.
Sherry Alberoni was a Mousketeer in 1956-57.

Source: Wikipedia

She worked frequently in TV in the 1960s and would appear in several more Family Affair episodes. In the 1970s and 1980s, she provided many cartoon voices, such as Wendy in Superfriends.

Rita Gam won a Golden Globe as Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1952. She’s best known for serving as a bridesmaid for Grace Kelly, a subject on which she’s given many interviews.

Rita Gam must have been very tall or worn mega heels to achieve a height so close to Brian Keith’s.

Fun Facts

Cissy is good at chemistry. Sharon lives in apartment 12B. Uncle Bill is a Korean War veteran.

Continuity Notes

This episode is filled with poignant references to abandonment and separation in Terre Haute.

Notable Quote

“It just happens that I love you so much I’m not ever gonna let you down, you got that through your head?”–Uncle Bill

Read my whole Family Affair series!

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Family Affair Friday: Season 1, Episode 9, “A Matter for Experts,” 11/14/1966

I’m back this week with a full installment of my Family Affair Friday series.

Season 1, Episode 9, “A Matter for Experts,” 11/14/1966

Aired: 11/14/66. Teleplay by: Joseph Hoffman and John McGreevey. Story by: Joseph Hoffman. Directed by: William D. Russell.

Synopsis

The school vice principal, Miss Bryant, tells Uncle Bill that Buffy and Jody are completely dependent on each other and should be placed in separate classrooms. Uncle Bill resists at first, saying that being orphaned, separated for a year, and then shipped to a new home in strange city might be enough adjustment for the time being. Ya think?

All the stress drives Uncle Bill to his cigarettes, and sets him to whining about the challenges of sudden parenthood.

He takes the twins to child psychologist Edith Morse, who agrees that the twins need to develop individual interests.

If Dr. Morse was so smart, would she really choose the ugly Family Affair green for her office walls?

They are separated at school and shepherded into separate past-times, but they remain united in their imaginative play.

At recess, Jody pretends he’s traveling in a spaceship.

During her separate recess, Buffy pretends she’s part of ground control. Gender difference?

Jody does find a friend, Peter.

It’s surprising that Jody found a friend first. He’s usually portrayed as the less competent twin, in every way.

Buffy’s attempts at friendship fail, however, and she’s morose.

Buffy haz a sad.

Finally, the kids concoct a case of the measles to avoid school altogether.

Busted!

Uncle Bill decides to trust his instincts and reunite them.

Random Thoughts

At the beginning of this episode, I was indignant at the experts who wanted to split up twins. By the end, Buffy’s complete inability to function without Jody did seem worrisome.

Guest Cast

Miss Bryant: Sarah Selby. Dr. Edith Morse: Jean Engstrom. Barbara: Kym Karath. Peter: Randy Whipple. Mrs. Hughes: Susan Davis. Kym Karath was Gretl in The Sound of Music and Pattie-Cake in Spencer’s Mountain. On The Brady Bunch, she appeared as Kerry in “Cyrano de Brady.”

Kym Karath

She would appear on one more episode of Family Affair. Randy Whipple appeared in no less than 11 episodes. He also played one of Jerry Van Dyke’s kids in My Mother the Car.

Fun Facts

The twins attend PS 724. Cissy frequents The Gourmet Hamburger and doesn’t “dig” geometry. Buffy begins ballet lessons.

PS 724 has a really crappy playground.

Continuity Notes

Jody’s turtle gets another mention.

Extraordinary Event

Uncle Bill actually takes the kids to the park himself–twice!

Today’s Bonus Feature

In honor of the U.S. presidential election this week, I present a photo that unites Family Affair and the American presidency. This Associated Press photo shows Anissa Jones getting up close and personal with President Lyndon B. Johnson during a Christmas Seals event on November 12, 1968. I can’t decide if this photo is sweet or creepy.

The caption reads: KISS FOR TV STAR–President Johnson kisses Anissa (Buffy) Jones, 10-year-old television star, after receiving the first sheet of Christmas Seals today at the White House. The President who is holding the Seals in his hand, also received from Buffy a rag doll which the junior actress named “Mrs. Beasley.”

Read the whole Family Affair Friday series.

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Family Affair Friday: TV Radio Show, November 1967

I’m on vacation this weekend, so I can’t bring you a complete installment of Family Affair Friday. Instead, I’m offering this cute photo feature on Anissa Jones and Johnny Whitaker from the November 1967 issue of TV Radio Show. (Does anyone recognize this amusement park? The signage looks pretty rinky-dink, even by 1967 standards.)

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Family Affair Friday(ish): Season 1, Episode 8, Who’s Afraid of Nural Shpeni?, 11/7/1966

I apologize for my lateness in bringing you this installment of my weekly Family Affair series.

Season 1, Episode 8, “Who’s Afraid of Nural Shpeni?”

Written by: Cynthia Lindsay. Directed by: William D. Russell.

Synopsis

A Middle Eastern theme pervades this episode, which begins with French reading to the twins about Sinbad the Sailor.

Jody seems pretty excited about this story.

With Uncle Bill soon to return from a project in Beirut, French decides to brush up on his Lebanese culinary skills. But a trip to Fuad’s Middle Eastern Delicacies leads to cooking lessons from Nural Shpeni and then to her family’s demands that French marry her.

The prospective bride. French could do a lot worse.

Dr. Sarkis, an associate of Uncle Bill, reminds Nural’s brothers that the traditions they are relying upon to force French into marriage also demand a large dowry from them.

When Buffy and Jody open the door and see this group, they scream and run. It’s kind of funny, if politically incorrect.

French is thrilled when Nural finally announces she’d rather marry Officer Chamas, the local cop on the beat.

Vic Tayback as the cop. Hmm, Mr. French or Mel Sharples? Tough call.

Random Thoughts

This is the episode the Cleveland Amory mocked in his TV Guide review of Family Affair. It is pretty bad, actually. It’s always fun to see Mr. French in a state of extreme discomfort, however. And it has some other compensations.

Compensation 1: French using a hookah!

Compensation 2: Uncle Bill buys Mrs. Beasley this cute outfit in Lebanon.

Here she is later wearing the outfit.

Guest Cast

Fuad: Nestor Paiva. Nural: Magda Harout. Alam: Henry Corden. Mohad: Peter Manahos. Policeman Chamas: Vic Tayback. Old woman: Kay Koury. Dr. Sarkis: Abraham Sofaer. Most familiar is Vic Tayback, who played Mel in the 1974 movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, as well as the subsequent TV series Alice. Nestor Paiva, who had a long career in movies, died before this episode aired. Magda Harout, on the other hand, is still alive and continued to act as recently as 2010, with an appearance on Fringe. Attention Seinfeld fans: she appeared as Stella in the 1991 episode “The Pen.” Henry Corden voiced many cartoon characters, including Fred Flintstone. He was Marcia’s boss, Mr. Haskell, in the ice cream parlor episode of The Brady Bunch.

Fun Facts

Mr. French speaks Arabic and once worked for the Shah of Morocco. Jody is five minutes older than Buffy.

Read my whole Family Affair series!

Today’s Bonus Feature

An article from TV Radio Mirror, July 1967. These fan magazine articles are not to be trusted completely, but the photos are nice. Here, you can see Johnny Whitaker’s real family.

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Family Affair Friday: Season 1, Episode 7, Mrs. Beasley, Where Are You?, 10/24/1966

My 10-inch Buffy doll with her Mrs. Beasley. They’ve never been removed from the box, but Mrs. Beasley has plummeted to the ground–hey, just like in this episode.

This week, the latest installment of my Family Affair series features a classic Mrs. Beasley episode–and some dolly digressions.

Season 1, Episode 7, Mrs. Beasley, Where Are You?, 10/24/1966

Teleplay by: Phil Davis and John McGreevey. Story by: Phil Davis. Directed by: William D. Russell.

Synopsis

A seeming tragedy occurs when Mr. French accidently knocks Mrs. Beasley off the terrace, and the doll is nowhere to be found below.

What could go wrong here?

Yeah. That.

Meanwhile, a related subplot finds Uncle Bill’s weekend plans to “sleep, play golf and do a little mild socializing” thwarted by conflict with a neighbor–a neighbor whose little girl suddenly owns a doll (Effie Boots) the spitting image of Mrs. Beasley.

Effie Boots’ owner is the spitting image of Pamelyn Ferdin.

A despondent Buffy, however, testifies that the doll isn’t hers.  The whole Davis family suffers along with Buffy.

See the clothes these two are wearing while Cissy makes the scrunched-face-of-concern at Uncle BIll? Well, keep them in mind. We’ll get back to them later.

Jody offers to let Buffy sleep with his turtle. Awww.

A sweet sisterly moment. Double Awww.

When all seems lost, Uncle Bill and his girlfriend du jour find Buffy’s doll in the apartment building’s garbage cans.

“Competition is the lifeblood of free enterprise,” the ragpicker notes approvingly when he sees Bill and his date rifling through the trash. Aren’t ragpickers amusing?

The happy reunion.

Random Thoughts

It would take a cold heart to remain unmoved by Buffy’s suffering. As a Barbie collector, though, I enjoy the toy store scene the most: drool-worthy Mattel dolls as far as the eye can see. I don’t know if Mattel had released the Mrs. Beasley doll yet, but obviously the show had forged its relationship with the toy company.

The mid-1960s was a golden era in Barbie history. In this scene, you can see several “American Girl” Barbie dolls. These were only made for two years and are highly sought after today. The long-haired doll in the background is Barbie’s cousin Francie. The Barbie clothes of that era were especially glamorous. The doll in the foreground is wearing Fabulous Fashion. You can spot other dolls wearing Fashion Luncheon and Pan American Airways Stewardess. One price guide I own values the latter at $900 if it’s still in the box! The little dolls on the shelf above the saleslady are Barbie’s brother and sister, Tutti and Todd, along with their friend Chris. Mattel made a Buffy and Mrs. Beasley doll in that same size.

Guest Cast: George Nelson: Frank Maxwell. Diane: Joan Vohs. Clara: Ann McCrea. Saleslady: Cathleen Cordell. Melissa: Pamelyn Ferdin. Scotty: Karl Lukas. Ragpicker: Andy Albin. Maid: Pauline Drake. Pamelyn Ferdin is a familiar face, and voice, from the 1960s and ’70s. Among other roles, she played Edna on The Odd Couple and voiced Lucy in A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Fern in Charlotte’s Web. She also appeared (with Johnnie Whitaker) on Sigmund and the Seamonsters and was in the ’70s version of Lassie. On The Brady Bunch, she appeared in the episode where Jan sports a wig. She also played Francie in a 1972 made-for-TV version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. She would appear in three more episodes of Family Affair. Joan Vohs appeared in a second-season epidsode as Mrs. Scofield, then appeared in six third-season episodes as Miss Cummings. Andy Albin was a regular performer on Bob Newhart’s short-lived first series in 1961.

Continuity Notes: Cissy explains that after the death of her mother and father and separation from her siblings, Buffy had only Mrs. Beasley left as a friend.

Continuity error–Cissy and Uncle Bill are wearing the same clothes in this scene as they did in the “concerned conversation” scene above, but this scene takes place the next day.

Notable Quotes: “People you love always go away–I know.” Buffy

Well, that quote’s a bummer. So I will close instead with two random Buffy pictures. In Buffy’s happy scenes in this episode, Anissa Jones seems more animated than usual.

Anissa Jones cuteness.

I love that outfit, too. It reminds me of the Gymboree outfits I tried to get my daughter to wear when she was 4 and 5. (No dice.)

Today’s Bonus Feature

An article from Doll World, December 1996, about the small Buffy and Mrs. Beasley doll.

Read my whole Family Affair series!