Topper

A terrific series. Leo G. Carroll remains to this day as "Topper" - no one else does him justice. Does anyone recall Neil the vanishing St. Bernard? Not seen in the movie versions but but comically memorable.

Does anybody know if these are broadcast anywhere or available on videotape?

Well, it might have been that I was so young, but I enjoyed this TV show enormously. My guess is that it was because it was so different from typical TV fare of then and even now.

It relied on word play and clever dialog instead of idiotic situations and slapstick for its kick which is, I suppose, why I enjoyed it as a child. I've grown up to be a writer. For a shock, check out the writing credits for these shows and you'll see a *very* familiar name. I once, a few years ago, caught a re-run as a New Year's Day festival on a local TV channel and can report that it, unlike almost all shows from any era, holds up very well. Highly enjoyable if you can find it.

One of my best childhood memories, a worthy TV incarnation of the movie classic. It's also where I first learned of Leo G. Carroll, Mr. Waverly in "The Man from Uncle"

I remember well watching reruns of this series in the Fifties; incredibly, it still shows up in late-night reruns on broadcast TV even today. The special effects were pretty good for 1953, and now they're merely quaint. But the pleasant and good-natured charm of this story about the stodgy banker and the two friendly ghosts of the young marrieds who used to live in his house and were killed by an avalanche is just wonderful. The ghosts alternately help and drive crazy Topper - but they mean well. The chemistry is excellent, helped by Sterling and Jeffreys being married. Anne Jeffreys turned up in the last few years on some shows. . . and must have been drinking a youth serum! Still lovely.

Thorne Smith wrote a lot of racily humorous books, most of them justly forgotten, but now and then he hit on a worthwhile theme. The Topper books were about how after a short and frivolously wasted life, a young couple returns from the dead to implore a Thurberesque little man to live life to the fullest. Because it's a terribly serious situation that applies to us all, it's a wonderful basis for humor. Oh, and because the young female is safely dead, she can indulge in racier behavior than was often seen on 1950s television.

The TV remake with Jack Warden was less successful, largely because its Topper was at the pinnacle of the business world and thus less obviously in need of any ectoplasmic helpers.