Mister Peepers

I've just finished viewing the 1st disc in a 4-disc (26 episodes) collection created in conjunction with the UCLA Film & Television Archive (S'More Entertainment, Inc.). So far (aside from the 1st episode), the image quality is quite good. The DVD box is shown on the title page here on IMDb.

"Mr. Peepers" is just as charming as when I first saw it (5-years old at the time) and Wally Cox is truly endearing in this role. If you're in the mood for quiet comedy that sneaks up on you, as opposed to hitting you over the head, you'll treasure this chance to experience all the wonderful characters you might remember from your childhood. Although some of the gags are a bit corny, most are ingenious and well-executed...and even the corny ones are fun. This is one TV series that lives up to my early childhood memories of it.

i, too, loved this series when i was a kid. In 1952 i was 5 and my family always watched this show. My favorite character was the one played by Marion Lorne as a rather stuttering, bumbling and very lovable "aunt" type person. i can still recall her "ubba bubba um um" type comments as she would try and say something important. And then when she came back and played Aunt Clara in Bewitched it was great casting!

It was the first time that i can remember seeing Walter Matthau whose career i followed as a fan for many many years.

i have a question if anyone can verify: was the title or end credits music the "Swedish Rhapsody" by Hugo Alfven? Every time i hear it played on my classical radio station here in Southern California it brings back memories of the image of Mr. Peepers walking away with his back to the camera. i'm not even certain if this image in my mind's eye is correct.

Back in 1952, I was only 12 years old, and television was in it's infancy. In New York City, we had a bare four channels available, and with the exception of the "Late, Late Show" which showed movies, and the pioneering "Jerry Lester Show" which was the raw beginnings of the late night variety format, television for the most part went off at 10:00 PM and did not come on again until 7:00AM the next day. But in between those hours, seven days a week, there was great "experimentation". The Mister Peepers" show was one of those experiments that worked.

Unlike the almost perfect characters that were to come in the "Ozzie and Harriet Show" and the "Leave It to Beaver Show" in the mid to late 1950's, this show dealt with the inner anxieties and insecurity the common person deals with in a not too perfect, everyday world world. And the late, great Wally Cox was the perfect actor to epitomize the 'everyday real person'. In fact, he was magnificent at the part and within the role itself. Unfortunately, it was role that would typecast him for the rest of his acting career.

In fact, it wasn't that Cox looked like a soft spoken, shy milquetoast sort of person (horn-rimmed eyeglasses and all), he was that person. And he was aptly able to, realistically, portray a 'real person' who, despite this inability to rise above his ordinary appearance and manner, managed to meet life's constant challenges and to succeed.

The main character, Mr. Peepers, was a high school science teacher who took pride in his profession. He genuinely cared for others more than for himself, and was able to instill pride and the quest for achievement in his students, while gaining their respect. And at the end of the series, he manages to marry the girl of his dreams.

No, this was not a 'goody-two' shoes sort of show. The comedy was always there, and it was done at a slow enough pace that we had time to understand its true meaning. For when Mr. Peepers was embarrassed, so were we the viewer. But when he triumphed, be it ever so mildly or ungamly, we cheered as much for ourselves as for the character; for in many ways, Mr. Peepers was representative of the majority of us.

This was an excellent show that, unfortunately, is almost all gone now. The crude Kinescope recordings of this series, like many others produced at the dawn of television, have either been lost or destroyed. Too bad. There is much today's television audience could learn from this past comedic-dramatic gem. The series was proof positive that, when well done, pathos and comedy can go hand in hand.

Somewhere during my adolescence, in the late 1970s, I saw an episode or two of Mr. Peepers. Apparently it was briefly in syndication at that time. I finally got a chance to see an episode as an adult this week, when I found it and three other "forgotten" 1950s sit-coms on a CD at a used bookstore.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the show was even better than I had remembered. Unfortunately, the video seemed to have been copied from badly deteriorated kinescope images. I assume these are all that survive of this show and others. (Too bad more people didn't get Desi Arnez's idea of paying to have the shows put on real film!) Despite the condition of the film, it is still a great joy to watch. The cast's artistry shines through, despite the sometimes jerky film movement.

Of course Wally Cox was born to play Mr. Peepers, the mild-mannered junior high science teacher. A young Tony Randall was entertaining as a co-teacher, as was the wonderfully eccentric Marion Lorne, who would later gain fame as Aunt Clara, the senile witch on Bewitched. Jack Warden wasn't in the episode I watched, but I'm sure he was perfect as the coach. Veteran character actress Ruth McDevitt was hilarious in this episode as Mr. Peepers' doting mother. (I knew I recognized her; I knew her as elderly Miss Emily on Kolchak: The Night Stalker 20 years later!) Despite the ragged condition of the old kinescope images, the comedic timing is apparent. Cox patiently zips and unzips pouches in an attaché case on the first day of school, only to have his mother insist he double-checks to be sure he packed his toothbrush. As Peepers and his sister (Jenny Egan) leave amidst Mom's continued "You'll miss your bus!" exhortations, they see her mouth something from the window. Unable to make out what she wants, they go back to the door and wait for her to open it. "Hurry! You'll miss your bus!" was what she wanted to say (again)! Lorne had already perfected the scatter-brained, "senior moment" mannerisms of Aunt Clara. In this episode, she informs the class that she will recite a poem she wrote and that she had recited to her classes on the first day of school every year for 30 years. After the first line, it becomes apparent that she cannot remember the poem. After several hilarious false starts and finally a stammering fluster, she tells the class to busy themselves while she finds the written copy.

Other than the poor image quality, the only other things that might bug a modern viewer are the old-fashioned opening and closing (ala George Burns, Dobie Gillis, etc.) and the canned laughter. Overall, the show is still a winner and ought to be picked up by TV-Land or someone.

One of the first TV shows I remember was "Mr. Peepers." I saw it between the ages of five and eight. The details of the program escape me, save for mental images of Wally Cox, Tony Randall, and Marion Lorne, and for some reason, the quirky theme song which I can still hum. I also recall the impression that it was good-natured and that my parents really liked the show. The kinescopes (16mm films of live TV taken off a picture tube)have evidently deteriorated badly. That's sad, because I'd love to see those. If you do run across them, resurrected, they're worth seeing.