My Little Margie

Everything in this show is funny! Besides Margie, my two favorite characters are Mr. Honeywell, because he is the J. C. Dithers-type boss who always plays up to the clients now matter how big an idiot he or she might be, treats Vern like a dog, and constantly threatens to fire him. He is the stereotype of the mean-spirited boss. My second-favorite character after Mr. Honeywell is Freddie, because even though he is not technically an in-law, Vern treats him as the father would always treat a son-in-law that he despised. (Of course, the fact that Freddie is really as lazy and as sorry (hapless might be a more apt word) as Vern says he is does not detract from the humor at all.)

In hindsight, I think "My Little Margie" was a TV sit com version of the Frederick March and Teresa Wright characters in "The Best Years of Our Lives" (if Al Stevenson and Peggy had been on speed). Charles Farrel played a vice president at Honeywell and Todd Investment Counselors. He played Vernon Albright as a guy who would really prefer to apply his considerable financial expertise in the back room with the financial ledgers, but who always seemed to find that his main job was in making a good impression on the rich matron client of the week so that she would give her account or keep her account at Honeywell and Todd. The more he would try to maintain a proper image, the more Margie would get him into some madcap situation in which they were doing things like running through a haunted castle and swinging fireplace pokers at strange characters in medieval armor who were emerging from a huge fireplace and clanking down the hallways. Situations would reach a fever pitch of hysteria; but as Gale Storm always pointed out to Farrel at the end, "It all worked out. And Dad always shrugged with a sigh of a smile, "Well, that's my Little Margie."

The 126 episodes of the screwball situation comedy "My Little Margie" originally ran from 1952-1955 CBS and NBC. The "Vci Video" release "My Little Margie-Vol. #1" contains six of these episodes (150 minutes). I have listed them below with their original airdates. Rather than six consecutive episodes these span the entire time period that the show ran.

The characters are somewhat strange for the period as back then sitcoms were almost entirely about traditional nuclear families (Ricardos, Nelsons, Rileys, Andersons, etc.). This is a notable exception as it features Gale Storm as 21-year old Margie Albright who lives with her widowed father Vern (Charles Farrell). Vern is the standard ineffectual dad of the 1950's. He works for an investment firm and is very much under the thumb of his boss George Honeywell (Clarence Kolb). Their working relationship is very much like the Darrin Stevens- Larry Tate one in "Bewitched" as Vern panders shamelessly to Mr. Honeywell and to the firm's perspective clients. This dynamic makes for some nice comic moments.

Vern also spends a lot of time searching for romance and when Margie is not causing him embarrassment she is trying to keep him out of trouble with the ladies. Some of the best episodes have Margie teaming up with Mrs. Odetts (their busybody neighbor played by Gertrude Hoffman) to keep Vern from falling for the legion of wily widows in their town.

Margie has a boyfriend, Freddie Wilson (Don Hayden) but if there ever was a romantic side to their relationship the spark went out when the series began. Part of the problem is that Storm was 30 years old when the series started and dressed like a teenager trying to affect a grown-up look. This got worse with each year and I did not really appreciate Storm until she started acting her age in her next series, "The Gale Storm Show" (a/k/a "Oh, Susanna").

Volume # includes: Margie's Phantom Lover 28 Oct 1953, The Missing Link 25 October 1952, Hillbilly Margie 12 Feb 1953, Vern's Mother-In-Law 2 Feb 55, Trapped Freddy 12 March 1953, Buried Treasure 2 April 1953.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Someone said that Margie was almost 30 and still living at home. Actually Gale Storm was playing a 21 year old "taking care" of her "old" father, played by silent screen star, Charles Farrell.

I've bought three of the DVD boxes so far and have enjoyed these episodes in between watching the antics of Joan Davis in "I Married Joan." I enjoy these shows much better than the junk they call comedies on today's TV.

In "Margie," I especially love the episodes with Gertrude Hoffman, who lives across the hall from the Albrights and plays Margie's 'Ethel Mertz' even though she is probably in her 80s! She's a hip old lady who'd look quite comfortable riding a hog with a Hell's Angel.

Once Margie said to Mrs. Odets (Hoffman), "Mrs. Odets, you still have that "certain something" that draws men to you." Odets smiles slyly and says, "Yes, Margie, but I've had it a long, LONG time."

Gertrude Hoffman brings to mind her wonderful performance in the movie "Caged," where she played "Millie, the old lifer." After the prison matron draws her hand back to slap Millie, she stares up at her and says, "Hit me, and I'll put your lights out." And she MEANT it! Why she wasn't nominated for an Oscar for that I'll never know.

Gale Storm is still living as this is being written. If she ever comes to IMDb, I want her to know that I loved her on both of her series, this one and "Oh, Susanna!" Also, I have on video, her surprise by Ralph Edwards when he featured her on This Is Your Life. Gale, you were beautiful and a delight to watch.

Trivia: "My Little Margie" was a summer replacement for "I Love Lucy" and was such a hit with the public, the network picked it up and gave it its own time slot.

I watched this program as a 9 year-old or so and remember just a wonderful fuzzy warm feeling. It had a distinctive quality theme. Gale played a well meaning happy daughter to Charles Farrell. Every one in the cast portrayed really NICE PEOPLE, above all the lunacy that developed. Not a mean spirited act in the whole program so 'as a kid' this just made me feel good and secure and positive. Fortunately the show is available on video, almost all 126 episodes. Gale has a wonderful website and she's as young and perky as ever. I watch the episodes with the same enthusiasm today as before.