Life with Elizabeth

Thankfully, episodes of this program are available on YouTube so I watched several of them. They exceeded expectations. Betty White and Del Moore had great chemistry; their banter was natural, almost seemed improvised at times. They navigated their scenes together with fine physical comedic skill and cleverly executed exchanges. White, as Elizabeth, was playfully funny, whether miming responses to the narrator (and on screen announcer, Jack Narz) or teasing Moore, who portrays her happily exasperated and expressive husband, Alvin. Writing wasn't bad, actually quite amusing at times, penned in part by veteran screenwriter George Tibbles (best known for his work on My Three Sons). This is clearly a lower budget program, which is to its advantage; there is more reliance on White and Moore to anchor the show. A lone harpist provides the theme music and cute soundtrack moments. Keep in mind that the show was broadcast in the early to mid-50's and has to be appreciated in the context of its time. But it holds up pretty well thanks in no small part to its stars.

Not the funniest show I've ever seen, but pleasant enough. The scripts are often silly, so-so at best but the star of the show is what makes it shine--Betty White, a real "sweetheart" presented here as a young, newlywed, rather impish version of Gracie Allen. The announcer introduces each episode, even speaks directly to Betty, and at the end prompts the cast to say "Good night." (Attention game show fans: the announcer, who appears on camera a lot, is none other than legendary game show host Jack Narz of "Concentration" and "Now You See It" fame, at the dawn of his career.) At least one video dealer is selling this for a dollar apiece and marketing it as "The Betty White Show," with a synopsis on the back of her short-lived 1977 sitcom that has nothing to do with this 1953-55 first-run syndicated effort.

When I noticed this show on Betty White's IMDb filmography, I had to see it. Even though I've never been a huge Betty White fan, I've always had to admire her range. I was surprised to find Life With Elizabeth available from Netflix, so I watched three episodes on a DVD. While those three were plenty – at least for one setting, I did get some enjoyment out of the show. Everyone seemed to be eager to follow the I Love Lucy formula for success in the 1950s: A kooky, mildly attractive housewife, her buddy next door and an ever-suffering husband to shake his head knowingly when the wife's schemes inevitably backfired. It worked for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez and for George Burns and Gracie Allen. Joan Davis and Jim Backus also had some success with the formula in I Married Joan. Here, too, it proved effective. Like Burns and Allen, the narrator (Jack Narz) stepped through the "fourth wall" and discussed the "plot" with the characters. While this may seem very disconcerting to modern audiences, it was not at all unusual for the 1950s. White, who turned 30 the show's first season, was a lovable enough young wife, who sometimes used her devilish sense of humor to jab husband Del Moore. Moore and White made a believable and likable young couple, grappling with ordinary everyday situations like whether to plant a tree on the patio, going to a drive-in movie, buying a new vacuum, entertaining an old college friend, etc. I see that she also starred in another, similar sitcom, Date With the Angels, a few years later. I'll have to see if I can find it, too. For anyone interested in the history of the American sitcom or for any big Betty White fans, Life With Elizabeth is a must-see. Just don't expect I Love Lucy.

I first saw Betty White on the Hoffman(n) my parents purchased in the early 50's on the Al Jarvis TV show (it had a different name). Her show, Life with Elizabeth was shown in the late afternoon. Two things I remember about LWE was there was a dog they owned who's name was Stormy ant the Thanksgiving show when the "first" turkey slipped off the platter and Elizabeth took it back into the kitchen and brought the "second" turkey to serve everyone. Everyone said it was really lucky that Elizabeth cooked two turkeys. I thought that was really funny because the previous Thanksgiving my grandmother dropped the turkey on the floor and my uncle's Doberman grabbed it and was out the door before anyone could stop him. Great memories of a simpler age. Probably not great television but not bad for then. A strong 7.5 for the era.

Elizabeth appeared to be an ordinary, everyday housewife of her time(the early 50s), and so she was . . . er, aside from the fact that an off-camera announcer regularly led forays to check into the goings-on around her house, of course. And then, come to think of it, she wasn't exactly the docile, unassuming "little woman" that husband Alvin always hoped (against all reason) she'd turn out to be, either.

In a word, she was an imp. She delighted in puncturing Alvin's pomposity, always lovingly, but invariably disastrously.

Introduced each week by harp music, which gave a deceptively tranquil lead-in to what was to follow, "Life With Elizabeth" wasn't a 'situation comedy' -- indeed, that concept had barely been formed at the time; instead, it was a comedy of situations, usually two to each show, individual and unrelated, each of them introduced by the off-camera announcer who then just let events unfold. Once chaos had yet again been firmly established as the order of the day, his voice would be again heard, this time presumably as her conscience: "Elizabeth!" (pause) "Aren't you ashamed?"

She usually gave it a moment's thought before shaking her head impishly.

As with the harp music, the show itself was deceptive in its simplicity, the writing, production and, not least of all, the performances of Betty White and Del Moore who were letter-perfect. Produced by a local Los Angeles TV station (at which White and Moore had been staffers), "Life With Elizabeth" seems to have lived its entire life in syndication.

And Elizabeth kept life from ever becoming dull!