Make Room for Daddy

Seems almost every TV series thinks that screaming and yelling is funny..Examples: Sgt Bilko, The Honeymooners, All In The Family, The Danny Thomas Show and many more. Personally, all the yelling gives me a headache and I don't find it the least bit laughable. With that said, Danny Thomas is very likeable and clearly very talented. The story plots are usually pretty good and with the screaming aside very entertaining. The supporting cast is always good and the actresses who play Danny's wife and maid usually steal the episode. Everyone has good on screen chemistry and the shows are always positive and uplifting.

Until I started watching"The Danny Thomas Show" on Catchy Comedy, I had no idea how wonderful it was! Great acting, funny, sentimental and heartfelt. Danny's chemistry with Rusty Hamer (God bless him) and Angela Cartwright as well as the other kids on the show demonstrates his love for children. I've only seen seasons 4-11 (the earlier ones, titled "Make Room For Daddy" are hard to find), but I like the later episodes with Angela Cartwright and Marjorie Lord.

For me, Rusty Hamer is the best part of the show. He was an amazing actor. I love his scenes with Danny the best. They made a great father and son team.

The music acts, both from the cast and the amazing guest stars like Sammy Davis Jr are completely wonderful. It's incredible how many guests stars they had. They all look so young and it's fun to see their earlier performances.

Danny Thomas was a wonderful performer and I loved when they showcased his nightclub acts.

The most amazing thing to me is that many shows that have long runs (this one ran 11 seasons), get stale after a while. But The Danny Thomas Show only got better.

The television series,"Make Room For Daddy",remains one of the most neglected milestones in situation comedy,which to this day has not been seen since. This was one of the cornerstones,if not,the steppingstone that paved the way for the development of situation comedy,not to mention of the founding pioneers as well,under its star Danny Thomas and its producer and executive in charge of production Sheldon Leonard and his assistant Ronald Jacobs. This series provided the perfect showcase for Danny Thomas,who never found anything else that effectively showcased his talent not to mention his own creative style of situation comedy that remains to this day a bonafide classic.

The series,"Make Room For Daddy",aka,"The Danny Thomas Show" basically was one of the founding cornerstones of situation comedy,and it went on to become one of the longest running situation comedy shows of all time that ran for 11 astounding years in prime time and produced 343 episodes all in black and white and it ran on two major television networks.... First,it ran for four seasons on ABC network premiering on September 29, 1953 until April 25, 1957. Then on October 7, 1957, the series switched networks,this time it went over to CBS-TV for the next seven seasons ending its run on April 27,1964 (where it moved to Monday nights replacing "I Love Lucy" in its timeslot).. In all a total of 343 episodes were produced all in black and white with 90 episodes for Make Room For Daddy(1953-1957) and 253 episodes for The Danny Thomas Show (1957-1964). During its run it became the second longest running situation comedy of all time,and it is tied with "The Adventures Of Ozzie and Harriet ","My Three Sons","M*A*S*H","Cheers","Frasier", for the duration of its longevity.

"Make Room For Daddy" followed the misadventures of the Williams family. Danny Williams(Danny Thomas),a nightclub entertainer tries to strike a balance between family life and the grueling lifestyle of the entertainment business. However,the series also showcased some of Danny Thomas' great singing abilities,and that is what brought out this series. In the beginning,the family consisted of his wife,Margaret,played by Jean Hagen,his 11 year-old daughter Terry,played by Sherry Jackson,and his 6 year-old son Rusty,played by Rusty Hamer. However,during the first four seasons of the show,actress Jean Hagen quit the show in 1956 to pursue other options and Danny Thomas decided to continue on without her. Her character was written out as having herself died and Danny was now a widower to take care of the children. The following season(1957-1958),featured Danny dating various other women with from the kids,but instead found his becoming by proposing to a young nurse named Kathy O'Hara,played by Marjorie Lord. The fifth season opened with Danny and Kathy returning from their honeymoon. The newcomer in the cast was Kathy's five year-old daughter from her previous marriage named Linda,played by Angela Cartwright. It was also during the switch that Sherry Jackson,at the height of the 1958-1959 season,where her character Terry left the show,but instead Jackson's character of Terry returned,but in certain spots where she was being courted by a nightclub performer,whom she eventually married. It was here during the 1959-1960 season that Sherry Jackson and the producers went at it over some contract disputes,and in 1960,Jackson left the show for good,never to be heard from again. Her replacement on the show the next season. An unknown actress named Penny Parker took over the character of Terry Williams,and that lasted one season with Parker leaving the show also at the height of the 1960-1961 season. There were other regulars in the cast that made their mark on this series,including some cast members like Hans Conried,Pat Harrington,Jr.,Annette Funicello, Joey Bishop, Sid Melton,Amanda Randolph as the feisty but comical housekeeper,and Sheldon Leonard.

For those who knew how successful this show was,let me put this in perspective....this show was a milestone in showing the overall behavior in the way families truly behaved,and this show was a prime example of this:indulgent parents,manipulative children,not to mention the relatives,the trials of balancing a career and home life,and so much more,since no other situation comedy of the period came close to such honest depictions of life within the American family....the only show that came close to that line was Dick Van Dyke's classic situation comedy series of the 1960's. Also of interest here:this show spawned a classic hit series;the episode of "Danny Meets Andy",or "Danny In Mayberry" was the pilot to "The Andy Griffith Show",which ran for eight seasons on CBS. Also such memorable guests that were given their own series as well including Bill Dana,Jesse White,Pat Carroll,and Joey Bishop. It is also to note that Joey Bishop's own series,"The Joey Bishop Show" was the only situation comedy in the early-1960's produced by Sheldon Leonard and Danny Thomas that was in color from 1961-1965 for NBC. Thomas' own sitcom "Make Room For Daddy".and other shows were still in black and white. However,after the show went off the air in 1965,the Williamses returned five years later in 1970 for the spin off comedy "Make Room For Granddaddy",which the regular cast members as this time Danny Thomas plays a grandfather...Marjorie Lord,Rusty Hamer,and Angela Cartwright returned,and this time with new members Micheal Hughes and Rosey Grier,which ran for one season on ABC-TV from 1970-1971.

Back when Danny Thomas opted for a television series, the Danny Thomas Show or Make Room For Daddy as it was both known as, his career was at a crossroads. He was a good singer/comedian and did a few musical and acting parts on screen, but he had not reached the top rank of film stars and those people were finding less and less work on the big screen. Television was clearly the way to go.

Like Desi Arnaz over on I Love Lucy, Thomas as Danny Williams was a nightclub performer. Unlike Desi he did not have a wife just dying to get into show business. Jean Hagen was perfectly content to be raising their kids Sherry Jackson and Rusty Hamer. Hagen wanted out after three years so she was killed off and Thomas met and married Marjorie Lord who was on the remainder of the series run.

Back in those days TV had a lot of 'father is an idiot' shows and this was king of that lot. Thomas was constantly put down by his son Rusty Hamer. All I know is that talking like that to my father would have gotten me a rap across the mouth and a few licks on my behind with the hair brush.

Sadly enough Hamer proved to be the real tragedy of the show. His was a well known child star suicide after his career dissipated when the show was canceled.

The best part of the Danny Thomas Show was Danny Thomas performer with songs and stand up comedy. And that Lebanese uncle, a most demanding Uncle Tonoose played by Hans Conreid on occasion.

I think a whole generation of kids learned bad behavior from Rusty Hamer though.

"Make Room For Daddy" a.k.a. "The Danny Thomas Show" stands as one of the best-written, best acted comedy shows ever. The family situations and characters were like real people with real flaws and virtues. Maybe more so than any other show of it's time. I have read many critiques of the fifth season on DVD. Just about everyone complains about the syndicated, edited episodes being used for this and several other DVD sets. Let me say this. In my opinion, there may not be any cost-effective ways to issue some series in their original, uncut versions. Sam Nelson, son of Rick Nelson is undertaking a massive restoration undertaking to redo all 435 episodes of his Grandparents "Ozzie and Harriet" show. To do so, he has mounted a massive fund-raising campaign to fund this project. The series "Bachelor Father" has just begun to be re-shown on Antenna TV. They only have 118 of the original 157 episodes to show. The vintage series "Mr. Adams and Eve" apparently has only a handful of it's original episodes still in existence. So be happy with what we can get of these series and stop whining about small details. Enjoy your "Make Room For Daddy" and be grateful for the series we can get.