Bachelor Father

Bachelor Father (1957-1962) was a rare show that was produced during the late fifties. John Forsythe starred as "The Bachelor Father". An unwed father who lived in a house with his young niece and Chinese manservant. An interesting show when I was a young lad and it was one of my favorites because the manservant served as a comic foil and he would make me laugh. I saw quite a few of these episodes because they would air late at night on a local independent television station. the intro of the show would show the mack daddy John Forsythe, his niece and the manservant tooling around in the family automoblie. Not a great show but a different look at life in the mid to late fifties. A break from the staples like Leave it to Beaver. I'm Mike Tee Vee, keep it on this station!

I hadn't seen Bachelor Father on TV in probably 45 years until recently a local affiliate cable station started running it on weekdays in the late morning. It's enjoyable, rather amusing and very innocent. No bad language or sexual innuendo. Set in southern California, Bentley Greg (John Forsythe) is a wealthy attorney who resides in his Beverly Hills home with his orphaned niece, Kelly and houseboy, Peter. Most of the plots seem to revolve around seemingly trivial events, but that is more reflective of the 1950's and early 60's before the "sexual revolution" and wide spread drug use became common. Performances by the regular cast members are usually very satisfactory, although sometimes exaggerated to make a point. Episode plots are light-hearted if not particularly memorable, but I enjoy viewing a TV show first broadcast when I was in elementary school.

Re:"Trpdean's" review of BF. Either you forgot the locale of BF or you never watched the series.

Attorney Bentley Gregg lived/worked in Beverly Hills, California, not the East Coast or the Midwest as you stated.

Also, he did not live in a penthouse, he lived in a home (actually two homes).

I don't know how you could come up with the scenario of living either on the east coast and/or the Midwest.

Each episode pounded into our TV heads that he lived and worked in Beverly Hills. They even had location shots of him tooling around the Beverly Hills neighborhood in his beautiful Chrysler New Yorker convertible (first season he had a 1957 Thunderbird).

The easy natural charm of young John Forsythe and the essential sweetness of his "getting into problems" teenage niece Kelly Corcoran, caused this series to be a hit, and made Forsythe a beloved fixture in America. I remember it very fondly though I haven't seen it since it was originally broadcast.

Unlike one later series with a similar premise (The Courtship of Eddie's Father), both Forsythe and niece whom he was raising were people you'd like to know - the very definition of gentility, charm, restraint - even Kelly whose problems were never due to her own outrageousness, but simply her age.

Unlike another later series (Family Affair), Forsythe had a gentleness rare for paternal figures in television dealing with teenagers. (Brian Keith was curmudgeonly and would rail at fate!). It made the program tremendously reassuring.

Forsythe's well-dressed handsomeness, his restraint, his distinguished voice, his very movement, and the affluence of his character and home, gave this series an urban and upper middle class reassurance that was unlike most other series of the day (or any day for that matter).

E.g., Donna Reed (father a doctor) or My Three Sons (MacMurray an aircraft engineer) were suburban, patio barbecue and swimming pool sorts of series. "Father Knows Best" and "Leave it to Beaver" seemed to take place in a sort of mythical small American town. "The Life of Riley and "the Honeymooners" had dads going to the bus depot, the sewer or the "plant". Although "Make Room for Daddy" took place in New York, but the life of a nightclub comic (and the Danny Thomas character) was frenetic - voices constantly shrieking.

In contrast, Bachelor Father was set in a penthouse - and seemed to be in a large Eastern or Midwestern city - probably New York, definitely not southern California. It was lovely and I thank all those involved for presenting it so very well to create such fond memories.

John Forsythe was in our title role as Bentley Gregg well known entertainment lawyer in Hollywood. He's quite the ladies' man and has no intentions of getting married. You get family responsibility with that.

But family responsibility comes his way when his orphaned niece Noreen Corcoran comes to live with him. This is a new world for Forsythe, but the show is essentially Forsythe coping with new situations that he never thought he would.

Completing the household is Sammee Tong as Forsythe's valet, cook, and general factotum. His is a truly tragic Hollywood story as he committed suicide two years after Bachelor Father completed its run.

Can't prove it, but I think John Forsythe's character was based on entertainment attorney and man about town Greg Bautzer. Bautzer made a lot of the gossip columns of the day escorting some of Hollywood's best known female stars. Forsythe's character is a kinder gentler version of Bautzer.

This was a nice show and again a situation where Forsythe most definitely on the B list of big screen star opted for television as many of his contemporaries did. Bachelor Father was a good career move.