The Millionaire

Here's a program that really caught my fancy when I was growing up. Everyone dreams of wealth. Whether one million dollars is a lot of money now or not, I wouldn't mind having such an amount.

It is a fabulous amount, still. And the concept of instant wealth is still intriguing to us. Witness: the proliferation of money shows currently.

The best part of the program was the human lessons we all learned about Instant Wealth: it's problems, responsibilities and the greed and envy of others.

The program should be brought back. Maybe Hallmark can do us all the kind favor?

Apparently inspired by the '30s film "If I Had A Million", this was one of the better TV offerings of the Fabulous Fifties. A mysterious (and obviously eccentric) billionaire, John Beresford Tipton would, each week, write out a check for one million dollars and instruct his manservant Michael Anthony (aka Marvin Miller)to deliver it to its recipient, a total stranger, along with instructions that the lucky individual must never reveal it's source or its exact amount on pain of forfeiture. The scripts were, for the most part, literate and engrossing. In fact, it was reported at the time that some viewers found the premise so convincing that they actually wrote their local TV stations pleading to know where the reclusive Mr. Tipton lived so they could, hopefully, get a similar check. Of course, there were also viewers who actually thought "Mr. Ed" could really talk, but we digress. . . This show was, as already mentioned, one of the better shows back then ( as evinced by it's 5 year run ) and will, hopefully, one of these days, reappear on DVD. We should be so lucky.

When my grandparents broke down and got a television in the middle Fifties one of the first shows they liked was The Millionaire. I can still hear my grandmother, saying philosophically what a great thing it would be if Michael Anthony rang their doorbell and dropped a million tax free dollars in their laps. My grandparents were immigrants from the Ukraine and no one ever gave them anything. Still it was an entertaining fantasy.

As it was for any number of homes back in the day when the fabulously wealthy John Beresford Tipton whom we never saw, but whose voice was supplied by Paul Frees would summon his secretary Michael Anthony in played by Marvin Miller. With the spacious Tipton estate of Silverstone in the background, Tipton explains to Anthony who will be this week's beneficiary.

The next thing we see is Marvin Miller knocking on someone's door and giving them a check for a million dollars. What that individual did with it was the basis of the episode of that week. That in turn depended on the character of the individual. The variations on human character was the heart of each episode.

Tipton found 205 characters to be generous with for six seasons. Presumably he died or ran out of money. He might have had to sell Silverstone, from what little we saw of it, it looked as grand as San Simeon.

They were good episodes, The Millionaire crammed a lot of plot and character development into a thirty minute show. The players had to be good to convey it. I wish I could see some of those episodes on the TV Land Channel now.

"The Millionaire" is a show unfairly forgotten, today; as popular in it's time as "Queen for a Day", "Private Secretary", and "Our Miss Brooks", it offered a premise that would serve as an inspiration for series as varied as "Magnum P.I,", "Fantasy Island", "Stairway to Heaven", and the current 'Reality TV' craze; top-notch casts in half-hour morality tales; and 'common sense' resolutions that would keep it an audience favorite for five seasons.

Produced for CBS by Don Fedderson Productions (who would also give America "My Three Sons" and "Family Affair"), an unseen millionaire (with obviously WAY too much free time), John Beresford Tipton (voiced by one of TV and film's best-known voice actors, Paul Frees), would dispatch his associate, the ever put-upon Michael Anthony (Marvin Miller, in his best-known role), carrying a tax-free cashier's check for a million dollars, made out to 'random' individuals, on condition that they never attempt to discover who sent it, or reveal where the money came from, except to their husband or wife.

With the frequently bemused Anthony as an observer, the new millionaires would run the gamut of possible scenarios, discovering, ultimately, that money can't buy happiness, but CAN provide a half-hour of frequently engrossing drama. Each episode would generally end with Anthony summarizing the recipient's 'lesson learned' to a satisfied Tipton.

With casts often featuring future 'stars', the series was wise without ever being overly 'preachy', with good direction and strong production values. Frequently lampooned by comedy shows of the period, "The Millionaire" ultimately would have the last laugh, outlasting most of them.

While an attempt to 'reinvent' the show would fail, in 1978, the original certainly qualifies as a TV 'classic'...

Nobody seems to remember that it wasn't actually random people to whom the million dollars was given. At the beginning of each show Tipton would send for his secretary, Michael Anthony. Tipton would say something pertaining to the person he'd decided to give the gift to, and say "Here's another Millionaire." He always knew some reason why the person needed the money or the lesson the money might teach. Anthony would fold the check into his portfolio and head out to deliver it. One episode I still remember had the money going to the young daughter of a contentious couple who needed the money. They found the million dollars notation in her bankbook and told her she shouldn't pretend and write things in the book. At the end of the show they hadn't yet discovered the money was real. It was a good show, fondly remembered.