Meet Mr. McNutley

Ray Milland, along with Robert Cummings, was one of the first big screen stars to take a chance on a television comedy series, Cummings with the wonderful 'My Hero' series, and Milland with "Meet Mr. McNutly', or as it came to be known 'The Ray Milland Show', both were successful enough to convince other movie stars to later do the same! Because of decent scripts, and a wonderful cast, and of course Mr. Milland's wonderful gift for light comedy, this was one funny show, and it's a crying shame that if the episodes still exist in good condition, that it hasn't been released on DVD, I've seen a handful of episodes in less than perfect quality, but they have all been very funny, and left me craving for more! These early television gems are far too historic and just plain good, to be left to rot!

At this distance it's hard to know if The Ray Milland Show was an imitation of The Halls of Ivy or not. Halls of Ivy starred Ronald Colman as the president of a small college while Milland was a teacher at a small college. Milland's show came on television before The Halls of Ivy, but Halls had been a radio show before. The main differences were that Halls used gentle, intelligent humor while the Milland Show was more broad and goofy. Interestingly, in the second and final season the Milland Show became much more like The Halls of Ivy. Neither lasted.

The first of Ray Milland's two television series was this situation comedy The Ray Milland Show. Milland played a college professor who was at an institute of higher learning that didn't look too much different from the schools that Kurt Russell went to when he was a Disney star. Phyllis Avery was Milland's wife and the show lasted from 1953 to 1955. The comedy came from Milland and wife interacting among the students, other faculty, and faculty wives.

Milland like so many other of Hollywood's leading men was getting less and less work in Hollywood as the studios unloaded their contract players. He tried television as so many did, some flopped on it, others like Lucille Ball had their careers made by it. Milland fell somewhere in between.

The Ray Milland Show didn't set the small screen on fire. It was pleasant enough, but not like anything about it truly stood out. In fact in the midst of its television run, Ray Milland did on the big screen one of his most remembered parts, Dial M For Murder.

Ironic isn't it.