Our Man Higgins
Encyclopedia
Our Man Higgins is a 34-episode situation comedy
, the story of an English
butler
— portrayed by Stanley Holloway
, who is inherited by a suburban American
family, resulting in a cultural clash that grows into a cultural blending. A Screen Gems
presentation, Our Man Higgins was seen on ABC
television
from October 3, 1962—May 17, 1963. Summer reruns followed until September 11 that same year.
Higgins answers to Frank Maxwell and Audrey Totter
, who played Duncan and Alice MacRoberts. Our Man Higgins is similar in format to the NBC
comedy Hazel
, starring Shirley Booth
as Hazel Burke, an overbearing maid to George and Dorothy Baxter, played by Don DeFore
and Whitney Blake
.
Our Man Higgins, co-sponsored by General Motors
' Pontiac
division and American Tobacco, aired on ABC at 9:30 P.M. Eastern on Wednesdays opposite The Dick Van Dyke Show
on CBS
and the second half of Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall
on NBC
. Higgins followed another one-year ABC series Going My Way
, starring Gene Kelly
) in a television version of the 1944 Bing Crosby
film
.
Joining Holloway, Maxwell and Totter were Rickey Kelman, K.C. Butts and Regina Grove, who portrayed children Tommy, Dinghy and Joanie MacRoberts, respectively.
In the premiere episode, "It's Higgins, Sir", future film star Ryan O'Neal
guest stars as Archie, two years before he rocketed to national attention as Rodney Harrington in the prime time
soap opera
Peyton Place
, also on ABC.
In the second episode, "Servant of the People" (October 10), Higgins expresses qualms about publicizing the MacRoberts family heirloom
s in the newspaper
. In the third segment, "Lady of Leisure" (October 17), Alice feels useless as Higgins takes over the running of the MacRoberts household. In the January 23 episode, "A Bunch of Forget-Me-Nots", Alice is nominated for "Homemaker of the Year", but the selection committee is expected for a visit on a day when the house is in a mess.
In the February 13 episode, "The Royal and Ancient Game", Duncan and his neighbor Bruce MacDermott, played by character actor
Roy Roberts
, decide to settle a business matter by pitting their sons against each other in a golf
match. Duncan, however, does not know that Higgins has been coaching young Jamie MacDermott, played by Roger Mobley
. In "Conflict of Interest" (March 20), with Frank Ferguson
as a guest star, Duncan MacRoberts wants a park converted into a parking lot
. The April 24 episode "Delinquent for a Day" finds Higgins unable to keep the house neat while Duncan and Alice are away; Kurt Russell
guest stars as Bobby. "Love Is Dandy" (May 8) guest stars Mary Wickes
as Higgins' cousin
, who falls for a con man
. "The Dance" (May 17) is the series finale.
It's Higgins, Sir was previously a 13-episode NBC radio comedy series in 1951, created by Paul Harrison and written by Harrison and Rick Vollick. Harry McNaughton read the starring role of Higgins in that series, broadcast on Tuesdays at 9 P.M. (as Bob Hope
's summer replacement).
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
, the story of an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
butler
Butler
A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
— portrayed by Stanley Holloway
Stanley Holloway
Stanley Augustus Holloway, OBE was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady...
, who is inherited by a suburban American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
family, resulting in a cultural clash that grows into a cultural blending. A Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
presentation, Our Man Higgins was seen on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
from October 3, 1962—May 17, 1963. Summer reruns followed until September 11 that same year.
Higgins answers to Frank Maxwell and Audrey Totter
Audrey Totter
Audrey Mary Totter is an American actress and former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract star of Austrian-Slovene and Swedish descent...
, who played Duncan and Alice MacRoberts. Our Man Higgins is similar in format to the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
comedy Hazel
Hazel (TV series)
Hazel is a Screen Gems television series about a fictional live-in maid named Hazel Burke and her employers, the Baxters. The five-season, 154-episode series aired in primetime from September 1961 until April 1966...
, starring Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth was an American actress.Primarily a theatre actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received a Tony Award in 1950...
as Hazel Burke, an overbearing maid to George and Dorothy Baxter, played by Don DeFore
Don DeFore
Donald John DeFore was an American actor who played "the regular guy" and "the good, ol' boy next door" in many films in the 1940s and 1950s.-Life and career:...
and Whitney Blake
Whitney Blake
Whitney Blake was an American film and television actress, director and producer.Blake was born as Nancy Ann Whitney in 1926 in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California, the first child of Martha Mae Wilkerson and Harry Whitney...
.
Our Man Higgins, co-sponsored by General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
' Pontiac
Pontiac
Pontiac was an automobile brand that was established in 1926 as a companion make for General Motors' Oakland. Quickly overtaking its parent in popularity, it supplanted the Oakland brand entirely by 1933 and, for most of its life, became a companion make for Chevrolet. Pontiac was sold in the...
division and American Tobacco, aired on ABC at 9:30 P.M. Eastern on Wednesdays opposite The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom that initially aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from October 3, 1961, until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff....
on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and the second half of Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall
Kraft Music Hall (TV series)
Kraft Music Hall is an umbrella title for several television series aired by NBC in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s in the musical variety genre, sponsored by Kraft Foods, the producers of a well-known line of cheeses and related dairy products...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. Higgins followed another one-year ABC series Going My Way
Going My Way (TV series)
Going My Way is an American comedy-drama series starring dancer and actor Gene Kelly. Based on the 1944 film of the same name starring Bing Crosby, the series aired on ABC with new episodes from October 3, 1962 to April 24, 1963. The program was Kelly's first and only attempt at a weekly television...
, starring Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
) in a television version of the 1944 Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
film
Going My Way
Going My Way is a 1944 film directed by Leo McCarey. It is a light-hearted musical comedy-drama about a new young priest taking over a parish from an established old veteran . Crosby sings five songs in the film. It was followed the next year by a sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's. This picture was...
.
Joining Holloway, Maxwell and Totter were Rickey Kelman, K.C. Butts and Regina Grove, who portrayed children Tommy, Dinghy and Joanie MacRoberts, respectively.
In the premiere episode, "It's Higgins, Sir", future film star Ryan O'Neal
Ryan O'Neal
Charles Patrick Ryan O'Neal , better known as Ryan O'Neal, is an American actor best known for his appearances in the ABC nighttime soap opera Peyton Place and for his roles in such films as Paper Moon , Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon , A Bridge Too Far , and Love Story , for which he received...
guest stars as Archie, two years before he rocketed to national attention as Rodney Harrington in the prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Peyton Place
Peyton Place (TV series)
Peyton Place is an American prime-time soap opera which aired on ABC in half-hour episodes from September 15, 1964 to June 2, 1969.Based upon the 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious, the series was preceded by a 1957 film adaptation. A total of 514 episodes were broadcast, in...
, also on ABC.
In the second episode, "Servant of the People" (October 10), Higgins expresses qualms about publicizing the MacRoberts family heirloom
Heirloom
In popular usage, an heirloom is something, perhaps an antique or some kind of jewelry, that has been passed down for generations through family members....
s in the newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
. In the third segment, "Lady of Leisure" (October 17), Alice feels useless as Higgins takes over the running of the MacRoberts household. In the January 23 episode, "A Bunch of Forget-Me-Nots", Alice is nominated for "Homemaker of the Year", but the selection committee is expected for a visit on a day when the house is in a mess.
In the February 13 episode, "The Royal and Ancient Game", Duncan and his neighbor Bruce MacDermott, played by character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
Roy Roberts
Roy Roberts
Roy Roberts was an American character actor. Over his more than 40-year career, he appeared in more than nine hundred productions on stage and screen.-Biography:...
, decide to settle a business matter by pitting their sons against each other in a golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
match. Duncan, however, does not know that Higgins has been coaching young Jamie MacDermott, played by Roger Mobley
Roger Mobley
Roger L. Mobley in Evansville, Indiana, is a former child actor in film and television, working primarily for Walt Disney Productions during the late 1950s and early 1960s...
. In "Conflict of Interest" (March 20), with Frank Ferguson
Frank Ferguson
Frank Ferguson was an American character actor with hundreds of appearances in both film and television. Perhaps his best known role was as the ranch handyman, Gus Broeberg, on the CBS television series, My Friend Flicka, based on a novel of the same name...
as a guest star, Duncan MacRoberts wants a park converted into a parking lot
Parking lot
A parking lot , also known as car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....
. The April 24 episode "Delinquent for a Day" finds Higgins unable to keep the house neat while Duncan and Alice are away; Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
guest stars as Bobby. "Love Is Dandy" (May 8) guest stars Mary Wickes
Mary Wickes
Mary Wickes was an American film and television actress.-Career:Wickes was born as Mary Isabelle Wickenhauser in St. Louis, Missouri, of German Irish Protestant extraction. She graduated at the age of eighteen with a degree in political science from Washington University in St. Louis, where she...
as Higgins' cousin
Cousin
In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of...
, who falls for a con man
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
. "The Dance" (May 17) is the series finale.
It's Higgins, Sir was previously a 13-episode NBC radio comedy series in 1951, created by Paul Harrison and written by Harrison and Rick Vollick. Harry McNaughton read the starring role of Higgins in that series, broadcast on Tuesdays at 9 P.M. (as Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
's summer replacement).