The Bob Cummings Show

The Bob Cummings Show(also known as Love That Bob) was the first-ever series to debut as a midseason replacement premiered on NBC-TV on January 25, 1955 and was originally sponsored by R.J. Reynolds-Winston Cigarettes and Salem Cigarettes. The program began with a half-season run on NBC,and then in mid-1955 went to CBS-TV where it stayed for two full seasons until 1957,and returned to NBC for its final two seasons ending on September 15, 1959. A total of 173 episodes were produced during its five-year run,all in classic black and white. This was one of the funniest sitcoms to ever grace the golden age of television during the 1950's. Bob Cummings demonstrated impeccable comic timing while having great support from an equally outstanding ensemble which made this show a must see. Bob Cummings' character Bob Collins was a veteran of World War II who was living and supporting his war-widowed sister(Rosemary De Camp),and her college student son,Chuck(Dwayne Hickman). Bob Cummings portrayal of a dashing young "Hollywood" photographer,Air Force reserve officer and ladies man was mirrored to Cummings' own in real life. Cummings' portrayal of a womanizer who had a beau of beautiful women in his photography studio,was not only shameless but downright hilariously funny in some of the episodes while being a mentor and role model to his nephew Chuck. In just about every episode,Bob would become the Playboy Beverly Hills photographer who couldn't keep his eyes of the women who were always in his office and in his studio. Chaos ensues when Bob stumbles into one situation after another.

"The Bob Cummings Show" was ahead of its time,representative of its time,and influential in its own right. The series was important in the development of several careers. It's creator,producer,and head writer Paul Henning,the later producer of such major 1960's hits as "The Beverly Hillbillies","Petticoat Junction",and "Green Acres" was the major force behind the success of this series. Henning was also one of the executive producers of this series,along with George Burns(who is not credited here),and Al Simon. Others that were involved with this series also were the driving force behind some of Paul Henning's later shows. Among them are the writing team of Dick Wesson,Phil Shuken,William Cowley,Shirley Gordon,and Bill Manhoff;the production team of Joesph Depew and Edward Rubin and George King;photographer and cameraman Harry Wild;editor Guy Scarpitta,and script supervisor Ulla Bourne.

Another reason why "The Bob Cummings Show" was such a major hit was the casting....you had the debut of three of the funniest ladies on television who would go on to bigger and better things in their careers among them Ann B. Davis(later of "The Brady Bunch"),Nancy Kulp(the future Jane Hathaway on "The Beverly Hillbillies"),and Rose Marie(the future Sally Rodgers on "The Dick Van Dyke Show"). Ann B. Davis who played Bob's resourceful assistant "Schultzy" who two Emmys for her work on the show,and her character would get more advancement and development for her character than she ever would during her role as Alice on "The Brady Bunch". Also, Nancy Kulp,who played boy-crazy cougar Pamela Livingstone,would be cast alongside actress Joi Lansing in which Henning apparently put on his most famous show "The Beverly Hillbillies",where Miss Kulp as Jane Hathaway(secretary to banker Milburn Drysdale-a character to which she played similar to the one she appeared as "Pamela Livingstone" on Cummings' show)while Miss Lansing portrayed assistant secretary Gladys.

Perhaps the biggest career boost was received by Dwayne Hickman as Bob's nephew and college student,Chuck. Hickman,after this series ended went on to bigger and better things in his career as the lead favorite in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis",which premiered in 1959 and last four years on the air for CBS. The program represented the height of Cummings' career for the five seasons that it was on the air on two major television networks(both NBC and CBS). When the series ended in 1959,"The Bob Cummings Show" was seen in repeats during the 1960's(when ABC put it onto its daytime schedule from 1961-1963) and early 1970's(when it was in syndicated repeats). During the 1980's,the series was back in repeats for the CBN(Christian Broadcasting Network)Cable Network that lasted way into the early 1990's(when CBN Cable became the Family Channel and later on ABC Family)where it hasn't been seen until recently or smaller stations and independent networks today.

Bob Cummings was a pioneer in the early days of sitcoms, making this show worth viewing if you're interested in the history of television programming. There's a certain "live on tape" feel to some episodes, when actors accidentally step on each others' lines, which also makes the atmosphere a little more natural than today's highly polished (tightly edited) sitcoms.

It's a treat to see a young Ann B. Davis, best remembered today as "The Brady Bunch"'s housekeeper, Alice. In the 50s, she was considered a fairly major TV star, and she was an undeniably inventive comic actress. In many episodes of "The Bob Cummings Show," she has a pretty substantial amount of screen time -- far more than she usually got in the Brady household.

Another classic sitcom star is on hand: Before Nancy Kulp played Miss Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies, she honed her TV skills in "The Bob Cummings Show." Her character, a snooty, sexually aggressive bird-watching enthusiast has much in common with Miss Jane. In fact, in many ways they're practically identical. In later years, Kulp came out of the closet and lived as an openly gay woman. Her character in "The Bob Cummings Show," while aggressively pursuing Bob, certainly has a lesbian vibe. In the episode "Bob Goes Bird Watching," for example, when Kulp enters the episode, she's clad in a very masculine suit, with a "butch" hairstyle, but throughout the scene she's trying to persuade Bob abandon his swimsuit-clad models and join her at Griffith Park, to check out some "tit mouse" birds -- no double entendres were wasted in this show...

Dwayne Hickman is also in the cast, perfecting his Dobbie Gillis character. Like Kulp, he carried this character's basic traits into another show -- so it's interesting to watch him learning his craft here.

Like many shows of this time period, "The Bob Cummings Show" was performed at a pace most viewers now find stunningly slow. But many of the scripts hold up fairly well, and the acting, though a bit stagey at times, is naturalistic and enjoyable. If you want lightening- quick repartee, tune into "Will and Grace," but if you're ready for some relaxing old-time humor performed by some of the best actors from TV's early days, check out "The Bob Cummings Show."

The "Bob Commings Show" (retitled for syndication, "Love That Bob") had eroticism, patriotism, and family values. The character of Bob Collins was a World War II veteran who was living with and supporting his war-widowed sister and her college student son, Chuck. Bob Collins was both a shameless, one could say addicted, womanizer, and an admirable role model and mentor for his nephew Chuck, played by Dwayne Hickman. "The Bob Cummings Show" was ahead of its time, representative of its time, and influential on its time. It was especially influential on a lot of subsequent shows. "The Dobbie Gillis Show", for instance was almost a direct rip-off of the "Bob Cummings Show" with Dwayne Hickman doing a recreation of his Chuck character with a lot of Bob Collins mixed in. In the "Bob Cummings Show" Dwayne Hickman as Chuck would try to date one of Uncle Bob's models, such as the French bombshell Collette duBois, played by Debra Paget's sister, Lisa Gaye. Collette would consult Bob, asking him about the idea of accepting a date with college student Chuck, "Don't you think it would be like you Americans say, 'stealing the bed?'. " A bit stunned at the expression, Bob would do one of his "takes" and then gasp, "You mean 'robbing the cradle?'" In "Dobbie Gillis" Dwayne Hickman got an awful lot of mileage out of using the same Bob Commings type gasp to yell, "That's Dobbie! With a B!" every time some character called him "Dopie." And Hickman as Dobbie was forever doing a take and responding with some gasp in response to some remark made by either Maynard G. Krebs or Zelda. Zelda, of course, was a rip-off of the Shultzy character on the "Bob Commings Show." Part of the charm of the Commings series was in its predictability of situation and the way the characters played off of one another. College student Chuck would periodically stop by Uncle Bob's photo studio, become ga-ga at the string of gorgeous models parading in and out of the studio in various stages of undress, and stutter, "Ah, ah, Uncle Bob, I feel guilty using your money to go to college. I think it is time I learned a trade. Like, ah, photography." To this, Uncle Bob would chuckle and respond, "No, Chuck, you need to get an education so that you don't end up a tradesman like your uncle. You continue in school and become a doctor." Whether he realizes it or not, I think the American who most of all refined and capitalized on the "take" and on characters playing off one another as influenced by the Commings show was Johnny Carson who captivated the American night audience for 25 years with jokes, takes, and character banter which to me, all seemed to originate on "The Bob Cummings Show."

Lively series that could occasionally sparkle with comedy and high spirits. This is a role the handsome, slightly smug Cummings was born to play. As a high-fashion photographer, there was always a parade of shapely girls passing through his studio each week. I'm guessing teen- age boys like me made up a lot of his steady audience. But that's not to say glamour was the only draw. The scripts, by and large, were surprisingly good, usually centering around a romantic predicament Bob would then have to fast talk his way out of. Maybe secretary Schultzy (Davis) or sister Margaret (DeCamp) would help. More likely, they would standby amused, while Bob was getting some kind of minor comeuppance. And what a fine supporting cast they were, including a pre-Dobie Dwayne Hickman. Nothing special or substantive here, just solid light-hearted entertainment that wears surprisingly well.

I watched this show when it first aired and in many reruns over the following decade. Bob Cummings demonstrated impeccable comic timing while supported by an equally outstanding ensemble. Especially noteworthy for me were Dwayne Hickman, Ann B. Davis, Nancy Kulp and King Donovan. This show has often been criticized as "sexist" whereas it was, in fact, just the opposite. The primary theme of the show centered around Bob's constant womanizing which almost always ended in his getting his comeuppance. Bob often poked fun at himself in this series for example: making fun of health-foods through Nancy Kulp's character even though he was himself a health-food "addict" long before such became fashionable or portraying himself (i.e. Bob Cummings the actor) as an arrogant egotist. I strongly disagree with the "if you liked this" suggestions. This is hardly in the same category as Mr. Ed. Better choices would be Dobie Gillis or the Phil Silvers show.