Topper was one of my earliest memories of TV. I think George and Marion always had drinks in their hands. Robert Sterling died a couple of days ago.
Topper was a television series based on the 1930’s film series Topper. The thrust of the story is that the sophisticated Cosmo Topper (Leo G. Carroll) is vice-president of a bank. He is married to the sweet but dumb Henrietta (Lee Patrick). They live in a house that they bought from the estate of a young couple, George and Marion Kirby (Robert Sterling and Anne Jeffreys), who died after being swept away by an avalanche. Their St. Bernard, Neil, who was unable to rescue them, also died with them. Cosmo finds that his house is haunted by their ghosts and that of their alcoholic St. Bernard. The hitch is that only he can see or hear them. This allows for a lot of hilarious episodes, as the Kirbys complicate Cosmo’s life! This show ran from 1953 to 1956.
Stephen Sondheim was one of the writers. I wonder if I’d still think it was funny.
A quick check to amazon reveals that some of those old shows are now available on DVD – bargain bin stuff that gives you 4 shows for about five bucks. I remember that show, or at least impressions of it.
It was preceded by Topper movies, but I can’t remember seeing any of these. These are on amazon, too.
But best of all, the novel on which all of this is based is still in print – Topper I read it about 20 years ago – very funny.
When I finally saw the movie, I preferred the tv show. i loved it when it was on and I was very young. As I recall, the movie was a bit racy, but I’m reachin’ way back in the neural matter.
I have faint memories of Topper. I think I did like it a lot. I definitely remember Leo G. Carroll. But the dog. I thought the dog was a beagle or a bassett hound. The website shows a St. Bernard. Was there another dog on a TV show from the old days?
What a surprise! Thanks. I think maybe my parents watched that show and I liked the talking dog or something. I don’t remember the name of the show at all so I think maybe it was over my head or something. But now I don’t have to keep wondering about the dogs.
I had totally forgotten about Jackie Cooper.
I do remember liking him and Abby Dalton in Hennessey which ran from 1959-1962. I really can’t remember a thing about it except that I enjoyed it. Some of the photos make it look pretty goofy.
