''The Dennis O'Keefe Show'' is an American sitcom produced by Cypress Production/

United Artists Television United Artists Television (UATV) was an American television production/distribution studio of United Artists Corporation that was formed on New Year's Day (January 1), 1958. The company is remembered for producing series such as '' This Man Daws ...

which aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

for sponsor

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Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it prod ...

division. It was not a ratings success during its original run and was canceled after one season. The series was largely forgotten until a "Best Of" DVD release by

Alpha Video Alpha Video (also known as Alpha Home Entertainment) is an entertainment company, based near Philadelphia, that specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of public domain movies and TV shows on DVD. Alpha Video releases approximately 30 ...

during 2004. Certain episodes of the show can also be seen at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. It appears this series has entered the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

Premise

Dennis O'Keefe Dennis O'Keefe (born Edward Vanes Flanagan, Jr., March 29, 1908 – August 31, 1968) was an American actor and writer. Early years Born in Fort Madison, Iowa, O'Keefe was the son of Edward Flanagan and Charlotte Flanagan, Irish vaudevil ...

portrays Hal Towne, a widower who is trying to balance his career as a newspaper columnist ("All Around Towne") and raise his 9-year-old son, Randy, in an apartment in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, with the help of a tough but lovable housekeeper, Amelia Sargent, better known as "Sarge", played by

Hope Emerson Hope Emerson (October 29, 1897 – April 24, 1960;) was an American actress, vaudevillian, nightclub performer, and strongwoman. An imposing person physically, she weighed between and stood tall in her prime. Early life Emerson was born in ...

. The series aired at 8 p.m. Eastern on Tuesdays, with competition from the last half of two hour-long

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

series, '' Laramie'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...

and ''

Sugarfoot ''Sugarfoot'' is an American Western television series that aired for 69 episodes on ABC from 1957-1961 on Tuesday nights on a "shared" slot basis – rotating with ''Cheyenne'' (first season); ''Cheyenne'' and ''Bronco'' (second season); and ...

'' and ''

Bronco A bucking horse is any breed or either gender of horse with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock. The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for ro ...

'', alternating on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, one of their many

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

offerings at that time.

Broadcasting history

*September 22, 1959—June 7, 1960: Tuesday at 8 p.m. on CBS.

DVD release

released a budget DVD with 4 episodes on November 23, 2004. They have yet to release more volumes.

Cast

as Hal Towne *

as Amelia "Sarge" Sargent *

Ricky Kelman Rickey William Kelman (born July 6, 1950) is a former child and young adult actor who appeared in film and on television from 1954 to 1974. He had supporting roles in two single-season situation comedies, ''The Dennis O'Keefe Show'' (1959-1960) ...

as Randy Towne * Eloise Hardt as Karen Hadley *

Eddie Ryder Eddie Ryder (January 23, 1923 – March 29, 1997) was an American television and film actor, as well as a writer and television director. Ryder was born in New York City and died in El Paso, Texas. Career Ryder was a veteran of 92 movies and te ...

as Eliot

Episodes

Personnel

John Fenton Murray created the program, and Les Hafner was the producer. Abby Berlin, Jerry Hopkins, James V. Kern, and Don Weis were directors. Writers included Bob Fisher, Benedict Freedman, Robert Gottlieb, Seaman Jacobs, Joel Kane, Alan Lipscott, Jack Michael, Murray, and Si Rose.

References

External links

* CBS original programming 1959 American television series debuts 1960 American television series endings 1950s American sitcoms 1960s American sitcoms Television shows set in New York City Black-and-white American television shows Television series by United Artists Television {{US-comedy-tv-prog-stub