''Window on Main Street'' is an American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

starring Robert Young about an author who returns to his home town after an absence of many years to write about the people and events there. Original episodes aired from October 2, 1961, until May 23, 1962.McNeil, Alex, ''Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, Fourth Edition'', New York: Penguin Books, 1996, , p. 917.Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present (Sixth Edition)'', New York: Ballantine Books, 1995, , p. 1138.

Synopsis

Cameron "Cam" Garrett Brooks left his boyhood home town, Millsburg, in 1934, hoping to become a wealthy and famous writer. He lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

, and

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, but fortune and fame eluded him. In the aftermath of the death of his wife Selma and their child in an automobile accident on an icy road, he returns to Millsburg in 1961 as a struggling author. He resides in a room on the second story of the Majestic Hotel with a

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony ...

overlooking Main Street, planning to use the people and events he sees on the street as inspiration for stories in a new book he is writing called ''Window on Main Street''. His childhood friend Lloyd Ramsey, now the editor of the town's newspaper, tries to talk him out of it, telling him that the town has changed a great deal since he moved away and little is left of what he remembers from his childhood. Cam remains committed to his plan, however, believing that the people of Millsburg have remarkable stories for him to tell. Each week, he writes a chapter of his book, based on that week's story. Chris Logan, a widow who works as Lloyd's assistant at the newspaper, is Cam's romantic interest, and Arny is her young son. Harry McGill is the hotel's desk clerk. Other people Cam frequently encounters include Mrs. Miller and her son Roddy, Miss Wycliffe, Dick Aldrich, and Phil Rowan. In the spring of 1962, the hotel closed temporarily for renovations, and Cam moved in with its owner, Wally Evans, and his wife Peggy.

Cast

* Robert Young....Cameron "Cam" Garrett Brooks *

Constance Moore Constance Moore (January 18, 1920 or January 18, 1921Additional on April 23, 2017. – September 16, 2005) was an American singer and actress. Her most noted work was in wartime musicals such as ''Show Business'' and ''Atlantic City'' and the ...

....Chris Logan * Ford Rainey....Lloyd Ramsey * Brad Berwick....Arny Logan * James Davidson....Wally Evans * Carol Byron....Peggy Evans * Coleen Gray....Miss Wycliffe * Warner Jones....Harry McGill * Marilyn Harvey...Mrs. Miller *

Tim Matheson Tim Matheson (born Timothy Lewis Matthieson; December 31, 1947) is an American actor and director. Some of his best-known acting roles include the title character of the 1960s animated '' Jonny Quest'' TV series, Eric "Otter" Stratton in the 19 ...

....Roddy Miller *

William Cort William Phelps Greer III (July 8, 1936 – September 23, 1993), credited as William Cort and Bill Cort, was an American actor. Cort appeared on several television shows. His most notable is ''Dusty's Trail'' from the early 1970s. He appeared on ...

...Dick Aldrich *

Richard Wyler Richard Stapley (20 June 1923 – 5 March 2010), also known by the stage name Richard Wyler, was a British actor and writer. Early life Stapley was born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England in 1923. A writer, Stapley published his first nove ...

...Phil Rowan * Mary Adams...Lavinia Webster

Production

After a successful six-season run from 1954 to 1960 in ''

Father Knows Best ''Father Knows Best'' is an American sitcom starring Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue, Billy Gray and Lauren Chapin. The series, which began on radio in 1949, aired as a television show for six seasons and 203 episodes. Created by ...

'' — prime-time reruns of which still ran on network television during the 1961–1962 season — Robert Young returned to series television in 1961–1962 in ''Window on Main Street''. Roswell Rogers created the show and served as its principal scriptwriter, Young and Eugene B. Rodney co-owned and co-produced it, and Irving "Izzy" Friedman composed the music. Rogers, Rodney, and Friedman had performed the same roles for ''Father Knows Best''. ''Window on Main Street'' was filmed at

Desilu Studios The Culver Studios is a movie studio in Culver City, California. Originally created by silent movie pioneer Thomas H. Ince, classics from Hollywood's Golden Age were filmed there. It is currently owned by Hackman Capital Partners, which completel ...

. CBS gave Young and Rodney complete creative control over the show, which had a moralizing and sentimental tone very similar to that of ''Father Knows Best''. By not tying the central character, again portrayed by Young, to a domestic situation, however, ''Window on Main Street'' allowed the exploration of non-family themes that would not have fit into the premise of ''Father Knows Best''. ''Window on Main Street'' never gained the audience of ''Father Knows Best'' and lasted for only one season.

Broadcast history

''Window on Main Street'' premiered 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 Entertainm ...

on October 2, 1961, airing on Mondays at 8:30 p.m. In mid-February 1962 it moved to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesdays, where it remained for the rest of its run. CBS cancelled it after only one season, and its last original episode aired on May 23, 1962. After the show ended, CBS broadcast prime-time reruns of ''Window on Main Street'' during its normal Wednesday time slot The last prime-time rerun aired on September 12, 1962.

Episodes

Source:"Television Highlights," ''The Schenectady Gazette'', May 23, 1962, p. 27.
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References

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External links

"Remembering some of The Cast from This 1961 Classic TV Show: ''Window on Main Street''" on YouTube''Window on Main Street'' episode "The Editor's Daughter" at Daily Motion''Window on Main Street'' episode "Christmas Memory" on Facebook
CBS original programming 1960s American comedy-drama television series 1961 American television series debuts 1962 American television series endings Television shows about writers Television series about widowhood Television series set in 1961