Created by Don Quinn, the co-creator of Fibber McGee & Molly, The Halls of Ivy was a situation comedy series that ran on NBC radio from 1950 through 1952. Originally slated to star Gale Gordan and Edna Best, the lead roles went to British husband-and-wife actors Ronald and Benita Colman. The Colman’s were...
well versed at comedy and already a hit with radio fans having played Jack Benny’s next-door-neighbor on The Jack Benny Program for years. Ronald Colman played William Todhunter Hall, the urbane president of small, rural Ivy College. Benita, played his wife Victoria, a former British musical comedy star.
The series chronicled their interactions with students, friends, and college trustees. Others in the cast were Herb Butterfield as testy board chairman Clarence Wellman, Willard Waterman (then starring in The Great Gildersleeve) as board member John Merriweather and Alan Reed (television’s Fred Flintstone) as stuffy English teacher, Professor Heaslip. Bea Benaderet, Gloria Gordon, Virginia Gregg, Lee Patrick, Jean Vander Pyle (television’s Wilma Flintstone), Sam Edwards, Arthur Q. Bryan (the voice of Elmer Fudd), Barton Yarborough and Jerry Hausner appeared in supporting roles.
The sponsor was the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company (“The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous”). Nat Wolff produced and directed the series and Ken Carpenter was the announcer.
The Halls of Ivy received a Peabody Award in 1950 and made a transition to CBS television in 1954, bowing out in 1955. 3/3/50 “The Halls Give Advice to the Lovelorn” 3/10/50 “The Home Fires or the Footlights” 3/17/50 “The Prexy Runs Political Offenders Out of Town” 3/24/50 “Untangling a Triangle” 3/31/50 “The Prexy Dabbles in Music” 4/7/50 “The Prexy and Wife Play Hooky” 4/14/50 “A Lost Dog Worth a Million Dollars” 4/21/50 “Speeding Ticket and a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” 5/10/50 “Brutal Truth” 5/24/50 “The Medical Student and The Champ” 5/31/50 “The George Sexton Endowment” 6/21/50 “The Bentheimers and the Census”
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