The Donna Reed Show (1962)

 

Though Donna Reed originated her eponymous TV series with the intention of providing an antidote to male-centered sit-coms and oversexed or wacky female-based series (an obvious dig at I Love Lucy), by Season 4 the demands of being the sane multi-tasking mother for 39 episodes per season were beginning to drain her. A July 21, 1962 cover story in TV Guide mentions that stories began to circulate in the trade papers during the winter of 1961-62 that Reed was tired and did not wish to continue her series into a fifth season. But the TV Guide story casts these reports as merely a bargaining ploy by Reed and her husband Tony Owen, who was also the show's producer, to get a more favorable contract for Season 5, which they were able to achieve. The terms of the new contract included, besides a bump in salary and a larger share of proceeds to Reed & Owen's production company, a reduction in the number of episodes from 39 to 34 and rearrangement of the shooting schedule so that Reed would not be required for the first and last scene in each episode. The article also casts Owen as a stereotypical wheeler-dealer who was already laying the foundation for the next contract negotiation by quoting him as betting that Reed would not agree to a sixth season even if it included reducing her episodes to 26, focusing the show more on the children, and limiting her shooting schedule to 10 weeks, similar to the deal Fred MacMurray had on My Three Sons. Hindsight shows us that after Season 5 Reed again considered ending the series, reportedly expressing an opinion that the writers had run out of fresh ideas and wanting to spend more time with her family, but somehow she and Owen agreed to another 3-year contract before finally calling it quits in 1966, again citing that she was tired of the production requirements.

But these concessions were already being implemented as early as the Season 4 episodes that aired in 1962: the show was morphing into The Paul Petersen Show as a sizable number of plots revolved around Jeff Stone and his misadventures, a misstep for the series because the Jeff character is the most obnoxious and least likable of the family Stone. Several others center on Alex and Mary, respectively, and the only ones where Donna is in the center of the action are "Donna's Prima Donna" (February 1, 1962), which she shares with Mary, "Free Flight" (March 1, 1962) in which she "wins" a free flight on a disorganized airline after complaining when Alex is delayed in returning from a medical conference, "The Fortune Teller" (April 19, 1962) in which she begins to believe she has ESP after playing a fortune teller at a charity bazaar, "The Caravan" (May 10, 1962) in which she provides uncharacteristic voice-over narration on a family vacation out west in a motor home, and the season-ending "Dear Wife" (June 14, 1962), which she shares with Alex and Mary. That makes 5 episodes out of 23, hardly making her the center of the series. Perhaps to double down on their threat to CBS to end the series, Reed and Owen's production company inserted a "back-door" pilot for a new series--"The Wide Open Spaces" (March 8, 1962) late in Season 4 as a potential replacement for The Donna Reed Show. The episode portrays former Hilldale tax accountant David Adams (played by William Windom), his wife Millie (Patricia Breslin) and their two sons Steve and Les (real-life brothers Steven and Leslie Barringer) as having moved to the country to run a farm, with the Stones paying them a visit to see how things are going. The plot is a warmed-over adaptation of the city folk trying to adjust to country life theme already covered in the 1947 feature film The Egg and I with Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert and one that would be handled much more comically in Paul Henning's Green Acres a few years later. The Donna Reed version of the trope  has the potential tragedy of an old workhorse almost dying but then being magically resurrected by the capitalist credo that unless you're working, you're dead.

Another late Season 4 episode attempted to launch a new series for singer Roberta Sherwood in "Donna Meets Roberta" (May 3, 1962). Despite the episode's title suggesting Donna in the starring role, the action centers around Alex planning to buy singer Roberta Summers' dilapidated house after getting a tip that a shopping center is going to be built across the street, which will greatly increase the property's value. Donna's role is to passive-aggressively get Alex to let Roberta in on the secret rather than taking advantage of her ignorance for his financial gain. The episode also includes Sherwood's three sons from her marriage to Don Lanning, and once the story depicted in the episode is concluded, viewers are given an introduction to the new series by Sherwood along with some already-filmed scenes to give viewers a taste for the kind of action they can expect once the series airs in its own slot. Only the series was never picked up, but Sherwood's son Jerry Lanning, who had already been featured in the February 28, 1962 episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, got a return engagement on The Donna Reed Show in the Season 5 episode "Big Star" (November 15, 1962) playing Mary's shy boyfriend, whom she is determined to push into a singing career.

Speaking of being pushed into a singing career, this was another of Tony Owen's schemes to turn The Donna Reed Show into a cash register for his and Reed's production company Todon in 1962. According to an interview Shelley Fabares gave to former major league baseball player Jerry Reuss that is documented on his web site, Owen noticed that ratings for The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet shot up for episodes in which teen heart-throb Ricky Nelson sang a song. So Owen decided to do the same with his two teen actors Paul Petersen and Fabares. Petersen jumped at the idea, having sung before as a Mousketeer and admiring all the attention, particularly from young women, that Nelson was garnering. But Fabares knew she couldn't sing and resisted the plan until Owen threatened to boot her off the show, which finally got her to buckle under. Petersen's first single, "She Can't Find Her Keys," was aired in the episode "For Angie, With Love" (January 18, 1962) in a dream sequence in which he imagines himself a pop star to compete against a richer boy for the affection of his girlfriend Angie. Petersen's recording, a gimmicky novelty song that is painfully corny, reached #19 on the pop charts but was soon eclipsed by Fabares's first single "Johnny Angel" which she is shown performing in the episode "Donna's Prima Donna." To make up for Fabares' vocal deficiencies Owen selected a song co-written by Lee Pockriss, who had co-written Brian Hyland's "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini with another collaborator, and backed her with a lush studio arrangement performed by famed session team The Wrecking Crew, double-tracked her vocal, and surrounded it with Phil Spector's backing vocalists The Blossoms. The song shot to #1 on the charts, but Fabares notes that when a representative from The Ed Sullivan Show called her house to schedule an appearance on Sullivan's show, Fabares' mother told them she couldn't sing it live because it had been spliced together from 15 takes with The Blossoms even handling certain lines that Fabares couldn't pull off. To juice record sales without having the songs resung on multiple episodes, Owen found ways to subliminally keep the songs in viewers' minds by having a malt shop jukebox play snippets of both recordings in the episode "The Swingin' Set" (May 17, 1962). Another snippet of "Johnny Angel" is snuck into the Season 5 opening episode "Mister Nice Guy" (September 20, 1962) when Jeff returns Mary's transistor radio after having repaired it and then turns it on to show her that it is now working.

Despite Fabares' greater chart success, she doesn't sing again in an episode until Season 6's "Big Star," which was actually the B-side of her fourth single and didn't even crack the top 100 on the charts. Her follow-up to "Johnny Angel," "Johnny Loves Me," by contrast, reached #21 on the charts without a television appearance. Petersen, on the other hand, sings his second single, "Keep Your Love Locked" written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, in the Season 5 episode "The Swingin' Set," but it only reached #58 on the pop charts. His third single, "Lollipops and Roses," was a hit for Jack Jones but not for Petersen, who took it to only #54. His next single, though, would be his lone top 10 hit, "My Dad," a maudlin sentimental number featured in the Season 6 episode of the same name, reaching #6 on the charts. Though both actors would continue to record several more singles, with Fabares continuing sporadically until 1966 and Petersen until 1968, neither would again match the success they found in 1962. Owen perhaps failed to maximize the exposure television provided by weaving their performances into the plots of various episodes rather than following the Nelson model of having the performance tacked on to the end of the episode after the plot had ended. Also, with two singers rather than one, he risked overusing the gimmick had he embedded all their singles into the program. Still, he seemed to achieve his desired outcome--generating additional revenue for Todon Productions, which was the game all along according to the previously cited TV Guide article.

While her husband was trying to gin up new revenue streams by copying other series like Ozzie and Harriet with record sales and pilots for new series, Reed tried to differentiate her show from all the others. In an interview for the October 14, 1962 issue of the Chicago American Sunday TV Roundup, she rejected the term sit-com in describing her series: "I hate the term. To me, the phrase 'situation comedy' conjures up inane plots, blundering TV husbands, and overbearing TV wives. It's everything we try to avoid on our show." However, in describing the upcoming Season 6 episode "Rebel With a Cause" (November 8, 1962), the article notes that Donna's character "disguises herself as a hotel chambermaid and gets chased through the lobby in a zany series of misadventures," exactly the sort of "inane plot" Reed had just railed about in the interview. And there's more where that came from. How about belching, erratically steering tin lizzy autos, a la The Keystone Cops? We get those both in "Dr. Stone and His Horseless Carriage" (January 11, 1962) and "The Baby Buggy" (November 29, 1962). We also get a runaway tractor with Alex aboard in "The Wide Open Space" and Alex careening around a parking lot in an undersized go-kart in "Hilldale 500 (March 29, 1962). We may not get an overbearing TV wife (in fact, Reed cannot convincingly even pull off being angry at Jeff in "On to Fairview" [May 24, 1962]), but we are treated to an overbearing daughter when Mary forces boyfriend Clay Shannon into a singing career in "Big Star" and having not learned her lesson three weeks later attempts to transform her uncouth boyfriend into the picture of refinement in "The Makeover Man" (December 6, 1962). And while Alex may not blunder as spectacularly as Ozzie Nelson, he does run into constant problems trying to restore an old car in the aforementioned "Dr. Stone and His Horseless Carriage," gets his pajamas stuck in the zipper of his sleeping bag in "The Caravan," and is unable to make his clients pay their overdue bills after chiding Jeff for loaning money to friends but being unable to collect in "The Soft Touch" (December 20, 1962). It's no wonder Reed hates the term "sit-com" because it fits her show to a T just like it does many other undistinguished TV comedies of the era.

However, the one area where The Donna Reed Show distinguished itself was in its depiction of the mother-daughter relationship between Donna and Mary Stone. Granted, there are many episodes where this relationship is one-dimensional, but occasionally, when the program stops trying to be humorous, it handles the theme with depth and sensitivity. The episode "Donna's Prima Donna" may be a glorified setup for Shelley Fabares to sing "Johnny Angel," but it also depicts a mother trying to carefully steer her short-sighted daughter between what is best for her long-term happiness and not abandoning her passion in the pursuit of practicality. The episode is driven by Mary's sudden decision not to attend college in order to pursue a singing career, while Donna desperately wants her to experience the same joys she had at the local college. Recognizing that merely reasoning with her will only meet resistance, Donna tries to gently expose Mary to some of the pitfalls of a music career--long bus rides with rambunctious musicians--that she may not have considered. She even goes to unlikely lengths to get Mary on campus for mother-daughter weekend by having an old college friend in charge of the weekend's entertainment create a spot in the musical lineup so that Mary will get to perform. But after hearing Mary perform, Donna realizes that her daughter's wish for a singing career is not mere fancy--she has real talent (or the appearance of such, given what we've noted about Fabares' musical abilities above)--while she also recalls that her own desire to sing as a young woman was quashed by her parents. Mary finally decides to enroll in college after all while nurturing her musical talents in the campus glee club so that both mother and daughter come away from the experience having learned something about each other and themselves. While the episode employs the same sentimental exploitation common in many sit-com "teaching" plots, it also reasonably portrays the dilemma real parents face in balancing their desire for their children to experience the same thrills they had while also allowing children to pursue their own path.

Even more poignant is the episode "Dear Wife" (June 14, 1962) in which Mary becomes attracted to a groomsman at a wedding where she is one of the bridesmaids. After Mary catches the bride's bouquet and Alex jokes that given the cost of weddings he will give Mary $1000 cash if she will elope whenever she decides to wed, Donna becomes concerned when Mary also goes on and on about how perfect the groomsman Roger Perry is, fearing that she may take Alex up on his offer, especially when she learns that Roger is leaving the next morning for a work assignment in Las Vegas, the land of impulsive weddings. When Donna tries to tell Mary that she will eventually have her day and that weddings always tend to make people feel unusually romantic, Mary turns on her in a rare and very convincing outburst of anger at still being treated like a child. After Mary storms out of the house to attend a going away party for Roger, Donna turns to Alex in a moment of real terror and says she doesn't even know her daughter when she talks that way. Alex tries to reassure her that while Mary can have her moments of emotion she eventually comes around to a rational decision and that they should trust her not to run off and elope with Roger. Of course, the rest of the episode tries to milk the comic disconnect between them saying they can trust Mary but feeling the need to monitor her every move to make sure that they are right. Unfortunately, the episode and the series easily slips back into conventional sit-com mode, but the two scenes in which Mary gives her mother a tongue lashing and Donna seeks solace from her husband over what just happened are the best and most realistic in the entire year's worth of episodes. Perhaps Reed's instincts were right in hating the term "sit-com"--she should have been doing drama.

The Actors

For the biographies of Donna Reed, Carl Betz, Shelley Fabares, and Paul Petersen, see the 1960 post on The Donna Reed Show. For the biographies of Jimmy Hawkins and C. Lindsay Workman, see the 1961 post on The Donna Reed Show.

Candy Moore

Born Candace Lee Klaasen in Maplewood, New Jersey in 1947, Candy Moore had her first screen roll at age 12 in an episode of One Step Beyond, a program she would appear on again the following year. In 1961 she made her feature film debut playing the lead in Tomboy and the Champ as well as appearing in episodes of Leave It to Beaver, Wagon Train, My Three Sons, Rawhide, and several others in addition to her first appearance as Jeff Stone's girlfriend Angie Quinn on The Donna Reed Show. After appearing 5 more times as Angie in 1962, Moore had her biggest career break when she was cast as Lucille Ball's daughter Chris Carmichael on The Lucy Show, which debuted in the fall of 1962. Moore stayed with the program until 1965 when it was reformatted and her character was written out. She returned to The Donna Reed Show that year, appearing once as Bernice in "Boy Meets Girl Machine" and three more times as Bebe Barnes extending into 1966. That year she also appeared in the Clint Walker feature adventure film The Night of the Grizzly.  In 1967 she served as a fashion hostess for a week on the Chuck Barris-produced TV beauty pageant game show Dream Girl of '67, a program on which her Donna Reed co-star Paul Petersen was then co-hosting. In 1971 she married actor Paul Gleason, and the couple had one daughter, Shannon, before divorcing in 1978. As recently as 2019 she was teaching English at Esteban E. Torres High School in Los Angeles.

Although numerous online sites, including Wikipedia and imdb.com, credit Moore with being the cover model for the Alberto Vargas painting for The Cars LP Candy-O and list her as having appeared in the feature films Raging Bull and Lunch Wagon, there is some doubt that the latter Candy Moore is the same as the Donna Reed actress.

 

 

 

Darryl Richard

Other than his birthday--March 18, 1946, his birth name--Darryl Richard Rosenberg, and his filmography, very little has been published about Darryl Richard, who played Jeff Stone's best friend Morton "Smitty" Smith in 34 episodes of The Donna Reed Show between 1961-66. He made his TV debut at age 7 in an episode of the drama anthology Suspense in 1953 and appeared 3 times in different roles on The Phil Silvers Show in 1956-57. Concurrent with these early television roles, Richard appears to have been a child actor on Broadway, beginning with a 1954 appearance in King of Hearts and including the role of Buster Pollitt in the Pulitzer-Prize-winning production of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. Other Broadway appearances included A Roomful of Roses in 1955, Harbor Lights in 1956, and Portofino in 1958. As a teenager he had a flurry of guest spots on television programs in 1960 and 1962,including The Twilight Zone, The Betty Hutton Show, The Ann Sothern Show, and The Rifleman. After landing his recurring role on The Donna Reed Show, he only made a handful of additional TV appearances on Mr. Novak, Grindl, Kraft Suspense Theatre, and Summer Playhouse in 1963-64. Though he appears to have retired from film acting after the cancellation of The Donna Reed Show, someone tracked him down to autograph trading cards depicting his role in The Twilight Zone episode "The Changing of the Guard" for a series of cards celebrating the Rod Serling TV series issued by Ritterhouse in 2016. Richard also appears with Mel Brooks at Santa Anita Racetrack in 2015 on the web site managed by his friend Kevin Childs at https://www.buttermilkbrook.com/childs.html. Childs says that Richard retired from acting around 1970 and had a successful business career before retiring from that as well.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 4, Episode 17, "Dr. Stone and His Horseless Carriage": Gale Gordon (shown on the left, starred in Here We Go Again, Here Come the Nelsons, Our Miss Brooks, and Speedway and played Osgood Conklin on Our Miss Brooks, Harvey Box on The Box Brothers, Bascomb Bleacher on Sally, Landlord Heckendorn on The Danny Thomas Show, Uncle Paul Porter on Pete and Gladys, John Wilson on Dennis the Menace, Theodore J. Mooney on The Lucy Show, Harrison Otis Carter on Here's Lucy, and Curtis McGibbon on Life With Lucy) plays hospital administrator Mr. Webley. Oliver McGowan (Harvey Welk on Empire) plays medical lecturer Dr. Thorgeson.

Season 4, Episode 18, "For Angie, With Love": Trudy Marshall (shown on the right, onetime model for cigarette print ads for Lucky Strike and Chesterfield, appeared in Girl Trouble, The Fighting Sullivans, Sentimental Journey, and Dragonwyck) plays lady's wear shop clerk Mrs. Foster. Mary Lawrence (appeared in County Fair, The Stratton Story, and A Cry in the Night and played Alice Jones on Casey Jones and Ruth Helm on The Bob Cummings Show) plays Jeff's rival's mother Mrs. Devlin.

Season 4, Episode 19, "Aloha, Kimi": Myoshi Umeki (shown on the left, starred in Sayonara, The Flower Drum Song, and A Girl Named Tamiko and played Mrs. Livingston on The Courtship of Eddie's Father) plays nurse Kimi Makihara. Crahan Denton (appeared in The Parent Trap, Birdman of Alcatraz, and To Kill a Mockingbird) plays Hawaiian pediatrician Dr. Kendall. James Douglas (appeared in G.I. Blues, A Thunder of Drums, and Sweet Bird of Youth and played Steve Cord on Peyton Place, Grant Coleman on As the World Turns, Desmond Aldrich on The Edge of Night, and Dr. Marcus Polk on One Life to Live) plays Kendall's clinic partner Dr. Paul Phillips. Susan Gordon (appeared in Attack of the Puppet People, Tormented, The Five Pennies, and Picture Mommy Dead) plays Alex's vacationing patient Penny Palmer. Betsy Jones-Moreland (Judge Elinor Harrelson in 7 Perry Mason TV movies) plays Penny's mother Janet. Harvey Lembeck (appeared in You're in the Navy Now, Stalag 17, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown, played Eric Von Zipper in 5 beach movies--Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Pajama Party, Beach Blanket Bingo, and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, and played Chips Collins on Make Room for Daddy, Cpl. Rocco Barbella on The Phil Silvers Show, and Seaman Gabby di Julio on Ensign O'Toole) plays cab driver Rudy Meyer.

Season 4, Episode 20, "Donna's Prima Donna": James Stacy (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet) plays Fairburn college student Danny Calvin. Don Spruance (Dr. Robert Ward on Ben Casey) plays young father Mr. Haslip.

Season 4, Episode 21, "Explorer's Ten": Earle Hodgins (starred in The Texas Rambler, Paradise Canyon, Heroes of the Alamo, and Pride of the West and played Lonesome on Guestward Ho!) plays retirement home resident Mr. Coxey. Allan Hunt (Stuart Riley on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) plays Jeff's explorer group leader Howard. Ken Niles (radio announcer for The Life of Riley) plays astronomer Prof. Earnshaw.

Season 4, Episode 22, "The New Office": Victor French (appeared in The Quick and the Dead, Charro!, and Rio Lobo and played Agent 44 on Get Smart, Fred Gilman on The Hero, Chief Roy Mobey on Carter Country, Isaiah Edwards on Little House on the Prairie, and Mark Gordon on Highway to Heaven) plays mover Mike.

Season 4, Episode 23, "The Golden Trap": Charla Doherty (shown on the left, played Julie Olson on Days of Our Lives) plays Mary's friend Janice. Regina Groves (Joanie MacRoberts on Our Man Higgins) plays another of Mary's friends Ann. Alan Carney (played Mike Strager in a series of RKO comedies in the 1940s, appeared in The Absent-Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and Herbie Rides Again, and played Herbie on The Jean Carroll Show) plays plumber Mr. Pruitt. Swoosie Kurtz (Ellie Bradley on As the World Turns, Laurie Morgan on Love, Sidney, Alex Reed Barker on Sisters, Effie Conklin on Love & Money, Madeleine Sullivan on Huff, Lily Charles on Pushing Daisies, Marilyn on Rita Rocks, Joyce Flynn on Mike & Molly, Tiffany on The Dangerous Book for Boys, Beverly on Man With a Plan, Sheila on Call Me Kat, and voiced Betty Smith on American Dad!) plays party-goer Mimi.

Season 4, Episode 24, "Free Flight": William Lanteau (shown on the right, appeared in Li'l Abner, The Honeymoon Machine, Sex and the Single Girl, and Hotel and played Seth Duncan on The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and Chester Wanamaker on Newhart) plays airline publicity executive Connors. Vinton Hayworth (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Lawman) plays airline president Floyd. Dorothy Lovett (played Judy Price in 5 Dr. Christian feature films) plays Donna's friend Edie. Robert Shayne (appeared in Christmas in Connecticut, The Giant Claw, and North by Northwest and played Inspector Bill Henderson on The Adventures of Superman and the sound man on Bracken's World) plays her husband Joe. John Newton (Bill Paley on Search for Tomorrow and Judge Eric Caffey on Law & Order) plays reporter Kurt Breen.

Season 4, Episode 25, "The Wide Open Spaces": William Windom (shown on the near left, appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Americanization of Emily, and Escape From the Planet of the Apes and played Congressman Glen Morley on The Farmer's Daughter, John Monroe on My World and Welcome to It, Larry Krandall on Brothers and Sisters, Frank Buckman on Parenthood, and Dr. Seth Hazlitt on Murder, She Wrote) plays former Hilldale tax accountant David Adams. Patricia Breslin (shown on the far left, played Amanda Peoples Miller on The People's Choice, Laura Brooks on Peyton Place, and Meg Bentley on General Hospital) plays his wife Millie. Steven Barringer (Butch Malone on Cannonball and the radio operator on The Forest Rangers)plays their son Steve.

Season 4, Episode 27, "Once Upon a Timepiece": Crahan Denton (see "Aloha, Kimi" above) plays travel author Curtis Babcock.

Season 4, Episode 29, "Winner Takes All": Allan Hunt (see "Aloha, Kimi" above) plays Jeff's friend Moose Edwards. Ken Lynch (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on Checkmate) plays his father.

Season 4, Episode 30, "Skin Deep": Peter Brooks (Hank Ferguson on My Three Sons) plays Mary's blind date Gregory Taylor. Regina Groves (see "The Golden Trap" above) returns as Mary's friend Ann. Alan Hunt (see "Explorer's Ten" above) plays Mary's suitor Stan.

Season 4, Episode 31, "The Fortune Teller": Dorothy Lovett (see "Free Flight" above) returns as Donna's friend Edie. Evans Evans (widow of John Frankenheimer, appeared in All Fall Down, Bonnie and Clyde, and The Iceman Cometh) plays baker Ethel. Doodles Weaver (shown on the left, narrated Spike Jones' horse-racing songs and hosted A Day With Doodles) plays a fresh fortune-telling client.

Season 4, Episode 32, "Man of Action": Bobby Horan (Paul Garret on The Hero) plays Smitty's younger brother Hoby. Gene Blakely (Dave on Bewitched) plays Alex's golf partner Dr. Frank Bennett.

Season 4, Episode 33, "Donna Meets Roberta": Roberta Sherwood (shown on the right, popular singer who recorded for Decca Records and appeared in The Courtship of Eddie's Father) plays widow Roberta Summers. Gale Gordon (see "Doctor Stone and His Horseless Carriage" above) plays her brother Dudley Brockton. Don Lanning (son of Roberta Sherwood) plays her son Don. Jerry Lanning (son of Roberta Sherwood, played Nick D'Antoni on Search for Tomorrow, Justin Marshall on Texas, and Cain Harris on Guiding Light) plays her son Jerry. Robert Lanning (son of Roberta Sherwood, drummer for the sunshine pop group Inner Dialogue and for Elvis Presley in 1970) plays her son Bobby. Harry Holcombe (appeared in The Fortune Cookie, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Foxy Brown, Escape to Witch Mountain, and Empire of the Ants and played Frank Gardner on Search for Tomorrow, Doc Benson on My Mother the Car, Mr. Kendricks on Barefoot in the Park, and Dr. J.P. Martin on Bonanza) plays Alex's investment advisor Paul Smith.

Season 4, Episode 35, "The Swingin' Set": Mimsy Farmer (starred in Hot Rods to Hell, Riot on Sunset Strip, Devil's Angels, The Wild Racers, and More) plays Jeff's dream girl Laurie Wesson. Patricia Lyon (shown on the left, wife of Robert Fuller) plays Jeff's junior prom date Jan Streeter.

Season 4, Episode 36, "On to Fairview": Paul Tripp (host of children's shows Mr. I. Magination and On the Carousel and co-creator of Tubby the Tuba) plays bicycle shop owner Mr. Varney. Julie Bennett (voiced Cindy Bear on The Yogi Bear Show, Yogi's Gang, and The New Yogi Bear Show, Lois Lane on The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, Kitty Jo and Chessie on Cattanooga Cats, Lady Constance and Queen Anne on The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, Monica on Dinky Dog, and Aunty May Parker on Spider-Man: The Animated Series) plays a lady shopper. Carter DeHaven (father of actress Gloria DeHaven) plays jeweler Mr. Merriam.

Season 4, Episode 37, "The Man in the Mask": Don Drysdale (shown on the right, Hall-of-Fame Dodgers pitcher and announcer) plays himself. Reba Waters (Francesca on Peck's Bad Girl) plays softball captain Marcia Wright.

Season 4, Episode 38, "The Father Image": Gerald Gordon (Dr. Nick Bellini on The Doctors, Felix Morger on Highcliffe Manor, and Skip Franklin on Valerie) plays Alex's colleague Dr. Dick Morley. Mimsy Farmer (shown on the left, see "The Swingin' Set" above) returns as Jeff's girlfriend Laurie.

Season 5, Episode 1, "Mister Nice Guy": Alan Carney (see "The Golden Trap" above) returns as plumber Mr. Pruitt.

Season 5, Episode 2, "Mrs. Stone and Dr. Hyde": Marge Redmond (shown on the right, appeared in Sanctuary, The Trouble With Angels, The Fortune Cookie, and Family Plot and played Sister Jacqueline on The Flying Nun and Mrs. McCardle on Matlock) plays Alex's receptionist Alma. Sally Mansfield (Vena Ray on Rocky Jones, Space Ranger) plays Donna's friend Alice. Dick Wilson (Dino Barone on McHale's Navy and George Whipple in Charmin toilet paper commercials) plays butcher Mr. Drucker. Bobby Horan (see "Man of Action" above) plays Alex's patient Jimmy.

Season 5, Episode 3, "To Be a Boy": Brooke Bundy (shown on the left, appeared in Firecreek, The Young Runaways, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and played Rebecca North on Days of Our Lives and Diana Maynard Taylor on General Hospital) plays Mary's college friend Joanne Wells.  Cindy Carol (Alma Hanson on Leave It to Beaver, Binkie Massey on The New Loretta Young Show, and Susan on Never Too Young) plays Smitty's girlfriend Caroline Myers.

Season 5, Episode 4, "Who Needs Glasses?": Harvey Korman (shown on the right, played various characters on The Carol Burnett Show, the voice of The Great Gazoo on The Flintstones, Harvey A. Kavanuagh on The Harvey Korman Show, Leo Green on Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills, and Reginald J. Tarkington on The Nutt House) plays optometrist Dr. Allison.

Season 5, Episode 5, "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary": Cheryl Holdridge (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Leave It to Beaver) plays Mary's college roommate Pat Walker.

Season 5, Episode 6, "My Dad": Ray Montgomery (Prof. Howard Ogden on Ramar of the Jungle) plays Smitty's father Mr. Smith.

Season 5, Episode 7, "Fine Feathers": Beth Peters (Agnes Whitaker on General Hospital) plays pet store owner Marge Bentley.

Season 5, Episode 8, "Rebel With a Cause": Harvey Korman (see "Who Needs Glasses?" above) plays social researcher Carter Melville. Harold Gould (shown on the left, played Bowman Chamberlain on The Long Hot Summer, Harry Danton on The Feather and Father Gang, Martin Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda, Jonah Foot on Foot in the Door, Ben Sprague on Spencer, and Miles Webber on The Golden Girls) plays newspaper editor Cal Winslow. Bill Zuckert (Arthur Bradwell on Mr. Novak and Chief Segal on Captain Nice) plays Donna's old friend Jason Farnum. Dick Wilson (see "Mrs. Stone and Dr. Hyde" above) plays hotel clerk Mr. Carothers. Helena Carroll (appeared in The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The Jerk, The Dead, and The Mambo Kings and played Molly O'Connor on The Edge of Night and Nancy McTavish on General Hospital) plays hotel maid Jeanette.

Season 5, Episode 9, "Big Star": Jerry Lanning (see "Donna Meets Roberta" above) plays Mary's boyfriend Clay Shannon. Arthur Malet (appeared in Mary Poppins, In the Heat of the Night, and Heaven Can Wait and played Carl on Casablanca, Bobby on Easy Street, Nigel Peabody on Days of Our Lives, and Ryan on Dallas) plays college music Prof. Raskin. Betsy Jones-Moreland (see "Aloha, Kimi" above) plays talent scout Geri Harris.

Season 5, Episode 10, "Man to Man": Tony Owen, Jr. (son of Donna Reed and Tony Owen) plays Jeff's friend Rick Sims. Harry Korshak (later produced Calliope, Hit!, Gable and Lombard, and Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York) plays his friend Jerry Abbott. Nancy Spry (Miss Teen USA for 1964, appeared in Bye Bye Birdie and The Girls on the Beach) plays their friend Angie. Patricia Lyon (see "The Swingin' Set" above) plays their friend Maxine.

Season 5, Episode 11, "The Baby Buggy": Fay Bainter (shown on the right, Oscar-winning actress, starred in Jezebel, Our Town, State Fair (1945), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and The Children's Hour) plays obstetrician Dr. Harriet Robey. Hayden Rorke (starred in Father's Little Dividend, When Worlds Collide, and Pillow Talk and played Steve on Mr. Adams and Eve, Col. Farnsworth on No Time for Sergeants, Dr. Alfred Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie, and Bishop on Dr. Kildare) plays banker Joe McVey. Richard Deacon (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Dick Van Dyke Show) plays high school principal Mr. Moorehead. Gerald Trump (Crump on Ensign O'Toole) plays delivery boy Willie Costa.

Season 5, Episode 12, "The Makeover Man": James Stacy (see "Donna's Prima Donna" above) plays Mary's boyfriend Steve Callahan. Shary Marshall (Linda on Wendy and Me) plays his sister Gloria. Bob Rodgers (shown on the left, professional baseball catcher with the Los Angeles Angels) plays his basketball coach. Bea Shaw (Pamela Willis on Crossroads) plays Gloria's customer. Allan Hunt (see "Explorer's Ten" above) plays Steve's basketball teammate.

Season 5, Episode 13, "The Winning Ticket": Anjanette Comer (shown on the right, starred in The Loved One, The Appaloosa, Guns for San Sebastian, and Rabbit, Run) plays Jeff's friend Barbie.

Season 5, Episode 15, "Jeff Stands Alone": James Stacy (see "Donna's Prima Donna" above) plays telephone lineman Sandy. William Launteau (see "Free Flight" above) plays employment agent Mr. Jepsen. A.G. Vitanza (Ramon on The Flying Nun) plays a hotel clerk.

The Donna Reed Show (1961)

Is The Donna Reed Show a prime example of the naive, unrealistic 1950s domestic sit-com based around the perfect television mother, or a proto-feminist exploration of women's issues that gently prods but never demolishes the misogynist assumptions of a patriarchal culture? The former assessment is the one generally accepted by those who are only casually familiar with the series, but a recent monograph by Joanne Morreale, an associate professor at Northeastern University, makes the case that The Donna Reed Show is a bit more revolutionary than people give it credit for. The series was developed, according to Reed herself in a May 6, 1961 TV Guide cover story, because Reed was tired of depictions of sick, aberrant female characters in movies of the era, what could be called the BUtterfield 8 syndrome. At the same time, Reed was tired of being constantly cast in flimsy nice-girl roles, even after winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress playing a prostitute in From Here to Eternity, which failed to win her the meatier roles she wanted. But rather than casting herself as an independent career woman capable of achieving anything a man could (like the character played by Esther Williams in the 1960 episode "The Career Woman"), Reed chose to portray a suburban housewife with two teenage children, perhaps to challenge the status quo at its foundation. But as Morreale remarks in her study, those episodes that depict examples of female equality always resolve by show's end to the very status quo they challenge, as in the 1960 episode "Just a Housewife" we covered in our 1960 post. Morreale's point is that The Donna Reed Show was ahead of its time in even bringing up topics such as these, even if it ultimately settled back into accepted norms. But the counter argument could also made--that the show used such topics as straw men, showing how things would be if women were given equal treatment only to cast the idea aside at show's end.

This see-sawing effect continued in 1961 episodes such as "The Poodle Parlor" (March 16, 1961) in which Donna's friend Madeleine, who has just bought a poodle, says there is a need in Hilldale for a poodle-grooming salon and that the two of them should go into business together to meet this need. Donna's husband Carl and Madeleine's husband Jack scoff at the idea of two ladies running a business, saying they have no head for such manly pursuits while secretly worrying that their wives will succeed and upset their comfortable homes. They likewise run into resistance from banker Mr. Heiser when they visit him to ask for a loan. Heiser is more than willing to write them a check for any charity they might be representing, the approved role for a woman in suburbia, but he retrieves a book showing all the failed businesses in Hilldale when he learns that they actually want to run a business themselves. In the end Donna determines, after consulting the registration records of the local kennel club, that there aren't enough poodle owners in Hilldale to sustain a business, and they abandon their business venture by doing what any man should first do--creating a business case to determine its viability. When Carl learns that Donna has abandoned her business idea, he is very careful to tell her that he has no doubts she could be successful in such a venture because of her intelligence, but that he selfishly does not want her to do anything that would take her away from her duties as a wife and mother. She affirms the status quo by replying that nothing is more important to her than that.

In "The Geisha Girl" (February 16, 1961) Donna's friends are intent in maintaining the current standard for women in Hilldale, not to prevent the march of progress but to avoid regression when they feel threatened by the arrival of a famous surgeon and his Japanese wife who still adheres to the subservient wifely role of her culture. When her friends socially shun geisha girl Chio Semple after seeing how she waits on her husband at a Stone dinner party because they don't want their husbands getting any ideas about them providing the same level of service, Donna takes the middle ground and visits Chio's home to learn more about her background and the reason for her behavior. Her empathy opens Chio up to accepting her new role as an American woman, a role cemented by  participating in American consumerism with a shopping spree for new clothes.

In "For Better or Worse" (April 27, 1961) the series argues for true equality between the sexes, at least within the confines of the nuclear family. In this episode Alex and his colleagues want to take a weekend fishing vacation, but when two of the four doctors say they will have to ask their wives first, Alex and Dr. Joe Martin accuse them of being henpecked and claim that as real men they do as they please without bothering to consult with their wives. Of course, when both men return home things hardly go smoothly when they tell their wives about their unilateral decision to go on the fishing trip. While Alex merely gets the cold shoulder treatment from Donna, who passively aggressively tells him to do what he wants while making him feel very uncomfortable, Martin's wife Myra explicitly tells him that since he nixed a trip she wanted to take to her mother's last weekend that he will have to buy his freedom with an expensive new clothing purchase for her. Martin tries to convince Alex to do the same, claiming that it just makes things easier in the long run, whereas Myra tells Donna the same thing at the grocery store, insisting that Donna is selling herself short when told that the Stone household doesn't operate that way. But when Donna sees Alex later bring home a package that he tells Mary is for her mother, she begins to get her hackles up until he shows her it is only a pair of rubber gloves for kitchen housework. In the end Alex accepts that in an equal household decisions are made together, and Donna is pleased that he doesn't think he can buy her approval. But Alex's lesson seems to have been forgotten in "The Mustache" (June 1, 1961) when he is persuaded by his barber Paul to grow a mustache because he has the perfect face for it. Donna immediately objects and tells him to shave it off, which only makes him dig his heels in deeper. As tensions mount, the couple eventually come to revealing all the things they don't like about each other and are about to throw out both of their wardrobes because every article of clothing has something the other doesn't like until they finally come to their senses and restore order to their relationship and their clothes closet. Alex finally shaves off the mustache on his own simply because he knows it will please his wife.

Just as "For Better or Worse" shows the Stone household as a model that doesn't resort to artificial gimmicks or deal-making to achieve harmony, the character of Donna Stone is held up as the paragon of motherhood. Shelley Fabares even noted in a recent interview that at the time some people referred to the series as Mother Knows Best. However, as we observed in our 1960 post, Reed's Donna Stone is far from infallible, though she is more often right than her floundering husband Alex. In "The Fabulous O'Hara" (December 7, 1961) Donna gives a stern lecture to an Irish grandfather who yanks his orphan grandson around the country just so that he can feed his addiction to gambling on horses and stay one step ahead of his creditors. Donna shames him, saying that such a life is bad for a young boy who needs roots to make friends and get a proper education. O'Hara takes her words to heart and eventually lands a job supervising the children's pony rides at the local carnival. In "A Very Bright Boy" (December 21, 1961) Donna solves the riddle of her old college roommate's exceptionally bright but socially backward son Victor by explaining to him that when you are different and gifted you can expect others to have some difficulty in relating to you but that in order to receive love you have to give it as well, even if that means going more than halfway to meet the other person. In these episodes she is shown to be able to solve parenting problems that have bewildered others.

The same cannot be said for her often-flummoxed husband Alex, who in "Way of a Woman" (December 14, 1961) has to be constantly prodded by Donna to know how to handle Mary's ever-changing emotional needs. When Mary's boyfriend Scotty says he can't go on a skiing trip she was planning with her girlfriends, Mary is crushed, so Donna pushes Alex to take her on a father-daughter trip to Chicago. But then Scotty returns and says the reason he couldn't go on the skiing trip was because he couldn't afford it and then asks Mary to go to a demolition derby the day after her Chicago trip is supposed to start. Alex has his feelings hurt that she is abandoning him after he rearranged everything to supposedly soothe her ruffled feathers. But Donna again steps in and tells Alex that she will go on the trip with him to Chicago and all is solved once again within the space of 30 minutes. Shelley Fabares also commented in her recent interview that fans of the show have come up to her years later saying that the show was responsible for them having to go to therapy because their real-life families couldn't measure up to the near-perfect Stones.

But one 1961 episode in particular seems to contradict the image of Donna's unerring sense of the proper motherly touch. In "The Electrical Storm" (November 9, 1961) Jeff and his high school buddies rig the school clocks to go haywire and shorten their 50-minute classes to just 15 minutes. Principal Mr. Heflin catches Jeff in the act of counting down the seconds till the next clock-scrambling and hauls him into his office. When Jeff refuses to reveal his accomplices, Heflin expels him until he produces the other boys' names. Heflin then calls Donna and tells her Jeff is being sent home and why; however, Jeff doesn't arrive home until Mary does at the end of the school day and doesn't mention anything about his expulsion. Alex wants to be firm with him, get him to confess, and then punish him, but Donna argues in favor of a softer approach, persuading Alex that they must let Jeff come to them and admit his wrong-doing. Only Jeff never does--he leaves the house every morning as if he is going to school and comes home when school has let out. One of Alex's patients even tells him that she saw Jeff just standing around at the reservoir outside town to pass the time. When Alex has finally had enough and confronts Jeff with the fact that he knows what has happened, Jeff behaves as if he is the injured party for his parents making him suffer in hiding his guilt when they knew about it all the time. But neither Alex nor Donna challenges this patently false assessment; instead one of Jeff's accomplices shows up and says that he confessed to Heflin and fixed the clocks. Jeff is never punished or held accountable for his actions; he is merely told that he can return to school on Monday. This episode may be an example of Donna Stone's habit of non-punitive parenting, but it runs counter to the letter to the newspaper editor she writes in "Character Building" (January 5, 1961) in which she admonishes parents for their children's problems by not following through on what they tell them to do. No wonder Shelley Fabares has run into multiple viewers who blame the show for their needing therapy. 

The first 5 seasons have been released on DVD by MPI.

The Actors

For the biographies of Donna Reed, Carl Betz, Shelley Fabares, and Paul Petersen, see the 1960 post on The Donna Reed Show.

Tommy Ivo

Born in Denver, Colorado, Tommy Ivo, who played Mary Stone's boyfriend Herbie Bailey from 1959-61, began his career as a child actor but went on to greater fame as a drag racer. A talented tap dancer, Ivo made his big screen debut in an uncredited role in 1944's A Fig Leaf for Eve, but his big break came the following year when he danced to the music of Woody Herman in Earl Carroll Vanities, which filmed in 1943 when Ivo was just 7 yeard old. From then on, Ivo found steady work not only dancing but playing a variety of child roles in major features such as I Remember Mama, The Babe Ruth Story, and Laramie. In 1950 at age 14, he broke into TV acting on The Gene Autry Show followed by appearances on The Range Rider and Hopalong Cassidy, though the bulk of his work was still in feature films such as The Lost Volcano, Snake River Desperadoes, and Plymouth Adventure with Spencer Tracy and Gene Tierney. By the mid-1950s, however, he began finding more work on television in guest appearances on The Lone Ranger, Father Knows Best, and The Adventures of Jim Bowie. Using the money he made from acting, Ivo began building and racing dragsters, often under an assumed name because of the entertainment world's frowning on such dangerous pursuits. Beginning in 1957, ironically the same year he appeared in the feature film Dragstrip Girl, Ivo began building multiple-engine dragters since the National Hot Rod Association had banned the use of nitromethane fuel. He was the first driver to break the 9-second barrier for the 1/4 mile in a gasoline-powered dragster. In Ivo's last appearance on The Donna Reed Show, "Military School" (May 18, 1961), Herbie goes off to military school with his friend Ken Carsley. 

The following fall he was a regular cast member as Haywood Botts on the short-lived Prohibition-era sitcom Margie, which lasted only a single season. When the show ended, Ivo, then 26, largely retired from acting to focus on his drag-racing career. (He would make occasional appearances on programs such as Petticoat Junction, My Three Sons, and his last credit in a 1967 episode of Please Don't Eat the Daisies.) In 1963 the NHRA lifted its ban on nitro fuel, and Ivo became the first driver to break 8 seconds for the 1/4 mile in a single-engine slingshot dragster. But Ivo made his biggest mark by staging match races across the country pitting himself against drag-racing superstars such as Don Prudhomme, Shirley Muldowney, and Don Garlits, with whom he staged a number of races in the UK. Always the showman, he traveled in a glass-paneled hauler that allowed fans to watch him as he made his away cross country. In 1972 he again became the first driver to complete the 1/4 mile in less than 6 seconds, this time driving a rear-engine Top Fuel dragster. In 1982 at age 46 he decided to retire from drag racing and punctuated his last race by burning his driving gloves at the starting line after the conclusion of the race. Now 81 years old, he resides in Burbank, California.

Jimmy Hawkins

Child actor to the stars, James F. Hawkins made his big-screen debut at the age of 2 playing Spencer Tracy's son in The Seventh Cross and followed that by playing Lana Turner's son in Marriage Is a Private Affair. But it was his third film credit that would define his career--playing Tommy Bailey, son of Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed in It's a Wonderful Life in 1946, a film about which he has published 5 books to date, one of them co-authored with Paul Petersen. Hawkins continued appearing in mostly uncredited child roles throughout the 1940s before landing his first TV role as Donald Ruggles, son of leading actor Charles Ruggles, on The Ruggles, which ran from 1949-52. He continued appearing in feature films as well during the 1950s, reuniting with Stewart in Winchester '73 in 1950, before landing his next regular TV role as Annie Oakley's brother Tagg in Annie Oakley, which ran from 1954-57. He made 3 appearances as George Haskell on The Donna Reed Show during its first season and another appearance as Jerry Hager in the 1960 episode "Cool Cat" (June 16, 1960) before becoming Mary Stone's most regular boyfriend Scotty beginning with the 1960 episode "Worried, Anyone?" (November 3, 1960). During his time on The Donna Reed Show, Hawkins became very close with Donna Reed, Paul Petersen, and Shelley Fabares, with whom he appeared in 2 Elvis Presley features Girl Happy (1965) and Spinout (1966). Concurrent with his appearances on The Donna Reed Show, Hawkins appeared 9 times as  Jonathon Baylor on Ichabod and Me, 5 times as Jimmy on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet from 1962-64, and 5 times as Orville Miggs on Petticoat Junction in 1964. After a few more appearances on Petticoat Junction, Hawkins' last credit as an actor was in a 1974 episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

By the 1970s Hawkins turned his attention to producing, beginning with a 1971 biopic Evel Knievel starring George Hamilton in the title role. In 1980 he produced Gary Coleman in the Boy Scout-themed Scout's Honor, based on a feature film he himself had appeared in back in 1953, Mister Scoutmaster. In 1981 he produced Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy "Satchel" Paige starring Lou Gossett, Jr., for which he received an NCAAP Image Award. He also created the Emmy Award-winning special The 50th Anniversary Motown Returns to the Apollo. He has served on the Advisory Board of The Jimmy Stewart Museum and has been on the Board of Directors for The Donna Reed Foundation. 

C. Lindsay Workman

Charles Lindsay Workman, Jr. was born in Pittsburgh, PA and studied literature and acting at Pomona College and Yale before taking a faculty position in the theater department of Scripps College in the 1950s. Before breaking into television in 1957 on shows such as Blondie and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, he also worked in radio theater. He had a number of supporting roles on series such as Have Gun-- Will Travel, Wanted: Dead or Alive, and Hotel de Paree before being cast as Alex Stone's colleague Dr. Jim Higgins on The Donna Reed Show, appearing in a total of 12 episodes from 1960-65 with 9 of them as Higgins. His credits were prolific throughout the 1960s and 1970s, often depicting straight men official figures such as doctors, judges, ministers, and the like on comedies such as Hazel, Mister Ed, and The Farmer's Daughter. He also had semi-recurring roles as Rev. Adams on Here Come the Brides, as Dr. Koblin on Bewitched, Otto Brockmeyer on Julia, a judge on Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law, the medical examiner on Police Woman. His background in radio theater served him well in garnering voicework on a series of Garfield the cat specials and Mercedes Benz commercials late in his career. He passed away at the age of 88 in Claremont, CA after a brief illness on April 24, 2012.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 3, Episode 16, "Character Building": Kristine Miller (appeared in Desert Fury, I Walk Alone, Too Late for Tears, and Young Daniel Boone and played Margaret Jones on Stories of the Century) plays Donna's friend Edna. Danni Sue Nolan (wife of I Love Lucy and Bewitched director William Asher) plays Donna's friend Mildred.

Season 3, Episode 17, "The World's Greatest Entertainer": Connie Sawyer (appeared in A Hole in the Head, Ada, Dumb and Dumber, and Lovesick) plays talent show coordinator Mrs. Lubner. 

Season 3, Episode 18, "Variations on a Theme": Harvey Lembeck (shown on the left, appeared in You're in the Navy Now, Stalag 17, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown, played Eric Von Zipper in 5 beach movies--Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Pajama Party, Beach Blanket Bingo, and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, and played Chips Collins on Make Room for Daddy, Cpl. Rocco Barbella on The Phil Silvers Show, and Seaman Gabby di Julio on Ensign O'Toole) plays moving man Al. John Indrisano (real-life professional boxer and referee, played John the Chauffeur on O.K. Crackerby!) plays his partner Rudy. Ludwig Stossel (appeared in Casablanca, Kings Row, and Pride of the Yankees and played Peter Van Dyne on Ramar of the Jungle and Anton Kovac on Man With a Camera) a piano tuner. Reba Waters (Francesca on Peck's Bad Girl) plays Mary's friend Ginny.

Season 3, Episode 19, "The Stones Go to Hollywood": George Sidney (shown on the right, directed Anchors Aweigh, The Harvey Girls, The Three Musketeers(1948), Annie Get Your Gun, Show Boat, Kiss Me Kate, Pal Joey, Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, and The Swinger) plays himself. Midge Ware (WAC Cpl. Mallory on The Phil Silvers Show and Amby Hollister on Gunslinger) plays his secretary. 

Season 3, Episode 20, "Donna Directs a Play": David Macklin (Billy Harris on Harris Against the World) plays teen playwright Doug.

Season 3, Episode 21, "Trip to Nowhere": Bill Baldwin (the narrator on Harbor Command and Bat Masterson and the announcer on The Bob Cummings Show) plays the father of Jeff's rival Mr. Pratt.

Season 3, Episode 22, "The Geisha Girl": Miyoshi Umeki (shown on the left, starred in Sayonara, The Flower Drum Song, and A Girl Named Tamiko and played Mrs. Livingston on The Courtship of Eddie's Father) plays surgeon's wife Chio Semple. Douglas Dick (Carl Herrick on Waterfront) plays her husband Dr. Semple. Aline Towne (Joan Gilbert on Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe) plays Donna's friend Kay Wiley. Sally Mansfield (Vena Ray on Rocky Jones, Space Ranger) plays Donna's friend Beth Thompson. Theodore Lehmann (narrator for Around the World With Willy Fog and Grimm Masterpiece Theatre and the voice of Hingy Dingy Doo on Noozles, Commander and Zero on Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years, and Mayor Lion on Maple Town) plays a restaurant waiter.

Season 3, Episode 23, "The Busy People": Alix Talton (appeared in Rock Around the Clock, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and The Deadly Mantis and played Myra on My Favorite Husband) plays Donna's friend Harriet Higgins. Paul Barselou (played various bartenders in 9 episodes of Bewitched) plays Alex's colleague Fred. 

Season 3, Episode 24, "Tony Martin Visits": Tony Martin (shown on the right, singer who starred in Ziegfeld Girl, Till the Clouds Roll By, Two Tickets to Broadway, Deep in My Heart, and Hit the Deck) plays himself. Roger Mobley (Homer "Packy" Lambert on Fury) plays his son Tony, Jr. Herb Vigran (Judge Brooker on Gunsmoke) plays traffic court Judge Thompson. Owen Bush (Ben on Shane, John Belson on Sirota's Court, and Crimshaw on Our House) plays a motorcycle cop. 

Season 3, Episode 25, "Aunt Belle's Earrings": Gladys Hurlbut (Harriet Conroy on It's a Great Life and Mrs. Gray on The Ann Sothern Show) plays Alex's Aunt Belle. Will Wright (Mr. Merrivale on Dennis the Menace and Ben Weaver on The Andy Griffith Show) plays real estate developer Oliver  Greevey. 

Season 3, Episode 26, "The Poodle Parlor": Florence MacMichael (shown on the left, played Phyllis Pearson on My Three Sons and Winnie Kirkwood on Mister Ed) plays Donna's friend Madeleine. Jack Albertson (starred in Days of Wine and Roses, Kissin' Cousins, The Flim-Flam Man, and Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and played Lt. Harry Evans on The Thin Man, Walter Burton on Room for One More, Lt. Cmdr. Virgil Stoner on Ensign O'Toole, Paul Fenton on Mister Ed, and Ed Brown on Chico and the Man) plays her husband Jack. Frank Wilcox (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Untouchables) plays banker Mr. Heiser.

Season 3, Episode 27, "Mary's Heart Throb": Sara Seegar (starred in The Last Curtain, Dead Men Tell No Tales, and The Music Man and played Eloise Wilson on Dennis the Menace) plays mother for whom Mary is baby-sitting Mrs. Damon. Claude Johnson (Officer Brinkman on Adam-12) plays her son Rick. 

Season 3, Episode 28, "Donna's Helping Hand": Robert Shayne (appeared in Christmas in Connecticut, The Giant Claw, and North by Northwest and played Inspector Bill Henderson on The Adventures of Superman and the sound man on Bracken's World) plays ambitious physician Dr. Flanigan. Stuart Nisbet (played the bartender on The Virginian) plays a newspaper reporter. 

Season 3, Episode 29, "The Merry Month of April": Francis de Sales (shown on the right, played Lt. Bill Weigand on Mr. & Mrs. North, Ralph Dobson on The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Sheriff Maddox on Two Faces West, and Rusty Lincoln on Days of Our Lives) plays the Stone's accountant Harvey Parker. Ruth Storey (shown on the far right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on 87th Precinct) plays his wife Nora. 

Season 3, Episode 30, "Music Hath Charms": Trudy Marshall (appeared in Orchestra Wives, Heaven Can Wait (1943), and Dragonwyck) plays Alex's client Mrs. Malone. Peter Oliphant (Freddie Helper on The Dick Van Dyke Show) plays boisterous neighborhood boy Pete. 

Season 3, Episode 32, "For Better or Worse": Dort Clark (appeared in Bells Are Ringing, The Loved One, and Skin Game and played Sgt. Klauber on Mickey) plays Alex's colleague Joe Martin.

Season 3, Episode 33, "Jeff the Treasurer": Doodles Weaver (narrated Spike Jones' horse-racing songs and hosted A Day With Doodles) plays high school janitor Mr. Perkins.

Season 3, Episode 34, "The Good Guys and the Bad Guys": Leonard Stone (shown on the left, appeared in The Mugger, The Big Mouth, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and Soylent Green and played Doc Joslyn on Camp Runamuck, Packy Moore on General Hospital, and Judge Paul Hansen on L.A. Law) plays choir director Mr. Trestle. Stephen Talbot (son of Lyle Talbot, played Gilbert Bates on Leave It to Beaver, and served as produce on Frontline, Frontline/World, and Independent Lens) plays choir member Lenny. Bobby Clark (appeared in Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Ten Commandments and played Casey Jones, Jr. on Casey Jones) plays Jeff's friend Gordie.

Season 3, Episode 35, "Military School": Chris Robinson (shown on the right, played Sgt. Sandy Komansky on 12 O'Clock High, Rick Webber on General Hospital, and Jack Hamilton on The Bold and the Beautiful) plays Herbie Bailey's friend Ken Carsley.

Season 3, Episode 36, "Mary's Driving Lesson": Sally Mansfield (see "The Geisha Girl" above) plays Donna's friend Joyce Adams.

Season 3, Episode 37, "The Mustache": Doodles Weaver (see "Jeff the Treasurer" above) plays Alex's barber Paul. 

Season 3, Episode 38, "Mary's Little Lambs": Douglas Lambert (Eddie Weeks on General Hospital and Walter Schiff on Inside Story) plays Mary's date Mark. Karyn Kupcinet (Carol on The Gertrude Berg Show) plays Mary's friend Jeannie. Bobby Buntrock (Harold Baxter on Hazel) plays a neighbor's runaway boy.

Season 4, Episode 1, "One Starry Night": James Darren (shown on the left, starred in Gidget, The Guns of Navarone, Gidget Goes Hawaiian, and For Those Who Think Young and played Dr. Tony Newman on The Time Tunnel, Officer Jim Corrigan on T.J. Hooker, Tony Marlin on Melrose Place, and Vic Fontaine on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) plays actor Kip Dennis.  John Darren (real-life brother of James Darren) plays his brother Johnny. 

Season 4, Episode 2, "A Rose Is a Rose": John Zaremba (Special Agent Jerry Dressler on I Led 3 Lives, Dr. Harold Jensen on Ben Casey, Admiral Hardesy on McHale's Navy, Dr. Raymond Swain on The Time Tunnel, and Dr, Harlem Danvers on Dallas) plays neighborhood father Joe Smith.

Season 4, Episode 3, "The Close Shave": Hal Smith (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Andy Griffith Show) plays druggist Mr. Pearson.  

Season 4, Episode 4, "Mouse at Play": Cloris Leachman (shown on the left, starred in The Last Picture Show, Charley and the Angel, Dillinger, and Young Frankenstein and played Ruth Martin on Lassie Rhoda Kirsh on Dr. Kildare, and Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, and Phyllis) plays Donna's friend Iris Kepler. John Astin (appeared in That Touch of Mink, The Wheeler Dealers, Move Over, Darling, Viva Max, and Freaky Friday and played Harry Dickens on I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, Gomez Addams on The Addams Family, Rudy Pruitt on The Phyllis Diller Show, Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Sherman on Operation Petticoat, Ed LaSalle on Mary, Buddy Ryan on Night Court, Radford on Eerie, Indiana, and Prof. Albert Wickwire on The Adventures of Briscoe County, Jr.) plays Donna's hairdresser Eric.

Season 4, Episode 5, "The Monster": Bert Remsen (Detective Lawrence on Peyton Place, Mr. Pell on Gibbsville, Mario on It's a Living, and Jack Crager on Dynasty) plays dog owner Mr. Carlson.

Season 4, Episode 6, "New Girl in Town": Johnny Washbrook (Ken McLaughlin on My Friend Flicka) plays Mary's date Bill Quinn. Candy Moore (shown on the right, played Chris Carmichael on The Lucy Show and hosted The Dream Girl of 1967) plays his tomboy sister Angie. Walter Brooke (appeared in The Graduate, Tora! Tora! Tora!, and The Nude Bomb and played D.A. Frank Scanlon on The Green Hornet and Clarence Johnson on The Waltons) plays their father Daniel Quinn.

Season 4, Episode 7, "One of Those Days": Arthur Hunnicutt (starred in The Red Badge of Courage, The Last Command, The Cardinal, and Cat Ballou) plays a country landowner. Doris Kemper (Zelda Harper on Westinghouse Playhouse) plays his wife Ma. 

Season 4, Episode 8, "All Is Forgiven": William Windom (shown on the far left, appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Americanization of Emily, and Escape From the Planet of the Apes and played Congressman Glen Morley on The Farmer's Daughter, John Monroe on My World and Welcome to It, Larry Krandall on Brothers and Sisters, Frank Buckman on Parenthood, and Dr. Seth Hazlitt on Murder, She Wrote) plays argumentative husband Ed Corwin. Patricia Barry (shown on the left, played Kate Harris on Harris Against the World, Lydia McGuire on Dr. Kildare, Adelaide Horton Williams on Days of Our Lives, Peg English on All My Children, and Sally Gleason on Guiding Light) plays his wife Millie. 

Season 4, Episode 9, "The Electrical Storm": Richard Deacon (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Dick Van Dyke Show) plays high school principal Mr. Heflin. Lee Aaker (appeared in The Atomic City, Hondo, and Destry and played Cpl. Rusty on The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin) plays Jeff's friend Walter "the Wizard." Anne Sargent (Barbara Miller on My Son Jeep and Mary Harper on The Edge of Night) plays Jeff's teacher Miss Tucker. 

Season 4, Episode 10, "The Paper Tycoon": Steven Barringer (Butch Malone on Cannonball and the radio operator on The Forest Rangers) plays Jeff's employee Craig. 

Season 4, Episode 11, "Private Tutor": Peter J. Votrian (appeared in Hans Christian Andersen, Big House, U.S.A., Crime in the Streets, and Fear Strikes Out) plays Mary's French tutor Joel Duplain. 

Season 4, Episode 12, "Alex, the Professor": Dorothy Lovett (Judy Price in 5 Dr. Christian feature films) plays lady's club organizer Alma Higgins. 

Season 4, Episode 13, "The Fabulous O'Hara": Cecil Kellaway (shown on the left, appeared in Wuthering Heights, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Luck of the Irish, Joan of Arc, Harvey, The Shaggy Dog, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?) plays itinerant horse gambler Algernon O'Hara. Ricky Kelman (Randy Towne on The Dennis O'Keefe Show and Tommy MacRoberts on Our Man Higgins) plays his grandson Butch. 

Season 4, Episode 14, "Way of a Woman": Reba Waters (see "Variations on a Theme" above) plays Mary's friend Dorine. Regina Groves (Joanie MacRoberts on Our Man Higgins) plays Mary's friend Babs. 

Season 4, Episode 15, "A Very Bright Boy": Johnny Crawford (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Rifleman) plays Donna's college roommate's son Victor. Rosemary La Planche (Miss America 1941, appeared in Strangler of the Swamp, Devil-Bat's Daughter­, and Betty Co-Ed) plays Donna's college roommate Marcia. 

Season 4, Episode 16, "The Toughest Kid in School": Kirk Alyn (played Superman in Superman(1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman and Blackhawk in Blackhawk: Fearless Champion of Freedom) plays new neighbor Sheldon Crawford.