My Friend Irma

{{Short description|Radio comedy of the 1940s and 1950s}}

{{italic title}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2014}}

{{Infobox media franchise

|title =My Friend Irma

|image =Marie Wilson 1954.JPG

|imagesize =150

|caption =Marie Wilson as title character Irma Peterson

|creator =Cy Howard

|origin =Radio, 1947

|books =

|novels =

|short_stories =

|comics =My Friend Irma

|graphic_novels =

|strips =My Friend Irma

|magazines =

|films =My Friend Irma, My Friend Irma Goes West

|shorts =

|tv =My Friend Irma

|atv =

|tv_specials =

|tv_films =

|dtv =

|plays =My Friend Irma, a Comedy in Three Acts{{cite book |title=My Friend Irma, a Comedy in Three Acts |last=Reach |first=James |year=1951 |asin=B002VH94HK |url=http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/3128/my-friend-irma |location=Hollywood, CA|publisher=Samuel French}}

|musicals =

|games =

|rpgs =

|vgs =

|radio =My Friend Irma

|soundtracks =

|music =

|toys =

}}

File:Myfriendirmaad.png

File:Marie Wilson Sid Tomack My Friend Irma 1953.JPG

File:Marie Wilson Mary Shipp My Friend Irma 1953.JPG as Irma's friend Kay Foster, 1953.]]

My Friend Irma is a media franchise that was spawned by a top-rated, long-running radio situation comedy created by writer-director-producer Cy Howard. The radio show was so popular in the late 1940s that its success escalated the films, television, a comic strip and a comic book that comprise the franchise. Marie Wilson portrayed the title character Irma Peterson on radio, in two films and the television series. The radio series was broadcast on CBS from April 11, 1947, to August 23, 1954.

Characters and story

Dependable, level-headed Jane Stacy (Cathy Lewis—plus Joan Banks during Lewis' illness in early 1949 and Mary Shipp later) began each weekly radio program by narrating a misadventure of her innocent, bewildered roommate Irma, a scatterbrained stenographer from Minnesota. The two central characters were in their mid-20s. Irma had her 25th birthday in one episode; she was born on May 5. After the two met in the first episode, they lived together in an apartment rented from their Irish landlady Mrs. O'Reilly (Jane Morgan, Gloria Gordon).

Irma's boyfriend Al (John Brown) was a deadbeat, barely on the right side of the law, who had not held a job in years. Only someone like Irma could love Al, whose nickname for Irma was "Chicken". Al had many crazy get-rich-quick schemes that never worked. Al planned to marry Irma at some future date so she could support him. Professor Kropotkin (Hans Conried), the Russian violinist at the Princess Burlesque theater, lived upstairs. He greeted Jane and Irma with remarks like "My two little bunnies with one being an Easter bunny and the other being Bugs Bunny." The Professor insulted Mrs. O'Reilly, complained about his room, and reluctantly became O'Reilly's love interest in an effort to make her forget his back rent. In 1953, Conried left the program and was replaced by Kenny Delmar as his cousin Maestro Wanderkin.{{cite news |last=Wolters |first=Larry |date=1953-03-02 |title=Television News and Views |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1953/03/02/page/44/article/television-news-and-views |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |access-date=2015-03-26 }}

Irma worked for the lawyer Mr. Clyde (Alan Reed). She had such an odd filing system that once when Clyde fired her, he had to hire her back again because he couldn't find anything. Useless at dictation, Irma mangled whatever Clyde dictated. Asked how long she had been with Clyde, Irma said, "When I first went to work with him he had curly black hair, then it got grey, and now it's snow white. I guess I've been with him about six months."

Irma became less intelligent and even more ditzy as the program evolved. She also developed a tendency to whine or cry whenever something went wrong, which was usually at least once every episode. Jane had a romantic inclination for her boss, millionaire Richard Rhinelander III (Leif Erickson). Another actor in the show was Bea Benaderet.

Sponsors

The show was sponsored by Swan Soap, and Irma would usually make a silly remark about it so the name could be advertised. Frank Bingman was the announcer for Swan Soap. The program also was sponsored by ENNDS which got rid of breath and body odors and each tiny capsule was said to contain {{convert|100|mg|abbr=on}} of chlorophyll. Pepsodent was also a sponsor.

Because of the popularity of the show (early in the series, shows 41–43), a contest was run for the services of Irma/Marie Wilson to act as a secretary for the highest bidder for one day, with her willing to travel anywhere in the U.S. The money was to go to the March of Dimes charity to fight polio. Three businessmen bid $1,000, but the winner was the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Fort Worth, Texas which bid $5,000.{{cite news |date=28 January 1952 |title=Marie Wilson Thinks Brain Worth the $5000 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53764578/fort-worth-star-telegram/ |newspaper=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |access-date=19 June 2020}}

Lawsuit

In 1946, writer Arthur Kurlan had worked with CBS Radio in an attempt to bring the premise and characters of the popular play and film My Sister Eileen to radio. Soon after this effort failed, the very similar My Friend Irma was created. Kurlan took legal action, and ultimately received a settlement from CBS.

Films and television

The TV version, seen on CBS from January 8, 1952, until June 1954, was the first series telecast from the CBS Television City facility in Hollywood in October 1952.

The film My Friend Irma (1949) starred Marie Wilson and Diana Lynn, but is mainly remembered today for introducing Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis to moviegoers, resulting in more screen time for Martin and Lewis in the sequel My Friend Irma Goes West (1950).

Comic strip and comic book

The My Friend Irma comic strip, illustrated by Jack Seidel, began syndication with the Mirror Enterprises Syndicate on September 11, 1950, receiving a promotional boost in the November 7, 1950 issue of Look. In 1951, Dan DeCarlo took over the strip with Stan Lee scripting.

Atlas Comics (Marvel) published the My Friend Irma comic book which ran from #3 to #48 (1950 to 1955), and was most often written by Stan Lee with art by Dan DeCarlo. After Atlas stopped publishing My Friend Irma, DeCarlo and Lee created a similar feature for Atlas titled My Girl Pearl.

References

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite journal |last=Heintjes |first=Tom |url=http://cartoonician.com/everybodys-friend-remembering-stan-lee-and-dan-decarlos-my-friend-irma/ |title=Everybody's Friend: Remembering Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo's 'My Friend Irma' |journal=Hogan's Alley |issue=16 |year=2009 |access-date=2015-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130319184704/http://cartoonician.com/everybodys-friend-remembering-stan-lee-and-dan-decarlos-my-friend-irma/ |archive-date=March 19, 2013 |url-status=dead }}

{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HqhoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA472 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |pages=472–473 |edition=Revised |access-date=2019-09-04}}

{{cite court |litigants=Arthur Kurlan and Marilyn Kurlan v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Arthur Kurlan and Marilyn Kurlan. |vol=343 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=325 |pinpoint= |court=2d Cir. |date=March 26, 1965 |url=http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/343/625/109140/ |accessdate=February 2, 2015}}

{{cite book|author=Tator, Joel|title=Los Angeles Television|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oqqtBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA59|year= 2015|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-146713270-1|page=59}}

{{cite book|last=Spigel|first=Lynn|title=TV by Design: Modern Art and the Rise of Network Television|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q_dekIDkPtMC&dq=%22On+October+4+CBS's+My+Friend+Irma%22&pg=PA132|year=2008|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0226769684|page=132}}

{{cite web |last1=Ellerbee |first1=Bobby |title=CBS Television City's First Series…'My Friend Irma' |url=http://eyesofageneration.com/cbs-television-citys-first-series-my-friend-irma-heres-the-set-of-my-fr/ |date=September 14, 2014|publisher=Eyes of a Generation}}

{{cite news |title=Cy Howard, Scriptwriter for 'My Friend Irma' |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-05-04-me-30720-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=May 4, 1993|quote=co-wrote the 1949 movie version, which introduced Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.}}

{{cite book|last1=Wells|first1=John|last2=Dallas|first2=Keith|title=American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sm6qDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|year=2013|publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing|isbn=978-1605490458|page=9}}

{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Roy|title=Alter Ego #150|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywZDDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA41|year= 2017|publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing|page=41}}

}}

Further reading

  • {{cite book |title=The TV Guide TV Book: 40 Years of the All-Time Greatest Television Facts, Fads, Hits, and History |url=https://archive.org/details/tvguidetvbook40y00wein |url-access=registration |last=Weiner |first=Ed|year=1992 |publisher=Harper Collins |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/tvguidetvbook40y00wein/page/201 201–240] |isbn=0060969148 }}

{{My Sister Eileen}}

Category:Mass media franchises introduced in 1947

Category:1947 radio programme debuts

Category:1954 radio programme endings

Category:1950 comics debuts

Category:1955 comics endings

Category:American comedy radio programs

Category:CBS Radio programs

Category:Comics based on radio series

Category:Humor comics

Category:Radio programs adapted into films

Category:Radio programs adapted into comics

Category:Radio programs adapted into television shows

Category:1940s American radio programs

Category:1950s American radio programs

Category:Works about friendship