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Oh! Those Bells

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox television

| image = Oh Those Bells title card.JPG

| caption =

| genre = Sitcom

| creator = Jules White

| writer =

| director = Norman Abbott
Jack Arnold
Charles Barton

| starring = The Wiere Brothers

| theme_music_composer =

| opentheme =

| endtheme =

| composer =

| country = United States

| language = English

| num_seasons = 1

| num_episodes = 13

| executive_producer =

| producer = Jules White
Sam White
Ben Brady

| runtime = 30 minutes

| company = Davanna Productions

| channel = CBS

| first_aired = {{Start date|1962|3|8}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1962|5|31}}

| related =

}}

File:Oh Those Bells cast photo.PNG in a promotional photo for {{nowrap|Oh! Those Bells.}}]]

Oh! Those Bells is a 1962 United States sitcom television series starring The Wiere Brothers about the misadventures of three brothers who work in a Hollywood theatrical supply shop. It aired from March 8 to May 31, 1962.McNeil, Alex, Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, New York: Penguin Books, 1996, p. 614.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&dq=%22Oh+Those+Bells+Situation+Comedy%22&pg=PA1012 |first1=Tim |last1=Brooks |first2=Earle |last2=Marsh |year=2007 |edition=9 |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present |page=1012 |publisher=Random House Publishing |isbn=978-0-345-49773-4 |access-date=2024-05-23 }}

Cast

Synopsis

Herbie, Harry, and Sylvester "Sylvie" Bell are three gentle-natured brothers who are the last surviving members of a family with a long history of making theatrical props, costumes, and wigs. Having moved from Germany to California to start new lives, they work in a Hollywood theater supply shop called Cinema Rents, located on Ridgeway Drive, where their irascible and easily flustered boss is Henry Slocum. Although they mean well, they manage to turn even the simplest everyday tasks into slapstick disasters. Slocum{{'}}s secretary, Kitty Mathews, is sweet, understanding, and beautiful, and Sylvie has a crush on her. The Bells live together in a bungalow, where Mrs. Stanfield is their landlady.[https://nostalgiacentral.com/television/tv-by-decade/tv-shows-1960s/oh-those-bells/ Nostalgia Central: OH! THOSE BELLS Accessed January 3, 2022]

Production

A loosely structured show, Oh! Those Bells attempted to bring slapstick humor to American television. At the time, The Wiere Brothers – German-Austrian-born Herbert, Harry, and Sylvester Wiere – were internationally known slapstick comedians. Each episode allowed the Wiere Brothers to perform their old vaudeville act, including their comical musical numbers.

Jules White, known for his short-subject comedies starring The Three Stooges,{{cite web|work=The Los Angeles Times|title=Jack White - Hollywood Star Walk|url=http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/jack-white/}} created the show. He and Sam White produced the pilot episode, known both as "Money Mixup" and "Movie Money." Ben Brady produced the rest of the episodes.[http://ctva.biz/US/Comedy/OhThoseBells.htm The Classic TV Archive Oh Those Bells]

The show{{'}}s episodes were filmed in 1960, and CBS originally planned to air them during the 1960–1961 season. However, CBS decided to pull the show from the 1960–1961 schedule and instead ran it as a spring replacement series for The New Bob Cummings Show in 1962.[https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/84951590/ Lowry, Cynthia, "Glancing Over TV Bill of Fare," The Kingston Daily Freeman (Kingston, New York), March 9, 1962, Page 12 Accessed 4 January 2022]

Reception

In a review of the premiere episode of Oh! Those Bells published in the Daily Freeman of Kingston, New York, on March 9, 1962, Cynthia Lowry said that The New Bob Cummings Show had been a disappointment, but that its replacement, Oh! Those Bells, made The New Bob Cummings Show look like a "blue-white, glass-cutting gem of comedy." She wrote that "From the opening moment when the stuffed head of the moose caught one Wiere by the seat of the pants to the hilarious climax when the boss was accidentally hit on the head by a golf club, it was one long maladroit bore," adding that Oh! Those Bells "may achieve the distinction of the year′s worst [television series] and certainly the one with the loudest laugh track."

Broadcast history

The last episode of The New Bob Cummings Show aired on March 1, 1962, and Oh! Those Bells premiered on CBS as its replacement on March 8, 1962.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055695/episodes?ref_=tt_ql_6 IMDb Oh, Those Bells Episode List] It was cancelled after the broadcast of its thirteenth episode on May 31, 1962. It aired on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. throughout its run.

Episodes

Sources[http://www.tv.com/shows/ohthose-bells/episodes/ tv.com Oh Those Bells Episode Guide][https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/342227277/ Oh! Those Bells (television listing), The Journal-Times (Racine, Wisconsin), March 8, 1962, Page 38 Accessed 4 January 2022][https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/29368885/ Oh! Those Bells (television listing), The Pocono Record (Stroudbsurg, Pennsylvania), March 8, 1962, Page 11 Accessed 4 January 2022][https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=ziW8EwMpto0C&dat=19620315&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Schenectady Gazette, March 15, 1962, p. 29.][https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=ziW8EwMpto0C&dat=19620322&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Schenectady Gazette, March 22, 1962, p. 40.][https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/374680400/ Oh! Those Bells (television listing), The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York), April 19, 1962, Page 22 Accessed 4 January 2022][https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=ziW8EwMpto0C&dat=19620419&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Schenectady Gazette, April 19, 1962, p. 37.][https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/140784831/ Oh! Those Bells (television listing), St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 19, 1962, Page 63 Accessed 4 January 2022][https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/57920365/ Oh! Those Bells (television listing), The Times Record (Troy, New York), April 19, 1962, Page 63 Accessed 4 January 2022][https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=ziW8EwMpto0C&dat=19620426&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Schenectady Gazette, April 26, 1962, p. 30.][https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/374680400/ Oh! Those Bells (television listing), Chicago Tribune, May 3, 1962, Page 18 Accessed 4 January 2022][https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=ziW8EwMpto0C&dat=19620517&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Schenectady Gazette, May 17, 1962, p. 21.][https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=ziW8EwMpto0C&dat=19620524&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Schenectady Gazette, May 24, 1962, p. 43.][https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/491436328/ Oh! Those Bells (television listing), The Record (Hackensack, New Jersey), May 24, 1962, Page 56 Accessed 4 January 2022][https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=ziW8EwMpto0C&dat=19620531&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Schenectady Gazette, May 31, 1962, p. 23.]

class=wikitable style="width:95%; background:#FFFFFF"
style="color:#FFFFFF"

! style="background:#515151; width:20px"| {{abbr|No|Overall episode number}}

! style="background:#515151"| Title

! style="background:#515151; width:110px"| Air date

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 1

| Title = Forget Me Nuts

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1962|3|8}}

| ShortSummary = The Bells go to a missile factory to pick up an old rocket for use as a movie prop, and trouble ensues.

| LineColor = 515151

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 2

| Title = Unfriendly Friendship Club

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1962|3|15}}

| ShortSummary = After Mrs. Stansfield orders them out of their bungalow, the Bells try to get back in her good graces by giving her a membership in a friendship club.

| LineColor = 515151

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 3

| Title = Murder in the Jungle

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1962|3|22}}

| ShortSummary = The Bells must take care of a chimpanzee and discover that he can write — or so they think.

| LineColor = 515151

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 4

| Title = Money Mix-Up

| AltTitle = Movie Money

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1962|3|29}}

| ShortSummary = The Bells get stage money meant for use in a movie mixed up with counterfeit money produced by criminals, and end up involved with both the counterfeiters and the police. This was the pilot for Oh! Those Bells.

| LineColor = 515151

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 5

| Title = Seal of Approval

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1962|4|5}}

| ShortSummary = After Mr. Slocum learns that the Bells have come into an inheritance from their uncle, he wants to make them partners in the theater supply shop. The inheritance turns out to be a trained seal—but after practically destroying Slocum's business, the Bells find a check for $10,000 around the seal's neck.

| LineColor = 515151

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 6

| Title = Too Many Spooks

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1962|4|12}}

| ShortSummary = After Mrs. Stanfield evicts the Bells from their bungalow for being behind on their rent, they move into a house reputed to be haunted. The Bells spend a wild night in the house, dealing with moving walls, secret compartments, moving bedroom doors, and beds that move between rooms.

| LineColor = 515151

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 7

| Title = Monkey Sitters

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1962|4|19}}

| ShortSummary = Mr. Slocum has to keep a chimpanzee but has no permit for it, so the Bells try to hide the animal in their bungalow — and must match wits with both a snooping Mrs. Stansfield and an amateur detective to keep them from discovering the chimpanzee.

| LineColor = 515151

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 8

| Title = The Wallet

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1962|4|26}}

| ShortSummary = While trying to return a wallet to a customer who dropped it in their shop, the Bells encounter a gang of thieves in a waterfront hangout.

| LineColor = 515151

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 9

| Title = Ma Scarlet

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1962|5|3}}

| ShortSummary = The only woman on the list of the ten most wanted criminals convinces the Bells that she is only a mild-mannered newspaper vendor, so they fix up a place for her to stay in a warehouse — and she decides to take advantage of their friendliness. Ellen Corby guest-stars.

| LineColor = 515151

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 10

| Title = Short Change

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1962|5|10}}

| ShortSummary = Kitty is upset because her family cannot afford to keep her brother in medical school, so the Bells decide to borrow the money necessary to pay for his education — and trouble ensues when the lender wants his money back. Jesse White, Murvyn Vye, and Teddy Hart guest-star.

| LineColor = 515151

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 11

| Title = Mexican Holiday

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1962|5|17}}

| ShortSummary = The Bells become involved in an international conspiracy to smuggle diamonds into the United States.

| LineColor = 515151

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 12

| Title = Scratched Fender

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1962|5|24}}

| ShortSummary = While delivering a rush order, the Bells scrape the fender of a parked car, then find it impossible to discover who the car's owner is.

| LineColor = 515151

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 13

| Title = Camping Trip

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1962|5|31}}

| ShortSummary = The Bells frustrate Mr. Slocum when they accidentally take a piece of paper with an important telephone number written on it with them when they go on a camping trip.

| LineColor = 515151

}}

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • {{IMDb title|0055695}}
  • [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juXv5zc0Bj8 Oh! Those Bells opening credits on YouTube]
  • [http://www.sitcomsonline.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/43965/cat/1875 sitcomsonline.com Oh, Those Bells!]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oh Those Bells}}

Category:1962 American television series debuts

Category:1962 American television series endings

Category:1960s American sitcoms

Category:Black-and-white American television shows

Category:CBS original programming

Category:American English-language television shows

Category:Television series set in shops

Category:Television shows set in Los Angeles

Category:CBS sitcoms