''Stanley'' is an American

situation comedy A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

starring

Buddy Hackett Buddy Hackett (born Leonard Hacker; August 31, 1924 – June 30, 2003) was an American actor, comedian and singer. His best remembered roles include Marcellus Washburn in ''The Music Man'' (1962), Benjy Benjamin in ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Wo ...

Carol Burnett Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and writer. Her groundbreaking comedy variety show ''The Carol Burnett Show'', which originally aired on CBS was one of the first of its kind to be hosted ...

, and the voice of

Paul Lynde Paul Edward Lynde (; June 13, 1926January 10, 1982) was an American comedian, actor and game show panelist. A character actor with a distinctively campy and snarky persona that often poked fun at his barely closeted homosexuality, Lynde was well ...

. It aired on NBC-TV from September 24, 1956 to March 11, 1957 during the 1956–1957 television season. It was produced by Max Liebman, who previously produced

Sid Caesar Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor, comedian and writer. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: ''Your Show of Shows'' (1950� ...

's ''

Your Show of Shows ''Your Show of Shows'' is a live 90-minute variety show that was broadcast weekly in the United States on NBC from February 25, 1950, through June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Other featured performers were Carl Reiner, Howa ...

'', co-sponsored by American Tobacco ( Pall Mall cigarettes) and The Toni Company (Bobbi Home Permanent, Pamper Shampoo).

Plot summary

''Stanley'' revolved around the adventures of the namesake character (Hackett) as the operator of a newsstand in a posh hotel in New York City, the Sussex-Fenton. Burnett played his girlfriend Celia, and Lynde voiced the unseen hotel owner Mr. Fenton, who never appeared on camera but frequently could be heard giving orders to his staff. In the show's introduction, the following line was recited: "You think you've got troubles. Stanley, ''he's'' got troubles!"

Broadcast history

As was the case with several such programs (but a declining number, even at this early stage of network television), ''Stanley'' was aired live. The complete run of the series, preserved on

kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940 ...

film, is known to exist and the show is available via streaming and has been released on DVD. The program aired on Monday nights at 8:30 pm EST opposite the popular ''

Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts ''Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts'' (also known as ''Talent Scouts'') was an American radio and television variety show which ran on CBS from 1946 until 1958. Sponsored by Lipton Tea, it starred Arthur Godfrey, who was also hosting ''Arthur Godf ...

'' on CBS and the long-running ''

The Voice of Firestone ''The Voice of Firestone'' was a radio and television program of classical music. The show featured leading singers in selections from opera and operetta. Originally titled ''The Firestone Hour'', it was first broadcast on the NBC Radio network ...

'' on ABC. After 19 weeks of low ratings, ''Stanley'' was canceled mid-season and replaced by ''

Tales of Wells Fargo ''Tales of Wells Fargo'' is an American Western television series starring Dale Robertson that ran from 1957 to 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season, when it expanded to ...

'', a western which ran on NBC for the next five and a half years.

Episodes

Home media

In the early 2010s, the full 19 episode series was digitally re-mastered and released on a 3-disc DVD set by Stanley Productions, LLC. It is currently also available for download and streaming via

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

Cast

as Stanley Peck *

as Celia *

as Horace Fenton (voice only) *Reedy Talton as Marvin *Frederic Tozere as Mr. Phillips *

Jane Connell Jane Sperry Connell (pronounced con-NELL, née Bennett; October 27, 1925 – September 22, 2013) was an American actress and singer. Early years Connell was born in Berkeley, California, to Louis Wesley and Mary (née Sperry) Bennett. She majo ...

as Jane On February 16, 1964, Hackett and Burnett were reunited on CBS-TV's ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...

'' A blind-folded Hackett recognized his former co-star's voice who appeared as that evening's mystery guest. After briefly discussing their short-lived roles on ''Stanley'', Buddy exclaimed "That's the one the Nielsen guy threw off the air for us!" This was a reference to the show's first guest that evening who signed in as "Mr. X". He was actually A.C. Nielsen Jr. who headed

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

References

External links

* 1956 American television series debuts 1957 American television series endings 1950s American sitcoms American live television series Black-and-white American television shows NBC original programming Television series set in hotels Television shows set in New York City {{US-comedy-tv-prog-stub