''The Pride of the Family'' is a 30-minute American television situation comedy that was broadcast on ABC from October 2, 1953, until September 24, 1954. CBS showed reruns of the program in prime time in the summer of 1955.

Premise

Albie Morrison headed a newspaper's advertising department and was head of a family that included his wife, Catherine; teenage daughter, Ann; and son, Junior.

Cast

* Albie Morrison-

Paul Hartman Paul Hartman (March 1, 1904 – October 2, 1973) was an American dancer, stage performer and television actor. Early years Born in San Francisco, California, Hartman was the son of Ferris Hartman, who was sometimes called the "Ziegfeld of ...

* Catherine Morrison-

Fay Wray Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was a Canadian/American actress best known for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international r ...

* Ann Morrison-

Natalie Wood Natalie Wood ( Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress who began her career in film as a child and successfully transitioned to young adult roles. Wood started acting at age four and was given a co-starring r ...

* Junior Morrison-Bobby Hyatt

Production

Sam Perrin Sam Perrin (August 15, 1901 - January 8, 1998) was an American screenwriter. Biography Perrin was born to a Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israeli ...

was the producer, for Revue Productions. Bob Finkel was the director. Writers included Paul Schneider, Clint Comerford, Fred Howard,

Irving Phillips Irving Walter Phillips (November 29, 1904 – October 28, 2000) was a noted American cartoonist, playwright, television scriptwriter, author, illustrator and educator. He is best remembered for his daily newspaper comic panel '' The Strange Wor ...

Al Gordon Alan Gordon (born June 22, 1953) is an American comic book creator primarily known as an inker and writer. He is best known for his 1990s work on DC Comics' ''Legion of Super Heroes'' and the ''Justice League of America'', Marvel Comics' ''Fanta ...

, Jack Fleischman, and

Hal Goldman Harold "Hal" Goldman (December 5, 1919 – June 27, 2001) was an American Emmy Award-winning screenwriter, television director A television director is in charge of the activities involved in making a television program or section of a pr ...

. Thirty-nine episodes were filmed in black-and-white with a laugh track. Sponsors included Bufferin pain reliever,

Ipana Ipana was a toothpaste product manufactured by Bristol-Myers Company. The wintergreen flavored toothpaste (0.243% sodium fluoride was its active ingredient) reached its peak market penetration during the 1950s in North America. Marketing of Ipan ...

toothpaste, and Dial soap and shampoo.

Reception

A review in ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' compared ''The Pride of the Family'' to many other situation comedies in that its "situations are contrived to the point of absurdity". The review attributed most of the laughs in the program to Hartman's "wonderfully mobile face" and said that Wray "deserves better" after she came out of retirement to be in this show. The trade publication '' Billboards review of the show's first episode described it as "a rather slow-moving situation comedy series with a competent cast, but only so-so scripting". Although it complimented Wray as "gracious and telegenic" and Hartman as revealing "an unexpected gift for pathos", it summarized the show overall as "average".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pride of the Family, The 1953 American television series debuts 1954 American television series endings 1950s American television series American Broadcasting Company original programming English-language television shows