''The Adventures of Tugboat Annie'' is a 1957

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-filmed comedy television series starring

Minerva Urecal Minerva Urecal (born Florence Minerva Dunnuck; September 22, 1894 – February 26, 1966) was an American stage and radio performer as well as a character actress in Hollywood films and on various television series from the early 1950s to 1 ...

as Annie Brennan, the widowed captain of the tugboat "Narcissus," and

Walter Sande Walter Sande (July 9, 1906 – November 22, 1971) was an American character actor, known for numerous supporting film and television roles. Films Born in Denver, Colorado, he was one of those stern, heavyset character actors in Hollywood no pe ...

as Horatio J. Bullwinkle, the captain of the "Salamander." The syndicated series lasted for 39 episodes.

Background

Norman Reilly Raine Norman Reilly Raine (23 June 1894 – 19 July 1971) was an American screenwriter, creator of "Tugboat Annie" and winner of an Oscar for the screenplay of ''The Life of Emile Zola'' (1937). Early years Raine was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvan ...

's stories of the salty tugboat captain Annie Brennan, a character based on the life of Thea Foss, first appeared in prose form in the weekly US journal '' Saturday Evening Post'' in the late 1920s. She was soon developed into a movie character, depicted in three films and portrayed by a different actress in each ( Marie Dressler in ''

Tugboat Annie ''Tugboat Annie'' is a 1933 American pre-Code film directed by Mervyn LeRoy, written by Norman Reilly Raine and Zelda Sears, and starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery as a comically quarrelsome middle-aged couple who operate a tugboat. Dr ...

'', 1933;

Marjorie Rambeau Marjorie Burnet Rambeau (July 15, 1889 – July 6, 1970) was an American film and stage actress. She began her stage career at age 12, and appeared in several silent films before debuting in her first sound film, '' Her Man'' (1930). She was t ...

in ''

Tugboat Annie Sails Again ''Tugboat Annie Sails Again'' is a 1940 American comedy romance film directed by Lewis Seiler. The picture is a sequel to ''Tugboat Annie'' (1933). Marjorie Rambeau took over the late Marie Dressler's role, and the supporting cast features Alan H ...

'', 1940; and

Jane Darwell Jane Darwell (born Patti Woodard; October 15, 1879 – August 13, 1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best remembered for her p ...

in ''

Captain Tugboat Annie ''Captain Tugboat Annie'' is a 1945 second sequel to the classic ''Tugboat Annie'' (1933), this time starring Jane Darwell as Annie and Edgar Kennedy as Horatio Bullwinkle. The movie was directed by Phil Rosen, and is also known as ''Tugboat Ann ...

'', 1945).

Development

In 1954, a television series was commissioned by the independent American production company TPA. The pilot took two years to complete, at a then-record cost of $129,000.

Elsa Lanchester Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (28 October 1902 – 26 December 1986) was a British-American actress with a long career in theatre, film and television.Obituary '' Variety'', 31 December 1986. Lanchester studied dance as a child and after the F ...

, Jay C. Flippen, and Chill Wills were all in line for major roles at one point or another at this early stage. The series was filmed in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

harbor and was first shown in Canada, having attracted ratings good enough to interest American television stations. What had succeeded in Canada proved a disappointment in the United States, where the viewing audiences had presumably become accustomed to greater sophistication than the simplistic humor of this series. The show was also screened in the United Kingdom, but is now largely forgotten.

Plot

Annie Brennan, widowed and the former skipper of a garbage

scow A scow is a smaller type of barge. Some scows are rigged as sailing scows. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scows carried cargo in coastal waters and inland waterways, having an advantage for navigating shallow water or small harbours. S ...

, now captains a ship owned by the Severn Tugboat Company. A sympathetic, 50-year-old woman, her adventures consist of the humorous situations that develop when she attempts to assist people in trouble. Horatio Bullwinkle, a rival tugboat captain refers to her as "The Old Petticoat." The two of them traded insults and stole jobs from each other throughout the run of the series.Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (2007). ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present'' (9th ed.). New York: Ballantine Books. .

Cast

as Annie Brennan *

as Horatio J. Bullwinkle *Eric Clavering as Shiftless, Annie's deckhand *Don Orlando as Pinto, Annie's cook

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures of Tugboat Annie 1957 Canadian television series debuts 1958 Canadian television series endings Tugboats in fiction First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Black-and-white Canadian television shows English-language television shows 1950s Canadian sitcoms 1950s American sitcoms Nautical television series