The Ghost & Mrs. Muir TV series (1968-70)

It was very short lived and has not become a classic or a TV show anyone seems to be very nostalgic about. But it was on TV when I was at the very impressionable ages of 6-7, so I've never forgotten it.

When I saw an episode recently it seemed very NOT of the late 60s era. It seemed very uptight and square in every way. Even the children were dressed like it was 1952.

Anyone else remember it?

I watched it when it was on. But I don't remember much about it now. The bearded man was handsome.

The bearded man looked very much like Rex Harrison who was in the original 1940s movie.

It co-starred DL fave Reta Shaw, but the most memorable thing about it was the theme song, which can get stuck in your head.

And Charles Nelson Reilly !???

Theme tune starts @ 1:30

(look at the little girl's hat - peculiar)

I wanted a dog like Scruffy.

[quote]And Charles Nelson Reilly !???

Was he the owner of the house or something?

My brother named a stuffed dog of his "Scruffy" after the dog on this show.

The bearded man's fate in life was to be the poor man's Rex Harrison.

Little known fact. The little girl is Mika Brzezinski.

I remember this show from repeats as a kid. If I remember, Charles Nelson Reilly was a descendant (gr gr nephew or something) of The Ghost. CNR owned the house, but it was originally the Ghost’s. Mrs Muir was the first to rent it, and at first The Ghost wasn’t pleased, but he came around. I can’t remember if CNR and Mrs Muir knew the other could see, speak with The Ghost or not.

As a 10-12 year old gayling, I found the flaming antics of CNR disturbing but also fascinating. He played the real estate agent who sold or rented Gull Cottage to Hope Lange. Looking at the opening credits now, it appears they used the same Palos Verdes location as the movie. And I did not know the TV music was written by Dave Grusen. As memorable in its own way as Bernard Herrmann's movie theme.

[quote]The bearded man's fate in life was to be the poor man's Rex Harrison.

Yes, so it seems:-

[bold]His best-known stage role was as Professor Higgins in the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady, having taken over the role from Rex Harrison in 1957[/bold]

Yes I remember this show and I particularly remember Scruffy!

[quote]Little known fact. The little girl is Mika Brzezinski.

No! - Kellie Flanagan

She was also in Star Trek.

Hope Lange won two Emmy Awards for this. The show was cancelled by NBC and she picked up her first Emmy. The show was picked up and cancelled by ABC and she picked up her second. Goes to prove that anyone can get an Emmy for Comedy. Maybe Angela Lansbury should have changed categories.

At the time this show aired, Reta Shaw was well known for giving the best blow jobs in Hollywood.

I remember very well. The theme is the best; fully orchestrated with a lovely nautical feel. Years later I saw the original movie on TCM and it's now one of my favorites.

It must have been on Friday nights because I remember watching it with my grandmother who would babysit while my parents went out. She thought the Captain was very handsome.

I watched it in later years and it is clear Hope Lange was not meant to do comedy.

I had my first abortion right after the first season!!

Hope Lange’s competition in 1969 was Diahann Carroll in “Julia”, Barbara Feldon in “Get Smart” and Elizabeth Montgomery in “Bewitched.” (Only 4 nominees that year.)

Her competition in 1970 was Marlo Thomas in “That Girl” and Elizabeth Montgomery in “Bewitched.” (Only 3 nominees that year.)

Incidentally, Elizabeth Montgomery was nominated 5 times for “Bewitched” but never won.

This is from an era when cute blond children were much in demand on sitcoms, so as to draw in families (who were seen then as the #1 audience for sitcoms, and who were thought to be enamored of that look).

Love and remember it, too, OP. For same reasons. I wanted to dress like Mrs. Muir. I really was aroused by the Ghost. And I apparently harbored unconventional sexual orientation like the Housekeeper!

Odd that this was cancelled during the so-called "rural purge." I wouldn't have thought it qualified as rural like Mayberry RFD or Green Acres.

Hope Lange was Oscar nominated for Supporting Actress in Peyton Place (1957).

The housekeeper looks like Barbara Bush

The Ghost is Edward Mulhare who was also in Knight Rider.

I remember it very well because at 7 or 8 I wanted a house that either looked like Gull Cottage or the hodge-podge mansion on "Pleas Don't Eat The Daisies." I ended up with a funky NCY studio apartment some where between MTM and Rhoda - so I can't complain.

Was it a rip off of Dark Shadows?

It was based on a 1947 movie, which itself was based on a 1945 book.

My old neighbor was a cousin of Hope's. They looked uncannily alike. I think she was maybe 2 or 3 years older than Hope. She told a few stories of how turbulent Hope's life was, alluding to drugs and mental illness.

It was so preppy before we said preppy

As a baby gay I watched it for the clothing

In color? What blasphemy is this?

Like others have mentioned, I too watched this in reruns. And yes, I found the ghost quite attractive. I envied those kids.

"'Blast' is not a ladies' word!"

"Blast, blast, BLAST!"

Rita Shaw did multiple appearances on the Andy Griffith Show.

I'm watching the pilot now. I wish I could get a painter to show up for $1.75 an hour.

Is the young woman in the opening shown at R7 (of the couple who get caught in the rain) played by DL fave Yvonne Craig (Batgirl)?

Harry Nilsson made appearance and sang his song "Without Her".

The amount of people who tried to get a hit out of Without Her in the late '60s and failed! - including DL fave, Lulu and Herb Alpert. Just wasn't a hit song, I guess.

I love the guy on the phone "Hello...long distance! Short distance!" Hilarious!

The housekeeper was also the maid in Mary Poppins...lest you forget.

[quote]My old neighbor was a cousin of Hope's. They looked uncannily alike. I think she was maybe 2 or 3 years older than Hope. She told a few stories of how turbulent Hope's life was, alluding to drugs and mental illness.

Oh, my goodness!

She was pretty similar to the Mom in The Partridge Family - and The Brady Bunch, come to think of it.

[quote]Her competition in 1970 was Marlo Thomas in “That Girl” and Elizabeth Montgomery in “Bewitched.” (Only 3 nominees that year.)

Gee...Marlo was still going in 1970!

I don't think they ever ran "That Girl" in England...which is odd. I saw it in reruns in the '70s in NYC. We did get this though.

I still dress like the little boy.

I don't know and never knew anyone who dressed like the little girl. Her outfits were ridiculous.

Since we are venturing to nostalgia. My young family and I were visiting Whidbey Island, WA, Useless Bay, and the kids were agog that the boy from TGAMM was visiting "our beach". The aunt and uncle of our hosts were related to a couple who ran a craft services business (onsite catering) for movie studios in LA. The LA people had bought a place nearby for retirement and invited the kid and his father. Don't know much more, and I never watched the show. But if you mention "remember the kid from TGAMM when we were at Whidbey?" All of my middle aged kids would say, of course.

Looks like both season are on YT. I forgot Hope's in the cult classic Blue Velvet

I connected to this series as my Mom was (is) a widower.

I think only Hope/Mrs. M and the little boy could see the Ghost/Captain.

In season two, the daughter and the maid were brought in on it.

I thought it would have run longer than two seasons.

Something sweet and sad about the widow finding some kind of love again -- it wouldn't really work with a ghost, but...kinda sweet.

Hope Lange was kind of a slut. She hooked up with Glenn Ford, Frank Sinatra, and John Cheever!!!

The three shows which played together in afternoon reruns, in heavy rotation, were The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, Please Don't Eat the Daisies, and Nanny and the Professor.

None of them ever reappeared once that brief window closed.

Two of those things are not like the other, r56.

I wouldn't watch this show because the housekeeper reminded me of our old housekeeper who was "mean." They were both really just plump women with white hair who made wisecracks. That was the extent of it. But for years afterward, if I pictured a scary witch, it would be a plump woman with white hair offering me food and making fun of me if I didn't want to eat it.

I liked this show as a kid, but the Ghost scared me.

[quote]The housekeeper looks like Barbara Bush

The housekeeper also acted like Barbara Bush.

I saw that show as a young gayling, I should have known then I was gay. The only thing I wanted to see the was the handsome ghost with a beard. Why couldn't I have been Mrs. Muir being stalked from beyond?

Hope Lange made some weird career choices. A few years after this she was in "Death Wish" playing the wife of Charles Bronson. Her character is in the film only a few minutes, she gets pistol whipped to death, and is called "rich mother cunt" (by Jeff Goldblum, IIRC). Did she really think being called a "rich mother cunt" would jumpstart her career?

Edward Mulhare (The Ghost) was gay.

Poster upthread was correct: in season two, the maid and daughter could also see the ghost. When Reta Shaw saw the ghost, she fainted, fell on the bed and the bed collapsed!

Hope Lange was one of those people that this young gayboy thought was very pretty.She just had a casual, natural beauty to me. She was married for a while to actor Don Murray, I liked him too. Very masculine and handsome. Then, of course, he did "Bus Stop" with Marilyn and I totally loved her.

Odd now to think what a kid is attracted to.

Loved this as a kid. My brother and I thought CNR was a riot. And I thought Hope Lange was gorgeous.

Everyone on the show was IRISH including the LESBIAN housekeeper.

So it took us til 63 and now we have a gay ghost and a lesbian housekeeper. Not bad going...and of course the landlord was gay.

Now to investigate the children.

She was the cook, R49. The maid was Ellen. Played by the versatile and Oscar nominee Hermione Baddely.

Thank you for the correction, R70. Of course you're right.

I so wanted to be man handled by the captain. I knew this even at the age of 6. He was so good looking.

I so wanted to be man handled by Reta Shaw. I knew this even at the age of 6. She was so stately.

Didn’t it feature a poof?

I learned how to be gay from CNR and Dr. Smith on Lost in Space. Oh dear!

Reta Shaw is in one of the best musical numbers ever in a musical in TPG, a soft shoe choreographed by BF. With Eddie Foy. Prefer it to the flashy Steam Heat. Pure joy.

The original film of Mrs Muir is a beauty and always ends up as one of people's favorite. Gene and Rex in the final scene are beyond praise.

No mention yet of one of dl's canonic films The Best of Everything? I must have missed the post.

Lange certainly had among the hottest of men. Went to see her on Broadway in The Supporting Cast because I liked her so much. It really had a wonderful cast.

Hope Lange was also in "Bus Stop", R64. She played the young woman (waitress?) who was on the bus at the beginning but her destination was the bus stop as she worked?/lived? there. She may have been some relation of the woman who ran the bus stop.

Lange and Murray were married (per imdb) in April of 1956 and "Bus Stop" was released in the USA on August 31, 1956.

Perhaps they met while making the movie.

He was on the panel of What's My Line?

Reta's number from The Pajama Game. The dance starts at 3:35.

What is Chuck Connors and his chest doing here?

Yes the show seemed like a throwback but virtually everything that was on tv pre-All in The Family & MTM seemed like it belonged in a different decade, with scripts often recycled from radio. Hope Lange was beautiful and talented.

Reta Shaw played maids, nosy neighbors, sardonic best friends, etc. on just about every sit com as well as in many movies.

[quote]Yes the show seemed like a throwback but virtually everything that was on tv pre-All in The Family & MTM seemed like it belonged in a different decade

I don't agree. Plenty of TV shows from the mid-60s on looked 60s.

That Girl, for instance. Tons of them.

Julia.

I always found it odd that they turned the poignant, sweet, sad and iconic classic film of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir into a sitcom. There were moments of humor in the film, yes. But it was by no means a comedy. The TV version had none of the wistfulness of the relationship between the main characters, nor the silvery cinematography nor the period character and charm. I know, big MARY but still.

R86---Oh please--That Girl was totally old fashioned. She was chaste, but had a steady bf. Nothing like MTM who would occasionally spend the night with someone she wasn't planning to marry. And Ann Marie was the conventional empty headed manipulative women on series tv--lots of "feminine wiles". It's funny that Thomas thought the show was a sign of liberation. Julia, like most cross-over shows was thoroughly conventional and non-threatening. Other than often having widowed parents the sitcoms of the late 60s were basically throwbacks to Ozzie And Harriet or Donna Reed. Other than the Van Dyke show, it was rare to see a couple who actually belonged in their decade.

R88, Marlo cops to all of that. She has discussed it extensively for decades. That Girl DID make inroads but it was anachronistic as hell. Marlo was well aware that, as Vietnam raged and "free love" was happening and people her age, in real life, were sleeping together and breaking old taboos, that AnnMarie would not be able to get away with that stuff and still be a hit show. The scripts were ridiculous in this regard. "Daddy" always having a fit over the mere possibility that Don had "slept over." There were many episodes about this very thing. Don always "left early" or "slept on the floor" or whatever. No one would have done that. And yet, somehow, middle America bought it.

I don't think middle America really believed it but they wanted to see it.

I watched reruns in the 1970s. It wasn't until I was well into adulthood that I realized the Ghost and the father in the Sound of Music were separate actors. I always thought the Ghost was played by Christopher Plummer.

Hell yeah. They wanted to see Don and Ann fuck. Hardcore stuff even. Think of the ratings if she pegged him...

Helene Hanff (of 84 Charing Cross Road fame) wrote of meeting Reta Shaw in summer stock after Rita, a kindergarten teacher, got bit by the acting bug.

R40 and R70 she was also the cook in "Pollyanna."

[quote]I learned how to be gay from CNR and Dr. Smith on Lost in Space. Oh dear!

I hated both of those characters as a kid and I still do today. All they did was perpetuate negative stereotypes of gay men without actually coming out and saying they were gay.

[quote]I always found it odd that they turned the poignant, sweet, sad and iconic classic film of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir into a sitcom. There were moments of humor in the film, yes. But it was by no means a comedy.

True. It also had the adult subtext (for the 1940s) of the Ghost possibly being able to see Mrs. Muir naked.

[quote]All they did was perpetuate negative stereotypes of gay men without actually coming out and saying they were gay.

No one said they were gay then - especially "B movie" actors, are you fucking kidding?

in fact, CNR was more open than most.

WIKI:

[quote]Magazine and newspaper profiles of Reilly throughout the 1970s and 1980s did not mention his personal life or sexuality. Many years after the cancellation of Match Game, he revealed his homosexuality in his theatrical one-man show, Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly. Much like fellow game-show regular Paul Lynde of the same era, despite Reilly's off-camera silence, he gave signals on-camera of a campy persona. In many episodes of Match Game, he lampooned himself by briefly affecting "YO!" in a deep voice and the nickname "Chuck" and self-consciously describing how "butch" he was. Many years after his game show career ended, he mentioned in a 2002 interview with Entertainment Tonight that he felt no need to explain his joke about "Chuck", and that he never purposely hid being gay from anyone. Patrick Hughes, a set decorator and dresser, was Reilly's domestic partner; the two met backstage while Reilly appeared on the game show Battlestars, although their partnership was not revealed publicly. They lived together in Beverly Hills.

I knew someone who met Charles Nelson Reilly. Said he was kind and an absolute gentleman.

Bought it recently on DVD it'[s dated but I like it.

If it hasn't already been mentioned, after The Ghost and Mrs. Muir was cancelled, Hope Lange played Dick van Dyke's wife in "The New Dick van Dyke Show" which ran for 3 seasons, 1971-1974.

Hope Lange was no Laura Petrie.

[quote]No one said they were gay then - especially "B movie" actors, are you fucking kidding?

No shit Sherlock. You missed the point entirely. What those guys did was play and perpetuate a gay stereotype under the premise of being straight men. They tied gay stereotypical behavior to evil, selfish hated characters. Ergo, people who are gay must be evil.

Fans of Hope Lange, what is your opinion of Crowhaven Farm? It kept the ghostly theme, but went as far away from comedy as was possible.

I was way too young to be watching it, and traumatized me for years.

[quote] people who are gay must be evil.

Oh, you know the guys I've dated.

R103, I'd never heard of it. But here it is on YouTube---I'm looking forward to watching it!

[quote] All they did was perpetuate negative stereotypes of gay men without actually coming out and saying they were gay.

I hope you changed your mind when you saw CNR in 'Match Game." He was the coolest guy on Earth on that show--witty, gay as he wanted to be, and bickering with his hag.

I remember this show, can still hum the theme song.

I would put this show on a list with others I used to watch as a kid, that had slightly "adult" themes but also kids my age - Julia, The Courtship of Eddie's Father. WHET Earl J Wagedorn?

Oh and then the not very well remembered "Debbie Reynolds Show" and "The Girl With Something Extra." Weren't they all sort of Sunday Night shows?

Crowhaven Farm. I think it's a DL fave as I see it mentioned on hereevery once in awhile. I can't believe it took almost 90 replies before being mentioned here.

I saw it when I was 8 years old and had nightmares! I watched it recently on YouTube and I still think it's pretty fucking creepy. Especially the end.

Of course, the other thing I remember Hope Lange for was getting brutally raped and murdered in Death Wish. The scene was graphic and intense and disturbing to this day. I couldn't believe she took the part.

A (straight) actor friend of mine knew CNR. He said he was a fascinating person with whom to sit down and have a meal. He had lots of insights into acting, but did not react well if you asked him about "Lidsville."

An actor friend of mine was either in a class with CNR, or the class was taught by CNR, (I can't remember which), but he said CNR was completely adored by all. A very warm, open, and charitable man.

His story about his father turning down Disney's offer to work with him and then after being fired from Paramount is heartbraking.

[quote]I hope you changed your mind when you saw CNR in 'Match Game."

Sorry, No, I had better things to do with my life than watch game shows. Never into them. Besides, they only reason they existed was to support " D list" celebrities.

R46 Yvonne Craig was also the green Orion slave girl in an episode of Star Trek.

CNR helped make Emily Dickinson an academic superstar (and an industry) by producing the play, The Belle of Amherst.

Hope Lange was not raped in Death Wish, her daughter in the movie, played by Kathleen Tolan who was a Mary Ryan replacement on Ryan's Hope, was forced to perform oral sex on Jeff Goldblum. Lange was just beaten.

Crowhaven Farm is one of those bizarre ABC telemovies that would never get made today because evil wins in the end.

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