My Little Margie

My Little Margie

1955 - United States

Following on from the success of I Love Lucy, ATV television in the UK purchased another US sitcom in the form of My Little Margie, which centred around 21 year-old Margie Albright and her widower father, Vernon. 

Gale Storm, who played the lead, began her stage career by winning the Texas branch of a competition to play in 'Gateway to Hollywood.' She met the winner of the same contest from Indiana and a year later they were married. Gale then decided to concentrate on raising a family before returning to the silver screen, where she appeared alongside well-known names of the day such as Donald O'Connor and Audie Murphy. Her co-star in the TV series was former silent movie star Charles Farrell who had appeared opposite Janet Gaynor in Seventh Heaven

In an unusual move, My Little Margie began a radio series in December 1952, a little more than two months after the first TV series had finished, and then continued on both mediums throughout the rest of its run. Not, as one might imagine in radio versions of the TV episodes, but in completely new stories. Co-stars Storm and Farrell played the leads in both. The first episode of the TV series was transmitted on CBS in 1952 and the last one was seen on NBC in 1955.

Published on January 9th, 2019. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

Alfred Hitchock Presents tv series

The instantly recognisable, deceptively benign visage of arguably the world's greatest director of cinematic suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, side-stepped deftly to the smaller screen of US television and welcomed viewers to a polished series of stories...

Also released in 1955

I Love Lucy

Classic US domestic sitcom about and starring the incomparable Lucille Ball

Also tagged Domestic Sitcom

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Richard Greene starred as the legendary 12th century outlaw who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. ITV's first adventure series managed to maintain a high standard of writing, employing blacklisted Hollywood writers who wrote under various aliases.

Also released in 1955

Benson TV series

This spin-off of the Susan Harris-created farce Soap sent the Tate family's insolent African-American butler Benson to the mansion of Jessica Tate's bumbling cousin, Governor James Gatling. In other words, Benson went from one dysfunctional family to another.

Also tagged Us Sitcom

Fanny's Kitchen

Phyllis Cradock and her third husband Major John Cradock were quickly poached from the BBC's Kitchen Magic in 1955 to present ITV's first cookery programme.

Also released in 1955

All In The Family

British critics have called 'All In The Family' "a reworked, far less provocative version" of the show it was based on, BBC's 'Till Death Us Do Part'...

Also tagged Us Sitcom

Marriage Lines

Marital ups and downs of a newly-wed couple starring Richard Briers and Prunella Scales

Also tagged Domestic Sitcom

Ellen TV series

US sitcom starring Ellen DeGeneres

Also tagged Us Sitcom

The Cosby Show

One of TV's biggest hit in the 1980s and one which almost single-handedly revived the sitcom genre.

Also tagged Us Sitcom