The Ray Milland Show
| Meet Mr. McNutley | |
|---|---|
Ray Milland and Phyllis Avery
|
|
| Also known as | ''The Ray Milland Show Meet Mr. McNulty'' |
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by |
Joe Connelly Bob Mosher |
| Written by | Kitty Buhler Joe Connelly Lou Derman Albert Lewin Bob Mosher |
| Directed by |
Charles Barton Jules Bricken Ted Post |
| Starring |
Ray Milland Phyllis Avery Lloyd Corrigan Minerva Urecal |
| Composer(s) | Leroy Anderson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 75 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Joe Connelly Bob Mosher Charles Barton Harry Tugend |
| Running time | 24-26 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Revue Productions |
| Distributor | MCA Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Picture format | Black-and-white |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | September 17, 1953 – May 19, 1955 |
Meet Mr. McNutley (later retitled The Ray Milland Show) is an American situation comedy which aired on CBS Television from 1953–1955, with Ray Milland in the role of fastidious Professor Ray McNutley, the head of the English Department at the fictitious Lynnhaven College for girls. Phyllis Avery portrayed McNutley's wife, Peggy.
The half-hour series aired on Thursday evenings opposite Groucho Marx's NBC program, You Bet Your Life. The show aired concurrently on radio during its first season. Both versions were sponsored by General Electric, and originally presented under the umbrella title of The General Electric Comedy Theatre.
In the premiere episode on September 17, 1953, McNutley, as an "absent-minded professor", goes on a hunting trip, having forgotten that he has hired a young female assistant to work with him. He falls into a duck pond fully clothed. In another early episode, the absent-minded professor is a scoutmaster. While hiking, he falls into a bear trap on a lake and become the object of an all-night search... Later episodes, however, do not stress the absent-minded angle.
In the episode "The Perfect Marriage", the college dean decides that Ray and Peggy, being an apparently model couple, can help another faculty couple resolve marital differences. In a heart-warming episode, McNutley finds a baby boy in his automobile and takes the child to an orphanage. In the episode "House Party", the professor learns that his students generally regard him as an "old cornball". He invites them to his house to present himself in a different light. In the Christmas Eve episode broadcast in 1953, the professor and Mrs. McNutley give up a planned trip to accommodate a French student who cannot afford to go to Canada for the holiday. In another segment, McNutley is named "dean for a day" and encounters problems with sorority rush week.
In "Swimming Problem", McNutley becomes the substitute coach of the Lynnhaven swimming team. He finds that the star swimmer is frustrated with her boyfriend, and Ray and Peggy team up as matchmakers to restore the girl's morale. In "Ray's Promotion", the professor is named dean to replace Miss Josephine Bradley, portrayed by Minerva Urecal, but his conscience causes him to work to reinstate Miss Bradley, knowing that his promotion will be lost in the process. In "Back in Uniform", Ray balks when the dean asks him to change a student's grade and threatens to quit if his moral stance is undermined. He also makes plans to attend a reunion of his old Army regiment. When Miss Bradley sees Ray having the uniform cleaned, she incorrectly assumes that he is rejoining the military.
...
Wikipedia