Make Room for Granddaddy

The Danny Thomas Show
Danny Thomas and Marjorie Lord, 1962
Also known as	''Make Room For Daddy''
Genre	Sitcom
Directed by	Sheldon Leonard William Asher Danny Thomas
Starring	Danny Thomas Jean Hagen Marjorie Lord Sherry Jackson Rusty Hamer Angela Cartwright
Composer(s)	Herbert W. Spencer Earle Hagen (MSI)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	11
No. of episodes	120 (MRFD) 231 (TDTS) 351 (total) 24 (MRFG) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Louis F. Edelman
Producer(s)	Sheldon Leonard Charles Stewart
Running time	23–25 minutes
Production company(s)	Marterto Enterprises (1953–1962) T&L Productions (1962–1964)
Release
Original network	ABC (1953–1957) CBS (1957–1964)
Original release	September 29, 1953 (1953-09-29) – April 27, 1964 (1964-04-27)
Chronology
Followed by	Make Room for Granddaddy
Related shows	I Love Lucy The Andy Griffith Show The Joey Bishop Show The Dick Van Dyke Show

The Danny Thomas Show (known as Make Room for Daddy during the first three seasons) is an American sitcom which ran from 1953 to 1957 on ABC and from 1957 to 1964 on CBS. A revival series known as Make Room for Granddaddy aired on ABC from 1970 to 1971. Episodes regularly featured music as part of the plot by Danny Thomas, guest stars, and occasionally by other cast members.

In March 1953, Danny Thomas first signed the contract for the show with ABC and chose Desilu Studios to film it using its three-camera method. Two proposed titles during preproduction were The Children's Hour and Here Comes Daddy.

Thomas played Danny Williams, a successful comedian and nightclub entertainer at the Copa Club. Jean Hagen played his serious and loving wife Margaret, Sherry Jackson their daughter Terry, and Rusty Hamer their son Rusty. The show's premise dealt with Danny rarely having time to spend with his family and Margaret dealing with the children on her own. Margaret often felt neglected by her husband, and on several occasions felt like leaving him. Margaret was a society woman and strict with the children, but loved her family. Louise Beavers made several appearances during this era as the Williams' maid, Louise Evans, and often found herself at odds with Danny and sided with Margaret in most fights between the couple. Nana Bryant appeared often as Margaret's kind mother, of whom Danny and the children were fond, but Margaret, who had been raised by her aunt and uncle because of her mother being away on stage tours often, was not as warm towards her mother. Bryant died in late 1955 and her character simply stopped appearing. During 1955, Louise Beavers became ill and Amanda Randolph took over the role of Louise.

For its first three years, Make Room For Daddy garnered decent ratings, but failed to make the list of the top-30 programs. Shortly after the third season finished filming, Jean Hagen left the show due to dissatisfaction with her role and frequent clashes with Danny Thomas. Thomas was upset with her for leaving, as he felt the show would not last without her, but he decided to push on without Hagen. At the start of the fourth season, the series title was changed to The Danny Thomas Show. Both Thomas and producer Sheldon Leonard were faced with a serious dilemma - how to explain Jean Hagen's absence on the show. To have Danny and Margaret Williams separate and divorce would have been unacceptable to television audiences at that time. So, it was explained that Margaret had died suddenly off-screen. It was a risky move. Until this time, no character on a situation comedy had died. Danny was now a widower juggling a performing career while raising two children on his own. Danny had Louise and his friends often looking after the children while he was still touring. He decided to move them to a boarding school, but later relented and the family moved into a new apartment. During the season, Danny dated a few other women and nearly got engaged to a widowed singer until he found out she did not like children. By season's end, the ratings had suffered and it was decided that a wife and mother was needed to complete the family unit. In a four-part story arc that began airing in April, 1957, Rusty fell ill with the measles and Danny hired Kathy O'Hara (Marjorie Lord), a young Irish nurse, to look after him. Kathy was a widow with a little girl (played by Lelani Sorenson). Danny and Kathy became fast friends and Danny fell in love with her very quickly, as did the kids. In the season finale, Kathy proposed to Danny (as Danny was too nervous to do so himself) and the two became engaged. At this time, ABC cancelled the series, which proved to be fortunate. In the spring of 1957, I Love Lucy, which had reigned as the top-rated show for almost all of its six-year run on CBS, was ending production. When CBS heard that ABC was cancelling The Danny Thomas Show, they picked it up for their fall season line-up, adding it to the 1957-1958 schedule.