Mama (TV series)

Mama is a weekly Maxwell House and Post Cereal-sponsored CBS Television comedy-drama series that ran from July 1, 1949 until March 17, 1957. It is based on the memoir Mama's Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes, which was also adapted for the John Van Druten play (1944) and the subsequent film I Remember Mama (1948), and told the ongoing story of a loving Norwegian family living in San Francisco in the 1910s through the eyes of the elder daughter, Katrin Hansen (Rosemary Rice). Katrin would be seen looking through the pages of the family album at the start of each episode with the opening narration:

"This old album makes me remember so many things in the past. San Francisco and the house on Steiner Street where I was born. It brings back memories of my cousins, aunts, and uncles; all the boys and girls I grew up with. And I remember my family as we were then. My brother Nels, my little sister Dagmar, and of course, Papa. But most of all when I look back to those days so long ago, most of all, I remember Mama."

The show was originally broadcast live from a television studio located above the waiting room in Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal.

In addition to veteran stage actress Peggy Wood in the title role of Marta Hansen and Rosemary Rice as Katrin, the cast included Judson Laire as Papa and Dick Van Patten as brother Nels. The youngest child, Dagmar, was portrayed by Robin Morgan (who later became a radical feminist activist and poet) and then by Toni Campbell after Morgan left the show. Also featured were Ruth Gates (as Aunt Jenny), Carl Frank, Alice Frost, Malcolm Keen, Roland Winters, Kevin Coughlin and Patty McCormack. Gates was the only member of the cast to have played her role in the original Broadway production back in 1944. The television series was different in that Mama had only three children in the TV version (as opposed to four in the play and the film) with the character of daughter Christine being entirely eliminated. Also, in contrast to the film and motion picture, on television, Mama had only two sisters instead of three (Jenny and, occasionally, Trina - the other sister Sigrid was never seen or referred to). The character of Mama's Uncle Chris (played by Roland Winters) made a few appearances on the program, but the character of Mr. Hyde was deleted from the series. However, in a 1957 episode, "The Seventh Age", a character was featured with a different name - Mr. Carlysle (played by actor Bramwell Fletcher) - who was very similar to Mr. Hyde, in that he was a kind man although a down and out, penniless aging actor whom the Hansens took in as a boarder. Although earlier incarnations of I Remember Mama had focused primarily on the relationship between Marta and Katrin, the television series typically dealt with a specific family member's problem and eventually drew the whole family into helping with its resolution. The program aired live, and kinescope recordings were prepared for West Coast broadcasts. The popularity and high ratings of Mama prompted a national re-release of I Remember Mama in 1956. In some theaters, this reissue included a stage presentation of "Dish Night," a recreation of the dinnerware giveaways theaters held during the 1930s to attract ticket-buyers.

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