The Impossible Years

The Impossible Years is a 1965 comedy play and a 1968 movie, based on the play.

The play was written by Robert Fisher and Arthur Marx, son of famed comedian Groucho Marx. After two previews, the Broadway production, directed by Arthur Storch, opened on October 13, 1965 at the Playhouse Theatre, where it ran for 670 performances. The original cast included Alan King, Sudie Bond, Bert Convy, Neva Small, and Scott Glenn. Sam Levene and Ed McMahon succeeded King later in the run.

The comedy revolves around Jonathan Kingsley, a teaching psychiatrist at the local university, his wife, and their two teenaged daughters. Complications arise when the older one develops an active interest in the opposite sex and her younger impressionable sister begins to emulate her misadventures.

The 1968 film version, which premiered December 5, was adapted by George Wells and directed by Michael Gordon. It starred David Niven, Lola Albright, Chad Everett, Ozzie Nelson, Cristina Ferrare, Gale Dixon and Darlene Carr. The eponymous theme song was written by The Tokens and performed by The Cowsills.