The World of Mr. Sweeney

This was one of my favorite weekday shows when I was growing up. As I recall it was on for one summer and it came on in the early afternoon on NBC. We got our best reception at night, so often the daytime shows were very snowy, thus difficult to see. Many such shows on early television were fifteen minutes long, such as "Pinky Lee" and "Gabby Hayes." In those days even the main network newscast was of fifteen minutes duration.

Though Mr. Sweeney had a daughter and a grandson to help him, he WAS the show because the skilled character actor Charles Ruggles played the part so well. Mr. Sweeney was a lovable owner of a general store who liked to give advice and tell tales to his customers. Basically that was the crux of the entertainment. Charles Ruggles was so adapt at cracker-barrel philosophy and story telling that his talents were often used in the early days of television.