WE DO REMEMBER viewing this show over our local station, Channel 5, WNBQ* way back circa 1952-53. It was a pioneering work in the field of the Sitcom and most likely had a great influence on what would be coming down the pike in years to come. THE HANK McCUNE SHOW was, in its own way, quite prolific and is in possession of a most impressive family tree.
A TYPICAL HALF-HOUR would revolve around a very simple, everyday and totally believable problem. Story lines were big on characterizations of neighbors and their interacting during the current "crisis." Invariably the guy at the heart of the situation and in the eye of the hurricane was main character, Hank (himself).
THE EPISODES STOCKED their playbills with faces and voices familiar from the rosters of movie supporting players and from the annals of what has come to be called "Old Time Radio." Present in the episodes were: Hanley Stafford (voice of BABY SNOOKS father**), Arthur Q. Bryan (immortalized as ELMER FUDD'S voice in Warner Brothers cartoons), Larry Keating, Ellen Corby, Franklin Pangborn, Thurston Hall, Florence Bates and the ever present "Y-e-s-s-s-s man", Frank Nelson.
FOLLOWING ITS CANCELLATION on the tube, producer/star Mr. Henry McCune brought the same characters, concept and situation-type humor to the movie screen in a poverty row "B" comedy titled THE GO GETTER. Unlike the series episodes, THE GO GETTER boasted of having no added laugh track; of which THE HANK McCUNE SHOW was the originator of this soon to be staple of television comedy shows.
NOTE:* Channel 5 in Chicago is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Broadcasting Company. The original WNBQ Radio station was owned by The Chicago Daily News and the call letters were changed to WMAQ in the mid sixties. The radio station ceased to be when NBC divested itself of radio broadcasting some 20 years or so ago.
