Mister Peepers

I've just finished viewing the 1st disc in a 4-disc (26 episodes) collection created in conjunction with the UCLA Film & Television Archive (S'More Entertainment, Inc.). So far (aside from the 1st episode), the image quality is quite good. The DVD box is shown on the title page here on IMDb.

"Mr. Peepers" is just as charming as when I first saw it (5-years old at the time) and Wally Cox is truly endearing in this role. If you're in the mood for quiet comedy that sneaks up on you, as opposed to hitting you over the head, you'll treasure this chance to experience all the wonderful characters you might remember from your childhood. Although some of the gags are a bit corny, most are ingenious and well-executed...and even the corny ones are fun. This is one TV series that lives up to my early childhood memories of it.

I have a vivid memory of a Mr. Peepers episode when I was about seven years of age. Mr. Peepers had been invited to some woman's house for dinner along with others. She was very insecure about her cooking and was anxious to please everyone there with her skill.

Wall Cox, playing Mr. Peepers, being a small, thin man was soon completely filled up from the first helping of food. She enthusiastically offered Mr. Peepers an enormous second helping, which he politely refused. She became very upset, almost hysterical, when he refused to start on a second plate, thinking that Mr peepers hadn't liked her cooking at all.

My account may seem ordinary but I remember it clearly as hilarious. The live audience at that time laughed uproariously as the scene closed, showing Mr. Peepers quickly tearing into the enormous second plate of her cooking in an attempt to stop her crying.

I was about 13 or 14 when the series began and about 17 or 18 when it ended. One of the best comedy series ever, and that's not just nostalgia talking.

Just look at that cast---Wally Cox, Tony Randall, Arthur O'Connell, Jack Warden, and the inimitable Marion Lorne. Randall and Cox played off each other perfectly, Randall as the worldly, man-to-man advisor to Cox's shy, soft spoken, science teacher.

Cox was perfect in every way for his role, and Randall played his self-consciously masculine character with a subtle irony that perfectly expressed both their relationship to one another as human beings and their relationship to the world as types. Consequently, the viewer could identify with them both and on both levels.

Great writing, and not a mean syllable in it.

Somewhere during my adolescence, in the late 1970s, I saw an episode or two of Mr. Peepers. Apparently it was briefly in syndication at that time. I finally got a chance to see an episode as an adult this week, when I found it and three other "forgotten" 1950s sit-coms on a CD at a used bookstore.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the show was even better than I had remembered. Unfortunately, the video seemed to have been copied from badly deteriorated kinescope images. I assume these are all that survive of this show and others. (Too bad more people didn't get Desi Arnez's idea of paying to have the shows put on real film!) Despite the condition of the film, it is still a great joy to watch. The cast's artistry shines through, despite the sometimes jerky film movement.

Of course Wally Cox was born to play Mr. Peepers, the mild-mannered junior high science teacher. A young Tony Randall was entertaining as a co-teacher, as was the wonderfully eccentric Marion Lorne, who would later gain fame as Aunt Clara, the senile witch on Bewitched. Jack Warden wasn't in the episode I watched, but I'm sure he was perfect as the coach. Veteran character actress Ruth McDevitt was hilarious in this episode as Mr. Peepers' doting mother. (I knew I recognized her; I knew her as elderly Miss Emily on Kolchak: The Night Stalker 20 years later!) Despite the ragged condition of the old kinescope images, the comedic timing is apparent. Cox patiently zips and unzips pouches in an attaché case on the first day of school, only to have his mother insist he double-checks to be sure he packed his toothbrush. As Peepers and his sister (Jenny Egan) leave amidst Mom's continued "You'll miss your bus!" exhortations, they see her mouth something from the window. Unable to make out what she wants, they go back to the door and wait for her to open it. "Hurry! You'll miss your bus!" was what she wanted to say (again)! Lorne had already perfected the scatter-brained, "senior moment" mannerisms of Aunt Clara. In this episode, she informs the class that she will recite a poem she wrote and that she had recited to her classes on the first day of school every year for 30 years. After the first line, it becomes apparent that she cannot remember the poem. After several hilarious false starts and finally a stammering fluster, she tells the class to busy themselves while she finds the written copy.

Other than the poor image quality, the only other things that might bug a modern viewer are the old-fashioned opening and closing (ala George Burns, Dobie Gillis, etc.) and the canned laughter. Overall, the show is still a winner and ought to be picked up by TV-Land or someone.

Wally Cox made a name for himself in this show about a shy school teacher named Mr. Peepers. He was very smittened by another of the teachers played by Patricia Benoit. My mother said that when they finally got married on the show, it was a big TV event.

This show was also the springboard for a bigger star of film, television and the theater. His name, Tony Randall. From here it was straight up for him.

Sadly, this show does not exist any longer. It was filmed in Kinescope back in the early days of TV. Alot of these Kinescope taped shows fell apart after several years. I have only seen bits and pieces of this show. I have always wanted to enjoy watching it like my parents did. It was one of the top shows back then. If you have seen this show back when it was on, please make a comment about it.