The Bob Cummings Show

Bob Cummings' swinging bachelor photographer is the complete antithesis of "Ozzie And Harriet" and "Father Knows Best". Makes whiny, boorish Lucy look, well, whiny and boorish. Excellent writing and supporting cast of Rosemary DeCamp, Dwayne Hickman, Ann B. Davis, and a bevy of the most curvacious cuties of the day. One of the true gems of TV's golden age. Any resemblance between this series and "Mr. Ed", "Gilligan's Island", or the "Brady Bunch" is purely delusional.

The "Bob Commings Show" (retitled for syndication, "Love That Bob") had eroticism, patriotism, and family values. The character of Bob Collins was a World War II veteran who was living with and supporting his war-widowed sister and her college student son, Chuck. Bob Collins was both a shameless, one could say addicted, womanizer, and an admirable role model and mentor for his nephew Chuck, played by Dwayne Hickman. "The Bob Cummings Show" was ahead of its time, representative of its time, and influential on its time. It was especially influential on a lot of subsequent shows. "The Dobbie Gillis Show", for instance was almost a direct rip-off of the "Bob Cummings Show" with Dwayne Hickman doing a recreation of his Chuck character with a lot of Bob Collins mixed in. In the "Bob Cummings Show" Dwayne Hickman as Chuck would try to date one of Uncle Bob's models, such as the French bombshell Collette duBois, played by Debra Paget's sister, Lisa Gaye. Collette would consult Bob, asking him about the idea of accepting a date with college student Chuck, "Don't you think it would be like you Americans say, 'stealing the bed?'. " A bit stunned at the expression, Bob would do one of his "takes" and then gasp, "You mean 'robbing the cradle?'" In "Dobbie Gillis" Dwayne Hickman got an awful lot of mileage out of using the same Bob Commings type gasp to yell, "That's Dobbie! With a B!" every time some character called him "Dopie." And Hickman as Dobbie was forever doing a take and responding with some gasp in response to some remark made by either Maynard G. Krebs or Zelda. Zelda, of course, was a rip-off of the Shultzy character on the "Bob Commings Show." Part of the charm of the Commings series was in its predictability of situation and the way the characters played off of one another. College student Chuck would periodically stop by Uncle Bob's photo studio, become ga-ga at the string of gorgeous models parading in and out of the studio in various stages of undress, and stutter, "Ah, ah, Uncle Bob, I feel guilty using your money to go to college. I think it is time I learned a trade. Like, ah, photography." To this, Uncle Bob would chuckle and respond, "No, Chuck, you need to get an education so that you don't end up a tradesman like your uncle. You continue in school and become a doctor." Whether he realizes it or not, I think the American who most of all refined and capitalized on the "take" and on characters playing off one another as influenced by the Commings show was Johnny Carson who captivated the American night audience for 25 years with jokes, takes, and character banter which to me, all seemed to originate on "The Bob Cummings Show."

"Hold it, I think you're gonna like this one." To really appreciate this show I guess you had to be there, the late '50's I mean. Television was laced with action/ adventure westerns, detective/ private eye shows and screwball comedies. Then there was Love That Bob, a show about a playboy photographer living every mans dream of being surrounded by beautiful models in bathing suits, tight form fitting dresses, high heels .... well you get the picture. Add to this Ann B. Davis who could of been the prototype for Miss Moneypenny in the Bond films as his lovelorn receptionist/ secretary and Nancy Kulp as a geeky naturalist who wanted to commune with Bob. Rosemary DeCamp was wonderful as his sister and Dwayne Hickman was great as his nephew, a teenager with over active glands who wanted nothing more than to follow in his uncles wake and date Bob's model girlfriends. Bob's some time duel roll as Grandpa Collins, an elderly gent who like his grandson was a still flying high himself (in the show he flew his own bi-plane)and had his share of comic adventures with the ladies. Yeah, you had to be there for this one to really get the picture.

Lively series that could occasionally sparkle with comedy and high spirits. This is a role the handsome, slightly smug Cummings was born to play. As a high-fashion photographer, there was always a parade of shapely girls passing through his studio each week. I'm guessing teen- age boys like me made up a lot of his steady audience. But that's not to say glamour was the only draw. The scripts, by and large, were surprisingly good, usually centering around a romantic predicament Bob would then have to fast talk his way out of. Maybe secretary Schultzy (Davis) or sister Margaret (DeCamp) would help. More likely, they would standby amused, while Bob was getting some kind of minor comeuppance. And what a fine supporting cast they were, including a pre-Dobie Dwayne Hickman. Nothing special or substantive here, just solid light-hearted entertainment that wears surprisingly well.

Bob Cummings was a pioneer in the early days of sitcoms, making this show worth viewing if you're interested in the history of television programming. There's a certain "live on tape" feel to some episodes, when actors accidentally step on each others' lines, which also makes the atmosphere a little more natural than today's highly polished (tightly edited) sitcoms.

It's a treat to see a young Ann B. Davis, best remembered today as "The Brady Bunch"'s housekeeper, Alice. In the 50s, she was considered a fairly major TV star, and she was an undeniably inventive comic actress. In many episodes of "The Bob Cummings Show," she has a pretty substantial amount of screen time -- far more than she usually got in the Brady household.

Another classic sitcom star is on hand: Before Nancy Kulp played Miss Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies, she honed her TV skills in "The Bob Cummings Show." Her character, a snooty, sexually aggressive bird-watching enthusiast has much in common with Miss Jane. In fact, in many ways they're practically identical. In later years, Kulp came out of the closet and lived as an openly gay woman. Her character in "The Bob Cummings Show," while aggressively pursuing Bob, certainly has a lesbian vibe. In the episode "Bob Goes Bird Watching," for example, when Kulp enters the episode, she's clad in a very masculine suit, with a "butch" hairstyle, but throughout the scene she's trying to persuade Bob abandon his swimsuit-clad models and join her at Griffith Park, to check out some "tit mouse" birds -- no double entendres were wasted in this show...

Dwayne Hickman is also in the cast, perfecting his Dobbie Gillis character. Like Kulp, he carried this character's basic traits into another show -- so it's interesting to watch him learning his craft here.

Like many shows of this time period, "The Bob Cummings Show" was performed at a pace most viewers now find stunningly slow. But many of the scripts hold up fairly well, and the acting, though a bit stagey at times, is naturalistic and enjoyable. If you want lightening- quick repartee, tune into "Will and Grace," but if you're ready for some relaxing old-time humor performed by some of the best actors from TV's early days, check out "The Bob Cummings Show."