Lest We Forget

Before there was Ozzy and Sharon there was Ozzie and Harriet.   My new James Cagney DVD includes a Warner Bros. clip featuring Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra.  I’d forgotten their TV show; let alone the fact that Ozzie was a bandleader in the 30s, and created the show as a way to spend more time with his family.  Huh.

I don’t remember Ozzie and Harriet too clearly; to be honest, my mind is mixing it up with Leave It To Beaver right now.  Wally and Ricky?  No, that’s not it.  Wally was the Beave’s older brother.  It was David.  Grandson Sam Nelson raised funds through Kickstarter to revive the old series.  I wish him well.

Mind's eye-flash: Rodin’s  The Thinker.  Remember Dobie Gillis, with bongo-playing Maynard G. Krebs?  He'd appear following one of Dobie's disparaging wisecracks asking, "You rang?" Didn’t Lurch say that, too?

I have to check my facts, and that's where I read that Dwayne Hickman beat out Michael Landon for the role of Dobie. Who knew?  Who cares?  (Trivia buffs might.)  Dobie’s older brother Davy was played by Dwayne’s older brother Darryl.  Are you thinking Bob Newhart, too?

Warren Beatty was Dobie’s first antagonist and Tuesday Weld was money-hungry Thalia.  Both quit the first season to become big stars.

 

So, is there any similarity between the Nelsons and the Osbournes?  Author David Halberstam has written, "the Nelsons arguably were a dysfunctional family.  In real life, Ozzie was a workaholic who stole his sons' childhood (by having them grow up in show business.)"  from Wikipedia.  You tell me.