The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Television Series
Way back in the fall of 1968 I was poised to watch a new season of one of my favorite television shows, "Get Smart." For the 1968-69 NBC season "Get Smart" aired a half hour earlier than the previous season, when it was shown at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday evenings. Filling in that time slot was a new show, "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir." The show starred former Academy Award nominee Hope Lange as Mrs. Muir, Irish born Edward Mulhare as the ghost of Sea Captain Daniel Gregg, and Charles Nelson Reilly as Claymore Gregg, the town clerk and a descendant of the Captain.
The show was loosely based on the movie of the same title from 1947 starring Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney. The television series differs from the movie in that even Mrs. Muir's first name was changed for television, becoming "Carolyn" instead of "Lucy." Further, Mrs. Muir had two children in the television series, Candy (played by Kellie Flanagan) and Jonathan (played by Harlen Carraher), while the Mrs. Muir of the film had only a daughter. Both versions had Mrs. Muir with a housekeeper (played by Reta Shaw in the television series), but Captain Gregg's descendant, Claymore Gregg, played by Charles Nelson Reilly, was a totally new character added for the television show. By the way, it was this show which gave Charles Nelson Reilly's acting profile a national forum. This led to appearances on "The Hollywood Squares," and then essentially to a permanent role on "The Match Game." He later lamented his becoming so involved with television game shows, as he felt it badly damaged his acting career.
The basic story of the television series was that Mrs. Muir, her children and their housekeeper move into a Maine cottage (another difference with the film version, which is set in England), which is haunted by its long deceased owner, Captain Gregg. The thing is, the house is more than haunted by the Captain, he still controls it, and he has it set up as something of a ship, complete with a ship's wheel and telescope. The house is filled with memorabilia obtained by the Captain from various parts of the world during his career, although some things are in bad condition from age. The Captain maintains his lonely control of his "ship" for the one hundred years he has been dead, until his descendant, Claymore, whom the Captain despises, rents the place to Mrs. Muir. Then the fun starts, as only Mrs. Muir and her son, plus the family dog, "Scruffy," can see and hear the Captain, unless he wills it otherwise. When he allows Claymore to see and hear him, the man is so terrified, he usually faints. Besides the fear of his deceased relative, Claymore is also a moneygrubbing businessman, who finds any chance to make or save money an idea much to his liking. In one episode, the basics of which are still in my mind to this day, Claymore thinks he is about to die, so he goes to the undertaker and wants to plan his own funeral, with no expense being too great. When the undertaker tells him the price and lists the things included, like the casket, the hearse, the car for the family, and the digging and closing of the grave, Claymore's desire to save money overtakes his own funeral plans, as he keeps scaling back on his "spare no costs" funeral. Again, Charles Nelson Reilly was just hilarious in the role of Claymore.
The various episodes depict the struggle humans have between the past and the present, and thus the direction to be taken into the future. The Captain and Mrs. Muir have serious disagreements, but in the end they reach compromises, as he comes to realize that the world has changed since his demise, and she recognizes some of the values of the past, and especially how some things are cherished by the Captain. Mrs. Muir even uses the Captain's language of "blast" when she gets upset, a very unlady-like word in the Captain's day, but he comes to accept the change. The two main characters carry on a sort of courtship, as the Captain is quite taken with Mrs. Muir, and he will not allow Claymore or anyone else to do anything to harm or swindle her. Mrs. Muir finds the Captain as handsome and gallant, although his stubbornness also brings the two into verbal conflict. The show was absolutely adorable, funny and warm. I have very fond memories of this show.
Hope Lange twice won Emmy Awards for "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir," but NBC canceled the show after just one season, as it was in competition with two top 30 shows, "My Three Sons," and "The Lawrence Welk Show." It was picked up, however, by ABC for the 1969-70 season, before that network too canceled it. It was a very enjoyable show for me and even after all of these years, I still remember bits and pieces of some of the episodes. Plus, the show had a catchy theme song.
The series is available on no frills DVDs, minus seven episodes, although I'm not quite sure why they are missing (one from season one and six from season two). These are actually DVD-Rs, available from Amazon on a manufacture on demand basis.
This photo is from season two, but all the fronts of the DVD cases are the same, except for the season and disc numbers. The backs list the episodes.
WORD HISTORY:
Haunt-This word is closely related to "home," a word from the Germanic roots of English. The ultimate origin of "haunt" is unclear, although some have suggested various forms from Indo European, none of which completely convinces me, but Old Germanic had "haimaz," which had the meaning "dwelling, settled place, village." This produced the derived verb "haimatjanan," meaning "to house, to bring into the home." This gave Old Norse, a Germanic language that was the forerunner of the modern languages of the North Germanic branch, the form "heimta," with the same "bring into the home" meaning. Norse raiders, called Normans in Old French (a contracted form for "Northmen"), brought the word to Old French, which pronounced and spelled it "hanter," with the meaning "to frequent a home." English borrowed the word in the 1200s as "haunten," with the meaning "to live in a home, to do by habit." The idea of a "spirit returning to its former home" may have already been present when Shakespeare added emphasis to this meaning in some of his writings in the late 1500s.The noun form was simply derived from the verb.
The show was loosely based on the movie of the same title from 1947 starring Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney. The television series differs from the movie in that even Mrs. Muir's first name was changed for television, becoming "Carolyn" instead of "Lucy." Further, Mrs. Muir had two children in the television series, Candy (played by Kellie Flanagan) and Jonathan (played by Harlen Carraher), while the Mrs. Muir of the film had only a daughter. Both versions had Mrs. Muir with a housekeeper (played by Reta Shaw in the television series), but Captain Gregg's descendant, Claymore Gregg, played by Charles Nelson Reilly, was a totally new character added for the television show. By the way, it was this show which gave Charles Nelson Reilly's acting profile a national forum. This led to appearances on "The Hollywood Squares," and then essentially to a permanent role on "The Match Game." He later lamented his becoming so involved with television game shows, as he felt it badly damaged his acting career.
The basic story of the television series was that Mrs. Muir, her children and their housekeeper move into a Maine cottage (another difference with the film version, which is set in England), which is haunted by its long deceased owner, Captain Gregg. The thing is, the house is more than haunted by the Captain, he still controls it, and he has it set up as something of a ship, complete with a ship's wheel and telescope. The house is filled with memorabilia obtained by the Captain from various parts of the world during his career, although some things are in bad condition from age. The Captain maintains his lonely control of his "ship" for the one hundred years he has been dead, until his descendant, Claymore, whom the Captain despises, rents the place to Mrs. Muir. Then the fun starts, as only Mrs. Muir and her son, plus the family dog, "Scruffy," can see and hear the Captain, unless he wills it otherwise. When he allows Claymore to see and hear him, the man is so terrified, he usually faints. Besides the fear of his deceased relative, Claymore is also a moneygrubbing businessman, who finds any chance to make or save money an idea much to his liking. In one episode, the basics of which are still in my mind to this day, Claymore thinks he is about to die, so he goes to the undertaker and wants to plan his own funeral, with no expense being too great. When the undertaker tells him the price and lists the things included, like the casket, the hearse, the car for the family, and the digging and closing of the grave, Claymore's desire to save money overtakes his own funeral plans, as he keeps scaling back on his "spare no costs" funeral. Again, Charles Nelson Reilly was just hilarious in the role of Claymore.
The various episodes depict the struggle humans have between the past and the present, and thus the direction to be taken into the future. The Captain and Mrs. Muir have serious disagreements, but in the end they reach compromises, as he comes to realize that the world has changed since his demise, and she recognizes some of the values of the past, and especially how some things are cherished by the Captain. Mrs. Muir even uses the Captain's language of "blast" when she gets upset, a very unlady-like word in the Captain's day, but he comes to accept the change. The two main characters carry on a sort of courtship, as the Captain is quite taken with Mrs. Muir, and he will not allow Claymore or anyone else to do anything to harm or swindle her. Mrs. Muir finds the Captain as handsome and gallant, although his stubbornness also brings the two into verbal conflict. The show was absolutely adorable, funny and warm. I have very fond memories of this show.
Hope Lange twice won Emmy Awards for "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir," but NBC canceled the show after just one season, as it was in competition with two top 30 shows, "My Three Sons," and "The Lawrence Welk Show." It was picked up, however, by ABC for the 1969-70 season, before that network too canceled it. It was a very enjoyable show for me and even after all of these years, I still remember bits and pieces of some of the episodes. Plus, the show had a catchy theme song.
The series is available on no frills DVDs, minus seven episodes, although I'm not quite sure why they are missing (one from season one and six from season two). These are actually DVD-Rs, available from Amazon on a manufacture on demand basis.
This photo is from season two, but all the fronts of the DVD cases are the same, except for the season and disc numbers. The backs list the episodes.
Haunt-This word is closely related to "home," a word from the Germanic roots of English. The ultimate origin of "haunt" is unclear, although some have suggested various forms from Indo European, none of which completely convinces me, but Old Germanic had "haimaz," which had the meaning "dwelling, settled place, village." This produced the derived verb "haimatjanan," meaning "to house, to bring into the home." This gave Old Norse, a Germanic language that was the forerunner of the modern languages of the North Germanic branch, the form "heimta," with the same "bring into the home" meaning. Norse raiders, called Normans in Old French (a contracted form for "Northmen"), brought the word to Old French, which pronounced and spelled it "hanter," with the meaning "to frequent a home." English borrowed the word in the 1200s as "haunten," with the meaning "to live in a home, to do by habit." The idea of a "spirit returning to its former home" may have already been present when Shakespeare added emphasis to this meaning in some of his writings in the late 1500s.The noun form was simply derived from the verb.
Labels: Charles Nelson Reilly, comedy, Edward Mulhare, English, etymology, French, Germanic languages, Hope Lange, Reta Shaw, television shows, The Ghost And Mrs. Muir
posted by Randy at 7:15 PM
2 Comments:
I remember Charles Nelson Reilly, but not this show. I remember him from The Match Game, evening show, with Gene Rayburn. He joked a lot with I think her name was Brit Summers.
dont remember this one, but wish i had seen it
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