Mrs. G. Goes to College

Mrs. G. Goes to College
Hardwicke and Berg, 1961.
Also known as	The Gertrude Berg Show
Genre	Sitcom
Written by	James B. Allardice
Starring	Gertrude Berg Cedric Hardwicke Mary Wickes Marion Ross Leo Penn Skip Ward
Theme music composer	Herschel Burke Gilbert
Composer(s)	Lionel Newman Alfred Perry Rudy Schrager
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26
Production
Producer(s)	Hy Averback
Editor(s)	Chandler House
Running time	22–25 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural
Original run	October 4, 1961 (1961-10-04) – April 5, 1962 (1962-04-05)

Mrs. G. Goes To College (later retitled The Gertrude Berg Show) is an American situation comedy which aired on CBS from October 4, 1961 to April 5, 1962. The series starred Emmy Award-winning actress Gertrude Berg.

Synopsis

Having previously starred in the long-running radio and television series The Goldbergs, Gertrude Berg returned to episodic television as Sarah Green, a 62-year-old widow who enters college. The character of Sarah Green (very similar to "Molly Goldberg") had been previously introduced to viewers as "Aunt Sarah" on Jackie Cooper's Hennesey sitcom on CBS earlier in 1961. English actor Cedric Hardwicke played Professor Crayton, and popular character actress Mary Wickes portrayed Maxfield. Skip Ward was cast as Joe Caldwell, and Marion Ross appeared as Berg's daughter, Susan Green. Leo Penn appeared as Jerry Green.

The series aired at the 9:30 Eastern slot on Wednesdays, under the sponsorship of General Foods, following CBS's Checkmate. Mrs. G. Goes to College aired during the second half of ABC's Hawaiian Eye and NBC's Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall.^[1] Halfway through the first season, the series was retitled The Gertrude Berg Show. However, reviews for the series were unfavorable and ratings were moderate leading CBS to cancel the series after one season.^[2]

Production notes

Mrs. G. Goes to College was released by Dick Powell's Four Star Television.^[3] The series was produced by Hy Averback, the music was by Herschel Burke Gilbert.

Episodes

Episode #	Episode title	Original airdate
1-1	"The First Day"	October 4, 1961
1-2	"First Test"	October 11, 1961
1-3	"Sam's Car"	October 18, 1961
1-4	"Lonely Sunday"	October 25, 1961
1-5	"Mrs. G. Meets Dr. Hennessey"	November 1, 1961
1-6	"The Baby Affair"	November 8, 1961
1-7	"Crayton on TV"	November 15, 1961
1-8	"Red, Red Rose"	November 22, 1961
1-9	"Romance for Maxie"	November 29, 1961
1-10	"The Trouble with Crayton"	December 6, 1961
1-11	"The Teacher"	December 13, 1961
1-12	"Mrs. G. Meets the Faculty"	December 20, 1961
1-13	"Mrs. G.'s Private Telephone"	December 27, 1961
1-14	"Maxie's Silent Partner"	January 11, 1962
1-15	"Mrs. G. Versus the Kingston Trio"	January 18, 1962
1-16	"Sunday Dinner"	January 25, 1962
1-17	"The Mother Affair"	February 1, 1962
1-18	"Peace Corps"	February 8, 1962
1-19	"Goodbye, Mr. Howell"	February 15, 1962
1-20	"How Now, Brown Cow?"	February 22, 1962
1-21	"High Finance"	March 1, 1962
1-22	"One of Our Books is Missing"	March 8, 1962
1-23	"Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight"	March 15, 1962
1-24	"Gentleman Caller"	March 22, 1962
1-25	"Dad's Day"	March 29, 1962
1-26	"The Bird"	April 5, 1962

Award nominations

Year	Award	Result	Category	Recipient
1962	Emmy Award	Nominated	Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actress	Mary Wickes
	American Cinema Editors		Best Edited Television Program	Chandler House (For episode "A Lonely Sunday")

References

1. ^ 1961-1962 American network television schedule
2. ^ Ingram, Billy (2007). Tvparty!: Television's Untold Tales. Bonus Books, Inc.. pp. 1940. ISBN 1-566-25184-2. 
3. ^ Four Star Productions

• Lackmabb, Ron (2003). The Encyclopedia of 20th-Century American Television. Checkmark Books. p. 132. ISBN 0-8160-4555-0. 

External links

• Mrs. G. Goes to College at the Internet Movie Database
• Mrs. G. Goes to College at TV.com