FORD STAR JUBILEE: THIS HAPPY BREED (TV)
Summary
One in this series of monthly specials sponsored by the Ford Motor Company. Noel Coward stars in this live presentation of his play about the Gibbonses, a middle-class suburban London family during the period between the two World Wars. The unflappable and very British Frank Gibbons heads a household consisting of his sensible wife, Ethel; his sensitive and nervous sister, Sylvia; Ethel's taciturn mother, Mrs. Flint; and his three children, Vi, Reg, and Queenie. As the drama opens in the spring of 1919, the family copes with moving into its new home, and Frank begins working after returning from the war. They meet their neighbors, the Mitchells, a family that becomes an important factor in their lives. By 1925, the Gibbons children are teenagers. Vi is attracted to Sam, a street-corner anarchist whom Reg idolizes, and neighbor Billy Mitchell, now a sailor, is infatuated with Queenie. Billy asks her if she might consider marrying him once he advances in the Navy, but she thinks not, looking to lead a more comfortable, pampered life. The next year, during England's momentous general strike, Reg worries his family by getting injured in a brawl by spouting revolutionary doctrine with Sam, but Frank manages to calm him down into a more rational line of thinking. Soon Reg gets married and settles down, as does Vi, who instills some "respectable, bourgeois values" in the dreamy Sam. Once again Billy proposes to Queenie, this time learning that she is in love with a married man. Not long afterwards, Queenie and her married lover do in fact run off together causing a tremendous family rift. In addition, tragedy strikes Reg and Phyllis, but things begin to look up when Billy locates Queenie. Twenty years after the drama begins, Frank and Ethel move away, realizing that even though change occurs, some things last forever. (This is a black-and-white copy of a color telecast.) Includes commercials, promos and public service announcements. Commercials include Bill McGaw for Ford automobiles.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: May 5, 1956 9:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:29:21
- COLOR/B&W: B&W copy of a color telecast
- CATALOG ID: T:56803
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1955-1956
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - Ford automobiles
- TV - PSA - National Safety Month
- TV - Promos - Ford Theatre
CREDITS
- Richard Lewine … Producer
- Noel Coward … Entire Production Under the Supervision of, Writer, Based on the play by
- Harry Ackerman … Executive Director of Special Productions
- Ralph Nelson … Director
- Rowland Vance … Associate Director
- Noel Coward … Cast, Frank Gibbons
- Edna Best … Cast, Ethel Gibbons
- Roger Moore … Cast, Billy Mitchell
- Patricia Cutts … Cast, Queenie Gibbons
- Norah Howard … Cast, Mrs. Flint
- Beulah Garrick … Cast, Sylvia
- Guy Spaull … Cast, Bob Mitchell
- Joyce Ash … Cast, Vi
- Robert Chapman … Cast, Reg
- Rhoderick Walker … Cast, Sam Leadbitter
- Vera Marxhall … Cast, Edie
- Sally Pierce … Cast, Phyllis Blake
- Bill McGaw … Talent, Ford automobile commercials