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for a half-season, from
September 1950 to February 1951. In this version, Lew Parker took the role of John Bickerson, as he would also do on radio a season later. The televised version did not work as well as the original skits. Langford did not appear to have the seamless anti-chemistry with Parker
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Though they spent their allotted time together at each other's throats, assuming always that the shrewish
Blanche could awaken John from his snoring, there were moments when the couple showed an uncommon tenderness to each other—particularly in a Christmas skit. (It should have been hinted at the
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During their spats, Blanche would often try to force John to do something that normally wouldn't be done at such an early morning hour, such as the aforementioned will; going to Dr. Hersey's office to cure his snoring; or getting re-married. She usually taunted him into these actions, by saying,
259:, in routines that often expressed Ameche's frustration that Thomas was more interested in modern technology and discoveries than in women. After another musical number and a commercial spot for Drene Shampoo, Miller would announce Ameche and Langford as the Bickersons, "in 'The Honeymoon's Over'
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of all time. She makes her husband... take two jobs, a total of 16 working hours, in order to bring in more money which she squanders on minks and the stock market. Meanwhile, he can't afford a new pair of shoes and goes around with his feet painted black. In the few hours he has to sleep, she
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The listener heard a chorus of low-roaring snoring, punctuated occasionally with something that sounded like laughing mixed with crying. Blanche would awaken John, even at three in the morning, and the feuding would continue with their trademark arguments about John's jobs, Blanche's domestic
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retired.") After arguing over whether John had sent
Blanche a Christmas card (he had, it was buried in a stack of newspapers), they exchanged their gifts to each other... with a twist. Tight in the pocketbook, Blanche had swapped a fur coat to buy her bourbon-loving husband a portable bar;
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Sometimes, they would go off on random rants about various scenarios. Blanche usually moaning about not having children, and, after unloading on him about how miserable life would be for a child in that house, would accuse John of not feeding their non-existent baby (after calling him an
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abilities, Blanche's continual wasteful spending of his money; John's alleged eye for neighbor Gloria
Gooseby, Blanche's shiftless brother Amos (played by Thomas, whose real given name was Amos), her other family members (notably her sister, Clara) or John's taste for bourbon.
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A beautiful woman with a honey voice who used sheer talent to turn herself into the venomous
Blanche Bickerson, Frances Langford enjoyed a fine career as a singer and actress in film (including a memorable cameo in the otherwise stylised
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The
Bickersons... have retired. Three o'clock in the morning finds Mrs. Bickerson wide awake and anxious, as poor husband John, victim of contagious insomnia, or Schmoe's Disease, broadcasts the telltale signs of the dreaded affliction.
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John—although a bourbon lover—had swapped his stock to buy
Blanche a matching fur muffler. But the skit ends with the confession that, for all that they're each other's biggest pain in the rump, there really is a love between them.
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unsympathetic unfeeling wretch), or John ranting about
Blanche marrying someone else (usually their tightwad physician, Dr. Hersey) and him living off of his money, usually after John was taunted into making out a will.
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In fairness, John once turned the tables on
Blanche by trying to provoke her (using the "you'll say it, but you won't do it!" spiel) into buying him a race-horse after she took his money and squandered it on a bookie.
208:. Several years after the latter established itself a long-running favorite, Rapp developed and presented John and Blanche Bickerson, first as a 15-minute situational sketch as part of the 1946 half-hour radio program
347:
heckles him all night with the accusation that he doesn't love her. Her aim appears to be to drive her husband crazy and she succeeds very nicely. The harassed John's only weapon is insult, at which he's pretty good.
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involved blustery bus driver Ralph hocking his brand-new bowling ball in a mad dash to get Alice a last-minute
Christmas gift, only to learn the hard way that Alice had bought him a stylish new bowling ball bag.
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s harried, slightly overbearing father Lew Marie) took the role of John Bickerson, as he had done on television a season earlier (see below). Premiering as a summer season replacement, the CBS radio version of
236:
was a variety show starring Don Ameche and singer-actress Frances Langford as co-hosts, airing on NBC and sponsored by Drene Shampoo. Announcing the show—and later familiar to television viewers as
507:—that featured newly recorded performances of Rapp's adapted radio scripts by Ameche and Langford as John and Blanche. 'Rematch' was the two LPs reissued in a gatefold jacket as a two record set.
517:) and television, as well as radio; she died July 11, 2005. Don Ameche, whose name sometimes became synonymous (and a kind of running gag) with the telephone (thanks to his film portrayal of
594:(who has walked into the room while the others are listening) is told that the conversation (and noises) being listened to are a radio program. He asks if it is an episode of
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typically opened with Langford singing a big band-style arrangement before Ameche and Langford would slip into routine comedy, often aided by co-star
521:), became a familiar television face as well as a well-respected film actor, enjoying a late-life popular revival through his roles in the 1983 film
471:, as a newlywed in a sketch series known as "The Couple Next Door". When Langford hosted a variety special in 1960, Ameche appeared along with
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as she did with Ameche, and the show's persistent setting (always in the same bedroom) made the show less than ideal for the visual medium.
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But neither did the twosome abandon the characters that made them famous as a comedy team in the first place:
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B: What for? I left you enough food for six days. I cooked a whole bathtubful of rice. What happened to it?
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Jackie Gleason probably knew of that Christmas exchange or had also read the short story it was based on,
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described them (in his May 1948 column which gave the couple their nickname, "The Bickering Bickersons"):
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B: You used to be so considerate. Since you got married to me you haven't got any sympathy at all.
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As transcribed by John Crosby in his May 1948 column, this was a typical Bickersons exchange:
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OBE, and was also his very last work before he died. Monkhouse was a big fan of
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for a short time in summer 1951. In this version, Lew Parker (later familiar as
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714:(Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 84–85.
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outset by Marvin Miller's atypical introduction: "The Bickersons—have
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B: Believe me, there's better fish in the ocean than the one I caught.
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B: I don't see how you can go to bed without kissing me good night.
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J: I've told you a million times I can't stand the sight of rice.
167:, spent nearly all their time together in relentless verbal war.
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had at least two television runs. The first was as a segment on
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Rounding out the cast was future children's television favorite
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Ameche and Langford later co-hosted a daytime variety series,
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J: Because it's connected to the saddest mistake of my life.
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List of recordings on discogs.com as by Ameche and Langford
772:"Philip Rapp, 88, Comedy Writer Who Created the Bickersons"
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s presenter and executive secretary, Michael Anthony—was
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radio broadcast on the CBS network while Ameche hosted
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475:(Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe DeRita at the time),
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With the Rapp family approval, an adapted version of
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J: I am too. I'm the sorriest man that was ever born.
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The typical Miller introduction would set the scene:
16:
Radio and television comedy sketch series (1946–1951)
598:...until he realizes otherwise, and hastily leaves.
51:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
809:Out of the Blue: A Book About Radio and Television
657:, playing on the radio during driving sequences.
629:). Ameche and Welles shared the same hometown of
314:"You'll say it, but you won't do it. Do it now!"
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373:B: You'd better say you're sorry for that, John.
155:. The show's married protagonists, portrayed by
711:On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio
651:The Bickersons can be heard in the video game
363:J: I have, too. I've got everybody's sympathy.
390:J: I don't care, I've been doing it all week.
746:"Radio In Review - The Bickering Bickersons"
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615:are called "the magnificent Bickersons" by
666:and other television shows about couples.
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375:J: Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
111:Learn how and when to remove this message
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495:eventually released long-playing albums—
263:, for the final 15 minutes of the show.
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151:comedy sketches which began in 1946 on
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541:was written for a comedy puppet show,
811:(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1952)
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885:Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs:
465:The Frances Langford–Don Ameche Show
49:adding citations to reliable sources
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804:(New York: Flare/Avon Books, 1971)
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533:Adaptations and cultural references
384:B: Is there any milk for breakfast?
342:Blanche... is one of the monstrous
270:half-hour radio series then ran on
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770:Thomas, Robert (25 January 1996).
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821:(New York: Pantheon Books, 1998)
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325:in occasional supporting roles.
186:writer who had also created the
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193:The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air
36:needs additional citations for
974:American comedy radio programs
547:2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
134:as John and Blanche Bickerson.
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857:The Bickersons Scripts Vol. 2
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669:In episode 11 of season 6 of
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367:J: There's better bait, too.
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645:The Chase and Sanborn Hour
601:In the Season 1 finale of
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859:(BearManor Media, 2004),
845:(BearManor Media, 2002),
831:(BearManor Media, 2007),
626:The Magnificent Ambersons
590:have a sexual encounter,
501:The Bickersons Fight Back
396:B: Why didn't you eat it?
288:lasted only 13 episodes.
202:) that grew into radio's
199:Maxwell House Coffee Time
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660:The Bickersons inspired
433:" Christmas episode of
394:J: I took a bath in it.
331:New York Herald Tribune
843:The Bickersons Scripts
708:Dunning, John (1998).
514:The Glenn Miller Story
505:The Bickersons Rematch
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914:OTR Network Library:
553:Satsuma & Pumpkin
519:Alexander Graham Bell
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566:The Baby Snooks Show
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427:The Gift of the Magi
45:improve this article
586:'s tent as she and
529:. He died in 1993.
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979:NBC radio programs
932:2016-08-28 at the
777:The New York Times
677:Laurel & Hardy
631:Kenosha, Wisconsin
525:and the 1985 film
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636:War of the Worlds
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752:. p. 8
588:Frank Burns
469:Jack Lemmon
400:B: Why not?
336:John Crosby
205:Baby Snooks
190:skits (for
188:Fanny Brice
180:Philip Rapp
943:Categories
865:1593930070
851:0971457018
837:1593930089
825:Ben Ohmart
795:References
756:2023-11-02
727:2019-02-04
654:L.A. Noire
487:Recordings
442:Television
431:classic 39
253:Drene Time
234:Drene Time
211:Drene Time
161:Lew Parker
159:(later by
157:Don Ameche
149:television
128:Don Ameche
71:newspapers
783:8 October
604:NewsRadio
452:Star Time
323:Pinky Lee
301:Listen...
292:Structure
277:That Girl
272:CBS radio
153:NBC radio
930:Archived
555:starred
423:O. Henry
352:Dialogue
897:Discogs
578:, when
334:critic
85:scholar
863:
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527:Cocoon
503:, and
457:Dumont
429:." A "
386:J: No.
382:and...
344:shrews
163:) and
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908:Audio
687:Notes
582:bugs
281:'
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145:radio
92:JSTOR
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861:ISBN
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833:ISBN
785:2014
716:ISBN
617:Bill
613:Lisa
611:and
609:Dave
575:MASH
563:and
479:and
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