YouTube Spotlight: Blansky's Beauties

One of the clips in this week's bonus episode playlist is the opening to Nancy Walker's sitcom Blansky's Beauties.

Garry Marshall had an amazing career in film and television, producing many remarkable hits. This is not one of them! The series didn't get enough of a boost from being introduced on Happy Days and fizzled out in a matter of months in 1977.

Walker's character is sort of the den mother of a bevy of showgirls and also produces their show. It doesn't quite work, but it is interesting to see how much it attempts to leech off other Marshall shows.

One interesting thing is that Eddie Mekka was on this and on Laverne and Shirley at the same time. On this, his character is said to be a cousin of The Big Ragu. Other familiar faces include Pat Morita, who had been on (and would return to) Happy Days; and Lynda Goodfriend and Scott Baio, who would later join that series. If that isn't enough, Pinky Tuscadero (Roz Kelly) is in the debut episode. Marshall gave himself a role, too; and the series featured Caren Kaye in an early regular part.

For now, you can find many of the 13 episodes on YouTube if you want to check it out for yourself!

Show Notes and YouTube Playlist: Bounty or Palmolive

*Jan Miner (1917-2004) also appeared in Cagney & Lacey and One Day at a Time.

*Nancy Walker (1922-1992) also had a recurring role on Family Affair. Her last regular role was in the 1990 Fox sitcom True Colors with Frankie Faison (later Cleavon Little) and Stephanie Faracy. It also starred Claude Brooks (no relation).

*Perry Mason the radio version aired 1943-1955 on CBS Radio. In addition to Jan Miner, Gertrude Warner and Joan Alexander played Della. 4 different actors played Mason.

*Do Re Mi, headlined by Phil Silvers with Walker, premiered December 1960 and ran until early 1962. Garson Kanin wrote the book, with lyrics by betty Comd

*Viva Madison Avenue! ran a mere two performances in 1960 according to the Internet Broadway Database.

*Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers was an MTM show from James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that premiered in Fall 1974 but lasted only a half season. Miner had a recurring role as Sand's character's mother.

*Montgomery Clift's serious car accident occurred in 1956 during production of Raintree County.

*Othello with Moses Gunn played Broadway in 1970.

*Can't Stop the Music (1980) is a notorious disco-era flop starring The Village People. It was Walker's only outing as a feature film director.

*The Allan Carr documentary I refer to is 2017's The Fabulous Allan Carr.

*Girl Crazy, the 1943 MGM musical from Arthur Freed, starred Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland and was a big hit.

*The Women with Jan Miner lasted less than two months on Broadway in Spring 1973.

*Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood was originally titled A Bark Is Born.

*Finally, here is our video playlist for this episode, featuring Bounty ads, Palmolive ads, movie trailers, and show intros! 

*And remember, you can always check out our official YouTube page for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!