| Genre: | Situation comedy |
| Starring: | Ronnie Burns Yvonne Lime Lloyd Corrigan |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 2 |
| Num Episodes: | 26 |
| Runtime: | 30 mins. (approx) |
| Company: | Roncom Video Film Productions |
| Channel: | NBC |
Happy is an American sitcom that aired on NBC during the summer of 1960 and winter and spring of 1961. The series depicts the events at a motel in Palm Springs, California, run by a young married couple with commentary provided by the voiced thoughts of their infant son.
Chris and Sally Day are a young married couple who are co-owners along with Clara Mason of the Desert Palm Motel or Desert Palms Hotel (according to different sources), an upscale resort in Palm Springs, California.[1] [2] [3] When they got married in 1957, they spent their honeymoon in Palm Springs and stayed in Room 7 of the Desert Palm, where two dozen yellow roses, a bowl of floating gardenias, and a wedding cake with a bride and groom on top greeted them.[3] Chris later learned that the Desert Palm's owner, Clara Mason, was looking for someone to run it for her and inquired about the position.[3] Clara hired Chris and offered Chris and Sally an opportunity to buy part-ownership in the Desert Palm.[3]
By 1960, Chris and Sally own 10 percent of the Desert Palm,[3] and Chris is its manager.[1] Clara is in romantic pursuit of Sally's uncle, Charlie Dooley, who also lives on the premises and tries to help with the motel; although he is well-intentioned, his efforts often lead to complications for Chris and Sally.[1] [2] [3] Joe and Terry Brigham are a married couple and are friends of Chris's and Sally's.[1]
Witnessing it all is the Days' infant son Christopher Hapgood Day, known as "Happy."[1] [2] [3] Happy communicates his feelings about what he sees to the audience not only through his facial expressions, but also through his thoughts, spoken by an off-camera voice.[1] [2] [3]
Roncom Video Film Productions produced Happy. Twin boys, David and Steven Born, portrayed Happy on camera, and Leone Ledoux provided Happy's off-camera voice.[1] [2] Twenty-six episodes were produced.[3]
Happy′s premise of a narrating baby was borrowed from that of an earlier series, The People's Choice, in which the thoughts of a Basset Hound provided comments on the plot.[1] It was a familiar format for Ronnie Burns, the adopted son of George Burns and Gracie Allen; he had appeared on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, in which George Burns's off-camera voice narrated each episode.[2]
The talking baby idea was later revived in the 1989 movie Look Who's Talking[1] and its 1990 sequel Look Who's Talking Too, as well as in the 1991–1992 television series Baby Talk.
Happy premiered on NBC on June 8, 1960, as a summer replacement series for the first half hour of The Perry Como Show;[1] [2] the second half hour was filled by the Western series Tate. Happy ran that summer on Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time for 13 episodes, the last of which aired on September 14, 1960.[2] The show returned to the air for a second season on January 13, 1961, this time running on Fridays at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time.[1] [2] Thirteen more new episodes aired, the last of them on April 7, 1961. Prime-time reruns of Happy then were broadcast until September 8, 1961.[1] [2]
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SOURCES [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]
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