7.2 /10 1 Votes7.2
7.1/10 TV Final episode date 1 September 1955 | 7.4/10 IMDb Directed by Duke Goldstone First episode date 7 October 1953 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Written by Milt KahnGeorge Tibbles Starring Betty WhiteDel MooreJack Narz Cast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Life with Elizabeth is an American sitcom starring Betty White as Elizabeth and Del Moore as her husband Alvin; Jack Narz is the on-camera announcer and narrator. The series aired in syndication from October 7, 1953 to September 1, 1955. The show was the first of numerous sitcoms for Betty White across the decades and was based on sketches involving the Elizabeth character that she had performed on her earlier talk show Hollywood on Television.
Contents
The low-budget comedy was produced by and filmed at a local Los Angeles TV station where White and Moore were on the staff (the series was originally a live production on KLAC-TV in 1951). Betty White received her first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her work on this series.
Premise
Elizabeth and Alvin are an ordinary suburban couple, but inevitably get into predicaments. In the end, Alvin, in variable degrees of frustration, would say, "I shall leave you at this point, Elizabeth" and would walk out of sight. The announcer would say, "Elizabeth, aren't you ashamed?" She would slowly nod, but then, with a slightly devilish grin, would vigorously shake her head to indicate she wasn't.
The series was divided into three eight- to ten-minute comic shorts — referred to as "incidents". Sometimes an entire incident might just consist of the two main characters talking to each other. The minimal theme music was played by a solo harpist who was partially visible on the opening title screen.
Cancellation
After 65 episodes, the series' production company, Guild Films, chose to cancel the series. While the series was still popular with audiences, Guild Films decided that too many new episodes of Life with Elizabeth would over saturate secondary markets thus making the series less profitable in second-run syndication.
Syndication and DVD release
The series was exported to Australia during the late-1950s.
Because the show was formatted as separate eight-minute sketches, a number of used 16mm prints of the films were cut into individual segments and sold on the "home movies" market by the Superior Bulk Film Co. of Chicago, a mail-order movie equipment dealer, in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Since the series entered the public domain, it has been released in volumes of budget DVD releases.
Life with Elizabeth aired in syndication on America One and on the HOT (History of Television) network in New York (WKOB 42.4) and Dallas (K31GL 31.3).