Car 54, Where Are You?

Car 54, Where Are You?, an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 1961 to April 1963, is the story of two New York City police officers based in the fictional 53rd precinct in The Bronx. Car 54 was their patrol car. The series was filmed in black-and-white and had a rotating group of directors, including Al De Caprio, Stanley Prager, and series creator Nat Hiken — who helmed several episodes. Filming was on location,[1] and at Biograph Studios in the Bronx.[2]

For the 1994 film, see Car 54, Where Are You? (film).
Car 54, Where Are You?
Opening title sequence
Also known asCar 54
GenreSitcom
Created byNat Hiken
Directed byAl De Caprio
Nat Hiken
Stanley Prager
StarringJoe E. Ross
Fred Gwynne
Theme music composerNat Hiken
John Strauss
Opening theme"Car 54, Where Are You?"
ComposerJohn Strauss
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes60 (list of episodes)
Production
ProducersNat Hiken
Billy Friedberg
CinematographyJ. Burgi Contner
George Stoetzel
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time30 minutes
Production companyEupolis Productions
Release
Original networkNBC
Picture formatBlack-and-white
Audio formatMonaural
Original releaseSeptember 17, 1961 (1961-09-17) –
April 14, 1963 (1963-04-14)
Fred Gwynne and Joe E. Ross.

Synopsis

The series follows the adventures of New York City Police Department officers Gunther Toody (badge #1432) (Joe E. Ross) and Francis Muldoon (badge #723) (Fred Gwynne), assigned to Patrol Car 54. Toody is short, stocky, nosy, not very bright, and lives with his loud, domineering wife, Lucille (Beatrice Pons). College-educated Muldoon is very tall, quiet, and more intellectual; a shy bachelor, he lives with his mother and two younger sisters and eschews the notion of being married.

Cast

Production

Many of the scripts were written by Nat Hiken, who won an Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Emmy Award for his work on the series. Hiken had previously produced The Phil Silvers Show, which featured Joe E. Ross and Beatrice Pons as a married couple.

Car 54 was originally sponsored by Procter & Gamble.

Cars

So that they would not be mistaken for actual police cars during location filming, the cars used for the series were painted red and white, which appeared as the proper shade of gray on black-and-white film to replicate NYPD cars of that era, which were black and green, with a white roof and trunk.

Three cars were used as the title vehicle during the series: a 1961 Plymouth Belvedere during most of the first season, followed by a 1962, and later 1963, Plymouth Savoy.

Theme song

The theme song's lyrics were written by series creator, writer, and occasional director, Nat Hiken, with music by John Strauss.[3]

There's a holdup in the Bronx,
Brooklyn's broken out in fights;
There's a traffic jam in Harlem
That's backed up to Jackson Heights;
There's a Scout troop short a child,
Khrushchev's due at Idlewild;
Car 54, Where Are You??

The line, "Khrushchev's due at Idlewild", referred to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev arriving a year before the series began in September 1960 at New York's Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport), to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

Broadcast history

Car 54, Where Are You? originally aired Sunday at 8:30–9:00 p.m. on NBC, following Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and preceding Bonanza.

Guest stars
Molly Picon as a guest star (1962)

Several celebrities, including Hugh Downs, Mitch Miller, Jan Murray, and Sugar Ray Robinson, appeared as themselves. Among others cast in various episodes are:

Primetime Emmy Awards

Car 54, Where Are You? was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards, earning one.

1961–1962 (presented May 22, 1962)
  • Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy: Nat Hiken—Won
  • Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Humor—Nominated (Winner: The Bob Newhart Show)
  • Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy: Nat Hiken, Tony Webster, Terry Ryan—Nominated (Winner: Carl Reiner for The Dick Van Dyke Show)
1962–1963 (presented May 26, 1963)
  • Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy: Nat Hiken—Nominated (Winner: Carl Reiner for The Dick Van Dyke Show)

Syndication

Car 54, Where Are You? first entered into syndication in January 1964. It began airing on the cable channel Nick at Nite in 1987 and ran on the network until 1990. It was seen for less than one year on the short-lived Ha! Channel in 1990-91 and also aired on another Viacom-owned cable channel, Comedy Central, in the early 1990s. In 2016, the show aired early Sunday mornings on MeTV,[4] and also aired occasionally on its sister network Decades.

1994 film

Car 54, Where Are You? was made into a 1994 film, shot mainly in Toronto, starring John C. McGinley as Muldoon, David Johansen as Toody, and Rosie O'Donnell. The film was made in 1990 but not released until 1994 due to the bankruptcy of Orion Pictures.[5] It was a box office bomb when it was first released and was poorly received by critics. Original cast members Al Lewis and Nipsey Russell appeared in the film.

Home media

In the early 1990s, Republic Pictures Home Video releases some episodes on VHS. Shanachie Entertainment announced in the fall of 2010 it was releasing season one on DVD Region 1 on February 22, 2011.[6] The second and final season was released on April 24, 2012.[7]

Episode list
Main article: List of Car 54, Where Are You? episodes

The show had two seasons, each with 30 episodes.

  • The show’s theme song is parodied as “Mario, Where Are You?” in an Atari commercial for Mario Bros.[8]

See also

References

Notes

  1. Coletta, Charles (2002). "St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture: Car 54, Where Are You?". St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture. Archived from the original on August 19, 2005.
  2. Bennett, Bruce (April 12, 2011). "Fifty Years Later, Car 54 Shows Up". The Wall Street Journal. News Corporation. Archived from the original on May 15, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  3. "Amadeus music editor and composer John Strauss dies". BBC News. 2011-02-18. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
  4. MeTV Staff (20 Apr 2016). "9 things you might not know about 'Car 54, Where Are You?'". MeTV. Retrieved 31 Dec 2019.
  5. Glover, Kara (1991). "Financing may be hard to find for bankrupt Orion". Los Angeles Business Journal.
  6. "Car 54 Where Are You? The Complete First Season" (Press release). Shanachie Entertainment. November 29, 2010. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2013 – via TVShowsOnDVD.com.
  7. Lambert, David (January 11, 2012). "Car 54, Where Are You? - 'The Complete 2nd Season DVD: Date, Cost, Package, Extras!". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on March 19, 2012.
  8. "Mario Bros. Atari 2600 & 5200 1983 Commercial". YouTube. February 7, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2019.

Further reading
  • Car 54, Where Are You?, by Martin Grams, Jr. (2009). Albany: BearManor Media. ISBN 1-59393-340-1.
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