Father Knows Best: Season One

For those of us who are now called ‘baby boomers’ growing up in the fifties was a great time. Television sets were finally affordable so that most American homes had one. Unlike now were in many homes there are as many TV sets as rooms back then there was only one set and it was the focal point of the living room. Kids could watch it after school while mom prepared dinner. After diner the entire family would gather around those glowing black and white images and watch their favorite programs. Between the years of 1954 and 1960 there was one series that no one ever missed, ‘Father Knows Best’. This was the show that helped define a generation and was important to making television the powerful force it is today. Now the first season of this groundbreaking series is on DVD thanks to the good folks over at Shout Entertainment. For those of us out there that remember this series first hand it is more than just another old TV show released on DVD. This is a piece of our childhoods and memories that many of us haven’t revisited in decades. Younger viewers may scoff at the simplicity of this series. They may laugh at the way the family interacts so perfectly. For many Americans during this time this was the way a family should be; caring about one another with the parents in charge. World War II was over and thanks to the GI Bill many families could afford a modest house to call home. Even if you lived in an apartment this was want you dreamt about. This is a part of our culture that may for the most part be long gone but it is fantastic to revisit it once again.

Like many television series of the fifties this one got its start in the days of radio. Yes, believe it or not there was a time before television when families would gather around the radio to listen to programs. The premise was simple. The stories focused on a typical Midwestern American family. At the head was the father, Robert Anderson (Robert Young). He worked as an insurance salesman but rarely brought his work home with him. His loving wife Margaret (Jane Wyatt) was a stay at home mom who took care of the household and children. The eldest of these was Betty (Elinor Donahue), affectionately called ‘Princess’ by her father. She was 17 years old and tried her best to be a more sophisticated version of her mother. Next in the birth order was James Jr. (Billy Gray), better known by all as Bud. He was 14 and like most boys that age clueless about most things in life. To him the world was his friends, getting out of as much school work as possible and having fun. Last there was the youngest Kathy (Lauren Chapin) who is frequently called ‘Kitten’ by dad. She is seven years old and always getting into some form of mischief or another. Remember this was the fifties so the most trouble to be found was usually on the order of ruining her big sister’s dress or trying to build a spaceship. Spaceships were very popular with kids back then.

Right away you can tell this series was in a different time than the one we live in. Father wore a suite and hat to work everyday and usually kept his tie on for the rest of the evening after work. Mom was always perfectly attired always with a strand of pearls or two, a neat skirt and top and perfect hair. Betty was a younger version of mom with a skirt and sweater set. Bud was the typical boy in jeans. Kathy was a bit of tom boy in jeans as well but would be expected to wear a dress for school and Sunday outings. After work while mom and the girls finished the dinner preparations dad would go to his chair in the living room for a pre-dinner smoke. Most television shows were back then were sponsored by the tobacco companies and it was always a good idea to show their produces in use. This was a loving family. Margaret enjoyed cuddling up next to Jim on the couch as they read the newspaper. The children respected their parents and even when discipline of some form was necessary it was done with love. The opening reflected this. Jim comes home and takes his wife into his arms. As they bend towards each other to kiss the kids are on the stairs, in birth order, giggling. The parents shrug and kiss anyway.

This was the definition of family entertainment back in the day. Nothing controversial was ever mentioned at all. The problems the family faced were of the run of the mill variety that almost everyone in the audience could identify with. In the very first episode aired Jim and Margaret are sitting in the living room looking forward to a nice quite evening. They hear a thudding sound from upstairs. It is Bud, and Jim wonders what is going on but Margaret tells him it is a secret. Now it would be a meth lab but back then it was Bud trying to learn to dance. This comes to the parent’s attention when Betty runs in with exciting news, the school is having a dance and Bud is planning on going. Not only that but he is taking a girl! There are little things in each episode that date the stories. When Bud wants privacy for a phone call he takes the family phone, kept in the foyer into the closet. There were no cell phones then; all phones were black, heavy and had long cords. Coffee drinking habits is another blast from the past. Now the teenagers would sit down to the breakfast table and pour a cup for themselves. Back then coffee was an adult beverage; the kids could have milk.

While the father here usually did know best occasionally there would be a disagreement between Jim and Margaret usually about the kids. Typically Jim would try to make his point but Margaret typically got her point and across and they would do it her way. This was another part of television family life in the fifties. Dad was the ultimate authority but for most matters concerning the home and children mom was the supervisor. The personalities of each of the characters were refreshingly consistent. There was a comfort to knowing what part they played in the family. Betty was above being a child. At 17 she was a young woman and proud of it. She looked at her mother as a mentor and her father has a provincial not really in the know about life. Bud was just goofy. He would take a dare from his friends but was afraid of girls. Kathy was the typical girl of the time influenced by anything that would catch her interest. These were people we knew and each week they would come and visit. Okay, it is tame by today’s standards but there is nothing wrong with this idealized view of the family.

Shout is really to be commended for this DVD release. Not only are all 26 episodes here but there are plenty of extras for the fun of it. The video has stood the test of time well. There are some slight flacks or lines but generally the transfer is very good. The Dolby mono sound is clear and near flawless. Now let’s look at those extras.

Daddy’s Girls: This provides current interviews with Elinor Donahue and Lauren Chapin about their time on the series. They both remember how they got the roles and what life on the set was like.

Robert Young’s Home Movies: These are rarely seen home movies of Young’s family between thirties and seventies. This was the inspiration for the series. The are narrated by his grandson Bill Proffitt.

Behind the Scenes: Color home movies mostly shot by Young of the cast and crew at work and play.

24 Hours in Tyantland: This was a special episode never broadcast made in 1959. It was used in schools to help promote buying U.S. Savings bonds. In it the children don’t want to sell bonds so Jim decides they should see what it is like to live under a tyrant, him.

Window on Main Street: This was the 1960 pilot for the series Young hoped would follow his time on Father Knows Best.

This DVD set will turn your DVD player into a time machine. Sadly most younger audience members will not get into the gentle humor of the series but for baby boomers this one is a keeper for us.

Posted03//25/08