Posted on 02/15/2003 8:30:13 AM PST by tallhappy
Joe Connelly, Co-Creator of 'Beaver' and 'Munsters,' Passes Away
Fri, Feb 14, 2003 02:37 PM PDT
by Daniel Fienberg
Zap2it, TV News
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LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Joe Connelly, who helped develop and refine the television sitcom format with hits like "Leave It To Beaver" and "The Munsters," died on Thursday at the age of 85.
Born in New York City in 1917, Connelly was working for the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency as a copywriter when he met Bob Mosher. The Connelly-Mosher partnership would continue for more than 25 years and would help change face of popular television.
In 1942, the duo decided to quit advertising and move into radio drama. Their first gig was writing for the Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy radio show and they wrote for other important radio personalities including Frank Morgan and Phil Harris. It was "Amos 'n' Andy" that gave the pair their greatest audience.
In the 12 years Connelly and Mosher wrote for "Amos 'n' Andy" they penned more than 1,500 scripts, and under their watch the show grew from an extremely popular radio program into TV. While "Amos 'n' Andy" is justifiably viewed with some skepticism today because of its regressive racial attitudes, the experience in developing simple, character-based comedy helped Connelly and Mosher hone their sensibilities.
Amidst the television and radio writing, Mosher and Connelly wrote the story for the 1955 Charlton Heston comedy, "The Private War of Major Benson." The film, in which a tough-as-nails Army Major (Heston) is reassigned as a commandant at a boy's private school, earned its writers an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing.
It was their only feature because in 1957 Connelly and Mosher created a television program building on their own parenting experiences. Connelly's son Jay was the model for Wally Cleaver and his 8-year-old Ricky served as inspiration for Theodore Cleaver, the young man more commonly known as "Beaver."
"Leave It To Beaver" premiered on CBS in October of 1957 and starred Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Tony Dow, and Jerry Mathers as The Beaver. After two seasons, "Leave It To Beaver" moved to ABC, where it ran until 1963.
During the show's 234 episodes, Beaver and Wally and their parents June and Ward faced weekly moral dilemma, gently quarreled, but always ended the episode in harmony. Chronically underappreciated, the show was left off of TV Guide's list of the Great Shows, but the magazine chose "Captain Jack," the show's second episode, as one of the best episodes of all time, and Ken Osmond's obsequious neighbor Eddie Haskell was praised as one of TV's greatest characters.
Though "Leave It To Beaver" will always be Connelly and Mosher's most beloved show, the also created "Bringing Up Buddy," and "Ichabod and Me" before making a second major cultural impact with a totally different kind of family comedy, "The Munsters."
"The Munsters" ran for two seasons, starting in 1964, and over the course of its 70 episodes, the show took the traditional family sitcom in scary new directions. Starring Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein-esque Herman Munster, Yvonne DeCarlo as Lily Munster, and Al Lewis as bloodsucking Grandpa Munster and Butch Patrick as their wolfy son Eddie, "The Munsters" also became a 1966 feature.
The Connelly-Mosher partnership ended after the cancellation of the 1967 Lon Cheney Jr./ Ann Sheridan western-comedy "Pistols 'n' Petticoats." Mosher died in 1972.
Connelly's final producing credit was the 1969 Elvis Presley vehicle "Change of Habit," Presley's last feature as well.
Connelly's work lives on in an endless loop of reruns.
Joe Connelly is survived by his children Karen Donovan, Maria Connelly-Gordon, Franny Rooney, Patrick Connelly and Mandy Danzell as well as as Jay Connelly and Ricky Connelly. He has 12 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.
I can't believe no one posted Joe Connelly's obit.
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