Elinor Donahue

Elinor Donahue (born Mary Eleanor Donahue pn 2 April 19, 1937) is a retired American actress best known for playing Betty Anderson, the eldest daughter of Jim and Margaret Anderson, on the 1950s American sitcom Father Knows Best. Donahue was born in Tacoma, Washington, on April 19, 1937, to Doris Genevieve (née Gelbaugh) and Thomas William Donahue.

From the age of five, Donahue performed in films with dance choruses and was a ballet partner of Barrie Chase, future partner of Fred Astaire. She was a child actress in vaudeville and had several supporting roles in teen films, including Love Is Better Than Ever (1952), starring Elizabeth Taylor, and Tea for Two (1950), starring Doris Day. She played one of the daughters in Three Daring Daughters in 1948 and appeared as Mamie Van Doren's sister in Girls Town (1959).

Donahue rose to stardom for her role as the eldest daughter, Betty, in the family television series Father Knows Best, which aired from 1954 to 1960. Her co-stars were Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Billy Gray as her younger brother, James "Bud" Anderson Jr., and Lauren Chapin as her younger sister, Kathy. Donahue was a musical judge on ABC's Jukebox Jury (1953–54), and during the first season of Father Knows Best, she also appeared on The Ray Bolger Show, starring Ray Bolger as a singer-dancer. She later starred alongside James Best, Ann Doran, and J. Carrol Naish in the 1956 episode "The White Carnation" of the religious anthology series Crossroads. She guest-starred in an episode of U.S. Marshal. She also appeared as a newlywed in the episode of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show titled "The Newlyweds" which aired on April 2, 1956. She starred in the feature film Girls Town (1959 film), which she later described as "a horrible movie."

Donahue played Georgiana Balanger, the niece of George and Martha Wilson, in the 1960 Dennis the Menace episode "Dennis and the Wedding." Donahue also appeared alongside Marion Ross in a 1960 episode ("Duet") of The Brothers Brannagan. She played Miriam Welby on ABC's The Odd Couple, Jane Mulligan on Mulligan's Stew, and the evil Nurse Hunnicut on Days of Our Lives.

She was part of the main cast of the first season of CBS's The Andy Griffith Show as Ellie Walker, Andy's pharmacist in love with her. She was even mentioned in the opening credits before Don Knotts. After one season (1960–1961), Donahue asked for a release from her three-year contract.

In 1963, Donahue appeared in an episode of the short-lived NBC modern western series Redigo, opposite Richard Egan as rancher Jim Redigo. She then starred in another western series, Have Gun Will Travel, as Letty May in the episode "The Burning Tree."

In 1964, she appeared in the NBC series The Eleventh Hour, a medical drama about psychiatry starring Jack Ging and Ralph Bellamy, where she played the role of Melanie in the episode "The Secret in the Stone."

In 1966, she guest-starred on the television series A Man Called Shenandoah, episode 8, "Town on Fire."

In 1967, she made a guest appearance on Star Trek in the second-season episode "Metamorphosis," playing Commissioner Nancy Hedford.

Donahue played Sister Bertrille's (Sally Field) sister in three episodes of the ABC series The Flying Nun (1968–70).

She played Miriam Welby in 17 episodes of The Odd Couple (1972–75).
In 1977, she appeared in an episode of the ABC police series The Feather and Father Gang.
In 1978, Donahue starred in the NBC sitcom Please Stand By.
In 1979, she appeared on Diff'rent Strokes as Mr. Drummond's fiancée in the first season.
In 1981, Donahue appeared in an episode of One Day at a Time as Felicia, Alex's mother.
In 1984, she made an appearance as Mrs. Broderick, the mother of a drug-addicted teenager, in the final season of Happy Days.
In 1987, she played the mother of the title character in the short-lived Fox series The New Adventures of Beans Baxter.
In 1988, she appeared in an episode of Newhart ("Courtin' Disaster").
In 1989, she appeared in an episode of The Golden Girls as the new wife of Dorothy Zbornak's ex-husband, Stan.
In 1990, she played Bridget, a Beverly Hills clothing store manager, in the film Pretty Woman. Donahue played Gladys, the mother of Chris Peterson (Chris Elliott), in all 35 episodes of the sitcom Get a Life (1990–92), and had a recurring role as Rebecca Quinn on the CBS drama series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
In 1991, she played the "orphanage woman" in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare.
In 1992, she voiced the mother in the Fox Kids animated series Eek! the Cat. In 1994, she made an appearance as Aunt Lillian in "The One Where Nana Dies Twice," an episode of Friends. She played Lorraine, Luther Van Dam's girlfriend, in the fifth season of Coach in the early 1990s.

In 1998, Donahue published a memoir titled "In the Kitchen with Elinor Donahue," in which she relived some of her Hollywood memories and provided over 150 of her recipes. 

In September 2010, Donahue appeared on The Young and the Restless as Judge Anderson, one of Nikki Newman's old friends and also the minister who will officiate at the wedding of Billy Abbott and Nikki's daughter, Victoria Newman. The wedding took place in front of the Abbotts' new house, which happened to be a replica of the Andersons' house from "Father Knows Best."

In 2015, Donahue played the role of Mrs. Chumley in the Judson Theatre Company's production of Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Harvey." Donahue called the role her "swan song."

Donahue was married three times. Her first husband was sound producer Richard Smith, whom she married in 1955. They had one son with him. They divorced in 1961. Her second marriage, to producer Harry Ackerman, who was 25 years her senior, took place in 1962 at the Court of Liberty. Ackerman was the adoptive father of her son from her first marriage, and he and Donahue had three children together. Ackerman died in 1991. As a tribute and resource for American television history, Donahue donated Ackerman's personal papers to the Rauner Library at Dartmouth College, her alma mater. In 1992, she married actor Lou Genevrino.

Ted Donaldson

 

Theodore D. "Ted" Donaldson (August 20, 1933 – March 1, 2023) was an American actor and child actor. Donaldson was best known for his roles as Bud Anderson in the radio version of Father Comes Home and as Cornelius "Neely" Nolan in the 1945 film A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

 

Donaldson was born Theodore D. Donaldson in Brooklyn, the son of Josephine Marion Plant and the singer and composer William John Donaldson. His mother died when he was four and a half months old. His stepmother was the radio organist and composer Muriel Pollock. He attended the Professional Children's School in New York City.

 

At the age of eight, he played Harlan in the Broadway production of Life With Father. In the same year, he was heard as Tiny Tim alongside Edmund Gwenn in a radio play adaptation of A Christmas Carol by the Wheatena Playhouse. In 1943, he appeared on Broadway in Sons and Soldiers alongside Gregory Peck at the Morosco Theatre.

In 1944, he made his film debut in Pinky and Curly as Arthur “Pinky” Thompson alongside Cary Grant; Grant called him ‘Teddy’ and attended Donaldson's 1949 high school graduation at the Beverly Hills Hotel with his wife Betsy Drake. In addition to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, he appeared in films such as Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1945), A Stranger Calls (1952), and a series of eight films starring the German Shepherd “Rusty”. From 1949 to 1954, he was heard as Bud Anderson, son of the character Jim Anderson, voiced by Robert Young, in the radio version of Father's the Best. When the program was broadcast on television, Donaldson turned down the role because he was already 21 years old at the time and did not want to be typecast; the on-camera role was taken by Billy Gray.

 

He later appeared in television series such as Front Row Center, Matinee Theatre and 1958's The Silent Service, his last role in front of the camera. After giving up acting in the late 1950s, he taught acting and worked in a Hollywood bookstore in the late 1970s.

Donaldson was a guest of honor at several TCM Classic Film Festivals, for example in 2016, when a restored version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was shown to enthusiastic audiences. 

He died on March 1, 2023 at the age of 89 from injuries sustained in a fall.

Jean Thurston Vander Pyl

Jean Thurston Vander Pyl was born on October 11, 1919 and was an American voice actress. She is best known as the voice of Wilma Flintstone for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Flintstones. In addition to Wilma Flintstone, she also provided the voices of Pebbles Flintstone; Rosie the robot maid from The Jetsons; Goldie, Lola Glamour, Nurse LaRue, and other characters in Top Cat; Winsome Witch on The Secret Squirrel Show; and Ogee on The Magilla Gorilla Show.

On radio, she participated in such programs as The Halls of Ivy (1950–52) and on Father Knows Best during the early 1950s, where she portrayed Margaret Anderson; the role was played on television by Jane Wyatt. Her husband, Carroll G. O'Meara, was a graduate of Stanford University who worked as a copywriter at KHJ radio in the mid-1930s and later became an advertising executive.

Vander Pyl was born in Philadelphia to John Howard and Kathleen Hale Vander Pyl. Her grandfather had come from the Netherlands. Her father was the district manager for Knit Underwear; her mother was from Tennessee. The two died within six months of each other in the early 1950s. By 1939, she was already working as a radio actress.

Vander Pyl made numerous TV appearances as an actress in programs such as Leave It to Beaver, The Donna Reed Show, Father Knows Best, The Beverly Hillbillies, That Girl, and Petticoat Junction. She did the voices of Maw Rugg and her daughter Floral Rugg on a rural cartoon, The Hillbilly Bears and Winsome Witch; both shows were part of The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show (1965–1967). Jean Vander Pyl was also the voice of Little Ogee on The Magilla Gorilla Show. In 1969, Vander Pyl guest-starred on the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode "Foul Play in Funland", playing Sarah Jenkins.

In the 1970s, she was the voice of Marge Huddles, the main character's wife on Where's Huddles?, in which she played a role similar to that of Wilma Flintstone and was reunited with her Flintstones cast members Alan Reed and Mel Blanc. She went on to voice Mrs. Finkerton on Inch High, Private Eye, and several female characters on Hong Kong Phooey, The Tom and Jerry Show, and Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels.

In the 1980s and 1990s, she did voices on Mister T, Snorks, and Yogi's Treasure Hunt, and also on The Flintstone Kids as Mrs. Slaghoople. She mostly reprised Wilma Flintstone on spin-off series and films such as The Flintstone Comedy Hour, The New Fred and Barney Show, The Flintstone Comedy Show, The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones, I Yabba-Dabba Do!, Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby, and A Flintstones Christmas Carol.

She married Carroll G. O'Meara on March 9, 1939; together they had three children. O'Meara died on February 18, 1962, at the age of 53. She then married her second husband Roger Wells DeWitt in 1963; the couple had one son. They remained married until DeWitt's death in 1992.

Vander Pyl died of lung cancer at her home in Dana Point, California, at the age of 79. Vander Pyl was buried in Ascension Cemetery in Lake Forest, California.

ABC Mystery Time

 

The ABC Mystery Radio Show, also known simply as Mystery Theater, was an American radio anthology series that aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) during the Golden Age of Radio, specifically at 8:30 pm in the later years of the 1940s and 1950s.

The show was a weekly mystery/thriller program, often featuring classic literature and starring A-list movie talent like Sir Laurence Olivier, Jon Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Orson Welles, and Michael Redgrave.

Don Dowd of "The Breakfast Club" hosted ABC Mystery Time. ABC Mystery Time, along with other radio programs like Suspense, Inner Sanctum, The Shadow, and Gang Busters, offered listeners a variety of mystery and thriller programs that helped define the genre during the Golden Age of Radio.

It provided listeners with a sense of escape and adventure, allowing them to experience thrilling stories without leaving their homes.

 

starring A-list movie talent like Sir Laurence Olivier, Jon Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Orson Welles, and Michael Redgrave. 

 

 It featured a variety of stories that often centered around Inspector Mark Saber, a British detective from the Homicide Squad, and his assistant, Sergeant Tim Maloney. The show's format allowed for a diverse range of murder mysteries, each week presenting a new case for the sharp-witted inspector to solve.

The show's appeal lay not only in its thrilling narratives but also in the rich, atmospheric soundscapes that accompanied them. The creak of a door, the ticking of a clock, or the distant sound of footsteps all served to draw listeners deeper into the story, proving that sound could be just as evocative as any visual cue.
 
The ABC Mystery Radio Show reminds us of a time when storytelling was an auditory art, where the imagination was the canvas, and sound was the brush. It stands as a testament to the enduring power of narrative and the timeless appeal of a good mystery.