The My Son, Jeep Radio Program

Background

For any of you who've listened to the few circulating exemplars of My Son Jeep, the NBC series' origin might come as something of a surprise. Imagine if you will 9-yr-old Brandon deWilde of "Shane" (1953) fame in the role of Jeffrey 'Jeep' Allison; and deWilde's stage actor father, Frederic, in the role of Dr. Allison. And there you have the original concept of My Son Jeep as first pitched to--and auditioned for--NBC Radio Vice President of Programming, Bud Barry. What happened to that original audition remains anyone's guess for the moment, but it turned out that young Brandon deWilde was already on a path to a far greater--albeit sadly foreshortened--career in Television and Film. "Shane" of course was in its last days of production at about the time that NBC ordered an audition for the initial My Son Jeep concept. Clearly deWilde's runaway performance in Shane propelled the young actor into a far more stellar Entertainment World galaxy. But at the same time it sent NBC scrambling for another duo to star in their My Son Jeep vehicle for radio.

So it was that in stepped veteran Radio, Stage and Film actor Donald Cook to fill the role of Dr. Robert Allison and young Martin Huston to portray Jeffrey 'Jeep' Allison.

NBC still managed to premiere My Son Jeep in its Sunday night timeslot on January 25th 1953--replacing Jan Murray's 'Meet Your Match'. The new series proved to be a fairly popular Radio feature in due time, portraying as it did, the widowed Dr. Robert Allison and his two young children, Jeffrey and Peggy, as he navigated the challenging waters of both single parenthood and his thriving medical practice in the imaginary small town of 'Grove Falls, U.S.A.'

May 8th 1953 complimentary NBC Radio City Studios ticket for a performance of My Son Jeep to air the following Sunday.

Family situation comedies had become formulaic throughout the Golden Age of Radio and Television, pushing writers and directors of the era to work even harder to come up with novel new situational wrinkles so as to differentiate themselves to potential producers, sponsors and audiences alike.

Reportedly two years in the making, My Son Jeep's creators Walter Black and William Mendreck worked hard to develop a unique, widely attractive family situation upon which to build their aspiring franchise. Their primary 'hook' in My Son Jeep was a very "Dennis the Menace" type of young character well-equipped to drive unique and entertaining situations. It's worth noting that the Hank Ketchum "Dennis the Menace" cartoon series had only begun syndication in 1950, based on Ketchum's own son Dennis.

The back-story behind young Jeffrey Allison's nickname was attributed to Jeffrey's fascination with the Jeeps in a local Grove Falls parade. He reportedly became so enamoured of the post-War vehicles that he was soon tagged with the "Jeep" moniker . . . and it stuck. Jeep's older sister Peggy tended to go a different direction, preferring to adopt the name 'Marguerite' in certain social situations, the better to advance her own desire to appear more 'sophisticated.' Jeep was also a Cub Scout in The Boy Scouts of America, often enlisting Dr. Allison's support in promoting Jeep's progression from Cub Scout to Boy Scout; Doc Allison inevitably being caught up in yet another of Jeep's schemes. Jeep's Cub Scout activities appeared often enough throughout the series that The Boy Scouts of America eventually commended My Son Jeep for promoting Scouting. The Radio series also garnered awards from the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), The New Jersey State Fair, and The National Gag Writers Foundation.

Dr. Allison narrated most episodes, framing each episode's introduction and wrapping up every episode's close. A widower, Dr. Allison never lacked for female company; he'd lured Jeep's former teacher, Barbara Miller, to be the secretary/receptionist for Allison's home-based medical practice. And to aid him in his domestic duties he acquired the services of a widow, Mrs. Bixby, as housekeeper to the Allison household.

The presence of two mature single women and two children in the Allison household made for an abundance of situational fodder for My Son Jeep. Together, they kept Dr. Allison hopping from situation to situation, most of which were driven by son Jeep's ceaseless precocity. Also, as might be predicted in such a single-parent situation, matchmaking among both the Allison family and its extended family made for several humorus romantic themes throughout the series. Priced at a reported $2,500 per weekly episode, the radio series was also popular with numerous smaller market NBC affiliates of the era, further contributing to its national acceptance.

There's no question that My Son Jeep was blessed with a marvelous ensemble cast. Donald Cook, as Dr. Allison, was a highly accomplished Film, Stage and Radio actor in his own right; Joan Lazer, as Peggy Allison, was an equally accomplished young actress, having been a mainstay of the long-running The Goldbergs over Radio and had portayed no less than Anne Frank over Radio to rave reviews; Leona Powers, as Mrs. Bixby was yet another highly respected character actor from Film, the Stage, and Radio; and young Martin Huston, as Jeep, had been the product of an extensive auditioning process by My Son Jeep's creators. Indeed, the NBC-Radio ensemble of My Son Jeep had jelled so well that Martin Huston reportedly found it somewhat difficult to transition to the NBC-TV cast with only Leona Powers, as Mrs. Bixby, continuing in the same ensemble role over Television.

From the August 7th 1953 edition of the Racine Times Journal:

          NEW YORK — (U.P.)— There is much more than meets the eye to television casting, especially when children are involved. Walter Black and William Mendrek found out about this when it came to putting together the company for the "My Son, Jeep" program which they created and write.
     "The big problem was the casting of the 10-year-old son," Black recalled. "First, we had to sift through a lot of candidates to find the boy who just naturally seemed to fit the character as to looks and attitude. Marty Huston seemed to fill the bill and we went into rehearsal.

Ran Into Problem

     "Then we ran into a bigger problem. The boy wasn't at ease with his video father and sister—Jeffrey Lynn and Betty Lou Keim. He did his lines well mechanically, but there was no rapport with the other members of the cast. This failure to convey a feeling of real warmth among the players would be fatal to a family series."
     Black and Mendrek stopped the rehearsal and took the lad to a drug store for a soda.
     "We talked," Black said. "We talked about everything under the sun, and gradually we found out what Marty was interested in. He's a rabid Brooklyn Dodger fan and he loves to read science fiction.
     "That discovery solved the problem, because Lynn matches Marty in his enthusiasm for the Dodgers and Betty Lou is a veteran of television science fiction shows and can toss the 'space jargon' around with Marty. The family feeling that we needed was quickly cemented and we went back to rehearsal."

At about the midpoint of My Son Jeep's NBC-Radio run, NBC aired a one-off episode of My Son Jeep as a last minute replacement for the hour-long NBC-Television "Kraft Theater" normally scheduled but bumped due to a last minute speech by President Eisenhower. Featuring Jeffrey Lynn as Dr. Allison, the one-off was so well received that NBC-Television committed to a Summer run of My Son Jeep for television. Premiering on July 4th 1953, the series retained only Martin Huston as 'Jeep,' Leona Powers as Mrs. Bixby, and Dick Whigginton as 'Boots' Douglas from the Radio series. Betty Lou Keim portrayed Peggy Allison and Anne Sargent portrayed Barbara Miller in the Television series.

Though equally well received, the Television series ran for the Summer of 1953--plus three weeks--before leaving the air; somewhat understandable given that numerous other 'typical American family' situation comedies had begun filling Television screens throughout the 1950s.

The cast of the NBC-TV 1953 Summer run of 'My Son, Jeep'

In an effort to extend the My Son Jeep franchise even further, creators Black and Mendrek were in talks with three film studios to mount a full-length feature film of My Son Jeep as late as 1957, but the deal(s) eventually faded. But that wasn't quite the end of the franchise. My Son Jeep eventually found new life with CBS-Radio in a 1955-1956, 15-minute, serialized, Monday through Friday evening feature, premiering on October 3rd 1955 and airing through November 9th 1956.

From the October 3rd, 1955 edition of the Pasadena Independent:

Joan Lazer later returned to the role of Peggy Allison, replacing Betty Lou Keim in the CBS-Radio run, and Martin Huston was eventually replaced by young Bobby Alford in the role of 'Jeep.'

Bobby Alford as Jeep, Paul McGrath as Doc Allison and Joan Lazer as Peggy for CBS-Radio (CBS-Radio Press Kit Photo)

In addition to the longer running serialized version of Radio's My Son Jeep, the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) aired My Son Jeep over its networks from 1955 to 1957, at least five exemplars of which are currently in circulation.

All told, My Son Jeep was quite a durable, entertaining franchise throughout the mid-1950s. The cast was a versatile, cohesive ensemble and the writing was indeed quite clever. The situations were reasonably novel and, most significantly, two major , highly competitive networks deemed the My Son Jeep franchise a good bet for over three years--over both Radio and Television. While the franchise's Film prospects never quite materialized, it wasn't for lack of interest. Young Martin Huston went on to co-star with Johnny Weissmuller in the Jungle Jim television series for 26-episodes, perhaps the best known of Huston's work as a child star. After 'aging out' of child roles, Huston's acting work became somewhat hit or miss over the remainder of his adult acting career.

Having produced forty-plus prime-time half-hours for NBC-Radio, eleven NBC-TV episodes and another 285, quarter-hour serialized episodes over CBS-Radio, Black and Mendrek's My Son Jeep franchise acquitted itself quite well given the turbulent competition for both Radio and Television air-time during the mid-1950s. One can only hope that some of the 15-minute, serialized episodes will surface in time so that we can all compare the later CBS-Radio production with the original NBC-Radio episodes.

Series Derivatives:

Notes on Provenances:

The most helpful provenances were newspaper listings.

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