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Chuck: My, Uncle Bob sounds cheerful this morning. He's singing in the shower. What happened?

Margaret: He thinks he's found a new girl. We'll just overcook his eggs.

The Bob Cummings Show ran from January 1955 until September 1959 on NBC and CBS.

Clean cut Bob Cummings played swinging bachelor Bob Collins in this comedy about a professional photographer ( " Hold it-I think you're gonna like this picture"), who spent all of his working time with beautiful models. In his spare time Bob never seemed able to settle on any one woman, causing endless problems at home and " in the harem." Bob lived with his widowed sister Margaret ( Rosemary DeCamp),and her son Chuck ( Dwayne Hickman); Margaret never quite understood her brother's social life and Chuck was always trying to get in on Uncle Bob's action, despite the fact that he had attractive, wholesome girlfriends of his own, Francine and later Olive ( Diane Jergins, Carol Henning). Bob's devoted assistant was Shultzy ( Ann B. Davis), who had a crush on her boss, but couldn't compete with glamerous models like Collette , Mary Beth, Shirley and Ingrid(Lisa Gaye, Gloria Marshall, Joi Lansing, Ingrid Goude). Also featured in the cast was Paul Fonda ( Lyle Talbot )and Pamela Livingston ( Nancy Kulp).

Bob had his own private plane and occasionally flew to his home town of Joplin, Missouri to visit his Grandfather Josh Collins ( also played by Bob Cummings). Despite his age, the elder Collins had not lost his eye for the ladies, which he proved when it was his turn to visit his Grandson-and all the sexy young models at the photography studio.

Guest stars ranged from George Burns and Gracie Allen ( in a cross-over episode), to Zsa Zsa Gabor, Alan Ladd, Ozzie Nelson, Steve Allen, Art Linkletter, and Don Knotts.

When the series moved to daytime for reruns after concluding it's nighttine run, the title was changed to Love That Bob, the same title used in syndication.

An article from Time Magazine

The 1,000-Watt Bulb
Monday, Apr. 09, 1956 Article

Robert Cummings' mother was an ordained minister, and back in the family home in Joplin, Mo., she gave him a short sermon that he has never forgotten. Said she: "Your mind is like a light bulb. It's up to you whether you use it like a 60-watt bulb or make it shine as bright as a 1,000-watter." She did not protest when Cummings decided to look for a socket on the Great White Way.

Three times the Cummings glow has threatened to flicker out when his career seemed to reach a dead end: 1) on Broadway, 2) in the movies, and 3) on television. But last week, at 46, he was up to a candlepower to brighten any mother's eye as he starred in his own Bob Cummings Show (Thurs. 8 p.m., CBS), made a guest appearance with Perry Como, and played host (with his children: Robert, 10, and Melinda, 8) on CBS's Circus Highlights from Madison Square Garden.

Nutty Salesman. Bob taxed his mind power to capacity to get his career rolling. When he first tried to crash Broadway, he got nowhere until he made a brief trip to London, returned with a British accent and a new name—Blade Stanhope Conway. He was hired for the Broadway production of Galsworthy's The Roof. When the vogue for English actors faded, Bob changed his name to Brice Hutchens, emerged as a juvenile lead in the Ziegfeld Follies and, finally, adopted a Texas accent and took his own name to play opposite Margaret Sullavan in Hollywood.

Television nearly wrecked him twice. After World War II service as an Air Force flight instructor, Bob was one of the hundreds of actors dropped by the Hollywood moviemakers in 1947 as they cut budgets in fear of TV's inroads. He then signed up for a filmed TV series called My Hero, in which he played the role of a nutty real estate salesman named Beanblossom. The show was so bad that not even an agent would come near him after it was released (although, on the strength of his name. 34 films are still being shown by TV stations across the country).

Bachelor Photographer. Though he played in a few TV dramas (notably as the star of Studio One's courtroom thriller, 12 Angry Men), Bob's income was dwindling until in 1954 George Burns of Burns & Allen suggested the new series that has become the Bob Cummings Show. In it, Bob is a dame-happy bachelor photographer whose major problems are to avoid marriage while at the same time trying to find a husband for his widowed sister (Rosemary De Camp), who does not particularly want one. The show is nearly as slapstick as the My Hero series, but considerably funnier, and Bob has an excellent foil for his own comedy routines in his girl Friday (Anne B. Davis), a half-pint comedienne known as Schultzie. Sponsor Winston Cigarettes has paid the bills for the past two years and has an option for three and a half years more. Says Bob: "A lot of other sponsors want to get in too. Show business is like the stock market—when you're hot, everyone wants a part of you. But when you're cold, they all act like you're dead."

Bob Cummings Obituary

Film Star, TV host dies

Bob Cummings had Parkinson's disease
December 3, 1990

Los Angeles ( AP) Robert Cummings, who played a swinging bachelor in the 1950's sitcom " The Bob Cummings Show" and starred in dozens of films, has died at age 80.

The actor, who had parkinson's disease died Sunday at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills of kidney failure and complications from pneumonia, said hospital spokeswoman Louella Benson.

After a movie career in the 1930's, he entered the burgeoning tv industry and starred in two versions of " The Bob Cummings Show," which in its first incarnation was probably the closest thing to a sex comedy on television at the time.

On the first " Bob Cummings Show," which ran as a sitcom on NBC and CBS from 1955 to 1959, Cummings played Bob Collins, a photographer with his own airplane who squired beautiful models around town. He could never settle on any one woman, causing endless problems at home and among the various girlfriends.

It was called " Love That Bob" in syndication and can still be seen in reruns.

In its second incarnation, " The Bob Cummings Show " ran as a comedy-adventure on CBS in 1961-62, and Cummings played Bob Carson, charter pilot and amateur detective.

In 1954 he won an emmy for " Twelve Angry Men."

Milton Berle, who used Cummings as a straight man in the 1930's and '40's said the clean-cut actor had a great knack for comedy. " He was a darling man," Berle said Sunday. " I and others in show business who knew him, will miss him dearly."

Paramount Pictures signed Cummings but took a pass on Berle when they took a screen test in 1932, Berle said. " I never let him forget that," he said.

Most of Cummings' film roles were in light comedies but included some serious portayals,such as in " Kings Row," in which he co-starred with Ronald Reagan, and in Dial M for Murder," Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 thriller.

Born a minister's son in Joplin, Mo., Cummings studied engineering and business before turning to the theater to earn money for his family during the depression.

He launched his acting career in England and passed himself off as British, calling himself Blade Stanhope-Conway. To help establish his credentials, he bribed a London stagehand to take his picture under a marquee bearing his alias.

In America, he co-starred with Fanny Brice in " The Ziegfeld Follies" and worked with Berle.

Cummings got his first film role in 1935 adopting a Texas accent to play opposite Margaret Sullivan in " So Red the Rose."

To read some articles on The Bob Cummings Show go to http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZAUUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=o4oDAAAAIBAJ&dq=bob%20cummings%20show&pg=7104%2C1944537 and http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X21QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dBAEAAAAIBAJ&dq=bob%20cummings%20show&pg=6035%2C4324096 and http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=K0caAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VyYEAAAAIBAJ&dq=bob%20cummings&pg=5230%2C2135663 and http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=k-NPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aFUDAAAAIBAJ&dq=bob%20cummings%20show&pg=5342%2C2803332

To watch some clips from The Bob Cummings Show go to http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bob++cummings+show&aq=f

For an episode guide go to http://ctva.biz/US/Comedy/BobCummings2_LoveThatBob.htm

For a Page dedicated to Bob Cummings go to http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/robertcummings.html

For a Review of The Bob Cummings Show go to http://www.televisionheaven-usa.com/overview.htm#bobcummings