Jamie aired from September 1953 until October 1954 on ABC.
Brandon De Wilde was one of the child-star discoveries of the 1950's. A sensitive lad, and a natural actor, he was signed by ABC for his own series three years after his professional debut ( at age 8) in the hit broadway play, A Member Of The Wedding. Jamie, which had previewed to rave reviews as an episode of ABC Album during the previous season, looked like a surefire winner as a series.
De Wilde was cast as a likeable orphan who had been shunted from one uncaring relative to another, until he landed in Aunt Laurie's ( Polly Rowles)household. There he met a kindred spirit in Grandpa ( played to perfection by 63 year old character actor Ernest Truex), who was similarly ignored by his kin. Grandpa, twinkled-eyed and with a zest for life, became Jamie's bosom buddy, sharing escapades, and the joys of growing up and growing old. Others in the cast included Liz ( Kathy Nolan), Jamie's teenage cousin, and Annie ( Alice Pearce), Aunt Laurie's helper in the catering business.
Jamie was a live weekly series and there was some publicity at the time about the problems of a youngster, however gifted, being so deeply involved in an adult profession during his formative years. De Wilde's parents had a special contract which allowed him to drop out of the series on short notice if he wanted to, or if his parents felt it was impairing his emotional growth. Jamie did indeed end abruptly two weeks into its 2nd season, but it was not due to concern over Master De Wilde, but rather due to a fight between network and sponsor over mundane business matters. An attempt was made to locate the popular program in another timeslot or on another network, but this did not transpire.
The ending was unhappy in the long run for the tow-headed young star, as well. Never able to sustain the sucess of his youth into adulthood, Brandon De Wilde died in 1972 at the age of 30 in a trafic accident.
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