Pruitts Of Southampton ( A.K.A. The Phyllis Diller Show): Phyllis Diller

The Pruitts of Southampton ( aka The Phyllis Diller Show) aired from September 1966 until September 1967 on ABC.

Phyllis Diller , whose trademarks were a fright wig and an uproarest cackle, was cast as the widowed matriach of a down-on-their-luck Long Island society family in this frantic comedy. The Pruitts could live life to the hilt in their 60-room Southampton mansion , despite the fact that they were $10 million in debt to the government, so long as they kept the secret. Seems an unusually understanding I.R.S. would rather let them maintain the fiction that they were fabulously wealthy than risk a stock-market tumble with news of the Pruitts ' bankrupcy. Phyllis ( Phyllis Diller) spent most of her time on hairbrained schemes to keep the family afloat , and keep the secret. Ned ( Reginald Gardiner) was her octogenarian son, Regina Wentworth ( Gypsy Rose Lee)her nosy neighbor and archrival, Sturgis( Grady Sutton) the butler, and Stephanie ( Pam Freeman) her 22-year-old daughter. Charles Lane played Maxwell of the I.R.S.

In January 1967 the program title was changed to The Phyllis Diller Show, and the mansion became an elegant boardinghouse in an attempt to raise money to pay off the goverenment. Neighborhood Mr. Fixit Norman Krump ( Marty Ingels) was a boarder, while Harvey ( Paul Lynde) was introduced as Phyllis' ne're-do-well brother . Occasional roles were star boarder Vernon Bradley ( Billy DeWolfe), an author; Mr. Baldwin ( Richard Deacon) of the I.R.S. and assorted relatives like Randy Pruitt ( John Astin) and others played by such guest stars as Louis Nye.

Based on the novel House Party by Patrick Dennis.

Theme Song Lyrics

Howcha do howcha do, howcha do my dear
What a lovely surprise, nice to see you here.
All the bills have been long over due my dear.
File them under I.O.U.

Howcha do, howcha do, well hello, it's you!
Like my beads, like my dress?
Aren't they marvy-poo?
They belong to the internal revenue.
And they got us eating stew.

CHORUS:
The Pruitts of Southampton,
Live like the richest folk,
But what the folk don't know is that
The Pruitts are flat broke!

Howcha do, howcha do, howcha do, my dear
We are out of champagne, and I'm stuck, my dear.

Ask the butler to lend you a buck, my dear.
Howcha do, howcha do, howcha do

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

For a Biography of Phyllis Diller go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Diller

For more on The Pruitts of Southampton go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pruitts_of_Southampton

For a Review of this show go to http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/pruitts.htm