tv star collector
12-19-2005, 07:01 PM
Thorne Smith wrote the novel TOPPER in 1926. It was adapted to the movie
screen in 1937, starring Constance Bennett, Cary Grant and (as Topper) Roland Young. The picture was followed by two sequels ("Topper Returns" and "Topper Takes a Trip"); and, in 1953, by the TV series starring Leo G. Carroll as Cosmo Topper and Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling (as the ghostly Kerbys). Interestingly, the dog Neil (a St. Bernard) was not in the novel or the movies. He was created specifically for the television series (after the automobile wreck was changed to a skiing accident). Neil did, however, appear in the only TOPPER comic book--aptly titled TOPPER & NEIL--published by Dell, in 1957. Oddly, though, neither George nor Marion Kerby appear (and Neil is referred to as merely an "invisible" dog instead of a ghostly dog).
Next came a 1979 made-for-TV movie starring Kate Jackson and Andrew
Stevens. By the way, the original 1937 "Topper" has the dubious distinction of being the first motion picture to be "colorized." But it all began with a daring, ribald (for its time) novel published almost 80 years ago.
screen in 1937, starring Constance Bennett, Cary Grant and (as Topper) Roland Young. The picture was followed by two sequels ("Topper Returns" and "Topper Takes a Trip"); and, in 1953, by the TV series starring Leo G. Carroll as Cosmo Topper and Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling (as the ghostly Kerbys). Interestingly, the dog Neil (a St. Bernard) was not in the novel or the movies. He was created specifically for the television series (after the automobile wreck was changed to a skiing accident). Neil did, however, appear in the only TOPPER comic book--aptly titled TOPPER & NEIL--published by Dell, in 1957. Oddly, though, neither George nor Marion Kerby appear (and Neil is referred to as merely an "invisible" dog instead of a ghostly dog).
Next came a 1979 made-for-TV movie starring Kate Jackson and Andrew
Stevens. By the way, the original 1937 "Topper" has the dubious distinction of being the first motion picture to be "colorized." But it all began with a daring, ribald (for its time) novel published almost 80 years ago.