My Living Doll, a 1964 1-season sit-com starring Julie Newmar is coming to DVD in February, by MPI.

My Living Doll, a 1964 1-season sit-com starring Julie Newmar is coming to DVD in February, by MPI.
This was an exceptionally well-crafted, funny sitcom, and I am looking forward to its DVD release very much.

'My Living Doll' suffered from poor timeslotting by CBS on Sundays at 9:00 pm. It followed 'Lassie', 'My Favorite Martian' and 'The Ed Sullivan Show', and that should have been good because all three were CBS hits. However, 'The Ed Sullivan Show' was not really a compatable series (it skewed old), and 'My Living Doll' at 9 pm was up against the first half-hour of 'Bonanza' on NBC and the first half-hour of 'The ABC Sunday Night Movie' which had a large number of hot theatrical titles in the 1964-65 season. People switched their channels in large numbers, and 'My Living Doll' retained only about two-thirds the audience flow from 'The Ed Sullivan Show', providing a poor lead-in to 'The Joey Bishop Show' (also not compatable with 'My Living Doll') at 9:30 pm.

...it didn't help when the series was shifted to Wednesdays at 8pm(et) in December 1964- opposite NBC's "THE VIRGINIAN" and ABC's "PATTY DUKE SHOW"- and Bob Cummings' departure from the show in January 1965 {he had a disagreement with producer Jack Chertok over a script he personally commissioned- "Grandpa Visits", which was never produced- in which he would have reprised his "Grandpa Collins" character from "THE BOB CUMMINGS SHOW", and virtually wrote Julie Newmar out of the episode [Rhoda would have appeared only in the opening and closing scenes]. There was a huge argument over Julie's potential absence, with Bob walking away from the series as a result}. Once Jack Mullaney became the "star", the series was over.

:tv:

I don't remember if I stuck with the show once it moved days. I did watch it and Joey Bishop on Sundays. Cummings was crammed down Chertok's throat by CBS. He had wanted Bob Crane and they insisted on Cummings who was way too old for the part. He was in his mid 50s at that point and besides, he and Newmar hated each other because he was always telling her what to do, how to act, etc. No doubt due to the troubled nature of the production, Chertok washed his hands of the show and that's why the majority of it may not even exist anymore.

Nice one.thanks for sharing.

My Living Doll, a 1964 1-season sit-com starring Julie Newmar is coming to DVD in February, by MPI.
..h'm..to the point...

...only 11 "random" episodes are featured on "Volume One". The remaining 15 have yet to be remastered and/or "rediscovered".

:tv:

...only 11 "random" episodes are featured on "Volume One". The remaining 15 have yet to be remastered and/or "rediscovered".

:tv:

Seeing that this set is called "Volume 1", implies (atleast to me) that there will be a volume 2. That there's only 11 episodes, and that they're random makes me think not all 26 will be recovered........or maybe they have the episodes and like you say have not been remastered, and we won't see volume 2 for another 5 years.

Since it has been believed this series was long lost with no hope at all to ever be viewed again, I suppose this set is a miracle for vintage TV fans.

They have been searching for all episodes for years. Volume 1 has been brought out so they can at least release what they have for now. Maybe one of these years more could turn up, but as time goes on and an since an exhaustive search has already take place it seems that it may be unlikely they will ever surface. We can still hope for the best.

They have been searching for all episodes for years. Volume 1 has been brought out so they can at least release what they have for now. Maybe one of these years more could turn up, but as time goes on and an since an exhaustive search has already take place it seems that it may be unlikely they will ever surface. We can still hope for the best.


You never know what might surface at some point from some unlikely source. Things are found all of the time that were previously thought to be completely lost. Game 7 of the 1960 World Series turned up last year and that was thought to not exist. Same with Super Bowl 1. There are many other stories as well of things being found. The negatives or prints could be sitting in some warehouse somewhere, unmarked, unlabeled or just unfound and waiting for someone to stumble across them by accident. Or, they truly could be gone. Only time will tell.

You never know what might surface at some point from some unlikely source. Things are found all of the time that were previously thought to be completely lost. Game 7 of the 1960 World Series turned up last year and that was thought to not exist. Same with Super Bowl 1. There are many other stories as well of things being found. The negatives or prints could be sitting in some warehouse somewhere, unmarked, unlabeled or just unfound and waiting for someone to stumble across them by accident. Or, they truly could be gone. Only time will tell.


Good points. The one thing I also know is that if this vol. 1 doesn't sell OK there will be little incentive to release a vol. 2, so i'm buying it. Perhaps they also are hoping a little capital will help pay for some of the necessary refurbishing needed on any others in their possession...

Good points. The one thing I also know is that if this vol. 1 doesn't sell OK there will be little incentive to release a vol. 2, so i'm buying it. Perhaps they also are hoping a little capital will help pay for some of the necessary refurbishing needed on any others in their possession...


What others? This is what is known to exist. There are no others in some secret stash somewhere and no one is hiding anything. Maybe someday a complete set of prints will turn up but it will have to be a fluke thing where somebody just stumbles across them somewhere.

While we have nothing further that is of a quality that can be used..A poster on Amazon.com is breaking my heart right now.
I really hope this is not true but a collector called Tommy Land claimed to have two 16mm prints from the show.
He posted that our MPI release was priced to high ? which is ok that's a opinion.and we live in a free country.
So we contacted him to try and get these prints returned, he claimed due to ill health he could not do it right now.
At that point we just say when your ready..we hear nothing back from him..and on a whim I check the Amazon posts.
He claims he now has three prints two of which are not on our set..and because of all the flack from fans on Amazon he is now set to burn them in his backyard..
This is just the tip of the iceberg in trying to find and bring this show back to all of you classic tv fans..

While we have nothing further that is of a quality that can be used..A poster on Amazon.com is breaking my heart right now.
I really hope this is not true but a collector called Tommy Land claimed to have two 16mm prints from the show.
He posted that our MPI release was priced to high ? which is ok that's a opinion.and we live in a free country.
So we contacted him to try and get these prints returned, he claimed due to ill health he could not do it right now.
At that point we just say when your ready..we hear nothing back from him..and on a whim I check the Amazon posts.
He claims he now has three prints two of which are not on our set..and because of all the flack from fans on Amazon he is now set to burn them in his backyard..
This is just the tip of the iceberg in trying to find and bring this show back to all of you classic tv fans..


He also has a print of the color Sheena pilot. Very strange guy though.

Tommy Land sounds like a latter-day Raymond Rohauer.

:tv:

You can now watch ten My Living Dolls on Hulu for free share this with everyone you can watch the shows and help me find and restore Doll.

http://www.hulu.com/my-living-doll


Every view get's me closer to finding the show.

You can now watch ten My Living Dolls on Hulu for free share this with everyone you can watch the shows and help me find and restore Doll.

http://www.hulu.com/my-living-doll


Every view get's me closer to finding the show.
Having recently moved and purchased a streaming box which gets Hulu, I was delighted to find My Living Doll streaming. Have watched the first two episodes. I do remember this series from when I was 12 years old. It's a shame that only 10 shows have surfaced to date, but with your perseverance I am confident other episodes will resurface. I myself chased after an old forgotten favorite (of mine) called Pete and Gladys, and managed to dig up 18 episodes on a DVD-R set which I have been enjoying. It's good that there are people like you who help keep shows like this from being forgotten. They are so much better than some of the stuff they foist upon us now. Good luck with your search!

Thank you so much for the kind words and your support, Finding and restoring My Living Doll is a task I take to heart.
When you see what a wonderful job Julie Newmar is a party to in it, frankly it would be tragic not to return this show back in full.

Seven years and counting I will not stop until it is once again complete.

Keep watching and getting all your friends and family to do the same, the more awareness we have the better chance to find the missing shows.

I 100% know they exist out there now it's only a matter of time and getting that collector to contact us to get it back for all of us.

So SHARE and watch it on Hulu and do pick up a copy of the volume one DVD from MPI.

To: My Favorite Martian
Re: My Living Doll, Present Status Of Remaining 15 Film Prints.

Hi, I am a new member.
I purchased the My Living Doll Volume 1 DVD set (MPI) when it was
released in 2012. I have enjoyed the 11 episodes immensely and I
think a wonderful job was done on the prints that were on the DVD's
considering how rare the show is. I was 2 when it aired so I missed
it obviously but prior to 2012 had heard about it and read about it
in TV reference books so I couldn't help but be curious.

I was just wondering what the present status of the search for the
remaining prints was and possibly when a second volume of the series
might be forthcoming. I share the sentiments of the MLD fans. I can't
wait to see the rest of the show, and I for one would most definitely
buy it!

And is it true that the original 35 mm. film prints were destroyed in the
1994 Northridge, CA earthquake according to Wikipedia (and not by
Jack Chertok as has been the decades-old Hollywood story)? I
personally never believed the latter.

I mentioned this topic in a different forum (My Favorite Martian &
My Living Doll) so please pardon the repetition. I figure both posts
would get coverage. Thanks for listening. :)

I look forward to a reply when it is possible for you.

Regardless of what became of the elements, the facts remain that the remaining 15 episodes likely no longer exist. Anything is possible however and long lost movies and shows do turn up from time to time. Just not very often. There's no definitive explanation. Jack Webb, for example, got tired of paying storage on some of his shows which had no market value or interest, such as Noah's Ark and Pete Kelly's Blues, and had all of the prints and negatives destroyed. Knowing that for a fact, I don't understand why people don't want to believe that Chertok did the exact same thing.

this has nothing to do with MLD, but just wanted to say-Jackie Gleason was going to destroy all the kinescopes of those "lost" HONEYMOONERS episodes at one time because they were taking up too much room.

Reply to recent posts.

In regards to the loss of the original 35 mm. negatives,
the story I heard was that when the series was cancelled,
Jack Chertok the producer was so angry at then CBS-
President James Aubrey who was supposedly responsible
for the cancellation that he burned the negatives. This
according to TV reference books I have read. It could
have gone either way: Chertok destroyed them himself
or they were destroyed in the earthquake. Take your pick.
The point is, regardless of cause, they were destroyed
and it is a terrible loss to those who care about this show,
are genuinely interested in it today, and would love to see
it on DVD other than the 11 episodes MPI Home Video released
in 2011. Which I bought and didn't care how much I had to
pay for it. I even wrote Julie Newmar herself an E-mail and
told her how much I enjoyed it and gave her positive
feedback on her part as Rhoda Miller, AF-709. Her reply
was a prompt and very short, "Thank you."

Other examples of non-caring parties destroying film history
not realizing the value of these treasures to future generations
(which I was at the time) who might want to actually see them:

According to game show host Peter Marshall of the original
Hollywood Squares in a TV Guide article (1980's), after NBC
cancelled it they burned over 700 videotapes of it. Their
excuse was they needed to make room in their storage
warehouse. And here we had this priceless film footage
of now-departed beloved people like Charley Weaver
(AKA Cliff Arquette), Wally Cox, Paul Lynde, etc.

Yes, there are a lot of us out here who actually CARE what
happens to these people even though we don't know them
and never will or meet them; and not all of us fans can be
fortunate enough to live near or get to Hollywood either
much less attend autograph shows, film festivals, or
comic book/science-fiction/Star Trek or other such
media conventions, either! DVD is as close as we can
get to these series! They sure don't air most them in
local syndication any more, unless they were really
"popular" like The Andy Griffith Show (which airs here
in Montgomery, Alabama for example, probably edited
to the point where it's totally unrecognizable).
You can keep the video streaming stuff, I'll take
watching a classic TV show--long running or short-lived/
cancelled after 1 season alike--on DVD on a DVD player
and a TV set than on a computer, I-Pod, cellphone or
other such electronic gadget any day of the week.
And that goes for the trash on TV today like all these
ridiculous reality shows, too, while we're at it!

Example # 2 (and then I'm done):
NBC--again--reportedly burned 52 film negatives of
the 50's game show You Bet Your Life hosted by
the late Groucho Marx (another classic--"Say the
secret woid and win 50 dollars" and this was way
before my time, but I remember it from reruns on
CBN Cable in the mid-80's) after the show ended
for the same reason they got rid of Hollywood Squares.
This according to the book Cult TV by John Javna,
published in the 80's.

Quite frankly, I am sick of these classic series being mistreated
on cable/local TV syndication reruns. If they're shown at all!
Content edited for the sake of adding more commercials.
We have to suffer through enough of them already as it is!
Split-screened end credits. End credits flashing by at the
bottom of the screen. Time-compression. Ads for upcoming
other shows, movies, or specials at the bottom of the screen
after return from commercial breaks.

Oh--and let's not forget the present curse of Political Correctness!
This is why we can't see shows like Wild Wild West, Have Gun Will Travel,
Daniel Boone, and most of the Westerns today not to
mention the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoons
without some special-interest group being "offended"
about the content, protesting it, fussing about it,
or requesting it be removed from the airwaves.
That my friends is what the channel changer on
the remote and the on/off switch on the TV set is for.
Don't push what amounts to censorship on the viewers
and the fans of these shows who fondly remember, watch,
and care genuinely about them and the actors in them
just to push some liberal agenda. To quote William Shatner--
"It's only a TV show! Get a life!" and Marvin The Martian:
"Don't worry, folks. It's only a cartoon!" With all this junk we
the viewers have to contend with, it's no wonder TV show
fans want to spend on a small fortune on these DVD's, and
I can't say that I really blame them having done it myself
many many times.

I have the WB Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD sets
(6 volumes) which have a disclaimer at the beginning
of the discs about the shorts being a "product of their
time" and reflecting "the prejudices of their era" which
do not reflect today, also "not showing them in their
original form would be the same as saying those
prejudices never existed" (paraphrasing here).
Every time I see those I have to keep from laughing.
And this is over a cartoon that's 50 plus years old?
Really? Don't you liberals (referring to Hollywood
powers-that-be) have anything better to do?
There is an old-fashioned word for this sort of thing
and you have forgotten it: Censorship! Such disclaimers
disgust me, I just skip them (and Whoopi Goldberg's
introductions on Volumes 1-3) and go straight to
the cartoons. The disclaimers are a waste of DVD space
and our time. The fans do not care about this nonsense.
We want to watch the show, enjoy it, and have fun!
That's it and that's all! (with apologies to Ross Martin
from Mr.Lucky, another short-lived 50's classic that was
cancelled by CBS because of the "gambling" theme. Phooey!)

I have a DVD collection of both classic and short-lived favorite
TV series--including TV Westerns, World War II shows,
science-fiction, mystery-detective dramas, super-hero shows,
fantasy series, action-adventure series, sitcoms (60's & 70's),
cartoons, and the Three Stooges shorts/cartoons. I am
personally here to tell you, I would rather watch that
collection than suffer through all the garbage that is
currently airing on network and cable TV (mostly).

I just wonder how many other shows like My Living Doll from
the 50's and 60's also no longer exist as far as the original
film negatives go. It's a miracle they actually survive to
get on DVD at all.

Thank goodness for DVD, and stations like ME-TV, Antenna TV,
and INSP that DO air these classic shows in some kind of decent
good condition. Thanks for listening.

I would interested to see what the gentleman from Jack Chertok
Television who was searching for the surviving MLD film prints
has to say about the present status of the last 15 episodes.
If he is still participating in this forum, that is.

"My Favorite Martian"--are you out there? :)